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

[Fallen Seraph]

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

*Shrugs shoulders* I dunno. Just quoting what I saw from the article, perhaps each of those will fall within the Foulspawn variants.

 

[SpydersWebbing]

Going to other planes is fine and all, but if Tolkien got nothing else right, he got this: you leave to save home.

I plan on having my characters come back to their home town to save it as their last mission. Sure, they'll have been plane-hopping for a little while, but there's a certain satisfaction to saving your home that I don't think I'm gonna let them miss out on.

 

[Rechan]

Plane hopping feels a little impersonal to me. It's like adventuring in another country - there's a huge disconnect between there and your roots, and the significance.

But then, I've never been into "save the world" adventures.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

-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)

Thought about this a little and realized something. We know there will be races in PHB2 that start with; G, G, H, D, S

Well... What if then, S stands for Sidhe?

 

[Jhaelen]

Well... What if then, S stands for Sidhe?

Then I'd wonder what Eladrin are supposed to be? If the S-race is supposed to be fey, I'd hope it's Satyr instead.

 

[WhatGravitas]

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.

Well, that's the point - he plans it, but if he can pull it off, it's more due to his DMing skills to keep the PCs interested.

Looking at his campaign outline, it looks like it's very narrowly focused, at least geographically. While it's certainly possible to confine yourself to such a small area, it can keep it a bit "stale". Sure, if your players are happy with being centred on this, sure - but this may not appeal to all players - for example, my players enjoy the "sightseeing" of Eberron - visiting the jungles of Xen'drik, passing through the Mournland, occasional intrigue in Sharn - stuff like this can generate a sense of adventure (depending on how you present it) and gives you an interesting range of backdrops for battles.

Keeping yourself restrained to rural sceneries can make it boring - and make it harder for DMs without good DMing skills (it's a bit like special effects in movies - depending on your players, pretty handouts with pictures of the new region can help them to ignore plot kinks and other faults).

Not saying that James cannot pull this off, but things like that are certainly dependent on your players. And as this is an article to help DMs, it may be worth pointing this out.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Then I'd wonder what Eladrin are supposed to be? If the S-race is supposed to be fey, I'd hope it's Satyr instead.

Well, I imagine the Sidhe would explore different aspects of being Fey. The Eladrin being very much city-based, high-lore type of Fey would be different from a race of Fey that are entwined with nature and the land, or other things. Many different ways to take Feyfolk.

Or could be Satyr as well

 

[Vaeron]

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.

Sounds a little generic to me... I'm glad he presented a scenario where something the PCs saw at level 1 makes a big impact at level 30.

 

[Shroomy]

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

Well, Dolgrim and Dolgaunts aren't technically from the Far Realms and I don't remember them being referred to as foulspawn, but I get what you are saying. I did a little research and it appears that foulspawn are new to 4e, though they appear to be abberations of some type.

 

[ve4grm]

Thought about this a little and realized something. We know there will be races in PHB2 that start with; G, G, H, D, S

Well... What if then, S stands for Sidhe?

Or, y'know, Gnomes, which are G, likely to be in the PHB2, and fey in 4e.