[Spoilers] For DDEP08-03 Last call at the Yawning Portal. PSA: If YOU ARE PLAYING IN A T4 ADVENTURE, BE PREPARED TO PLAY A T4 ADVENTURE.
I was at a con over the weekend and was playing Last Orders at the Yawning Portal at T4, I had already played this epic at a previous event at T2 and wanted to play it at T4 at this event. During the 3 hour event, the four out of the five other players at the table spent two of the three hours arguing with the DM complaining that a lot of the stuff happening was "not fair" especially >!the bowling part where your character can be retired for a year if you lose to Halaster. 5/6 of us lost to Halaster which is completely fair stakes for a T4 adventure!< they even went as far as to call over the con organizers DURING the game to complain and say they were never coming to the con again if it sticks. Basically, what I'm trying to say is: If you are signing up to play T4, expect T4 level encounters and problems. Also know how to play your T4 character, if you cast a spell know what it does because the DM may not let you take it back if it has undesired effects such as Sunbursting your whole party because the AOE fills the whole room. Please also let other people play their characters of the remaining hour they weren't complaining to the DM and organizers, they were arguing with other players saying "wait why are you doing that, you should do this instead its better".
TL:DR - Expect high stakes in T4 games, know how to play your high level characters, let other people play their own characters, don't disrupt not only your table, but other tables because you don't think something was fair.
/rant
Posted Jul 15, 2019, 12:51 PM UTC
I initially thought you made a spelling error until I read the relevant part of the adventure.
I can understand why some players got pissed at losing their character for a year in a rigged minigame. The chances of winning seem rather slim, most player's builds will be completely useless and refusing to participate doesn't seem to be an option. I can't fathom why the writer would add a minigame designed to retire at least some characters from every table. It seems about as fun as a save-or-die trap while taking much longer.
It is pretty rough, but that's kind of how epics go. The out for it is pretty simple really, you just write a fun story about how your character spent a year with the mad mage and submit it to the AL team. My friends table pretty well smashed him by not cheating and having him drink every round, so it's not like it was completely impossible.
You also get a story award for submitting your story, in addition to the character being playable again.
The problem is the 'solution' is to drink, and to deliberately get another person black out drunk. If the character (or player) doesn't drink, it's almost impossible to win.
As it should be, he is a significant threat and a named tier 4+ NPC.
Read the rest of the post, in context. If you choose not to engage in binge drinking it is impossible to win. If the entire party does do so, then it's almost impossible to lose. The issue is not the difficulty, it's the requiring of drinking to succeed. It's bad design, and irresponsible to put something like this in a module which kids play.
That Encounter is actually a puzzle. Other people have spoiled the solution, so I ain't gonna, but it's best played as a "here are the conditions, here are the moves you've been told you can make, try some other things and see if you can get the pieces to fit."
Admittedly, this is an issue first and foremost with its presentation in the written material, and then with its presentation by DM's, and lastly with T4 players being stubborn and wanting to DPS their way through it--I'm blaming the players after the DM's and authors.
Bingo!