{"id":3835,"date":"2017-09-25T07:19:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T11:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=3835"},"modified":"2017-09-18T11:51:15","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T15:51:15","slug":"discord-at-the-docks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=3835","title":{"rendered":"Discord at the Docks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nBy Frank Schmidt
\nAdventures in Filbar
\n1e
\nLevels 1-3<\/p>\n

The adventure begins as your ship docks in Phoenix and you and your group debark. …The PCs were on a delivery mission but mistook a subject on the dock as the intended recipient. The true owner is not pleased at the foul up and demands the party fix it IMMEDIATELY.<\/p>\n

I accidentally bought this piece of garbage, not realizing it was a part of the Adventures in Filbar line. (I know, I know, how could I NOT realize it?) I previously reviewed a 5e AiF product, finding it linear with no ability for the party to make decisions. This one is the same. This may be the worst series of adventures ever written. It\u2019s coherent, it just makes NO pretense of giving the party any control over their adventure. Anyway, it\u2019s fourteen pages and deals with a linear etch quest on the docks.<\/p>\n

The opening intro\/scene tells you all you need to know. In a monologue you arrive, by ship, on some docks, in order to deliver a package you\u2019ve been paid for. You hand it off to a guy on the docks. And thus you start the adventure \u2026 with read-aloud telling you that you handed off the package. To the wrong man, it turns out. We\u2019re told, in the next read-aloud, where they are confronted by their REAL contact: \u201cWhile the PCs may have felt they were successful initially, the contact with Costas should cause them great consternation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Does anyone like this? Failing off screen? Being forced in to actions? \u201cYou see a cave full of orcs. You run in and strip naked while cussing them out in orcish; what do you do now?\u201d I\u2019ll tell you what I do. I leave. <\/p>\n

At GenCon this year I was in a game, a heartbreaker, in which the DM did flashbacks. He explained \u201cplayers didn\u2019t like it when I described what their characters did, they called it a railroad. But they seem much more accepting of flashbacks. They are the same, so I don\u2019t see why they care \u2026\u201d I kept my fucking mouth shut. That poor fucking dude didn\u2019t need to know what a tool he was. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another gem from the adventure: \u201cIf the PCs fail to role play a convincing argument for the mistake the captain will intercede and point out that the PCs will go retrieve the package immediately.\u201d If you don\u2019t take the hook then the sea captain steps in and sets the hook for you. <\/p>\n

At one point the read-aloud describes you going in to a tavern, so you can have a bar fight. It doesn\u2019t present an opportunity for you to go in. It\u2019s not hiding info in there for you to seek out. It just says that you go in. So the designer can have a bar fight. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re confronted by a tax collector. When you get off the ship. If you resist guards suddenly show up. They have 27hp each. Another guy, and enemy, in the adventure has 44hp. AC 14. And yet this claims to be a 1e adventure. It\u2019s clear that this is some 5e garbage with a 1e label stuck on it. <\/p>\n

The actual adventure is just a fetch quest.Bob have it to Tom. Go “find” Tom (ie: advance to next scene.) Tom gave it to Ed, advance to next scene with Ed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a very special list I keep. It contains the names of publishers I don\u2019t buy from. To get on it there must be a clear indication that the situation is hopeless. It\u2019s pointless to review more, an exercise in masochism. Filbar EASILY makes that list. It IS coherent, it just fails in every other way to present an adventuring environment. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s $2 on DriveThru. The preview is two pages and you get to see the railroad intro and the railroad hook. https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/221626\/Far2–Discord-at-the-Docks?affiliate_id=1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Frank Schmidt Adventures in Filbar 1e Levels 1-3 The adventure begins as your ship docks in Phoenix and you and your group debark. …The PCs were on a delivery mission but mistook a subject on the dock as the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","category-the-worst-evar"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/disdoc.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3836,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835\/revisions\/3836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}