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01-13-2015, 05:01 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome enemy
A character idea I had on the back burner for a long time was the idea of a Bard who ditched his wife who was a powerful individual to go on adventures. The two different ideas I had for the ex wife was either, a beloved queen of a good sized nation that doing well economically, or a giant fire-breathing dragon that had the power to destroy nations. In both cases the character was not aware of their status until after he was married (the dragon disguising itself as a human during the courtship.). The idea would they would be pissedor some reason, whether it personal feeling being broken or the bard did something like steal a valuable treasure on his escape, so the Bard would have a very powerful enemy and would have to keep a low profile.
Hm so I was discussing this idea with a friend and mentioned I considered a dragon since well it could in theory be less trouble then an entire country. My ideas being that a country could create political pressure on the country lands my bard is hiding in, as in "Give me this individual in chains or else our trade agreement is over." But then my friend pointed out a intelligent dragon that was powerful enough to basically destroy nations could do the same. "give me back my husband in chains or I will burn your entire country to the ground." I don;t know anyone has any opinions on this, Is their things a country as can do to make things miserable for a high priody target that a super powerful individual could not? Would one really be a worse enemy to have then the other or are they kind of the same level of bad? |
01-13-2015, 05:09 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
Can either of them call in allies to help put pressure on the country that's sheltering the bard? That's a force multiplier that could make a big difference - but it's also a setting-dependent force multiplier.
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
01-13-2015, 05:13 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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If she's really as powerful as Godzilla, for ex, (i.e. indestructible) it's different than if she's more like Smaug. But an individual super-enemy vs. a nation or other big organization is a very different prospect. If the superenemy knows where you are and can corner you, you may be more screwed than if you're facing human opponents. OTOH, the nation can be in many places at once. That is, the dragon-girl is presumably in one specific place, and if the bard can keep track of her location he can make a point of being elsewhere. If my ex is in Poland, I make a point of going to Japan or Paraguay, so to speak. But a powerful state could have agents in both Japan and Paraguay at the same time, and it might be a lot harder to identify who is and is not working for the government in question, since we're talking fellow humans or the equivalent. If the bard has friends/relatives in the home country, they too give the government some kind of leverage on him that the dragon might lack. The superdragon might have a vulnerable spot the Bard could find, physical or psychological, too, that wouldn't apply to the armies and intelligent personnel of a human state. The bard might know the mind and thinking of the dragon better than he can any one of the many many employees the state could send after him, making the super-ex a little more predictable. OTOH, the bard is a lot less likely to win a physical confrontation with the dragon than any given soldier or spy, on balance. This is one of those cases where 'which is worse' is highly contextual. |
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01-13-2015, 05:13 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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Well I suppose if a country has an allied country that would go on a witch hunt like this or the dragon knows other dragons who owe her a favor...maybe. |
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01-13-2015, 07:21 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
I'd say the country is better from a GM point of view. With the dragon if there is an encounter the party either flees leaving a devastated area in their wake or is toasted. Toasted is kind of game ending. With the country they can have encounters that they can win and the threat remains to happen again later.
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01-14-2015, 08:50 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
As Johnny touched on, there are too many unanswered variables concerning the power of the dragon.
Trying to work the logic gland without spraining something in my head: 1) The dragon is all-powerful and unreasonable. It is a god-monster and there are really no "nations". Just tribes of "monkeys" allowed to live at idle whim. Nobody would shelter the Bard and he'd be turned over the moment "god" requested it. 2) The dragon is all-powerful but reasonable. A civilized mind that will listen and think before striking/eating. Such a mind can be bamboozled, tricked, lied to and otherwise misdirected. Trying to determine if she has been bamboozled will require she carefully investigate incognito as a human. This is a slow process, like with any bounty hunter-fugitive scenario. The Bard has to keep moving, but should keep well ahead of his vengeful ex. 3) The dragon is not all-powerful and therefore it makes no difference if reasonable or unreasonable. She'll make demands and be the irresistible force until she meets the immovable object. And then she's an ex-dragon. A nation can be a beautiful assassin with poison or a war fleet blockading the coast and demanding the Bard or anything inbetween.
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============ "HEY, today you're thinking with your whole head!" -- Spike (of "Sugar & Spike") ============ for a rootin' tootin' good read: Home on the Strange: A Brewster and Brewster Adventure |
01-14-2015, 08:50 AM | #7 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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As a balance to "can either spurned party call in allies?" also ask "do either have rivals the spurner can ask for support?"
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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01-14-2015, 09:02 AM | #8 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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And now I've got two images competing for my headspace: 1) Wife: "Sweetie, I hope you can still love me, but I'm really a dragon." Husband: <tries to punch wife, but is held back by security> Audience: "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry." 2) A dragon and a bard in marriage counseling.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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01-14-2015, 10:08 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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That's going to matter both to how the bard approaches his problem, and how other people interact with the situation. That'll also affect how other people react to his problem, too. For one ex among many, there are likely to be people who will regard "spouse lied about being human" as a more valid reason to leave a spouse than "tired of being prince consort". They might be more likely to hide/help to escape/defend the bard for the former than the latter. What does she want, exactly? Is she zonked off in an exasperated spouse way and wants her husband back home? Is she zonked off in a royal way because he's messed up the political and social balances of the state? Does she need him to be the father of her offspring for some specific reason? Does she intend to kill him? Torture him? Imprison him? That too matters to the question, because it'll apply differently to a nation or a dragon/superbeing. |
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01-14-2015, 10:45 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome e
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Tags |
dragon, enemy, on the run |
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