Beyond Fort Horizon (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Valind is now levelled. Bought some knowledge skills for him - hope it was a good plan.

For the record I think the best time for Valind's spells to recharge is 8am; preparing for the start of the business day ta 9 am.

I will try to get a pdf document of the area you are exploring up soon.

there is a new link at the top of the caves called "in the caves" that shows an overview of the area you are in right now, north is at the top of the page.

What can I do to make this game better for each of you?

I'm not sure what you mean, Terquem. If you're asking because of the delay in posting, my life's been busy the past bit, and I also didn't know what to post beyond, "Okay, I pick up a shovel and dig," which felt odd to say. I dunno.

I feel like I've been dominating this section. I wanted to give others a chance to post first :)

Thanks for the feed back, still, if there is anything you can think off that I could do to make it better for you, please let me know.

I have (a) been busy with work and RL so posting has been sporadic and (b), I have never been one to simply do a "blah blah" or "joe stand there
, post. Which is why you see me only post 1/week in the Woodbridge game because I want my posts to have substance and depth.

I think you're doing a fine job, and keep it up. I am curious to see where the tunnel leads and what we find/excavate/etc...o.O

Yeah, your storytelling and world building are excellent! I am really enjoying your style :D

I can't think of anything right now, but if I do, I'll make sure to let you know!

I've got to run over to Boise, about 5 hours from where I live, to deliver a rebuilt computer to my son in college there this weekend, and I won't be back till Sunday. Great posts, everyone, sorry for the delay.

Okay, an encounter is ahead, so I will be looking at each Character's rolls, and trying to build a good map so we can work through it, Stay with me, it might take me a day or two, thanks!

Sure!

Also, I've been busy lately, and frustrated, because I want to keep up on all my games, but things are not working out the way I want them to.

I must attend a class, and will be away from computers on Monday and Tuesday, so unless I can update tonight, you won’t see me again until Wednesday, sorry for the inconvenience.

No problem, DM. Thanks for letting us know!

Understandable - good studying.

Not a problem! Good luck with your class!

looks like I flubed the map, I'll fix it tonight.

Nope, fixed it now, seems I dropped one digit from the file name when I was entering into the link. Should work now

I have a quick question about AoO's. Since the creature entered a space threatened by me, 10' away, and then continued moving to within 5' of me, do I get to make an AoO with my glaive and potentially cancel the grapple it performed?

Well that's tricky, I think you definetly get the AoO, but I'm not sure it stops the move, since you don't actually get the AoO until it moves out of the threatened square and I think if the attack succeds the movement ends in the square moved to, but I need to do some homewhork on that.

Just throwing in my two copper, but I think Edren gets the AoO, but it doesn't affect the grapple situation, since I believe the grapple's only disrupted if there's an attack of opportunity provoked specifically by the grapple attempt.

I've had a really busy week and got put on a project to design and build an automated robotic bar code reader for 55 gallon drums, just been swamped, but I will get back on this game this weekend.

wow - that sounds fun.

wow, ten days! Portia, Edren, would you like me to NPC your actions? Haven't heard from anyone.

Plan is/was, to finish this encounter, pick up a very important clue in the "closed" elevator and then go back to the fort. Wondering what happened?

Just noticed my last map update did not get captured correctly. Updating the game thread now, but it might be a bit wonky as the map does not show where everyone currently is, I'll fix it tonight.

Okay I think the map is correct now. I had to move Sithundan one square further than he described.

A Breakdown of Derrick's Attack and Damage Bonuses

Attack
+2 Base Attack Bonus
+4 Strength
Normally when Power Attacking, Derrick would take a -1 penalty to his attack roll. However, he has the Furious Focus feat, which allows him to negate this penalty on his first attack roll in a given round. As such, his full attack roll on most attacks is 1d20+6.

Damage
1d8 Base damage from the katana
+6 Strength, since Derrick wields his katana with both hands
+3 Power Attack
Additionally, when Derrick challenges a foe, he adds his samurai level to his damage rolls against it, which means he's getting a +2 against the creature at the moment since he challenged it back in Round 1.
Not applicable right now, but when Derrick performs an iaijutsu strike on the target of his challenge, he gets extra damage, which is currently +1d6. For the sake of logic, I usually also calculate damage on these attacks with Derrick wielding his katana one-handed, since a two-handed draw from the hip doesn't make a lot of sense to me. This might be what's throwing off numbers.
So, right now, Derrick's full damage roll is 1d8+6+3+2 (since he almost always Power Attacks).

Hope that clears things up for you!

Thanks Derrick

So, you are all back in Fort Horizon. You can do whatever you want to do.

My original plan for Valind was largely to settle down, but given the much smaller group I think I would be better off treating him as an adventurer for now.

Since the beginning of the campaign Ultimate Campaign has come out. Terquem: is there anything you are looking at in there in particular?

We left the quest and came back; was the plan to resupply, possibly re-recruit and head back out? Send some time doing something else (and levelling) then retry later?

Valind wasn't really designed as an adventuring cleric, so possibly he should settle down and I should be looking at a different character?

Honestly, Valind, I really don’t know. I will take a look at "Ultimate Campaigns" for guidance, and I am going to go back and read my initial notes on this campaign to see if there is any hope of turning it around. I realize it has become dull and stagnant. I imagined there would be more interaction between the Player Characters and between the PCs and the NPCs, but somehow I flubbed that in a bad way. So, I’m open to suggestions.

What do the Player’s want out of this game?

Now, for some good news/bad news

My daughter is receiving her Master’s Degree in South East Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The graduation ceremony is on May 17. The wife and I are going to be there! We are leaving for Hawaii on the 13th and will be back on the 20th and, honestly, posting will not be high on my list of things to do while I am there ;)
So there will be a break. I hope everyone can put up with it.

Congrats, Terquem! Happy to hear the good news, and fine with the break. Thanks for letting us know.

As for the game, I'm not sure exactly what's to be done. Derrick is a combat-oriented character, but I'd also love the opportunity to RP him with NPCs or the other characters. I think part of the problem may be party size and concerns about adventuring with a group of two or three while the others stay in town roleplaying. And post rates have, at least for me in the past few weeks as college comes to a close, been slower and erratic at best.

Hopefully we can all get into the action and RP soon.

Wow - Hawaii... we're just getting into winter here, so I'll envy you that trip :) Congratulations to your daughter on the Master's Degree, I understand there is a lot of work in that.

One of the reasons I joined up was because I wanted to see how you were running the interactions between multiple PCs, some of whom were adventuring. I run tabletops, PbP, and LARPs, and I had some concept of how difficult that was going to be. I thought it sounded ambitious and I was intrigued by your ideas. While I am forced to agree that aspect of the campaign has proved problematic, I'm still very impressed with the framework you have set up. I wouldn't say you flubbed it - this was an experiment and I for one learned a lot from it.

I think this was a well built and imaginative PbP (setting and posts) so I was happy to stay on with it as a more 'conventional' game.

Being a DM is hard work as it is so don't feel bad bout anything. Me as a PC, and Marcus as well I am really unsure how much interaction to do with NPCs because I don't want to seem like I am "hogging" anything or outshine anyone else.

If you would like more interaction I can definitely provide more, in both this and Woodbridge campaign. Otherwise I would call this call a flub, I have enjoyed it thus far and have ideas and plans for Portia and Issabelle

Don't forget to wish your Mom a Happy Mother's Day (here in the US) and on the outside chance there is a Mom playing in one of my games,m Happy Mother's Day to you!

Is the game alive or dead?

I can't decide. I want it to be alive, but I don't really know what the players want. I don't want to just throw a random, "quest" at the group. I was hoping that the players would want to talk to each other about what they would do now that they are back in the fort, or at least want to seek out an NPC and talk to that person about what they wanted to do, but that is not happening so I am going to have to send the NPCs to you and ask you what you want to do.

let me try something today.

I knew that u were heading to Hawaii like you said so I didn't want to start a whole bunch of NPC conversations that you had to try to sift thru upon return. I don't have a reason as to why I have done any PC integration tho.

I think each player is a great creation, you all worked hard on what you built, and today I hope to approach the group with at least a few NPCs and poke you with simple questions.

I hope something will spark an interest, something that the Players want to get involved in.

I appreciate that no one has given up, officially, and that everyone has been patient with the break.

Yeah. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to do anything myself--I worry about "hogging the spotlight" so to speak, or anything like that, a lot of the time. Especially in games where people aren't posting much, I'd hate to make it look like I was having a back-and-forth with myself and/or the GM.

Plus Derrick isn't the sort to start going on about his plans (especially since he doesn't have any, really)

I am going to try to recruit a few new players. If you would like to drop out of the game, now would be a good time.

Also – I am dropping all requirements to keep track of experience points gained by talking to each other, and will not be tracking that concept in this game any longer.

At this point I intend to turn this into a basic wilderness adventure (while still keeping open the possibility of there being intrigue and adventure within the fort for anyone who does not want to go “adventuring”)

Sounds fine, Terquem. Hopefully things keep relatively active, and I'd be up for stuff happening in the fort along with adventuring in the wilds.

New characters will be joining soon, I hope, and an NPC will tag along.

Thanks for being patient and supporting this awkawrd game.

It's fine, Terquem. I've enjoyed it very much so far.

Right now I think the most awkward thing is the portrait I've got for Derrick. I didn't like the old one, but this one doesn't feel right at all.

Hello, fellow explorers! I am Droka and this, he points to a shadowy, canine figure projecting from his shadow, is my pet G'Boi. I have come from the shadow realm in search of music to enliven my home; the chants and simple tunes with which we get by at home are not a worthy medium for my talents! Perhaps some of you can teach me new songs, and may our deeds provide the libretto for many new ones! Ever the showman, Droka bows grandiosely.

Derrick looks the man up and down and gives a small smile. Ah, a bard. I suppose we can't all take up the sword. "Well met, Droka. I look forward to your companionship in our service to the Fort."

Welcome. Portia is the name and this here, as she pets her feathery friend, this is Issabelle

"A musician? I'm a lawyer myself. I know the music and legal industries have nothing to do with each other, but I'm sure we can get along!"

Here's my character

A tall muscled humanoid of unclear origin steps into view and bows slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, may my skills and abilities be of service to the mission.

So all the stuff in Bold is In character? Okay :)

A slim, cloaked and hooded figure doesn't step into the light, but skulks in the shade. Her red-green eyes shine dimly as she watches the various humanoids move about.

Please have a read and review, tell me if you think it's okay

We are about to add a lot of new character, please be patient with me (and others) as we set out across the scrub/mountain forests to deliver some much needed supplies to Mystic Valley

It’s going to be a bit of a stretch of the imagination to add this many new people to Fort Horizon (while maintaining they have been here for a while) but well get through it.

With this many players, expect me to post initiative rolls for players if they are a bit slow, but please don’t feel pressure to post. Let’s try to have a good game and thank you to everyone

Also, with this many new players, I'll leave it up to all of you if you want to join the group going to Mystic Valley, or stay in Fort Horizon and see what turns up here.