ShootFirstAskQuestionsLater

Not to mention the knowledge that you have a year and a day to corrupt and degrade the fallen.  And gloat some more.

It's worth noting that we get answers to our questions. It's a refined technique.

This is what I get for running a game with 3 necromancers in the party --Edith

The first rule of intelligence gathering magic is "Don't give the players access to it" the second rule is "If they have access, make its use interesting." and the third rule is "Don't let it always be an effective option - especially don't funnel all other actions through it"  Of course, if I knew how to do that, I'd be better at running plot instead of silliness.  --Vitenka

I'd say it was interesting. Part of the Abyssal setting involves death really not slowing a good number of people down much. It could become tedious eventually, but... -- TI

Fair enough - it's just it's something that is generally hard to do well and remain interesting.  AgathaChristie? plots and magic don't mix.  --Vitenka (Um, not that I'm calling your game... ShootsFoot?.  Dies.)

GM: Ok, you think he's dead

Player: I summon his ghost to make sure

GM: <rolls dice and pretends it means something>

GM: Ok, his ghost shows up

Player: I bind it

GM: Erm... I don't think there's a way I can stop you from doing that...

Player: And then I order him to tell me everything he knows about his organisation - And no lies!

GM: Damm! Er, I mean yeah, ok.

There's always a way. If you can't think of it you just need more GMing practice. Remember: anyone who tells you the players are not your enemy is only telling half the truth; they may not be your enemy, but they're damn sure the enemy of your plot.

Yes, what I didn't mention is that I usually don't have anything against them doing that, it's kind of tedious on occasion, but at the moment it's rewarding creative thinking and it advances the plot so: *shrug* why not? --Edith

Shoot second too, just in case...

''The procedure in AFILAW seems to be charge in with a Dire Lance first, shoot second, hack with a daiklave third, throw things fourth, chop away with a pair of swords fifth, thwack repeatedly with a seven-section staff sixth, fling huge numbers of chakram seventh and fire a couple of arrows eighth. Or something like that.

Predictable initiative rolls? --Edith

They're fairly predictable. In general foreseeing in the webs of fate that a battle is about to start makes you quite good at reacting first. That order was roughly what happened to an insane, fae-tainted Zenith Caste Solar who the party were a bit scared of...

Solars don't seem to have a very great life expectancy in non-solars games... --Gwyntar

Syrtis and I did argue for not killing him, but the rest went all Bronze Faction on us... -- Senji

Well we actually have no particular grudge against solars, but these guys attacked our death cult just to annoy us, and I didn't want them to find out too much, and it was one against three, so I thought I'd kill one of them to drive the other two off. --Gwyntar

Well, you know what they say about heroes... --Vitenka

It should be pointed out that despite the above attacks (and the "hacking" with a daiklave wasn't very hack-like, as it was Syrtis) being conducted by 5 Sidereals (the sixth holding magic on hand) and 5 immaculate monks, and resulting in a dire lance to the upper body, a throwing knife in the caste-mark and various other unpleasant effects, the solar did survive a round of combat, and even made an attack. Which Syrtis blocked. The solar was then dire-lanced to death in roughly the next initiative slot. --CH

([Syrtis] looks aggrieved. And not just because he's been picked up and summarily deposited through a gate to Yu-Shan.) Just because I use a little more... finesse than your average axe-wielding Abyssal - I can still cut things, you know. --Requiem