Hi all! I'm in the early stages of planning for SKT. I've only DM'd for a few times before, but I'd like to pick up the craft and SKT looks like a strong source book/adventure to build myself up with. I would like to run a full campaign to level 19-20, and even blend it together with elements of Rise of Tiamat and my player's backstories, so I'll have to do some modifying to the adventure's pace. I've read the Dungeon Master's Manual several times now, so the basics aren't lost on me. I'm more concerned with the general scope of the project.
I'd like to hear from DM's who have already played through and hear their feedback on the adventure, like missed opportunities or holes in the plot they didn't see coming, etc.
Things to know:
I'll be playing on Roll 20
I aim to get a party of 5-6 together
I aim to mix Theater of the Mind and Battlemaps, depending on the situation.
It's just 12$ and contains a lot of helpful material and tips. At least I assume it does, since I bought the Baldur's Gate version from the same author.
From what I've personally experienced so far: the encounter with the seven bandits and one spy is way too hard for a normal group of four level 1 characters. Maybe even too hard for level 2 characters. If you can't somehow get the guards to intervene, you might want to reduce the number of enemies.
Good day! I ran a heavily modified version of SKT and am happy to provide what little help I can either via posts or direct messages (to avoid spoilers).
Here are a few thoughts:
Simplify the plot of what is happening at court.
Figure out the "big bad's" motivations for your world, and how long they may have been scheming at this.
Expose characters to elements of the plot early, use some of the adventure locations in the middle of the book to add lore and background.
Let the characters roam and explore, take account their backstories in the middle section, but use the giants as an ever increasing threat.
Ie. they may visit a town and later that town is destroyed/damaged
Continue ramping up the pressure as the characters increase in level and awareness
Somewhere around level 7-9, make sure the players have a choice as to how they are going to deal with the situation, and perhaps why in all of the realms it rests primarily on them.
Some giants can be helpful (I liked using the stone giants for this)
Dragons and Giants are natural adversaries, so I added some dragons watching the events and occasionally providing aid, assistance, information.
Hope some of that helps. Feel welcome to direct message me as I don't want to spoil things.
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Chapter 3 can be a bit of a slog. It's absolutely wide open, and if your group isn't into exploring, it can be hard to get them to want to. When I ran it, I made sure to drop little hints in other towns/settlements about treasure, or a problem that they heard of in x/y/z place. That helps to point them in some kinda direction. But, if they really start to zone out, you can always just throw Harshnag in and get the main story rolling again. And I felt that throwing in small hints right from the get go about the Kraken Society made that reveal less of a shock, and more of an "Ahhhh" moment.
Hi all! I'm in the early stages of planning for SKT. I've only DM'd for a few times before, but I'd like to pick up the craft and SKT looks like a strong source book/adventure to build myself up with. I would like to run a full campaign to level 19-20, and even blend it together with elements of Rise of Tiamat and my player's backstories, so I'll have to do some modifying to the adventure's pace. I've read the Dungeon Master's Manual several times now, so the basics aren't lost on me. I'm more concerned with the general scope of the project.
I'd like to hear from DM's who have already played through and hear their feedback on the adventure, like missed opportunities or holes in the plot they didn't see coming, etc.
Things to know:
You might be interested in this:
https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/27595
It's just 12$ and contains a lot of helpful material and tips. At least I assume it does, since I bought the Baldur's Gate version from the same author.
From what I've personally experienced so far: the encounter with the seven bandits and one spy is way too hard for a normal group of four level 1 characters. Maybe even too hard for level 2 characters. If you can't somehow get the guards to intervene, you might want to reduce the number of enemies.
Good day! I ran a heavily modified version of SKT and am happy to provide what little help I can either via posts or direct messages (to avoid spoilers).
Here are a few thoughts:
Hope some of that helps. Feel welcome to direct message me as I don't want to spoil things.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Chapter 3 can be a bit of a slog. It's absolutely wide open, and if your group isn't into exploring, it can be hard to get them to want to. When I ran it, I made sure to drop little hints in other towns/settlements about treasure, or a problem that they heard of in x/y/z place. That helps to point them in some kinda direction. But, if they really start to zone out, you can always just throw Harshnag in and get the main story rolling again. And I felt that throwing in small hints right from the get go about the Kraken Society made that reveal less of a shock, and more of an "Ahhhh" moment.