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Raiders of the Serpent Sea - Third Party 5E Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9208663" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>Alright, the next chapter is called the Stone Court. For those of you who forgot, the Stone Court are the gods of Grimnir, petrified and trapped in stone by Boda's perfidious treachery ages and ages ago...yada, yada, yada.</p><p></p><p>Boda's been busy while the heroes saved the sun and all - she's using an artifact called the Rainbow Spear to open a gateway to the Lost Lands (the pre-Grimnir fallen civilization) and calling through all manner of allies. These range from CR 4 ironwood witches to CR 18 lava giants called mus. The entire thrust of this chapter is that the PCs have to get to the Stone Court and blow their magic horn again to wake them up.</p><p></p><p>To get there, they have to go through this delightful little dungeon:</p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/uq2do3I.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p>Portions of it are blocked off by "impassable" ice until area 13 is cleared and the <em>Frostheart</em> (a magical artifact that's been causing climate change) is destroyed. The rest of it is a nice little dungeoncrawl that (with some better layout, 'crawl procedures, etc) would have been outstanding. As such, it falls a little flat (by which I mean on par with most WotC products).</p><p></p><p>My three main problems with this chapter are:</p><p></p><p>The PCs are given a huge army right up front! And then the huge army gets bogged down battlng an equally huge army of Boda's minions! So, we give the PCs a huge army to recognize their achievements, and then immediately take them away so we can still have a dungeoncrawl.</p><p></p><p>Second, we're doing a dungeoncrawl at level 13. This is usually the part where 5E heroes have fully outgrown the dungeon, and this dungeon layout doesn't really account for the abilities of the PCs. One well-placed <em>passwall</em> or <em>dimension door</em> or hell, even a <em>shatter</em> spell will turn that impassable ice into a fun romp for the PCs. While it does leverage environmental effects well, it very much feels like the design is informed by someone who's never had to deal with a very outside-the-box player before.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the railroading. After the PCs make it to the Stone Court at the end of the chapter, it triggers a huge fight with Boda. Once the PCs blow the horn once, she'll shift the Rainbow Spear and try to throw the PCs into the Lost Lands. The book tells the DM explicitly that the horn, the PCs ship (the ship they got from the dwarf in Valhalla functions much like a folding boat), and all the PCs (regardless of their choices) have to get thrown through the portal.</p><p></p><p>Blow me, just bad form all around. No bueno.</p><p></p><p>That dungeon is a solid 7 / 10, but you lose points for railroading and for using dungeons this late in the game: 4 / 10.</p><p></p><p>And now...the heroes have to go to the Lost Lands ('cuz railroad) and try to stop the bad guys from drawing their reinforcements. But that'll be next time!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9208663, member: 7041430"] Alright, the next chapter is called the Stone Court. For those of you who forgot, the Stone Court are the gods of Grimnir, petrified and trapped in stone by Boda's perfidious treachery ages and ages ago...yada, yada, yada. Boda's been busy while the heroes saved the sun and all - she's using an artifact called the Rainbow Spear to open a gateway to the Lost Lands (the pre-Grimnir fallen civilization) and calling through all manner of allies. These range from CR 4 ironwood witches to CR 18 lava giants called mus. The entire thrust of this chapter is that the PCs have to get to the Stone Court and blow their magic horn again to wake them up. To get there, they have to go through this delightful little dungeon: [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/uq2do3I.png[/IMG] [/CENTER] Portions of it are blocked off by "impassable" ice until area 13 is cleared and the [I]Frostheart[/I] (a magical artifact that's been causing climate change) is destroyed. The rest of it is a nice little dungeoncrawl that (with some better layout, 'crawl procedures, etc) would have been outstanding. As such, it falls a little flat (by which I mean on par with most WotC products). My three main problems with this chapter are: The PCs are given a huge army right up front! And then the huge army gets bogged down battlng an equally huge army of Boda's minions! So, we give the PCs a huge army to recognize their achievements, and then immediately take them away so we can still have a dungeoncrawl. Second, we're doing a dungeoncrawl at level 13. This is usually the part where 5E heroes have fully outgrown the dungeon, and this dungeon layout doesn't really account for the abilities of the PCs. One well-placed [I]passwall[/I] or [I]dimension door[/I] or hell, even a [I]shatter[/I] spell will turn that impassable ice into a fun romp for the PCs. While it does leverage environmental effects well, it very much feels like the design is informed by someone who's never had to deal with a very outside-the-box player before. Finally, the railroading. After the PCs make it to the Stone Court at the end of the chapter, it triggers a huge fight with Boda. Once the PCs blow the horn once, she'll shift the Rainbow Spear and try to throw the PCs into the Lost Lands. The book tells the DM explicitly that the horn, the PCs ship (the ship they got from the dwarf in Valhalla functions much like a folding boat), and all the PCs (regardless of their choices) have to get thrown through the portal. Blow me, just bad form all around. No bueno. That dungeon is a solid 7 / 10, but you lose points for railroading and for using dungeons this late in the game: 4 / 10. And now...the heroes have to go to the Lost Lands ('cuz railroad) and try to stop the bad guys from drawing their reinforcements. But that'll be next time! [/QUOTE]
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