Monday, February 7, 2011

D&D Encounters Season 4: March of the Phantom Brigade Sneak Preview

The Adventure Cover
I just received my Kit for the upcoming season of Dungeons & Dragons: March of the Phantom Brigade.  I would like to take some time to go over the content of the package and note things of interest.

This season, WotC decided to send us the whole adventure in one convenient booklet like they did for the first season of Encounters.  Things have changed much since the Undermountain: Halaster's Lost Apprentice came out.  Adventure design has improved greatly.  This season give the opportunity for players who are into roleplaying to actually roleplay.  This is going to be a great boon to the advanced players.  These players will provide much needed experience and entertainment for the new players coming to try D&D for the very first time.  Imagination is almost given free reign.  I am looking forward to DM this to my players.  The Encounters seem quite challenging and the flow of the adventure is quite interesting.  There are a plethora of possibilities in what can be done with this adventure.  The DMs are going to have their hands full with the amount of information with this adventure.



The maps included with the adventure are once again top notch.  I simply love using the maps from the previous seasons.  There is something about being able to see what is happening, instead of having to draw everything up on a battle map.  I usually get them laminated for future use.

The kit also contained the various item to spiffy up your gaming location for this weekly event: A poster advertising the program with a Renown Point Tracker on the back, token sheets representing monsters, characters and battlefield effects, D&D Fortune Cards for player rewards and the pre-generated character for the season.

The tokens this season are a lot thinner than past tokens.  They resemble more of a flimsy cardboard, than the thick ones we used to get.  I will not be getting a lot of mileage on these puppies. The first one I tried to punch out ripped in my hand.  I have a feeling I will be resorting to providing minis to the players that end up coming to the game.  As for the monsters, I will remain with the tokens.  Tokens are great things and help a lot to keep track of thing on the battlefield

Included also were the new Fortune Cards that are being showcased in the new season of Encounters.  I personally am excited to try them out and get some feedback on how the other players like them.  I don't think I will be using them in any of my campaigns anytime soon, but you never know.  I may try them if the feedback is overwhelmingly popular.

The pre-generated characters are much better this season.  I will not go into great detail.  If you want a greater look on the pregens, go visit our D&D Encounters Page for more information.

This season is going to be a big one and I hope to be able to post regular recaps of all the sessions in this coming season of Dungons & Dragons Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade.