Fighting Fantasy The Introductory Roleplaying Game - OOC
Dec 21, 2019 7:03:05 GMT
thealmightymudworm, kieran, and 2 more like this
Post by champskees on Dec 21, 2019 7:03:05 GMT
Thankyou TheCount for your points, most of which I agree with. I think I was a bit soft and as you say, no consequences for missing deadlines was probably a mistake. There were a couple of combats where I did inflict automatic hits on a couple of party members for not responding in time, but imo it felt wrong. I genuinely wanted to test the scenario and see how balanced the combat and traps were. In terms of wandering monsters, I hate using them in general, and the ones in the book are so weak that it would just waste more time and bog things down further.
And that's really the problem with forum play - the time and commitment required is significant. Players were generally really good sports, the treasure hoard was something I should have dealt with by making a decision for them perhaps. If I played the next adventure I would limit the group to four members - and response time would have to be formal and tight, as you say, 24hrs max from GM latest post or penalty.
I really liked the idea of Kradon, and wanted to develop his connection to the wishing well further with a bit of dialogue with the wizard, that is why I froze him, so he could speak to him privately. Of course the player decided to tell the story himself and as a result, my hand was forced. Best to let the GM control the story path imo. I also was waiting for Kradon and co to encounter the mermaid and choose Kradon as the 'lucky' mermaid victim. Would have been a clean way for the party to get rid of him, if they so desired. Looking back I was too dogmatic with the mermaid combat, the mermaid would have certainly retreated when facing such poor odds.
Mentioned the empty passageway next to the Mummy - as Greenspine has said, the book indicates it is a time waster. Looking forward to the next adventure, it too has an empty passage, as a way of allowing the GM to expand the adventure. So I guess it also adds that flexibility to it as well. Overall, the adventure is a series of serious combats with some goofy 'gotcha!' encounters placed in between, all tied up with a fairly clear end goal; get the crystal key, kill the spider king and get the treasure. As an introductory quest, I think it's ok, but the writing in the italics is fairly basic and rushed, and the big bad was not developed very well. I love that every section has a picture. He mentions that if the adventurers don't tether the rope off, they are trapped forever. That seems quite dogmatic, I could see many creative methods of getting out of that situation. But if they got down by climbing down the rope, the rope must have been fixed to something, correct? I do a lot of abseiling and rock climbing, I just cannot work out how they could descend safely without the rope being tied, taut and secured beforehand. Am I assuming too much here?
All of my rolls were 100% random, btw Thrushbeard was still alive but tied up and bleeding out; there was a trail of blood that went under the east door, so he could have been saved. A few little things I adjusted in the battles to make them more juicy; I rolled separate attack strengths for the octopus tentacles whereas by the letter adoption of the rules would have meant one roll for all eight attacks. The final battle was generated by all of the wandering monster rolls I made and instead of four random encounters, pooled them together for a fairer fight (not that mattered, rolled some absolute rubbish at the end).