D&D 4E [4EYes!] - new free starting adventure

[Totte]

Hello,

I have finally play-tested the next adventure in the 4Eyes! growing collection of free adventures.

This time it is a starting adventure named A howl in the wind. As always, you find it here: 4E Adventures.

Comments and critics are welcome.

// Totte

 

[Van der Hoorn]

I DM'd most of the adventure yesterday. I must say it really worked out well! Some comments:

• We had 4 PCs, which is really the minimum I think. On the website you mention 3-4 characters, but after two battles, they barely got through (may have to do with some of the players missing a lot, but still). I really recommend at least 4 characters.

• I told the answer to the riddles just before they arrived at the large oak. It's kind of weird to say "I will say this only once" and then guide the PCs for another week, not telling it again.

• The players didn't really get the riddles at first. They arrived at the oak and tried to combine the messages. Counted four ingredients, but the number was 5,... etc. Lucky for me, I could start the battle with the Goblins, so that gave me some time. One of the PCs went down (up to first strike). I let White Tail come back and lick the PC over its face (which made the player spend a healing surge + 1d6). It also allowed me to let White Tail say that the words and the number were unrelated.

• Still, the riddle on the lock was too complicated. We had only d6-dices that have the actual numbers on them, not regular dice with dots. Another hint I added was to change the shape of the keys on the numpad to look like dice, but at the end I had to hint to regular dice for the party to get through.

• Inside the druids tree worked out really well. First they thought that putting the seed of a fish in the ground would be bad (a fish needs to swim right?), so they tried it with one seed of a plant (which of course gave the useless plant). Then one of the PCs drank the water (he still hasn't slept, so the next time will be a nice surprise. ) They also took some water with them. Who knows, maybe they'll drink some more.

• Then they misunderstood the riddle. Thought 'me' was a druid and 'you' was a wolf, so they mixed up. This grew the Dreadwood Tree. You may want to put somewhere what happens if someone kicks over the marble pot that contains the tree. I ruled that the tree grew actually through the pot in the ground, but you may have another idea.

• The party threw one of the fish seeds in the pond. You may want to mention what happens someone throws a seed or something else in the pond.

• Finally they got the mixture right. Actually they used a seed of the race of each party member, but I thought they got the idea, so it was fine with me. They really liked the idea of being able to communicate with the wolfs through the amulet(!)

• The party didn't notice the traps in the next battle, so one of them (the cleric) got stuck. So party members had to line up on top of the trap to receive healing, which made the overall effect of the battle quite nice.
• Typo: p.9 "We must now hurry,." => either a , or a . should be used.

Next time will be the cave + I think I'll hook Logging in the Twin Valley into it.

Again, nice introduction adventure!

 

[Totte]

Thanks for the well written feedback.
I've updated the adventure a little for the obvious left outs, and I think you played it very well. As I can read from your notes, your players had fun, and that is what DnD is all about, spreading the joy.

Danger is fun, dying when you do something stupid is fun, but dying when you do your best can ruin the game any day. Riddles are difficult, very few players have an IQ of 180 and the wisdom if a lifetime, so I usually let them make Stat rolls when they get stuck like that. I like the idea of using White Tail, that shows a lot of DM experience, you leveled ;-) I always twist and bend pre written adventures, not because I like it, but because I have to, and doing that on the fly so the players wont notice to get a better and more fun story is the way DnD should be played.

Cheers,

// Totte