D&D 4E Raiders of Oakhurst: A 4E Fan Playtest Adventure

[pukunui]

RE: Draconic. This was an intentional design choice when I saw we finally had monsters who did not speak Common. I quite enjoy having monsters converse in languages the players don't understand ... makes things more mysterious and causes the players to work to communicate. Though perhaps one or two of the critters should speak Common ...

Thanks for responding about that. I, too, liked the idea that the critters could speak in a language that the PCs couldn't understand, but what I thought was odd was that you went into such detail about what the graffiti said and had a translation of Meepo's hidden scroll and all that, despite the fact that none of the PCs could read any of it. I made it so Meepo could speak Common and the one surviving kobold who surrendered was able to speak enough Common to understand the PCs and tell them he surrendered and that they should go speak to his king.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Thanks for responding about that. I, too, liked the idea that the critters could speak in a language that the PCs couldn't understand, but what I thought was odd was that you went into such detail about what the graffiti said and had a translation of Meepo's hidden scroll and all that, despite the fact that none of the PCs could read any of it. I made it so Meepo could speak Common and the one surviving kobold who surrendered was able to speak enough Common to understand the PCs and tell them he surrendered and that they should go speak to his king.

Sometimes I like to add flavor even if the PCs don't get to it.

 

[Xorn]

We played concealment like the DDM rules, but I really like this suggestion better, as it is much easier to apply in play. And I assumed "all defenses" mean AC/Fort/Ref/Will.

I appreciated splicing in the DDM rules to fill the gaps, kind of like Jurassic Park, but I really wasn't happy with the concealment (and by inclusion of the mechanic, blindness/invisibility). I scowered for an official "I was at DDXP and concealment was +2 to all defenses" post, and I finally found them, two of them--here on EnWorld.Org. Good enough for my playtests, anyway. It just "feels" right, and if I can say anything about playing 4E, it just feels right to me. As far as defenses, the first handout mentions there are four defenses now: AC, Fort, Ref, and Will. So I take all defenses to mean all 4.

Xorne's Revised 4E Fan Rules Summary

This is just a collection of all the info I've seen posted on a little forum I keep for my friends, the only thing I've changed myself is the Concealment/Blindness/Invisibility, and the note on Blast (x).

RE: Draconic. This was an intentional design choice when I saw we finally had monsters who did not speak Common. I quite enjoy having monsters converse in languages the players don't understand ... makes things more mysterious and causes the players to work to communicate. Though perhaps one or two of the critters should speak Common ...

I didn't mind this at all, I actually kind of liked it. It led to some hilarity when I let them read only 2 or 3 words of the graffiti. Granted I totally changed Meepo from a coward into an opportunistic bastard. At least till he gets bloodied! I just wanted the secret door to be a reward, instead of setting them up to face Nightscale and Meepo together.

Reloaded update: I've started on the new maps for Raiders of Oakhurst Reloaded. Expect it to take some time, as I'm trying to expand not only the current portion of the adventure, but also add other adventuring areas, flesh out the thorp, and provide some background for some interesting roleplay opportunities. (The maps will suck, like the original -- I'm no artist -- but perhaps when I get them complete some kind soul *cough*Xorn*cough* will volunteer to make then nice.). My process is: conceive concepts, draw maps, flesh out areas, stat monsters, revise, revise, revise post to EN World.

If there are any special requests for Reloaded, please post them![/QUOTE]

As long as you scan in your maps dark enough for me to see the GRID this time. You have no idea how long I kept laying down and cropping a grid over that to figure out the dimensions. Better yet, where it says "5ft = 1 square", DRAW the square next to it.

Anyway, I'm just giving you a hard time, I'd be completely honored to make maps for the revised Raiders of Oakhurst. I'm actually getting better with DJ too (only been at it a month) so I'm looking forward to it!

As far as requests--don't have Meepo run to Nightscale, run 2 soldiers, 1 archer, 1 warcaster for the hobbos, and have Nightscale run at Bloodied. Those are the changes I made to it, anyway, after running it twice. I trust you on all of it though, was a very fun adventure!

 

[pukunui]

As far as requests--don't have Meepo run to Nightscale, run 2 soldiers, 1 archer, 1 warcaster for the hobbos, and have Nightscale run at Bloodied. Those are the changes I made to it, anyway, after running it twice. I trust you on all of it though, was a very fun adventure!

I'll second this (I did the same with the hobgoblins myself) and add my own request for some sort of secondary hook/clue/whatever to get the PCs to go look in the dragon's lair should they not find out about it from Meepo or his graffiti or anything. By the time my players had killed the last hobgoblin, they had concluded that the hobgoblin wizard had been the BBEG and that the adventure was over, despite my having drawn a bit of the stream/tunnel leading towards the dragon's lair. They had absolutely no idea that there was anything else to fight, so I ended up just saying, "It's not over yet. You haven't explored up the stream!" It ended up being kind of pointless though. They knew there was a dragon in there immediately (as I posted earlier, after I had read your description of the images on the walls, one player said, "OK, where's the dragon?") and once they'd seen a few of its abilities in action, they fled and that was that.

My players have an intense fear of dragons (especially black ones) thanks to the Red Hand of Doom, which we've been playing for the past year or so (Wow! Has it really been that long already?! And we've still got all of Part 5 to do, too!).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

As long as you scan in your maps dark enough for me to see the GRID this time. You have no idea how long I kept laying down and cropping a grid over that to figure out the dimensions. Better yet, where it says "5ft = 1 square", DRAW the square next to it.

I'm using engineering paper for my maps, which have the grid on the *back* side, so no wonder it was so hard! I'll put a square next to the scale!

As far as requests--don't have Meepo run to Nightscale, run 2 soldiers, 1 archer, 1 warcaster for the hobbos, and have Nightscale run at Bloodied. Those are the changes I made to it, anyway, after running it twice. I trust you on all of it though, was a very fun adventure!

Those sound like good ideas. I was already going to revise the hobgoblin encounter some, having found that it's better to have multiple soldiers together. With the additions I've planned, there will be 2-3 additional encounters in the kobold warrens, but there will be significantly more paths to follow before the players get to the complex itself ... allowing for either a bit more exploration and mystery, or for the DM to tailor the adventure by leaping right to the action. I think with the expansion the adventure will be long enough for two sessions.

Edit: teaser Alpha build of Reloaded below a couple of posts.

 

[pukunui]

Oh another thought -- throw in a cavern choker. I was going to add one myself last night but ran out of time. I was going to do it to showcase the new grabbing/grappling rules.

EDIT: Was just thinking this so I thought I'd add it in: the deathjump spider could really use some more room to maneuver. Meepo's room just isn't big enough for it to properly make use of its abilities.

Lastly, I have a question about Meepo. Did you get his stats from somewhere or did you make them up? The reason I ask is because having a recharge on his minor action hand crossbow attack just seems slightly weird ... what about reloading? Is it meant to be that sometimes he can somehow reload it really fast but the rest of the time he can't?

 

[Kzach]

Ran this the other night and just downloaded the prettified updated version and have a couple of questions.

First, what does "Stabilized" mean? Does that just mean they stay at their negative hit point total but don't have to make death saves or are they then at 0hp or what?

Second, there's some wonkiness in the updated version. NPC's have stat bonuses that don't correspond to their stats. Is this just a typo?

 

[Iron Sky]

Stabalized means they don't lose any more hp or make more saves to live.

Those aren't stat bonuses listed for the NPCs(10-11 = +0, 12-13 = +1 etc). They're ability check totals(stat bonus + 1/2 level). Meaning, they're what the creature rolls if it makes an untrained skill check related to that ability or a raw ability check(say Str vs Fort for a bull-rush).

Meepo's stats and abilities are the Defiant Rake's with a name change. That's WotC's creation, not Olgar's.

 

[pukunui]

Meepo's stats and abilities are the Defiant Rake's with a name change. That's WotC's creation, not Olgar's.

So it is. Yet another hard to visualize and describe in context monster ability. I have no issue with the 4e design philosophy at all. I just wish they'd stop coming up with all these abilities/powers that are difficult to envision within the game world reality. It makes my job as DM that much harder as I not only have to justify to my players that these things are possible but I also have to come up with some believable description for how they work in the game world.

 

[drjones]

If you have any other 'alpha' tidbits from the reloaded version I am running this adventure Sunday with my DDM buddies and I have not DMd since 2nd edition so I can use all the material I can get my hands on.

I ginned up an ambush on the way to the lair with some 'goblins' that mostly used the kobold stats but it looks like you have more interesting things in mind.