Quote from: Exploderwizard on August 07, 2024, 12:31:56 PMWell then run this turkey as written. Give the audience what they signed up for. If they tell you it was super lame just say that is the adventure as written. Save your creative content for better adventures.

I would rather run a game that I and the players actually enjoy.  I am running a game here not making a statement.

Quote from: DocJones on August 07, 2024, 01:02:56 PMSounds like a Scooby Doo episode.  :-/

Having run it two years ago, my impression is that it was supposed to start like a haunted house, then  shift towards feeling like a Scooby Doo episode, probably peaking when the characters discover the people (wereravens) in the attic; but of course the PCs will realise these are friendlies, not kill them all, and get herded into the Shadowfell for the one big fight scene there.

But the whole backround/justification for the wereravens is weak, their logic is absolutely inconsistent, and it's just somebody imagining a "cool plot" with some animated video-game cutscenes and not building an interesting location or situation.

On Candlekeep in general: I had coworkers who wanted to play a game of disconnected 5e episodes with rotating DMs, and I said "Hey, WotC just published this book that might fit, and the reviews are mixed but we can work with it..." OMG it was such a flop. I mean, it lasted 21 sessions before I ended it, but playing through Candlekeep felt meaningless, from both sides of the DM's screen.

It has since worked so much better to do some light non-Forgotten Realms worldbuilding, create 20 pregens that don't make me roll my eyes at the "character builds", and drop leads to half a dozen OSR "starter adventures", and let the players for each series of sessions decide which characters to play and which rumours to chase.

Or what I'm running now, adapt Beyond the Wall lifepaths to 5e, again with light non-Forgotten Realms worldbuilding, take an ACKS minicampaign (Peaks & Valleys) and liberally season with other OSR adventures.

Quote from: Naburimannu on August 08, 2024, 05:02:11 AMBut the whole backround/justification for the wereravens is weak, their logic is absolutely inconsistent, and it's just somebody imagining a "cool plot" with some animated video-game cutscenes and not building an interesting location or situation.

Nothing about the wereravens makes any sense.  Their whole mission is to steal evil relics from evil people and stash them where evil people can't find them.  The founder made the map that the characters find in the hopes that someone reading the book would find it and follow it.  If he was looking at the chalet as a place to stash relics, why would he want random treasure hunters to go there?  Why leave a map to your potential hiding place where people will find it and indicate that it leads to treasure to get people to go out there?  Does he want people to find the relics?  The map leads the PCs straight to other members of the order and a relic they are trying to hide.  Once the PCs get there, the wereravens assume they are here to get the relic or to use the Shadowfell crossing even though there's no reason they would believe either one of these things.  The PCs will probably never realize the shadowfell crossing even exists let alone how to use it unless the wereravens tell them about it.  It would be easy for the wereravens to simply avoid contact until the PCs go away but they don't.  At some point, they approach the PCs even though there's no real reason for them to do this.  It's obvious that someone is squatting here but unlikely the PCs will connect that to the ravens around the area.  Why do the wereravens even care if the PCs use the Shadowfell crossing anyway?  They mimic normal noises in an attempt to scare the PCs off but this is guaranteed to fail while making the PCs more suspicious.

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 07, 2024, 11:15:15 PM

Quote from: Exploderwizard on August 07, 2024, 12:31:56 PMWell then run this turkey as written. Give the audience what they signed up for. If they tell you it was super lame just say that is the adventure as written. Save your creative content for better adventures.

I would rather run a game that I and the players actually enjoy.  I am running a game here not making a statement.

Then it is ok to let everyone know that you won't be running the advertised scenario because you want to run a GOOD adventure. This thing sounds so awful that you practically have to write your own anyway.

The description makes it sound like it might be a good encounter or two, but seriously lacking as a full-fledged adventure, especially for something like any form of D&D.

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 05, 2024, 07:45:53 AMIf there's no element of risk or danger, it's not an adventure.  It's storytime and a boring story at that.

You lack imagination.

@Yosimetemime, 

Is there anything that you can salvage from this adventure?  Is the map any good? 

I suggest that you make up your own adventure there work it into this setting.  Perhaps a pack of ghouls is digging up the bodies in the graveyard?

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:32:15 AMYou lack imagination.

No, I just know what adventure means.

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 09, 2024, 02:54:35 AM

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:32:15 AMYou lack imagination.

No, I just know what adventure means.

Yeah, I'm with YosemiteMike on this. If there's no risk or no danger, it's not an adventure. Maybe an interesting story, but not an adventure in RPG terms.

Quote from: Aglondir on August 09, 2024, 01:16:58 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 09, 2024, 02:54:35 AM

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:32:15 AMYou lack imagination.

No, I just know what adventure means.

Yeah, I'm with YosemiteMike on this. If there's no risk or no danger, it's not an adventure. Maybe an interesting story, but not an adventure in RPG terms.

Ok... so you both lack imagination.

You can go off on an adventure and never once face a single battle or even risk past a "do you achieve what you set out to do or not?"

A better word than "danger" might be something like "stakes" or "adversity". Most of the time, you want there to be something your players want to either achieve or prevent, and some force which opposes or interferes with that goal.

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 09:40:33 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on August 09, 2024, 01:16:58 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 09, 2024, 02:54:35 AM

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:32:15 AMYou lack imagination.

No, I just know what adventure means.

Yeah, I'm with YosemiteMike on this. If there's no risk or no danger, it's not an adventure. Maybe an interesting story, but not an adventure in RPG terms.

Ok... so you both lack imagination.

You can go off on an adventure and never once face a single battle or even risk past a "do you achieve what you set out to do or not?"

If I go to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and end up doing so and return with the milk, did I go an adventure?

Hell no. It was a simple task completion.

Quote from: Exploderwizard on August 09, 2024, 10:36:02 PM

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 09:40:33 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on August 09, 2024, 01:16:58 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 09, 2024, 02:54:35 AM

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:32:15 AMYou lack imagination.

No, I just know what adventure means.

Yeah, I'm with YosemiteMike on this. If there's no risk or no danger, it's not an adventure. Maybe an interesting story, but not an adventure in RPG terms.

Ok... so you both lack imagination.

You can go off on an adventure and never once face a single battle or even risk past a "do you achieve what you set out to do or not?"

If I go to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and end up doing so and return with the milk, did I go an adventure?

Hell no. It was a simple task completion.

Greetings!

When I was in the Marine Corps, a few of my buddies and I stopped at a grocery/drug store on our way to the beach. I think it was a CVS store. Went in, grabbed some smokes and pogey bait, and this cute Hispanic girl that was working there took care of our order. In the process, she started flirting with me, and she gave me her phone number.

Later that evening, after she got off from work, she and I were able to get together and hang out. She had a car, and she took me on an adventure! *Laughing*

Yes, even trips to the grocery store can be an adventure! *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

1.- Everything is a dungeon
2.- Everything is combat

What I mean is that you should build the adventure following those two precepts.

Except if you want to play Seattle starbucks baristas on their smoke break in the alley blabbering about gobbledygook.

Here, I'll give you a real threat that is subtle yet deadly, requiring the party to solve the mystery or otherwise become trapped. It's one I designed for a location in my Magic the Gathering using cards to "deck build" an adventure and Holder of Power's responses:

Have the house be alive (well yeah, it's haunted) and it APPORTATES your PCs' gear and tool resources until they party becomes dependent upon the house, and eventually fade and belong TO the house. So the house has its own stock of food, water, lighting, tools, bedding, stables, etc. And every time you use the house's resources you are cursed, fading just a bit from this reality, becoming transparent by pieces, until you are gone.

So as the party investigates it will apportate (teleport from one area to another) a tool or gear from each PC to *somewhere inconvenient* elsewhere on the manor grounds. This seems harmless because you can always use the house's resources. Until it starts to build up and you find you are physically fading away from this reality and dependent upon the house. You can use the Exhaustion Chart for charting fading levels without using all the penalties, or any other counter system will do.

It's a TPK on a timer with no heavy combat. The party *can* run away and fail the adventure, with mostly the loss of waterskins, rations, torches, candles, a few tools, mounts, pets, and bedrolls lost (no need to apportate their weapons, armor, or spellbooks at first). And the running away back to civilization will be hard because of the loss of gear. And the party will have to have the cursed removed if they wish to try again afresh (hence needing the resources of said Adventure level). It is a real threat, but not an explicit threat, it's an insidious threat.

If the house feels so cozy and the players are not on task or alert then they become another victim to the house. :evil: