Of Battle, Wolves and Winter.

Game Master GM Drachenfels

As for posting from smart phones, my Korean phone won't let me access this site for some reason so I imagine it just might be the same for phones back in the states, but I'm not sure.

Doh, that sucks! Curse you, Paizo!

Beserk....Lets go with Gabe's original description, but a WP is needed to come down or you attack the nearest target!!!! DOH!!

Sounds about right :)

Wounds are now as "original" rules (3 / W), but I want to add the "remainder".

Ex: character has 14 Wounds...3/14=4 with "2 left". For "Warhammer Lite" that gives his character a total of 6 wounds.

Fair enough? I've thought about it at length and I figured that having more wounds lets the "enemy" have a decent amount of threat and the characters can survive longer as well.

When thinking about it, I thought that this system represents the threat range of the actual rules. We are incorporating "toughness" in a very good way so, I think that effectively helps as well.

Slowly I'm getting the hang of this, slowly it will get easier. Albrect and Stavo I have not forgotten what you did to me...........

Dagon:

I updated the Rules Compendium to reflect your desired change in how WOUNDS/HEALTH are totaled.

I like the defense so far. We'll continue with it for a while longer.

Where the heck is Lutke?

You guys alright with the way combat is going so far?

I think the story/combat is awesome! I'm having a lot of fun with it. I sent you an email about possible tweaks to a few things, but in my opinion that's what this is all about. It's play testing. You see what works, what doesn't, what's too powerful and what needs changing.

But I think the main focus should always be story and the flow of events. The rules are kind of 2ndary to me. They help dictate the way the action is going, but shouldn't overrun the entire scenario.

As far as people being absent or unable to post, I think we as players should keep you informed better. I've been trying to do that:

"Last post of the day. If you need to move my fight to NPC status, feel free."

And I think if people are not keeping pace, then simply take over their part of the event. Maybe do a couple random fortune rolls to see how things go for them:

"Well, Njord hasn't been around much and we have to get this going. I'm going to test against his fortune of 30%."

If I pass, you describe things going well for me. Perhaps taking out an adversary or two.

If I fail, you put a more grim twist on things.

But in general you just take over Njord until the time I'm back and ready to play. You don't have to be heavy handed about it either. There are lots of creative ways to handle things like that so we can keep the story going.

In general though, I'm real happy with the current pace. Everyone is doing a pretty good job of keeping updated.

Just my 2 coppers. Take them or leave them :)

Oh and of course, I think as players our contribution to the events that unfold should be reflected when you hand out xp. If I've posted once in 3 days and everyone else has been really active, I would not expect the same xp reward.

OK. I have been drinking so I will try and curtail my "assessment" of how this group deals with PBEM.

I have posted various questions in an attempt to "fine-tune" the play by post and they have been met by silence.

I have not seen you guys for a long time and my memories are ones of fondness. That being said, I am hurt by your lack of "manning up".

If someone asks you a question, you simply have to say "yes" or "no" AT THE LEAST. If you can post ONCE to the story, then by all means you can at least say yes or no to a question.

I dont know if you realize it, but GMing takes ALOT of effort. And PBP is REALLY hard. I gave all sorts of "breaks" or opportunities for you guys to SPEAK UP and say...YES or NO...AT THE LEAST!!!

I'm going to hold my tongue......no I have NOT said ALL that I want to say.

It is kind of sad. Perhaps it is that most of you are just not built for this kind of medium (though I bet you text all day long...) Regardless.....I MIGHT continue. What I have been thinking is to continue the story on my own. Anyone that wants to jump in from time to time can try to post something worth-wile. I am basically running the story on my own anyway since I have taken up GM, Gretta, Krak, Boom, Donkey AND narrator.

I like this kind of play. I do. I am an OLD roleplayer. It's been almost 30 YEARS!!! Can you imagine?

...anyway. Whatever. I will continue the story until I get too bored to play anymore. If you refuse to post AT LEAST ONCE A DAY, the I will take personal liberty of your character and continue on.

That sucks that I have to say all of that. Wish someone other than Gabe would have spoken up a bit more...

Being a Gamemaster IS hard! I'm glad someone else finally said it. It's a real challenge. And Play by Post represents a challenge all it's own.

That being said, I must object to one thing! I think I've been contributing A LOT! Njord has been a very active part of the story. I've been posting 3-4 times a day, taking up your descriptive challenges, sending you emails. I want bonus XP damn it! :D

Just carry on. People will post when they can. Others will fall by the wayside and get far less XP or vanish totally. I like this medium as well. As I began to experiment with this I thought that it might actually be fun to run my own story with my own NPC's and use the dice commands and random rolls when events come up to help move the story where 'fate' determines it should go.

Anyhow, my vote is you press on! Njord is ready to rock, and if he dies a terrible death I'm not worried. I have many other ideas for cool characters :)

I really don't see the problem, I thought going into this that we lead busy lives, work on different schedules, and even live on different continents so things WILL take longer and we're not going to post all the time. Ideally, yes post once a day but s+&# comes up or we forget. The moment it becomes a chore to post is when the game loses all fun. Let's just try and have fun instead of jumping to conclusions and worrying about the small stuff.

I really am not sure whats going on here? Weekends are the only times I don't post because I'm out and about. I can't post all through the night that's just the way of it. I work and go to school so if I do post during the day its from my iPhone making me not want to write novels on it and when I come home every night I try and keep updated.

I appreciate you running it, I think this allows for us to do a really grand campaign that can last awhile, but not if we try and burn through it. And I'm not sure what you mean by manning up? Seriously tell us what's up! Am I not posting enough? If so TELL me so I can try and fix it and go with the flow better. I really enjoy this and want to see it continue not die in frustration from lack of communication.

Dagon, maybe we should slow it up and really do a one post per night sort of thing? Just so it IS easier on you and it'll be less vexing as you won't be needing everyone to catch up to yours and Drachenfels mind boggling speedposts?

Further Edit

I think Drach is right on the money with the idea of Fortune Rolling when you have to take over a character to move the story along. BUT I don't think it should have to come to that. This is all supposed to be laid back and for fun! I don't want anybody to be stressed out over it. pinvendor being MIA for a few days doesn't faze me because when he posts he posts g!&&&@n NOVELS that advance the game like mad!

As for rules stuff. When that comes up I don't usually over any opinion because its stated, not asked for our opinion. "This is how wounds will work bam," and I see it, looks like it'll work fine so I go with it. Luckily I havent been hit yet... Aside from the horse.

Well for me this is totally new, learning the posting styles and commands is tough, and tougher for the non computer savvy. That being said the halfling in this game random rolled was prolly not a good idea "ie lawyer" I still wanna play but next week will be out for four days going out of town and all. I still wanna play just as a different dude idea inc fleshing him out a old npc from everyones past will be fun im sure.

It appears as if I have been written out of this campaign since its the weekend and I wasn't able to post. Even after I answered the question about when and how often I can post saying the weekends are bad for me.

Oddly enough for all the anger and impatience that Dagon is showing, this medium is typified to be a slower paced game unlike the snap decisions one would require in a face-to-face game. I notice the post count reqirement seems to have skyrocketed since you took over Dagon, since if you look back over the thread, we posted much slower during Drachenfels reign and there was mush less complaining. I also see some irony in the fact that Drachenfels himself is posting more frequently then he ever did during his tenure as GM...

I apologize my having to attend to my life on the weekends is interfering with your enjoyment of this PbP, so I suppose I will bow out. I do hope you continue however as reading the thread is enjoyable even if you have chosen to ignore what I said I was capable of providing and leaving me out.

In regards to my post count, it is much easier to respond as a player than it is to create as a Game Master. The main reason I felt it best to hand the reigns over to someone else was that I was finding that by GMing here, it was sapping all creative desire to carry on with my live action weekly game with my friend Chris. I guess I just have a limited reserve of creative energy.

Anyhow, regardless of all that, I'm not sure what the fate of our PBP experiment will be. I think we're onto something here, but I also see a lot of angst and resentment. Still, that's nothing new. Our live action games were always plagued by the same problems, gripes and complaints.

I have no problem or doubt that it's easier posting as a player, it just is. It's more reactionary. But pinvendor's point on the speed really should be talked about. I don't think pinvendor needs to get booted out. I'm in favor of slowing this down. It only makes sense as 3 of us are a bit slower on it. Drach and Dagon, you guys got a speed I can't match apparently, maybe you two want to do a 1 on 1 PbP on the side? The further adventures of Njord.

The "angst" that's been plaguing this game has seemingly only shown up from Dagon and I assume it's because of our lack in speed. That's just how I feel.

I get you Drachenfels. One can only do so much, and truly your live players deserve a fun game.

When I originally envisioned this and mentioned it last year, I never intended it to cause strife. It was meant to be a slow plodding narrative which allowed everyone plenty of time to respond, think up and write great descriptions. I think the only reason you and Dagon are experiencing this as a "hard" medium is their seems to be an unpleasant amount of pressure to post.

While I can't say that this idea is what Drachenfels had in mind, perhaps something definitive as to what the GM "expects" after reviewing the posts about posting frequency would be the next step. If there can be an agreed upon timeframe for posts, then if exceeded, an NPC condition can be assumed until the next "posting window" timeframe. Previously we didn't seem to have anything and everyone kind of posted when able. I was fine with that, but I realize some people would like a little more structure.

I am willing to try and read up on the weekends if that is to be required, but understand I don't like making snap quick posts with little substance, so I usually try to write and post when I have time to absorb the current thread, write and edit my work heavily for reading and comprehension. Hence the "novels" to which ODV refers. On the weekends, it is rather difficult to find an hour where there is no pressure from my responsibilities to the live people around me.

As stated, I am willing to remove myself from the situation if my posting speed is not a fit for the group. If we can have some small measure of understanding and patience, I am more than willing to continue participating.

Well if we are still playing my new guy is a old Npc whos been about a LOOOOONG time good ole "LACKEY GUNTERMAN".

I think speed of posting ever really becomes a factor in combat situations. If I could reboot I'd probably set the story in Altdorf and have it based around politics.

I'd agree that combat takes a ton of time and posts to resolve here, but then where's the dark perilous adventure? It's tough, and I don't think reboots are worth mentioning at this point. It's still a strong story and this is a learning curve we'll get over.

I never kicked Pivendor out. His charcter disapeared....his fate to be later determined. We didnt hear a peep from him since early Friday.

This combat shows EXACTLY why we cant use real rules for this. Can you imagine?!!!

We were using "fast" rules and it STILL took over 2 days of posts and that's with me really trying to get through it.

There are 2 MAJOR problems with PBP:

1) Character interaction
2) Combat

And those two things basically make up the fun of Roleplaying.

It may be that combat needs to be even MORE "lite"...though I PERSONALLY am not a fan of it being more "tuned down" than it already is.

I thought this combat scene with the Mutated Kurgen went extremely well, but Caspar and Mud were doing badly and are not fighters. The wizard had back luck, Lutke was gone, and Njord just got overwhelmed.

I do think that the Kurgen's WP was a bit high and I apologize for that. I was hoping for better results. That was my fault, but as you can see, no one died (unless Mud decided to). Even Donkey got saved. I think some of you may have lost hope early and that's understandable. Warhammer sucks the hope right out of you. :)

Anyway, speed at posting is a major problem at this point. It's just the way it is.

You're trying to create a flowing story that is not only dynamic but constantly moving.

I garuntee that if a GM just waits for everyone in certain circumstances, the game is going to peeter out due to boredom.

That being said, I am going to take a break GMing and hand the next part over to Gabe again.

My idea is that the horseman was a messenger from Wolfenburg (Grey Wolf to be exact.) He was sent from the city to try and get help from Kislev, but the woods around the city are full of Kurgen looking for just such messengers.

I was going to keep him alive long enough to give you guys the way to the "backdoor" and the message he carried as evidence for your passage.

Sadly his horse is dead. :-P

Krak and Boom and Gretta brought the team to a nearby cave in the same foothills you were traveling through. In fact the remanents of the wagon and the dead Kurgen are not very far from your camp.

There is not alot of worry about the Kurgen going missing as these mutant scouts are left to roam in packs for days at a time.

So if Gabe wants to take over at that point, I am all for handing the reigns over until he decides he wants to hand the reigns back or someone else takes over.

Me personally I thing Ed is doing a great job, keep it up.

Awesome, awesome. No I DO think this is good just to get this stuff discussed. Dagon, yer doing a fine job I just would try to not get frustrated at some of us slower updaters. And yes combat is CRAZY. I'm not sure where else we can trim the fat. Maybe we'll just have to focus more on RP and a little bit less combat? I'm not sure how exactly that will break down.

Warhammer does stomp our faces into the mud, and I'm stoked to see it keep going.

To the normal board!

ok, well whoever takes over GMing to include if I continue then perhaps its the AMOUNT of people involved in the combat.

For instance, had I maybe made that 3-4 instead of 6, it might have gone quicker. But then it was 5 since 1 was on Lutke.

I dont know. I guess it will just take some experimenting.

And I am glad you guys are injoying it regardless of the ranting, raving and dark warhammer ass kicking. If I continue then I will be more patient. Maybe we'll set a 2 post a day minimum. Things might take longer but it wont hold to anyone to anything above 2.

Let's all go ahead and take 30xp for the combat. Unfortunately if Lutke still wants to play (Which is perfectly fine by me), I cant give him the same xp.

Here is the Link to Mr Lackey Gunterman.

Here is the Link to Mr Lackey Gunterman.

Same person as Grog Mutton Wench? Famed snotball player?

I don't mind giving things another shot as GM. Honestly, I think play by post is a really effective way of toggling game masters.

As far as combat goes, I've been thinking of ways that an entire fight can be resolved pretty much in two posts per character: One from the GM and a follow up from the player. More on this soon as I work out the details.

Is it ideal? No. But the only time we're really struggling is during combat scenarios so I think we need to resolve it more as a sweeping overview as opposed to a play by play.

Everything else has been pretty awesome. You're all top notch Warhammer players with epic imaginations. I'm often impressed. I think we just need to continue to fine tune things until we get it right.

Remember, this is really just a play test. The real gaming begins once we work out all these bugs!

I'll take over again, though I may change the scenario entirely. You're welcome to use the same characters, or invent new ones. Then again, I may also keep things the same. We'll see!

Lackey Gunterman "Grog" wrote:

Here is the Link to Mr Lackey Gunterman.

Same person as Grog Mutton Wench? Famed snotball player?

Yes it is.

Haha, that's awesome! Snotball players for the win :-)

Dagon, I'm also perfectly fine if you want to continue. Just let me know. I'm having fun playing Njord, but I can take up the mantle for round 2 as well.

I think I've come up with a way to resolve combat really fast. I mentioned it above. It's not ideal, but it can take care of things pretty quickly and we can move on.

I'm also probably going to reboot the story and start things simple and fresh in the City of Altdorf. For those interested in playing, I'll post a link to the thread, otherwise no worries :)

K, lemme continue for a bit more. I dread you changing the story so far. :-P

The idea I had for combat resolution is this:

* You roll your attack dice as we've been doing.

* Then roll your defense dice as we've been doing.

* Total up all your successes from both rolls. Post the amount.

* The multiple rolls for attack/defense simulate a bunch of activity resolved in the span of a couple dice rolls.

I'll use Njord as an example:

His total attack dice are 5 (WS + 1 for 2 handed):

5d100 ⇒ (62, 47, 60, 93, 90) = 352 vs 45 (WS): No Successes!

Then I'll roll his total defense which is 4 (TB):

4d100 ⇒ (73, 50, 67, 5) = 195 vs 40 (T): 1 Success!

So out of 9 possible rolls I got one success (pretty aweful). All those rolls simulate not a single action, but Njord's series of attacks/defense over the span of an entire combat.

------------

* The enemy does the same, rolling attack and defense dice. In this case we'll use a Kurgan warrior with a WS 40 and a Toughness of 43. He has no armor and no special weapons.

Attack: 4d100 ⇒ (48, 56, 55, 39) = 198 vs 40 (WS): 1 Success!

Defense: 4d100 ⇒ (29, 54, 58, 20) = 161 vs 43 (T): 2 Successes!

------------

Resolution:

Njord has 1 success. The Kurgan has 3 successes. The Kurgan wins the overall fight! Battle over.

As you can see, it's the same rules but things are resolved faster. Now, what if you're facing something really horrific with a lot of hit points? Something really scary on the slaughter margin? In that case the GM might make the call that you need to "Win by at least (x amount) of successes to defeat this creature!"

Perfect? No. Simple? Yes. Fast? Yes. Keeps the story moving. Again, this is more about writing a tale than it is playing traditional Warhammer. The dice rolls are there to help add some randomization and surprise to events so we're forced to think outside the box when things go wrong.

------------

Live or die:

Now, once you've been defeated, how do we determine if it's a killing blow or not? Here's where Wounds factor in:

* Take your Toughness and add your wounds total to it. In Njord's example he has a Toughness of 40 and Wounds of 12 for a total of: 52

* Now for every Success the enemy had over you take -5% from that total. Again in Njord's example he was beaten by a total of 2, so that's a -10% from his saving throw vs his overall Toughness of 52.

1d100 ⇒ 67 vs 42 (Tough + wounds - 10%): FAILED! At this point the GM can rule (if he wants) that the Kurgan effectively out fought and out defended Njord, and at the end of the raging fight dealt a killing blow.

I suggest we give this a shot. It'll speed things up a lot.

Lackey is now done check the story, just waiting for entry notification.

Gabe, let me think about that one a bit.

I might use it soon though..... ;)

Lackey!! AWESOME avatar. The character looks good. Let these guys roleplay a bit in the cave. I would like Albrecht to talk to the rider a bit more, have everyone do a head count (looks like we lost Lutke sadly enough) and for everyone to realize Mud is dead.

You know, if we have the attack/defense numbers of what we're facing a player could in theory resolve an entire combat himself without any intervention from the GM:

GM Post: You're each facing a raving Kurgan warrior! They each have 4 attack dice and 4 defense dice. Resolve your combats now...

We can make the rules for killing blows a little less extreme as well. I haven't come up with a better idea yet, but as it currently stands I see people dropping dead right and left.

Still, I think the general idea of turning over the info on the enemy and letting us resolve our combats totally in one single sweeping post could be pretty epic. It would save a lot of time for everyone involved, and I think it's safe to say we can trust our players not to power game.

here is my email

amberdevir@yahoo.com

eddy if you like i have a into idea...

Yay! Lutke didn't die after all. Seeing as how he had "fled" the scene of the battle and the crash of horse and donkey, I will wait for a suitable moment for the GM to indicate Lutke will have returned from his mad dash through the wilderness.

Will be out of town till monday later fellas

ok, Sorry for the slow posting yesterday. Lemme try and get things back on track today.

Lackey wont be showing up till Dana gets back then.

No worries, glad you're back and posting :)

Off topic, I have an INSPIRED idea for a game setting. Almost hate to use it as a Play by Post. It's something the guys and I had talked about in the past as something that might be very cool. I might give it a try in this format down the road and bring it to a tabletop universe later.

But until then, carry on! Wolfenburg awaits :)

I sure hope the humor in my latest posts is landing cause I think I've been pretty damn funny! But it's never good to laugh at your own jokes. That's just bad form ;)

The Graf hasn't shown up, but Nuln in the far south of the Empire has already fielded Imperial Artillery, huh. Seems a little incongruous, O Wise GM.

Lol. See I am getting your humor! Also, you do know there is entry for Hellcannons in the Old World Bestiary for 2nd E, right?

Always thinking and plotting, Pinvendor. Keeping us on our toes. The idea in my mind at least was that the Imperial Cannon of Nuln had long been in place as a defense of Wolfenburg. A gift perhaps or some form of trade long ago between the two great cities. I didn't really work out the details, but that was the concept in my mind.

As far as an entry in 2nd Edition. Yes, I know. But I don't have a copy of it online. I just do a google search for images and link them. In this instance the HELLCANNON came up with rules from WHFB.

Wolfenburg is in trouble in this shard as well? Let me guess, Albrecht showed up, didn't he? Everything always seems to be more complicated with him around. Definitely not boring, however.

So Jurgen, you think we'll have to step in and fix everything again?

LUCAS! What an awesome Avatar for him as well!

And yes, I was telling Dagon in email that the reason I picked Wolfenburg for the setting was I knew it would make each of you groan in horror. Having played the start of the Thousand Thrones here and dealing with such wonderful encounters as the Lady Graven gone Slaneesh, I knew this would be the perfect setting to begin once again *grin*

I look forward to seeing what horrors Dagon will visit up on us.