How much of the linked actual plays have you read/watched? Does it seem like most groups take similar paths through the AV content, or does the amount of stuff going on here mean that different groups have meaningfully different experiences and encounter orders? From what I've seen, the Halls of Thoth are quite large, but there could end up being a somewhat standard progression through it due to enemy challenge or other blocking effects like puzzles, locks, etc.
> How much of the linked actual plays have you read/watched?
Just the first 20 or so episodes of 3d6dtl and then eric vulgaris' recap. I should go see if I can mine the other ones for gold
> From what I've seen, the Halls of Thoth are quite large, but there could end up being a somewhat standard progression through it due to enemy challenge or other blocking effects like puzzles, locks, etc.
Yeah, there are definitely some funnels, though from a player perspective it's not as easy to figure the relative strength/danger of stuff as it is from the GM's side
"Arden Vul: the first five sessions" could be an interesting article, especially if you analyze how different campaigns start off and compare that to what parts of the dungeon offer useful XP rewards in terms of the challenge they provide. Might not be worth the effort.
From a quick skim, the OSE, DCC, and ACKS writeups you link to have reasonably distinct opening sessions, although there's a lot of exploration of the surface level, and both the OSE and ACKS ones have the party finding the clue about the Beacon and obelisks pretty early on.
You've likely already seen it, but there's also an actual play on Dragonsfoot by the Arden Vul creator as he was developing the dungeon in ~2012. (The thread is called "Expedition to Arden Vul [OSRIC/1e]".) I've found it a bit verbose to read, but maybe that's my fault.
What's your setup for running this? (E.g., do you mostly rely on the actual printed books, or do you primarily use the PDFs?) Information organization and density are the major issues in using a product of this size, and I suspect that something like a heavily-hyperlinked wiki would be the best way to make information accessible but not excessively repeated.
Otherwise, I have a searchable index of clarifications and bits of the 1e DMG that should have been in the PHB that works well on mobile. Everything else is paper!
How much of the linked actual plays have you read/watched? Does it seem like most groups take similar paths through the AV content, or does the amount of stuff going on here mean that different groups have meaningfully different experiences and encounter orders? From what I've seen, the Halls of Thoth are quite large, but there could end up being a somewhat standard progression through it due to enemy challenge or other blocking effects like puzzles, locks, etc.
> How much of the linked actual plays have you read/watched?
Just the first 20 or so episodes of 3d6dtl and then eric vulgaris' recap. I should go see if I can mine the other ones for gold
> From what I've seen, the Halls of Thoth are quite large, but there could end up being a somewhat standard progression through it due to enemy challenge or other blocking effects like puzzles, locks, etc.
Yeah, there are definitely some funnels, though from a player perspective it's not as easy to figure the relative strength/danger of stuff as it is from the GM's side
"Arden Vul: the first five sessions" could be an interesting article, especially if you analyze how different campaigns start off and compare that to what parts of the dungeon offer useful XP rewards in terms of the challenge they provide. Might not be worth the effort.
From a quick skim, the OSE, DCC, and ACKS writeups you link to have reasonably distinct opening sessions, although there's a lot of exploration of the surface level, and both the OSE and ACKS ones have the party finding the clue about the Beacon and obelisks pretty early on.
You've likely already seen it, but there's also an actual play on Dragonsfoot by the Arden Vul creator as he was developing the dungeon in ~2012. (The thread is called "Expedition to Arden Vul [OSRIC/1e]".) I've found it a bit verbose to read, but maybe that's my fault.
That's a great idea, and thanks for mentioning the dragonsfoot article; I had no idea Barton has written anything up
What's your setup for running this? (E.g., do you mostly rely on the actual printed books, or do you primarily use the PDFs?) Information organization and density are the major issues in using a product of this size, and I suspect that something like a heavily-hyperlinked wiki would be the best way to make information accessible but not excessively repeated.
I originally started with the books (which I appreciate having for the original read-through), but currently run the game off of two side-by-side tablets and a notebook. One tablet runs a pdf that's been heavily hyperlinked by https://github.com/orodley/avlink and the other one runs the zone of control maps https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/473539/arden-vul-zones-of-control-maps?filters=0_0_100_0_0
Otherwise, I have a searchable index of clarifications and bits of the 1e DMG that should have been in the PHB that works well on mobile. Everything else is paper!
There's a typo in the title: "Hall"->"Halls". ;) Looking forward to the review.
Good catch! There's definitely multiple halls in this thing