OOC Coms

My personal opinion is that we either use Initiative and post in turn, or use side-based initiative and post in any order with effects taking place immediately. I feel it is too much work for the players to have to figure out conditionals, such as "I will cast a spell, unless the monster does X before it's my turn, or if my friend does Y," and then write all of that out. It is also a lot of work for the DM to keep track of everything and apply the results, when you've already got a lot to do.

True... Hmmm... well side-based initiative kind of makes the whole initiative mechanic useless... well, everyone in this group seems fairly active, so posting in turn looks like the better option.

In my games I use a hybrid, where I use initiative but in clumps, so for example:

Player 1
bad guy 1
Players 2-3, in any order
bad guy 2
Player 4

If all the bad guys share the same initiative and you don't care if players go before each other within the initiative order, then the first round results in some or all of the players going before the baddies. After that, it results in entirely side based initiative.

Each round:
- players before baddies
- baddies
- players after baddies

This results in
- players before baddies in first round
- baddies
- all players
- baddies
- ...

There are pros and cons with side-based initiative. Find what works best for you in your game and in this medium, and feel free to change it between battles.

Which brings up a larger point; don't feel obligated to stick to whatever you did previously. If you find a good reason to change something, do it. If you ruled on a decision one way, but had a change of heart, decide differently the next time around. Not saying you have to go back and retcon what happened, but just acknowledge that after thinking about it more, you've come to a different conclusion and will proceed accordingly.

Totally agree. The only wrong way to do this is the one where you're not having any fun, and neither are your players. :)

agreed. though i feel like i missed a post somewhere but. Having fun is winning D&D even if death occures.

I think we'll try posting in turn for now, but might change that later.

I'm not super known for killing player characters. Most deaths actually occur because of other players. :D

I'm sure I'm moving too slowly. I'll try to get things going better soon.

Sometimes things happen. Go at a pace you are comfortable with, and let the RP flow. While it's probably good to avoid too much of a slowdown, you don't want to rush yourself.

I'll be out for at least the weekend. I just moved house, am helping the girlfriend do the same, and then I start the semester on monday. So... I'll do my best to keep going, but I'm going to tentatively say that I might be a bit slow.

Thats fine, it seems to be the nature of the PBP. To be slow that is.

As posted in the Absences thread, since there is the possibility that some do not follow that forum:

Good luck! I hope everything goes best...

Good luck Cancerman

Yea friend stay safe

My own "absence"

How'd you make it through, Cancerman? I was listening to some of the news stories, and it sounded like major flooding...

Personally, I made it through fine. I am not in a flood zone, so the worst I had to endure was the wind, which at the point it reached wasn't hurricane-force.

I hope everything is at least making sense so far, I feel like I'm improvising a lot.