Reaper Steve
Explorer
A question:
Who/what is the winged bugbear or gnollish looking creature on the cover?
Thanks!
Who/what is the winged bugbear or gnollish looking creature on the cover?
Thanks!
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth - I Have It!
- Thread starter Shroomy
- Start date
D'karr
Adventurer
That would be one of the BBEG.
[sblock]
Maldrick Scarmaker - A gnoll with an abyssal flare. He is the leader of the Gnolls in the Well of Demons area.[/sblock]
Well, since H2 is now readily available, I'll post a few more thoughts. Spoilers ahead!
On the upside:
One thing I really enjoyed was how different the mini-dungeons felt. The Bloodreaver hidehout is designed differently than the duergar stronghold, and both the Demonic Gnoll temple and Windowless/Stairless mage tower pose interesting strategic variations.
More particularly, the duergar stronghold is a very cool location in terms of its three-fortress setup, which I enjoyed, and the Gnoll base reminded me (in a good way) of some 2nd edition modules that I've DMed in terms of design. It's a series of rooms that are loosely tied together, and since the whole area is essentially one big demonic deathtrap/test of strength, Mearls and Baker went pretty wild in the actual room and encounter design, which I definitely enjoyed.
I also enjoyed the random encounters and the skill challenges. The Vecna skill challenge is pretty cool and more "abstract" than a lot of challenges, though I'm planning on making it more of a puzzle than it already is. The "adventure spirit" skill challenge is likewise pretty interesting.
On the downside:
As I noted before, I didn't necessarily like how A lead to B leads to C, but there are enough plot hooks (and enough small bits of description) that have already allowed me to formulate some sidetreks and red herrings.
The goofy "monsters have secreted away treasure that they could use but do not for metagame balance." While not as present as it was in H1, there are still some cases where this occurs (and I know it's more of a 4e philosophy nitpick than an adventure-specific complaint).
But really not too much else. I had feared that levels 4-6 would be the same as 1-3 would be the same as 10-13 etc., but based on Thunderspire Labyrinth, I'm happy to say that just a little further into the heroic tier there is a lot more variety, and a much more palpable sense of "danger."
On the upside:
One thing I really enjoyed was how different the mini-dungeons felt. The Bloodreaver hidehout is designed differently than the duergar stronghold, and both the Demonic Gnoll temple and Windowless/Stairless mage tower pose interesting strategic variations.
More particularly, the duergar stronghold is a very cool location in terms of its three-fortress setup, which I enjoyed, and the Gnoll base reminded me (in a good way) of some 2nd edition modules that I've DMed in terms of design. It's a series of rooms that are loosely tied together, and since the whole area is essentially one big demonic deathtrap/test of strength, Mearls and Baker went pretty wild in the actual room and encounter design, which I definitely enjoyed.
I also enjoyed the random encounters and the skill challenges. The Vecna skill challenge is pretty cool and more "abstract" than a lot of challenges, though I'm planning on making it more of a puzzle than it already is. The "adventure spirit" skill challenge is likewise pretty interesting.
On the downside:
As I noted before, I didn't necessarily like how A lead to B leads to C, but there are enough plot hooks (and enough small bits of description) that have already allowed me to formulate some sidetreks and red herrings.
The goofy "monsters have secreted away treasure that they could use but do not for metagame balance." While not as present as it was in H1, there are still some cases where this occurs (and I know it's more of a 4e philosophy nitpick than an adventure-specific complaint).
But really not too much else. I had feared that levels 4-6 would be the same as 1-3 would be the same as 10-13 etc., but based on Thunderspire Labyrinth, I'm happy to say that just a little further into the heroic tier there is a lot more variety, and a much more palpable sense of "danger."
Shroomy
Adventurer
This is actually one of my favored types of adventures, as I prefer shorter, interconnected adventure sites with a strong connecting plot to long dungeon crawls or sandbox style adventures (though both are nice for an occassional change of pace). Of course, this kind of style can become way too linear if the DM is not provided with lots of ancillary stuff to spice up the journey or downtime between the adventure sites. Luckily, H2 comes with that in spades IMO.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Really? I'm a bit surprised, but pleasantly so.
Good to hear. I think I'll be picking this one up when chance allows.
I'm not familiar with Shattered Gates. If you need landscape ideas for adventures, I very much recommend W+M...just ignore all the writing parts.
Lanefan
Reaper Steve
Explorer
Thank you! Curiousity satisfied until amazon delivers!
Yip, definitely. It's kind of reminiscent of Castle Whiterock in a way, but I worry that it suffers from 'Neverending Plot' syndrome. What I means is it feels like you conquer one location only to be told that what you want is at the next. The you conquer the next, only to find out that you really need to go to the third. That's quite annoying, really. There's also not a lot in the main 'friendly' location to directly lead you to these other locations so you can miss out on one or the other.
Still, better than H1. Lot more character to it, with more interesting locations and critters. And skill challenges, thankfully, as well.
Pinotage
That was my first thought as well when reading through the introductory booklet. Definitely a lot of Descent into the Depths of the Earth, though no kuo-toa unfortunately.
Pinotage
D'karr
Adventurer
Even though it does seem to suffer from "NEP", I've found that this one really allows a DM to break that trend rather easily and without much fuss.
[sblock]The prisoners seem to be the thread that keeps the movement from one location to another happening. You search for prisoners A,B and C and find out that A&B are in location 1 but C has been moved to location 2. In most of these cases it is rather simple to just not move the prisoner at all.
As a DM I'd do that if I found that I wanted to break the pace and maybe even introduce a side-trek. For example after Horned Hold, there is no real reason to go after the gnolls unless you are searching for those last few prisoners. This is a perfect break point to introduce something different if the DM wants. But the DM would have to introduce a separate hook to lead the party to the Well of Demons, if he wanted to continue the adventure after Horned Hold and the side-trek. Another hook can be introduced in the Seven Pillared Hall, possibly from the inn-keeper and nephew.
If the party is then "hired" or encouraged by the Mages to find the renegade, you can have two different reasons to continue. In addition, since the Seven Pillared Hall is a sort of "crossroads" for commerce with the Underdark, you can really open up lots of avenues not necessarily included in the published material.[/sblock]
vagabundo
Adventurer
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