DM challenge

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I was wondering: has anyone on this forum ever, or do they ever plan to, translate the Grand Conjunction adventure chain into a pbp campaign?

I once had the privilege of being included in the first phase of this adventure, but it petered out because the group I was in was not quite Ravenloft-compatible. ^^; In any case, I'd love to partake in that grand adventure sometime, as well as the Requiem scenario. Ravenloft is a great setting, and these are two very significant events in its history.

[HuManBing]

Not really play-by-post, but I did do a modified campaign many years back with some players by online chat.

I ran the GC adventures in order of increasing level, threw in House of Strahd before the final pair, and rejigged each adventure to feature a planar item that was related to Azalin's research. Night of the Walking Dead featured Julio's pendant (Hazlik's attempt to leave the demiplane, Feast of Goblyns had the Crown of Souls (artifact with insights to domain formation), Touch of Death had a fragment of a Scroll of Return sewn into Ankhtepot's vestments, and Ship of Horror actually ended with the death of Meredoth and the dissolution of his domain (that was a departure from the usual, Azalin's Kargat was actually trying to kill off the PCs by sending them to Meredoth, much like Stalin sending people to Siberia).

To hold the separate adventures together, I had the PCs as "adopted orphans" of a friendly do-gooder organization (actually a commercial spying ring), and they were performing various mundane missions for them. The initial adventures of the Hexad were folded into this string of missions, to better disguise which ones were Azalin's secret ones. The agency remained benevolent and helpful until a little after Feast of Goblyns, when Azalin's Kargat started to bribe and infiltrate the group. By Ship of Horror, the group has become completely overrun, with all the loyalists forced out or killed, and the group sends the PCs east to Nevuchar Springs. After an ambush, they're put on the boat to Meredoth where the Kargat intend for them to die conveniently.

The final trio of adventures has the PCs personally contacted by Azalin's directorate and given immense resources to kill Strahd. Azalin knows this to be impossible, but he hopes to get some time to study the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. The adventure House of Strahd runs normally, but Strahd corners the PCs and makes them a counteroffer to kill Azalin. This set up a clear contrast between Azalin - who knew full well they were on an impossible mission and intended to expend them, and Strahd - who at least presumes the PCs might succeed and who fully intends to support them.

The PCs return to Darkon and attempt to assassinate Azalin during one of the nobles' balls. They have all the equipment needed to neutralize a lich, but Azalin is one step ahead of them. They attack and possibly destroy Mazrikoth, a high-level servitor posing as Azalin during the ball, and the Kargat immediately react and trap them.

From the Shadows and Roots of Evil then proceed.

[DeadReborn]

Never have, but have always wanted to. Not pbp, though.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I was hoping someone here would be up to the challenge. This is possibly the best Ravenloft community I've ever come across, which is one plus. Another is that there are some truly dedicated players here, who know and love the Ravenloft atmosphere and can make such a campaign work.
Pbp is just a very convenient way to play, in my opinion. No pressure to squeeze all a session's action into three hours or less. The opportunity to have ooc discussions without derailing ic action (separate threads ftw, y'all)... Yeah, I like pbp a lot. ^^

[DeadReborn]

I like playing in play by post games, I just don't think I would enjoy running one. Part of the fun in DMing, for me, is improvising during a game. Not "being in the moment", so to speak, would take alot of the fun out of it for me.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I would love to run such a thing... IF I had the time. DMing a campaign takes massive amounts of time. PbP's doubly so. I'm stretched too thin, sadly.

[alhoon]

Keep in mind also that a single battle in pbp could easily take a week. And most GC adventures have a lot of battles.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

For combat scenarios, you could hold onto the rule that if you don't post within 24 hours of the DM posting a round of combat, you forfeit your actions. That is very effective motivation. ^^

[alhoon]

OK, so a battle would take... 10 days. Meh.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

That depends entirely on how well your players work together to deal with opponents.