Caecafortuna
First Post
Wouldn't it make sense to make the party come to a consensus on a course of action before having them roll initiative?
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Bane of the Tradeways tips?
- Thread starter Caecafortuna
- Start date
Wouldn't it make sense to make the party come to a consensus on a course of action before having them roll initiative?
Steve_MND
First Post
I'm not entirely sure how to make the 'spoiler' block here, but given that it's a thread discussing tips on running the module, I wouldn't think anyone who has not played it will be (or should be) in here. Still, Spoilers.
My Lord's Alliance LE character sided with the Plumes right off the bat, because a) they were the legal authority, despite being jerks, and b) they were clearly (and literally) being waylaid by bandits. He had his own mission to root out some potential corruption, sure, but honestly, rooting it out from within was more his preference anyway (and, as it turned out, worked out pretty well). Given that the mod apparently has both options covered pretty well as far as what could happen, they probably expected either outcome to be likely.
My Lord's Alliance LE character sided with the Plumes right off the bat, because a) they were the legal authority, despite being jerks, and b) they were clearly (and literally) being waylaid by bandits. He had his own mission to root out some potential corruption, sure, but honestly, rooting it out from within was more his preference anyway (and, as it turned out, worked out pretty well). Given that the mod apparently has both options covered pretty well as far as what could happen, they probably expected either outcome to be likely.
It's "sblock."
This was my initial position as well, but the fact that I'd been thrown to my intended death into a gladiatorial arena by them in Shackles of Blood -- despite being both a human and a legal authority myself -- made turning on them a pretty easy decision to make.
Tyranthraxus
Explorer
It can also come down to faction information and how the dm dishes that out
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The Lords Alliance Faction mission pretty much calls out that the Red Plumes in the area if you encounter anything may be involved in illicit activity. I had 3 LA on my table. They knew the Red Plumes were up to no good and had all played previous in Shackles. Even the Zhentarim player knew that a Zhent had been enslaved. When 4/7 of your party know what happened to them possibly weeks earlier, then there is no decision to make
Caecafortuna: Discussions before battle are all well and good, but essentially you head over a hill or round a corner and come across the battle ambush already happening. Very few groups do I know have a thought provoking discussion at this point on how to handle things. Usually it comes down to 'Those guys tried to feed me to some Halfling Gladiators.. lets kill em' to ' Lets help out the Bandits!'.
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The Lords Alliance Faction mission pretty much calls out that the Red Plumes in the area if you encounter anything may be involved in illicit activity. I had 3 LA on my table. They knew the Red Plumes were up to no good and had all played previous in Shackles. Even the Zhentarim player knew that a Zhent had been enslaved. When 4/7 of your party know what happened to them possibly weeks earlier, then there is no decision to make
Caecafortuna: Discussions before battle are all well and good, but essentially you head over a hill or round a corner and come across the battle ambush already happening. Very few groups do I know have a thought provoking discussion at this point on how to handle things. Usually it comes down to 'Those guys tried to feed me to some Halfling Gladiators.. lets kill em' to ' Lets help out the Bandits!'.
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Tyranthraxus
Explorer
Id also point out all it takes even if you have a group discussion is for one player to go rogue and they essentially commit you to supporting one of the sides.
Caecafortuna
First Post
What you say makes sense but it isn't "fair" to let one player decide which side the group is fighting for. I may put the group on a stopwatch and if they do not come to a consensus in, say 10 seconds, I would then have them roll initiative and let each player do their own thing.
Tyranthraxus
Explorer
Sadly Caecafortuna I must admit that many combat encounters arnt fair. The pcs are attacked by flying monkeys and your 3 barbarians dont have ranged weapons and you only have 4 players. Your Wizard cleans them up. Yes and Unfair battle but still something the party can deal with if they are properly resourced.
And you are right .. it isnt fair to let one pc decide. But they do and we move on to what happens next. Consesus decisions can work in such situation but generally NOT combat encounters. It comes down to effectively Initiative. If the CN rogue gets his 24, then you can pretty much call an end to the standard mode of party co-operation.
And you are right .. it isnt fair to let one pc decide. But they do and we move on to what happens next. Consesus decisions can work in such situation but generally NOT combat encounters. It comes down to effectively Initiative. If the CN rogue gets his 24, then you can pretty much call an end to the standard mode of party co-operation.
In such matters, I put it to a party vote and then ignore player actions that work against the consensus... under the "making the game not fun for other players" guideline.
Actively sabotaging the group's decisions? That gets you kicked off my tables. Not immediately - you do get warned - but if you've got a lone player who doesn't understand the group nature of the game, I think they need to be brought up on that.
Cheers!
Actively sabotaging the group's decisions? That gets you kicked off my tables. Not immediately - you do get warned - but if you've got a lone player who doesn't understand the group nature of the game, I think they need to be brought up on that.
Cheers!
Tyranthraxus
Explorer
I let the party make up their own minds. Yeah sometimes they go meta how they want to play things out. I dont ever ignore a players actions unless they are really really new.
A good example was actually last night
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I had the party finally breach the room in the Sacred Stone Monastery with Rewick Caradoon in. He was sitting at a desk writing some notes on his latest experiment. I had a brand new 2nd session character (the player gets quite ill and his first session was ages ago). He is playing a Barbarian that likes to 'hit things'. The Sorc immediatly recognised the creature but didnt want to blurt out Lich in front of the Lich for risk of offending him. the new player had no clue what the guy was and was basically going to move in for the kill (because the guy had loot!). A Quick metagame conversation happened with the older players telling the new player what this thing was and that it probably wasnt the best idea to strike at it.
So the Barbarian changed his mind, he had already told me that he was going to 'Cut the thing down while it cant see me. Ill just charge at it'. Ive not issue with helping players out like that and I think it builds team spirit when others players are helping out the new players.
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I had a handle on most of my local Expeditions players now. Some I know what they are going to do, others I dont see enough to work it out. I just think in the situation above that if someone is playing their character... and their previous experiences with a certain group then I think that is enough to me to know that they are in fact roleplaying the situation
A good example was actually last night
[sblock]
I had the party finally breach the room in the Sacred Stone Monastery with Rewick Caradoon in. He was sitting at a desk writing some notes on his latest experiment. I had a brand new 2nd session character (the player gets quite ill and his first session was ages ago). He is playing a Barbarian that likes to 'hit things'. The Sorc immediatly recognised the creature but didnt want to blurt out Lich in front of the Lich for risk of offending him. the new player had no clue what the guy was and was basically going to move in for the kill (because the guy had loot!). A Quick metagame conversation happened with the older players telling the new player what this thing was and that it probably wasnt the best idea to strike at it.
So the Barbarian changed his mind, he had already told me that he was going to 'Cut the thing down while it cant see me. Ill just charge at it'. Ive not issue with helping players out like that and I think it builds team spirit when others players are helping out the new players.
[/sblock]
I had a handle on most of my local Expeditions players now. Some I know what they are going to do, others I dont see enough to work it out. I just think in the situation above that if someone is playing their character... and their previous experiences with a certain group then I think that is enough to me to know that they are in fact roleplaying the situation
Caecafortuna
First Post
I appreciate all of the information. As I wrap up my preparations, I have another question. Please see below:
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During the chase, it takes an action for someone to attempt to leap into a wagon. Can that character/NPC do anything else that turn? Do they wait until their next turn to try to shove the driver off the wagon? If so, can the driver/passengers try to shove the usurper off the wagon during their turn?
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[sblock]
During the chase, it takes an action for someone to attempt to leap into a wagon. Can that character/NPC do anything else that turn? Do they wait until their next turn to try to shove the driver off the wagon? If so, can the driver/passengers try to shove the usurper off the wagon during their turn?
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