Originally posted by Malenfant:
I must say, I'm not impressed with the Epic format in general - it's far too disjointed for my tastes. Do all adventures published by QLI have to follow that format? So far it's a major turn-off for me.
I think the EPIC format is a good start but possibly needs some refining. I remember an old Star Frontiers module that had 2 kinds of encounter, location-based and time-based. It worked quite well for that adventure (is was a little straitjacketed); so some events happen at a particular place, and some in a particular order. The EPIC format seems to be a way of formalising that kind of structure, but it is a little vague about how it goes about it.
I'd like to see more multi-thread adventures (essentially like our fave TV shows that have a main plot and a couple of subplots). Each story-arc would have its own set of keys and scenes, and some of these would overlap to mesh the arcs together. EPIC's a good start, but it needs developing.
As far as GA1 goes, I'll have to dissent and say this is my favourite EPIC yet. I like the moral murkiness, and the potential for infighting. It does look linear but it needn't be played that way; some of the scenes can be easily transplanted to other systems (the corsairs, the raider attacks) - only Singer is a required system (and even then you could move to Kwai Ching say). As most of the action takes place in space you could do it anywhere. As for motivations to go to various planets, you could add more 'pull' and 'gimmick' (and I do think it an omission) in the form of smuggling opportunities, scams, or rumours of 'the big score'. Doing all this under the noses of the marines, and maybe actually cutting them in, could offer plenty of side adventures.
As for dumping the marines: yeah, well players may want to do that but do you think a merchant crew (even a tough one of PC's) would be able to dump 10 gung-ho hardcore marines with heavy weapons? Maybe with guile and subtletly but then they'd have earned it. And even if they did, wouldn't they now be traitors to the Imperium? Not worth the trouble in my book.
Criticisms: the bit where the Collace authorities ask the marines and pc's to help out with the assassin seems a bit wierd - surely Collace has its own high tech resources and even under Imperial client state status they'd still jealously guard their own jurisdictions, especially when the Imperial force in question is a lowly marine lieutenant and a bunch of dishevelled traders with jumped-up auxiliary status. Better to embroil the pc's in the assassination bid, say they arrive just before, and the assassins use them either as unwitting decoys (falsifiying records etc) or get them accidently caught up in the firefight. Clearing names is a better incentive for the pc's to get involved anyway.
I also didn't like the monlogues from officials - it was all exposition, and unrealistic. But then we're not expecting Shakespeare are we?
My main critique of the EPIC series is that they tend to require alot of working up. The first 2 with the 'Broadside of a Barn' definitely needed it, but they were more mini-campaigns anyway. But they often lack deck plans or building layout, and I find that using generic stats from 76 Gunmen for the NPC's to lack imagination and makes them look like faceless cutouts. There are no big stupid guys or clever clumsy girls or whatever; everyone's completely average.
I think the NPC's are more important than the plot! The fact is the 'actors' bring the motivations and solutions to any scenario, and having interesting NPC's can help the Ref adjudicate situations when the PC's go "off message". This flaw is endemic to all QLI adventures. And as I already have 76 Gunmen, I do feel a little bit shortchanged when I see the same stuff repeated in every single adventure.
