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Locke and Pontifex
Ross is pretty good at playing a convincing old and somewhat emotional lich. I’m surprised Pontifex puts up with Locke’s rebellious character. Locke’s practically yelling at him that he’s going to try and betray him. Everyone betrays him.
Locke and Genesa
Locke gives his phylactery to a woman who fell in love with him, and in the process completely shatters her heart. I mean, he made it obvious to her that she was not good enough to live alongside him, but more than qualified to protect his phylactery. I liked the way it was played out. It’s a paradox that a scorned lover would swear to protect the life of the man that broke her heart, but it sounded believable.
Bad Barbarian
I know that Ross is a horrible person and all for not allowing players to mind control other players, but he kind of stepped out of form with Low Crag’s actions. Near the end, Low Crag wanted to kill a messenger that was going to be sent out by the overthrown governor. Everyone else in the party said “no” to killing the messenger, and Ross agreed with the group. Ross pulled the DM’s rule and said Low Crag was not going to attack the messenger. I can see how Low Crag’s proposed action could seem to be a random act of violence, but it also could have served a purpose story wise. We don’t know what message the governor was sending out, but it would most likely have been about the overthrow of Old World power in the New World. Hindering the transfer of intelligence to an enemy sounds like a good idea to me.
Just going off the Actual Plays, I think this is the first time that Ross outright said “no” to a player’s actions. Perhaps RJ was acting more disruptive than he sounded in the AP, or Ross didn’t want to deal with the headache of RJ and Tom butting heads over the death of a messenger. Either way, the game was awesome.
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I get the feeling that Ross really enjoys roleplaying Pontifex, it's one of the few NPCs he
really seems to get into.
I loved the Locke and Genesa scene, it was fairly poignant for me. The moment when she asks him to drop the illusion and then just says "...fine."
I kinda felt like Ross stopping Arje right then was to try and avoid a de-railment; the players were literally at the head of a mob, about to overthrow the government - something that has been being led up to since ep 12, as Dan mentioned - and Arje is trying to commit a random act of violence. Yes, it can be argued that killing the messenger would be a good way to divert intelligence, but it was more important for the dramatic scene unfolding not to be destroyed.
