Chronicles of the Saturday Group - 2 February 2013

I'm beginning to get annoyed with this adventure.  Thankfully I think we're almost done with it.  I mentioned before that our characters have had their equipment removed from them and that therefore we've had to conserve spells and scrounge for gear.  That's fine; that's a different challenge.  The module consistently throws nasty stuff at us, mostly in the form of hordes of fighters from the various houses that we can barely hold our own against without all the spells and goodies we usually have access to.  That's also not a big deal.  But after being taught beyond the shadow of any doubt that we cannot trust anyone in this stinking city, we are set upon by too many opponents to defeat, boxed in at both sides with a civilian target we're trying to protect, trying to survive long enough to get away, on the edge of getting TPK'd, maybe, and the Deus Ex Machina comes out in the form of some other force attacking our enemies.  Twice.  The first time we didn't know who they were, though I now suspect I know their identities.  The second time they revealed themselves, but the problem is this: I'm trying to conserve my spells.  I'm not playing a combat character.  I'm trying to solve problems without hitting them with a stick this go-round.  So when I hold off on using my Spectral Force spell for two rounds, three rounds... and then I start casting it one segment before the cavalry shows up and instantly annihilates our foes, ensuring that not only will it not be necessary or useful but that it will be completely wasted and I have no way of replacing it... come on.  It feels too much like a 'gotcha!'.  Maybe it's nothing more than bad timing on my part, but I could have just sat back, hid behind the fighters and waited until the story (this is a module for an adventure game, recall) saved our asses itself.  That's not why I play.  I don't want to take part in a TPK either, but it's shown me that the players have no control over our destinies in this module.  Our DM actually stopped play early a few weeks earlier because he had to work out how to deal with our (well, one of our) actions.  Not because he's a bad DM or is unintelligent, but because the module is so heavily scripted.  Bleah and bleah.