D&D 5E Justin Alexander's review of Shattered Obelisk is pretty scathing

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I haven't read Shattered Obelisk so cannot comment on it's quality, but I find it very disturbing just how many people are willing to let Justin Alexander do their thinking for them.

You find it disturbing that a critic with professional game design experience would be listened to by people? You have a very low disturbance threshhold.

I certainly disagree with him on one point - the original Lost Mines was not good. Whilst it is reasonably well presented, it was dull, generic and uninspired.

That is an extremely minority opinion. As an introductory adventure, teaching both DMs and players how to play, it did its job better than any of its predecessors ever did -- miles better, in my mind. Its goal was never to reinvent the wheel and judging it on that basis is pretty pointless.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just out of interest. Are we certain that hydra’s actually need to eat to survive? I mean they already break the conservation of energy rules in some pretty substantial ways. I have a feeling hydra are not so bothered by calorie intake.

Since it's not suggested anywhere else in 5E that they don't, this doesn't seem like the rationale for dropping a hydra into this room.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You’ve answered your own point. Hydras take chunks out of themselves in extremis. A magical creature being hungry and needing food to survive are not the same thing.

Not liking JA or his reviews is fine, but are we now making up new rules that we allegedly all know about hydra to justify why the hydra complaint is invalid? That's pretty silly.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

How can I "think for myself" about this adventure besides buying it and reading it myself?

That's THE POINT OF REVIEWS. To see if this is a product worth investing into.

I think the point being made was don't hang your hat on a single review.

 

[ersatzphil]

Baker's presence at WoTC was underappreciated in terms of quality. I really think the talent that was there in 2014 is forgotten by a lot of people, and I don't think the WoTC of today could produce Lost Mine of Phandelver.... as this adventure (and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle) aptly proves.

Man, until I went to look, I had completely forgotten that Jeff Grubb, Kenneth Hite, and Robin Laws were all listed as consultants in the 5e PHB. I wonder if Laws' influence is what brought advantage/disadvantage from Over the Edge to 5e.

 

[Ancalagon]

I've read lots of them and they just baffle me. It is not necessarily the adventure, IDK. I just can't find a fruitful way to use a published adventure. Feel free to suggest one to me, lots of people have, but I just can't seem to get a hang of any of them. I've tried many times and I can't make hide nor hair of good nor bad adventures (ranked by others - not me). I much prefer running my own game.

for a great dungeon that makes a lot of sense (it's about 125 rooms, so not quite a megadungeon, but it's a big one) I recommend Gates of Firestorm Peak, which is where the far realm concept was introduced to D&D. 2nd ed, but it can be converted to 5e fairly easily (some have already done so).

For a great campaign (made of several smaller adventures), I can't recommend Dungeons of Drakkenheim strongly enough.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Get it from the library. I would recommend that for any D&D book. Way better to read for yourself than trusting clickbaiters.

He's not a clickbaiter.

Instead of getting so upset any time someone criticizes anything in your presence, maybe skip these threads.

 

[Parmandur]

He's not a clickbaiter.

Instead of getting so upset any time someone criticizes anything in your presence, maybe skip these threads.

He writes kooky rants to hawk a book. Clickbaiter.

I was curious what the criticisms would be, since there is a lot of room for critiquing this book. Just letting people know who haven't read the book thst He is misrepresenting basic facts. Not even matters of tastez just the contents of the book.

And getting a book from the library to try out remains much sounder advice than relying on randos on the Internet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have several of Arcane Library's adventures in my "Wishlist" on DriveThruRPG but I haven't pulled the trigger on any of them yet. Any suggest for the best one to look at?

Looking at her website, I've run Ghostlight (a slight but fun adventure going from a ghost ship through the sailor's afterlife and back), Masque of Worms (a Poe-inspired haunted house after the fall of a wicked family -- there was a slight map problem when I ran it, but nothing insurmountable, even while played on the fly), Valley of the Gilded Tower (a short Lovecraftian alien fungus story) and Crypts of Azarumme (another Lovecraftian adventure, this time with ghoul-like creatures beneath a church). I also own Curse of the Wardenwood but have never run it to my recollection.

All of the four I've run were very good with nice atmosphere. I even decided the Ghostlight take on the sailors' afterlife was canon for my game, since I don't life the way that the afterlife is handwaved in D&D generally. (One of these days, I'm going to have to sit down and work out how it works in my games, how the undead and Hell connect to it, etc.)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Wasn't the whole point of it to expand upon LMoP? If it can't do that well, I can't see how it can be considered a quality product.

It expands on it in that it's story continues in the same area. Plot wise it doesn't need to be the same as the original which was wrapped up pretty well.