So, Ian and Christine are in, Zack and Ross are in... just waiting on Sasha.Her schedule is screwed up all to hell currently. I'd send her an e-mail if you haven't already.
I know she's pretty busy. I already talked to her about it, and I know she's in. It's just a matter of getting her over here to notice and weigh in so we can get started.
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I know she's pretty busy. I already talked to her about it, and I know she's in. It's just a matter of getting her over here to notice and weigh in so we can get started.So, Ian and Christine are in, Zack and Ross are in... just waiting on Sasha.Her schedule is screwed up all to hell currently. I'd send her an e-mail if you haven't already.
Play-by-post games tend to travel at sub-glacial speeds anyway, so maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to just go ahead and get the game thread started with the intro post since you know that we're all in now. By the time it matters, she will have seen the thread. It lets the rest of us start developing characters as well, assuming conversation is made possible by the setting.
*bloop*
I here.
*unbloop*
Now where's Locke? I figured he would've posted by now.
Now where's Locke? I figured he would've posted by now.
I am -so- ready to start this game.
This IS Jared's Wheel of Time game, right?
Now where's Locke? I figured he would've posted by now.I am -so- ready to start this game.
This IS Jared's Wheel of Time game, right?
Right.
FIRST POST.
It's up, at LONG LAST.
You're going to have questions, I'm sure, so feel free to drop in OOC questions, in the thread itself if they're short, or here if they're longer or more detailed.
Let's make this thing rock. I really, really want this to be worth the eight months you've all waited with me. Thanks muchly for your patience.
READY GO.
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Okay, so, I've updated the stats on my animal companion and, noticing that we're starting at level 3, increased the companion's hit dice accordingly. At 3 hit dice, the companion gets a feat (just like a character would at level 3). I want to take Deflect Arrows for the critter because A) as a scout, training the bird to do such things would keep it safe from immediate harm; and B) because having a hawk who can catch arrows in it's talons would be f+@&ing awesome.
Here's the thing: Deflect Arrows requires Improved Unarmed Strike. Would you be willing to waive this requirement as the creature is already proficient with it's natural weapons (it's talons)? Or are you going to hose the idea of letting it get Deflect Arrows altogether? I've got Skill Focus (Spot) listed there for now, but I will change it to Deflect Arrows if I get the OK.
Okay, so, I've updated the stats on my animal companion and, noticing that we're starting at level 3, increased the companion's hit dice accordingly. At 3 hit dice, the companion gets a feat (just like a character would at level 3). I want to take Deflect Arrows for the critter because A) as a scout, training the bird to do such things would keep it safe from immediate harm; and B) because having a hawk who can catch arrows in it's talons would be f!%*ing awesome.
Here's the thing: Deflect Arrows requires Improved Unarmed Strike. Would you be willing to waive this requirement as the creature is already proficient with it's natural weapons (it's talons)? Or are you going to hose the idea of letting it get Deflect Arrows altogether? I've got Skill Focus (Spot) listed there for now, but I will change it to Deflect Arrows if I get the OK.
That's fine by me, though I don't promise it'll be all that useful. It's a pretty cool idea though, yeah. He won't be so much swooping down to save you very often, but he'll be able to save his own butt later.
Obviously, and I know you're not suggesting this, but for future reference and general precedent-setting, Deflect Arrows is no help against firearms.
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That's fine by me, though I don't promise it'll be all that useful. It's a pretty cool idea though, yeah. He won't be so much swooping down to save you very often, but he'll be able to save his own butt later.
Obviously, and I know you're not suggesting this, but for future reference and general precedent-setting, Deflect Arrows is no help against firearms.
Yeah, I know it's no good against firearms, but it does apply to thrown weapons (like grenades!). Also, I like that it suggests the bird has been trained to grab things that are thrown to/at it. It's "Deflect" right now, but the next step is "Snatch Arrows." By that time, the bird's Strength should be adequate to the task of ferrying items from point A to point B while remaining relatively innocuous. Hawk bomber, anyone? :D
I do not intend on making the bird some kind of strong focal point, but it will very much be an extension of the character and his most trusted friend.
That's fine by me, though I don't promise it'll be all that useful. It's a pretty cool idea though, yeah. He won't be so much swooping down to save you very often, but he'll be able to save his own butt later.
Obviously, and I know you're not suggesting this, but for future reference and general precedent-setting, Deflect Arrows is no help against firearms.
Yeah, I know it's no good against firearms, but it does apply to thrown weapons (like grenades!). Also, I like that it suggests the bird has been trained to grab things that are thrown to/at it. It's "Deflect" right now, but the next step is "Snatch Arrows." By that time, the bird's Strength should be adequate to the task of ferrying items from point A to point B while remaining relatively innocuous. Hawk bomber, anyone? :D
I do not intend on making the bird some kind of strong focal point, but it will very much be an extension of the character and his most trusted friend.
Things that it's talons aren't really equipped to deal with will probably impose a penalty to the 'snatch' roll, just fair warning. But yeah, the idea is appropriate enough. For example, if you set a timed grenade to three rounds and then have your pet circle on command until it sees you give a hand-signal to drop, that'd work.
As the bird's intelligence improves though, you can bet it'll start to wonder why it's swooping down and grabbing the things that it recognizes are explosive, and 'Animal Companion' or not, it's a bird and isn't going to take well to being around loud, concussive-explodey things in the first place. It *will,* because it's loyal as hell to you, but it's not going to like it.
Hawk Bomber. You gimmicky dr00dball, you.
As the bird's intelligence improves though,
Animal companions never get smarter, unless you cast Awaken on them.
I've opened my invite thread for a CotCT game, if anyone is interested.
Linky
I've opened my invite thread for a CotCT game, if anyone is interested.
Linky
I appreciate the invite, but I haven't kept up with that setting and I don't think I'm likely to have the time to try and become familiar with it enough to feel comfortable roleplaying there.
That said, hopefully it picks up smoothly. You've been wonderfully patient and you deserve a game that doesn't take more than half a year to wind up.
Yes. Familiars get smarter. Animal companions do not. They remain as the 'animal' type and thusly their intelligence can never exceed 2.As the bird's intelligence improves though,Animal companions never get smarter, unless you cast Awaken on them.
Yeahhh... you're going to be occupying 'trick' slots with all that madness, else it's going to just deflect attacks off itself.
Stumbling, lurching, we make our way into the general prologue...
...slowly.
Gonna wrap this bit up soon. Pitch up another question or two and we'll starcast off to Khalesh for Bherek and roll into the actual story...!
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Sorry for the delay. took a little work to get Steve and I in the same room to hammer out all the expository bits. Last speed bump I hope, let's see if we can get some momentum. If no one has any questions I'll probably post again late tomorrow night or thurs afternoon at the latest and get things rocking.
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Additionally: Sasha you have an extra feat choice. The technical proficiency feat is "free" as per the book. You get it when your backstory justifies it. Merry Christmas.
I thought that monks were one of the few classes that did NOT get the feat for free. Barbarians being the other one.
Additionally: Sasha you have an extra feat choice. The technical proficiency feat is "free" as per the book. You get it when your backstory justifies it. Merry Christmas.I thought that monks were one of the few classes that did NOT get the feat for free. Barbarians being the other one.
Monks can't start with it for free, i.e. at level 1. They can buy into it eventually, given the requisite exposure to technology and intent to learn. Barbarians are the same way.
So, considering that Christine hasn't posted in almost three weeks and doesn't seem interested when asked in person, I'm putting it up to the group - shall I NPC her character for the sake of party dynamics or do we find some way around it and move on?
I'm happy to NPC her - the party sort of grew up knowing that they would have that hitting power and AC and melee attack strength in one package, and it seems like I'd have to tiptoe around encounter strengths if she weren't there. Plus it'll allow me to push the game forward (and sideways, and astray...) if there's someone in the party I can speak through, since I check the boards very regularly.
I'm also happy NOT to NPC her, as I know some people have issues with DM NPCs being 'party members.'
Anyway, it's up to you guys. Consider this a vote being taken - shall we Redshirt the Paladin or shall I pick up where she left off?
I'm also good either way.
Also, do ballistic pistols still need atmosphere to fire in DS or not so much because of the binary propellant? If so, how does lower density atmosphere effect firearm performance?
Even contemporary firearms don't need atmosphere to fire: It's hard to make things explode when waiting for oxygen from air. Gunpowder gets it's oxidation from saltpeter (potassium nitrate). Smokeless powders use ground-up guncotton, which is an explosive, and requires no outside reactants to explode.
Guns don't behave well underwater because gunpowder won't deflagrate when wet and because of the extra obstruction created by water in the barrel. Guns work great in vacuum, because there is no drag to affect their trajectory.
Kays, I'm confused.... do I get a feat beyond technical proficiency or not?
If it's based on whether or not my back-history justifies it, then I'm guessing not, but maybe Steve interprets it differently?
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Also, do ballistic pistols still need atmosphere to fire in DS or not so much because of the binary propellant? If so, how does lower density atmosphere effect firearm performance?Even contemporary firearms don't need atmosphere to fire: It's hard to make things explode when waiting for oxygen from air. Gunpowder gets it's oxidation from saltpeter (potassium nitrate). Smokeless powders use ground-up guncotton, which is an explosive, and requires no outside reactants to explode.
Guns don't behave well underwater because gunpowder won't deflagrate when wet and because of the extra obstruction created by water in the barrel. Guns work great in vacuum, because there is no drag to affect their trajectory.
Most excellent. Thank you for the science lesson, Ross. The only science I was ever any good at was when it was math pretending to be science. I didn't want an intelligence 18 character to be pulling a piece that was completely useless under the circumstances.
Math pretending to be science? Theoretical physics?
Kays, I'm confused.... do I get a feat beyond technical proficiency or not?
If it's based on whether or not my back-history justifies it, then I'm guessing not, but maybe Steve interprets it differently?
imo, the only reason Rakti doesn't use guns is because her "religious" (ish) beliefs prohibit it, not because she doesn't know how. Her backstory is Imperial, she was raised and trained on an Imperial world. She forsook technology for a while at the monastery, but is still perfectly-well familiar with it.
You could reasonably have learned Technical Proficiency over the course of the two levels you've gained at the monastery, yes. If you spent a feat on it, you should re-spend it somewhere else - probably in something firearms related, building toward your Prestige Class.
I'm going to be unreachable this week. I'll be back next Saturday.
You can measure this game's pace in inches-per-year. I did not appropriately scale this game for a PbP, it's clear to me now.
I don't think anyone's so invested in this that they're going to die if others are going to pull out. Then again, I don't think the game takes up much of anyone's life anyway, so...
...I guess what I'm asking is if we still want to go through with the game. I'm game to keep going, but we haven't even actually gotten the party together yet.
Show of hands.
I'd like it to keep going. It seems like a fun setting, so I'd like to explore it. PbPs are always glacial, so I'm fine with the pace.
I'd like it to keep going. It seems like a fun setting, so I'd like to explore it. PbPs are always glacial, so I'm fine with the pace.
imo, your willingness has never been in question. In fact, it's really you that I'm sorriest to disappoint. The rest of the players belong to my typical in-person gaming group, which is used to picking up and putting down games all the time.
The pace is glacial, but my worry is that it won't get better, and that the story I've written might very well exacerbate it. This scene we're in now would've been a five minute ordeal around a table, and has managed to be almost a month-long in PbP.
If people keep posting, I'll keep running - the thread's in my internet bookmarks. But it's disheartening to check in, day after day, and find that nothing's been added.
It doesn't help that Jackdaedalus has almost no free time anymore.
The group we've got and the story to be told seem like they'll be pretty great together. I just want it to happen is all, but I also don't want to sacrifice character development for the sake of pace. It's a hard balancing act, one that I really wasn't prepared for, despite being warned in advance that the games operate on geological time scales.
*taps on the glass*
It's been more than a month since a post in the game thread. Is it dead?
It's been more than a month since a post in the game thread. Is it dead?
I think we're calling it dead, yeah. JackDaedalus and I have an upcoming move, so it'd be at least another two weeks before any kind of serious momentum got going, which basically means that it will have taken a year to actually "start," i.e. get past the Prologue and into meaningful story-bits.
Most of the mistakes are on my end, and ones that really haven't even been seen by the players. For one, having seen how long the prologue took to put together, I can see that I clearly did not scale this as a PbP game. I wrote a story that would work fine on a tabletop, but on message boards, I can easily see the arc I've written (not to mention the possibility of an entire 16-20 level story!) taking years, if not longer.
I apologize for holding everybody up for nothing. My consolation to this is that between the email preludes, the discussion thread, and the play-thread, we've probably got less than 300 posts, which isn't much at all to this crowd. I didn't actually waste anyone's time, and I think it's best to call it now, before I actually do. ;)
Ross - I'll gladly run you a one-player-by-email game if you just want to see the world. Fatey and JackD have already seen it, and I'm probably going to do a one-player game for Andante as well. I offer because I hate to have you build up for this over so long only to have it come to nothing. You seem like someone who'll at least appreciate it and give it your all.
Let me know what you think.
Ross - I'll gladly run you a one-player-by-email game if you just want to see the world. Fatey and JackD have already seen it, and I'm probably going to do a one-player game for Andante as well. I offer because I hate to have you build up for this over so long only to have it come to nothing. You seem like someone who'll at least appreciate it and give it your all.
Let me know what you think.
I appreciate the idea. Let me think about it. I need to worry about making sure I have enough time to keep our CotCT game going. I'm also think about starting a Second Darkness game when it comes out next month. If I'm DMing two games, my PbP time will be just about taken up.