PeterWeller
First Post
I honestly couldn't care if it took place before or after the Prism Pentad, but I would prefer it to take place before. Really, the PP didn't change the setting all that much. Freeing Tyr was the major paradigm shift. Borys is dead? So what, Dregoth is coming. Raaj was always an anarchic hellhole so killing its Sorcerer Queen didn't accomplish much. Same goes with Balic and Draaj. Both of those city-states operate much the same they did before their respective kings were killed and imprisoned. Finally, Hammanu, Nibenay and Lalali Puy cooperating more makes the setting more scary, not less.
That being said, the changes and additions of the second boxed set do "dilute" the setting in a lot of ways. Saragar is cool, but a giant inland sea doesn't really vibe with the desert planet feel. Same thing with the cliff dwelling Halflings and their weird biotech. That stuff doesn't feel so post-apocalyptic to me. The Kreen Empire creates to much of an outside force that could cause the Tablelands to unite, and that would suck.
As for the Mary Sue effect, "Freedom" is the only module tie-in where Mary Sue rears her ugly head. In the second module, the players get to flip it. They become the real heroes, setting up and executing the plan that allows Rikus to launch his ambush and defeat Urik's army. After that, he leads the army of Tyr into one disaster after another, while the players go off and do their own thing, assuming they don't stick with the army, and even if they do, once the battle of Urik is over, they're pretty much left to their own, entirely unrelated quest that leads them to helping the ascendence of the first modern Avangion and saving the world from a terrible psionic threat. The "Heroes of Tyr" just kind of screw about during all this; their big world saving adventure doesn't happen until ten years later.
That being said, the changes and additions of the second boxed set do "dilute" the setting in a lot of ways. Saragar is cool, but a giant inland sea doesn't really vibe with the desert planet feel. Same thing with the cliff dwelling Halflings and their weird biotech. That stuff doesn't feel so post-apocalyptic to me. The Kreen Empire creates to much of an outside force that could cause the Tablelands to unite, and that would suck.
As for the Mary Sue effect, "Freedom" is the only module tie-in where Mary Sue rears her ugly head. In the second module, the players get to flip it. They become the real heroes, setting up and executing the plan that allows Rikus to launch his ambush and defeat Urik's army. After that, he leads the army of Tyr into one disaster after another, while the players go off and do their own thing, assuming they don't stick with the army, and even if they do, once the battle of Urik is over, they're pretty much left to their own, entirely unrelated quest that leads them to helping the ascendence of the first modern Avangion and saving the world from a terrible psionic threat. The "Heroes of Tyr" just kind of screw about during all this; their big world saving adventure doesn't happen until ten years later.
...started at 3rd-level to increase player character survivability.
...used 5d4 for stats, resulting in scores of 5-20 instead of 3-18.
...were often wild talents, which could make a character ridiculously powerful.
...were often non-traditional races, such as thri-kreen and half-giants.
