Yes, I schmoozed my way into a Tir Betoqi stone chair
I enjoyed that mod *because* it made my dark-kin feel like a dark-kin. Sure, I sat around for about 45 minutes with little to do, but that was fine. Now, had the entire adventure been that way, my opinion may have been different, but as it was, it was both realistic and fair to the players.Now, I am generally opposed to a lot of adventures which would say "This character race | archetype | nation shouldn't play this mod" because a lot of play opportunities are at conventions where I've paid money to play. If this is used in the future by the campaign, it should be used fairly across the board.
I knew going into the Crusade arc playing a dark-kin would be difficult and I would be greeted with derision at best and hostility at worst. I did believe in the unspoken covenant with the campaign staff and authors though that I also didn't expect that an adventure would outright kill my character. I think that's an important understanding, that while choices have consequences, those shouldn't be 'death to your character for playing a mod'.
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On the issue of STARTING OUT, I really prefer adventures that offer multiple motivations (money, duty, debt or love of adventure) as opposed to "You're all in a bar and are now supposed to care about this NPC". It's not easy and I speak as someone who hasn't written an Arcanis campaign module (but has started many home campaigns with disparate characters).
In the extreme, money is always a good motivator.
John