Dungeon 152 adventure - Plague Tree

[catsclaw227]

WOTC released the next adventure for Dngeon #152. This makes four(!) for this issue.

This particular adventure is smaller thought, more a sidebar for the FR adventure Anauroch: The Sundering of the World it is for four 15th level characters.

Many are the monolithic boulders and chunks of rocky debris that tumble in orbit among the floating castles of the Tomb of the Thaalud, but not all are as they seem. For one of these careening islands of stone is actually the Plague Tree, the home of a marauding band of undead harpies and their master.

“The Plague Tree” is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure suitable for four 15th-level characters. This adventure works with the Forgotten Realms adventure Anauroch: The Sundering of the World and can be used after tactical encounter T4 when used in conjunction with that adventure. Dungeon Masters can also use this side adventure in their existing campaigns after tailoring it for them.

Within this adventure, superscripts are used to denote game elements and abbreviations indicate materials that appear in other supplements. Those supplements and their abbreviations are as follows: Book of Vile Darkness (BV), Complete Warrior (CW), Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), Magic of Faerûn (Mag), Monster Manual (MM), Monster Manual II (MM2), Monster Manual III (MM3), Player’s Handbook (PH).

So far, for Dungeon 152 we have:

• The Last Breaths of Ashenport - 44 pages, 6th level PCs (draws inspiration from Fiendish Codex I, The Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Dagon)
• Moagim’s Clone - 27 pages, 14th level characters (generic setting)
• Essence of Evil - 47 pages, four to six 20th level characters (spawns ideas from Elder Evils, Exemplars of Evil)
• The Plague Tree - 17 pages, four 15th level characters (FR)

That's 135 pages of adventure, no advertisements. If you ask me, that's pretty dang good for FREE.

I know there are online Dragon detractors, but I imagine that even these can honestly say that online Dungeon is one of the things WOTC is doing right.

Keep up the good work, guys!

CC

 

[Vascant]

For free..

I agree completely, great value. Nothing thus far has been completely usable but could always use pieces here and there.

If this is a reflection of what I would be paying for?

No thanks, doesn't even measure up to printed Dungeon issues.


(Each to their own though)

 

[demiurge1138]

Of the four adventures in this issue:

One (Last Breaths) I like well enough to run for a one-shot I'm doing this New Year's Eve.

One (Shadow of Shogarot) I liked, probably would never run, but it's well designed and has some encounters I'd love to rip off (the terrain effects were neat).

One (Moagim's Clone) I rather disliked.

Plague Tree is an interesting beast. It stands as a web enhancement for the City of Shade adventure, which I don't have access to. The lack of a map for the first encounter, however, is the most impact that has (which is still bloody annoying). It's short, but kind of neat, and has a flavorful mix of encounters. Plus, I love marrashi, and am glad to see one as the primary antagonist.

So... a ratio that I can accept, especially for a free product. Considering how few Dungeon adventures I actually ran during the Paizo era, versus how many I received, this is about standard. I didn't like every adventure back then either.

Demiurge out.

 

[freyar]

WOTC released the next adventure for Dngeon #152. This makes four(!) for this issue.

...

That's 135 pages of adventure, no advertisements. If you ask me, that's pretty dang good for FREE.

I'll agree: e-Dungeon has been a great value so far and the only thing that seems to be going right for the D&DI ATM. And we get a much much longer free trial period than I could have hoped for.

But let's have a little truth in advertising. This is one issue, but two months of Dungeon. So it's two adventures per month, and two of the four adventures are essentially web enhancements (which WotC used to give us for free). As for the page count, let's also not forget that these are padded by the tactical encounter format (or whatever you call it). I haven't had a chance to look at much of #152 yet, but I've started reading Essence of Evil, and the first two tactical encounters both have 1/2-3/4 of a page of completely empty space (on a 2 page spread). I hope the ratio improves.

 

[Arnwyn]

I agree with the OP, in which Dungeon is pretty great. It's certainly not worth paying for, and it's no where near as good as the printed Dungeon, but it's certainly good right now. (Though they did botch the name of the Anauroch reference adventure in Plague Tree. It's no longer "The Sundering of the World".)

But let's have a little truth in advertising. This is one issue, but two months of Dungeon. So it's two adventures per month, and two of the four adventures are essentially web enhancements (which WotC used to give us for free). As for the page count, let's also not forget that these are padded by the tactical encounter format (or whatever you call it). I haven't had a chance to look at much of #152 yet, but I've started reading Essence of Evil, and the first two tactical encounters both have 1/2-3/4 of a page of completely empty space (on a 2 page spread). I hope the ratio improves.

But I also entirely agree with this, too.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Dungeon has been much better than Dragon in delivering the type of material it did before becoming DI.

I'm wondering if there will be different tiers for subscriptions. At this point, Dragon hasn't provided anything I'd pay for outside of various monster stats on high end creatures while Dungeon has had at least two adventurers I'd run.

 

[Emirikol]

Meh.

It's not printed on paper either.

jh

 

[catsclaw227]

If they end up charging, say, $9.99 per month for DDI, and this includes Dungeon, Dragon, and the gametable, then it sounds like a good deal to me.

Especially considering Dragon and Dungeon in print had a cover price of $7.99 each.