OOC Chat Thread

You know what to do here, don't you?

So, go for it!!

Talk to other real people, like a real person!

;)

Hi everyone.

Hey Adam. I'm looking forward to play with you as a fellow player :)

Hey there. I'm looking forward to play too.
From where are you all from?
I'm from Vienna, Austria

Great to be here. Hello. I'm from Peoria, IL.

I'm from Denmark

Hehe. Okay on closer look the "runekyndig" seems to give a somewhat scandinavian origin away. Does it mean "knowledable in runes"? Like "runenkundig" in german

Spot on! I taught myself the older futhark and when I needed a new screen name, it was natural... And unclaimed :)

Brit (English specifically) here.

Looking at the list, we have no new GPers here? That's disappointing.

Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in!

I'm from Denver, Colorado (-6 GMT). I'm usually most active on weekday mornings here.

But also check the site dozens of times a day for my various games.

With as big of a PITA as I made this game sound like it was gonna be, I was happy to get anyone at all interested, much less you five fine folks. I tend to do these things on a first come first serve basis unless I have an abundance of interest, and I wouldn't consider the reaction to this game particularly abundant. So I wouldn't feel too much like you're putting anyone out.

Hey guys.

I'm another Brit. :)

Looking forward with playing with you all. Hope to get my character info up after work.

Welcome, LoM, no great rush.

I was thinking should just go with an old rule I heard. Just one skill roll at a time. Sounds so much better emsquared.

That sounds like a good place to start, yea. Thanks, GeneC.

We're still waiting for LoM, yeah?

Yea, sorry.

I won't be restrictive like this once we get rolling. But just initially wanted to get everyone introduced and in at the ground level, so to speak.

If they haven't posted in, like, 2 hrs or so (~24 hrs since I opened up the story thread) we'll keep moving.

Sound reasonable?

Sure - I get that. I'm not in any rush, and it'd be nice to meet Enise before moving on. I just wanted to check that you didn't want us to post yet.

Yeah sorry do go ahead if there are times I don't respond. Work has been tiring this week. Trying to craft a post rn, just got back.

Hey without you we'd be four lions, and that would be a very different adventure.

The important question here is whether that bird is also a lion.

Post up. Should be more responsive from tomorrow on hopefully.

No trouble, LoM. But thanks for making the push to get a post up.

I think this is probably just the normal circumstance of the beginning of play. Everybody is jazzed for the new thing to start, and so the posts may come hot n heavy for a bit.

But soon enough we'll fall into a more normal "cadence".

Yeah that's fair. I can sometime eek out small posts at work from phone , but not something like an intro post.

Sorry, Gene and Scrol, trying to get to your entry as quickly as possible.

Not long now, hopefully...

happens when it happens..

No worries. ;)

Thanks for your understanding.

I hope the observing is at least a little enjoyable for now :P

Sure thing. I'm excited to find out what's behind this wedding gone wrong

Oh don't you worry, I think there will be :)

https://5thsrd.org/rules/advantage_and_disadvantage/

Cool. Save time on counting stacking up.. LOL.

Yea, it keeps Advantage/Disadvantage simple, which was what the mechanic was created for in the first place. Simplicity of situational modifiers.

And, fun fact, I replied to that post at almost 1AM local time for me last night, because I killed a PC for the first time in 5E last night during my IRL game and I lost sleep over it :P

First time I had killed a PC in any system really, in years...

First PC death in years? I’m starting to think I’m the DM equivalent of a murder hobo. I sometimes wonder what the attack roll/death save ratio is for my players.

As I said, don’t be afraid to wail* whale on Marabi. It’s not like there’s a shortage of fresh character sheets.

* TIL

Heh, yea, the streak began I think in maybe 2012 when I had a player basically rage-quit a Pathfinder game after they got coup de graced while paralyzed/Held (at Lvl 5 or so...?).

Part of it is probably also that I haven't ran many games IRL over these past few years. Started having kids, and so was mainly just play(er)ing until a couple years ago...

But in general, I do also prefer that character death come about as a result of ("bad" or knowing/willfully risky) player choices and pivotal story points (BBEGs), rather than bad luck/rolls in the middle of an adventure. And this was a bad luck roll in a tower-defense scenario in the middle of an adventure (granted against a nasty baddy).

Oooo no. I like blaming the dice when one of my PCs dies. I certainly don’t want the blame.

Dice are EVIL critters.

Yea, I certainly had that deniability last night...

We are still playing online, and I roll everything "in the open". And rolled REALLY well on a Lightning Bolt... immediate overflow death.

Did the math, because I was trying to figure out if I was crazy/really misjudged putting a bone naga up against them.

97% percent chance that the PC would have either succeeded at the save, and/or not received enough damage for insta-death.

Straight up bad luck.

Smiles.. I just threw 10 to 1 odds on four 3rd levels. Had them quacking for a while, but they will succeed and everyone is almost down to single digits. So much fun! (No happy feel of a kill! Mwaa ha ha)

Just checking that nobody is waiting for me to do something. Marabi is running (and ripping off lines from Gallipoli) until somebody nudges me.

Sorry, no, I'm just not able to be very active on most weekends... everyone is waiting on me :)

Fair enough. No hurry.

Okay. I'll wait until after everybody has done stuff and you give me a nudge. At least Marabi can hear stuff now.

Hey everybody, it's been about a month since we started, and I just wanted to check in and see how things are going for everyone?

How's the pacing? How's the feel? How's the game? Any adjustments I can make?

Feel free to respond here, or via PM. And please be open and honest.

I won't be offended at criticism, I want this to be the best game it can be, and for that I need your input.

Been a moving. .:)

I'm not sure what that means :P

"The game has" is missing.. LOL.. probably makes more sense now. Grant miss his cake...

Indeed it has. Too fast? Too slow? Ok?

I think it has been okay. I prefer fast.. but really speed has been good. Not so much pauses and all. combat is always a good party joiner.. LOL.

really too early to justisify a good thought. which is good as that mean the really bad thoughts didnt't happen

I'll take it!

I wouldn't listen to me. You should pick a sane person.

I like a mystery, and I’m intrigued to find out what’s going on. We haven’t had time to interact with each other or NPCs yet, but we’ve mainly been reacting up until now - so that’s to be expected.

I’m looking forward to finding out more about the lore of this region (as a player I would have liked to have seen that Turmish wedding). I guess I kinda want to be a bit of tourist in your envisioning of this region. If you want to give me an Easter egg…. Jenks from WDH is Turami. Does he have family here? Did he run away? Dunno - but I quite like it when things fit together.

I can’t believe that we’ve been playing for three weeks. I guess time flies if you’re enjoying yourself.

Thanks for the feedback Adam.

This particularly is interesting to me......as I feel like this is the type of thing can take a game too far up it's own arse for some ppl.

I know I prefaced the game as a deep dive into lore, but even in in-person games I feel like there's a fine line in the type of detail, where too much gets eyes to glaze over and ppl picking up their phones. Which I think in the pbp equivalent, that line is much closer to favoring brevity, and beyond that is when ppl start skipping large amounts of text. At which point something important gets missed.

Any exposition and lore that I do vomit-forth, I try to make sure it holds some nugget of significance to our story.

But maybe the more strictly flavor-nuggets like that I could put in spoilers, for those who want to read, can?

And their might be some Easter eggish things in your futures, but they are unlikely to be related to 5e official adventure paths as I have just never ran any of them... But, certain "celebrity" appearances are almost an inevitability :D

I might be in a minority of one, but I love those long-form posts in PbP. Sure, IRL my might eyes glaze over - but this isn't an IRL game, PbP allows me to read and enjoy those long posts. I don't want it boiled down, and I love the insignificant details - those are the best bits.

But... maybe that's just me.

Hey, you asked! I answered.

Totally, and like I said, I think maybe putting that kind of info in Spoilers, so that those who want to indulge can, is a good way to meet in the middle. A work around really only available in the pbp format even!

Thanks for bringing it up.

I think that's a good idea in order to sprinkle a bit of lore over some posts. Those who aren't interested can just ignore the spoilers.


As for feedback: The game is faster than I'm used to be but I don't think it's bad, just different.
I'm used to make longer post but in this game I hardly make them. I rather try to push the narrative with my posts instead of promoting RP.
That's no critiscism, just an observation ;)

Until now I like your game very much and I'm looking forward to explore the weird things that happen in the Five Lions Roar

Yea, my impression has been that some of us like/can facilitate a faster pace than others. And so I've been trying to split a difference. And my sense is that everyone else has been trying to find that meeting place too.

At the same time, I do like to try to "hit the ground running" with any game I'm running, by having it start off with some urgent scenario. I think moving forward from here, things can/should be a bit more driven by you guys, and your own sense of urgency and call to action, and there can be more space for those sorts of interactions.

Thanks for the input Scrol!

We have been moving really fast, and reacting to this wedding crisis. Looking forward to slowing down a little big. Have time to interact with the other players.

I am not too happy with Marié murdering the elf, as I understood that he was freeing the roots of the bushmen, and would shoot him in the leg for his trouble. But let us not get hung too much up on that.

I sense some elven lore beneath the surface, and I look forward to getting more into that.

I can of course totally understand that.

I would like to say that I am more than happy to work with you guys, if you want to try to enact some non-standard effect in combat. Like when Marie wanted to destroy the pipes in his hands, and this includes things like pinning someone to the ground/a tree whatever. But if you're shooting them in/through the body to do so, you're still gonna do damage. And the guy only had 6 HP. Any effect after he took 7 damage was moot.

It seemed like you/Marie understood the risk: shoot him through the flesh to pin him and hope he doesn't die. But I could have made sure it was clear there was another option; that she could have tried to pin him by piercing just his clothes but of course that's much harder to achieve and easier to escape.

I am very sorry that this has negatively impacted your experience of the game, rune.

No worries let us not get too hung up on it :)

Is Marabi still charmed?

Great question, I keep forgetting about that.

No. No one who was charmed is charmed any longer.

Hey!

I see some good friends here!

I have played D&D for about 40 years, and I have never been to Turmish. So I'm very excited. Do you guys want me to read the story up till now, and join as if I'd been here all along. Or show up as a new guy?

(I'm thinking a Paladin who's spent his career keeping the law in Ravilar's Cloak the wild and rowdy mining town)

tonight I'm going to read everything I can about Turmish, then I'll put a backstory together.

Welcome Skallagrim!

Your paladin can have been in Five Lions this whole time, perhaps staying at the inn while traveling for an unrelated (or semi-related) matter? And we'll bring you in as a "new guy", probably immediately/beginning with the trip to the oread?

Word of what happened at the Sandemin wedding would spread quickly, and so you'd probably over hear that in the inn's common room. And you could volunteer your deity's service or what-have-you on the morrow?

Oh no - not that guy! :D
Hello Skallagrim glad to have you here as well.

Hi SK.

My Trip is a GO!!

Back in a week

Has anyone heard from GeneC anywhere around the forums? It's been a minute since he posted in this game...

No, I haven't. I noticed that too. He's still around though. He checked the site today.

I'm around always.. been a bit off lately.. just getting back on the horse per say.

No problem, hope all is as well as can be, Gene. No pressure if you need to take more time.

Yes he is attempting to start his Vision Quest.

Cool, ok. Grant will have 1 level of Exhaustion.

He is working for harder.. and Really misses the CAKE!

Dang, crickets for a two mornings in a row? Was it something I said?

;)

I thought I'd make a conscious effort to let someone else have a go first.

Adam is nearly as impetuous as Marabi - I have to rein him in.

Definitely appreciate that awareness.

But if that's the intent, then asking/prompting others to take the lead, "Hey guys, I feel like I was a little too out-in-front for that last scene. Can someone else take the lead here?", might be better than silence.

Is everyone down with doing a flashback so we can bring Skallagrim into the current/Einral's place scene?

Yup. Marabi doesn't mind a fit fella flashing - fnar, fnar.

hey, you said you didn't read Viz....

I've read a couple and I get some of the references. I've never seen Game of Thrones either, but I know winter is coming.

lets get Skallagrimm up to speed and join the group

I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person in Canada that says "fnar-fnar" on a regular basis

Yeah. I’m going too fast again. I’m a bugger for it. Sorry.

Imma try and force myself to post only once per day for a bit.

But it’s only because I’m enjoying the adventure.

Well, it takes two to tango, Adam. I have a role in the pace too of course, so don't beat yourself up or think you're doing anything wrong.

There's an ebb and flow to the narrative. A time for, when things fall into place, it warrants advancing the narrative based on that IMO, and a time to get a greater "feeling for the room"as there's an element of choice emerging. That part is my job. Balancing the two. Paving the narrative and ensuring that when there's a different path, ppl can be involved if they want.

A lot of what's occurred here, I think, is mostly uncovering plot so that it can be interacted with.

I know the input after our first month of play was that pacing was fast. And I can do more to bring that pace down. It's just hard for me to tell, when 24 hrs have passed and someone hasn't posted, whether it's because they just don't have anything to add, or aren't/weren't available, or what. And so when that happens, I'm gonna advance the narrative to try to get to a "more interactive" point in the story. A point where choices need to be made. To see if I can get everyone involved.

I think we're at or getting to one of those "choice points" now, and I think you've sensed that, and self-regulated :P

Point is, all in all, thanks for being aware of pacing, but also thanks for pushing the narrative.

And in other news, GeneCortess has just notified me that they will have to leave the game for IRL reasons.

Probably will ride with this crew for awhile. And see about adding someone new when we get to a good point for it in the story again.

I’m waiting for Scrol or tomorrow before I post again.

Oh, and don’t apologise for the long posts. They’re my favourites.

I guess we are four lions now. Bagsy Waj.

Sounds good.

And yea, for reference, I am seeing the hand off of the dogs as maybe a convenient way to have Grant exit the scene/game.

Ah. Nice. Thanks for letting us know.

And the packs could also probably fall into that. Grant takes the packs and dogs back to the Five Lions?

Ha!

I leave the character here for a few more days so you can copy if you want.

Ok GeneC. I'll probably have Grant exit ASAP but he'll be "out there". So if your situation changes, and I haven't filled your spot, you would be welcome back.

Thanks for playing.

I know alignment can be one of those touchy things that different ppl have a lot of different feelings on. But as DM I'm telling you I'm ruling this is a CN action.

I'm not telling you whether it's "right" or "wrong", in telling you in game mechanical terms it's chaotic and it's neutral.

There's no procedure to what you guys are doing. No record, no actual investigation (you're just taking his word/perception that what he has told you he is experiencing is reality). None of you are law enforcement representatives. It's definitely 100% Chaotic territory. While it's justice, it's vigilante justice. Or a "frontier-style justice".

For some of that same reason - you don't actually know what's really going on here, you've taken everything you've been told as the whole truth - it's also Neutral. There could be more. There could be other ways to stop him besides summary execution. This guy is a known benevolent presence in the region, has helped/saved an order of magnitude more ppl than he's killed, and would probably go on to help/save an order of magnitude more if you saved him instead of killed him. Is it a Good thing to execute someone who murdered someone while they were under mind control? No. Absolutely not. It's just a cold carrying out of justice. It's 100% Neutral territory. Neither good nor evil - just "what must be done" to resolve a situation expediently.

Again, not talking about immediate alignment change or anything, so I don't want to blow this out of proportion. You're definitely doing A good (taking out a threat to others), but also an evil (taking out a benevolent presence). Neutral. And you're doing it without procedure, nor prescribed lawful right. Chaotic.

It's complex. Particularly if Belarus isn't carrying out the execution, that puts him once removed from it all too. What's his obligation in that position?

It's meant - nay, designed - to be complex.

But that's the reality of the choice that's in front of you all.

I don't want this choice to become a roadblock to gameplay, or to turn ppl off from the game.

We could talk at a meta-level, about what the choice is here, if that would help keep things moving? i.e. I could reveal what the meta-level consequence of either path is, without revealing narrative? Might make it a bit more of a "mechanical" choice instead of emotional.

no no,

I've got no complaints. I want to play Belaros like a true Paladin. But in my mind Paladins aren't particularly bright. And Belaros is a small, isolated, back-water (without the water) Paladin. Not a big-city, halls of justice type.

So I want him to be 100% dedicated to his calling, but sometimes fronteir justice is, unpleasant

Right, but the problem is we have 2 PCs who want to destroy the lycanthrope, and 2 who want to try to redeem Einral.

I don't want the issue to drive a wedge in the group/a resultant pvp where any two PCs are physically trying to prevent any other two from doing what they see as best, and I don't want the outcome whatever it is to mar any player's perception of their PC as the person they want them to be (and thereby decrease their enjoyment of the game/their PC).

So, taking a step back from the in-character just seemed like an option to avoid things becoming unpleasant in either of those ways.

Also, for the record, I agree with you Skallagrimm, that Helm's Will would probably be to destroy the lycanthrope. Helm has particular enmity with Malar, and isn't super big on redemption stuff. So the focus on protecting and law/justice would probably over-ride the preservation of life stuff he's into. But I also don't think that means it's a Lawful nor Good act. Which is just a reflection/confirmation of how game-mechanical alignment is not supposed to reflect right or wrong, nor codify a character's (nor even a god's) actions or case-by-case morality.

As for your earlier question RE: legal authority, he's a self-avowed lycanthrope. To Helm, the laws of man would likely no longer have to be applied. At that point, it could probably just be reconciled as destroying a monster.

Yeah - but it's not a problem. I reckon we can take them. 😏

I have no idea how to handle the lycanthrope, but to Marié it seems like the coward's way out, but when there is no alternative... then there is only that way out.

Ha! That's the spirit!

Maybe we'll wait to see if Scrol has any specific alternative ideas, and if not, we proceed with the "current plan"?

I'm not a murder-hobo player (at least I hope I'm not) but I have run into the situation several times where I want to kill something(s), to rid the world of evil, and make it safer for regular people, but the rest of the party is, i dunno, uncomfortable with it....

here, I'm uncomfortable, because we can't just kill the evil beast. The good man dies as well. If anyone has a kinder solution, I'm all for it.

Not to get all philosophical, left-wing sociologist here, but don't we have a beast in us? We can call it rage, fury or temper - but it's still a beast that takes over and renders us insensible.

Here is a man who can't tame that beast, that killer beast. It's not his fault, it was imposed from without - but it's still there.

The question is deeper than a D&D game. It's a question of how society treats the untreatable.

deeper than a D&D game? is that a thing?

Hey gang! I will be going on vacation beginning tomorrow, and will be gone for the entire following week.

My activity will be reduced to possibly nothing for that time. Or I may squeeze in a post here and there in the evenings. We'll see. I'd like to get transitioned out of this scene, but who knows, my wife may want to talk to me 🙄

Anyway, I've been having a lot of fun here, and so I hope to see you all when I return.

bon voyage!

Before we continue.

I’m in six games. Now half of them are with SK and RK.

I’ve always thought it’s a failing of GP that it seems very cliquey, yet here we are. It’s not like this was planned, but it just feels awkward to me.

@Sk and RK - does this feel weird to you too?

yup

I applied to this game when it appeared in the tavern, but wasn't fast enough. I had no idea who else applied. Then I forgot all about it.

Later I got an invitation, and lo and behold, here you are!

I've played IRL with the same half dozen people for years...... but I know exactly what you mean

I don't think of it as cliquey, but more in the lines that I have played with a lot of people here on GP. I have played with some that I think are sloppy writers, murderhoboes, ghosters or just plain full of themself. Those guys (or girls) I don't want to waist my time on those.
Then there are others players that have a similar game mindset that I have. We can have fun with each other and I consider them friends (as much as an avatar is a friend you never meet).

I don't think it is weird that we are drawn to the same kind of games

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've only ever gamed with rune here before. And that was over a year ago (and I'm stoked to have the opportunity to do so again) :P

I will be inviting CherokeeWind to join the game, once we get to a point where it's narratively more viable to bring someone new in again.

Which I would guesstimate happening anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks from now?

Lol. I’m in the Dragons of Icespire Peak with CW. CW has a fantastic narrative style of play. I really enjoy reading her posts and I’m sure you will too.

But as much as enjoy this game with its delicious dark notes, I think I’ll bow out it favour of fresh blood. 4/5 lions all sharing games seems somewhat incestuous. Perhaps Marabi doesn’t recover from her PTSD. There’s something quite nice about having a D&D character who couldn’t come to terms with murder.

I don’t need to leave the game right away, so if there’s a more appropriate time then let me know. But I can see how the brash young woman might feel that she can’t continue after what she’s done.

now I feel like I smell....

The only other ppl who've expressed interest in the game are dankel, whom I've gamed with before just about right up until I started this game actually, and HeroAmongMen, whom I've not gamed with before but who is also not particularly new to the site.

So, no brand spanking new ppl have even expressed interest in the game, and so it doesn't appear as tho you'd be opening up a spot for ppl who haven't gotten to game yet. And frankly I've never had a game last long after it's had turnover equal in number to the original group size, and you leaving would put this one over halfway to what I would consider that "impending death" point.

But if anyone is not enjoying the game, for any reason, including just a desire to game with new ppl, you don't owe me anything to stay here and play through that and you are of course welcome to leave. Now is fine if you're feeling weird about things

Honestly, losing 3 players in nearly as many weeks and knowing that I haven't managed to help craft an experience that... is better than... the act of gaming with familiar ppl is bad(?)... has kind of taken the wind out of my sails for this.

Sorry if the Einral/lycanthrope choice was too heavy, y'all.

Or maybe it was too dark from the start with the literal party-til-you-drop thing?

Honest feedback would be appreciated. Here or via PM if you want to be more candid.

I'm not here to take the world out of anyone's sails. Let's carry on; I'll get over the weirdness.

And that's all it is - the weirdness of having the same people from four of my six games. It wasn't me sugar-coating not enjoying the adventure. I like the heaviness. I like the dark. That's a feature, not a bug.

It was heavy - yes. To heavy? No! It is going to shape my character, definitely. Marié was thought to be a prankster, and that was why she started in the artificer class. Is she continue to be one... I don't know yet. I initially thought that Marié would make her mothers longsword her main weapon. But she might pick up the silver shortsword instead. Unless someone else wants it.

Marié will not be a propper sword wielder before lev 3, where she is proficient and can infuse the weapon, and use INT as her attack stat instead of her rubbish STY

I apologize, Adam, and everyone else, I got a little emo there yesterday...

I think I couldn't understand (and maybe still don't but that's my "problem" to solve), why someone would walk away from a game that they were otherwise enjoying, "just" because it was populated by mostly the same ppl they have been gaming with before.

And I think I was therefore taking it more personally/as a sign that things weren't working.

Which is/was petty and me making the issue about me, when it's not.

Different ppl value different things in their gaming experience, and gaming with a diverse set of ppl is of course a 100% valid thing to value and seek out.

Turnover happens in pbp games, and it was not and is not fair of me to basically guilt anyone into staying in a game, or for leaving, for any reason when they have any reason that they want to leave.

I was feeling pretty gutted at the time, but I'm over my self-pity party now.

Which I guess is all just a long-winded way for me to say, again, sorry for getting a little bitchy there, but also, please don't feel obligated to stick around in this game (you mentioned the lack of fresh faces from the very start so you're not at all dropping a surprise on me), and that it will go on as long as anyone who remains wants it to, if you or anyone else leaves, and I would hold no ill will for it and I would just thank you for gaming with us while you did.

I want you and everyone else to do what they gotta do to seek your joy.

Dude. It’s cool. We’re cool. Let’s carry on.

I'm glad you feel that way. I think one of the things that I sometimes try to achieve when I GM is that I, at least conceptually, like the idea of trying to make the Players actually feel something.

I know, for me, that's where I derive immersion from a gaming experience. When I feel something as a player, I feel most connected to my character and the gameworld.

And so when I come up with a scenario like that, in my brain it's like, "What can go wrong!?"

And it sounds like such a great idea "on paper", but jeez, when we're actually RPing through it? As I'm RPing out these things that I'd not want to have to go through in real life, I sometimes get the feeling that I've made a horrible mistake 😅

Like when I envisioned this on paper, it was that Einral would be more of this defiant "Well, you can try to destroy me or you can leave!"-thing. But as we were RPing through it, I realized that this NPC would probably be pretty miserable and could want to die. I didn't see the assisted-suicide "spin" coming. I know we talked about lines and ppl had the opportunity draw that one. But it didn't feel great to me when I realized that's where it was.

In my head it's like, "Oh, it's make believe, so it's a safe place/way to explore a situation like this.", but typing it out it's like, "Oop, this took me somewhere, this doesn't feel great."

At the same time, different ppl derive immersion in different ways, and particularly with PBP where I can't see faces or read body language I have no idea if things are going well or not. At which point it's easy to find reasons to think they may not be going well.

Anyway, I feel like this was exactly the issue that came up in my Star Wars game that you were in, rune. Where we kind of found that pbp can just drag these painful moments out into an uncomfortable amount of time. So where at an in person game something like this might take 5 to 15 minutes to deliberate and RP through and then it's fine, in pbp you end up having to come back to this emotional-place/mindset and re-live/remember it and what lead up to it, and then type out in the right words the post you have to make now, and that re-visiting process goes on for days.

Apparently I learned nothing from that Star Wars game 😖

I don't think the choice was too heavy. It was a heavy choice, yes, but it fitted neatly into the narrative and it wasn't unecessarily gruesome.
I think you are doing a great job in leading the game ;)

agreed

this isn't important at all, but I'm a complete "nature nerd" so i just want everyone to know that land snails can be found just about everywhere. Even mountain-tops and deserts.

https://www.snail-world.com/where-do-snails-live/

TIL

Heh nice

Hey there.
I'll go on vacation for two weeks so I'll probably won't be able to post much.
Just assume that Rolen is trotting along and helping as much as he can.

Sounds good, thanks for the heads up Scrol!

Work projects have just slammed into me from nowhere. I'm going to be around, but a lot less around, for the next couple of weeks.

I'll keep things ticking over, but please excuse me if I'm a little less verbose or responsive for a short while.

thanks for the heads up

deja vu......

Thanks for the heads up!

Lol. Yeah. That's what happens when we're in three games together. Soz mate.

A new user, mormegil, had expressed interest in the game. And I told them I'd bring them in, in a couple weeks when we're at a point in the narrative when it would make sense. But looks like they found a game and withdrew...

Have picked up some additional interest beyond that, but Cherokee Wind is still the "newest".

Anyone gamed with USGA_Elite before? They're one of the recent applicants, and might be a good opportunity to meet someone new?

I like playing with new people, and USGA_Elite is new to me.

I'll reach out to them, let em know I see them, and the timeline.

I'm playing Stormking's Thunder with USGA_Elite

he gets a thumbs up from me

lets have USGA_Elite :D

I'm going to be away from my eldest's graduation on Thu, Fri, Sat.

Congratulation!

Thanks for the heads up, Adam.

I'm bailing soon until Sat night.

As much as I enjoy a bit of friction between PCs (and I do), we might need to dial back the Marabi-Belaros conflict a notch or two before the pair come to blows. I'm happy with Marabi disliking him, but I think we keep it within the bounds of only using our word-fists. Or we could all just chuck Belaros off the mountainside - that works too. It'd be a good story.

if Belaros is too much, I can dial him back. I meant for him to be a peacock, but he's turning into Major Mistunderstanding

and I assumed Marabi was secretly in love with him ;)

Oh no. Don’t do that. He’s a character.

Yea, I mean I told you it's not a problem so long as Belaros isn't Lawful Stupid, and that's still my line. So, as long as his principles or whatever don't disrupt the game or the narrative in an inflexible, intolerant, ignorant-of-the-"real"-world manner, we should be good.

But it does take two to tango, and the others could also react less-poorly, knowing and understanding who Belaros(/i.e. Skallagrim) is.

We'll not be having any PVP.

Conflicted relationships are fine, so long as Players you continue to find a reason for the Characters to continue to work together.

I play with Skallagrim in another game and know him to be a respectful and decent guy. It's Belaros that is a twat. Here is no Player Vs Player. Character vs Character perhaps

Exactly, that's always my hope and assumption. But with PBP, can be hard to know for sure...

Specisist! says the tabaxi

I've never played a paladin before. and if I think of paladins, (good and bad) one word comes to my mind - UNCOMPROMISING

so, I don't really see how to be a Paladin and not be, well, a jerk.

but a jerk who is always kind to children, helps the less fortunate, and never tells a lie, or lets you down is better than that guy who acts so nice, but stabs you in the back....

I hate to admit how much my IRL persona resembles Droog.....

Skallagrim thought about it. He hated admitting how much his real life persona resembled Droog.

"I hate to admit how much my IRL persona resembles Droog" Said Skallagrim

sharp!!

now I'm thirsty....

Yea, I mean that's definitely the stereotype and the charicature, right? But is the stereotype or charicature really interesting? Which is to say, does that character create dramatic and interesting scenarios? Or do they shut doors that lead to interesting and dramatic scenarios?

Ultimately, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask players to not disrupt the game/shut doors with the portrayal of their character. And that's all I ask.

And I haven't seen that from anyone, even if the IC "banter" seems to be very near it, I don't think any lines have been crossed.

Belarus can continue to be a jerk, but he can also function within a world that doesn't have homogenous worldviews.

The others can not like jerks, but they can also realize jerks can be fundamentally good and/or at least a good asset toward succeeding at their cause.

And that tension can be used to create dramatic and interesting interactions, rather than ending any stories.

It is high time for some revelations. We have been playing catchup since april, and I must admit I was thoroughly disappointed when we realized that Shadda was not the one with the answers to what the hell is going on in regards to Forgotten Realms lore.

I need to know as a player that we can see some light at the end of the tunnel, coz it is no longer fun walking in darkness.

Yea, I was sensing a slow down and was wondering if there wasn't some frustration with the oread not being here.

So, this is an investigation quest. This is the first place you guys have actively pursued to find a clue. We're basically in the middle of what would probably be the third session if this was an IRL game. I would ask you to look on the situation in that light, and so can maybe see that it shouldn't be surprising that everything isn't revealed here and now.

You will receive a clue here. You have been receiving clues in other places. With every encounter actually. The fact that the oread isn't here is a clue even, but there will be an additional clue beyond that. It will all be tied together.

I'm very sorry that you're not having fun, rune. I hope you can have a little trust in me as a story teller, and continue to see and play-up things that you find interesting about the story.

If these words aren't enough to ease your fears, let me know what specifics you want revealed, and I will reveal anything you want to be revealed in a PM if it will help your enjoyment of things. That goes for everyone.

Yeah. I've never managed to run an investigative adventure over PbP either. I keep trying, but I just don't think the PbP format works very well for me for investigations. Shame. I like those sorts of adventures.

Players have loads of games on the go simultaneously with posts spanning over weeks, and nobody can keep all the loose jigsaw pieces in their head to join them together later. Sure the DM can, but they've seen the picture on the box. Not to mention that if a player skims over a clue in a post then the game gets frustrating for everyone.

They say with IRL investigative games that you should give the same clue three times. I've never found out what the number is for PbP. Thirty? Three hundred?

I don't know if anybody else has the slightest idea what we're doing here - I know Marabi doesn't, so she's just going to carry on carrying on. Although, I think she's now verging on bullying Belaros so I'll probably tone it down a bit.

But if this goliath (I assume that's what we've met) can just say "go there - do that" then I think we'd all feel happier. ...And if "there" could be out of the damn mountains then that'd be even more super-duperer, because I had hoped to play a cavalier and at this rate, Imma end up with another champion.

Belaros isn't afraid of you

(he would like a donkey named dapple though.....)

Yea, I can see those inherent challenges in the medium.

And the clues are repeating, and I don't know how I could have packed them in any tighter, but even so we're probably not "meant" to have necessarily painted a full picture yet. Foreshadow. Build a theme. Yes. But certainly if the stretched out nature of pbp keeps those elements from seeming cohesive that certainly dilutes that effect and therefore probably interest.

Again, I'd hope you all can have some trust in me as a storyteller. I will always give you at least the minimum amount of information you need to proceed. A greater amount of information and/or other helping things are the only things I "hide" behind checks and narrative. And you guys have failed on some Knowledge checks that would have added information.

I tried to "warn" any and every potential players that the game was rp and lore heavy. I apologize if you understood that to mean something else other than what's been going on here.

I'll put up a recap and summary of things that have transpired in the IC Resource Thread. I've been meaning to do this before USGA comes on anyway. Maybe that will help keep things more visible?

But of course if you guys aren't finding the game fun or intriguing or worth your time, I don't expect you to stick around.

Some games work, some don't. Sorry if this one is not.

If anything, I think it's quite lore light. I'm here for the lore, and I can't think of much FR lore I've seen (but we are on a mountain - and I guess all mountains probably look the same). And the only role we can play is standing about shrugging - in fairness to us, I think we've played that very well indeed.

I fully sympathise with "I don't know how I could have packed them in any tighter". That's exactly how I've felt in my investigative adventures - still never works though (I guess we players are too busy trying to think of willy jokes to pay enough attention to clues).

I'm enjoying myself, but I'm finding it hard to think of things to do. Marabi might eat some goat. Anyone want some goat?

Those investigation pbp games I have played, I found making a [ spoiler ]case file [ / spoiler ] with all the clues and action needed doing helped a lot. I had the added bonus of giving the GM insight into our thought-process and I remember the GM adding or correcting some of our conclusions based on that case file. That is the only time I have found a murder mystery worked on pbp.
I trust that our GM have'nt hidden crucial information behind failed skill checks. That can kill an investigation plot as you don't search under the same stone twice.

I'm enjoying the play between characters, but the friction with Balaros has to be solved soon before the natural solution would be to ditch his annoying ass and his donkey here on the mountain. And I dont what to do that to Skallagrimm.

But I am still not playing the character that I had intended, as that character build really reveals itself at the lev 3 subclass and the concept of an artificer prankster is slipping away from me. The assisted suicide kind of put a dampener on that aspect.
I'm with you. Lets eat a goat.

I like Belaros's character. I think they just need something where they can work together and find some mutual respect for each other. But, yeah, an artificer away from a workshop is always going to be tricky.

TBH i wasn't aware that we should look out for clues, otherwise Rolen may've been a bit more inquisitive. And I OOC would've been more attenative for details.

Some kind of case file like runekyndig suggested is a great idea in my view. Just as Adam said, it's difficult to keep all the puzzle pieces in mind if you check in to the game for a short time each day and have other games you play in/run.
I sometimes just check GP from my phone, write a short post and that's it.

I like Belaros character and the interplay with Marabi but I can understand that some of you don't, so maybe some kind of crisis to humble Belaros and create a sense of affiliation with the group is a good idea.

I'm still onboard though and eager to see in which direction the story and the game go.

I think we have a party of interesting characters, and that’s a good start. We just need a bit of a clue and a soft reboot to get us back on track.

I imagined Belaros like Andy of Mayberry. A sheriff, a law man, but from a quiet town where nothing really ever happens. This is his first chance to show the world what he has to offer, and he's gone WAY overboard.

He's also really stupid. Or is that just me? I like the friction, I don't think everybody needs to love each other. But in my imagination, we would bicker and argue until something BIG happens. Then, you know nothing makes life long friends like surviving life and death situations together.

(and, have you really looked at Belaros? His moustache is MAGNIFICENT! Marabi must have a crush on him)

Wasn't trying to be accusatory. You guys have been engaging the world well, up until now. And it's true, the lore so far has focused on the Five Lions Region specifically.

I guess my intent/point was maybe that implicit in the concept of an rp and lore heavy game would be the importance of that rp and lore and so recalling/baring in mind what information you have been given and what interactions you've had in the game is important.

I have been trying to tell you guys what your characters know when those things come up. But hadn't done much for keeping the past things fresh, and it sounds like that might be a good idea.

Anyway, I encourage you all to continue to thoughtfully engage with the world as you have been if you want to get the most out of this game.

Thanks for playing.

After sleeping on it, I have decided that I want to leave the game.

I’d say that I’ll miss you, but I won’t! (Because I’ll see you in the other two games 😉)

Hey DM!

If you edit this game, you'll see a new section called "Advance Rules Definitions". Can you open that, paste this into it and press save please?

{
"characterSheetIntegration":true
}




It'll give us access to our character sheets in the dice roller. Cheers!

This is all OOC - just because our characters are frustrated and clueless it doesn't mean we have to be too, right?

So we have a couple of possible connections.

Malar CE God of lycanthropy who as they're nature domain, divinity is channelled through charming plants and animals. Fought Nobanion Lion King (so Five Lions would be an obvious target). Nature can be seen as neutral (Silvanus - TN) or even bountiful (Chauntea - NG), nature can also be disorderly, furious and destructively evil. Malar can be thought of like Umberlee, Auril or Talos; a god of nature's wrath - red in tooth and claw and assassin vine. ...or so this is the story of fighting like cats and dogs (well... lions and werewolves).

Speaking in tongues is confusing me. I keep wanting to make a connection with the Catlord or Loviatar, but that's probably because I ran a campaign with Loviatar as the antagonist. But dancing and speaking in tongues kinda makes sense.

Korreds dance and can even dance to death. Otto's irresistible dance is one of their things (VGtM). So that's not good. They also hang about with oreads.

I'm not seeing an obvious connection with goliaths, other than they're mountain people. But the others are very fey, and goliaths aren't. Although I'm not very knowledgeable about the fey.

Alright, see you around rune. Sorry you didn't have a better experience.I think it's done. Give it a shot and let me know?

Awww yeah!

I have a veritable dashboard of Marabi roll-based mayhem available at the click of a button.

So I'm looking at the wait list, have any of you guys gamed with any of the following users?

zatamando
Elveron
Valkyrie23
callmedann

I don't know any of those users.

Apologies for the less engaged posting. The work project was finally deployed today. I need a couple of days to check for aftershocks, but I should be back again by the end of the weekend.

I hope it wasn't Belaros' (my) fault

Not a problem Adam. I figure the frustrations with the game probably impact everyone's activity too.

But maybe literally dangling a magic item in front of the group will help :P

I think I know what my problem has been. When I read that this was a lore heavy game, I thought we'd be getting lots of FR lore.

In QR's game, we've been wandering around inner Faerun - seeing the sights, meeting purple knights and finding out about Cormyr's culture. We even had an in-game tavern quiz to see how much we'd remembered. I thought this would be one of those, but for Turmish.

I now understand that this is a game to USE our FR lore. I couldn't understand why we weren't getting much history and culture.

Okay - fair enough. But now I'm wondering how to pretend that Marabi actually knows anything. I picked completely the wrong character for this investigative game.

Skalla, you should not blame yourself, like, AT ALL.

I think there were a lot of things that went into it.

We know rune ended up not being very happy with the gameplay his character was yielding, which relied on a kind of long-game (3rd level before his stuff really "kicked in").

He "accidentally" killed the elf early on, which upset him.

He was legit rolling like crap a seemingly disproportionate amount.

Of course he was the primary opponent of executing Einral.

The frustration with the oread not being here was rather understandably the last straw. The times when Marie really got to really shine from a gameplay perspective (back at the winery, and then at the cabin on the mountain), was too little and too far between.

I get it. I don't blamed him.

I mean, this game has had elements of mystery/investigation, exploration, social encounters, and combat. Knowing things is only one way to shine in those encounters. I don't think you need to change anything about Marabi unless you're not having fun with what she's been doing in the narrative and gameplay. Besides she's actually quite wise, which in some ways and at some times is more important and a more diverse way to contribute to the narrative than learned knowledge.

But yea, no, this wasn't conceptualized as a walking tour of Turmish so to speak I guess. Never seen anything but glassy eyes from long series of info dumps.

Though I'm sure if there's an audience for that, it's in pbp.

Went to get the link for the interest check thread, as I'm gonna be recruiting here soon, and just wanted to put up the first two paragraphs here as well, as it seems relevant... (underlining mine):
As the interest thread goes on to say, it's a deep dive into a niche. And we're only now in-game about to start going below the surface.

I'm leaving too.

Thank you to everyone for the fun I've had on this adventure, and thank you to emsquared for all the hard work, care and thought you've put into this - but this particular game isn't for me. Although, it's not like I'm leaving GP - so I'm sure I'll see y'all around.

Laters!

Alright, see ya around Adam.

Oh, for sure.

Cheers!

Scrol, Skallagrim, thanks for gaming guys, but I think this one has officially failed :P

Oi. That's a pity.
I had a lot of fun nevertheless.
I hope we'll see each other in another game

too bad! I was really enjoying it. I think you did a great job, and if you run another adventure on the sword coast I would love an invitation!

Appreciate that both of you. We'll see you around!

actually, if either of you are interested, I'm running a Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign that could use a new player, or two even.

Thanks for the invite Skalla, I'm gonna marinate on what my next "move" will be for a bit, and I'll keep this in mind.

I'm certainly interested. I've played LMOP before but I'm willing to play stupid. So if you need another player I'd be happy to join

Cool, glad you'll have something to transition into Scrol.

I'm gonna close this one up in the (US Mountain Time) morning.

Again, thanks for playing you guys!