Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

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Xanthea
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Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Xanthea »

I want to run a classic D&D adventure on BG at some point in the future. By that, I mean, a group of adventurers delving deep into ancient and forgotten ruins in search of treasure, dodging deadly traps and battling fearsome horrors along the way. Likely to be run as a mini-campaign of perhaps 2-4 sessions over a few weeks.

For the interests of fair warning I should say that I intend for this to be extremely lethal and fully expect at least a few deaths, if not more, with appropriate rewards to match. I will not hesitate to kill people for failed saves, checks, or for unwise choices, though I will try not to be unfair about it.

My target audience is aimed at a balanced group of level 8-12 PCs, though I am certainly willing to entertain the notion of exceptions to those levels, provided that lower levels understand that they might become the redshirts of the adventure.

This topic is intended to gauge the OOC interest of the playerbase in such an adventure. If you're interested but aren't certain that your character would be, I will try to design a variety of hooks to include more people, though obviously not every single character will fit. If there's not enough interest and a group can't be formed then I'd like to know in advance so that nobody has to waste their time doing any of the work for this.
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kid
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by kid »

I'll be happy to but:

A. would need a good reason to keep going once things get very dangerous (I mean a reason to simply not turn back the moment someone dies... I can see my dude going "adventuring" but once a companion dies or nearly dies that's about time to head back you know?)

B. Level is a bit too high (However not built for combat and I doubt Keren's social skill would do to much good. so maybe it's okay.)

C. Would really need a balanced party. Walking blindly triggering traps will be no fun.

Edit:

D. And oh, can't make your stupid US nights.
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orangetree
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by orangetree »

Pretty much echo kid.

When death is a likelihood one needs a very good reason. Not that my level 2 char qualifies anyway.
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Ithildur
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Ithildur »

Hm... not much else happening for higher lvls in ALFA other than stephenumpf's stuff, and that's eventually going to either end or implode (or get Aglaril killed). Assuming he survives that (and the SE finale if that ever happens), throw in some compelling 'must recover elven artifact/rescue elf' type of hook and sure, it could be a nice death trap for Aglaril (though most other PCs would probably say 'let the elf rot in her cell' come to think of it). I'd be more interested if a somewhat balanced party can be formed, though I'm pretty sure this might be an unmitigated disaster regardless as far as PC kill count based on trends I've seen (most of us are good at fighting goblins and emoting emo, but tend to panic at seeing higher CR stuff) :)

But hey, it'll make the recently departed Rumple happy. I'd really prefer other types of campaigns or plots but they're unlikely to see the light of day, so may as well go out with something high risk/high reward.
Last edited by Ithildur on Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
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It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by oldgrayrogue »

*wishes he had a level 8 to 12 to join in*

*Stands and claps for Xan*

This is what ALFA should be all about. Come on people don't you want to get your D&D on? Go dig out your old graph paper, and pencil and your little lead figurine and crawl PnP style.
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Adanu
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Adanu »

Not when 8-12 is about a year+ of playing and you'd rather keep your PC for reasonable fights, not deathtraps.
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by thinkpig »

There aren't a lot of 8-12s out there I don't think. If you offered a campaign like this for starting PCs/low mids I bet you'd get more folks.
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kid
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by kid »

There are quite a few actually.
Deva, Hully, Daertho, Aglaril, Keren would be a bunch that are in the area of 12, just out of the top of my head.

But maybe those who get to those levels aren't interested in anything too scary?
Heh, possibly how they got up there in the first place.

Anyways, i'm game should time zones match up.
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Heero
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Heero »

Just FYI, guys, Im going to be building this super dungeon for Xan. Itll be super sweet.
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Ithildur
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Ithildur »

That's not a very long list of PCs. Hully and Daertho barely show up anymore, though something like this might draw them out if scheduling works out. But that's part of the hurdle, isn't it? There's the SE crew as well, but they're barely active anymore either.

The biggest challenge will be scheduling and getting a regular group of mid/high lvls to form a somewhat balanced party on a regular basis. Believe me, it's been tried, and largely due to timezone issues and the lack of a DM that could do Euro hours, it's been near impossible. BUT if Xan was available for Euro friendly hours that can also work for a couple of US folks, it might work.

But maybe those who get to those levels aren't interested in anything too scary?
Heh, possibly how they got up there in the first place.
Jeez... the irony of you of all people trash talking... :mrgreen: Just ... don't go there.
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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Xanthea
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Xanthea »

I'm willing to do just about any time on Saturdays, including getting up in the middle of the night if needed. I'm also in no big rush to get this done. This is just an topic to see if people are OOCly interested. I'm perfectly willing to wait a few months for people to finish up other things or change servers or whatever, if they want to.

To clarify a few points: I won't do this unless a balanced group is available. If most of the party is filled with PCs but they're missing a certain vital component, like a rogue, I am willing, with great reluctance, to possibly fill in the missing spot with a hired NPC.

I am willing to go outside the stated level preference. When I say a group of 8-12, I mean that's the desire for the core of the group. A few levels higher is no big deal, lower levels are also welcome, particularly if they fill in some niche role that the rest of the party hasn't covered. And yes I'm aware that this would be much easier to get done if I targeted this as a low level adventure. But, frankly, there are already plenty of people willing to run lower level things, higher levels feel more than a little neglected, and I want to do something to help with that. And honestly, low levels kind of bore me.

Also, I am not a stingy jerk who puts people in danger for no gain. Expect fabulous treasures lost to the ages buried in the depths of this forgotten dungeon. Rewards will be lavish, as is befitting a proper dungeon.
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Ithildur »

As far as rogue stuff... this would be perfect for Hully, alas Dergon's playing times are strange indeed these days. One other high lvl with some roguish tricks, but I don't know if their skills are high enough for high CR traps and such. Alas for Merri's demise...

Would the old 'Cleric covers for rogue' tricks be workable? i.e. Detect Traps plus summons (from scroll, wand, or any of the casters) summoning more options than just the NWN2 wolf or badger?

Maybe an irresistible hook for a druid? ('this thingamagic will ruin all of nature unless it's recovered and neutralized! also it comes in a convenient set with the Mcguffin of elven interest, and everyone else gets stuff too!'? )Shapeshifting Bu would be all kinds of useful/uber for something like this. Polymorph options...?
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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Xanthea
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Xanthea »

I want to avoid too much trivializing of non-casters and I'll say that a rogue would be preferable. Detect Traps is fine, but I will treat it as it allowing the caster a chance to detect the traps like a rogue, and giving a moderate bonus to search, it won't be nwn2's autodetect of everything in a ten square mile radius. Potentially useful, potentially insufficient for some of the higher end checks.

I should also note that I won't be making exclusive use of nwn2's "big red box" style of traps. Some of them will be RP traps detectable only through DM that may have effects other than "explode on whatever triggers them" and a general policy of setting all of them off with summons might have have unforeseen results. I'm generally expecting a pretty slow pace to this. I'm willing to consider the possibility of custom summons, if it's something cool, clever and particularly vital, but I don't want to get into anything too crazy, time consuming or overpowered there.

As for Bu, I'm happy to try to provide hooks for any players who want in, druids included. I might not always be able to succeed, but I'm certainly willing to try.
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Zelknolf »

Xanthea wrote:I want to avoid too much trivializing of non-casters and I'll say that a rogue would be preferable. Detect Traps is fine, but I will treat it as it allowing the caster a chance to detect the traps like a rogue, and giving a moderate bonus to search, it won't be nwn2's autodetect of everything in a ten square mile radius. Potentially useful, potentially insufficient for some of the higher end checks.
Find Traps has been a bonus to search and the rogue Trapfinding ability since August (or at least vs. the still-supported traps. Find Traps still breaks legacy traps in exactly the same way, which is why I don't really facilitate their use). Was part of the spec for ACR Traps.


Also, get BG on the latest campaign folder before you go if you want to thwart folk using summons to run traps out of ammo. Multiple-shot traps were also part of the spec for ACR Traps. Just that people didn't tool them. (but I provided some multiple-shot spike traps and an infinite-ammo electrified floor and put 'em on the campaign folder).
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Re: Interest in a Dungeon Crawl?

Post by Ronan »

If I was not DMing BG, or if you ran this on another server, I would make an attempt to join in with Maeredhel (level 12 Arcane Trickster). Over-wealthing him would not be an issue since he'd probably give most of the loot away.
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