Vor Kragal: Lost City of Bael Turath

[Cadfan]

I... didn't like it that much. Some of it seemed forced.

If you're going to say something like "so and so could drink the blood from a person's body at 100 paces with only a stare," you need... I don't know. It seemed like these things were being stated with a matter-of-fact manner, when it needed to sound... more epic? I dunno. Like, don't TELL me that so and so's voice caused people near her to be struck dead and rise as zombies. Just baldly stating it doesn't feel cool. Instead, show me. Or allude to it. Like maybe so and so never speaks in public because she made a pact with SOMETHING UNKNOWN, and the last time she spoke since then SOMETHING REALLY BAD happened that no one talks about. Ever. And now people don't speak about her, and they don't speak about the REALLY BAD THING that happened, and everyone's terrified of her.

I dunno. It felt kind of like... imagine if the very first thing that the Aliens movie did was show you a full scale picture of the Alien standing in a clean, well lit room, viewable from multiple angles. It would make things less cool.

I... I don't like raining on people's parades, so this is the only post I'll probably make here. I'll read replies though, so don't think its a drive by.

 

[Jack99]

Huh. I thought Bael Turath was a city itself, a capital of the Tiefling empire or whatnot.

Still is afaik, it is mentioned that Vor Kragal is the southern gem of the tiefling empire, so since it was so huge (the empire), it probably had several centers of power.

 

[webrunner]

I... didn't like it that much. Some of it seemed forced.

If you're going to say something like "so and so could drink the blood from a person's body at 100 paces with only a stare," you need... I don't know. It seemed like these things were being stated with a matter-of-fact manner, when it needed to sound... more epic? I dunno. Like, don't TELL me that so and so's voice caused people near her to be struck dead and rise as zombies. Just baldly stating it doesn't feel cool. Instead, show me. Or allude to it. Like maybe so and so never speaks in public because she made a pact with SOMETHING UNKNOWN, and the last time she spoke since then SOMETHING REALLY BAD happened that no one talks about. Ever. And now people don't speak about her, and they don't speak about the REALLY BAD THING that happened, and everyone's terrified of her.

I dunno. It felt kind of like... imagine if the very first thing that the Aliens movie did was show you a full scale picture of the Alien standing in a clean, well lit room, viewable from multiple angles. It would make things less cool.

I... I don't like raining on people's parades, so this is the only post I'll probably make here. I'll read replies though, so don't think its a drive by.

Well, these articles aren't meant to be exciting reads full of intrigue and suspense. They're supposed to be descriptions of things that can be put into an intruging and suspenseful campaign.

 

[Zaukrie]

I found it to be typical Logue. Great stuff, imaginative, and prehaps a tad too much for my young sons. There are a ton of ideas to be mined in the article, even if you don't use the city itself.

 

[Arnwyn]

Did that map look familiar, or is it just me?

Good article, in any case.

 

[Rechan]

If you're going to say something like "so and so could drink the blood from a person's body at 100 paces with only a stare," you need... I don't know. It seemed like these things were being stated with a matter-of-fact manner, when it needed to sound... more epic? I dunno. Like, don't TELL me that so and so's voice caused people near her to be struck dead and rise as zombies. Just baldly stating it doesn't feel cool. Instead, show me. Or allude to it. Like maybe so and so never speaks in public because she made a pact with SOMETHING UNKNOWN, and the last time she spoke since then SOMETHING REALLY BAD happened that no one talks about. Ever. And now people don't speak about her, and they don't speak about the REALLY BAD THING that happened, and everyone's terrified of her.

Eh. AMong other things, that's just a lot of work, and takes a lot of pages to write that up.

Prime example: in 'The Eye of the Dragon' by Steven King, there's this evil wizard. Every time he comes on stage, Evil just seeps out of him. But in one section, the Heroes do something successful, and the Evil Wizard wakes up from a nightmare. Two men who were sleeping by died, their hearts snuffed by the mere malignance of the evil wizard. And that's how it was phrased too, just an off hand 'and when he woke up from his nightmare, two men were dead, their hearts stopped'.

That level of casual, definitive, 'oh yeah, and he's so evil this happened', has a really nice effect. It's not a buildup. It's just 'bam'.

To offer a less verbose explanation, I point to Goldfinger. Bond, on the 'split you in half' machine. 'Do you expect me to talk?' 'No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die.' No big grand eloquence, or mystery. Cutting brevity. Or in Dogma, where the Metatron says, "God can't talk to man. Her voice blows your head up. We went through three Adams before we figured that out."

Maybe something that's written with both players and DMs in mind, but just saying 'yes, x happens when y occurs' is great for getting to the heart of the matter for story ideas.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Being as I'm running adventures straight from published modules, this was less functionally useful for me.

However, I just enjoyed reading it.

Plus - a series of spears that can combine into one giant super-spear?! Further proof that 4e is Power Rangers!

 

[Rechan]

I will say this - a voice that can Do Bad Things is great for a device I've been wanting to use for a while. Having an entity that basically speaks For you (see: Queen Mab in "Small Favor").

The article gives me the idea that her voice has power, and therefore offers an explanation why the proxy-voice is necessary.

 

[eleran]

Being as I'm running adventures straight from published modules, this was less functionally useful for me.

However, I just enjoyed reading it.

Plus - a series of spears that can combine into one giant super-spear?! Further proof that 4e is Power Rangers!

Then so was 1e and the Rod of Seven Parts

 

[eleran]

Huh. I thought Bael Turath was a city itself, a capital of the Tiefling empire or whatnot.

I believe it is the name of the capital city of the empire. Much like Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire