Okay, now Sparrow doesn't like this game anymore. Creepy island.
At least your character doesn't get hung!
I hear Elf maids vanish and only their screams echo across the water...
I should point out that Pure Elf Maids get sacrified to evil gods to power their resurrection and herald the end of all life.
So at least I saved the world when I vanished.
I watch too much anime, Chopper for me is a mini humanoid reindeer, and his isle is supposed to have a huge cherry tree or similar
OMG, I LOVE One Piece. Tony Tony Chopper is great!
anyway, that is my reason why I can't take a place called "Chopper's Island" seriously >.<
I watch too much anime, Chopper for me is a mini humanoid reindeer, and his isle is supposed to have a huge cherry tree or similar
Nope, not scared off. Sorry for the delay, I was watching Wipeout and trying to get some ideas for you all to face.
And I feel slightly less embarrased about admitting my favorite Wii game (and Game cube and DS) is Animal Crossing. At least, with 60 mill in the bank there, I'm rich. Now if I could just convince Paizo to accept Bells as currency...
Anime: Naruto (duh), One Piece, Prince of Tennis (best case of justifed arrogance, ever), Speed Racer, Kimba (first I ever saw)and Tenchi. Lots more, but those are always up.
Meanwhile, about that door...
I have not been allowed to watch Anime (or anything that disturbs my wife) since I got married 15 years ago.
Last good anime movie I saw was Ghost in the Shell.
ah Prince of Tennis, there is a second season now I believe (stopped watching it and forgot to continue as I speeded through Moretsu Pirates), did you watch Kuroshitsuji yet?
Cil, that is a disturbing wife you got there, at least you are allowed to RPG, and use the net... so why don't you watch anime on the net?
ah Prince of Tennis, there is a second season now I believe (stopped watching it and forgot to continue as I speeded through Moretsu Pirates), did you watch Kuroshitsuji yet?
Cil, that is a disturbing wife you got there, at least you are allowed to RPG, and use the net... so why don't you watch anime on the net?
It never works out that way. Trust me.
I just finally managed to find the time to watch Ultra Violet last month.
Snicker. You mean Ultra Violent, don't you?
You should try Eureka 7, one of the better anime in the last 5 years with surprises and actual character development
My list of favorite's always starts with Slayers. By far my favorite. After that it usually goes One Piece, Tenchi, Record of Lodoss War, and kinda trails off from there. I don't watch anywhere near what I did when I was younger. Though my sister has taken up the hobby and is FAR more into it than me.
Naruto is one that irks me. I've read the manga up to current out of sheer habit, but just can't get into it. Naruto particularly irritates me. Heck, to be honest the only characters I really like are Shikamaru and Rock Lee (for the humor of his character).
Ooo, yes, Record of Lodoss War. First saw that at a Gen Con.
Ever seen Rune Soldier Louie?
Can't say that I have. But I just googled it and think I need to now, lol.
And as for Sparrow's question, what do you folks prefer?
My standard is I roll my critters and you folks roll for yourselves. If you'd prefer me to do it, LMK now.
My own preference is for the GM to handle things like initiative. It helps the game move along faster and prevents waiting on that one person who won't be able to post for awhile.
I also don't mind it for things like saves, since they can dramatically affect other player's actions.
I doubt it matters who makes the rolls here online, its not really a dice in our hands anyway. You can't jinx it further. I say GM should roll initiative at least.
I don't really care, but it's nice just to have the whole combat order lined up from the get go.
what I worry about is how it is handled if someone is gone or just asleep, if I would live a normal life I would be asleep since hours o.O
Seen all of Slayers (1->4), both versions of Record of Record of Lodoss War, and so many more,
but I do find the .hack series (except the Dusk Anime) and Ghost in the Shell series very well done and thought provoking.
I stopped watching the Naruto and Bleach anime due to the filler,
I also did not really get into One piece.
And if I find that a series is both an anime and Manga, I tend to go with the one that is the original source or follows the original source better,
For Full Metal Alchemist, I followed the Manga,
For A Certain Magical Index, I followed the Anime,
For The Sacred Blacksmith, I'm going with the Manga.
For Vandread, I followed the Anime.
... Kimba
:D Oh, now we are getting old school!
hm
Katanagatari, Eureka 7, Break Blade, Blue Inquisitor, Guin Saga, just some good ones I recall at the moment, although I am not really picky in genre and style. I also love Toradora and other similar tsundere anime :)
Break Blade was awesome as an anime mini series,
but the manga is better and still going.
Spiral, I don't mind you rolling initiative for the players. It's one of those little tricks that seems to keep things moving along. Regarding saves, I can go either way. If you've got multiple baddies with repeat attacks that require saves, it really speeds things up for you to roll the saves along with the damage.
My standard is I roll my critters and you folks roll for yourselves. If you'd prefer me to do it, LMK now.
I agree with Straehan. The DM rolling certain rolls can really speed up play. Initiative is an easy one for the DM to roll when it comes up cause he/she can go straight into combat setup. Other good rolls for the DM to make are ones I'd call "reactive" rolls. Saves are a good example, but so are perception checks, sense motive checks, stuff like this. Some players feel this takes too much of the "action" out of their hands, but I disagree with them. All it does is remove the posting of dice rolls... they still get to choose all of their actions.
I've generally seen it done three ways (and i'll use Perception vs. an ambush with a net-trap as an example).
Second method: Some DMs will use a spoiler with the Perception DC ("Perception checks, please - DC < insert the stealth roll of the ambushers > ), then simply place the narrative writeup for the people who made the DC… quickly laying out the scene with the ambushers for them to react to. A smart DM using this method will even have an OOC suggestion (embedded in the spoiler) for the people who made the check to roll initiative, with an additional spoiler or suggestion for everyone except the people who made the perception against the net trap to make reflex saves. This method is somewhat quicker than the first, in that it at least gives the players some way of being proactive when they know the combat is coming, but there is still the time between that initial post and all of the players' perception check posts… this could last a day or more in most cases. This one's fine.. depending on the DM and group, it can move along at a decent clip.
Third method: The DM rolls all the reactive rolls in the scenario… those being the perception, reflex, and initiative rolls. Generally this will allow the DM to make one big post that acts as the narrative and crunch setup for the players to get to begin posting their combat actions immediately. It also have the nice side-effect of the DM's narration to have some nice immediacy, since (from the player's perspective) they go immediately from traveling along the country road to reacting to some well-orchestrated ambush. With a good DM, this is my favorite, though these types of posts from a DM tend to take quite a bit more effort.
If you'd like a good example of this third one, I'm sure I can find one. But generally it involves having a quick way of doing roll blocks for the whole group, like this.
-- spoiler tag labeled "DM rolls" --
Perception rolls:
Alkaid
Biter
Brindolfin
Cilyanka
Kaddok
Ryu
Straehan
Then the same for Initiative, as well as (possibly) a third for reflex saves for everyone in the net-trap area.
-- end spoiler --
I've gotta agree with Biter on all that. When I first started running a PbP, I tried to be DM #1 in Biter's example. Even with the small group I was running (3 players), the pace noticeably slowed using that method. And we were consciously trying to keep combats 'spritely' compared to the what you see in many games. Over time my style has evolved into something between Biter's method #2 and method #3. More closer to #3, now that I consider it. It does take an effort but I think it really 'sets the scene' better and launches combats off on the right foot. The trick to making it work is two things: consistent organization and Cheatsheets. I keep cheatsheets in Textpad so I can copy/paste the rolls into posts very quickly. Then you just need to do minor edits at most.
[/.spoiler]
Each cheat type is set in its own spoiler tags so they don't take up a lot of real estate.
When the characters level up, it is a good deal of work to update every cheatsheet, but I think the time saving on a daily basis is worth it. I currently have 14 cheatsheets for: HPs, Battle Rounds and Map links, Diplo, Initiative, Intimidate, Perception, Sailing (they do a lot of it), Saves (broken down by the three types), Sense Motive, Stealth, and fun random stuff like Weather, Terrain, and Encounters.
I have also seen another good way of speeding things up. After initiative is rolled (monsters get a single roll), the combat goes as following.
Players who beat the monster single initiative roll.
Monsters
All Players
Monsters
repeat
That way the players can post quickly rather than wait for their specific turn. Just throwing it out there.
Yeah, that method works too. I've also got a DM that averages all the player rolls vs the monster rolls to determine who goes first.
The possible snag to those methods is how 'tactical' the players and the GM want to be - how easy do you want it to be to set flanks, buff the party, etc.? The slow posters or guys in the furthest timezone sometimes get left til last or left out.
The 'averaging' method presents another problem in that hampers the high DEX character builds who rely on first strikes... So your Rogue with the +7 Init has his roll brought down by the +0 Wizard and the +1 Paladin which results in him striking after the baddies more often than he would otherwise... so he ends up having fewer opportunities to backstab against flatfooted opponents because his Team Init factors out to a +2 instead of his rocking +7.
A hybrid method is that everyone acts on their Initiative but they don't have to wait to post. They can throw in their action and then the DM adjudicates in init (not posting) order. So if Brin's init is 15, Kaddoc is 13, and Biter is 11. You guys can post when you have a chance but Spiral DMs based on the order so Brin's strike hits before Kaddoc gets his Bless going so he gets no bennie from it. The risk of posting early is that the actions of the others might screw up your plans and you may have to amend your choices.
I am more worried on how battles are done if someone is asleep during the whole thing, or if one has to leave for a few days due to job
Well, if Spiral goes with Initiative order then the game will wait on each person to post. It takes a little longer but everyone gets their chance to shine. And, particularly in early rounds where it is likely everyone will have baddies to fight, we can all post at will since we won't be stepping on each others' toes.
As for work or vacation absences, many DMs just NPC the missing PC until the player returns to keep the game moving. In some cases, the player could designate another player to control his character while gone. I've played in several games with Biter's player and we often NPC each others' character when one of us is out... and he rarely has my character do suicidally dumb things. :P
I promise not to outright kill any characters NPC'd for vacation or personal issues.
I promise not to outright kill any characters NPC'd for vacation or personal issues.
I'll just abstain from stating my own hand in such circumstances when acting as a DM for my table-top group.
The 'averaging' method presents another problem in that hampers the high DEX character builds who rely on first strikes... So your Rogue with the +7 Init has his roll brought down by the +0 Wizard and the +1 Paladin which results in him striking after the baddies more often than he would otherwise... so he ends up having fewer opportunities to backstab against flatfooted opponents because his Team Init factors out to a +2 instead of his rocking +7.
One of my major class features is initiative. I know I would be upset at that becoming an "average" value.
That being said, I don't expect everyone to post in strict initiative order either. Breaking it down in faster than npc < npc < slower than npc would be fine.
If I'm out for a day or have a RL issue I don't expect people to wait around for me either. I can just be full defensive while arguing with my sword.
Ok, here's an option: I roll standard for my monsters and roll just a d20 for group initative, then add each individual's init. Then I post who goes before the monster and who goes after.
can work, just instead of "stating it" just post the initiative table and already begin the action, seems like that would make the game flow better
btw, I won't get that book you people mentioned earlier, I don't want to know what this campaign is about and the GM can post whatever is needed, I plan/wish to keep this character for all the stories throughout the whole campaign
if I don't know what is supposed to come, I won't worry that I may mess it up, nor will I be more or less ready for changes the GM did to the story. As a player-made character which is added as a sibling to a pre-made character, Ryu will feel also much more natural in the story this way.
I also never replay a module or campaign in pnp, so this story of the Runelords will be my only one
the GM and someone else, I won't look it up to know exactly whom
I think he means the Rise of the RuneLords Player's Guide. That's fine, I'm not requireing anyone to dl it.
Honestly, I was just going for the joke, lol.
What joke?
My earlier statement was a YouTube link to a scene from Tropic Thunder.
I don't get it, joke must be lost in translation
GM: I would like to discuss the possibility for Ryu (and Master Ignatius) to create custom spells to add flavor to the draconic/fire/religious theme, I never did that in Pathfinder before, but I heard it is detailed in a book how to be done
I'll just abstain from stating my own hand in such circumstances when acting as a DM for my table-top group.I promise not to outright kill any characters NPC'd for vacation or personal issues.
I'm sure they had it comin'.
I'll take an epic death over character retirement any day. Some of my most memorable characters were ones that died in less time than it took me to roll them up.