Quote:
Originally Posted by DouglasCole
One of the true joys of this one - even from my own biased perspective - is that the combo of well fleshed-out NPCs and the relationship map means you usually don't HAVE to.
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This. The NPCs are wonderful. I love all the strong women. I love that there are a mix of archetypes. I love that there are a few clear-cut heroes and villains, but most of the characters are flawed but sympathetic. There are enough factions behind the scenes to run a wide variety of campaigns.
Since our cabin extravaganza, we've played a number of sessions on Roll20. I don't love playing on-line, but am slowly warming up to it. Tonight's was the most natural session, by far, completely dominated by roleplaying. The Nordvorn material provides so many delicious hooks and possibilities. I went into the session having no idea what the group would decide to do. I knew that Olrun would suggest having them head south to Skogurenda as a way of letting the Orm/Gunnulf conflict simmer down. (With the party being famous heroes in Gunnulf's camp, it was going to boil over sooner or later.) But they might easily have said no and taken a more direct interest in resolving (or exploiting) the conflict.
The climax of the session was after the party accepted the quest, Ylsa shows up in disguise at their farewell dinner and begs to join them on the voyage. The players were unanimous: "No way. This is a terrible idea; we have to say no." But dice were rolled and disadvantages (like "impulsive") were examined, and they ultimately said, "Welcome aboard!" I won't say more here about the delicious complexities that this unlocks, because some of my players read this board, but it was a fantastic way to wrap up the session.