Which "Expedition" to get?

Which "Expedition" should I get

  • Get Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

    Votes: 61 57.5%
  • Get Expedition to the Demonweb Pits

    Votes: 17 16.0%
  • Get Expedition to Undermountain

    Votes: 8 7.5%
  • None of them are worth it get...(please post)

    Votes: 20 18.9%

Imaro

Legend
Just looking for some advice. I've decided to pick up one of the Expedition mega-modules from WotC and would like some oppinions on the three currently available. So enlighten me with which one you think is the best and why, or tell me why I shouldn't pick a particular one. I'm especially interested in anyone whose bought all of them and can compare and contrast.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Lets see..

Can't comment on Ravenloft

Undermountain, even desperate I would stay away from it. Get the original off ebay and convert it over. I know this may seem like a lot of work but you will be doing a lot of work to just make this one anything remotely compared to the original (maps could be even worse now then the original as well)

Demonweb, not bad but if you want a drow flavored adventure.. see if you can't get the issue of Dungeon that has "The Harrowing" (It simply rocks).

There are also a few adventure series in dungeon magazine as well, spanning over 3 issues. Depending upon the levels you are dealing with will determine what's the better fit.
 

I can only say I've heard bad things about Demonweb pits...

really, though, why not just get the originals, and rework for 3.5E? It might be a bit more work, but I think it'd be more rewarding.
 

I'd vote Ravenloft. While it has a few problems here and there, I think it's the best of the three, and presents the most complete (yet still flexible) adventure/mini-campaign.

Demonweb is a close second. I like what I've read, but I haven't finished it yet.
 

I haven't seen any of 'em, but I would go for Ravenloft myself, simply because I find horror games are just so great and rewarding to run.
 

I've bought Ravenloft and Demonweb, and skimmed Undermountain. If I had to choose one of the three, I'd give Ravenloft the nod. But...

General theme - I thought the editing on all three books was below average for WotC. I'm no John Cooper, and I really don't care about stat blocks... but when new monsters aren't even described (and have no pictures) ...when there are letters on battle-maps indicating monsters that aren't listed in the encounter... when there are mentions of page xx scattered throughout ...and when the scale on some maps has no mesh with the scale on other maps ...it annoys me. Plus, I've decided I really don't like the new way of handling encounters (1-2 pages per encounter). Huge space waster, and adds very little (at least for the experienced DM).

Ravenloft - Despite the problems above, this is the best of the bunch. Good theme, flexible adventure, multiple story possibilities, memorable antagonists. Not as "gothic horror" as I might like. Better than the original 1e module, but not up to the standard of the 2e campaign setting.

Demonweb - A real disappointment. Too Planescape for some people (Sigil, Dabus, Rule-of-Three, Ratatosks, etc). And yet, it has virtually nothing of what made Planescape great. Read the back cover: "Go to the Abyss. Meet Demonlords. Kill everything." That is almost the antithesis of what I believe Planescape to be (philosophy, exploration in mind-boggling realms, "big themes", complex plots, fearing demonlords - not killing them).

It's also grossly inaccurate. Out of the 70-or-so pages spend on detailing encounters, only 6-8 of those encounters will probably end in combat for a thinking party. Without giving away spoilers, all of the encounters in one chapter will only occur if the party attacks non-hostile NPCs. Most (80%) of the encounters in another chapter will only occur if the party is lacking an item that the plot assumes they have been given. To a lesser extent, the same is true of the other chapters.

Add to that the problem that the plot (and the plot-giver) is painfully obvious to an experienced and savvy player group (requiring reworking or railroading), a couple of plot-important legacy items (which I dislike), a group of massively powerful entities standing around waiting for the players to hack them up one-by-one... man, don't even get me started on the racial stats for the cambion. I'm a big Planescape fan, and a big GDQ (original 1e module) fan, and this one simply disappointed me. Your mileage may vary. :-)

Undermountain - Other threads have covered this in detail, and I don't own it. From a casual read, it seems very plot-light for an adventure... and very detail-light for a campaign. Previous 1e/2e releases seem to have covered Undermountain in more breadth.

My Suggestion - My group really enjoyed Red Hand of Doom, despite high PC casualties. Tons of gameplay, great roleplaying and combat moments, very memorable. I also highly recommend the Dungeon adventure paths. We really enjoyed Age of Worms, and Savage Tide is proving to be a good experience as well.
 


Lancelot said:
.when there are letters on battle-maps indicating monsters that aren't listed in the encounter.

Heh. Eyes of the Lich Queen has the opposite problem. It has figures missing form the map (in at least one case, the figure has a marker listed, but it's not placed on the map). Maybe the ones from EotLQ accidentally fell into these books ;)

(There are a lot of map issues. Scale is wrong on a complete series of maps. One key map is supposed to have 5 locations marked, but only has one and it's clearly in the wrong place. A player's map is key, but isn't included).
 

Hard to say. Ravenloft and Demonwebs are both great. Although some groups arent into Planar adventures. Id wait until Greyhawk comes out. Im hoping it will be the stand out among them.
 


Remove ads

Top