Ultimate Intrigue continues full force, with Alex from the Private Sanctuary joining Ryan and Perram to review Ultimate Intrigue!
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Know Direction 130 – Ultimate Intrigue Review
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Thanks for the great podcast. My only complaint is that one of the hosts kept on coughing and clearing his throat into the microphone which sounds disgusting.
I know its a free podcast but use the mute button.
Noted Andrew, and we’ll look out for this in the future. Thankfully my cold has mostly gone away and we’ve got a new microphone with an easier to use mute.
This exactly. It bothered me greatly, taking me out of an otherwise very pleasant and informative experience.
On the subject of chase cards…you’re doing it wrong.
My players didn’t like the chase cards when I first introduced them because I used them as written, and would put down half a dozen random cards and when they were flipped over it was just as much a surprise to me ad the players.
That didn’t work.
The chase cards became really cool when I started stacking the deck. I look at the map of the area where the chase scene will take place, then choose cards that make sense, putting them in an order of increasing difficulty so there is a sense of rising action, with the final card being a real tough roll. This has also inspired me to create original cards to add to the deck, such as cards for airborne and waterborne chases. I also get what you said about the dc…it’s easy to adjust those by adding details…maybe that Manure cart they have to get around is also on fire, for example.
So yes, I agree, as written the chase rules suck, but it’s not a lot of work to use them as a tool to make really cool chase scenes that make sense.
I don’t think I went into this, but that “Shortcut” story went like this:
1. A chase scene naturally presented itself;
2. Me: “Ooh, and I just got the Chase Deck. Perfect timing!”
3. Everyone: “Ooh.”
4. First card: Shortcut.
So it wasn’t just that the experience didn’t work for our group, it was the emotional drop of thinking we had the perfect tool for the job and then realizing we do not. It was like getting a fancy popcorn popper, and the first thing that flies out of it is a pipping hot, unpopped kernel that goes down the back of your shirt and burns you. Odds are, that’s not going to happen every time, but what a terrible first impression.
We still have the deck, so many some day we’ll give them another try and follow your suggestions. For now, every time I see it, I watch for fiery kernels.
If you still want to use them randomly without stacking, just draw them behind the GM screen, toss one if it doesn’t work and draw again. I’ve used them a couple times this way in one of my games and it worked out great, and everyone had fun.