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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TerraDave" data-source="post: 5108799" data-attributes="member: 22260">This is why I love ENWorld…I am going to try and summarize a lot of the feedback you are getting into three inter-related categories. Put better background to better use: Shadowfell was OK in revealing the tragedy of Sir Keegan and the history of the rift. But just OK. More story, more flavor, more active villains, this is all about having that back-story and then using it in play, both through revelations but also in actions of hostile and non-hostile NPCs.  Better does not mean complicated, Thunderspire is a good example of just a few too many fiendish lords, a few too many underlying elements, and a few too many a “link to these bad guys” then “links to these bad guys” which then…And too much Torog. As noted above, 4E has overdone the common world elements and not brought enough unique flavor to, well, anything. I know why this has been done. But that doesn’t make it a good thing. This is how people (mostly DMs) use this kind of fluff: they skim over it thinking how boring it is, and then “invoked devastation, that’s cool!”  This does not mean they want to then read about the invoked devastation over and over again. It actually means the opposite. Pacing and Exploration: 4E could be characterized as building the ultimate encounters..and then playing one after another after another. Not all encounters should be equal (and the irony is that 4E gives you more flexibility in this regard then just about any edition) and they should be interspersed with stuff that doesn’t involve fighting. Pocking around dungeon corridors, solving puzzles, non-combat npc interaction, encounters that could be fights or not. Again, H1, H2, they have some of this, but not enough.  Also, this is where the whole Delve format comes in, which essentially obscures the exploration parts of the adventure. Lets take another example: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. This has so many cool fights and individual creatures, and some really cool non-fighting puzzle type bits inspired by the Lost Temple of Tharizdun. And yes, some opportunities for role-play. But the whole feels like less than the some of the parts, because of too many cool fights, one after another…Variety: You are getting a bunch of people calling for this. And we both know, those cool out of box adventures often only appeal to a niche audience. But still. Something like a solid city adventure. Or an Ilse of Dread. These would have a broad appeal, though they might be a bit tougher to do. Obviously this applies in adventures as well, though it does have to be balanced with having a coherent theme, and back-story (point number one) .Examples? The classics are full of strong variety and varied pacing. Of course they cheated: combat was shorter (pre 3E, or some versions of 2E), so by default you would spend more time on other things. But then this is something 4E has to make up for. And the best of the classics also brought the back-story. G-D, the better Ss, and of course Ravenloft and the other Is. My favourite example is a much less illustrious 3rd party 3E module: Ne Moren’s vault. Seemingly very conventional, but with a great mix of stuff and a very good backstory that is carefully revealed through the adventure.</blockquote>

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