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Strange Cares posted:Personally when I run/play Star Wars I just stick to non-force users in my games. Imho the Star Wars setting is most fun when you use Jedi/Sith as antagonists to the players rather than player options Interestingly, that was the flavor of my Thalos campaign. The PCs were typically, usually outclassed and were involved in poo poo that was way above their pay grade. Unlike a previous D&D campaign where PCs and monsters are bags of HP and DPS and may the best combination win, my players this time wanted insane larger-than-life poo poo. Hence the encounter with what was essentially a level 50 Titan encounter with level 18-ish PCs. I can see this dynamic playing out in a Star Wars campaign where the Sith are behind the scenes, pulling strings while the PCs run around talking to people, stealing spaceships, and blowing poo poo up. At some point, though, the Sith comes on stage and it's more about fleeing before getting killed by Force lightning rather than killing the Bad Guy.
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Nov 16, 2020 22:15
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Edge of the Empire is great for stuff like that. The PCs are mostly small-time hustlers and bounty hunters trying to make a name for themselves, trapped between the Empire and the big crime syndicates.
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Nov 16, 2020 23:58
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I don't want my trash talking of Star Wars lore to give people the wrong impression: I loved playing in Edge of the Empire. The system is cool, and it's fun playing a non-force character in that setting. I'm not even that big on the setting, but it's fun as a sci fi romp, which is all I wanted when the game came up in one of my groups. I would have jumped at the chance to play any space opera, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good the system was.
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Nov 17, 2020 00:58
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Jenny Nicholson also has a good plot hook for an EotE game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7QzSnDNiNM I 100% agree SW is a fantastic setting for regular people and robot people doin' cyberpunk in space.
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Nov 17, 2020 03:44
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I've always seen Jedi as more like warrior monks than anything else. They need to have control of their emotions, behave in a measured way, and strive to do good, but beyond that, there's not a whole lot of restrictions on them. Kenobi deceives people (Luke & stormtroopers), kills people (clone wars), is comfortable working with people outside the law (Han Solo, the cantina scene in general), and clearly shows emotions, even if he tries not to act on them. Luke is the same way, and it's not like he's some unfeeling robot; the only time he is punished for his emotions is during his fight with Vader when he loses control of himself, even though he is fighting against two clearly evil men for the good of the galaxy and to defend his sister from being subjected to what he is being subjected to. I feel like there's a lot fewer issues with the Jedi as compared to paladins; they have a lot of grey areas to work with in their code, and in D&D terms they seem to fit into the monk archetype of being lawful above all else (in the sense of having control of one's own actions) and good secondarily to that (in the sense of working towards helping people). They're not the anti-fun brigade, but they do avoid using their powers for personal gain, and try to minimize casualties when possible. Like in the earlier story about cheating a crimelord before capturing him, a Jedi would probably not be happy about the cheating part, and would almost certainly not aid in the cheating portion of the endeavor, but they would be very happy to have a way to capture the crime lord without starting a fight in a crowded casino, and most likely would be happy with the plan overall. They would almost certainly have no issue mind tricking guards away from the crime lord's vehicle, for instance, maybe even posing as one of the guards if possible.
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Nov 17, 2020 16:54
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Dirk the Average posted:I've always seen Jedi as more like warrior monks than anything else. They need to have control of their emotions, behave in a measured way, and strive to do good, but beyond that, there's not a whole lot of restrictions on them. Kenobi deceives people (Luke & stormtroopers), kills people (clone wars), is comfortable working with people outside the law (Han Solo, the cantina scene in general), and clearly shows emotions, even if he tries not to act on them. Luke is the same way, and it's not like he's some unfeeling robot; the only time he is punished for his emotions is during his fight with Vader when he loses control of himself, even though he is fighting against two clearly evil men for the good of the galaxy and to defend his sister from being subjected to what he is being subjected to. I would argue that Luke and Obi-Wan are relatively extreme examples. Obi-Wan was trained by a guy who was considered fairly fringe in his beliefs (Not sure if it was official or just popular fancanon that Qui-Gon was a grey jedi), and Luke didn't receive any formal training until like his early 20s, and even then it was more of a crash course than a full on education. I think a lot of the "Jedi do not have feelings, we are fleshy robots, beep-boop" is probably based more in the Old Republic games. I remember one of the convos you could have with HK-47 about how Revan thought it ironic that the best way to counter a Jedi was to be human at them.
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Nov 17, 2020 17:15
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the_steve posted:I would argue that Luke and Obi-Wan are relatively extreme examples. Fair, but they're also two of the only three Jedi that we see in the original movies. One can also argue that Yoda was so harsh about instilling the feelings stuff into Luke because of how little training Luke had undergone. It also really heavily follows the trope of the wise old master who teaches an ancient martial art that must only be used for good, and should only be used in self defense or the defense of others. There are a lot of kung-fu movies out there with protagonists that start out as hotheads and then undergo training, wise up, and are heroes who fight from a place of calm and peace for the right reasons. That doesn't make them less human, just more controlled and more focused.
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Nov 17, 2020 17:45
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Dirk the Average posted:Fair, but they're also two of the only three Jedi that we see in the original movies. One can also argue that Yoda was so harsh about instilling the feelings stuff into Luke because of how little training Luke had undergone. And Yoda knew who Luke's father was.
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Nov 17, 2020 19:54
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Kavak posted:"Anakin needs to have reasons to turn to the dark side- lets have the trauma of losing his mother on multiple levels and a forbidden romance." I mean, the films actually read pretty coherently as "the Jedi were well-meaning but mistaken on many things and corrupted, they fell because of that corruption, and Luke redeemed the Jedi by not shunning connections to the outside world and trusting in his friends." Whether or not that was what Lucas intended is largely immaterial. But like, even if you just look at the OT- Kenobi and Yoda are proved wrong. That's not a flaw, that's the student outgrowing the teacher.
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Nov 17, 2020 22:22
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I'm playing a post-Order 66 Jedi Padawan in my (on hiatus, sadly, because Mondays are no-fly zones for half the group) Star Wars game, and every time I ignite my lightsaber it paints me as a big-rear end target. To say nothing of the Inquisitors hunting me down... I think the best way to play a Jedi or run a game with a Jedi is to understand that you're Public Enemy #1, either because you're the officer leading a Clone troop, you're blamed for bringing down the Republic, or propaganda runs DEEP in the Empire. The more powerful you become, the more powerful your enemies do... And also, the DM has to let the other players have their time in the spotlight. It can't be The Jedi Show all the time.
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Nov 18, 2020 18:53
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In a lot of ways, playing a Jedi "right" in Edge of the Empire is probably a lot like playing a Mage in oWoD: You've gotta be careful how you use your powers or else Paradox will gently caress you right up. Except in Star Wars, Paradox is a Star Destroyer.
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Nov 18, 2020 19:44
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I'm a casual Star Wars fan and I tend not to overthink things, so philosophical arguments about "what the Jedi/Sith stand for" kind of washes over me. I just fancy the idea of being a mellow, generally pacifistic chap who when necessary beats people with a glowy sword that sounds like someone swinging around a flourescent light fixture and can knock people down by pointing at them aggressively. A previous poster and I will have to disagree, because I actually feel that strong emotions, especially negative ones like rage, impatience etc, are a sign of immaturity, so perhaps that is why a character with a somewhat ascetic philosophy appeals to me.
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Nov 19, 2020 01:20
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JustJeff88 posted:I actually feel that strong emotions are a sign of immaturity ah, a minnesotan
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Nov 19, 2020 02:24
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Yawgmoth posted:ah, a minnesotan Be more broad-minded, could be a WASP from any midwestern state.
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Nov 19, 2020 02:49
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Let us begin by establishing our postulates, to wit, that people who punch walls are literally subhuman. In this 34 page essay I will
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Nov 19, 2020 02:56
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At the risk of sounding too emotional, let me just say: yikes.
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Nov 19, 2020 03:42
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Speaking of emotions! Another session of Night's Double Cross today. The group retreated from the domain of a fey count/absolute loving rear end in a top hat, completely the worst after he swore a life-and-death oath to kill them all on halloween. Y'know, like well-adjusted individuals do. Since we had a week or so to prepare, we naturally discussed what our next steps would be... which led to someone suggesting we visit the fairy lord who had given us the mission for advice. The fairy lord who my character currently serves. The fairly lord who did not tell her that this current bit of outlaw-hunting would involve meeting her fetch, a very lovely and clever girl named Robin. A very lovely and clever girl named Robin who believed that my character was the fake and she was the real one... because my character had told her so. Because she wanted her to live her life without being weighed down by the knowledge that she was just a copy. My character was not super enthused about plan: go meet the Lady of Ann Arbor and chat with her! She tried to come up with a compelling reason not to go, brought up that maybe attracting the attention of an even greater fey lord than the one we're currently planning to punt into orbit wasn't a great idea, and made the mistake of admitting that she doesn't really know a lot of what her Lady gets up do, and doesn't really understand her motives and motivations. The conversation doesn't go anywhere fast (there's a brief interlude to discuss my character's frenemy's glasses, and the anime glasses sheen), but eventually Nuala brings up the possibility that maybe her "sister" could awaken powers of her own. This was also a mistake, because really the only way a fetch can do non-human things is to recognize that it's not human, and that's exactly what Nuala doesn't want! Before anyone can press her too hard on it, though, the door gets flung open, and Nuala's third mistake storms in and immediately starts pointing swords at anything remotely feylike - in this case, Nuala's frenemy Anemone. In preparing for their first expedition to the fae lands to get their mission, Nuala had thought to contact an ally of theirs from a previous mission, a certain Monsignor Maxwell Anderson of the Papal Knights of the Holy Office, and let him know what was going on, and to maybe consider mounting a rescue operation if they weren't back in a week because the fey realms are full of timey-wimey bullshit and distractions. She forgot two important things: 1) Father Maxwell really loving hates the fae. 2) In all the anxiety that comes with finding out that you were replaced and that your replacement is living a nice quiet life full of dreams and hopes and then you kind of lie to her about which one's the replacement and then you gotta keep that lie and you're not really all that good at lying because direct lies aren't really a fairy thing, she kiiiiind of forgot to send him another message saying that they were fine. Father Maxwell sees Robin, immediately recognizes her as a fetch, and mentally updates the situation from 'there are maybe fae who need killing' to 'there are absolutely fae who need killing right now' because he, as previously stated, really doesn't like the fae, especially the ones who kidnap children. He manages to contain himself long enough to suggest that he and Nuala and the others maybe have a nice little chat right this moment, and they quickly excuse themselves to the next room (Nuala uses her fey bullshit powers to twist the room a half-step from reality, so no one will bother them). A very tense discussion follows, in which Father Maxwell and Nuala verbally spar with each other over just how terrible a person Nuala's Lady is, before settling on a very slightly less contentious topic: whether all the secrets and lies between Nuala and Robin are a) sinning and b) a good idea. Both are inconclusive, but by the time they head back to reality, Father Maxwell's calmed down enough by this point to not threaten to murder a fairy in front of the knight-errant sworn to her service, and Nuala's calmed down enough to actually think about what she's been doing, though she concludes she's in the right. It's ultimately pretty pointless, though, because Robin almost immediately Eleanor Shellstrops it and figures out she's a fetch. Whoops. She takes it well, though! Definitely better than Nuala did, but the bar is not particularly high there. There's hugging, there's absolutely no crying because there's no way Nuala's crying in front of Anemone and Father Maxwell even if she kind of really wants to, and at the end, they circle back to what they'd been discussing before: awakening whatever magic Robin may or may not have. Nuala's still not super enthused about the idea because people who have power inevitably end up using it, and that's the exact opposite of a quiet and peaceful night, but Robin decides that if there's any chance of her putting a sword through the head of the fey count that they're trying to protect her from, she's absolutely one hundred percent up for it. Robin is a bit of an anime fan. Robin really likes Utena. So Nuala takes her hand, and tells her to remember; remember what she was, what she has been, remember what she will be. And it works! Robin draws a sword from herself as she awakens as a Morpheus (the sort of character who specializes in creation e.g. manifesting swords to stab rear end in a top hat fairies with). "It really does work like that," Robin says. "Of course it would," says Nuala, who had absolutely no loving idea it would. Next week: We kick the rear end of a fey count/embodiment of toxic masculinity/really just the absolute worst.
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Nov 19, 2020 06:11
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Leraika posted:Next week: We kick the rear end of a fey count/embodiment of toxic masculinity/really just the absolute worst. God, this is going to be satisfying. Alex ruined his big attack last time, and with a little prep maybe they can figure out how to screw up his plans without getting turned into a sexy pincushion in the process. Or maybe that'll be their halloween costume.
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Nov 20, 2020 02:31
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Leraika posted:go meet the Lady of Ann Arbor and chat with her!
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Nov 20, 2020 04:24
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Kings of the Rift Once again the five of us set out into the wild. We head north and east into the Barrier Peaks though instead of heading northwards towards Iggwilv’s Horn and the Caverns of Tsojcanth we veer east through the mountains to the Katerray Plains. We use our “memories” from the Library of Last Resort and the maps found in the Sage’s Guild Library to make our way through the mountains to the Rift Canyon. The eastern side of the Barrier Peaks fades into an arid wasteland broken only by the occasional rock formation or copse of scrub oaks. To the east of us, the land drops away into the immense gulf of the Rify Canyon. It stretches as far as the eye can see to the south and west, a mind-boggling gash in the face of the world. The wind blowing over the strange rock formations perched on the canyon's rim makes a hollow moaning sound. The night’s march brings us to the lip of the canyon and we can see, one hundred feet below the top of the cliff, an immense ruined city of stone lies nestled in a wide, open cavern. Hundreds of multi-leveled building and towers rise inside this cavern, creating a vertical cityscape of spires, battlements, and stone bridges. Spires of rock protruding precariously from the cliff's lower face rise up before the cityscape. Some of these spires are barren, capped only by the odd bush or rock formation, but two support large castles of their own, and connect to the main city via slender bridges of stone. Smoke rises from several parts of the ruined city, and many of the buildings are recently damaged or destroyed. The source of the damage is readily apparent, for the city of Kongen-Thulnir is under siege by dragons. Flights of them wheel and dive down towards the ruins, unleashing breath weapons of destruction, or rending stonework with their claws, to climb away into the sky once again. We can see giants active in the ruins, sometimes manning various siege engines that defend the ruins, at other times running for cover. “Looks like we go here just in time,” says Snakeeyes wryly. “Eh. Thi’ isn’t ‘re fight. Let’s jus’ go get ‘t an’ be on our way,” Severance retorts. Laenaya sighs, “Five of mine for six of yours says those worms are here for the same thing we are.” “No bet,” says Snakeeyes. “But the good news is that they, like us, have no idea where within that keep is hidden the phylactery.” “So what do we do? Fight an army of dragons?” chimes in Ospar. “No,” I say. “Just the ones who get in our way, and if we do this quiet-like no one will. We stay hidden. Stay mobile. Move fast and avoid direct conflict.” Laenaya snorts. “I imagine avoiding conflict might not be up to us.” Severance, Ospar and I weave charms and enchantments granting flight, levitation and stealth and we plunge into the maelstrom. We follow a wide ledge along the lip of the canyon that slopes downwards towards the smoldering ruins of a gatehouse, the gate itself smashed flat and blackened. We pass under the gate and into the city itself moving quickly through smashed ruins and intact buildings. We see giants manning massive ballista that send massive harpoons skyward towards circling dragons. The giants shout at us, but we ignore them and continue to move towards a large plaza that is strangely vacant and quiet. We move through it as quietly as we can, but as we move across, there is an explosion of toxic gas that envelops us all, staggering us as the gigantic form of a fiendish green dragon materializes out of nowhere. “Well hello,” she says and beats her wings, sending gale force winds at us as she takes flight. “Where might five humans be a-wandering to at this time of night?” Snakeeyes and Lashonna immediately take flight and draw blades as Ospar flings his daggers at the dragon’s eyes, drawing blood across her face. Severance and I begin a barrage of bolts of fire, lightning, ice and pure force as we try to batter down her defenses as quickly as possible. The battle is an intricate dance as Snakeeyes and Lashonna work to give each other the opportunity to attack an exposed flank or rear while Severance and I fling elemental death without hitting either of our warriors. Ospar alternates between flinging his dragon-tooth daggers and send the healing of Hextor at us. This dragon is as scary as it is fierce but in the end it is five against one and all of us are deadly in our own right, sending the dragon to crashing ruin into the buildings of Kongen-Thulnir. We track it down to make sure the beast is dead, though I admit to delaying our progress to carve up some relics, much to Snakeeyes’ disgust. As Ospar heals the lungs of a gasping Severance, he wheezes. “’ow many times can we do tha’?” I shrug. “As many as we can. As many as we need.” And we press on. Agrikk fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Nov 20, 2020 |
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Nov 20, 2020 05:35
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The Red Road Four times we are beset by an adult dragon or a flight of wyrmlings as we navigate the city. Four times we battle them back, a little weaker and a little worse for the wear. Our advance is complicated by the fact that there are two tribes of giants who have been battling for control over this city and both groups are fighting each other in addition to the dragons, and the giants are resentful that we are here without anyone’s permission. So we are dodging dragons and attempting to assist the giants with the defense of the city. At the same time we are negotiating passage further into the city while discreetly inquiring into potential hiding places of the phylactery. No giant seems to know, but the two likely locations are the Citadel of Weeping Dragons and the Riftlord Palace. Laenaya is wiping some ichor off of her blade and points to a fire in the distance. “The palace is burning and partially collapsed. If the phylactery is there it will be near impossible to do a proper search until this mess is over.” “An’ the oth’r place be called Cit’del o’ Weepin’ Drag’ns. Mayhap a hint?” Severance is wrapping a bandage around a bleeding thigh wound as we are conserving the rest of our restorative spells, trinkets and potions for anticipated wounds to come. “T’ th’ Cit’del we come.” We eat and drink and rest for a moment in the shell of a guard tower facing the chasm as giants send harpoons and hurl rocks at the dragons overhead. Laenaya slips into the night to return maybe a half an hour later looking flushed and refreshed. No one asks. We head out again into the night that is filled with the crash of stone buildings collapsing, the shouts and bellows of giants, and the roar of dragons, punctuated by the hiss of a harpoon launched skyward. We move though the city, past a choke point in the ledge and over its ruined guard towers, into the innermost part of the construction. Ahead of us is the burning palace and to the right is a narrow promontory of rock extending out into the void, upon which is set a squat tower of stone. At the mouth of the promontory is a red stone arch through which passes a wide road of the same red stone that leads directly to the tower. We cross the plaza towards the red archway, but a voice calls out to us from the shadowy darkness. We stop and turn, blades bared and spells of death at the ready but are greeted by a familiar face, all the stranger due to our surroundings. The Ominous Fabler steps from the shadows. “Greetings my young friends,” he says. “It is a far walk from the halls of Prince Zeech, is it not?” Severance, ever the spokesperson, speaks in a whisper, “Wha’ ‘re ye doin’ ‘ere, Fabler?” He motions us over to the red arch and we crouch in the shadows as the battle rumbles around us, dragons circling overhead. “My name is Gazzilfek. My liege is Kolvant Granitebones, a stone giant of Clan Melangel who once ruled Kongen-Thulnir before they were forced out by the current Riftlords. Kolvant experienced a terrible dream recently wherein he beheld armies of demonspawn pouring across the land. He sent me out from his court several years ago to learn what I could about the Age of Chaos, which led me to Prince Zeech’s court in Thalos. There I learned about the Lady Lashonna’s interest in the Age of Chaos and Dragotha’s phylactery. I admit to following you here where I’d hoped-“ The Fabler’s story is suddenly interrupted with a croaking gasp as he begins to cough up black blood. Ospar materializes behind him, yanking his two blades from the Fabler’s back. In a smooth motion, as quick as lightning, Snakeeyes unsheathes his katana and decapitates the Fabler, body and head dropping in with two separate thumps. I recoil from the mess in shock. “What in the hells…?” With a flick of his wrist, Snakeeyes performs ritual chiburi with his blade and says simply, “No one we’ve met has been who they say they are, Lashonna included. And I’m sick of strangers.” Ospar is cleaning his knives on the Fabler’s corpse. “Why did the Fabler follow us all the way to this city unannounced only to meet us here, in front of an incredibly exposed road to one of the potential hideouts of the phylactery? Simple. He could go no farther on his own and needed our help. I’d bet my oath to Hextor that he would have betrayed us in the end.” Laenaya has a wry smile on her face and Severance can only shake his head in resignation and says instead, quoting Snakeeyes, “’The mission is that way.’” We pass under the red arch and make our way along the Red Road, leaving the Fabler's corpse in a spreading pool of blood behind us.
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Nov 20, 2020 17:33
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Haha it's a bold move to shank someone mid-exposition. How did the DM react to that one?
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Nov 20, 2020 18:13
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Podima posted:Haha it's a bold move to shank someone mid-exposition. How did the DM react to that one? I was the DM for this campaign. I remember the players huddling up then coming back to the table saying "We kill him". I was like "Huh? Are you sure?" and they were "Yep. We kill him." Turns out they were totally right. The Fabler was totally going to try to steal the phylactery and take it back to Dragotha.
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Nov 20, 2020 19:46
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The Cavalry Arrives We are halfway across the promontory when they come for us. Three giant shadows against the dark night descend and land with a single crash between us and the citadel. An ancient green serpent, a gigantic blue drake and a resplendent ancient red standing at the forefront. “Hello, my breathless ones. Well met,” the Red rumbles in a voice as deep and slow as lava. “My name is Brazzemal the Burning.” Turning, the Red nods to the other drakes in turn. “And this is Vermirox and Xyzanth the Green. Who might you be, humans who manage to throw down Necrozyte?” “Do it matter?” calls out Severance. “No,” exhales Brazzemal with a puff of smoke. “I was just being polite. Suppose we should dispense with the pleasantries and see to your destruction, then? Or you could just tell me where the phylactery is hidden and I’ll let you go.” “Phylactery? What’s that?” Ospar calls out. “So be it.” There is a great rush of air and the acrid smell of ozone. We look up and around, dragon, human, and vampire alike, and out of the darkness rockets the biggest dragon I’ve yet seen. A massive horned beast resplendent in glittering blue scales comes crashing into the trio and crushes the green under its weight. It turns to the other blue with lightning crackling around its head and roars a single word, “Vermirox!” It is all we can do just to stand there in terror as Vermirox the Blue backpedals, turns and takes flight into the darkness. The ancient Blue holds Xyzanth the Green struggling by its head under a mighty clawed foot and turns to face Brazzemal and both unleash an army-slaying breath at the other: a storm of fire and a many-forked bolt of lightning that swirls about the other as they both take wing to do battle in the sky. The Green picks itself up even as we rush forward to attack, shaking its head to clear it and exhaling a cloud of toxic fumes at us. But I am ready with a windstorm of my own to blow some of the cloud out over the chasm to minimize the damage and we are engaged. Once again Severance and I sling bolts and balls of elemental energy at the creature while Laenaya, Ospar and Snakeeyes harry the beast with their blades. The trio leap and fly into flanking positions and they work at slashing at exposed hindquarters, limbs and wings as Severance and I do our best to block incoming spells. It is an elegant dance, a competition of gracefulness, and the loser dies. Snakeeyes slashes at a hind leg but a kick sends him sprawling. Ospar’s thrown knives are batted aside by a flapping wing and would quickly have been lost had they not magically returned to him. Laenaya flies around the beasts head, striking at the neck while dodging fanged bites. Then Xyxanth takes flight and is pursued by Laenaya, Severance and Snakeeyes, so Ospar and I remain on the ground to send heals upwards as we may. As we fight our fight, we can see flashes of fire and lightning in the distant sky as Brazzemal and the ancient Blue settle their differences. And Finally Xyzanth the Green falls from the sly, mortally wounded from a bolt of ice from Severance. Followed by Brazzemal who plummets to his doom with a final roar. Then at last the five of us are standing before the Citadel gates, broken, beat, and scarred, facing the ancient blue dragon. “Hello Father,” Snakeeyes says.
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Nov 20, 2020 22:51
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Agrikk posted:“Hello Father,” Snakeeyes says. 
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Nov 21, 2020 01:43
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Agrikk posted:The Cavalry Arrives 
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Nov 21, 2020 01:48
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Nov 21, 2020 03:28
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My six-year-old recently asked to try D&D. I helped her make a Chaotic Good Tiefling Druid. The druid's name is Rockstar Kitty. These are her stories.  Chapter 1: How to Make (Animal) Friends and Defenestrate People Chapter 3: The Munificent Seven Chapter 4: "I Steal the Dead Goblin Meat from the Monster Cat" I'm going to skip forward to chapter 4, since I have more notes about that one. Rockstar Kitty has, to date, thrown an evil wizard out a window, thrown a badger at a highway robber's face, and defended a town from Orc raiders. The last one I ripped off whole-cloth from Seven Samurai, which for my money is the one of the best premises for a capsule plot in any game. The one good note I have for episode 3 is the map of the town Rockstar Kitty defended, post-battle:  Pictured: Battle of Kursk, 1943 I didn't dumb anything about this down. I let my daughter know what the objectives were (the "X" in the middle is the bell at the center of town, both a rallying point and a key objective for the bad guys) and what resources she had mustered. She used her time, personnel, and materiel really well. She had the people build some wooden walls on the side of the city facing the attackers, and broke up her personnel into groups to better spread out her defense. During the battle, she scrambled around enough to smash the attackers without losing a single building to the torch. The raiders were on horseback and used feigned flight at one point, but she didn't fall for it. That's better than like 90% of the people who fought the Mongols, so I'd say she ready for some Warhams. Anyway, onto... Chapter 4: "I Steal the Dead Goblin Meat from the Monster Cat" The town that Rockstar Kitty just defended found itself with a new problem. After defending itself from the orcs and feting Rockstar, the town starting losing small animals and valuables in the night. Some townsfolk reported seeing what they thought might be goblins in the distance. The town has not had problems with goblins in quite a while, so presumably the absence of the marauding orcs has freed them up to go out again themselves. These goblins, though, are cowards compared to the orcs, so they're going to stay in their cave for the most part. This means Rockstar catches her first dungeon crawl. Rockstar arrives at the goblin cave with her badger friend Wesley and her mountain lion friend Big Claws. They find the long-dead body of a humanoid adventurer just inside the cave, just to set the stakes. Rockstar passes a medicine check to notice that the body doesn't have the kinds of wounds that goblins make with sharp sticks and the other weapons they use. It appears to have died of large animal claw wounds and bites. Rockstar moves on quickly "because this is spooky." A couple rooms in, she runs across a room with a treasure chest and two goblins hunched over it. They appear to be counting things inside it and do not appear to have noticed her approach. My daughter, not having the seasoned instincts of a hack-and-slash player quite yet, decided to sneak past them. She does so, and ends up in a room full of sleeping goblins. She also tiptoes through this room, but hears a couple more approaching from around the next corner. I let her know that going back will be tricky, because going back quietly cannot be done very quickly, but that the approaching goblins don't leave her much time. My daughter flails her arms giddily and says: "I run away! Slowly! Quietly," she yells. Rockstar nat-20's her Stealth roll and managed to bound through the goblin bedroom quickly and quietly, just ahead of the notice of the ones coming down the hall. But now she's back in the treasure room. She again sneaks past the goblins there and goes down another path, further into the cave. The map is basically a few intertwined switch-backs, so most rooms loop back around to other rooms, except one. After some running around and straight-up blind chance avoidance of the goblins moving around the cave, she ends up in a wide, straight hallway. Hallway down the hallway there are abruptly and conspicuously no signs of goblin activity (wall doodles and waste, basically). It is as though the far end of this hall is forbidden to them somehow. At the end of the hall is a crude but thick door. Scrawled on it in Common (so as to avoid an annoying language barrier miss on a plot hook) is scrawled in red: DANGER DO NOT OPEN I MEAN IT, CARL The only other thing around is a gang of rats scavenging from a pile of goblin corpses. There are three of them, and they look more newly-dead than the unlucky adventurer at the entrance. But they bear similar wounds: big, deep claw and bit marks. Rockstar uses Speak With Animals, which is rapidly becoming my daughter's favorite spell. She talks with the rats: "What's behind this door?" "Nuffin'. Nuffin' for you at least." One of the rats squeaks as though to add something, but is stifled by the other rats. They bite and screech at her. She quiets for now. Rockstar fails an Insight check badly. Not only does she miss the vital information the shy rat is trying to tell her, but she does believe it when one of the other rats says: "You should open dat dere door." When her says this, the other rats all move toward a small hole in the wall, as though they want to get out of the way of whatever comes next. "If I open the door, will it help you? I just want to get rid of the goblins," Rockstar says. I ask for another Insight check, and this time she passes. One of the rats says: "Sure. We just want the food in dere. Go fer it." Rockstar notices the rats snicker as a group. All of them, except one. That one, the shy one, hops up onto Rockstar's shoulder and blurts out: "There's a big monster in there! Don't do it! You'll be hurt! Many goblins paid with their lives to put up that door!" Armed with the vital information, Rockstar Kitty....goes ahead and opens the door anyway. The rats scurry away. The shy one hides in Rockstar's backpack, much to Wesley's chagrin. Rockstar steps into the room beyond the foreboding door. Inside is a chamber much larger than any other the others in the cave. There is another pile of dead goblins near the door, mostly eaten. At the far end is a deep pit, and lying at the edge of the pit is a huge Displacer Beast. My daughter is of course unfamiliar so I show her the picture from the Monster Manual. Her eyes grow wide as I say that the huge beast's eyes snap open, and it stands ready to pounce. Rockstar casts her second favorite spell: Jump. She let the thing charge her, and instead of running away, she uses the higher ceiling of the room to leap over it. the displacer beast passed under her and out into the hall. But now it smells goblins, and it bounds through the cave after them. This whole time, I will occasionally ask my daughter if she wants to search for loot, or steal treasure from the goblins. I tell her that it's part of the game to get rewards from dungeons in the form of things you take from bad guys. So far, she's punted at every opportunity. But now, she says, "I steal the goblin meat form the monster cat." She tells me this like it's the most normal thing in the world, like she's doing her taxes. When I ask her why, she says, "The rats want the meat to eat, and I want to help them. Also, this monster is bigger than the goblins, so it has better treasure."  SURE. (There is actually loot at the far end of the room, which she gets only after the fact, but I digress.)So this sets off my favorite part of the adventure: the dungeon crawl has now become like Alien or something like that. Rockstar Kitty is sneaking back through the winding caves while the Displacer Beast is running around killing goblins. Because of all the switch-backs in the map, though, the Displacer Beast can just as easily loop back around behind her as it is to be in front of her. So I keep asking for Perception checks to track the Displacer Beast, and Rockstar Kitty does wlel enough to keep it at a distance. There are a couple points where she has to hide or turn around, and my daughter is squealing about it every time. Goblins can be heard at various distances getting mauled, or running in terror. Rockstar runs into a few of them, and there is a brief combat before both sides run in opposite directions from the encroaching Displacer Beast like it's an episode of Scooby Doo. Having rightly decided that freeing the Displacer Beast probably did her job of killing the goblins for her, Rockstar makes her way to the exit. She took a chance once in the retreat to stop for loot. She uses Web to slow down some goblins (the ones in the treasure room) which turns them into cannon fodder for the beast. But right near the entrance, she finally ran into a pickle: she had the goblin boss between her and the entrance, and the Displacer Beast somewhere behind her. She's have to fight her way out, one way or the other. She chose to plow through the goblins, setting Big Claws the mountain lion on the boss' terrified subordinates. Every round was like a ticking clock during which the Displacer Beast got closer. Just s Rockstar beat the goblin boss, the Displacer Beast rounded the last corner. Rockstar and her animal friends ran like the wind out of the cave to safety. Only when she gets to safety does Rockstar realize that she never did give those tricky rats their goblin meat, but she also realizes that the shy Rat, now named Squeaks, is still in her backpack. So now she has her first loot, some nasty goblin meat, and yet another animal friend. Squeaks feasts on the meat, and we finish off the game by making a few rolls on the treasure tables.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:14
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That's absolutely adorable, I love it! Great stories, keep them coming.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:28
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The REAL treasure is the ...I wonder if Carl made it out.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:31
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Drakyn posted:The REAL treasure is the I originally thought of it as a throwaway line, but I may reintroduce Carl as a recurring goblin frenemy down the road. He's presumably someone with more curiosity than sense. That's all we know about him so far.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:43
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Oh my god, I'm kvelling with kuteness.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:50
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Thank you for "frenemy Anemone" and for using Eleanor Shellstrop as a verb
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Nov 21, 2020 20:07
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As I was reading this, I could totally imagine my kids in this situation and was thinking about the same conundrum: how dies a child solve the riddle of “eliminate the bad guy threat” when imaginary murder is not yet a thing for them? The Alien-esque displacer beast is an excellent solution where the “bad guy kills the other bad guys and I just dodge a lot.” Perfect! and I really enjoy your tailoring of the adventure to accommodate her favorite spells and tactics. Heartwarming fun for the whole family and may she never fall into the murderhobo trope.
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Nov 21, 2020 22:01
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According to my Deadlands DM there is no mythical Canadian goat monster called the Canuckacarba.
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Nov 22, 2020 01:01
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CobiWann posted:According to my Deadlands DM there is no mythical Canadian goat monster called the Canuckacarba. Well there should be
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Nov 22, 2020 02:16
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We do have the ogopogoat
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Nov 22, 2020 03:18
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Canuckacarba? Sounds like a Beavertail, but with extra sugar
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Nov 22, 2020 04:56
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Agrikk posted:As I was reading this, I could totally imagine my kids in this situation and was thinking about the same conundrum: how dies a child solve the riddle of “eliminate the bad guy threat” when imaginary murder is not yet a thing for them? It has been interesting to see a player completely without the murder-hobo instincts. She did chuck an evil wizard out a window, but he probably deserved it more than any of these goblins. She solves a lot of problems with talking, and often avoids risk/reward scenarios that most players go into as a matter of course (sometimes to a fault). Like, at the very beginning of the goblin warren dungeon crawl, she got two rooms in and decided to leave. Nothing had happened yet besides the "spooky" narration near the entrance. I told her, "The townsfolk asked you to deal with the goblins." (I went out of my way not to say "kill the goblins," to see how she would deal with them on her own terms.) I had to convince her to go back in and persevere, even though nothing had even happened yet. I like the Displacer Beast in this adventure, even for players more acclimated to killing every goblin they see. There's at least three options: 1) Set it free and let it deal with the goblins, while you deal with the danger of it running free 2) Fight it toe-to-toe and be more able to stop and get loot, but you may have fewer resources to deal with goblins 3) Push it or trick it into falling down the hole. This takes more guile and probably a couple good rolls, but it maybe the least costly/dangerous way to deal with the goblins while also getting the Displacer Beast's loot. My daughter happened to pick the option that absolved her of killing most of the goblins, but I don't think that was the intent. Evading the Displacer Beast was a natural reaction to having never heard of or seen one before. She had no frame of reference besides my description of it, nd the picture. It's just interesting to play this game with a blank slate that so many of us take for granted. Her outside-the-box solutions appeal to me as a player. I'm that goober who's always trying to find cheap, skill-based solutions to challenges in a D&D game. Like, in the Undermountain game I'm playing in, we just found a box with a cursed heart in it. Activating it immediately kills the user, replacing their heart with the cursed one. My first thought was, "I can keep this and weaponize it. My bard is charming, and maybe she can convince someone bad later on to activate it. It's a cheap way to kill a big baddie with one Persuasion roll." That's a way more ruthless example, but my kiddo has the same resourcefulness so far. On another note: Can I just way how much I like the Inspiration mechanic in 5E? I like that it's a simple way to reward players, but also isn't necessary for anything else mechanical. But I think the masterstroke is that you can give it to someone else. Every group has some combination of "mechanical players" and "theatrical players." Our group has a couple of each, and one who is somewhere in the middle. Our group has been playing together since college, so about 20 years on and off. the mechanical players just want to beat heads in and don't begrudge the more theatrical players for RP. And the theatrical players don't mind letting go of the reigns and letting the mechanical players smash heads when it's time to smash a room full of Manticores or whatever. But the ability of the players to give Inspiration to others lubricates the party dynamic so that everyone can play the style they prefer and still get the most out of the game. It's such a simple rule, but it's so well designed.
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Nov 22, 2020 14:48
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Seriously. Inspiration is the best thing ever. It’s a easy thing to give to players as a reward, it’s a good mechanic that is not overpowered, and being able to give it to each other as players builds great party cohesion and storytelling moments.
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Nov 22, 2020 17:42
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