D&D 5E Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle - what did you think?

[Blackwarder]

Hiya.



Oh, don't get me wrong...I also agree that any module should be read through at least once by a DM. What I'm on about is that the current writers of adventures seem more interested in presenting a series of encounters to tell their story. This is fine for a novel...not so much for an RPG. At least in my games, I want the players and myself (the DM) to write the actual story. For example, if the PC's end up deciding to have one of their members run for Mayor of Farshore (in the Savage Tide AP)...they shouldn't be "stopped" by the module because it assumes that NPC "L" wins later. If the PC runs a good race and should/does "win", the other modules should not have to be manhandled so much that 60% of the written material is useless. IME, when players think they are being railroaded, or when they think a particular event or NPC is "untouchable", that is faaaar more of a killer to the fun and excitement of playing an RPG in the first place. Also, IME, I've found that unexpected flukes have made the most memorable adventures. The ones that went "as planned and expected", as per the written story-line, are usually much less fondly remembered.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

PS: Lucky dog! I wish I had a limited hard copy of Dyson's Delve!

Agreed, in that case I strongly suggest that you'll take a look at Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard, they both tell a story but it remain in the hands of the PCs and the DM to write the chapters of that story.

Ghost of Dragonspear Castle is the kind of mini campaign you'll let a new group play, it got awesome moments and the players gets to feel like real heroes in a fantasy world from a low level (I mean you got a freaking dragon wyrmling as a pet for a while, how cool is that?) But it is a bit railroaded so it might not be for everyone.

Personally, I'd like to get a modern adventure akin to Castle Ravenloft, I'm working on an adventure involving a Death Knight called the Drowned Prince And I try to incorporate the same vibe you get in Ravenloft in it.

Warder

 

[Blackwarder]

I think I want something between Keep on the Borderlands and your usual Adventure Path in detail. The AP has to assume a railroad mostly because it has to have the plot make sense as you go from 1 to 2 to 6 (or 13 or whatever) without being able to find out how things went at individual tables. Still, I'd like some strong seeds to start on - like a line about each prisoner and some motivations for how the tribes interact with each other, rather than just a set of stat blocks. Unlike a previous poster, it's actually trivial for me to generate a dungeon filled with stat blocks, but it takes me real time to have compelling reasons for them to be there, RP hooks and easter eggs, etc. Little details like finding a keepsake from a lost girl in one room, then finding her later on kinda thing.

Catering to a railroad on an adventure path was one thing that was frustrating (though also simplifying) about writing adventures for Living Forgotten Realms. I had to be working on the sequel to an adventure before I got the results from folks playing it, so decision branches had to usually be a year in advance. Since I was doing 3 adventures per year, that meant that I got to change things in the 2nd year adventures based on results from the 1st, but in other cases I just had to hope that DMs who ran it were willing to actually customize for their players, no matter what the adventure said.

Though in a couple of cases we had to quickly adapt our plans. Like when we had a plan to use 3 "macguffins" in the final year then found out that each of the 3 had been misused or destroyed in other adventures based on PC choices by (or simultaneously with) the time we got to them.

How about something like the Great Pendragon Campaign? it basically tells you what happened every year and let the DM roll with that, you could have an entire AP written like that.

Warder

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Oh, don't get me wrong...I also agree that any module should be read through at least once by a DM. What I'm on about is that the current writers of adventures seem more interested in presenting a series of encounters to tell their story. This is fine for a novel...not so much for an RPG. At least in my games, I want the players and myself (the DM) to write the actual story. For example, if the PC's end up deciding to have one of their members run for Mayor of Farshore (in the Savage Tide AP)...they shouldn't be "stopped" by the module because it assumes that NPC "L" wins later. If the PC runs a good race and should/does "win", the other modules should not have to be manhandled so much that 60% of the written material is useless. IME, when players think they are being railroaded, or when they think a particular event or NPC is "untouchable", that is faaaar more of a killer to the fun and excitement of playing an RPG in the first place. Also, IME, I've found that unexpected flukes have made the most memorable adventures. The ones that went "as planned and expected", as per the written story-line, are usually much less fondly remembered.

It depends on the players. My players know there will be at least some railroading going on. If we sit down, I tell them that I'm running the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil or the Labyrinth of Madness. They know that they'll be going into the Temple of the Labyrinth and will have to find their way to the end using their wits and their abilities. They know the adventure likely won't be about them running for Mayor of a town. They know that as part of playing the game they've already agreed to have their characters follow the plot, at least mostly. There's some wiggle room in most adventures for players to cut their own swath. But it'll be small changes, not world changing.

I think what you are looking for is more a setting with a short plot hook than it is an adventure. When I purchase an adventure it's because I'm not that great at making things up on the fly and I don't want to put a lot of effort into running the game. I want the adventures to give me a bunch of NPCs and tell me what their motivations and actions are. I want the adventure to not only give me a plot, but a series of events that help that plot advance.

Either way, I really like this adventure. It's got a lot of interesting twists and turns. It has some interesting NPCs and a plot that although straightforward makes a couple of twists on the standard "collect some items" plot.

 

[keterys]

How about something like the Great Pendragon Campaign? it basically tells you what happened every year and let the DM roll with that, you could have an entire AP written like that.

Warder

I was unfamiliar with it, but yeah that looks pretty neat reading the overview. A grand backdrop for campaign progression, possibly even a few campaigns, with plenty of detail if you want it, but the individual quests and what actually happens at each point could vary.

That's a lot tougher with the immediacy that most gamers seem to _require_ - like if you try to handwave a month or two passing, people want to know why they can't account for every single day doing things. At least, I've run into that problem before.

 

[Blackwarder]

I was unfamiliar with it, but yeah that looks pretty neat reading the overview. A grand backdrop for campaign progression, possibly even a few campaigns, with plenty of detail if you want it, but the individual quests and what actually happens at each point could vary.

That's a lot tougher with the immediacy that most gamers seem to _require_ - like if you try to handwave a month or two passing, people want to know why they can't account for every single day doing things. At least, I've run into that problem before.

Well, apparently, each game session in pandragon should be one year in game time so there's that.

But I think that the concept is neat and it's something they flirted with on MiBG to a degree.

Warder

 

[Valkyrieza]

Did any of you who had played or run the adventure feel the need to change the story? I'm a first time DM and this looked like such a great adventure to introduce my existing Pathfinder group to 5th edition. Fortunately, the other group I roleplay with consists of experienced players who have agreed to play the adventure first to allow me to work out the kinks of my DMing inexperience and any snags in the module that may be a problem for my other, less experienced group.
Once we started, I found the need to tweak the story to suit the group's needs almost from the beginning and whilst the read aloud text was nice, it felt too corny when I read it out. Having said that, the main narrative isn't too bad, but the hooks offered in the story (which were frankly somewhat lame) had to change to suit characters. The monsters in the modules were too underpowered, so I've used the stats from the Monster's manual so the group didn't feel like it was too easy.