A bit of repetiveness in KotS

[hailstop]

Is it just me or is there a bit of repetiveness in the first half of KotS? I mean, we have 4 Kobold encounters with what seems to me not much difference except for magnitude. And then the first few sections of the keep it's Goblins.

 

[Astros]

Gotta get the player's feet wet before jumping into the deep end of the pool. And believe me, its pretty deep in KOTS.

 

[Rechan]

On the flip side, the Kruthik nest just seems too random.

 

[Vaeron]

Is it just me or is there a bit of repetiveness in the first half of KotS? I mean, we have 4 Kobold encounters with what seems to me not much difference except for magnitude. And then the first few sections of the keep it's Goblins.

Makes a little bit more sense to me than the old school adventures where one room had a giant snake, 1 room had a horde of starving rats, 1 room had a band of angry trolls, and 1 room had an evil magic user in it, and for some reason they never stumbled across each other until the PCs showed up.

So yeah, in my mind it's far more reasonable, if you're being plagued by kobolds, to have to beat off the kobold ambush, then attack the kobold lair. It'd be silly to attack the kobold lair and find nothing but giant snakes, rats, a band of angry trolls, and a berserk innkeeper living there.

 

[Rechan]

Were I running it, I'd say put some stuff in different places, although what I don't know. Take out the first or second encounter. Or, leave the 2nd, but mix in some different monsters (two scorpions instead of a dragonscale).

I think the torture chamber fight with the gobbos is really interesting and fun, what with all the set pieces and potential skills. The excavation site is also really cool for the planks.

Something else should be put in the excavation site.

Unfortunately, I think the entry position should stay for the sake of it being a good alarm, and the battle with Fatty seems almost necessary. Well not NECESSARY, but y'know.

What you might do is change up some areas. Like the goblin guard room: Have two cages with death jump spiders in the room, and a goblin on watch beside a lever that would open the cages. He sees the PCs, opens the cages, and runs to warn others. As soon as he leaves, some sort of lurker could very well show up and stab someone in the back. (If the rats get out of the pit, they pose a threat to the spiders too; I can see the spiders fleeing the fight if the rats get on them).

 

[kiznit]

So yeah, in my mind it's far more reasonable, if you're being plagued by kobolds, to have to beat off the kobold ambush, then attack the kobold lair. It'd be silly to attack the kobold lair and find nothing but giant snakes, rats, a band of angry trolls, and a berserk innkeeper living there.

OTOH that sounds like a heck of a plot hook.