Dungeons of Drakkenheim - 3rd Party Review

fluffybunbunkittens said:

By the book, they should only start offering those out once the PCs have hit the first stage of approval. This does not work. They should offer their unique rewards right away, so the players get a good idea of what to expect.

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The heroes should probably be able to fish for rumors regarding each faction's better stuff well before that becomes an actual reward, so they can strategize which factions to suck up to based on what they might earn later on.

zakael19 said:

On gold use: magic items are heavily cost inflated via the couple of vendors due to “travel distance and dangers” getting them out to the area.

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Inflation doesn't matter much if the loot you gain is also magnified (and thus the cause of inflation).

I mean, in a gold rush town a pick axe could cost you thirty times as much as today. The best hotel rooms would cost five thousand monthly wages, or in today's money $300,000 which I think even rich people would find steep (it's still three times as much as a night at the Royal Mansion in Dubai). This would have been a problem if it weren't for all the gold prospectors brought back.

So whether a +1 Sword costs 1 gold or 1 million gold doesn't matter. What matters is how much loot PCs can be expected to haul away at any given level. The crucial decision is "at which level should a PC be able to afford item X?" Most well-done efforts split this into two questions:
- at which level will a PC be able to purchase item X assuming he pours ALL his wealth into this item?
as opposed to
- at which level will a PC be able to purchase item X for a reasonable portion of her wealth (say 20%)?

This, in conjunction with how exponential the wealth progress through levels is, is the fundamental parameters you need. (If you gain ten times as much loot each level there's never any point in saving up money*. If each new level provides only 10% more than the previous level, the decision whether to splurge now or save for later becomes much more relevant).
*) Or, indeed, if you showcase inflation by, say, doubling all prices each week. (That's not a lot of inflation by the way. If something costs $1 the first day, it will cost $8 four weeks later which is only 700%. In comparison, something that cost $1 in Zimbabwe in November 2008 would cost approx. $800,000,000 four weeks later.

Or in other words, someone needs to think about the magic item economy, since WotC clearly haven't. In my previous 5E campaigns, I've relied on a mixture between Sane Magic Item Prices and 3E's Magic Item Compendium. I would have loved it if WotC updated this book for 5E. It easily tops my list of needed supplements.

Anyway, if you take any price list and increase prices tenfold that doesn't matter as long as you also award ten times as much loot.

CapnZapp said:

The heroes should probably be able to fish for rumors regarding each faction's better stuff

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Just tell them. These factions are known in the world, even if not to the players. With the exception of exactly what Falling Fire can offer.

Note that technically, it's also possible for the PCs to just decide to camp in the outskirts and try to find delerium to trade, which is not an interesting use of session time. So if they want to do that repeatedly, just be ready to say 'sorry, you've tapped this vein, and you can see other parties doing the same in other parts of the outskirts'. If they go hunt for rats, they could get a whole-ass crystal in a much more entertaining fashion, etc.

I am running Drakkenheim right now. So far it's been excellent, although I find it to be a very challenging adventure to DM. It's incredibly complex and information in the book is not well organized, which is a brutal combination. Still, it's been everything I hoped so far in terms of color, depth, role-playing opportunities, and so forth. My players are enjoying it a lot.