So, I guess I'm with the group now?

Given that all of us go before nay of them, does initiative order matter much?  Also, is there a combat map?

Hi people

Sorry I have been away for a couple of weeks: nasty cold/flu (third this winter...) + real life hassles.

I'll catch up tomorrow

I went ahead and posted (not my action for the round)....
I asked the same question re: initiative order..

We don't have to post in initiative order. Just 'monsters' and 'us'. It doesn't work if you have to wait for every player in the right order

Eoiren, I tend to do more freeform combat so the syntax dictates where people are, aside from spatial exceptions such as where the spells originate from and where they end up.　So ultimately movement is in 3D space but things like attacks of opportunity aren't playing a big role. So the combat map is fully internalized.

Which OOC are we actually supposed to use? Can you archive the old ones or something?

DM you said there were only a few players now?

It is tough to keep up with what is going on. I feel like past, present, and at least two possibile futures happens in nearly every post.

Not sure what is happening sometimes as well...

If we still have the old players (looks like a small degree anyway), then things are looking good. My style will be a bit off-the-wall, but I hope that doesn't determine people leaving the game and so forth. Thus I would like to field some criticism, as I largely write in a post-modern prose mode. Basically I was trying to set out a goal, with combats in between.

Some ideas:
Would you guys like descriptive combats or more number-crunching?
Which aspects of 3.5 appeal the most to you, and how would that affect which themes are used?
How do you guys want the prose style to lean, to the best of my ability?

The gods are there to maintain good vibes across the board, but any criticism would be well-received, especially when it comes to running the game with a balance of high and low-magic, basically because I really like the Midnight setting and like to see the bad guys win, good guys don't exist, but high-risk situations are couched in high-power magic items in the least, justified as the climb up the "level ladder."

Not sure if Lady Maevre is going to show up, along with anyone else who was a consistent poster.

As we left things, the bandits outside the town maintain a watchtower and the ultimate goal is to activate the power nexuses in order to create epic magic items, which are ulimately, priceless. But mundane items still cost gold pieces. The gods will be split on who they side with as per myth. But I tend to lean more toward player sovereignty being the main focus. Gods won't just automatically help you.

So the astirax are coming at you with their human masters. What about this is unclear, or what do you want changed? Is the location clear, and where you need to go? Largely you can travel anywhere in the city Cauldron or throughout the environs of Midnight, predicated on the idea that mechanics from 3.5 depend on multiple sources. Calderin is the next stop, where the bandits hail from. Are they your friends or your enemy? Only time spent in travel will tell, but most importantly, how should I change the game?

Quil, I like to play it simple with the interface but am willing to change the OOC, I just don't know how. If I can't figure it out, we can go with the biggest integer, so I'll try to re-name it.

Also, can I get a roll call so that I can edit the player list some time down the road? This can come along with more experience with rpol features but how Lady Maevre made a text-box that is too hard for me at the moment, but I'll try to make a decent organization of the rule-based elements.

Text box?



You can "Archive" threads away so players can't see them buy putting them in a group no one has access to.

While in the thread > Edit thread (top right) > Top most drop down is "New Thread" select Z

The actual archive button just gives everyone GM-vision for private and secret lines and closes the thread.

One neat feature of being the GM on here is that if you click to "edit" someone's post you will get to see their code. If you don't actually save the edit their post remains the same but you can copy neat tricks they may have done that you don't understand.

As to combat:
While I am used to turn by turn that does take a long time in this format. I expect turn by turn in games unless it is told otherwise. That said; while we are talking about it- I would be fine formalizing that it will not be the case if people want to do that to save time. We would need to devise tactics and such to suggest we are getting better at working together.

As to rewards:
We may be able to determine some resources we could gain from dealing with certain threats... Some may just be threats with no reasonable clue at rewards. We should probably never know that if they are combined certain ways they make certain things... some resources may not have observable threats associated with them. It would be reasonable for us to research uses of resources we have from time to time.

As to story:
I am feeling like the bad guys are winning I'm just not sure I have a feeling like I can even survive being a good guy. Maybe that is your point- if so... Bravo. I was mistaken thinking I was supposed to be playing a good guy though.

To Aranea and Jack Springhill, I'll post the next IC once we figure out the number of players. Right now it seems like you two older players plus Quil are posting. Once we have four, I can continue at a steady clip.

Once again, I will ask for roll call and if no one shows up we can move forward despite the low number of players. Are those of you who haven't responded waiting for an introduction to your characters? Or should we try to recruit some more players?

I had a PBP DM once upon a time that broke the DM voices into different entities  in a way, the storyteller/narrator was different from the mechanics DM (referee) or something like that.

So most "DM" posts were actually 2, if one it would just say you are up instead of waiting on DM....

Still here.

So if it helps to get a recap from the DM's point of view, the power nexus in the south needs to be activated, and to achieve this, the party must load up on goods from Highwall. From Highwall to the power nexus which sits outside the outpost of Caulderin. The current combat sits astride the unnamed outpost where bandits thrive. Astiraxes and blink dogs roam at night here, when the undead rise from their graves and plague the earth as though the Argonauts have swept through leaving skeletons in their wake. The blighted earth of the Fell slows your mind slightly as you traverse with faerie fire dotting all that you can see, barrenness and desolation of great import.

Progress saw the goods sloughed off on Highwall and the magic items here were a lucky find, the current encounter the result; Highwall had flown under the radar but is now leveraged at night with a swarm of bodiless feeding astirax, which toy with the mind like Trapped between their own state and that of mortal ken. Bottling an astirax form is an option. The obsidian glass from the fire giant jettisoned you (in a manner of speaking) from Skie's Treasury toward the power nexus. Be warned that you may have to run away at breakneck speeds and might want to use conducive spells or items, assuming you have any. Astirax generally means legates will be using powerful magic that is rare to most adventurers.

The blighted southern Eredane awaits and you hear rumors of the elves in-fighting but to travserse the paths toward the elven forests is dangerous, most keenly aware not to leave fires going or use light-based magic unless hidden. Several groups of similar ken you will find meandering the shoddy roads, but if you go to the elves, several of their craft (of gnomish make) will sluice towards the raiding parties, riddling them with arrows, as per the legend.

It might be good if we could spend a little time conversing amongst ourselves about this overall goal and talking backstory and what we can know about each other ...

Like taking shelter in a ruin or cave whilst a storm rages outside and our good DM giving reward (XP) for Roleplay....

In reply to wlake.gmtn (msg # 62):

I pasted this into my scratchpad for reference moving forward....

I made sure to make them a little easier to find on my character sheet. I also included the brief summary of them at the bottom in my frequent combat actions section.

Just came back around to the game, for whoever's interested I am still willing to run.

I am still around.....
...I am always lurking and playing on rpol.

I'm still here. What game is this?

It is a 6th level D&D 3.5 game.....

Glad you're back in action as well, Jack, and Quil, a little disorientation is only natural. ;)

Also, the latest is that the raiders outside the city were getting taken out on the way to Highwall. I'm gonna go through the new interface to see what's available, if there's still a map or two kicking around the margins or if I have to upload everything again. Just checked, everything carried over from what I can tell.

There's enough action to go around for a good while yet, so ultimately the gods will continue their stormy reign and dark will clash with light.

It is a bit grimdark and action packed!

Not sure if we are supposed to be the fading light or the edge of darkness... Or just poor bastards caught out after dark.