<< The convo turned to Pharaoh, and Greg's plans for an Esrolia supplement that would detail the Holy Country during the Hero Wars and after the death of Pharaoh. I mentioned that some player groups would probably try to perform something like the Lightbringers Quest to recover all the parts of the Pharaoh from the various Lunar Hells and restore him as the rightful ruler of Esrolia. Greg told me that Pharaoh was not coming back, at all, for what he had planned. Well, I asked him, what about other people's Gloranthas?
"I'm not interested in other people's Gloranthas."
On that, I reserve my opinion and take no side. Nick, Mob, et al... Take that for what you will. >>
I think that's an inevitable consequence of having an over-arcing plot.
The plot must make certain assumptions about what does (and doesn't) happen,
or you just can't write it. The extent to which this is a problem will depend
on the power level of your campaign, as well as which group happens to be the
'good guys' in your campaign. In a low level campaign, then so long as the
'good guys' don't get utterly thrashed (I'm not keen on angsty campaigns; if
the players do well I like to reward them with a happy ending) you can use
the plot as a backdrop without any real worry.
In a higher level campaign where players might well want to resurrect the Pharaoh you have more of a problem. Do you try and drop hints that they shouldn't try it for whatever reason (a reason that makes sense to the characters, that is)? Do you let them try but rig things so that they fail no matter what they do? Do you let them try, and risk junking large parts of the official future history(that you just spent money on, by buying the Campaign Book) if they succeed? And, most importantly, will the Campaign Book(s) include guidance on this sort of situation and just how flexible will they be? Presumably, if you're playing a high level campaign you don't want your characters to be completely impotent!
Over-arcing plots seem to be pretty popular in RPGs these days, so I'm sure its a sensible marketing strategy from Issaries, but I'm curious about the practicalities of it. But it may well be none of us know yet, and we'll just have to wait and see ;-)
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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