Drow War Team 1

Game Master Tarlane

Aetherni plants his feet on the ground, not moving an inch.
"Hey, stop it. You are disrespectful today boy, are you scared or something? Give them time to gather their words, you're wiser than that... Shame on you!"

Well, if you were waiting on my perception check, you can wait no longer. I flunked it completely.

I just realized that this "game day" they invented just SUX. No one is starting new campaigns until the 5th, and then they are gonna go wild all of a sudden....

I just realized that this "game day" they invented just SUX. No one is starting new campaigns until the 5th, and then they are gonna go wild all of a sudden....

Huh?

What planet do you live in man? Haven't you heard?

They set up a "pbp gameday" with several online campaigns starting on the 5th, and so masters and players all gathered to play in the organized PFS groups, but since it only starts after the 5th this week has been very slow....veeeeeeery slow...

Oh, its just organized play. Which is cool, but ya know, not my style.

It looks more like a bunch of people that always play delaying the start of the games so they have a week with nothing to do and some others with full schedule... but yeah, let's call that 'organized'...

Sorry about that, since a lot of big things were happening I was waiting for Drombar to get a post up just in case he wanted to propose a different plan or anything like that, and then I got pulled away with a chaotic afternoon. I'm getting a post up now.

I had another post up, apparently the board ate it? Or I previewed it, and never posted it (probably more likely...) Anyways, Gav, just wanted to let you know, I wasn't trying to rush you, I just wasn't sure where we were at there.

np, I'll just go along with your game plan. I presume the plan is to leave the body as bait and catch whoever comes to investigate. I'll take the young ones somewhere safe.

If it helps, I can use Ghost sound to make it seem as if you are all chatting far away. I can even use silent image to make the corpse appear to sit up and point an accusing finger if it's our friend jim, though that may be going too far (we don't know for certain that it's him yet).

We don't even know for certain anything other than something is there.

What's that saying about assuming?

Don't assume - it makes an ass out of u (but not me).

Or something like that.

I just wanted to make a quick post here to address something. No one has messaged me and I haven't had any complaints or the like, but I've noticed a bit of hostility backing some of the posts and I wanted to nip it early on.

Debate and conflict between characters is totally expected, but when it comes to settling differences of views between players I would prefer to keep things a little more civil than they have been and seem to be going. Express your opinions and discuss away, lets just make sure it stays respectful and you don't forget we all are working together here.

We should be using the discussion Forum to air differences of opinion, not gameplay argument (unless RP; that's different). We missed an opportunity here because we were arguing about what we should do in game and our watcher took advantage of that; no doubt reporting that we are in cahoots with the Hobgobs to Jim (or to Split-ears tribe...or something). If we had formed a coherent plan in discussion and stuck to it in gameplay we might have been able to achieve something. Instead we got some pretending they hadn't seen the watcher while some were marching towards him, while others argued about it.

As I understand it, the aim was to pretend to go off and find wood for an imromptu cart to carry the body in, while secretly hiding nearby to catch whoever it was as they came to investigate. This simply did not happen. While I don't mind people coming up with alternative plans, they really ought to be discussed first...In the discussion thread (that's why the thread's called Discussion folks!). Anyone not clear on what they are supposed to do, bring it up in the discussion thread.

It concerns me that if we cannot work as a team now, what is going to happen in combat? We need to be able to agree and coordinate plans together before implementing them or else we will just fall apart. There is a time and a place for just running in and surprising opponents, but there is also a time and a place for a cautious approach; that's why we need to agree a plan beforehand.

We also need to give time for everyone to give feedback. That way no-one feels railroaded into doing something; we have to recognise that we each have instictively different approaches to problems: some of us like to stir things up and see what floats to the surface, some like to just dive in and some want to probe it very carefully from a distance with a big stick.

Well, I'm certainly the "dive in" type, which might work if you use the openings I provide and attacking whatever comes to us. Aetherni trusts his armor.

Anyway, I have no complaints at this point, but Vorik's post angered me a little. I know I post very frequently, and most of the time the one who is often posting get more chances to impose his will. For that reason I tend to let others do it their way when they insist in it, as occurred. Which didn't made me any more calm, but I'm not the type that keeps it for a long time, I just let it go and move on.

Anyway, Aetherni is getting mad, and reacting as such. Vorik already slapped him once (oh yes he remembers), and now he interferes with what he was going to do. He let it go this time, but in his point of view Aetherni sees no reason for not going up there, other then your reluctance. First, the top of the hill was not far away, without enough room for enemies to hide in, and with a few feet we would have the higher ground, with a clear shot to the other side.
Second, if anyone wanted to attack us, it would already have right after the hobgoblins left.
Third, I heard something, but not an army, believing it's probably a scout.
Fourth, Brutus plan was good IF the stalker was one of Jim's thugs AND IF they wanted to get the body. Rocks rolling down means he was moving, and probably saw more then he should already.
Besides, if WE could hear it he probably also could hear us debating about it, and thus the plan might be spoiled, with the scout fleeing.
The dwarf is stubborn and know it, so he keeps quiet once or twice, but eventually his thoughts will be spoken aloud, so we might get some in character understanding.

I believe we will improve our teamwork with time, learning to play along with others as we get experience. I just think that Brutus attempt failed when he did not start it as his first thing. He did not, so Aetherni warned the party and the scout had probably heard it too. Maybe next time.

First off, IC is IC. Let's make sure we remember this and try to keep it that way.

Two, I had no idea how big or small the hill was. Either that wasn't clear, or I missed it. Thus, Vorik is under the impression it was big enough to be a place for several enemies to hide.

Triple, you guys need to slow down a bit. Its all well and nice to be proactive, but real life gets in the way, and I often can't post while at work. This is partially due to not having time, but also because my battery on my cell dies after about an hour or two from being removed from the charger, cuz its really old. You also never gave Mogwai much chance to get in on this.

It sometimes feels like this is the Aetherni show, with Brutus being a costar and the rest of us bit players who get to occasionally shine.

You guys are all great and I love this game, so do not take this as my attacking you or trying to to cause dissension. Tarlane began this conversation, so let us use that opening to make sure we iron out any problems and make sure this game is as awesome as possible.

Well, it seems the problem was smaller then it looked like, then.

Love the "Aetherni's Show" idea, btw! I often also get that impression, just because I post way too much. But I have been lowering my frequency to match the pace and hope that everyone gets their share in the future. It's stronger than me, you know. I see a new GM post and my fingers just move on their own to ask or say or do something... Anyway, Mogwai did the whole negotiation thing, which is a start ^_^

To get the crunch stuff out of the way- The hilltop itself is big enough around it could hide a few human sized folk, that wasn't well described. I did try and describe that the entrance to the mine is very near the peak however, the crest being just about 10 feet above the doorway.

I could see that there were some tempers beginning to raise and so I just wanted to get ahead of that and make sure it was dealt with. Not knowing each other and bringing in sometimes differing play styles on top of it all can cause a level of friction. I would rather sort through it and develop proper communication and airing of grievances than end up with any problems.

For the play speed, if it feels like people are being left behind and missing having their voices I have to take a pretty reasonable level of blame for that. I have been happy with the fact we have been keeping up a steady clip of posts, mostly dialogue and inter party chatter. Generally, when it is conversation and back and forth I am all for it, while when it actually comes time for a decision, plan or pressing forward to a new scene I don't advance things until everyone has had a chance to get a voice in there.

Differences in posting times/quantity isn't something that can be helped and I would always encourage more posts than try and limit people from putting up too many messages, however, if people are feeling they have missed chances to chime in for any events I will try and be better at when I judge we are ready to move forward.

You also never gave Mogwai much chance to get in on this.

I didn't mind terribly since I'm still feeling guilty for so much scene-hogging during the entire Mine encounter.

I haven't been buggered by anything so far - though to be fair none of it has been directed at me - but I have felt that there is some animosity towards Vorik that I don't understand the cause for.

I am all for inter-party conflict, particularly in games such as this when we've all been "thrown together" and our characters may not have the same styles or motivations or methods. With that said, I think I've only been in one game before where player characters actually struck each other. I'm a little anxious with how much that's happening. It feels like Vorik and Aetherni are on the verge of killing each other.

And really, as Drombar said, if we can't work together for such a simple thing as "Being watched from some feet away", we're kinda screwed later on. Using the discussion board more for conversations sounds great. Even in the case where someone does want to charge in, they should probably say something in the discussion board, and make sure to leave room in there for someone to stop them. That way it doesn't break with what their character would actually do, but it also won't get the rest of us killed.

Just my few cents, obviously not trying to criticise anyone. I'm really enjoying this game and I'd hate to see it fall apart over interpersonal problems. I think we just need to all work together more.

We also have to remember that a written message contains about 20% of the information that verbal communication gives us (we are amazing at picking up non-verbal clues such as posture, inflection (ok, technically that ones verbal), body language, indication with our fingers or heads, etc.) which is all lost in a post like this. What it means is that what you think you are saying is often not what's being heard, so we you either accept it and move on or you have to be very particular about the way you write things. Just bear in mind that if you feel someone is acting hostile towards you, it may simply be that much of what they are communicating is lost in translation.

I agree.

Anyway, we might use this time to discuss what we're going to do next. I think Brutus should continue and scout the other side to see who was stalking on us.

Just an FYI, the Aetherni show wasn't meant to be a compliment.

I know. The LAST thing I want is to make this a solo game. I don't want the spotlights on me, and that's why I've been posting less frequently and let the drow stop my action to do whatever he wanted (altough with a mean gaze).

But still, it made me laugh ^_^

I guess I should admit to being completely oblivious here on the hostility. Currently, I have been reading just in game differences of opinion and frustration as a group of complete strangers are trying to feel each other out. Apparently, that might not be correct? My bad for not noticing beforehand.

If I could add my thoughts to this mess:

1) In terms of posting, we need to differentiate between posting purpose, and posting frequency. I freely admit to posting often, but much of what I am posting is simply character thoughts, emotional struggles, inter-party communication etc. But I try and avoid making large decisions or railroading without giving an opportunity for discussion. I love the RP portion of the game and I like to take every opportunity available to build on that. I noticed in the cave, Vorik chimed in on the discussion board that he was still present, but he didn't have anything to post or to add. I don't want to flood the game with posts, but I am rarely going to be in a position where I sit back quietly because I have nothing to post. If posting frequency is an issue thats fine, I can curb it, but my thought is that should only be put in place if my posting purpose gets out of whack. Thoughts?

*Edit* That being said, I know there are times where I am the first to react, because I have the chance to, so I will try and avoid always posting first in reaction to events.... if I can restrain myself that is lol.*

2) Some of my confusion in this last scene is how do you do a quick decision in PbP? We could have spent 3 days talking about in discussion and then responded in game, but then, is that really a quick decision? I assume that Brutus would have reacted by trying to figure out who was following them, and so I did my best to RP that. If we want/need to handle this differently, fine, but let me know please.

3) I will go ahead and apologize on my part for any hostility toward Vorik if there has been any. It hasn't been intentional outside of having some good natured fun with the lack of a name. Which is probably the biggest issue that I have, everyone else at least has an identity, but Vorik, not even having a name, seems to make him feel more like the add in then anything else. He is the drow, the paladin, the dude with the big sword, but he isn't Vorik yet, so conversation hasn't really taken place. This isn't a shot, or meant negatively, I just wanted to share my RP struggle on how to include and build a RP relationship with someone who doesn't have a name or an identity. I know this will get better in time, but for now, it is a bit of a struggle.

It hasn't been intentional outside of having some good natured fun with the lack of a name. Which is probably the biggest issue that I have, everyone else at least has an identity, but Vorik, not even having a name, seems to make him feel more like the add in then anything else. He is the drow, the paladin, the dude with the big sword, but he isn't Vorik yet, so conversation hasn't really taken place. This isn't a shot, or meant negatively, I just wanted to share my RP struggle on how to include and build a RP relationship with someone who doesn't have a name or an identity. I know this will get better in time, but for now, it is a bit of a struggle.

I hadn't considered that before, but that's an excellent point.

It's interesting that this prompted to come up with yet another jokey name for Vorik, only to realise that it is really just contributing to this sense of disassociation surrounding him.

Vorik, you should really give yourself a nickname that we can call you for now, it would help us all to identify with your character, and avoid awkwardness when trying to introduce you.

Meanwhile, let's get back to the game.

Just call him Mr Dark.

Just curious as to why my plan was so reviled?

I never said to not watch our backs, but instead seek a spot to set up camp that we can defend, in case of an attack.

I think no one thought we could be getting attacked, thinking instead that it was a scout. So seeking a defensive spot was not important. AND we wanted to KNOW who was there. Abandoning the corpse as bait was a good idea, but it ceased to be useful once whoever was there fled.

Please just don't take it personal.

Quite honestly... my first thought was that someone was observing us and seeing the tribe leave, could follow them and attack them. After that, the next issue was, even if it was a non-aggressive observer, I wanted to make sure the kids weren't in any danger. I figured the best way to do that would be get an idea of who it was that was following us.

I didn't even think about leaving the body as bait, more just using the body as an excuse to get into the woods that was believable. If it was an intelligent creature, hearing that we thought the body was too heavy to carry and we needed to make a litter of some kind, probably wouldn't have been a big stretch. Ideally, then it would have been able to have been observed without necessarily being engaged.

So it wasn't that I reviled your idea, it was just not what I envisioned Brutus planning on doing. So no offense meant, just a miscommunication, or lack of communication, on all our parts (mine mostly, but again I am still unsure how we are to handle those types of situations that require quick decisions, if that is something we should spend a day discussing in the discussion thread or not.)

And to address something else real quick, in my last post there was a spoiler to Tarlane that said that Brutus was prepared to throw an elbow at someone (specificed Vorik) trying to restrain him. At this point, in character, I think Brutus would be frustrated at the conflict between the group, and is willing to lash out because he thinks finding out who was observing them is important. This also is not meant to be a reviling type action, more just a reactionary action to restraint (and the only one I guessed would restrain was Vorik, hence why I specified him.) That doesn't mean I hate Vorik, quite honestly, if anyone tried to restrain him at this point, I see Brutus throwing an elbow to get free.

I know Brutus has a high wisdom, but with the not remembering much, I assume that he is still growing into that, so at times he acts a bit quickly and still is wrestling with getting emotional, etc. Probably not right, but I think we are all dealing with this memory loss thing a bit differently, which for me is intriguing and enjoyable to say the least.

I needed to give a quick apology here. I started a whole big debate here and then ended up getting quiet on everyone.

Unfortunately, the family member who was having some issues the other week(they went in for surgery at the time) has taken a bad turn during their recovery. Right now, it isn't entirely clear which way things are going to turn out.

I am very much enjoying this game and don't want to see it sputter out, so I hope you will all bear with me as I am unsure how much I will be able to post for the immediate future.

Do what you have to do. I hope he recovers.

I'm sure we can wait for a while, so don't worry about it.

Very sorry to hear that Tarlane. :( Don't worry about the game, I'm sure we'll still be around.

I echo the sentiments already expressed, I am sorry to hear that things haven't gone as smoothly as planned. We will still be around, but real life is real life, so do what you have to do, and don't worry about us here. Thinking about and praying for you and your family.

I will keep praying for you and your family member. It is a tough thing to go through. We will bear with you as you go through this.

Quite honestly... my first thought was that someone was observing us and seeing the tribe leave, could follow them and attack them. After that, the next issue was, even if it was a non-aggressive observer, I wanted to make sure the kids weren't in any danger. I figured the best way to do that would be get an idea of who it was that was following us.

I didn't even think about leaving the body as bait, more just using the body as an excuse to get into the woods that was believable. If it was an intelligent creature, hearing that we thought the body was too heavy to carry and we needed to make a litter of some kind, probably wouldn't have been a big stretch. Ideally, then it would have been able to have been observed without necessarily being engaged.

So it wasn't that I reviled your idea, it was just not what I envisioned Brutus planning on doing. So no offense meant, just a miscommunication, or lack of communication, on all our parts (mine mostly, but again I am still unsure how we are to handle those types of situations that require quick decisions, if that is something we should spend a day discussing in the discussion thread or not.)

And to address something else real quick, in my last post there was a spoiler to Tarlane that said that Brutus was prepared to throw an elbow at someone (specificed Vorik) trying to restrain him. At this point, in character, I think Brutus would be frustrated at the conflict between the group, and is willing to lash out because he thinks finding out who was observing them is important. This also is not meant to be a reviling type action, more just a reactionary action to restraint (and the only one I guessed would restrain was Vorik, hence why I specified him.) That doesn't mean I hate Vorik, quite honestly, if anyone tried to restrain him at this point, I see Brutus throwing an elbow to get free.

I know Brutus has a high wisdom, but with the not remembering much, I assume that he is still growing into that, so at times he acts a bit quickly and still...

It is a tough one...how far should one take RP and how far should one take planning. It's really a personal thing; the events that unfolded, while a fiasco from a planning point of view, are perfectly acceptable in RP terms. Think how many stories there are about a team falling apart in the beginning only to pull together at the end (off the top of my head, both Avengers assemble and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have that).

As to whether you should submit a discussion to what is essentially a spur-of-the-moment decision, different people deal with it in different ways. It depends ultimately on what is more important; the RP or planning. If this had been more than a lone scout, more planning and discussion would be necessary as people take positions and carry out important tasks. For a lone scout or other minor encounter, a certain amount of RP should be allowed.

My biggest concerns are:

(1) If this is a spy for Jim, he will be speeding off with the news that we are in cahoots woth Hobgoblins. If we don't act quick, he will be able to rouse the town against them.

(2) They overheard where we were going to meet the Hobgoblins. This will enable them to set up an ambush and steal whatever we are trying to give to the Hobgoblins.

Things are still a bit up in the air with me, but I have some other family who have come into town to try and help out with things so I should at least have a little more free time even if not necessarily more of a free brain.

Sorry about the delay guys, I knew the game had stalled and we have family coming into town this week, so I was a bit busy yesterday and didn't get to check in on the game.

So this is a prime example of what I am unsure of here... this is what amounts to a split second decision here, do I just decide and force everyone to go with it, or can we discuss?

I will try the discuss in brief, and then make a decision and go with it, and we will see how it works out. I see three options to be had here:

Brutus can
1) chase the observer... and ideally overtake/tackle him, and restrain him to be questioned

2) try and find his tracks on where they cross the trail to see where he goes (and confirm or deny the suspicions that he is working for Jim, though this allows Jim to get the information and time to use it against us....)

3) fire on the escapee? With Blunt arrows I could fire at a -4 (not counting the ranged penalty) for nonlethal damage, but question here... a monk can use unarmed damage to do nonlethal instead of lethal at no penalty, does that extend to monk weapons? If so, a Zen Archer's Monk weapon would be his bow and ammunition right? So could he choose to do non-lethal with his bow with no penalty?

In all of those three, Brutus will most certainly yell down to his companions to let them know what is going on, but I am leaning toward either chasing the escapee down, (and with my speed, I should be able to overtake him eventually lol) or shooting him as he runs away, assuming of course I can do non-lethal.

So, discussion? Also I will wait on a ruling from Tarlane before deciding.

Blunt arrows can absolutely be used to take him down, its part of what they are built for after all.

However, while Zen Archer's gain proficiency with all the bows, they don't actually turn them into monk weapons. Their Flurry just works differently than a normal monk one, replacing the ability to Flurry with any monk weapon with the ability to only flurry with bows. So I will say you need to take the normal -4.

Sounds like we can all assume that Brutus at least calls down to everyone what he saw(in case the next person is up before he posts again) but what action people are going to take is up to you all.

I'd go with
4) just let it go now, since it's far away already. We have done anything wrong, but if Jim and his thugs are behind that they may come at us. And that's basically what we want, I think. If it's someone else, well, we will find out soon or later.

We could try:

5) I cast an illusion of something (a bunch of hobgoblins?) that would scare him enough to veer so that brutus can catch him up.

It does beg the question of what do you do with him when you catch him up - presumably knock him unconscious. then we'd have to take him to one of the town leaders and explain why we did that.

Sorry guys, between work and visit from both sets of parents this weekend, I was swamped and had no time to respond. Will try and get a post up here in a few minutes so that we can move along.

I should actually be able to be more active again for the foreseeable future, so instead of trying to squeeze in a post just so I can keep things moving I am going to let more people post and get in what they want to do.

Drombar, you can get to the top of the hill easily enough(well with scrambling difficulty, but nothing that requires a roll), though because the other is going down hill and you are climbing by the time you get up there and have a view he will be most of the way down.

If you aren't chasing after the person, there is enough of a lull to take a couple IC moments to figure out what you all are doing. Seems like the possibilities are for the entire group to return to town(and where are you going once there), to have Morton take the kids back to town while you all investigate the branch in the tunnel and the person you saw back in the mine, or since it seems to be overall consensus that the man who is running was one of Jim's boys, you know Jim's home base is the watermill out of town so you could head there. Or you could come up with something completely unexpected.

Still think we should have tried to intercept him, but nm.

I vote we go back to the town; if it is one of Jim's spies then time is of the essence. Either he will try to move the mayor against us and we need to get our supporters in place first or he will scarper when he hears we have retrieved the body from the mine. Either way we need to move fast. It would be unfair to expect Morton to face the music alone (not to mention that he would have difficulty dragging the body back and looking after the kids and be vulnerable to an ambush). The tunnel will have to wait.

Alternatively we could head for Jim's home base but it would mean acting without the sanction of the townsfolk which could cause us problems. Even if he get's away, I think we have to risk returning at least to Davan. He can advise us of our best course of action, and accompany us if it means confronting Jim.

Gav - I agree on two fronts. 1) I would have chosen to intercept him had all things gone well. However, with the head start on his part, and maybe more than that the fact that he was human and didn't seem to pose a threat to the hobgoblins or the children at the time, Brutus couldn't really justify the extra aggression needed to catch him.

2) I vote we go back to town as well... I haven't checked the game thread, so this conversation could be going on over there, heading to check it now, but thats my vote in case it is needed.

And then comes the troublesome dwarf with another subject requiring attention, as if we did not already had too many things to do...

Vorik, nothing personal, but character wise, I feel like you are instigating a bit of a fight. I have no problem with having one, (as my reply indicates) but if you aren't gunning for one, let me know, it is quite possible I misunderstood you.

Again, animosity is strictly role-play here.

You actually totally did. The entire point he was making was "hey, don't go up there, we don't know what could be there. A man, a cow, a dragon, a 4-headed, fire-breathing boar made entirely of whipped cream". So, rather than risk one or more of us getting killed, we should have moved ahead to find a defensible spot. Oh, and never did I say to not keep an eye out behind us as well.

Then you come along, and pretty say his exact words, but instead use it as reasoning to have investigated. He's trying to think of getting the children to safety, you guys want to pick more fights.

Since I interjected earlier to express my concerns, I have been looking to let things work out on its own among each other since at that point everyone looked pretty well aware of the issues at hand, and frankly my brain isn't really up for trying to jump into drama here on top of what is happening in RL.

Things do seem to have been directed more in an IC way rather than any OOC snark or shots at each other, so that is certainly an improvement. I do still have some worries at this point that some OOC frustrations are spilling over into the game and I don't want to see that holding you back. If you all can't function as a team and move in the same direction it is going to keep you from being able to defend yourselves, no less anyone else.

Play your characters of course, I'm strongly for RP of all sorts and debate and conflict come as part of it. However, we do really need to start to come together in some way and get past some of these hostilities before it causes its own crash.