Tales of the Legacy - Concluded

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

For some odd reason, I'm begging to remember a certain post about a dream where the wife stood over the coffin but the husband wasn't in sight. Creepy

 

[Krafus]

Now that was a fight! What did Osborn's player do after he was confused? I know I'd be bored out of my mind if I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs.

Nightshades really are tough critters.

And now Lord Morladim himself has come... If he's behind the nightshades, he might have decided to finish what his minions started (although if that was the case, I think he'd have come with reinforcements).

 

[Delemental]

Now that was a fight! What did Osborn's player do after he was confused? I know I'd be bored out of my mind if I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs.

Nightshades really are tough critters.

And now Lord Morladim himself has come... If he's behind the nightshades, he might have decided to finish what his minions started (although if that was the case, I think he'd have come with reinforcements).

Osborn's player was a little bored, perhaps, but I think was kept interested by the combat as a whole, and he seemed to take some enjoyment out of rolling that confusion result every round (sadly, the first time he got an 'interesting' result, Kyle was the nearest creature...)

And yes, nightshades are tough. But I like a tough fight. Combats where you can win without much effort (in terms of resources used, or in terms of strategic thinking) aren't as interesting to me; I'd rather be in situations where I'm having to seriously look over the spells and items I have to figure out how to win, and where I can't just be complacent with "stand and shoot" mentality (one reason I think Kyle got killed so quickly in this combat is that he was standing in the middle of the battle blasting away, rather than moving and putting up his defenses). Especially in this campaign, where we tend to have 1-2 major fights per adventure rather than 6-8 smaller encounters.

 

[Sarabian1]

And, believe it or don't, there's a reason behind that. Combat, whether narrative or roll-played, takes awhile to run through. It is, quite simply, far less time-consuming to use one large bad-ass than a horde of minions. There's already six PCs (and I am *so* grateful no-one plays a summoner), and I like things to run as smoothly as possible in general. Also, at this stage of the campagin, lesser foes pose little problem.

I mind me of the passage in Zelazny's Amber novels, where Corwin and Bleys are fighting up Kolvir, slaughtering soldiers, and the writer takes us through it by simply saying of the enemy soldiers, "and they died, and they died."

Death also poses far less of a challenge now, though the material components are still kind of a pain to get. But alas, I ramble, and I find my drink needs refreshing.

 

[Krafus]

I see. Still, I like to feel powerful once in a while. I don't want every battle to be a potential TPK. One of my biggest thrills when playing a RPG game like the Final Fantasy series is, once I reach high levels, going back to earlier areas and quickly annihilating monsters who gave me trouble the first time around (cackling all the while, of course).

 

[Delemental]

And, believe it or don't, there's a reason behind that. Combat, whether narrative or roll-played, takes awhile to run through. It is, quite simply, far less time-consuming to use one large bad-ass than a horde of minions. There's already six PCs (and I am *so* grateful no-one plays a summoner)

Oh, that reminds me... I have to talk to you about the new spells I want...

Just kidding. Kyle's not the summoner type. As he's pointed out in the past, when a cleric summons extraplanar help, they can do it in a friendly, cordial manner where a reasonable arrangemnt can be made between two parties with similar interests. Wizards, apparently, have no choice but to bully and coerce summoned beings into service by threat and force of will. Not exactly his cup of tea.

Death also poses far less of a challenge now, though the material components are still kind of a pain to get. But alas, I ramble, and I find my drink needs refreshing.

Well, death and resurrection magic is a whole different topic, isn't it?

 

[Delemental]

I see. Still, I like to feel powerful once in a while. I don't want every battle to be a potential TPK. One of my biggest thrills when playing a RPG game like the Final Fantasy series is, once I reach high levels, going back to earlier areas and quickly annihilating monsters who gave me trouble the first time around (cackling all the while, of course).

Admittedly, I used to feel this way, but not as much any more. While I don't necessarily want to stare down the TPK barrel in every fight either, I do like to feel like there is a real possibility that characters could die if we're not putting a good effort into it.

I prefer to have the power and status of high-level PC's come out in other ways, more as background than anything, stuff like:

First Level PC: "I'd like to see the king."
Guard: "No one sees the king. You can see his under-under-subsecretary."

Fifteenth Level PC: "I'd like to see the king."
Guard: "Certainly, sir. Follow me to the audience chamber."

Fortieth Level PC: "I'd like to see the king." (casts custom epic spell summon regent)
Guard: "Er... here he is now. Apparently, just sitting down on the privy."

Yes, we could probably wipe out hordes of mooks, but it would be tedious. Now we can just hand-wave encounters that in the past we would have had to dice out ("You're travelling to the Dark Hills, and you encounter a pack of ghouls... you're on your way again a minute later."). Also, the fact that we have easy access to teleport and wind walk means that we can skip right by all the mooks and get to the heart of the problem.

My thrills in higher-level play are in having both the raw power and the flexibility to be able to deal with situations and challenges that are increasingly complex, and require more initiative and independence from us as players. Recently, our group has been discussing making the transition from reacting to campaign events to being proactive (actively pursuing major players in the opposition rather than waiting for them to find us, stuff like that). I feel like at these levels, we should be telling the DM what the next adventure is going to be, not the other way around.

 

[Krafus]

Admittedly, I used to feel this way, but not as much any more. While I don't necessarily want to stare down the TPK barrel in every fight either, I do like to feel like there is a real possibility that characters could die if we're not putting a good effort into it.

I prefer to have the power and status of high-level PC's come out in other ways, more as background than anything, stuff like:

First Level PC: "I'd like to see the king."
Guard: "No one sees the king. You can see his under-under-subsecretary."

Fifteenth Level PC: "I'd like to see the king."
Guard: "Certainly, sir. Follow me to the audience chamber."

Fortieth Level PC: "I'd like to see the king." (casts custom epic spell summon regent)
Guard: "Er... here he is now. Apparently, just sitting down on the privy."

Heh, nice analogy. Although I can think of a dwarf from a certain popular fantasy series who would've been mighty disappointed if his father had vanished because of that spell in this particular situation...

My thrills in higher-level play are in having both the raw power and the flexibility to be able to deal with situations and challenges that are increasingly complex, and require more initiative and independence from us as players. Recently, our group has been discussing making the transition from reacting to campaign events to being proactive (actively pursuing major players in the opposition rather than waiting for them to find us, stuff like that). I feel like at these levels, we should be telling the DM what the next adventure is going to be, not the other way around.

Telling the DM what to do? So you've turned him into your b1tch! Now that's a sign of power!

 

[Delemental]

Heh, nice analogy. Although I can think of a dwarf from a certain popular fantasy series who would've been mighty disappointed if his father had vanished because of that spell in this particular situation...

Heh. Funny you should mention that particular series. I won't say why at the moment, but it'll come up a couple of updates from now.

Telling the DM what to do? So you've turned him into your b1tch! Now that's a sign of power!

See? Who needs to kill hordes of minions?

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Heh, nice analogy. Although I can think of a dwarf from a certain popular fantasy series who would've been mighty disappointed if his father had vanished because of that spell in this particular situation...

Eh?