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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7398829" data-attributes="member: 79141">The Final VerdictAs promised, I asked my group for feedback on Diaspora at the start of the last session.  As I hoped and assumed, it was generally positive.  They felt that the adventure was ‘put in the right spot’.  Anywhere else and it might not have worked.  It wasn’t just that by this stage they were invested in the setting (and came to be invested in Kasvarina), but Diaspora’s precise position following adventure #7 – addressing all of the detailed questions the group had, now that they knew who the Obscurati were and what they were up to: the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ questions, in other words.The readaloud text worked because it was very well written and because memory events could be disrupted, so there was an element of tension, not mere passivity. They enjoyed uncovering small details like how flight magic came to be impaired, which by now were immensely satisfying discoveries.Another player described Nicodemus as a ‘stone cold mother<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />er’, citing in particular his rationale to Kasvarina, putting Launga’s death into perspective against the good they would do. I am pleased to be able to take credit for that, and for my players’ enjoyment of the needlewire parley, which I added because I wanted it to happen for a very long time! (Narratively, it was also a great way to have a confrontation between Kasvarina and Nicodemus before the Lance of Triegenes.)One player was slightly more critical of the pacing, which he felt lagged in the middle.  There was no threat, he felt, no obvious timer. (To paraphrase: “like a PC RPG where you’re told you’re the saviour of the world, then spend hours gathering herbs before a final confrontation.” Although that was tongue in cheek!)  The others agreed to some extent, but liked the fact that, once it became obvious to the Ob that they couldn’t harm them, they struck at the Impossible instead. (Although, again, that was an addition of mine.)If I am going to take credit for the needlewire episode, then I must take my share of responsibility for the criticism of act two, as much of the padding was added by me!  But a lot of that extra stuff was also included in the list of episodes they enjoyed – the Stone of Not subplot and the rescue of Kai from the Hidden Valley.  (Surprisingly, they said they weren’t sure which bits were in the adventure, and which bits were added by me, when I always thought it was self-evident.  Even though the players who co-authored those additions (Rumdoom and Matunaaga) were absent, it’s nice to know the transitions are fairly seamless.) In summary, they felt that act two wasn’t as strong, but that act one and act three were so good that didn’t matter quite so much. Still, everyone agreed that the adventure was unique, audiacious and enjoyable.Now for adventure #9…</blockquote>

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