Just putting this up in advance.
Once everybody posts with their alias I'll start with final info on gameplay.
Reporting in.
So stoked. :)
Yo.
Hi all!
Hello! Thanks for picking me.
Hey folks, looking forward to getting started :)
GM, my stats in my profile aren't as neat and tidy as I'd like - I'll get a proper statblock up shortly. But it's just about all there. Thanks again for the pick.
So this is our 6. Much more melee focused that I would have guessed. No divine...
Fighter
Archer
Barbarian
Wizard
ninja
Ranger (can used a wand of cure light wounds... )
Welcome all! Very excited for this. Here's some new info:
Combat is going to go like this: When a round begins, each of you can PM me what you are going to do and your related rolls, as well as flavor text and such. Once I receive everyone's action, I will post a complete run-through of the round, complete with the actions of enemies and results of actions. I hope that makes sense. If you guys are coordinating something or speaking, that's okay to post on the actual board. Hope that makes sense.
There will be no resurrection of characters.
I encourage you all to be creative. I don't plan on saying "no." Any kind of crazy plan or far-fetched tactic is great.
This should be fun!
Also: Cillian, your sheet says you have 900 gp-that seems a little high for a prisoner's smuggling.
I do NOT want to know where he keeps it...
No resurrection and no divine casters in the group. Could be brutal. Was the selection of no divine casters intentional?
That's a holdover from when he was first built. Rich parents trait. Forgot to remove it, thanks for the catch.
No. I would've run six clerics or six barbarians if I liked their applications the best. Don't worry, I'll hook you guys up with a healer or you'll happen to find a wand of cure light wounds or something along those lines.
That's a holdover from when he was first built. Rich parents trait. Forgot to remove it, thanks for the catch.
Alright, thanks.
Welcome all! Very excited for this. Here's some new info:
Combat is going to go like this: When a round begins, each of you can PM me what you are going to do and your related rolls, as well as flavor text and such. Once I receive everyone's action, I will post a complete run-through of the round, complete with the actions of enemies and results of actions. I hope that makes sense. If you guys are coordinating something or speaking, that's okay to post on the actual board. Hope that makes sense.
There will be no resurrection of characters.
I encourage you all to be creative. I don't plan on saying "no." Any kind of crazy plan or far-fetched tactic is great.
This should be fun!
Also: Cillian, your sheet says you have 900 gp-that seems a little high for a prisoner's smuggling.
That will be a lot of PMs. We cannot make rolls in a PM so you want us to just tell you our bonuses then, and you will make the roll?
The problem with that is part of our actions will be dependent on knowing what others in our group that act before us do and weather or not they succeed. Heck, even our own actions are often predicated on our success or failure. If I miss I may back away as my move action. etc.
Could it work smoother if we simply post our desired actions in the gameplay thread and they you resolve the turn, sometimes explaining why certain actions were or were not successful?
I am willing to give the PM system a try, but that seem way too restrictive as far as knowing what everyone that acts before us are doing.
I agree. It's an interesting idea, but it makes it very hard to integrate teamwork or reactions to what other players have just done.
I would prefer to see and have my actions seen also. So I might modify an action based on someone ahead of me in initiative. Im willing to give it a go though.
I've run quite a few games on here, and am currently running six on the boards. I would also advise that the PM thing is a horrible idea. It will slow down gameplay drastically and make the teamwork aspect of the game (a core feature) much more difficult. I find the quickest way to run combat without having to retcon a lot and have AOOs messing up stuff is to run it in chunks.
AKA in a combat that includes players and two monsters...
All players before monster A post
You post for Monster A and summarize
All players after monster A but before monster B post
You post for Monster B and summarize
Any remaining players post
You summarize bottom of the round.
----------------------------------
Honestly, as much as I want to try this game, if I have to play by PM I'll just go ahead an withdraw now leaving a spot open for a more patient player.
I would never want to run something if you guys all hated it. We'll just do it the normal way. You all ready to start playing tomorrow?
Ready to start. Are we starting in prison and have to find a way to escape?
Ready to start. Are we starting in prison and have to find a way to escape?
Yup. You'll be starting in a jail cell.
Great :) I'm ready to start whenever. Good to know we have a flexible DM.
I can understand the appeal of the PM system. I was in a Play By Email game once that worked very similarly. We'd all email our actions, and the the GM would mass email a round update. The GM handled all the dice rolls and took a lot of poetic license, and the players all got to enjoy the story as it unfolded. Lots of work for the GM, but as a player it wasn't bad.
Since the rise of messageboards, especially the awesome ones with built-in dice rollers, it seems a lot more efficient to let the various posters carry the weight of the work. I find it facilitates a faster paced story because each post builds on the last, rather than having to wait on the GM's compiled summery to find out what your results are.
Yarr. It would make for a mighty clean looking gameplay thread, and probably read like a novel. But it would be sloowwwww, and probably confusing. I'm also pretty anal about what actions my PC takes :P
Cool, looking forward to go time.
I'm also happier about no PMs :)
Well thanks to you jdkle309. I would have given it a try, but I too am glad you are flexible. If we could at least roll dice in the PM that would make it a lot better. But since even that is not provided for I think using the Gameplay tab is the best option.
Ready to go here.
Agreed, I think that the Gameplay thread is the best way to handle combat. :)
I'm ready to go :)
Finally added some better backstory to my character. plot hooks and more :P
First post is up in the gameplay thread!
Checking in. I'm going to wait for a few other folks to respond before I do. Cillian's usually quiet and pretty distrusting so he's going to feel you folks out before piping up.
I must admit I'd forgotten the AoO thing. Can I make a suggestion?
That we use the Beginner Box rule that you can't cast or use ranged attacks when you would give away an AoO? It works quite well - I've been playing the Beginner Box with my kids for about 6 months, and it promotes a bit of tactical thought, fast combats, and keeps things balanced.
I'll be focusing on my bow, and also casting spells if I survive that long, so it will certainly affect me as well as full-time casters.
That's a neat rule. I like it. Keeps the tactics but gets rid of the additional complexity
Hmm. Cool. I like that too.
not sure if it's just me but the MAP link takes me to the campaign tab and doesn't show a map
It's not just you. The URL is wrong...
I don't like the rule myself. For one, we already houseruled no one gets AoO's, which is fine, because it was stated up front and frankly favors casters (though I have no problem with RAW on casting and AoO's). Now we are all suggesting flipping to a new houserule which eliminates the possibility of casting in melee ranges at all, which was not agreed upon front.
If my objections are overruled, so be it, but I ask one thing, and failing that, one other thing. The first is that I be allowed to cast in melee range if I cast defensively. It wouldn't be more of a burden on GM for bookkeeping, it would just require a concentration check in my post against public DCs I can check myself. Failing that, I ask to be allowed to choose another spell in place of Shocking Grasp. I would never have chosen it had I known from the start it would be a two round action to cast. (1 round to cast out of enemy range, another round to move into melee range and then next turn's standard action to zap the enemy with the held charge). I wouldn't make such a big deal of it but it is my only Air Spell and one of my three spell slots must be prepared with an Air Spell.
I assumed casting defensively was still in and would work normally. If you fail a concentration check while casting in melee, the spell fizzles.
Right, as casting defensively does not provoke an AOO.
What about feats that interact with AOOs? I mean combat reflexes is a prereq for a lot of other stuff, but now it does nothing? Lame.
Shrug. Remove it as a prereq. Done. Any feat that requires it is assumed to function as if you already have it. No changes necessary.
Yup.
Yeah, just pretend it doesn't exist. Ventus, that's fine. As for the map, I'l try to fix it.
Map is fixed.
Harhzen, Beginner Box rule will be fine.
What was the guard armed with? Does he have keys?
What was the guard armed with? Does he have keys?
Longsword, and no.
Beorn, I was looking over the group's sheets and noticed that you are the only one of us without the Stealth skill.
What do you think of re-allocating a skill point? Your Dex is high enough that it would make it viable.
Its not a class skill, but I could trade out Sense Motive I guess. Would only make a 1 point difference. I already get my dex to the skill.
It doesn't make much difference now, but it will make a huge difference by third level. I guess you could always dump extra points into it in later levels to make up the difference.
I don't have stealth either actually