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

[beowuuf]

All the information from my end is in the OOC posts, so you should be able to make an IC post regarding smelling the fountain (or trying to) and react to it appropriately. I can alter my own update accordingly if needed.

I think there is nothing wrong with consolidating a few IC posts in one, each paragraph staggered in time, to let alot of character beats play without anything getting lost. It still lets people react to a specific aspect, and I can give direct results of any checks or actions in the story thread right away. Especially if it is explained in what order/timing each part the IC post is happening in the OOC thread, confusion should be kept to a minimum too.

Would do people think about that? Are you enjoying the RP stuff most of all and want to keep it chronological and clean, or are you happy to play a few moments at once to push the story forward? Forgive me, I'm always conscious of the speed of play by post

[Ameena]

I definitely like the RP stuff, as long as it says in some kind of order and things don't get too confusing. And while Ameena doesn't mind being in a dungeon-type environment, she really doesn't like the feel of this one, coupled with things like the fact she has no idea how she got there, and her lost memories. When she's done everything she thinks she can do where they are at the moment, she might find she's starting to actually put off going down the stairs, because she feels a bit safer sitting where she is, talking to the others.

[oh_brother]

So if it is dark down there, would it be best people with a torch led the way? Even with Ameena's sense of smell and whiskers going blind into the darkness might be dangerous - won't be able to see traps, for instance. If it is that dark then I change my vote to us all going together. Someone carrying a torch, and Ameena still sniffing/listening but not far out in front. A bit like a hunting party! If anyone attacks Westian and Haynuus have clubs, Falkor has some spells (and a throwing knife) and Ameena can hide in shadows and sneak attack.

As for consolidating IC posts I don't have a problem with that, but if other people want to keep chronologically accurate we can keep that style.

[beowuuf]

It is, indeed, dark. You might well be attacked by a grue.

The stairs are about 8 foot wide of the 10 foot represented on the map, so you can easily walk three abreast, four at a squeeze. However, if anything nasty happens, you will get some nasty penalties to attack and AC for being clustered together. 5 foot squares are still narratively and mechanics wise the sace restriction for combat

[oh_brother]

My idea was really like a hunt, Ameena in the lead sniffing, the rest of us following with weapons and torches. If anything nasty comes we can fight two abreast, with Ameena dodging into a shadow/sneak attacking when necessary. Haynuus and Westian in front, Falkor does not need to be directly beside the monsters to cast spells so he can stay behind the main line, casting spells or throwing daggers (or rocks, or sticks, or leather boots.... ) That way we get the safety of the main fighters being the first to get hit, we keep the wizard safe from melee attacks and we get the scouting benefit of the murafu. No crowded corridors.

Anyway that is just an idea, any other thoughts?

[ian_scho]

Happy to advance together now (with Haynuus and someone by his side). Anyone can push the fella down stairs with them!

[oh_brother]

PS I mean that we are close enough together that no one is in the darkness. To avoid traps, pits or being eaten by a grue

[beowuuf]

Regarding the mold - Falkor with his Knowledge (dungeoneering) could try for a check on what might be elsewhere, but otherwise you are all stuck with your common knowledge I'd say at least one of you would know that mold indeed needs nutriants (and a dirty dungeon wall would have plenty, remember the clean rooms were the previous two chambers, not these chipped walls) a source of water (a flowing fountain evaporating water in relatively enclosed space) and heat (from the spell-lit walls).

The downstairs area probably acts as a good enough sink to draw off the air eventually, but the air flow in the dungeon isn't great. So instead of acting as a good air conditioning system, the colder downstairs air is actually trapping the warmer air in the room and also ensuring some condenation near the cold floor.

Or something. I will leave how much I am winging this to your imagination


As everyone seems to have guessed, it was flavour text for the walls, though the fountain is hinting at both something worse downstairs, and also the idea that all is not right and well maintained in the dungeon just now. Which should scare you more than the prospect of water-loving mold!

Pick your party order, it sounds liek you are all going down together. Map will be provided when I know who is where (and when I get home)

[beowuuf]

Oops, posting happened when I posted!

Sounds like a plan OB. And yes, it is actually better if Falkor (or yourself) are directly out of harm's way when casting spells or invoking spell-like effects. Attacks of Opportunity are a pain!

SO, it sounds liek the order would be:

..F..
H..W
..A..

Like a diamond, with Ameena right besides the fighters (or maybe slightly to one side to flank easier) and then Falkor behind (maybe further than right behind) to fling spell-like effects from safety? Sounds good to me if so.

Remember that Ameena is also very weak HP wise, so she might need some enemy-distracting protection if anything nasty goes down.

[beowuuf]

definite knife in hand for me.. just the one in hand though (and one of the smaller ones)

Money, do you want to do any actions or posts before I update for what is DOWN BELOW?


Or of course anyone else for that matter. The maps are done, ready to go along with a description of the next stage....

[Ameena]

The party layout sounds fine to me. Since mechanically, player characters can move through each other, Ameena will be fine just nipping behind the front two if something comes up that she doesn't like. If she thinks she can get away with just ducking away and hiding off to one side (in the hopes of a sneak attack or just to not be seen at all), she'll do that, but if it's something that's already seen her or just something that plains scares the crap out of her, she'll react instinctively and either freeze or leg it to safety. Or at least, as safe as she can be in a dungeon like this. People-who-don't-want-to-kill-her count as safe .

[beowuuf]

Awwww, that's such a touching way to describe your party!

Right, you have a map, a description of a hall, and a few of you have PMs. I'll try to stop intercepting each one of your suggestions and questions individually, and let you lot plan your actions as a group. I'll still resolve individual skill checks, but I should probably stop typing so much and let you lot figure out tactics on your own. I'm assuming the next update will be a a general update to answer your immediate questions, happening tomorrow lunchtime or evening.


There is potential danger, a main plot kick off, some story flavour, perhaps a rune or two, and a puzzle in your immediate future. Are you excited yet?

[money]

Sorry all - been manic few days at work. will update my actions in the morning - however my first thought is that i would like to place two torches into the sconces - think this might open up something. DM - is it worth me rolling either a dungeoneering or arcana check on these before trying to oblige the schemeing DM???

If so - I'll roll first, then once the others re happy with the check on the room i'll place some in... or suggest it, as i think i only have 1 torch based on previous posts???

Falkor rolls 1d20 and gets 16.

[beowuuf]

Never be scared to ask for the narrative to take a day off! I push us all through quite fast just to absorb necessary slow downs for RP and real life

You are free to roll whatever you like, your DM is merely here to facilitate your roleplaying experience. With dragons where necessary. I'll leave your fellow players to decide if this is a good idea, or the great one.

Just to confirm, you are trying to get a sense if there would be a trap or a hidden mechanism to do with the torch sconces, before you go sticking torches into the sconces? I'll need a perception check aswell to cover the investigation, but that's a good knowledge check, you'll certainly realise if anything odd is happening.

[ian_scho]

Heh, I wonder what that could be. Roll perception or do something crazy (...rolls 1d20 and gets 4.)

[money]

yes - looking for trap and... Falkor rolls 1d20 and gets 13 for perception check.

Edit: just read the story and noticed

Falkor, can make a knowledge (dungeoneering) check for me please? Not to do with the sarcophagi

so Falkor rolls 1d20 and gets 12.

[beowuuf]

Ok, especially if the others are starting to move, Falkor can see a couple of other sconces on the edge of sight further in the room. It is possible they are innocent, and the two by the stairs are to ensure coverage of light plus a spare to take and move around with.

At a @DC15 check, Falkor would spot anything obvious that happens when he places the torches in the wall - and he won't find anything obvious happening when he places the torches. Whether anything subtle would happen is another matter...

Money - will the torches be lit or place in unlit?

Anyone advancing forward - make me a stealth check. Ian - I assume your roll was for perception, and so I assume you are focused on the thing at the edge of your vision...

[beowuuf]

@money: double post! Running out the door, will try to answer to your previous roll at lunchtime!

[Ameena]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Stealth. Well, Ameena's only gone a couple of steps anyway - you didn't state exactly where the bandage piles are, just that they're sort of strewn about the room, so I've got Ameena sniffing one as close as possible to the stairs, while still keeping an ear out for trouble, and maintaining awareness of the presence of the others behind her. She won't have noticed any gestures etc they've been making because she has her back turned. And there goes Falkor grabbing bandages without checking to see if they'll do anything nasty to him :O.
Btw Wuffy, you referred to Falkor by player name rather than char name near the beginning of your last update post.
Oh, and the map is fine the way it is - I think it's better to keep all maps in alignment with each other...I mean, all turned the same way, so we can keep track of directon and stuff .

[ian_scho]

Yeah, btw Mr Beo... You mentioned how you made the maps before? Not a special app, just a photoshop type mockup?

If they ever fire me from my job I'd love to make a reliable invisiblecastle.com roller with a simple map designer for DM's.

[oh_brother]

Well lets hope your P45 is in the post because invisible castle is down again. Grrr.

Westian rolls a d20 and gets a 1. Not so stealthy, our Westian.

[beowuuf]

Yeah, btw Mr Beo... You mentioned how you made the maps before? Not a special app, just a photoshop type mockup?

If they ever fire me from my job I'd love to make a reliable invisiblecastle.com roller with a simple map designer for DM's.

Yeah, I use CSBuild with Gambits tiles for the basic layout, then use paintshop to add anything needed and tweak the graphics. I believe D&D Insider lets you build up maps, so will have to explore that as a quick option.

I'll also investigate some more traceable dice rollers for you all, since Invisible Castle has gone a little bit unreliable in the last few weeks, sadly

Until then, make all the natural 20 rolls you like with an alternative real or online roller

[beowuuf]

And there goes Falkor grabbing bandages without checking to see if they'll do anything nasty to him :O.

In many ways it's a good, imaginative idea. One will not comment on whether an evil DM knows anything else or would do anything else there.

Anyway, as I think I hinted, the bandages Falkor has seem clean enough for use . Whether this was because there is nothing to fear ever, or because serendipidy is a wonderful thing, I shall not comment on

[beowuuf]

Oh, I missed a small part for Ameena that I've added to the narrative.

[beowuuf]

Ok, I've put up the tactical map in the story thread to allow you all to plan your moves. Please tell me where your characters are actually standing, I've just approximated.

The brief update was at lunchtime, given Ameena's D&D night tonight then although I've posted the tactical map, and will try to answer questions at lunchtime tomorrow, I won't update again until tomorrow evening.

What are everyone's weekend schedule? I have no problem putting the game on hold over the weekend as a cliffhanger, ready to possible start a combat on Monday?

Anyway, everyone has at least one round of actions while the mummy assesses you. Once you've said where you are, and what you want to do, please also roll me a d20. This will be your initiative score going forward.

Good luck, this once is tricky but doable!

[Ameena]

As usual, I checked the IC thread before this one. It's nearly midnight, busy day, and Ollie is making silly noises in the background so excuse me if my concentration isn't fantastic and I probably miss something here, lol.
Right. Erm...yes, I posted an IC post of course. If there'd been any shadows nearby I'd've had Ameena try to hide in them, but umm...there aren't, so there goes that idea . Instead she's just darted off to one side - hopefully when the mummy attacks (if no-one else goes charging down the room to meet it, wielding a flaming torch and such like ), it'll move up the western side of the sarcophagus (it's standing more to that side atm, looking at the map), and then maybe I can sneak in behind it and stab it. I dunno what damage a little knife will do to a bandage-coated undead thingy, but, well, you never know.
Umm, ohh, d20 roll you say...Initiative I'm guessing. Do we add Initiative bonus to that? I don't remember having one in my character profile so maybe there isn't Initiative in erm...whatever rule version this is. Oh well, whatever, here is my roll...woooo 19 . I can't be arsed to open my profile and look to see if there's an Initiative bonus somewhere so if there is one I'll let you add that on, I wanna go to bed and I still have one whole forum to check, lol.

[oh_brother]

Throwing clubs at a mummy, now that is real DM!

Westian has an inititiave roll of 10.

Now for the attack, I roll a d20 and gets a 17. Take that you creature of chaos, beyond time and age.

[beowuuf]

Actually, to me throwing clothes was old school DM

@Ameena - your initiative, all things being equal, adds your dexterity bonus alone. In 4th edition you'll find all skill checks, AC, initiative, etc also benefit from 1/2 your level as a modifier. However, not in 3.5!

Speaking about level checks though, can you do one for me please? Simply roll a d20 and add half your level and wisdom modifier (+1 and +1 to make +2).

About hiding: You can't do it if you are spotted, but if you are in half-light, or are otherwise partially covered or concealed you could have tried! People don't make good cover, but tombs that are almost as tall as you and sacrophogi are! Shame about the fighters making noise while the full torchlight was on you, really

Usually I'd put failed checks down to bad luck externally, but with rolls so low I just had to poke fun at the fighters, Sorry!

[ian_scho]

I'm around this weekend, not the next (nor those Mon/Tue of 12/13th)
Haynuus will flex his muscles and be prodded into action any way you like then
I'll remind you all closer to time anywayz.

[beowuuf]

That's cool, I'll try and have you critically injured around then. Did I say critically injured, I meant... resting in a nice part of the dungeon then.

O.O