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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5014458" data-attributes="member: 58197">Well, I haven't run or played in Ashen Crown, so I can't say anything about that. But to your second question:4E does support dungeon crawling, but it's a different style of dungeon crawling. In 4E, it is absolutely vital to intersperse puzzles, exploration scenarios, skill challenges, social encounters, and nonstandard combats with the set-piece battles. You should NEVER have more than two full-scale combat encounters in a row. Combat in 4E is far too grueling* for the "gauntlet" style of dungeon.Things you can use to break up the dungeon:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Detective scenes," where the PCs come across clues about the nature of the dungeon and are encouraged to theorize about them and put them together. Traditionally, a detective scene offers hints about what the final boss fight of the dungeon will be, and/or how to win it, while also ratcheting up the tension. An excellent example is the Balin's Tomb scene in Moria.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Puzzles that the PCs have to solve or pay a penalty. (Failure to solve the puzzle should NOT halt the party's progress, but it should make their lives harder in some way.) The classic puzzle is the riddle which opens a door or disarms a trap. Just be sure you have a way for the adventure to proceed if the PCs completely fail to solve the riddle.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Social encounters with creatures that are not instantly hostile. Prisoners, random dungeon denizens, and ghosts of the dungeon's original inhabitants are all candidates for this sort of encounter. It's also common for the final boss fight to be preceded by a social encounter; bosses are often chatty fellows who engage the PCs in some verbal skirmishing before the actual battle commences.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Encounters with sentries, who must be taken out instantly to avoid triggering a larger fight. 4E supports this nicely with the minion rules. A handful of minions is no threat to the PCs - but can the party take them all out in the first round of combat, before they have a chance to raise the alarm?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Elaborate traps that take more than a simple Thievery check to disarm. This is a good place for a skill challenge.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A useful tool from 1E/2E to shorten combat encounters is the monster morale check. Most monsters are not particularly interested in fighting to the death. If they see they're going to lose - or if they think they're going to lose - the monsters should break and run. Savvy PCs may try to game the system a bit, bluffing the monsters into submission. This is a good thing and should be encouraged. Of course, some monsters have higher morale than others.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Social encounters that take place during combat! This is a technique that is often forgotten by DMs and movie directors alike, but it works wonders to keep a fight scene from bogging down. Watch the battles between Luke and Vader in "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Both fights follow a pattern. The duelists stalk each other, trading taunts and challenges, trying to gain a psychological advantage. Then there's a clash and a flurry of lightsabers. After a couple of rounds, one combatant breaks contact and the stalking resumes. You can do this in D&D by pitting the PCs against a lurker-type monster with an ability that lets it break contact with the enemy, e.g., by turning invisible and teleporting a short distance. Or just take advantage of the "talking is a free action" rule.</li> </ul>[SIZE=-2]*In this context, "grueling" can be good or bad. It can mean a combat which leaves the players feeling like they've just been through the wringer and won a dramatic, hard-fought victory. Or it can mean a combat which leaves the players feeling like they just gnawed down trees with their teeth.[/SIZE]</blockquote>

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