A couple nights ago I spent a good chunk of the evening sat on the floor of my bedroom. Tony was bust trying to get my computer to work again, after I installed a beta piece of software that it really didn't like. The PC is a bit tempermental now, but seems to be working. I was sat on the floor though, because I needed to search through a stack of magazines.
See, I've been running my Rise of the Snakemen D&D game on Friday nights for nearly 2 years now, and in that time the player's characters have gone from 3rd to 13th level. By the time they finish storming their way through the mountain fortress they are assaulting at the moment, they will likely reach 14th and maybe even 15th level. That will complete Chapter 5 of the campaign. Now when I devised the campaign I intended for it to have many more chapters after that point. However, I failed to take into account just how much time prepping for a session can take once the characters reach double digit levels.
I no longer have the time to spend hours and hours writing up villains and plotting scenarios and the like. So, as a result Chapter Five will be the final chapter of the campaign. I actually created the campaign with a built-in cut off point at this stage anyway, just in case I would need a rest. Frankly I'm still kinda stunned that my game has gone on this long, considering that I wrote it myself. No other campaign that I've written has ever lasted past a couple months of play. As much as I'd like to continue it, it just isn't feasible.
My plan was to start a new game over, one using pre-written adventures which would hugely reduce the prep time, to basically me just reading through the relevant section of the adventure for that night at some point during the week prior to the game. My players though had another suggestion. Some of them have been playing the same characters now for the duration of the campaign (Gareth, Phil and Matt) whil the others (Tony and Alastair) have created new characters after their starting character was slain. For the record, Matt's character has died 5 times now, they just keep bringing him back to life! Understandbly they have grown very attached to these characters and want to continue their adventures.
Now finding adventures for 1st level characters is easy. Since most campaigns start at 1st level (and most finish by 10th level) it stands to reason that there are a LOT more low level adventures than high level ones, because there is a much higher demand for them. My players though once they finish kicking seven shades of shit out of the snakemen in that fortress will be 14th-15th level approximately. Which brings me back to sitting on the floor with a stack of magazines. In this case, Dungeon Magazine, which is a monthly publication that has several columns and such, but the bulk of the magazine is taken up by 3 full length adventures. One low level (Levels 1-5), One Mid level (Levels 6-11) and one High level (Levels 12+). I get this every month and have done for several years now, so I had a big pile of these issues to work my through.
I needed to go through each issue, as not every adventure would be suited to my group, usually because of where they are set (ie I'd have a hard time getting my group into the middle of a desert). Still after looking through more than 4 years worth of issues and making notes of what adventures might be suitable. I finished with a list of about 20 adventures in all. Of those there are 5 adventures that strike me as being the best of the bunch, though I'm not sure whether I'm going to be able to use all of them, I think I'll likely just use 3.
I'm glad my players suggested having further adventures with their characters, just without the overarcing plot thread of a campaign, as I'm really looking forward to running the adventures that I have picked. I think my players will get a blast out of fighting such iconic D&D foes as: Dragons (they've killed a few of these already and have a bit of a rep as Dragonslayers by now), Drow (dark elves make superb baddies!), Demons (nuff said) and possibly Vampires too! Plus I'm sure I can work out a way to make use of a couple classic D&D villains too. All of which will entertain them, whilst not eating up my free time.
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