For any OoC discussion not directly related to the game.

Please feel free to continue to use OoC in the game/story threads; this is just a place for miscellaneous, side, or extensive rules conversations.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 01:32, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

Please confirm that you are still able to read your old, now closed threads (aka the "Your Journey Starts Here" threads).

Let me know if you can NOT see and read your old thread; it SHOULD be closed to new posts.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 13:54, Wed 24 Feb 2021.

1. Moved "House Rules" section to the Game Wiki (see link in upper right next to "Game Info" and "Jump." Let me know if you can NOT see and/or access the Wiki for any reason.

2. The Game Wiki is now the repository for everything from Monsters Encountered to Treasure to House Rules to Common Knowledge about the setting's world. It still needs a little cleaning up and expansion, but is for the most part usable.

Check it out when you have some extra time and see what you think and let me know! It's a wiki, so ideally we can all edit it if we want.

3. Cleaned up the threads a bit to reflect above changes.

4. NOTE: Qrurr will not be able to see the "General Knowledge" Thread until you and Grieg share backstories (IF you guys choose to do so, that is...)

1. Updated the site to default to the new PC Sheet Template. IF/WHEN someone dies and needs to get a new character, or if anyone else joins, the full sheet template will automatically appear (no cutting/pasting, etc.)

2. Discovered a few interesting "shortcuts." Feel free to use or not use these as you see fit.

NPC dialogue is nicer on my eyes when it's color-coded, like with ZZhiph and Rhip, but it's a *pain in the arse* to constantly color-tag everything.

Here's a link to the full tutorial:
JAVASCRIPT BOOKMARKLET FOR APPLYING MULTIPLE TAGS TO TEXT

So, basically I just added Orange for the text color and bookmarked the javascript. Now I just highlight text and click the bookmark for the coding. Neato!

3. Private lines are invisible to other players but the player seeing it *knows* it is hidden from those not listed.

Secret lines are effectively invisible and let you sneak information in without the player necessarily knowing that they're getting "extra" information.

Language lines print out gibberish if you don't understand that language. You can mark out certain words as translated using {} the curly brackets around that word. This is great for proper nouns like names of things that you want to convey even to people who don't speak that language.

Just a couple of features I thought I'd point out, so if you see a Private line addressed to you, roleplay it as though you're the only one aware of it.

4. On that front, I switched your guys' access from editor to player, because I was uncertain if the editor access allows you to see these for other players.

Re: proficiencies.

My original character sheet had a "p" next to 4 skills designated as "proficiencies". They appear as a "b" on the html-ish sheets here. Also on my old sheet and it said there is a bonus for proficiences of 2.

Do those not stack?

Here's a link to the original sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/...zy/view?usp=drivesdk
This message was last edited by the player at 15:58, Fri 26 Feb 2021.

In reply to Qrurr (msg # 11):

Re: P vs B.

Good catch. The old sheet wasn't that great and only showed if you were proficient, not where it came from. "B" means you received proficiency in that skill through your Background.

 [B] Background [C] Class [R] Race [F] Feat [E] Expertise

It doesn't affect anything, just shows where it's coming from, in Qrurr's case his soldier background.

You can ignore the F and E, as those won't apply to Qrurr.

If it has a B, C, or R, then you are proficient in it.

 [B] Intimidation       : +2    2 prof + 0 Cha + 0 misc

Since you are proficient in intimidate, you get the +2 bonus. That is added in already on the new sheet, so it wouldn't be added a second time. That is a bit different than what we were doing, good catch.

Does that all make sense? :)

Yes. Thanks for clarifying!

1. Since the new PC sheets are now the default template, there's no reason to keep a thread open for them. Closed/deleted.

2. Got a bit drunk and remade the Game Map in Dragon Warrior (NES) tiles. :| :| :|

Thorough nerdom, natch! Please enjoy, but not too much, or I'll take it away. :|

3. Anything in particular you guys want me to work in, just let me know. If you have high fantasies of breeding hippogriffs on the side, for example, please let me know or we may play 1,000 years D&D and no hippogriff for you, unless you let me know that's, like, your thing.

1. Added a few more Common Acronyms.

2. Got Grieg's PC Sheet all squared away, finally. Please let me know if you have any questions, see any omissions or errors.

3. Updated Map to reflect new info.

4. Updated Wiki!

5. Bumped the action!
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:26, Sun 28 Feb 2021.

Also, sorry for the huge wall of text in the last couple posts guys. LOL

I swear, my main ethic for each and every post is: punchy, concise, drive the action/advance the plot.

Just a lot going on here to keep track of...sometimes I'd rather drop the random book-sized post on you laying out everything as concisely as I can managethan pepper you guys with a bunch of random posts and conversation that drags out another week just to *get* to the point where everything's known. If that makes sense. ;)

Not trying to go Hemingway on you...:|

FYI - I assume that you guys have noticed, but I can only guarantee that I post on weekdays, as I do it from work. Weekends are just so crazy that even with best intentions, I'll probably forget. But at work, it's part of my morning check ins as well as lunch (and maybe end of day).

If that's an issue or there's a particular weekend that you guys prefer I check in more, I can do that but it works best for me (and probably is more likely to be consistent) for weekdays.

In reply to Grieg, the Bookkeeper (msg # 17):

That works just fine. :)

Your a.m. weekday posts coupled with Zennie's later Pacific Time posts seem to fit perfectly into our schedules. Weekends are usually crapshoots for me too, and with spring quickly approaching will become even more dicey.

I do want to clarify: I originally mentioned I was going to run this during quarantine winter, but it's fun and not super time consuming so I'll keep it running until further notice.

If you guys ever want to coordinate anything further regarding times or days, I'm game for sure! :)

Scrounging around on the forums I ran across this:

link to a message in another game

using this ruleset:

https://drive.google.com/file/...eXljc3gzalNoMUE/view

and I'm looking for another game to play in, since the very promising one I was playing a barbarian in seems to have inexplicably petered out despite a wonderful start.

Either of you guys might have interest so there it is!

FYI, you two can continue your discussion between Grieg and Qrurr without continuing to roll initiative, unless things get combat-ish again.

Updates:

1. Updated Game Map. There should now be two distinct maps available for both of you to view. Please confirm, if not, let me know. Thx. Revel in my Paint skills, plz. :|

The two maps are an overworld map based on Dragon Warrior Tiles. I will update this as the overworld expands. This is available to all groups at all times (Group 0).

The second map is the Dwarven Map of the Eth Mines. This is the Group 3 map. I will NOT update this map.

IF you guys keep track of changes and provide me with a file, I will gladly upload to keep it "current."

NOTE: This is NOT an overhead view, it is a side view. NOT to scale.

2. Erichhhhhh, added the Heat Resistance Salve to your sheet. Grieg, would you please assume possession of the Map?

3. Well, we're now officially at the "start" of the adventure. L-u-l-z-e-r-s. I'm on the edge of my seat to see how you two respond to being given free rein. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:15, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

FYI - Added a weight and height for Qrurr using an online source discussing aarakocra dimensions.

I know more about the Aarakocra than I do most of my cousins.

lulz, D&D nerdery definitely seems to have reached a critical mass over the last 20 years, and all the online resources available make things ridiculous easy, for sure.

Thus, the ecology of aarakocra. B-)





I won't hazard any guesses as to the ecologies of your cousins... :|

1. Pinky brought up the issue of declaring action(s), dice roll(s), and timestamp order.

To be clear.

-We're 100% honor system here. We all trust each other not to cheat.

-I'm 100% NOT looking at timestamps, nor do I particularly care if it appears a roll was made prior to an action declared.

-I trust you guys to not 'cherry pick' actions based on success of a roll made prior to deciding on which action to take.

-If I see something that seems off, I'll referee it on a case-by-case basis.

-If you ever, for whatever reason, feel you made a mistake with rolls or whatever that unfairly impact things, just reach out and we'll easily correct it.

-If you make the wrong roll, don't worry about it just re-roll and put a note in the "reason for the roll" field.

TL;DR: DON'T SWEAT IT! ;)


2. FYI- The dungeon is "locked and loaded"...creatures, their stats (including hp's), and treasures throughout the dungeon are rolled up and will not change.

I will not pull punches: successful use of a variety of strategies and tactics may be needed. You two have someone to bounce ideas off of, now, so I definitely don't feel any need to coddle you guys. Obv I'm still available if you have any questions regarding environment, abilities, rules, et al.

But no hints or additional help will be forthcoming!

Birdman & Bookkeeper v. Eth Mines of Proudelia, the Deathmatch! :|

Regarding strategizing in/out of character.

I understand that "should we go this way or that way" would be discussed in character like normal.

How does strategizing work in time sensitive situations? It seems unrealistic for a creature to be standing there waiting for two characters to be like "Do you want to strike low, while I strike high?" so do we just never discuss that level of detail I assume?

For me personally, I may want to ask a question just because I'm new and don't know if what I'm about to do is stupid. Like, if I had initiative but am deciding between 2 options and want to ask Zenny's opinion from a strategic/experienced perspective, is that allowed OoC or I should just go with my gut and enjoy the experience. If I die, I die?

In reply to Grieg, the Bookkeeper (msg # 26):

Each turn lasts approximately 6 seconds, which is helpful to keep in mind.

This is a good link that shows what's possible in a turn:

https://crobi.github.io/dnd5e-...review/quickref.html

It's a good guide; with that in mind, I don't always follow it exactly. I know you have a thief ability that adds like dashing and whatnot for free, so do point that out if I forget or miss it.

You're correct to assume that time-sensitive OoC strategizing is discouraged, and it should be kept to a minimum. Again, six seconds.

So something like, "I charge yelling to Qrurr, "Go for their head I'll take the legs!"

Might be cool but.

"Oh, it's a ghoul, hmm, do we have any weapons that can kill it? No, what are it's HD? Wait! Fire! No! Then the torch would go out! It would? Yes! How about we light a second torch, then?...etc" would be a balk, and I'll advance the base-runners. :|

Just go with your gut, and if you die you die.

Of course always feel free to ask me for clarifications, rules questions, et al.

If you're, say, 200' away and encounter something, obviously you'd have a little more time to talk things over. Just play it by ear and go with what feels right to you.

Update:

Cleaned up PC sheets a bit more; specifically, I deleted the sections pertaining to:

- inspiration. We will not be using Inspiration rules.

- Death Saves. We will not be using Death Saves; instead, at 0 HP character death will occur.

- The weird section relating to Classes/HD that no one seemed to be able to figure out.

Added to Game Links an outstanding, super easy- to- use mapmaking tool called Dungeon Map Doodler.

Highly recommended!

https://dungeonmapdoodler.com/

Good work guys! :)

Just an FYI. I'll be on set starting tomorrow through Monday. I likely won't post until Tuesday. I'll tell Nick Nolte you both send your best wishes.

In reply to Qrurr (msg # 31):

That's awesome! B-)

Be sure to tell him I'm a huge fan of his tabloid work and drug binges! :)

(Prince of Tides was alright, I guess, too...) :|

Thanks for the heads up, have fun! :)
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:16, Wed 24 Mar 2021.

Also, to be clear. We'll take a short break here and wait for Zenbot, as this is a good temporary stopping point in the gameplay.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:16, Wed 24 Mar 2021.

I was explaining to my kids how big of an actor he is and they only thing they know him from is the voice of an alien in Mandolorian.

Kids, AMIRITE?

The Mandolorian sounds interesting...it's about a wandering mandolin minstrel, no?

Alternative post reads: "NICK NOLTE?! MOAR LIKE NICK YESLTE!!!"

 :| :| :|

You shouldn't feel that you have to entertain us, Nick. You can take a break too.

*always on*

Re Grieg's latest post:

IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, YOUNG MAN?! :|

Re: The Bard's latest barb

Based on post timing, it seems like I'm directing where we go because I post first, so I was just saying what I think we should do and allowing zenbot to agree/disagree and provide the definitive direction of what our ending action is.

RPG wise, Grieg is inexperienced and a little timid, so he should be the 'leader of the band' that much, despite being more familiar with this world.

If that helps explain anything...

The Bard of Age's summer tour The Bard's Barb, in theatres nearby.

What sayeth the birdman?

You guis need to start working together as a team and interacting at least as much as you are interacting with me, or else you're mincemeat in the face of: The Eth Mines of Proudelia....*big announcer guy voice*

I'm waiting for the nerd. We're a team now. I would like consensus.

Y-E T-E-A-M-E W-O-R-K-E!

[lulz at bird snark, btw!]

Insanely busy weekend, only have the energy for half the post tonight...this coming week will also be crazy busy as I'm quadrupling the size of our garden this year, adding a fence, manually weeding the lawn (organic yard/gardening suxxors!), blah blah yadda yadda.

Pinky do you guys get weeds up there under the ice? :p

I know Zenbot doesn't because there is no water in Californistan. :|

Anywhos, will do my best to get you guys the daily posts, apologies in advance if I'm unable.

My work has been very busy the past week (and this). Working every day and late at night after the kids are asleep. I'm still checking in, but you being busy is good timing with my schedule :).

Also, as I was reading I filled in the rest of your sentence as I was reading and anticipating you quadrupling the size of your family. So disappointing it's only garden news. :|

PE:<---does not have grass because it's too difficult to maintain

The Jukelets. :|

Will post later tonight, fyi!

Grieg, I made a mistake on your character sheet when entering the Long Hunting Dagger. It is corrected. Also another minor error regarding dagger to-hit bonuses was straightened out, much to your advantage.

Basically, I was forgetting to take into account Grieg's finesse melee attack bonus (a rogue class ability).

That stacks with its other bonus.

I also adjusted your other (throwing) dagger to reflect finesse (f) bonuses.

FYI
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 00:32, Fri 16 Apr 2021.

Favorite rpg video games, go!

Yesterday, I suffered 3rd concussion since late Nov.

I'm going to take the rest of the week off; hopefully, by Monday I'll be feeling better.

I have only played Final Fantasy 8 from start to finish. I had mostly sports games as a kid.

Hopefully you feel better, multiple concussions do not sound fun.

Thx. Feeling okay-ish today. Still taking it easy, though.

Final Fantasy 1 on NEs is the only one from that series I've finished. Played it through one summer when I was like 12 or 13.

Dragon Warrior was another fave from when I was maybe 10? I got it for my birthday.

Of course the Zeldas....

I know Zennie and I both really love Earthbound (SNES). That's an all-time great.

Shadowgate.

Gauntlet arcade was HUGELY influential to a 6- or 7- year old Juke.

Dragon Warrior was one of my favorites too. The overworld song is burned into my brain. Señora and I used to play it on piano together.

Feeling much better today.

Unless I take a bad turn, we should be able to resume play on Monday.

Seems much less severe this go around, fingers crossed.

Re RPGs video games...so there's an okay MMORPG free through steam called D&D Online.

It's fun, but I quickly lost interest because the free version has certain limits (can only play solo, can't access certain power-ups, etc.) that you can pay to upgrade.

I never paid a cent, I disagree with that sort of thing, but the free stuff is still pretty stellar for a bit.

If I had the subscription version, it'd probably be up there on the list though, the things they do now are amazing! :p

Another UPDATE.

Feeling better, not 100%. Had a lot of legal hoa b.s. to deal with this weekend, which ate most of my Saturday and Sunday.

Working on new posts now, may still take me a day or two to up them, but they're on their way.

Thanks again for the patience.

Again, apologies for the extended delay.

We're back in action!

Chapter III will be stylistically different than other chapters.

We will respectfully learn about, and emulate, Japanese kabuki theatre for this chapter.

Extra XP can be earned by leaning into this in your role-playing and posts.

If you're uncertain where to begin, the following link gives an amazingly awesome example of a vibrant artform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO8UEfgD6lw

If you're saying to yourself, 'Boyzers, Juke *really* dinged his head this time!' and 'I want nothing to do with this,' I'll allow it.

But I'll respect you less for it. :p :D ;)

A major aspect of kabuki is the hanamichi, a sort of catwalk into the audience, as well as rotating/changing stages, that allow skewed or twisted perspectives.

Grieg currently finds him hidden on the hanamichi, or the tunnel from which our heroes exited. Yet because of this twisted perspective, he can see and take place in the action as though seeing the above battle; he remains in shadow and is unseen by Qrurr/Kabuki Wyvern until he makes some action that would reveal himself to the audience, as it were.

I didn't know theater delusions were a symptom but I can't wait until my second shot next Friday.

*edit*

OK, that video is an hour and half long.

*hands on hips*
This message was last edited by the player at 21:10, Thu 29 Apr 2021.

This is 4 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67-bgSFJiKc

The other was just simply too awesome not to link, sorry. :o

And one in between at ~28 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK4a3ZGY3Lc

This has a lot of interesting info.

My wife is back to work next week and we are taking turns working/looking after the youngin for a period of 6 months. I'm also super busy at work so things are going to be...interesting :)

I will continue to check in once per weekday (likely morning) just in case you're wondering. If there are no posts I don't usually check back unless I find myself with some spare time in the afternoon. Sometimes happens but not a for sure. Just so everyone's aware of my scheduling and doesn't take it for saying peace out.

Thank you for the heads up. That's totally cool, I'm still suuuper busy with garden and yard stuff right now, so my time is likewise limited.

I think perhaps, since we'll be in "battle mode" for a bit, that if you don't see a post in the a.m., but have a good idea what Grieg might be up to for his next action, go ahead and post it and I'll work it in.

Not trying to influence to action or inaction, but Grieg is in a good "holding pattern" position, if that's how you choose to roll. Likewise, he's definitely encouraged to problem solve any way that he might be able to affect or join the battle above.

Because Grieg's on the hanamichi doesn't mean he's "on ice," just that's kinda how the characters were situated when I struck upon the kabuki idea.

The kabuki thing came about because I've been watching a fair amount of kabuki on the UTub, got interested in its formal elements, and thought it would be a cool way to take a unique battle and spice it up stylistically. I saw a lot of easy parallels to draw between the current game state and kabuki.

You guys weren't really supposed to run into the wyvern at all, it was more a "stopper" to keep you from coming this way. Since you did, though, I thought changing the style to reflect the relatively high power level of this enemy made sense logically and artistically.

Qrurr and the Bard of Ages, both seemingly confused by the long layoff, take a turn to knock off the rust.

Bard of Ages: I say, isn't initiative d10, my dear ol' chap?
Qrurr: Quite so!
BoA: Sterling! I say, then, my fine fellow, why do we roll d20s, then?
Qrurr: A fitting query, chum. Your question drives straight to the heart of the matter!
BoA: d10s, then!
Qrurr: Right!

[Qrurr double dishonorably not only rolls d20 but still can't win initiative. :|]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:33, Sun 02 May 2021.

Should it be a d10 for Initiative? Initiative is a dexterity check and checks are d20.










This message was last edited by the player at 20:01, Mon 03 May 2021.

Oh, and I realize we've been playing with a 10. I did forget and looked it up and everything online said 20.

Oh, ah, hmm...

d20s it is!!

+100 xp Qrurr

Appreciate the correction and quotation! :)

Regardless of any botched or unbotched initiative rolls for this turn, you two may proceed!

There is an ongoing argument on which is better. It looks like older versions of D&D did use a d10 for initiative but the argument was that there were far too many ties especially with larger combat groups.

ad&d 2e def used d10.

The S&W game I play in uses d10.

d&d 5e def uses d20.

Hey fellas. Got my second shot yesterday and I'm starting to feel like chit. Let me see how tomorrow goes. Poor Pinky's stuck in that hole.

Yay to immune responses! :)

Take your time, feel better, no rush!

FYI I get my 2nd moderna Monday.

Sounds almost guaranteed I'll have some sort of immune reaction; if you don't hear from me during that time frame, you know what's up!

Still waiting for an action from Qrurr.

Hey guys, I've reassessed my availability (or lack therof) for the summer and I'd like to, based upon your wishes, kick around a few options:

1) Pause the game until fall/winter and just run games in the cold months.
2) Call the game "over" and say "Well that was fun!"
3) 5e rules are too detailed by half. We could try a more stripped down, easy, and fun rules sets; there are lots of good free rules out there we could adopt. It would greatly decrease confusion. Adventures would be very straightforward and stripped down to their essences. We'd all actually know the rules...;)

I'm up for either continuing this story or wrapping it up, either way, I just don't want to leaving it hanging with sporadic posting on my part.

The other game I was playing in came to an unexpectedly brupt end as well, so I think the timing is right for me to transition to outdoorsy stuff. :)

I've had a blast hope you guys have as well, and I hope at some point you'd like to continue somehow.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 12:42, Tue 18 May 2021.

Open to Zenbot's opinion.

I'd be interested in YOUR thoughts, as well, Brandon.

Option #1: I'm really busy looking after my kids/working, but that will only last until start of November. Then my schedule will go back to normal where I'm working normal hours and not having to account for every minute of every day. This will allow me to be better prepared rules wise / style wise since I can take time to look that stuff up instead of quickly checking in for replies only. So a pause/unpause should work well for me.

Option #2: Also fine with me, mostly because I'm the worst / least experienced player here so I don't want to force people to drag on a game they aren't having that much fun in because I suck lulz.

Option #3: Also a good idea...

I think a combo of #1 & #3 would be my preference. Me personally, I'm not as interested in the nitty gritty rules as I am in the open ended 'see where things go' nature of D&D adventures. Too many rules make me too worried about making a wrong decision that will cause the whole thing to go sideways.

Thank you for the input.

To be clear, this isn't an issue of "not having fun," at least for me. It's an issue of garden/yard expansion, remodeling a bathroom, and hopefully remodeling the screened in front porch. Blah blah.

Basically I just want to have time for dg and life-type thangs. :|

With rules, I'd suggest we try out either Swords & Wizardry (super basic original d&d...fast, fun, easy) or something like Pocket Fantasy RPG.

https://drive.google.com/file/...eXljc3gzalNoMUE/view

That's a link to the Swords & Wizardry rules.

The other option I speak of, Pocket RPG, can be found here:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/p...1/Pocket-Fantasy-RPG

Both free.

Bump for a reboot?

Any interest in restarting, Brandon sounds like Nov might be better for you, and that's great, as I don't want to get rolling quite yet, lots still to finish up outside for the year.

But we should figure out what we're doing so once Nov hits we're not twiddling thumbs wondering what's the plan.