The Sunless Citadel - 5th Edition (Inactive)

Game Master spinningdice

Opening post to follow later, opening to dot in

dot!!

Ready to rock.

You have followed the Old Road from Oakhurst for a little over 3 hours, though you could probably make it in less time if travelling less warily. The road would be a poor trail for a caravan as it is overgrown in patches and churned up in others, but provides an easy enough path for walking.

As you approach the bend the stark scar of the ravine dominates the landscape, and you find the spot described, where stone pillars stand at each side of ravine, many broken, or lopsided, but two stand intact near the edge of the Ravine.

A sturdy knotted rope is tied to one of the pillars, its other end dropping down into the darkness.

- - - - -

The Ravine runs for miles in either direction, this appears to be the widest section, about 40feet across. What you can see of the rest it looks to be mostly 30ft wide. It is around 7-miles back to Oakhurst.

- - - - -

I assume you all know each other, at least a little, feel free to intro your character touch on what you were doing on the journey and let me know how you want to proceed.

Jack frowns in the yawning black abyss. "So this is where they think their wayward sons have gone? Why couldn't they got lost in a brothel? Or The Sweet Doomed Angel? They have 2-for-1 on mugs of ale tonight."

The Ranger scrounges up a dry branch in the undergrowth, and a moment's work strikes a spark upon it, quickly growing to a small flame. He walks close to the edge of the gaping black and drops the flaming brand in, watching to see its depth when it stops.

Your flaming brand drops down, maybe 50 feet, then hits a large ledge, about 20-25 foot square.

Now illuminated you can see what appears to be a (cold) fire pit and what may be a stairwell leading further down.

The knotted rope seems to descend down as far as this ledge, and looking closer you can also see weathered hand and footholds, carved into the rockface, though they seem spaced and sized for smaller creatures... goblins maybe?

Provided you're taking your time and can see, there is no chance of failing to descend down the rope. The hand and foot-holds are a little too small for a human and require a DC 5 climb check unless you are small, in which case you can climb down them with no chance of failure.

"I can't wait til we get inside. I mean, who thought I'd be going on an adventure so soon! and a really dungeon even!"

Kenzi is the first to volunteer to go down the rope.

Greg looks over the small woman and a smile creeps to his lips at her excitement, but it flits away just as quickly as the reality of the adventure settles in.

"You all go first. I will come last and hold rope for all. The I come down."

He takes the rope and ties it off, but also keeps ahold of it and lowers the party into the pit one at a time.

Dot. Reading what I have missed now

dotting to catch up this evening

The heavily hooded wizard looks down into into the pit. His heavily accented common is very apparent. I have the best ability to see in the dark, I have no problem going down after Kenzi. But, please wait a moment. as he digs into his spell component pouch and in the spidery language of magic, begins to chant Ast fresa trepw as an armory form manifests itself over him.

Casting Mage Armor for a duration of 8 hours

Thank you, Greg, !Ko's small voice says.

The goblin patiently waits his turn to go down the rope.

A chuckle escapes Jack's lips/ "Be careful what you wish for, fair Kenzi! 'Tis said 'Be careful ye who stares into the abyss...because you'll get eaten by a grue!"

Hack spends some time laughing before turning to Gregek. "Gratitude, Gregek. Let us hope that is the hardest thing you are called on to do.

And, yes, Nil," as he had taken to calling the spell-thrower with the impossible name. "You are welcome to go second, with your eyes as gifted as they are."

Jack would've been fine climbing down the bare rock face, but, 'tis no reason to do something hard when you can do something easy.

He keeps a watch, to make sure nothing goes wrong up top, and goes down almost last, just before Gregek.

"What's a Grue? I'm pretty sure that's not an actual thing. You're crazy Jackelroy." Kenzi probably had more to say, but sliding down the rope she got out of earshot.

Yes, that is your nickname. Get used to it =P

An eyebrow was quirked at the exchange as everyone was preparing to descend into the hole, the corner of his mouth pulling up a bit at the exchange between the pair of humans. As they waited for each one to finish, he leaned on his staff. The exchange about the grue made him attempt to temper the smile at the old tale, wiping the small grin off of his face. The elf's hair was brown and loose to his back, and since they were waiting, he took a minute to tie several lengths of thong around his limbs, binding his clothes against inconvenient snags. They wrapped from his ankles to his knees, binding the loose and comfortable clothes that he wore against snags. His arms followed from his wrist to his elbows, and then his hair at the nape of his neck.

While he had been slightly aloof to the party, that was only because he was thinking ahead to what they might encounter, and the plan they had. It was refreshing to keep company with such vibrant individuals.

"I'll follow", he volunteered, invigorated by the novelty of all of this.

Kenzi starts to climb down the rope, noting that the rope is relatively new, being maybe a month or two old at most. The nearby handholds look like they've been carved into the rock at least a couple of decades ago, if not longer.
Kenzi: Are you continuing to chatter as you climb down or are you going to attempt to climb down stealthily and/or listen to your surroundings. If so make a Dex (Stealth) and/or a Wisdom (Perception) check

Current climbing order
Kenzi
Nil'murr'shass
Cassadar
!Ko
Solovor
TPJ's character
Jack
Gregek

Yes, she'll keep talking on the way down. She doesn't know any better yet.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Hearing everyone still talking, !Ko will say, Shhhhhh... We don't know what's down there. Keep an ear out.

!Ko, being a goblin, is conditioned to be quiet and sneaky, lest the stronger races hunt him down and string him up.

Even still, he pulls at the color of his armor, way too loud for his liking.

When !Ko climbs down and reaches the bottom, he'll try his best to be quiet.

Stealth, dis: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 201d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

In a manner contradictory to the entire philosophy of stealth, he tries to be a bit obvious about it so his companions get the hint.

As you touch the bottom, you hear the slight scraping of claws on stone.
Glancing towards the sound you see what appear to be the forms of three massive rats, with bodies that must be at least 3 feet in length, they are moving towards you with malice in their step.

Giant Rats: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Kenzi/Party: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20 Just using Kenzi's initiative for this one as she's at the bottom

Party up first

Notes
Kenzi is currently the only one at the bottom (I assumed that no-one was going to climb down the rope while she was still on it).
You climb (safely) at half your move speed, so it will take most of you 3 movement actions to reach the bottom (or rather a dash and a move to use the correct parlance) - you can drop the last 5 feet.

If two people wish to use the at once a DC5 Strength (Athletics) roll is required, as the rope will move somewhat more unpredictably with two on it. Also don't forget the handholds which are DC5 to climb unless you are approximately goblin sized, in which case you can do it without a roll.

Can those of us at the top see the rats? Some of us can haz ranged weapons. =3

With Gregek steadying the rope, can he reduce or negate the negatives from 2 or more people on the rope?

catching up

Guillermo has mostly stayed behind following the party, wondering exactly what he's doing with these strange folk. He's kept to himself thus far, giving up little information other than his name and a couple nods.

He'd never really imagined adventuring with a goblin and a bugbear, but they seem to be of respectable character. At the very least, they don't appear to be a threat right now.

For now he concentrates on climbing down the rope.

Athletics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

My previous stealth check was assuming we were already at the bottom. Please disregard that post.

When it's !Ko's turn to climb down, he makes it to about ten feet up, at which point he launches himself off the wall to land on one of the giant rats, sword in hand.

Athletics to Climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12
Acrobatics to land on rat?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

I wonder how the elves will get along

Soval had been quiet for most of the journey. ALong the way, he seemed to be lost in thought, moving his hands as if reading through scrolls or pages, and moving his lips with some unknown words.

As they stopped at the top of the pit and Waited for Kenzi to climb down, he began to get more attentive, looking around and taking it all in. When Kenzi reached the bottom and encountered the rats, Soval finally let some words slip out as he was climbing down the handholds. "I hate rats..."

Strength(Athletics): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Yes, you can see the ledge from up top. So if you have weapons at range, you can fire down. Range will be about 50 feet from top to bottom.

"Gah!" JackElroy exclaims as he sees the three overly-large rats stalk the persons that were heading down. "Everyone look out!"

Then he wastes no more breath on warnings as his crossbow comes to his chin and becomes not just a weapon, but an extension of himself. He sends a heavy metal shaft at the lead rat, hoping to take it unawares.

Rangers get advantage on enemies that have not acted yet.
Ranged Attack!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Advantage Ranged Attack!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Ranged Attack Damage!: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Guillermo casts shillelagh on his quarterstaff and swings at one of the rats.

"Go on now! Get!" he snarls at the vermin.

Quarterstaff (Shillelagh): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Quarterstaff (Shillelagh) Dam: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

"Gah! Rats! Gross!" Screams Kenzi as she reaches into the pouch on her hip and pulls out a glass bottle. Twisting the lid, there is the sound of glass cracking and then she throws the bottle at the further one.

Attack Roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Fire Damage Roll: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Don't forget, folks, that we can only get down one at a time and it takes a round and a half. Not all of us can be down in the pit fighting.

On that note, what order are we going down? It's a 45' drop/climb, right?

As best I can tell, Kenzi is at the bottom. Nil is on the rope and will be on the ground this round or next round. Cass is up next to go on the rope, or may start this round with an Athletics check.

!Ko can get on the rope after Cass, then Sol, Guill, Jack, and finally Greg.

Jack is going ranged, while Greg is holding the rope.

That was my understanding

While his precision was not the best, (that would be worked on) it was enough to avoid the use of the rope to help get down faster. He courteously chose to overlook that he was above the drow, as he did not have quite the amount of dislike for them that his cousins did. He was still wary, though.
_______________________________
hastening down the rope
Athletics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Side of chasm is 50', I'm counting as 45' foot to make it easier to factor movement, and a 5' drop ain't going to hurt you. Don't forget the goblin hand-holds are an extra option

Round 1 Heroes

Kenzi: On reading the artificer article it doesn't appear to need an attack roll - Dex Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 71d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11.

Jack: Your crossbow bolt hits a rat squarely between the eyes, your target drops dead.

!Ko: You can attempt to dive bomb next round... if you want to follow Soval down the handholds, rather than wait for the rope to be free?

Soval: Descends 30' down the handholds

Guillermo: Can't reach rats from atop the ravine, you may still cast Shillelagh if you wish?

Nil: climbs 30' down the rope

Cassadar: Starts climbing down the rope, about 15' before risking kicking Nil in the face as he climbs

Greg: Holds the rope (negate penalties for two people on the rope)

Round 1 Rats One of the rats dropped dead from Jack's expert crossbow bolt. The others cower a little before Kenzi's fire, but driven by either hunger or malice they still advance on the girl.
Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 dmg: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 dmg: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
One of them gives her a nasty bite for 5 damage.

Round 2 Notes
Jack, Greg and Guillermo are at the top of the Ravine

Kenzi is at the bottom, rats are in melee range with her.

Nil is 30' down the rope, can descend 15' as your next move, drop the last 5' and do something with your action

Soval is 30' down the handholds, can descend 15' as your next move, drop the last 5' and do something with your action

Cassadar is a little higher up the rope, can descend safely as your full round or descend 15' and drop the last 10' or so requiring a DC 10 check or suffer 1d6 on the fall.

!Ko is a little higher up the handholds, unless he changes his action, he's going to attempt to divebomb a rat this round.

2 Rats are both lightly scorched by Kenzi's bomb, having taken 2 damage each. Jack killed the other with 9 damage.

Dive bomb away!

you have the right of it, I just mistakenly wrote Fire instead of acid, which is single target and does require an attack roll

As the large rat lunges, Kenzi shouts "get it off! OWWW! Take this you jerk!"

Reaching into her satchel again, she will grab another glass vial and smash it into the rat that bit her.

Attack Roll: 1d25 ⇒ 14
ACID damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Let's try this again.

Attack Roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

The drow descends and attempts to hit one of the rats, the one hit with acid with his quarterstaff
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
1d6 ⇒ 4 damage if he hits

The rats were not enough of a threat to hasten, and the ones already down were doing well, so Cassadar took the time to descend the rope, instead of dropping the last bit of distance.

Jack sights downrange again, sending another heavy bolt toward the attacks rodentia....

Attack!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Damage!!: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

...but he's already grimmacing, between the distance and the dark he knows that wasn't his best shot.

[ooc]Okay, since its probably more beneficial for you, I'll assume Kenzi used fire last round and hit them both for 2.

Round 2 Heroes

Kenzi tries to burn another rat, but is thrown off balance by the rat's attack.

Jack fires a shot close enough to shave the rat, but not enough to actually hurt it (1 off it's Ac)

Nil descends, dropping the last few feet and slicing into a rat. Not quite finishing it off, but leaving it

!Ko dive bombs one of the rats, for dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 1 finishing off the badly injured one.

Soval reaches the bottom and blasts the remaining rat with energy Dex Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 1 Though it dodges aside.

Cassador reaches the bottom.

Grek/Guillermo Either wait up top or begin to descend

Round 2 Monsters
The remaining rat, singed and it's pack slain, decides that this prey is too strong and attempts to withdraw.

If anyone desperately wants to pursue the rat, then you can dash to the edge of the platform and get a ranged attack on it before it gets too far into the gloom. But otherwise the combat is over.

Post Combat
The rest of you all manage to climb down once the rats are defeated. The only way you can see to proceed is via a set of switchback stairs heading downwards, into the darkness.

The steps appear worn and smooth, it should not be an issue to walk down carefully, but traversing them in haste may be more difficult.

Only Nil with his superior darkvision can see down the the bottom, a further 80 feet down, the bottom of the ravine scattered with broken masonry below.

Guillermo is climbing down the rope and will hold it steady for Grek as he descends once he's at the bottom.

Kenzi will draw and drink a potion from her satchel.

Healing Potion: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Soval pauses for a moment at the top of the stairs. Looking down, he could only see darkness. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes and concentrated on opening up his psychic Third Eye. After a couple of moment, he opened his eyes. Those meeting his gaze might notice a slight greenish tint to his pupils, but otherwise nothing was different.

However, now when he stared off into the darkness, he could see a several dozen feet into the inky blackness.

[ooc]Taking an action to gain Psychic Focus with the Third Eye disciplone which will give Soval Darkvision (60')]/ooc]

As Gregek get down, he set to butchering the remains of the giant rats. He is quick and efficient, skinning and sectioning the remains. He wraps the meat in the pelt of one of the rats and attaches it to his pack. Once done he turns and speaks with !Ko.

!Ko looks out over the edge, but cannot see the bottom. Shall we? he asks.

Matching words to action, !Ko starts down the stairs.

Gregek joins his diminutive friend descending the steps.

'Hehehe. Oh no. You don't get to step and then leave. If you come heavy and lose...no one gets to go home,' he thinks as he aims at the fleeing rat, leading the target.

Attack!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Damage!: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

'Tagged ya!' he follows, pleased with a good shot.

Jack scrambles down the rope and joins the others. He nods as he sees Greg (as he's come to shorten the demi-human's name) butchering the carcasses.
"I've never had wild giant rat myself. I've had a rotisserie swamp rat that melted in your mouth, though. If you don't mind, I'd like to try some later."

He grabs up the flaming brand he had dropped earlier, blowing the dying flame back to life. He lets his gaze sweep over the cold fire-pit, idly wondering if anything interesting is laying around.

Perception!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Jack finishes off the last rat as it tries to escape, it's carcass tumbles down into the ravine bed below...
A good poke around doesn't yield anything in the fire pit, though it seems to have been there for many years and re-used hundreds of times.

The two Goblins lead the way down the steps, taking it carefully it takes several minutes to reach the bottom, the stairs open onto a paved courtyard, relatively clear of debris though the expanse in either direction is cluttered with masonry. The courtyard leads across to the remains of a tower, that seems to have been somehow partially buried in the rockface of the ravine. The upper parts of the tower look buckled beneath the weight, but the wooden door appears intact.

Does darkvision see anything that others dont?

Opening for Discussion.

Hello!

Awesome!

1) Does anyone want to do anything in town, or would you rather just start at the entrance and get straight to dungeon-plungin'?

2) Anyone object if we do group initiative?: I'll average out the party and monster initiative modifiers and roll once for each side.

3) if you don't post for a whole week, I'll send you a PM....

4) Each Player round in combat will last 24 hours...

(Gonna post here because I hate seeing a billion posts in a Recruitment thread that is already closed. =)

Question the First) I spent my gold so I'm good. If I do anything else, the longer we remain in town, the greater the chances are that I'll do something that involves the word 'brothel'. ;)

2) That is by -far- the best way to do initiative. Well done sir! =D
I can't understand why any game would do individual init. If they guy that posts at 7 am is waiting for the guy who posts at 8pm, then everyone after them is gonna lose a whole day just for a sword-swing.

3) Rational. I'm expecting my 3rd child...literally any hour now, so I may be Lost Beyond Time and Space myself. =)

4) See #2.

Addendum: One good rule I've found is the Rule of Two: If two of the party agree on an action, that action happens. This is helpful for forks in the road where either one choice is so good that further debate is just time-wasting, or neither choice has an obvious benefit, and we just need to make a decision.

First post is up, don't feel you have to rush to get involved, feel free to take some time finishing up characters etc.

Added some basic notes to the campaign tab, I had more elaborate notes but I foolishly typed it directly in and then my browser locked up when I tried to post, so brief version for now.

As a note I am tracking XP, but will just update the spoilered bit on the campaign page, rather than hand it out, I will notify when you level up (which will only be done on resting), so it's semi-invisible XP.

XP will be the same for all party members initially, though I am tracking it individually.
Provided you all stay together you all get XP for everything, if you split up for any length of time (scouting ahead is not splitting up) then I'll track it seperately for each group and anyone who has gone awol and has been sent to camp/town will not earn xp for that duration.

I do not typically grant roleplaying awards to XP, as that's what Inspiration is for. Though I am notoriously bad for giving out Inspiration (and similar awards in other games) so if another player does something that you think warrants it, feel free to call me on it.

Here's me alt....arrr.

posting in gameplay momentarily.

As a note, TPJ is swapping out his gnome wizard for a Druid, in order to cover some more healing for the party.

And TPJ is here. I missed that we'd moved on to this thread, so here's the skinny on Guillermo Arkha from the recruiting thread:

He wanders the woods and hits things with a big stick. He's also curious about the apples. And opportunities to hit things with a stick.

I'm cool with starting in the dungeon, and likewise I'm good with 2-4.

I wonder how the elves will get along

I was wondering that as well, since I'm not as up on the lore for 5e as I was for 3.5. I presume that there is still (as if it'll ever end?) a conflict between the surface and the Underdark?

There's always a conflict between everyone and the drow. Because drow are jerks.

Greyhawk doesn't have the advantage of a public Drizzt figure to make people think better of Drow.
That said a drow will generally raise less eyebrows than a Goblin for most folks, as few are familiar with Drow whereas many have encountered goblins. Elves probably have a bit more familiarity, and contempt for the drow.

Goblins are jerks, too.

I'm on a mission to correct that image. :)

bugbears are..well bugbears...'nuff said

I have been up since 123- this morning with a bad case of food poisioning

Ugh. That's the worst. Feel better, man.

How are you doing ammo retrieval? Does 5e have a way for that?

You get back 50% of ammo fired by spending one minute searching the battlefield.

PHB 146 under ammunition.

Going with the default, as per !Ko, if you fight some fire elementals or something I'll let you know you can't recover ammo.

Hmm, collating info on Init bonuses, Jack has an advantage on Initiative rolls. I see no reason to not let any group he's with get this bonus since we're grouping initiative. You currently average at +2.5, so I'm rounding up because it seems fairer.

Using a map for this one as it seemed easier than describing where everyone is. I may shift between maps and no-maps depending on feedback. Apologies for the quick-and-dirty map, but I'm not on my main machine at the moment.

Huh.. There was space enough to act? Cool.

Sorry, I'm not feeling the dungeon slog so I'll withdraw. It feels more like a number crunch. Just have Cassadar disappear when they weren't looking, please.

There's number crunching? Where?

I thought it was pretty clear it would be a dungeon crawl, there is the opportunity for more talkie bits later (provided you don't just hack everything to pieces), but you've only been through two rooms so far.

Also I'd like to point out that it was originally designed as a beginner adventure, so it's a little on the simple and easy side.

If people want more of a challenge let me know and I'll start ramping up the difficulty a bit, or if you'd rather emphasise certain areas.

I am fine with how things are going.

mystics are the psions of the 5E game correct?

Yes, I must confess I've only a vague idea of how they work, but they have a points pool instead of spell slots, still get Cantrip-like effects for 'free', but seem to have more tightly themed flexible power-suites instead of actual spells. I keep meaning to make a couple of builds to get a better grasp of how they work.

I thought it was pretty clear it would be a dungeon crawl, there is the opportunity for more talkie bits later (provided you don't just hack everything to pieces), but you've only been through two rooms so far.

It's more a fault of mine, I'm afraid. With the story starting in media res as it were, there's little chance to apply personality to the characters. Add to that the potential enmity that may exist between characters by virtue of long-standing biases (earned or not), the number of players in this format, and I'm finding it easier to depart from this game to aid in streamlining than remain and try to shoehorn motivation into a character .

I'm still uncertain whether or not the "boardgame" feel of the system is just my feeling or just the nature of a dungeoncrawl (To be fair, it's leaps and bounds over 4e, that I've experienced). However, functioning within this system/format seems flat, and it's easier for me to opt to voluntarily reduce complexity than remain out of a sense of obligation and woodenly walk through this as an exercise— doing you a disservice in the process.

Would it help if I changed out the drow for a high elf?

No worries, I promise not to take offense. I intentionally started with a large group in the theory that at lease one or two people wouldn't gel and would drop out.

I kind of feel the need to balance letting people play out as they want and preventing a single adventure lasting so long that everyone loses interest - I have fond memories of this adventure, but I don't want it to plod on for years...

In the meantime feel free to follow, should the game develop more to your tastes later I'll rule that you stayed in the area.

Starting a new post to seperate this off a bit.

If anyone wants to explore some of their backstory any within the limits of the game, please let me know. !Ko and Gregek's combined backstory seems to be easiest to hook onto.

Perhaps some ongoing dialogue in the discussion thread may keep up interest while you wait to stumble on some of the more interesting bits...

Thoughts on a goblin civilisation:
1) I can't find any official hints to a prior goblin civilisation, but I'm only nominally running greyhawk anyway, so I'm not too concerned about that.

2) Hobgoblins seem to be the most 'cultured' of goblins and their depictions often have them in Middle-eastern/Mongolian style style dress, so could tie the Goblin pre-historic civiilsation to those cultures?

3) I'd almost like to keep traditional conflicts out of it, so maybe have the Orcs as being the foe that brought down their civilisation, perhaps give an ancestral aspect to them using goblin slaves (an ancient imperitive to keep their old foe in the gutter). Several thousand years of slavery by orcs have given them similar persona's in a lot of ways, making them somewhat barbaric?

To be clear, I completely made up the ancient Goblin civilization. It's part of why I put, "so far back even elven historians have forgot." The thinking was that elves are the longest lived race, so their historians would have the furthest memory back.

I also picked the name I did because if you sound it out, one could easily see it become the word "goblin" over time.

Would it help if I changed out the drow for a high elf?

Not so very necessary. I've already withdrawn from the game, and while that would remove an IC concern, I'd still rather make it easier for the DM to conduct the game by decreasing the players.

I've noticed that I am becoming more and more character driven, which really does hamper me in a game such as this, as I find myself wondering, "Why would this character go adventuring with a Drow, Hobgoblin, and Goblin?" Knowing that would let me know why "Elrond Bowie" the Acrobat-Entertainer would venture into the Citadel, especially with his primary motivation being curiosity towards the tree that keeps disappearing from the town, with no mention of the Citadel (though the ravine ~is~ mentioned).

To be clear, I completely made up the ancient Goblin civilization. It's part of why I put, "so far back even elven historians have forgot." The thinking was that elves are the longest lived race, so their historians would have the furthest memory back.

I also picked the name I did because if you sound it out, one could easily see it become the word "goblin" over time.

I was presuming this, just added item 1 in case I'd completely missed a reference somewhere (I'm no scholar on the history of D&D worlds). Just theorycrafting really, I don't expect definitive answers, but even if I only end up reskinning a generic magic item to have a goblinoid heritage it gives your backstory out of the background.

Mmmmrpmph. It's hard to complain about the sloginess of a crawl when a character has literally said no words.

I'm having a great time. Hitting on Kenzi, starting some light verbal sparring with the bugbear and goblin with wacky hijinks to later ensue, hitting on Kenzi... ;)

My point is that PbP is what you make of it. The greatest RP comes with other characters. The DM can't do everything. The greatest DM in the world can't make a game fun if the party has no chemistry. (Srsly, this just happened to me. A DM that I know is good had to cancel a game with a party full of fighters, each one set on "dour, serious, brooding". The wacky hijinks of an uncomfortably attractive halfling just couldn't save it. =)

Anyway, SpinningDice, don't take it too hard. You were absolutely right to take too many, and the future is only proving the past.

(Indeed, I've often been a big advocate of taking just a bit -too- many players. Then after a few inevitable drops that game actually gets better, instead of dragging and waiting a week or more for recruitment. =)

IMHO. YMMV. XD

Is the website acting up again?

There was an issue with gameplay and discussion threads for a few hours today. It appears to be fixed now.

Don't know if it's just the times I've had to look at it, but Paizo site just hasn't been working whenever I've tried it over the last couple of days (though I've been limited on time to check as well - Easter being the time every random family member decides to drop in).

Sorry for the lack of updates, will jump over to the gameplay thread to update now.

Yeah, it's been hit and miss for me, too.

me too but
Happy Easter!

How did you guys like the memory sequence I did for !Ko? It's the first time I've tried to explore character history in such a fashion on pbp.

Normally, I'm not fond of thought bubbles, since other characters can't interact with the thoughts, but I've also heard that some people like it because they want to read the story regardless of whether they can interact.

So I'm looking for input on this style of writing.

I liked it, though it's the sort of thing that's hard to respond to, in thread, as it's not exactly doing anything in the situation.

As a note it may be worth adding a remark as to whether you've recounted this to the others in the past, so they know whether to bring it up in conversation.

Also possibly to call it out a little more. Maybe a series of stars or dashes between memories and current events, so if someone would rather not read through you thoughts they can still see what you're doing in the now.

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Happy Easter everyone, my daughter spent last night throwing up after too much chocolate, so yay for holidays of indulgence.

It was certainly well written !Ko!

Now that's some vomit that was honestly earned. =)

Yeah, !Ko, if you could work it into the passive conversation, that might be better to play off off. "As the party marches down the hall, !Ko muses on the past...."

I've found that unless you really try to make past stories as some kind of soft hook, they really don't go anywhere. Kinda like careful details in a back story. You gotta harp and mention it more than once or just no one cares. IMHO. YMMV. XD

My goal was less about creating interactions for other PCs and more for creating backstory for the readers.

Not long ago I was in a conversation with someone who mentioned how they hated it when people on pbp just repeated attacks with no story interwoven. "Entertain me, damn it!" is what I remember from that conversation. They wanted a story to read regardless of whether the story was spoken by the PC or in a thought bubble.

So I was going for a style of story aimed for the readers rather than for PC interaction.

(As for me, I've always skipped over stuff like this, but I'm intentionally going against my typical style of posting and storytelling).

Apologies on the knowledge check, I should have probably have rolled the check and given you some time to process before starting the combat.

Going forward, is there any objection if I roll relevant knowledge every time you encounter a creature and let you know what you know about the creatures?
Alternatively I can put the DC/roll required in a spoiler and let you look if you beat the check?

Obviously most humanoids you'll probably recognise anyway, I'm not going to roll every time you encounter a goblin.

Also Guillermo, I had it my head that Shillelagh was a 1st level spell, I see now that it's a cantrip (I don't play druids often), shall I just assume you cast it just before a new door is opened each time?

Any other 'standing orders' I should be aware of?

I've found putting info in a spoiler with a DC/roll to be pretty effective, especially passive checks (knowledge, perception, insight, etc.).

I'll post it in play when relevant, but yeah, Guillermo is pretty much constantly casting Shillelagh, unless he occasionally remembers he should cast Guidance. :)

I've found putting info in a spoiler with a DC/roll to be pretty effective, especially passive checks (knowledge, perception, insight, etc.).

That's always a good choice. Only works with planned checks, though.

I'm also not sure if 5e has ever resolved the creature identification thing yet. Technically, from the PHB, there isn't a roll to identify creatures. It's all DM territory.

In combat what I would recommend is giving people a 24 hr from the point that the post was made to be able to respond. We live in different times zones and sometimes things just come up but 24 hours is not an unreasonable time frame to be be able to respond. If after that there is no response then the DM can do what needs to be done.

No, but I think it's reasonable that folks would have a chance to know something.

So knowledge checks behind a spoiler in first encounter post and 24 hours for initial response to combat for kicking off for round 1 actions.

I'll also assume Guillermo has Shillelagh up except when surprised or if a combat ever lasts over 10 rounds

It's also worth mentioning the you can cast shillelagh as a bonus action.

No, but I think it's reasonable that folks would have a chance to know something.

Yes, yes, yes. I completely agree with this. Waaaaaay too many PbP games on here suffer not from going too fast, but from going much too slow. Hence, since you, SpinningDice, have the perfect pace, I would vehemently oppose any modification that would slow it down, and rob us of this perfect, perfect gift that you have bestowed upon us. =)