Let the villain talk long enough and the odds are they'll give away something you can use.
If you're wondering, yes, there should absolutely be a bunch of Sense Motive checks going on here, at the very least. But since both Kevin and Sarah are busy and unable to verify the results, they're winging it.
... Is my convenient excuse for the fact that the real reason is it would drag the hell out of this scene and totally throw off the roleplaying pacing. XD
Good on Loki's Players to do a check in after doing such an emotionally heavy scene, especially with someone he's never played with before. Take notes, good Players make excellent villains.
Making Liam the ultimately cooperative, considerate player even as his character seeks to undermine everything while Kris single-mindedly bulldozes through plans despite nominally playing the good guy is one of the decisions I'm most proud of, I'll admit. XD
Ah, an "ends justify the means" type. Perfect for Loki. :)
If one will permit me to wax philosophical, even a bit theological...
I'm the kind of person who does indeed believe in "black and white" morality, but I believe most fall into a fallacious use of reductio ad absurdum when contemplating such a thing. That is to say, they oversimplify. Just because one believes every action could ultimately be classified as "moral" or "immoral" doesn't mean there is never any confusion on the matter. Don't think of an infinite black plain adjacent to an infinite white plain. Don't think of a checkerboard. Think of a complex mosaic, where two otherwise identical pieces can be the opposite color, and where there appears to be a lot of grey due to how fine and mixed the black and white pieces are in some locations. Allowing that I am wrong and there are indeed some things that are neither "good" nor "evil", then neutrality is not grey, but transparent and thus "colored" by whatever is around or underneath it.
And if all that sounds stupid... well... wouldn't be the first time I foolishly thought myself wise. ;) I believe there are some actions that are inherently wrong. No, I'm not going to list them, because I'm going for the most horrific things I could contemplate, and I'm pretty sure it would be a Terms of Service violation to discuss them... and/or get me on an FBI Watchlist. >.>
Oh, and TheScarletTroll: if this comment "disappears" because I've gone too far into waters you'd prefer to avoid having discussed under your comic, I will understand completely. Under another screencap comic I read, had the characters address a plot element to make sure it was clear it wasn't intended to represent [insert real world situation]. I made a post encouraging those of us in the comments to NOT try and force the issue. So two people did. XP
Nah, it's fine. Alignment's kind of part and parcel to anything D&D/anything tabletop even remotely similar to it. I'm just too case-by-case to even pretend I have a definitive personal alignment scheme, and none of the characters care enough about it to get on a soapbox. XD
EDIT: Eh, I probably shouldn't say anything even remotely similar to it because I'm almost certainly wrong or at least wrong on the degree of similarity. But I stand by the spirit of the statement at least.
I just love it when the monologue gives away their entire plan that lets you completely shut them down.
Morgan, the most powerful Wizard in the Empire, Left Hand to the Red Prince, had us cornered. We had recovered Ilgron, the Earth Artifact, but she had us where she wanted us. We each had a bag of rocks that we had planned for earlier as a distraction. Then the Monologue began.
“I am the greatest illusionist to ever live. You stand no chance. Everything you can do I can do better, blah blah blah, wizard, blah blah blah, superior.”
We scuffled a bit and she knocked us all out, but not before we tricked her with the rocks. When we awoke and saw that we were on the ground of the room.
“Wait, didn’t she say she was an illusionist? QUICK ROLL TO DISBELIEVE OR SOMETHING”
We turned out to be a few miles up in the air. Moral of the story, don’t tell the people you’re tricking that you’re going to trick them.
Author Notes:
If you're wondering, yes, there should absolutely be a bunch of Sense Motive checks going on here, at the very least. But since both Kevin and Sarah are busy and unable to verify the results, they're winging it.
... Is my convenient excuse for the fact that the real reason is it would drag the hell out of this scene and totally throw off the roleplaying pacing. XD