Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6118060" data-attributes="member: 6681948">If "the goal" is in the temple, then both the desert and the city - and the siege for that matter - are between us and the goal.  As has been said several times, JC and I do not perceive this magical difference between "siege between us and the city" and "desert encounter between us and the city".NO ONE is asking them to explore the desert.  Might this please be the last reference to "exploring the desert".  I am positively evincing my preference that we NO LONGER DISCUSS exploring the desert.  We are discussing the fact that the desert lies between the PC's and the city, that it is possible that, as those PC's make as straight a path as they can between where they are and where they wish to be, they will pass through that desert, and that it is possible they will encounter something between them and the city.  This "something" may be relevant, or may be something they simply need to circumvent (just as a siege could be very relevant to their goal, or just another obstacle between them and whatever their goal in the city may be - which, after over 1,000 posts, [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] has yet to provide any information on, so we still do not know what it is.Was it not you who mentioned "fun" earlier?  And, again, it is not "the city" which is the goal.  It is something, the nature of which remains completely unknown, within the city.  And I would say that being in the middle of a desert would have an impact on the city - it will not be the same as a city in the middle of lush, fertile farmland, nor one located on a river filled with boat travellers, nor one which is a major seaport.  I suspect many of us could come up with better examples of encounters in the desert which are relevant to the goal in the city if we had some info on that goal, and on the city itself.  We do not.Emphasis added.  [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] wants to cut to that still-unknown goal.  The desert is setting.  The city is setting.  Both are between him and the goal.In exactly the same way that you know the city isIt's on another plane of existence.  Perhaps, for all we know, it is a City of Undead, where zombies, skeletons and shades wander, shallowly parodying the actions they unertook in life, never changing, and never varying their routine.  We assume because we do not know.  We know only that, somehow, the city between [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] and his goal (whatever that may be) is deemed to be of interest and the desert is deemed not to be, despite the fact that all we actually know is that there is a goal to be achieved within a city (about which we know nothing more) in the middle of a desert (about which we also know nothing more). [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] has said, several times, that he might well be very interested in a desert exploration at some other time, just not this time.  As near as I can tell, his GM's role is to determine what will pique his interest at this particular moment, present that immediately and then figure out what random element may catch his fancy next.Getting across the desert to the city is every bit as much "aimed directly at the goal", about which the only thing we actually know is that its achievement requires entering the city.</blockquote>

Verification