D&D 5E Why does WotC put obviously bad or illogical elements in their adventures?

[Demetrios1453]

The fundamental question is why is the greater context being ignored in this encounter? The Queen is dead, the Kind is missing there's an untested regent sitting on the thrown and Uthor (the regent's trusted lieutenant) is OK with a pair of stupid hill giants?

We're going around in circles

My confusion is rooted in the fact that WotC builds adventures as dramatic events in motion and then undermines that construction with encounters that fly in the face of the reality of the situation. To what end? Why go to the trouble of building a dramatic situation if you're not going to adequately support it?

As I said in my earlier post, it was ok for Game of Thrones last night in a remarkably similar sitiation. If it's good enough for a multi-award-winning and critically-acclaimed series, it should be good enough for D&D.

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[robus]

As I said in my earlier post, it was ok for Game of Thrones last night in a remarkably similar sitiation. If it's good enough for a multi-award-winning and critically-acclaimed series, it should be good enough for D&D.

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Yeah - I stopped watching GoT a few seasons back after tiring of the torture porn (and the fact that entire seasons would pass with very little forward progress by the protagonists!)

But sure I yield...!

 

[Hussar]

Aside from the hill giant guards, the Storm Giant keep has another glaring issue: it's entirely static as written. After you get such a dynamic description of the other giant strongholds, with different statuses depending on time of day, alert status, etc., the Maelstrom is written with a precise set of circumstances presented and lacks the real ability to shift into other stances -- there aren't enough guards to do anything other than maintain the current rotation, for instance, the encounters are written so that you have to encounter the sisters performing for the other visiting lords. Heck, those lords are only mentioned in this encounter -- what are they doing in the wider world to advance their status?

The giant strongholds prior to the Maelstrom are pretty well done, but then the Maelstrom drops back into a static, set piece encounter. The hill giant twins, while an example of poor design in and of themselves, are really among the least of issues with the Maelstrom.

Ah. Now these are issues I can agree with.

Yeah, it's incredibly hard to write modules that are more fluid. I can see how that can be an issue.

 

[robus]

Aside from the hill giant guards, the Storm Giant keep has another glaring issue: it's entirely static as written. After you get such a dynamic description of the other giant strongholds, with different statuses depending on time of day, alert status, etc., the Maelstrom is written with a precise set of circumstances presented and lacks the real ability to shift into other stances -- there aren't enough guards to do anything other than maintain the current rotation, for instance, the encounters are written so that you have to encounter the sisters performing for the other visiting lords. Heck, those lords are only mentioned in this encounter -- what are they doing in the wider world to advance their status?

The giant strongholds prior to the Maelstrom are pretty well done, but then the Maelstrom drops back into a static, set piece encounter. The hill giant twins, while an example of poor design in and of themselves, are really among the least of issues with the Maelstrom.

I wish I was a good enough DM to be worrying about things on that level!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Why does WotC put obviously bad or illogical elements in their adventures?

Because their customers demand bad and illogical, but their designs can't always deliver both...

...cut them some slack, they're doing the best they can.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Good news people. Thanks to the Guild Adept program any DM who has a problem with a WOTC adventure can simply buy some day one DLC to adjust the game to their needs! There could be logical DLC, tougher combat DLC, or Forgotten Realms DLC! Our problems are solved. SOLVED!!!!

 

[devincutler]

Anyone who has read he HotDQ and RoT APs knows that logic flies right out of the window with these things. No one has yet explained why the gold and treasure in HotDQ travels hundreds of miles north along the coast to get to a place where a portal opens up to get to a place where a cloud giant castle then transports the treasure back to a location that is orders of magnitude nearer to the starting point of the adventure. When I was running those adventures, it didn't really dawn on me until right before my PCs were about to ask that question of me. Sensing their impending confusion, I had to change the location of the Well of Dragons on the spot to one much further north.

You'd have thought that would have been a very obvious and basic issue for the authors...but no.

 

[robus]

Anyone who has read he HotDQ and RoT APs knows that logic flies right out of the window with these things. No one has yet explained why the gold and treasure in HotDQ travels hundreds of miles north along the coast to get to a place where a portal opens up to get to a place where a cloud giant castle then transports the treasure back to a location that is orders of magnitude nearer to the starting point of the adventure. When I was running those adventures, it didn't really dawn on me until right before my PCs were about to ask that question of me. Sensing their impending confusion, I had to change the location of the Well of Dragons on the spot to one much further north.

You'd have thought that would have been a very obvious and basic issue for the authors...but no.

This is why I wish there was a PDF supplement to the adventures revealing some of the design trade-offs that were encountered when making the adventures. Or at least what the design rationale is for the strange arrangement.

 

[Lost Soul]

Wow, so many people defending usage of inept guards for VIP in a D&D game but would be hard pressed to find parallel examples in real life. It makes me wonder if many of SKT's defenders are the writers or their family members LOL!

 

[LordEntrails]

Wow, so many people defending usage of inept guards for VIP in a D&D game but would be hard pressed to find parallel examples in real life. It makes me wonder if many of SKT's defenders are the writers or their family members LOL!

That's nice. When you don't agree with someone, imply they are dishonest. Classy.