The party is 3 PCs and 4 NPCs (1 NPC party member and her 2 personal bodyguards, and 1 guide). The group is traveling in the wilderness with a wagon, 2 horses, and a mule.

They needed to reconnointer an army location, so 2 of the stealth-capable PCs (read: lightly armored and unarmored, but not rogues) left the rest of the group. The 3rd PC and the NPCs concealed their camp to avoid detection while the group was split up.

The 2 scouters looked the army situation over and was returning to camp when they were spotted by a patrol, and a fight ensued. The patrol was not an overwhelming encounter, but the fight could have gone badly for the 2 PCs. As it turned out, the 2 PCs won and returned safely to camp. Now, after the game session, I’m awarding xp.

Normally I award xp according to who was in a particular encounter. For instance, I’d just award the patrol xp to the 2 PCs in the situation, and call it fair. They risked the danger, they could have died, so they get the reward.

But this is rewarding the 2 PCs for splitting up the party, and is in effect penalizing the 1 PC for being willing to sit out the scenario for the good of the party’s success. The 1 PC stayed out of the scouting because:
1- She is not at all stealthy (plate armor, no big Dex bonus).
2- The NPCs would be outclassed alone against any of the patrols they had so far seen and encountered.
3- The horses and wagon have gear and loot they’d be dumb to leave completely unattended.

The Player willingly sat quietly, yet attentively, for 10 minutes while the other 2 PCs scouted. All the PCs took effort to find a concealed camp location.

When I randomly rolled the patrol encounter, rolled spot checks to see if the PCs were seen, and then began the encounter, I considered “duplicating” the encounter for the 1 PC’s location. But that would mean ignoring the party’s effort at specifically concealing the camp so that such an encounter would not happen. Kind of unfair to overrule that, and would teach the Players to not bother with such effort in the future — “The DM will make an encounter for us whether we try to conceal our camp or not.” Plus, just as the encounter was dangerous for the 2 scouting PCs, it would have been dangerous for the camped PC and NPCs — “Whoops, I just killed the PC who specifically played smart and stayed behind and concealed.”

So I’m wondering if I should just include the 1 PC in on the xp for the encounter with the 2 PCs:
1- To show that they are all “in this together” even when one PC willingly allows him/herself to be sidelined for the good of the situation.
2- To not reward anyone for splitting up the party and/or going off on their own to get more xp.

But, I also like rewarding xp to the PCs who actually earned it:
1- To reward those who actually take the risks/dangers.
2- Because one or both of the PCs could have died, but the other PC could not have. (Essentially reward for no risk.)

If things had gone better in the stealth for the 2 PCs, they would have had no encounter. But, as it turned out, they’d have been better off if the 1 PC had gone with them — they still failed the stealth attempt, and they would have had more help on their side. But, of course, they didn’t know this before starting out — they *tried* to be stealthy, and the 1 PC *tried* to help by staying at camp.

The xp award for the one encounter was significant — the 2 PCs would get around 50% more xp than the 1 PC would get. Having typed all this out, I’m thinking, now, that I’m going to award equal xp. This supports the “all in it together” factor, and the 1 PC (cleric) did help heal the wounded PCs when they returned.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I and my 6 year old son went to a 50s-style hamburger joint this evening to pick up burgers and hot dogs for the family for dinner. We’ve been there a few times over the six months or so it’s been open. The food is decently good when you want such food but don’t want to hit McDonald’s again.

The restaurant blares old 50s and 60s music through the overhead speakers. There are two big-screen monitors that look like old, wood television sets, silently showing old TV shows like The Andy Griffith Show and The Johnny Carson Show. My son was mesmerized by the TVs. As he watched, I explained it to him: a long time ago, TV was only black and white; there were no remote controls—we had to change the channel by turning a knob; there was no Animal Planet channel—in fact, there were only three or four channels, total.

Without taking his eyes off the monitors, he asked, “Did TVs have volume back then?”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

A few days ago, I had a meeting with some folks I’m looking to possibly do some business with. I was given an address and directions, and I looked them up on mapquest as backup. Unfortunately, the address I wrote in my note had a couple numbers transposed—my fault in writing or their fault in speaking, I don’t know. I couldn’t find their office until I was about five minutes late for the meeting. That’s annoying and embarrassing.

First thing this morning, I had an important meeting with the same folks as a couple days ago and some new folks. I had tried to look the address up on mapquest, but mapquest was having problems displaying the map images. So I had to leave without a map. The directions I was given were just slightly off, and I couldn’t find the street I was supposed to turn onto. A couple phone calls got me some landmark information, and I eventually got going in the correct direction. I was almost 20 minutes late for the meeting.

I hate being late for anything. I always try to be on time if for no other reason than it is just polite and respectable. It drives me crazy when someone else is late for an appointment with me. Even when I’ve got two kids to drag along, by myself, I manage to be on time for most appointments. I don’t like being late, for any reason.

I was busy last evening, so I wasn’t able to write today’s blog post. I also knew I’d be tied up this morning and so wouldn’t be able to write it until noon or later. (I try to post my daily stuff by 8:00 a.m. each day. But I don’t get paid for this blog, so it has to take a second place behind things I do get paid for.) When I post late I get an email from my mother “reminding” me. Sorry, mom.

I hope I’m over my late fever of this week. It just bugs me to be late, for anything and anyone. Apologies all around.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

We went through our laundry room to clean it up and throw stuff out. There was a pile of shoes and boots in the room that has annoyed me for a long time. I had a pair of yard-work sneakers in the room, but I made sure to keep them behind the door—out of the way and out of sight.

Back when I was in college, I had one pair of sneakers, one pair of dress shoes, and . . . that’s it. Maybe I had an old pair of sneakers in my closet I just hadn’t thrown out yet. Now, I’m surprised by the number of shoes I have.

– One pair of new sneakers.
– One pair of old sneakers for dirty/sweaty wear.
– One pair of really old sneakers for really rough dirty work. (Probably should just throws these out now.)
– One pair of brown dress shoes.
– One pair of black dress shoes.
– One pair of sandals only for wearing to pool or beach. (I hate sandals.)
– One pair of winter boots that I don’t know where they came from, and I’ve never worn.

I’ve got seven pairs of shoes!? That’s absurd. It makes me feel like my life has spun out of control. My world is all out of order. More than four pairs of shoes is just unreasonable, cluttery, and sloppy

I don’t know how many shoes my wife has. I once tried to count them . . . I won’t try again—that way lies madness.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com