Darius Finch

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**** Pathfinder Society GM. Starfinder Society GM. 2,894 posts (6,570 including aliases). 1 review. 1 list. No wishlists. 60 Organized Play characters. 22 aliases.



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An ambitious project with problems in execution

2/5

I got where the scenario was trying to get to, and appreciate what it tried to do. It was ambitious and had the potential to lead to some interesting discussions and roleplaying opportunities.

However.

Firstly, combat. It is necessary to consider the target audience - most players are here to play a combat-adventure, and while a good story and RP opportunities are essential elements to make it an adventure rather than a slugfest, combat remains an essential part of the experience. The problem here was that the fights that were actually relevant to the plot, which were most of them, were very easy. Whereas the one excessively challenging encounter... had NO relation to the plot! This was I think a problem on two fronts - the difficulty of the battles was not calibrated well, and more importantly, what ended up feeling like a boss fight in difficulty was plot-wise essentially a random encounter, such that at the end of the tense battle, the players were left wondering what the heck it was all about or for. Conversely, the fights that could have meant something were too easy to to feel rewarding.

Furthermore, the philosophy presented in the scenario was contentious. That is to be expected of philosophy, it's an essential part of its nature. While the scenario indicated that GMs should invite players to engage with the ideas, it seemed to prescribe acceptance of the ideas as the default or preferred position. I admit to taking some liberties with this - when the players made the skill checks, I made it clear that what I was telling them was not the 'right' answer, but rather what they knew the NPC thought was the right answer, and gave them freedom to push against it, based on their own reasoning and from the outlook of their respective characters. After some deliberation, they ultimately decided to refuse to give the 'right' answer, but rather their own answer, and I thought the experience was all the richer for it. There was some indication in the scenario that this might still be a possible resolution, but I do feel that when you are attempting to introduce philosophy into a game, it is essential to clearly empower the players to disagree. In light of how things developed, I also had to change the motivations involved in giving the players access to the macguffin from being a reward/final test to an attempt to change their minds, so that they were not unduly penalised for seeing things differently from the NPC. If this was intended to be permitted, it was not clearly stated, and I think it should have.

In summary, combat balance needed alot more work and the philosophy aspect was too much and too prescriptive. While some may like it if they agree with the ideas presented within, it is also very easy to frustrate other players with this one. However, the exploration of Qadiran culture and the NPCs interaction at the start were fun, and for that I will not give it a 1 star. I really enjoyed all the parts of it that occurred within the city. I hope this review does not discourage the writer, as despite the weaknesses in the execution, I thought the premise was novel and interesting.