Concluding "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" (Spoilers)

[Le Noir Faineant]

Meh...

The point is not WotC-bashing in general here, but seriously, proofreading errors at WotC seem to enter a new dimension...

While I have nothing against the adventure itself - I liked it a lot, indeed, I feel like shammed because of this.

- And what bothers me more, is that there was no fan cryout because of this.

It's true that the conclusion that was referred to should be in there (or the references to it should not be). But the lack of it isn't going to stop me from buying WotC stuff if the subject interests me.

To be honest, me neither. Yet, while, even for me as a fellow oldschooler, WotC produced some of the best gaming books for my collection so far, this constant decline of quality is something that will make me consider future buyings more seriously. I don't want to spend my cash for more badly proofread or incomplete material. :\

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The problem with a conclusion to the adventure is that because of there being so many possible endings, due to the tarot reading mechanic, its difficult to predict what would make a good ending for any given group.

Just something to keep in mind - I'll have to look at my copy to see if there's any advice on concluding the adventure.

 

[Nikosandros]

And equally odd that none of the design team have spoken up about it.

My impression is that this was a mistake in editing... if so, we can hope to get the part that was cut as web enhancement.

 

[Klaus]

And seeing that EtCR has different goals for Strahd, a "Concluding the Adventure" bit should deal with each of those ghouls. What happens to Barovia after Strahd bites it? Any surviving hags make a coup? One of the vampire minions try to make it big?

 

[Nikosandros]

And seeing that EtCR has different goals for Strahd, a "Concluding the Adventure" bit should deal with each of those ghouls. What happens to Barovia after Strahd bites it? Any surviving hags make a coup? One of the vampire minions try to make it big?

Very much in agreement. Especially considering that the motivations for Madame Eva are rather unclear... why is she providing all that info to the party? What kind of plans does she have in a post-Strahd Barovia?

And to those posters who say that any good DM can come up with those answer... well, of course, but then again I can also write my own adventures and I have been doing that since about 1985... when I buy a product, I hope for it to be complete (which doesn't prevent me from changing it naturally)

 

[Shadowslayer]

That's not the point though. The point is people bought what they thought was a full adventure and in reality the end is missing.

No. Its not. Strahd's tomb is fully realized. That's the end. What's maybe missing is some sort of epilogue. If that's a big deal to you then fine, but I read the thing front to back to front again in preperation for future play, and it hadn't occurred to me that something was even missing till I read it here.

You guys can act like this is a big deal, but its really just a nitpick.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

And to those posters who say that any good DM can come up with those answer... well, of course, but then again I can also write my own adventures and I have been doing that since about 1985... when I buy a product, I hope for it to be complete (which doesn't prevent me from changing it naturally)

Since we're trotting out credentials I've been writing my own adventures since around '83-84 or so myself and as I pointed out earlier I do see how someone could be upset about the book being incomplete. That being said though I've been buying adventures and books for D&D for a long time and there's always a part of those books that I find can be fleshed out a little more or tweaked. Point being it's not a big deal for me as I'm used to altering what I buy anyway. Like I said I noticed that there wasnt a definitive "conclusion" as well but it's not really enough for me to make noise about it all. Now if there was a whole center piece missing or stat blocks or maps missing then yeah, that might be a problem. But getting upset over what might just amount to a few paragraphs of flavor text is not.

I'm guessing our uses for the material are different. For me it's utility for you it might be a little more than that which is why it matters more to you. I suspect that we come from a similar era in gaming, an era when DM's didnt have a accessory book for every character class under the sun so we had to improvise and create things ourselves. I've carried that with me into my 3.5 gaming somewhat so that minor ommissions like this one dont really bother me that much because I can basically decide what the aftermath is, or more accurately my players decide what the aftermath is. My players tend to give me more ideas as to what to do next than any adventure or book does.

 

[Nikosandros]

Trotting our own credential? Not at all... online, I'm aware of a great deal of people that have been gaming for way longer than I've been.

The point is that the product is incomplete. That much is obvious. You are stating that you don't care about the fact and this is certainly your privilege. On the other hand, accusing people who are dissatisfied with the fact of being "drama queens" or "lacking in creativity" is totally unjustified... :\

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Trotting our own credential? Not at all... online, I'm aware of a great deal of people that have been gaming for way longer than I've been.

The point is that the product is incomplete. That much is obvious. You are stating that you don't care about the fact and this is certainly your privilege. On the other hand, accusing people who are dissatisfied with the fact of being "drama queens" or "lacking in creativity" is totally unjustified... :\

Well when someone basically comes out and cries that they are never going to buy another WOTC product again because of this the title of drama queen is certainly justified. Also I'm trying to see where I said "lacking in creativity". When I spoke of lack of imagination I was talking about an observation of comments on this board in general in response to another poster. I'll take responsibility for things that I said, but please don't put words in my mouth.

 

[Shadowslayer]

The statement that "D&D players still have imaginations, don't they" was mine. And I stand behind it.

I only take exception to the notion that the adventure is somehow flawed or incomplete. It's not. This whole business is as though someone were slagging a make/model of cars because this particular line was produced without a hood ornament.

Unfortunately the hood ornament lovers are the ones making the most noise online. :\