4E, as an anti-4E guy ...

[ExploderWizard]

After a few Shadowfell sessions 4E was just about down and out for the count for us. Since we have started an awesome city based homebrew campaign the game seems to have taken on a whole new life. A lot of things that used to really bother me have become less of a problem once I approached the game from a supers in a fantasy setting perspective. My fighter even uses the Christian Bale Batman voice.

I'm glad you are enjoying playing. Just remember that if your current adventure starts to become kind of a drag, a good homebrew can help a lot.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

My fighter even uses the Christian Bale Batman voice.

Are you sure it's not the Wil Wheaton Avenger voice?
[/WotC podcast reference]

One of the funny things with Keep on the Shadowfell is that many people say it is lacking, but yet it seems to be the most "modded" and re-used adventure. Maybe it's just because it was the first official adventure.

But the elements of the Keep,

Spoiler

a villain named Kalarel, a Dragon Grave, Kobold Caverns behind a waterfall (and Irontooth), Winterhaven, the Portal to the Shadowfell, Sir Keegan,

they all are elements easy to re-use in different contexts...

I used Winterhaven as a starting point for my online campaign. The Keep is not in ruins here, though, it is kept in shape by a set of guardian golems and is awaiting re-use by the glorious but unfortunately long-fallen Nerathi Empire...

 

[ExploderWizard]

Are you sure it's not the Wil Wheaton Avenger voice?
[/WotC podcast reference]

One of the funny things with Keep on the Shadowfell is that many people say it is lacking, but yet it seems to be the most "modded" and re-used adventure. Maybe it's just because it was the first official adventure.

But the elements of the Keep, a villain named Kalarel, a Dragon Grave, Kobold Caverns behind a waterfall (and Irontooth), Winterhaven, the Portal to the Shadowfell, Sir Keegan, they all are elements easy to re-use in different contexts...

I used Winterhaven as a starting point for my online campaign. The Keep is not in ruins here, though, it is kept in shape by a set of guardian golems and is awating re-use by the glorious but unfortunately long-fallen Nerathi Empire...

Yoinks! watch the spoilers. The OP is trying to play this thing.

 

[Aus_Snow]

supers in a fantasy setting

, now available at any level!

Indeed. Not that that's an objectively bad thing, mind you. And, even though 4e is a game I hope I never 'have to' play (and this is likely, happily) I'm glad it's working out OK for you, Jeff. Because of course, in the end, what matters is that people enjoy their RPG experiences, whatever the system/setting/blah.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yoinks! watch the spoilers. The OP is trying to play this thing.

You are right, of course, quick, hide it in spoiler tags!

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

……having separate powers for everybody, when so many of them are so similar. It would have made much more sense to have a system for building powers. (But, of course, it wouldn't sell as many books.) I call this a meta-dislike because it isn't actually the powers I dislike -- not even for martial characters -- but rather the method of presenting them, and the clear reasons for choosing that method.

This is one of the really big thing that keeps me from 4e: if so many powers and items and monsters have similar effects I don't need each individual one to be built, just a system for doing it myself. The only other thing would be how tied into the grid everything is, but at least if the books contained fewer boring things to read I might have at least picked up the core books.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I've gotta say, Keep on the Shadowfell is a pretty bad adventure. It's just fight-fight-fight-fight-fight. That'll give pretty much anyone a bad impression of 4e - there's just too much fighting and not enough plot. But that's what you'll get if you run pre-written modules. I prefer running my own setting.

"Not enough plot" is a very subjective statement. I was able to pull enough plot elements from KotS to make it interesting for my players.

Also, you've made a very gross over-generalization of pre-written modules. I just started reading Demon Queen's Enclave and:

[sblock] The author has given alot of advice on how to use the NPC motivations to allow for groups that don't want to approach every encounter as a combat encounter. He details the goals of numerous NPCs and how a diplomatic approach to those NPCs might play out and interact with the goals and motivations of other NPCs. You won't get through this adventure without a fight, that's for certain, but there is ample opportunity for making this much more than an Underdark dungeon crawl.[/sblock]

I've used pre-written modules exclusively for quite a long time due to time restraints. The effort I would normally put into encounter design I instead put into plot expansion. Many pre-written modules do give me jumping points to expand the plot and make for a more interesting adventure. I really don't see where any superiority can be claimed in writing your own adventures over running pre-written adventures unless you don't put any thought into expanding the pre-written adventures to suit your group.

 

[Obryn]

The thing about KotS is that it has the bones of a good adventure stuck inside it.

I don't think it is a very good adventure as written.

It's better, but I still don't think it's a great adventure, with the changes and updates on the free download.

However, I think it can pretty easily become a great adventure with a few tweaks. It has a lot of great encounters, several interesting NPCs, a neat little town, and a sadly under-used adversary.

-O

 

[Holy Bovine]

I'm curious to see further thoughts on this one with more games, as I have found it was one of those issues that many people hated until they played....and then realized they didn't care.

Exactly my experience. And that of my players. It looks wonky on paper but in actual play works just fine.

 

[Insight]

Not to thread hijack but...

An idea I had for folks that want to tweak the recovery system is to have Healing Surges take longer to come back. Instead of a full refresh after 24 hours of any activity, maybe they only completely refresh after 24 hours of inactivity. Perhaps 1 or 2 (or Con mod #) come back after 24 hours of adventuring.

Just a thought.