Re: edition wars

On Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:05:50 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I think it just outlived itself. The original Dragonlance adventures
might not be my favorite, but they told a story. The whole franchise was
basically desperately searching for what it's point was afterwards, and
failing.

>
>
That's a problem with almost all Epics. Once you get to the end, it's
_really_ hard to move on from there. 'Congratulations, you've defeated
the Big Bad... but now what?' Well, you can decide the Big Bad comes
back, or maybe there's a bigger Bad, or maybe you just have some
half-hearted adventures in the world you just saved... but none of
those choices really have the same impact as the original quest. The
best thing you can do is just move onto something new entirely.

Babylon V handled it pretty well. Shadows are gone, as are all the elder
god races. Well, now what? You thought they were the *real problem*, but
somehow you still have problems, because there's never just one. There's
the big one, and you made the mistake of ignoring the rest.

It turned out that the BBEG became a distraction, their lurking allies
are *pissed*, and other evils, now blossoming, have flourished. There are
now multiple NQABBEGS (Not Quite As Big Bad Evil Guys). They're fighting
for the scraps and doing a lot of collateral damage. And one of them, by
the end of the campaign, will rise to become the new BBEG. After all, you
can't take on all of them at once. Will you make the same mistake?

Nothing half hearted about that. Heroing is hard.

Now, Babylon V didn't produce good *tv* after the 4th season retaking of
Earth, but the premise for the next season was great, and there were some
real gems in their 5th season.

I also have a boxed set of Crusader on my shelf as a cautionary tale.

(Yes. This is a threadjacking to Babylon V. I didn't crosspost though
because that group is dead.)

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten