- Location
- florida
This is good. Politics, planning, negotiation.
A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
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- Tags
- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
- Location
- Virginia
I love the fact that we're very strong magically and physically. Personally I like characters that are very strong, however I would kinda like to see more kingdom and intrigue related matters. For example I kinda like the task we're on right now where we have to assassinate the Bey of Beggers. While I don't know much about the genre, this action seems to call to mind @Azel and @Crake mention of Shadowrun, where players have to time things exactly right, while research the opposition and planning out their maneuvers ahead of time in order to not give the game away. While I'm almost certain this would screw really badly with our schedule, using a whole turn for something like this would be pretty neat imo.
Fair point on the difference in agency and one I have considered before hence why I am rolling though minor fights unless the dice do something odd. Still there are limits, like the div warden fight.
- Location
- Virginia
I did also like the whole wandering priest of the OG that Viserys had going as Dywen, very Gandalf-esque of him, and it would honestly be pretty neat to just take a few turns wandering the world exploring. Though this'll probably be after we conquer Westeros and establish our Imperium.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
I think there would be a general consensus that our characters being strong is not a problem.
We will have challenges to face, whatever we'll do.
With us gaining levels, our ambitions grow as well, and, well, world is a big place, even not counting Valyria and Planes...
And I kinda like the choice to bruteforce through problems, even if it wouldn't be the best one.
So, in general, politics and ruling-related matters, like everyone else say, sound good.
So more intrigue mysteries, politics and noncombat challenges seem to be preferred. The quest has been heading in that direction for a while but I'll be aiming for that in a more purposeful manner from now on.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
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- Location
- United States
I really like the nation-building and political aspects of the quest, as the D&D parts have never interested me. Viserys being incredibly powerful makes a lot of sense, and we're going to be increasingly delegating as the amount of PCs at our command and the shit to do grows. I'm fine with the quest taking on a more Grand Strategy feel.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
Mind you, DP, that rolling over stuff feels quite nice for some players still.
...Well, I assume that I'm not the only one here who enjoys being overpowered, anyway.
Just, like... Don't leave it out entirely, please.
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- Location
- Virginia
Seconded. Especially once we get to Westeros.
Obviously enemies are not going to vanish off he face of the world because of the change in focus. The fights will still be there only less in the spotlight.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
@DragonParadox maybe further down road you can do army based battles once we begin conquest of Westeros (something like Total War maybe) and other large armies of enemies. Assuming of course you want that.
I have been planning to implement mass combat for the longest time. I guess it's time to actually get to that properly.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I believe we have transitioned beyond the point where combat should be the focus of the quest. At least for Viserys and Co. Of course it should still occur, and @DragonParadox has been handling that quite well as far as I am concerned, but we have much more to do than kill shit in new and inventive ways. We are building an empire, spreading knowledge, virtually creating a new culture from the ground up, and attempting to prepare the world to face truly existential threats. The combat, and the preparations we make for it (research, crafting, spell acquisition, etc), are just what allow us to continue with the more important tasks. We have infrastructure to build, an economy to grow and manage, continents to bring under our banner, and so on. Very little of that needs our direct intervention via combat.
Combat continues to be exciting for me, but I might be atypical in that I the fight isn't what entertains me the most, but rather the preparation and planning that goes into it. When a plan comes together and a serious threat is neutralized with a minimum of fuss, that's when I get my Nerd Endorphin Rush(TM).
I do think we should start following along with less experienced adventurers when they are sent on missions. That would be a whole new aspect of the quest and I believe it would be fun to have a different perspective, with different tools to work with. I love the interludes, but actually running those adventures would be great, too.
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- Location
- United States
That's cool. Being a massive dragon and ruining assholes never fails to be awesome and entertaining.
Night guys, see you tomorrow with more plotting and murder.
- Location
- France
Honestly at this point challenging fights must be extraplanar, and they cannot happen if we outnumber the enemy. Baellr was a no -threat from the start because h was alone. Give him a swarm of lesser Archons and we have to care about them, waste actions on them, and thus make fights longer and more tactical. The prison break's main fights were very strong because of that!
Mammon absolutely shouldn't have been alone or with so little gear, for example.
We can afford harder fights: worst case we lose a level if we die. Best case we get even more XP!
Have the fight happen somewhere that we can't just SOtD, of course. That's been good lately.
Have us defend against attacks against our realm, or divine them and have to interpret and figure shit out.
Make the infiltration and intrigue segments more involved. All our action against devils and devil-controlled lords is very satisfying!
And this segment against the Bey seems like it will be long (several days IRL, requiring a good plan and careful manoeuvering). That's good.
Mammon absolutely shouldn't have been alone or with so little gear, for example.
We can afford harder fights: worst case we lose a level if we die. Best case we get even more XP!
Have the fight happen somewhere that we can't just SOtD, of course. That's been good lately.
Have us defend against attacks against our realm, or divine them and have to interpret and figure shit out.
Make the infiltration and intrigue segments more involved. All our action against devils and devil-controlled lords is very satisfying!
And this segment against the Bey seems like it will be long (several days IRL, requiring a good plan and careful manoeuvering). That's good.
- Location
- Germany
I completely understand your feelings on that matter. It's the same for me when I crunch numbers for hours and research obscure artisan knowledge to find the next great investment for us.
But we share the same issue. When we do our jobs perfectly, then the end result is a complete, utter and boring success that is kinda meh to most others.
Unfortunately that would fracture the narrative since this is ultimately Viserys' story.
- Location
- Germany
I was thinking the same. Switching view-points for a while would be nice breath of fresh air and it's not as if our B-Parties don't have pretty harrowing adventures of their own.
Example:
Viserys and some help go on a intrigue focused mission in... let's say Quarth. This will involve a lot of legwork to gather information.
Meanwhile, one of our B-Parties is sent to raid a ruin in Essos.
So we play the B-Party for the duration and occasionally have a Viserys-"Interlude" where we only decide on the next things to investigate.
Once the B-Party is done, full focus goes back to Viserys and the plan there enters the execution phase.
A lot of Shadowrun-style preparation is days upon days of leg-work and social calls. Plenty of time to do some adventuring in between.
See Overlord or One Punch Man. If the main character can rofl-stomp most of the setting, focus on other people now and then to add some tension and drama. It also does wonders for world-building, making everything feel more alive and less PC-centered.
There's a reason people love interludes and the many canon-omakes we get lately that tell the stories of entirely different people.
- Location
- Australia
The World.
I've always been disappointed to see you apologise for "actionless" chapters, there's a reason people have pet projects that are often infrastructure/impactful to the masses moreso than Viserys personally, I wanted to make Eyes of Viserys because that's something the Empire should have, it is security and it protects our holdings but ultimately there is no increase to our battle potential.
Same for the Legion and Waymar's Knightly Order, Drakenbeasts and Bigger Fish. These directly fight our enemies but they aren't companions, they are narrative elements of how the Empire fights back, Viserys is intertwined with that and I still think he should get more credit for his genius at times but it's not him doing it.
Look at what we want to do with the Dawn Age Tree, languages, climate comfort and basic protections to our population. This may very well be the biggest investment we've ever made in the quest and it again has little direct combat potential (our own PfE could potentially break in a homeground battle I guess).
You are a fantastic world builder, if you don't shy away from that then I don't think we have too much to worry about.
The way you describe it this does feel tempting.
I'm open to a trial run.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
[X] Plan "Don't Waste the Opportunity"
-[X] Ask about the Bey's mysterious wanderings
-[X] Ask of any hidden way into the Office of Taxation
-[X] Ask about they Bey's visits. We don't need the sordid details, but rather how many guards he brings and what sort of magical protections he employs, if any.
-[X] Ask about the Bey's mysterious wanderings
-[X] Ask of any hidden way into the Office of Taxation
-[X] Ask about they Bey's visits. We don't need the sordid details, but rather how many guards he brings and what sort of magical protections he employs, if any.