Remove ads

A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Reader mode
Abhishek M said:
Seriously? Isnt that a PC race? I mean Illithid babies hack away. But that sounds more like poor DMing than an inherent flaw in the system.

I mean you can you cant throw a stick without hitting a party with atleast one slow but likeable Orc barbarian.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's because people prefer playing orcs as opposed to what the developers gave us which is half-orcs. I won't go into how that is troubling because it would carry the discussion into yet another tangent.

With that said I do not believe any of the issues with D&D's system are even remotely intended. It's simply that the system was designed by people more concerned with the mechanics of dungeon dives than the deeper ramifications of morality. The reason the issues are so evident for us is because the format played here is much more introspective.
 
Although it might just be that I was a Palladium player long before I ever got into D&D, I've always preferred its Alignment system. It's obviously inspired by D&D, and it might even be more restrictive in some ways, but it's much more well-defined and not intrinsically linked in some supernatural fashion to one's morality.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Palladium system, check this out if you're interested.
 
Honestly the system is great. More attention to detail than anybody should expect for a freaking table top. I think it's just people being edgy by attributing all this perceived malice and "implications" to table top rules books.

It's a close simulation as tion. Roleplay is important for a reason. The dice rolls are just there for chance and uncertainty. Half the objectionable crap is people reading too much into it.
 
Abhishek M said:
Honestly the system is great. More attention to detail than anybody should expect for a freaking table top. I think it's just people being edgy by attributing all this perceived malice and "implications" to table top rules books.

It's a close simulation as tion. Roleplay is important for a reason. The dice rolls are just there for chance and uncertainty. Half the objectionable crap is people reading too much into it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's because these manuals are 'Rules of the Game', and a lot of people tend to try to play a game by its rules. The problem arises when the game (partially) simulates a reality, relies on real-world knowledge to be playable at all, and then confuses players with the distinction where to draw the line.
 
I think @DragonParadox pointed out where the discussion really boils down to in terms of the Alignment system's use really well, and someone mentioned that they "liked the idea that they would just know whether something was good or evil".

This is in essence a different set of preferences for someone's entertainment. Some people cannot have fun, at all, if while roleplaying they are drawn out of the representative world by under representation of philosophy in the actions undertaken. Whereas there are some players who line up around a table with dice with absolutely no intentions of getting into an ethical or moral discussion, and do not question too much the particularly worrisome implications implied by the core rules' absolutist stance on morality (or the implied format which allows for zealots on the board).

Some people might get annoyed if that zealotry grows out of proportion to the point of breaking what coherency the campaign requires for that group of players, but they don't complain about the person next to them not going into a two hour discussion, spoke aloud, with an NPC about why their actions have consequences outlined by the logical conclusions drawn from them. Their DM will happily reward them XP just for sticking in character. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a game.

But this version of D&D we're playing relies on more than the alignment system because it is trying to tell a somewhat logical, and at minimum completely coherent narrative from a person's point of view where morality and more importantly (to this character) ethics plays a huge role for their actions and opinions. So the basic Alignment system doesn't and never sufficed. It outgrew it within the first hundred pages.
 
Last edited:
Remove ads
Part MMCDLXXXIV: Gift of Silver
  • Threadmarks
    • Gift of Silver ​

    Tenth Day of the Seventh Month 293 AC

    "Any other thoughts on the matter?" you ask Leto absently, as you would any of your friends. The silence that follows startles you from your own thoughts. It seems Leto had not expected it. Does she see it as a sign of weakness? you wonder. From what you can read behind the glamour and deeper millennia-old mask of experience she seems simply off balance, surprised.

    "If I just wanted you here for your eyes or your sword arm I would have had a construct built for the task," you point out dryly. "You have lived long enough among mortals to make judgements on how such a knot may be undone."

    Leto's eyes narrow ever so slightly in suspicion, but when she cannot find the trap she is looking for she answers at length. "I suspect intrigue is but a shell over some deeper plot if these 'arts' you spoke of are meant to cheat death, then more likely than not that is the prize. Mortals will go to the most foolish of lengths to extend the pitiful span of their years."

    "If they do not seek to gain more time then how might they become cleverer?" you ask mildly.

    Surprisingly the Fury's lips twitch into the brief shadow of a smile. "A sharply made point, my lord, though perhaps not one best timed with unseen wheels turning all about us. Do you wish me to accompany you or help guard your coin counter?"

    "The former, it would be odd for Master Liu to be without both his guards," you reply, thoughts turning fully to the task at hand, namely finding more of the manse and the gathering you find yourself in, not from the dead but the living.

    ***
    ​
    "It is the custom of my land to offer gifts to our host before first partaking of food and drink at their table," you offer to the servants, though you have no more intention of touching food and drink in this house than you do drinking Tyene's entire collection of poisons.

    The lady of the house is indisposed, words you had expected to hear from the start of course along with offers of manifold distractions from the wide and sunny library to the well stoked wine cellar. The servants speak of hunting and hawking, of a feast swiftly approaching and all manner of temptations they can think to raise in your path. Finally the steward admits with feigned hesitation that the lady is 'unwell', implying that her husband's death had cracked her mind. No more than you had expected of course, but it is that edge of insincerity, of carefully hidden fear that is most telling.

    This strict and proper key-bearer with his bottle-green coat and brass buttons knows more of the tales of this sad house than he lets on, but he is not nearly so fearful of being interrogated by a sorcerer as you judge he would be if he knew some secret of dark rebirth. You could simply tear that knowledge from his mind, but you are leery of such blunt methods precipitating a confrontation you are not yet ready for, and so you had chosen a subtler plan.

    "Very well, then," you feign exasperated agreement as you push a box into his arms. "You may deliver this to her." The gift within, a set of silver wind chimes had indeed traveled as far as Qarth and bears the mark of that distant city, but it is one of the tiny silver bells that truly matter. Imbued by wishcraft with the power to allow you to see and hear through them as though you were present, and warded against simple detection it should offer you a path either to the lady or to whoever her keeper is.

    While waiting for your offering to find its target, you withdraw once more into the gardens where Mereth and Lady Forlys had drawn Jarlar to speak with the 'Myrish investor' he had so profited from encountering the first time. As you had suspected you seem to have gained some rather unwelcome followers. Soft is their step and careful their manner as they shadow you, but not yet so soft as to escape the ear of a dragon. Good. Proper mummery requires an audience, after all...

    While 'Master Liu' discusses matters of commerce and lending aloud, you can have your true conversation with the Lyseni banker through Varys' mind voice as he may answer back in like manner.

    What do you say to Jarlar?

    [] Write in

    OOC: You rolled quite badly on convincing the servants, so rather than just having another vote I decided to move through, since it was just a matter of technique and not priority or some other value judgement for Viserys to make.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • @Azel @Everyone, less morality debates and more intrigue? Pretty please? For a diseased hybrid Spider-Fish abomination?

    [X] Azel
     
    DragonParadox said:
    "It is the custom of my land to offer gifts to our host before first partaking of food and drink at their table," you offer to the servants, though you have no more intention of touching food and drink in this house than you do drinking Tyene's entire collection of poisons.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I would like to point out here that Viserys is immune to all poisons by virtue of being a Fuck-Mothering Dragon.

    So he could use Tyenes best brews as seasoning just fine.

    Might be a bit expensive in the long run though.
     
    Azel said:
    I would like to point out here that Viserys is immune to all poisons by virtue of being a Fuck-Mothering Dragon.

    So he could use Tyenes best brews as seasoning just fine.

    Might be a bit expensive in the long run though.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Some stuff isn't so much a poison as it is a potion, or vector for some other type of magic. Those possibilities worry me more than mere poison.

    Considering my suspicions about what's going on here, simple poison isn't likely to be a concern.
     
    @DragonParadox, bit of a side note, but how's the political situation in He'Nekar?

    We've completely renovated their port and are presumably getting a hell of a lot of business to the town because of it.

    If I recall correctly, we also proceeded to renovate the rest of the town so that they're not literally living in burrows anymore.

    And the nine candidates they sent to Sorcerer's Deep should be progressing well in their studies considering they were among the very first students.

    Have they submitted an application to join the Imperium yet?
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top