PDF Release: Welcome to the Time of High Adventure!

[Forcegypsy]

...and purchased. Adapting to use the last 2 adventures in my FC - Midnight campaign. Already ran the darkest hour. Thanks Crafty dudes, I consider this money well spent.

[ludomastro]

Purchased, downloaded and salivating at the opportunity to run ToHA.  Sadly with my recent move, my group is now about 12 hours away.   

Onward virtual tables.

[aegis]

I've read the last adventure and I must say ... I am a little bit disappointed. After one zombie-horror adventure (that I liked very much!) and a classic exploring/half-dungeoneering one, I was kind of hoping for the third adventure to really raise the stakes and showcase what Fantasy Craft has to offer that other fantasy RPG have not. Instead, I found a dungeon crawl. A nicely designed dungeon crawl, but a dungeon crawl nevertheless. So basically, my critic is about the adventure choice, not the adventure itself.

I really feel this last one should have been something that people might read and say "wow, THIS is new, nice way to use those new/obscure rules!". Among other things, I was honestly waiting for Favors, Contacts, or Downtime checks to enter in play. There are so many interesting ways to use them, especially when heroes start to accumulate Rep and Renown. In The Vault, we focus on basic equipment and dungeon survival. Something I could do with any other RPG, even OD&D.

I know you want to write adventures that you like and suit your play style, but there are already soooo many dungeon crawls out there. I believe Fantasy Craft-dedicated adventure efforts should really go into exploring unexploited niches where Fantasy Craft has something unique to offer. And in my opinion, dungeon crawl is not one of them. Sorry.   (Yes, I know, who cares about what I believe?)

It is a good dungeon crawl nevertheless, I insist.

[Crafty_Alex]

I've read the last adventure and I must say ... I am a little bit disappointed. After one zombie-horror adventure (that I liked very much!) and a classic exploring/half-dungeoneering one, I was kind of hoping for the third adventure to really raise the stakes and showcase what Fantasy Craft has to offer that other fantasy RPG have not. Instead, I found a dungeon crawl. A nicely designed dungeon crawl, but a dungeon crawl nevertheless. So basically, my critic is about the adventure choice, not the adventure itself.

I really feel this last one should have been something that people might read and say "wow, THIS is new, nice way to use those new/obscure rules!". Among other things, I was honestly waiting for Favors, Contacts, or Downtime checks to enter in play. There are so many interesting ways to use them, especially when heroes start to accumulate Rep and Renown. In The Vault, we focus on basic equipment and dungeon survival. Something I could do with any other RPG, even OD&D.

I know you want to write adventures that you like and suit your play style, but there are already soooo many dungeon crawls out there. I believe Fantasy Craft-dedicated adventure efforts should really go into exploring unexploited niches where Fantasy Craft has something unique to offer. And in my opinion, dungeon crawl is not one of them. Sorry.   (Yes, I know, who cares about what I believe?)

It is a good dungeon crawl nevertheless, I insist.

Thanks for your comments. While it would be neat to show off those rules you list, we felt a dungeon adventure had a lot of merit for a number of reasons:

1) Expectations - look at the number of comments on these boards about expectations in terms of play...I can say with confidence that where ever we deviate from D&D/PF core rules presentation we've probably generated at least one comment, question or critique in the forum. An adventure book that totally ignores the dungeon trope is IMO a Bad Call^TM. FWIW, I tend to run dungeon crawls myself, mainly because I like old school adventures and more importantly my players want them

2) Different environments - The issue with working Favors or Contacts into these adventures is we don't know what level the PCs start at nor the resources they have. Expecting them to have a certain amount of Rep or Renown is something you can only effectively do at a home game. We did work Contacts in, in that you can take certain NPCs as future Contacts (esp in Cleansing) and Favors and Contacts will run perfectly well alongside any of these adventures if someone has them, but it's tough to count on. Downtime is something we could work in, but honestly...it's not adventuring time, and we're about ADVENTURE!!!

FWIW, the play feedback we got from our Gencon demos on The Vault was really good. The adventure does put a lot of FC core principles on display - teamwork, player ingenuity, hardcore challenges (just look at Room 1's bad guy ), Complex skill checks, diversity of critters, action and fun. The crawl is not just "kill things and take their stuff," it's got roleplaying opportunities, side quests, and a number of funky twists. The players I talked to after the show crowed about how it was a really unique crawl in their opinion, rather than a grind, and how their entire party had a great time and worked together. Regardless of the setting, I'd say that does as good a job of selling the game as some new fancy rules

[Reef]

Wow, that did a good job of selling that to me.  Definitely intrigued now!

One concern though, is what is the expected party size?  I only have two players, with the occasional NPC along for the ride.  Do the adventures scale down easily for less characters?  Or will I have to hack out so many monsters that it just becomes a pale reflection of itself?

[aegis]

Huhu, thanks for the answer!

Well, as I said, I feel this is a really good dungeon crawl. It has many qualities, like it does indeed showcase some of FC's strengths, it is somehow unconventional, and it is short, which is a good thing: never-ending dungeons tend to become boring after twenty rooms, as fun as they can be. And I also believe dungeon crawls are more appropriate/common for convention games and the promotion of a fantasy RPG than more "social" or "intellectual" adventures. But still, I really hope you come up with a nice, say, investigation scenario someday. While a dungeon crawl can showcase FC's strengths, such a scenario would really showcase FC's uniqueness, the little details that (most) other fantasy RPGs simply do not possess.

[Doublebond]

Wow, that did a good job of selling that to me.  Definitely intrigued now!

One concern though, is what is the expected party size?  I only have two players, with the occasional NPC along for the ride.  Do the adventures scale down easily for less characters?  Or will I have to hack out so many monsters that it just becomes a pale reflection of itself?

Mob sizes are all based around the number of players (+PLs and animal companions) so I'd imagine it shouldn't be too much of a worry. I haven't read any of the adventures yet, so I can't really say for certain.

I also initially mistook your question for a request for general encounter building. Since this isn't really your question, it's hidden.

(click to show/hide)

Just note where any standard npc stands in relation to the scale outlined in "the art of (not) killing the PCs" and be aware that (generally) adding an additional mob of standard NPCs will result in the encounter difficulty level shifting up by one. So, if you have an NPC that falls under  the "minor threat" category, having the players fight two mobs of them will push the encounter up to the "average" category, and adding an additional mob still will push it up to "significant" and so on and so forth. By using this method, you can have the PCs fight a larger number of enemies without having to worry about them getting hopelessly overwhelmed.

[Crafty_Pat]

Thanks for your comments. While it would be neat to show off those rules you list, we felt a dungeon adventure had a lot of merit for a number of reasons:

Additionally, the Vault answers one of the most frequently-asked questions we get about Fantasy Craft: How do you run a dungeon crawl with scenes? The Vault does it one way, but there are certainly others.

(click to show/hide)

The Vault handles it via rooms - each room is its own scene - though I've also written adventures where new scenes are triggered by player actions, time passed, and other factors.

[Crafty_Pat]

Wow, that did a good job of selling that to me.  Definitely intrigued now!

Glad to hear it.

One concern though, is what is the expected party size?  I only have two players, with the occasional NPC along for the ride.  Do the adventures scale down easily for less characters?  Or will I have to hack out so many monsters that it just becomes a pale reflection of itself?

Thanks to DoubleBond for covering the mechanical end. Story-wise, and without spoiling anything, The Vault is a challenging scenario, with more than one instance of the party facing multiple problems at once. That and the presence of a couple very dangerous critters are reasons I might be a wee bit concerned with less than the GM and three players, but two might be able to tackle it with caution.

[Crafty_Pat]

Huhu, thanks for the answer!

Well, as I said, I feel this is a really good dungeon crawl. It has many qualities, like it does indeed showcase some of FC's strengths, it is somehow unconventional, and it is short, which is a good thing: never-ending dungeons tend to become boring after twenty rooms, as fun as they can be. And I also believe dungeon crawls are more appropriate/common for convention games and the promotion of a fantasy RPG than more "social" or "intellectual" adventures. But still, I really hope you come up with a nice, say, investigation scenario someday. While a dungeon crawl can showcase FC's strengths, such a scenario would really showcase FC's uniqueness, the little details that (most) other fantasy RPGs simply do not possess.

I favor many of the elements you mention here when I write adventures, and in particular missions. I think you'll see more of them as we move forward with Fantasy Craft, and especially Spycraft and Ten Thousand Bullets.

[Reef]

Thanks to DoubleBond for covering the mechanical end. Story-wise, and without spoiling anything, The Vault is a challenging scenario, with more than one instance of the party facing multiple problems at once. That and the presence of a couple very dangerous critters are reasons I might be a wee bit concerned with less than the GM and three players, but two might be able to tackle it with caution.

Thanks, Crafty_Pat, that's exactly what I was worried about.  Scaling monsters isn't so hard, but if you run into situations where you need six sets of hands to get through a room, it's hard to adjust that one.

[mach1.9pants]

Having read, not played, the vault (and I have only 2 players) I would not run it without a couple of NPCs or Lt's. And that is not our way so we won't be running it, sadly.

[Crafty_Pat]

Having read, not played, the vault (and I have only 2 players) I would not run it without a couple of NPCs or Lt's. And that is not our way so we won't be running it, sadly.

Interesting. Is that because you only have 2 players, or because you feel actual NPCs are required (I don't, but if you do I'd love to hear your reasoning).

[Gentry]

I'm equally intrigued. There are ways to tackle the Vault with only 2 players, but they'd certainly have to play it smart.

[mach1.9pants]

I think it is possible for 2 players but it would be extra hard. To hard IMO, but maybe your players are more inventive... I certainly see it as an auto-TPF for my guys!

As to NPCs, I don't like running NPCs in the party and neither do my players (me or them running NPCs). A beast companion ala DnD Druid is OK.  But we find RPing hard when a player has 2 characters and I find it hard to separate DM knowledge and the NPC... I also am probably more inventive than the players and get a bit frustrated when 'my DM PC' cannot come out with ideas and answers.

Just a preference, we have run 4E level 1 - 10 with 2PCs each and a CoC game the same but RPing suffered. We also have the problem that my players are very 'casual' (cos they are so busy!) in that they don't read the books or really even look at their PCs sheets outside game and thus lack familiarity with there skills/power/abilities, having double the number makes it worse.