Gern Hammerfold |
Im all for knocking him unconscious and tying him up. We'll deal with him later, or perhaps find him dead at the hands of the little ones who've had one too many close calls with him.
Giorgio Karakos |
A landed punch from any character with a strength bonus would render him KO'ed and not dying, and since it's unexpected and he's unarmed, all it would do would break the charm before he falls to negative HP.
Giorgio's also for knocking him out and dealing with him later, but since he's digging wax out of his ears, he's sorta missing the conversation.
GM Aest |
I'll give him an opportunity to reroll it. If he doesn't take it, I'll do it for him when I recap combat.
Giorgio Karakos |
I suspect we're all going to be a bit spotty with postings over the next few days, so no worries about recriminations for holding things up on my end. :) (Myself, I'm working the 24th-28th, so I know there's days I won't even get to look at this board, never mind post.) Happy Holidays to all, and congrats on orphan rescuing!
GM Aest |
Hello, all. I'm sorry, but I'll be away from my usual computer (including my PDFs), and will be unable to run this game for the next week or two. This absence will last from later today until either the 29th or the 2nd, depending on when I return from Christmas vacation. I hadn't thought about what missing the books would mean for my ability to run the game. I'll see you all on the 29th or 2nd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (or whatever other holidays you may celebrate)!
GM Aest |
Thank you for putting up with my vacation. I'll be back to my books tomorrow, so expect a post sometime around 7:00 PM MST.
Kazadarin Darlok |
Awesome.
GM Aest |
Thanks for a great first 250 posts!
Giorgio Karakos |
Unrelated directly to our game (and too late for us), but too fun not to share:
http://whothef!&$ismydndcharacter.com
Added the clickable link because profanity filters. :(
GM Aest |
Hey, I'm sorry, but I'm dealing with potentially losing my job and searching for a new one, so my posting could be a little spotty over the next week or two. Just thought I should let you all know.
GM Aest |
It's come to my attention that we've been trying to kill Lamm for like three months now, and that this whole "no boat, no clear way to him" thing might be a little frustrating for you (it sure is for me). Laijiri makes her perception check to find the secret door (spoiler alert: it's a secret door!) because I want to move the action forward.
GM Aest |
The map and the book give two options. The first is to lower someone through the hatch in the workfloor and have them swim over to the little boat, and the second is the secret door. In all the COTCT threads and campaign journals I've looked at, only like three groups have lowered someone. I suppose a creative/determined/book-reading group could just hack their way through the floors, but...
GM Aest |
Good luck with your schoolwork, Giorgio. Will do. Sad you'll miss the spider combat though.
GM Aest |
A13. Sorry, I haven't really messed with the map in a little while. The spider fight didn't really seem to require it, and I kind of forgot about it. I've been keeping a rough track of where everyone is in my head.
Tiny Litsy |
He did a great job against the Gnome and Cie though! Don't underestimate his skills :) The Dicebot God(dess? who knows...) is pretty capricious, that's all!
GM Aest |
So, this is the end of the first section of the first book, and it seems like a good time for me to do this. In the discipline I got my degree in (history), critique and criticism is huge. I'd like to improve as a GM, and I'd like your help to do it. Other than the map issues (which I'm working on; I'll have a more functional map for the next 'dungeon', and one that I keep updated), what can I do better? Please don't say I'm doing a perfect job, because that's not true.
Gern Hammerfold |
I've done a fair bit of PbP DMing of this site, and your style is fine. I honestly can't give you advice, because what you're doing is working.
I don't even require a map, to be honest. You give fairly adequate descriptions that we can act on.
I do put in ooc comments about possible mechanical advantages or disadvantage in areas though. Things like pointing out difficult terrain, or mentioning who could and couldn't reach something. However, so far we haven't needed much of this in your game.
The old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
You're doing great.
Aerodus Gaverin |
Well, the only thing I can think of, Aest, is if you ever, at any time, feel the story is beginning to slow, just roll some dice. Do something random. Throw a quirky or not-so-quirky npc at the party or something along them lines.
As long as the story moves and the party enjoys themselves, you're doing a wonderful job. If the game pauses and everyone stands grasping for straws, then the job being done is not so good.
So far, you have done very, very well. Keep at it, and I'm sure the AP will be one of those highly memorable games we'll all be talking about for years to come.
Tiny Litsy |
It's difficult to give you useful advices, as I've never been a DM in my life. But hey, you're doing great so far: your style is great, your explanations are clear, you write very well, you're good at interpreting a NPC, which makes the whole game interesting.
You could perhaps, as Aerodus already mentionned, move the story a bit forward if it is slowing down too much. But honestly, I don't see any "big" shortcoming.
Actually, I enjoy this campaign very, very much! :)
GM Aest |
Yeah, I could feel it dragging in there. There just wasn't a whole lot to do to speed it up, given that his hideout is supposed to be tough to get to. The game should feel faster from here on out; things are going to start happening. And of course, PbP is by its nature really slow. I'm anticipating that if we manage to finish, it won't be for three+ years. The forums are littered with dead games, and I'd like to not be one, but it's going to be a looooong haul. I'll try to keep it moving.
Me'mori |
As long as I have internet access and a keyboard, I'll be posting.
Your descriptions were enough that I did not need a map-- in fact, they reminded me to check the ranges on Laijiri's spells. I'd really have loved to land a Charm Person on Lamm, but ah well.
I do have a procedural question, however. If I cast a spell, would you like me to roll a d20 for the target's save (before you apply their modifiers)? Would that save you some time?
As for anything else, I'm liking the amount of personality that everyone is displaying. There have been few games I've been in where the investment in the characters, or the amount that they were willing to write was just not there, so disinterest killed the game as the characters dropped out. That is not the case here, and I'm enjoying it.
I'll try to get more character posts for Laijiri when I can, and hopefully Zavi can stick around. I'll flip a few coins (or digitally draw some cards) to see what she might develop as, to give another hook or option.. It might be interesting to have Zavi pick up where Laijiri leaves off if something happened.
Ah well, I digress. I look forward to this game, and I think we'll be around for a good while yet.
Sarabian |
Yeah, checking ranges is sometimes the only issue, for things like short-ranged spells or thrown items. And the pacing was, on occasion, slow, but we were also playing during seasons of holidays and difficult life experiences. Overall, I feel like we've got a solid group, both of characters and people, and if any major concerns pop up along the way, we'll be sure to speak up!
Kazadarin Darlok |
I think it went well for as much combat we had. I have been in very slow pbp such as years to get to the end of a second book and in extremely fast PDP where multiple events are happening at once. I think we are in the middle and for me that is a good thing. We need time for our characters to grow and interact, but not so much time that we become disinterested.
GM Aest |
H'okay, I'll have it up soonish*.
GM Aest |
Apologies. I glossed over it, my bad. What you have is a Wand of Magic Missile with 23 charges. Could be useful, yeah?
Sarabian |
Both Litsy and Giorgio are proficient with the hand crossbow, and it could be useful for either; Giorgio could keep his shield on and attack at range, or Litsy could keep her rapier in one hand and crossbow in the other for snapping off a ranged attack when needed. Either way, it's probably worth hanging onto for now.
GM Aest |
I'll be away from the internet from Friday until Monday. Just a heads-up.