Iron Gods AP with GM Mustache (Inactive)

Game Master Mustachioed

Book 1 Premise: A group of adventurers from Torch meet at a closed up tavern, mostly drained of ale and wine. This tavern is owned by Khonnir Baine, a prominent council member and mage, who has gone missing recently in course of his investigations on the city's extinguished torch, a hot plume of fire that regularly erupts into the sky. The torch is the basis of Torch's economy, and without it the town will soon fall under the control of the dreaded and hated Technic League.

Only a handful of Play by Posts campaigns make it out of the first book of an AP, let alone finish. The 2 biggest culprits seems to be 1) lack of GM and players pushing the action forward, and 2) lack of organization. Let's set some expectations so that doesn't happen to us!

Important Links:

Loot Spreadsheet/Roll Tracker: Players will use this spreadsheet to record loot and all inventory, and to have a reliable place to store their normal dice rolls. To prevent unauthorized editing, it will be PM'ed to players:

Technopedia: As the group finds technological marvels, their description and usage will be recorded into the Technopedia, rather than players going to the web or using the Technology Guide. This gives the GM freedom to alter items or create his own.

Roll20: This link will be PM'ed to players.

Character Sheets and Rolls:

1. GM Rolls: Initiative and Perception and Savings Throw for players. In order to keep the game moving, GM will often do these rolls rather than have simple things take days. Request a perception roll if you want one and I didn't do one for you.

2. Knowledge Checks on Monsters- GM will give the knowledge check and DC for it when you first meet a creature. It will be up to you to roll it as a free action, and then also take your normal turn right away. The GM will post the result of the knowledge check on his next post. Other knowledge checks, in the course of exploration, will be up to the player to initiate.

2. Block Initiative: To keep combat moving, players will be able to go anytime their character is bolded in the initiative tracker. This means several players may go at the same time; the action will officially be recorded to be of greatest benefit to the PCs. (In other words, that bard buff will come before the fighter swing, even if the fighter officially comes first). For monsters, I will typically group similar mobs in a block initiative also. Different types of monsters will get different initiatives.

3. Going too slow: If you don't take your action in combat fast enough, I will delay your action until you do go and you will take the new place in the initiative order whenever you do move. If it takes too long-- a handful of delays, I will start botting you and reach out to see what the problem is.

3. Tracking actions: In combat, write what you do out as such: I draw my weapon (move action), take a five foot step (free action), and then swing at the monster (standard action). You can use "ooc" tags if you want, but not required given the extra time that takes in getting a post up.

4. Player Stats: Players will keep their character up to date on their alias page, i.e. see one of my characters . Though, you don't need to keep track of inventory, that will be done in the linked spreadsheet.

5. Vital Stats: Players track their most important stats in the race line of their alias (see character link above)

6. Buffs and Debuffs: Players track their buffs/debuffs/conditions in the class line of their alias (see character link above)

7. Accounting for To-Hit and Damage: When rolling do not say: d20+13. Instead, write it out: d20+5+3-2+3 where each number stands for s specific bonus. Then after the roll, write what they were (BAB, strength, power attack, weapon enhancement). This means a lot of writing. Ok, red alert genius idea, we will just make that part of the loot tracking spreadsheet. Enter your normal rolls into that and copy and paste from it. That will also make it easy to bot you.

Posting Expectations, Removing Players:

1. I expect one significant post a day that moves the action forward. More are even better; don't let the one post a day thing keep you from writing more. Post as much fun dialogue or banter as you want with the party. Keeping momentum moving forward is the most important thing in making sure our game is successful! I care more about forward momentum than I do about 1-2 people dominating things. If you feel like someone else is dominating the thread, that is your fault, not theirs. My opinion is that you should post more to match them.

2. If players don't post as required consistently or consistently refuse to follow guidelines above, the GM reserves the right to remove the player from the game. If you have real life issues or vacations come up, please send GM a private message or mention it in the Discussion thread if it is not confidential. I can bot players as needed.

Roll20:

We will move our characters and monsters in Roll20. Pictures from the book can also be easily shown in Roll20 in the journal section. But all rolls and chat will happen in the messageboards.

We will TRY to use dynamic lighting in Roll20, but I have no idea if it will work with play-by-post. It is fun in a live game where people who can see are able to tell people who can't see what is going on. In theory that is fun in a play-by-post game but the action might be too slow for it to realistically work.