...with--wait! Seriously?!

D&D Encounters is a great way to introduce new players to D&D. I running it and enjoy hearing the players talk about it and I look forward to it every week that I am able to run it. I honestly can't wait to seriously hurt my players with the upcoming Dark Sun material.

This week however was a blow out due to some bad design.

The encounter has a potentially awesome introduction that includes roleplaying with a dwarf wanderer. In the middle of the conversation a lizard mage and a bunch of dust devils attack aiming to kill the dwarf and then the PCs.

Sounds good, right?

First off the PCs can detect the approaching ambush with a passive perception of 20. The highest passive in the party is 17.

Uh oh...

Oh wait! DM fiat! The perception check is now active in response to the dwarf whispering, "It is not safe."

Oh, you guys failed it... Okay...

Populate the map, give a look at the tactics, and go!

Huh... All of the enemies won initiative.

Everyone gets knocked prone and the NPC gets seriously wounded. Now the dust devil in the middle explodes!

Dead dwarf?! He was standing--alive--a moment ago. Now he's dead? Oh, and the party is prone, bloodied, blinded and vulnerable to poison attacks...

Great.

*scratch that encounter power from the other two devils*

That is exactly how my game ran last night. Luckily the party rallied and I let them break a rule while I bent a few to give them a fighting chance. The frustration--both with a new venue and the encounter--was palpable. I backed off and didn't use a second explosion until near the end when I want to scare them again. The third never came.

The entire party survived, but is now a bloody mess nearly or completely out of surges. I must remember the psion's ritual to redistribute surges for the next session.

1. The passive perception check was unbeatable as written. This isn't the writer's fault. He didn't have the pregens when writing the adventure.
2. The skirmishers attacking the group had high initiative modifiers which practically guaranteed they would get 1.5 turns before the party acted.
3. +8 vs. Reflex on a 3d6+3 blind on hit encounter power on a level 3? The damage isn't the problem. It's the attack bonus and blind that break everything.
4. Burst 3 from an artillery that does a good chunk of damage and leaves an irritating condition?

#2 and #4 here aren't really that bad. On top of the other two, however, they just add insult to injury. Cut #1 and the encounter ends up being well balanced. Weaken #3 and the onslaught is survivable.

Modifying either #1 or #3 and the fight is still very tough, but not a round 1 unavoidable TKP.

No wonder so many stories online include players swearing not to come back next week.

I was all about the difficulty in the first session, but this was way, way out of line even for Athas--especially an Athas meant to introduce new players.

Here's the setup:


Here's after 1.5 rounds:




The ones without rings or on the ground are enemies. The PCs still haven't gone and the dwarf was killed by a lucky shot.