Out of Character discussion:

Oh jeez! There was a whole lot of convo on this thread I. The last few days I hadn’t seen! The pole arms in Moldvay B/X (OSE) do not have reach. They are useful for charging enemies, but that’s about it, I believe, off the top of my head.

I was gonna say a bit about recruitment stuff, but I’ll leave that be for now until the party returns to town. I’ll wait until tomorrow to post, in case @KCC has anything to add tonight.

I'm still around. I haven't read too many of the IC posts as I wouldn't have that knowledge while unconscious. I'm unsure about sticking around, although that doesn't have anything to do with how the game is run. I like my character of Bors, but I'm not sure if genuine OSR games are up my alley. It's very realistic and gritty, but doesn't have any wild or exciting features to break up that grittiness. While I don't usually play high power fantasy games, I think playing a regular dude with no special abilities isn't much fun either lol.

If it makes a difference, I think you can RAW claim the moathouse as soon as we clear it. Most other classes/ancestries have more requirements including level prereqs.

But I get it. Especially in a play-by-post where you have to wait a day or two (on a good week) to be able to say "I swing my sword." Out of curiosity, would you feel different if Bors were a Knight or a Paladin where he didn't have wild abilities, but auras to hand out?

Lmfao!! Pretty good remix

@KCC, do we want to touch base on our characters? It sounds like Gilly really doesn't trust Eltrezar at this point. Which could either make for some great roleplay or some really awful tension.

I locked the other thread for a moment before we distribute XP and what not, but yes, I think we have some things to discuss to I'll start by dropping some prompts...

1. What are we thinking each party member is going to do entering town? Any errands? Shopping? Visits?

2. What's up with Gilly and Eltrezar. Not just from @KCC's and @cowleyc's perspective, but from Maloria, or Bors's when he awakens?

3. Experience... Not a lot was earned, to be honest. Some monster killing, but little by way of loot (I'm surprised the group opted not to ransack the armory to come back and sell. That would have greatly helped the XP situation). I am considering adding the value of Kobort's warhorse and weapons to the loot pile, only because I know something the players weren't privy too.
That said, you've earned about 600-650 for monsters slain/outwitted/survived. That's about 200ish apiece if distributed evenly. The rules also say as DM can make "Discretionary Bonuses and Penalties", meaning I can give bonuses for characters that did particularly well or penalize those that didn't pull their fair share of the weight. So I think we know where this is going.
I'll let the group decide... We can do equal division across the table as we always have, or we can do "Discretionary Bonuses and Penalties". But as DM I'll also give heads up that if we do "Discretionary Bonuses and Penalties", I think a strong argument could be made that maybe Eltrezar should be penalized a bit for fleeing to save his own skin at a key moment in the explorations.
I also think a good argument could be made that, having remained in the hole below, with no light, no weapons, and no means of defending herself and others, nevertheless pressed forward and found a means of getting Mal and Bors out alive, Gilly should be given a bonus this "session". So consider that when you make your vote.

1. Mal is gonna start recruiting an army, at least 4 new hirelings and she will likely start her recruitment at the church when she goes to tithe and beg for holy water/potions.

2. Mal wasn't privy to Eltrezar's very human bout of fear and self preservation instinct so she has no hard feelings towards him. As a cleric of Cuthbert she already has a healthy skepticism of sorcery but knows it is a tool to be used when needed.

3. Frankly I feel the opposite regarding XP penalties for Eltrezar's "betrayal," I think that was an excellent bit of roleplaying and very much in character for the cynical, authoritarian old mage. Likely a very difficult RP to carry out given that Cowleyc had to have known how it would ostracize Eltrezar from the group. I'd give both Gilly AND the wizard some bunus XP for making the scene so much more cinematic. And probably better give Mal a big ol' bonus too... For reasons.

Interesting take on #3... Making note of it.

Yeah make that note... Especially the last bit ;)

No, I don't think any class would make much of a difference. I think I'm just ruined by other games where classes can do more cool things lol. Combat is only exciting if there are options, and there aren't too many in low-level games like this I think. Bors was almost killed so I think it fits in character if he retires after he recovers in town.

I also think that maybe it’s time for Gilly to depart too. I just don’t think she has any business heading back to the fort again!

Oh! Are we talking like we’re losing two players then, or just two characters?

It sounds like one player at least (Nezzy Furtado). Hopefully just one player and one character!

It's just gonna be Mal and the old buzzard wizard?

That's a bummer, I really liked Bors's madcap antics. And Gilly, that'll be a hard loss, like if Samwise quit on the way to Mordor! She has become the soul and moral barometer of the group.

So, full disclosure, I had a plan for when Eltrezar left. I performed that action as it is exactly what he should have done. He was unarmed and defenseless, and the ghouls had just plowed through his team. So he fled. He was planning on returning to town, writing out contracts for the new hirelings to sign (including the players) making them unequal until they had proven themselves otherwise. And then he'd have grabbed some holy waters from the church, marched his butt back down to the moathouse, and dropped the bandit corpses down the ladder as bait. But I was going to actually write out the contracts for in the game, using all sorts of Eltrezar-esque language. Something super condescending, but not legally binding.

The drawn-out combats are definitely an issue, one likely exacerbated by the fact that we are low level AND pretty outmatched. This is a very different game from D&D 5e, where level one characters can easily wipe out entire hordes of enemies within a turn or two.

While we’re sorting out our future, a quick reminder that the state championships kick off tonight. I’m about to get on the road for a 4-hour drive in a little bit here, and then I may be incommunicado until tomorrow or really late this evening, and then I’ll check in, probably no later than tomorrow morning , I hope.

Oh we are definitely underpowered and outmatched, but that was always the thrill of early D&D, real stakes, none of this full HP after a night of sleep stuff.

I have said it before but I think combat could be sped up if we use dump posting instead of individual initiative. A bit less realistic yes but it has sped up combat in many other games I am in. One initiative role for the enemy group, one for the players as a group, then everyone posts their actions and the DM makes a post describing everything that went down that round.

It would be a true bummer to lose you as a player KCC, and I hope whatever the outcome is that we don't shutter the game entirely.