D&D 4E Recommend a Short 4e Adventure

[Fox Lee]

Hi everyone! I'd like to ask you all for a little help, if you don't mind! See, I've had word from one of my best friends, who moved away a few years ago and was never able to find a new gaming group. He's visiting soon and wants to hook up with the old group for a hardcore D&D long weekend, which I am really excited for. So I was wondering, does anybody have a recommendation for a great 4e adventure/module that has an expected play time of ""a couple of days", that I could use as a framework for this special game?

Any source or setting is fine (I'm gonna hack it into my world anyway ), but I imagine the group would much prefer a Paragon-tier adventure to Heroic or Epic - something that's natively Paragon, or close enough to scale easily, would be ideal.

A strong story would be excellent, but I should steer clear of a political/social intrigue type adventure (the group is not very socially-inclined; they like roleplay acting, with one exception, but have little patience for subtlety, diplomacy or subterfuge). Big flashy set-piece fights (the type with terrain management and additional goals), are great. Indeed, if you know of something with BOTH, that's probably our winner right there

Even if these traits are a bit too much to ask, I'd appreciate any suggestion that fits the play time and level range - the most important thing is to finish in three days. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Oh, and just in case, here's a quick rundown of my players:

1. Powergamer/Instigator: Likes tanking, righteous vengeance, and making friends with NPCs. Typically plays audacious, hot boys with rage issues.
2. Pure Slayer: Likes beating enemies, hates talky/social stuff. Mostly just wants to be a gothy warrior lady who takes zero crap from anyone.
3. Powergamer/Strategist: Likes classic fantasy, magic users and familiars, unusual races/origins. Likes playing lots of roles, as long as they're satisfyingly crunchy.
4. Storyteller/Powergamer: Likes cinematic flair, one-liners, steampunk/magepunk stuff. Slightly cheesy sense of style, but very sincere. Doesn't have to be the most powerful thing on the field, but will get very frustrated if he feels ineffectual.
5. Spectator: Has a great sense of humour, but super hard to motivate. Likes classic horror/sci-fi/cyberpunk. Seems to prefer ranged (detached?) characters.
6. Pure Instigator: Super fun guy who fits in with anything. Likes playing weird un-socialised characters (or straight-up monsters) but seems to enjoy pretty much everything.

 

[D'karr]

When you say 3 days I'm thinking you mean 3 sessions, what length of time for each session?

 

[Fox Lee]

Yes, three days and three sessions. The plan is to pretty much play all day, for each of those sessions, though I'm sure we will take breaks for food and such

 

[Balesir]

Hmm, sorry for the paucity of answers, but just about all the sessions I have run have been longer campaign based. I do note, however, that the Encounters seasons are becoming available as PDFs on DTRPG (as are the Dragon issues, in case you didn't get those via Insider) - you might find some stuff for time-limited gaming there, as they were designed for FLGS evening session stuff.

 

[masteraleph]

3 full days sounds like something from LFR might be up your alley- that could probably be a full level or two, depending. There's another thread around on this MB mentioning that- later created adventures are probably better.

 

[D'karr]

Keep in mind that Paragon will run slower than Heroic specially with players that are unfamiliar with their characters. You will have to adjust for that if you want to attempt to complete an adventure in 3 (8 hour) sessions, unless the adventure is rather short. If you are going to do that you might want to look at the adventures that are part of Living Forgotten Realms. A complete adventure is usually designed to run in a 4-5 hour session. And some of them were strung together to create story arcs that were interesting. So you could run 3 adventures as part of the story arc each in one of the 3 sessions you have planned.

Off the top of my head I liked the storylines set in Aglarond. AGLA 1-01, 1-04 and 1-07 form an interesting story arc. Unfortunately for your needs those were Heroic tier and spread out over the entire tier. They can be adapted to Paragon with a bit of work.

I hate to recommend King of the Trollhaunt Warrens (P1) because it did suffer from being in the first wave of WotC adventures, which had some major issues. It is a long adventure covering 3 levels, which will be difficult to accomplish in 3 sessions. It has a lot of combat slog, one of the issues with early 4e adventures. However, the adventure story is actually pretty good. You will have to modify, or cherry pick to fit your needs so you can complete in your alloted time.

Last Breath of Ashenport from Dungeon 156 is a very good adventure, but it is 8th level. It is designed in a fashion that I think it could be completed in 3 sessions. You will have to adjust it to challenge Paragon tier characters.

Hope this helps.

 

[Fox Lee]

Thanks everybody! I'm grabbing those LFR/Encounters archives now, will see if anything suits my needs. Seems like a great archive to have even if I don't find something for this instance - I'm running homebrew-hacked WotBS right now, but once I'm done with that, I'd love to try my hand at mangling a whole season of Encounters to suit my setting. Sounds like a ton of fun.

D'karr, even if the combat in Trollhaunt Warrens is a bit wonky, if the story is good I have no problem stealing that and adjusting the fights. And for Last Breath I'd think 8 would be close enough to Paragon that I can push it a little without dire consequences. I'll check out both of those, thanks!

 

[MwaO]

Thanks everybody! I'm grabbing those LFR/Encounters archives now, will see if anything suits my needs. Seems like a great archive to have even if I don't find something for this instance - I'm running homebrew-hacked WotBS right now, but once I'm done with that, I'd love to try my hand at mangling a whole season of Encounters to suit my setting. Sounds like a ton of fun.

D'karr, even if the combat in Trollhaunt Warrens is a bit wonky, if the story is good I have no problem stealing that and adjusting the fights. And for Last Breath I'd think 8 would be close enough to Paragon that I can push it a little without dire consequences. I'll check out both of those, thanks!

Again, I'm biased(co-writer on NETH4-1), but I think the year 4 NETH mods make a great series of Paragon mods. There was a choice - the choice broke down 52% to 48%, with some people calling choice A the emotional decision and choice B the intellectual one, and vice-versa. I had a Paladin of X at one table say choice A was obviously correct due to his deity and a Paladin of X at another table say choice B was obviously correct due to the exact same deity...

And the spectator will really love the intro part to NETH4-1...

 

[Fox Lee]

Again, I'm biased(co-writer on NETH4-1), but I think the year 4 NETH mods make a great series of Paragon mods.

Can you give me the full title of those? I've got a bunch of Encounters modules, but this doesn't seem to be among them. Google-fu is only getting me encounters groups in the Netherlands (ashamed to say I did momentarily think "that's a cool name for a kingdom, I wonder what setting that's from?" before my brain caught up >3>;;; ).

 

[MwaO]

Can you give me the full title of those? I've got a bunch of Encounters modules, but this doesn't seem to be among them. Google-fu is only getting me encounters groups in the Netherlands (ashamed to say I did momentarily think "that's a cool name for a kingdom, I wonder what setting that's from?" before my brain caught up >3>;;; ).

http://livingforgottenrealms.com

NETH4-1 Containing Shadow by Lori Anderson and Andy Pearlman Paragon Tier Download (ZIP)
The Ordulin Maelstrom's dark embrace obliterates ordinary mortals within moments. But you are no ordinary mortal, and the Harpers need someone to brave the depths of this life-consuming vortex. Can you complete your mission before the vile shadows devour your soul and reduce your body to an empty, withered husk? A Living Forgotten Realms adventure set in Sembia for characters of the Paragon tier (levels 11-20). This adventure is part of the Foresight trilogy, which also includes NETH4-2 The Tripartite Tower and NETH4-3 Purifying the Prophet. This adventure and NETH4-2 may be played in either order, but you should try to play them both before you play NETH4-3.

NETH4-2 The Tripartite Tower by James Holdridge and Robert Uccello Jr. Paragon Tier Download (ZIP)
The Harpers need a powerful expert on arcane magic, someone with decades of experience. All you have to do is travel to meet with a famous but reclusive wizard and secure his aid. Unfortunately, the Netherese aren't going to make it easy. A Living Forgotten Realms adventure set in Cormyr for characters of the Paragon tier (levels 11-20). This adventure is part of the Foresight trilogy, which also includes NETH4-1 Containing Shadow and NETH4-3 Purifying the Prophet. This adventure and NETH4-1 may be played in either order, but you should try to play them both before you play NETH4-3.

NETH4-3 Purifying the Prophet by Ryan Cannon and Mickey Tan Paragon Tier Download (ZIP)
The Netherese sought to control the Oracle of Spellgard Keep, and nearly succeeded. She was only saved by binding her spirit inside a sentient golem. But for Lady Saharel to be useful to the Harpers, you must find a way to place her beyond the reach of her former masters. A Living Forgotten Realms adventure set in Luruar for characters of the Paragon tier (levels 11-20). This adventure is the third and final part of the Foresight trilogy, which began in NETH4-1 and NETH4-2. We recommend that you play the previous two adventures (in either order) before playing this adventure.