[The Masked Ferret]

Please note - I was running this at Dragon*Con based on a file named 'SRM 03-12 Elevator Ride to Hell v0.3.rtf'. I don't know if there are newer or improved versions.

• There was supposed to be an affiliation betrayal table, based on Public Awareness. None was in the module, just red text saying the table should be there.
• Scene 1: One of the most hated and reviled railroading scenes I have ever seen. What possible could explain how a table full of prime runners with magic users and gas masks will even get into a rickety elevator as a group, including the rigger.
• Scene 3: Its listed as a 'Tough Fight', but the NeoAs listed aren't even a challenge at a higher table rating, especially if you have magic users and adepts along. I will admit, I could be running them wrong, but if they never get to shoot, they aren't doing much good.
• Scene 4: I cannot tell you how easy it is for a well designed face to get through this section. At Prime, I have seen a face pull out 12-16 successes on a negotiation check (edge).

Things I appreciated:
The Maxwell Smart reference.
The run didn't take an excessive amount of time.

[Casazil]

I have also heard there was an issue over the hazzard pay?

[Halabis]

I also ran this one at D*Con. The beginning portion was indeed universally hated,  especially since most of the group had chemical seals in there gear, and never would have been caught dead in the scripted beginning.
The betrayal table was indeed missing, but hardl seemed to matter as its something the PC's wouldnt ever notice.  
This mission however was not the one with the missing hazard pay (and karma payout) that was CMP04 Humanitarian Aid, and boy did it ever need hazzard pay.

-Saleem

[The Masked Ferret]

Didn't run or play that one. If there had been a more believable beginning, the hellelevator ride might have been a good one. Most people can't get past the beginning.

[Casazil]

An yet they used it again after the out cry to an earlier Mission that did the same sorta thing oh well.

[Bull]

We actually didn't really get any negative feedback about this scene at Origins or Gen Con.  I think most players realize it's just a cut-scene to set up the adventure.  And hey, even the most bad-ass experienced characters end up unconscious through no fault of their own at some point.

The big outcry with the earlier version of 03-09 was a combination of things...  1)  That you didn't get the chance to negotiate your pay.  2)  That you willingly Laesed yourself and let someone else set you up in a closet.  3)  That you were supposed to jump in and go metaplanar hopping for no additional pay.  4)  Due to the metaplane thing, some characters were limited in what they could actually do, especially in the earliest dafts that were run at Origins/Gen Con 2009.

With 03-12, while In Media Res isn't perfect...  <shrug>  It's a storytelling device.  The players are never "out" anything, really.  You still get the chance to negotiate for some big money (and stock options), you get your stuff back pretty early on, and you roll from there. 

And yeah, that fight at the clinic...  It's not nearly as tough as it could be, but this depends heavily on the group.  That fight would be really, really nasty if the runners don't have a mage, for example.  It's not really supposed to be all that tough.  Plus that adventure had some time constraint issues that cropped up.

All in all...  It's a big, wide-screen style season finale.  It's big on story and action. 

Bull

[The Masked Ferret]

It certainly could be run much more cinematically i did it, that is for sure. I should have spent a bit more time preparing.

[Bull]

It's ok, and it's understandable that some folks don't like the In Media Res approach.  It got a bit over-used in Season 3.  There were two adventures that had it as part of the opener (9 and 12), and I've heard there was a 3rd adventure originally proposed that would have done something similar, but I'm not positive.  I think that had been an idea bandied about for a post 12 adventure that got shelved when the Powers That Be shifted the locale to Seattle.  I did what I could to tighten 12 up a bit, and personally I really like the opener (Come on, there's something to be said for having your runners wake up wearing nothing but hospital gowns with a 16 year old school girl tied up next to them).  But, it fits better in a home game than it does in a Missions, where you don't know your players.

But, unlike 03-09, the set up and IMR is part of the plot, and I didn't have the time to do any massive replotting/rewriting of the adventure (I had an outline and a very, very loose draft, and I ended up doing an overhaul two weeks before Origins this year).

I plan to try and stay away from IMR openings in Season 4. 

[Casazil]

I plan to try and stay away from IMR openings in Season 4. 

WOOT 

[Bull]

Note, I said "Try".  No promises.  I'm still a fan of Cinematic game play, so if a really cool scene is presented to me...  Well...  I know how irritating it was in FF7 that you could heal Aeris all day long, except during that one bloody cut scene...  But by the same token, that cut scene added to the game and the story (the fact that I'm referencing it 15 years later is proof enough of that).

But it would have to be awe...some...

Bull

[Casazil]

Concedes that point. (big FF fan)

[KarmaInferno]

I played the Mission and rolled with it, but if I'd played my other character she would have been effectively immune to the gassing.

Was there anything in the Mission to deal with immunities?



-karma

[FastJack]

I played the Mission and rolled with it, but if I'd played my other character she would have been effectively immune to the gassing.

Was there anything in the Mission to deal with immunities?



-karma

Boot to the head.

[KarmaInferno]

Ah, okay, thanks. I'll keep it in mind when i run the Mission.

A little LESS improbable, in my character's case, but she's a weird corner case, so I don't expect the rules to be able to account for her. Whatever was attacking her would have had to basically breach a sealed armored vehicle to knock her out. I probably would have just handwaved myself to follow the mission set-up in any case. Not like it's the first time I've had to accept something "just happening".

"Wait, how the hell did those guys get me out of my Human suit?"





-karma

[The Masked Ferret]

Nanites, maybe? A combination of nanites and gas?