There’s no whining in the OSR
There’s no whining in the OSR
Got my first poopy pants email from a player concerning my ACKS campaign. The dude’s fighter has been a cursed character from day one. He seems to miss more than the odds would dictate, and most painfully, last two levels gained has rolled 1s for hit points. Then his henchman leveled, and he rolled another 1 for hit points. He forgets that he's still alive which is quite a triumph.
So he was wondering if there was anything he could do to get those re-rolled. And also, was I keeping a wish-list of magic items people wanted or was I taking treasure straight from adventures because he was feeling underpowered.
Oh, fer Pelor’s sake…
I think I got my response right. I told him his low hit points were part of his character and if that made him cowardly or to hire a bunch of mercs and lead from the rear (something he talked about on our public email thread) then that was exactly what was supposed to happen. As far as magic items went, I reminded him a dead character had wielded a Flame Tongue which disappeared along with that character’s body after a surprise attack by some hill giants that had left a fourth of the party dead. But they later tracked those giants back to a hill giant Steading, so, if you want a super-magic sword, go get it. I also told him he could ask around for rumors of magic weapons and armor. That’s going to net him leads to the Unoerthly Cave in the Barrier Peaks (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) and the old mountaintop shrine of a death cult (Death Frost Doom).
What’s funny is that his hiring mercs idea is great, fits the campaign, and lets us use Domains at War and he also had the idea to kill and rob a noble who is secretly a werewolf and scheming for power in the city. That’s a great idea, and the dude is rich, so reward would possibly even outweigh risk. That’s playing it right. I just need to reinforce that that is exactly the kind of thing they should be doing.
Meh... whiny players suck.
ReplyDeleteNot having fun sucks worse.
ReplyDeleteGive him a chance to earn a reroll of his hit points…maybe some kind of service or sacrifice to a war-god for their blessing, or intensive training with a renowned master.
Not bad ideas, Jeff Johnston.
ReplyDeleteThere's no objective metric here for what's fun or right of course. But it is a social activity, and it's ass to assume the other participants should just suck it up "because." His idea is surely right in some other game. Managing expectations about what kind of game you're trying to do is the courteous thing to do, and it sounds like you're doing that. (i.e. the fun is supposed to come out creative ways to cope with lousy luck)
ReplyDeleteLarry Lade we've played a lot of 4e, which is his platonic ideal.
ReplyDeleteA cleric of Hextor cast a restoration spell on this character to heal some lingering wounds from previous bad luck, maybe this cleric can direct give him a horrible option to regain some more might.
Now that sounds like interesting plot! Especially given Hextor's "the strong rule the weak" mentality. Why exactly would this cleric be helping him? Either he thinks he can use him, or he thinks his god can use him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fighter is part of a contest between Hextor and Heironeous. He's the part where they see what happens when the weak become strong. Somewhere out there is a paladin of Heironeous who is losing his power as the other half of this.
I know everyone has their preferences, but I've found playing flawed or weak characters to be a lot of fun. Yes, I enjoyed my ass-kickin' monk who could summon a hippogriff. But I really enjoyed playing the weaker warrior that couldn't stand and tank like I thought he might because the world became a lot more dangerous and each victory tasted sweeter.
ReplyDeleteJeff Johnston the cleric helped him because he paid him a ton of gold. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll be doing any cosmic power struggles with this campaign, but Hextor's cult is always looking for future followers to expand his influence. That should be enough.