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<blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 5304992" data-attributes="member: 42040">A Discussion of the Adventure in the DM Book&nbsp;Wow. This is not too good. I'm not complaining about its simplicity, which I think is necessary for an intro product, but it's the sloppy construction and editing that get to me, as well as the violation of encounter guidelines. &nbsp;First, in what could be the first or second encounter a new DM ever runs, the Tactics paragraph mentions attack powers that aren't in the monster's stat block. That is confusing.&nbsp;There's a very complicated trap/puzzle room involving a chess puzzle. (Complicated for me because I know nothing about chess - and I would guess to your average new gamer as well.) It does a terrible job explaining things, even getting the names of the pieces wrong on several instances, referencing pieces that aren't there in the setup of the encounter, etc. To make matters worse, if there aren't any chess players in your group, they will beat their heads against the wall in frustration as their characters' hit points are widdled away. It is unwinnable without knowledge of chess. (This one will have to be excised from the adventure or replaced with another encounter if I am to run the adventure.)&nbsp;I would've liked advice for a DM to tone down the challenges of the adventure. For example, if you're playing with 2-3 players instead of the 4 recommended, remove 100 XP worth of monsters from each encounter. (I know the rules but new DMs may not.)&nbsp;A lot of the encounters include fights with soldiers and brutes of 4th level. This will lead to long, grindy combats. Particularly when the striker rogue can't deal sneak attack [EDIT: He can deal +2d6 once per round as usual; I didn't see this on the first read through.) and the striker fighter can - at best - deal only a bonus +2 damage per attack.&nbsp;(I thought we were told to stay away from high level brutes to avoid boring combats?)&nbsp;Retreater</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Retreater, post: 5304992, member: 42040"] A Discussion of the Adventure in the DM Book Wow. This is not too good. I'm not complaining about its simplicity, which I think is necessary for an intro product, but it's the sloppy construction and editing that get to me, as well as the violation of encounter guidelines. First, in what could be the first or second encounter a new DM ever runs, the Tactics paragraph mentions attack powers that aren't in the monster's stat block. That is confusing. There's a very complicated trap/puzzle room involving a chess puzzle. (Complicated for me because I know nothing about chess - and I would guess to your average new gamer as well.) It does a terrible job explaining things, even getting the names of the pieces wrong on several instances, referencing pieces that aren't there in the setup of the encounter, etc. To make matters worse, if there aren't any chess players in your group, they will beat their heads against the wall in frustration as their characters' hit points are widdled away. It is unwinnable without knowledge of chess. (This one will have to be excised from the adventure or replaced with another encounter if I am to run the adventure.) I would've liked advice for a DM to tone down the challenges of the adventure. For example, if you're playing with 2-3 players instead of the 4 recommended, remove 100 XP worth of monsters from each encounter. (I know the rules but new DMs may not.) A lot of the encounters include fights with soldiers and brutes of 4th level. This will lead to long, grindy combats. Particularly when the striker rogue can't deal sneak attack [EDIT: He can deal +2d6 once per round as usual; I didn't see this on the first read through.) and the striker fighter can - at best - deal only a bonus +2 damage per attack. (I thought we were told to stay away from high level brutes to avoid boring combats?) Retreater [/QUOTE]

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