thread: 2005-11-14 : Dangerousness
On 2005-11-19, Barry wrote:
What I want out of Third Monkey - or Insomnium, as his name might be rendered in Cholaic - is a Monkey that the magi have to talk to on fairly even terms; a villain who undermines the "magi are all-powerful" feeling without having to kill or be killed; and an antagonist who it will be possible for Magi to build a long-term relationship with. A dream-monkey is attractive to me because he can't kill or be killed, which limits the threat he poses while at the same time limiting the magi's ability to get rid of him altogether.
I should have explicitly discussed these goals with the other players before proceeding.
Insomnium definitely made a mistake by approaching Perdix first. Insomnium's short-term goal is to open relations with the Magi. I was very unsure whether to have him approach Sonata or Perdix in the last game session. I eventually decided that it made sense for Insomnium to decide to approach Perdix first, both because of Perdix's connection to Ilba, and because of all the Magi in this location Perdix is the one who comes closest to living in a waking dreamstate (Insomnium thought that Perdix might therefore be more open to talking to someone in dreams).
From Insomnium's point of view, the conversation was a total bust. So although he plans to try again, he's not planning to approach Perdix again. Or at least, that's my current thinking.
At this point, it's a question of balance: How do I create a genuinely kick-ass antagonist without stepping on other player's toes? In retrospect, rather than just imperiously saying "it doesn't work" to what Kip and Dylan were having their characters try to do to get rid of Insomnium, perhaps I should have suggested low-odds die-rolling (i.e., "roll a six and it works"), which would have left it clear that Insomnium was extremely powerful in the dream-state without making it seem that everyone else was totally helpless.
I'd type more, but I've hurt my arm and it's difficult to type much, so forgive my abruptness and incompleteness.
This makes KM go "Fiat was fine."
I didn’t so much mind being told what I was trying flatly wouldn’t work. It’s just the stakes were much higher than I’d expected to be playing for, and the one defense I could think of flatly wouldn’t work.
