Off the Beaten Track (OOC)

Yeah, tricky. Let's try not to block what we know happens. But it we can not get there we can not get there.

... OK, let's just ignore the torch. Cook did not get it, but you did not lose it... unless you want to (maybe as part of the 'dealing' with Asha situation).

Kinda both. Also pointing out that we since we have to resolve mechanical bits (based on the dice) I need more fiction to do that.

I went ahead and activated Asha as a complication.

Just so you don't use it as an excuse later (though Asha surely will), you are all each still in control of your character's actions, there is just an influence from the temple that makes you really want to get in there, to believe that you are destined to rule it.

It is affecting all of you, but those who got a 7-9 are aware --though only in the back of your mind-- that something is wrong.

We know that Cook does not get the torch from Albert. We can include that failure in the narration of what you do next.

If no one cares enough about Cook to stop Asha from bashing his head in, think about how she will feel afterwards, and do it for her?

I really would like to see Cook work with the party a little bit, and don't want to just kill him ignominiously, but if no one does anything about a telegraphed thread there will be tears.

Will wait for Rook to chime in before pulling the trigger on that. But no pressure.

Kind of hard to work with the party after that?

Seems like Cook is working OK with the story though. He's gotten us to the temple, is pushing hard to get inside, and precipitated some interesting issue with Asha.

But If the characters don't like Cook and are OK with his head being bashed in, I'm good with that as well.

No plans for the moment, and Rook is staying at the edge of the torchlight for now. But he's thinking about slipping into the shadows if trouble does come calling, so I wanted to know how much he could see.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I don't think any of those tears will be Rook's. He can try comforting Asha afterward if she gets broken up about it, maybe.
The issue with Cook, in my opinion, is that while he's been active, all his behavior forces the rest of the party to focus on him. The situation was set up in such a way that he was vital to getting to the temple, because otherwise the group wouldn't have taken him. He's acted unstable and irrational, and the other characters have been forced to react to that. He's moved to get into the temple, but he's done that by shoving Asha and trying to grab for the torch, again forcing other characters to react to him. It's just a bit much.

To be honest, having Asha whack Cook over the head and have it sort of "snap him out of it", at least a bit, would be helpful, I think.

Yeah, we're gonna need a way to be happy that Cook is part of the group. Right now he's there by force and he's not making himself very popular ;)
The first real danger that comes up he might be the sacrificial lamb if nobody cares about his well-being. He might become the liability that stopped being useful at some point. Unless that's what you're going for with your character, of course.

I think we're all willing to give Cook a chance and see if he can turn it around, but every action against the party will make it more difficult.

@GM: Does it go against the "play to find out what happens" idea to guide a character to being liked in the party?

No, not at all.

If we want to push the game in a particular direction we should talk about it and try to get there. Somethings we can even assume to be inevitable and not rely on dice or random outcomes to drive them. The characters getting along with each other is an assumed aspect of games, so we really should try to get to the point where we can work together.

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We have to decide, as players in the game, how much effort we are willing to put into rehabilitating Cook. That does depend on paladintodd wanting Cook rehabilitated, or, at least, worked with. If not, then any effort is pointless. Even if we don't plan to keep the character around after this adventure --especially if we don't plan to keep them around, actually-- we need to make them worth caring about, if all we have is 'the now' with little prospect for 'future', the investment is all about the now, so the now needs to work. If the character is bound to die during this, then we need to care about them before that happens, else it is meaningless.

paladintodd: What do you think about having us 'fix' Cook in the next scene?

We have painted ourselves into a corner, but we could find a connection between Cook's madness and the temple, and find a way to bring him back. If you want we can discover who he really was, reroll the character and find that the crazy ex-magician was not real, and start fresh (even with a physical transformation away from 'old man', if need be).

This would avoid invalidating what we have done so far, but also rescue the situation we have ended up in where the character is not fitting with the party. It would also mean we don't have to come up with an explanation of for a new person out here 'in the unlikelies'.

Cook, after Rook's admonishment, was hanging at the back of the group cowed and silent. It was the GM that declared for Cook that "the others who came here with you do not matter." I played that as bumping into Asha on the way to the temple.

You want to 'fix' Cook but at the same time you've put a dome in front of Cook and declared that he definitely wants to go there. Am I supposed to go there? Are the others players going to then be offended that I'm making them deal with Cook's actions again?

The game is fiction first, right? If so, then no one has to 'like' Cook, we just need to find him interesting to the story. That seems to be a fail on my part.

I think at this point, the best solution I see is for Cook to be over-awed by the temple. He'll stand there silently soaking in the wonder of the place. In the meantime, the rest of you can show me how this is done.

That is my fault, I was not clear enough about what was happening and that you were all still in control your characters and their actions and even their choices. The temple's influence on your characters' minds only motivates them to come to it, it does not control them or dictate their actions.

All we can do now is work out how to move forward from here. I had hoped to see some more proactive choices from Cook once his mind was becoming clearer. I would still like for the character to be actively involved in and contribute to the story and events happening here.

Cook is alone in the temple, but the vine-door will not keep the others out for long. He has a chance to act, to investigate, to try to understand what is happening, or anything else. There is a compulsion on the 'dome' (it is actually a pile of bones, but you can not tell that from this far away) to 'go to sleep' upon it. If you don't want to take any actions, you are welcome to have Cook succumb to that and, incongruously, go sleep, which will reveal a lot to the others.

paladintodd: Are you amenable to trying to purge the crazy from Cook? Either he can help or the others can try to do it while he sleeps. But we need your permission to do such things to your character. Doing it now seems like it will be better than doing it as a result of the temple-quest.

Being 'proactive', if I read Rezart correctly, is the problem. He doesn't want the focus to be on Cook.

Cook is a mentally broken man. Having him suddenly get clearer doesn't make much sense to me in regards to the fiction. If his craziness - which hasn't harmed the party in the least so far and has provided a way to move the story forward - is really that big of a problem then it seems better to me, fiction first, to kill him off.

I think the problem is the number of hoops we have had to jump through to get Cook into the party, which is fine so far, but we do need to move away from how much focus he has been consuming and allow the others to get to drive the story without having to think about 'how will we keep Cook involved'. That effort needs to result in Cook becoming part of the party.

Let's find a reason why the other characters would want to keep him around. One that does not cut them off without him, so not another "we need him n order to progress" like we did with the finding of the temple.

If the character can become proactively helpful rather than an in-fiction drain on the party's energy that would help. There is "crazy" and then there is "so crazy he needs constant care". If we could move Cook from the latter to the former that would allow things to work.

We have a "cleric". Maybe we can "cast out demons" or something? But if you are resistant to attempts to turn Cook into someone who could function in society, then we may not be able to use him.

We need to shape the fiction around what we can actually work with, either we need to fix Cook, or we need to replace Cook (or some other route if anyone can think of one), both are a bit of a stretch to explain. Why would there be another character here to replace him with, why would the others trust someone they meet out here? simplest is to say whoever the replacement is was a fellow guard with the party the whole time. This seems harder than "the temple was messing with Cook's mind (as hinted at before) and now we are here we can fix that".

I don't understand your reply. Further discussion doesn't seem fruitful.

I agree he has had too much spotlight. I agree that he shouldn't be detrimental to the party (he hasn't in any way I can see). I agree the other players should want him around (he knows *something* about the temple and may be helpful). I agree a character shouldn't be distracting from the game (I don't think Cook is. The scream at the Captain was maybe too much). I agree that the player has to make the character fit the group, not the other way around.

If that explanation isn't good enough, kill Cook off. If a crazy old man is a problem for the story, kill him off. There must be a spiked pit around here somewhere.

That is a little bit concerning, but we do all agree that the dynamic needs to change, so let's see what we can do to turn Cook into an equal contributing part of the party.

What is Cook doing inside while the others are discussing their options outside?

Do you even want to continue with Cook, or do we need to work out how to phase him out?
Is there anything the others can do to help make Cook viable?

Rezart: So far as we know, Asha is not a priestess (but we can turn her into one if we want, I already have some ideas since your post).

Maybe Albert is the one you meant to address? He is the "cleric" mentioned earlier as he is a "priest of Raynor".

Oh, sorry, that's my mistake. I thought she was dressed or disguised like a priestess to start with? I can edit it out. I didn't mean Albert, because I didn't believe his faith was common knowledge to the patrons of his bar - though I guess that'd be up to him... Which do you prefer Albert?

Good point, his refaithing is kinda new.

It is up to TheGenerator how much we know at present. Though it will become apparent eventually, we can keep it for a big reveal later.

I updated my post to fit better

I enjoy Cook. Will try to figure out how to proceed with the story as presented without being a spotlight hog.