Okay so here's the deal; when our party of five took on the caves and retrieved Ural's precious bat idol, we never gave it to him.
When he was kidnapped our DM (a little inebriated at the time) forgot that Ural didn't have the bat idol until we reminded him half way into the Temple. Anyway we finished out the mission and retrieved Ural but we don't know what to do about the bat idol. Any suggestions? Is it worthless?
Toolbag (I like that name, btw), are you a player in the STAP? Need to know that to avoid SPOILERS, if you are. It sounds like you are, but I'm asking because someone else might not notice that obvious fact and blurt out something you shouldn't, as a player, know yet.
ASSUMING YOU ARE A PLAYER, if Urol hasn't asked for it, then he obviously isn't that interested in it. Keep it. You may find a use for it later.
Toolbag (I like that name, btw), are you a player in the STAP? Need to know that to avoid SPOILERS, if you are. It sounds like you are, but I'm asking because someone else might not notice that obvious fact and blurt out something you shouldn't, as a player, know yet.
ah yes I am indeed a player in the STAP. Sorry wasn't trying to get spoilers, just advice. Thanks guys!
and our party refused to give it to Urol because we thought it was worth some serious pocketchange. So should we give it to him or not.
and our party refused to give it to Urol because we thought it was worth some serious pocketchange. So should we give it to him or not.
Unless your DM has made some changes, Urol wanted to enter the ruined city to study it, not to loot it. He neither knew of nor cared about any particular knickknack you recovered in the process, and just because a random bric-a-brac happened to be the last thing you picked up before you left doesn't mean he cares about it.
Selling it, however, will be difficult for a while. Farshore's gold limit is too low to buy it (and your character would probably know this), so you'll probably have to wait until you get Teleport to return to Sasserine, unless you're willing to hand it to some NPC in exchange future favors or something. They'd really have to want a gold bat statue, though.
Toolbag, I like where your DM's head is at. Interesting way of handling this part of the adventure. Learn more about it then decide what to do with it.
hey--
i'm the DM here, so don't tell the fool anything. the PCs know it's worth something, but they are just now getting to farshore, and don't know the full significance of the story yet. he's not supposed to know it has any purpose at all. he's looking for hints. don't give them to him. he's a dirty metagamer!
Jp I already told you I wasn't looking for hints. I am looking for some advice on whether or not to sell it. Dont get your dice bag in a ruffle.
Jp I already told you I wasn't looking for hints. I am looking for some advice on whether or not to sell it. Dont get your dice bag in a ruffle.
...the best part is gonna be when you realize he is so totally messing with you, and it's just a tiny gold statue. Seriously, it's just a bat from somewhere wholly different. Do you think it'll be seriously important in the long term? For my two cents, I say you emblazon it on a hat and wear it around. This way if it is anything significant, you'll know right away! =D
~ Bryon ~
I just told my players not to come to these forums at all while we're playing STAP. There's just too many spoilers, even in some thread titles, no good comes of it.
I found a really good mayan bat idol that i made gold looking:
www.elderbrain.com/x/bat.jpg
enjoy!
I found a really good mayan bat idol that i made gold looking:
www.elderbrain.com/x/bat.jpg
enjoy!
Thanks a lot for this link as I was planing to design one my own, but this one is GREAT!
How is a player asking about an item's worth (obviously no PC has appraise), asking whether to sell it, and looking for suggestions as towhat to do with it NOT LOOKING FOR HINTS?
I find it likely Tool does not understand the definition of metagamer or chooses to ignore it.
I think it would be a great idea to have a player's section, where these things can actually be discussed by players. For instance:
I, too, was lucky enough to find such an idol. The small town of Farshore was able to identify it as an idol dedicated to some god of bats - we neglected to pay the "sage" for this obvious information and ultimately decided to keep the thing to sell in Sasserine when we get back for its full value, or barter with some of the locals if they take a liking to it.
Just because it's outside the game doesn't automatically make it metagaming in a bad way. Some gungho Players want to game during the week too, and some are more aggressive than others when it comes to roleplaying. If this is done via a webboard or email in character and it comes out in the gaming session later - and it was ultimately helpful for the party - then more of the players will be thinking about their character during the week and how they might react (or whatever) and bring that to the table. Viola! Roleplaying is born.
And in reality, I simply cannot, as a DM, keep a non-posting lurker from reading these boards and scrounging for hints, clues and spoilers. I change just enough to keep them guessing anyway, and they are a level and a bit higher than the adventures anyway, so I advance stuff based on that, too. But finding the perfect idea on your own or finding it here (or elsewhere) is hard for me (at least) to spot.
If you are still lurking, Toolbag, start another thread in the Dragon section of these messageboards. So far as I know, all the stuff in Dragon Magazine is geared toward the players and there are hints enough in the mag without the hassle of being accused of cheating at your table by accidently reading something here. Subscribing to the mag would be even better, IMHO.
Celric
"And in reality, I simply cannot, as a DM, keep a non-posting lurker from reading these boards and scrounging for hints, clues and spoilers."
I can't keep my players from cheating either, but when I catch someone cheating I don't keep playing with them. Nothing seems so counter-intuitive or juvenile as to cheat at a game lik D&D, either by lying to the DM about your dice rolls, adding gold to your character sheet, or going online or to the bookstore to get spoilers about the adventure. And every D&D group is better off ridding itself of cheaters.
I've just assumed that the dungeon boards are for DM's and the dragon boards are for players. Isn't that the case?
I've just assumed that the dungeon boards are for DM's and the dragon boards are for players. Isn't that the case?
Its not a bad assumption. Of course lots of groups have the DMs job rotate.
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never understood the reason behind knowing what's in store for a adventure, just takes the fun out of it, if you know that you should do this or you have to do that for that open kinda thing.
thou, I will admit last year at ReaperCon, one of the D&D players in a group I was in, was in the adventure before that was being played & he had a blast (he was a halfling barbarian), as he knew the story but refrained from revealing any thing about it. So he was the comedic relief so to speak.
btw again this board helps out with the visuals, nice job on the pic, I'll defiantly use that when the time comes to reveal the idol in the game.
RM
Well I will say that I am amazed at the response this has gotten, as I have been away on vacation. But after reading through a few of these I must say, I AM/WAS NOT METAGAMING WHEN I LOGGED ON TO THIS DISCUSSION BOARD!
I simply wanted to know what other players of the STAP were doing with the idol, other PLAYERS, not DM's, but players. As it turns out I did indeed attempt to melt down the idol and turn it into a hat. Unfortunately this failed and I learned the significance of the idol, and now the pink frog adorns my head. There are frogs following me now. Is this good? I feel as though this pink frog I found on the pirate is a much better hat anyway.
Well I will say that I am amazed at the response this has gotten, as I have been away on vacation. But after reading through a few of these I must say, I AM/WAS NOT METAGAMING WHEN I LOGGED ON TO THIS DISCUSSION BOARD!
I simply wanted to know what other players of the STAP were doing with the idol, other PLAYERS, not DM's, but players. As it turns out I did indeed attempt to melt down the idol and turn it into a hat. Unfortunately this failed and I learned the significance of the idol, and now the pink frog adorns my head. There are frogs following me now. Is this good? I feel as though this pink frog I found on the pirate is a much better hat anyway.
The problem is that unless you can find a group thats right at the same point as you are this just won't work. Either your ahead of them and anything you say could potentially be a spoiler or the reverse is true in which case your behind them and anything they say will be a spoiler.
Even beyond that the assumption is flawed. Just because your DM chooses not to reveal some mystery does not mean that other DMs play it the same way. So you could easily be in a situation where your DM is playing this with everything being held close to his chest in order to create a world full of magic and msytery while another players DM finds his players descussing some item for a minute and a half before he interupts the players with something like "come on guys, you have been descussing this item for almost 90 seconds. Geez - thats 90 seconds we could have been doing combat. Its really important for X, Y and Z. Just keep it and lets move along - I'm bored to tears here."
Obvously DM A is going to be pretty pissed if the players from DM B's campaign blurt out the campaigns secrets.
The problem is that unless you can find a group thats right at the same point as you are this just won't work. Either your ahead of them and anything you say could potentially be a spoiler or the reverse is true in which case your behind them and anything they say will be a spoiler.Even beyond that the assumption is flawed. Just because your DM chooses not to reveal some mystery does not mean that other DMs play it the same way. So you could easily be in a situation where your DM is playing this with everything being held close to his chest in order to create a world full of magic and msytery while another players DM finds his players descussing some item for a minute and a half before he interupts the players with something like "come on guys, you have been descussing this item for almost 90 seconds. Geez - thats 90 seconds we could have been doing combat. Its really important for X, Y and Z. Just keep it and lets move along - I'm bored to tears here."
Obvously DM A is going to be pretty pissed if the players from DM B's campaign blurt out the campaigns secrets.
Hadn't thought about it like that but I when I created this thread I didn't reveal anything about bat idol other than we, the players of STAP, already knew: it was a bat idol, and Urol told us we had to find it. Regardless, I do see your point and will refrain from this in the future.
But I must say that the idea that someone gave about melting it into a hat was ingenious and right up my character's path but I must also include as previously stated that the pink frog is a much better head adornment.