Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 JohnLynch Jan 24, 2009 23:54:22	So I had a lot of fun with this adventure and was glad to see it tied in with DALE1-1. Out of the entire adventure the most fun I had was the first skill challenge. We had a party of: * Elven Cleric * Dwarven Ranger and bear * Human Wizard * Genasi (fire) Wizard * Genasi (storm) Artificer * Dwarven Fighter We knew that Show there was no way all of us could sneak. Our ranger has tried and failed to sneak the bear into taverns before because apparently taverns have a no-animals rule and he refuses to let his bear stay in the stables. So he alone would have caused us to fail. Instead we dressed up as a circus so no-one would know we were really adventurers. Our ranger was of course our animal tamer and he and the bear paraded down the street. Our artificer dressed up as clown and circled the ranger, making people laugh. I (genasi wizard) followed behind clearly as a wizard and used prestidigation to create fireworks. Our cleric used acrobatics to tumble and all sorts of stuff while our fighter led the group as the ringmaster and announced we would be performing the next night. The only one who didn't join in was our human wizard who simply turned invisible. Spoilsport :P Because we succeeded against the DCs, we technically succeeded in the skill challenge (even though we did the complete opposite of what we were suppose to ;)). We ended up reaching the warehouse with a crowd following us. Our ranger came upon the idea that we needed to go in to practice in private, so I diplomatically told the crowd this. Most went but some kids stayed behind, so our somoene (our fighter or cleric I think) said we had hidden candy across town, and our artificer added that we hid the candy in stores (which I presume caused a riot :P). Later we fought in the gladiator fight and we of course had to call ourselves the Cirque de Sole
#2 _metz_ Jan 26, 2009 1:13:11	Dale 1-3 has one of the more organic skill challenges out there. I'm glad you enjoyed my DMing ;) I personally think it is one of the best mods currently out there, and this is largely due to the fact that it provides a reasonable amount of info on where it is set, allows for creativity, and provides more than one avenue for the PCs to take, bringing some choice back to the role-playing, unlike many of the mods which have been excessively linear.
#3 gomeztoo Jan 26, 2009 13:36:25	Part of me regrets not thinking of putting in this kind of skill challenge instead... but then again this is far more fun if it happens spontaneously. So let me just say : And good to hear you enjoyed it.
#4 corwynn Jun 19, 2009 14:25:53	I judged this recently, and the players really liked it. The highlight was of course the Gladiatorial scene. They succeeded on the previous skill challenge (btw, kudos on introducing a skill challenge mechanic that actually seemed to help role-playing, instead of hinder it!), so the rules of engagement in the arena were "until bloodied". I thought at first that this would take some of the fun out of it, but the players told me afterwards it was quite the opposite. Because they effectively had only 1/2 their normal amount of hit points, it put them much more "on edge" and it made it more intense for them. A nova turn from the bad guys could even take the group's defender out, as they quickly found out. In fact, they liked it so much that I added a *second* arena fight, this time much harder. :D They got into the spirit of the gladitorial arena as well, trying to win over the crowd. The only parts that they didn't enjoy as much were: The last fight, while very cinematic and "neat", was kinda frustrating and tedious for the players. It's the only reason they didn't rate it a 5. The last skill challenge felt superfluous. You can get the same info either way (even worst case, the scenario had already established Speak with Dead is an option for the PC's employers). I thought it was a cool event from a story-telling perspective, but might have just been better role-played and described. In any case, the point is that ending a great scenario with a skill challenge seemed to make the scenario sort of slowly dwindle down, instead of ending with a climatic "high". Basics of storytelling, essentially.
#5 Keithric Jun 19, 2009 15:12:05	I think I need to download this adventure to run, now, so I can try to compare our play experience to what was planned. We certainly didn't come anywhere near having a circus, which is a darn shame I believe that party was the party where, like, five of us were getting 30s for Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate throughout the session so we ended up talking our way to the clouds. We also seemed to drop it to a 4 as a group due to the last combat's setup feeling punitive. We actually escaped carrying the arena mistress, the servant, and the prisoner with us which was interesting - like one of those Bluff 30s was as we left with a 'Trouble within, we're carrying her to safety!'
#6 Pauper Jun 19, 2009 17:45:23	I ran a group of five through this mod last weekend, and we enjoyed it -- we all agreed to 'round up' to 5 stars, with the only complaint being the relative lack of excitement in the final skill challenge (see below for more detailed explanation). First off, we were all impressed that the mod not only made use of the previous DALE adventure awards, but awards from CORE 1-1 as well. This made the adventure seem both more 'connected' to prior events, plus, since three characters had completed the prior adventures, Show the party could take nearly all of the useful bonus items granted by the twins for their use