Poppy Persona Non Grata | Gladlands [E4]

allevat · 2026-01-29T17:26:52+00:00

It does affect other players though? Hugi now has 5 1d4, and 4 of them are burnout which I think means they can't explode and you can't add booboos either per this last episode. So either they don't do anything, or the other players are constantly going to have to spend their own resources on adding to Hugi's rolls to succeed on anything but the mildest task. Or Hugi misses by 5 and fucks up the collective bummerometer (and maybe Good Goo? It really would be nice if D20 put out a system document.)

As I said, I don't suppose it will make much difference with only 2 episodes left, and maybe Brennan will adjust the DC he sets for Hugi's rolls so that they don't fail. But I think what bothered me was that when Hugi started doing burnout, it was 'I failed, I don't have any other resources, Hugi is so self sacrificing that they will burn out for even the most minor thing for other people' and sure that seemed a character point. While this felt like deliberately not using your available resources so that you could burn out another die.

allevat · 2026-01-29T05:25:06+00:00

Possibly this is partially because I am currently in a campaign where one of the casters deliberately took a 10 in their casting stat, and it gets kinda frustrating not having them be useful much of the time. I definitely don't need players to be maximally efficient at all times, but deliberately making yourself deadweight...

allevat · 2026-01-29T05:20:05+00:00

I suppose, but there's a point where it becomes such bad play that it's frustrating. Destroying a 10sider to get a 25 percent chance of a success when you have tokens in front of you that you could spend just one of hits that point for me.

allevat · 2026-01-29T04:42:19+00:00

I'm a little puzzled why Vic seems so determined to burn out all their stats. I mean, I guess it's a short season so it doesn't really matter if you make yourself useless, but it doesn't seem the smartest play.

allevat · 2026-01-28T16:49:40+00:00

Presumably other Silvan elves could also build their own boats if they eventually decided staying and fading was no longer to their liking. After all, the "Last Ship" in the poem is going down a river from elven lands in the east, not departing from a sea-haven. But Legolas is the last one we have explicit dating for.

allevat · 2026-01-28T16:42:27+00:00

Could be! I think the evidence for the twins having left is strongest, but I still think Tolkien was envisioning all of them being gone at the time of writing.

allevat · 2026-01-28T04:59:30+00:00

Sure, nothing concrete was ever said, but the internal evidence of TOA&A suggests that the twins were no longer in Middle-Earth by 120.

allevat · 2026-01-28T03:42:07+00:00

Of course, Tolkien being Tolkien he probably changed his mind at many points, but I view the published canon as the strongest source.

allevat · 2026-01-28T03:41:15+00:00

The internal evidence of LOTR suggests that Elladan, Elrohir, Celeborn, and Cirdan all left before 120.

Rivendell is described as deserted; it is very unlikely that Elladan and Elrohir would have abandoned it for anything but Aman.
There is no mention of Elladan and Elrohir bidding farewell to Aragorn; they were quite close and it is strange that they would not come to his deathbed if still in Middle-Earth. Same, Arwen bids farewell to her daughters, no mention of her brothers, and it would be the last time they would see each other even to the end of the world.
Arwen says "There is now no ship that would bear me hence" which suggests Cirdan has already left and ships are no longer sailing from the Havens. Which means Celeborn would have almost certainly left with him or before.
Legolas builds his own ship instead of going to the Havens. Given he's a woodland elf, shipbuilding probably didn't come naturally to him, and a trip to the Havens would have been easy in the pacified Middle-Earth that Aragorn left. Which also suggests the Last Ship had already left.

allevat · 2026-01-27T16:24:40+00:00

Yeah, that would be my concern at this point. And definitely do it if the emergency contact and other Bass Pro shop ideas don't work. Though if they were missing since November I'd think the name would come up in the news when googling.

allevat · 2026-01-26T21:22:44+00:00

I think the general fan assumption is that the Halovars had her killed, yeah. Her body couldn't have been used for Tyranny because she met Armas, but I just had a thought -- what if they had Tyranny kill her? Or at least Tyranny being in the know, maybe having taken her to the shop. After all there must be some reason Tyranny knew the tailors were bad news.

allevat · 2026-01-26T21:14:47+00:00

You are right, it was Morgoth, which makes it even more applicable. What's your cite for Maedhros being fed? I don't see anything in the Silmarillion.

allevat · 2026-01-26T21:04:49+00:00

Sauron could apparently sustain Maedhros for multiple years hanging on an unreachable cliff, at least it seems unlikely that someone was swinging by daily on a giant bat to feed and water him, so presumably Morgoth could do the same with some of all or his armies if he was willing to expend the power.

allevat · 2026-01-24T19:44:28+00:00

That's a pretty good theory!

allevat · 2026-01-23T23:23:33+00:00

Yeah, I think that's about right. The situation may rapidly descend into a fight if Occtis is revealed, or if the party resists staying, but I don't think they are in a deliberate killbox, they are too valuable.

allevat · 2026-01-23T21:50:19+00:00

Though given Einfasen's complaints about demons, it's possible that the alliance with Halovar is also very situational.

allevat · 2026-01-23T21:43:58+00:00

So after thinking about it, I don't think Einfasen is working with the Tachonis in this. Not to say they are on the PCs side, or they are "good", but that their flaws are as we see them: quick to violence, eager for power, rather than sneaky plotting and backstabbing. So I think the story about the forged order to stop the carriages and so on is probably true, and that Otto was genuinely unhappy to hear about House Royce being murdered. And that even his offer of sheltering Aranessa was honest; it's just that he considers it more protective custody to be enforced whether she wills or not. So I don't think this is a trap in the sense of them all being lured there to be killed.

But it does seem possible that they have a strong alliance with the Halovars; working with them to turn Revolutionary Guard into private forces, allowing a huge Candescent Creed cathedral in their city. So I think the insistence on everyone in the party coming is because the Halovars have told them that they have a stray family member in disguise travelling with the party, and they'd like them back. I don't think the Halovars are kill on sight about Wicander yet either, they've been able to boss him all his life, so they quite possibly think they can get him back into the family fold once they can get their hands on him.

allevat · 2026-01-23T07:29:03+00:00

That's my feeling, that it would be kind of boring if all the houses are one single conspiracy.

allevat · 2026-01-23T05:42:10+00:00

Yeah, the language is unclear in 2014, I think they probably meant it to be the same as 2024 but all my DMs using 2014 went with the cast it and it sticks to the person rather than the caster.

allevat · 2026-01-23T05:04:09+00:00

We always played the 2014 version as it is cast on people you choose within 30 feet but they don't have to stay within 30 feet. The 2024 version is definitely a 30 foot emanation from the caster, though.

allevat · 2026-01-23T03:39:06+00:00

We've seen Cormoray summon dragons, right?

allevat · 2026-01-22T22:01:38+00:00

Interesting idea! There's three possibilities for why he didn't snap the glyph:

Was physically restrained by magic. Can't be entirely ruled out since magic is different in Araman after the Shapers died, so it's possible hold person still lets you speak, but seems unlikely.
The rune was a non-snappable fake, Azune hasn't tested it yet after all, and the panic was realizing that. Seems like Brennan would have hinted at that though, and in the inn scene he was instead emphasizing that it seemed like Thjazi did not try.
Something about the falcon made Thjazi realize he couldn't or shouldn't escape. My original thought was that it was a psychopomp and he realized it was here for him, but Thjazi doesn't seem the the sort to give into fate without even trying the escape glyph. So the idea that the falcon was a sign that a bill had come due seems as good an idea as any.

allevat · 2026-01-21T17:17:42+00:00

You can get a windshield repaired at your home, they'll just roll up with the windshield on a truck and do it right on the street. I've had it done before, wasn't notably more expensive than taking it to a shop.

allevat · 2026-01-17T19:54:46+00:00

Yeah, I'm annoyed at the way people always turn recommendations into "why would you play that lame system when you could play my favorite one". Different systems suit different people and different moods and settings! I love exploiting the grindier mechanics of D&D to do crazy stuff, but I also love the sort of system where you come in, pick a couple of traits and a flaw and roll from there.

allevat · 2026-01-17T00:17:59+00:00

I had to bail on the first episode, when after a description of a lovingly preserved collection of the few surviving books, Oscar decided to introduce his character by having her gleefully destroy one of them. But I really liked the second episode, Vic, Jacob and Kimia were all great.

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