Out of Character discussion:

So first things first, some thoughts on how you want to make characters for this game. My initial thoughts are:

1. I'm going to give each player their own character creation thread. In that thread you will make your ability rolls for up to three sets of characters simply by musing "Character Creation Roll #1" as the first roll, and "3d6, 3d6, 3d6, 3d6, 3d6, 3d6" under the dice to be rolled. Then repeat twice more (please don't roll up your characters here, it's going to get confusing, especially with seven possible players). You choose which of your three sets of rolls will be your character. The two unused sets will be kept on standby for backup. Should you character die (as is quite common in B/X D&D) and you wish to continue playing, you can make one new set of rolls and choose from either the new roll or one of your original two unused rolls for you backup character.
See post below for an example example. Again, please don't roll up your characters here, it's going to get confusing, especially with seven possible players.

2. Choosing classes is probably going to be the most glitchy hangup for this process. You have the core classes of B/X D&D (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, and Thief in the human category; and then Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling in the race-as-class category), and then you'll have the option of also choosing the "Advanced" classes, which reflect more closely to classes that were available to play in AD&D, but still keep true t the B?X rules of the game (acrobat, assassin, barbarian, bard, druid, illusionist, knight, paladin, and ranger for humans; drow, duergar, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, svirfneblin for race-as-class characters).
I think the easiest thing to do is for me to just make a separate thread where I post a photo of each class as it's layed out in the OSE Books and let you choose which one you wish to play based on the photos.

3. Does that make sense, or are there any questions?

I recall you mentioning the 4d6 drop the lowest method of stat rolling in the previous thread, are you now opting for a 3d6 straight down methood?

Example Character rolls

I would then choose whichever set I prefer, saving the other two for possible future backup options.

Thanx for invite and already to start.

at Dominion451: I'm thinking 3d6 rolls make characters a bit less "mighty" than 5e characters tend to start, and a little more squishy as the B/X worlds tended to be. It better reflects the feel that characters in B/X tend to be subject to all the nastiness that they deserve for having the audacity to delve where many before already tried and died.

So we'll go with six rolls of 3d6, but you're at liberty to assign your six rolls wherever you please. If one of your six rolls is a "15", you're at liberty to put your 15 where you see fit, based on the class you wish to play.

Sounds good, ready to roll!

Just need that private dice thread now... ;)

Just reading the the books, looking at the classes. I’m excited to get atarted

So what's everyone thinking of playing? I was sort of thinking of making a gnome, basically a Magic User with better survivability. However I have a lot of mages running in various other games so maybe I'll go fighter or dwarf. I would also be open to playing cleric if no one else does...

Also, to our DM, max hp at 1st level?

My first thought was as a Ranger. How does that fit with everyone else's thinking?

As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough fighter type classes in BECMI

Oof, Aldrusian, you got gyped on the stat rolls

Yeah, I can't be a Ranger with those numbers. A Ranger has the ridiculous prime requisite of Strength. No idea why. It should be Dexterity. I'll look around for a better fit.

It seem the best fits may be Thief if I take roll #1 and use the 17 for Dex. The better choice may be roll #3 and a Bard with the 13 being Charisma, the 10 being Dex and the 9 being Int. I'll let all of you decide which would fit better with your thinking. I've played both.

Well personally I feel a thief is always needed and would be most beneficial to the group.

@funfungiguy do you have a list of 1st level druid spells you can share?

Also... Max hp at 1st level? Using encumbrance?

I’ll be going Elf. Maybe half elf...

With my stats.. I'm not sure what I'm going to be but wizard, thief, or elf is about it. Don't count on me being front lines or too supportive.

Edit: I really think a Thief is my choice.

@GeneCortess don't forget you can assign the attributes any way you like, also you can boost your prime requisite by 1 point for every 2 points you take off of either strength, intelligence, or wisdom (can't lower a stat below 9)

I've just submitted a Thief.

You could make any class you wanted with your second set of rolls, just turn that 11 into a 9 and the 12 into a 13 so you end up with two 13's. Or your first set of rolls (with the 18) would make a great fighter with 18 strength, the 4 could go into charisma since a 4 charisma is still just a -1 reaction penalty.

I was unaware we could rearrange the stats. That would change a lot. I thought we rolled for each stat so that meant we couldn't rearrange them.

Yup, roll 6 stats and assign them as you like. And the rules for taking points off one score and adding to another are on page 10 of the basic rule book.

Old School Essentials Basic Rules

I was thinking of a barbarian (I saw it in the advanced book) with either my first or third roll

I'm going for an Elf.

So I’m looking at either dwarf (good utility for finding traps, scouting dungeons, decent looking combat) or barbarian - good combat utility, foraging, and at level 4 good for magical monster fighting. Anyone know what would slot in best?

Reading through about AC, it says a boost reduces the AC number as lower is better. Does that mean for example, with a dex score of 18, the +3 modifier is actually a -3 to the AC?

That is correct about AC. If you have plate mail (base AC 3) and an 18 dex (-3AC) your final AC is 0. Add a shield (AC-1) and now you have a total AC of negative one.

Personally I think dwarves are about the best class in Basic Dnd, not only infravision and the trap finding utility but they also have by far and away the best savings throws in the game.

It looks like we will have a fighter, two elves, a dwarf/barbarian and a thief so then I'll run a cleric to balance it out.

Brilliant thanks for clearing that up. I’ll submit Coulson the dwarf when I finish up his sheet

I submitted Coulson the Dwarf. I copied his sheet into my character thread, I think I worked out the AC properly

With your current set up your AC is 3 (chainmail base ac5, then -1 for dex and -1 for shield) but I would recommend plate mail if you can afford it... Much better defense and death comes quick in Basic dnd

Ok cheers. So what’s the second number all about?

The higher number in parentheses? That's an alternate method of running combat that uses the d20 system (like in 5e) instead of the THAC0 system (Basic thru second edition). You can ignore it.

Yeah that one. Thanks for the reply again.
I updated to add Platemail and corrected AC, adjusted gold to account for armour and weapon. Do we need to purchase the adventuring gear? Or do we just get that as standard

My pleasure to help with any questions. Yes you have to buy adventure gear as well. Rope is always super handy, and in a world without the Mage Hand cantrip I can't overstate the value of a 10' pole ;)

Awesome thanks. I'll go on a little shopping spree then lol

Want us to roll HP?

I asked about max hp at 1st level a while back, still waiting for the DM to answer...

@dominion451: Yes I'll post the magic spell list for any magic types tonight after I get off work, or first thing tomorrow. Also, I think I'm good with everyone starting out with their max HP at 1st Level.

Also, I screwed up... There's a Barbarian class, I just realized I didn't post. I'll post that tonight if anyone wants to change their character.

Awesome thanks much!

Thanx dominion451 for showing how to include my character avatar by your example. I added that to mine now.

Sure thing, I assume you also know about the avatar on the character sheets that lets you post as your avatar instead of as your default picture? When you make a "custom" character sheet on this site and paste your character info into it there is an avatar link in the top right corner of the sheet and you just upload your picture there.

I've posted a list of all Cleric Spells in the Character Creation thread, but since clerics don't get a spell at first level, I haven't posted the full description of each spell yet. I did the same for Magic-Users, but since we have two elves, which get to add 1 1st Level spell to their spellbook at Level 1, I posted a full description of all 1st Level Magic-User spells as well, in order to help you choose.

Of the seven invites I sent out based on interest in the IC thread, we have five full characters ready to go right now, and the seem to be a pretty well rounded group, covering a little bit of all the bases. I'm thinking maybe we'll give it a couple of more days before we get started for everyone that has a character ready?

I thought as per reading that we got two magic user spells for our spell books, but we could only memorize one spell for casting? Is this changed? Can we pick any two level 1 magic user spells rather than you assigning them to us?

I don't think anything has changed. Here's from the original Moldvay Basic Rules:


But, as to your other question: I prefer you pick your own PC's spell, which is an optional B/X rule.

From Dungeon And Dragon Player Manual (Red Book) (Mentzer)

Spell Books:

Your Medium (1st Level magic-user) starts with a spell book, containing two First Level spells. Your Dungeon Master will tell you what spells your character starts with. The spell book is a large bulky thing, and cannot be easily carried. A spell book is about 2 feet square, 2-6 inches thick, and weighs at least 20 pounds. It will not fit inside a normal sack of any size, but may be carried in a
backpack or saddlebag. (I assigned 200ec)

That is my confusion. This is what my files show.
Moldvay Basic Rules was printed in 1980
Mentzer Basic Rules was printed in 1983
Homes Basic Rules was printed in 1978, but doesn't say how many spells you can as it lets have as many I believe as you make an understanding roll for.
The Classic Dungeon And Dragon: Rules and Adventures Book as printed in 1994 doesn't even touch the matter. LOL.
Dungeon and Dragon Rules Cyclopedia was printed in 1991 doesn't even touch the matter.
Dungeon and Dragon Rules for Fantasy Medieval Wargames was printed in 1974 and doesn't touch the matter.

Smiles. That is all the copies I have... Generally speaking when I do pickup the rules books it shows the Mentzer one to be current.

That’s all good with me,

@GeneCortess: Yes, everything you pointed out seems correct. And the Mentzer rules are the most current "Basic" D&D. But Mentzer's D&D wasn't B/X D&D; it was BECMI. Basically the Modlvay rules (1980) contained just two boxed sets of rules: Basic, and Expert (hence "B/X"). A few years later, in 1983, they re-did the books and the art inside, the layout, etc., and the full rules were presented in five boxed sets: Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal (hence the acronym "BECMI").

While the system itself is more or less the same and compatible (as I understand it), there were some notable differences in Mentzer's rules. Most striking is probably that in Moldvay's B/X, 14th Level is as far as a character can progress (some classes max out at even lower). In Mentzer's BECMI, character's can advance to Level 36+. There's other things like experience progression for different classes, or as we see here, the number of starting spells for Magic-Users and Clerics start with at 1st Level (clerics don't start out with any spells at Level 1 in B/X).

There's definitely things I find interesting in BECMI based on what little I know of the books, and definitely some handicaps starting PCs have to overcome in B/X, but we're doing Moldvay's B/X because those are the books I have and the system I've run in the past.

When I DM for B/X or Basic games I always gave wizards two spells at the start but one of them was always Read Magic and the other was the players choice. Without Read Magic a wizard has little chance of gaining new spells from adventures, not to mention it seems thematic that a mage should learn to read magic before anything else.

Is the Original Dungeon and Dragon Supplements I, II, III and the Original Dungeon and Dragon Vol I, Vol II, Vol III all are BECMI? or these something like chainmail? Guessing they are not B/E.

Obviously Basic Rules & Expert Rules by Mentzer is BECMI as is Companion, Masters, Immortals.

Basic Rules & Expert Rules by MoldVay are B/E. How about the Rules Cyclopedia?

Sorry for the late arrival however I don't have a Character Creation thread yet

@Tuatete: I jeez, I'm sorry. I'll post one up for you right now.

I could be wrong, but I believe the Rules Cyclopedia was published later and is just all of the BECMI stuff compiled into one book, instead of having everything previously scattered around in five different boxed sets. Like they came out with the five BECMI boxes, and then later decided, "Let's just put all of this in one book."

I'm not familiar enough with Original Dungeon and Dragon Supplements I, II, III and the Original Dungeon and Dragon Vol I, Vol II, Vol III to answer with any sort of certainty, so best answer I can give is an "I don't know".

But I don't mind @dominion451's and @Aldrusian's thought on allowing two spells, as long as one is Read Magic. If anyone is playing a Magic-User/Elf, and would like to start with two 1st Level spells in your spellbook, I'd be down with that, with the caveat that one has to be Read Magic. The other would be Player's choice. Does that sound fair?

Chainmail was more of a Battlesystems predecessor, large scale miniature combat on large grid maps. You can check it out here:

Chainmail 2nd Edition

And yes, the Rules Cyclopedia was a late arrival amalgamation of all the BECMI modules. Different author from the earlier B/X modules. Much more of a complete system really.

so I actually have only two books for B/X. That being the Basic and Expert books by Moldvay or are there more to look for.Having the extra read magic spell makes more sense and really doesn't adjust the character power.

Nah those are the only two books you need for this game.

@GeneCortess: Yeah, like dominion said, those are really the only two books needed for Moldvay's rules. I actually use the B/X Essentials books, which are just a clone/reformatting of your two books, which makes everything easier for me to find when I'm DMing.

Just a heads up, It's been a week since we got started and everyone save one player has a character ready, it looks like. I don't think it will take too much of a feat of mental gymnastics to incorporate the final PC into the party once they are done with it, so I'm thinking that we'll start the game proper tomorrow.

A few things I can think of off the top of my head, which might help once we begin.
1. Unlike 5e, where everyone makes a single Initiative roll which lasts the entire encounter, in B/X, players, NPCs, and Monsters re-roll Initiative at the beginning of every round. I find it's a lot faster if I just make the rolls for each PC rather than taking up one or teo days waiting for Initiative to get sorted out every round. So usually at the end of a round, I make a roll for everyone and post the turn order.

2. When in combat, I highly recommend you wait to post your character's actions on their turn. A lot of players have a tendency to just all post what they are doing right at the start of a new round, and when their PCs turn comes around in the turn order, whatever they declared for their PC is obsolete because their target isn't in the space they were in at the start of the round, or their target has been killed by another PC already, or whatever. Then we get held up with the DM telling the player they can't do what they said they were going to do at the beginning of the round, we all wait a day for the Player to retcon their post and say something else, dice rolls have to be resolved, and the whole game is bogged down with players retconning obsolete declarations.
So usually I say "Round 1 ends, and Round 2 begins!" You generally if you post "my PC does moves her and does this", I hold you to it. If you declared for your PC out of turn and that movement/action option is no longer feasible when their turn in the Initiative rolls around, they forfeit their action for that round. So I strongly recommend waiting until your PC's turn is actually up to post.

3.I generally use theater of the mind for roleplaying purposes, but for combat we'll use a battlemap. Generally a battlemap looks like this:


You'll notice the map has grid coordinates. Generally, when you move, you say, "I move my PC to M13 and fire my bow at the goblin on J15", or something to that effect. I move your tokens around the board as we go, and at the start of every new round I roll new initiatives for everyone and post an updated version of the battlemap. If at any point between the the beginning of each round you would like to see the most current version of the battlemap, just request to see the updated map and I'll post a screenshot of it.

I believe most characters have a move of 120'. That translates to 40' per turn. On your turn you can move and then make an action, make an action then move, or move some then interrupt your movement with an action and then finish moving. However, if you move some, then make an action then finish moving, you only get half of your remaining movement rounded down. For example, if you have a movement of 40', and you move 20' to an goblin, hack at him with your sword, and then retreat again, you'll only get to retreat 10' (you move'd 20', had 20'feet remaining, but only get half of that after you make an action.
There are no "attack of opportunities (AOCs)" in B/X, so you can move up to an enemy, make an attack, and retreat again without worrying about AOCs, but be aware that you only get half your remaining movement to retreat, so you do put yourself at risk of your victim closing the distance on their turn and attacking you.

4. Most squares on the battlemap will be 5', unless posted otherwise. I count diagonal movement as 5' as well. I know that's not 100% accurate, but it's less complicated.

5.DYING!!! If you're reduced to 0 Hit Points or less, you make 1 Death Save roll only on your PC's next turn. If they pass the Death Save roll, they are unconcious with 0 HP, and have to be healed or heal naturally through rest. Once they have 1HP again, they are conscious. If you fail your Death Save roll, you're just straight up dead.

I'm sure there will be more stuff but that's all I can think of off the top of my head at the moment.

I cannot wait to start. And all the combat rules sound good to me.

Just a heads up, now that the game has started. You will occasionally see the following image when you log into the forum's thread:



I generally post this whenever I have to make some die rolls before I can continue narrating the post. Whenever you see the image above, I'm generally on the back end rolling dice, making notes, typing out my post for the day, etc., and if you want to give me five or ten minutes, I should be done. After I'm done, the image will be replaced with whatver text accompanies the dice rolls I've been making.

In other words, it's basically a "Please Stand By" sort of image.

One thing I forgot to mention before:

I'm a big fan of players making Ability checks in B/X. Some DMs hardly use these at all, but I'm pretty liberal with having players make Ability checks; it's the closest thing B/X has to skill rolls, which I think are important in facilitating a PC to act with freewill.
While the rules specifically state the likelihood that a character might hear something if they listen at a door, or later try and break down that door, they're sort of ambivalent about noticing clues, or deceiving a guard. So generally, when some situation arises that fits in this B/X Rules "gray" area, I like to allow a player to make an Ability roll.

Basically Ability checks work like this: If you're negotiating the price of some goods, and no rules state how your class does that, make a Charisma check. If you're looking for clues to a monster's recent presence in a swamp, make a Wisdom check. Currently Thieves are the only class with a "Climb" ability (a percentile roll), but surely other classes can attempt to scale a wall r climb things. In this case, I would allow a player to make a Dexterity check.

To roll an Ability check, you just roll a d20 and if your roll is equal or under, you succeed. If you roll over, you fail. If I think a check is somewhat easy for the character, I'll give them a "bonus" of -1 to -4 to their roll. If I think their check is complicated by circumstances, I'll give them a "penalty" of +1 to +4.

In other words:


When making an Ability check, your ability modifiers do not apply. So if you have an 18 Dexterity, which has an Ability modifier of +3, you don't get to subtract 3 from your roll. Having an 18 in Dexterity automatically makes it significantly easier to roll equal or under without an Ability modifier applied. A 1 is always a success. A 20 is always a failure.

Furthermore, for the purposes of expediency in our PbP campaign:
I often find one of the biggest issues that gum up the smooth flow of a PbP game is the GM having to ask the player to make a die roll after the player declares their character to do something and then everyone waits for the player to read the request for a die roll and make another post.
Things run a lot smoother and faster if either
1) The player declares their character's action, and if they think there's a chance a Ability check might be needed, they just add one to be safe, which the DM can use or not...
or 2) The DM realizes the PC needs to make an Ability check, so the DM just makes it for them and posts the results along with the die roll.

So for example, a player states that their PC would like to look for footprints in the area. The DM thinks a perception check (Wisdom) should be be made, so he makes a Wisdom check fpr the PC with any modifiers he feels appropriate, and posts the results of the check.
Its basically a situation where the DM is rolling for the player, which some players don't like (some player prefer to roll their own dice), but it keeps things moving along, which is really important in PbP-style games.

If I ever make an Ability check roll for your PC to resolve an action your PC takes, I will always make that roll transparent. You see the roll and the result with the post. If anyone is 100% adamant they roll their own dice, please let me know, and I'm happy to accommodate this. To my knowledge and recollection, I've never rolled an Ability check for a player without them declaring an action for their PC except in the case of passive perception checks (Wisdom). Sometimes you may be walking in an area where a clue may be, and I think there's a chance you may notice something despite not actively searching. In those cases I may roll a Wisdom check with a penalty (since you're not actively looking) and then either not mention it at all if you fail, or tell you you notice something of note if you succeed. I generally keep passive rolls hidden, because if I make a roll and you fail, others immediately see a roll was made and start meta-gaming active Ability checks.

On passive perception (Wisdom) checks, I typically make those rolls in secret (hiding the roll and result in GamersPlane). But the roll will be there on my end and if you ever want to see the result after the fact, I'll screenshot the post for you.

Sounds good

You know, when I first learned this game some 42 years ago the DM made all rolls behind a screen. The players never saw the roll. In the one game I'm running now I'm not making any rolls visible to the players. Of course, I detail the results of the action, but seeing the rolls makes planning for their next move easier for the players. That also offers me the opportunity to have things become apparent to the players without having to stop the game to roll dice. What I try to do in this way is to make a somewhat hack and slash game and bit more like a story. Players tend to tell stories about their characters anyway, so, as the game master, I like to use the environment and npcs to tell my part of the story. Anyway, the way you are handling dice rolling for other than standard occurrences seems quite appropriate to me.

I always thought that was how passive perception worked anyway, more as a tool for The DM than the Players.

But I am cool with all of that

@Aldrusian and @TheFoxofFinch: Alright, I'm fine with making the rolls behind the DM Screen then of you are. It will certainly make things run faster. That said, all the rolls will be made in GamersPlane, so if anyone ever wants to know the result of their die roll, or why they failed such an easy-seeming task so miserably, I can always screenshot the dice results and post them.

Lol, I often wonder how Gygax determined overland movement rates. I'm a backpacker irl and the idea of walking 36 miles in a day with a full pack using minimal exertion is beyond laughable.

Just a heads up, I didn't get any momentum going from the other players that joined, or any progress on their PC creation, so I removed them from the game and tomorrow the party heads out with 5 PCs escorting the wagon. That's pretty much the ideal size I was hoping for anyway, so we should be good.

@Aldrusian: Just a heads up, I was making a spreadsheet that tracks all of the information on the PCs the DM needs on hand quickly and I noticed on your GamersPlane character sheet that you have AC5, I assume due to your leather armor. Don't forget that you actually have an AC3 because your +2 Dexterity Modifier acts as a bonus to your AC.

Leather is AC 7 and the dex +2 would make it 5...

Oh! Yes. You're correct. Brain fart... Nevermind.

We're currently waiting for Jonas to take his action, but I haven't seen a post in this thread from OnceUponAnAxe in about a week. I sent a PM to see if they were still with us. In the meantime, I think the best way to handle it is if we don't hear from OnceUponAnAxe by this evening I'm going to rule that Jonas froze and forfeited his turn this round. I will then re-roll Initiative for everyone and we'll begin Round 2.

Sounds fair to me

It seems unfair to me for Onceuponanaxe's character to just suddenly be a non-combatant, we decided to pick this fight based on a team that included them, we might not have otherwise.

I suggest the DM run the character as an NPC or hireling until we reach town where he can disband and we can get a real hireling.

I agree. Seems kind of a real waste of time for all of us to get killed before we even reach Hommlet. That could easily happen without the benefit of all our skills. And this is why I've always hidden all rolls as a GM. I'd rather fudge the game a little rather than have to have players start over from scratch or simply discontinue the game just because of bad dice rolls.

Son of a gun, I just wrote up a huge thing in response to this and accidentally closed the window before hitting send. Long story short: OnceUponAnAxe has been pulled, I'll take over Jonas for the time being, and a new player sent a PM asking if they could join the game last night or this morning. Since we lost a Player, would you mind a new one?

The rest of the write-up was basically an agreement with Aldrusian's sentiment that it would definitely be a waste of time to get TPKed before even reaching Hommlet, an explanation about about how randomly rolled Wandering Monsters work in B/X D&D, and a bit about the wisdom of picking a fight with something that may well be over your Level 1 pay-grades versus leaving it alone if possible.

Also, Jonas is an elf, but it didn't show on Jonas's character sheet what spell they chose for their elf. But based on this post, I can only assume that they opted for Sleep, and we agreed that any Magic-user also had Read Magic as a freebie, so I'm going to run Jonas as a NPC with the assumption that they have "Sleep" and "Read Magic" in their spellbooks.

Sounds all good to me. We just started so a new player is fine by me

Just what happens.

Hi everyone - just wanted to jump and introduce myself as the new player. I'm rolling up a character now to join you guys. Just joined this site the other day so it's my first game on here, but have played pbp before elsewhere. Got my start playing 1st ed AD&D as a kid, which was really just rolling on the random tables because we didn't know what we were doing. lol. I've been in and out of the game ever since and am glad to be playing again.

Hey Shadow

Glad to have you on board!

Great to have you Shadow. I got my start with first edition as well but I was 30 when I started. That was 42 years ago.

Since you guys have finished your first encounter in this quest, I should take a minute to explain how Treasure and XP work in B/X D&D. I was going to wait until the party made it to Hommlet, but we might as well take a look at it now. There are some pretty important things about the B/X system that should be understood:

1. Treasure enemies carry is randomly determined based on the monster's Treasure Type (TT). Every monster has a Treasure Type. Using gnolls as an example, a gnoll has a TT of "D".

When I check the Treasure Table for enemies with a TT of "D", you see that this encounter gives the players the following odds for finding certain treasure types:

Sometimes, based on what I roll according to the TT, a slain enemy will be carrying no loot at all. Especially if the percentages are really low for each treasure artifact. Other times, a relatively weak enemy might be hoarding an almost gamebreakingly huge amount of loot. Regardless, I always go by what I randomly roll when I check the enemies' TT after an encounter. As DM, I never stray from following the TT based on the encounter.

2. B/X D&D made treasure highly important to gaining Experience. In B/X D&D, not only is XP awarded for slaying enemies, but also for collecting loot. XP is awarded for loot at a rate of 1XP/Gold coin (or equavalent value). So if you kill a minster and it had 50 gold coins on it, you'll get 50XP for looting that gold. If the slain monster had 30sp on it, you will be awarded 3 XP for looting it (30 silver equals 3 gold, so you earn 3XP for the gold value of the silver).
That said, monsters slain give very little XP by themselves. For example if we compare a gnoll form 5e with a gnoll from B/X, a 5e gnoll is worth 100xp but you get nothing for looting it. In B/X, a gnoll is worth only 20xp if you defeat it, but you also earn XP if you loot it equal to the value in gold of any treasure claimed. Maybe that means you get nothing because there was no loot on it, maybe that means you get 3000 gold coins because that's what the DM rolled the encounter had.
It should also be noted that a slain enemy doesn't always have all of their loot on their person. Especially if it's a high amount of treasure they are carrying. In the case of the gnolls, it's really unlikely that such savage beasts would be carrying 3000gp among them. Even 1000gp apiece is not realistic. So sometimes, as a DM, I may stash the loot somewhere in the vicinity. It may not be easy to find. If you kill a bunch of gnolls and they aren't carrying anything on them, it may be because I rolled poorly (for you) on the TT table, or it may mean I rolled well (for you), on the TT table, but there's no logical reason the monsters would be carrying all that loot, so it's hidden or stashed somewhere. Often if loot is stashed, I may leave clues as to where it might be and why it might be there. Sometimes I don't leave any clues and it's on the PCs to interact with their environment and maybe turn something up.

3. PCs don't get any XP awarded until they actually make it back from a dungeon/wilderness safely. You can kill a hundred goblins, loot fifty dead bandits, and trick a dragon out of its entire horde, but until you get yourselves out of the dungeon and back to a town with inn or somewhere to rest, recover, and resupply, no XP is awarded. That means you never advance to the next level, mid-adventure. You have to find somewhere to sit and ponder upon your journey so far to gain any experience from it, and you will always "level up" between quests, or delves, or what have you.

4. XP gained from slaying monsters or collecting loot is divided among the surviving PCs equally. If five PCs enter a goblin stronghold, kill 100XP worth of enemies, and collect 1000XP worth of loot, no XP is actually awarded yet. If on the way back to the inn they are using as a base of operations, one PC is killed in a random encounter or some other reason, and only four PCs make it back, only the four surviving PCs will collect XP for their efforts. It will be divided equally among the four survivors before XP bonuses are calculated. So each PC will earn 25XP for slaying monsters (100/4=25), and 250XP for the loot they hauled back (1000/4=250). Each PC will have earned 275XP, and then they may calculate any XP bonuses or penalties they get for based on their Prime Requisite scores.
XP earned through collecting loot is always divided equally among surviving PCs, but material treasure collected is determined by the party. So from that 1000 gold looted and divided between the four surviving PCs, each PC earns 250XP before bonuses are calculated. However, the four surviving PC's decide who gets what percentage of the loot in terms of actual gold you can spend. Maybe two PCs did nothing to aid the other two and the party determines that the two that did all the work can split the gold equally between them 50/50. That means that two PCs have 0 gold added to their treasure, two PCs have 500 gold added to their inventory, but all PCs earned 250XP from the loot that was brought back.
So how treasure is divided for the purposes of spending wealth is up to the party, but how it's divided for the purposes of earning XP is always split evenly among the surviving PCs.

5. You can never advance more than one Level after XP is awarded. Say, for example, a Level 1 Thief, currently with 200XP, needs a total 1200XP to advance to Level 2, and 2400XP to advance to Level 3. They return from an adventure and after all the gold is tallied out, the Thief earns 3200gp. They do not get 3200XP. They cap out at whatever they need to reach the next level. So in this case the Thief earns 3200gp to spend as money, but they only earn 1000XP (the amount of XP needed to advance a level), and are now Level 2. The remaining XP is scratched/ignored. For this reason, it is impossible to enter a dungeon at Level 1 and return at Level 3 or higher, and it often benefits a PC to only collect as much loot as they think will get them to the next Level, and return for the rest later. You can haul back as much as you can carry if you like, but to get the most benefit from the loot in terms of XP earned, it may be better to haul it out in increments.

Also, this isn't really a rule, but something I should say. Because loot turns into XP, and there's the possibility of earning a ridiculous amount of loot on a relatively low level encounter, one question I have always been confronted with is why a 1st or 2nd Level adventurer might be interested in continuing to put their life at risk if they managed to haul in a amount of treasure that would basically make them rich. The one solution to this problem (aside from many DMs' advice to just "flub" the treasure rolls, which in keeping with true B/X rules adherence I find distasteful), is to remind the players that killed PCs can be brought back to life by a high enough level Cleric with a Raise Dead spell. Oftentimes a DM will require the party to go on some sort of side quest to revive a dead PC, and I will always leave that option open as well, but sometimes a Cleric doesn't need a side quest done for him/her, or the PCs are too busy to get sidetracked. In these cases the cleric performing the spell may just require a sizable monetary donation to their church or temple. I generally allow the PCs to "buy" their fellow party members a Raise Dead spell instead of going on a sidequest, but usually the costs of buying a Raise Dead spell are prohibitively high for a low-level party (usually somewhere between 10k-20k gold). So oftentimes a party or a PC may want to set aside some extra loot in case they want to bring a PC back to life without going on a dangerous sidequest.

I think Coulson was even less effective in that fight than the guy who ghosted :(

Coulson the meatshield. His new official title.

Yeah, I agree. Gnolls have a better THAC0 than Level 1 PCs and someone was definitely going to eat some spear points that fight.
Coulson at least has the highest HPs and by far the best Saving Throws of anyone in the party. The Dwarf has the best likelihood of surviving being a Human Dwarven Pincushion. And the guy who ghosted only made any difference because you guys asked me to NPC him. I was gonna let you have to work it out without his assistance.

Also, I realized afterwards that I messed up: Jonas shouldn't have been able to cast Sleep yet because spells have to be declared at the start of a round before initiative is even rolled. Oh well, I don't think it will break the campaign.

So if we kill a dragon, and get 2000 gold, and we only take 1000 - we get that as xp back at base. Then after levelling you we can spend time to go back and collect the other 1000 gold to claim as xp, so as not to waste it? That’s how I read it sorry if that’s wrong

Yes, correct. You could come back to it later and bring it on a second haul and get XP, but once you reach a new level, you're done collecting XP for that haul. And abandoned treasure doesn't seem to stay unnoticed for very long.

I’ve updated Coulsons sheet with XP and gp (I think I worked it out right after subtracting for the food and drink)

Yes your calculations are same as mine. I wouldn't worry too much about focusing on expenditures, unless you enjoy that sort of bookkeeping. I have a spreadsheet that tracks stuff like this and I can keep you abreast of what you have and what you spend if you like.

Which does bring up another subject which is the added encumbrance you each will incur for adding an additional 600gp to your inventories. For the time being, I'm operating under the assumption that you have your shares of the 3000gp either stashed with the wheels, or you're carrying it on your person (presumably in your backpack or something. If you are carrying your 600gp, or plan to, be aware that that runs you all up in encumbrance, which has most of you at a Base Movement Rate of 30' (Kelric being the exception on account that he's new and still basically broke).

So you're all going to probably want to find some solution to hauling around this pile of coins you hauled out of the ground earlier.

How much trouble is it to convert gp to gems?

Would a small village like this have gems? I reckon we be better off looking to rent rooms and a strongbox or something

There's you passed a jeweler/money changer on the way into town. Right before you crossed the bridge over the stream flowing through the village.

Wrong thread ;)

The suspense is killin' me...

I'll get something up for myself tonight. Working round the clock the last few days.

@everyone: It's been a couple of days since I posted. Wednesdays and Thursdays are my two days off of work each week, and I typically log in on my "weekends" to post still but I spent my days off helping a buddy remove the skylights from his house, sealing up the spaces, and re-shingling the roof over them. By the end of each evening I was pooped and just went to bed. Yesterday I was back at work but had a mountain of stuff to do and didn't get a chance to fire up the chromebook to post.

Also, GeneCortess sent me a PM a couple days ago (Wednesday, I think), and said he wasn't feeling his character and was bowing out of the game. I think Jonas and Selvam are going to decide that that gnoll gold set them up cushy for a while and opt to keep their heads down.

If you guys want to take the other action, let me know. Happy to update my post. Either way, sounds like we'll have to deal with this lot at some point.

Do I need to make a persuasion roll? I have a charisma of 8, so I'm really really good at it. lol

I think we can assume the innkeeper and smith will get involved, but i think we need to see where these guys head to, see if they head towards the temple the smith was telling us about. That way we might also be able to get them in smaller groups now that there are only 4 of us
6 on 6 might seem doable, but we just gmhad a tough time with just 3 Gnolls. But I’ll go where the group leads

Oh no, lost another player? Who is still on board? Personally I'm enjoying the game very much, will you be posting a recruitment ad in the tavern?

@dominion451: I have a couple of people that applied to play that I didn't approve or reject. I'll give them first dbs, though it's been a while since they asked to join. If they aren't interested, I'll post a recruitment ad.

Sounds good. Fresh meat for the grinder.

I put out a recruitment post for new players in the tavern. In the meantime, I've got Alice returning to the tavern to get out of her clunky armor and have a beer, and the others joining the innkeep to meet the captain of the militia. Is that accurate before I post today?

Oh I didn't know the consensus was to travel with the innkeep, if everyone else is going I'll go too so I don't miss dialogue. I'll delete my last post IC

We have a new player. Welcome charles.c.cowley!

Hola

Welcome aboard charles.

What up Chuck ;)

Hello, all! I’ve also joined up too! Going to get started on Char Gen as soon as possible!

Yes, sorry! KCC69 is also joining us. That brings us to 6 players again.

KCC69, if you have any questions for how to make a character please ask.

Is there anything you all would like me to roll up? I’ve rolled my stats over on my thread. Maybe the stats would fit to something the party needs?

Well, we have a rogue (me), what appears to be a ranger type, Sister Alice (a Cleric?) and a dwarf. Adding a mage is great so anything would be welcome. So far two archers, two other people who would likely be front line fighters and a mage. Another fighter would take the pressure off Sister Alice (but maybe you should ask Dominion451 about that).

I'm working on a Magic-User right now, so really anything to protect my fragile form would be wonderful.

Hello all! Character submitted! I really got let down by my money roll. So my equipment is scarce.

Will work for food. Or a crossbow. Anything really!

Don’t worry about money. Coulson has some very attractive interest rates for new borrowers ;p

Perhaps the elves ran away so fast that a few coins fell from their very full coin purses? One can dream.

Roll investigation

Can I get an image for Gilly and Eltrezar when you get a chance, so that I can make them a token for maps?

Also, everyone that was involved in the killing of the gnolls: You may want to consider what you wish to do with the load of gold you found in that mud package. I previously didn't count it towards your PCs' Encumbrance due to the fact that I assumed you had it loaded in the wagon, but now that Brother Smythe has taken custody of the the oxen, the wagon, and its contents, you pretty much are hauling that on your person at the moment and it is HEAVY!

•I have Angel, Coulson, and Alice at 30' Movement Rate (divided by three, that's basically 10' of movement per turn if you get into a combat situation).
•I have Kelric at 60' MR even though he wasn't there for the fight, but he's in heavy plate mail.
•I have Gilly at 90', because that shield pushed him(?) over the 400 limit.
•I have Eltrezar at 120' because they don't have anything but a dagger, pretty much.

Also, after being paid, I added the ten gold you earned for delivery of goods to your Experience (for the three of you that dropped off the wagon). Since you each have a 10% increase for your Prime Requisites, you all should have a XP total of 684.2.

Alice (definitely a cleric of St Cuthbert) will be buying a mule to haul her loot and that of any others who wish it.

I know I'm late to the replies about class selection but I will put it out there that in Basic D&D the fighters and dwarves are the most important part of the fledgling party. As we've already experienced, death comes swiftly in even the simplest of fights. Anyone considering a magic user should also consider an elf... Best of both worlds really.

But we'll do our best to keep you alive, regardless of occupation ;)

Okay, but what if you have to leave your mule unattended when you go indoors? Do you leave all your loot unattended as well, or do you haul it around inside with you?

Hmm, fair point. I suppose burying my treasure is a time tested solution... Somehow paying 10% to the bank just rubs me the wrong way ;)

What if I put the money in a box with a false bottom and fill the top of the box with mule turds and write "dung for fire starting" on the box?

Ok ok, I guess I'll take the innkeeper up on his offer for the time being.

Lol! 60% of the time it fools bandits every time.

I have no idea why 10% is the number, but it's specifically written in the module that way, and for some reason in the OD&D game I'm a player in on roll20/discord, the GM uses the 10% rule.

In the B/X game I run irl on roll20/discord I adopted the 10% rule because it seems to be the norm, and tell my players that that money foes to the salary of the men that are hired to keep it safe from bandits. It seems to work because so far bandits have never stole my players' money.

Can we buy pretty much anything we need in Hommlet? We should certainly consider using a part of our 600 gold to purchase horses or other beasts of transport. When I was running AD&D 1st edition games I used a very light weight for coin. If I remember correctly it was as much as 50 coins per pound. That was what, 40 years ago? I don't recall if you had previously stated a weight per coin. For horses etc should we go by the book or do you have something else you would prefer to use?

Unfortunately, the book I'm using doesn't have any prices or even any mention of horses, etc.

According to the BX essentials classes and equipment book, a war horse with saddle etc will set you back 275 gold.

A riding horse, 100gold.

Hmmm Coulson May plump for a warhorse with saddle, and a lance. Battle field mobility might be a good investment

I agree horses are a good idea, certainly beats walking everywhere. I think I'm gonna hold off on buying one until the need arises though, seems like a waste for the time being if we are about to launch into a local quest to kill bandits.

Unless, of course, we have to chase the bandits all across the countryside. Remember some of them have horses.

Sorry, for the late reply. To answer your question, yeah mostly. Magical items are pretty rare, and probably not available, or affordable. But aside from that, it's a smallish town, but the village has been around a while as was designed around being a traffic hub, so most stuff is available.

I was thinking about changing the map on the first post of the gameplay site and just numbering every building you can interact with. And then below will be the key with which ones you have and a little bit about what you gleaned.

Let's do this thing!

Are we buying at list prices or is there a mark up you're gonna apply in-game?

The module has prices for things at the store. They aren't list.

I just want to confirm that we got arrows with that bow...

Ok so I got back the money for the short bow but still spent the 6gp on a quiver of arrows for the halfling.

I'm showing that I currently have 404gp, if your math is different please let me know.

@dominion451: Sorry, I didn't notice your OOC post yesterday. I forgot to include the cost of a quiver of 20 arrows for 6 gold on the original purchase, which has since been redacted after Angel's donation to gilly. I think it's fine to assume that they threw in a quiver.
In fact, I'm going to also argue that they throw in one of the two quivers that Angel's purchasing, which I'll adress in the next in-game post. So basically, "Buy a bow and get a free quiver with your purchase! What a deal!!!"

And something is way off with our math on Alice's gold. I currently have Alice at 539 gold, 4 silver, and 5 copper pieces. Did you make some sort of 135 gold purchase I am missing? In fact, I can check y spreadsheet edit history, but right off the bat, those of you that survived the gnoll battle pulled in 600 gold apiece from the mud package. Even if you were dead broke before that, there's no way you've spent 196 gold so far in Hommlet so far, even including the 100g tithe made at the church.

Well I started with 600, tithed 60 and donated 40 to the poor box, spent 70 between the axe and chain and another 20 on my sack and lantern+oil and 6 on the quiver for Gilly. That's 196gp spent in town.

I was in fact dead broke before the gnoll gold, spent every penny on initial equipment.

Alright, I'm not sure where my math crapped the bed then.
So dead broke at start of game.
Made 600g from the mud package.
Made 10g for delivering the wheels, =610g
Spent .55g for lunch, =609.45
Spent 100g on donations at the church, =509.45
Spent 115g at the Trading Post, =494.45
Retcon bow purchase and get 35g back, =529.45 (This is where I had you at on my spreadsheet.)
Spend 6g on gilly's arrows, =523.45
So I have you at 523g, 4s, 5c


Does this sound fair?

EDIT: Oh! And Alice paid for a simple private room at the inn for this evening for 2g. So you're at 521.45g

@everyone:
Don't sweat too much on bookkeeping your money or encumbrance, unless that's something you think is fun. I do a decent-ish job tracking it on a PC quickref spreadsheet. You can access the Google Sheet I use to track your character here. If you look at it you'll notice it tracks your money for the purposes of tracking your Encumbrance.

All of your gear that isn't weapons or armor is just counted as miscellaneous gear which weighs 80 coins, which is already built into the Encumbrance formula, so if you have miscellaneous adventuring gear that's expendable, like rations, torches or lantern oil flasks, or arrows, I'll leave that bookkeeping to you and trust you to be honest. I don't track that because expending it doesn't affect your encumbrance.

I'm glad that includes my Spellbook, which is explicitly stated to weight 20coins. However, I wouldn't be upset if the Spellbook was taken out of that calculation. I love the image of a scrawny guy trying to lug a massive tome around.

This is where the mistake is... 509 - 115 doesn't equal 494.

I'd love to have the extra cash but I'd be cheating to take it and that's never a good look ;)

421.45 should be my total

WHY AM I STUPIT!?!

Lol! Well you know people are usually abstract creative types or mathematical types, seldom both ;)

Gee I always thought I was both but maybe that's why people kept calling me a horse's ass.

You too? Shit, I thought I was the only one! Lmao!

Oh we've got our A team now! I'm excited to see what happens next...

Looks like i'm up next. Am I posting my action or are you resolving what Sister Alice just did?

I just resolved what Alice did. Sorry for the late reply. I mentioned this before, though it might have been before you joined the group, but Wednesdays and Thursdays are my weekends so I'm not always at a computer as frequently as during my regular workday. I'm usually doing honeydew lists around the house, running errands, and generally getting things done that I've put off for the weekends.
So my posting activity on Wednesdays and Thursdays is definitely more sporadic that during the rest of the week.

No prob!

I would like to mention that RAW (Rules As Written) state the -4 penalty is for flying mounts and makes no mention of ground mounts. From a rules as intended perspective I read this as being because a flying mount is bobbing up and down radically with each pump of their wings, where as there is a huge culture of horse mounted archers throughout history that are very accurate from horseback and stabilize themselves by rising out of the saddle a bit while shooting.

Hmmm... Let me ponder a bit. I'm not against this, but let me see what the RAW of the Basic/Expert books say.

EDIT: I'm back. I didn't agree with you, but then I chewed on it and now I do agree with you. You've made a convincing argument for stabilizing by standing in your stirrups. You've made an even stronger point by pointing out that we're playing Rules as Written, in which case even if I disagreed with your logic (I don't) I would begrudgingly concede because keeping this game Rules As Written is one of the main tenets of this campaign. I will strikethrough my post and redact that part of the OOC comment.

@dominion451 is right; there's no penalty for missile attacks on horseback.

EDIT 2: I'm chewing on this still... I can't let it go. I think we're going to go "no penalty" for horseback. But if this game was was leaning on rulings over rules, I think a very strong case could be made that shooting from horseback is a difficult thing (certainly more difficult that shooting from the ground) and if a PC had spent a significant amount of time in their life training to shoot arrows from horseback, they would probably have a pretty decent Dexterity modifier, which would mechanically offset any penalties incurred for unstable shooting.

But Rules As Written has been a foundational cornerstone for this game, and I can't find anything in the rules to support this, so I think I'm going to have to concede to @dominion451... You got me this time! *shakes finger...

EDIT 3: Grrr... STIRRUPS AREN'T STABLE!!!

Lets take a vote from everyone. My argument is shooting from stirrups is Unstabe Surfaces, and it would take a lot of training to actually do that. And if your character was training for that sort of thing, their Dexterity Modifier would reflect that, and offset the -4 penalty some. But I'm willing to concede to a vote if the rest of you disagree.

There were no rules written for mounted combat in B/X but here's how Dungeon Crawl Classics does it:

• Mounted characters their use horse's speed but otherwise act normally.
• Horses can attack, but the rider must make an Agility (Dexterity) check to stay mounted if horse isn't combat trained.
• Mounted characters get +1 to attack and AC versus non-mounted enemies due to higher ground.
• Mounted characters must a make DC 10 Agility check to stay mounted if their horse is spooked.
• People trained in riding get a +2 to this check.
• Characters fall prone if thrown from their horse.
• Combat trained horses are spooked when they lose half their hit points. All other horses are spooked whenever

In my mind, the point of Basic d&d VS Advanced is the rules light nature of the system. Start adding a bunch of combat modifiers and you arrive at AD&D 1e.

But I'll be happy with whatever you decide. Just wanted to point out the RAW thing cuz that's the kind of jerk I am ;)

I was always under the impression that the Mongols were successful at horseback archery because they trained to do it from an early age, but they also had numbers on their side (hence calling them a horde). When you look at Cossack skirmishers, they would use horses as a means of transportation before stopping to shoot. In my mind, using the horse's movement would give you a penalty, but being in a saddle wouldn't do it on its own.

I can see both sides of it. Seems like Horse Archery is a hard practiced skill, to do it reliably.

But that doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t get off a good shot, either by fluke or in a way that is less elegant than the horse archer.

Similar to a trained swordsman and a militia man handed a sword. Both could stick you, but one will do it more reliably than the other.

As for mechanics, I couldn’t say!

As I see it, RAW, yes it makes no mention, but logically, yes training will come into it. But it seems we are discussing shooting from a moving mount. Why not just bring the mount to a stop, like the Cossacks did? Best of both worlds, or adjust the ruling slightly for ground based mounts to a -2 penalty instead?

I like that... so firing at the end of your mount's full movement when it's stopped would be no penalty but having the mount move, fire, then finish the move (as in shooting while moving) would get a penalty?

I just noticed that I had noted experience points of 6784 on my character sheet. Haven't looked back at all the posts but, if that's real, all our characters would qualify for a new level or two. Am I missing something?

It must have been a typo on my part. I found the post that reads 684 XP for the Gnoll encounter. I'll make the adjustment on my cs.

I have 676.5 exp if that helps

Yeah that’s what I was thinking

Okay, if you stop your horse's movement no penalty, but if you're fire from mid-run, the penalty applies. That sounds good.

Also, I have Alice and any other PCs with a 10% at 687.5 xp. I'm not sure where the difference came from.

Shoot, I'll take the higher number any day.

@dominion451: There's an 11XP difference between your math and mine I noticed. I'm guessing it's because I gave you XP for the gold earned for delivering the wheels. You got 10gp, and with a 10% bonus, you earned 11XP. That's the only thing I can imagine.

Makes sense, and I just forgot to add it. Sounds about right ;)

Gotta get Alice to 1500 xp so she can become a real cleric with heals and such. Always a bummer to me that they started clerics with no spells in Basic, but at least they gave them the second fastest experience track.

@dominion451: Yeah I agree, it stinks to be a 1st Level Cleric in B/X. They have Turn Undead I guess, but having a healing spell to back you up always feels a little more cozy.

@KCC69: Dude your halfling game is on point! I've been cracking up this whole time XD

Hah! Thanks! Trying to keep the voice straight in my head. A naive, wonder-stricken, slightly dumb Halfling. Doesn’t know the half of what’s possible! (And what’s not possible for her!)

@KCC69: Reminds me of a kender in many ways. Good comic relief

I'm going to be away from my computer until Saturday night, and don't want to hold up the story. Eltrezar is more than willing to follow Alice's orders for now.

Woah-ho! Famous last words! Hahaha, happy turkey day everyone!

Ok. Hope I did that right.

Yup. I think only that you wrote your note to yourself, though. Technically only the people who you included in the note can see what it says, but the DM can see all secret notes passed. That's the only way I was able to read it.

Ah, ok. I had read somewhere that DMs could read all notes. How about dice rolls?

Yes, DMs can see all dice rolls as well, but can hide their dice rolls from players if they want.

Yikes! Here we go! Good luck everyone, hope we all survive!

I should hope that I spotted every frog, and that one doesn’t sneak up on me while I’m distracted and alone. You’ll never hear from Gilly again!

I'll fire off a PM to TheFoxofFinch tomorrow if Coulson hasn't taken his turn.

I forget, are meant to wait and post in turn or should we just fire off our actions and DM will summarize?

Generally, I prefer you wait, because my monsters/NPCs may completely screw your plans over on their turn on their turns.

Fair enough

I’m here. Sorry I missed a day

No worries, we're all just really excited. Does B/X have rules for cooking giant frog legs?

I just posted. I think I may have done the horses hood attacks wrong. But I’m pretty sure Coulson sword attack is a miss

Bwa-hahahaha!! Roll for marinade!

No problem. I assumed you didn't notice your turn was up.
Ha! Thanks to B/X's optional rule of allowing PCs to make Ability rolls, I think we can figure out a way to make that happen if one so desires. Just have to figure out which Ability is used for it. I'm thinking the culinary arts falls under Intelligence. Turning them on a spit would not require much effort so there wound be a bonus to your roll. Making a five-star meal out in the swamp with freshly gathered spices and herbs would be a bit difficult and incur a penalty to your roll.
I think you did Coulson's horse attack correctly. Basically, between the two of you, you only get one move Action (presumably that of the horse's), but you both get to make your Attack Actions.

Also, technically, I'm pretty sure Magic users and Clerics are supposed to declare they're casting a spell at the beginning of the round, regardless of where their turn is in Initiative order, but I've been lousy at enforcing that. So I need to get better about that.

Also, I don't think it was ever declared what Angel was doing with his gold. So for the time being I'm assuming that he's got it stashed in his horse's saddlebags. Not the most secure place to stash nearly 600 coins, but otherwise his Basic Move Rate is 30' (10'/turn in combat). Each horse has two saddlebags, which hold 300 coins in weight, meaning his horse's bags are almost already full.
Neither of the Bandit horses had saddlebags on them, as they were basically tacked up for the purposes of jetting into town, setting the fire to the inn, and jetting on back. They weren't intended to need to carry anything besides their riders.

Also, Coulson, I have your lance strapped to your horse when not being ridden. I think there's also probably some way your warhammer can be fastened to the horse as well if you don't want to carry it all the time when on foot. It shouldn't go towards your saddlebag encumbrance if that's the case.

Given that I only have one spell today, I'm planning on saving it for a crucial moment. Eltrezar is just planning on throwing knives (inefficiently) until that moment arrives.

Alright, noted.

I sent Shadowace a message last night that it was Kelric's turn, but haven't heard a reply. Posting has slowed down pretty significantly among some players this combat. I'm not calling out anyone, I understand most of it has been due to some difficulties IRL, and I think Shadowace said last week they were out of town, and maybe they still are, but I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are about what we do with situations like this where an inactive player is holding the game up because it's their turn. The three options that immediately come to mind are:

1. Skip the character's turn if there's no post after 1 or 2 days, roleplaying that the character has frozen up. This is what I normally do, and what I was doing in the first combat of the game against the gnolls regarding the elf Jonas, but some players didn't like that the elf's inactivity was punishing the group.

2. The DM takes over the PC if there's no post after 1 or 2 days, making the PC do some basic actions (eg. Move to a advantageous place on the map, make a basic attack, cast a spell, etc.). This is what we started doing during the 1st combat with the gnolls because the party was getting smeared because Jonas wasn't pulling his weight. If the player is still inactive after the combat is over we consider him gone and the PC is roleplayed out of the campaign.

3. Continue to wait an indefinite amount of time to see if the player comes back and posts.

Like I alluded to, I personally prefer Option 1. I think the party that's been in the game since the beginning prefers Option 2. I don't think anyone necessarily wants Option 3.

But it's something that I think we should get a consensus on. I'm not trying to browbeat people into playing this game, and I'm not trying to shame or cast a light on anyone. I get that personal life is throwing a wrench in the machinery for a lot of us. But I believe that one of the biggest one things that kills a PbP game faster than anything else, is a game that starts going stagnant because players aren't engaging. As soon as one player stops participating the game comes to a grinding halt, then another player stops checking in regularly, then two or three more players stop staying engaged, and then the whole thing just falls apart.

So I guess I should backtrack a bit and start by asking the players, do you feel like the pace of this game is too much? Do you feel like the 5-7 posts, or at least 5-7 check-ins per week pace we're operating on is too much for what you have going on in your personal lives, and do we need to slow things down?

If you don't feel like 5-7 check-ins a week to at least see if you need to post something is overwhelming, what do I need to do to keep the game moving forward before players begin to lose interest. Do we want to go with Option 1 or 2? Like I said, as a DM I prefer Option 1; the player isn't active, so the PC is inactive. Perhaps they've frozen in panic. Yes, the player's inactivity means their PC is screwing over the party. That's my personal philosophy: if you have a group project and one of the members of the team isn't contributing to the group's effort, the entire group winds up with a substandard final product. It sucks, but it's how it works.

The players during the gnoll encounter made it pretty clear that they do not like that philosophy. They don't feel it's fair for the party to be penalized because a player is inactive, and if we're going to go with doing what's "fair" I can understand where they're coming from. So we all agreed in the past to go with Option 2: I temporarily take over that PC and roleplay it as what I think would best aid the party, and then we figure out what to do with the PC afterwards.

A lot of players here have invested a lot of time and thought and energy into contributing to what I think is a fun roleplaying experience so far and whatever we have to do to make sure the game doesn't stagnate is on the table. So, what are we thinking here? What do you guys think? Do you have some input?

So first off I think it goes without saying that I am having a great time with this one and personally I could go way faster. I'd like at least a post-a-day to keep the momentum up, several a day if I'm honest but I realize that I'm a freak and am willing to tone it down.

As for ghosting during combat, BECMI is so brutal that one party member can actually make the difference between victory and a TPK. I always prefer the DM just NPC the missing player until combat is over and then recruit a new player if it's a full on ghosting. To that end I'm also a fan of dump posting for combat, I think waiting to post in order slows things down a bit.

I guess the issue I have with dump posting is that it would work great if we did the standard 1d6 roll for each side and then all attackers for that side goes at once, but that screws over the halfling's +1 init bonus. So in order to respect the +1 bonus Gilly gets we do individual initiative rolls, and if everyone dump posts using individual initiatives then things get screwy. For example a player could declare they're moving to a certain square and attacking a certain enemy, but they might have last turn in the init, and by the time their turn is up, that square could be occupied by another NPC or that target may have been killed already. Then we wind up back at square one where we're waiting for the player to clarify or edit their action.

And I'm nearly the opposite of Dom. Being old and tired keeps my posting level down a bit. If I'm having a particularly active day with other things, I may not get onto the Plane at all but those are few and far between. I try to check in daily and post only when I find it appropriate. I get overwhelmed when I post at 10PM the previous night and then check in at 2 PM the next day and find a dozen or more posts, especially when there are only 4 or 5 players. And some people tend to write very long posts. In the grand scheme of things that is not a bad thing but for me to read all of it demands that I give short shrift to other games.

As for the three options, I would prefer #2 in critical situations and #1 is acceptable in normal play. You could just assume that in a discussion in a tavern about the next day's activity, the absent player's character would just agree with the majority.

You could give the halfling's +1 initiative bonus to the whole party like a scout bonus, when I run dump posting I usually take the player with the highest initiative (dex) bonus and use it for the whole party, same with monster side, barring of course surprise on either side. It's not a big deal for me I just think since the topic is maintaining the posting flow during combat it's worth mentioning.

I agree with Aldrusian about #1 being acceptable outside of combat, not everyone has to chime in on roleplaying every convo.

I can sacrifice Gilly’s initive bonus. I think it’s +2. One for Dex, one for Halfling (but this is an optional rule anyway, I believe)

Another way I’ve seen it done is that players roll init, and enemies roll.

Enemy rolls are set, but PC rolls open up a PC init slot that any player can take.

PC slot
PC slot
Frog
PC
Frog
Frog
Gnoll
PC

Kind of thing.

What’s dump posting? Please forgive my ignorance. I’m still pretty new

I’m assuming it means we all dump our combat actions when we see the thread, and then they can be calculated in when our turn arrives.

Dump Post -
Alice
Coulson
Gilly
Etc

Initiative -
Gilly
Frog
Coulson
Bandit
Alice
Kelric

And then the DM can scroll up to find. It has its ups and downs, as I’m sure you can see.

Ahhh yeah I ca. Imagine that would be a pain, especially for the DM. I’m happy to play as we have been (sorry for holding up the combat right at the start - had a scary old week but it’s over and the fear inducing thing has gone and is no longer)

Well B/X (Basic, BECMI) uses dump posting pretty well since the default initiative scheme is for an entire group to act at once (either the players or the monsters). Doesn't work as well with individual initiative, or rather takes more on the part of the DM, but with group initiative it keeps pbp combat pretty fast.

Again, no real preference here just chatting about the options. I picked the method up from a DM over on Mythweavers named Paro long ago.

I've been coaching youth wrestling for almost a decade and our pre-season practices just started last month IF we have a season this year (and that's a pretty big "if", with the pandemic throwing a lot of wrenches in the gears), there will definitely be some days when I'm on the road, traveling to and from my daughter's tournaments, and spending my weekends matside in gymnasiums all day, and my post activity will be pretty sparse on those days.
So I don't want anyone to feel like they need to apologize for anything or feel like they need to explain an absence. I always run with the assumption that players have something more pressing going on in their lives than playing D&D whenever a player seems inactive.

I'd like to point out for a minute while that combat might have seemed disappointingly easy, there was some serious potential for a PC kill there. Specifically Coulson.

If you look at his gear, he’s hauling 700coin in just for armor. He’s got plate armor at 600coin encumbrance, which puts him at AC3. He carries a shield for 100coin encumbrance, which brings him to AC 2. And his Dexterity Bonus brings him to AC1.
Those smaller frogs were 1HD monsters, and the larger one was a 2HD.
A 1HD monster has a THAC0 of 19. A 2HD monster has a THAC0 of 17. So in that first round of combat, he got attacked by three frogs, simply because he put himself in the front line. Had Coulson not carried a shield, he would have had an AC of 2. The first frog attack, which was #2, would not have hit him at all, shield or not. But if he was AC2, the next two attacks would have been a hit by #3 for 4HP, and then at the same time in the turn order, another hit by the big frog for another 4HP, and just like that, Coulson would have lost 8HP and would have been making another Death Saving Throw.
Granted Dwarves have really good Saving Throw scores by nature, but you can only press your luck so far, and that shield really might have saved his bacon this fight.

Also, I always roll HD for the monsters. Meaning if you have a 2HD monster the book gives you the option of just giving it the average, or you can roll. I always roll, and two of those 1HD Giant Frogs rolled 2HP out of a potential 8HP.

I'm sort of in the middle, where I could post several times a day, but I've also seen people burn out with that schedule. I'm happy with one post a day, with some leeway. I do a lot of backpacking over the weekends, so it won't be unusual to see me check in at six in the morning (GMT -8) on a Friday or Saturday and then have no activity until late Sunday. With the winter clearly upon us, though, longer trips won't be happening for a while. I've enjoyed this pace, and can clearly see other players hankering for more posting.

As for how to resolve inactivity, I like option no.2 because it keeps the game moving, and shouldn't make the players feel like they're losing agency or in danger due to the "basic actions" clause.

I'm 100% on board with some leeway. Your backpacking trips are my wrestling tournaments. And also the player that plays a Halfling gets double-extra leeway, because we represent...

Halflings-4-lyfe

Gandalf loved them for a reason, can't have a proper quest without a halfling ;)

It was made very clear he only liked them around for their pipe-weed.

The guy who brings the stash is always the coolest guy at the party!

As soon as I moved Coulson into position I knew it was a dumb move. But in all my other games I play ranged or rogue, never played a front line fighter. So I just moved him into the front line. Didn’t look at the initiative order to see who and what support I would get and when

So as it stands, Gilly, Angel and Kelric are going to go assassinate the guard by the opening.

The others are planning to charge in on horseback or follow us in the sneaky way? Two pronged attack might work. Or could prove deadly! Just being sure before Gilly sets off!

Assassinate is a strong word. I think of it more as quietly murdering an unsuspecting individual :D but yes I think that’s the plan. If the quiet method doesn’t work, cavalry shows up as back up

Murder is such a strong word, I think of it as aggressively pre-emptive patriotism.

Aggressive is a very strong word. I think of it as enthusiastically solving a problem

Enthusiastic is a very strong word. I think of it as just getting the job done.

So long as we're all in agreement ;)

Agreement is a strong word......... ;D

Well strong is the strongest word, as long as we're on the subject.

Wouldn't strongest be the strongest?

Bam, you've just been semantic'd!

Bravo all, thanks for playing XD

I just realized today that misinterpreted the die roll for a surprise check for the crossbowman, and technically Kelric and Angel would have been spotted and we'd be running initiative. But I took my hand off the piece and players played it as posted, so we're giving Kelric the surprise round too. I hope he makes his shot count...

Good man, thanks for the hand out ;)

Well, you know... I don't believe in throwing my players many bones, but it's the holidays...

Lol, nice

Ok guys (or gals, or pronouns of choice), here's what I'm thinking... I'd like some feedback on this:
If you're inactive for 3 days, I take over your PC until you come back, just to keep the game going.
If you're inactive for 7 days and you haven't given me a heads up you have something going on and you'll be away from the table for a bit, I'll assume you abandoned the game, and figure out a way to roleplay your PC out of the game without killing them, and then I'll remove you from the approved players to open up space for new ones.
If you've been removed from the game and send me a message something came up and that's why your were gone for a week and would like back in, I'll let you back in and we'll figure out where your PC was. You don't have to give me a reason for your absence, or an apology. You just get to come back.

So after 3 days I hijack your character to keep things moving for everyone. After 7 days I assume you bailed on us and make room for new people. If you ask to be reinstated and there's room, you come back with your PC.

Does this sound fair?

Absolutely. Frankly I don't want to wait three days to move a single round of combat forward but I'll take what I can get. I say if the character posted intent of their action (as Kelric did) then the DM might as well roll it after 24 hours absence. It's a computer generated dice roll for an action we KNOW the player wants to take, what's it matter if the DM makes it or the player does?

I know I'm a speed racer poster but I've played soooooo many pbp games (especially Basic/BX) that fell apart because of a lack of momentum that I feel I must push my agenda on the games I truly enjoy. This module is fantastic and the crew is amazing, I'm just champing at the bit to play it.

I like what Dom is saying. If intention has been made clear, then take the reins. And 7 days seems fair

We’ve certainly hit a speed bump here. Combat is always that way.

Okay then, I'm good @dominion451's suggestion of going with 24hrs when in combat like this. I'll be taking over Kelric until Shadowace returns. Hopefully all is well with them, irl.

Feel free to kill this crossbowperson before Eltrezar is within knife range. He got a very lucky shot last time, and likely won't pull it off again before taking a bolt to the chest.

I'm going to let Gilly and Angel have a shot at taking the man with the crossbow out before Gilly takes that nasty hit, but I think if a PC or NPC has a crossbow already ready to fire, they should be able to move and attack on their turn in the Initiative order the first time they use it in combat. I can see all subsequent moving and acting times being hampered trying to reload afterward, but the first shot shouldn't be hampered in any way, especially if the character specifically had it ready to go.

Well no doubt I agree, but I could also make real world observations about LOTS of combat rules for B/X and rules that don't exist but were added later like delaying actions, prone defenses, two weapon fighting, etc.

In the end it just comes down to how much homebrewing you really wanna do against why you chose B/X over BECMI or Basic...

I'm a pretty strict adherent to RAW, and I hate homebrew, but I just can't get on board with this one.

I just don't think the Slow property should apply to using the crossbow if it's "locked and loaded" already. I can see it applying after the first shot, because theoretically not only does it take two rounds to reload and shoot it, but it's slow to reload. But this isn't some sort of 240lb crossbow that requires an Olympic Clean and Jerk maneuver to lift, point, and squeeze.

I definitely don't do much to give my players any slack. I don't "cut breaks". But I genuinely want to see your PCs succeed against long odds. It makes a great story.
But as a DM, no matter what RAW says, I couldn't justify applying the Slow property to a PC with a readied crossbow until after they fired it. So I can't for the NPC either.

But... @dominion451 did pull a good lawyer move here, and I'm willing to concede it for this round since we operate on the principal of RAW, and because I don't want a PC to die in one whack (especially a halfling).

So unless there's any arguements, Slow property applies to all crossbows, but ONLY after the first shot is fired. But for this round Angel and Gilly get a chance to retcon Gilly's injury, because of some great attorney-ship on @dominion451's part.

EDIT: I chose B/X over BECMI because I use the B/X Essentials (Now Old Schol Essentials) books, and because BECMI sort of hoses the Thief Class in terms of level progression (though B/X hoses Clerics a bit, tbh).

But I learned D&D through B/X Essentials. The rulebooks are so well done and played out so well it was easy. So that's why I prefer B/C over BECMI ultimately.

I haven’t seen the thread yet. But I trust you guys to run a good game.

Ah, I see that I am reduced to 0 hit points in one hit. I’m fine with it to be honest. Though I really hate to see Gilly die. Maybe my favorite character on Gamers Plane. But the dude would be a bad guard if he wasn’t ready to fire his crossbow the second he saw trouble, not ten seconds later after taking two more volleys. :D

Nah you should be at 1 hp, you have 7 because of your con bonus and max at 1st level.

I totally agree, loaded crossbow takes no time to fire. That RAW will get you every time ;) maybe crossbows in Gary's world have combination trigger locks to cut down on accidental shootings in the household hahaha!

Personally I think the Rules Cyclopedia amalgamation of Basic is the best version of BECMI/BX, although I agree the thief is sorely lacking in skill progression. A point buy system like in 2e would have fixed everything.

Hmmm... well the Basic Rules guide posted in the char gen thread outlined that I should roll for HP. And so I did, and got 5+1.

I’m happy to allow funfungiguy to decide. I don’t want to retcon it now just becuase it’s to mu advantage. If I made an error and it costs me, then on my head be it.

It says 7 hp on Gilly character creation thread... DM gave us max hp at 1st level.

Indeed. I had noticed that discrepancy as well. Did I write 7? I must have. But I definitely rolled 6, as I checked. Maybe our DM intervened and fixed my sheet. I can’t remember. :D

If it spares her life, all well and good! I will wait for DM to have the final say! Alas, 1 hp doesn’t bode well for the rest of the fight in any case! :D

DM said we all get max hp at 1st level at the top of page 3 of this thread

Yeah, max HP at 1st Level, plus your Con modifier. So Gilly has Max 7 HP. And if Gilky or Angel can take this guy out this round, I retcon the attack.

Otherwise a 1 doesn't bode well. But you can always retreat with your tails between your legs. Live to fight another day and all that.

Adventurer for Hire Gilly Puddlefoot retreat? No no. If you (almost) strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. She will use every action star play in the book. Gambo. Gredator! Guerrilla warfare :D

'Fooor, she's a jolly good Halfling, for she's a jolly good Halfling! For she's a jolly good Halfling... which only the crossbowman can deny!'

Seems like the Germinator is ready to take this fort my herself ;D

It's a fixer-upper for sure but a little TLC and elbow grease and she's good as new!

I love that the archers are wreaking carnage, and Eltrezar and Elmo are just out on a romantic horse ride in the countryside.

You can move and shoot but I BELIEVE the movement has to happen first... I'm not 100% on that though.

B/X rules aren't super clear on the order of things, basically just saying you can move up to 1/3 your BMR, "and also attack".


For my games, I'm actually fine with you making your non-movement Action any time during the PC's turn. So you can attack first then move; move first then attack; or even move some of your movement distance, make an attack, and then and finish your movement. The latter option works well if you're trying to get a quick strike in on an enemy as you dash past.

In the IRL game I run I have a rule that if you break up your movement to run up on an enemy, strike him, and then retreat the same direction you came from (as opposed to running past), all movement after your attack is considered a fighting retreat and is halved.

For example, say Gilly is standing 10' from the hole in the wall and a brigand steps up. Gilly has a 120' BMR, so she normally gets to move 40' on her turn. So she runs 10' up on the man (meaning she has 30' of movement left), stabs at him with her dagger, and then backs up the way she came. Since she's backing up from the same direction she came (as opposed to dashing by) she's engaging in a fighting retreat and her remaining movement of 30' is halved. She can only retreat 15'.

If she ran 10', struck at him, and continued past in the same direction she was already going, that's not a fighting retreat, so she gets to move her remaining 30'. But the act of doubling back again eats a lot of your remaining movement.

Does that make sense?

Does to me

Makes sense to me! Thanks!

Makes sense to me.

Holiday speed bump?

Fo sho. All the other games I'm in have come to a screeching halt.

Yep. Everything is slowed right down

Hope everything is ok with our GM...

@funfungiguy: You good my man? Didn't catch the holiday bug I hope.

I know I'm pretty strict about playing RAW, but I've been willing to be more flexible lately. Not too flexible, but a bit.

In my IRL game, I've been talked into allowing natural-20 rolls to do extra success and attack rolls do double-damage. The players seem to enjoy it.

To offset this, natural-1 rolls usually mean extra failure.

Does anyone want to apply this to the campaign, or should we continue to stick with RAW.

I'm honestly fine with both. I prefer RAW, but my IRL players like it when I stretch my neck out a bit.

Ultimately I'm fine with either way but the more we fudge the more we end up just playing 1e...

I'm wheeling closer to @dominion451. I love the philosophy.

Now that being said, Gilly has the honor of rolling the first crit, so in the spirit of halfling love I'd say maybe let her decide the fate of the nat 20...

Halflings are my peeps... @KCC69: Do you take the crit and do double-damage and alter the game forever, or stick to the RAW...?

As the last player through the door, I feel bad altering the game. Let’s stick to RAW.

Okay... it was still a 100% hit. Any 20 is.

I love that people respect the RAW. As soon as get home I'll give Gilly choice of targets.

Just got late to the party. As fun as Nat 1 failures and Nat 20 Crit’s can be, RAW is how we been playing. And as DM, I will follow whatever decision you choose happily. (When I build up the courage to DM a game of my own I hope I’ll have the stones to make the same call lol)

Frankly in a game as deadly as Basic d&d I wouldn't want to be hit by an enemy crit, so I won't miss it too much.

That's a pretty good point, actually. Considering a zombie wiped out the party's dwarf with a Nat-20 you'd think they would reconsider.

Thank Cuthbert we agreed on no double damage! Coulson seems to have magnets in his armor lol!

It occured to me tonight that not only does party Initiative rolls hose the halfling, but really any PC with a Init bonus.

But those of us with initiative penalties don't mind it too much.

Lol, I knew Eltrezar would chime in.

Yeah around a table I'd never use it. In pbp it just serves to speed up combat which can otherwise take an exceedingly long time. Same with group action posting. I played with one dm on Mythweavers that would apply the highest player's bonus to the groups roll (and same with the highest dex monster) to account for the "scout" element.

Everyone has their own style, their own way of running things. It's all good ;)

Coulson just rolled a nat20 haha. We are just going to see a ton of 1s and 20s now.
I like how your running initiative and combat

Not just a nat 20 but max damage too! Bravo sir!

Hope my mighty swing doesn’t cleave him in two and damage the horse. We can sell that unless someone wants it

No doubt! Equine gold!

Just a heads up to everyone, I removed Shadowace from the game today. Nothing personal against them, it's just that it became more and more clear that they weren't really contributing too much to the game.

From their PC's introduction at the start f Part 2 they didn't really engage too much, and I sort of wrote it off that a lot of Part 2 was a shopping montague and a "meet-and-greet" with some of Hommlet's mote important NPCs, and since Kelric arrived fully equipped he didn't need to go shopping, and maybe heavy roleplaying isn't their cup of tea.

I hoped that Part 3 might generate some more activity from them, knowing that it was basically a dungeon crawl/combat-heavy thread. But we haven't really seen that from them. I've constantly had to PM them that their turn was up. We've had multiple discussions about pacing which were thinly-veiled directs regarding how Kelric's inactivity was slowing things down. Shadowace has stated multiple times it's because weekends are tough for them, but most of the time they've been inactive on weekdays too. I'm now at the point where I'm RPing Kelric as an NPC more than Shadowace has been as a PC.

So I removed them from the game. I sent them a PM explaining why, stating everything said above, and explaining that I take as much responsibility as anyone should. I think it came down to an issue that I probably failed to make the game interesting enough for Shadowace to want to stay engaged, and maybe Shadowace wasn't clear how the group prefers te pacing to go.

In any case, I told Shadowace that if they genuinely want to continue playing, to shoot me a PM and we'll have to have a chat about what the group expects from one another and see of we can figure out how to get them on the same page.

Otherwise, I'll be playing Kelric as an NPC for the rest of the encounter and like Jonas and Selvam before, after Part 3 ends, Kelric will probably decide to skedaddle into the sunset somehow.

That seems fair. Every time is was Kelric’s turn I would mentally check out for a few days because I knew things were going to slow right down. Maybe that’s harsh of me, but I’ve just had a game die due to player disengagement (my first game on the site) so it’s something that gnaws at me.

Happy new year all!

Incidentally, I was telling Nezzeraj about this game, and I’m sure he’d be interesting in joining, should his plate not very too full!

Yeah, we can discuss a replacement if the group wants.

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR, all!!! It's not for me yat, but about 6 1/2 more hours...

Happy new year indeed! It's always a bummer when a player doesn't work out but keeping the pace of the game up is vital to longevity. For the record I feel the game has been very interesting!

I've definitely been enjoying the group, and am honestly looking forward to the combat speeding up a bit. That said, I'll be out in the mountains until Sunday, ringing in the New Year my own way. Given that Eltrezar is (unsurprisingly) at the bottom of the initiative order, this shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah, Eltrezar is getting super hosed sitting on the back of Elmo's horse. Which is pretty nuts because Elmo has a +1 to his Init rolls, and just consistently keeps rolling garbage.

Awesome man, have fun in the mountains! Personally that's my favorite place to be :)

New year mountains sounds ideal. I’m waiting on my Covid test results to come in :(
It’s a bummer when someone ghosts, I just had a game die too. But like everyone else, I’m really enjoying this game

Man, Gilly is carrying the group this time lol

She's a stone cold killer!

"Gilly Puddlefoot, killer for hire!"

My name is Gilly and I like to killy.

Lol!

Hahahahahaha

I have a sneaky feeling that my attack might not hit

Probably a safe bet...

I'm glad I didn't come back to y'all waiting on me! The mountains decided to rain pretty hard on me. Didn't stop me from exploring, but still... never again will I complain about a GM making me roll some form of endurance check for cold weather.

No kidding, I'm a fanatical backpacker and I'd rather pack in the snow than in the rain. Something about being inescapably wet that just saps you.

The years I spent hiking in the rain. Ugh.
Saying that, the years I’ve spent working in the rain. Double ugh. Dom is right, it drains you. At least when it’s just cold, movement creates heat

I survived, and found the tucked-away chalet I was hunting for. Overall, a great way to start the year.

In regards to the game, is Eltrezar able to hop off the horse and move towards the bandits? He's not currently in dagger range, nor did he declare a spell at the beginning of the round. My confusion stems from being mounted, but not being the one using the horses movement on his turn. I'd like to hop off and move towards the bandits, but understand if my movement has already been used up.

Yes, he can. All horse movement is Elmo's Movement and Action because he's the one controlling the animal, whereas Eltrezar is just a passive actor and can at any time jump off. But if you jump off while the horse is in motion, you have to make a Dexterity check (with penalties) to stay on your feet or you fall and eat dust. Elmo brought his horse to a halt after a full double-move sprint on Elmo's turn. Eltrezar hasn't done anything on this turn and dismounting is a free action. So he could dismount (free Action), Move (Move Action), and Attack (Regular Action) if he likes.

Damn, Coulson has a sore throat

Oh no! Coulson!

Time to start rolling up a new character I think?