Age of Worms

Since February, I’ve served as DM for a gaming group that is adventuring in the Age of Worms adventure path, produced by the fine folks at Dungeon magazine.

So far, the sessions have run hot’n’cold, which can be attributed to a number of things – including the relative inexperience of many of the players and my reluctance to unleash the full power of spellcasting non-playing-characters.

Early on, I was particularly sensitive to the fact I did not want to be the cause of a TPK – or Total Party Kill – with a group that contained so many young players.

The most debilitating thing is probably how infrequently we play the adventure path – which is designed to be a world-saving epic adventure that takes players from first to 20th level – and beyond.

We play for two hours every-other Saturday morning. That’s about enough time to run two or three encounters – at most. The Adventure Path depends upon continuity of story, so it is difficult for players and DM alike to maintain it by playing for a short time twice a month.

I’m looking for ways to condense the Adventure Path. At our current pace, we will finish it in about 7 years – a pretty unreasonable commitment, I think. The tough part will be editing it down so it doesn’t lose its flavor.