Hi all! Things have been fairly quiet around here since Sonic TTH was released in February. After making a couple of minor formatting revisions, I've quietly begun working on the first major feature update: A quickstart adventure module! So, what exactly is a quickstart adventure, and why am I adding it now?
A quickstart adventure is an adventure written specifically to introduce new players to an RPG system, a "tutorial level" if you will. My original intent was to have one included with the rulebook at launch, and I developed an adventure during the playtesting process to fill this role. I structured it as a near-comprehensive display of every fundamental element Sonic TTH has to offer, but the further I got into it, the more I realized that it was becoming something more akin to a standalone adventure module created for a big name RPG that would contain several hours of content. This is what became The Mystery of Mirage Island.
Although I received positive feedback from my playtesters and released it alongside Sonic TTH at launch, I realized that it had deviated from my original idea somewhat. Mirage Island is excellent for building a larger campaign and introducing characters to the majority of the system as a whole, but I realize that asking first-timers to commit to 6+ hours of playtime as well an ongoing campaign upfront can be...daunting. I foresee many players getting bogged down after just wanting to try the game and end up dropping the story partway through. It also may not align with the story that the GM has in mind, since it will likely introduce a number of long-term complications to the narrative.
So, for the quickstart adventure, my goal is to create an experience that boils down Sonic TTH to the bare essentials, fitting more comfortably within a 3-4 hour session as well as being less continuity driven, meaning GMs can easily slip it into most narratives without worrying about long-term consequences. If Mirage Island is a 45-minute pilot episode for a serialized TV series, the quickstart adventure is a 22-minute cartoon in an episodic animated series.
To give you fine folks a taste of what's to come, here's a WIP of the map the adventure will take place in!
Keep On Rollin'
- McShmoodle
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