RangerWickett
Legend
It's 2 am and I just finished running the D&D Next playtest adventure for some friends.
Wizards, I cannot fathom why you decided the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb should be used to playtest and show off your new rules. It is a stupid, stupid adventure.
Have you seen Cube? It's a bizarre movie with horrible traps that kill people. It's like the Tomb of Horrors, intended to kill you, so challenging that you feel prestige in surviving it.
Have you seen Cube 2: Hypercube? It's a pointless movie where weird things happen for no reason, which occasionally kill people, but you don't care. That's the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb: nonsensical, badly designed, not challenging, and a poor way to have people test your rules.
One of my players nailed the issue, I think. He called this The Troll Dungeon. "Oh, you were clever and found a secret key, then figured out where to use the key. Look, you found treasure: a necklace of strangulation! Oh, you went down this hallway that seems to serve no purpose, but there's a big glass wall holding back a bunch of water, so you decide to break it to see what's inside? There's nothing inside at all. That whole area was pointless."
And, I mean, it's not even high-quality death traps. The water doesn't drown you; it does 10 damage and floods the room to a depth of 5 feet.
Don't get me wrong. We had a good time. But it was because we were laughing at the dungeon. There's no time pressure, no memorable antagonists, no dynamic combats, and - for a playtest - no gratification. I mean maybe if this was part of an ongoing campaign it would feel interesting to get heaps of treasure like all those scrolls and potions the party never needed to touch, but how many playtesters do you think give a damn? The reward needs to be the story and the experience of playing, not imaginary doodads that they'll never use.
Wizards, please, c'mon guys. Grognardism should not be a replacement for game design. You seemed to proudly announce that this adventure was based on one from the early 80s. The horrid E.T. video game also game out from the early 80s. Neither is any good. There are quality adventures out there, and I'm sure there are plenty of adventure writers who'd gladly write a D&D Next module for you to include in your future playtests.
Wizards, I cannot fathom why you decided the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb should be used to playtest and show off your new rules. It is a stupid, stupid adventure.
Have you seen Cube? It's a bizarre movie with horrible traps that kill people. It's like the Tomb of Horrors, intended to kill you, so challenging that you feel prestige in surviving it.
Have you seen Cube 2: Hypercube? It's a pointless movie where weird things happen for no reason, which occasionally kill people, but you don't care. That's the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb: nonsensical, badly designed, not challenging, and a poor way to have people test your rules.
One of my players nailed the issue, I think. He called this The Troll Dungeon. "Oh, you were clever and found a secret key, then figured out where to use the key. Look, you found treasure: a necklace of strangulation! Oh, you went down this hallway that seems to serve no purpose, but there's a big glass wall holding back a bunch of water, so you decide to break it to see what's inside? There's nothing inside at all. That whole area was pointless."
And, I mean, it's not even high-quality death traps. The water doesn't drown you; it does 10 damage and floods the room to a depth of 5 feet.
Don't get me wrong. We had a good time. But it was because we were laughing at the dungeon. There's no time pressure, no memorable antagonists, no dynamic combats, and - for a playtest - no gratification. I mean maybe if this was part of an ongoing campaign it would feel interesting to get heaps of treasure like all those scrolls and potions the party never needed to touch, but how many playtesters do you think give a damn? The reward needs to be the story and the experience of playing, not imaginary doodads that they'll never use.
Wizards, please, c'mon guys. Grognardism should not be a replacement for game design. You seemed to proudly announce that this adventure was based on one from the early 80s. The horrid E.T. video game also game out from the early 80s. Neither is any good. There are quality adventures out there, and I'm sure there are plenty of adventure writers who'd gladly write a D&D Next module for you to include in your future playtests.
