GM Wolfspirit's Into the Unknown Red Table (Inactive)

Game Master Wolfspirit

To discuss!

Thawizkid -- I found a website with a brief guide on how to start with play-by-post on the paizo forums.

I'm also more than happy to help with any questions. Feel free to ask here or in PMs.

Also Here is a template you can use for the stat block.

We're about to get into combat. Is there anyone that hasn't posted IC that is still in?

I'm still in! I'll post tonight or sometime tomorrow.

I think we're gonna find out if ghouls can piss their pants.

Ah, starship combat.

Let's start out with a handy link to an SRD page on starship combat for easy reference.

OK so.

Captain requires good intimidate, diplomacy, and Bluff. I have a +6 to each, and Diplomacy is my expertise.

Engineer requires good engineering. I cannot fill this role.

Gunner requires good dexterity and BAB or piloting ranks. I have +3 on dex, so I could be a backup gunner I suppose. I don't think I can "get 'em" during starship combat.

Pilot requires good piloting. I have only +3 to this.

Science officer requires computers. I cannot fill this roll.

Ghouls do not excrete waste. However, this one clearly had no stomach for the battle ;)

Hishrizzik has a +8 to piloting, which might make them the best pilot?

I have a +4 in engineering and +7 to diplomacy and +10 to intimidate.
No pilot rank nor dexterity to help in other post.

I invited Nina to join, since the quests are set up for it :)

Delta-5 has a +9 piloting, +6 computers and engineering, and +5 gunnery, so no think he is the best pilot.

Oooh good call. Dang, I don't know what I'm good for, then...

Science Officer? I also have a +6 to computers.

Any engineering?You know, now that I think of it, since technically each portion of a quest is a separate section, I believe we can rejigger our stats (skill ranks and such) between them at level 1.

I have engineering +4, I can do that if you want to. I can also keep up with it as we level that way we have an engineer ;)

OK so we have:

Pilot: Delta

Science: Hishrizzik

Engineering: Nina?

Captain: Gargalus

Gunner: Sorka?

This is not the greatest. Did Thawizkid ever actually do anything? I don't see any posts from him at all since the beginning.

GM, since we're all at level 1, and each quest section is considered a separate game, can we do a rebuild between them? I know if we use pregens we are considered to be using fresh pregens with all items restored in each quest section.

I looked and I couldn't see anywhere you -couldn't- do a rebuild if you wanted to. Let me know when you guys are set; I'd like to get things rolling tomorrow at the latest.

Here's the way I tend to run PbP Space Combat:

<pre- step 1>: The party determines the positions everyone will use for the upcoming round.
<pre- step 2>: The party determines where bonuses are going to be allocated for the upcoming round (including Captain Aid and computer bonuses)
Combat!: GM rolls both Pilot Initiative and Enemy Initiative.
(If the Enemy ship loses initiative, I will move it at this point.)
Party acts simultaneously for all Starfinder actions, including but not limited to:
Pilot moves the ship appropriately and uses any stunts
Captain Action rolls
Engineering Action rolls
Gunning Action rolls, etc -- There are only two guns, so you can do "Rolls attack if in firing arc for Forward gun, otherwise, assist gunner"
Finishing combat step: Please suggest changes to bonuses / positions in your post / before the last party member posts.
Round 2 (etc): start from "Combat!"

I'm set!
I've done a little rebuild as I've have my hand on some boon for Gargalus at PaizoCon!

He his now from The Manyfold Host minor faction :) and a better looking half-orc :P :)

OK I have adjusted my character slightly to make him a better gunner. He now has an 18 Dex and 1 rank in piloting, so a +5 to attacks with the guns before any bonuses from computers or anything like that.

I am at a conference this week and expect to be very busy. It is, for me, a work all day long conference and I don't expect to have much downtime where I have energy to post. Bot me as necessary.

So, GM, I presume that after the first round, "pre-step 1" will typically be handled in "Finishing combat step"?

Yeah, it cycles in like that. Just designate if you're swapping spots before the start of round 2.

It's funny, I was actually discussing space combat at a FLGS today, and describing it in Play By Post setting. Assuming you hit every time with the biggest gun, you're still looking at close to 10 rounds of combat start to finish, which could stretch out to 15-20 days... I'm debating options next time I run the quest pack.

On vacation this week so slow to reply

I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but I have a lot going on right now. It may still be a few more weeks before my posting rate is back to normal. Sorry for the delay, everyone.

Life is greater than Roleplaying. I can bot you as needed; take care of yourself.

So, this is my 4-5th time running Space Battle on PbP, an even with trying to streamline things (Single "phase" for everyone, etc), I'm still finding it's a slog. Partly it's the heavy reliance on the rolls of the Pilot and the Gunner(s)

Things I'm considering doing for subsequent games are:

Having a tighter window of time before botting. Right now it's 1-3 days per round, which due to the pretty high damage thresholds, can still take over a month.

Rolling the "current" turn's attack / damage along with initiative. That way players can say "My current action is X / Since we took damage this round, next round I'll move to Engineer and attempt to repair."

For the Quests specifically: allowing full rebuilds between Quest chapters. My observation is that the Quests are all built to "teach" something about Starfinder. The first one was "There are advantages and disadvantages to both Ranged and Melee attacks." This one is "Moving after the enemy and strategically placing your ship is important. Almost important is hitting stuff" That's fine for a 1.5 hour introductory session, where you can go "Huh, Dexterity is actually super important in this system" and try again afterwards. When a single decision takes months to unfold, it's less fun.

Anyway, does anyone have thoughts?

Follow the angry GM's advice and call fights when their outcome is no longer in doubt and they're no longer fun. :-)

More to the point of your question, I'm all for botting after 24 hours and collapsing phases together. I don't remember how GM Ewok did it but I remember their space combats being pretty fast.

Space combat is always a slug-fest, in my experience.

Faster botting might be the way to go.

I agree, once everyone has given his action, you can bot people to get thing faster.

Agreed that you can feel free to bot people--me, at least!

In the interest of disclosure, I posted the same thing to the other table, which is less "Starship optimized". I did want to wait until at least 3/4 damage before calling it, but yeah, the rest of the fight is pretty much settled at this point.

Im back from vacation

Captain Wolfspirit, do you read?

Hi all. I am going on a belated honeymoon and will have only sporadic access to internet between now and August 4th. I’ll try to check in when I can, but please don’t hesitate to bot me if need be!

Hi all. I am going on a belated honeymoon and will have only sporadic access to internet between now and August 4th. I’ll try to check in when I can, but please don’t hesitate to bot me if need be!

Congradulations. And will do.

Is there a feat that lets you flank just by both being adjacent to the foe? Because it doesn't look like Nina is in a flank.

Yeah, it doesn't look so either. I moved her in the direction that would lead to a flank the quickest.

Duh...found it! I'll make sure next time

Once you're done investigating this area, the next (and final) portion is another space combat. So let me know when you're ready for that.

Ready !

Ready!

I'll rebuild my character as previously noted, with a rank into piloting and more Dex.

Moving things ahead since you missed anyway ;)

I'll be visiting family until Wednesday, then traveling to GenCon. If we can I'd like to try and wrap this up before then... though obviously that is dependent on dice rolls :)

I will be at GenCon through Sunday.

Weird... all the text in this thread is red now.

blech. I couldn't post due to maintenance, now I too am at GenCon. Will make an update tonight.