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Story Hour
[Walkthrough] How to complete Rime of the Frostmaiden by being a complete jerk
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<blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9548091" data-attributes="member: 7737"><p>I don't have a dog in this fight, really (not a 5e DM/player), but...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The other problem with a backstory like that: is there any way for the PCs to learn about it?</p><p></p><p>Because if not, there's no way for the <em>players</em> to care about it.</p><p></p><p>And also, assuming the PCs/players don't know/care about the villain's backstory -- said backstory is just a bunch of extra words you're paying for that are only amusing to you as a DM, <em>and will make zero difference in actual play</em>. (OK, I suppose it might make some marginal difference in how you role-play the villain.)</p><p></p><p>Now, contra the purist OSR-ers, I do think it's OK to have parts of your adventure/module/dungeon that are primarily DM facing and only for DM's amusement. After all, someone has to buy all these books, and if they're all just dry maps and adversary lists, that's possibly (?) not going to sell as much. Or maybe it does? I dunno.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Again, awesome backstory, but why is this just a deep background cut when it could be woven into the story <em>for the players</em>? Why not make it so the players' PCs are the ones who kill the ice giant (maybe they are sent to do so by a selfish / short-sighted / etc. quest giver) and thus it is the PCs against whom vengeance is sworn by the awakened mammoth and wolves? Imagine that some rival adventuring party shows up to fight the PCs, and when the PCs ask why, they're told the rival adventurers were hired by deceased-ice-giant's-friends?</p><p></p><p>Maybe the PCs pay some weregilt, maybe they just kill the rival adventurers and then go kill some awakened animals, maybe the PCs flee town, but in any case it's a more interesting PC-centric story instead of "amusing background that only the DM knows/cares about".</p><p></p><p>D&D and other RPGs are <em>chock full</em> of amusing backstories that could be repurposed to be player/PC facing. It's a longstanding problem. (Or, maybe not a problem? I dunno.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Joshua Randall, post: 9548091, member: 7737"] I don't have a dog in this fight, really (not a 5e DM/player), but... The other problem with a backstory like that: is there any way for the PCs to learn about it? Because if not, there's no way for the [I]players[/I] to care about it. And also, assuming the PCs/players don't know/care about the villain's backstory -- said backstory is just a bunch of extra words you're paying for that are only amusing to you as a DM, [I]and will make zero difference in actual play[/I]. (OK, I suppose it might make some marginal difference in how you role-play the villain.) Now, contra the purist OSR-ers, I do think it's OK to have parts of your adventure/module/dungeon that are primarily DM facing and only for DM's amusement. After all, someone has to buy all these books, and if they're all just dry maps and adversary lists, that's possibly (?) not going to sell as much. Or maybe it does? I dunno. Again, awesome backstory, but why is this just a deep background cut when it could be woven into the story [I]for the players[/I]? Why not make it so the players' PCs are the ones who kill the ice giant (maybe they are sent to do so by a selfish / short-sighted / etc. quest giver) and thus it is the PCs against whom vengeance is sworn by the awakened mammoth and wolves? Imagine that some rival adventuring party shows up to fight the PCs, and when the PCs ask why, they're told the rival adventurers were hired by deceased-ice-giant's-friends? Maybe the PCs pay some weregilt, maybe they just kill the rival adventurers and then go kill some awakened animals, maybe the PCs flee town, but in any case it's a more interesting PC-centric story instead of "amusing background that only the DM knows/cares about". D&D and other RPGs are [I]chock full[/I] of amusing backstories that could be repurposed to be player/PC facing. It's a longstanding problem. (Or, maybe not a problem? I dunno.) [/QUOTE]
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[Walkthrough] How to complete Rime of the Frostmaiden by being a complete jerk
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