The magic-user attempted to recruit some street urchins for the role of torch bearer or porter, but the offer he made was abysmal (his below average charisma didn't help) and the result was that the urchin spread the message to avoid working for this guy.
This would prove to be unnecessary.
The party left Gorgoroth in the pre-dawn hours to make the half-day journey to Trelleborg.
Upon arriving and doing a brief reconaissance of the only standing structure remaining, the party entered the old tower - and the magic-user promptly fell into a covered pit trap and died. (Malieger T. Borias, we hardly knew ye) The party learned a valuable lesson in caution. And then looted his body by lowering the halfling into the pit several times, leaving the body for the rats.
He was replaced by a promising fighter.
They explored much of the tower and found a trap door down into the dungeon, but opted to postpone a descent, until they had secured the tower. This lead to a brief encounter with some goblinoids, who looked a lot like this:
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| http://necr0w.deviantart.com/art/corpsepaint-II-129752482 |
Still, he had been shamed by the encounter, and so, requested permission to die honorably by his own hand (sepuku). The party agreed, in exchange for information, and then, the information obtained, promptly left the ruins, leaving the goblinoid leader (and underlings) bound and alive, to face his shame, and whatever should come along and find them.
On the return trip, the party spotted a procession of creatures in hooded black robes headed toward the ruins. They smartly avoided any contact and made it back to the village later in the evening.
Reads like you had some rather cruel-minded characters there. Did everyone have fun?
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Hi Jeff,
DeleteI was caught of guard a few times myself with their antics! It's hard for me to say whether everyone enjoyed themselves or not - I got positive reactions afterwards and nearly everyone said they were looking forward to the next session, so I'll take that as a good sign. - John
Oh, and while I'm thinking about it . . . I think that it is a good thing for the party to realize early that characters are actually in danger of dying . . . it increases game-tension. I truly hate those games where the GM makes sure that everyone survives.
ReplyDeleteThe real possibility of characters dying is necessary for the players to role-play their characters with that "thrill of danger" aspect that so enlivens the experience. S
This is one of the reasons why as a GM I roll my "monsters" attach and damage dice in full view of the players . . . they know that I'm not fudging anything and that the danger is real.
-- Jeff
Hi Jeff,
DeleteI do exactly that with my die rolls as well - I think in addition to the reinforcement of my statement that i don't fudge die rolls, i think it adds nicely to the tension, because everyone sees the shake of the dice and the roll, and waits for the result. I also believe the in-the-open die rolls, help build trust between players and the GM when they don't know each other outside of the gaming group.
I've usually done the opposite, and hid my die rolls from the players to allow me to fudge things which would have wrecked the whole game. Not that I did it all the time, but I liked having the option. Plus, dying wasn't usually the worst thing that could happen to them...
Delete