I don't think we'd be abandoning a ship at all. To be clear, if I had to choose a type of game, I'd play an epic magic game as we currently have. I love that style of game and think it can be just as scary and fun as a low magic / low power game. But people are struggling with the power level in the existing game and trying to figure out ways to fix it. I personally don't think it is broken or needs to be fixed, and I also think that any "fix" has the potential to screw up what I believe is a good thing. It is just a different kind of game than some people like to play. So why not provide that kind of game as well via an alternate campaign? SoMI, as a single chapter, can do just that. If some people like just one style of game or the other, they can PC just those events. And heck, maybe they NPC for the other campaign. But my point is that they are not mutually exclusive.
Also, most of the "improvement" points can be applied equally to both campaigns. Moving logistics, for example, would apply to both campaigns. Staying more in game. Not complaining. More short term plots. All of those and many of the other suggestions apply to both types of campaigns. So doing these things to "right the ship," so to speak, can and should be done regardless of whether there is an alternate campaign. Adding an alternate campaign doesn't mean we are abandoning the main campaign.
But starting a low magic / low power alternate campaign gives something that the existing game doesn't, which is why I am excited about the idea. Here's a little more food for thought. It's the most extreme version I could think of, and any or all of these points would of course be subject to the PtB (powers that be). My take, though, is that if you are going to do an alternate campaign for the stated purpose of running a lower power / lower magic campaign, do it to the max.
--80 build cap for the first event.
--No magic items for new characters.
--No goblin point buy magic items in the campaign at all, ever.
--No PC can check in a magic item from another campaign, ever (assuming this is permissible under the National treasure policy; at a minimum, you could lock down the LCO transfer policy for this campaign).
--No goblin point buys for mundane items (potions, scrolls, etc.), ever.
--No magic items are put out by plot (or only very few, and only for very good reason, and only if they have names/histories/etc.).
--The only way to get a magic item in this campaign would be to make it as a PC, after gathering the necessary components and finding the scroll.
Think about what a game like that would be like.
--An armorsmith would be critical, because not everyone would have a max arcane armor suit and because not everything would be rendered.
--There might actually be a reason to play an artisan or craftsman, because people can't take alchemy three then amass poisons at logistics with goblins.
--Having scrolls and potions might turn the tide of a battle.
--Having high magic to cast a cloak would actually matter, because cloaks wouldn't be readily available.
--Magic blade spell would matter.
--Having a magic-to-hit NPC would be scary as hell.
--Celestial magic would be more critical, because not everything would have a bagillion body due to the overall lower power level of the game.
--Shatters and disarms (cast and prepare-to-die) would be as powerful as they were designed to be, because not everything is rendered and spirit linked/locked.
--Healers by class would actually be relevant because not every fighter has a tree of healing activates (the often discussed, and sometimes reviled, "pocket healer").
The list goes on and on...
Although I do love a high magic style of game, I can tell you that thinking and talking about this today has excited me tremendously. What's your take??
Joe
. I just want to play with my friends from down south, no matter how I have to do it.