WotC Vecna: Eve of Ruin Player Advice from WotC

Following on from a video offering DM Advice, WotC's Todd Kendrick talks to senior designer Amanda Hamon, who offers advice for players playing through the upcoming Vecna: Eve of Ruin.

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[Reynard]

But Reynard, some of our ideas of fun is Murder...

..on the Orient Express

A+

But I will never stop trying to make "rollercoaster" a thing.

 

[Demetrios1453]

It's only a railroad if it is boring (even if the scenery is nice). If it's fun, it is s rollercoaster.

You know, I really like that terminology!

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder if Stairs is designed to mesh with this adventure?

Everything in Stairs is lower Level, but I could see someone using the frame of the Genie guy in the Infinite Staircase, and re-do the fight against Vecna as coming from him instead of some Wizards after the party has cleared all the lower Level challenges.

 

[SteveC]

It's only a railroad if it is boring (even if the scenery is nice). If it's fun, it is s rollercoaster.

I don't know who originally said this, but "if the railroad goes to Awesometown, give me a ticket!"

 

[MerricB]

Even linear adventures have differing levels of player agency.

In Hoard of the Dragon Queen, there are some sections that can be approached completely differently depending on the group. Consider Castle Naerytar, for instance, where you can incite a revolt, go in all spells blazing, sneak in, bluff your way in, etc. Hoard's overall structure is very linear, but each chapter tends to give more agency to players.

Curse of Strahd has a beginning and end point, but the path in-between has pointers but the players can choose how to approach it. (Want to go to the Amber Temple with 3rd level characters, be my guest!)

An adventure like Descent into Avernus feels a lot more constrained. (It's one that feels like it began as more sandboxy, but then had a mostly linear plotline imposed on it. And the final chapter is from the first draft...) Generally each section has very little agency about how the players approach them. Shadow of the Dragon Queen, despite being an adventure I generally liked, also felt more linear. (I dislike how it represents the setting, but I think the adventure is fairly solid).

The Shattered Obelisk (the new sections) had differing levels of agency for players. I think The Briny Maze was a real missed opportunity - far more linear than it should have been. But at other times there were more options. (I still consider it, as a whole, disappointing). It strays towards the more linear side of things.

I'm not expecting much from Vecna, but we'll see how it goes. (I expect a lot of very shallow nods to other settings).

Cheers,
Merric

 

[Reynard]

Even linear adventures have differing levels of player agency.

In Hoard of the Dragon Queen, there are some sections that can be approached completely differently depending on the group. Consider Castle Naerytar, for instance, where you can incite a revolt, go in all spells blazing, sneak in, bluff your way in, etc. Hoard's overall structure is very linear, but each chapter tends to give more agency to players.

Curse of Strahd has a beginning and end point, but the path in-between has pointers but the players can choose how to approach it. (Want to go to the Amber Temple with 3rd level characters, be my guest!)

An adventure like Descent into Avernus feels a lot more constrained. (It's one that feels like it began as more sandboxy, but then had a mostly linear plotline imposed on it. And the final chapter is from the first draft...) Generally each section has very little agency about how the players approach them. Shadow of the Dragon Queen, despite being an adventure I generally liked, also felt more linear. (I dislike how it represents the setting, but I think the adventure is fairly solid).

The Shattered Obelisk (the new sections) had differing levels of agency for players. I think The Briny Maze was a real missed opportunity - far more linear than it should have been. But at other times there were more options. (I still consider it, as a whole, disappointing). It strays towards the more linear side of things.

I'm not expecting much from Vecna, but we'll see how it goes. (I expect a lot of very shallow nods to other settings).

Cheers,
Merric

"Linear" is an adventure design style.

"Railroad" is a GMing style.

 

[MerricB]

"Linear" is an adventure design style.

"Railroad" is a GMing style.

Read the start of DL2 Dragons of Flame, and talk to me about what style that is.

 

[Reynard]

Read the start of DL2 Dragons of Flame, and talk to me about what style that is.

I mean, the linear adventure can suggest or demand a railraod GMing style...

 

[MerricB]

I mean, the linear adventure can suggest or demand a railraod GMing style...

I think in that case, it's hard to go past "this adventure is written as a railroad".

(It's rather amazing how many pages the DM reads of boxed text before the PCs really get a choice!)

Cheers!

 

[Zaukrie]

"Be ready to follow the railroad"

Most adventures are railroads, and most players don't really care ime.