2/27/2024 0 Comments My favorite chaperone plot![]() That seems like an awful lot of work just to open a door so we can have a conversation with someone who might be able to help us. Kill the chieftan, rescue the guy, and get him back to Neverwinter city. Same deal again: Locate and assault an orc lair, killing everyone within.That’s right Mario: The princess is in another castle. Surprise, the ambasador isn’t here: Another orc clan has him.Down, down, until you defeat their chieftan. Now battle your way deep into their lair.Go into the mountains, muddle your way through various orc ambushes, traps, and straight-up battles against numerous orcs until your reach their lair.Fend off the attack, then learn that the guy you’re looking for was most likely kidnapped by orcs. Go to a camp which is under siege by orcs.An ambassador was headed for Neverwinter but never showed.They feel no shame at all in asking you to do some more: Did that “earn their trust” enough to let you in to Blacklake so you can have a conversation? Predictably, no. Whew! We cleaned up the city watch and broke the back of the local crime syndicate. ![]() Carve a path through them to rescue the guy. Even though this is just a commoner, the bad guys sent twenty or thirty assasins. Rescue an informant who has been “outed” and is now hunted by the gangs.Now go to a warehouse (I forget why, who cares?) and hack through a few dozen more thugs and gangsters.Slog your way through the ghetto, killing dozens of thugs until you reach the weapons shipment. Stop an arms shipment directed at the local crime boss.Fight or pursuade each group as needed to weed out corruption within the watch. Run around the city and visit the various guard posts.Do a couple of odd jobs and fight some thugs.They will insist that you earn their trust by joining their ranks and working for them, after which you may gain access to the Blacklake District. Go to the city watch and let them know you need in. ![]() So, to talk to the guy and ask him about our artifact, we need to open this door. Where are those people getting food if nothing gets in or out? How is the king running the city – much less the kingdom – if he can’t communicate with the outside world? Since when are interior parts of a city walled off from one another with impenetrable fortifications? Since when do you quarantine an entire section of a city instead of just one house? Why quarantine at all, since Demons can most likely teleport about and would be unaffected by such measures? How is this quarantine supposed to aid in the ongoing investigation? No messages in or out? What’s the rationale for that one? Now, if you were a DM and you provided this scenario to your players, they would have a multitude of legitimate objections. The city watch believe that demons were involved, so they sealed off and quarantined the entire district. But recently a man was murdered in his home in this district. You need to reach the Blacklake District because a man lives there who might be able to answer questions you have about an artifact. Blacklake is where the nobility live, as well as the knights, the generals, and the king himself. This door is the only gate between the Docks area of Neverwinter city and the Blacklake District. The door is locked, and the lock is un-pickable. Let me bring up the most foul example of a plot-driven door. Some games are really eager to abuse this, and use plot-doors in lieu of coherent writing. Players tolerate plot-doors to different degrees, mostly depending on the strength of the writing. Some games are better about this than others, but it’s a necessity of the medium. You know, a locked door which may be made of wood and 100 years old, but which is indestructable, un-pickable, and un-openable until some plotpoint takes place. Most videogames in the RPG genre have plot-driven doors. However, if you have appetite for a tirade, then perhaps the following will slake your inexplicable craving… I’m comfortable in this madness, although out of affection for the many fine people who visit this site I do suggest you back slowly away from this post before I even get started. During my brief moments of lucidity I have come to realize that the game has driven me quite mad, and that I am likely to go on ranting about it for some time. ![]() Some readers have noted my obsessive, even Kahn-like vendetta against Neverwinter Nights 2.
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