Paradigm Concepts

[Njal Val'Assante]

These questions are all asked for inspiration, for authors to consider and draw ideas from.

For players- What sorts of rewards would you like to see from mods above and beyond cash and favours owed? Would you be more interested in tailored items that only a small section of the player base can use based on RP choices (like an item that can only be used by an Illirite Priest or HC, or only by someone trained in a particular Talent), or would you rather items with a broad range of appeal that can be used by everyone but are fairly generic in order to do so? Or a combination of both?

Would you like there to be unique opportunities presented in mods generally released to the public limited to one player per mod? Given that mods are replayable, this does mean that more people may get the opportunity than under the previous story arc, but the example for this would be the opportunity to become a MasterSmith training under Elebac (if you were a Dwarf) or Conrad the Gnome (if you were anyone else) that was presented in (iirc) the Hand of the Master mod, year 2. To my knowledge, there were only ever 3 of us who spent the TUs back then to actually take the class, but the fact that we were given the opportunity is what mattered, and we were willing to pay the associated cost. Only one person per table could meet the requirements. Stuff like Dark-kin life quests, or invite-only organizations which your character may or may not be interested in joining as well. Do these things interest you as a player?

Do you enjoy mods where there is a serious risk of permanent death, given the new rule set with no resurrections? Situations where your decisions will actually make the difference, rather than rolls of the dice, and there are serious consequences for failure? Or do you prefer a lighter touch, where there is a deus ex machina waiting in the wings to save you at the last minute if things go wrong?

For GMs- What would encourage you to submit more Critical Events Summaries from mods you run?
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Anthony Nijssen
Instigator. Causer of Chaos. Nobody Important.

[Nierite]

Personally, I like the idea of picking up 'awesome' items only once every few mods in this system. It adds to the rarety of high quality or magical items.

As for favours, so far none of the favours have really affected my (or other) characters, but I like the RP aspect of saying that you have a +2 to social checks with Milandesians in general.

I think having in-universe invitations to certain Paths is an awesome idea, but should not occur more than 1/year of story.

Horror checks seem to be universally dispised by my group, but I personally like them because it is a more 'realistic' response to terrifying things.

As for chance of death, I personally think that the RISK of death actually makes players pay attention, a problem that I am having lately in this world of netbooks, iPads, Smart Phones, and other things which people can use to distract themselves during a Mod.
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Cody Bergman

aka = Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Priest of Nier (Divine 1.
aka = Dyabe val'Abebi, Templar of Althares (Divine 1.3)
aka = Jorma Ostoman, Battlemage of the Coryani Empire (Arcane 1.2)

[EricGorman]

I have come to be against the idea of "the one big reward" at the end of the mod....ditto was tailored items All the PCs equally shared the risk and at the end only one gets the spotlight. Sometimes that causes friction. In a home campaign a good game master can ensure that the spot light gets moved around fairly. In a shared campaign that just doesn't happen. Then there is the issue where the reward is *perfect* for 2 (or more) of the PCs - ie 2 HC of Illiir at the table end up with 1 HC special prize. Who gets he prize? Who goes home empty? As a judge I have never seen so much *player* conflict as I did in the treasure division following a mod in the last cycle where the entire treasure cap was pooled into one magical multi-shot altherian rifle. At one table in particular both Altherian characters and two other players who wanted a gp windfall were almost ready to come to blows over it. The experience still leaves a bad taste in the mouth and ruined an otherwise enjoyable slot.

When special oppertunities are made available I like for that to be advertised up front in the blurb and self contained within the module. Actually I believe that about rewards too. (ie: "HC of Illiir might especially enjoy the fruits of their labor...") There was a good example of this for Sarishians & Beltinians in the last camaign arc. IMO the Warrior of the Eternal Flame and Ehtzara special missions were less successful in execution.

I enjoy mods as a DM and as a player where there is a serious risk of negative consequenses - not necessarily death. Death is boing and lacks imagination. Even a semi-permanent -1 penalty to something is likely to get under a players skin. One of the best certs I ever got was in the Living Death campaign where I got a hunted cert. Until I worked off the boxes, I started modules with a variety of penalties caused by the trouble "between adventures" of dealing with the cabal's agents we had dinked with in the module (that had found out about our PCs' indiscretions). I absolutely hated it when I first received it - but I quickly came to think it was super cool. And that the cabal was scary.

I really really really like favors - especially when they do something concreate - even if that concreate event is unlikely to ever come up. I would almost infinately like to gain a favor for free diners at Bob val'Ossans seafood restraunt in Plexus after saving him from the Deep Ones rather than a favor that says BvO owes me a favor and will try to do something for me at a later date.

I don't know why more DMs don't submit more summarys. When I was an IK for the Emerald Society I was *lucky* to get 10 reports back for a mod. I guess it was cool for those ten tables - not hard to influence outcomes in those circumstances. Mostly I think its just a pain to mail or e-mail them in. Maybe DMs don't know how few come in and don't think it makes a difference?
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~Eisener val'Holryn. Holy Champion of Nier and haunted veteran of the crusade
~Formerly Sir Jaeger val'Holryn, gave his soul to help free King Noen from the LLT Banner

[KittyCurtis]

[Deviknyte]

I like unique and more interesting items. I don’t understand why you think they have to be restricted items in order for them to be more interesting though. Just because they are for everyone doesn’t mean they have to be generic. There are problems with restricted items, and they are as follows.
1) You will be hard pressed to keep the game fair/balanced. Someone will always be left out. And in this campaign it will be the lesser races and nations. (Now this is coming for a completely bias place.) Val is already the best race in the game, mechanically and campaign wise. They would benefit the most from this and an unbalancing way.
2) Timing becomes an issue. Sure my cool (example) Sarishan Wand is awesome. But the tier 2 Illirite Gladius are far more awesome. I like the generic items too. Not getting items until the shared campaign spits out something useful for your Yhing Hir Shaman or your Dwarf can suck. Especially since you can’t buy anything to fill in you are not being gifted items. I think the campaign needs both. Unique and/or restricted (not mutually exclusive) items are awesome but usually powerful. They would make the campaign feel more personal (like a home campaign?), but would have to be treated carefully. Eric is correct. All six of us went in there, 1 of us got an awesome hammer, and the other 5 got t-shirts. In a home campaign I would never question a player getting something that only they can use. But in a shared campaign I never know when/if my chance will ever come. My usual party at one time had 4 elorii players (I plan on rebuilding my numbers). One of the rare elorii item drops would definitely have had us eye-balling each other.

Non-con exclusive unique opportunities? I’m assuming by only one person would meet the requirements you mean that only one player out of every five (4-6) would get said reward. The answer is see above. This falls under the same lines as items. Got to be careful.

I love favors. I love the reputation thing too. I love specific, concrete, generic, expire-able, generic and mundane favors. And these things represent that you are helping people in the universe in a way that isn’t gold. Makes for a more interesting world. And a mix of different types of favors is more fun than a ton of generic or a ton of far too situational or a ton of reputation. Give a little of each.

I’m on the fence about certed organizations. I’ll have to get back with you on that.

BI- Complete risk. Mods- Alternate between moderate and lighter touch. Not every mod needs to be a struggle for life. In fact most mods shouldn’t be a struggle for life unless thing start to go terrible wrong with decisions and combat tactics. As per decisions with negative effects, just depends on the decision and how it is presented. Are you not giving the players outs or room for error?

Critical Event Summaries. Now that my home group is all caught up I won’t miss one. So just keep laying them out there. My favorite part about the campaign is that players can actually affect the storyline. I was surprised that the first time I would be able to submit event request within time I couldn’t (HP1-8. And that mod really left itself open for that). If any of my harvested players play a mod that has an event summary on time, I won’t miss an email.
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-Devin Redd, Detroit Harvester
"The Elorii shall rise again!"
Current- Vaerdos kyr'Taliis, Ardakene Elorii Chanter of the Rebirth and the Bright People
Retired- Elysian, Ardakene Elorii Hierophant of Belisarda

[Deviknyte]

One thing I'd like to see more of in mods is the gray. More of those choices like the end of HP1-2. But make it harder to choose.

If I ever get into mod writing like I want to, I plan on writing an alternate ending mod. One where you were wrong about who was evil no matter what.
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-Devin Redd, Detroit Harvester
"The Elorii shall rise again!"
Current- Vaerdos kyr'Taliis, Ardakene Elorii Chanter of the Rebirth and the Bright People
Retired- Elysian, Ardakene Elorii Hierophant of Belisarda

[KittyCurtis]

[Deviknyte]