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Thread: BR Adventures
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06-13-1997, 04:45 AM #1Mike CarscaddenGuest
BR Adventures
I just would like to second the idea of a big boxed adventure for BR. I
have all the current products which have been released and even if I did
tear apart the adventures and use them piecemail I would like to see
something epic. I liked the idea of Night Below with the complete maps
and long involved plot and most of all I like the player handouts. They
are great for games and besides I think I'm an ok DM, but I know I am a
crappy artist. Cool pictures of shields and crests as well as artistic
drawings of rooms in stead of the square with a line representing the
door. Another thisn I noticed about BR adventures is that the NPC's in
the adventures are really high level. The regents of some of the major
countries are only 10th or 12th and I think in one of the adventures
there is a mage who is 15th. That's a real big difference. I thought
that since we have the ear of some of the Creative Folks at TSR that I
would give another voice to the boxed adventure thing.
MJC
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06-13-1997, 10:29 AM #2Niels E. WisthGuest
BR Adventures
> From: Mike Carscadden
> I just would like to second the idea of a big boxed adventure for BR. I
> have all the current products which have been released and even if I did
> tear apart the adventures and use them piecemail I would like to see
> something epic. I liked the idea of Night Below with the complete maps
> and long involved plot and most of all I like the player handouts. They
> are great for games and besides I think I'm an ok DM, but I know I am a
> crappy artist. Cool pictures of shields and crests as well as artistic
> drawings of rooms in stead of the square with a line representing the
> door. Another thisn I noticed about BR adventures is that the NPC's in
> the adventures are really high level. The regents of some of the major
> countries are only 10th or 12th and I think in one of the adventures
> there is a mage who is 15th. That's a real big difference. I thought
> that since we have the ear of some of the Creative Folks at TSR that I
> would give another voice to the boxed adventure thing.
Well, the writers of the Birthright supplements are so talented that to use
them to write a big, boxed dungeoncrawl would be a real shame. Why not make
a REAL scenario for once? I know they can do it. Adventures like the Temple
of Elemental Evil and the Ruins of Undermountain was fun when I was 14
years old (and are still good for laughs), but why waste Birthright
resources on something like this?
If the Creative Folks at TSR could publish a scenario built around
pre-generated characters (with about 5000 words of background and
personality each), with realistic character motivation to drive the plot
forward, and a loose, non-railroaded structure, Birthright could REALLY
show what it's good for. The idea that all published scenarios should be
compatible with any PCs is old fashioned. Roleplaying is so much more than
"my PC likes horses, so I spend 40 GBs to buy a pair" (no offense
intended). Birthright has all the ground work for excellent gaming, so
writing such an adventure would only be good, visionary fun for the lucky
author.
To those who run published scenarios because they do not have time to make
their own: A scenario with finished, detailed characters would both save
time in adapting the scenario to the PCs, and give a much better
roleplaying experience (not to mention challenge - what is more fun than to
play a complete character that you haven't made yourself?). Of course such
a scenario would require a GM to wing descriptions and conversations, but
anyone should manage that if he feels able to GM at all.
Birthright is such an excellent and revolutionary setting, that wasting it
on old-fashioned scenarios is a real waste. With BR, TSR has taken the step
into the future regarding setting. But is TSR ready for modernization
regarding adventures and scenarios as well?
Everything said is of course IMHO. :)
Does anyone out there agree with me, or is the Norwegian way of gaming THAT
different from the rest of the world?
- --
Niels E. Wisth - Nudis Verbis
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06-13-1997, 06:15 PM #3
BR Adventures
At 12:29 PM 6/13/97 +0200, Niels E. Wisth(nielsw@powertech.no)wrote:
>
>
>To those who run published scenarios because they do not have time to make
>their own: A scenario with finished, detailed characters would both save
>time in adapting the scenario to the PCs, and give a much better
>roleplaying experience (not to mention challenge - what is more fun than to
>play a complete character that you haven't made yourself?). Of course such
>a scenario would require a GM to wing descriptions and conversations, but
>anyone should manage that if he feels able to GM at all.
>
>Birthright is such an excellent and revolutionary setting, that wasting it
>on old-fashioned scenarios is a real waste. With BR, TSR has taken the step
>into the future regarding setting. But is TSR ready for modernization
>regarding adventures and scenarios as well?
>
In the past TSR has done both Character Specific(or "CS") and Open
Character(or "OC") Adventures. Most of the very first Adventures were OC,
giving just a storyline and an arena for the PCs to interact with. The
problem with very old Adventures is most spent more time on a Dungeon then
on the lands surrounding it. With BR TSR has started moving in the right
direction. The boxed set has given us a well developed background, and the
Adventures give possible storylines that happen in this setting. Now I will
admit the first few Adventures to come out have only just started moving in
this direction, and so they may seem a little clumsy(its hard to break away
from whats been near canon for quite a few years). With a setting that is
nearly infinate in its variations like BR, they will have no choice but to
continue to make Adventures that are highly detailed areas with highly
detailed NPCs, and contain a basic plotline. Otherwise what they publish
will be useless to a large portion of thier audiance.
That is the main problem with CS Adventures. Role-playing and character
development are things that happen between a live DM and live Players. Its
worthless to try and have an outside party script it for you. Over the years
TSR started doing more and more CS Adventures. This has lead to Adventures
that are little more then a forced series of events, with little variation
allowed on the PCs part, and that has rendered most of the contents of
published adventures worthless. The harder they try to tailor an Adventure
to specific PCs the more work that is required to make it fit yours. And
while on occasion its fun to run a character you had no part in creating,
the idea of only producing Adventures around pre-determined PCs dosen't
appeal to me. I want to spend my money on things I can use for my on-going
campaign, not just something we will use for a couple nights. It might be
fun to see a few CS Adventures for BR, but I would not want them to be the
rule. My Players are very creative when making PCs and I want them to flex
thier own imaginations when it comes down to thier characters. Handing them
a pre-made character everytime we played would eventually make them
lathargic about them. Some of the best role-playing comes from Players
getting into the personality of thier characters, and this comes with the
Players getting used to and attached to thier characters. This can't happen
with pre-generated characters. BR is a setting that requires a lot of work
from both the designers and those that choose to play it, but it is well
worth all the effort. I would hate to see the experience cheapened by having
a whole lot of CS material put out for it(ie. Dragonlance). I would much
rather see Adventures that are tools we DMs can use to spice up our
individual games.
I believe TSR is ready to "modernize" the Adventures and Supplements for BR,
but I think this modernization should be a revised version of how they
started, not by carrying on a tradition that has caused many settings to
become bogged down into a predetermined scenario that leaves little room for
variation from campaign to campaign. Anyways I hope I didn't get offensive
here, and if I did I apologize. But I had to add my 2 GBs.
Sepsis, richt@metrolink.net
"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-
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