D&D 4E Anyone playing 4e at the moment?

[AbdulAlhazred]

You could say we had one house rule, like @Dragonblade we never bothered with XP tracking. When a PC did something significant, or the story reached an appropriate point, the PCs leveled up. It was generally ever other week, just to give them a cadence where they could update their PCs and then spend a couple sessions at the new level before moving on to more fun stuff. Now and then there were one week or three week advances.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hey, Keep on the Shadowfell has some serious problems but at least it wasn’t as bad as Horde of the Dragon Queen.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hey, Keep on the Shadowfell has some serious problems but at least it wasn’t as bad as Horde of the Dragon Queen.

I wouldn't know... lol. I mean, the premise of HDQ doesn't sound terrible to me "uncover the machinations of the Evil Dragons." The devil is in the details though, so...

TBH I think the premise of KotS is rather weaker actually. It amounts to "there's something bad going on out at the old ruins, go delve!" with a number of preliminary/side quests that really don't seem needed and who's plot elements are not well spelled out. I guess either premise could lead most anywhere though.

 

[Charlaquin]

I wouldn't know... lol. I mean, the premise of HDQ doesn't sound terrible to me "uncover the machinations of the Evil Dragons." The devil is in the details though, so...

Yeah, the premise is quite good! Unfortunately the adventure is one of the most egregious railroads I’ve ever seen, as well as having serious balance issues thanks to it being written while the 5e rules were still being finalized. I hear the Tyranny of Dragons revision helped with the latter issue, but there’s no fixing the former.

 

[cavalier973]

AbdulAlhazred mentioned the "Kobold Hall" mini-adventure that's in the back of the DMG.

If you run that, make the first room have a trap: the two squares in front of the pool should collapse as soon as a character steps on one of them, tossing the character into the pool. The pool should cause ongoing poison damage (save ends--when the character gets put of the pool). The kobolds reveal themselves, and start slinging gluepots/stinkpots/whatever.

Change the end dragon from white to green (hence, the poisonous pool. In fact, make poison a theme--the kobolds use poisoned weapons, some of them seem sickly and weak, the air smells bad, etc.).

Put in some hostages in the last room (before the dragon's lair) that the characters want to protect (children, relatives, important persons, etc.), but who get in the way.

Add more treasure; it is a dragon's lair, after all, and this dragon has been having the kobolds attack travelers and merchant caravans for some time, plus, it has plundered the hall, so the loot should be good.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

AbdulAlhazred mentioned the "Kobold Hall" mini-adventure that's in the back of the DMG.

If you run that, make the first room have a trap: the two squares in front of the pool should collapse as soon as a character steps on one of them, tossing the character into the pool. The pool should cause ongoing poison damage (save ends--when the character gets put of the pool). The kobolds reveal themselves, and start slinging gluepots/stinkpots/whatever.

Change the end dragon from white to green (hence, the poisonous pool. In fact, make poison a theme--the kobolds use poisoned weapons, some of them seem sickly and weak, the air smells bad, etc.).

Put in some hostages in the last room (before the dragon's lair) that the characters want to protect (children, relatives, important persons, etc.), but who get in the way.

Add more treasure; it is a dragon's lair, after all, and this dragon has been having the kobolds attack travelers and merchant caravans for some time, plus, it has plundered the hall, so the loot should be good.

Those sound like decent ideas, the white dragon was a bit odd, though I think it was there mostly because it is the weakest of all dragons in MM1 (there are no hatchlings in MM1, they were added in Draconomicon I guess). Anyway, most of this dungeon is pretty OK. Remember to grant a milestone, and maybe it won't hurt if there's a healing potion or two lying around. They don't technically do much to increase actual healing, but it won't hurt, and getting all the way through to the end in one 'day' is a good workout for new 4e players.

 

[cavalier973]

Those sound like decent ideas, the white dragon was a bit odd, though I think it was there mostly because it is the weakest of all dragons in MM1 (there are no hatchlings in MM1, they were added in Draconomicon I guess). Anyway, most of this dungeon is pretty OK. Remember to grant a milestone, and maybe it won't hurt if there's a healing potion or two lying around. They don't technically do much to increase actual healing, but it won't hurt, and getting all the way through to the end in one 'day' is a good workout for new 4e players.

Thanks!

Part of the point is that the kobolds have lived in this dungeon for some time, and they will have had time to make it comfortable for themselves. Kobolds like to use traps

What do kobolds eat? My first guess is insects and small animals. Describe piles of ratbones and empty beetle carapaces lying around.

The dragon has lived here, too, although for how long isnt specified. It has its own way of dealing with intruders. What do dragons eat? Traditionally fair maidens; so, people. There's your reason for prisoners.

Maybe put in the remains of previous adventuring parties scattered through the rooms.

 

[cavalier973]

Build up the "something's wrong, here" aspect, as the players progress. Remember "the Paths of the Dead" in Lord of the Rings? The body of a dead warrior lying in front of a door nearly distracted Aragorn from continuing on his way. Maybe put the dead body of an adventurer somewhere that is bait for a crude trap.

At some point, describe that they have the feeling of being intently watched by someone in the room, but they see no one. If they investigate, the feeling passes. If they defeat the dragon, a ring of invisibility is part of the treasure--the dragon was using it to spy on them.

 

[cavalier973]

In the fight with the dragon, make the dragon reprehensible. Introduce a half-starved, whimpering dog to the party. Have it help the party. Have it warm up to one member, especially.


Then, have the dragon kill it.

 

[cavalier973]

Remember that both kobolds and dragons have darkvision; there is no need for them to have light in any part of the dungeon. The only light the adventurers have is what they bring.

In fights, the first priority of the kobolds is to douse the lights--throw water on torches, knock sunrods from the adventurers' hands and kick them away.