General conversation/OOC commentary

Here's a thread for the talk that isn't in character but might be a longer conversation than something would work in an "ooc" tag: snarky asides, long tangents, etc.

OMG. I love it. A bush Pixie!

A little note: Typically, I run owlbears as the original monsters from AD&D, with the characteristic flat heads, long bushy tails, and narrow snouts lined with large teeth. They were called owlbears not because they were some mad wizard's experiment that combined mundane beasts, but because they vaguely reminded people of owls and bears while being neither.

But as I'm running this adventure, and it has plenty of unique stuff already, I'm going to run it as written. This means that sometimes there will be off-the-wall custom creatures, but sometimes you'll have something like the encounter the caravan is having, which draws on the more modern WotC take on the owlbear being a literal combination of an owl and a bear.

I took it that Princess doesn't know what that creature is.

How do you do attack and damage on a single roll like this?

notice the comma between the die roll and the damage roll?

This is my attack roller (custom charactersheet)

[table="rolls d20 dnd5e"]
Weapon | Attack , Damage | note
Rapier| 1d20+[_$=(dex+prof)], 1d8+[_$=dex] | 
Booming blade if moved | 1d8
Longbow| 1d20+[_$=(dex+prof)], 1d8+[_$=dex] | range: 150/600
Toll the dead DC[_spell_dc$=8+prof+wis]|1d20+0, 1d8 |
Toll the dead DC[_spell_dc$=8+prof+wis]|1d20+0, 1d12 | if damaged
[/table]
Arrows [_=5/5].[_=5/5].[_=5/5].[_=5/5]
(recover ½)

This is very helpful, thank you so much!

I'm going to be absent for a few days. Catch up during the weekend

OK, thanks!

I think what I'll do in runekyndig's absence is roll initiative for Elowin, and then I can narrate the outcomes of our first round (and continue with Elowin loosing arrows each round as necessary).

What happened to the wagon? Why is it on fire all of the sudden?

Whose turn is it?

Dugal apparently had a torch and dropped it inside his wagon.
Morik’s up, but I’m thinking we just post as we can.

Yes, I think it works best if you post when you can and then I will resolve the actions in initiative order, rather than waiting to see what the character before you does.

As to the fire, it was described in this post that Dugal was burning the webs and then recoiled when the spiders appeared, and that movement flung some burning pitch back into his wagon. Then round one began.

Bigger post tomorrow, with the outcomes of any conversations/answers to questions PCs may have, and the start of the next encounter.

I'm going to start a new thread to cover the journey's end. We can continue posting to this thread for a couple of days, in case there's any actions that you still want to resolve before Day 17. Then I'll close this thread.

I suspect that a bunch of people may be celebrating the New Year and, for those in the USA, some may be deep in Super Bowl celebrations. So I'll post the round one results tomorrow. But I will point out that I still need:
- initiative rolls for Adran, Gunter, Princess, and Morik
- declared round one actions (possibly prepared actions?) for Elowin, Gunter, and Morik

Roll initiativ for them

@spaceseeker19 how was your trip?

Sorry for the long delay, everyone.

The convention was good overall; My daughter and I registered for a game of Descent (the RPG-adjacent boardgame), but the GM never showed up and so we got priority registration slips as a consolation. I played in a good pickup game of Edge of the Empire with 5 players and a great registered game inspired by Ars Magica (but using the Kapow! rules) with 9 players. We visited with friends who came from other states and countries, including one we'd never met in person. We played a bunch of Warhammer-adjacent games (because one of our friends is crazy into Warhammer 40,000) and a few games of Zombicide: Black Plague (which I still think is the best iteration of Zombicide). We got a bunch of free stuff, including the Traveller card game, a starter module for Mecha vs. Kaiju, a prize for winning a D&D trivia contest, and a bunch of minis (the convention has a "minis painting room" which is a huge draw: they provide free minis and paint, and you get to pick minis, paint them, and take them home with you).

That is so cool! Cons are a ton of fun, but they also make for very long days. I also feel like most (many?) cons have gotten so big a single day won't let you do everything. When I was young, cons were big but... cons today are a whole different level.

I'd go to my local one more often, but their time of year is terrible for me financially speaking. I have property taxes and birthdays that are more important.

I'm going to a con this easter, and for the first time my daughter is coming as well. She is 6 and I'm looking forward to see how she feels about the RPG and boardgames designed for her age group

I had trouble last combat with the current combat rules. And this combat it is even worse. Sorry I can't predict the future for my character's reactions. I will let the GM do that. I'm out of here.

I on the other hand enjoy @spaceseeker19 GM style. It is very PBP-relevant to announce your actions without knowing what the others might do, and then see GM summarizing the round at the end.

I understand the frustration. It's particularly bad when initiative splits the party into two groups: one before the enemies, and one after.

There's three options I can see that might help (but I'd like to hear your ideas):

1) Have a group initiative rolled once for each "side" in a combat encounter. I'd call on one player each encounter to roll for the group, and I'd roll once for each opposed faction. That way all the players would act together, either before or after the other combatants.

2) I could split the narration so that the PCs that go before the NPCs would declare, I'd describe the results and the enemy turns, and then prompt the PCs that came after what they will do for their turn.

3) We could continue as we have been, but then, if the situation has changed significantly for a PC, I can prompt the player to see if they still want to do what they declared or do something else. Even if we don't choose this option going forward, I'd like to do this for Princess this turn, retroactively.

What do you think?

I’m really ok with the way it is now. But will do however pleases the group. All good, for me.

I have no issues with the current combat style.

EDIT: I like how you recount all the stuff that happened during the round. Makes it very easy to know what all happened without me needing to check who went first, or who all went in what order. I think it's great.

As a DM, I generally like the idea of some consequence of being down and dying. I often instigate a house rule in which a character who goes to 0 HP comes away with some permanent reminder of that brush with death: a scar, a tic, a phobia, or a flaw, as determined by the player. But that's for my own custom games, which tend to be a little grimmer and less super high fantasy than the Dungeon in a Box adventures. It's also a cosmetic change that will only affect gameplay indirectly (such as NPCs reacting to the scar in future), rather than an immediate mechanical drawback. My experience of the encounters in Secrets of the Greenwold is that they are all tightly-balanced enough that an additional mechanical drawback could prove disastrous.

What do the rest of you think, regarding consequences of dropping to 0 HP, with regards to this campaign? Would you like to have a short-term drawback like a level of exhaustion, would you like to choose some obvious cosmetic change to the character that "shows" their ordeal permanently, or would you like to continue rules-as-written?

I prefer it to be just normal. In real life, people can be resuscitated, so given that this is a fantasy world where magic can heal grievous wounds like they’re nothing, I don’t see the need for extra detriments. Another point against it is that martial characters are the ones more likely to need to roll these saves, and really martials don’t need even more of a nerf.

If the player wants to rp it affecting them somehow, that’s their call.

Same here. :)

Grifter makes a sound case.

OK. So let's say that you can, if you choose, describe some lasting-but-mechanically-insignificant change to your character each time you survive nearly dying. My players have really enjoyed describing the accumulation of scars in other games.

I have some sad news, folks: we're down two players. There's always a lot of attrition with play-by-post. In this case, JoshuaMabry has stepped away from the site due to changes in work schedule that have made it too difficult to keep up with the posting schedule. GeneCortess has quit this game out of frustration with low initiative.

I do not plan to interrupt the game for this. We're close to the end of this first adventure, "Caravan of Peril." I propose to continue running Gunter as an NPC (as I already was) and do the same with Princess for the remainder of the adventure. Then, we can retire those PCs and see if any of the other players who'd expressed interest in the game would like to join at the natural transition point of the start of the second adventure. As an alternative, we could try to do what I sometimes do with absent players in real-time D&D games, and have the present players (that is, all of you) play the characters collaboratively. In that case, I could recreate the PCs and make them public, and you four could decide what Princess and Gunter will do each round. That presents a number of challenges, but I'm willing to try it. It has the advantage of all the PCs being controlled by players, which I like.

Barring responses to the contrary, I'm going to go with the first option as it seems easiest, but I wanted to check in with you all. Which approach would you like to take?

FYI: For the end of round four (since we know that Bramlin is reviving at the start of round five), my inclination would be to have Princess throw her dagger at a goblin, then for round five, try to climb into the wagon again to attack or heal as necessary. Gunter could try to Toll the Dead and/or run to get a horse to pursue the wagon if it continues to move away.

I did heal Gunther, we could say that I didn't and shot at a goblin instead. Gunther would be dead and it would be one less NPC to keep track of

I’m fine with just retiring them at the end of the chapter. Is there a reason why we need to have 6 players/characters?

I find that the sweet spot is around 4-6 players. Anything less and the game flow is very depend of player participation, and the encounter design becomes tricky. Anything more and it gets to noisy.

Easiest it best.

Agreed!

A 4 PC party works for this campaign, but 5 is better, and I think 6 is ideal for a number of reasons (survivability, ability to continue if people drop out, etc).

Sorry for the wait, everyone. I'm going to wait just a little bit longer - a few hours - to give @WhiteDwarf a chance to chime in as to whether Bramlin wants to take that short rest, before I continue with the trip to the bandit camp later today.

Two crits on the same PC in the same encounter! That's rough!

The first crit is fun to land
The second makes you worried that you will actually kill the PC

Now ANOTHER crit?? Yeesh. I'm really hoping our roles switch soon, and you guys start getting chains of crits.

To be fair, we've had it fairly easy up until now lol.

I'm a Werewolf!!

Uh oh, does that mean we gotta cage you up? Lol

Also, you crit the attack, so roll another d4!

I dunno, is it a full moon?

Also, I don't wanna roll another d4... with the GP dice roller I'm afraid I'll roll so bad I actually heal him somehow.

Everyone, we're approaching the end of this first module of the campaign, and I'd like your feedback on a couple of things.

First of all, how are you liking the campaign? Are there aspects that you particularly like/don't like about how I'm running it? I want to make sure that you know that I want your feedback and am open to course-correction if I'm doing stuff that doesn't work for you.

Second, as I mentioned previously, as preparation for the second module, I'm going to invite more players to join us as we start the second module, to replace the players that dropped out. When their characters are introduced, they can either be 2nd level to match your characters, or they could be 1st to start, and then level up to catch up to you a bit later in the adventure after their characters have experienced some stuff. Which would you prefer?

(You probably got the implication there: your characters are about to advance to level 2!)

I am enjoying the game very much, and I enjoy the way you are running it. To that end, I'm sticking around for the long haul.

New players can start at Level 2, as far as I'm concerned. I know it differs from player to player, but more broadly speaking players tend to not like gaps. (Although I would argue the gap between level 1 and level 2 is negligible, but I digress.)

Onward!!

I actually have nothing to add.
I like your GM style and the characters we have build

Nothing to add. I’m glad Bram is conscious again.

I’m loving the game. Nothing to really comment on so far.

I’m okay with new players starting at either levels.

Just an aside, but I can't seem to find our list of coin names. Where did we stash that?

I had to hunt for that recently, too. I've been remiss in not updating the World Book thread (which is where that information logically should be). I'll update it now.

I invited each of the players to name one of the coins of the Greenwold. Note that we never got a name for the electrum coin; perhaps one of the new players would like to suggest the name?

Wonderful details on our World, very immersive, thank you!

How do we define a session?
A month of game time perhaps?

@runekyndig

Rest assured, I am getting the start of part two, Streets Unseen, ready to post. We'll likely get started tonight or tomorrow morning. I expect that the new PCs won't necessarily be ready right when we start, but it may be a couple of posts before they join the rest of the group in Grayhaven, so I think that works.

Sounds perfect. Working on social ties.

Here's a question about role-playing during rest periods.

Are you satisfied with how we've been conveying out-of-combat conversations between characters?

In my real-time games, I encourage my groups to choose two PCs who will have a conversation during the rests, which is generally viewed as a fun opportunity for the players to explore their characters when they aren't in life-or-death situations (ie, most of the rest of every session). We've already tried this in part 1, where I called it "Travel Interludes"). These are conversations that are asynchronous to the current action in the game thread: monologues and dialogues that happen between multiple PCs, and/or between one or more PCs and one or more NPCs. I'm just checking in: are you satisfied with how that worked/has been working? Or do you have other ideas that you'd like to try?

I really liked the interlude. There were a lot of NPCs to keep track off, but I like the interaction

I’m not too sure how I feel about the out of combat interactions so far. I like the idea, but with Part 1, I found it difficult to keep track of the large list of characters, which made it feel more like a chore at times because I had to keep scrolling back to see who was who (I tried to keep up with everyone’s conversations).

Another thing is that I’m unsure that we needed 3-4 different times where we just took time to speak on the road, the issue here being that it felt repetitive, and not as engaging because the situation was essentially the same every time. But I’m not against it, and it might’ve just been because we were on the road.

Overall I’m good with it, but I wanted to see how it goes for another one or two chapters before I really know.

I am not trying to make anyone feel bad, and I hope this doesn't feel mean-spirited. But in much the same way that I like to celebrate dramatic, unlikely successes with dice, I like to to acknowledge really bad luck. And so I feel like this needs to be called out and highlit in some way.
If you didn't have inspiration already, I might give you Inspiration just for that phenomenally bad roll! 480 possible combinations, and you got the third worst possible! That's amazing!

I don't know; I want to make a trophy or something. Some kind of reward for really noteworthy results.

In his public games, the DM who wrote these early Dungeon in a Box adventures, David Crennen, implements a system of hidden "Achievements" that would unlock when the players/characters got certain results or took certain actions. Each Achievement is accompanied by a one-time use game benefit that the player can cash in at a time of their choosing. Such a benefit might be "Turn this in for +5 to initiative in one encounter" or "Turn this in to roll a skill check with ADV." I hadn't considered doing this in our game before now, but it is something that some players really enjoy. We've already played a full module without using anything like Achievements, but I wonder how you all feel about introducing that sort of meta-game thing? Or is it preferable to call out the extraordinary, like this really bad roll, to celebrate/accept, and then move on? I'm happy to go either way.

I'm good either way, but a word of "warning":

The GP dice roller and I have a history of disproportionately bad rolls, so if you're going to give a mechanical/meta reward for that... jusy be ready to potentially hand it out more than you might want to. Lol

Saaaame. We can compete for Biggest Failure crown.

I personally enjoy flavoring/acknowledging the epic fails as much as the epic successes. It’s all in good fun when I do it in the games I run and it adds memorable interactions. It’s not like someone CHOSE to roll bad so I don’t feel like it’s an attack on the player. Sometimes the dice just don’t agree and it makes for fun opportunities for extra flavor, jumping off points for fun RP, or just some inside jokes for the group.

I will gladly take awards for having the angriest, most spiteful dice.

I'm happy either way honestly, it does sound like it could be fun.

Two things:

1. Hearing no strenuous objections, I'm going to implement Achievements...starting now. It'll take a bit for me to do the artwork and decide on a good list, but I have ideas for what some of the triggers will be.

2. Bramlin's player, WhiteDwarf, will be out for at least another full day, according to his post in the general Absences thread. Ordinarily, I would have a character follow the "default" instructions so the action can continue with the character in the background, playing a supporting role. But in this particular situation, it may be that there's only Bramlin left to try to get on the carriage and get control of the horses...which is a more active role than a supporting one. So I'm torn. I don't like one player gating the action for all the others - delays and absences happen for all of us, but it shouldn't mean that everyone else has to wait - but at the same time, I'd prefer that the outcomes of events/encounters are determined by players controlling their own PCs. Are you all OK with waiting a day or two longer to see what WhiteDwarf wants Bramlin to do, or do you want me to continue the narrative now?

Since WhiteDwarf made us aware of his absence, then I think it is ok for your to default his actions and continue the narrative.

As someone who often posts in the middle of the night due to my own need to be away during the "normal" hours, where does one find this "absences" thread? I don't see it.

Index > General > General Chat > absences
Or try the link that spaceseeker19 provided

I am fine with waiting, and I am fine with the the DM piloting a character as "in character" as possible.

Needs of the story and all that.

And for what it's worth, I can see Bram trying to stop the wagon... it seems in character for him. But I understand the hesitancy. Hence, why I'm ok to wait.

It may not read as a link on a phone, depending on browser, so I'll try to underline the links in future, to make them more obvious.
Like this: Absences thread.

Well, I guess I'll roll for Bramlin to get onto the carriage, as that is gating the other checks. If he doesn't make that, then we would continue with just Adran on the carriage anyway.

Just an aside about the carriage: anyone who is still on the carriage if it crashes will be given a chance to leap free, tuck and roll (Acrobatics) to avoid being hurt, separate from the actions you are taking in round three. It's clear to all of you that it will be an acrobatic feat to escape if it crashes. So if you want to use your action(s) to try to get the passenger out or make one last attempt at gaining control of the team, you can, and still be able to get out unscathed yourselves via an extra roll if you can't prevent the crash.

An additional, ancillary note: I think I can say with some confidence that, whenever there is an event or situation (not an attack) that would cause the PCs some damage in this Greenwold campaign, they will be given the opportunity to reduce or completely avoid it using a saving throw or ability check: traps, avalanches, acidic hail, trip hammers, aerial bombardments of grecian ice, volcanic eruptions, crashing carriages, etc. This is meant to be a heroic campaign where the PCs do extraordinary things; it's not meant to be an OD&D campaign filled with gotchas that will kill your characters for player inattention.

If I'm wrong and there is such a thing later in the campaign, I'll call it out to you all as we go into that situation, something like: "You realize that if you don't get off the magic sled now, you will cease to exist when it enters the sphere of annihilation." That sort of warning tells you what your characters would know, and gives you the opportunity to have your characters avoid death from ignorance, or choose to sacrifice themselves in a spectacularly dramatic fashion.

Deleted my post since we're back to the original plan.

Happy to hear that @spaceseeker19

I just want to put it out there, for the record, if ever my delay in response is impeding story progression when my character may be pivotal to resolving the situation (like everyone else has failed a check or we really need that CHA skill), I am fine with GM rolling for Zin in line with her established behaviors and actions. Given my dice roll history, it’s more likely to succeed if someone else rolls anyway.

Same here, if I haven’t responded in a day, definitely roll for me!

Ditto.

yes, don't let my tardiness stop the narrative

Thank you both! Not sure why it doesn’t show that folder for me.

And same, roll for me!

may be a little quiet this weekend. I was just let go from my job today. would have had my 10 -year anniversary in june. not sure if I will be shutting down for a few days or going batshit crazy trying to distract myself. we shall see.

I'm so sorry to hear it.

I’m sorry friends, but I must withdraw from our game.

I was hoping to keep myself involved (I do remain present in @spaceseeker19 ‘s DB game), but I find myself behind the curve from recent absence and stressed to try catching up and keeping proper pace here. So I remain active on this site on a couple games, but time to respectfully take my leave of this one.

It’s always a pleasure gaming with each of you, and hoping for great rest of your game.

- WD

I'm sorry to hear that. See you in the next game

Needless to say, I'm sorry to see @WhiteDwarf go (he's already left the game); I've enjoyed the flavor that he puts into his posts as Bramlin the fighter struggling to overcome his legacy. But it leads me to ask two questions of the rest of you:

1) Is it OK for me to invite another player to take the spot? Unless I hear any strong objections, I'm going to go back and invite another player to take the spot in the next couple of days. Bramlin could bow out for some reason, right around the time that the party runs into another old acquaintance that they commend to Findal.

2) How do you feel about the pace of this chapter of the game so far, and how many posts there have been? I'm trying to keep to the expectation that you can get along fine posting once a day, and sometimes I wait a couple of days between posts, just to give everybody more of a chance to post in response. But we're still in a bit of the set-up for this chapter, where characters get a chance to find out more about the environment before we jump into more encounters. I think that's kind of a natural rhythm for a campaign like this one, made of modules in a series. But I can go faster if you're not as interested in that information, or post with more brevity if the amount of text is overwhelming at all.

1) That is perfectly fine
2) I'm good with the pace. I actually like the scene change treads where we can finish the scene while the main story moves on.

1. Sucks he had to leave, but I'm happy for another player to join.
2. I love the pace! I know, for me, it's nice to have the ones that I sit and feel like I'm reading a fantasy novel that I get to help write and this campaign has that vibe already to me. So I say, bring on the information!

That's good feedback; thank you. Per @runekyndig's comment, I'll create a side thread for the dinner conversation, in case anyone has further discussion/questions for Argus or each other.

1) I’m good with another player joining.

2) I like that it’s one post a day (as opposed to slower, which I don’t like). The length of the posts are fine, but I prefer things to move a tad faster (keeping threads open to continue conversations is a great solution).

Can I just whine about how much it sucks to write a pretty decent speech and have the dice tell me otherwise lol. I spent too much of my youth in public speaking for the dice to have let me down like that!

I am taking it into account - there has been a benefit for diminishing and discombobulating the mob from both Elysia's wonderful speech and Elowin's Twilight Sanctuary.

Which I highly appreciate! :) Thank you!

Apologies for the absence, I got hit with the double whammy of being sick and then traveling on a 10hr flight the next day. Will get back up to speed tonight/tomorrow.

Oof, flight while recovering illness is not pleasant. Speedy recovery to you!

Take care of yourself, and may you enjoy a speedy recovery! Don't fret; we will continue, but I'll leave a placeholder for Morik's actions in the current turn, and fill it in when you can post.

Okay, so I'm trying to catch up with the posts now, and there are a LOT of reading to do, lol. So, let me see if I understand all the stuff right, because there were some stuff that I was a bit confused about even from my previous posts:

- We were walking to Findal's contact's place when we see a mob wielding fire confronting a palanquin borne by 6 people, and a courtier walking alongside it.
- We (well, Elysia and Bramlin) find out that the courtier was tasked by the Queen to escort emissaries (presumed inside the palanquin) into the castle.
- Attempts to disperse the mob was met with some success, but then they push through, and Mr. All Talk No Action courtier turns tail and skeedaddles.
- Ishi, an old friend/acquaintance of some of ours, sees us and the situation.
- Elysia gives a rousing speech, though perhaps delivered in only an average manner (sorry @Kilikina but the dice gods are fickle, lol), and the mob goes on the offensive.
- Adran wants to use the situation to their advantage and run away with Findal, but even his sister didn't acknowledge him. Instead, Eozindra tells him to stay with Findal while she tries to calm the mob.
- Round 1 starts

I like that some people are bracing for a fight, while the two sisters are singing kumbaya to a mouth-frothing fire-breathing mob. Dear gods, it'd be hilarious if the mob is correct and these are evil drow.

Anyway, do I have this right? I hope I do, cause I'm about to post, lol.

Looks pretty accurate. Although Adran is more a case of "not every fight has to be ours" and "we have something we're doing."

But yeah, mostly accurate.

I'm trying to get out people out of fight that is not ours. That is the intent with the sanctuary spell anyway

Morik is both heroic and good natured, so with friends who are already trying to help, he won’t let some mob just kill someone without helping.

The only details I would add are:
- the party didn't just observe this happening; it was right in the middle, caught in the street between the two groups
- Elowin's and Elysia's initial actions delayed the mob violence, enabling the party to withdraw with Findal and the courtier to run for the guards without interference

Also trying to get our group dislodged and out of harm’s way, not trying to really engage with the mob.

Sorry for the wait, everyone. Friday was a very busy day.

Imma go ahead and post, but there’s a chance I won’t get to do so again until Tuesday or Wednesday. Despite my attempts, my parents usually have my birthday planned out for me for maximum celebrating.

I’ll still try to sneak on cause I’m curious about this mysterious ring I’ve picked up and definitely slipped onto my finger, not pocketed lol.

Ah, here's to a delightful birthday celebration! May it be filled with laughter and love shared with family and friends!

Note that you do NOT have to take this opportunity to slip away; if you want to stay and fight one side or the other (or both), you may. But if you do take this time to leave, it gives an elegant out for Bramlin's character for now.

---

Undead beavers :D

Thank you! :D It has been so far. They’ve left me to my own devices for a moment, which of course means making mischief… by checking DnD lol.

I think for Elysia, as much as I want her to stay, she probably avoids higher society unless she has to since she’s more likely to be noticed and recognized in those circles, and her first priority is always to keep her sister hidden.

I do see the humor, and I will react to it once they are off the streets

OK, I was waiting to see if there were any more opinions on which way to go, but so far there's one "Let's go direct" and one "Let's go around" and one "You guys choose." So I can wait for further responses, or we can flip a coin.

I can't vote twice to break the tie. 🤷

Direkte way

And I'm having severe back pains this week and that is why I haven't been very active

Great; thank you!
I'm very sorry to hear that. I hope that you experience some relief and/or recovery soon.

I'll post the first part of round two later today; I want to give a little bit more time for Kilikina to take Elysia's turn (I'll assume and roll another bow attack if not) and forkbeard to roll damage (I'll roll if not).

is Jeffrey a newt or a lizard? a newr is an amphibian (can breath under water) and the lizard is a reptile which could make a difference.

Yes, I apologize for the confusion. Jeffery is canonically a newt, but the module stipulates that mechanically, he is a Lizard (no doubt because there are official D&D stats for lizards).

Can't help by think of this golden quote

Jeffery is a newt, but a little bit like a lizard, and 100% awesome.

Sorry, folks: the day kind of got away from me. I'll be wrapping up the High Street thread and starting a new thread for the Lucky Copper Inn tomorrow morning.

no worries :)

Just to be clear, Findal, the tiefling, the guards, and the Duke are still there with the party in the Lucky Copper Inn. The Duke and his goons are in the process of dragging them out. I thought I'd mention it, in case I wasn't clear in my description and you'd like to react in the moment. It's also fair if the party wants to not engage with the situation and lay low and see what they can do for Findal after he's been taken.

Ohhh whups. Let me change my last post lol

Oh d'oh, I better edit my post as well

Thx for the heads up. I don't want to be the guy who jumps into combat because "that is what my character would do", but it actually is.

When in doubt I consult her personality. Findal is not really part of her family, clan or tribe.

Hmmm.... Just thinking aloud. It's 6 vs 8, or 7 vs 8 if Findal would actually do something (doubtful).

On the pro side, if we wait it out until later, we'd have to break in, figure out where Findal is held, and get to him, possibly facing a bigger number of foes, so it's likely best to do it now.

On the cons side, the poo-eater Duke will hate us, and we likely become enemy of state (but this is really a pro, not con, because this gods forsaken city can just right stuff itself.)

I'm not impressed by the city either. I have the twilight blessing up and running, and that is temp hp each round. I think we can take them, but we will be on the run her after. But I think we can take them

As a player, I’m fine if y’all wanna start a melee with this asshole. Zin won’t start it, but she won’t abandon her friends either. Her personality is to try and utilize highbrow political influence to avoid physical conflict when dealing with people at the social level of the Duke. Unfortunately for her, I rolled like shit throughout it all.

Hey @MaJunior,@Redamancy,@Kilikina,@forkbeard

Will you participate in the poll (follow this link) about going into combat

I am largely ambivelant. (There's no option for that.)

My only concern as a player about starting this fight would be potentially derailing the campaign.

Sia won’t start the fight either, like Zin, but she also wouldn’t leave the group in the lurch about it. Her method of handling this situation is a combination of the noble birthright meaning an air of diplomatic attempts with some skulking in shadows and words of misdirection and deception. Ah the joys of being a rogue, underhanded methods are our favorite lol.

I worry about starting the fight causing bigger problems in the campaign too, honestly.

@DM Does the campaign assume there's no fight here? If so, I can certainly play Morik that way, I wouldn't veer off course if it'd create a hassle, but I honestly thought the opposite, that the campaign would assume the PCs would not simply let Findal go here.

The issue is that outright attacking the Duke and his men pretty much makes all of us public enemy number one.

Every guard, every member of the citizen qwatch/militia, every mercenary, and every member of the army will be looking for us. Shopkeepers and innkeepers and any other merchant won't want to be seen doing business with us for fear of reprisal. Even temples may be hesitant to aid us.

How many people in the city have more power than the Duke?

Yes, some individuals may side with us, but the city as a whole will be extremely hard to navigate without constant fights.

Now, our DM does amazing things, but I can't believe an attack on the Duke would be no big deal.

No, the campaign does not make that assumption. There are many ways to approach the situation.

Sorry, folks, I waited too long to finish describing the morning after the rest, and now *I* need to sleep. I'll post first thing in the morning.

I was mixed up about ishi's need for rest, RAGE is the only ability that requires rest and he has one left

because of his personaliy and low CHA, he will follow someone unless he is ranging. though he is not stupid.


so if Elowin tells him to do something he will probably do it.

Ok, no worries. Looks like we've rested. What do you guys want to do now?

Curious: what are Adran's current two infused items? It's not clear on the character sheet at the moment whether it's an alchemy jug, an enhanced armor/shield, or an enhanced weapon.

Should be his armor and the alchemy jug.

At this point, I'm going to post a little side vignette, showing things that are happening elsewhere. This is something I do sometimes, to give players context that their characters don't have. I find it's particularly helpful in an asynchronous game like this one, where days may pass between the first shoe and the second shoe dropping. Even though the PCs may be confused, I sometimes don't want the players to be in the dark also. Let me know whether you like it.

Sounds good to me!

I like it. I'm fine with my character being frustrated, but player frustration is a game killer

yes; i agree

I am still actively here but had a horrendous situation unfold yesterday (can this year get any worse? I don’t think so at this point) so if I misunderstand a post or don’t communicate clearly, please let me know. My brain is a bit … muddled as I cope with reality. My husband lost a his best friend since high school; a man I had also become very close friends with. They were basically brothers and were living together when I met my partner. Life is exhausting.


Vignettes are great

I'm very sorry to hear that; losing loved ones is very hard.

Take care of you and yours.

It occurs to me that, while it makes for easier reading/review later on, my practice of combining all the results of a given combat round into one post can be a little confusing and hard to follow while the turn is actually happening. What do you think?

I'm thinking about trying to do a bit more of a hybrid, with an initial post that presents all the results of a given round but also creating a post for each combatant's turn in the round. OK?

Sounds good to me! I knew what you were doing but it was still weird to see you summarize the post I placed later in the thread, lol

You could try just making each person's post a different paragraph in the main post if I'm understanding the conundrum correctly? Then people can easily see what each person is experiencing while also not having to do 20 posts for one summary (yes, I know that's an exaggeration).

I know, for me, your summaries are easy for me to read and I do like them a lot because it makes a lot more sense to see what all is happening at once when it's done like that, but I'm a heavy fantasy reader so I'm used to reading fighting scenes like that and I can decipher it just fine. I'm down for trying something new too, though!

I actually refer to the summary post to understand the order of events, so unless we're changing the way initiatives are done, I quite like the summary posts, otherwise I'd have to make sense what's happening myself, and it becomes difficult, such as handling things like when the Temp HP goes into effect and when it goes away (e.g. maybe it's cast before the attack, or maybe it's after, which makes a big enough difference).

That said, I'd also be fine if we change to using group initiative, which would simplify everything.

I to like the summery posts

I didn't know that, thank you for teaching me how to make my character public. I did so, you're welcome to take a look @runekyndig! Just ignore my section of items that are donations... they're definitely not things I stole... nope... *looks around innocently*

Yes, i like the summary posts, but sometimes I have problems finding the post I need to act, if that makes sense.

It have been a while since I used the standard d&d sheet, but I think your attack mods should be just +6, not 1d20+6
Example

I'll try switching it to that the first chance I get. Thank you!

I'm back! And I am sorry!!

The past two weeks were an absolute cluster... I had double shifts with no cellphone signal, my "other mom" had multiple strokes and hospitalizations, pet euthenasia, almost had to shoot someone at 5am last Sunday, my mom's birthday, and a highschool graduation.

I'm hoping this week goes back to normal. I'm burned out on excitement.

Sorry that any one of those happened, @MaJunior, much less all of them! Welcome back!

Thanks, I'm glad to be back. I miss my boring, uneventful life. Lol

Happy Midsummer! It's a big deal in Sweden with dancing around the maypole and singing songs about little frogs.

I’m sorry I haven’t been as attentive as I try to be. My living situation has been on the verge of upending itself, things aren’t going great with my mom and I who I help take care of, and we just found out my dad has to have a medical procedure. I’ll be around more very soon, I promise!

@Kilikina - I'm very sorry to hear about that series of situations, and I hope that you quickly get all the help for your situation and your family that they need.

Thank you <3 I don’t talk usually about things going on in my life when things are bad, I hate pity, but I know my posts haven’t been great in my games and I’ve missed some days so I felt a real explanation was necessary. I’m also keen to shit talk that chicken of a Duke or start sharing dad jokes despite not being a dad, or even a dude for that matter lol.

Can I just tell you guys how beyond amused I am right now. I’ve got my pup distracted and not bothering me by playing Lion King 2 in the bedroom so he can lay down while watching it.

Yes, I know he’s spoiled beyond all thought, but in my defense, this is my first attempt at distracting him with an animated kids movie.

Dude, I get it. My cat got really invested in watching Up. Somewhere there's pictures of him staring very intently at the dog pack scenes.

Sorry that I’ve been off for a few days; I’m on a trip and the PC I brought to continue my posts has proved unreliable. I’m typing on a handheld now, so my posts may seem a bit…terse…over the next few days.

I don't even own a computer. I do all my posts from my phone. Lol

Oh my jeeze. I couldn't. I have tried and I hated it every time. Tablet with a physical keyboard at minimum or I go bonkers. #highmaintenance

Lol Everyone is different.

I had a computer of one sort or another for years. My last one broke when I didn't have money to replace it. Over time, I realized... everything I did on my computer, I could use my phone for.

That should tell you how little I actually used it.

Also: I'm a shit typer, never bothered to own a printer, and never set up a Steam account. I feel like a Steam account for some older games would be the only reason to get a PC, and I have a stack of console games I haven't opened yet, so I just don't feel a need for Steam. Lol 🤷

I don't have a smart phone :)

just a monstrous desk top

Lol 98% of my posts are from my phone. Sometimes, my iPad with a physical keyboard.

I’m annoyed to update my level cause that’s done from my laptop, I just do it so rarely lol

more info then you need

https://www.academia.edu/39710329/A_New_Examination_of_Cordage_Twist_and_Ethnic_Difference_during_the_Early_Woodland_Period_in_the_Eastern_Woodlands

If my character wasn't more stoic and noble in her mannerisms, I would've made a bondage joke... lol

"The ties that bind" indeed...

Watch out! I might start lecturing at you

"I don't think it's a tree!"

Question for @spaceseeker19 : are we using Optional Class Features? Like, does Zin have access to the additional bard spells, versatility, etm?Sorry if this was already discussed, I cannot remember for the life of me

For those two specific features, the answers are:
Additional spells: yes
Bardic versatility: no

For your reference, the list is in this post.

Ah yes! Thank you so much for reminder. I really only was interested in the additional spell access, so that’s perfect. :D

So I’m curious, I’ve never been in a situation where I didn’t use bardic inspiration almost immediately after getting it, so I’m left wondering.

Zin casted it on Sia during the jail break fight, but I never used it then. So my question is: does bardic inspiration expire?

yes - 10 mins

They last for ten minutes. But I guess this is an opportunity to ask @spaceseeker19 if the optional bard feature for Magical Inspiration is available in this game. Cause that would have come in handy with that shit heal roll, lol

I mentioned it a couple of days ago, but I'll reiterate here: the list of optional rules we are and aren't using are listed in this post.

Fair, my bad. Thank you.

Apologies for asking dumb questions. I’m not used to being in games that are this organized.

That's high praise; thank you.

How dare you be all organized and shit? WTF is wrong with you? 🤣🤣

I believe in credit where credit is due. Also in owning one’s own shit; like not checking the references before asking a question.

My initial reaction was "a Trust Monster would touch a creature, which would have to succeed on a DC11 WIS save or become more paranoid," but then I realized that, since a Rust Monster creates rust, a Trust Monster might force its victims to lose suspicion and become more trusting.

"This statue covered with bloodstains seems like a great place to sit down for a rest."
"You're down to your last few coins, but you've got a good feeling. You just know that if you try again, this time you're sure to 'find the lady!'"
"You realize that the illithid is actually making some good points in its argument for an all-protein diet."

Trust monster? Reminds me of my ex.

:D

Sorry I missed two rounds!

I feel like a trust monster should come with trigger warnings because I see way too many possibilities for causing PCs trauma with them. :D

Just a warning: if my power doesn’t come back, I probably won’t be able to post tomorrow since my power is gone and there’s a chance it won’t be back until the tropical storm is gone.

You can certainly change how you've been playing it. I have to say, I've been enjoying how you've been narrating your initial distrust (and growing trust) for your fellow party members. But mechanically, you don't have to play to your flaw all the time: it's primarily a way to get Inspiration, but Inspiration doesn't stack, and if you have Inspiration (as most of you do from the beginning of this adventure), there isn't a mechanical reason to play up your flaw so much.

Now, if you don't like that munchkin approach to role-play, I sympathize: I don't prefer to think of it that way, either. I like to think of the flaw as only one fourth (or fifth, if you took two Personality Traits) of the things that define a D&D 5e character. If you want, you might consider leaning into the other aspects a bit more...for instance, now that Ishi has come to trust his companions, he could be talking up the exploits of his tribe more (per Ishi's bond). "Have I told you about Koru, and her battle with the one-armed ape yokai?" That way, you're playing the character, and you can be more selective when the flaw comes into play.

The other thing you might consider is that the flaw is "slow to trust," not "distrustful" or "suspicious."

But, all that said, you can play your character however you like. If you want to choose a new flaw that seems more fun to you, that's fine. If it fits with your character backstory and/or the events in the game, all the better (but not required). The primary reason we're doing all this is to have fun!

The party has stopped with the outcast tieflings for a while. But there's been kind of a mixed response from the group about whether to rest, and what kind of rest. So here's a poll!



Edit: I'm preparing the next post for each outcome in the meantime, so that I can post it as soon as the votes are in. But I don't want to draw it out, so I'll post when the votes are in, or in 14 hours, whichever comes sooner.

Well, it looks like a long rest has been selected. This suggests a little world-building prompt for our elven siblings.

Even though neither of the Galanodels were advocating for the rest, they see the wisdom of catching some meditation while they may. But I'm proposing that Adran and Elowin have developed a routine since childhood of alternating trances so that one is always awake and looking out for the other while they are in a trance. Does that work for you, @MaJunior and @runekyndig ?

If it does, what method(s) do the siblings use to determine which one meditates first? Is there a rural elven variant of rock-paper-scissors, a tongue-twister, or some other challenge they use to say "OK, I'm going first," or is there long-established routine that "_________ always goes first?"

If it doesn't, then perhaps it is their practice to always meditate together, perhaps out of a belief that their time is enhanced when engaging in a trance simultaneously?

Finally, regardless of how they routinely get their rest, do Adran and Elowin make a conscious attempt to fit other elves (ie, Ishi) into this routine?

They are never meditating together. This is because they only have one meditation chair. It's richly carved with elven cultural motives and one of the few items they have from their parents. Reguarding who goes first, its a question of need just like MaJunior said. She will not share their meditation chair with other elves. (sorry Ishi)

Is it possible that one of us might know of this outcast "Lord Mayor"? Maybe not personally know him, but maybe know about some sort of event in recent history where some noble got kicked out or fell on hard times or something?

With this question about the Lord Mayor, I just realized that I haven't created a "Cast of Characters" thread for you all to reference in the World Book. I want to rectify this oversight, but first I want to ask you how you'd like it presented. I could do one list of all the characters, organized alphabetically. Or I could divide the list into shorter lists, grouped in categories that might be easier for you to reference. Which grouping of categories would be most desirable is up to you. For instance, which of these would be most useful to you?
- Allies, Opponents, Neutral parties
- PCs, major NPCs, minor NPCs
- Characters from 1-1, Characters from 1-2, characters from 1-3, etc
- Mara characters, Greenwold characters, Grayhaven characters

Basically it boils down to the one question: how do you want me to present the list of characters so that it will be easiest for you to reference?

Oh man, I see a lot of different incoming answers here. Lol

For what it's worth, I would vote for characters grouped by story arc (or "phase" for longer arcs). In RPG's I generally associate characters with what was happening around the time we interacted. It's never, "Steve was who again?" and is almost always, "Who was the priest we met at that fair in town? The one that got overrun by undead."

I tend to fall into this category as well. When I take notes, I have it filter into a database of all important NPCs and lore, but I tend to find the easiest way to pinpoint an important piece of information is to think about what was going on in the story when it was first encountered and start there in my notes. I use Notion for my D&D notes so it’s easy to link database pages to my session notes and I end up having a log in more than one organization method. For the sake of the forum, I think organizing by chapter of discovery is probably best.

bad computer bad bad computer !

I'm sorry you're having trouble. For the sake of keeping things moving, I've rolled initiative and the initial attack for Ishi. Take over when you can.

my posting poblems

I have Parkinsons disease, which, among other things, makes my typing bad and slow. Last weekend I had network problems and before that I had problems with my speech to text app. Should I get caught up and poat? Or is this too much?

Please jump in. I was just trying to explain why I'd rolled for you.

OK, thanks. Would it be a problem if sometimes my posts were short?

Not at all! There's no length requirement, or even expectation! I'm wordy, but I don't imagine most people are.

Out of curiosity @spaceseeker19: would Zin able to use Two Weapon Fighting with dual hand crossbows if she procured another? Or does the loading property basically cancel out the ability to use her Bonus Action for a second shot because that’s when she’s getting another bolt? I’ve seen it done in some campaigns but not in others so I am wondering how you would rule it.

As long as you are still enjoying your time with us, you do what you need for you!

@Redamancy Thieves' Cant isn't a language the way other languages are. It's more a way of talking...

Just FYI.

Yes, fair point. Less of a "Thieves Cant translation" and more like Sia used the properties of the coded messaging that she picked up when coming into fluency with the Cant, and then built a custom version for her and Zin. They basically have their own coded language just between the two of them; they had a lot of time and not much else to do.

No, Two-Weapon Fighting is explicitly for melee weapons, not ranged weapons (unless it is a melee weapon with the Thrown property).

That makes way more sense. I’m now thinking about it and feeling like it might have been a feat that granted bonus action hand crossbow shots. Thanks for clarifying!

You are thinking about Crossbow Expert that allows you to dualwield hand crossbows

Yes! That’s it! Thank you

Sorry I haven't been posting the past couple of days; it's been a busy weekend, what with my wedding anniversary, a new housemate moving in, and my wife's birthday. I will post the start of round four of the Fight in the Library tomorrow, but I have completed round three. Round four is when the approaching voices will arrive, and I have round four actions from Ishi and Morik already (each of them attacking the monster underwater).

Thank you all for your patience; I have returned from my anniversary trip and will be posting the first part of round five momentarily.

Just a heads up, I’ll be traveling tomorrow, so won’t be able to post until late. I’ll be on holiday the rest of the week, so posting might get a bit iffy.

Bon voyage, and I hope you have a great holiday time!

Folks, I'm very embarrassed and sorry that I gave you incomplete information about the effects of the spell that the Lord Mayor cast.

Have any of you had any interactions with Kilikina recently? I haven't heard from her in weeks; hope everything's OK.

8 days of inactivity.
Don't know this person outside GP, so I don't have any insights sorry.
After 14 days they get the Zzz icon and at that point I feel its justified to kick the player and make room for others.

Don't worry about it :) There are thousand wheels to keep track of as a GM. We all slip up a few times.

This! No worries!

I will reach out on Discord to see if she’s okay. I know she was dealing with some family stuff recently that was tough.

I have a rules convention question to ask you all to vote on:

When there are multiple effects that occur at the end of a turn, do you want to have the player-caused effects to happen first, or do you want the environment/enemy-caused effects to happen first?

The specific example we have now is Elowin's Twilight Sanctuary and the Lord Mayor's Hunger of Hadar spell. Either the player character gets temp HP first, THEN the player makes the DEX save (and possibly their PC takes damage), OR the player makes the DEX save (and their PC takes any resulting damage), and THEN the PC gets temp HP.

Feel free to discuss, but do eventually vote.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything includes an (optional) rule for exactly this situation. On page 77, it contains a section entitled "Simultaneous Effects":
So I choose environment first

forkbeard have locked himself out of GP. Site owner have been notified. But that's the reason he hasn't been posting

OK, thank for ferreting that out. Depending on how you look at it, it's either fortunate or unfortunate that he's been absent right now, when his character has dropped and is dying. All he's missed so far is a death saving throw, and I hope that when he's able to log on again he's happy with the roll I made on his behalf (a success!). I figured that Elowin, Morik, and/or Eozindra - the people with healing capability - should know if one of the two dying characters was closer to death or not before they choose which character to assist.

For that reason, Elysia Nightthorn / @Kilikina will be the one I real next round.

EDIT: Well Kilikina have been offline for 16 days :(
Might as well heal the barbarian instead

I haven’t heard back from @Kilikina on Discord either. I don’t know what happened to her. :( It worries me.

I still have to play Zin the way she would react and she would try to save her sister.

Yeah, @Kilikina's absence does correspond kind of distressingly with the hurricanes in the southeastern US. I hope she's OK, too.

For the time being, I will continue playing Elysia (until/unless @Kilikina returns, of course). Usually I phase out the PCs of absent players on GP, but if Elysia survives this battle, I don't see phasing her out making sense, given how attached the two sisters are to each other. I've been thinking a bit about different methods I employ for absent-player PCs in face-to-face games; when we finish this encounter, I'll post some options for the group to consider.

I had another user reach out to me in parallel about @forkbeard, that they'd talked to @forkbeard on Discord. I'm going to try to connect with @forkbeard on Discord (if I can figure out the username), so that I can at least relay what's happening and maybe get some moves when/if Ishi is revived.

His discord username is forkbeard_67640 I think

I have family in that region. Communication is very tough right now.

I also have been trying to come up with some (hopefully temporary) options for phasing Elysia out to the sideline. Just until things stabilize for Kili. If worse comes to worse and we do have to remove Elysia entirely, I apologize in advance to the group for the absolutely emotional shitshow you will have on your hands when Zin loses her sibling. But hey. The RP will be great?

This fight with the Lord Mayor and his men may not be the most epic fight in the campaign, but every time I've run it, it's been the most tense, nail-biting encounter of all. Everything seems to end up balanced on a razor's edge, every time, even though each group makes wildly different choices and approaches. This run-through appears to be following that pattern, even though you all defeated the thing in the water first (which no other group has done in my experience). My heart's in my mouth every turn.

Of course, the improbably swingy rolls (crit fail - crit - crit fail - crit) don't help matters.

Well, after our initial conversation, @forkbeard hasn't been responding in Discord, so I'll post for Ishi in the meantime.

Whew, the suspense of these turns is really strong. So much depends on each roll. I cheered when Morik's Entangle Restrained all three of the bad guys, and I was terrified that LMM2 was going to hit Elowin before he moved (and was killed by Booming Blade). I've been combining all the NPC/enemy turns into one post, just editing it and re-editing it over and over again, but I realize that this may diminish the tension for the rest of you, if you read the post hours later when all the rolls have been made. Unless you object, then, I am going to start posting each turn as a separate post, so that it may preserve some of the tension of the uncertainty of how this combat is going to end.

Let me know if that's too much.

Do as you see fit. I am enjoying the suspense of seeing your game post and wondering if this is when Elowin gets murdered to death. I have been sure that she would die, so many times this encounter, that I have already considered her replacement character. :)

But seriously, do as you see fit - this encounter is one of the best PBP nail biters I have played.

I'm happy with however you want to run it. This fight has been insane in the best ways.

This has been a nail-biter. You put in a lot of work across your games. Please believe me when I say, I am quite ok with you doing what works best for you.

I quite like the separate posts. If a previous post is getting updated and revamped, I’m never really sure if I’ve read the most recent version. But like everyone else says, whatever is easiest for you. You’re doing a fckn great job of running this and truly making the pbp style super enjoyable and riveting.

Not sure what class Ishi is, but was wondering if he has the Great Weapon Fighting style to reroll those 1 and 2 on the crit?

Barbarian, as I recall.

Correct. For reference, anybody can view the list of PCs (and look at the characters) in the start of the character creation thread.

I just wanted to point out that, for multi-round combats like this one, I will be linking the master posts for each round, so that you can more quickly review what has happened in previous rounds (and also have a fun read later on). For example, the first post of the current combat now has a link just under the top that points to the second round, and that links back to the first and forward to the third, and so on.

If I may ask, did the Lord Mayor Wild Shape into a manticore…? Polymorph maybe?

Question: have I allowed unconscious characters to eat goodberries (which explicitly requires an action) previously in this campaign? If I have (say, in "Caravan of Peril"), I'll allow it here and for the rest of the campaign for consistency. But otherwise I'm going to say that one can't feed an unconscious person a goodberry (or its superior analog, a glimmerberry), because the person doing the eating must use an action.

Don’t think it’s ever come up. Couldn’t a berry be mushed to let the juices go down?

fair enough - it does require eating

Hey guys
I really enjoy our game, the setting, everything - except my character.
She feels flat and mostly a powerhouse as the Twilight cleric is. I truly get why that subclass is banned at many tables. The twilight cleric has its huge santuary range with free activation that provides temp hp each round. Its ridiculously powerful, and granted without it, this latest combat would have been much different. In comparison, the artificer's gunner bot has a shorter range, and costs a bonus action to use.

I have tried to make Elowing more interesting by turning her more native American-like, but other than interacting with Ishi she hasn't really connected. But I don't see any development or personal story arc for her.

Since this encounter started and the hunger of hadar spell, I have had a character concept bouncing around in my head.

Faith is a tiefling from the streets of Grayhaven. She has the criminal/street urchin/acolyte background. She knew Elysia and Eozindra when they were kids, but they knew her as Shade . She was rescued from the street by a kind priest (or forced to community service, but ended up liking it and the teaching of Ellendaed, Goddess of Valor or Bealdor the High, God of the Sun). She turned her life around and converted to the church. She was getting ready to take her oath as a paladin when her demonic side expressed itself as shadowmagic. Horrified and ashamed she fled down below.

On that note, runekyndig has asked to switch characters. I don't like to swap out characters, but runekyndig has long expressed dissatisfaction about the character he made previously, and we're not yet at a point where the characters are locked into the story (*). So in the spirit of wanting the players to enjoy the game they're playing, I've agreed. To that end, if Elowin falls to 0 HP in combat, he wants Elowin to die rather than be rescued or resurrected. If she doesn't fall to 0 HP, then we'll find a way for Elowin to choose to leave the party. Then at some point soon we'll find a way to introduce the new character, Faith.

So think about how that's going to work for your characters that have relationships with Elowin - how will they say goodbye? how will they process her absence? - because the chance to say farewell to her will come soon. The PCs will miss her, but we players may, too. After all, we've enjoyed Elowin for a year of our lives; let's commemorate the time we've had with her in the party.

runekyndig will also be posting about Faith as he creates her in the character generation thread, so you can start thinking about how your PCs might know her/have run into her in the past.

* - there is a big character beat coming up where the characters will be tying themselves into the quest/campaign. But even after this, if someone is really unhappy with their PC and wants to change, we'll try to find a way to make it work (though story-wise it will be...complicated). I want to make sure that you're all having a good time.

I just want to say that the way this is being done is fantastic. Thanks @spaceseeker19 for being flexible and making sure everyone is happy with their character. I’ve made characters before that I ended up not liking as much in play as I did in theory so I can relate. I think losing Elowin will make for some strong RP character development for the group at hand and I’m glad we aren’t losing a player! Excited to see what new connections can be made as we move forward. And I hope @runekyndig can enjoy the game more with a character that feels more substantial. :)

I'd love to hear what ideas everyone has about Adran and Eozindra's acceptance (the two healers), not to mention everyone else who could stabilize Elowin. I have ideas, but I've had about a day longer to process this. Given that she is going to die, what might we do character- and story-wise to make it OK?

My initial thought is that something prevents it. I dunno what pact the Lord Mayor had, but maybe his death causes a reaction... sort of a retributive strike? A partial cave in, or parts of the ground fall away (a la a sinkhole)?

I know it would feel a little forced, but... Adran has a spell slot and his own sister is dying less than an arm's length away.

Unless you want to go with Divine Intervention, and say Luna actively prevents the healing -- the spells fail? If she truly is "calling Elowin home."

Thank you for your understanding about the chancing character.
I believe that you closed the wounds, but the sword plunged into her heart - that is major organ damage and an instant stop of the heart. Your magic works and wounds close, but it doesn't restart the heart. That is revify or similar spells that can restart major organs, not a first-level cure wound.

That is my take anyway.

It can be narrated however we want I suppose, but mechanically... unless you suffer Massive Damage, or have three failures on death saves, a first level heal spell can and does save your life.

Stabbed through the heart? Arrow through the brain via an eye socket? Sliced carotid or femoral? None of it really matters. (My belief is they did away with what would normally be "kill shots" IRL to prevent the game from turning into "How many enemies can I shoot in the eye?" Besides, HP -- like many other things in the game -- is largely an abstraction.)

Massive Damage or three death save failures. And I guess certain effects like Power Word: Kill. That's it. 🤷‍♂️

Morik can and would absolutely try to save her as well, so what I'm thinking is that during the time spent in that darkness, it was just so vile or something, and it somehow affected Morik's abilities. I mean, look at all the bad rolls we had, we could easily just narrate that there was some sort of disturbance down here or something, and the healing spells went off without effects (kinda like we rolled badly with our attacks and missed). Maybe...?

OK, so here are three of my ideas to add to the pile:

- Elowin is done, and she rebukes those who are trying to heal her, refusing their aid to be at peace with Lunea (advantage: we get some fun role-playing dialogue with Elowin as she dies)
- The robber's blade was treated with a poison that resists healing (advantage: we get some tearful attempts to spare/revive her)
- the Dweller in the Deep takes Elowin as payment for the death of his chosen, ie, the Lord Mayor (advantage: there's nothing to be done; her earthly vessel is empty, and the surviving PCs have to cope with the horror).

As you consider which you'd prefer, keep in mind the meta knowledge that the party will soon be finding a new PC who will join the party...

Of your three, I'd say the last idea is best. That said, I think the second is probably the one we should go with.

Zin is actually out of spell slots at this point soooooo. Her attempts to save are going to be futile.

Perhaps there is some expression or utterance that she picks up on from her close range with Elowin that helps her communicate to the rest that Elowin does not want us to change this outcome. Or any of the other options work as well.

I’m partial to the blade having been coated in a poison that resists healing attempts as it makes for a "truly no one could do anything" sort of farewell … and paves the way for some interesting character development that I don’t think any of us anticipated dabbling in: potential obsessions with toxins.

I’m good with either the poison or the dweller as well :)

The dweller havent really had its time in the limelight. It would make it even more spooky if it was clear that deaths its realm would feed it, instead of going to the respective afterlives

Okay, if that's what you choose, I have some suggestions.

Yes but I'm not sure our GM wants the story to turn into a quest to murder the Dweller to release its captured souls and allow them to finally rest.

As for the idea of Elowin calling off attempts to heal her (through Zin or otherwise), that wouldn't stop Adran.

"She said to let her go."
"She's also delerious from shock and loss of blood."...as he casts Cure Wounds.

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.

That's fine -- have fun at the con!!

Thx for letting us know - and have fun

Counting down until Adran Galanodel becomes Victor von Doom in 3... 2...

You guys got it, though not perhaps in the expected way. The expected way is for the players to recall that, when he translated the map, Findal pointed out that the map bears the text "The Oathbound Ones" on it, and the text on the wall reads:

THEFO
ATHBA
OLUND
ONELS

It's why I kept mentioning the map, to try to point you guys to it.

When you recognize that text, it becomes

THEFO
ATHBA
OLUND
ONELS

Then it's just a matter of reading the text that doesn't belong.

It's clearly something that players would have an easier time with if they write out the text and/or have it printed on a piece of paper in front of them (as would be default in a face-to-face game). But the wall collapses as soon as someone says "FALL," and Faith did.

Applause all around, y’all. For the GM working with the medium we have and y’all being able to work it out. I saw a bunch of letters and my brain immediately went "no thank you" so I’m glad we’ve got some better thinkers on the team. :D

WHAT TO DO NEXT

I've been putting it off in the hopes that one of our two absent players would manage to reappear, but we are now at the point where I can't delay it any longer: the campaign needs an answer as to what we are going to do with the absent players' PCs and the party going forward. Broadly speaking, that resolves into two broad questions that are interrelated:
1) What happens to Elysia and Ishi?
2) Do we continue with a 4-player party, or recruit more players?

Relevant to this first question is the fact that it has been more than a month since forkbeard lost the ability to log on to GP, and a month since he responded in any way to my prompts/updates in Discord. Kilikina, meanwhile, has been gone for two and a half months. There's nothing to indicate that either of them are coming back to the game any time in the foreseeable future.
So the most obvious thing to do mechanically would be to remove their characters. I'm open to that, but it's really tough from a story or character standpoint: Elysia and Eozindra are canonically the only family they've been able to rely on for years, Ishi canonically has no connections to anyone outside of the party, and everyone is reeling from the loss of Elowin and would naturally want to pull together in their grief (particularly Ishi, for whom she had become a beloved aunty). So I'm also open to continuing with one or both of them in the party...but only if a player or players collectively control them. There is a big decision that the PCs are rapidly approaching, and no one should want the DM making the choices for a third of the party.

In my experience, it's a HARD sell on GP to get a player to come in and play a character created by someone else, but I'm open to that if any of you think that you know someone who'd like to step in and take over one of the characters. I'm not confident that I could find anyone, and I went through a similar situation in another game (though in that case, a player rage quit the site and deleted all his characters. At least here we still have Ishi and Elysia).

One last thing I will say: while I think that six players is a better number on GP in general (primarily for posting frequency, keeping the action rolling if/when a given player has an interruption, and contributing to discussions), we don't need six players, nor do we need six PCs for this campaign. The first group I ran through this campaign was just four PCs, so it's possible to do even with a smaller/weaker party.

So, possibilities I see are (feel free to add your own or comment on these):
1) Remove Ishi and Elysia from the party.
Advantages:
- It's simple.
- It doesn't add any burden to any of you.
- It opens up slots for other players with new characters, if we decide to go that route
Disadvantages:
- It makes no sense.
- The characters are gone if/when forkbeard or kilikina return.
- The party is one-third weaker if we decide to not recruit new players

2) Keep Ishi and Elysia in the party controlled by new players
Advantages:
- The established party sticks together
- No one has to play multiple PCs
- There are two more voices for discussion/posting/gaming/participating
- The party remains at full strength
Disadvantages:
- Finding someone willing to play Ishi or Elysia is tough
- There may be a long delay in finding new players willing to do this, which could hold up the game
- New people will play the characters differently
- Awkward if forkbeard or kilikina do eventually return

3) Keep Ishi and Elysia in the party controlled by one of you
Advantages:
- The established party sticks together
- You players are a known quantity
- You already know the characters
- Can hand back Ishi or Elysia if forkbeard or kilikina eventually return
Disadvantages:
- Some of you will be playing two characters
- There are two fewer players for group discussions/decision making/participation
- More disruption if a given player is absent/takes a vacation
- Possibility of bias in decision-making

4) Keep Ishi and Elysia in the party controlled by the four of you as a group
Advantages:
- The established party sticks together
- You players are a known quantity
- You already know the characters
- Can hand back Ishi or Elysia if forkbeard or kilikina eventually return
Disadvantages:
- There are two fewer players for group discussions/decision making/participation
- Possible disagreement about what Ishi and Elysia "should do" in a given situation (which probably means some kind of rotation of the characters between players, or a set, predetermined way of resolving Ishi and Elysia's actions)
- Ishi and Elysia probably would become "second-class" characters

What do you think?

Obviously, what we decide to do in answer to the first question affects the answer to this second question. But I will point out a few things:

- more players are better for coverage in play-by-post, in my experience
- but players who post reliably/regularly make up for a multitude of problems in play-by-post, and you four have been great and reliable players in all the games I've seen you play, not just this one
- this campaign can be (and has been) completed with just four PCs
- but just four player PbP games are much more vulnerable to disruption and delay if even one player is absent. The dynamics of 3P games are very interesting here on GP: I find that people post less when there are just 3P, I think because each player doesn't want to be seen as "hogging" the spotlight or dominating the game. People tend to wait on posting again until someone else has posted, and that wait gets longer and longer the fewer players there are.

As with the first question of what to do with Ishi and Elysia, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer with regards to how many players we should get, or an obviously correct choice. I just need to start inviting people, if we decide as a group that that's what we want to do.

Touch question where there is no really good answer. I think you have done an admiral job of piloting Ishi and Elysia.

Personally I think that we should try and recruit a new player with the offer of 2 established characters. Chances are that the player want to make their own character, and that should be okey aswell.
The character(s) not selected by the new player, should fade to the background and just slide out of the story. We can make some handwaiving and lamp-shading to patch the story together as we splice the new character into the narrative.

---

This is one of my favorite games here on GP and I really enjoy our game.

Honestly, I greatly appreciate all the effort you have made in keeping those two characters active. I have been wondering for a bit how to handle if Killi doesn’t come back. That said, I have a friend in a biweekly dnd game I play and I have reached out to her to see if she’d like to join in as Elysia. I was actually talking to her about Zin/Sia’s backstory last night when we were chatting about all our various games and characters. She hasn’t played on GP before, but I have told her many times she needs to join. Maybe having an opportunity to jump into a game I’m already rolling with will be more encouraging for her to pull the trigger on pbp games. If not, I can take on both characters also as to ease up on the GM’s burden, but I honestly can’t think of a way to phase out Zin’s sister without grinding Zin to a halt as well.

Just a stray thought, but is there any reason the two couldn't do something like... go get the Morlocks and bring them here? The Lord Mayor is (afaik) no longer a threat, and this seems like a nicer place. The benefit is it removes Ishi and Sia while keeping them at arms length. Should either player return, it shouldn't be too hard to get them back in the action. It also seperates Sia and Zin in the story without truly seperating them. Maybe Sia is too overwhelmed and needs to take some time to get her head straight. She isn't gone so much as just not with us at the moment.

I do like the idea of inviting someone to join, particularly if it's someone who might like to play Elysia. While having six characters isn't necessary, and there's plenty of excuses for Ishi and/or Elysia to leave the party, the issue is making that separation OK for Eozindra. So if someone could be found willing to play Elysia, that would be lovely. If we can't, @Redamancy and the rest of us can come up with some ideas for Zin to decide that it's better for Elysia to stay and her to continue, and we can decide whether to invite others to create level-appropriate new PCs to join in the next chapter...

I don’t have anything useful to add, sorry. I’m open to whichever solution you choose. I think it’s amazing that you’ve played it out this far with the players missing as it is.

OK, so it sounds like there's no objections to seeking one or two new players.

How about this?
I've opened the game to new applications.
@Redamancy - Talk to your friend and see if she will create an account on GP and apply for the game in the next week. If she does, she can play Elysia if she wants to do that. If you tell me that she's not interested after all or she hasn't applied for the game after that week, I'll advertise the openings on 2 December and see if someone else wants to join the game with new characters.

If anyone else has people in mind to play either Ishi or Elysia, let us know here; we can have them apply in the same timeframe.

Talked to her. She seems down to play; just hesitant because she is unfamiliar with pbp but she basically already does it in the RP Discord channel for our current campaign together. I told her to create her account and I’ll send her the link soon as she gets set up.

Also, just to put it out there: I start my new job on Dec 2. The first two weeks are in-office daily and I’ll be looking at potentially 14 hour days so I might be a little slower to reply during that time but I will be doing my best to check in on lunch break or before bed. After the first two week training, I will be hybrid office/remote on a 2/3 split so it will be easier for me to post because I won’t have the crazy commute three days a week.

Congrats on getting that new job!!!!!! So good to hear you landed one.

Thank you!! Was a stressful year not having a job or insurance since April, but I have good hopes for this new place. I think it will be really good for me and the family. Very excited to get back to some sort of structured routine. Now I just gotta fix my sleep schedule …

@spaceseeker19 Can I get the link for my friend to join?

She's registered as idylliceffie, and I've sent her an invitation.

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

Huzzah! We had a chat the other day about Elysia. She may be making some small tweaks to the rogue's appearance and such, just to make the character truly her own. I didn't see a problem with it since Sia's visual traits haven't been established as anything specific like Zin's.

No worries! Thanks for heads up.

I can easily handwave away that she changed her appearance - Wound not even mind if she changed rase for that matter

If she wanted to change race, she'd be limited to either human or full elf ... easily explained away as their dad being an unfaithful husband. I know it hasn't come up in the game yet, but I think everyone knows Zin and Sia are secretly sisters.

I've updated Adran... like twice now. Gimme a little time to decide what I'm settling on. I keep waffling between Sharpshooter, Durable, and just an ASI. Decisions, decisions...

Some things to note now that the party has retrieved the artifact:
- each PC should be gaining a level in the PC Advancement thread, including Elysia
- @idylliceffie can join in at any time, as soon as she submits the character sheet for her version of Elysia
- as soon as the party has a chance to rest, they will become aware of the Orb's many powers. This isn't attunement exactly; it's more a function of being oathbound by and with the Orb.
- I'll be updating the Secrets of the Greenwold campaign tracker soon.

Finally, a question:
The next chapter begins as the party returns to the surface and the City of Grayhaven.
How do you want to handle the transition?
It seems to me that there are several ways we could go about it. For instance, we could...
...play it out much as we did coming in, with a series of encounters, retracing your steps. This would draw out Chapter Three, but it would allow you to interact with the outcast tieflings again, or potentially experience some of the other random encounters
...just hand-wave to say that party returned "off camera" and then just start Chapter Four
...have each player contribute a vignette of something that happened on the way back to the surface, and then start Chapter Four
There's certainly many other ways we could approach it. What would you like?

I like the vignette idea. It gives everyone a chance to say as much or as little as they want, and it moves us along faster. That was a loooooong chapter because of that insanely epic fight that took like 3 months. Would be nice to get back onto moving the plot for a bit again.

I like the vignette idea aswell - I would properly have Faith meet with the outcast tieflings just to touch base with her heritage.

A question for the group, GM included
I was planning to keep Faith away from the paladin track for a while, while she came to grips with har sorcery shadow magic, but she just took a holy oath :DMy question to you guys is: What kind of paladin subclass do you think fits this Twilight Sentinel the best?

Devotion or Watchers maybe? But we have very limited options to choose from if I recall correctly, so Devotion seems best maybe…?

Devotion is probably the best fit, but it is not a perfect fit. Still better than all the others I have been reading through

Yayy! I am helping her set up her char sheet because she is new to the forum style. And still getting her up to speed on all the character relationships.

I’m also helping her tweak the character just a little so it feels more natural and less like she has to try to fit someone else’s build. Just minor details that will help her step into the role while still feeling like she has creative power. That said, she is changing her name. Mainly because "Elysia" is the name of my character in the campaign she and I are in outside of the forums and it’s just too weird for her to not envision my warlock when that name comes up.

I am on board for vingettes. Zin has an admirer she needs to stop and say bye to before they go to the surface.

I was also going to say Devotion is probably the most fitting, @runekyndig

Do we roll for hit points? I can't remember, and can't find it in the advancement page.

It's a knotty choice. Devotion is probably the best all-around. It's interesting that that is the case, because it feels like the Tenets of the Ancients most closely align with Faith's oath (defending the light from darkness), while the Channel Divinity of the Watchers or even Vengeance more closely align. I think Devotion is a pretty fair compromise, and probably the best compromise of all four available Oaths.

Every level you can choose to take the "default" (half HD+1+CON mod+other bonuses), or roll. It's up to you!

An aside: when I'm a player, I usually alternate methods each level: I'll take the default for odd levels, and roll for even ones.

From a narrative standpoint Vengeance Paladin would fit Adran currently, but neither STR or CHA is high enough, so it isn't happening.

The beauty of that is that Elysia is canonically her alias, anyway, so she could change it to whatever she likes and still be consistent with the character: she can either tell everyone that "this is my real name" or she can tell them an alias and say "this is the secret name I share with my friends." Since no one else in the party really knows her "real" name, she could say that it's whatever she wants and no one would be the wiser.

Does Morik get full HP from the long rest? Aside from that, I think I've finished leveling up Morik. Please let me know if the sheet looks good to you.

Yes. It probably got lost in all the other activity, but everyone got the full benefits of a long rest. That means that everyone should have full HP, restored expended resources/spell slots/abilities, and have regained half of their total Hit Dice. Then you each should just add the new HP, spell slots, etc from gaining a level on top of that.
I'd appreciate it if everyone would post in the Character Advancement thread two things:
- whether your character is taking the "default" HP or rolling
- which ability score improvements your character is taking

Sorry for the long wait, everyone. My family has been sick the last few days, so I haven't posted this as quickly as I should have. Here's an update on where we are and what I'm doing:
- I will be posting Ishi's vignette to the [rul=https://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/35461/]vignettes thread[/url], which will set up his departure from the party and divvy up treasure from the Abbey to each PC. Anyone and everyone else can post a vignette involving your character, too.
- I will post to the Games Tavern to see if we have a reliable volunteer who'd like to join us as a sixth party member.
- I've been waiting to see a character submission from our newest player, but I will start chapter four shortly, with me running Elysia as a silent companion until such time as idylliceffie takes over control with the new, 4th-level version of the character. How does Wednesday sound?