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

[Parmandur]

I’m actually not sure they exist anymore, but I was thinking specifically of his old “Happy Fun Hour” streams.

Nope, they are gone down the memory hole, unfortunately.

 

[Clint_L]

I only scanned part of the review earlier while at work, so I just gave the whole thing a good read. I definitely would not call it clickbait. It's pretty harsh, but the author makes their case clearly and supports their points with examples. Their complaints are reasonable; I don't know if I'll share them, once I'm done the adventure, and I definitely won't be as worried about the map thing, but this does not read like a casual smear job.

Folks are gonna have different opinions about art, and it's just one review. It happens.

 

[Parmandur]

Here is the text in question, describing the backstory of the single room, the boss encounter in the single room, and what the players find in the single room. No key needed.

 

[Parmandur]

but the author makes their case clearly and supports their points with examples.

OK, see, this is what is irritating: he does not. More charitably he uses examples he failed to read properly and went off on half-cocked because he doesn't understand the text.

What is more.irritstijg is thst I think this might be WotC weakest Adventure product of the 20's so far...I'd give it a B-, workmanlike and utilitarian. The beginning is great, the middle is professionally written but not inspiring (without having seen it in actionnyet), the end gets weird in a good way but it's no Turn of Fortune's Wheel.

A latter day Forest Oracle, it is not.

 

[Parmandur]

OK, I double checked on the other "unkeyed dungeons" he talked about...and theybare single encounter battle maps provsvlt.meant entirely for VTT purposes, not dungeons at all.

 

[Ancalagon]

OK, see, this is what is irritating: he does not. More charitably he uses examples he failed to read properly and went off on half-cocked because he doesn't understand the text.

What is more.irritstijg is thst I think this might be WotC weakest Adventure product of the 20's so far...I'd give it a B-, workmanlike and utilitarian. The beginning is great, the middle is professionally written but not inspiring (without having seen it in actionnyet), the end gets weird in a good way but it's no Turn of Fortune's Wheel.

A latter day Forest Oracle, it is not

You know, if you are giving B- to the worst adventure WotC has produced in 5e... you may be more generous/forgiving than many others. I've only seen a portion of the WotC's released adventures (a campaign takes me 1-2 years to run, what's the point of buying all of them?), and from that subset, B- would not by my floor... but perhaps that's just me?

 

[Charlaquin]

OK, see, this is what is irritating: he does not. More charitably he uses examples he failed to read properly and went off on half-cocked because he doesn't understand the text.

Nah, he definitely does. You might disagree that the things he points out are problems, but he is making factually accurate (if perhaps overstated) points.

 

[pukunui]

That's because Hardwick was being a problematic player and/or was leaving the show. You'll note, had you continued watching, that he was replaced by Brian Posehn in the next episode, IIRC. It was a stunt to switch players, not a regular ruling.

Yes, I watched the whole thing. The mid-stream player replacement thing was weird in itself, given that it was essentially a single game session split into 30-minute chunks. Nevertheless, that doesn't change my opinion of Matt Mercer as a DM. He's a great role model if you want to run a live streamed D&D show, but I wouldn't look to him as a great role model for a private home game.

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah, I don't know about an F. The first part of the adventure is a stone classic, and his criticisms of the changes are pretty nit-picky - I've hardly noticed them. The presentation is top tier, as always. Can't comment on the remainder of the story, which is not likely to be to my taste, but there's no way this is an F.

I'm a teacher. An F is without redeeming features.

 

[mamba]

I think people are getting hung up on the hydra not making sense, or the keying of the map. Those are, ultimately, minor issues.

What about "the fragments not really mattering", and 4 of them already been in the hands of the mind flayers, and ultimately having them (or not) only makes a mild difference?

not sure it is ‘hung up’ or ‘intentionally avoiding the others so this objection looks more justified’…