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Fuzzybear's Burning Sky
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<blockquote data-quote="Fuzzybear" data-source="post: 8712780" data-attributes="member: 6917259"><p><h3>Episode 4 - Rats, Badgers, and Imps</h3><p>I think this may be our best episode of the first adventure. I mentioned this in the last episode heavily, but I think this episode really shows the growth and progress of my players to the differences in this adventure path from our previous one. They did a great job in this session of viewing options, weighing pros and cons, and making informed decisions. I am quite proud of them and how quickly they took that message to heart.</p><p></p><p>This section does a lot of things very well, but perhaps what it does best is plays off expectations and reverses them. This is especially true in juxtaposition with what just occurred to my party in nearly getting burnt to a crisp by Shealis. They came in expecting danger and trouble this time, but the dangers in this section only come up if they didn't trust themselves. The door puzzle is not too hard (especially with some help defining what the creatures and plans were), the role play convincing not too difficult (as the elves don't expect them), and Kurychek is more comedy than actual threat to a prepared party. But they all come at a time of intense suspicion and threat that they are taken seriously and enjoyed. It made each of them really land well and reward the players for good decision making. </p><p></p><p>Now I don't think this episode is always entertaining, perhaps too simple for a group that didn't struggle with Shealis for instance, but in the wake of what happened in the previous one it was a well deserved breather from a difficulty standpoint without being too much a breather in the tension.</p><p></p><p>The other thing that this episode really landed well is the changed mindset for some of my players that morality is not binary. Being good doesn't mean people are helpful to the heroes just as much as being evil means they are obstacles. Loyalty and morality are complicated, like an evil imp who is not really out to get you but instead chaffing at the rules of his deal or a divine archon attempting to sear the party to allow its companion to escape. It also helps to see that the enemies are not perfect. The pact was not perfect, it could be exploited. It gives much more credence this way when the party slips through and outsmarts enemies if all other aspects are not unexploitable. While it feels good to outsmart something and find the one path to success, it feels better (in my opinion) for the enemies to be real and make mistakes so you do not have to force the group to find the one path you allow them to take.</p><p></p><p>In terms of plot, this episode consists of the group heading into the elven ghetto, ignoring Kurychek and getting into the woodshop, tricking the elves to giving them the case, avoiding Shealis in the streets, taking Kurychek hostage, and then making a deal with the imp to delay the inquisitors from their trail. Very little combat was in this episode, but that does not mean it wasn't successful. It was one of the favorites of my players as well (at least until Winry's ice breaker party games!) and I would say that their excitement shines through in the audio as well.</p><p></p><p>Next session, time has come to escape Gate Pass!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fuzzybear, post: 8712780, member: 6917259"] [HEADING=2]Episode 4 - Rats, Badgers, and Imps[/HEADING] I think this may be our best episode of the first adventure. I mentioned this in the last episode heavily, but I think this episode really shows the growth and progress of my players to the differences in this adventure path from our previous one. They did a great job in this session of viewing options, weighing pros and cons, and making informed decisions. I am quite proud of them and how quickly they took that message to heart. This section does a lot of things very well, but perhaps what it does best is plays off expectations and reverses them. This is especially true in juxtaposition with what just occurred to my party in nearly getting burnt to a crisp by Shealis. They came in expecting danger and trouble this time, but the dangers in this section only come up if they didn't trust themselves. The door puzzle is not too hard (especially with some help defining what the creatures and plans were), the role play convincing not too difficult (as the elves don't expect them), and Kurychek is more comedy than actual threat to a prepared party. But they all come at a time of intense suspicion and threat that they are taken seriously and enjoyed. It made each of them really land well and reward the players for good decision making. Now I don't think this episode is always entertaining, perhaps too simple for a group that didn't struggle with Shealis for instance, but in the wake of what happened in the previous one it was a well deserved breather from a difficulty standpoint without being too much a breather in the tension. The other thing that this episode really landed well is the changed mindset for some of my players that morality is not binary. Being good doesn't mean people are helpful to the heroes just as much as being evil means they are obstacles. Loyalty and morality are complicated, like an evil imp who is not really out to get you but instead chaffing at the rules of his deal or a divine archon attempting to sear the party to allow its companion to escape. It also helps to see that the enemies are not perfect. The pact was not perfect, it could be exploited. It gives much more credence this way when the party slips through and outsmarts enemies if all other aspects are not unexploitable. While it feels good to outsmart something and find the one path to success, it feels better (in my opinion) for the enemies to be real and make mistakes so you do not have to force the group to find the one path you allow them to take. In terms of plot, this episode consists of the group heading into the elven ghetto, ignoring Kurychek and getting into the woodshop, tricking the elves to giving them the case, avoiding Shealis in the streets, taking Kurychek hostage, and then making a deal with the imp to delay the inquisitors from their trail. Very little combat was in this episode, but that does not mean it wasn't successful. It was one of the favorites of my players as well (at least until Winry's ice breaker party games!) and I would say that their excitement shines through in the audio as well. Next session, time has come to escape Gate Pass! [/QUOTE]
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