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Really interested in running RoW but I have to be honest...I think introducing real world ww1 russians and Rasputin is nothing short of stupid.
Anyone else feel this way? Know of anyone that changed it?
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Have you read the adventure yet, or are you planning ahead? Because its pretty amazing, and I highly recommend reading it before making your decision.
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I have read the synopsis and frankly, I hate it. I hate the idea of bringing real world elements into the fantasy setting.
It's a shame too, because everything else about the AP is pretty great.
The inclusion of ww1 soldiers is a deal breaker, though.
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A lot of people had the same view as you.
And then they read it. And fell in love with it. Read it, and then decide, rather than judging the book by its cover.
I'm not even sure if there are any full fledge community replacements for it, despite some rough plans for it.
The whole AP is supposed to be kinda wacky (one of them takes you to another planet near Golarion), so be aware of that. Personally, this one struck a chord with me as I love that era, but to each their own.
I highly recommend at least reading the module - even if you don't want to use the WWI elements, its really well written, and there are some really neat encounters/RP moments throughout (especially with the Thanadaemon at the beginning).
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i felt the same way a bit (i didnt think it was THAT bad an idea, just was dubious on how it would turn out) however i can honestly say without reservation that it is literally THE best adventure EVER put out for ANY edition of pathfinder or dungeons and dragons (i started DnD in 1984 so i've seen a few adventures:) please don't deprive yourself or your players this opportunity. if you insist on skipping it i have no further advice.
Gotta agree...although I don't have experience with too many other APs, this was pretty amazing. Rasputin would just require a name change, so replacing him is easy. It's most of the other encounters that would be more difficult to change.
Have the Russian Infantry be Gnomish Riflemen Troops, with this being a Gnome World with various groups of gnomes at war with one another. It's a Tinkerer's Conflict. ;)
Okay I read it and my opinion hasn't changed. I'm not saying it's a horrible adventure, just that the style is something I'm not at all interested in. I have no desire to bring real world elements into this fantasy setting. Again, I respect everyone who loved it, it's just not for me.
Thanks for your comment, Tangent. Gives me something to think about.
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Have you read the entire campaign?
In the last book, in the "concluding the campaign" article, there is a list of awesome locations tied to Baba Yaga that you can maybe use a starting point to designing a replacement of your own. You can still use Rasputin's stat block (and in fact, many other stuff from the adventure itself), just change the context and you should be good to go.
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Check your downloads page for Rasputin Must Die, Aaron. And just give it a chance :)
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There may be some Midgard modules that could be slotted in. That whole campaign setting (by Kobold Press) has a slavic feel to it, much like the Reign of Winter is meant to have. You may be able to modify one of those.
You may even be able to change the guns to crossbows / ballistas, the tanks to Iron Golems, and the searchlights to magical hooded lamps, and just call it that. Those are the main technological things. The World Engine is something that isn't out of the ordinary in fantasy settings, so you could keep that. The only things you'd really need to change are the the tanks, I think. You could even just use the same stats for the soldiers. Grenades already exist in PF without high tech (see the alchemist's bombs, or the grenade in UE).
The snipers could just be pale strangers, but with larger-than-normal sized crossbows rather than guns.
The flamethrower troops just have a magic item with at-will Burning Hands.
The Trench Gas is just your garden variety of magical gas.
Should be pretty easy to just reflavor it.
I feel the same way about the adventure itself. The addition of real world earth is a stain on the game. It would take an AMAZING adventure to have sold me otherwise... and this was not it.
Don't get me wrong, the designer had a huge uphill battle to try and make this work and on some fronts he definitely made it. The adventure would be an interesting tactical simulation, he did great with troops for example. That said, the adventure itself is basically one big fight. There is little to no RP that is needed... in my mind that is a the easiest way for an adventure to be marked as not good in my book. No RP AND in the real world... yeah, not much chance this will ever see the light in a game I am in.
The good news is that this adventure has almost no RP (I know, I just said that was bad). The reason this is good is because it means it should be super easy to replace.
Here is a list of pretty much everything salient to the plot of the AP in the adventure.
- Baba Yaga's long lost son help the current queen capture her and is taking over one of her other lands
- There is another possible heir to Irresin present who the PCs can manipulate
- Rescue Baba Yaga from her trap
that's really about it. Hit all those points in a replacement and all you lost was some horrible flavor on top of some pretty cool combats.
Really you could even scrap the above, come up with a new way that Baba Yaga was captured by the current queen and you would be good. This adventure just needs to save Baba Yaga and set up the revenge.
Sean Mahoney
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That depends really on your definition of what the game of Pathfinder is.
Do guns strain your version of the game? Do you disallow Gunslingers? Do you disallow technology greater than the wheelbarrow or winch because it isn't "medieval" enough for you? Then sure, adding Earth or any real technology becomes problematic.
But if you consider guns viable and technology coexisting with magic doable then why is going to Earth suddenly a horrific thing? Mind you, they did this back in Dragon Magazine #100, with a party of adventurers going to Earth in what I believe was the 1960s or so to recover the Mace of St. Cuthbert. This was back in AD&D 1st or 2nd edition. You honestly cannot say that technology and D&D (and by extension Pathfinder) do not mix... as TSR was doing this back before Paizo was a company!
Hell, they did it with a module from Gary Gygax involving a crashed spaceship that the players are investigating! Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is considered among the five top TSR adventures.
So, is it the inclusion of a real-life person that then becomes the problem? Because he's dead and let's face it... the modern myth behind the person can easily work with the Paizo story.
As for the "lack of roleplaying" that really depends on the GM. There is plenty of POTENTIAL for roleplay, with plenty of roleplaying hooks left by the author. But you're not walked through every step of the path and told what your roleplay has to be. In this, the author relies on the ability of the GM to use his or her own tools in crafting the story rather than forcing it down the throats of PCs.
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Because he signed up for a fantasy game and it went into a VERY loose historical fiction game.
The problem isn't technology in the game, the problem for me is adding magic and every other part of the game that requires a suspension of disbelief into earth.
But that may not be the case for the original poster. Regardless, his question was not "should I actually like this even though I don't?" It was, "I don't like this, how can I remove it since I like the rest of the AP?"
Telling him he should like it or that it was done in an old Dragon or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks doesn't really help him with that.
It is clear that Paizo feels he and I are in the minority and feel this was a well received adventure and that the demand is there for a Numeria campaign... and heck, they are probably right. But for me personally it isn't an area I am interested in.
So come on! Any ideas that do help him? I bet you can come up with some good ones.
What do you see as the important things that would need to be in place for a replacement adventure. What is important in both fulfilling what came earlier in the campaign (and what needs to get changed earlier) and what needs to be in place to lead into the next adventure?
Sean Mahoney
I already did. Read up above. My comments were in response to you. And my point is this: Fantasy Roleplaying Games have for decades included technological aspects within them. This includes Gary Gygax, who created AD&D and is in many ways the grandfather of Pathfinder. So claiming this is "a stain" ignores the truth that there is no "purity" of no technology within fantasy roleplaying. And if you don't like a technology element in your fantasy... then don't buy the products that include it. That is the easiest way for you to protest this.
Not to mention: this is YOUR game. You buy Paizo's products but you can do what you want with it. There are people who dislike Mythic rules but will still play Wrath of the Righteous! There are people who ENJOY Mythic rules and are incorporating them into APs that were not designed with Mythic rules in mind! You can do whatever you want with it.
But there is no reason to state "this is a stain upon the game" or "Paizo has made a vast mistake with this" as YOU CAN RUN YOUR OWN GAME AS YOU LIKE. So if you don't want this to be on Earth or to have technology? Have it be on Gnome World with a bunch of Gnomish Tinkerers with magitech at war with one another. Have Rasputin be a mad gnome (or Derro!) who conspired with a human to capture Baba Yaga (or whoever you replace her with if you don't want to use a real-life mythical figure in your game).
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Because he signed up for a fantasy game and it went into a VERY loose historical fiction game.
The problem isn't technology in the game, the problem for me is adding magic and every other part of the game that requires a suspension of disbelief into earth.
But that may not be the case for the original poster. Regardless, his question was not "should I actually like this even though I don't?" It was, "I don't like this, how can I remove it since I like the rest of the AP?"
Telling him he should like it or that it was done in an old Dragon or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks doesn't really help him with that.
It is clear that Paizo feels he and I are in the minority and feel this was a well received adventure and that the demand is there for a Numeria campaign... and heck, they are probably right. But for me personally it isn't an area I am interested in.
So come on! Any ideas that do help him? I bet you can come up with some good ones.
What do you see as the important things that would need to be in place for a replacement adventure. What is important in both fulfilling what came earlier in the campaign (and what needs to get changed earlier) and what needs to be in place to lead into the next adventure?
Sean Mahoney
I don't really have a problem with your own opinions, though I do wonder why some people must have their fiction so rigidly compartmentalized.
The main problem can be summed up in two words: Baba Yaga. Recall how in the first part of RoW it was stated that this was not the "Irrisen" Aventure Path, but the Baba Yaga AP. As a character from actual Russian Folklore, a trip to actual Russia was pretty much mandatory.
Playing Devil's Avocado here (term from College Roomies from Hell), book 6 of the AP DOES cope significantly with Baba Yaga... and the first part of Book 5, with the Hut reflecting Earth mythologies of Baba Yaga, does fulfill this role. So while it's the Baba Yaga AP, technically you don't need Rasputin or a trip to Russia to have that aspect.
Of course, I also find Rasputin's inclusion to be quite awesome, and for the Mad Monk's inclusion to increase not only my own interest... but to also draw in one of my players who I gave spoilers to in order to increase his interest (and decrease his tendency to be distracted during the game).
Gotchya.
I am sorry if my calling it a stain on the game offended you. I have strong feelings about the inclusion of the real world in my D&D and this hits those. Strong statement to reflect the strong feelings.
Don't worry, I don't have delusions that my view is universally true for everyone... quite the opposite as I understand it. But as you point out, I can make the game the way I like it. The only real way I can vote is with my dollar and I decided to trust Paizo in this case to see what they could do... and I personally was disappointed. It was an insanely (perhaps unfairly) high bar for it to have been good for me, and this didn't hit it.
I would also point out that it has nothing to do with the technology aspects of the adventure. I am fine with that in the game. Could even be fun to use those and the troop rules in a future of Golarion romp at some point. My problem is with the inclusion of the magic of the rest of the game into earth. That is the part I find doesn't work for me.
And again... all those other examples (heck, throw in the D&D cartoon) are things I equally dislike for the same reason. Again... technology fine (if not my taste in the case of sword and laser, but that's a preference as opposed to a flat out can't stand it.).
Anyway... I digress...
Back to the original post. Flavoring it as gnomes or whatever probably does make it the easiest to just scrub the earth part and keep the rest. Reskin the tech if that isn't your thing.
In my opinion the fights in this adventure are great, but there is precious little RP and I was sorely wanting some at this point... but the whole reason it disappoints me it isn't there is because it is a lot of work to make up that much of the adventure itself, so recommending you do so as a substitute kind of defeats the purpose of buying the APs in the first place.
Sean Mahoney
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There is little to no RP that is needed... in my mind that is a the easiest way for an adventure to be marked as not good in my book. No RP AND in the real world... yeah, not much chance this will ever see the light in a game I am in.
The good news is that this adventure has almost no RP...
Sean, you are, of course, welcome to whatever opinion of Rasputin Must Die! you wish, and I'll leave it to others to defend whether or not my work is a "stain" on the game, but I'm afraid I can't let you get away with telling potential readers that my adventure contains no roleplaying encounters, or "no RP" or "precious little RP." Particularly when the adventure can't be completed without some serious roleplaying and investigation. You're a smart guy, but with such emphatic statements as these, I suspect you may not have read the same adventure I wrote.
Since this breakdown will obviously contain spoilers, see you behind the jump:
Rasputin Must Die! was designed with a very careful mix of important roleplaying encounters to augment and offset the horrors of war and contribute to a rich and intriguing storyline, encounters that include but are not limited to:
1. The Domovoi Gulag: the adventure's *very first encounter* involves a room of imprisoned domovoi who, when interacted with, provide clues to the PCs' whereabouts, answer questions, and give advance warnings to the hut's other inhabitants.
2. Little Otik: Baba Yaga's "first son" is more than willing to engage PCs in conversation, and hungry though he may be, the text explains how he can be tempted/distracted with food in exchange for information, which he manages to let slip anyway while hungrily licking his chops.
Remember, just because a creature is willing to fight or eventually attack does not disqualify it as a roleplaying encounter.
3. The Crucified Doll: Vasilisa's doll, if rescued from her sad state, is a willing and able companion that is informative, "friendly, loyal, and helpful."
4. The Coffin Man: The hut's overseer, the thanadaemon known as the Coffin Man, engages in a nearly-completely roleplaying encounter, and he's one of the most powerful villains in the book. He'll even let you off, easy, and out if you can beat him at cards, and you get a whole PAGE of diplomatic interaction with him.
At this point, the PCs haven't even left the hut, and 4 of 7 encounter areas (the loft is empty) provide ample roleplay opportunities.
5. The Burning Corpses: Here, the PCs engage AT LENGTH with the primary antagonist of the adventure--Rasputin himself--in what is ONE of THREE roleplaying encounters they will have with the Mad Monk before the final encounter. How many other adventures allow this sort of escalating interplay and in-depth exchanges between PCs and the main villain?
6. Interrogating Soldiers: Note that the individual statblock for soldiers was technically unnecessary with the inclusion of the troop statblock, but I *insisted* developers keep this in for when PCs have a chance to interact one-on-one with individual soldiers throughout the adventure. And though there will always be survivors and chances to interact with these men at the GM's discretion, I'm still only counting it as one encounter. Note page 28 has a quarter-page statblock detailing these ongoing roleplaying interactions and opportunities with soldiers.
7. Monastic Cemetery: Not only is the tombstone fairy present as a source of information, a sideline ally, and intriguing roleplaying opportunity, but Polina is also *vitally important* to clues regarding Viktor, and without *roleplaying* with her, you can't complete the adventure. Your PCs can engage in "one big fight" after another until there's not a single soldier left, but without roleplaying, they'll *still lose*, since they can't even get to Rasputin without engaging in roleplayed encounters.
8. Prison Barracks: The nosferatu-bled soldier Dmitri survives among the ruins to provide PCs with information and vital clues to the Brothers Three, Anastasia, Rasputin, Viktor, and that monastery the PCs can't get to unless they roleplay to figure out what's going on.
9. Rusalka Spring: PCs encounter Rasputin's jilted and bloodthirsty lover who is more than willing to engage them in conversation, spill Rasputin's secrets if properly coerced, and provide information if it can gain her some revenge against Rasputin's new fling (see #16).
10. Anastasia & Alexie: Among the ruins, PCs eventually find an amnesiac Anastasia, who may very well be the savior of Irrisen, and her overly-protective brother Alexie. You get a page and a half of detailed interactions regarding the two, their actions, the role she ultimately plays, and the mystery of exactly what's up with her little brother and the continuing part he plays in Rasputin's schemes.
11. Rasputin Again: Encounter TWO of THREE roleplaying encounters with the main protagonist, Rasputin, as he escalates his verbal war and taunts with the PCs and gives a dire warning about their meddling further in his affairs.
12. Seance Chamber: The PCs can fight to free the ghost of the Tsarina, and the presence or absence of Anastasia and/or Alexie make this a rich and evocative roleplaying encounter with a variety of possible outcomes, including the PCs learning the true nature of Anastasia and the possibility that she may be Baba Yaga's heir, and the real identity of sneaky little Alexie.
13. Cellarium: Another possible trigger (along with the tsarina) for the culmination of Alexie's schemes and the ultimate unraveling of his infiltration into the party, when his personality overcomes his instructions and perpetuated ruse when PCs start plundering that which doesn't belong to them.
14. Rasputin yet AGAIN: The THIRD of THREE roleplaying encounters with Rasputin, where the Mad Monk verbally engages PCs, acts as a possible third trigger for Alexie's unraveling scheme, and a continuation of his mocking engagement that reveals subtle clues to the ultimate importance of Anastasia to the game afoot.
15. Viktor Miloslav: The PCs simply *cannot* complete the adventure without reaching Rasputin's extra-dimensional lair, and they can't do *that* without rescuing the corpse (and later soul) of Viktor Miloslav, resurrecting him (perhaps after convincing the tombstone fairy to help through more roleplaying), convincing him to share the secrets of the World Anchors, or extracting enough information from him to do it themselves before he commits suicide. The entire *crux* of the adventure hinges on this roleplaying encounter.
16. Serafina: Rasputin's new lover that has his rusalka girlfriend all in a tissy engages the PCs in a roleplaying capacity, appearing in disguise as Baba Yaga herself while attempting to trick them and lead the party from the monastery to thwart their plans and buy Rasputin more time to drain his mother's power. Given her magic and Bluff skills, PCs are going to have a hard time not being fooled by her ruse, and will have to react accordingly.
Of approximately 44 unique encounter areas in Rasputin Must Die, 16 have significant roleplaying elements. That's OVER A THIRD of the book's unique encounters, and while the chapter contains some deep tactical and obvious combat elements, to dismiss it as "one big fight" is just not factual. Again, Sean, I respect your opinion of the adventure's content and setting and whether or not it has a place in your game. I honestly expected a lot more of that flack than the adventure ultimately received. And maybe you expect roleplaying encounters to be more scripted, rather than crafted as informative roleplaying guides for GMs with widely disparate groups and play-styles to adapt for their home games, so if that's the case I see how you might gloss over these opportunities as void of roleplaying opportunities. But it just isn't the case that there's "almost no RP" in the adventure, and I don't want any potential readers that see your post to get the wrong idea of the true nature of what Rasputin Must Die! offers as an adventure.
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It's really too bad if you don't want to run the adventure for its real world content. It's the best thing ever written for and by Paizo.
Gotchya.
I am sorry if my calling it a stain on the game offended you. I have strong feelings about the inclusion of the real world in my D&D and this hits those. Strong statement to reflect the strong feelings.
Don't worry, I don't have delusions that my view is universally true for everyone... quite the opposite as I understand it. But as you point out, I can make the game the way I like it. The only real way I can vote is with my dollar and I decided to trust Paizo in this case to see what they could do... and I personally was disappointed. It was an insanely (perhaps unfairly) high bar for it to have been good for me, and this didn't hit it.
I would also point out that it has nothing to do with the technology aspects of the adventure. I am fine with that in the game. Could even be fun to use those and the troop rules in a future of Golarion romp at some point. My problem is with the inclusion of the magic of the rest of the game into earth. That is the part I find doesn't work for me.
And again... all those other examples (heck, throw in the D&D cartoon) are things I equally dislike for the same reason. Again... technology fine (if not my taste in the case of sword and laser, but that's a preference as opposed to a flat out can't stand it.).
Anyway... I digress...
Back to the original post. Flavoring it as gnomes or whatever probably does make it the easiest to just scrub the earth part and keep the rest. Reskin the tech if that isn't your thing.
In my opinion the fights in this adventure are great, but there is precious little RP and I was sorely wanting some at this point... but the whole reason it disappoints me it isn't there is because it is a lot of work to make up that much of the adventure itself, so recommending you do so as a substitute kind of defeats the purpose of buying the APs in the first place.
Sean Mahoney
you do realize when Dave Arneson AND Gary Gygax began developing Dungeons and Dragons it was meant as a tabletop tactical war game, then one day they said to each other "hey, lets do it as knights" and then needed someone other then other knights to fight. Voila! the worlds oldest tabletop role playing game was born! true story
i also find the OP and you sir to be unnecessarily insulting and maybe people would be more inclined to help if you stop calling people "stupid" and "a stain" if you don't like it you don't have to buy it, but don't insult another persons work.
There is little to no RP that is needed... in my mind that is a the easiest way for an adventure to be marked as not good in my book. No RP AND in the real world... yeah, not much chance this will ever see the light in a game I am in.
The good news is that this adventure has almost no RP...
Sean, you are, of course, welcome to whatever opinion of Rasputin Must Die! you wish, and I'll leave it to others to defend whether or not my work is a "stain" on the game, but I'm afraid I can't let you get away with telling potential readers that my adventure contains no roleplaying encounters, or "no RP" or "precious little RP." Particularly when the adventure can't be completed without some serious roleplaying and investigation. You're a smart guy, but with such emphatic statements as these, I suspect you may not have read the same adventure I wrote.
Since this breakdown will obviously contain spoilers, see you behind the jump:
** spoiler omitted **...
keep up the good work Brandon, i was skeptical the adventure could be done when it was first announced but you totally nailed it! i especially loved how you just filled in historical gaps and didn't use the "alternate universe earth" shtick! truly an awesome job on par with any thing out there!
you hear that Sir Richard Pett, MR Hodges wants your mantle of best adventure writer and is coming for it (or maybe just your scalp, you know how us americans are:)
I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
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I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
i agree about "to each their own" and "different strokes for different folks" etc. however insulting someones hard work by calling it stupid and a stain are not just stating an opinion thats just being a bully hiding behind internet unanimity (is that the right word?).
if you don't like a wall i build or a patio i just spent 3 days digging out, laying out or cutting in, you won't get me to change it by saying its "plain stupid" or "a stain on hardscape construction" all you'll get is a bunch of curse words and a patio or wall you don't like lol. which reminds me of a another saying my mom used to tell me "what goes around comes around"
and for the record every wall i built or patio constructed is of the top most quality and i've never had anyone insult them or unhappy with them as Ben Jarvis from Arrested Development once said "If i could use one word to describe myself what would it be?, Professional!" :)
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I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
Because, duh, there are opinions that don't merit discussion ("I don't like this adventure") and opinions that are both manifestly untrue ("No RP") and hyperbolic ("stupid", "stain upon the genre").
It's like if I'd say "I don't like Finland", as opposed to "Finland is a nation of thieves and murderers" or "Finland is a disgrace upon humanity". The former, while eyebrow-raising, is something you can hardly question, while the second has no grounds in evidence and the third is just slur.
I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
Because, duh, there are opinions that don't merit discussion ("I don't like this adventure") and opinions that are both manifestly untrue ("No RP") and hyperbolic ("stain upon the genre").
It's like if I'd say "I don't like Finland", as opposed to "Finalnd is a nation of thieves and murderers" or "Finalnd is a disgrace upon humanity".
so, wait, finland ISNT a nation of thieves and murderers? i have been sorely misinformed on finland then:)
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so, wait, finland ISNT a nation of thieves and murderers? i have been sorely misinformed on finland then:)I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
Because, duh, there are opinions that don't merit discussion ("I don't like this adventure") and opinions that are both manifestly untrue ("No RP") and hyperbolic ("stain upon the genre").
It's like if I'd say "I don't like Finland", as opposed to "Finalnd is a nation of thieves and murderers" or "Finalnd is a disgrace upon humanity".
No, you just confused them with Russians...
now thats funny gorbacz:)
I find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
Because, duh, there are opinions that don't merit discussion ("I don't like this adventure") and opinions that are both manifestly untrue ("No RP") and hyperbolic ("stupid", "stain upon the genre").
It's like if I'd say "I don't like Finland", as opposed to "Finland is a nation of thieves and murderers" or "Finland is a disgrace upon humanity". The former, while eyebrow-raising, is something you can hardly question, while the second has no grounds in evidence and the third is just slur.
This coming from the guy who sometimes insisted that Orcs being anything but ALWAYS Chaotic Evil monsters in Humanoid form is heresy and sacrilege. Anyway, you do have a point. I don't feel the need to defend them for saying their opinion in a hyperbolic manner. What I did feel like I had to do was defend their opinion for differing from that of others. Lastly, what manner of murderer-thief disgrace upon humanity would be polite enough to actually try to have a reasonable conversation on the internet instead of just running around randomly trolling everyone? :D
...and yes, Russians are all murderers and thieves. But don't tell anyone I said that >_>
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This coming from the guy who sometimes insisted that Orcs being anything but ALWAYS Chaotic Evil monsters in Humanoid form is heresy and sacrilege. Anyway, you do have a point. I don't feel the need to defend them for saying their opinion in a hyperbolic manner. What I did feel like I had to do was defend their opinion for differing from that of others. Lastly, what manner of murderer-thief disgrace upon humanity would be polite enough to actually try to have a reasonable conversation on the internet instead of just running around randomly trolling everyone? :DI find it funny how people jump at the one or two guys who don't share their opinion.
What happened to that whole "to each their own" thing some of us actually care about?
Because, duh, there are opinions that don't merit discussion ("I don't like this adventure") and opinions that are both manifestly untrue ("No RP") and hyperbolic ("stupid", "stain upon the genre").
It's like if I'd say "I don't like Finland", as opposed to "Finland is a nation of thieves and murderers" or "Finland is a disgrace upon humanity". The former, while eyebrow-raising, is something you can hardly question, while the second has no grounds in evidence and the third is just slur.
Maybe you got drunk - I heard Finns act very strange under influence of alcohol ...
i deleted it :P agreed
Even though we Finns love alcohol (with exceptions), I'm not allowed to work while drunk.
And I've been replying to this thread from the workplace computer while I had a 15 min break.
Fun fact and true story; Coffee is the most popular drink right after alcoholic beverages in Finland.
Anyway, I should check out Reign of Winter. It seems pretty neat, and might give some ideas for my own campaign world.
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Even though we Finns all love alcohol (with exceptions), I'm not allowed to work while drunk.
And I've been replying to this thread from the workplace computer while I had a 15 min break.
Fun fact and true story; Coffee is the most popular drink right after alcoholic beverages in Finland.
Anyway, I should check out Reign of Winter. It seems pretty neat, and might give some ideas for my own campaign world.
You really should. You seem to like 'funky' stuff, and there's a lot of it in RoW, especially in adventures 4 and 5.
I find it amusing this discussion went off on a tangent and I wasn't to blame this time. ^^;;
Brandon just proves my point. Any GM can turn the most roleplay-intensive module into dice-rolling and no real interaction. Because to claim that Rasputin Must Die has no roleplaying means that the GM truly failed to run the game with RP in mind in this situation.
Either that, or the poster so disliked the "Earth and Rasputin" aspect that he may have allowed his dislike to color his views and possibly never bothered to do more than a quick scan of this part of the Adventure Path and then claim out-of-hand that there was no roleplaying.
Addendum note: My cousin married a very nice Russian Minister and has had four children. When they stay over my house for a week or so during the summer I don't notice any signs of homicidal tendencies. Mind you, I need to repress my own homicidal tendencies because of four children in the house but I'm usually able to hide away from company and they never go out to the shed.
you do realize when Dave Arneson AND Gary Gygax began developing Dungeons and Dragons it was meant as a tabletop tactical war game, then one day they said to each other "hey, lets do it as knights" and then needed someone other then other knights to fight. Voila! the worlds oldest tabletop role playing game was born! true story
No, it wasn't. D&D was always intended to involve individual figures - individual characters - to engage in missions and explorations. It was an adaptation of fantasy miniature war game rules but it wasn't intended to be a tactical war game. Their collaboration was substantially based on Arneson's campaign (in Minneapolis, I think) in which his players were playing those individuals and Gygax's adaptation of rules to support it (down in Lake Geneva). It wasn't that one day they decided to play a war game as individual characters.
So really, D&D has always had the central conceit that it wants to be more than a tactical war game.
i also find the OP and you sir to be unnecessarily insulting and maybe people would be more inclined to help if you stop calling people "stupid" and "a stain" if you don't like it you don't have to buy it, but don't insult another persons work.
On that, we agree.
sorry bill, i got my facts wrong, it has been many years since i heard the DnD origin story, you're right sorry for the mistake (curse you shoddy memory, you screwed me again!)
I have to agree with Aaron Gillespie on this. I have read all the modules cover to cover and although I agree there are some interesting if not outstanding encounters I have never been a fan of incorporating real world into my fantasy game (playing since 1981). I will also be on the look out for alternate storylines if and when I ever run this campaign.
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Calling my work "stupid" and a "stain" isn't exactly asking nicely, but in the spirit of working alongside folks like BanditofLV who respect the adventure's content and appreciate the encounters but just can't bear to bring it to their home tables, I've created a thread specifically for alternative "overlays" to re-skin Rasputin Must Die! into more acceptable fantasy content without drastically restructuring the adventure or the mechanics of the encounters--just the flavor. I provided a sort of fill-in-the-blank form for other comunity users who want to take part and threw in an example of my own using it--one that takes PCs to the World of Greyhawk!
Enjoy the thread: Inspiring Alternative Overlays for Rasputin Must Die!
I know I am going to get trounced for saying this, but my big issue with Rasputin must Die is not a lack of role playing opportunities, but simply that it is just not as good as the Dead Heart of Xin.
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Both are excellent, but Rasputin Must Die! was better.
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internet unanimity (is that the right word?).
I believe you're talking about "internet anonymity", where someone feels safe to make hyperbolic or offensive statements on the supposition that the person they're talking to will have no idea who they are (an aside, no one's really anonymous, it's just that most people, including me, don't go to the trouble of finding out who they're talking to). "Internet unanimity" refers to the sort of groupthink icyshadow is criticizing.
Does Mammy Graul style horror have a place in Tolkien's genre? Probably not, but it turns out a Hills Have Eyes adventure really worked.
I dunno, The Children of Hurin included a lot of the motifs found in The Hook Mountain Massacre even if it didn't revel in them and focused on other themes. O.o