Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 asmodeuslore Mar 19, 2009 23:45:55	Dungeon 164 The Scales of War, part 9 Haven of the Bitter Glass by Kevin Kulp In the Astral Sea, the githyanki struggled with a problem: How best to organize the many limbs of the vast githyanki army? Only through surprise, strength, and coordination would they annihilate their enemies. Talk about this Adventure here.
#2 Ore Mar 20, 2009 7:18:14	Oh yeah, I have been waiting for this one. Surveying it now...
#3 paulos Mar 20, 2009 8:15:04	Looks like quite a bit of work and creative thought was put into it. On first glance I say well done. Different than yet another dungeon crawl with a different name and monster set. A world map would be nice, did I miss it?
#4 piratecat Mar 20, 2009 8:35:57	Hey! I wrote this, so feel free to ask questions. Now I have to actually go look at the finished article... - Kevin
#5 RobertM Mar 20, 2009 9:07:30	Hey! I wrote this, so feel free to ask questions. Now I have to actually go look at the finished article... - Kevin Good job Piratecat, can't wait to run my PC's through this!
#6 sotp_seamus Mar 20, 2009 10:15:16	I'm pretty sure this is the one I've been waiting for. I have only read the overview so far, but it looks impressive. There's a compelling character, connectivity, political and social intrigue, and tons of fighting. This looks like a well-rounded, exciting adventure. I was wondering if SoW was the path I'd run, not to disparage the other adventures, now I'm sold.
#7 draphsor Mar 20, 2009 14:40:25	Having paged through the adventure, this one gets my vote as best-written thus far, narrowly edging out Shadows of Umbraforge. Well done! Now I just have to wait another year and a half or so for the party I'm running to get to this point in the plot... ;)
#8 piratecat Mar 20, 2009 15:29:23	Damn. Thanks, guys. I give massive credit to Chris Youngs, the adventure's developer and editor-in-chief of Dungeon. He made Haven of the Bitter Glass much better than it would have been otherwise. In particular, his work on my skill challenges was a huge improvement. I can't say enough good about how he treated the adventure.
#9 psionocus Mar 23, 2009 1:42:01	Looks like quite a bit of work and creative thought was put into it. On first glance I say well done. Different than yet another dungeon crawl with a different name and monster set. A world map would be nice, did I miss it? I liked this one a lot too, but would like to second the request for a map. It's hard to go flying across the world if even the DM doesn't know where you're going. :P
#10 lightinfo Mar 23, 2009 9:32:49	Shouldn't this thread be named for Dungeon 164, not Dragon 373? Minor nitpick but slightly confusing.
#11 paulos Mar 23, 2009 10:16:44	I've looked at it a lot more and I love it, especially the skill challenges within bigger skill challenges with Amyria's goals. Way to go Kevin and Chris. Many thanks. It really rocks the 4e system capabilities. Storywise, I was beginning to hope there could be some subversive resistance action for the PCs, and here it is. (I hope it develops into something even more). I and my group like the appeal of underdog themes, such as the travails of the noble, scrappy, rebels in Star Wars IV-VI, Braveheart, V for Vendetta, Robin Hood, Enemy at the Gates, The Patriot (and on and on, a common theme). This could really go that way, with coalition leaders to protect and serve, weaker githzerei to supply, protect, inspire, unite, and lead. After skirting around, hiding their vulnerable PC tails for their paragon career, they could finally arrive at the power required to face the foe toe to toe. I liked this one a lot too, but would like to second the request for a map. It's hard to go flying across the world if even the DM doesn't know where you're going. :P I was wondering at first if it's in the Astral Sea.
#12 sotp_seamus Mar 23, 2009 13:38:51	See, I like that there's a mention of Tiamat in here. This means we run a pretty good risk of seeing dragons down the line, or even story structures built around Tiamat cultists. If all goes well, the epic tier stuff will be phenominal.
#13 paulos Mar 24, 2009 12:21:41	*Spoilers throughout* (am I allowed to put spoilers here? I dont knwo how many players of the AP read this.) Dragons down the line? IIRC Arn't the Gith lancers riding those beasties all around the battlefields already? First Zithirun's mount, even if he wasn't a full-blooded living dragon, then a A red one for sure harassing the Akma'ad fortress and a couple that intercept the Conqueror (spelling oops). Most of the githyanki have a telekenetic tether to wing them back to their dragon saddle when they fall off. I'd say the dragons are ramping up. Has anybody already postulated the possible pun in the AP title on "scales"? I hope it goes more than dragons though. Dragon allies perhaps, needed to combat primordials whom the PCs might have been tricked into releasing bc they were needed against deities? That sounds like a whale of a time. Fun combats, fun non-combats. Is there a different place more proper for this kind of speculation? I'm really digging the appendix of new foes, good variations and options. BTW I missed it on first glance but the adventure does say that the A-fortress is 140 miles SW of Overlook in some scrappy non-vegetated area, further south in the Stonehomes?
#14 aluman Mar 24, 2009 12:34:15	Pssst Asmeduos, the title says Dragon 373 :P.
#15 piratecat Mar 25, 2009 22:08:37	BTW I missed it on first glance but the adventure does say that the A-fortress is 140 miles SW of Overlook in some scrappy non-vegetated area, further south in the Stonehomes? Yup. Since there's no overland map in the issue, you can mess around with that distance some without breaking the adventure. It's based on the ship/dragon overland flight speed I wanted, times the number of hours I wanted the trip to take. I wanted Akma'ad to be far enough away that its existence was virtually unknown in Overlook. If anyone is curious why the githzerai scout fled to Overlook instead of Sayre after stealing the ship, it's because Overlook has a far, far better military than Sayre does. Besides, when you're being chased by a couple of dragons, you just pick a direction and go.
#16 Aegeri Mar 26, 2009 0:05:30	This adventure is excellent. Really, keep this quality up Wizards and I will forgive all sins with Dragon/Dungeon.
#17 asmodeuslore Mar 29, 2009 20:04:37	Shouldn't this thread be named for Dungeon 164, not Dragon 373? Minor nitpick but slightly confusing. My mistake there. And I couldn't even correct it before now because I was away at a local convention. Its fixed now!
#18 greywolf411 Apr 08, 2009 14:45:48	Hey! I wrote this, so feel free to ask questions. Now I have to actually go look at the finished article... - Kevin Ok I see that Akma'ad and Sayre is on the prime, but how far from each other? Also, I guess I'm fuzzy on how things slip between the astral and not, can the ship do that? Or should I just not bother trying to figure that out? Thanks
#19 piratecat Apr 08, 2009 23:27:51	Ok I see that Akma'ad and Sayre is on the prime, but how far from each other? Also, I guess I'm fuzzy on how things slip between the astral and not, can the ship do that? Or should I just not bother trying to figure that out? Thanks The ship doesn't slip into the astral, at least without a long and complicated ritual (which is my way of saying "not unless you want your 12th lvl heroes planeshifting at this point. If you do, go nuts!") Here in the material world the ship simply flies. And let me tell you, I had some compunctions about the tradeoff; it's cool to fight dragons on a flying ship. It's less cool for the DM when your heroes yoink the damn thing and take off as aerial pirates across the land, about ten levels before they should. That's why the ship is badly damaged and on its last legs, with a fairly loathsome propulsion method. I wanted to make it useful in the short run, without ruining the campaign. As for location: Akma'ad is about 140 miles southwest from Overlook (p. 45), nestled right up against a mountain. Sayre is 20 miles away from Akma'ad (p. 50), to the (rolls a d8) south. Anything else?
#20 Joolsy May 17, 2009 18:36:01	I've just had a skim through and this adventure looks marvellous. I've just run Bordrin's Watch (the one with the nexus) in my campaign and was planning to move on to other (seemingly more interesting looking) adventures but this one looks so good that I just can't resist running it. So, my question is this: what do I need to set up between now (Bordrin's Watch) and Haven of the Bitter Glass so that everything makes sense? The Deva trapped in the sword appears to be one, and the Githyanki general from one of the earlier adventurers seems to be another (to set up the impending gith war). Is that about it?
#21 sotp_seamus May 18, 2009 6:53:02	Go here: SoW DM's Wiki There's a lot of contiuity issues hashed out here. I'd say, pick and choose the things that work for what you're trying to do. There are a lot of good ideas.
#22 dynamic1 Jun 22, 2009 19:43:25	This is a really great adventure. Best Scales of War so far. We're starting this next week and I can't wait. I just wish I had some clean maps of the ship(s). Usually I can just manually scrape them up myself by copying and pasting clean tiles over the tokens, but the ship is so tiny and filled with so many tokens it's basically uncleanable. Still, that's no fault of the writing team, great job.
#23 piratecat Jun 22, 2009 22:29:52	This is a really great adventure. Best Scales of War so far. We're starting this next week and I can't wait. I just wish I had some clean maps of the ship(s). Usually I can just manually scrape them up myself by copying and pasting clean tiles over the tokens, but the ship is so tiny and filled with so many tokens it's basically uncleanable. Still, that's no fault of the writing team, great job. Thanks a ton. I'd send you my initial map sketches, Dynamic, but they're worse. My goal for this adventure was to produce something that I'd want to run in my own campaign: cinematic battles, strong role-playing opportunities, a skeezy villain, and multiple ways to solve the problem. I'm really pleased with how the city came out, too, but that's mostly a happy accident -- every time I was gnawing on a skill challenge, I'd go do more city development to distract myself. Chris Youngs, Dungeon's editor, deserves all the praise if you like the skill challenges. He took my tarnished ones and made them shine.
#24 xcaliber Jun 25, 2009 15:19:25	Piratecat! Great to see you here! Since I think you're watching this thread, maybe you can help me out. I won't be getting to this adventure for some time yet (starting Shadow Rift of Umbraforge tonight) but I know the first questions my players will be asking is where Sayre is in relation to Overlook. I've scanned through the module a few times but failed to pick up that info. Did you place it somewhere, or leave it to us to find a spot to drop it in? Maybe just a distance? Thanks a ton!
#25 piratecat Jun 28, 2009 23:01:02	I've scanned through the module a few times but failed to pick up that info. Did you place it somewhere, or leave it to us to find a spot to drop it in? Maybe just a distance? Hiya. It's in the adventure, but sort of buried. Yoinked from post 19 above (Ha! And you thought the question was original!) -- As for location: Akma'ad is about 140 miles southwest from Overlook (p. 45), nestled right up against a mountain. Sayre is 20 miles away from Akma'ad (p. 50), to the (rolls a d8) south.
#26 xcaliber Jun 29, 2009 19:12:17	Hiya. It's in the adventure, but sort of buried. Yoinked from post 19 above (Ha! And you thought the question was original!) -- As for location: Akma'ad is about 140 miles southwest from Overlook (p. 45), nestled right up against a mountain. Sayre is 20 miles away from Akma'ad (p. 50), to the (rolls a d8) south. Doh! I apparently fail at reading the thread before I ask my question in this case. :embarrass Still, thanks a ton for the help! I'm excited to run this chapter of SoW ... although it'll be a while before my group gets here.