Running Forge of Fury

[Protato]

Tomorrow I'll be running Forge of Fury for an L3 group consisting of a Dragonborn Samurai, an Enchanter Wizard, a Trechery Paladin, and a Cavalier Fighter (who may be on his Warhorse). With that out of the way, I'm unsure of how to run this dungeon. I've DM'd for a bit but usually in short oneshot adventures or my own, pretty non-complex, homebrew material, but this dungeon seems pretty involved. Are there any tips for running this dungeon from more experienced DMs, people that have played through it, or people that have DM'd it? I' a bit worried about my ability to coordinate the Orc attack in the first room, to say nothing of the rest of the dungeon.

[DMThac0]

I've never run it, but I will speak out of experience running modules in general:


Read the material briefly, getting an overview of what you're presenting the players.

(You've already done this) Talk to your players about what you're running and see what they intend for characters

Read the material and take some notes on the flow of the game, where actions intersect, where story parts meet, what might fit into/with your player's character choices.

Grab a light meal, the drink of your choice, and turn on some inspiring music. Read through the first milestone of the adventure. Take note of the flow, major scenes, NPCs, Villains, and Locations. Get familiar with them, start to visualize how things may play out.

Get some sleep.

Take a look through the book a little closer and make sure there are no surprises where actions in the first milestone can really influence something later in the game.

Re-read each of the milestones as you get closer to the next one, making sure to keep notes of your sessions.


Many of the modules are written poorly. I don't know how many times I've had to ret-con something because it was never referenced in earlier parts of a module but was integral to something later on. Other than that, it's just prep work and having fun. That's my 2 cents worth! Have fun with the adventure, I hope it goes well for you all.

[PracticalM]

Tomorrow I'll be running Forge of Fury for an L3 group consisting of a Dragonborn Samurai, an Enchanter Wizard, a Trechery Paladin, and a Cavalier Fighter (who may be on his Warhorse). With that out of the way, I'm unsure of how to run this dungeon. I've DM'd for a bit but usually in short oneshot adventures or my own, pretty non-complex, homebrew material, but this dungeon seems pretty involved. Are there any tips for running this dungeon from more experienced DMs, people that have played through it, or people that have DM'd it? I' a bit worried about my ability to coordinate the Orc attack in the first room, to say nothing of the rest of the dungeon.

There are parts of this dungeon I like and parts I'm not happy with.

1. Like too many published dungeons there are never enough guidelines about what happens when alarms are sounded and how the enemy should respond. Take a moment and think about how you want the enemy to respond.
The best example for me was to have the lizard men ambush the players because they would clearly have scouts out and know the players were coming (unless they were sneaking).
Do an evil overlord pass about how the minions should respond and how the enemy should defend their home.
2. Forge of Fury gets a lot of complaints about one of the monsters which is really too powerful for the suggested characters. I think this was a good idea and it can get players more familiar with the art of running away and trying to avoid combat.
There is usually so much emphasis on combat in D&D because players are expecting they can beat anything they encounter. Having them encounter things they couldn't hope to win can teach them to appreciate the idea of sneaking around more and avoiding combat.
3. There are 4 different groups each in control of different sections of the dungeon and there isn't an interaction (for good reasons). It might be nice to foreshadow some of the threats where the different groups are keeping to themselves to avoid the others and give clues to investigating players.

[Avonar]

Dungeons are definitely a different beast. Forge of Fury is a very solid one, there are some specific points which I will spoiler just in case:

The very first you need is to read about the Stone Tooth Mountain itself. There are 4 ways in, although one they will almost certainly never find. This is extremely important to take note of. If they are willing to explore, perhaps reward them with the Orc Tunnel or show them the chimney if they investigate the smoke. However if they decide to go through the main entrance, you have to be aware of how the orcs would act. They have sentries that I imagine would go and sound the alarm rather than fight to the death and the book tells how this unfolds. This may well lead to a TPK, it is nasty.

Once they are safely in the dungeon, things get simpler. Make sure to note if the players are carrying anything to give off light and how much sound they make, whether they would attract thing from further away.

The Foundry level is one to give a good look over as you will need to play the NPCs, the duegar and the succubus to be exact. Figure out how they would act ahead of time.

Mostly, don't be afraid to kill them. I have run this 3 times now and each time the group has lost at least one member. It's tough.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

There are parts of this dungeon I like and parts I'm not happy with.

1. Like too many published dungeons there are never enough guidelines about what happens when alarms are sounded and how the enemy should respond. Take a moment and think about how you want the enemy to respond.
The best example for me was to have the lizard men ambush the players because they would clearly have scouts out and know the players were coming (unless they were sneaking).
Do an evil overlord pass about how the minions should respond and how the enemy should defend their home.
2. Forge of Fury gets a lot of complaints about one of the monsters which is really too powerful for the suggested characters. I think this was a good idea and it can get players more familiar with the art of running away and trying to avoid combat.
There is usually so much emphasis on combat in D&D because players are expecting they can beat anything they encounter. Having them encounter things they couldn't hope to win can teach them to appreciate the idea of sneaking around more and avoiding combat.
3. There are 4 different groups each in control of different sections of the dungeon and there isn't an interaction (for good reasons). It might be nice to foreshadow some of the threats where the different groups are keeping to themselves to avoid the others and give clues to investigating players.

Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!

I'm doing the almost the exact same thing. My group will be starting Thursday.

Which monster is too strong? The um, one at the end in the water? (I'm really hoping people who are going to play aren't reading this)?

Protato, I just ran the Sunless Citadel and decided this time around I was going to have the first group of bad guys mount a more fluid defense. They seem like they'd be smarter than some Kobolds. What I was considering was just keeping a tally of how many soldiers were at their disposal and how many the party dispersed of. If I mess up by one or two I mess up and I won't tell any one.

How are you planning on controlling the party's rests Protato? I might have the party have to vacate the dungeon and go hide in the trees depending on where they decide to call it. 8 hours with a bunch of ppl you've half killed around just isn't going to go quietly. During Sunless Citadel they'd made some allies (then double crossed them), I don't know if that's as likely here.