"Out of the Frying Pan"- Book III: Fanning the Embers

[el-remmen]

Very cool combat. I was a bit surprised that the FMK leapt to the attack of Tanweil quite so quickly. He seems to be a half-dragon who wants to kill 'mom'. Interesting. Maybe wouldn't be such a bad thing if he suceeded. Care to remind me why they're so opposed to him? Just because they're allied w/the gnomes and fear for their leader's life?

They are not necessarily "opposed" to him - They wanted to talk with him, but he does not seem one much for talking. Also keep in mind that he has killed several gnomes already.

But you'd have to wait and see if any of my players chime in on the subject (don't hold your breath )

As a non-sequitor, how do you roll up ability scores for your PCs?

Players have a choices of two methods:

1) Rolling 4d6 and drop the lowest six times and apply them in any order to your stats.

OR

2) Roll two sets of six stats using 4d6 IN ORDER and choose the set you prefer.

In both cases, your positive and negative adjustments should add up to at least +1 or you can re-roll completely.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Good to see this back; I enjoy the way the story is progressing.

 

[Manzanita]

...Players have a choices of two methods:

1) Rolling 4d6 and drop the lowest six times and apply them in any order to your stats.

OR

2) Roll two sets of six stats using 4d6 IN ORDER and choose the set you prefer.

In both cases, your positive and negative adjustments should add up to at least +1 or you can re-roll completely.

...a +1 total adj. Would be harsh. I recall from the days when the rogues Gallary was being updated, that some of the PCs (like Kazrack and Rachis) had significantly better characteristics than others (like Jeremy and Jana). I may fiddle with those methods a bit.

In any case. Still enjoying this SH very much. Keep up the good work, Nemmerle.

 

[Ciaran]

They are not necessarily "opposed" to him - They wanted to talk with him, but he does not seem one much for talking. Also keep in mind that he has killed several gnomes already.

But you'd have to wait and see if any of my players chime in on the subject (don't hold your breath )

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I think it was one of those groupthink moments where we saw our affiliated NPCs jump on Tanweil, we saw Tanweil hurt the friendly NPCs, then one PC joined the attack... and we were committed. After all, once Debo and Gunthar jumped Tanweil, it would be hard to convince him that the rest of us were friendly, eh?

Basically, Nemmerle made it happen.

- Eric

 

[Manzanita]

Ciaran/eric. Thanks for the input. Which one are you?

 

[el-remmen]

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I think it was one of those groupthink moments where we saw our affiliated NPCs jump on Tanweil, we saw Tanweil hurt the friendly NPCs, then one PC joined the attack... and we were committed. After all, once Debo and Gunthar jumped Tanweil, it would be hard to convince him that the rest of us were friendly, eh?

Basically, Nemmerle made it happen.

- Eric

Hey, it is not my fault you guys don't know how to handle the NPCs

 

[el-remmen]

Just to let you loyal readers know, I began on the next installment last night and have lovingly entitled it "Aftermath".

 

[mmu1]

Ciaran/eric. Thanks for the input. Which one are you?

Martin the Green, I think. (There are two Erics, which makes it confusing, but unless they moved, I think I got it right)

As for character stats... Yeah, Ratchis and Kazrack are way ahead of everyone, although I attribute their continued survivial to being played by very risk-averse players more than anything else.

 

[weiknarf]

Just finished the story. Great Stuff!

Couple of questions:

1) How did you determine what happened when the Shepherds took on the Temple of "Bast"? Did you know what you wanted to happen and just handwave it or did you have some random/mechanical means of determining the outcome?

2) You have mentioned that the FMKs are having a difficult time partly due to heading in directions you did not think they would tackle so soon. My question is, how static are the levels of the NPCs? It seems to me that teh Shepherds have increased in level. What about Richard the Red, Rindalith, and other major NPCs? Do they increase in level as the FMKs do or will they eventually be surpassed?

 

[el-remmen]

Just finished the story. Great Stuff!

Did you start from the beginning, or did you just start with the FMK thread?

Couple of questions:

1) How did you determine what happened when the Shepherds took on the Temple of "Bast"? Did you know what you wanted to happen and just handwave it or did you have some random/mechanical means of determining the outcome?

Well, originally I wanted to run the adventure as a Play-By-Post mini-campaign - but unfortunately, I did not have the time to follow up with it even once I got a group of willing Story Hour readers to playe the roles of Frank, Gwar, Josef, Carlos and Finn.

In the end, I basically hand-waved it, but keeping in mind their capabiliites and the development of the situation there, since originally the adventure was supposed to be one for the FMK.

2) You have mentioned that the FMKs are having a difficult time partly due to heading in directions you did not think they would tackle so soon. My question is, how static are the levels of the NPCs? It seems to me that teh Shepherds have increased in level. What about Richard the Red, Rindalith, and other major NPCs? Do they increase in level as the FMKs do or will they eventually be surpassed?

It seems to me that the PCs are advancing in level at a rate that is way above the norm int terms of "in-game" time (at this point in the campaign less than a year had passed and they had gained an average of 7 levels).

Usually, I think there is a lot more downtime in a campaign between "adventures", but this has not been the case in the "Out of the Frying Pan" campaign -so, as Richard the Red said in yesterday's session - "You have improved greatly in the short time I have known you, forged by the fires of the situation you have found yourself in."

Anyway, to answer the question more directly, NPCs definitely advance as well, just not quite at the same rate as the PCs.