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5 years ago ::
Apr 03, 2008 - 12:37AM
#11
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- Unleash the robotic My Little Dinosaurs!
Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2003
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To clarify (the thread title is really vague, I know), this thread is intended for DM's to discuss the benefits of 4e from a standpoint relevant to the topic of this forum (Adventures). While there are lots of neat things about the new edition, I'm interested in those that relate to encounter/adventure/campaign design.
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5 years ago ::
Apr 03, 2008 - 1:51AM
#12
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Date Joined:
Mar 26, 2008
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this thread is intended for DM's to discuss the benefits of 4e from a standpoint relevant to the topic of this forum (Adventures). While there are lots of neat things about the new edition, I'm interested in those that relate to encounter/adventure/campaign design.
Its making it quite easy to throw in adventures wherever I want, that aren't necessarily connected to earlier ones due to the lack of communication that happens between towns and cities.
For example I've fleshed out (or at least named) 7 adventures. 4 of them are heavily connected to an earlier adventure (So you go from adventure X to adventure Y or to adventure Z). Whereas 3 of them aren't connected to anything that happened earlier. That's because the 3 are in different locations. As I throw in more towns, they can each have their own adventures, and they can be fairly isolated from other areas.
I've also got an adventure that involves going to a far away location. Now I don't know where this location is yet, or what the players will find along the way. All I know is where they'll start from and where they'll finish. Before each session I can flesh out the next location the players will make it to and all of the encounters and side adventures they'll go on along the way. There's no need for me to do that from the very first day, I can do it as I go along, because what happens in one city, isn't going to impact the next city unless I want it too 
Does any of that make sense?
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5 years ago ::
Apr 04, 2008 - 8:42AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2007
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*Okay, sure, nothing stopped me from making a PoL setting in 3e, but the books never really encouraged it, and part of it was just my youthful foolishness and arrogance ("No simple dungeon crawling for me, I shall create a sweeping epic with masses of political intrigue!").
That is learning to be a better DM. A lot of DMs go through the same cycle, I certainly did. First you just put out a string of unrelated dungeons. Then you learn about worlds and plots and you want to create the ultimate background and world. You spend your time drafting maps and crafting interesting cities, places and other material that nobody ever sees because the characters wandered the wrong direction.
Eventually you learn to balance the two. Crafting just enough material to create a world and give the players the sense of being in a complete world without wasting time drafting material that will never get used.
I am hopeful that 4e's generic background will include more chunks that can be lifted and dropped into my campaign easily. Worlds like FR are great in that they have so much history and so many interconnected bits that it creates much more of a real world sense, but that also makes taking one part out and using it someplace harder.
Jay
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5 years ago ::
Apr 04, 2008 - 11:29AM
#14
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- Unleash the robotic My Little Dinosaurs!
Date Joined:
Jan 13, 2003
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That is learning to be a better DM. A lot of DMs go through the same cycle, I certainly did. First you just put out a string of unrelated dungeons. Then you learn about worlds and plots and you want to create the ultimate background and world. You spend your time drafting maps and crafting interesting cities, places and other material that nobody ever sees because the characters wandered the wrong direction.
Except I didn't even go through the "unrelated dungeons" phase.:embarrass
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5 years ago ::
Apr 08, 2008 - 1:29PM
#15
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2008
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I've gotta agree, it's much easier to work out the basics of an adventure in a Points of Light style, rather than having to sit down with maps and campaign guides from the get-go, work out exactly where in exactly which nation each of your locales is...
Has to be said, 4th Ed is gonna be my first proper attempt at Dungeon Mastery, but I've got tons of experience from playing Neverwinter Nights to give me some idea of plot variety from the word go.
I reckon that alternate hooks leading onto the same adventure, multiple outcomes for said adventure, etc. shouldn't be beyond me. I'm even going to experiment with a speed critical quest, just to see how it works- though I fully intend to make certain that there are plenty of different outcomes to cover the most likely end results...
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5 years ago ::
Apr 09, 2008 - 7:18AM
#16
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Date Joined:
Mar 26, 2008
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I've finished mapping out the first few weeks worth of travel, and its so easy to do. I just threw in a retired adventurer in one of the towns to provide adventure hooks for players to visit places she had been. I then included the places she had been in my map (those that I've articulated anyway, she went on too many for me to document), and it was easy. I just throw in a city here or some ruins there, and I don't need to have everything mapped out between where the players will start and where they will end up. I can have white space between the two and as they travel to where the adventure will take place, I can decide THEN what is in between and provide more side-quests for them to go on.
I thought that was very cool :D
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5 years ago ::
Apr 09, 2008 - 4:37PM
#17
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Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2007
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Best thing about 4e: Paladins don't magically summon their mounts out of thin air anymore.
You know I'm right.
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5 years ago ::
Apr 09, 2008 - 7:24PM
#18
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No. I'm afraid I don't. It is probably a feat. 
GAMMA WORLD Wuv
D&D: Beyond the RPG - Transcript
This is a complete transcript.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/22329697?sdb=1&pg=last#390668593
The audio file is in this News Archive
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/DNDXP
2010 D&D Product Overview (47 minutes into the Audio)
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/22329697?sdb=1&pg=last#390928045
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5 years ago ::
Apr 25, 2008 - 2:18PM
#19
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2008
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I agree about using PoL. I've been DMing for almost 30 years, and have wasted a great deal of time making maps of continents, cities, etc only to have them collect dust and rarely be used.
I do think a DM needs to decide some basic things about the campaign before the characters are created.
I think the best thing among those that they promised has three parts: classes are more balanced, they stay balanced as they gradually ascend 30 levels, and they're harder to break. No more useless L2 wizards or overbalancing L13 wizards.
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5 years ago ::
Apr 30, 2008 - 10:54AM
#20
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Date Joined:
Oct 17, 2007
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I am in love with 4e thus far. The ease of use, the streamlined rules, and the light rules are what the game needs. I feel too that 3.5 often bogged down creativity or game flow by having too many rules. Despite being a D&D player of nearly a decade I still found myself constantly checking the PHB and DMG for rules.
I like the POL setting, but I won't use it. I sorta prefer the opposite: a highly civilized world with few small, but dire, dangers out there. My campaign world is built around that concept.
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