thereal thom's (Inactive)

Game Master therealthom

Congrats on making the final 4 Neil...can't wait to see the adventure proposal.

Thom ..theres not really much for Heather to do just now...and I'm not one for filler posts

Congrats on making the final 4 Neil...can't wait to see the adventure proposal.

Thanks, Wellard. I'm already brewing something special in my lab. I hope everyone likes it when I'm done. :-)

--Neil

Congrats on making the final 4 Neil...can't wait to see the adventure proposal.

Thom ..theres not really much for Heather to do just now...and I'm not one for filler posts

There's plenty for her to do. Eat acid death for starters. MWahahaha. Actually you can consider your round 1 action. It's nearly time.

I can't believe I hit almost everyone. Gotta start using more touch attacks.

And Neil, I'm sure we'll love your proposal. Congratulations.

Radavel, can I get an "Amen" from Inigo?

Amen.

Seriously, just got back from choir practice.

Amen.

Seriously, just got back from choir practice.

A choirboy lawyer? Friend, you get more interesting all the time.

Now go give the necrophids a good healthy Hallelujah!

Neil, just saw "everyone's in" on the confirmation thread. Good luck. I'm looking forward to seeing your proposal.

Neil, wow. Great proposal. I've yet to read them all, but yours is good.

Neil, wow. Great proposal. I've yet to read them all, but yours is good.

Thanks, Thom/Tim. At this point it's all about which adventure appeals the most to the voters. Support if you'd like to see it in print. And drop a comment in the submission thread if you have the time. Same goes for anyone else in the game. I'd greatly appreciate all of your feedback.

Thanks,
--Neil

Congratulations, Neil. A well-deserved accolade for the hard work done and excellent product produced. I hope that working it all through publication is fun and rewarding in its own right.

Kudos also for maintaining your posting schedule through the competition.

:D

Thanks, Thom/Tim. And thanks for putting up with my occasional absence during the competition.

Hey we'll have to put up with eve more now you have to write the whole thing...well done Neil and I'll look forward to buying it when it finally hits the shelves

Speaking of buying: have a good time at the con, Wellard!

Radavel, my man! Holding out on us? Big life-changing decisions and not a whisper ???

Seriously, good luck setting up your own office. I admire your entrepreneurial spirit. Couldn't take the risk myself. Best of luck.

Radavel, are you really hanging up your own shingle? If so, good luck from someone who owns his own shingle as well.

Radavel, are you really hanging up your own shingle? If so, good luck from someone who owns his own shingle as well.

Really? Cool. For some reason I had you pegged as working for MickeyDee's. (The aerospace company, not the food chain. )

On another note, I'm cursing adding Jeorik's lantern to the party's swag. I could have you all stumbling in the dark right now.

Note to self: Never add treasure to adventure because it just makes sense.

Thanks, friends. If you guys are ever in my corner of the globe, let me know and I'll give you a tour of the place.

thanks for the info DM...who's on first.... see I can get classic American cultural references into my posts

That's a pretty good reference, one of my favorites.

Radavel, finalized the resignation, eh? So are you taking any time off or plunging straight into your own practice?

Bill, I know how you feel. IC often does me wrong. Wicht can't complain though. It's like Jeorik's taking free throws.

Bill, I know how you feel. IC often does me wrong. Wicht can't complain though. It's like Jeorik's taking free throws.

I've had my share of IC bad rolls at other times. I think the extended length of the PbP makes the run seem worse than normal. At the table three or four bad rolls might take five or ten minutes and then the dice favor you again. Online it can be over a week for the same number of rolls.

Oh, and I did miss me at least once this fight. :)

CrimsonDM wrote:

You may freely move back to the lab room, contacting Darthen and company along the way. Next ?

We have an unopened door. Or, we face the skeletal snakes again. Looks like we'll have to eliminate the latter if we have any intention of getting the freed prisoners out. Should we focus our energies on that before exploring what's behind door #1? Istas has only 2 channeled healings left and no 1st level spells she can convert to cure light wounds. So, after that, we're on our own...

Wait. You guys just entered the dungeon on Feb 9th. Don't tell me you're going to settle for a two month long game day. :D

Hope to post at lunch today.

Is there anybody out there?

April 22.

Is there anybody out there?

April 22.

I'm here. I was just trying to let the other three have a chance to act in order.

Same here. Istas is far enough down in the initiative order that she even acts after the buzzing beasties. So I figured I'd hold off until I could see the outcome of the actions that come before her.

Hey, all. My apologies for such a prolonged absence. I'm in the process of catching up.

Regarding the lantern and working it out...

Jeorik takes his new lantern back.

"I suggest we see what's behind the door down the hall."

Wicht, you play with Bill in other games, right? Have you heard anything about what's up? His posting frequency here is way down.

Wicht, you play with Bill in other games, right? Have you heard anything about what's up? His posting frequency here is way down.

He's not been posting in my game lately either. He's had down periods before though IIRC and I haven't given up on him yet.

I haven't given up on him. He posted here saying he was trying to catch up a week or two ago. Sounds like real life keeping him busy is a good hypothesis.

what does IIRC stand for anyway

If I Remember Correctly

If I Remember Correctly

Thanks. That's plagued me for a long time.

FYI...I'll be out of town Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. I may or may not have internet access to check on the game. Just wanted to let you know.

FYI...I'll be out of town Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. I may or may not have internet access to check on the game. Just wanted to let you know.

thanks for the heads up, Neil. How's the adventure coming?

Not as well as I'd hoped so far. Maps are nearly done, but I'm still not happy with the queen's palace yet. On the writing side, I'm finding it much harder to find the focus I need with two little girls interrupting me quite frequently. But I shall endeavor to persevere. They have to sleep sometime, right? ;-)

--Neil

Checking in again to let you all know I'm catching up. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Checking in again to let you all know I'm catching up. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Good to hear from you, Bill.

Billzabub wrote:

Checking in again to let you all know I'm catching up. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Good to hear from you, Bill.

Thanks for your patience. Despite my absence, I really enjoy our game & gang, and was a little apprehensive that Keliwyn might be dead or me replaced.

Thom,

Regarding coordinates, I'm comfortable with using them sometimes and not at other times. In the games I run I use them depending on whether I have time to draw up and keep a map up to date. If I don't use coordinates, I just try and point out things that I think would be noticeable on a board at a table. Things like - it is possible to flank; If you rush that one, the other will get an AoO; They are dispersed and You can only hit two of them with a color spray; etc.. Other than that though, I grew up without a grid or miniatures and we thought nothing of rushing three abreast in a five foot hallway. So, speaking only for myself, I can exist comfortably with a pretty free form style of combat if you don't manage to keep the coordinates all labeled.

therealthom wrote:

Billzabub wrote:

Checking in again to let you all know I'm catching up. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Good to hear from you, Bill.

Thanks for your patience. Despite my absence, I really enjoy our game & gang, and was a little apprehensive that Keliwyn might be dead or me replaced.

No way we'd dump you, Billzabub. But, do we get a story? Shanghaied by aliens? Adventures with scantily clad women and high-powered handguns?

Thom,

Regarding coordinates, I'm comfortable with using them sometimes and not at other times. In the games I run I use them depending on whether I have time to draw up and keep a map up to date. If I don't use coordinates, I just try and point out things that I think would be noticeable on a board at a table. Things like - it is possible to flank; If you rush that one, the other will get an AoO; They are dispersed and You can only hit two of them with a color spray; etc.. Other than that though, I grew up without a grid or miniatures and we thought nothing of rushing three abreast in a five foot hallway. So, speaking only for myself, I can exist comfortably with a pretty free form style of combat if you don't manage to keep the coordinates all labeled.

For me a major problem with PbP is that combat takes so long. Right now I'm getting tired of the dungeon crawl and want to get back to story. That's just me. So I'd like to do almost anything to speed up combat.

Coordinates can be good or bad. I think if everyone was diligent about using them it would be easier to see AoOs and lines of sight or areas of effect ahead of time. Unfortunately confusion about coordinates can also eat up time.

Maybe you're right I should be more proactive in pointing out possibilities like threatened areas before people declare moves. (Or even confirming to Neil that Istas had reached a flanking position against a derro.) If anyone has ideas, please air them.

No way we'd dump you, Billzabub. But, do we get a story? Shanghaied by aliens? Adventures with scantily clad women and high-powered handguns?

I wish - just combining the two for scantily clad alien women holding me a gunpoint would be even better. In all seriousness, it's been a crazy combination of life, work & family leaving me exhausted to the point of passing out each night.

Maybe you're right I should be more proactive in pointing out possibilities like threatened areas before people declare moves. (Or even confirming to Neil that Istas had reached a flanking position against a derro.) If anyone has ideas, please air them.

I haven't run a PbP myself, but I've been thinking about it for some time, and would like to run a game for some old friends, so it is interesting to me to see various ways of handling the modifying of rules for PbP purposes.

I wish - just combining the two for scantily clad alien women holding me a gunpoint would be even better. In all seriousness, it's been a crazy combination of life, work & family leaving me exhausted to the point of passing out each night.

Yeah, that real life thing can take a toll. Hope things run on an even keel for a while.

I haven't run a PbP myself, but I've been thinking about it for some time, and would like to run a game for some old friends, so it is interesting to me to see various ways of handling the modifying of rules for PbP purposes.

Well, Aubrey's and Wicht's games are pretty good models I think. I should peek in on them again; I haven't for a while.

I agree about Aubrey and Wicht..Kruelaid runs a good game too..I love Z day..its just so Romero

btw just saw "The Forbidden Kingdom"..by no means a great movie but worth it for nearly 10 minutes of Jackie Chan(playing the drunken Master PrC) vs Jet Li..oh and the cutest evil witch b*tch you'll see for a long time.(photo does NOT do her justice)

I agree about Aubrey and Wicht..Kruelaid runs a good game too..I love Z day..its just so Romero

btw just saw "The Forbidden Kingdom"..by no means a great movie but worth it for nearly 10 minutes of Jackie Chan(playing the drunken Master PrC) vs Jet Li..oh and the cutest evil witch b*tch you'll see for a long time.(photo does NOT do her justice)

So Jackie reprises the "Legend of the Drunken Master" briefly? That was a good movie, not the best story, but the action sequences were great.

Wow, guys. I just noticed the post count. We are over 2000 posts. Congratulations all around.

Looks like I might be wearing you guys down. Based on the ease with which you handled all the derro and the ogre, I might have goosed the otyugh a little too much.

Looks like I might be wearing you guys down. Based on the ease with which you handled all the derro and the ogre, I might have goosed the otyugh a little too much.

It's kind of hard to tell. I don't envy you in trying to DM this group.

Since I'm running CotCT for my table-top group, I'm privy to a bit more information about the adventure setup than I should be. But, knowing what I know, I feel relatively confident making the following observations:

1) We're a larger-than-average party in terms of PCs.
2) We've all been tweaked (stat-wise) higher-than-normal.
3) We have fewer resources available to us, because we're lower level than the encounters might normally call for us to be.

All of those things compound the difficulty in judging what's "too much" or "too little" in terms of a challenge. We can pound the crap out of some things (because of our numbers and stat bonuses). And then we can also be overmatched, because we don't have access to appropriate level spells to combat a higher CR creature's special abilities.

So, it's complicated. It's like driving a car a 120mph and trying to jigger the steering wheel to adjust our course. A little too much in one direction and we overcompensate. A little too much in the other direction and we crash-and-burn. So, as a fellow-GM, you have my sympathies. And, as a player, you have my support and encouragement on making the game work as well as it possibly can.

My two-cents,
--Neil

Wellard wrote:

I agree about Aubrey and Wicht..Kruelaid runs a good game too..I love Z day..its just so Romero

btw just saw "The Forbidden Kingdom"..by no means a great movie but worth it for nearly 10 minutes of Jackie Chan(playing the drunken Master PrC) vs Jet Li..oh and the cutest evil witch b*tch you'll see for a long time.(photo does NOT do her justice)

So Jackie reprises the "Legend of the Drunken Master" briefly? That was a good movie, not the best story, but the action sequences were great.

Jackie Chan does a great drunken boxer.

Jet Li did a pretty good monkey style as well in The Forbidden Kingdom.

I didn't think it was the best kung-fu movie ever, though it was decent enough. But I did think that Jet and Jackie were both perfect for the roles handed to them.