Otterscrubber
First Post
Are there any maps of Overlook available?
DMG Nentir Valley
In Siege at Bordrin's Watch, the second in the series of the Scales of War campaign there is a map and description, pretty good in fact, of Overlook.
I will say though that I'm still a bit troubled by the 100' and increasing walls of Overlook. When I first read them I felt they seemed f'n immense. Later in the SoW campaign Overlook is attacked and they have mention of creatures breaking through the walls and have a map of the wall, showing it at 20' height. Again, probably a mess up on WotC's part for the later adventure, although I think anyone using it to then have it attacked later might want to change the wall height. 100' of dwarven wall s awfully daunting.
Also Overlook is laid out as to be an incredibly annoying city to try and maneuver around in considering its East West axial gates are the only ones. Adding at least a couple North South Gates might make things easier. Or just don't worry 'bout it.
I will say though that I'm still a bit troubled by the 100' and increasing walls of Overlook. When I first read them I felt they seemed f'n immense. Later in the SoW campaign Overlook is attacked and they have mention of creatures breaking through the walls and have a map of the wall, showing it at 20' height. Again, probably a mess up on WotC's part for the later adventure, although I think anyone using it to then have it attacked later might want to change the wall height. 100' of dwarven wall s awfully daunting.
Also Overlook is laid out as to be an incredibly annoying city to try and maneuver around in considering its East West axial gates are the only ones. Adding at least a couple North South Gates might make things easier. Or just don't worry 'bout it.
Pale Jackal
First Post
Is the Red Hand of Doom worth mining ideas from if I can get it cheaply? Since I figured that the campaign I recently started might have an evil army!!! segment to it. However, the campaign is 4E, so I'm interested in the plot rather than the numbers. The plot doesn't have to be great, but should hopefully be somewhat interesting. Other suggestions of modules old or new would be appreciated.
mlangsdorf
First Post
Red Hand of Doom is a pretty worthwhile module and could be converted nicely to a 4th edition late Heroic/early paragon adventure.
Here's a quick mini-review:
The PCs start by heading into the woods, planning to delve at Vraath's keep. On the road, they are ambushed by hobgoblins - and when they get to town, the locals ask them to investigate bandit activity in the area. At Vraath's keep, they discover a hobgoblin horde plans to conquer the area in a few weeks. The heroes head north to Skull Gorge, and fight a dragon so as to destroy the bridge the horde needs and slow them down.
The PCs then have roughly six weeks to spend running hither and yon across the Elsir vale, finding allies for human civilization and destroying the hobgoblin's allies. Notable encounters include a black dragon in a swamp and a lich in his lion-shaped lair*.
Finally, the horde advances on Brindol. The PCs help lead the defense, hopefully suggesting wise actions and convincing the town's leadership not to do retarded things. The PCs also have to take specific actions: killing the giants that are knocking down the town walls, defeating a red dragon rampaging over town, holding off waves of enemy troops to let friendly battle lines reform, and fighting off against the big bad in the town square.
The 5th act has the PCs head into the horde's dungeon and stop a plan to summon demonic/infernal reinforcements, but it's a bit of anti-climax. If you like dungeon crawling, it's not a bad dungeon.
It's an interesting adventure, with the possibility of larger scale action than most published D&D. It's not too heavily rail-roaded either, though the PCs don't have perfect freedom. If you can get it cheap, it's definitely worth owning, but since you can't get it on PDF anymore...
* This section would probably need to be heavily reworked, as the lich's stronghold is very small and has lots of 20' square or less rooms in it. It's very much a knife-fight in 4th edition terms, and area powers are going to be devastating to both sides.
Here's a quick mini-review:
The PCs start by heading into the woods, planning to delve at Vraath's keep. On the road, they are ambushed by hobgoblins - and when they get to town, the locals ask them to investigate bandit activity in the area. At Vraath's keep, they discover a hobgoblin horde plans to conquer the area in a few weeks. The heroes head north to Skull Gorge, and fight a dragon so as to destroy the bridge the horde needs and slow them down.
The PCs then have roughly six weeks to spend running hither and yon across the Elsir vale, finding allies for human civilization and destroying the hobgoblin's allies. Notable encounters include a black dragon in a swamp and a lich in his lion-shaped lair*.
Finally, the horde advances on Brindol. The PCs help lead the defense, hopefully suggesting wise actions and convincing the town's leadership not to do retarded things. The PCs also have to take specific actions: killing the giants that are knocking down the town walls, defeating a red dragon rampaging over town, holding off waves of enemy troops to let friendly battle lines reform, and fighting off against the big bad in the town square.
The 5th act has the PCs head into the horde's dungeon and stop a plan to summon demonic/infernal reinforcements, but it's a bit of anti-climax. If you like dungeon crawling, it's not a bad dungeon.
It's an interesting adventure, with the possibility of larger scale action than most published D&D. It's not too heavily rail-roaded either, though the PCs don't have perfect freedom. If you can get it cheap, it's definitely worth owning, but since you can't get it on PDF anymore...
* This section would probably need to be heavily reworked, as the lich's stronghold is very small and has lots of 20' square or less rooms in it. It's very much a knife-fight in 4th edition terms, and area powers are going to be devastating to both sides.
Ryujin
Legend
I don't know how well this would work for most but looking at the post-apocalypse FR map, there's some prime territory to drop the Scales of War map into. It's to the east of Thay, on the other side of the mountains. I would just over-write the geography with the Scales map. This has the benefit of providing geography that accounts for isolation, a source of undead and humanoids beyond western mountains (giving Bordin's watch a reason for existing), and a whole wide world for the campaign to expand into once the characters hit sufficient levels and if the GM feels the need.
Pale Jackal
First Post
Thanks for the mini-review. I think I'll give it a look, especially since I don't mind reworking certain aspects. Dilemmas regarding what to do as the walls are being breached, and a dragon is razing buildings and so on sounds fun, even if the dilemmas aren't too terribly complex.
Additionally, thanks for the input about the 5th act, it definitely seems like an anti-climax, but I might not have realized that on my own.
occam
Adventurer
I think the best answer is "Do whatever works best for you"; I'll be relocating much of the AP to an entirely different geography.
But if you want an "official" answer, I think you're as close as it gets. The only connection I can recall is in the most recent adventure, Alliance at Nefelus, which has a couple of references to the (spoilers ahead)
white dragon Chillreaver and the frost giants being from the frozen lands north of the Winterbole Forest
