I ran DCtD last night and the party had a good time, with a few surprises. A fair opportunity for RP, as well as critter-smashing left all players satisfied, though many of the encounters were disabled within a round or two by my veteran players (including the final fight) which was anticlimactic for me but perhaps a relief for them. Overall, a good mod with a surprisingly plausible sci-fi element to it. Worth a look.
The Bad: It starts drying as soon as it hits air, and leaves gossimer strands of threadlike wispy plastic in its wake. It is somewhat challenging to work with.
The Ugly: See that label on the front of the tube? That's the first half of the disclaimer for this stuff. I'm not usually the kind of guy to get a little edgy about a warning label, but this thing scares the crap out of me. Work outside, no contact with skin, may cause cancer... Felt like I was working with plutonium. If there's something safer, maybe try that. Use at own risk.
These changes address every fundamental problem with the 3.x system and then some. It virtually eliminates the "one-hour workday" for adventurers, keeps rogues, mages, clerics, and druids in the game without major structural changes, and makes leveling exciting and dynamic at each and every level.
Is there potential for a case of "Muchkinitis"? Sure, as there is when any change takes place, but the lengthy playtest period gives more intensive scrutiny to that factor than any other game system before.
These are the changes that you hoped 4E would make, but isn't going to. This is the game you're going to want to play, rather than the board game that 4E is converting into.
At first, I was pretty turned off by the idea of a 'random' aspect to these cards. As a GM, I have no need for a 'random' or 'collectable' distribution format. I'm going to distribute the treasure I want to distrubute on pretty much any factor other than what card's I happen to own. I ranked this item at 1 star out of 5.
I'm going to pump this up to a 3. Here's why. I still don't like the randomness and I'd still prefer a complete set. The good news: there's going to be a complete set (at least, that's the word), so I'll get what I really want there. That's not so important as the real idea behind the booster packs, which is their disposability.
With my item pack 1, I'm a little hesitant to use them, since I've only got what came with the pack. If I want to give them out to players or write on the backs, the boosters give me that possibility without feeling like I've defiled my precious cards. So I THINK that's what we're looking at here, it's just a question of whether that's worth $3.75 to you.
This mod is one of the greats. If you're looking for the classic old school gaming experience, and haven't been through this one in a while, you need to go ahead and pick this up. Four mods in one, with some text in this compilation that allows you to move from this mod to at least one more of the other supermods (Temple of Elemental Evil / Queen of the Spiders).
Word to the wise, however. These mods are tough. Originally designed for tournament play, a smart party can waltz through these mods, while a... less careful party... can find themselves butchered. There are some conversion issues to 3.5, also, which you'll need to be aware of as a DM, as some creatures have been converted to be MUCH harder.
The final mod in this series is a great 'survival' mod that really tasks the players to use their brains. Overall a memorable experience, and not one to be missed for the paltry sum charged here.
This mod is a classic. Incontrovertable classic. I've run a few groups through this mod and all have taken away great memories from the experience. The module material itself deals with a number of the basics of Greyhawk politics, and makes it a good introduction to the powers of Iuz, Furyondy, St. Cuthbert, and others. Further, the mod deals with events that are important to the greater picture in Greyhawk, and are often referred to in other gaming materials (including most recently Dragon #337).
Take note that the mod itself will take a good long time to get through, which is good or bad depending on your perpsective and how much you're enjoying it. A good GM can make a powerful campaign out of this, and feed it into the other great mods (Scourge of the Slavelords, Queen of the Spiders).
