Endur
First Post
This remake of I6 is a fantastic adventure. I highly recommend it to new players and old players. It is the best adventure module I have purchased.
The production values are superb. The best module from a presentation point of view that I have ever seen from any publisher.
For 34.95, you receive a hard bound adventure with 221 pages (+3 more pages of ads to other D&D products).
This remake of I6 leverages the original story, but updates it to 3.5E, adds in WOTC monsters from recent books such as Libris Mortis and Heroes of Horror, and has transformed the module with incredible production values.
This is a remake of I6, not a sequel, so anyone who has played in the original knows the basic plot. The original module was 38 pages (counting maps) and the hardback is 221 pages, so what do you get that was not in the original?
More combat encounters in this adventure than the original. At least as many traps as in the original. The fortunes of ravenloft are still used to randomly determine Strahd's goals and the location of key quest items.
Every combat encounter comes with a two-page spread. The two page spread gives a description of the encounter, combat stats for monsters, a tactical map, details for the tactical map (objects, traps, etc.), monster tactics, and details for further development (treasure, etc.). The tactical maps are excellent, comparable to the tactical maps found in the WOTC Fantastic Location series (the tactical maps can be downloaded from the WOTC site).
The combat stats for monsters are ok, but WOTC's editors no longer proofread hit points. First, they use the new monster format which does not list modifiers for hit dice, it just lists hit dice and hit points, i.e. hit dice 5, hit points 78. Instead of the old way of saying hit dice 5d12 or 5d12+20. The problem with doing hit points the way WOTC is doing them now is that WOTC proofreaders can't catch the obvious mistakes, like when a monster has 78 hit points but only has hit dice 5d12 and no other modifiers, i.e. an impossible number of hit points without other modifiers. I saw at least two undead monsters that had 5d12 hit dice, but somehow had 78 hit points. Numerous other cases could have been mistakes, but weren't blatantly over the maximum.
Count Strahd's stats were repeated too many times, shown at the beginning of the book, repeated at the beginning of the castle, and then in each area where the PCs might encounter him. Strahd's main stats were shown four times, his stats in dire wolf form three times, and then once each for dire bat form, bat form, and feral form.
Some of the choices that the authors made for the remake can be argued against. There are many more combat encounters in this module than in the original. The story is somewhat deeper, but not much deeper than the original. The remake does a better job of giving the adventurers something to do in the village and the land around Barovia-- the original module only gave a wandering monster chart for the land around Barovia.
The authors chose many monsters from outside the Monster Manual ... Heroes of Horror, Libris Mortis, and many other sources contributed undead foes to challenge the PCs. Although the authors did provide full stats and abilities for the monsters, they did not provide pictures (and sometimes no description) for the non-standard monsters they chose. The authors also neglected to mention the source for many of the monsters, thereby making it difficult for the GM to open the correct book to be able to show a picture to the players.
One blatant example of a missing description is for the Aspect of Chernovog. This demon prince has no description in the book, nor is there any background presented on Chernovog, other than that his summoner calls him the Green God and Chernovog is supposed to rule the Verdant Chasm.
For all of the drawbacks I have cited, the production values of this book are amazing. The two page combat format is superb. I'm very glad I bought this book, even though I already own I6.
The production values are superb. The best module from a presentation point of view that I have ever seen from any publisher.
For 34.95, you receive a hard bound adventure with 221 pages (+3 more pages of ads to other D&D products).
This remake of I6 leverages the original story, but updates it to 3.5E, adds in WOTC monsters from recent books such as Libris Mortis and Heroes of Horror, and has transformed the module with incredible production values.
This is a remake of I6, not a sequel, so anyone who has played in the original knows the basic plot. The original module was 38 pages (counting maps) and the hardback is 221 pages, so what do you get that was not in the original?
More combat encounters in this adventure than the original. At least as many traps as in the original. The fortunes of ravenloft are still used to randomly determine Strahd's goals and the location of key quest items.
Every combat encounter comes with a two-page spread. The two page spread gives a description of the encounter, combat stats for monsters, a tactical map, details for the tactical map (objects, traps, etc.), monster tactics, and details for further development (treasure, etc.). The tactical maps are excellent, comparable to the tactical maps found in the WOTC Fantastic Location series (the tactical maps can be downloaded from the WOTC site).
The combat stats for monsters are ok, but WOTC's editors no longer proofread hit points. First, they use the new monster format which does not list modifiers for hit dice, it just lists hit dice and hit points, i.e. hit dice 5, hit points 78. Instead of the old way of saying hit dice 5d12 or 5d12+20. The problem with doing hit points the way WOTC is doing them now is that WOTC proofreaders can't catch the obvious mistakes, like when a monster has 78 hit points but only has hit dice 5d12 and no other modifiers, i.e. an impossible number of hit points without other modifiers. I saw at least two undead monsters that had 5d12 hit dice, but somehow had 78 hit points. Numerous other cases could have been mistakes, but weren't blatantly over the maximum.
Count Strahd's stats were repeated too many times, shown at the beginning of the book, repeated at the beginning of the castle, and then in each area where the PCs might encounter him. Strahd's main stats were shown four times, his stats in dire wolf form three times, and then once each for dire bat form, bat form, and feral form.
Some of the choices that the authors made for the remake can be argued against. There are many more combat encounters in this module than in the original. The story is somewhat deeper, but not much deeper than the original. The remake does a better job of giving the adventurers something to do in the village and the land around Barovia-- the original module only gave a wandering monster chart for the land around Barovia.
The authors chose many monsters from outside the Monster Manual ... Heroes of Horror, Libris Mortis, and many other sources contributed undead foes to challenge the PCs. Although the authors did provide full stats and abilities for the monsters, they did not provide pictures (and sometimes no description) for the non-standard monsters they chose. The authors also neglected to mention the source for many of the monsters, thereby making it difficult for the GM to open the correct book to be able to show a picture to the players.
One blatant example of a missing description is for the Aspect of Chernovog. This demon prince has no description in the book, nor is there any background presented on Chernovog, other than that his summoner calls him the Green God and Chernovog is supposed to rule the Verdant Chasm.
For all of the drawbacks I have cited, the production values of this book are amazing. The two page combat format is superb. I'm very glad I bought this book, even though I already own I6.
