Greetings Players!
Let me start by saying I'm very excited to be running the Rise of the Runelords on this forum. As you all know, but I will re-iterate, this will be my first time running a game on the forums. I know a few of you have already run games on the forum and as such if you have any tips, tricks, advice, or things regarding facilitating the flow of the game please don't hesitate to send me a message. I'm always open to advice and feedback.
The most important thing for me in this is for us to all have fun together. If something doesn’t feel quite right, or if you have any concerns at all do not hesitate to tell me. It should go without saying that we're all here to have fun and create a story, but I wanted to iterate my thoughts clearly.
The story is the most important thing to me. That's driven in equal parts by us all. I'm very interested and looking forward to seeing the contribution I know (based on your character creation) that you will bring to this game.
I've decided I'll be rolling most everything out on the forums, if there is something to 'ret-con' or override I'll let you know and do so.
There will a short period at the start of the adventure to set your character up in the world, as well as interact before the game path fully starts.
I've been working diligently at preparing the ressources needed for our game. I would like to get things moving fairly quickly.
I do want to put this question to the group regarding combat. I've seen a few different methods for initiative and combat order. Something that really struck me was a group initiative versus individual initiative. (I.e. averaging out the initiative scores and then running it as all PC's then all enemies, or vice versa) I feel this approach may speed up gameplay. Order of actions would then be based on whomever posts first. I'm looking for your opinions on this matter. In short, running initiative as ordered based on score, or group initiative.
As always if there are questions, please ask!
Group initiative is working really well in the game I'm running. I definitely recommend it.
I am delighted to hear that you will be handling the rolling. In regards to group inititiave, I agree that it may speed things up and therefore will be beneficial to a good game pace.
I have done both and group initiative has worked better in my opinion.
Great feedback, I'm leaning towards using that then, especially with 50% thus far saying they have had good experiences with it.
By end of day as well, please ensure your character sheet is up to date. If you could include your Armor Class and HP in either your class or race section that would be much appreciated. I'd like to have an at a glance for those.
Clarification on the rolling - I'll be rolling out NPC's visibly on the forum, not just informing you of what's going on. I'd still like to have you as players roll your abilities and major checks. I'll take care of anything passive or anything missed.
|
Group initiative is great and I personally use it for a lot of encounters. The one thing I do do is separate out some named opponents as shown below.
[u] Round 1 [/u]
Bold may act.
Player A
Player B
Jim the Giant
Player C
Player D
Minions
I only do this at times where having the named act with the minions could cause an issue. Either the potential damage of everyone at once is so great that a PC will probably die or the named has a wildly different stat block.
The other method I do is keeping the players as their individual rolls and averaging the opponents. After the 1st round the players all act together but it gives an advantage to people who invest in feats to be faster.
In reality I do not have an issue with either way but just throwing that out there.
I also do group saves and perceptions where appropriate to speed things along.
In the PVP environment, group inits is just amazingly simpler. As noted, in fights that are intended to be lethal threats, that can go badly, quickly.
I'm In one PFS game where the GM is sticking exactly to rolled inits, and each round is 3 or 4 days, due to the timing of players checking the boards.
Also some great feedback. How I think we will move forward on it is group initiatives. I'm going to 'hybridize' the named encounters specifically to avoid what could potentially be an unintended disastrous moment.
I'm looking to find ways to speed up the gameplay a little so it doesn't get bogged down too often, and we can keep the momentum as well as track of the adventure.
Do you have a consistent place you would like prepared spells? I put it as the lead of on my character sheet but can put it anyplace.
No, no specific place. I'm going to reference your sheet as needed. I trust you, that you know which spells you prepared and that you keep track of what was consumed.
I've been preparing the introduction, and I'm going to post it live tomorrow. We can get the game started!
The start of the game will take place at 6am on the day of the Swallow Tail Festival. You'll have some time to introduce you character and establish as being in Sandpoint. The only requirement I'll impose is by mid-day your character needs to be in, around, involved, partaking of the festival.
PVP? PBP. <sigh> That's what I get for posting from my phone during work.
|
|
PVP? PBP. <sigh> That's what I get for posting from my phone during work.
Phone posting. Inconceivable! (or as I really think literally impossible)
I've been preparing the introduction, and I'm going to post it live tomorrow. We can get the game started!
Excellent.
I have never been in a group with two clerics so this is exciting.
Yeah, I look at the group mix, and I keep running into the idea that I'm gonna be forced to "hold the line" to protect the archer and spell casters.
We'll see how it ends up actually going.
Rogar can take a beating as well. He doesn't deserve it but he's prepared for it.
Hopefully our other arcane brings some crowd control though. Rogar won't be casting spells at enemies too often.
We will see how it goes but I was kind of planning on Kesni being able to be in the front lines as well. I imagine her using her bow to start fights and then switching to a two hander.
I am more experienced with the initiative system Cobble is speaking of but am quite happy to try the group one you are speaking about.
Azorius is an Abjurer Wizard so mostly hoping to toss out defensive buffs more than direct damage spells but I've got a spell slot primed with grease and aim to get a few other handy spells like pit to mitigate enemies at least a little bit.
Rogar what schools are you going with for prohibited? Given the high strength are you going eldritch knight?
He's reasonably good at the current level with his bow.
I'll be focusing on transmutation buffs. I'll use CC effects that don't offer saves, maybe. Banning enchantment and necromancy. I'm not going eldritch knight, but I might use shapechange effects later on and help with melee. Depends if I think I can survive doing that.
Edit: Looking closer, it seems like we have a pretty solid melee presence with Kesni and Rast. Buff them up, that could be all we need.
Azorius will probably be standing behind the front rank to boost their AC with his protective ward class feature, +1 deflection bonus to AC at level one isn't anything to turn your nose up at.
@GM Levanthus I've been having good success using maps with Google Slides. Might be worth considering.
I thought it interesting to take classes like the cleric and the ranger who have the ability to front line, but don't have to exclusively. However my selection was truly based on the character concepts that you all created, they are wonderful and I believe have so much potential.
I have faith the six of you will survive. Given the proficiency with which you've all built your characters, I'm not worried.
@GM Levanthus I've been having good success using maps with Google Slides. Might be worth considering.
I appreciate the tip! I've already set up the first two maps with tokens. Took me a couple of hours to figure it out, but we will be doing our combat on them.
Learning more about who we want our characters to become just makes it easier to work out how they'll share the load.
Like most pure rogues, 'Dada's not much in combat without his sneak attack dice. Won't keep him from trying, but it can limit the effects of his contributions.
----
I had a dwarven cleric I played once upon a time. Group was settling down for the night, inside a cave, and we got attacked at the entrance. Guy on guard duty took a beating, and called on my dwarf for help, so he trundled up and started fighting next to him. Guy didn't say anything in or out of character until the fight was over. THEN he said "I was hoping for some healing." Cleric or not, the dwarf saw an obvious need . . ..
----
Character personalities do more to determine how labor gets split up than character class. I think the above discussion is going to help, long term.
Edit: Oh, and "not the best defense"? Rast is tied for the best AC in the group right now. 'Dada's only down 1 point of AC from the two of you.
Edit 2: Wyndel shows 2 points of armor but has Studded Leather in his gear list. That will bump his AC up to match mine.
Wyndel's AC is a little messed up. It should be AC 14 (11 touch, 13 flat-footed) based on his gear.
Finishing up my sheet right now. It won't take long.
Edit: It is done.
Hopefully a lot of the time Azorius should have mage armour running in which case he'll be running of 17 as well.
@Rast you could always pick up a heavy wooden shield and drop it as a free action once you get into melee. But 16 AC is pretty solid for a level one two handed build.
I am very excited about this group.
Wyndel begins this journey expecting to be returning to his wife and children on their small farm. He knows that they are safe and is proud that they can do well without him. However, his heart is with them but it is his duty to travel with the villag furs, meat, and herbs Sandpoint for the Swallowtail Festival. Sandpoint holds many blurred memories and represents a very shameful time in Wyndel’s life. But as it is said in the Parables of Erastil, “Avoiding a difficult task does not make it any easier. Do what you must and not what you want.” Wyndel is of a mind to find a good dog while in Sandpoint to bring back as a surprise for his wife.
Wyndel does not seek out trouble but is not afraid to do what is needed. Wendell prefers his bow but will also step forward to protect another. Wyndel is tough and determined and often fights on after many other may have fallen. “It is better to fight a bear from afar, but you don’t always have a choice then you just have to be tougher than the bear or faster.”-Parables of Erastil.
Wyndel will progress as is needed and is natural. Perhaps a dip into ranger if the party is needing a little more “melee” muscle...
I think if Wyndel just gets some medium armor and a shield, he can stand up front and cast buffs/debuffs. No reason to go ranger, probably.
Hell, you could take heavy armor proficiency and be a solid meatshield if you wanted.
I think you'd be disappointed at trying to focus on attacking with 12 strength.
With your strong wisdom score, you could definitely use aggressive spells like Command and Bestow Curse etc, though.
Levanthus, would it be acceptable to make some minor equipment changes before we begin play?
Of course! Adjust away.
Looks like the gameplay thread is live, everyone!
Wyndel given your good I would think you would want to stick with the longbow. I would think we are ok for front line but we shall see.
My conception of Rast has him dipping barbarian at some point. He had quite the anger issue growing up and it is possible he will use it in Desna's name.
I only changed Wyndel’s armor to scale mail and added a buckler(which still allows him to use his bow primarily) and switched his sickle for a short spear which is more in line with his role as a hunter.
The game is a foot! The majority of the preliminary and preparatory work is done for the first half of the chapter. Weekends being a little more hectic, and this being the first time I've done this. It took a little bit to figure out the style and such.
Looking forward to writing and progressing with you all!
As for just kind the character stat development, glad to see that people are open to multi classing, or playing non standard archetypes! I'm curious to see what you guys do with it.
Got to say the first post was really fun, and doing a little thread-weaving is an exciting prospect!
Is it safe to assume that I do not know this other dwarf?
Your call. Depending on how you want to play it. I’m good with either.
Ok. I can only post from my phone during the day so I'll usually post in the evening CST from home unless it's a quick post.
Big fan of using music in that way. Let me know if you ever need assistance choosing a song!
Thank you for the acknowledgement, but I wish I could take credit for that idea, I actually took the idea from Mr. Lazyclownfish. He included it on his background and I thought to myself. Man...that's a hell of an idea. I wish I'd thought of that
As a result I told myself that when I'd run this, I'd put the same love and effort that I do to my table tops, so the links are a great resource to use.
So thank you Mr. Lazyclownfish for contributing.
Now that we've got a little bit of the introduction off, I'll be moving the festival along a little. Feel free to partake in the activities that are listed in the flyer. Any character points will have to be put on pause once the dedication of the temple takes place, then the train 'get's-a-rollin!'
Festival is in three parts - Welcoming speeches and lunch & swallow tail release, festival fun and games and lastly the consecration.
I
do
that
a
lot
That you do!
Hope you guys are enjoying the start, I'd have to say for my first play by post, loving the interplay thus far! Keep up the great writing. Definitely seeing great writing styles.
A second thought, more as an aside, once the consecration of the temple takes place, I'll be shifting the posting style from one large post with individual threads (slowly they're coming together) to a point by point style as things roll in, with the over-arching story thread.
Fear not, the frequency of posting rates will increase from the once daily to several from the GM!
Yeah, I find that works a lot better for me in the game I run. The sooner you are able to respond to stuff, the smoother the players' posts come in.
One big post a day can miss a player's posting window and delay things an extra day.
Edit: My situation is that I can check the forums all day on my phone but I like to sit down and get in the right mindset at home for IC posts, so I can't often post during the day. I could probably post several times at night CST.
Good advice. I was thinking something very similar to that this afternoon. Being EST time zone it offsets things just a little bit.
I just realised I haven't picked Azorius' resistance for the day from his class feature. Going to roll it randomly for the first day, in future he might be a bit more informed.
1 Fire
2 Cold
3 Acid
4 Electricity
5 Force
6 Sonic
7 Negative
I shifted Rogar's alignment. He feels neutral good.
I hope that's ok.
Edit: I took those coins off my sheet so don't forget to add them to yours.
I just realised I haven't picked Azorius' resistance
No worries, works just fine by me.
I shifted Rogar's alignment. He feels neutral good.I hope that's ok.
No problem, it's early enough and you're getting the feel of Rogar.
I like that I get to use perfect English in the Dwarven spoiler and then his accented dialect everywhere else. XD
Ugh.. my last post was hastily written and contains a spelling error. Shame on me.
Hopefully it makes sense that he's introducing himself there. I could've probably done that a bit better.
Thanks for including Rogar, Wyndel! I was having trouble figuring out how to justify him deciding to get involved on his own.
No time to post IC until 8 or 9 CST tonight, but assume Rogar follows along if anyone goes over to the sheriff.
Sounds good!
I've posted a list of the contests available, if you'd like to partake please do, if there are more explanations needed please don't hesitate.
The 'downtime' is wrapping itself up. There will be a post indicating the Dedication will occur soon, and that's when we pick up the start of the AP.
Thanks for including Rogar, Wyndel! I was having trouble figuring out how to justify him deciding to get involved on his own.
No time to post IC until 8 or 9 CST tonight, but assume Rogar follows along if anyone goes over to the sheriff.
No problem! I was excited to see a dwarf in the party since Wyndel speaks dwarven and it gave me an opportunity to explain how and why he learned it.