RE: Midsummer murder hobos
With the defeat of Dagon en the death of 2 PC's and Victor the dracophobe, the campaign has come to an end. Grummon and Thamian will be sorely missed; without the risk they took, Dagon would not have been defeated. Isen has found new employment with the dragon; Rumple, who was only able to get out with his life because of the (overcomplicated) house retreat rules will have to find a new goal in his life. The villagers have been hit heavily. Father Ryan, Lord Devon Silmond, Shortened, and Garret have gone missing in the flood, Lana and James paid dearly for looking for their friend. Aura and Jelleneth survived. So did Jelleneth's parents Elizabeth and Tunsten, but it is unclear whether they will stay in the village to rebuild it. Lady Lenora and the coming out of the Dragon may temper Mederic Silmond. If not, he might have a rebellion on his hand, as Willy is nowhere to be found to protect him. Despite the heavy toll, the blight has been lifted and the age of Vilaxis has begun.
Behind the screens: First, if you had made other choices during this campaign you would have had a different endgame. You could have dealt with the Dragon, Lord Silmond, the crimson circle, or the Dwarven King beneath the mountain. By following Jelleneth in the second-to-last session, you took the cultist elder evil route. You did not find the Soulburner (an artifact), did not learn where Victors hatred came from, did not meet the Halfling with his Blight Troll troupe, and did not encounter the Crimson Circle Captain that killed Grummon 's family.
Second, I don't think the last session was my best; creating a fitting end and endgame challenge took quite a bit of my mental stamina. I was left with too little to run the combat in a high-stakes and tense manner as had planned. Also, traffic and dinner took further away from my focus and I never really got into the flow. I should have better run the part between the temple and the encounter with Dagon. Also time keeping could have been better. The reason I cut your excursion into the Troll lair short was that we needed time for the final battle; it would probably have been best they had just left the area.
Last, as someone who doesn't want to invest a lot of time into new systems, 5th is great. On almost all fronts, I think it is an improvement over 3rd. Things could have been better however: encounter building is less straightforward than in 4th and more akin to 3rd; monsters could use more interesting abilities. It doesn't compare well to 4th. Still, compared to 3rd, it comes off well. I don't think the mechanics are too simple. They're simple, they work, and it is very easy to have the mechanics in the background and focus on the game. It has a familiar 3rd feel, but it trims a lot of the system fat. All PC's contributed well with their abilities. All in all, I had a blast!
Edit; some edits
(This post was last modified: 24-08-2016 11:31:20 by Tiamat.)
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