Page 1179 - Tails of Empire, Part 4

Author: ChrisTheS

Guest Author’s Note: “I wanted to emphasize that despite everything that’s going wrong, everyone (well, almost everyone) is actually having fun. Especially Pinkie, who I felt was the one who most enjoyed her ‘cursed’ personality in the last arc.

This is the same dragon from this cover (fav.me/da4te49), which is also the same dragon from ‘Dragonshy’. Poor guy’s been trying to find a quiet place to nap for centuries and keeps getting interrupted.”

TS: How come you’re hiding in here?
RD: Eh. Turns out PvP isn’t as much fun when you’re the GM. You’re all doing fine without me.
TS: I thought we’d established that the whole point of this is for everyone to have fun. That includes you.
RD: Yeah, well.
GM: Hey, there you are. What’s up?
RD: All right, I understand, fine. I’m not as good at this as you, so I won’t get in the way. Satisfied?
GM: … I didn’t think it was a competition.
GM: You want to know something? One of my first times GMing… I set up an encounter that was supposed to be unwinnable to start, thinking that everyone would run away. Almost wiped the party.
RD: You?
GM: Yep. Had to bring in a GMPC to pull them out. That whole game was a dumpster fire.
TS: See? Nobody is an expert from the start.
GM: And I’m hardly an expert even now. I’m just pretty good at faking it.
TS: The important thing is to take what you’ve got and figure out how to fix it.
RD: … thanks, guys. And… I think I’ve got an idea how to fix this…
RT: Aha! Critical domination! Take that, pirate scum! As you might say, ‘how do you like them apples?’
AJ: Jes’ you wait. Ah just gotta take mah second wind—
PP: Joke’s on you, Moonlight! I’ve got a bolas here with your name on it! In really, really small print!
RD: Hey guys… can we take a time out here for a minute?
RD: So… this PvP thing… it isn’t really working, is it?
RT: Well… I suppose it is a little clunky…
AJ: It ain’t bad, ah wouldn’t say. Still…
PP: It’s… kinda fun.
FS: I’m quite enjoying it, actually.
RD: But it’s not really turning out like what I wanted. Maybe we could try again later. With a different system. For now let’s try to finish this adventure the old-fashioned way.
GM: Any objections?
RD: OK. “As the four sisters have each other at their mercies—“
TS: How can all four of them—
GM: Shh.
RD: “You all feel a rumbling from the nearby asteroid. As you turn to look, suddenly the rocky shell burst open, revealing—“
RD: “A space dragon!”
AJ: ‘Space dragon?’ Seriously?
RD: Yes, seriously. plunk I’ve been itching to play with this mini.
PP: “Mini” is so the wrong word.
RD: All right! <deep breath> Everyone roll for initiative!