TheCyberwolfe's Keep on the Shadowfell

[thecyberwolfe]

I'm running this one pretty by-the-book, just to get a good feel for the changes since I haven't played D&D back since the original AD&D hardcovers came out.

Players Note: spoilers ahead, go away. DMs may keep reading.

Are they gone? Good.

My group meets live, I'm using MT and IT to save on paperwork and the expense of maps and minis, plus it's a lot more fun to draw in MT than on a battlemat.

...

The original party were all killed on the first night in the second Kobold ambush due to a sad lack of tactical cohesion and lack of a Cleric (the Paladin and Warlord's healing abilities weren't enough). I only have 4 players, so being the Gemini that I am, I have been running an Archer-style Ranger in the party just to round out the numbers.

By DM Fiat (that most ultimate of Powers) the Ranger managed to crawl into the bushes and hide while the Kobold Warpriest was busy setting the Mage on fire. He then went back to town and hired a new Party to help avenge his fallen comrades. I had them roll up 2nd-level characters, since they were just about to ding it anyway.

This second party consists of another Paladin (D-Born, natch), a new Warlord (another D-Born), a Cleric (Dwarf) and a Mage (Tiefling) to accompany the aforementioned Elven Ranger. This time, the Players created their characters with a very large eye on tactics.

The Kobold hideout was a perfect trial run for the party, and really taught them how to wrap those tactics in. The guy playing the Warlord this time 'round is a bit of a meta-gamer, but he's also the backup DM so he's not making my life miserable, and keeps me in check when I make decisions for the Ranger. The previous Warlord is now the Cleric, and much better at that.

Level 1 of the Keep is currently littered with "dead" state icons, but it was touch-and-go when they were talking to Keegan's ghost. (I've got a wise-cracking bunch, and I made 'em role-play it instead of rolling challenges.) I actually had to force them to run around and mop-up the rest of the level after they managed to run in almost a straight line to the entrance to level 2. (I hadn't drawn it yet!) They managed to ding 3rd just before entering level 2.

*As a side note, the whole graveyard encounter with Ninaran was really poorly thought out. I mean, the party is now on a mission to Save The World from Kalarel and Orcus, yet they are supposed to leave the Keep after the first level? Riiiight.

Once into the second level of the dungeon, they are just cruising. I managed to have the spider chomp on the Pally's backside twice before it got mowed down, but even that didn't slow them up much. (the Pally has lucky dice for saves.)

Last night's best combat was the Hobbo Warchief's council room. You want tactics? Here's an example:

Hobgoblin Soldier 3 spent half the fight missing (and being missed by) every attack. He finally manages to touch the Pally for a measly 6 damage, and the next init is the Warlord. The Warlord manages to run around and flank HS3 against the Pally and hits him with Warlord's favor, then spends an action point and launches Hammer and Anvil - Warlord and Paladin make both attacks and HS3 goes from untouched to almost dead in one turn.

Having that Ranger in the party has also given me an excuse to not kill the party a second time. In the encounter at the North end of that same hall, the Pally charged the Hobbo Warcaster but forgot that he was already bloodied. The Warcaster's next attack hit and probably would have killed him, but the Ranger had taken Disruptive Strike and used that to foil the attack.

We're having a lot of fun with this and digging the 4E rules. IT is making my job so much easier, and MT has been a great tool as well.

Trevor and all the other Devs: we tip our hats to you!

MapTool Performance - I've run all of this in b39 so far, and haven't had too many problems with it. Last night toward the end of the game session, just about every update to the map (moving tokens, applying states, whatever) would cause the whole window to re-paint, and it would often forget to draw in the sub-windows. (File explorer, map explorer, etc - all the stuff on the left.) Running the mouse over it or clicking in the area would bring it back.

InitTool Performance - I'm running 1.0b10, with a custom settings file and lookup database, and it has been running perfect.

[thecyberwolfe]

Finished off level 2 of the Keep on Sunday, and again with the window refresh problem, but it sounds like Trevor will have that nailed in the next build.