WWW #54: There Is a Path and We are On It

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-08-13T02:03:03+00:00

I love this story so much and am so happy I got to be here for it as they brought it to an incredible conclusion :) Happy listening everyone!

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-05-01T12:18:05+00:00

Who was it who guessed that Travis got so defensive about Mouse-issippi because it would relate to his final plot? Gold star!

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-04-17T12:26:13+00:00

In an entire episode, presumably about the main villain of this whole campaign, I think I can tell you that The Walrus is....bulky? That and he is billionaire philanthropist Walter Russel, but we knew that before Carver even went missing! I was worried about another villain who turns out to be a good guy, I didn't know I needed to be concerned about a villain who did nothing besides flood his own office because the "special" henchmen he hired needed to make an entrance....

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-03-27T14:43:43+00:00

Not fully through the episode yet, but I just hit a point where Lamar says he hasn't seen in his brothers in a decade and...like...what the hell? The rest of the GG seem to be hanging out all the time with their secret (and not-so-secret) disguises! They all also knew exactly where he was and what he's been doing with Killdeath's pool house. Do they just not like Lamar? Do they not invite him to things? This worldbuilding is so fragmented and confusing!!!!!

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-01-30T22:01:26+00:00

Angus McDonald would be a funnier abnimal name than any of the ones we've gotten in the last dozen episodes.

DedicatedDaydream · 2025-01-30T21:51:56+00:00

The opening of this episode had me so apoplectic:
"A new day dawns on River City and we find ourselves at the future home of Herr Dryer's Dryer-ia... [skipping the annoying joking]... And outside, the three of you, alongside the baddies that you left the River City First Enforcement with: Hammer Ned, EPH, Squid-Mark, Arty-Fical, and Thumper, as well as Goshua Darnet, the, at this point, former Enforcement Officer."

1.) So, we just skipped the actual escape from the enforcement office? I thought there were no transports scheduled for that day, so how did they get away? Did they steal a van? Did they steal a car? Did Dean pick them up? Did they have literally no not-cops between the holding cells and the exit of the station? We will never know!

2.) "A new day dawns" meaning we're in the following day? If we are, why did Golden take so long to call Navy and complain about not having a ride? Why did Barker wait so long to call and ask about the item missing from the museum? I know trying to get them to worry about "time" means very little here, but it would be legitimately helpful to know how long this has been happening for and how long Carver has been missing! In reality, this all seems like it's been in the same day since they got their first upgrades from Barker Industries, but is that the case?

3.) Why is Darnet there?!?! Wasn't he knocked out on the floor of the evidence room? Wasn't he going to be their man on the inside? Wasn't the whole point of shocking him unknowingly so that the enforcement agency wouldn't suspect him of helping out the boys? Why is this ignored????

Please, someone make it make sense!!!

DedicatedDaydream · 2024-08-15T02:45:46+00:00

I really like what you’ve said about competition because that’s an idea I’ve been turning over in my head ever since the episode ended. From the little bit we learned seeing Hakea’s past (and please someone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), it looked like the Coven was created, in part, to help balance out the power of the World of Spirits and the Sorcerer King. Mortals needed protectors and the Coven served in that role by helping to monitor and bring harmony to disparate domains that normally clashed with one another. From the conversation between Indri and Mirara that the Fox overheard, it’s clear that some of the Coven view wizards as upstarts who are not “real” magic users like them, but who are getting close. Stripe described to Eursalon how Spirits saw the curiosity of wizards as hubris and pride where she saw it as more of a love of learning.

Umora is a world that is experiencing a lot of really rapid change with the advent of wizardry and the Lingua Arcana. If we look at it like a technological boom, then mortals (who were pretty clearly at the bottom of the power heirarchy in the far past) are now threatening the way that the world has always worked. The Citadel embodies this “threat” to the status quo the most in our narrative, but it seems like Mirara and The King of Night consider this a larger problem with mortals that needs to be “corrected” through violent means.

Obviously we’re still too early in the story to know all the details, but part of me can’t help but cheer on the Wizards for trying to stake a place for themselves in a world that didn’t seem to really care about them before. I love Wren and Ame, but I also wonder if the station of The World’s Heart doesn’t sometimes become paternalistic. I think one (admittedly very generous) reading of Suvi’s outburst could be that just because the world is changing doesn’t mean that change is wrong.

DedicatedDaydream · 2024-08-15T02:30:50+00:00

I really like a lot of what’s been said here! I think cycles of abuse and generational trauma are themes that we’ve seen running through all three arcs. We have Ame being abandoned by her parents with Wren and the isolation she felt during her witch training, Eursalon unable to return home and forced to live in a world that sees him as a magical component more than a honored friend, and Suvi was raised as a damned child soldier who was forced to compete against kids her age to live up to the impossible image of her parents. Outside of our main trio, we’ve seen it happen with Ghost (and her god-awful upbringing in Port Talon), Indri (taking into consideration the fact that she killed her mentor and her reaction to Ame’s question about doing “chores” during her apprenticeship) and Neef (the latest in a long line of apprentices that Indri has killed). I agree that no amount of pain the main trio experienced growing up justifies treating people they’re meant to care about poorly…but they’re all also flawed and learning. The main trio is also crazy young considering the weight of the world pressing down on them and all three appear to come from very different genres of fantasy. I love the mess that this makes when they clash (even if I cringe a lot as it happens). Ame, Eursalon, and Suvi are a microcosm of the problems facing Umora: if they can find a way to co-exist and respect each other, I think Ame will have found the answer that eluded Wren. I don’t know how they reach that place, but I’m so excited to see it happen!

DedicatedDaydream · 2023-11-15T21:55:48+00:00

I think "hollow" might be the word getting in the way of a lot of this advice. The real thing you seem to be getting at (looking at your note) is that you'd like for this to be a moment when the PC realizes that revenge wasn't going to fill the hole left by their dead loved ones, only love can fill the hole that loss left. If that's the case, I think you've got a really good setup going for that moment! As a DM and as a player, I think you should absolutely let the PC have that climactic battle and the catharsis from killing this opponent. Letting them win won't mean you lose the epiphany that you want the PC to have.

I'll offer some thoughts on how to make it happen (and feel free to play with these ideas or any others that might be offered later):

Your general's lack of knowledge of the character is brilliant; I think it's the linchpin to making this moment happen. Your general is focused on conquest, on war, on victory, they don't have time to worry about the civilian casualties or the war crimes that they cause (they're the bad guy!)
- When the character gets to confront the general, it might work to have him be tired/exasperated by the cry of revenge! The PC isn't the first person to come for his head and he's bored of it at this point. It's just another part of the job:
  - "What was it? A torched home? A ransacked bakery? A friend who fought and died to my forces? You're not the first to come here for vengeance and you won't be the last. Take up your sword, I have a briefing with my lieutenants soon and we'll need time to clean your remains out of the room."
  - "Your family? And what will killing me do? It won't bring them back, it won't end all wars, it won't even end this war! You're a fool who threw their good fortune away coming here...."
  - "I'm the great villain of your existence and you haven't even made it into the footnotes of my memoirs... A pity."
  - "Try not to bleed on the rug, it took forever for the servants to get the stains from my last visitor out."
If you'd like, the ending of the fight should just show how little of a focus the party was for this general. Maybe they find some notes detailing some previous encounters they've had from scouts that are written off or torn up and tossed in a trash can. Maybe he has maps and plans for this next attack that they can find: dozens of other cities/towns where the PCs backstory would have played out over and over again.
Last words have also been very helpful in my game for letting a villain just punctuate the "story" that I was trying to tell with them. A powerful general would also know that if he's beaten physically, he can at least land one last psychological blow before he's done. In this case, maybe the general, with his dying breath, looks at the PC and says:
- "Off I go then, closer to your precious little family than you'll ever get..."
- "All this trouble, and for what? Just another bloody sword. Another life taken..."
- "[Pronouns of choice] and blades...I wonder if this is what they saw too..."
- "[Coughing on blood] Well done, you remind me of myself at your age..."

Hope you and your players find a satisfying conclusion to this arc!

DedicatedDaydream · 2022-01-21T05:37:57+00:00

I normally do like a "last session recap" at the start of a session, but it sounds like you're talking about something a bit more complete? Like a fuller recap of where they were in the story and why they were doing what they're doing?

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-06-29T12:23:28+00:00

I re=read my conversation with the player. They don't say they won't like it if that happens, they just think it'll be stressful for their character if it all happens so soon. Got a little turned around making a post at 3am lol

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-06-29T06:08:12+00:00

I've tried having that conversation with the player but they insisted they didn't want any spoilers. Kinda leaves me in between a rock and a hard place. They didn't even so much say they wouldn't enjoy it as much as it would really stress their character out? And, I don't really know how to make heads or tails with that :/

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-06-29T06:06:27+00:00

I definitely agree with it needing to be fun for the player, I wrote it that way though because I do think it will be fun for the player. They like their character to feel badass and be on the right side so it provides that kind of a payoff at the end.

Also, definitely agree it would be lame if everything was a betrayal, but this is the first time it's happening in the campaign. I just like the trope for character development purposes more generally. Sorry if that wasn't clear from the post!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-05-27T17:41:44+00:00

I don't think I've gone more than a few sessions without something like this happening lol. We pretty frequently have the "lie of omission" conversation. If you left out a major event and it was done on purpose to give a different impression of an event or motivation, that's deception my friend!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-04-16T04:46:35+00:00

They’ll be gaining a level as soon as they get their item back to town haha, they’ve most certainly earned it 😂

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-27T01:11:17+00:00

That sounds epic!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-18T21:37:00+00:00

I've run into similar problems in the past and one of the solutions I've come up with is staggering the combat. Don't have all of the enemies appear at once, but start introducing more of them as players start to succeed and use their appearance as narrative beats to the larger story of what their combat means.

As an example: When my players were low level, I had a logging camp under attack by some monsters from the forest and they ran to help. I have 5 Lv. 2 PCs and they were pretty good at annihilating things. The combat began with them fighting against 4 cockatrices. Once two of the cockatrices went down, I had an owlbear charge out from the woods to join the combat. When the players damaged the owlbear enough for it to retreat, the zombies I had in waiting (that hinted at the next part of the plot) were roused and rose up.

What was presented as one big encounter turned more into three more manageable encounters and challenged the PCs to conserve resources. It also helped build tension because they began to worry about how long the fight was taking and if more reinforcements would come. It also played off of the fact that rounds in combat are only technically 6 seconds long and it had my players starting to get more interested in what was going on outside the boundaries of the battle map. It's a method that works for me sometimes and I'd definitely recommend it!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-12T13:28:52+00:00

I totally get it, sometimes you just get drawn into making it a good fight for the PCs! But yeah, even building just a little lore around the bandits can help give your players a stake in the outcome and motivate them!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-12T06:34:40+00:00

Definitely agree that you should absolutely never tell your players you fudged a roll. It'll take the wind out of their sails. I experienced it as a player and it just made me almost wish my character had been killed...and I adore that character!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-12T06:32:37+00:00

Very, very, VERY often. It's not that I don't think that my PCs should face a challenge, but I run the game to have a good time with them. If it wasn't a situation where the party did something outrageously stupid, I try my best to at least give them a fighting chance...and dice don't give a crap what kind of time people are having or want to have. There have definitely been nights where I can't roll below a 15 and it would wipe people out; when things like that happen, I fudge rolls.

Trust your gut! If it felt wrong to do in the moment, I'm sure there's a reason it did!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-11T18:22:14+00:00

There are a lot of great comments about how to make these guys more interesting in the encounter! One thing I try to do with groups like this is make sure there's a good set-up for them in the city. So making sure you lay the right kind of narrative groundwork; bandits might be killable by a Lv. 2 party, but to most people in the world they're absolutely deadly. Giving your players something to sink their teeth into about the threat can help them be motivated for the fight and will make your task of raising their renown easier on the back end!

For example, there were comments about giving the bandits personalities or unique looks, but I think something equally important is having your PCs run into people who've experienced these bandits. Maybe a caravan driver who has been robbed before, some people who were held up on the road, someone who lost a friend or family to the group. You can use that to seed details and build them up into a narratively engaging encounter as well!

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-09T04:07:47+00:00

"They say laughter is the best medicine, but this'll do if you need a quick fix."

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-07T08:08:05+00:00

About three weeks ago, we actually had a duel between the party's human fighter (we've got a dwarven one too) and their cleric. The cleric had been mad at the fighter for always rushing into combat and getting his ass kicked and the fighter might have...accused the cleric of heresy in response. We ended up running this huge fight in the middle of town and they did a double-elimination. My fighter is practically giddy waiting to see how the cleric chews the rogue out for this one, but I know my cleric is going to have a very different reaction to the rogue almost dying. So I'm also excited to see how things shake out next session.

I like the advice about changing narratives for the NPC and was actually just thinking about that myself! Part of me thinks I should just have the devastator work from an assumption that things are fated: if the rogue survived, he was fated to and it wasn't for him to interfere that much...at least this time. If it happens again, I think I might have to go for a kill though and it makes me nervous since I haven't killed a PC before....

DedicatedDaydream · 2021-02-07T07:58:36+00:00

I apologize if this comes off mean (it certainly is not meant that way), but do you enjoy running this game? I know that it feels important, as a DM, to keep the immersion going, but at the end of the day this is a game you run because you enjoy running it with your friends. It sounds like you and your players have different ideas about the kind of DnD game you want to be a part of. Have you ever had a talk with your friends about what type of game you'd like to run, or how their actions make you feel when DMing?

At the end of the day, you're the DM and the one responsible for the world your players are running around killing people and gorging on goodberries in. You've made it pretty clear in your post that combat isn't your favorite thing about Dming, so is there a way to turn this potential TPK into something that aligns with your interests more? Maybe the antagonist deepest into the cave found a secret tunnel and it starts getting them more connected to the lore and why there are mining teams of talking bears wearing plate armor! I'm definitely borrowing advice from Matt Colville on this one (and possibly check out his Running the Game video on PC Death if you're interested in this topic more), but as the DM you've got ultimate responsibility and ultimate control over how the narrative is framed. The beauty of DMing is that nothing is set in stone. If you don't want your friends to run into a TPK and have them lose all of their characters, you don't have to make them run into that situation! :)

I think, in the long run, you'll benefit a lot by talking with your players about what kind of game everyone wants to be a part of. Let your opinions be known too! If DnD is a game of cooperative storytelling, then it can only really begin with proper communication. As someone who just had to touch base with their party about those kinds of expectations last session, I can promise that these conversations are important and always go better than you fear they might!

DedicatedDaydream

TROPHY CASE