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A fantastic rules light system that allows for portability to almost every Sci Fi property on the market!
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it is refreshing to see a "post apocalyptic" world that wasn't caused by disease or nuclear bombs. The intricately designed factions and the unique, life-like world make Ashland a must-play rpg!
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you so much for your support, Al! |
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This is a really cool module to start off the Oracle of War story arc! My only 2 complaints are that it is usually longer than a 4 hour module unless you remove encounters and that I think the encounters are WAAYYYY too challenging for a bunch of level 1 characters. The modules says it is balanced for level 1's but I believe it to be actually balanced to a party of level 3's. Otherwise, the flavor is exceptional and the jobs make good use of all pillars of play. I especially LOVE the logsheet for players to keep track of events!
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This was easily the best module of the series and the players enjoyed it. As a DM, I really enjoyed the "false finish" as it encouraged resource use making the final battle a little more challenging. Likethe previous mods, most of the encounters are pretty easy but made more challenging with the addition of things like a Skull Lord or Death Knight. One of our DMs even included a Beholder Zombie too.
While the story is there if the players look for it, we wished it was more readily available to the players. More lore would have really driven home how bad this threat really was. Ultimately everyone had fun and got to play more high level content so there are 2 wins right there.
I applaud the authors of the series to write a tier 3 arc! I know from experience they are terribly challenging to write and design!
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This module, like the first had some really great ideas but a few execution mistakes which make it basically a cakewalk for most tier 3 groups. We oved the design of the cliff face encounter as it effectively split the party but ultimately it didn't matter because while the party was split, they easily defeated the enemies. Midair combat can be really cool except the authors seem to forget that if a flying creature is knocked prone, it falls from the sky. This allows for tons of extra falling damage to be applied to already weaker monsters. The biggest challenge from the DM perspective is the sheer number of enemies they need to manage throughout the story. Even though the CR of the encounters technically work out, the threat isn't there and it takes forever to make all the enemies participate in combat. At tier 3, we should really be seeing several higher CR monsters at the same time to provide a challenge instead of multiple lower CR creatures.
Overall this module is pretty fun and easy to tweak with some slight DM epowerment. The players thouroughly enjoyed it and are excited to play the finale.
And heck, we're all excited to have more tier 3 content!
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This module is really close to being really good. I enjoy the story and concept but it felt like ultimately something was missing and nothing proved to be a threat to the party.
At its heart, this module gives the players a sandbox to defend a village from an oncoming attack. While the options here are great, the author assumes the party will stick together when in actuality there is no reason for them to. This allowed for the module to finish almost an hour early. Though some creative role play stuff is here, the bonuses you get aren't helpful and the DCs are far too low for Tier 3. In fact, it seems as though it is assumed players will pass all of the checks instead of giving a chance to fail forward.
The wave battle at the end feels like a boss fight from a video game however, many of the enemies are +4 to +6 to hit. Again, these numbers are laughable at tier 3 even when using a Halp action to grant advantage. There is a good attempt at providing some environmental effects but they don't come into play until the 3rd stage of the attack.
Speaking of stages, let's discuss stage 2 - Save the people in the house from ravenous Kenku. This stage has potential to be awesome, but as written, can be a waste of time. First, giving the chance of skipping this encounter altogether should be removed as again, it makes the module finish way early. Secondly, instead of runnning 30 npcs, I'd suggest making this a complex trap with a boat load of HP. This keeps the wave interesting without having aoes annihilating everything.
The 3 bosses on the final did provide a ton of damage but ultimately, even with maxed HP, they fell quickly with a strong table.
Ultimately I applaud the first chapter of this trilogy and I'm interested in how the rest pan out. This module can be a challenge with some tweaks and the players LOVED the sandbox aspect (It doesn't happen enough in organized play). We all know we need more higher level content out there, it is just a very had thing to do correctly and with a challenge!
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So now that I've read and run through this module a few times, I have to say it isn't one of my favorites. The module has very loose ties to the rest of the series and ultimately feels like a bunch of random encounters without a payoff. There is very little at stake for the players and you hae to stretch to help them know where or why they are going where they are going. This can all be adjusted with a lot of DM empowerment of course but I fail to see how a module without some sort of final encounter/choice/debate/puzzle provides closure for players.
The purpose of the tower in the module is interesting and builds on some older lore but the way the players explore and interact with the lore is lackluster and restrictive. I'm not sure why, when given the options of entering through the top or ground floor of the tower that the "big bad guys" are on the middle floor. This forces the encounter before the players can explore the entire complex.
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A really great story idea which can be amazing with a few tweaks. The skills/exploration part of this module was interesting though turning everything into group checks makes it feel more like the table is actually looking for things.
The first encounter is basically a combat scenario which has some neat interactions to deal loads of damage to tier 3 characters without even having to roll dice. I added a timer to make it feel like the NPC was in greater damage and to make the party have to dcide between just attacking or actually saving the NPC
The module mentions flying undead but there aren't any encounters with them which was a bit cconfusing. In the 2nd encounter if combat went down, I enhanced the combat by including some greater zombies that ould fly.
I wish there was more explration of the mote but really we only had about an hour to deal with the 2 rooms. At this point my players were a bit confused on what the "rot" was. Was it causing thngs to be poisonus? Was it turning things undead? Lots of open ends that I tried to close for them.
After speaking with the author, I understand the use of the "big bad" but felt it was confusing to people that had played season 1 modules as well as some AOs so made a slight tweak that he was happy about. The Green Abishai was a joke. Replaced him with a half black dragon archmage who was part of the Cult of the Dragon, connecting the story more to other modules.
With tweaks, the table had a blast and really enjoyed the story. As a one shot tier 3 it works though I don't really understand giving story awards to players and not characters. Maybe this worked at the convention it premiered?
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We ran several tables of this module at a charity event this weekend and EVERYONE enjoyed it! This module gives the DM loads of power to create an interesting and entertaining adventure. I must say that having the Pillars of Play section as a sidebar instead of at the bottom of the page allowed for a much better flow of ideas and story. If you have a role-playing focused group, 4 hours goes by like nothing but I imagine combat focused tables would finish this module in less than four hours. I didn't run the two bonus objectives due to time constraints but they both made sense and sounded like fun. The final scene provided a great challenge for my tier 2 group and they were scared for their lives at one point. If you are looking for a great Feywild story, pick this up!
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This module packs a punch with some original and entertaining enounters. Written in the season 8 format, Red War: Housekeeping is BY FAR the best use of Pillars of Play that I've seen in a module. My strong table of tier 3 players were challenged and often looked at scenarios from multiple persepctives.
Let me start by saying this module doesn't really have its own story, it happens parallel to the Red War epic so if you haven't played that or know why the Red War happened, you won't really understand the meaning behind many of these encounters (I had 2 players ask "What is the Red War?") This wasn't the fault of the author as the Red War came from the admin and community. Even without a solid knowledge of the story, players enjoyed the challenging encounters and strong opportunities at roleplaying. This module has a little somethning for almost everyone if you look for it. With an option of being run at DEADLY, combat focused parties will be challenged and with an over the top insane complex trap in one encounter, the skil driven character will be in heaven.
The one part I didn't care for also wasn't the fault of the author. This module takes place in Mulmaster during the Red War so it uses the same restrictions and special rules as the epic had. I'm sorry but rolling on wild magic for every single spell just slows the game down and adds little I used it like every 5 spells and the characters got it. The stading 5 ft away from people and getting exhaustion thing is too restrictive for players to have fun.
That said, this module can be what you make of it. Encounters can be done in any number of orders as you describe where the Red War is happening in the town. My table got through all of the encounters except one but I heard a couple other tables say they missed 2 or 3 due to roleplaying. This means the module has replayability which is ALWAYS a good thing. While this isn't my favorite module from the author (check out Birds of a Feather and the Nightmare series), it is a refreshing look at the new format and players who love Mulmaster and what has been happening there will find the story quite meaningful.
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This module was an entertaining sequel to the original MACE story. The connections here are pretty strong and the combat encounters are appropriate for the tier. This stoy is basically a wild goose chase along the north coast of the Moonsea and into Thar. Unfortunately, the story doesn't really develop beyond that. This module felt more like a bunch of encounters without much story. Some people love this but our table continually tried to rp through the encounters instead of having fights. The table soon learned that not all of the encounters can be conquered with this type of playstyle.
Ultimatly the table had fun but were a little bummed with how linear everything felt. The story does work well as a one shot if people are looking for one and The Winged Panther is a cool character who clearly has a story to tell!
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This module has some hilarious moments where roleplaying is a blast. My table reported that they truly in a mind trip as we progressed through the last parts of the module. The biggest issue we had was time. This is not a 4 hour module, it is more like 6. This module has the possibility of having more than five combats which slows the module down a lot, and most of the combats don't have ways of getting around them using the pilars of play. My DMs had to cut out half of the combats and tweak another one. Overall though, the players enjoyed what they were presented, we just had to modify things to fit in our 4 hour block of time.
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This module tickled 10 year old me's fancy. The story, while a bit goofy was fun and the players bought into it. That said, the combats in the module were ridiculously easy and I had to use DM empowerment to beef them up by a lot. The final battle felt more like a tier 2 encounter as written. There is some fun stuff in the final encounter that sent my players into panic mode and made for some hilarious choices they had to make.
This module does a great job referencing older modules and books which helps it to become a more flavorful experience for some players. The one thing it lacked was reasoning, why are these cults all of a sudden working together? While the "enemy of my enemy" thing is fun to do, it falls a bit short without significant reasoning in the mod.
If you are sick of trilogies and are looking for a tier 3 one shot, this module could be a great follow up to both season 1 and 2 content. It can be a fun experience for your players, just be prepared to make a few tweaks to make the encounters more of a threat and to add a little to the story.
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for taking the time to post a review; I'm glad you enjoyed the adventure! |
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The amount of detail that Jay put into this module is mind boggling. Accounting for almost anything a party could choose to do, this module is a blast! We ran 4 tables of the module at our shop last week and EVERY table had a different experience. All tables had fun and were challenged with creative scenarios that could involve combat or social ways to avoid. Overall this is a great introduction to the series and we are excited to run the next to parts over the next few weeks.
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First things first, this is not a 4 hour module. With all that is happening in ths module I'd suggest 5-6 hours to become full immersed.
This module is filled with some prett hilarious encounters and they can be pretty entertaining if run right. That said, with all the things going on in the town, it can be challenging for groups (especially those with low Int) to peice together the small strands of plot. For the first half of the module, it felt like random encounters to them.
The module reaches its climax outside of town in a pretty brutal fight. The fight has some tough opponents but there really isn't much of a chance to avoid the battle through social prowess.
The final encounter back in the city provides great opportunities for combat focused groups and social focused characters alike.
It is very clear that these mods have had a lot of thought and design put into them.
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