How did you run... Friends Like These

Hey all,

I use the established “how do you” format so that this can be for general Friends Like These questions, but what I’m specifically wondering at this point is… have anyone fixed the Foundry Four map? That thing does not AT ALL line up with the description! I think I’ve managed to decode where most of the described locations are on the map, but I lack the skill to fix the map or make a new one. What’s the chance anyone have already done the work? :slight_smile:

I really like this adventure and what potentials it bring. Cool stuff!

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I have to say I really hated this adventure. If there are archives of the FFG Forum, you can read up on why, but mainly it’s the ending. If you play it straight from the book, the Imperial attackers automatically get away–which means they’ll be back (and in greater numbers…) so the adventure needs a rewrite. If the PCs know up front that they are just preparing for a holding action (like the defenders on Hoth), then it all works fine, but the adventure tries to play that this base is going to stay in operation for the Rebels for a good long time…and that’s just not really likely.

I also don’t like the crazy-short time frame that limits where the PCs can go and is supposed to be a ticking clock…but GM better not actually let the time run out because that’s not climactic. BTW, using EotE hyperspace travel time guidelines, you probably don’t have time to make it to more than one of the places you’re supposed to go and still get back in time. But the GM is supposed to fudge it to make the plot work… IOW, it’s railroady as hell and players are going to see behind the curtain. Maybe that doesn’t bother them, but if it does, this adventure sucks.

In my rendition, the adventure is set in a completely different location with tie-ins to the overall campaign, and the timer is 2 months. Also, it is quite unlikely that the Rebels will win, and if they do, they will probably not keep the place forever (although, there are weird local politics at play that could play in their advantage a little). In any case, I love the story for the scope and thrill and potentials it bring, and I see loads of great ways to utalize this book.

It is very, very easy to tear apart an RPG sourcebook – or any work of art, really – but I find it a lot more constructive to study the pieces potentials and utilize those to the hilt.

Friends Like These is a very fine RPG adventure that sets up some fantastic conflicts and moral dilemmas, and then it is the GMs job to take inspiration from those and work around the things that doesn’t work for them, personally. (That is, unless you’re a completely fresh GM and not secure enough to adapt the material. In that case, ANY published adventure will crash and burn as it encounters reality and the players’ mad schemes)

Anyway, did you have any resources on the map question?

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Find the archived FFG threads on FLT. Someone there made a map. My players never really had much use for one when I ran the adventure (much as you can enjoy the Battle of Hoth without a map of Echo Base).

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