Re: [HOE] The Unity (spoilers)

[Richard A Ranallo <toadpooka@juno.com>]

On Fri, 5 Apr 2002 11:07:32 EST PEGShane@aol.com writes:

Spoiler




In a message dated 4/4/2002 7:10:58 PM Eastern Standard Time, matt@severian.chi.il.us writes:

If by better you mean "less linear," then no, it doesn't. This is a very linear adventure as it has a very specific story to tell. Most written adventures are by their very nature--it's hard to write Chapter Two if you don't know what happens at the end of Chapter One. This is a complaint as old as RPGs. Either you publish a scenario--"There's a wizard in a dark tower 10 days from here. What do you do?"' or you funnel them through a course. Some courses may be narrower than others, but they're still linear.

But, being linear, The Unity does the next most important thing: it gives suggestions on how to get the PCs involved even if they're not the ideal participants.  There was a sense in earlier adventures that if your posse wasn't good friends with the Iron Alliance (and likely played through The Destroyer, The Boise Horror, Urban Renewal and the adventures in Denver and City o' Sin), they wouldn't be participating.  Making room for these types is pretty important, since not every posse is chumming around with Ike.  Some groups (like mine) even had disastrously different results from Boise Horror, and the whole setup to an adventure like The Unity would be spoiled from the start.

Basically, no adventure can be completely flexible.  The best it can do is have a fairly open beginning and have events scripted so that they don't look scripted from the players' point of view.

Rich Ranallo

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