Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dusting off the DM robe
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Bercilac" data-source="post: 4684738" data-attributes="member: 82608"><p><strong>Don't mean to sound harsh, but...</strong></p><p></p><p>This doesn't actually seem like an adventure to me. It's a series of disconnected challenges (some of which are not, indeed, challenging) set into a rather cliched WoW-like setting. By WoW-like, the universe seems constructed to create and offer interesting and profitable challenges to "adventurers" (which seems meta-game to me). It should be the other way around: the world exists, and adventurers try to perform useful tasks to make a living in it.</p><p> </p><p>You don't give the players any choices other than solving a series of puzzles and combats. The penalty for failing a roll (such as dungeoneering in trial 4) or deviating from the path (by any interaction with NPCs short of following directions) is inevitably death. The NPCs, moreover, don't seem to have any motivation. Why is the guildmaster awarding big cash payouts for people willing to run a gauntlet?</p><p> </p><p>The gauntlet itself is somewhat interesting as a concept, but there's no story surrounding it to speak of. In and of itself it DOES NOT constitute an adventure. If you want to salvage it, I suggest you add a section in which the players have time to explore the town, get the lay of the land, and "discover" this gauntlet challenge, rather than just being directed to it by a series of (literal) signposts and NPCs. The question I'm asking myself, over and over, is why? Why is this here? Why is it worth 500gp for people to go through it? Drop some clues while they go through it. Maybe the gauntlet is owned by a necromancer, who needs the bodies of those who fail to run his experiments. Maybe the gauntlet has no cash prize, but is merely the trial for entering a prestigious guild. (In that case, you need to show that the guild is prestigious, not just tell them: have some grizzled mercs running around town, disrespecting anyone who ISN'T a guild member).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bercilac, post: 4684738, member: 82608"] [b]Don't mean to sound harsh, but...[/b] This doesn't actually seem like an adventure to me. It's a series of disconnected challenges (some of which are not, indeed, challenging) set into a rather cliched WoW-like setting. By WoW-like, the universe seems constructed to create and offer interesting and profitable challenges to "adventurers" (which seems meta-game to me). It should be the other way around: the world exists, and adventurers try to perform useful tasks to make a living in it. You don't give the players any choices other than solving a series of puzzles and combats. The penalty for failing a roll (such as dungeoneering in trial 4) or deviating from the path (by any interaction with NPCs short of following directions) is inevitably death. The NPCs, moreover, don't seem to have any motivation. Why is the guildmaster awarding big cash payouts for people willing to run a gauntlet? The gauntlet itself is somewhat interesting as a concept, but there's no story surrounding it to speak of. In and of itself it DOES NOT constitute an adventure. If you want to salvage it, I suggest you add a section in which the players have time to explore the town, get the lay of the land, and "discover" this gauntlet challenge, rather than just being directed to it by a series of (literal) signposts and NPCs. The question I'm asking myself, over and over, is why? Why is this here? Why is it worth 500gp for people to go through it? Drop some clues while they go through it. Maybe the gauntlet is owned by a necromancer, who needs the bodies of those who fail to run his experiments. Maybe the gauntlet has no cash prize, but is merely the trial for entering a prestigious guild. (In that case, you need to show that the guild is prestigious, not just tell them: have some grizzled mercs running around town, disrespecting anyone who ISN'T a guild member). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dusting off the DM robe
Top