One Module Per Year
June 15, 2009
This past Saturday our intrepid gaming group finished off Keep on the Shadowfell. For what was meant to be a training ground for 4E D&D, the module took us an entire year to complete. This is only, in part, due to people’s busy schedules. Primarily, it has to do with the design of the packaged adventures.
I know, I know; never use published scenarios. However, it was the best way to get a solid grounding with 4th Edition. It just seemed like an interminable dungeon crawl. Room after room of rather dull low-level beasties and unbalanced (class wise) loot. This was especially problematic with only 3 players: encounters had to be dumbed down and monsters entirely removed from some rooms to make it possible for the party to progress. This flaw was glaringly obvious during the climactic battle: without sufficiently tough minions, the “big bad” had to repeatedly cast a spell that would immobilize the paladin and rogue to keep them out of melee range. Once they saved against it, they bum rushed the evil bastard and did about 70 hp damage to him in 2 rounds. Kind of an anti-climax.
Oh, well. It’s finally done and I can move on to our long delayed Eberron campaign. Good thing too as the Player’s Guide is released tomorrow. Oh, and I’ve russeled up a fourth player, so things should run smoother.