5 Quick Adventure Ideas

I have been reading through the 5E Basic Rules I had printed out at Office Depot.  The Starter Set was not readily available early in my area and I did not pre-order from Amazon but I am getting one as soon as it hits the stores.  In the meantime, I have been writing down ideas for adventures when I get a home campaign up and running.  These are just quick fire ideas that are not fully fleshed out.  I am keeping this list here for future use and maybe someone else can use them also.

Quick Adventure Ideas

A local trade caravan has recently fallen victim to several raids.  The characters have been hired to guard the caravan on its trade route.

Rumors have been circulating among the town folk about the dead rising from the grave.  The local law enforcement has dismissed it as drunken ramblings but when they investigated further there were disturbed graves with foot prints leading away from them.

The local gold mine has hit a dry spell so the miners have started digging deeper for a new vein.  The miners that have been down to the lower levels speak of “something” lurking in the dark that attacks some of the workers.  Recently, several of the workers have disappeared during their shift.

The last surviving member of a local, wealthy family has not been seen for months and their manse has been silent.  Suddenly, people have seen sporadic lights and movement in the windows.  Has a member of the family returned?  Are their squatters staying in the place?  The magistrate has posted an announcement looking for a group of people to investigate further.

A local lord’s daughter has come up missing.  Did she run off with her boyfriend? Was she taken for ransom? Did she run off and join the new cult in town? Is the answer something even more sinister?

I am ready to start playing ASAP!

5E Basic Rules - Short and Simple

Like many in the role-playing blogosphere, I downloaded the free 5E Basic Rules document yesterday.  After a few minutes of browsing the information I got on the Office Depot site and looked into getting the document printed and bound to make it easier to read further; I am one of the old guys so I prefer physical books in my hand.  The price was right - just $14.06 for card stock covers and coil binding - so I ordered it and it was ready two hours later.  I have been reading through it off and on ever since I picked up yesterday.

I am not going to bore you with any details or a complete review in this post but I am going to keep it short and simple - Wizards, you have my attention and I am interested in seeing more.  My original intention was to get the Starter Set and evaluate from there.  That changed when I discovered that character creation would not be included in the boxed set.  Then I decided to go with these Basic Rules after it was revealed it would include character creation rules.  Now I WILL be getting the Starter Set when it hits my FLGS.

My Thoughts on the D&D 5E Starter Information...

As the information on D&D 5E is slowly coming out the blogosphere has been lit up with various posts about the cost of the books, release dates, the OGL (or lack thereof), and the upcoming $20 Starter Set coming soon.  My tentative plan was to pick up the Starter Set and see how well the rules match my expectations.  With the latest word of mouth containing information similar to "the Starter Set will be geared towards the DM" and "pre-generated characters instead of character creation rules" I am starting to re-think that decision.

There are several Basic Sets from the old TSR catalog that can serve as fine examples of how to do the 5E Starter Set correctly; Holmes, Moldvay, & Mentzer all have their own strengths and following in their foot steps would improve the quality of any new version.  I am going to touch on some of the information I have read from other blogs in this post. 

It has been pointed out that the 5E Starter Set will cater to the DM in several posts.  I understand this approach because there will be plenty of experienced hobbyists that use this set to introduce new players and the owner will most likely be the DM in those instances.  I do think that 5E would be better served by a  Starter Set placing equal importance on the role of player and DM by including a condensed PHB and DMG that are both around 48 to 64 pages in length.

The other bit of information I keep reading in posts is the inclusion of pre-generated characters instead of character creation rules in the Starter Set.  I realize that pre-generated characters could lead to quicker set up time if the characters were presented in a clean layout with notes about rolling, combat, skills, etc. on the character sheet.  I have heard that the character creation rules will be available for free online for people to reference.  Why not just include them in the Starter Set?  It was done with the old Basic Sets from the past and it was great so why not just do it again?  Character creation is one of the most basic essentials of a role-playing game so they should be included.  The Starter Set should serve as a snapshot of the full rules.  

I have flip-flopped a few times on whether or not I am going to buy the Starter Set or skip it.  I would like a "complete" product but with the exclusion of character creation rules in the box I am not sure.  Ideally, along with character generation the rules should cover the first 5 levels of play with the appropriate information split between a condensed PHB and DMG.  I would assume that they would only include 3 or 4 races with the same number of classes.  Of course, any DM information would only include information appropriate for the possible levels.  Throw in some dice and an introductory adventure and I am all over this.

Now I hear that Amazon has the Starter Set listed for $12.66 so maybe I will be buying it...

     

D&D Next: First Impressions

As soon as I was notified by email that the playtest packet was ready to download I headed over to the Wizards site to do so.  It seems that so many people were doing the same thing so I had issues with access.  I tried a few times and then decided to download the stuff later in the day after the initial rush. 

After finally downloading and browsing through the playtest documents I can say one thing for sure - I am interested!  I believed that I would be disappointed after 4E but I can honestly say that I like the impression I got when I browsed through the documents.  I did not do a line by line read through of the material but I think it could serve as a steady base that will obviously get houseruled by groups looking for a certain style of play.  If it continues in this manner, then I will definitely pick up a PHB on release.

Now I am off for a thorough read through...

D&D moving forward...

I'm sure everybody has already heard about the big 5E announcement from Wizards.  I know there are some out there arguing that it isn't 5E but "something different" that should appeal to fans of all editions because that is what the press release said. I don't have the desire to look it up but I believe the exact wording was "the next iteration" of D&D - sounds like 5E to me.  Let me bring this post back on topic at this point.  This is nothing more than me doing what most everyone else had done on this matter - stating my opinion and/or reaction - so here goes.

My Opinion of 4E

I come from a background of many years of experience with A/D&D in one form or another.  I have played many versions of the game throughout the years; it all started in the summer of 1980.  I know all of the versions share many of the same terms and are put together with many of the same parts.  I believe that Wizards took 4E just a bit too far.  In all honesty, 4E would probably be a great game from another company; one to "compete" with the current set of D&D rules.  As a set of D&D rules I think it just simply does not work. 

What Can Wizards Do For Me?

I admit it - I signed up for the playtest offer.  I am always curious about the newest version of the D&D rules.  I must also admit that the days of purchasing the newest A/D&D rules immediately upon release are gone.  I will approach 5E with an caution.  I hope D&D makes a triumphant return but I have my doubts. There are a few things that will definitely make me happy.

1. Bring back the pdf sale of older editions.
2. Drop the reliance on miniatures for combat.
3. Bring back Dragon magazine in print.
4. Get rid of the spiky, dungeonpunk art.

I am really not that concerned with 5E.  For older edition play, I have either the retroclones - hell, I'm even helping to write one - or the ability to purchase what I do not have from other sources such as ebay, etc.  For new school D&D I have C&C and also Pathfinder.  I even have a decent sized collection of 4E manuals since a co-worker is selling off his collection at $10 a book.  I have all of the bases covered at the moment so 5E is going to have to be pretty nifty for me to buy in.