Just ranting about stuff I know nothing about. I don't design games, I don't understand rpg theory, and I'm a half-assed writer. But I love gm-ing and feel a need to publicly spill my thoughts. Read at your own risk.
A non-review of H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth and H3 Pyramid of Shadows
Posted 14th March 2009 at 10:03 PM by subrosas
SPOILERS BELOW: I am completely unable to judge whether I will enjoy a module by simply reading it, or predict whether my players will enjoy it.
Last summer, H2 and H3 in hand and the party still knee deep in the Keep on the Shadowfell, I would have predicted that H2 would be the winner, and that H3 was an atavistic throwback to a lazier era of adventure design. H2 had a home base, H3 did not, and that home base seemed interesting. H2 had the crazy Well of Demons, a werewolf guide, a cynical drow renegade turned merchant, and a Q&A session with a god.
H3 seemed disconnected, random. Nearly every room was a fight, and few of the fights made any sense. All potential allies were obviously, monotonously treacherous. The party would need to be lead by Charlie Brown to believe any of these Lucys.
And yet.... we had a terrible time in H2. Everyone found the Hall of Seven Pillars boring. If it had been a more sandbox campaign, I think my players would have voted to find a town not overrun with duegar and other scum. The missing pig quest resulted in laughs, but mostly about whether the dwarf had a gold question mark floating over his head. Getting into the inner sanctum of the Well of Demons was a long, annoying chore.
H3 on the other hand has been crazy fun. The party negotiated a truce with the lizard men (!!!), something the module didn't seem to leave much room for but which turned out to be some solid, fun roleplaying. The battle against the animated body was hilarious. The rotating rat trap was good fun. The second level was interesting too. Eladrin foes came as a surprise, but after I explained their nimbleness on the ice away by giving them all hockey skates, there were some good laughs and the magic was happening. Mutant Karavakos was a wild Lovecraftian disco showdown.
The key for our group has been to play H3 as comedy. As the party approaches the third level, they are accompanied by their brave (but lobotomized) companion Renauld, one of the bandits originally but stuck in his current state after being kidnapped by the foulspawn seer. Vyrellis loves the party despite being tossed around like a football in order to help party members teleport around (she usually complains loudly).
What does this mean? Probably nothing. Perhaps the quality of a module only has a tangential relationship to the fun a game group can squeeze from it. Perhaps the readability of a module is independent from its quality in play. Maybe we're just twisting the module into parody. Whatever - I've loved it.
Last summer, H2 and H3 in hand and the party still knee deep in the Keep on the Shadowfell, I would have predicted that H2 would be the winner, and that H3 was an atavistic throwback to a lazier era of adventure design. H2 had a home base, H3 did not, and that home base seemed interesting. H2 had the crazy Well of Demons, a werewolf guide, a cynical drow renegade turned merchant, and a Q&A session with a god.
H3 seemed disconnected, random. Nearly every room was a fight, and few of the fights made any sense. All potential allies were obviously, monotonously treacherous. The party would need to be lead by Charlie Brown to believe any of these Lucys.
And yet.... we had a terrible time in H2. Everyone found the Hall of Seven Pillars boring. If it had been a more sandbox campaign, I think my players would have voted to find a town not overrun with duegar and other scum. The missing pig quest resulted in laughs, but mostly about whether the dwarf had a gold question mark floating over his head. Getting into the inner sanctum of the Well of Demons was a long, annoying chore.
H3 on the other hand has been crazy fun. The party negotiated a truce with the lizard men (!!!), something the module didn't seem to leave much room for but which turned out to be some solid, fun roleplaying. The battle against the animated body was hilarious. The rotating rat trap was good fun. The second level was interesting too. Eladrin foes came as a surprise, but after I explained their nimbleness on the ice away by giving them all hockey skates, there were some good laughs and the magic was happening. Mutant Karavakos was a wild Lovecraftian disco showdown.
The key for our group has been to play H3 as comedy. As the party approaches the third level, they are accompanied by their brave (but lobotomized) companion Renauld, one of the bandits originally but stuck in his current state after being kidnapped by the foulspawn seer. Vyrellis loves the party despite being tossed around like a football in order to help party members teleport around (she usually complains loudly).
What does this mean? Probably nothing. Perhaps the quality of a module only has a tangential relationship to the fun a game group can squeeze from it. Perhaps the readability of a module is independent from its quality in play. Maybe we're just twisting the module into parody. Whatever - I've loved it.
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