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Aug 25, 2010 -- 2:34PM, Surgebuster wrote:

 Even in the Madhouse, there were combat elements, even if there was no true combat.

In any case, combat represents approximately 75% of the game content (per a WotC representative) and there truly is an expectation of combat in an adventure by players. I can't see a skill challenge-only adventure being sanctioned, especially as they still seem to be misunderstood by many DMs. There is still plenty of room for originality in the guidelines.

Oh and the Madhouse was one of my favourite LG adventures. Britt and I got into a pretty lengthy discussion about what a good DM could do with it - it's a crying shame he's too busy travelling the globe earning millions to still be involved in organised play.

Actually, Mr. Frey is closer than you might think. He's moving to Boston next month and is currently helping me with ideas for the Epic Plotline.

...oh and uh, yeah, combats are important. I'd never write a module without at least two per round. I've definitely learned a lot about skill challenges though. Authors feel the need to fill space with them. I find, if you can't find a good place for one, don't use one. Sometimes, however, they can be really great.

I would avoid playing any module with less than two combats per round. I care about story first and foremost, but combats are a close second (D&D is a strategic board game to me). I know that many players feel the same way (whether or not they choose to admit it).

Aug 25, 2010 -- 9:25PM, jsaint wrote:

i would really like to see the difficulty of encounters addressed.  this does not need to be a lowest common denominator enterprise, do the modules "need" to be so easy?

I say yes, they need to be easy. If LFR is meant for convention than the difficulty should be aimed at 4-6 random strangers who don't know each other's powers or tactics and might even lack some roles altogether.

I also deny that LFR is too easy. I found most mods just right and in the extremes I found more mods too difficult than too easy. I dread the MM3 damage expressions and will avoid them as long as I can.

Aug 25, 2010 -- 9:25PM, jsaint wrote:

making an effective character mattered.

And that should not be what the mods are aimed for, because the TPKs of the normal chars will be sooo much fun to the players without these effective chars.

Aug 26, 2010 -- 2:55PM, jsaint wrote:

rather than artificially increasing the challenge of module that was easy (and nearly all of them are way too easy), why not make them much harder, even unfairly harder, and instead artificially soften them for the crowd that doesnt want a challenge.

in short, why is what i want less important than what other people want.

Because, as Madfox11 already explained, it is much easier for a DM to scale the challenge of an encounter up, rather than down. Why? Because the way the game is designed makes the line between difficult and lethal very fine and once you overstep the mark, it is very hard to do anything but have the monsters wave the white flag to avoid a TPK. 

I hate to always bring this back to the DM and it may sound like common sense (but you know the adage about it not being that common) but if the adventure is properly prepared, the tactical challenge is often far greater. Maybe all your DMs are already prepped but in my experience, DMs often think they don't need to prep and that doing it on the fly is good enough - in many cases this makes adventures too easy because, you know, the whole preparation thing.

Yes, there are instances where adventures (especially the earlier ones) don't provide an adequate challenge but to quote Pieter again, for each player complaining things are too easy, there are two saying it is perfect and one that says it is too hard. As Global Admins, we do have a wider view of how the player base views the challenge and in all honesty, the heavily invested people that inhabit these boards aren't always the best gauge of the greater community.