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This is a hard post to make.

It's become clear that folks want something different than I do with this campaign. I have been trying to emphasize the narrative nature of PbP, as I expressed in the recruitment post. I love to see lots of roleplay, character development, deep, meaningful interactions between characters, internal monologues--it's where PbP as a format excels. Writing and roleplaying are things I take seriously as a medium of creative expression and art.

Reading through the posts for the game so far, they've largely been pretty minimal on roleplaying and narrative. I want to emphasize that this is fine, I'm not upset or disappointed with anyone. We just have different expectations and the way you want to play the game is completely valid.

But it's not working for me. Running this game hasn't been fun for me for a while. I feel like I'm putting in a lot of effort with narrative and description that isn't being reciprocated. Part of that is on me; I should have tried to find players better suited to that play style. Again, I want to be clear that no one is doing anything wrong. You have your preferred style and it's clear it's working for you, and that's great! Please do not read this as an indictment of you or your play style. I should also point out that this has been on my mind for a while; I pointed out back in May that I preferred more narrative and roleplaying-heavy posts and haven't seen that.

Regardless, as I said, it's not fun for me and that's the most important thing. I'm afraid I'm going to step down as GM for this game. If folks want to continue and can find a GM to run you through the rest of the campaign--or if one of you wants to step up and do so--I'd be happy to help out with that.

Try for one post per day when possible. Sometimes it won't be, sometimes your turn in combat doesn't come up every day. If I don't hear from you in 24 hours in a combat, your character will delay or I will bot them given instructions.

I've been perhaps more patient than I should have been in this regard, but I'll be enforcing this going forward. If you don't already have botting guidelines for your character on your character sheet, please do list them so we don't have to wait if the real life monster gobbles you up. :)

Going to roll the attack for Risk since it's been a few days.

Strike!: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 = 9

The momentum Risk gathers while moving carries forward into his swing and he cleaves a deep gash in the kobold's shoulder into its chest! It falls over silently, still clutching a spear.

Tama may take his turn and then the last remaining kobold gets a turn.

Yes, please.

As he is moving he grips his sword with his second hand,

You're right that Release is free, but that's not what Risk's post says.

Grolugh's Divine Lance skewers the kobold across the trapped surface, a stream of golden light sticking out of its chest. It collapses in a heap of spears.

Risk, I don't think you have the actions to do all that. Interact to grip your sword with your second hand takes an action, it's not free. Am I missing something?

Joli hurls two throwing stars at the north kobold. The first strikes true, embedding itself in the kobold! The second follows the first one's path but the kobold quickly dodges out of the way as it bounces off of the pillar and lands harmlessly on the ground.

Tama's shield with light illuminates the room, making it easy to see. The three squares west / southwest / south of the trapmaster have traps on them. They have red squares on them.

The final kobold spends her turn laying a trap on the floor. Quick Trap >>>

Grolugh, Joli, and Risk may post their turns.

I'm thinking about trialing a different approach to hero points. I'm in another game where the GM runs them like D&D 5e advantage where you take the better of the two. That can still be pretty disappointing, so I'd like to propose, instead, adding a flat 1d4 to the roll. This guarantees that you'll at least do a little better without ruining the balance. The goal is not to change a critical failure into a success, but rather to enable you to save yourself from a critical failure or add that little bit of extra something that you need to make an important roll. There will still be cases where it's more likely that rolling again will produce a better result: if you roll a 1, you're guaranteed to not do worse and can instead do much better. That said, my own experiences in situations like that have shown the die roller to be pretty cruel indeed, hence the motivation for some guaranteed improvement on the roll.

Thoughts?

Whoops, my apologies! I'll revise the post, thank you for the correction!

I'd say traps are your enemy, even your nemesis, especially if you've got a low save! Also, normally, the kobolds would rush right in to the trapped area and it would be much comedy. But, well, it was pointed out to them! So they're going to use that knowledge.

The kobolds take note of the area Joli points out and deliberately avoid it! One of them moves to get line of sight on Risk Stride > and throws a spear at him!

Strike! >: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

The spear narrowly misses, clattering off of the pillar and falling to the ground. The kobold then draws a second spear Interact >. The second kobold moves around the pillars Stride >, carefully avoiding the trapped area, and throws a spear at Joli!

Strike! >: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Strike! >: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Removing a die roll means the roll that came later in the post takes on the new roll's values. This first attack missed, so I'm going to maintain that reality.

The kobold stumbles with the spear, almost dropping it instead of throwing it, and it clatters noisily on the floor. The kobold then draws a second spear Interact >.

Tama's up next, then that third kobold off to the far right side.

D'oh, just realized that Risk gets a turn before the first kobold turn. Risk, please post your turn :)

It's the three rows of grey/blue tiles directly north of Joli. I have put red squares on the map to indicate the corners of the SquareRectangle of Suffering. If anyone has trouble making out where the Danger Zone is, please let me know. You can try to jump over them, but as your speed is 25 feet, you don't quite have the movement to clear them--it'd need an Athletics check for a Long Jump.

Well then. Joli knows everything, evidently.

As Joli examines the environment, she sees something particularly insidious: the western wall has several holes (one for each long row of blue squares on the map) whence it appears the mechanism will shoot something nasty at whoever steps on the floor tiles. It's possible to disable this trap with a Thievery check, either by manipulating the floor tiles or the holes in the wall.

This concludes Joli's turn, unless she has a free action--I imagine you'll warn the rest of the group, but feel free to make an IC post to that effect.

See the gameplay post :) You didn't know what the kobolds were carrying until you moved into the room to get line of sight on them--the pillars were in the way! I'll try to include as much relevant detail as I can going forward, and please feel free to keep asking if I omit something.

Joli moves into the room and sees two different kinds of kobolds, two wielding spears (three each). A third, toward the back of the room, wears a necklace of eggshells and is busy handling some kind of device. She has a shortsword at her hip and some spears on her back. The kobolds haven't acted yet, but their gazes lock on Joli as she enters the room.

Good thing you cast light, otherwise you'd be groping in the dark!

There's two separate groups of kobolds here, to be clear. Since you can't see them where you are (in fact, because of the pillar and the wall, no one can!), and thus don't know specifically what kind of kobold you're fighting, I'll limit this to general knowledge. Once you see what you're fighting you can roll again. If you'd prefer to Stride then RK to get more information, let me know and we can go from there.

Joli knows a lot about kobolds, in fact! She recalls that they tend to be fond of traps and using clever tactics, and are known in particular for moving quickly about the battlefield in ways that stymie their opponents. That said, they tend not to be very tough or tenacious.

Mechanically, this means their Fortitude and Will saves are weakest.

No difficult terrain. Pillars offer cover. No obstacles, but you did activate something in the previous room that you may want to watch out for?

Joli takes the initiative and opens the door. It swings open with a creak, revealing a massive chamber inside--perhaps long ago some ancient monarch held court here. On the side furthest from the party, a broad set of stairs leads up to where said monarch might have had their throne. Pillars throughout the room support the ceiling, high even for orcs, with banners too tattered to discern still hanging from them. A decorative tile pattern in the middle of the room is still visible despite the grim coating on the floor.

Most importantly, however, three kobolds (the ones the party heard earlier) stand guard and shout as the door opens!

Kobolds initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Other kobold initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Joli initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Grolugh initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Risk Zil initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Tama initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Grolugh and Joli may post their turns. Joli, if you could update your profile like the others to have things like your HP, AC, saves, perception, speed, hero points, and so on in the status line that's visible when you post, that would be quite helpful!

I'm waiting for someone to actually open the door. :)

Tama faintly hears kobold voices, but only because he knows to listen for them given the clearer sounds through the hole in the wall in the chamber with the chest.

Tama places his hand on the doorknob. He perceives the door. It is a well-made door of wood with a smooth wooden doorknob.

There are no knobs to knock, but anyone can knock on the door if they prefer.

The party hears a click as Joli pulls the lever. Nothing else appears to happen. The kobolds continue their idle chatter.

Presently the main options for advancement are opening the door to the north (directly north of Risk) or deconstructing the barricade. What does the party do?

The group did not pull the lever on the chest. Risk is correct that the barricade is another option, or you could do something else entirely. What does the group do?

Glad you could join us! Great introductory post :) Please provide a token for the map (linked under my name here).

Now that the group is together, what do you do?

Are you ready with Joli? If so I'd love to keep moving :)

No issues with moving folks to where they would logically be.

As the group rummages through the chest, they hear a quiet conversation among some unseen kobolds near the one spotted earlier. They mention "the boss's new pet" and "plans for the town above".

Anyone with the Arcana skill can try to identify the scroll.

Thank you for the kind words, folks :) rainzax, how would you like to introduce your character? We can handwave it or I can come up with something ... interesting. Let me know and we can go from there. :)

Righto. Joli has a monk, which is not an arcane caster, so the group won't have a caster going forward. If folks are okay with that, we can resume!

Really, I want to be clear, I'm happy adjusting and learning too :) I understand and appreciate the value of compromise as groups learn what works for them and I want to do what I can to enable you to embrace that more active playstyle!

On the topic of finding an arcane caster, I have messaged someone and we'll see where things go there.

re the edit: I see what you mean now, that makes sense :) I'll need to really think about this a bit to change how I'm looking at things and running things. Your position is absolutely valid and makes sense given the medium :)

It seems there's some friction here because I'm trying to run things as I would in a tabletop setting--players say what they want to do, I ask for a roll if necessary, say whether it succeeds or fails, say what happens, repeat. Is that not what you've been seeing from me? Happy to listen to advice to encourage a more active playing style, I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong that gets in the way of this. Specific quotes from the gameplay thread would help. :)

The chest is indeed a mimic and does

damage to the party.

Inside the chest, you find the following: a pile of coins (214 cp, 22 sp, 3 gp), a rolled-up piece of parchment which we'll identify when we have an arcane caster, and a small glass box. The box contains an emerald worth 20 gp.

Okay. It's clear that I haven't been clear about when to roll things. I'll try to address that here: I will try to be explicit about when you roll something. If you ask to do something that requires a roll, I'll tell you what the roll is and ask you to do it--unless it's a secret roll, then I'll do it. I'll also do initiative rolls to keep things moving in combat. This is how I've been trying to do things. Does this make sense? Does this help?

Ooof, first, the lever is protruding from the back of the chest, sorry!

Risk's able to discern through some true beginner's luck that this mechanism controls a hidden trap in a nearby room. It's not clear what the trap is or how it's triggered, though. It's currently in the disarmed state.

Does the group examine what's in the chest?

Hi folks. Just wanted to mention that Diggou is no longer part of the game and I'll be recruiting a fourth to finish out the module. I think it was pretty clear he wasn't a good fit for what I'm trying to accomplish.

Sorry for the delay! Life is lifing. Anyone who wants may roll a Craft check to attempt to discern the nature of the machinery and potentially interact with it.

Grolugh identifies the symbol as belonging to Abadar, god of commerce. Risk's detect magic does detect something. While the group tries to figure out what to do and how to manipulate the machinery, they see tiny shafts of light coming from the northern wall. Peering inside, the group sees a kobold standing watch.

The group does notice a lever protruding from the back of the machine. In this particular case, operating the machinery is a crafting check, not thievery or perception. Please do not try to guess which check to roll; I'll let you know what to roll when something is needed. I have said this several times now.

It's right on the tip of Diggou's tongue... he can almost taste the words... but they're just not coming to him today. He's seen this symbol everywhere but can't place it.

Roll religion to see if you recognize it. What does the group do at this point?

No worries, glad I checked to see what you meant :) And thank you!

As Tama moves the coins around, the statue raises its right hand. The same voice booms out a command: "You have observed your two judgements. Place now only in my right hand only the deception."

Just going to move things on a bit; it's been a bit slow since I've been sick but it's clear you've solved the puzzle. Congrats!

As Tama places the fake in the right hand, a flash of light fills the room! The fake coin has become a round disc of lead. The real coins become clear, each one worth 1 gp. Further, a door opens onto a small chamber to the east.

This chamber contains an old wooden chest emblazoned with the image of a key. Behind this is a massive contraption of gears and pulleys, clearly the inner workings of some unseen device.

Sorry for the post delay, not feeling well. Think I caught the gay sickness at pride! I'm also not sure what you're trying to accomplish here; you haven't placed anything in the statue's left hand. Are you intending to test the coins in the statue's left hand (coins 4-6) against the ones in the right?

As Tama places the coins in the statue's hands, the right hand rises.

How do you proceed?

Ah, I neglected to mention something here, my apologies! It's easiest to run this if we number the coins 1-9. What coin numbers did you put in the statue's hands?

No, nothing besides the hands. Nothing to do with the altar or anything else; it really is as simple as putting some coins in the statue's hands. You have two tries to identify the fake coin. Once you have had your two tries to identify the fake coin, the statue asks which one it is.

You place one set of coins in each of the statue's hands. It will raise the hand with the higher value.

It's been really interesting reading all of your ideas! If you're going to try something, please make that clear in a post so we can see what happens.

Opening the door (which moves, unlike other doors in the cavern, refreshingly silently) you see a long room before you. Two sculptures of priests stand sentry over the room in the corners, glancing up to a towering statue of a man holding out both hands, palms up. Before the statue is a stone altar holding nine golden coins. A booming voice comes from the statue!

"In my hands I judge the value of all wealth, raising up whichever is greater. One of these coins is a deception. Find it using only two judgements and receive my blessing."

All of the coins look identical and they all weigh exactly the same.

Riddle time! When you place coins on the statue's hands, it will raise the hand with the higher value. So if you put four coins in each hand, the hand with the fake will not raise. If you have any questions about the mechanism, please ask! Riddles can be tough at the best of times and I want to make sure this is fun.

Similarly, I almost certainly won't be able to post this weekend; will be too busy with Pride stuff :)

On the third try, Diggou manages to disable the trap. He observes the mechanism works by pressure, so shoving some debris under the loose tile will prevent it from triggering.

The kobolds didn't seem emaciated or anything like that, so it's clear they were getting meals from somewhere. Certainly the amount of fish missing is more than four kobolds could eat, though.

As for the kobolds' state, again, I'll let you know if you need a check :) Not a single critical failure in that string of rolls for the trap, so nothing bad happens. How does the group proceed? Does someone want to claim that shortsword?