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Adventure 1 (TIatAotW) Questions - SPOILERS

Rugult

On Call GM
As it currently stand none of my players have any plans to play a wizard. My group is looking to be pretty magic starved. I currently have a rogue, a fighter and a gunslinger and maybe an alchemist if i convince the player to play one. But we'll see how it goes :p

Well, the splash damage would knock him down as well! :devil:
 

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LightPhoenix

First Post
4E Version comments...

Overall, I like the story a lot. Specifically, I like the way it's divided up into three distinct parts that provide ample stopping points.

What's the purpose of the scene descriptors? While in some cases they're informative (especially regarding how long each scene takes), in many cases they seem entirely superfluous. Why does a scene where the PCs talk to other PCs have a level, when there's no skill challenge or combat? Why does it need to be indicated combat takes place on a round-by-round basis?

"The Sabotage" seems rather clunky in it's presentation, and it seems like a bear to run as the first real encounter. If I'm reading it right, the idea was to have the PCs and enemies basically tug-of-war for control of the "clock." I don't really like the mechanics though. For one thing, I think the action economy for the PCs to counter is far too steep. It's much better tactically for the PCs to focus on killing enemies, and then deal with the countdown. Of course, barring enemy action, one PC can effectively stop the countdown by shoveling. It does provide an interesting tactical quandary (increased power versus countering the countdown). However, the downside is one player basically shovels while the others combat. Overall, it's a neat idea that I don't think will really work in practice (but I may be wrong).

Personally, I would (and will, eventually) run the combat straight up while giving the enemies a couple of goals (throw the amber rod, break the wards/valves, etc). Afterwards, I would probably make it a skill challenge/straight puzzle (probably with timer) for the PCs to figure out how to stop the ship from exploding. The DC/possibilities would change depending on how many rounds the PCs spent in combat and what goals the enemies accomplished.

I like tying the use of the Golden Icons to Action Points; it's an elegant way to have an "artifact" that isn't overly powerful.

I like the "Hold the Lighthouse" skill challenge (and the single page description is awesome). However, I feel the adventure has a dearth of combat encounters in it, so I'd probably run this as a straight up combat.

Clever use of my least favorite magical item: the immurement.

How many squares specifically are on fire in "The Labyrinth?" Being extremely generous, I count 7 squares, and so straight off the bat Gillie takes 35 damage. That's almost a third of his hit points right there, before he even gets to act. Being less generous, it's more like 10 squares/50 damage; almost half his hit points. Gillie won't spend any time engaging the PCs. He'll be lucky to last four rounds. I'd get rid of his mechanic altogether, and make the burning hedges deal extra damage to the PCs. The hedge disappears if Gillie is killed or convinced to stand down.

I'm glad the lower level stats for Asrabey et al were included. The higher level stats make Asrabey, for all intents and purposes, unbeatable (which may be the intention). I think the lower level version provides a much more interesting and satisfying combat while representing Asrabey as tired, but still a bad-ass. The PCs can go toe-to-toe with him and still feel heroic without actually subduing him. He still doesn't go down easily, but it's not wholly contingent on a lucky PC roll.
 

Well, I assume that in the sabotage most parties will try to stop the NPCs from making things worse, but won't waste time trying to turn back the clock until after all the threats are dealt with. And unless you've got a tiefling, the party shouldn't be able to just shovel themselves to safety because of the fire damage from standing beside an overheating furnace.

My thought was that a little line of scene keywords will help DMs have a clear sense how the scene is paced and what role it serves in the adventure when they first read it. Once you've read through it, of course they're fairly obvious. But the first time through I'd hope it makes it easier to grok things.

With Gillie Dhu, the labyrinth map was finished after I statted him, and I honestly didn't realize that the number of burning squares (which looked nice on the map) would be mathematically bad for combat. I'd reduce it to just 3 squares that are actually on fire; the outer corner, one near the fence, and one in the middle. The rest are, I dunno, smoldering but not burning.

When the PCs first see him he's putting out the fire in the corner, so he'd just take 10 damage the first turn. Then he runs off to put out other fires, and comes back in round 3.
 


rangda

First Post
My thought was that a little line of scene keywords will help DMs have a clear sense how the scene is paced and what role it serves in the adventure when they first read it

I've only skimmed the module (been busy prepping for WotBS 5) but I think the scene layout and headers fantastic idea. Even with a quick 2-3 minute skim of the module just by looking at the headings I get a vague idea what's going on.

I also like the fact that the encounters are just part of the module content rather than the wotc style of a separate index. I've always hated the wotc model of "this is the module fluff" and "this is the module crunch", way too much page flipping.
 

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
I also like the fact that the encounters are just part of the module content rather than the wotc style of a separate index. I've always hated the wotc model of "this is the module fluff" and "this is the module crunch", way too much page flipping.

Yeah, we used the delve format in WotBS and I hated it. So, no more!

Interestingly, WotC recently announced they were abandoning the format, so it seems I was not alone.
 

OnlineDM

Adventurer
It's definitely a welcome change. Flipping back and forth between story and battle was always a huge pain. Sometimes there's some information in the "story" section right before the encounter begins that's relevant during the encounter. Having it on the same page or the previous page is so much better than having it 40 pages earlier!
 

rangda

First Post
When I run WotBS modules I print out the two parts separately so I can at least have the fluff part open to where the PC's are in the story and the encounters part open to the encounters. But even with that shuffling between the two printouts is still a pain.
 

benfromidaho

First Post
I'm also a fan of the keywords for each scene. Coming from a D&D 3.5 background, and only a few months of Pathfinder experience, I'm a huge fan of the way this adventure is laid out compared to previous WotC and even some Paizo adventures I've run. I'd like to doll out a ton of kudos for the work everyone has done on this first adventure, and I love how much the perspective of both 4E and Pathfinder have influenced it.
 

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