[CLOSED] D&D5 Classic module conversion: N1

Well, it just so happens...

One of the PCs has died and the player has withdrawn from GP. That means that we have an opening for up to four more adventurers to join the Dungeon Busters organization!

I'm down! I've wanted to play this module!

While I'm interested in N1 I would like to ask few questions about transitioning into exiting game:
- Is this right: while new players join LVL1 there are some LVL 2 characters in the game at the moment? Are there anyone LVL 3 or approaching?
- Would I as a player get any intro/recap of events or I will need to dig through all historical game threads to understand what is going on? Or perhaps my PC will have to ask all the question in character to existing party members?

Yes, new PCs join the Dungeon Busters at L1. There are currently two L2 PCs and two L1 PCs in the party. If they can return to Hochoch for training without gaining further XP (or dying), there will be one L1 PC, two L2 PCs, and one L3 PC.
I try to make a distinction between player knowledge and PC knowledge, with a preference that the players know what's going on, but the PCs might know less. To that end I periodically supply summaries of what has happened so far. I've been dividing the game into "chapters," with each chapter telling a discrete adventure/mission. When new players join, I give another summary of what has come before, and new chapters often start with a recap. For example, here is the summary of chapters 1.1-1.3.
New PCs will start in Hochoch and are given the background information that is available to Olpert, the Dungeon Busters coordinator, which gets updated any time adventurers return to Hochoch and check in with him. If Olpert doesn't have totally current information, the new PCs can then get brought all the way up to date by joining the other Dungeon Busters. How you play out that interaction is up to the players. You can role-play it, or you can simply do shorthand such as "I tell the newcomers everything that has happened up to this point" (at which point the PCs would know everything the players know).

What do you think? Are you still interested, @GreyWord?

Welcome back, DireHalfling! I've sent you an invitation.

Rather interested in this.

Invitation sent.

Woot. Thanx.

@spaceseeker19 thanks for your answers. I decided to skip this one.
P.S. I know there is a place for a sanco pansa in every story and there is a fun in role-plaing sanco, but it is not for me (been there, had enough).

To each their own, of course. I've never heard of starting at level 1 referred to as "Sancho Panza" before now; that perspective is alien to me, but I do appreciate the literary reference.

The reference probably were not clear enough. Starting lvl 1 is fun I'm referring only absence of party balance

I get it. It's classic, traditional-style play for an AD&D-style module, and that's not for everybody.

One of the wonderful advantages of playing in D&D 5e, though, is that characters who start at level 1 will catch up to higher-level PCs very quickly. The characters who start now will certainly have enough XP to reach level 3 (and possibly level 4) by the time the party reaches the end of the module. That ability to catch up is not really possible when playing in AD&D. Not only is the AD&D game much more deadly, but the XP thresholds are so high, no PC would gain a level until completing the module at the earliest (and even then, only with a smaller party).

I felt the same to be honest. :)

@spaceseeker19

Hello -
I noticed that the game is running since 2015, how far in the module in percentage the party has completed?
Thanks

@Nebula - I'm happy to see that you are considering joining us despite your earlier reservation!
That's a difficult question to answer, because this adventure famously is NOT linear; so much of the adventure involves interacting with the world and figuring out what's happening. The adventure contains many locations that function like dungeons (and more than one actual dungeon); the party has hardly interacted with any of the dungeons yet. So there's a LOT of the adventure available to explore/experience still.

Perhaps it may help to explain what might take a bit of reading in the forums to discern: the game started in 2015, but was on hold from 2016 to 2023, when I started it up again with a nearly entirely new team (because most of the original players were no longer on the site). The bulk of the game has been played in just the past 14 months.

I was in the original and I will say spaceseeker is an excellent GM! The only reason I bowed out after the revival was that I couldn't find the tone for my character anymore

Thanks for your thoughtful answer.

1. Please to go back to my original question, does not interacting much with dungeons mean they accomplished 0% of the plot/encounters? :)

2. What are the classes of the other PCs?

Thanks,

No, it does not mean that, @Nebula. My original answer stands: I cannot assign a percentage completion to the current part of the adventure.

I'll try to elaborate on why I cannot answer your question now. The first part of the adventure - where the party is now - is a sandbox investigation. They are looking for information and understanding. There's a bunch of people to talk to and locations to explore, but none of them are necessary to continue...or all of them could be. The party determines when it has enough information to continue...and it has to determine what "continuing" means. There's very little hand-holding in this adventure, and no rails. Almost none of the dungeons are necessary to complete the adventure, but the party could end up exploring some or all of them. The same thing goes for monsters and NPC encounters. The party could finish the adventure without meeting most of the people in the adventure, or they could interview each of them multiple times. How do you honestly assign a percentage completion to that? No one can. I could say "they've talked to X NPCs out of Y total," but that wouldn't be honest: they might decide to revisit half of those NPCs for more information.

How about this? They have interacted with 8% of the NPCs in the adventure. They have explored 2% of the locations in the adventure. That doesn't tell you how much remains before the adventure is completed, but maybe it gives you a general sense of how much could be explored without repetition (although there will probably be repetition).
Currently we have a monk, a druid, a ranger, a fighter, a barbarian, and another fighter.

@spaceseeker19 Thanks for your patience and your time. Alright, i'd like to apply as Wizard or Cleric if its ok with you. Thanks.
Perfect answer, thanks.