Impressions from KotS

[Halivar]

Overall, I feel the $30 is for the premium of playing "official" 4E ahead of the core books' release. That said, it's still an excellent product. Here are some of my impressions:

• Wow. New trade dress is AWESOME. It comes in a folder that splats open, with logos on the books contributing to the decoration of the overall product. Looks great.
• 3 flippable battle maps capture all the biggest encounters of the adventure. These are some of the best battle maps I've seen yet, and they will definitely see reuse after KotS is over.
• Two books: one for players, that pretty much has the basic DDXP "intro to 4e" info, plus 5 characters.
• Half-elf remains un-multi'd.
• Paper is low-quality, but heavy. The books don't seem durable at all. It's a shame they couldn't at least use cardstock for the covers. I feel this product (and its price) easily warranted higher quality glossy paper and stronger binding. I understand that it's a little slim for hardcover, but still...
• DM section confirms most of our information about skill challenges. I would have liked a sample skill challenge, though.
• [sblock]A GNOME! Granted, he is a nameless combat encounter NPC; nevertheless, he is badass. Gnomes are teh sneeek.[/sblock]
• [sblock]MORE kobolds. I had prayed that we could avoid kobolds for the first published adventure, but alas, it was not to be.[/sblock]

All in all, I plan on enjoying KotS immensely. It's not worth $30, however.

 

[legiondevil]

All in all, I plan on enjoying KotS immensely. It's not worth $30, however.

My only real hesitant thought...

Yes, spoilers.
[sblock]
Is has several occurrances of higher level encounters that are mostly unavoidable, and could go very badly. With the end fight, which is 3 levels above the party at that point, being the one that sticks out most in my mind. I can already tell the Cleric of Orcus is going to be attempting Bull Rush's on PC's who close to melee in an attempt to knock them into "the darkness."
[/sblock]

 

[Echoes]

My general impressions are similar to most that have been posted thus far - the design is nice, the maps are a decent bonus, the rules information is largely disappointing (because we've seen most of it before, except the status effect chart). As for price, Amazon preordering pretty much spoiled me and I essentially am getting it for $20, which isn't all that awful.

The adventure itself is straight-ahead and old school. I think there's enough open air in it for roleplaying -- though I'm going to have to develop quite a few Winterhaven NPCs, I suspect (I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get more bits and pieces about them, to be honest). But that's what I always end up doing when running modules, and it plays to my strengths as a DM anyway -- I prefer to have the combat basics laid out to save work and spend my energy adding twists and turns to the plot and characters.

The dungeon-crawl portions are somewhat simple, but flavorful and set-piece-tastic. [sblock] I am going to love the "Zombies chase PCs around a fear-rune-filled hallway complex" encounter, and the final battle with the Thing in the Portal could turn out to be the type of thing we talk about for years if it turns out well [/sblock] As a DM who always had a problem building great tactical encounters in 3e (though I was quite good at it in 2e), KotS and 4e in general is a huge boon, as just a cursory read of the encounters gave me a wealth of ideas, even beyond the 'tactics' section.

edit: As I already mentioned in the scaling thread, I'll echo the sentiment that some of the encounters seem unduly harsh, but this could be because I haven't really seen a 4e group in action yet.

All in all, for the amount of money I spent, I'm pretty happy, considering the fact that I've paid almost as much for 32-page adventures. KotS seems like a good introductory module, the design is crisp, and I'm looking forward to DMing it, which is more than I can say for my experiences with 3.x since about somewhere in 2005.

 

[Insight]

Got it today.

I really like the layout and formatting. I've only read through the Quick Start Rules and the Pre-Gens because our DM is going to run part of all of KotS as a kickoff to our new 4E campaign.

Agree on the point about the strange and flimsy paper stock. I can definitely see it getting some wear and tear given typical use.

I like the Pre-Gens. A good selection of characters, but why five and not six? I like the fact that some of the classes appearing at D&D Experience have different powers in these Pre-Gens. Get at least some idea of the breadth of abilities available at 1st level. One side note: the art for the characters don't match their equipment. Not a huge deal, but I can imagine getting some questions. The Dwarf Warrior and Dragonborn Paladin definitely have the wrong gear in their artwork. Also, the Ability Scores are on the back page, not on the front where experienced players might expect to find them.

Also agree on the maps. The artwork is of high quality, although the maps are also produced on the same flimsy paper stock as the rest of the adventure. I can definitely see the maps getting worn out.

All in all, I recommend it, especially for people who've been away from D&D for a while. It seems to be a great introductory adventure, and a laudable lead-in to 4th ed.

 

[johnnype]

$30?! Seriously?! For a 64 page adventure?

What are they smoking?

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

$30?! Seriously?! For a 64 page adventure?

What are they smoking?

Hit a Barnes and Nobles in your neighborhood. Peruse it; trust me, it's well worth it. Hard cardboard gatefold cover with pockets, fold-out maps, quickstart rules; it's great!

 

[Wolfspider]

• 3 flippable battle maps capture all the biggest encounters of the adventure. These are some of the best battle maps I've seen yet, and they will definitely see reuse after KotS is over.

Aren't they old maps repurposed for this adventure?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Look like new maps to me.

I'm digging it. The ink on the cover of the book didn't stand up to my thumb-sweat and has fingerprints all over it after one read-through, so I agree with the cover stock criticism.

Fitz

 

[legiondevil]

The ink on the cover of the book didn't stand up to my thumb-sweat and has fingerprints all over it after one read-through, so I agree with the cover stock criticism.

Fourth'd
Thankfully I heard about this before I picked it up, so have been careful when handling the booklets.

 

[Lizard]

KOTS observations, random:

Is the implement ketword defined anywhere?

30 bucks for this? I feel like just bought gas.

There are no size penalties on forced movement? Or is it just not relevant due to the foes in the adventure?

Combat advantage: Do only people triggering it, get it? i.e, Joe and Jane flank a kobold. Jim the archer wants to shoot the kobold. Does he get +2? (I'd say yes, since the kobold is going to have an even harder time dodging the arrow while dealing with flankers.)

I like how clear it is which actions you can take during the upkeep phase...I mean, at the start of your turn. But what happens if there are interrupts on the stack?

No skill challenges in the adventure? That's a shame. Or did I miss them?

Good aligned undead? Not bad. Always liked the 'loyal beyond death' trope.

Dwarves are REALLY hard to poison in 4e. This is not a bad thing.

By "shatter armor and bone" we mean "do more damage". Don't expect sunder rules, bucko!

I do like the "not screwed if you miss with your daily" feature. (Cough smite evil cough)

The rogue hits more often than the fighter? (+8 vs. +6)

At least the wizard's aim sucks. Some cows must not be killed.

Unconscious: An unconscious high level character is harder to hit than an equally unconscious low level character.

DOTs of the same type don't stack? Interesting. Makes sense, too.

Forced movement not hindred by difficult terrain? Yeah, THAT won't be exploited...

Dominated: Damn, did they wussify/simplify this, at least for the quick start rules.

Apparently, being restrained/immobilized doesn't keep you from attacking/casting in any way.
106 hit points? For a KOBOLD? At 3rd level? Wow. Not your father's D&D.

Apparently, the gnome 'shtick' in 4e is going to be 'sneaky little bastiches'. Meh. I likes me techno-gnomes.

No 'common villager' stats? No stats for, well anyone you aren't expected to kill? How about just for basic bluff/insight/diplomacy checks? Sheesh, even Village of Hommlet statted out the local yokels.

If you kill Keegran, can you take his stuff? Same with the hobgoblin's armor. It's not clear if these items are "real" and can be looted or are "flavor text". (In any other version of D&D, I wouldn't even think to ask, but 4e follows a different paradigm...)

Wait, never mind. Just saw that the blade "falls to pieces" if you fight him. Yeah. THAT'S not lame. Railroad plot, boarding at station 3...last call, station 3 for the plot railroad.

Uhm...wait a minute...the sword you get if you're nice to Keeran has totally different powers than it does when he wields it? The FRACK? What, is this some sort of "magic" sword? (Well, yeah, but really...)

Gelatinous cubes FTW. Actually, as an ooze fan from way back, like all the oozes in this one.

I'm going to guess "Village" is a keyword with meaning in the DMG.

Looks like falling damage is 1d10/10 feet.

Planning on running this on Memorial Day if I can get the local gang to agree.