AKAN1-1
DRAG1-1
LURU1-1
MOON1-1
However, I have neither played nor DM’ed any of them before.
I also haven’t seen a whole lot of detailed feedback (excluding a certain traps thread :rolleyes
on any of them.What are peoples overall opinions of these early modules?
Which would you recommend and why?
Thanks.
DRAG1-1 - a nice skill challenge with opportunities for free role playing and - especially when you play high tier - interesting encounters. My first choice!
AKAN1-1 - I remember this as a typical dungeon crawl adventure
LURU1-1 - played it just once, and we had to call some encounters due to time running out. From what I remember, though, it was a fun mod!
MOON1-1 - As a DM you can have lots of fun with a creature in the final combat if your players don't know it. I don't remember too much of the skill challenges/ role playing elements of the mod.
Sorry, this is the best I can offer...
I have played and run DRAG1-1, and I'd cheerfully recommend that one. It has actually challenging encounters that are varied and interesting, and the skill parts of it were more fun than many mods as well.
LURU1-1, and MOON1-1... I played and wasn't impressed with either. MOON1-1 I think I was a bit tired when I played, and examining my memories I suspect it is actually a decent mod. LURU1-1 I did have a poor DM, but I dislike several parts of the mod... like the entire first half of the module, though the last two encounters I believe are quite good.
However, I found that there was a big difference between reading AKAN1-1 and running AKAN1-1. Some thoughts:
Show
The goblin & ochre jelly encounter in the ruins needs a lot of DME to "make it work". Perhaps have the jars that get thrown contain some kind of lure that draws the jelly in 1-2 rounds later, or maybe treat the whole scene as a sort of sniper situation.
The last group I ran it for turned that entire encounter into a skill challenge, essentially. Their gnoll ranger realized that they were surrounded by goblins and they split up - two stealthed to the pile of bodies while the others stealthed around (or simply stayed put) and disposed of the unaware goblins - this is midday, after all, and goblins are a little more nocturnal - in each of the crumbled buildings.
The former chieftan provides for a lot of RP opportunities, especially if you choose to dovetail this adventure into ADAP1-1 and Sancossug (sp) the shaman as their next run.
The goblin & ochre jelly encounter in the ruins needs a lot of DME to "make it work". Perhaps have the jars that get thrown contain some kind of lure that draws the jelly in 1-2 rounds later, or maybe treat the whole scene as a sort of sniper situation.
The last group I ran it for turned that entire encounter into a skill challenge, essentially. Their gnoll ranger realized that they were surrounded by goblins and they split up - two stealthed to the pile of bodies while the others stealthed around (or simply stayed put) and disposed of the unaware goblins - this is midday, after all, and goblins are a little more nocturnal - in each of the crumbled buildings.
The former chieftan provides for a lot of RP opportunities, especially if you choose to dovetail this adventure into ADAP1-1 and Sancossug (sp) the shaman as their next run.
Out of the box, DRAG1-1 and LURU1-1 are the best (though LURU needs some thought as to DM flexibility around traps).
I think AKAN1-1 is pretty darn fun with the DME changes.
I don't like AKAN1-1 at all, as written. IMO it's one of (if not the) worst 1-4 level mod released so far (and I've played all but a couple). It's just very dull, quite repetitive and far too easy if your players are remotely competent. If you want to run it, be prepared for some major DME to turn it into something challenging and interesting.
The other two are both fairly run-of-the-mill. Nothing particularly spectacular or terrible about either, IMO, although as you have observed, you may need to think about the traps in LURU1-1.
I'd go for DRAG1-1 though. After all, no other mod gives the PCs the chance to intimidate a room of orphans.
I would recommend DRAG1-1 out of those four. As others have said, the RP parts are some of the better ones out of 1-1 mods, and the combats are different and interesting.
I don't like AKAN1-1 at all, as written. IMO it's one of (if not the) worst 1-4 level mod released so far (and I've played all but a couple). It's just very dull, quite repetitive and far too easy if your players are remotely competent. If you want to run it, be prepared for some major DME to turn it into something challenging and interesting.
The other two are both fairly run-of-the-mill. Nothing particularly spectacular or terrible about either, IMO, although as you have observed, you may need to think about the traps in LURU1-1.
I've played, and DMed, all four of these, and this very nicely reflects my view of the four.
A friend of mine played AKAN 1-1 at a con this weekend, and his opinion was: "that's four hours of my life I'll never get back."
The reason that I have selected these 4 adventures in particular is because they are the only 1-1 modules that I still haven’t played or DM’ed yet.
It sounds like DRAG1-1 and MOON1-1 are higher on people’s list than LURU1-1, and that AKAN 1-1 might be the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the first round of LFR adventures.
I’m looking to run something with out any preliminary DME. I’m always open to changing things as needed inside a game session to keep things fun, but I’d prefer to start with a module that people don’t insist needs DME just to become playable.
I’m still a week or so out on a decision, so if anyone else wants to chime in, it would be appreciated.
Since neither of those are on your list, I'd vote MOON 1-1 as my favorite of those 4, and AGLA 1-1 was my least favorite.
I voted MOON 1-1 because it gives a good mix of chance for roleplay, and some well rounded encounters. It also gives a variety of encounter locations and enemies throughout the module.
Akan 1-1. This mod has a reputation as a poor mod, but is actually on my short list of mods that I want to DM. (Not so much because I think it is good, but because I think the outline has potential and the flaws of the mod (limited non-combat RP potential, and terrible maps, etc) can be overcome without rewriting the whole mod). The key is to recognize the mod for what it is: a pure skirmish wargame mod. Grab your mordheim terrain. Scour the minis box for appropriate minis. Run your goblins with ruthless efficiency and give the players the best hack and slash experience you can. (Don't bother trying to figure out the map for combat encounter number 2--just put something together that makes sense; I would also skip the old-blind goblin encounter. I would run this one old-school: no NPCs that the players aren't meant to kill).
Drag 1-1. Yet another "help the priestesses clear the abandoned temple mod." As much as I liked Drag 1-2, Drag 1-1 is primarily notable for its formulaic mediocrity. (And given the dismal average quality of LFR mods, mediocrity is pretty bad).
Luru 1-1. I enjoyed playing this mod a lot but I detest the encounter design of the traps. I guess I just liked exploring an ancient elven tomb. Play up the scenery and the puzzles--even the non-XP ones. Those are what separates this mod from other LFR mods and make it enjoyable. (Also note that because these are the attractions of the mods, it probably suffers more than most mods for replaying. You can replay hack and slash. You can revisit a formulaic mod. However, puzzles and wonder are much less interesting the second time around).
Moon 1-1. Yet another "rescue the stupid NPC from the ignorant hick natives by finding the real cause of their problems that they would have noticed if they had half a brain (or a mod writer who was willing to write about characters in a world rather than tired cliches)" mod. More formulaic mediocrity.
I am looking to DM one of the following four adventures in a few weeks:
AKAN1-1
DRAG1-1
LURU1-1
MOON1-1
However, I have neither played nor DM’ed any of them before.
I also haven’t seen a whole lot of detailed feedback (excluding a certain traps thread :rolleyes
What are peoples overall opinions of these early modules?
Which would you recommend and why?
Thanks.
Drag 1-1. Yet another "help the priestesses clear the abandoned temple mod."
Wasn't it the first one? Or is this an LG/LC reference? Also I haven't played TYMA1-1, but I think it's the only 1-4 example thereof? DALE1-1 is a very different scenario - this complaint doesn't seem particularly warranted.
Moon 1-1. Yet another "rescue the stupid NPC from the ignorant hick natives by finding the real cause of their problems that they would have noticed if they had half a brain (or a mod writer who was willing to write about characters in a world rather than tired cliches)" mod. More formulaic mediocrity.
This'll sound odd, but both of these complaints have very little to do with the actual enjoyment of the module, and are but 3 seconds of DME to alter for a group that doesn't respond well to the presented plot hooks.
Wasn't it the first one? Or is this an LG/LC reference? Also I haven't played TYMA1-1, but I think it's the only 1-4 example thereof? DALE1-1 is a very different scenario - this complaint doesn't seem particularly warranted.
To some degree, Drag 1-1, Dale 1-1, Cor 1-3, and East 1-1 are all "clear the abandoned temple" mods. I played a few similar mods in LG (but the one I recall off the top of my head was done significantly better). It can be done well (Cor 1-3 is the best of the group IMO), but I was not impressed by Drag 1-1.
This'll sound odd, but both of these complaints have very little to do with the actual enjoyment of the module, and are but 3 seconds of DME to alter for a group that doesn't respond well to the presented plot hooks.
They have a lot to do with the actual enjoyment of the module for me. I tend to prefer my combat encounters strung together with a good story-and if I'm not going to get one, I'd rather skip the story altogether. (In fact, given the choice, I would rather play a mod with a well-written story but weak (or overly challenging) combat encounters than a mod with an eminently forgettable story and interesting combat encounters). It's much like my opinion of movies. I prefer smart thrillers with a cunning plot, carefully choreographed fight scenes, good pacing, interesting themes, etc. But if the movie is actually a dumb thriller with more plot-holes than a California freeway, I'd rather watch a straight-up action flick that doesn't pretend to have a story.
For those two mods (and I'll toss Dale 1-1 in this category too for good measure), it is not just the hook that is problematic. The whole story (such as it was) was problematic and it would require more than just 3 seconds of rewriting to fix. You probably could fix either of them without changing the combat encounters, but it would require a good deal more thought than fixing Akan 1-1. In Akan 1-1, you just have to strip the story down and concentrate on the action. (The story was window-dressing anyway). In Drag 1-1, and Moon 1-1, the story is too large a part of the mod to simply discard, but needs complete rewriting if the mod is to be anything more than mediocre and forgettable. Also, the story rewards somewhat limit the range of plot alterations that could be made to the mods.
I'm fairly reticent to completely change all of the actual encounters if the encounters themselves annoy me, but I won't hesitate a moment to change a mod to 'An old warehouse has been donated to be an orphanage, but the city is having problems with squatters and now it looks like someone might rescind the grant if something isn't done soon' if the group would react poorly to it being a temple.It is interesting seeing the spread of answers to this one, though.
I guess my summary of the objection didn't actually summarize it very well.
Yeah, I might have to agree with you Bigfluffylemon
It is interesting seeing the spread of answers to this one, though.