Has anyone played Castle Amber (X2, Chateau d'Amberville) in 3E? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Has anyone played Castle Amber (X2, Chateau d'Amberville) in 3E?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Kimbote
Jun 18, 2007 15:52:01 Has anyone tried running the expert set adventure Castle Amber in 3.5 (or 3.0)? If so, how many characters did you run and what level did you start them?

I will be running the adventure in 3.5 and I have 4 characters and I'm not sure what level to start them, either 3rd or 4th.

Thanks to any and all help.

LK
#2
Traianus_Decius_Aureus
Jun 18, 2007 16:07:31 It depends on your group to be honest. If you are new to 3.5E, or limit the rules material to core stuff, 4 is probably better. Groups that are very familiar with 3.5E and/or have access to supplements can probably survive at lvl 3. How much magic they possess can affect it too.
#3
Cthulhudrew
Jun 18, 2007 16:12:42 There's a 3.0 conversion of X2 at ENWorld that's fairly decent. You might want to check that out.

I've thought about revising it myself, but without some decent reworking, it doesn't quite work at the levels the module itself suggests for OD&D. The Conversion Guidelines that WotC put out way back in the early days of 3.0, of course, don't lend any leeway on changing things around (officially, all you can do is post straight conversions- ie, a blue dragon is still a blue dragon, even in a 4th level adventure where its CR is much higher in the new system than it would be in the old), but I don't know that it's really that big a deal.

In any event, some suggestions I have would be thus:

Probably start out around 4th level, and be prepared for it to become more of a campaign (or at least a mini-campaign) than just a one off adventure. A lot of the encounters are going to be much tougher than low level characters can handle.
Breathe a little more life into the Castle itself by having dynamic changes in the environment. Instead of just having rooms filled with monsters waiting for adventurers to pop in on them, make them move around, engage in their own (or, more likely, the d'Ambrevilles) plots.
Along with that, play up the d'Ambrevilles as their later Mystara characterization made them out to be (or, as in my own preference, much more sinister)- have Richard and Isidore carrying on plots against Michelle and Guillaume. Have Claude's quest to free them all be a little more involved with the characters. Have the family sit down together for dinner or attend services once in a while. The mansion itself- done right- could fill several levels of adventures for the PCs before they finally shuffle off to Averoigne.
Again, with the above, you can have the PCs drawn into the d'Ambrevilles politics by having them join the various factions, and/or play them off against one another. Some of the d'Ambrevilles can even be patrons for the PCs, helping them train to gain levels. Jean-Louis could take fighters or monks under his wing; Claude is a great tutor for fighters or paladins; Andre-David for rangers; just about anyone for wizards.

Anyway, I've given it a lot of thought even if I haven't fully gotten things down yet, so I'd be more than happy to share some other notions.
#4
Kimbote
Jun 18, 2007 16:46:35 For Traianus's post: the won't have much magic, but they are very experienced players and very up-to-date on 3.5 rules as well as having a wide access to various books. They will will be going off the DMG's gold amount for 3rd level, which doesn't leave a lot of room for magic items.

For Cthulhudrew: I do have the 3.0, and I am going to spend time converting the stats to 3.5 the best I can. The NPC (which there are many) will be tedious, and somewhat not worth the time since the party is not supposed to fight the NPCs and if they do they are likely to be beaten by them.

The whole problem with Castle Amber is that the encounters are so uneven. It is as though they say the adventure is for levels 3-6 and they figured that a lot of 1-3 level encounters thrown together with a lot of 7-10 level enounters somehow averages out to 3-6 and that should work, however I'm thinking that won't be fun for the party. Either they will be unchallenged or overchallenged by every encounter.

I like the idea of flushing out the castle a bit more and having a more in-depth role of the NPCs. What I want to avoid is everything becomming too complex for the PCs and for the main castle part to last too long (a common complaint of the adventure that I found surfing the web). Thus, although I love the complex family and their history, I may have to cut a couple ancillary NPCs.

I am still trying to find my Mark of Amber box set, that will help with pictures and such. I will keep a white board and post their picture with their info (what the PCs know of them at least) so the players can constantly reference this info throughout the adventure.

I think 3rd level may do the trick (they will level up during the adventure), but I will just make sure they don't go too far without leveling up.

LK
#5
maddog
Jun 20, 2007 9:57:58 We're playing it now in 35e using the 3e conversion from ENworld. It's a party with a barbarian, rogue, druid and sorcerer. We used to have a cleric but he shouldn't have eaten so much. The DM added Feuerzauber (the Solux) as a PC fighter. In the last session, we completed the dungeon and entered Averoigne. It's been a good game so far.

Can't wait to see what happens in Averoigne. I've DM'ed this module several times but never had the chance to be a player. You gotta love the warpped nature of Castle Amber!

--Ray.
#6
Kimbote
Jun 22, 2007 16:51:12 Cool. Good to hear someone is playing it currently. Couple questions for you, if you would be so kind:

1. How have your fights been? Have they been too difficult or too easy?

2. How long (real-time hours or days) did it take you to get to Averoigne?

Thanks!

LK
#7
maddog
Jun 26, 2007 10:22:07
Cool. Good to hear someone is playing it currently. Couple questions for you, if you would be so kind:

1. How have your fights been? Have they been too difficult or too easy?

2. How long (real-time hours or days) did it take you to get to Averoigne?

Thanks!

LK

The fights have been survivable. There were some that could have really gone to a TPK if we weren't as cautious as we have been. If the party just tries to run through the module without thought and consideration; they will probably die. The conversion is not balanced and it shouldn't be as the original wasn't.

This is our secondary campaign so I'd say 28 hours over the course of a year; that would be seven four hours sessions. This conversion works out to make a rather large module. It's almost a campaign to itself.

--Ray.
#8
Hugin
Jun 26, 2007 12:13:07 All this talk has me wanting to play this module in my current campaign. I've never played it in 3.5 and never finished it using the RC.
#9
Kimbote
Jun 27, 2007 8:42:04 I haven't done the conversions yet, but when I have them I'd be happy to share them with anyone.

LK
#10
maddog
Jul 04, 2007 18:34:43 We finished Averoigne today. The party was mostly 8th level and the DM told us that he pulled his punches on the Colossus. He still nearly killed all of us. We have just summoned the tomb and will pick up there at the next session on Sunday.

--Ray.
#11
Kimbote
Jul 05, 2007 10:26:01 Good to hear. BTW, what level did you start the adventure?

DM told us that he pulled his punches on the Colossus.

Did you try attacking the Colossus? How did you defeat it? I've heard a multitude of different ways. Some people have some intereting and funny ways of defeating that thing.

LK
#12
maddog
Jul 05, 2007 18:57:06
Good to hear. BTW, what level did you start the adventure?

Did you try attacking the Colossus? How did you defeat it? I've heard a multitude of different ways. Some people have some intereting and funny ways of defeating that thing.

I had it all written out...blow-by-blow and windows crashed. I should have been using my Linux box. Here's the abridged version....

Feuerzaber the Sollux got hit like he was a baseball after the Sword of Sylaire (Construct Bane) forced him to fly in and attack. Brak the sorcerer dimension doored onto it's nose and started to apply the black power that we got from Gaspard du Nord in Vyones right up it's nostrills. Zephyr the barbarian attacked with another construct bane sword on the ground and got stepped on and was nearly killed. Our druid was casting healing spells from a ring of spell storing through his flying wolverine (it got it's wings in the dream room of the castle) on Feuerzaber just to keep him in the fight.

On the third or fourth round Feuerzaber hit with the Sword of Sylaire with a natural 20; automagically killing the Colossus. Brak had to drink a potion of levitation as it started to topple and jump away as it fell.

--Ray.
#13
Kimbote
Jul 08, 2007 22:55:59 Ah yes, you have the sword, that is true. They changed that from undead to constructs during the conversion.

BTW, at what level did you start the adventure?

LK
#14
maddog
Jul 09, 2007 21:11:41
BTW, at what level did you start the adventure?

We were 6th-7th level characters.

The Blue Dragon nearly killed us in Stephen's tomb. We had to beat on it to kill it. The sorcerer's attack spells were lightning based.

--Ray.
#15
Kimbote
Jul 09, 2007 22:06:15 NOt to mention that dragons are so much tougher in 3.5. Thanks for the head's up on that as well.

LK
#16
dewduster
Jan 01, 2014 12:38:21
I am planning to run dungeon module x2 castle amber and have a question. On page 4 in the description of mary helen amber it lists a magic item: "NSA". Does anyone know what this is?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Kimbote Jun 18, 2007 15:52:01	Has anyone tried running the expert set adventure Castle Amber in 3.5 (or 3.0)? If so, how many characters did you run and what level did you start them? I will be running the adventure in 3.5 and I have 4 characters and I'm not sure what level to start them, either 3rd or 4th. Thanks to any and all help. LK
#2 Traianus_Decius_Aureus Jun 18, 2007 16:07:31	It depends on your group to be honest. If you are new to 3.5E, or limit the rules material to core stuff, 4 is probably better. Groups that are very familiar with 3.5E and/or have access to supplements can probably survive at lvl 3. How much magic they possess can affect it too.
#3 Cthulhudrew Jun 18, 2007 16:12:42	There's a 3.0 conversion of X2 at ENWorld that's fairly decent. You might want to check that out. I've thought about revising it myself, but without some decent reworking, it doesn't quite work at the levels the module itself suggests for OD&D. The Conversion Guidelines that WotC put out way back in the early days of 3.0, of course, don't lend any leeway on changing things around (officially, all you can do is post straight conversions- ie, a blue dragon is still a blue dragon, even in a 4th level adventure where its CR is much higher in the new system than it would be in the old), but I don't know that it's really that big a deal. In any event, some suggestions I have would be thus: Probably start out around 4th level, and be prepared for it to become more of a campaign (or at least a mini-campaign) than just a one off adventure. A lot of the encounters are going to be much tougher than low level characters can handle. Breathe a little more life into the Castle itself by having dynamic changes in the environment. Instead of just having rooms filled with monsters waiting for adventurers to pop in on them, make them move around, engage in their own (or, more likely, the d'Ambrevilles) plots. Along with that, play up the d'Ambrevilles as their later Mystara characterization made them out to be (or, as in my own preference, much more sinister)- have Richard and Isidore carrying on plots against Michelle and Guillaume. Have Claude's quest to free them all be a little more involved with the characters. Have the family sit down together for dinner or attend services once in a while. The mansion itself- done right- could fill several levels of adventures for the PCs before they finally shuffle off to Averoigne. Again, with the above, you can have the PCs drawn into the d'Ambrevilles politics by having them join the various factions, and/or play them off against one another. Some of the d'Ambrevilles can even be patrons for the PCs, helping them train to gain levels. Jean-Louis could take fighters or monks under his wing; Claude is a great tutor for fighters or paladins; Andre-David for rangers; just about anyone for wizards. Anyway, I've given it a lot of thought even if I haven't fully gotten things down yet, so I'd be more than happy to share some other notions.
#4 Kimbote Jun 18, 2007 16:46:35	For Traianus's post: the won't have much magic, but they are very experienced players and very up-to-date on 3.5 rules as well as having a wide access to various books. They will will be going off the DMG's gold amount for 3rd level, which doesn't leave a lot of room for magic items. For Cthulhudrew: I do have the 3.0, and I am going to spend time converting the stats to 3.5 the best I can. The NPC (which there are many) will be tedious, and somewhat not worth the time since the party is not supposed to fight the NPCs and if they do they are likely to be beaten by them. The whole problem with Castle Amber is that the encounters are so uneven. It is as though they say the adventure is for levels 3-6 and they figured that a lot of 1-3 level encounters thrown together with a lot of 7-10 level enounters somehow averages out to 3-6 and that should work, however I'm thinking that won't be fun for the party. Either they will be unchallenged or overchallenged by every encounter. I like the idea of flushing out the castle a bit more and having a more in-depth role of the NPCs. What I want to avoid is everything becomming too complex for the PCs and for the main castle part to last too long (a common complaint of the adventure that I found surfing the web). Thus, although I love the complex family and their history, I may have to cut a couple ancillary NPCs. I am still trying to find my Mark of Amber box set, that will help with pictures and such. I will keep a white board and post their picture with their info (what the PCs know of them at least) so the players can constantly reference this info throughout the adventure. I think 3rd level may do the trick (they will level up during the adventure), but I will just make sure they don't go too far without leveling up. LK
#5 maddog Jun 20, 2007 9:57:58	We're playing it now in 35e using the 3e conversion from ENworld. It's a party with a barbarian, rogue, druid and sorcerer. We used to have a cleric but he shouldn't have eaten so much. The DM added Feuerzauber (the Solux) as a PC fighter. In the last session, we completed the dungeon and entered Averoigne. It's been a good game so far. Can't wait to see what happens in Averoigne. I've DM'ed this module several times but never had the chance to be a player. You gotta love the warpped nature of Castle Amber! --Ray.
#6 Kimbote Jun 22, 2007 16:51:12	Cool. Good to hear someone is playing it currently. Couple questions for you, if you would be so kind: 1. How have your fights been? Have they been too difficult or too easy? 2. How long (real-time hours or days) did it take you to get to Averoigne? Thanks! LK
#7 maddog Jun 26, 2007 10:22:07	Cool. Good to hear someone is playing it currently. Couple questions for you, if you would be so kind: 1. How have your fights been? Have they been too difficult or too easy? 2. How long (real-time hours or days) did it take you to get to Averoigne? Thanks! LK The fights have been survivable. There were some that could have really gone to a TPK if we weren't as cautious as we have been. If the party just tries to run through the module without thought and consideration; they will probably die. The conversion is not balanced and it shouldn't be as the original wasn't. This is our secondary campaign so I'd say 28 hours over the course of a year; that would be seven four hours sessions. This conversion works out to make a rather large module. It's almost a campaign to itself. --Ray.
#8 Hugin Jun 26, 2007 12:13:07	All this talk has me wanting to play this module in my current campaign. I've never played it in 3.5 and never finished it using the RC.
#9 Kimbote Jun 27, 2007 8:42:04	I haven't done the conversions yet, but when I have them I'd be happy to share them with anyone. LK
#10 maddog Jul 04, 2007 18:34:43	We finished Averoigne today. The party was mostly 8th level and the DM told us that he pulled his punches on the Colossus. He still nearly killed all of us. We have just summoned the tomb and will pick up there at the next session on Sunday. --Ray.
#11 Kimbote Jul 05, 2007 10:26:01	Good to hear. BTW, what level did you start the adventure? DM told us that he pulled his punches on the Colossus. Did you try attacking the Colossus? How did you defeat it? I've heard a multitude of different ways. Some people have some intereting and funny ways of defeating that thing. LK
#12 maddog Jul 05, 2007 18:57:06	Good to hear. BTW, what level did you start the adventure? Did you try attacking the Colossus? How did you defeat it? I've heard a multitude of different ways. Some people have some intereting and funny ways of defeating that thing. I had it all written out...blow-by-blow and windows crashed. I should have been using my Linux box. Here's the abridged version.... Feuerzaber the Sollux got hit like he was a baseball after the Sword of Sylaire (Construct Bane) forced him to fly in and attack. Brak the sorcerer dimension doored onto it's nose and started to apply the black power that we got from Gaspard du Nord in Vyones right up it's nostrills. Zephyr the barbarian attacked with another construct bane sword on the ground and got stepped on and was nearly killed. Our druid was casting healing spells from a ring of spell storing through his flying wolverine (it got it's wings in the dream room of the castle) on Feuerzaber just to keep him in the fight. On the third or fourth round Feuerzaber hit with the Sword of Sylaire with a natural 20; automagically killing the Colossus. Brak had to drink a potion of levitation as it started to topple and jump away as it fell. --Ray.
#13 Kimbote Jul 08, 2007 22:55:59	Ah yes, you have the sword, that is true. They changed that from undead to constructs during the conversion. BTW, at what level did you start the adventure? LK
#14 maddog Jul 09, 2007 21:11:41	BTW, at what level did you start the adventure? We were 6th-7th level characters. The Blue Dragon nearly killed us in Stephen's tomb. We had to beat on it to kill it. The sorcerer's attack spells were lightning based. --Ray.
#15 Kimbote Jul 09, 2007 22:06:15	NOt to mention that dragons are so much tougher in 3.5. Thanks for the head's up on that as well. LK
#16 dewduster Jan 01, 2014 12:38:21	I am planning to run dungeon module x2 castle amber and have a question. On page 4 in the description of mary helen amber it lists a magic item: "NSA". Does anyone know what this is?