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More Game Thoughts.
Jun. 12th, 2009 03:26 amJust some more game thoughts.
After the big blowup, I started considering some of my own small dissatisfactions with the Crystalmarch game. See- my character is a half-orc rogue with bard levels and a level in Shadowdancer- she dances her way through things. If you've been reading my journal you know I've got a different view of orcs than a lot of people- they aren't automatically filthy disgusting vilely ugly half-beasts to me- I like to think you can be the rough-and-tumble boys of the setting, and not conform to human or elfin beauty standards, without being completely worthless. Velke takes more after an archetype commonly found in humans, but she draws on both sides of her heritage.
Thing is, she's multiclassed and has a particular niche- we all have them in Crystalmarch, and given how many players and characters there are, it's hard to shine at more than one, particular thing that you can do and do well to the exclusion of all others. Velke sneaks and sneak-attacks- she's impossible to see until you've got a length of steel through your vitals, most of the time. But she also dances through life, over the rooftops and through ballrooms and in tavern corners. Any real-life dancer will tell you it's not for the faint of heart, and any (non-purely-hack'n'slash) D&D player will tell you that a bard's music is something that, in its time and place, can be incredibly powerful.
Unfortunately, we're not often in situations where that part of my character can be displayed. Those times we're in social situations, our psion, Serai (who's basically a delicate foreign-princess type who can squeeze your brain out your ears) always handles it.
Always.
She's also the major workhorse in battles, too- she damages things we can't, consistently does more damage, takes less, and is basically what's been letting us drive through our terrifyingly powerful enemies so easily. It's the old standby of 'after 10th level, why play anything but wizard?' only in this case, she's also more versatile and well-fueled than our friendly necromancer Dante.
As for my Velke- well, she can hide, sneak-attack and pull off amazing feats of swashbuckling skill. Against sneak-attackable opponents. Or deal with traps and mechanisms. Unfortunately, the social situation always veers toward the noblewoman with established credentials, and my attempts at inserting myself in that diplomatic/information gathering role never panned out. That was a long time ago when I last tried it, and at fifteenth level, we're kind of set in our ways, I guess. It just seemed to me that Velke has the potential to be an orcish Mata Hari, and we either never encounter or never get to play the situations that way.
I can see where the stumbling blocks came from- after all, she's a beautiful and talented halforc, but she's still a halforc, and kind of a gypsy/thief/pirate archetype as well. I'd like to say we play it that Serai handles the highborn situations and Velke handles the lowdown tavern ones, but Serai can disguise herself at will. She's acknowledged to be the one to handle all social situations that could occur, and since her player's usually the one that suggests scouting for information (another stumbling block is that I as a player don't always pick up on the idea of what to do right away- I'm very used to being led rather than charging forward on my own will, and that's not helpful) she always does it. It's impossible to get away from her.
Wow. I still think that Serai's cool and all, but I guess I'm a little more sick of her than I thought.
We're all playing cool characters, but it's been a long time since anyone really got to play in the spotlight as more than just pitiful damage-dealers. There's big important stuff going on in the world of the game that we need to take down, but really- I want some social down-time. Social down-time where we've actually got a bit of RPing to do, not just "what are you doing these next six months?" "Making scrolls." "Making zombies." "Captaining the ship." "Practicing dancing. Lemme know if there's something I could be doing that would make sense in-character as well as be in any way useful. Since if I go off dancing for coins in taverns instead of just sticking with the group, I'm vulnerable to attacks by random encounters and I'll probably lose money."
Yeah. I want to get a chance to play my halforc in Mata Hari mode, even if I'm a little clumsy at rping it. It's what I meant as a part of her character, but I haven't had the chance to make that shine in a long time.
After the big blowup, I started considering some of my own small dissatisfactions with the Crystalmarch game. See- my character is a half-orc rogue with bard levels and a level in Shadowdancer- she dances her way through things. If you've been reading my journal you know I've got a different view of orcs than a lot of people- they aren't automatically filthy disgusting vilely ugly half-beasts to me- I like to think you can be the rough-and-tumble boys of the setting, and not conform to human or elfin beauty standards, without being completely worthless. Velke takes more after an archetype commonly found in humans, but she draws on both sides of her heritage.
Thing is, she's multiclassed and has a particular niche- we all have them in Crystalmarch, and given how many players and characters there are, it's hard to shine at more than one, particular thing that you can do and do well to the exclusion of all others. Velke sneaks and sneak-attacks- she's impossible to see until you've got a length of steel through your vitals, most of the time. But she also dances through life, over the rooftops and through ballrooms and in tavern corners. Any real-life dancer will tell you it's not for the faint of heart, and any (non-purely-hack'n'slash) D&D player will tell you that a bard's music is something that, in its time and place, can be incredibly powerful.
Unfortunately, we're not often in situations where that part of my character can be displayed. Those times we're in social situations, our psion, Serai (who's basically a delicate foreign-princess type who can squeeze your brain out your ears) always handles it.
Always.
She's also the major workhorse in battles, too- she damages things we can't, consistently does more damage, takes less, and is basically what's been letting us drive through our terrifyingly powerful enemies so easily. It's the old standby of 'after 10th level, why play anything but wizard?' only in this case, she's also more versatile and well-fueled than our friendly necromancer Dante.
As for my Velke- well, she can hide, sneak-attack and pull off amazing feats of swashbuckling skill. Against sneak-attackable opponents. Or deal with traps and mechanisms. Unfortunately, the social situation always veers toward the noblewoman with established credentials, and my attempts at inserting myself in that diplomatic/information gathering role never panned out. That was a long time ago when I last tried it, and at fifteenth level, we're kind of set in our ways, I guess. It just seemed to me that Velke has the potential to be an orcish Mata Hari, and we either never encounter or never get to play the situations that way.
I can see where the stumbling blocks came from- after all, she's a beautiful and talented halforc, but she's still a halforc, and kind of a gypsy/thief/pirate archetype as well. I'd like to say we play it that Serai handles the highborn situations and Velke handles the lowdown tavern ones, but Serai can disguise herself at will. She's acknowledged to be the one to handle all social situations that could occur, and since her player's usually the one that suggests scouting for information (another stumbling block is that I as a player don't always pick up on the idea of what to do right away- I'm very used to being led rather than charging forward on my own will, and that's not helpful) she always does it. It's impossible to get away from her.
Wow. I still think that Serai's cool and all, but I guess I'm a little more sick of her than I thought.
We're all playing cool characters, but it's been a long time since anyone really got to play in the spotlight as more than just pitiful damage-dealers. There's big important stuff going on in the world of the game that we need to take down, but really- I want some social down-time. Social down-time where we've actually got a bit of RPing to do, not just "what are you doing these next six months?" "Making scrolls." "Making zombies." "Captaining the ship." "Practicing dancing. Lemme know if there's something I could be doing that would make sense in-character as well as be in any way useful. Since if I go off dancing for coins in taverns instead of just sticking with the group, I'm vulnerable to attacks by random encounters and I'll probably lose money."
Yeah. I want to get a chance to play my halforc in Mata Hari mode, even if I'm a little clumsy at rping it. It's what I meant as a part of her character, but I haven't had the chance to make that shine in a long time.
