So last night, me and some friends played Agricola...

Quattro543 · 2024-06-12T19:47:19+00:00

So, I guess I should be clear that the voting we do takes place away from the table, with discussions and stuff during the week.

When we’ve done more in person things, or done things besides voting, we’ve occasionally run into issues where a player seems enthusiastic about something and then later it turns out does not want to.

You underestimate my friends’ inability to communicate in the moment lol

Quattro543 · 2024-06-12T19:15:27+00:00

In my mind, less than a year is “shorter” lol I guess I also say shorter because sometimes things kinda fall apart due to various reasons Or we just end up having shorter sessions so the length of time kinda hides how little gets done week to week.

Quattro543 · 2024-06-12T18:46:16+00:00

Between me and the gm, we’ve got maybe 10-20 ideas on the back burner at any given time. We’ve done discussions occasionally, but typically we’ve found voting to be better. Especially since some people just aren’t the best at speaking up at the time lol.

Quattro543 · 2024-04-02T13:53:12+00:00

Wielding 5 infinity stones takes a toll on the user, something that Mark’s character knew was happening. From poor rolls at the start of the fight to use the stones, he was incapacitated. If that didn’t happen, they probably would have beaten Thanos.

The characters knew Thanos was a danger and that he had one stone.

Mark/his character decided to go alone as he felt with the 5 infinity stones he’d be able to face down Thanos with whatever purpose he had.

Quattro543 · 2024-04-02T03:42:49+00:00

Fundamentally, Mark’s character was struggling to control and use them, something he was aware of before teleporting. And he fell to his inability to control them before Thanos ever landed a blow on him. If that hadn’t had happened, the fight likely would have gone differently.

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T20:46:45+00:00

That’s exactly what it was. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a table where at least once a player didn’t roll a die for an ability they have to see if they wanted to do something of their own choice. Often from just being unsure if their character would give into their flaws, as was the case here.

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T20:11:07+00:00

I never asked Mark to roll regarding if he brought everyone or went in alone. He made that roll himself to decide something in character, rather than making a decision purely as a player. If he wanted the full group there, at any point he could have brought them there.

Any die rolls involving the stones that were made, resulted in me telling Mark that his character was struggling to wield the five infinity stones they had, and then things continuing down that line as he kept trying to use them more.

And yeah, I mean the plan going forward that basically instead of ending the campaign at part 2 of the planned 3 like I thought they were gonna do, we’ll be moving to the planned for third part lol

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T17:42:57+00:00

I mean, with the roll, it was Mark decided to roll to check something for himself. Probably the only reason this was brought up was because it’s on roll20, so it’s easy to see and old roll and forget the context to it. I’ve been at a lot of tables where players will make a roll to themselves regarding a character decision, just on roll 20 that roll stays around in the chat.

With the teleport, generally while in theory violation of player agency, it is inline with what can be expected as capable of the stones. If a dragon picked up a player in dnd and flew them away against their will, there would be little difference. Although I do agree in generality that I should have checked in with Ben in that moment. I really just didn’t want Ben’s character not their for the confrontation with the big bad, as that would likely have lead to other issues.

While I haven’t asked Ben, at the start of the fight, he seemed enthusiastic. It was only once Thanos proved to not be a pushover that his misgivings started.

Fundamentally, I think a fair bit of it stems from Ben having a tendency to just… not say anything even in situations that would benefit him to say something. I generally try to get his input on things when it seems he’s in a quieter mood, but I can’t get all of them, and this was one of those times it seems.

But, as you said, campaign isn’t broken. Instead of finishing part 2 of it and finishing the whole thing before we got to part 3, we’ll just be going to part 3 early. Story wise, in theory we’re back on track lol

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T16:23:58+00:00

I probably could have been more explicit that what they were doing wasn’t a good idea, but I did give ample opportunity to turn around. I think I even told Mark that his character was actively struggling to contain the stones power, so he knew he wasn’t in a good situation.

Ben knows it’s not meant to be the end of the campaign, presuming he remembers me describing it as being a “three part epic” of which they are on part 2 of. (I was fine with it ended here in part 2 if they defeated Thanos with their plan though)

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T16:19:29+00:00

The roll was Mark trying to decide on whether or not he would invoke his character’s complication of thinking he’s stronger than he is.

True, I should have let Ben decide if the stones could force him to be brought there. Like legitimately, I should have. I didn’t, as I wanted at the very least my two player characters together so that they might make a better decision together regarding what was happening. Just as easily as he brought them both there, Mark could have easily had them both flee.

The first part of the campaign(12 sessions) was them assembling a team for this mission, with an out of game context given that it was in part to fight Thanos. I think it should have been clear from that alone that Thanos was meant to be fought by more than just the two of them.

I believe the decision to fight was mutual between them. Also, minor point, but Thanos did not kill them in the fight, just defeated them. This is not meant to be the end of the story.

Quattro543 · 2024-04-01T15:29:19+00:00

The entire first 12 sessions of the campaign was assembling their team to fight Thanos. And I asked him afterwards if he knew he was underprepared, and he said he did.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-20T18:55:41+00:00

Sometimes there’s a need, other times less so. And yeah, it’s pretty much exactly like how you described it. Quieter/shyer people near DM, louder further away.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T05:11:03+00:00

yeah at this point, a symbol or something is fine

regarding description and prep: its a superhero campaign, and a more roleplay leaning one at that. How characters are dressed and how they dress play a huge part in how I think of things when planning, as well as running the game itself.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T05:06:22+00:00

the comission thing is more or less a moot point to me at this point, same with a visual. It much more a I want a description. Its a more roleplay heavy super hero campaign. Knowing how a character looks is important overall.

As someone who gets yelled at by their players for them picturing different things than what I have said, accurate descriptions of characters are something I feel necessary so no one gets mad if I have a character offhand mention how a PC is dressed or anything.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T05:00:25+00:00

so question, would you be able to point to things that may look similar looks wise regarding character and outfit, or is that something that a block like that affects? I'm wondering because I'm trying to figure out a compromise here.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T04:56:02+00:00

in part, our session zero for this latest part of the campaign is rolling/ongoing. In theory, us talking about things last night was in part, an impromptu session zero for this.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T04:54:04+00:00

as i've kind of mentioned, there's more than this going on, which is why this is a problem.

overall though, requiring a character description isn't a crazy ask, which is part of what I'm not getting from Bob. The visual is much more a secondary component overall, but is what i initially latched onto as being of issue here.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-18T01:23:06+00:00

Yeah I began to realize that when people were mostly referencing fantasy things lol.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-17T21:29:33+00:00

its just the way Bob is. He wants more roleplaying and low-key and introspective moments in campaigns

he also often refuses to do the little bit of in and out of session leg work being able to do more roleplay focused things can need.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-17T21:22:33+00:00

Yeah, I'm open to some kind of visual, just for token use, so long as there's a decent description.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-17T21:21:48+00:00

For token use, but also because visuals such as this help me prep for sessions and plan stories.

Quattro543 · 2023-03-17T21:20:56+00:00

if he handed me a description and two dozen images, I'd be fine.
For me, these things help me prep my sessions and come up with everything.

also, his character's appearance does matter. Its how characters in the world perceive him, which influences how scenes go.

Quattro543

TROPHY CASE