@BigJackBrass That is actually my old playing group to a tee.

"we felt the danger looked a bit dangerous so we hung out with the NPCs dancing"

@BigJackBrass "there was some issue with investigating the occult, so we decided to get the local vampire cult involved in a charity dinner to pay for a community ambulance as the plot thing looked hard, soz GM"

@Printdevil There are quite a few games where it makes so much sense for the PCs not to get involved that I wonder how much the authors really considered the premise.

@BigJackBrass I think there's very much an assumption on the part of the writer that players are just going to "do it" rather than writing material in which players should in any sense be involved. I think that's one of the reasons a lot of CoC scenarios have such weird opening hooks with bloody Uncle Herbert and their odd will and estate issues.

Nephilim more so than most games has an implicit reason to be involved because your characters existence is involved. Generally though players persistently being involved in things has a very Scooby Doo feeling. Sometimes, maybe most times actually I hook the players in the game world and the motivations in the first scenario and then see how they thrive, I'd hate to have to try and work off the shelf scenarios in repeatedly with the same PCs though.

@BigJackBrass @Taskerland

@Printdevil It's funny that OSR adventures generally don't even bother. 'Hey... there's a big hole in the ground full of monster!' if the writer is feeling fancy @BigJackBrass

Greed and Character Building is the implicit assured cake in those scenarios. Maybe with some plot frostings.

@Taskerland @BigJackBrass

@Printdevil Also, I think they're wary of 'overstepping' by providing a social context or narrative framework beyond greed and violence. It's why most of their adventures are dramatically inert. @BigJackBrass

I am aware of a very strong dislike amongst some D&Dspawned people of scenarios providing any moral context or narrative. Greed and violence is fine though. Everything else has been described as "authorial proxy"

(Also they were a crap GM)

@Taskerland @BigJackBrass

I am aware of a very strong dislike amongst some D&Dspawned people of scenarios providing any moral context or narrative. Greed and violence is fine though. Everything else has been described as "authorial proxy"

(Also they were a crap GM)

@Taskerland @BigJackBrass

@Printdevil Greed and violence are neutral. Human context is tyranny. Love = Hate. @BigJackBrass

@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass Also it's harder to glue them together to make a campaign if they have any context. (I think horror games are best as one-shots, so that's less of a problem there.)

@RogerBW Very true... I think that also explains why so many are a bit whimsical. If you bake an element of tonal discord into the fabric of the adventure then it's easier to match it up with other whimsical and discordant pieces. It's like if you have a tartan bed spread, you buy loud curtains because otherwise it's impossible to match and the big bold patterns actually cancel each other out. @Printdevil @BigJackBrass

Mirrored Ceilings

@Taskerland @RogerBW @BigJackBrass

@Printdevil Tartan bedding, mirrored ceiling, waterbed. @RogerBW @BigJackBrass