-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
D&D Gameday: Into the Shadowhaunt
- Thread starter MortalPlague
- Start date
Twizz Stonefist
First Post
I pm'd Pirate cat the riddle.
MortalPlague
Adventurer
I just finished running the module for a group of four adventurers (Human Paladin, Human Warlock, Human Fighter, Elf Cleric) and they managed to survive all the encounters. Analysis below:
[sblock]The toughest fight was definitely the statues, by far. The statues managed to knock down the fighter and keep him down, continuously pummelling him. The paladin, tanking the other statue, never got knocked down and had a relatively easy time fighting his. I can see why the recommended pre-gens have two fighters, since this fight would be brutal without a pair of tanks. Most of the daily powers were blown here.
Since the Paladin of Bahamut was very conscientious towards the wishes of the spirit, it was friendly by the time they confronted the elf. Helvec and his skeletons went down with ease. The final fight feels nicely climactic even at the easiest difficulty, with a good part of that coming from the elevated platform (and the challenge of actually getting up to the elf).
The hobgoblin fight was a lot of fun, especially with the traps. Our figher and paladin wound up fighting the hobgoblins while standing waist-deep in an oil-filled sarcophagus after they pulled the lantern off the top then jumped up.
As predicted, the riddle was challenging. It took hint 2 for someone to figure it out, and I had to stress the alcoves with the little statues a few times to call attention to them. Since I'll be running with younger players, in all likelihood, I will be tailoring this encounter to have a slightly less obtuse riddle.[/sblock]
Overall, I like it. This should be a fun module to run on game day!
[sblock]The toughest fight was definitely the statues, by far. The statues managed to knock down the fighter and keep him down, continuously pummelling him. The paladin, tanking the other statue, never got knocked down and had a relatively easy time fighting his. I can see why the recommended pre-gens have two fighters, since this fight would be brutal without a pair of tanks. Most of the daily powers were blown here.
Since the Paladin of Bahamut was very conscientious towards the wishes of the spirit, it was friendly by the time they confronted the elf. Helvec and his skeletons went down with ease. The final fight feels nicely climactic even at the easiest difficulty, with a good part of that coming from the elevated platform (and the challenge of actually getting up to the elf).
The hobgoblin fight was a lot of fun, especially with the traps. Our figher and paladin wound up fighting the hobgoblins while standing waist-deep in an oil-filled sarcophagus after they pulled the lantern off the top then jumped up.
As predicted, the riddle was challenging. It took hint 2 for someone to figure it out, and I had to stress the alcoves with the little statues a few times to call attention to them. Since I'll be running with younger players, in all likelihood, I will be tailoring this encounter to have a slightly less obtuse riddle.[/sblock]
Overall, I like it. This should be a fun module to run on game day!
Nate Jones
First Post
I just finished a google search to see if there was any other gms concerned about this brief adventure's riddle. I'm set to gm a game on the 7th and just recieved my adventure book. When I first read through the booklet, I noted that the riddle didn't look particularly inspiring, but didn't really give it much thought after that.
[sblock]After a couple of reads, however, the riddle still appears quite drab, and furthermore, I can't see any way it won't just cause game-halting frustration. It's just a bad riddle--neither being particularly witty, nor solvable by the target audience. I assume most of the Game Day players will either be new to DnD in general, or inexperienced with 4th edition. I don't know how I could expect any of them to know esoteric facts about gods described in books they have, by all assumptions, never read (Bahamut=Sire? I've been playing in and out of Greyhawk for over eight years, and I couldn't figure that out. How can I expect my players to do better?). If the hints are all but required, isn't that a sign of a poor riddle? And furthermore, the solution is corny in the epitomy of that cringe-worthy fashion.[/sblock]
Does anyone have any suggestions for fixing this riddle? Should I just replace it altogether with a different, and assuredly better one? Am I even allowed to mess with the adventure to this extent?
[sblock]After a couple of reads, however, the riddle still appears quite drab, and furthermore, I can't see any way it won't just cause game-halting frustration. It's just a bad riddle--neither being particularly witty, nor solvable by the target audience. I assume most of the Game Day players will either be new to DnD in general, or inexperienced with 4th edition. I don't know how I could expect any of them to know esoteric facts about gods described in books they have, by all assumptions, never read (Bahamut=Sire? I've been playing in and out of Greyhawk for over eight years, and I couldn't figure that out. How can I expect my players to do better?). If the hints are all but required, isn't that a sign of a poor riddle? And furthermore, the solution is corny in the epitomy of that cringe-worthy fashion.[/sblock]
Does anyone have any suggestions for fixing this riddle? Should I just replace it altogether with a different, and assuredly better one? Am I even allowed to mess with the adventure to this extent?
MortalPlague
Adventurer
Nate Jones said:
As the DM, you're allowed to fiddle with this however you want! I haven't figured out just what I'm going to change the riddle to, but I'll post in this thread if I come up with something particularly good.
[sblock]I also plan to run a short segment in town before the adventure so that the adventurers can hear about a shady elf necromancer who abducted the kids. During my playtest, the appearance of Helvec seemed a bit tacked-on after the rescue, almost like "Well, we did what we came to do, and oh, there's an evil guy in the next room!". I want the adventurers to come looking for both the children and the villain![/sblock]
Twizz Stonefist
First Post
I don't see changing the riddle to be a big deal.
[sblock] As long as the shadow makes an appearence. and the players can figure out your new riddle[/sblock]
[sblock] As long as the shadow makes an appearence. and the players can figure out your new riddle[/sblock]
Mathew_Freeman
First Post
I got my copy last night in the post (just the book - I presume I'm getting the maps, pregens & figures on Friday night when I'm running it!).
I think the riddle is OK - I am going to make a slight change to the wording:
[sblock]I'm going to be changing it to "the son and the sire", emphasis mine, to give them a bit more of a clue that these are the key words.[/sblock]
I think the riddle is OK - I am going to make a slight change to the wording:
[sblock]I'm going to be changing it to "the son and the sire", emphasis mine, to give them a bit more of a clue that these are the key words.[/sblock]
Ran it today for some of the DMs who are running it this Saturday so that they could get a chance to see how it plays. There were only 3 players so two of them ran two PCs each.
The Riddle was very difficult for them, even with the clues. I had to pretty much spoon feed them more hints until they finally figured it out.
The Riddle was very difficult for them, even with the clues. I had to pretty much spoon feed them more hints until they finally figured it out.
Similar Threads
