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I don't think it's either-or. It's pretty clear from Gamma World, the board games, and especially the "D&D New Business team" that WotC is interested in taking the underlying 4e engine--which is very solid--in a lot of directions. So I'd agree that they're testing the waters for a squad-level...

Oooh, I want.

As a mostly sandbox adventure, Shelter from the Storm is pretty complex. To understand it better, I made a cheat sheet detailing each of the episodes in the adventure and where they fit together. I thought I'd share it here in case anybody else found it useful, too. Updated, 23 Jan: Changed...

What a disappointing column. I was hoping that the hole in the schedule was due to some surprise in the works--and if not, then I was hoping there would at least be some explanation. Sadly, Ampersand just gave me what I've come to expect from it... spin, spin, spin, with very little real...

Okay, some speculation: "We're very pleased with the success of the new Red Box and our other boxed sets, so we're rebuilding our schedule to focus more on boxed sets with a softcover book, tokens and other goodies like adventures. This takes longer to produce, so there's going to be a hole in...

The "hidden" condition is even better than invisibility, because enemies don't know what square you're in. An at-will power to give this to you as easily as One With Shadow does is *very* powerful. No wonder it's a standard action. Another way to think of One With Shadow is that it's a "Free...

I've made an updated version of Indomitability that I plan on running next week (or maybe tomorrow, depending on how much the PCs get through). It's Morrus' version updated with some ideas from Monster Vault. I'd love some feedback.

War of the Burning Sky is excellent. I switched from Scales of War after the heroic tier for exactly the same reasons you mentioned: lack of consistent plot, boring/non-existant NPCs, and lack of meaningful player options. I was tired of slogging through encounter after encounter. War of the...

Something else to consider is that WotC seems to be moving towards boxed sets like the DM Kit and Monster Vault that have adventures inside. I get the impression that adventures are hard to sell on their own, so selling them as a "value add" for boxed sets seems like a good idea to me.

What does being server-based have to do with it? Support for house rules has to be programmed in either way, and the amount of effort required to support house rules is pretty much the same no matter where the program is hosted.

Essentials is the same game as 4E. What's happened is that 4E itself has changed since it came out. Some of those changes came out in the same year as Essentials, and some of those were caused by the work on Essentials, I'm sure. But it's still all the same game, and everything in Essentials can...

What I love about the delve format is having everything at my fingertips when I run an encounter--combat or otherwise--and no page flipping. I don't care if it has the whole spread to itself; I just don't want to have to flip (or even turn) pages. My ideal would be a layout that mixes...

Love the campaign, but probably wouldn't buy the book(s). I'm getting lots of value out of the PDFs and the books wouldn't have enough value on their own, particularly assuming a price point like the 3.5e version. I'd be more likely to spend my money on Zeitgeist. I'd suggest splitting into...

I DM'd it through the heroic tier. The encounter design ranges from good to outstanding. The plot is "okay" and the roleplaying is terrible. Very little backstory and few NPCs. The adventures (and the path as a whole) are very linear, too. If your group likes lots of combat tied together with a...

Every D&D Outsider column so far has been solid gold. Great work!

It's actually not a single path once you hit Act II. And even then, the adventure gives you enough background that you can adapt it to your players if they do something unexpected.

My group is about to start Shelter as well, and I'm actually probably going to cut a lot of it. Fire Forest was a long haul--good, but long--so I think my group might appreciate something a bit faster and less intense. So, yeah, I'm likely to handwave the travel and toss in some roleplaying in...

You can play 4e fine without them. Essentials works as a stand-alone product. However, Essentials is also an addition to 4e, not a replacement for it, so you can buy Essentials and also buy the earlier books without too much overlap. (That said, Monster Vault is way better than MM1--don't buy...

Yeah, I think so.