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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 5:25AM
#1
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mikethemountain usually does these and includes some links to various blogs. We had two short tables at the Game Matrix this week and I was somewhat rushed to leave but my table had a good time. Spoiler:
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They kind of short circuited the rp to go wait in the graveyard for a while. Finally went home and went to sleep to be awakened by the shadowfall. Hearing Harald's screams they armed up and ran downstairs to see him unconscious at the foot of the stairs and they engaged the gargoyles (and the stalkers jumped them). The warpriest of the death domain had a stalker in his shadow the majority of the encounter but team hero eventually overcame.
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 7:23AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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I was a player at one of the three full tables at Uncle's Games at the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, Washington. Our table featured a revenant assassin, a halfling hexblade, my vryloka knight, a mage (can't recall the race), and a vampire (human, I believe). No leader. Spoiler:
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I wasn't too impressed with the lead-in we received, maybe because the kid playing the vampire kept trying to get all pvp until we discouraged him.
The fight was pretty tough at first since our plan for dealing with a lack of a leader was to focus fire and the wraiths, or whatever they were, pulled us apart and then the gargoyles knocked some of us down. We were dropping action points and second winds pretty early on.
Sure enough, though, our strikers were able to take out the gargoyles in a couple of hits. The DM was pretty generous, allowing little bits of movement and stealth for those with good descriptions. If I'd gone with a non-Heroes-of-Shadow character and not had necrotic resistance my character would have died pretty quickly, but as it was it held off 15-20 points of damage. For the first time in maybe ever, I saw the +2 bonus to defenses from second wind protect a character and I'm happy to say it was mine.
Due to getting separated, my knight didn't get to do much defending. I saw an example of how marks can be better than auras when he was dragged away from the main fight. I suppose he did keep the wraiths on him from a while and that kept the others alive, but they could have stepped away with impunity.
The revenant "died" once and then used his second wind to come out of that, but was dying again by the last round of the fight. A fun time, with a lot of fun joking and role-playing all around, but I would have liked a slightly better set up. Then again, if the DM is anything like I was last season, he didn't have much time to prepare.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 7:27AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jul 29, 2008
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Pegasus Games (Madison, WI) had three tables at 6:30 and two full tables at 8:30. Lots of smiles all around.
I do worry about the challenge level of this encounter. It seemed awfully brutal for the introductory encounter of a game marketed to new players. It wasn't as bad as Dark Sun, but it was rough.
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 7:46AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jan 14, 2007
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This is an encounter where trimming multiple enemies of the encounters level can break the monster tactics. For very low attendence tables I would suggest running one shadow and a few gargoyles.
I prefer this XP per player per session total to the specific XP for each monster, RP, etc. in season 4 that was very confusing as to whether the extra XP was per player or per party.
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 10:06AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Feb 19, 2004
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Went very well at my table s
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The Evard tales were awesome, as we had two OLD school players who were interested immediately, and three players who'd never heard the name, thus getting even more interested by the old school players' comments.
The shadowfall was awesome, as they fell into the quick traps -- One, I used Midnight Syndicate's 13th hour music when the fall happened (and will only use it during night scenes), and the cleric tried to light up the room, only to find his power diminished.
Down below, the fight was awesome. Almost every player had low-light vision, so they weren't troubled by concealment. The shadows suffered greatly, as three of the players had radiant damaging powers, and made quick work of them. The gargoyles missed their harry attacks, making the encounter significantly easier.
Ultimately, no one was too wounded and there were cries of "that's it?!!? can't we keep going?", which is always a good thing.
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 10:30AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2008
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We had 4 nearly full (23 players) at Guardian Games in Portland, OR (PDX). Our catch up game will run 1 or 2 tables on Monday... That reminds me I need to chew on our WPN rep's rear end because he always promisses that our store will get the 3 kits it needs and we always get just 2. Thus, we have to call him, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It is irritating. At my table: DM - Davena, ever fun, but brutal judge... The Players - Zlatrazar - Male Human Vampire (me, Bryan) Aliceryn - Female Human Blackguard of Fury (wife, Melissa) Brandis - Male Human Cavalier (Jessica, new player, playing a pregen) ? - Male Shade Gloom Pact Binder (The Other Brian) ? - Female Human Executioner (Jesse) Spoiler:
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Ok, so we introduce our PCs to each other the DM gives us the rundown on why we are on the road together. No one is diving into the role-playing deep end until I spontaneously (I didn't plan this) start introducing my character with a really bad Eastern European accent (at the mid point of the role-playing part of the encounter my wife threatened me with sleeping on the couch if I brought the accent home and posted on facebook that I was talking like Zaza Gabor). This gave everyone permission to go wild. The assassin decided to lift some purses in the tavern, got caught and blew his bluff... got his knuckles rapped for it. The blackguard's anger management issues (mostly directed at my PC) were fun and the shade kept sneaking up on folks his Stealth skill was outrageous...
My inexperienced vamp, who can't diplomacy his way out of a wet paper bag, was loud, conspicuous and said whatever was on his mind.
"Why would this Evard you speak of, come to this Podunk town... I am not making offense (to the bartender), after all he was the Evard of the great black tentacles, yes? The ones the ladies are so fond of, no?"
When the locals got all shook by the ghost story, which our party and the dwarves scoffed and laughed at, I believe my vamp said, "You've been to Hammerfast, no? They have ghosts by the handful in the daylight and the night. This is no big deal"
Eventually, after milking the role-playing for all it was worth we all go nighty night...
Then the party started.
Combat was quick and brutal (3 strikers, a controler, and a defender).
The Gargoyles went down in round 1, 2, and 3. My vamp and executioner went to town on the first. The cavalier was a punching bag for the other two. When I finished off the first I left the assassin and the binder to deal with one shadow thingy. BTW, the binder was hanging back on the stairs and got ambushed in the first round by one of the shadows... he did not like having his shadow being eaten by the damn thing. Fortunately the executioner garroted the damn thing and they went to town on it (it goes poof in round 3).
I helped the Cavalier smash the second gargoyle while the shadowy thing munched on her (7 hp by end of combat). Meanwhile my wife's blackguard gets her nose bloodied and milks that for more damage when she kills the final shadowy creature.
All in all, a fun encounter. Now we have to find that Jay (the scholar) and Silent Bob (the halfling) and figure out while we are in the Shadowfell... I will bet that idiot did something stupid at Evard's Tomb he was blathering about earlier...
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 1:29PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 16, 2007
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My Week 1 report is here.
-Alveric
"And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts; and green sparks rose from the armour, and crimson as sword met sword; and thick elvish blood moved slowly, from wide slits, down the cuirass; and Lirazel gazed in awe and wonder and love; and the combatants edged away fighting into the forest; and branches fell on them hacked off by their fight; and the runes in Alveric's far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak tree, Alveric slew him."
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 5:03PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2001
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We had an influx of new players this season, none with characters, so they all played pre-gens. The tables were crowded, and given the total-newbie status of some of the players the DMs didn't add much to the encounters to compensate.
Both tables prevailed, the shadows were kinda cool the way they latched onto a character, aside from that the combat didn't make a big impression on me.
Some things I'm wondering, though:
Has anyone else seen a proliferation of Controllers? I'd settled on Mage as the most interesting Essentials class to play(but, alas, no necromancer or nethermancer pre-gens), and we had binders, hunters and other mages... tables were in danger of being half-controller. Defenders seem to be vanishing from out tables, too, and leaders have never been popular.
Also: Isn't being dropped into the Shadowfell a little tier-inapropriate?
Edit: I take it a lot of DMs are relenting on the Essentials/HoS only rule?
Love 4e? Concerned about its future? Join the Old Guard of 4e"You want The Tooth? You can't handle The Tooth!" - Dahlver-Nar. "If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly" - E. Gary Gygax
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 5:08PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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Also: Isn't being dropped into the Shadowfell a little tier-inapropriate?
Not necessarily. Having the Shadowfell as a place for Paragon and higher characters is just a suggestion. The encounter book that comes with the Shadowfell set has encounters at 4, 7, 8, two at 9, and two at 10. All in how it's presented and handled.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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2 years ago ::
May 12, 2011 - 5:42PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Jan 10, 2008
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Visit Dungeon's Master.com – The D&D Resource Blog For DMs and Players.
http://dungeonsmaster.com
Follow me on Twitter @ameron_dm
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