Topic: Campaign order suggestions

The idea is to run a campaign using published adventures only (no time to prep my own) and mostly LotFP material. There will be an explicit assumption that we play to "complete" as many adventures as possible, rather than to free-roam in an open world. The group chooses where to go next from a pool of three or so adventures available at any time, and new sites "unlock" every now and then. Most likely I'm going to start with Tower of the Stargazer and Grinding Gear open for exploration (as I already know those), reading a new module perhaps once a month to add it to the pool.

Given this formula and the large choice of published LotFP adventures what order would you suggest?

Last edited by venefice (2015-05-20 11:07:41)

Re: Campaign order suggestions

This is basically exactly what I'm doing!  I started with A Stranger Storm (available right now for free in the Referee Book) and then Tower of the Stargazer was next.  Better Than Any Man works as a great sandbox (also free) and you can plug in a lot of the modules in or around that area.

My advice is: be flexible and don't set up too much all at once ("unlocking" a few sites at a time, as you put it, is a good idea).  You'll have to adjust periodically if players level up, or TPK and are back at first level.

I mapped everything to the real world (just for my satisfaction) and then I feed the players rumors (when there's no particular reason to do one thing or another, and I want them to have many choices) or have "friends" send them on quests when there's something particularly interesting and/or pressing.

My other consideration is what might get re-published someday.  I am running stuff that I know will never be republished sooner than later, and holding out for stuff like Grinding Gear, People of Pembrookstonshire, etc., that at least has a small chance of getting re-published.  Vornheim is for sure, so I'm holding off until the new version.

A final thought: you might want to run stuff sooner if you want to use something frequently in your campaign.  For example, if the Alice class is interesting to you, run Red and Pleasant Land sooner so you can have that as an ongoing motif.

Re: Campaign order suggestions

Those are all common sense suggestions, but not exactly what I was looking for. I'm specifically interested in suggested order of adventures, rather than general guidance.

One reason is just to see how other people would do that (I wonder about possible patterns). Another reason is that some adventures might work better in specific order (for example I vaguely recall reading something about the direct continuation of Death Frost Doom) or not work well for lower or higher levels, so I'd rather avoid such traps. I'm definitely not going to get and read them all before the campaign starts, I want to pace my prep in a sensible manner.

Last edited by venefice (2015-05-21 08:59:12)

Re: Campaign order suggestions

Okay, I can be more insistent:

Read Better Than Any Man, A Stranger Storm, Tower of the Stargazer and The God That Crawls.  Figure out where you will place the three standalone modules on the map of Better Than any Man.  Feed your players rumors for Better Than Any Man, Tower, and God that Crawls, while the first session should be A Stranger Storm.

Stranger Storm will teach you and your players many lessons that will last a lifetime.  The other three modules will as well.  I consider these to be the core of LotFP - they are all very different, aren't necessarily campaign breaking, and the players will experience a lot of neat moments.  Also, they are all fun to read as a GM.

Once you have all that down, throw Death Frost Doom at them.

Last edited by Crunk Posby (2015-05-22 06:07:30)

Re: Campaign order suggestions

God that Crawls can work as they will be hunted by the Church after-- and what better place to run than northern Germany (for Better than Any Man) and the Quelong.  The thing about Death Frost Doom is that you want them to care a little bit for the village down in the valley, so you  might want to have a non-weird adventure there leading up to it (like finding a child in the woods and having everything turn out just great before the hammer comes down).

Russel Brown in "Elusive Legends" talks about an 'inciting incident' that moves the players from their normal life to the adventuring life.  Many of the LoTFP adventures will start this off right, even The Pale Lady, Fuck for Satan or The Idea from Space.  If FORGIVE US was 1st level, that would be another great starter, but it's for 4th level (who makes it to 4th in LoTFP?).

The only three I would not start with would be Carcosa, Red and Pleasant Land and maybe not Quelong.  Those are places to get to though.

Re: Campaign order suggestions

I've got a bit of a problem about what scenario should I use to kickstart my summer campaign and don't wanna clutter the forums so I'll ask here.

My plan is that the PC's are hired to fetch an old journal which would then lead to Thulian Echoes. But I don't have anything for the first session, where they fetch the journal.
I considered the Bloodworth Manor from Death Love Doom and the realm of the Pale Lady, but then I decided that a more "normal" adventure works better to make the later weirdness all the more horrifying.

Three of my players have already stumbled their way through God That Crawls, so unfortunately that's out. What other good, contained adventure locations there are, where I could send my players?

Re: Campaign order suggestions

Tallu wrote:

I've got a bit of a problem about what scenario should I use to kickstart my summer campaign and don't wanna clutter the forums so I'll ask here.

My plan is that the PC's are hired to fetch an old journal which would then lead to Thulian Echoes. But I don't have anything for the first session, where they fetch the journal.
I considered the Bloodworth Manor from Death Love Doom and the realm of the Pale Lady, but then I decided that a more "normal" adventure works better to make the later weirdness all the more horrifying.

Three of my players have already stumbled their way through God That Crawls, so unfortunately that's out. What other good, contained adventure locations there are, where I could send my players?

Some other possibilities:

Forgive Us - has one big adventure and two smaller adventures.  You could have James Blake send the PCs on a journal fetching mission (which could either be in the main Forgive Us adventure, or in the other mini adventure, and this will set you up to run the third adventure later on - very efficient!)  http://www.lotfp.com/store/index.php?ro … uct_id=179

Better Than Any Man - it's packed with so many adventure choices, that you could pick the area you think is most "normal" and send the PCs there.  Place the journal in that locale.  This has the added benefit of other areas to explore if the PCs go off path or want to come back and explore more.  (Free here: http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/)

Bad Myrmidon - not officially LotFP (but does feature an encounter written by James Raggi, as well as a few writers who have written for LotFP) is Greek themed and might be a nice tie-in with Thulian Echoes.  http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/123324/Bad-Myrmidon