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I just finished all of SPEC1-2 that I'm ever going to see, and the whole experience has left such a bad taste in my mouth I'm still trying to understand it.

I guess I just don't understand what the special is supposed to be. Is it intended to be playable in two slots, or are most groups intended to fail halfway through? Is it intended to be playable by a pickup group at a convention, or only by experienced teams of optimized PC's? What percent of tables should fail the mod? What percent of groups are intended to TPK? What percent are just supposed to run out of time?

The mod opens with a combat against insubstantial creatures and creatures that weaken and immobilize you. The GM finally called the fight after about 120 minutes, long past the point where there was any real danger to the party but before we had killed all the opponents. We just couldn't deal enough damage when it was reduced to 25%.

The second battle took almost as long, and ended with the boss turning insubstantial and flying away to regenerate. The judge gave us the option of letting him go and losing the treasure or chasing him around doing half damage while he healed. We let him go.

The third battle opened with insubstantial creatures paired with weakening attacks again. We lost initiative, and almost everybody was immobilized, weakened, and bloodied after the first round. We quit after the third round, when the boss rolled double-sixes and recharged both major attacks.

We were playing low. The table was four 7th level characters, one 8th, and one 9th. Party composition was well balanced, but the builds weren't optimized and player skill was uneven. We had, in retrospect, no chance WHATSOEVER of finishing the mod.

Afterwards, I felt terrible, my friend felt terrible, the judge felt terrible. I just can't understand what went wrong. Is this the way the mod is supposed to run?

Feedback for modules usually *does* trickle up the chain to HQ, though feedback here is often appreciated as well, as the Globals read these forums.

I don't have any answers for you, I'm afraid, as I haven't played either of the SPEC mods yet.

Just got back from the DDXP and this particular event was both the best and worst of the con for me.

I'll preface this by saying that my group were all friends and have much experience with each others tactics. We play an all dwarf band with 2 defenders, 2 strikers, and one leader. We decided to take the adventure in its 'hard' version and it lived up to that name. After the first fight we were a tad concerned about the way things went. After two we seriously considered retreating and ending it. But after that things went from bad to epic for us.

I don't want to give too much away, so I won't go into specifics, but these are the down sides for me.

Spoiler: Show

And the good points of the evening.

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Overall, our group gave a score of 4 out of 5 for the adventure. I'll admit to being the lone person to give it a 3, but in hindsight I would give a 4. Some of the people I talked to after it was over were amazed anyone was able to complete the hard version at all. (Shameless self glorification there *grin*) Special thanks to our DM (name escapes me atm) who had to put up with the merry band of drunken dwarves who shout Tempus too much for making it a memorable experience!

Kishus wrote:

Just got back from the DDXP and this particular event was both the best and worst of the con for me.

I'll preface this by saying that my group were all friends and have much experience with each others tactics. We play an all dwarf band with 2 defenders, 2 strikers, and one leader. We decided to take the adventure in its 'hard' version and it lived up to that name. After the first fight we were a tad concerned about the way things went. After two we seriously considered retreating and ending it. But after that things went from bad to epic for us.

I don't want to give too much away, so I won't go into specifics, but these are the down sides for me.

Spoiler: Show

Multiple fights started with the PCs grouped up with little to no room to maneuver. I really don't mind this once in a while, but when fights start as a grinder where you can't leave a 3x3 area for 6 rounds of combat things get rather repetitive. Of course, the second encounter that started in this manner was prefaced by our DM saying "..and this is the encounter XXXXXX created, who spent far too much time reading the Draconomicon book.". (you KNOW who you are! :P Of course, you can see where this is leading. I started with a low initiative and started my first turn around 15 minutes in, far into bloodied, and with several ongoing effects. At least as a ranger I had a throwing hammer.

And the good points of the evening.

Spoiler: Show

Now on the plus side, I think the encounter themes were well thought out. Especially the final battle. I feel sorry for anyone who had to stop early and missed it. The iconic monsters littered throughout made us treat things much more seriously than any typical LFR adventure. They were challenging and forced adaptation to the various situations presented. Finally, by hat is tipped to the person who devised the adventure's plot line. By far the best of the Con.

Overall, our group gave a score of 4 out of 5 for the adventure. I'll admit to being the lone person to give it a 3, but in hindsight I would give a 4. Some of the people I talked to after it was over were amazed anyone was able to complete the hard version at all. (Shameless self glorification there *grin*) Special thanks to our DM (name escapes me atm) who had to put up with the merry band of drunken dwarves who shout Tempus too much for making it a memorable experience!

As the DM, I should comment that you forgot to mention what was, to me, the best aspect of your group playing the adventure. Halfway through, y'all looked at me and asked for 15 minutes to consider not continuing - then proceeded to complete successfully before any other table (with quite effective use of tactics and PC abilities, I should add).

As for Specials in general, I consider the SPEC adventures to be the meatgrinders of a Living Campaign, both as a player and as a GM. As a player, I bring my A-Game and expect that I'll still need to roll well. As a GM, I strive for one ideal result - for the PCs to succeed with no healing surges or daily powers left (basically, to scrape by). Now, that doesn't always happen because the dice fall where they do, but my experience has been that if you walk in expecting to be challenged most of the way through, you will not be disappointed.

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I havent played this but it couldnt be as bad as specials like pits of azak zil seriously you cant build encounters like you could in 3.5 if you follow the 4.0 dmg about what monsters you can face. I mean compair any 4.0 6th level encounter to a mob of undead... very likely to TPK, 4e as a whole toned down the TPKage in so many ways.

Characters die, normal LFR mods have nearly no challange so I consider those somewhat grindes to get me in a good position for specials so that I have a fighting chance. Also Specials are the only mods I ever play down on because they are the only mods written to challange ALL players not just the more casual but even the hard core powergamer.