Will the hardcover getting released next month use the new stat blocks that are in Dungeon 124 and the DMG2? They are very easy to read and I think it would make using the book easy.
Additionally, has a ship date for the product been set? I am just now getting ready to start the 3rd adventure in the series and would like to see the book before I start the 4th.
Thanks,
Neomorte
Creative Director
|
Will the hardcover getting released next month use the new stat blocks that are in Dungeon 124 and the DMG2? They are very easy to read and I think it would make using the book easy.
Additionally, has a ship date for the product been set? I am just now getting ready to start the 3rd adventure in the series and would like to see the book before I start the 4th.
Thanks,
Neomorte
The Shackled City hardcover won't have the new stat blocks, unfortunately. It went through development about 4 minutes too early to have that happen. And plus... there actually wasn't any time to convert 12 adventures' worth of stat blocks (which amounts to over 45,000 words, by the way) into new format. If we had done so... the book would be delayed, my guess, by a couple of months.
No ship date set yet, but we're getting close to nailing that date down.
James,
My party is about to enter the Malachite Hold to retrieve the missing children. You mentioned in an early post in a similiar thread that you had made some minor adjustments to Valantru's 'arrival' . Can you share any more on this? I'm concerned that my party will move through this encounter before my preordered Hardcopy arrives and as written I feel it is very disempowering to the party (especially at the climiax of the adventure).
Anyhow thanks for your time
Delvesdeep
What DelvesDeep said ...
|
Creative Director
|
My party is about to enter the Malachite Hold to retrieve the missing children. You mentioned in an early post in a similiar thread that you had made some minor adjustments to Valantru's 'arrival' . Can you share any more on this? I'm concerned that my party will move through this encounter before my preordered Hardcopy arrives and as written I feel it is very disempowering to the party (especially at the climiax of the adventure).
Basically... I felt it was just too convenient to have Vhalantru show up the instant the PCs rescue Terrem. The reworked encounter has Thifirane scrying now and then on Terrem. She and Vhalantru have decided to allow Kazmojen the chance to make a little money on the sale (since they plan on bullying some of that money from him eventually); they intend to swoop in to collect Terrem once his ownership transfers to whoever comes next. Basically... the change means that you should stage the arrival of the beholder for some point that's dramatic to the adventure—you don't have to run it one round after the fight with Kazmojen ends.
Basically... I felt it was just too convenient to have Vhalantru show up the instant the PCs rescue Terrem. The reworked encounter has Thifirane scrying now and then on Terrem. She and Vhalantru have decided to allow Kazmojen the chance to make a little money on the sale (since they plan on bullying some of that money from him eventually); they intend to swoop in to collect Terrem once his ownership transfers to whoever comes next. Basically... the change means that you should stage the arrival of the beholder for some point that's dramatic to the adventure—you don't have to run it one round after the fight with Kazmojen ends.
So...does Vhalantru need to show up at all? If he is scrying the situation and witnesses the 'rescue' of Terrum by the party and perhaps even hear them discuss returning the children (including Terrum) back to the orphanage, is there a need for him to appear at all?
What sort of dramatic event do you recommend - the end of the fight with Kazmojen? The end of negotiations? Halfway through the dungeon? As they reach the surface with the children?
Is this now left up to the DM disgression?
Thanks for your reply James (as always:D) and your tremendous advice in general. Looking forward to getting the Hardcopy (only just over a month to go...)
Delvesdeep
It's pretty much left up to the DM, if I remember right. The point of the encounter is to scare the PCs with a beholder and to plant a seed of "there's a beholder in the area."
Sounds reasonable to me and sets up the plot/villian also. Do you recommend me having the big fella arrive post battle, halfway home or before the battle?
And you are right Vhantru will certainly scare the buggery out of my party. Looking forward to it!
Is their anything I should have my party do after the Life's Bazaar in preparation for the new adventure that is written up for before Flood Season? Speak to anyone to set the mood?
I'll try and stall them in any case in the hope of recieving my HC before they begin Flood Season. They have not yet entered the Malachite Hold so there is still hope isn't there...
Thanks again James
Delvesdeep