|
4 years ago ::
Jan 10, 2009 - 8:58AM
#41
|
Date Joined:
Jun 18, 2003
|
They took away your lyrics, eh? Ouch!
Yeah, we are ruminating on two alternatives: either a free-form jazz exploration called Jazz Odyssey; or perhaps a musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper called Saucy Jack.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 10, 2009 - 8:58AM
#42
|
|
|
I'm in no way saying that the LFR is a complete waste, but their are some real shocking modules out their. I really loved "Beneath Haunted Halls": It had depth, interesting characters, a nice location & a final fight with the bad guy. It had emotional resonance, that made my players jump for joy.
On the flip side of the coin their was "BALD1-1; Flames of Initiation." Possibly the worst adventure ever to be made for LFR. It was bland, boring, dull & down right plot hammered. Its locations were dull, its plot was pointless, you achieved nothing & you don't even feel good doing it. Its "villains" were completely non-existant & seemed more incidental then interesting, it NPC's were generally just a name. It needed so "Umph," some "Panache." Not a lot, just enough to spark a good DM's imagination.
Their is no real difference in level for these modules, just difference in what is delivered and how. One was brilliant, one was tripe. One left me wanting more, one left me wanting out.
Unfortunately, their are more of the latter, then the former.
I really think that these modules need closer scrutiny by editors before being released & in some cases, being sent back to the writer & for a complete re-write.
Hears hoping that you folks at the RPGA hear what we are saying we want. We want more adventures in places with a little style againt villains with a little panache. Leave the XP grind & over-written treasure placement stuff to the MMO's.
I am always happy to critique any ideas, anyone has with an open mind, after all its what i do. Now if you'll excuse me, i'm staring at the release date for Eberron, willing it to move forwards so i can play another living eberron game (the bestest live game ever).
-M
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
-Albert Einstein
When the forces of stupid collide, magical things happen. And by magical, I mean ******* moronic.
- Anon
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 10, 2009 - 9:53AM
#43
|
- Dragon Slayer
- If only he would apply himself
- Dammit Jim, this is Star Trek, not D&D!
Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2006
|
I played DRAG1-2 yesterday, online. Online is kind of the equivalent of assessing a movie you watched on a plane... hard to do accurately. And yet, I was impressed. The overall story, while simple (not a bad thing, necessarily), had some hooks and plenty of flavor. I came out of the mod with a solid feel for what this part of the region is like, certainly with an 'iconic' understanding of their approach to law and order.
The story awards promise that your PC's choices, made in a non-transparent way (which is great), will affect you in the future. This makes you part of the setting.
The mod had a lot of opportunity for RP, good flavor, and the combats had some nice elements to them.
If every mod contained those types of elements, I think players would feel more connected. (I'm holding myself back from discussing the number of regions, but that's not something that will change right now.)
Teos
Follow my blog and Twitter feed with Dark Sun campaign design and DM tips! Dark Sun's Ashes of Athas Campaign is now available for home play (PM me with your e-mail to order the campaign adventures).
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 10, 2009 - 10:04PM
#44
|
Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2006
|
On the flip side of the coin their was "BALD1-1; Flames of Initiation." Possibly the worst adventure ever to be made for LFR. It was bland, boring, dull & down right plot hammered. Its locations were dull, its plot was pointless, you achieved nothing & you don't even feel good doing it. Its "villains" were completely non-existant & seemed more incidental then interesting, it NPC's were generally just a name.
While not my favorite, I would like to share the fact that for my main character, BALD1-1 provided an iconic moment. Sigbert is a traditionalist and wants to get an epic poem written about him about how he died fighting a hideous monster. So at least one of the combats there was a lot of fun for him -- despite spoilsports pulling out sunrods when he had deliberately downgraded his torch to provide only 1 square of illumination.
This illustrates a basic condition of module play -- there are three sides involved. A writer, a judge and the players. If you have no connection to a region -- frankly, why not? If you chose your region to maximize your perception check or whatever, then you have already decided not to have a connection. If someone says to you "where is your character from?" you *should* have a good answer that ties you to a region.
Sigbert is from Waterdeep. He's a recent arrival, as his sister dragged him their to study magic, so she could avoid a traditional nomad woman's fate. He studies magic in the city, does anything that a traditional warrior should do, and tries hard to sneak out of town and head to remote regions of Faerun where he can NOT study magic and instead be a real warrior.
No-one ever writes epic poems about magicians. And southerners have lousy poetry and their women look weak and unable to bear many children. And their food is bad. And Baldur's Gate is a stupid city for people who cannot make it in Waterdeep. And all non-human races are suspect except orcs, because you know where you are with orcs, but you're never sure with an elf.
So, Mr. Elven Amnish Wizard, thanks for asking about where I come from.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 10, 2009 - 11:42PM
#45
|
Date Joined:
Dec 21, 2006
|
I am having a great time but, I can definitely understand feeling less tied to your given region. I look forward to when the content reaches the point where we can level up playing only the mods of one or two regions. If the release rates keep up and they bolseter the releases in the lower tiers, by the time adventures start to retire, we'll probably find we don't really need to start spanning the realms until higher levels when it starts to make more sense from an in-game perspective.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 11, 2009 - 3:52AM
#46
|
Date Joined:
Nov 10, 2003
|
LFR really needs to be able to engage the characters more, so they don't always feel like wandering strangers who happen to stumble into situations.
It's the "outsider" syndrome. While this is okay to start out with, most players want their characters to eventually start to belong to something larger than themselves.
Looking at group psychology, it's not enough to just give participants an open sandbox. You need to do some directing and prodding to get them to get involved. On their own people will largely meander aimlessly and lose interest quickly. If you direct them a bit, give them something to focus on, be it a factional cause or central organizing group, they'll much more readily get interested on a deeper level.
This. Definitely. So far I've had a lot of fun with (most) of the mods, but it's hard to escape from the feeling of "have wand, will travel" nomadic adventurer who happens to show up in opposite corners of the world at a time when goblins are raiding the village, or whatever. It would be nice if my character's background had a BIT more of an effect.
Examples I can think of that would be neat but not game-breaking are bonuses on skill challenges to characters from a region (as suggested by kenobi), or maybe bonus rewards for adventures in your home region - an extra story reward, an additional NPC to talk to (friend of the family), maybe even the odd minor quest (to the tune of 25 XP, 10GP for a 1-1 or something). Nothing too much, as we don't want people not from the region to get jealous, but a few little touches that make you want to play your own region's mods a bit more, and care a bit more about the outcome of said mod.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 11, 2009 - 4:52AM
#47
|
|
|
but it's hard to escape from the feeling of "have wand, will travel" nomadic adventurer who happens to show up in opposite corners of the world at a time when goblins are raiding the village, or whatever.
I get this too. Its very hard to explain in any logical manner how i travel around the continent saving people from goblins week to week. After all aren't their goblins in my home area. We used the excuse that we are all corsairs being employeed by a trading company callled "The Blue Sail Trading Coster," which makes us the Azure Corsairs. Even so, this excuse is getting really thin.
Their are not enough adventures in any one region & the adventures are still pretty dull. The actual LFR seems to have very little sustainability as anything other then convention play. Considering that for many people their first game will be a publicly run RPGA living event, the games need to be better. After all its a good way to bring in people on the edge, who have gamer friends but are a little reluctant. The last thing you want is a module like BALD1-1; Flames of Initiation, which was basically a WoW style "Fetch-Mission."
Of all things thewriters need to do, the one thing they have to keep in mind at all times is: Let the adventurers be heroes, after all thats why this tier is called "Heroic" & not "Village-Peasent."
INGREDIENTS TO A BRILLIANT ADVENTURE
1. A Memorable Villain
2. A Memorable Plot
3. Descriptive Ambience
4. Interesting Characters (NPC's)
5. Chance to Roleplay (rather then skill challenge)
6. Dynamic Vistas & Amazing Locations
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
-Albert Einstein
When the forces of stupid collide, magical things happen. And by magical, I mean ******* moronic.
- Anon
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 11, 2009 - 5:52AM
#48
|
Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2002
|
So, Mr. Elven Amnish Wizard, thanks for asking about where I come from.
Amnish... heheh. Great, now whenever I encounter anyone from Amn I am going to picture them with chin beards and hats and they shall all be named Jacob.
Sorry WOTC, you lost me with Essentials. So where I used to buy every book that came out, now I will be very choosy about what I buy. Can we just get back to real 4e? Check out the 4e Conversion Wiki. 1. Wizards fight dirty. They hit their enemies in the NADs. -- Dragon9 2. A barbarian hits people with his axe. A warlord hits people with his barbarian. 3. Boo-freakin'-hoo, ya light-slingin' finger-wigglers. -- MrCelcius in response to the Cleric's Healer's Lore nerf
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 11, 2009 - 6:42AM
#49
|
|
|
& be completely opposed to technology. Spends all day raising barns. Mwa ha ha ha ha
:evillaugh
And in my head they will now all look like Seth Green (i just watched Sex Drive).
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
-Albert Einstein
When the forces of stupid collide, magical things happen. And by magical, I mean ******* moronic.
- Anon
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
Jan 11, 2009 - 9:25AM
#50
|
Date Joined:
Feb 28, 2008
|
The coolest thing about D&D, to me, is interacting with a reactive world, watching it change as a result of my actions. It's also one of the biggest selling points of a Living Campaign.
I also understand Wizard's desire to maintain tight control of their brand, since it's an active brand.
It seems to me, though, that the two things are mutually exclusive. Control over how the world evolves belongs to one group or the other. It's possible Wizards' plan is to base future products off the evolution of the Living Campaign storyline, but I find it much more likely that the reverse is true. This takes away a lot of the draw of the game, for me.
Three months between adventures in a particular storyline is just too long for people to remember what's going on, I think. In two years I'll be able to go back and play all the Tymanther mods back-to-back, I guess, but I don't think that really cuts it.
I've heard it mentioned that mods are selected through 2010. That means the decisions our characters are making today will affect the world not tomorrow, but in two years. That seems like an awful long disconnect between character action and environmental reaction, to me. People's attention spans aren't that long, particularly newcomers to the game. If the SUPPLY of modules is so rich, the Fair Market Price Shawn mentioned should (eventually) come down, and Wizards should be able to purchase more. Theoretically. Really, though, Fair Market Price should be way lower, given that the suppliers (authors) are willing to pretty much volunteer, right?
Another facet that makes it difficult to engage players in particular storylines is that, by retirement, my character will most likely have played a total of nine Tymanther mods. You can't really develop just all that much in nine adventures.
I hope Wizards will eventually refine its model to make us happy customers, but it takes financial stimulus to get a corporation to act, and, since it doesn't directly make anything off of LFR, we probably won't ever be able to provide that stimulus.
|
|
|
