Same here -- I didn't get any posting done yesterday on rpol, busy day!

Mark it down as new game enthusiasm:)

My plan was for a slower moving game but you know what they say about even the best laid plans.

In reply to Dyaus Pater (msg # 31):

A lot of games start off with a lot of posts and then taper to a different speed after the first few weeks.


Or, perhaps, this game is just setting a faster pace. Different games/groups move at different speeds.

Also my style of GMing is a bit different. I do enjoy posting for each NPC rather than a bigger narrative GM thread like most do. This makes it look like there are more posts and there are but just about the same amount of text.

Right. Big stunt thing just attempted. Some of the rolls could have been better.

However, my thought is that 1) we've taken out the ballista crew (or at least their best shooters) and 2) if we can take out the captain of the boat rowing at us, it'll throw that boat (at least) into some chaos and/or intimidate them enough to leave us be for at least long enough to get a handle on the anchored and burning boats.

Good plan...my rolls for the bad guys have been terrible so far so maybe luck will be in your favor:)

Too, it gets to pull in some of my racial abilities (Wolf Pack), my profession abilities (flurry), and I got to spend some Hero Points.

I was thinking of Tempting Fate as well to add in even more stuff, but I figure if I get some of our other archers in on the task we'll fill the guy so full of arrows (at a +4DR at that) that he'll go down pretty quick. Then I can save the Tempting Fate for something more crucial.

In reply to Nkruma (msg # 36):

Yeah... I was going to fire one arrow at him.  Or do a flurry at the other armed crewmen, probably do more damage spreading it around.  But I figure you're shooting for a 'shock and awe' effect here, so I'm going whole hog on the guy right behind you!

Welcome to the fray, Captain Pincushion!  :)

Certainly they're going to be a bit more hesitant about closing with us after Capt Pincushion meets the deck.

That's a LOT of damage to take in. Armor can help reduce some of it. Conceivably if some of those are criticals, he could just go unconscious (and maybe we get a new Enemy disadvantage in the future) and/or be impaled by so many arrows that taking them out kills him. He could have a small pool of Hero Points to mitigate some of the damage... But, after those two volleys, he's still looking at a potential maximum (assuming all the arrows hit) of 100+ DR. If a couple of them are misses, he has some minor armor, he spends some Hero Points... I still think he's going down.

If we're lucky, that'll mean that at least one of the pirate ships is out of commission for a few rounds at least.

In reply to Nkruma (msg # 38):

Looks like you're right.  I think we will now have to refer to him as Captain Pincushion (ret.).  :)

One thing I'm still getting used to is the high heroics of games like Hellas and (this version) of Atlantis.  By and large, I've always been used to semi-realistic or even gritty games.

There's a number of interesting departures in these games.  It much more captures the feel of books and movies where we are playing the heroes and main characters.  I've seen this in other, more recent rpgs as well, such as using something along the lines of the Wealth Rating -- after all, when you think about it, in the source material we all are familiar with, how often do you see a price list, or the heroes talking about how many gold pieces they have, or how many something costs?  No, they're either rich with their recent plunder, well enough off to get by, or nearly broke.

Okay, I'm wandering off in game systems rambling now, so I'll stop!

In reply to Conall (msg # 39):

I think it's a helpful discussion. Atlantis (and Hellas) make some in-game assumptions with the mechanics that aren't entirely spelled out.

Like the Wealth Rating rolls. Either you've got the money for what you need or you don't. No bookkeeping about exactly how many pieces of gold or silver or barter or whatever. You roll, and if you succeed, you get it. There is a chart (somewhere in there) that kind of goes through how roughly much gold each step of the WR is (I think). But, yeah, either you're broke or you've got the funds and you don't really stop to count it out. And when you do have it, you're spending it anyway. The idea is to drop those other little bits of bookkeeping and just focus on the action.

I do like this idea...I have been in so many games where it seemed like the GM did nothing but nitpick about money/encumbrance/equipment while letting the story itself take a backseat to all this.

I also like the idea behind the awarding of renown rather than xp. The characters should be heroic...let them earn their renown rather than doling out xp at the end of an adventure. Makes for a different feel.

In reply to Dyaus Pater (msg # 41):

The giving renown when things happen is a big change (at least for me). It's really hard for me to remember to do that when I'm running Hellas (or Atlantis) around a table with friends.

But, you're right. It does seem to encourage heroic behavior with an immediate reward.


Someone on one of the other rpg-boards I've been on said that they worked out that Atlantis Heroes with their narrow range of "XP" (the renown chart only goes to like 300ish or so?) equates to a D&D 3/Pathfinder level span of like 13 to 17. I'm not sure if the math on that is accurate or not, but it's another way to get a handle on how competent the Heroes are.
Of course, it's also apples to oranges. Atlantis Heroes don't have huge scads of Hit Points, magic works completely differently, and there's far far less magical healing around.

I like the encouragement of heroic deeds with Atlantis, and the fact that even starting characters have a shot at pulling them off. I've gotten old (cranky) and busy enough that having to play out the early underpowered grind can get a little rough.

I'm also glad that healing was toned down from the high levels that are ubiquitous in most fantasy rpgs.  Again, that's one point where rpgs tend to be wildly at variance with source material.  Except for a few recent high magic/fantasy novels, you don't see heroes repeatedly suffering massive wounds and receiving constant, and instantaneous healing.  That's always broken the immersion factor for me.  There's at least got to be some time lag; you know, Thag the barbarian is wounded in a score of places in the battle, and afterwards, Pious the cleric tends to and prays over his wounds, and after a good night's sleep, he's still scratched up and bandaged, but he's looking pretty good and functioning almost normally.  But that's still a whole different ball game from Thag being hacked near to death, Pious pokes him with a glowing finger, his wounds instantly close up and they open the door and continue to the next room.

That kind of healing is pretty miraculous, but then it's not, since as designed, it becomes commonplace instead.

While I have become generally not overly fond of the base magic system (though I loved it when I first read it, years ago), the tweaks in Atlantis do make it fit.  With some twists and turns, tapping hero points and the like, mages can still pop off some humdingers without being able to do that all the time.

Okay, rambling again...

Hello folks, I'm sorry but I think I'm gonna jump ship.  It seems that I'm not keeping up with the posting on this game and you guys are moving across the sea at a fast pace.. LOL

I don't want to hold the game up..

Understood. Thanks for playing...will ease Seer into a nice npc slot:)

Slowly getting over the worst stomach flu of my entire life...will try and update tomorrow. Just don't have it in me to deal with a combat round tonight.

Get well soon and have a full recovery from that flu!  <Mom voice>Be sure to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids! </Mom voice>

Seer, glad you could come along for the time you did, wished to see more of how the character played out.

Just a question since it might be booboo patching time soon... does anyone have medicine higher than +3 (where Thamyron is)

Alembos is at +6...plus he has all sorts of potions and other stuff on hand. Alchemists are pretty cool One of my favorite classes from way back when I used to play the first Ed of Atlantis.

In reply to Thamyron (msg # 49):

Not I!

However, I do have a spirit that I sometimes communicate with that can help me to boost the skills and stats of myself or others. That process takes some time, though. Lots of chanting and beseeching and howling and stripping naked beneath the moon.

I suggest we save that one for a last resort, shall we?  :)

I think I know a little first aid.

Again, I have to say that not having magical instant healing is a huge cool factor in this game.  I feel rpg's in general suffer in their story telling from the ubiquity of instant laying on of hands type healing.  Don't get me wrong, that's a cool staple that belongs in some fantasy games, but I like it to be rare and miraculous, not an everyday kind of event.

So here is my situation. I live way out in the middle of no where my internet options are extremely limited. I have been informed by my provider that I am being dropped due to excessive usage, they cited youtube and a manga website (that my daughter visits) as the main offenders which is crazy considering I hardly visit youtube and the manga site is all text and comics, not sure how they are getting overuse out of that but whatever, they are not budging.

So on April 9 I am getting the boot, this leaves me with phone access only until I find another way to get internet here. I play in a lot of games with some of you and will continue to do so even if I have to do it over the phone (a pain but doable) the two games I run will be a a different story, things will obviously slow down until I get stable internet here at home. With any luck I will get this resolved before the 9th...hopefully much sooner cause right now they have me throttled back to the point where RPOL is one of the only sites my computer can load. Of course they say they are not doing that but they are.

Aw, geez.  We had a similar problem when we were on Hughes.net.  Worst and most expensive internet EVER.

I hope you get something worked out.  Remember that likely your local library has the option for you to use the internet on their computers or at least WiFi in the building if you have a laptop.