A Study in the Logic of Gaming

[clockworkjoe]

We didn't have a fight in the main game. Cody and Tom had to leave early so I ran a bonus fight for the 4 players who remained behind. I'm glad I did as I learned that sorcerers can do a shit load of damage so I can throw much tougher fights at the group next time.

[Mason]

Its not like I mentioned the collar only once in the game it was almost a constant reminder and I even dropped the sacred "are you sure?" line on my players. sometimes you cant win but hell, they had fun with it.

[Jason]

Actually, Tom really wasn't the first one to trumpet killing the guy.  Cortez immediately came off insane.  Not only was he killing off any dissidents with the bag of devouring, he also believed he was serving the will of Pelor.  It didn't take long in Ross's role-playing of Cortez before we all felt just how off Cortez really was.  Daniel and Cody engaged Cortez in a diplomatic way while the rest of us more or less listened while throwing in the occasional remark.  I believe the only thing Tom said was "You're insane."  I kept looking to Tom throughout the conversation while fidgeting in my seat because the tyrannical rule of Cortez contrasted so deeply with our own laws in Bordertown.  Since we were trying to set up a fledgling township and were adamant about eliminating slavery, not to mention Cassius's own origins among the barbaric orc tribes, I found it hard to hold back trying to kill him.  I kept trying to get in a word when I had finally gotten enough of Cortez, but was cut short by the other gamers (there were six of us and each I'm sure wanted to make his own point, so I'm not complaining).  I felt I needed to make some stance even before Tom voiced his short line, but the others kept the conversation going.  Of course, my problem was I didn't have a clear enough picture of the setting.  I was working up for a big speech that the tribesmen could hear, but we were relatively alone with Cortez in some sort of throneroom.  I highly doubted we would be able to get through to Cortez, and I didn't want to simply cut him down for no other reason than insanity.  I think the prolonged speech made me want to kill him even more just because Cassius could not debate with a madman and I was becoming anxious for a fight (yay player logic).

[Tadanori Oyama]

Okay, I have some great stuff from this week's session. Bits and pieces, particularly with one play, but we had a great surprise event this week: one of the players got arrested.

This player has been toeing the line between normal hack and slasher and outright psycho for awhile now. Last session he mugged a group of giants who wanted to be left in peace. This week he was standing on the street with a magic artifact, trying to gather a crowd with his story.

After awhile some city guards came by to ask him to stop he threatened them. So they went for backup. Player heard the bells, knew guards where coming, and stayed where he was. When the sergent told him they needed him to come down to the station he clubbed the sergent over the head with the artifact. The other guards retrained him, so he used his Dragonborn Breath Weapon on them.

With him totally restrained they had a wizard cast sleep on him but he kept trying to break out of the bonds so the guards started beating him with the butts of their spears. After four rounds of refusing to surrender to the officers, being beaten, and having sleep effects cast against him he finally got knocked out.

He gets a trial by jury, because they where in Cormyr so they get to put on a defense. The other PCs put their heads together and form his defense around several points:
1) The guards never identified themselves as city guards.
2) He was stressed out after their travel through the Shadowfell and Astral Sea.
3) He was crazy.
4) One of the PCs gave false testamony in his favor.

I'm going to try to work up the recording so I can present some of the highlights. Also, I got some photos of the court room we set up with the minis.

[rayner23]

Wow. That is really awesome! I like to imagine a whiney, high-priced Drow defending him. You know those drowish lawyers, they will charge up the ass!

[Tadanori Oyama]

The drow was too busy coming up with jail break plans along with the halfling to act as legal council. The Genasi and the Eladrin where the ones trying to mount the legal defense. The Half-Elf NPC the party has with them testified for the state against the PC.

Basically, the unaligned party members want to spring the dude from jail. The good party members want to try and make a legal argument for his freedom but they want to make him serve his sentence if he is convicted.

His full list of charges, in the order incurred, is:

• Disrupting the peace (He threatened the crowd)
• Threatening an officer of the city guard (He threatened the guards who tried to stop him)
• Threatening an officer of the crown (The guard sergeant was a military officer)
• Resisting arrest (They used a tangle web bag on him and he broke out)
• Assaulting an officer of the crown with a non-weapon enchanted device (He smashed the sergeant in the head with a big glowing rock which happened to be a powerful magical artifact)
• Attempted murder of an officer of the crown with a non-weapon enchanted device (The artifact shattered the sergeant’s helm and cracked his skull)
• Aggravated resisting arrest (More tangle web bags, which he continued trying to pull off him)
• Six counts of assaulting an officer of the city guard with innate magical ability (Used his Dragon breath on the guards)
• Use of magical energies against a naturally vulnerable being (One of the guards had a vulnerability to the breath element)
• One count of attempted murder of an officer of the city guard (Using an energy type someone is vulnerable against constitutes attempted murder)

The civilian court official tried to push through "Use of a cursed device on an officer of the crown" instead of "Attempted murder of an officer of the crown with a non-weapon enchanted device" (which would allow for an automatic death sentence) but the city wizard said the artifact wasn't banefully cursed.

As it stands if he's found guilty he'll face "death by hanging or other civilized manner", "imprisonment until death", "imprisonment for fifty years" (which for a dragonborn is likely 'until death'), "imprisonment for twenty years", or "imprisonment for ten years"; depending on which charges do or do not stick.

The session ended with the jury leave to deliberate.

[Dawnsteel]

Also, I got some photos of the court room we set up with the minis.

THIS.  IS.  EPIC.

I guess "Objection" is an at-will power for the attorney class?

[Dawnsteel]

To (actually) contribute:

If a player attempts something unusual, and it works, it becomes standard tactics.  Fighter A pushes a goblin down the stairs?  The party makes a FUCKING LINE, and take turns pushing the rest of them.

I had this one guy, back in high school, obsessed with lighting people on fire.  Seriously.  He carried six or eight bottles of oil, smash one over an enemy and light him the next round (AD&D 2E, by the by).  I said, "You know, you're carrying a greatsword...you could just take a couple of swings instead."  But no, he liked fire, I guess.  This is the same guy I mentioned a few minutes ago in the bad GM thread, who jumped into a five-foot-wide hole with no idea of either a) how deep it went or b) what was at the bottom.

[AwesomeJF]

Let me tell you about my group.

First, there are 5 members, 3 male and 2 female, plus me, alpha dude.  Four persons work in the video game industry, for three different companies, one's a doctor (MD) and another is in IT.  I'm usually stuck being the GM, because even if I'm the least creative person in the group, I'm the only one not too flaky to learn and remember the rules and to create and plan a whole campaign instead of a single game then forgetting everything.

I often record the gaming sessions,  to listen later on and see things that the players respond to and to shape out the overall story.  So, one night we are playing a game of D20 Future, and most of the players have infiltrated a space pirate base and are looking for the hostages (and loot) before blowing the place up.  I have one player that is a coward, he always play drivers/pilot/scientist or types like that and almost never fight.  Let's call him, the Captain (because on his desk at work he has an old sea captain's hat).  So the Captain is sitting at the end of the table, not participating while the others are dodging guards and being short for stormtroopers.  The game ends, everybody's happy with the scenario, they saved the ambassadors, looted the valuables off the pirates and blew up the station.  I go back home, to listen to the tape, when I hear something very strange in a low voice when the big tense scene in the pirates' base happen: [In french, this is the translation, bad Sulu accent and all]

-"Concept for a TV show:  the Japanese Judge.  Courtroom reality show where the Japanese Judge is also a Japanese chef with a heating pate instead of a desk.  If you are found guilty, he throws you burning shrimps in your face.  The theme song:  Japaneeeeeeese Judge!  If you guilty he burns face with shrimps on TV!  Japaneeeeeeeese Judge!  Makes awesome sushi for you innocent!"-

So, now you know the level  of flakery I'm faced with.

[Tadanori Oyama]

My players like to talk to the recorder whenever I leave the room, just to see if I actually listen to the recordings. They've said some odd things but I haven't gotten reality show pitches before.

[Maze]

I thought of recording my games but it's too bad nobody would understand it. I still might simply because it's good memories (or bad at time, yet hilarious)

[Tadanori Oyama]

You should do it. You never know what might happen during the games. With the court one I'm actually reviewing the "court transcript" for the session to determine their jury outcome (we ended the session with them leaving to deliberate). I want to be fair to the players and reviewing my own conduct is the best way I know to do that.

I mean, almost certain the dude is gonna fry.

This is also a great way to see what your players want because you can listen to their responces to your talking. You hear more of them on the tape than you do that the game and misunderstandings often become clearer when reviewing the record.

I've also used it to trap players when things don't go their way if they try to weasel out of something.

And, most importantly, you catch your players saying stupid ass things on tape.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Well, the jury found him guilty (surprise) and sentenced him to five to ten years in prison. But, being a PC, he wanted to try and escape, which I let him try. My relucance to directly kill the character is leading to some odd situations. In all honesty I'd feel bad for killing him now, after the things he's managed to overcome. This is going to be the character's second chance, we'll see what he does with it.

New example of gamer logic from the game this week:

Possibly cursed weapon. Can't identify its abilities without actually using it. So, give a street kid a silver coin to swing it around a little.

[Setherick]

Possibly cursed weapon. Can't identify its abilities without actually using it. So, give a street kid a silver coin to swing it around a little.

Nothing ever bad happens when you mess around with street urchins.

[rayner23]

New example of gamer logic from the game this week:

Possibly cursed weapon. Can't identify its abilities without actually using it. So, give a street kid a silver coin to swing it around a little.

Can anyone say "alignment shift"?