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<blockquote data-quote="toucanbuzz" data-source="post: 8077822" data-attributes="member: 19270"><p>Dark Sun's starting adventure, <em>A Little Knowledge, </em>begins with those types of no-good choices, and the setting is ripe for them:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Players begin in the ruins of a slave caravan in the middle of the desert. The long-legged elven tribe who attacked it saved their own people and loped off into the desert wastes, generously allowing the rest of the escaped slaves an open-mouthed jar of water (half a waterskin's worth) and a weapon. They could care less if you live or die. It's not their problem. Some slaves begin killing off weaker ones for their water. Others run futilely into the desert after the tribe and will die in the effort. Do players get involved, risking precious water, which might slosh out of the jars or be stolen by someone darting in and running away?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No matter what players do, there's not enough water to last a day, even if players somehow took everyone else's water. There's no food. There's no shelter. Already, the cruel scorching red sun is beating down, superheating the sand beneath one's flimsy sandals. At the end of the day, who in the party got to have a sip of that water and who went thirsty?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It's that dilemma that sets up an attack by escaped slaves a day later. They ran out of water. There's no good and evil involved. They're simply desperate and hope by a mass rush one of them will get lucky. There's no good solution. Even if you could reason with them, there's not enough water for everyone to live. They know this. And the party hopefully realizes this desperate group could, by the narrowest of margins, be them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In a future encounter, the party is invited to raid an innocent caravan of travelers for their water by a tribe of former escaped slaves whose water supply has dried up. They don't normally do things like this, but times are desperate. Even if you avoid casualties, are you taking so much water that you're condemning those travelers to death? If you do nothing, people in the tribe will likely die. </li> </ul><p>Not every day or every situation has to be "no-good" choice, but it immediately sets the tone that this isn't going to be a game where the good guys always win, because it's hard to say who is good and bad when one is dying of thirst. Immortal sorcerer kings keep their boots on the necks of the people, but they're protecting those people from something far worse. And so on.</p><p></p><p>From time to time, it can be a good change of pace, but as the OP aptly notes, the <strong>group</strong> has to be all-in for this style of play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="toucanbuzz, post: 8077822, member: 19270"] Dark Sun's starting adventure, [I]A Little Knowledge, [/I]begins with those types of no-good choices, and the setting is ripe for them: [LIST] [*]Players begin in the ruins of a slave caravan in the middle of the desert. The long-legged elven tribe who attacked it saved their own people and loped off into the desert wastes, generously allowing the rest of the escaped slaves an open-mouthed jar of water (half a waterskin's worth) and a weapon. They could care less if you live or die. It's not their problem. Some slaves begin killing off weaker ones for their water. Others run futilely into the desert after the tribe and will die in the effort. Do players get involved, risking precious water, which might slosh out of the jars or be stolen by someone darting in and running away? [*]No matter what players do, there's not enough water to last a day, even if players somehow took everyone else's water. There's no food. There's no shelter. Already, the cruel scorching red sun is beating down, superheating the sand beneath one's flimsy sandals. At the end of the day, who in the party got to have a sip of that water and who went thirsty? [*]It's that dilemma that sets up an attack by escaped slaves a day later. They ran out of water. There's no good and evil involved. They're simply desperate and hope by a mass rush one of them will get lucky. There's no good solution. Even if you could reason with them, there's not enough water for everyone to live. They know this. And the party hopefully realizes this desperate group could, by the narrowest of margins, be them. [*]In a future encounter, the party is invited to raid an innocent caravan of travelers for their water by a tribe of former escaped slaves whose water supply has dried up. They don't normally do things like this, but times are desperate. Even if you avoid casualties, are you taking so much water that you're condemning those travelers to death? If you do nothing, people in the tribe will likely die. [/LIST] Not every day or every situation has to be "no-good" choice, but it immediately sets the tone that this isn't going to be a game where the good guys always win, because it's hard to say who is good and bad when one is dying of thirst. Immortal sorcerer kings keep their boots on the necks of the people, but they're protecting those people from something far worse. And so on. From time to time, it can be a good change of pace, but as the OP aptly notes, the [B]group[/B] has to be all-in for this style of play. [/QUOTE]
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