> A Big Wave sinks the cradle scenario...
> The idea that a single PC action, like having the
> cradle float over the Lunar magical chain early in
> the cradle scenario, would ruin the whole adventure
> strikes me as GM laziness more than a flaw in the
> writing of the epic scenario.
I didn't really say that the scenario as written is flawed. I said it was *unbalanced*. And I said that it needs tweaking if used with HW, or something resembling that game. Not the same thing.
Actually, I think that the unbalance is illustrative of Sor-Eel's abilities as a general (see below), and not a flaw in design at all.
> PC's can often find
> ways to circumvent strictly written scenario
> details, but that doesn't mean that the GM should
> just roll over and play dead.
I didn't.
> If I were the GM in that campaign, I would have had
> the Lunars try something else soon afterward. Have
> the Lunars drop in a few ultra-powerful Heroquest
> types to do something else that affects the cradle.
They did. More unlikely dice-rolling ensued. :-( If anything 'ruined' the scenario, it was our dice.
But hell, it's just a game, anyway. ;-)
Actually, the failure of the Lunars in my game (as in the scenario as written) was mostly a direct effect of Sor-Eel's incompetence as a general.
Basically, Sor-Eel is a powergamer.
If you look at the forces he deployed in Pavis to stop
the Cradle, and compare these with the description of
Lunar forces in Prax, it appears that Sor-Eel
committed about 80% of these to stop the Cradle, or,
about three times the troops that he needed (although
he _did_ need all his magicians and heroquestors).
That is, enough troops to stop a minor to middling
nomad incursion.
He keeps NO FORCES in Reserve (except for a few small garrisons here and there, and the larger one at Corflu), and this is *incompetence*, which costs him the Cradle. It is *Sor-Eel* who gambles everything on a single action : the magical chain. This action can fail : Sor-Eel has no extra card up his sleeve : therefore, Sor-Eel is an idiot.
Given a complete and total failure to stop the Cradle at Pavis, as occurred in my game, well there's really no surprise IMO if there's not much opposition during the rest of the scenario. Given that the 'ultra-powerful heroquestors' also failed IMG.
Failure is failure.
YGMV.
> I'm not saying that the PC's shouldn't be rewarded
> for clever thinking, but that doesn't mean the
> scenario should crumble either.
Well, the scenario didn't crumble completely ; it was still enjoyable. The consequences of such huge failure for the Lunars, and huge success for Garrath's party (over and above that described in the scenario), are also enormous, and loads of fun, too.
cheers,
Julian Lord
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