Stacking the deck to tell the story

[OberonViking]

I am thinking about deliberately stacking the location decks with the 'right' cards to more accurately tell the story of the Rise of the Runelords. I have been thinking about running this Adeventure Path using the PF RPG for some time, so I am fairly Familiar with book 1.

I plan to follow the numbers on the location cards, and shuffle before the game begins, but I will make deliberate placements such as:
Ameiko in the Rusty Dragon
Monster in the Cupboard in the Village House
Tsuto in the Glassworks
Only Goblin monsters in Attack on Sandpoint
Etc

I'll then narrate the story more, play the part of NPCs to interact with the PCs more etc, though we will otherwise play the PFACG as normal.

Thoughts?

[h4ppy]

So long as you don't know where the villain is that should be fine.

However, we look at it a different way and try to make up our own stories about whatever we find wherever it is.

Bunyip in the Apothecary? The mad alchemist was keeping one in a giant tank but it got out of control. The heroes have to help subdue it before things get out of hand.

Monster in the Cupboard in the Woods? You stumble across an old abandoned cupboard, one door hanging slightly ajar, moonlight reflecting off the one remaining handle. It emanates an aura that triggers all the childish fears you thought you had banished long ago but still you are tentative as you approach. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a cupboard. Isn't it...?

[OberonViking]

That's great.

[NariusV]

I think if you're familiar with the fiction it could help improve your own enjoyment of the game. I have not had the pleasure of reading the ROTR Path before, so I'm more inclined to play through the game as blindly as possible, so as to enjoy the discoveries that much more.

[HolmesandWatson]

Pretty good idea. I think that concept is already at the root of several fan scenarios. Trying to get a little more of an RPG feel (that's not a complaint about the Base game).

In my first scenario, I included the card count tables for the Location decks as a tool in stacking them. There's going to be a LOT of stacking (along with custom cards) in Saving the DarkMoon Vale, along with some framing narrative.

I think the Base Game offers a lot of opportunity for expanding a scenario/adventure's narrative.

[OberonViking]

I have Attack on Sandpoint ready to play, probably tonight. I gathered all the goblins and goblin dogs and goblin snakes for the monsters, as well as the Traitor and the Sneak for added flavour and foreshadowing. I used this pile for the random monsters. For the barriers I pulled out the Goblin Raid cards and a few other random barriers. The resti left to be completely random.

[chavamana]

Oddly enough - last time we ran this - Ameiko WAS in the Rusty Dragon, perfectly by chance :)

[Nathaniel Gousset]

I agreed.

It seems to me so weird that we didn't encounter any of the villagers named allies when exploring the village.

And the monsters and spells are too randomly distributed too.

Frankly the over randomness it a mood-breaker and I like randomness, but there it just kill the theme.

I think each location should have a selection of cards (using cards traits), even some fixed cards.

[h4ppy]

@Nathaniel - You're welcome to house-rule this, using the traits printed on the cards or making up your own sets.

However, the set up time of this game is already massive so I completely understand why it's not the default/fixed/official rule to do this.

[OberonViking]

If you have the time it seems like it might add to the game. However, named allies are better than the others so you might be stacking things in your favour. On the other hand, when you go chasing the goblins back to their hideout, stacking the deck with lots of goblins is going to be seriously difficult with a +1d4 on almost every combat check, sometimes higher again.

I hope to try it out soon. Unfortunately my regular PFACG players are my kids, and as I'm ready to settle into playing a game, I'm also telling them to go to bed....

[Nathaniel Gousset]

Is the setup time really that massive ? Sound like pretty fast for us.

The trick is that you need to sort your monsters (and other cards) by traits. Then add more dividers. Then you have to check ALL locations and give them card list.

I think the easier way would be to use generic monsters/allies cards and when you encounter one, you check the location that tell you on what set you draw the card.

A bit longuer to resolve but less cumbersome than setting up each location deck each time.

All in all I guess this is the kind of things that would work better in an computerised version.

[h4ppy]

Speaking of which... when's the app version out ;)

[sozin]

I'm curious, does anyone know if someone has comprehensively done what you are describing above ("stacking" the locations so they appropriately match the original RoRL AP monster and NPC placement)?

The best I could find is this over on BBG : http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1101397/comprehensive-rotr-variant-scenario -tweaks-more-gr

But the author of the variant admits he hasn't read the AP and just did what made sense to him.

[John Davis 2]

I think this sort of deck stacking could work if you had a non-playing "dungeon master" to do the setup. If it's done by the players it really does change the game balance a lot - knowing which monsters and boons are coming up is a massive advantage and I think would also reduce the tension a lot.