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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8281559" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I think it was a bit of both, in a way. Just going off what the book says, his resources are pretty significant, but are not itemized. My players certainly tried to do a little of that...they eliminated some of Strahd's allies and minions.....but the scope of such a task is probably too large for them to have achieved in full. So when it came time for Strahd to deploy his defenses, I still had an unspecified number of resources at my disposal. I went with an amount that I thought was reasonable, but more importantly, would make for a challenging encounter. You've mentioned several times that the players change what the story is about.....and I get what you're going for, but I don't really think that's an accurate way to phrase it. The players are going to determine how the story goes, absolutely. And I suppose they could change what the story is about if they just decide to walk off and become farmers. But the thrust of the game at that time was the struggle against Strahd. If there's a story, that's what it is. The players can determine if the characters succeed or not, but that's not really the same as changing what the story's about. I suppose it may. But I would also imagine that the same can be said of just about any scenario that is presented to players.Yeah, I get that you don't like published adventures. I don't think your take is entirely accurate, but it's not without some merit. In this case, I largely incorporated the Curse of Strahd adventuer into my ongoing campaign, and made a lot of changes and so on. I didn't feel the need to explain all that, because the core conflict of the showdown with Strahd was intact, and that was what I was talking about. I can easily see a similar scenario of an evil lord who has subjugated his people and the PCs are working against him coming up in a game that's entirely homebrewed, so I think perhaps your dislike of published adventures is skewing your view a bit here? Perhaps not, but it doesn't seem to be all that relevant a point to me.So what does "balance" mean in this bit, then? Is it trying to achieve some perfect mix of all play priorities so that they are all equal at all times? Or does it mean that you adjust as the situation calls for, and focus on whatever may be most relevant one moment, and then shift to what is most relevant in the next? Doesn't the very nature of priorities imply some kind of conflict?</blockquote>

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