Right -- the bad guy says she wants X. There's nothing saying that's the PCs' oy option.If I were to run this I'd give the PCs another option
Copy the ledger and change details. You could even work with the warden on this, change things just enough so the information is useless.
That feels incomplete isn't it? The good ending is not "Get the treasure (no matter how)"? There has to be a qualifier there, for it to be "good".The "Good Ending" isn't "Give this criminal information." The "Good Ending" is "Get the Treasure".
Ya I did mention upthread that I think the adventure's conclusion could have been written and/or presented in a more broadly appealing way.Also worth noting: It may not be a matter of Morality at all. And just a "This ending is better/nicer/good while the other ending sucks as hard as Alien 3" could be a judgement of story quality rather than moral weight.
You are 100% right, that was intentional wordplay. Glad you noticed and enjoyed itYou're asking if it's right for Wizards of the Coast to make moral assertions in their work...
...but "right" and "wrong" are also moral assertions.
(I have nothing to add to the discussion, it just made me chuckle.)
I was a bit confused about that actually. It seemed to me like it was an either/or thing - if you're using the Golden Vault, you only get their reward (or not); if you're not using the Golden Vault and have been hired by the dwarves directly, then you get their offered reward (or not). Do you think it should be both if you are using the Golden Vault?I should also add killing her only costs you the Reward from the Golden Vault. The Dwarves who hire you will still pay.
I think the "good" ending is the one the players come up with themselves that doesn't involve a) aiding a criminal mastermind or b) murdering said criminal mastermind.I don't see any "good" ending in the adventure as written, by my definition of good.
It depends on the presentation. If it's from the perspective of their employers, then having the ideal solution and other acceptable solutions listed is fine. This lets the DM know how their employer will respond to the players' actions. If it's done from a moral perspective, that's problematic to me, largely because it's a waste of page space (I really don't care what some adventure author feels is the morally superior decision, and neither should you).How about "it's not right for an adventure writer to dictate what the 'right' course of actions are to 'win' a scenario?"