I think when you've played with a group long enough, and they've asked every question imaginable, they imagine up new ones to torment you.
Actual question from game on Sunday:
What color is paut?
My answer? I don't know. And I don't want to rule on it because, somehow, this will come back to haunt me. It'll be a specific color and then people will ask if it's paut because of the color, is this paut colored, if it's paut colored is it magical, can I get poison that is paut colored, can I get food coloring for my paut so it's a different color . . . aargh.
Look, it's probably blue because of Diablo. But honestly, I don't care. It won't matter. If people really need to know the color - in this case, so they can tell the casters what color the paut is in their bag in case they're unconcious and the casters need to sort the paut from the other potions - they can just tie ribbons of a specific color on the bottles or label the freaking bottles PAUT in large, friendly letters.
But geez, what color is paut.
Oh brother.
Silver.
ReplyDeleteI believe it was GURPS The Cabal that described it as silver.
I had no idea it appeared somewhere else than DF, thanks.
DeleteMutably iridescent, and slightly viscous, like opal-colored Gogurt that slowly and subtly shifts the exact rainbow of colors it displays over time and as it flows. There is nothing else that exists that can duplicate its appearance - anything that has been made to do so just turns out to be paut.
ReplyDeleteI actually like these sorts of questions. They demonstrate the players engaging with the setting in ways beyond "I hit it with my axe".
I'd like them, too, if they weren't ways of:
Delete- adding more things I need to keep track of
- making a simple problem (how do people know my paut stash is paut?) into a larger set of issues (what color are the various potions, and can we then ID them by sight instead of with Alchemy, and does the color of other things indicate an effect, and can we change those colors for effect . . . just off the top of my head.)
- adding detail that doesn't actual add any interest. We've played 15 years and what color is paut hasn't been an issue. Now we need a color for it? What does that add? It's only interesting if there is paut of a different color, or the color is useful to do things you need to do another way . . . see my second point.
To me, it's a detail that detracts instead of adds.
The historical paut was emmer beer with ibis blood and silver in it. So it probably looks like blood beer.
ReplyDeleteGotta say, I don't get it. Seems an utterly harmless question to me – the kind of thing I want from players who take an interest in fleshing out the game world, even trivial details.
ReplyDeleteJust answer "sparkly blue", or "no standard color" to shut down any and all fears over the establishment of a hue. [shrug]
He wasn't asking to flesh out the game world. He was asking to establish a fact that can be used to establish other facts later, for some in-game benefit.
DeleteA benefit of playing with the same people for decades is you spot a leading question from them when they ask it.
I had a whole thread running in my game about an alchemist bucking the mage guild monopoly on ibis blood by using the yolks of raven eggs instead and using an Odinate rather than a Tothian symbolic system of decantation. His concoction was bluish and drinking too much atbonce would dim one eye and occasionally grant magesight as a side effect.
ReplyDeleteThe simplest answer is that the bottles are not clear glass. They are ceramic due to the "adventurer's lifestyle, they need to be rugged".
ReplyDeleteOpening one to "check" is an Alchemy roll to do so carefully without mixing the contents with the outside air or introducing foreign contaminants and being able to reseal it without changing it's status as a usable potion.
I always go with "all Magic potions are clear liquid, because Magic". It eliminates the questions, and necessitates Alchemy.
ReplyDeleteI'd have gone with "there's lots of different kinds of Paut and they all look a little different, many of which look like other potions. Roll Alchemy or Thaumatology to tell them apart if you don't trust the label."
ReplyDeleteIs everything okay in your group? There haven't been any blog posts in a month. Usually even if you aren't running Felltower you have a couple updates on other RPG blogs you find interesting, board and video games that are consuming your time, and typically a heads up when the next scheduled Felltower session might be. But you've been unusually quiet in February and March. I hope everything is okay and we'll be getting more good content from you and your friends soon.
ReplyDeleteWe've all been scattered about and busy - but we should resume Felltower play in a few weeks!
Delete