Mike Mearls and I have been talking about the core loop of a good RQ scenario. The characters interact/investigate/explore with whatever is going on, with a growing background threat of violence.
- Interact means interaction with the setting – with NPCs, lore, temples, cults, etc. It is makes the setting yours and your players.
- Investigate means discovering more about the story and the setting. You find weird twisted statues and realize that this was a God Time battle against Chaos. It interprets the setting.
- Explore means discovering new places and things in the setting the adventures haven’t already been. It expands the setting.
Repeat those three elements until either the players have solved their problem or combat breaks out. If the fight comes early, you’ve messed up. If you’ve managed to get to the end without the fight, congratulations – you all survived!
Once the fight has happened, the adventurers need to be able to retreat/regroup/recover – and any Rune points cast are gone. Multiple fights back to back are extremely dangerous. Use that possibility very sparingly!
So with that in mind, if I think about the “best mechanically-designed” scenarios of RQ, here’s my top twelve list (in no particular order):
- Balastar’s Barracks (RQ2) – in Big Rubble, but also a standalone product. A straight forward dungeon crawl, but well put together.
- Devil’s Playground (RQ2) – in Big Rubble. A typical Ken Rolston scenario.
- Robbery at Rone Mansion (RQ2) – from Pavis. A good thief scenario.
- Muriah’s Revenge (RQ2) – from Borderlands.
- Five Eyes Temple (RQ2) – from Borderlands. Arguably the best dungeon crawl RQ did.
- Into the Giantlands (RQ2) – from Borderlands. Arguably the best “wilderness adventure” RQ did.
- Snakepipe Hollow (RQ2) – stand alone product. A straight forward dungeon crawl with LOTS of weirdness.
- Rabbit Hat Farm (RQ3) – from Sun County. A solid investigation and dungeon crawl scenario.
- Gaumata’s Vision (RQ3) – in Shadows on the Borderland. Very well built horror investigation.
- River Voices (RQ3) – from the River of Cradles book. Another Ken Rolston scenario.
- The Broken Tower (RQG) – in the Quickstart.
- Dragon of Thunder Hills (RQG) – this is in the GM adventures booklet.
Now I am sure people will protest that I left out their favorite adventure, but that’s not really the point of the exercise. I’m just looking at the core activity loop in the scenario and how it works with the RQ mechanics.
As there is no right way to “build” a group of RQ adventurers, the GM needs to think about what the actual adventurers can do. Are they a bunch of warrior-cultists from Orlanth, Humakt, and Storm Bull? Are they a bunch of scribes, guides, and healers from Lhankor Mhy, Issaries, and Chalana Arroy? Are they a group of crafters from Pavis, Flintnail, or the Lowfires? How each group is going to interact/investigate/explore will differ WILDLY. The first group may race for the combat and miss much of the investigation. The second might focus on the interact/investigate but minimise the exploration out of a desire to avoid the combat. And the third might stumble through all three and the combat.
That is one of the great features of RQ – every party has a very different interaction with the adventure from every other party. Not just in terms of the results of combat but down to what they are trying to do.
The threat of violence is a key source of tension. RQ combat is exciting, visceral, and dangerous – the possibility is nearly always present. But it shouldn’t be overused! Don’t approach it like a video game where combats exist largely to punctuate time between meaningful activities.