Olaf the Stout
Legend
I'm looking forward to this adventure with great interest. Personally I like the sound of your original idea Ari. I hope that it gets put up on the web somewhere.
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout
Fortress of the Yuan-Ti: Ari saves 3.5!
- Thread starter DM_Jeff
- Start date
DM_Jeff
Explorer
Well, I started reading this in-depth last nightbut then the Phillies went into extra innings vs St. Louis and I got distracted. 
Minor Spoilers Follow, but still...
Great stuff, Mr. Marmell! The basic setup reminds me of a 80's fantasy movie for some reason (and I mean that in a good way). I think the overall snake-like motif of the cliffside fortress harkens me to Thulsa Doom's abode in the first Conan film.
Like the first two in the series, there are opportunities for roleplaying, awarding characters who actually pause to talk to NPCs instead of attaing them outright (even if they appear to be villains). The layout is obviously well thought-out. There's little opportunity for the adventure to turn into one giant running battle if the PCs happen to make some noise in one area (not necessarily alerting the entire complex).
There's a nice variety of foes to fight. Sure, it's got lots of Yuan-ti and a handful of various lizardfolk, but good use is also made of monsters and templates throughout the first four Monster Manuals. The maps are very clear, navigating the fortress isn't frustrating to follow.
The adventure isn't just confined to the fortress, either. In similar vein to Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, the party needs to travel through portals to far-flung locales on mini-quests to gather items to stop a dread ritual, which breaks up the room-to-room adventuring and give a variety of scenery.
There is one small question, what levels was it designed for? The back cover text says for 6th level heroes and inside it says 7th level. Not a big deal obviously, I was just curious.
More to come.
-DM Jeff
Minor Spoilers Follow, but still...
Great stuff, Mr. Marmell! The basic setup reminds me of a 80's fantasy movie for some reason (and I mean that in a good way). I think the overall snake-like motif of the cliffside fortress harkens me to Thulsa Doom's abode in the first Conan film.
Like the first two in the series, there are opportunities for roleplaying, awarding characters who actually pause to talk to NPCs instead of attaing them outright (even if they appear to be villains). The layout is obviously well thought-out. There's little opportunity for the adventure to turn into one giant running battle if the PCs happen to make some noise in one area (not necessarily alerting the entire complex).
There's a nice variety of foes to fight. Sure, it's got lots of Yuan-ti and a handful of various lizardfolk, but good use is also made of monsters and templates throughout the first four Monster Manuals. The maps are very clear, navigating the fortress isn't frustrating to follow.
The adventure isn't just confined to the fortress, either. In similar vein to Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, the party needs to travel through portals to far-flung locales on mini-quests to gather items to stop a dread ritual, which breaks up the room-to-room adventuring and give a variety of scenery.
There is one small question, what levels was it designed for? The back cover text says for 6th level heroes and inside it says 7th level. Not a big deal obviously, I was just curious.
More to come.
-DM Jeff
Last edited:
DM_Jeff
Explorer
Whizbang Dustyboots said:Why is it necessary to start flinging poo at 4E in a post about Fortress of the Yuan-Ti?
Because I can? Or like Ming the Merciless said: "why not?" Because, like my good friend Scott, 4e is fun to fling at?
No, I was just trying to be funny, that's why I labled my post containing sarcasm, as some nice folks pointed out. Because, in my opinion, Fortress confronted and tackled a basic ideal that designers have been saying is "wrong" with 3.5 and they'll fix in 4e, but it works perfectly fine by design right here in this new 3.5 adventure, that's all!
-DM Jeff
Mouseferatu
Hero
At least as written, I'd intended the module for PCs who start at 6th level and wind up at 8th (or higher). They should be 8th by the time they reach the final sequence of encounters.
I did very much try to shake up the variety of foes. In an adventure that pits the PCs against a cult of (mostly) yuan-ti, it would've been all too easy to fall into the trap of using them almost exclusively, but I know from experience how monotonous fight after fight against the same opponent can get. I really wanted to avoid that.
And to give credit where it's due, don't attribute the clarity of the maps entirely to me. I designed the basic structure of the fortress, but Chris Perkins chipped in and did a great deal of the interior map design.
It's funny. When I was writing this, I had no idea they were doing something similar in EtRG. My choice to do so was in fact inspired by the old Queen of the Demonweb Pits module; I always felt that the demiplanes were some of the most interesting parts of that module, and I wanted to do something similar, but not identical, here.
BTW--sneak preview time
--I wrote a web enhancement with three additional portal destinations, for those who want to expand the adventure further. Not sure when it's going up, though.
I did very much try to shake up the variety of foes. In an adventure that pits the PCs against a cult of (mostly) yuan-ti, it would've been all too easy to fall into the trap of using them almost exclusively, but I know from experience how monotonous fight after fight against the same opponent can get.
I really wanted to avoid that.And to give credit where it's due, don't attribute the clarity of the maps entirely to me. I designed the basic structure of the fortress, but Chris Perkins chipped in and did a great deal of the interior map design.
It's funny. When I was writing this, I had no idea they were doing something similar in EtRG. My choice to do so was in fact inspired by the old Queen of the Demonweb Pits module; I always felt that the demiplanes were some of the most interesting parts of that module, and I wanted to do something similar, but not identical, here.
BTW--sneak preview time
--I wrote a web enhancement with three additional portal destinations, for those who want to expand the adventure further. Not sure when it's going up, though.
Rauol_Duke
First Post
Mouseferatu said:BTW--sneak preview time
Woo Hoo!!!
delericho
Legend
DM_Jeff said:
Conceptually, that sounds a lot like a move towards these 'always available' powers of 4e. So, if anything, them feeling the need to do this is more justification for 4e, not less.
Honestly, I find it unfortunate that this has been implemented this way. It makes an exception to the normal rules of the game, and feels like their pushing their House Rules on my home game. That it was done for the third part of an otherwise great trilogy is also a shame. While the 'always on' abilities are perhaps a good thing, I would have vastly preferred them to wait for the new edition before implementing them.
Even more unfortunate, the original version described later in the thread sounds exactly like what I would have wanted from the adventure.
Mouseferatu
Hero
delericho said:
Bear in mind that even in the published version of the module, the action points are usable only in the final battle, not whenever you want. So it's still meant to be a tool that measures how well the PCs do in disrupting the rite, not a rule's change for the adventure as a whole; it's just not the same tool as the original draft.
Well, as I said, I'll be making the original version available somewhere, be it the WotC site or my own. And once you have the system as I wrote it, assuming you do indeed prefer it to the AP system as written, it's incredibly easy to implement, with pretty much zero rewriting of any additional material required.
Treebore
First Post
Ari,
If you remember enough of the "hows and why's" that I loved Doom of Listonshire, are you pretty confident that I would like this mod? Typically I do find that I like authors books, and that has followed for modules, like Lance H. and Casey, so I'll probably like it just because you wrote it. Still, with my budget being as tight as it is, I need another reason to spend the money. Do you think I'll like this one?
I realize you can't guarantee me, hence my use of the word "confident".
Plus I only bought the first mod and haven't gotten the second, so is this "modular" enough to use without the other mod?
If you remember enough of the "hows and why's" that I loved Doom of Listonshire, are you pretty confident that I would like this mod? Typically I do find that I like authors books, and that has followed for modules, like Lance H. and Casey, so I'll probably like it just because you wrote it. Still, with my budget being as tight as it is, I need another reason to spend the money. Do you think I'll like this one?
I realize you can't guarantee me, hence my use of the word "confident".
Plus I only bought the first mod and haven't gotten the second, so is this "modular" enough to use without the other mod?
Mouseferatu
Hero
Treebore said:
Well, it's less "old-school" and more straightforward than Listonshire certainly. It's mostly about a single adventure area, rather than the sequence of smaller ones from DoL (though there are some smaller areas outside the fortress, via the portals).
It does, though, have challenges other than straightforward combat, and it has the potential for expansion into wider/further adventures.
My guess? I think you'll prefer DoL, but I think you'll enjoy more than enough of Fortress to make it worth your while.
While I think it definitely works best with the other two, it's easy enough to use without them. You'll need to give the PCs a reason to be there, and perhaps seed some info into prior games or into the backstory, but it shouldn't be difficult. (And IIRC, a few suggestions for doing so are given in the module itself, though of course you'll want to expand on them.)
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