Ruins of the Dragonlord - Thoughts?

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Hello,

Ruins of the Dragonlord has theoretically made it to stores, although I haven't seen it at any of my local game stores. Has anyone picked it up? If so, what are your (inital) impressions? It's a big book, so feel free to just let us know what you think so far.

Shawn

 

[caudor]

I've been looking for info on this as well. Isn't it a boxed set though?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've been looking for info on this as well. Isn't it a boxed set though?

Yeah, I think so. Frankly, I'd prefer it as a big book, but it looks like I'm outnumbered on that preference.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Saw it at Gen Con, but since I haven't run the Shackled City yet, figure I'll wait on some reviews myself.

 

[DaveMage]

Mine's on order from Amazon, so I should see it by December...

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Saw it at Gen Con, but since I haven't run the Shackled City yet, figure I'll wait on some reviews myself.

Doh! You were our best hope.

I'll either be running Age of Worms or Shackled City this fall, so it will be a while before I have need for more adventures too. Still, given the rise of premium adventures like these, it's nice to keep an eye on what's available.

Shawn

 

[JoeGKushner]

Doh! You were our best hope.

I'll either be running Age of Worms or Shackled City this fall, so it will be a while before I have need for more adventures too. Still, given the rise of premium adventures like these, it's nice to keep an eye on what's available.

Shawn

John Cooper is your best hope. They tend to give him the review products due to his uncanny eye with stat blocks.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I have this

I picked it up last evening, along with Iron Heroes, at my FLGS

So far, I've been reading Iron Heroes ;-)

A caveat: I haven't read a word of it yet. I've only looked at the maps/art.

Initial Impressions: Not so great. The 1 page maps look amateurish, and only take up a page because very large squares are used for 10' squares.

The poster map is a joke - I take it it's meant to be a players map, but there's so little detail on it that it too, could have been printed A4 size.

One cool feature is another, 2 sided poster map, with 1" = 5' squares for hexes (IE, you can use miniatures on it). One side depicts an outdoor/ruin area that is pretty cool the other depicts a map of a maze-like temple. I'm not thrilled with the temple map, for some reason.

The booklets (there are 3) are fairly sizeable, and one has another full cover map on the inside cover.

I suppose all this isn't a bad deal for 45 bucks, but I'm glad it didn't cost any more. I would have gladly paid more if substantially more effort had been invested in the art and cartography.

Ken

 

[JoeGKushner]

Bad maps eh? Weren't there similiar complaints about the map quality in their other campaign series, the Drow War?

 

[2WS-Steve]

Yeah, the maps in Drow War leave something to be desired as well. However, it's more of an overland campaign so maps aren't so much an issue. And in the spots where players pop into something like a dungeon the maps are serviceable.

Hopefully Mongoose will improve the maps in future books. I can put up with serviceable art since I'm getting so much other value out of the Drow War, but maps are key features of scenarios.