The Strangler of the Shadow Moor (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Did I make a blunder? Seems everyone is quiet.

okay the monster are like far away from us and combat has started. It will be a couple of rounds before anyone can reach them or before they reach us.

Yes, you have TIME to discuss strategy, or even establish a defensive line. You can talk to each other both in and out of character if you like. You can get buffs up and going. You can make Perception Checks to see if you can determine how fast they are moving (DC will be 10+HD for each monster)

I don't see the Eshian who's running for his life on the map. I'm guessing he's just a little bit in front of the monsters?

I was waiting for the payer to post, the halfling (Eshian) witch.

The Scarey Player Map is now updated to show starting positions for each Player Character (you still have time to move up to 30 feet before we start tracking combat rounds). Ribat, I've moved you forward, along the water line on the beach, 20 feet moving toward your goal.

Round 1 will start soon.

Ribat - 22
Jazz - 25
Rydwen - 4
Xor - 10

Still looking for Initiative from Sasithorn, Diarmal, Marvin and Felicia

Apologies, having internet problems. Please DMPC me if I take too long, handwaving it as something like falling back on protocol or whatever.

Also: So scarry!

Yeah I posted and didn't want to immediately post without giving others a chance to get in on the action, thought it seems it is speeding up again!

A quick note, as Jazz pointed out, my maps are not interactive, sorry about that. I am slowly learning how to work Maptools, its painful.

GDM, you mentioned above that we could make Perception checks to see how fast the creatures are moving. What does the 19 I rolled in my last post tell me? What I do now depends on how much time I think I have.

That's a great roll, and I should have addressed it in the game thread.

You can tell, by watching the monsters, that they are "lumbering" and moving slowly

the monsters don't appear to be moving faster than a single move action per round

so sorry for not posting in awhile. I have had some family issues to deal with for the past couple of days.

No Wories, if we are moving too fast for you, just shout out

Just wanted to double check, but I hope folks aren't waiting for me are they? :O I was waiting for the Tentacruel, should I post something now?

You can always talk to other characters, talking is a free action, I was busy today, but should be able to move the next monsters and give a prompt.

Oh no, not at all haha. I was just worried I was holding people back, like the monsters had already gone but out of our field of vision.

Last you told me, Wayang Eysterlun enjoy the following level of visual acuity:

Low Light Vision (in total, or magical darkness, after a delay of one hour, Eysturluns have Darkvision to 30 feet, but this is spoiled by any presence of light, and takes one hour to return)

Does that still apply, and what does that mean for what Sasithorn can see here and now?

I have been trying to update many of the "created races" I've used in games in the past using the Pathfinder Advance Race Builder rules and this has resulted in a few changes to how some of them present under the rules, but that's one we can keep.

However, as you have just stepped out of a lighted Tavern, you still have some time to wait before your eyes adjust to Darkvision (and let's hope this battle doesn't last an hour!)

Right now you have low light vision, and the only light is the lantern on the front of the tavern, and that throws light to about 80 feet away

For characters with low light vision, the monsters would be in Dim Light, EXCEPT that one of the "wall-like" creatures has just summoned Darkness, and that changes everything.

I appreciate everyone's patience. I will update the game today.

What area is the darkness affecting?

I am presently at E--3 - how far/how well/what can I see?

Well, Darkness is effecting everywhere, because, it is the dead of the night, there are clouds so there is no moonlight or star light, as has been said.

Light is being produced by Felicia's Dancing Lights spell, a lantern on the front of the tavern, and Rydwen's torch

Felicia's spell is being temporarily surpressed by Magical Darkness emanating from the red Whapwhop (a wall like, large creature)

Well, Darkness is effecting everywhere, because, it is the dead of the night, there are clouds so there is no moonlight or star light, as has been said.

I was referring specifically to the magical darkness.

Would it be possible to indicate areas of abnormal illumination on the map (i.e. overlaying faint translucent black/white circles centered on their sources)?

I'm trying to figure out what I can see and potentially attack (and how great the miss chance is, if any).

I'll study MapTools better and see if I can put up templates for the light sources.

Also, I missed that Diarmal has cast Light centered on himself

So

Anything with 20 feet of the large red monster that looks like a wall is in Magical Darkness

anything within 20 feet of Nathaniel, or Diarmal is in Normal Light (Dim light from 20 to 40 feet away from them).

Rydwen is working, this round (Round 2) on a second torch.

Dancing Lights is tricky as there are 4 of them, and they all have to be within 10 feet of each other which can create a area of overlapping circles of light that is a bit larger than a normal torch

Please move me to C--3 - I kept saying I had already moved to E--3, but you never put me there (which would have mattered since Xor just said he meant to move to C--3).

I think you're absolutely right about torches! I believe lighting a torch with flint and steel is a full round action, and lighting one with a tindertwig match is a standard action. I think. I figured it would take until my next initiative turn before I could do anything else. So I won't do any other actions until after the zombies and tentacruel goes again.

Could you clarify exactly where Ribat wound up? I think that there might be some confusion about his move speed. Your narrative makes it sound like he wound up at (G, -9), which would be a double move for a character with 20 ft. move speed. Unlike most Small creatures, however, gripplis have 30 ft. move speed on the ground and 20 ft. climb speed. I'm OK with you house-ruling that Ribat has 20 ft. ground speed, but I'd like to know one way or the other.

I haven't moved him yet, but I got the impression that you wanted to stay "among" the rest of the group making their way down the beach.

Marvin has sort of outpaced everyone, which is making him a little more vulnerable, and you can certainly be as far as one square ahead of him, but again, that kind of puts you out front a ways. I'll move you to where you can get in 60 feet. Where do you want to be?

Sorry for being confusing. The "keeps up and pulls a little ahead" part of my post was me trying to raise the subject of move speed indirectly; I should have just asked. I'll head to (G, -11), 10 ft. due south of Marvin.

Edit: 10 ft. due south of where Marvin was. I got ninja'd.

I hope everyone is enjoying the game, so far.

Each time a character posts something unique about himself, I get another idea of how to weave that into this campaign, and it looks like it is going to be a good one (if we can stick with it).

Now, for the good news/bad news

My daughter is receiving her Master’s Degree in South East Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The graduation ceremony is on May 17. The wife and I are going to be there! We are leaving for Hawaii on the 13th and will be back on the 20th and, honestly, posting will not be high on my list of things to do while I am there ;)

So there will be a break. I hope everyone can put up with it.

I suppose just this one time we can let you slide 8>). I will be on vacation from may 9th through the 17th and I can assure that posting will not be on my agenda at all.

Ribit – A Skeleton is going to attack you! Unless, and here I do not know the rules well enough, you are allowed to make an AoO with your net when the Skeleton is 10 feet away and begins to move closer.

Edit Check that! This skeleton is in fact destroyed by Marvin

I'm guessing you mean the one in (F, -12)? I was a little unclear on the rules for this too, so I looked it up . Whether or not I get an AoO depends on how it got there. Unfortunately for me, I'm guessing it came to (F, -12) via (E, -13); if so, I don't get an AoO on it. On the other hand, in the process of looking up the answer to your question, I realized the creature in (E, -11) provoked an AoO from me if he moved there from (E, -12).

So, here's what I want to do. If the skeleton closed with me from another square besides (E, -13), I would like to take an AoO on it. If I can't get an AoO on the skeleton, then I will take one on the other creature (a Whap-Whop? I'm a little unclear on what names in the initiative order go with which icons) as it closes with Diarmal and Nathaniel.

Big creatures (10' x 10') that look like walls - WhapWhop
Round creatures with tentacles - Tentacruel
Big Round creature with tentacles - Giant Tentacruel
Black Four Sided (die?) looking creatures - Tetracruels

Of course none of you know these creatures, so the names are silly, and basically a way for me to keep track of them. You can call them what you want to call them.

You cannot take an AoO on a Tetracruel, as they attack from the air (death from above!)

Did you see my edit. Stupid me didn't read Marvin's post before I started updating, and that Skeleton (Red)is dead, well, deader.

Gotcha. Yes, I saw the edit.

Those names are silly and I like them.

Oh, Interesting fact! I just found out that in all cases, not just movement, diagonals are counted as 1.5 squares rounded down. So diagonal range is actually less than vertical/horizontal range. Even though there are four diagonal squares between Marvin and that zombie, meaning 20 feet, it's actually counted as six squares, which is 30 feet. The more you know!

This depends on GM, of course. :P

Grid Combat = *GRRRRR*

There is, I think, a rule that says you count the first diagonal as 1, and the second as 2, squares for movement purposes (so if there are 2 diagonals, then it averages out to 1.5, but if there are three, then, and the first is, wait, carry the two, and then divide, and...nevermind!

Yup, that's the exact rule!

It's easier to just think of it as 'diagonals are 1.5 then just round down'.

So three squares is 4.5 rounded down which is 4. This makes it easier when there are a bunch of squares, like say thirteen squares. Thirteen squares multiplied by 1.5 is 19.5, rounded down is 19. Don't have to bother bloody counting it 1-2-1-2.

Now you just wait until we get into including height into our calculations, which you so foolishly did when you decided those tentacruels were flying.

The insanity of trying to manage a massive grid combat on a PbP is one of the things that drove me towards more cinematic style combat. It's a little bit more of a hassle on the reading and writing, since there's a whole lot less to look at, but it's so much easier on the GM side of the thing.

That being said, I've seen a lot of success with a shared google-docs map so that people can move their own pieces around as required. I'm not sure how much of a hassle it is to set up, since I've never actually bothered to look into it.

I second Diarmal. In my only other PBP game (We Be Goblins! as Reta Bigbad) he's using Google Docs for the map, and it allows us all to move any token, even without having to sign in or make an account. Some bad aspects about this approach:

1. Anyone can move any token.

2. That also counts for the map itself, which is just one big token. I've accidently moved it twice now, and it's a pain to try and put back.

3. He does not have the nice Battleship style numbers and letters your grid has, though this could easily be added with a bit of Photoshop magic.

I've taken 5 actions since rolling initiative, the first being at the same time as I rolled initiative (getting as far as the tavern doorway and casting Steel Shadows), and I'd been operating on the assumption that I'd technically done that on, for want of a better way to put it, "Round 0." I'd been assuming I was going no further at any point than the present round, but there might have been a misunderstanding.

Don't forget to wish your Mom a Happy Mother's Day (here in the US) and on the outside chance there is a Mom playing in one of my games,m Happy Mother's Day to you!

@Meero Dunblin: The proper place for that mage armor would be on YOU.

I had hoped to get another update in before I left for Hawaii, but it has just been buckets of crazy sauce getting ready, my carry-on was broken when I got it out of storage and now I have to go shopping for a new one tonight, eek! Being old is hard enough, being old and traveling sucks.

Being any age and traveling to Hawaii sounds pretty alright to me.

Work or play?

I hope everyone is enjoying the game, so far.

Each time a character posts something unique about himself, I get another idea of how to weave that into this campaign, and it looks like it is going to be a good one (if we can stick with it).

Now, for the good news/bad news

My daughter is receiving her Master’s Degree in South East Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The graduation ceremony is on May 17. The wife and I are going to be there! We are leaving for Hawaii on the 13th and will be back on the 20th and, honestly, posting will not be high on my list of things to do while I am there ;)

So there will be a break. I hope everyone can put up with it.

Both!

I am back from my trip to the island of O'ahu and getting games updated slowly. This one will take a bit more time as I make sure I know where we are in the combat. Thanks to everyone for being patient!

I think I go after your next enemy post, if I have it right, but please take your time! Sometimes we often need a vacation from our vacation!

Not that it probably matters because I rolled really low anyway, but just in case it comes up again:
Net Adept (Combat)
You have trained to use the net as a melee weapon.

Prerequisite: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (net), base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: You can treat a net as a one-handed melee reach weapon with a 10-foot reach. Further, you take no penalty on melee attack rolls for using an unfolded net, and you can use one full-round action or two move actions to fold a net.

Normal: A net is a ranged weapon that imposes a –4 penalty on ranged attack rolls if it is unfolded. Folding a net takes a proficient user 2 rounds.

I took the step forward so that I could use it as a melee weapon.

Thanks for reminding me, I need to look at the characters closer from now on!

If you're going to track active spells anyway, you might want to add my Steel Shadows Mystery - admittedly, it lasts 10 minutes, so it's got 95 rounds left, but still, it is, for your information, there.

EDIT: Many apologies, it's been awhile. I just remembered that she's not using her spear, but rather her dagger. It still has the same reach though. It actually does:

[dice=If Hit, Damage]1d4+3 (slashing)

Not if she's enlarged, it doesn't. A Large dagger become a more versatile short sword, and does 1d6 damage - and have you accounted for your Strength bonus and Dexterity penalty?