I am looking over one of the individual adventures from Candlekeep Mysteries.  It's called Book of the Raven.  It's for 4-5 Level 3 characters  It starts with the characters finding a spooky book with a treasure map in it.  The treasure map leaded to a moldering, Ravenloft-esque Gothic chalet where the adventure takes place.  It's not a terrible set-up for a one-shot adventure.  As I go through it, I realize that there is something distinctly missing. 

There's a ghost that whispers to the PCs but it's explicitly stated as being too weak to manifest or do any harm.  There's a moth jump scare (lol wut).  There's a poltergeist that tries to scare the characters but doesn't attack them.  There's a possible fight if the characters insist on digging up graves for some reason.  It's 1 CR1 and 2 CR0 creatures.  That's the only actual fight in that part.  There's a room where the dilapidated floor creaks and groans but it explicitly states that there's no danger of it collapsing.  There are some wereravens who are...there.  They try to spook the characters by imitating sounds.  They don't actually do anything.  If the players decide to dig up a specific child's grave, remove the body and then lie in it, they are transported to an area where there a couple of real fights.  Why they would do this based on some vague stuff about evil whispers near the grave in a journal they may or may not find is beyond me.  Even there, the encounters are trivially easy in the literal sense that the CR system defines them as trivial difficulty.  They can only find out from the wereravens who are explicitly secretive and stay hidden as much as possible.

What's missing is any element of risk or danger.  There's lots of spooky atmosphere and some Goth tragedy.  There's no real danger at all.  The poltergeist is just trying to scare them and is a minor annoyance.  There's one fight that will only happen if they take a specific course of action.  For the listed levels, it's a complete joke.  It poses no real danger at all.  There's not even the small risk that PCs will fall through the floor and take a little damage.  The only real combat encounters are in an area that the PCs might well never see and they aren't hard or challenging at all.  Oh and there's no treasure.  I am going to have to rewrite this so it isn't just a boring waste of my player's time.  What the hell is this?  Do they think this is exciting or entertaining?  Everything doesn't need to be mud and blood deadly but there's no challenge here at all.       

I'm sure this is not the intent here, but an extremely capable writer could probably make an adventure that pranks the players by convincing them they're going through a haunted mansion only to reveal at the end that everything is completely harmless. You'd need a really good justification for why there's an adventure theme park in the setting, and you'd probably want it to be a puzzle dungeon so there is still some challenge, but it could work.

Not every adventure has to be danger and combat.

Also, the encounters they do have don't make any sense.  If you dig up one of the graves, there's a scarecrow and two crawling hands in there instead of the body.  Why are they there?  Apparently, a hag put them there.  Why?  For the lulz?  Maybe she has a youtube pranks channel?

Quote from: ForgottenF on August 05, 2024, 07:31:37 AMI'm sure this is not the intent here, but an extremely capable writer could probably make an adventure that pranks the players by convincing them they're going through a haunted mansion only to reveal at the end that everything is completely harmless. You'd need a really good justification for why there's an adventure theme park in the setting, and you'd probably want it to be a puzzle dungeon so there is still some challenge, but it could work.

It could theoretically work though it would be tough to pull off.  That's not what they are doing here.  There are no puzzles or trials beyond the need to do an obscure thing they have no real reason to do in order to access part of it.

Quote from: Omega on August 05, 2024, 07:37:26 AMNot every adventure has to be danger and combat.

If there's no element of risk or danger, it's not an adventure.  It's storytime and a boring story at that.

Candlekeep was the dividing line between when WOTC had actual gamers trying to produce a decent product and when they got replace by DEI writers who don't give a shit about gameplay.

There's practically no gameplay in it.  You find out the tragic but not very interesting story of the family that lived there and maybe talk to some wereravens.  The more I read this, the less sense it all makes.  It starts with a book that tells the story of a woman who was rescued by the Vistani and traveled with them for a while.  There's some Vistani lore the PCs might learn in Candlekeep.  None of this is at all relevant to anything in the adventure.  None of it. 

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 05, 2024, 09:14:44 AMThere's practically no gameplay in it.  You find out the tragic but not very interesting story of the family that lived there and maybe talk to some wereravens.  The more I read this, the less sense it all makes.  It starts with a book that tells the story of a woman who was rescued by the Vistani and traveled with them for a while.  There's some Vistani lore the PCs might learn in Candlekeep.  None of this is at all relevant to anything in the adventure.  None of it. 

Have you looked into the pool of authors WOTC has been using since 2021?  They literally hired failed "young adult" authors, article writers for activists "art" magazines and websites, and at least one cookbook author.  Not one of them has ever played D&D before getting hired. 

Your description of the module sounds like a ride at Disneyland. Haunted House Lite.

Quote from: Ruprecht on August 05, 2024, 10:12:10 AMYour description of the module sounds like a ride at Disneyland. Haunted House Lite.

It's a lot like that.

An adventure need not have much combat, but DOES need something interesting going on that will be challenging for the players, whether it be combat, social interaction, or exploration challenges. This turkey seems to have a little spooky atmosphere and nothing else.

The into to this thing comes from a treasure map. If there is no actual treasure then there should be something significant to discover that will lead to treasure, or else the hook is entirely pointless.

When an author has no idea what a D&D adventure is all about, and how to construct one, they have no business having their lame attempt published, especially in a high profile release from the supposed leader in the TTRPG industry.

Greetings!

*Laughing* I would add a group of Mavka Witches, a dozen Vampires, and several dozen Ghouls to the adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK on August 05, 2024, 02:16:36 PMGreetings!

*Laughing* I would add a group of Mavka Witches, a dozen Vampires, and several dozen Ghouls to the adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

In other words- you would add an adventure to the adventure.

Quote from: SHARK on August 05, 2024, 02:16:36 PMGreetings!

*Laughing* I would add a group of Mavka Witches, a dozen Vampires, and several dozen Ghouls to the adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I will probably ditch the wereravens and swap them out for something else.  They don't really do anything anyway.  I am not sure why they are even here except for some Ravenloft flavor. 

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 06, 2024, 12:43:13 AM

Quote from: SHARK on August 05, 2024, 02:16:36 PMGreetings!

*Laughing* I would add a group of Mavka Witches, a dozen Vampires, and several dozen Ghouls to the adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I will probably ditch the wereravens and swap them out for something else.  They don't really do anything anyway.  I am not sure why they are even here except for some Ravenloft flavor. 

Greetings!

My friend! I forgot all about the Wereravens!

I would remove them, and replace them with 1D3+2 Dire Black Waste Ravens. Such huge creatures are much more powerful than normal, mortal Ravens. Give them a savage bite attack, a fierce, and cruel intelligence, and a special attack of unleashing a breath-weapon gas attack, that envelops everything in a 15 or 20-foot radius. The special gas attack is a mutated wasteland gas that inflicts 2D6+Strength damage, and Save against Magic. Success causes the target to be immobilized for 1D3 Rounds from being horribly wracked with convulsions and pain. Failure results in the same 1D3 rounds of wracking, paralyzing pain, but also infects any creatures caught within the radius--and fail their saves--with a terrible, virulent disease--The Undeath Plague. Failed Characters transform over an incubation period of 1 week into being an Undead Creature.

Roll randomly from an appropriate Undead table, or select as deemed appropriate.

That will give arrogant Player Characters that fail something a little extra special to be thinking about their adventures to the Dark Chateau on the Hill.

I think Player Characters should sweat. They would soon embrace a genuine sense of fear for visiting my Dark Chateau on the Hill. Or at least embrace a genuine sense of respect for such an environment. *Laughing*

For an extra special ruthless touch, provide the evil Ravens with a wicked "Blessing of the Macabre Bell Tower". This ancient religious blessing, using the blood of virgin women trampled under the hooves of marauding Dark Champions, blesses the evil Ravens with the property on their beaks of having "Bite of the Hungry Shadow." Their beak attacks ignore all of their opponent's armour protection.

I would make it very likely that my players in this adventure would remember the evil, savage Ravens long after they left the Dark Chateau behind. Forever, whenever they encountered ravens again, a cloud of fear would sweep over them for sure. *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: yosemitemike on August 06, 2024, 12:43:13 AM

Quote from: SHARK on August 05, 2024, 02:16:36 PMGreetings!

*Laughing* I would add a group of Mavka Witches, a dozen Vampires, and several dozen Ghouls to the adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I will probably ditch the wereravens and swap them out for something else.  They don't really do anything anyway.  I am not sure why they are even here except for some Ravenloft flavor. 

Perhaps an evil kenku ninja clan?