Due to my ongoing confusion with Exploration Modes Goal I took a deeper look into Red Flags. As per it's description, it favors cunning skill use and spell casting as well as Investigation themed adventures. That sounded like a lot of Exploration mode to me. To Quote the Adventure:
Much of this chapter is free-form and played in
exploration mode within the common areas of Whark’s
stronghold. Instead of exploring a stretch of wilderness,
the PCs are investigating numerous personalities at the
party. While the PCs are free to act how they wish as they
mingle with partygoers, partake in the food and rum, and
even gamble with cards and dice at the various tables, the
gala is restricted to the front portions of the Talon Citadel
(areas N1–N7).
To get this out of the way - there is Zero guidance in here how to use them. Instead, there is an utterly different System how to Approach the one (in letters, ONE) apporachable NPC.
There is an NPC that you can impress, but only for 1 Minute with a normal roll or 5 minutes with a critical success. Remember, this is a roleplaying challenge. Are we going to time now how long we talk to this guy? Or do we enter encounter mode, because requests are for some reason Actions and you can only request 3 things a turn. So in the Minute the guy is friendly you can do 30 requests??? Oh, and the good old "Intimidation never works" is back. Can somebody explain to me how this guy simply resists my Master of Intimidation by not talking to you anymore? I am one step away from literally scaring People to death, yet there are some dandies that stand above this. And this is a pirate Scenario where I would expect Intimidation to be their "Good Morning" and "How are you?".
Then you have an interesting idea in that the Head of the Party, your Nemesis and a freaking contract devil sit at the same table. And what an interesting James Bond like Situation this could be, going back and forth with your actual Nemesis while unable to fight, trying to cajole the captain to your side while a contract devil tries to seduce you.
Nope. Your Nemesis doesn't want to talk. Not even if he recognises his Nemesis.
The contract Devil ONLY has a reason to talk to you if
A) you f&*#ed up and he's there to distract you
B) You out of the blue suspect him of being the guy that betrays Cpt. Whark You have no proof of this and your only lead is that there are only t NPC's with a K in there Name, and no one ever uses codenames.
And finally the Captain. As written, he knows something about you, but you don't know what. You are allowed to approach and hand a suitable gift (there is no way to find out beforehand what gifts are suitable, or even that gifts are expected). We don't know what happens if your gift is bad. Or you don't have one. Hi disposition is probably as nothing is stated. You have to make a Request of her to accept your aid. What DC, you ask? No idea. I know how to make her friendly or helpful (vaguely), but then? Up to you. No guidance.
But my favourite? A critfail on an Diplomacy roll can lead to you being cursed by the Gods and getting a condition that needs to be removed by a 10th Level spell. Yup, that's right. Asking questions about a supernatural ship that happens to be around can get you cursed. No warning. Guess how much Investigation will be done going forward once this happens.
Then we have a trap that can only be identified by a critical success during thievery. That's right, no amount of searching for the trap can find it, you need to crit during your happy Thievery Marathon, otherwise it's trap city.
Did I mention that while this lock/trap Combo has a rather high DC, it has no Proficiency requirement? That's right, a Magical Vault Door can obviously be opened by rolling enough untrained Thievery Checks. It's DC 33, so a Dex focused Lvl 14 Ranger or Fighter (Dex +6, Proficiency +12 (Untrained) actually has a decent Chance of opening this.
