Scepter Tower of Spellguard, anyone?

[ZebraCakes]

For my first forray into DMing, I decided to use the Scepter Tower of Spellguard adventure to get things started. After starting, though, I've read a couple negative reviews complaining that the adventure (like many 4e pre-made adventures, I've noticed) has a heavy emphasis on dungeon crawling. While this is ok to a degree, I am worried about combat fatigue setting in. So far I've put it off by emphasizing roleplay, and I even threw in a skill challenge, but I was wondering if anybody had some other ideas for ways to break the grind that may ensue once they get into the meat of the quest.

Also, for anyone that has used this adventure already, how did it turn out?

 

[Bodhiwolff]

I've been running it as my gang's first real foray into 4E. The majority of my group is new to D&D, so I wanted them to feel confident that they were getting an official product, and not something that their friend whipped up (even though I've got coming up to 3 decades of experience DMing games).

So I gave 'em the "official" 4E Forgotten Realms module as their first real experience.

It is good as a starter, but it does heavily emphasize the combat aspects, and the 4E design element of "Battle - Battle - Rest - repeat" is a little monotonous.

Indeed one of the problems is that the tower itself is ... well .. a tower! Each level of the tower is an encounter, so after you clear one encounter/level you have nothing to do but to go up the stairs and hit the next encounter/level.

Now, there is lots of interesting fluff going on. There are nifty people wandering around outside the tower trying to search for artifacts. There are lots of interesting little things you can throw in.

Even the stylistic changes of the encounters themselves are interesting. The ruined walls/ramparts have a were-rat theme, which lead to the catacombs which have an undead theme, which lead to the basement areas with an ettercap/spider theme, to the tower itself with the main Dark Creeper/Realm of Shadow theme.

But it remains a good introductory module for newbies, at best. A good combat-heavy, don't-fret-the-plotline, let's-just-kill-stuff-and-get-loot style of adventure. Each area leads inexorably to the next, with no real branching points. You go through section A, which leads to section B, and so forth. And then you hit the tower, where you must by necessity travel in a straight (albeit vertical) line.

I've been doing my best to flesh out the other aspects, mostly so I can move to a more freeform adventure (or at least one with multiple paths) based on threads and characters started in this adventure, but I'll be happy when this is over after a few more sessions.

Mental Note -- towers are just too linear!

 

[kouk]

I would suggest throwing in more reasons for fights as the simplest way to adjust an adventure like that (don't own it and haven't read it however).

If the PCs are sent in there for reason X, maybe add more reasons, perhaps tangential. If there are people looking for artifacts, have some be interested in more peculiar aspects of things. Maybe one likes art objects from a certain time and place, one is interested in the relationships between the past tower occupants and a tribe of barbarians 100 years ago, one is looking for clues as to why/how something happened.

Along the way as they fight through the monstrous inhabitants, they can discover some aspects of what the NPCs want, or just flavor about the backstory of the tower.

Art is easy enough, though the players may need to find secret rooms to locate good material. Perhaps a library has info about the barbarians or event X, and the musings of the original inhabitant(s) of the tower.

You can make that sort of thing into hooks for subsequent adventures, which makes it seem like the tower had more point to it (by leading to other adventures and a bit more of a storyline impact). The NPC learns something important from a journal and figures the location to something else for instance.

I imagine there's a writeup for the DM about how the tower got to be what it is; so let there be some clues to the players to know that information. Even if there are already some in there, make more and more obvious ones if they are liable to miss what's already placed. Maybe ghouls are dressed in tattered finery from the original inhabitants, showing their station in life or just the styles of the time. Maybe a monster used to be a tiny pet that was left behind, and they find a cage built for it with a name placard.

Adding things is easy, just make sure you can keep track of it; perhaps with post-it notes in the adventure's pages.

 

[Bodhiwolff]

In response to the suggested fixes ...

While it is kind of you to suggest such things, and such standard advice is never a bad idea to re-visit, it should be pointed out that the module as it stands already has plenty of such motivation, additional fluff, extras, background, etc.

They did very well in providing a ton of little hooks, little additional bits to build off, potential side adventures outside the tower, interesting characters and NPC's each with their own story, etc. They also made sure to have an ongoing puzzle or two to motivate you to keep exploring the tower in order to figure out what is going on, more than simply hunting the bad guy.

That being said ... it is still really, really linear in design and structure. It feels that you're simply moving through the encounters, one after another, because you *have* to move through the encounters one after another -- especially once you hit the tower itself.

Oh, sure, you're motivated by the main storyline and a couple of little puzzles as well, and you're looking for specific answers and objects, etc., but that doesn't do overly much to mitigate the fact that, at a certain point, you're on a treadmill, and you know it.

Making you want to keep moving on the treadmill doesn't necessarily make it feel better, if you see what I'm saying.

Compared to the older, classic modules, it certainly doesn't hook you the way that the Giants/Drow/Lolth series did.

 

[Serphet]

I'll point you to some WoTC threads on the module

note: if you're part of the austin TX grp runnign this, don't read these.

Scepter Tower of Spellgard (questions)... - Wizards Community

the thread is pretty negitive till post #10 (mine)

afterwhich it's more positve (a rarity when talking about 4e FR on the gleemax boards)

DDI also released an article I wish i had before hand... but the WoTC site is down atm. the article is connecting the threads (or something like that), a steal this hook article.


and some people say the module breaks continuity.. but I really can't find anything wrong with a cursory glance (and I'm sure if it doesn't hit you in the face immediately, it doesn't bother you at all)

 

[ZebraCakes]

I'll point you to some WoTC threads on the module

note: if you're part of the austin TX grp runnign this, don't read these.

Scepter Tower of Spellgard (questions)... - Wizards Community

the thread is pretty negitive till post #10 (mine)

afterwhich it's more positve (a rarity when talking about 4e FR on the gleemax boards)

DDI also released an article I wish i had before hand... but the WoTC site is down atm. the article is connecting the threads (or something like that), a steal this hook article.


and some people say the module breaks continuity.. but I really can't find anything wrong with a cursory glance (and I'm sure if it doesn't hit you in the face immediately, it doesn't bother you at all)

Thanks for the link. I used Curuvar as a hook, too!(though my RP accidentally turned him into a bad, annoying version of the Joker. Not intentional, I swear!) The most fun I've had with the adventure, so far, has been fleshing out the monastery and Klewsoro's encampment. I think I've got some vague ideas for making the tower more compelling now. Thanks.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Spoilers for Spellgard, ahoy!

I decided to run Spellgard as a part of my ongoing Forgotten Realms campaign, but I too heavily modified it to fit my needs. I didn't want a super-long dungeon crawl, so I have actually tossed out a bunch of the module. Instead, I focused on the rival-camps setup from the early part of the module, and have taken to making the adventure into a sort of intrigue-based faction war. The major players, thus far, have been the people who hold the Scepter Tower, the Dragonborn camp (with their leader Vannak), the wererats, and then the heroes.

I've played the Dragonborn up as blustering, vicious brutes led by a typically-arrogant leader, and set up the rescue of the woman they captured as the heroes' first introduction to the camp. I have also been using the alabaster columns as the McGuffin for the adventure, and had the heroes "liberate" a column from kobolds as they tried to drag it back to the tower. In turn, the wererats broke into the Monastery and in turn stole the column from the wererats. There's been this three-way tension between the factions, which has now culminated in the heroes sowing discord among the dragonborn, causing most of the camp to desert their leader after his repeated failures.

I think the initial setup of Spellgard, with the different factions and the interesting NPCs in the Monastery, can be a great focus for an intrigue-based adventure. When that winds down (and heck, I'd consider just letting the intrigue evolve naturally), you have everything you need to let the heroes enter the tower.