Woo-hoo! I hadn't even realized it was out yet...

[badash56]

Hello everyone,

This looks like something I could really use in my current campaign. Is there any chance someone can give me a little more info as to what the adventure is about? Sadly, I don't live near any gaming stores, so I'd have to blind buy it without being able to flip though.

Nothing major, just what type of game it is really. Dungeon crawl, mystery, that sort of thing. Plus I would have to adapt it into my setting, change the town name and what not. Also, about how long is the adventure? Something that can be played for a few sessions?

Thanks

 

[Belen]

I just noticed that the EN World store began selling copies of The Doom of Listonshire a few days ago. (And I assume that means it's now available elsewhere, as well.)

I can't even begin to go into how excited I am about this. This is my first project for Necromancer, one of the companies I really respect, and one of the few I hadn't yet done work for. Second only to my first WotC gig, this is the most exciting release for me in the past year, if not longer.

I really hope this is well received, but I'm proud of the work I put into it even if it's not.

Heck of a bit of news to start the Turkey Day holiday. I originally thought I was going to have to wait until sometime next year.

(Now if only my author's copies would arrive...)

It just arrived in the mail today. I am really looking forward to cracking it open and reading through it.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Where does the adventure take place? Village? City? Mostly dungeon crawl?

It takes place over a dozen small locations, rather than one or two large ones. The largest of those locations are dungeon/ruin crawls, but they also include exploration of a couple of small villages and several wilderness areas.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Nothing major, just what type of game it is really. Dungeon crawl, mystery, that sort of thing. Plus I would have to adapt it into my setting, change the town name and what not. Also, about how long is the adventure? Something that can be played for a few sessions?

Thanks

There are some elements of mystery/problem-solving. They're important to the plot, but they aren't really in the "foreground" of the adventure. (In other words, PCs shouldn't have much trouble with them.) It would be pretty easy for DMs to either increase or downplay their involvement, whichever they prefer.

As I mentioned, it's got a number of crawls, but also wilderness and village encounters as well.

As for a plot summary, there's a copy of the back-cover text, with summary, at the link posted above to the ENWorld store. Or were you looking for more than that?

Changing names is easy enough. One of the reasons I set it in a border community--in addition to the fact that it made the most sense for the story--was to make it easy to insert anywhere, or to change whatever details the DM needed to.

It'll probably take you more than a couple of sessions, but not a lot more, to play through the whole thing. Depends a lot on the group, I've found.

 

[JoeGKushner]

It takes place over a dozen small locations, rather than one or two large ones. The largest of those locations are dungeon/ruin crawls, but they also include exploration of a couple of small villages and several wilderness areas.

Do designers of adventurers go with the small villages because they're easier for GMs to put into their individual campaigns? I've found that the great bulk of adventuers, 1st-3rd+, are designed to handle the action around villages. This includes the great ones as well as the bad ones. Very few are set in cities. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy Shackled City and the Gray Citadel so much. Ah well, thanks for the info Mouse.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Do designers of adventurers go with the small villages because they're easier for GMs to put into their individual campaigns? I've found that the great bulk of adventuers, 1st-3rd+, are designed to handle the action around villages. This includes the great ones as well as the bad ones. Very few are set in cities. It's one of the reasons why I enjoy Shackled City and the Gray Citadel so much. Ah well, thanks for the info Mouse.

Well, speaking only for myself...

It's extremely difficult to portray a city in sufficient detail to be useable while keeping the work down to the size of a module. It's certainly possible to include city settings that only detail a few specific locations (I've done so myself, way the heck back in my very first module), but it's rather unsatisfactory, at least from my own position as a writer, if not for the readers/players.

I have nothing against major city settings. In fact, my current campaign is urban-oriented. It's just that they often feel more appropriate for sourcebooks than for modules.

I will, however, keep the shortage of city-based modules in mind. Who knows? I might just think of something.

In the specific case of Doom of Listonshire, however, a full-sized city wouldn't have made sense thematically, all of the above notwithstanding. It's a frontier duchy in the midst of major troubles; villages just fit the mood better.

 

[Belen]

City Books

This is why I think a company should develop a "city" book and then create a mass of adventures in and around that city. The city being the sourcebook everyone needed to use those adventuires.

I realize that Freeport did it to some extent, but they kind of forgot to keep producing adventures for it on a regular basis.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'm still waiting for my special order of The Diamond Fortress to show up at my LGS.

Looking grim that I'll ever get The Doom of Listonshire...

 

[Mouseferatu]

I realize that Freeport did it to some extent, but they kind of forgot to keep producing adventures for it on a regular basis.

Go pester Gareth-Michael Skarka*, at Adamant. I've got a Freeport adventure waiting in the queue.






*Don't really pester Gareth. He's a busy guy.

 

[Warbringer]

Thanks. I thought about posting a link myself, but it seemed a little in bad taste. There are probably some folks who think I shouldn't still be crowing over new releases at all. But it's Necromancer dang it!

Crow away... Nice work on Heroes of Horror (if that's an appropriate congratulatory adjective for the topic)