I love that last series of ideas.
Especially because it allows for more opportunities to set up variables before the battle begins. Various things happening or perhaps not, based on how the PC responds to the advice being barked. More dynamism in the set up, so that instead of having 1 or 2 set-piece battles, you end up with maybe a dozen different ways those battles can crack off before they even start. Depending on who you saved, or killed, or ignored and such along the way. I felt like they should have done something of that sort with the minor skirmishes or trash mobs, by including more monster variety from a random table there. But it would be even cooler to see them take that kind of variable approach to the major climactic fight of the first act.
It's just such a nice set up with two bases, and two factions (each with a splinter element) and pretty much every NPC could jump into it differently depending on what the player did or didn't do, or in what sequence.
Also just to the idea of having a different battle plan based on Gobbos acquiring the artifact or capturing the idol, and the Zevlor subterfuge angle, or shadowdruid Halsin refugee stuff. Another way they could play that up on the Goblin side, would be to have Minthara go inquisitor during her initial convo with the party, and perhaps the PC can feed false info there that puts the battle on a different footing based on convo responses. They have a little of this going on right now, but it could be much more developed. This could happen at several points throughout the first act actually, where the ultimate battle positioning may at first appear randomized, but is actually based on a convo-choice matrix. Like perhaps the tunnel thing only happens if the party saves Sazza, but if not then they end up somewhere else? Or like you mentioned with the Bugbear assassin, doing similar things for everyone that might be a participant in the battle. Especially for the main character NPCs, or merchant types, the one's that are highlighted most in the story. The more interaction an NPC char has with the party, the more likely they are to play a variable type role in the big main fight. Surely anyone that followed the party at some point, and didn't die, would be a great candidate for a battle showcase. Maybe even Us makes a return appearance? That would be cool.
Doesn't need to be cutscenes at that point (since those have already happened), it could just be in the nuts and bolts of the combat set up and some clutch barks and flashy entrances. That kind of variability would be more interesting to me than even a really beautifully scripted type battle, just because it would open up the replay and keep the player guessing at each play through, because minor changes would occur. Especially when the matrix of outcomes for prepositioning or battle order/location has more inputs and gets large enough, such that it becomes practically impossible for the player to predict how the main battle set up will actually look on any given playthrough. Or at least the main battle then becomes like a crazy complex puzzle for the player to pick apart. I don't know if they would go with that kind of approach, since most of the encounters so far have been done in the set-piece style, but it would certainly make for a great D&D campaign with a lot of replay value.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 06/08/21 02:24 AM.
