4e D&D

We've started a 4e game. I started with Kobold Hall straight throught from the DMG, and continued with Keep on the Shadowfell. The next session we'll start really veering off, so I thought I'll pause and review.

One key lesson is that in hard fights (3 levels or more above party level), missing player characters really hurt. In easy fights the party will still overcome, it will just erode the party's resources a little more. But in difficult fights there is nothing less to erode, so it will end up killing characters.

Speaking of that - so far I've killed a fair share of characters in 4e, but I'm feeling that this is rather difficult. It takes a fear of TPK to get a character dead, a near TPK. The three saves and easy Heal check to stabilize mean that the chances of death are low. It's needed to kill the character a few times to get him to use up all threee saves. It's possible in theory to kill the character by more damage, but this is just mean. So I'm thinking death in 4e is going to be rather rare. And then there are Raise Dead rituals. So I'm thinking the only real threats are going to be getting sucked into some other plane (like in H1) or something, espcially at high levels. The occasional enemy that kills deliberately can be really annoying, however, so I'm gonna use that later in the campaign - a Lurker or Artillery that strikes and focuses on a single PC at a time, until he is completely dead.

The game itself is rather mechanical. I'm hoping to inject more descriptions into the next sessions, to bring things more to life. We'll see.

We found H1 to be too boring a dungeoncrawl, and I did a "magic gizmo brings you to full rest in an instant" thingie. I actually think that worked really well as a way to just push the plot forward, not making the PCs wait and rest in-dungeon. 

The problem of "we rest to restore strength" is definitely still there. After a few encounters, the adventuring day need to be over. I'll plan things accordingly in the far future (not now). I hate it when the PCs stop to rest for hours in the middle of the dungeon...

Next session I'll start a new storyline, based on Cthulhu tales and involving the fallen brother of Sovelissa, the eladrin played by Roy. It's really annoying Roy isn't there, as I think he'd both like the themes and the focus of the hook is on his character. Yet he's abroad. How annoying. Oh well. I'll just start things without him. There is plenty of Cthulhu ahead, all the way to level 13 or so.

Oh, we jump levels. We sped through the last level, and I thought we were better for it. Now we'll see how jumping lots of levels will work out. We passed through level 1 and on to 2 fair and quare, but then rushed to 3, and now we're jumping all the way to 8! We'll get to see some high-Heroic play in the two short adventures I'm running, and then skip to early Paragon tier in the next, ending this story arc. The next story arc would start at high-Paragon levels, and I don't have it yet... so far I've gone with published adventures, I think I'll need to improvise my own from that point.