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RoT: Metallic Dragon Council
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<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 6955787" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>I've not read the book cover to cover, since my group has shown little interest in the idea of playing it thus far, but this chapter and the Thay one really bummed me nevertheless. These were the two that I was really interested in reading, because Good Dragons and Red Wizards are full of awesome roleplaying potential, but the book is just so flimsy on the subject. It's hard not to compare it to Harshnag in SKT, or Ezmerelda & Rictavio in CoS, and wonder how they would have handled the same idea in one bigger book. </p><p></p><p>The core problems seem to be:</p><p>* How do you make the scene fun for the players?</p><p>* How do you communicate what the Dragons want, without a really mechanical 'go up to NPC, hit use, and then listen to canned speech'?</p><p>* How do you make it more than just a long walk to a simple conversation?</p><p>* How do the NPCs' requests become more than just 'make Persuasion roll'?</p><p></p><p>For all of these, it seems to me that you almost want to have the Dragons first meet the players collectively, setting out the basic thoughts of the council, then have them each withdraw to a separate 'room', with further conversations between the players and each Dragon at that point. When you're not trying to juggle 5 or more NPCs in the same conversation, it should be much easier to then have their desires and personalities come through. Contests of skill and morality, like the Copper Dragon mentioned above, also appeal; perhaps the Brass (are they the warlike ones?) wants a demonstration that the players can win the battle, through the medium of a chess game or whatever, while the Gold will interrogate the party in a word association game to see how they view the world (and thus learn their morality). Ideally, I'd want this to be a full session by itself, so that it assumed the importance that suggests, and I'd also want enough encounters on the way to get there to make the whole thing feel like an ordeal.</p><p></p><p>For the meeting place, I'd be tempted by a Dragon Graveyard. Could be contrary to expectations (instead of lofty palaces and harps, they get arid wind and the buzzing of flies), and might help to add a serious tone to affairs. An implicit question - 'why risk joining our revered ancestors on your behalf'? - that would make the players think. It might be a bit too heavy though, and risk setting the Good Dragons in the role of antagonists in the players' minds.</p><p></p><p>Final thought: the Oracle at Delphi is really hard to get to. It's up a big steep mountain, not particularly close to the major cities of Greece, and it gets really very hot indeed. Just getting to the place was gruelling, which is itself an important element in the act of homage to the gods; dragging a big cart full of gold up there really did take a lot of effort. I'd want this whole segment to have the same feel, I think. The Good Dragons may be Good, but getting their aid will take more than just wandering down the road and giving a nice speech.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 6955787, member: 32659"] I've not read the book cover to cover, since my group has shown little interest in the idea of playing it thus far, but this chapter and the Thay one really bummed me nevertheless. These were the two that I was really interested in reading, because Good Dragons and Red Wizards are full of awesome roleplaying potential, but the book is just so flimsy on the subject. It's hard not to compare it to Harshnag in SKT, or Ezmerelda & Rictavio in CoS, and wonder how they would have handled the same idea in one bigger book. The core problems seem to be: * How do you make the scene fun for the players? * How do you communicate what the Dragons want, without a really mechanical 'go up to NPC, hit use, and then listen to canned speech'? * How do you make it more than just a long walk to a simple conversation? * How do the NPCs' requests become more than just 'make Persuasion roll'? For all of these, it seems to me that you almost want to have the Dragons first meet the players collectively, setting out the basic thoughts of the council, then have them each withdraw to a separate 'room', with further conversations between the players and each Dragon at that point. When you're not trying to juggle 5 or more NPCs in the same conversation, it should be much easier to then have their desires and personalities come through. Contests of skill and morality, like the Copper Dragon mentioned above, also appeal; perhaps the Brass (are they the warlike ones?) wants a demonstration that the players can win the battle, through the medium of a chess game or whatever, while the Gold will interrogate the party in a word association game to see how they view the world (and thus learn their morality). Ideally, I'd want this to be a full session by itself, so that it assumed the importance that suggests, and I'd also want enough encounters on the way to get there to make the whole thing feel like an ordeal. For the meeting place, I'd be tempted by a Dragon Graveyard. Could be contrary to expectations (instead of lofty palaces and harps, they get arid wind and the buzzing of flies), and might help to add a serious tone to affairs. An implicit question - 'why risk joining our revered ancestors on your behalf'? - that would make the players think. It might be a bit too heavy though, and risk setting the Good Dragons in the role of antagonists in the players' minds. Final thought: the Oracle at Delphi is really hard to get to. It's up a big steep mountain, not particularly close to the major cities of Greece, and it gets really very hot indeed. Just getting to the place was gruelling, which is itself an important element in the act of homage to the gods; dragging a big cart full of gold up there really did take a lot of effort. I'd want this whole segment to have the same feel, I think. The Good Dragons may be Good, but getting their aid will take more than just wandering down the road and giving a nice speech. [/QUOTE]
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