Whispers of the Vampires Blade opinion?

JoeGKushner

Adventurer
So has anyone run this? It's the second full module, third adventure, in the Eberron series.

I am missing something or are the links to the previous adventure razor thin and come with a lot of railroading?
 

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Its actually a decent module. It railroads some, but a good DM can either hide it or make it flow right. First thing (if you don't railroad) is your players are probably gonna throw a wrench in the flow of the module.
::Some Spoilers here::
[sblock] In the original chase from Sharn to Trollenport, my PCs overtook the carraige and managed to subdue the sister, so she was out of the module from that point on. Oh yeah, you gotta think of how Lucan's gonna escape at this point, and not reveal he's a vampire, there isn't an easy way, I finally did it by using the sister to run interferrence while Lucan gets away.

And later at the masquerade scene I was practically winging the whole thing, first the PCs hired some thugs to capture the vampire Lucan, that didn't work, but if the PCs had figured out Lucan was a vampire, the module would have been ended here. Using that info however they check out the where the ambush took place, so I've got to make up a place on the spot, inns are always nice here, and it was fun getting the PC in trouble with the town guard.

And finally the airship where the module ends for my group, why because they tore the airship apart trying to find the bad guy. If you want my advice on this part, let them miss the airship takeoff and have to come upon it at a later date. The players are still gonna face the raiders, however.[/sblock]
Overall the module runs well, why I used it is because it fits perfectly in my main plot. The other good thing about it is that most of it isn't a dungeon delve (the end is, but my group didn't get that far), and its pretty fun to use as is, I only had to make some minor changes (taking out a couple of orginizations, and changing some of the tempo).
 

I'd have to give it a reread to give a detailed analysis, but my opinion was that, as written, it was fairly railroady, but that there were lots of vey memorable scenes. All in all, a fun module for a good DM who was ready to wing it if necessary, but not something I'd recommend for beginners.
 

The individuals scenes/set-pieces were good but it needs some work to make it into a really good adventure.

IMO, the third module seems much better but that's to be expected when it was written by Bruce Cordell.
 


Eremite said:
The individuals scenes/set-pieces were good but it needs some work to make it into a really good adventure.

IMO, the third module seems much better but that's to be expected when it was written by Bruce Cordell.
Grasp of the Emerald Claw seems very fun, but I found it too hard for 6th-level PCs (the recommended level). I mean, there are some very casual encounters that are FAR above the party level like
the CR 10 Wail of the Banshee trap

Also, Bruce re-used a trap from his adventure Heart of the Nightfang Spire, namely
the trap door that sends a PC down a razor-lined chute and then ejects the PC out the walls of the temple, to fall to his death
.

Oh, and Bruce posted his original Dire Shark encounter on his website, which was altered in the final adventure due to space constraints.
 
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Well, glad to see that I'm not just being 'harsh' on it. I read through it, made some notes and was like... "Hmmm, not the best adventure in the world but some good encounter points..."
 

Yes, it's like a movie with good actors, some good scenes but somehow it just doesn't seem to fit together into a coherent whole. Actually, that's probably a good way to describe a lot of products published by WotC.

Oh, and I have accidentally described what went wrong with Star Wars Episode I and II....
 

I think the individual scenes are great. I think the intro is really weak. I think the linkage between the scenes is pretty poor.

I'm going to run it, because I want to run the entire opening Eberron series, but I'll tighten up some of the things I don't care for.

PS
 

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