OOC thread...

Choose a Yellowish portrait bud

Have done.

Good one. SO. New question:

I want level-ups to happen comparatively quickly... I'm thinking like Dungeon World--
--1 xp point for each roll of 1 you roll
--More xp points when a goal is achieved

Level up every 6 xp (which does NOT get gradually slower to level up every level, unlike Dungeon World).

What do you think? Too fast? Perfect? Other?

So for every 1 you roll in a d4, you get 1 exp, is that right?

That seems incredibly fast, we might have so much stuff by the end of this. How about 10 xp for each level up.

Hm...... How about 8?

Or should I bring back the "you need 6 plus your level" like in Dungeon World, to slow it down more...?

I'd vote for the Dungeon World route.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:06, Wed 22 June 2022.

Yeah, Dungeon World sounds like a fair progress route.

Okay, level progress will work just like DW-- 7 plus your level.

1 xp when your highest result is a 1, and more xp when the team completes a goal.


Next let's talk about death. How hard should it be for a PC to die?

Personally, I like it to be a little hard to die-- if a PC loses all their health they're just unconscious or whatever, and if the whole team gets knocked out they get captured or something. But I'm flexible...

Yeah, I'm fine with letting a PC last longer, rather than the alternative which probably involve surviving from such few hits, wondering if the next fight will be your last.

I'd rather prefer my PC live to simply have a fun adventure.

A question does arise in the fact that there only seems to be one PC.

In private messaging, Balance seems put off by the idea that we aren't going to use a system he already knows.

I, in turn, have communicated that the reason we're going the way we're going it because it's so simple and easy to understand. I still hope to hear from him.

Having said that, though, I figured you and I would also make PCs and play.

AND/OR, we could place an ad for players and open the game up to newcomers as well.

I'm not making a PC if im being a cogm. I find it hard to talk to myself for extended conversations in rp.

I accept that.

Two, then, so far.

...If Balance doesn't join us, I suggest we place an ad... unless y'all vote me down.

Nah, I'm 100 percent okay with letting you become a PC as well as GM.

Yeah, but then we'd have two PCs, is what I'm saying.

If you're both fine with that, then I guess I can live with it too...

Well, I mean, I'm also fine with including other people as well. But I can work with two.

Mm. Let's see if GM Yellow has an opinion about inviting outsiders...

No opinion. I see both good and bad coming from that decision.

Mm. Well I'll wait and see if I can get Balance to make a definitive decision first, then...

Balance has officially declined the offer to play a game here "at least for now."

So... Will we go on with 2 PCs? Or advertise? Or give up on this?

I am willing to do any of those three options.

...A fourth option occurs to me-- we could each play 2 PCs, for a party of 4. I've done things like that before...

I'll give a light vote for give up on this. Accepting of other options but feel like I should vote for this out of the options. I will continue with you guys if you guys choose to continue.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Thu 23 June 2022.

What do you mean by giving up. On the fourth option?

Cause I'm mostly voting for the advertising option.

If we are to advertise then we'll need to write a world overview incorporating the information from the submissions. This is our very first and necessary step.

I don't think that would be terribly hard for me to do, when I have time, which may or may not be tomorrow, but just to be clear-- why can they not just read the Setting Thread?

It's all about Presentation.

Right now it's a disparate list of variables, we need to consolidate and organize them to make them easy to read and understand for someone else. This is likely to take rewriting the canon submissions for word flow.

Mm, I think you mean what I thought you meant.

If I don't have time to do it today, I should be able to soon.

Okay, look at my new post and see what you think so far.

I believe it's a good start, however there are some problems. I'd probably include some pictures, remove the Sentient race header, and State the name of the World we have... which there is none, then Make Area Posts.

Post a Dismal Swamp picture, describe the Swamps, and then describe the features in it, while making Smaller sections of the Civilizations themselves. This would take a lot more work, than what you've done, however as the first-place winner, you are the better writer.

Aka, you need to make the disparate pieces, a cohesive world. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be long enough to express the important details so that the Setting itself will leave a good impression on the reader.

link to a message in another game

This is successful in it, and it's not overly long, but unfortunately, while Darke City's Setting is only one city, we need to express the myriad civilizations and areas on the Map as it were.

Why?




Yeah, that's why I didn't do it.



It's not like we're going to publish this.


I could describe the places more, easily, but I strongly disagree that any pictures are needed.



Yorin, what's your opinion?

The first thing they read is Sentient Races, that's a bad start as you list quite literally everything below and sentient races. That's what they see first.

The World of no name.

Pictures, are simply a great way to separate posts from one another, they aren't actually needed I just thought they might be useful.

They Why besides the clear, attract players, is that it should allow for a clearer idea for the players and The gm on the world-state as they start out allowing them to be better players, then a fresh start would bring. To play a part of the world, you must know the world, and presentation to help aid that is needed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:09, Thu 23 June 2022.

So it sounds like what you're really saying is:

--partition Species and Places

and

--give more detail on places

Anything else?

More So make them clearly distinct. Place Header, then describe what lies in the places would be a good way to incorporate both.

I am however an idiot, so you know I might be bad at explaining what I'm thinking.


Really what's more so needed is distinction, anything that comes off as too samey as you read it will be bad. This is especially true in writing.

You do realize however I didn't win a writing competition, so my ideas, are just my ideas.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:34, Thu 23 June 2022.

Well, I'm on the opinion that you did a pretty good job presenting this world a bit. And I don't think pictures are necessary, we're in a place where we simply need to describe and paint things with our imagination.

And we need name for this World, then again No Name is probably good enough.

If It's good enough it's good enough. Let's advertise then.

I have re-ordered the text in question. See what you think.

Also wrote a little game introduction.

And I am looking for feedback, please.

All good, yeah, I think it's ready to be shown to the whole wide world.

I'll post an ad Monday. I've learned everyone always ignores ads on Sundays, and Sunday is almost here.

Since we talk a lot about Lawful magic and Chaos magic, I thought I'd work up what the starting classes would be like:




Order Mage:
Your Insightful increases by 1.

Mage Armor: Roll Forceful+Insightful. For every 4 you roll, an invisible shield will block the next 2 points worth of damage. This will also protect people immediately behind you. You cannot cast this on anyone but yourself, and once you have a shield, you can't cast it again until it's used up. It only lasts about 5 minutes, even if it absorbs no damage.

Enhance: Roll Forceful+Insightful and pick a target (which could be you, yourself).
--If the highest result is 4: Your target rolls as if all their stats are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next two rolls.
--If the highest result is 3: Your target rolls as if one of their stats (your pick after you roll to cast the spell) are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next roll.
--If the highest result is 2: Your target rolls as if one of their stats (your pick after you roll to cast the spell) are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next roll, but you can't cast this spell again until you've had at least an hour of rest.
--If the highest result is 1: The spell fails, and you take -1 on your next roll.




Chaos Mage:
Your Charming increases by 1.

Elemental Bolt: Roll Forceful+Charming to unleash a streak of elemental energy of your choice. You can deal an amount of damage equal to the number of 4s you rolled to one target you can see within 25 yards of you.

Illusion: Roll Insightful+Charming to create an illusion.
--If the highest result is 4: You frighten away or confuse (you choose) 1 target for each for the 4s you rolled.
--If the highest result is 3: You frighten or confuse 1 target.
--If the highest result is 2: You frighten or confuse 1 target, but they'll figure out it's an illusion next round (creating a new illusion next round won't work, either).
--If the highest result is 1: The illusion is immediately seen through. Take -1 die (but not below a minimum of 1) on your next roll.

I have placed an ad.

I have also expanded some classes' abilities:



Fighter: Your Forceful increases by 1.
--Tough: Any damage you take is reduced by 1.
--Fierce: You do one extra damage for every 4 you roll over the first one.

Rogue: Your Agile or Insightful increases by 1.
--Street Smart. Roll Agile+Insightful to sneak around, pick locks, get information, and steal small items.
--Apothecary: You’ve mastered the use of a recipe for a type of poison or drug. Choose a recipe from the list below; that recipe becomes not-dangerous for you to use (in other words, you're good enough with it that you won't accidentally dose yourself). You also start with three uses of the recipe you choose. Whenever you have time to gather materials and a safe place to brew, you can make three uses of the recipe you choose for free. All of these just need to touch the target, they can even be used on a weapon (but if you apply one to an ally's weapon instead of yours, there's a chance of the ally accidentally dosing themselves instead. (You cannot apply more than one recipe to one weapon at the same time.)

--Oil of Noric: On an attack result of 4 or better, the target is affected by the recipe: the target falls into a light sleep.

--Uglollaweed: On an attack result of 3 or better, the target is affected by the recipe: the target deals -1 less damage in combat for the next 10 to 40 minutes.

--Ossiga's Disapproval: After an attack result of 3 or better, the target is affected by the recipe: for the next hour, anyone attacking the target rolls 1 extra die (no maximum!)

--Swamp's Embrace: After an attack result of 3 or better, the target is affected by the recipe: they become confused and hallucinate for the next 10 to 40 minutes.



Cleric: Your Charming increases by 1.

Heal: Roll Forceful+Charming. Restore an amount of health equal to the number of 4s you rolled to an ally you can see.

--Turn Undead: When you hold your holy symbol aloft and call on your deity for protection, roll +Charming.
✴ On a 3 or better, so long as you continue to pray and brandish your holy symbol, no undead may come within reach of you.
✴ On a 4 or better, you also momentarily daze intelligent undead and cause mindless undead to flee. Aggression breaks the effects and they are able to act as normal. (Intelligent undead may still find ways to harry you from afar. They’re clever like that.)

Actually, Tough doesn't work because PCs will seldom take more than 1 damage at a time, so I've changed it to:


--Armor: Any damage you take can be ignored if you want-- but doing so will damage your armor. Afterward, you'll have to find or buy more armor to use this benefit again.

Zero takers on the ad for this game so far.

Should I give it one more day and then give up and go with just us two players (and one co-GM) if there are no takers?

Just give it one more day.

Might have a bite, I think... stand by...

Yeah, got one! I'll add them tomorrow (when I hear what name they wanna use)

Okay, we have our new person! Welcome Uagu, the Frog Order Mage!

Pick a froggy portrait, Uagu...

Okay so we have a Frog Mage and a Hapid Gladiator, and if no one objects I will add to this trio an Uglolla Spirit Shaman, for healing and stuff.

UNLESS we want to run 2 characters each? For a total party of 6?

If that's too insane, they'll just be a trio. Just offering the possibility.

Trio, playing multiple characters harms rp.

Hello, nice to be here.

Ooooookay.

SO. (Choose a portrait, Uagu.)

SO.



Me:

Harran the Wise, Wandering Uglolla Spirit Shaman:
• Forceful 1
• Agile 1
• Insightful 2 because of Uglolla cultural heritage
• Charming 2 because of Uglolla Spirit Shaman training

Heal: Roll Forceful+Insightful. Restore an amount of health equal to the number of 4s you rolled to an ally you can see.

Elemental Defense: Roll Insightful+Charming to unleash elemental energy of your choice. With one 4, you can block, trap, or push back up to 4 targets, if they are all in one direction from you, or you can just repel everyone/everything in a 10 foot radius around you (but that'll include allies near you too). With two 4s, this also does 1 damage to 1 target you choose. With three 4s, this also does 2 damage to 1 target you choose, or 1 damage to 2 targets you choose, and so on.



Hapid Gladiator:
• Forceful 2 Because of Gladiator training
• Agile 2 Because Hapid upbringing
• Insightful 1
• Charming 1

--The Dance. As long as Yorin isn't outnumbered, even if Yorin's highest roll in combat is 2, she still manages to improve her position. She gets to roll 1 extra d4 for her next combat roll against the same opponent (yes, even if that means she rolls more than 3).

--The Tricks: The first time Yorin takes damage in combat, she doesn't. Although her opponent could've sworn they hit her, it was just a trick-- they narrowly missed her. This ability cannot be used again until combat is over and a new combat situation arises.


Is this all okay with you, Yorin?





Uagu, Frog Order Mage:

Your Insightful increases by 1.

• Forceful 2 Because of Frog Monarchy military training
• Agile 1
• Insightful 2 because of Order Mage training
• Charming 1

Mage Armor: Roll Forceful+Insightful. For every 4 you roll, an invisible shield will block the next 2 points worth of damage. This will also protect people immediately behind you. You cannot cast this on anyone but yourself, and once you have a shield, you can't cast it again until it's used up. It only lasts about 5 minutes, even if it absorbs no damage.

Enhance: Roll Forceful+Insightful and pick a target (which could be you, yourself).
--If the highest result is 4: Your target rolls as if all their stats are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next two rolls.
--If the highest result is 3: Your target rolls as if one of their stats (your pick after you roll to cast the spell) are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next roll.
--If the highest result is 2: Your target rolls as if one of their stats (your pick after you roll to cast the spell) are 1 point higher (maximum of 4) for their next roll, but you can't cast this spell again until you've had at least an hour of rest.
--If the highest result is 1: The spell fails, and you take -1 on your next roll.


How does this sound to you, Uagu?

Looks good.

I do not see many options for frogs, luckily they have the Chrono Trigger guy.

Will we be doing a session 0?

Where we discuss what you guys want? I highly doubt blue would reject that.

Yeah, I'd also like to know what's going on in the world when we start, what the frog kingdom is like, what the order of Law Mages is like etc.

No, I think by session 0 he might mean a thing where the three characters meet up.

I can do one if y'all want!

Furthermore, Uagu had a thought-- that his character was sent out from the Monarchy to try to find some escapees from the kingdom and bring them back... but other things might get in the way...

...and I was fine with that idea. Maybe Uagu has second thoughts about heading back. Or maybe the person he's pursuing is a criminal who murdered someone before they left//or that's why they left//or it was just in the process of escaping...?

It's all pretty flexible right now... Any specific questions?

I'd like to do both. I think it'll be better if we have a good amount of backstory and we've got a good reason to know each other before we start playing.

I guess I'd like Uagu to have a few frogs on his list, I'd like to include one which was an apprentice of his, a colleague, or something along those lines. I'm very open to the reasons that the frogs chose to escape, and those reasons might not even be known to Uagau; it sounds like that order kind of just expects blind obedience.


Are there any current events which are happening around the world that are particularly interesting? Is everything peaceful? Is it common for people to travel? How are frogs viewed outside of the kingdom?

For the frog kingdom, how does the caste system make people view each other? Are lower pips considered lesser frogs? If so, how much lesser? Is social mobility possible, or do people stick with their castes?

How are frogs selected to join the Law Mages? What is their apprenticeship like? What does it mean to be sent out of the kingdom on a mission? Did Uagu have any particular mentors/teachers that were important to him?

No problem-- I will provide a list tomorrow. Three frogs? Four frogs?



Not that most the common person is aware of...




Except for the usual constant problems between the Frog Monarchy, The Cage, and The Chessboard Village, yeah. But those aren't currently war-- just more like little skirmishes when small bands of fighters or raiders happen to run into each other.



It happens every week-- but everyone knows it's a little dangerous, too. Bandits, thieves, beasts, the occasional monster.




Frogs who've LEFT the Monarchy are seen as decent people. Everyone feels a little sorry for them.

Frogs who still report back to the Monarchy are kind of seen as jerks-- like Russians during the Cold War. "It's not their fault, personally, but their masters would wipe us all off the map like ants if they could..."



Yes, that's how I pictured it.



If you're a three-pip Frog, two-pip frogs are just a tiny little bit worse than you. Four-pip frogs, you look up to just a little. A TWO-rank difference in caste is a lot different. If you're a 3, 1s are definitely second-class citizens. Fives are seriously "the beautiful people."




Rarely. Only if someone gets a promotion based on surprising merit, like if an entertainer discovered late in life they had magical talent. But usually people discover that early on, so...




1. Testing for talent is done when young.
2. I'll leave that up to you!
3. It means they either really, really trust you... or they're secretly testing you, and will take great pleasure in hunting you down and dragging you back if you fail the test try to defect permanently.
4. Sure-- if you like, I'll make up 1 or 2 for you. Just let me know.

Be sure to read the above post of mine too, but:


The Frog Castes:

1: Pawn, servants
2: Knights: Miltary
3: Rook, entertainers
4: Merchants
5: Bishops: Clerics, Paladins (usually of Noric), and Order Mages
6: Royalty

Yeah, I'm fine with this choice of stats for my character. Anyways, my character will probably be exploring around the world cause of her Hapid nature for always being the life of the party. But she has another motivation, she's trying to find her parents that have gone missing. And it's not just her, theirs been a string of missing Hapids happening across the continent, she wants to know why.

Also, the Monarchy may have some Cager sympathizers in their ranks trying to create chaos by freeing other people that see their views or just want to be free of the old Caste system. Might be a good alternative for an escape, and a reason why Frogs are making an escape.

Oh yeah, HAPIDS are the exception to travel. HAPIDS are always running all around everywhere exploring everyplace they've never been.

And I don't mean everyplace HAPIDS have never been-- I mean EACH Hapid is interested in exploring everyplace that that individual has never been before. Anywhere you go, there's probably at least one Hapid passing through...



Agree!

Sounds good! I'll take 3 people for his list, and two mentors.

How about:

Runaway 1: Gullug (male). Pawn.
Runaway 2: Engwun (male). Knight (soldier).
Runaway 3: Gligga (female). Rook (bard).

Mentor 1: Riglo (male), Bishop (Paladin of Noric).
Mentor 2: Esheg (female) Bishop (Law Mage).

Looks good.

Y'all look over the new RULES AND STUFF thread.

Anything I've left out that we need?

If not, choose your starting equipment.

Do you mind if I bring up a concern over one of the rules?

Are order mages given a uniform, or are they able to wear armor?

I certainly do not mind.



I keep having to re-think things given the way HP and damage work.

My answer is:

EVERYONE will have access to this move:

--Armor: Any damage you take can be ignored if you want-- but doing so will damage your armor. Afterward, you'll have to find or buy more armor to use this benefit again.

And so, my answer is: Order Mages can wear armor if you want. (This has nothing to do with their Mage Armor magic.) (AND/OR, you can just wear a uniform instead. Up to you.)


This means I'd have to give Fighters a new starting ability... but since we're a Spirit Shaman, an Order Mage, and a Gladiator, I don't have to worry about it.

Sounds good, I'll give Uagu some light armor then.



This brings up some concerns for me. It seems to open up a lot of metagaming, where the player is incentived to miss on purpose, or use skills which are likely to miss, as often as possible.


That will break immersion for me at least a bit, also it could lead to some players outleveling others depending on dice rolls and class mechanics which doesn't seem ideal.

Finally I'd prefer not to have to worry about optimizing my experience points in combat, I'd prefer if the experience just naturally followed progression without having to think about it.

I'm still down to try it out.

What would you suggest instead? That each party member just go up a level when a certain narrative goal or is reached?

The rest of us talked about XP before you got here and this is what we came up with, but I'm willing to listen to a possible alternative, and I imagine the other two will feel the same...

That's been best in the games I've played in. However, almost all systems I've played are balanced around the party being the same level, or very similar. If you're trying to make a system where certain party members advance at different rates, I could see how this could work (although there will definitely be metagaming).

So I guess it depends on what the goals were for implementing this.

Then would communal xp be better.

21+3*level for the party. All experience earned by an individual given to the group?

In my experience that's a good way. In plot driven games leveling based on plot advancement works well too.

If what I quoted is a system you all would really like to try I am game to give it a shot too.

You didn't quote anything... Wait do you mean the initial xp system?
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:39, Sat 02 July 2022.

Yeah my initial quote of the xp system.

I don't see how this avoids the problems Uagu mentions.

Maybe we should just level up each time we complete a goal.

Oh thought he meant with regular xp from killing monsters/advancement. If it was experience split based on the 1s rolled then it would still have lots of metagaming opportunities.

Yep but the major issue in my mind isn't power growth but imbalance of power between the party. If the party is equally leveled it doesn't really matter if people are incentivised to use things that are more likely to fail and cause greater complications then use their more reliable abilities.

I am currently leaning toward just leveling the party up each time we achieve a goal.

Anyone wanna try to talk me out of that?

As far as balance among partymembers goes I agree, although it would still be metagaming with incentives to use skills they might not normally want to use in order to game the system... even if it is to the benefit of all.

I could see that being a positive in some areas such as getting players to explore skills their character has which they might not normally use, but also being a negative if people are doing things their character wouldn't normally do purely to level up the team.

Definitely not talking me out of just leveling the party up each time we achieve an important goal.

Anyone else want to try?

Sounds good.

Rules have been updated.




I want to point out the word resolves. If the party is trying to stop an antagonist from getting the magical thing he needs to awaken his army of the undead... AND FAILS... They'll still level up, because the plot point has been resolved. NOW their new goal is to try to figure out a way to somehow stop the undead army anyway (so it's a good thing they just leveled up).

Anyone wanna argue about this idea?


If NOT, is there anything else we need to discuss before starting?
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Sat 02 July 2022.

The plot.

Ah ha!

Okay, well,

1. I figured we'd do a Session Zero where the three PCs meet
2. I figured it would partially involve one of Uagu's runaways
3. I figured the larger ongoing plot would involve one (or more) of the secret societies.

Now, I have some more ideas, but would you-- or anyone else-- like to talk first about things you'd like the plot to involve before I keep going?

I feel like things to include in the plot are likely to come up in session 0 when we discuss our characters and think about how they can interact.

Yes, that crossed my mind as well-- growing organically.

Anyone else wanna weigh in before we attempt to start?

I'm fine, let's go do that Session 0, Kay.

Will try to start tomorrow, but realized I have work I have to catch up on.

Monday, got to do holiday stuff...

MAYBE Monday.... or maybe I can work it in tomorrow...

Okay, I think I can make this start happening this morning. BUT ALSO:

I have unlocked and filled in everyone's character sheets, but:

Everyone starts with:

--1 weapon (ranged or melee),
--1 armor OR an extra weapon of the opposite type from the first weapon,
--1 Adventuring Gear OR a shield.
--1 Pack.

Uagu, Yorin:
--What weapon goes in slot 1 for each you?
--Uagu is getting armor... what about you, Yorin?
--Uagu, shall I presume you will get Adventuring Gear? Or no? What about you, Yorin?

If the order mages have a traditional weapon he will use that, otherwise a staff. And yes about the adventuring gear.

We have not established a traditional weapon for them. A staff is fine-- or something else, if you want.

Also, what KIND of armor you want? Leather?

Yorin? How about you?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:55, Sun 03 July 2022.

I was thinking a padded gambeson. Maybe we could do a scepter or something?

I'm open to any ideas. Seems like a fun world you all have crafted, I'd hate to just slap the easiest cliche onto each part.

--1 scepter (melee)
--1 armor: padded gambeson
--1 Adventuring Gear
--1 Pack.

Looks good.

Yorin: How about you?

I'll start us off tomorrow... ran out of time and energy today, sorry...

Sorry, timezones and what not

I'll take two blades, maybe scimitars. And I'm quick and swift for a reason so armor isn't much of a trouble for me.

I'll also take gears and a pack.

Having a bad week. Hope to catch up again this weekend (especially Sunday)

RPOL moves slowly, take your time.

Right you are, will wait.

Pfft, pfft, boop, beep, boop, padipadop!!

Yeah. It's been a rough week.

GM Yellow, if I'm ever gone that long again and the next step of the story seems obvious, please move things along and I'll just try to roll, afterward, with what you put. That's the main reason I need you here... I guess I should have made that clearer sooner.

Got it. Sorry...

Me no feel good. Weather and allergies make for bad head. Sorry for delay. May be ongoing, or may shake out of it soon.


In other news-- a new player has asked to join us!

I vote we let them in. Now seems like the perfect time. But I thought I should check with you guys first.

Yeah of course. Can't imagine a better place than a tavern to meet someone.

Bring him to the bloodshed, for we dine in hell.

Yeah, looks like we're going to have a Chaos Mage join up soon.

Oh that sounds fun. If the player agrees I'd like to have a bit of a rivalry. As an order mage from a prestigious academy, Uagu could be a bit elitist regarding magic.

I wondered about that, too. Let's ask 'im.


Also:

Daneiris Hakim, you are a human Chaos Mage. Your Charming is automatically raised 1 point to start...

• Forceful 1
• Agile 1
• Insightful 1
• Charming 2 because of Chaos Mage training

And you can raise one more.

Elemental Bolt uses Forceful (and Charming)--
Illusion uses Insightful (and Charming).

You're free to raise Agile if you want, but Forceful or Insightful would seem to make more sense.

Which will you choose?

insightful!

• Forceful 1
• Agile 1
• Insightful 2 because reasons
• Charming 2 because of Chaos Mage training

I'll change this on your character sheet for you.

Finally:

Everyone starts with:
--1 weapon (ranged or melee),
--1 armor OR an extra weapon of the opposite type from the first weapon,
--1 Adventuring Gear OR a shield, and
--1 Pack.

Choose what you want (and tell me here), please, Daneiris!

1.staff
2.leather
3.adventuring gear

1 Staff,
1 Leather Armor,
1 Adventuring Gear (3/3), and
1 Pack. Got it.

I'll add it to your character sheet for you-- and it's almost time to introduce you to the others...

GM Yellow, could use a dance partner npc to beat up if you will

There you go Gaben has popped into existence.

Y'all-- but especially Yorin:

Please put your HP in your bio lines, like I have done with Harran:

Biography pt 1 : Human Spirit Shaman
Biography pt 2 : HP: 4/4

Done and done

Hmmmm I'm not 100% sure what Uagu's HP is.

Well, everyone starts at 4, and it hasn't gone down any yet, so...

Oh ok.

I will be out hiking starting next Friday. For the distance I'm doing I was originally planning to be gone for 4 days, but after getting covid I'm packing food for 8 days just in case.

Is it now the other frog's turn?

No-- the other frog will attack when someone rolls (especially if they fail the roll)...

EDIT: to put it another way, you may post now...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:40, Sun 07 Aug 2022.

It's y'all's turn

What was the result of Uagu striking with his scepter?

You did damage.

But since the damage wasn't done to a player, I didn't quantify how much damage was done.

He's still up and swinging, so...

Reminder that I'm about to go hiking. Feel free to post as Uagu until I return.

Daneiris? Would you like to take a turn...?

Daneiris is feeling like just observing combat at this point.

Uagu, your turn, if you want...

Uagu, what color speaking are you going to use? You started out using blue, so Harran was using purple, but now you've switched...

Oops I'm in another game that uses blue for regular speech and purple for whispers, I'll change it.

Best to give up with her man, it seems she's got things going on in rl that she can't be bothered with this game.

Let it not be said that I didn't give every opportunity to participate.

However, now that it can't be said, let's just have the three characters move on.

Aww what, that Insight 2 was just a stat, I thought you rolled for it. No wonder their was a pause.

I was just saying what my insight was incase you or Harran had higher, or a skill which would help.

Eh, I kind of just prefer to roll for it when I get the chance. Also, it's sort of unnecessary since you could just check my character details like your detail. Though you probably need to ask Harran for his seeing as he chose not to add his stats.

Oh I didn't know that before. Thanks for telling me.

Ahem, so, DM Blue, you gonna explain to us what that role was or should we let Yellow narrate it.

Back, sorry. Busier than ever, and then last weekend when I thought I could catch up I felt rotten. Trying to catch up now...

Not a problem.

I guess now is a good time to ask. How long does the mage armor spell last?

Mage Armor: Roll Forceful+Insightful. For every 4 you roll, an invisible shield will block the next 2 points worth of damage. This will also protect people immediately behind you. You cannot cast this on anyone but yourself, and once you have a shield, you can't cast it again until it's used up. It only lasts about 5 minutes, even if it absorbs no damage.

So basically, until the end of whatever combat you're in, or about to get in.

OK cool, so should still be up from last time.

Well, no.

Hmmmm doesn't seem like 5 minutes would have passed since the last fight, but ok.OK.


In general I'd suggest making it last much longer or much shorter, giving it a daily limit.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Sat 08 Oct 2022.

...I don't remember you casting it in the last fight. I just remember you casting it back at the Inn.

(Goes and looks at records)

Son of a gun, sure enough, there it is, message #129. I just missed it the first time (and almost missed it the second time) because the last time, you didn't use the words MAGIC, ARMOR, nor CAST.

Buuuuuuuut I do see it.

SO, yes, I agree, it's still active right now-- but it could run out at any moment, giving you an unpleasant surprise. (Or maybe it won't. It's hard to say.)




Mm, no thank you.

With the way the rules are currently missing Uagu will be casting Mage Armor every 5 minutes, which will not be fun.

Similar problem with how enhance ability is written as well.

Why is it a problem? One casts it (or tries) before, or at the start, of each combat. I do not currently see what the big deal is.



Same as above.

You are free to
1. try to explain to me why it's a problem
2. try again to tell me how you would prefer it work
3. both of the above.

I will remind you, though, that so far I'm not seeing 1, and that so far I haven't felt receptive to 2. But you are nonetheless allowed to try 1, 2, or 3 again...

I mean, Harran has to cast his spell every single time he wants to try it, and we all have to attack every time we want to attack, so-- so far, at least-- saying "I don't want to roll for this every time I need it" seems weird to me.

Hmmmm if it seems weird then it's probably best to play it out and we will see.

Okay then... next I'll see if Yorin'll take a turn. (If that doesn't happen soon, I think Harran will try a more physical attack.)

You have two spells. When you cast one, you need to say which one you're casting, please.

(It's not Mage Armor, is it? Because you have to wait for that one to wear off (you'll feel it when that happens) before you can cast it again.)

Oops nope, it's in the dice roller. I guess I didn't copy the whole thing

18:02, Yesterday: Uagu rolled 8 using 4d4 with rolls of 4,1,1,2.  Enhance ability self.

Yeaaah, there you go. Copying that part will do nicely instead of literally saying what spell it is-- as long as you remember to. Thanks.

Np. Let's get some updates in there please. I'm struggling to follow what exactly is going on. Has all damage gone to the same zombie? What are the skeletons doing?

Do we have any way to deal damage beyond basic attacks? This fight is going to take months at this rate.

An interesting point.

I propose a new move:


FINISH COMBAT:
When the party wants to finish combat in a hurry: someone in the party rolls 1d4.
--ADD 1 die for each time the party has damaged the enemy so far
--SUBTRACT 1 die for each time the party has been damaged by the enemy so far

--If number of dice to be rolled is less than 1, this move may not be used.
--Number of dice to be rolled cannot be more than 4.

GM will narrate the rest of fight based on results of roll:
--Highest result is 4: fight ends with party victorious, taking no further damage themselves
--Highest result is 3: fight ends with party victorious, taking only a little more damage themselves
--Highest result is 2: fight ends with party victorious, taking serious damage but all still capable of walking
--Highest result is 1: fight ends with party victorious, but 1 or more party members are hurt/unconscious

--Who gets damaged and how much to be determined entirely randomly


Thoughts on this proposed move?

I don't think that really addresses the issue.

Hmm, pretty sure their are only zombies here. How many of the zombies are still kicking, just checking so that one of my abilities kicked in.

Why not?

All three of us having a basic attack as the only means of damage is not really a compelling combat system. The problem is not just that fights will take too long with the way things are currently.

I wouldn't want to skip a boss fight for example, but I also wouldn't want to have all 3 of us using basic attacks until the boss dies.

This problem seems especially bad for Yorin, who doesn't seem to have any active abilities, all of her abilities seem to be passive. Since we are not using maps or positioning, her one ability is to use a basic attack.

A system to skip battles is not nearly as good as implementing something that makes battles fun.



We can still keep updating the in game thread while this is discussed btw.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Fri 14 Oct 2022.

I grasp what you're saying better now, but what do you suggest instead? That I give each PC a new ability?

I recommend choosing a gaming system that's been proven and using it instead.

Yeah, I understand. I think it's time to shut this experience down--

--Unless someone else would like to take over full GM duties here? Then [that new GM] could do whatever [they] wanted.

I meant specifically for combat. If you and your friend wanted to keep expanding this world I think that would be great.

Mmm... well...

...Just to be as reasonable as possible, I will ask... Which system's rules of combat would you suggest? (Hint: the simpler, the better...)

I've heard good things about GURPS for homebrewed worlds like you, but it's not something I've really looked into. Might be a good thing to ask, or search for a previous thread, on a DM reddit or something.

Oh, no, I really don't like GURPS. Much too complicated.

Okay, well, I'll be shutting this down in a week, unless anyone else wants to take over being GM.

Thanks for running it.

And with that it's over already, darn, too bad. Oh well, it was fun when it lasted.