Originally Posted by Nyloth
Originally Posted by Blade238
Originally Posted by Nyloth
The thread is not about that, but I personally believe that the camp will change with each act. Because in the first act, we literally sail away on a boat, we will no longer have the opportunity to return to the same place.
It kind of is though: The OP opens up discussing a stationary camp that the companions wait in.

My post is directed at the camp remaining stationary which is a key point of the discussion.

If it changes per region, that's all well and good, but it's still rather nonsensical. My party is exploring the underdark prior to jumping on the boat. Meanwhile the rest of my party and whatever gear I left in camp is still in the same location. The camp isn't moved to the Underdark castle or mushroom camp.

They also don't jump on the boat with my party. Am I calling them on my magical phone and telling them to break camp and move to the next region? Where do they get their boat?

The camp should be procedurally generated based on our party location, that way it's as though we have the main party of combatants and scouts, with the leftover companions following with the gear and camp.

Do you think it's that far from the camp to the underdark? You're wrong. Because there are FOUR PATHS in the underdark, and one is a TELEPORT and the other is an ELEVATOR (other two aren't that fast). So I fully consider the fact that your companions (as well as you) can easily get to the Underdark from the camp, which is why there is no need to make a camp in the underdark. So it's probably assumed that you went together.

Things feel too close together in this game. Going to the Underdark shouldn't be like walking around the corner to go to the store - it should feel like going to Mars. They did a good job of making the visuals of the Underdark feel very otherworldly and the initial approach is pretty substantial, which is good. But once you get there and find a waypoint, instant teleportation trivializes that distance and it doesn't feel right; the Underdark quickly loses its magical otherness. It really should not be worth it to leave the Underdark every day to go sleep and then return. Getting to the Underdark felt like a monumental task - leaving should as well.

So, this is separate from the issue with supporting characters not having wills of their own, but both point to the suggestion that having a semi-permanent camp in one location (even just for a single act) doesn't make any sense.