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<blockquote data-quote="bert1000" data-source="post: 4544181" data-attributes="member: 29013">Inspired by the many BEMCI and AD&amp;D threads that have popped up, I got out N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God for a kick.&nbsp; It's a great intro adventure, and I spotted an interesting design choice that 4e modules have lacked so far.&nbsp; &nbsp;***SPOILERS***&nbsp;In N1, there is&nbsp;1) a nice town with interesting personalities and a mystery to solve2) a couple small dungeons in town3) a large dungeon with random encounters that make sense (in fact 2 of the random encounters are wandering set encounters)4) the encounters made sense for the most part, no crazy monster right next to another&nbsp;Now, I think H2 Thunderspire in 4e actually does the above pretty well.&nbsp; Here's the part that was refreshing for me coming back to this material:&nbsp;5) especially in the large dungeon, there was a lot of SPACE (e.g., areas with no encounters)!&nbsp; And the space was intelligent.&nbsp; Here's some examples,&nbsp;a) an empty room of mud that was similar to other rooms that had monsters -- keeps you on your toesb) a storeroom that added details of the inhabitants (e.g., cheap wine with a couple bottles of special wine)c) a cavern with undead that were acting as a bilge pump by using buckets to bail water out of the cavern, with no chance they will attack unless provoked.&nbsp; Awesome!&nbsp;I was pleasantly surprised at the space between combat encounters within the dungeon, and the fact that the space ADDED a lot to the feel of the place.&nbsp; Let's put the explore/space back in the 4e dungeons, as I think the combat encounter designs have been pretty good in published stuff.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="bert1000, post: 4544181, member: 29013"] Inspired by the many BEMCI and AD&D threads that have popped up, I got out N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God for a kick. It's a great intro adventure, and I spotted an interesting design choice that 4e modules have lacked so far. ***SPOILERS*** In N1, there is 1) a nice town with interesting personalities and a mystery to solve 2) a couple small dungeons in town 3) a large dungeon with random encounters that make sense (in fact 2 of the random encounters are wandering set encounters) 4) the encounters made sense for the most part, no crazy monster right next to another Now, I think H2 Thunderspire in 4e actually does the above pretty well. Here's the part that was refreshing for me coming back to this material: 5) especially in the large dungeon, there was a lot of SPACE (e.g., areas with no encounters)! And the space was intelligent. Here's some examples, a) an empty room of mud that was similar to other rooms that had monsters -- keeps you on your toes b) a storeroom that added details of the inhabitants (e.g., cheap wine with a couple bottles of special wine) c) a cavern with undead that were acting as a bilge pump by using buckets to bail water out of the cavern, with no chance they will attack unless provoked. Awesome! I was pleasantly surprised at the space between combat encounters within the dungeon, and the fact that the space ADDED a lot to the feel of the place. Let's put the explore/space back in the 4e dungeons, as I think the combat encounter designs have been pretty good in published stuff. [/QUOTE]

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