Seeing as the norm of these comments so far, unfortunately, seems to be errors and clarifications, I thought I’d single out what I’ve found in relation to The Oil Trail. Have to add, though, that I’m overall pretty happy with the game despite agreeing with a lot of others in hoping that we will see some corrections in the final printed product.
Needless to say, there will be spoilers if you’re not a GM.
In any case:
Overall: The scenario/mini-campaign is compact, and introduces the game’s and setting’s concepts slightly over time in a feasible manner. If a bit railroady, that’s fine as an intro to everything. It is, however, rather light on details and cues. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but newer GMs might struggle a bit with giving life to all the scenes and characters. It is a double-edged sword with having an introduction scenario tie the characters to a specific culture, though, as it puts unnecessary restraints on new players and new characters, and might defeat the purpose of having the scenario be a starting point. It is easily modified for intermediate or veteran GMs, but adds another struggle to new GMs. But despite this, it is a nice foray into Dunwall as player characters.
I’ll address any errors and possible inconsistencies I found per section below:
Introduction
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Timeline: The year 1827 is a good year for a long-running Dunwall-campaign going on into the plague years and first game with seasoned characters and ample opportunities for off-time. But it’s very far off from the height of the Morleyan Insurrection, which peaked in 1801-02. It’s a confusing and strange reference to events, even if unrest has happened since, some closer more definite event should be mentioned or better ties into the war presented in addition the questions.
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Characters: There’s 15 years since the conclusion of the major events of the Insurrection. Most characters are by default somewhat old. More of an inconvenience than an inconsistency. Similarly, forcing Morleyan characters may not necessarily be that productive long-term, as mentioned above. Of other things, in particular relation to the players, the scenario fails to explain how the characters receive their starting equipment (this is important to players!)
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Campaign/Group Truth: This is a VERY good feature, and it should be detailed more in the GM section. In this section in particular, it should be clearer if it replaces or adds to the personal character truths (and if in addition, if it adds 5 xp or not)
I: Voice of the Voiceless
Scene 1:
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Again, very vague references to the timeline and insurrection. Why are the characters captured after this long? The Coldridge Dockyards Confinement Center box is worded so that it is clear that the prison has stood for a while (meaning the year is probably correct), but the speech in the read-aloud-text on p. 278 is worded differently.
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Grim Prospects is without a timeframe.
Scene 2:
- The named NPC inmates lacks any notable physical descriptions (good helper for new GMs or anyone, actually)
- “Why are people being so careful with that particular organ?” (p. 280): Scene lacks any prompt to actually trigger this question.
Scene 3:
- Key-stealing plan (which concludes in Scene 4) lacks a prompt to steal the keys AND the bladders in the same operation.
Scene 4:
- Key-stealing plan (cont.) assumes, as said above, more than is actually asked of the characters in the same operation. Failing that, clear information on what happens if the operation is split over several nights, lacks.
Scene 5:
- Explosion: “Those who duck (with the exception of the player character that’s inside the whale)” doesn’t specify what happens to the character that’s in the whale. Presumably (at least from a player standpoint), the whale and those within explodes.
II: War Within a Breath
Scene 1:
- Marika also lacks any physical description. I know these are easy to make yourself, but it helps a lot in setting scenes, mood and helping new GMs. Her description yet again speaks of war, adding to the timeline inconsistency
Scene 2:
- Last sentence of the Rundown-text has a typo: “Mikael offers asks them for help.”
- About the Bottle Street Gang and Hatters (p 287): Vague info, and for the BSG somewhat inconsistent with the write-up on p. 146 (Despite that being for the plague years). Is the BSG Morleyans, or are these Morleyans? Thomas Reynard adds confusion to this if he fought against the Morleyans. Needs clarification.
- The Truths once again lacks a timeframe. Are they permanent?
- Mikael’s speech (p 288): End of the first speech paragraph: What war? More timeline inconsistencies/confusion. In the second speech paragraph he even says the war is over [at home], but explains it’s not over for the workers here. This is not an inconsistency, but it is confusing in the light of the inconsistencies.
- Typo in second speech paragraph: “… I told Clarissa about the escape…” Should likely be “Clarissa told me about the escape.” ?
- Blue bold text (p 288): Reference to giving the players chaos. Should it not be adding to the chaos pool that’s the correct term?
Scene 3:
- (p 289) Talk Boldly/Cleverly task: Should it be specified that there’s a check for each gang?
- For the Bottle Street Gang: First bullet point: Typo in second sentence. A “t” is missing from “three”.
III: Ashes of the Fall
Scene 4:
- For this scene, the lack of any overview maps specific to the scenario is starting to show, despite knowing the mansion is in the Water District. Additionally, no description or features of the mansion is provided. A collection of the mansion’s truths would be nice.
- (p 296) Typo: “Tinker” in the “Tinker Quietly” prompt in the first paragraph is missing an R.
- Voice 2: War timeline inconsistency. Again.
Scene 5
- The Break In: Again, a summary of mansionTruths would be preferable even though they’re presented throughout the text.
- The Break In: There’s no mentioning of figuring out where Greaves is, only how to get there, which doesn’t make sense. A couple of example checks could be helpful.
- Stand Your Ground: The “March of the Oilbloods” track lacks any description of its use. In context, it is likely that the number of boxes is the number of patrols, but it isn’t specified.
IV: Sleep Now in the Fire
Scene 1
- First bulletpoint: Typo: “What do the gangs believe reason why the City Watch stopped coming is?” is lacking a “the” before reason. It’s also contradictory to the third point. Should specify that the gangs are not being targeted, but the workers and Morleyan community is?
Scene 3
- Fugue Feast text block: Strange choice of font.
Scene 5
- As with the mansion, for new GM (or any GM) ease, this area should have a sketch suggestion included, not just a mention of making one.
- The mentioned progression track should also be specified in some manner.