Well, since you can't change your roll, anything you say after it is just gravy.
Actually, no. I don't want to give a thesis on how to 'game' the Paizo boards but I will give you an example using your roll of 9.
It is Round 2 of combat. Flori and friends are facing down a mob of evil normals and 3 big bad undead. You decide that you want Flori to hammer one of the undead with your RTA Disrupt Undead. But having shot at one of them before - you know it's Touch AC is about 15. You preview your roll and realise that your roll is going to miss the undead. Rather than 'waste' your action, you switch to a spell that doesn't require an attack roll. You switch your attack to Sleep on the normals, rewrite your post to match that action and send it off.
You just gamed the system, made your action useful, and avoided using that pesky 9.
Or, she could delete the post and try another roll. I trust mature players to not do that. It's just a game.
Well, since you can't change your roll, anything you say after it is just gravy.Actually, no. I don't want to give a thesis on how to 'game' the Paizo boards but I will give you an example using your roll of 9.
It is Round 2 of combat. Flori and friends are facing down a mob of evil normals and 3 big bad undead. You decide that you want Flori to hammer one of the undead with your RTA Disrupt Undead. But having shot at one of them before - you know it's Touch AC is about 15. You preview your roll and realise that your roll 9+2 is going to miss the undead. Rather than 'waste' your action, you switch to a spell that doesn't require an attack roll. You switch your attack to Sleep on the normals, rewrite your post to match that action and send it off.
You just gamed the system, made your action useful, and avoided using that pesky 9.
I'm sure that some people do that, but I would hope that nobody in this game will. It seems to me that cynarion, and all of the players here, are all about the story. Sometimes people succeed, sometimes they fail. When you play legitimately and hit that roll when you really need it, it makes it that much more fun. I just don't understand why people play games and then cheat at them. "Yay, I won, I'm the best!" but you know you cheated? What's the point?
Like, when my group was facing the Venom Cult in the Dragon's Delve, I had a 25% chance to succeed (I was confused and needed to "act normally" to use an item to get us to escape or one/possibly all of us would be dead). When I hit the roll I needed, it made it that much more awesome when we got away, you know?
I remember a 2e game where a mindflayer was trying to enslave us. We had to save, and the DM said "just don't roll a 1."
All 3 of us rolled 1s. That led to some very entertaining captivity.
LOL! I bet. In answer to what you guys (Flori and Lem) wrote... I'm not anticipating or even worrying that anyone here will cheat. I was just expanding on Karrik's 'slippery slope' and why, in PbPs, it can be a real problem if the DM and the players aren't keeping an eye open for it. Among mature players it shouldn't be a problem but sometimes you get a nasty surprise.
To me, cheating in a RPG is just low. It's bad enough that the player is trying to gain an advantage over the DM but s/he is also seeking an unfair advantage over his/her fellow players and basically trying to 'hold the limelight'. That violates the spirit of cooperation that makes RPGs great, in my opinion.
Meh, I hope no one tries to 'game the system', but I'm not going to worry about it. Assuming the random number generator is good, at least my rolls should even out over time ;)
Lol, in my real life pathfinder games I get crazy about making sure I have dice that don't favor any specific numbers. I've been paranoid ever since this one board game I had (Settlers of Catan) favored a certain set of numbers, and since then I've blown way too much money on getting 'precision dice'. Anyone else use Gamescience dice?
My view on the whole cheating thing pretty much echoes those expressed by Flori and Lem, so I won't rehash the issue.
If I notice people starting to 'game' the story itself (don't ask me how I'd know...beyond blatant use of player knowledge), I will take action then.
I have a couple of kids to put to bed and a contract to draw up tonight, but then am hoping to make a post or three in the gameplay thread before my own bedtime. : )
If I notice people starting to 'game' the story itself (don't ask me how I'd know...beyond blatant use of player knowledge), I will take action then.
Right. So when I cross the Pacific in my one-man, nuke-powered, uber-stealth submersible, sneak into your home, and pencil in certain changes to the adventure... I better make sure my hand-writing matches the text in the book exactly and that the changes aren't too leading.
Hmm... Yes, a challenge. I suppose my scrawled liner note Sarianna falls for Raj and visits his room some night... might be a bit too obvious.
Curse you and your unreasonable standards!
If I notice people starting to 'game' the story itself (don't ask me how I'd know...beyond blatant use of player knowledge), I will take action then.Right. So when I cross the Pacific in my one-man, nuke-powered, uber-stealth submersible, sneak into your home, and pencil in certain changes to the adventure... I better make sure my hand-writing matches the text in the book exactly and that the changes aren't too leading.
Hmm... Yes, a challenge. I suppose my scrawled liner note Sarianna falls for Raj and visits his room some night... might be a bit too obvious.
Curse you and your unreasonable standards!
Heh!
Easier (or maybe harder) for you--most of the time I am referring to the pdfs. ; )
Wow. Really appreciate everyone's candor on it. I didn't really expect we would deal with the whole "gaming the system" issue, but I've had to deal with it before and Dragomir's comment raised a red flag. (Probably says more about me than it does him, right?)
Anyway, back to the fun stuff. :)
Hey all. Really, really enjoying this so far. : )
I apologise, but I'm frankly asleep on my feet (well, technically asleep on my backside, but that's beside the point) after three ridiculous days at work that involved about five hours' sleep between them. I am not going to be able to make coherent posts tonight to wrap up the conversation with Kendra...but I should get some time on my train trip in the morning (around eight hours from now) to finish this little meet & greet and move on to the reading of the will.
If you'd like to make more posts, feel free to ask Kendra some questions.
I will be back in the morning. Well, my morning, anyway. : )
No apologies necessary. Take care of yourself. We'll be excitedly waiting when you can get a post back up.
This was TOTALLY cool!
Thanks! The script pretty much wrote itself. Death, debt, obligation - what's not to love? :)
No apologies necessary. Take care of yourself. We'll be excitedly waiting when you can get a post back up.
Just one? How about 15? ; )
The script pretty much wrote itself. Death, debt, obligation - what's not to love? :)
Heh! I have to say I'm enjoying it too. Hope you like the curve ball I just threw you. ; )
###
The next time I post, Kendra will go get the chest Petros refers to in his will. Then you can find out just what's inside... : D
The script pretty much wrote itself. Death, debt, obligation - what's not to love? :)
Heh! I have to say I'm enjoying it too. Hope you like the curve ball I just threw you. ; )
Having not yet checked the game thread, Raj says over-confidently "Hell yeah, I LOVE curve balls!"
Literally a million posts. The wait was worth it!
Kind of funny though to check the thread, alt-tab and write a single post, refresh it again before getting up and see it just explode.
Like spell components in a spell component pouch, these are the 8-Hour Rests of Our Lives.
Literally a million posts. The wait was worth it!
Kind of funny though to check the thread, alt-tab and write a single post, refresh it again before getting up and see it just explode.
Heh! It's probably just as weird writing a fifteen different posts in fifteen different tabs, holding them all up until I'm ready to go, and then pushing 'submit' one after the other. I'm glad there's an opportunity to edit posts here--however small--because at one point I had Councillor Hearthmount's alias on the post where Kendra gave Raj a hug. That would have been a little weird--not least of all because a 300-pound man would have appeared from nowhere. ; )
Having never done this before, the part I'm actually finding most challenging (in the fun challenging kind of sense) is writing material that moves the plot along without requiring input from you. I had to delete several non-rhetorical questions from Kendra's posts because I didn't want to delay the reading of the will even longer and/or cause anomalies by having two chronologically separated conversations occurring at the same time in the thread.
Although sometimes, to tell what I find a more fun story, I have to induce some ambiguity--hence the current Schrödinger's Cat-like state of Raj and Kendra's embrace. Is he going to return the hug? If he does, what will go through his head? Or will he leave her forlorn and lonely--maybe to fall into Walter's arms? ; )
Like spell components in a spell component pouch, these are the 8-Hour Rests of Our Lives.
You very nearly made me spit my lunch all over my laptop. ; )
###
It's probably been long enough now for you guys to get a bit of insight into my writing style, pacing, that kind of thing. Anyone have any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions? Would love to hear how you're finding it.
Is he going to return the hug? If he does, what will go through his head? Or will he leave her forlorn and lonely--maybe to fall into Walter's arms? ; )
What? If Raj gives up the girl than he'll no longer rank as cool in Walter's eyes! I can't destroy all that hard won Walter angst. ;)
FWIW, Walter, your posts are pissing me off... in a good, envious way. :) You are so spot-on 'in character' that I just marvel at it. Well played, sir, well played.
Now to carve up some worthy posts of my own!
Hmmmmmm.....
###It's probably been long enough now for you guys to get a bit of insight into my writing style, pacing, that kind of thing. Anyone have any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions? Would love to hear how you're finding it.
Straight up honestly I figured you'd done this rodeo before. Congratulations on fooling me! I really like the branching response thing you did-- it makes it really interesting, I think, to be able to have a response ready for you as well as to have the GM be able to say "you must make a choice about this". Then you can just move your own narrative along. I can dig that.
I'll think of more things later. Promise.
Hi all--
Will wait for a few more responses to the reading of the will before making the next post. : )
--Mike
Totally forgot to address your suggestion as to Karrik's town of origin. That sounds great.
Yep, that suggestion will do awesomely. A western town of middle-to-large size with a dark and bloody past? Indeed.
I'll add something to my background.
As to your PbP DM'ing style so far. I've really enjoyed it. It's still early in the game, but I've enjoyed reading your posts, and I appreciate the thought you put into them. You paint the scenes up well, giving us the ability to interact not only with your NPC's but the environments around them. This, to me, brings the game to life. :)
Nothing but encouragements from me. Look forward to the next series of reveals.
Also wanted to add my voice to the kudos going to Walter's posts, as well as Raj's. I find myself going back and reading those posts a few times to really get everything out of it. I'm sure that means you've got some depth to what you contribute to the game.
In fact, everyone in general has really shown up for this game. Seems like a good crew.
Now I have the sudden realization that I need to up my own game. :(
Challenge accepted, everyone... challenge accepted. :)
Now I have the sudden realization that I need to up my own game. :(
You're not the only one. XD
: Looks around for coffee after a long night of obsessing over his posts :
Regarding your style Cyn... what Karrik said. And I mean that literally - my opinion dovetails with his so much that I'd just be an echo. The only thing I think I could add is my curiosity to see how you run & narrate a combat sequence.
NOT that you should throw a CR8 Flamethrower-Wielding Ninja Dance Troupe at us right NOW... Raj would appreciate a nap first. :) It's been a dramatic morning so far - far more drama than Raj is used to.
I'm enjoying the narration you use. It feels really alive. Excellent job.
And I would like that dance troupe thingy just to see you describe it.
He continues torturing the burning logs as...
LOL! I love it. That is a great turn of phrase.
He continues torturing the burning logs as...LOL! I love it. That is a great turn of phrase.
I would like to add my two cents that I love all of the posts so far. GMing style is great, NPCs have depth, and I love the PCs' posting styles and backgrounds.
You know how in conversations sometimes people aren't really listening but are just kind of waiting for their turn to talk? This game is the PBP opposite of that. I love reading everyone else's posts. I'd like to step up a bit more and type in more detail, but during these hours it's difficult for me to have lengthy posts (I'm a high school teacher, so it's harder for me to post a lot during the day).
Anyway, nights and weekends are when I can post the most.
Oh, and since I didn't spell it out directly, that was Lem casting "Create Water" on Karrik. ;-)
Confess! Confess! ; )
I'll start to worry when Karrik goes after the logs with the soft pillow or the dreaded comfy chair. :)
Hmmm... what does it say about me that I didn't even need to click your link to know where it was going?
Small post and away!
Thanks for all the compliments by the way. You guys are awesome too!
I'm enjoying the narration you use. It feels really alive. Excellent job.
I agree, the narration has been great :D
Though I suppose we'll know who to call if any arsonists break in.
Lol!
Hey everyone. I promise I'm not ignoring you, things have just gone completely pear-shaped at work. I will get back to you soon as I can--the earliest opportunity will probably be around seven hours from now.
Thanks for your patience.
###
On another topic, I am really enjoying this, and think I've got an awesome bunch of players here. Give yourselves a good pat on the back. : )
--Mike
Though I suppose we'll know who to call if any arsonists break in.Lol!
And there goes my plan with the buckets... need for preparation spoiled by magic :) I'll have to think more on what this means to me. I think it may intially lead to overreliance - after all, who actually wants to carry buckets and stuff around when it can be just whistled up.
Hey everyone.
Apologies for the somewhat slow pace these last couple of days. I promise to hit you in the face with the plot fish with my next post. : )
You can presume Kendra has arrived downstairs with the chest, if anyone's interested--but please don't go to open it yet. I have a few things to sort out first. : )
What? you come in here with your intriguing box of mysteries and question marks and we're NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH IT?!
Sheeesh.... harshamungo!
And yes, I would welcome someone helping out with the tidying, she says to Walter. Why don't you come upstairs with me, and I'll show you where everything is? You can be my seneschal, if you like, she says with a smile.Wow Kendra, way to go with the racial stereotype...
lol
At least she's not stat-stereotyping. "Karrik go walk around outside-- Theron, go mop-- Walter, come with me to lift this four-hundred pound metal crate." Equal opportunity.
If it has anything heavier than 6 pounds in it, it changes his movement to 20, he can't use acrobatics at all... Poor Walter.
As a frame of reference, Walter can barely carry 1 and Karrik can easily lift 3 of them. :x
Walter is a stud, we all know it. :)
Walter is a stud, we all know it. :)
Like a boss.
Like a hoss!