Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

"Nn... never mind, thank- I... I think... just need a breath- wait, I'm alive, we actually lived through that, good heavens, I can't believe we're not dead..."
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

"Take a moment to breathe. I think we all need it."
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Andrea is finding that advice difficult- she says mainly to Dirt, 'Who are you, anyway? She, she herded you towards us, watched us- watched how we dealt with you.

I was about to ride you down if it wasn't for how scared you looked- of her, yes? She was using you as a trap, as a test. How many languages do you speak, where are you from?

I'd prefer it- no, I'd be dead but- if she was a monster like so many of her people, she wouldn't be in charge, but- Oh, gods, she wants us to do something for her.'

Incoherent, but the last bit is probably right, and said with anger.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

Assuming that our local translator will convert what Andrea said into elvish, and Dirts response back into a language the rest of the party can understand this will be Dirts response.

Dirt’s initial response of being told that he would have been ridden down is one of bemusement, kind of like how you would treat a five year old child trying to intimidate you with a twig. Still, it looks like the squishes have had a hard few days so he’ll let it slide (and they outnumber him).

“I speak my native tongue of the Ogre tribes, the language of the orc’s and elve’s passable enough, and still getting to grips with the local human language of the area. So four in total.”
“My name you already know. I came from far away originally, but for your purpose and most recently from over there.” Dirt points over the hills towards elvin country.

“My former employer has retired in the fashion of his kind and after spending so long underground I decided that I would remind myself of the world above. I’m a gardener by trade and apparently the Countess wants me to grow you all. What this means I’m still trying to work out, but in the interim I take it to mean helping you all to stay alive at the moment. I basing that on the fact the she knows that I have no real skill in necromancy so my options for growing you when dead would be vastly reduced at this point of time.”

After saying this he will reach into one of his belt pouches and pull out a reddy\green leaf and hand it over to Larric. “Chew, suck, spit. No Eat”. It should help pick him up and settle his nerves. Dirt will have one as well, but will actually eat it as he can.
Spoiler
Dirt’s working under the assumption that elves & Humans are more or less the same in physiology. If worst come to worst he can always tie a string to Larric’s foot to stop him floating away....
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

...Oh lordy.

Also, hm. Would be interesting to see Dirt Deadhead's character sheet. So far I've only ever seen a stat line for one nonhuman, and he fit pretty closely into a human character archetype- Sir Safrac.

And possibly to think of a name for him in Kuquani or one of its dialects that conveys the same information without making him sound like a demented caveman, though that might spoil the fun of it, so never mind that part.

IC:

Larric takes the leaf with a shaking hand and eyes it dubiously.

"What is it?"

His knowledge of apothecary work is pretty limited. Come to think of it, from work he might know a little- not so much from actually selling medicines, apart perhaps from distilled alcohol and the like- but from helping brew them for the people who do know them. But he sure wouldn't recognize the leaf of a specific plant, especially one that's considered medical for another species.

Rohal is presently in human form, yes? His eyes flick over to the werewolf, who he at least trusts to have some idea what he's looking at.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Given how wrong Dirt is about that assumption, this could be interesting. In fact he arguably has more knowledge than that, through the human "employees" of his boss totally failing to react the same way to the same formulary- although usually doing so in amusing ways. Considering who would be being amused there, that does not hold promise of good results from this leaf.

Oh, and there's an obfuscation here the characters' brains would actually trip over- Verone will recognise Dirt's dialect of Elvish as being very archaic, formal, classical; not really modern at all.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

Well Dirt did instruct Larric NOT to eat it. Just get a small hit to calm his nerves and perk him up a bit.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

Larric still isn't taking strange medicine until he knows what it is and what it's for. Not even when he's in this state.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

It's a strange semi magical red & green leaf that is a mild narcotic.
In this case its a mild sedative to stop Larrics heart failing and his brain suffering a stroke from shock.
Also good in rabbit stews......
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

Take it or don't - either way Dirt won't be offended.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

Kaelan wrote:It's a strange semi magical red & green leaf that is a mild narcotic.
In this case its a mild sedative to stop Larrics heart failing and his brain suffering a stroke from shock.
Also good in rabbit stews......
If that's more or less what Kaelan passes on through Larric, Larric will reply "I don't think I'm about to have a fit, so... no, but thank the ogre for me."

Then he mutters "never heard of an ogre being concerned after someone's health..."
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Nothing much happens on the road back to Qulan- apart from that sheer nervousness gets you lost twice, and it takes longer than you would like- with a fair few strange screams in the night, strange winds washing thin veils of energy over you; the moments of utter silence are actually the worst.

The town itself is an anthive- a little magical light, a few glows around the market square before the castle, and many torches bobbing ehre and there- some trying to defend, some to evacuate, many trying to figure out what the hell is going on; how are you approaching the place?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

If somebody brought a horn, he'll have it blown to announce their safe return. Otherwise, he just starts yelling, "Make way! Make way! We must see Sir Detrick!"
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

A horn eh.
Dirt will take in a lungfull of air and bellow in his loudest voice "CLEAR PATH".
With luck a suitable route will open up before us.

Other than that he will follow the party so as not to cause problems with the locals
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

A very strange thing happens- just as he opens his mouth, there's a sudden, stabbing pain in Dirt's head. He grabs his own head as if trying to hold it in one piece- but does not succeed, as a small drawbridge- like piece of the back of his skull peels away and folds down, and two small rocks roll out, grow arms and legs and run away into the woods.

Thus miraculously relieved of his unnatural stupidity, Dirt can now realise that, even though it isn't his fault, he really does look quite a lot like a monster, and drawing attention to himself like that in a town full of nervous people would probably actually be quite a bad idea.

Stop trying to get the rest of the party killed.


There'll be enough attention there anyway, as Alfred yells and people turn to stare- people mostly without a chosen side, but the nearest is a group, one of the bailiff's men- half a dozen men at arms and their family and dependents, including a few others also armed.

They turn to you, and it may be time for some rumour control as one of them says 'It's his fault, he would provoke her, she's coming and we're all going to die-'

Much weeping and wailing, and shouts of 'Get out of the way there' from behind them.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

"You're not going to die. Not from her, anyway. But if you don't move, I will squish you and that will not make me a happy man."
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

I'm just going to pretend I didn't see the rocks-in-Dirt's-head thing...

IC:

Larric cups his hands around his mouth and calls out what he figures has to be the most elementally simple and reassuring thing that they could possibly want to know- not actively yelling, as before, because he doesn't want to sound confrontational, just loud.

"She's not coming, she's going! She's riding away!"
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

Simon_Jester wrote:OOC:

I'm just going to pretend I didn't see the rocks-in-Dirt's-head thing...

IC:

Larric cups his hands around his mouth and calls out what he figures has to be the most elementally simple and reassuring thing that they could possibly want to know- not actively yelling, as before with Njal, because he doesn't want to sound confrontational, just loud.

"She's not coming, she's going! She's riding away!"
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: ?)
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

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OOC: Er, oops. I meant to edit in "as before with Njal," and accidentally quoted.

What I'm referring to is the way he addressed Njal Strongarm, loudly but non-confrontationally.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Accidental double post, I think- feel free to treat the rock bit as, ah, metaphorical.

Alfred manages, for a wonder, to get people to believe him; all that public showing off earlier must have been good for something.

Larric looks as if he has been through hell and back, and people do not want to argue with the crazy person; he's trying to make sense and reason but that's not the bit that's actually working. Dirt can loom imposingly, Eliska and Rohal (who haven't been heard from in a while, have they?) can do their part, and Andrea can make good ground by glaring at people.

Things get a bit dicier when Detrick, and a large part of his warband, and those of the guild he can bring any influence to bear on, push their way through to meet you halfway.

He looks at you all, looks around him- this is more or less in the market square outside the castle, and an audience gathers very quickly- gestures to the effect that this has to be out in the open for credibility's sake and he'd prefer it otherwise, but there it is.

This doesn't have to be the truth, but this is one of these moments when just telling it like it was isn't enough. 'So what news of the countess?'
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

You know, Eliska would be perfect for this, statswise...

I'm honestly not seeing Larric as being very effective, at this time and in this place- he's exhausted, he's not a showman and if D'Avariel was right about that, well, then maybe she was. Alfred's usually only persuasive when he's hitting things with a hammer... Verone? He's got a bit of flash to him, and he doesn't seem to have been as totally knocked down as Larric by the events of the day...
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by White Haven »

Um. Well. Someone has to tell the man, and it seems nobody's volunteering, soooo....

Verone clears his throat for attention, then inclines his head towards Detrick. "In summary, if she were coming here to kill everyone, she had ample chance to start with us, and chose not to. As difficult as she can be to understand, that's a promising beginning. She's actually quite personable, in an inches-from-incinerating-you kind of way. From what I was able to gather, and if anyone else garnered a different message please speak up, she's more concerned with making sure things function smoothly, and she's not afraid of using the looming threat of a guillotine to make sure they do. So...in other words, not only is good government a good idea on its own right, but it's probably a good anti-Countess defense to boot. Umm...consider that bit a bonus, I suppose. But again, she's not on the rampage here already, so it's likely that things aren't going all wrong in her eyes."

After a thoughtful pause not quite long enough to allow for an interjection, Verone adds, "I think. Like I said, she's very strange and somewhat difficult to understand. Which is good, if it were easy to get inside her head, we'd have dozens of Calverns running about, and I don't think anyone particularly wants that."
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

'That,' he says disbelievingly, 'is the summary? You met her, she didn't want to kill you, she just wants us to get on with...where is she?'


(Well obfuscated. That's not what she said, and a good job of hiding it too- but Detrick's antennae are twitching.)

The noises from the crowd are the problem- there are an alarming number of them who really are interested in shooting the messenger.

Things like traitor, and toady, and other less kind words. The guild are the people taking Verone seriously, and they are listening, but the majority do not believe- things like calling her a barbarian psychopath.

Anyone else saying anything?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Kaelan »

Nope.
Last time dirt spoke it didn't go down to well. He'll just stand back and wait for the fireworks to start. Leaf anybody?
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