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89157Z

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I've groused a couple of times about the adventures. Today I decided to load up the mod tools and make specific suggestions. I'll be posting typos, suggestions, and oddlings as I run across them. My first post in this thread will be about the Aranaz Adventure line at the top of the Adventures section.

 

Aranaz Adventure 3 (title: Spreading the Story) has an implausibly difficult skill check before Investigation 1 (description: Composure. Work on your presence.). It's a Charm + Composure roll versus 10. However, looking at the success and failure texts for the investigation, you're just practicing in front of a mirror. This is the sort of thing that as an otherwise ability would auto-succeed. As an adventure step, it should probably be pretty easy.

 

I'm going through the adventures one by one, and having gotten to Aranaz Adventure 4 so far, I've found this in general for investigations. They tend to be fairly standard uses of the skills, yet are given very high difficulty ratings. The difficulty ratings seem to be set on the (very sharp) curve of the adventures as a whole rather than in relationship to what the action actually would require. None of the others have been as egregious as a check versus 10 in order to successfully practice in front of a mirror, though Insight + Character Study vs. 15 to fulfill the investigation in Aranaz Adventure 4 is dubious.

 

Aranaz Adventure 06 should probably continue even on 'failure' of exits 1 and 2, because the point is to stir up trouble while trying to stop the riot. The difference between success and failure should be whether you get a detention in the process, but it looks like the failures would still serve the purpose of the adventure.

 

Aranaz Adventure 07 has an autosuccess exit for manipulation. Exit 2 rolls Charm + Manipulation versus 0. I think the adventures should be easier, but not that easy!

 

Aranaz Adventure 08 includes 'Expand Relationship Maximum (0)' as a benefit for all its success outcomes. However, judging by the modtools files, this doesn't appear to actually do anything.

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Bat Bond 01 has an Investigation that seems too difficult. Insight + Character Study versus 7 will be shrugged off by anyone who has trained the Character Study skill, but this is the first adventure in the chain, and the actual details you're noticing by making that check are trivial and obvious. It should be possible to make the check with natural insight.

 

Bat Bond 01, Exit 3 uses Voice subskill to represent screaming. Yeah, I know, that's all over the game. But the Voice subskill's description really implies that merely being loud and atonal isn't the point of the subskill. This not only uses it that way, somehow screaming in that situation trains you a point of Voice, as if you'd gone out and practiced singing.

 

Bat Bond 02 has a Biology exit (Investigation 1). It would be really nice if using that Exit (even failing) informed the student of the Biology subskill, but I suspect it presently doesn't.

 

I think the benefits section of Bat Bond 02 Exit 3 needs to be reviewed. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they don't look right in the interface. Also, Bat Bond 02 Exit 3 includes information in its success text that you really could only have gotten by taking Investigation 1. Either it should add the same Memory flag that Investigation 1 adds, or the text might need modified.

 

Bat Bond 03 Investigation 1 should probably be based on Awareness rather than Observation. It looks like a pretty straightforward 'social knowledge' check. Of course, it might even be properly a 'Famous Prose' check, since the information it gives seems straight out of popular fiction! Either way, the option right now doesn't specify what skill it is using, so it should probably be reviewed. Also, on success it presently appears to increase Chance of Success by 0, which isn't very helpful.

 

Umm, bah. I read further and it looks like the Bat Bond Adventure has problems in general. It needs a review of the way it was entered into the mod tools. There's a whole bunch of stuff like 'Add Memory (0)'. That example is in Bat Bond 05 Exit 2. Either it does nothing (which is bad) or it is 'mystery meat' (which is bad).

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Sorry this took so long. The Bat Bond adventure had a lot of mysteries, and took a lot out of me. Winter is kicking my tail. I need eggnog.

 

Although more practically, I wish I could open up the files with someone knowledgeable looking over my shoulder to help me figure out what some of it meant. Pointing out stylistically confusing elements is difficult and feels unproductive.

 

Look at Bond Adventure Chameleon 02 Exit 1. Look at the Drawbacks section. It's a straightforward loss of a skill step. Effect type Expand, Subject Running Subskill skill step, Magnitude -1.

 

Now look at the Benefits section. Change Benefit, Threshold 0, Effect 'Expand Bond of Stars'. What does this do? How is it targetted? Someone needs to clarify what's going on there. Once that's clarified, I'll be much happier and more confident in my exploring the Adventures via the Mod Tools.

 

P.S. If any of this stuff is outdated due to version changes, I could use an updated AMO file.

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It's not that eggnog makes winter less obnoxious. It's just a small compensation that makes it more worth the price of admission. Like short days that make it difficult for me to track the flow of time. I swear, the way today went... I looked out the window and it was dark. I got absorbed in doing something. A while later I looked out the window and it was light. I got absorbed in something else, and when I looked out again, it was dark.

 

And it was like, "What? I've only been sitting next to the window for a few hours, haven't I? How did that happen?"

 

Anyways, thank you for the explanation. I hit the little edit button and now it makes more sense. Well, I complained about that portion several times farther up the thread, so the things that 'look wrong' are mostly benefits! I don't understand why it's represented that way. What is this 'Threshold', in context?

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