Newest set of Adventurers

[rahnewhitebriar]

Okay, that works. The deity descriptions do not suggest alignment restrictions, so I wasn't sure. Right now I'm torn between Solaris and Tor. Let me think on it a bit more. Hmmm...how _do_ the alignments break down for the remaining deities?

[Starshadow]

Originally posted by rahnewhitebriar:
Okay, that works. The deity descriptions do not suggest alignment restrictions, so I wasn't sure. Right now I'm torn between Solaris and Tor. Let me think on it a bit more. Hmmm...how _do_ the alignments break down for the remaining deities?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Both are good options for a half orc. Tor is well respected among all mountain dwellers, and even the monsters that hate him know respect for him, since they live in his domain.

Solaris being chief among the gods has worshippers of all stripes, even evil followers, though few of his priests are actually evil.

Lunari also has a variety, and while her consort represents law and order, the Goddess of storms and seas is very much about chaos, and this reflects in her worshippers as well. The good merfolk worship her, but so do the evil Locathah.

While her brother Solaris represents the Lawful side of good (usually) and her sister Lunari's chaos does not differentiate between goodness or evil (usually), Stellari is best defined as Chaotic Good, being the most free-spirited, childlike and fey aspected of the deities. She often appears as a fairy or even a child. The elves, who tend to be chaotuic good as well, are her biggest followers.

Tor is earth incarnate, and while there is chaos when his temper reaches a fevered pitch (so we have earthquakes, avalanches and landslides), he mostly about order. Just as a good smith or master jeweler keeps an organized forge, so too is Tor Lawful. He is followed by dwarves, who tend towards lawful good, yet many of the evil humanoids aee also lawful, and though they may not worshp him outright, there is that respect I mentioned.

Death is revered by the evil, yet himself is not always what people think of when they think "evil". I would call him Neutral evil, for he takes everyone without prejudice into his arms. He does not take pleasure in cruelty as Titus does, but does his deeds coldly and without passion. His followers however are another story, as he rules over devils, demons, vampires and all the creatures of the night who delight in evil's ways.

Like the dragons she spawned, who range across the board: good, evil, chaotic, lawful, she is unpredicatble and perhaps the most neutral of all the gods, save Death, whom she is closest to. Her alignment is ften based on her current level of lust, greed, hunger and desire, though when sated and content, is among the wisest of the deities.

Bestia is a true mother. Her alignment changes depending on how well her children are doing. She is not above bbeing driven to evil acts, yet can be kind and nurturing. Few humans worship the goddess of beasts.

Jester is so chaotic, he makes Lunari look like Solaris.

[Starshadow]

Originally posted by rahnewhitebriar:
I'm rather enjoying messing around with the concept of a half-orc cleric...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here's another nugget to chew on. You want to go half-orc Holy person... you could try Druid. they are sort of like cleric's and might (I say might, I really don't know) play out even better than priest-clerics.

[Stranng]

Originally posted by Stranng:
Death by proxy? That just doesnt seem right.
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Maybe, maybe not. Life is not fair as the princess Bride tells us. I held the adventure off last week due to your unavailability to play, and almost did so this week due to your real life obligations.

Fair was not what I posted. As you see I posted "right". I am not searching for "fairness", but a balanced format.

The party continued on what had pretty much become Marren's quest, and in a certain way, the missing NPC's are always "there", even when they aren't.

Therefore, had one or two people died, Marren would have lived. But since the entire party died, ON a quest for Marren, and partly BECAUSE he was not there, yet at the same time was theoretically WITH them, I cannot consider him to have been the sole survivor.

If this was "Marren's quest" then the way that missing players for characters that are essential to the plot line needs to be reviewed. Simply put if a character, such as Marren, is essential to a plot line then that charcter needs to be present in a more active form than a "shadow". In essence the final confrontation of this plot line was scewed simply "BECAUSE he was not there, yet at the same time was theoretically WITH them..."

I held the adventure off last week due to your unavailability to play, and almost did so this week due to your real life obligations.

That is fine...playing the Tindale scenario is also fine, even though the Heros campaign was open to you. What is unbalanced is playing through "Marren's quest" without the character. I understand whats done is done, what I am trying to point out is that for balanced gaming the main character of ANY plot line should be active...not a "shadow". Also in the last post I have quoted, you SEEM to imply that my absence triggers the shadow of the character i should have been playing. It has been my understanding that Caer Falken has been built around players coming and going and the "shadow theory" is the control for consistency. But as the parameters for player attendance has changed due to quests away from the Inn, so too should the control for consistency change. The "shadow theory" works well for Inn adventures but is lacking as far as long term adventures are concerned.

He would never have run from that battle, and would never have survived an onslaught from Erin, Ravensong, Neanthyl and Avera.

I agree with your belief in how Marren would have acted.

Whether or not this seems fair or makes people unhappy is really irrelevant. I am the hand of fate in this game, and the finger of God, for better or worse

If this is truly your schema, then I am sorry and disappointed. I know you go to great lengths and expend a great deal of time and effort in the creation and maintenance of this game. I am also cogniscent of the great deal of time that the other players invest in this. Your relative happiness and that of the other players are very relevant. I am very sure that we all can be investing Friday nights and the subsequent time put into this game in other areas. We all choose to spend that time and come together on Friday nights to play a game, to enjoy ourselves by actively collaborating on/in a story.

Please do not mistake this post as an argument as to why the Adventurers should not be dead. I simply wish to point out the mechanism of their demise and how it skewed the crescendo of a really great story. To balance the game the "shadow factor" needs to be dealt with.

[Tarracat]

I agree with much of what you said about shadows, but let me point out a few very little things.

1) Players voted on which game to play, Heros or the "evil in the Mountain" Players mentioned Marren not being present, as did the DM. He was told NOT to hold the story as Marren-player might not be available for some time, hence, we all went forth

2) Shadow. He would have been there not swept away by his god leaving all the others to die. Had a single member lived and not gone to hell in a handbasket, then I would agree that Marren should have survived, but we did not, thus every character and every shadow would have vanished.

3) Another side oof the coin: He was wholly crushed when he lost his god. Nearly to the point of vanishing then. If he was sole survivor on a quest that was his, and his entire party, ALL his friends, were killed or taken to hell, he would have been a truely broken man. Your character to play, no doubt, but you cannot tell me such total devistation would not effect him

4) Mostly though, if he had been there, likely he would have resisted the charm, and likely he would have been the first that the four other main characters would have pounced on. Even if he killed one of them, the full onslaught of his friends and demon, he would not have survived. We're all in this together, I very much would love to say that Ravensong or Avera or Neanthyl would try to find their way out from servitude and back to true life, but in perspective, she's gone. Not a happy ending. Shakespere is familiar with such.

[Lyssandra]

The general consensus Friday was that Tindale was the least dangerous of the settings, and so opted for that due to a shortage of players...others expressed that they'd rather wait to continue the Abyss until we had a full party in Devonshire again, thus Straang would have been needed for Devonshire too.

However, it's already been decided that we'll most likely be playing Devonshire this upcoming Friday while the players create new characters, and the DM prepares things to start off the new characters.

[Starshadow]

I know what it is like to become attached to a character and lose it. I also know that some people invest a lot of time and energy into their characters. I know I would if I were a player. Even the people who offhandedly say, ?It?s just a game? are the very ones who get depressed when their characters die.

We have a variety of players at Caer Falken, ranging from those who make it a priority to be here, to those who keep it as a back up plan, just in case they have nothing better to do on a Friday night. We have players who send me updates on their characters every time there is a change, and those who must be nagged to do so. The player styles range from deep immersion role playing to greedy power gamers, with every combination in between. There are those who give me ample warning when they cannot play, and those who keep me guessing up until the very last second (or even fail to show up without a peep).

Sometimes I feel like a proud father and sometimes I feel like I am a Sunday School teacher. While you guys are keeping track of one or two characters, I have to run the whole show. Sometimes its like pulling teeth to get stuff done, waiting for people to post, reminding people of the rules, arguing via AIM about what the character cannot do or how to interpret a spell. It is a lot of work, but I?m not complaining, as it?s a labor of love. And while you are each concerned with having fun, my concern is making sure you do. And it is not always even possible to do that.

Because I also have to think about aspects you don?t, like game balance. Is the group of comparable skill level? Is the monster too hard or too easy? Who does not yet have a magic weapon or armor and who has far too many? What can I do now that I see that so and so?s new magical item, spell or feat is really broken?

And how do I accomplish this? By keeping things intentionally vague, fluid and ever-changing, that?s how. So when you go looking back for a ruling on this or precedent on that and don?t find one, it?s because the only hard and fast rule is this: ?What I say goes?.

If I decide to have Cattalinia intervene, I will. If I decide you have healed extra or lost something, well then that?s the way it is. This is part of the Mystique of the Caer Falken Inn, but also a defense mechanism in a game in which, by its very nature, breaks all the rules anyway. I have to trust that everyone is being fair and honest (even when other players start complaining about obvious inequities). There are nights when I could swear half of you are cheating. I, of course, don?t want to believe any of you are capable of that and will never make such an accusation. But my keeping you guessing or throwing out surprises or changing rules at the drop of a hat are defensive reactions to the players who roll 50 20?s in a row and who crit every other swing, while characters of equal power are out there missing targets and failing saves.

And if I think it is fair and just and right to have an over-powered, broken character meet the same fate as his colleagues, then that is the way it will be.

For most of the past two and a half years, I have done right by most players (or else why would they keep coming back?), while others have not enjoyed themselves and left. But I have to keep order somehow, and unlike in a table top game, you are not all in the same room with me, rolling in front of me or talking to me. It is tedious and time consuming to have to type out every little thing, and I don?t even have enough room with a wide screen to have all the AIM buttons lined up on my screen, which means it takes time just to find you! I guaranty that for every frustration you experience in the game, I visit those same obstacles tenfold, and have additional ones to boot. Anyone who finds the game no longer desirable to play is free to find another game with no hard feelings. And while I always want to hear your opinions on things, the ?that?s not right? argument is never going to be one that you can win here. As the saying goes, ?I?ll be the judge of that?, and those of you who have played with many DM?s know that, as our ilk go, I?m pretty fair.

Despite my iron clad authority over the game, I feel I have been democratic in most cases to a fault. In fact, the reason we played Tindale the night everyone died is not because I wanted to, but because everyone else did. While not everyone recalls this, I have asked the opinion of the players every time I have thought about instituting major change. ?What do you think about using character background in plots??, ?Should we use 3.0, 3.5 or three and quarter??, ?What do you think about the amount of sex and violence in the game??, ?How do you feel about ongoing campaigns as opposed to one-nighters??, ?What types of monsters does your character hate??, ?WHAT GAME DO YOU WANT TO PLAY TONIGHT??

Please never mistake the fact that I am constantly asking your opinions in an attempt to improve the gaming environment and quality of the experience with The Caer Falken Inn gaming paradigm being a democracy. It can?t be, it won?t be and it shouldn?t be.


So here is another rule of thumb. Ask and question all you want about atmosphere, rules, background, technique, strategy or other playability issues. But once I have made a decision, don?t argue about it with me. It is a Flaw in MY character to take such arguments as whiny, ungrateful and pointlessly unproductive. Nobody?s perfect.

[Dramavictim]

Just a reminder folks, the new characters need to be in this weekend, according to the DM, so they can be availible for the first plot line even if you can't make it for the first game session.