Using Icewind Dale as a D&D game

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I'm about to start a AD&D game (1st edition + rules) and I'm using Icewind dale as the module.

There are six players playing:
1 Human Fighter
2 Human Figher
3 Human Cleric
4 Valley Elf Mage/Thief
5 Drow Elf Ranger/Cleric
6 Human Druid

I am using the actual game on a laptop to give the players interaction with the townsfolk and talking monsters etc...by having saved games ready at the points where the NPCs speak etc. I will also use the chapter change interludes to help progress the story.

I will DM it using a great Walkthrough that is an HTML doc with links to all the monsters (and thier stats) aswell as links to maps, NPCs, Items & treasure etc...and tells the experience for the side quests etc.
(check it out)...
http://www.locusinn.com/index.php?hsaction=100&game=icewind&dir=index&l1=0&l2=0

So I have the walkthough open and I have IWD open (at the stage where the actual players will be so I can use it's Audio for the text and story.

I just have to keep playing the IWD game a bit at a time to prepare for where the players will be by the next D&D game.

What think all? Can be done with Second or Third Edition too I believe.

Madmanasaurus-X

Game 1 went great! It took about 3 hours of playing to only get as far as the Goblins with Daimen's fish...They didn't get to the Blue Elf yet or the wolf in the fish wearhouse...and it sounds like they will leave for the orc cave before doing so since they've seen Hrothgar and got that quest...they think it's the most important thing right now.

However, the introduction and interaction with the NPCs via the laptop went very smooth (I had to make up a few things that were'nt in the "canned text".

also, the walkthough was very helpful in that I was able to click on the "goblin" link and got all the stats for Goblins when they fought them (Ha! 5 fumbles 2 were just misses. 1 caused damage to self, 1 caused damage to friendly, and 1 lost weapon....they of course still won the battle but it took longer than I thought.

Overall: Great module...lots of depth to the story and having computer driven audio and movie segments was VERY WELL RECIEVED.

I'll update on the party's progress next weekend (we play on Thursdays).

Later

MadmanasuarusX
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Session 2 Went even better than session 1. They went to the Temple of Tempus and got some Audio text from Evrond (whatever)....They bought a few potions and headed for the orc Caves.

To answer the "room after room of non-stop monster slaying" comment, I take out *some* of the monster encounters that are just in the hallways etc and make whatever the main battle is a bit tougher...

They had to fight the wolves and 4 battles in the cave including the Ogre Battle...They decided to bring the hijacked supplies back to town with them (goodie goodies!)...and that's it...but I still have to think that there again was a good mixture of Roll playing, Town stuff and Monster battles to make it a great game. The players have no idea the Avalanche is coming...they think Hrothgar and the Dwarf are pretty cool ....hehehe little do they know!

MadmanasaurusX

[ January 17, 2003, 22:27: Message edited by: Madmanasaurus-X ]

 

Thats a really good idea IMO. Just remember to make sure you have far enough in IWD to show the characters what they are seeing/ hearing, and remember that players often storm ahead of the DM's plans so have those back up things getting in their way and make them suffer for not doing things the way they should have BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
Only possible problem is if they have also played through IWD so they'll know what to expect etc and it might make the game a bit less enjoyable.

 

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

None of the players have played ICD or Buldar's Gate so I"m fine there.

Thanks for the advice of making sure I"m far enough ahead.

What I'm doing is playing a game and saving it before speaking to anyone...then save a new game slot with the same game under a differnt name and continuing to the next bit of NPC text or Storyline text...then saving agian...then saving again with a new name etc etc etc.

Game one Easthaven
Game two Easthaven After the Caravan
Plus I have a charecter ready to start a game at first so the introductary speach by Hrothgar gets heard...then I start the Saved Easthaven game and use that to talk to the townsfolk etc...until I need Game two.
...But now I'll plan to have a few more games ready incase they jump forward or just play reallyl fast .

Take it easy.
MadmanasaurusX

 

Whoa! thats sounds pretty cool!

 

Room after room of non-stop monster slaying? Won't that get kind of boring after a while?