|
I am playing in a PBP of this path on the boards here and I am having a blast with the Roleplaying aspects of the adventure so far. I am not sure if Aubrey is just a great DM, or if the path is great, or if our cast of misfits is great, but something is clicking and I can only imagine that face-to-face play would be better.
Basically if the DM is good with PC/NPC interactions and the rest of the tablegoers are decent RPers, I think it would work out great.
Hope it helps even though I haven't read the path.
FH
|
One of my friends recently joined a newly starting Rise of the Runelords campaign. He's never played D&D before (any version), and doesn't have time to read the rules. His RPG background is more Warhammer/Cyberpunk/WoD.
His PC is a scam-artist type rogue. He told me that he's entered the game more for RP aspects rather than combat and such-like. Will he enjoy the AP, or will it be a combat-fest? Please don't give me any spoilers, as I may be playing RotL after STAP finishes (sometime in the future).
The initial adventure has some RP opportunities, but has plenty of combats and dungeons. Depending on the DM, within 5 minutes of starting it, you could be rolling init. The second has more RP, being partly an investigation, but it and the third all have lots of combat.
Eric I think it's really balanced thus far.
I won't kid you, there's a lot of fighting and action scenes that require crunchy rules. It's a DnD campaign, and it doesn't try hide from that, but it tries to do it well.
There are a lot of role-playing opportunities. Not all of them are spelled out explicitedly in the Chapters (though to be fair to the guys, some actually are spelled out!), but they're certainly always implied.
Chapter One delves deeply into the fair sized town of approximately 1,200 citizens. These people have joys, pains, ambitions both good and bad, and they have secrets. An entire support article is given on the town, and it's chock full of NPCs with stories that have little or nothing to do with the core story, but provide amble resources for role-playing?
You have a crafter who makes potions? The town details both a hebalist and a rival alchemist. You want leather good or armor? The smith and tanner are both characters (in the figurative sense) in their own right.
I guess in conclusion, Eric, the real question is is that GM capable of delivering the level of role-playing that is going to satisfy your friend? Because the Adventure Path will hold up it's part of the bargin, and give the GM the resources to do that. If the GM still doesn't deliver, I can honestly say the shortcoming is probably going to be on that end. Chapter One is a rock solid resource for role-playing mixed with action. Not trying to be a fanboi, but it is, which is why it's getting a good following and solid reviews.
I hope that helps.
As a side note:
In another thread that was moved to a different part of the board, there was a protacted troll argument from a guy who said Savage Tides wasn't to his liking because it railroaded people, and that really bothered him, and he blamed the Adventure Path writer. It engendered an entire discussion on what is the responsibility of the AP writer, and what is the responsibility of the GM. My point is: you can get the best AP ever written, and if the GM doesn't or can't utilize all the tools provided creatively.. there's nothing to stop it from being one protracted "fight and gather treasure" scene after another. Burnt Offerings isn't like that, but anybody can theoretically screw it up...
I'm not sure how well this will work out. You say your PC is a scam artist and thats ringing alarm bells for me. A player thats into running scams or confidence games or what have you has strong motivations to move the game away from whatever the intended plot is and move it toward the new plot of swindling the richest people in Sandpoint out of their swag.
If this starts to take place the entire campaign is in great danger of falling apart as the players move off plot. Worse yet if your moving off plot becuase a goal involving something like a scam there is not going to be any way to recover the plot.
In reality I'm not sure if 'is there enough role playing in this AP?' is the right question. The entire thing could be nothing but role playing but if the goals of the players fundamentally conflict with the goals of the campaign its not going to work. If the players new plan is to take Sandpoint for every red cent they can manage and then haul ass for the big city where they can probably lie low and shake the fuzz, well thats just not going to mesh with an AP that is, at its core, about saving Sandpoint. Your PCs motivations essentially have to line up with these ideals in some manner or things start to break down. They can have side goals and such but you really need hero types or PCs that, for whatever reason, seem to follow the hero type PCs around.
P.S.
Hmm well it seems to be working well for you so it would appear my concerns are not really germane.
If this starts to take place the entire campaign is in great danger of falling apart as the players move off plot. Worse yet if your moving off plot becuase a goal involving something like a scam there is not going to be any way to recover the plot.
I think that if in volume one a PC is acting so greedy that the plot is in danger then there's a fairly easy way in volume two to get things back on track. Granted some encounters between the first two volumes might occur out of order because of the PCs' actions, but it could work.
Is the GM posting here?
Glad to hear it's working out, Eric. If your GM has trouble please remind him that we're here for him. :)