Tearing of the Weave + Scouring of Shadowdale

[Trellian]

I'm starting Red Hand of Doom in a month's time or so, but I like to plan ahead, and am trying to figure out which campaign to play next.

It really is a choice between one of the Pathfinder adventure paths (whichever is the current one when I'm done playing RHoD) and the new mega-adventure trilogy set in the Realms.

I (and most of my players) have played in the Realms all their lives, but I'm really looking for something fresh. Besides, I really love most of the authors on board for Pathfinder (Logue, Pett, Schneider, etc).

But... it's not in the realms... and I don't really want to go to the hassle of converting them. You lose flavor from both worlds when you do, IMO.

Bottom line, I've heard a lot of negative things about the new FR-adventures. Not only of the adventure itself, with a lot of dull and unimaginative dungeon crawls with poor plots, but of the new format which is incredibly confusing.

So, any thoughts? Which would you have played? Are the format confusing? Is the plot and the modules any good?

 

[DM_Jeff]

Bottom line, I've heard a lot of negative things about the new FR-adventures. Not only of the adventure itself, with a lot of dull and unimaginative dungeon crawls with poor plots, but of the new format which is incredibly confusing. So, any thoughts? Which would you have played? Are the format confusing? Is the plot and the modules any good?

Wow, I've heard differently, and agree: Cormyr (Tearing of the Weave) was quite good. Sure there were lots of combats but plenty of roleplaying opportunities too. The layout is anything BUT confusing, in fact I find it the opposite.

The plot is solid, the NPCs are well portrayed and the level of detail is very good for old Realmsfolk (in one room I recall they even name the name of the artist on a painting the PCs discover).

I just finished Shadowdale and found that while it was quite a bit more combat heavy than Cormyr, there were still loads of roleplaying opportunities that were assumed but not necessarily written in (half the module is actually all about playing your role and diplomacy with the locals, so it's sure there).

The encounters were well stocked with all manner of WotC creatures from all the MM's and throughout the FR books available to date, and made heavy use of back material to support the plot.

So, I recommend them as a great follow-up to RHoD. I hope that helped somewhat.

-DM Jeff

 

[johnnype]

I've only read Cormyr (Shadowdale should arrive any day now) so keep that in mind but I have to agree with DM Jeff, the adventure rocks! Much, if not all, of the negativity surrounding the new Forgotten Realms adventures has to do with the fact that a lot of FR fanatics are upset there has not been any setting material printed in a months. In addition these same people were hoping to get something, anything detailing Cormyr in this latest set of adventures. Well they were sorely disappointed to find out otherwise. The trilogy of adventures is just that: adventures. No setting material is included. Keep that in mind when picking them up. Yes they do take place in the Realms and there are repeated references to Realms specific people, places and events but nothing really new and nothing about Cormyr as a region at all. If you know what you are getting into, the adventures work as advertised and should serve you well. If you like the shades then it should be that much more enjoyable.

I do understand those who are upset with the way FR supplements have changed over the last two years but I don't begrudge WotC for it.

As far as Pathfinder is concerned I agree that it's a good option as well although I definitely see your point about diluting the setting. The previews thus far have failed to make Paizo's new setting all that appealing to me. I understand that they have to keep things as vanilla as possible to appeal to the widest audience possible but in doing so I'm getting a feeling of "sameness" from everything I'm reading. I am a charter subscriber and plan to at least stick with the books through the first 6 volumes but will reevaluate after that. The guys at Paizo are very good at putting together their adventures (Age of Worms being my favorite AP thus far) so I expect similar treatment going forward.

 

[Greg V]

Hmmmm. Anauroch or Pathfinder. Having written some or all of the conclusion to each, I too am torn. My best suggestion would be to go with both.

That having been said, I really liked Cormyr, but like many FR fans was wanting a little more not sure of what to expect. However, I really liked Shadowdale even more (though it calls Lashan Aumersair the former lord of Shadowdale rather than Scardale..but hey, the fact that it mentions Lashan at all means they were really diggin' into Realmslore!), and as a resault re-evaluated my initial concerns with Cormyr. Having worked on Anouroch with Thomas Reid and Skip Williams, I can say that it is going to be a blast as well. Lots of good Realms stuff in there with a richness and depth worthy of Eric L. Boyd.

As a quick, explanation by the way, each of the adventures has a short "regional" appendix. The one in Cormyr examines Wheloon in some detail and southeastern Cormyr to a lesser extent. Shadowdale, of course, focuses on Shadowdale. And Anauroch will bring you an appendix on Anauroch, but the vast bulk of these books is definitely adventure. Anauroch will pick up where Shadowdale left off taking the ever-growing quest from Cormanthor to Anauroch to quests across the Realms to demiplanes and back to Anauroch for the grand finale. It's a great ride, and I highly recommend it.

However, be sure and take a look at the Pathfinder series. The vanillaness of comparing it with FR is certainly true (but then FR has 20 years of a developmental headstart on Golarion). Look for greater depth and development to occur as time progresses. It may never have the specificity of a FR, but I think you'll see at least a GH level of development with talks of a gazetteer being rumored. The conclusion of it, Spires of Xin-Shalast, is also of epic proportions building on what has been done in the other lead-up adventures, each of which is very different from the last. You'll also get to participate in one of the things that made FR so special when it first came out and had a detailed map in the Shadowdale region that got markedly less detailed as it got farther away. You get to participate in the developmental stage of world building. So when you run into the Pathfinder equivalent of Lashan Aumersair 20 years from now you can say, "I went through an adventure involving him way back in the gray boxed set (or the Pathfinder equivalent)" and have that sense of connectedness that longtime FR fans enjoy and can easily take for granted now.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the FR adventures or Pathfinder, but I hope you'll try them both.

 

[Imruphel]

I was pretty happy with Tearing of the Weave but I think Scouring of Shadowdale has the potential to be an absolute classic, one that I simply cannot wait to run. I'm currently running a homebrewed FR campaign but am trying to work out how to run these two adventures concurrently (and am currently trying to work out a suitable intro adventure to advance the PCs from 1st to 4th level).

I would concur with the opinion expressed above that a lot of the "negative press" is due to FR fanboys (of which I am one!) wanting regional supplements instead of adventures. Also, Expedition to Undermountain was crap and that negative halo effect may have also extended to taint your impressions of these two adventures: really, there is no comparison.

 

[Trellian]

Thanks for the replies, even though it didn't help at all

Now I'm even more confused. Why couldn't you crap all over it??

Nah, just kidding. I'm glad the Realms-adventures don't suck. I am really not sure what to do now, but I think I will do as Greg V says - get them both. I will probably play the Realms-series and only read Pathfinder. That's what I've been doing with all the other AP's so far anyway.

 

[Greg V]

Woohoo! My first sale!

Where's Erik? I need to renegotiate.

 

[Bacris]

I just started running the Cormyr adventure two weeks ago, and it's a bi-weekly game, so not too far into it. The only problem I ran into is that my group, of course, wanted to do all sorts of recon before going to the Temple that starts the adventure. And they wanted to do all the recon in the town - which doesn't have a lot of information detailed.

Once they finished that (go-go off-the-fly adventures...) and moved into the Temple, it was really well handled