←~∋(｡Ψ▼ｰ▼)∈Lets be Evil∋━━o(｀∀´oメ）～→ (Inactive)

Game Master Riuk

The actions seems a bit weird. Kendrella, Xanos and Talia are following with the rest staying behind? A response to Kendrella's suggestion if you don't agree would be nice at least.

it was wired to me do you plan on killing him or running off? i was going to assume that everyone followed

We're out of combat?

What about catching the kitchen runners?

This whole thing just went to hell on us, didn't it...

Kenderella, there's nowhere for us to run off to. We're in a fortress with one way out. The runners are going to alert the guard. If they get away, the whole place will be swarming.

If we try to stop them, we might get noticed. If we don't try to stop them we will definitely get noticed.

Not trying sounds like the fastest way to lose to me.

your not technically in combat but still following inish order...so ya your still in combat =^+^=

so ya its about to hit the walls for you since they have a 120 foot lead on you for the last too rounds they ran even once you give chase...i dont see how you will catch them there are still ways to freedom though it will be harder and as of right now most lead to death...this is the first time i have seen it go this way...i have ran this game a few times in RL tables and some have succeeded in swimming to freedom others killed everyone and took all they could a few players have died and needed to make a new PC...most if not all of you can still make it. Just going to be hard...

They're that far ahead?

F@&@. Yeah, this just got awful.

We just have to take it carefully and ruthlessly. We have the scouting advantage and if most of them are human the light advantage as well.

Take it slow, take it smart, keep it dark and quiet. We've gotten this far being virtually untouched. We can get further.

I agree with Tark that we CAN do that... That's not what anyone have suggested so far though, nor is it Kendrella's instinct. Someone should tell us to calm the **** down IC if that's the path we want to follow.

As I see it we got the following options:
a) Trying to chase down the runners? Unlikely to work?
b) run for the gate and brute force/use the window to get through. If there is a drawbridge this is difficult though.
c) run for the cliffs and try to swim. It would require extreme luck for some of us to make those checks.
d) prepare for slaughter... We got a nearly unhittable tank in Talia and Kendrella isn't going to run out of slumber any time soon. As long as we can isolate them into small groups we should be good.

What Kendrella is currently suggesting is option b...

I agree that we should head for the gate. Without range, we're not going to catch runners easily.

p.s. I may have some issues over the next few days. My hard drive died. I'm going to be starting up a new system.

I'm for option D.

In character it is what Xanos wants.

Out of character, I know a bit about what we are up against. Running is not a very viable solution. I'm sure all the reasons why are going to become apparent really soon.

Well post so in gameplay then...

Contemplating popping into heavier armor at this point.

It's really confusing when you post as a different alias in here. As for swapping armor. Your defense is only 12, that won't stop much. Are there any disadvantage to switching other than a penalty to some skills?

What are we doing about the remaining guard?

More DR, different customizations. I can about one hit things as it is. We'll see if we actually get into a fight where we get hurt.

@xanos....can you please explain to me how your character would know any of that? Now i understand that you have played this AP before but please don't have your character use knowledge that with no roll or at least asking me if you would know some OOC in IC. There is not many things that anger me than when a player use OOC IC as you just did...

Seriously if you would have just asked me or even attempted a roll i would have worked with you, but really dude...

and even with your phantom going incorporeal the entire time, unless im missing something it cant stay invisible and would been seen at some point ...

First, Branderscar has been around a long time. It's layout isn't kept secret. We know it is a fortress. That's how they are set up. Bridge house, bridge, gatehouse, courtyard, main castle, inner keep, a series of checkpoints to hold back invaders. Xanos is really old and really smart. Even if he's never actually been here when the place was still a castle (which is possible), he's almost certainly seen the place in pictures. Branderscar is famous.

Second, unless they took pains to keep Xanos unconcious, he could have scouted with the phantom on the way in. The phantom would have just shared space with his body when he summoned it and then phase-lurched into the ground, following along with his head occasionally breaching the surface to look around.

Lastly, I don't remember how long we've been here before now, but its long enough for us to have been branded and then left in a cell for a bit. Even if all that happened in one day, that is still plenty of time for Xanos to have scouted absolutely everything within 100 feet from his body, including rising into the air for an arial view. I didn't bring that up earlier because I thought it might be too much too soon, but at this point with the whole kitchen door thing, I'm thinking that holding back is a bad idea.

As for the horses and dogs, that's an educated guess. Horses are practically a given, and this is a prison. Keeping attack/hunting dogs seems like standard procedure. (I don't actually remember if there are dogs or not, but if I were designing a fantasy prison, there definitely would be)

The peice of the puzzle Xanos doesn't know is where the barracks is (but he's guessing the runners are headed that way).

The short version is that Xanos is the perfect person to know these things, and in fact only wouldn't know them if I was deliberately playing him as incompetent.

If you'd like we can retcon my last posts to have the phantom rise into the air to look around while corporeal Xanos sets the fire. The end result is the same.

No one told us to stop running after them right? Also, the guard is still there? Can't we ask him about the barracks?

You said you didn't think we could catch them. It looks like you're right. If they're a round or two away in the dark, we might not even be able to see them anymore.

I assumed everyone stopped running once it became clear how far away they were.

That works I guess...

See the makes sense and if you would have asked me I would have been OK with that, but the reason it irks me is anyone can make an old character and say "oh btw I was around when x happen so I know yz." No side bar with the gm or even a question of would it be OK. if would be ok that my character would know this because listed reasons...I'll let it slide this time but at a minimum ask me next time....as I have warned when I suspect meta gaming I will increase the difficulty. ..

Alright.

Are we, or are we not out of combat? (before this guy strikes, I mean)

please could you remove my player name and pc from the list of pcs and players

Thanks

OK let me start with I'm sorry, with this investigation going on I have been posting on the move and have not had time to recheck all the post before I update...get this even though it's clear it was arson we had to hod up our work until the fire department was done and cleared our frame room...we have an idea of who it could be but no clear image of them...sorry you don't need to know that crap, urg alright I'm going to move back to before the attack.

It's been a long day I'm going to take a nap and check back on the board soon.

Let me say that when I look at the map so I can update. I will act on the placement of your avatars, so please do not forget to move them.

Right now you can all place your self were you want to be according to your most recent post...

No problem. This whole situation is kinda jumbled.

I guess that's as it should be considering the chaotic situation.

I was under the impression that someone was guarding the prisoner. I'm not sure who though.

Let's just move forward from where we are. It's not like we could have done much to stop the guard anyway. I hate retconning more than we have to. It totally makes sense that we all were so obsessed with escaping we forgot about the guard.

No one said they were guarding the prisoner. I posted that Kendrella tried to slumber him, but that obviously failed(my hope was that someone would kill him before we tried to run off...).

It's kinda funny we are doing the whole "movie monologue where the bad guy reveals their whole plan before trying to kill the 'captured hero' thing".

Also trying to move the avatars from my phone is really hard... I make 80-90% of my posts from phone. Edit: Moved my character, just 5 foot stepping away.

I wasn't planning on letting him live. I figure he was buying time for the kitchen staff to escape anyway.

Have to admit for now I'm just kind of following along given this is merely the start of the adventure and really just want to get to like, the good parts.

Do I need to go full hard mode?

Cause I can do that. It'll just be slow.

What does that even mean? Full hard mode? Also, statistically most pbp way of the wicked games die before they make it out of brandescar, just because people doesn't show enough interest. Your "just following along" could cause others' interest to diminish as well. I know I have way more fun when everyone are engaged and posting frequently at least.

Well, is my lack of real engagement and desire to allow others with my currently more passive character ruining your fun?

Being passive and following the others is fine.

HI GM could you remove me as a player form the PC list and Player list for this game thanks

Are we stalled? What's going on?

i have been but and have only looked at the my games when i can but i was manly holding until the others posted...

Perhaps others are waiting to see if the attacks land. Or they are confused about the initiative order.

Everyone have posted except Xanos right? And he is after the guard/NPCs. Though the other Xanos should probably have his own initiative...

Right, I think for the sake of expedience I'm dropping this game and letting the blade bleed out on the floor.

That should help speed things along.

Thanks for having me and hope this progresses much farther now that I'm out.

Ah can I ask why, I know I have dropped my post rate because of work and I'm sorry for that...

He only took 8 damage right?

Yah he is still standing only took 8 damage hence the -8

He only took 8 damage right?

Doesn't make a difference to me.

The game is not fun.

Nearly half of the posts have been some form of argument over what feels like arbitrary decisions that ultimately serve no purpose but to slow the game down.

Why burden us with having to have us detail out all the ways we subdue a prisoner and then give him a power up that nullifies our only real form of defense at this point?

If you're having trouble keeping up the post rate why make us deal with a combat that isn't necessary either for plot or mechanical reasons? All it'll do is slow us down further.

If the game is already difficult with lack of equipment why force players to painstakingly detail how they handle simple things like prisoners, scouting, and talking quietly?

I get that it's supposed to be difficult, but naked level 1 characters even in gestalt probably shouldn't be dealling with super powered fully equipped guards (super hearing, super holy powers when enraged, ability to make DR relatively pointless) right out the gate before they get more than a hundred feet away from the cell. Then we've got a bunch of people plus npc's and, well ugh.

So rather than burden people with my relative passiveness to let things settle into a fine balance and slow things down with my a little out of place character I think it's best I walk away and allow people to focus their energies on getting things worked out. I'm not having fun, so I won't burden you with my saltiness.

Xanos hasn't acted because we are out of combat and we don't know what we are doing next. I've voiced my opinion in and out of game about what I would prefer to do, but it seems that others want to do other things, so I'm waiting to see what the plan is.

The situation is tense, time is short, and he tried to take action. No one else followed, so now he's basically just pausing to see where things lead next.

What I do know is that we are all but screwed now because we couldn't contain people who are going to alert the guards.

I am frustrated, but not yet to the point where I feel willing to drop the game.

As the scout character I have been trying to push the game forward in a quick but cautious way, but when others do not want to follow my job becomes to wait until there's a plan.

So just tell me what to do.

@Xanos: What are you talking about? We had nothing against your plan. But discussing it in front of the unrestrained prisoner was not the best idea and now we have to deal with the consequences. We are in combat, not out of it...

I had no idea the prisoner was armed and unrestrained.

Not knowing important details that suddenly become relevant after the point at which we could have done something about them is something of a recurring theme in this game.

As for my proposed plan, I wouldn't have spoken if I'd known the prisoner had his weapon and was standing there ready to attack. By the time I started talking I thought he was being moved to the jails by someone (that was my suggestion while I was scouting and starting a fire in the kitchen. I don't know how long that took, but I'm assuming it was at least thirty seconds to a minute. Plenty of time to disarm and start to move a prisoner).

I also remember a lot of talk about not chasing people down, and just trying to make a break for the gatehouse. At this point I don't know what the plan is in game or out of it.

I'm going to start with an apology, I have not keep ed this game up to my satisfaction and have made some mistakes, with work the way it has been. With that I did say from the jump that I try to remember the small things most people tend to gloss over, but I have been making this mistake my self and it has been confusing for all of you. I did not see anyone trying to take his down to the jail. As most thought to give case and leave him there. Then everyone stopped and talked, so I reacted how I felt a man would when he heard you all speaking of killing more of them. I have been killing my npcs off as most of the time they make perfect "red shirts" and have no real use. I came up with the mentally that tabel top rpgs are not mention to be easy and have to push players hard. Not kill them but not let the world pause when players talk ingame.
so when things are forgotten like tying a guy up or whispering. The world reacts Accordingly, So I can come at you hard. I'm sorry to see you don't like the game as you don't find the prison scene as important...it's ment to be hard . he only has 1 hp left...

I will make sure to give all the info needed and as I look at my post I see that I have made the error of not doing so, you want out its cool and everyone else you can still get free you made to mistake of letting the two get away but this is a big place and most of you have use full skills for subterfuge.

I'll take hints firm some of my other gms and I'll hand wave the last round of combat as with 5 attacks coming at him there is not way he will live. So let me update game play. ...

ok i was jsut shown a fantastic way to handle combat and its perfect for PBP...at least to me ^_^ so i will do this from now on

So be honest with me did I kill the game...I feel bad since you all put a lot of effort into your characters and they were really really interesting...but I know I have been a making some very annoying mistakes...I understand if you all would rather I end the game, sigh...well it might be for the best as I have fallen hard on the quality of my gming, I keep forgetting that one can't run a pbp as one would a f2f, with the speed and the difficulty of altering actions...well let me know your answers...if no one even bothers to reply in the next few days I'll take the hint and inactive the game...in the future when I have more practice running pbp games and you dot in for a game I will give you a spot. Sorry again for all my mistakes and hope you all had a little bit of fun...

I have some thoughts but not enough time right now to write them out.

I think things are salvageable though. It just means talking things out.

Issues as I see them, and possible solutions.

• Organization - I think the new initiative will help.
  
• The prison escape is inherently boring and frustrating - I think artificially accelerating this might be good to poke us out of the rut.
  
• DM style - we've learned a little, but I'd like a better feel for this. Some of the options may not be the best for the style. i.e. Armor as DR with hardmode and enemies having an easy way to avoid DR.
  
• Direction - we have a couple of people suggesting things, but they have very different priorities. i.e. killing everything vs. leaving quickly. This we have to sort out for ourselves.