Harsh Reflections: Part Thirty
Chapter: Season Six
UPDATE: Like a total goob, when I made the original version of this in the early hours prior to GenCon, I accidentally gave Jeda two eyes! Thanks to the nice folks who caught it!
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Rocks fall, everyone dies.
He went there.
So, does everyone die? 😉
My guess is this is a story based tpk. Maybe they all die and their souls adventure through the Dead.
Calling it now – the rest of the session is going to play like that bit in the first Karthun campaign where Vella briefly went to the afterlife.
Daaaaaaaaamn. I use a lot of traps in my games, but this here is the work of an evil genius!
(By the way, love the art on that last panel)
-reads alt text- Booo, BOOOOO boooo! D20 monkey? more like dpunny monkey >C
So would you say the pun left you… stone cold?
It dropped on me like a ton of bricks
Why are you rubble-ing about this? It was pretty solid pun.
Eh? Eh? Eh, I tried.
Well that was just a poorly cobbled together road of rubble :V
They should be fine. Dodging boulders isn’t rock-et science. Eh? …….eh?
Rocks fall and everyone dies.
Beautiful reference sir!
came here for this. wasn’t disappointed.
Ditto! 😀
Came here to make this comment. Was not disappointed to be beaten.
I like the trap and might want to use it but I can’t see how the DM forgot to give them a skill check to notice the part of the trap above them. The trip wire from that distance would be easy to miss but “Hey rocks rigged to drop on your section of the tunnel” should get a notice/whatever skill check shouldn’t it?
TPK? I wouldn’t think Sam had it in him.
I have a feeling the TPK has a purpose. They are all gonna die, the players are gonna throw a tantrum, and then they will discover their was a secondary plot..perhaps they get to have some interesting encounters with the Mother..
…I like this.
http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3tkt4Q8Bq1rodf0w.gif
This is going on Facebook – smile!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lli2gzD7ve1qbzvuzo1_500.gif
Honestly, I still think the drugs are impairing his judgement.
“You are now facing the terror of the unicorn.”
“… what?”
PLayed a game once and the only thing rarer than a unicorn was the dreaded terrasque. Only high-level magic or someone pure of heart(virginal) could harm it. As fourth level characters we ran across it and one of the PCs decided to F with it. It slaughtered us. I still get a chuckle when I think about it.
I think you’re right. I think that’s why we were shown him taking the medicine, unless it’s going to foreshadow him maybe taking too many.
sooo, stupid question. but why does the dwarf suddenly have 2 eyes again?
Tucker’s Kobolds bigger and just as evil brother.
Oh fuck Tuckers kobolds.
Anyone else wonder if this is all some kind of set up for some kind of twist?
I sincerely hope so. Using the first encounter to pointlessly wipe out the party would be a pretty good way to get all of the players to avoid playing with him ever again.
I don’t know… I think even an easy encounter should leave in the possibility of a tpk if they aren’t prepared or underestimate the enemy. Take Kobolds. They’re weak in a fight but on their home turf they’ve got a slew of traps and often use group tactics to harrass enemies and weaken them, even separate them. And Goblins are equally devious in their own primitive way. When these are easy fights it should be because of a bad raid and lead to a harder fight somewhere. So be prepared.
As for the group and this… I can see this going in as a tpk. No one scouted ahead (at least it seems, I may have missed it) and they definitely should have. This cult has had the most important resource of all, time, to set up defenses. I know, I know, “Don’t split the party, ever,” but the thing is sometimes you kind of have to. Just don’t go farther the the rest of the party can “run” so you can get some backup. And as for that trap… yeah, that should be expected or at least acknowledged afterwards that it should have been. These archers had no apparent frontline protection. Either they were going to break contact and lure them into an ambush, or this right here happened. As a matter of fact I think I’ll use this tactic myself as “firing from beyond a trap to draw enemies in” is a lot better than “fire arrows and then try o run through the trap without setting it off to get them to chase you and set it off hopefully after you made it to safety.”
TPK. It can happen because the players got cocky.
Has to be. Right??
Grimtooth would be proud.
What a beautiful way to show what a dangerous and well funded cult can do. Maybe this is just the prelude to the real adventure?
Unfortunately I don’t think Sam is going to realize the implications this will have on Carlos’ confidence which is shaky at best nor the attitude of everyone only just now getting back into the game.
That’s what I’m thinking, regarding both the adventure and Carlos.
I really hope that building a PC in Karthun goes as fast as with D&D next, because if it’s anywhere as time consuming as it is with 3.5 the evening is done.
Well then.
Whoo! Called it! Well, I’m sure everybody saw this coming, but still. Haha!
So, I had a player whose PC once with an absurd AC, I was running them through a premade module, and nothing was hitting him. And then one of the others triggered a trap. Rocks fell. And he died. It was amazing.
*makes saving throw* I survived, but unfortunately, I need a new pair of undergarments.
This is why I wear a kilt.
and water proof boots… (no sandals)
Gave up on socks. Too hard to keep clean.
Our group actually has a half orc who wears a kilt for this exact reason. We went to the home of an old lady with about fifty cats. She gave us all some very iffy tea. Next move, we all had to do fortitude saves vs. Shitting ourselves. My druid and our rogue made it, but the orc……
Wow, this campaign has more fatalities than a George R. R. Martin book.
*slow clap*
I completely trust Brian’s storytelling, but this is agonizing. Also agree the art’s been great. Poor Carlos… you can see how scared he is that the group will be upset with him.
ooh I love it! there has to be a plot twist to all of this if they die! a good DM wouldn’t TPK without a reason. So the question is, if they die, What is Sam’s plan?
The DM regrets to inform you that your party is dead because the dice decreed it!
There’s probably a good reason for Sam being such an evil bastard in this case.
I’m just presuming the NPCs are playing smart. I wouldn’t call it an ‘evil bastard’ move. Just a ‘the world is being played straight’.
Maybe he is making a point that “This world” is much more dangerous. Time for new “toons” guys. This time treat it like Tomb of Horrors. ‘Aight?
Unless of course it’s just a plot twist to have them interact with some deity or higher being or something.
TPKing the party in a hopeless encounter at the start of a campaign for plot reasons is equally as shit-headed a move as doing it because it makes you feel powerful. Just getting that out there.
When you DM, the players are not your possessions. You are not writing a book where the only consideration is how what happens to the characters serves the final story. If your rails actually say at some point, “Rocks fall, Everyone dies” then you need to either get some new rails or receive a violent demonstration of why jumping straight to severe injury and death from a standing start is poor conflict resolution.
Overreacting much? Three men and a trap is hardly a hopeless encounter, and certainly doesn’t mean Sam is treating the PCs like his personal playthings(??). Yeah, beating a guy on crutches is a real appropriate response to a run of bad die rolls.
I could see this going in several ways:
1) Worst case scenario. Everyone dies. They bring Carlos into the group by ragging on Sam together. His confidence in the group is boosted because instead of yelling at him for springing that trap, they laugh it off and move on.
2) Second worst case: Everyone dies but Brent’s character, who loses a leg. He continues to play him until he’s nothing but a head and torso, claiming his place as the most awesome rogue ever.
3) Best case scenario: The trap kills the archers, everyone lives.
Any way you look at it, you won’t know what Sam (or Brian for that matter) have planned until it happens. Personally, I like games where characters die. It keeps players on their toes and having fun instead of sitting back with their high-level god characters going “Man, another +9 Sword of Insta-Death? Better throw it on the pile with the rest of them…”
My suspicions, you are damn near confirming them. This is going to be a storyline involving the Mother and/or her realm isn’t it?
http://ifunny.co/fun/neLX8XGq2
Above is what players expect. Below is what players should get. Especially if they fight the enemy on the enemy’s terms.
just about any dm could tpk most parties almost at will without fudging a single throw or throwing unreasonably powerful foes at them just by having the foes behave according to the evil overlord list. on the other hand players want their characters to act heroic (i.e. reckless risks, over the top behavior, etc.) and have at least a reasonable chance of coming out on top and looking good doing it – quite incompatible with list-obeying foes. sam knows this of course, and he gave them a fairer chance even in the grudgy sam episode. he’s going somewhere with this. in any case, trevor missed those rolls all by his ownself. one little observation: two karthun adventures, two lone female characters get an early appointment with the mother. coincidence of course, but it sets an unsettling precedent.
Honestly if you treat the bad guys as about as smart as they should be (even without DM foreknowledge) most parties wouldnt stand a chance.
IMHO once you (as a player) reach a certain level of proficiency playing your game of choice AND have sufficient knowledge of the DM’s play style, there should be a certain level of expectation from the DM and players that the players will not do stupid things like running ahead and springing traps….etc,. With that in mind Carlos is the newb and may not understand the dangers but the others shouldn’t have walked into this either. On the other hand….it is a story….in a fantasy game. heh. It could be anything. Either way “the suspense is terrible. I hope it’ll last.”
Am I the only one who noticed that Jeda’s silhouette in the last panel has BOTH eyes?
They are going to be fighting the Grin as spirits. This is going to go full horror mode with them being stalked by the Grin. Even impaired, Sam would know better than to “rocks fall, everyone dies”.
“Even impaired….” I want to remind readers—again—that a chronic pain patient who is taking their medications properly is LESS impaired than someone in agony.
We don’t have enough information to see what Sam is going through right now, although the earlier panel indicates that Sam’s pain is a plot point yet to be explored in the story arc. Maybe in-game, maybe meta. Too soon to tell. (Granted, speculation is fun, too. “Place your bets!”)
I’m reminded of my favorite “Something*Positive” strip.
Rocks fall! Everyone Dies!
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml
My money’s on ‘Simulation… Terminated.’
I don’t know why I didn’t notice this until now, but shouldn’t Jeda’s silhouette only have one eye?
The rocks decided to give him his eye back so he could realise how fucked he was
Oh, God, I just got a brilliant idea for a Meghan Trainor parody:
“I know you’re dyin’ (dyin’)
Cause your rocks are falling (falling)…”
You know, I really like Carlos in this story. He strikes me as a timid, some-what anti-social guy outside of the game. In-game, it is like all of that buried courage and ferocity come out.