My group is about to finish their latest adventure and I am tossing up between 2 adventures to run next. Should I run Torrents of Dread from Dungeon #114 or should I run Racing the Snake from Dungeon #105?
Both look to be a lot of fun. Racing the Snake looks very different to anything that I have seen before and Torrents of Dread has the old Isle of Dread thing going for it.
So which one should I go with?
Olaf the Stout
While both adventures are nothing short of awesome in my book, I do prefer "Racing the Snake." However, can you tell us more about your campaign and players so we can make a better recommendation?
I've been running the Freeport trilogy of adventures by Green Ronin, set (funnily enough) on the island trading port city of Freeport. I also ran "The Stink" from Dungeon #105 as well. We are probably at the stage now where we are tired of city adventures so I am looking for something with a bit of a wilderness bent to it.
The 5 PC's are:
Sorcerer 5 concentrating on Ice Magic
Greatsword wielding Cleric 5/Ranger 1 with the Travel and Strength domains.
Fighter 5/Sorcerer 1 who is an expert with a Longbow and looking at getting the Arcane Archer prestige class.
Spiked chain wielding Barbarian 2/Rogue 4
Olaf the Stout
One vote for "Racing the Snake"!
(Boy, I hope they don't realize that I'm the author! Yikes! Why am I still typing?)
One vote for "Racing the Snake"!
(Boy, I hope they don't realize that I'm the author! Yikes! Why am I still typing?)
Congrats on coming up with an adventure that is a bit different to the rest John. While you're here perhaps I can pick your brain a bit about the adventure. I don't have it on me and it has been a while since I have read it so it may be dealt with in the adventure, but why doesn't Trend just Teleport his daughter to the wedding? Also, how do you deal with PC's using Alter Self or Polymorph to change their appearance to look more like Trend's daughter (I can't remember her name!)?
Olaf the Stout
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Another vote for Racing the Snake. As for Torrents of Dread, the issue had a great backdrop but the adventure itself, while good, didn't impress me as much as some of Mr. Vaughan's other adventures. If you run it, I would recommend adding more role-playing encounters in the village. And dinosaurs, you can never have too many dinosaurs...
I think Racing the Snake requires a lot of prep by the DM to run it correctly, but it's a blast from the PC's perspective. Be familiar with terrain movement rules and the like, and you'll do just fine.
Nothing like shocker lizards and not-quite-sane druids to keep you on edge.
Why doesn't Trend just Teleport his daughter to the wedding? Also, how do you deal with PC's using Alter Self or Polymorph to change their appearance to look more like Trend's daughter (I can't remember her name!)?
Teleporting: Trend wants to keep the assassin far, far away from his daughter. If he teleports his daughter there, then the assassin (or some other assassin) is sure to follow. His goal is to keep the assassin thinking that he is on the daughter's trail while she's really secreted to another location. If the assassin thinks that he's on her trail, then Vasilis (the evil merchant) won't dispatch another assassin.
Polymorphing: When I wrote the adventure, I was using D&D 3e and in that, there was a problem when a person fought while polymorphed. (I can't recall now, but I think it was a Concentration check per round). Sure, it's still an option, but it could be troublesome.Alter Self: Go ahead and use it!
Disguises in general: Remember that the assassin has been studying the daughter for a while. If he notices her using a battle-axe or casting spells, he's going to realize she's a fake. This is part of the fun of the adventure. One PC gets to Role-play, disguise or hide his/her abilities and run around like a ninny when all hell breaks out.
Daughter's name: Felicia, named after the thief from the D&D cartoon.
Having run them both Racing the Snake is less "dungeon crawl" that Torrents is. So if you like none crawls or plan to be running a bunch of them I would go that route. Torrents though can be fun if you plan for a long set of adventures on the Isle of Dread which will be getting a boatload (pardon the unintentional half-pun) of love in the next few issues.
GGG
PS John you still in the adventure writing game?...
PS John you still in the adventure writing game?...
Yep, I had a few proposals rejected earlier this year and then I moved which took a lot of time away from my creative work.
I've got another two proposals waiting to clear the render. ><crosses fingers><----------
RECENT STUFF:
I just "co-wrote" an e-book with Johnn Four, which you can read about here: http://rpgobjects.com/index.php?page=pro&product_id=225
(I put "co-wrote" in quotes here because I did very little work on it.)
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COMING SOON:
Johnn and I have been working on a project for city adventures for several years now. He's expecting the first part of which should be ready sometime soon. On this city project, I did a lot more writing (something like 65,000 words in total)
It looks like I will be going with Racing the Snake. You win John! :-)
In regards to the books that you were writing with Johnn Four, at one point he was writing an Encounter Essentials book (like a few years ago now!). Do you know if this is still floating around on a back burner somewhere or should I forget it ever existed as an idea?
Olaf the Stout
Well, I'm not entirely sure. Holiday Essentials seemed to leap into his mind quite recently. We've been working on our project (City Essentials) since I wrote this article (http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=141) for his roleplayingtips.com several years ago.
Who knows which one will come first. I know he has a new addition to his family coming soon, so that may hinder things even more.