D&D 5E Thundertree (5ed Starter Box Set) Possible Spoilers

[Jaracove]

About Thundertree (5ed Starter Box Set) Possibnle Spoilers
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Do you find it lacking a bit of substance, a bit bland perhaps? Twigblights, Ash Zombies, and a green dragon you have to be feeling very lucky to take on. For me, the whole of Thundertree environment feels like it was bolted on around the quest to 'find the druid'. Almost an afterthought

Does it need spicing up, if so, how would you go about it?

 

[77IM]

Yes, Thundertree is pretty damn grindy. Lots of buildings with nothing in them, too many damn twig blights attacking for no reason (and fighting to the death, apparently).

I'm not sure how to fix it. Giving the twig blights really good hearing -- so neighboring encounters get pulled in to one mega-encounter -- would get things over with quickly and be tough, but more interesting.

Having the dragon cultists be "up to something" in this town rather than just hanging out in a cottage could help too. Maybe:
- The first cottage the PCs investigate, someone has (recently) dug up the hearth
- Later, the PC on point notices some dragon cultists sneaking out of a cottage with a shovel -- and when the PCs enter the cottage, the hearthstone is dug up
- The PCs are going to start digging up every hearthstone they can find
- At some point there is an overgrown building foundation. Clearing some brush reveals a hearth stone with, of course, treasure under it. (Maybe some dragonsbane arrows and some potions of resist poison?) Plus a clue, or something dragonish that the cultists want. In fact maybe Venomfang lives here because he wants this specific treasure; he may try to parley with the PCs for it, or let them live if they find it for him (instead of just a TPK).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes, Thundertree is pretty damn grindy. Lots of buildings with nothing in them, too many damn twig blights attacking for no reason (and fighting to the death, apparently).

I'm not sure how to fix it. Giving the twig blights really good hearing -- so neighboring encounters get pulled in to one mega-encounter -- would get things over with quickly and be tough, but more interesting.

Having the dragon cultists be "up to something" in this town rather than just hanging out in a cottage could help too. Maybe:
- The first cottage the PCs investigate, someone has (recently) dug up the hearth
- Later, the PC on point notices some dragon cultists sneaking out of a cottage with a shovel -- and when the PCs enter the cottage, the hearthstone is dug up
- The PCs are going to start digging up every hearthstone they can find
- At some point there is an overgrown building foundation. Clearing some brush reveals a hearth stone with, of course, treasure under it. (Maybe some dragonsbane arrows and some potions of resist poison?) Plus a clue, or something dragonish that the cultists want. In fact maybe Venomfang lives here because he wants this specific treasure; he may try to parley with the PCs for it, or let them live if they find it for him (instead of just a TPK).

That's pretty darn good. Some treasure that would make it possible to scare off the dragon (like the Dragonbane arrows. Make 'em do an extra d8 against dragons or something.) OR to give you something as leverage to parley with the dragon AND gives the cultists something interesting to be up to. (And gives you a find-it-before-they-do bit, assuming you don't just kill them all.)

 

[doctorhook]

Honestly, you're right about Thundertree. My pet peeve was how the druid is has seen the cultists skulking around, the cultists haven't seen him, and the dragon hasn't engaged with any of them. On that map, none of those parties are more than 200 ft. apart, and there are six of those damn cultists hiding in a building smaller than my apartment. If you've ever been in a remote or abandoned rural region, you know there's no way that many people are hanging out that close together without noticing each other.

What are those cultists doing in that building? They certainly aren't talking to that dragon, so they must be up to something else...

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Yesterday I put together a blog post on some ideas for expanding/revising Thundertree by making it into an outpost for loggers led by a Cult of the Dragon agent mentioned in one of Ed's online articles. This agent has stolen the green dragon's eggs and she lurks about the outskirts of Thundertree trying to find cat's-paws whom she can bribe and/or manipulate to recover the eggs on her behalf as she is afraid her appearance will cause the Cult to destroy them.

I then propose separating out the dragon's lair as another encounter for later in the campaign and then drawing on the new green dragon lore posted on the WotC website during the 5E playtest process.

For now I have simple ignored the druid but it wouldn't be too difficult to throw him into the mix as someone irritated by the actions of the loggers.

 

[Herobizkit]

Thundertree is sounding suspiciously similar to The Sunless Citadel, the first 3.0 adventure and I believe one of the best written starting adventures to date.

I had plans of up-converting it to 5e to run as an intro just before the PH(B) drops, but is it possible that Thundertree has "done all the work" for me?

Twigblights and a Druid foe caught my attention as both are prominently featured in TSC.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

I haven't read or played the Starter Adventure yet.

Maybe you could make the druid evil. Have him be a worshiper of the dragon as well, but see's the dragon cultists as rivals for the dragons favor.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Thundertree is sounding suspiciously similar to The Sunless Citadel, the first 3.0 adventure and I believe one of the best written starting adventures to date.

I had plans of up-converting it to 5e to run as an intro just before the PH(B) drops, but is it possible that Thundertree has "done all the work" for me?

Twigblights and a Druid foe caught my attention as both are prominently featured in TSC.

Actually, that makes me wonder whether Thundertree might work better as an adaptation of The Sunless Citadel with most of the village having been swallowed up by a quake triggered by Mt Hotenow's eruption. Hmmm....

FYI, Thundertree, as written, takes place entirely above ground as the map clearly shows.

 

[Jaracove]

Yes, Thundertree is pretty damn grindy. Lots of buildings with nothing in them, too many damn twig blights attacking for no reason (and fighting to the death, apparently).

I'm not sure how to fix it. Giving the twig blights really good hearing -- so neighboring encounters get pulled in to one mega-encounter -- would get things over with quickly and be tough, but more interesting.

Having the dragon cultists be "up to something" in this town rather than just hanging out in a cottage could help too. Maybe:
- The first cottage the PCs investigate, someone has (recently) dug up the hearth
- Later, the PC on point notices some dragon cultists sneaking out of a cottage with a shovel -- and when the PCs enter the cottage, the hearthstone is dug up
- The PCs are going to start digging up every hearthstone they can find
- At some point there is an overgrown building foundation. Clearing some brush reveals a hearth stone with, of course, treasure under it. (Maybe some dragonsbane arrows and some potions of resist poison?) Plus a clue, or something dragonish that the cultists want. In fact maybe Venomfang lives here because he wants this specific treasure; he may try to parley with the PCs for it, or let them live if they find it for him (instead of just a TPK).

This is great stuff!

Thanks very much +1

 

[Ceylin]

Yesterday I put together a blog post on some ideas for expanding/revising Thundertree by making it into an outpost for loggers led by a Cult of the Dragon agent mentioned in one of Ed's online articles. This agent has stolen the green dragon's eggs and she lurks about the outskirts of Thundertree trying to find cat's-paws whom she can bribe and/or manipulate to recover the eggs on her behalf as she is afraid her appearance will cause the Cult to destroy them.

I then propose separating out the dragon's lair as another encounter for later in the campaign and then drawing on the new green dragon lore posted on the WotC website during the 5E playtest process.

For now I have simple ignored the druid but it wouldn't be too difficult to throw him into the mix as someone irritated by the actions of the loggers.

This is an excellent idea to make the encounter much more interesting. It actually provides some 'what are the NPCs doing here, and what is their motivation' to the whole area. I'm definitely going to steal your ideas and work with it. It'll be fun to 'homebrew' alter this piece to make it work.