I think puzzling out the premise could have been a lot more fun if we hadn’t known the entry and exit squares going in
I think this would have messed up the difficulty curve a bit: telling players ‘here is the entrance and exit’ is part of what lets ‘stick a tough encounter at the entrance/exit’ be a simple strategy.
The writing was as fun and funny as usual—if not more so! - but seemed less . . . pointed?/ambitious?/thematically-coherent? than I’ve come to expect.
This is absolutely true though I’m surprised it’s obvious: my originally-planned scenario didn’t quite work out as intended (I’m still trying to assemble mechanics for it that actually work the way I want them to) and this was my backup scenario.
imo a 4x4 or 5x5 dungeon would probably have been easier than the 3x3, especially for reliably distinguishing between hypotheses A and B
Interesting. I trimmed it down to 3x3 as part of Plan ‘Try Not To Make Everything Too Overcomplicated’, trying to use the smallest dungeon that would still make pathing relevant in order to avoid dropping 16 separate encounters on players.
There was one aspect about which I have unreservedly positive feelings: the chrono effects, the hag poem and the varying numbers of adventurers were all excellent red herrings, seeming like they might hint towards subtle opportunities for performance improvement (and/or a secret Bonus Bonus Objective) but being quickly dismissable as fingertraps.
This...is not really quite how those were intended. The intent was something more along the lines of ‘Easter Eggs’.
I think this would have messed up the difficulty curve a bit: telling players ‘here is the entrance and exit’ is part of what lets ‘stick a tough encounter at the entrance/exit’ be a simple strategy.
This is absolutely true though I’m surprised it’s obvious: my originally-planned scenario didn’t quite work out as intended (I’m still trying to assemble mechanics for it that actually work the way I want them to) and this was my backup scenario.
Interesting. I trimmed it down to 3x3 as part of Plan ‘Try Not To Make Everything Too Overcomplicated’, trying to use the smallest dungeon that would still make pathing relevant in order to avoid dropping 16 separate encounters on players.
This...is not really quite how those were intended. The intent was something more along the lines of ‘Easter Eggs’.