D&D 5E 5e launches with two adventures - designed by Kobold Press

[jamesmanhattan]

Is anyone else FREAKING excited as heck at this announcement. The very first adventures for the latest release of a new ruleset, HAVE BEEN OUTSOURCED. That bodes well for the entire future of adventures being published by other writers/publishers.


Did anyone else notice that "Scourge of the Swordcoast" was written with Tito Leati. He's a big-time Pathfinder author.

Who's next?
Outsource to Paizo?
Outsource to Goodman Games? (You know Mike Mearls wrote an adventure for them)

 

[WizarDru]

Technically they've outsourced most of their output to freelancers for years. The real issue for me was that 4E forced most authors to conform to a format that really wasn't appealing to me as a DM. Many of the modules presented in Dungeon since it went digital have been....lackluster. My players and I describe them as 'funhouse rides'. There is virtually no actual adventure, just a ride that moves you from Encounter A to Encounter B with only a slight delay for role-playing or a cinematic moment. Not all of them are like that, but the actual diversity of formats was disheartening...especially compared to Paizo's original 3E/3.5E adventure paths. Their reach might have exceeded their grasp at some points, but they were solid efforts.

What I would is for WotC to either publish more adventures in this vein and/or open the field back up so that third parties can fill that gap. Folks like Goodman Games, Paizo and Kobold can present a diversity of material for more tastes.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Is anyone else FREAKING excited as heck at this announcement. The very first adventures for the latest release of a new ruleset, HAVE BEEN OUTSOURCED. That bodes well for the entire future of adventures being published by other writers/publishers.


Did anyone else notice that "Scourge of the Swordcoast" was written with Tito Leati. He's a big-time Pathfinder author.

Who's next?
Outsource to Paizo?
Outsource to Goodman Games? (You know Mike Mearls wrote an adventure for them)

Mike "former OGL spambot" Mearls wrote adventures for everybody.

Anyway, this is smart on several levels.

It's a simple fact that WotC has typically screwed the pooch with most of its adventures, and arguably caused irreparable damage to the then-new 4E with two Mearls-authored pieces of crap, Keep on the Shadowfell and Pyramid of Shadows. By going with an author who normally nails it, and who wrote one of the best 2E adventures (and 2E has a lot in common with Next), they've made a wise choice: businesses should outsource those things that are outside their core competencies.

WotC needs third parties to support its product line. They proved with 4E that they cannot do it all themselves.

Finally, by getting the third party community back, WotC employees will ensure that they have jobs to jump into once they are inevitably laid-off.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Mike "former OGL spambot" Mearls wrote adventures for everybody.

Anyway, this is smart on several levels.

It's a simple fact that WotC has typically screwed the pooch with most of its adventures, and arguably caused irreparable damage to the then-new 4E with two Mearls-authored pieces of crap, Keep on the Shadowfell and Pyramid of Shadows. By going with an author who normally nails it, and who wrote one of the best 2E adventures (and 2E has a lot in common with Next), they've made a wise choice: businesses should outsource those things that are outside their core competencies.

WotC needs third parties to support its product line. They proved with 4E that they cannot do it all themselves.

Finally, by getting the third party community back, WotC employees will ensure that they have jobs to jump into once they are inevitably laid-off.

I just love this post. If I were to highlight the parts I like, I would basically have to highlight the whole thing.

The HxPxEx series that more or less launched with 4e was a huge trainwreck. I have been a player through H1 - P1 and the glue that holds the string of encounters together is reaaaaaally thin. Why couldn't they have launched with modules like Reavers of Harkenworld and Madness at Gardmoore Abbey? I have recently started a campaign with Reavers of Harkenworld as the foundation and it's a really inspiring module.

 

[MerricB]

I just love this post. If I were to highlight the parts I like, I would basically have to highlight the whole thing.

The HxPxEx series that more or less launched with 4e was a huge trainwreck. I have been a player through H1 - P1 and the glue that holds the string of encounters together is reaaaaaally thin. Why couldn't they have launched with modules like Reavers of Harkenworld and Madness at Gardmoore Abbey? I have recently started a campaign with Reavers of Harkenworld as the foundation and it's a really inspiring module.

Yeah.

Actually, I really wonder how much the designers of the 4E adventures realised what the 4E system would be like to play. Pacing has to be so different to make a 4E adventure work, and that's one of the biggest problems with H1 and H2.

It's not even close to being the biggest problem with H3, which is an indication of how dreadfully flawed that adventure is.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Yeah.

Actually, I really wonder how much the designers of the 4E adventures realised what the 4E system would be like to play. Pacing has to be so different to make a 4E adventure work, and that's one of the biggest problems with H1 and H2.

It's not even close to being the biggest problem with H3, which is an indication of how dreadfully flawed that adventure is.

It reminds me of some of the reports about TSR during the 2E years where some (many?) of the designers didn't actually play D&D and wrote for it anyway. The impression I got from a lot of the WotC team toward the end - with a few exceptions such as Chris Perkins and Rich Baker (and how did that guy get laid off considering some of the people they kept?) - basically didn't grok or even like 4E and were just punching time cards until it died. (And H3 was inexcusably poor. How that passed through any sort of development or QC process is a damning indictment of WotC's management at the time.)

At least with Next it's clear that Mike Mearls et al actually seem to be enthused about this game possibly because it plays more like AD&D.

Anyway, even though I remain committed to 4E, as a fan of FR and Wolfgang Baur's work I'm still looking forward to these adventures.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Anyway, even though I remain committed to 4E, as a fan of FR and Wolfgang Baur's work I'm still looking forward to these adventures.

I recently started a 4e campaign and I am going to finish it before starting a new one (I won't be transitioning mid-campaign), which is kind of sad, because I do believe 5e is a better game system and am really looking forward to playing it.

 

[vagabundo]

I just love this post. If I were to highlight the parts I like, I would basically have to highlight the whole thing.

The HxPxEx series that more or less launched with 4e was a huge trainwreck. I have been a player through H1 - P1 and the glue that holds the string of encounters together is reaaaaaally thin. Why couldn't they have launched with modules like Reavers of Harkenworld and Madness at Gardmoore Abbey? I have recently started a campaign with Reavers of Harkenworld as the foundation and it's a really inspiring module.

I think things could have gone better for 4e if they had released some quality adventures in the first year.

And snap@the new campaign. I've decided to give 4e a final hurrah with an essentials only campaign set in Nentir Vale:
Levels
1 : Slaying Stone
2-4 : Reavers
5 : Orcs of Stonefang Pass
6+ : Madness at Gardmore Abbey

Featuring lots of house rules and lots of connections between the adventures.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I think things could have gone better for 4e if they had released some quality adventures in the first year.

And snap@the new campaign. I've decided to give 4e a final hurrah with an essentials only campaign set in Nentir Vale:
Levels
1 : Slaying Stone
2-4 : Reavers
5 : Orcs of Stonefang Pass
6+ : Madness at Gardmore Abbey

Featuring lots of house rules and lots of connections between the adventures.

That's very similar to what I am doing:
Levels:
1: Homebrew
2-4: Reavers of Harkenworld
5: Homebrew
6+ Madness at Gardmore Abbey

My houseruling is that monsters get their to-hit/defences adjusted as if they were at max +-2 levels from the PC's. In effect kind of like bounded accuracy from 5e. I am also doing the "sandbox" mode with lots of connections between the adventures.

 

[Lanefan]

My first thought is this: each of the two announced adventures is showing a 96-page count, which is huge. Which means either:

a) there's going to be an awful lot of filler and unnecessary backstory wasting space, or
b) the room description-encounter format they're using is even less efficient than the (awful) 4e format, or
c) those are going to be two honkin'-big adventures!

Needless to say, I'm hoping for option c.

Lan-"option c with detached cardstock maps a la classic TSR would be even better"-efan