Ya the main problem wasn't the power gaming it was the ninja looting. The game was basically us going into undrawn rooms rolling perception and whoever got the highest got the treasure and no one tried to horn in on what people found. So it became kinda silently understood that if you found it you kept it and a lot of the times people would find things without other players knowing. For example I found a random sack on a skeleton and their characters had no idea in fact there was a kobold distracting them as I took it. Dan however rather than letting just me know simply said out loud that it had 100 plat in it which was about the value of stuff everyone else already had looted. So because as players they knew what it was the pressed for it and out of no where our barbarian intimidates me and when I hand it over and my character curses them yet another character, the rogue, begins divvying it up even though she has pretty much not participated in the interaction before at all. I dunno it was out of character for them to become so greedy about a brown bag that they had no idea what the contents were when in the adventure try didn't care about previous stuff like rings glowing with magic and a huge rare ruby or the countless magic weapons.
Also I cast burning hands on them in the next battle it hit two of the thieves and the boss monster and for some reason our barbarian got an attack of opp on me which made no sense coz he'd never know before I cast that it was for him all he knew was I was just casting on the monster like I had many times before.
yeah that sounds kinda lame. technically anyone adjacent to you always gets an AoO if they want, but your allies would choose not to, because they're your allies. i'd probably rule that the barb could take a shot at you if he had reason to believe you were betraying them. otherwise, why would he now all of a sudden? i always do loot in public, unless someone specifically asks to do it in private, and just hope that people aren't going to be greedy and petty.
lol basically it just sounds like you guys weren't really getting along.
i had a wizard/rogue who switched an entangle wand with the druids cure light wounds wand, because the wizard/rogue loved jokes and stealing magic things. it turned out to be pretty funny, but the druid's player got really pissed about it and it made it not fun anymore. stealing/fighting/secrets within the party is really only cool if everyone is into it. otherwise people just get pissy.
It wasn't really an rp point Chris the person just wanted the gold
Yeah it was weird. I took a bunch of rewards and didn't share them and no one complained, but the plat made everyone go nuts. I'm glad I didn't become part of it. It was entertaining from the outside.
Whether or not we play again, I'm holding onto my character, he was really fun to play.
that's what i'm saying. the players themselves have to be cool with it, regardless of whether or not the characters are. it could be fun to argue over gold in character, but if it gets into the actual person, then, yeah, it's kinda weird.
what'd you play tim? I take it you were a wiz or sorc, jon?
No I was in Ifrit Immolater(inquisitor) they are kinda like paladin/cleric and I had fire domain my race and class subtype added a lot once a day I could cast max level burning hands
oh sick. yeah inquisitors are rad. they have a lot of cool options.
I was a Samsaran Oracle who took the Bones mystery. He was super into death and was lawful evil. He was a STR/CHA build, so I would intimidate people in battle then wail on them. He has a like +13 bonus for Intimidate. Also, gave him the undead revelation so he could heal himself with the inflict spells.
awesome. that's a cool mystery. the armor of bones and the summon undead are cool revelations, too.
Oh btw is there any exp for the crabs? Or the other stuff we did after?
yeah, there is. i can't remember if i said this already or not, but i'll be giving out exp when you guys stop to rest and/or take a break. like if you go to an inn or a tavern, or find somewhere to sleep or take lunch.
Ya u did it's getting close to dinner time right?
yep
aw s$&* a group of grabs
how's everybody doin?
Doing all right. I'm making a character for a campaign Jon is doing. Gonna make an Urban Ranger who's a like bounty hunter/private detective.
Oh sweet. I wish I could play with you guys.
Matt is running a 5th edition adventure. I'm a woodelf paladin. She's a regal southren soundin' belle that worships Selune and is a proponent of the Dark Moon heresy. She adventures with her sisters, one is a rogue that affiliates with Shar (Taylor's PC) and the other is a ranger that is rather dirty and weird (our friend Pietro's PC). They also affiliate with a band of Hill Dwarf brothers (a druid and a cleric, also two other players).
5th edition is sweet, although it lacks the variety of builds that pathfinder has. I'm itching to play in a game that is really deep and committal, though.
Yeah I know Dwy's pretty excited for 5th edition. He wants to get all the stuff for it when it's out
The players handbook is really high quality. The artwork in it is all really good and new, but with a throw-back old school kinda feel.
sup tim
Looks like posting as slowed down a lot. Are you guys all still on board with this? Is posting this slowly alright for everyone? I have to admit, it's discouraging from my end, but if you guys are cool with such a slow pace, I'll keep it going.
I'm still down for playing and do check pretty much everyday, however I don't know how much everyone else is still looking at this.
lame. I won't close it yet, but I'm not really gunna put much attention towards it, unless people starting posting again.
I was checking it like every few hours but nothing would ever be happening. I don't mind if it's even just me and Tim but I'm looking forward to some kind of dungeon/labyrinth/mess we have to get ourselves out of. It's been a few months and the first day hasn't past.
Well I'm glad you told me what you wanted to do, now, a few weeks after I asked you.
Play by post is just slow by it's nature. This game would have been maybe one session in real life. Additionally, it's only going to move forward if you guys post. I can't make your characters do anything. Nobody has posted in over a week.
I don't really want to run a dungeon crawl, anyway. Honestly, I'd rather be focusing on my live games. There isn't enough enthusiasm here, both from me and from you guys.
Lol wut I posted a crapload and wrote a small book on my character's past. I'm just waiting for something to happen.
And I don't mean a dungeon crawl I mean some sense of purpose.
You're complaining that it's taking to long. You've already passed up one hook and a second was about to happen, but I've spent the last week waiting for someone to say something. Everyone was posting a lot, and now Tim is the only one posting. Jon, you posted once a week ago and said "shrug" and then six days before that. That's just discouraging and basically killed my interest in running this game for you guys.
Me and Tim are equally confused about the hooks. Look I don't want an argument I just feel like we tried really hard to find the hooks and I only posted smally awhile ago because I was hoping for others to post. I wanna keep going tbh just don't know where I'm supposed to go
Just don't know why you are dissatisfied by me or Tim... I thought we did a lot
Also I don't know why I'm on trial when I was at the very least the second most active player.
Also the last player post was by me... Shrugging... But other posts were all rping. No consecutive shrugging.
Sorry, I was being defensive. I'm just frustrated because these things seem to just dwindle out, and I feel like it's my responsibility cause I'm DM, even though it's dependent on you guys to keep prodding and I'll give you stuff, too. Then when I hear complaints I took them like criticisms, which they are, but I'll just take it that you want to get to the action faster. I thought a nice slow/low-action prologue would be nice, but I guess not really?
I mean if you want to investigate the murder, investigate that, cause there is stuff there, but you guys sorta went after it, then didn't really. I didn't realize it was confusing. What's confusing about it?
Jobok and Penabwa obviously aren't interested in any kind of vengeance or solving the murder. You guys will get some exp for helping them, though, and they will turn up later if the fates align.
It's basically just sandbox until you guys show me what you want to get into. We have that kinda freedom because it's online and I thought it wouldn't matter if it was slow-paced. I don't have a single set story nor do I want to just stuff a quest onto your doorstep. If you guys want to get into dungeons, then there are people who know about where dungeons might be, or quests to go on. That being said, it's maybe been one live-action session's worth so far, even though it's been months.
Then there is the pirate thing, which you guys told me you wanted to do, originally. Basically just don't wait for Matt or Taylor to say or do anything at this point. They said they wanted to just be "side characters", but it doesn't make sense for them to just follow you two around silently, so, just consider them gone until they want to come back and post.
And if you guys have input, suggestions and stuff, just tell me and I won't get defensive. Just do it before I have to wait around a week without many posts and then ask you guys if you're still in it. I had already started to give up at that point.
So Matt and Taylor just let me know if you guys want to come back for a visit and I'll write you back in, somehow. But do let me know before posting, unless you've got something that makes a lot of sense and/or is clever. I want to keep this continuous and not just "pop-in and out" because there's no reason to have to do that online.
I'd definitely enjoy playing more, but would enjoy seeing a more definitive hook. There was lots of fun in the game but a lot of time felt like I was waiting for something that never happened. Sandbox play can be fun, but I feel like I'd want to know that was what I was going for. With the character I created, I probably would've ended up joining a wagon train or something else which would've taken him along his journey rather than stick with some people he just met because of a weird occurrence.
Slow prologue was fine I was enjoying the conversation and rping but hen Soru and Percy suddenly became mutes around the time of the first crab battle things felt like they kinda haulted.
Anyway I'm ready for more.
Cool. Anyway, what was confusing so far? I'm trying to get better at improvising adventures and could use some feedback.
I think we just missed the hooks. Sometimes forcing us down a path pays off, Gill is motivated by gold but is mostly lost and wandering, homesick, and it seems like Rougar is a born wanderer. To do some kind of quest a forceful push in the right direction is needed because our immediate interests are a bit mundane.
But what was the hook we missed? The murder at the docks seemed to have come to a dead end.
That lead came to a dead end, yeah. But, the town guard might be interested in knowing that apparently one of their own killed a merchant in cold blood in broad daylight (although not in clear sight). I guess Gill probably wouldn't be interested in working with them. I just didn't really want to forcefully push that one, so I'd say "didn't go for" rather than "missed".
I see your point, though, about forcing a path with these two characters. I was starting off with something a little more open ended to feel things out, but I can dish out some motivation to get it moving. I do plan on using Gill's backstory stuff, but I want it to be a surprise when it does turn up.
Tim did I give you exp for your backstory? What exp are you all at right now?
Yeah you gave me exp for my story. I think I'm around 200-300. I'll check when I get home.
I had 250 so plus 700 makes me 950 also the extra backstory is nearly done I just need to finish it. I just haven't sat down with it for a couple weeks.
Flat footed basically covers "not paying attention". The thug knows Gill is there, with his crossbow out, so she's ready for the shot to be fired and gets her normal AC.
And yeah starting at lvl 1 is rough, but I think starting at higher levels is tough, too, because you have a lot more abilities and rules to juggle. Level 1 is a good way to get us warmed up with all the readying actions, attacks of opportunity, sneak attacks and all that stuff. Plus, if I do it right, the difficulty will scale really well, and at higher levels you'll still be in a lot of danger, and rolling a 3 is still probably going to miss.
There is also the fact that both combat encounters have been really hard, relative to your power, even with the two other characters. The first crab fight was kind of unintentionally difficult. I decided to just go with it because you guys were doing alright. The current encounter is intentionally difficult. I do tend to make things a little on the hard side, but I'm going to take the focus off of front on combat asap.
And I don't really wanna pile it on, but Gill also gets -4 for shooting ranged at a character who is engaged in melee with an ally. Remember when I said Precise Shot was really important for ranged characters? Maybe the guy who isn't that into combat might want to run. Don't worry, i'm not just gonna have you guys fighting enemies that are more/better than you all the time.
The more I think about it, the more -4 seems like a heavy penalty when you're in close range like that. I'm thinking about house ruling that penalty away if you're within 10 or 15 feet. Having to get so many feats for certain builds is one of the bigger issues with Pathfinder. But it's cool in some ways, too, because it gives you a lot of different options.
I'm not sure though because I don't want to devalue taking precise shot, which also helps deal with cover/concealment.
Ya I knew that I figured you'd work it in but I missed even without the penalty. Ya I still just don't get why it's possible to flank at melee but not ranged . Like the rules say just melee but I feel like it'd be harder to worry about a flying bolt from afar at your back rather than a sword guy.
It's also weird because in the diagram of flanking they show how the ogre and goblin flank some guy even though he is 10 feet from the ogre allowing the goblin to get flanking rights.
I think flanking is more of a body position thing. By sandwiching a guy you can get the advantage in terms of positioning your bodies to make him open up his defenses. Whereas with ranged the bolt is just going to do damage and doesn't effect his ability to maneuver.
And the ogre has 10' reach melee. You can flank with reach melee weapons too