[OOC]Player Chat

You could try, but you would miss the timing of the mission. You have intelligence about when the convoys are moving, and your efforts need to fit in that timing.

OK, makes sense

I'll wait a little bit to see if Kazuyo and Ozunu have any responses.

RL has been busy. I'll post later today; hoping to bring folks together for next steps, although....

Sorry about the delay, I had mulled over the possibility of allowing the earlier arrivals to do more, but in the final analysis, that seems contrary to the point of this game. So I opted to pull all of you together.

Ozunu is speaking in code and refers to the gold if that didn't translate.

@GM, is this a good moment inside the tea-house, to halt the game to wait for the two new characters to join? Or how do you want to proceed?

I would encourage you to keep moving. We can always retcon things afterwards. Delays in posting lead to game death; that's the one fate we should try to avoid.

gotcha, thanks

Would it be possible to scale any of the buildings in the Prefecture and also get a good view of the incoming roads?

Well, I suppose you could. But bear in mind that buildings are no taller than two stories with the exception of the castle itself.

I want to point out a few things for players at this point, as there may be some confusion. The inspiration for our setting is medieval Japan. Architecture, customs and geography all reflect that. It is a hilly, forested country dotted with farmland and small villages and towns. Most people are poor, and great deference is given to samurai, which can be thought of as nobles or knights.

As for the mission, the gold is being transported NOT by wagons or carts, which are exceedingly rare in medieval Japan. Roads capable of supporting carts and wagons are few, and most of those are part of the royal road, the use of which is heavily taxed. Instead, most important people or goods are transported by sedans carried by people. Every day goods may be carried in wheel barrels or more commonly on the backs of peasants and merchants. Horses as anything other than mounts for cavalry is exceedingly uncommon.

Also, as a point of reference, ninja rarely wear black, in spite of my picture. Rather they favor darker shades green, blue and brown that better blend in the background. They only appear black in that they stalk in the shadows, where there is little light.

Any other high points near the town with a good view of the road? Cliffs? Trees? Natural or unnatural doesn't really matter. Cover and concealment are better in that case than sneaking and making no noise.

Plus a Buddhist Monk really won't stick out if he's meditating outside in the elements.

I have a couple more things for the group.

First, please try to make use of the game system when possible. It is the intent of this game. I know some players/groups allow for deviations from the ruleset in the name of roleplaying, but I tend to take a different philosophy. If your character is supposed to be good at/know about something, then it should be reflected in the character's stats. In same games, the GM allow players to wax eloquently and accept those results regardless of whether or not the character actually has the CHARISMA or Diplomacy skill to support that. I do not. Instead, I view it as the PC thinking that they waxed eloquently when in fact they make have bumbled their words or be limited by their own stuttering speech or the like...based on the dice roll. After all, we don't roleplay out the spellcasting or the fighting to determine success, and I like to treat the rest of the system in the same way. This is likewise true for PC knowledge. If you want to know something, you'll need to make a knowledge roll. For example, Kazuyo posted "I assume Kazuyo will know the Shibata symbols, kimono patterns, banners, etc. and can recognize them if spotted". She'll need to make a knowledge: nobility roll. Bear in mind that knowledge is a trained only skill, meaning that only someone with skill ranks can attempt the check. Otherwise, you will only get very general information and not the specific detail that one may be looking for. Fortunately, for Kazuyo, she does have bardic knowledge class ability, which can substitute for similar cultural, geographical, etc. information.

Second, please do try to make the appropriate rolls within your post as you describe your action. That is, please try to not wait for me...the GM...to call for the rolls. This is a PbP game and it's slow enough as is. You may want to actually post once with the attempt and the roll, if you don't know whether or not it would be successful. If you do know whether or not it would be successful, I would suggest making a second post to reflect that result...to the extent you would know what it would be...as well This would help the game to keep moving. For example, Si just posted that he's going to "will mill about the general tavern/inn attempting to hear any chatter about recruitment for carriers for the gold/decoys". That's clearly a gather information check from the rules. He should roll accordingly.

I'll respond to this in the IC thread, which seems more appropriate given the actions undertaken by the group.

edited Kazuyo's post to include the bardic knowledge roll. Not being familiar with the system it is sometimes hard for me to apply applicable rules/skills. For example here I was not sure what to add to the roll, as it is not a skill but a bardic proficiency, so I rolled raw d10s

Please try to meet me half way on the rolls. You should consult the rules at the d20 SRD website. Here's the link to the bard class. It's bard class levels plus intelligence as bonuses to the roll in this case.

Prediction: Rolls 28 for spot...

sees he's on the wrong intersection.

As an additional reminder, please use the dice roller on this site by typing 2d10+[modifier].

That's hilarious!