Breila wrote:Why on earth not?
Cooties.
Breila wrote:And yes, I'm happy with the game. I was *not happy at all* (in fact, very annoyed) when, try as I might, there was no way to assure us all a good night's sleep at the inn, but I've recovered.
Was sleeping at the inn important?
I should probably forewarn you now, then, that there are little moments like this in these modules that are, for lack of a better term,
blatant railroading. I apologize in advance for these, particularly when they are noticeable to the players. Ironically enough, I never use railroading in my homebrew games. But then, my games have a very organic storyline that is designed to grow and change with the players' choice.
When these modules were first created, back in the 80s, the idea of having an overlying story was kind of a new idea. Previously to that, modules didn't really have stories beyond the basic plot, which was usually something like 'go clean out the local mine of monsters' or 'save the mayor's daughter from orcs.'
Something I often say about video games, and is true in D&D as well, is that the tighter the narrative, the better the story. But fewer choices. When I heard that Dragon Age II was to have a 'tighter narrative' than the first game, I immediately knew what that meant--less choices. And I was dead right about that.
Not to say the entire thing is completely linear. To be honest, after spending years hearing from old vets about how badly railroaded the Chronicle series is, I was actually surprised by just how much freedom there is in these old things. But there are certain things that are 'supposed' to happen. And because these modules are so old, and the concept was so new at the time, the railroading can come off a bit crude and overhanded at times.
For instance, what if Goldmoon and Riverwind, strangers in a strange land, decide not to trust the party of weirdos? What then? Well, the module contrives that after leaving the inn, they will continually 'bump into' Tanis and the others by random chance, again and again, until they decide to work together finally.
The scene with the old man, Hederick, and the staff was taken from the books, not the module. I chose that instead, because I felt it was more interesting and exciting, but was also a solid way to get the party together and reveal that Goldmoon had the Blue Crystal Staff and what it is capable of doing. By showing they were all willing to help defend her, and were not just trying to get the staff for themselves, they show she can trust them.
Maybe that was a bad call on my part. Would Goldmoon have joined them anyway? Would she have told them about the Blue Crystal Staff and demonstrated its powers to them? (Because without that knowledge, the party has no motive to go on the quest to learn more about the staff and likely would have spend several days at the inn before getting bored enough to go find something to do.) I also admit I was getting a little bored after over 10 pages of everyone just sitting at the inn, talking. Player interactions are great and all, but I suppose I was getting overeager to get on the road and get at the meat of the quest. In any case, I am very sorry about that. I'll try to curb myself in the future.
There will be other events where the party is 'required' to do something, however. For instance, it won't really matter where you take the staff (Haven, Qualinost, etc.) because they will all direct you to the same place and you have to go to that place. If you try and leave Abanasinia, wave after wave of infinite bad guys will fight you until you turn back. If you wait around too many days, stalling, the bad guys start to move forward, slowly cutting you off from anywhere but the place you are supposed to go. (I don't want to say the place for the sake of spoilers. But anyone who's read the books, seen the movie, or played the game knows what 'place' I am speaking about. Or who the 'bad guys' are, for that matter.)
If it helps at all, try not to think of it as the module railroading you, but rather as Goldmoon having a destiny and her goddess is kind of moving things around on the chess table of life to ensure that certain things happen. A lame justification, I know. But for what it's worth, I am trying to give you guys as much freedom as the module will allow without hampering its main story.
