Re: [HoE] The Boise Horror...my $0.02 (spoilers) [LONG]

[The Baron Samedi <baron11@netmcr.com>]

At 12:56 AM 3/17/00, you wrote:


>Hi there.
>
>Someone asked for a review of this a few days ago. I had to go back and read
>it again to get my thoughts in order. I've done an overview of each chapter,
>and my own opinions of the same. If you disagree with me, that's cool…again,
>these are MY opinions, and as one sig line has said in the past, they will
>not become YOUR opinions until I can get the mind control rays fully
>operational. :-P
>
>I make a comment at the end about the fixed storyline nature of the module.
>This is one of the areas that I'd like to hear what people think about. As I
>say at the end, I can't offer an alternative for the way this and Fortress
>o'Fear were put together, but I'd like to hear if other people can, or if
>they don't see it as being the way I do. Just a thought.
>
>One last thing…I've TRIED to keep out any direct reference to who's
>responsible for what going on at what time in the module. No names or stats
>or anything like that, but there is STILL major spoilage going on here.
>Posses have been warned, as have Marshals who want to wait, buy the module
>and be surprised on their own.
>
>Proceed At Your Own Risk.

note my commentary has Devil's Tower trilogy Spoilers


>* * * * *
>
>Okay. It's deadly, and it's complicated, and it's jam packed with action…but
>how GOOD is it?
>
>I love the storyline aspect of Pinnacle's worlds. I really do. It feels like
>it's evolving around you and that you have the power to influence it by your
>own actions. Having said that, in this case, the outcome has already been
>determined. Simon HAS to remain alive until the very end of the adventure,
>and there's more than several good instances during the adventure where he
>could buy the farm, and GM deus ex machina has to prevent it. It all feels
>very linear and pre-ordained, but I guess that's kind of the price you have
>to pay for having that kind of evolution of storyline that Pinnacle is so
>good at. This was the main drawback I had with the last part of the Fortress
>o'Fear trilogy, by the way. Things just seemed like they were going to happen
>whether the posse acted or not, and if the players manage to figure that out,
>it kind of leaves a hollow feeling (it would to me, anyway). Having said all
>this, I can't really suggest what I might have done differently. This
>adventure is just one of the pivot point type adventures that is going to be
>released throughout the year (the Unity adventure, and the Urban Renewal one
>are the other two that I can think of off the top of my head…perhaps the
>Ghost Busters one for the Weird West will also fall into this category…I
>don't know), and I have a feeling that the outcomes of those are also kind of
>already sorted out (the Unity Adventure will presumably lead to Lost Colony
>in the same way that Fortress o'Fear did to Hell on Earth). Again, I don't
>know how I would have handled it differently, but it just hits kind of a
>discordant note with my GM sensibilities.

This is true, and I agree:  To A Point

My beef with Heart o' Darkness and Fortress o' Fear (not Road to Hell) was 
this:  The PCs are crap.
In Heart o' Darkness, they help stone with his evil plan and the adventure 
does not in any way,m shape, or form allow for them not to.  They will be 
screwed or they will do nothing.
In Fortress o' Fear, the PCs follow this wondrous bad-girl NPC as she does 
one amazing feat after another, and generally act as her squad of 
stooges.  Granted, they are not helping evil incarnate this time (for the 
first time in the adventure) but frankly they could go home, and unless the 
marshal felt mean then Jackie Wells could go all through it without them, 
thank you very much.

In Boise Horror, the PCs have to follow a linear path.  They are assumed 
not to solve the mystery before it's time.  However, they are NOT 
stooges.  GM  manipulation aside, Simon NEEDS them.  He can't get away in 
part two without them, They are the only thing that can send him back to 
the table.  Granted, someone else can go after him in part 4, but someone 
has to!  To me, the difference between The Boise Horror and Parts two and 
three of The Devil's Tower trilogy is the PCs actions mean something.

In FoF, lets face it, Jackie Wells has as good a chance alone as she does 
with the PCs, and she can just go hire mercenaries if needs be.
In BH, The PCs are the only ones Simon can use to get to Junkyard.  Simon 
cannot do it alone, unlike Jackie Wells.

OK, granted, the PCs can only screw up so much.  granted, the PCs cannot 
lose Simon.  that much is irritating.
granted, the PCs cannot get anywhere if they figure out the Horror.
But I don't think BH is close to as bad as DT trilogy.  Some railroading is 
gonna happen in this sort of adventure.



>This is also not a module for beginner or intermediate Marshals. You have to
>be pretty able to think on your feet and be sure of the rules governing
>vehicular combat, Cyborgs and lots of different types of combat situations,
>or these supposed-to-be-moving-so-fast-that-nobody-has-time-to-think combats
>are going to bog down unbearably. It also sort of requires that you at LEAST
>have the Cyborgs book in order to run it (you can get by with Iron Oasis in a
>pinch, but aspects of one of the nasties in the book are overlooked by IO),
>and a working knowledge of Iron Oasis wouldn't hurt either, nor would having
>a working knowledge of what's in Last Crusaders, nor would having played the
>adventure FROM Last Crusaders. Simon's reasons for taking your posse's
>Templar are somewhat spurious unless they've garnered some renown for
>themselves. Not a MAJOR detraction, but it will make things seem to flow more
>nicely if that is the case.


agreed.


>--Jacques
>
TBS