I am part of the most incompetent adventuring group.

[Dagger75]

And to be fair I am one of the incompetent ones.

Here is a quote heard durning the game
"We are the group the bad guys level up on."

We are bad. Our plans don't work, our tactics don't work and then when its time to pick up dice they fail on us to.

Our investigation skills leave much to be desired. The Keystone Kops looks like CSI compared to us. We take jobs with the shiftiest people, we owe stuff to the halfling mob and we owe something to every dragon marked house in the world.

I honestly don't know why people hire us. We come cheap but it ain't no bargain.


Edit- At work, illeagal internet surfing = bad spelling

 

[The_Universe]

Trust me - there are groups even less competent than yours. *shakes head* Trust me.

 

[shilsen]

I believe you. When you're bad enough to mis-spell "incompetent", there's no saving you

Care to share some stories?

 

[Morpheus]

I believe you. When you're bad enough to mis-spell "incompetent", there's no saving you

Care to share some stories?

Well, I have the "honor" of DMing this crew and it isn't quite as bad as Dagger75 is making it out to be. It isn't all roses either. Here's an example:

The PCs are hired to find a rogue agent of the Dark Lanterns of Breland (DMs should know what module this is from). Well, they track him to Trolanport (Gnome Capital) and find out that he will be attending a lavish ball that evening. Then they spend the next 2 hours of real time trying to come up with a plan. In the end, they just hung out at an inn nearby where they were attacked by an old adversary and his 4 goblin henchmen. The adversary left and the PCs fought the 4 goblins (hence the bit about the party being used to level up monsters). The final result: They never did catch the BBEG in Trolanport (but they will have another chance next time)...

BTW, the party consists of:

Warforged Fighter/1 ("Krieg")
Warforged Barbarian/Fighter 2/1 ("Ravage XI")
Human Cleric/3 ("Halion")
Human Sorcerer/3 ("Kaleb")

 

[Crothian]

"We are the group the bad guys level up on."

Now that's funny!!!

 

[demiurge1138]

Hasn't anyone told you, Dagger? There is no Halfling Mafia.

Demiurge out.

 

[SuperFlyTNT]

Well, I have the "honor" of DMing this crew and it isn't quite as bad as Dagger75 is making it out to be. It isn't all roses either. Here's an example:

The PCs are hired to find a rogue agent of the Dark Lanterns of Breland (DMs should know what module this is from). Well, they track him to Trolanport (Gnome Capital) and find out that he will be attending a lavish ball that evening. Then they spend the next 2 hours of real time trying to come up with a plan. In the end, they just hung out at an inn nearby where they were attacked by an old adversary and his 4 goblin henchmen. The adversary left and the PCs fought the 4 goblins (hence the bit about the party being used to level up monsters). The final result: They never did catch the BBEG in Trolanport (but they will have another chance next time)...

BTW, the party consists of:

Warforged Fighter/1 ("Krieg")
Warforged Barbarian/Fighter 2/1 ("Ravage XI")
Human Cleric/3 ("Halion")
Human Sorcerer/3 ("Kaleb")

HA HA I'm running that same module. My players tried to sneak a gnome in under her dress because he was barred entry to said ball. They did not succeed. They ended up getting seperated later on during the session.

!!!SPOILER!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!

Wow how did you manage to get them to advance the plot with out them showing up at the ball?

 

[Victim]

I'm not so sure about that. One of my parties has been pretty inept. We'd always leave behind treasure (we didn't miss an item or do, we'd loot everything and then leave it behind in a big pile) and forget about our prisoners - usually at the same time. So when the guys we captured would escape, they could walk off with some nice loot. We got involved in the mob (the Bakers' Guild) and set fire to city block during our first adventure. Someone agreed to write down everything we did and send it the Red Wizards in exchange for a 50% on a 3.0 glove of storing. And then someone else tried to find out what the first character was doing and ended up also having to keep a diary. A fire knife assassin ended up taking one of our watches as we traveled.

In terms of mechanics, the initial party was 1/2 elf (drow) rogue, elf bard, wild elf ranger, and a human 3.0 psion. At least the ranger made an awesome archer.

 

[Rel]

I felt compelled to post, Dagger, if only to say that I admire your candor.

Perhaps if you posted a few more details of where you guys are coming up short we could collectively help you with at least some tactical advice. I'm afraid I can't help you with the unlucky dice thing except to say that, over time, it'll probably start to average out.

The one concrete bit of advice that I can offer is that when the opportunity to tackle a problem presents itself, pick "Act Quickly" over "Plan Completely". A mediocre plan enacted quickly is more fun than the perfect plan that takes several hours to come up with, any day of the week. I have to remind myself of this often because my natural tendency is to endlessly refine any plan to the point that I've wasted the majority of the game session doing so. A bad plan may get you into trouble but being in trouble and figuring a way out of that trouble is more fun than sitting around planning is most of the time.

 

[Morpheus]

HA HA I'm running that same module. My players tried to sneak a gnome in under her dress because he was barred entry to said ball. They did not succeed. They ended up getting seperated later on during the session.

!!!SPOILER!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!

Wow how did you manage to get them to advance the plot with out them showing up at the ball?

Outside of the Aundarian Embassy, a crowd had gathered after the shenanigans inside. The PCs kept asking around for a "tall, thin guy with long white hair who goes by the name of Lucan'. Eventually, they will be heard by the right people who will put them on the right track.

My favorite quote from this session: Gnome Guard to crowd, "Step back! There is nothing to see here. Move along now."