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Rime of the Frostmaiden Post-Mortem (Spoilers)
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<blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 8618795" data-attributes="member: 42040"><p>Me. I'm that idiot. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p>So you have an adventure module you're prepping. All of your prep is performed to read and study which combat encounters are the least lethal to begin with, because the adventure doesn't do that for you and clearly sets up your party to get a TPK in their first encounter. (Just read the preparation notes online from various sites and watch a few YouTubers, and you can get nervous quickly.)</p><p>Then you are trying to understand what's going on in the various towns and prepare that, being aware that this is a big sandbox adventure and you can't possibly prep everything. You're going to try to guide the party to do the one or two quests that you think they will like the best and that you've prepared the most, but you don't want to railroad them. So at best you have a skeletal outline of the first chapter in mind.</p><p>Then you look at random encounters, weather factors, measuring out distances across the frozen wastes.</p><p>And if it's an early session, you're getting to know the characters, work in their stories and personalities, just trying to put out there what the adventure is about to get a buy-in.</p><p>So, let me assure you, I read the adventure beforehand. Let me assure you I also watched videos, read articles, downloaded DM's Guides on a third party site just to try to present this the best I can for my players. I may not be a professional DM, but out of the other DMs I know, I think I'm a pretty solid one. I think you (or most other posters on this forum) would have a pretty good time in most of my games. I'm also married, have a house that needs up keep, I have a job, some dogs that need attention. I expect when I buy an adventure from WotC (and its corresponding VTT components on Roll20), that most of the heavy lifting has been done for me. I think this is perfectly reasonable. </p><p>So let's consider how much attention the module gives the human sacrifice component. </p><p>Do they have a side quest or mission about it? Maybe names of the people who were sacrificed? Dates they were sacrificed? Names of their survivors? Names of the people who did the executions? The methods of performing the executions? What the sacrifices hoped to accomplish? How the lottery works? </p><p>Let's look at it in the larger context of Rime. Are the executions part of the plot? Could you remove them from the adventure? Is the adventure billed as a murder-mystery to stop human sacrifices to an evil goddess? What about the other sacrifices? Does it present why one town sacrifices food or fuel and the other does people? </p><p>Once you add something this big to an adventure, you'd better have the nerve to follow it through. </p><p>What should I have done? Well, I think it's safe to say I think I shouldn't have run this trainwreck of an adventure. But had I done it anyway, I shouldn't have put in this part of it. </p><p>That's why I'm bringing it up now. If someone reads this post-mortem before running it themselves, I'm encouraging them to remove or be willing to expand the human sacrifice element to something substantial. As it is written, there isn't enough information or importance to keep it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Retreater, post: 8618795, member: 42040"] Me. I'm that idiot. ;) So you have an adventure module you're prepping. All of your prep is performed to read and study which combat encounters are the least lethal to begin with, because the adventure doesn't do that for you and clearly sets up your party to get a TPK in their first encounter. (Just read the preparation notes online from various sites and watch a few YouTubers, and you can get nervous quickly.) Then you are trying to understand what's going on in the various towns and prepare that, being aware that this is a big sandbox adventure and you can't possibly prep everything. You're going to try to guide the party to do the one or two quests that you think they will like the best and that you've prepared the most, but you don't want to railroad them. So at best you have a skeletal outline of the first chapter in mind. Then you look at random encounters, weather factors, measuring out distances across the frozen wastes. And if it's an early session, you're getting to know the characters, work in their stories and personalities, just trying to put out there what the adventure is about to get a buy-in. So, let me assure you, I read the adventure beforehand. Let me assure you I also watched videos, read articles, downloaded DM's Guides on a third party site just to try to present this the best I can for my players. I may not be a professional DM, but out of the other DMs I know, I think I'm a pretty solid one. I think you (or most other posters on this forum) would have a pretty good time in most of my games. I'm also married, have a house that needs up keep, I have a job, some dogs that need attention. I expect when I buy an adventure from WotC (and its corresponding VTT components on Roll20), that most of the heavy lifting has been done for me. I think this is perfectly reasonable. So let's consider how much attention the module gives the human sacrifice component. Do they have a side quest or mission about it? Maybe names of the people who were sacrificed? Dates they were sacrificed? Names of their survivors? Names of the people who did the executions? The methods of performing the executions? What the sacrifices hoped to accomplish? How the lottery works? Let's look at it in the larger context of Rime. Are the executions part of the plot? Could you remove them from the adventure? Is the adventure billed as a murder-mystery to stop human sacrifices to an evil goddess? What about the other sacrifices? Does it present why one town sacrifices food or fuel and the other does people? Once you add something this big to an adventure, you'd better have the nerve to follow it through. What should I have done? Well, I think it's safe to say I think I shouldn't have run this trainwreck of an adventure. But had I done it anyway, I shouldn't have put in this part of it. That's why I'm bringing it up now. If someone reads this post-mortem before running it themselves, I'm encouraging them to remove or be willing to expand the human sacrifice element to something substantial. As it is written, there isn't enough information or importance to keep it. [/QUOTE]
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