[HoE] Re: "meta-plot" adventures (Hopler or Goff

["John Goff" <johngoff@erols.com>]

Darrin wrote:

>
> I've heard about this before... didn't TORG do this? As in, the players
> send information about what happened, and when the next sourcebook came
> out, the next major storyline shifts were determined by the majority of
> responses.
>

Yes, they did. Oddly enough, though, the TORG guy in the office (none other
than Shane) didn't come up with the idea--although he did immediately go
"They used to do that in TORG."

It's also one of the reasons we're doing the solution somewhat different
(i.e. no majority vote). His recollection was that the players most wanted
to be the one to have their group's story published. Also, we drew on
comments from some L5R fans about their results as part of a majority vote.
The preference seemed to be everyone would rather have a shot at being "the
one" rather than just a single vote.

> We've discussed the railroading adventures before... but PEG's sort of
> painted themselves into a corner on this one. They obviously want the
> PCs to have an active role in the important decisions in each world, but
> they've got to stick to their storyline until all the secrets are out of
> the bag.
>

Surprisingly, there are fewer areas that we're trapped in than I'd first
suspected. I'd _rather_ not contradict anything from HOE; even though it's
only a "possible" future, I'm pretty uptight about consistency. But, working
around that, there is a tremendous number of _major_ storylines that need
resolution are entirely open-ended.

> We still need to find out what happened to Hellstromme, the Unity, and
> how Lost Colony fits into the grand scheme of things. I think once
> they've got those out the door, it'll be much easier to let go of the
> reins and come out with some less rigid material. Good to see that at
> least they've got that on the horizon.

I think that's where my hands are more free with Deadlands stories. The
Reckoning is the BIG event in that setting and it takes place before the
game even starts. However, we've mentioned several major plot hooks and left
them dangling. For instance, HOE notes several major bad guys dropping but
not exactly when in history they did. There's no reason they can't line up
in a posse's sights.

Allan keeps begging for a shot at the good Reverend Grimme...who knows,
maybe he'll get it. ;-)

John Goff