WotC: Get Rid of the Tactical Encounter Format

[Henry]

Personally, I dislike the new format so much, I refuse to buy any of the newer products using it, and have done so for the past year. Ravenloft, Castle Greyhawk, Demonweb Pits -- all books I was interested in, but didn't want to deal with that godawful formatting of "half the info in front, half in back," so I passed them by, and if I ever want to run them I'll extrapolate off the old ones. I've mentioned it before, even when people were touting its praises. It reeks!

 

[kennew142]

I really like the format, although I agree the information should be either in a separate booklet or nor the place where it would occur linearly. I have been writing tactical encounters for my home games since I first started using minis (about 1990). I find it very convenient to have all the information on the same page as the map.

 

[helium3]

Personally, I dislike the new format so much, I refuse to buy any of the newer products using it, and have done so for the past year. Ravenloft, Castle Greyhawk, Demonweb Pits -- all books I was interested in, but didn't want to deal with that godawful formatting of "half the info in front, half in back," so I passed them by, and if I ever want to run them I'll extrapolate off the old ones. I've mentioned it before, even when people were touting its praises. It reeks!

Heh. Then you also saved yourself from wasting a lot of money. I've heard a lot about how great Ravenloft is and how it's the best of the Expedition series, and frankly, it Blargghhhssss.

Seriously, Seriously bad. Poorly organized. Confusing/Boring story. I've never run into a module before that insists on (a) killing all your player's characters and (b) making it so that the players don't really care.

I can't imagine how bad the other ones must be if Ravenloft is considered the "best."

 

[The Grackle]

Separate booklets would be neat.

But you'd still have to look back and forth. And it would take up more table space.

I'd think all tactics on the pages on one side (even numbered/left hand side) and all story on the other (odd numbered/right hand side). Give em different borders/looks so you could always tell one from the other. Since tactics would be sparser, you could put extra maps, handouts, and artwork on that side.

You'd still have to flip occasionally, but only a page back or forward. And the page count would go up.

 

[Connorsrpg]

I don't know why all this cannot be on one page.

I also don't appreciate paying for a module that tells me 'rubble is difficult terrain and costs double movement and +4 DC to balance ad jump checks' 14 times in the one module. If there is lots of rubble, list it ONCE.

Also, a lot of the stuff mentioned is not likely used. 'It is a DC 54 Jump check to leap onto the top of the bookcase'...

I loved the idea at first, but then I read the modules... A lot of wasted repeats and actually quite dificult to use.

Seriously, what is wrong with a description at top of page and tactical stuff in 'sidebar' box below?

Oh, and whoever mentioned the folded stand-up page...even easier is a page with a pic upside down on top half and your monster stats on bottom half. This way you can fold it over your GM screen when the PCs are fighting them. I have done this for our Star Wars campaign and have developed MANY stat blocks this way. Having many pics available on the net is a big help.

Cheers, C

 

[FireLance]

Just wondering, is the complaint about the tactical encounter format, or is the complaint that flipping back and forth is required because the tactical encounter format is not next to the room description?

There are some things that I like about the tactical encounter format, which I hope will be retained:

1. Visual of encounter area, and suggested placement of monsters and PCs.
2. Special terrain elements, and how these can affect, or be made use of by, monsters and PCs.
3. Having all the encounter-related information on a single sheet of paper (admittedly, this does not always happen) is also a bonus.

If the problem is flipping, then a separate booklet can help.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I don't know why all this cannot be on one page.

Most of the time there isn't enough room for the stat blocks of all the enemies, a description of everything in the room, all the treasure, a map, and a tactical assessment of the area that can fit into 1 or 2 pages. Often some of the information pushes it to 3. As soon as it is 3 pages, you have to flip during an encounter.

I also don't appreciate paying for a module that tells me 'rubble is difficult terrain and costs double movement and +4 DC to balance ad jump checks' 14 times in the one module. If there is lots of rubble, list it ONCE.

Until you are running the adventure in week 12 and you've forgotten what difficult terrain is and need to look it up. Then you need to search the book to find the page it describes it on.

Plus, the map might show what looks like rocks but you aren't sure how big they are. Do they count as difficult terrain or are they so big that they require a climb check? How difficult are they to climb?

No, I think I really like having all the information collected in the same spot to AVOID flipping pages rather than cause it. I'm really not sure why everyone says this caused flipping. It made running Eye of the Lich Queen very easy for me. My friend ran Red Hand of Doom and he said that it was really difficult to get used to using the new encounter format at first and he was about to throw the mod out it was driving him so insane but he forced himself to keep going and after about 1/4 of the way through he found that it was actually much easier to run that adventures he had run in the past and really liked it.,

 

[Nifft]

I write my own stuff, and I haven't found old or new modules particularly helpful... but there's a guy in my group who occasionally DMs, and he loves the new format.

Maybe it's better for beginners, but frustratingly verbose for experienced DMs?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Dalamar]

I like the fact that all the encounter info is in one place. The flipping does sometimes irritate me, but my hope is that with the smaller statblocks for monsters in 4e, they'll be able to fit the whole encounter information in one place, even if that will end up in pages that have whitespace so that each encounter area has its own page.

 

[Klaus]

But you'd still have to look back and forth. And it would take up more table space.

I'd think all tactics on the pages on one side (even numbered/left hand side) and all story on the other (odd numbered/right hand side). Give em different borders/looks so you could always tell one from the other. Since tactics would be sparser, you could put extra maps, handouts, and artwork on that side.

You'd still have to flip occasionally, but only a page back or forward. And the page count would go up.

Well, ideally, every encounter would fit in a single or double page, throughout the adventure.