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Who Is Ellen - 48 - HD
🕑 Added 2022-10-18 03:00:02 +0000 UTCWhy He Is Even There
Commentary
When Rich first presented his question, several readers guessed he would be their parole officer.
Which was a good guess, but I only think that would work at a game table if the parole officer player was good natured about it, and playing it for fun, and not to be intentionally challenging.
In short, probably a bad idea with Rich.
Sidebar
I wasn't sure whether to have Ellen tell Rich to this in private, and considered either using the excuse that this was going to be a single game, and/or Rich being given the option to keep his reasons a secret.
Ultimately, I decided an uninformed decision isn't much a choice, and the right choice as Game Master would be to tell Rich in private.
Since Ellen is supposed to be pretty good at this, I decided that, yes, Rich was going to be told this in private.
Besides, there's more writing opportunities this way.
Comments
KC
This is honestly a really good hook
Michael Chui
Blabbing your purpose and mission to the target is an entirely valid way to attempt said mission, so I don't think anything's lost there except Rich's ability to have an interesting time. I think Rich will keep his mouth shut mostly in the hopes that he'll be able to gotcha Ellen later.
Some Ed
This reminds me of a game in which the GM opted to handle his sidebar with another player with me sitting right there. "Ok, so Ed's character knows about this also?" "No. Don't worry about it." "But he's right here." "Yeah, don't worry about it." Later on in the game, "But there was something special going on that required that behavior. Ed, back me up on this!" "I've no idea what you're talking about." :> Of course, Rich doesn't seem like the sort of person who could ever be trusted with this sort of information. He doesn't seem like he even knows what compartmentalization even is, but even if he did, I doubt he'd have any comprehension of why one might do that, least of all him.
John Trauger
Good job, Ellen. That's thinking on your feet, a skill I have never mastered.
John Trauger
A good roleplayer might have come up with that reason on her/his own...
Narzain
"It's 106 leagues to Waterdeep. We have half a pouch of pipeweed, a full bale of feed, it's dark, and we're wearing smoked goggles." "Hit it."
Thisguy
Beside, you’d be surprised how much a good role player will rise to the occasion.
Thisguy
Yes, I think many of us called this. For a one shot, it’s not odd to assign tasks or personalities or reasons to PCs, especially if using pre gens. It’s also at this point where, if Rich had any issues, he’s bring it up and Ellen would probably come up with an alternative or make suggestions. Of course, since Rich was already saying “why would my character be doing this” he was kinda asking for it. A good/evil DM is just like “oh, you’re asking me?! Ok!.” And passing secret notes or taking someone away from the table is a time honoured tradition. Nothing like putting a bit of anxiety into the rest of the party like talking to another player in private. Especially if it’s Call of Cthulhu and they’ve just failed their sanity roll.
AstroChaos
They must be really good friends with an artificer, in order for their car..riage to pull the kinds of tricks that it does! Set a record for the most wrecked car...riages in a story, in fact. 😁
Foradain
And now I'm imagining warforged bard/paladins...
Edward Haag
“We’re on a mission from Gond.”
Opus the Poet
ChG aligned paladins?
Stephen Gilberg
Now I'm picturing the Blues Brothers as paladins.
Jim Avery
Eyes up, Rich.
