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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alphastream" data-source="post: 6287423" data-attributes="member: 11365">Some of that's valid, but let's be honest - that's what everyone's home campaign is like too! Die Hard movie series, anyone? It's a fantasy world, with every epic threat seeming like the most incredible nail-biter, until the next one. But, for all of that, the Sundering adventures are really very good. They aren't always the best fit for the Encounters program, but they are really well written adventures that are a pleasure to both run and play. The Realms are their most reliably popular world. FR has the biggest sales across multiple media and across multiple editions. Each of us may like "world x" more, but on the whole, FR will please the most. It is a good choice for a core, with really only Greyhawk competing. Dragonlace was huge during FR's first cycle and Dark Sun was huge during 4E, but FR bests both easily across time. For all that many DMs may not need pre-published adventures, a ton do. And, they can double as organized play material (as they have recently). It isn't talked about often, but published adventures can really drive how people play. 3E's late adventures really began the push towards 5 minis in a room, which continued for about roughly half of 4E's life until they began to change that. I'll disagree pretty strongly. Gardmore Abbey is widely regarded as one of the finest 4E adventures (you have to look at OP or Dungeon to find a competitor). If you like Red Hand, you would likely greatly enjoy Gardmore. It has plenty of encounter-based play, but it also has a system of adjustable allies and foes, a variety of story-heavy goals, some really excellent themes, and a host of other well executed features that blow away many old adventures we consider classic. Similarly, the Sundering adventures feature some of the most open play and flexible and collaborative storytelling D&D has seen. That approach has begun to really help DMs and players embrace a more open approach towards D&D... a mighty fine thing. It can be hard to see what the Sundering is exactly about without really getting into it. It was likely trying to do too much. On one hand, it is communicating a reset of sorts to the Realms - providing the story of how the changes born of the Spellplague have lessened and often reversed.  (For many, that's great news, bringing classic elements of FR back into the fore while still retaining some of the benefits of the Spellplague years.) At the same time, the Sundering was trying to be an adventure series that helped players who participated feel the changes more immediately, as something they helped shape. Of course, that immediacy is often a menu of choices rather than true influence, but we can see how the choices made by most tables in one Sundering adventure are determining what the Neverwinter MMO's Icewind Dale expansion is like. That is fairly cool, even if it isn't everything it could be. But, come on, doing this stuff is hard for an RPG company and always has been. This is a solid effort and every indication is they are learning from each iteration. Oh, and of course, these sort of things are marketing. We can roll our eyes, but if we want our hobby to grow... we should hope that marketing works. KRE-O toys in my toy store, Neverwinter a successful MMO where players regularly talk about D&D, and Community covering D&D and ending with Dragonspear Castle? Yeah, I'll take more marketing!Then take a rest. You've been deep into D&D for a long time. It's okay to take a break. I've taken a five year break from D&D at one point and a 2.5 year break at another time. And I'm a huge fan of D&D today. The breaks were good, helping me to gain some perspective and rediscover my passion. When we become burned out we can't see the positive because our grognard selves prevent that. But, truly, we could have been just as critical. Or, turned the other way, we can be just as positive today as we were before. There are plenty of reasons to feel positive.</blockquote>

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