-----As one of the authors-it was my pleasure AND my responsibility.
My group enjoyed the adventure (particularly since we had just returned from a 5 hour dungeon crawl in the last adventure). In the round that we played (the one where we were travelling to the halfling city), I particularly liked the fact that you gave the party the CHOICE of which direction to head...and counted on them to use their proficiencies and skills to avoid further danger and useless combat. I've seen too many cookie-cutter adventures that give the players no decision, and lead them by the ear to each combat. It was nice to see a departure from that.
Also, the adventure had an interesting background, and the plot and story had a palpable tension to it. The knowledge that we were being followed and had to take measures to cover our tracks added to the excitement. It had a very Tolkienesque feel to it (the hobbits and strider being pursued by the ring wraiths).
-----Out of curiousity, I would like to ask you who you had for a judge and which slots you played.
We had Joel (not sure about his last name) as our DM. He was a very fair DM, and we enjoyed playing with him. Sadly, we didn't even make it past the 1st round (it was the round with the black dragons, and the death slaad). We started out by boat. To avoid being followed further, we ditched our canoe (sank it), used Pass Without Trace along the shoreline, and then took the over-land route. We did well in avoiding the black dragons, and I believe that we were doing rather well up until the death slaad. We had saved an alter self for each person (so that we all looked like halflings, entering into the halfling city), and we had deposited the sword in the quiver (so that it could no longer speak to us, and those hunting us couldn't find it). Despite our preparations, the death slaad was still there to greet us before entering the city, and we were determined not to give up the sword. We tried to scatter, but he managed to hit the group collectively - and 3 of the 8 immediately dropped...and one of them was our best fighter). The combat was long and arduous. Eventually, we were down to only 2 players (1 of them was a spellcaster, and he only had 1 spell left). He attempted to parlay with the creature (hoping for a better alternative to dying)...unfortunately, this gave the death slaad time to regenerate (he was down to 3 HP, unbeknownst to us). So, we lost the entire group there, and didn't advance....but we didn't give up the sword!
----Also, to let you know you are not alone in thinking it was a good tournament module. We had a wonderful response.
Enchore!
Definitely consider writing another for next year!
---Just to let you know, it was a 7 round module-Each prelim round was a continuation of the journey to the semi-final round on Saturday and then the final on Sunday.
Yes, I know. We play the D&D Open regularly, and usually do well (this is the first time in years where we didn't advance past the 1st round). Needless to say, we were disappointed that we didn't advance (we really would have liked to have played more of the module!)
----We (speaking as one of the team) are continue to write and hope you catch another product of our dementia in one of the future Opens at Gencon or in a special event at one of the other conventions.
Please do! Next GenCon would be great!
Now, on to my next question - How would I get a copy of this module? It is no longer available through the RPGA (it had a retirement date set to the end of the con). I'd be happy to pay for it!
