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<blockquote data-quote="SanjMerchant" data-source="post: 7821038" data-attributes="member: 6860001">Probably?&nbsp; And coming from the author himself does make me think maybe I just read it wrong.But I had figured part of the point was that, while there's a strong case to be made for that being the right answer (and, indeed, a case I'm personally prone to accept), it's a bit like that damnable Trolley Problem:&nbsp; there isn't a way to really decide what's right without bringing in a whole boatload of your own assumptions into the picture.And the assumption that &quot;you don't have the right to choose&quot; or &quot;you don't deserve to make that choice&quot; is still an assumption.&nbsp; The fact is, you, the hypothetical player, find yourself in that situation, and the decision to just walk away and let the Axis Seal fail is, itself, a choice that you make.&nbsp; A choice that will affect millions, likely billions, maybe trillions or more.&nbsp; Just for starters, you expose countless people who had no real voice in that decision to the dangers of the multiverse that they've spent the past however-many-thousands-of-years safe from.&nbsp; You still upend the cosmology that people have come to depend on, that fire and teleportation and flight and everything else works this way.&nbsp; With energies from many planes ebbing and flowing more freely, you pulled the rug out from under them by &quot;not choosing.&quot;&nbsp; And lets not forget that, by letting the Axis Seal lapse, you condemn Caeloon, Av, and all the rest of the worlds in the Gyre to their eventual doom.&nbsp; Are the people of the Dreaming an acceptable price to pay to salve your conscience?In short, is it really the most ethical thing to do to reject the chance to make life better for countless people just because you, personally, are uncomfortable with the scale of it all?&nbsp; Or is, as you suggest, any course of action other than walking away just sheer hubris?Lots of works explore grand philosophical themes, but I think that it's a rare D&amp;D game that can weave those themes and the expectation of player agency together so well.&nbsp; So often, one comes at the expense of the other.&nbsp; The plot is railroady or it just descends into a series of escalating cliffhangers and small story arcs.&nbsp; And yeah, the AP does lean a bit more towards the former than the latter; it's the nature of a published adventure.&nbsp; But I really feel like (and I know at this point I'm repeating myself) having a climax where the key thing is truly player choice and not just &quot;how optimal was your build&quot; or &quot;how much were the dice in your favor&quot; is a really rare thing.&nbsp; And you pulled it off.&nbsp; I'd just hate to see you undermine your own work.But then, as you say, the Rejection ending is Right and some specific arrangement of planes is Canon, so, eh, I guess I'll just go tell some kids to get off my lawn or something.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="SanjMerchant, post: 7821038, member: 6860001"] Probably? And coming from the author himself does make me think maybe I just read it wrong. But I had figured part of the point was that, while there's a strong case to be made for that being the right answer [SIZE=1](and, indeed, a case I'm [I]personally[/I] prone to accept)[/SIZE], it's a bit like that damnable Trolley Problem: there isn't a way to really decide what's right without bringing in a whole boatload of your own assumptions into the picture. And the assumption that "you don't have the right to choose" or "you don't deserve to make that choice" is still an assumption. The fact is, you, the hypothetical player, find yourself in that situation, and the decision to just walk away and let the Axis Seal fail is, itself, a choice that you make. A choice that will affect millions, likely billions, maybe trillions or more. Just for starters, you expose countless people who had no real voice in that decision to the dangers of the multiverse that they've spent the past however-many-thousands-of-years safe from. You still upend the cosmology that people have come to depend on, that fire and teleportation and flight and everything else works [I]this[/I] way. With energies from many planes ebbing and flowing more freely, you pulled the rug out from under them by "not choosing." And lets not forget that, by letting the Axis Seal lapse, you condemn Caeloon, Av, and all the rest of the worlds in the Gyre to their eventual doom. Are the people of the Dreaming an acceptable price to pay to salve your conscience? In short, is it [I]really[/I] the most ethical thing to do to reject the chance to make life better for countless people just because you, personally, are uncomfortable with the scale of it all? Or is, as you suggest, any course of action [I]other[/I] than walking away just sheer hubris? Lots of works explore grand philosophical themes, but I think that it's a rare D&D game that can weave those themes [I]and[/I] the expectation of player agency together so well. So often, one comes at the expense of the other. The plot is railroady or it just descends into a series of escalating cliffhangers and small story arcs. And yeah, the AP does lean a bit more towards the former than the latter; it's the nature of a published adventure. But I really feel like (and I know at this point I'm repeating myself) having a climax where the key thing is truly player choice and not just "how optimal was your build" or "how much were the dice in your favor" is a really rare thing. And you pulled it off. I'd just hate to see you undermine your own work. But then, as you say, the Rejection ending is Right and some specific arrangement of planes is Canon, so, eh, I guess I'll just go tell some kids to get off my lawn or something. :p [/QUOTE]

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