TOPIC: Newbies in need of Sage Wisdom!

Greetings all!<br /><br />After many years of disappointment my group is finally embarking on the long journey to Gen Con!  We are excited for a number of events, but True Dungeon is (by far) at the top of everyone's list.  I want to make sure everyone has the best time possible and that includes not getting slaughtered during our plunge into TD.  <br /><br />I signed us up for the standard crawl, not the Nightmare one.  None of us knew much about the specifics of TD so I read the players guide and had a look at the 2010 Token Guide.  This gave me a general idea of what to expect, and I think the True Dungeon 101 event on Thursday will clear up a good deal of the questions I have remaining on general topics.  The thing I am really looking for help with is Tokens, hence this post.  <br /><br />I originally thought that the tokens each player gets when beginning the adventure would be enough to see us through to victory, but just my little research to date has me convinced that even in the normal dungeon this is NOT the case.  As I said I want people to survive and have fun so it seems that we will need some equipment.  I went over to the official site and tried to get some Token Packs, but of course I have snoozed and lost on that front.  Google pointed me to eBay where I have been bidding on a number of auctions.  So far no luck.  <br /><br />I'd like the help of some of the experts here on getting the most bang for my few bucks!  Unfortunately most of us are still in college and are broke, but I have some funds that I have set aside to buy things at the Con.  The way I see it these would be better served spent on gear before the Con to ensure a quality experience.  Is there a better place, or even another place I should be looking other than eBay?  Am I better off holding off and trying to buy Token packs as soon as I arrive in Indy?  What Basic equipment should I focus on in order to give us the best chance to survive and smite the evil Dragon?  <br /><br />Thank you in advance for your sage wisdom, oh Token Masters! 

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Most importantly I'd recommend getting decent armor and weapons for the entire group.  If you are on a budget, you can get uncommon armor and weapons that are nearly as good as the Rare armor and weapons.  There are a number of people on the forums that trade & sell tokens - I'll bet you might get some offers of tokens for sale to outfit an entire group.  You might want to make sure that you have missile weapons for everyone in addition to melee weapons, since Smoak may start flying.  <br /><br />Beyond that, class specific items would be good, like Masterwork Thieving Tools, Holy Symbol, and one of the Bard's Instruments.  Healing tokens are always good.  Then, depending on your budget, you can start getting tokens for the other "slots", like Gauntlets of Ogre Power for your hands, Boots, Bracers, etc. 

I will look at whay I have when I get home.

This will indeed be a challenging first TD run. Living all the way threw including beating smoak will be super hard even with tokens so thats a tall order. Living long enough to see the dragon is a different thing.<br /><br />Some folks here put together starter character packs, I would ask about that. I'm sure they would be willing to sell them. It would get you a lot further then trying to pick up singles here and there. Even the most megar budget should get your a common outfit for all your toons. Steping up from there to uncommons and rares.

For this particular adventure, I'd highly recommend potions or rings of fire resistance.

My other message was suppose to say "I will look at what I have when I get home". I should be able to help. Do you have 8 people and all 8 tickets for the run?

In the past our group has gone through the dungeon with only the packs at the begginning and made it through. The important thing on that run was for us to share. Between 8 packs of tokens you should have enough weapons and armor to give to your main melee characters. The rest really depends on your group's ability to solve the puzzles and win at combat. A complete set of gear tokens might come in handy at some point and can allow you to be creative in solving puzzles. <br />I agree that surviving Smoak would be hard without additional tokens. Are you in the puzzle or combat dungeon?<br />Good luck and have fun!<br />David

I think that you should be able to reach the last room with only the starter tokens you get with your tickets. Even if one (or more) of your party dies, we allow that person to continue through the dungeon as a ghost, so they at least get to see the dungeon. You just need one player to be alive to continue through the dungeon, and even then there has been instanaces where a party that was all killed in the second to the last room was allowed to play the last room just for fun.<br /><br />Characters that make it to the last room get full experience points which (along with having fun) is the main reward for making it through the dungeon. If you beat the last room, you get a survivor pin and possibly a token. If you don't have a lot of tokens, you probably aren't going to beat Smoak, but really that is a small thing compared to running through the dungeon.<br /><br />I wouldn't spend a lot of money on tokens especially if you don't have a lot of money. If I were you, I'd just go through the dungeon with the starter packs you get and just have fun! Work as a team and you'll make it to the final room. And if you kill Smoak with just your starter packs of tokens, you'll have a great story to tell!

i sent you a list of some things I have. If you like that i would work on getting healing potions scrolls etc after that

Since I bought a rather good amount of tokens this year I have been building class sets for when I run with random people, so I can offer them tokens if they need them. So far I have very good builds on: ranged Rogue, Paladin Dps, Fighter tank, Barb and a good set for a cleric - healing scrolls.

While I very much agree that Smoak seems to be tougher than what we've seen in the past, I wouldn't say that start-pack-only new players should expect to beat the big boss on the combat side in general.  These monsters are supposed to be very tough and surviving them shouldn't be a sure thing for even more experienced players.  I don't mean to say this to scare new players.  However, I think this challenging aspect of the game is one of the draws on some level.