Court of Swords too challenging?

[Samstein_]

I think the problem is that there´s no room for mistakes, Adam creates a merciless world full of hard and deadly encounters that´s almost impossible to survive with bad rolls and missed mechanics (hunters mark, pushing monster prone, etc).

There´s been like 3(?) different story archs and at some point Adam (or the cast) will run out of good ideas to implement characters to an already existing “battlefield”, there´s always been a point of focus though with the different (but reappearing) evil forces but right now there seems to be different interests between the characters who still exists. [spoiler]What´s the corelation between Berg and Azriel now? it feels weird that they´re gonna travel the world together, and do what? Bergs initial goal was to get rid of his manacle so he could escape from the clutches of whatever his name was?, he is still under the influence of another person and what does Azriel as a Paladin feel towards a prisoner/thug(Berg was sent to prison for killing people)[/spoiler]

To me it seems like the world progression is snowballing out of proportion to what the cast can handle, the character investment seems to thin on each new character and development of every new character focus lost on the players.

Basically agreeing with alot of people that Adam needs to lower the bar a bit, IF he needs some breathing room for his creative mind. Adam destroys characters while he lets the world build layers upon layers of fun and evil content.

[Samstein_]

[spoiler]But basically the threads of fate can also force Azriel to put an end to Bergs life (or atleast try) ? or alternatively turn him into the Court of Swords or whatever he was forcefully working for…? I don´t understand how the tarot readings and threads of fate can help their party, if by sheer luck they can find some kind of campionship? this seems to be falling out of topic so feel free to respond in PM[/spoiler]

[Cryptology]

JP did say something about that character having “served his purpose”. Perhaps that character’s purpose was really only to unite the two “parties”.

Despite what JP has said in the past, I do believe he cares about his characters. He just isn’t so attached to them that he’ll be tilted by their deaths. [spoiler]His Kenku roll is the perfect example of this. He’s definitely invested in the show enough to care enough about playing the Kenku correctly[/spoiler], but if he loses the character, it’s not going to ruin his day. I can respect that.

[UmbraSanctum]

@Itachi9000

I do however think Adam should throw in hordes of low level enemies at them now and again, creatures who can be one shot just to reignite the wow factor of the PCs power for both the players and viewers as constant back and forth struggles with high HP mobs can be tedious after a while.

I think there is a fine line to run between COS being deadly encounters all the time and the audience feeling like they are all GM hacks and cheap shots to deliberately kill characters.

I agree with this idea completely. I can’t speak for the players on the show, but on average, keeping a fire lit is key to having players invested in long campaigns. We can’t forget that the players are supposed to be Adventurers. Generally a cut above the rest.

A couple of encounters where maybe the enemies are rather weak but not the main focus of the event would prove to highlight that “wow factor” invigorating the players and audience alike. Something akin to a puzzle of a scenario, and the enemies are little more than a hindrance. I suspect even if Adam enjoys killing PC’s–which I doubt is even his goal–it would be tastier to get them more invested in their characters by empowering them once in a while. Also makes it more entertaining to watch; healthy balance of desperation and awesome PC action.