Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: BR Adventures

  1. #1
    Mike Carscadden
    Guest

    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

  2. #2
    Niels E. Wisth
    Guest

    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

  3. #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)-

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. adventures
    By Sellenus in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 03-03-2004, 10:18 AM
  2. Adventures!!!!!!!!!!
    By M Sz in forum MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-06-1999, 07:24 PM
  3. Adventures...
    By Stasa Stanisic in forum MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-27-1998, 11:28 PM
  4. Using BR Adventures for a normal BR
    By Bill Seurer in forum MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-07-1997, 02:47 PM
  5. RE: Using BR Adventures for a norma
    By John Campbell in forum MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-06-1997, 05:10 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.