Re: Dying Earth: Rescuing Thea... Not


Jasin Zujovic wrote:
In article <1147538812.596377.52070@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
madafro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx says...


The cat got killed? How did that happen?

When the patrol took Thea, the cat tried to get annoying and one of the
soldiers just got rid of it.

IOW, the cat was the city that got blown up. No, I'm not proud of it
either. :p

Ah, yes. I especially hate the "week later" feeling when it becomes
obvious that there was so much more I could have done. But no, I blew
it up instead. Damn me all to hell.


Well, they're probably going after the sarcophagus soon, and if they go
by sea, there's a pirate ship waiting for them, and a treasure cave to
be found when they defeat the pirates...

If they go by land, there's an isolated village of constructs that uses
humans as slaves, and doesn't treat them very nicely. But if they help
the slaves, they will find out they are, in fact, extremely life-like
constructs, and that the constructs are humans augmented with
spellshaped steel and wood. Does that make their deeds any less
worthwhile?

Sounds like something Captain Picard would sink his teeth into. That's
a compliment, by the way.

I hope they go overland, simply because I'm interested in how the
players/characters react to that situation.


That seems like a hefty price to pay to rescue a girl who really isn't
in any danger.

Hm. Now that I've read you post, it does seem almost... stupidly cruel.

I think I was still caught up in the MUST PUNISH STUPID PLAYERS FOR NOT
COOPERATING!!1 mindset when I wrote it.

Been here, too. Hangover's a bitch.


Oh, very cool setting, by the way. I'm enjoying the descriptions and
the detail you've put into things.

You think? Thanks. :) Any particular element you felt was well detailed?
(Let's say this is not just me fishing for an ego-boost to get my
spirits up, but a legitimate question, since the quirky details is what
Dying Earth is all about, and I'd welcome an outside opinion on what I'm
doing right.)

Well, your construct/slave situation above, for one. I like that
you've created a set of unique locales, people and history while still
presenting a functioning world that makes sense in an odd sort of way.
In lots of campaigns, the PCs simply drift from one improbable event to
the next without a lot of anything to tie them together, and that
hasn't happened here. Granted, the tie-together involves lots of
history, but I think that makes it more real and more poignant that the
world is either headed toward death or reconstruction.

I like your Guilds, and that you've considered what happens to stray
kids. I like the encounters you set up; mine tend to be a lot more
random and followed by a frenzied retrofitting session. I like the
Undertakers World Tour setup and the idea of PCs carting a big coffin
around; a metaphor for the Dying Earth? PCs as the world's pallbearers,
with the campaign as a long funeral? This is what I'm talking about;
you can take this as a simple D&D game where the PCs go here and there
and kill things, or you can go a lot deeper.

And, as much as I dove into your Solar/New Sun concept, I'm actually
refreshed by the idea of a campaign set up without the goal of saving
the world. I think true episodic play is a dying art, and too often DMs
will want to attach world-breaking significance to everything the
characters do or touch. It's a trap I'm constantly falling into, and
while there's nothing wrong with the STW concept at all, I think doing
away with it and running a game with no set ending in mind is
liberating.

Funny thing is, lots of DMs don't like being liberated. We want a
story. :)


More would be the pity if you scrap
it. Maybe it's enough that you step away from Big Picture for a while
and focus on giving the PCs a cool place to get in trouble. If the PCs
turn toward the light eventually, you can pick things back up with the
New Sun.

BTW, I think I've mostly figured out the Big Picture for the background,
with a satisfyingly vague place for the sarcophagus and the Overseer, so
that it works even if we/they finally decide to go Vance instead of
Wolfe and just wander around and learn a bit of the history. Not sure
why I was so hell-bent on whipping them into emergent saints already,
then. :p

[snip new backstory]

This is loads better. I liked the angel/saint angle, but it didn't fit
into this particular world as well as your new story does; this one
presents a fantasy-yet-slightly-sci-fi tinge that matches a world
filled with quirks and ethical questions, as well as impending doom,
much better than the good vs. evil thing that we were discussing
before.

The Hierodules are celestials, descendants of humanity from a future
where humanity finally does transcend (some of) its limitations.

The Outsiders are mind flayers, demons, all sorts of nasty things, from
another future, one where the Sun gutters out and Earth is eternally
dark.

Both probably have a difficult time sustaining themselves in the
present, so they work to enforce their own timeline through hints and
manipulations instead of outright warfare.

I'm swallowing the time travel with a side order of my pride, here.
Normally, I *hate* time travel as a plot driver of any kind; it tends
to be lazy, confusing, and becomes a can of worms more often than it
helps things. I feel the same way about alternate realities.

That said, I think what you have here works well, and I like the
dichotomy of the Heriodules and Outsiders, as it gives both sides a
reason for being (and you know how I adore reasons for being,
especially among villains), and reasons for influencing the campaign
world.

--
Jay Knioum
The Mad Afro

.

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