Allen Drees's page

I had the privilege of playing through this module at Gen Con 2010, and I have to say, it was a lot of fun! It may be pretty much just one encounter, but it's a *big* encounter! I may have some details wrong, but I thought I'd give my impression:

My group spent probably the first hour of the slot just going over our character sheets and figuring out all of the abilities of a 20th-level character. We then spent at least another 1/2 hour discussing tactics and figuring out how to work together as a party.

Finally, we ran the actual adventure, which took just about two hours of table time. It was a very exciting and challenging encounter, and was well-paced. We ended up doing fairly well by managing to deal with the non-Dragon opponents very quickly, meaning that we could focus on the dragon itself. If we hadn't been able to do that, we would have been quickly overwhelmed.

The Dragon also uses some very innovative tactics, particularly with respect to healing mid-combat. Our group had lots of fun trying to figure out how to deal with that!

Also, one thing not to be missed with this adventure is the Dragon's hoard. I'm not sure what all is in the final module, but the treasure at the end of our run was worthy of a Great Wyrm! We didn't have time to sort through all the treasure ourselves, but our DM told us the highlights. There are a number of very cool treasures in the hoard, and many of them have strong histories that really make them seem epic.

I can't speak to production values or anything, but as a player, I had a great time with this adventure.

Thank you very, very much for your kind words! It is very cool to hear from someone who played Dragon Challenge at GenCon. I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

Al

ps If you're coming to GenCon in 2011 and you enjoyed playing Dragon Challenge, then you should check out what we have in store for this year! :-)

Hello all! I am the author of Dragon Challenge and I think that I may be able to answer some of your questions.

First of all, since Dragon Challenge is really just one super-epic encounter, it is very easy to adapt it to pretty much any setting. Yes, I provide a background story and it is set in our Kingdoms of Legend campaign setting (quasi-historical setting from about 1415CE), but the real "meat" of the module is really just a great wyrm red dragon and his fire giant allies in a big room. Everything else is really just fluff--although I think that one of the best parts about this product is the discussion about tips and strategies for running and/or playing such an epic encounter.

Second, I completely understand what Drogon is saying about quality. If I were a game store owner, then I would also want to only carry high quality products that are going to sell. After all, that's why the gaming store exists: to sell products.

I am very proud of the quality of products we (IPG) are putting out. That was definitely a point of emphasis for us when we started IPG. I am also very happy to hear that Dark Sasha was satisified with her 1st printing copy of All Hands! We did, however, switch printers when we ordered the 2nd printing of our first three books (World Guide, All Hands!, & The Hidden Threat) and the 1st printing of Dragon Challenge and the World Map.

The good news is that this new printer is of even higher quality! The colors are sharper and richer. The bindings are stronger. And they are local for us (in Minneapolis, MN) which is important to us (gotta support the local guys when ya can right?). So, I am extremely confident that our customers will be even happier with these products.

Drogon (and other gaming store owners): I recommend that you contact my friend Brent Evanger, the owner of IPG. There is a link on our website (www.interactionpoint.com) or you can simply email him (info@interactionpoint.com). I know that he has sent "care packages" to some local gaming stores and I bet that he'd be willing to send one your way too...

Thanks everyone for the comments. It is very, very exciting to see other people talking about our products!

Al

My concern here is that the skill used for casting defensively is now Int based--which hoses clerics who arguably need the ability to cast on the defensive the most!!

Is there any way that you could offer a version without the graphics? They all look awesome, but they do use up a lot of ink. It would be REALLY, REALLY nice if we could get a text only version. Please consider!!!