Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Yes, now we've somehow acquired over 100 of them...
Hopefully not all actually attached to us...
Orc Quest; or, A Critical Examination of Agency Through in Interactive Fiction (Warcraft)
- Thread starter FractiousDay
- Start date
- Fantasy
Hopefully not all actually attached to us...
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
The obvious big one.
How much skill have we lost?
Bloody hell.
Very important, was not expecting so many to come along.
Similarly holy shit where did they come from!
Also extremely important.
mmm...
While I get what you mean the crunch is crazy.
2 gives options, 1 essentially shuts out of everything bar deciding which we can handle better, miscommunications from not learning Tirassian or our "warband" going rogue on us.
Essentially we have 6 options, of which 3 have to be done now and not taking them spells literal disaster, while not taking the other three spells personal disaster.
Yikes we are screwed.
Damn it tis hard to find a good antonym of self-reflection.
I'll try to think of a good way of writing it up, but essentially inability to reflect on what went wrong and learn from mistakes seems to be a big issue for a lot of the horde and people in general (people don't like being wrong, even less that they maybe the personal cause of it and all.)
It maybe too vague a concept, but I'll give it more thought.
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Welp, awesome start to this next leg of the adventure!
[X] Meditation
[X] Purpose
I think would be my starting point for a good synergistic pair. Meditation to help get over our issues with emotions/their futzing our spiritual connection. It also helps push us back on track for Shamanism. Purpose also helps decide Grok's own purpose. Purpose furthermore is important in the use of power; for without knowing the exact purpose one is aiming for no course is the correct one.
[X] Meditation
[X] Purpose
I think would be my starting point for a good synergistic pair. Meditation to help get over our issues with emotions/their futzing our spiritual connection. It also helps push us back on track for Shamanism. Purpose also helps decide Grok's own purpose. Purpose furthermore is important in the use of power; for without knowing the exact purpose one is aiming for no course is the correct one.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's a brand new Warband, since the only survivor of the previous one is Scorn. Hopefully the survival rate in this one will be more than 1%.
[X] Learning Tirassian
We should be talking directly to Human quest-givers / diplomats / commanders / what have you. The objective is to be able to discern things.
For the second.... you mean, stubborness, lack of adaptability? It's close to Obligation, but not quite.
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Perhaps, but I am somewhat concerned at having over 100 tag alongs.
Kinda depletes the idea of being an adventurer if you've got an army...also kinda changes the Scarlet Crusade's first impression a lot.
Stubbornness is closer, but this is more refusal to self examine at all. In context its not just "why can't they see why Grom Hellscream's got his awful side" its the refusal to acknowledge it at all, a problem Thrall shares.
- Location
- United Kingdom
Feldad basically.
Yes your old one got killed apart from Scorn and maybe some guys who ran away to the Oasis but then you didn't check for. Feldad has just ordered some new people to follow you, +Sorek's friends from the fight club, +a load of random people who've shown up and believe as Scorn does that you represent a good shot at status.
Nothing mechanical yet, but you did take significant injuries over the course of several days. You fought in battle getting wounded minorly, then you got stabbed and thrown off a mountain, then you marched and rode, likely getting your wounds infected and aggravating any injuries you had, then you fell off a smaller mountain, then you were in a coma for weeks. You haven't forgotten stuff but you've lost muscle mass, fat from being injured and needing to heal, stuff like that. You'll get back to normal but this action would speed it up a bit. Think of it as physio therapy.
To note, though you'll discover stuff as you go along there's some things you don't know about, for example, internal Alliance politics. Why's there a massive wall there? What I thought the Scourge were allied to the Legion why are they fighting? that sort of thing. You're an educated guy but you don't know everything.
Definitely not intended to be that negative. For example, you've got this warband. They've been dispatched to do various things, the BB guys are under orders to follow you, Sorek's bros are more following Sorek, who in turn acknowledges you as Akinos' heir and therefore follows you, then you've got a load of random people who want to get famous through you. If you don't do anything at all to them it'll be a dysfunctional unit and coordinate badly, they'll be impetuous members etc, if you do train them they'll get better. Similarly if you don't learn Tirassian Kartha will translate for you, or someone in the Crusade perhaps like Tirion if he's about. Think about this as what you want to prioritise, not 'what will doom us the least'. You can do all these things later, Kartha will be about, the warband will be about, your strength and agility will return as you recover etc.
Garrosh?
Lol, it sort of fits but he isn't that stubborn, he did learn from stuff 'times change' and all that.
But as Netos says, stubbornness perhaps.
Distinct, obligation is someone understanding but forcing themselves to do or not do X, stubbornness would be them not understanding etc
You can order them about as you like. If that's 'Scorn go off and clear those undead while I play with the paladins' that's fine. I want to give you the possibility of doing army stuff if you want to later so they can be in the background and you can go off somewhere.
So how big is this new warband and what is it composition ?
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Dude...its in the update!
Look and the information can be found.
Will respond to Fractious in a moment.
- Location
- United Kingdom
"Regardless they're with you now, and to an extent at your command, as are the hundred or so other orcs, composed of roughly fifty of your own clan, a score of aspirants following Sorek and others of low status and prospects who seek glory in your service, attracted by the Burning Blade's new prestige. "
So 50 BB, reliable, average stats, nothing exceptional.
20 Aspirant Blademasters, greater attack but worse defence stats generally and poorer discipline, these are the same guys who came with you to kill Darkstorm. You fought them in previous chapters and they acknowledge you as leader, but they're more interested in looking for blackrock stuff and avenging Akinos. Kind of a frathouse of weebs?
30 random people, poorly equipped, recently joined the BB out of the clanless orcs of Orgrimmar, people in Scorn's previous position who've joined up for greater status. Possibly criminals.
Any warlocks or any other magic casters among them?
Eh, that skyship sailed back during the initial expedition to the Barrens. Perhaps if we had a base we could have put them somewhere and approached them ourselves
@FractiousDay
Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere, but would we have to make rolls for learning a Human tongue once we hit land? Aside from that possibility, I assume having other speakers to help learn could help?
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Which is fine, there is however a fine line between "did this kid do absolutely no research before going off" and "certainly reasonable to not know."
The wall for example is something I'd imagine Grok would have at least heard of, I don't know where he was at the time, but it would have been visible to almost every orc in the camps as it was being built. The specifics of why are quite another thing, but currently given how little Grok seems to know of Lorderan of the past or Lorderan of the now it makes it seem rather necessary just to approach.
The thing is its hard not to think about "what will doom us the least" when we've seen how rapidly things can go completely to hell and all three of these are essential.
Currently it seems to be a choice between
1. Be unable to communicate properly, since jumping through a translator is pretty much always going to be worse
2. Get screwed over by the impetuous and now apparently some literal criminals who see us as their leader.
3. Get stabbed as a result of not having either physical or magical strength
All of this while we're going to go negotiate with people who for all that I hope are more accepting than the canon crusade, are still people who remember the first and second wars with good reason.
FFS we're bringing a long a ****ing necromancer and we have to choose between being able to explain the difference to them properly, or being able to properly corral them!
These are not things we can afford to do later than each other.
Things like this only reinforce my perspective simply on the basis of some idiot causing a fight and then stake time.
Especially when you're right focus is important, because spreading ourselves too thin has cost us big time in the past.
But we can't afford to focus if we have too many things that need to get done, 1 action to do them in all of the actions will really fuck us to not take in the short and long term.
Sigh.
Not really. Garrosh is the internalisation of the worst concepts of both the new and old hordes and certainly never looked inwards to see why he might be responsible for so many of the problems he was causing.
Which is fair, but it does not solve the problem of their existence.
Currently unless we invest actions into them, they are a loose cannon pointed at Grok's face.
One of three in fact since not only do we have them we also have a proud unrepentant member of the warsong clan and as already stated a goddamn necromancer.
Don't.Eh, that skyship sailed back during the initial expedition to the Barrens. Perhaps if we had a base we could have put them somewhere and approached them ourselves
I was expecting a handful of people. Frankly I wasn't expecting so many of our "friends" companions to come along at all and I was I wasn't expecting a goddamn army!
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- Location
- United Kingdom
Well no one asked for them so no. You can interpret this as Feldad not wanting to deploy warlocks he doesn't trust far away from him. There's Keldran, a warlock who's multiclasing as a necromancer though.
Hasn't been asked I don't think. Learning a language isn't that hard and you'd be emersed in it so maybe I'd just have it as 'Tirassian (1/4)' apparently a language takes 6 months to learn and that's only 4 turns. If you took the action now though this would represent you acquiring all the necessary skill and being able to talk to people etc.
So yes Grok has done some research but remember how information is transmitted in these times. Most of the information the Horde has, even the Shattered Hand has, is several years, perhaps 10 or more, out of date. The orcs were interred in various places and then escaped, wandered about a bit then left, as such there's significant changes that might have happened. The previous example has been not knowing arthas killed jubeithos and thinking the blackrock in alterc are still around. Yes gilneas is known for having a wall, why? Are they defending against something? That would be logical sure but we know from canon that actually it's because Genn was isolationist.
You aren't parachuting into the Scarlet Monastary, you'll run into them sure but not immediately and you can take some actions then
again I don't want you to perceive this as some attempt to trap you and force you to do stuff and choose stuff, this really was meant to be a pretty chill chapter with low stakes stuff
So on this, sorry about that. I knew you wanted to adventure but i really didn't see you specifically wanting to go it entirely alone. I mentioned and implied a few things like the aspirants and the vagabonds, and I don't see Feldad letting you go off without a force like that. For one thing it would make the clan look bad because the heir is going about without a proper retinue.
Really though if you don't want to deal with it just leave it to Scorn. He can handle it and if he has to bash some heads he'll do that and is capable enough of a subordinate not to need baby sitting
Well the we should look for range and magic units among the forsaken
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Indeed, nor would I expect most orcs to know that the wall was put up due to not wanting to pay taxes to the Alliance.
However, that runs into the other issue of "if its that out of date what information do they have that can be useful."
Ten years ago Lorderan existed as a practical entity, now it most certainly does not. My assumption is studying the region is learning things like what is where, major figures who might theoretically be alive and so forth.
Thing is those people are likely the kind that will be known to the Orcs for being their enemies, or there's no way for them to learn of them.
Essentially this is a scale between "entirely useless information Grok should know from cultural osmosis" to "critical information" with very little inbetween.
We are in a zeppelin
And parachuting into the Scarlet Monastery isn't the issue the issue is as you seem to imply we have this opportunity to do one thing then we'll be there.
4 turns was the entire length of the Orgrimmar, that is a long time, hence why I am somewhat freaked out at the prospect of not being able to communicate with them for the amount of time it took Grok to go from Mr nobody to exile, when the Scarlet Crusaders have the potential to be far more burney.
Sigh...we can take actions is true when we are not being thrown so rapidly into the deep end.
That is not the implication I am getting in the least.
I've already laid out my thoughts on it, but currently we have the ability to stop 1 thing of 6 from screwing us over very rapidly. And no its not a trap, I'm just not sure how you considered it. As the GM I'm sure it seems perfectly reasonable, but you have the full idea of what you've got in store, I am approaching it from the position of someone who does not know that.
What I do know is that we're potentially going up against very dangerous foes, apparently, we're now semi crippled physically as well as magically, going to talk to humans who have very legitimate reasons to hate us due to many of them spending well over a decade fighting genocidal murder machines, surrounded by loose cannons, whom we have only an extremely basic understanding of and can't even speak their goddamn language.
None of that is low stakes.
I never said entirely alone, but what I took from the update was a DnD group or a 5-10 man dungeon party max.
Like you mentioned Sorek might come along with aspirants, what I took from that was Sorek and maybe one or two of the more adventurous ones, not 20 of them, never mind that Vagabonds were never mentioned only that Scorn would defo be coming along cause he still sees us as a ticket to success, more people suddenly sharing his delusion wasn't mentioned anywhere.
As for Fel dad I was under the impression the pair of blademasters was the retinue, especially since we're a ****ing exile!
And then the whole echo isles thing, where you described going to set up an outpost as Feldad sending along a couple of peons, so if I'm to expect a couple of peons for an outright construction project I sure as heck am not going to expect one hundred strangers jumping out of the woodwork!
And yes, we can just leave it to Scorn (in theory), but beyond potentially alienating him he also likely doesn't solve the fundamental issue, giving them enough discipline that they don't cause an international incident or solve the problem of the Scarlet Crusade themselves causing the incident. These things are a lot easier to manage with fewer people for a reason!
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@FractiousDay
Thanks! I feel better about leaving that for after we hit ground. Shouldnt be too big a deal either as it will take a bit of time to scout out things enough to be doing to much diplomacy.
Thanks! I feel better about leaving that for after we hit ground. Shouldnt be too big a deal either as it will take a bit of time to scout out things enough to be doing to much diplomacy.
- Location
- Texas
[X] Learning Tirassian
[X] Purpose
[X] Purpose
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- Location
- Italy
[X] Learning Tirassian
[X] Purpose
The warband is unexpected, I honestly thought we'd at most have a few people coming with us, I had hoped at least for a while that we would not be responsible for the actions of other people, frankly given that we've been exiled and have no official command I am not going to go out of our way focus on them right now, we can be the mediator if something comes up with the humans but to do that obviously we need to know the language.
For the time being I think we need to focus on ourselves, and maybe those closest to us like Vark and the others,as for the second choice, there is no doubt in my mind.
"Power without purpose is meaningless and worthless", this is a universal truth that we must keep in mind as we seek strength, it is the reason I opposed taking the fel,the reason our enemies were willing to die to defeat us and ultimately the reason for the Blademasters' decline.
[X] Purpose
The warband is unexpected, I honestly thought we'd at most have a few people coming with us, I had hoped at least for a while that we would not be responsible for the actions of other people, frankly given that we've been exiled and have no official command I am not going to go out of our way focus on them right now, we can be the mediator if something comes up with the humans but to do that obviously we need to know the language.
For the time being I think we need to focus on ourselves, and maybe those closest to us like Vark and the others,as for the second choice, there is no doubt in my mind.
"Power without purpose is meaningless and worthless", this is a universal truth that we must keep in mind as we seek strength, it is the reason I opposed taking the fel,the reason our enemies were willing to die to defeat us and ultimately the reason for the Blademasters' decline.
hapcelion
The Abyss gazed back
- Location
- n/a
[x] Learning Tirassian
The human kingdoms maintain a common language and though some of the kingdoms like Kul Tiras have slightly different dialects, Kartha knows the main tongue well enough to give you an education in it.
since we'll be going around in human lands, we'd better learn human language.
[x] Purpose
Strength, the resources to utilise it, the will to wield it, all was useless without a reason to actually step forward and strike. The Blademasters have searched long for such a reason, and have yet to find one, their swords and strength blunted against minor strife as their tradition fades.
Having a purpose is what gives one the will to move forward. Keeping a purpose in mind helps give context to what you choose in the future.
The human kingdoms maintain a common language and though some of the kingdoms like Kul Tiras have slightly different dialects, Kartha knows the main tongue well enough to give you an education in it.
since we'll be going around in human lands, we'd better learn human language.
[x] Purpose
Strength, the resources to utilise it, the will to wield it, all was useless without a reason to actually step forward and strike. The Blademasters have searched long for such a reason, and have yet to find one, their swords and strength blunted against minor strife as their tradition fades.
Having a purpose is what gives one the will to move forward. Keeping a purpose in mind helps give context to what you choose in the future.
Xilentxium
Existential Crisis Management
- Location
- Temperate Regions
I mean there's skirting the letter of the law and there's outright tweaking the judge's nose and laughing your way out the courthouse.
[X] Learning Tirassian
[X] Purpose
[X] Learning Tirassian
[X] Purpose
- Location
- United Kingdom
So I can just remove the warband if people feel it's contentious and wanted a smaller party, editing it out is a simple matter. I was including it as I think it's reasonable for Feldad to have done so and sent along with you and on a meta level this gives you more choices, but if you really don't want to maintain such a formation you can just not have it? Let me know either way
hapcelion
The Abyss gazed back
- Location
- n/a
I think a smaller adventuring party may be more to my liking.
Xilentxium
Existential Crisis Management
- Location
- Temperate Regions
At most I thought he would send Sek and Ishi, maybe a handful of orcs of 'unsavory character who deserted their post'. The necrolyte could be excused with the old 'I was just heading in he same direction as them' reasoning. So maybe twenty to twenty five Orcs total, including our actual friends.