Tomorrow is the penultimate session of my long-running D&D campaign

[NewJeffCT]

We're playing 3.5 D&D (the revised 3rd edition for those not in the know...) and started the campaign with myself and 3 players back in September of 2007. The group has grown to myself and 7 players, plus a part-timer that is the 13 year old son of one of the original 3. We even have the rarity of two women in the group.

The group is now at level 18 and includes a pretty good mix of characters: the original three were a human rogue (now a rogue/spellthief), an elf fighter (now an elf fighter/paladin/champion of freedom) and a human sorcerer. We have added a human cleric, a dwarf fighter, a halfling psion and a goliath barbarian. The cleric & the barbarian are the ones played by the two women. The 13 year old son is currently playing the younger brother of the human sorcerer, but is a human fighter (figured I'd keep it simple for him), and the group also has a human cleric/paladin NPC that is the sister of the human cleric. I figured at high levels, the group needs the extra healing capacity.

They're attempting to save the world by stopping the activation of an evil artifact that will allow the high priest of the evil god of tyranny & slavery to enslave the world on his control. We ended last session in the midst of a big battle where the party is having a showdown with the #2 cleric of this evil god, plus her two main minions, a rakshasa sorcerer and an evil halfling psion (from the same village of halflings as the party psion) - plus, the cleric gated in a planar dragon for this encounter as well. One party member already got disintegrated, but the party cleric used a Miracle to bring him back to life. A few of them are way down in hit points as well, due to the dragon's breath. The group has been a bit disorganized, as the three main villains had a chance to "buff" themselves up with various spells and powers and the party has been on their heels and not dispelled any of the buffs (at high levels, it seems the casters spend a lot of time enhancing the party through spells and also dispelling magical enhancements on their foes)

It's been a lot of fun, but it's also a bear to prepare for at high levels - choosing spells and powers for level 19/20 villains is a big task by itself, plus equipping them with armor, weapons and magic items also takes work, not to mention the dragon gets spells and feats and the like as well.

I'm looking forward to first level in the next campaign.

[NewJeffCT]

1. since the time is passed for editing

I should have said, "to enslave the world under his control" not "on his control"

x(

[AlecBGreen]

2. nice!

I love AD&D! havent played in years tho.

What "realm" are you in? Forgotten Realms? Krynn? ravenloft? etc...

[NewJeffCT]

7. Probably a realm you never heard of

but, it's called The Kingdoms of Kalamar, a setting put out by the folks at Kenzer (most famous for the Knights of the Dinner Table comic book)

[arcadian]

3. Does anybody ever play lawful evil characters?

I've never seen that ever.

[Broken_Hero]

5. A buddy of mine had

two lawful evil characters, it made for interesting story telling, because he played them both very well, and surprised me all the effin time.

[NewJeffCT]

6. George Bush & Dick Cheney?

But, usually only DMs like me - playing the lawful evil bad guys of the god of slavery & tyranny. L/E often works well in long-term campaigns because they can be smart & organized.

[whistler162]

4. Your torch flickers and fails and your are eaten by a grue....

BURP

[Orrex]

12. Is it slavering?

I refuse to be eaten by any grue that isn't.

[NewJeffCT]

17. Are there any non-slavering grues out there?

Isn't slavering sort of innate to them?

[Orrex]

19. Touche.

Guess I'd better invest in some glow sticks.

[JohnnyBoots]

8. Nice. I've got the 5th session of a new campaign on Sunday.....

looking forward to it. It is a great way to spend a weekend day. What does the 13 year old think of 4th edition? I think they created that rubbish to get kids his age who are all into WOW. It reads and plays like a video game. You have any experience with the Pathfinder RPG? I heard it is pretty good. Much like 3.5.

Happy Adventuring...

[NewJeffCT]

9. No idea on the 13 year old

and what he thinks of 4E. I like 3.5 and I heard Pathfinder is similar... but, 3.5 is really a bear to prep for after level 8/9 or so, and I don't think Pathfinder changed all that much in that regards. That's the only thing that makes me leery of either 3.5 or Pathfinder for the next campaign.

[NewJeffCT]

10. and, what edition are you playing?

good luck with the new campaign

[Odin2005]

11. OOH, sounds like fun! I haven't played D&D in a while.

Maybe it's time to dust off my level 19 Neutral Good Human Wizard. :)

[ZombieHorde]

13. DMing high level parties can be challenging, especially because of the spell casters.

I am more familiar with 3rd edition than 3.5.

Druids were ridiculously insane at high levels with the natural spell feat. They can turn into a earth elementals, travel through the ground, and use touch spells on the bottom of their opponent's feet.

They can turn into air elementals, which can turn into whirlwinds, and then attack just by moving through an opponent. Since air elementals, in the form of whirlwinds, have a 100 move, they get many attacks each turn.

I love clerics and sorcerers too. I always enjoyed teasing the other players by telling them STR is the weakest stat, followed by DEX and CON, which were equal.

ETA: check out the Epic Level Handbook if you don't already have it.

[NewJeffCT]

14. Druids & Clerics can get very powerful

at high levels... that is part of the reason why this penultimate battle is spanning 2 sessions - it's so complex and everybody has so many options that it takes a while to figure out everything.

[Hayabusa]

15. Big D&D fan

Your campaign sounds very fun. I'm glad you and your group have enjoyed it. And I've of the Kalamar setting, myself. More of a Forgotten Realms fan, but I've heard interesting things about it. And doesn't Hackmaster, essentially Second Edition expanded on and improved IIRC use that setting now?

[NewJeffCT]

16. As a player

about 10-11 years ago, i was involved in a terrific long-term campaign as a player and the setting was Kalamar... so I've always had a fondness for it since then because it works as a nice consistent outline/template for a gaming world where you can pop in random modules/adventures without much change needed, and you can easily scale it from a low magic setting to a high magic one.

[Zodiak]

18. Purist ex-D&D geek post here

Howdy, sounds like you have a good game going. Congrats, because great campaigns are a lifetime of stories for you to bore your friends with :)

I only play first edition....it is just how I grew up, and 2nd edition was so bad that I made enough material to keep 1st edition fresh without the need for it. I know...I'm a nutbag, but why ruin a good thing?

You are having a bear of a time with the high level stuff, eh? As a DM, I completely agree with you on the prep time for these kinds of adventures. That is one of the things I loved about 1st edition is that you play and play and play, but if you follow the rules, you are not going to get much higher than 9th level after two years of solid play.

As a consequence, my highest level character from playing starting in 4th grade is a 9th fighter/11th magic-user. My stepdad, who has played since the seventies, has a 17th level magic-user. It is really these middle levels that are fun to DM for, to be honest. Any special abilities on the monsters are serious threats, and can be sparingly distributed throughout the adventures for high points in the plot.

At high level, the characters can throw so much at you that it is hard to challenge them, and conversely, if you put something against them that you consider equal power, the creature(s) can mow down any party on a bad night when the dice aren't going their way. The "insta-kill" nature of high level adventures takes away some of the fun if you ask me. Plus the reward segment of these kinds of adventures imbalances your game even more.

PS. for the record, I have also always played in the old Judges' Guild campaigns, and in these settings, many of the towns are highly-populated with evil characters. As such, most of the campaigns I have run were open-ended campaigns where various alignment parties try their mettle. Lawful evil was actually the preferred party alignment because you were not forced to act upon the evil in the world around you, and lawfuls are at least organized and respectful of leaders enough to get the job done without slicing each others' throats.

Anyways....great thread...brings me back.

[Orrex]

20. 2nd ed eventually suffered from sprawl, but I think that it had a lot of fun stuff, too.

I think 1st ed could have had a few more years in it if they'd reissued the core books with improved formatting. I particularly disliked the tendency to describe one spell as "aside from the range and material components, this is identical to the 4th level cleric spell of the same name." That might have saved a bit on printing costs, but it struck me as amateurish even when I first got my mitts on the books in the early 80s.

I would have loved to see a consolidated PHB incorporating the core rules, Greyhawk, and Oriental Adventures. Dragonlance has never thrilled me in the slightest, but there was a lot of good stuff in the other books.

A master index might have been helpful, too.

Still, my best DND memories are from 2nd ed, so that'll always be my favorite of the two.


I can't say that I have any interest at all in 3rd ed, 3.5, or 4th.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Most of my best memories are from 1E days

And, that one great campaign in 2E. And, that great campaign in 2E went from level 1 to level 9 in the end. And, we were a focused group of gamers who were there every week for 5+ hours, except for 4-5 climactic "mega sessions" when we gamed for 16-18 hours straight, only stopping for dinner.

I think 1E and 2E had their problems though - why play a human at all? I could be a human wizard or fighter and be level 6 in either one. Or, I could be an elf and be a wizard 5/fighter 5. Almost as good a fighter, plus you could cast some nifty spells. And, I don't think it's as friendly to newcomers, as the books are sort of a disorganized hodge-podge. Yes, if I've been using them for 30 years, I know them backwards & forwards...

The core 3E books are pretty well organized and the d20 mechanic makes things easier for newbies.