Feedback time!
***Awesome***
-Just as a shake-up from past adventure formats, I think this one worked really well structurally--we hadn't had a more-or-less straightforward "here's a floor plan, you're staying here for a while, now get to explorin' " episode yet.
-Long lead times means more suspense; taken as a whole (and barring the inevitable take-two-days-to-discuss-everything breaks, which I guess couldn't be helped if we're actually going to succeed at figuring things out), I think the pacing was ramped up nicely. The past week or so, in particular, was great stuff.
-Puzzles! I like puzzles, and there were some really neat ones here, so there you go. Also, I think the background story behind the keep--sort of a meta-puzzle in and of itself--was very well thought-out, and organically "fit into" the setting very nicely.
-I really like ethereal soul-visions. Can I say that?
***Not As Awesome***
-Long. Very long. And I enjoyed it, but it could've been collapsed by maybe 1/4 of the length (combining the two visits with the devil into a single incident, maybe) and been a little tighter; as it was, it dragged a bit at certain moments. I think part of that was just the format of the adventure, since it's hard to keep the party on a track when they're *supposed* to be wandering off looking at things, but still.
-Like I said, the underlying mystery was great, but I think the red-herring-to-clue ratio was a little too high for its own good. Stuff like the mysterious song, or the spontaneous time-shift, worked great for atmosphere on a case-to-case basis (and the song itself was really haunting and well-written--major props, Nathan), but in terms of net effect, it felt like there was too much information to actually go about *solving* anything. I know that at least for me, part of the reason that I failed utterly at riddle-cracking was that I was waiting for the one perfect, super-sneaky answer that *has* to be buried in all that backstory, and didn't expect it to be a matter of "hey, find an Innocent, get his tears, problem solved."
Anyway, since the *rest* of my failing at riddle-cracking can be attributed to my being very bad at riddle-cracking, I don't know if that reads as a huge cop-out. It's not meant a rag on awesome/evocative story material at all (don't skimp on that by any means), and it's not meant as an indication to make the mysteries easier (I like my plots twisty)...I think what I'm shooting at is to *focus* the story a little more, when everything's meant to point to a Big Episode-Ending Solution. Again, shorten the episode timeframe up a bit, and problem's probably solved, since all the information gets more concentrated.
Hope this helps!
The Eye of Anubis: OOC Thread
Before I start I was wondering what everyone thought of the map of the keep? NT provided me with locations but gave me pretty much a free hand to design it. I wanted to do smoething a bit more interesting than a 2 up, 2 down castle.
Feedback:
Overall very nice change of pace, and a good atmosphere of tension throughout.
The Good -
Having an enemy that wasnt Cavendish was refreshing. Dont get me wrong Cavendish is a wicked bad guy but if he popped up everytime then it would get old. Marchiosas was exceelntyly played NT, and had some of the best dialogue so far. Chain smoking demons, brilliant!
The back story for this one was excellent and certyainly provided some real creepy cinematic sections, Im thinking of Ishmael turning up to kick our ass's in the library, or finding the knives stuck in the bodies in the kitchen.
The etheral soul visions were interesting, theres a couple I plain just dont get and which will bug me for ages.... but in a good way.
It actually felt like a few of us might die on this one. Although somehow Khalil avoiding any damage at all again (physical anyway).
Length and pace, although long and a bit slow, I quite liked this one, work has been mental last few weeks and I was usually only posting once a day. With the slower pace it meant I could keep up with what was gogin on and not miss any massive chunks of stuff. Length meant I came away feelign we had done justice to the book rather than skimmed over to the important bits.
Riddles and puzzles, excelelnt more please! I love anything in D&D that cant be solved by casting a spell or hitting it with a sword. Magic is far too prevalent in the system as it can accomplish so many things easily, but it stops people thinking around problems. Some of the situations in this book needed us to think which was great.
Oh and always good to meet a sea serpent in the desert!
The not so good -
Completely agree with Whistler really.
For all the backstory and evocative stuff ithe final solution felt a bit too random and a bit of an anti-climax. I mean ok getting the book was heroic, but tears of a camel, a knife thats just lying around, someones breath, and lobbing it at a fire thingy.... I know they all make sense but it sort of didnt feel heroic enough and like Whistler I was looking for some amazing final answer emeshed in the backstory.
Combat, this ones just me winging. I'd just liek to nominnate Khalil for most "ineffective in combat" award for the entire campaign. I dont know whether its down to poor character creation on my part, or the dice roller hates me, or simply NT makes the baddies really hardcore, but I cant hit squit..... oh well rant over.
On the whole cool as, bring on book 6!
Feedback:
Overall very nice change of pace, and a good atmosphere of tension throughout.
The Good -
Having an enemy that wasnt Cavendish was refreshing. Dont get me wrong Cavendish is a wicked bad guy but if he popped up everytime then it would get old. Marchiosas was exceelntyly played NT, and had some of the best dialogue so far. Chain smoking demons, brilliant!
The back story for this one was excellent and certyainly provided some real creepy cinematic sections, Im thinking of Ishmael turning up to kick our ass's in the library, or finding the knives stuck in the bodies in the kitchen.
The etheral soul visions were interesting, theres a couple I plain just dont get and which will bug me for ages.... but in a good way.
It actually felt like a few of us might die on this one. Although somehow Khalil avoiding any damage at all again (physical anyway).
Length and pace, although long and a bit slow, I quite liked this one, work has been mental last few weeks and I was usually only posting once a day. With the slower pace it meant I could keep up with what was gogin on and not miss any massive chunks of stuff. Length meant I came away feelign we had done justice to the book rather than skimmed over to the important bits.
Riddles and puzzles, excelelnt more please! I love anything in D&D that cant be solved by casting a spell or hitting it with a sword. Magic is far too prevalent in the system as it can accomplish so many things easily, but it stops people thinking around problems. Some of the situations in this book needed us to think which was great.
Oh and always good to meet a sea serpent in the desert!
The not so good -
Completely agree with Whistler really.
For all the backstory and evocative stuff ithe final solution felt a bit too random and a bit of an anti-climax. I mean ok getting the book was heroic, but tears of a camel, a knife thats just lying around, someones breath, and lobbing it at a fire thingy.... I know they all make sense but it sort of didnt feel heroic enough and like Whistler I was looking for some amazing final answer emeshed in the backstory.
Combat, this ones just me winging. I'd just liek to nominnate Khalil for most "ineffective in combat" award for the entire campaign. I dont know whether its down to poor character creation on my part, or the dice roller hates me, or simply NT makes the baddies really hardcore, but I cant hit squit..... oh well rant over.
On the whole cool as, bring on book 6!
"I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
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Kaitou Kage
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Here and there
- Contact:
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NeoTiamat
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
We interrupt this regularly scheduled feedback for an important announcement.
ANNOUNCEMENT: CHARACTER REBUILD FORGIVENESS
So then, by now we've been playing for over six months and three levels. You've faced something like a dozen foes, ranging from the mild to the monstrous, demure to demonic. You have a pretty good idea of how your character works, what he can do, and what he can't do (forgiveness to Lia for the use of the masculine pronoun).
And, I suspect, that not everyone is perfectly thrilled with every decision they've made. People almost never are. So what I'm going to do is steal a page from the 4th Edition book and allow PCs to spend this week rebuilding your character.
Basically, you get to re-choose all of your class levels, feats, and skills. If you really regret that last rogue level, or have found a wicked new prestige class but the prerequisite feats would take too long, this is your chance to re-work that.
The things that you can't change are your ability scores, your spells (this is only relevant for Charles, Lia, and Andre I think, and mostly because half the spells are loot), and your equipment (sorry man, there are in-game ways to handle that).
You need to make changes by Monday, at which point this window closes (though I might have others a few months down the line, after Book Eight or Nine, most likely).
Lastly, before your changes become 'official', as it were, I want you guys to get on AIM and talk them over with me. Maybe I can offer some suggestions, or point out that something is a bad idea, etc. I'd also suggest you talk to me before, but that is up to you.
Also, if you want to use a class or feat outside of the Approved Books List (in the Cast Thread), then you can, provided I look it over first and check it for Ravenloft and EoA applicability.
Any questions?
ANNOUNCEMENT: CHARACTER REBUILD FORGIVENESS
So then, by now we've been playing for over six months and three levels. You've faced something like a dozen foes, ranging from the mild to the monstrous, demure to demonic. You have a pretty good idea of how your character works, what he can do, and what he can't do (forgiveness to Lia for the use of the masculine pronoun).
And, I suspect, that not everyone is perfectly thrilled with every decision they've made. People almost never are. So what I'm going to do is steal a page from the 4th Edition book and allow PCs to spend this week rebuilding your character.
Basically, you get to re-choose all of your class levels, feats, and skills. If you really regret that last rogue level, or have found a wicked new prestige class but the prerequisite feats would take too long, this is your chance to re-work that.
The things that you can't change are your ability scores, your spells (this is only relevant for Charles, Lia, and Andre I think, and mostly because half the spells are loot), and your equipment (sorry man, there are in-game ways to handle that).
You need to make changes by Monday, at which point this window closes (though I might have others a few months down the line, after Book Eight or Nine, most likely).
Lastly, before your changes become 'official', as it were, I want you guys to get on AIM and talk them over with me. Maybe I can offer some suggestions, or point out that something is a bad idea, etc. I'd also suggest you talk to me before, but that is up to you.
Also, if you want to use a class or feat outside of the Approved Books List (in the Cast Thread), then you can, provided I look it over first and check it for Ravenloft and EoA applicability.
Any questions?
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
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The Whistler
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 1454
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:38 pm
- Location: Southshore
Sweet! I've been regretting putting all my resources towards the Pistoleer class for a while now--as neat as bouncing bullets off walls is, I don't really *need* it with the Bracers of Archery letting me shoot around cover three times a day--so I think I'm going to rebuild as a straight Rogue. This'll help in spades; thanks a lot.
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NeoTiamat
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Oh, almost forgot.
POLL
Do you guys want to switch over to a constant HP system like 4th Edition has instead of a rolled HP system?
In other words, everyone will have full HP first level, and then will have HP equal to the precise average of their HD (so someone who has a d10 now will have 5.5 HP per level after first hereafter).
I personally think that chance has little place in character creation (hence why you guys did a point buy and not rolled HP), but I want to hear what you guys think.
POLL
Do you guys want to switch over to a constant HP system like 4th Edition has instead of a rolled HP system?
In other words, everyone will have full HP first level, and then will have HP equal to the precise average of their HD (so someone who has a d10 now will have 5.5 HP per level after first hereafter).
I personally think that chance has little place in character creation (hence why you guys did a point buy and not rolled HP), but I want to hear what you guys think.
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Okay, twofold. First, the short stuff: Neo, personally I'd just give us the full die's worth of HP. If we have more HP, that means you have more room to throw interesting creatures at us without the fear of accidentally causing a TPK because it was a little tougher in play than the stats implies.
Now, the book.
The Good.
Echoing the others at this point, but it was a cool change of pace, and a chance to see a really interesting new force of evil in the setting. While the fiend could have been a great recurring adversary, it was also very satisfying to be able to really get some closure with battling one of Ravenloft's horrors in one whole book.
The ethereal visions were awesome, that's why I signed up to play someone who suffers from these things normally, let alone when in a sinkhole of evil. You had me actually mixing up what was ethereal and what was real at one point, which impressed me a lot-that's a bit how Tomas lives his life, and it was neat experiencing a touch of that.
Fighting a dragon. Even if I was useless-damn swim rolls-it was great throwing down with a dragonesque monster. It was a tough fight, but exciting for it.
Also, you managed a puzzle online without anyone punching anyone else. Kudos. Seriously, that is hard, and you should be proud.
The Bad
In my opinion, the whole transition to a quest would have been smoother if you had the fiend communicate with us, say in a dream or something, right after we get in here. Have it appear in a mirror, looking less horrible, to beg release, send a minion to tug us on that path...the reason the book felt so long was because we had that big 'wandering around the castle' section that would've been half an hour on table-top but ended up being a couple weeks on here, and THEN we got to the meat of the story.
Secondly, it's a thin line between "The PCs earning their victory." and "The PCs trying to guess what you have written down in your notes because the freaking challenge is so unintuitive that it's a guessing game.". We weren't at that point quite yet, but there were moments in the story that we managed to get within spitting distance. It's something to keep in mind in future, since I'm sure we'll be finding horrible traps and puzzles on the way to the Eye of Anubis;
Keep your puzzles flexible and don't be too proud to say, 'You know what? That sounds good, I'll give them the go anyway.". I say this because it is the most common mistake for any DM, new, veteran or anything in between, to make. You are constructing the puzzle from the answer up, while your players are looking at it from the outside-what is an obvious progression of logic for you might not be for your players. I don't know a DM this hasn't happened to once or twice, and it's sort of like driving-you've got to be vigilant, and even then you can suddenly have a car come out of nowhere and slam you in the side. There's no shame in that, as long as you do not become Dan Jackass and blame everyone around you for the simple, biological fact that human minds follow different trains of logic.
Okay, putting my player hat back on: I dunno how I feel about mostly getting ores as treasure, but it seems the most logical way of letting us get the magic items we want. There is something awesome about getting a magic shield as a gift, though.
Conclusion: B+. Timing wise, I might have set this before the Pharaz visit, but it was a fun book, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Now, the book.
The Good.
Echoing the others at this point, but it was a cool change of pace, and a chance to see a really interesting new force of evil in the setting. While the fiend could have been a great recurring adversary, it was also very satisfying to be able to really get some closure with battling one of Ravenloft's horrors in one whole book.
The ethereal visions were awesome, that's why I signed up to play someone who suffers from these things normally, let alone when in a sinkhole of evil. You had me actually mixing up what was ethereal and what was real at one point, which impressed me a lot-that's a bit how Tomas lives his life, and it was neat experiencing a touch of that.
Fighting a dragon. Even if I was useless-damn swim rolls-it was great throwing down with a dragonesque monster. It was a tough fight, but exciting for it.
Also, you managed a puzzle online without anyone punching anyone else. Kudos. Seriously, that is hard, and you should be proud.
The Bad
In my opinion, the whole transition to a quest would have been smoother if you had the fiend communicate with us, say in a dream or something, right after we get in here. Have it appear in a mirror, looking less horrible, to beg release, send a minion to tug us on that path...the reason the book felt so long was because we had that big 'wandering around the castle' section that would've been half an hour on table-top but ended up being a couple weeks on here, and THEN we got to the meat of the story.
Secondly, it's a thin line between "The PCs earning their victory." and "The PCs trying to guess what you have written down in your notes because the freaking challenge is so unintuitive that it's a guessing game.". We weren't at that point quite yet, but there were moments in the story that we managed to get within spitting distance. It's something to keep in mind in future, since I'm sure we'll be finding horrible traps and puzzles on the way to the Eye of Anubis;
Keep your puzzles flexible and don't be too proud to say, 'You know what? That sounds good, I'll give them the go anyway.". I say this because it is the most common mistake for any DM, new, veteran or anything in between, to make. You are constructing the puzzle from the answer up, while your players are looking at it from the outside-what is an obvious progression of logic for you might not be for your players. I don't know a DM this hasn't happened to once or twice, and it's sort of like driving-you've got to be vigilant, and even then you can suddenly have a car come out of nowhere and slam you in the side. There's no shame in that, as long as you do not become Dan Jackass and blame everyone around you for the simple, biological fact that human minds follow different trains of logic.
Okay, putting my player hat back on: I dunno how I feel about mostly getting ores as treasure, but it seems the most logical way of letting us get the magic items we want. There is something awesome about getting a magic shield as a gift, though.
Conclusion: B+. Timing wise, I might have set this before the Pharaz visit, but it was a fun book, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
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Nathan of the FoS
- Fiendish Enforcer
- Posts: 5247
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 3:39 pm
- Location: San Francisco CA
I will give my comments before reading those of my confreres, just for grins.
The Good: You played Marchosias very well, and it was fascinating to try to go up against someone who could have wiped the floor with us if he had wanted to (before it grew too late). Ishmael was also an excellent semi-villain in terms of his background and portrayal. (As a combat opponent he's just...odd. His abilities are very atmospheric but kinda hard to deal with in game mechanics terms (I say this as the man deputized to give him combat stats--I went through two or three iterations before NT took him back and got him into his final form, which I think turned out quite well, given the inherent oddity of the character.))
The backstory of the keep was really interesting--what we learned of it--and tied into the overall Expedition goals in interesting ways. I get the strong feeling that we could have done more--possibly a lot more--with this angle, if we had had the time or the inclination to do so. Unfortunately we were caught up in events and didn't have much chance.
We got some puzzles! I liked this part a lot. There wasn't much fighting, really, and that's fine, especially since book 4 had quite a bit.
AND! New villain! And we kicked his trash! Cigars for everyone (chocolate cigars for those who don't smoke)! That was very satisfying, especially after having to endure the teeth-grinding antics of Cavendish through book 4.
The Bad: Most of this boils down to, "It was slow," which is not really a criticism of the DM; I, for one, was far busier during the last two months than I had been previously, and my posting dropped precipitously because of it. But, just to unpack the notion a bit:
The whole thing seemed kinda disjointed, looking back on it. The time/location shift thing never really got any use after its initial deployment, and there was a big shift in mid-Book between a focus on the past and finding out what happened (ethereal visions, etc.) and a focus on Marchosias (who was involved in past events, of course, but whom we were dealing with on a present-day basis). This was, I think, exemplified by the riddle for the destruction of M.'s phylactery. I was very much expecting the clues to be revealed by and accessible through the keep's past, but, as it happens, each and every clue referred to something in the present, one of them to one of us (!), and one of them to something that was essentially unforeseeable to us or to the Red King (which is kinda nifty, actually--you cannot escape the prophecy, Oedipus!--but was also therefore impossible to predict/act on before the fact). It seemed to me (you may wish to keep a DM-ly reticence on this point) that you had one set of fulfilling agents in mind (probably linked much more strongly to the castle's past), saw we were never going to discover them unaided, realized this book was about to double in length again, and said, "Heck with it, let's think of substitutes". Which is an excellent adaptation to circumstances, but substantially decreases the feeling of dramatic unity for the book as a whole. Either that or the "riddle" was more like a "recipe"--any innocent, any adamantine blade, any double agent, any critter with a fiery heart (!).
On a similar note, I was expecting something from the Bey's wife, who seemed to be animating the keep, at some point that would bear on the trajectory of the adventure, and there wasn't really anything--perhaps a result of our choices taking us down a different path? But it was kinda distracting to wait for that other shoe to drop and never having it hit the floor.
In sum, there seemed to be a fair bit going on that we just never really got to/dealt with, which made the whole affair vaguely unsatisfying at certain points.
The Ugly: Hot pants.
The Good: You played Marchosias very well, and it was fascinating to try to go up against someone who could have wiped the floor with us if he had wanted to (before it grew too late). Ishmael was also an excellent semi-villain in terms of his background and portrayal. (As a combat opponent he's just...odd. His abilities are very atmospheric but kinda hard to deal with in game mechanics terms (I say this as the man deputized to give him combat stats--I went through two or three iterations before NT took him back and got him into his final form, which I think turned out quite well, given the inherent oddity of the character.))
The backstory of the keep was really interesting--what we learned of it--and tied into the overall Expedition goals in interesting ways. I get the strong feeling that we could have done more--possibly a lot more--with this angle, if we had had the time or the inclination to do so. Unfortunately we were caught up in events and didn't have much chance.
We got some puzzles! I liked this part a lot. There wasn't much fighting, really, and that's fine, especially since book 4 had quite a bit.
AND! New villain! And we kicked his trash! Cigars for everyone (chocolate cigars for those who don't smoke)! That was very satisfying, especially after having to endure the teeth-grinding antics of Cavendish through book 4.
The Bad: Most of this boils down to, "It was slow," which is not really a criticism of the DM; I, for one, was far busier during the last two months than I had been previously, and my posting dropped precipitously because of it. But, just to unpack the notion a bit:
The whole thing seemed kinda disjointed, looking back on it. The time/location shift thing never really got any use after its initial deployment, and there was a big shift in mid-Book between a focus on the past and finding out what happened (ethereal visions, etc.) and a focus on Marchosias (who was involved in past events, of course, but whom we were dealing with on a present-day basis). This was, I think, exemplified by the riddle for the destruction of M.'s phylactery. I was very much expecting the clues to be revealed by and accessible through the keep's past, but, as it happens, each and every clue referred to something in the present, one of them to one of us (!), and one of them to something that was essentially unforeseeable to us or to the Red King (which is kinda nifty, actually--you cannot escape the prophecy, Oedipus!--but was also therefore impossible to predict/act on before the fact). It seemed to me (you may wish to keep a DM-ly reticence on this point) that you had one set of fulfilling agents in mind (probably linked much more strongly to the castle's past), saw we were never going to discover them unaided, realized this book was about to double in length again, and said, "Heck with it, let's think of substitutes". Which is an excellent adaptation to circumstances, but substantially decreases the feeling of dramatic unity for the book as a whole. Either that or the "riddle" was more like a "recipe"--any innocent, any adamantine blade, any double agent, any critter with a fiery heart (!).
On a similar note, I was expecting something from the Bey's wife, who seemed to be animating the keep, at some point that would bear on the trajectory of the adventure, and there wasn't really anything--perhaps a result of our choices taking us down a different path? But it was kinda distracting to wait for that other shoe to drop and never having it hit the floor.
In sum, there seemed to be a fair bit going on that we just never really got to/dealt with, which made the whole affair vaguely unsatisfying at certain points.
The Ugly: Hot pants.
[b]FEAR JUSTICE.[/b] :elena:
I'm happy with Ishaq's HP tbh. As for the game well I enjoyed it. I found that the pace was good. Though Ishaq is more there for bashing purposes I still like him. The riddles were great for the group( I didn't participate much in that, Ishaq is no scholar. You keep us inteerested always in the game and like others said, you played the fiend very well. As a matter of fact you play all villains magnificently! Besides that, what Nathan said about the Hot Pants! Heh!
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The Whistler
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 1454
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:38 pm
- Location: Southshore
Not going to mess with the awesome elegies/"what could possibly go wrong's" (must...have...thematically...apt...ending...), but just as a side note in the background, Otto's going to retrieve the three bombs, which Neo was nice enough to rule were put out by the settling dust/debris before they exploded. The way things are turning out, it looks like I might need those at some point...
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yalenusveler
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 1266
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:44 pm
- Location: Pennsylvania...or Baator
Hmmm...comments and critique
The Good!
Finally getting a clear win. Both confrontations against Cavendish have cost us a party member, and in Book 4 even though we "won"...we still lost. Book 3 was the only clear outright feel good hit of the summer win we had. It felt nice to put another one in the win column again.
On a personal level MORE SPELLS! AND cash to scribe them! Glee!
There was some extremely atmospheric stuff, and I rather enjoyed the lot of it. It was a good haunted house setup, and got me off after a red herring pretty early on.
A puzzle without punching faces! Doc's right. Puzzles can be hard enough in face to face games with different people having brains that work on different trains of thought. With an online setup, it becomes even harder, because there's the delay in any real "discussion" of what to do. You managed to pull it off without us killing one another. Hats off!
The Bad
The quest did seem a bit bait and switch. If things would have remained full on haunted house, a pseudo Gryphon Hill in the desert, it would've been fine.
Although Fiendish Hot Pants was a great villan, at the same time, it felt a little "huh, fiends are neat, let there be a fiend!" Fiat Fiend.
Although his background and an excellent job playing him by NT kept him from feeling gygaxianly out of place, and I'm sure there's background we missed...or will have revealed to us in the future.
The Chekov's Armory of stuff. There was a lot in the background of the keep that was revealed to us that just did not feel like it had any relevance other than "This fiend is a bastard!".l However, I think some of this may have come to the fact that we can be chatty cathys instead of exploring, and had we looked around more, we would've seen more that would have made things fall into place, or made things clearer.
And finally...slow pace. Though honestly, this is in part due to the fact that we're a talky bunch of academics in game (with a few exceptions), and due to the fact that this was the book of RL Interruptions. That can be damaging to the pace of anything, and you shouldn't take it as a direct flaw in the book...just real life being evil.
Oh, and to echo Doc's statement..don't be afraid to go with a PC solution, even if it isn't the one you came up with, if it seems like it could work. Different logic for different people. Though that's something that happens to every DM at some point. I know i've been guilty of it a couple of times.
Overall, a B+/A- The atmosphere was good, but I think it could've been a bit more tight as a "simple" ghost story, though I recognize that Hot Pants is probably campaign arc back story important.
Oh...and when do we fight a Demon wearing Daisy dukes?
The Good!
Finally getting a clear win. Both confrontations against Cavendish have cost us a party member, and in Book 4 even though we "won"...we still lost. Book 3 was the only clear outright feel good hit of the summer win we had. It felt nice to put another one in the win column again.
On a personal level MORE SPELLS! AND cash to scribe them! Glee!
There was some extremely atmospheric stuff, and I rather enjoyed the lot of it. It was a good haunted house setup, and got me off after a red herring pretty early on.
A puzzle without punching faces! Doc's right. Puzzles can be hard enough in face to face games with different people having brains that work on different trains of thought. With an online setup, it becomes even harder, because there's the delay in any real "discussion" of what to do. You managed to pull it off without us killing one another. Hats off!
The Bad
The quest did seem a bit bait and switch. If things would have remained full on haunted house, a pseudo Gryphon Hill in the desert, it would've been fine.
Although Fiendish Hot Pants was a great villan, at the same time, it felt a little "huh, fiends are neat, let there be a fiend!" Fiat Fiend.
Although his background and an excellent job playing him by NT kept him from feeling gygaxianly out of place, and I'm sure there's background we missed...or will have revealed to us in the future.
The Chekov's Armory of stuff. There was a lot in the background of the keep that was revealed to us that just did not feel like it had any relevance other than "This fiend is a bastard!".l However, I think some of this may have come to the fact that we can be chatty cathys instead of exploring, and had we looked around more, we would've seen more that would have made things fall into place, or made things clearer.
And finally...slow pace. Though honestly, this is in part due to the fact that we're a talky bunch of academics in game (with a few exceptions), and due to the fact that this was the book of RL Interruptions. That can be damaging to the pace of anything, and you shouldn't take it as a direct flaw in the book...just real life being evil.
Oh, and to echo Doc's statement..don't be afraid to go with a PC solution, even if it isn't the one you came up with, if it seems like it could work. Different logic for different people. Though that's something that happens to every DM at some point. I know i've been guilty of it a couple of times.
Overall, a B+/A- The atmosphere was good, but I think it could've been a bit more tight as a "simple" ghost story, though I recognize that Hot Pants is probably campaign arc back story important.
Oh...and when do we fight a Demon wearing Daisy dukes?
"Sometimes, Mr.Liquor cabinet is my only friend"
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Gonzoron of the FoS
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If things continue as they've been going, it seems you may never actually have to explode them, just keep threatening to do so.The Whistler wrote:The way things are turning out, it looks like I might need those at some point...
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
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The Whistler
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Nyah.gonzoron wrote:If things continue as they've been going, it seems you may never actually have to explode them, just keep threatening to do so.
I'll have you know that I'm pursuing a Cold-War-esque strategy with my munitions, in that I never actually have to use them in order for them to be effective. It's not the *bomb* that matters, it's the *idea* of the bomb. -
yalenusveler
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Gonzoron of the FoS
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The Whistler wrote:Nyah.
Don't mind my ribbing. Like all spectators, I just want to see stuff blow up."We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."