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Running DDAL04 (Ravenloft) Adventures as a Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 7585289" data-attributes="member: 6702445"><p>As I go through the season, I'm going to try to keep a tally of issues with each adventure.</p><p></p><p><strong>Problems with "The Beast" (DDAL04-02)</strong></p><p></p><p>Very few. The main one is the problem of how to sell the storm, as noted upthread: if it's so deadly, why should low-level PCs assume they will fare better than experienced trappers? A potential solution would be for Grigori Wurlbach to suggest that he's worried Alina and Laszlo may have been injured--perhaps attacked by one of the animals they were attempting to trap for fur--and have him ask the PCs to bring them back before the storm if at all possible.</p><p></p><p><strong>Problems with "The Ghost" (DDAL04-06)</strong></p><p></p><p>The story hooks are weak. I'm not sure how I would have gotten my PCs to the Quivering Forest if they hadn't met the elves. (This is a good argument in favor of keeping the elves in "The Beast," although if I were running it again I might change them to humans.)</p><p></p><p>An issue that affects many adventures in this series: weather is inconsistent. In some adventures, Barovia is experiencing a deadly winter, and in others, the weather seems fine. "The Ghost" at least includes the detail that the Quivering Forest is free of snow.</p><p></p><p>When the PCs meet Derali on page 11, she says she is searching for a family of four elves. However, the PCs find only two elves trapped in the spiderweb on page 13, and it's not explicitly stated that they are the ones Derali was looking for. The others could be among the victims, or they might be still missing (which would explain why Derali parts ways with the PCs after the spider encounter--she needs to continue her search).</p><p></p><p>The description of the victims in the web on page 13 doesn't make sense. The sight is supposed to be so gruesome that it makes Derali cry out in "disgust and alarm," and the boxed text assumes the PCs are able to see the condition of the bodies in the web. But then it immediately goes on to say, "Most are wrapped entirely in webbing," apart from the young female elf and her father.</p><p></p><p>At the top of page 14, it says the female elf does not speak, but in the last paragraph of the next section, it says she thanks the party for helping her. She also needs a name in case she survives. (As noted above, I called her Londra.)</p><p></p><p>On page 14, Derali suggests that the PCs should not take a long rest in the forest, but the adventure includes no negative consequences if they do. It will take them half a day to get from the meeting with Derali to Jeny Greenteeth's cottage, so if they go back to Oraşnou the way they came, they'll risk exhaustion if they don't take a long rest.</p><p></p><p>If the party is very low level, I suggest replacing the Strahd zombies (page 19) with Mist zombies from "Suits of the Mists."</p><p></p><p>The adventure does not explain why Jeny still agrees to help the party if they fight Talaric's ghost rather than getting rid of him in a more permanent way.</p><p></p><p>The poem on page 20 seems to have the Obsessions slightly out of order for how they appear in the campaign: it places Omou as the third and Ivan Randovich as the fourth, while the adventures as written imply that Omou is the last Obsession. Unless I missed some text about when Randovich delivers the comb to Esmae? I haven't found any confirmation about when that actually happens. (ETA: If you play through the adventures in order, Randovich can send the comb no later than just before DDAL04-10, "The Artifact," since the modules as written assume he is killed at the end of that adventure. Omou shows up in DDAL04-13, "The Horseman," so he's still the last Obsession.)</p><p></p><p>The list of items on page 22 includes a potion of greater healing, but the only healing potions that appear in the adventure are normal potions of healing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jayoungr, post: 7585289, member: 6702445"] As I go through the season, I'm going to try to keep a tally of issues with each adventure. [B]Problems with "The Beast" (DDAL04-02)[/B] Very few. The main one is the problem of how to sell the storm, as noted upthread: if it's so deadly, why should low-level PCs assume they will fare better than experienced trappers? A potential solution would be for Grigori Wurlbach to suggest that he's worried Alina and Laszlo may have been injured--perhaps attacked by one of the animals they were attempting to trap for fur--and have him ask the PCs to bring them back before the storm if at all possible. [B]Problems with "The Ghost" (DDAL04-06)[/B] The story hooks are weak. I'm not sure how I would have gotten my PCs to the Quivering Forest if they hadn't met the elves. (This is a good argument in favor of keeping the elves in "The Beast," although if I were running it again I might change them to humans.) An issue that affects many adventures in this series: weather is inconsistent. In some adventures, Barovia is experiencing a deadly winter, and in others, the weather seems fine. "The Ghost" at least includes the detail that the Quivering Forest is free of snow. When the PCs meet Derali on page 11, she says she is searching for a family of four elves. However, the PCs find only two elves trapped in the spiderweb on page 13, and it's not explicitly stated that they are the ones Derali was looking for. The others could be among the victims, or they might be still missing (which would explain why Derali parts ways with the PCs after the spider encounter--she needs to continue her search). The description of the victims in the web on page 13 doesn't make sense. The sight is supposed to be so gruesome that it makes Derali cry out in "disgust and alarm," and the boxed text assumes the PCs are able to see the condition of the bodies in the web. But then it immediately goes on to say, "Most are wrapped entirely in webbing," apart from the young female elf and her father. At the top of page 14, it says the female elf does not speak, but in the last paragraph of the next section, it says she thanks the party for helping her. She also needs a name in case she survives. (As noted above, I called her Londra.) On page 14, Derali suggests that the PCs should not take a long rest in the forest, but the adventure includes no negative consequences if they do. It will take them half a day to get from the meeting with Derali to Jeny Greenteeth's cottage, so if they go back to Oraşnou the way they came, they'll risk exhaustion if they don't take a long rest. If the party is very low level, I suggest replacing the Strahd zombies (page 19) with Mist zombies from "Suits of the Mists." The adventure does not explain why Jeny still agrees to help the party if they fight Talaric's ghost rather than getting rid of him in a more permanent way. The poem on page 20 seems to have the Obsessions slightly out of order for how they appear in the campaign: it places Omou as the third and Ivan Randovich as the fourth, while the adventures as written imply that Omou is the last Obsession. Unless I missed some text about when Randovich delivers the comb to Esmae? I haven't found any confirmation about when that actually happens. (ETA: If you play through the adventures in order, Randovich can send the comb no later than just before DDAL04-10, "The Artifact," since the modules as written assume he is killed at the end of that adventure. Omou shows up in DDAL04-13, "The Horseman," so he's still the last Obsession.) The list of items on page 22 includes a potion of greater healing, but the only healing potions that appear in the adventure are normal potions of healing. [/QUOTE]
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