No we can use the variable weapon damage.

Teodore's attack was close, but he missed.

Maybe for faster processing, we should automate this as in players declare two rounds worth of intentions and then the DM processes them. That way what might take 1-2 weeks will be covered in one DM post.

Teodore will be attacking with his sword unless he takes a major hit, then he would withdraw.

In case it wasn't clear in my post but Teodore cut down and killed the charmed goblin.

Right. The one with the nose ring.

Groan.

Good news is only one goblin left and you've only lost Arietta so far.

What's people's opinions on how we run combat in future? Shall we continue to skip the declaration phase to speed up the posting? Any other suggestions or good ideas? Ben has suggestioned a method where you tell me a tactic and I roll for everyone PCs and bad guys then summarise a few rounds at a time.

I'm all for skipping declarations. PbP games are slow enough already.

Playing a spellcaster, though, I think one round at a time is best. Got to be able to cast spells at the best times, and don't think posting a bunch of conditionals will be easy for the DM.

I concur.  Skipping the declaration and let the GM sort everything into the narrative.

The no declaration phase will make spellcasters more powerful. Without having to declare they will never have a spell interrupted by losing Initiative. As this will benefit PCs and monsters alike it should be ok but worth noting when you meet an enemy spellcaster.

I agree one round at a time is easier to manage.

What do people think about having time limit waiting for posts in combats? Do we wait as long as it takes or if someone has not posted in a few days we move it along? From my perspective combat is not the most interesting part of the game the exploration and role play is, so don't think running combat needs to be a major part of the game, what are peoples thoughts?

Have the gm roll initiative.  Players just post actions and the gm did it all tiger. Sure some rolls will be wasted but things will move faster

Yes that should work well.

So we re-instate the declaration phase but in it everything is declared including dice rolls. Then I will roll Initiative for both sides and post a summary of the action. So each round combat will require 1 post per player then a round up by me. There may be times when it is messier but it should cover most examples.

That sounds good.

Also, remember, if we lose initiative while casting, and the enemies hit us, we will lose our spells. So spell disruption still can happen.

Yes that will be advantage of that method as it will make it possible for the party to interrupt monster spell casters.

I lean heavily towards automation for B/X combat. If we were playing a more complicated system which afforded a wealth of options, I wouldn't.

As far as processing speed, we should all have default actions so the DM can move ahead without waiting. I think we have pretty much established those at this stage.

If things become more complicated down the line, we can always discuss this again.

Good we'll aim for simple from now on.

What's the plan for the party now?

A) sleep the three archers and head back to town.

B) head back to town.

Congratulations on the party's first successful expedition to Stonehell.

For ease of recording I will surmise the treasure here but its your choice how to divide it and to remember to record it on your character sheet.

Base XP award for the trip is 41, those with 5% or 10% bonuses receiving respectively 43 or 45 XP.

Here's the treasure haul in total

10gp
48ep
Gem
Copper nose ring
Umbrella
Stained cloak
Blue potion smells of almonds

Lodgings at the Moorland Magpie Inn are 1sp per day for the common room or 1gp per day for a private room, for those injured Hit Points are recovered at 1d3 hit points per day of full rest.

Anyone have a Detect Magic handy?

As this is the OOC chat I can let you know that none of the circle of wizards in the party have access to that spell. I'm using circle as my current collective noun for a group of wizards.

In relation to learning about magical effects experimentation is encouraged, elsewise there is a wizard in one of the four towers.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:54, Thu 04 Mar 2021.

How big is this nose ring? Teodore would slip it on a finger if he could.

Yes the ring is big enough to wear on a finger.

Yes, B/X is quite stingy on spells

Yes it is. I have included a house rule for knowing multiple starting spells and learning more spells to make it not as stingy. So with time and gold a magic-user can have access to lots of spells.

As you learn more of Stonehell and delve deeper into the canyon the treasure you return with should increase, which will also mean more XP too.