While i'm still preparing the game proper, I'd like to run a quick, practice combat to gain some idea in how to run PbP.
This is entirely optional (in terms of the main game... I suppose no one is ever going to force you to play Pathfinder), but feel free to jump in.
"Sitting squat at the foot of an imposing mountain, a ruined monastery comes into view between ancient gnarled trees. Made of simple
stone blocks, worn smooth with the passage of time, the stout building is falling apart. Sections of the slanted shale roof have collapsed
and portions of the outer wall have crumbled. Weeds and wild thorn plants run rampant across the field leading up to the place, leaving
only the slightest indication of a path that ends at the ruined front doors. Beyond, an overgrown yard sits in shadow."
The battlemap can be seen here. You are all standing at or around the point marked "1" on the map.
This is only meant to trial combat. My real adventure won't be anything like this. Don't worry about plot, here. Your motivation is: search and destroy.
So, what do you do?
Karth takes a good look at the crumbling building, trying to see any obvious threats before the group moves in
perception
Know architecture
Init
Karth drawls his sword waiting for the others to catch up.
Den follows Karth with his sling and shield at the ready.
Orin will pull his bow and knock an arrow. While covering the others advance he will scan the ruins for signs of life.
Perception:
Initiative:
"Quiet!" the pale skinned gnome says sternly to the empty space beside her, where there was suddenly the brief sound of bells, "silence and crumbled walls does not mean we are alone."
Fenna moves to draw her crossbow from the left side of her belt, but sends the source of the bell teals a scowl as she finds the weapon hanging instead on the opposite side. Placing a bolt into the slot and winching the mechanism, she looks around the ruined entrance.
As our heroes cautiously approach, weapons at the ready, Orin and Karth suddenly stop, alerted by some unseen queue.
The hair on the back of their necks rise; this is obviously an ambush. Whatever is crouching behind the parapet of that wall, however, has not yet decided to spring the trap.
From here, there are no obvious targets. The two weather-beaten statues on either side of the broken gate would provide some cover. Otherwise, this is a killing ground.
What now, true believers?
Crossbow loaded and ready, Thumparr growls, "Cover me," and trots up the the statue on the right, leaning his back to it and peering around the inside of it (to his right). He waits on his companions to follow and as they get close, he pivots to the inside edge of the statue and moves toward the door, crossbow ready to fire.
Initiative: Invisible Castle
1d20+1 = 6+1 = 7
Perception Check:
Initiative:
Syndessa draws her sword and circles around behind the statue on the left, peering through the gate and into the courtyard beyond.
"Archers make ready, seems we have a welcoming party" Karth says as he moves behind Thumparr and Syndessa to back them up thinking to himself this may not be the wisest tactical approach as they are playing into the enemy's hands
"Archers make ready, seems we have a welcoming party" Karth says as he moves behind Thumparr and Syndessa to back them up thinking to himself this may not be the wisest tactical approach as they are playing into the enemy's hands
Syndessa turns slightly as Karth moves up behind her. She signals to him and points through the gates and across the courtyard where what remains of another wall can still be seen as rubble. She makes a circling motion with her hand and once more points at the rubble, before moving from behind the statue past Thumparr. She hugs the wall and slips around the corner, making her way along the base of the wall until she reaches the rubble strewn gap in the wall.
Stealth Check:
Mukrilgrundt joins Thumparr beside the rightmost statue, greatsword ready. Noting Syndessa's path around the corner, he whispers to the dwarf.
I guess that makes us the distraction.
"Erastil's Blessing on all who revere the Lands." Den mutters while everyone is still within range.
Mukrilgrundt joins Thumparr beside the rightmost statue, greatsword ready. Noting Syndessa's path around the corner, he whispers to the dwarf.
I guess that makes us the distraction.
"Suits me just fine," Thumparr says with a grin. "I say we move right through the front doors and burst in on whatever they got planned fer us. On the count of three."
Thumparr grips his crossbow a little tighter and counts, "One!" He pivots to the inside and takes off at a run, laughing and ready for some action!"C'mon, Sizzeldick! Let's rock this pile of rubble!"
Combat roll for crossbow:
Invisible Castle
Orin Ro scanned the battlements, bow at the ready and ears perked, ready to let fly at the slightest motion. The Calistrian drew her ancient dueling sword and moved behind the left statue, briefly glancing at it as she stared into the courtyard. "Hmm..." she thought to herself, "looks almost dwarven, but too worn to tell."
Suddenly, the bard, Karth, startled, shouted "archers make ready, seems we have a welcoming party." The rest of the party looked over at him, almost involuntarily, then back at the wall, as almost a dozen brutish figures appeared along the parapets, loaded crossbows in hand.
Orin wasn't surprised by Karth's warning, however. Elven senses already honed by years in the woods were already screaming "ambush!" Without glancing at the bard he let fly as the first of the figures appeared.
Target AC 18 (including +2 for cover). Attack roll
The arrow streaked towards the target, went high, sailing off into the courtyard. Syndessa turned slightly as Karth moved up behind her. She signaled to him and pointed through the gates and across the courtyard where what remains of another wall could still be seen as rubble. She made a circling motion with her hand and once more pointed at the rubble, before moving from behind the statue past Thumparr. She huged the wall and sliped unnoticed around the corner, making her way along the base of the wall until she reached the rubble strewn gap in the wall.
The druid, crouching behind one of the statues for cover, muttered a quick pray to Erastil before risking a look up at the wall. "Erastil's Blessing on all who revere the Lands."
[ooc]Bless is now in effect for all PCs expect Syndessa, who has already moved away
The grizzled dwarven warrior, Thumparr, crossbow loaded and ready, Thumparr growled, "cover me," and ran for the the statue on the right, leaning his back to it and peered around the inside of it before pivoting to the inside edge of the statue firing up at the wall.
"Damn," he muttered. "Missed."
Almost simultaneously, the wall erupted with a barrage of bolts, flying down at the heroes. A clacking rain erupted as the deluge clattered against the old statues, their only casualty a grazing shot against the dwarf (-1 hp, Thumparr).
In the brief lull afterwards, Fenna sprang out from cover, firing her crossbow up at the wall to her right. . Her target ducked down just a fraction of a second before the bolt. The gnome, clutching his javelin, waited for an opening.
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Feel free to jump in, I'm just trying to work out the kinks of a PbP combat. Case in point: you're not being unreasonable, but I don't quite understand what you mean. I didn't control anyone's character, I just took what they themselves said they were going to do (extrapolated slightly from those who said they were covering the battlements; I figured they would fire when the enemy showed themselves). All I did was roll the attack rolls, and summarize the round in one post. They declared the attack; I just rolled the dice. It seemed like it was working, but:
If you really hate something I'm doing, this would be a good time to work on it. Why don't you DM the next combat round, and show me the style you're talking about. There's nothing particularly tricky here, just:
As I said, I'm not trying to force a particular style, I'm just learning how this is supposed to work.
Define "the normal way" - IMO this IS the normal way - at least from just about all of the pbp games I've played in the past 10 years. We're making our rolls and Uriel is telling us what happened. How is "the normal way" any different?
We get it that you "detest this narrative style" but what exactly are you wanting?|
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Actually, you did end up making a tactical choice on behalf of a PC. Orin didn't use a Ready action to fire a bow; without stating an action linked to the specified event, such a tactic becomes a Delay action. Delays allow a player to evaluate the progress of a battle before acting, and though in most cases it would result in a primary attack as usual, I know I've taken an almost identical action to what was posted, only to drop my bow and engage a more promising opponent in melee.
Another risk to consider with the current format is the consequences of not following initiative order. Once again, it had little effect this round. But, for example, if Thumparr had suffered a particularly devastating hit from the crossbow volley, it should be reasonable to expect Fenna to move in and heal the dwarf rather than fire a shot from her crossbow. Once again, your narrative removes such choice.
HA posted in the other thread a point I'd missed. Specifically, that by taking the "implied" action, I denied the player a chance to correct to changing circumstance. From the quote above, Orin, for example, didn't have to fire, nor did Fenna. Either one could have changed their actions, by the rules.
Basically, it comes down to a matter of style. While I don't want to remove the ability to control events from the PCs, I personally feel that the game can be just as fun if the players can control the general flow of combat, and the higher-end choices, and the GM handles the nitty-gritty, and in-round tactical choices. After all, a round itself is not a long time (is it still about six seconds? A minute?), and there is a limit in how far afield even the most egotistical GM can go in one round. I felt that I was keeping with the general intent of the players, while still keeping the combat going at a reasonable pace. But since the majority of the players would like more granularity in the combat, so be it. I'm more than happy running whatever's the most popular style.
That said, I really would like to see the same example continued in the approved style. If Mori doesn't have the time to run it, maybe someone else can? I don't want style-hiccups from disrupting the main plot itself. Much better to hash it out beforehand.
If Thumparr can get a shot at one of the hobgoblins, he reloads and fires.
Attack rolls
If Thumparr cannot get a shot, he drops his crossbow, grabs his shield and throwing axe, and charges toward the broken down doors.
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Sorry Im late been buzzy
Init roll
Stealth check
Action: Sasha slips around the other way from Syn following Thumparr and Mukril but at a slight distance to avoid fields of fire and their bloodlust.
Aside Im new at play by posts so if Im making faux pas let me know I'll get better as we go along
Syndessa makes her way around to the gap in the wall and peers inside.
*If she sees any Hobgoblins/enemies on the ground:
She moves towards the nearest foe to engage him from behind.
*If all Hobgoblins/enemies are on the wall:
She sheathes her grandfather's blade and pulls her longbow from over her shoulder, nocking and arrow and letting fly at the closest Hobgoblin.
Attack closest Hobgoblin with Longbow:
Stealth check
Spoiler:1d20+10=16
Orin wil knock and loose another arrows at one of the protruding Hobgoblins head.
Attack: (+1 for PBS, +1 for Bless)
Damage:
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Sasha will draw a dagger and wait for Thumparr to engage an enemy in combat before attempting a flank/sneak attack.
potential Dmg rolls
Karth seeing the hobgoblins puts some power into his voice and yells " Archer's let loose and FIRE!" in a booming voice before moving toward the gate and holding himself ready and trying to see his foes
Perception
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THREADJACK!
Alright, time to start the party. Next stop, adventure town.
For reference, all handouts can be found here. Enjoy!
Our heroes have been travelling for days now, leaving Rostov and Brevoy behind, along with farms, towns and civilization, travelling deep into the Southern wilderness. Steadily, the terrain has gotten rougher, and the buildings and signs of habitation fewer and farther between. The road you've followed has changed from a major highway, to a backroad, then a simple wagon trail, and now is nothing more than a simple, at times hard to follow, trail. Supposedly, this "Oleg's Trading Post" is a major landmark here, but the area seems as abandoned as ever.
Over the next rise you see a thin coil of smoke rising in the summer afternoon sun, maybe a cook-fire? Cresting the hill, you see the source. A rough wooden palisade, complete with the ruins of catapults in towers, surrounding a few simple buildings. On the roof of the largest building you see a large man, fixing a hole. As you begin down the hill towards him, he notices your group, waves, shouts something you can't catch to someone else within the compound, and begins climbing down.
The main gate is closed.
Mukrilgrundt remains silent as he marches up to the gates of the palisade. He pauses at the barrier before calling out.
Open the gate, unless you want us to provide you with more holes to patch!
Thumparr glances at his traveling companions and says, "Not quite what I was expecting. What about the rest of ye?"
He checks his crossbow and loosens the axe at his belt and continues forward.
Looking down at the Dwarf, Orin says "What were you expecting? A curtain wall made of stone and mortar? You make do with the material at hand, and I say he's done quite well for himself considering all the vermin, of the two legged variety as well as the four, running around in these woods. It reminds me of many a frontier outpost I've seen in my travels. Quaint."
He grabs Windswift by the reins and follows the Gnome towards the gate.
"Ho, Oleg open the gate. You have some weary travellers who need a place to rest and some hot food to eat." he shouts.
"The Broken Keep?" Fenna whispers to herself hopefully, then looks to Orin and Thumparr, "No, this is quite expected... except, perhaps, I would have thought it more easily defensible from on top of a hill than the bottom of one."
Urging her pony own the hill, she dismounts behind Murkilgrundt and waits for Oleg's reply.
Den kicks his heels into his horse and moves up to Mukrilgrundt and Fenna falling into gnomish as he speaks,
"Closed gates and damage to the towers and roof, perhaps they are just being careful after suffering an attack or two. Out here they probably have to fend for themselves, until we arrived. And what do we look like to them. I'd be careful and suspicious if I saw us coming, nine armed and armoured travellers."
The druid pulls his copy of the charter out and waves it towards the gates shouting in common,
"we bear the charter of Restov, not brigands. Sent to help you against such enemies of Brevoy. I am Den Sarment, a priest of Erastil and farmers son, and I come from he village of Carpabrooke not twenty fives from here. Will you allow us to present are warrants and enter so that we may discuss how best to help each other?"
Den takes a moment to wipe his face and grimaces at the smell of horse sweat and leather on his clothes.
As she has done for most of the trip, Syndessa remains at the rear of the party, quietly watching everything going on around her with keen interest. She looks down her nose at Mukrilgrundt's "greeting" and loosens her sword in case the blunt Gnome's remarks bring trouble for them. She hopes not, for after days of travel through the wilderness, she wants nothing more than a bed to sleep on, no matter how run down it may be.
Perception Check:
As you approach the gates, you hear the sound of a wooden bar being lifted away. The gates are then pushed laboriously outward to reveal a ruddy, middle-aged woman.
"Oh, thank Erastil!" she sighs. "It's about time you got here. It's been months, and we were starting to think they'd forgotten about us, and were just going to leave us to those ba-" She's interrupted by the arrival of the large, burly man you saw on the roof earlier.
"Quiet wife!" he barks. "We don't know these people from Aroden." He peers at you more closely. "Though I admit they don't look like bandits. I'm Oleg Leveton, and this is my wife Svetlana. Are you the guards we sent for? If so, I hope your skill with blades matches your timing, as the next payment is due tomorrow."
He looks at you expectantly.
The "trading post" is located at the edge of the forest. It is on a slight rise, more for drainage reasons than defense, overlooked by the large hill you crossed. The placement seems to be fairly haphazard, as if the builders built it close to their source of lumber, rather than having to drag all those logs uphill.
Aside from the two middle-aged pioneers in front of you, there doesn't seem to be anyone else inside the palisade, unless they're in one of the buildings. The inside is rough, but fresh paint and signs of repair are obvious. The interior of the outer wall itself, however, is in even worse repair than the outside, with the stairs to the catapult towers collapsed, and a few of the supports almost rotten through. Anyone with any experience in such things could see there's no way it could stand up to a serious siege.
Neither Oleg nor Svetlana are openly armed, but Syndessa notices a large axe stuck in a log within arm's reach of the outdoorsman.
With a winning smile Matius Dismounts from his horse and produces a piece of rolled paper from it's saddlebag. Moving swiftly to Oleg he places the paperwork in his hand " Gracious Oleg, I believe this is the proof you require." He says turning to his traveling companions." And as for our skill with the blades.. He starts, tapping on the hilt of his rapier absentmindedly as he looked over his allies." Well I assure you Oleg it is unmatched!" He exclaims as he spins on his heels to once again face the man. " Now, If you're expecting a payment tomorrow then it would be in your best interest to allow your weary new guards to enter and rest-If you would be so kind sir." He suggests, the winning smile never leaves his face.
Besides, if we were bandits, we would have set to making more holes as soon as we arrived...
Den gets down and shakes the man's hand.
"I suspect there maybe a small mistake. You called us guards. We are not actually guards. We are explorers sent to stop the banditry hereabouts. I would appreciate a chance to rest and freshen up before we discuss the problems about here. Also I would appreciate use of a curry comb, fodder and water for this horse. Perhaps for the others as well?"
Den turns to the woman and blesses her with his holy symbol, offering his hand in friendship to her. "Erastil bless you, my dear, do you have any sick or injured animals in need of care? For I would be willing to help in Deadeye's name."
Oleg and his wife exchange a meaningful glance, fear plainly written on the woman's face. Oleg takes the offered copy of the writ, and slowly begins to read, his thick finger tracing the words as his lips silently sound them out. As he works his way through it, Svetlana turns to Den.
"So you're not the guards we begged for?" She looks over at her husband, "oh, Oleg! What are we going to do? They're coming tomorrow, and we can't keep playing them off forever!"
Oleg finishes reading. "That's fine, wife. we'll make do somehow. Now," he says, turning back to Matius, "even if you aren't guards, it says here you're to do somethin' about these bandit scum that infest this useless country. There's this one band that turned up about three months ago, collecting 'taxes'. They threatened to burn the place to the ground if'n I didn't let them in and hand over my stock of trade goods. If it were just me, I'd... well, anyway with the missus here I decided to play along, and just hand over all the pelts I'd bought. Since then, they've been back at the first day of the month, each month, and this time I've got no pelts to pay them off! I sent some letters back North with some hunters, and we got word the Swordlords were going to send a patrol down. I was starting to think they'd be too late, then you came over the hill. Now... I guess I'm just going to have to handle this myself." He looks over meaningfully at his axe.
"If you're just here to survey, well, we're still open for business now, at least," Oleg says, changing the subject. "Dinner, a bed, and some breakfast is five silver each. Another two silver if you want your horse stabled and fed. I've also got some equipment for sale, if you've got some extra coin."
Svetlana, having regained some of her previous composure, jumps in. "Nonsense! These people are obviously skilled, and I'm sure they can handle anything. After all, now that they think we've been cowed," she avoids looking at her husband, "they keep sending fewer and fewer to collect their gjald. And that horrible woman hasn't come back since the first time. Just offer them free room and board, and let them do their work!" She glares at her husband.
Oleg looks speculatively at you, his eyes glancing at your weapons and armour. "Well?" he asks. "You take care of this little problem for me and I'll let you stay under my roof, free." He searches your faces for an answer, hope beginning to return to his expression.