Dungeon Adventure: Heathen

[Spatula]

The concept is also to have all the information necessary to run the encounter on one page. Map with starting locations for monsters. Statblocks for all monsters. Details on terrain, illumination and other battlefield conditions, including the effects they have on the encounter.

KotS has all of that without the page flipping.

As for why it's not done here, I'm guessing it's a layout issue. There probably isn't enough "meat" between encounters to take up a full page. Even so, at least they could stick the encounter info on the next page instead of 5 pages later.

 

[catsclaw227]

It's possible that the layout got rushed and they didn't get to have an extra meeting to discuss layout options and the pros & cons of different styles.

We're pretty impatient and demanding here (and other fan sites) so I wouldn't be surprised with a little rumbling causing a product to be finished and posted before it was ready.

Either way, it's a nice little adventure. I am looking forward to what they do with the AP starting in July.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Impatient and demanding?

Yeah, this whole 4th ed thing just snuck up on us. There was not a single day's advanced notice.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Since they're releasing these electronically, they should put hyperlinks in the document so you can easily and quickly flip back and forth.

 

[Kishin]

The Delve format is only marginally less annoying in PDF since I can skip around easier (IE, no constant flippy flippy). Seriously though, just put things in sequence. Delve just forces people to print out/photocopy the encounters separately so as to avoid constant pageturning. On top of that, it is -highly- unintuitive. The only place I liked Delve formatting was in Elder Evils, which was a special case anyway.

 

[catsclaw227]

Impatient and demanding?

Yeah, this whole 4th ed thing just snuck up on us. There was not a single day's advanced notice.

I think you know what I mean. When the first couple of articles came out this past week with the release of some new 4e online material, they might have prematurely posted the adventure to help create or maintain a certain level of expectation.

I am not talking about 4e in general...

 

[Verys Arkon]

I like the landscape format for reading online, but now I'm going to have to go and find some landscape binders for my hardcopies. I agree that the KotS format is superior, having run it for a few sessions. I don't mind white space in a layout if it means a functional adventure, as long as it isn't adding 'too' many more pages for printing. Maybe I'll try my Abobe-fu and reorganize the adventure.

 

[Bagpuss]

It's possible that the layout got rushed and they didn't get to have an extra meeting to discuss layout options and the pros & cons of different styles.

We're pretty impatient and demanding here (and other fan sites) so I wouldn't be surprised with a little rumbling causing a product to be finished and posted before it was ready.

Yeah, a decent editor would have noticed that the Skill Challenge in the adventure seems to bear little relation to the Skill Challenge section in the DMG, and I suspect it is most likely written for an earlier version of the rules. The fact...

Spoiler

the whole Skill Challenge leads to the same conclusion success or fail is a bit disappointing, there should have been some penalty later on for failing.

Also....

Spoiler

the Dopplegangers seem to have a 3.5 version of Change Shape that effects their items worn and carried, unlike the 4th Ed version where it only effects their creature and not any possessions or clothing. So really they need to be wearing tunics with the symbol of Pelor, not Naarash if they don't want to blow their disguise, and it won't change on their death. Easy fix is to have the talisman of Naarash tucked inside the tunic to be discovered once they are dead.

A decent editor would have picked this up, I did on my first read through.

 

[JeffB]

another vote here for the KOTS format.

 

[Stoat]

The Delve format is only marginally less annoying in PDF since I can skip around easier (IE, no constant flippy flippy). Seriously though, just put things in sequence. Delve just forces people to print out/photocopy the encounters separately so as to avoid constant pageturning. On top of that, it is -highly- unintuitive. The only place I liked Delve formatting was in Elder Evils, which was a special case anyway.

You know, I'm the exact opposite. PDF's load slowly on my computer, and moving from one page to another on the same .pdf often results in lag. Also, I tend to forget what page I was looking at, which makes moving back from the encounter to the main adventure even more frustrating.

With a book, I just use a Post-it Note or bookmark to keep track of my place.

That said, I stick to my first statement. I don't like Delve Format. I thought the format used for KotS was just about perfect.