arkwright
Explorer
My group are two sessions into Schism, and we're running into problems. I'm not here to discuss most of them- 'how can you debate planes without listing their full stats and just going by aspects', 'how can you take a faction from a forum thread and then swap out half its planes', 'why is the Ob and the party only now going after Kasvarina', 'why do you say the party can influence the convocation but then MAP is always put in place in Act 3'.
Instead I'm going to ask for help concerning problems with the end of Schism, and leading into the next two books.
Why, at the end of Schism, should the party oppose the Ob?
Come the end of the convocation, the Ob's grand design will be MAP- a fairly utopian configuration. Why should the party fight against the Ob against such a config? 'To stop any change happening at all'? Yet Axis Island is basically impregnable (and attacking it requires skipping book 8 which isn't workable).
What does the party gain from winning book #8?
The party isn't going to win control of Borne. Perhaps that's metagaming, but it's true. They'll win Kasvarina's allegiance- yet there are few concrete rewards from this I can promise. My Schism question also applies.
Why, in The Last Starry Sky, should the party oppose Stanfield?
Here's the biggest sticking point. Per the Grand Design, the lighthouses provide stabilization for the Axis Ritual. The Stanfield lighthouse goes into detail- the lighthouse is blasting out MAP energies so the transition is easier.
But... the *book* treats the lighthouse like it's blasting out mental enslavement energies.
But as he dies, the governor reveals what the party may have already deduced: that his ritual is just one of many, and while Risur might be safe, the rest of the world is now loyal to the Obscurati
No it isn't, per newspaper articles in Book 10 the rest of the world is very much still independent.
Most importantly, she tells them that Stanfield is going to perform a ritual tomorrow night in Flint, but if it can be disrupted they can protect Risur at least.
The lighthouse is stabilizing Risur, as was made plain in Schism, when the party learnt about the Grand Design.
...multiple sources have said Governor Stanfield is about to perform a ritual for the Obscurati. The obvious mission now is to get to Flint and stop him, and omens suggest tomorrow night might be the last night in the world.
Why is it the obvious mission? Solely because 'Stanfield is evil and doing something presumably evil so we'd better stop him'?
However, if they sit and wait and refuse to press ahead, Stanfield will finish, causing everyone in the nation—except for a few high-level or strong-willed individuals—to hold off on fighting until they give talking a chance. The party will find themselves without allies and possibly bereft of some of their powers.
So what? Per Act 3 this is going to be disadvantages on both sides. Certainly no advantages for Stanfield, aside from the PCs losing a few allies.
I realize there's a natural answer for this. "Stanfield and Nic are bad people, so it's good to fight them." But if they're bound to win- or the PCs are bound to fail- and their configuration is utopic, why should the party still fight?
Instead I'm going to ask for help concerning problems with the end of Schism, and leading into the next two books.
Why, at the end of Schism, should the party oppose the Ob?
Come the end of the convocation, the Ob's grand design will be MAP- a fairly utopian configuration. Why should the party fight against the Ob against such a config? 'To stop any change happening at all'? Yet Axis Island is basically impregnable (and attacking it requires skipping book 8 which isn't workable).
What does the party gain from winning book #8?
The party isn't going to win control of Borne. Perhaps that's metagaming, but it's true. They'll win Kasvarina's allegiance- yet there are few concrete rewards from this I can promise. My Schism question also applies.
Why, in The Last Starry Sky, should the party oppose Stanfield?
Here's the biggest sticking point. Per the Grand Design, the lighthouses provide stabilization for the Axis Ritual. The Stanfield lighthouse goes into detail- the lighthouse is blasting out MAP energies so the transition is easier.
But... the *book* treats the lighthouse like it's blasting out mental enslavement energies.
But as he dies, the governor reveals what the party may have already deduced: that his ritual is just one of many, and while Risur might be safe, the rest of the world is now loyal to the Obscurati
No it isn't, per newspaper articles in Book 10 the rest of the world is very much still independent.
Most importantly, she tells them that Stanfield is going to perform a ritual tomorrow night in Flint, but if it can be disrupted they can protect Risur at least.
The lighthouse is stabilizing Risur, as was made plain in Schism, when the party learnt about the Grand Design.
...multiple sources have said Governor Stanfield is about to perform a ritual for the Obscurati. The obvious mission now is to get to Flint and stop him, and omens suggest tomorrow night might be the last night in the world.
Why is it the obvious mission? Solely because 'Stanfield is evil and doing something presumably evil so we'd better stop him'?
However, if they sit and wait and refuse to press ahead, Stanfield will finish, causing everyone in the nation—except for a few high-level or strong-willed individuals—to hold off on fighting until they give talking a chance. The party will find themselves without allies and possibly bereft of some of their powers.
So what? Per Act 3 this is going to be disadvantages on both sides. Certainly no advantages for Stanfield, aside from the PCs losing a few allies.
I realize there's a natural answer for this. "Stanfield and Nic are bad people, so it's good to fight them." But if they're bound to win- or the PCs are bound to fail- and their configuration is utopic, why should the party still fight?