D&D 4E 4e Madness for the holidays!

[Jacob Lewis]

So this just came in the mail for me today. I was skeptical at first when I saw it listed on Amazon as new; more so when the price was listed at half of what I've seen it go for on eBay. I still paid a few gold (platinum?) coins for it, but it was nowhere near the $250-300 average I've seen every place else. I've owned my share of rare and collectible pieces in my 40+ years of D&D gaming, selling some for a decent markup. But I think this will stand as one of my personal favorites. I don't know if I can bring myself to punch the counters, but I really want to run it! sigh

Anyone else get their hands on something that made them excited and stupid-happy?

 

[jayoungr]

Solution for the tokens: Use a color printer to print copies onto heavy cardstock, and cut out those. You can even find an appropriately-sized hole punch at a craft store to make the cutting part easy.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Solution for the tokens: Use a color printer to print copies onto heavy cardstock, and cut out those. You can even find an appropriately-sized hole punch at a craft store to make the cutting part easy.

I've also got a bunch of pawns to use.

But if a group was willing to play (and I start running games in person again), I would probably punch them out (the tokens and the dungeon tiles, not the players!). Give them the full 4e experience. I mean, that's why we buy the modules and stuff, right? eyes the decades-worth of game materials still waiting on the shelves

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I've decided to make this into a full-length Heroic-tier 4e campaign to cover levels 1-10. I will be using Reavers of Harkenwold to fill out the first five levels, but I will need to expand it since it only covers play for levels 2-3. The write up is being worked up and posted on another site (where there's dedicated sub-forums for specific editions). Once I finish the write ups and happy with the results, I might post it here. Provided there's any response or interest...?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

A quick preview from my latest post:

Part III: The Fell Court
Threats to the Nentir Vale

I must confess. If the Neverwinter Campaign Setting had not pointed me to the Fell Court while I was reviewing the Ashmadai (see Part IV below), I probably would have overlooked them. Reading the first paragraph of their description, however, it's still likely that I might have skipped them altogether. Take a look at what it says:

The first tieflings entered the Nentir Vale as ragged survivors, exiled from most civilized areas and distrusted by all because of the corruption of Bael Turath. A handful of tiefling scoundrels descended from those refugees have banded together for mutual protection, calling themselves the Fell Court. These self-proclaimed scions of Bael Turath are determined to restore the shattered empire under their rule.

It's interesting, to be sure. But from what I read there, I didn't think I would be able to make it work for this adventure. The group operates mostly out of Fallcrest, which is a few days removed from Harkenwold. And the Court seems like they would have a conflict of interest with the Iron Circle. Both want to see themselves in power, but neither strike me as the type to share it. Or, so I thought.

I continued reading and found this hidden surprise on the next page:

Through his network of spies and informants, Melech Ambrose (the leader of the Fell Court) has become aware of the activities of the Iron Circle and learned that its leaders are followers of Asmodeus. Thus it seems to him that the Fell Court and the Iron Circle have much in common.

Alright. Some of you might have picked up on the relationship between tieflings and devils right away. I, on the other hand, needed to have it spelled out for me. Regardless, I am grateful that it did. I have yet to find a more succinct and intriguing correlation between the Iron Circle and any other faction or monster anywhere. This one, in my opinion, is a really, really good one. Here's why.

Up until this point, I had expected to find only mercenaries, weak-willed sycophants, and mindless monsters that could easily be manipulated to do whatever the Iron Circle wants them to do. The Fell Court, however, is none of these things. They are scoundrels, schemers; villains in their own right. And they are willing to help these new comers achieve their goals of conquest, if only to get closer to achieving their own.

But an alliance has not yet been made. Thus far, the Iron Circle has ignored the Melech Ambrose's requests for an audience. But the leader of the Fell Court answers to his own dark masters; devils and fiends who have a vested interest in seeing Bael Turath rise from the ashes. One might think Asmodeus would align the groups towards a common goal. If so, why hasn't he done so already? Well, who says it has to be Asmodeus? Maybe a rival or upstart devil is using the Court to work their own machinations? And here we have our most interesting twist!

From an adventure designer's perspective, this presents an opportunity to create a decision point allowing for multiple paths in an otherwise linear script. Will the Fell Court join the invaders? Can the party stop them from adding their strength to the Iron Circle? Or do the tieflings have some other nefarious plans to betray everyone? These are all delicious possibilities better left decided by the players and the actions of their characters.

I'll explore the Fell Court in more detail, and the role they'll play in this adventure, in another section later. For now, I have some new monster stats for the adventure, including Melech Ambrose himself. They are:

• Fell Court Blackheart (level 2 Lurker)
• Fell Court Ruffian(level 2 Minion Brute)
• Fell Court Creep (level 3 Minion Skirmisher)
• Fell Court Underboss (level 3 Soldier (Leader))
• Fell Court Hellmage (level 4 Artillery (Leader))

And that's not all! Because the Fell Court have access to small groups of the tiefling-bred monsters, called Felldrakes, which adds the following creatures to the list:

• Leaping Felldrake (level 1 Lurker)
• Crested Felldrake (level 2 Skirmisher)
• Hissing Felldrake (level 3 Artillery)
• Tri-Horned Felldrake (level 4 Soldier)

 

[pukunui]

Nice find! I managed to score a copy back in the early days of 5e. I had thought of running a Nentir Vale campaign (converted to 5e) centered around Madness at Gardmore Abbey but I still haven’t gotten around to it yet.

 

[Retreater]

I ran this back in the day. It was a solid adventure. I regret having sold my copy when I purged my 4e collection. Congrats on the find.

 

[haakon1]

Nice find indeed. I was never into 4e, but it’s nice to see a non-5e posting. D&D is more than just the current edition.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Nice find indeed. I was never into 4e, but it’s nice to see a non-5e posting. D&D is more than just the current edition.

Indeed. I purged lots of older materials from my collection that I stopped using because I needed to reclaim space on my shelf for new books. But I kept several titles that still had value for me. It may have been a favorite adventure or sourcebook, nostalgic memories that remind me of a time in my life, or the information is still useful.

For example, I may never play or run a 3rd edition game again, but I still have almost every Forgotten Realms sourcebook from that edition. There is so much information and detail about the setting that is edition neutral. In my mind, my FR games are still set in that era.

And I'll never get rid of my 4e stuff. That is the perfect edition for me, despite its imperfections. But I will still find ways to use my favorite parts of every edition, including 5e and whatever else comes after. All these strengths combined can only make it better.

 

[haakon1]

Indeed. I purged lots of older materials from my collection that I stopped using because I needed to reclaim space on my shelf for new books. But I kept several titles that still had value for me. It may have been a favorite adventure or sourcebook, nostalgic memories that remind me of a time in my life, or the information is still useful.

For example, I may never play or run a 3rd edition game again, but I still have almost every Forgotten Realms sourcebook from that edition. There is so much information and detail about the setting that is edition neutral. In my mind, my FR games are still set in that era.

And I'll never get rid of my 4e stuff. That is the perfect edition for me, despite its imperfections. But I will still find ways to use my favorite parts of every edition, including 5e and whatever else comes after. All these strengths combined can only make it better.

Totally hear you, except 3.5e and Greyhawk is my thing. Same attitude, different thing.

I read and use AD&D 1e stuff all the time, including Goodman Games “Original Adventures Reincarnated“, which are Basic or 1e plus conversions to 5e and additional materials in 5e.

And I’m reading Dungeon magazine and using 2e stuff from it, even though I didn’t play much 2e - easy enough to convert and it’s the stories that matter.

From 4e, I only played Shadowed Keep and Thunderspire … Thunderspire is an interesting setting I might use someday.