DM themed play-by-post D&D game : OOC thread

[beowuuf]

Just to remind you all, my dear mum is down from tomorrow onwards until Monday evening, so my updating time may well be limited.

I'll try to update tomorrow and Friday as normal, and at least provide warning if I can't. Assuming I can, the weekend will once again be free from updates, althoguh I should be able to field any questions.

So yeah, this might seem like a cliffhanger ending, however you should get another update or two in and I think it will stop at a logical stopping point for the weekend. Who knows, you lot might see another room yet!

Owing to the circumstances, I really only need OB's move to update next, although if Haynuus of Ameena have any further actions they wish to make (rolls, etc) then feel free to sneak them in.

[Ameena]

Don't think I have any rolls I can make which might affect the current situation...my poor murafu is just getting steadily more scared and exhausted (murafu sleep much more often than humans etc...they pretty much live their whole lives faster, really - eating, sleeping etc more often, and having much shorter lifespans). Still, hopefully there won't be any more horrible scary things approaching for a bit, although there is the slight problem of the unconscious halfling to deal with. Silly sod...it'll probably turn out that the dark cloak belonged to Lord Chaos or something. It certainly seemed to have a bit of a One-Ring effect on him, didn't it...hey, this isn't Weathertop, you know!

[beowuuf]

Actually, the party are all exhausted, I just haven't gotten around to telling you all yet!

For anyone playing the 'ameena says things the dm chuckles at because they seem to be mind reading cmments' drinking game, take a shot btw.

[Ameena]

I'm guessing that was the LotR reference...gawd, and he's a bloody halfling as well...

[oh_brother]

How's everyone finding the game, and the commitment?

Yes, having a great time! Of course play-by-post is bound to be a bit slow, but that is probably for the best as everyone is quite busy. For commitment not a problem. When I am busy I can post a very short comment, when I have more time I can post more detailed reactions, so it is flexible.

[beowuuf]

I'm guessing that was the LotR reference...gawd, and he's a bloody halfling as well...

Tell me about it! The inquisitive murafu sniffing around nor the the searching half-elf couldn't get the cloak instead? Noooooo had to be the hobbit. I mean halfling At least he's a mage, so it's both appropriate and different


And good to know OB! Anyway, as players you have means to speed up the game if you find ourselves wishing to move it along faster - summarising more courses of actions in the OOC thread and playing small moments, etc. However, you all seem to be finding cool character beats at the speed it's going now, and as you also say it allows for us all to be busy!


Anyway, a little distracted so sorry if something makes less sense than usual! I think I@ll be able to post clearer last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Anyway, crisis averted and tension diffused, either have a conversation on what you've experienced them move on, or perhaps arrange to camp down for a while. Either way, a more gentle drift int the weekend than I've subjected you to recently Enjoy!

Or a wacky third option! Sorry, too distracted, check back later!

[ian_scho]

Great post in the other thread Beo. I'm laughing my ass off here in Spain.

[Ameena]

Despite the fact that obviously I'd love to see what happens when we try the Ra key on the door, unfortunately it would be stepping outside the bounds of my race somewhat to have Ameena permanently rearing to go like that - with all this action, she's about to realise that she really, really needs to get some sleep. Of course, such a sleep would probably only last a couple of hours in order to fully refresh her, but she knows how other races sleep less often (albeit for much longer periods) and probably thinks that the others are willing to press on. She won't want to bother them or try to get them to stop, and as far as she's concerned being left behind isn't an option, so she's probably more likely to either cautiously mention her needs and in doing so subtly request some kind of arrangement by which she can have a nap, or try and fight it a bit longer and risk losing concentration at a critical moment.

[beowuuf]

Seeing Falkor roused so easily Westian felt a bit foolish for making such a big fuss.

and our half-orc tried a few tricks he had learnt from other orcs when trying to wake up drunken family members...

I don't think Westian should be too hard on himself... I imagine dead people have a hard time staying asleep to orcish ministrations!

[beowuuf]

Ok, so sounds like I won't need to update tonight - money's post will either give you bigger clues, or it won't. If you are all around this weekend, you can decide if you prefer rest over moving on. Either way, it sounds like some IC and OOC discussions on what is going on will be happening fr a few days! I think Westian has summarised the gestalt opinion the group has voiced well, though I'm not saying how close to truth that is. And obviously, as players you might have other ideas

So yeah, if by Monday you can decide to move on or take a break, I can either tell you what kills you while you sleep or tell you what kills you when ou open the RA door


So far I'm dispirited by how well you are doing. Nah, not really, it's cool to see that your subtle and not so subtle actions, along with good rolls and good choices of rolls, have lead you to lots of info. I was worried I'd have to chop some of the incidental structure and texture of the plot out to avoid confusion. However, I think you have hold of the fundamentals already, and know the big questions that eed answering already, so I can continue to in the groundwork for some of the incidental happenings

Oh, and next week I will have a question for the four of you that may well shake up the game a little too..

DUN DUN DUN!

Sorry, the IC tread ad no cliffhanger, so I gotta do something!

[Ameena]

Wooo...well, like I said, I do wanna know what's through the door, but sleep is rapidly becoming an urgent physical need for Ameena. Short of dozing off whilst being carried by someone else (she probably doesn't weigh much more than a fairly smallish dog), I dunno what she can do to alleviate that unless they decide to sit about/rest for a couple of hours before trying the door.

[beowuuf]

I get the feeling in future Haynus might find himself with a living murafu stole, but for now the whole group as the same need as ameena!

[Ameena]

Lol...well, I dunno how easily she'll be able to fall asleep whilst being carried, but I suppose it's something she'll potentially find out about later on...

[beowuuf]

Ok, so just to recap, Ameena and Haynuus are grabbing a nap, Falkor just fell backwards so is of unknown sleep status, and Westian is probably looking bewildered at the group.

If you guys wanna assign a time for resting in the temple/chapelthingie (a few hours? Longer?) and what your schedule will be (is someone guarding? Are awake people chatting?) If a long break I'll need some actions from those awake (I assume Ameena will be about again)

Anyway, there is at least one set if PMs coming if everyone at some point is sleeping, but I don't want to confuse the narrative by sending them out individually until I have the actions around sleeping locked down.


I guess update tonight if I can get your timeframe and actions locked

[money]

OOC: Falkor is sleeping, Ammena is keeping him warm

[beowuuf]

Thought it best to check

So yeah, sounds like Westian is on first watch! Again, remember the dungeon moves around you, so decide on how long you want to rest with care.

[oh_brother]

Yes, Westian will keep look-out first. After about an hour and a half, or as closely as he can guess that time without any sun or moon, he will wake up Haynuus. Unless anyone else wakes up first.

As mentioned IC he is keeping an eye on the nearby room. Also just mulling over what he has seen, the notes, the "gholst" and so on.

[beowuuf]

cool, i assume Ameena will wake up after her nap, which would be only an hour or so? Wait for Ameena to confirm, will update for first part anyway.

@3-4 hours sleep in total sound good to everyone?

Update for Westian later this evening once my mum is gone, update tomorrow morning (perhaps) once I know Ameena's actions (Haynuus might get kicked awake too, who knows)

OB, can you roll me a knowledge (religeon) check for your musing on things, unless you would like to nominate another skill. I shall assume a take 20 on perception (so don't be surprised if I relate odd noises that mean nothing).

[money]

4 hours sounds fab for Falkor

[oh_brother]

Rolled a 17 + 4 = 21 for knowledge (religion).

3-4 hours is fine for me too.

[Ameena]

Back from club now - been out since about 9:15 this morning in case you were wondering (work then straight to club from the station...character creation for the Farscape (:D!!) game tonight, uses DnD3.5 rules which is just evne more confusing even though it's what we're using here, lol), but now I can post of course .
Anyway, I was actually thinking last night about how murafu sleep would work. I was thinking around the basis of humans needing (roughly) eight hours of sleep a night, meaning they're awake for the remaining 16 hours of a 24-hour period. I pictured murafu as needing only two hours sleep, but scaling it in proportion to humans. Therefore humans can sleep for eight hours and be up for sixteen, whereas performing the same kind of thing on murafu calculations (if they sleep for two hours) means they are up for only four, since the sleep-time is half of the waking-time. Sound good?
So if she's allowed to sleep fully, Ameena will wake up in probably just over two hours' time (she was really knackered)...maybe two and a half if nothing else of note occurs. I know she doesn't have any kind of game-mechanics thing to represent light sleeping, but you can pretty much assume that any noise beyond one of the party shuffling about a bit or whispering to each other will disturb her - quiet noises made by the party will "filter down" through her senses as "okay noises"...you know how the brain filters sound and all that. So because she's familiar with the kind of noises these people make as they move etc, she'll sort of automatically ignore the kinds of noises they might naturally make fidgeting about in their sleep or having whispered conversations whilst keeping watch, etc (alright so only one person is keeping watch right now, but you know what I mean).
I suppose, since they're all tired, Westian may not be able to keep watch for too many hours. Maybe he could wake someone up when he feels like he can't sleep any longer. I'm guessing he'll want Falkor to stay put and sleep of the after-effects of whatever the hell it was hit him. If he wakes up Haynuus and it's near enough the two-hour mark (give or take, say, half an hour), his doing so might cause Ameena to wake up too (call it leftover alertness from the whole trapped-in-a-scary-place situation). If it doesn't cause her to wake up or if it's been much less than two hours, she'll wake up eventually anyway. If Westian decides to wake her up to take watch (maybe he correctly figures that she needs less sleep, or maybe that poking a half-orc awake, regardless of friendship status, may not be a good idea), as long as she's had at least an hour and a half of sleep, she should be okay. She'll probably stay in the same physical position though, since a murafu's idea of keeping "watch" is a bit oxymoronic in that eyesight is one sense they don't really use when occupying positions of alertness. Especially in a dark place like this. Plus she wouldn't want to disturb Falkor. I dunno what he's gonna say when he wakes up to find a giant warm furry bodu curled up against him (plus her cloak draped over them both), but I suppose we'll find out when he does .
So, to summarise all the wafflings, Ameena wil be happy enough with around two hours of sleep. If she's woken up to take watch, she won't mind doing so (though it'll be more a case of staying where she is but with nose/ears/whiskers alert for trouble, withoug having to actually look around). If she wakes up naturally or is woken by others moving around, she'll probably doze for a while if she hadn't had enough slepe, or join the new watcher in...well, keeping "watch" .
Also bear in mind for future reference that Ameena is also gonna get tired more quickly due to having a "faster" lifespan/metabolism etc than them. If she's awake for more than four hours with little to no exertion, she'll be pretty tired. If she's awake for that long with any kind of exertion (running around, climbing, fighting, concentrating hard for long periods, etc), she'll get tired much quicker. Have you seen rats? They'll charge about for several minutes and then sleep for aaaages .

[beowuuf]

Sorry, as you can spot by the time of posting this, weird evening/night. Planned on posting PM to everyone, I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow (today?)

Sounds like Haynuus will be woken by Westian, and Ameena will wake a little while after. Westian, imagine your thoughts were deep and bore fruit but the watch was uneventful. Everyone else, imagine you had strange dreams you are struggling to recall...

Sounds like Haynuus and maybe later Ameena get to act in the secnd part of the watch. Update when I wake up again or when I have free time later! OB and money seem to be sleeping in the second half, although PMs and OOC comments on what you know are still doable!


@Ameena: remember that D&D provides a good summary of many things like this in an easy package. A perception check when sleeping easily models waking or not because you were lightly sleeping at the time of the noise, that the noise was loud enough, that a noise penetrated your dreams instead of being incorporated, etc

As you aren't right beside Haynuus, I imagine Westian waking Hanuus without disturbing your character. Roll a perception check if you think otherwise....

So noted about murafu sleep patterns. Note that this might come back to haunt you more acutely than you realise....


Just as a note to everyone for another time - Haynuus has a feat that lets him sleep in armour. Everyone else might have a crappy night's sleep if they wear armour. Though a crappy awakening if they don't?

[Ameena]

I was mainly basing the light-sleeping thing on rat behaviour, since you can walk past them and not disturb them, but the faintest rustle of any kind of food packet and suddenly they're wide awake . Basically I figured that if it's a "familiar" noise, and quiet, she won't wake up, but if it's something she might want ot pay attention to (or just something that's just a bit too loud), she'll wake up. Note that waking up, for her, won't mean doing things like getting up suddenly and going "What the hell was that noise?", rather it'll be that she just wakes up but may only open her eyes, if she even does that. Moving about when you've been woken up by a predator walking past might not be conducive to a long and healthy life, where she comes from .

[oh_brother]

Actually just realised that since I am the only one awake I should probably be the next to post - beo has given all the relevant updates OOC for what happened during the watch so I will just do the changing of the guard IC.

[beowuuf]

Sounds cool. As said, unless Ameena wanted to roll perception, I assume at best she'd open an eye, go back to sleep as it was a standard guard change, then not even remember waking up (weird when people have told you that happened, or you try to convince others that happened). So yeah, no hitch to changing of the guard

One thing I forgot to ask - Westian, are you sitting in darkness, or burning through a torch or two?

Haynuus, will you use your darksight or sit in light?


I assume Haynuus and then Ameena will be awake for the second watch. Can both of you roll me a perception check please unless you plan on staying vigilant (minimal talking, movement, etc).

[oh_brother]

I was planning to sit in darkness, hoping that low-light vision would be enough. Assuming that there is some light around.

Westian will curl up and go to sleep as soon as Haynuus is up.

[beowuuf]

The RA key would long since faded, and the only light would have been a glimmer from the stairwell way across the hall. Not enough to illuminate anything. Westian will be in darkness I'm afraid! I'm not saying if this is a good or bad idea

[ian_scho]

Our half-orc is happy with his night vision, things seem simpler in grey-scale and he has a headache from a dream... Or was it a memory?

Can both of you roll me a perception check please unless you plan on staying vigilant (minimal talking, movement, etc) (1d20=13)

[beowuuf]

Ok, so everyone has their belated PM! It sounds like you guys have rested in darkness, so Ameena you will be waking up to just scent I guess!

Work and my weird sleep from yesterday means that today's PM update and the little flavour text I'll go post will have to stand as the update for today (instead of catching up from yesterday) and tomorrow's update will be the settling back into normal.

That knocks out OB and money from requiring to update before tomorrow, though feel free to move in your sleep, or just post OOC here. Or PM me with questions, comments, etc.

[beowuuf]

Ok, and the big question from last weekend is this.... How would you guys like some fresh blood added to the mix?

I've had a request to join the game from a currently anonymous source (to you lot, not me :p ). As I keep saying, it's your guys game as much as my game we are playing, so basically I wanted to know your opinions.

Do you like the four-party group dynamic as it is, or would you welcome expanding it to a five party? Feel free to PM me any comments, questions or concerns or make any comments here.

Anyway, one quick IC update and I need some sleep! Hopefully this is me back into the swing of things, sorry for the temporary bump!

And hehe, while I can't promise you you'll be leaving this area in the next few days, I can promise you ... nah, let's not spoil the surprise...