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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7582098" data-attributes="member: 82106">While I agree it isn't presented so as to highlight all the drama, there seems to be quite a bit inherent in the situation. I've certainly watched movies with much weaker plots! I mean "can we catch up with the orcs before they eat our children" seems like a fairly dramatic concept for an adventure to me...I agree it is presented in a rather DM-driven way, and the system that is assumed lacks a mechanism for determining levels of success and failure. This turns the tension of the situation into basically "how mean will the GM be to the imaginary children", but at least you can presume that the greater skill and alacrity evinced in the pursuit would let you advocate more strongly for less lunch and more child. I have already agreed that 4e and using SC mechanics, for example, vastly strengthen the whole concept. Furthermore you can imagine many subsidiary scenarios, do you pay 1000 gp to the trolls to let you use the bridge so you can gain a march on the orcs? That's all your treasure! Maybe the thief is not such a nice guy, do you beat him up and take his share, or do honor his choice and don't pay. Maybe you can fight the trolls. What does the thief owe the dwarf when the dwarf dies fighting them because the thief was stingy? Anyway, you can go on and on, and cast things in more fantastical or mundane, but equally fraught terms.Nor need it be the end of things. This is a simple scenario in essence, but you can always ask all about why the orcs were there, who's to blame, should we be nicer to our neighbors or are they just subhuman, etc. (or other completely different questions as you wish). It is really the play process of scene framing and pushing on player interests and such that distinguishes the different types of game, not so much the narratives (though some are unlikely to result from specific types of game).</blockquote>

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