Talk:Wiki Gaming:Lacundus Drakulum
Character Applications[edit]
Example Character Application[edit]Hi! I would like to join the game! Here's my character. User:Kydo/My Character I'd like to appear on my own at town to start, because I'd like to begin by shopping and making some contacts before I start adventuring, is that ok? --Kydo (talk) 23:27, 21 January 2017 (MST)
GamerAim / Thanks[edit]First of all, thanks for thinking of me. Secondly, I might not be able to read over the entire page until after school today (luckily classes are only 2 hours long), but I wanted to go ahead and ask if the 5e SRD here is enough to play? I haven't played 5e yet, though I've grasped some of the basics just from being here. I might have the PHB somewhere on my computer from when 5e came out, but if I can just use our SRD, that'd be great. Also: is all of your 5e homebrew acceptable for play? I figure I might as well use some homebrew since we're, well, here :)--GamerAim (talk) 06:43, 23 January 2017 (MST)
It's OK. History of Melinir in the last 60 years in brief:
Marasmusine / Mad Girty[edit]My character is at User:Marasmusine/Mad Girty. I'm experimenting with an anti-optimization (a warlock with low Charisma) I am worried about the Gritty Realism rule. It seems particularly harsh on spellcasters? I will have to put my trust in the DMs pacing. Marasmusine (talk) 17:15, 23 January 2017 (MST)
It looks like I might create a different character. I noticed that both my, Green Dragon's and Salasay's characters have sub-10 Charisma. This could be a problem when it comes to social situations. I will make a Paladin instead, and save Girty for another time. Marasmusine (talk) 10:30, 24 January 2017 (MST)
Can I make my own Charisma check for the purposes of seeing how well a conversation with an NPC will go? Marasmusine (talk) 04:22, 25 January 2017 (MST)
LOL, That's two backgrounds of your design that have made it into play already! I can't argue with results, you do good work! --Kydo (talk) 21:36, 31 January 2017 (MST)
Salasay / Xander Ajason[edit]First time 5e, decided to keep it simple. By which I mean I'm going to play a gish, because thats what I do. Xander Ajason, pronounced sort-of like Ajax-son, is my character, and I've included a plot hook in the backstory, if y'all want to pick up on that. --Salasay Δ 17:35, 23 January 2017 (MST)
Still working out the details of your build, then? --Kydo (talk) 16:32, 25 January 2017 (MST)
Green Dragon / Ra-elope[edit]Ra-elope is a native of the Rift, who has some ideas about it already. I don't think this will be a concern for other players, since he is also quite naive. Let me know if you approve Ra-elope please. I am a little worried about the class, since it may need a few tweaks to be used, but I'll first let you decide. --Green Dragon (talk) 18:00, 23 January 2017 (MST)
Is his name pronounced as it is spelled, or is "elope" pronounced the same as "Penelope"? --Kydo (talk) 05:09, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Jonattttt / Hail[edit]Hi! I would like to join the game! Here's my character. User:Jonattttt/Hail Hail woke up one day in Melinir with no other memories than his name. Since then he's been sleeping in alleys and stealing food from the market to survive. No one in the city seems to understand the language's he speaks, and he doesn't understand the languages anyone else speaks. --Jonattttt (talk) 18:52, 26 January 2017 (MST)
SirSprinkles / Karnyr Dunhammer[edit]My character is User:SirSprinkles/Karnyr Dunhammer, a hill dwarf cleric of Berronar Truesilver sent to the Rift on a mission to recover an ancient sacred text. SirSprinkles (talk) 21:15, 26 January 2017 (MST)
Gr7mm Bobb/Etch, The Rack[edit]I've been reading over previous story postings, admittedly still a little behind... But I am a tad lost as to where I need to jump from. I'd love to get involved in this, but crippling self doubt and second guessing has made me overall torn. I have a placeholder name on the character page and then 3 concepts described with a sentence each listed in the discussion page of User: Gr7mm Bobb/My Character.--Gr7mm Bobb (talk) 07:44, 27 January 2017 (MST) Thank you for moving this where it needed to be. I wasn't fully paying attention. I'll try to be a bit more cautious in future.--Gr7mm Bobb (talk) 08:08, 27 January 2017 (MST)
I think I made a mistake with my first post. I hadn't been fully aware that Klien (spelling?) was a dwarf friendly town and I had made the assumption that the glaive brandishing gaurd would not understand dwarven, let alone my characters Old Dwarven (personal headcanon: the accent sounds like a mix of german and russian). I'm still trying to figure out how to write scenes with depth and such, so if you wish to edit the post for clarity, please feel free. I have been posting his personal thoughts within perenthesis for solo scenes, hopefully that wasn't too confusing.
Sk3tz0/ Jónn Manhunt[edit]Hi i'd like to join as mentioned in a previous post. (completely new to wiki editing and DnD) thanks for Kydo assisting me and reviewing my first ever DnD Character [Jónn Manhunt]. i've been reading the posts in of the current game and it seems rather overwhelming but i really do want to experience a dnd game even if it's in this type of format. I might not be able to tell a story with using other people's characters (can i call them toons) like its being done now but i hope i'm creative enough to at least bring my character's point across. Yes, my Characters name is taken from Martian Manhunter DC hero hope that is not a no-no when it comes to Name creation in DnD, DM and players feels free to review my character and leave any comments. Not to sure how Jónn will join the story but i was thinking he probably meets the group in a tavern somewhere or just out on the road. --Sk3tz0 (talk) 10:31, 29 January 2017 (MST)
Alright, so I gather you've been following the story thus far. We have a new king, a new dragon, a new keep, a secret incoming army, a smuggler in jail, a stockpile of smuggled firearms in a tower, a creepy serial killer with a soft-spot for orphans, an executioner with a crush on a dragon, a charming elf who suffers from chronic PTSD, a nervous spellcaster with an eldritch monster speaking directly into her brain, a city of dwarves manufacturing a stockpile of prewar weapons at the command of a council dragon, a dwarf who wants to mine possibly THE most dangerous mineral in the world, an expedition to help him, and quite a few other things going on in the background. Where would you like to get tangled up? --Kydo (talk) 02:41, 31 January 2017 (MST) All honesty, I'll let you decide where you think my character would be will suit and will then try to adapt from there as im not to familiar with playing this game. I havent fully caught up with story yet, been busy with work and will try and do so come lunch time. Also what are these HAN and DMA and stuff that have started appearing on the top of each post ? ~~---Sk3tz0
Is DMA-39 refering to me ? --196.15.153.161 01:38, 1 February 2017 (MST) Azernath / Johnathan Doyle Norrell Strange[edit]Sory it took me so long to work out the character, but I think I am good for now. I will be waiting for the game intro from now on. P.S. If any can't tell, my character is heavily based on Sherlock Holmes. --Azernath (talk) 02:03, 30 January 2017 (MST) |
- I can tell! It stood out at me immediately, in fact! This is good. We need lots of variety, but this is a political intrigue story revolving around a major international conflict based on historic prejudice and resource demands. Having a few decent investigators would go a long way to giving the players an edge. You'd be an OK navigator too. I think we have enough diversity in the second batch to run a second party. With your interesting street name, would you be OK with starting in Klein? The officials there are free of direct oversight by the council, instead only indirectly supported by the Wyrm army. They refuse to use the death penalty because they hold true to their local legal code, in which no death penalty is mentioned. Technically, Melinir officials are breaking their own local laws by administering the death penalty by the Overseer's whims. Klein is also nearby the epicenter of a massive conspiracy to smuggle and repair ancient weapons of war in a stockpile as preparation for a war anticipated by a paranoid dragon. Sound like a good place to you? --Kydo (talk) 02:42, 30 January 2017 (MST)?
Hey Kydo, I read your writings about this game not being solely driven by you, that we can move a head and continue the scene as we see fit as long as we don't add or change something instrumental to the plot or story; therefore, I will try to continue the normal conversations as how I would think that each character would act and respond. Please do correct, edit, or simply negate anything that you deem wrong advancement of the story, something that contrast with your ideas, or simply too much change. I would be extremely appreciative if you would. --Azernath (talk) 14:37, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- Hey Azernath, go for it. You have a ton of creative freedom. I don't get too bent out of shape over words anymore. It's all just letters on a screen, bud! What matters most is working together to tell a compelling story. My job is to create challenges, oversee rewards, and maintain internal consistency. I'm a busy guy doing all that though. I'm waiting on everyone to get at least a little bit of spotlight before I let the clock keep keep ticking again. --Kydo (talk) 20:16, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Agrith/Ketesk[edit]
Just need a question answered. I want to create a character and have a potential backstory, but it may cause changes to the game, so I thought I'd post the idea, then create the character if it is okay. (Note: Due to my clunky phone, I have to edit by section on pages that are too long or I cut off parts of the bottom of the page.)
- My character would be a True Dracon Aura Guardian (race and class from wiki, could change subrace to Scaled or Tailed Dracon if needed). I am modifing the Dracon history to make the race an expirament for this world (from pre-war times), if that's okay.
- Basically, the character (henceforth labled as XXX) was one of dozens created by his "father" and master, who help make the Algamest (probably wrong) Spellbomb. His master saw his expiraments as his family, so when the idea of the Spellbomb came up, he begin crating stasis chamber to protect his "children." The Spellbomb still destroyed most of the chambers despite them being nearly indestructable, but it was successful in being immune to the antimagic field. XXX is the only (maybe one of the only) survivors. He has spent the entire time since the Last War in the chamber. The chamber has gotten low on power and has activated its release protocol, which has awakened and freed XXX. It has gone this long without discovery due to that fact that it is buried 6ft underground (XXX digs himself out). Once XXX existance is knwon, he will be a essentially a living relic. He has knowledge of all sorts of pre-war things (but his stasis chamber, which was damaged, didn't perfectly perserve these, so they can be a little fuzzy), but most importantly, he wad one of his "father's" oldest and has helped him with the expiraments that created XXX and his siblings. Thus, his DNA and his knowledge could be used by a crafty person, dragon or no, to create the perfect soldier, follwed by an army. (This make him semi-important and potentially a dangerous curveball, if it seems I am just thrusting a character in so he is important to the plot, then I apologize and will think of a different backstory.)
Made a mistake, fixed it.Agrith (talk) 20:58, 31 January 2017 (MST)
- Weirdly enough, there's a lot of secret history about the spellbomb that actually makes sense with what you are describing. I hesitate on how much meta-knowledge I want to release to you guys though, and a character like this would necessitate some boundary crossing... The true subrace is outrageous though. I'll give the race a review and get back to you on it. The Aura Guardian class uses 4e terminology, and would need some revision in order to function at all, but the idea is cool at least. Here are things you should know if you really want to play this character:
- You will be a target for several very bad and very powerful people who have not been introduced yet.
- If you play badly, a character like this could kick off certain late-game plans way too early for the other characters to contend with. I wouldn't do that easily, but it could happen. It is best to let sleeping tarrasques lie.
- Your character will actually need to be introduced a little later on in the story. Eventually, someone has to go out to those prewar bunkers. That's where you'd have to be, because the old tech that still works? It ain't running out of power any time soon. The world would die before that happened. That could be a week or two from now though.
- I would need to create a way of communicating meta knowledge just to you.
- We would need to set up boundaries about what you can and can not make up about the prewar world. Some things are set in stone.
- If you're still dead-set on it, and I kind of hope you are because it's freaking cool, we can get to work putting this character together. --Kydo (talk) 21:20, 31 January 2017 (MST)
I am. Maybe the stasis chamber was damaged so that his memories were mostly a cloudly mess (aside for occasional bit of info and the expiraments, plus he would start as an unknown, his kind was supposed to be dead and all records of the expiraments gone. I created the Dracon and like the True subrace, but was uncertain if subrace was too powerful. I chose Aura Guardian because I intend him to be a helpful person that, while not naive, tend to see the best in people (his 'father' liked that about him and so never really tried to stop it beyond teaching that not everyone is nice). Maybe the WFS group can find him near/at the mine. Or would that be too early? (Also, I originally had it damaged so that it would run out of power, but I like letting someone find him. No Guy-got-loose-and-blew-everything-up-because-no-one-found-him scenarios.) Agrith (talk) 10:17, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- Now there's an idea... Inspiration from your words... Tell you what. You build your character and link him here. I'll review the character options as your character develops. Well cross the other bridges when we get to them. --Kydo (talk) 20:18, 1 February 2017 (MST)
...I repeated something you already said, didn't I? I tend to do that now and again. I already have the character worked out somewhat, but need to iron out some kinks. Basically this: What is the difference between Equipment and Gear? And how do I determine HON (whatever that is) and SAN (sanity, I presume), should I determine it like the rest of the stats (Roll 4d6 - lowest die for the stat and no changes)? Agrith (talk) 21:14, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- You said it different and gave me a tangential idea. It's interesting how a change in wording can create whole new worlds of understanding. Equipment is all your stuff and includes gear and possessions. Gear is the stuff you have on you. Possessions are things you either can not or are not currently carrying/wearing. A castle would be a good example of a possession. Another good example would be gold you have deposited in a bank. Honor and Sanity are optional ability scores. I included them in the character sheet in case we need to make use of the preload in the main wiki some day, but they aren't being used in this. --Kydo (talk) 01:06, 2 February 2017 (MST)
Thanks, here's the page:Ketesk Agrith (talk) 08:38, 2 February 2017 (MST)
I've changed the Dracon race to make it more balanced, though I'm uncertain about the True Dracon. But in any case, is Ketesk too powerful? Sorry if I seem impatient with all the edits and what not. I notice things, change them, then notice other things and chnage them. You get the idea. Agrith (talk) 21:36, 3 February 2017 (MST)
- Yes, I do. GD was still editing his race and class while playing, so it's OK. Reviewing content well takes time though. I need to review your race, class, and character- and play the game- AND record setting material. I caught up on the other two fronts now, so your character is next. It'll take me most of today to get through it all. I'm sorry I'm so slow! --Kydo (talk) 09:25, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- But none of it has affected my gameplay so far. So far I am walking a fine line, which I thought would be less like a tightrope. Some homebrew things I just skimmed over before reading into their gameplay, and the class I still need to get ready before 3rd level archetypes. --Green Dragon (talk) 09:44, 4 February 2017 (MST)
I understand, I am just grateful that you are doing this at all. I don't have opportunity to play D&D very often, so this is awesome. Agrith (talk) 11:01, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- The Dracon race needs a lot of work. Marasmusine, would you mind taking a look at it as well? I know I tend to be a little deprotagonizing in my recommendations, and I don't want it to come out underpowered. --Kydo (talk) 11:17, 4 February 2017 (MST)
Made some changes to Ketesk. Also, if you have to give me any meta knowledge (though you probably won't need to), you can use Ketesk's discussion page. Agrith (talk) 13:32, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- People are watching each other's character sheets as a matter of practicality, so I am not a fan of that. I have an idea though. Before we get to resolving that issue, we have a bigger one: That class is a no-go. I'm sorry. I only did a thorough review of one feature, and that alone was horribly designed. I browsed through the rest of the class, and it is a mess. It would take months to revise it to a workable state. --Kydo (talk) 15:05, 4 February 2017 (MST)
Yeah, I saw your post. I'll look through the wiki and my PHB to see if I can find a class with martial weapon prof (because it makes sense for Ketesk to be able to use Firearms) and is a supportish class. Agrith (talk) 15:22, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- I'll give the wiki a browse. This kind of teamwork/support group-buffer isn't an original idea, but it is a cool one. I'll see if I can find a good version of it on the wiki, or at least one that is close to playable with minimal editing. --Kydo (talk) 16:20, 4 February 2017 (MST)
I'm astonished. I chose not to ask for help because I didn't want to mound more stuff on your plate (as I type this, I note the fact that that is exactly what I've done since I posted my character sheet). But my findings from poking about: most support class are divine oriented (why is that?), support classes with martial weapons are usually have awkward abilities or seem overpowered. I'm still looking, though. Agrith (talk) 17:31, 4 February 2017 (MST)
Could you check out the Battlemind class? Having Ketesk show promising psionic capabilities wouldn't be too out of the way and it provides plenty of support. Agrith (talk) 18:11, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- Ah, nah, brah, s'OK! D&D, and DMing in particular, takes work! But I love the work! That's why it's my hobby. That's why I'm an administrator on D&D Wiki. The only problem is time management. I'm very bad at it, you see. Normally it doesn't show at games I run, because everything is handled before the session. This is a weird new experience for me in that the session is always on. It's terrifying and exhilarating!
- My experience mirrors yours. I am dismayed. This team-buffer thing first appeared in 2nd edition. For shame, D&D hobbyists, for allowing this noble and underused archetype to go so unrepresented in 5th edition! Which brings me to my point: we're D&D wikians. We are all homebrewers here. Why waste time trying to shoehorn your original idea into someone else's limited invention if we don't have to? Building the first and second levels of a class takes less time (and is more fun) than reviewing and revising a whole 20 levels written by someone else. We could just build your character one level at a time, always one level ahead of play, and use our experiences in actual play to guide our design decisions for future traits! It sounds like a blast to me. If you agree, we can get to work immediately. (Another night where I'm full of beans, apparently.) Otherwise, I'll review the battlemind. I'm pretty sure I've actually edited that page at least once. --Kydo (talk) 23:33, 4 February 2017 (MST)
Battlemind probably needs the review eventually, but for now. Let's make the class! Agrith (talk) 05:10, 5 February 2017 (MST)
Discussion moved to Talk:Strategist (5e Class) --Kydo (talk) 13:38, 6 February 2017 (MST)
Agrith/Ketesk continued[edit]
Sorry about the new sub-section. The main one has hit my phone's limits. Ugh. I don't have access to a computer enough, but this shouldn't cause any real problems (I hope). My watchlist never let me know about Salasay's post and his wasn't there when I posted mine. No idea. But Salasay has a point. Maybe this could help with archetypes later as well as the features, when we get them? Agrith (talk) 09:02, 6 February 2017 (MST)
- The section is quite long now. I've made a class page for this project. Tactician was taken, so I went with the unclaimed but similar strategist. We can always change that. I'm now going to move the project discussion to its talk page. --Kydo (talk) 13:33, 6 February 2017 (MST)
It's sad that I only just looked at the Campaign Setting. Even after Kydo mentioned that my idea for Ketesk's backstory was very accurate to the setting. Now I've read it. Just how close I got was ridiculous. I ended up changing basically one thing and my character fits perfectly. BTW, great backstory for the campaign, Kydo! Agrith (talk) 19:46, 7 February 2017 (MST)
- Just you wait. I do have a plan. I made their trip kinda' long with a bit of backtracking. This will give us time to finish your character while I build the third major settlement, run a test dungeon crawl, give the players a taste of wilderness survival in the Rift, and give your character some time to climb free from the rubble of his past. Let's get that class going first though! --Kydo (talk) 21:17, 7 February 2017 (MST)
And that is why D&D is great! The great stories made by it and the enthusiasm for it. Also, I made an edit to the Strategist's talk page, but GamerAim made an edit right after, show mine might not have been noticed. Just letting you know. Agrith (talk) 05:46, 8 February 2017 (MST)
I just thought of something. Ketesk is no spellcaster, but knows quite a bit about genesis magic (not that he would tell anyone about it). Can he actually use genesis magic? Of course, given he had the right equipment and what not and I wouldn't have him use it just to use it, mostly where it makes sense (like if he happened to be capture for that very reason). Agrith (talk) 19:37, 10 February 2017 (MST)
TCC / Gekkouga[edit]
I have already talked about this in the Just A Idea... section, but am now submitting my NPC-based character. Here is my character. User:TCC/Gekkouga. If this is acceptable, I would like to begin in my blacksmith shop. -Gekkouga (talk) 14:56, 8 February 2017 (MST)
DM Is a Scatterbrain[edit]
OK! So! I've had this nagging feeling that I forgot something, and I finally figured out what it was. Lifestyle. I was going to figure out your lodging expenses by the day based on it, and not charge you food, water, or rent as long as you were sleeping in a civilized place and roleplayed out a solution for where exactly that is. Totally slipped my mind! To make it simple, I'm just going to retcon it in as a mandatory standing order.
Also, the front page has become... Long. I am not sure what to do about it. I have considered a few ideas. I tried messing around with the TOC so it only showed user posts and showed up after the campaign description. I tried it the other way around. Both were ugly. I tried putting the separate rules sections in collapsible boxes, but that was ugly too. I tried putting the whole gameplay section inside a collapsible box, but that seemed like it downplayed the input of the players. (Also it made the page take ages to load on this computer.) Any other suggestions? I have considered splitting it into two pages, but I haven't thought of a nice way to do that. I know GD would like to see it moved to discussion. Maybe there's a way to resolve both issues at once? --Kydo (talk) 17:55, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I worked up a few examples...
USED
USED
USED
USED
USED
USED
- We'll probably want to clear these off of the talk page eventually, but they would be great for abbreviating the main page a bit. With your permission, I'll go through and make the changes across all of the non-gameplay stuff (I'll probably use the last two styles, with the bigger text). --Salasay Δ 21:41, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I'll use that for the ones that are conducive to a list format. --Salasay Δ 12:59, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- That's a good start. I've also adopted a collapsible (but not collapsed) section for the content of my own posts. I would also like to suggest the three stutter-posts at the beginning of the GAME section, and once we start our first group quest we should put all of the "prologue" stuff in a collapsed archival table. Each time we finish a "chapter" of the campaign, we put it in a new collapsed table marked "Chapter X" or something. Hell, we could also put the current play stuff in a collapsible-not-collapsed table, with a label, and just switch it to collapsed when we move to the next one. --Salasay Δ 14:03, 27 January 2017 (MST)
I am so sorry. I've been trying to catch up with you guys all day and it just isn't happening. I'm exhausted and have to go to bed. Please understand. --Kydo (talk) 01:38, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- You're doing fine. It's hard enough for me to keep up with our machinations, and I'm not even running the show. On an unrelated note, I took the liberty of overhauling the front page for ease of navigation. What do you think? --Salasay Δ 16:18, 28 January 2017 (MST)
DnD Discussion[edit]
I agree with what Kydo initially mentioned, that this page should be a discussion page. I think a name like "Discussion:D&D Wiki plays D&D/Lacundus Drakulum" would be a fitting name. Does anyone disagree? --Green Dragon (talk) 23:07, 25 January 2017 (MST)
- We could make "D&D Wiki plays D&D" it's own page off of the main page, so "Main:D&D Wiki plays D&D/Lacundus Drakulum." We could link to the "D&D Wiki plays D&D" page off of the main page and allow/encourage other players to set up their own sub-page games. --Salasay Δ 23:23, 25 January 2017 (MST)
- I decided to build this as a subpage for a variety of reasons:
- A game contains a lot more material than a normal discussion page. You need to communicate a common lost of rules and guidelines for what play will look like. You need to communicate passive information about the current state of the setting. We don't have a page type that suits those purposes. Think of this as my attempt at building and testing out ideas for a usable preload for others to one day use to run their game. If this is fairly successful, it is likely that people will want to do it again. Of course, if we wind up having an argument and the game ends in a mess, adding a standardized systems to run games here would be excessive.
- A game really is kind of a personal creation. So are player characters. It just sort of feels right for them to be user subpage from the start.
- I was... self-conscious about this at first. I was worried nobody would be interested, or that people would tell me wikis just aren't the right medium. I'm happy people decided to give me a shot. I'm still not sure how public I want this game to be though. I'm fine with newbies joining, but do we really want an audience? Especially an audience we can't see?
- I wanted to maintain a higher degree of authority over the game page on the off-chance that we can't get along. Wiki policy gives users much greater authority over their user page and user subpages. If I told you guys you weren't welcome on this page any more, continuing to post here would be highly uncivil. So, in a way, making it a sub-page is a move to be somewhat defensive of my own delicate feelings.
- That said, so far, I'm having fun! You guys seem to be enjoying these introductory scenes, and the pace is actually quite quick compared to the forum games I used to play! (Having a clear structure for me to progress and track time helps a lot) What do you guts think? Is this a fun way to play the game? --Kydo (talk) 04:15, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I decided to build this as a subpage for a variety of reasons:
- I think that we can keep the sub-sections on DnD Discussion, and keep the characters on the user pages. Just imagine that "User:Kydo" here was changed to "Discussion:" and your username was added as the "DM" somewhere on this page. I agree, however, that we should not create a whole new area or anything since this is still in the infant phase.
- Adding this page onto DnD Discussion also goes along with its audience. Any page will get an audience, but since we are trying this, and people like to follow D&D games, I think that creating a static home for this experiment is a step in the right direction for future instances of "D&D Wiki plays D&D!".
- I agree that its working so far, but I wish that our skill checks were answered right after their post (not as a whole new campaign step). I don't know what your plans are here though, since its quite recent. --Green Dragon (talk) 11:38, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I'm still sussing out the best way to carry out skill checks. I'm not happy with them either at this point. I trusted you guys to roll your own ability scores. Didn't even question the double 18. (I do not remember who has it) If I give out anticipated DCs and references for NPC stat blocks, can I trust you to roll your own checks? That way you wouldn't actually be creating anything, just carrying out elements of the game to their logical conclusion. It will mean my posts will have a big chunk of mechanical blahblah though. --Kydo (talk) 12:20, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Is Unseen Servant viable for everyone? I'm just throwing it out there as a potential option.--GamerAim (talk) 17:03, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- How about we split up DnD Discussion to include "D&D Wiki plays D&D" on the top of the page, and then this page is moved to "D&D Wiki plays D&D:Lacundus Drakulum?
- This way, we could say that on "D&D Wiki plays D&D" pages, the DM has the control over it. All the subpages would remain. --Green Dragon (talk) 11:33, 4 February 2017 (MST)
- Well, luckily this is a wiki so we can always change the name. I like "WikiGaming" too, so lets roll with this, unless someone objects. --Green Dragon (talk) 13:22, 6 February 2017 (MST)
Table-talk[edit]
This section is for OOC banter about the game. Planning should remain in the War Room. Post above this section for further character introductions and the like.
Administrative Discussion[edit]
Just unwatched the War Room. The numbers at the top are just overworld coordinates. I decided to put them in my posts so that if I lose any of my paper notes, there will still be a transcriptions attached to the game itself. --Kydo (talk) 14:25, 24 January 2017 (MST)
- Ah. I was wondering if they were Spot/Listen/Initiative rolls. --Salasay Δ 14:28, 24 January 2017 (MST)
- No. I haven't decided if I'll show those in the posts. Here's what the coordinates help me remember.
- I was kind of thinking success at a cost, degrees of failure, and crits would cover most of that, as long as I described their effects. I've run games where only I roll behind the screen before, but nothing quite like this. I'll try out my gut instinct for what to do in my first resolution post here in a bit. --Kydo (talk) 20:58, 24 January 2017 (MST)
Please excuse my delayed response. I am working and making the campaign setting page at the same time. --Kydo (talk) 11:34, 25 January 2017 (MST)
- There! I got the history I've made up thus far written down! You should all go take a look and see how much your characters know about the prewar world, because things are about to get interesting. --Kydo (talk) 15:12, 25 January 2017 (MST)
- Or maybe not, since the NPCs all rolled unreasonably high! --Kydo (talk) 17:01, 25 January 2017 (MST)
What ability scores are used for mapping? That'd help for determining the mapper. Based on prior discussion, I assume Wisdom?--GamerAim (talk) 09:19, 29 January 2017 (MST)
- First, I check to see if you get lost. That's against a navigation DC determined by the hex's terrain codes. The skill used is perception. If you have tool proficiency in either navigators tools or cartographers tools, and have those tools, you get advantage. Ra-elope is the ideal mapper. Without any tools, he has proficiency and advantage on this check every time. He's a dog-man, so I think it's reasonable for him to have this incredibly keen sense of dead reckoning. Whether or not that translates to useful maps, though..?
- Next I check for an encounter. I roll a d6 against what I call an encounter root table. They set the probability of various encounter types in a hex, and are based on a combination of proximity to civilization, how wild the land is, and the natural savagery of the local fauna. (In territory controlled by enemy people, the people count as fauna.) Each hex has a lettered root code that tells me which table to use. Basically, it weights the encounter type between combat, exploration, and socialization.
- Then I roll whether or not they bump into the encounter. The hex rolls a sort of ad-hoc attack roll against your wis or dex score as an AC, depending on whether you're sneaking or not. If it hits, you get an encounter.
- So, for example, when Girty crossed a hex, she succeeded in staying on track, (DC5 for being on a road) and encountered a social encounter. The description line was "Man out of place". I knew I had a magicyte mine nearby, and it was important to the plot, so I took advantage of that with the hopes that I'd be able to pull things around to it. That worked better than I planned.
- Whew. That took me six hours to write. This whole "wife has no job" thing is rather cramping my style. --Kydo (talk) 01:23, 30 January 2017 (MST)
Formatting proposal, now that we're introducing a large number of players and two separate parties. I noticed in a recent clarification post on the main page that it was hard to reference specific posts by specific people. This, along with separate parties, is going to lead to confusion in navigating the story in the future. I propose that we introduce a few courtesy things to the posting system to help with this.
- Group Tag: Add a little code to the post that shows what group the person is with at the time. For example, the current party could be WFS after tavern we met at, those not in a party could be labeled HAN, since they're solo (you may now cringe.) DM posts would just use at tag of DMA.
- Post ID Numbers: After the Group Tag, we add a number. Simply count up as DMA-1, DMA-2, HAN3, and so on. This way, if I want to refer the Salasay post describing when Xander is pulled into the Moon Room, I can just say WFS-18. I would be willing to add the labels to what we have already and monitor the future posts for counting errors and the like if needed.
- AQR (Action Quick Reference): A small convenience thing at the end or start of a post summarizing what happens and what rolls need to be made, stripped of narrative so that it's easy for Kydo to interpret accurately and, well, quickly. Think of it as a TL;DR of sorts.
- Example AQR for my first post, HAN-6:
- AQR: Xander hitches ride to Melinir and attempts to bribe guard. Persuade +5 for the bribe.
As with the collapsible tables, I'd be willing to implement and help with the upkeep of these systems if y'all agree that they would be helpful. Aside from the AQR, none of them would be too intrusive, but the AQR wouldn't even be a required system, either, just something that could be very helpful to Kydo in his resolution posts. --Salasay Δ 15:12, 30 January 2017 (MST)
- Uh... I don't think I fully understand how this works... It sounds helpful, but I think youre talking about functions Ive only dabbled in. Implement it and maybe Ill understand. --Kydo (talk) 20:10, 30 January 2017 (MST)
- This isn't so much a function as something we just add to our posts to help navigation and resolutions. I've already added the Group-Post ID thing to the page, so you can get an Idea what I'm talking about. The AQR thing is pretty much just "I propose that we all start adding a TL;DR to the end of our posts so Kydo doesn't die of exhaustion." --Salasay Δ 20:19, 30 January 2017 (MST)
Alright, I just added a heap of categories to the setting page. Some of your characters own property, or at least have homes. I'm going to start copying over the descriptions that do exist from gameplay, but you guys can totally just write up whatever you like about your homes! (If I missed any of you, feel free to just add it.) Keep in mind though, land ownership comes with taxation- and they will come looking for you, so try to be modest and rational about it. --Kydo (talk) 18:21, 7 February 2017 (MST)
DM Visible Plotting[edit]
I'd like to set up the Wayfaring Stranger as our main "base of operations" for most of the adventure, if that's alright with y'all. --Salasay Δ 00:19, 25 January 2017 (MST)
Am I reading this wrong, or is Ra-Elope trying to hide the existence of the artifacts, and Girty is trying to hide the existence of the magicyte?--GamerAim (talk) 18:40, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- No from what I can tell Ra-Elope wants to build an army with the artifacts to make the country stronger to impress that dragon lady, the reason he wants the sack that's under the cart to see if the smugglar is innocent or not before the execution. But the second part, ya Girty is trying to hide the existance of the magicyte. Jonattttt (talk) 18:51, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- From what I can tell the artifacts were in crates and tooking else-where the sack under the crate only has a book that according to the smugglar is evidence to prove his innocence, but thats under the assumtion he can be trusted. But yes he's hiding that he want's to find the evidence. Jonattttt (talk) 20:36, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- Ra-elope is trying to investigate a conspiracy involving the artifacts, but he needed help getting access to the wagon with the sack under it. Enter Xander, who has agreed to help him. Olek has hired Girty to help with his prospecting mission, which he (and, by extension, she) wants to keep secret. He caught Xander snooping, but Xander managed to charm him into hiring him as well, though not reading him all the way in. So now Xander is working for both Ra-elope and Olek, one out of machinations and the other a convenient way of avoiding conflict. Ra-elope, seeing an opportunity in the excuse of a "prospecting excursion," is attempting to ply Xander's connection as an method to gain access to the wagon he needs. Xander, all the while, is just playing along with both parties in an attempt to get influence and an army to fight Fire's Hand, which he knows his coming. Yeah, we've gotten a little Game of Thrones in the motive-games, and we're not even out of the opening chapter.--Salasay Δ 21:54, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- I'll clarify that Girty wants no-one to know about the magicyte, because she is aware of its involvement in the Last War. She doesn't want it to fall into nefarious hands, or really for anyone to have it in bulk. She doesn't trust Xander or Ra-elope, is suspicious that they just seemed to appear. Marasmusine (talk) 01:32, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- Ra-elope is openly confused about Melinir's society. He feels that he likes Ixenusk, but this started at the time I read "drakaina" and did not know that this is actually a black dragon. Of course, its hard for a Good character to actually love an Evil NPC (but this was before the whole Council explanation). I'm going to just run with it, and as Ra-elope finds out more he can change his mind in so many ways. So, yes, Ra-elops is working to figure out this situation in Melinir. --Green Dragon (talk) 05:53, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- Love transcends alignment! Marasmusine (talk) 08:48, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- (I can't believe I'm about to give dating advice for an imaginary female dragon...) indeed it does. She isn't PURE evil either, just very cruel to those she has no personal reason to care for. If one could prove the personal value of kindness to one's enemies, she would certainly at least feign such kindness. She is extremely lawful though, and plays the council like a natural. However, because of the laws against the birthing of half-dragons, she would struggle deeply if she had feelings for a non-dragon... To the point that of she could not shake those feelings, she would likely find some way to permanently throw off her draconic form, or permanently convert her lover into a dragon. Most likely the second option. However, being LE, she'd be very hard to impress, and as a dragon, she thinks in a somewhat alien sort of way, so getting into that situation would not be easy. Ra-elope being lawful himself is at least one point of commonality, and being non-human could be a useful perspective as well. She has been alive for most of the postwar period, and is one of the lucky few eggs that were not destroyed during the war. Compared to other councilors though, some of whom were adults during the Last War, she's a hatchling. She has a memory on a geological scale; she remembers when small canyons were trickling rivers, and other long-term mundanities like that. She spent most of her life as a wild dragon, hoarding treasure and causing problems for various overseers. She joined the council after an overseer tried to have her axed by hired dragon slayers. Considering Jackalfolk history is so short, I'm assuming they are a postwar race, coming into existence only some 700 years ago when magic returned to the world. Is that a fair assumption? --Kydo (talk) 14:14, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- Love transcends alignment! Marasmusine (talk) 08:48, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- Ra-elope is openly confused about Melinir's society. He feels that he likes Ixenusk, but this started at the time I read "drakaina" and did not know that this is actually a black dragon. Of course, its hard for a Good character to actually love an Evil NPC (but this was before the whole Council explanation). I'm going to just run with it, and as Ra-elope finds out more he can change his mind in so many ways. So, yes, Ra-elops is working to figure out this situation in Melinir. --Green Dragon (talk) 05:53, 28 January 2017 (MST)
I think congratulations are in order, because the "Meanwhile, in a wine cellar..." section is damn effective. --Salasay Δ 21:44, 30 January 2017 (MST)
- The tenderizer has only been brandished. Just wait until they make their first swing. --Kydo (talk) 22:22, 30 January 2017 (MST)
Sorry if the ret-conning seems a bit too "convenient." The constant shifts in timeline and small inconsistencies have been causing a lot of confusion as is, and this one was big enough that it needed action, and in all honesty these changes do progress logically from the inconsistencies of previous posts. It's not your fault, Kydo, the twist catching me off guard was a good thing, it's just that my narrative summation's are rather fragile if anyone comes along behind to embellish on small points. I'll try to keep them to a minimum as we go on. --Salasay Δ 15:14, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- I have read this three times now, and your game post twice. I have no idea what you're talking about! XD It's still early morning in game time. Until I have a chance to sit down and hammer out a very big response to all the events that have taken place, time is rather frozen for the moment. If someone jumps ahead, they'll just have to wait until everyone else catches up. If someone falls behind, they'll get special attention. Since time progresses linearly through the text of a post, and characters act simultaneously, there's bound to be chronological overlap between posts. It's a very interesting effect. I've never seen anything quite like it before. I almost want to introduce time travel when we get to higher levels, just to see what it would do, but it would probably just drive us all insane. --Kydo (talk) 01:14, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- I'm mainly baffled at how an arrest at a prepared murder scene turned into a battle so readily. (Bravo on surprising the pants off of me!) Especially with a local official as the primary combatant. I kind of thought it might happen if negotiations broke down, or if GD accidentally played into the villain's game. Even the villain wasn't anticipating the executioner to be straight-up insane and a talented fighter! He also didn't realize the executioner had made so many friends over night- but I intentionally wrote him to have missed out on that. Well, at least Puller has a damn good reason to be righteously angry in the evening when I introduce him. All of his hard work is literally on fire now! And some random convict is going to get a very confusing letter under his mattress when he gets locked up. I guess I can probably use that for something later on? The Wyrm Soldiers have been doing a lot more than you are aware of though, and your post will probably need a slight retcon. (He's just going to interrupt you with some importal derails- I mean- details.) They're doing their job, but are on the wrong track. Ra-elope shouting about a foreign councilor has a good chance of ending the fight right there and then, because the senior officer totally thinks the conspiracy is local; that's what his reports were about, he was implicating various local officials as trafficking artifacts for organized crime... Ah, but what can I do? You know what, I don't think I need to do a retcon at all. Give me a few hours. The beautiful one is finally asleep, and I'm full of beans, so I think I can ride this bull through to the bell. --Kydo (talk) 01:41, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- Given the enormity of what Xander just got caught attempting (impersonating a Gestapo Officer is probably a pretty big offense around here), it would make sense if he were arrested. Even if, with some "well, you caught me, but the executioner is telling the truth" Persuade support from Xander on side, Ra-elope manages to wiggle his way out anyways, you can still have the letter enter play but on the wrong target. --Salasay Δ 07:52, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- OK, that was actually really hard for me to wiggle out of. What fun! --Kydo (talk) 04:22, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- I hope that is a fair impression of what the natural 20 I rolled did. I also want to get Hail into the party since he is in Melinir too. With this favor from him, Ra-elope will say that he should come along with them (you saved my life!). If he wants Ulysses to come too, I don't object. --Green Dragon (talk) 09:31, 2 February 2017 (MST)
Inane Chatter[edit]
I love how everyone is in the "wrong" role. The Fighter is the Face, the Blaster-Caster is the Brawler, and the "Rogue" is the Wizard. What's next, a stealth based bow weilding Barbarian? --Salasay Δ 19:41, 24 January 2017 (MST)
- Now you're making me want to go back to my healer-bard idea, instead of a pansy knight-cleric >:( Maybe I'll compromise and make a stealthy bow-wielding knight-cleric. Every time he sneak attacks, he uses a free action to apologize first.--GamerAim (talk) 20:09, 24 January 2017 (MST)
- You're making me want to make that character and play him! Too bad it'd be boring for me because I'd be my own enemy. Still though. A stealthy dex sniper barbarian sounds like a terrifyingly powerful build in the zones system. (Not as frightening as if it were a fighter, but still scary because his MAD unites to make him invulnerable on top of putting out killer damage. With the massive damage rules, he'd be a weenie-slayer like no other.) Once you have your enemies out at weapon range, it takes a bit of work for them to wrangle a person down and end the hail of ranged attacks. --Kydo (talk) 20:58, 24 January 2017 (MST)
Does destroy water work on other beverages like wine? I need to know in case I want to pull a reverse-Jesus (turning wine into water).--GamerAim (talk) 07:21, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- I'm torn. On the one hand, being able to use that spell to turn wine into a hyper-distilled pure-alcohol sludge of congeners and oils sounds awesome. On the other hand, doing that to your human enemies (who are, after all, over 80% water) sounds ridiculously overpowered. --Kydo (talk) 15:36, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- Why not rule that it only works on things that aren't alive? In a world of magic, gods and souls, I'm fine with there being an arbitrary distinction between inanimate beverages and people. Could even say it only works on non-toxic (i.e. not poisons) water sources. I wasn't planning to make it OP or anything.--GamerAim (talk) 18:21, 28 January 2017 (MST)
- The spell requires that you touch "up to 10 gallons of water". To me that means a continuous portion of water, and not a container of water (so in both cases a living creature doesn't qualify). The spell also specifically mentions fog, which to me means that the intent is for literal water. But if I was DMing, I would allow the wine to become a grape-flavoured alco-powder (which sounds quite nice). Marasmusine (talk) 10:55, 29 January 2017 (MST)
- Yeah, see, I like the idea of interpreting it looser, but as soon as I loosen the interpretation, it opens itself up to possible abuse, and makes the spell harder to understand. Assume it only works as written in the core rules for now. If I decide I like this idea enough, Ill homebrew a new version of the spell which makes sense and has clear boundaries. --Kydo (talk) 20:12, 30 January 2017 (MST)
Reminder for everyone to watch the War Room so we can speak privately --Salasay Δ 23:52, 30 January 2017 (MST)
Scheduling[edit]
I just want to note that on most days, my response won't come until at least 5 pm GMT (possibly later), sorry if this is out of sync with everyone! Marasmusine (talk) 02:03, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Not a problem by me. Gave me plenty of time to work on the campaign setting page. I need to start recording content we've already made. Like a map of Melinir. --Kydo (talk) 03:55, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- OK, so if GMT is 7 hours ahead of mountain... My schedule in GMT: I wake up at 12:00pm. I work at 2:00pm. I work until 2:00am. I go to bed around 5:00am. Each week, switch the am/pm state for each time. I think I got that about right. --Kydo (talk) 07:22, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Wait. So when I'm drinking my morning coffee and scraping ice off my windshield, you're eating lunch? --Kydo (talk) 07:25, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I listened to a genuinely sincere flat earther today[1]. I don't quite know how they would explain time zones. Marasmusine (talk) 09:45, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Obviously, because stars are just holes in the firmament, the sun casts its light as a single directional beam, like a spotlight, which arcs across the surface of the flat earth with the rotation of the sky. --Kydo (talk) 12:27, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Ha ha, you just have to look at a map of what they think the earth looks like, consider where the sun would be in the sky, and what shape light would fall, to see how that doesn't make sense! But also Atlantis and grand conspiracy.Marasmusine (talk) 12:51, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- Obviously, because stars are just holes in the firmament, the sun casts its light as a single directional beam, like a spotlight, which arcs across the surface of the flat earth with the rotation of the sky. --Kydo (talk) 12:27, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- I listened to a genuinely sincere flat earther today[1]. I don't quite know how they would explain time zones. Marasmusine (talk) 09:45, 26 January 2017 (MST)
- OK, so here is what I've learned
- When anyone can play at any time, I am effectively always playing. This is usually fine- except on days when I actually get to spend time with my wife. It doesn't happen often. I need to set aside a time for the game so I know when I am "on" or "off". I'm GMT-7. Most of you are closer to the same time zone. I could do my responses while you're all asleep, maybe?
- Open table is fine until I need to respond to play and review characters at the same time. A backlog of characters creates a backlog of play. I need help reviewing characters. It takes too much time.
- I haven't had any time for the rest of the wiki. I'm an administrator. That's no good. I tried to handle stuff I saw in my watch page but it took so much time, I felt like I was neglecting the rest of you guys.
- Root cause: I am a very slow writer. I never realized just how slow until every second counted. Most of it is me rereading my reference and my reply to make sure it's free of typos and makes sense. I need to get more efficient. --Kydo (talk) 00:23, 29 January 2017 (MST)
I don't even know how you're managing this, it looks like a full time job? Marasmusine (talk) 08:46, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- I have to admit, I wasn't expecting so much interest in this experiment! I thought maybe 1 or 2 people might give it a try. I was actually expecting someone to make fun of me. Suddenly, I have people I didn't invite, new users, and even my rentor somehow found out! Perhaps I advertised a little too loudly? Oh well. All but one character has been resolved now and I can focus on play and recording setting information again. I have set aside time to play each day. It isn't always the same time, but at least I'm organized now. I'm thinking about making a video on my YouTube channel about how to run a PBP game without losing your mind, if I manage to keep this thing going long enough. I'm also thinking about making some sort of a feedback system so I can find out what things are and are not working for you guys. I can't see your faces, so I have no way of knowing if I'm wrecking your experience. --Kydo (talk) 12:29, 2 February 2017 (MST)
- I know what you mean. Keep in mind that you are in charge as the DM, and if you want to split this up so two DMs run two groups, or you require images from the players– you are the DM. You get what I mean, I'm sure. --Green Dragon (talk) 12:34, 2 February 2017 (MST)
General Campaign Questions[edit]
When I need a bit of information about the game world, I suppose I could ask here or at Lacundus Drakulum (5e Campaign Setting), which is better? Specifically, I want to ask how large Melnir's territory is: for example, would the hills to the north of Brichtwood fall under the city's domain or is it a no-mans-land? (Or is that something I get to make up)? Marasmusine (talk) 02:52, 27 January 2017 (MST)
- Either-or. Melinir city itself controls the Melinir hills out to Torlynn. They don't have a large enough guard force to patrol much beyond there, but the kingdom's army is strong enough to be dispatched to any corner of the rift or beyond. They're the first army that has been large enough based on Riftman population to keep the region. Previous attempts at civilization were foreign based, and failed because of the difficulties of maintaining supply lines through the mountains. Because this army is based out of the local area, the mountains act as a defensive advantage, forcing their enemies through only a few bottlenecks into the region, making it very easy for them to prevent future invasions by barbarians. The kingdom itself includes the entire rift, plus some distance out into the mountains. The city of Klein on Lake Ostrel to the North is also part of the kingdom, but they are so far away that they enjoy virtual autonomy. They're basically an unofficial second capital city for the Northern Riftmen, and they have their own independent guard force which patrols the Northern planes. The kingdom technically owns the Farolas Hills to the Northwest, but they have an agreement with Hearth Home to allow the dwarves to patrol that land in the interest of their own security. It's sort of a friendly buffer zone. Despite all of this, most of the Kingdom of the Rift is actually lawless wilderness. There are many tiny communities living all across the planes, and Ixenusk has made a point of finally mapping out the region in detail to track demographics. There is a huge map in her office marking all of the twisted back roads, old ruins, farms, road stops, grave yards, and etc. they have recorded thus far. --Kydo (talk) 11:08, 27 January 2017 (MST)
Kydo, have you already set where the hidden mine is, or is that something I can influence? When Girty was talking to Olek, I was imagining the correct location to be in the four-tile hills to the north of Brichtwood. Marasmusine (talk) 02:12, 31 January 2017 (MST)
- I have a few ideas. If overland travel is too much of a slog, it'll be in the Melinir hills, near Torlynn. Otherwise, I was just going to roll dice against a DC until you spontaneously arrived, and put the mine wherever you happen to be! If you have a plan with narrative value, I would recommend using it over me just randomizing story elements into coherence. I should mention, while my maps are based on that one, it is only because they converted the original map into one-mile hexes. My map uses true rows though, not true columns, so things won't line up perfect. I did that intentionally, I wanted travel to focus on the narrative, with the hex crawl being well hidden "under the hood" with the rest of the game's engine. I figured that would be more interesting to read as a transcript, as opposed to "NE 2 miles, N 3 miles, W 1 mile. How many encounters is that?" --Kydo (talk) 02:34, 31 January 2017 (MST)
Just some friendly DM-ly advice, because I don't want to see a non-combat TPK.... It is midwinter. It is hot in this region, but the winter season is unpredictable and wet. When it gets wet, it gets cold. More often than not, it's a raging storm. I've been rolling good weather so far, but that's just luck, and it's sure to run out eventually. Everyone who is native to the valley should know that, when travelling the wilderness, your number 1 goal should be to stay warm and stay dry. Bare minimum, I would recommend tents. --Kydo (talk) 04:33, 31 January 2017 (MST)
Im trying to keep track who all is now currently in the city of Klein? --Sk3tz0 (talk) 04:35, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- Ra-Elope, Xander, Girty, Hail, and Ulysses are in Melinir. Everyone else is in our near Klein. --Kydo (talk) 05:07, 1 February 2017 (MST)
The Melinir Market[edit]
OK! I have completed the Melinir marketplace. It is now possible for PCs to buy and sell goods in Melinir within their own posts, and in their bluebooks during downtime. If there are any questions to how this is done, please ask away! --Kydo (talk) 05:02, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Where would i find a list of items to buy? --Sk3tz0 (talk) 04:57, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- They are the same items you can find in the basic rules. The PHB and DMG also list a few extra items in addition to that. --Kydo (talk) 05:02, 1 February 2017 (MST)
I just realized I should probably mention, the market can be found under the Melinir header at Lacundus Drakulum (5e Campaign Setting). --Kydo (talk) 05:02, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Also, if anyone would like to suggest items from the wiki as foreign imports, please do so. I am planning a bazaar NPC shop, but haven't gone to the trouble of reviewing any homebrew gear for it yet. --Kydo (talk) 05:24, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Thanks just realised i need to go get the PHB and DMG I've been using websites and keep misplacing the links.or is there a section within this wiki? --Sk3tz0 (talk) 05:36, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- The wiki only has the 5e SRD:System Reference Document, because that's all we're legally allowed to reproduce and distribute. However, Wizards of the coast also has a free version of the core rules available, called the Basic Rules, which has almost all of the items available in the PHB. (Actually, looking closer, I think it actually has all of the items from the PHB.) I would recommend using the basic rules while you're getting a feel for the game. At 60 bucks a cover, the latest edition isn't cheap. Unless you know you're going to be really diving in to the game, I don't think it's worth the price tag. --Kydo (talk) 05:53, 1 February 2017 (MST)
- Actually, looking over the SRD, it looks like it ALSO contains ALL of the PHB items. --Kydo (talk) 06:01, 1 February 2017 (MST)
Thanks I've managed to find downloadable PDFs of the DM and PHB I'll use those in the meantime until I can purchase the actual books. --41.13.208.53 06:58, 1 February 2017 (MST)
5e Combat Training[edit]
OK, so some of you are new to 5e. And, come to think of it, all of you are new to the way I "fight" in D&D. Most of you are probably pretty use to one of two styles:
- A narrative style in which combat rules are invoked by description. (This game)
- A tabletop tactics style with strict grid movement and a focus on geometric interactions. (No. I like it sometimes, but we can't do that here.)
In both styles, people tend to make very limited use of combat actions. Most people stick to the attack action, spellcasting, and consumable features/traits. Some people use their bonus actions and reactions if something prompts them, like an opportunity attack or dual-wielding. Rarely, you get that one guy who actually uses the prepare action. Some of you may have figured this out already, but I do not run combat this way, and if you try to attack my creatures like this, you will wind up in a bad spot very quickly. So, here's a little crash course on alternative combat actions. I'm only going to cover one, but it should be enough to give you guys an idea of just what your characters are capable of. (And, by extension, what your enemies are capable of) Now, keep in mind, there's a bit of DM interpretation here. What works for me may not be cool with other DMs. Since most wiki users here are also DMs, I'm sure a few of you would look at this stuff and just say no if it happened in your games. Try to remember that I'm running this one, and if you want to win a tough fight, you're going to have to fight dirty. So, let's talk about wrestling in 5e.
First things first: wrestling hinges on the grapple attack action. A grapple is an invoked athletics skill contest between you, (the grappler) and your target. The target may use their acrobatics skill if they want, but the grappler is stuck with athletics in every situation. On a successful contest, you are grappling your opponent, and they are under the grappled condition. On their turn, they may use their action to repeat the contest in an escape attempt. Now, the wording here is unclear. It uses the word "escape", but fails to clarify what that means. If the DM determines that it means "escape a physical hold", then it effectively means the grappled condition can be given the effect of being stacked if multiple people grapple a single creature. I am in that camp, because it emulates what I've seen and experienced in real fights. If the DM thinks it means "escape the condition", then it allows a person to throw off any number of people dogpiling them in a single action like they're Neo from The Matrix. I am not in that camp, but I can see the allure. For this game, remember: as far as I'm concerned, grappling stacks. Use that to your advantage. Watch out for wolf packs, they will tear a lone wanderer to pieces. Also note, you only need one free hand to grapple a target. I have interpreted this to mean that a grappled target only occupies one hand. That means a single creature can grapple as many other creatures as he has hands to grapple with. Avoid girallons if you ever see them. Fluid creatures (oozes and elementals) are now, no joke, your worst nightmare.
- Takedowns
- Have you ever seen a police officer grab a guy, put him on the floor, and cuff him, all in one smooth action? That's actually really easy to do in 5e! Now, this hinges on my interpretation of "Moving a Grappled Creature". As far as I'm concerned, it means that after a successful grapple check, the target is functionally an object. They already made a check to resist you and failed. I do not believe in repeating checks for a single task; either you can do it or you can't, that's what the check determines. There is no need to roll extra dice just because the DM failed to set a reasonable DC, or doesn't like the creature's modifier, and there's no RAW justification to invoke additional grapple checks. The moving a creature section says that dragging a creature around halves your speed, but gives no rules for positioning of that creature during this process. The easy solution is to just let the player position that creature wherever they want within reach. So, as far as I'm concerned, "moving a creature with you" also works for moving that creature around you, even if you don't take a single step. This covers every type of movement they can be forced to make, such as lifting them, and also, (key to this technique) having them drop prone. So, to perform a takedown, after you successfully grab the target, declare that you are moving them to drop prone. Then use your object interaction to apply manacles or rope. They're still grappled, so they can't move, and with their hands bound they can't make weapon attacks. (They can still make unarmed strikes, but after third level, there's basically no way for them to deal massive damage to you with an unarmed strike unless they're a monk.)
- Flying Takedown
- This is just a fancy version of the above, but takes advantage of a cool hole in the jumping mechanics. Specifically: There is nothing stopping you from breaking up your move mid-jump to perform other actions. (This is useful for chandelier swinging, BTW) To be performed in a straight line, run toward your target and begin a long jump. Once adjacent to your target, while midair, initiate a grapple. End your jump and your move. (Or drag him with you some distance, but you're probably low on speed by this point) Move the target to prone.
- Powerbomb
- Enemies took your weapons and you're breaking out of jail with nothing but the rags on your back? Guard got you cornered? No problem! Most medium creatures with a strength bonus are strong enough to lift/carry/drag other medium and small creatures without batting an eyelash! Grapple an opponent and use your object interaction lift them into the air. Specify that you lift them above your head. You need 10ft of clearance if you want anything more than unarmed strike damage. Keep in mind from the jump rules that, with arms outstretched above your head, your reach from your heels is equal to your height * 1.5. You may need to do a standing high jump to get those last couple of feet if you aren't a goliath. Now just move them to the side, end your grapple for free, and end your jump if you made one. 1d6 fall damage, and they're prone to top it off. Now run.
Fun fact: A girallon is strong enough to powerbomb multiple people, wearing full gear, simultaneously!
- Choke Out
- I'm going to preface this bay saying that it is the single most horrible experience 5e offers in combat, for everyone involved. Suffocation is the most horrible form of suffering a person can experience, and 5e emulates it to full miserable effect. Choking a person is easy: grapple them and use an object interaction on their windpipe. Seeing it through to completion is the hard part. See, a combat round is 6 seconds. Creatures in 5e can hold their breath for minutes at a time. This means choking a creature down takes 5-60 rounds, depending on their constitution modifier. That is a seriously inefficient way to kill something, so there is absolutely no reason to do it. Well, there is maybe one reason. Narrative. It is extremely effective at communicating hatred. Lynchings are the worst. I mention this only because we have an executioner in the group.
Fun fact: Being grappled by a water elemental is pretty much a death sentence. It has no reason not to drown you, and it can hold you inside itself with practically no penalties to itself.
- Creative Repositioning
- Grapple a person and drag them into an environmental hazard or trap. Grapple a person and throw them through a picture window. Grapple a person, move to a ledge, position them over the edge, and end your grapple. Grapple a person and drag them through a camp fire. -Or burning oil. -Or alchemist's fire. -Or broken glass. Grapple a person, position their head under a sliding stone door, and pull the lever to close it. Grapple a person, force them to prone, topple a table over on top of them, and sit on it.
Fun fact: You should ALWAYS start a bar fight if you can find a good excuse to do it. (No, not really, but these mechanics sure make for an exciting scene!)
Just by moving around and interacting with the environment, a simple grapple can be turned into a one-shot kill against a very powerful enemy. It can save you time, health, spell slots, and feature uses. With a 7-day long rest, you want to hang on to your resources like they are truly precious. I recommend you all take a good read of the adventuring mechanics and alternative combat actions and think about how they can be combined into new tactics. --Kydo (talk) 05:57, 3 February 2017 (MST)
- Quick Question. if my character is being grappled am I able to say " Jónn trust his head backwards hitting his opponent in the face", or would it be " Jónn trust his head backwards in hopes of hitting his opponent in the face" and then a roll is done or something ? --Sk3tz0 (talk) 06:16, 3 February 2017 (MST)
- Hitting an opponent with any part of your body is an unarmed strike, which is technically called a "melee weapon attack". That does not mean your unarmed strike is a weapon though. Unarmed strikes deal 1+STR bludgeoning damage, and there are no associated weapon traits. --Kydo (talk) 13:41, 3 February 2017 (MST)
A mess of random stuff[edit]
Resting Rules[edit]
I think I misunderstood how the resting mechanic works, but that may be a previous DM's use of the variant rule. The way I understand it is a Long and short rest are still 8 and 1 hour respectively. However, when you are trying to make use of HD to heal, it takes a 8 hours and to "full heal" you need a week (Yes I know the slow healing rule is also in effect). He said it was this way to allow the use of class features, but such the injuries would stick around more. Now that I'm looking around at things, I severely mistook how the variant rule works.--Gr7mm Bobb (talk) 06:31, 3 February 2017 (MST)
No, how he has it is how it is in the rulebooks (can't remember which one of the top of my head). But even so, this is D&D. The only real rules is to have fun and the DM has finally say. If this is how he wants it, this is it (sorry if that sounded like I was chewing you out, the way you have it sounds like a great halfway between regular and gritty realism). Agrith (talk) 06:56, 3 February 2017 (MST)
All good, I'd just make sure to vocalize my potential confusion to ensure I don't muck things up by forcing a Ret-con.--Gr7mm Bobb (talk) 07:02, 3 February 2017 (MST)
- Yeah, your DM made his own version of the long rest rule from the DMG. I'm using the core rules version because it's simple and more easily recognized, (and thus more easily tought) by players who've seen it a few times over. I have toyed around with the resting rules considerably in the past. The current setup probably seems really harsh on spellcasters. This is somewhat intentional. I am trying to get gameplay to focus on creative play, rather than everyone playing second-fiddle to the reality-warping blaster-caster, or trying to holy-trinity their way through a narrative. It's also easier than homebrewing up a bunch of quadratic warrior or linear wizard classes. Does it mean spellcasters cast fewer spells in a given span of time? Absolutely. It makes magic items far more valuable in a personal and practical way. It also means you can't normally afford to just zap a single enemy to death. It requires you to think outside the box and use your spells more carefully, more creatively, and more efficiently. It changes what makes a spell valuable, and it changes how players build their characters. In particular, it means neither spellcasters nor martial characters are ever capable of being truly self-sufficient. Without backup, there's always a rock to their scissors somewhere out there in the world. That's why I'm emphasizing people play what they want, rather than trying to fill dedicated "party roles", that kind of thinking won't work well in the long run. The only such role that matters in this game is who's holding the compass. --Kydo (talk) 14:03, 3 February 2017 (MST)
Just A Idea...[edit]
Hey, is there any chance if I could join, not as a adventurer, but as both a weapon and armor smith at a town commonly visited by the party? If I have/need a stat block is really your choice, but I would prefer to be a humorous sea elf who also is a magic user, and so can create magic armor and weapons if I have the money and/or materials. Gekkouga (talk) 14:45, 6 February 2017 (MST)
- What you just described is exactly being a player in this game! You don't have to join the heroic band of adventurers! You could be anyone in the world. You don't need to be part of the main narrative. You don't have to stay in the Rift. You don't need to be a team player or anything! I would actually really appreciate the type of character you are describing. If you don't want to run a combat PC, I would still like you to have a statblock, just in case someone tries to punch you in the nose, or you need to escape from the city the heroes are accidentally burning to the ground- or in case you need to travel and happen to get caught in a fight with your hired guards. The world is dangerous for everyone after all. Choose a statblock from the MM. Choose a race, and apply the NPC traits for it to your statblock. Finally, choose a background. I would recommend the guild artisan from the PHB, or the metalworker (I think that's what it was called? There's a blackmith-y background for 5e on the wiki somewhere. I know that much.) from the wiki. (The background is so you actually have some money and clothes, the skills necessary to carry out your profession, and a feature to interact with the setting.) Keep in mind that as a classless character, you can not collect XP, so your character's only hope of advancement is through downtime activities. Oh, and boons if you somehow become blacksmith for the gods or something. --Kydo (talk) 20:49, 6 February 2017 (MST)
- There are two cities which currently have a large population of PCs. The first party, dubbed The Wayfaring Strangers, or WFS for short, are based out of the kingdoms capital city, Melinir, on the shores of Lake Ganif. It is a bustling city with three professional metalworkers and a workshop with thee grunsmiths. The other city is far to the North on the shores of Lake Ostrel, the city of Kleine is thus-far underdeveloped. I haven't even made a marketplace for it. So, technically, aside from the general store someone just recently invented, there's plenty of room for a smith there. As long as those players keep playing, I think Kleine actually has more characters based out of it right now than Melinir. --Kydo (talk) 07:43, 7 February 2017 (MST)
- Here is my character. User:TCC/Gekkouga. If this is acceptable, I would like to begin in my blacksmith shop. -Gekkouga (talk) 14:50, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- Hey Kydo, if you wouldn't mind, could you look over my character and either accept it for play or point out what I did wrong so I can correct it? The reason I ask this is forging pretty much anything takes time, and with time moving slowly, I wish to begin forging and buying materials. Speaking of forging, do you have a system for the roll required with smiths tools to successfully make a weapon? --Gekkouga (talk) 17:41, 9 February 2017 (MST)
Feedback[edit]
I am creating this section to hear back from you guys. I cant see your faces or hear your voices, so I have no idea if what I am doing is working for you or not. Just because nobodys left, doesn't mean everyone is having fun.
Things That Rock[edit]
- The Players. Engaged and engaging. Exciting, unique, character-driven play. Interesting group dynamics. Seriously, you guys really make this game work.
- The Characters. In addition to them all being original and appealing, we have some characters who are all core, some all homebrew, some a mix of the two, at least one who uses non-core official material, we have one upcoming character driven by NPC rules, and another character whose class will be designed based on actual play. That is absolutely fascinating. The homebrew content in particular is great, because it forces me to do reviews and rapid improvement events on the pages being suggested for play, so I get to keep participating in the rest of the wiki still!
- Combat. For two rounds, that was actually pretty exciting! Looking forward to Jonn's brawling match!
- The war room. I don't know for sure, but from what I've seen with the edits to posts, I believe you guys are using it, which is really exciting. Hopefully, you as players aren't falling for all of my tricks, and are just playing true to your characters. I know I've given away some meta-knowledge. I hope it didn't/doesn't ruin any of the surprise. --Kydo (talk) 08:45, 7 February 2017 (MST)
- I'm getting some good practice in writing. Since I don't control every aspect of the plot, I can write reaction and actions more in line with character, and have to react to unexspected situations as my character would, not how the plot wants him to. --Salasay ♄ 14:52, 8 February 2017 (MST)
Things That Suck[edit]
- The campaign setting page. It does not have enough material to be useful to the players. It currently contains less knowledge than the characters and their players, even on an individual basis. It should be a group resource and record of adventures, not a bare-bones record of stuff I HAD to record before I forgot it.
- DM posting schedule. Some players do more (much more) than other players in a single post. This makes it very difficult for me to keep everyone in roughly the same time frame. My daily schedule, and occasional failure to meet that schedule, makes it even worse, because I'm tempted to just write one big multi-character post resolving all situations by pushing the more focused players to catch up to everyone else, and stalling the more rammy players so they don't wind up three days in the future. The net effect is that the game stalls and becomes, as GamerAim said, "D&D under a microscope."
- Combat. Two rounds took two days. I think I'm going to take a design idea from the D&D boardgames, and give the enemy NPCs mandatory tactics so players can figure out what they'll do without depending on my intervention.
- The conspiracy. The main problem with this is that the players are currently apparently falling for most of the villain's plan, which means they don't see what's coming... Or what's happening. In some ways this is good, because I know I wrote a good trap. In some ways this is bad, because you will all be TERRIBLY CONFUSED when the shit finally hits the fan, and you will all be terribly bored while people secretly get killed in back alleys.
- Transparency. Three times now, my writing has caused mass confusion. Twice, it was because I failed to expand the setting page ahead of the narrative. People misunderstood me because they did not have the resources to understand. That's not cool. --Kydo (talk) 08:45, 7 February 2017 (MST)
- Small clarification: I said D&D meets Microscope.--GamerAim (talk) 12:55, 7 February 2017 (MST)
Provisions[edit]
How seriously are we taking provisions? I only have 2 days worth, because that's what the priest kit started with and I didn't think to buy more (and also thought I had 3gp less than I did).--GamerAim (talk) 15:06, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- We may or may not be stopping in Torlynn, where we can pick up some extra rations. --Salasay ♄ 15:10, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- Crossing the river when we did pretty much threw me off from Torlynn. I don't think we will be going there at all, since we crossed the river in like 4 hours of travel. --Green Dragon (talk) 15:24, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- At this point I think my mapping attempt is pretty irrelevant. I don't care too much where we are, or where we will make our expedition camp, but I just don't want to get in a fight with the elf barbarians or get kicked out of their territory like 5 times without success. This is why I recommended going around behind their territory (but if we are going East then its a little different already). --Green Dragon (talk) 15:42, 8 February 2017 (MST)
Take 1 day of rations for each of us and Olek out of the group inventory. Wait, who's managing that? :) Marasmusine (talk) 15:36, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- I can share my rations with Ulysses for now, if we need it. --Green Dragon (talk) 15:45, 8 February 2017 (MST)
I'll keep track of group inventory at User:Marasmusine/Mad Girty/Bluebook#Olek's Cart Marasmusine (talk) 16:05, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- For what it's worth, I'll share my 2 days rations if anyone needs them. And if we get really desperate, I'm sure Girty has some okay-tasting spell components :D--GamerAim (talk) 16:51, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- Oh, and I have survival, so can't I forage for berries or something? Help Xander find a wild animal to kill?--GamerAim (talk) 17:01, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- How seriously? You need to eat. 1lb of food per day, minimum. You can eat it at any point in the day. A day's rations covers the basic needs,. That's core rules. In town, I'm not too concerned. Call me lazy in that regard. I really appreciated Ra-elope going to a restaurant. In the wilderness though, that's where the drama of life and death play out at the dinner table. I'll only track water when it is specifically dry, because it's just fiddly otherwise. Right now, there's fresh(ish) water everywhere. Freshwater rivers, multiple small lakes, local irrigation, frequent rain with an unpolluted atmosphere, the world is safely wet. You guys are in no danger of dehydration.
- Can you roll to forage? Yes. That's core rules. It's the primary function of the survival skill. Make a roll and I'll give you a DC and result. (If not possible I'll explain why) Beware though, degrees of failure and success at a cost still apply, even here. Beware of strange berries.
- Wow, when did all that happen?! I'm going to make you all really upset now.
- That map at the top? I used it because it was small, and I based my hexmap of the rift off of it for proportions. But my map is VERY different.
- For one thing, the Rift is divided into about 6 regional hexagonal hexmaps in a notebook, not one rectangular map.
- For another, my hexgrid uses a different orientation, with true rows instead of true columns, so nothing is aligned with the map I used as my reference. This was intentional: I did not want the players navigating hexagons, as that would allow exactly what just happened: several players just warped time three days into the future while several other players were busy with real life. Not practical. What if the slower players pass through your characters' past and change it?
- I was planning on running travel by the phase, (hour of their 16 hour day) not the day. Hourly travel was the mode of travel recommended by the core rules if the DM planned to play out travel rather than handwaving it. That means a day's travel can have as many as 8 separate encounters, if the terrain is absolutely level or you stick to the roads, or more if you force-march. (Most encounters will be small, like the ferryman, but as you venture away from civilization, things get considerably more dangerous.) Again, this was to try and keep the time pacing of people in encounters and local areas parallel with people traveling the world.
- That irrigation channel? That was about a half-mile out of town. You basically exited the city walls and followed a road a little ways into the local farmland. I'm not sure why it was assumed to be a river. Or why it was assumed that you were really far out into absolute wilderness.
- Speaking of, the time taken to travel from hex to hex varies depending on the terrain. That's supposed to be under the hood of the game, on my side of the screen. I was only using hexcrawl mechanics to determine travel time, encounter frequency/type, and navigation difficulty.
- I really am standing by the clock at the top of the page and updating it to reflect in-game events. It really does represent the approximate current game time. The acquisition of the cart? Dawn. The fire at the jail? Early-morning. (Seriously, that fight with the dragonborn lasted only 12 seconds.) The ferry crossing? That happened late-morning-ish. There's plenty of adventure to be had over the rest of the day.
- I was waiting to see how you guys resolved the encounter to deliver the narrative for the remainder of the trip into the hex, (which, again, should really only be a behind-the-screen kind of thing) providing landscape information to give you navigation options, while simultaneously giving players elsewhere a chance to speak.
- I now feel terrible because I have somehow seriously mislead you all and am unsure how to proceed. --Kydo (talk) 20:22, 8 February 2017 (MST)
- That's the inherent problem in this type of game. In the D&D PbP games I run, things are far slower paced because I don't give players as much control over the environment or other characters. It's just a really slow game of regular D&D. But what you've cultivated here is, again, D&D meets Microscope, a game where players regularly move back and forth through time and control anything in the world as long as there's no retcons. Except here, it's a bit less control and more retcons. So what happens when you give players more control over the narrative in a game like this? They try to move along with the mechanics they've been given, and in this case, they're getting it wrong because the mechanics are hidden from them. So if you want to maintain order, you'll have to impose limits, like no moving past the current scene/encounter, or the current phase or whatever. The fact that it is a lot, as you said, "like D&D under a microscope" also contributes to some issues, since the amount of detail is very precise, down to the 12 seconds of combat and 1 lb. of food per day. But this is just some friendly advice from one PbP GM to another — I don't mean to tell you what to do :)--GamerAim (talk) 06:15, 9 February 2017 (MST)
- I'm glad someone else here has run this kind of game. This is sort of an experiment in PBP gaming as well. I've done plenty of non-game PBP RP, and adored the narrative focus there. They have a formal system for handling interplayer interactions and sharing in setting creation. I wanted to incorporate that spirit of collaborative creativity and good will into this game, specifically because it is slow and focused on minutiae. I figured, if the focus was on writing, as opposed to advancing, then even if I used simplified abstractions, like hex-crawling, on my end, the experience would appear almost seamless on your end because people would spend time writing about the meals they share over campfires and the like. That didn't happen. Maybe its just not possible to hybridize the two. Or maybe I just did it wrong. I am thinking about altering the way the game works. D&D is inherently about pushing forward and advancing, so the game mechanics are at odds with my focus as a roleplayer, especially in a slower style of play. Instead of slowing the faster players and travelers down, I need to find some way of speeding up the slower players and people caught up in an encounter, so that they feel like they are still actually advancing. That said, it may depend on more houserules to change time rates from the core rules. Like, for example, extending how long a combat round is and adjusting the action economy to match so that fights normally play out to full resolution in 1-3 rounds most of the time. I am experimenting with ideas. If you guys have any thoughts on this, or suggestions, please share them. This is experimental, and I'm still trying to figure out how to do it right. More importantly, you guys are my players, I want to create a fun experience for you. Am I just being too anal about time progression? I've read a lot of RPG transcripts from tabletop games where everyone is praising how great the story is, but all I can see is how one group travelled for a month while another character spent three days in town, and then they met up without any time gap to correct the distortion. I could just throw caution to the wind and let time warp as it wills to suit the fun of play, if you'd all prefer. Like I said, it seems to be the norm in the hobby. --Kydo (talk) 07:38, 9 February 2017 (MST)
- I was just roleplaying the time when I said we should rest. For one, the entire party discussed the expedition after meeting up at the Wayfaying Stranger. After this, we all got ready and agreed to get this cart as well as a mining permit. I do not think this would really be like walking in and getting it, but instead lots of conversation, maybe some waiting in lines or for the guard to have some free time, etc.
- Next, Ra-elope made a scene in the street, and after that got lunch while the rest of the party got provisions (before the fire). Finding a quiet restaurant may not have been easy, and going from shop to shop getting everything that would be needed probably also took some time (also running to and from the cart from the shops, etc).
- Next, there is the time gap in the prison after realizing what has happened. For any player to understand this I feel it would take some amount of time, and this goes alongside the characters setting up where they are based off the prison. Finally, discussing anything like this by a crowd of people, getting everyone important together, and then going to find the guard who left the north pocket is not done in 30 seconds. I would guess a few hours, especially after they come back with a copy of the log book.
- Then, to my roleplaying understanding, it would already be later in the day.
- I would recommend just basing the time off the narrative. I think that we move the narrative along fine through time (so far), and if two groups have not met up, the exact time is not too important yet. Rather, the narrative can overcome this gap. If there is an important world event, then the DM can narrate the time for all players at this reveal. Either way is fine with me, but now you see how I have been basing the time off the narrative for now.
- As for the hex map, I thought that this map was the main map. Since where we are and how much time it takes to travel does not make any sense, I think I will leave it up to the DM from this point to make it understandable. On our next attempt it could make more sense.
- My recommendation would be to take the lead as the DM now, and wrap up all the loose ends based off where we are, what time it is, and since this is not too important for the players in Klein at this point just mention that they are still continuing their actions (e.g. the fight still needs to happen, someone needs to understand what happened to the group of players wo met up and now left the scene, and also someone can maybe work alongside what is going on in the house with Etch and his "creator"- but for this type of play I do not think that you have to wrap up any loose ends, rather the players need to roleplay what is making them do what they are doing in Klein more).
- So, I recommend dropping the total time adherence, putting the narrative first, and then including the time second. Thus, the players can roleplay into the narrative or into the time.
- Or, make it explicitly clear what your intentions are with the clock. E.g., after you update it, is the gameplay to be roleplayed until that point in time? What about people who do not fulfill this? How can some mechanics take 1500 days (like getting a feat– or did you get rid of Learning a Feat (5e Variant Rule))? In real time this is impossible, so things like this throw me off at points. --Green Dragon (talk) 08:42, 9 February 2017 (MST)
Poke[edit]
Hey! Did this game die or something? Really hope I'm not making a fool of myself, but I've been waiting for any kind of change watching my watchlist like a hawk, but nothing has really changed other than the major WIP that is the dracon race. Anyway, please message or something with an notice or something. hoping everyone is alive and well IRL.--Gr7mm Bobb (talk) 08:00, 15 February 2017 (MST)
- My assumption was that Kydo was swamped with life and hadn't been around the wiki. Plus I think he edited his user page to say that his life was doing bad and he couldn't be around for awhile or something. I only now connected that last one to the fate of his game, however, so it may very well be on hold.--GamerAim (talk) 09:05, 15 February 2017 (MST)
Last I heard from him was an edit to the Strategist class talk page. Just have some patience, he'll be back. Also, it was his talk page where he mention the problems in real life. Agrith (talk) 11:28, 15 February 2017 (MST)
- I'm still here. Not part of the game yet but hoping for my character to be approved soon! Sincerely, Gekkouga (talk) 12:50, 15 February 2017 (MST)
I thought maybe he took on too many players and we broke him. I hope he's okay. Maybe I could host a short game? Something a bit less intense, not too much focus on storytelling. Would anyone like to try my Doom setting? Marasmusine (talk) 01:37, 17 February 2017 (MST)
- I should have asked Kydo what the limit of players he was willing to have in his campaign is.
- I think I would be interested in playing in your campaign. --Green Dragon (talk) 06:18, 17 February 2017 (MST)
- Sadly, due to problems in my real life, the game, and my hobby activities in general, is on indefinite hiatus. I apologize for any inconvenience. It has absolutely nothing to do with what happened right at the end there. I didn't mind that at all actually. However, my wife has avascular necrosis in her left ankle and can not walk. Between taking care of her and my day job, there just isn't time enough in a day for me to spend planning games or editing the wiki. I will likely be quite preoccupied for a little over a year.
- I am 100% OK with someone else taking over DM role for this game, if you are all still interested in playing! If you like that plan, work it out among yourselves who should take THE CHAIR, and have them shoot me an email. I'll send you scans of my prep work. --Kydo (talk) 07:09, 17 February 2017 (MST)
- Just so you all know, I'm not abandoning the wiki or anything, I'll still try to be around when I can. --Kydo (talk) 07:13, 17 February 2017 (MST)
- My thoughts are with you, Kydo.
Please can I have them backMarasmusine (talk) 07:30, 17 February 2017 (MST) - If anyone does want to temporarily break from this, the Doom campaign is over at Doom (5e Campaign Setting)/Moons Of Saturn. Marasmusine (talk) 07:32, 17 February 2017 (MST)
- My thoughts are with you, Kydo.