OOC THREAD

[tomcat]

Hey guys,

I am a little brain-fried tonight.

I will have a post up tomorrow.

[Eclecticon]

We'll be waiting!

[Eclecticon]

Alright Tom and Matt, fun's over.  Let Doug out of his bag now. 

[Telcontar]

Fine! Fine!

[Telcontar]

I'm willing to do narrative filler as my psuedo coLM role, but this next one I think is going to be more plot and wrap up.

[Eclecticon]

That's kind of you, but I think we're all waiting for the payoff now. 

[Eclecticon]

Though wounded and weary, Arbogast never achieved a Miserable status and so he does not attain anymore Shadow points.

That reminds me - did you have any more thoughts about how the Fellowship rules should apply to PbP play?  The rulebook suggests that an average adventuring phase should be between three and four sessions (p 212-213).  It seems like it'd be easy enough to break an adventure into three or four 'phases' and allow the Fellowship pool to refresh after each.  That would probably encourage more use of Fellowship points (not that we've been stingy with Hope points to date) and stop the pool feeling like an automatic Hope refresh. 

In fact, it might make the spending of barely-renewable Hope feel more like serious business. 

[Telcontar]

Guys,
 Kinda feel like Paul and I are playing by ourselves here.

[Eclecticon]

So... paper-rock-scissors?

[tomcat]

Just got home today from a high school class reunion weekend. I will have a post up tomorrow.

[Eclecticon]

Hey, cool.  How was it?  My wife and I missed our one potential reunion to date because of child-related sleep deprivation. 

[Telcontar]

Doug,
 Is it safe to assume that the characters are living at their standard of living regardless of the actual treasure we have? Otherwise we are destitute and well on our way to beoming murder hobos. Also the standing rules as written are going to require us to get some loot if we want to be more important people to the narrative events of the fellowship phase. My two pooints of treasure wont be amount to squat and if Bandy gets his own Holding instead of sharing with Rorin is gonna be a burrow in a dung heap. Doesnt really jive with his standard of living.

[tomcat]

Tom,

As a GM, I have never placed a major need for wealth and money in any Lord of the Rings game I have ever run, as it does not play into the story. Yes, there is gold and treasures located, but for the most part, all of Tolkien's characters seem to get by without having an income stream.

As for this story and these characters - all of these PC's have been living on the patronage of those that have requested services from them - from Rhosgobel, to Gondor, to the Mountain Hall, to Sunstead. They have never gone without, nor do they need for anything.

Rorin and Arbogast have started their own businesses which will provide, per the rules.

You are welcome to have Bandy go to the barrows and strip them clean so he has his chest of treasure to ride home with; I would be fine with this story point. I did not have the clash between Esgalwen and Bandy happen because I was dissuading you as GM, but was roleplaying what Esgalwen believes. As a Dúnadan, death and the hallows that the kings are laid in are to be respected and so she would have nothing to do with it.

My point is, as much as this is following the DoM adventure book, it is also a sandbox for you to play in. If you want to get treasure and go hunting for troll-holes, or forgotten graves, go for it. We can search out a dragon in the north. You can go and see if Bandy can put his labors to hire at the Hobbit inn to the north. Bandy can also start a business of his own, per the rules. It is all good with me, but neither is it critical to the story we are telling. I personally do not care for the rule that wealth is how you buy standing among your people - I understand it, but I am not a big fan of it. I think the legacy the PC's are laying down by their actions from location to location has a bigger role in their standing and renown.

Lastly, I have not rewarded the PC's with Ceawin's gratitude. I have narrated often that the wealth of Sunstead is pretty obvious. He is very thankful for the support of the Company, but we have never gotten there via any RP'ing - nobody posts anything about wanting to go see the Thane of Sunstead; the PC's do not interact beyond simple conversations; and lastly, Arbogast has been bedridden for over 10 days. The last point makes it safe to assume that the characters are waiting for him to feel better before any other business is conducted. All this said, the company is not sitting out in the rain and begging for scraps of food. They are being hosted to tables of influential people; they are being housed with nice accommodations, per Ceawin; so they are probably living better right now then they have in a while.

[Telcontar]

Doug,
 Yeah that makes perfect sense. I was coming at it from a mechanical perspective in terms of Holdings and Standing, but neither one of those have come up as obstacles to what we have wanted to do RP wise so I'll retract my comment.

[Eclecticon]

Without wanting to sound too much like a suck-up, I'm liking the way Standing has been treated so far.  It'd be nice to have a bit more clarity about what kind of things will increase it, for us would-be social climbers, but that's not a deal-breaker. 

I'm also interested to see how things go when Standing ratings start to diverge.  F'rinstance, Rorin can buy himself up to just shy of 4 (not that it'd be a commercial transaction obviously - it's the prestige represented by returning a lost treasure of his people) if he chooses to.  That might bring up some new kinds of stories.