Ashen Covenant - DDI Orcus Cult Article

[Stoat]

Huzzah for the return of the Eye of Fear and Flame!

Very very nice article.

 

[med stud]

I know I shouldn't. Not amongst all the praises (it is a nice article) but I just have to get this off my mind.



...

Really?

I mean really?

That's the most dreadful by far? An open grave?

I walked past an open grave. I thought to myself "it's such a good thing that they have machines to dig these things now. It saves so much work. Last time my character went past an open grave (he's a Cleric) he didn't think "how dreadful", he thought "Oh good, there are more then enough open graves here if something bad happens. How polite of them. Pre-dug graves"

I know that considering the context they probably meant "undead" but still. I can think of a hundred more fearsome things then that on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Last time my character came across an undead he simply raised his holy symbol and the thing crept into a corner in abject fear. If it still had the equipment I'm pretty sure the thing would have wet itself. Actually there was such a fearsomely disgusting and malodorous odour about, I'm not quite sure whether it really did lack the equipment for that last deed before it was cut up in small pieces and burned to ashes.

It's a poetic statement, not a statement of fact .

 

[Mouseferatu]

It's a poetic statement, not a statement of fact .

This.

There's a reason it's off by itself, in quotes and a fancy font.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Makes sense to me; it's not just undead people are afraid of, but the threat of undead. Essentially, it's fear of the unknown, which is pretty real and can be particularly frightening.

Even more, the threat of undeath. If ghosts, wraiths, ghouls and vampires are real, the idea that you may be denied an eternal rest and turned into a twisted mockery of yourself, hungering for life that you can never have again... it's pretty terrifying, I'd say.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Unfortunately, it looks from a quick perusal of the math that the encounters are calculated with it as a level 10.

I'm really sorry about that. I changed a lot during my various drafts (as I said, was still learning the system), including the creature's level, and it looks like I wasn't as careful as I should've been in changing the other references. But AFAIK, the problems are just in the sample encounters.

So where are the editors? Do they know the game system? Not being sarcastic but if they're only there as editors WoTC better do another round and get some editors who know the game system and can catch these things. A standard editor probably wouldn't know any better.

 

[Klaus]

I have to praise Ari for something entirely unrelated to game mechanics or flavor text: the article structure. Ari's article follows a natural flow of information, with one segment after the other in an easy-to-follow pace. This becomes even more easy to see if compared to the Yeenoghu article unveiled a couple of days ago.

The only bit I think could've been done better is the Quest description segment, specially the first one. It begins by talking about "the battle", but we only know what is "the battle" in the third paragraph or so:

"The Plague of Empty Graves (Minor Quest, Suggested Level 4): During the chaos and tumult of the battle, the PCs must ensure that a specific person is safe and alive over the course of the bloody night."

I'd suggest something like "As the dead rise en masse, the PCs must ensure that a specific person is safe and alive over the course of the bloody night."

But really, this is a very minor thing. The article is top notch!

 

[Mouseferatu]

So where are the editors? Do they know the game system? Not being sarcastic but if they're only there as editors WoTC better do another round and get some editors who know the game system and can catch these things. A standard editor probably wouldn't know any better.

Well, I can't speak to specifics of what does or doesn't happen at WotC. I do know, though, that there were a lot of development changes made for the better between my draft and the final version. (Again, and I know I'm repeating myself, I was--and am, albeit to a lesser extent--still learning the system.)

So if they caught all that, and improved on it, I think I can forgive them for missing the numbers on the sample encounters. Sure, it'd be nice if there was nothing missed, and that's something for writers (myself included) and editors both to strive for, but I don't think that's a realistic expectation, and I'd rather them catch the major stuff than the minor.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, I can't speak to specifics of what does or doesn't happen at WotC. I do know, though, that there were a lot of development changes made for the better between my draft and the final version. (Again, and I know I'm repeating myself, I was--and am, albeit to a lesser extent--still learning the system.)

So if they caught all that, and improved on it, I think I can forgive them for missing the numbers on the sample encounters. Sure, it'd be nice if there was nothing missed, and that's something for writers (myself included) and editors both to strive for, but I don't think that's a realistic expectation, and I'd rather them catch the major stuff than the minor.

Well, since we're talking electronic documents, I'm really going to have to question why it can't be perfect. And once again, this isn't sarcasm. I know many PDF publishers revise and re-release product when errors are caught. WoTC needs to get on that band wagon if they're going to charge for the content in the future. Especially since they never updated their own PDF books and have a fairly bad reputation for getting errata up in a timley fashion.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well, since we're talking electronic documents, I'm really going to have to question why it can't be perfect.

Don't assume it won't be. I'm talking to Chris about some of these mistakes, and it's only been a day.

 

[Scribble]

Don't assume it won't be. I'm talking to Chris about some of these mistakes, and it's only been a day.

Thats a Huecueva good thing to hear!

HAH I'm on fire!

I'm just sayin what you're all thinkin.