cavalier973
Hero
I joined a D&D Encounters session this past Wednesday at a place in Atlanta (actually, Marietta, GA) called "Giga-bites Cafe". I had a good time, but I observed some things that would have made it better. I understand that it might have been difficult if not impossible to implement these ideas.
1. No more than five or six players. Preferably five. Or four. We had eight players and the game most definitely dragged. At one point a player was trying to figure out what his character should do, and the DM (one of two) politely prompted him to make a decision. The player quit the game.
2. The DM(s) should notify the players that a particular class would be particularly useful in a particular adventure, and have an extra character sheet handy. WoTC definitely should have provided character sheets for each role for the adventure (even if it is merely a downloadable character sheet). I brought my own character, and elf fighter, but would have been happy to play a wizard. In fact, I was working on the assumption that there would already be more than one wizard. A wizard would most definitely helped in this adventure, since there were two skill challenges, both of which used Arcana checks (although the "real" skill challenge allowed Endurance and Thievery checks, among a few others), and we failed the skill challenge at least three times. Maybe the adventure should have had a provisional book of arcane knowledge usable by non-wizards to help with the skill challenge. The only character in our group with an acceptable Arcane knowledge score was the guy who quit. What eventually happened is that one guy managed to close the portal through which monsters had been pouring, and once the last of these monsters had been killed, the DMs said that we basically won, since the party could take its time to close the portal.
3. Play to your character's strengths. My character, Andraya, was supposed to be a bow-weilding slayer. If I had stuck to that idea, she probably would have helped out a lot more. I had this idea of her shooting her bow while in the "Mobile Blade" stance, move her allotted four spaces (free action), use a free action to drop the bow, substitute a minor action for her move action to draw her greatsword, and use an action point to attack the guy she shot, while using her "power strike" to add extra damage. If it had worked out right, it's possible she might have dropped one of the evil cultist dwarves in her first turn. Unfortunately, she missed with the sword. It would have been better for her to go into the "poised assault" stance and shot the dwarf full of arrows.
In addition, Andrya was a slayer, not a "portal plugger". I should have had her help take out the rest of the monsters, because that was what she was built to do. Instead, I had her wander over to the portal and try to help close it. One success, two failures.
4. Use sunscreen
5. "The Origin of P.C.s" is totally worth the $14 I spent on it.
If I think of anything else, I'll add it.
1. No more than five or six players. Preferably five. Or four. We had eight players and the game most definitely dragged. At one point a player was trying to figure out what his character should do, and the DM (one of two) politely prompted him to make a decision. The player quit the game.
2. The DM(s) should notify the players that a particular class would be particularly useful in a particular adventure, and have an extra character sheet handy. WoTC definitely should have provided character sheets for each role for the adventure (even if it is merely a downloadable character sheet). I brought my own character, and elf fighter, but would have been happy to play a wizard. In fact, I was working on the assumption that there would already be more than one wizard. A wizard would most definitely helped in this adventure, since there were two skill challenges, both of which used Arcana checks (although the "real" skill challenge allowed Endurance and Thievery checks, among a few others), and we failed the skill challenge at least three times. Maybe the adventure should have had a provisional book of arcane knowledge usable by non-wizards to help with the skill challenge. The only character in our group with an acceptable Arcane knowledge score was the guy who quit. What eventually happened is that one guy managed to close the portal through which monsters had been pouring, and once the last of these monsters had been killed, the DMs said that we basically won, since the party could take its time to close the portal.
3. Play to your character's strengths. My character, Andraya, was supposed to be a bow-weilding slayer. If I had stuck to that idea, she probably would have helped out a lot more. I had this idea of her shooting her bow while in the "Mobile Blade" stance, move her allotted four spaces (free action), use a free action to drop the bow, substitute a minor action for her move action to draw her greatsword, and use an action point to attack the guy she shot, while using her "power strike" to add extra damage. If it had worked out right, it's possible she might have dropped one of the evil cultist dwarves in her first turn. Unfortunately, she missed with the sword. It would have been better for her to go into the "poised assault" stance and shot the dwarf full of arrows.
In addition, Andrya was a slayer, not a "portal plugger". I should have had her help take out the rest of the monsters, because that was what she was built to do. Instead, I had her wander over to the portal and try to help close it. One success, two failures.
4. Use sunscreen
5. "The Origin of P.C.s" is totally worth the $14 I spent on it.
If I think of anything else, I'll add it.
