3 sessions and we've completed:

1. intro

2. the Holtz affair

3. the Garden of Morr stuff

At this rate, I'm estimating completing the remainder in 2.5 more sessions. Each of our games is 4 hours. I wasn't expecting it to go this fast. It seems the rest of you are taking a bit longer. What gives?

jh

Hard to say without more information, how much poking around after Florian did they do, how much roleplaying interactions in town, with NPC's etc., how "straight up linear" were they?

Oh, and ANY discussion of details of playing through it should be in GM section not here.

NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST

I've got a couple quiet roleplayers, a new guy, and a swordmaster. I think it's just their focus..but I tend to run games pretty fast too (in any system). I wonder if character career "determines" roleplaying with socializing being the default for non-heroic characters and mechanical crunchy play being more for the combat types (oftentimes).

jh

Emirikol said:

Did your players pick their careers or were they chosen randomly?

My players took a fairly roleplayish approach to many encounters, "who we are and what we would do" guiding them. That said, we're not talking shakespearean speeches but things like the Ratcatcher coming to town and looking around for work catching rats, particularly in places of interest to their reason for being there etc.

My group burned through the first investigation in one session, started the next just outside the big fight. 2/3 characters died that fight, the last was able to escape. He went to town, said "you guys are screwed" and left (that session was hilarious, btw).

I ended up using the other scenarios in areas outside Stromdorf. They took about 2 sessions each, give or take.

When I decided to run The Gathering Storm I noticed that it was basically 3 fights. I did a few things to tie the PC's and the fights more closely to the PC's and make a little more sense in the context. I also brought more of the back story forward, especially the fight between Burgomiester Alder and the Merchants.

In all I changed a few notable things about The Gathering Storm.

I linked the PC's to the missing Merchant Florian Wechsler, this got them more involved in the adventure and more willing to do things that were a very bad idea. I also made the Holtz's more monstrous and at the same time more the victims of what was going on.

I made the politics in town more of an issue than originally intended with both sides jocking for power and trying to get the PC's on their side. I also pointed out to the PC's that they were the most dangerous people in town, basiclly seen as hired killers by the people who opposed them and hired them. This really increased the length of the campaign, as it turned the down time between act 1 and act 2 into it own act. The PC's met lots of the NPC's and i had to invent a bunch more for them to interact with. This change gained me 3 more sessions of play time at roughly 5 hours a session.

I got rid of Lazerus Mourn, I thought he was silly and unnecessary, instead I used the wrathful spirit of Madriga Brenner woken up by the influx of magic in Morr's Garden. Using her also allowed me to tie it closely to the politics in town, and haunt the hell out of the principle NPC's and the PC's.

For Niklas Schulmann i made him a apprentice eternal who had a chance at greater power. I made him a highly intelligent and very learned but very weak when it came to actual channeling and directing of magic. He had been sent to Stromdorf to study weather patterns and discovered the Tempist Knapp. His goal was to increase his magic ability, and earn his rightful place in his order. In the beginning I made him very humble, he didn't dress as a Wizard and he didn't advertise; although he did present himself to the town authority showing his writ of Magic (mundane document stating he's been OK'd by the College and the Empire). He did help townsfolk with letters and he did teach the children as stated in the book. And he did blow himself up at Tempest Knap. I just changed his motivations and made him more tolerable to the PC's and more of a shock when he flips out. I also stated to allow him to draw power from the stones; pulling from them like they were batteries. This ability to pull power from the stones amplified his very meger magic skills but forced him to stay around the stones.

Now I am pretty much running Act 3 as is.

OH one more thing! I have 6 players. For Act 1 I had one Elf Wayfinder, one High Elf Swordmaster, 2 Human Soldiers, 1 Human Celestial Apprentice, and one Dwarven Slayer. For Act 2 I had lost the dwarf and gained a Bounty Hunter. For Act 3 I lost the Celestial Apprentice and the Wood Elf Wayfinder but picked up a Bright Mage Acolyte and a Dwarven Charlatan. So you will find most encounters are geared for 3 PC's; one of which are a fighting career. I had to jack the theat levels up to give my PC's good dramatic fights as the bulk of my PC's careers are fighting careers.

As of date we are on Session 12 and in the final part of Act 3, my sessions run at average 4.5 to 5.5 hours at a shot.

Kadyx said:

Those are some really good ideas there. I'm really looking forward to running this - and really adapting it to my group of players.

Our group is made up of:

* Swordmaster

* trollslayer

* thief

* commoner (with a halberd)

I allowed the players to choose from the pregen's in LIBER FANATICA #7 (I'm really glad I did those and I hope you guys get as much use out of them as we do!)

Being a combat-heavy crew has definitely been a game-pusher but we'll see how they do against Gobspite's endless horde!

FYI, here's our campaign obsidian portal site.

jh

I revised the mystery stories in GS a bit to tie into town more etc. My session reports in GM section essentially say how. Again, I suggest this thread not go into too much detail, Kadyx's ideas sound great - I might have used them in my game - but players shouldn't read that stuff.

yeah sorry about that I got a little carried away,

if you want to know more about what I did I don't mind taking if off forum. I added a bit to the first 2 acts and haven't really touched the third yet but I'm planning on adding to what I call act 4 or the aftermath.

My current group plans of moving to Rogue Trader after TGS but I think i may try to talk them into continuing with WFRP

Emirikol said:

I think given your group makeup it's more likely that the players are less interested in, or simply not used to, social interaction and they took combat oriented careers because of that rather than those careers impeding their roleplaying. But you know your players better than some random guy on the internet.

An anecdote: I once played D&D 3.5 with a person new to roleplaying. They chose monk, which has no real mechanical incentive to be social. The player, however, was very bombastic (and I'm pretty sure he had ADHD) and dominated every talkative part of the game. His class was mechanically combat oriented but that didn't stop him from being active in other parts of the game. In fact, he often tried to run away from combat. So at least in some cases (and I would actually wager most) the player determines more than the rules.

Session 4:

We just completed the sheep-rustling episode (that's 3/4ths of the entire scenario in four 4-hour sessions).

That leaves us only the short "ending" episode. I'm going to have to prep Death's dark shadow earlier than I thought!

Its amazing that we've been busting through this scenario this fast. (here're our game summaries SPOILERS: www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/deaths-dark-shadow

No PC deaths. 4 characters (thief, swordmaster, commoner, trollslayer). No character with any "5" characterstic (and those quirky house rules I use).

I have to relay that the group has all but been ignoring the party sheet (and I've even been occasionally using the 'meter').

jh

5 sessions and that's a wrap! It was a lot faster than I had been hearing. Now I'm on to fan scenarios for a bit.

Tonight I even made "the" final encounter with the person being lifted up on a disc of Tzeentch.

Now we're transitioning into KARL'S & SCENTS and headed for Nuln for the time being.

jh