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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Trolls" data-source="post: 4127489" data-attributes="member: 60798">I ran the adventure today, now to share my experiences!General Points:-Tactical thinking was great, the players really took to the challenge and thought about where to move, who to attack etc.-Stuck with 3e. There were some things my players couldn't unlearn. The difference between shifting and moving being the main one. They had it by the end (the dragon encounter), but with the hobgoblins and kobolds I was constantly hearing "ok, so I move 5ft here...that's a 5ft step right, so no AoO?"-The marks weren't as troublesome as I thought they would be. The players remembered their marks, and though I forgot from time to time, it only made the players have more fun as they declared "Ah ha! That's 8 damage!"The kobold warrens encounter went pretty slowly as we tried to figure out what to do and how to play the characters, but after a few rounds, when all the reinforcements had arrived, it felt like a real battle...exactly how it should be. We had the fighter and the paladin defining two front lines, one to the right and one to the left, while the ranger jumped around the field and the warlock and wizard stood back and blasted things. It actually worked out much better during the hobgoblin encounter, though, since I got to use a few of the battlefield tactics myself. The soldier pinned down the fighter and the paladin with the two archers directly behind him. Together, they kept the defenders busy while picking off the strikers as they made their way around to get to Varkaze.The encounter was difficult, most characters had used their second winds by the end, but it turned around when they realised they should start using their dailies. The wizard put Varkaze and an archer to sleep, while the ranger rolled a critical with Split the Tree to take out them both out when they finally woke up. All in all, a fun, interesting encounter. Just the right amount of danger.Now...the dragon. The defenders immediately set up a front line on the water's edge, and after the breath weapon the strikers spread out around to sides of the pool. The wizard tried to follow, and learnt very quickly that frail controllers shouldn't wander past a solo monster. He died from an overkill (never got to use the dying mechanic!), but only after he managed to put the dragon to sleep. By this point, all the healing was spent, and Nightscale wasn't even bloodied.  But with a sleeping dragon, the characters regrouped and went to town with their dailies. A critical hit on On Pain of Death and Curse of the Dark Dream, along with a decent roll from Brute Strike put Nightscale in danger, and after nearly killing the fighter and paladin, she finally succumbed.The main thing I noticed from this encounter was that the first half was pretty boring, while the second half was much more fun. To begin with, the dragon's annoyingly high defences meant that it was the only real player. While they tried to set up some manoeuvres, none of them worked, and they were getting frustrated. Once the Sleep spell got through and they had a streak of luck that all changed, though. I guess it's just a case of losing being less fun that winning.Some negative remarks, to balance things out:-Still not sure about the saving throw mechanic. I want to use it more and with other monsters first, and see what it's like at higher levels, though, before I consider any house ruling.-The dragon was too hard to hit. Even the ranger had trouble hitting with Careful Attack. I think maybe a 3rd level solo would be a more fun challenge for 1st level characters.-Missing a daily isn't fun, even if it does half damage. Once characters get more than one daily, though, I expect this won't matter as much.Overall, though, very fun game. Much more than a 3e game would have been, especially at 1st level.If anyone is interested in seeing how the adventure plays turn-by-turn, I'm running the adventure play-by-post here:<a href="http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1007196" target="_blank">Raiders of Oakhurst PbP</a></blockquote>

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