tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post4097776811743854040..comments2024-03-13T06:23:10.057-04:00Comments on Of Dice and Pen: Iron Gods Player's GuideMichael Ray Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15651916698207855060noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post-61242211243030167152016-03-25T20:38:03.545-04:002016-03-25T20:38:03.545-04:00"Many players may come to the adventure path ..."Many players may come to the adventure path with expectations of playing alien races from books like People of the Stars. The Player's Guide makes it clear that that's not really what Iron Gods is about, and the only race from that book that is really appropriate is the android (there is also a sidebar with the basic game rules for android characters). Perhaps most importantly, there is another sidebar about the Technic League, informing players that their characters should not be members of the League or have aspirations of joining it. The Technic League is something that some players otherwise might think would be cool to join and it's important that they know in advance that the Technic League plays an adversarial role in the adventure path."<br /><br />This seems to be a recurring disconnect between APs and the player group, dating all the way back to Second Darkness when the developers had to explain that you couldn't play as drow in "the drow AP." Since then, we've had Jade Regent in which players aren't supposed to play Tien PCs, Reign of Winter, which starts out in Taldor rather than the Northlands, the above-mentioned Iron Gods, and now, the upcoming Strange Aeons for which I've already seen James Jacobs telling people it's not appropriate for PCs who worship the Old Ones. <br /><br />Billing upcoming APs as "the X AP," wherein X is some specific gaming niche, seems to mismanage expectations when the ultimate goal is to have vanilla PCs from Varisia being shocked and bewildered by the strangeness of drow/Tian Xia/the Northlands/aliens/Cthulhu. <br /><br />JoanaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com