Release: In Pursuit of the Slave Lords (FINALE)

Nexus Version available here... 

In Pursuit of the Slave Lords (Nexus Version)

Woo hoo! Just finished the first module today, can't wait to get to the end!

Ahh good to hear, 

Hope you continue to enjoy the series. 

Finished up Chapter 2 today! After a quick stop at the "gem store", I started chapter 3 and rested so it's dark. That's where I'll pick it up tomorrow! A couple of the fights have been down-to-the-end battles and I've needed all my tricks to come out on top!

Do you suggest any specific rules for your levels? With how difficult it is to rez somebody, I went with the "everybody stands up if somebody survives" option, but then felt like it was sort of cheesy how the enemies would still spend their time attacking downed people, so now enemies leave my downed guys alone.

(I wish there was an option for "Attack downed player characters if not otherwise engaged" - that way you could run another character up and keep the enemy busy while somebody figures out a heal.)

I know the modules were designed for different rulesets, do you use any tweaks to make the experience feel better?

Not really, 

I just play on normal mode with Enhanced AI. Other than that, I just use common ruleset. I honestly don't recommend playing these on cataclysm. They are going to be challenging enough just as is. 

These modules are classic style D&D 1st Ed so they tend to have encounters that are deadly enough without help. 

Though there was a guy who recently asked me to make a change in one of my modules to account for the 6 man party Mod (spacing issues at an area transition). This may indeed be the way to go for some people. 

You do bring up a good point though, I did not include any revivify scrolls in the beginning supplies for characters so I will have to correct that. I just have never actually had a character die while play testing yet. I've had a few go down but never to the point of death. I usually have them healed on the next round. 

For the record though... here's the parties I generally test these with... 

1. Fighter/Mountaineer, Cleric/Life, Wizard/Shock Arcanist, Rogue/Shadowcaster

2. Paladin/Any, Ranger/Hunter, Wizard/Shock Arcanist, Cleric/Battle or Elemental

3. Fighter/Mountaineer, Paladin/Any, Wizard/Shock Arcanist, Cleric/Life

These tend to resemble the heavily armored parties of 1st edition closely. 

My unfortunate cleric got brained by a critical from the first Veteran you run into, who then attacked him while he was down with his other two attacks -- dead before I could respond and he's the only one with a scroll :/

I agree with you that the difficulty is tuned extremely well. I play on scavenger mode, and every move is critical and I have to use all my tricks! Thanks again for the content!!!

Well thank you for playing, and i'm glad you're enjoying yourself in these. 

Because I too enjoy making them, and even playing them myself. 

Silverquick,

I want to compliment you on these excellent modules, especially working within the limitations of the Dungeon Maker.  I never played through the originals, but always wondered about these modules.  I went from B1 to Judges Guild based stuff.

I've had a great time with these so far, currently in the finale module.  It's actually inspired me to try to create my own.  I definitely appreciate the amount of work this takes now that I've tried the Dungeon Maker out myself.

FYI, based on the discussion above, I play with a Rogue(Shadowcaster), Ranger(Hunter), Cleric (Einar/Battle), Wizard(Shockarcanist).  I've pretty much settled on this as my standard party though I've considered deleting the Rogue and running with 2 dual-wielding rangers and having one Ranger with Lowlife background for lockpicking/trap disarming.

Thanks again and I look forward to your next project!

PS: In case this information is useful to you, I have the GOG version of Solasta and get my mods from NexusMods.

That is useful information actually and thank you. 

It shows me it was a good decision to maintain a presence on the Nexus vault as a courtesy to GoG users. 

Party Wise, 

I actually did not use Rogues much after the Early Access showed traps could be disarmed by anyone regardless of failure. It was an Early Access bug that was eventually fixed. 

I tried them out recently alternating them with Rangers and to be honest they were equally as effective as Rangers. But it really depended on the situation. Rogues are even more effective than Rangers in Boss Mob situations or places with a bad guy you need to put down quick. In Assault on the Slave Lords for example, My rogue actually one shotted that Orc Grimblade on a Critical Hit which is something I generally am only able to do with a full round of Smiting attacks from a Greatsword Paladin. Rangers have a more consistent damage output, though, and can wear heavier armor for sustained fighting. While Ranger/Rogue/Paladin have a higher damage output, the best tank in the game is actually the Fighter-Mountaineer. 

In the Finale, In Pursuit of the Slave Lords, for example I was able to bump my Fighter's AC up to 29 after Cleric Buffs, to "tank" the Remorhazes and Crimson Spiders. Best I could do with Paladin was 27. And the Crimson Spiders have a +9 Attack. Ranger didn't fare too well, as he's not a very good defender. Though one thing he was able to do to stand in there with was that Ranger skill that Halves the opponent's attack bonus for each subsequent swing. So the Crimson Spiders only had +9 on their 1st attack then +4/+5 on their subsequent ones so he didn't get clobbered too bad. I didn't even bother trying to go one on one with the Rogue... that would have been a butt stomped mess after the Spiders got done with him.  Still with Blur giving them a Disadvantage + Occasional Shield use, He may have survived it. 

Best Team against the Hordes was the Shock Wizard/Lightning Cleric team. On the other Teams my Shock Wizard would have to push a lot of spells and by himself. So it was nice to have the backup, even though they were kind of a crappy healer compared to the Life Cleric Teams. 

With the Life Cleric teams it never mattered just how bad things got, a single heal from them and the target or full party were back up to full. Plus the Heavy Armor proficiency that comes along with the Life Cleric domain helps when you have things sneaking up behind you. 

But that Lightning Cleric (Similar to your Battle Cleric) was nearly as effective as my Shock Wizard with their Thunderwave, Lighting Bolts, and Wall of Fire.   

Party Composition will greatly vary the difficulty of various encounters. And each different configuration will have certain encounters or monsters that give them fits. 

But again... thank you for the compliments, and I'm glad you enjoyed playing these as much as I liked making them. And heck... loved playing them myself. 

I also got the files from nexus :) 

Well believe it or not, 

Those of us who were in Early Access doing Dungeon Making back then all started on the Nexus. Back then there was no Workshop, and they'd released the toolset. It was way cut down from what it is now, there was only one tileset with about 15 placables, about half the monsters there are now, and about half the magic items. And you couldn't link multiple maps together due to a bug. 

But that's where we all hammered it out back then and posted them was on the Nexus. Admittedly that's where I grab Dungeons from too, but primarily because those you could open in the Dungeon Maker to get a good look at them, plus if the module maker hosed up somewhere you could go quick correct it, since any changes made to the module also affected the saved games. 

Some module makers abandoned it back then, but some of us still post modules there as a courtesy to GoG users who cannot get them on the Workshop. 

The Workshop is still my primary place for them... but it is good to know the extra effort I spend to maintain them there as well was not a waste of my time.

And there are even some modules there from that very limited original Dungeon Maker that are only available on the Nexus Vault. 

I won't be releasing anything this week, just letting the Slave Lords series breathe right now while I think up the next adventure. 

LOL you've earned yourself a lifetime of rest that I know you won't take :p

Lol probably, 

Right now I'm working on a Village of Hommlet, Moathouse style dungeon. Still don't know where I'll go with it, but its a beginning adventure to launch a new campaign. 

The Wilderness portion is pretty cool so far. And the moathouse style external area came out pretty well. 

Who knows maybe this time around I'll try a REAL Temple of Elemental Evil module as a followup. 

EDIT: I was originally considering a Keep on the Borderlands style module, but the frank truth is I just don't have the correct assets to do one yet. I need variable terrain height and more monsters for it, also you really need to build a Keep and "Town adventure". I can't do the entire thing with just goblins and orcs. I do have Ogres and Minotaurs though, but there's Kobalds, Hobgoblins, Lizard Men, and Gnolls as well. It would be just fighting the same things over and over again. Its also what's keeping me from doing a Pool of Radiance style module as well. I have considered one of to things as a follow up. Either a Ruins of Myth Drannor type adventure or Secret of the Silver Blades style module, but again creature limitations are going to be a problem at this point. 

Looking over my collection I have these left to do... 

Keep on the Borderlands

Tomb of the Lizard King (High level)

Veiled Society (City Adventure)

Swords of the Undercity (City Adventure)

Against the Cult of the Reptile God (Town Adventure)

N4 Treasure Hunt (Pretty cool, but takes place on a deserted Island and you need ships)

Dwellers of the Forbidden City (Need a Runed City for this)

Mines of Bloodstone (cool but needs higher level monsters)

Sinister Secret of Salt Marsh (Cool but needs ships)

All that Glitters (Cool but needs desert)

Isle of Dread (really cool but needs ships and a lot of different monsters)

Castle Amber (REALLY cool but would need conversations and City/Towns)

Master of the Desert Nomads (Cool but needs Deserts)

Temple of Death (kinda needs a lot of things, its basically Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)

The only two that are really doable are.. 

Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth 

Blizzard Pass (needs snow though)

How strictly are you following the modules? Is the loot part of the suggestions or your creation? Ditto the "flavor" text that pops up while you explore. It really feels like a DM-led module! :)