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T1 Moathouse adapted to Torchbearer
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8838245" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>This is a perfect encapsulation of the narrative momentum/thematic coherency layer of both TB Adventure design and Town Twist/procedure handling.</p><p></p><p>There are four components to TB Adventure design as I see it. These aren't in order of importance (they're all equally important), but rather, the order in which I think on/derive these things:</p><p></p><p>1) <strong>Proximity to Town and Journey Attrition</strong> (<strong>Toll </strong>if you're using the TB2 Loremaster Manual Toll procedures rather than TB1) - This adds to the overall difficulty and attrition model of the expedition. Consideration for (2) and (3) will flow from this so I like to think on this first. The further from town, the more legs of the journey (rather than a simple Pathfinder test) so this will extend the number of Problem Areas for the whole Adventure. Toll handles this in TB2's Loremaster rules. If its a Wilderness Expedition rather than a Delve, this won't be a consideration. In this case I'll proceed directly to (2).</p><p></p><p>2) <strong>Expedition/Delve Geography and Challenge Types</strong> - Sorting out what is there, their spatial relationships, and ensuring a nice mix of challenge types (which is cribbed directly from Mouse Guard Mission design...which is no surprise given that TB is Mouse Guard reskinned with more bells and whistles to ramp up the difficulty and complexity of players' decision-space). I handle this by making a point crawl map with Problem Areas as my points, a key-worded/short-hand key for each point, and a few (almost always at least 2, but a stray 1 here and there) points of ingress and egress to each area...often trying to include verticality if I can). Mouse Guard Challenge Types are Weather, Wilderness, Animals, and Mice. Torchbearer already has direct analogues for these in Weather and Wilderness and reskinned analogues in Monsters and Brigands/Mice in Need/Parleys. But Torchbearer extends the Challenge Types to Riddles/Puzzles, Traps, Arcana, Spiritual/Religious, and a wider array of social questions and prospective answers than the heroic trappings of Mice in Need/Parleys in Mouse Guard. Both games feature PC Goals, Relationships, and Beliefs (with TB extending this with Creed) so Challenge Type should have a consideration for these in there somewhere though Twists can sometimes better leverage these.</p><p></p><p>3) <strong>Problem Areas/Obstacles, Rest/Camp Areas, & Twists</strong> - The number of these, the list of Twists, and their difficulty/danger is encoded in Adventure Design. As mentioned above, Twists are often the best place to attack PCs "personally" (Beliefs, Creed, and Relationships).</p><p></p><p>4) <strong>Dramatic Needs of the Ecosystem & Loot </strong>- This is kindred with a lot of Story Now games. Dog in the Vineyard Town design (with NPCs and Sin and driving play towards conflict) and AW Threats (with their Instincts, Threat Moves, what its doing and where its going and what is at stake) are functionally the same thing. The place itself is "alive" (including its denizens) and each constituent part wants something (which necessarily almost always includes to crush the PCs' underfoot!).</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>I've never done any kind of conversion/adaptation. My process for this stuff is very particular (or peculiar one might say!) and it seems to me that, for myself, <em>converting/adapting would be more difficult</em> than just original creation based on existing play + PC build + my own imaginings. Did you consider this conversion/adaptation more/less difficult than the alternative? Of the four components listed above, what was the most difficult aspect during your considerations/conversion process?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8838245, member: 6696971"] This is a perfect encapsulation of the narrative momentum/thematic coherency layer of both TB Adventure design and Town Twist/procedure handling. There are four components to TB Adventure design as I see it. These aren't in order of importance (they're all equally important), but rather, the order in which I think on/derive these things: 1) [B]Proximity to Town and Journey Attrition[/B] ([B]Toll [/B]if you're using the TB2 Loremaster Manual Toll procedures rather than TB1) - This adds to the overall difficulty and attrition model of the expedition. Consideration for (2) and (3) will flow from this so I like to think on this first. The further from town, the more legs of the journey (rather than a simple Pathfinder test) so this will extend the number of Problem Areas for the whole Adventure. Toll handles this in TB2's Loremaster rules. If its a Wilderness Expedition rather than a Delve, this won't be a consideration. In this case I'll proceed directly to (2). 2) [B]Expedition/Delve Geography and Challenge Types[/B] - Sorting out what is there, their spatial relationships, and ensuring a nice mix of challenge types (which is cribbed directly from Mouse Guard Mission design...which is no surprise given that TB is Mouse Guard reskinned with more bells and whistles to ramp up the difficulty and complexity of players' decision-space). I handle this by making a point crawl map with Problem Areas as my points, a key-worded/short-hand key for each point, and a few (almost always at least 2, but a stray 1 here and there) points of ingress and egress to each area...often trying to include verticality if I can). Mouse Guard Challenge Types are Weather, Wilderness, Animals, and Mice. Torchbearer already has direct analogues for these in Weather and Wilderness and reskinned analogues in Monsters and Brigands/Mice in Need/Parleys. But Torchbearer extends the Challenge Types to Riddles/Puzzles, Traps, Arcana, Spiritual/Religious, and a wider array of social questions and prospective answers than the heroic trappings of Mice in Need/Parleys in Mouse Guard. Both games feature PC Goals, Relationships, and Beliefs (with TB extending this with Creed) so Challenge Type should have a consideration for these in there somewhere though Twists can sometimes better leverage these. 3) [B]Problem Areas/Obstacles, Rest/Camp Areas, & Twists[/B] - The number of these, the list of Twists, and their difficulty/danger is encoded in Adventure Design. As mentioned above, Twists are often the best place to attack PCs "personally" (Beliefs, Creed, and Relationships). 4) [B]Dramatic Needs of the Ecosystem & Loot [/B]- This is kindred with a lot of Story Now games. Dog in the Vineyard Town design (with NPCs and Sin and driving play towards conflict) and AW Threats (with their Instincts, Threat Moves, what its doing and where its going and what is at stake) are functionally the same thing. The place itself is "alive" (including its denizens) and each constituent part wants something (which necessarily almost always includes to crush the PCs' underfoot!). [HR][/HR] I've never done any kind of conversion/adaptation. My process for this stuff is very particular (or peculiar one might say!) and it seems to me that, for myself, [I]converting/adapting would be more difficult[/I] than just original creation based on existing play + PC build + my own imaginings. Did you consider this conversion/adaptation more/less difficult than the alternative? Of the four components listed above, what was the most difficult aspect during your considerations/conversion process? [/QUOTE]
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