Anyone else excited for Dungeon Delve?

[Wulf Ratbane]

Given your stance on 4e, I am entirely unsurprised to see you continue that stance onto future products.

I wasn't aware I had expressed a stance on 4e.

Seriously, I would be interested in having you express my 4e stance back to me.

 

[hexgrid]

I like the idea of the book.

But I'm not excited, because it could be good, bad, or meh depending on the quality of the scenarios. It's too soon to know.

 

[Joshua Randall]

On the other hand, the Book of Challenges was kinda bland.

In 4E, good environmental design can really makes a climatic encounter go pop. If that book is full of good encounter areas, and approaches the game in a very "toolbox"-like approach, mixed with DM tips, and set pieces, it could fare much better. I really hope so.

But isn't this exactly what Book of Challenges did?

* good encounter areas: check (one could argue whether the areas were good, but they were seldom generic)
* DM tips: check
* set pieces: check

I actually like Book of Challenges. It was particularly helpful early in the 3e life-cycle to show people what could be done with the (then) new system.

Something like that for 4e, but (of course we hope) better, sounds like a good product to me.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

My second thought was that it sounds like it has no substance, and if it were published by a 3PP, people would call it "crap."

My third thought was, "Remember these?"

Agreed on that second bit.

Also, didnt Mike Mearls write one or two of those?

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Book of Lairs I and II were damned good, IMHO!

As a DM, they were a great way to throw in a mini-adventure, when I didn't have time or the players deicided to do something odd and thus I hadn't written stuff up for

 

[Sammael]

I'm hoping for something akin to Mythic Places for Ars Magica, with different story hooks and legends/history for each place that can be used/adapted or inspiring.

Having pre-set one-shots that can be easily dropped in when players go off the beaten track is going to be useful to many GMs.

Errr... the Delve is a format used in tournaments, where PCs are dropped in a dungeon and the last player alive wins (or the one with most kills, I forget). Delves offer no story, hooks, or history; they are meant to be tactical meat-grinders - nothing more. I very much doubt this product will differ from the tournament Delves.

 

[The_Baldman]

Errr... the Delve is a format used in tournaments, where PCs are dropped in a dungeon and the last player alive wins (or the one with most kills, I forget). Delves offer no story, hooks, or history; they are meant to be tactical meat-grinders - nothing more. I very much doubt this product will differ from the tournament Delves.

I guess you'll probably be disappointed then. That happens when you use faulty information to base an opinion on.

The D&D Delve is neither a last person standing or most kills event with a winner. It's a team based event where you have a certain period of time to complete the section you are in. You play until you are all dead, time runs out, or you beat it. You are reward tokens (as a team) that can then be used for various delve rewards (special dice, cards, alt-paint mini's, and at some shows limited edition artwork worth $100's).

I will agree that our delves are not designed to be RP events. You have 30 minutes (20 in the past but we moved it up some for 4h edition to start as people get used to the rules) to complete something.

 

[Reaper Steve]

As a fan and hoarder of Dungeon tiles, DDMs, and 4E, and having a severe lack of gaming and prep time, this book appears to be perfect for me. If so, I hope it spawns sequels!

 

[Sammael]

So, other than the nature of the "win," (which is not particularly relevant), how was I wrong?

Also, I recall a conversation with a part-time WotC employee a few years ago (2006, I think) about "the most number of PCs killed in a Delve," where he referred to killing one PC in the Delve before another was thrown in. Maybe these were the original rules which got changed?

BTW, as someone who is not buying 4E products, I am completely neutral on the subject. If you have more information about the product (as opposed to the Delve format used in tournaments/conventions, which obviously cannot be applied to home games - unless the intention is for players to gain tokens which they could use in regular RPG games?), please provide it.

 

[Sammael]

EDIT: Souble post, sorry.