One of my top sellers on DMSGUILD is a 5e adaptation of Riding the Rails. This adventure originally appeared in issue number 143 of Dungeon Magazine (way back in 2007). I recently ran the adventure for a group of four and a half (one of the players was there for part one, but not part two) PCs of first level. Wow, did I learn some things! Definitely going to update the PDF. (the more I look at this, the more I wonder how many more people will buy this, and if I should update it this much!)
“Typical” Changes
PDF layout isn’t great….
I’ve run this multiple times, but it’s been a bit. I literally put the cars in the wrong order on the VTT map because I was looking at the PDF “encounters” section while doing so. While this mimics the encounters in the original, even I was confused. I’ll be updating this for sure. (also, no matter how many times it is read, there are still typos somehow, sigh. Like, while writing this I referenced the PDF, and saw one immediately. Sigh. Again.)
Too many enemies at first level.
Ya, so, at first level, in an adventure where the player characters can’t rest, you can’t have six enemies in room after room. There just isn’t enough healing. I’ll be making some changes in numbers of NPCs for sure.
Statblocks!
It’s funny, I reference the free statblocks on DndBeyond, but well, I really wanted them in the PDF while I was using the product. This isn’t really an issue if you are using a VTT, but in person? I wanted them. I’ll be adding some (or maybe simplified ones, we’ll see).
The maps are huge!
One of my players printed the maps out for our second session. We used a tv lying on the table for session one, and there were issues (see below), and the other times I’ve run this, I’ve run it virtually…..so I never realized just how big the maps are. This is potentially an issue for those printing them, and I don’t yet have a solution I like, but I’m thinking.
End Boss Changes.
This one is easy, now that I’ve DM’d more in general, and we’ve seen legendary actions, villain actions (MCDM games), and whatever Mike Mearls is calling them on his new Patreon (phased actions). The end boss needs more than one action per round. I’ll be updating this for sure.
The NPCs…..too generic?
I have largely left the NPCs generic, without description. I’m unsure if I’ll change that or not. There are descriptions in the original, but I’m not sure they match 5e well….
“Atypical” Changes
A split party.
Two times in a row that I’ve run this now, the party has split and some have gone forward on the train, and some back. I need to offer advice for that (which I’ll do freely on another post, and add it to the PDF). This really gets to the VTT issue we had, as the tv wasn’t big enough to show 3-4 train cars and we had to flip back and forth, which meant we had to move minis around over and over. It was not ideal.
What about the other passengers?
This last group wanted to check on, and wake up, the other passengers. This, you know, makes sense. I had one of the passengers be a medium powered member of one of the Eberron houses. This sets up things for later adventures. Also, one of them was grateful and gave them an “Aid” charm (the holder can cast Aid as per the spell once per day). This helped with the lack of healing for my first level party. Seriously, how have I never offered ideas on this before (and, yes, I’ll post some free ideas in another post and add them to the PDF).
Who drives the train to the end?
I thought about this after the game ended, but who drives the train to the end? What happens when the train gets to Sharn? Like, they PCs should get some serious rewards in Sharn, and have new friends in the house that runs the trains. We haven’t run that yet, but it’s no real spoiler for my players that they’ll be getting some cash and contacts in Sharn as a result of saving the train and everyone on it (though they weren’t going to be killed, they were going to be stranded in the middle of nowhere). This is mentioned in the original PDF, sort of (the rewards/bribes are) but I’m going to offer some ideas in the PDF too.
The construct, Why is it sitting around?
So, ya, about the construct? This is a pretty big change from the original module…..but I like it. But, why is it not doing anything about the bad guys? I played it like the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz, and it worked quite well. More like the insecure lion, really. It just felt like a loser that couldn’t do its job. After encouragement from the PCs, it helped them! I’m adding this (and if I think of more ideas) idea to the PDF.
Other Stuff I’m Considering, or That I’ve Learned
Charm Person is great!
One of the PCs charmed the wizard trying to control the elemental. He rolled a 1 on his save, so not only was he charmed, but he gave a speech about the whole plan! For one, he admitted HE was really after the Deck of Many Things, and didn’t care about the column. (I had a fortune teller tell the party’s fortune at dinner, which was interesting, as only two of the PCs knew each other before that).
The column’s magic could use changing
It’s a killer for first level PCs, and does every trap have to do damage? I had it hold people instead of damage them. I’ll be making changes here, most likely. Also, the DCs need adjusting, seriously.
Experienced Players, hmmmm….
It was clear my one player that plays a lot (the others haven’t in years, or just started) knew that a certain innocent bystander wasn’t so innocent, but he pretended he didn’t. I think one way to avoid this issue is to introduce more of the NPCs ahead of time. We definitely could have done more of that, but I’m the worst role playing DM ever sometimes….
Where did they come from?
Like, maybe this is in the original and I’m forgetting, but where did the bad guys come from? How did they get on the train? For some groups, this question will come up (didn’t for ours, luckily). I should think on this and add ideas to the PDF.
I mean, I’m sure there’s more, and I’ve asked my players for their thoughts….so we’ll see.