Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[Loud Whispers]

I was half expecting the "this will solve all of your problems" bag of alchemic concoctions to just be a bunch of narcotic substances, island of the lotus eaters style. Lol "why does he keep mentioning it's intricately detailed?" paranoia setting in, very relatable

[Kagus]

Something druggy/poisonous probably would've been a much smarter course of action, but as mentioned he doesn't always make the best decisions... And was just angry with these "thugs" coming in and not only refusing to reimburse him (as they'd promised to do during the caravan ride), but in fact demanding even more free stuff for "saving his life", so when thinking of a solution to these problems standing in front of him, he went for a more cathartic route than logical.

[Loud Whispers]

tfw you shortchange Ted Kaczynski

[Frumple]

I've long just kinda' wondered about crime and banditry and general social abuses in settings like D&D (and especially Xianxia), 'cause, like, it's almost always depicted as as-bad or worse than what we see in a less extreme setting, but you're dealing with a scenario where the random hobo or caravan occupant you're trying to shake down for change might be able to crack a dragon's skull with their thighs, and it doesn't make sense for such things to be operating in any way that'd look familiar to us.

Great swaths of those depictions also involve showing a likely scenario for such behavior (i.e. they run into a murderhobo band or golden thumbed nonsense cultivator or something and get smooshed), and you'd think the culture would be, just... noticeably different. Because of it. Much more cautious, etc. Less likely to do something that'd trip over someone with a pocket fireball or seventy-seven finger death punch.

Like, I get it's a narrative conflict thing and the DMs or writers or whatever are doing it because of the common (albeit incorrect!) perception there must be conflict and specific sorts of conflict for a story to proceed, but it's always just kinda' rubbed me wrong. Criminals and abusers aren't dumb all that often, barring pretty debilitating issues they're not going to be super stupid about who they target under most circumstances, so basically every interaction seen being one sort or another getting roadkilled by a protagonist-equivalent due to being super stupid about who they target is just. Doesn't feel right, y'know? If they're still alive as an established adult bandit or whatev' they should know better than to shortchange ted kaczynski, 'cause the ones that don't should have already been mulched!

[scriver]

Your either A, making a lot of flawed presumptions about the likelyhood of a random hobo or caravan occupant being able to crack a dragon's skull with their thighs; or B, not acknowledging that the random bandit would be equally likely to be able to crack a dragon's skull with their thighs as either of them

[Egan_BW]

We might assume that most powerful people are dressed and equipped for the part and bandits know to leave them alone or approach and act friendly and try to get hired as grunts. While the raggedy beggar who happens to be a swordmaster who can strike down god is a relatively more rare occurrence which just gets more focused on narratively because it's a fun trope.

[Loud Whispers]

Xianxia bandit logic is pretty straightforward. If you're some bandit mook, you work for the Ten Thousand Bones of Creation Bandit Demon King who will kill you if you don't challenge this one homeless man. The likelihood of the homeless man being someone who can break a mountain in half with the clap of his arsecheeks is immaterial in the face of certain over awe power

[Kagus]

As with the random American gun-nut looking for an excuse to blast a would-be mugger with their handcannon, there are both plenty enough defenseless people for the desperate muggers to hope they hit instead of said gun-nut, and almost certainly ways for the trained eye to tell the difference.

Just because there are significant risks involved with a given method of procuring wealth doesn't mean they can always stand up to the desperation inspired by the certainty of starvation if you don't.



...also in this case the shake-downers were PCs, who as we all know are agents of unabashed chaos. First one just tried to pretend that they were a duke from the capital and would reward him handsomely upon their arrival if they received help. So the alchemist gave a free sample and offered lower prices on the remaining bottles.

...but then the sorceress noticed that "hey, this guy has free potions of healing", and made the argument that had it not been for them then the alchemist would've certainly been another casualty of the ambush, and still could be... Then the dragonborn decided they wanted a pot too, so they dragonborned.

A short while later they stared menacingly at him again to make him cough up his personal defense molotovs, leaving him not only without wares but also defenseless, and with not so much as a dirty penny to show for it.

[scriver]

I did an dnd

[Loud Whispers]

I did an dnd

did u win

[scriver]

The true win was the fun we had along the way, right? Otherwise no all my dudes got killed

I'm playing over table for the first time and also DMing for the first time. I'm running Lost Mines of Phandelver (I've played it as a player before and thought it was pretty good). I think I might have done well for a first time, at least it didn't go as bad as I had feared it might

[Great Order]

As with the random American gun-nut looking for an excuse to blast a would-be mugger with their handcannon, there are both plenty enough defenseless people for the desperate muggers to hope they hit instead of said gun-nut, and almost certainly ways for the trained eye to tell the difference.

Just because there are significant risks involved with a given method of procuring wealth doesn't mean they can always stand up to the desperation inspired by the certainty of starvation if you don't.



...also in this case the shake-downers were PCs, who as we all know are agents of unabashed chaos. First one just tried to pretend that they were a duke from the capital and would reward him handsomely upon their arrival if they received help. So the alchemist gave a free sample and offered lower prices on the remaining bottles.

...but then the sorceress noticed that "hey, this guy has free potions of healing", and made the argument that had it not been for them then the alchemist would've certainly been another casualty of the ambush, and still could be... Then the dragonborn decided they wanted a pot too, so they dragonborned.

A short while later they stared menacingly at him again to make him cough up his personal defense molotovs, leaving him not only without wares but also defenseless, and with not so much as a dirty penny to show for it.

See, the problem with this mentality is it assumes the people vanish after.

They don't. Now they have an upset alchemist who is, at a minimum, going to report it to the authorities with a description of the individuals. Given enough folks (And rich enough ones) the players become seriously at risk of having a large bounty put on their head. Large bounties attract high level adventurers and even, potentially, *dragons* who are adding to their hoard and want to do so easier than pillaging a kingdom.

[Kagus]

In their defense, at the time of the shakedown this was supposed to just be a one-shot xD

But yes... They had their reunion with him in the city, and did not take the opportunity to ingratiate themselves to him or in any way try and compensate for the goods. This set into action a chain of events that has now resulted in the alchemist actually being in even worse sorts than before, and even more inclined to pursue personal vengeance if he puts two and two together. Which is almost certainly going to happen if they don't take it upon themselves to suddenly grow a conscience and bust him out of his current predicament, which is a circumstance I find... Less-likely.

So while they figure out how to get themselves out of their obligations to both the master of the largest thieves guild and one of the most powerful nobles in the city, there'll be a legitimately gifted little alchemist brewing a big pot of vengeful madness in the background.

[Egan_BW]

If noita has taught me anything, it's that you can get any adventurer killed, no matter how powerful, by leaving a little pool of polymorphine somewhere and letting them find it.

[Frumple]

Y'know, that made me realize that if anyone knew how to make splatter proof/resistant varnish/coating/whatever, it would be a fantasy alchemist... and they'd probably know how to make something that encouraged splatter, too.

That plus something like, yes, polymorphine, and you're dealing with liquid hell you're not going to get out of with a dodge check. Turning bucket over door pranks into adventurer killers, just add bounce slime.