comradeDa Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 I want to run some older scenarios and was wondering what stuff I'd have to think about before just throwing the players in there. Obviously, points costs and general balance has changed since 4th Ed, but what are some other considerations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Modernization of Storylines Customizing Background to include PC's. Customizing Style to fit your Campaign. Read once through, note significant environment impact of Powers effects in game on Battleground. Prepare Charcter Sheets ahead of time, Battlemaps, and Miniatures. Prepare GM Cheat Sheet of PC and NPC Speeds, Dexterity, and Basic OCVs & DCVs for easy reference. And Defenses. Have fun, ask for assistance converting to 5E or 6E via Private Messages to keep PCs in the dark. Change names to protect the guilty and innocent. QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Always feel free to ask me if any of my products have rebooted villains in them. (They do.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Some of the older scenarios tend to be more simplistic than what gamers are accustomed to today. You may need to flesh them out if you want more than one or two game sessions from them. In particular, try to anticipate what happens if the PCs don't follow the plot laid out in the scenario (which they probably won't). Some older adventures' outcomes depend on the heroes choosing a particular course of action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios I tend to agree. This is why I always try and create options for the GM to use within my products so that players don't feel railroaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. MID-Nite Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Some of the older scenarios tend to be more simplistic than what gamers are accustomed to today. You may need to flesh them out if you want more than one or two game sessions from them. In particular' date=' try to anticipate what happens if the PCs don't follow the plot laid out in the scenario (which they probably won't). Some older adventures' outcomes depend on the heroes choosing a particular course of action.[/quote'] I second this....always assume the players won't do anything that is listed in the module, especially the older ones. Also, the older the edition, the more you'll probably have to "flesh out" the character builds. I've updated a significant number older modules to 6th ed and that's usually the two biggest concerns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios AFWIW remember that the old Day of the Destroyer module was a last gasp before the new edition of the rules came out, and was speciffically intended to kill off as many PCs as possible so that the players had to make new characters using the new rules. If that's not your intention then you may want to tone that mod down a little. Not sure if Island of Doctor Destroyer had the same intent. I tend to run that one with every new Champions gaming group I manage to get together as a 3rd or 4th session, and usually only manage to kill off 1-2 PCs each time. I have a write up of one session that I posted here once. I'll hunt for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Here's the link: So I ran my Island of Dr Destroyer one off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios AFWIW remember that the old Day of the Destroyer module was a last gasp before the new edition of the rules came out' date=' and was speciffically intended to [i']kill off[/i] as many PCs as possible so that the players had to make new characters using the new rules. If that's not your intention then you may want to tone that mod down a little. Not sure if Island of Doctor Destroyer had the same intent. I tend to run that one with every new Champions gaming group I manage to get together as a 3rd or 4th session, and usually only manage to kill off 1-2 PCs each time. I have a write up of one session that I posted here once. I'll hunt for it. That was not Day's intention at all. Yes, there was at least one nasty deathtrap in there -- which is perfectly in genre -- and it played for high stakes, but it wasn't meant to be Champions' version of Tomb of Horrors by any stretch. Rather, it meant to prevent challenging stakes for your heroes to overcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios You mean I killed off all those PCs for nothing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios A couple of my adventures are pretty close to the "Tomb of Horrors" of Champions. Pretty Hate Machines is ridiculously hard, and Imaginary Friends is also super-tough. That final battle is screamy. So hang on to your hero hat if you pick those up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pruttm Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios ... and usually only manage to kill off 1-2 PCs each time. I'll hunt for it. Why do you try to do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios I don't TRY to kill PC's. They do occasionally die from heroic sacrifice or outright stupidity, though. I killed one of my GMPC's with rockets fired by Santa's Elves. Worst death ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios As a GM I have accidentally (meaning really bad dice rolls) killed by own GMPC's. The most glorious effect it instilled in my Players was the Threat Level suddenly jumped in their eyes. Character Death was real and I suddenly noticed everyone paying closer attention to what I said. It was almost worth the sacrifice. When I GM Shadowrun is the only time that I actively set out to kill Characters and even then only to advance the storyline. It is also the only game I have ever played with my group that they retreat from combat. Go figure QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Oh, I've killed player characters, too. That Santa's Elves one is just the worst death of any PC I've had ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios Why do you try to do this? I never try to kill PCs. But three dynamics do come into play: If the villians & traps I present to the players don't present a credable threat to the PCs, then the scenarios have no challange. That's boring for everyone. Not every PC is built to the same relative power level. Things that are only a stiff challange to a brick can be a deadly threat to a mentalist, or to a martial artist if he gets flat footed. Some players, by the choices they make, demonstrate that they simply don't want their PCs to live. "You look through the skylight into the abandon warehouse. You see Dr. Destroyer, Gigaton and Menton. Dr. Destroyer seems to be finishing up some adjustments to a robot that looks like Mechanon." "OK, Shadowhunter uses his Editic Memory OAF Video Camera to quietly record the meeting..." "No problem, guys. We got this! Captain Canolli jumps through the skylight and does a Move Through on Mechanon!" "All right, Leroy is having his character do a Move Through on the seven ton deactivated robot that's surrounded by archvillians. Pete, what are you doing?" "Browsing Facebook for a different gaming group." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comradeDa Posted February 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios I've been sort of lazy and am instead doing a period RPG set in the 80s, rather than trying to modernise the setting. The idea is to have a set of relatively introductory sessions so that I can get used to GMing and the new players can get used to the system, before moving on to a campaign proper (if people want to). As far as I can tell, the Destroyer 2 build in this is intended to be a weaker version of current Doctor Destroyer, but I should update him to modern rules. Maybe the characters will just end up looting things. :/ Ah well. I'm working with them to come up with why their characters are together and doing good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios No version of Destroyer is meant to be taken on out of the gate. He's someone you build up to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostDancer Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Re: Running older scenarios comradeDa and y'all may have noticed that the advantage to period campaigns is the (usually vast*) period material available, including real and quasi-real adventure seeds, in yearbooks, periodicals, interwebs, etc. *less so for the Han dynasty campaign linked below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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