Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Finding out is half the fun the GM has with it.



opcorn:

Agreed!

Originally Posted by AsenRG

Finding out is half the fun the GM has with it.

"Hey, Kargan, does the Temple Codex list an Eye of Splattering your Hapless Apprentice Against The Wall?"

Originally Posted by rawma

I haven't played Pathfinder, so maybe it's like that; there are a number of boxes of "Pathfinder Pawns". And I didn't play D&D 4e that many places or for that long, but that wasn't the case where I did play, even at the gaming store that sold miniatures and the Monster Vault (which had a large number of flat cardboard counters for D&D 4e monsters). Maybe I didn't play RPGs with the right sort of RPG miniatures players; when we used miniatures it was almost entirely for functional purposes and not as a pleasing spectacle, and you could live with mismatched miniatures and dice or whatever for the odd creatures. I've never seen anything as fancy as Dwarven Forge terrain used.

Another factor may be that it's on the GM to bring most of the miniatures, and it's hard enough to find good GMs as is, and it would limit the GM a lot if only NPCs for which they had a miniature could appear. But I can't recall any game where players were required to bring a single appropriate miniature of their character, although that doesn't seem to be a difficult standard to demand.

I would agree with all of this, especially in our games over the years. What I'm mentioning is what I've seen at the big local FLGS and at the local conventions / events, where anything 'homemade' or 'unofficial' is very strongly discouraged by the FLGS or the event / tournament / convention organizers. The players I've seen in these are all pretty much the same way - if it isn't 'authorized for use with', it doesn't get on the table. The historical miniatures guys are still doing all the mix and match home-brew stuff, but that's been the nature of that genre since the 1960s.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I would agree with all of this, especially in our games over the years. What I'm mentioning is what I've seen at the big local FLGS and at the local conventions / events, where anything 'homemade' or 'unofficial' is very strongly discouraged by the FLGS or the event / tournament / convention organizers. The players I've seen in these are all pretty much the same way - if it isn't 'authorized for use with', it doesn't get on the table. The historical miniatures guys are still doing all the mix and match home-brew stuff, but that's been the nature of that genre since the 1960s.

Yeah, "Games Workshop" is notorious for that. I still have a bundle of miscellaneous RPG minis and never worried much about having the "right" figure.

And in the case of historical minis modelers, any excuse to make up a new cohort of figures was eagerly taken, which is how you ended up with so much miscellaneous Tekumel stuff, and Phil got his "Idol of Horus."

For that matter it's why one of my HO scale diesel switchers has the rerailing frogs (75 pound steel castings in real life) tossed up on the walkway in gross violation of FRA rules; real people get sloppy all the time.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Yeah, "Games Workshop" is notorious for that. I still have a bundle of miscellaneous RPG minis and never worried much about having the "right" figure.

And in the case of historical minis modelers, any excuse to make up a new cohort of figures was eagerly taken, which is how you ended up with so much miscellaneous Tekumel stuff, and Phil got his "Idol of Horus."

For that matter it's why one of my HO scale diesel switchers has the rerailing frogs (75 pound steel castings in real life) tossed up on the walkway in gross violation of FRA rules; real people get sloppy all the time.

Funny you should mention GW. Their older plastic one-part Elven spearmen are dead ringers for your legion, once you give them a Foundry rectangular shield. The Missus got me 80 of them dirt cheap on the web from some guy, so you and your doughty lads and lasses are now sitting in one of the legion trays in the basement.

Lots of their 'dark elf' figures do very well for Livyani, which is a big help to me as we never got the chance to make any of those, and I doubt anybody ever will.

You should see the looks I get from GW players at The Source, when I run games with them...

Originally Posted by Greentongue

What determines when you are surrounded by people that cater to your every need and when you are on fending for yourself?

Does an entourage imply an important/high status person or just someone from a clan with a lot of excess labor?
=

Well, it's partly on the social context and on how much money you have to pay for the people. When we were just starting out in Phil's campaign, we were pretty much on our own all the time - I did the cooking, for example, when we were 'out in the field'. After I got an appointment as an officer in a legion - low-ranking, of course - then I had an orderly who looked after me when I was with the legion. If I was detached, like on an adventure, it would be back to the basics and I'd be doing the cooking again.

This lasted until I got appointed as an Imperial official and inducted into a high-status clan; I got a very nice salary, which meant that I could hire retainers on a much more permanent basis. Being married by then, the Lady Of The House - Phil used the Ancient Egyptian title - ran the household and I enjoyed the benefits. When we were first starting our household, all we had were the bearers I had hired to move us from Meku to Fasiltum, and they considered it to be A Scandal! that the Noble Lady didn't even have a maid of her own - many disapproving comments were made in my direction, especially by the female bearers, who appointed themselves my wife's temporary maidservants for the trip. We menfolk just got on with the packing, carrying, and things like making the nightly fire.

Once I became a Governor, then I had lots of palace staff to contend with; they all had their own agendas, and I tended to rely on my own legion's troops for things like personal guards and such; the Lady Of The House got her own maids, and hired staff as needed for trips. In our current positions, we have an extensive staff of both military and 'civilian' people, although the dividing line is pretty fuzzy. Her three maids still work directly for her, but the Ladies-in-Waiting work for the majordomo, who works for her. She still runs the household, and I get fussed over a lot; there's talk that I need to have a 'gentleman's gentleman' to look after me - I need a nanny, the Adjutant says, in addition to my half-dozen guards who try to keep me out of trouble.

To quote one of my bodyguards: "Your Lordship will feel much better after Your Lordship kills something." (He was right, too.)

If I was allowed to go on an adventure, I'd probably have to / be able to tend to things myself, but being of high status and rank there would be some muttering in the ranks over it.

Generally, a retinue - even of one person - is an indicator of higher status and dignity. Even a poor clan will make sure that any of its people who are out in public will have a retinue appropriate to the person's status. Certainly, a clan with a lot of 'extra mouths' will put on a really big show - it looks better for the clan and the person being accompanied.

It's like clothing - more and better clothing also indicates wealth and status. Inside the family quarters of the palace or clan house, things are usually very informal, and you don't have many of the social norms that you do when out in public. Age is the status marker, here; a mighty and powerful clan-master will be delighted to be able to serve his elderly clan-mother, no matter what his rank and station might be. If they were out in public, he'd get great respect for being her helper, again because of her high status as one of the elders of the clan.

Again, it' all about the social context. Somebody well-dressed ands accompanied by a number of servants is going to be of high status, and well worth being polite to. Out in public, this is how one determines who is who.

Is this answering your question? Am I helping? I worry...

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Phil tended to have the 'shafts' go down from the surface sites, kind of like a vertical mine. I have no idea why he never published any of them - they were all pretty good to play in, and his draftsmanship is astonishing.

Instead, we got things like that Judges Guild module with the ridiculous maze. Sheesh. How could Phil stand by and watch stuff like that get published?

Originally Posted by The_Shadow

Instead, we got things like that Judges Guild module with the ridiculous maze. Sheesh. How could Phil stand by and watch stuff like that get published?

I'm guessing he was busy with other things.