Adventure Paths
Oct. 5th, 2022 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI have finished reading the Shattered Star adventure path and it had a lot of good bits but the final fight felt a bit nothingy.
I think it's cause the Big Bad is, like, just some guy?
You have the whole of part 6 building up to fight him, and you've heard about him all along, but I didn't get that satisfying payoff feeling just cause you finally get to hit him.
So, so far my favourite adventure paths have in common that by the time you get to the end
you really really hate That Guy
and hitting him will feel really cathartic.
It's bonus points if they represent a particular sin or kind of evil, cause you can really focus on one particular set of issues.
I can see how I could focus Shattered Star - there's repeated betrayals across generations to work with, growing paranoia, feeling trapped, the whole good intentions turning to rot side of things, and every shard has dragged someone down into it's sin - but it doesn't feel focused on first read through.
And so much of it was about one runelord because of that one twist where you might have one character accidentally wake up in their spare body that a satisfying ending would to me need to focus on that one somehow as well, but only if twist happened to players, which it might not.
It's really difficult to get that kind of build up going when your players might just... wander off somehow.
Also, whenever the bad guy motivation is given as 'went mad', whether by outside influence or not, it makes it not cool to hit them. Like, there are healing spells? Even for minds? And by the end of the adventure you can probably do Wish. How about you Wish them well? Not mad any more? Then the final fight is, like, significantly less fighty?
I know it's probably the wrong genre or system for going in thinking I Can Fix Them
but despite there being so many more rules for fighting than for talking
it seems like talking could resolve a lot of things, given a chance.
And if not talking, probably magic.
Mind controlling the big bad is seldom an option though.
The other thing I noticed is there's always a point in part 6/6 where you hit a timer, because otherwise everyone will go home and restock and have another go later. So you will reach a point where delay will make things hugely worse, like end of the world stuff.
But it isn't always well signposted.
And other parts of the adventure have a different rhythm, so going home is permitted or even encouraged.
Building up to the world ender is supposed to feel special though, this is where you prove it's all for more than the glory, where you really make a difference.
So it makes sense to put them on the clock for the big bad, but I think the clock needs to be more visible sometimes.
I liked this adventure path pretty well but the bit I want to focus on for story is a bit that might just not happen to your particular group, so I might need another look to see what it thinks it's about and focus there.
Took me a long while to read though.
Focus. I need more of it.
I think it's cause the Big Bad is, like, just some guy?
You have the whole of part 6 building up to fight him, and you've heard about him all along, but I didn't get that satisfying payoff feeling just cause you finally get to hit him.
So, so far my favourite adventure paths have in common that by the time you get to the end
you really really hate That Guy
and hitting him will feel really cathartic.
It's bonus points if they represent a particular sin or kind of evil, cause you can really focus on one particular set of issues.
I can see how I could focus Shattered Star - there's repeated betrayals across generations to work with, growing paranoia, feeling trapped, the whole good intentions turning to rot side of things, and every shard has dragged someone down into it's sin - but it doesn't feel focused on first read through.
And so much of it was about one runelord because of that one twist where you might have one character accidentally wake up in their spare body that a satisfying ending would to me need to focus on that one somehow as well, but only if twist happened to players, which it might not.
It's really difficult to get that kind of build up going when your players might just... wander off somehow.
Also, whenever the bad guy motivation is given as 'went mad', whether by outside influence or not, it makes it not cool to hit them. Like, there are healing spells? Even for minds? And by the end of the adventure you can probably do Wish. How about you Wish them well? Not mad any more? Then the final fight is, like, significantly less fighty?
I know it's probably the wrong genre or system for going in thinking I Can Fix Them
but despite there being so many more rules for fighting than for talking
it seems like talking could resolve a lot of things, given a chance.
And if not talking, probably magic.
Mind controlling the big bad is seldom an option though.
The other thing I noticed is there's always a point in part 6/6 where you hit a timer, because otherwise everyone will go home and restock and have another go later. So you will reach a point where delay will make things hugely worse, like end of the world stuff.
But it isn't always well signposted.
And other parts of the adventure have a different rhythm, so going home is permitted or even encouraged.
Building up to the world ender is supposed to feel special though, this is where you prove it's all for more than the glory, where you really make a difference.
So it makes sense to put them on the clock for the big bad, but I think the clock needs to be more visible sometimes.
I liked this adventure path pretty well but the bit I want to focus on for story is a bit that might just not happen to your particular group, so I might need another look to see what it thinks it's about and focus there.
Took me a long while to read though.
Focus. I need more of it.