Eternal Horizons - Gameplay Thread 3 (Inactive)

Game Master Jacob DeCourcey

Welcome!

OK, guys and gals, it’s pretty clear that following the wilderness exploration RAW is going to be a horrible bore. Here’s the new plan:

1. Declare your route intentions, same as before. Except, I need to know how far you plan to travel each day so that I know what checks I need for things like a forced march. So, the new format would be “NW, SW, rest, NW, SW, rest” or something like that. The rates of travel are in the spoiler below.
2. If you are travelling on mapped hexes, no chance of getting lost. If you are travelling on new hexes, 1 survival roll per 5 hexes travelled.
3. If you fail the survival roll, you will not be able map your travels and I won’t update the Obsidian Portal map. I will roll to determine how lost you get, and you will automatically realize that you are lost at that point.
4. From there, you will make another survival roll to determine how quickly you make it back to mapped territory.
Sound simple enough?

I reworked my random encounter tables to mesh better with this system. Basically, there is 2/3 chance to encounter something (not necessarily combat) if you explore a hex, and a 1/6 chance to encounter something if you pass through a hex.

We will no longer track night watch shifts, assuming that your party works it out to get enough sleep for everyone. If the random encounter occurs during the night, I will apply it from there.

We will also not keep as close an eye on food. Just keep track of how many days of food you have for your entire party. If you are about to run out, then you will make a survival roll to determine if and how much food you can find. You can also feel free to scrounge up food from encounters as appropriate.

Travel Rates:

The first column shows your slowest party member’s walking speed. The next columns show how long it takes to pass through grassland or other hex, respectively. The lowest row shows how long it takes to fully explore a hex, regardless of walking speed.

So, can I get a quick summary:

Who is leading the march/navigating?
What is your path of travel? (don't forget to include rests)
How many days of food does the party have?
Any other special consideration? (anyone skipping nightly watch, covering tracks, scouting ahead separately from the group, etc.)

Will you be allowing Aid Another checks for the Survival checks required to map?

Sure. If your party is full of trackers and explorers, that should give you a good benefit.

Strangely, it appears that I don't actually have Survival. In fact, looking at my stats, it appears that I'm an untested academic. This...could be hilarious.

Awesome. I hope your book smarts work out for you =)

My character will let the experienced trackers determine the direction we will be going. I have 14 days of food. My edilon is dismissed while I sleep, but when awake gives two of us on watch at night. He has darkvison and we can communicate mentaly. His movement speed is 40 and is somewhat stealthy. I would envision him prowling on the perimeter while I sat closer to camp. Place me where you want in the order.

AFAIK, the map we're working off of IC isn't actually divided up by hexes or grids. Making reference to things like that is an easy way for the meta-game to confuse your separation of IC-knowledge and OOC-knowledge. Just a friendly reminder.

I only have speed 20 ft. and can contribute +5 to survival.

Sorry, all, I’ll be away for the rest of this day. I wasn’t expecting to be out of the house for the whole day. I only have time to post this right quick. I’ll definitely be back on tonight, though. We’ll get all caught up, then.

to DM: you can esily create maps in any file format and store them on google docs for free. Then you can post a link. Makes sharing maps easy and you can reuse them later if necessary.

I have maps for all combat encounters and and dungeon-y things, but I hadn't put anything together for the gully. Here's a bad line drawing I just did right now. Hopefully it will get the idea across.

To DM: Thanks your drawing is quite clear. Let's see what we do with the info ...

seems the Gm_Jacob beat me to the punch, here is my attempt to map the gully. Gully map

Excellent work, Jar'kel. Although, the goblin tracks lead from the tree to the south.

I was just making a Monkey Island joke, but that's one way to take it XD It's interesting to see how people interpret Jackson; at this point, even I don't really know what I'm doing with him.

I was just making a Monkey Island joke, but that's one way to take it XD It's interesting to see how people interpret Jackson; at this point, even I don't really know what I'm doing with him.

Still creating my character as well but I figure young new adventurer who is unsure about his place and talents may be a bit hyper sensitive. We'll see how he develops.

For DM, I don't know how you create the nice character tokens, they are a great addition to the pbp, could you create one for rumble; a werewolf head would be sufficent. If you need a jpeg of one I am sure I can find one. For summoning I will usually use an eagle for most fighting situations.

Sure thing. I didn't really know waht he looked like. I use Maptools for the maps, and Tokentool for the tokens. A little complex, I know, but that's the price I have to pay for maps and tokens. It's a good thing I don't need Initiativetool for initiative.

Sorry for my recent inactivity; I've been sick. I'll hold my action for now, as it appears that combat is over.

There's still one more kobold on the bridge.

It's not my intention to rules-lawyer, and if you feel that I'm taking too much of that responsibility on myself, I'll gladly stop doing so. Again, I apologize for my own mistake, and I'm willing to rectify it in any manner you deem necessary.

Nah, it's good to have someone keeping tabs on these things. I had to look up the healer's kit anyway, and I misread it in haste.

couple questions: what time is it in game? how much light is coming in through the doors?

It is early afternoon, and there is normal light in rooms that have a direct door to the outside, low light in the next rooms, as long as a door is open or something, and dark in any deeper rooms.

I'm going to be out of town for a week. I should still have internet access, so I'll hopefully still be able to post, even if it's at a reduced rate, but I thought I'd give a heads-up.

5 days until the one month time limit. If you want to head back early, the other parties are returning to the tavern today.

Sorry about that. I'm back now.