Interestingly enough, I'll be running this for my live group today.
Thank you for making a combat map. Next time ;-)
Sorry for the delay. Yesterday got away from me with a work project and other tasks.
I've set up two new maps accessible from Duncan's header. I peaked at the AP text got get a few details but am trying not to study the text to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
If you haven't worked with Google Drawing maps, you can change the magnification of the map using the magnifying glass icon. Options are 50%, good for seeing the map as a whole, 100% and 200%, good for zooming in on a particular area. Sometimes, you need to right click on an icon and select the "Order" option which allows to to shift a token to the front or the map to the back, to make it easier to see everything.
Edit: Also there is an undo button in case you accidently move the background map or some other mistake. Puts things back to the way they were one change at a time.
I think the scene will be a good chance to use the full Pathfinder melee rules, with initiative order, the GM running any NPCs, and each PC posting actions, one round at a time. I've set this sort of thing up dozens of times in my games so if you want any advice, I'll be happy to suggest things that have worked well for me to keep things moving, but maintain the fun of melee turn based tactics.
Most GMs, for example, clump initiative order so all the PCs are in a group followed by all NPCs, so exact turn order does not have to be maintained.
Let me know if any images of NPCs are needed that I have not anticipated. I can usually make up something fairly quickly. Or if you have a Snipping Tool, you can just search for an image, snip it to create a copy on the clipboard, and then paste it into the map.
I came across this post recently. It's good advice for players and GMs of PBP games. I read it a long time ago, but it was good to read it again. It is recommended reading.
Thanks for linking to Painlord’s Advanced PBP guide. I’ve seen it before. I like the Always Be Pushing concept. I know I fail in my attempts to do that as often (or as well) as I want to do it. Part of the reason I like PbP is to become better at writing. Not only in terms of skill, but also more efficient with my time. ABP plays into that.
Also Rule #2 is important because I’ve played in too many games that ground to a halt waiting for every PC to comment concerning the course of action.
Did you try clearing your cache and cookies?
I know that the last two attacks against me hit. And it looks like the one against Enslig/Jagare would hit either of them. (I'm not sure which is the actual target.)
He was aiming for Enslig.
It hit Enslig; would've been a miss against Jagare due to him being attached to the soldier.
And I just realized I forgot the extra +4 to the suctioning vortex attack, but it still landed. Phew
I’m confused, did my last attack on soldier 1 hit?
And it looks like you’re saying I’m being attacked by soldier 2, do their taclashes have a 15 foot reach?
I’m confused, did my last attack on soldier 1 hit?
And it looks like you’re saying I’m being attacked by soldier 2, do their taclashes have a 15 foot reach?
According to the map, Soldier 2 is closest to you.
And Jahn.
GM: Since we don't know the AC values for PCs, it would really help if you would tell us if NPC attacks hit instead of just giving us the attack roll and damage. A little narrative description of the action is also appreciated.
These guys are tough. Doing a quick tally of the combat posts so far, we’ve done 28hp damage to #1 and 3hp to #2.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
It doesn't help when we consistently roll under 10 on our d20s. Out of 15 d20 rolls on attacks, 11 have been sub 10. It'll turn around.
I have a friend who's into math and statistics; when he started playing on the Paizo boards, he did some statistical tests on the dicebot algorithm and determined it was on average what one would expect for a random sequence of values.
It's an underappreciated aspect of statistics, however, when flipping coins the odds of getting a long string of the same result are not as low as most people think.
I don't think the results have anything to do with the cache. As near as I can tell, the algorithm gets its seed value (a number that generates the next random number) from one's previous post.
I'm not sure it matters which alias. I know a little about programing and how a computer generates a random number, and I expect there is an algorithm that takes all the characters in one's previous posts, and crunches them into a random number that is the seed of the next random number result. I don't think it has anything to do with previous rolls per se.
I have another story from when I played regularly with a group of friends (the old fashioned way of RP). One player like to grouse that her rolls were consistently bad. So one night, without saying what I was doing, I kept a running list of the actual d20 results of each of her rolls. At the end of the night, the spread of results looked statistically normal--about as many high as low rolls. She saw each low roll as confirmation of her bad luck, but the good rolls went unnoticed.
I'm not sure it matters which alias. I know a little about programing and how a computer generates a random number, and I expect there is an algorithm that takes all the characters in one's previous posts, and crunches them into a random number that is the seed of the next random number result. I don't think it has anything to do with previous rolls per se.
I have another story from when I played regularly with a group of friends (the old fashioned way of RP). One player like to grouse that her rolls were consistently bad. So one night, without saying what I was doing, I kept a running list of the actual d20 results of each of her rolls. At the end of the night, the spread of results looked statistically normal--about as many high as low rolls. She saw each low roll as confirmation of her bad luck, but the good rolls went unnoticed.
So it's just the law of averages?
Well, the law of averages has no effect on what particular number actually gets rolled. By that I mean, if you roll a d20 and get 20 followed by another 20, the odds of getting a third 20 are not changed. It's still a 5% chance, just as it was for the first and second rolls. The law of averages doesn't make it less likely to get a third 20 just because the odds of getting 3 20s in a row is very low (1/8000).
I think ultimately that is why the d20 system is effective at simulating reality. A really good basketball player, who averages hitting 60% of her shots, may still miss three in a row but that is no reason to stop passing the ball to her. Her next shot still has a 60% chance of hitting (assuming the misses are not due to some unusual situation like a new injury).
Do I find anything other than the Taclashes and armor on the Azlanti?
You find 2,000 credits. And a troop ceremonial plate, standard taclash, survival knife, tactical semi-auto pistol with 9 small arm rounds. Both carry these.
Would we really have time to strip their bodies after this escapade? I thought we were trying to kill them, grab Jellic and run.
I dunno about pulling them out of their armor, but I'd definitely check them for sidearms and take them while you were healing people.
The armor is cr*p, pardon my Azlanti. It's heavy and made for someone with just 2 arms, which rules out most of us being able to use them without penalty. And they have minimal KAC/EAC especially for heavy armor.
So I presume we'd pull get what we could quickly and go. So I'd think we'd get the weapons, ammo, and credits, if for no other reason than to give other colonists weapons with which to fight the oppressor.
I don't think we ever agreed that our goal was to kill the guards, just to prevent the execution. Using lethal weapons, of course, is going to kill, but Duncan at least used non-lethal.
Jahn, I wanted to know how hidden your character’s action of killing the soldier were. When I read it, I thought your PC was hiding his actions. Was that your intention?
Duncan, yeah I don’t think we talked about using non-lethal force.
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Kind of? I figured most of the people were distracted enough that they'd assume the soldiers had been killed in the fracas. He certainly wasn't shouting "Hey, look at me, I'm murdering someone!"
We definitely didn't talk about whether we were going in hot or not, but lethal weapons were mostly what Jahn has, and he kind of went into this rescue with a kill-or-be-killed mentality. Not excusing it, Jahn himself feels crappy about it.
It's part of the process to learn how each character plays such situations. We did not have the luxury of discussing strategy so it's part of the fog of war, I suppose. Duncan is not one to coddle oppressors, having experience dealing with Vesk dominating his home planet. But if we encounter more soldiers prior to storming the castle ... er, garrison, we should consider the value of a hostage.
So far we’ve mostly been defending ourselves on the way into town. The soldiers at the hobgar pen were the first ones to see us and live. So it makes sense that our initial reaction is simply to kill them since they have no issues returning the favor.
It is worth thinking about other options.
According to the rules for crafting technological items, Duncan can attempt to create any item of level 1 or 2 if he has the parts and the time, using his engineering skill. So I looked up the dets on signal jammers and even a level 1 signal jammer can jam a signal in a four mile radius or twelve miles if connected to a starship communications array. The level affects the cost and the ease with which the signal jammer can be located. It requires UPBs, so that's the only catch. If Aibretta has 100 UPBs, or 90 plus some scavenged parts, we could jam their whole garrison's radio.
So does Aibretta have any UPBs or has the group found any so far?
You can convert the suits into a total of 75 UPBs. You can convert the taclashes into a total of 20 UPBs.
Are you going to get them back?
I guess we should. Interfering with their ability to communicate would be a big help. Hopefully, if the movement of the guards helmet as Duncan carries them around will give the impression that they are still alive. Duncan will take the suit he's wearing off since it hinders a lot of his abilities and we are moving past the point where the con has strategic value.
I don't find anything in the rules about converting items to UPBs, but I have found some GMs who have house rules that allow it. What is the formula for the conversion?
You have an encounter with drones coming up.
Watching Hurricane Ida reports. Hoping any players in the area are safe.
I'm in the middle of a busier than normal work week. I'll try to post this afternoon or evening, but 'bot me if needed.
Next roll!
GM: I have sent you a private message. Please read it. Thanks.
I have decided to withdraw from this game. I've sent a detailed explanation to the GM, but in short, I'm not happy with the style play provided by the GM.
The GM is welcome to run Duncan as an NPC until a replacement can be found. I've enjoyed playing with the other players and look forward to possibly running with you again in the future.
Thank you everyone for playing in the game. I had fun playing Ivris-mu. Good luck in your future games.