General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
I hope they put some background info on what happened to the Elsir Vale and Brindol after 10 years in next month's Dragon (and also the missing pieces of the 1st adventure).
It has already been stated somewhere (I forget where, but it was an official source) that next month's Dragon support article will be about character hooks and bringing your character into the AP, specifically Brindol and Elsir Vale.
This whole thing feels like someone went "Well we should have an Adventure Path thingie, the old Dungeon did those", and then promptly had someone who'd never read one of the Paizo ones write it. (Honestly, I more expect that these are individual adventures they'll loosely tie together. I'd be amazed if they had a plan for the AP in-house yet.)
Bad move when past Adventure Paths look so much more polished in comparison.
Yes, I guess so.
But what I'm supposed to do in the meantime?
PCs: "Ok Sinruth, who is the Emissary?"
Sinruth: "I don't know, but ask again nex month"
Playing any AP as it is being released is a dicey venture at best. It's always a good idea to get a few months lead time before setting out, precisely to avoid situations like that.
__________________ “When one awakes, and rolls from his pallet, and strides across the cold rushes to put flame to lantern. When the world is asleep around him. When the whippoorwill sings and crickets speak. When one is alone, in silence, with nothing but a book. That, my son, is glory. That is all the glory a man ever needs, and more besides.” - Sage Poridel Poriden, Sins of Our Fathers
Are you running SoW and are interested in getting some ideas on the overarching plot?
Looking for better ways to tie the disparate modules together?
Come visit my thread on doing exactly that! Also, visit the wiki it inspired! Player's stay out!
This whole thing feels like someone went "Well we should have an Adventure Path thingie, the old Dungeon did those", and then promptly had someone who'd never read one of the Paizo ones write it. (Honestly, I more expect that these are individual adventures they'll loosely tie together. I'd be amazed if they had a plan for the AP in-house yet.)
Bad move when past Adventure Paths look so much more polished in comparison.
Considering that Chris Youngs was one of the primary folks at Paizo to design and implement the original Shackled City AP, I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.
My guess is that the problems with this adventure are birthing pains--for the new AP and the new online magazine format both--and will clear up in the future.
__________________ Ari Marmell
aka
Mouseferatu
--Rodent of the Dark
Considering that Chris Youngs was one of the primary folks at Paizo to design and implement the original Shackled City AP, I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.
My guess is that the problems with this adventure are birthing pains--for the new AP and the new online magazine format both--and will clear up in the future.
And I am pretty sure that some folks over there have read this thread and are keeping an eye on it. Maybe we should fork an errata/questions/clarifications thread so that we can be productive about this process.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caliber
Playing any AP as it is being released is a dicey venture at best. It's always a good idea to get a few months lead time before setting out, precisely to avoid situations like that.
I agree. Shackled City had similar issues and the APs got progressively better. I may not be starting this with my online group until August or Sept anyways.
__________________ Game on, gang! Ptolus #16 (with customized, personalized sig from Monte. Awesomesauce.), Rappan Athuk Reloaded #37 (Another Awesomesauce, the Necromancer way.)
Try to not let failure to use technical language properly get in the way of getting to the real point under discussion. - Umbran
Characters & Games
Books currently in play: Dungeon & Dragon Magazine (*Scales of War AP*), WOTC 4e Core and Supplemental books
Current Campaign: Scales of War - Lost Mines of Karak -- Kodirgo, Minotaur Barbarian 6; Vondal, Dwarf Cleric 6; Karithul, Gnome Bard 6; Marshaun, Elf Druid 6
For some reason, I can't log in to D&D Insider any more (it keeps throwing me back to the login prompt) so I can't download the adventure. Is anyone else having this problem?
Books used last session Black Horse Parsantium campaign: 4e core rules, Player's Handbook 2 (invoker), Adventurer's Vault, Wrath of the River King. Dulwich Parsantium campaign: 4e core rules, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide (genasi, swordmage), Players' Handbook 2 (barbarian), Dragon (Playing Gnolls), Sellswords of Punjar (the adventure) Lands of Intrigue: 3.5 core rules, Arcana Evolved (unfettered), Ptolus, Spell Compendium, Complete Book of Eldritch Might, The Banewarrens (the adventure), Book of Nine Swords (Desert Wind), Monster Manual V (demons)
My guess is that the problems with this adventure are birthing pains--for the new AP and the new online magazine format both--and will clear up in the future.
This first adventure looks more like a miscarriage than a birth, but I do hold out some hope that it'll get cleaned up before being compiled into a whole Dungeon issue (assuming they'll be doing the same with Dungeon that they did with Dragon). If that doesn't turn out to be the case, then the AP may as well be stillborn.
Man, suddenly I feel the need to buy a pregnancy test.
I read the various threads on the adventure before actually reading it, so I expected a big, flaming pile of doo-doo, but you know what, the adventure wasn't that bad. While I'm not going to deny that it had problems, I'm going to chalk this up more to "high expectations not met" than Rescue at Rivenroar being a total travesty of adventure design. The adventure is certainly weaker in its second half despite a few interesting encounter areas, but the first half that takes in Brindol is great and I really liked how the adventure used the captured NPCs.
I will confess that my negative opinion is in part colored by the fact that it took like 20 minutes to get the %#@% thing to load. I never understood what people were complaining about with the D&D Insider login until that happened.
I'll hold up until some of the Dragon supplementary material comes out to fully assess it. I'm probably just grumbly because I'd have liked some clues as to the expected future direction of the Adventure Path, rather than just the adventure.
For some reason, I can't log in to D&D Insider any more (it keeps throwing me back to the login prompt) so I can't download the adventure. Is anyone else having this problem?
Cheers
Richard
They changed their sign in system and apparently the old one didn't actually do much (if any) checking before letting someone sign in. So a lot of people who were using incorrect user/pass suddenly were being locked out (or so they say).
I just went and made a new account. Once they get ready to start charging, I'll try to sort things out and attach the email I want, but for now it's all pointless, so free hotmail accounts FTW.
__________________ “When one awakes, and rolls from his pallet, and strides across the cold rushes to put flame to lantern. When the world is asleep around him. When the whippoorwill sings and crickets speak. When one is alone, in silence, with nothing but a book. That, my son, is glory. That is all the glory a man ever needs, and more besides.” - Sage Poridel Poriden, Sins of Our Fathers
Are you running SoW and are interested in getting some ideas on the overarching plot?
Looking for better ways to tie the disparate modules together?
Come visit my thread on doing exactly that! Also, visit the wiki it inspired! Player's stay out!
They changed their sign in system and apparently the old one didn't actually do much (if any) checking before letting someone sign in. So a lot of people who were using incorrect user/pass suddenly were being locked out (or so they say).
I just went and made a new account. Once they get ready to start charging, I'll try to sort things out and attach the email I want, but for now it's all pointless, so free hotmail accounts FTW.
I was able to sign in a few days ago, now it won't sign me in and doesn't give me any indication why. I can sign into Gleemax, but not DDI. This sucks.
__________________ Game on, gang! Ptolus #16 (with customized, personalized sig from Monte. Awesomesauce.), Rappan Athuk Reloaded #37 (Another Awesomesauce, the Necromancer way.)
Try to not let failure to use technical language properly get in the way of getting to the real point under discussion. - Umbran
Characters & Games
Books currently in play: Dungeon & Dragon Magazine (*Scales of War AP*), WOTC 4e Core and Supplemental books
Current Campaign: Scales of War - Lost Mines of Karak -- Kodirgo, Minotaur Barbarian 6; Vondal, Dwarf Cleric 6; Karithul, Gnome Bard 6; Marshaun, Elf Druid 6
Something to remember here is that you only have a part of the magazine, not the whole thing. All of the backdrop information when Paizo was running things was kept in a separate part as well.
If you were to try to run STAP using only There is No Honor, you'd have some serious problems.
Remember, this is all preview material for the month's issue, not the entire issue yet.
__________________ Currently running: Sufficiently Advanced over Maptool. Soon to change. If you'd like to join in a short 3-8 session campaign for various systems, drop by our forums.
I double-dog-dare you to make your game sound super cool without comparing it to other editions. - paraphrased from Umbran.
Something to remember here is that you only have a part of the magazine, not the whole thing. All of the backdrop information when Paizo was running things was kept in a separate part as well.
If you were to try to run STAP using only There is No Honor, you'd have some serious problems.
Remember, this is all preview material for the month's issue, not the entire issue yet.
This is the first I've heard of the individual Dungeon and Dragon articles being considered "preview material" and I note that there's nothing about any other articles related to this adventure or the adventure path in this issue of Dungeon's posted table of contents. This is pretty much what we get until next month's Dragon.
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
