Monday, December 16, 2013

The Dangerous Gnome in the Pink Robe

Despite an earnest intent to blog using my WordPress blog, that didn't happen. I can't clearly say why, but it didn't.
So I decided to make a Blogger blog and start fresh.

I think it is fitting that the new blog will start its run with an explanation for its peculiar name:
I was sitting here, thinking what to name the blog, looking at other RPG blogs to attempt to understand why they are named the way they are. The best I got to is that the names represent something about the gaming habits of the author. Looking at what made my games what they were, one particular session and incident stuck out like the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
We were playing Ambition & Avarice, and an old-new player (my best friend, recently returned to the locale, who we promptly had join the group since he's a kickass roleplayer and team player.) was using one of the homebrew classes - an Artificer. His character was a Gnome since that makes all the sense. He toted around a curious mechanical staff with something that's pretty much a shotgun strapped to the end of the staff. The character was conniving, zany, somewhat insane and very bored so he was inclined to start trouble and be a complete bastard.
The party had received a task to investigate disappearances from the town after a cave had opened up nearby due to an earthquake. On the side, they were informed that the town guard is paying handsomely for proof of bandits killed in the area. Preparing for looting and an easier journey, the party packed their retainers as well as a cart pulled by a mule.
Intending to get some bandits on the way, the gnomish artificer had went to the local tailor to pick out a garment to make himself look vulnerable to bandits. Due to a roll to determine what was left, I decided the poor roll left the single most garish thing there - a pink robe. He wanted to look harmless and an easy target and I doubt there's any bandit who would regard a gnome in pink as anything but.
While traveling, the heavier hitting members of the party hid in the cart, covered by a tarp, while the gnome drove it. On their way back from the dungeon, after having slaughtered some relatively weak vampires in their den, bandits did attack.
The bandits descended on the cart and made some threats and gnome's player, in character, appeared at ease but surrendered all at the same time and dismounted from the cart. As the bandits circled the cart to look inside, the gnome points his staff and without so much as batting an eyelash or letting on to his true intentions, make several bandits into half-bandits. The remaining bandits are taken care of in very short order by the other characters and some more loot was had as they were heading back.

The reason the blog is named in the spirit of that character is because that experience stood out as extraordinarily fun. I didn't question their plan, or the garment or their methods. They came up with something so silly and fun and absolutely bonkers and letting it go along, spearheaded by the gnome in pink, probably made a good session great.

Further escapades from the same session by the same gnome - extorting double the payment out from their employer using careful management of bodies and information, improving the image of the rest of the party by leveraging said management against the rest of the town, negotiating better conditions for the party within the town and getting acquainted with the local famous alchemist and getting relatively free lessons.
In all seriousness, this is one very dangerous gnome in a pink robe.

So that's the story of a gnome who's name we honestly can't remember but who turned a mediocre party into an amazing one, all at the same time becoming its leader and roleplaying so well everyone at the table improved. I think to name the blog after that gnome is more than fitting.

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