Re: [HOE] Adventures and plot

[Matt Crawford <matt@severian.chi.il.us>]

(No spoilers.)

>  Hell or High Water, Killer Klowns, Boise Horror, have all had the
> same lame "innocent folks ask party to ___ and the party goes to
> stop bad guys."  ... where the HoE adventures have really fallen on
> their face so far, is they've really done a bad job of making the
> adventure about the PC's.

I don't think that the adventures should be *about* a beginning
posse.  After all, who the Hell are *they* in the grand scheme of
things?  But after they gain a little renown, sure, the Arch-
Villains, Secret Masters and Greater Fiends Union Local #666 will be
targetting the posse specifically.

>     But seriously, a good Marshall does need to think like a chess
> player, the party makes a move, the bad guys have a response, and
> make the results the most fun for all.

I did achieve this with the first major adventure, the Hell or High
Water you're maligning.  The posse's first encounter with the major
villain sent them running with their tails between their legs.  And
after that, it was personal.  The second encouter sent it running,
and the third ... well it cost the posse one member just to *find* it
again.

>     Or some problem that if the players don't solve it, they Die.  

They've got one of those right now.  Three of the six know that their
infected with a mutated disease, and they don't know a cure.  They've
seen its eventual effects, though.  And this is from a canned
adventure, too.  (DCtF)