The Fellowship of the Fourth Age (Part 1): A New Beginning Discussion Thread

[Tevildo]

There is no way Dorran could witness that carnage of women and children in the grove and not try to do something depite the likely results, since he already has a head injury......months ago in real time, but just a day ago in game time.

Please reserve one of those three baddies for me. I will fill the post tomorrow.

[Undómë]

EDIT:

Nothing to see here really . . . pass on by.

I had originally had counted up 32 slaves as the total being dead or injured.

But that is now revised downward to my own 3 characters being dead in addition to those ex-slaves others killed off in their posts.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Undómë,

That's correct. Only the 32 in trouble or dead should actually be 33, since Brinniel has said she will be killing off Aedhild.

[Brinniel]

Actually, if you edit from my error, there should only be 21 slavers killed...

Reading your save, I hope you do not plan to kill off Dorran, Tevildo. I would be very saddened if such an event were to occur.

Durelin- I don't know how far you've gotten on writing your save, but I was think maybe it'd be better if Shae and Khamir only take down one slaver. After all, Shae is still injured and though she can fight, in all likelihood she probably would no longer be able to kill a slaver without a lot of help from Khamir (or someone else). As much as you'd all like her to be, Shae is not a warrior princess.

[Folwren]

Question! Question!

The women and children have been slaughtered and scattered (see Undome's latest post). They're running for their lives.

Athwen was behind them, farther back in the grove. She has wounded people with her and besides that, she's probably not inclined to run away anyway. But what of her? Will the three slavers leave her be while they run up the others? (There are only three left, right?)

Just wondering... I'm not going to put up a save or write a post until Tevildo has filled his.

-- Folwren

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Undómë

Actually, it's not 12 "goodies" dead to 24 slavers in trouble or dead. Since my last post, the tab looks like this:
.........................
13. Brenna (in the grove)
14. ex-slave female (in the grove)
15. ex-slave female (in the grove)
16. ex-slave female (in the grove)
17. ex-slave female (in the grove)
18. ex-slave female (in the grove)
19. Nia (16y/o) (in the grove)
20. Gwenith (11y/o) (in the grove)
21. young child (in the grove)
22. young child (in the grove)
23. young child (in the grove)
24. young child (in the grove)
25. young child (in the grove)

How brutal of you Undómë!

But even as we're talking about innocents taking it rough, I must confess the numbers start to look more believable... although they are just numbers that look better now...

Just forget my whining and get on with it everyone. I'm feeling a bit embarrassed because of all the hassle I have seemed to arouse here...

I'll try to wake Hadith up to fumble again if I have time to do it before everything's over...

[Tevildo]

I am talking with Folwren about what to do. This isn't a case of me deciding to kill my characters. The way this story has gone in the last day in trems of "realistic" situations and body count, I really have little choice.

Azhar is trapped at the entrance to the grove with the rest of the women. She was thrown to the side and wounded. Her chances of getting out alive are very slim. Even if she does get out, she is going to have seen all that death and dying and she'd have to deal with that. She'll know she could have done something if she had only been able to put on the bear form. Seeing Rôg clubbed will also be a shock, since she's one of the few who knows that he could have saved himself by shifting forms.

I think I have even less choice with Dorran. He would not stand by and let this happen. He will try to fight and die because he was wounded and unconscious the day before. To do anything else would be totally "unrealistic".

I am going to use my save to do a set up post for Azhar and wait till after I talk with Folwren to finish everything up.

Oh, yeah....by the way, the figures everyone is using are wrong. It was a long time ago --four months--but there was a whole lot of discussion about numbers and how important it was that there be a balance between orcs and slaves. Child and Durelin said that there could be a certain number of slaves killed, but that the orcs (who are physically larger and much more experienced) had to be a much smaller group or there would not be a realistic chance of cooperation between the two bands. They both had to feel threatened with no one having the upper hand. The founders were very specific about the numbers: 65 ex-slaves, 25 slavers (now revised up to 30), and 15 orcs plus the 7 fellowship members. If anyone wants, I can give you the links.

Including Aedhild and Azhar who will likely die, we have 27 dead ex-slaves. That's a 42% mortailty rate -- I feel like I've slipped back to the slaughters of Beleriand. That leaves 38 alive, but two are badly wounded and a bunch presumably have minor wounds. It's possible those numbers about who is alive will drop because realistically you can't know your exact body count in the middle of a battle. There will be just three members of the fellowship who can fight. Everyone else is injured, dead or a woman.

At this point, I would bet on the orcs......

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Tevildo

There will be just three members of the fellowship who can fight. Everyone else is injured, dead or a woman.

Teehee!

At this point, I would bet on the orcs......

...who are totally drunk by now. I think it will be more than even from the point of view of the ex-slaves & the Fellowship.

But otherwise you speak well Tevildo. The headcounts from the beginning do not seem to hold anymore. So we will just have to accustom ourselves to the new situation and try to bear with it. I believe we can do it.

PS. I t would be too sad to see Dorran go at this point, so please save him in a way or another...

[Tevildo]

First, the initial part of my save is filled.

But otherwise you speak well Tevildo. The headcounts from the beginning do not seem to hold anymore. So we will just have to accustom ourselves to the new situation and try to bear with it. I believe we can do it.

I certainly know and understand what the headcount and slaughter in the grove mean for my own characters. What I can not say is what they mean for the plotline that Durelin and Child laid down at the beginning of this game.

[Undómë]

Not all of the Orcs are drunk. Mostly the males, I would think.

And the females, at least mine, will be thinking of what's best for themselves in any encounter with the Fellowship/ex-slaves over any concerns for the Orc males.

[Durelin]

I'd like to ask everyone to remove themselves from all the numbers, and rethink this story, this game in the big picture.

It is called "The Fellowship of the Fourth Age: A New Beginning."

The goal is a new beginning for the slaves, a new settlement that will last, for which you need quite a number of people. Whether or not this settlement is successful is not a question we're asking in this game, it's not an issue being explored. It is already determined that this is successful.

The capture of Azhar and Kwell, their rescue, and the attack of the slavers are all (ultimately) part of a very interesting subplot, which was so interesting that it has taken up quite a lot of time. It's only been covered in such great detail because of the amount of interest that was shown through people's posting. We're on to the ninth page and we still haven't united the Orcs with the slaves and Fellowship - when this occurs was when the game was really supposed to start.

If over half of the slaves are dead before the game was really supposed to start...well, we have to question what we're doing.

"Realism" doesn't mean as many dead people as we can manage. And is it even realistic for slavers, who make money off of capturing slaves (and this is their only way of making money, such as enough money to have food), to simply slaughter the unarmed ones? Sure, Imak has a personal vendetta, but what about the others? I doubt they're the loyal type; I doubt they care what happens as long as they get food, drink, money, and fun...

We must remember that we are applying our concepts (which may or may not be true) of the "real world" and what "realistically" occurs in the real world to a fantasy world, and more importantly, to a game. Personally, I don't want to spend an hour or so looking through a game to find all the numbers of the dead, wounded, etc...and I don't think anyone should expect anyone else to do it. How we know these statistics can be considered unrealistic, as well. How does one character know how many people have been killed around them? Running in to dead bodies or watching people die is a nasty business, and though it's going to happen, it's not going to happen to everyone.

So why should everyone be describing and tallying death on a large scale, considering roleplaying means we play a character, and write from that character's point of view - on the small scale. Here on the Barrow-Downs, sometimes roleplaying is taken in a broader view, I think: sometimes people narrate more than roleplay. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I think it's really detrimental to the game in certain situations.

We just have to remember we're roleplaying. Playing a role. Playing, having fun, as a part of a game.

Everyone's writing and participation has been absolutely amazing, and I want to thank you all for all your work and interest. And I also want to continue in the way we have been: having fun and writing a great story. So I ask that everyone will sit back and have fun with this, while realizing that this is a game, and an opportunity to have fun together thanks to Child's conception of the idea.

-Durelin

[Nogrod]

I'd like to ask everyone to remove themselves from all the numbers, and rethink this story, this game in the big picture.

I do agree, indeed, even if I was the one laying this molehill that turned out to be a mountain. That was not my intention anyway.

We're on to the ninth page and we still haven't united the Orcs with the slaves and Fellowship - when this occurs was when the game was really supposed to start.
...........
We just have to remember we're roleplaying. Playing a role. Playing, having fun, as a part of a game.

Isn't the fact that we're on the page 9 just a confirmation of the latter, that we all have been enjoying this game and playing it to the fullest?

On the "realism-issue" I would think that Durelin is right about the slavers and by that I mean that they would not try to hunt down everyone to kill them but to capture as many they can and then retreat if they saw the situation too hard on them. Now most of them are dead anyhow and that can't (shouldn't) be changed... So as I said, let's just continue.

And for my part I will end this discussion about any numbers or distances or whatever here as I see it's growing too big in relation to its worth. I'll be happy with everything suggested.

As Durelin said: let's just have fun and write for our characters. And sorry about all this trouble.