A World of Danger: Discussion

Right! Hope everyone likes my starting of the RPG. The setting is Edlyn, a village in the woods of Northern Beleriand. Angband and Morgoth's hordes lie dangerously close to the north, and orcs and the like move through the woods, but Edlyn is well situated and easily defended. As such, and as one of the few villages in the area, it is a common lair for any of the travelers about.

I thought to do it in sections, which is why I named the RPG post "Part One." Due to the 100 post limit ezboard now enforces, I thought this could prove useful in the future. Enjoy!

No 100 post limit here, we're csc gold.

Really!? That is awesome - I thought the 100 post limit was just some random EZboard enforced madness. This is excellent news...

I'll be joining in, I expect. Just waiting until I get an idea.

Me too.

Ditto.

I already posted, if anyone cares to draw inspiration from mine...

Looks good, Elbreth!

Leif, i hope I understood your post right. I assumed the character you had in the tavern was your bad guy

No, this is Steward. He's not a bad guy so far as you guys know . . . Vardor is the real enemy. Steward may or may not be bad, but he's got no wicked glint in his eyes.

Lief and Tater, could you guys keep your non-RP posts to this thread? It just keeps things simpler than going OOC in the main thread, thanks.
On the multicharacter issue - I think the problem is that Lief is trying to do a complex plot that will affect all entirely, rather than, like the rest of the people, actually play a single character, plotwise. This would be fine if he was the one running the game - it is what a GM does - but not if he is just one of the other players. Otherwise, there are too many large plots going, if multiple characters are assuming the roles of storytellers.
Just my thought on the matter, though. I leave it to the mods to decide.

Well Elbreth and I have talked about this sorta thing, and I think we agree. If one person controls too many characters they end up playing with themselves and others get lost. There are a number of people interested in this rpg, or at least there were at the beginning. I think some have been scared away by the complexities that have already arisen. Let's all play equally here, ok? It's a lot more fun that way

You seem to know my method pretty well, Mathron. Yes, my plots are usually built to draw in several players, and not to simply involve the one or two characters I myself am using. That is the main reason that I need more characters, to support the thing. But my plot is always flexible enough to admit other people's plots or ideas, and still work.

For instance, remember the Fangorn Forest scene where Mal confronts that . . . uh, creature on top of Orthanc? The Orthanc scene took place very differently from how I'd imagined it would. Nevertheless, only a single swift change brought everything back into line, and both yours and my plots came to a successful and well written ending.

Both type of RPG works, and we have a lot of characters involved in this RPG. Let's just play it, and see how it works out, all right? I'll try to keep my character numbers low, so as not to confuse any other players, and when I want to add another in, I'll notify either Darth Tater or Elbreth. I think the number of characters I have now should be pretty sufficient. Minor characters I think I'll probably just add in and take out as I need them without asking permission. I'll put a note in the discussion area when the new character is minor.

There. This is my best leg forward at a compromise. Is it enough to satisfy everyone?

If I scared any of you other players off, I apologize.

I think you're doing a great job.

Thanks.

Good to have you back in the game.

I'm sorry, but I have to leave the RPG. I was enjoying it and I think some of the rest of you were too, but others in the game didn't like how I bent the rules in using five characters instead of two. Deleting Vardor, Shelina and Steward is the only option left, and doing that would take everything out of the plot I had in mind. That leaves me only El'nela and the mad elf.

So I suppose we can say Vardor left from disinterest, Steward left the inn and never showed up again, Shelina died from her injuries, the mad elf died from his fall and Mathron will have to pick up El'nela and use her by himself.

Either that or Darth Tater and Elbreth choose their own method. In any case, I have to go. Perhaps later we can create a new RPG which has less restrictions. If that happens, I'll join it.

Although I don't condone you breaking the rules, I wish I could have dealt with this better sooner and not let it go this far. Because of that I think it would be a dissapointement for you to leave now. I'm sure we can come to an agreement somewhere between the compromise you and I made and Elbreth's wishes.

I am certain you can come to a compromise, Lief. The problem seems to be that you make all your characters having large roles, when this is not needed. For example - Vardor need never actually be present, but simply be referred to as a shadowy background figure. El'nela does not need to really be played as well, but simply remain as a key idea central to the plot. The mad elf cold easily be dropped, I suppose, in one way or another. I'm sure you can figure something out, instead of simply leaving.

None of the characters can be dropped, but Tater and I made a compromise earlier which might work if Elbreth gives the thumb up. He's willing to allow me three main characters and the other two only if they're minor. That works well because, as you say, Vardor and El'nela do not require frequent use. Having Elbreth and the other players agree to that is the important thing.

If you turn Vardor and El'nela into background characters that are really just discussed and one other character (maybe Steward or the mad elf) into a minor character who isn't there much I think it'll be fine