Attended my first WW D&D Day yesterday in Pomfret, CT @ Wonderland Comics.
Fun!
The characters were very well balanced for the adventure, and the monsters were interesting and challenging. Meeting fellow players from the area that I had never been in contact with ranked a close second to the adventure. Several players had just moved into the area, and one person had been looking for a group for over a year. Thanks to this event, all three now will have a steady game to play in close to where they live. At the end of the day contact numbers were exchanged and and new friends were made. Even if I never see some of them again till next year, I will definitely go again in '08.
Did anyone else attend? Was it as fun and productive for you? This is the place to let everyone know what a good time you had, or to comment on what could be done differently next year.
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This is the fourth year I've done this, and I thought it was the best one yet, as far as how it was set up by WOTC. They had the module well laid out with a decent range of challenges, well tailored to the pre-generated characters that came with it. The players were given kits containing a character sheet, mini, d20, and a little pencil, so everything a new player would need (minus damage dice and some scrap paper). And since next year will be *shudder* 4E, this will likely be my last, so I'm glad they put together something worth it.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Thank you for reminding me Christopher,
Yes, the kits were excellent. All the minis needed, and multiples of the PCs for running it a few times. I also noticed the maps were dungeon tiles printed on the poster, very nice.
Wish I'd a few more of those spined devils though.
And thanks to Mark Middleton for running it. We had a nice chat about Erik ;-)
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Attended my first WW D&D Day yesterday in Pomfret, CT @ Wonderland Comics.
Fun!
The characters were very well balanced for the adventure, and the monsters were interesting and challenging...<snip>....
Did anyone else attend? Was it as fun and productive for you? This is the place to let everyone know what a good time you had, or to comment on what could be done differently next year.
Glad you liked it! you guys made it much more fun then last year when it was just 3 people. Its too bad the owner didn't make it before we all left or I could have given out more freebies (He's pretty big on door prizes). The one thing I would say about the premade Characters, is that they need to have skills listed better... at least the ones that the adventure calls for like balance/jump/climb/spot. I'm not sure if you guys taking the BBEG out in 1 round was just from the maxxed damage some of you rolled or the fact that I didn't beef him up enough for the two extra players... but it was a good time and i will be sure to left you all know next time we do something
We had a great time here in Korea.
I ran two groups through the adventure.
The first group included a father and two of his sons, probably ages 10 and 12. I don't think they had much exposure to D&D before this, but they did really well. It was fun to have young players at the table. The young boys ran the cleric and the sorcerer, and made great use of their abilities.
It was fun watching them figure out things, like "Can I melt the ice thing with my scorching ray?" and they were quite pleased with the results.
They were excited about the little freebies, and I also gave them my set of DM dice I was given as part of the package.
The second group turned out to be a group of people I have met over the past couple of months, and they may turn out to be my next gaming group.
Another DM ran one session, which lasted longer than my first one. I checked in on them, and they all seemed to be having a good time as well. One of his players was a local Korean guy that spoke okay English, and he really liked the game. I think he knew D&D Miniatures, and he wanted to give D&D a try.
Everyone sat around looking at the 4th Ed. preview card, comparing the differences with the current card. It was interesting to see the change in stat bonuses. I wonder if that means they're going away from a 3d6 character generation. Hmm.
Oh... and...
This is the third time I've run events (couldn't do it last year), and this year's event seems like the best prepared, from the DM packaged adventure side.
Previous years there were promises of pre-generated characters, but none given. The little boxes were great to hand out. The adventure was a fun "storm the castle" scenario, with lots of opportunities for the DM to embelish upon.
The character builds may not have been perfect, but they were built to handle the adventure, and it worked out perfectly. For my groups, anyways.
I'll still be in Korea next year, and I'll try to run things again. I'm not sure on 4th Ed yet, but it will be interesting to run a 4th Ed adventure to see how it all works.
I was a little disappointed with the tired cliche of the dwarf-drow-duergar trio. And to have a 4th level party greeted by 2 krenshar(followed a whole round later by 4 goblins) seemed a little unchallenging to me. The entire 8-room dungeon was a cakewalk for the players.
On the plus side, let me say first that I was delighted that fate once again placed me in the lofty DM's chair, a role I play with both pride and humility. When I first sat down as a player, I had arrived in the nick of time not knowing if I could even make it to the event. When another table needed a DM, I jumped at the chance!
The players at my table were a delight. Four out of five knew each other and had a jocular ambience rolling across the table.
Also, in defense of the adventure itself(a dungeon crawl has to be quite good to interest me as I prefer event and journey style goodness) I must say that the simplicity certainly was helpful for someone like me who just arrived having NO prep time at all or for new DMs and children(there was a dad with 2 young boys).
I also appreciated the crypt which was obviously optional(my players were smart enough not to desecrate their own ancestral burial chamber!).
The wraith mini is very nice. Being given only one ice mephit mini seemed a little cheap to me( as did giving the players only a d20 and not the other dice as well). Still, I am very grateful to be walking away with all this DM loot!
So all in all, I have to commend WOTC on a good performance overall (finally-sheesh).
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I also appreciated the crypt which was obviously optional(my players were smart enough not to desecrate their own ancestral burial chamber!).
yeah our group had two of the greedy halfling... they waited fro the rest of the part to leave, and then opened the coffin. one reached in grabbing the first thing he touched and threw it.... and it almost took his head off when it came back (Roth - you guys didn't see that roll... he almost hit himself, missed by 1)
I did a couple runs of the official adventure and ran one group through ...And Madness Followed. This was my first time doing a Game Day and I was pleased with how well it went. My only complaints about the adventure and characters provided were minor (it came up that the rogue had maxed out Search and Disable Device, but there were no traps). Overall I thought it was a good introductory adventure and I think that 4th level was a good idea because it gave characters options, but it wasn't overwhelming. I got to meet a couple of players that hadn't played since 2E and everybody seemed to have a good time. All in all a great time.
It was great. I didn't get any sleep the night before. We had three groups. One group was running an Eberron noir murder mystery. Another group was run by a good friend of mine (our usual DM) running the printed campaign--though buffed out with more encounters per room and more roleplaying added content so it wasn't a total dungeon-crawl. I ran a Ghostwalk game based loosely off an adventure published in that book--renamed "The Theater of Bone" (originally "For Absent Friends").
I sank about $80 into maps and miniatures for the game and it was totally worth it. We did the first two hour session of it and everyone was just pumped for the second half. We had four players. I made two of the characters as pregens. One guy played with one of the Forgotten Realms guys (the dwarven paladin) with a rewritten background. One guy, a real old-school kick-in-the-door gamer made his own guy on the spot. Two of the guys had never gamed before. One was pretty new. The last guy was a crusty old vetran. By the end of the game everyone was snarling and yelling out battle cries in character. We had squabbled in group between the gnarly dwarf paladin of Durann and the steppes riding Thurka exile. It was pretty darn sweet!
I got to play this year (ended up running for like 8 players last year at the very last second).
I was excited to play, and we had a great DM.
I liked the character builds ok for the dungeon, but really was only interested in playing the halfling or the elf sorcerer. I got the sorcerer.
I felt the adventure was much better than last year. Much simpler, and very well balanced, nothing too deadly. Last year's was a meat grinder, at least at my table.
Our DM had the Deurger and Drow high tail and run when most of the goblins dropped. Once the drow ran, I chased hitting him with a scorching ray. I had one last shot before he got away and used my last magic missile, but I got a total of 12 to beat his SR of 13, and the DM said my minimum magic missile damage woulda dropped him. Really woulda made my day if he hadn't gotten away.
Enough rambling...
Well, I think it was a total success, and was really pleased with it.
-c
I had a table of new players and kids, whi had a great time. In addition to learning the rules, they learned:
1.) The rogue really shouldn't sneak back to loot the tomb while the rest of the party is chatting with the annoying mephit ("This is our ancestral home. Go live somewhere else!" "No! Stinky dwarfs, this is mephits' ancestral home!")
2.) Don't stand next to the big hole.
3.) Don't let the Drow trick you into standing next to a big hole when you fight him.
After the rogue ticked off the undead, the party tied him to the paladin with a 10' "leash". This was bad, because the paladin kept falling down holes in the floor.
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There were four of us, and I've been gaming longer than any of the other three had been alive. I started to have some respect for at least 2 of them, but one of them stated his joy at purchasing 4E books. The kid playing the rogue was a kick in the ass though. He kept failing his search checks while looking for traps, but kept right on plugging away at it.
We kicked the crap out of that drow.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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One other thing I learned...
Always yell "Moradin!" when you're rolling to hit for the paladin. Couldn't hit squat until the finally battle when I charged the Duregar, got hit by one goblin AoA, missed by the other two and the drow. Slammed into the duergar hit with a 2 point power attack, hurting him. Survived hits from the drow and the Duregar while the rest of the party moves in. Did a power attack/smite "Moradin" battle cry and critted, close to 30 points of damamge. Survived anotehr drow hit, now down to 3 HP. Rolled to kill the drow, forgot to yell Moradin, and missed.
The Human fighter dropped her to zero and with her last action the drow hit the figther.
unfortunately no places near us were doing it. Our closest game/comic store doesn't do "things like that because they cost too much money".
:(
That little golf tee pencil with the D&D logo on it was a hoot!
I played the dwarf cleric, so I had good roleplay stuff to do with both my brother the paladin and the halflin rogue, who followed me around (for cover, I suspect).
It was an adequate dungeon crawl, but the setup with the treasure box for the PCs and the adventure pack minis for the Dm was outstanding support.
Let me see, the shopkeeper told me when I called ahead that things would start at 10:00, and sure enough someone arrived to play at noon. Too bad they came to play the WoW CCG.
I did come across three Basic D&D Gazetteers to add to my collection, at half what I would've paid on eBay. And I bought three Dungeon Crawl Classics. I guess it was a success for the store on that account.
When I left at 2:00 (with the swag) there was no hope of the D&D adventure being played, but at least I didn't get suckered into playing the Starcraft boardgame. Fantasy Flight Games be darned!
I went with my wife and a friend, and we very much enjoyed it. It was merely a dungeon-stomping crawl, but a fun one. We remarked that we are used to a lot more roleplaying and moral decisions--from both home game and Living Greyhawk experience--and running pell-mell through a dungeon from time to time is a great release.
Coincidentally, our table had three men and two women--just like the pregenerated characters--and my friend and I ended up playing the dwarven brothers. That allowed everyone to slip into the "pre-set" group dynamics quickly!
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unfortunately no places near us were doing it. Our closest game/comic store doesn't do "things like that because they cost too much money".
:(
um.... all the store had to do was email a certain email address with the store name, contact information and shipping address, Wizards paid for the rest... while it only netted about $20 profit for the store on that particular day, we have 3 of the players coming to my weekly game tonight, and if they like it every monday.. being there that often means there will be purchases in the future. Plus one of the other people was thinking about starting a new game at the store on Saturdays, who knows what that will bring in...
yeah our group had two of the greedy halfling... they waited fro the rest of the part to leave, and then opened the coffin. one reached in grabbing the first thing he touched and threw it.... and it almost took his head off when it came back (Roth - you guys didn't see that roll... he almost hit himself, missed by 1)I also appreciated the crypt which was obviously optional(my players were smart enough not to desecrate their own ancestral burial chamber!).
Oh that was classic! "Leave the last tomb alone" I said. "Lets go punish the goblins" I said. But in true D&D form the rouges just couldn't help themselves. :-)
Big "thanks" here to Cpt Kirstov who ran our game. Kept it moving, kept it fun. Who could ask for more? :-)
Looking forward to next years get together, and the chance to compare 3.5 to 4.0.
um.... all the store had to do was email a certain email address with the store name, contact information and shipping address, Wizards paid for the rest... while it only netted about $20 profit for the store on that particular day, we have 3 of the players coming to my weekly game tonight, and if they like it every monday.. being there that often means there will be purchases in the future. Plus one of the other people was thinking about starting a new game at the store on Saturdays, who knows what that will bring in...unfortunately no places near us were doing it. Our closest game/comic store doesn't do "things like that because they cost too much money".
:(
yeah that is what I assumed. However the few stores we have are run by idiots, hence why one of them closed recently.
its sad to live here as a gamer
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I really had a load of fun. I never get to run a PC anymore, it seems, and I had a blast playing a Paladin.
Moreover, I got to bask in my own DMing success: my homebrew group plays on Sat evenings and they had all gone to the lgs that morning to have fun playing with an RPGA DM, running everything standardized (they've never done RPGA before). When I got there nearer to our homebrew gaming time my players flocked to me, politely informing me of how dull an experience the RPGA is and how my homebrew DMing creates a superior roleplaying experience. They went so far as to "warn" me not to play, that it'd be a miserable time. That kind of stuff really makes a DM feel good about his campaign.
Despite their concern for my enjoyment, I played, asking for their sympathy because I never get to run a PC -- and had a blast! And, you know, I didn't mind having my PC take the spotlight in the various encounters -- metaphorically stepping on the other players' shoes: my Paladin did all the talking, planning, decision making -- took lead point, etc., the whole game. I figured, I was there for me, damnit!
-W. E. Ray
Nobody told me it was on saturday, although all my players went together.
This calls for some TPK's.
... This calls for some TPK's.
The Abyss has no fury as a DM scorned!
I participated, and it was pretty fun. Did anyone else notice that the clerics got gimped a feat and their domains? I know the pre-gens need to be simple, but I also think they need to be complete.
The pregens were complete. Any feat that wasn't something the player had to use actively, like Power Attack or Dodge, was simply not written down. I don't remember what the cleric had, but he wasn't the only one with the feat not written down. I went through with my players and each character turned out correct.
I can't say the same for the adventure, though. If anyone has it still, check out the stat block for the bugbears and let me know how they got an AC of 19.
If anyone has it still, check out the stat block for the bugbears and let me know how they got an AC of 19.
Please remind me: What sort of armor and shields were they using? As I recall, they had better gear than the average bugbear.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I participated, and it was pretty fun. Did anyone else notice that the clerics got gimped a feat and their domains? I know the pre-gens need to be simple, but I also think they need to be complete.
I don't remember what the feat was but we figured out it was something like weapon focus or WP Maul.
The Human axe fighter for example had WF Dwarven Waraxe and WS Dwarven Waraxe. And the Paladin had WF Greatsword.
THE DARKNESS!!!! IT WILL TAKE YOU!!!!!
In other words, I have to be honest, I was bored by this module. I played Durven the Paladin and basically phoned in the whole darn thing. "Oh, it's my turn? Ok, I guess I'll swing at [insert monster here]. Oh, I hit? Cool."
There was no role playing opportunities and the adventure itself was not creative. Here it is in a nutshell:
You start at the entrance to an old dwarven hall called Frostsilver. Fight goblins...fight shadow...fight devils...fight bugbears...fight Drow and Duerger and goblins...win.
Each room felt like an excersise in rolling dice. Not a single reason to have skills (which were appropriately not included on the character sheet) and no reason to talk to anyone at the table.
If this had been my first experience with D&D I think I would have been turned off.
THE DARKNESS OVERWHLEMS ALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!
DARKNESS SHALL POUR FROM THE... ah you get the point,
on a positive note, it was very cool getting the little treasure chest with a free minature and d20. And all the swag was nice (the spined devil, the free modules (which in the end are kind of shite), the book mark, the templates, etc.). The elf sorceror Xaphinia was a pretty awesome sculpt...hee.
'Sides that, boring.
darkness and shadow shall rule us all. the end.
So it was just factored in and not written down? That makes sense, but it still should have been written down, so at least we would know right away that the PC had the correct amount of feats. That still doesn't cover the domains.
Yup, the simpler the better so as not to overwhelm the new players. I also played the cleric, and was plesantly suprised to see I was carrying a Maul... wait... a Maul? Sweet! I took it as given that the unlisted feat for the cleric was Martial WP: Maul. Tried to use it to good roleplaying effect as we entered the final battle. "Taste the Hammer of Moradin!" and all that. :-)
Did anyone else capture one of the goblins at the beginning for interogation purposes? We had a great role playing session with that one, spending close to 10 minutes having each character role play his alignment while figuring out what to do with the little bugger after we had squeezed him for all he was worth.
(Note to the S.P.C.A., no "Enhanced Interogation Techniques" were used in the questioning of the goblin) ;_)
I really liked the setup this year. I was one of four running it at our local game store, and the owner wanted myself to be the "hard, TPKing" DM of the four, which I embraced heartily. While the krenshars and goblins were laughable, the mephits gave my PCs fits (no wizard in the group), and I finally TPK'd them after a critical hit from a Melf's Acid Arrow throwing Duergar and the goblins using the player's usual tactic (everybody shoot at one target until it drops) against them. I really liked the promotional stuff we gave out, and everyone who played had fun. Almost as much fun as the Paizo delve at GenCon. Almost...
I love D&D day, probably because its the one day a year that my players let me play instead of DMing, but this year was one of the best. In spite of what people say about the builds, the characters this year were great, and a huge improvement over last year (anyone remember last year's Paladin with no Charisma bonus?). There was an excellent turnout (its good to see that D&D is alive and well in Toronto), the DMs and players were awesome, the adventure was fun and the swag was sweet.
Say what you will about the adventure, but sometimes its nice just to go underground, kill some goblins, desecrate some tombs, and get into trouble. My favorite part of the game was convincing the Dwarves to open the sarcophagus (I was the Sorcerer) "If he's your ancestor, don't you think he'd want you guys to have his stuff?".
Good times.
Hmmm and to think I didn't join in this year as the WotC website had troubles listing available stores till a week or so before the event. Also I thought the theme and characters were uninspiring. But still glad it was fun but if you don't mind I will secretly curse you for it.
If anyone has it still, check out the stat block for the bugbears and let me know how they got an AC of 19.Please remind me: What sort of armor and shields were they using? As I recall, they had better gear than the average bugbear.
They have MW studded leather and no shields because they use two weapons (and no Two-Weapon Defense). They have a Dex of 15 and +3 Natural Armor.
That adds up to AC 18; touch 12; flat-footed 16
The adventure lists AC 19; touch 12; flat-footed 18
Even if there was a hidden +1 it doesn't explain the flat-footed AC. It wasn't a huge deal and only came up when the rogue tried to sneak attack one. As listed he would have missed, but I caught it.
In other words, I have to be honest, I was bored by this module. I played Durven the Paladin and basically phoned in the whole darn thing. "Oh, it's my turn? Ok, I guess I'll swing at [insert monster here]. Oh, I hit? Cool."
There was no role playing opportunities and the adventure itself was not creative.
The players I ran had a good time, but we were fortunate enough to have some good roleplaying between party members. I also changed the mephit encounter into a roleplaying interaction, as they argued with the dwarves about whose "ancestral halls" Frostsilver really was.
DARKNESS!!!!!
Sir Wulf, that sounds like plain ol good DMing. I wish I would have been at your table. My run through Frostsilver was much too straightforward. Where's the creativity? That's why I play D&D, if I want to roll dice all day I'll play RISK.
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They have MW studded leather and no shields because they use two weapons (and no Two-Weapon Defense). They have a Dex of 15 and +3 Natural Armor.That adds up to AC 18; touch 12; flat-footed 16
The adventure lists AC 19; touch 12; flat-footed 18
Even if there was a hidden +1 it doesn't explain the flat-footed AC. It wasn't a huge deal and only came up when the rogue tried to sneak attack one. As listed he would have missed, but I caught it.
I just took it to mean that they're screwing around with thier natural AC in 4.0 and momentarily forgot what version of the game they were writing for.....
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Well, it was my first year attending, and while I enjoyed myself very much, I did have some beefs about the module. First, each dwarf was missing a feat. Second, no wand or ranged weapon for the sorcerer, and finally, the DM added things that made us nearly TPK. But I still had fun, and it makes me want to run the module in the future.