Catullus64
2017-05-17, 11:23 AM
A friend of mine recently acquired the new Tales from the Yawning Portal book, and plans to begin running all seven modules in one continuous campaign. I happily agreed to play. I've never used published adventures before, but I'm familiar with some of the modules by repute. (White Plume Mountain, Hall of the Fire Giant King, Tomb of Horrors, natch.) Based on the blurb on the back of the book, and all the marketing I've read surrounding this set of adventures, they're billed as being hyper-deadly player-killers, and I must admit that I've always found the idea of meat-grinding, every-other-door-is-trapped, have-six-backup-characters-on-standby games to be sort of tacky and shallow. Any game can be hard, but that doesn't necessarily make it interesting. A sense of threat is obviously necessary, but too much constant danger diminishes the impact of obstacles and makes it difficult to get engaged in a story.
To anyone who has played through these specific incarnations of the adventures, are they really as deadly and unforgiving as the marketing portrays them to be? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of that style of adventure design? If you could avoid specific spoilers from the dungeons themselves, your discretion would be much apreciated.
To anyone who has played through these specific incarnations of the adventures, are they really as deadly and unforgiving as the marketing portrays them to be? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment of that style of adventure design? If you could avoid specific spoilers from the dungeons themselves, your discretion would be much apreciated.