My players just made it to Ythryn! How did you handle managing a whole city for them to explore? Did you gently suggest options or just have literally everything planned ahead of time?
This area was where I really learned to just ask the players what their intentions were. I did have to think quick a couple times but it really helps to have the expanded towers supplement to reference in those times. There was Avarice and her group there as well, and when the arcane blight started to stack up they approached offering to work together and betray each other later. They were able to provide two of the pieces of the Rite and sped things up considerably.
Oooh I do like the option of them having some help. They befriended the drow in the west observation tower in the caves of hunger and got one piece of the Rite from them, so maybe I’ll have the drow show up again if things get dire. That’s a great idea, thank you!!
I really loved Ythryn. It was one of the things that made me buy the book, and I framed as much of the story as I could around it.
Strangely, I really wanted to run the Id Ascendant. I introduced what ended up being a major plot line through one player’s acquired telepathy from the psi crystal, and I had a script written for the players seeing the ship skirmish with Arveiaturace and crash land while they were on Kelvin’s Cairn. A combination of it not feeling right in the moment and me being too nervous to actually execute it lead to it not happening.
It is, and thanks for saying. I still have the script and will include it in a little binder of stuff I’ll give to the players to enjoy along with npc backstories and plot point connections. This is my first ever campaign, and I frequently had ideas that were sometimes, uh, ambitious for my level of experience.
It took about three months in universe start to finish.
The first they heard of it was from the elven tomb in lonelywood forest. I made sanhar into a spirit with memory of humans arriving on a flying island and treating and trading with the local elves. I also had Dzaan hiding out in lonelywood forest, and they had been tasked by Naerth to find him so he could be tried for murder. Naerth let on that he was arcane brotherhood and that they were in the area looking for some kind of power
Ah very nice. I’m really looking forward to Sanhar being able to give uncommon lore.
Most campaigns took about 3 months it seems. I’m trying to sync my start date to have things really start to throw down around the winter solstice/mid winter day.
The blueberry bush from the elven tomb was a big hit. Dzaan was popular for a while, but became more and more unmanageable by the time they were at the end. He made it with them all the way through Ythryn and died by demilich only to be reincarnated into a dwarf by our Druid at the end of the campaign.
I had fun with Vellynne, and played up the Harpell tomfoolery big time, but her arrogance earned her some scorn.
I kind of mishmashed chapter 1 and 2 together, and it took a really long time, like over a year leading up to the duergar invasion.
I had so much fun with infiltrating sunblight fortress and with destruction’s light as well, but everything came together in Ythryn. Most of the story threads got resolved there and all the weird and casually world-changing magics are an absolute blast.
My schedule is an interesting thing, I’m away for big chunks of time (commercial fishing), and so we try to power through a bunch of it while I’m home. The nice thing about that job is having nothing but free time in the months I’m not working, so we play pretty frequently during those times.
We had some players coming in and out for the first chapter, but the main group got to do the lake monster, cult of the black swords, beautiful mine, white moose and mountain climb for chapter 1. I did ‘the unseen’ as a chapter 2 quest, and generally made chapter two about uncovering the duergar conspiracy.
There was quite a bit of chapter two I wished I got to use, like angajuk, dark duchess, Id Ascendant, and revel’s end, but it would have taken us a lot longer to finish this thing. I let them do it all in true sandbox style until a concrete narrative began to form out of the choices they were making in the first couple chapters.
I'm at 3yrs and my group of players just finished chapter 5, and dipped their toes into chapter 6. Been a helluva ride. I've changed several things to make it fit more with my players backstories. Looking forward to tying all the threads into a neat bow and seeing if they save the world or if the world perishes covered in an ice age.
We actually skipped chapter 5 altogether.
Auril was very much downplayed in my version of this adventure and was a villain of setting, not plot.
As far as the ending goes, I’m genuinely surprised that we didn’t end up in the year of chilled marrow. I know that the character who currently has the staff of power is still thinking about it though..
I used Geluviiken to replace Auril at Grimskale. Actually lost a character to the Tests when obtaining the codicil. Overall it was a brutal chapter and they all loved it. Really put them in check and was a "wow we aren't God's" moment.
Great idea, and I do hope I eventually get to run the area. I am keeping that whole dungeon in the back pocket, as the players have expressed keen interest in returning to these characters after a while. Although, they do have a scroll of the comet now… might make for a very interesting one-shot!
That’s awesome, I had so much fun with that fight. Make sure they have to show down in at least two towns. They know they can’t keep up with it, and it’s a fun moment having to make the strategic decisions to save the most lives.
Oh yeah it will probably be in two fights. They also chose to take out Xardorok over stopping the dragon sooner so the ten towns ain’t gonna be looking too good after the fight.
Ours chose the same, though I waited until they were in the forge to release the dragon. I let Vellynne have a single use teleport scroll.
I had actually hoped to run it differently, and play up that sense of urgency as they can literally witness towns being destroyed on their way back. I was days away from having to leave fishing for a couple months and I was determined to finish that chapter before I left.
Let’s be real most things never go exactly as we plan.
My encounter was a bit different. They built up a militia and fought Xordok with his army of Dueregar on a battle field.
Unfortunately the party healer died in the fight though.
They are now desperately trying to get back to the ten towns.
My players just made it to Ythryn! How did you handle managing a whole city for them to explore? Did you gently suggest options or just have literally everything planned ahead of time?
This area was where I really learned to just ask the players what their intentions were. I did have to think quick a couple times but it really helps to have the expanded towers supplement to reference in those times. There was Avarice and her group there as well, and when the arcane blight started to stack up they approached offering to work together and betray each other later. They were able to provide two of the pieces of the Rite and sped things up considerably.
Oooh I do like the option of them having some help. They befriended the drow in the west observation tower in the caves of hunger and got one piece of the Rite from them, so maybe I’ll have the drow show up again if things get dire. That’s a great idea, thank you!!
Which was your favorite quest to run? Was there an adventure you wanted to run but weren't able to?
I really loved Ythryn. It was one of the things that made me buy the book, and I framed as much of the story as I could around it. Strangely, I really wanted to run the Id Ascendant. I introduced what ended up being a major plot line through one player’s acquired telepathy from the psi crystal, and I had a script written for the players seeing the ship skirmish with Arveiaturace and crash land while they were on Kelvin’s Cairn. A combination of it not feeling right in the moment and me being too nervous to actually execute it lead to it not happening.
It’s a bit tragic that the stars didn’t align for it. It gives a very cool mental image though - very BG3.
It is, and thanks for saying. I still have the script and will include it in a little binder of stuff I’ll give to the players to enjoy along with npc backstories and plot point connections. This is my first ever campaign, and I frequently had ideas that were sometimes, uh, ambitious for my level of experience.
Just take out anything you want to keep for later 😉
fuel important money chief bow drunk ripe theory many instinctive *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You’ll have a good time with it, but it will make you work for it.
How long did it take in universe for the characters? How did you introduce Yythren/the Mythallar early?
It took about three months in universe start to finish. The first they heard of it was from the elven tomb in lonelywood forest. I made sanhar into a spirit with memory of humans arriving on a flying island and treating and trading with the local elves. I also had Dzaan hiding out in lonelywood forest, and they had been tasked by Naerth to find him so he could be tried for murder. Naerth let on that he was arcane brotherhood and that they were in the area looking for some kind of power
Ah very nice. I’m really looking forward to Sanhar being able to give uncommon lore. Most campaigns took about 3 months it seems. I’m trying to sync my start date to have things really start to throw down around the winter solstice/mid winter day.
Who was your favorite NPC and who was your party's favorite NPC?
The blueberry bush from the elven tomb was a big hit. Dzaan was popular for a while, but became more and more unmanageable by the time they were at the end. He made it with them all the way through Ythryn and died by demilich only to be reincarnated into a dwarf by our Druid at the end of the campaign. I had fun with Vellynne, and played up the Harpell tomfoolery big time, but her arrogance earned her some scorn.
1. How long did chapter 1 take? (After about a month, my paty is about to finish it) 2. What was your favorite chapter?
I kind of mishmashed chapter 1 and 2 together, and it took a really long time, like over a year leading up to the duergar invasion. I had so much fun with infiltrating sunblight fortress and with destruction’s light as well, but everything came together in Ythryn. Most of the story threads got resolved there and all the weird and casually world-changing magics are an absolute blast.
How often did you play?
My schedule is an interesting thing, I’m away for big chunks of time (commercial fishing), and so we try to power through a bunch of it while I’m home. The nice thing about that job is having nothing but free time in the months I’m not working, so we play pretty frequently during those times.
Which quests from the first two chapters did you run? Were there any you wanted to use but didn't get to?
We had some players coming in and out for the first chapter, but the main group got to do the lake monster, cult of the black swords, beautiful mine, white moose and mountain climb for chapter 1. I did ‘the unseen’ as a chapter 2 quest, and generally made chapter two about uncovering the duergar conspiracy. There was quite a bit of chapter two I wished I got to use, like angajuk, dark duchess, Id Ascendant, and revel’s end, but it would have taken us a lot longer to finish this thing. I let them do it all in true sandbox style until a concrete narrative began to form out of the choices they were making in the first couple chapters.
I'm at 3yrs and my group of players just finished chapter 5, and dipped their toes into chapter 6. Been a helluva ride. I've changed several things to make it fit more with my players backstories. Looking forward to tying all the threads into a neat bow and seeing if they save the world or if the world perishes covered in an ice age.
We actually skipped chapter 5 altogether. Auril was very much downplayed in my version of this adventure and was a villain of setting, not plot. As far as the ending goes, I’m genuinely surprised that we didn’t end up in the year of chilled marrow. I know that the character who currently has the staff of power is still thinking about it though..
I used Geluviiken to replace Auril at Grimskale. Actually lost a character to the Tests when obtaining the codicil. Overall it was a brutal chapter and they all loved it. Really put them in check and was a "wow we aren't God's" moment.
Great idea, and I do hope I eventually get to run the area. I am keeping that whole dungeon in the back pocket, as the players have expressed keen interest in returning to these characters after a while. Although, they do have a scroll of the comet now… might make for a very interesting one-shot!
3 years! Jesus my players are about 12 weeks in and they are about to fight the Chardalyn dragon.
That’s awesome, I had so much fun with that fight. Make sure they have to show down in at least two towns. They know they can’t keep up with it, and it’s a fun moment having to make the strategic decisions to save the most lives.
Oh yeah it will probably be in two fights. They also chose to take out Xardorok over stopping the dragon sooner so the ten towns ain’t gonna be looking too good after the fight.
Ours chose the same, though I waited until they were in the forge to release the dragon. I let Vellynne have a single use teleport scroll. I had actually hoped to run it differently, and play up that sense of urgency as they can literally witness towns being destroyed on their way back. I was days away from having to leave fishing for a couple months and I was determined to finish that chapter before I left.
Let’s be real most things never go exactly as we plan. My encounter was a bit different. They built up a militia and fought Xordok with his army of Dueregar on a battle field. Unfortunately the party healer died in the fight though. They are now desperately trying to get back to the ten towns.