I feel bad that you make these places and we keep skipping through them.
The GM's curse. Though to be honest, many of them are painted with very broad strokes until you guys decide to pay more attention to them. Only a few places developed to a greater detail in initial worldbuilding, before I have need of them (such as the city you recently asked about, which I liked enough to flesh out right away).
Were we good with a 'kitty'?
Eh? If that's a question to me, I have no idea what it means...
Sorry - putting the gold into a shared group fund.
Items are then bought out of the fund on an as-needed rather than true-equity basis, though we do endeavour to maintain roughly equal shares.
When the group parts ways, the money and items are then divided up.
Basically - if we're going to be adventuring at level 20, the gold we're splitting up now would be inconsequential.
I'm fine with you guys declaring the money as group property, and I will then assume that you are all carrying equal amounts if it ever becomes important to know. Items certainly can be community property, but I will need to know who is carrying what at any given time so you'll still need to track your own inventory.
While you guys are still discussing things, I'll drop a quick note to say that, unlike the journey here (which I kept moving a bit more rapidly) now that we have arrived at this location I'm going back to being mostly reactive: meaning, you guys have to post that your character does something to get a response. As always, for convenience, please put a summary of your actions in ooc text at the bottom of your post, like so:
Thank you for reminding me again, I keep forgetting that.
Nice to get a rise out of Luca after all this time. ;)
She tends to get nervous when adults are talking, and hasn't yet hit her emotional development period where she really starts to be assertive yet, so... XD
Don't worry, though! In the future, she WILL speak up more!
Hey guys. Was trying to find time for a post today, but it's not going to happen. No post today or tomorrow as I'm in the midst of moving and there is always something more to be done. We should be back to normal on Monday.
No problem, and thanks for letting us know! ^^
Wow, I'm impressed - moving screws me over for weeks.
Can't post yet, but here's a small and as usual poorly-done map of the structure. Remember that it is very old and parts are collapsed and decrepit.
Sorry for missing yesterday. Still no internet at the new place, so if I don't find the time to post at work it's a bust. New post up soon!
Internet in the new place was hooked up this morning, so should be fewer hiccups going forward.
Congratulations!
Not reading spoilers - so, "Go Dante!"
Sorry - one of the problems with PbP is missing things, I think. The other is losing some of the brainstorming
I was thinking
(A) where did Emerine come from - I thought she might be summoned.
(B) Orcs were more hostile/paranoid. Emerine set up a lot of dead orcs. Maybe they're sacrificing orcs?
(C) Summoning outsiders permanently does sound like it could be pretty bad.
We've (or Dante has) gone over the outside. We've looked through the inside. We've heard what Kelsa's doing.
Kelsa seems friendly enough - which goes a long way towards being reassuring.
Any other players want to jump in with thoughts?
Luca needs a few more levels before she's assertive enough to investigate without prompting. XD *Intended character growth and development - timid now, but more confident in the future*
GM, I'd say... don't be afraid to railroad things a bit if that's what it takes to keep things on course. Sandboxes are TOUGH to do in PbP, and I honestly don't mind if you want to specifically steer us towards some plot. ^^
It's true, and as this is my first time GMing on these boards I'm also very much learning as I go. I WILL be starting up a much larger story arc after this adventure, which should hopefully give you guys leeway for going off the beaten path if/when you discover the urge to do so, but will also provide a few immediate goals for whenever you're at a loss for what to do.
For the record, Tyrus is concerned whatever outsider is pushing through Luca might get the idea to co-opt the portal.
That would be bad.
Most things involving the Void would be bad. XD Especially now, before she's developed real control over it.
...It might've already had the idea, too...
Busy day, and won't have a post up tonight I'm afraid.
Tyrus: yes, all familiars/summons go on the same turn as their controller.
Also, I'm probably going to have to finish the map and get started in earnest over the weekend, so there very well may not be a post today. Apologies for the delay.
all good. Fair enough!
On the bright side, Luca can do Full-Round Actions for summoning, so that'll help. XD If there's anything in particular you'd like her to try and do, let me know!
I hate to do this on the even of a big fight for you guys, but for reasons personal and professional I'm going to need to put us on a short hiatus.
The game will resume by/on November 5th! Apologies if that seems like a long time, but for me it will be barely a blink. ;) It is possible I will find the time to post between now and then, but none of us are under any obligation to post until then.
In that time I'm also going to be looking at other tools we can use for battles (I know some people use google drawings quite effectively?) and if you have any suggestions please let me know. Once again, sorry for this.
There are lots of options. Roll20 is an online one. You can make maps in spreadsheets if you need to, or use a tool like Dungeonographer for rather more options. ^^ A lot of it depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it.
Thank you for telling us.
I've also seen people use a normal map/drawing, then photo it and upload the photo. Not pretty but it works.
Your maps so far have been pretty good. I'm guessing they take a long time to make?
I like to spend a decent amount of time on them, yes. Hence one of the reasons I'm finding it hard to get this on done currently. And the battle map site we've been using is neat, but it's performance is just too low and I want to be able to do larger maps.
I've looked at Roll20, but it seems to be more for people trying to simulate face-to-face over the net? At first glance I didn't see options for long-term persistent maps that people can access. Might have missed it.
Well, I think Roll20 IS persistent... its main purpose is real-time games, but it can also be used at a much slower rate.
I have used it on a few occasions. I am still unsure about how to use aliases though. They are much easier to deal with here. But the maps and utilities are very nice. Never use the lighting system though.
Looking forward to the 5th, but I am afraid I am going to be away this weekend. Not sure I'll have internet.
I'm just chillin' out and relaxin'. ^^
Shootin' some B-ball outside of the school?
*Looks at Luca's strength score and (lack of) height*
Gonna say 'no' on that one. XD Besides, Bel-Air's probably quite a ways away...
But how close is west Philadelphia?
No worries Tyrus. I just remembered that I'm going to be away on Monday, so I'm starting us back up a little early. Nobody is required to post yet, of course.
I'm going to be giving Roll20 a try. Here is the link for the prepared battle map. It is set up for pathfinder, so you should be able to use the ruler tool to measure distances properly and such. I like the interface so far, so hopefully Roll20 will work out for us and we won't be switching battle tools any more.
Pop in, check it out, ask any questions you have. We're almost back!
I can see it.
Alright, I'm going away in 20 hours, and will be away for three days. Please bot me if needed as I do not think I will have Internet.
Dante and Luca, have you been able to access the Roll20 map?
Yyyyyyes! ^^ No problems on my end!
Oh. Yes. I can.
Alright! One day late, but I'm back and we should be ready to pick up where we left off. New gameplay post will be up in a few hours. Sorry again for the delay!
Okay, I'm PRETTY sure the enemies are supposed to go before Luca... so I'll chill out until then, I guess. XD
Yes, we're still in the surprise round. So only dante has something to post immediately. We'll be starting the combat proper soon enough.
Sweet...
Sorry about missing yesterday.
After this battle, I think we'll change it so that groups always act together. The party is one group, enemies another group, allies still another. Might break it down further in larger fights. It'll take longer but as you guys gather abilities and spells and other options you'll need the finer resolution...