Paradigm Concepts

[waltscie]

Prior to going on vacation, I ran "Swans." In the prior session, I'd started "Swans" and it ended as the PCs burst into the yard and saw Frederick being attacked.

A couple of hours was all it took to complete the rest of the adventure. As a GM, I was happier with "Swans" than I was with "Storm Tide." While "Storm Tide" is a good adventure that evokes Pirates of the Caribbean, "Swans" is a mystery that enables the PCs to pick and choose where to go next, with everything wrapping up in a satisfying conclusion.

One of my players learned a hard lesson about Damnation points this time. He'd picked Greed as his vice because of its bennie, but he didn't realize that it would cost him a Damnation point to activate (obviously he tuned me out during my rules discussion and never checked the handout I'd made). Still, he accepted the Damnation point because he wanted the boost. Later, when he discovered that one of the victims was a member of his Order, he was upset that another PC got what should've been his scene because he couldn't participate with his Damnation point.

Another PC actually collected and kept the feathers. This turned out really badly for him in the final battle, which was much more intense than the one for "Storm Tide" (although, to be fair, I let my PCs jump the Big Bad a bit too early in the battle).

Overall, fun was had by all. If I were to run this campaign again, I'd probably run "Storm Tide" after this one, as I think "Swans" does a better job setting the overall tone of the campaign.

[HighmoonMedia]

I'm currently running Swans for my group, but boy, did they stomp off the path of the mod! Up until now (and actually even now) they pinned all the events on someone else who hasn't even made an appereance (the wandering Catholic priest), even when I have given them all the clues they need.

I have played up hardcore the baddie, having it be a constant menacing presence over the heroes, and they are now facing it in combat and being trounced by it.

I'll share more once I'm done. Being an email game it takes considerably longer than 4 hours to play (6 months as of this week) but we'll be done before Gen Con (especially because two of my players will be at GC as well, so I'll run a mini-mod for them only).
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Daniel M. Perez
Highmoon Media Productions
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