General Chat

I feel like for marching order Ricard and his plate mail are definitely front row, with either Druin or Swan? Pros for Druin in front: He has melee rather than ranged attack and he's short enough to see over. :) Potentially his infravision and dwarven abilities to examine structures, etc. will probably be easier to use. His AC isn't the best though and Swan might have other front line advantages?

That's a good point to bring up, in BECMI they further addressed the issue of fighting in corridors and small rooms by allowing polearms to attack from the second row but in b/x it was left open. I'm assuming as a b/x clone our grid squares will be 10x10... Will we be able to fight two abreast on map squares or is it single file in hallways?

I'm thinking about swapping my 10' pole for a polearm or at least a spear so I have some flexibility...

Also how much does Druin need for an armor upgrade? I have a little extra cash if it would help.

Nice, ok so Ricard will be one of the frontliners and I swapped my pole for a spear just in case. If Druid needs some armor cash I have 17 gp I can lend.

What is our torch/oil consumption rate for a day of exploration? 12 hours awake and 12 at camp with watch rotations? That means 12 torches a day or 3 flasks of oil?

@dominion451 I'd feel bad taking all your money!

Basically, I'd need to cover the 20gp difference between my Chain mail and Plate, and while I could claw back an extra 5gp or or I spent on extra rations because it was burning a hole in my pocket, I'd be leaving you almost penniless.

Uhhhh... Can't spend money in a dungeon and don't expect to live long enough to need it anyway, please take it if you think you can scrounge up the extra 3 bucks for plate mail

@Burbage -- assuming you're okay with this, I've swapped Druin's Chain and 5gp of rations plus 15p from Ricard for a set of Plate. Ricard can keep the extra 2gp and I'll owe him when we uncover enough coin. (I've updated Druin's sheet accordingly).

That's fine.

The tin can brigade! Let's do this!

Sorry I haven't done my extended "Central Casting" background yet; I haven't found my copy of the book yet. I hope to get it done today.

What is the makeup of our party? I see names and hit points, so I can make an educated guess. But it would be helpful to know for sure. Especially when figuring out marching order and tactics.

This is what I gather:
- Druin - Dwarf
- Gabbro - Elf
- Ricard - Fighter
- Swan - Fighter
- Tess - Thief

Is that correct?

Seems right

That's what I thought too. Thanks for clearing it up for me. We have no cleric so we should try to stay away from undead if we can

Sure. It is only hell here. Invite away.

Absolutely! I've played many games with Abyssal Chimera and they are top notch.

Yes! Tell them we need a cleric 😆

Excellent! Thank you!

I was just looking around to see what the party comp was XD
I just finished the Session 0 thread, so I gather: two thieves, an elf, and two fighters? I'll get my rolls later today when I get the chance :)

Yeah, I keep running up against discrepancies between different versions. I have it as Sleep now, but in the RAW B/X, you're supposed to pick the one L1 spell Gabbro has in his spellbook. Would you like to select one?

I've made my attempt at a hand-drawn portrait for Orelia

Awesome!

Any thoughts on what our next move should be? It feels like we are all on different pages.

Personally I'd rather not bother with exploring side caves until we've explored the whole surface area so we can better know where to gamble our meager hit points. This area smacks of Caves of Chaos so far and the key location in that module is at the apex of the canyon...

The note we found on the wall could just be a waste of time, but...why? Who wrote the message just for the purpose of misdirection? if it's not a practical joke, it heavily implies that there is a way down somewhere nearby. That makes me not want to dismiss this as a real entrance. That said, I'm willing to either a) put a pin in this with the idea that we'll come back to it later, or b) thoroughly search this room for secret doors while others do a quick recon of the rest of the canyon. I don't like getting separated, but I can see some value in just looking into each cave mouth to see if it's man-made (I suspect most of them are) or naturally occurring. I'm also a bit leery of the thick copse of trees in the center of the canyon, so if we do investigate the rest of the canyon, I'd recommend avoiding that.

I don't think we should split up, I'm good to search for secret doors before we leave.

The outside is just a means to an end, we are looking for the prison entrance which I think should be recognizable since it was a state penitentiary at one point.

OK, I'll search one section of wall and see what happens, and we'll take it from there. If someone else wants to search a different section at the same time, that'd save time (assuming success, of course - we could search all day and not find a door that is there).

I think the entrance to the prison was the gatehouse. I figure that's why the gatehouse has all those arrow slits and murder holes pointed inward: so the guards could attack the inmates if they tried to revolt or escape.

Although, it has been hundreds of years since it was a prison: plenty of time for intrepid monsters/villain masterminds to move in, settle down, and rework the existing tunnel entrances with tricks and traps to protect their lairs.

I'm still wondering what/who wandered in and got eaten by that beetle. That's a recent meal.

Well we know the prison is underground, so we can assume there will be an additional entrance in the canyon. Kind of like a keep with a curtain wall and gatehouse around it except this time the canyon makes up three of the four walls.

OK, so from my sense of the space (and my map), we've searched the walls most likely to have a secret door, aside from the westernmost 10' of the north wall (*). We could search in that one space, or move on to the door, return to the bug, or move to different location (there's been a suggestion of exploring the gatehouse, and a suggestion for choosing a different tunnel - "C" in particular). I'm OK to either search that one last wall space, or move on. Before we leave this passage, though, I'd like for somebody to stick their head in the chamber with the beetle to at least know the dimensions and whether there are other exits. The mapper in me is really bothered by not knowing what's there.

* - that's clearly making a bunch of assumptions. For instance, it could be that there's secret trap doors leading up or down. There could be a secret door that connects to the west, even if that may just be the "stinky room" we can smell through that northern mildewed door.

I'm confused, do we know there needs to be a secret entrance along the eastern passage? The note to me being near the door could imply we need to go through the door to follow it?

The other thing to consider along Ricard's point would be whether the party that left the campfire could have already taken the treasure (though the chalk implies they left the note themselves and expected someone along later).

I'm fine with proceeding here or hunting elsewhere--though Druin probably prefers staying and searching because he trusts gems more than some other form of treasure.

Sure! I've created a post in that thread, which I will update as updates happen to the map, rather than creating a new post each time.

Edit: I'd like to also explicitly say what a good time I'm having with this game. It may seem like we're being super tentative and indecisive, but I just want the DM to know that so far I'm loving it.

There it is! Thanks for posting the outside map along with your graphing Spaceseeker19, on the Western half of the outdoors map is a gate marked C... That's gonna be the Stonehell entrance. Caves of Chaos logic never fails lol

I strongly second that. Gene, I'm really loving Swan's tendency to charge forward unexpectedly--right from that first "Okay, I give up, what's the deal with the rabbit..." moment.

I agree with the sentiment, this game so far has felt the most like a true OD&D experience out of any previous OSR playthrough I've been in. It really highlights the differences between BECMI and say DCC where play is more summary and less engrossing.

Hey hey! Sorry for no recent posting! Past few days have been a bit of a blur due to a horrendous sleep schedule brought on by me just not feeling well. Stuff just hit outta nowhere :\

Sorry to read that. I hope you're on the mend and feeling better.

One fire beetle? I'd say about 1500xp each! Only seems fair ;)

Yeah, and I need to do a lot more mapping...

Nice! Level 2 here we come!

dominion451. You don't suppose Swan is a bit lacking on foresight as the ash rise as she strides across the room.

I don't? Is that a question or a statement? Not sure I understand...

dominion451. Smiles. That was a statement. LOL. Nothing important.

Ahhh got ya! Yes, she seems like a real brawler. A swing first ask questions never kind of gal... My favorite kind ;)

Heya! Hope everyone had a good holiday! Some season depression crept up on me, but I feeling better now. Got a five day weekend starting tomorrow, so I *should* be able to keep up this time XD

Great! No pressure, whenever you're ready.

Happy New Year Chimera!

We gotta kill that green slime before we move on... That's a funky puddle of XP right there!

LOL. Cool. Swan cheerleads you on. She wants shiny not slimy. (Ancient player. Knows what green slime is.)

A request: Would you put the two options for opening doors in the "House Rules" thread? It'll make looking that up again a lot easier if it's there.

Good suggestion, done.

It's been two weeks since Tess/Ishmann last posted, and I haven't heard anything from them, so I am going to assume they have left the game. I'll reopen recruitment in case anyone else would like to join.

Going to need a new lantern holder. Believe that as Tess's duty.

I suppose Ricard will have to switch to sword and fill in Druin's spot in the front row as well.

Fenwick will slot into Ricard's former 'spear-wielder slot'.

Hey all,
Unfortunately, I've decided to take a hiatus from the site. Probably will be away for the rest of January, maybe even a chunk of February.
I've found that not only have I fallen behind my desired posting rate, but I'm also feeling creatively spent. Where as much as I would enjoy continuing to play, I am just not feeling connected to my characters or games.

Should this game still be forging along by the time I feel recuperated, I would very much like to rejoin the delve.

Until then, may the dice ever be in thy favor!

Until next time amigo!

I am caught up. I am happy to say that my maps matched those in the mapping section. It was a fun exercise to map out the rooms. See you all in town (maybe) or in the dungeons.

Sorry I'm silent this weekend. I'm in an online con and ended up picking up quite a few games. I'll get something posted tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

No worries, sounds like fun!

I'm excited to see how our current unorthodox approach to this dungeon goes terribly wrong.

Climbing rules sound more than fair! What do we think then, gang? Mistake coming down to this level, surely! But I had committed to the idea in character! We now know we don’t want to meet whatever is in the next room.

Swan let the party decide and is going along with it. It is rather obvious she doesn't care for the notion.

Do you want to start posting your maps to the "Mapping" thread? I think it'll be fun to see how maps differ over time...

Yeah we may be in over our heads here, maybe we should stick to the top floor and try to level up before we tackle the depths...

Sure. I screwed up one spot already. If it gets too confusing, I can remove it.

Sorry I'd been semi-incapacitated with illness for a few days. I've updated my L2 map.

Question for the GM, though: Is there an in-game advantage to having the person carrying the light closer to the front? Is it just that we can see a smidgen further, or is there some other benefit? You've already said (IIRC) that spears can be used from the second rank but not the third, so those of us with reach weapons in the back can't help in melee (unless, of course, something attacks from the rear), and we have a disturbingly high chance of hitting our teammates with ranged weapons...so really the only safe option for participation in combat from the third rank is spells. Right?

Hey everyone, please welcome swiftcloak to the party - he's joining The Hellions in their conquest of Stonehell.

@swiftcloak - feel free to go ahead and create your character in the "Session Zero" thread. Give me a should if you have any questions.

Welcome to the game!

I pulled this from the OSE SRD. Would a 10' pole assist in triggering a trap?

GM: How much is it going to help us find traps before we encounter them with a spear testing and how much is it going to slow us to do the spear testing? I can think of lots of trap trigging that I doubt spear testing would detect.

Gygax put the 10' pole in the game for a reason friend ;)

Hi everybody, thrilled to join this game!
As the GM was suggesting I might create a cleric, or maybe a thief... I'll get the character made and join you ASAP.

Cool beans.

This.

Checking ahead of you for traps with a 10' pole (or a spear if I'm being generous) won't slow you down. It's already factored into your slow dungeon exploration movement rate, which assumes you're being cautious, mapping, etc.

In terms of its effectiveness at triggering traps, it has the same 2 in 6 chance that everyone else has.

The only potential disadvantage is that someone in the front rank of the party has to have a pole (or spear) as an "equipped" item in their inventory.

Hi Stormcloak--welcome aboard!

(Hey everyone, Fenwick also has a spear for trade if needed, though it currently allows her to attack from rank 2. I'm kind of loving my mental image of the Helions having jumped down a hole into the asylum, and now 'sneaking' around the place while banging big sticks everywhere to the confusion of the denizens. ;) )

Well since out of two traps sprung we have two fatalities I'd say the odds are thus far in their favor, Ricard will sacrifice one average point of damage to wield the spear.

Winks. Less dead bodies would solve the problem. :)

I'm the last that joined so right now I do as you prefer. But in case I die, please...leave my body stranded to the goblins, steal everything I have and go on. You have my blessing🤣

I agree, we don't need to walk every corpse up to the surface. Let's just turn the roleplaying down about 15% and carry on with the dungeon crawl. When Ricard dies please just chop him up and eat him for dinner.

I do however think it's too soon for us to try to tackle the second level...

I say loot the body and move on. Old school gaming can be quite deadly. We could run out of space in the courtyard. XD

In all seriousness, it is a very deadly risk for the party to bury the dead. We could have been in some really hot water if only a few PCs were left at the bottom of the well to deal with a level 2 wandering monster. There's no way the rest of the group could climb down in time.

I do think we'll more likely want to bury a dead PC when they have advanced a couple of levels, and have been in the group for a while. That is when the death could have a real impact on the rest of the group.

I don't know how much old school gaming anyone has, but old school game designers did not worry about balancing encounters. If 50 orcs in a lair makes sense, then there's 50 orcs in a lair. Tiberious can only hope to outrun the rest of you. ;)

Re: 2nd level vs. 1st level:
Here's why I keep trying to get us to go down to level 2. The only clue we have for any treasure is for the 2nd level. The trap on the 2nd level was no more deadly than the trap on the 1st level. We know that the higher trafficked areas of the dungeon have been much more "picked clean" (according to the introductory background material the DM provided us). So the risk is comparable, but the chance of reward is greater the deeper we go. Mechanically, we gain experience primarily through finding treasure and bringing it out of the dungeon. Fighting monsters, avoiding traps, clearing out rooms...none of these award enough XP to approach gaining a level. Ideally, we gain XP by pulling off what are effectively heists: we research/investigate, find out where there is (likely to be) treasure, scope out the area, and come up with a plan to get the treasure while minimizing risk. We pull off the heist, handle any unexpected twists, get out with the loot, and gain XP.

Right now we have two leads on possible treasure:
1) stealing from the "tax collectors"
2) Finding the jewels on level 2

The problem with 1 is that there's a bunch of risk, and the reward is uncertain. They probably have money that they got by robbing others - there are signs like the chopped trees that someone has been living in the canyon for a while - but we don't know that for sure. We also don't know how many there are; if we want to pursue this avenue for wealth, we should probably explore a bit more on the surface.

The problem with 2 is that we need to explore level 2 more to find the area described in the clue...and we need to "deal with the wasps." Jewels are likely better treasure than what the robbers have, but we don't know where on level 2 they are. We know where the robbers are.

So maybe we should decide which lead to follow and start making plans?

We were in here when we heard the voice...



Now we're trying this way...

The door I was thinking of was south 1 and west 2 of the trap. The maps above do not really show me the room with the portcullis in it. The first map is where I think that room is.

Gabbro's map does show the portcullis ...

Gabbro and Tiberious are doing a fantastic job of mapping, and I include links to their maps at the bottom of every post to make it as easy as possible for you to track your progress.

Just FYI: I'm going to a game convention - DunDraCon 47 - this weekend, so my posts will be slow in coming, and probably brief. I've just updated the map, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to update it for the next few days.

Have a great time! I hope you get into a lot of games

We need to find someone to interrogate and find out more about this place. The Kobold's probably would have been good for information (sorry - my bad). If we find someone or a group, keep at least one alive. We need information.

that's our chance to get information, and directions possibly. I think you all agree we play this friendly with the dwarves

So we're in the blue stone room, and looking to go back rather than confront the approaching voices. If I understand it correctly, Swan's proposal is to return to the third intersection, then head north and take a left to head west from the second intersection. Any other suggestions, or are we all heading that way?

I'm not disputing that we need to retreat (although we did just rest for an hour); we just have a lot of options of where to go next.

Edit: AND I wanted to make sure I understood the path that Swan was suggesting!

One concern with moving along large sections of the map are the hidden wandering monster checks. We may end up face to face with something just wandering through the halls of Stonehell. It's not a high probably (17% chance every 20 min/180 feet). Still, it's a risk we need to consider.

Smiles. Well, if the trap doesn't kill him, then the trapped glyph surely will. :) (Kidding)

Presumably, between our retreat and waiting to talk to the dwarves, enough time has passed that we can assume the skeletons have moved on. Do we want to go back to that southern passage now (or down the stairs?), or does someone want to ask the dwarves for more precise directions first?

Oh we gotta get turn by turn from these guys haha

Hi everyone, unfortunately I'm not able to catch up the way I'd like with the game anymore. Schedules and duties change and I must keep up with mines.
Hope you can make of my almost non existant equipment good use, and please don't bother burying Lanhkmer 😂

Thanks everyone and have a great game

Ah, that's a shame. Thanks for playing and good luck with your future adventures.

All the best Swiftcloak. I hope to see you in another game.

@swiftcloak - I know very well how life developments can take priority over posts on GP! I've enjoyed being in this game with you, and I hope that we'll run into one another again in a future game.

Tiberious has a wrapped sense of humor. If GM had rolled "6"s. Swan would be dead, and Ricard would be barely alive with 1 HP. Obviously it was a deadly trap.

C'mon. I didn't laugh until I knew you were all safe. These fricken traps are going to be the end of all of us

In light of the current in-game situation, let’s take a quick time out to discuss, as a group, how we’d like to handle decision-making.

Swan is a very assertive character. Rather than offering an opinion on what the group MIGHT do, she tends to state what she IS going to do.

This potentially puts the other party members/players in an awkward position.

To avoid splitting the party, do they go along with Swan, regardless of the apparent wisdom of her decision, treating her effectively as a self-appointed leader?

Or do they let Swan do her own thing, thereby splitting the party? This seems to be what Swan is suggesting and is fine from a DM perspective if that’s what you want to do. It’s easier to manage a split party in a play-by-post game than a live game.

Or should we establish some sort of group etiquette for decision-making? For example, everyone offers their opinion on the next course of action, but there’s a common agreement to proceed with the majority.

Or do you want to appoint an old-school style "Caller" who will consult the group, but who ultimately has the final say?

From a DM-ing perspective, I’m happy to leave it up to you. But for the sake of the flow of the game, I think we need to address this. If we can agree on a general approach, then it will be easier for me to keep the game moving.

Anyway, please discuss.

I rather like Swan's impulsive nature, and I don't really want to rob her of that--Druin for example was hoping she'd flush out danger or traps before they hit him (ironically) and I feel she often gives you at least a quick chance to impress her with another proposal before heading off. So, I'm fine to take actions as they are dictated and deal with the consequences (though I defer to the preference of the group).

I do have a question though--Swan keeps mentioning returning the body to the surface, which body? I thought we had someone wander off but no current casualties.

The body of Bea was left in the Grand Foyer.

Shows you how poor my memory is. Wonder if it's still there...

I agree. I think it works well for progressing the game to have people usually post actions and reactions - group conversation in PbP can lead to a long series of posts that takes days to arrive at a decision. There is a time and place for that, but I don't think it should be standard operations for little decisions. It makes sense to me that the people in the front would lead, with the people behind making suggestions.

I am okay with one person dictating the desires of the party, so long as individual members can override such a decision for themselves. I.e., "You guys can go left, but I'm going right."

Yes, that, too. We need to be able to go our own way, even though we are all painfully aware how dangerous Stonehell can be. Splitting the party isn't usually wise, but there are definitely situations where it should happen: when you feel like everyone else is going to the wrong way, and when the party is exploring a small area (we've done this one several times so far).

While I like the idea of a Caller in RPGs - it forces people to consider and discuss their actions, and so you get fewer rash decisions - I don't think it works well for PbP.

I admit, it does bother me sometimes. I don't mind a caller, but the role is meant to gather feedback from the group and make the final decision.

Swan is a strong character, which is fun, but I'm not a fan of her making a decision for the group every time. It's like she's in a rush to get through the dungeon. This is a massive place. It's going to take time to explore. I want us to make smart decisions. Sometimes taking time and asking questions will give us an advantage. Rushing through rooms is going to get us killed at some point.

Swan put it up to leave the party.

By popular vote, there is no disagreement. So.

Swan takes back her lantern and exit the party.

Gene has messaged me to clarify that Swan's return to the surface represents their retirement from the game. Swan takes her lantern from Tiberious and departs.

I will miss Swan; I really enjoyed her shtick of grumbling about how hurt/tired she was. Along with Ricard's anti-tree stance and Fenwick's fascination with kobolds, it was one of my favorite comedic character bits in the game so far. I've been trying to think of some running joke that Gabbro could do for some time now. When I made the character, I rolled up a random background using the "Central Casting: Heroes of Legend" book, and that was a mistake: it's way too detailed. So I've been watching for some trigger for a recurring bit in the game.

But about the current question: does anybody have flint & tinder for lighting a fire? The only fire I can recall without going back through the thread page by page was on the surface: the 'tax collectors' torches and the fire we built in the shrine. Light is not the spell that Gabbro has prepared.

I had a lantern in my pack when we started, but Swan gave me hers. I didn't have the strength to carry both, so I just dropped mine from my pack - pretending that I never brought one.

Those without darkvision are in complete darkness. I am beginning to think that I would have left with the lantern. I can't see Tiberious continuing on in darkness.

Ricard has 22 torches but, somehow, no flint and steel

I've got flint & steel

Pickles has a lantern:)

Got it, all sorted out, ditched one torch so now have 21

Pickles is carrying 5x Silver tipped arrows, do those still count for the one slot?

OK. I'll move the backpack and satchel. The rations will take their slots.

Sweet :)

Why is Fenwick trying to take Ricard's spear?

Sorry, just had a mental error and completely typed the wrong name-- I've edited it to Gabbro.

Hey all just letting you know I will be away with the Family from the 20th to 27th April.

OK, thanks for letting us know.

XP Update
Here is the latest XP situation so that you can gauge your progress. The numbers include any prime requisite XP modifier.

- Fenwick: 1,606
- Gabbro: 1,426
- Jessica: 333
- Pickles: 413
- Ricard: 1,718
- Tiberious: 802

In addition to the usual XP for killing monsters and returning treasure to a safe place, I also award XP for:

- Rooms mapped (100 XP per room on the first level of the dungeon).

- A small amount of XP for each substantive post made by a character - this is mainly to keep the XP ticking over in inherently slow-paced play-by-post games. But it also acknowledges that regular posting is the lifeblood of play-by-post and it rewards participation.

Nearly there Ricard!

Huzzah!

I will now start using one word posts. I'll be level 30 before the end of the week. ;)

OK, do we have anything else we want to ask the chief before we take the gnome and go? I suspect that the gnome is the one who tipped the orcs off about Gnast looking for some item...

I feel we have enough info, and you maybe right about the Gnome.

I'm good, let's collect our gnome and go... Unless someone wants to ask for a down payment

I'm good to go. We'll have to be careful how we question the Beggars. They won't want to give up what they are looking for. I can try and charm Zorrel Gnast to see if he'll give up the information. Still, I doubt we want to tell the Orc chieftain. The item is most likely worth a hell of a lot more than 500 gp

Hey everyone - Tiberious has decided to leave the party; I'll see if I can recruit a replacement.

You have my sympathy - each of my games has had really high levels of turnover, even from players who are relatively consistent old-timers. People just reach a point where they can't make PbP a priority any more (or they get too excited and sign up for too many games and can't handle the pace).

It's not a problem - at least replacements are easy to find on Gamers Plane ... mathias0077 is incoming ... welcome!

@mathias0077 - head over to the "Session Zero" thread for character creation. It's pretty much by-the-book B/X D&D (or Old School Essentials). The only significant House Rule is the use of Item-Based Encumbrance - Full details here ....

Use the Gamers Plane Old School Essentials character sheet here. I think you just have to expand it and click "Create character" in the top-right-hand corner.

@Burbage - I've got to say that, the longer I run games, the more I appreciate your "Missing in Action" thread. I think that's a pretty brilliant way to honor the players who leave a game and commemorate their characters; I may start something similar in my games.

Hello all I am Mathias glad to join you. I didn't see the session zero so created my character which is a cleric with my OSE handbook I have and submitted it. If there are any changes or edits that need made let me know. This was my first time creating a character here so might have missed something. Looking forward to the adventure.

Welcome Mathias!

Hail Mathias!

Welcome to the team Mathias

Welcome, Mathias!

---

On the subject of ambushes, it occurs to me that it would be fun to lure one or two of those guys to fall into one of the pit traps - basically using the trick that the "dwarf" pulled on us - but I think we can assume that the guys in the gang may know the layout of all the traps at least as well as we do, at least on the first level.

Welcome to our little clan, Mathias.

Thank you all. Can't wait to get in the action. I have been reading the exploits.

What if we made a new trap in the forest room to lure them into.

So, just to clarify the situation we're in following these Ghost Beggars (as described here) to make sure I have it correct:
1) we're 70 feet away from the pair of Ghost Beggars (they're at the portcullis, we're at the little 10' jog in the passageway to the east). Correct?
2) if we approach with light, we have no chance of surprise. Correct?
3) we're trying to subdue these guys, to ask them questions, not kill them outright. Correct?

I have some related questions for the DM and the rest of the group.
Q1: If elves and dwarves were to approach while the Ghost Beggars are trying to lift the gate (ie, relying on our infravision), would we have some chance of surprise, or has the light we brought with us for the rest of the party already eliminated that chance?
Q2: I only have the Basic Rules, and it seems like there's three ways to emerge victorious from a combat: getting the opponents to surrender, putting them to Sleep with a spell, or just killing them. Are there rules for subduing people in OSE?
Q3: At what point should we be rolling initiative?

The answers would be known by our characters before we got into this situation, but as a player, I'm not sure. The answers will inform the answer to this question for the group:
Q4: Do we just run up, fling missiles, and then run to close for hand-to-hand combat while they're still busy with the portcullis, or are we going to try to sneak closer before attacking?

Seems like the elves should move up first they should be distracted with lifting the gate so time should be on our side.

Yes this is probably the best point to hit them, while they have their hands full.

Like spaceseeker, I am not 100 on how this will work. Hence we have our glorious DM. But I think rushing them as a group and overwhelming them with numbers is our best hope.

A couple of arrows to slow them down would not hurt as well.

I think you have it sorted, save for the questions on subdual, which I am also curious about...

Dodge weapons and dog pile them.

How about we have the elves move up close then launch their subdual attack. As soon as they launch we rush in and help.

That's pretty good actually, the elves will get to attack in the surprise round and Ricard can use the surprise round to close the distance.

Just so everyone is aware, taking one or more of them alive means that Ricard (or some other black hearted soul) will likely have to torture them for information...

I can rush with Ricard and use my mace.

DM, would you consider Gabbro attacking with the butt of the spear (so as to be a blunt weapon) equivalent to attacking with a staff, for the purposes of damage?

Very sorry all, was at a game convention since Friday. My bad for the lack of notice.

Maybe 5 of us should semi circle this portcullis keep there ferrets bottled up and leave Pickles to shoot his bow. 3 take one ferret and 2 and Pickles take the other.

I'm taking a short vacation without Internet access from Wednesday, 5 June until 10 June, and will be unavailable during that time.

Have fun!

I'm good with the semi-circle plan

Sounds a solid plan to me

@Burbage I was wondering since others can use many missile and thrown weapons and Clerics can just basically use a sling what if say Luther had 4 or 5 half pound metal balls in a pouch with three stiff leather flaps that allow him to reach in easily and grab one pull it out and throw it like a baseball. Thrown weapons use str bonus right? He could have chances of hitting monsters in the head and knocking them out or giving them concussions and so on.

okay my bad

*DING!* Congratulations to Ricard, who becomes the first Hellion to reach level 2. He earns the title "Warrior" and may roll for those precious additional hit points (d8).

Here’s a summary of the XP situation so that you can all update your character sheets:

Fenwick: 1,850
Gabbro: 1,748
Jessica: 502
Luther: 449
Pickles: 737
Ricard: 2,010

Congrats Ricard!

Woo hoo! Thanks all!

Congrats and a perfect hp roll to boot.

Pickles will be hiding behind you even more now.

Haha, just keep that bow ready! Yeah great roll but -1 for my crummy Con

Congrats and perfect roll to go with it, nice.

Congratulations! I'm nearly halfway to level 2, myself, so I'm a wee bit envious.

Thank you one and all! Feels like a real accomplishment with B/X lol

Do we have an updated map?

From the graffiti room, it will take us 30 minutes to return to Kobold Korners. If we allow for negotiating with NPCs a bit conservatively, figure an hour. That's leaves us with 80 minutes that we can use before we start to return. We've got this room to explore - each investigation of this room takes another ten minutes - and the western passage. The western passage, if it connects, likely has one room between us and the Grand Foyer. Do we feel like 80 minutes is enough time to explore that route, or should we just investigate the graffiti room a bit more and then head back?

80 minutes seems a lot of time, but taking in the effort to tap along and search for traps as we advance we could struggle to keep to the clock.

That said, I would like to scan this room one more time and then happy to give the corridor a run.

I'm inclined to say we take a conservative approach-- search the room once (maybe twice) and return to the Korners, leaving us extra time to deal with wandering monsters or other unexpected issues?

I'd say that we should investigate the room and then head back.

I'm fine either way, for the sake of the map I'm inclined to say let's check the west passage on our way back but I can take it or leave it

I agree with checking the room again then heading to the Korners. That corridor will be there tomorrow.

When everyone is rolling rocks, I gotta say: Hooray for magic missile!

I think that's the first spell ever cast by a Hellion - good work!

Good choice is spells, and yes perfect timing with the rest of us failing miserably.

I had no idea she'd achieved this honor! She's been too busy standing near the front line to use it.

(I find it funny that 'Fenwick Ferretslayer' is a happy-go-lucky elf who has so far only killed large versions of innocent woodland creatures)

lol I like the title, Pickles will refer to Fenwick as this from now on.

Gotta say, I love the mental image of Ricard just walking around with a pair of enormous, dripping shrew drumsticks hanging off of his belt.

Haha! Good thing I'm cased in steel, otherwise my trousers would get pretty funky XD

🤣

Hahahaha

Perfect!

Hey, folks: we're going in to a holiday weekend in the USA, and I'm going to Kublacon Fall Friday through Monday, so at the very least my posting rate will be a bit more sporadic, but it may mean that I don't end up posting for some days.

Oh wow, bay area con! I'd never heard of this one, glad you mentioned it! I'm down in Orange County CA, love it up above San Fran.

*** DING!!! *** Congratulations to Pickles who becomes the latest Hellion to reach level 2. He is now a Halfling Warrior. His extended family will be so proud.

Here are the latest totals:

- Fenwick: 2,994
- Gabbro: 2,680
- Jessica: 1,226
- Luther: 1,708
- Pickles: 2,001
- Ricard: 3,201

Way to go you Silver Tongued Warrior

Yeah Pickle! Get sum!

Thank you.

I would like to thank my Ghoul Aunty, one footed uncle, Uncle Sweetfoot and Uncle Gonzo.

Great roll :)

Noice

Just a scheduling head's up: I have a busy weekend this week, and may not manage to post every day.

Feel free to discuss your plans for Gnast and the Ghost Beggars out-of-character in the General Chat thread. The original purpose of this meeting (and why Gnast believes he is here) is to discuss the possibility of you joining the Beggars as new recruits. Given that they are well-known bandits, this might pose some ethical dilemmas for the lawful members of the party (Luther, Fenwick, Gabbro, Jessica), depending on what Gnast expects of you.

Luther I think sees it as a way to end the evil of the Beggars. Get in see how to bring them down.

...not to mention the agreement we have with the Open Sores orcs, or the fact that we ambushed and brutally killed two of Gnast's gang already (whose corpses, it shouldn't have to be mentioned, are the source of the bad smell we keep detecting every time we go past that pit).

For Gabbro, adventuring is not all that different from the political infighting in his extended family, which has surprised and mildly disappointed him. Still, he shouldn't be surprised, given that there are creatures living here. It's more interesting than if all of the old prison was abandoned. But that doesn't help him navigate this particular situation of alliances and betrayals.

For me, it seems like we could:
- just try to deceive Gnast and join up with the Ghost Beggars, masquerading as bandits, with the idea that we'll maybe, eventually, learn about what Gnast is trying to find (and thus fulfill our previous quest)
- offer something of value (a service, perhaps?) in exchange for the information we want
- be honest and say "we've been hired by the orcs to do this thing" with the idea toward being mercenary, saying that we're open to offers to look the other way or even double-cross the orcs
- feed them dishonest information, in the hopes of orchestrating a confrontation between the Ghost Beggars and the Open Sores ("We heard a rumor...")

This is an excellent summary of options Spaceseeker, and if it was me as a rational person would probably go the double agent line and the idea of completely our quest for the Orcs.

But unfortunately, or fortunately, I am playing Pickles! So constructively I will say let’s get on side with the Beggers see what we can find out to advantage ourselves, then see what chaos we can cause :)

Yes if we can cause chaos or war between the Beggars and Sores that would be great.

So the remaining question is:
Are we going to try to be subtle about it, so that the orcs who are watching us won't know that we're doing this, or do we sign up openly because we feel like there's plausible deniability in saying "You wanted us to find out information, so we had to *pretend* to sign up with the Ghost Beggars" if/when the orcs beard us later?

Do it openly the Orcs hired us for this very reason, we can infiltrate the group.

Agreed

Yeah I feel like the more deliberate we are about joining the more the orcs will see what we're up to. If we act shady we look shady.

Jessica will definitely have an issue with joining the Beggars outright but will do so for the sake of her companions. If we are expected to do anything illegal, however, you can expect that she will balk at the idea.

Haha, what is the law of the dungeon? Kill or be killed as I see it...

Pickles will hold Jessica’s hand and guide her through an illegal stuff :)

Ah, delightful machinations!

So, to summarize, we've got:
- kobolds running neutral territory. We saved some kobolds from getting eaten by a giant shrew.
- heavily-armed dwarves attempting archaeology
- Open Sores orcs trying to keep tabs on the Ghost Beggar bandits and beating down the Wolf Gang. The orcs were also cheering (possibly betting) on the fight between the giant shrew and the kobolds. The Open Sores boss has asked us to find out what the Ghost Beggars are trying to find in the dungeon.
- Ghost Beggar human bandits (yellow-and-black kerchiefs) stealing a "tax" on all adventurers, looking for some treasure deep within Stonehell (according to the orcs), and trying to benefit from the conflict between the Open Sores and the Wolf Gang. We've murdered some Ghost Beggars, so we're on thin ice dealing with them.
- Wolf Gang goblins feeling the pressure of losing ground against the Open Sores. We rescued a bunch of Wolf Gang members and got paid for the trouble.

Uncertain affiliations:
- the undead we encountered coming up from level 2. They may just be monsters, or there may be an intelligence animating/controlling them
- the dwarf who tricked us into pit traps
- the gnolls
- the three scruffy-looking humans we observed in the Kopper Kettle

Am I missing anything?

As for our current situation, talking to Zorrel Gnast:

I feel like it benefits us to have the different factions in equilibrium against each other, and us not obviously favoring one faction over another (so none of them are coming after us as "the enemy"). That said, I really don't like the Ghost Beggars; they're the only faction that has ever threatened or been in actual conflict with us Hellions (with the possible exception of whatever faction that trickster dwarf is from - I sure hate that dwarf). For now, it seems like Zorrel is none the wiser that we've killed some of his gang. But if and when they discover that, the Ghost Beggars are likely to come after us in force.

My inclination in the moment is to either agree to Zorrel's proposal or make some slightly-modified counter proposal, but instead of going to slaughter the goblins, we then go to the Wolf Gang and see if they have a proposal of their own. I feel like, if we can continue to play the different factions against each other, that's a better situation. It may reach a point where we actually need to honestly commit to a side, but I don't think we're there yet, and I'm not convinced that exterminating the Wolf Gang is in our best interests. A three-way standoff is more stable than a two-way one, so if anything I'd prefer to weaken the Wolf Gang's opponents.

The other obvious mercenary advantage of accepting Zorrel Gnast's proposal is that we can get out of Stonehell with our treasure intact and unrobbed. If we agree and then score a big haul, we can get it out and back to town "untaxed." Of course, while we're gone, it's likely that the Ghost Beggars will realize that we haven't killed all the goblins...

Hm. The idea of making a side deal with the Wolf Gang, letting them know that they should lay an ambush for the Ghost Beggars, pretending that we've killed them all, appeals a lot to the part of me that wants to get back at these bandits. But at the same time, that would result in the Open Sores coming out stronger...I wonder if there's a way we could tell the Open Sores about it, too, something like: "We found out what Zorrel Gnast is after: he's after the Wolf Gang's territory. They're going to head in there to take control, but if you act fast, you can get there before them!" so that all three groups end up fighting each other...

Hm. The idea of making a side deal with the Wolf Gang, letting them know that they should lay an ambush for the Ghost Beggars, pretending that we've killed them all, appeals a lot to the part of me that wants to get back at these bandits. But at the same time, that would result in the Open Sores coming out stronger...I wonder if there's a way we could tell the Open Sores about it, too, something like: "We found out what Zorrel Gnast is after: he's after the Wolf Gang's territory. They're going to head in there to take control, but if you act fast, you can get there before them!" so that all three groups end up fighting each other...

I think he meant talking the goblins in to setting up an ambush. Not us.

Oh I doubt the goblins could take any number of the bandits but you never know. I wouldn't really want to lure them into a trap that failed, that would definitely make us public enemy #1. All things said I'm game for whatever you all want to do.

It looks like MinMin/Fenwick has left the game. They haven't posted, or been on the wider Gamers Plan site, for a month now. That's a shame; they were one of the game's founder members. Hope they're OK.

I'll start looking for a replacement.

That is a bummer! Could just be holiday vacay... Anyone check the absences thread?

Yeah, there's been no post in Absences, or at least not since the beginning of November. Maybe Gabbro had better stop borrowing equipment from other PCs; it seems those characters' players end up dropping out.

Once you go Gabbro you stop making stabbro

Sorry, best I could do.

Just checking: where/when we are now (having just met with the Ghost Beggars and receiving Zorrel Gnast's suggestion that we exterminate the goblins), it's around noon in the kobold marketplace?

Gabbro has already cast his one memorized spell (putting the Berzerkers to sleep); how is everyone else doing for spells?

I reached 2nd lvl while exploring so I will need to pray and what not for my CLW spell I believe.

I have "swing broadsword" memorized

Spells? What are those?

Correct.

Hey folks!
I just accepted the invite and am checking in to say Hi (and thanks, Burbage!).
I hope to get up to speed this afternoon.
I'm not new to PbP, but still getting used to mechanics of this site.
Grew up with basic and 1e, and never strayed far from them over the years.

Welcome!

Head over to the "Session Zero" thread when you're ready to roll up your character.

Hi NJW! Glad to have you in the meat grinder!

Is the current party composition:

Elf
Cleric
Cleric
Halfling
Fighter

?

That's right.

Need more fighters

*Or dwarves

No thief needed?
And did a past thief leave behind any thieves tools??

I find that thieves aren't really so great until like 9th level due to bad stating on the part of the original DND designers. Such a miniscule chance of success on any given skill... Fighters and dwarves however hold the line so the archers can finish everyone off.

But don't let me influence you, play whatever sounds fun!

Yeah, thieves are a tough start.
I could have a thief or Halfling with 18 dex.
So I guess lack of thief abilities isn't something anyone is losing sleep over?.

I feel like we might start seeing things where we'd really want a thief, but as we've mostly stuck to the well-traveled/explored first level so far, we haven't run into any of that yet.

Welcome aboard NJM :)

How is retrieval of arrows, quarrels, and sling ammo being handled?

Depending on how you read it, dwarves are better thieves than thieves with their find traps in stonework feature!

Welcome aboard NJ!!

Generally, if the situation suggests that it would be possible to recover an arrow (e.g. if you were firing in a reasonably constrained space, or it's sticking out of an orc), then I'll let you retrieve it. But there is a 1-in-6 chance that any arrow fired is broken or lost.

There is a fletcher in the kobold market in Stonehell that sells arrows and bolts, so there is a source of resupply.