OOC Chatter

[Urson]

Agreed. Unless the players have designated a leader, of course. For my part, I take any directions given to me as suggestions, not orders.

[OGRE MAGE]

Unless the players have designated a leader, of course.

Yes. Agreed.

[sastaz]

Taibhse

Yelling out to the others in the corridor "Lets get back in the tomb, the door should hold these creatures back. Give us time to revive the cleric, these things have to be turned and none of us can do it. Quick before they kill us all". With that he'll disengage and move towards the doorway, and begin to get ready to close the door.

Just FYI a berserker cannot withdraw while raging according to the rules. So if you want to save her, someone has to drag her along.

[OGRE MAGE]

NOW she tells them!

[sastaz]

No, I did indeed tell them before, but everyone started meta talking about strategizing instead of reacting to it. Just yesterday/last turn.

[...] Tuurma is raging and cannot withdraw, so I strongly suggest the other two fronts disengage immediately, run her way and drag their downed colleagues with them. [...]

[OGRE MAGE]

Right.

I am just going to say this to everyone for the record......

This is HYPERBOREA.

Characters are NOT obligated to risk their lives to save another.

If someone picks a specific character class that is subject to unfortunate combat rules, there is no need to feel guilty about what happens to them.

We can all read the book. I'm pretty sure you knew this might become an issue at some point when choosing to play a Berserker.

Suggestions are always fine, but steering others actions isn't going to fly in this game.

I thought there was a discussion about making a "plan" for this contingency after her last unfortunate episode?

[sastaz]

I...feel we live in different worlds when it comes to communicating.

I don't really know what to do here except for stating that there are so many things I don't agree with you on, or that has been very unclear to me.

And it's really not about a PC living or dying.

[Ahlmzhad]

Honestly you and Maxon are in positions where the rest of us would have little chance of success, that's why I called for us to retreat. On board Taibhse would not see any reason you couldn't retreat, and Maxon already being over run he was going to try to save those he could. I don't like it, but I like TPK's even less.

[sastaz]

...you and Maxon are in positions where the rest of us would have little chance of success...

Now we are, yes.

[OGRE MAGE]

...there are so many things I don't agree with you on...

As you may have picked up on with the last guy who suddenly left, I don't enjoy unnecessary confrontation in these games. In fact, I actually despise it. It makes me physically sick, and makes me question why I am doing any of this in the first place.

Like most people here, I play and run games for FUN.

I have limited time in the day I can spend doing this, and arguing about semantics in a game that is supposed to be fun isn't something I have the time or the emotional fortitude to participate in.

I have responded to your barrage of private messages as best I can. If further discussion about this is necessary, can we at least keep it confined to one place from now on, please?



To the other players, I apologize for my absence lately, but this kind of stuff makes me seriously not want to even check in on these games anymore. I will try to get some updates in again here for you shortly.

[sastaz]

Sure, I will confine them to my private forum. And sorry for dividing the post into several ones instead of one longer, I will make single posts from now on. It's just when I'm outside and have bad connection, I send my update in chunks in order not to lose a single longer post, so it's for practical reasons. I guess it's a behaviour I have inhereted from chats or messenger apps. But I realize now it may look like I'm simply ranting.

[Urson]

My 2 cents worth:
Some people may think my mindset for characters is weird- so be it. I suppose it comes from my start with D&D. I took theater classes in high school, (long before I'd ever heard of AD&D) and took to improv and roleplay like a duck to water. After I learned improv, I got into gaming.
My drive is always to find the character's mindset and try to stay in it.
In any game that I've ever been in, I tend to assume that the PC's are well aware that death is a constant threat- and have, in whatever way, resigned themselves to that. (who knows, maybe that says dark and scary things about MY personality). If a PC really wants to live a long life, he/she needs to retire and become a farmer.
I think what I'm trying to say is that I try not to worry about Character Death. If it happens, I'm annoyed (occasionally rocked, if it's a long-lived character) but I don't consider it a loss. It's part of the game.
It sucks that Maxon has been turned into a charcuterie tray, but its in keeping with the game- and with Maxon's attitude.

[redwarrior]

I definitely try to get into my different characters' mindsets. Some ready! - charge! - aim! Some offer to protect the exact center of the formation, etc. Usually, for my first few levels, I'm figuring out my characters, so they will be a bit hesitant in their actions as they get used to adventuring and being in REAL danger. In this case, Cogmag is kinda brave, but not sure he wants to charge 3-4 of those THINGS! Especially if his team-mate looks like a lost cause.

[sastaz]

For me, a campaign without the possibility of character death is not exciting. By that I mean, action scenes are not really adding anything. But of course role playing games could be a lot of fun without possibility of character death as well, but that's a differnt kind of game. Incidentally, I think campaigns like Critical Role's are (essentially) free of character death, and they're very popular. I just think it has to be agreed upon, and in Old School campaigns I think it goes without saying it's a part of the game.

That being said, I think character death should be somewhat meaningful. I'm not talking about this campaign now mind you, but others I've played, and my taste in general. But I know this view, that character deaths should be meaningful, is not that common in Old School groups I guess I like my play and campaign like tv series or movies. There are meaningless deaths (Game of Thrones, I'm looking at you) but they're rare. Often a character death is a main plot driver (and thereby "meaningful").

[Urson]

I see your point. For me, even if a death isn't 'meaningful', it needs to be logical (given the situation), and fair.
The "Grimtooth's Traps" books are fun in a way- but they're usually horribly unfair to the players.

[Rex]

I am in the same camp as Urson on this one. Fair is the important part. Even a small chance of success is a chance. I ran an adventure in Hyperborea Saturday in one of my FTF games and we lost our scout when an asp bit him and he failed his poison save. But the player didn't complain, the group just worked out a better way to eliminate the snakes without getting close enough to bet bit.

[Karaunios]

My 2 cents worth:
Some people may think my mindset for characters is weird- so be it. I suppose it comes from my start with D&D. I took theater classes in high school, (long before I'd ever heard of AD&D) and took to improv and roleplay like a duck to water. After I learned improv, I got into gaming.
My drive is always to find the character's mindset and try to stay in it.
In any game that I've ever been in, I tend to assume that the PC's are well aware that death is a constant threat- and have, in whatever way, resigned themselves to that. (who knows, maybe that says dark and scary things about MY personality). If a PC really wants to live a long life, he/she needs to retire and become a farmer.
I think what I'm trying to say is that I try not to worry about Character Death. If it happens, I'm annoyed (occasionally rocked, if it's a long-lived character) but I don't consider it a loss. It's part of the game.
It sucks that Maxon has been turned into a charcuterie tray, but its in keeping with the game- and with Maxon's attitude.

I like that and completely agree with that.

If your character dies it's a pity, but you can always roll a new one and start fresh again. Try a new concept.

Personlitywise, I like to develop my characters, but I often don't go beyond a couple of vague concepts/characterization and try to stick to them, not always succesfully.

[Karaunios]

As a DM it's hard to elaborate traps that aren't of the "haha got'ya type" but at the same time aren't too obvious. I was always very bad at it.

[hedgeknight]

As a player, I don't put too much time into developing my character's background or personality, unless the DM requires it. I try to do that as I go along via IC posts and interactions with other characters. That way if they bite the dust, I can shrug it off and roll up a new one.

As a DM, I don't require an extensive background; just a few notes to give me some insight in your character; some tidbits I may be able to exploit...erm...use in the game.

Rob's games are always challenging and well thought out. I don't know how he keeps up with all of the players in his sandbox games, but he does a great job juggling all of it.

[Urson]

Agreed on both counts.