Mangroves of the Desert (Inactive)

Game Master Herkymr the Silly

BTW, Herk have you seen the Honey Badger's page? Or at least heard the news?

Yeah, absolutely I can help. When would you like?

asap

and no on the badgers whats up?

Okay, my schedule is probably more flexible than yours, if you want to give me a call whenever you're available, I can help walk you through it.

As for the badgers, it's closing up in early December. There's talk about a reunion on the 10th or 11th. We'll talk more about it when I talk to you later.

Im off almost everyday by 530 and home by 630ish.

Hope that everyone had a great holiday. Cant wait to see what DM has in store for us.

lol holiday was good. hope it was for the rest.
Still trying to find time to get our mr monkey to show me how to post pics to google docs. Haven't had the time to catch him when I know he isn't sleeping and I am where I can actually do something about it.

Soon as this can happen or if someone else knows how and can given written destructions for me ..... then I will be able to move on with story.

Sorry for delay it is right at the start of what appears to be a very busy busy season for us jewelers.

I will keep the story going though some of my posting may be a bit erratic for the busy season

Open the Google doc and on the top menu bar click insert, first option in the list is image. Click that and then either choose the image from your computer, or change the tab on the popup window to URL and paste the URL for the image you want in there. BOOM! Done.

thanks will get something up Thursday if not before.
Thursday is my off day.

Let me know mang and richard if the links worked to the appropriate google doc.
Thanks mang I was able to figure it out just needed a bit of guidance.

All of you, Thanks for sticking with me. The holdiay season is always busy with everything.

So far we have made and continue to make a good run into the depths and weave of the Fifth Port world.
I hope that you are all having fun and continue to do so.
I have doen several pbp's bothas DM and a player and Honestly feel that we have one of if not THE best group of people in our game.

Lets keep it up. Feedback for all is always welcome as long as it is in professional language. Just remember that advice is freely given, take it or leave it it usually is worth what it cost you, and I will always give my 2 bits but you dont have to spend them.

The same goes for anything you have to give feedback on with me or any of the characters in game.

Richard thanks for not giving up on us and all even when you were unconscious and had all the RL stuff going on. I appreciate that you asked "what" I expected because atleast in my head it was obvious.

Dangit, that was the most epic of failures right there. Oh well I guess I didn't see anything. HAHA....sniff, sniff... little tear.

Will try to have something up later tonight.

lol

The link worked

Lol. Maybe I can help.

lol

** spoiler omitted **

I did but not until after I posted so that I did not meta or unfairly assume anything

Ready action can ONLY be taken when in initiative.

Will post more shortly hopefully tonight

I thought there was a way to effectively do the same thing out of initiative? It seems like a reasonable thing to be able to do? Like if we were playing at a table and someone said "If he moves I zap him"...
If it's hostile and comes into view does that start initiative? Is that the issue? From a rules perspective I'm not sure I understand why that's not allowed.

You can prep for it but it doesn't change anything other than you are preped. Rule wise it helps to avoid people walking around saying if it is hostile I zap it. That makes it so hostile and zap and other such general collaborative words have to be more defined and specific to fit each situation.

Ya I could see a situation like you described becoming game breaking in the worst way.

Ya I could see a situation like you described becoming game breaking in the worst way.

Mang I was thinking about it as well and I think the hang up we were having is just waht you expected and/or I expected to be allowed from --- and the terminology off-- "ready an action.

You may PREPARE to take action outside of combat BUT it doesn't do anything9automatically) when combat initiates. I will when I feel the situation warrants it of course give bonus or penalty for combat if YOu decide to PREPARE and action outside of combat.

I think this seems fair. I was thinking that you wanted to "ready an action" so that if anything happened you would get to react first.
To me that is metagaming and powergaming in direct application. Thus immediately disallowed.

I dont think you had the same "full" intent when declaring this "redy an action"

I think we are sorted out now. Would you agree?

All The rest of you ....
What do you think?
I am willing to entertain other options and adjust rules if we as a group feel it "flows" with game better.

i may have something posted later tonight but if not I will on the morrow. Thursday is always my day off so you can generally expect more game "movement" on thursdays.

So will be gone for the weekend. Feel free to discuss things between group and decide what your options and actions will be.
Don't expect much as to posts between now and Jan 2nd. It is really really busy at work and I am trying to complete a shop before the snows get worse all at the same time.
It will ease off a bit in jan so should have more time then.
I will try to keep atleast 1 post aweek during this time.

HAPPY Holidays and A MERRY CHRISTmas

Herkymr, did my reply to the troll-like creature give you the information you were looking for?

Quinten...Great Response!! Gave plenty AND it fit your toon so very well in style and content as well as the thoughts being added in gave a better understanding of how you view your character.
You will be benefited from this I can and will and do assure you. It helps to enhance game and is really what the process of collaborative story telling is about.

Thanks

Shadara, I enjoyed your post. I'll keep my eye open for an opportunity for Quinten to explain why he's accepting Shadara's claim to leadership.

So back in swing then. I'll try a post a day but it might get a split splotchy at times for about 2 more months...busy season.

I encourage inter party dialogue. So far the group is somewhat connected but still really dont know anything about each others backstory and it iwll make a difference in how the game plays out.

I am hoping that Richard is going to be able to join back in. We as a group have worked to bring his character into the story with lots of possibilities it would be a blow to have it disappear. Ill message him...hopefully it was just the holdiays and work. And now that the holidays are slow maybe his work will be to.

Quentin, love the post.

so...it seems that Richard will be back in full force now and regularly posting. Thats good I would hate to have such a promising player fall out of the game.

Tht being said...He is a bit unsure as to where you all are and what is going on.
Somebody wanna take a stab at a synopsis?

And btw LEVEL

Synopsis:

While you were looking at the orb, I saw a large creature sneaking towards everyone. There was a lot of action while we all tried to prepare for anything. Unfortunately, I don't think any of us were prepared for him to be friendly. He spoke with us all a bit, seeming to know quite a bit about us and our band. He left us some items and two stories (Herks recent posts), then left. Now we're kind of discussing it.

As for me I'll post my post in the morning. Definitely excited to get into a bit of background with everyone.

Quentin, I appreciate that you are including your "thoughts" on things as you discuss with party. It helps with flow and even though kinda a form of metagame I have no problem with it. It actually helps facilitate cohesion. I also am appreciative that you link info on what abilities you are doing in ooc's etc so that I have quick access. It makes it much easier for me to focus on the group and game as a whole without having to take preparation time to look up the information.

I'm glad the thoughts and links are helpful. I might tone them down if my posts get too long or I've used a mechanic enough that I think you'll be familiar with it, though. That post took several hours to write.

I suspect you've picked up on this, but I read most of the spoilers. It can be hard to separate what I know and what Quinten knows, and to be honest, I don't always succeed. However, the risk I'll metagame seems a small price to pay for the opportunity to write posts that are consistent with what the others have seen. It also makes me feel like the game is moving faster. I hope that's okay.

Richard, is Jerram's post enough of a synopsis? Also, are you planning to look for the object mentioned at the end of your spoiler in this post?

I caught the spoiler reading thing. from talking with jerram and Shadara I know they do the same. Post and then look at spoilers that's only fair.

I enjoy the help but I do expect and will expect to be held to know some of them as they get used more and more.

hp roll: 1d8 ⇒ 8 just so it is know what the roll was. Is it ok to do this way for do you want it another way.

I was looking over my character and it looks like we've just taken Max HP every level before this.

But Just in Case: 1d10 ⇒ 9

We've been operating under a house rule under which hit dice are automatically maximized for the first five levels. Beyond fifth level, we each have the option of rolling or taking the average. See the posts preceding this one for the justification.

Correct Quinten. I saw that we are going to level 6 and show searched back to that post as well. From level 6 forward we had agreed to choose each level where to take the average of hit die as our level or do a straight roll. I decided to roll rather than take the 4.5 rounded up amount. As you can see it worked out for me and for Jerram it works out at well to have rolled. I figured that I would go ahead and post out here as to show dm a real roll.

On another point, I know that the holidays have been crazy and posting has been sporadic. I know that we have been making allowances for posting due to that and other exceptions. My concern is for Richard. The last in game post was a month ago and last discussion post was December 14th. We have had issues off and on concerning players who for any number of reasons drift away from the game and in turn hold up the game for others. Please don't mis-understand. I love the possibilities for Richard and I do not want to sound like i want to boot him out. I do feel that we should have a guideline setup however to hold players too. I was looking back and could not find the post concerning how often we agreed to post in this campaign. I understood it to be to try to post every day. Now I know that I have not been a consistent everyday poster but I wanted to get the groups view on what the limits should be before a player is in danger of being "voted off the island". I have my own idea to present but I would rather start the discussion as an open ended question without tainting views with my opinion. So to that end please help me out here in answering these questions.

1. What is the goal for number of posts in a week. (This can be separate for game-play and discussion or combined.

2. What is the amount of time with no posts before the player receives a warning.

3. Are there any disciplinary actions beyond DM choice that should happen and when

4. Once a player has passed a certain tardiness is it group decision or DM decision to remove the player.

I apologize if I have offended anyone with this post. I try to hold myself to a certain level and with not being able to find the answers to these questions I have found myself to be lagging a bit in my posting. Normally in other gaming situations I would go to the DM but in this case Herk has been very vocal on and off site that this is a group game and that we are the ones creating the world we play in.

Thanks Shadara.
I have been a bit befuddled as to what to do with Richard. He has a unique character and so many options for me and him to enhance the game. The amount of consistency or lack there of is an issue for me. I feel several times I have had to delay a post or an action from "gm" waiting for his reply.
I have contacted him in PM. I was told some of his situation but also given reassurances to his posting. I'm still hoping to see some.

I am open to options and I am hoping to have Richard weigh in as well.

Thanks Shadara.

I have been a bit befuddled as to what to do with Richard. He has a unique character and so many options for me and him to enhance the game. The amount of consistency or lack there of is an issue for me. I feel several times I have had to delay a post or an action from "gm" waiting for his reply.
I have contacted him in PM. I was told some of his situation but also given reassurances to his posting. I'm still hoping to see some.

I am open to options and I am hoping to have Richard weigh in as well.

I also can't find the exact post on posting requirements. I have in previous games asked for once a day if possible but minimum of 4-5 times a week. I don't expect Sunday posts but that is your decision.

That's my opinion. I know I don't and often can't post once a day but I try to get in atleast 3-4 minimum a week. With three kids, busy season, and some illness issues, I feel I have been atleast somewhat successful.

I don't feel it unfair to expect the same.

I am back and should be able to post a lot more regularly. Work has entered its slow season (with a slight busy streak during tax return time) and we have some new staff coming in so no more mandatory overtime. My main issue now is trying to catch up and figure out a good jumping on point as it seemed I missed a bit more backstory things and I am kind of lost on what is going on.

Correct Quinten. I saw that we are going to level 6

I'm not sure about your level, but I just moved up to 5. I thought I moved up to four with the rest of you, but I could be totally wrong about that.

I am back and should be able to post a lot more regularly. Work has entered its slow season (with a slight busy streak during tax return time) and we have some new staff coming in so no more mandatory overtime. My main issue now is trying to catch up and figure out a good jumping on point as it seemed I missed a bit more backstory things and I am kind of lost on what is going on.

Welcome back! Glad to see it.

glad to see you, richard. If I get a chance maybe thursday I will see about grabbing some of the posts and doing a synopsis for you.
No promises though as I am still in busy season.

I believe you should all be lvl 5.

I also can't find the exact post on posting requirements. I have in previous games asked for once a day if possible but minimum of 4-5 times a week. I don't expect Sunday posts but that is your decision.

I feel that as long as posting is semi consistent and doesn't slow up game and fun, then whatever works.
I think the main thing here is to communicate WITH the group as to what is going on and work with All of us to make exceptions as we need.

That's my opinion. I know I don't and often can't post once a day but I try to get in atleast 3-4 minimum a week. With three kids, busy season, and some illness issues, I feel I have been atleast somewhat successful.

I don't feel it unfair to expect the same.

For what it's worth, I got a shocked "Wow" from an online friend when I mentioned that we were originally expected to post once a day. Apparently, the play-by-post game he used to be in expected two or three posts a week. That guideline seems reasonable to me.

I'd be okay with a higher minimum, but it's more important to me that people post fairly quickly when they've got the spotlight or they're being called to act. If someone's character has been asked a question or it's implied the rest of us are waiting on them to act, posting should be a higher priority than it normally is, even if the post is only a note in the discussion thread that they'll post when they can.

I'd also like people to post even when something doesn't directly involved them. That makes the story more interesting by forging connections between the characters and showing their personalities.

Shadara Windless wrote:

Correct Quinten. I saw that we are going to level 6

I'm not sure about your level, but I just moved up to 5. I thought I moved up to four with the rest of you, but I could be totally wrong about that.

We've been treating the NPC class level as Level 1 and the first player class level as Level 2 rather than combining them as we might in a gestalt game. Thus, we're Level 5 in our main class but Level 6 overall. Is that incorrect?

I am back and should be able to post a lot more regularly. Work has entered its slow season (with a slight busy streak during tax return time) and we have some new staff coming in so no more mandatory overtime. My main issue now is trying to catch up and figure out a good jumping on point as it seemed I missed a bit more backstory things and I am kind of lost on what is going on.

The campaign premise

The story so far
1. The half-elf ninja and alchemist Shadara left her home among the reclusive Beldeni in search of adventure. Near the gates of Fifth Port, she met a servant or manifestation of the rakshasa, who asked her to form a group capable of performing an undefined task. She recruited the warrior-druid Mang and the silent monk Jerram, among others whose players have left.
2. Before reporting back to the rakshasa, Shadara and company took a job from Jerras, a sorcerer with an interest in history, to deliver a dragon egg to a place where it would be safe. The teacher and occultist Quinten Gladwell acted as their guide, for Jerras said the delivery would anger the Yellow Scorpions, a gang that stole artifacts from Quinten's home.
3. After delivering the eggs, the group met Jana, a dragon. She asked if they would work for her and her allies to thwart the creator of the storms, a task we all agreed to. She also suggested that Richard accompany us in order to find out more about his past.
4. The group returned to the Linder Lost, the inn where we have been staying. There, Quinten and Shadara went to speak to the rakshasa. Because the creature had killed one of the group's earlier members for no reason, we knew it to be evil. Although it tried to bribe Shadara into accepting its mission, she refused and gave it to the payment it demanded for backing out of a deal.
5. Meanwhile, Richard met a painted dwarf who seemed to know something about his past, and Mang helped stabilize a noblewoman who fainted in the inn. She has a grub inside of her, but rather than being the cause of her ills, it appears to be what is keeping her alive. Quinten says she is the daughter of his family's patron, the good member of the Triumvirate that rules Fifth Port.
6. As the group gathers around the sick noblewoman, they speak with Marry, the inn's owner and former head of the Witches of the Covenant; an elf-turned-dragon; and Vitras, an ancient vampire who assisted with the egg delivery. The dragon gives each of us a task.

Shadara needs to unlock the power in her bow, for it is one of the weapons created by the Witches of the Covenant, the Oracles of the Elements, and the Sentinels to combat the storms. These weapons are called storm bows and are tied to gems like the one Shadara carries, but not all of them are bows.

Mang needs to return to the land of his people, whom the rakshasa destroyed, to find an oracle capable of healing the noblewoman now in his care.

Richard and the painted dwarf must go to ruins near Mang's homeland. There, they might be able to unlock memories that can help them understand why the rakshasa and the Order of the Eternal are killing The People Who Came Before.

Quinten must go with Richard and use his knowledge of history and artifacts to help the amnesiac recover his memories.

Jerram wasn't present during this meeting, having left the group to retrieve certain scrolls from his monastery and burn the others. However, because he is seeking redemption for murdering the Yellow Scorpion who threatened his wife, and because the Yellow Scorpions burned his monastery, he has every reason to help us.

Today's events
After a night's rest, the group meets with Jerras, the sorcerer who originally hired them to deliver the dragon egg. Because a bounty has been placed on the group's members, Jerras offers to buy supplies for everyone. We spend some time discussing what to get.

While Jerras is shopping, Shadara, Mang, Jerram, Quinten and Richard head to the druids' groves to meet with Gigi, one of their leaders, who has a message for Mang. At the entrance to the groves, we are passed to a guide who leads us to a clearing with a graveyard in it. After the guide runs away, the group is ambushed by creatures who claim we've been to areas we shouldn't be and threaten their race. We defeat them, but the creatures' bodies explode, leaving nothing behind to give clues as to who they are.

During and after the fight, magic in the headstones responds to the party's presence. For some reason, the magic causes Richard to faint. After reviving him, Mang, Quinten, and Richard try to determine what the headstones' magic is doing. They fail, but somehow, the magic invests Mang's stone globe with an image of an area he recognizes from his childhood. By speaking to a figure within the image, the druid learns that it is there he can find an oracle.

The headstones' magic gives Richard a vision as well: a map that shows the world before the storms and eventually zooms in on Richard's former home. The vision fades, but it imparts on Richard the knowledge that he should pick up a green stone hidden behind one of the gravestones only a few feet away.

These events have been monitored by Gigi's stealthy emissary, the bark-skinned hag hunter who never gave his name. Instead, he shares two stories and reminds Mang and Shadara they stand a better chance of restoring balance to the world if they can find ways to inspire and lead people with different beliefs.

Jump-in Points for Richard
1. Pick up the green stone the headstones' magic revealed to you and figure out what it is.
2. Tell us what you think the stories mean, or comment on them in some way. For example, you could urge us to get moving or relate a similar story Richard heard as a child.

Short-Term Tasks for the Party
1. Quinten needs to go to The Academy to pick up several books from his father, who is a Sentinel. One of those books discusses the Sentinels.
2. The party as a whole needs to go back to the inn to meet with Jerras and pick up the items he bought. Then we'll rest and set out the next day.
3. After leaving the city, the party needs to go to a nearby abbey to meet with tiefling scholar who might know information that can be used to defeat or weaken the rakshasa. For now, we've been asked to leave the rakshasa alive because observing him is allowing our allies to watch Kharif. However, eventually, we'll have to fight the rakshasa.
4. Once we're done at the abbey, we're off to Mang's homeland to find the oracle and the ruins that may hold the key to Richard's past.

I have a post planned, I'm just waiting to see what Richard does before I do anything

Great write-up, thank you. Welcome back Richard. Glad to hear that things are calming down for you. I am excited to see you character grow in the story.

Nice summary!

For level, according to this post, the npc level didn't count as a level. I'm not sure if that's continued through though. Herk, any input?

correct jerram npc level is Free level to stregnthen group but doesn't count as anything.

Great summary. You will get a bonus of something shortly for the effort and especially time it saved me.It also reminded me of two points I had forgotten. Important points I might mention.

Thanks all for the input.
Anyone have any thing quinten may have forgotten or missed?

correct jerram npc level is Free level to stregnthen group but doesn't count as anything.

From the post Jerram linked to, I understand the level doesn't count for experience. Does it count as a level for determining the maximum number of ranks we can have in a skill, when we get feats, and abilities that depend on character level rather than class level, such as the variant multiclass Bard's bardic knowledge?

Now I'm just confused. Anyway its a lively conversation so maybe I should ask more questions, just kidding.

As far as the synopsis goes I was curious if I should add some things since Richard can "read minds". My character has been doing a lot of thinking and will continue to do so. I have just more recently started writing thoughts in game. There are some things that were not mentioned like:

1. My mothers seems to have spoken to me in a vision in the Linder Lost. Shadara has off and on been pondering whether she is alive or not.

2. The Mental conversation that happened when we delivered the egg to the Sentinals where we met richard between Shadara and some unseen figure. I will make sure to incorporate them a bit more in game now.

I have not been very good with thought information but I will be working more on it.

The recap helped alot thanks I will try to get something posted tonight. Also I'm putting a point into linguistic to learn that sign language of its all right with you all. I was thinking of having it be explained that Richard uses his mind reading ability to learn what the signs means.
Also was thinking of getting the drudic decoder feat to show that he has some understanding of the ancient drudic language and ways from his peoples collective knowledge. Would like your opinion on it before I do.

Investing a point in Linguistics to learn sign language and fluffing it as Richard picking up the meaning from others' thoughts sounds fun and thematically appropriate to me. I'm not sure what to think about the feat. My gut says it might be stepping too far into Mang's area of expertise, but it could make our occasional interactions with druids less dependent on him being able to post, and Richard understanding druidic ways might give Mang and Richard more reason to interact and respect each other.