I can't exactly fault you for that - I know exactly how it feels. :)

You've taken on the burden of writing longer posts than usual for a period of time, given the scale of the current IC situation. If you feel burned out at any point, I'm fine both with waiting and with getting a shorter summary; whichever works for you.

@Ilura: I like the idea of restarting the Order, but I will have to do a refresh of the requirements before I answer. I'll get back to you.

@GM: You know, in the middle of my planning I completely forgot the giant morning star. What sort of effect could I get from reforging that one, again? (Depending on the answer I may sacrifice it for the ritual instead of making changes to my Day 6 weapon plan just to incorporate it.)

I went and dug up some of the previous discussions about the giant morningstar. Since most of the weapon's abilities are due to its size, only the planar trait would be transferred. It would basically make your spear aligned to good/evil/both. Whichever alignment is most beneficial at the time.

That sounds pretty darn useful, honestly, and I cannot believe I didn't recall that information. Then again, I haven't been entirely stable the past couple of months. :P

I'll slightly revise my crafting plan and get you that roll you asked for (along with a post) come lunch break today.

Just posting a friendly keep-alive :)

I am still here. I'll probably get a new post up either tonight or tomorrow.

No rush.  I just know that having the odd ping can help people remember things that have fallen from top-of-mind.

Finally free from real life for a while again, so here comes a belated post.


I'm considering which move to pick for my level up. I've been interested in another multi-class move - and briefly thought of an Immolator move to connect thematically with the recent fire ritual, but I'm not sure if any of them would really fit.

Tentative options:

• Superior Warrior (Fighter): On a 12+ deal damage, avoid attack, and impress/dismay/frighten the enemy.
• Smash! (Barbarian): On a 12+ make an enemy lose their weapon, position, or limb.

Both of these bolster Hack & Slash (which is a Fighter's bread and butter) with the occasional "critical hit". Second one would arguably lend itself to cooler moments and offer some opportunity to narrate all these new weapon enchantments.

• War Cry (Barbarian): Give a shout/war cry and roll+CHA when entering battle to bolster allies and/or scare the enemy.

Charisma is my second-highest stat and is mostly used for Heirloom at the moment. This move would let me put it to use doing what I do best, and it helps the whole party too.

• Arcane Ward (Wizard): Have +2 Armor so long as an arcane spell is prepared.
• Staunch Defender (Paladin): Always get +1 Hold when defending, even if a 6- was rolled.

Both of these improve defense, which may become very valuable if we meet any more big-shot enemies such as the ones we have faced in the temple so far.


Thoughts?

Of these, my leaning would be Arcane Ward.  The two damage options are only useful on a 12+, which isn't super common, even if you're at 18 strength.  Also, they're only valuable in limited situations.  You've also got a weapon that does some of the 'smash' thing.

War Cry could be useful, but it sort of depends on how consistent the bolstering would be and again, seems like it would be limited to use in specific circumstances

Arcane Ward gives you extra armor pretty much all the time, and having a wizard tank seems like a pretty helpful option.

That said, also think about Eryn's character - what best suits her?  What's going to be fun for you?

I prefer not to look too deeply into dice stats lest I start meta gaming, but a quick check shows that rolling 2d6+3 has ~17% chance of rolling 12+. Putting it that way, I agree that the first two are a bit situational.  Assuming a +1 from any kind of setup move, however (such as Discern or Aid or similar) would boost the chance straight to 40%. (Furthermore, a Barbarian would get a similar boost while in pursuit of their Appetite, as they get to roll a larger die.)

But, you are right: I already have several effects on my weapon which could be equally useful.

War Cry would apply at the start of any battle where I go in loud, though I suppose it wouldn't be consistent either. I believe several Dungeon World moves work better when they have frequent chances to trigger, something which a play-by-post game can't quite deliver on due to its much slower pace.

Arcane Ward sounds like the most overall useful right now. It's a passive thing, but I haven't been casting enough to exhaust my spell supply and I haven't exactly been invincible in my current armor, so saving a few more HP here and there could be a lifesaver. It allows me to stand my ground better as well, which is something I'd love to do. Full plate, indestructible shield, magic field... it's lit.

In conclusion, I guess I'll go with Multiclass: Arcane Ward this level.

Item division, as I understand it:

Chance:
Needle Bow, three Returning Throwing Stars, a bunch of poisons

Eryn: Indestructible Shield, Solar Platemail, melded into spear: Blast Knuckles, Shatter Hammer, Tree Chopper

Ilura: Mail of the Infinite Chain, Stain-point Arrows, Force Shield,Throw Anything String

Of what's left, I suggest melding the Time-bending Harpoon into Eryn's weapon.  If there's a limit, it's probably more useful than the tree chopper.  There'll be times when a re-roll is worth a debility.

I'd like to put the remaining items (Saber of Many Materials, Fever Flail, Python Glaive, Royal Dwarven, Battle Pick of the Treasury, Chef's Cleaver) in the hat, with the possible exception of the Fever Flail, just in case we need them.

Is that accurate?  Any objections/changes?


On a separate note - we seem to be down to 2 players.  Should we be seeking anyone else?

Putting those items in your hat is fine, Ilura. Whatever Eryn doesn't merge with her weapon can go in there.

As for adding new players, I wasn't sure if we should or not. Eryn and Ilura, what are your opinions on the matter? Should we add more players or stick with just two. (And if we add more, how many?) However, I think it would still be a while before I added more players regardless. In real life my family is in the process of adopting, and I can't currently predict how much free time I will be able to devote here at any given time. I would hate to add a new player only to go on hiatus and have them leave the game. I don't know that a hiatus would end up being necessary, but at the very least my attention to the site would be minimal for a while.

First - Congrats!!  That's awesome.

Fully understand uncertainty around time availability and agree that it's best not to bring new players until you have a better sense of what your time is going to look like.

I don't object to proceeding with just 2 players.  I'm still having fun.  I just thought that more diversity of inputs might be helpful/appropriate.  We can worry about it down the line.

Wanted to share a Kickstarter that may have appeal for some of you :>
https://www.kickstarter.com/pr.../dungeon-alchemisttm

I have seen ads for that (I think on YouTube), and it looks cool. Could definitely be a useful tool. Especially for unexpected side quests.

Also, I haven't forgotten that you are waiting on me IC, Ilura. It is just that most/all of the responses to your IC questions aren't going to be very exciting, so I plan to include them with my next post after Eryn responds to you.

Some Quick Answers:
-There is some silver available.
-Nothing bad will happen if you take stuff from the maze.
-Becoming a member of the order isn't going to be overly complicated
-Nikadroi's soul is in the afterlife, but anchored to his brother so that he can't be "taken" by someone else.

No worries.

On the last: Does that mean that in order to get Nikadroi's soul, we'd have to eliminate his brother?

That would certainly be one way to do it. But there could be other ways as well.

Just posting a friendly keep-alive.  No worries on the slow posting rate - the world is still a crazy place.  Keep safe and focus on the real world as much as you need to :)

Posting another friendly keep-alive.  Hopefully there's a glimmer of normalcy on the horizon for you all...  No worries if no one's up to continuing the game yet, just wanted to remind everyone that it's here if/when you're ready.

Oh jeez, time flies - I hardly even noticed that I hadn't logged into this site for months. :/

My mother's been in and out of hospital (she's fine) and I have secured a new apartment. Also our department leader quit and the rest of us had to change our plans a lot. No excuses here, though, it's not that I haven't had time to spend on my hobby in the middle of this, but it sort of never became a priority over other games and friends.

To be honest the game was already going a bit slow with few people involved, which I think makes me less inclined to jump into it like I used to. I also have no intuitive answers to the last GM question I was asked, so I'll have to think of that first.

Would be a shame to abandon a longer campaign like this, so thanks for rousing me. Not entirely certain where it is going from here. We'll see.

Totally fine - and understand that life happens.  Post if/when you're ready :)

(Glad your mom is doing better and congrats on the new apartment!)

Glad to see you two are still around! I had been recently assuming this game was done for good. But now, maybe not. If you two would like to keep going, we can. It doesn't have to be right away though if real life is still busy. And if you two would rather end things here, that is fine as well.

Alternatively, we could start a brand new Dungeon World game in a new setting. It would probably be less mentally-taxing on all of us to start fresh, but that option would also mean leaving behind what we have created thus far. I could go either way, so I will leave that decision up to you two.

I like the world and my character, but I'm open to starting anew.  (Possibly even soliciting new players, though doing that over the summer can be even dicier than most times of year.)

If we did start anew, I would definitely want input from you two to ensure it is a setting you would enjoy playing in. And new players would be invited in as well, after the basic setting is established.

I can have fun in pretty much anything.  Key thing for me is that it's a setting that the GM feels passionate about.  They have to do the most work and end up doing a lot of the description, so it needs to be something where the descriptions come easily and feel like fun rather than a slog.

I'm happy to continue or to start anew.  If we start anew, just give me a heads-up so I can grab a copy of all the threads before anything gets deleted.  (I like to archive stuff like that.)  Then my preference would be for you to share two or three ideas of worlds you'd like to run and we can choose from them - or perhaps riff off those ideas to make one of them even more fun.