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

[beowuuf]

Just some advanced warning that my mum will be down from next Sunday until the following Sunday. Depending on what the action is in the gme and what I'm doing, there might be some small interruption, or there might be no noticeable interruption at all. I'm on holiday all that week, so that probably means you won't spot the difference!

Of course, we have a bank holiday that first weekend, so I'll understand if some of you go on limited posting.

As LB hinted, he's having some 'painful using computer' issues aswell as his other moving related/internet stuff. Hope he can keep pace, and he doens't want to have his character limbo'd, but I will be updating 'normally' so try not to have any Aurek centric posts that rely on the character's input. Or actually, prefereably, place some OOC alternate actions here if LB can't post, and I can alter the update accordingly that way.


Can't wait to see what the rest of the posts are tomorrow - we might get out of the room! Or have some gnome murder! Or halfling murder! Or something completely different!

[Ameena]

Heh, yeah, murafu murder .

[beowuuf]

Woohoo, got four posters - saw LB aroudn at the weekend but no post, so I'll go ahead and update soon. Also, last chance to answer Ameena's question!

[beowuuf]

For those coming here first, apologies in advance for the long word count again.


Right, so is Ameena some form of evil DM cheat nastiness?

No, of course not. I don't think it's too much of a surprise, and sorry I couldn't make it one. I could have cheated some situation where it was needed, and I had stretched it out a little longer to see if something would naturally happen where the reveal would be pivotal one way or another, but it kinda never has. The price of me letting you guys have a large effect on the story and surroundings is that it feels very cheap if I stymie you for a 'plot' thing.

Hence why I still think Soorecs reveal worked so well, because it was hinted at, foreshadowed, etc. And of course, because it worked so well, I want to make sure you guys aren't watching your backs for the next little while. Plus, it's getting time to pool all your knowledge together so everyone can act as players well informaed, even if you then play your characters suitably clueless

Shame no one really blinked at Ameena coming back on April 1st - it was just such a naturally wonderful timing. Ameena was basically a day or two off rejoining, and because he timepline was felxible enough to be 12 seconds +/- ypur time, then we both pushed ahead wit ha flurry of updates to have her actually act.

Given where the battle was at that time, I was happy to have her back at that point to give you guys a couple of options.


Anyway, there will need to be few small mysteries left - the first, what's up with Ameena. As you might guess, it's linked to your general situation. The second, I think, needs to be the grak-graks. Working out exactly what they can and can't do, and how to beat them, still to me seems a fun thing. I'm still willing ot be moved on that second one if you find them annoying/intimidating instead of a fun challenge to work out. Oh, ok, a few of the things you've not touchedon yet - like where the Grey Lord is - are also in the mix.

Anyway, so yeah, is anything unclear, or is there anything 'hidden' from your past six months of adventures I can reveal to you as players? Time to clear decks a little!

[Ameena]

Heh, yes, Ameena is Ameena. She's the murafu who met the group and entered the dungeon with them and erm...adventured with them and stuff. Expect slightly more detailed and "internal" posts from me from now on .

[beowuuf]

Although you don't have to generate a wall of text if you don't want to!

[Ameena]

Heh, too late .

[beowuuf]

Ooh, four out of five. I have some stuff to do cause it would be nice to get five/five, will update later this evening either way!

[Ameena]

Groovy. Hopefully, whatever the outcome of the current discussion, the group will be able to get a bit of downtime in order to heal up and have a rest and stuff. Preferably without a bunch of grak-graks standing over them. Maybe Soorec can spare a corner of the room or something (outside the area of the forcefields, obviously ).

Edit - And in the time of writing this post and one other short one somewhere, the update has appeared. I'll wait for Beowuuf's OOC post to appear so I can read and respond to that, but then I'll probably put something up in the IC.

[beowuuf]

A good question! Can the group take downtime? That will depend on some sticking points... the biggest being 'do you accept the current IC post. If you do, then woohoo. On to the next ones we can deal with partially OOC.

a) Soorec will want his gem back from Haynuus, and will want to close the door why you guys rest. Will Haynuus do this? Will the group 'let' Soorec close the door?

b) Soorec will want his items that were pilfered from his body back. The good news is that you can - perhaps - rely on Soorec to be a little forgetful on what he was carrying and exactly what is missing, and only give back some items. And, of course, you could give them back by putting them on the table, and then distracting him to later take them back once more.

c) Farel will (relactantly) want to leave with Ardur. And Soorec will happily (since he agreed to it) let him go - as long as two grak-graks go with them. He'll do that almost immediately.

d) Meh, sure there was at least one other one. Can't think, so let's pretend that's the only further sticking points!


If you guys agree with those sticking points, then post here about it, and in the next day or two we can sort out and have reactions to them, without needing long posts playing it all out. Just a set of reaction posts and some check rolls, if needed, and you guys can enjoy your downtime and the actually greater fun of trying to rest and speak with Soorec around!

Soorec won't just let you guys properly huddle in one corner. I think you are using up your goodwill with surprising rapidness. However, he will certainly station grak-graks at key areas - the red button, the potion shelf, the scroll shelf - so there will be less to bump in to. And there will be others doing some things - one cleaning up scorpion, one aroudn the corner butchering the screamer so Haynuus can FINALLY get his screamer slice that I promised Ian like a month ago! So that would be perhaps two leaving with Farel, three on guard duty, two on clean up duty, and one hovering by Soorec or by Falkor. So the party could, naturally, use some bluff and distraction and clever placement of themselves to speak to each other.

In this case (and I'm looking squarely at you, Ameena! ) no need to play ever blow by blow of every discussion, you can have RP conversations of the important points, then say how you would distract or move around so that other people could be quickly brought up to speed.

Meanwhile, of course, you guys can take a player breath and figure out what's going on


Oh, and if this really is - finally - the end of the extended encounter, remember all your spells and so forth come back, you can get some Aurek/Westian TLC, and perhaps check some of your equipment and items.

Falkor can try to figure out more of the things you've picked up liek the spell scrolls, and Haynuus can try to figure out more about the potions he actually has, but Soorec and his grak-graks will stop you from taking anything new. And you might want to be clever about checking out the old stuff - make sure he';s distracted! FAlkor and Westian can perhaps huddle at some point to discuss spells, and between themselves uncover a rune or two and a few spells. And maybe teach the priest ones to Aurek.


Anyway, that seems enough to be going on with. Let's see what happens, and if we can slide into 'holy crap we're alive and actually going down deeper with allour characters and limbs' territory. And best yet, of course - LEVEL 6 AWAITS! MORE HIT POINTS! MORE SAVING THROW BONUSES! AUREK AND HAYNUUS GET THEIR SECOND ATTACKS FINALLY! HAYNUUS GETS A COOL NEW FIGHTER FEAT! EVERYONE GETS A NEW GENERAL FEAT! MORE SKILL POINTS! PROBABLY MORE ABILITIES! CATS AND DOGS LIVE TOGETHER! WOOHOO!

I mean... see you guys tomorrow. It seems to be bedtime already


Edit: Well, now your edit makes my 'a good question' response look silly

[Ameena]

I think maybe Ameena would settle for having a private word with just one of the party. Having thought about it, since Soorec seems to consider Falkor and Westian to be "bad guys" (Westian an undead-hater, and both of them cold-blooded murderers and stuff), Haynuus would probably default to being the best one for this. I suppose Aurek, being a Pally (though I don't recall whether Soorec knows/has noticed this), falls into the same "zomg undead monster kill kill kill" category as Westian.
So maybe Ameena can get Haynuus off to one side at some point for a word. I'll post an IC response now anyway - if Ameena is "in charge" and the rest of the group are going to follow her lead and do nothing to spoil Soorec's assumptions, it would make sense that she be the first one to suggest what to do anyway.

[beowuuf]

Lol, has Soorec ever said he thinks it actually bad they murder people in cold blood? He just seems to consider it...unfortunate...if they constantly do it all the time, especially to the soldiers or to him :p

Soorec knows Aurek is religious - assuming him a priest - since he's both seen Aurek turn undead (in the golem hall room), and seen undead swarm at Aurek when the undead only swarm at him because they hate priest (again in the golem hall room).

[Ameena]

Oh yeah...I figured he'd ahve done something priestly during that encounter, but couldn't think what. And of course I'd completely forgotten about the whole "You worship a goody-goody god so the wall-spawning undead critters will try to gank you" thing .
As for the murderer thing...well, alright so Soorec himself isn't too fussed about killing random people, but he didn't sound amazingly happy about it, and almost seemed to be trying to hint to Ameena that she'd fallen in with a bad crowd, or something.

[beowuuf]

Well, not happy about the party killing soldiers if it causes a fuss. Remember, they aren't as forgiving as him, apparently! And I think he was hinting to Ameena that her 'little ones' - ie Westian and Aurek - could cause just as much fuss as his if they weren't watched!

[Ameena]

Well, yes, but if they're being unleashed into the priest's domain (hmm, must remember to have Ameena ask his name at some point, rather than just referring to him as "the priest" all the time, lol), surely Soorec wouldn't care so much if they caused a bit of havoc .
Ameena doesn't mind agreeing to Soorec's current suggestion, based mainly on the fact that she reckons Soorec's not gonna give way any further than he has (ie he's not gonna just let the group go with no grak-graks while he and Ameena stay put in his lab, which is what she originally suggested). She does want a private word with everyone though - singly or together. For starters, having been separated from everyone for a while, she wants to actually say "hello" to them, or something, having not had much chance before since she arrived in the middle of a fight .
Hopefully the Diplomacy roll I just made (over in the IC thread if you've not been there already) will do something toward persuading Soorec to let the group have a little private time to themselves. After all, if he puts grak-graks on the doors and stuff, the group will have nowhere to go. Mainly Ameena wants to compare notes, as it were, say a proper hello, attempt to do something about her injuries, and get at least a partial rest.

[oh_brother]

Yes, Westian wants to talk to Ameena too, especially about what happened to Helm. But does not want to do it in front of Soorec.

The deal might be the best we can get, but Westian will want to make sure Farel and Ardur are safe with the grak-graks. And in doing so maybe find out some more info about the "little ones".

As for aid another on Ameena's speech, would a low roll make a negative impact? I assume Soorec's annoyance at Westian's aid another on Haynuus was due to RP reasons (disagreeing with Soorec's plan and taking a little snipe at him in the process), rather than the roll. The roll did beat a DC 10, so should have at least had no negative effect. Unless I am wrong?

But YAY! Level 6! Westian has just gained a priest level!

[oh_brother]

Also, we could work out OOC how many flasks we have so we know how many potions we can prepare in advance, and how to divide them up.

[beowuuf]

You are quite correct in that mechanically Westian cannot fail an aid another, as there is no penalty for a roll of 1. Funnily you RPed your scores perfectly - that you got a natural one, and yet had the +13. And Westian indeed said stuff to completely rub Soorec the wrong way (patronising his shortness, I loved that) and yet actomatically gave a very logical and compromising response to the actual plan as part of his 'politician' instincts

As a DM I'm always going to need to balance respecting the mechanics of the game (so its fun and your characters matter) with your RP choices (so you as players matter). Usually RP is either required to have the 'right' to check a skill, or RP will set the DC. And of course good/bad RP will frame exactly what a success or failure means in real terms.

Vice versa, the roll itself doens't necessarily reflect how your character does, it reflects (to me) the 'luck' of you character in the state of the world. So a low roll after a good argument doens't mean 'your character said did it wrong' it relfects 'wow, of all the people you could have picked to try that on, you tried it on them', or 'wow, who new that person would turn around at that moment!' etc. However, if you as a player feel a little at sea about something, I'm happy to let a roll give me a hint at how your hopefully more skilled at that moment character would deal with the situation.

It's a balancing act! As long as you guys consistently give me performance and rolls blended as well as you usually do, my job is very easy At least, I hope everyone's happy with the balance of roleplaying versus rollplaying so far!


Anyway, so Ameena and Westian are pushing for the group getting to relax and catch up - at least perhaps Westian and Ameena chatting somewhere - and Westian is ok with Farel leaving aslong as it's not obvious the grak-graks will merely behead the guys the moment they leave.

[ian_scho]

OK, catch-up time.

Haynuus is happy to give back (lend would be better ) the gem to close the door.
Uff, updating the char sheet will take a few minutes What was the outcome of the MonkeyGrip thing? I was going to go for Two-Weapon-Wielding+Monkey-Grip for a laugh. Pitty that there are no spare falcion's lying around though!

[beowuuf]

You have the strength and, for a laugh let's say the racial half orc and fighter level to monkey grip. You can weild a weapon one category larger - so a giant's weapon two handed, two handed weapon one handed, etc.

I think there was a penalty for wieding unsuitable weapons - -2 - but I'll check to see if the feat gets around this, or if that's part of the feat

[beowuuf]

Monkey Grip:
You may use some weapons one size category larger than normal in exchange for a –2 penalty on attacks.
A Medium-sized character could use a Large-sized Longsword as a One-Handed Weapon.
This feat does not allow you to use an oversized double weapon or to wield an oversized Light weapon in
your off-hand.

Technically it's for using large creature weapons as they use them, but I will apply it for this game to normal weapons.

See where the penalties come from here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/wea ... leeWeapons


Haynuus doesn't have 15 dexterity so can't get two weapon fighting I'm afraid! So no improved money grip either, which allows monkeygrip in the off-hand, so no funny dualwielding falchions. Sorry!


Anyway, so if you want monkey grip, I'll extend its use to normal weapons.


Edit: Stuff above when I foudn the exact text for monkey grip!

[beowuuf]

Hmm....best laid plans - I think I'll leave the update until tomorrow moring to let money and LB post, and more importantly let me go to bed right now

[beowuuf]

Yeah, up a little too late. I'll PM what I had in notepad now and send it to finsh at lunchtime. Sorry guys!

[ian_scho]

Don't lose any sleep over it!

Anyways, will try to parse what we could do for new feats then. The average dex that Haynuus has does indeed mean he can't use two weapons. Bahhh, humbug.

Anyway, so if you want monkey grip, I'll extend its use to normal weapons.

So if I've understood correctly Haynuus could maybe use the falchion (or any thw) in one hand and a shield in another?

I think Haynuus would like to chat to Ameena after the next update anyways. Westian too!

[beowuuf]

This is just the update that's now allowed to be written!

Off to IM2 tonight, so update late. The upshot of what you are missing (so feel free to react ahead of time) is:

- Soorec lets you guys speak as he wanders around (and will get changed out of 'sooty stuff')
- Farel will be going, then the door sealed behind (so react as you want)
- Westian will hear some things about grak-graks before Soorecgets a little suspicious. With some concentration, Farel can be represented with a grak-grak as suggested before
- Soorec will probably not talk to Ameena until he's settled down so she's free to speak to tothers for now.
- Soorec hasn't asked for anything other than the gem back yet, which he'll take back

So yeah, if you want to update around that info, go ahead

[beowuuf]

Oh, and yeah, Haynuus could wield a falchion one handed and a shield. If he's using the feat in a general way, he would have -2 to attacks (and remember he would only get 1 1/2 times strength bonus to blows, and power attack only does normal damage). If, however, he takes the feat for a specific weapon (like falchion) the -2 penalty disappears.

[Ameena]

I posted a reponse before reading this thread (because it's nearly twenty past midnight and I forgot), but it looks like what I posted has fit in with the update anyway. If anyone wants to talk to Ameena, she's just sort of standing there (upright), having just casually watched Soorec as he goes about his business and then leaves the room.

[beowuuf]

Seems fine to me. Dropped both OB and money yesterday

What are people's posting schedules like over the holiday? Like I said, next week I have a week off but my mum down, however we seem to be in a PC centric place (finally!) where I can keep you guys updated with a light touch, and actually let you spend a moment player wise and character wise taking a breath, catching up, and of course levellling up.

Feel free to keep discussions like the first week the game started, where you don't need to wait for a formal update, just make sure you don't run posts and posts of dialogue between two people if no one else has posted.


Because of the situation (exciting room with things to spot, lots of information simmering in the character's subconscious, and of course the chance of being overheard) each tyime your character changes their situation, can you roll me a d20 please? So two or three posts between Westian and Ameena, say, would generate one die roll each, but if Westian walked over to Haynuus, then Ameena, then Falkor in the same post to say things, it would generate three d20 die rolls.

Thank you!

[oh_brother]

My d20 for talking to Ameena was 17.

@beo - I assume you mean you dropped LB and Money, I posted yesterday!

[beowuuf]

Actually, no, I did mean you and money - Ian posted in the OOC thread, and Ameena updated last night afetr her game, but I hadn't seen you nor money around on the forums, I I tend to uickly touch base her if I'm at my comp at work or at hime . The fact my update was weirdly timed meant I wasn't really expecting anyone to update ahead of me of course

LB hasn't logged on since Monday after warning he his attendance would be spotty, so not expecting him to post for a little bit I guess