I want to see list of problems and solution in an Adventure by Adventure format.
For example:
Module: Siege of Bordrin's Watch
Missing Plot Point: No NPC is named Irandra
Solution: Name the Dark Creeper Emissary Irandra
Module: Siege of Bordrin's Watch
Missing Plot Point: Shadowforge key (required for SOW3) should listed as carried by Irandra
I also want to see a list of important plot oriented NPC's. How they are tied together and to the plot itself and a short description of them.
For example:
NPC: Sinruth
Module: Rescue at Rivenroar
Plot Point: Carries a letter from "The Emissary"
Notes: Letter reveals that "The Emissary" encouraged Sinruth to steal the artifacts from the Halls of Great Valor in Brindol.
Wizards has released quite a lot errata since the release of 4E and I see that as a good thing. Its ok to make mistakes, we all do. I want to see Wizards step up and address these issues so that we can run the Scales of War as it is intended.
If you feel the same, please just reply to this thread.
So far, I´m becoming annoyed and frustrated at the lack of cohesiveness of the campaign, and I´m seriously considering switching to War of the Burning Sky if things continue this way.
Oh it would be nice, I just do not see fixes coming soon if at all.
-Blackivarr
Rescue at Rivenroar: Here's a new map with Rivenroar on it.
RaR: Here's a new map with a legend on it for the places mentioned in the module.
RaR: Here's an explanation for the timeline of attacks, kidnapping, and the arrival on scene of Our Heroes...
Forget about it. Never gonna happen. As publishers, they've fallen into the software-publishing mindset of release, patch, release, patch... which is awkward for a print publication, and only minimally less so for an online publication like this, particularly since whatever they printed six months ago is ancient history, shuffled off to the archives and not supported. They really aren't interested in making substantial changes before they release the official, combined Dungeon at the end of the month, or an errata sheet to go with it. Six months later? Pfft. It's in the past. D&D's all about moving forward, not backwards.
I believe that Wizards cares about what they release.
I have seen them release errata and updates fairly regularly.
This needs it... When I run an adventure, and then have to go back later and tell my players "Oh, by the way... you found a key on the guy named Emissary who is not the Emissary you are thinking he was... he is the other Emissary.. the one that no one talks about... um... just nevermind about him, his name was Irandra - not that there is anyway for you know this as it is not mentioned in the adventure...", Players response "WTF... who wrote this thing...."
- it completely ruins the verisimilitude of the situation.
Come one Wizards.. I am on your side!
"You can do it!"
I plan to do things like change the dungeon crawl in Rescue at Rivenroar into a skill challenge with set piece encounters. This is something 4E does really well and WotC turned out a 1E-3.XE style dungeon crawl.
It also means that I can ensure that the mess ups that are in the modules are fixed thanks to being significantly behind, even when I finish modules faster than would happen if they were played through as WotC published them.
We skipped over Rescue at Rivenroar, and instead opened with Rescue at Gardmore Abbey (unintentionally; the crew rescued a little girl from a cult setting up shop beneath Gardmore). They went off to Bordrin's Watch, and learned nothing about anything (as in, nothing about Modra, or arms-dealing, or any of that stuff - they were off in the mountains killing orcs, after all). Bordrin's Watch itself blew up in the battle, thousands slain, though the orc horde was driven back.
Now they're doing Umbraforge, and they have not (and will not) meet Sarshan until the end of the module if that's where it goes; the Happy Beggar has been blown up and the two paladins killed (by Modra); they fell through a natural gate to the Shadowfell located in the ruins of Bordrin's Watch, and right now are being hunted by Wicked Fangs. They have yet to make it to Umbraforge.
So...it already doesn't make a lot of sense; I don't think WotC can help me!
I plan to do things like change the dungeon crawl in Rescue at Rivenroar into a skill challenge with set piece encounters. This is something 4E does really well and WotC turned out a 1E-3.XE style dungeon crawl.
This idea is positively brilliant! Rivenroar was actually fairly fun to run, overall, but the dungeon crawl aspect of it was a detriment. It was the first time in 4th Ed. for both me and my players, so it gave some of them the impression that it was all about playing Diablo on a game table.
Assuming you are taking a page out of Mearl's series, would you be doing it something like this:
Phase 1: find the dungeon (navigate the forest/terrain to get there)
Phase 2: navigate the dungeon, ends when you find the prisoners
Phase 3: find the artifacts
Phase 4: escape
Run the Kruthiks at the end of Phase 1
Run Sinruth at the end of Phase 2
Run the Wight/Boneshard at end of Phase 3
Individual failures trigger fights.
I so wish I had thought of that idea when I ran it. Maybe if I do it again...
The most interesting (dangerous) fights we had were the Gelatinous Cube, the Needlefang Drakes, the Undead Healing Star room, the Ettercaps. Sinruth should have been more fun, but I kept rolling 1-4 on all of his attacks, and the players kept rolling 16-20 on him. The Boss Undead fight was over too fast, the players took out the Wight first using half of their Dailies, then the Boneshard with the other half.
Other tips I would offer, replace the Gnomes with Goblins (the Gnomes working with the Goblins was awkward and made little sense - I just substituted the Invisiblity for Shifty and changed the word Gnome to Goblin after 2 rooms) and possibly sprinkle undead instead of the other non-Goblin related monsters (like the Ettercaps and were-rats). Also, I stressed to the party that multiple extended rests would result in bad things for the prisoners. Because of that, they actually did the entire dungeon with one extended rest, and that was after finding all of the prisoners on the first floor. It really raised the tension for the players, and made them learn to use their powers cautiously - really good way to learn 4th Ed.
I'd rather they spend their time proofing future modules (which I haven't run through yet), rather than spending time / energy / resources cleaning up stuff that I've already run my groups through.
What I think I'd like to see, next year, is a compilation of all the adventures, with all the plot points/continuity glitches cleaned up.
Why do I have an ominous feeling that such compilation will not include half of the corrections mentioned on these forums, and might even create new complications? I hope I'm wrong
Why do I have an ominous feeling that such compilation will not include half of the corrections mentioned on these forums, and might even create new complications? I hope I'm wrong
I sort of feel sorry for WoTC. It's a lose-lose situation for them...
If they did make a compilation fixing everything using the advice from this forum then the players will cry foul that they are profiting from the hard work of posters on the forum to clean up their mess.
If they don't use the advice given here... well, you've already stated how you'd feel about that! ;) I have a feeling a lot of people would share your opinion as well!
Overall I think it's a pretty well written AP. It's not perfect, but it's a million times better than the adventures they are publishing and selling in the stores for much more than the cost of a DDI subscription. (Compare R@R to Keep on the Shadowfell... R@R is MUCH better!)
As a DM I'm willing to do a little work on my end to tweak the story here and there to make it flow better. I actually like to do that, as it makes me more familiar and comfortable with the AP and it makes it easier to run the campaign.
While I was somewhat disappointed with Rescue at Rivenroar, Siege of Bordrin's Gate is much better (I especially like Overlook). I haven't done much more reading down the AP, but it seems like there's a steady improvement in quality, which is encouraging.
I'm not sure about the current official published adventures. The last one I used was The Sunless Citadel back in 2000
I feel it is up to the individual groups to make the AP fit their particular group. Change what needs to be changed, make notes, etc. so everything flows the way each group likes it.
I have given up on SoW. The lack of continuity, missing plot points and lack of editing is too much! I am changing to War of the Burning Sky 4th Edition and would recommend those adventures over any SoW campaign. The material is better. SoW reads like individual modules written by different authors with little to no concern of what was written before or what will be written after. I bought DnD Insider because of this campaign and really regret that decision.
You do realize SoW is written by different people and is supposed to be able to be used as self-contained adventures? The links between the adventures is loose enough that people can link them or not have to.
Nothing like watching a Dm sit behind his screen reading from his laptop because the module tells him exactly what to do. And people wonder why there is this thing called railroading. "but the adventure says you have to go here so you go there"
Also, it's fairly episodic, so there's plenty of room to just drop out an entire adventure, run something else, and then come back with, "so, remember that thing from a month ago?" if there's one you don't like.
We, well I, didn't like that Overlook became the main focus for the heroic tier so I shifted as much as I could throughout Elsir Vale.
The best part about that was the modules made it really easy to do