Posted October 01, 2023
Just finished the module Crimson Tides of Tethyr and I much prefer it over Siege of Shadowdale.
While Shadowdale wasn't bad, it was pretty short and felt a bit amateurish. Like how in the first Aielund you also start by arriving in a small village and get a handful of quests to complete from a questboard or an innkeep.
It's not a bad way to design a module, it's essentially the purest version of why as a player you play DnD, talk NPC, get Quest, explore, fight, repeat. But it seem to be a particular crutch of new NN module designers.
Again, not bad, but I do enjoy how in Crimson Tides of Tethyr Luke Skull (the autor) immediately establishes what the driving force of the narrative is going to be, the invasion of the country and you signing on as a mercenary.
It gives the player a bit more motivation for their actions beside "I like adventuring and doing quests." And the early quest you do in the city also contain small bits of setting building lines like who's invading and the problem with containing order in the city now that the guards are all conscripted into the war effort.
The later parts also don't disappoint. It's a very linear story, constantly pushing you forward to new locals, so one should be aware of that if they only enjoy open world adventures. But the scenarios and new locations all felt worthwhile and fun to experience.
I really liked the story of the snowy part and the whole reason for the ice storm.
The voice acting was pretty bad, and to be honest I would have removed it for the Enhanced Edition, but I guess Luke didn't want to change from the original too much.
Very much liked the module and have started Tyrants of the Moonsea right away to continue playing with my character and experiencing the writing.
While Shadowdale wasn't bad, it was pretty short and felt a bit amateurish. Like how in the first Aielund you also start by arriving in a small village and get a handful of quests to complete from a questboard or an innkeep.
It's not a bad way to design a module, it's essentially the purest version of why as a player you play DnD, talk NPC, get Quest, explore, fight, repeat. But it seem to be a particular crutch of new NN module designers.
Again, not bad, but I do enjoy how in Crimson Tides of Tethyr Luke Skull (the autor) immediately establishes what the driving force of the narrative is going to be, the invasion of the country and you signing on as a mercenary.
It gives the player a bit more motivation for their actions beside "I like adventuring and doing quests." And the early quest you do in the city also contain small bits of setting building lines like who's invading and the problem with containing order in the city now that the guards are all conscripted into the war effort.
The later parts also don't disappoint. It's a very linear story, constantly pushing you forward to new locals, so one should be aware of that if they only enjoy open world adventures. But the scenarios and new locations all felt worthwhile and fun to experience.
I really liked the story of the snowy part and the whole reason for the ice storm.
The voice acting was pretty bad, and to be honest I would have removed it for the Enhanced Edition, but I guess Luke didn't want to change from the original too much.
Very much liked the module and have started Tyrants of the Moonsea right away to continue playing with my character and experiencing the writing.