The Alexandrian
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Review: Descent Into Avernus
SPOILERS FOR DESCENT INTO AVERNUSDescent Into Avernus begins by having the PCs stand around doing nothing while the GM describes an NPC doing awesome stuff.If then proceeds to “if they don
thealexandrian.net
I found this very refreshing as a wealth of his material has been book length text with reccomendations of how to improve these hardcovers. Straud and Dragon Hiest are examples but there are book length word counts of material per hardcover in cases
Dragon Heist Remix – Part 1: The Villains
Recently I reviewed Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, the most recent campaign supplement for Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast. That review highlighted a number of places where, unfortunately
thealexandrian.net
Remixing Avernus – Part 3G: Xandering the Dead Three
Go to Table of Contents“Dungeons should always be heavily xandered.” – Xandering the DungeonThis article will probably make more sense if you read Xandering the Dungeon first, but the short
thealexandrian.net
I found it so refreshing from the guy that says and many listen want to play X wotc book right? Read my Y book on how to fix it
This guy here says, yeah not worth
Refreshing
100% - I breifly thought about Dragon Heist because people said how good it was with the fixes. Its a gamblers falac though, the sunk cost is way too high.
For him in that first link I posted to say nah ? No rec, thats huge
Tells you a lot I think
For him in that first link I posted to say nah ? No rec, thats huge
Tells you a lot I think
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The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
His hexcrawl and three-clues/node-based stuff is pure gold though.
I've seen arguments for and against his adoption of the improv 'yes-and' rule and would tend to mostly agree with him. Sometimes it's a stretch, especially if you're used to being the god at the table. It's so much easier to say NO and pigeonhole your players into the game you want them to play. I am still very much learning this style. It takes a great deal of practice, nimbleness and forgiveness all around.
I've seen arguments for and against his adoption of the improv 'yes-and' rule and would tend to mostly agree with him. Sometimes it's a stretch, especially if you're used to being the god at the table. It's so much easier to say NO and pigeonhole your players into the game you want them to play. I am still very much learning this style. It takes a great deal of practice, nimbleness and forgiveness all around.
Two orcs
Officially better than you, according to PoN
I think his fixes are useful exercises and illustrations of game design more than anything. Entertaining reads for sure. I think the Wavestone Keep competition perfectly illustrates how taking a general idea and making something new from the ground up can yield great results and faster than tweaking and patching a flawed structure.
Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
I think I found the first few in his hexcrawl series useful, but after that it was stacking on procedure after procedure and got unwieldy.
The 3-clue/node based stuff would be great for designing a published adventure, but I have found it to be a lot of extra work for a home game.
I'm not sure he does use "yes, and", even though he is an improve dude IRL. I quite like his "Default to Yes" article, but I think it says something different.
I'll buy that.
Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
I've never used any formal writeups like that. I have definitely incorporated other people's stories about how they ran various modules though. It is why I think certain modules end up with a higher reputation than is strictly warranted by their text; the module is what is written in the text, plus 40 years of DMs talking and writing about how they interpreted/modified/expanded that text, much of which is now part of the collective (DM) unconscious.
On reflection, I probably have picked out one or two items out of that sort of post, but I find the bulk of the material one of (a) too campaign specific, (b) not conducive to my style, or (c) not really an improvement. I find the sorts of conversations we have in this forum to be generally more interesting, and more useful.
Like, imagine if we took a classic module that doesn't actually get a lot of write-ups, like D1, and hashed out various ways of approaching it, or handling movement through the tunnels at the table. Or really any module that someone was thinking of running. I could totally get into "module club".
On reflection, I probably have picked out one or two items out of that sort of post, but I find the bulk of the material one of (a) too campaign specific, (b) not conducive to my style, or (c) not really an improvement. I find the sorts of conversations we have in this forum to be generally more interesting, and more useful.
Like, imagine if we took a classic module that doesn't actually get a lot of write-ups, like D1, and hashed out various ways of approaching it, or handling movement through the tunnels at the table. Or really any module that someone was thinking of running. I could totally get into "module club".
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
I tried someone's how-to for the original DCO but it didn't answer any of my (many) questions satisfactorily, though it did help by offering a link to Gus' (I think?) map of the dungeon.
A lot of the difficulty with other peoples' notes is they think differently than you, so their cheat sheets may not work for you.
I have only passively followed the Alexandrian's remixes since I have no intention of picking up any of these 5e products, but it does seem like what he does offer is an expansion of undetailed areas of the adventures which, whether his notation style works for you or not, should still be useful.
A lot of the difficulty with other peoples' notes is they think differently than you, so their cheat sheets may not work for you.
I have only passively followed the Alexandrian's remixes since I have no intention of picking up any of these 5e products, but it does seem like what he does offer is an expansion of undetailed areas of the adventures which, whether his notation style works for you or not, should still be useful.