This is your standard OOC thread. No need to use [OOC] or orange here. This is the place for clarifying questions on the game, game rules, RPOL, what-did-you-mean-by that post, rules lawyerin', idle chit-chat, etc.

Don't post any character actions here - they won't count unless they're posted to the canon threads, marked by Day number.

Don't give away anything on your character sheet here - let your character be revealed mostly by his/her words & deeds.

Any overly meta-gamey posts will be deleted by the DM - it's more fun if you "table-talk" in character most of the time ;)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:36, Thu 29 Sept 2016.

Ok welcome again everyone! I think I've granted base access to all players that I've accepted into the game, but let me know via PM (in the RTJ thread) or here if you run into any issues.

Feel free to introduce yourselves to each other here as players, but try not to reveal anything about characters just yet, beyond race and class anyway. I think it would be more fun to play out how the group comes together and learn each others' characters in the adventure thread(s).

My plan is for everyone to come up with a draft character sheet first - feel free to start on that now. Then I'll work with you each individually to finalize - I have some adventure-specific things to add to each of your characters, which spell out certain conditions for you all to gain Inspiration during the course of the adventure. Think "secret missions", though none are likely to be contrary to group goals. This isn't The Resistance =).

Alternatively, if some folks want to coordinate on backgrounds up front such that you come into the game knowing someone else, that's fine, and you can coordinate that in this thread. I think you can also use PMs to other players and/or private lines if you want to keep info secret from others? Let me know if you run into issues with that.

Once everyone's character sheets are set we'll start the game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:07, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

Aloha. I'm building a male mountain dwarf fighter, and would be interested in creating a shared backstory so the characters arrive together - as long as it eventually works with the secret missions and adventure background.

Anyone interested in their characters already knowing, or being friends/related with a dwarf, can PM me. I've also got an idea for a variant human as a backup, and can make the character female instead.

"If no-one else wants it, I'd like brown for my character's spoken words."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

Currently got a half-elf Warlock over here. Fey Pact to be specific. Unfortunately I've got my backstory and such pretty set, so I don't think a shared background would work well with him. Curious to see how it turns out though.

"I'd like to use dark green for my color if that's cool with everyone."

I've always been partial to Blue for my character's speech.

I'll be your resident, spell-slinging sorcerer.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:06, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

Hey, folks, gonna be playing the cleric over here.

Just a question: would everyone be okay with me toying around with one of the gods so I can get the Tempest domain without being evil? I was thinking Auril, the goddess of winter, but I don't want to step on people's toes if that is gonna be an issue.

In reply to PC4 (msg # 6):

Sounds cool to me. I don't see anything saying they HAVE to be evil, but then I'm still pretty new to this stuff. Probably up to the DM in the end, though.

Alright, I'll do that if no one has a problem with that.

Also, I think I'll claim Purple for my text.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:58, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

If you get a crossbow and bolts from your class equipment, do you get the cases for the bolts too, or do you have to buy them?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

In reply to PC5 (msg # 9):

I was wondering that earlier as well, actually, since for whatever reason warlocks start off with a bunch of weapons (crossbow, two daggers, and a simple melee? Really?). I would assume it's included, since otherwise a lot of adventurers would be roaming around with loose bolts falling from their pockets with every step.

Hello all! Looking forward to playing alongside you all. I will be your Bard. =)

I'm open to sharing backgrounds possibly, but I have to figure some things out first (though I plan on being a bit traveled so it shouldn't be a problem).

Curious (without going in to details) if anyone is planning on taking something to get them Thieves Tools proficiency? I'm debating whether to go that route myself and if it fits the character or not.

I've always supposed that cases and quivers were just part of the package, as well.

Whoo, we have a bard!

Haven't considered messing with thieves' tools. If I go for feats it'll probably be whatever gives me some more magic stuff since Warlocks have very few slots...I guess having pretty cool spells makes up for it, though?

I know I won't be doing much melee. I can't strength anything.

Just a suggestion, Mr. Warlock- the feat you are looking for is War Caster, especially if you plan on doing damage mostly via eldritch blast.

Oohooh, PM incoming.



Nope.

That was the name! Couldn't quite remember, thanks. That'll probably be the first one I go for once I get the opportunity.

There is also Spell Sniper, not a shabby choice for the casters of the party.

Hello, all!  I'll be playing a half-elf paladin of Deneir, a lesser god of knowledge and other scholarly business.  My guy will be pretty friendly and will have traveled a fair bit, so he could have met up with most anybody prior to the game.

For spellcasting feats you also can't go wrong with Magic Initiate!  Two extra cantrips and a level 1 spell is a pretty sweet boon at level 1.  Bard and Sorcerer use Charisma as well and ought to have a good selection of stuff for you.

We are spell-heavy and Charisma-heavy, heh.

This is pretty much just a group of smooth-talkers off to save the world.

Also lots of half elves.

That poor dwarf.

Hey, I'm probably going to just be a normal human, if it's any consolation.

Not saying it's bad by any means, just found it funny. I've noticed groups seem to either contain mostly one race or everybody's something different.

One group I've been in: Three high elves, a Drow elf, and two humans. Only one boy.

Second group: Human, elf, dragonborn, tiefling, and a gnome. Again, only one guy.

Oh, hey, Drow get a Charisma bonus...

*Slap*

Nope, nope. I'm good. I don't need to go the Drizzt route. I will be fine.

That dark vision, though...

Depends on how much time we spend in sunlight I suppose. That sunlight disadvantage is the only thing keeping me wary of playing one just yet. :P

Just carry around a parasol and don some cool shades and you'll be fine as a drow :)

Yes, if you get ammo in starting equipment it comes with a case/quiver/whatever.

I'm cool with adapting most details of FR to suit your purposes in character creation, including alignments of deities.

Caution though: easy on the sharing of character details in this thread! Try to avoid the spoilers & save it for when you all meet each other in game. I think it'll be more fun if you find out details of other folks at the same time your characters do. Just race & class for now please. And feel free to share your Name also, when you've picked one, so we can stop calling each other "PC#".

Gotcha, sorry about the details sharing. I tend to get a bit excited about character creation :P

As for name, PC3's name will be Mayon Graycross if you wanna put that up. Or just Mayon, either is fine.

OOC though, I'm just Jordan, female college student who just started D&D in July and has been sorely disappointed by the lack of open groups on campus, or at least of people willing to DM. Hence my sticking to Rpol like glue. :P
This message was last edited by the player at 19:46, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

PC5 is Morg Danforge.

His given name does not sound like the Common word for the chamber where the dead are temporarily kept, nor does his clan name sound like the Common word for the chamber where hot metal is shaped; but it's okay because he's used to hearing it butchered with those strange Elvish and Common pronunciations ;).

Edit: Outside this game I'm IamJacksUsername, outside RPoL I'm Jack - learning 5e and playing a moon druid in another PBF.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:48, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

PC is Asano Breathkill, half-elven sorcerer extraordinaire!

Player is Dustin, former army slave, now college slave. Been playing D&D for around 20 years, and am absolutely infatuated with 5th edition. I also DM a live group once a week.

My PC is Verthel Go'Van, Drow cleric of Auril and resident cynic. OOC, I'm recent law grad Brian, looking for distractions while I try to land a decent paying job.

No worries!


BTW, I've started updating character names, though I'm fine if you want to do that yourselves. I'm not sure I've enabled that though, or even if I can, so if you can't I'm happy to update it for you.

I've noted some of you have updated your bios, so I guess you can do that on your own =) - and please feel free to do so.

Oh, and IRL I'm a product manager and I played D&D while growing up (BECMI), but recently got back into it around the release of 5e.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

Just FYI, I'm slowly working out the options for the secret missions as folks let me know more about their backgrounds and/or complete character sheets. If you haven't heard from me on that yet watch your RTJ thread. These will also probably play into how you all meet.

Character name is Bramwell Caulder, but you can call him Bram for short.

IRL I'm also a Brian, video game level designer by trade.  I've been into D&D since reading my dad's AD&D books as a kid, playing the crap out Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games as a teenager, off and on RPOL for the better part of a decade and now I play in a weekly tabletop game which I need to leave to go to in about 30 minutes!
This message was last updated by the player at 00:45, Thu 06 Oct 2016.

Just realized the character sheet template is missing Background and Description - sorry about that! Please add them under the Backgrounds and Feats section.

Background:

Description:

I'm not in love with this template, so I'm toying with using an Excel or Google Sheets version I have - if others have RPoL friendly sheets we could use that too.

I've noted the dice roller is being particularly stingy for some ability score rolls, so if you prefer you can just take the standard array (8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15) or use the point buy system on PHB 13.

I have a race, a name, and my sheet is working towards completion!

Morg's character sheet is ready, pending a check from the DM, and for some back-story changes from  the mission, adventure, and a possible shared history with our bard and/or paladin.

In reply to Morg Danforge (msg # 37):

Think I finally got it, just waiting on DM approval.

It'll take me a bit of time to get my sheet done - I won't be home for at least another half hour, at least, and then I can put stuff to paper.

A quick update - I'm still working my way thru posting choices of missions in your private message threads. I just have Morg left to post to.

After that I'll turn to reviewing character sheets & helping finalize backstories - I can fill in some details from the adventure as needed, and we can merge the mission into your backstory as appropriate.

Then I think the next step will be arranging for how you all run into each other - FYI, you'll be meeting in a town called Red Larch in the Dessarin Valley region. We'll start the game in the common room of an inn (of course =).

In reply to DM (msg # 40):

Always good to stick to the classics!

Dumb RPOL question - can you all see the Loot thread?

Do you mean the one called Inventory? If so, yes. If not, then no.

Hm, ok - no, I meant a thread titled 'Loot' - thanks, I'll fix it.

I can see the Loot thread!  Hopefully that one sees frequent updates :)

In reply to Bramwell Caulder (msg # 45):

Yep, I see it fine! Can't wait to see it grow :D

I can see it now, yeah, thanks.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Fri 07 Oct 2016.

Ok, I think I've got the threads all setup - you should see an inventory and a flashback thread for your character. I'm starting in on character sheets now - will let you know if I have questions and/or if your sheet is good to go.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Sat 08 Oct 2016.

I can see the inventory, loot, and flashbacks. Can't wait to start. I'm really feeling this character lately.  lol

In reply to Asano Breathkill (msg # 49):

Yep, I see all of them. Can't wait to start, I've been wanting to play a warlock for ages. This character in particular :D

I'm making progress - we've got 2 PC character sheets completed, I've posted a few questions to 2 of your private threads, and we've got 2 more to go.

I'm not sure how much more free time I'll have for the rest of the weekend, but I'll keep working through character details when I have time. Seems like we might be on pace to launch the adventure sometime next week.

Character description is in finally, as well as the last touches on the character sheet.  I believe I'm good to go!

Update: we've got 4 characters ready to go, 2 more in latter stages.

It's on my list to add language groups, so you can communicate in/understand the languages you know in private lines.

I also need to work out map posts and stuff like that.

I think we're close =)

Updated inventory thread. DM< would you like me to add my spells known to the 'Slots Expended' post?

Whoo, can't wait!

Sure! Different PCs will have different content in that post (spell mechanics differ by class), and some may not have it at all, so whatever works for you.

Sounds awesome. Gonna be good to get things going.

In that case, I added my known spells/cantrips to mine, as well as my other Warlock abilities.

Update: Progress is being made!

- I've posted some content to the Maps thread. Feel free to peruse at your leisure, and let me know if you can't access anything.
- We just have the finishing touches on one more character sheet before all characters are set.
- The 3 characters who are meeting up prior to arrival in Red Larch have an additional flashback thread common & visible to the three of them, and we've got the first post there. If you like, feel free to post to the flashback thread(s) that are visible to you as you're waiting (not required). I'm thinking of moving all the flashback threads to Group 0 after you've had a chance to meet each other, but not yet since I don't want to ruin any surprises about your backgrounds. My thinking on how to use these threads is still evolving. But if you're itching to write about your character before the adventure starts, post away!
- I've also setup language groups.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:19, Tue 11 Oct 2016.

Way off topic.
http://markallenthornton.com/b...o-do-you-write-like/ shows which famous writers (with public domain text) your style is closest to. I put in my 2 posts from the Bram/Jakrynn/Morg flashback thread, and the result was:
+0.43 Stephen Crane (?)
+0.40 Washington Irving (heard of, but never read anything by him)
+0.40 John Stuart Mill (yay)
...
-0.03 Shakespeare (ah crap)
-0.10 Lewis Carroll (yay)

Morg's description text gives:
+0.45 John Stuart Mill
+0.45 Bertrand Russel (yay)
+0.44 Stephen Crane
...
-0.07 Shakespeare
-0.03 Lewis Carroll

All y'all's?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:52, Wed 12 Oct 2016.

In reply to Morg Danforge (msg # 60):

Ooh, very fun! Let's see...

Mayon's description:

+0.43 Bertrand Russell  (From what I understand he's a...philosopher? Um...)
+0.42 Stephen Crane (Oh god he wrote one of my least favorite required readings from high school)
+0.42 John Stuart Mill (More nonfiction...)
+0.41 G.K. Chesterton
+0.4 John Muir (heeeyy, I'm studying him in one of my courses!)
+0.4 Washington Irving (YES)
...
-0.1 Lewis Carroll (probably for the best)

And my background/backstory from my character sheet was pretty much the same, just shuffling around the top ones and even less Lewis Carroll.

This is fun :D

Apparently Stephen Crane is very formative, or many of us just use similar forms when writing.

I put in three different samples, and the only common denominator between all three was Crane. Though, I did get Philip K. Dick for two of them. Hahaha!

Apparently the person I write most like is... Bertrand Russell. Followed by John Stewart Mill, and Washington Irving. Stephen Crane is number five on my list, although not that far behind.

I guess there is just something about Crane that is roleplay-ish in structure?

Uh, that program may have some serious bugs. I pasted Lewis Carroll's poem "Echoes" into it, classified as "A famous writer", "Other fiction". Lewis Carroll's poem is classified as least like Lewis Carroll... Most like Crane.

Using many paragraphs from the start of chapter 7 of Alice's adventures in Wonderland, classified as "Fantasy", and it listed the text's style as 3rd least like Carroll.  Most like Crane.

My top 5 are Stephen Crane (seems to be the case for everyone!), Philip K. Dick, P.G. Wodehouse, Willa Cather, Washington Irving.  Not familiar with Wodehouse or Cather, but I'll totally take the other three!

I put in post for a sillier character I play, which got Rudyard Kipling and Upton Sinclair onto the list.  It also gave that one a positive Lewis Carroll rating.  I imagine it'd be hard to get Carroll in your top 5 unless you make up half your words :)

I do agree about some possible issues. I swear I've seen a screenshot somewhere where someone posted a Nikki Minaj song and got "Edgar Allen Poe."

Put in a section of her "Starships" and Rudyard Kipling is number one. Hahaha!

Be thy buns not plump nor fit for grabbing, then get you gone, hun.
    Quoth the serpent, "Don't want none."

If this website had signature options that would be my new one. Thank you for that masterpiece.

A few last notes before we begin.

When you do your first post, your PC might be staying in the inn and hanging out in the dining room, or just walking in from the street having just arrived in Red Larch, or something else. Whatever works best for you to introduce your character.

I’m going to try posting in present tense in the main adventure thread, though I think the flashback threads work better in past tense. Don’t worry if you mess this up though, especially since I’m likely to as well =).

This is a sandbox style adventure. This is a good thing, since you can largely choose what to do and where you go next. The flip side of this is, there’s not really anything stopping you from charging into an area or an opponent that you’re not really a match for. Generally you won’t be aware of areas that are way too difficult until you’re ready for them, but there’s always the chance you’ll stumble upon something that’s a bit over your head. I won’t stop you from charging in, but I’ll try to let you know what you’re getting yourself into via the narration (e.g., “You peer in the cave and it’s really dark in there, and the mouth of the cave is littered with skeletons of medium to large size creatures, some of which look like they used to be dragons.”). You could still be successful if you play things creatively in these cases, but launching a frontal assault on an area several levels above you may result in certain death. So, just an FYI ;)

The first post is up.

In theory, I could just prestidigitize myself clean, but there's just something about a bath....

Hahaha!

Sorry all! I have been really sick lately and staying upright has been a challenge. I will try to get a post out tonight if I can.

Sorry to hear that, man. Get well soon!

Hope you feel better soon.
Whatever you do, don't scare your muggles by answering "How are you feeling?" with "Call a cleric." ;)

Hope you feel better!

In reply to Morg Danforge (msg # 74):

Yeah, I've only got a low-level Cure Wounds at this point.

Oh my goodness, you've all been busy this weekend!  I have some catching up to do.  Feel better soon, Jak.

If anyone is interested, this is a really helpful and fun site that I use for real life tabletop gaming.

http://donjon.bin.sh/

Great resource for various things.

Amazing site. The filtering on beasts is very helpful for a moon druid I'm playing.

Ooh, nice! I've been trying to work on a campaign of my own, so this should be useful :D

Yup! Love the spell sheet, super useful for finding which spells require conc & can be cast as rituals.

Okay this is unrelated to anything, but I just met some guys in the campus dining hall, and one of them had the most amazing silly campaign idea I've ever heard:

A world with high tech, but no electricity. Everything is run by gnomes.

Car engine? Gnome on a hamster wheel.

Printer? Gnome with a crayon inside a box.

Hand dryer? Gnome desperately puffing air onto your wet hands.

The party would be five gnomes with a magical trench coat to try and disguise themselves to escape their slavery.

I just, I have not laughed that hard in a long time and I had to share it. Because holy crap that is clever.

Asano is just waiting for Morg to finish bathing and possibly answer his business proposition query.

So, we've got quite a number of options for adventures to embark on!  To help us figure out a course of action, I scanned back over the Day 1 thread and made a list of our choices for adventure hooks.  We've heard rumors of more than this, but I'm only listing the ones we have actionable leads on so far:

1. Evil presence + plague at Lance Rock
   • Location: 8 miles Southwest, head South on Long Road
   • Contact: Tarnlar children
2. Ghost by an old tomb outside town
   • Location: 1-2 miles Northeast
   • Contacts: Pell, at grandmother's poultry business.  Mangobarl Lorren, the baker.
3. Hooded figures with stone-looking masks scaring quarry miners at night
   • Location: Mellikho's quarry
   • Contacts: Stiofan, a miner in Helm at Highsun.  Mellikho, quarry owner.
4. Bandits destroyed a small community to the east, outside High Forest
   • Last known location: Cairn road

I'm thinking that the quarry is the most likely candidate to start on immediately, as night is approaching right now and the quarry is nearby (I think? That canyon with the pond in the southwest of the Red Larch map looks like a quarry).  The tomb could also be checked out tonight, as it's only a couple miles.  Lance Rock and the bandits require some travel, so those would have to wait until morning, at least.

Thoughts?

If it helps planning and getting everyone together:
Morg wants to help the charismatic sorcerer, and the stonemasons; but he'll most likely follow the lead of what his 2 charismatic travelling companions Jak and Bram want to do first.

I'm fine with the quarry and maybe the tomb to start with. =)

Also, did Bram share what he thinks caused the explosion in the backyard of the inn?

Mayon is currently most curious about Lance Rock and the tomb, I think. But as mentioned, Lance Rock is a bit further away and the quarry seems closest. He'll probably follow along with Bramwell and Verthel, as they all have similar interests at the moment.

I'll let Bram answer, but a general note here - if you ever want the other players not to know what check you're making, question you're asking, or anything else you can insert a private line to the GM with your check, roll details, etc. I'll generally reply secretly also. Sometimes it's fun to have your character come out with some info and have everyone else react like, how do they know that? =D Your flashback threads can work this way too.

It's ok if you want to make a check visible to all - if we were all at the same table there's not really an option to make it private - but for important details I might say your PC didn't have the opportunity to share that info with others (even though all the players know). Player vs. PC info =). I don't think this will come into play often, but you never know.

And nice summary of the adventure options Bram! Probably a good idea to keep that list up to date going forward... ;)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:43, Mon 24 Oct 2016.

Can I ask for separate threads whenever the party is split up? It's kind of hard to tell who is where and speaking to who.

And I'm okay with any of those, although the quarry seems most immediately relevant to my personal interests.

Ask and ye shall receive!

I've split the thread into 3 - please post to the appropriate thread going forward:

- Main (previously the only Day 1 thread) -  EDIT: Verthel can stay in this one alone if he prefers, or go with Bram and Mayon, or go to the Helm
- the Helm with Morg, Jak, and I think Asano
- wherever Bram, Mayon, and anyone who accompanies them goes

Hm, we seem to have split the party pretty well here, haven't we... time for a huge attack of owlbears =D <evil DM cackle> #justkidding
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:02, Mon 24 Oct 2016.

Yes, Bram would have shared any of his findings with whoever else was around investigating.  It didn't seem like he found much of use, so I didn't write about it :P

I'm... Not entirely sure where I am, at this point. Where is everyone going?

In reply to Verthel Go'Van (msg # 92):

You, Mayon and I were still at the Swinging Sword Inn.  I decided to leave for a bit to inquire about the ghost sightings with the little girl and the baker.  Bram invited you along if you want to come, or you can do something else if you prefer!

EDITed my prior post to make it clearer where Verthel is currently.

In the interest of gathering the party back together, can we say that Morg returns to the Swinging Sword just as Bram, Mayon (and maybe Vethel) step out to go inquire about the ghost?

Fine with me.

Morg, don't forget, Asano offered to cover dinner for you and your companions. Great reason to get everyone back to the Helm, eh?  :D

Thought we were all gathering at the Helm before going further, but guess not. Okey. Jak can be patient a little while longer maybe. =)

I was just going to inquire about the ghost really quick so we understand our options, hopefully getting enough info to go on within a few posts.  If the rest of y'all want to gather at the inn and start readying to move then Bram will join you soon :)

Gives us more time to inquire with the brooding local, eh, Jak?

I'll follow along with Bram still. Little kids tend to be more honest than adults, I find. :P

Well, we got the information I wanted before I'd even finished writing my post to ask the question!  I had to go back and edit the second half, hehe.  How's that for service? :)

I aim to please =) - I figured I'd just keep things moving along.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:56, Thu 27 Oct 2016.

Sorry for not posting, guys, crap has been pretty busy. Gonna try and get something up later tonight.

Asano introduces himself, as well, and the quarry sounds like a good idea.

Just didn't want to make a placeholder IC post.

Morg's also ready for the quarry, but will follow Jak or Bram's lead.

As for marching orders: Morg is slow, and is currently probably one of the tankiest looking ones, along with Bram. He's strong, so better at melee, and therefor the front.

With armor he's very noisy, so not great at recon, so maybe not right at the front if we have someone good at that.

As for watches, like Jak he needs a minimum of 6 hours sleep for a long rest, so would welcome the elves to take all the watches.

Oh. So my post was just a placeholder then? Fine. I see how it is. =P


Jak's fine taking a watch though he does need his sleep.

As for marching order, Jak would go scout when needed but would likely want someone with a good Perception up front (since his is only a +4 I think).

By the 5e rules an 8 hour long rest encompasses watches and a full rest for everyone, so no need to worry about making an hourly schedule for everyone to get the full benefit.  Just a watch order ought to cover it.

Bram is durable, but not very perceptive.  Perhaps he can act as rear guard so nobody runs into him when he slows down to examine random things :)

Asano doesn't have an amazing Perception (+3), he'll tend to stay nearer the middle of the group when travelling, and he'll fill in where needed in the watch.

Mayon also has +4 to Perception I believe. Not anything amazing, but he'll stay near the front if needed. He's not particularly strong or fast though, so he'd maybe go 2nd or 3rd and keep an eye out for anything the front man misses.

Also I think that half-elves sleep instead of trancing, correct? So Verthel is probably the only one who could take more than one watch without getting super tired. Even so we have enough of us that it shouldn't be a problem.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:05, Sun 30 Oct 2016.

Happy Halloween all!

I'm sitting near my front door with a laptop handing out candy for a few hours, so I may as well make a post.

I saw the discussion above re: marching order, but let's just make official a default marching order in the quarry thread. I've got Morg and Mayon as 1-2 respectively so far.

It's fine if you want to change the order on a case by case basis; the default order just comes into play if you don't post that you're doing something other than the usual. So Morg, if you want to drop back in the order you'll need to post that each time you want to do so.

Are you all headed down to the quarry directly, or are you knocking on the door to the house first? Or something else, of course.

[Private to Verthel Go'Van: I just noticed: Protection from Evil and Good consumes components you don't have. I'll let you choose a different spell for today & as a default if you desire - otherwise, you'll need to burn a holy water or powdered silver and iron each time you cast it. And first of course you'll need to acquire some to consume ;)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:42, Mon 31 Oct 2016.

Jak will be right behind Morg for marching order or 3rd in line if we're single file then I guess. Except in times of stealth and traps, then likely first.

Edit: Ugh. Will read more and post IC later as my head kind of hurts right now, sorry.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:48, Mon 31 Oct 2016.

And of course the default order isn't cast in stone - we can always change the defaults later if you want.

I'll get a post up ASAP, with my marching order. These past few days have been very, very long.

[Private to GM: Switch it out for... Shield of Faith, let's say.]

[Private to Verthel Go'Van: Done!]
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:07, Tue 01 Nov 2016.

Alrighty, it's between Bram and Asano for spots 4 & 5. I'm guessing Asano at 4 and Bram at 5, but it's up to y'all.

And don't forget to post what you're actually doing in front of the house too ;)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:22, Tue 01 Nov 2016.

I'll snag spot 4.

So, apparently, priests/priestesses of Auril often use the honorific Hand of Auril or Icebreath. At least, according to the following source. Good to know, as Asano is still using people's titles.

http://www.nj-pbem.com/data/Gods/humangods/Auril.htm

In reply to Asano Breathkill (msg # 117):

Those are some sweet titles.  In Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms it calls Aurilites Embracers, which is short for "Willing Embracers of the Cold."  Auril is totally metal :D

That book is also where I got the title of Glyphscribe, as well as a lot of ideas about what Deneir worship is all about.  The book goes all over the place, but it's great for getting a good sense of what life is like as a character in the Realms, which you don't always get from setting books.

Sadly, I don't have access to that sourcebook. I bet it's an amazing trove of flavor, though.

I need to start making a list of books to get. At the moment I just have the basic Player/DM/Monster Manuals. Might get a few adventure modules to practice my DM'ing until I get my own campaign fleshed out.

I also heard there was a new version of the Monster Manual out? I've been seeing ads for it at least. Might be worth looking at.

New version of the 5th ed Monster Manual? Or like a second volume of monsters?

"Volo's Guide to Monsters," I think. It's just supposed to be a different take, more detailed, etc.:

https://kotaku.com/an-early-lo...ter-bible-1788410991

Not sure precisely, but it looks interesting. I guess it offers more details on the cultures/aspects of some of the more intelligent creatures. That's what I'm getting from it at least.

My understanding is it's an additional monster manual at its core, but that also includes additional character options (like playing as a lizardfolk PC) and in-depth monster details.

I think Wizards is trying to avoid publishing books that only appeal to players or DMs, and they want books that anyone who plays can use.

It has lots of +2 WIS PCs which is good news for clerics and druids.

Fifty dollars?? Geez!

$30 on Amazon tho

...yeah, with my budget, that'll be something to save for the Christmas wishlist. :P

So...it should just be Perception for walking around looking at things?

Investigation would only come in to play if we were investigating something we found with Perception?

And Passive would be if we WEREN'T looking for something but there was something to be found?

Yup, exactly. You might be able to skip Perception if there was, say, a dead body obviously in the middle of the floor and you wanted to use Investigation to figure out how they died. But otherwise, that's right on.

I'm also working on a post in the quarry thread that explains more specifically to the circumstances at hand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:08, Thu 03 Nov 2016.

I just added a Perception roll to my post in light of this new information, though I doubt I perceived or successfully investigated anything!  Mayon, I think I have you well beat for dice unluckiness :P  Out of five rolls my highest has been 10 and most of the rest are 5 or less on the die, wah!

Sorry I haven't responded. RL has been hectic as of late, and I'm sorry if I've been dragging everything behind.

We're still doing better than a friend I have in another game. His first roll of the campaign was a Nat 1 on a Wisdom Save (which resulted in him taking damage, not good since he's a wizard), followed by multiple rolls of 5 or lower, and then 2 Nat 20's in a row. I guess it has the random chance aspect accurately if nothing else.

Also, based on those new notes, I may start looking at ceilings more :P

That might work out, or it might mean you're staring at the ceiling and miss the goblin standing in the middle of the room =D

....I CAN'T WIN

The goblins on the ceiling are the ones you really need to worry about, though!

What about the ones riding the spiders on the ceiling?

Guys, I hate to interrupt, but can you please slow it down a bit? I'm having trouble keeping up with you all, and at this rate, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with the game.

No worries Verthel - the adventure is designed for 4 PCs, so by having 6 in this game I'm building in the assumption that not everyone will post every round, even during combat. There's no need to post every round, in or out of combat. I'm sure we'll all have periods of busy-ness during the course of the campaign, myself included.

[Private to Verthel Go'Van: there should be no need to slow down others' posts - since it's play by post you can always scroll back and catch up on what happened since you last logged in. If you have a problem with how the game is going please PM me.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:33, Thu 03 Nov 2016.

Also: we're still pretty early on in the game, we're meeting NPCs, discovering new shops in town, etc. I'm consciously accelerating some of this to keep things moving & prevent people from becoming bored. Once we get past some of this early exposition I'd anticipate slowing down a tad, as decisions and actions will have more at stake.

Well, good thing my shadow monster theory didn't pan out, or else we might have been eaten by the darkness :)

I think Bram is about ready to chalk this one up to jumpy/lazy miners and leave it be, even though his player has a feeling we're missing something :P  Anyone have any other bright ideas for angles to investigate this?

The detecting thing was definitely a good one. Warlocks don't have much in the way of tracking so Mayon agrees.

And apologies on the frequent posting and such, Verthel. I have no life and am therefore online a lot, but from the looks of things, you haven't missed much. :P

I wanted to post in the Helm thread, but it's locked!  I only have a limited time to post, so I'll put what I was going to write here to be pasted over there when it re-opens:

If the miners aren't there anymore then he'll ask the barkeep where they went and try to track them down, but if they went to sleep or something then he'd leave it be for now, albeit unhappily :)

Sorry about that - I locked it to avoid confusion re: which thread to post in.

Since we seem to be (?) close to the end of day 1, let's continue in the Stoneworks thread so we have a coherent sequence of events after everyone left the Helm. Stiofan is just leaving the Helm, so the conversation is going to happen outside anyway =).

Wait, have we all returned to town now? I'm a little lost, haha.

I've assumed you've all left the quarry on the way back to the inn, and at least Bram and Verthel went ahead to the Helm. So you can post that you're still in the quarry, that you're on the road headed to the inn, you're with Bram & Verthel, or even that you've made it to the inn.

There was some discussion of leaving and returning to the quarry later as well, so you all can decide amongst yourselves what you're doing next & where you currently are.

So, for those of us staying behind, Stealth and Perceptions?

Sorry all, rereading the thread I think I wasn't clear enough in Albaeri's actions - she wasn't going to leave you alone in the quarry. She hustled you all out of the quarry and went back into her house.

I'll modify an earlier post in the quarry thread to hopefully make that clearer.

To summarize where everyone is now:

Bram and Verthel are talking outside the Helm with Stiofan.
Asano, Mayon, Jak, Morg are on the road near Albaeri's house talking to each other.

If you'd like to stay behind in the quarry later tonight then yes, Stealth and Perception would be appropriate, but you'll also need to post how you go back into the quarry.

Are you intending to split up again and do different things? If so I'll reopen or create a separate thread for Bram & Verthel.

Hope that's better! Post any questions here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:06, Sun 06 Nov 2016.

Jak did want to go back to the quarry and sneak in. Is the quarry like fenced in or something?

Crap, I had Mayon talking to Verthel...would we just say that he tagged along with him and Bram in that case?

No, not fenced in at all - there's a path that leads down to it, but you can also make your way around and get to it from any direction. The walls are not especially steep around the sides but it's not as easy to climb down as the path. Check out the quarry near #18 on the Red Larch map and it should be fairly clear.




That's fine, or you can say you talked to him before he and Bram went to the Helm. No big deal.

Updated locations:

- Bram, Verthel, and Mayon are talking outside the Helm with Stiofan.
- Asano & Jak are on the road near Albaeri's house talking to each other.
- Morg headed to the inn for crumblecake

This stakeout in the darkness with mysterious shadowy figures about seems a bit dangerous now...  Perhaps splitting the party wasn't the wisest idea :P  Don't die, brave watchers!

Sorry, I won't be able to do a proper post until... probably Wednesday? I'm doing Get Out the Vote stuff tomorrow and that'll occupy my whole day.

Jak is going to the inn, I am staying to watch.

EDIT: Thanks, Jak.  :P
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Thu 10 Nov 2016.

No problem! I live to serve! I'm here to help!

DM, does Jak see/hear them moving in on Asano?

Yes, Jak hears the shout as he's headed for the road, and can hear movement in the quarry.

Anything else for day 1? =D

Where to next?

I want to find out what those masked figures are up to!  Chances are they'll be gone by the time Jak and Asano can gather us up and bring us back to the spot... or they might have an ambush waiting for us.  The wise thing would probably be to come back another night, but I'm ok with being unwise :)

I'm all for going on a manhunt. If nothing else we can probably find some clues and signs as to where these guys keep coming from.

Unwise is my middle name....well not really but.. =)

Anything else with the constable, or for Day 1? If you like we can start Day 2, and if you know where you're headed I can set that up too.

[Private to Asano Breathkill: I you like you can share the symbol on the masked figures' armor with the rest of the party. If you're not sure how to do that just mention it in your post & I can update it with the link. Of course, you don't have to share if you don't want to ;)]

grumblegrumble. no we can move on Lol!

Yeah, I think our quarry infiltration has been shot down for tonight.  What say we earn a little goodwill with the town and look into the banditry problem tomorrow?

Taking a rest and checking out bandits sounds good to me. Not much left for us to do without getting arrested. :P

Yeah, let's do something we're ALLOWED to do tomorrow. =)

To the bandits!

LOL - sorry all, it just worked out that way, but a little delayed gratification is always good, no? ;) And now you've got a little mystery on your hands...


Ok, a little housekeeping before we move to day 2:
- Check out the Loot thread where I've compiled the bill for day 1 - please update your Inventory thread and subtract the money you spent:
Asano - 2gp, 3sp, 8cp
Bram - 2sp, 6cp
Jak - 8sp
Mayon - 8sp, 8cp
Morg - 2sp, 2cp
Verthel - 8sp

- Anyone with spells you can memorize each day (basically just Verthel at level 1) can change what you've got memorized if you post changes before your first post in the Day 2 thread.

- You're all at full HP and stuff, so I think that's about it for the long rest.

- Do you want me to start you at the inn in Red Larch in the morning, or fast-forward you to the Cairn Road south of town?

I'd rather get right into the bandit-hunting action.  We've already covered a whole lot of town business and I'm ready to get down to business :)

Alright, I think I got my math right in terms of subtracting funds? If I got it wrong feel free to correct me, though. ^^;

Yup, looks right to me.

I've been getting a lot of timeout errors when trying to load RPoL recently, so if I'm not posting then please just NPC Morg for a while. I've not abandoned the game - I'm just struggling to post.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:56, Sat 19 Nov 2016.

I've been getting those a lot, too. I just leave it for a bit and come back a few hours later, and it usually works. Hopefully the site starts working better for you, too, Morg.  :)

Same, I was wondering if it was just meet. Not sure if it's due to site maintenance or some other issue.

I'll try to set up an in-character post now that the weekend has arrived.

EDIT: Checked the forums, admins have confirmed it's a hardware issue with the website that they're working on.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:16, Sat 19 Nov 2016.

I updated the maps thread with a link to a new map for the bandit hunt. The big grey area is "fog of war", that you shouldn't yet be able to see. Can everyone see the map?
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Sun 20 Nov 2016.

Oh wow. Nicely done.

I edited my post a bit. Let me know if you want me to roll or if you want to do it secretly so I don't know the results heh.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Sun 20 Nov 2016.

Go ahead and make a perception check Jak.

Ok! Edited

I can't zoom in on Google Doc pages on my phone (tho image files are fine), so on weekends I usually won't be able to see small details on that site. I can see it fine on my PC tho.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Mon 21 Nov 2016.

Hm, interesting - I can zoom in on my phone ok (iPhone) in the safari browser, though that may be because I'm the author of it. Google Docs has a separate app too which might let you zoom in.

I've just got an old BlackBerry phone which doesn't work on sites that don't have backwards compatibility, so I may take a bit longer to respond on weekends.

Ok, Jak's moved into a spot where he'll be able to see basically the whole area.

I'll give it a day or so IRL in case anyone else wants to post - a move, action, etc. - then we'll roll initiative =).

hahahaha nice.

Reminder on posting in combat - from Posts thread:

Sorry for not posting. Life has been... not fun, over the past couple of weeks. What are we doing now, exactly?

Check out the Day 2 thread, and the Cairn Road Bandit Hunt link under the Maps & Stuff thread to get up to speed.

Going to apologize in advance if I'm a bit rusty at combat. Despite being in several campaigns on this site, I've only played a single battle as of yet, so I'm a bit clumsy with some rules.

Hmm. not knowing their initiatives makes player choices very difficult so will likely require some post editing later on. shrug.

How should I denote singing versus talking or yelling in a post? Hmm.

Any one want to be Inspired? lol

Singing, maybe use a different font? There's only three options but at least it'd stand out.

Singing you could do in italics, like "I'd like to teach the world to sing..."


Yelling you could do IN ALL CAPS.

How about just putting your singing in bold?

Yeah, I see what you mean...

Ok, experiment over, I'll post their inits too. =)

Ah. Yeah. They go before me. Poop.

Take comfort in the fact that you won't be the one serving as a pincushion for crossbow bolts :)

Mm maybe. They could shoot at you as well as me and Asano. =)

Hey, if I can get in Melee range, they're gonna get a taste of Thunderwave, which will be fun.

Good lord, well THAT was an eventful round.

I know, right?!? I checked the dice roller 3 times with those attack rolls to make sure I was doing it right.

Well, at least two of our potential healers are conscious. That's something, haha.

Blech, mad I wasted my hex, though. Silly me thought the disadvantage affected ALL rolls with the chosen stat, not just ability checks. Guess that's a lesson I now know for later. :P

If the BB gets out of it's cage, surely the spit roast and the bandits will smell tastier, since Morg bathed with soap just 1 day before? ;)

Yikes!  These are some deadly marksmen bandits!  The dice roller has it out for us :P

Regarding B4's attack after Bram went down:  Being unconscious grants him advantage, but being prone gives disadvantage to ranged attacks.  Those would cancel each other out, making it a normal attack roll.  Did you happen to roll with advantage, DM, and perhaps maybe possibly he might have missed if he hadn't had advantage?

It's a long shot, but figured it'd be worth asking :)

I just rolled a regular roll, assuming the attacks from the 2 bandits hit home at the same time, when you were still up. But nice try tho ;)

Good lord. This may be a short adventure until any smart adventurers (read: those that flee lol) get some new comrades =P

My apologies on reading how the radius on that spell worked, DM.

It doesn't help that we're 1st level. D&D doesn't really become "balanced" until around 3rd level or so... and then it falls off again around 15th level. This is the point where one lucky shot will bring you down, and where we don't really have much to fight against it..

Hey, at least one is asleep and one we have advantage against (until I get dropped lol) =)

I decided to help out Bram, get our Paladin back in the game.

Is that your action for the 1st round, or the 2nd round?

I ask because if it's for the next round, the bandits go before you and Bram could get shot more.

My first round action was just to move, so... yeah, second round. And fine, they get to move, but I'm not exactly a "leave people behind" kind of guy.

That reminds me...DM, how will we play out reactions/attacks of opportunity whenever those become relevant? Just mention them after the round results are posted and have things edited as needed?

Yes, we'll have to retcon those kinds of things in.

No worries! I find them confusing myself, and usually end up drawing those circles/squares just for me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This message was last updated by the GM at 13:04, Thu 24 Nov 2016.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States!


Hmm...I would have healed Bram since I go before Verthel, but I'll heal Mayon instead and hope the bandits don't drop me.

Thanks, Jak ^^

And happy Thanksgiving as well! :D

.....what.....the.....HELL, diceroller?!?!?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I'm thankful I didn't roll a 1 on that death save :)

No kidding. I feel like this dice roller has higher probabilities of weird rolls than an actual d20.

Ok, round 2 results up - round 3 now starts. Hopefully round 2 results were a bit better than last time ;).

And, the map should now be updated properly (I originally missed some moves from round 1) - let me know if there's any remaining discrepancies.

GDI dice roller. Warlocks are pretty limited at early levels, I don't have much I can do, and the one thing I CAN do keeps missing >.>

Well, at least we're alive :P

Is it okay if I wait for the bandits to do their 3rd round actions before I post Morg's? Their initiative is higher.

Depending on what they do, Morg may (if he's not critted unconscious) pick up his javelin with a free action and use it as a melee weapon, and end up not even using his beloved warhammer...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:53, Thu 24 Nov 2016.

Go ahead and post your action now; I'll tell you what they're going to do below, but I'd prefer to just post one update at the end of the round in the Day 2 thread to avoid confusion.

B1: Attacks Bram with disadv - MISS
B2: Wakes B3
B3: Wakes up and stands, retrieves crossbow.
B4: Attacks Morg - CRIT 6 piercing damage [Private to Morg Danforge: current hp=6]

If this kind of approach works for everyone, I can continue to post upcoming actions in OOC for folks with lower init than the baddies (when requested).

It doesn't affect me this combat since I act before the baddies, but I'm not super fond of deciding actions that will resolve after the enemy turns.  The result is either that we have take trouble to retcon, or we stick with actions that are maybe not what we'd want after seeing the situation.  I suppose we can post contingency plans in all our posts depending what happens,  but those can't always cover everything.

I prefer the initiative order OOC post, because I was totally going to do the smart thing by picking up the javelin to set Morg up for a possible advantaged throw in turn 4; but the bolt made him see red and instead go rage hammer time on the guy who shot him.

DM preference for free actions regarding sheathing one
 weapon, drawing another, and
 attacking?

RAW which doesn't allow it, or Mike Mearls' all allowed in 1 action? https://www.enworld.org/forum/...ners-Mearls-Crawford

If RAW, how about just dropping stuff?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:22, Fri 25 Nov 2016.

Yes, it's ok to draw and sheathe in one action, but you can't draw two weapons as part of the same action. So I agree with brother Mearls =).

Do the brush areas block sight or only impose disadvantage on attack rolls through them?

They only impose half cover (a target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws).

@Verthel: Thunderwave affects a 15' cube - i.e., a 3x3 square. Where are you casting thunderwave? I.e., which squares are you affecting?

I suspect you intend to affect I11 to K13, to include B2 and B3 - is this right? I'd actually let you slide the effect a half square to the left to include the bear too, if you like.

For reference: Discussion of Area of Effect of Thunderwave
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:58, Fri 25 Nov 2016.

Yeah, that's my general idea. Although I can now see the issue- the "cube" thing is kind of confusing. I'm okay with not nailing the bear- as far as I can tell, it'd probably be better to calm it down, rather than try to fight it head on.

I gotta say, I find it kind of morbidly amusing that B3 was woken up by his buddy only to be immediately killed by a Thunderwave spell. "Hey guys, I'm up, what's g--OH GOD!"

Waiting in the lobby of Limbo: "I was on my way to deliver the goods to the orphanage, and the sick bear to the druid. Me and the other priests camped a few hours from town, because we didn't want to risk traveling at night after hearing about bandits in the area."

"While making dinner, the wizard bandits attacked out of nowhere - no provocation. I was magicked to sleep, and when brother Aaron woke me, I was knocked into our camp fire, burning to... well, you know."

---

I'm gonna wait to find out what B4 does before I post, because crit.

Bandit actions Round 4:
- B1 starts to attack Mayon but is instead hit by Bram for 4 slashing damage. B1 is dead.
- B4 attacks Morg with a spear - hit for 3 piercing damage. [Private to Morg: current hp=7]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:23, Sat 26 Nov 2016.

@Mayon - I assume you're attacking B1? Make sure to list the target in the 'reason for roll' in the dice roller in future.

Gotcha, my bad. I'll edit that into my post now, spaced on it for some reason.

@Asano - B1 is going to be dead after his turn - if you like you can edit your post.

No worries - it's easy to miss these things ;)

Dang it, Mayon! We need some answers.

And by we, I mean myself.

Ok, I realized I misunderstood some of the discussion above re: posting enemy actions mid-round, and I deleted a couple of my responses. Sorry for my confusion on that.

For the rest of the combat I'll post enemy actions in OOC after everyone higher in init than the bandits has gone. If you're lower in init you're still welcome to post whenever, but you may want to edit your post after the bandits actions have been posted.

The bear is blessedly at the end of the init order anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm going to think about ways to make this better/easier in future encounters - I've done it a few different ways in other games as a player so I have some ideas. My main concern is to be clear about the beginning and ending of a round; otherwise, I'm afraid we'll all get lost about which round each post is in. That makes tracking status effects, durations, etc. difficult.

Bramwell, you may want to edit your own action as Mayon acts before you, as well.

DM, may I use my roll of 18 for a medicine roll instead of persuasion?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:58, Sat 26 Nov 2016.

Actually no, Bram can't edit as he'd already acted when I posted the bandit actions. In fact he was the one that killed B1.



No, as a general rule you can't repurpose rolls.

Ok, how's this idea:

Goals for handling posts during combat - the rules should adjust to the play-by-post format in such a way that:
- The general feel of the D&D initiative system is retained
- Things aren't too complicated/confusing
- The rules don't create significant advantages/disadvantages to PCs above RAW

Proposal:
- Players can still post whenever they want, and are encouraged to include contingencies in case, for instance, the baddie you want to attack is killed by someone else with a higher init.
- I'll post once at the beginning of the encounter, with the round 1 initiative order. I'll also post actions for any monsters that happen to be at the top of the order in this post.
- For monsters lower in the order, I'll post their actions as soon as all/most PCs higher in the order have taken their turns. I'll be careful not to post this too early. Once I do this:
1) Anyone who's higher in the init order cannot alter their posts - they've already committed to their turn this round.
2) If anyone who's lower in the init order has already posted, they can optionally alter their post for the current round only.
- I'll post a round summary after everyone has posted. This will include actions for any monsters that happen to be at the bottom of the order. It will also include the init order for the next round, & the next round's top-of-the-order monster actions.

Tl;dr, I'll do what I've been doing but instead of posting just 1 round summary to the main thread I'll also post separate actions for monsters that are in the middle of the init order (to the main thread, not OOC).

This won't simulate a tabletop game exactly, since there's still the possibility that an ally with a higher init will kill the monster you're attacking. But, I don't think this is a super significant disadvantage, and remember there's six of you and the adventure is balanced for 4.

Thoughts? We can always try this, see how it goes, and change it later, and I can make exceptions for individual cases.

I like it: tiers posting to IC, allowing low init PC posts after enemy actions.

I prefer waiting for my tier before I post, to prevent multiple levels of if...then statements.

Sounds good to me, too. I haven't had much issue here since, well, top of initiative (looking at my stats that would've been another Nat 20, good lord DM) but I doubt that'll happen often. :P

This message was deleted by the player at 18:51, Tue 29 Nov 2016.

Is anyone else hoping the bear is mad at the bandits and won't attack us? Lol, yeah right. =P

Does anyone have Animal Handling? If so, that'd be quite handy right about now...

Knew I shoulda rolled a ranger or druid.  lol
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Tue 29 Nov 2016.

Well I can get an invocation for Speak With Animals...next level...

Not sure how much reasoning bears have, but we've left it alone, so maybe it'll just kinda go on its way? Fingers crossed, haha.

Boy I hope that works :P  Nobody attack it until we see whether it'd rather chow down than fight!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Tue 29 Nov 2016.

Also, DM:  The post says the bear moved to H14, but the map shows it in H12.  It won't make a lot of difference when it decides to come maul Bram, but I was wondering which it was anyway :)

Good catch! I updated my post; the bear is in fact at H12.

Wait, aren't we capturing it to sell to a bear-baiting pit boss? ;)

While Asano's Sleep, or Verthel's Thunderwave could be the MVP moves (and personally, Jak's mocking possibly saving Morg's behind); it's
Bram's meat tossing that currently has my vote for an advantage inspiration token - because even if it doesn't work, it was just awesome.

Yeah, unfortunately it might have been hindered by said Thunderwave, because... well, I hit the bear.

Poor widdle bear puppy.

I don't know what it is with me and cantrips on rpol here, but I can't seem to roll too well on the damage ever, lol.

Actually, DM...wasn't the bear affected by Faerie Fire? You said earlier everyone hit by it was dead but I thought it was in the area. If it attacks us, I'm gonna be REALLY disappointed I stopped concentrating on it, if that's the case.

Ha, thanks, Morg :)  Wait until we see the outcome first, though!  If the bear takes the bait then Bram was clever, but if it eats him instead then it was folly :P

Verthel: reading back it looks like your thunderwave only targeted B2 and B3, so I don't think the bear has taken damage from us yet.  Then again, with the loud noise and all this chaos and whatever abuses the bear suffered previously, who's to say what it'll do?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Wed 30 Nov 2016.

Jak, I think I remember the bear getting a Nat 20 to avoid the faerie fire. Pretty impressive for something in a cage, you gotta admit. :P

Oh yeah you're right LOL! That crazy bear! =)

To clarify, yes the bear had made his save vs. faerie fire & wasn't targeted as part of thunderwave.

Also, the bear appears happy to devour the remains of the animal meat, but there wasn't that much left on the bone...

Quick, get a bandit corpse onto the grill so it's ready to serve by the time the bear finishes the appetizer!

Anybody proficient with cooking utensils? Now's the time!

Heh. I don't want to get close enough, but guess who has two thumbs up and routinely puts extra food in his pockets from every meal? This guy!

As somebody who's grown up in an area with lots of big wildlife, it's really hard for me not to instantly just give all of that random 'how to not die from an angry bear' knowledge to Mayon that I've had burned into my brain since childhood. :P

Are we still in combat at this point technically?

Technically, yes, you're still in combat. The bear is heading north fleeing Morg's display, but it's still eyeing you all...

How? I read up on bears to play a moon druid, but focused more on how to act as a bear than on how not to die at their paws. I remember reading that black bears aren't nearly as dangerous as brown bears, who, when they did a full on attack instead of just bluff-charging was bad news.

As for the loot, can we quote the list and then add our PC names in brackets for what they want? If more than one name is in brackets for an item, we can then decide amongst themselves? Start now or wait for the long rest?

E.g.:
Merchant's scale
rug (does it fly, or did it just really tie the cave together?)
10' silken rope
Tent, 2 person
Broken lock
Sledge hammer (Mo)
10' chain
battleaxe (Mo)
greataxe (Mo)
40 crossbow bolts
morningstar (Mo)
javelin (Mo)
quarterstaff
mace
sickle
club
greatclub
whip (Mo)

B4's spear?
4 crossbows?
Bolts, crossbow on B1-B4
Cases, for bolts?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:10, Thu 08 Dec 2016.

If the plan is to sell any of it, do we need to claim it by name. After all, we have a wagon to carry the sundry items in.

Pretty much, yeah. Avoidance is the best policy for the most part--make a lot of noise so you don't startle them, especially a mother with cubs. Playing dead is generally a pretty bad idea, might work, but it's a bit too risky IMO. With black bears, I've heard you just act really big and tough and they'll usually back down. There's much tastier food than something that can fight back, they're usually more flight than fight and would rather climb a tree than risk getting hurt. Basically acting big and scary in RP was what you'd wanna do IRL, though not if you're outnumbered.

With grizzlies, run downhill (if possible) or climb a big, sturdy tree, because they're bigger and scarier than you'll EVER be. They can't climb and have weird back legs, so they have trouble with those. Also, bear spray. If you're going hiking in Yellowstone or some similar area, ALWAYS carry bear spray as a last resort.

And, regardless of species, the most important rule: never, EVER mess with a mama bear and her cubs. The most terrifying sound isn't the big tough male bear threatening you to back off his turf, it's a cub distress-crying for its mother, because you have about 1.5 seconds before she comes charging for your blood. Spring is the most dangerous time to hike in bear country because all the mothers have their new little cubs, and they're all hungry after hibernation.

Of course, generally if you're confronted by a big angry bear, you probably won't remember this stuff when the adrenaline kicks in. Can't say I've ever had to use this knowledge, but my aunt once had a black bear lounging on her porch, so I guess it's good to have anyway, haha.

tl;dr: I'm an animal nerd, and the best way to deal with bears is to not deal with them at all, and for the love of god do NOT be the dumb tourists who think it's a good idea to chase one down or try to pick up a bear cub for a picture.


Also, on an actual relevant note, just gonna say, I'm cool with just a cut of the money for loot. Weapons aren't gonna do much good with my scrawny little man :P

Congrats, you survived the first encounter! Hope it was fun to play - it was pretty fun to DM. Let's get y'all above level 1 - you're now 1/3 of the way there =).
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:57, Thu 08 Dec 2016.

What're you doing next? =)

Morg's suggestion comes from a scene in the movie The untouchables, which I highly recommend.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:30, Thu 08 Dec 2016.

Is there a reason why Morg would want want (and get) pretty much every weapon in the loot list? <laugh> Just curious since (Mo) was next to most of them.

I'm fine with selling most though light crossbows and bolts might not be terrible for some of the people in party.

I think only Morg and Bram has proficiency in using martial weapons like the battleaxe (for slashing), greataxe (if losing shield), morningstar (heavier than the war pick), and whip (for range).

The extra javelin is handy for the dwarf because of his low movement speed, tho because it's not martial - others with a good STR mod and simple weapon proficiency could make a good case for it.

The sledge hammer is best with the strongest PC, again probably Morg or Bram.

While true, it generally isn't a good idea to carry more weapons than double the number of hands you have.

I suppose I could take a secondary weapon in case a different damage type is needed, or if we come across a rust monster.  Maybe the morningstar?  Otherwise I don't have much need for that stuff.

I'll just stick with my dagger and quarterstaff. Doubt they'll ever be used except in emergencies, though, and I'm not planning to take Blade Pact, so no sense taking a weapon to convert for that later.

On another note, may be posting less than usual through next week. I'll try to pop in, but since it's Finals Week, I should be focusing on that more. :P

Also, I have a bit of a weird question. One of my Warlock abilities allows me to, once per long rest, cast a Frighten or Charm effect on any creature within 10 feet of me, for one round vs. a Wisdom saving throw. What I'm wondering is, would it be possible to use that outside of battle to aid in Intimidation or Persuasion checks in some way? I mean, since it lasts for a round it'd only be a few seconds of effect and it affects EVERYONE, not just enemies, so I understand if it wouldn't be an option. Mostly I just like seeing how far I can stretch game mechanics.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Fri 09 Dec 2016.

Yes, you can absolutely use this outside of combat. The duration would just be 6 seconds (the length of a round).

Sweet. Would that add like a brief advantage to the check, or would it more or less just be them beating the DC 15 Wisdom save as an Insight check? I think that's how rolling against Persuasion/Deception/Intimidation works...?

The way I read it, if they fail the save the affected creature(s) are afflicted with either the Charmed or Frightened condition (PHB pg. 290) for that 1 round.

For Charmed, that means you'd get advantage on any ability check to interact socially, and for Frightened they would have disadvantage on all ability checks/attack rolls. Plus whatever else those conditions include.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Fri 09 Dec 2016.

Also, good luck on the finals. RPOL for study breaks only!

Just finished my last two finals yesterday. I'm free. FREE!!!

Well, the end justifies the means, Bram. Right? Right?!

But we're only asking if he knows a guy or a cult, which he probably doesn't because he's a common bandit?  That's absolutely not worth-- *sees Asano's threatening glare* --it's not worth letting him keep any fingers or toes if he doesn't talk!  Yeah, yeah!  Ha ha haaaaa...

Kinda want to have Mayon toss in a question of his own, but I'm wondering if I should wait on that. See if you guys get anywhere first since, well, asking for a lot of info at once may not work too well :P

We don't all have to shout questions over each other even if we post together, hehe.  You could flavor it as an addition to the conversation at an appropriate moment.  Posting it now would also let the DM answer everything at once, whereas waiting extends this interrogation for another posting cycle :P

Y'know, I've realized that Mayon is my most charismatic character. Most of my others have charisma as the dump stat, amusing given that they're both Tieflings (albeit a barbarian and a druid. I like weird combos like that).

And I think I've realized why.

It's because I have NOOOO freaking idea how to play charming/menacing characters, mainly due to my own lacking social skills. And yet the charismatic races are my favorite.

Random tired ramblings over, Mayon's turning on the magical charm since I want to test it out more than anything. :P

I know how that is!  I recently played a tiefling bard in a tabletop game, and I had absolutely none of the personal charisma to play him as dashing and charming as he was supposed to be.  Fortunately, his spell save DC and huge social skill bonuses kept him effective even if I couldn't come up with any lines for him :P

Speaking of charming, Mayon... DC 15!  20 Cha at level 1?  Good lord!

...okay I think I messed that up. I assumed I added my proficiency bonus to it for Spell Saves? Because if not then it's DC 13. I've never really gotten a chance to use a spell with a Save instead of an attack roll before.

You do add your proficiency: the spell save DC should be 8 + proficiency(2) + charisma mod.  Maybe you were starting with 10 as a base instead of 8?

Ah, yep, that was the mistake. Don't know why I thought it started at 10, I guess it just seemed to round up nicer in my head. I'll go fix that then. :P

Yes, Mayon can use HD now and so can anyone else that would like to do short rest-related stuff.

Also, don't forget to add your Con mod to each HD you use during a short rest. Mayon rolled a 4 which brought him up to full anyway, but this can become more impactful at higher levels.

I...didn't actually know that was a thing, haha. Good to know! Though there is something oddly satisfying about rolling the exact number needed.

Good lord you people post a lot on the weekends. Sigh.

LOL - not a lot happening on my end this past weekend, so guilty as charged. I'll probably be a big busier next week.

Man, Asano's interrogation techniques touched a nerve in this group. Hahaha!

FYI, once there's consensus on town vs. tomb vs. something else, I'll post something to get y'all there.

Town!

Can we actually move this wagon? Or is it something that needs draft animals?

It's not exactly set up to push or pull without draft animals, but it's not especially heavily laden without the bear, especially if you leave the cage behind. You think you can manage to get it back up the hill. It might take the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon to get it back to town, but you think you can manage it.

I WAS thinking Tomb, but...well, I've looked at the map again, and that would involve dragging everything straight through/past town and continuing onward. With a heavy, likely noisy load. So, changing my vote to stopping in town first, haha.

Nothing like posting more expository town-dialog to bring the posting rate to a screeching halt, eh? =)

If you like I can fast-forward us through the town bits - don't have to do it this way, but if you want to I just need to know what you want to do with:

- the bandit (presumably just handing him over to the constable?)
- the stuff & the wagon - selling it now, dropping it off somewhere (there is a fantasy U-Stor-It in town...), leaving with the constable, something else?
- if there's any topics you wanted to broach with the constable or other business in town to do

Also, if anyone wants to claim one of the weapons prior to hitting the tomb so it's available to them while there, we should resolve that now too.

I thought we'd already left the bandit we'd interrogated back at the cave, still tied up but with a dagger nearby the cut himself free after we'd left?  Did we gather up the corpses of the other bandits or leave them?  I don't recall...

Perhaps we might report to him what we heard about the bandit-turned-cultist?  He might have more info.

There was a second bandit that we have in the cage, right? I think we left the corpses though...

We captured two bandits, but only one awakened in time to be interrogated and cut a deal. The other we still had tied with the wagon. And we would like to return the stolen merchandise, hopefully for a reward. If nothing's claimed by merchants, I guess we can just sell it for a fair market price.

Correct; 2 captured bandits, one left behind & one is still unconscious in the wagon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Wed 14 Dec 2016.

Hmm.  Was that second bandit awake during the interrogation and freeing of the first bandit?  I sure hope not, because he'd probably tattle to the Constable :P

Nope, he was sound asleep the entire ride to Red Larch.

Whew, 5/6 exams finished, one more to go and then I'm free for a few weeks!

Okay, so let's see, updated list of tasks:

Bandits
Haunted Quarry: In progress, may have to wait another couple of days.
Tricklerock Cave: Possible treasure, but also possibly a trap of some sort?
Goblins/Ghosts at Tomb: Next on the list?
Plague at Lance Rock: ?????? Mentioned, but pretty far from town.

...that's the stuff I've had in my notes at least. I believe we're going to the tomb next, right? I imagine Lance Rock would be last, unless it takes a while to get our chance to check out the quarry, since I believe it was the furthest away.

Kaylessa told you Lance Rock is about 8 miles southwest of Red Larch as the crow flies. About twice as far away as the tomb, but not especially far.

The corpses were also loaded into the wagon: link to a message in this game

Oh boy - there's a personality trait Morg is about to display...

Does anyone else want the whip?

Do we want to keep the wagon? I'd say no, despite it's obvious utility. It probably needs repairs, definitely needs draft animal (who have their own upkeep), and costs us to store it when we're not using it. I say sell it to someone who needs it.

It's ONLY 50gp for a draft horse, assuming a pony or donkey wouldn't do. I mean we could get a team of donkeys together and...

lol I'm fine with getting rid of stuff or storing it, whatever works. =)

EDIT: Morg are you still planning on trying to shave some of our mutual loot cut and keep like 5 weapons? You should pay for those out of your share! LOL!

(to be clear, I'm teasing.)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:46, Wed 14 Dec 2016.

Clearly we sell the cart to buy a better cart :P

I don't really have anything I'd like to keep, though, so I'll just go with whatever the rest of the groups decide.

We'll store it for now and make a decision on it later. Asano puts up to 2 go for a month storage.

That's not a bad idea, since buying it back after selling it will cost twice as much.

If not, could Morg borrow the whip (martial weapon, reach (compensating for his low speed))? Bram maybe borrowing the morningstar (martial weapon)? Either (being the 2 PCs with probably the highest STRength) borrowing the sledge hammer (tool)? Returning it all to the storage area after visiting the tomb.

Can anyone detect enchantments and/or curses on the stuff?

Oh god. I just realized....did we just push on with nothing but a short rest to this? Lol! I'm out of spells besides cantrips! Wheeee! =)

We...may have made mistakes. :P At least warlocks restore spells after a short rest, so I'm good to go, but...whoops.

It's ok to do more than one encounter in a day, but you've gotta watch those spell slots as a caster :)  2 spells a day at level 1 is rough when that's your main thing!

It's ok to do more than one encounter in a day, but you've gotta watch those spell slots as a caster :)  2 spells a day at level 1 is rough when that's your main thing!

Don't make me Viciously Mock you!


....and I'm pretty sure it was healing people that dropped in the first encounter that used my 2nd spell....Bram being one of them! =P

Touché!

Allow me to backtrack a bit to enthusiastically thank those who blew their spells keeping some of us alive :)  I haven't had a chance to Lay on Hands yet, but when Bram gets spells next level odds are they'll also largely go toward healing!

Also, apologies for that double post.  RPOL won't even let me delete one because they somehow have the same number.

Ah, yes I did indeed misunderstand that then, apologies! Yes, Jak was going to the door inside.

Cool; no worries!