Whispers of the Vampires Blade opinion?

[Khur]

Nice review btw.

Thanks.

Part 3 is the one where the adventurers get a break from predictable goals. The possibility that the module is weak doesn't detract from what it is supposed to do.

Thanks for the clarification, Merric. And I agree with you. This module is an interlude, and it can be turned into something worthwhile.

In fact, as I said in my review, the central plot seed is great. The module itself, as it's constructed, will leave new DMs gasping for air. Old hands can use it to create a scenario that's quite worthwhile, so long as the villains from other adventures are given plausible reasons for being present, for knowing what they do, and for being where they are. Off the shelf, this isn't the case, not to mention a flimsy set peice or three.

The purpose of a $10 adventure isn't to provide a (weak) plot skeleton, is it? I'd hope not.

 

[SuperFlyTNT]

So if I run part four and havent ran part 1 or 2 will it work?

 

[Arcadio]

I’m running Whispers of the Vampire’s Blade now, and I’m enjoying it. I did have trouble in a few spots.

First, I should point out that this is my first time DMing anything more than a one-session adventure. Our regular DM ran FF and SotLW, and is now a player.

Spoilers follow:

Spoiler

If you don't want to make it obvious that Lucan is a vampire, don't make these mistakes that I made:
1. The adventure has a picture of Lucan to show the PCs. Don't show them this. It screams, "I'm a vampire!"
2. There is also a picture of Lucan's wagon. Don't show them this. It screams, "I'm owned by a vampire!"
3. Don't let the PCs see the cover of the adventure. The title, "Whispers of the Vampire's Blade" screams, "There's a vampire in here!"

Also, you may want to change Warrog's name. No one else seemed to notice, probably because they weren't paying attention during the previous adventures, but the previous DM certainly noticed that Warrog is Garrow backwards.

As JustKim said, the many, many random encounters that happen during the first leg of the chase don't make sense, and get kind of boring. I skipped ahead.

We're currently at the beginning of the airship chase. One of the PCs managed to jump on Cloud's Destiny just before it took off. The rest of the PCs got on Garrow's ship. For some reason, the lone PC on Cloud's Destiny decided to start slaughtering the crew. He was well on his way to being the only person left on the ship by the time I decided Lucan should appear and save the day. Now Lucan has a dominated warforged rogue killing machine, and the captain and remaining members of the crew actually like him.

Splitting the party up might have worked better with a more experienced DM. It would have been easier if I had just let the PCs show up after the first ship had taken off.

None of these have been big problems, though. We're having fun; I'd recommend the adventure.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

As others have said -- interesting individual encounters, but over all ... chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, choo! choo!

 

[Khur]

So if I run part four and havent ran part 1 or 2 will it work?

If you mean you want to run Grasp of the Emerald Claw without running the rest of the adventures, sure you can. You won't have any problems. It's a pretty good adventure, too. The heroes just won't get the same thrill as they might have with some of the antagonists as recurring villains.

I can already tell my players are going to enjoy kicking a certain Emerald Claw leader's butt.

 

[JustKim]

If you skip 1 and 2 (Forgotten Forge and Shadows of the Last War), start with Whispers of the Vampire's Blade and continue with Grasp of the Emerald Claw, there will be nothing to tie the two together. Whispers is only tenuously connected to the rest of the series through Garrow, who's always behind the scenes anyway, and the Lord of Blades who's only an afterthought in Grasp.

 

[Lucias]

I have everything that's been published so far for Eberron and WotVB is by far and away the worst of the bunch. It's the only bit of material, including the Dragon articles and Dungeon adventures, that I wouldn't use as is.

It's very obvious that they decided what 'set piece' encounters they wanted to use and then decided to try to write a plot around it. It failed miserably. The set piece encounters in themselves are okay, with some info that's liftable, but the way it ties together completely breaks any suspension of disbelief, even in a D&D game.

I can't justify this as an 'aside' to the 'Schema Adventure Path' either. If I want a side adventure to a series, I'll insert it myself. I'll use an adventure from Dungeon, or another publisher. Anything. When I buy part of series I expect that adventure to continue with the themes and plots already planted. I don't want an interlude. The only connection to the rest of the series is an NPC which the PCs will most likely never even realize they know. Let's just ignore the fact that his reason for being there in the first place is utterly unbelievable knowing what we know about him.

Between horrible NPC motivations, ridiculous villain decisions, and an eye-rolling 'climax,' you can leave this one on the shelves. Spoiler: Okay, let's have the villain retreat to this ziggarut, run through without disturbing anything, and let him wait for the PCs in the most inaccessible chamber. Yeesh! End Spoiler.

And let's not forget the opening encounter which is just silly enough to make the PCs completely doubt the competancy of the (Spoiler) King's Citadel.

As you can see, I am bitterly disappointed by this module. Maybe I've become biased because I find everything else produced for Eberron to be so high quality. In my campaign I combined and heavily modified The Forgotten Forge and Queen With Burning Eyes (the second weakest Eberron adventure) which my players loved and now we're on our way through SotLW. They will not be playing through WotVB, not will they ever hear about it from this DM. Grasp of the Emerald Claw, however, is going to be a real hoot.

I hate doing this. Maybe it's just because my week has sucked. I love giving rave reviews of products. I hate ranting about any. But this is just too much of a bitter disappointment to be ignored. I'm hoping my small voice provides enough feedback to WOTC for them to hear a "Please don't do anything like this again!".

Anyhow, I talked a bit about everything published for Eberron in an article here . It's a bit behind now, not covering Grasp, Sharn, nor Fallen Angels, but you can tune in there for some kind words about the other Eberron adventures.

 

[Dr Simon]

This is the adventure that supposedly has floor/deck plans for lightning rail coaches and airships. Does it, and are they worth cherry-picking?

 

[Khur]

This is the adventure that supposedly has floor/deck plans for lightning rail coaches and airships. Does it, and are they worth cherry-picking?

The airship plans are good. The lightning rail coaches are tiny maps, but not bad. Should you buy the module for them? Only if that $10 is really burning a hole in your pocket. Then again, as pointed out by many in this thread, you can cherry pick quite a few things from this adventure. If you don't mind the work of writing a plausible plot, and your players buy the pizza on game night, it's probably worth the $10.

 

[diaglo]

As others have said -- interesting individual encounters, but over all ... chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, choo! choo!

ditto. it reads like a railroad manual about railroading.