Idylls of the Rat King - quickie question

Ogrepuppy · Post by **Ogrepuppy** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:55 pm

Hi,

Running my poor suckers--err, players--through Rat King now.

"Classic" group of 4: fighter, thief, cleric & sorcerer. I allowed them to roll "super hero" characters (4d6 for stats, re-roll 1s and 2s and drop the lowest), so they're mighty as first level characters are concerned.

(The fighter does a minimum of 7 points of damage just by looking cross-eyed at his opponents...which scares me, as he's been a walking, bladed lawn-mower of death through the poor goblins of the first level...)

Is the intention to gain levels as they descend deeper into the mine, or am I safe to keep them at first level all the way through the adventure?

I'm doing the Lost City of Barakus method of 1/2 normal experience points for all encounters in my campaign so that they can get used to the power and advantages of each character level. If that's a bad idea and they're going to be too underpowered by the 4th section of the mine I'd like to know ahead of time.

Ideas? Comments?

bighara · Post by **bighara** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:38 am

Assuming they occasionally run away, they might survive @ 1st the whole way through. There are a couple of encounters that would be pretty harsh on 1st level PCs.

Ogrepuppy · Post by **Ogrepuppy** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:05 am

bighara wrote:Assuming they occasionally run away, they might survive @ 1st the whole way through. There are a couple of encounters that would be pretty harsh on 1st level PCs.

If I introduce some magic weapons and ensure that they have enough healing, they should survive a little better then?

ragnar1965 · Post by **ragnar1965** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:04 pm

Level 4 will be difficult for them even at 3rd level. Don't under any circumstances allow them to find Serenna. Unless they just feel like rolling up a new party.

Ogrepuppy · Post by **Ogrepuppy** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:53 pm

ragnar1965 wrote:Level 4 will be difficult for them even at 3rd level. Don't under any circumstances allow them to find Serenna. Unless they just feel like rolling up a new party.

Mmmkay. Thanks for the heads up. Looks like they'll be raising levels sooner than I wanted...

JediOre · Post by **JediOre** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:52 am

Hey OgrePuppy,

Here's some links to threads dealing with other's attempts with this fine adventure:

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=118

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=93

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=106

ragnar1965 · Post by **ragnar1965** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:50 am

Hey Ogre,

When I ran this for my party, I let the party find Serenna because they actually did what needed to be done to find her. The rogue had found the note to get the +5 circumstance bonus and still had to roll a 19 to find the door. I played her very hard nosed in one way and way too easy in another. They should not have survived the encounter, but they did. With all of the warnings they had, I would not play it this way again. Hope your party has fun, because it's a great low level module.

JediOre · Post by **JediOre** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:53 am

It was a swell module and it was Ragnar1965's first attempt at DMing. He did a good job of it.

Ogrepuppy · Post by **Ogrepuppy** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:06 pm

Thank you, one and all!

I had to cancel the game this week, but next week they'll probably finish mine level 1 and delve into the 2nd level...by the time mine level 2 is complete, I'll let my players level their characters up to 2nd level so that they can survive the remainder of the module. Sound reasonable?

JediOre · Post by **JediOre** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:12 pm

Okay so far. I'd suggest letting the PCs earn experience points every time you're group breaks up for the week or simply before attempting the next level.

I wouldn't want to tackle DCC#1, or for that matter ANY DCC, with four characters of the recommended levels unless all four where in at or near the top levels.

Most of these modules don't have the dark mood Necromancer Games's modules have, but they can be just as deadly.

Ogrepuppy · Post by **Ogrepuppy** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:39 pm

JediOre wrote:Most of these modules don't have the dark mood Necromancer Games's modules have, but they can be just as deadly.

Understood. Remember, I allowed my players to create super PCs: there are at least one or two 18s in every character's stat block. One character has 4 16's in a row, in addition to a 17 and 18. I guess I'm saying these characters are fairly mighty....so I'm guessing they'll survive.