Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5624962" data-attributes="member: 92305">I've got an encounter I'm planning for my next game, and I'm trying to figure how to play it.  I've mentioned the situation in a couple of threads, examining different aspects of this encounter.  Here's the basic idea:      The spear to the throat is key in this encounter.  The PCs all care about the grandma NPC on the ground, and they don't want to see her dead.  The Grath warrior (the bad guy) is threatening to kill her if the PCs come any closer.  "One more step, and by The Morrigan's black teats, I'll ram 'er through, I will." My plan is to have the PCs see this, negotiate that obstacle, and then I want the Grath warrior to break and run, turning the encounter into a chase. The Grath will run up and over a crest.  There will be a couple of maneuvers as he runs down this slight grade of forrested skree, jumping over a log or through a "V" of twin trees growing. The grade ends abruptly in a 40' cliff.  The cliff happens to be about equal height to the branches on the trees growing from the valley floor below. As the PC's chase him, the Grath will speed up as he gets to the cliff edge, and then jump, with all his might, catching himself in the branches of the closest tree. I'm hoping the PCs will follow. I think they will (but, I have contingency plans if they don't), and this will lead into a neat, Tarzan-like chase through the branches, with the characters catching vines and swining to other trees, jumping down onto branches, climbing here, balancing there.  If they catch him, there might be a neat melee fight amongst the brances of these giant trees. And, if someone falls and survives, I've got some interesting things for that PC to face, down on the valley floor, too. So, you get the idea of what I have in mind.       What I am thinking about is just giving the Grath the nish as the PCs approach.  No rolling.   That's not quite by the rules, but it somehow seems appropriate.  I mean, the Grath is already standing above Stenna (grandma) as the PCs come running up the road.  I'm sure the PCs won't take any stealth measures to get there (if they do, I'll deal with it and possibly play the encounter differently).  The Grath warrior will know they're coming.  So, as they round the bend, the Grath puts his spear to Stenna's neck and begins to to shout as soon as he can make eye contact with the PCs, "I'll kill her, I will!  Stop yer pace!  Or, I'll send her to meet bloody Badb, I will!"   What do you think.  Are there (or should there be) situations where, just by GM fiat, an NPC (or a PC) has gained initiative just by his actions and the situation--not by the random die throw. If you're an Old School gamer (as I am), then this is a no brainer.  Yep, do it. If you're a New Schooler, you might feel robbed because the GM didn't allow you the chance to take initiatiave through die throws. Your thoughts?</blockquote>

Verification