TheRPGSite

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Alright. Time for the conversation that begins it all, so we're not poluting other threads on the RPGs forum.

I've been thinking of running a Ptolus game online for some time. I wasn't quite clear about the system and circumstances. Now the system's been chosen, AD&D/OSRIC. I am going to run a Ptolus in the past, rather than Ptolus-as-written (which really *is* 3rd edition D&D - it'd be nonsensical to me to use the city as written and try to change it into something it is not. Instead, I am sticking with some of its core concepts, and basically applying AD&D to these concepts instead of 3rd ed).

The game system is AD&D/OSRIC, which means it will not include the Weapon vs AC table, or weapon speeds. You can get a copy of OSRIC v2 for free on that site (http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/) (download link is on the top of the right-hand side column on that page).

The particulars so far are that the player characters will start at 1st level (I want the experience to start from the start, as the game itself assumes). I want to run a somewhat short introductory adventure at first, so everyone gets a feel of it, has a good time with it. We will see where we're going from there.

We won't be playing tomorrow. I'm just throwing the idea out here so that those interested might step forward and that we can discuss the game before hand.

I am still looking through the History of Praemal to try and select the most appropriate time period for what I have in mind. I'm going to use the base concept of the town and try to make it reflect AD&D, rather than have Ptolus somehow using AD&D as a side-dish (which would be completely contrary to one of Ptolus' core concepts, i.e. that it is basically a reflection of the game in a microcosm).

This is a town that is growing on top of a large dungeon. This is a known fact that created an effect similar to the Gold Rush, with many people from all over the Tarsis Empire coming to the area and improvising a career of adventurer (or "delver", as it were) for themselves. You guys would be amongst these people coming to town trying to strike it rich.

Details are still very much in flux at the moment.

So, at this point, I would like to know: who would be interested?

PS: Try to not spoil yourself about Ptolus. If you don't know the city, this actually might be more exciting to you in play. Now we're all adults, you do whatever you want. The way the city looks, the people that populate it etc are going to be different, of course. Still, there are going to be similarities, commonalities, echoes, so if you're curious about Ptolus and don't know much about it, that's not a problem, far from it. I'll post some information about what I'm coming up with and what the players are likely to know at some point.

PPS: Players interested as of yet
No maximum number of players, so if you want to join, just let me know in this thread.

Cole (*)
Cranewings (*)
Drohem (*)
Lilaxe (*)
Imperator (*)
Peregrin (*)
Sigmund (*)
skofflox (*)
TheDungeonDelver (*)
winkingbishop (*)

(*) Characters generated.
_______

Ptolus/AD&D Threads on the RPG Site
Pre-game Chat (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18639)
Player Characters (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18708)
Experience Points (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=19491)
Out-of-character thread #1 (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18732)
People and Places of Ptolus (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18805)
In-character thread #1 - The Gold Ladder (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18731)
In-character thread #1a - Delbaeth (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18765)
In-character thread #2 - Underground (part 1) (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18798)
In-character thread #2b - Limbus Sanguineum (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=19278)
In-character thread #3 - Back to the Surface (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=19691)

interested I am..will be downloading OSRICv2 soon...

got it...wow 400 pages...good stuff!

Cool. Don't rush. Read through it at your own pace.

We're not going to play right away so, you've got time. I need to brainstorm, put some stuff in writing, we'll discuss the game here to try to figure out what we want out of it, and I'll come up with something more fleshed-out from there.

:cool:
Will keep my eyes peeled for updates here as I peruse the tome!

I'm in.

Awesome. :)

I'm interested. Assuming real life doesn't eat me alive before the game starts, count me in.

Excellent. AD&D allows for large parties too, so there's no maximum number of players.
If you're interested, just say so. We'll make it work out for everyone involved, no matter how small/large the game is.

Also, questions, feedback and whatnot is welcome, of course.

Interested.  I'm happy and comfortable with the system.  The setting sounds fun but I won't go running off to buy the book, I would prefer the sense of discovery you described.

Quote from: winkingbishop;414692Interested.  I'm happy and comfortable with the system.  The setting sounds fun but I won't go running off to buy the book, I would prefer the sense of discovery you described.

I wish more players enjoyed that.  A good GM can do so much with that stuff.

I do have one question or request, provided I can join the game.  Could you describe or link to [your preferred] description of the mythology/religions/deities in the setting?  I'm certainly no "reluctant cleric" kind of guy :)

Of course you can join the game. :)

Ptolus is a fast-growing town. About twenty years ago the city started growing in the vicinity of Dalenguard, a fortress built close to the Spire to guard the outside world from a return of Ghul, the Skull King, who tried to conquer the world by using the nefarious powers sleeping there, atop and within the Spire, since times immemorial.

With people starting to show up in droves to create businesses, trade with the Shoal Elves or delve deep within the Dungeon to strike it rich, came all sorts of holy men, preachers and doomsayers of all faiths and confessions.

The main cult in town is the Church of Lothian, based on the martyr of a wandering preacher of the same name crucified centuries ago, which is closely tied to the Lion-guarded Throne, i.e. the Empire of Tarsis. But even the Church cannot control who believes what, and how, as the city grows in population and diversity. There are many, many different gods that are worshipped by people of certain cultures, faiths or allegiances.

There are thus many gods to choose from to create a Cleric. If you so desire, you can make up your own, or import it, and so on. We'd have to talk about it of course to see if that fits the setting at large, but yeah, if you feel like you really really want to play a Cleric of Thor, say, or Muir, there shouldn't be a problem.

PM me and I'll send you a list of gods already included in the setting.

Characters are going to be straight AD&D first level characters.

Many types of humans exist, just like in our world. Gnomes and Halflings are considered distant relatives of Elves. Elves themselves are usually Shoal Elves, similar to the Sindar/Tolkien types of elves, with a love ships and the sea, though there are also Harrow Elves, who are descendants of survivors from the tortures of Ghul, the Skull King, and are basically broken, scarred, misshapen elves. There are two main sub-groups of dwarves: the Grailwarden dwarves, and the Stonelost dwarves. Think of them as differing clans with a different history to them. They don't differ in actual stats. There's more obviously, but that's a start for you to chew on.

Ability scores are generated using Method I of the DMG: Roll 4d6, discard lowest, six times, then assign scores to chosen abilities. I basically trust you on the rolls. Just think that the game is based on the idea you roll your stats. It's more fun that way. If you want to spoil your fun and cheat (not that I think any of you would, but it's worth pointing out), that's your problem, but you're doing a disservice to yourself first and foremost. So think about it, try to play the game how it's supposed to be played, and you'll have more fun that way.

Now, I have some questions for you guys: what would you like to play? What characters, and what kind of game are you expecting, if any?

If I tell you that basically you have Ptolus, the city, and the underground levels, which basically imply that we'd have some dungeon crawling, and maybe some stuff unfolding above ground as well as your characters become known in town, make ties, friends/enemies, bring back some loot and all, does that sound cool to you?

I have no shortage of ideas. I just would like to know what you want out of the game.

Oh. Also? Level of lethality. This is AD&D. Characters are first level. Chances are, there are going to be some casualties. I'm not going to sugar-coat the dungeon to make life easier on you. It's a challenge, and you make the best of it. That's part of the fun. Are you guys okay with that?

Yup, sounds awesome.

I'm playing a wizard so I can show all the cry baby 3.75 Eberon kids you can make it work with one sleep spell and a crossbow.

Quote from: Benoist;414760Now, I have some questions for you guys: what would you like to play? What characters, and what kind of game are you expecting, if any?

I'll play whatever class is needed and will enjoy any game that isn't a pure tactical combat fest (unlikely in a 1e play-by-post, I know).

QuoteIf I tell you that basically you have Ptolus, the city, and the underground levels, which basically imply that we'd have some dungeon crawling, and maybe some stuff unfolding above ground as well as your characters become known in town, make ties, friends/enemies, bring back some loot and all, does that sound cool to you?

Exactly what I'm looking for. I have no knowledge of Ptolus, other than spending 30-40 minutes flipping through the book once, so an exploration game is fine by me.

QuoteOh. Also? Level of lethality. This is AD&D. Characters are first level. Chances are, there are going to be some casualties.

I would not expect anything else. :)

Quote from: Cranewings;414817Yup, sounds awesome.

I'm playing a wizard so I can show all the cry baby 3.75 Eberon kids you can make it work with one sleep spell and a crossbow.

It's more "one sleep spell and a hired goon with a crossbow" but, still, that's the spirit :)

thinking 1/2 orc, dwarf fighter or halfling (archer) thief depending on what others choose...a char. with fighting potential for sure so maybe even a Cleric, especialy if the group is large (1/2 orc&dwarf cleric could be cool,already formulating some background for that one).

Up for any type of adventures, a mix of crawl and City with possible forays into the outremer? No problem with metaplot if you have one in mind.

lethality can be whatever you like...

I appreciate some opportunities for dramatic dialogue.
Oh, are we going to use a d. roller like inv. castle?
cheers! :)

Quote from: Cranewings;414817I'm playing a wizard so I can show all the cry baby 3.75 Eberon kids you can make it work with one sleep spell and a crossbow.

Ah-ha! Awesome. And good luck! :D

Quote from: RandallS;414822I'll play whatever class is needed and will enjoy any game that isn't a pure tactical combat fest (unlikely in a 1e play-by-post, I know).

It won't be a pure tactical fest. To see the kind of stuff I can come up with in terms of dungeon, look at the Tower of St. Makhab sample level (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=17617). Might give you an idea.

Quote from: RandallS;414822Exactly what I'm looking for. I have no knowledge of Ptolus, other than spending 30-40 minutes flipping through the book once, so an exploration game is fine by me.

I would not expect anything else. :)

Excellent. Thanks for the feedback, mate.

Quote from: Cole;414825It's more "one sleep spell and a hired goon with a crossbow" but, still, that's the spirit :)

Oh yes, little note about this: Henchmen. With the city growing and people delving in the dungeon, there is a micro-economy based on its exploration that is growing as well. So there will be people for hire, carriers, supplies, all these sorts of things, readily available on the surface. This is part of the "D&D in a microcosm" aspect that is the core of Ptolus as a game experience.

Quote from: skofflox;414829thinking 1/2 orc, dwarf fighter or halfling (archer) thief depending on what others choose...a char. with fighting potential for sure so maybe even a Cleric, especialy if the group is large (1/2 orc&dwarf cleric could be cool,already formulating some background for that one).

OK. No need for a decision right this minute, but it's good to know where everybody's going. At some point I'll ask for definite answers, but we're not there yet. If you want to ask questions, wonder about this or that aspect of the game or background or whatnot, just ask.

What do you think of OSRIC so far?

Quote from: skofflox;414829Up for any type of adventures, a mix of crawl and City with possible forays into the outremer? No problem with metaplot if you have one in mind.

We're going to stay in Ptolus. Trust me, there is WAY more to it than meets the eye. ;)

Quote from: skofflox;414829lethality can be whatever you like...

Al-righty!

Quote from: skofflox;414829I appreciate some opportunities for dramatic dialogue.
Oh, are we going to use a d. roller like inv. castle?
cheers! :)

That deserves an answer of its own.

Yes. There will be opportunities for role playing. Not only in meeting say creatures or NPCs on the surface, but also in the dungeon. Some people or creatures might be hostile outright. Or you might create circumstances for parleys and such. It's mostly up to you guys, and how you decide to approach the game.

Now. For the dice, I'm of two minds. Personally, I don't mind if you guys actually roll real dice and just tell me the results in your post. Same thing as rolling for ability scores. But then, at the same time, I don't want anyone to be start believing anyone else's is cheating, so I can see the point in using a dice roller.

How do you guys feel about it?

Quote from: Benoist;414839*snip*
What do you think of OSRIC so far?

We're going to stay in Ptolus. Trust me, there is WAY more to it than meets the eye. ;)

Have only skimmed the surface but looks good...played lots of d&d/AD&D so familiar with mechanics!

Ptolus sounds very interesting,kinda like Sanctuary (Thieves World) with a T&T twist (well known dungeons needing adventurers)!
no problemo here boss...:D

Quote from: Benoist;414841That deserves an answer of its own.

Yes. There will be opportunities for role playing. Not only in meeting say creatures or NPCs on the surface, but also in the dungeon. Some people or creatures might be hostile outright. Or you might create circumstances for parleys and such. It's mostly up to you guys, and how you decide to approach the game.

Now. For the dice, I'm of two minds. Personally, I don't mind if you guys actually roll real dice and just tell me the results in your post. Same thing as rolling for ability scores. But then, at the same time, I don't want anyone to be start believing anyone else's is cheating, so I can see the point in using a dice roller.

How do you guys feel about it?

:cool:

I like to roll my own, but since this is a PbP and the flow of the game will be a bit jinky Inv. Castle (or whomever) might be a good idea to avoid any strangeness creeping in...so either way I guess!
;)

I'm super-interested, especially since I've never played a TSR version of D&D.

Count me in.  :)

Quote from: Benoist;414841Now. For the dice, I'm of two minds. Personally, I don't mind if you guys actually roll real dice and just tell me the results in your post. Same thing as rolling for ability scores. But then, at the same time, I don't want anyone to be start believing anyone else's is cheating, so I can see the point in using a dice roller.

How do you guys feel about it?

I would prefer working with a central online dice roller out of convenience. Since I'd just be posting on the go to begin with, I don't want to have to go about rolling physical dice when I'm checking my email, and if I'm going to be rolling virtually anyway, I think it'll speed things up to just centralize the rolling and the ruling into a handy central figure, or 'dungeon master,' if you will.

Quote from: Peregrin;414877I'm super-interested, especially since I've never played a TSR version of D&D.

Count me in.  :)

Awesome. :)

Quote from: Cole;414879I would prefer working with a central online dice roller out of convenience. Since I'd just be posting on the go to begin with, I don't want to have to go about rolling physical dice when I'm checking my email, and if I'm going to be rolling virtually anyway, I think it'll speed things up to just centralize the rolling and the ruling into a handy central figure, or 'dungeon master,' if you will.

OK. Invisible Castle would do it.

There's a stat roller on Invisible Castle too (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/roll/) - seems to work with 4d6.takeHighest(3), in case you didn't know (I didn't).

Quote from: Benoist;414899There's a stat roller on Invisible Castle too (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/roll/) - seems to work with 4d6.takeHighest(3), in case you didn't know (I didn't).

so roll char. @ Inv. Cas.?

If nobody's opposed to it, I think that's how we're gonna roll.
Don't bother assigning the roll before-hand, though. You'd just roll 4d6.takeHighest(3) six times, and then assign the six scores however you want.

I'm in, but you knew that already :D

Edit: Gonna be 1/2 orc fighter, wiling to be related to skofflox if he's taking 1/2 orc fighter :D Might be interesting... anyway, 1/2 orc fighter, will roll stats Sunday since it's late Sat atm and I've been driving all day and I'm tired. Inv Castle, got it. Will have the start of a char by Sun evening hopefully. Having a mini-Munchkin tournament at our house tomorrow though :) Very much looking forward to this Benny.

Which makes me think: totally good idea to have connections between characters and all. We could save some time by just deciding that the PCs know each other before hand.

Whether we start the game by having the party arriving in town, or just right there by the dungeon with a short intro and go from there, I haven't decided yet. I'm feeling the latter might be best. Like this, we get right into the meaty part, and then get to know more about the city as things unfold and PCs get back to the surface.

Also, on the surface, if you feel like it, don't hesitate to become part of the community. That is. If you want to open a store, or become a member of the guard, join a gang, preach in the street the greatness of your god to create a local temple, create a guild together, et cetera... I'm totally receptive to these kinds of ideas. I respond to whatever you guys decide to do, or not. It's a sandbox, in other words.

Quote from: Benoist;414957Which makes me think: totally good idea to have connections between characters and all. We could save some time by just deciding that the PCs know each other before hand.

There's a neat "100 Random Reasons 2 characters know each other" table here:

Give me a reason...or a hundred! (http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/08/give-me-reasonor-hundred.html)

Nice having a bunch of GM's trying to make this ultra smooth.  Ben deserves it, though...

Quote from: LordVreeg;415024Nice having a bunch of GM's trying to make this ultra smooth.  Ben deserves it, though...

Hey, thanks, mate!

That 100 Reasons sheet is pretty cool, Cole!

Quote from: Cranewings;414817Yup, sounds awesome.

I'm playing a wizard so I can show all the cry baby 3.75 Eberon kids you can make it work with one sleep spell and a crossbow.

You misspelled "one sleep spell and a dozen chianti bottles full of fuel-oil"

:D

Ben do you want us to post our characters up in public, stat-wise, or PM them to you.

I'm actually thinking of going with a "plain" human fighter, despite what I'd said earlier.

Cool. Send it to me via PM.
We might create a specific thread later with all the info so that we're not searching everywhere for it.

Alright, sent you my Character. His only equipment is his spell book, material components, dagger, bed roll, water, and blanket. He is eating other people's food, using other people's tents, and so on and so forth.

He is willing to come, but the tiny little guy isn't much of an athlete and can't be burdened with a heavy pack or he would never keep up. That's the price you pay if you want someone to cast Sleep on the bad guys for you :)

Quote from: Cole;414963There's a neat "100 Random Reasons 2 characters know each other" table here:

Give me a reason...or a hundred! (http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/08/give-me-reasonor-hundred.html)

If we're going to roll on B/X Blackrazor's random relationship chart, I also want to roll on his random crazy headgear (http://www.mediafire.com/?3skgjzaxc09pc6s) chart.

Nah. We're not going to roll on the chart. As inspiration for possible relationships between your characters, it's awesome, though. :)

Quote from: winkingbishop;415204I also want to roll on his random crazy headgear (http://www.mediafire.com/?3skgjzaxc09pc6s) chart.

That however, if you want (your choice individually) to roll on it for free, I have no problem with!

(it's because I want the PCs relationships to remain a choice between you guys, rather than getting pigeonholed into something you don't really want to play. The head pieces however, that could lead to some ideas/inspiration about your character, in-game jokes or reknown: "Oh you know that warrior that runs around half naked with a feathered helmet? Yeah. That guy" :D )

Half-orc Fighter:

Name: Tudd

Invisible Castle Grid Stats Gen roll... (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/grid/)

Final stat arrangement... (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/view/25440/)

Stats with racial adjustments applied...

Str - 16
Dex - 12
Con - 19
Int - 7
Wis - 14
Cha - 14

HP - 13 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2755937/)

Kinda different than I was hoping, but much like a character I played in my youth, so I'm gonna roll with it and perhaps channel a younger Sigmund :)

Anyway, will post the full character sheet in another post, but perhaps more notes in this one.

According to the random headgear generator he's wearing a pot helm, which fits, so there we go :)

Benny, I notice that his str is one too high for half orc racial max, should I redo him, or make him human, or drop it by one and add the point to con, or just drop it by one?

After switching str and con as Benoist suggested and adjusting for race I have arrived at the current stats.

Recalculated HPs using the same roll and new Con.

Cool. With you Sigmund, Cranewings and Dungeon Delver also generated their characters. Just for the record.

So we've got so far:

Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

No need to post your character here yet (I'll make a specific thread for this type of information later on, for ease of reference on the board).

Just send it to me via PM. :)

Hat --> *throw* --> Ring :D

Awesome. :D

You guys won't be needing henchmen at this rate!

Rissthil Tanlithrin
Figher/Magic-User/Thief
Ability Scores (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/roll/): STR: 17; DEX 16; CON: 12; INT: 16; WIS: 11; CHA: 11.

I'm almost finished with the full chargen, but in the interest of keeping the rest of the group informed:

Friar Otho Stoneshield: Dwarf Cleric

Are we rolling for hit points or are you just assigning maximum hit points at 1st level?

Quote from: Drohem;415280Are we rolling for hit points or are you just assigning maximum hit points at 1st level?

Roll. :D

Quote from: Benoist;415286Roll. :D

Oh shit.

Alright, I got a 4... I was a little nervous.

Quote from: Drohem;415264Rissthil Tanlithrin
Figher/Magic-User/Thief
Ability Scores (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/roll/): STR: 17; DEX 16; CON: 12; INT: 16; WIS: 11; CHA: 11.

If I got a stat line like that, I probably would have done the same thing. I guess I could also add thief, but it just doesn't seem right. I'm anxious to get that old school power.

Quote from: Cranewings;415297Oh shit.

Alright, I got a 4... I was a little nervous.

Kind of the point! :D

Welcome to AD&D guys. ;)

Quote from: Drohem;415264Rissthil Tanlithrin
Figher/Magic-User/Thief
Ability Scores (http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/roll/): STR: 17; DEX 16; CON: 12; INT: 16; WIS: 11; CHA: 11.

Shoal Elf I suppose?

Quote from: skofflox;414901so roll char. @ Inv. Cas.?

Quote from: Benoist;414924If nobody's opposed to it, I think that's how we're gonna roll.
Don't bother assigning the roll before-hand, though. You'd just roll 4d6.takeHighest(3) six times, and then assign the six scores however you want.

roger that.

Quote from: Sigmund;414947I'm in, but you knew that already :D

Edit: Gonna be 1/2 orc fighter, wiling to be related to skofflox if he's taking 1/2 orc fighter :D Might be interesting... anyway, 1/2 orc fighter, *snip* Very much looking forward to this Benny.

Blood thick Bro...I am game for that...how do you feel about a 1/2 orc Cleric in the family?

Quote from: Benoist;414957Which makes me think: totally good idea to have connections between characters and all. We could save some time by just deciding that the PCs know each other before hand.

Whether we start the game by having the party arriving in town, or just right there by the dungeon with a short intro and go from there, I haven't decided yet. I'm feeling the latter might be best. Like this, we get right into the meaty part, and then get to know more about the city as things unfold and PCs get back to the surface.

Also, on the surface, if you feel like it, don't hesitate to become part of the community. That is. If you want to open a store, or become a member of the guard, join a gang, preach in the street the greatness of your god to create a local temple, create a guild together, et cetera... I'm totally receptive to these kinds of ideas. I respond to whatever you guys decide to do, or not. It's a sandbox, in other words.

:cool::hmm:

Ben.,I will be finishing char. tomorrow then PM you!
:)

it starts with a name...Runch 1/2 Orc...?!
:D

I want in, I want in! Please, be patient with me, I only have played one of these things in my life. Downloading OSRIC, and creating an account at Invisible Castle.

Please?

Quote from: skofflox;415446it starts with a name...Runch 1/2 Orc...?!
:D

Sounds good to me. :)

Quote from: Imperator;415490I want in, I want in! Please, be patient with me, I only have played one of these things in my life. Downloading OSRIC, and creating an account at Invisible Castle.

Please?

No problem Ramon! Consider yourself in! :)

Quote from: Sigmund;415234Benny, I notice that his str is one too high for half orc racial max, should I redo him, or make him human, or drop it by one and add the point to con, or just drop it by one?

You could switch two stats for instance, like Str and Con, which would result in 17 Str and 18 Con if I'm not mistaken, which is still really, really good. You then recalculate the Hit Points and you're done.

So as far as characters go we've got so far (correct me if I'm wrong somewhere):

Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Friar Otho Stoneshield, Dwarf Cleric (winkingbishop)
Rissthil Tanlithrin, [Shoal Elf?] Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Drohem)
Runch, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief (skofflox)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

Quote from: Benoist;415510So as far as characters go we've got so far (correct me if I'm wrong somewhere):

Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Friar Otho Stoneshield, Dwarf Cleric (winkingbishop)
Rissthil Tanlithrin, [Shoal Elf?] Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Drohem)
Runch, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief (skofflox)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

I had "Ulas Xegg."

Gareth Six Fingers
Half-Elf, Thief. Alignment Chaotic Good

Invisible Castle rolls (//invisiblecastle.com/stats/view/25451/): STR 12 DEX: 16 CON 16 INT 14 WIS 11 CHAR 12 W00t!

HP roll (1d6+2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2756872/): 5.

I just realized that I could have assigned the rolls differently, but fuck it, they're awesome anyway.

OK, I rolled my stats and HP, got a class and alignment. What else should I be doing? Should I keep a PC sheet or will Benoist keep records?

Updated list:

Gareth Six Fingers, Half-Elf Thief (Imperator)
Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Friar Otho Stoneshield, Dwarf Cleric (winkingbishop)
Rissthil Tanlithrin, Shoal Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Drohem)
Runch, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief (skofflox)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ulas Xegg, Human Assassin (Cole)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

Quote from: Imperator;415526OK, I rolled my stats and HP, got a class and alignment. What else should I be doing? Should I keep a PC sheet or will Benoist keep records?

Roll for your starting money, buy some equipment. Send me the complete character via PM for me to have a look.

I'll create a specific thread later for everyone to repost their characters one after the other, so we can access them whenever we want as quickly as possible.

Quote from: Benoist;415304Shoal Elf I suppose?

Oops! :o  Yes, of course, he's an Shoal Elf.  

Here is a link to his ability scores' rolls (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/724739/).  Here's a link to his starting money roll, starting spells, starting age, and starting hit points (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/724756/).

PM with the character sheet sent.

Quote from: Benoist;415528Roll for your starting money, buy some equipment. Send me the complete character via PM for me to have a look.

I'll create a specific thread later for everyone to repost their characters one after the other, so we can access them whenever we want as quickly as possible.

OK, I'll get to it ASAP.

OK! List of characters above has been updated.

The names reek of AD&D.  I wonder how that works?

Quote from: LordVreeg;415575The names reek of AD&D.  I wonder how that works?

I don't understand what you are tying to communicate here.  Could you please elaborate?  :)

At first blush, it seems to me like you are shitting on us for our name choices.  Usually, you're a reasonable and affable guy so I'm left wondering what you meant by your comment.

Quote from: LordVreeg;415575The names reek of AD&D.  I wonder how that works?

I deliberately chose mine to sound "Gygaxian."

Quote from: Drohem;415576I don't understand what you are tying to communicate here.  Could you please elaborate?  :)

At first blush, it seems to me like you are shitting on us for our name choices.  Usually, you're a reasonable and affable guy so I'm left wondering what you meant by your comment.

"Reeks" technically doesn't demand that the smell be bad (though using it otherwise has become kind of an archaism) and I got the impression Vreeg was using it in a non pejorative sense.

Quote from: LordVreeg;415575The names reek of AD&D.  I wonder how that works?

I took it to the next level and got my name off of some shitty yahoo website of elven names. Nimten means "Deep Splinter" (:

Quote from: Drohem;415576At first blush, it seems to me like you are shitting on us for our name choices.  Usually, you're a reasonable and affable guy so I'm left wondering what you meant by your comment.

That's not Norm's style at all. I think he genuinely sees names that sound "AD&D" to him, and I agree, and he wonders why.

It's hard to put the finger on it. Part of it comes from anagrams on Gary's name, full of "z" and "x" like Zagyg, Ring of Gax, Yrag and so on. Another part I think is inherited from wargames, where you get German sounding names, for instance, so that's how Otho sounds Greyhawk-ian here, i.e. AD&Dish (and incidentally, very Ptolusite as well, since Ptolus is located on the Prustan Peninsula, which is partly inspired on German renaissance in the original setting, and will be obviously more medieval in this setting, to reflect AD&D, again).

Names definitely are part of the AD&D ambiance, and so far, the names we have totally fit the bill, whether by accident or purpose, doesn't matter, but they do!

Quote from: skofflox;415440Blood thick Bro...I am game for that...how do you feel about a 1/2 orc Cleric in the family?

Sweet. I have a feeling I'm going to need a good medic. Alot.

Quote from: Benoist;415507You could switch two stats for instance, like Str and Con, which would result in 17 Str and 18 Con if I'm not mistaken, which is still really, really good. You then recalculate the Hit Points and you're done.

I could indeed.

As for names, Tudd was the sound that occurred when he was born, so that's what his mammy called him :) At least he thinks that's how it went, he's not sure though. He does know that when someone says "Tudd", they're almost always talking to him, so he starts to listen to the pretty sounds their voices make and sometimes recognises a word or two.

Sorry I haven't gotten to making a char yet.  I've been sick as a dog with the flu or something and pretty-much slept through most of the weekend.

I'll probably get around to rolling one up today sometime.

It's alright mate. There's time. We're not playing right this minute (busy brainstorming here).

Quote from: Benoist;415590Names definitely are part of the AD&D ambiance, and so far, the names we have totally fit the bill, whether by accident or purpose, doesn't matter, but they do!

I think the naming conventions of The Fafhrd & Mouser stories (and do a lesser extent the Elric stories) also cast a long shadow over Gary's names for AD&D.

Quote from: Cole;415584"Reeks" technically doesn't demand that the smell be bad (though using it otherwise has become kind of an archaism) and I got the impression Vreeg was using it in a non pejorative sense.

I meant it very positively.  I got a good vibe, just from the names.

Quote from: Cole;415607I think the naming conventions of The Fafhrd & Mouser stories (and do a lesser extent the Elric stories) also cast a long shadow over Gary's names for AD&D.

Probably, yes. That's a good point.

Quote from: LordVreeg;415608I meant it very positively.  I got a good vibe, just from the names.

:cool:  My spider-sense is screwed up today.  Thanks for clarifying. :)

Hey guys, I'm starting to think about how to start the game, and I think it'd be good to just assume your characters made it to town, found a job, and start just at the entrance of the 'dungeon', i.e. exploration phase, if you will, so that we get right down to it. You get to explore some stuff, and later, as you come back up to the surface (IF you ever make it back :cool: ), you'll be free to explore up there or go back to the dungeon or whatnot.

How does that sound to you?

Quote from: Benoist;415674Hey guys, I'm starting to think about how to start the game, and I think it'd be good to just assume your characters made it to town, found a job, and start just at the entrance of the 'dungeon', i.e. exploration phase, if you will, so that we get right down to it. You get to explore some stuff, and later, as you come back up to the surface (IF you ever make it back :cool: ), you'll be free to explore up there or go back to the dungeon or whatnot.

How does that sound to you?

sounds good...right to the action!
Safe to assume Tudd and his bro.Runch are at the Dungeon entrance because they couldn't find a job (being a bit 'thick' and fresh from the cloistered bosom of mother church,and what a sweet tit it twas'.Guess they got sick of feeding us after all those years.)!
:)

Yeah,cool names all! Gods, I feel like I'm 14 again...full circle.

Quote from: Benoist;415674How does that sound to you?

That's totally fine with me Ben.

In case another player wants to establish a connection pre-game, here's a snippet:  This is Friar Othos' first trip into Ptolus under the most-holy pretense of improving human-dwarf relations by learning about city life (i.e. carousing, boozing and monster bashing).

Are we fighters able to use weapon specialization?

Quote from: Sigmund;415698Are we fighters able to use weapon specialization?

Yes.

Quote from: Benoist;415674Hey guys, I'm starting to think about how to start the game, and I think it'd be good to just assume your characters made it to town, found a job, and start just at the entrance of the 'dungeon', i.e. exploration phase, if you will, so that we get right down to it. You get to explore some stuff, and later, as you come back up to the surface (IF you ever make it back :cool: ), you'll be free to explore up there or go back to the dungeon or whatnot.

How does that sound to you?

Sounds good to me. I'm not sure who else in the party I would know - I'm human and have probably been working previously as a mercenary.

Quote from: Cole;415715Sounds good to me. I'm not sure who else in the party I would know - I'm human and have probably been working previously as a mercenary.

You could have met other humans on a battle field/war circumstances, for instance. Thieves in some illegal operations. Demi-humans during travels, or something completely different. A cleric could have tried to "save your soul" and failed... or is still trying? And so on. The important thing is to not make it too fleshed out, so that you can actually use it in any number of ways during the game. Your character's life is forward, in the future. :)

Quote from: Cole;415715Sounds good to me. I'm not sure who else in the party I would know - I'm human and have probably been working previously as a mercenary.

How's this Cole?

A roll on that table says that one of us almost ran the other down with their horse.  It makes far more sense for the stubby dwarf to be the near-miss.  Plus, I wouldn't own a horse.

In a shady inn outside of Ptolus, we decided to make amends.  One thing led to another and before you know it Othos forgot his wits and told the innkeeper how much he admired his mother's facial hair.

A hasty retreat followed.

LOL I don't know about Cole, he's the one who gets to agree or not with the particulars, but that's exactly the kind of stuff I had in mind: Short, yet effective. :D

Quote from: Benoist;415734LOL I don't know about Cole, he's the one who gets to agree or not with the particulars, but that's exactly the kind of stuff I had in mind: Short, yet effective. :D

Yeah, I was asking him. :)  Thought the quote would make that clear.  I edited it to clarify.

Quote from: winkingbishop;415733How's this Cole?

A roll on that table says that one of us almost ran the other down with their horse.  It makes far more sense for the stubby dwarf to be the near-miss.  Plus, I wouldn't own a horse.

In a shady inn outside of Ptolus, we decided to make amends.  One thing led to another and before you know it Othos forgot his wits and told the innkeeper how much he admired his mother's facial hair.

A hasty retreat followed.

"And this, Dwarf, is why I don't have a damned horse anymore!"

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/725450/

Raw Stats (after arranging):  STR 16, DEX 15, CON 13, INT 11, WIS 9, CHA 11

Adjusted:    STR 16, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 11, WIS 9, CHA 11

Name: Alonil
Race: Elf
Class: Fighter

Updated list:

Alonil, Shoal Elf Fighter (Peregrin)
Gareth Six Fingers, Half-Elf Thief (Imperator)
Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Friar Otho Stoneshield, Dwarf Cleric (winkingbishop)
Rissthil Tanlithrin, Shoal Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Drohem)
Runch, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief (skofflox)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ulas Xegg, Human Assassin (Cole)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

Quote from: Cole;415740"And this, Dwarf, is why I don't have a damned horse anymore!"

"And this, Ulas, is why I walk everywhere with a full money-pouch."

So counting single classes as "1" and multiclass instances as "1/2" (just for the sake of the count, don't read too much into it) we've got:

Classes
Fighters: 3.5
Clerics: 1.5
Thieves: 2
Magic-Users: 1.5
Assassin: 1

Races
Shoal Elves: 3
Dwarves: 1
Half Elves: 1
Half Orcs: 2
Humans: 2

Interesting!

Quote from: thedungeondelver;415786"And this, Ulas, is why I walk everywhere with a full money-pouch."

"It is not wise to talk so openly of one's money-pouch, Doomed One."

Quote from: Cole;415788"It is not wise to talk so openly of one's money-pouch, Doomed One."

"Hmph.  It empties of it's own accord readily enough after a night on Whore Street.  Then more warrens and tunnels and tombs to muck out.  Easy come, easy go."

Quote from: thedungeondelver;415793"Hmph.  It empties of it's own accord readily enough after a night on Whore Street.  Then more warrens and tunnels and tombs to muck out.  Easy come, easy go."

"As easy goes the life of many rich men on Whore Street. Ask me not how I know this."

Alright. I have some bad news: Randall had to bow out of the game because a family member is in the hospital right now. I won't share any more detail (it's not my place to do so), but if you want to send some good feelings his way, I don't think it would hurt, really.

Now, as far as the game's concerned, this basically means that, but for a few details with the characters here and there, they're basically all generated and ready to go. I'll have some news about the start of the game pretty soon. I'm mapping right now.

Take care, Randall.

Sorry to hear about your loved one Randall.  Best wishes to you and your family.  With any luck, you can join up with us in the future after we've earned a few TPKs.

Best wishes to you and yours Randall...:)

Hope things take a turn for the better Randall.

I'm sending warm, fuzzy, and positive energy your way Randall. :)

As far as the game goes, I have an idea for all the Shoal Elves.  I was thinking that we were sailors aboard a ship that was severely damaged in a recent storm, which barely limped into harbor.  The ship is going to be in dry dock for a good length of time, and so we elven sailors find ourselves in Ptolus and unemployed.  At the very least, this way all the elves can all start the game knowing each other.  What do you think?

No objection on my part. We are in the year 431 of the Imperial Age. The city was founded a little less than twenty years ago, and since then it quickly grew around the fortress of Dalenguard (I'll have a map later to show you).

Anyway. After painstaking work mostly dedicated to the creation of an artificial shoreline, the docks were finally completed in 417 IA. Now this picture here shows the Ptolus of a much later age, when the city grew to the shoreline and basically incorporated the docks themselves, but that'll give you an idea of the topography of the region from the sea:

(http://www.raingamers.org/wiki/images/2/21/Ptolus-from-sea.jpg)

With:

(http://enrill.net/images/play-by-posts/maps/Ptolus-from-sea01.jpg)

But yeah. Ok. I'm a bit off track here. Anyway, the ship idea would work.

What do the other elves think?

For your delectation...

Runch 1/2 Orc Cleric (Lvl 1)
Age:23  Hgt:6"2'  Wgt:169

Str: 16     Dex: 17    Con: 17    Int: 11     Wis: 14   Chr: 4

Infra: 60'
MV: 90'
ENC: 89
GP: 21 (150 @ start)

HP: 7 (1d.8+2 con.)
AC: 1 (chain,s.shield,Dex.-3)

Hvy. Flail 1d.6+1/2d.4 (+1 Str. mod)
2 hammers 1d.4+1/1d.4   "        "
(throwing hammers!)

Cure Lt. Wounds x3

no need to bore you with the equip. details...

and don't even think about mess'n with my bro.!
cool pic. Benoist.
:D

Best wishes, Randall. Hope everything turns out fine.

Holy fuck, that is a huge spire.

Hey, elven fellows, would you have a problem with a half-elf joining your merry company? Gareth is a nice, talkative guy, and is not (very) scared of work.

Quote from: skofflox;416039For your delectation...

Runch 1/2 Orc Cleric (Lvl 1)
Age:23  Hgt:6"2'  Wgt:169

Str: 16     Dex: 17    Con: 17    Int: 11     Wis: 14   Chr: 4

Infra: 60'
MV: 90'
ENC: 89
GP: 21 (150 @ start)

HP: 7 (1d.8+2 con.)
AC: 1 (chain,s.shield,Dex.-3)

Hvy. Flail 1d.6+1/2d.4 (+1 Str. mod)
2 hammers 1d.4+1/1d.4   "        "
(throwing hammers!)

Cure Lt. Wounds x3

no need to bore you with the equip. details...

and don't even think about mess'n with my bro.!
cool pic. Benoist.
:D

Lol, rockin... I see Runch got the brains and Tudd got the looks :D

Quote from: Imperator;416042Hey, elven fellows, would you have a problem with a half-elf joining your merry company? Gareth is a nice, talkative guy, and is not (very) scared of work.

Sure, that would be cool. :)

Quote from: Drohem;416094Sure, that would be cool. :)

It is done, then :) I was sailing on that ship, escaping from my previous employers, or from some victims of my deeds, as Benoist sees fit. Obviously, after some weeks of laboring in a ship, I'd prefer to scout a dungeon that have another honest job like, ever.

During the course of the trip I made friends with the Shoal Elves, who were not very worried about my mixed heritage. I envision Gareth as an easygoing guy, curious and friendly.

Also, no one in Ptolus knows me or my nefarious reputation. It's good to have a clean slate and a whole new city to play in :D

Quote from: Imperator;416099It is done, then :) I was sailing on that ship, escaping from my previous employers, or from some victims of my deeds, as Benoist sees fit.

Nope. As you see fit, my friend. :)

Rolling for starting cash (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2759456/), I get an average 70 gp. After buying my gear and stuff I'm short by 12 gp. Some friendly mate culd lend me that sum? Gear is expensive.

Benoist, I'm sending you a PM with a Word doc attached with all the stats, except for the encumbrance of the equipment. But I'm pretty sure that I'm not overloaded.

Cool. And I'm fine with someone lending some money to that poor soul (;)), of course, since you guys know each other already!

Quote from: Benoist;416106Nope. As you see fit, my friend. :)

Then, I'm escaping from some Guild of Thieves because I unknowingly broke some rule about the turf, and stole a loot that some veteran thief wantd for the guild. As I quickly spent all of it on whores and ale, I was unable to pay the fine the guild wanted to impose me, unless I was ready to let them break my legs or something like that. So I got myself as a novice sailor into the first ship I could find, which happened to be headed to Ptolus.

I don't think they followed me, because no one would believe I got a honest job. But you never know. I'm vigilant, just in case.

Awesome. Works for me.

This is my guy, people.

Gareth Six – Fingers
Half-Elf. Thief. Level 1. Chaotic Good. 39 years. 5 ft 8 inches tall, 135 lbs.

STR 12 (ENC adjustment +10, Minor tests 1-2, Major tests 4%)
DEX: 16 (+1 surprise, +1 Missile, -2 AC)
CON 16 (+2HP/HD, 96% Resurrection, 95% System Shock)
INT 14 (5 additional languages)
WIS 11
CHAR 12 (5 henchmen)

HP 5. AC 6 (leather + DEX), THAC0 20

Saving throws:
Aimed magic items (14)
Breath Weapons (16)
Death/paralysis/poison (13)
Petrification/Polymorph (12)
Spells (15)

Racial abilities
30% resistance to charm / sleep spells. Infravision 60 ft, MOV 120 ft. Detect secret doors 2/6, concealed doors 3/6, 1/6 detection on passing within 10ft (only concealed).

Thief abilities, all adjustments included
Backstab (+4 to hit, x2 damage)
Thieve's Cant
Climb 80%
Find Traps 25%
Hear Noise 10%
Hide in Shadows 25%
Move Quietly 20%
Open Locks 35%
Pick Pockets 45%
Read Languages 1%

Weapon proficiencies: Long sword, dagger

Equipment: Dagger, long sword, short bow, leather armor, backpack, caltrops, crowbar, loaded dice, flint & steel, grappling hook, thief tools.

Money: -12 gp (ew).

Hope everything's OK. If you find some mistake, let me know.

I'll loan you the 12 sense we speak the same alignment language. (:

Ben, as far as picking languages, what are the ones we are likely to know (or find useful?)

Some languages of Praemal:

Abyssal: self-explanatory.
Charad: language of the titans of old. Only known of elven scholars.
Common (Imperial): Also New Prustan. The basic language every speaks. You got that one automatically.
Old Prustan: Archaic form of the Imperial language used in scholarly works. Shares some similarities with the dwarven language.
Draconic: self-explanatory.
Dwarvish: self-explanatory.
Elvish: self-explanatory.
Elder Elvish: Archaic form of elven language. Very few people still know it.
Gnomish: self-explanatory. Derived from Elder Elvish.
Halfling: self-explanatory. A mix of Elder Elvish and Westron.
Orcish: self-explanatory. A mix of Abyssal and Westron, mostly.
Palastani: An old human regional tongue, from the area of Ptolus. Not looked upon favorably by the Imperial authorities.
Nallish: Crude language of the barbarians of the Northern and Eastern edges of the Empire.
Undercommon: A mix of Elder Elvish, Abyssal and Draconic spoken by a variety of people of the depths. Very rarely known by people of the surface.
Uraqi: language from the far south. Uraq was once a very powerful nation, a few hundred years ago. Today, it is part of the Empire, and has been for the past 250 years or so.
Westron: One of the oldest human languages, it was a common tongue a long, long time ago, way before the days of the Empire. Some believe this language was given to humanity by the dawn of times by the Creator himself.

Behold Ylarum the Doomed in all his 1st level glory...

Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Alignment: CN with good tendencies
HP: 10

S - 18/85 +2 to-hit/+4 damage, open doors on a 1-4 (d6), bend bars/lift gates 30%
I - 9  +1 languages (elven (elvish?))
W - 10
D - 17 +3 reaction -2 defense
C - 17 +3 hp/level
Ch - 15 - Maximum 7 henchmen +15% morale +15% leadership

Proficient in: broadsword, longsword, dagger, spear

AC: 3(4) - Chainmail, shield
Weapon in-hand: Broadsword (1d8+4), +2 to-hit
Off-hand: Small shield

He normally wears durable, functional cloak and robe, with high riding boots that bespeak his plainsman heritage.  On the march, he carries a few sundry goods in his leather backpack - 1 week normal rations and a week's iron rations, chalk, parchment and charcoal for making quick maps, and the like.

Movement rate is 12"

...

Ylarum has a small retinue of hirelings:

Two bearers, humans both (Liir and Dallow) each with two large sacks and a 10' pole to use to haul goods and loot and 50' of stout rope

A linkboy (Snave) with 2 wax candles, 20 torches, 2 flasks of oil, a hooded lantern, flint and steel, and a 10' pole with hook to carry the lamp on.

He also has employed two heavy footmen (Tarm and Json, both humans) with padded armor and (small, wooden) shield (ac 7) (footman Tarm has 4 HP, footman Json has 6) for whatever fortune holds for us.  Their primary employ is as a second rank, striking with pole arms over/around us during melee, and secondarily providing a vanguard for the other hirelings on the march.

Despite his mercurial and moody nature, Ylarum wouldn't abandon his men out of hand if he could help it.  Besides, coming back from an adventure without at least a few of the men he left with would seriously narrow his prospects for hiring others.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;416369Besides, coming back from an adventure without at least a few of the men he left with would seriously narrow his prospects for hiring others.

Take note, folks :)

*snickers* :D

BTW, I just got tired of translating square kilometers to square miles, then to feet, so you know... :D

Quote from: Cranewings;416202I'll loan you the 12 sense we speak the same alignment language. (:

Cool! I'm in your debt.

Alright. Internet was down yesterday, and it's back today.
I've been doing some prep for the game, and we should be able to start fairly soon. :)

Have room for 1 more? My first PbP :)

If so, are you using the two stats over 15 rule or reroll?

Lileks?!  Jim Lileks?  Man, I love your website and your Gallery of Regrettable Food and -

Oh, wait, sorry.

:D

Aloha Lilaxe !
:)

Quote from: Lilaxe;417023Have room for 1 more? My first PbP :)

If so, are you using the two stats over 15 rule or reroll?

Welcome, dude! Sending you a PM! :)

My internet connection crashed again soon after I posted here on this thread and it just came back now. It might crash again. I know some guys are working on it right now. Everything should be back to normal for me by Tuesday, hopefully.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;416369Ylarum has a small retinue of hirelings:

Two bearers, humans both (Liir and Dallow) each with two large sacks and a 10' pole to use to haul goods and loot and 50' of stout rope

A linkboy (Snave) with 2 wax candles, 20 torches, 2 flasks of oil, a hooded lantern, flint and steel, and a 10' pole with hook to carry the lamp on.

He also has employed two heavy footmen (Tarm and Json, both humans) with padded armor and (small, wooden) shield (ac 7) (footman Tarm has 4 HP, footman Json has 6) for whatever fortune holds for us.  Their primary employ is as a second rank, striking with pole arms over/around us during melee, and secondarily providing a vanguard for the other hirelings on the march.

How are the various names pronounced?

In the case of my character, it's basically like "Oo-loss Zegg."

Peregrin's on hiatus right now. He's not feeling too good (health issues).

Get well, mate! We'll keep a seat warm for your return! :)

Lilaxe has not come back to me yet with a character. I'll give a bit more time for him to catch up, and I'll be working out a few details in the meantime. We start right after.

Now for a few conventions: I'll generally wait for a day after a post to let people catch up (especially for combat situations), unless this is basic conversation with an NPC, or descriptive stuff that can be answered on the spot, that kind of thing. So sometimes the game's going to move fast with lots of posts, and sometimes it's going to slow down dramatically because it'll require us to have feedback from all players involved. This is to be expected.

Peregrin's character is left out of the game for now with possibility to come to the game at a later point.

If anyone else becomes idle for some reason, I would not want us to wait more than a day before being able to move on, however. This means that either the character becomes idle/henchman, in effect, until the player comes back, and/or players designate before hand someone else to take charge of their character during their absence (it'd be the Caller, by lack thereof).

An additional precaution we could be taking to make the game move on would be to designate a Caller, basically. This is the person who basically speaks for the group as a whole when/if I need clarification. This doesn't mean the Caller's character is the leader of the group at all. This means that the player is a communication link between me and the rest of the group if I need unified answers in the OOC thread, make a decision for people who are not here to post after a day, or whatnot (see p. 138-139 of the OSRIC rules if you're unclear what a Caller is and isn't).

Thinking out loud here. What do you think?

Quote from: Benoist;417482Thinking out loud here. What do you think?

In principle, I think you're developing a good plan.  I would certainly like to give everyone an opportunity to act in a combat round, but if we wait for people to post longer than a day for feedback things are going to drag.

I don't personally have a problem with nominating a sub or handing control over to the Caller when necessary, but I think we're going to run into some issues unless we establish some guidelines on how long one has to be idle before a sub takes over.

Just to be clear: the Caller doesn't get any special information. He's just a player like any other up to the point some other player disappears for a few days, or there is some specific situation that calls for a unified group answer. Then the Caller centralizes the group's feedback and presents me with an answer. This is not something I expect to do all the time. Ideally, he will not be required to step up, at all.

Now, how long does it take before the Caller makes the call for a player who isn't here to play? I was thinking between one and two days.

Alternately, instead of designating a set Caller, we could rotate or have a table like this when needed:

DM rolls 1d10:

1 - Cole
2 - Cranewings
3 - Drohem
4 - Lilaxe
5 - Imperator
6 - Peregrin
7 - Sigmund
8 - skofflox
9 - TheDungeonDelver
10 - winkingbishop

If player in question is not there, I reroll. :D

If the characters are involved in a combat situation, then I think that a once day turn around on posting is reasonable.  Outside of combat, I would probably be a little more lenient; something like three days.  After that a designated person (DM, Caller, or otherwise) can make any critical decisions for the absent character.

I have no problem with a Caller, being the Caller, rotating the duty, or rolling randomly for the duty.  :)

Quote from: Cole;417471How are the various names pronounced?

Liir like Lear, Dallow like tallow, Snave like knave, Tarm like Harm, Json like...well, like that.  Not like Jason.  There's a stop after the J.  The J is more like a soft G.

'zat help?

Quote from: Drohem;417508If the characters are involved in a combat situation, then I think that a once day turn around on posting is reasonable.  Outside of combat, I would probably be a little more lenient; something like three days.  After that a designated person (DM, Caller, or otherwise) can make any critical decisions for the absent character.

I have no problem with a Caller, being the Caller, rotating the duty, or rolling randomly for the duty.  :)

this...

Likewise

I'm cool with it, be it a fixed position or a rotation.

Just got back home last night at 11pm, will be at work in an hour or so, so I will get stats rolled then. I have no problem with a caller.

I am self employed, and don't work on computers, so sometimes I'll be in the workshop all day, sometimes not. Also, I have been visiting my mother in hospital which is 6 hours away so there will be the odd day where I'm unable to post, even on my iPhone.  So if you don't hear from me, don't worry I am around!

Quote from: Lilaxe;417589Just got back home last night at 11pm, will be at work in an hour or so, so I will get stats rolled then. I have no problem with a caller.

I am self employed, and don't work on computers, so sometimes I'll be in the workshop all day, sometimes not. Also, I have been visiting my mother in hospital which is 6 hours away so there will be the odd day where I'm unable to post, even on my iPhone.  So if you don't hear from me, don't worry I am around!

It's alright, Lil. I hope your mom is OK. Your priorities are in the right place.

If I don't hear from you during the next 24 hours or so and I will launch the game, and you'll be in the same position as Peregrin: able to jump in the game whenever you show up. So no worries!

Thanks for letting us know, mate. :)

Quote from: Drohem;417508If the characters are involved in a combat situation, then I think that a once day turn around on posting is reasonable.  Outside of combat, I would probably be a little more lenient; something like three days.  After that a designated person (DM, Caller, or otherwise) can make any critical decisions for the absent character.

Just want to point out that sounds good to me. It's not any hard rules or anything, anyway. My intention is more to lay out the basic principles and expectations right up front, so that everybody's aware and nobody's surprised if that type of situation occurs. :)

We'll see how that plays as we go, anyway!

This being the first (2nd counting an abortive attempt at a star trek game) pbp RPG I've played, how exactly do we do critical die rolls?  Now, I was on fire when I rolled up my character, so much so that I felt weird possibly taking a hard-to-get class (which is why I went for a vanilla fighter), so how do we manage to-hits, saves, spell damage, potion efficacy, etc?

I've seen some folks link to on-line verifiable die rollers, how do those work?

Quote from: thedungeondelver;417664This being the first (2nd counting an abortive attempt at a star trek game) pbp RPG I've played, how exactly do we do critical die rolls?  Now, I was on fire when I rolled up my character, so much so that I felt weird possibly taking a hard-to-get class (which is why I went for a vanilla fighter), so how do we manage to-hits, saves, spell damage, potion efficacy, etc?

I've seen some folks link to on-line verifiable die rollers, how do those work?

It's really easy. Just create an account on Invisible Castle, and you can use the Roll Dice link to make any roll you need. It's just filling in a form, and then you are provided with the outcome, and several differently formatted links for posting.

Yeah, in case you care to see it by example...

Initiative to answer post (1d10=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2767199/)

or..

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2767199/

You can add in all sorts of extra data if you want (your character's name, the campaign name, the purpose of the roll) but the essential thing is creating the account and getting the roll timestamped for Ben.

This is my roll.

invisiblecastle.com/stats/view/25509/

arranged as I like:
STR: 13
INT: 17
WIS: 11
DEX: 16
CON: 13
CHA: 13

(half elves get no stat changes)

"Smeads" Half Elven Magic-User/Thief

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2767481/

3.5 HP

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2767499/

starting money 95gp - Ill PM with what I buy.

Ill sort out the rest of the skills and PM that as well

Excellent. :)

Excellent; thank you for the die roller thing.

Ben (and everyone else), here's an idea I had...one of the chief hitches of a PbP game is that it tends to lack a visual element - sure we might put quick ascii diagrams of ongoings, but I was wondering if anyone would like me to throw together some dwarven forge and miniatures of various battle scenes as we fight them out.  It might help clarify our tactical situation a bit (note - I tend to think of Dwarven Forge plus miniatures as an abstraction or just something that's cool to look at, not in the whole "battle-grid-I'll-move-8-squares-and-feystep" crap that 4e is - that's NOT what I'm suggesting).

Thoughts?

EDIT: and also, I would only really do this for rooms that merited it or particularly onerous areas to explore, not for mapping out every 10' square.  I got caves, too, as needed...

Part of the reason it took some time for me to work things out is that I've been mapping furiously during the last few days (you'll understand why later). I can host pictures and all, so that shouldn't be a problem in that regard. I'll include some points of reference for you to be able to tell me stuff like "I move to the pile of junk by area B3 and start searching there," that kind of thing. Then I'll update positions and post the new map, and so on.

I thought about using some miniatures, DF, etc at some point. Probably will, as a matter of fact. :)

Quote from: Benoist;417818Part of the reason it took some time for me to work things out is that I've been mapping furiously during the last few days (you'll understand why later). I can host pictures and all, so that shouldn't be a problem in that regard. I'll include some points of reference for you to be able to tell me stuff like "I move to the pile of junk by area B3 and start searching there," that kind of thing. Then I'll update positions and post the new map, and so on.

I thought about using some miniatures, DF, etc at some point. Probably will, as a matter of fact. :)

Okay so YOU got that, cool.  Pick me a good mini ;)

Quote from: thedungeondelver;417820Okay so YOU got that, cool.  Pick me a good mini ;)

I was more thinking of not choosing minis for you guys at all. More like taking pictures of what you guys see, rather than your characters. See what I mean? Of course, if you've got a miniature in mind, you can always post a link or pic here (or the future OOC thread) and I'll see if I've got it or can pick it up later on. Always searching for cool minis anyway!

On the maps I'm going to use when we start the game, I'm just going to use round tokens with your names or initials. If you've got a pic you'd like me to use instead for your character, shoot me a PM! And for God's sakes, if you do so, please choose something AD&Dish, not uber-high fantasy dungeonpunk bullshit. Thanks. LOL

Quote from: Benoist;417822I was more thinking of not choosing minis for you guys at all. More like taking pictures of what you guys see, rather than your characters. See what I mean? Of course, if you've got a miniature in mind, you can always post a link or pic here (or the future OOC thread) and I'll see if I've got it or can pick it up later on. Always searching for cool minis anyway!

On the maps I'm going to use when we start the game, I'm just going to use round tokens with your names or initials. If you've got a pic you'd like me to use instead for your character, shoot me a PM! And for God's sakes, if you do so, please choose something AD&Dish, not uber-high fantasy dungeonpunk bullshit. Thanks. LOL

Ah, I got you.

Gonna be tough on that 2nd part; Reaper has been breaking my heart for a few years now (for a while now they've jumped straight into the whole spiky dungeonpunk nonsense).

Now don't kill me for the ugliness, but I just whipped up this example in five minutes to show you what I'm talking about:

(http://enrill.net/images/play-by-posts/maps/example01.jpg)

With (Yl) Ylarum, (Ot) Otho, Ulas Xegg (Ux), Rissthil (Rt), Orcs (O1-3) and a Giant (G).

You can then tell me: "Ylarum runs past Ulas towards [E1] and throws his axe at the Orc peaking from the corridor (O1). He will then take position on top of the corpse and guard that access to the room at all costs."

That kind of thing. Like around the table when you point at a map or refer to something the DM described to you.

Quote from: Benoist;417832Now don't kill me for the ugliness, but I just whipped up this example in five minutes to show you what I'm talking about:

(http://enrill.net/images/play-by-posts/maps/example01.jpg)

With (Yl) Ylarum, (Ot) Otho, Ulas Xegg (Ux), Rissthil (Rt), Orcs (O1-3) and a Giant (G).

You can then tell me: "Ylarum runs past Ulas towards [E1] and throws his axe at the Orc peaking from the corridor (O1). He will then take position on top of the corpse and guard that access to the room at all costs."

That kind of thing. Like around the table when you point at a map or refer to something the DM described to you.

Okay but here's the actual course of action:

"Ylarum runs past Ulas, sees the orc...then the giant behind it and spends the rest of the round fucking running." (being 1st level and all :lol: )

Welcome to actual Dungeons and fucking Dragons, folks! :D

(Yes, this particular scenario MAY happen, and if it does, it'll actually make sense)

Quote from: Benoist;417843Welcome to actual Dungeons and fucking Dragons, folks! :D

(Yes, this particular scenario MAY happen, and if it does, it'll actually make sense)

Haha, yes, but running away often makes a great deal of sense too.

Quote from: Cole;417847Haha, yes, but running away often makes a great deal of sense too.

OHHH for sure it does! Of course!

In that kind of situation, taking on a giant at level 1 up front, you guys should have a death wish! LOL :D

Quote from: Benoist;417822I was more thinking of not choosing minis for you guys at all. More like taking pictures of what you guys see, rather than your characters. See what I mean? Of course, if you've got a miniature in mind, you can always post a link or pic here (or the future OOC thread) and I'll see if I've got it or can pick it up later on. Always searching for cool minis anyway!

On the maps I'm going to use when we start the game, I'm just going to use round tokens with your names or initials. If you've got a pic you'd like me to use instead for your character, shoot me a PM! And for God's sakes, if you do so, please choose something AD&Dish, not uber-high fantasy dungeonpunk bullshit. Thanks. LOL

I already posted Tudd's pic, but I can send it to you if ya like.

Quote from: Benoist;417853OHHH for sure it does! Of course!

In that kind of situation, taking on a giant at level 1 up front, you guys should have a death wish! LOL :D

TUDD SMASH! Uh... where you guys go? Uh... Tudd smash later....
Hey yous guys wait for Tudd....

Quote from: Sigmund;417911I already posted Tudd's pic, but I can send it to you if ya like.

Nah it's cool. I saw it, and forgot about it (thanks for reminding me!).
If you could repost your character on that thread (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18708), however, that'd be awesome. :)

Updated Player Characters List:

Gareth Six Fingers, Half-Elf Thief (Imperator)
Nimten, Shoal Elf Magic User (Cranewings)
Friar Otho Stoneshield, Dwarf Cleric (winkingbishop)
Rissthil Tanlithrin, Shoal Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief (Drohem)
Runch, Half-Orc Cleric (skofflox)
Smeads, Half-Elf Thief/Magic User (Lilaxe)
Tudd, Half-Orc Fighter (Sigmund)
Ulas Xegg, Human Assassin (Cole)
Ylarum the Doomed, Human Fighter (TheDungeonDelver)

So, just to check I got this straight: you guys basically agreed that the elves and half-elves arrived together at the docks on the same ship (that'd include Smeads/Lilaxe, if everyone's okay with it).

The Half-orcs are brothers.

Otho and Ulas Xegg (and Ylarum?) met in a local tavern, ran into some trouble there and left/were ejected/whatever the case may be, together.

Is that all correct?

He can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe skoflox was going to make Runch a straight cleric rather than cleric thief

Quote from: Sigmund;417940He can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe skoflox was going to make Runch a straight cleric rather than cleric thief

Oh yes. That's correct. Thanks for reminding me!

I'm entirely OK with "meet in a tavern, get thrown out".  The old, oft-used tropes are oft-used because they're good standards :)

Ulas probably knows those who are familiar faces in the dockside districts, etc., having found employment in the past ensuring payment from the clients of ladies of the profession, guarding shipments of unmarked crates, telling people to move on along after hearing sounds of struggle in alleys, and the like.

Quote from: Benoist;417938So, just to check I got this straight: you guys basically agreed that the elves and half-elves arrived together at the docks on the same ship (that'd include Smeads/Lilaxe, if everyone's okay with it).

I'm fine with that.

OK. Cool.

I wanted to start today, went on with my prep, but I woke up for absolutely no reason at 4:00 AM this morning, and now (3:00 PM here) I really feel like shit.

We start the game tomorrow. That'll give me the occasion to sleep a little!

Cranky DMs do no one any good.

And I got a snow storm this afternoon, AND the power went out. It's been back for about an hour and a half now, so I guess it'll hold up for now. Still! Internet crashes for days, then I wake up at ungodly hours, then the electricity shuts down... fuck's sakes, man! LOL

Sounds a bit like one of my workweeks! I feel ya pain.

somebody put a quarter in the Benoist and press "Player 1 Start".

:D

I'm ready to get my game on!

Quote from: thedungeondelver;418313somebody put a quarter in the Benoist and press "Player 1 Start".

:D

I'm ready to get my game on!

I tried that and it just giggled.

where did you press it??????

Quote from: Lilaxe;418316where did you press it??????

I don't want to talk about it...

Thanks for the mental images guys, I'm off to kill myself!

:rotfl:

man am I ready to throw it down...

Alright. My internet crashed again, as I'm sure you've guessed. We'll be starting momentarily.