Current play?

[larsdangly]

Tollenkar's Lair is fun, but note it's pretty extensive and tough for new players; you might start with the shorter adventures in the upcoming Adventures volume (or other short dungeons in the Companion).

[ColBosch]

Originally Posted by ColBosch

I think I'll do Tollenkar's Lair as a mini-campaign, adding in some wilderness encounters and small labyrinths, with the culmination being an assault on the lower levels.

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Tollenkar's Lair is fun, but note it's pretty extensive and tough for new players; you might start with the shorter adventures in the upcoming Adventures volume (or other short dungeons in the Companion).

Emphasis added. I am fully aware of how difficult Tollenkar's Lair can be, which is precisely why I would run it in multiple sessions, allowing players to build up their strength and familiarity with the system before going after the mage himself.

[JLV]

@ColBosch: I have some purely gratuitous advice which you might cheerfully ignore (or, more probably, are already well aware of), but which might be interesting to you as a source of ideas for little side adventures (and to other folks, possibly, as well).

Go to CR Brandon's web page and check out the "free downloads" section. He's got a couple of mini-dungeons in there that would do very well for some "appetite whetting" and can easily be used as minor lairs for the bandit types in Tollenkar's Lair. They might save you some time trying to figure out some mini-dungeons/labyrinths of your own. I suggest downloading Cauldron issue #0 as well, it's got both an adventure, and a methodology for converting D&D stats to HOW (which is practically the same as converting them to classic TFT). Unfortunately, it appears that he's removed "Esur the Red" from his library of free downloads, and that's a shame, because it had a random burial mound map "generator" that was pretty cool... (Of course, if you have Barrowmaze, you have something sort of similar you can use.)

Of course, Dyson Logos' web site is just chock full of very useful maps (one of which -- so far -- is actually done in TFT hex format!). He's the guy who did the battlemaps for Legacy Edition, so you already know what his work looks like.

Also, over on Dark City Games' web site, they have a couple of free adventures to download; one of which is against a band of orcs in the mountains (possibly useful for additional clues) and the other of which is an exploration of a Sorcerer's mansion (which could be a possible escape location for Tollenkar if you want to preserve him for later use...). They also have a couple of free adventures for their space version of TFT, but those probably won't be of much use!

[ColBosch]

Thanks for the resources, JLV! I'll check them out.

[larsdangly]

I have made extensive use Dyson Logos' maps for my TFT sandbox campaign for years now. I've got it down to an art: I'll find a map I like in one of the hard-copy volumes he's published, then find the matching map as pdf on his web site and drop it into a graphics program (I'm a digitally illiterate old person, so I just use ppt because it's familiar). Then I edit the image, adding and blanking out lines where I want something a little different (e.g., extending a city wall, or adding a hamlet outside the main city gate, etc.). Then I'll overlay a wire-frame hex map in very feint grey, and I'm done. I've made dozens and dozens of maps like this - the technique is the basis of my current maps for the main major city and underlying sewer/mega dungeon that is the centerpiece of my home-cooked TFT setting.

[JLV]

Yep, I have a huge library of his stuff now... Very useful, even if I completely re-write the content. Plus, I just like his mapping style.

[larsdangly]

I'm really excited to see him getting engaged with the SJG efforts on this product line; he makes great materials, both in terms of visuals and 3d design of spaces. I expect he'll end up contributing excellent hex-based maps for future adventures.

[JLV]

I sincerely hope you're right about that! ;-)

[larsdangly]

Had another great session today; we again played over Skype and had no problem working with the hex and chit components - folks following on line were able to call out moves and spot their figures pretty much all the time - both things we used to struggle with using the traditional scale maps. And, this was our first session played with my add-on extra set of MH's. It made a big difference to have multiples of the multi-MH tiles; this got us over the logistical hurdle of laying out continuous sections of tunnels and rooms. I know we have other products on the horizon, but I'll probably pick up a third set just to build up a nice buffer. It really speeds and enhances play to know you can reach into the box and pull out the tile you need at will.

The adventure is ticking along very enjoyably as well. The group literally had nothing but nuisance monsters, physical obstacles and scouting to contend with, but it all felt exciting. I think the immersive element of having the dungeon laid out in front of you gets players' heads in the game. And, I think it's just generally true that the main challenge of GM'ing TFT is presenting diverse, interesting challenges and features without presenting too high of a risk. TFT is about risk management in the same way D+D is about resource management. Of course you can always run away, but it is more fun when there are lots of quirky things to deal with, no one of which is massively risky.

[ColBosch]

Now I'm pondering getting a webcam set up to look down on a map, getting a dice roller app, and streaming on Twitch...