adventure for new players, feedback wanted

[BlindGeekUK]

Hi, i'm an dnd rules cyclopedia era gm, thats been convinced to return to the hobby by my son who wants to play 4th ed. My group consists of 2 of my old players, who've not played for 10 years, and 2 new players, my son and my wife.

We've gen'd up characters (a dragonborn paladin, a elf ranger, and elardin warlock, a dwarf mage, and a humna cleric), and i've shown the 2 old players the core changes in a sample fight based on the forgotten realms changes to KOTS (the gevarn tavern fight).

We're starting the KOTS properly in a few weeks, and wanted to run another sample adventure to get everybody up to speed on the rules. Can you check the following adventure out and tell me what i've missed, what needs changing. Map will be uploaded when I get my scanner working...

 

[liberofurore]

I have some problems reading your PDF. The letters are all misplaced...

Can you check the file?

Even the C&P on word gives a result like this:

Xalon leads you off the road, and a er a f ew h undr ed met ers of figh ng thr u t hi ck scrub, you reach a r ock f ace.

 

[BlindGeekUK]

Yup, somethings gone wrong when pdf'ing it from word 2007. Fixed, and re-uploaded on the first message

 

[Hazimel]

Terrain Features

One thing you might want to look at is the pages in the DMG about terrain types. With all the shifting kobolds and shifting powers your players may have, you might want to spice up your adventure with some fantastic terrain, fire pits, bone strewn floors, etc. I think you have the nuts and bolts covered, but some dressing would make the dungeon more dynamic and "alive".

 

[Emirikol]

Doc, a couple suggestions:

1) Rather than typing up all the stats, I suggest what we've always done for RPGA scenarios: Abbreviated references to the Monster Manual. For example, "Zombie Rotters (10)-Monster Manual page xxxx"

2) Submit this to Worldwide Adventure Writing Month (that's this month). http://www.gnomestew.com/gnome-gnews/worldwide-adventure-writing-month-starts-july-1st

3) To make digital maps you can use freeware such as MAPTOOLS (rptools.net) or AUTOREALM (http://gryc.ws/autorealm.htm). Regular paint programs work good too.

4) Remember the sense of exploration that brought many of us to D&D: "what do you suppose is behind that rotton door with the snake symbol on it and why did the crazy old man keep ranting about NOBODY TOUCH THE SNAKE?".

5) 4e tends to use a variety of creatures for each encounter. For example: kobolds plus their pets.

6) I have put together a scenario template format that will make your scenario look really pretty (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4279845#post4279845)

7) Try to keep the action moving while you guys are learning. Nothing will kil interest faster than someone who doesn't quite know what to do. My suggestion is that if someone doesn't know which power to use, have them randomly roll. 4e COMBATS RUN REALLY SLOWLY if people aren't on the ball. THere are a lot of modifiers and junk and feel free to ignore them when teaching the game.

Jay H


..

 

[Emirikol]

A couple more thoughts on formatting (since you posted it and other people may be using it):

1. Put your name on the thing
2. Formatting: Read aloud text is typically put in ITALICS now to seperate it from DM's text. DM's text is where the "little secret details go" as well as tactics by monsters and treasures.
3. Rather than type up exact treasures, I'd just use the DMG treasure charts giving out treasures 1-10 interspersed throughout the dungeon. To keep treasures MEANINGFUL, give the players a photocopy of the equipment list and show how much stuff costs (encourage what they may want to look to buy). Try to get players to count on "buying new normal equipment" before giving them magical items whenever possible.

4. You've got a good selection of monsters.

5. You'll need to tell the players that sometimes you need to run if a monster seems out of their league..BUT ONLY RUN IF THE WHOLE GROUP AGREES TO RUN. Nothing worse than a single player who is to scared to enter battle. This is true of the GHOUL.

6. More formatting thoughts. I would make it TWO columns instead of one. You can compress more visual information onto one page, which makes it easier to DM. If you run it from a laptop, format it in LANDSCAPE with three columns..again, easier to read if you're on a computer screen.

7. Have a couple of the goblins have something distinctive about them that will lead to the KOTS scenario..a particular cloak or something.

Great job on the scenario otherwise. You obviously have experience.

jh

 

[Emirikol]

I formatted your adventure because I was bored. That may give you some ideas on usage. I hope you and your family have fun with your great scenario!


Take care!

Jay H

 

[BlindGeekUK]

Thanks for the responses

One thing I wasn't sure about was monster numbers, have I gone over the top in the first couple of rooms?

Not really read my DMG yet, still chugging my way thru the PHB

I'll have a look at the formatted version, though i'll say that the reason its done as it is at the moment is that my eysight is extremely poor, and I can read my version fine, stuff like the dragon/dungeon articles I print on a3...

 

[BlindGeekUK]

I got to run this for my family and friends today, and I'm really pleased with how it ran, and how 4th ed runs

It was the first time i've run with battle maps and minis. Note to self. when drawing on graph paper, double or maybe triple the number of squares when drawing onto the battle mat...

My main concern was that the first room with 9 goblins would be a bit too much. As it was, that encounter, including teaching everybody the new rules, took less than 1 hour.

My wife really like the idea of at-will powers etc, and liked the fact that her card had everything written down so she didn't have to try and remember everything.

4th Ed rules... I love them, its got a nice old school feel, and i like the feats and at-will powers. I really like the minions. When my players wiped out 6 skeletons before they could attack theres a serious degree of satisfaction, of the whole 'hell yeah, we just whooped ass...'

I've tried maptools and auto-realm for mapping and couldn't get my head round them. so i'll get my map scanned and uploaded this week