Post by Yakumo on Mar 12, 2010 15:15:06 GMT -5
So here we go again folks. Last time this module was run the game ran out of steam at the first encounter. It left a poor taste in my mouth for my maiden voyage into 4th edition. On the recommendaton of a friend I picked up the Keep on the Shadowfell module online and the books and I have been reading through them for the past two weeks and I have to say that not only am I impressed, but I'm really intrigued by the game.
Since we only have two 4th edition games running on the boards and neither are recruiting or first level I have taken it upon myself to start DMing the Keep on the Shadowfell module here. If all goes well and everyone is interested after the module is done, perhaps we can play through the follow-up sequels to it. I would very much like to run this as a campaign.
So first: the call to arms!
Keep on the Shadowfell:
A Module for 4-6 level 1 adventurers
Setting:
Winterhaven, a small town to the west has been issues with growing Kobald incursions. Lord Padraig, leader of the town, has sent out a call to arms for skilled warriors and adventurers to come to Winterhaven and deal with this encroaching threat. Offering gold and gratitude, this small town with a dark past offers the perfect opportunity for young adventurers to make a name for themselves and do some good in their world.
Character creation:
32 point buy in, all races and classes allowed as well as all powers and feats from all the books. If you take a free background feat, obviously work it into the background of your character. A great tool that I have been fooling around with is WotC's Character builder. the Demo is available here: www.wizards.com/dnd/tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder it grants you full access to all option and allows you to build characters up to the third level, which is perfect for us as we will have 1st level characters. I'm not saying you need to use it, but it is a very helpful tool to let you see all your options.
For my own benefit and for those who haven't really delved into 4th edition, I took the time to do a little write up of some of the rules and whatnot that have changed in 4th edition so here is that now, feel free to skip all this if you are already familiar with it.
Info about Battles: Battles are more strategic in D&D 4th edition. They can be a lot more difficult than previous edition; you can’t just sit still and fire arrows or cleave through dozens of goblins at one time. Working together is not only encouraged, but necessary. You need to be more tactically minded because your enemies will. Use your environment, Flank, think strategically and work together. The adventurers are a team, not a group of super-powered individuals who can solo everything thrown at them. Use fire and spikes, traps and etc, because that’s what they are there for. Hell, run away if you need to, rest and come back with a better tactic.
Leveling Up: Things can be tough for a hero in 4th edition. To compensate for this, characters will be leveling up as the adventure moves on as frequently as the XP allows. This is to keep you at the top of your game and keep encounters challenging without being devastating. I find this preferable to starting out at a level where you are guaranteed to be able to take every fight thrown at you.
Powers:
At-will- These powers you can use as many times as you want – you are highly trained and these don’t tax you as well.
Encounter – You can use these powers once per encounter, more technical and powerful. You take a short rest to refresh these powers.
Daily – You can only use these powers once per day. Much stronger and taxing of your resources. These powers are refreshed by an extended rest.
Utility – Used to overcome a variety of obstacles in and out of battle. Come in different forms of encounter and daily etc.
Healing Surges/Second Wind:
Healing surges are a new rule allowing the role of healer to be distributed throughout the group. Players get a certain number of healing surges depending on the CON and class. Using a surge heals ¼ of your max hp rounded down. So if you have 23 HP your healing surge value is 5. Once during an encounter you can use a surge to get a second wind. A second wind heals your value during the fight, in addition to that you receive +2 to all defenses until the end of your next turn (as well as any other perks given for second winds by class, powers or feats).
Action Points:
Actions points are a new tidbit that all you to burn one in an encounter to take a second action – standard, move, or minor. Once you use it, it is gone. You earn another action point every 2 encounter milestone. If you take an extended rest you have your action points reset to 1, whether or not you have 0 left or 3 saved up.
Rests: There are two types of rests in 4th edition.
Short rests: They are roughly 5 minutes in duration and you can take as many short rests as you want/need a day. You can spend as many healing surges as you want during the rest and use encounter powers (such as healing powers) but you will need another short rest to recover those used powers. A short rest recovers encounter powers.
Extended rests: An extended rest is roughly 6 hours and you need about 12 hours between extended rests – characters are too cranked up to sleep again before that. There is no strenuous activity during an extended rest. You regain HP, healing surges, encounter and daily powers and action points are restored to 1.
Frankly I think this covers the gist of it for now. So... The call for players is open. It is first come first serve, personally I would like to see more of the board veterans playing simply for the fact that I know that the game won't fall apart 3 weeks in and all my effort will be for naught.
Since we only have two 4th edition games running on the boards and neither are recruiting or first level I have taken it upon myself to start DMing the Keep on the Shadowfell module here. If all goes well and everyone is interested after the module is done, perhaps we can play through the follow-up sequels to it. I would very much like to run this as a campaign.
So first: the call to arms!
Keep on the Shadowfell:
A Module for 4-6 level 1 adventurers
Setting:
Winterhaven, a small town to the west has been issues with growing Kobald incursions. Lord Padraig, leader of the town, has sent out a call to arms for skilled warriors and adventurers to come to Winterhaven and deal with this encroaching threat. Offering gold and gratitude, this small town with a dark past offers the perfect opportunity for young adventurers to make a name for themselves and do some good in their world.
Character creation:
32 point buy in, all races and classes allowed as well as all powers and feats from all the books. If you take a free background feat, obviously work it into the background of your character. A great tool that I have been fooling around with is WotC's Character builder. the Demo is available here: www.wizards.com/dnd/tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder it grants you full access to all option and allows you to build characters up to the third level, which is perfect for us as we will have 1st level characters. I'm not saying you need to use it, but it is a very helpful tool to let you see all your options.
For my own benefit and for those who haven't really delved into 4th edition, I took the time to do a little write up of some of the rules and whatnot that have changed in 4th edition so here is that now, feel free to skip all this if you are already familiar with it.
Info about Battles: Battles are more strategic in D&D 4th edition. They can be a lot more difficult than previous edition; you can’t just sit still and fire arrows or cleave through dozens of goblins at one time. Working together is not only encouraged, but necessary. You need to be more tactically minded because your enemies will. Use your environment, Flank, think strategically and work together. The adventurers are a team, not a group of super-powered individuals who can solo everything thrown at them. Use fire and spikes, traps and etc, because that’s what they are there for. Hell, run away if you need to, rest and come back with a better tactic.
Leveling Up: Things can be tough for a hero in 4th edition. To compensate for this, characters will be leveling up as the adventure moves on as frequently as the XP allows. This is to keep you at the top of your game and keep encounters challenging without being devastating. I find this preferable to starting out at a level where you are guaranteed to be able to take every fight thrown at you.
Powers:
At-will- These powers you can use as many times as you want – you are highly trained and these don’t tax you as well.
Encounter – You can use these powers once per encounter, more technical and powerful. You take a short rest to refresh these powers.
Daily – You can only use these powers once per day. Much stronger and taxing of your resources. These powers are refreshed by an extended rest.
Utility – Used to overcome a variety of obstacles in and out of battle. Come in different forms of encounter and daily etc.
Healing Surges/Second Wind:
Healing surges are a new rule allowing the role of healer to be distributed throughout the group. Players get a certain number of healing surges depending on the CON and class. Using a surge heals ¼ of your max hp rounded down. So if you have 23 HP your healing surge value is 5. Once during an encounter you can use a surge to get a second wind. A second wind heals your value during the fight, in addition to that you receive +2 to all defenses until the end of your next turn (as well as any other perks given for second winds by class, powers or feats).
Action Points:
Actions points are a new tidbit that all you to burn one in an encounter to take a second action – standard, move, or minor. Once you use it, it is gone. You earn another action point every 2 encounter milestone. If you take an extended rest you have your action points reset to 1, whether or not you have 0 left or 3 saved up.
Rests: There are two types of rests in 4th edition.
Short rests: They are roughly 5 minutes in duration and you can take as many short rests as you want/need a day. You can spend as many healing surges as you want during the rest and use encounter powers (such as healing powers) but you will need another short rest to recover those used powers. A short rest recovers encounter powers.
Extended rests: An extended rest is roughly 6 hours and you need about 12 hours between extended rests – characters are too cranked up to sleep again before that. There is no strenuous activity during an extended rest. You regain HP, healing surges, encounter and daily powers and action points are restored to 1.
Frankly I think this covers the gist of it for now. So... The call for players is open. It is first come first serve, personally I would like to see more of the board veterans playing simply for the fact that I know that the game won't fall apart 3 weeks in and all my effort will be for naught.
)