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<blockquote data-quote="RealAlHazred" data-source="post: 8231271" data-attributes="member: 25818"><p>It occurred to me that I should "review" the 4E D&D Encounters mods, since there weren't that many reviews and a lot of 4E fans might not be aware they exist. <a href="https://dungeonsmaster.com/dd-encounters/" target="_blank">dungeons-master</a> has reviews of all of them, but they're a little long. I was thinking of bullet points. I haven't run them in a while (the first one I ran a decade ago!) but maybe someone will find this useful.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 04: <strong><em>March of the Phantom Brigade</em></strong> (February - May 2011): I started the program running this one. It's got a few nice NPCs, the villain motivation is good. But the overall plot is really full of holes, and the main plot hinge is IMO dumb.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 05: <strong><em>Dark Legacy of Evard</em></strong> (May - August 2011): Linked to <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/96671/players-option-heroes-shadow" target="_blank"><strong><em>Heroes of the Shadow</em></strong></a>. It has nice sections, the way it transitions to Shadowfell play is cool. There are a few railroady parts, but I liked the motivations of the NPCs and with locational changes I think this could work really well dropped into a campaign.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 06: <strong><em>Lost Crown of Neverwinter </em></strong>(August - November 2011): Linked to the <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/107864/neverwinter-campaign-setting" target="_blank"><strong><em>Neverwinter Campaign Setting</em></strong></a>. This one was very railroady. There are some decent NPCs, but it felt more like part of a novel someone decided to make into a module, and that rarely works well. To be honest, I found a lot of it forgettable, and couldn't give you any more details.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 07: <strong><em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em></strong> (November 2011 - February 2012): Linked to <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/110097/players-option-heroes-feywild" target="_blank"><strong><em>Heroes of the Feywild</em></strong></a>. This module is <strong>EXCELLENT</strong>. It uses 4E mechanics well, and takes the original module (which wasn't explicitly tied to the Feywild, which didn't really exist then in its current form) and updates it properly. I thought some parts of this were stronger in player agency than the original version, and I don't say that lightly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 08: <strong><em>The Elder Elemental Eye</em></strong> (February - May 2012): Linked to <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/110411/players-option-heroes-elemental-chaos" target="_blank"><strong><em>Heroes of the Elemental Chaos</em></strong></a>. This one felt forced, like they had taken another module and grafted on parts to make it appropriate to the book it was supposed to promote. Another forgettable module. The only part I remember was the <strong>mimic </strong>rug who killed 2 characters and almost a 3rd.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 09: <strong><em>Web of the Spider Queen</em></strong> (May - August 2012): Linked to <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/114499/unknown-dungeon-survival-handbook" target="_blank"><strong><em>Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook</em></strong></a>. This one felt pieced together. It's a chase across the Dalelands to catch up with some drow. In hindsight, it was supposed to lead into the next season, but nobody told us that in the hobby shop, so the players didn't really get the build-up they were supposed to.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 10: <strong><em>Council of Spiders </em></strong>(August - October 2012): Linked to <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/114498/menzoberranzan-city-intrigue" target="_blank"><strong><em>Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue</em></strong></a>. You play a drow character, or you're going to play a slave of the drow. Had a great idea for a different character? Sucks to be you! My players were not fond of the loss of agency, and I almost had a party of all slaves, which they didn't really account for in writing the module. I'll admit, I don't read any Forgotten Realms novels, so I'm sure I missed a lot of backstory that would have brought this to life.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 11: <strong><em>War of Everlasting Darkness</em></strong> (October 2012 - January 2013): Over the 8 planned sessions of this module, the game will span 2 years of in-game time. You level up every session. In 4E, as you get to higher levels, it generally takes longer and longer to do the paperwork to level up your character. By session 7, it was taking at a minimum half-an-hour out of my 2-hour session to level everybody up. As a result, it felt extremely rushed. It's a pity, because it was the capstone module of the 4E portion of the program. You race across the Forgotten Realms to try to confront the rising drow threat. Would have been great if you could have taken time and really set the stage properly for all these iconic locations.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 12: <strong><em>Against the Cult of Chaos</em></strong> (February - April 2013): The first module after the beginning of the playtest, and you could run it in 4E or 5E; it had stats for both. Every player in my store opted to play it in 5th edition; they'd had it after the constant leveling up of the last module. This combines and updates three classic modules: <strong><em>B1: Keep on the Borderlands</em></strong>, <strong><em>T1: The Village of Hommlet</em></strong>, and <strong><em>N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God</em></strong>. I liked this a lot and so did my players. There was a four-week hiatus in play between the previous module and this one; hilariously, I had run my regulars through a homebrew development of <strong><em>B1: Keep on the Borderlands</em></strong> in the interim. There were several moments of deja vu as a result.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 13: <strong><em>Storm over Neverwinter</em></strong> (April - June 2013): This was the follow-up to <strong><em>Lost Crown of Neverwinter</em></strong>, and had a few NPCs that carried over. You could run this in 4E or 5E. It dealt with an insidious infiltration of the Cult of Asmodeus. Not bad.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 14: <strong><em>Search for the Diamond Staff</em></strong> (Launch Weekend) (June - August 2013): You could run this in 4E or 5E. A magic staff is stolen and you have to track the thieves and find the culprit. Not bad, but not as good as the previous one.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 15: <strong><em>Murder in Baldur's Gate</em></strong> (Launch Weekend) (August - November 2013): You could run this in 3.5E, 4E, or 5E. I know, right? But seriously, this module is <strong>EXCELLENT</strong>. The DM chooses a villain, and there are lots of vignettes you use to advance the story. The DM can organize it, or the players can drive the plot by choosing who they're going to help and hinder. My players loved this, and I dearly want to see a reissue/expansion. The launch weekend module was the weakest part of it, but even so it starts the module off with a memorable bang. Extremely sandboxy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 16: <strong><em>Legacy of the Crystal Shard</em></strong> (Launch Weekend) (November 2013 - February 2014): You could run this in 3.5E, 4E, or 5E. Another good module, it takes place in Icewind Dale and is extremely fluid as to which avenues the players can take to achieve their objectives. Some excellent NPCs, too. One or two parts were too railroady for me, but this is another excellent sandbox module. I'm sure a lot of the material is superceded or rendered moot by the <strong><em>Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden</em></strong> adventure.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Season 17: Sundering Adventure III: Dreams of the Red Wizards: <strong><em>Scourge of the Sword Coast</em></strong> (February - May 2014): This was the first purely 5E module, so it's out of scope from the thread.</li> </ul><p>You can occasionally find these modules on eBay, sometimes for ridiculous prices. The ones that say "(Launch Weekend)" had additional modules that came with them, that are sometimes absent from the eBay auctions.</p><p></p><p>I also ran all of the Lair Assaults, but I'll need to review those when I get home. In general, those didn't go over so well at my shop -- they're mostly just a combat encounter with an intriguing twist in the middle, and only the barest essence of a story around them. The maps and tokens were nice, but my players always wanted more roleplaying meat so they could ham it up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RealAlHazred, post: 8231271, member: 25818"] It occurred to me that I should "review" the 4E D&D Encounters mods, since there weren't that many reviews and a lot of 4E fans might not be aware they exist. [URL='https://dungeonsmaster.com/dd-encounters/']dungeons-master[/URL] has reviews of all of them, but they're a little long. I was thinking of bullet points. I haven't run them in a while (the first one I ran a decade ago!) but maybe someone will find this useful. [LIST] [*]Season 04: [B][I]March of the Phantom Brigade[/I][/B] (February - May 2011): I started the program running this one. It's got a few nice NPCs, the villain motivation is good. But the overall plot is really full of holes, and the main plot hinge is IMO dumb. [*]Season 05: [B][I]Dark Legacy of Evard[/I][/B] (May - August 2011): Linked to [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/96671/players-option-heroes-shadow'][B][I]Heroes of the Shadow[/I][/B][/URL]. It has nice sections, the way it transitions to Shadowfell play is cool. There are a few railroady parts, but I liked the motivations of the NPCs and with locational changes I think this could work really well dropped into a campaign. [*]Season 06: [B][I]Lost Crown of Neverwinter [/I][/B](August - November 2011): Linked to the [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/107864/neverwinter-campaign-setting'][B][I]Neverwinter Campaign Setting[/I][/B][/URL]. This one was very railroady. There are some decent NPCs, but it felt more like part of a novel someone decided to make into a module, and that rarely works well. To be honest, I found a lot of it forgettable, and couldn't give you any more details. [*]Season 07: [B][I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I][/B] (November 2011 - February 2012): Linked to [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/110097/players-option-heroes-feywild'][B][I]Heroes of the Feywild[/I][/B][/URL]. This module is [B]EXCELLENT[/B]. It uses 4E mechanics well, and takes the original module (which wasn't explicitly tied to the Feywild, which didn't really exist then in its current form) and updates it properly. I thought some parts of this were stronger in player agency than the original version, and I don't say that lightly. [*]Season 08: [B][I]The Elder Elemental Eye[/I][/B] (February - May 2012): Linked to [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/110411/players-option-heroes-elemental-chaos'][B][I]Heroes of the Elemental Chaos[/I][/B][/URL]. This one felt forced, like they had taken another module and grafted on parts to make it appropriate to the book it was supposed to promote. Another forgettable module. The only part I remember was the [B]mimic [/B]rug who killed 2 characters and almost a 3rd. [*]Season 09: [B][I]Web of the Spider Queen[/I][/B] (May - August 2012): Linked to [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/114499/unknown-dungeon-survival-handbook'][B][I]Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook[/I][/B][/URL]. This one felt pieced together. It's a chase across the Dalelands to catch up with some drow. In hindsight, it was supposed to lead into the next season, but nobody told us that in the hobby shop, so the players didn't really get the build-up they were supposed to. [*]Season 10: [B][I]Council of Spiders [/I][/B](August - October 2012): Linked to [URL='https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/114498/menzoberranzan-city-intrigue'][B][I]Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue[/I][/B][/URL]. You play a drow character, or you're going to play a slave of the drow. Had a great idea for a different character? Sucks to be you! My players were not fond of the loss of agency, and I almost had a party of all slaves, which they didn't really account for in writing the module. I'll admit, I don't read any Forgotten Realms novels, so I'm sure I missed a lot of backstory that would have brought this to life. [*]Season 11: [B][I]War of Everlasting Darkness[/I][/B] (October 2012 - January 2013): Over the 8 planned sessions of this module, the game will span 2 years of in-game time. You level up every session. In 4E, as you get to higher levels, it generally takes longer and longer to do the paperwork to level up your character. By session 7, it was taking at a minimum half-an-hour out of my 2-hour session to level everybody up. As a result, it felt extremely rushed. It's a pity, because it was the capstone module of the 4E portion of the program. You race across the Forgotten Realms to try to confront the rising drow threat. Would have been great if you could have taken time and really set the stage properly for all these iconic locations. [*]Season 12: [B][I]Against the Cult of Chaos[/I][/B] (February - April 2013): The first module after the beginning of the playtest, and you could run it in 4E or 5E; it had stats for both. Every player in my store opted to play it in 5th edition; they'd had it after the constant leveling up of the last module. This combines and updates three classic modules: [B][I]B1: Keep on the Borderlands[/I][/B], [B][I]T1: The Village of Hommlet[/I][/B], and [B][I]N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God[/I][/B]. I liked this a lot and so did my players. There was a four-week hiatus in play between the previous module and this one; hilariously, I had run my regulars through a homebrew development of [B][I]B1: Keep on the Borderlands[/I][/B] in the interim. There were several moments of deja vu as a result. [*]Season 13: [B][I]Storm over Neverwinter[/I][/B] (April - June 2013): This was the follow-up to [B][I]Lost Crown of Neverwinter[/I][/B], and had a few NPCs that carried over. You could run this in 4E or 5E. It dealt with an insidious infiltration of the Cult of Asmodeus. Not bad. [*]Season 14: [B][I]Search for the Diamond Staff[/I][/B] (Launch Weekend) (June - August 2013): You could run this in 4E or 5E. A magic staff is stolen and you have to track the thieves and find the culprit. Not bad, but not as good as the previous one. [*]Season 15: [B][I]Murder in Baldur's Gate[/I][/B] (Launch Weekend) (August - November 2013): You could run this in 3.5E, 4E, or 5E. I know, right? But seriously, this module is [B]EXCELLENT[/B]. The DM chooses a villain, and there are lots of vignettes you use to advance the story. The DM can organize it, or the players can drive the plot by choosing who they're going to help and hinder. My players loved this, and I dearly want to see a reissue/expansion. The launch weekend module was the weakest part of it, but even so it starts the module off with a memorable bang. Extremely sandboxy. [*]Season 16: [B][I]Legacy of the Crystal Shard[/I][/B] (Launch Weekend) (November 2013 - February 2014): You could run this in 3.5E, 4E, or 5E. Another good module, it takes place in Icewind Dale and is extremely fluid as to which avenues the players can take to achieve their objectives. Some excellent NPCs, too. One or two parts were too railroady for me, but this is another excellent sandbox module. I'm sure a lot of the material is superceded or rendered moot by the [B][I]Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden[/I][/B] adventure. [*]Season 17: Sundering Adventure III: Dreams of the Red Wizards: [B][I]Scourge of the Sword Coast[/I][/B] (February - May 2014): This was the first purely 5E module, so it's out of scope from the thread. [/LIST] You can occasionally find these modules on eBay, sometimes for ridiculous prices. The ones that say "(Launch Weekend)" had additional modules that came with them, that are sometimes absent from the eBay auctions. I also ran all of the Lair Assaults, but I'll need to review those when I get home. In general, those didn't go over so well at my shop -- they're mostly just a combat encounter with an intriguing twist in the middle, and only the barest essence of a story around them. The maps and tokens were nice, but my players always wanted more roleplaying meat so they could ham it up. [/QUOTE]
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