Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Scourge of the Ratmen [Scarred Lands] - Updated 1/26
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Fergus" data-source="post: 1871806" data-attributes="member: 26316"><p><strong>Finally, he speaks...</strong></p><p></p><p>Hi all,</p><p></p><p>So, I think that it's time for me to make my debut... I'm the ex-player of Fergus, Milo, Novalia, and a character yet to be revealed. I've been lurking on this storyline for a long time and decided to respond to a few posts, however old they might be.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For the record, Fergus never said anything like this. He wasn't remotely this academic. I somewhat resent the characterization.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't believe that Fergus ever faced any ratmen in any of our sessions.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'd like to point out that making the enemies "more and more evil" isn't going to work for a character clinging desperately to a Lawful Neutral alignment because that's the only way he knows to make sense of the world.</p><p></p><p>Fergus left the party before it was made clear that the young boy was being sacrificed to the giant spider. The telling of how Fergus left the party at the bottom of Issue 3, Episodes 8, 9, and 10 (sic), isn't how I remember it. I remember there being much more discussion along the lines of "we should kill the spider goblins because they are evil/unnatural and they obviously took the kid" vs. "we don't know for sure that they took the kid and we shouldn't kill them if they didn't." Fergus would have been amenable to "Okay, look, the only tracks we found where the boy was taken were spider goblin tracks, they've led us here, let's look around and see if we can find the boy" and wouldn't have walked out if someone had made that point.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Morality is relative to different alignments, hence having characters with different alignments. *smile*</p><p></p><p>Reading through Issue 3, Episodes 11 and 12 (sic), and my own recollection for the encounter the players would have slaughtered virtually all of the spider goblins if (a) they'd been rolling a bit better and (b) the shaman didn't take the initiative to open a dialogue. As it was they kept on attacking the spider goblins while conducting negotiations to get the boy, something I'd hardly qualify as honorable or moral. I have no idea where the comment of "I should have given you more xps for avoiding the combat" is coming from given the amount of combat there was. If anything the DM was the one who avoided combat, not the players.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, but under different characters. One of the reasons I decided to have Fergus leave was because it was incredibly clear that I needed a different character to work with this party.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, I think that the party dissention comes off quite a bit in the narrative. *grin*</p><p></p><p>I actually came back with three other characters, not two. I don't feel like I gave up on the game so much as I was starting my first year as a high school teacher and didn't want very many (possibly any!) big weekend committments as I was feeling overworked and overstressed. That said, had I felt more connection to and commitment to the game I probably would have kept on playing, so perhaps the observation is a fair one.</p><p></p><p>I strongly resent the comment of "He didn't play well with others...".</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not familiar with the reference, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless. I'm sure that it was intended as a compliment, right? *laugh*</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thank you! He seemed the most capable of scouting and taking down a squad of ambushers singlehandedly was icing on the cake. Combat was never Milo's problem. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The DM and I slid into another room for fifteen minutes-ish. It went relatively quickly; we fast forwarded through a few parts to get to the critical points of the solo. We slipped away a few more times, but only for a minute now and then. In retrospect, I should have done more notepassing to speed things up and not cause as much disruption.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thief? I was a rogue, sir! I didn't steal anything. Well, not at the current point in the narration, at least. Okay, fine, nothing very important at any rate... *grin*</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I wasn't a traitor, thankyouverymuch. *smile*</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So did I! It was quite fun from a roleplaying perspective, though I really enjoyed playing Milo and found it hard to savor his possible execution.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I remember the trial of Milo well. Had to do a goodly amount of fast talking with the zone of truth spells! One of the most enjoyable roleplaying experiences I've ever had. My most effectve techinique was trying to make my answers as long as possible to chew up as much zone of truth time as I could before the spell expired. Answering questions with questions was also greatly enjoyable. *smile*</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It was never conclusively shown that the spells Milo was under were Charm Person spells and any testimony about Charm Person wouldn't necessarily apply because of this. Any expert witness could only testify to his magic experience, which would probably not include ratmen shamanism, calling such testimony into question. Titan worshippers have been known to display non-standard magics as well, and possibly the shaman had a special spell from the titan Gulaben about seducing and influencing people. (Granted, these were predominantly disease ratmen, but there's no reason to conclude that a disease ratmen shaman has only disease titan powers.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Part of the tension was the introduction of Milo into the group, which didn't play out as the DM and I had originally discussed. (Silly players doing their own thing... *smile*) Part of Milo's backstory was that he didn't know exactly why he was there, only that he was sent there for a good reason and with a general mission description. He was figuring out the in's and out's of why he was there and didn't have good answers for the party about his background because he didn't know the answers fully for himself. The (incredibly) moralistic nature of the party and his non-assuredness didn't mesh well.</p><p></p><p>However, I'd like to point out that Milo did do moral actions now and then, such as leaping into quicksand to try and rescue a Vigilant.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think that this is an accurate characterization. I wouldn't say "strongly neutral" so much as wanting to play a character who has some independent motivation to keep him going, something to make him a characater in and of himself instead of a character who would have nothing specific and meaningful to do if the party ever split up.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Love you, too, Fulcan... *smile* I would like to note that all of my characters did have very different character concepts as I attempted to fit in better with the party, and that all of my character concepts (including Fergus) were preapproved by the DM.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree on both accounts.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The party knows that I'm rejoining the group next month with the Return of Milo(tm) subplot, right? *laugh*</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Definitely true, though I might have alienated more by telling the full truth without dissembling.</p><p></p><p>Oh, wait, did I say that out loud? *grin*</p><p></p><p>Eagerly awaiting future installments,</p><p>-Fergus</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fergus, post: 1871806, member: 26316"] [b]Finally, he speaks...[/b] Hi all, So, I think that it's time for me to make my debut... I'm the ex-player of Fergus, Milo, Novalia, and a character yet to be revealed. I've been lurking on this storyline for a long time and decided to respond to a few posts, however old they might be. For the record, Fergus never said anything like this. He wasn't remotely this academic. I somewhat resent the characterization. I don't believe that Fergus ever faced any ratmen in any of our sessions. I'd like to point out that making the enemies "more and more evil" isn't going to work for a character clinging desperately to a Lawful Neutral alignment because that's the only way he knows to make sense of the world. Fergus left the party before it was made clear that the young boy was being sacrificed to the giant spider. The telling of how Fergus left the party at the bottom of Issue 3, Episodes 8, 9, and 10 (sic), isn't how I remember it. I remember there being much more discussion along the lines of "we should kill the spider goblins because they are evil/unnatural and they obviously took the kid" vs. "we don't know for sure that they took the kid and we shouldn't kill them if they didn't." Fergus would have been amenable to "Okay, look, the only tracks we found where the boy was taken were spider goblin tracks, they've led us here, let's look around and see if we can find the boy" and wouldn't have walked out if someone had made that point. Morality is relative to different alignments, hence having characters with different alignments. *smile* Reading through Issue 3, Episodes 11 and 12 (sic), and my own recollection for the encounter the players would have slaughtered virtually all of the spider goblins if (a) they'd been rolling a bit better and (b) the shaman didn't take the initiative to open a dialogue. As it was they kept on attacking the spider goblins while conducting negotiations to get the boy, something I'd hardly qualify as honorable or moral. I have no idea where the comment of "I should have given you more xps for avoiding the combat" is coming from given the amount of combat there was. If anything the DM was the one who avoided combat, not the players. Yes, but under different characters. One of the reasons I decided to have Fergus leave was because it was incredibly clear that I needed a different character to work with this party. Actually, I think that the party dissention comes off quite a bit in the narrative. *grin* I actually came back with three other characters, not two. I don't feel like I gave up on the game so much as I was starting my first year as a high school teacher and didn't want very many (possibly any!) big weekend committments as I was feeling overworked and overstressed. That said, had I felt more connection to and commitment to the game I probably would have kept on playing, so perhaps the observation is a fair one. I strongly resent the comment of "He didn't play well with others...". I'm not familiar with the reference, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless. I'm sure that it was intended as a compliment, right? *laugh* Thank you! He seemed the most capable of scouting and taking down a squad of ambushers singlehandedly was icing on the cake. Combat was never Milo's problem. :-) The DM and I slid into another room for fifteen minutes-ish. It went relatively quickly; we fast forwarded through a few parts to get to the critical points of the solo. We slipped away a few more times, but only for a minute now and then. In retrospect, I should have done more notepassing to speed things up and not cause as much disruption. Thief? I was a rogue, sir! I didn't steal anything. Well, not at the current point in the narration, at least. Okay, fine, nothing very important at any rate... *grin* I wasn't a traitor, thankyouverymuch. *smile* So did I! It was quite fun from a roleplaying perspective, though I really enjoyed playing Milo and found it hard to savor his possible execution. I remember the trial of Milo well. Had to do a goodly amount of fast talking with the zone of truth spells! One of the most enjoyable roleplaying experiences I've ever had. My most effectve techinique was trying to make my answers as long as possible to chew up as much zone of truth time as I could before the spell expired. Answering questions with questions was also greatly enjoyable. *smile* It was never conclusively shown that the spells Milo was under were Charm Person spells and any testimony about Charm Person wouldn't necessarily apply because of this. Any expert witness could only testify to his magic experience, which would probably not include ratmen shamanism, calling such testimony into question. Titan worshippers have been known to display non-standard magics as well, and possibly the shaman had a special spell from the titan Gulaben about seducing and influencing people. (Granted, these were predominantly disease ratmen, but there's no reason to conclude that a disease ratmen shaman has only disease titan powers.) Part of the tension was the introduction of Milo into the group, which didn't play out as the DM and I had originally discussed. (Silly players doing their own thing... *smile*) Part of Milo's backstory was that he didn't know exactly why he was there, only that he was sent there for a good reason and with a general mission description. He was figuring out the in's and out's of why he was there and didn't have good answers for the party about his background because he didn't know the answers fully for himself. The (incredibly) moralistic nature of the party and his non-assuredness didn't mesh well. However, I'd like to point out that Milo did do moral actions now and then, such as leaping into quicksand to try and rescue a Vigilant. I think that this is an accurate characterization. I wouldn't say "strongly neutral" so much as wanting to play a character who has some independent motivation to keep him going, something to make him a characater in and of himself instead of a character who would have nothing specific and meaningful to do if the party ever split up. Love you, too, Fulcan... *smile* I would like to note that all of my characters did have very different character concepts as I attempted to fit in better with the party, and that all of my character concepts (including Fergus) were preapproved by the DM. I agree on both accounts. The party knows that I'm rejoining the group next month with the Return of Milo(tm) subplot, right? *laugh* Definitely true, though I might have alienated more by telling the full truth without dissembling. Oh, wait, did I say that out loud? *grin* Eagerly awaiting future installments, -Fergus [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Scourge of the Ratmen [Scarred Lands] - Updated 1/26
Top