Piratecat - Help with bridge from OSM to OSM2

[JoeBlank]

Posting here rather than email, as I think others might be interested too:

Piratecat, can I get some advice on bridging the gap between Of Sound Mind and OSM2?

Trying to avoid spoilers for OSM (anyone who has not run this adventure yet, do so now!).

Some background: First of all, thanks for your help with OSM. My players are really enjoying it. This is the first module we have used since 3e came out. We play on OpenRPG, and some over email, so the best part is the players did not even know it was a module, much less that it focused on psionics. Adds to the air of mystery. I was getting so much praise that I finally had to break down and tell them that it was not all my work, although I have made some modifications to fit our campaign. They still don't know what adventure I am running, but I will give credit where credit is due once we complete the adventure.

We are finishing up the adventure in the next few weeks. Our campaign uses rotating DMs, within the same campaign. We split up the world geographically, so I put Bellhold in my area and brought the characters there for OSM. With the rotation and our infrequent play, I may only DM one adventure between now and the time OSM2 comes out, hopefully April 2003. I wanted to check and be sure my ideas for this in-between adventure don't ruin my ability to use OSM2.

The idea: I plan to use Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns, and Dragon 299, to run a tournament adventure. The concept would be the planned celebration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Copperdeath. If the players are successful in OSM, they will be heroes in town, and so will be invited to participate in the tournament in Bellhold. Any political scheming and side plots would deal with NPCs from the PCs home town, not Bellhold, but the PCs may initiate contact with Bellholders.

So, the questions: Is it okay to go ahead and run the celebration, or will that be a part of OSM2? Any NPCs to keep out of reach from the characters? Any other warnings or words of advice?

Thanks again for a great adventure, for your assistance with it, and in advance for your help here.

 

[Piratecat]

That's a great idea! I really like the tournament concept. And not to worry; OSM 2 is going to be for higher levels, so some time can pass between the two.

Interesting history of OSM2: I had a darn cool plot. It was city based, it was all about intrigue and shifting alliances... and playtester after playtester told me that it wouldn't work for most groups. Even worse, I couldn't find any way to fix it without gutting the adventure. So we went back to the drawing board.

As I'm sure you know, since OSM1 the bottom has pretty much fallen out of the adventure market due to a glut.

God bless those guys at Fiery Dragon. OSM2 is now due in February. It's going to be loaded with some (still secret) very useful resources, along with a (reworked) plot. It'll almost certainly be longer than it would have been otherwise. And, barring my getting an attack of the stupids, it should be as playable and useful as OSM1!

Expect the same sort of assumptions: useful to have psionic PCs, but not essential; convertible to arcane campaigns; a humanocentric plot with cool places to fight; scaling advice for higher and lower level PCs. Playing OSM1 won't be mandatory.

 

[drnuncheon]

That's a great idea! I really like the tournament concept. And not to worry; OSM 2 is going to be for higher levels, so some time can pass between the two.

Interesting history of OSM2: I had a darn cool plot. It was city based, it was all about intrigue and shifting alliances... and playtester after playtester told me that it wouldn't work for most groups. Even worse, I couldn't find any way to fix it without gutting the adventure. So we went back to the drawing board.

Hmm. Any chance of seeing the original somewhere/somehow? Even if it might not work for most groups, there are always the exceptions!

J
eagerly awaiting OSM2 - & we haven't even finished the first one yet!

 

[JoeBlank]

Thanks, PC. Glad to hear OSM2 is coming in February 2003.

I second drnuncheon's request for info on the first draft. Maybe as a download perk to go along with OSM2? Believe it or not, there are those of us who would even pay for a peek at an unfinished PC adventure, just to use some of the ideas. Of course, some of your ideas probably made it into the final version.

My players love Bellhold, and I think they would dig a city-based adventure there, with "intrigue and shifting alliances."

I will try to avoid too much interaction between my PCs and the NPCs from OSM, just to avoid them hauling off and killing someone who plays an integral part in OSM2.

 

[Piratecat]

Oh, let'em interact! It's unlikely that they'll kill the people who figure most prominently in OSM2; they're only mentioned peripherally.

We'll see how much of draft 1 makes it into draft 2 before I think of releasing anything separately. I tend to borrow from myself. I must be lazy. Incidentally, thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[JoeBlank]

Oh, let'em interact! It's unlikely that they'll kill the people who figure most prominently in OSM2; they're only mentioned peripherally.

My group is one of those that might figure out a way to kill the wrong people. But I'll just see what happens and deal with it when OSM2 comes out.

And if you can't borrow from yourself, who can you borrow from? Still, would be fun to hear about the "Making of . . ." and the evolution from the original to finished product.

 

[Jarval]

Expect the same sort of assumptions: useful to have psionic PCs, but not essential; convertible to arcane campaigns; a humanocentric plot with cool places to fight; scaling advice for higher and lower level PCs. Playing OSM1 won't be mandatory.

Do you read my mind to find out whats useful to me? This sounds great