D&D Scourge of the Sword Coast now available

[ddavison]

This was one of the D&D Next playtest adventure modules. It was converted by our very own TASAgent and has been updated to the latest D&D rules wherever possible, including the final iterations of all monsters that eventually became a part of the D&D Monster Manual for fifth edition.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=WOTC5ESOTSC

[kylania]

Thanks TAS and FG!

[JohnD]

Nice to have another low level offering out there, if I've read that right.

[MadBadHare]

Nice to have another low level offering out there, if I've read that right.

As Doug stated it is an older published adventure for "Next" (Like Feb 2014ish) it is an adventure for 2nd level characters and should take them to 4th or 5th IIRC.

[epithet]

Will the sequel (Dead in Thay) also be converted?

[Zacchaeus]

Nice work TAS.

[FSHSchmo]

Picked this up!

[MadBadHare]

Picked this up!
Thoughts? likes/dislikes? worth it?

Let us know please :)

[kylania]

The maps make my toes curl.

[ddavison]

Will the sequel (Dead in Thay) also be converted?

The plan is to visit each of the playtest adventures and give them a similar treatment. TASAgent is working on Out of the Abyss for us at the moment and then we have the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide right around the corner. It will depend on how quickly we can get through these.

[JohnD]

In terms of length, how does this compare to LMoP?

[MadBadHare]

In terms of length, how does this compare to LMoP?

Lost mine was a 64 page adventure - Scourge was 62 pages of module, 21 pages of Bestiary in print so I would venture to guess they are comparable length.

Just my $0.02

[TASagent]

Hey epithet,
Dead in Thay, unfortunately, isn't ideal for pretty much anything but convention play. It's really meant for simultaneous play with a bunch of groups, and doesn't make much sense if you try to break it up. It would require significant modification to really make sense.

[Nylanfs]

So it would be good to run at FG Con with a bunch of groups is what you are saying? :)

[TASagent]

I guess it's worth mentioning that it was originally published for D&D Next, but has been updated where possible to the finalized 5e stats. I've been running it with a pure 5e party and the balance seems about right so far.

[midas]

Thanks for all the work TAS. I'm looking forward to running it.

[TASagent]

Yeah, I encourage people to let me know what they think.

If anything is in need of some dynamic tweaking, keep in mind that the general trend going from Next to 5e was to drop the AC a little and raise the HP. However, most monsters were able to be substituted for their equal-level 5th edition counterparts, so only a little was left with purely updating D&D Next stats.

In some modules going forward I'm trying to iterate a little bit on the module organization. Legacy of the Crystal Shard, for instance, will somewhat replicate and improve the original presentation by making the 64-page Icewind Dale Campaign Guide into a reference manual located in separate module. This way, it's convenient if you want to do what I did in my own game and continue adventuring in Icewind Dale after the events of the module were over - you can just close the adventure module and keep using the Campaign Guide module. Additionally, having a searchable campaign guide is indispensable.

Also let me know if you have any organization-related feedback on these, or the upcoming Out of the Abyss module.

Thanks!
TASagent

[TASagent]

And some words of warning for our 5e adventurers venturing into the Scourge of the Sword Coast module (or anywhere, really):

Bugbears in 5e are $***-wrecking machines. Watch yourself around them.
You will struggle to hit an Orog with an attack roll, but they are slow to react and have weak, spongy minds.


That is all.

[demonsbane]

(. . .) Legacy of the Crystal Shard, for instance, will somewhat replicate and improve the original presentation by making the 64-page Icewind Dale Campaign Guide into a reference manual located in separate module. This way, it's convenient if you want to do what I did in my own game and continue adventuring in Icewind Dale after the events of the module were over - you can just close the adventure module and keep using the Campaign Guide module. Additionally, having a searchable campaign guide is indispensable.

This sounds very good to me.

[damned]

And some words of warning for our 5e adventurers venturing into the Scourge of the Sword Coast module (or anywhere, really):

Bugbears in 5e are $***-wrecking machines. Watch yourself around them.
You will struggle to hit an Orog with an attack roll, but they are slow to react and have weak, spongy minds.


That is all.

When the teacher underlines something on the blackboard (do they still use those things?) the day before a test - you pay attention!

[kylania]

When the teacher underlines something on the blackboard (do they still use those things?)

Yes, schools still use teachers. :)

[ddavison]

Sprou7 recommended posting the details of the conversion. Please see below:

This module has been fully converted to work with Fantasy Grounds v3 or higher, and the Dungeons & Dragons 5E ruleset. It includes a full copy of the module's original adventure text as well as digital copies of the adventure maps and images to support online play with Fantasy Grounds.
Update from D&D Next to 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

This module has been updated from its original incarnation, built for the D&D Next playtest ruleset. Where possible, equivalent or updated monster statistics were substituted. Hobgoblins, Orcs, Goblins, and Gnolls, and their derivative variants, have all been updated to use their final 5th edition traits and actions.
Several creatures could not realistically be substituted with their final counterpart, being of inappropriate challenge for this adventure. In such cases, a "lesser" variant was created. Duergar, Gricks, and Wraiths all required a less powerful version, closer to the playtest statistics, be utilized.

A few spells that existed in the playtest rules did not appear in the Player's Handbook. Cause Fear, a level 1 Illusion spell, made numerous appearances throughout the adventure. It has been kept in as an NPC spell, though it is not part of the official Player's Handbook spell list.

Nalifarn's study originally had several scrolls for spells that have ceased to exist. Appropriate level substitutions have been made.

The maps have been edited to allow alignment of the combat grid, and the Village of Jolkoun has been made available in a Split and Unsplit style, to accomodate the different scale of the village and cellars.

Whenever possible, treasure has been preserved in the form of art objects that can be carried by the players for later sale.

[MadBadHare]

Sprou7 recommended posting the details of the conversion.

Thanks Doug. After I had read that I realized it would certainly be worth the purchase. That was why I had suggested it. TASAgent did an exceptional job with the conversion and import to FG. It is not only a great adventure but well implemented in FG.

[neologiker]

Legacy of the Crystal Shard, for instance, will somewhat replicate and improve the original presentation by making the 64-page Icewind Dale Campaign Guide into a reference manual located in separate module.

This is great news! I bought LotCS but didn't have the chance to run it before 5e was released, and have been tinkering with a conversion ever since.

One thing I'm curious about, though, is the lack of maps in this adventure. Having maps is one of the main draws for my players and I when it comes to FG. Any chance we might see some additional encounter maps? It might be a bit much to ask since there weren't any in the original module, but I'd be sold in a heartbeat if some miraculously appeared

Either way, I'm looking forward to it!

[TASagent]

Yeah, as you know, Legacy of the Crystal Shard (and Murder in Baldur's Gate as well) shipped with no battle maps. There's a wealth of overland maps, but nothing intended to be a live battle map. However, given how the adventures are entirely event driven and involve literally no dungeon crawling (I can't think of a single time when I ran Legacy that the players had two battles within 1000 feet of each other), what it needs are location-based maps for battles rather than a particularly unique map. In that sense, it shouldn't be hard to bring some more generic resources to bear when fleshing out the adventure's encounters. I am not a particularly skilled mapper (and wouldn't want to have to apologize for including my crap in the adventure), and I can only imagine things would get tricky trying to include someone else's work for the maps (given the product is for sale). Doug would probably have more/better(/more accurate) things to say regarding the inclusion of other maps.

However, there's actually a lot of easily acquired resources out there that people made specifically for LotCS. Here are some great maps from the LotCS Wiki. (https://the-legacy-of-the-crystal-shard.wikia.com/wiki/Maps)

I wish I could provide better resources on that front, but if I tried you'd just end up with Programmer Art(TM).

[TASagent]

Doh! I'd only taken a look at the North/South Pass just now, and another a while ago that's 404'd now. Some of those are okay, but the North/South Pass is the only one that wouldn't take a bit of editing to be usable, and you'd still need to export that one in a more reasonable format (and size!).

I would be happy to unofficially share some map resources when the time comes. :-)

[neologiker]

Doh! I'd only taken a look at the North/South Pass just now, and another a while ago that's 404'd now. Some of those are okay, but the North/South Pass is the only one that wouldn't take a bit of editing to be usable, and you'd still need to export that one in a more reasonable format (and size!).

I would be happy to unofficially share some map resources when the time comes. :-)

Thanks, TASAgent! I figured that would be the story with these modules. I was fine with theatre of the mind, usually, but some of my players really wanted to try maps, which is what led me to FG in the first place. At least we have the internet, and folks like you to point us in the right direction!

I wonder if you could commission some from Mike Schley, who did the existing maps for Crystal Shard, and a slew of other modules. I'd pay more for that! He sells copies of his maps on his website after the adventures are published so I'm sure he could make a little on the side--winter encounter maps are few and far between, I find!

For those who are interested: https://mikeschley.zenfolio.com/. I sometimes use his higher res stuff over the packaged maps in FG.

[klowe2112]

Brand new to FG, just starting 5e, too. Was a bit disappointed as others in the lack of encounter maps. Being new to FG, please forgive me if I'm missing something, but is there just a generic grid available in the interface that can be drawn on? If not, I'd say my first impression is that the initial encounter on Scourge is a bit confusing. There's no map, nothing really in terms of treasure, just seems hastily thrown in and not too sure why the characters need to care about this particular farmstead. Anyone with resource suggestions on generic FG-compatible maps for this?

Thanks from a real Noob
-Kevin

[damned]

Hi Kevin,

The reason there are no maps included in this adventure is... there are no maps included in this adventure. The adventure as provided by WotC didnt come with any maps. Getting WotC quality maps made generally costs a couple of hundred bucks a piece... I know that doesnt help but hopefully it helps with the why... :)

[kylania]

The adventure comes with incredible quality WotC level Mike Schley maps. The beginning ambush doesn't have one since it doesn't really need one, it's a standard 5E "theater of the mind" encounter - just a few goblins to murderize.

For a blank grid just open Maps then rclick and Create Item. Then click on New Drawing. This will be a blank gray space. Rclick and set a grid and you have a simple battlemap. Use drawing tools if you need to add obstacles.

[TASagent]

Was a bit disappointed as others in the lack of encounter maps.

Hey Kevin,

It's kind of funny that you say that, because this adventure is actually pretty unique among Wizards modules in how every encounter in the entire adventure other than the first one (and potentially the second) takes place on an encounter map. I think Lost Mines of Phandelver might be about the same in that regard. When we were talking about modules with few or no encounter maps, we were talking about a different adventure.

Scourge of the Sword Coast is a FG conversion of this adventure, (https://www.dndclassics.com/product/125600/Dreams-of-the-Red-Wizards-Scourge-of-the-Sword-Coast-DD-Next) published by Wizards of the Coast.

I'm not sure how new you are to FG, but (in case it helps) I can give you a little rundown of how to navigate the module. You always want to start with the table of contents, that's labeled "(Scourge of the Sword Coast)" in this case. The first few links are background, then there's some information on Daggerdale. For now, jump to one of the five Adventure Sites. Let's pick Julkoun. There, at the bottom, you'll see there are 5 maps. The most relevant three are the Village Map, the Cellars map, and the DM Map. Make sure you try holding the control key when looking at a map to see the pins. Clicking on one will bring you to a description of the room it's pinned to. All of the other locations have 2 maps linked at the bottom, the DM map and the Player's map.

Did that clear up any confusion? Do you have any questions about it?

[klowe2112]

You guys are awesome. The drawing tools make sense, and the nav tips are much appreciated. Any recommendations on third party map tools? I'm decent with photoshop but guessing that's not much help.

[damned]

Some great mapping products:
Photoshop
GiMP
https://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/ (love this simple tool)
Tiled https://www.mapeditor.org/ (love this tool)
Campaign Cartographer
https://www.nbos.com/products/fractal-mapper


Some great map tilesets:
https://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=WyldFurr+Map+Tiles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=
https://www.rpgartkits.com/

[TASagent]

Honestly, if you're good with and have access to Photoshop, you probably don't need any other program. I often use paint.net because it's lighter-weight and free, but the alpha mask extension is a necessity. If you're trying to make maps, what you'll probably need the most are packs of assets. Others may have recommendations in that vein, I personally am not too familiar with what's out there map-asset-wise. At that point it's just about throwing together your maps and blending your backgrounds, as necessary. If you're looking for tools made specifically for game mapping, Campaign Cartographer is by far the most popular, and I think Dundjinni is rather popular as well.

[kylania]

Not for battle maps, but Inkarnate makes some pretty overland maps: https://inkarnate.com/

Campaign Cartrographer can be found here https://secure.profantasy.com/default.asp

Do note while it's incredibly awesome it's not exactly cheap ($85 to get into making dungeons) but it's super easy to make amazing looking maps. :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-X6TQ_71VI

[Trenloe]

Any recommendations on third party map tools? I'm decent with photoshop but guessing that's not much help.
Some info here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20879-Map-Making-Software-summary

I use campaign cartographer to make maps from scratch, or GIMP if I have map tiles that just need laying out - like these:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22537-Dungeon-Map-Tiles
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24527-Dungeon-Map-Tiles-II
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?25377-Cave-Map-Tiles

Also Dungeon Painter Online (Pyromancer) can throw together maps very quickly, as can Tiled - both of these free applications are mentioned in the link provided above.

[Mellock]

There's also a good thread about mapping software here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20879-Map-Making-Software-summary).

[ddavison]

We just posted an update to the module. Thanks TASAgent. See the update notes here:

v1.4 8/25/2015

Added Quick links and updated link naming to assist navigation
Added some extra links to the appendices
Minor adjustments in layout
Adjusted Skill check DCs to fit D&D 5e ranges:
25 -> 20
20 -> 15
15 -> 13
Changed "Intelligence (Search)" to "Wisdom (Perception)"
Added custom tokens for Jekk, Pencheska, Shalendra, and Duke Maldwyn
Added a missing item from a parcel (Bag of Holding)
Expanded the spell books descriptions to include spell links
Fixed identification state on all items (previously all items were flagged as identified)
Cleaned up the item record list to exclude most one-shot art objects


Unless you have already made custom edits to the module contents for your campaign, just do the following steps:

Run a Check for Updates
Open the Library | Modules inside your campaign
Close and Re-Open the module
Right-click on the Module Thumbnail and choose Revert () to restore it to the default module content

[TASagent]

Thanks, Doug.

I wanted to roll out an update with some lessons learned from making Out of the Abyss. Specifically, adding clearly labeled links to the bottom of non-trivial story records that link to adjacent story records, and increasing the ability to navigate the hierarchy of story records in general. When there is a parent story record that acts as an introduction to an act, chapter, section, etc, then child story nodes (just non-trivial ones) will also have a link back to the chapter heading, and all non-trivial story nodes will have a link to the overall table of contents.

In other words, if Chapter 2 Section 2 gets its own story page, then at the bottom of the story record it will have links to:

The table of contents for the adventure
The introduction (and table of contents) for chapter 2
The previous story record in its layer of the hierarchy (chapter 2 section 1)
The next story record in its layer of the hierarchy (chapter 2 section 3)

Similarly, the Chapter 2 heading itself will have links to Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, as those are the "adjacent" story records on its level of the hierarchy. The smallish story records that always exist on the bottom of the hierarchy, like little appendix entries or location descriptions, do not have the quick links. Since they're often linked-to from multiple locations, are usually pretty small, and typically are found 3 or 4 levels deep in the hierarchy (and often dozens at a time - a lot of linking!), I found adding all the hierarchy links to these often made things less clear.

I've also tried to make a clear distinction between when a link leads to a story record along the path you're "supposed to" take to get to it, versus when a link is just included for convenient cross-referencing. For example, the "proper" trajectory to Chapter 2 Section 2 is either "Table Of Contents>Chapter 2>Chapter 2 Section 2" or "Table Of Contents>Chapter 2>Chapter 2 Section 1>Chapter 2 Section 2". To this end, when a story record has "proper" links to child story records, I have tried to clearly label it as a list of contents, essentially assigning "ownership" of the child node. The quick links also help reinforce the hierarchy, to give you a good idea of where you are in the module. This way, when you're reading through the module and you see a link, you'll be able to easily answer the question "Do I need to look at this now, or will it come up again later?"

That's the cross-linking strategy I'm trying to use going forward. Any feedback is appreciated.

As always, if you encounter an issue in the module, let us know.

[ddavison]

While I can't speak for the community at large, I personally loved that approach. It made reading the Out of the Abyss module much smoother within Fantasy Grounds. With that, I no longer felt like I needed the book or PDF in addition to FG's copy.

[demonsbane]

Any feedback is appreciated.

As always, if you encounter an issue in the module, let us know.

I wonder if this module includes the pregenerated characters.

dndclassics.com (https://www.dndclassics.com/product/125600/Dreams-of-the-Red-Wizards-Scourge-of-the-Sword-Coast-(D%26D-Next)) updated it making them part of the adventure module:

Jody J's comment at the site, Feb 13, 2014:


"The download packet has been updated with the HiRes PDF of the Launch event map for Daggerford and the region. Also has 2nd level pre-gens."

[TASagent]

Including the pregens is problematic for a couple reasons. The pregens themselves would need to be spliced into the XML manually because of how the module was generated. That's wouldn't necessarily prevent us from including it, but it is an obstacle. The other issue is these are D&D Next pregens. A fair bit of stuff has changed since then, though in large part one could make contextually appropriate decisions. Given both of those issues, ultimately I decided not to crowbar in facsimiles of the D&D Next pregens.

[TASagent]

If you are interested, it looks like the SotSC Pregens (https://dungeonsmaster.com/pre-generated-character-library-dndnext/) are linked to at dungeonmasters. They're nothing like the much more interesting pregens in LMoP, if that's what you expected. These are just very barebones (outdated) descriptions of abilities for completely archetypal characters, and completely stats-oriented, no flavor added or campaign-specific customization.

[demonsbane]

Including the pregens is problematic for a couple reasons. (. . .)

If you are interested, it looks like the SotSC Pregens (https://dungeonsmaster.com/pre-generated-character-library-dndnext/) are linked to at dungeonmasters. They're nothing like the much more interesting pregens in LMoP (. . .)

I understand. Thank you very much for both of your answers, you've been very explanative and helpful.

[Griogre]

Yeah, I'd suggest if you want pregens use the LMoP ones.

[TASagent]

That would work, but not really as nicely as they do for LMoP. What makes the LMoP pregens nice is they have backgrounds and aspirations that connect both to each other and the NPCs in the plot. To have the equivalent, you'd need to customize the backgrounds to fit SotSC. A good guideline for how to do this is one of these options:

Pick an NPC who would be helpful to the party if he wants to be, and make him a relative or past friend of a party member. (eg, a character's brother-in-law is an Innkeeper in a city where they're going to need to keep a low profile)
If the above is too much of a boon, then make their past troubled. (eg, as above, but the sister was murdered and the former brother-in-law finds being around the party too painful and wants to forget about what happened and move on)
Add a connection to an NPC the party will need to influence. (eg, a character with the Soldier background once served in the army with the captain of the guard who is overseeing security for a lord they need to have some private time with)
Or add a complication to that to make it more fun. (eg, said captain of the guard was thought to be dead but had actually deserted)
Add aspirations to the PCs that generally align (but not perfectly align!) with the adventure's goals. Bonus points if the ways in which these goals differ conflict mildly (mildly is best, there's really no satisfying compromise between players with the goals "Kill Bob", "Arrest Bob", and "Settle with Bob". Unless your PCs are "Time", "Cardiac", and "Estate Attorneys")
Past connections will also enable PCs to vouch for the credibility (or lack there of) of NPCs (and vice versa) without needing to exhaustively prove their trustworthiness to each other before having an excuse to reveal secretive plot details. This can be a helpful trick if you ever need to patch up glaring character errors in a published module. Feel there's no way in the 7 hells an NPC would meet the PCs and immediately divulge the information he's expected to? Well, here's a way.


Obviously just a crude outline, but maybe it will get some gears spinning. Following too closely will make everything feel cookie cutter, obviously ("A new NPC, huh? Who is this one related to?"). But a little bit can go a long way.

Some ideas in a SotSC context might be:

It Belongs in a Dwarven Museum (Any Dwarf PC): somewhat disillusioned by the march of time and depressed by the shrinking role his people seem to play in it, nothing would make this PC feel accomplished more than playing a role in restoring his people to prominence. He feels great (communal) ownership of dwarven holdfasts, artifacts, etc, and would fight relentlessly to seem them recovered and restored.
Noble Aspirations (Any PC): The only thing this PC wants in life is to be accepted into the political elite he knows be belongs to. As such, there are a few things he needs: An impressive residence (what noble of sufficient stature doesn't have one), staff (one should hardly be expected to dress and feed oneself when staying in said residence), land grant (from a regional lord; one must own these lands legally for it to matter, else one is merely a squatter), a fancy hat (how else will you be distinguished from the riff raff). As wealth and property are accrued, so too does the belief of what he rightfully deserves, maintaining the need to defer settling down without needing to make silly excuses.
Ignoble Aspirations (Any Human PC): This PC is a reasonably close relative of the regional ArchDuke, though wishes he had nothing to do with politics. All he wants to do is lead a "normal" life, but continually finds he is not entirely clear on what that means. Though he remains enthusiastic on the premise, he continually shocked to learn there are more and more things the common man is expected to take care of for himself. He hates the attention his affiliation brings, but isn't above whipping it out when convenient, despite the ***-kissing it tends to bring from lower nobility.
A Most Peculiar Zen (Any PC): The intelligent, civilized races fight their wars and play their political games. They claim a thousand different metrics for judging what is right. Who is to say which of them is wrong? The only true, objective tragedy is when beasts (and other bestial races) take from the uplifted. Goblins, orcs, gnolls, and the other bestials, as well as their aggression against civilization, is just Nature's attempt to stop philosophical ascension. It is the height of hubris to declare an uplifted is objectively wrong, but the bestials are incapable of true reasoning, and must be dealt with lethally.


I hope that's somewhat helpful, at least as an idea-generator.

[Griogre]

Some good thoughts from TASagent. To add on a bit on matching bonds to an adventure. I'm currently running HotDQ. There are a number of backgrounds, and bonds custom to the module, but I didn't want to just give them a shopping list of these so I asked them to pick bounds and backgrounds out of the PH they thought would be fun and in character. I told them I would then talk with each of the players and customize their bonds and possibly their backgrounds to match the adventure.

By having them pick things first will give you some insight where a player wants to go and then you can use that to tie each PC into the adventure as TASagent suggests.