Stormonu
NeoGrognard
So, got to do my first playtest and just finished a few minutes ago, so I thought I'd write down my thoughts before things start getting fuzzy.
We had 3 players, 1 DM. Fighter, Cleric and Wizard. The party made a poor decision on entering the caves and straight away ran into a mess of goblins. Retreat got blocked by another goblin patrol coming up behind the party, fencing them in. One fight, and the game was over. However, that was mostly fault of old B2 (and mine for boxing them in like that) - regardless of edition, it wouldn't have turned out pretty.
What we did learn:
Characters are far from invincible, though they are extremely resilient. These aren't truly first level characters, they're more like 2nd level.
I was afraid the fighter's damage-on-miss would make combats too easy, killing these low level monsters without even actually connecting. In this fight, that wasn't a worry and was actually a benefit, though it didn't really much help (the fighter would hurt a gobbo with a miss, then connect with the next shot, which would have killed it anyways).
Sleep is not overpowered. Mostly because of lucky rolls, 4 of 6 goblins (blocking the character's exit) the wizard cast his spell on didn't fall asleep, preventing the characters from escaping.
Light is silly too good. At-will, lasts an hour. Someone tell me why the wizard even bothered to purchase torches and a tinderbox?
Why isn't Magic Missile listed on the wizard's attack section?
The character sheets are a mess. My players had a hard time finding the info they needed on their sheets, to the point it was a detriment to their play experience. Skills and abilities are scattered all over the place instead of being all in one area.
It's hard to determine when someone should get/grant Advantage/Disadvantage. This was important in the goblin fight and I just wasn't familiar enough with this new rule to be sure when to implement it.
For the most part, the rules simply didn't get in the way. If I needed to make a ruling, I could do it on the fly, and wasn't worried I would be contradicted
---Comparing this to running B2 at a Con back in March---
It's hard to say at this time, because the players had a really bad streak of luck with their first encounter. Character in my March game (which were 2nd level), felt like 5E 1st level characters.
I did notice that even before we started play with the playtest, my players were talking up their character's appearance, history and whatnot. In less than 5 minutes of being handed sheets, we were playing.
By the second round of combat, my players were totally engaged in the battle of their life, and I started to loosen up with combat RP. Though the players lost the battle, they're willing take a second shot - once the sting of their first loss has dimmed.
Overall Rating: Cautiously optimistic. I need a longer playtest to be sure, and would to see how this game plays with the likes of N1-Cult of the Reptile God, L1-Secret of Bone Hill, and U1-Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.
The real test will come when we get the advancement rules and I can see how it runs with I6 - Ravenloft
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We had 3 players, 1 DM. Fighter, Cleric and Wizard. The party made a poor decision on entering the caves and straight away ran into a mess of goblins. Retreat got blocked by another goblin patrol coming up behind the party, fencing them in. One fight, and the game was over. However, that was mostly fault of old B2 (and mine for boxing them in like that) - regardless of edition, it wouldn't have turned out pretty.
What we did learn:
Characters are far from invincible, though they are extremely resilient. These aren't truly first level characters, they're more like 2nd level.
I was afraid the fighter's damage-on-miss would make combats too easy, killing these low level monsters without even actually connecting. In this fight, that wasn't a worry and was actually a benefit, though it didn't really much help (the fighter would hurt a gobbo with a miss, then connect with the next shot, which would have killed it anyways).
Sleep is not overpowered. Mostly because of lucky rolls, 4 of 6 goblins (blocking the character's exit) the wizard cast his spell on didn't fall asleep, preventing the characters from escaping.
Light is silly too good. At-will, lasts an hour. Someone tell me why the wizard even bothered to purchase torches and a tinderbox?
Why isn't Magic Missile listed on the wizard's attack section?
The character sheets are a mess. My players had a hard time finding the info they needed on their sheets, to the point it was a detriment to their play experience. Skills and abilities are scattered all over the place instead of being all in one area.
It's hard to determine when someone should get/grant Advantage/Disadvantage. This was important in the goblin fight and I just wasn't familiar enough with this new rule to be sure when to implement it.
For the most part, the rules simply didn't get in the way. If I needed to make a ruling, I could do it on the fly, and wasn't worried I would be contradicted
---Comparing this to running B2 at a Con back in March---
It's hard to say at this time, because the players had a really bad streak of luck with their first encounter. Character in my March game (which were 2nd level), felt like 5E 1st level characters.
I did notice that even before we started play with the playtest, my players were talking up their character's appearance, history and whatnot. In less than 5 minutes of being handed sheets, we were playing.
By the second round of combat, my players were totally engaged in the battle of their life, and I started to loosen up with combat RP. Though the players lost the battle, they're willing take a second shot - once the sting of their first loss has dimmed.
Overall Rating: Cautiously optimistic. I need a longer playtest to be sure, and would to see how this game plays with the likes of N1-Cult of the Reptile God, L1-Secret of Bone Hill, and U1-Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.
The real test will come when we get the advancement rules and I can see how it runs with I6 - Ravenloft
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