Mosely Terrahap's page

I'm going to write a bit about why the "one post per day" rule is actually bad for games, and leave you to the business of recruiting.

One of the problems that designers sometimes try to tackle is the "spotlighting problem"—the problem of figuring out how to make sure that everyone in the game gets a chance to participate. Designers have tried various solutions to solve issues like one player hogging all of the game time, or players being bored because their characters have nothing to do.

Early story-oriented games like Ars Magica figured out that the real problem isn't giving everyone spotlight time, it's giving each player a level of engagement with which they feel satisfied. This is why Ars Magica includes gameplay in a rotating troupe style where one or two players might play characters whose power levels are very high compared to everyone else (magi), while the other players play their companions, guards, and helpers. By rotating through these roles, everyone has a chance to be the center of a story at some point—and if a player likes playing companions and other supporting roles, there's space for them to do that, too; nobody is pressured into having to be "always on" as a high-performance, high-intensity character at all times.

Later games like Buffy followed this example, and used ideas that players will self-select for the amount of central role that they want to play. Some players really relish being in the middle of deep drama and making important decisions. Other players find that stressful or just not as entertaining and want to play characters with a lower level of investment. The goal, then, is to give players means to engage at a level that gives them satisfaction, while figuring out how to handle problems that arise when multiple people are competing for spotlight time, and making sure that the game proceeds if nobody's invested in the current scene.

A problem that novice designers often make is insisting "we'll have a mechanic to give everyone spotlight time," kinda like the old thing kids' soccer clubs would do of making sure that every kid on the team got an MVP trophy at least one week during the season. This is a flawed approach, because once you mechanize spotlight time, you are forcing people into it, and you risk interrupting scenes that naturally should focus on a given character because "their time's up" or pushing a character into a spotlight when they have nothing narratively important to do.

The "one post per day" rule is in the latter camp of design solutions: It is an attempt to fix a problem, using the wrong solution. The problem is that asynchronous posting games (forum-based games like this) have a tendency to lag out and just fizzle out and die if nobody posts. The solution is not mandatory posting rules. The solution is that the DM needs to evaluate pacing and be ready to change scenes when the action flags.

This is true in tabletop games as well. In games like D&D and Pathfinder, where the DM is the arbiter of the story and the players are participants, it's up to the DM to introduce story hooks and then respond to the ones upon which players bite. If nobody is saying everything and people are just looking at their phones and talking about the last episode of Popular TV Show, then it's time to cut bait and push to a new scene. If the players are engaging with each other and doing their own role-playing thing and exploring their character drama, then just let them do it; they're having a good time on their own. Reading the room like this is a skill, you learn it by running games and watching the players and seeing where your pacing flags. You can shortcut engagement by making sure you read every character's sheet and talk to the players about what they want out of the game. Players will put stuff on their sheet for a reason, whether because they want to use those powers or they feel like a certain trait speaks to their character's story. Those are your hooks: Engage those to get your players to sit up and have something to do.

I played in a game with a player who would literally fall asleep at the table. Nobody cared, because we were all having a good time. The DM would give us opportunities, the party leader (Matt Colville, back before he was famous) would make decisions, we'd run headlong into danger and have to figure out a way to escape. I played a character who was strongly supporting cast, with abilities to help figure out problems but first the party had to decide what problems they wanted to tackle. The sleeping paladin would get shaken awake when we needed him, and he had fun smiting things with a mercurial longsword. The differing levels of participation did not matter.

The same is true in asynchronous forum-based gaming. Varying levels of participation from players are not the problem; the problem is when nobody participates. If people are creating scenes and enjoying the story, great—let them. If everyone suddenly stops posting, the DM must take action to move the game forward to the next challenge.

This business of going behind a player's back to tell the DM that they have to participate more or be kicked from the group is hostile play. You are demanding that other players structure their participation time according to your wishes, and Someone couldn't even be bothered to do so by just talking to me and asking what would get me interested in posting more frequently. Instead they decided to ask the DM to give an ultimatum: Post more, or leave. Well, when my character has no interesting hooks to play and I'm playing a supporting role, demanding that I make a post of "Mosely stands around and doesn't do much" repeatedly every day isn't super productive. It's not as bad as abusive players, but it's a crappy thing to do, so if delicate sensibilities are flushed when I say that I was told to "f#+% off," then perhaps people should consider first that they decided to go behind my back to tell the DM to demand that I play the way they insisted. I could see that being excusable for an abusive player, like the guy in one group I was in who min-maxed a character and then told the party that if we didn't do what he said he'd kill our characters, and then threatened to have his character rape one of the party members. Of course we told him up-front what we thought of that before everyone left the group. But hiding behind the DM because another player isn't being a jester and constantly engaging to amuse you is bad. If you have problems with play styles, you have to solve them by discussing them like human beings, not by sneakily snitching to the boss so that you can get what you want without bothering to even understand what other people are doing.

Anyway, now that everyone's good and offended, I'll let you get back to recruiting. You should let your recruits know that your standards of posting are an average of over 4 posts/day per person (I came back from the 4 days of Thanksgiving hell to 87 unread posts, which counting the rest of the group as 5 people is over 4 per person per day) speedposting and that anyone who wants to not get snitched to the DM needs to make sure that they are constantly posting all the time.

I play in a lot of games, and if people are going to create unnecessary drama, I don't have a particular attachment. I just walk from games where I'm not having fun.

The DM has made it clear that some of you have told him that I should f~*% off, so bye.

Mosely had gone on the scouting expedition, of course; silent as always while making his way through the brush, he proved quite skilled at finding potable water and... edibles, though only for people who particularly enjoy grilled grubs wrapped in leaves.

Survival, favored terrain bonus: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

"Assuming the rock isn't magical or cursed," he finally chimes in about the meteorite. "Just carrying it around could be bad if it has, say, evil spirits that were cast out beyond the sky by the gods in a time before recorded history."

Because we wouldn't understand radioactivity beyond "rock make you sick."

Back from vacation and catching up.

No worries there!

My wife has decided to have family over in spite of the pandemic, so I'll be away through the weekend.

Mosely remains standing over the wounded archer until someone shows up to take him prisoner for later questioning—after all, the halfling would have a hard time dragging him back to camp by himself!

Once he is finally relieved, after cleaning his sword and checking his armor for dings he rejoins the discussion in progress.

"Into the wild again? Not a problem."

"Don't forget to bring extra food, everyone. No telling how long we'll be..."

He gestures vaguely to the west.

"Out there."

Internet's been dodgy for a couple days, and of course the Paizo site was out last night.

Mosely stows his sword and attempts to stop the bleeding on his foe, so that he can be questioned later.

Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Mosely does his best to keep up, taking a swing at the target as it tries to flee.

Small longsword AoO, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d20 + 7 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 2 - 2 = 20
Small longsword damage, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d6 + 1 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 2 - 2 = 7

For how long am I sickened, DM?

I need a link somewhere stable. I can't go digging every time I need to open the map.

I don't see any links to a map aside from the world map, to which I don't have access.

Mosely darts off as fast as he can, determined not to let any more enemies escape into the wild to harry the party later.

Double move to get up behind him and sandwich him between me and Krokkin.

With just the creature remaining, Mosely attempts to assist Krokkin, shifting position as best he can to try to get in another harrying blow.

Small longsword attack, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d20 + 7 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 4 - 2 = 15
Small longsword damage, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d6 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 4 - 2 = 7

Add 2 to the attack if I'm able to get a flanking position with Krokkin.

With an arrow sticking out his shield, Mosely continues his assault on their main target.

Small longsword attack, inspire courge, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 2 + 4 - 2 = 20
Small longsword damage, inspire courage, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d6 + 2 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 4 - 2 = 5

Mosely takes the opportunity to focus for a moment in spite of the nausea and brings all his skill to bear against this foe.

Using Ranger's Focus as a swift action to gain a +4 bonus to attack and damage against this foe.

He steps up and slashes with his sword as best he can.

Small longsword attack, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d20 + 7 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 4 - 2 = 22
Small longsword damage, ranger's focus, sickened: 1d6 + 2 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 4 - 2 = 5

Was sick this weekend, trying to catch up.

Mosely keeps running full-tilt, even charging through the exploding ball of flame - since the creature had to slow down to cast it, this gives him a little more ground on it.

"Go go go!" shouts Mosely, running faster than one might expect for someone with short little legs.

"Someone make sure that the commander hasn't been poisoned or killed!" shouts Mosely in the midst of the sudden chaos.

Mosely watches the engineers doing the business of lowering the bridge over the chasm. It's quite a marvel, all considered, that they are able to turn local wood into a structure that can safely span the canyon without collapsing.

Once the bridge is in place - wobbly though it may be - the halfling speaks up.

"I'll cross first. I'm probably the lightest person in the team, the most likely to make it over. Do we have enough rope to thread a safety line across if I carry it with me? That way if something goes wrong, at least we can have a line attached and people crossing have a chance at not falling to their deaths," he says.

Mosely takes the mithral sword but returns it to Sorogar. "I can't use this. The hilt is sized wrong."

Remember that Mosely has to use small-sized weapons!

"I appreciate the thought. Keep it for yourself. You might be able to fetch a pretty penny for it when we return to civilization. And mithral almost never rusts or corrodes, so it's a handy tool to have in the wild, even if you don't use it for fighting."

As the camp makes its laborious move, Mosely splits his time between hunting, fishing, cooking, and occasionally just puttering off somewhere to put his feet up and relax a bit. Building the bridge may be hard work, but there's not as much scouting while the camp is stuck in one place, waiting for construction to finish.

I'll take a cure moderate wounds potion and two bull's strength potions, if nobody objects.

From Mosely's perspective the business of finding and removing the rakshasas is basically spy hunting and intel-gathering. Any spies that we find are too dangerous for us to try to keep captive, since we don't have magic to safely contain them or the resources to try to rehabilitate them (if that's even possible). Thus we are pushed into the unfortunate position of having to consider executing them.

It's a good thing that Mosely was gone while you were torturing prisoners because Mosely would have none of that.

As directed, Mosely waits for his vic- er, visitors.

Mosely returns from looking for some herbs for Sorogar and says, "So what'd I miss?"

This went really, really fast while I was at work.

Led to one side by Sorogar, Mosely makes for the short part of a comical triad. He puts his pack down and reaches in with both hands to pull out the armor that Sorogar indicated.

"The prisoner's probably not going to give us anything useful. He knows he's done for, why would he cooperate? He'll just spit in our face as he goes to his grave. There's no reason for him to help us unless we give him one, and even then, we can't trust anything he says - if there are other shapeshifters infiltrating the encampment, he may well tell us lies just to sow confusion and cover for them. Why not? He's going to be executed anyway, after all," says Mosely.

"We need to figure out a way to not only track down the shapeshifters, but to make sure each person is tested once, and that someone can't fake being tested - like a shapeshifter spotting someone we test, then hiding and assuming person's form later so that we skip over them."

"Anyway, the scent is a good idea. Especially if we can figure out, in addition, a smell to which only shapeshifters react, or one that Krokkin can smell but they can't - this would allow us to mark people who've been tested, so we can tell who's safe and who's still on the wildcard list. I'll help you with the herbalism."

Mosely shoulders his pack once more and says, "Just dump the armor back in when you're done." He draws his machete with the expectation of doing more brush-clearing and hacking while the team looks for roots and flowers.

Mosely doesn't participate in the circle of oohs and aahs about a vishkanya in the team's midst for the simple reason that he's spending most of the morning packing his tent and cooking gear and getting it all squared away for the lengthy journey, then shaving his sideburns and washing his face before stowing all of his gear to go.

"Hey, hey, scouting team returning from the canyon ahead," he shouts after Ohimè's exclamation to the crossbow-wielding guards. "We have information about the terrain ahead and we're not here for another fight."

"No need for beads," says Mosely. "Help yourself. That's good intel on the region. Tells us a bit more about the ecosystem, too - you can't have roving tribes of ogres unless there's a lot of stuff for them to eat, which means plenty of animal life or edible plants, most likely both."

Mosely watches the exchange carefully. Unlike the stereotypical halfling who is always jolly and bucolic, he has the mannerisms of one who's been on the road for a time and become wary - always paying attention to unexpected noises or motion in the leaves and shadows.

He absorbs the explanations of the strange, transitory visitors without reply. Then he sets about taking out what he needs for the morning from his magical pack, sometimes comically, while rolling up and stowing away bedding and baggage that also seems to vanish into the maw of the pack ludicrously.

"Yes," he finally says while stowing his tent, "we just want the caravan to cross safely. Whether by barge, or bridge, or by-your-leave. If it is up to Indras to decide that passing, then with Indras we must confer."

Rest well, Herk.

"As a wild wanderer who doesn't have fire magic at my beck and call, I do not have the luxury of ever considering a fire 'controlled,'" explains Mosely as he finishes adding a dirt berm to the outer ring of the hasty fire pit. "Even if it doesn't look like there's anything burnable in reach, wind can shift suddenly. You can never really contain fire - but you can lower the chance of it becoming your enemy."

Mosely lets out an inarticulate gurgle as Brek creates a spark and starts a fire. He rushes to pile rocks in a circle around it, a hasty firebreak so that the fire won't escape. Then he looks for dry fallen wood to feed to the fire once it's contained - shying away from greenwood, but not hesitating to use his machete and hand axe to break down a large fallen log if one should happen to be available.

Not a solution for me, as my cable modem is in a different room and I'd have to run a hundred feet of cat5 cable across the apartment, which my spouse won't allow (and i have no good way to run it across the ceiling, through the hall and down into the other room). I just have to wait for stores to open tomorrow and get a new adapter.

Yes, I tested the adapter in other systems and tested other devices in the port. It's the adapter.

"Whimsy one with a pipe," mutters Mosely, just loud enough for the group to hear. "Might be serious. Might be trickery."

My PC's wireless internet adapter just died and because of the pandemic no stores in my area are open late enough to get one. I'm having to use my tablet with cellular wi-fi or a janky old laptop. This is crimping my ability to participate.

@Brek I already finished, I just went back to the start of the Discussion posts because it was fairly early on.

It's no problem. Mosely will interact when his skills permit him to do so. When someone else is face-foward to a current problem, I tend to let other players handle that, instead of butting in to their moment to shine. It's a delicate tightrope, interacting with other PCs but not stealing or interrupting their spotlight.

Sheet should be updated in background.

I'm currently trying to page through all the old discussion pages to find where I listed Mosely's backstory stuff so that I can migrate it into my alias sheet.

Mosely just sighs and keeps repacking his cookware.

I don't have anything to add. Just waiting to hear what the deal is with the caves - are we going into one? Do we think we can use them to get the caravan through?

There's literally nothing for me to contribute as I don't have spells or powers to scout them remotely like some of the other PCs do.

Mosely rolls over, then sits up. He's still wearing his armor. He runs a hand across his face blearily.

"I'm awake, I'm awake. Someone get some more light, I can't see anything," he says, slurring slightly.

That fits.

Uhhh... don't have low-light either. Halflings are just small humans in this regard.

I can sleep in armor, though.

Fine with me.

Mosely doesn't have darkvision, so while he can take a watch, that may not be helpful if there are other people who can stand watch and see in the dark!

"Can you tell if there's water at the base of the chasm? Many deep canyons like this have rivers at the bottom," asks Moseley.

"We need to either find an end we can go around, or an area that narrows enough to construct a bridge, or we need to find a spot where the cliff face's angle is less sheer and it's actually traversable by wagon - a narrow ridge that runs down to the bottom, for instance."

"We can spike a rope and I can rappel down to a cave in the cliffside. Dunno how we will do that to a caravan wagon, though!"