The Glade 4.0

I just wanted to comment on a brief discussion that occured in Talya's forum.

A slight disagreement occured over the way that players join the crew, or the way that new players interact and get integrated. We all agree its fairly unlikely for a random person off the street to just up and join the crew of a pirate ship, (or anything else for that matter)

Certainly I abhor coincidence in games I run. No one just 'happens' to run into the Emperor. In a galaxy of quadrillions of sentients, no one runs into the same person again and again (or someone they know) its bad enough on the same planet. (I've run into people from my home town while vacationing in florida for example)

Now fantasy and Star Wars can get away with it. (Higher power, will of the force or other hand waving) Its a little harder if there is no guiding force.


Now, why do people find themselves integrating into a crew (or any other group) --by some sort of subconcious recognition, by dumb luck, common cause.

Now, I fully belive that RP is NOT a reality simulation, but rather an excersie in cooperative storytelling. As such, the story focuses on, by definition, protagonists. It fast-forwards past all the other interactions through the day that have no impact on the story. The REASON that the story slows down and we RP out situations is because they're of interest to the overall plot.

So when the 'camera' focuses in on a couple of pirates who wander into a grand library, its because the plot has a point here. Something interesting happens. It ignored the 500 other interactions with the Extras and the background people, because they were never part of the story we're telling.

Is it unusual that a character would just let them in to see the person they want to see? Sure. But the reason we focus in on the scene is because something unusual happens. Otherwise we'd be RP'ing brushing our teeth and taking a crap.

Is it unusual that the crew would just HAPPEN to pick up the creepy little girl, or the imprisoned rogue? sure. Thats why the story slowed down there. It skipped past the 500 other little girls, or rogues in cages that the crew has encountered, because they were not part of the story.

On the one hand, yeah, there has to be some leeway given for players to abstract away some of the questions of why they're together.
On the other hand, I was reading this article yesterday, on the Law of the Conservation of NPCs.
On the gripping hand, after looking at the interaction in question, and the later bits, it doesn't look like there's a lot of cooperation in the storytelling going on there. One player is actively seeking the exercise, and the other two (and then third) are more of the (if you've seen The Gamers, and apparently player the first has) "You seem trustworthy. Would you care to join us in our noble quest?" school.

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I see it more as two PCs trying to hire an expert and the expert wanting to go along. Then there is an assclown trying to make things difficult as if no one ever attempts to hire people in this manner.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

"We understand you have expertise we need." *Club* "You're coming with us."

"You saw that too? Maybe you should come along to make sure he stays safe, and coincidently not tell on us." *Club* "You're coming too."

It was a lot closer to happening than you think.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

My objection to the scenario has nothing to do with the foibles of characters joining the party, but more that the situation had (several) very easy and obvious solutions. We're pirates. If we were really pressed for time, we'd have hit both of them in the back of the head with a bag of nickels.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Experts generally aren't hired by such thoroughly disreputable people as we are. It's not like the two of you were sent out in your Sunday best.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

So as a point of reference, here is the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Belgium.

It's a pretty big place (the Museum, not Belgium, especially). At this point, it comes down to verisimilitude. What do you think the odds are that two ruffians can just walk in off the street and demand to see a curator of something with no establishment of their bona fides? But if one of the ruffians turns out to be Indiana Jones, for instance, wouldn't that be a viable solution? There's ways to justify all kinds of things in an RPG, but there has to be two-way participation. This appears to have been a role-playing opportunity. Characters have been introduced via handwaving (crew hirings, isn't that how Kiryen and Aizle's dwarf, for instance, came onboard?) so obviously this was intended for some amount of actual "playing it out" by the DM.

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Think of it this way ...

He could have sent Angus ...

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Turen hardly looks like a ruffian. He is always dressed nicely. He would give no one the idea that he is a power hungry pirate(aside from the company he keeps, but it could just be seen that Pavia was his bodyguard).

EDIT:

This isn't me trying to change the way your character views things, it's just that you wouldn't know Turen was a pirate or anything other than an upstanding citizen. Visibly, he would appear as a noble would because that's just how he rolls. He would look very out of place in a pirate crew.

Up until he got pissed off and almost started throwing lightning around, at any rate.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

If that's the case, Raltar, then shouldn't you have been more on the ball in that interaction? You may have established an M.O. at some point as Turen, but for as long as I played Pavia, I don't recall anything like what you're claiming. How are you expecting a new player to know any of this?

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That could've worked. You knock them over the head, the wizard casts water breathing on them, and then you hide them in barrels of rum while you shanghai them.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

He's always been that way. Do you not recall his constant looking in his mirror to make sure no hair was out of place(well, before he became a genasi which turned his hair into a wavy mess anyway) or quickly flicking off any piece of dirt he found on his robes? You are right that I didn't give any sort of notice to new people, so I will give you that, but new characters just assumed he looked like a ruffian without even asking what he looked like.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Fair's fair, the game has been running a long long time through several board incarnations,. I recall Turen looking after his appearance waaaay back, but it might have been before Shuyung even became a board member. The current thread, for example, started in September of 2009.

You know, I think this really omes down to the difficulty of introducing a new PC to an established party. In our case it's even a little more inconvenient because we're supposed to all be scoundrels.

While normally I like to keep the metagaming down to a minimum, there's a certain degree of real-life courtesy involved int finding reasonable ways to let the character join the party. In all honesty while this one wasn't perfect, it did contain some good roleplaying; namely that some ruffians showed up wanting Lee to come along and Oms...(damn can't remember how to spell your name, sorry) pointed out the obviously unsavory nature of these people.

I actually think it's a good compromise between roleplaying as if Lee were an NPC and the need to let someone play their character.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

The beauty of sailing with doc is we don't have to worry about names until the right one is assigned.

In my tabletop gaming group... they are douchebags.

They set forth the invite, and then make it harder to join as a PC than as an NPC.

I believe one of the guys... maybe "The Gunslinger" (nickname here only for his moustache and goatee) told me "Work for it *****" when trying to introduce a new party member. Which would be no issue for a brand new player... but when you have to look and go man... "dude, I am here to replace the other guy who looked like me who just got vaporized by the last bad guy you fought..." it can get old.

Sometimes you want to punch a fellow gamer in the balls and say "we have been part of the same group for nearly a **** decade cut me some damn slack here once in a while!"

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

It could be that both character's reactions though on extremes are perfectly valid based on who they are?

As I explained to our gracious overlady, Lee is a relativist. What's a pirate? Who are you so enlightened to say that they are wrong and you are right.

I have no issues with the way Ormusam has played this out. Likewise, with Nevile (especially after he saw the cylinder cipher, which he recognized as both incredibly old, incredibly rare, and possibly the academic find of a lifetime.)

I realize why Pavia played it the way she did. And as much as it may have helped things along to drop the name of your benefactor in this (Nara), it might not have changed things a great deal. Nara's a pretty famous name at this point. If Nevile and Ormusam have heard of her, they'd have been as likely to say "Yeah, right, and I'm the queen of Evermeet" as believe them.

What I like best about this scenario, is I've left it up to you guys how you go about picking up your new recruits (or why they go about joining them.) I don't have to do any work...

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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No one should feel bad though... there is still ample opportunity to smack someone in the back of the head with a sack of copper pieces.

What kind of ship are we in right now and what kind of a ship is the SSSS(iyh)?

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

You are in a three masted caravel. It is a big ship, surprisingly fast when carrying nothing but ballast. It holds 120 tons of cargo. When half full or more, it only moves at half speed, so it's not a good pirate ship to be hauling cargo in.

By comparison, the Blackwater is an Elven Wingship. It's a spritely vessel, fastest thing on the ocean and can maneuver like nothing else. Not that much cargo room (30 tons), and when half full it is still 33% slower. Still, when the Blackwater is carrying a full load, it's still the same speed as the caravel is empty.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

ah, okay none of the boats from the SRD. I was wondering how we had enough crew...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Stormwrack. You should have a copy, i think just about everyone playing had it recommended to them when we started...

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █