Rascally Raven

[Heilemann]

I was very much looking forward to in Kin-strife and Dark Tidings, after the company has discovered Valter's army and have to hurry back to warn Beorn about the impending threat. Until I remembered that the dwarf in the company has a talking raven.

It covers 30 miles in an hour, which means it'll be at Beorn's house in about three hours.

In other words, this changes the entire resolution of the scenario, and makes it pretty hard for Valter to get near both Stonyford and The Old Ford. Doh! I was looking forward to fighting at The Old Ford and having the scars of that battle last throughout the campaign.

Any great ideas? And no, can't kill the raven. At least not yet.

[Glorelendil]

Ring of Three Wishes solution: listen very carefully to the player's instructions and see if they can be misinterpreted.

[Halbarad]

Grim Hawk.

When the raven attempts to reach Beorn, it finds itself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a grim hawk. As the Raven is a Virtue, you shouldn't really kill it. That might not be in the spirit of the game. The Raven is forced to take detours and seek shelter on several occasions until the Grim Hawk gets fed up and heads off in search of easier prey.
This means that it will reach Beorn's Steading when you want it to and not alert him too early.

[Glorelendil]

Grim Hawk.

When the raven attempts to reach Beorn, it finds itself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a grim hawk. As the Raven is a Virtue, you shouldn't really kill it. That might not be in the spirit of the game. The Raven is forced to take detours and seek shelter on several occasions until the Grim Hawk gets fed up and heads off in search of easier prey.
This means that it will reach Beorn's Steading when you want it to and not alert him too early.

I like this. Would work well as an Eye of Mordor revelation.

[Mytholder]

Got Heart of the Wild? The solution may be plucking out your eye on page 100.

[Morten]

I think you should allow that clever play and fortunate resources be able to change what you as a LM had in mind for the development of the story. If you do not allow for that, and "counter" the players clever idea, you run the risk of reducing the players to basicly just beeing your audience, because the story is predetermined by you, and that is a quick way to kill player motivation.

If you feel like the raven is a too easy solution you could set it up as a test. The dwarf must make an apropriate skill roll (fx inspire or persuade) to have the raven safely reach it's destination and deliver the message correctly, and up front state that if the roll is failed, something bad happenes. Like the raven is temporaily lost or hurt or even killed if the roll is extreemly low, or the message might be garbled or misunderstod. And the risk and the potential reward should corespond.

[aramis]

Any attempt to railroad players by preventing them using their earned rewards and abilities to solve problems is, to my mind, grounds to walk away from the group, because the GM is being a total ass.

Published scenarios don't always account for the full range of possibilities. Accept that, or get out from behind the shield (as anyone who can't doesn't belong behind it). Likewise, players may shortcut due to clever play - again, anyone who can't accept that has no business behind the shield.

The job of a gamemaster is NOT to dick players over, nor to force a plot down their throat - it's to enable them to play characters with whom they emotionally attach, and have a story emerge, by presenting challenges for them to overcome and NPC's to interact with.

[Morten]

Any attempt to railroad players by preventing them using their earned rewards and abilities to solve problems is, to my mind, grounds to walk away from the group, because the GM is being a total ass.

Published scenarios don't always account for the full range of possibilities. Accept that, or get out from behind the shield (as anyone who can't doesn't belong behind it). Likewise, players may shortcut due to clever play - again, anyone who can't accept that has no business behind the shield.

The job of a gamemaster is NOT to dick players over, nor to force a plot down their throat - it's to enable them to play characters with whom they emotionally attach, and have a story emerge, by presenting challenges for them to overcome and NPC's to interact with.

Yeah, what I tried to say, only without the "ass", "dick" and directness
But, I agree!

[Indur Dawndeath]

Hi Heilemann,

I don't see the problem with the Raven.
If your players has Oderic leding the Enemy into an ambush, then they should realise that they cannot be absolutely sure where Valter is going, except to the Old Ford... Where he needs to cross. There you have your battle, even if the Raven has warned Beorn early.
Or...
You might also consider if Beorn will muster all his forces, because a Raven tells him that there is bandits in Wolfswood. A wood infested by bandits all the time.
He might send the raven back with questions, while mustering his forces, uncertain where the attack will come from.
Why should he cross Anduin without firm proof, that he is not walking into a trap.
Let the Raven be a messenger, until it is tired. But let the player know that it was instrumental to the eventual success of the battle, even though the end result was what you planned.
You just need to deceive your players a little.

Use skills to test the player. Courtesy to explain the Raven what to say... A low result and the Raven gets it wrong... Perhaps he get confused what ford they said. Stony Ford and Old Ford can easily be confused.

If they manage to set up an ambush in the right location earlier than the adventure suggest or in a more clever way, then award them with one or more extra battle advantage dice.

I could go on, but that was my 2 cents

Cheers

[Falenthal]

have the raven safely reach it's destination and deliver the massage correctly

Great Virtue this Raven.
Should reduce Fatigue from failed Travel tests, too.