[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Lord Windos]

Man, it's times like these where I'm reminded about something I heard on one of the High Rollers streams.  To paraphrase it a little:

'Want to challenge your players?  Give them a closed door to open.'

Nothing like a non-combat problem where anything could happen to really slow things down and cause players to sweat a lot more...

Which is why I typically dislike having to do puzzles or brew up complicated plans for equally complicated problems, as they ram the brakes on the pacing of a game and lock everyone into hesitant indecision and aimless ruminations until they can commit to an idea they think won't blow up too badly in their faces. Granted, I do like doing some think via Non-Combat or more heavy roleplaying/puzzley, and such conflict can add some much needed spice and drama to an otherwise plan adventure, but not so much when things are this high stakes, a given adventure is already interesting enough on its own, or I just want to fully explore and discover the mysteries/dangers/secrets of a given local.

So Angie getting caught up in the Capture Net....well, it makes me scared that I'll end up losing her (or turning into a Kadabra, which is arguably worse from a gameplay/story perspective) , but also just plain frustrated that we can't simply go straight to Diplomacy/First Contact, Battle, or just moving on to the next Chamber to try and find Marco. The fact that their is no obvious way to free Angie safely or even to narrow down the search for Marco makes it all the more hair and hackle raising...

Point being, I'm not liking this bind the group is in now, which I guess is sort of the point and consequence of dodging out of fighting The Maybe Legendary Spiritomb. I'll grin and bear it while trying to find some way to solve this situation and have fun, but it's going to be harder than usual for me personally.