Because we simply must have one.

The ever-required OOC thread. *sniff* Still has that new OOC smell to it.

Greetings, all.

Urban Druid, at your service.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Sun 28 Feb 2021.

In reply to Glenmark Hedgewood (msg # 2):

Hoi, Glenmark! I look forward to writing and gaming with everyone. :)

Jack will be a Human rogue.

Hello there, Jack. Please, call me Hedge.

In reply to Glenmark Hedgewood (msg # 4):

Copy that. I figured that "Glenmark" wouldn't last very long. :)

Besides starting at level 2, what else would you like us to do for character creation? Ability scores, equipment/gold, source books, etc.

Greetings everyone. I'll be your Teifling Warlock (Undying). I look forward to working with each of you.

Hello,

Khay Vass was formerly a monk in service to a temple. Now he wants to join the Constables because he really likes hitting people. He is a human male.

Hello Etherian and Khay,

Looking forward to our game, and to gaming with both of you. :)

Okay, the character sheets are unlocked, and we need some sheets and descriptions and there's an opening thread for in character introductions!

Hey all! I'm am your Eladrin Elf Bladesinger Wizard reporting for duty!
This message was last edited by the player at 22:43, Sun 28 Feb 2021.

In reply to Theirastra Nailo (msg # 11):

Welcome, Theirastra! Looking forward to gaming with you. :)

DM,

What method should we use to generate our PC's Ability Scores?

Also, since we will begin play at 2nd level, how should we generate Hit Points after 1st level?

Finally, most Character Sheets have a space to designate the PC's primary deity. What pantheon of deities will we be using in your campaign?

Thanks!

Standard 27 point buy system.  Or "standard array" for those who want the short cut:

15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

For all hit dice above 1st, use the "average, rounded up" method.  All D10's are worth 6, D8's are worth 5, etc.

Well hello everyone.

The name's Arthur but most of my mates call me Arty. Happy to be aboard. Maybe my talents as an artificer will come in handy amongst this solid group of fine individuals.

Going to have to whip up the character sheet on the morrow and jump into the IC stuff then as well. I've a few weekend RL things to wrap up before I can throw myself in wholly. Looking forward to it!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:54, Mon 01 Mar 2021.

In reply to Arthur Dagonet (msg # 15):

Welcome, Arty! Looking forward to gaming with you! :)

In reply to Theirastra Nailo (msg # 11):

That name looks familiar!!!

I’m Kovani, your resident Genasi meat shield. Look forward to solving crimes with you all...

Looks like we have an interesting cast to start with, unless someone else took the bait I will be the company cook, as well as something of an eclectic combination of odds and ends capabilities.

GM, quick question,

Are we rookie cops on first day of duty, or have we been in the job awhile?

What about starting equipment and wealth?

The introduction has us just starting, so even rookie might be more experienced than some of us.  There are a few backgrounds that speak to prior experience in a similar field but nothing is exactly 'cop'.

Yes, but we are 2nd level. At 1st level we all start with a set amount of money, or equipment determined by our class and background. Is that increased do to us starting at 2nd, or...?

Here is how I answered that question in the RTJ:

"Can you cook? Well?: Does rat-on-a-stick (charred to perfection over an open fire) count?"

So, Jack should not be everyone's first choice. Or, if he is, it's your own fault! :)

Arty can cook too but he's by no means a chef extraordinaire.

I've just got to sort my equipment and then I'm ready to go, pending approval of course.

Assume starting equipment and money as if FIRST level- after all, the characters needed jobs.

However...

Constables may draw two weapons from the Crown arsenal, for official use, and you will be responsible for them.

Plenty of each are available:

Halberd  - with a distinctive head, merely carrying this thing tells people you are on official business.
Light Crossbow - free bolts, too, but you will have to account for their use.
Short Sword
Mace
Quarterstaff
Net

When the military handled law enforcement (technically, that time, which everyone is eager to put behind and forget, ended the moment the first character signed on as Constable) the preferred watchman's weapon was the halberd.  This was because you could easily bat people with the non lethal end, intimidate them with the sharp end, and also use it as a handy walking stick while patrolling the streets of Auxene.  But there are no official Constable rules or procedures. Yet.

In reply to The GM (msg # 25):

Thanks, I’ll pass on that gear and will stick to my longsword and shield, plus a crossbow.

Cooking wise I’m happy to handle breakfast. I make a mean porridge and tend to rise early.

(BTW if you want me to make dinner as well I can, but it will be porridge again...)

Speaking of cooking. Here is how I answered the rtj for it.


3.  Can you cook?  Well?

Well I did have a roomate back in my univeristy days. Halfling by the name of Gerald Rasmu. He became a top chef and taught me more than a few things. So its become a good hobby for me.


So Etherian has the skill, but I'm thinking maybe more of a round robin. Everyone takes a day in rotation (for good or worse).

That's a lot of chefs in the kitchen... I think I've reinterpreted my response now to be a sarcastic one. Which is fitting for Arty. If you want him to add any alchemical ingredients to your cooking feel free to ask he would be happy to oblige!

Theirastro is up for your viewing bossman.

GM, I took a look at the map. Looks cool, but how do you cross the river? Is it just the ferries, or are there bridges too?

There are no bridges across the Aux.

There are ferries!  And the Watermen, who act much like taxi drivers along the river.

From the West Side Ferry Dock (H20) and the Ferry Docks (N 18) there is constant traffic during the daytime.

Very limited service at night.

In reply to The GM (msg # 31):

Let's hope all the trouble is on our side of the water then!!!

Okay, I've failed the first test! Where on the map is the watch house? Just trying to get my bearings...

The Constabulary is in O-15.  It is the tip of the odd projection of the Municiparia that extends towards the harbor.  The Constabulary is across the street from the Harbor Market, which is a roughly U shaped collection of small shops and food stalls facing a little plaza- a sort of strip mall.

There will be more on this shortly, but for now...

Close by at the Harbor to the west (left) there is the Watermens' Slip, which is the central hub for the city's floating taxi service, and the Constables' Slip, which has the Constables' Boat and room for any boats you might have to impound.

Your neighbors to the east (right) are an ice house (not everything in the Municiparia district is a government building, these people get in loads of ice from barges that come down the river, store it, and resell it in warm months) and the Pomton Street Repair Office, which is mostly storage for roadway repair materials and a mustering point for the crews.  The poor of the city are required to perform service for a month a year in lieu of paying taxes, and some are put to work repairing the roads.

I guess I failed the 2nd test. We got a signing bonus? LOL!

The Coin:  a specially struck Gold Piece, more of a symbol than anything else.  It is worth... one gold piece.  Maybe more to a collector.  But there's the symbolic value:  those who take it have accepted service to the crown of Pomera.

It's not a legal thing, it's custom.

Reminds me of the old D&D gag... "You got a nice shiny copper piece!" LOL

To non 'adventurer' class constables a single gold piece is a significant percentage of their wages, likely more than their previous job, so it is a 'bonus' but to us it is just a thing to keep in your pocket.

Khan, FYI Theirastra is the Bladesinger, not me.

Whoops.

In reply to Khay Vass (msg # 40):

No worries, if you want to duel her then go for it!

Awe...Khay doesn't wanna duel Theira no more? :)

I guess I'll have Arthur switch to another speech color seeing as Royal Red has been commandeered :P

IC post incoming.

Why are we concerned about speech color when we have portraits and we can't speak for other people anyway?

It eases the "at a glance" distinction even more in my experience. Its by no means a big deal, but it helps me and folks like me at the very least. Yes the portraits help a little but when I'm going back through posts and reading everything over again speech color distinction is more helpful for myself. It was not a complaint just an observation and something I thought worth mentioning briefly ;)

On smaller screens the portraits can be difficult to tell apart quickly, particularly the 'mostly brown and flesh tone' ones.

Some people respond better to color coded organization, others to names, it is good to stick to whatever color you use, but a little overlap isn't generally a problem as long as it isn't everyone using the same blue.

If possible, GM, when you get the chance could I get confirmation that my infusions selected are A-Okay or not so I can start thinking about incorporating them into the IC stuff. I've some unique ideas I'd like to bring to the table as mentioned in the PM. Thanks!

Oh, Khay still wants to duel her and anyone else. He's just shy around ladies.

DM,

What was the answer to Jack's "manacles" inquiry that he directed to Bors Oftwain (Msg. #23 of the "And so it begins . . . " thread)? If Bors answered, I missed it.

Thanks.

GM, I’m wondering how this game will progress. Will we be on patrol in pairs, fours or all together? Are we out looking for wrongdoing, or will citizens report it to the watch house.

Or, are we just gonna see what happens!?!

Either way I’m cool, just excited!!!

My plan is to not cover all the day to day routine things.  That will get dull.  There will be specific cases that pop up.

Some cases might be uncovered during a routine watch or patrol that would not have all the characters present, in which case...

You can organize yourselves into shifts, and I might declare something has popped up during one of them.

Or...

I will pick a few at random.

Either way, often, you will be able to reshuffle.  For example, if it's not an immediate thing, you might bring the situation up to everyone's attention, and pick a character or two to investigate something.

In reply to The GM (msg # 51):

Cool! Well, I’m ready to head out on patrol, anyone want to join me?

In reply to The GM (msg # 51):

I was thinking that we'd operate more as an investigative unit given our small size. The watch brings in cases for us to investigate and they are then put into priority and assigned out by the Head Constable. Perhaps alone or in pairs based on the need of each case. Anyways was just how I figured things would go. Looking forward to getting into the meat of things though.

I don't think we want to organize the player time with 'patrols' or anything remotely mundane like that.

The events we have threads for should be either choices between targets that require legitimate decision making and planning, or those targets themselves.

If we want to set up a static 'pattern' in which the characters do patrols then we should do that more like a single marching order post used in more travel oriented games, use passive perception/insight/investigation scores and the GM just compares that data to determine who notices what hot spots in what order.

P.S. If you hadn't noticed we are a 'Real Game Now' with 100 posts.

The only thing I would use "patrols" for is to determine which characters are present for a specific plot point.  It's not going to be a "random encounter" game.

I would be fine with random encounter being an option, so long as it's not the focus. That actually works better in this kind of a concept that most other games.

Sorry I checked out for a bit there. I'll be getting caught up and hopefully making an IC post in about 12ish hours. RL has been a bit rough but it's clearing up...

In reply to Arthur Dagonet (msg # 57):

Sorry to hear that you have been having a rough time in RL. Hope that things will settle down for you soon.

Was thinking the same about whistles, but mirrors is a clever idea too. I was planning to do some shopping as we go on patrol.

To clarify missions -

Seeking out Brother Marnely:
- Kovani
- Arty

Harbour Market:
- Khay
- Andrea
- Theirastra

TBC:
- Hedge
- Jack
- Etherian

Hedge hopped into the market group

In reply to Kovani u Vatri (msg # 60):

Etherian will be sticking with the herbalist. Her concern over the Dragons Blood has piped his interest, so he'll keep on that line of questioning.

Life and work.. and more work… hammered me for a few days but I am back.

No worries, RL first, always.

In reply to The GM (msg # 63):

I was/am in the same boat here. Next week is looking the same, another 5 ten hour days. Normally I only work 4 days a week. It should be the last week of this though.

Aplogies, swamped with RL stuff. Will try to catch up in the next day or two.

There is some confusion as to Who Went Where.  We have to clear this up.

As far as I understood the discussion in So It Begins,  (see Msg 60_, Etherian stayed behind with the Herbalist, so did Jack.  They shouldn't be at St Abners.

Kovani and Arthur went to St. Abners (as per msg 54 and 58.)

Others went to the Market.

In reply to The GM (msg # 67):

Sounds right to me.

Won’t get a post up until tomorrow night.

Sorry for not posting over the weekend, as well as erratically, guys the last couple weeks. We were hit with a heavy workload and my normal workweek of 4 days a week had 2 extra days added the last couple weeks. I volunteered one, and was mandated the other. All I wanted to do is just come home and sleep. LOL! Now things are back to normal with the new hires so I am back on my normal schedule. Yay me!

In reply to Theirastra Nailo (msg # 69):

Congratulations! I hate it when RL gets in the way of my hobbies!! :)

RL can really suck. Heading into my busy season so my posting will be around the clock as I'm able. Problem with being in a 24/7 business. Never know what time I'll have to be away for.

Hiya, caught up on my thread, sorry. In the middle of trying to write a 5000 word Masters assignment so that is draining my time!

Khay is singularly lost right now. If anyone would care to take over the investigation and give him and instruction, he would be happy to receive it.

Folks, I believe that I am going to bow out of this game.

Best wishes to one and all. May you have fair winds and following seas, both here on RPoL and in RL. :)

In reply to Jack Smythe (msg # 74):

Sorry to see you go.

Have we lost Arthur too?
This message was last edited by the player at 11:31, Sat 10 Apr 2021.

I don't know about Arthur, he certainly hasn't appeared in a while.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:45, Tue 27 Apr 2021.

Sorry about my adsence again all. Seems Mother Nature was trying to kill me, and then work was trying to finish me off.

Looks like we sprung the trap in our scene. I'm trying to figure out where to post there. lol

I have had a very difficult last few months.  So many things managed to converge at once to create extreme stress, leaving me very little time.
Writing became very draining.  Normally it’s relaxing.  So I had to take a break.

Hopefully, I will manage to get things back together.

In the meantime, where things go here will depend in part on a little player feedback.

We can:

Pursue the rehabilitation of the two caught teenagers.
Pursue the gang that was training them- which must be done creatively as they are headquartered in one of the “off limits” parts of the city, you will have to be crafty not only to identify them but get them out of the safety zone.
Pursue another case!

We’ve had a few players drop out.  Do we want to recruit any more or do we have enough?

First off sorry about not posting the last few days. The main line out of my house broke and the drainage has been backing up into my downstairs through my downstairs bathroom. So that's about 3 grand out of my pocket for them to dig up my yard and fix that. All while I been spending the last several days cleaning up the crappy situation in my downstairs bathroom, kitchen, and basement. Fun times.

Secondly I think that option A and B can work together, which is what Theira is working for. A sorta scratch our back and we'll scratch yours sorta thing.

As to recruitment, how many players do we have?

Recruitment is a nessicary aspect of RPOL games, the turnover is very high because play by post is both a bit lax on commitment by design, and hard to get any solid impression of both game and player style before you see a few iterations of how it actually plays out.

There could almost be a permanent recruit/lurker slot but that can be a lot of behind the scenes work for the GM.