Steve B's page

Can and should goblins be integrated into the human legal system? The party in my Rise of the Runelords campaign is rounding up some of the figures, including a couple of goblins, responsible for the first "Big Thing" from that AP. The party wants to send them south to stand trial.

My thinking is that humans would generally recognize intelligent creatures as having choice, which would make them susceptible to consequences handled through the courts. Given the way alignment and racial prejudice work in this game, I don't see much chance for rehabilitation in the process -- although that might be fun to roleplay. Taking a look at the situation, this seems to me to be a case of "sentence first, verdict afterward."

Assuming that goblins can stand trial in human courts, that settles the guilty side. What about goblins who, though Evil, are innocent of the charges put against them? If acquitted and released, they are certain to commit further evils.

How would you handle this situation?

I've avoided RotRL spoilers, but if you want to get specific, I'm considering the cases of the warchief and the druid with regard to the attack on Sandpoint.

Ha! Thanks, I didn't bother to check the comics.

A rogue in my campaign is suffering the effects of a Vargouille's Kiss. The party, who are only 2nd level, is in Sandpoint, which has no 5th level clerics/druids nor any 7th level alchemist, so there's no access to Remove Disease. I'm prepared to let things run their course, but I also want to give players a chance to work through this. I know that the disease stops progressing when in the presence of daylight or some magical light of at least 3rd level.

There's a 4th level wizard in town, which means the players potentially have access to Continual Flame. The dilemma for me is that Continual Flame is only a 2nd level spell for Wizards, but a 3rd level spell for Clerics and Druids. Would it pause the transformation even if it's cast by a Wizard?

Why do you want to write a prophecy? Is it to provide narrative direction for the players? Is it to help them distinguish plot points from random events? Is it to provide the party with a new rule system? Once you know what purpose the prophecy serves, you'll be better prepared to write one that works for the campaign.

I think the elements in your prophecy need to be made more visual and more concrete based on the specific details of the campaign. Checking out the cards in a harrow deck might give you some ideas for how to represent the events. As some have suggested, metaphor is the best way to get specific without giving it all away. The poetry of it can keep your players invested in the mystery as they try to match events to the symbols you've used, or even puzzle out whether what you've said is literally true.

A "golden flood" can be an army marching under yellow banners, a large inheritance from a wealthy benefactor, or even just an actual flood viewed at sunrise. A "leaky dragon" in a prophecy can represent an NPC who likes spicy food but tears up when he eats, or a run-down ship called The Wyvern. You should have some idea what you want it to mean initially, but as the game develops these poetic symbols will give you the chance to nudge the meaning of the prophecy.

One of the lines in a prophecy I wrote for a Rise of the Runelords campaign was about a "town that drowns in a fast, green flood." While the players assume it means a coming goblin attack, it could just as easily be a respiratory plague that causes victims to cough up green mucous, or a mysterious magical fog that puts everyone to sleep. Heck, it could even be that green tea merchants begin running a lucrative trading route through town and the townsfolk start making loads of money off the extra business.

There are a lot of ways to handle prophecies but I think you have to start with what you want it to do in the game. From there, a lot of your other questions will be answered.