Where we will share recipes and talk about things not important.

A few items. I'm not sure who has what in terms of loot. I do believe everyone has a magic weapon of some sort. That is a prerequisite...let me know if you do not. Wands count as magic weapons.

Treasure. Who has the treasure from the spiders, and who has the potions? And I believe either Kullonar or Bruno has the bag of holding (with a significant amount of platinum to go with it).

Any other treasure you guys got should be accounted for as well - once we move into the next module, anything not accounted for no longer exists. I'm not an accountant.

:)

I did give everyone a little bit of cash and a gem to get the next part of the story going in the right direction. If you didn't get something like that, let me know and I will rectify it.

More to come.

Huzzah!

I think I'm ready on my end. Let's play. I am always fired up when starting a new adventure. Hopefully every body bought themselves new boots. You're gonna need them to run up and down the mountains!

Any questions, concerns, let me know.

Nice crowd today - I was beginning to think y'all had abandoned me.

:)

A clarification:  A skald is another name for a bard. It is a nordic viking position of great honor.

Much like Homer spread the tales of the Illiad and Odyssey in greece and the surrounds vis a vie the oral tradition, there was a similar storyteller in the great white northern lands who told the tale of the kalavala, from whence the Old Professor, JRR Tolkien was able to pen his wonderful tale.

In the dark ages, oft times skalds were used as go betweens in negotiations. Many of the Viking kings (for lack of a word that escapes me) allowed the skalds to ratify agreements.

So, while Ukko is not a king, he is a person of major input in the Frost Barbarian lands and, from a 1st edition perspective, he's completed every step of the bardic journey and is a bard in the truest sense.

If that makes sense.

Howdy - love the dialogue back and forth. I was tempted to jump in with Kullonar casting aspersions on the Frost Barbarians when he's one step removed from being one himself...

Dropped the mic!

I want to Uthecar when I grow up.

Well I'm not sure that Zan has a magic weapon, he had a wand of magic missile, but that got used up.  Of course, I may be overlooking something else that he got.  I'll do some more checking

Thus ends the parlay. Nicely done everyone. 200xp per - if you level up, however, you'll have to wait for training. This is one of the few times I do this, but I think you all are balanced for this adventure, so adding a level seems like cheating at this point.

One final thought: we will stay in the current thread and not start a new one at this time. Doesn't make sense to. I'll have a post or two later this week.

Uthecar would chip in on the proceedings, but I really haven't the time to organise my thoughts right now.  Later hopefully if we haven't moved on.  I'm not sure if his typically disrespectful angle would settle or inflame the situation further.  :o).

I wouldn't worry about a response. I think we all took the left turn at Albuquerque. Time to pull it back in. I include myself as part of the problem, by the way. I should have refereed that better.

I must admit when I first read the dialogue my first post would have had Uthecar sitting in gaol.  I was going to try and reason a response to defuse the situation, but it started to do my head in and I ran out of time.

I have no complaints about the scene. Bruno's player is rarely as nuanced a diplomat as he ought to be and for Bruno himself this is the first time he has really been out in the world, so he is naive and relatively inexperienced. It all could have gone much better, but also could have been much, much worse!

As DM, my job is to keep you guys on the right track while still making things fun. Since there was some downtime, I thought we'd have a a bit of fun during the transition from the Q to LoS.

It probably could've gone better, but you pesky characters always take the left road when I'm going right! And I wouldn't have it any other way. You guys did fine. And I don't think Everleigh was really serious about throwing you in the clink...maybe!

Onward, ever upward into the valley as my former Social Studies teacher was very fond of saying. Mr Garone. Weird dude, but funny. He used to call all of us all Bubala...

LOL

Greetings: You might be happy to note (although, one never knows with y'all) that a new member of the tribe is on his way. Play nice: he's a human. I was cautious because the dynamic of the party is already so good, but I've been playing with this player for awhile - he's a good player...and the role he'll play will only add to your the composition of the party.

I'll leave up to him to introduce himself OOC. I'll be introducing him directly to the party during the festivities.

Ulrich Aelgrimm, paladin of Pelor

Welcome, Ulrich!

I hope you enjoyed Robert Frost's poem - for those interested, the poem is called 'The Trial by Existence.'

As with all his works, you have to look deeply into what he's trying to say. For instance, everyone knows 'The Road Not Taken.' What most don't know was that it was an ode to a friend of his named Edward Thomas who had trouble making decisions. Thomas, a Welchman and also a poet' died in the trenches of WWI.

English and history all in one day. LOL!

In reply to Bruno Rhunthane (msg # 17):

Thank you. working on my character now, hehehehe

Mike? Magic items? +1 plate, +1 shield, +1 mace? or assigning something else? Starting money?

Welshman btw ;-)

LOL. I'm a better writer than a typist. Good catch - I'm glad someone was reading.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 20):

Errands, be back at it in half an hour. Look him over and make corrections Mike!

Welcome Ulrich

Howdy Ulrich, a Paladin aye, well met.  I had a dog named Ulrich, loved him to bits, I hope you're as good as he was, but Uthecar will still probably rub you the wrong way.  *Shrugs*  It can't be helped, we all have difficult people to work with I suppose.

You might rub Ulrich the wrong way, but probably not me. ;-)

In reply to Ulrich Aelgrimm (msg # 24):

WP/NWP like in 2nd edition? or not?

No, WP are out of the PHB or UA, the NWP are Wilderness and Dungeoneering survival guides. Now, if you don't have those manuals - mine were lost in a flood many years ago, unfortunately - you can certainly pull from 2nd edition's lists of NWP as a guideling. Most instances, I use ability rolls to determine success of failure. For instance, you want to know if you have knowledge of a certain type of elemental, you roll a d20, I'll compare to your INT or WIS score, and we'll let the dice determine outcome. Pretty close to some of the later editions.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 26):

I have all of the books, just don't have them all memorized! ;-) UA, Wilderness and Dungeoneering, I'll check them out. You should be able to get PDFs of them yet, not sure what they sell them for. I buy some now and then, I used to get the free when I downloaded ;-) Don't do that no more though.

I bought hard backs of all of them off of ebay and Amazon several years ago when folks weren't insane thinking their poor condition book was worth $100. Most of mine are VG to NM.

In reply to Ulrich Aelgrimm (msg # 27):

No electrum in your Greyhawk? Just need to do weapon proficiencies and non-weapon proficiencies. I'm a Frost Barbarian from the 'city' of Krakenheim. Allies to Ratik.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:59, Thu 11 June 2020.

No electrum. Only time I'd use electrum is a Greek setting. IIRC, that was an alloy that made up the metal of the drachma, which was the principal coin that was used for trade in Greece. It was also called green or white gold.

Not sure why, but last two days spent a lot of time on interesting facts. Check your PMs, please.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 29):

Electrum is a mix of gold and silver, naturally occurring as well as man made. It's real. Idid, sheet is done now, I'm a fisher and tanner and blacksmith. I use the long sword, bow, dagger and lance

Nice

Welcome to the psycho circus, Ulrich!

LOL! Yeah that's one way to look at it. FWIW: a lot of cross-pollination going on here. Most of the folks playing in this game have been with me for at least five or six years, some going back to 2008-9 when I first started gaming on Rpol.

Anyway, glad everyone's stepping up and welcoming Ulrich to the table.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week! ;-)

Don't forget to tip your servers...

In reply to The Seer (msg # 35):

I drop an electrum into his cup.

In reply to Ulrich Aelgrimm (msg # 36):

Sea monster with a horn to puncture the ship!

Hang tight folks - have some work I have to take care of today. I'll probably post tomorrow at some point.

No problem! We're traveling Upstate for the first time since February tomorrow (Friday) and intend to be away until next Thursday, but I should be able to post.

Happy Father's Day to all, in keeping with the situation!

I will be offline most of the day.

In reply to Kullonar (msg # 40):

I'll be online twiddling my thumbs as no one else is here.

Au contraire. I'm always here and watching...

mwahahahahahah!

A pale shade of Vincent Price caresses my ears.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 42):

Always loved Vincent Price and Peter Lorre!

Oh yeah! Peter Lorre was great too.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 44):

The Maltese Falcon with Bogie was great, as were the Mr. Moto movies! He made near half a dozen movies with Bogie! Casablanca, Run With the Devil were a couple. Sidney Greenstreet, the fat man from the Maltese Falcon was awesome too.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:12, Sun 21 June 2020.

I took a course on film noir when I was in school. Pretty interesting, and gave me a better understanding of the genre - I was never a big fan of black and white until that course. Bogey was the man...everyone thinks of Casablanca, but there was so much more. African Queen, The Big Sleep, Treasure of Sierra Madre...on and on and on...good stuff. I liked a lot of the old actors - my Dad was a big fan of John Wayne - can't beat Rooster Cogburn when comes to the Duke (though Jeff Bridges did a pretty good rendition). Jimmy Stewart: fine actor and a General in the 8th Air Force in WWII...of course, if I talk about the leading men, got tip my cap the women of Hollywood: Liz Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Becall, Audrey Hepburn, on and on and on.  Makes for good conversation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Sun 21 June 2020.

Lauren Bacall, Bogie's widow, great actress. She was a teenager in their first movie(s) and Bogie was in a bad marriage. I could talk films and actors forever. Barbara Stanwyk was another female great, and Joan Crawford.

Heading to church, may post tonight. Happy Father's Day to those fathers out there. I miss mine - a good man and good father. RIP Dad.

Same to you, and everyone else.

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. Sometimes I wonder if I go too in depth.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 48):

My dad passed from cancer in Jan. 2000.

Lost my mom Jan. 1998 to cancer. They were 63 and 64 respectively. I'm now 59.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:55, Tue 23 June 2020.

A toast to Dad's present and past.

Here! Here!

Some items: Ulrich is the only one with a mount, unless someone wants to ride a mule.
Gregors is a 2nd level fighter and can hold his own, but should not be relied on as a primary combatant. The mules and donkeys are mountain bred, so they can find their way home if you're in a pinch. For each character that rides a mule/donkey take away one day of rations.

I'm sure more will come to me at some point. Time to gear up. Should be fun.

Sometimes you will see me bold a line when it's not really imperative to do so: some colors, like green, don't set up well on my computer...thus I bold it for easier reading.


Just a friendly fyi.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 55):

LANGUAGES (5): Dwarf, Common, Sueloise, Cold Tongue, Gnome.

The loss of 1 day's rations for a mount is understood by me and I think worth it. After all, we can still hunt if we need food, no -- seems like there's plenty of elk about? (And the fact that the mules will find their way back should something unfortunate happen to our guide, etc.)

How is this for a marching order:

Gregors -- Ulrich
Uthecar -- Bruno
Zan -- Gilden
Kullonar -- Myrrick

Gregors isn't front rank material. He can translate, he can track, he can set up camp...in other words, he's an effective go-fer. He's not really set up as a 2nd leveler to be in the front rank, and based upon how things have gone in the Land of Song, he'd probably run at the first sign of anything outside his norms. He would be comfortable in the back with the pack mules and such.

I need a roster of those who are walking vs. those who are riding.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 59):

Riding in front.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 58):

1. How many pack mules do we have?

2. If we're not mounted are we able to get snow shoes?

3. Is my assumption about our being able to hunt to supplement trail rations correct?

4. Edited marching order [We'd use this indoors as well]

Uthecar -- Ulrich
Bruno -- Gilden
Zan -- Kullonar
Gregors --  Myrrick

In reply to Bruno Rhunthane (msg # 61):

I have a mule and a hvy. warhorse, My mule is laden with a water barrel and a tent among other things.

Very few games I play in ever consider the iron rations held in backpacks are never really touched.  In one game I've had the same iron rations for more than 10 years RT.  Is this not to be the case going forward here?  Will we possibly face food shortages if we do not pay attention.  Sometimes details get overlooked, from what you are saying we should pay closer attention to this detail this time.

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 63):

He's saying pay attention to all details including encumbrance.

I'm in Mines of Nemrac too, Tern d'Guul
This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Wed 24 June 2020.

There are eight beasts of burden counting Ulrich's mule.

Yes, you all have snowshoes. I meant to add that to the earlier conversation when Gregors was pacing Uthecar and and Ulrich - that was an oversight on my part. Sorry!

It is conceivable that you could hunt, but the surroundings and nature of the campaign may not let you. If you do bring something down, that would give you one day additional rations.

In that case, Bruno will be on foot rather than on a mule.

Let's divide the Healing potions up as well.

Uthecar, Zan, Gliden, and Myrrick should each take one.

The rest of us can heal ourselves, if necessary.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:15, Thu 25 June 2020.

Kullonar is on foot.
If we run short on food, well, we have the mules.
A bit stringy but will suffice.

In reply to Kullonar (msg # 67):

Donner Pass. ;-) 1/2 orc on the half shell. hehehehehhehehehehe

Between Kullonar and Ulrich, I've laughed a lot today.

True story: I used to be a heavy sleeper (not so much anymore, sadly). I went through Boot Camp in the spring/summer of 1992 in the now defunct San Diego RTC (Recruit Training Center).

One of the things that makes California special are the earthquakes. There was a fairly substantial earthquake that registered about 5.5 in SD, but was a bit more (over 6) up the coast.

I slept through it - when they called muster, I was the only recruit who didn't show up. One of the company commanders had to come get me. The called me "Sleepy" for the remainder of my recruit training.

Good times...

Game on: roll initiatives d6 + dex modifier if you have one, then let me know your actions.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 71):

09:17, Today: Ulrich Aelgrimm rolled 6 using 1d6.  initiative.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 70):

I was born in Sacramento, CA and have a similar story to yours Storyteller about the 1975 Oroville earthquake, which was more distant from where I was than were you were in Diego, and I was only 9 years old at the time, but, yup, I too slept through a 5+ (5.9) earthquake.

I also recall several others that occured when I was awake and I just didn't notice. Which either speaks to my general obliviousness or that unless you're in the midst of something that's BIG it is easy to miss them.

Since when did we kick up the posting rate to twice A DAY??
Jeez. I'm gonna have to leave the page up and running and check in every few hours it seems to keep up....

I've always had a spark of cluelessness in me. My parents were very proud...LOL!

Unfortunately we have earthquakes all the time, like all the time, but most of them are insignificant.  A lot of us have the NZ Geonet earthquake app on our phones.  Mostly because if it reads as a 6 the office workers get to go home for the day.  Last earthquake 38 minutes ago but only 3.9, and the one before that 48 minutes ago but again only 3.1.  In the last week 39 earthquake but only one reaching 4.  Last week we had a 7.4, but it was 33km deep so only a light shake on the surface.  I miss most of them, but my wife in an office tower feels the building sway and sees the lights swing where they have hanging lights.

When we go to public events, whilst the fire exits are pointed out, it's the earthquake procedure that is talked about first.  At home we have an emergency spare water tank, and have an emergency grab and run kit ready to go.  I'm actually currently toying with the idea of putting in a second 5,000 litre spare tank currently.

You win. Hands down! LOL!

In all seriousness, that's a lot to deal with, but like Californians, it's a fact of life and you guys deal with it. On the east coast of the US, there is a fault along the Appalachian Trail (an old, old mountain range on the US eastern seaboard). It's pretty stable, but every now and again you get small hits. Not sure if Kullonar has had any hit's recently - the last one I remember was maybe five years ago, and it was small.

I believe Zan is marrying off his daughter this weekend, if I understand correctly. I'll go ahead and roll initiative for him: fyi.

Post coming tomorrow. Hope y'all having a good weekend.

Good morning!

I just posted spellcaster recovery rates in Game Rules thread for your convenience. One my reasons is the question of watch standing. Right now, it does not seem onerous for spellcasters to be part of a rotation. However, you guys have the right to set your own watches.

With that in mind, If you want to run duty sections yourselves, I need one of you to volunteer to be the official watch officer. I think what I've put together is pretty efficient. That said, y'all are going into combat, so that takes priority.

Zan's at his daughter's wedding. Gildan's last post was Wednesday, I'll roll initiative for both.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One Note: anyone in bed loses a round. That leaves Kullonar and Zan as the watch standers alert and awake. This attack occurred around 10:30pm.

Is there any chance that Bruno was still up (I will assume if Bruno is up, so Gildan and vice versa)?
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:02, Sun 28 June 2020.

Bruno does not need to replace or change his spells, but he would pray before he sleeps and upon waking. It stands to reason that he is either just falling to sleep or finishing his evening prayer at this point.

Thanks - you and Gildan can respond this round.

I just put up the rules for turning undead in the game rules section (top of the list of threads currently).

These are probably the most important of all the skills this party has in this campaign; please take some time to learn them if you don't already know them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:58, Mon 29 June 2020.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 83):

Thanks

Uthecar is never going to be helpful in turning , but I like those rules.

Should we roll for the next round yet?

Gildan, not yet, waiting on a couple folks - I'll give them through today.

The Area  of Effect of the Bless spell is 5" x 5".

This translates into 50' x 50', doesn't it? (I.e., "Indoors 1” equals 10 feet.")

[Playing this game makes me appreciate 5e's spells.]

You are absolutely correct, Bruno. My bad!

A reminder: everyone go ahead and roll your dice, to hit + dmg. I'll clean up my guys on the back end and post a recap round by round. Most of you know this is how I do things, but Ulrich is new member, so I am posting it for his benefit.

I need to get you guys squared away.

Round one: only Bruno, Gildan, Kullonar and Zan took actions. The rest of you were asleep, meditating, etc. Those of you in such a state, could take action in the second round. I am going to try to organize this for you in the game thread.

I need everyone to focus on message 171 in the main thread. That's official start of combat. In that round, 4 characters declared actions.

The second round, which is upon us, saw the rest of the party declaring actions. That's where we stand. I'm going to strike thru passages that don't belong.

Love it! Keep calling the bad guys out...you ain't afraid of them!

Awesome stuff.

Bless is one of those sneaky good spells that makes a big difference over the course of a battle. This was a good primer for what comes next. Happily for you guys, I rolled shit for every one of my attacks this round. I'll pick up the pieces and get a recap going shortly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:20, Tue 07 July 2020.

XP Awards are up in the Rewards thread at the top of the list.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 95):

Thanks!

I'll do my best to share maps where appropriate. Some of the DM maps have a lot of details that players don't need to know until they get to certain places in the module.

FYI.

If you haven't taken it already, XP's were awarded. FYI!

:)

I'll be starting a new thread for the next chapter of the adventure. And closing the prior one. FYI.

I left my Handbook in my office when they sent us all home temporarily-permanently in mid-March. So I don't have access to a bunch of rules. Can anyone give me the experience-level advancement table for a ranger?

1 - 0-2250
2 - 2251-4500
3 - 4501-10000
4 - 10001-20000
5 - 20001-40000
6 - 40001-90000
7 - 90001-150000
8 - 150001-225000
9 - 225001-325000
10 - 325001-650000
11 - 650001-975000
12 - 975001-1300000

Awesome, thanks.

Keep me informed on that, Gildan. If you get stuck, I've got PDFs of most the manuals. Shoot me a PM if you need anything.

Thanks for the assist, Ulrich!

In reply to Gildan Stalker (msg # 102):

Thats AD&D 1st ed PHB.

Gang, the official map is on the game map tab, just below Game Preferences. You're going to notice two things: first, it's a big map. Second, outside of the tree, the waterfall and the stream, there's absolutely nothing else noted.

We're gonna carve that map into a piece of art...or die trying. Probably the latter. LOL.

Housekeeping: I will not be counting arrows, quarrels, sling stones and any other weapon that requires flight to cause damage (that includes daggers). I do expect that you will count your missile tallies. Rule of thumb: for every two missiles loosed, one will be damaged. However, if there's a bowyer in the party (Gregors is FYI), he can take broken arrows and use the raw materials to craft new ones. Unfortunately, that does not apply to sling stones, daggers and other thrown weapons.

Suggestion: You guys need to start communicating with one another. You are in hostile territory. Things are going to start happening: tis better to be proactive than reactive.

Just a friendly little reminder!

:)

Updated game map is up for your review. You will have to scroll up and down, but both mounds are showing now. My next effort I'll try to make easier for you to see...

Suggested marching order for single file (I realized we'd not done one already):

Uthecar
Bruno
Gilden
Ulrich
Zan
Kullonar
Myrrick

My thinking here is that Gilden can shoot over Bruno and Uthecar, and this splits the Healers up so that both halves of the party are covered.

It looks good to me.

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 110):

Fine with me.

Zan can scout ahead at times when needed.

Oh, that's just awesome...

I am going to wait to post until at least most of you have logged in.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 114):

Just wanted you to know Seer I'm enjoying myself immensely!

I'm glad you're having fun. Hopefully your still alive after this encounter. LOL!

same... lol

was hoping to get this party started, but I think I'll postpone for the time being. Entering the busy season for me right now and honestly, I'm pretty tired. Till tomorrow then.

Waiting on Zan's action. Also need Gildan redo his actions given the cramped space.

Undead? Or Abyssal/Infernal larvae of some kind?

That's a good question.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:39, Fri 17 July 2020.

TGIF: long week. Got the most important certification done to qualify to sell Medicare, so that is a load off my back. Taking today off: next week I'll try to punch out the other cert's I need...get it all done at once.

I'm on Medicare. Disability.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:40, Fri 17 July 2020.

It's the one entitlement that I truly believe in. Great program. Can't really go wrong with either a supplement or an advantage plan. My tuppence.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 123):

Aetna as a supplement/advantage.

Aetna's one of the companies I represent. Cigna, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Humana, several others, along with a bunch of drug plans.

I am thinking about codifying the critical hit/fumble rules. The way I currently do it is if you fumble, you lose a turn. If you roll a natty 20 you calculate your damage x2 - and I haven't been completely consistent with that.

So, intrepid characters, how would you do Crit rolls/fumbles?

To my mind this is a generous (re: GOOD) approach to 1s&20s.

I'm easy with it as long as the same rule is applied to opponents, and as you describe it, it's easy to work and we all know what is going to happen.  I'm not generally a fan of criticals and fumbles since they can alter the game quite dramatically both for and against.  They certainly add a realism element and I think they are generally seen as an ad hoc rule that players like.

Having been an insurance adviser in a previous life, and therefore always looking to manage the down side, I see the rule as being skewered towards monster since they more often have multiple attacks and therefore are rolling the to hit dice more often.  A fumble when you're using claws and jaws is no real biggie, but a chance of a double damage coming up more often will have a greater impact on character survival than most players stop to consider.

I'm willing to bet, like me, most players consider the upside of us throwing a 20 more than they consider the downside of an opponent throwing a 20, but in actual fact if we looked at the probability of our opponents throwing a 20 compared to our own chance of throwing a 20, doing away with the rule altogether would be in our best interest.

I agree with Uthecar.

Back in the old days...when I was running my 2E campaign, a "20" meant double damage > say a fighter hit with a longsword, then the player would roll his d8 and double whatever the roll was.
And a roll of a "1" meant you had to roll again; if you rolled anything other than a "1" it was a really bad miss. If you rolled another "1" it usually meant you broke your sword or damaged your weapon in some way.
We also had a critical & fumble chart (I think we got it from DRAGON mag) that we used sometimes and that shit was brutal.

So...after rambling on about it, in my game if you roll a "20" you roll twice for damage.
And I think (Seer, correct me if I'm wrong), a roll of a "1" means you drop or fumble your weapon.

Good evening. The application of insurance principals adds a unique perspective to the discussion. I appreciate that aspect - as most of you know I am an insurance agent (albeit an insurance agent who writes Life/Accident and Health, not home and auto).

One of the trademarks, if you will, of 5th edition is their tweaking of the critical role rule so that it is ostensibly harder to get a critical - I think you have to succeed in a follow up roll following the crit.

Anyway, one of the great delights of playing DnD, at least for me, is knocking down a Natty 20. And while I see the argument regarding say, a ghoul that gets three attacks, generally speaking, players, due to inflated stats, offset that. Anyone who ever rolled up a first edition ranger with even modest stats was a guaranteed to be overpowered as compared to your run of the mill fighter. Throw in magic weapons, and all of a sudden the table has turned.

What I'm looking for is fair way to reward someone for hitting that one in twenty shot at glory, while not overturning the entire apple cart.

Good conversation - I'm going to bed. LOL.

You're wrong about 5e's Criticals, Seer. A Critical is a natural 20. (House rules may vary, of course, but in the rules a Critical attack doubles the unmodified Damage Dice [so total damage would be damage dice x 2 + modifiers.)

I'm ambivalent about this stuff in this game, because I trust that you're out to tell a good story and from what we've seen in this game you are clearly not a 'player hunter'. (Unless I'm forgetting someone [mea culpa] the only characters to die so far have been NPCs.)

So, I'm happy to go with that first system you laid out, because it's simple and will give opportunity for impact in the story.

Just read the 5e rules. Mea culpa. Teach me to open my mouth.


I think that Max damage is a fair alternative. While not as sexy as x2, rolling 8 points damage with a long sword + ability modifier is a fair shake. There are a couple of you that have some STRONG modifiers that make up for multiple attacks by monsters/opponents.

By the same token, a fumble causes you to lose a turn.

I'll post it in the rules thread.

Speaking of Mea Culpa:

I have a confession to make. In my rules it clearly states that I do not allow specialization. It is one of the first things I set down when putting this game together.

Unfortunately, I broke my own rules. I allowed one player specialization. I think I have a solution to my stupidity, but I'm waiting on the player in question to reply to my PM.

I promised everyone that I would be as fair as possible. I do humbly apologize - it was a mistake, but an honest one. I'll let you know how things progress. Hopefully it won't be an issue with that player.

Regards,
Mike

Oops maybe two players Seer.  Uthecar also has specialisation with his axe as well, unless I've missed a PM from you.  I like the boost in the to hit and damage rolls, but I'm cool to drop them if that's the rule.

I'll come up with something. Give me a couple days. In the meantime, the show must go on.

At the time I started this adventure, my rationale for not allowing weapon specialization was that it tilted the playing field too much on the players' side. Specifically, archers/rangers have a tremendous advantage w/ specialization, whereas the 'tanks' and magic users of all stripes have but a modest bump, if any at all.

With that in mind, and based upon this group's track record, and the nature of this game, I don't feel a ton of pressure to change things up at this point. If those of you who weren't offered weapon specialization feel left out, I would point out some of the 'free gifts' that I've offered to buff you guys a bit, going back to the Quesqueton adventure. That doensn't excuse the lack of attention to detail on  my part, but all of you should note that I am a generous DM when you guys play well. And you guys mostly play well.

I feel terrible about it. I really do. But we're mid-stream now in this adventure. I suppose I could do a restart if I get a lot feedback, but in truth I hope it doesn't come to that. I also hope this is my final mea culpa. Probably not though. But I promise to continue working as hard as I have to make this adventure fun and exciting all the way to the end of the 4th module.

Thanks for understanding and please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions vis PMs.

Regards,
Mike

I appreciate the thinking you've put into this, Seer. I like what you've given Bruno and do not feel badly that somebody else may have a specialization or anything else that I don't know about or wasn't given access to. It seems to me as if you've been even-handed in how you've given these benefices or whatever and until it came up today it never occurred to me to think about whether or not I'd been given 'enough'.

Oh, and trust me, what you're reading in this post isn't the response of one who's obvlivious or disinterested in getting whatever I think I ought to have gotten access to!  ;)

I'm happy and if others have more or less than I then I don't need to know about it.  I certainly do not feel that Uthecar is lacking.  You do not seem like a DM that would give more to one than another in a bais manner.

Can't believe the amount of damage the larva & hounds did over the course of that melee. I haven't rolled so well ever, maybe? I kept getting 18s and 19s, a couple 17s for good measure. I wish my characters would roll so well!!!

Waiting on some players to check in. I'll start gently prodding tomorrow to push things along.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 141):

I'll grab my sword and head for Myrrick when it is my turn. Too many actions going on for me now, not sure when my turn is. Dementia maybe. ;-)

Man, I'm having fun! The challenge is about to ratchet up in a big way. Good luck, guys.

Oh thanks! I think it is tough already! ;-)

This is one of the toughest adventures your ever gonna see.

On that note...the foe, which some of you can probably guess, only gets one attack...but it's if it hits, it's a big deal. I don't typically randomize who gets attacked: usually it is fairly straight forward based upon location of players and opponents. In this case, it's random roll - I felt that was the fairest way to do this. Each round, I'm going to randomly roll again to make it as fair as possible.

Good times! LOL!

Undead? or just evil?

Both undead and evil

Since I can't sleep, I figured I'd offer up some nice thoughts to all of you today. August will mark the 4 year anniversary of this adventure. As with other games I've DM'd, this one has a unique pulse to it. Some of that has to do with the unabashedly demi-human feel (though we welcome Ulrich, the lone human, to the campaign).

One of the best parts of this game is that we don't waste much time. Posting rates are fast & furious during combat, but I think I've done a decent job giving you time to recover after each encounter. What I mean is that we all have real life to contend with - I purposely try to  slow things down after each encounter so that you guys don't feel like you have to post every day.

Anyway, another opportunity for me say thanks for playing. I'm enjoying this adventure a lot. Good luck through the rest of this combat and beyond!

I can post every day, sadly, everyone else can't. I'm enjoying it so far!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Sat 25 July 2020.

I'm glad! It's been a blast for me so far, as well.

Some housekeeping: I gave individual status updates to each of you who have taken wounds. I don't normally do that, but in the heat of battle, when you have to make split decisions, I thought it would be helpful. Both Gildan and Zan are full strength.

Have to share this with you: when I rolled for both the wraith and the hound, I rolled a 6 and I rolled a natural 20. The 6 was the wraith, the 20 was the dog. Had Myrrick gotten the 20, he would've been a mini me wraith. Ah, fortune, you bathe me in light, then shroud me in darkness...

Round six, coming up! LOL!

Here's to our near-anniversary!

This game has been great for me not only because it's been consistently good and ongoing, but I've been able to evolve my Bruno's character concept and I've appreciated the feedback, etc. you've offered, Seer.

Here's to something good that's going in 2020! ;)

I'm actually amazed at the level of play in this game. There are some kinks to work out: Torin's gonna have his say when you guys get back to the keep for sure. But, by and large, this a tough, veteran group that has played VERY well.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:43, Sat 25 July 2020.

A lot of times as DM, I ask myself: what would I do as a player?

The way I see it is that you have two choices:

1- you can retreat and reconvene out in the sunlight where the wraith can't hurt you

or

2- you can offset the lack of usable weapons by redistributing the five vials of holy water that Kullonar has and the five vials that Bruno has to the other characters.

Retreating will give the wraith one final attack in its lair.

Distributing is the higher risk, higher reward option and potentially could net the party an additional 80 points of damage IF you all hit (and keep in mind the potential for splashes that are partial hits). Even if only two vials hit, damage could be as much as 16 points. BUT, the entire party would give up their turns, as Bruno and Kullonar pass out vials of holy water. Still, worst case, the Wraith can only hit you once in that time.

Since Kullonar and Bruno have magic weapons, each of the other characters would get 2 vials of holy water - that's two melee rounds of attacking the wraith. It would be a bold move.

Oh, one other thing: I looked at every character sheet. The only two who had holy water were Kullonar and Bruno. That is an oversight that needs to be remedied. There should be at least 5 vials of holy water per character.

Just some suggestions, FYI.

Oh, one final note: both dogs and all larva are dead. It's just you vs. the wraith.

On the one hand I hear (see) what you are saying Seer, but on the other Uthecar is about to fall into full on battle rage so backing out and thinking coherently is not something he's about to do.  It might be his death (shrugs) but that sometimes how things happen.

EDITED, BECAUSE I SENT THE WRONG POST ORIGINALLY

I can't recall from  AD&D whether I may both pass a flask of H20 to an ally AND throw one myself in the same round?

Since the our Ulrich and Uthecar are pressing the attack I figure the one advantage we've got  this round is a bit of distance between the monster and us.

So, at least Kullonar and I could throw a flask of HH2O, Gildan fire arrows, and Zan use that glorious wand again. If Myrrick could also toss a flask that would be handy too.

Or maybe one of us clerics, whomever is closest to Myrrick and the door, could take him outside and heal him while the rest of us press the attack?

Part of the problem here is how tight our space is and it would help the situation generally if there were fewer of us in the room. Right?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Sun 26 July 2020.

I only turn as a second level cleric, not high enough for a wraith.

Howdy!

Regarding passing around vials of holy water: you can pass them to the other party members - that would be a full round for the entire party. You would not get a combat action, however, for that round.

As for your game plan, the issue is still the enviriroment. Extremely close quarters, Churned up larva guts mixing with a dirt floor which makes things slippery, partially collapsed tunnels and an assailant that's incorporeal and can escape through the walls and is twice as fast as 5 of the 7 party members.

And as for charging, who is charging, what kind weapon are they using, is it silver or magical...is it a 'long/large weapon? I am factoring that in as well.

Now, all that to say this: Ultimately it comes down to the dice roller. As always: Good luck!

Uthecar has roiled his dice.  He's fighting with the battle axe now.  It's +2 against creatures that can't be hit by normal weapons.  He won't necessarily be swinging it since there isn't enough room, but that doesn't mean he can't force the blade into the creature and slice or saw it up.

Go for it! Love the dwarven moxie!

In reply to The Seer (msg # 160):

Happy Birthday Gary Gygax!

Wonder what we'd be doing if he never founded TSR...

I'd be playing Traveller.

I'm really confused as to what we're doing and what round we're in...I'm fucking lost.

Just keep fighting, just keep fighting....

Me too, had to have the DM let me know when to lay on hands on Myrrick.

I will try to address the confusion:

This is Round 6.

1- all larva are dead
2- both dogs are dead.
3- the wraith is not dead, it rolled a 6 for initiative, tying with Bruno.
4- Initiative for the rest of the party is as follows:

Kullonar and Uthecar (both rolled 5)
Myrrick, Zan and Ulrich all rolled 4s
Gildan rolled a 2 (I rolled for him).

At this point in combat, only the wraith has taken it's turn. Now I'm waiting on your characters to respond.

Part of the confusion comes from the suggestion I made. I was premature with that - it should have been offered after the combat.

At this moment, it is the party's turn, starting with Bruno. I hope that helps. Good luck!

Good morning. Just spent a bit of time with my coffee perusing the round 6 thread. There were a lot of extraneous posts that gummed up the works a bit. When there's confusion, don't throw gas on the fire (so to speak). PM me or use the OOC thread to ask for clarification. Don't assume that I know there's a problem. The first 5 rounds went fine.

Hopefully we can back on track this week.

As always, thank you for playing.

Just because I got confused doesn't mean I wasn't enjoying myself! I am! ;-)

I had a ton of fun refereeing this combat. The first five rounds were wild. Really thought you guys were in trouble. Some bumps and bruises in that 6th round, but ultimate you guys put enough of a hurting on the wraith that Uthecar could administer the death blow.

A post is up in the in character thread. Some nice prizes for the party awaits.

Uthecar wasn't worried, all was in hand.  To be fair he's pretty beat up so some curing would be helpful.

pm
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:08, Tue 28 July 2020.

I updated my post in character - re: potions of healing.

I believe the potions were distributed as follows: Uthecar, Ulrich, Myrrick & Gildan.

I don't recall, what is the rule on elves needing to rest in 1e? Since we're so time-limited, could Gildan try and scout the area (without triggering an attack!!) and see if he can figure out where to go from here for the most impact?

Is there room to stand in the barrow now?

Rest for elves is about four hours. Elven spellcasters have to abide by spellcaster rules, however.

The barrow is the same size, but you guys aren't faced with attacking combatants anymore.

Experience has been awarded in the rewards thread (top of the list). I've also added the treasure from the mound to that post for those interested.

That was fun combat for me. I really enjoyed it a lot. I'm looking forward to the next one.

I have one question: Are you continuing to explore, or are you going back to the secure area and Gregors?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:35, Thu 30 July 2020.

Did I detect more evil in the mound when I detected evil?

I say go back to Gregors for the night. We're half done, one barrow checked, one to go.

There's a lot more than one barrow to go, my friend. LOL!!!!

As far as you question goes, it's like a flashlight that slowly dims. You can tell there WAS evil in the mound, but it feels like it is waning.

MORE! How much time we got? Not enough.

I agree, Ulrich. It seems to me that our mission here isn't to investigate every barrow, but investige how far gone this entire aread is.

Does this make sense, Seer? Otherwise, it does seem to be a weirdly open-ended mission without definite instruction and a pre-set very tight deadline.

Good question, fellas.

It is open-ended enough to give you freedom of choice and movement, but there are defined NPC foes that you have to defeat in order to get to the next module. The one thing I would suggest is don't automatically cross the stream to the next mound. Cairns and tombs line the walls of cliffs overlooking the vale. Unless you're very lucky, you're going to spend of time exploring various caves and tombs until you get to the big fish.

Does masterwork quality have any effect on weapons in 1e?

There are no intrinsic attributes like you see with other DnD editions. Looking at it from my perspective, I'll say that as Masterwork blades, they can be made magical. You'd need an 11th level Mage to get it done. It would cost about 2500g to make a +1 Sword. Double it for +2, triple +3, etc.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:32, Fri 31 July 2020.

Hat tip to the party: you guys are playing it as you see it. I'm impressed. As a measure of my respect, you each get a +1 bonus to hit, damage and saving throws for the next 24 hours. This bonus also is instilled into your weapons, so that if your weapon is non magical, for the 24 hours, it becomes magical (like the spell 'Enchant a Weapon.')

I've been playing dungeons and dragons since 1980 and I have NEVER seen a party turn down loot. Along with that boon, there will also be an 500XP award whenever you guys head back to Gregor's Redoubt. By the way: I've been struggling to find a good description of Gregor's hidey hole. I think I found it: Gregor's Redoubt definitely fits the bill.

The gods of the Land of Song are pleased! Ooo-Ahh!
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:52, Fri 31 July 2020.

To be fair when has a party ever had to promise not to take loot before to get a job?

Currently we have a pretty broad definition of what grave robbing entails and we ought to look for something that works better for us.

One way to look at it might be weapons and equipment used against us have already be disturbed and desecrated, but those that remain untouched should be left as they are.

I would postulate that is a better definition than the one we are using, because the one we are using is going to keep us weak which is going to get us killed eventually.

Things always take a different turn when paladins are about, but being a Paladin doesn't make a player blind to the game dynamics of what is required to win in ADND.  Yes I said win.  I always remember looking up at parents who were bringing in food and rolling our eyes as we lay on the floor playing and they always asked "Who's winning?"

Just THESE graves because we were told not to. Others are fair game though.

We could take a sword the wraith used, but not from the bier.

Just a clarification because I'm not sure everyone understands this: Wraiths are incorporeal. The cannot carry weapons, they can fly through walls, etc. In dark spaces they are effectively invisible and they level drain. Typically wraiths exist on the negative material plane, but sometimes they are sent to the prime material plane to wreak some havoc. Just a friendly fyi.

Good morning: Not sure if you guys saw the Rewards thread. The list of treasure is there, along with your XP awards. There are some items that need further investigation (detect magic and identify).

This is a pretty fair haul for you guys - Remember, the bag of holding is a small one so you may want to allocate the bag for just coin and gems and have everyone take on a share of loot to carry. If someone is adept at math, they could do me a solid and calculate an estimated weight and size amount for the bag. It's been thirty years since I did quadratic equations...LOL.

:p

One final note: Alfbrand sits atop the prone remains of Folke, there for the taking.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:27, Tue 04 Aug 2020.

DOH! Looking at my spell list yesterday considering which spells I would take to replace those I used I thought, Well, aside from Bless... I can't think of any other spell to take."

Then I paused, "Wait... There's another I SHOULD take...."

And I had another cup of coffee and totally forgot about it.

In short: I failed to take Detect Magic. Mea culpa!

Sorry, I forgot to mumble about the Bag of Holding...

I had the time, so I took it upon myself to discover a pdf of the DM's Guide:

Bag of Holding: As with other magic bogs, this one appears to be a
common cloth sack of about 2' X 4' size. The bag of holding opens into a
non-dimensional space, and its inside is larger than its outside dimensions.
Regardless of what is put into this item, the bag of holding always weighs
a fixed amount. This weight, the bag's weight limit in contents, and its
volume content are dependent upon its quality as shown below:

TREASURE (MISCELLANE0US MAGlC)
Dice Weight Weight limit Volume limit
01 -30 15 pounds 250 pounds 30 cubic feet
31 -70 15 pounds 500 pounds 70 cubic feet
71 -90 35 pounds 1.000 pounds 150 cubic feet
91 -00 60 pounds 1,500 pounds 250 cubic feet

If overloaded, or sharp obiects are placed within so as to pierce it, the bag
will rupture and be ruined, and the contents will be lost forever in the
vortices of nilspoce.

As I recall a 1 GP = 1/10th pound, so 1000 = 10 pounds. This means that smallest bag could hold up to 2,500 coins or things as large as 30 cubic feet with a total weight of 250 pounds...

So, since the Longswords are sheathed we could put them in the bag safely and they weigh 6 pounds + sheath (1 lb?) [42 lbs tot.] + 6 Shields ? pounds [60 lbs tot?] + Torc ? + Cloak (3 lbs?) + Crockpots (?)

It seems like we'd be able to put almost everything including the Harp w/o removing the gems into the smallest Bag of Holding -- it would be quite full, but still. (I think Gildan may have already laid claim to one of the fancy swords, so that's one less into the bag.)

The unique items might be worn by some volunteer [I'm sort of interested in the cloak, but since it's human sized I think that puts us dwarves out of the vote] with the caveat that Alfbrand and the horn, when we find it, will be returned to the Jarl and possession of anything else taken right now will be finalized at the end of the adventure.

Towards that end I'll post this IC, but I think Myrrick should wield the Alfbrand for now.

I will have a post up tonight.

FYI: Kullonar is having issues with his internet since the storm came through - not sure how long he's going to be out of commission. I don't think it'll be too long, but if it is for an extended time, I'll NPC him as necessary. In the meantime, keep him in your prayers.

Thank you for the heads up. I love my fellow gamers on here and worry about them.

Me too!

Appreciate the good thoughts > back in action and playing catch up.

It gets my vote.

is Myrrick in the room to be able to attack?

Regarding attempts to do actions that aren't necessarily spelled out in the rulebooks: My fallback is to use abilities to roll for success/failure. That comes from the Wilderness and Dungeon Survival guides, which did incorporate ability checks long before the d20 system came about (actually both manuals laid the groundwork for the d20 system).

Anyway, if you have to roll for something outside your norm purview, I will determine what kind of bonus/penalty is involved based upon the attribute that's most appropriate to the situation.

And when in doubt, ask me.

Regarding turning:

If after a cleric successfully turns and undead creature, another character then threatens the undead creature, it cancels out the initial turning. Furthermore, that cleric cannot then try to turn the undead again. Just an fyi as you guys plan.

After further research, this is incorrect. Sorry for the confusion. I don't know if I was looking at a different edition or what. Mea Culpa. I gotta stop metagaming and get my shit together. Seriously.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:57, Thu 13 Aug 2020.

By ‘threaten’ you mean ‘damage’, yes.

I mean, if Bruno yells out, ”I will destroy you!”, wouldn’t do anything; however, if he shot a quarrel at one and hit, or charged them as they ran away and did damage, that would snap it out of its ‘fear’... Right?

Yes: any overt action that could be construed as threatening will break the turning. I sent you a PM by the way. I think I answered your questions. If not, let me know.

You answer my question in the PM -- thanks!

But you didn't really answer my question here: how is a terrified undead creature 'construing' anything?

My historic reading of the rule on this is that if the characters ATTACK a Turned undead creature that breaks the influence of the Turning. So, simply moving near one would not do so...

That's what you mean?

Wouldn't it just be the priest turning the creature?  I'm not sure just questioning.  One free attack possibly at +4 is probably allowed at least?  Just a question again.

I've updated message 200 for your review.

Turning Undead:

From the Players Handbook:

Clerics are empowered with the ability to turn away undead creatures, as
well as certain lesser demons, devils, godlings and paladins through the
power of their profession and holy/unholy symbols. The cleric's level of
experience dictates the level of success he or she can expect to achieve in
this action. As level of experience increases, the cleric is actually able to
destroy undead by the power of his or her religion; or in the case of evil
clerics, destroy or command to service such undead if they are of the same alignment
as the cleric, or neutral such as skeletons or zombies.

Success also depends on opportunity, of course. The cleric must be in a position to
step before the undead, and he or she must have time to speak and hold
forth the religious symbol in order to turn (or command) undead, and this
of course precludes other spell activity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, an esoteric 1st edition D&D discussion: In holding forth their holy symbol, a cleric can turn multiple undead by making their rolls. However, my sense is that you cannot turn an undead and then walk away - this is especially true for higher level undead like the wraith from your prior day's adventure. What's your take?
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:19, Thu 13 Aug 2020.

You can probably tell how annoyed I am with myself. Anyway, I figured out where I got the impression that threatening turned undead was a thing...I pulled out my 3.5 books and sure enough, it specifically says that if you attack, the undead break the cleric's hold on them.

So, cross pollination notwithstanding, I did indeed recall correctly my assumption. Unfortunately, it was the wrong edition.

Ugh! LOL!

You can't leave and you can't attack as the turning cleric. The others can attack though!

That's sort of my take on it, but in thinking about it, I would say it is more a case of their imminent destruction overcoming their fear of the cleric's strongly presented holy symbol.  Possibly the mindless undead would cower until the first attack upon their person, whilst others of their ilk would continue to cower until they were personally attacked.  (1st attack at +4 then normal and the other undead still cower until personally attacked)

The more intelligent undead would act differently if there were a group of them and I would postulate that the immediate threat of attack was more threatening than the strongly presented holy symbol and they would decide to act against the creatures attacking them, if not against the cleric him/herself.  The act of attacking them would cause them to snap out of their 'turning' fear almost forgetting the cleric and the holy symbol for the more immediate danger.  (+4 on first attack then normal and possibly the act of attacking would break the turning fear for the whole group of undead if they were all intelligent.)

Is that reasonable? Discuss?

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 209):

Sounds reasonable. HOUSE RULE ;-)

Uthecar: I'm not sure where you're getting +4 from? Are you assuming a helpless target?

My take: if an undead is at least semi-intelligent, they are going to do what they can to stay out of harms way, up to and including countering an attack. Now, the first edition rules don't seem to bear that out, so I'm forced to play the hand as dealt. Add to that: both Kullonar and Ulrich had excellent rolls turning undead. So any presumption on my part regarding how the Shadows are going to behave has to be consistent with the rolls of the dice which tell me that your characters deserve to enjoy their success.

So, if you delve further into the chamber, the shadows will do everything they can to maintain their existence short of a counter attack. At least that's how I see it.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 211):

That sounds even BETTER! ;-) I did roll a 20!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:29, Thu 13 Aug 2020.

My take has always been that the Cleric presents their holy symbol and those Undead that fail their saves are Turned. If the fleeing Undead are attacked, they're no longer turned.

The round in which the Cleric attempts to Turn that is the sole action they may take. The next round the Cleric may take a new action.

I did play a cleric in my 'final' AD&D game (granted this was 35+ years ago) and in the years I don't recall the Cleric having to stand presenting their symbol beyond THAT round. (In fact, this is what we've done every other time we've turned undead in this game, isn't it?)

That said, I'm happy to go along with whatever you say, Seer.

In reply to Bruno Rhunthane (msg # 213):

The cleric has to continue to present and concentrate to maintain the turn is how I always played it.

Seer is the final arbiter!

Yes a helpless cowering target too scared to even look in the direction of the cleric and his party hence the +4.  They are fleeing at their fastest rate away from the cleric or cowering in absolute horror from the good after all.  I see it like a torch being shined into your eyes, you naturally close your eye or look away.

Honestly, I'm just trying to define the rule so I can be consistent from once encounter to the next. That's why I was so aggravated. I don't like inconsistency.

I think the presentation of the holy symbol is an important part of attempt to turn undead, and allows for the cleric to engage the fleeing undead while the rest of the party can move about unmolested.

That's how I'm going to play it moving forward.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 216):

Okay.

I'm okay with that.

works for me

Hey, everyone, I'm back. Are we attacking the shadows? I'm unclear from the text. Gildan will always want to destroy undead if given a chance.

In reply to Gildan Stalker (msg # 220):

Ulrich is.

As is Uthecar

I'll put a map together for you guys that will help expedite your journey. Probably sometime this weekend?

In the meantime, keep on truckin'.

Head for the next mound or the first niche, detecting evil occasionally as I go.

You probably want to post that in the game menu. Not everyone looks at the OOC.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 225):

Sorry, wrong thread.

Good evening: some housekeeping items. I've updated the map and moved it to two places in the

The first map is attached to the Game Map to the right of the Dice Roller. I also added the same map to the Notices (beneath the character records). That map is easier to read without having to scroll left and right. So pick your poison.

The biggest difference between the initial map are the red dots. These dots indicate that something is there. Perhaps it is an encounter, perhaps not, but it's on the map.

Holler at me with questions, if you have any.

And yes, that is the height of my artistic license. I was never meant to draw...

:p

Thanks for the maps! Is the 'barrow' that is colored entirely in green the one we are just leaving?

If it's not, could you let us know which one is?

You are correct, and the big green mound is the wraith mound, the smaller one is the shadow mound.

So.... I don't know about anyone else, but I feel a bit overwhelmed at this point.

I appreciate Ulrich's latest post about intending to move in the direction that the evil is strongest, but that really doesn't seem like it'll be very effective given that I can't recall the Storyteller ever really saying anything about the amount of evil detected except when we got to this latest mound when we were told only upon arrival and investigation that you detected very little of it.

Storyteller, can you give a bit of guidance? As far as I can tell....

We know that there are clues, enemies, etc. in the caves, etc. that surround the valley we're now in. The Tomb of Teodor has been offered as an additional resting place we might use at some point, but we've been given no guidance as to where it actually lays, or if there is any useful info there as well as healing if needed. (An odd thing to complain about, I know!)

So, it seems to me that it's really up to us to decide what direction to head into and no direction at this time seems more useful than any other.

If this is the case, then I suggest we head to the red dot nearest the mound we have just left and then travel 'left' or 'west/northwest', which will take us back in the direction of our camp. It may be that we have to head back the camp before hitting each dot in the chain above, but my thinking is that we'd continue to investigate north and once we've looked into everything there start again at the northeast side of the map and work south.

Or maybe I've misunderstood your intent with the red dots?

Good point!

Think of it as a video game, where you have quests, side quests and random encounters. The red dots are placed to indicate 'something' is there. That doesn't mean that there aren't encounters where no red dots exists, but you are more likely to come across something where a red dot sits.

As for the detect evil that Ulgrim possesses, when the party arrived at the third mound, he felt a noticeable absence of evil in his range, specific to that ability. He felt the lack of evil, if you will.

I hope that helps.

Ulrich leads the way to the closest red dot, behind the mound.

Ah, Rpol's back. What the hell was that?

Anyway, first thing: let's make sure that we are posting OOC comments in the OOC thread and In character comments in the game thread. Easier for me to keep track. Thanks in advance.

I'll get in the swing of things today. Felt like it was a holiday from RPol or some such. Weird how often this site goes down.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 234):

Server issues.

That figures. Hope you guys had something else to keep you occupied during the down time.

:)

In reply to The Seer (msg # 236):

I was checking rpol every 2 to 5 minutes all day. Really sucked!

Question about the game map; are we in the upper left hand corner to start with? Or down near the blue circle in the bottom right?

Gildan, right now the party is right below the green blob that's colored in on the map. That's where Nimae is.

The red dot below and to the left is something, as are the two red dots below and to the right. The last one sits on the shore of the lake.

Basically there are three red dots under consideration.

Bruno: that makes sense. I'm going to pause a moment - let's see if we can get a couple other characters involved. I'd like to get this moving along with more than half the party in attendance before we get too far ahead of ourselves.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 240):

Sounds good, can't leave everyone behind.

I need some feedback from you guys. Do I need to slow this down? One of the great DM's on Rpol sticks to a very narrowly defined schedule of posting: He posts once a week.

Is that something that would appeal to all of you? I like waking up and opening Rpol and seeing what's going on, but I know that not everyone is as fortunate as I am to be able to play while I work.

I want to make this a series of adventures that you guys will always remember. In effort to make it so, I'm going pause this game until I get feedback from all of you. I want this to be fun for everyone. One of the ways I can do that is to make sure everyone gets a turn at the dicing table.

You guys make this game go around. I'm nothing more than a facilitator. Help me make this the story you guys want it to be.

Thanks!

The Seer
August, 2020
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 15:07, Wed 26 Aug 2020.

I'm enjoying myself, I can and do post at least once a day, not everyone can. I don't mind holding up for 2 or 3 posts a week so more folks can take part if you want. I can post, I just get confused sometimes, I'm in 31 games.

I have never had a problem with the 'speed' of this game.

I've seen Ulrich's post here and agree with him regarding post speed. I'm in fewer games than he, but I know that my schedule isn't certain, so it's good to know that if I do miss a few days I won't be punished.

Seer I'm hanging in here, but the honest truth is I'm struggling.  That has more to do with my original character concept not being workable and RL distractions.  Uthecar was always a blunt tool, and though I could change him, that was never the character he was and I've been slow/reluctant to move away from that character given he is the reincarnation of the first character I played.  He is shallow and one-sided (probably like me as a teen) running much better in a dungeon crawl environment than a thinking mans world.

I appreciate the heavy lifting that is being done by you, Ulich and Bruno but for now Uthecar is a little lost.

In regards to posting I personally do not like having to wait a week for the next DM post as I feel it slows the game to the point of boredom and we all play these games to keep engaged.  Characters need feedback on what they have said before they talk themselves to a stand still, as we have done in the latest game the DM you mentioned started.  Dare I say it he should have just upped the pace on the one he has going rather than starting a new game, but having said that it's only my perspective and he's too good a DM not to want to be in his new game anyway.

Personally I think 2-3 times a week for a DM post is good as you can monitor what is being said and move things along as required.

Besides all that I've said my slow almost one line posting here has more to do with the outside world.  I'm not currently under any sort of covid restrictions, and we're heading into spring.  I have a lot on with sports, business, and trying to keep some sort of eye on the social activities of 3 teenage girls.

Keeping your shotgun loaded with rock salt for teenage boys? ;-)

I can check periodically from work. But I can post once a day, if 2-3 times a week is the pace agreed upon that's just fine with me.

I am still finding my way with Myrrick, but he is a good, fun character to play. I am enjoying the game, especially as we all evolve together.

I'm settled on a posting rate of 2x/week + 1/weekend. Of course, if we are in combat, then I'll post as needed.

It is hard for me to meet the posting rate as it is. But as long as my posting every few days doesn't mess the game up, I'm okay with keeping the rate as it is. Just please be aware that I will not likely be able to ever to keep up with that rate.
Otherwise, I'm enjoying game and I like Gildan so far.

FYI: I've been in touch with Zan. He's covered up right now, as is Kullonar. Hopefully both will be back the first week of September, if not sooner. If necessary, both will be NPCs until the players get back.

Could you clarify the question about whether not Ulrich is detecting evil from within this tomb, Seer?

This seems a good stopping point for the time being. Have a good weekend and keep an eye out for a post tomorrow and/or Sunday.

So, finished reading LotRs for the gazillionth time. First read the Hobbit when I was ten years old. The Lord of the Rings when 11-12. It's my benchmark of all classic epic fantasy. I still get chills when Theoden finally arrives on the Pellanor Fields. 'Horns, Horns, Horns! Rohan had come!'

Had I not picked up the Hobbit all those years ago, my life would have been much different. Funny how things stay with you through the years. Reading the old Master's work is like coming home to me.

Now rumor has it that Amazon has some measure of rights to the Tolkien Estate. On the one hand, they typically have good productions & I think the long term plan is to dive deep into some of the more eclectic tales in the Tolkien library. On the other hand, it almost seems like rewriting the bible...kinda sacrilege. With Christopher Tolkien's death in January, it's opened up a realm of possibility. I hope whoever takes that project on does it right.

I'm with Gildan as evidenced by the fact I have not responded to the Seer's post on Wednesday until today. School (work) has started up again and I am mentally and physically (another story entirely) exhausted when I get home...and I'm never really "unplugged."
I guess I can check in from work on slow days (Ha!) and fire off a few lines. I have let my games slip and my goal this weekend is to apologize to my players and hopefully they will understand and stay around.
As for this game...I'm kinda lost, but then Kullonar has never been a leader in the group. He usually follows Uthecar and Bruno.

Thunderstorm last night fried my modem. My connection may be iffy for a few days. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I can slow down a bit if needed.

I talked about this earlier this week: for those who don't know, I plan on posting 2x/week + 1x/weekend with special consideration for combat when things tend to accelerate. Hopefully those of you who are struggling can at least get one post per week and maybe during the weekend. I think that will make it a bit easier to stay on point during important moments in the game.

Which slows me down a bit. It's mainly inter character in between, we WILL survive! :-)

We certainly will. Sorry to hear about your modem. That's frustrating.

work is taking up a lot more of my time right now.  I like the 2 to 3 times a week posting personally. Right not I'm even having troubles keeping up with that pace.

31 games, I now have a new hero

Yay! Combat!

I set up the initiative order and will give absent players until tomorrow to post their combat actions. Tomorrow I will roll for the absent players if they haven't checked in. I sent them all PM's to let them know.

In the meantime, feel free to roll your attack & damage.

Thanks for playing!
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:57, Tue 01 Sept 2020.

While I may look like an ogre, I am not an ogre. No one needs to apologize to me for things outside of their control. I'm merely the arbiter of your fates. And I don't get angry...I get even. It's really just as simple as that. So straighten up and fly right because I AM WATCHING...ALWAYS!

:p

Reminds me of an old hymn we used to sing in church:

"There's an All-Seeing Eye watching you!"

Uh... Seer, I am trying to decide what action Bruno would take here, but I am confused by the scene.

I know that Uthecar and Ulrich heard the sound of bats and the latter said something about vampires; however, you've not actually posted anything describing an opponant, right?

That is correct, Bruno.

I haven't laid out the full scene yet - I'll do so tomorrow. In the interim, those of you who have posted can roll your 'To Hit & 'Damage' dice if you wish, or just wait til tomorrow to do so. If you roll, and it's not a relevant role, we can adjust accordingly.

If I were a player, I'd use the time to scheme a couple of different options depending on what you see.

You get me.

Is the interior of this cairn large enough for Gildan to use his bow?

Yes, it is. Height of the ceiling is about 9' and it's a 20' square shaped room.

Next post Friday afternoon. I have some work items that need my attention. Good first round. It was fun.

Good morning, Gamers! As mentioned last night, I have a bit of work to do, then I'll be wrapping up round 2 and moving into round three, if neccesary.

Thank you all for playing!

In reply to The Seer (msg # 270):

Thank you for DMing!

Yup. Thank you boss

I'm just echoing those sentiments.

Cheers for the HP every little bit helps

Does an elf's capacity to find secret doors apply to discovering traps, as well?

No.

I gotta tell ya, My sister's twins, one of whom is my Goddaughter, have started reading the Hobbit in school. They are both about ten, which is the age I first read the hobbit. I feel like a proud parent. LOL.

FYI: I will moving things along tomorrow. In the meantime, have a good evening.

I was 11 when I read it.

I still read it once a year. I don't do the LotR that often - this most recent excursion was the first time since probably 2010. I'm just delighted that their reading it and not watching the movies.

I don't remember the exact age but it was around there for me, as well. I recall it took me at least an entire year to read the whole thing and probably longer. I had the boxed set with The Hobbit and all three books of the LOTR.

In reply to Gildan Stalker (msg # 280):

Took me a few weeks, I couldn't put them down I was so engrossed!

First read through for me (I started with the Hobbit and then discovered the rest) was in 7th Grade, so I guess that's 10 or 11. I discovered D&D when I was 12, so I was well ready for it!

I was late to Tolkien.
I remember being in English Comp. as a freshmen at community college and my professor was talking with some of us after class one day and she was astonished that I had not yet read the Hobbit and the LOTR.
So, she assigned it to me as a project...and I've been in love with Middle Earth since.

Yeah after the hobbit which I reread several times I slowly discovered the LOTR and went on to read Silmarillion.  I was 14 before I discovered DND and I was well ready for it.

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 284):

I never finished the Silmarillion. too dry, like a history book on 18 or 19 century BS that is boring.

Yeah I had to be determined, and I recall speed reading looking for the good bits.  Too boring you are right Ulrich.

When I finished LOTR (it probably took me 6-9 months to go from Hobbit thru the trilogy) my school library also had the Simirillion, so I picked it up, of course.

And then I put it back down. Ugh. I just couldn't do it. I thought maybe I would need to be older to get it or have the patience for it. Even at that age I was reading a lot of non-fiction history, so I had stumbled upon 'HISTORY' books like this that just seemed as if they take more work or one has to begin them with more knowledge to ever really understand.

So, I picked it up after high school. And then I put it back down.

And I picked it up when I eventually went to University to study Medieval History, but I realized at that point in my late 20s that it took another level of nerd that I just didn't possess to get into.

So, I put it back down.

And I feel okay about that.

In reply to Bruno Rhunthane (msg # 287):

Agreed Bruno!

So Christopher Tolkien finally passed away in January of this year. As an archivist, I thought he did a wonderful job organizing his father's legacy. I agree, the Silmarillion is tough, but when you deep dive into it, you see many of the threads that ultimately led to the 4th age. You also get to see where a lot of the myths of Middle Earth come from, including the various deities. I do like the Children of Hurin and the Fall of Gondolin in book form and I'll be reading Beren and Luthien at some point.

But, it is definitely a tough read and lacks the creative style that his father put into the Hobbit and LotRs.

You guys gotta stop posting as I'm trying to post! LOL

I'll give Gildan and Myrrick a chance to roll tonight and/or tomorrow morning for their initiative.

FYI: I edited the initiative post to include an updated description of what's going on.

Happy Friday everyone.

Hell no it's a beautiful spring Saturday morning here, I'm trying hard to forget Friday I f***ed up.

Well, then a Happy Saturday on your side of the word, sir.

Thank you I'll take that.  I hope you have pleasant after work drinks if that is in front of you.

A quiet night for me. The wife has an engagement to go to that I have no interest in so I'm going to watch a movie or two. Perhaps Harry Potter.

Cheers!

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 294):

Why did you roll a 1d2 instead of a 1d20?

No worries Uthecar. Good re-roll.

Reminder: I'll be AFK this week, but I'll have access to internet. Leaving tomorrow.

Bon voyage!

In reply to Bruno Rhunthane (msg # 299):

Safe trip Seer.

Thanks, gang. Looking forward to it.

I'll try to have something for you guys tomorrow night or Tuesday - depends on what time it is when I get there.

No worries Seer will see it when it gets there.  Make sure you enjoy your time away.

Hi gang. I'll post tomorrow, early. Thanks for the patience. I'll be  home Sunday, I think. Depends on the weather.

Thanks for playing.

Good Morning. Game Post is up for your review. I'll try for one more post before Sunday. Lots of action in this one.

:)

If I recall (it's been awhile) Zan loses 1 hp per round until stabilized and dies permanently at -10 hp. But I think any of us can stabilize him. There's no heal check or anything, I believe.

Correct: anything from bandages to a cure light wounds could do the job. So who brought bandages?

Aren't bandages like clean underwear, it's just assumed everyone has some? :o)

Ulrich tears a piece of his white tabard off to use for bandages, he begins work on Zan if he can.

Zan was made stable by Bruno's CLW. I was just joking around.

:}

Keep posting - I'll be heading back Sunday, and will check in with you guys then, if not before. Cheers!

My roommate taught me something today, Medusa, which was her name not what she was, was a Gorgon. So were her two sisters, though their look was not cursed to stone you. The bull crap was Gary Gygax.

Yeah, it's true. I studied a lot of classical literature in college and I remembering confusing those a couple of times thanks to D&D.

Classics professors everywhere curse E.G.G's name.

:p

Gang, enjoy your weekend. I'll be heading back Sunday, will likely post sometime on Monday.

Just got home. Have some unpacking to do. I'll have a post for you tomorrow. It was a nice trip.

Welcome home!

Yup there’s nothing like getting home.

A) I clearly haven't been doing a good job tracking Gildan's damage. Sorry.

B) Does anyone know what the rules are in 1st edition for range attacks on someone meleeing with you? I know there's no attack of opportunity but what penalties are there?

I'm not so sure about 'rules' as such but more common sense which 1st edition allowed a DM to use, would say someone trying to do a range arrack on someone in their face with a sword is either going to get cut up pretty badly or have their range attack equipment damaged without doing much damage to the person whose up in their face.

I would say once an attacker is in range with his weapon, the archer would lose bonuses to dexterity, if any. However, if you have point blank range, you still get the bonuses for that skill. Basically the bowman is using his bow as a melee weapon. That's why archers covet it.

I think there are some "firing into melee" rules for range attacks...but quite honestly, I can't remember where they are at the moment.
The Seer may remember many years ago in my game how those rules cost us a player...literally!

This is very true. It was a nice funeral, though.

I guess if the enemy is close enough to hit me with a weapon, they're closer than 6 feet so I don't get the short range bonus either? I'll roll without that and without dex bonus.

I'm going to play each situation individually. Mostly I've done a pretty good job of that.

Interpretation of the rules in AD&D is a sage's quest. I'd rather use common sense for each situation that comes up. Most of them are pretty self explanatory and even in this case, if Gildan flees, then turns to fire, he should be able to evade and loose at least one missile, if not two based upon how fleet of foot and nimble he is.

Tactically, he could position himself in effort to get the best effect. For instance, loosing arrows down vacant sightlines. That special care may require DM adjudication and a specific description from the player, but this is RPol so you can take a bit to contemplate.

Again, this is about fun. It's about creating compelling characters who the players like to play. It is not fun when the game is paused to discuss some eclectic rule that isn't clearly defined in the manuals.

Take that for what it's worth.

Based on the math of healing and damage, I think Gildan is at 9 HP.
As far as rules, I'm with you. I try to post as I understand the situation. Let me know if I miss something, but I prefer role-playing as well so I'm happy to adjust things as needed.

Great! Everyone should be on the same wavelength then.

It's still fun for me.  I do actually like it.  I think it shows peoples experience and also passion for the game and also insights that I've learnt from previously, though I understand what you mean Seer.

I appreciate your points. You always struck me as someone who'd look under rocks just to see what was there. I say that as a compliment. As a little boy, I loved exploration and figuring out how things worked. We lived in what I thought was a giant forest and adventure abounded. I probably was fated to play DnD at some point in my life.

Having run this game for 4+ years (can you believe it!), I find myself learning so much more about the rules as they are set forth in the manuals than I ever expected. I've been playing this game since 1980, and I've yet to fully grasp all of the nuances. Its likely that I'll never learn them all!

Anyway: I like the sound of my own id. Onward, I say!!!

In reply to The Seer (msg # 329):

Gorgon replaced by a Stag?

Gorgon just went away.

The two stags are still attacking. You don't know where the archer is.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:09, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

Waiting on Gildan and Myrrick and Kullonar. FYI. I expect at least a couple of them to show up sometime today.

FYI.

Just an FYI: this is my busy season. I expect that I'll be able to keep a 2/week posting rate most of the time, but there will be periods when I'm up against it. When I can, I'll be posting on weekends. Official go date is Oct 1.

Thanks for your understanding.

The Management.

In reply to The Seer (msg # 333):

Just wanted you to know, despite my own stupidity at time, I'm enjoying myself in this game immensely, you guys are all great, especially Seer.

Thanks, Ulrich. I'm enjoying it, too. Great group of players.

Well. I'm not really sure what to say. I do have one question for you: I know we came out of Quesqueton with healing potions and I believe we had some spread around the party. Have we used all of them up?

If I recall correctly those were shared out among the non-healers, but I can't recall who that was. Bruno does not have one.

There's nothing on my character sheet

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 338):

I wasn't in the group when you did Quesqueton, I have none.

I'm heading out, got a bunch of things to do. I'll be back tonight to check in - I wouldn't complain if you guys don't post for the next 24 hours. I am pretty tired after a long day yesterday.

This has been an awesome melee, by the way. And there's still work to do. But for the first time since round 1, I think you guys have a chance. DON'T LET UP!

As always, thanks for playing!

Good morning! See the update to rules in the main thread. Also, I have a webinar at 9am that I have to be on and then clients to enroll in health care. I will likely post this afternoon into evening, depending on how quickly I get my clients taken care of.

It was a good day. Made some cash, mowed the yard, took a nap...I'll post something tomorrow.

Have a good evening, y'all

Here's to it!

Post up tomorrow. It's a busy time at work now thru December and I'll probably slow down a bit. It's always this way and I survived last year. I expect I'll do so again.

As a suggestion, consider running away. Nimae is still an option.

:)

thank you for overlooking our poor bookkeeping. and no worries with work, we've been through a few of your busy seasons.

So...do we have potions or not?
Seer, did Bruno's revelation remove the DM grace you gave when you said each of us had a potion?

And, can Kullonar attempt to turn undead again?
Or is it one and done? I can't remember the rules and I don't have...ah, I just looked. One and done.
Nevermind.

On that note, can Kullonar make a grab for Uthecar?
He would attempt to haul the dwarf out of the tomb if possible.

If not, Kullonar will fight and die with him.

No, you don't get the DM's grace because we were able to figure things out. There were four potions passed around, each good for 10 points of healing (no rolls necessary).

The good news is that Kullonar, Bruno, Uthecar, Ulrich and Gildan are all up. Only Zan is completely dead, and Myrrick is at 0HP.

Just a real life side note from me guys, I'm coming up to a change of scene at my end and Rpol will need to take a back seat.  Rpol is a wonderful distraction but I've got things I need to get on and do if I'm going to live full and die empty.

Right now, this battle looks like an honourable way for a dwarven fighter to bow out, holding back a horde of undead so his companions make it to safety.  It's how the original Uthecar Hornskin would have gone, but perhaps that is unlikely if Uthecar is now on 17hp other than 7hp.

I know Uthecar isn't dead yet, but I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with you all, and most likely I will continue with you all in some other games, though I am going to need to cull back the games I play in from my current 8 to 3.  The decision to cull this game is only because the current IC scenario seems to be selecting it.  Characters are meant to die occasionally and this will be my first through Rpol, not counting the couple of games I have removed myself from for one reason or the other.

Kullonar - Don't die in a stand with Uthecar save Bruno it's what Uthecar would want given his own promise to protect Bruno in his backstory..

In reply to Uthecar Hornskin II (msg # 348):

Sorry to see you leave, I enjoyed our time together!

I am sorry to see you go. I wish you would've gotten more out of the game. I know that somewhere Elderon is enjoying the better side of life in whatever paradise he now resides in. By the same token, Valhalla awaits Uthecar.

Best of luck to you. I'll see you in some other games that we jointly play in.

As an aside, I'll leave the thread open for the time being for you to peek into now and again.

Cheers and happy trails.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:57, Tue 06 Oct 2020.