D&D 4E Snippits of 4e info from Dungeoncraft Article

[Fallen Seraph]

Well, I bet lots of people didn't look at it thanks to multiclass Excerpt so figure put down some quotes from it that may give little bits of info for 4e:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dudc/20080430a&authentic=true

-The foulspawn in the Monster Manual range from level 8 to level 12

-Aboleths occupy the high paragon levels these days

-I'll probably put this in the mid-paragon tier. Heck -- as written, it's 123 rooms; it could theoretically fill the paragon tier, at about 10 encounters per level.

-The Circle of the True takes the side of nature against the aberrant forces that corrupt and destroy it. Many of its members are druids, rangers, and others with strong ties to the forces of nature. When Player's Handbook 2 comes out, I might expand that to include fey as well as other classes that use the primal power source. (Possible non-Eladrin Fey race in PHB2)

-Looking at the epic-level monsters in the Monster Manual, aberrant monsters such as swordwings and gibbering orbs could join the aboleths as opponents on this trek. (Swordwings and gibbering orbs are Epic (more then one kind of aboleth that is Epic as well))

-Epic Climax: Fight the fiery aberrant creature that escaped from the chasm and burned the forest. (There is some kind of fire-based aberrant creature in the epic levels)

 

[AtomicPope]

Nice. I like how easy it seems to convert old modules to 4e. I've had a heck of a time converting old modules to 3e (going all the way back to Red Box).

Being able to quickly add up exp to calculate level gain is sweet. Ten encounters per level. That's about the same as 3e, almost. It seemed like no problem to calc a campaign from 1st to 30th. That's sweet!

 

[hong]

I can't help but feel that James Wyatt is thinking small. 30th level, and you're still fighting the same big bad that was terrorising your village at 1st level.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I can't help but feel that James Wyatt is thinking small. 30th level, and you're still fighting the same big bad that was terrorising your village at 1st level.

Small?

I think being able to run a plot arc from 1st to 30th, keeping the PCs interested and challenged the entire time, and have one of the major villains be someone who's been along for the entire ride, is one of the Holy Grails of DMing.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I can't help but feel that James Wyatt is thinking small. 30th level, and you're still fighting the same big bad that was terrorising your village at 1st level.

He could be showing you don't have to be going off into the Abyss or taking on gods in the Astral Sea to have level 30 adventures.

 

[hong]

Small?

I think being able to run a plot arc from 1st to 30th, keeping the PCs interested and challenged the entire time, and have one of the major villains be someone who's been along for the entire ride, is one of the Holy Grails of DMing.

The point is, said villain does not appear to be linked to any broader environment beyond this village and its surrounds. There's a mention of a city, Silverymoon, and that's about it as far as expanding the boundaries of the campaign goes.

 

[hong]

He could be showing you don't have to be going off into the Abyss or taking on gods in the Astral Sea to have level 30 adventures.

Which is kinda silly, if you ask me. Seems like a great opportunity to plug this wonderful new cosmology that they've put time and money into developing. You don't have to go into great detail on how god X hates archdevil Y or whatever, but just pointing out the opportunities for expanding the scope of the campaign should be a no-brainer.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I can't help but feel that James Wyatt is thinking small. 30th level, and you're still fighting the same big bad that was terrorising your village at 1st level.

It reminds me a little bit of the Banewarrens adventure from Monte Cook. You'll always going back to the same dungeon, but also have a lot of excursions outside it.

If done right, well, this can still be a lot of fun. But it could become a little stale, too. I hope we'll see how the actual campaign will progress, too.

 

[kennew142]

I'm not much for adventures spanning the planes myself. I prefer an epic campaign to finish in the campaign world, with ties to earlier scenarios. For me, the worst part of the adventure paths was the way in which they assumed that all stories must reach climax in some other plane. [Okay, I haven't finished Age of Worms yet, so don't spoil it for me.]

Tastes may vary, but facing down demon-lords in their own plane isn't really my cup of tea. It may be okay occasionally, but I haven't enjoyed any story that's ended that way so far.

This could be one reason I prefer to end campaigns in the heroic level. I'm going to try and see if 4e will handle high level play in my preferred style. If not, I will continue to end in campaigns a few levels into the paragon tier.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

-The foulspawn in the Monster Manual range from level 8 to level 12

Weren't Foulspawn the collective name for some Far Realm monsters that included Dolgrim and Dolgaunts which originally came from the Eberron Campaign setting?