Wik
First Post
Alright. I'm about halfway through "no honour", and I'm loving "the Tide" so far. However, the second part in the series, while a great adventure, seems to have a few holes that weren't really present in the first one. Most are pretty funny and easy to fix, but I felt it necessary to point them out and gripe (after all, isn't that what internet forum boards are for!?)
As usual, if you're playing in Savage Tide, I highly recommend you stop reading, um, two or three clicks of your mouse ago.
1. First off, the Appendix says that Savage Creatures dissolve into acid upon their deaths. However, throughout the adventure, there is mention of "savage bodies". For example, area K1 says "crossbow bolts riddle the few savage pirates slain, and the mingling of deformed corpses and those nearly completely devoured is demonstrative of the infighting that took place". This is a minor point, of course, but this should come as a note for all GMs - don't describe savage corpses lying around in Kraken Cove! If you do so, you're sure to have a PC say "hey, I thought they melted into acid...?"
2. You know, there aren't many traps in the Tide so far. In fact, there are only a few locked doors in No Honour, and it seems like there aren't even any of those in Gambit! I can understand not throwing traps at a first level party; I'm cool with that. But there are two adventures, now, and there's nothing. I'm beginning to think maybe I erred when I said to the group "you're going to want a warrior type, a trap-disabler, an arcane type, and a divine type". The poor rogue in the group doesn't really have much chance to shine... hopefully this is fixed in Sea Wyvern's Wake and later adventures (please!)
3. I really don't like the idea of putting Kaskus Kiel in a hidden room (and, once again, there is no DC to find the secret door! Am I missing something, here?). I can easily see the group rescuing Lavinia and then being told "wait, we have to find the others!" and having the group look all over the place (three times) searching for the dwarf. It's like in those video games, where you miss something, but you can't proceed until you find it. You wind up going back and following one wall until you get to where you're supposed to be... and it took hours to get there. I plan on throwing a few bloody handprints on the wall or something, to give a cue to my players.
4. I'm not sure about the Stiltwalkers scene.... it might come off as dumb, it might come off as genius. I do know that Diamondback will be killed in one round. She will perish quicker than Soller Vark did (and Vark was killed with the first attack roll of the campaign; a critical hit that wound up inflicting something like 46 damage.... thanks to the Goliath Fighter and Power Attack). I *do* like the exploding cart scene.
5. Minor point: Liamee is described in the sidebar on page 36 as being Chaotic Neutral, while her statblock on page 41 says she is Lawful Neutral. Heads up to all you GMs out there; it sounds like she's Chaotic Neutral, not Lawful Neutral, so play her as such (or not, it's no big deal). As for how she knows all those languages.... I have no clue (skill points were not spent on languages, it seems, so where did they come from?).
Anyways, those are my minor quibbles. Any others? Disagreements? Alternate Solutions?
(P.S. - I'm really loving the AP so far, so don't take these as me being "down" on the campaign.... it's awesome. These are just my minor concerns. Also, you have *no* idea how much I'm looking forward to Tamoachan in the next episode!)
As usual, if you're playing in Savage Tide, I highly recommend you stop reading, um, two or three clicks of your mouse ago.
1. First off, the Appendix says that Savage Creatures dissolve into acid upon their deaths. However, throughout the adventure, there is mention of "savage bodies". For example, area K1 says "crossbow bolts riddle the few savage pirates slain, and the mingling of deformed corpses and those nearly completely devoured is demonstrative of the infighting that took place". This is a minor point, of course, but this should come as a note for all GMs - don't describe savage corpses lying around in Kraken Cove! If you do so, you're sure to have a PC say "hey, I thought they melted into acid...?"
2. You know, there aren't many traps in the Tide so far. In fact, there are only a few locked doors in No Honour, and it seems like there aren't even any of those in Gambit! I can understand not throwing traps at a first level party; I'm cool with that. But there are two adventures, now, and there's nothing. I'm beginning to think maybe I erred when I said to the group "you're going to want a warrior type, a trap-disabler, an arcane type, and a divine type". The poor rogue in the group doesn't really have much chance to shine... hopefully this is fixed in Sea Wyvern's Wake and later adventures (please!)
3. I really don't like the idea of putting Kaskus Kiel in a hidden room (and, once again, there is no DC to find the secret door! Am I missing something, here?). I can easily see the group rescuing Lavinia and then being told "wait, we have to find the others!" and having the group look all over the place (three times) searching for the dwarf. It's like in those video games, where you miss something, but you can't proceed until you find it. You wind up going back and following one wall until you get to where you're supposed to be... and it took hours to get there. I plan on throwing a few bloody handprints on the wall or something, to give a cue to my players.
4. I'm not sure about the Stiltwalkers scene.... it might come off as dumb, it might come off as genius. I do know that Diamondback will be killed in one round. She will perish quicker than Soller Vark did (and Vark was killed with the first attack roll of the campaign; a critical hit that wound up inflicting something like 46 damage.... thanks to the Goliath Fighter and Power Attack). I *do* like the exploding cart scene.
5. Minor point: Liamee is described in the sidebar on page 36 as being Chaotic Neutral, while her statblock on page 41 says she is Lawful Neutral. Heads up to all you GMs out there; it sounds like she's Chaotic Neutral, not Lawful Neutral, so play her as such (or not, it's no big deal). As for how she knows all those languages.... I have no clue (skill points were not spent on languages, it seems, so where did they come from?).
Anyways, those are my minor quibbles. Any others? Disagreements? Alternate Solutions?
(P.S. - I'm really loving the AP so far, so don't take these as me being "down" on the campaign.... it's awesome. These are just my minor concerns. Also, you have *no* idea how much I'm looking forward to Tamoachan in the next episode!)
