Well, we've now had several sessions of our 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in Ekosia, and things have gone quite well, both with the new system and with the campaign.
Most players have had two characters, as we never know who all would be able to make it, and we've had two separate though related parties pursuing different goals.
The first party has been trying to capture Bandit King Heydut Shafee, whose gang lairs in the Lost River Caverns. During the adventure the party -- as yet unnamed -- successfully burned down a goodly portion of Pooftos, a local, innocent village, slaying the village leader and a dozen or more villagers in the process. Seems that though the villagers were in the middle of a festival celebrating the overthrow of Nothos, the Demon-Son of Dionysus, they felt it a good idea to suddenly appear in the midst of the celebrations with the Tiefling sorceress (Charisma 20) -- casting impressive, demon-like spells, no less -- as their speaker. Chaos ensued, the villagers were slaughtered in defense of the sorceress and her companions, and now several of the party members are themselves wanted men (and women).
After resting up at the Pike & Shield Roadhouse, they went on to find the Lost River Caverns, and instead of camping and scouting after a long day's travel, went straight into the caverns, stumbled into the bandit lair exhausted, and ended up in a two-session running battle, slaughtering many of the bandits and nearly losing two of their own members (death saves were lucky). They were then later beaten back by the Bandit King who had brought in some allies, Wretchlings and Bear-Headed Ogres.
Overwhelmed, they fled to the sea-side town of Karkeros, to heal up and find out more information. The paladin of the group, feeling guilty of his involvement in the slaughter in the town (he thought the villagers were the bad guys), ended up speaking with the High Priest of the local Church of the Risen Son (Egyptian pantheon) and got both more information on the bandit and a way to gain absolution for his actions in Pooftos... by bringing the Bandit King to the church rather than to the secular authorities, as they had discovered that the Bandit King -- a Tiefling -- was in league with the Cult of Nothos.
Of course, he also made sure that his companions would get the reward, as he wasn't so foolish as to assume that they would be interested in the state of his soul. So armed with further knowledge, they went back to the caves... and there found, on the other side of the mountains, a camp of barbarians (well, more like local hillbillies, really), who were now allied with the bandits and the cult, and had apparently made a few raids toward Pooftos and Lukopolis (a village to the south). They found the bandit lair abandoned, and figured the bandits had joined the barbarians en mass. Finding only Wretchlings left in the caves, they concocted a plan...
Together with a new ally, Dan the Bard, they bought barrels full of good beer, along with a sufficient amount of drugs and herbs to spike the beer and knock out most of the barbarians and bandits. They also had a "Plan B," which was to go up the mountain and make it look like a dragon was attacking. Fortunately, Plan B wasn't needed, as Dan the Player played up Dan the Bard's part very well, passing himself off as a representative of the Empire of Bael Norradh, a nearby Evil Empire who was allied to the Cult of Nothos. The beer and a chest full of treasure (mostly copper and silver with gold and a few cheap gems on top) were presented as a gift to the Barbarian King. As the leaders, unbeknownst to the players, were actually awaiting a representative from the Empire, this was not surprising, and a stroke of good luck for the players; that it was a Karnusian player of the bagpipes was confusing, but he successfully passed it off as needful use of foreign spies to put off suspicions from the local powers-that-be. He also rolled very well, and I rolled very poorly...
So the bandits and barbarians got stinking drunk and knocked out, though the Barbarian King and the Bandit King were still standing (being good drinkers and of stouter constitutions than their minions). Dan (who had not been drinking) convinced the Bandit King that he had a special treasure for him in his gypsy-style wagon; a bottle of good whisky to start, which finished off the Bandit King, who was then bound and gagged as Dan raced his wagon out of the camp...
As Dan the Bard had not gotten out in a timely fashion, the rest of the group thought things had gone wrong, so started burning the forest at the mountain heights, seeking to draw out the barbarians and bandits so they could go in and get the Bandit King. Only three scouts, not party to the beer-fest, found them, and were slaughtered, Dan rode by laughing like a madman and yelling that he had the Bandit King. And so they raced to town, even though they were exhausted. They holed up half-way there, and were fortunate that there was too much confusion at the camp the next morning for search parties to be sent out. They turned the Bandit King over to the High Priest and were handsomely rewarded (major milestone achieved).
Most of the party has just now squeaked past 3rd level, and everyone spent an hour after the last session picking archetypes, spells, and other specials for their new levels.
They're going to need them, as they've stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest...
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