If you can get your hands on a copy of Goblin Markets: The Glitter Trade I recall there being some awesometacular NPCs, creatures, and plot lines ripe for the borrowing, that fit rather well with this theme.
Stuff like this is fantastic. I now have visions of Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro-esque locales dancing in my head, along with the Brian Froud/Tony DiTerlizzi ones suggested earlier. I've wanted a campaign with a strong fey focus almost literally since I started gaming, and the First World info in the last module just makes me love KM that much more.
I'll be dusting off my copy of Goblin Markets, and trying to dig up that one Dragon Magazine Wormfood article that had the fountain with waters that gave you a blessing and a curse.
If you are a female player, have you considered GMing, and if not, why not?
Spoiler:
I first ran a game back in 2002, the year I moved out of my parents' house and got married. My husband and I had an apartment that always had people hanging out, crashing on the couch, etc, and one of our primary activities with the assembled masses was gaming. Inspired largely by some of the cool ideas in Dragon magazine, I decided to take a crack at it. There were several ongoing campaigns, so I became the master of the one-shot, when everyone couldn't make it, or an out of town friend was visiting, or whatever. I feel like in the first couple of years I ran D&D, my judgments and rules calls were questioned CONSTANTLY. Almost literally everything I said, ("Oh, that spell has a duration in rounds, not minutes" or "No, those bonuses don't stack" or whatever) was second-guessed, and the game had to come grinding to a halt as someone looked it up and determined that, yes, the rule actually worked how I thought it did. I'm not going to say I was right every time. I made a lot of mistakes. But I was right more often than not, and that fact didn't seem to sink in for a long time. It was especially frustrating because other DMs in our group didn't seem to have that kind of trouble. Players in their games might be grumpy if a rule didn't work the way they thought it did, but they didn't argue so extensively about it.
I bought practically every 3.x book WotC released, and over time I came to be regarded as one of the most knowledgeable in our group regarding useful multiclassing and feat choices. I had important page numbers memorized, and could open right through them without flipping through. I guess I was a little obsessed about proving myself. (But I did, and it felt awesome.)
Then we all started playing Pathfinder, and I just haven't had that same drive to memorize All The Things. And this is unfortunate, because recently I feel like, with all the splatbooks and supplements out now, there is just no way for me to keep up with my players' knowledge. They're like "I use x spell" and I'm like, "You have that spell on your list? That spell exists on a list? Save for what now?" and it makes me feel old and befuddled, but I don't know that this has anything to do with gender.
Lamontia wrote:
If you are a female GM, do you feel like you have been met with any additional challenges?
Spoiler:
One thing I do feel a need to mention is the struggle to verbally assert myself at the game table. This is only my experience of it, of course, so YMMV. I have some players (male) in my current Kingmaker campaign, who like to TALK. Man, can they ever talk. We all can. We all had funny or frustrating things happen at work or running errands or whatever, and we want to talk about them. The trouble is, I realize that I and the female player in my game are more likely to get talked over or interrupted, whereas we are less likely to interrupt. I think this is because (at least in our particular cases) we are women who have been socialized and brought up to be polite and put others' feelings before our own. This can make getting game started difficult for me, when someone has "just one more" story. Sometimes one of the guys just starts up as though he is running it! I mean, sure, the game is started, but I can't help but feel a little miffed. There have been some extreme cases, where they seemed to flat-out not notice that I was speaking, or continue to argue even though I had already made a ruling and said we could revise it after game if we found more information to clarify that particular rule. There have even been instances of that old "comedy" cliche of one of the ladies making a suggestion that goes ignored, and, lo and behold, two minutes later, one of the guys has this amazing "new" idea, and we're like, gee, why didn't I think of that.
Now, I've read posts on these forums long enough to know that these are not problems that are uniquely faced by me, and one of the players at the table that gets talked over is also a man, so I suspect this phenomenon would rear its head from time to time regardless. The other female player (who runs a Shattered Star game that I also play in) and I have talked about it before, and we think these issues might still exist anyway, but gender dynamics certainly don't seem to be helping us out any. I've noticed that much of the time, one of the guys will get angry about something, and she'll step in as a peacemaker seeking a compromise, or placating the upset party, or even asking a question to make them feel knowledgeable. I am not saying this is a demand anyone has made of her, it is something she is doing on her own. I will say, though, the guys seem to care more about being declared "right" in an argument, whereas we care more about getting back to game and trying to get everyone to have fun. Something I do want to stress is that we're all really good friends, and I don't think any of these actions are intentionally malicious in any way. I'm just trying to address your question of "challenges" as accurately as possible.
Lamontia wrote:
As a player, what are your thoughts on female GMs? Have you had one? How was it?
Spoiler:
My friend who runs the Shattered Star game was extremely hesitant to GM a game, because she has been gaming a drastically shorter time than the rest of us, and she didn't think she would have the skills or knowledge necessary. After playing in my game for a while, though, and noticing that even though other players were doing the same tired dance of second-guessing her knowledge of her own character's abilities, she was usually right, and had gotten pretty good at putting together a character. (I was so excited when she texted to tell me she had an intimidation barbarian build she just had to try out in a game sometime, because she had previously thought she would never build a character just for the fun of it.) I will say she is flat-out one of the most prepared and accommodating GMs I have ever encountered. She's great at getting into character and jumping from persona to persona, which I already knew from my game, but she's also got maps, handouts, sketches she made of NPCs without a picture in the module... The only "complaint" I could even possibly voice is that she's almost too invested in us succeeding, to the extent that I have felt on multiple occasions that she will be more upset if my character dies than I would be. I'm like, "It's cool, I've got this idea for an inquisitor I could slap together pretty quickly," and she's like, ":sad eyes: I didn't mean for this fight to be so hard. Uh, maybe the bad guys take you captive...?" I'm not going to say too much, because I can't say I haven't felt guilty the few times in my GMing career that I have killed a PC.
Other than a kender-obsessed DM at a local gaming convention some years ago, I believe my friend is the only female GM I have ever encountered. I have been to LARPS where men and women worked together to tell the story and manage a large group of players, though, and those seemed to run smoothly enough, save for the loads of drama that for some reason seem inevitable regarding LARPS. (At least in my personal experience.) I don't think female GMs are some mythical beast, but most of the people I game with are male, and most of my female friends are less interested in gaming, so that hasn't resulted in me encountering many.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us! I usually pass by the threads about "female gamers" without comment, but I remembered that feeling of growing confidence in my knowledge that you mentioned, and wanted to share a few observations of my own. There are real challenges from time to time, but I admire your attitude and proficiency, and I bet you'll get even more awesome as time goes on. Here's to hoping the worst problem you ever have is weeding out which players you don't want at your table, because there are just too many people who want in on your games. :)
My copy finally arrived in the mail today! City Of The Fallen Sky has been one of my favorite PF novels to date, so I've been anticipating Liar's Blade for quite some time now. I'm only a hundred or so pages in, but already I've been laughing delightedly at the characterization, banter, and turns of phrase that made me fall in love with City.
I find Rodrick to be an excellent specimen of a particular character archetype that I enjoy, though if you find that type of character annoying or bothersome, it's unlikely you will enjoy this novel. You may still be able to if you can take some pleasure in the myriad atrocities that are inevitably visited upon a fictional protagonist, though. That is one of the joys of an utter rake of a character, imho. When he's winning, you can vicariously enjoy his cleverness/charisma/miscellaneous awesome, and when he's losing it's okay because he's quite awful and probably deserves it.
The fact that the adventure is set in the River Kingdoms is a pleasant surprise. The lore junkie in me has been delighting in the setting since Prince of Wolves, which really gave me a lot to soak up. "Ooh, they read Harrow cards *that* way?" and "Oh, cool, so that's what that particular celebration looks like?" and so forth. I've been running a Kingmaker campaign for a couple years now, so it's really neat to see a journey through these familiar locales. I will be eagerly learning more about these locations of which I've become quite fond, and keeping my eyes peeled for more interesting details to work into our game.
In terms of sympathetic protagonists, I'm all on board with the Elyana supporters. Plague of Shadows *is* my favorite PF novel, largely due to the complex relationships and deep feelings the characters have for each other. Elyana does right by her friend and lover, even though it breaks her heart to do so. I think she definitely counts as one of the Good Guys. And Luma from Blood Of The City was a complete breath of fresh air, because we got a relate-able female protagonist that gets a really classic revenge story without it being burdened by the standard female revenge tropes of rape or threatened children. Also we got pretty much the best closing line of a novel ever, though I suppose that's neither here nor there in relation to this discussion. In any case, her primary motivation may be personal, but she's out to stop bad people from doing bad things.
I think this is a definite case of "Your Mileage May Vary." I don't think most of these characters are all that bad, though I can certainly appreciate the argument that they're not all that Good, either. I have found every PF Tale to be well-written and a perfectly fine novel, but whether I stick with it or not depends more on my personal preferences. I love me some heroic derring-do, but for a long time I read nothing but books with squeaky-clean heroes doing Good for the sake of Good all over the place. I *like* heroes. It's inspiring to read about characters defending the defenseless, diving recklessly into battle to save an innocent, with no thought of their own safety. I seriously dig that. But it's fun to take a break and see how "the other half" lives, so to speak, for a while. Not every AP is going to appeal to every group, and I think it's the same for the fiction. Don't like pirates? Maybe don't play the pirate campaign.
I'm glad to know that there are impending Tales that will feature more traditionally Good protagonists, because I think it's important to present a broad range of characters and stories, so many different people can get involved in a narrative that appeals to them. This is useful to me because I want to read many, many more PF Tales, so people need to keep buying books, and also because I want to know other people are grinning broadly at their favorite character archetype saying the thing that he or she would totally say in that situation.
Simply treat them as a 6 man party- divide any encounter XP by 6 and award that amount to each of them. Keeps them at the right level. I do this all the time for my 5 man PbP group.
4 players, and that sounds like a great idea for keeping things balanced. Thanks!
Orthos wrote:
Sounds awful metagamey to me. Don't know how long I'd personally be able to tolerate a player picking things apart like that.
Heh, it's rough sometimes, not gonna lie. It's like, "I said 'let's go with this ruling for tonight,' not 'engage me now in a splendid battle of wills and wits.'" But that is another tale for another time.
Generally, my group has a fine time together at the table, and I just want to do my best to let them do the things they want their characters to do (like growing famous and popular enough to attract cohorts and followers), but also to keep the game balance in check so we can continue having fun for a longer time. I know theoretically any one feat is equivalent to another, but since we don't live in that theoretical, perfect world, I appreciate everyone's help in maintaining both excitement and equilibrium. Paizo forumites, you da greatest!
I think something to not overlook is that it is important for the GM to have fun playing the game, too. Some campaigns can last years, and if you're the only GM, that is a long time to go without creating a character. I used to have a fairly negative view of GMPCs ("Oh, he used his special unique power to thrash the bad guys again while we twitched helplessly on the floor? Neat. And, oh, he's got mysterious vampire abilities? Of COURSE he does..."), but eventually I realized the portrayal and use of said characters can drastically change how annoying or welcome they feel in a game.
***
Anecdote 1
Spoiler:
A recurring theme in my group's games is that the party will latch on to a couple NPCs that were written into the module, and the GM will adopt one or more of those characters as a "voice" in the game, and adventure with the party in that way. The GM for our AoW game used Filge as his GMPC, and the enjoyment he got out of that character would have been worthwhile on its own, but his presence gave an opportunity for different opinions and perspectives to be voiced, many RP opportunities, and even in a knowledgeable party, some of the DCs in that game are incredibly steep, and it was good to have somebody else who knew what in the world was going on. He would frequently nat 20 such checks, leading us to believe he was quite the fanboy of evil extraplanar entities...
Filge started out quite weak, taking lazy pot-shots with his crossbow every other round or so, but eventually developed rather potent magical abilities. He focused on debuffs and force spells. In retrospect, I wonder if he was a sneaky tactic of the GM to use up our insanely powerful party's resources, since that guy was ALWAYS getting dropped into the negs, and my character would always come running to heal him... Anyway, that game lasted four years, and I'm fairly certain it wouldn't have lasted half as long if Filge wasn't there snarking his way through it on the GM's behalf.
Anecdote 2
Spoiler:
One of the players in our AoW game started running Savage Tide, and wanted to create a "Filge" of his own. He created a wizard/cleric of Nerull going for mystic theurge. I was a bit miffed by him putting this character in at the outset, because I like discovering what NPCs an adventure has to offer, rather than having one foisted upon me as a matter of course. The GM is an incredibly busy guy, though, and when I saw how excited he was thinking about how his character was going to level up, I realized that having a character of his own kept him invested in the game despite his chaotic schedule. The character was a bit of a show-stealer, and did cause some party conflict, but we mostly resolved that through in-character roleplay. Overall, this wasn't the ideal situation, but the game was fun, and it made me happy to see the GM enjoying it, too.
Anecdote 3
Spoiler:
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the GM for RotRL had anticipated Shalelu being the GMPC in our gestalted party of two. After several disastrous outings wherein Shalelu seemed to miss nearly every attack, critically miss on an alarmingly regular basis, fail every save, and generally endanger herself and others, we had to talk ooc: "We're worried about Shalelu..." XD And the GM was like, "Yeahhh...she kinda sucks, huh?" Our characters didn't actually think she sucked; they just reasoned she was more cut out for patrolling the woodlands than for the rigors of dedicated adventuring. The GM didn't want to upstage us, but was unsure how to adequately up her power level without unbalancing the game, so he had her stay behind in Sandpoint as we set out into the world.
Anecdote 4
Spoiler:
In my ongoing Kingmaker game, I don't have a GMPC, but have developed a great number of NPCs, some written into the AP, some of my own making, and it is always interesting to me to see which ones the players latch on to. GMing this game has shown me what wildly varied reactions different people will have to the same set of NPCs. Some players like the NPCs so much that I devised an entourage system for the NPCs to grant bonuses for their presence without actively participating in combat. As it turned out, one of the players was vehemently against the NPCs accompanying the party, but didn't say anything until I asked specifically, and then it turned into a Whole Big Thing. Other players, meanwhile, have had their characters take NPCs as cohorts. Their classes? Knowledgey support bard/rogue and shield-using ally-defending cavalier. ^_^ We have since resolved our differences, though to a large extent differences in preferred play style cannot be reconciled, and it's mostly a matter of being polite and respecting your fellow gamers' feelings.
***
To synthesize all these experiences:
In past games I've minimized my own needs to make sure everybody else is pleased, but I've realized that if I am not having fun, I will find decreasing reasons to continue running a game, until it just peters out and dies. For me, having an NPC on hand to throw out the occasional funny one-liner or provide a hint when the party is stumped is one way I have fun and stay invested in the game. I try to be aware of other GMs' styles, and be sympathetic to their needs, and I hope that my players will be sympathetic to mine. If what keeps you invested in your game is having a GMPC, I say go for it. As others have suggested, building a character that supports and doesn't overshadow the group is good, but making a drastically weaker character, one that doesn't look like he or she can survive a fight, is not necessarily a good way to go about it. It is just as likely that the PCs will think, "This person is a liability!" or "We don't want our friend to get hurt, so it's better if he just stays home."
If your players are skeptical of your decision to include a GMPC, talk to them about why it's important to you. Letting them know "This is how I stay invested week after week," or "I've read about a lot of TPKs in this module, and I don't want you guys to lose your long-running characters to a handful of bad die rolls." Your players might suggest some solutions of their own, and may express some concerns they have that you haven't thought of. A GMPC isn't right for every game, but if you talk openly and patiently with your group, you can find out if it's right for yours.
So apparently meeting a tribe of centaurs equals an opportunity for my players/PCs to make endless equine-themed jokes and puns.
"Hold your horses!" "Quit horsing around." "Let's hoof it back to camp." And so many more. So very many more. :P
At least they are enthused about rescuing the rebellious daughter centaur...although they hope to fix her up with an NPC cavalier with a soft spot for horses and other animals. I'm sure that's just a match made in heaven... "I think she is very pretty and nice and thank you for introducing us but now I am confused whether I should kiss her or curry her and I do not think that is making her very happy."
Christ, I've yet to finish any major questline. I want to see everything, but I want to see it all with different characters, and I always find myself getting horribly bored at the low levels of the elder scrolls series. It's a vicious cycle.
What would you describe as the "must see" stuff for my playthrough before this expansion comes out?
I've surprised myself by unlocking almost every achievement (still need to play through the mage guild stuff and learn all 20 dragon shouts), because in Oblivion I never touched the main quest, and only dabbled in the various affiliations. I mostly ran around fighting bandits and exploring Ayleid ruins and painstakingly decorating my homes with telekinesis. ^_^;;
As for must-see stuff...all of it! Uh, that's unhelpful, I guess. I would say you should play through at least one of the questlines to completion. I thought the thieves' guild and Dark Brotherhood ones were the most awesome, though the Dark Brotherhood stuff is extraordinarily brutal, IMO. If you're playing someone who would never join the Brotherhood, wipe 'em out! I love that there is an actual option to fight back against the evil organization for once. I thought the Civil War stuff was way too easy and was over too quickly, though it was a neat premise, and I just never really clicked with the Companions, though I know some folks love 'em. There are some reallyreally fun parts in the main quest, like infiltrating a fancy party, visiting the otherworldly Blackreach Depths, and a bunch of other stuff.
I am incredibly stoked for this expansion, but I don't know who I'm going to turn into a vampire. I've already run my main character through every Daedric quest and less-than-entirely-Good-aligned organization; I don't think I need to maim his poor blackened little soul any further. Maybe I'll make that caster I've been putting off.
So happy about vampiric perks! I'm gonna be turning into bat swarms all over the place, at the slightest provcation. "You never should have come here!" Bat swarm. "It's a fine day with you around." Bat swarm. "Let me guess: someone stole your sweetroll." BAT SWARM. Twice.
Name: Arturo Logan
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Sorcerer 8 (Arcane bloodline)
Adventure: Varnhold Vanishing
Location: The Dunswards, a day's ride from Restov
Catalyst: The soul eater was sent forth.
The Gory Details: The soul eater may have been the catalyst, but it wasn't the cause of death. This is right after clearing out the spriggans from Varnhold. The party had recently returned to Restov to give the Swordlords the update (albeit somewhat resentfully, as they have taken to imagining the Swordlords do not respect them), and to send their NPC guards home to deliver the update to their own people. The guards protested, not wanting the PCs to face unknown dangers alone, but were persuaded. The group set forth to find the Nomen centaurs, doing a bit of exploring along the way, and it was when making camp for the night that the creature attacked. Billowing up out of the darkness (MAN does that thing have insane stealth!), raspily whispering "Arturoooo..." it caught Arturo completely by surprise while he was on watch with Saachi, the battle oracle. They shout to wake the others, Saachi with no idea what this creature is, but knowing it's tearing into her boyfriend and it has to die, but Arturo knowing what it's doing, and how he can send it away. "Kill me before it does, if you have to!" he shouts, baffling and horrifying Saachi. Kalen, the alchemist, is potion-buffing for a long fight, and is like, "What? No!" but the ranger, Tev, wakes up and springs right into action, attacking Arturo. Saachi's laying buffs down on Arturo, some of which are delaying the creature's onslaught, but it's not enough. She surrounds Arturo and Tev with a ring of fire, and she and Kalen try to face the creature alone. It has no interest in Kalen, but attacks Saachi, thinking to easily remove the barrier of fire, and seeing her as the only real opposition between it and its quarry.
The dice were HOT for me that night! The soul eater scored two crits on Arturo, and two on Saachi, all of which were max or near-max damage, and was dealing high amounts of Wisdom damage each time. Tev was standing protectively over Arturo (although he snatched a wand of CLW out of the hand of Rebekah, Kalen's bard cohort, just in case), but when Arturo heard Saachi crying out in pain, he told Tev, "Do it," and seconds later, the sorcerer's lifeless body tumbled through the wall of fire. The soul eater hissed, and flew away into the night to confront the one who summoned it.
Kalen, mutagen-buffed and feral, was livid that they hadn't tried harder to kill the creature, and Saachi was inconsolable, sobbing and slapping away Rebekah when she tried to comfort her, and fighting Tev as he dragged her away from the wall of fire. She finally pulled herself together after they got the scroll of Raise Dead from the Varnhold church into her hands. After a very tense minute in which everyone held their breaths, Arturo, blood-stained and scorched, came gasping back to life. They both just sat there for a while, crying and holding each other tight. Rebekah started crying just from watching their reunion. Kalen set about reconfiguring his infusions to restore their lost sanity, albeit in a quiet fury, and Tev put away Varn's sword, which he had used to kill Arturo, with all the haste he could muster. Previously he had looked forward to wielding it until it could be returned to Varn, but the player declared, "Tev wants the Sword of Friend-Slaying out of his sight!" Kalen was like, ":snarl: :throws infusions at Saachi and Arturo's feet: Here. Drink these. Or don't."
Out of character, we all agreed the scene was awesome, and are impressed with Arturo's bravery, but in-character...there are a lot of feelings. ^_^;; Kalen has long harbored bitter feelings of jealousy and distrust towards Arturo, but he's appalled by how unhesitatingly Tev leaped to kill the man, rather than considering another option, and is angry at Arturo for not considering how his actions might make everyone feel. Tev, known for zealously upholding the law and considering the smallest slight to be "treason," feels like he himself committed treason...but at the request of the Grand Diplomat..so maybe the Grand Diplomat committed treason...? But he already died for it... Saachi, meanwhile, feels like she is unfit to rule, because she AND Arturo almost died with no hope of return, and all she could think about was that she wanted to save her boyfriend. And Arturo, famously outspoken against Erastil and basically all organized religion, offered, "I'm not the most pious person out here, but you give me a choice between eternity and nothing? I know which one I'm gonna choose."
This inspired me to actually pick up my copy of the book and read it. Made it halfway through in one sitting. All the main characters really drew me in - although Dave Gross is right, Skiver steals the show and routinely gets the best lines. Alaeron is fun, too, though. Poor unappreciated genius. :)
I've seen the movie twice now. I thought the casting was fantastic, the action, drama, and humor reasonably balanced, and everybody got scenes where they were doing their "thing" and being awesome. I thought the opening sequence dragged on a little too long, and I preferred the more subtle and sly Loki from the Thor movie to the "yar I smack you with my magic stick" Loki found in Avengers, but I also loathed Black Widow in Iron Man 2, and came away from Avengers liking her quite a bit, so I guess it balances out.
In regard to Whedon doing what Whedon does,
Spoiler:
let's be honest, the writing was on the wall for Coulson since well before Avengers. (Word of God confirmation) A Badass Normal among supers and not specifically protected by the power of plot, does not have a very reliable life expectancy. Honestly, I'm surprised the body count wasn't higher. I wasn't sure Selvig was gonna make it. I guess maybe he's scheduled to appear in Thor 2? In which case, it pretty much had to be Coulson.
People watch this movie with their children, their significant others, their parents...and many of them come away suddenly realizing that comics and superheroes are cool, and can tell powerful stories. I know people that went to the movie with the thought, "Those guys are really hot!" and came away with the thought, "Those guys ARE really hot...and I want to read more about them!" Basically what I'm saying is that I was really excited about the movie, and I'm downright joyful that so many people, often from demographics that may not have previously been major targets of the genre, were able to share that experience. A packed theater laughing and cheering together as good triumphs over evil can be a fine moment, indeed.
One of my PCs spotted Horagnamon tonight, I made my first real change to the rules, and, as they say, hijinks ensued.
The group had just laid siege to the spriggan-infested fort, but fell back when the survivors holed up inside the building and proceeded to rain rocks and Large-sized crossbow-bolt-shaped doom upon them. (They are so out for blood from their unseen foe Agai, dubbed "Ballista Guy.") The group overall (except the sorcerer) has pretty great Perception scores, so I was surprised when only the ranger, Tev, noticed one spriggan following the party. He lead the group to the smithy, where they had no actual intention of spending the night, to hopefully lead the spriggans to a false conclusion.
He told most of the party to go pretend to set up camp (which they took to mean "actually set up camp and start cooking dinner because we had to eat cold rations last night and that sucked") while he and our uber-perceiver, Saachi the oracle, kept watch outside. And that was when Saachi noticed Horagnamon.
Tev: Y'see the spriggan yet? Think he's hidin' right on the other side of the tailor's, but I ain't sure.
Saachi: :distracted, looking up at the sky: Uh, no. Still no, sorry. Hey, uh...:clearly embarrassed: Does that bird look weird to you?
Tev: :squints up at the sky: ...nope. It sure don't.
Saachi: Okay, this will sound crazy, but, I think I've seen it before, uh...watching us.
Tev: ... ..... :frowns: reckon it's prob'ly someone's familiar, then. Best be blastin' it outta the sky.
Saachi: Right! :casts Sound Burst at the bird, which is unfazed, and starts to fly away:
Tev: Aw, hell.
Saachi: :yelling and waving her arms around: Guys! Bird! Kill it! Not normal! Stop the bird!
I was so pleased as they pumped arrow after arrow into the thing, threw fire at it, and it still continued flapping away. As they dealt more damage to it, their amazement grew. "What is it? An animal companion? Somebody in Beast Shape? If it's a familiar...how many hit points does the caster have!?" My group is super sharp and rules-savvy, and they frequently make astounding leaps of logic, guess my GM schemes before I even have a chance to implement them, and just generally leave me with little I can actually use to surprise them.
The alchemist, Kalen, was chasing down the bird on foot, and the chase lead him partially up the hill the fort is on. It took the spriggans a few rounds to notice, but once they did, they started taking pot shots at him. He took an uber-bolt in the leg and reacted properly, a la Ace Ventura. :) Finally, the ill-fortuned Horagnamon plummeted to the ground, but Kalen was able to keep him from bleeding out. He headed back to the others as quickly as he could.
And then, I blew up the bird. Yes, I know it was written out of the final draft of the module that the Oculus possesses that power, but I knew the group could take it, and it just seemed like the perfect WTF capstone to the night's events.
Me: The bird's eyes shoot open all of a sudden, flashing red for the briefest of moments. The bird, to the extent that a bird can emote, has an expression of absolute horror. And then it explodes. Kalen, Rebekah, and Arturo...I need reflex saves
Kalen's Player: :bursts out laughing: Kalen mirrors the bird's expression of horror, and dives on the bird like a bomb, which, I guess it is.
So now the PCs know (based on Spellcraft to figure out what in the world just happened) that they are dealing with someone who is willing to expend a significant resource to keep it out of their hands. The sorcerer is especially disturbed, as he has had a very close and companionable bond with both his previous and current familiar, and would never consider doing such a thing.
Out of character? They're scared that their high Perception checks (they routinely get in the mid-30s) have inadvertently brought them to the attention of some end-boss from a much later module (I do always stress that this is very much a sandbox game), and are nervously and excitedly speculating about what they might be up against. I can't wait until I send the soul eater after them; I have some Game of Thrones fans in the group who are sure to see the similarity to Melisandre's shadow-creature and completely freak out. :D
I admit to having my doubts about this module initially; my group loves RP encounters and running their kingdom and collecting NPCs and so forth. After all the exploration and negotiation and seemingly endless kingdom rolls, at least to me, it's a breath of fresh air to get into a more "traditional" adventure, where the PCs are routinely pushed to their limits, and find their spell/uses-per-day powers tapped out, and they really have to stop to catch their breaths. My group is completely awesome, but they have been steamrolling most encounters besides the end bosses, and it's cool to see what they're really capable of under stress.
tl;dr - a bird with 80 HP can make even a confident group of adventurers a bit wary. And this pleases me. :)
One request...the ability to play an non-comic standard female (overweight, flat-chested, no butt, whatever). I've been playing SW:ToR and I was annoyed to discover that while you can play an overweight (downright obese) male, you are utterly incapable of choosing anything but a (very) healthy height-weight proportionate female. Sure, the vast swarms of folks might not choose the option, but it should be there.
Enthusiastically seconded! All too often, while the weight slider for males may determine how skinny or fat your character is, on females, it merely determines the size of her breasts. For that matter, I would love to see independent breast/hip/weight/muscle tone sliders. Not that I haven't made my share of cheesecake-y characters; it would just be awesome to also be able to make a female character that looked like every inch the physical threat her stats imply. Even curvy gals aren't all curvy in the same way. My friend bemoans the fact that she has yet to create her athletic, only-slightly-endowed, yet curvaceous-hipped character in a video game. And maybe your ranger/fighter looks like an amazon, but if your merchant or craftswoman has a little more to love, can't that be endearing, too?
By the same token, a wide range of body types for males would be highly favorable. The player looking for a non-beefcake/behemoth despairs when trying to determine a physical appearance in a number of video games. Where are the lithe, compact rogues and slender, delicate sorcerers? WoW has some particularly jarring examples of exaggerated masculinity.
People are so beautifully diverse in their shapes and sizes; why limit ourselves to just a few?
I was trying to maintain a certain aloof composure as I read about the upcoming MMO. "It might be good, it might not. Either way, no big deal." But as I continued, images of characters sprang unbidden into my mind. "I will play a bandit, charming but ruthless. Which of my friends can I convince to play with me? We can form a gang. We'll be like the Stag Lord's men, but better. Maybe we can convince people to part with a small amount of their earnings in exchange for their lives. Maybe there will already be a group of bandits. I'll work my way up through the ranks, ingratiate myself to the leader..."
At virtually the same time, I was thinking, "I will travel the world, looking for those in need. I will offer healing to those who ask, watch over the possessions of the slain that they do not fall into evil hands. I will accept any bounty, however trivial, so long as justice is being served. All people should be able to freely travel the River Kingdoms, and I'm going to do my part to uphold that freedom."
Anyway, I can't help but be stoked, because just this small update about how death and looting will be handled set off a montage of cool scenes in my head of ways that I could play the game.
There's been a fair amount of talk that sounds dismissive of WoW and other popular MMOs. I think WoW is quite fun and gives you that addictive sense of accomplishment, and I have some fond memories from the RP servers. That said, my fondest MMO memories are of UO, of running panicked through the wilderness and being rescued by a kind and experienced warrior, invited into her home to rest and resupply. I remember the schemes my friends and I hatched, and how anything seemed possible. I'm feeling that same sense of wonder and possibility again. I hope it is well-founded.
