An Introductory Adventure

[Rich H]

Keep at it - so close to the end now!

[zedturtle]

Ok. Here is a link to the adventure: (Link outdated and thus redacted).

Feedback is extremely welcome. I'm most concerned about Beorn's positioning... it seems a little forced to have him be ok with the heroes doing everything, but I don't want him upstaging them.

Corrections? Typos? Concerns? Please let me know!

Those of you who are playing in the PbP Playtest; it is ok to read this document... it will spoil you, but some of you (hint, hint, EC) were instrumental in coming up with the twist such as it is anyways.

[shipwreck]

I just gave it a quick power skim, but this is great! I wish this was around when I started my home game; it would have given us all a chance to get familiar with uses for the common skills (something I feel like I'm constantly counseling my heroes on). The document looks really nice as well.

I'll try and give it more of a proof read later today, but I did notice one typo: second column on the first page, second paragraph, it says 'times lone gone' instead of 'times long gone'.

[zedturtle]

Thank you! Please let me know if you find any more errors, I really appreciate it.

[zedturtle]

As promised, here is the link to the packaged resource file: Package.

Please do:
If you have a current copy of InDesign, check out the file.
Use this to make your own fan materials.
Laugh at my old school approach to tables and other stuff.


Please DON'T:
Use this to make anything that interferes and/or confuses your stuff with Sophisticated Games/Cubicle7.
Use this to make any commercial products, even for another game system.
Redistribute any internal components (graphics, vector art, fonts, etc.).

Thank you, and have fun!

- - - - - -

P.S. I will be updated the adventure soon, to correct typos and to address one issue I thought of. I don't anticipate updating the package, as nothing major should have changed.

[gentlemansavage]

Thanks zed!

[Falenthal]

Thanks a lot for the good work, Zed!

I'll give a look at it as soon as I can.

[zedturtle]

So as I mentioned a little while back, I'm updating the adventure; spelling some more stuff out (trying to rid myself of all the assumptions we make as experienced LMs and write for newcomers) and also trying to tweak what does and does not work well.

One random thought I had was the the Trials. There are seven of them, for two reasons: it allows six players to play in the module while still allowing the LM to handle the sickle at the end to a NPC if desired, and it gives a wide range of skills, hoping to have at least one new character have three dice in that skill. I am also going to make each Trial a series of prolonged tests and count total successes... I want folks to use Traits but I don't want them to dominate.

But my big question is just of titles and appropriateness. In the playtest PbP game, it seemed like the torch race, thimblerig and Shurack felt natural whilst both the Stage of the Nobles and (especially) Talents of the Thanes felt a bit forced in their naming. Stage of the Nobles is a little less of a problem, it's supposed to be a Beorning criticism of the flowery words of city-folk and thus an over-the-top name is ok. But Talents is a bit much... it's my fault as I was intentionally lampooning {Country} Has Talent anyways. But does it bug you? Should I change it?

[cuthalion]

Hmmm ... Speaking from my experience, I'd agree this one (Talents) was a little hard to work in vs the others. The repetition (Stage of Nobles, Talents of the Thanes) is also noticeable--though really this is just nitpicking at this point. I think these two sound least Tolkien-y, though the first works much better.

Don't really think it needs changing, but how about, 'The Lay of the Moon' or something like that. Then festival goers might talk about playing for the Moon etc.: 'Will you try to sing for the Moon tonight, Rathwulf?' Might work in a little easier.

It's proving fun so far--I think the change re: number of successes is a good one. As for the torch race, I think all worked out really well in practice. No changes needed.

[zedturtle]

I think the Lay of the Moon works well, and gives it the je ne sais quoi it was missing. Folks can now compose a lay to the astronomical body, the spirit or the artefact.