The ramblings of a Boston area gamer
Keep on the Shadowfell - Session 8
Posted 9th November 2008 at 04:57 AM by Elodan
Potential spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell herein.
A summary of our 8th session exploring the Keep on the Shadowfell. In attendance:
* me - DM
* Kevin - half-elf paladin
* Dave - tiefling warlock
* Murph - eladrin wizard
Bob and Ed are not available so I run their characters as an NPCs. Murph attends for the first time in a while. Luckily, the wizard stumbles into his compatriots in the Keep before he ran into anything nasty. It cheesy but it gets the job done. It's one of those things that happens are everyone's table; what to do with the character of the person who's unable to attend. In some cases it easy, I as DM run the character as the player is most likely to be there next session. In other cases, you don't really know when they'll attend. I know one of my weaknesses is NPCs so I'm pretty hesitant to run NPCs that adventure with the party. I usually have those characters leave to do something and luckily, just happen tumble upon the party mid-adventure. In Dave's campaign, I think there are more NPCs who adventure with our party than PCs. Those NPCs are there to cover those situations. Kevin tends to rotate the missing player's character among those attending, switching after each battle.
The party continues to explore the section of the keep they find themselves in. After finding several deserted areas they find, behind a door, a short passage leading to a room. There a hobgoblin stares at them for a second, yells "intruders" and runs around a corner. The fighter enters the room with the wizard quickly following. There are several doors around the room (one on the east. north and west walls). As the rest of the party enters, the fighter opens the east door (it's pretty obvious the hobgoblin went that way). On the other side he finds several hobgoblins waiting for him, battle gear in hand. The fighter steps forth to engage the enemy while the wizard creates a flaming sphere. Flaming sphere is a nice little spell. It deals damage to adjacent characters and as long as the wizard spends a minor action each round it persists (he needs to use a move to move it, and a standard to attack). I'm a big fan of how minor actions are officially in 4E. The action type breakdown is one of my favorite things about 4E. It's simple and effective. I liked the addition of swift and immediate actions in 3E, but by not providing guidelines on how to apply these actions type to the core, they never saw use in my 3E game. The party finds itself in a tough situation as several hobgoblin minions emerge from the north door to attack from the rear. It's here where I realize that the allies provide cover might not be such a good idea. It's affecting my hobgoblin shaman. With his soldiers between him and the enemy all of his ranged attacks are at -2 to hit (I'm forgetting if monsters have different rules for their allies and cover, but this is an instance where I think the monsters and PCs should work the same). I resolve to change that house rule next session. I heroes pretty handily defeat the hobgoblins.
The party moves on and heads down a passage heading toward the south. They proceed through a chamber and then continue through a set of double doors where they find a room containing several statues. A huge statue, sword in hand, stands just off-center (more toward the west) of the room. Two dragon statues are in the corners of the east wall. A small passage with a cherubic figure holding vase over its head in each corner leads to another set of doors. By this point, I'm getting a little tired of sending wave after wave of humanoid baddies at the party. I'm looking forward to seeing 4E traps in action. The statue with the sword swings it in a wide arc when the trap is sprung. The dragons breath a force effect the pushes those within 5 squares. I did rearrange the main room somewhat as the PCs can avoid both traps if they just walk along the western wall. I shrunk the room, and placed the huge statue closer to the west wall so there was no way to avoid the traps. I intended on seeing these things in action. The paladin sets off the huge statue trap so I have everyone roll initiative. Traps now go on an initiative score. Several of the players go before any of the traps. The fighter sees the control panel on the huge statue and attempts to climb up the statue to get to it. He fails. Some characters try and make for the doors on the other side of the room while others head for the eastern wall (and the dragon statues). I get a 7-10 split on the statue's attack. It hit and knocked prone everybody but the paladin and warlock. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) the paladin had wandered into a dragon statue's range. It then blows him back 5 squares and into the range of the huge statue. The fighter again tries to climb the statue but still has no luck. The statue's next attack is just about as effective as the first. The warlock avoids that attack but runs into the range of of the other dragon statue and it blown back. The fighter, paladin and wizard decide to attack the sword statue while the warlock and cleric flee to short passage to the south. These two find their way block as a wall of force seals them in the passage and the vases start spewing water. The water is about knee high by the time the wizard, paladin and fighter destroy the huge statue. The paladin and wizard attack one statue. The fighter decides to tip over another which destroys it. The water is about waist high when the paladin decides to follow the fighter's example. He topples another statue which destroys it. The trap is deactivated and all are knocked prone by the water rushing out of the passage. We end the session with the characters just having taken a short rest and ready to go through the doors.
While this was an interesting encounter, I came away feeling not too keen on 4E traps. Traps now have several DCs to find various aspects of their trappishness but it feels redundant. A DC to notice the hole in the wall and a different DC to notice the control panel for the arrow trap may seem important on paper but are not all that different in practice. Once the PCs find the thing attached to the lower DC, they know the trap is there. I guess it's good with specific searches but not so great when used in conjunction with passive checks. Also, the rules (or at least the adventure) seems to encourage you to use skill challenges to disable traps. This means X number of successes before Y number of failures. I know this is to encourage everyone to get involved but I don't think disabling traps lends itself well to them. This leads me to this thought. Why can't one class shine once in a while? Does every class need to be equally good at everything? I'm starting to think that the classes have been a bit too homogenized (perhaps I have been spoiled by the multitude of options available to the classes in 3E).
A specific annoyance I have with this encounter is the water trap. After it's sprung a wall of force (or a least something similar) surrounds the area and the water starts flowing. The adventure tells you that one of the ways to disable the trap is to destroy the statues. The statues can only be attacked by those outside the wall or at the corners on the inside of the wall. If I can swing a sword and hit the statue from the inside, shouldn't the water be rushing out through these gaps? What kind of wall of force keeps water in but lets swords pass through; is this a Gungan city?
At this point, I'm getting a little annoyed by the adventure. This is the module that's supposed to make me want to play 4E. As far as I'm concerned it's not doing a very good job. When it tries to explaining things, it lacks clarity. The combats are starting to feel monotonous. You keep fighting the same creatures over and over (in slight, and I mean slight, variations). I'm glad the guys are where they are as they're only a couple of rooms away from the final encounter and never touch this thing again. I'm starting to wonder what to run after this. I'm really loathe to pick up another WotC adventure (especially at the price they're charging). No Necromancer Games 4E releases due to restrictive GSL. Paizo is sticking with 3.5 and developing Pathfinder. Green Ronin doesn't seem to do D&D anymore. Goodman Games had been more miss than hit (again, at this point). Maybe I'll try and convert something
A summary of our 8th session exploring the Keep on the Shadowfell. In attendance:
* me - DM
* Kevin - half-elf paladin
* Dave - tiefling warlock
* Murph - eladrin wizard
Bob and Ed are not available so I run their characters as an NPCs. Murph attends for the first time in a while. Luckily, the wizard stumbles into his compatriots in the Keep before he ran into anything nasty. It cheesy but it gets the job done. It's one of those things that happens are everyone's table; what to do with the character of the person who's unable to attend. In some cases it easy, I as DM run the character as the player is most likely to be there next session. In other cases, you don't really know when they'll attend. I know one of my weaknesses is NPCs so I'm pretty hesitant to run NPCs that adventure with the party. I usually have those characters leave to do something and luckily, just happen tumble upon the party mid-adventure. In Dave's campaign, I think there are more NPCs who adventure with our party than PCs. Those NPCs are there to cover those situations. Kevin tends to rotate the missing player's character among those attending, switching after each battle.
The party continues to explore the section of the keep they find themselves in. After finding several deserted areas they find, behind a door, a short passage leading to a room. There a hobgoblin stares at them for a second, yells "intruders" and runs around a corner. The fighter enters the room with the wizard quickly following. There are several doors around the room (one on the east. north and west walls). As the rest of the party enters, the fighter opens the east door (it's pretty obvious the hobgoblin went that way). On the other side he finds several hobgoblins waiting for him, battle gear in hand. The fighter steps forth to engage the enemy while the wizard creates a flaming sphere. Flaming sphere is a nice little spell. It deals damage to adjacent characters and as long as the wizard spends a minor action each round it persists (he needs to use a move to move it, and a standard to attack). I'm a big fan of how minor actions are officially in 4E. The action type breakdown is one of my favorite things about 4E. It's simple and effective. I liked the addition of swift and immediate actions in 3E, but by not providing guidelines on how to apply these actions type to the core, they never saw use in my 3E game. The party finds itself in a tough situation as several hobgoblin minions emerge from the north door to attack from the rear. It's here where I realize that the allies provide cover might not be such a good idea. It's affecting my hobgoblin shaman. With his soldiers between him and the enemy all of his ranged attacks are at -2 to hit (I'm forgetting if monsters have different rules for their allies and cover, but this is an instance where I think the monsters and PCs should work the same). I resolve to change that house rule next session. I heroes pretty handily defeat the hobgoblins.
The party moves on and heads down a passage heading toward the south. They proceed through a chamber and then continue through a set of double doors where they find a room containing several statues. A huge statue, sword in hand, stands just off-center (more toward the west) of the room. Two dragon statues are in the corners of the east wall. A small passage with a cherubic figure holding vase over its head in each corner leads to another set of doors. By this point, I'm getting a little tired of sending wave after wave of humanoid baddies at the party. I'm looking forward to seeing 4E traps in action. The statue with the sword swings it in a wide arc when the trap is sprung. The dragons breath a force effect the pushes those within 5 squares. I did rearrange the main room somewhat as the PCs can avoid both traps if they just walk along the western wall. I shrunk the room, and placed the huge statue closer to the west wall so there was no way to avoid the traps. I intended on seeing these things in action. The paladin sets off the huge statue trap so I have everyone roll initiative. Traps now go on an initiative score. Several of the players go before any of the traps. The fighter sees the control panel on the huge statue and attempts to climb up the statue to get to it. He fails. Some characters try and make for the doors on the other side of the room while others head for the eastern wall (and the dragon statues). I get a 7-10 split on the statue's attack. It hit and knocked prone everybody but the paladin and warlock. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) the paladin had wandered into a dragon statue's range. It then blows him back 5 squares and into the range of the huge statue. The fighter again tries to climb the statue but still has no luck. The statue's next attack is just about as effective as the first. The warlock avoids that attack but runs into the range of of the other dragon statue and it blown back. The fighter, paladin and wizard decide to attack the sword statue while the warlock and cleric flee to short passage to the south. These two find their way block as a wall of force seals them in the passage and the vases start spewing water. The water is about knee high by the time the wizard, paladin and fighter destroy the huge statue. The paladin and wizard attack one statue. The fighter decides to tip over another which destroys it. The water is about waist high when the paladin decides to follow the fighter's example. He topples another statue which destroys it. The trap is deactivated and all are knocked prone by the water rushing out of the passage. We end the session with the characters just having taken a short rest and ready to go through the doors.
While this was an interesting encounter, I came away feeling not too keen on 4E traps. Traps now have several DCs to find various aspects of their trappishness but it feels redundant. A DC to notice the hole in the wall and a different DC to notice the control panel for the arrow trap may seem important on paper but are not all that different in practice. Once the PCs find the thing attached to the lower DC, they know the trap is there. I guess it's good with specific searches but not so great when used in conjunction with passive checks. Also, the rules (or at least the adventure) seems to encourage you to use skill challenges to disable traps. This means X number of successes before Y number of failures. I know this is to encourage everyone to get involved but I don't think disabling traps lends itself well to them. This leads me to this thought. Why can't one class shine once in a while? Does every class need to be equally good at everything? I'm starting to think that the classes have been a bit too homogenized (perhaps I have been spoiled by the multitude of options available to the classes in 3E).
A specific annoyance I have with this encounter is the water trap. After it's sprung a wall of force (or a least something similar) surrounds the area and the water starts flowing. The adventure tells you that one of the ways to disable the trap is to destroy the statues. The statues can only be attacked by those outside the wall or at the corners on the inside of the wall. If I can swing a sword and hit the statue from the inside, shouldn't the water be rushing out through these gaps? What kind of wall of force keeps water in but lets swords pass through; is this a Gungan city?
At this point, I'm getting a little annoyed by the adventure. This is the module that's supposed to make me want to play 4E. As far as I'm concerned it's not doing a very good job. When it tries to explaining things, it lacks clarity. The combats are starting to feel monotonous. You keep fighting the same creatures over and over (in slight, and I mean slight, variations). I'm glad the guys are where they are as they're only a couple of rooms away from the final encounter and never touch this thing again. I'm starting to wonder what to run after this. I'm really loathe to pick up another WotC adventure (especially at the price they're charging). No Necromancer Games 4E releases due to restrictive GSL. Paizo is sticking with 3.5 and developing Pathfinder. Green Ronin doesn't seem to do D&D anymore. Goodman Games had been more miss than hit (again, at this point). Maybe I'll try and convert something
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Comments
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You could try your hand at writing your own adventure. I mean, converting something would probably take almost as long, if not longer. I'm guessing you're like me and have time constraints, but that's what I'm doing after the keep.Posted 10th November 2008 at 07:26 PM by silentounce
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