Feel free to introduce yourself and what sort of character you hope to play.  Feel free to start working on backstories, bonds, and why you decided to work together as a team.

Hello All!  I am playing Brother Shi Yan Dao, technically a fighter but thematically an elven monk who was abandoned at the temple by his parents and older brother.

I have recently been released from the monastery located in the swamps to continue my training out in the world and find master's of higher rank to challenge them and raise my rank. My current rank is Brother, figured we should start working on Bonds if anyone has any idea's off hand that would fit with my character's brief description.

Heya folks. First-time Dunger Worlder here, but a long time roleplayer who due to RL can't play face to face, so I'm counting on RPoL to keep me sustained.
Disclaimer: There will be puns. But I might make it up to you somehow...

Marcus, the paladin, went into the world a squire to a knight-errant (maybe his older brother, maybe some minor noble, any ideas/suggestions are welcome). The knight fell in battle against <something evil, preferably story related> but did manage to maim/mortally wound it.

Picking his role model's gear and quest, Marcus ventured forth to do what needed to be done.

Welcome, crew!  As stated above, feel free to start fleshing out your characters and how you know each other.  (You can literally make up the details.  Get creative.)  Looks like Shi Yan Dao and Marcus have already started our world building.  Awesome!  If anyone would like their name changed to something else, just let me know and I will make the alteration.

Eryn and Shi Yan Dao both showed interest in playing Fighters.  If you would both like to remain Fighters, I can put one of you in with the new players I am currently planning to bring in on Friday/Saturday.

Marcus showed interest in creating a Paladin character and Ilura was still deciding. Rirrik Lollygag showed interest in being a bard.  He also showed interest in playing a gnoll as his character race, if that is alright with the rest of you.

I am willing to change up what I am playing if Fighter is already taken just let me know what I have left to choose from I have plenty of character ideas I can roll with.

In a similar position to Marcus - never played Dungeon World and have a life that makes playing in face-to-face RPGs next to impossible, but have relied on RPOL to scratch that itch for at least 8 years - primarily Shadowrun and some Eclipse Phase.  That said, I cut my teeth on AD&D and am happy to dwelve some dungeons again.  (First exposure to role playing was at a scout camp where a leader whittled a D20 for a DnD game in the pouring rain...)

Haven't nailed down my character choice (and thus back-story) yet - was thinking Thief or possibly Ranger or Druid.  Was planning to finalize once I knew what other slots were taken so I could fill an useful niche.  If necessary, I can do Ranger/Cleric or even Wizard if no one else wants to sling spells.

Hi there, I'm playing Eryn. She's a Fighter working as a sell-sword, wielding a spear and shield. Eryn usually protects commoners and merchants as they travel between cities and settlements, but is hopeful that one day she can be hired for something more grand and exciting. She's been traveling for most of her adult life, so I would potentially have her grab a Ranger move eventually. Apart from that I haven't fleshed out her backstory, since this game works best when the characters learn to know each other as they go. I was thinking she would be meeting with the group as part of a traveling caravan (if starting off slow) or after having met up with one of you for a mission/treasure hunt/being a bodyguard/whatever.

I have DM'd a short-lived Dungeon World campaign before. It went overall well, and we had a great time, but real-life scheduling conflicts sadly led to the player group being unable to get together anymore. I'm hoping a play-by-post game like this can keep it together for longer. :)

From what I know of Dungeon World there is usually no issue with multiple people playing the same class, especially since characterization and choice of moves usually leads to them being very different from each other anyway.

That said - if people want everyone to play different classes, I am fine with potentially changing Eryn to a Thief or Ranger.

An easy Bond to fill out could be "I have sworn to protect <blank>", as that is my character's supposed job. Being a bit cautious, "I worry about the ability of <blank> to survive in the dungeon." could also fit well if one of the other characters are a bit squishy (such as a wizard). The other two bonds suggested for Figther are "<blank> owes me their life, whether they admit it or not", and "<blank> is soft, but I will make them hard like me". Thoughts? :)

Ooooh, bonds. completely forgot about them. Pallys have a few nice ones:
<blank>’s misguided behavior endangers their very soul! - for any thieves out there
<blank> has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely. - For Eryn or some other fighter. How about Eryn found herself in the same battle in which paladinhood was thrusted upon Marcus, so he trusts her, but can't come to terms that he too would likely be dead if not for her.
<blank> is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them. - for Shi Yan

Regarding our adventure, I'm thinking a beginning of an invasion of our lands that brought us all to investigate. Undead? Lizardmen? Giant insects? Green skins?

Regarding role coverage, I'm fine with venturing into cleric spells, and have generally very little plans regarding the character's progression.

I think if the spots not taken if the GM doesn't want us to play the same classes I can go Wizard, bard, cleric, or Immolator I am pretty open and can throw anything together pretty easily.

A little personal background on me, I used to play D&D(various systems and games) face to face but I just don't have the time for it anymore so now I run two Dungeon World campaigns here on RPOL and this will be my first as a player.  Our humble DM is actually a player in both of my campaigns so maybe ill have some insight into his shenanigans he's got planned for us.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Tue 07 Nov 2017.

In reply to Marcus (msg # 8):

I was planning on going a bit on the defensive, and Eryn would be used to defending others as part of her regular work. I think it would work if she somehow saved Marcus during an attack by unknown monsters - though I'm imagining that it would be more of an incidental thing than a conscious decision to stand between him and another. Perhaps her shield caught a blow that may have struck him down in the commotion, or she killed an enemy he was certain was coming for him while his guard was down for a moment.

I like the idea of some new enemy having appeared on the roads - it would force Eryn (and all of our characters, really) out of her element since she can no longer rely on traveling in a small group and scare off the occasional bandit just by being present as an armed guard.

@ShiYanDo - if you're willing to go Wizard, I can go Ranger.  Between Marcus and I we can probably take care of the key clerical spells/healing and you could do magical offense.  We'd also have a good balance of tanks and ranged.  If you'd rather avoid Wizard, I can take it on and you can pick whatever you think would fit best.  (I get nervous at the idea of no wizard in the party given the name of this particular game :>)

@Marcus: Insight is always good :)

BTW, the notion of a gnoll bard is really quite cool.  I've been trying to imagine how they'd sound - and what sort of instrument they'd play...  I'm fine with playing with a gnoll in principle - how much of a challenge would they have sticking with the party if we end up in a settlement?

Hi all, seems I'm a bit late to the party. I'm (tentatively) Rirrik the Gnoll Bard.

About myself, I've been playing rpgs for probably a decade and a half. I've mostly done D&D/D20 games but have broadened my horizons in the last few years. I love reading about new systems and I ended up learning about dungeon world. I instantly fell in love with how the mechanics work with the fiction. I've been in a couple DW games now and am currently running a DW game of my own.

The wonderful thing about DW is that you can work with the GM to create some cool stuff and that together you can decide what a race actually IS in the game.

 The way I was imagining gnolls are they are all about survival at whatever cost and they rely on almost completely on instinct which can come off kind of thoughtless. I am also imagibing them as heavily influenced by african tribes. Some gnolls would probably still fall under evil alignment wise but some would be more Chaotic.

Rirrik is the runty one who was kind of casted out, hes had his struggles and has traveled the world. He probably learned his arcane art from another people of his land. His sometimes dilly demeanor and do/say first mentality has its own strange charm. I'm thinking his instrument is a stolen african-type drum and his voice a very yippy/growlly sound.

If you guys (including the GM) would rather I stick to the races in the book I am perfectly okay with make a new sort of character. Just let me know. I could go with just about any class other than Barbarian, Ranger, or Druid (I've already tried out these and would rather experience a new class).

Damn I was really hoping he played the dog whistle.  I can go with a wizard but ill totally change up my name/concept/background from Shi.

How about this:

Dr Hiran Krauss 1st Level Wizard.

Dr. Krauss has been a doctor and a wizard for a number of years. He is a man who has always loved experiments, and trying to find solutions to a problem with his experimentation.  He used to work for a powerful overlord, being of supreme power and great evil and Dr Krauss was the man who solved his problems.  You see Dr Krauss experimented on the captives, the defeated soldiers and their families.  He murdered, modified, and morphed them in ways that can only be imagined and should never be described. During this period of his life Dr. Hiran Krauss was cursed by a dying mother who watched her children die before her eyes for experimentation's sake of course. With this curse Dr. Krauss is surrounded by an aura of screaming souls audible to all who stand near him.  The souls of his previous victims haunts him forever more.

Dr. Krauss was an evil man that is certain that is until only a few years back when this regime was overthrown and Dr. Krauss though defeated was given mercy by his captors.  Spending time in their care they showed him the love, warmth, and care when he certainly deserved none of the above.  After using his knowledge and gifts to cure an illness that befell the small town he was being held in Dr. Krauss was given his freedom.  Freedom it turns out is not all that it's cracked up to be.  The curse set upon him still haunts him to this day and many among the citizenry believe Hiran should be put to death for his crimes.

Because of this he sets out for study and adventure and what he hopes is a new life but what if all he can be is the monster he used to be.  What if he cannot escape his past?

What do you all think?

Sounds like it would be interesting. Provides alot of chances for truely proving his redemption.

Yeah I thought it would give a nice mixed character that could go a lot of different routes depending on what happens to him which I think would be really fun to play.

I might have also been highly influenced by the heavy amount of Wolfenstein i've been playing lately, dirty nazi's!

All of these character concepts seem to be shaping up nicely.  I am glad you are creating your backstories so effortlessly.  I thought I might have to do some poking and prodding to get things moving, but you guys are doing awesome!  Eryn and Marcus even have their backstories intertwined already.

Feel free to start filling out your character sheet pages under the Character Details link.  It seems we are settling into a cast.  Here are the classes that people seem to be settling into:

Eryn - a fighter
Marcus - a paladin
Dr Hiran Krauss - a wizard
Rirrik Lollygag - a bard
Ilura - still undecided

I'm happy to start writing up my character info. I just want to make sure that it's cool with everyone that I am a gnoll. No use writing it all up if I won't be using it.

No problems with a gnoll in my book.

Also perhaps Rirrik and Hiran know each other? Hiran would be drawn to a non-feral Gnoll as a curiosity especially one who shows mystical and musical talent.  He also would likely be stuck to spending time with his fellow outcasts in society considering his cursed condition.

Hey Marcus just throwing out the idea but perhaps your knight-errant is the one who struck down the overlord I worked for and you were one of the men who took me in but took pity on me or maybe something along those lines?

@Hiran: Continuous screaming souls is going to make stealth a bit challenging.  In fact, it'd make even casual conversation downright difficult, not to mention sleep.  It might be better if there's a GM-initiated trigger.  It would add a bit of tension in that neither you nor the rest of the party know when it's going to manifest and make things difficult and removes some of the "continuous annoyance" factor.

One thing I will say, sitting in the tavern could get very interesting :>

If that works for you, then I'll go with this:

Ilura, 1st Level Ranger
(last name as yet unshared)

Ilura is human-looking female in her mid-20s.  She might be attractive if not for the long scar down the left side of her face and the layer of dirt and dust that cover that and her rather threadbare cloak.  She's rarely without the company of a small crow that sits on her shoulder when it can't find a more concealed area in the rafters.

The ranger is new to the stedding, having arrived in the last week looking somewhat distraught.  It's obvious that she's not that good with people, doing her best to avoid casual conversation.  However, after consuming more than a few ales in the tavern one evening, she disclosed to those that cared - and a few that didn't - that her mentor of the last 4 years was recently killed.

What she did not reveal is that she witnessed the death but was too afraid to stop it.  She is desparate to avenge her mentor, but knows that she does not have the skills or resources to do so alone.  Furthermore, given her past inaction, she is unsure she has the nerve to do what needs to be done but doesn't want to expose that fear to others.

A few possible bonds:

• Marcus, it's possible that your knight-errant fell to the same threat that did in my mentor - so long as it's someone/something that would make sense to have killed both a knight and a ranger, presumably in separate incidents.  If we shared stories over drinks, we would likely have exchanged vows to help each other bring this adversery to justice, or better yet, just guide them into their next life
• "I have guided _____ before and they owe me for it" is a possibility of a link with Eryn - our paths could easily have crossed while you were protecting someone and I helped you to get from point A to B.  And I might well be your "_____ owes me their life" as well.  Could be interesting if we each come into this with the perspective that we're owed by the other and neither recognizes it...
• For Rirrik, possibilities include "______ is a friend of nature, so I will be their friend as well." or "______ has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them."  This viewpoint would likely be driven by local cultural biases around gnolls and my past experience with them - you can decide which would be more appropriate.  And I might have disclosed to you my secret of not having the nerve to intervene if you kept my ale cup full enough one night.
• "______ does not understand life in the wild, so I will teach them." sounds like a possible match for Hiran.  If you've decided to accompany whatever party going to be involved with, your background has probably prepared you least for life in the wilds, so I might feel obligated to teach you a thing or two in partial payment for your assistance

Ill let the GM make a call if he wants to tweak it but I am willing to live with the consequences a harsh reality for what he has done in the past and if it damages him in the future then that's an emotional and physical problem Hiran must deal with but I understand if it would be preferred by all or just the GM to handle it as an occasional thing.

That would fit to me, you are correct Hiran would not know much about life in the wild he is used to his lab or his tomes full of research.

Regarding Hiran: I think that the souls that haunt him could potentially be whispering/talking/screaming all the time - but only from his perspective. People around him would not have the same attachment to them, so it would require another wizard or some form of magic effect to make them visible to others. This allows him to be continuously stressed out without making the rest of the party stuck with unending horror themselves (I imagine they would not put up with it for too long if they knew what they were and what caused them, but he could lie about it too).

Eryn's attitude towards Hiran would be largely shaped by how his personality comes across - she would be facinated by magic but likely disgusted by his "experiments". She's also a bit uneasy around spirits, as she considers magical ability a great gift but finds spirits to be creepy and unpredictable.

Side note: In my previous Dungeon World campaign, we had what we called "Spirit's Eve" - on nights where the moon was exactly half full (every 14 days) the veil between the lands of the living and the dead (in this world symbolized by the sun and the moon) would be weakened, and this was the only night where ghosts and spirits appeared to normal people. Wizards could always see them by using spells. Other supernatural monsters with a more tangible connection to the living world could be found normally.

Ilura: Eryn could very well have some past connection with the ranger. She would have met all kinds of people in her travels, and rangers would likely be common to see on the road. I like the idea of a mutual bond going both ways here.

Rirrik: As both a gnoll and a bard, Eryn may worry about your survival (Bond) if gnoll are known to be scavengers of sorts.


What kind of situation do you think we would all find ourselves in during our first scene? I could imagine going to check on a settlement we all have some sort of attachment to, but finding it overrun/destroyed. Say the killed overlord lives in a nearby city, the ranger and/or gnoll is returning for supplies, Eryn is escorting a caravan... and then X have recently arrived.

X could, as previously suggested, be undead rising (haunted spirits / nearby necromancer / sacred place has been defiled?), invading lizardmen (arriving from sea or something?) or some other threat such as a neighboring country invading.

If I may offer a plot based on all ideas.



For decades the overlord, aided by his servants and Dr. Krauss, grew in power and annexed the lands to his empire.

Eryn has found herself in the middle of the conflict on one of her jobs, and she joined Marcus and his knight in a battle against one of the lieutenants. Too late to save the knight, but in time to make sure the then squire lived.

When the overlord fell, Marcus was among the forces that stormed the keep and was present when Dr. Krauss was caught. Remembering his vowes to his paragon, he offered a hand of peace to the mage.

Few years have passed and a new force started to rise to fill the void in power left by the Overlord's fall. There was of course struggle between remaining servants, but none amounted to much.

Marcus, used to traveling and fighting alongside someone, decided to accompany Eryn, trying to instill in her knightly ideals that he grew up with. After a while, he realized it would be he who took the mantle of the knight but continued traveling with his companion.

Rirrik was cast out of his tribe, but not before he felt the growing shadow fall on the land. Gnolls first, and then the rest of the world, would once again be drawn into a great conflict.

Ilura and her mentor had the misfortune to come upon the servants of the new force, and the man gave his life for his ward to survive. She vowed to avenge him and started her search for Eryn, a warrior she has traveled with in the past.

Rirrik sought out Dr. Krauss, who was a well-known figure among the gnolls, and while others mocked the tales of his change of heart, the bard saw it as a sign that things could be well again.

Once together, Krauss took Rirrik on a search for the man the mage knew could be counted on, Marcus.

And so through luck or fate, the five gathered together to find out more about the concealed threat, and maybe stop it before it was too late.

I won't comment on the exact details until I hear what the others think, but I like the overall arc in that plot. I'd be fine with it.

We may or may not want to flesh out our backstories before we start playing (since improv is what the game is all about), but as long as we get a few bonds and a starting point we should be good to go.

That works for me too.  I'll need to figure out some sort of other tie with Marcus, but that's doable.

Well I was thinking it was more of a thing where you could only hear them when you were close to me and that was part of his struggle of turning his life around but I would be willing to go for it being more of a personal curse if that is preferred by everyone else.

I like it so that would give me a Bond with Marcus and Rirrik to start lets just come up with the wording.

I owe Marcus a great kindness.  I will repay that debt somehow.

Rirrik is special among the gnolls.  I must figure out why


Let me know what you guys think but that captures Marcus taking pity on him and his curiosity of the gnolls and this strange and arcane one known as Rirrik.

This works for me as a rough outline of your group's past.  It is a good place to start with.  We haven't heard from Rirrik yet, but if he doesn't object, I can use this to come up with some questions to ask you guys to help flesh out our world a bit more.  I will post those later today after I take care of some errands and have time to think about it more thoroughly.

@Hiran: I'm fine if the curse is occasionally detectable by others, I just think it'd be hard to justify anyone being willing to be near you for longer than a day or two if they had to continuously suffer it too.

Yeah, my thoughts were that people would only hear it faintly if they were withing a foot or two, and even then might not know where it was coming from.  But then occasionally flare-ups happen, where everyone nearby can hear it loud and clear.  Often at the most inopportune times.

Speaking as a fellow GM: Seems like a great opportunity in case of missed rolls. ;)

Sounds good ill go with that where it's very faint if you are within a foot or two but of course flare ups and such which ill let the GM have full usage of.

Eryn and Ilura im still at a bit of a loss on bonds between us any ideas?

Do we nees to have bonds to all party members right away?

Don't think so.  But the more bonds we can invent, the more story and roleplaying hooks there are to riff off of :)

Yep we can create them in the roleplay but especially in a slow PbP game I think they are valuable to really get us flowing together. It also helps us establish why the hell we are even together in the first place.

@Hiran, as mentioned, I'll be trying to teach you the ways of the wilds.  You might be interested in my relationship with my crow.  Perhaps you've queried me about my last name and I've refused to tell you (keeping a secret from you).  Perhaps your souls have told you something about me.  Not sure what's most appropriate...

How about "Ilura is hiding something from me I must find out what that is."

That's what I was thinking of with the "you asked me my last name and I refused to tell you".  That definitely works from my end.

I like the previously mentioned bond to Marcus, especially with the mutual bond. Thus:

"_Marcus_ owes me their life, whether they admit it or not"
"I have sworn to protect _____."
"I worry about the ability of _____ to survive in the dungeon."
"_____ is soft, but I will make them hard like me".

Suggestions from me:
- Hiran, being a wizard and apparently being a bit haunted by something, may from Eryn's perspective perhaps appear "soft" or unable to act in rougher situations.
- Seeing Rirrik being an outcast from his tribe and also charming (for a gnoll), Eryn may swear to protect from harm. This could serve as hope that one day interaction with gnoll tribes will be more pleasant, and having a human treat him with respect would hopefully prevent townsfolk from being too hostile towards him.

Works for me ill note it down in the bonds thread.

I could see you perhaps viewing Hiran as physically soft.  If you would agree with that I would be okay with that from Hiran's perspective how intelligent and curious is Eryn? Would I maybe view her as a bit of a meathead or lacking perspective and curiosity?

Side tangent from the "bonds" discussion.

I was wondering if we wanted to establish any posting conventions before we kick off the game.  I don't feel passionately about these and am certainly happy to have discussion/debate, but I think that establishing conventions can help the story to flow/read better.

1. Events are written about in the past tense.  E.g. as opposed to   Rationale is that that's how most literary works are expressed and we're sort of building an on-the-fly story - a literary work.

2. Use color or formatting conventions to distinguish thought, spoken words and whispered words as well as out-of-character (OOC) information.  (In other games, radio transmissions can be relevant too, but probably not here :>).  In the past, I've seen each character use a different color for themselves (makes it easy to see who has said/thought what).  Thoughts are in italics.  Speech is mared with double-quotes.  Whispers are double-quoted italics.  OOC content is orange.  For example:



3. Avoid using unless responding to something much earlier in the thread where context may not be clear, and then only quote the bare minimum needed to establish context.  This avoids disrupting the flow of the narrative

4. Limit OOC content to technical actions or simple questions and keep general discussion and OOC planning in the OOC thread

5. If you make an edit to a post, at the bottom in the OOC color, provide a short description of what the edit was.  E.g.

or


Also, if an edit may influence understanding of the story like the last example, call it out in the OOC thread.

6. If you're going to PM, try to provide descriptive comment or some sort of color commentary in the non-hidden text rather than just saying "PM".  As a bonus, it helps hide the fact you're having a secret conversation :)

7. Others?


Some additional style questions:
- Is there typically a lot of planning in Dungeon World or is it more seat-of-the-pants of "here's the situation, react now"?  If there are situations where planning is in order, do people prefer to do all of that through in-character dialog, or is OOC discussion appropriate?  If the latter, should we have a thread for that purpose, distinct from true OOC stuff like "I'm going on vacation next week, try not to kill my character"?

- Who handles rolls?  Do we roll for our own actions?  For damage we receive from others?

- If we make our own rolls, is it appropriate for us to narrate the results of success or failure or should we leave that to the GM?  If it's generally ok for us to narrate but the GM might overrule, do we just edit our previous post to be consistent?

- How much technical stuff (moves chosen, rolls made, etc.) should actually show up in the narrative?

Oh wow, nicely written!  Your preferences very closely match my own.  If people follow these guidelines, I will be one happy camper!  Do you mind if I use these guidelines in an informational thread? (copy/paste/edit/etc?)


Dungeon world is usually very seat-of-the-pants, as you put it.  Situations are constantly changing based on the choices the characters make and how well they succeed at executing their choices.  Planning does happen though.  It is great to roleplay planning if possible, but if it would end up being a long and boring In-Character discussion, then it is fine to bring it OOC as a way to hasten the process and get back to the fun stuff.


In general, characters roll for their own actions and damage.  You pick what you want to try and do, roll for it if there is a roll involved, then make any choices that result requires.  If you are unsure what move you are using but are pretty sure you need a roll, you can always just roll 2d6 and I'll add modifiers as needed for the move that is appropriate.  I may on occasion roll for you if it will keep things flowing better (like if you rolled Hack and Slash but forgot to roll damage.)  If you happen to roll for the wrong move, I can still use your results, adjust the modifier, and apply it to the roll you should have rolled.  Or if a roll wasn't needed, I'll just ignore it and tell you what happens.


Feel free to describe how you do something when you make a roll.  Or at least, how you try to do something.  For instance, if you think an ogre is almost dead and you know you deal 8 damage to it, feel free to say "Ilura swung her stolen battle axe one last time and chopped the head clean off the ogre."  Then, if the ogre actually had 9 health left and survived, I would say something like, "Ilura's mighty swing cut deep into the ogre's shoulder.  It's bead necklace was the only thing that slowed her weapon down just enough to allow it to cling to life.  Knowing it's time on this earth was close to it's end, the ogre gave one last angry bellow and launched itself at the comparatively little ranger."


I prefer To have all of the narrative story-related stuff up top, then put all of the rolls in orange at the bottom.  And the rolls and any other relevant information I should know.(basically the same as we do in our Shadowrun game)   I'll post an example from one of my Dungeon World characters in another game. Hiran and Rirrik will probably recognize it. ;)

Alright, I have some questions for each of you to help flesh out this world a bit more before we start.  There may be follow up questions as well.  Also, if you have not done so yet, please post your character sheets in the Character Details link.  It will make my life much easier. :)


Dr. Hiran Krauss, you used to work for the fallen overlord.  What was their name and who or what were they?

Ilura, we know one of the fallen overlord's former servants defeated your mentor.  Who, or what, was it?

Rirrik, what is gnoll culture like in this world?  How are they handling the current hardships that are befalling them?

Eryn, you have traveled with many caravans.  What are some of the notable places of this world?

Marcus, it seems you have been involved with knights and nobles to some extent.  Who are some of the people of power in this world?

I like the general outline Marcus set forth as well as the bonds set forth so far by everyone.

Illura, I am thinking Rirrik respects nature for the most part but he also probably sees himself as part of it. It's law is survival of the fittest after all and if Rirrik is hungry he has no complications with killing off a mother animal or its babies or about stealing food from them. He has kept some of the gnoll's survival at any cost attitude. I suppose it then depends on how you view his actions.

I like the idea that Ilura shared her secret with him over a night of too many drinks. So I will put her down for "___ trusted me with a secret." Rirrik has his ways of getting answers out of people.

I also think the "This is not my first adventure with ..." would have to be Dr. Hiran Krauss.

Marcus seems to respect and not look down on Rirrik so I think they are pretty friendly to one another. How about "I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _______." for him.

That leaves "I sang stories of _____ long before I ever met them in person." So likely someone who is well known to Rirrik or in general. Possibly the 'good' doctor once again? Doesn't say they have to be flattering stories. "____ is often the butt of my jokes." Which is whoever is the resident grumpy stick in the mud. Eryn? Ilura? Marcus? Then finally "______ does not trust me, and for good reason." Which I am thinking might be Eryn especially if she has dealt alot with gnolls in the past.


The general style conventions that Ilura posted are okay with me and pretty typical for this sort of game. I like the way the GM handles this stuff as well.

If I missed any other important questions directed at me, let me know. I'm on my phone and the walls of texts are a bit hard to read without scrolling forever (did a brief scan over all the posts).

Sheet - is there a template somewhere, or if someone could share what they are using?

Rirrik - I'm fine with ballads, but also with being grumpy :)

People of interest
• King Gordon the 1st - Gordon Prudhom was a general in Tambling army, but with time his abilities and charisma drew more and more attention to him. Using the influence he had, he gathered the forces that opposed the Overlord under his banner, and has been elected by the noble families to remain the leader of the people. They had no choice but to give him the power, for he had the means to seize it if needed. Now he struggles to keep the tentative alliance together through diplomacy and show of force.
• House Tambling - Tambling lands are the greatest hold in the realm of men, and as such, their influence is vast. Lady Nicola is not happy with King's rise to power, but can't voice her concerns publically. She does keep a close eye on him and hopes to find a moment to wrestle the control of the fledgling kingdom
• Various noble houses - there are over a dozen noble families with various sizes of lands and armies, now unified under the King's rule. Before the Overlord they had tense relationships with each other, but a common foe put a temporary stop to their squabbles.
• Corrupted families - during the Overlord's reign, some nobles joined him willingly, and the heads of those houses were made his officers. Their lands made the majority of the evil empire, and are now struggling to recover. King Gordon has called back all the forces from the region, focusing on keeping the kingdom together, while the remains of the empire fight amongst themselves.
• Nations beyond the Kingdom - dwarves, elves, halflings, and nomadic tribes all have lands of their own, scattered outside the borders of the Kingdom of men. They too felt the hand of the Overlord, but to a lesser extent, and are unanimously happy that the foolish humans got their matters under control.

I agree that events should be written about in past tense. I would greatly prefer to avoid needless coloring of text, however, and instead suggest the following:

* Quotes are dialogue
* Italics are thoughts
* Whispers are regular quotes with the rest of the sentence describing it as a whisper.

Examples:
"Get down!" he shouted.
That's not what I meant to do, he thought.
"Thread carefully," she whispered, "and do your best to stay quiet so they don't hear us."

When using an action that should trigger a move, some RPG players may opt to use bold text on said action to indicate to the GM that the rest is fluff and the action should be rolled for/given a ruling.

I agree that OOC should be kept to a minimum in posts, and a link to a post in the OOC thread would be better than keeping a OOC discussion going in the RP topic. No colors needed, just separate the OOC sentence/paragraph and add "OOC:" to the front of it.

Actions, mechanics, and dice results can be done in parentheses, as suggested.

I'll do color if that's what's preferred, but I usually find it unhelpful since proper format makes it obvious what's a roll anyway. :)

---

When it comes to deciding actions: Dungeon World is based around the narrative, with the players taking a lot of control. However, the GM has a set of rules to follow that keep the game flowing, and these tend to be vital. They are not quite as vital when doing play-by-post, but when it comes to things like fighting it is entirely up to the GM to decide which move(s) are triggered.

As an example, fighting isn't always Hack-n-Slash. Sometimes it's Defy Danger (to avoid an incoming attack, for example) with any given stat (Con to resist getting knocked down, Dex to dodge, etc.) before you can deal damage, and sometimes you don't even get to the "deal damage" step because the enemy is able to avoid your action somehow.

Also, all moves that miss trigger a GM action. The GM naturally needs to be the one to choose this from their own move chart, unless you give the player the power to pick the GM move. This can spell trouble if the GM wishes to use a monster/dungeon/front move that the players don't have access to, however, so I think it would be best for the GM to decide such things?

I trust that everyone here could decide their own actions without incident, but if we want to keep the game flow of Dungeon World it's a thing to consider.

---

What are some of the notable places of this world?

"The great harbor in Markhain on the western coast comes to mind. It's the place to go if you are looking for exotic wares from faraway lands, and since several countries has an interest in keeping the trade going this city is also one of the safest. It is one of the places I have visited most often in my travels. Merchants traveling inland from Markhain always want someone to escort them, and thus it's a great place to earn some coin.

Traveling east on the main road you'll eventually pass through Bluemoss Pines, and if you feel like veering off the main road here for some sightseeing you may happen upon the Great Glade. Rumors say that supernatural events happen in the glade, but the highway bandits that make use of this superstition to lay low in the woods are a far more pressing concern for common folk.

There is also an old shrine up in the mountains, but it's stood unused for years and I know nothing more of it than that."

---

@Hiran: Eryn finds magic interesting and always likes to hear stories. She's reasonably intelligent but has never pursued any academic interest. Eryn is completely unlearned in magic herself, as she has had no one to teach her. You'll find that she has an interest in discussing most topics, but doesn't regularly pursue deeper knowledge about anything not directly related to her own life.

@Rirrik: I don't know if Eryn would be a stick in the mud, but she may distrust him since she always deals with bandits and wild folk. Gnoll tribes would be among them in certain regions, so I am fine with you using that bond for her.

@GM - copy/paste/edit away

@Rirrik - I'll go with you being aligned w/ nature.  Ilura well knows that being aligned with nature doesn't necessarily mean fuzzy and cute.  Nature is often harsh and cruel

@Marcus - How about - "Marcus's religious perspective is helpful to me in my time of grief.  I shall learn more of his God"?

@Eryn - I sort of like color and am quite comfortable embedding tags in my text, but I'm not wedded to them, so if most prefer to avoid, that's fine with me too.

The three main tenets of gnoll culture are (in order of importance):
-It is every gnoll's responsibility to keep our people and culture alive.
-You have a duty to your community/tribe first, then your blood, and then yourself.
-The strongest shall always find their way to the top and the weak shall be weeded out.
-Survive at all costs so your line shall continue.


Gnolls are definitely scavengers, whether it is food, weapons, or power, they take what they need or want (regardless of its source or owner). I think this is why they found themselves serving the overlord. He offered them easy access to their basic needs and if they had to sack a few towns to keep this access so be it.

The flipside to them is the fact that their loyalty runs deep. They do what is best for their blood clan anyone else be damned. They have a history and way which should be kept by the shamans of the community. Though contact with the Overlord seems to have caused the people to lose much of this.

I think they thrived in their own way under the Overlord but lost much of their distinct culture. They became far more vindictive and cruel under him. After he fell they sort of are trying to maintain their power in the world through shoes of force and just taking all they can get their hands on.

I think their still exist some gnoll who are more in touch with the old ways, just not the ones Rirrik was exiled from.

As relayed in the tavern a few nights ago:
"The creatures of the forest had reported disturbances near the old temple.  Things that smelled of death, but moved as one still alive.  The four of us set out to investigate - Thomas, I, my mentor and Growler, his bear.  We found zombies and a few skeletons, but nothing we couldn't handle easily enough.  After clearing the forest, we decided to track where they had come from.  It was an old fort from the war, now mostly burned.  But there was a tunnel down beneath.  It smelled of death.

I wanted to just seal it up, but my mentor said they would just tunnel out again, so down we went.  More zombies.  More skeletons.  We crushed, cut down or burned them all.  We took a few wounds, but the creatures had little hope against Growler when he was enraged.  He didn't like things that smelled like death.

But then the shadows came.  Growler could not see them, nor smell or hear them.  The torches extinguished as fast as we could light them.  My mentor ordered Thomas and I to retreat.  We were pulling back toward the entrance when I heard Growler's death roar.  I turned and I saw a sword glowing with blue light.  On it was the siggal of the old overlord.  Whatever was holding the sword was laughing."

The ranger drained her cup, waited for it to be filled, then drained it again.

"I waited outside for three days, but my mentor never came out.  Nor did anything else."

Is there some maximum to the number of Bonds we establish?  I know we need to have at least one, but I haven't noticed a place that keeps us from having 10 or 20?

Also, how do we decide on "end of session" in a play-by-post environment?

I've put my character sheet up in a google doc for people to use as a template if they like.  (If I post it here, you won't get the format codes.)
https://docs.google.com/docume...SYXMMr8ggHgA_HqmR9xU

The Overlord's name was Nikadroy Qizproteus and as far as I knew he was a gnome necromancer of immense power. He had a twin brother named Yordakin Qizproteus who was a much kinder beguiler or bender of minds and he disappeared many years ago. The Overlord and I had a symbiotic relationship, I got the victim's first and played my games and did my studies and when I was through with the bodies the Master got them to build his army and use as he saw fit. Sometimes they were morphed and modified of my own volition, other times they were requests of Master Qizproteus's.

I agree with most of those as well, I can be bad as a GM about using quoted text so that I always have context for players but I agree and understand each of the points kudos to the work done to make that.

Are you okay with my "Rirrik is special among the gnolls.  I must figure out why" bond?  Also I am agreeable to your second one if you wanted to have two with me.  It would mean either my work was well known before I had my change of heart or Rirrik has been having visions.

As far as how DW should run we always roll for ourselves the DM should never have to roll and based on those rolls the GM litigates the story which is completely controlled by the players and the rolls they have made.

In combats all foes in DW have their own moves and motivations and are generally used in their initial attacks or as hard or soft moves if a user rolls a 7-9 or a 6 and below.  So for the most part use your narrative powers to describe your actions and include a roll if you think it applies and the GM gives the reaction plus recap of the situation.

How about for Eryn this bond:

Eryn is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.

I believe there isn't a hard and fast rule with bonds but most of the time it's 1 with each character maybe 2 if there's a lot of connections with you and another and obviously they can ebb and flow through gameplay.

end of session is up to the GM but I like in my games to try and do them when we move to a new thread OR when it just feels appropriate to finally settle down everyone is going to sleep lets do an end of session.

Also as far as posts I really like if the GM uses a color that isn't the OOC thread color for when he asks we the player questions.  In my games i use green but a common thing in DW is to ask "What are you guys doing next" or to ask questions of the characters that are important in game on building the story but are still somewhat OOC.

Just my two cents though im willing to try any formatting.

@Hiran:

You may use that bond with Eryn if you like. :)

I can't recall seeing a maximum number of bonds, but I think you are supposed to have 3 to 5 at any time based on the list presented on each character sheet. I guess it's worth nothing that you can have bonds to NPCs as well, but for the sake of party interaction the first ones you make are all about other PCs. I believe the rules for bonds state that should create a new one when you resolve one on your list as well, and that you shouldn't be too shy about doing so.

That's fine Hiran. If everyone is okay with these my bonds will be:
This is not my first adventure with Dr. Hiran Krauss.

I sang stories of Dr. Hiran Krauss long before I ever met them in person.

Marcus is often the butt of my jokes.

I am writing a ballad about the adventures of Marcus.

Ilura trusted me with a secret.

Eryn does not trust me, and for good reason.

Agreed I also think it's purposely setup to give Bards more but I think it's open and up to GM interpretation and in a PbP game I think the more bonds and interesting things we can do to keep people in the game the better.

I was wondering about a bond with the killer of my mentor.  It's certainly going to be a driver for my character, but wasn't sure if that was an appropriate thing to list as a "bond"

    Bonds are what make you a party of adventurers, not just a random assortment of people. They’re the feelings, thoughts, and shared history that tie you together. You will always have at least one bond, and you’ll often have more.

    Each bond is a simple statement that relates your character to another player character. Your class gives you a few to start with, you’ll replace your starting bonds and gain new ones through play.

That's from the rules with my own emphasis, I don't think bonds are meant to be used for anyone outside of PC's as a way to connect us and build and use aid/interfere rolls.  You can have a bond with that person but not mechanically if that makes sense. At least that's how I view bonds personally.

Oh my, there is a lot to digest here.  That is fantastic!  All of the answers everyone gave for their questions were great and I think we have enough to get started.  I will probably ask some followup questions as well, but right now I am going to focus on answering all the questions that popped up.  I will attempt to answer everything I can, but if I miss something then let me know.


Any format is fine so long as all the information is there.  Your stats and their modifiers, your class moves and choices that go along with them, and your gear.  The link that Ilura posted works well.  Thank you Ilura!


If you prefer not to color Eryn's speech, that's fine.  I prefer colors but it is not a must.  I still plan on coloring speech in the posts that I make though.  I really would like the OOC information to be listed at the bottom of the post in orange though.  It makes it much easier to locate and digest what is happening when I go back and look at it a second or third time while I am creating a response.

On that note:

You are right, it is nice to have the different colors.  However, I will probably still stick to just using orange.  I'm not quite that ambitious.  But we'll see.


Let's go with 6 bonds as our maximum at any given time.  I won't put a restriction on how many you can have with each person, so you could technically have up to 6 with one person.  (probably not a good idea to do that though.)  When we do End of Session, I won't restrict the number of bonds you can resolve at one time either, so long as people don't abuse the bond system to farm XP.  You are not required to replace bonds that you resolve.  The minimum number of bonds is still 1, however.

End of Session will happen whenever it feels appropriate.  Most likely after some significant goal or progress has been achieved.


To echo the good doctor, bonds in the game term sense will only be between player characters (or former player characters, if someone leaves the game or their character dies).  You can feel free to have a bond with the killer of your mentor, but you won't get XP for resolving it.

Here is an optional question for all players to answer.

When was the moment you realized you were an Adverurer with a capital A?

Marcus always followed his brother's lead, and when he lost that guidance fate had connected him with Eryn. But while at first, he hoped she would fill the role his brother had, with time he realized he had become his own man and had led as often as he followed.
He could recall with a weary smile the moment when the warrior turned to him for the first time and asked "What now?", trusting his judgment.

Also, sorry for being late with my sheet, I'm all over the place, but should have it ready during the weekend.

When I finally was released from my cell and realized redemption was a long journey, one that I don't know if I can succeed at or if I even want to but that I must try.

The decision was made when I threw his ring in the river and vowed never to go back.  (I'm much more at peace with that part of my life story, so it'll take more than a bit of ale to get me to spill it :>)

I felt that I'd actually earned the labelwhen I turned the tables on a group of bandits that had captured me, despite 3-to-1 odds.

Eryn was uncertain what purpose she should try to fulfill in life. When she met Marcus and fought alongside him she realized events bigger than what she had imagined in her own little world were unfolding.

Seeing a knight of such honorable stature made her aim for greater heights herself, and the knowledge that she may have saved his life in that battle serves as a source of both silent pride and unspoken dread. If such well-trained warriors could fall at a moment's notice, the same could easily happen to a humble sell-sword.

Yet, a greater purpose has revealed itself. The paladin - and the rest of the band - are worth sticking with. Adventure calls.

After he was exiled and he learned his arcane art Rirrik witnessed a battle between a gnoll brigade and a group of hired caravan guards. He could have easily left or waited to scavenge the fallen, instead he joined the fray in defense of the guards utilizing his new found abilities. When he faced down his own people and saw how the guards looked at him he knew he wasn't taking a typical path. He would do things his way, and what he felt was right. That is what the path of the Adventurer is to him, forgetting the baggage and misguided beliefs and doing what is best regardless. If you can get paid for it, all the better.

Great answers everyone, as usual.  We seem to be on track to start tomorrow as planned.  I think I am only waiting on one characters sheet now.  If you have any last minute adjustments or character choices to make, now would be the time.

Are there any other questions about gameplay before we start?

How do you want marking HP to work. Just on our sheets or do you want to also have us put it in our bio things for easier access to that information?

I plan to try and keep track of everyone's HP in my own records, but it would probably be helpful for your teammates to know how close to death you are.  So putting your HP in your bio would still be a good idea.

Marcus, are you ok with this as a bond?
"Marcus's religious perspective is helpful to me in my time of grief.  I shall learn more of his God"

It's fine, but I'll need to learn more about him (or make up) us well :)

Hey GM how do you want to handle my prepared spells? I just noted them down in my own personal scratchpad but that's not visibel to everyone else.  I was hoping to avoid having to copy paste that info with every combat post I ever make.  I do enough of that in games I run with monster info hehe

If I might suggest a status thread, where we keep the use of our resources as well as HP, temporary modifiers etc.
Each character has a post in it, and we update as necessary.

In other news, the sheet is done.

I think there should be an IC post that accounts for all changes in state - spells memorized or forgotten, damage taken or healed, items acquired or lost, etc.  So that it should be possible by reading through the IC thread to determine the current state - and so that there's a record of exactly what the state was at a given point in time.  However, I do like the idea of a status thread that we keep up-to-date to reflect "current" status to provide a one-stop-shop that everyone can see.

The only challenge there is if there are "hidden" states (items acquired that perhaps others don't necessarily know about), but that can presumably be handled through pm/hidden content.

@Markus - I'm sure we'll have a philosophic discussion or two around the fire :)  Also, Ilura's a "her"...

Him = Diety :)

Ah.  Well yes.  Right now Ilura likely presumes you know all.  She may learn better in time :)

Could you elaborate on the IC post you were referring to at the beginning.  I am not quite sure I understood what you meant.  Where would that information be posted?

I can definitely create a status thread though.  A place where people update their HP, current armor, prepared spells, and ongoing effects/bonuses/penalties, etc.  In a different game I am in we have something like that for everyone's spells and abilities and it is a useful tool.

I mean that when we camp, you declare the spells you memorize.  If you forget a spell, you declare it.  All as part of the narrative.  E.g.


That way, it should be possible for someone just reading through the narrative to know what spells were in place at a particular point - even though the status may have changed 100 times since then.

BTW - status thread is currently "closed"

Ah, that makes sense.  That is definitely something that would be helpful.

Also, the thread should be open now.  I don't know why it wasn't to start with...

Question on encumbrance.  I know that HP = the full Constitution score + character modifier.  However, I was assuming that the encumbrance limit was adjusted only by the strength modifier, not the full character strength.  Which is correct?

My bad. it's +Str; and abbreviations are modifiers. Thanks!

Too bad.  Was looking forward to being able to carry a lot more loot :)

Yeah, it is the modifier.  Sorry. :P

Just to clarify, I'm supposed to make up an answer to your question to drive the story, but also declare my actions, correct?

Yes.  Say what you are doing IC and also answer the question.  The answer to the question can either be IC or OOC.  Your choice.

There are two Moons. The silver one, guarded by pearl goddess Lusiny, protector of the night, and the red one, sign of the blood goddess Cherka, corruptor of the dark.

The silver one follows the sun in the east-west path and the blood moon circles the world perpendicular to that. The interactions cause large shifts in tides.

Lusiny advocates the calm night, in which the just rest easy, and night predators search for prey, no worse than that.

Cherka is the patron of the monsters that cause fright, lycanthropes, undead and more.

The twin sisters are in constant battle with each other, each wishing to see their version of the dark to prevail.

Nice.  I like it!

Quick question:
When a player triggers a move and the GM provides answers, may other players take initiative to act on those answers, or must the player be allowed to react to their own move and relay information IC to the others first?

It depends on the situation.  If it makes narrative sense, go ahead and act.

Regardless, you are always allowed to make other actions based on what your character is doing.  So for instance, even if you don't know about the skeletons yet, you could be spouting lore on something else that you do know about.  Basically you can do whatever makes sense at the time.

yep and the GM will post and tweak modify and use each persons posts to make the narrative flow so if it makes sense in the narrative id just go for it and include any rolls that you think might apply.

Hey GM can you change the default dice roller to be set to 2d6 instead of 1d20?

Great idea.  Done.

Sorry for the delay - was playing games with relatives all day yesterday :)

Hiran, do you want to share your starting spells IC?

Another quick question from me (asking before it comes up in play): The Human Fighter move allows me to re-roll damage once per battle "for you or someone else". Can I choose anyone to be that "someone else"? For example, if Ilura rolls 2 damage with her bow, or Hiran rolls bad spell damage, can I tell either of them to re-roll? Or is it meant to be only on actions where I am directly involved, so that if an enemy strikes me and deals a lot of damage, I may choose to re-roll that?

My gut feeling is that it's the latter (either me or someone I'm directly involved in fighting or aiding), but I couldn't find any details on this in the playbook, so I guess it was meant to be a bit open-ended.

I like how the game has gone so far, by the way. Nice evocative imagery on the black sand. Coupled with the moon lore that was added it immediately caught my interest. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:12, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

It is the first one.  You can reroll any one damage roll so long as you are involved in the overall battle.  It would not work if you were, say, watching a gladiator battle though, unless you decided to jump in the ring yourself.

Alright, sounds good. :)

However, since this is play-by-post, I assume I can't ask for a re-roll if another post has already been made in the meantime based on the result? That would probably be more disruptive than helpful, and I don't wish to intrude on other people's actions by messing with what's already written.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:54, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

As long as we are not too far past it, we should be able to work something out.  For example, if Marcus deals one damage to an ogre and a couple posts happen before you say he rerolls damage, I could have that small cut cause him to stumble and hurt himself on something else for that extra damage.  That way we don't have to retcon what happened a while ago, but that past attack still results in more damage to the foe.

Also, I am glad you are liking the game so far.  I will have my next IC post up shortly.

That's a clever solution. I like it. Also: No rush. :)

I read the fighter's ability as that you have sort of an overall sixth sense about how the battle at large is progressing - so you can use whatever you're doing locally to influence things farther away - making your target shout to cause a distraction, edging them into a position that blocks someone else's shot - or clears the way against a target who may have thought they had cover, giving a quick shout to warn someone to duck, etc.  So the recipient of the re-roll wouldn't have to be within reach, but they'd have to be within the range of voice or other source of influence.  So if we split the party and you were out scouting, you couldn't cause a re-roll if the rest of the party back at camp a few kilometers away got raided.

Oh, and I too am enjoying the game :)

What do you mean? Like I didn't picture Hiran would come out and say "Today I memorized etc.." just because it wouldn't be relevant to him to share that but if you as a player want to know I chose Contact Spirits and Magic Missle.

Yeah its meant to be pretty open ended as all DW is but that's what gives it the narrative flexibility.  Game's been fun so far im really interested to see where it goes moving forward, it's an odd feeling being on the player side of things honestly.

@Ilura: I agree with that interpretation of the Fighter move.

@Hiran - If you want to list them OOC, that's ok too.  I just think it's good to have them in the main thread because the status thread will be continuously edited and we won't be able to go back and establish what was available when.  I see the status thread as sort of a "current snapshot", but the IC thread is the source of truth.

I put it OOC in one of my most recent threads.  I have no problem doing that I just didn't want to use OOC in game too much as I know it's preferred we don't

Well, my status is: "Accidentally drew enemy attention, failed Defend roll."

Off to a good start! :D


Edit: At least I mark XP for a failed roll, if I recall correctly?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

Yes.  Both you And Ilura have one XP now.

Alright. I know you'll be making a move or two in response to our failures, so I guess I should also wait for the other players to make their posts before I take any further actions.

I'll be with you soon. As a newbie, I can generally attack or defend. Is there a taunt option, or is that up to GM?

That would probably be Defy Danger + Cha in most cases.

As a GM of other games personally i'd rather see you guys keep posting and if the GM has to slow you down or your action gets tweaked or modified or something like that the GM can handle that.  I think in a PbP game the more active you can get it the better and even in an in person game DW is about shifting focus not a specific turn order, ill defer to the GM but nothing kills a PbP game faster than players not posting or waiting on someone else to post who may be slower than the rest of the gang.

@Marcus: After checking, I see that the Barbarian playbook has a starting move for taunting. It lets the Barbarian try to get the attention of the enemy, and if it succeeds they also gain bonus damage against the enemies that attack as a result.

Nothing is stopping others from attempting a taunt, however. The GM will call for a roll if they deem it necessary, and I agree that Defy Danger may be the most versatile.


@Hiran: I agree, we should always keep the game going. Still, the GM called for "several posts per week", not "multiple posts every day", so I'm prepared to wait a bit. Plus, I believe we may be in different time zones, so it may be good to not go on a long train ride of posts while others are asleep.

We should see how it plays out these first days, I think, and find out what pace we wish to set. I agree that the GM can make the call.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:55, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

I don't mind the pace going faster.  It may just be a while before I get a chance to respond sometimes.  It is also alright if the focus stays on a few characters for a while and away from others, but it is still a good idea not to leave others too far behind.

I agree there's a nice balance to be had that you try to figure out.  As a gm I am terrified when my games are super quiet for a few days that's a good sign things are going south or players are just busy but its tough to tell over the internet of course.

On that note, I'm en route to a conference and may be posting a bit more sporadicly.  I should still get in a couple of posts a day, but there may be gaps.  (So no need to worry about flagging interest :>)

My typical timezone is GMT-6/-7 depending on the season, but headed to Europe so I've been shifting for the last few days.

On a completely different topic - thoughts on cursing?  I tried making something up (spawn of a barghest), but am not thrilled with the result.  I thought Hiran's modern version of "Damn it" sounded more natural, though Eryn's "Curses" approach works too.  We don't need to be consistent, of course, but was curious about other's opinions.

Cursing doesn't bother me at all I imagine people who adventure against all kinds of horrors of a fantasy world might throw a few curses around whether we use modern language or something made up I think its all fits but that's just me personally.

The only time I would have an issue is when it's just profanity for profanity's sake with no context reason or purpose because then it's just childish.

Don't you shoot me Rirrik! It's into your cage your going if you shoot me!

Not the cage! Never again! *turns and lopes away*

On time zones, I'm in Europe, so I catch up with most of the action in the morning (now).

As for cursing, it's a problem in many games. I usually resort to "Damnation"

My approach to swearing is to only describe it in vague terms, rather than actually type out a string of profanity. I don't have an issue with swearing in general, but in fiction it often looks bad when overused or when needlessly replaced by odd euphemisms. Since the exact words are not important to the action at hand I skip writing them out myself, but I don't have any issue with how Ilura does it either.

I decided to spend my hold on protecting Marcus; I'll let him handle the damage roll. For later: When we cut damage by half, do we halve it before or after armor is applied?

Edit: For reference, I'm in Europe as well. I just sneak in a post or two while at work, since I'm in IT. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:48, Tue 14 Nov 2017.

Thank you!
09:41, Today: Marcus rolled 1 using 1d6.  Damage from skeleton, without modifiers.
With 3 armor, it doesn't matter currently, but I'd like to know the order of damage reduction as well.

One of us (is it us if it was only me...)! On both accounts :)

I looked it up. Apparently it's supposed to be halving damage first, and then applying armor.

Thanks.  That is what I was planning on going with anyway.

I don't have a problem with profanity if the situation warrants it.  My own use of profanity will probably be quite mild.  I will probably utilize both Ilura and Eryn's methods as well.

I am in the middle of the USA, as far as time zones go. (-6 I believe.)  I work night shift though, so my schedule is pretty chaotic.  I am actually posting from my phone on break at the moment.

East Coast US here. It seems like I'm usually one of the people playing catch up though. Good right now so maybe you all just seem to post in a group when I'm at work or something.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:08, Tue 14 Nov 2017.

Yeah, time zones is one of the reasons why I wondered if people like me (I'm are more active since I can post both from work and from home) should ease up a bit on how often we post. I can, in practice, respond very quickly, but I don't wish to pull far ahead by doing 3 or 4 posts for every 1 the others can muster. That will just be stressful for them, I think.

If I do multiple posts before other players can react, I will try to aim for conversations or resolving moves I already started rather than making new ones. :)

Im in the eastern time zone of the US but as I am also in IT I can post both at work and at home.

I also get emails when someone posts to a game im involved in so I tend to be on here more than others i'd assume.  Ill try to keep the posting from being too much for a slower player.

Weekends are the crapshoot for me sometimes I can post regularly but usually im swamped and don't have time to do so.

I thought the zombies were coming from farther in the cave? I figured Rirrik would run into them when he raced away from the skeleton shrapnel.

Oh.  I thought you were running away from the entire situation, like down a side tunnel or something.  My mistake.  I will edit my last post slightly.

It's good I probably should have been more  clear with my own post. I kind of like where I am taking his character so far, it kind of shows he still has that animal/feral side that other gnolls have. He's only one good knock upside the head or similar away from showing it. I think it will provide contrast with his usual whimsical self.

In other news, we've probably made some enough noise that once Rirrik isn't freaking out, he can probably go ahead and provide some basic assists to all.

Edited my post.  I had indicated I was doing a head shot to try to stun the thing, but I'd forgotten that that only works if I'm doing a surprise attack.  And seeing as I'd hit the creature before, it definitely knew I was around.  So this will be just another volley for straight damage.  (The good news is it's at least a lot of damage...)

Question - can an attack on a common opponent be treated simultaneously as an Aid or must those always be distinct moves?  (It seems logical that doing significant damage to one of the zombies might aid Eryn in her efforts to push them back - and in fact relieving the pressure on her was Ilura's intention in making the shot.)

I think the intention is for those two be separate moves.  Technically a lot of combat attacks aid your friends but it's not directly aiding them in a task like finding a trap or lifting something heavy.

I sort of expected that, but figured it didn't hurt to ask :)

We get a lot of mediocre rolls at the moment, so Aid may actually be a good option if we want to pin down a zombie without it getting back at us immediately.

Being pinned down by these things also makes me realize that I should probably pick up a dagger or something later for Hand range, or ask Hiran to teach Eryn magic. :P

If we manage to take these things down, you can maybe find the rusty butcher knife that skeleton was weilding :)

If our combined attacks have managed to take down or at least seriously hurt the one zombie, then we might be ok to continue going toe-to-toe.  But if that one zombie is still largely untouched, we need to seriously consider running or at least changing strategy.

For now, I think I'm more useful shooting.  I've got a decent to-hit chance and with Thomas, I've got pretty good damage.  And maybe I can annoy one enough it'll try stumbling after me.  So long as I can maintain my distance, I should be fine.  Would Rirrik be more useful with aid?  (From an IC perspective, it's entirely possible he's not in the mood for that though :>)

I thought earlier that we were getting our butts kicked, but then I realized that we've mostly recieved scratch damage, and we outnumber these things (plus, they seem to be faster than us, so fleeing is risky). We had some bad rolls that led to both attacks and defense missing, but a couple of medium/good rolls should be enough to give us the breathing room we need.

If we keep failing to deal with them, I agree that we should retreat.  I'd just prefer to knock them over or something so we can gain a bit of distance before they pursue us, since the cave is dark and the terrain is slippery.

They seem to eat a lot of direct damage, so maybe we should try to tear them apart, if they're loosely slapped together with necromancy? Setting them on fire might work. Definitely going to burn the bodies after they go down, if we get the chance. There are free torches lying around, even.

They were described as quite fishy and wet, so I doubt they're super flamable.  Ripping parts off zombies isn't terribly effective in most mythologies, but who knows.  Dr. Hiran probably best knows how to destroy these thing - seeing as he helped to create them.  And his recommendation has been to run.  Though whether that's from his knowledge of how hard they are to defeat or because he now sees our current mission as a distraction is unclear.  IC, not sure we even know he has much knowledge of these critters specifically.

I'm not sure the rolls were necessarily that bad - we're level 1 and we kind of suck :)

In terms of their speed, my impression is that they were somewhat slow - though they did get up to us relatively quickly.  It would certainly be good to have some insight on our impressions of that.  If we can't outrun them, then that definitely changes strategy somewhat.

Yeah, the average roll - even with bonuses - will be in the 7-9 range. I forget the exact odds, but I think getting a 6- is roughly a 1 in 3 chance.

I'm guessing that we can't beat the zombies with brute force, but making them trip or fall apart temporarily should give us room to retreat.

If they are wet due to water they may not burn easily, but the corpses should be possible to toss in a fire and dispose of that way. While they are still moving, we could gamble on fish oil being flammable, but I agree that it would be hard to do. They are clearly not afraid of fire if they're carrying torches, anyway.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:14, Thu 16 Nov 2017.

Hiran's answer is pretty close to my own.  Volley and Hack and Slash are separate moves than Aid.  However, that isn't to say you can't shoot arrows or swing a sword to provide Aid.  Cover fire comes to mind.  Just don't expect it to work the same mechanically.  Additionally, you may still be able to make an attack move and an aid move in the same post so long as they are separate actions and it fits the narrative.

You might not like what you find from Hiran's magic but i'd be happy to teach you.

IC I imagine Hiran knows quite a bit about these things maybe not every specific but I haven't had a chance to pull out my books or pass on this knowledge.

Hiran's motives beyond that ill keep quiet about and let the RP speak for itself.

As far as strategy I think we could run away if we wanted to we just might have to slow them down somehow but there's no reason because of a few bad rolls we can't recover and survive the onslaught.  Too bad we don't really have a healer but I suppose we can't have everything.

The bard and Paladin both have healing moves.  So at least you guys aren't completely helpless in that regard.

Ahh this is true so we aren't totally screwed.

Was that losing 1 use of rations or the whole 5 uses of dungeon rations. Losing the whole thing would probably make more sense. Just want to know what to mark down.

Yea, Marcus just needs to remember that (and not be hacking and slashing).

Is there a limitation to use of Lay on hands? As in - spamming it between encounters or some such thing?

@Rorrik, probably just one use/day

Pretty sure you can use it as much as you want but 7-9 puts wounds on you and anything less than that is asking for trouble so its hard to spam in DW.

1 use.  If you want, you can play it that it all fell out but only 1 use was spoiled.


Yeah, you can use it all you want, but it is a roll each time.

ea, I get bored with repetitive descriptions, sorry.
+2 should be from the longsword (and now that I actually checked it; it is +1... ooops)

Noted 1 damage
19:53, Today: Marcus rolled 1 using 1d6-3.  damage.

Oh, nice!  I didn't realize that paladins started with a weapon with a bonus to damage.

Marcus did rush to protect Hiran from that skeleton, so... maybe no need to play dead?

He just ran in a beeline and is in a haze he still thinks a skeleton is on him.

I'm a bit confused.  If I see the magical energy traveling toward me, then it should be pretty straight-forward to determine the location it originated from assuming it's traveling in a straight line - it's straight in the direction I was looking when I saw the shimmer.  And if it's not traveling in a straight-line, I'm not sure how letting it hit me would better allow me to figure out where it came from.

So I'm guessing that what you meant to say is that if I let it hit me, I'll not only know the "where did it come from?", but also the "what sent it?" - perhaps because the light of me exploding will likely be enough to illuminate the area of the cave where the magical energy originated from.  Is that accurate?  If not, I need a clearer picture painted of what's going on :)

Im assuming it's you see a blast. To dodge it would require diving off to the side blocking your line of sight.  If you stay and eat it you will clearly be able to look past the blast and see the foe.  Least that's how i'd interpret it.

Right.  So I know where it's coming from, I just won't know the "who" shot it - at least not right away unless I let myself be hit.  If that turns out to be the case, my take is that knowing the "where" is probably sufficient - partifularly given that Ilura can't tell the difference between the magical energy of a couple of magic missiles and that of a fireball, polymorph or something worse.

Sorry for the confusion.  By "where it came from" I meant its source.  As in, what created the magic blast.  You definitely already know the direction it came from.  (Not necessarily the distance though.)

Can Bards use arcane art on themselves?

After rereading the ability description, I am going to say no.  It only works on other people you consider to be an ally.

Also, Hiran, you can go ahead and make your Spout Lore roll with your +1 for the book.  Don't forget to mark down one book use.

Okay, that makes sense to me.

Since we seem to be out of combat I decided to leave the weird magic attack for later, but I'm fairly certain we'll be up against some kind of magician soon enough. I also have a feeling that getting hit by a spell from he/she/it might leave us looking like Pirates of the Caribbean extras. :)

I'm glad I dodged :)

English route home and likely disconnected for the next 12+ hours.  Don't feel a need to wait for me.

That was supposed to be "En route", but apparently that's too French for my iPhone...

I'll wait to see what Marcus decides as that will affect what I do next.  To clarify, if I did want to try to make it through the water quietly, is that at least theoretically possible and, if so, what would I need to do?

Was the second voice female?  (Just trying to confirm that voice 2 appeared to be the 'her' that voice 1 mentioned.)

Is a Vorlag a living creature? It might fall under my Bestiary of Creatures Unusual bardic lore. It also says 'when
you first encounter an important creature, location, or item..etc' does someone mentioning it count ad encountering it or do I have to physically be in it's presence?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 04:20, Sun 19 Nov 2017.

Ilura:
To get through the water quietly would require a defy danger of some sort.  Both voices were female.

Rirrik:
Yes, it would fall under your bardic lore.  I will let you be the judge of what counts as encountering it.

Lol, now Rirrik seems to be coming off a little like a bardic Rafiki. I think I'm okay with that.

What I am trying to do with Eryn is set her up to be 'spurn to significant and unplanned decisive action.' Which is what my alignment (Chaotic) calls for me to do. Not sure how well it might work. What alignment is Eryn anyway?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:09, Sun 19 Nov 2017.

I considered "Good" because that one is just "protect someone weaker thank you" and I feel that's all Eryn's about, but it's also her job. Thus I figured she should be Neutral, as "defeating a worthy foe" seemed like something she would yearn to do in order to get some excitement in life. :)

So yeah, she's Neutral.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:04, Sun 19 Nov 2017.

Sorry for lack of proper post, but Marcus goes back and reports there is trouble ahead, urging everyone to rejoin Ilura.

Sorry I was away had power out all day on Saturday and I have some medical issues I am dealing with so I was in pain all day sunday and never got to get on.  Catching up now.

Working two more hours, will post after.

@Hiran - hope the pain's getting better.  That's never a lot of fun.

I'm hoping I just have a peptic ulcer but ive had some abdominal pain too so it's on to the doctors office tomorrow.  Fun times especially around the holidays.

Yuck.  Hopefully they can help.

BTW - don't take my IC post as criticism.  I'm just trying to post what I figure Ilura would be thinking. :>

Hope you get better soon. :)

Not a problem I didn't take it personally anything in there is in character just like when I called our gnoll a dog :).

Yeah I hope I can fix this soon too, thanks for the well wishes.

Sending good vibes to you, doc.

Poor misunderstood Rirrik, everyone just sees him as a thieving dog-man. :(  The whole difference in cultures/beliefs should be an interesting angle to play up.

Hiran likes Rirrik we just haven't had much of a break to show that.

I have this thing where Eryn's bond to Rirrik is "sworn to protect" (I'm thinking due to how unique he is among gnoll in this setting, since he's on his own and quite friendly), while his bond to Eryn is that she "doesn't trust him... for good reason". I figure admitted theft, personal space invader, human reluctance to meet with gnoll tribes, and probably a few other things led to that bond being what it is. :)

It's an interesting dynamic - it's like having that one friend who you like, but "it's complicated" because he's always doing stuff you mildly disagree with.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:52, Tue 21 Nov 2017.

That's true. If anyone knows what it's like to be in a situation when you're not really going to be trusted for things you've done, its Hiran. I think they've definitely developed a report with one another. I know Rirrik had to make the heavy choice whether to be wary of someone who worked for the vile Overlord or to throw himself into this companionship. I think he is happy he chose the latter.

I really like the dynamic. There is room for shifting on both sides.

I agree I like Hiran's middle of the road standing and that it gives him a sense of the unknown.  I could see him falling on either side and possibly both depending on what happens to us over time.

Hiran is fascinated by Rirrik and finds him so intriguing as he is such an outlier of his race.

She can only be healed to her maximum. So she heals 2 damage and you take 2 damage. Temporary HP would only happen in very unique and strange situations.  This is not one of those.

Hiran, only Ilura is able to see the woman in the IC thread, so you wouldn't know about the stitching unless Ilura reports back, or you go up the tunnel and have a look too (which would require a Defy Danger).

Darn, I just posted a reply to him. Sorry, didn't think that far.

Doh I thought we were all in there my bad ill remove my post if I Can.

No problem.  Sorry for the confusion.

np at all :)

On one hand I feel it's calm talking time.

On the other hand we should probably grab, bag, and gank her before she casts any horrible zombie spells. O_o

:D

Decisions decisions.

If we surround her, it should be relatively straight-forward to take her down.  She might be able to get one or two of us.  Pushing her into the fire should be effective.  Most water-affiliated creatures tend not to do well with fire.  (Though I'm curious how the DW rules would handle environmental damage like being pushed into a fire, pushed off a ledge, etc. - presume the attack itself would be melee, but the damage would presumably be altered by the situation you're exposing the target to.)

DW's system handles very little it's all in the DM's mind and what makes a better and more interesting narrative to the GM.

Yeah, if the GM imagines this woman to be a frail old lady with a morbid hobby, we'll be treated to a grizzly murder scene. If the GM means for her to be the real villain in this cave, we might get wrecked if we rush it.

Buuuut I like to avoid speculating about specific GM actions, since it kills the immersion a bit. :P

We should reason it out from the character's perspective. In my case, Eryn would know not to mess with unnatural stuff like this (already being wary of spellcasters), but may still be willing to go for a stab if it seems necessary.

To make it known, I was all ready to kill some enemies, but a chance to talk up a foe for some useful information is too good for a bard to pass up. So eh, plans change.

One of the reasons I love DW is you can take a normal combat encounter and end it with interesting dialogue and choices.  I've seen a player talk down a lich and help them accept the afterlife before so you can setup some really cool scenes driven by your players.

Hiran's not afraid at all what this woman is doing was his world for many years.

I think I am going to give Marcus a chance to chime in before I post again.

Thanks, working on it. Had hell of a day.

No prob. And if your missed attempt at authority goes south here, you have my spear (and probably Ilura's bow) backing you at least. :v

Eryn, I love how you reacted to spewing up seawater.  Awesome.

Also, as much as I would love to react to Ilura's failed roll right away, I will be nice and wait a bit to see if anyone wants to try and Aid her in her Parley attempt first.

Or they can do other stuff too.

I didn't even realize a retro-active aid was possible - so that's being super-nice :)

It isn't supposed to be.  In a real-life game someone would state that they are going to roll for a move, someone would say that they will try to Aid and describe how, roll for Aid, then the first person would roll for their move.  In a play by post format it is difficult to use the aid move as intended.  It is easier and more efficient to use the Aid move retroactively in a lot of circumstances.  If someone uses the Aid move before I react to a failure or partial success, and as long as their description of Aid makes sense, I'll allow it.

You can also say, "I will attempt to Aid so-and-so if they do such-and-such," then make an Aid roll.  Then, if so-and-so does such-and-such, I will use the roll.  If they don't, I won't.

I actually considered Aid, but wasn't sure if I could do that without discussing it before the roll - so thanks for clearing that up.

Also, the seawater was very unexpected but a brilliant result as a Miss when searching a witch's creepy cavern, and I imagine the resultant mental state has ruined any immediate chances of providing Aid to a diplomatic solution. :P
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 01:07, Sat 25 Nov 2017.

I don't know.  I bet you were in the mood to do a bit of intimidation... :)

Rirrik isn't actually too far ahead he just went maybe a few feet into the side tunnel then made motions with his hand that were like "okay okay let's go now" So I don't think we are all the separated, like maybe a minute or two walk and we’re back together. I don't want you all thinking Rirrik abandoned everyone. He was trying to get everyone to come along with him and stop arguing with the hag.

Posting ahead. Can sickened be cured with lay on hands?

It says you can choose to "remove one disease", but I think Eryn's current condition is just regular nausea. It's up to the GM, though.

I was planning to eat a dungeon ration to fill her stomach back up... but I'm not sure if food would stay down at the moment either. I know I would not be in the mood for food if my mouth tasted of seafood. :P

I would say, in general, Lay on Hands can't cure debilities.  But specific circumstances might be exceptions to this rule.  If a debility is caused by a disease or an HP-related injury, then Lay on Hands might remove the debility as well.  You are always free to try though (just like you did in the IC thread).

Now, THAT is how you tell a witch what for.

@Rirrik: Show-off ;>

My leaning for the next step is to try to set up an ambush.  We know they're coming for us.  They might not know we've come for them - though I suspect if their sister has magical means to communicate, she'll let them know.  In any event, I'd rather build a trap than walk into one.

Any alternative proposals?

A trap sounds like a good idea. We do run the possibility of being stuck between them and our own trap though. There is also the tide coming in we will have to contend with. Honestly I kind of want to force them out of the whole cave if that is possible, if not maybe a quick trap and some hit and run tactics?

I get the sense from Mina that the complex is quite a labarinth.  I doubt we could cover all of the passageways.  We can see where the high-tide mark is, so we can easily make sure we're not somewhere that will be wet.  (I'm assuming the campfire location is above high tide - or it'd have been pretty hard to get the driftwood to burn.

We won't be able to leave the complex with the tide in (unless we're really good swimmers and don't mind taking a gamble on that black gunk and whatever critters make the cave home when they can swim in - i.e. we're *really* desparate).  So we certainly would have our backs to the proverbial wall.  On the other hand, we know what's behind us, but have no clue what's ahead other than really nasty lizard things and something whose body we can't hit but whose sword can hit us.

If we can take out the two sisters, we can hopefully get one of them to tell us more details about our target's plans - and maybe its weaknesses.  We might also be able to trade the lives of the sisters for some of Mina's help.  Plus, if we set up an ambush site, we can ensure the ceilings are low enough that if a lizard does come to play, we can reach it and also have some cover locations if it starts firing quills.  If we go wandering the caves during high tide, we could be standing in the middle of some huge cavern when a couple start shooting at us and we'd have limited options to counter-attack or to find protection.

I'd prefer to stay out of water when facing watery creatures who thrive in that environment.  Do we have any way we could smoke them out, make the cave less than habitable?

The campfire was most definitely above the high tide mark.  It would have been pretty obvious to you guys as you approached.  The cave wall above and below the water line looked very different, although still natural.

Nice try, Marcus. Too bad you got the sickness too, but thanks for the attempt. As long as Rirrik manages to get our condition cured, I'm thinking we'll just need to hurry up and get a look at the caves in front of us.

Here are the things that can go wrong:

• We get lost in the darkness.
• The tide comes in and covers us in black gunk, as Ilura puts it.
• Lizards dropping from the ceiling.
• Ambushed by the sisters. They know the place better than us.
• Ambushed by Mira (she did have a zombie there and is pissed at us).
• More undead swarming us.
• Ghost dude with a magic sword of sorts that probably only Hiran can even do something about.

tl;dr: SNAFU.

I like the idea of laying an ambush for them. They know we are coming (and will be returning for us), but as long as we ensure there is only one direction they can actually come from, we should be able to handle them without having to face the tide and drop lizards at the same time.

Something as simple as a tripwire in a dark tunnel could give us an advantage against humans, if we make them chase us. Maybe we could grab some rope and cover it in the black water to make it hard to see?

If we have a campfire and its a sealed cave we could try to fill it with several campfires filling the place with smoke...might draw them out or just make it a bigger pain in the ass to traverse lol.

Hah, let's grab Mira's campfire and just shoo her out of there. Good riddance.

and smoked seafood is quite delicious :)

I think I lost my appetite for seafood, actually. :P

quote:

one of Eryn's seashells started walking because there was a hermit crab inside

Please nnnnnooooooooooo

I'll drink whatever cure you have, witch.

Sorry for low posting and slowing the pace of the game. Few more days and I should be out of the woods.

All good marcus I don't think anyone has an issue with your speed.

Ilura was scouting ahead to (and a ways past) the first couple of branch points, so I presume I have an idea of which branch the sisters took, not just "followed the passageway".  Also, you can describe a bit about what things look like at the branch points, though you don't need to share much that's useful as I didn't earn anything other than "which way did they go".

Just a heads-up: Due to work and other arrangements I won't be able to post here again until tomorrow some time.

All good Eryn.  Think you will come back to some bat fun :)

Yes indeed. I feel bad for Marcus now. First he starts puking sand because of me snooping around the witch cave, and now he's going to be splatted by bats because of Ilura snooping around too. You should go snooping down in the dark tunnels we haven't explored yet; get some lizards going as well. :P

I'm hoping Eryn will grab onto the rope and take the lead, as my strength is rather poor :)

If we can get ourselves backed into that space where the cavern narrows where the stream comes out of with the fighters with shields up front and the rest of us dealing with the bats that get through, I'm pretty sure we can fend them off.

This is not how I expected the bat battle to go.  I love surprises though!

Glad to be of service!

Just a question (doesn't change the post), we still need to scale the wall we intended to reach wherever the broodmaster is going? Should we include some rolls?

As long as nobody is under attack, you don't need to roll to get up the wall.  It isn't a particularly dangerous climb under calm circumstances.

Just an FYI to all until January I am pretty much booked every weekend with Christmas happenings which concludes with a week long excursion out of town the last week of December.

I am posting all of this so you guys are aware if I disappear over weekends or near the end of the month don't worry I shall return the holidays are just eating up all of my freetime.

Thanks for the understanding and apologies I cannot be more active during this time period.

No problem. I know December gets pretty crazy for a lot of people.

I searched up pink fungi just to see what they'd look like. There are surprisingly many types with strong coloration.

Random fun fact about mushrooms: Clathrus ruber (stinkhorn family) looks like a pink/orange alien infection. Aleurodiscus wakefieldiae is more of a pink moss, and has the common name "Pink Disco", which I found humorous. Ascocoryne sarcoides ("Purple Jellydisc") also looks funky. When it comes to almost fantasy-like mushrooms, however, Pink Waxcap and Rhodotus palmatus may be the best I've seen.

Nice!  Pink Disco is probably the closest to what I was imagining, but fuzzier.

Those are really cool...nature is creepy

Especially when you look at it closely :)

Eryn: The witch definitely wanted you to feel some pain there.  At least you maxed your defy danger roll too...

One would think that re-rolling a maxed-out damage die would be a good idea, but of course I had to hit that 1/64 chance of rolling 8 twice in a row. I was surprised at the streak of max rolls here, but I guess you win some and lose some. :P

Since I am not all knowing and rather scatter brained anyone want to throw out some questions to ask the dominated head assuming Rirrik helps me?

I don't know what kind of questions you would be able to ask, but assuming that simple questions are best:

• How can we prevent you (and your sisters) from casting spells?
• What dangers await us ahead?
• Where is the ritual taking place?
• What payment did you receive that made you agree to hunt us?
• How can we harm the specter with the blue sword?
• Tell us what you know of your master.
• Tell us why you came to this place.

Something like that.

If we're restricted to yes/no, I'd go with:

Are you aware of any weakness of Mr. Shadow that would allow us to defeat him?
If "no", are you aware of a mechanism we could use to save the villagers and foil Mr. Shadow's  plan even if we can't defeat him?
If "no", is there any benefit you can provide that would allow us to justify letting you live?

Assuming the answer to at least one of the above is "yes", the next question would be:

Would you be willing to share this information and promise not to cause harm to come to us or our mission to rescue the villagers in exchange for your life and the life of your remaining sister?

If "no", is there any deal we could reach that would cause you to share this information and would not result in permanent harm to ourselves or other innocents?

If we can get a yes to that, then we can presumably move onto more than a yes/no question to get the actual information.  If we can't get a yes to that, then you can ask her about her toys I guess - "would opening the locked box be harmful to us" might be a good one.

The questions don't have to stick to yes or no questions, but complicated answers will make it more difficult to maintain the ritual.  So keep that in mind. ;-)

@Marcus: I glanced over the rules while looking for the questions I might ask on Discern Realities. As I was scrolling I noticed that Defend says you lose the hold if you take other actions that make you stop defending.

An alternative to pushing the zombie off the ledge would be to spend 1 hold to open it up to an attack from an ally. Of course, pushing it off the edge would get rid of it immediately, so it might be the better option after all.

That makes complete sense. But yea, will still go with this.

A loose enough definition of "Defend" would say you are defending the bridge or Ilura by charging the Zombie, but I'll leave the actual calls up to the GM. :P

It is difficult to say when exactly Marcus stops Defending and starts attacking instead.  His action is more of an attack, but in the name of protecting.  I am leaning toward "he is no longer defending."  However, it doesn't make much difference anyway.  Marcus was defending the children from the zombies, so his Hold could only be used vs. attacks the zombies make against the children. (And they are attacking Marcus, not the children.)

Going to try to post tonight or tomorrow.

Hi, I'm in the middle of family visits and preparations for the holiday, so my attendance here may be a bit on and off next week. I'll make sure to check in, however, and post when I can.

This Thursday is when I head out of town and will be gone for about 8 days.  Ill try to stay as active as possible but don't fret if some time passes and I am gone I promise at least after the new year ill be back full steam.

So if we can disarm him, we might be able to kill him.

I'd like to know how to use what's in the locked box and /or how to use the whirlpool.

Rirrik, do you think it would work to sit on her or dance on her while you keep playing?

Er... sounds dangerous. I think we just need to get what they need from her and then kill/put her somewhere she can't hurt us.

The thought was just to slow her down while you ask  1-2 more questions.  After that we absolutely knock her out.  (Would rather not kill her as she'd be a good bargaining chips when we leave.

Just a note that the witch is presumably still blindfolded.  We'd have no reason to take off anything other than her gag.  (Working to a deadline so will make my post this evening)

I'd presume to take off anything that could be a threat just a few fleshy bits nothing too severe :).

@Marcus: We both have shields. Should we Aid one another and push the last zombie off the edge?

SOunds good, go for it, I'll start it off.

Didn't quite work, but we tried. :)

@Ilura: Sorry for not rushing to help you up yet, but the zombie would probably fry our butts if we tried.

@Eryn, I agree that's the appropriate priority.  I'm fine.  And I'm assuming the two of you/four of you can finish off the zombie.

If the bridges hang a quarter of the way down, then that with the rope to support the wooden walkway plus hand-railings, there ought to be at least enough rope in a single bridge to reach to the bottom.  The trick will be getting across the river - and getting up the other side.

If we drop logs from the fire, we ought to be able to find a few places where the river doesn't go right to the banks and get some idea of a promising crossing and climbing point.

If I'm tied to a rope, I can try to swim across.  If I get carried away, you can pull me up.  If I get eaten, then you can pull up whatever it is, dry the meat over the fire and be fully restocked with rations :>

When climbing up the other side, once I get high enough, if you take up the slack in the rope,  if I slip, I'll only be facing a swing to the other side (as opposed to a fall to the ground), where I can hopefully brace and absorb some of the impact with my feet.  (Couldn't do that last time because I was trying to protect the child and couldn't really position myself.)  Once I'm across we can use the rope to help others to cross or to pull one of the bridges back up - for easier crossing and to allow the kids to cross back.

I'm not sure what to do with the kid.  If we leave her with granny by the entrance, I expect she'd end up in the soup pot or worse.  It's hard to leave her here by herself - especially since shadowman could emerge from any of the far entrances at any time, not that he's likely to.  And I'm not sure if she'd agree to stay.  Bringing her along basically reduces our party by one as one person would have to be defending her the whole time and she'd be an easy target to threaten for something inteligent.  Perhaps if we made her a protected area near the fire so she could hide if she wanted?

Question for GM:
How did shadow-man herd the kids down the tunnels?  Did he have to go from tunnel to tunnel?  Did he come back to the entrance and chase down another tunnel or was he able to go straight through the walls (with sword)?

You are an amazing team player and I'm glad to have you on board. :P

He was able to glide across the cavern wall like a, well, like a shadow on a wall.  He could not go through the wall, however.  At least not as far as Ilura could tell.  But he did not have to do much to get the kids moving.  They know he is dangerous and that it is probably best to do what he says.  Mostly, the kids did what shadow-man said because they were too afraid to stand up to him.  After all, none of them wanted to end up like the little girl who didn't cross the bridge fast enough.

Which of the three passageways did he go down?

The one on the left, about ten feet lower than the other two.

Well, I just realized I messed up an important detail. When I reread Ilura's history a while back, I thought it said her mentor's name was Thomas.  However, it is her crow that was named Thomas. I have been calling Mr. Shadows her crow's name this entire time. Oops. Let's retcon that and change Mr. Shadow's name to Ilura's mentor's real name.

Ilura, what was your mentor's/Mr. Shadow's name?

I had actually noted that about a week ago, but figured at that point it had gone too far to change.  Ilura doesn't actually know his name.  She asked it a few times.  The first time, he ignored the question.  The second time, he looked at her and asked "does it matter"?  The third time he merely looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  So she let the matter drop.  He responded to the name "mentor", so that's what she has used.

She suspects he had history he didn't want shared and didn't want to be bothered making up a new name.  She fully understands wanting to get away from the past.

So for now, we may have to make due with "Mr. Shadows" as a name... :)

Mr. Shadows works for me.  We'll just pretend he was never referred to as Thomas.  Sorry again for the screw up.

Hey Apologies I had 0 internet on my trip but I just returned so I am trying to catch up

No worries.  I knew this would be a busy time of year for a lot of people (myself included).  Hopefully things will pick back up again in a week or so.

Just for the record: I'll be back home from holiday just past New Year's Eve, and thus back to my regular schedule and free time as well.

Nice work climbing the ceiling, Ilura!

Indeed! Also, it's scale, not plate, Eryn, so it surely won't be a problem, right GM? (and dice roller...)

Ah right, it was scale! For some reason I always connect "paladin" to "plate armor". I even wrote "plate" on accident right now when I was going to write "scale". :P

It's not a problem for me, but I can't speak for the dice roller.  And on that note, anyone crossing the rope will need to Defy Danger.  But with a +1 since it is easier now.  I'll post this in the other thread too.

In reply to Game Master (msg # 277):

Defy Danger with what stat? Strength or Dex, I imagine?

Either of those will work, depending on how you go about it.

Heya all! I wish you all have a great New Year!
Also, I'd like to reiterate that I love what we've made of the game so far. Thank you all, and especially our wonderful GM, for great fun. Hopefully we'll be here for a long, long while.

+1 :)

And well done Hiran!

Happy New Year! Thank you all for being such active participants!  It has made this game a lot of fun on my end as well.  I also hope this game goes on for a long, long while.

Thank you Ilura guess the old man has some moves still left in him :)

Happy New Year, and thanks for a great time so far! :)

I'm back to my regular schedule now, so I'll be able to be more active and check in more often again.

@Eryn: I think the child is still on the far side.  However, we can presume you passed the sea horse on before crossing the rope.

Yeah, that one confused me slightly. Are we leaving the kid behind?

Yes.  I told her to stay by the fire and to hide in the hole if need be.  She's safer here than coming with us.

I'll wait for the scout result to post a more substantial post.

I'll just edit out the reference I made to the kid, then.

Can I assume Illura let's us know what is up ahead?

I'm seeking clarification on what's happening.  I may try to coax the halfling back with me.

Okay because I will probably have Rirrik prepare something to take care of the beast on the cieling.

If Eryn or Marcus can aid and Rirrik can provide a magical boost, that'd be good too.  It'd be best if the sword ended up in Eryn's hands as she's better with it than I am.

I'm assuming Mr. Shadows can still attack as a Shade, even if he doesn't have his sword, but at least we'd have more of a chance to damage him.  If someone wants to summon lore, we may find other attack possibilities too.  (Wondering if Hiran's light ability would be more or less effective than his magic missles?)

And of course, the party's free to totally disagree with my plan.  Ilura feels slightly responsible for him and has a relationship with him, which is why she's trying to take the lead.

Eryn has spoken her mind on this matter in the IC thread. I considered making a Spout Lore or Discern Realities roll regarding the situation, but I was unsure what I should ask for and what to use as a trigger to justify it.

So: I'll gladly provide Aid or Spout Lore, but I'll wait until we are in a spot where I can tell what I should trigger one of those moves off of. For starters, Eryn can assist in a fight by using reach to keep someone at bay, distract them with a shield assault, or try to trip them up in other ways. That should make it easier to nab the sword.

I'm fairly confident we can deal with a fight against a beast or a ghost, but the children could get caught in it and then we'd have to deal with a pressing distraction or hostage.

Lights not a bad idea at worst nothing happens.

Regarding Hiran's IC suggestion: I assume we are talking 'sacrifice' as in "shame the lizard got them" and not 'sacrifice' as in "I need fuel for my powerful magic ritual"? :P

Yes sacrifice as in i'd rather save one of you than that snivveling brat =P

Ilura might make a slightly different choice...  So hopefully it doesn't come to that :>

If the children aren't on the oil and the oil burns, that may give us another mode of attack - lure him up onto the step, then light it once he's engaged in a fight with me.  That may cut off his ability to retreat, at least briefly - I doubt there's enough oil to burn for long - it would probably just start to burn at its inlet point once the thin layer covering the floor has burned.  And the smoke might cause the lizard to want to go elsewhere.

However, we can't do that (or at least Ilura will refuse to contemplate it) if it puts the children at risk.

Whether we can use the oil or not, my plan is to wait at the entrance to the room and try to taunt Mr. Shadows into coming to fight me.  Once we've got the sword, we can ignite the oil (or not), Eryn can fight him with the sword, I can aid (and maybe get bonus damage from Thomas?), Hiran can use spells (light or magic missiles) & Marcus can try commanding him (something like "give up your evil plans and surrender") - which will either make him stay and fight, comply or run.  And all of those are beneficial as he's at least then not going and slaughtering fixes.  (And I don't know that your weapon can hit him, though you could perhaps try attacking him with your holy symbol if you wish.)  Rirrick can buff one of us with his music.

(All of the above is the best I can think of - you may have better ideas.  And of course the plan will go to hell as soon as he knows we're there :>)

We know he can be hurt by his own sword - Eryn is taking no chances and assumes he will not be harmed by regular weapons. Going to try disarming him first. Fire may or may not do much either, but the smoke could mask our approach give away our location to the smoke ghost.

Strange place to be leaking oil - there may be something behind that wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:06, Fri 05 Jan 2018.

I wasn't necessarily thinking that the fire would hurt him, but the intense light might - though on the other hand, the clouds of smoke might work well for him...  Perhaps it's best to leave igniting the oil as a last-ditch fall-back.  Because causing the complex to blow up and fall down on our heads would be a very unfortunate side-effect.  Certainly we wouldn't light it until he was already engaged with us and the fire would be between him and the kids

I was thinking I'd be the one to try disarming him while you aided me, and I can then pass you the sword.  However, we can reverse that if you wish.  I just figured I had the +1 to carry into it from my discern realities.  With your aid, that's almost a guaranteed success.

(I'm hoping a roll isn't required to goad him into fighting me - I'm not sure what leverage I could bring to bear if doing a parley - and I can't imagine anything he would ask for that I'd agree to.)

You are right, I didn't think of it like that. I'll keep him on the ropes with my spear while you take advantage and disarm him somehow, then.

If needed you can draw his attention, then I charge in immediately and do what I can.

Confirm who you think should go first, and I'll make an IC post. :)

I  figured I'd see if anyone else  had IC or OOC thoughts.  Then I'll call him out while everyone else gets in  position.  And we'll see what he does...

Hey guys sorry I kind of disappeared there for a few days wifes birthday week so I have been swamped.  Hoping to get posts up today

The plan sounds fine, and yes, I was thinking that Marcus could order him around when needed. I'd say that we'll all move forward when Ilura calls us and follow her lead.

Alright, I'll let Ilura initiate and then I'll do my best to aid. Let's do this! :)

I'll give Rirrik and Dr. Hiran a chance to chime in, and if they're on board, I'll get things moving.

Ill have a post up tomorrow and should be back to my usual routine after last weeks festivities.  Wife's birthday week after christmas is basically extended christmas lol.

Sounds good. No rush, take the time you need for your wife. :)

Finally back damn distractions taking me away from my games ;).

Should we reach for Rirrik before I post?

@Eryn - my plan is to have him come fight us before we get to the oil.  I want him away from the kids and oil between him and the kids

That might be good, but I figured fighting him in cramped space would be even worse, since he would be between us and the kids (with fire), and the kids could then be mauled while we would be unable to reach them.

If it seems like the best option I'll withdraw back into the tunnel.

I no longer have the +1, so I could try to aid you instead Eryn

I'll take point then.

At least, once I know the outcome of your action. I wish to know if I should leap in to defend or just go straight to stab town.

Until we get the sword, I don't think there'll be much stabbing...

A fighter can dream. :)

I don't expect this to work out perfectly, but at least you'll have a meat shield in place for a precious few moments. :P

Hiran, could you add a Parley roll to your post please?

Sure will do.

Thanks!  I don't think I will have time to post again today, but at least I can start planning out what to post for tomorrow. It will depend on what else gets posted in the meantime too, of course.

Sorry for dropping off at a critical moment, had a busy few days.

Don't worry about it. Looks like you're about to save the day again. :P

It's not me, but my dice rolls ;)

And it is just a bit of support for you two to do the tough part!

Family emergency has come up, have to be on hiatus for an indefinite time. I'm sorry to everyone.

That's unfortunate, but thank you for letting us know.  Take as much time as you need.  I will probably just have Rirrik keep an eye on the children for the time being and remain mostly as a background character for now.

Sad to hear that. Best of luck with your family.

Family always comes first.  We'll look forward to your return when you're able.

I am going to give Marcus a chance to contribute before I press forward with the story.  I don't want to leave him too far behind.

And I don't want us to get clobbered when he might be able to help save our butts :)

Much obliged GM, and sorry to hear that Rirrik, best of luck with everything!

Yeah Rirrik same as i mentioned in our other game together take the time you need and hope all is well just let us know what's up and if you need to bounce from the game I think we all totally understand real life takes precedence though we have greatly enjoyed having you as a player/companion

Don't jinx him!! :)

Marcus, this might be a good time for you to "command" him to come down and fight.  Cuz I'm not sure I'm going to last long up here - or that I'll make out terribly well if he decides to drop me...

lol im stupid and just rolled my wizard damage instead of reading the spell over im dumb sorry about that haha

Catching me would be good.  I've got 8 hits left... :(

And a few saving rolls if you start actually dying, I think!

So

no

worries

at

all~

:)




*splat* :o
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Tue 16 Jan 2018.

At least if I go head-first it should hurt less.

Right??

:)