How Those Kids Get Lost by GM Contemplar; the rest of the thread is entertaining, too, but he speaks with such authority, I’m just gonna believe this forever.
Category: Discussions with Simutronics Topic: The Bad, and the Ugly (general complaints)
Date: 01/17/2017 07:57 PM CST
From: FURROWFOOT
Subj: So much love for child tasks…
[ MStrike Cooldown: +0:01:00, 0:00:59 remaining. ] Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a young elven child watching you fight. She scurries up to you and cries, “Please help me, I wanna go home!” This must be the child you’ve been sent to rescue. R> A treekin warrior lumbers in! R>protect child You move over to the child and prepare to protect her from attack. >kill A treekin warrior lashes a root out at a young elven child! AS: +401 vs DS: +92 with AvD: +25 + d100 roll: +28 = +362 … and hits for 92 points of damage! Throat driven into spine by awesome grapple! SNAP The child falls to the ground, dead!
[You have failed your current Adventurer’s Guild task.]
Poor kid never stood a chance 🙁
Date: 01/18/2017 05:43 PM CST
From: OM1E5GA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
<Poor kid never stood a chance :(>
I’ve found it’s much easier to keep a child alive by moving to another room rather then trying to protect them. Occasionally something will get lucky and take out a kid as your moving through, but if you just move from room to room towards town the moment the child appears in the room you’re in, you’ll usually get back to town with them in one piece.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
Date: 01/18/2017 10:07 PM CST
From: SILVEAN
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
Wow. I didn’t know “protect” was a verb. I guess it doesn’t work for my character.
>protect child Did you mean read for 100 years?
>protect child Did you mean contemplate the glory of the Faendryl Patriarch?
>protect child killing child Roundtime: 2 sec.
Date: 01/19/2017 07:31 AM CST
From: GSLOVER
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
I have also found just moving from room to room to be the best way at keeping the kid alive, though when those critters get that unlucky hit in it’s frustrating beyond all belief.
… and I totally initially confused ‘Protect’ and ‘Guard’ with my Warrior when I first started him. He’s THW and I was using ‘Guard’, not realizing there was another verb. A couple kids died before I figured that out.
It’s a Warrior-only thing.
Protect = Parry (for THW users, usually or Polearms) Guard = Block (for those with a Shield)
Date: 01/19/2017 08:47 AM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
Protect verb/use Parry to help party-members, is not just 2Hand weapons & (2H) Pole Arms, but especially good for Two-Weapon folks, too.
And of course, 1HEdged & 1HCrush and (1H) Pole Arm guys get to use both… maybe even split them across different folks, in a group larger than 2.
.
.
Given what the GMs were saying when they released the verbs, in a party of A & B & C & D characters, if you have A Guard B and B Guard C and C Guard D and D Guard A, then (assuming they’re all of roughly equal skill) everyone comes out a little bit ahead.
Then you turn it around, and have D Protect C and C Protect B and B Protect A and A Protect D, and again, everyone comes out a little ahead.
.
Naturally, I’m never in a group a) large enough or b) organized enough to take advantage of that, but it’s a neat idea. (I do have my Cuisinart Special–two Warriors, both Two-Weapons trainers with a ton of MOC ranks, one in 1HCrush and the other in 1HEdged–set to Protect each other, of course. 🙂
Date: 01/19/2017 08:48 AM CST
From: SILVEAN
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
I fail about 10% of my Rescue Child tasks. I have no idea if that’s a terrible record or not. I do them by hand (no scripts) and Nelemar has the added bonus of creatures who will jump from hiding to kill your rescue.
Date: 01/19/2017 04:59 PM CST
From: GS4-LIIA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
If you knew how many kids I’ve left to fend for themselves in Nelemar…
~Liia
Dear My Favoritest Liia, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my barbie-loving soul can reach… (even when you set me on fire) ~Issalya
Date: 01/19/2017 06:29 PM CST
From: FURROWFOOT
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
I tend to pass them up, but even then my record isn’t that bad.
You have succeeded at the Rescue Child task 58 times and failed 9 times.
And yeah – I’m a Cuisinart special myself, so protect is the obvious choice. It’s probable I could have moved out of the room instead of typing protect, but I figure it actually shows an effort to actively prevent harm to the child?
It’s probably confirmation bias, but it feels like critters go for the poor, sweet innocent children far more frequently than bandits go after escorts.
Date: 01/19/2017 07:52 PM CST
From: LEAFIARA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
You have succeeded at the Protect Traveller task 169 times and failed 17 times. You have succeeded at the Rescue Child task 384 times and failed 9 times.
Buuut I’m a cleric and we get to cheat with Minor Sanctuary for the children while lucky bandits can get their one early ambush and then kill travelers before we can sanct, so there’s that! Now if only some children could start getting lost in the Rift so I wouldn’t have to leave the western mainland to go earn that Heroine title one day… or if bandits would start holding some ransoms!
>If you knew how many kids I’ve left to fend for themselves in Nelemar…
My character is of the opinion that if a child has the skill to make their way into Nelemar on their own, they have the skill to make their way out of Nelemar on their own. We’ll call it a learning experience for them.
Signed, Raelee and her Strings
>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, “See? Raelee knows all.”
Date: 01/20/2017 10:04 AM CST
From: OM1E5GA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
<<My character is of the opinion that if a child has the skill to make their way into Nelemar on their own, they have the skill to make their way out of Nelemar on their own. We’ll call it a learning experience for them.>>
I have the same attitude about the Keep in RR. If the brats can get themselves across the bay and through two mazes to get into it, they can get themselves back out too. Not my fault their rich parents can’t be bothered to make them carry a gold ring set to home.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
Date: 01/20/2017 10:27 AM CST
From: GS4-ESTILD
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
Those kids are kidnapped, not runaways.
GameMaster Estild
Date: 01/20/2017 10:28 AM CST
From: JADZIABLUE
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
>Those kids are kidnapped, not runaways.
Why didn’t their parents tell them not to take candy from strange monsters?
Signed, Raelee and her Strings
>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, “See? Raelee knows all.”
Date: 01/20/2017 10:54 AM CST
From: SIMU-WYROM
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
>>Why didn’t their parents tell them not to take candy from strange monsters?
Unfortunately, we teach them the complete opposite with Pokémon Go. You take candy from strange monsters.
Wyrom, PM
Date: 01/20/2017 11:34 AM CST
From: OM1E5GA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
<Those kids are kidnapped, not runaways.>
The purser says, “Ah, so you’re from the Adventurer’s Guild? Yes, we do have a task for you. One of our citizens is in quite the predicament. Her young daughter ranawayfromhome recently. A local divinist has discerned glimpses of the child fleeing from a rotting chimera in the Marsh Keep near River’s Rest. The child is still alive, though is in constant danger and is probably cowering where ever she can find somewhere to hide.”
You were saying?
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
Date: 01/20/2017 11:40 AM CST
From: GS4-VIDUUS
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
>Those kids are kidnapped, not runaways.
I’ve always assumed it was a bit of a Hansel and Gretel scenario.
Viduus
Date: 01/20/2017 11:53 AM CST
From: GS4-ESTILD
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
Starchitin
You were saying?
That they’re kidnapped, not runaways. I was responding to the Nelemar comment from Raelee, but rescue tasks for the Marsh Keep should probably be considered kidnap instead of runaway too.
GameMaster Estild
Date: 01/20/2017 12:26 PM CST
From: OM1E5GA
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
<I was responding to the Nelemar comment from Raelee, but rescue tasks for the Marsh Keep should probably be considered kidnap instead of runaway too.>
Then the messaging should reflect that…. and a new task should be added where we guard the homes of various townsfolk against critters that break in and kidnap their children. Or, depending on whose home it is, we could join the critters in razing the home to the ground…. I know I wouldn’t mind doing that to Alanna’s home from time to time…
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
Date: 01/20/2017 12:51 PM CST
From: FURROWFOOT
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
I’d still like to see these tasks updated to “We sent an adventurer into the Illoke Stronghold days ago and he hasn’t reported back. Could you go to the area and see if you can find them?”
Then, for variety, sometimes you find the adventurer and protect them on their way home (they should be well out classed by the area but not as fragile as kids) OR you find their corpse and have to bring it back to the guild.
I still find it amusing that one of the first things you do on the Sprite quest is help a child get resurrected, yet when a child dies on a rescue, all is lost.
Date: 01/20/2017 01:37 PM CST
From: GS4-CONTEMPLAR
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
Actually, it is a bit of both. The kid ran away, but nobody knew exactly what happened. The major assumption here is when the child is spied on, it is discovered they are held captive by some ugly monster somewhere. They ran away, but got captured somewhere between home and where they ended up.
That’s my typical logic to how a kid got to some place they should never been able to get to.
~Contemplar~
Date: 01/20/2017 06:04 PM CST
From: SNOWBEAM
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
There’s also no logic to being able to hand someone a billion silver coins.
Some things just require a tiny bit of suspension of disbelief to work. It’s a fantasy world. Chalk it up to magic!
😀
-The mind behind Rowmi’s eyes.
Date: 01/23/2017 11:14 AM CST
From: SILVEAN
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
But why did these children run away in the first place? How bad is their home life that living with the forest trolls seemed a better choice? Maybe mom’s new boyfriend is worse than a forest troll. Maybe his name is Tyler and he’s like not even that much older than the child bounty and he drives around Wehnimer’s in a Corvette with an embarrassing paint job that is nowhere near as “sweet” and “sick” as he thinks it is. I’m not going to do these bounties anymore.
Date: 01/25/2017 07:50 PM CST
From: DAID
Subj: Re: So much love for child tasks…
This is my paladin:
>You have succeeded at the Rescue Child task 163 times and failed 7 times.
4 of them were the same night. I got a string of them and my internet was pretty bad at that time.
