"Worst party ever?" Topic

Yeah but the NPC wizard is like 30th level.

Don't forget that NPC wizard has apparently damn few spells because he prefers to get into melee with a sword instead.

Yea, when he DOES cast, it has both epic and subtle effects, but not one Sleep, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Fireball, Burning Hands, NOTHING to help out with low-to-mid-level engagements.

NPC wizard – likely to Bug off any time the GM feels like it.

Let's remember Gandalf's race was Maiar, and he was constrained from directly opposing Sauron.

I think probably he could only use magic in self defense, or to undo the magical works of evil Maiar. He was only able to oppose Saruman directly after having been sent back by the Valar, and this opposition mostly took the form of bearing the message that Saruman's powers had been taken away.

Though we haven't explained fighting the Balrog, unless that counts as self-defense.

Last, as far as what Gandalf did, we only have eyewitness accounts from hobbits. Hobbits are not known for noticing everything.

nd speaking of melee, what's with the "no sword, no spell 'Thou Shall Not Pass' nonsense?"

In Hero System terms it was a really big Presence Attack that almost worked.

This has probably been posted before. It's what LOTR would be like if it was D&D. A hoot.

link

Thorin in the cartoon is half right, it was his desire to get the kingdom back, Gandalf wanted Smaug eliminated lest he join up with the necromancer / Sauron. So Gandalf was happy to facilitate the senior representative of one of the free races go on what he must have realised was a suicide mission or to seriously destabilise world politics by a) Thorin's death or capture (as both happened) b) Thorin convincing some state to kill Smaug launching international conflict over the treasure, as sorta happened, c) letting hobbits loose on the world.

Regards

Db

Runs in the extended family

Dog-gone it, Kropotkin303! An hour and a half of my life just evaporated! Thankfully, it was an hilarious hour and a half….

Perry

and that's why D&D or any non storytelling ruleset can never be used to recreate the drama of true epic adventures.

Glad you liked it Perry. Doesn't show Aragorn up in a very good light now. But fun to read.

I've not posted the one where they discuss raping Legolas.

There was a D&D adventure in an early White Dwarf issue (way back when White Dwarf still put out D&D stuff) that had the Fellowship go through Moria. Gandalf was statted out as a cleric instead of a magic-user. The author's reasoning was that clerical magic is a better model for magic in Middle-earth than wizard magic.