Scales of War #4 is up!

[MerricB]

The Lost Mines of Karak

The city of Overlook stands at the base of the Stonehome Mountains at the farthest western reaches of Elsir Vale. This age-old redoubt was the center of the ancient dwarf kingdom that once dominated the vale but which faded into obscurity generations ago.

Though little is remembered of this lost kingdom, its folk ventured far and wide in their day. One dwarf clan -- the Ironfell -- made forays in search of mineral wealth in the deserts beyond the Thornwaste to the southwest of Elsir Vale. There, they established a mine they called the Karak Lode, after the first dwarf of Clan Ironfell to fall in its defense.

Over long years, Karak became a legendary source of wealth as its folk pulled rich deposits of gold, silver, and other precious metals from beneath the desert sands. A supply depot was established at the desert's edge to service the caravans traveling between the mine and Elsir Vale, but the location of the Karak Lode was kept a closely guarded secret. Only oath-sworn members of Clan Ironfell ever made the final leg of the journey across the sands.

 

[Gundark]

Is it still just one dungeon crawl after another? I really don't need AoW 2.0

 

[MerricB]

Is it still just one dungeon crawl after another? I really don't need AoW 2.0

Wilderness travel (via skill challenge), followed by semi-urban encounter, followed by 9 area dungeon crawl.

I think the designers (for this one, the glorious Greg A. Vaughan is involved) have their brains switch off when they use the tactical format. There's a big potential roleplaying encounter with the "Queen of the Drylands" (in addition to a potential combat), but there are no notes for aiding roleplaying at all, despite there being space available.

It's a great pity. A skilled DM is going to have a lot of fun with this adventure; I feel it's got some great material in it, but the integration of roleplaying and action is something that Wizards should be working on!

Cheers!

 

[Admiral Caine]

Wilderness travel (via skill challenge), followed by semi-urban encounter, followed by 9 area dungeon crawl.

I think the designers (for this one, the glorious Greg A. Vaughan is involved) have their brains switch off when they use the tactical format. There's a big potential roleplaying encounter with the "Queen of the Drylands" (in addition to a potential combat), but there are no notes for aiding roleplaying at all, despite there being space available.

It's a great pity. A skilled DM is going to have a lot of fun with this adventure; I feel it's got some great material in it, but the integration of roleplaying and action is something that Wizards should be working on!

Cheers!

Agreed. There's a lot of potential here, but pretty lean on the role-playing. Are they that worried about page count in a digital magazine?

Or is all the role-playing based material coming in the free Scales of War support article coming next Wednesday?

For that matter, I hope such free article is not only free, but also rolled up in the magazine end of the month compilation. I'd like to see all the articles centralized in one of the two magazines and not floating out somewhere separately.

 

[Eccles]

Try as I might, I can't download it... "The file is damaged and cannot be repaired".

Not the 1st time I've seen that message, and it's been D&DI everytime...

 

[MerricB]

Try as I might, I can't download it... "The file is damaged and cannot be repaired".

Not the 1st time I've seen that message, and it's been D&DI everytime...

What browser are you using? Do you have a firewall you have to deal with?

With some browsers, I have to left-click on the file rather than "save as..."

It is an issue they're working on (see the latest Digital Insider posted today).

Cheers!

 

[Eccles]

IE something or another. I've managed to download everything they've released thus far, so it's nothing personal between them and Microsoft.

It's happened before and I've managed to get it 2nd or 3rd go. I imagine I'll try again later. Still a bit frustrating though.

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

For the first time, I am having a problem getting this file. I too am getting the file is damaged message. I have logged off etc. but no luck so far.

 

[Ethalias]

For the first time, I am having a problem getting this file. I too am getting the file is damaged message. I have logged off etc. but no luck so far.

Count me in the same boat. I'm using firefox and have tried every permutation of clicks, and still no luck :S
*grumble*payingforitnow*grumble*

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

Count me in the same boat. I'm using firefox and have tried every permutation of clicks, and still no luck :S
*grumble*payingforitnow*grumble*

I am using IE at work. At home I have Firefox.

FAIL!!!!

I and tried again with the same file damaged message. I then clicked on the page and hit "F5" it them came up with an new error message about acr15.tmp being unrecognised. I then hit "F5" again and it opened the IE acro screen and started downloading - it finished and showed no image then came up with an "Error processing page" message saying "Problem reading this document (109)".

So still no luck.