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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Peni Griffin" data-source="post: 3377899" data-attributes="member: 50322">Maybe.  I have to be overprepared in order to have the serenity to deal with whatever the players pull out of thin air on game day, and the modules were supposed to address that; but module NPCs tend to be so static and the writers of modules are all prepared for people with alien play styles from my group.  I got RHOD to begin with because the backstory I came up with for the second module I ran, Forge of Fury, involved a dwarf city being overrun by humannoids.  The escaping dwarfs overwhelmed the resources of neighboring Blasingdell, and the PCs were sent to abandoned Khundrukar to clear it for emergency habitation.  Naturally, once they'd done that, they wanted to take part in the big counteroffensive to retake the dwarfen city, and we were hoping I could cannibalize the module for that purpose.  It turned out I couldn't, but having got the module it seemed a pity not to use it. I've been fiddling with this thing for months.  It's not to blame for stuff like my trying to use it in 3.0 or needing to change the backstory and BBEG to fit, but I keep finding basic problems that should apply in any situation, and nobody else seems to notice these at all.  All I ever see are rave reviews.  As you're reading through it, consider these factors:A river is superior to a highway.  Boat travel is cheaper and faster than wagon and pack animal travel.  Yet the Elsir is treated as a barrier, except that the PCs are offered the option of taking a boat to Rhest.  This is partly a mechanical flaw in D&D.  I ignore the rates of travel for boats in the PHB because they reflect no reality with which I am familiar, and give rivers downstream speeds; upstream travel occurs at a fraction of this - the faster downstream, the slower upstream.  Thus, the Vale has two trade routes - the Elsir and the Dawn Way - both of which the Horde must cut off in order to be effective.  I put a portage downstream from Drellin's Ferry at the place where two trails are shown crossing, and had a team of Hordelings take the trading post there on the day after the PCs came through.  Large scale Good Guy overland movement will always be superior to Horde movement (but see below), because the Good Guys are experienced river rats and the Horde has no boatmen.The Horde has numerous flyers at its disposal, yet the module does not discuss their use as couriers, scouts, or transport.  I had one of my game mechanics help me figure it up, and a wyvern can carrry 993 pounds before losing maneuverability!  Put a mindbender on one, and you've got yourself a nazgul with freight capacity, even if you give him a goblin chauffeur!  Yes, they're poor flyers, but the Elsirans have nothing to compare, just a few giant owls if they make the alliance with the swamp elves.  My PCs are actively trying to recruit good and neutral-aligned fliers  of their own - giant eagles, pegasi, anything like that.  (What they really want is an androsphinx.)  And why shouldn't they find some?  They've got plenty of mountains to look for them in.  It's true that mine only have a moment of liesure to do that because I eliminated CH. 2 - but why don't the Elsirans themselves think of it?  Because the Horde, as written, doesn't make proper use of its air superiority and the pressure isn't on them to do so, that's why.The southern and eastern parts of the map are neglected except for the single instance of hiring dwarfen mercenaries to assist in the defense of Brindol.  Dwarfs aren't going to be thrilled about having hobgoblins move in next door, regardless of their relationship to their existing neighbors.  This is not touched on.Encounters with military units don't take into account factors like guard shifts and chain of command.  The Mercenary Gold encounter, for instance, consists of two ettins and five goblin warriors.  Five goblins cannot control two ettins for ten minutes, much less 24 hours a day in enemy territory, and ettins are neither smart enough to be given positions of authority nor lawful enough to be trusted to obey just anyone who happens to outrank them.  At SKull Gorge Bridge, the dragon Ozyrrandion is the main line of defense, and a good one, too - but I don't remember anything in the MM about dragons not needing to sleep.  And shouldn't he be able to communicate with Koth and Kharn quickly?  He has no backup in the module to take his position while he sleeps, eats, or hunts, no other fliers as couriers, and no stated official rank in the army.Vraath Keep has supposedly been abandoned for 200 years in an area similar to Louisiana.  It should be an undistinguishable mound of kudzu.  Oh, and there's no well in evidence!  The vault is well hidden, but not well-hidden enough to withstand 200 years of curious bypassers, especially one so close to a major highway.  The Dawn Way, on the other hand, has deteriorated much too rapidly given the short time the hobgoblins have been harrassing it.  And so on.  I shortened the time line to 15 years, spruced up the road, and created a political hassle - the Vraaths used to collect toll and maintain the road, and since its fall this has devolved upon Drellin's Ferry, but the hobgoblins chased out the tolltakers and annual maintenance hasn't been done.And now I've got a spy with no Gather Information check, sheesh...No module is perfect, but it seems like every time I turn around I find something I overlooked on the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth read-throughs that makes no sense, and just when I think I've got it all covered it hits me with something else or the players ask an obvious question that I have to invent an answer for on the fly.  I suppose it's the length of the module plus the way everyone raves about it plus the strictly personal tweaks that are piling up to make me crazy and it's not really as bad as I feel like it is.  I'd better go do housework so I can spend the afternoon figuring out how Kharn is reacting to events in the game so far.</blockquote>

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