Crazy Monkey
First Post
The party has just started The Forge of Fury, after having completed The Sunless Citadel. The Citadel was rough on them (I was rolling great), and two of the six pc's died ( a human shaman and a elven rogue). The rogues player had to stop playing with us for a while, but the shaman made up a new character - a dwarven fighter. The fighter didn't manage to get worked into the game untill two sessions later (they were mopping up in the Sunless Citadel, and roleplaying a bit).
Spoilers of Forge of Fury ahead
They (The surving members of the group and the dwarf fighter) made their way to the dwarven stronghold and searched around to find the chimney, they decided not to take the chimney but to go in the front doors. A lucky crtical by an orc dropped the Human Barbarian from ~26 to -8 HP in one hit. After the battle was closed, a disscusion began about how many close calls we have had. The players knew that I had given them numerous breaks in the Sunless Citadel, where they would have otherwise died - I told them as much before starting the Citadel since only 2 of the group had played more than once before. The group decided that we should just let the dice fall how they fall at that point...
The characters make it in the front doors, and start geting pelted by arrows from the orcs across the chasm. I describe the bridge as given in the book, and reiterate that it does not seem very sturdy at all. The cleric tried to cross, failed his balence check, but barley made the reflex save to avoid falling to his doom. --- No one tried to cross the bridge for a while, missle fire continued from both sides, and then the barbarian tried to cross the bridge, at the same time the sorcerer crawled on the underside of the bridge to cross. The Orcs cut one of the strands holding the bridge up - they still made it across and killed one of the orcs. While the barbarian was finishing off the last orc, the cleric and the dwarf fighter started making their way across the bridge - crawling on hands and knees. The barbarian killed the last orc, but not before he got to the last strand of the bridge. Luckily the sorcerer had at least forseen the possibility and was trying to keep the bridge braced (via spiderclimbs great grip). I ruled that the shift in weight caused another set of balance and reflex saves. The cleric made his, but the dwarven fighter fell to his doom.
I have not been dm'ing for very long, but have been playing D&D for several years - my problem is that the player of the dwarf fighter has attended every session of the game, while others have not. The player only got to actually play in half those sessions due to rolls of the dice. I don't want him to have to sit out most of this adventure due to bad rolls in the first half hour of the game. Where do you draw the line between believeability and playability? I'm really not sure what I should do.
Spoilers of Forge of Fury ahead
They (The surving members of the group and the dwarf fighter) made their way to the dwarven stronghold and searched around to find the chimney, they decided not to take the chimney but to go in the front doors. A lucky crtical by an orc dropped the Human Barbarian from ~26 to -8 HP in one hit. After the battle was closed, a disscusion began about how many close calls we have had. The players knew that I had given them numerous breaks in the Sunless Citadel, where they would have otherwise died - I told them as much before starting the Citadel since only 2 of the group had played more than once before. The group decided that we should just let the dice fall how they fall at that point...
The characters make it in the front doors, and start geting pelted by arrows from the orcs across the chasm. I describe the bridge as given in the book, and reiterate that it does not seem very sturdy at all. The cleric tried to cross, failed his balence check, but barley made the reflex save to avoid falling to his doom. --- No one tried to cross the bridge for a while, missle fire continued from both sides, and then the barbarian tried to cross the bridge, at the same time the sorcerer crawled on the underside of the bridge to cross. The Orcs cut one of the strands holding the bridge up - they still made it across and killed one of the orcs. While the barbarian was finishing off the last orc, the cleric and the dwarf fighter started making their way across the bridge - crawling on hands and knees. The barbarian killed the last orc, but not before he got to the last strand of the bridge. Luckily the sorcerer had at least forseen the possibility and was trying to keep the bridge braced (via spiderclimbs great grip). I ruled that the shift in weight caused another set of balance and reflex saves. The cleric made his, but the dwarven fighter fell to his doom.
I have not been dm'ing for very long, but have been playing D&D for several years - my problem is that the player of the dwarf fighter has attended every session of the game, while others have not. The player only got to actually play in half those sessions due to rolls of the dice. I don't want him to have to sit out most of this adventure due to bad rolls in the first half hour of the game. Where do you draw the line between believeability and playability? I'm really not sure what I should do.
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