{"id":7532,"date":"2021-09-18T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7532"},"modified":"2021-09-07T11:17:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T15:17:37","slug":"lost-throne-of-talukeld-the-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7532","title":{"rendered":"Lost Throne of Talukeld the Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By R.P. Davis\nKabouter Games\n5e\nLevels 2-4<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Talukeld the Broken was a leader of a great horde of warriors who swept in from the West, conquering the Known World. It is said that his throne, made from the bones of his enemies, has manifested numerous magical powers. […]  The King gives the adventurers an ancient, crude map showing the way to Talukeld\u2019s Tomb. No one has been there in generations, so nobody knows what dangers might be encountered along the journey, nor what they might find in the tomb once they arrive. The map has a curious symbol in one corner: a clenched fist holding a short, broad-bladed spear\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This ten page adventure describes, I don\u2019t know, three rooms? It\u2019s trying to do \u201cepic\u201d at level 2, without much in the way of evocative writing \u2026 or encounters. And I mean \u201cencounters at all\u201d, which are woefully few. Also, remember, I write these summations, such that it is, AFTER I write the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am an ass. Let\u2019s get that out of the way. Fortunately for everyone else, I know I am an ass and keep it in check in public. In private though \u2026 Every time I go in to these things I\u2019m full of joyous anticipation. What wonders shall we see today? There, just over the next hill, is that shining city on a hill under a blue sky. But, at the same time, I am an experienced traveler on this road. The search of meaning in an existence inherently devoid of it can leave one that way. So, now that the initial \u201cWonder & Joy\u201d has happened I can look at the product description. And see it is 5e and ten pages and a conversion from some other system. This leads to the weary traveller making judgements before cracking the electronic spine: cover page, title page a couple of pages of \u201cepic\u201d backstory and overview, a couple of pages of appendices, lets say three of them, and a credits page. That\u2019s eight pages. In a ten  page adventure. The finally two pages will be the actual adventure and contain \u2026 three rooms Yes, i predict three rooms. And there will be undead and animated statues. This then is the prediction of Bryce! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Epic backstory and setup, eppic backstory, epic setup, army of giants about to pour down on King Asshats kingdom, he sends you get the Bone Throne from some dudes tomb so they can turn the tide of the impending invasion. It\u2019s two weeks away. No word on why no one has done this before. Maybe the giant army plans better and has better leaders than Good King Asshat? Anyway, \u201cno one has been to the omb in generations, and who know what dangers might be encountered along the way?!\u201d says the teaser. This translates to a road running right up to essentially the front of the tomb and, the best part, the journey to the tomb being abstracted to just \u201cmake a skill check,\u201d This represents all of the dangers you may have encountered on the way to the tomb. And no resting to regain the abstracted damage you take! If you do then you might not make it back in time to save the kingdom! I mean, there\u2019s no real time table. So \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s see, let\u2019s do a breakdown of the encounters in this adventure. The skil check on the way to the tomb. Two stone statue guardians at the front door that you can bypass. (Ha! I knew it!) A puzzle in the first room. Then a trapped hallway. Then the main room (Ha! Three rooms! I knew it!) with some cultists you can  bypass. Then a skill check to remove the throne from the tomb. Then a skill check to get the throne back home \u201closing one day for each failed check, This means that they arrive in the nick of time to save the kingdom from the giants!\u201d *sigh* Look man, I\u2019m all for bypassing encounters. And I certainly don\u2019t think that fighting it the core of D&D. But, hey, how about some tension? A trap that needs a passive perception of 14 to see? Don\u2019t blind people in 5e have a PP of 14? The two bypasses are good, and good design, but there is no inherent danger or tension in any of these encounters. I think I would fall asleep playing this. Yeah, convincing the undead cultists that you need the throne is a good idea. And tricking the statues is a good idea. And then what? It\u2019s not that combat is NEEDED but rather that there must be some kind of tension in an adventure. And this one don\u2019t have that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It does have a locked door that knock can\u2019t open, a part of that first rooms puzzle. Bad design, again. The designer has dictated that THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY MY ADVENTURE, and you have no choice but to experience it in the way they want you to. In reality, a wizard memorizing knock no longer has Sleep. The party has made a choice. We will bypass X and potentially make Y harder .This is a meaningful choice. This is agency. Not of which exists when you gimp the party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know what else. There\u2019s a suit of gilded armor that is sure to have the party asking \u201chow much is it it worth\u201d that is never mentioned again. We\u2019re told, as the DM, to make an encounter \u201cfrightening\u201d \u2026 without any guidance. That\u2019s the goal of the designer. It is to write a description, setting a scene, which will make the players and\/or DM think \u201cthis is frightening!\u201d You don\u2019t tell, you show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and, the descriptions, boring and poor as they are, lacking any evocative writing, come ass backwards. In one case I\u2019m thinking of, the road to the temple is described AFTER The entrance to the temple is described. It should be obvious why that is bad. It should be, but I know it\u2019s not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet, I am too full of ennui to elaborate. I\u2019m going to go sulk the rest of the day until tomorrow, when shall return to me dreams of gilded houses in the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $4 at DriveThru. You get all ten pages in the preview. Enjoy that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/367915\/Lost-Throne-of-Talukeld-the-Broken–Fifth-Edition?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By R.P. Davis Kabouter Games 5e Levels 2-4 Talukeld the Broken was a leader of a great horde of warriors who swept in from the West, conquering the Known World. It is said that his throne, made from the bones … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5e","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/throne.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7533,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions\/7533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}