D&D (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[mamba]

Just spreading the canyon out horizontally by a factor of four or five would make a huge difference.

absolutely, the main problem is how crammed together everything is, I want more of a functioning ecosystem than a zoo frozen in time (because if it weren't, the situation we find would have resolved itself...)

 

[DarkCrisis]

I cut my gaming teeth in the mid 90s with 2e. I think we mostly just made up our own adventures. I didn't start experiencing pre-written adventures until I got back into D&D in the late 00s with 3.5e. So I have not played a lot of the "classics" - either in their original form or in a revised form for a more recent edition.

With that in mind, I am more used to the newer style of adventures, and I really struggle to make sense of some of these older classic adventures. Like I've just been reading through The Lost City in the Infinite Staircase book, and the layout of the ziggurat and the placement of various creatures within in it just boggles my mind. How did that carrion crawler get inside that room? How can a rust monster be a wandering monster when the ziggurat is full of closed doors? Why haven't the guys in that one faction dealt with some of the creatures/hazards that are just down the hall? And so on ... It's one of those adventures where it feels like everything is in stasis, waiting for the PCs to kick in the door so they can "come alive".

I remember getting something of a similar sense with the Caves of Chaos when I read through the D&D Next Playtest version. I would much prefer it if the caves area was bigger with more space between the various groups.

(This preference for adventure locations being more spacious may also come from my upbringing - I grew up on 3/4 of acre in the suburbs surrounded by other spacious properties and with an empty horse paddock on one side. In college, I struggled to adjust to living in a dorm. Even as an adult, I struggle with having other houses in such close proximity, and the idea of living in an apartment building has zero appeal.)

"A Wizard did it."

 

[pukunui]

Maybe instead of having the different groups all in one canyon, they could be spread out across the wilderness? That's not what they are going to do here, since they are giving the caves their own booklet, but that would be my personal preference.

(On a related note: if I ever run Princes of the Apocalypse as an actual adventure, I will have the cults' lairs in the old dwarven city be more spread out instead of four quadrants of a square.)

"A Wizard did it."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Compared to the people around them who supposedly belong to the same species and/or culture, and compared to 1st level characters from most previous editions? I can see it.

Since when are characters gods at first level.

 

[Remathilis]

No, wisenheimer, I quit buying their stuff because they stopped making product with an eye towards simulation and setting logic. Removing families from an adventure because their design philosophy changed (not for any setting reason) is the kind of thing I'm talking about.

I don't appreciate the implied accusation, by the way.

I'm 100% fine with moving non-combatants and children out of the line of fire when it comes to official products, simulation be damned. The game loses little for moving baby kobolds off the battlefield, and what it did lose is nothing I lament being rid of. Simulation is all well and good, but I'm willing to concede this unrealistic part if it means never seeing a "what so we do with the children of the tribe we just eradicated?" Again..

 

[Gradine]

Based on what they laid down, it seems they've expanded it into one module per pillar of play (not honestly sure if they are still talking about it that way, but still):

• The Keep for Social-focusef Adventuring
• The Wilderness for Exploration-focused Adventuring
• Caves of Chaos fir Combat-focused Adventuring

That would not augur well at all. Caves of Chaos (and really all three) should feature all three pillars.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Depending on what the keep booklet is like, it might be fun to replace it entirely with Barkeep on the Borderlands.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm 100% fine with moving non-combatants and children out of the line of fire when it comes to official products, simulation be damned. The game loses little for moving baby kobolds off the battlefield, and what it did lose is nothing I lament being rid of. Simulation is all well and good, but I'm willing to concede this unrealistic part if it means never seeing a "what so we do with the children of the tribe we just eradicated?" Again..

And you are welcome to feel that way. I want a setting that makes logical sense, and I'll sacrifice a lot to get it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

October of 2025 is a crazy release date, though.

 

[Scribe]

Depending on what the keep booklet is like, it might be fun to replace it entirely with Barkeep on the Borderlands.

One day I'm going to pick your brain for all the weird RPG products that you seem to know about that I've never seen...