[Star Wars] Dawn of Defiance Episode IV is out

SteveC · Apr 9, 2008

Hi everyone! I hadn't seen this talked about yet, so I thought I'd post. For those of you running the Dawn of Defiance, Episode IV has been posted. Pick it up here .

If you haven't heard about Dawn of Defiance: it is an adventure path taking characters from levels 1-20 in Star Wars Saga. And it's all a free download.

I'm currently running it, and the group is just about to finish up part I. They're having a good time, so I'd recommend it!

--Steve

The Eternal GM · Apr 9, 2008

Yep, my group has just finished episode I too. Had a blast. Were your players as shocked by the 'turn up the dial' deadliness (or perception of such) of the final fight? Mine got used to how player-friendly the game was quickly, and were staggered to face a real challenge.

Donovan Morningfire · Apr 9, 2008

Played it... and it was too much of a blatant dungeon crawl, which I don't care for on general principle.

I accept it's a part of D&D and deal with it appropriately, but not so much for Star Wars.

As for deadliness, maybe it depends on the PCs. Our group is slightly more "buff/beardy" as we didn't use the campaign guidelines (since we're playing it RPGA due to the GM's vile loathing of that organization for reasons I don't know and don't care to ask) so that my have something to do with it, on top of our group having flat-out awesome rolls that night. Then again, having read the module after playing it, I can see places where the GM made changes, such as allowing the group to kill one monster that was written as unkillable *rolls eyes* and removing a degree of "plot armor" from the main antagonist.

I'll have to check the GM guideline, but if this adventure was any indication, I hope Abel Pena doesn't have anything more to do with Dawn of Defiance. Especially considering all the stat-block typos.

Frankly, as eager as I was for this to be released, it could have waited at least another week for some actual playtesting (one of the co-authors flat out said playtesting on this was minimal at best) and further editing.

FunkBGR · Apr 9, 2008

Don't recall dungeon-crawl-ness, but whatev's.

My group just finished Episode 1 also, and were also amazed by how deadly it turned. They're a bunch of new players, so hopefully they'll use it to think up some tactics and stuff.

I really like it so far though!

The Eternal GM · Apr 9, 2008

Dungeon crawl? Really? The first episode?

...

Uhm, wow. Beyond the third act, which has a map I referred to once during play and which has some detailed descriptions of rooms and occupants, I really didn't see it as dungeon crawly at all... Certainly no more than any other SW game I've played, and I'm talking since WEG here!

Overall the adventure was middling in terms of writing, but it had a few key fun scenes that I thoroughly enjoyed running. The jungle chase was awesome fun in particular.

Klaus · Apr 9, 2008

Well, the first Death Star was essentially a dungeon crawl, so I don't think it's completely out-of-place for SW to have crawls.

SteveC · Apr 9, 2008

The Eternal GM said:
Yep, my group has just finished episode I too. Had a blast. Were your players as shocked by the 'turn up the dial' deadliness (or perception of such) of the final fight? Mine got used to how player-friendly the game was quickly, and were staggered to face a real challenge.

Well yes and no. I had told them that the troopers they were running into were fairly obviously new recruits, so they expected them to be less than effective. I also did roll 3 natural 20s in one combat against them, calling two of them. I said "the trooper lowers his blaster at you and says, 'you insurgent scum! It's over for you!' and then I'm going to roll a natural 20 and kill you outright." ... and then I proceeded to actually do that. Rolled a 20 and killed the character in one shot (he used a Destiny point).

So in some ways they expected it to be tough. I also had them level up to third level one session early, before they entered the prison, since I didn't want them to "ding" in the middle of it. They did a good job with the complex, almost by accident: one of the characters is a medical droid, and the complex has a medical droid in it, so he managed to bluff his way around quite a bit. Droid noble = surprisingly effective.

--Steve

mrswing · Apr 9, 2008

I presume Donovan meant episode 4, not episode 1... Which only turned slightly dungeon-crawlish near the very end.

SteveC · Apr 9, 2008

Having just finished reading episode IV, I think I see where the "Dungeon Crawl" aspects are coming from. I am a long way from that adventure, so I'll have some time to think about it. Generally Star Wars has what could be considered Dungeon Crawls in it, but they skip all of the boring stuff and just get to the good parts. I will have to consider how to adapt that part.

I will say this for the climactic battle in this adventure: it's got style. My group is going to enjoy that if they ever get that far.

--Steve

Donovan Morningfire · Apr 9, 2008

mrswing said:
I presume Donovan meant episode 4, not episode 1... Which only turned slightly dungeon-crawlish near the very end.

Right in one. Granted, the "dungeon-crawl" feel could just be my perceptions of it. But some of the encounters used towards the end really weren't helping avoid that perception either.

At least we weren't taking the hobbits to Isengard