XPs for posting for the last month have been posted in the XPs thread.

Good work so far, everyone!!

Yay, XP!!

Yeah, what Quinlan said!  :-)


Also, I'll be gone from the 15th to the 22nd, probably with no chance of posting until I return.  Feel free to NPC Palan until I get back.

Great job, Korgan.  :)

Wow - a damage roll twice as big as the accompanying attack roll!  :O

See why I like having this guy around so much?  Besides being friend with Kylie, of course.  :p  He's awesome, especially since she's just a little rogue and can't do much on her own, as evidenced by her lack of XP since she can't kill anything by herself.

Well, powerattack and two-hand weapons really is quite wild, but the 8 levels help too :)

It appears to me as if DM Kool is running a very 'every man for himself'-kinda game, both when it comes to XPs and combat, as well as what's going on now.  That's not what I signed up here for, so when we finish the current adventure, I'll see about finding Palan a new home somewhere else on RoA - preferably one with a DM encouraging teamwork and camaraderie, as that's the reason I'm playing D&D to begin with. . .


Edit:  Actually, since I have no idea how close we are to finishing this adventure, I'd prefer for Palan to be able to get out of the region as soon as possible.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:39, Wed 24 Jan 2007.

It does, yeah.  And don't worry, everything Kylie finds (rogue or not) she's splitting equally between everybody (she's a rogue - not a thief, after all).  And I like that idea as well, but I'll stick around long enough for DM Kool to find some other PCs so that the ones currently here aren't left all alone.

Well, depending on how long that'd take, I guess I'd be willing to stick around, too.

or.... perhaps we can get an explanation of how XP's and treasure are to work here. My understanding of D&D rules (which we seem to be following very closely in RoA is that XP's for combat are to be split amongst all PC's in the melee.

Although I think that I was the first to search for treasure and found it, I wonder if the dive and grab approach is how other DM's handle it. I've offered up what was found to the group too.

BTW, in which pocket did the spider carry the gold? Hmmmm.

I handle it how I handle it, 'cuz I'm the GM.

As for replacements, we've got one ready for Korgan.

The spiders can turn into a humanoid like form.  Kind of shapeshifters, they are.

Well XPs, that is supposed to be divided equally amongst all PCs that participate in a battle, are currently being rewarded according to who killed them or did the most damage.  As much as I love Korgan, that's not quite fair since all of us participated in the battle, we all learned, we all helped in our way.  It's not fair to be penalized because we aren't fighter types.

And I also don't like the idea of immediately awarding treasure to one pc who looked for it because they were the first to respond either.  Not because I'm greedy, but because of role-playing purposes.  Only Mike and Korgan know this about Kylie so far (Kool and you new three might know if you've read previous posts), but she loves to be useful and as a rogue, this was one of those times when she could have proven herself thus.  I can't remember it off the top of my head, but her search is around a +10 if not higher.  So for rping, if no other reason, it would have been great if she could have had the opportunity to speak up before any treasure was announced and offer to do the "work" of searching since she has a special "talent" in it.  Not to mention the fact that we're not all sitting around the table with equal opportunities to speak up.  We still haven't heard from Korgan yet, what if he wanted to search a spider?  With only three spiders and five PCs we would have to "share" searching, nothing wrong with that, but he and Palan weren't allowed the opportunity to do so in this case.

Now this is just my 2 cps, I'm not a great role-player or DM, and I don't have near as much experience as everybody else, but it's really soured my experience playing Kylie recently.

EDIT: After Kool's post - In RoA we don't necessarily do things "our" way but follow a consensus so that all PCs know what they're getting into when they change regions and so that all PCs are treated fairly with equal opportunities to advance.  If you're unwilling to at least consider the fact that this manner of handling things is possibly grossly unfair then I would like Kylie out of here now, just as soon as any XP she earned is awarded and the treasure is split since she did play a part in the battle and should gain a portion of the proceeds and XP.  She can be in tavern mode until the region she's transferring to is ready.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Thu 25 Jan 2007.

There are two more spiders, remember.

I'll award the XP later(still)

But this is the problem.  All of us were there, and just because Korgan got to them first doesn't mean that we don't get a portion of the XPs as per the rules of the game that we follow in RoA.  I don't begrudge him anything, and a bonus for getting them so fast would certainly be deserved, but penalizing the rest of us just isn't fair.

I'm sure that there's a thread in the DM's Lounge about this very subject. (hint hint).

*giggles*  How did you know.  :p

Heh, why am I not surprised at that?  :p

Sheesh.  About the xp.  I'll give you all xp for all the spiders, okay?

Please remember that this is the first game I have ever GMed, on or off RPoL, and thus the first time I have ever done any of this.  I am looking for constant input from my players as to what methods they prefer, so that I can refine my GMing skills.

Also, can I please have a tally on everyone whose leaving?  I think we're down by four.

About the experience, this is it with Korgan getting for the first two only, everyone else for the rest:

Kurgon  - 1400xp
Kylie   -  750xp
Palan   -  900xp
Quinlan - 1013xp
Rayorr  - 1013xp

This is what you get, awarding everybody or everything:

Kurgon  -  600xp
Kylie   - 1000xp
Palan   - 1200xp
Quinlan - 1350xp
Rayorr  - 1350xp

And that looks to me like Korgan is getting awfully little.

I know how that can be - my first attempts at running any games on RPoL were pretty much disasters, with very few redeeming points to them now that I look back at them.  Still, I learned from them as a GM, and without that experience, I wouldn't have been able to run any games now, either.  It's good for you that you that you want input from your players, but throwing out a line like "I handle it how I handle it, 'cuz I'm the GM," is showing us pretty much the opposite of that.



Well, that shouldn't come as a surprise to you - he did take down a spider with every single hit he scored against them.  Clearly, they weren't challenges of his level, or at least not played as such, and thus, the gained experience won't be as high as if you'd used a more balanced encounter, with perhaps one tougher enemy for Korgan to face off with, as well as the 'regular' spiders that the rest of us managed to deal with ourselves (more or less, anyway).

I've seen the problem (not that I think of it as a problem, but it appears you do) of having higher level characters mixed with lower level ones in a region I'm running here in RoA, with characters of level 7 and 8 running around with level 3 and 4 characters - but I've adapted the encounters to fit that, not just try to 'stop' the high-level guys from taking down all the monsters by themselves.  If you'd like some advice on how to do this, feel free to drop me a PM, and I'd be happy to provide some for you.



Palan will be leaving, yes.  If you could provide us with some information on how much is left of the adventure, I'll let you know if I'll stick around until the end of it or not.  If it'll be a month or more, though (which basically means, if there's more than a single combat encounter, the way we've progressed so far), I'd prefer being removed from the game as soon as possible.

Actually I think and have been thinking for a while, that a level span like 3rd and 9th level in the same group is really almost imopssible to DM in combat adventures. I gave discussed moving to the high-lrvel area and I have decided to do so.

I, too, understand first time DMing, DM Kool.  That's why when this first came up I tried to give you some advice about handling encounters such as these and awarding XP more fairly.  It went ignored, however.  I tried to continue on, but it's just been more of the same and I'm no longer having fun because of it.  Palan is right, that because I'm the DM attitude doesn't show any of us that you're willing to learn or get constructive criticism, besides the fact that you ignored what I'd earlier told you to try and help.

Yes, it's difficult to run encounters with some players higher levels than the others, I have the same things going on in both of my regions, but incapacitating a higher level just to give the others something to find isn't the way to go about it.  Have everybody work together to take down a monstrous foe, or use Palan's idea of 'pairing' up bad guys to good guys, or even put the PCs in some kind of monstrous battle where the lower levels are fighting maybe one or two orcs (for example) a round whereas the higher levels take out four to six a round.  There are ways around the problem where everybody can have fun and participate.

I wish you luck, Korgan, but I do wish you and Kylie didn't have to part.  She considers you a good friend.  I hope you enjoy your new region.

(And Kylie's almost 6th level which is still a big difference but not as bad as if she were only 3rd.)

Oh, I hope I don't sound angry or bitter, I've enjoyed playing withg you guys a lot. I just think that with new people (most likely low level) coming in it'll be very hard indeed. In particular I think it would be hard with a 3rd level fighter or barbarian. Other classes always get their time to shine, but if you are "second melee-fighter of the group" trailing the first by 5-6 levels it's really not fun for anybody in a combat situation.

That is very true.  And maybe Kylie will get lucky enough to play with you again one day when she's higher level, too.  The region she's headed off to has higher level characters, though.  :p  Full of DMs, too.  Makes my job so much harder.