Good first adventure Mark at CMG!
- Thread starter MEG Hal
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
I've been reading over this myself in preperation for my own review since Mark was nice enough to give me a review copy (Thanks Mark!! 
). So far, this is a really nice and well done module. I hate to tip my hat too much before the review is posted, so look for this early next week.
). So far, this is a really nice and well done module. I hate to tip my hat too much before the review is posted, so look for this early next week.
William Ronald
Explorer
Crothian,
I am looking forward to your review.
For those of you who haven't checked it out, go to http://www.creativemountaingames.com. There are several FREE downloads that work well with or without the Whispering Woodwind.
I am looking forward to your review.
For those of you who haven't checked it out, go to http://www.creativemountaingames.com. There are several FREE downloads that work well with or without the Whispering Woodwind.
CRGreathouse
Community Supporter
I'm also working on a review. I'm not easily impressed -- especially by adventures -- but this was an excellent resource. Consider it a collection of wonderful NPCs with an interesting storyline as a bonus. 
Teflon Billy
Explorer
CRGreathouse said:I'm also working on a review. I'm not easily impressed -- especially by adventures -- but this was an excellent resource. Consider it a collection of wonderful NPCs with an interesting storyline as a bonus.
I've seen CRGreathouse dismatle products when we were ENnies judges. He is thorough (alomst to a fault), brutal and honest.
The above quote may be the highest praise I've seen on this thread considering it's source
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Mark said:No plans at this time, but who knows what the future might hold? I'm just going to keep plugging away, producing quality PDF supplements at reasonably low prices that offset the need to personally print them.
If you do decide to go to print, I'd be happy to help.
Wulf
Oh, yeah, I was supposed to give Mark some feedback. Hmm. 
I was going to do that right now, actually. No, really. Would I tell a lie?
Don't say it.
Well, as everyone else has already said, the organisation of the module is pretty good, with lots of tips and notes for how to play each of the NPCs. I wish I could flesh out characters like this! I'll even forgive Mark's use of YA marketing acronym because of all the little details he provides.
In terms of structure, I think it strikes a good balance between giving the PCs freedom to move and also maintaining a coherent plotline. Each of the encounters and areas has lots of potential for roleplay, but there's also a good hook to keep everything moving. The fact that plenty of detail is provided helps keep encounters like the Trundlefolk or the bear from feeling like "just another random encounter", which is what can happen with random tables ("yeah, another 1d6 orcs, let's roll for initiative...").
So, that's the good bits. Now, on to the bad bits. Yes, I think there's some. No, I don't think this means I can do a better job.
[SPOILERS]
Some issues I didn't quite understand:
- From the map, it looks like the lumber camp is only a couple of miles out of Parvue. Why didn't anyone check out the lumber camp, or head to Jalston for help when it became clear that trouble was brewing?
- How did two 2nd level rogues with below-average stats and equipment manage to beat up Nilfaria, a 4th level fighter? Also, the paragraph that describes her actions on being found seems a bit confused; first it says she gives the PCs a few details and then passes out, then it says she goes around the village and checks to make sure people are all right. Perhaps this is meant to be what she does after being revived by the PCs, but it isn't clear.
- A hamlet of 50 people seems too small to have a sheriff and a magistrate. But this is a minor issue.
- There sure seem to be a heckuva lot of 2nd-4th level characters in the Trundlefolk encampment and elsewhere. Personally, I don't think this is necessary. I think ordinary people should mostly be 1st level experts or commoners, with maybe a few 2nd or 3rd level characters sprinkled in. Certainly for a module aimed at 2nd level PCs, it's a bit excessive. It raises the question of why the PCs are needed to solve problems, when everyone else could be just as capable of doing it.
There doesn't seem to be a rational scale for some of the grids on the maps. Eg the map of Peddler's Knoll and surroundings is 1.5 miles square, but is divided into a 12x12 square grid. The map of the Trundlefolk encampment is 330 feet square, and has an 11x11 grid. Something fixed, like 0.5 miles or 50 feet per square, would be better IMO.
Remove curse doesn't need a caster or skill check, so the DC in the description of the flute is superfluous.
Finally, anything involving lumberjacks risks someone at the table breaking into the Monty Python song. You can trust me on this.
So that's it for the bad bits, and there aren't that many of them. I bet that most parties won't even notice these things. Well, except for the lumberjacks.
Overall, I think this is a fine piece of work. And Mark didn't even pay me to say that.
I was going to do that right now, actually. No, really. Would I tell a lie?
Don't say it.
Well, as everyone else has already said, the organisation of the module is pretty good, with lots of tips and notes for how to play each of the NPCs. I wish I could flesh out characters like this! I'll even forgive Mark's use of YA marketing acronym because of all the little details he provides.
In terms of structure, I think it strikes a good balance between giving the PCs freedom to move and also maintaining a coherent plotline. Each of the encounters and areas has lots of potential for roleplay, but there's also a good hook to keep everything moving. The fact that plenty of detail is provided helps keep encounters like the Trundlefolk or the bear from feeling like "just another random encounter", which is what can happen with random tables ("yeah, another 1d6 orcs, let's roll for initiative...").
So, that's the good bits. Now, on to the bad bits. Yes, I think there's some. No, I don't think this means I can do a better job.
[SPOILERS]
Some issues I didn't quite understand:
- From the map, it looks like the lumber camp is only a couple of miles out of Parvue. Why didn't anyone check out the lumber camp, or head to Jalston for help when it became clear that trouble was brewing?
- How did two 2nd level rogues with below-average stats and equipment manage to beat up Nilfaria, a 4th level fighter? Also, the paragraph that describes her actions on being found seems a bit confused; first it says she gives the PCs a few details and then passes out, then it says she goes around the village and checks to make sure people are all right. Perhaps this is meant to be what she does after being revived by the PCs, but it isn't clear.
- A hamlet of 50 people seems too small to have a sheriff and a magistrate. But this is a minor issue.
- There sure seem to be a heckuva lot of 2nd-4th level characters in the Trundlefolk encampment and elsewhere. Personally, I don't think this is necessary. I think ordinary people should mostly be 1st level experts or commoners, with maybe a few 2nd or 3rd level characters sprinkled in. Certainly for a module aimed at 2nd level PCs, it's a bit excessive. It raises the question of why the PCs are needed to solve problems, when everyone else could be just as capable of doing it.
There doesn't seem to be a rational scale for some of the grids on the maps. Eg the map of Peddler's Knoll and surroundings is 1.5 miles square, but is divided into a 12x12 square grid. The map of the Trundlefolk encampment is 330 feet square, and has an 11x11 grid. Something fixed, like 0.5 miles or 50 feet per square, would be better IMO.
Remove curse doesn't need a caster or skill check, so the DC in the description of the flute is superfluous.
Finally, anything involving lumberjacks risks someone at the table breaking into the Monty Python song. You can trust me on this.
So that's it for the bad bits, and there aren't that many of them. I bet that most parties won't even notice these things. Well, except for the lumberjacks.
Overall, I think this is a fine piece of work. And Mark didn't even pay me to say that.
Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
Thanks, everyone! I look forward to seeing even more reviews. Nothing helps a new comapny more than reviews and general discussion about the releases.
Wulf - I'm actually getting a couple of nibbles in that area now. Drop me an Email to discuss it further if you're interested, please.
Hong - I'm glad you like the adventure overall. I think that most of the things that you mention as minor could be easily modified if a particular campaign required them. To address them, specifically, the people of Parvue are just beginning to get worried about the errant lumberjacks when the party arrives. It's an opportunity for the group to get involved but isn't the end of the world if they do not. I think that any campaign game or adventure should include things where the group happens on the scene at a point where they can choose to make a diffierence or decline to do so. If they choose to avoid involvement, then certainly someone else will have to solve the problem.
I think the section of the shreiff's motivations might be reworked, but having been surprised by the two Rogues, and beaten unconscious the night before, she still have concerns about the rest of the Thorp. Sometimes less skilled individuals can get the jump on someone and that's the situation for her. I think that one of the sentences has confused you, in that she imparts knowledge that she gained earlier, before she had lost consciousness, not that she loses consciousness after imparting the information.
The 70 person Thorp having this sort of structure might be something that individual DMs like to adjust. I try to go "by the book" and let folks work from there.
The Trundlefolk are geared a bit differently than the other encounters in this adventure. Rather than being a Tailored encounter that you find in other areas of the adventure, they are a Status Quo optional encounter. That whole section (the middle 6 pages of the 38 page adventure) is both encounter and source material that a DM can drop into their campaign during this adventure, or as part of a seperate adventure or ongoing campaign. A little something extra for DMs to add some depth to their own setting.
For the maps, they are each set up to show as much of the area as may be useful during the running of the adventure. Since they are of varying sizes and ranges, a single set scale would have been inadequate.
Curses have the option of being specialized and in this case I used a simple DC mechanic to convey the difficulty this particular curse presents to removal by a magical spell. I prefer not to have Remove Curse be an all or nothing solution, especially since the adventure needs to be flexible to varying levels of adventuring parties.
If I had thought of the potential for people to break out into the Lumberjack Song from the Monty Python's Flying Circus series I would probably have gone a different direction. For instance, I'm working on an Epic Saga about either a desert, or the frozen wastelends of the north, where a giant penquin with tentacles... Maybe not.
Hope that helps a bit.
Wulf - I'm actually getting a couple of nibbles in that area now. Drop me an Email to discuss it further if you're interested, please.
Hong - I'm glad you like the adventure overall. I think that most of the things that you mention as minor could be easily modified if a particular campaign required them. To address them, specifically, the people of Parvue are just beginning to get worried about the errant lumberjacks when the party arrives. It's an opportunity for the group to get involved but isn't the end of the world if they do not. I think that any campaign game or adventure should include things where the group happens on the scene at a point where they can choose to make a diffierence or decline to do so. If they choose to avoid involvement, then certainly someone else will have to solve the problem.
I think the section of the shreiff's motivations might be reworked, but having been surprised by the two Rogues, and beaten unconscious the night before, she still have concerns about the rest of the Thorp. Sometimes less skilled individuals can get the jump on someone and that's the situation for her. I think that one of the sentences has confused you, in that she imparts knowledge that she gained earlier, before she had lost consciousness, not that she loses consciousness after imparting the information.
The 70 person Thorp having this sort of structure might be something that individual DMs like to adjust. I try to go "by the book" and let folks work from there.
The Trundlefolk are geared a bit differently than the other encounters in this adventure. Rather than being a Tailored encounter that you find in other areas of the adventure, they are a Status Quo optional encounter. That whole section (the middle 6 pages of the 38 page adventure) is both encounter and source material that a DM can drop into their campaign during this adventure, or as part of a seperate adventure or ongoing campaign. A little something extra for DMs to add some depth to their own setting.
For the maps, they are each set up to show as much of the area as may be useful during the running of the adventure. Since they are of varying sizes and ranges, a single set scale would have been inadequate.
Curses have the option of being specialized and in this case I used a simple DC mechanic to convey the difficulty this particular curse presents to removal by a magical spell. I prefer not to have Remove Curse be an all or nothing solution, especially since the adventure needs to be flexible to varying levels of adventuring parties.
If I had thought of the potential for people to break out into the Lumberjack Song from the Monty Python's Flying Circus series I would probably have gone a different direction. For instance, I'm working on an Epic Saga about either a desert, or the frozen wastelends of the north, where a giant penquin with tentacles... Maybe not.
Hope that helps a bit.
