[HoE] Re: The Boise Horror, my $.02

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

Jacques wrote:

S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S

> 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.

Thanks for the compliments--and the comments, Jacques.

You're absolutely correct about the GM's fiat in several places. The end
result is that the Horror does have a "railroading" feel to it. Now, I could
(and probably should) have avoided this with a paragraph in the beginning
stating (and this isn't meant sarcastically--I do honestly think it might
have been a better adventure for it):

It's all right to let Simon die in the course of the adventure, but the
Marshal should be aware that he's on his own if he does. I wrote the Horror
under the assumption that the Marshal's goal was to get the posse to the
final encounter. That scene requires Simon's presence (for obvious reasons
once you've read it <g>). So, if he dies beforehand, the adventure
ends--it's an ex-adventure.

I believe a caveat that simple might have done wonders to alleviate the
sense of railroading that you got from the adventure. And, honestly, that
paragraph does capture my feelings on the solution of the adventure as well.
The most important event arising from the adventure (Jo's assumption of
leadership of the Templars) would occur if Simon dies in transit anyway, so
there's really no excuse for not mentioning it. Unfortunately, that's a case
of 20-20 hindsight.

However, I did learn from the experience (even while writing it), and I
think you'll see something of a difference in Ghost Busters. Not that there
isn't some manipulation--after all, without it, I doubt you can have a
storyline adventure, or at least not one that actually works--just that it's
much less visible.

Thanks again for the comments and I'll keep them in mind as I edit Ghost
Busters this weekend.

Oh, BTW, as to the Cardstock Cowboy inclusions--we plan to package them with
all the adventures from now on. :-)

John Goff