Post originally by Alejandro Luna at 2005-02-28 14:51:00
Converted from Phorums BB System



James P wrote:
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I ran this chronicle as part of my ongoing game and I ran into most of the problems the reviewer did.

Mhh, see, as I wrote in my last post, the reviewer had problems he should have been capable of sorting out himself, because those glitches (at least, the ones he pointed out) weren't really in the product. His problems started when he ran a module he didn't fully belived in or understood completely.

Also, your statement about 'the KODT syndrome' I think is unfair. Forcing character death despite their actions is one of the most heavy-handed examples of railroading there is.

I had runned this chronicle twice, with two different groups (a veteran group and a group of rookies). In both cases I wanted to state very clearly that fighting the Drowned King was suicide, so I let the PCs to see a friendly rival pack of NPCs die horribly in the hands(?) of the monster. Both groups attacked the monster anyway (although the veterans did tried to retreat). When some of the veterans seemed as unconfortable as you guys with this "mi character has to die" gimmick, I proposed them an alternative: The PCs' pack could skip the fight with the King if they performed some Silent Strider ritual I come up with, wich was just a ritual suicide wich allowed them to participate in the spirit quest without the requisite fight. They ate it with a spoon. They (and, I suspect, you guys too) don't really have a problem with their characters being dead; they just have problems with their characters being killed.

My players, being the clever types that they are, realised early on that the Solium Submergens (this is in very poor Latin and does not translate the way the authors of this book say it does, as my players were quick to point out),

Ok, you do have a point there. Bruce Baugh & Ethan Skemp skipped school the day they had Latin class. Cut them some slack.


was too tough for them to defeat, so they attempted to retreat to rustle up the aid of more packs from the sept. As the chronicle's continuation REQUIRES them to die in this scene, I had the thing kill them one by one as they were making their retreat.

Mmhh... in my two chronicles all the characters frenzied when they saw their packmates died in front of their eyes. Too may Rage on them, I guess...

At this point, it took about two seconds for them to realise they were in a 'scripted death' scene. While they did not cry out in protest, resigned smiles appeared on their faces, and at the close of the scene one of my players said - 'that plot device was f**king lame, man'. This prompted nods of agreement from everyone else.

See above. This vocal member of you gaming group is almost sure to have accepted the ritual suicide thing...

It's basically a poorly thought-out railroad scene.

See my previous post. It's all in how you tell it...

In the book's defence, however, we found the chapters that were set in the past to be highly entertaining, especially the one in Dacia, which the Classics buffs in my group found few inaccuracies with.

Yep. It's also fun to play the possibility to make peace with the ancestor-sprits of the Lost Breeds (and earn a crapload of Renown), and the opportunity to unearth lost Rites and Gifts (more Renown).