I've been kludging through my crimson skies conversion as time permits. But it hasn't been too permitting as of late.

so, in general, how do peole handle it when a player says they will be out for several days, or a week?  or if they say they'll be online in a limited way?

do you NPC the character in the current scene?

NPC the character out of the scene, "Bob's cell phone rings.  'Sorry guys, gotto go take care of this'"

Pause/slow down the game?

Something else?

Personally, I would ask what the player feels comfortable with. Some people just don't like others taking the reins.

It also depends on whether you are in a combat or non-combat situation. When it's not combat, have them doing research, background tasks, etc. When in combat, have them being defensive, or acting according to a set of plans left by the player.

It the players are out for a day or so, I let the cahracter sit.  If thgey are out for more than a week, I add into my descriptions that they follow along with whatever plan that has com up.  If a player leaves, I'll NPC them until I can find a replacement player, or the character dies from natural or unnatural causes.

I was in a deadlands game once, and the GM had a great idea.  he had a "campfire" thread where basically who wanted to talk about anything with another PC in character could do it.  this let the players RP, esp 1 on 1 without slowing down the game

like if gm is waiting for next chapter because bob and sue have to work out their issues with bob's bloodthirstyness first.  this way bob and sue go to the campfire thread, and the main campaign can move on

Hmmm... I kind of like that idea.  What do you think would it work in the 50 fathoms game.  A thread like "Around the Grog Barrel."

heh, yeah something like at.
At the Captains table?
On night watch?

I have absolutely no problem with making rolls for the players if they are holding up the game.  I think 24 hours is a reasonable length of time.  One GM I played under (in a D20 game) posted a large chart of 100 pregenerated rolls, and whenever a player was late, or secret notice rolls were needed, or whatever, he'd just use the next number on the list and cross it out.   The list was actually public.  I think this was on another website, but the idea isn't bad.

I often have missing players' characters go defensive, or go for full cover, or other action that probably won't get the PC killed but isn't terribly useful for the party.

Whatever the method and whatever the reasons, rolling and/or moving for players is much easier if they know from the start of the game that one or both of these are what will happen.  It's not something to surprise them with, I think.  I did that once and learned my lesson.  Now all players know up front that I will roll or move them if they hold up the game.

It hasn't been a problem, ever, when they know that will happen, and since they know their PC won't be doing anything reckless in their absence.

Hey Emiricol.  We're still here, although a little quiet even for my liking as of late.  We don't have many here, but we have a good crowd.  Everyone is just a bit busy I am sure.

I haven't decided whether I'll work on the Necropolis game or not, but we'll see.

Currently working on something for my Wednesday game, so I am a little occupied by that at the moment.

OK, what would you call having a Very Attractive naked woman appearing in combat (ending a shapechange spell, so appearing almost out of nowhere).

A smarts trick?  A taunt (with bonus) if she says some thing saucy?

A total distraction for any male that is within 10 feet, to be honest with you. ^_^

Probably a persuasion check with a positive modifier if she asks them nicely to behave.

they're in combat, I think the intention is more of a distration

I'd say a Smarts Trick, personally. It throws them off balance in general, in such a way that ANYONE can take advantage. It doesn't inflame their emotions solely towards the woman.

The distraction lets anyone take advantage, and that's what makes it a Trick in my book.

Hey folks.  I've moved the Standards to a Notice at the top of the forums.  The Standards Discussion area is now labelled as a Discussion area (imagine that).  This way we'll still be able to see the standards we decide on, and be able to discuss them without losing too much.

Welcome to all our new mebers as of late.  Glad to see we are still bringing in new people!

Anyone care to give (or point me to one) a good tutorial on running a game here at RPOL? I'm gearing up to Torva Peto started in April and will be posting character creation guidelines in the next week or so but want to get a handle on how things (like dice roller, character details, etc.) work here.

Thanks...

Well, maybe this is a dumb question, but have you read the help section on that subject?

I have, maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem extremely clear.

Well, the main thing is, what parts of it don't seem clear?

What I would recommend is making a game, and then just trying the different functions, so you can see what the admin layout is like, and the various options are.

Most the people here have ran at least one game here, and generally several more, so we can give you plenty of advice on how RPOL works :)

Good suggestion, I'll set things up and just goof around with it before the game actually starts.

Thanks!

Hello folks!

Just wanting to remind you all that the place is open for discussion and talk.  You don't have to be promoting a new game to post here.

Everyone is welcome to talk and play!

you know, before you started Zombie Run, I was just thinking that we didn't have any Modern or future games.  All were fantasy or (alternate) historical.

So thanks.

I'm a bit full right now, but when I do have the bandwidth for another game, a modern or SF or post-apoc might be fun.  Someone on teh peginc boards is making a gammaworld style PA as a scripted campaign, and I have carefully refrained from reading it.

Yeah I had noticed the same thing Oggy had, although the WWII game is at least somewhat close.

I was never able to work out a Torg conversion that satisfied me so I couldn't get that off the ground. The basics work great and the cards translate pretty well, but the axiom levels are a huge sticking point.

could always just take the idea of torg.

something happened the tranform the world.  there was a book written, can't remeber the name, where that happened.  here is a piece of 21st america, next to a piece of 14centry America, next to a piece of 250bc roman empire, next to the Forgotten realms, etc.

Question.

Would it be nice to have specific tables set up here for everyone to refer back to?  Say, actions you can take, specific modifiers, etc.?  Sort of like a GM screen for the RPOL groups?

You mean a thread with things like the Combat Survival Guide transcribed into it?

If so then I can say that would definitely be gnarly. Sometimes when I'm in the field I post from a hot spot on my PSP (I burn laptop batteries fast ;) and don't have access to the PDFs.