Errant Road- discussion thread

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Alberich
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

Maybe "Port Lorrel - Ralkin Assault"? (In keeping with descriptive titles like "Ladies' Night Out.")
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Graybeard
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

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Alberich wrote:Maybe "Port Lorrel - Ralkin Assault"? (In keeping with descriptive titles like "Ladies' Night Out.")
That would work, but it might be a little constraining. There needs to be enough wiggle room to accommodate unexpected twists in the "plot." But it's just a title.

In a "realistic" [sic] setting, Khoo would be leaving the group at this point; things in Tsuirakushiti are settling back down, Sashi Mu is getting back up, and his wanderlust has been satisfied(!) for now. I'll find an excuse to keep him in as needed, or possibly he could be replaced going forward by Rip. (Note that Dr. Rabbitfoot is not intended as an adventurer. He's an NPC introduced to meet a particular plot need and will retreat back to his office/lab once the current encounter ends.) Either way, do what makes sense, and I'll adapt.
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Alberich
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

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Not so very constraining - it doesn't say "successful" assault after all - maybe "Port Lorrel: Death to the Ralkin!" would work...that is the quest after all, and if it gets sidetracked, there's always "Port Lorrel: Death to the Ralkin! - Part 2"

I hope Khoo comes along, even if he doesn't get off the ship, because (1) I like the way Drusia reacts to him, (2) his magic wind makes it easy for the sailing ship to get the adventurers up to the action, and (3) if he can bear it - he's seen enough to have a motive to help destroy the Ralkin (I hope)...I don't know if Rip would have any motive for getting involved. But I'm happy with whoever comes because there'll be plenty for them to do.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

If it makes more sense for Khoo to skedaddle then fair enough, Grey's still got the eisenfaust as his disposal in the Port, with more motivation to stop the Ralkin as well. Up to you Grey.

How about Port Lorrel: Puppet Masters? Or Port Lorrel: Marionettes? It fits in with the control theme of the bad guys and reflects on the threads the group'll have to follow to find the big bad and put a stop of him.
Alberich
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

Graybeard wrote:Assume that Smitty will take the message back to Annabelle (who's running the Eisenfaust's waterfront operation in Elke's extended absence) and then disappear from the chain of events. He's just there to listen. Back over to you guys; Khoo will do something when there is something that needs him.

As regards what the Eisenfaust will do as a result ... let's discuss. A short OOC thread in the discussion forum, maybe?
Well, why not? I hope there'll be an element of surprise in it as I love surprises. So here's what we know --

Gabriel, in front of Ross (when he was going by "Jack"), freely admitted that the Blackguard/Ralkin plan was for a "revolution" to take the city over completely. Ross has spilled the beans to the Eisenfaust while being lie-detected; and their magic being better than he thought, they not only know he's truthful, but that he's an elf. Combine that with the rather alarming rate at which the Ralkin are gathering troops and gaining popularity - their easy liberation of a slave ship - their likely involvement in the recent prison massacre - and the (truth-detected) information that they have powerful mages on top...I should expect the Eisenfaust to be properly worried and want to help, and to get things going ASAP.

Simultaneously, a different group of Eisenfaust has now talked with Udo, who's reported that he's in town with an elf and "the mightiest of the kobolds," and eager to attack the Ralkin chief if he can get support - and preferably a staff. How long it takes for the left hand to figure out what the right one's doing...that's for you to say but I don't think it should be long. I wrote my last post under the assumption that Udo's been given a rendezvous point outside of town for dawn the next day.

(In my posts I deliberately left it vague whether Angrist had managed to rejoin the group or not, so that Browncoat could have Angrist get into any hijinks he wanted on the way to camp, or just stick by us. But if he's having wacky adventures in town he should definitely meet Khoo's crazy girl...)

If the Eisenfaust decided to get a staff to pay Ross' price for personal involvement...well, he doesn't need it anymore, having "acquired" a quality weapon recently. But they may elect to let Udo use it for the upcoming attack, since Udo is volunteering to go into the thick of it. Any staff they let him use is probably not top quality designed for battle...I was thinking something designed for an entertainer that had secondary use as a weapon...

Anyway, the main reason Udo and Ross both want the Eisenfaust involved is so they can get help finding Aleron, getting into his HQ, and not having to deal with his legions of followers while they kill him. If they toss in a mage of their own for extra support then that is a welcome extra but they're not banking on it.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

I have a situation in mind to get things rolling to take place tomorrow night, along with a few other twists and turns I don't want to get spoileriffic about. ;)

I like how the threads going so far. I wasn't originally planning on bringing Jade into it, but the circumstances and the amount of time passed in-game since the last post in 'Kidnappers' provided a window I was compelled to take advantage of. She's a pc of mine but she'll be infrequently seen, although it might make for an interesting scene if any of the people out to kill the Ralkin run into her. She's not an evil bitch in case anyone's unsure, but the character's don't know that...

Any thoughts, musings or suggestions about the Puppetmasters thread?
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Graybeard
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

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It's necessary here to look at this from the Eisenfaust's point of view, and that starts with keeping in mind what the Eisenfaust's stake in proceedings really is. Although they are a "Farrel guild" like the Gewehr, they are quite un-Gewehr-like in their business model and come closer to the classical New York Mafia:
  • dominate the waterfront with protection rackets, etc.;
  • make most of your living off vices, generally illegal or at least socially frowned upon;
  • keep some legitimate cover operations to maintain appearances;
  • infiltrate the local political system to keep the honest cops, if any, off your back;
  • kill people if and only if necessary to achieving points 1 through 4.
Their stake in the Ralkin affair is hard to sort out. If they perceive the Ralkin as a real threat to their business, they would go after them with the utmost ferocity, just like the old New York mobs did when others were horning in on their rackets. Problem is, that would turn a multi-player "game" into a shoot-'em-up crime story set in the Errant World, which isn't really what we'd like to have happen here. Accordingly, what had been worked out previously was a situation where the Ralkin realized they were outgunned in Lorrel and paid protection money to the Eisenfaust, who then left them alone.

With the Ralkin getting "noisier," it is not clear that that laissez-faire approach is defensible any more. However, we still don't want the game to be about Elke or her stand-in mobilizing the fairly considerable resources available to them. So what would be a sensible reaction to the things they've just learned, that stays consistent with the goals of the game?
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

A negotiation between Lucas and the Eisenfaust? Given the size of their opposition the Ralkin would prefer to avoid open warfare until the odds are firmly in their favor, the goal of the group being to stop them before it gets that far. That doesn't mean to the two sides can't kick each others shins or lay plans to double-cross each other.
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

Graybeard wrote:Their stake in the Ralkin affair is hard to sort out. If they perceive the Ralkin as a real threat to their business, they would go after them with the utmost ferocity, just like the old New York mobs did when others were horning in on their rackets. Problem is, that would turn a multi-player "game" into a shoot-'em-up crime story set in the Errant World, which isn't really what we'd like to have happen here.
Why on earth wouldn't we? Each of my three characters wants exactly that -- though they have widely differing motives for wanting it (Ross wants the top two half-elves dead, Udo wants to end the threat to the kobolds and loot the bodies, Tim wants to pull Eli out of the wreckage). I should think that Tamina and Drusia do, too (as a matter of revenge, safety, and policy) though I don't doubt they'll correct me if I'm mistaken. Per the ad banner, "blow stuff up, whatever," is certainly within the scope of this game, at least sometimes it is, and we've done our share of it.

As I mentioned, while "Ross" was infiltrating the Ralkin, they admitted their plans were "revolutionary" - and Udo has likewise revealed what he learned from Ralkin prisoners (and Tamina) about the Ralkin's enormous ambitions. They've been building up power at a rate that any group should find alarming. Thanks to Ross, the Eisenfaust know this and know that they have powerful mages already; furthermore, the Ralkin's high-speed recruiting drive, their publicity stunts, the Gabriel jailbreak, and their recent anti-slavery "privateering" would put anyone on notice that this group was, in fact, in the process of taking over completely.

As Jack points out, the Ralkin have no incentive to "negotiate" anything in good faith - their power is growing so fast, all they need to do is stall until they're too strong to defeat. And given what they've been doing - this should be publicly very obvious to the Eisenfaust. (The rapid recruitment, the large numbers of skilled mercenaries, etc. -- not to mention bringing Jade in to make these fancy new rifles.) Doubly so now that they've heard from Ross and Udo, with truth detection up at least part of the time.

Also, Ross has told the Eisenfaust about the "mind control" Aleron used on Myra, and Udo (see my jail-cell post) has told them about the Ralkin's altar-based mind influence magic. Leave a group like that alive and you're just waiting for your own organization to be turned into their willing slaves.

If the situation had been set up differently, or the Ralkin were a different kind of group with different kinds of powers, there might be a good adventure to be had out of settling differences, spheres of influence, and so forth. Something like that might be good for a later adventure with different kinds of antagonists. But in this case there is no "common ground" to be had with the Ralkin.

Of course the Eisenfaust could feed the PC's to the Ralkin in the hopes of being eaten last, but that would be exceptionally stupid; as Ross pointed out to them, if they delay long enough, eventually the elves would get involved in a big way - and likely burn the city to the ground in the process.
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Graybeard
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Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Graybeard »

Alberich wrote:
Graybeard wrote:Their stake in the Ralkin affair is hard to sort out. If they perceive the Ralkin as a real threat to their business, they would go after them with the utmost ferocity, just like the old New York mobs did when others were horning in on their rackets. Problem is, that would turn a multi-player "game" into a shoot-'em-up crime story set in the Errant World, which isn't really what we'd like to have happen here.
Why on earth wouldn't we? Each of my three characters wants exactly that -- though they have widely differing motives for wanting it (Ross wants the top two half-elves dead, Udo wants to end the threat to the kobolds and loot the bodies, Tim wants to pull Eli out of the wreckage). I should think that Tamina and Drusia do, too (as a matter of revenge, safety, and policy) though I don't doubt they'll correct me if I'm mistaken. Per the ad banner, "blow stuff up, whatever," is certainly within the scope of this game, at least sometimes it is, and we've done our share of it.
Maybe I wasn't clear.

The problem is that the Eisenfaust is big. Their members certainly number in the dozens, and probably hundreds. Played anything near straight, the outbreak of full-blown gang warfare, which is what we're starting to see here, would involve getting nearly that whole membership mobilized, with all of the -- considerable -- magical resources they can bring to bear. They would not be screwing around with party-scale skirmishes. They would be at war, and their priority would be to win the friggin' thing.

To write the Eisenfaust's campaign for that would, on the one hand, require a "Godfather"-sized tome to describe (yes, I know, we've collectively written something bigger than "The Godfather" by now, but it would have to be done all at once), and on the other hand, leave relatively little room for four or five characters, the more so since the Eisenfaust brain trust would certainly not trust Udo, Drusia, etc., and would insist on fighting their own battles. It would really approach being a stand-alone book, one that I frankly don't have the skill and imagination to write. (I'm pretty good at fantasy, much less so at crime stories, which is what we'd be getting into.) And it would outflank and probably render irrelevant all the good character and plot development that you guys have been doing, even if I could do it, which I can't. That's what I'm afraid of happening if the current confrontation turns into gang warfare. Does that explain it better?
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