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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 6221185" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 93 - DM's NotesThis adventure is fiendishly difficult to run. There are several very detailed threads which the players could pursue in any order; NPCs with complex motivations; very small text which is hard to read in the dim light of a pub.  Add to all that the fact that my missus and I have just had our first kid, and I’ve just started a new job – so hardly any sleep and almost no time to prep, other than read the adventure -  and you have the recipe for a very eggy session.  I wasn’t happy with my inability to improvise when the PCs went off-piste.One complication I hadn’t anticipated is that Cauldron Born invites the players to either split the party, or ignore their primary objective: to send the police officers in alone to deal with the Kell Guild while chasing Ekossigan and the dwarven eschatologists themselves (and in my case the Clockwork King too); focus on Kell and ignore all the other threads (which are, after all, tangential); or split up and present logistical problems which we’ll come to below (because that’s what my lot opted to do).Leaving the police to take on Kell is, by the looks of things, likely to result in failure.  After the first day (with only Matunaaga backing up the cops as his player was absent) the party realised that they would lose too many officers if they didn’t reinforce them.  I thought they might back them up on one or two stronghold raids, but to my surprise they went ahead and committed four out of six unit members to work with the strike force for the whole day.  Only one of these earned a strike, though they have collected a whole bunch of TFTs.  Hope they know what they’re doing, cos there’s only a couple more days left!Meanwhile, Korrigan started looking into the eschatologists; Leon messaged Gale.Viewing Gale as an ally, Leon agreed to meet her alone.  His alarm bells rang when she insisted on meeting in the middle of the jungle, but he still went ahead by himself.  It was only his incredible bluff score that enabled him to escape fighting Gale alone, which was in retrospect a little bit anticlimactic.  (What I think I will do now is have Gale intercept them when they trace Ekossigan to the school.  They will have to deal with her first.)Korrigan also headed into danger.  Having uncovered the address of Soknik’s Repairs he went to investigate without any back-up.  This made Kvarti’s intervention a warning, instead of just a playful way of getting the players’ attention.But in both cases I might have ended up with a single player taking on the bad guys, which could have had all kinds of ramifications: a dead character; bored players.  To be honest, knowing my group, I think a solo fight or two would go down well, and I’m fairly confident that the characters could have escaped if things went badly.  But I thought it was worth flagging this fact for DMs who might be concerned about it.  I also wasn’t happy with my slightly tentative response in each case.  I could see the ramifications, but didn’t have the quick-thinking or confidence to make the most of each situation.  I was only too happy to have a quick bluff check rescue Leon for example, and to have Kvarti stop Korrigan from advancing any further alone.  Really, both players deserved to have some come-uppance for being so reckless:  Leon knew he was walking into a dodgy situation, and Korrigan went along to make enquires at Soknik’s without ever once considering what he would do if there were a cell of terrorists there.Hopefully, the players will realise they had a narrow escape in both cases and be slightly less blithe when it comes to separating.  If not, there's going to be a lot of thumb-twiddling in the next few weeks.</blockquote>

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