[3.5] Advice/Help for a Savage Tide campaign?

[macdaddy]

Is there anything available like Redhand of Doom DM Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171284) for Savage Tide?

I am trying to find advice, tips, where things need to be re-worked, etc. I am getting organized to run a campaign in Savage Tide and since I have somewhat limited prep-time, I was looking for any threads that have some detailed perspectives; basically as a way to reduce my total prep time and/or help me avoid pitfalls that I may not see until too late.

I checked out the Paizo board, but its 24 pages of 100 threads each, and a whole lot to sift through, even with google search.

I was really hoping for something as simple as a small paragraph for each adventure with things I should be on the lookout for, etc al.

My adventuring party will probably be around 7-8 characters, so I will need to size appropriately as I believe its really intended for 4-6

Any help is greatly appreciated. :)

[macdaddy]

...crickets....

anyone?

[GreenETC]

Yes, the number of people you have there is going to be a big problem, as the module is built for 4-6. What I'd recommend trying is to take all the maps and try to double the scale, as a lot of the maps have 5-10ft corridors, which becomes a massive hassle for parties of that size. On top of this, I'd recommend you up the NUMBER of enemies per encounter. Having smaller groups of stronger enemies could work, but action economy is the biggest issue you're going to face, as many of the bosses will easily be over-run with 8 attacks or more on them a round. Try to diversify threats, like adding henchmen to boss rooms, or use BFC magic to slow down the party.

Good luck, I really love the module, and I hope your group enjoys it.

[macdaddy]

I found some nice postings on Paizo after a LOT of searching

1. Scaling Savage Tide for 8 players (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2hlxs?Scaling-Savage-Tide-for-eight-players)
Good suggestions. Either

Scale somewhat, but then do it all the way through
Don't scale, let them advance more slowly and the adventure will "auto-adjust"
Use the sidebar to scale up 1-2 levels


2. A Madmen GMs savage tide (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2hj50?A-Madman-GMs-the-Savage-Tide)
Great introduction, but I think he makes the encounters WAY to tough early on, and later the party is crazy over-optimized and he has to scale off the charts and doesn't provide a challenge.

3. V's savage tide campaign log (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2oedr&page=1?Vs-Savage-Tide-Campaign-Log)
This one is run under pathfinder, but he has a lot of good ideas for making the adventure a little more "story" like. With plenty of foreshadowing/etc. I like his overall changes as I think they enhance the story line.

in general I think I will do the following:
1. For regular encounters, add a few more mooks. give a couple of mooks a few more HD/feat/abilities or just max HP
2. For Boss encounters, add a few henchmen or boost the existing henchmen, probably give the boss man max hp. Sometimes re-stat the BBEG (different class levels, etc).

I once had a party of Eight 8th level adventurers take on a barbed devil (cr 11); and it would have been a TPK because that was just TOO hard an encounter.

As a result, I am more inclined to add some measure of quantity over quality.