Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
TSR/WotC Adventures - Are they REALLY any good? (Warning: Possible Spoilers)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5984423" data-attributes="member: 54877"><p>Gardmore Abbey is quite good, though not without its flaws. Also, some might consider it a set of related adventures instead of one, since it is specifically set up to be left and returned to. Unless over-leveled, I doubt a party could complete it in one go, at least if the DM was moderately tough.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Mild spoilers below:</strong></p><p> </p><p>Good: There is a lot going on, with multiple factions that don't entirely trust each other, but not always at war either. The one faction most likely to be useful to the party is separated from the rest by some dangerous neutral creatures and obstacles and hasn't been there long, which makes it reasonably coherent why they are still there. It's mostly organized reasonably well (important in a big adventure). It largely avoids any of the linear and railroad traps that WotC adventures are so noted for having.</p><p> </p><p>Bad: It's missing key summaries that would have been very useful, most notably one listing all the entrances and exits. This is especially glaring since links between the maps are a bit confusing in the text. More critical, the main thread of the adventure suffers from an unnecessary symmetry in NPCs and magic item(s). Thus, the DM has to practically master the large adventure before starting it, and a good one will want to ignore some of the advice in it.</p><p> </p><p>Neutral: In it's push to be a more naturalistic setting while avoiding linear adventures, the layout has mostly regressed to boring. That is, it doesn't provide much room or guidance to having great encounters, and most of what it defaults to is going to be pretty dull in the "take advantage of the environment" department. Fortunately, there is enough material there to shift things around and correct some of this. (For example, very few of the stated encounters take place in a vertical environment, but there are vertical environments handy for you to shift encounters to.)</p><p> </p><p>Bottom Line: Gardmore Abbey is the rare WotC adventure that makes a better setting than adventure. This is great for people like me that prefer to customize anyway, but as perhaps a hybrid adventure/settting, GA might not be what some people want in an "adventure" module.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5984423, member: 54877"] Gardmore Abbey is quite good, though not without its flaws. Also, some might consider it a set of related adventures instead of one, since it is specifically set up to be left and returned to. Unless over-leveled, I doubt a party could complete it in one go, at least if the DM was moderately tough. [B]Mild spoilers below:[/B] Good: There is a lot going on, with multiple factions that don't entirely trust each other, but not always at war either. The one faction most likely to be useful to the party is separated from the rest by some dangerous neutral creatures and obstacles and hasn't been there long, which makes it reasonably coherent why they are still there. It's mostly organized reasonably well (important in a big adventure). It largely avoids any of the linear and railroad traps that WotC adventures are so noted for having. Bad: It's missing key summaries that would have been very useful, most notably one listing all the entrances and exits. This is especially glaring since links between the maps are a bit confusing in the text. More critical, the main thread of the adventure suffers from an unnecessary symmetry in NPCs and magic item(s). Thus, the DM has to practically master the large adventure before starting it, and a good one will want to ignore some of the advice in it. Neutral: In it's push to be a more naturalistic setting while avoiding linear adventures, the layout has mostly regressed to boring. That is, it doesn't provide much room or guidance to having great encounters, and most of what it defaults to is going to be pretty dull in the "take advantage of the environment" department. Fortunately, there is enough material there to shift things around and correct some of this. (For example, very few of the stated encounters take place in a vertical environment, but there are vertical environments handy for you to shift encounters to.) Bottom Line: Gardmore Abbey is the rare WotC adventure that makes a better setting than adventure. This is great for people like me that prefer to customize anyway, but as perhaps a hybrid adventure/settting, GA might not be what some people want in an "adventure" module. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
TSR/WotC Adventures - Are they REALLY any good? (Warning: Possible Spoilers)
Top