Playtesting: IG's 'The Making of Heroes'

[industrygothica]

So this is probably more of a case of an unprepared DM rather than an untrustworthy victim, but we can play it out however. This is actually the one encounter that I was worried about the most, and for good reason, it seems.

First, I hadn't decided whether or not the father was dead until the time came, and the bit with Thogrim just kind of came up. I'm guessing that if this turns into a long campaign--either here or with the tabletop group--that there may be another half-orc running around Bjorah's Cliff in the near future. In a strange bit of irony, that story could almost mirror the history of my first pbp character, the ranger Korik. But that's neither here nor there. I'm just trying to build a memorable place with well developed people--somewhere that the PCs will care about.

But as for this encounter, it needs work. Ideas?

 

[OnlytheStrong]

You could play off the distrust of the half orc because well........... they were just abused by orcs lol. If our half orc friend looks more like an orc then whatever the other half is, the distrust would be easy to explain.

I think the distrust so far is pretty much the way encounters would go. It would be hard to meet new people on the road, and trust them completely. Heck, I don't know. It's just my opinion, which probably doesn't (and shouldn't) amount to much

 

[Arkhandus]

Hm. Irathias is worried that the girl may've been violated, and that could have something to do with how she'd react towards any orc-bloods. :\

Aside from how she deals with the oddity of a half-orc adventurer being one of her rescuers.... Yeah, I think these two caraveners are likely to be fairly untrusting, after what they've been through and what with this being something of a wild frontier or whatever. A group of non-humans has just saved them from another group of non-humans by killing the latter, and a strange group at that.

Another worry of Irathias' is that the girl's father might be some perverted old man, given how he reacted. All kinds of nasty ways this encounter could turn out!

A more reasonable, shadier but less distasteful angle, could be that they were lookin' to smuggle some illegal goods and didn't want the rest of the caravan to be privy to their plotting and, perhaps, a covert meeting with the supplier or buyer of their drugs/poisons/stolen valuables/whatever.

Or they may actually be spies of some sort, or trafficking in shady secrets and similar information, readying some sort of secret drop-off or looking to pick up their latest payment/mark/goal.

Hrm.

But yeah, the next time, there needs to be more orcs. Hopefully just not all armed with big weapons; a few orcs with greataxes can quickly kill a party of 1st-level PCs once the orcs get to act, even if most of their fellows died in a surprise round. Clubs, battleaxes, and morningstars are less likely to TPK the neophyte adventurers. And less valuable when sold as loot, 'specially all notched and grimy and pitted.

 

[WarShrike]

Thogrim doesn't trust them for several reasons:

1. Their stories differ too much. The old man claims there was only 1 wagon in the caravan, the girl says there were at least 2.

2. After being the victims of an Orc attack, and revealing that there were actually more than those 4 Orcs around, they seem perfectly content to stay in the Orc camp for the night. If I was them, i'd want to get to safety asap.

3. The man seems unconcerned for the safety of the other wagon(s) and occupants.

4. The girl said: "The other cart was maybe half a day ahead when we were ambushed. There were more on that one, perhaps that's why they picked us instead." When said that way, to me at least, it seems to show they had fore-knowledge that the caravan was going to be attacked, and they backed off to avoid it.

 

[industrygothica]

Thogrim doesn't trust them for several reasons:

1. Their stories differ too much. The old man claims there was only 1 wagon in the caravan, the girl says there were at least 2.

Technically they're both right. There were two wagons in the caravan, but the other was so far ahead when they were ambushed that there was only one of them around at the time.

2. After being the victims of an Orc attack, and revealing that there were actually more than those 4 Orcs around, they seem perfectly content to stay in the Orc camp for the night. If I was them, i'd want to get to safety asap.

Being in the wilderness at night is dangerous enough. While they may not want to stay there, logic (at least my logic) says that's it's safer to stay there through the night, rather than try to travel through the forest injured with no defenses.

As for this encounter, I"ll tell you this much:

Hatcher and his daughter are honest enough people. So far, what they've told you is the truth.

For story purposes, it is likely that the girl was violated, and that Thogrim won't be the only half-orc in Bjorah's Cliff for long. But that is out of the scope of this adventure, at least for now.

I know there are some kinks to work out of this one, so I'm all ears if you have any ideas. That's what we're here for, after all.

On another note, sorry I've been quiet for a few days. Been hella sick, and having to fight my better half for the computer. I lost.

 

[Scott DeWar]

....
Hrm.

But yeah, the next time, there needs to be more orcs. Hopefully just not all armed with big weapons; a few orcs with greataxes can quickly kill a party of 1st-level PCs once the orcs get to act, even if most of their fellows died in a surprise round. Clubs, battleaxes, and morningstars are less likely to TPK the neophyte adventurers. And less valuable when sold as loot, 'specially all notched and grimy and pitted.

*tosses two copper coins on the table*

re: weapons and orcs
as an idea for future possible uses, many orcs with non letheal weaposn make for great slave harvesting...saps, clubs, whips, lassos...just an idea...i hope my dm doesn't read this.

 

[industrygothica]

[sblock=ooc]I think the DC is 15 to Climb across a rope like this... Irathias has a +5 on Climb, so he could do it taking 10.[/sblock]

I'm not convinced that Climb would be the relevant skill in this situation. The rope is not at an incline, so there's really nothing to climb, but more just hanging on and scooting yourself across. I think it'd be more of a combination of strength Strength check than anything. Success means you hang on and move for x number of feet, failure means no progress, failure by 5 or more means you fall.

What do you think?

Also, maybe I wasn't clean enough in the scene description, but the bridge attaches to the posts in the ground, so perhaps if you could fish the dangling end of the bridge back up, you could reattach it for the others to cross as well.

When the scene is over, I'll tell you another way as well, which is the way I was expecting you to go, honestly.

 

[Arkhandus]

Well, I figure, scaling a rope horizontally (as opposed to vertically, which probably means competing more with gravity) would be easier than climbing a rope straight up. You're using basically the same skills as climbing a rope vertically, just a little different.

Also, note that the Climb skill mentions crossing a ceiling or overhang with handholds but no footholds, at DC 25; a rope provides something to hold onto with both arms and legs though, and is easier to crawl along, so I'd assume it to use the same DC 15 as climbing an unknotted rope vertically.

Strength checks would doom us all (if we tried to cross, that is). Can't take 10 on ability checks AFAIK, only skill checks, and even a good Strength score wouldn't matter; you'd be bound to roll kinda low or very low after a few rolls, if not right away. Someone'd fall to their death, possibly multiple someones.

Even an 18 Strength fellow could roll low on a Strength check and fall to his death, regardless of how short a distance he crossed. Skill checks at least allow experience to count for something, and increase the chance of success along with allowing "take 10" when there's no battle or other serious interference around them.


And yeah, I figured out what you meant in the description after a bit, but I'm not sure we'd be strong enough to haul the loose end of the bridge back over to the other side, using Irathias' single line of silk rope, then reattach it. And I'm just not quite sure how much the silk rope can handle, weight-wise; it's twice as tough as hemp rope, but I couldn't find any info on how much weight it'll support.


Also, of course, the normal solution wouldn't be Irathias' crazy plan, but that's because most folks don't carry a length of good rope and a grappling hook wherever they go.

 

[Scott DeWar]

*two peices of copper land squarely on top of the previous two*

a bit of experience here....

as far as reality goes, when i was in the air force, i was required to cross a water obsticale in a rope of a horizontal layout...i very easily crossed it. i have tried all my life to shinny up trees and rops but to no avail. I would (humbly) have to recommend the dc to be somewhat lower the 15 given my perosnal knowledge...but that is the senile ramblings of an old fart like me....

 

[Legildur]

'Regaining' on a rope is relatively easy, once you have been shown how...

I was also wondering if the tree canopy met overhead? That would provide an additional avenue.

Bringing remains of the bridge across should be trivial. Lower someone into the chasm on a rope, attach the rope to the bridge, raise the bridge and tie off, bring up the person in the chasm, and walk across.

The advantage of having the bridge up is that it gives us an escape route if needed.