New LotFP adventure (no spoilers)

I played in James Raggi's new Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure last night with Zak, Mandy, Aberrant Hive Mind, and Higgipedia. I'm given to understand that this will be the new introductory adventure for the Grindhouse edition of LotFP. I think the adventure will be successful in that role because it:

• starts gently, and invites the players to root their characters in the world
• asks the players to think deeply about the situation by not providing them with an easy, obvious course of action
• shows the players that their actions have significant ramifications in the broader game world (recalling a favorite Raggi theme, though without locking the referee into quite such a catastrophic outcome in this case)

While my impressions are from the perspective of a player, and this was not the final version, I can confidently say that, as much as I enjoyed Stargazer, this new adventure uses a similarly familiar trope to create far more engaging play situations for both the players and the referee.

Food always tastes better when you're hungry

The Lamentations of the Flame Princess equipment prices differ considerably from the B/X prices. In B/X, chainmail costs 40gp, while in LotFP it costs 150gp. Your first level fighter will be in leather, just like the thief. I've spoken with several people who consider the LotFP prices a disagreeable concession to economic realism. I'm not generally a big proponent of RPG realism, but the LotFP prices are good because they give the players something: anticipation. Playing a level 1 fighter, I'm really looking forward the first big treasure haul that will give my character the security of metal armor.

Part 1: The Malevolent Mystery of Marshburg

On Sunday afternoon I ran my first 4e game—part of an adventure I call The Malevolent Mystery of Marshburg. The session went pretty well, particularly in light of how long it's been since I've written an adventure or DM'd, and that none of us have played 4e. My players even asked if we could continue the adventure tomorrow after work, which was a nice complement.

In five hours we gathered rumors in town, found the dungeon site, explored a half dozen rooms, and completed two major encounters. Kobolds were defeated. A trap was disarmed. One PC was reduced to zero hit points, but recovered. All but one of the Goblins were killed, and that one managed to escape by spiking a door shut between him and the PC's. (If the players can do, why not the monsters?)

I tried to run certain aspects of the game in "classic mode". The trap was disarmed through dialogue between me and the players rather than a simple role, for example.

4e feels more like a tactical miniatures game than any previous edition, but that's all I'm prepared to say until we give the game a fair run-through in a number of sessions.