OT: Narf has gone looney and wants to GM.(Edited2)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Blabber blabber blabber...anyway, I was thinking of running an Online D&D 3.5 game using OpenRPG because I'm interested in learning how to GM and that's the only RPG I own. Time: Well, wednesday from 5:30PM PST to 8:30PM PST is out, because of the other game. Other than that, any day from monday to saturday, 8AM to 9PM PST is ok.

Game will incorperate players suggestions, wether they get in there or not will be based on things like my ability to do so, time, how easy or hard they might be...Yell loud enough for something and you'll probably get it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

All of the following 'no guarenteed' are simply because I have no experience GM'ing, however, I have an idea of how to add plot (Simply add population centers to the caverns) and some plot ideas and will try to make it an interesting game. I simply really don't know how interesting a GM I might be.

Plot not guarenteed. Originality not guarenteed. Players will probably find themselves locked in a cavern complex, current section generated by a random dungeon generator. I'll try to have more than 'kill the monster' in there, but that's not guarenteed. Edited a random dungeon, took me 2-3 hours. Pretty easy to do, no idea if it's good or not.

Plus side: Epic levels ok, anything in PHB, DMG, MM 1+2, Complete Warrior and Dragon magazine #323 is ok, as well as other stuff as I get them. Feel free to have your character wander off in between adventures and introduce a new character as long as you post first, with no loss of level. Any race/class combination is ok. Dead characters can be replaced next session or the current session if the need is great enough, although you will loose a level each time you die, regardless of when you generate a new character. Your XP will be the same percentage on the lower level as it was on the higher. In other words, if your level 3, 4500 XP (Half-way to the next level or 50%), and you die and choose to create a new character, your next character will be level 2, 2000 XP (Also half-way to the next level or 50%). Resurection spells are in full effect and any loss in the characters stats will be according to the resurection spell used, if any is, otherwise, level loss as above.

Character generation will be whatever people want most. Arguements for systems which will generate 'ultimate' stats will be met with flying trout. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Hope that was coherent.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Still seems like a good idea now that I'm awake, so I edited it for coherency, completeness and to include some new developments. Please post times in PST. The game will start when we have a minimum of 4 people or 3 people and desperation.

[Alneyan]

You know my usual answer: I would like to play, but probably cannot. I am available from time to time during the nights (local time), but my planning is quite unstable, so. Unless you do want a character present during every other battle? (Me? A craven? Bah!)

Could you please confirm your own time Narf? Simply write a post by saying your time, and I will do the maths myself (I think it is more or less ten hours, but do not know the exact figure).

Perhaps I should lobby for a crazy GM to do something board-based instead... *Looks at Narf, stares at mousetrap, and starts making connections*

[narf poit chez BOOM]

According to this site and my clock: http://www.csgnetwork.com/timezncvt.html

I'm on Pacific Daylight Time and GMT-7. It's 12:26PM now, if that helps further. The time limits listed in the first paragraph as of the Last edit still stand and won't be changed by any foreseeable circumstance.

As for board-based or PBEM...'Yell loud enough for something and you'll probably get it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif '

I'm not sure how that would work, but I could probably figure something out. Me figuring out how to GM is part of what this is all about. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Alneyan]

So we are nine hours apart (well, for now; I think I will go off Daylight Saving Times one week earlier than you or something. Or perhaps it is only when going on DST in Spring).

I should be available from 11 AM PST to 1 PM PST without too much hassle, and possibly for a longer while. The most convenient days for me would be Friday and Saturday within this frame of time. That is, barring the unexpected, which is simply impossible.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, thanks.

1! 1 interested person!

[eorg]

2 people! 2! :-P 19-22 gmt+2 which should be... mmm... 7-10am pst and all sunday and saturday

lets make it swatch @time http://www.csgnetwork.com/csgbmtcvt.html

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yep, 2!

Update I should have posted already: Racial alignments are out the window, in part because I'm allowing any race/class combo as previously mentioned and in part because I don't like them.

[Alneyan]

We even have somewhat comptabible times! (Only one hour sets up apart)

Are the racial alignments you speak of the ability changes/favoured class, or something else? (Yes, it has been a while since I Last got into D&D rules)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Most of the races that aren't normally considered player races, ie, anything other than humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half-elfs and half-orcs has a racial alignment that is considered near-constant for that entire race. In D&D, alignment is outlook along two axises, Lawfull, Neutral and Chaotic; Good, Neutral and Evil, resulting in 9 basic outlooks, LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE.

Um, does that explain it?

[Alneyan]

Ah, that abomination. *Wards against evil*

I will keep on with my list of dumb questions: are you allowing for other races besides the usual? (I gather it is so from your Posts) If so, do you have something looking like a list? I only have the Player Handbook available, and my Planescape knowledge, and so cannot check the books you mentioned. No, I won't ask to be a mouse. I promise. Honest.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35

Just the basics, but nearly all the basics, of D&D. Free, legal, including monsters.

Anything that has an Int score of 3 or higher(Sentient) that has a level adjustment(Number that is added to your character level if you play that race) can be played. And if you make a good case for it, you can play something with an Int score of 2 or less. See the 'If you yell loud enough' rule. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Perhaps I should expound a bit...If you want a halfling barbarian paladin wizard, go right ahead. If you want a half-dragon, half-celestial vampire monk, go right ahead. If you want a human fighter, go right ahead. If you want a pixie barbarian, go right ahead. But some of those will have to wait until you have a character with a high enough character level to trade in.

[Alneyan]

Very interesting. I will be looking at these articles (mainly the monsters) to seek someone to incarnate in. Thanks for the link!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Your welcome.

[eorg]

i want chaotic/good elven fighter/wizard
name: eorg http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

what else do i need? download something?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Well, you'll start out level 1, so you'll have to start as either a fighter or a wizard. Experience to next level is calculated by adding your level in each of your classes together, then adding any level adjustment from race. In D&D, that final level number is called character level.

So, you'll have to start as either CG elven fighter or CG elven wizard, then multiclass later. Since wizard is a perfered class for elves, you won't have an XP penalty if the levels are to far apart. (Side note: I'm thinking of throwing perfered classes for races out, as well as XP penalties for differences between class levels, so if you want to yell about it, you won't have to yell much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

The SRD I linked to should provide all you need. (Side note: Add the SRD to the list of things that you can use anything from, since I have it.)

[Rasorow]

*Gives Narf a vote of confidence*

After all he has the only wizard in three multi-verses that can shoot with and occasionally out-shoot 2 rangers.

cannot play though... dont have room to add more commitments.

Rasorow

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Traps! That's what I need, traps!

/me starts digging pit traps around the thread.

[Alneyan]

On a sidenote, do you need us to give our levels of "desperation", should we fail to lure someone else within this thread?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Desperation is climbing...If we do go in with two players, should I:

1) Give everyone a free level that won't affect XP gain

2) Give both of you a second character

3) Run a character myself

4) Wait some more

5) Wait a lot more

[Jack Simth]

Sounds like something I might have fun with, but I can't seem to figure out which file the character creation method is hiding in. I'm finding racial descriptions, class descriptions, and whatnot, but I'm not quite finding the character creation mechanisim. Any idea where it's hiding?

Also, a thought on multiclassing as a monster type: dormat genes - the character has demon/draconic/fae/whatever blood, but for now, the normal genes are dominant, and the monster genes (and all the nifties, such as special abilities and extra hit dice); however, enough stress (experience) could bring them out. Until then, it's just a special effect.

[Fyron]

The character creation process _is_ all of those files. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I am not certain about how the SRD is organized, but when you have the book in front of you (Player's Handbook), you just go through the chapters in the order they are presented in the book to create your character.

[eorg]

all 5

[Jack Simth]

Imperator Fyron said:
The character creation process _is_ all of those files. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I am not certain about how the SRD is organized, but when you have the book in front of you (Player's Handbook), you just go through the chapters in the order they are presented in the book to create your character.


You'd think so; but it doesn't appear to be so. It's got descriptions (along with the class skills and their effects) for the classes; it's got descriptions for the spells; it's got descriptions for the races (along with their special abilities and modifiers); it's got descriptions for the stats, and listings of what rolls they modify. However, it seems to distinctly lack notes on, say, if the vital statistics need to be rolled up on 1d20, 3d6, or 5d4; or if they need to be "purchased" with some form of points in such a way that you always have X number of stats total at the start, starting cash, and the like.



eorg said:
all 5

Umm, could you be a little more verbose? There's 86 files in 6 different categories; such a simple statement doesn't tell me where to look to, say, find the rules for generating the character's strength, intelligence, wisdom, dex, et cetera that are mentioned as getting mods in the different categories by race & class.

[Alneyan]

Eorg was answering to Narf own five suggestions, and basically said to go with the five ones.

Narf wrote earlier than character creation will be done with whatever system we want to use; I must admit I have no clue about which system will be used (I could probably produce the basic character creation process as described in the Handbook, but do not know anything about alternative systems).

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Jack Simth said:
Sounds like something I might have fun with, but I can't seem to figure out which file the character creation method is hiding in. I'm finding racial descriptions, class descriptions, and whatnot, but I'm not quite finding the character creation mechanisim. Any idea where it's hiding?

Also, a thought on multiclassing as a monster type: dormat genes - the character has demon/draconic/fae/whatever blood, but for now, the normal genes are dominant, and the monster genes (and all the nifties, such as special abilities and extra hit dice); however, enough stress (experience) could bring them out. Until then, it's just a special effect.


Base D&D character generation is to roll 4d6 and discard the lowest die; do this 6 times and put the scores wherever you want in your stats. Your base scores are rarely actualy used for anything themselves; they produce modifiers that, well, modify things like stat rolls, skill rolls, how many bonus spells you get if you have a spellcasting class. Your modifier for a stat is (your stat - 10) / 2.

Rolling will probably be on the honor roll, unless anyone wants to be paranoid, in which case rolling will be done on openRPG with people watching.

I don't really care if you cheat, gamewise. If you make characters who can take on anything, that's what you'll get. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Out of the game, I'll think your a greedy pig. But I don't think we have to worry about cheating. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

If the sum of your modifiers is 0 or less, you scores are considered to low for an adventurer and you may reroll. Same if your highest score is 13 or lower.

If we go with point buy, I'll probably go with standard point buy, 25 points and the following chart:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Stat | Point cost per level | Total
9 | 1 | 1
10 | 1 | 2
11 | 1 | 3
12 | 1 | 4
13 | 1 | 5
14 | 1 | 6
15 | 2 | 8
16 | 2 | 10
17 | 3 | 13
18 | 3 | 16
</pre><hr />
After that, there's the base saves, which are Fortitude, Reflex and Will and run off Constitution, Dexterity and Wisdom, respectively. These help with surviving poisons and disease, avioding traps and some spells and resisting mental and some spells effects, respectively.

If you need anything else, just ask. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for hidden racial genes, sure. As long as the confusion of realizing their hidden talents keeps them from properly focusing on their class(not gaining levels) until they have enough enough unused levels to meet the level adjustment of their hidden genes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Not sure if that's what you meant.

[Fyron]

Jack Simth said:
You'd think so; but it doesn't appear to be so. It's got descriptions (along with the class skills and their effects) for the classes; it's got descriptions for the spells; it's got descriptions for the races (along with their special abilities and modifiers); it's got descriptions for the stats, and listings of what rolls they modify. However, it seems to distinctly lack notes on, say, if the vital statistics need to be rolled up on 1d20, 3d6, or 5d4; or if they need to be "purchased" with some form of points in such a way that you always have X number of stats total at the start, starting cash, and the like.

The first chapter of the Player's Handbook covers all of that. I think the SRDs are meant solely as a reference, not as a complete guide.

edit:
Basics and Ability Scores seems to be what you need.
http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/Basics.rtf

[Jack Simth]

Imperator Fyron said:
The first chapter of the Player's Handbook covers all of that. I think the SRDs are meant solely as a reference, not as a complete guide.

edit:
Basics and Ability Scores seems to be what you need.
http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/Basics.rtf

It would seem to be - if all you do is skim it. If, instead, you actually read through it, you will notice that it is solely concerned with things during gameplay - the bonuses or penalties the different statistics yield, how an action is rolled, how multipliers work, how fractional results work, descriptions of the stats, and the like; it does not cover deciding on the stats of the character to begin with, nor starting capital for purchasing basic equipment, or any other pre-game stuff. It's possible that it is a deliberate omission on the part of Wizards of the Coast, either as a marketing ploy or as a method of not limiting the game master.

Narf: Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant. Also pretty much what I was looking for, although the starting cash portion still needs to be addressed.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Cash, right, cash. In-game, until we get to a town, ie, while I'm still figuring out what I'm doing, shoping will be done in between adventures, with the 'explanation' of shops being scattered through the caverns, rogue-like style. Strangely enough, those shops will probably dissapear once a town is encountered. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for starting gold, Barbarian(4d4*10gp, average 100gp), Bard(4d4*10gp, ave 100gp), Cleric(5d4*10gp, ave 125gp), Druid(2d4*10gp, ave 50gp), Fighter(6d4*10gp, ave 150gp), Monk(5d4gp, ave 12gp, 5sp), Paladin(6d4*10gp, ave 150gp), Ranger(6d4*10gp, ave 150gp), Rogue(5d4*10gp, ave 125gp), Sorcerer(3d4x10gp, ave 75gp), Wizard(3d4x10gp, ave 75gp).

As with stats, you can roll yourself, on the honor roll, unless anyone wants to be paranoid, or take the average.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Side note: Don't everybody create fighters. There are traps...

[Fyron]

Jack Simth said:
It would seem to be - if all you do is skim it. If, instead, you actually read through it, you will notice that it is solely concerned with things during gameplay - the bonuses or penalties the different statistics yield, how an action is rolled, how multipliers work, how fractional results work, descriptions of the stats, and the like; it does not cover deciding on the stats of the character to begin with, nor starting capital for purchasing basic equipment, or any other pre-game stuff. It's possible that it is a deliberate omission on the part of Wizards of the Coast, either as a marketing ploy or as a method of not limiting the game master.

Narf: Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant. Also pretty much what I was looking for, although the starting cash portion still needs to be addressed.

Huh. Tricky bastards. The attached word document is the section that preceeds chapter 1 in the PHB (and no I didn't type this up...).

There is a table for starting money in the Equipment chapter. Was this ommitted as well? Just for completeness...

TABLE 7–1: RANDOM STARTING GOLD
Class Amount (gp)
Barbarian 4d4 x 10
Bard 4d4 x 10
Cleric 5d4 x 10
Druid 2d4 x 10
Fighter 6d4 x 10
Monk 5d4
Paladin 6d4 x 10
Ranger 6d4 x 10
Rogue 5d4 x 10
Sorcerer 3d4 x 10
Wizard 3d4 x 10

By the way, this is a much nicer SRD site, as it has everything in HTML rather than files to download (handy for web browsing anyways): http://srd.pbemnexus.com/home.html

[Jack Simth]

Fyron:
Yep, that was also omitted.

Well, I've got a character rolled up with the 4d6 drop lowest method; a Neutral-Good Half-Elf bard (will be able to cast Cure Light Wounds after a level or two)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, we have three players and I presume Jack's looked at the times listed and can make it. So:

No free levels, would make three characters to powerfull. Please pick one from collumn A and one from column B or one from column Z.

Z1) Go in with 3

Z2) Give everyone another character and re-work the map.

A2) Run a character myself

A3) Give one player another character

B2) Wait some more

B3) Wait a lot more

[Jack Simth]

Looking at the times others have listed (all times PST):

Narf: M-Sa 8A - 9P
Alneyan: F,Sa 11a - 1p
eorg: All day Sat/Sun, or 7a - 10a weekdays
The common overlap is Saturday, 11am - 1 pm, which I can usually make.

As for your list, I like A2 and Z1 (go in with 3 and Run a character yourself [although that would technically make it four....])

[Alneyan]

My vote is the same as Jack's; you pick one character, and the four of us go in.

I am thinking of going with a Sorcerer myself, and possibly a Sorcerer/Cleric later on. Or perhaps a mundane Wizard over the Sorcerer. I am still left quite undecided about my race though. Hmm.

On another matter, when do you make the switch off Daylight Savings Time Narf? I seem to recall that France switches to DST one week earlier than Canada, but I do not know if the same goes true when going back to "normal" time.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I actually have no clue about when daylight savings time switches.

As for character, I'll just fill whatever slot is left over. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

If anyone's hoping for a session tommorrow, well, I stayed up late today.

[Jack Simth]

One other thing - where can I find the experience/leveling tables?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Experience has been extremly simplified:

Level | XP total
1 | 0
2 | 1000
3 | 3000
4 | 6000
5 | 10000

The pattern simply continues to infinity, the same table is used for all classes. So no more AD&amp;D weird XP class tables.

[Jack Simth]

Simple enough.

I was wrong; in browsing through the Online docs, I noticed a few other things that don't seem to be detailed in the docs, but are mentioned as existing:
Base stats growing with level up
Feat gains with level up
Experience cost for multiclass characters (e.g., does a Cleric 5 / fighter 5 character cost the experience for (level 5) + (level 5), level (5 + 5), or something else?)

[Alneyan]

I seem to recall you gain one point in any statistic every four levels, and a feat every three levels (one at character creation level, then for Level 3rd, level 6th and so on), with bonus feats for humans and some classes.

I believe only your global character level matters when levelling with multiclass characters, and not the sum of the levels in these classes. But once again, it has been a long while since I came anywhere near D&amp;D rules.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

right on the first paragraph, not sure on the second. It's 5:00 in the morning and nope, I didn't just get up.

XP is determined by character level, character level is determined by adding all your class levels together and then adding any racial level adjustments.

[Alneyan]

Notice how I write my answers. I basically managed to answer Jack by explaining that "both character level and the sum of your class levels matter to calculate the xp needed for next level".

It should have been, had I been less obtuse, "your character level determines the cost to reach the next level, and is the sum of your class levels". So a level 1 Warrior/level 9 Mage will have a character level of 10, and will have to spend as much xp to reach level 11 as a level tenth full-fledged Mage/Warrior/Butterfly.

[Jack Simth]

Thanks.

[Fyron]

Keep in mind that there are experience penalties if you have multiple classes, based on the difference between the highest leveled class and the lowest (non-zero) leveled class your character possesses. Is this information in the Online SRDs?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Whoops, forgot that. Also, each standard race has a favored class which isn't counted for XP penalties. Don't know if that's in the SRD, either.

[Jack Simth]

Fyron: there's mention of it, but it doesn't seem to be fully spelled out (the amount of the penalty, the conditions under which the penalty applies, et cetera).

Narf: Yes, Favored classes are listed under the race descriptions.

[Fyron]

Here is a wee bit of info on multiclassing related penalties.

[Alneyan]

I have almost, but not quite, made up my mind. Would a Tiefling (found under Plane touched among the Monsters) be a suitable choice Narf? I am thinking of going the Wizard way, with perhaps some rogue tricks later on. I still have to make up one name though, among other slightly important matters.

Am I supposed to cast the dice myself, and to let you know about the results, or do you take care of this part? Do I have to give you all my choices at once (skills, race, class, feats and so on)? Or something else?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I'll be lazy and copy this message: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

narf poit chez BOOM said:

Jack Simth said:
Sounds like something I might have fun with, but I can't seem to figure out which file the character creation method is hiding in. I'm finding racial descriptions, class descriptions, and whatnot, but I'm not quite finding the character creation mechanisim. Any idea where it's hiding?

Also, a thought on multiclassing as a monster type: dormat genes - the character has demon/draconic/fae/whatever blood, but for now, the normal genes are dominant, and the monster genes (and all the nifties, such as special abilities and extra hit dice); however, enough stress (experience) could bring them out. Until then, it's just a special effect.


Base D&amp;D character generation is to roll 4d6 and discard the lowest die; do this 6 times and put the scores wherever you want in your stats. Your base scores are rarely actualy used for anything themselves; they produce modifiers that, well, modify things like stat rolls, skill rolls, how many bonus spells you get if you have a spellcasting class. Your modifier for a stat is (your stat - 10) / 2.

Rolling will probably be on the honor roll, unless anyone wants to be paranoid, in which case rolling will be done on openRPG with people watching.

I don't really care if you cheat, gamewise. If you make characters who can take on anything, that's what you'll get. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Out of the game, I'll think your a greedy pig. But I don't think we have to worry about cheating. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

If the sum of your modifiers is 0 or less, you scores are considered to low for an adventurer and you may reroll. Same if your highest score is 13 or lower.

If we go with point buy, I'll probably go with standard point buy, 25 points and the following chart:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Stat | Point cost per level | Total
9 | 1 | 1
10 | 1 | 2
11 | 1 | 3
12 | 1 | 4
13 | 1 | 5
14 | 1 | 6
15 | 2 | 8
16 | 2 | 10
17 | 3 | 13
18 | 3 | 16
</pre><hr />
After that, there's the base saves, which are Fortitude, Reflex and Will and run off Constitution, Dexterity and Wisdom, respectively. These help with surviving poisons and disease, avioding traps and some spells and resisting mental and some spells effects, respectively.

If you need anything else, just ask. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

As for hidden racial genes, sure. As long as the confusion of realizing their hidden talents keeps them from properly focusing on their class(not gaining levels) until they have enough enough unused levels to meet the level adjustment of their hidden genes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Not sure if that's what you meant.


And your character can have whatever hidden racial genes you want, as long as they are in either the PHB, DMG, MM 1&amp;2, the SRD or Dragon magazine 323. I didn't mention it before, but one thing I want to do with this is test out different combinations.

The purpose of the whole 'hidden racial genes' is that your character starts at level 1 and 'hidden racial genes' allows an explanable, in-game way of having your character turn into, say, a half-dragon. Other than that, you can start with anything you can cram into a level 1 character.

As for your character, if we are going to use openRPG, which seems logical since everybody can get together at the same time once a week, I'd perfer the file in that format. I don't remember how to get a character sheet up in their, but Fyron does. Fyron? Help please? And thanks for your previous help. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

/me pokes Eorg. You awake? Havn't heard anything from you for two pages.

[Alneyan]

Oops, I didn't get that part about honour roll the first time. My bad.

Since Jack Simth went with the standard "throw four dice" approach, I guess I will do the same. I will have a look at OpenRPG to figure out how it works in the meantime; hopfully, I won't have to ask any more question in this regard.

[Fyron]

I will be lazy as well and just give you a link of something I typed up already. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Don't follow the connect to server instructions, as there is currently no Alkazhar server... there are instructions on how to make your character sheet in there. You can right click on it and select Save Node or somesuch to save it to an explicit file after you are done.

http://www.spaceempires.net/dnd/start.php

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, revision. I don't know the normal rule for this and I'm going to be lazy too and not look it up, so: Full HP for first level. First level only.

[Fyron]

The normal rule is full hit points for the first character level (NOT class level).

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yep, ok, thanks. Pointless post, then.

[eorg]

in in :-) you run a character and we wait till friday for someone else?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yep, basically. I'm going to go with a basic human fighter, since it looks like we're low on meelee.

[Jack Simth]

Narf: what's your e-mail address? I think I've got my character all entered into OpenRPG to send you, I'm just lacking the destination.

And here I thought I was lucky that I rolled max. Oh well.

[Fyron]

When you start your session in OpenRPG, you can easily send the character node to the GM (Narf in this case) by right clicking on it and using the Send to Player function. Depends on whether Narf needs complete details before the first session I guess. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Don't see why I'd need them in advance.

[Jack Simth]

Narf:
I can see why you might want the characters a little in advance: balancing the campaign. You don't want a situation where my character casting Ghost Hand completely negates the puzzle you spent an hour laying out. Likewise, you don't usually want to include a puzzle/encounter that isn't solveable with the skillset available. Having the characters initial state available in the initial planning stages allows for eliminating both extremes.

As for your character, depending on what Eorg decides to go with, it might be better for you to pick a rouge. So far, the list is:

Alneyan: Sorceror(Wizard?)
Jack Simth: Bard
Eorg: Fighter(?)/Wizard(?)

So we have a spellcaster, and someone who can pick up a healing spell after a level. If Eorg picks Fighter, all that's needed to round out the skill set is a Rouge (for the traps). Also, the "creeping rouge" issue matters a lot less if it is the DM's filler character who is afflicted.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

True, I could go rogue. Eorg? Class?

Creeping rogue?

Oh, don't worry. There aren't any complex traps...yet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif for the first dungeon, I just want to see how things go.

[Jack Simth]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Creeping rogue?



The rogue that is used for pretty much a single purpose: spotting and neutralizing traps and locks. It becomes a problem because the player of the rouge doesn't do anything much; just rolls the dice over and over in response to whatever traps the DM throws at the party, in an extremely repetitive fashion. Similar problems can occur with priests (traveling medicine cabinet), if no undead are encountered, although it is less likely as d20 priests also get other nifty spells and spell-like abilities.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Well, the only way I'd allow more than one roll per character to find/disarm/lockpick is if there was a rational for it, like new information or say a day has passed. And if I present information on something, then it's expected that you go over it in-character and at least attempt to figure some of it out before you roll.

Undead will be encountered in some sessions, and as I get better, hopefully other things for clerics to do besides heal and buff.

Does that address your concerns?

[Jack Simth]

On the creeping rouge, I don't so much mean rolling on the same trap over and over, as rolling on different traps, which quickly becomes repetitive; sure, the traps are different, the difficulty of the traps are different, but the handling of them is pretty much exactly the same every time: roll to spot trap, roll to disable trap, continue. In combat, a rouge's options are more limitied than those of a spellcaster (no spells to choose from), and they are less effective than a fighter of equivalent level (can't wear armor, so usually has a poorer AC, can't use as strong of weapons) and are usually relegated to repeatedly firing arrows (or otherwise fighting from a distance) at the current opponent(s). It can become difficult to avoid making the player of the rouge bored very quickly. It becomes a bit less of an issue at higher levels, as the rogue's other abilities start kicking in, granting a better AC from dex bonuses, the better damage from hiding, the ability to snipe from cover, and whatnot.

But pretty much, yeah.

[Fyron]

Jack Simth said:

The rogue that is used for pretty much a single purpose: spotting and neutralizing traps and locks. It becomes a problem because the player of the rouge doesn't do anything much; just rolls the dice over and over in response to whatever traps the DM throws at the party, in an extremely repetitive fashion. Similar problems can occur with priests (traveling medicine cabinet), if no undead are encountered, although it is less likely as d20 priests also get other nifty spells and spell-like abilities.

Hmm... I never seemed to have any problem finding non-healing things to do with clerics in AD&amp;D 2.x, or even just plain old AD&amp;D...


they are less effective than a fighter of equivalent level (can't wear armor, so usually has a poorer AC, can't use as strong of weapons)

D&amp;D 3.x Rogues are faily proficient killing machines, as long as they have good hiding skills and can exploit sneak attacks. Also, give the rogue 2 weapons (and appropriate feats) and he can do a lot of damage with those sneak attacks...

I don't know what you mean by can't wear armor? Heavy armors reduce dexterity bonuses significantly, so rogues can have as high of an AC as a fighter decked in plate mail can, easily. The skill penalties of the heavier "light armors" are fairly negligible. +15 from skill, -2 from armor. Not much to worry about.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Hmm...

Note: Make traps more interesting.

Hmm...

* Jack is now hanging by his ankles from a rope swinging from an iron loop in the ceiling 18 feet above Jack's feet. Ten feet to either side are ten-foot ledges, each with a door. Jack is 5'6", by DM fiat. Eight and a half feet below are crocadiles. Each crocadile is twelve feet long and can lunge nine feet into the air. Since each crocadile must pause for five seconds before lunging, Jack can avoid their lunges as long as he keeps watching them. There are three crocadiles and they each lunge 1.6~ seconds apart.

MWUHAHAHAHA!!!!

Ah, feel free to ignore me. Just being goofy.

[Jack Simth]

[/quote]
Imperator Fyron said:
Hmm... I never seemed to have any problem finding non-healing things to do with clerics in AD&amp;D 2.x, or even just plain old AD&amp;D...


You seem to be missing the distinction between "can" and "will" in your response there. A decent cleric player, or a decent DM, can rather successfully keep the issue from ever cropping up.
Imperator Fyron said:

they are less effective than a fighter of equivalent level (can't wear armor, so usually has a poorer AC, can't use as strong of weapons)

D&amp;D 3.x Rogues are faily proficient killing machines, as long as they have good hiding skills and can exploit sneak attacks. Also, give the rogue 2 weapons (and appropriate feats) and he can do a lot of damage with those sneak attacks...


The fighter gets greater attack bonuses at all levels, and increased attacks earlier; usually has better strength for more damage, better constitution for greater health, and a higher hit roll to begin with. Giving the rouge appropriet feats requires later levels, which I mentioned earlier as allieviating the problem to an extent.
Imperator Fyron said:
I don't know what you mean by can't wear armor? Heavy armors reduce dexterity bonuses significantly, so rogues can have as high of an AC as a fighter decked in plate mail can, easily. The skill penalties of the heavier "light armors" are fairly negligible. +15 from skill, -2 from armor. Not much to worry about.

If you assume that the fighter doesn't have a decent mundane equipment set, that's true. However, a lower-level fighter decked out in full plate with a tower shield (fighters start proficient with all of that, and so take no attack penalties for it) and a dex of 12 gets 10 (base) + 8 (plate) + 4 (shield) + 1 (dex) = 23 AC; A lower-level rouge with 18 Dex (highest initial) gets a +4 dex bonus; with the heaviest armor that allows that +4 (chain shirt), the rouge is running at 10 (base) +4 (armor) +4 (dex) = 18 AC. As the rouge does not (by default, at least) start with proficencies in medium armor, heavy armor, or shields, the rouge can't take any further mundane protection without taking a penalty to their attack. The problem with sneak attacks is that until the rouge gets up high enough that the rouge can re-hide, in the middle of combat, reasonably reliably, it works once per fight. A fighter, out of the box, is proficient with essentially any weapon (s)he can lay hands on; the rouge is limited to ranged, light, or simple weapons (assuming that you don't want to take the penalty for using a weapon that the rouge isn't proficient with). Much of this is alleviated at later levels, where the rouge can have stat gains, multiple feats, class abilities, increased sneak attack damage, and sufficient skill to make sneak attacks more frequent. Of course, by that time, the fighter has even more feats, much improved attack bonuses, more attacks, and his own stat increases. A fighter is a combat specialist; a rogue is a stealth and safe passage specialist with combat ability. Sure, rouges can hold their own in fights. However, fighters specialize in it. With players of equivalent skill and characters of equivalent level, a fighter will usually be meaningfully better at combat than a rouge.

[Jack Simth]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
* Jack is now hanging by his ankles from a rope swinging from an iron loop in the ceiling 18 feet above Jack's feet. Ten feet to either side are ten-foot ledges, each with a door. Jack is 5'6", by DM fiat. Eight and a half feet below are crocadiles. Each crocadile is twelve feet long and can lunge nine feet into the air. Since each crocadile must pause for five seconds before lunging, Jack can avoid their lunges as long as he keeps watching them. There are three crocadiles and they each lunge 1.6~ seconds apart.

MWUHAHAHAHA!!!!

Ah, feel free to ignore me. Just being goofy.


*Casts prestidigitation, and uses the simple tricks to give the crocks other things (small, trivially replaced, cheap conjoured objects moving close to them) to lunge at. Then uses some acrobatics to swing over to the ledges, and uses a casting of Mage Hand to untie the ropes to get onto a ledge at a critical moment.

*Then uses a bardsong to Fascinate narf so Eorg can quietly slip around behind him and hit him on the back of the head with a hammer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[eorg]

:-P

chaotic good elven wizard named eorg - will multiclass to fighter-wizard

[Jack Simth]

Let's see... that gives us, to start, two dedicated spellcasters, a bard, and an unassigned (probably a rouge). Will probably work; both bard and rouge are half-fighters, as long as both remember to wear leather or some other light armor.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Jack Simth said:

narf poit chez BOOM said:
* Jack is now hanging by his ankles from a rope swinging from an iron loop in the ceiling 18 feet above Jack's feet. Ten feet to either side are ten-foot ledges, each with a door. Jack is 5'6", by DM fiat. Eight and a half feet below are crocadiles. Each crocadile is twelve feet long and can lunge nine feet into the air. Since each crocadile must pause for five seconds before lunging, Jack can avoid their lunges as long as he keeps watching them. There are three crocadiles and they each lunge 1.6~ seconds apart.

MWUHAHAHAHA!!!!

Ah, feel free to ignore me. Just being goofy.


*Casts prestidigitation, and uses the simple tricks to give the crocks other things (small, trivially replaced, cheap conjoured objects moving close to them) to lunge at.
[/QOUTE]
* Gets eaten by the crocadiles because the baubles don't smell like meat. Or at least his head gets eaten.
[QOUTE]
Then uses some acrobatics to swing over to the ledges, and uses a casting of Mage Hand to untie the ropes to get onto a ledge at a critical moment.

*Then uses a bardsong to Fascinate narf so Eorg can quietly slip around behind him and hit him on the back of the head with a hammer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Fyron]

Jack Simth said:
If you assume that the fighter doesn't have a decent mundane equipment set, that's true. However, a lower-level fighter decked out in full plate with a tower shield (fighters start proficient with all of that, and so take no attack penalties for it) and a dex of 12 gets 10 (base) + 8 (plate) + 4 (shield) + 1 (dex) = 23 AC; A lower-level rouge with 18 Dex (highest initial) gets a +4 dex bonus; with the heaviest armor that allows that +4 (chain shirt), the rouge is running at 10 (base) +4 (armor) +4 (dex) = 18 AC.

Erm... those are some absurdly wealthy 1st level characters! 8-O

Note that never once did I say that a rogue could be a direct comparison to a fighter in combat... that would defeat the purpose of the Fighter class.

[Jack Simth]

Narf: Actually, the prestidigitation description says that it can be used to flavor things - as scent is 90% of flavor, they DO smell like meat.


Imperator Fyron said:
Erm... those are some absurdly wealthy 1st level characters! 8-O


While granted platemail is a little much to expect, differing armor sets still can easily leave the fighter with a higher AC - suppose they both have 100 gp in their armor budget:
Fighter: Scale Mail (50), Tower Shield (30) (total 80)
Rouge: Chain Shirt (100)
Give the rouge 18 Dex, the rouge has 10 (base) + 4 (dex) + 4 (armor) = 18.
Give the fighter 14 dex (or more, but the armor limits the dex bonus to that), and then the fighter has 10 (base) + 2 (dex) + 4 (tower shield) + 4 (armor) = 20.

Fighter still has the advantage in AC, it's just been reduced from an advantage of 5 to an advantage of 2. However, you did say they could "easily" have as high of an AC, which isn't really the case, at least starting out. Sufficently later on, the rouge's AC can continue to climb for as long as the rouge can find some way to increase dexterity, while the fighter is left with trying to find, make, or enchant better armor. Which has the more difficult task ultimately depends on the campaign.

Imperator Fyron said:
Note that never once did I say that a rogue could be a direct comparison to a fighter in combat... that would defeat the purpose of the Fighter class.


Not directly, no. However, you did say "rogues can have as high of an AC as a fighter decked in plate mail can, easily" which was making a direct comparison to a fighter in combat. Sure, you didn't say you could do that, you just did (at least once) in a context where it was fairly easy to come to the conclusion that you meant to say rouges were better than fighters in combat.

Likewise, note that I never once said the rouge was a pansy in combat - just (and I'm quoting here) "In combat, a rouge's options are more limitied than those of a spellcaster (no spells to choose from), and they are less effective than a fighter of equivalent level", yet you jumped on me as though I had said the rouge was worthless in combat.

[Fyron]

I don't see any point in continuing any sort of argument with you Jack, as you will never let anything die...

[Jack Simth]

Imperator Fyron said:
I don't see any point in continuing any sort of argument with you Jack, as you will never let anything die...

That, coming from the guy who never admits to any specific instance of being wrong?

[Fyron]

Whatever. So back to your regularly scheduled D&amp;D planning...

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Jack Simth said:
Narf: Actually, the prestidigitation description says that it can be used to flavor things - as scent is 90% of flavor, they DO smell like meat.



However, from a re-reading of it, it can only do one thing at a time. However, you could confuse them with a meat smell from thin air.

Either way, it's a successfull trap. After all, you had to think and consider your options. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

In response to Jack-of-all-trades (you are a bard after all) post so far below: I am playing as a Wizard, since Sorcerer was only my first idea before race's choice (Tieflings aren't exactly the best Sorcerers around). I may switch to Wizard/Rogue later on, or perhaps not; that will mostly depend on the need for some extra muscle or not I guess.

Narf, my Tiefling should be more or less a normal character, with no hidden genes to speak of (assuming that part of your post was directed towards me that is). They can have some odd characteristics (many related to appearance, a few to game mechanisms) at character creation, but this would require the use of a table outside your sources, and isn't that primordial, so.

*Goes back to trying to install that OpenRPG, and its Pythium minion* Am I the only one for who it won't run, and won't show up an error message? Pythium is installed, with the 2.32 Version and the 2.4 update, as explained in the download page.

[Fyron]

Did you install both Python and wxPython?

Maybe the fact that you are installing Dominions empires is the problem? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Alneyan]

The regular Pythium and the themed ZPythium (Serpent Cult) have been installed. Launching the Start Client (with or without the console) shortcuts do nothing at all; launching the Server application works though.

Perhaps I should indeed create my character with the Pythium built in Dominions. I hope you won't mind if I send you a Pretender file Narf? (My Titan might be a tad bit overpowered, but...) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Fyron]

Try navigating to the OpenRPG folder and running "start.pyw" or "start.py" manually, bypassing the shortcuts.

[Jack Simth]

Oh, Narf, what types of opponents will we be facing (or would that be a spoiler?)? Mindless undead? Animals? Intelligent types? Plants and molds? A mix?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Column A and column I, for the first dungeon.

Alneyan, you must be working from an older book. MM 1, 3.5 has tieflings listed with the following:

Darkness, once per day. +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Hide. +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha. Darkvision 60 feet. No racial feats. Special qualities: Resistance cold, electricity and fire 5. Automatic Languages: Common, Infernal. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Orc. Favored class: Rogue. Level adjustment: +1

You could have your character be a tiefling for role-playing purposes and start as a tiefling at level 1, or if you want those advantages, wait a level and then spend it.

Or simply have your character start a tiefling and just spend your second level to gain those advantages. *Shrug*

[Alneyan]

Sorry Narf; I wasn't speaking of the racial adjustements, but of the "special" characteristics at character creation (I believe it is something like "throw a d100 several times, and pick what it corresponds to", or the like. Such characteristics are "have a tail" and the like, but they do not really matter). These come from Planescape proper if memory serves. As for the racial changes, I will simply wait for level 2, and see then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Running the files directly did not work either Fyron. I think I will uninstall the whole thing, and give it another try; knowing me, I have quite likely bypassed a step in the install process.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ah. Nope, don't have that. Feel free to have a tail if you want. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Not prehensile, though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Jack Simth]

Narf: we could use connection details - the server name, room, and the like for use with OpenRPG.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Sever name and room? Right. Brain, work.

How about names that fit the thread? Looney and D&amp;D. Password cheese.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Fyron, how do you make a room on a server?

[Jack Simth]

Narf: It seems to be something you do from the client side; there is a section on it in the browse servers segment.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I tried using that, but the create button never lit up.

[Fyron]

You have to be connected to an active server in order to be able to create a room.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I made a server. Then I tried to connect to it. It wouldn't connent.

Idea! (We need a lightbulb graemlin, DEG, please. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ) Make two openRPG's?

[Jack Simth]

Narf: I've got a server up and running; can you connect to it?

Otherwise:

Did you register the server?

Can you connect to:
127.0.0.1:6774
?

[Fyron]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
I made a server. Then I tried to connect to it. It wouldn't connent.

Idea! (We need a lightbulb graemlin, DEG, please. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ) Make two openRPG's?

No. The server program is a separate program. There should be 4 links in the OpenRPG start menu folder.

You need to enable the ports that the server uses in your firewall before incoming connections will be allowed.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Jack Simth said:
Narf: I've got a server up and running; can you connect to it.

Otherwise:

Did you register the server

Can you connect to:
127.0.0.1:6774
?


I can register my server and stopped off in yours for a second out of curiosity.

[Jack Simth]

Well, if you can successfully log into a server I put up, then there isn't really an issue, is there? I can host the server, and set you to GM. I've got the server named to loony now, would you mind stopping by the D&amp;D room (cheese) and seeing if we can actually talk to each other via it?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I'm on.

[Jack Simth]

Well, I now have confirmation that my server works, and that others can get to it. Either that, or I'm hallucinating. One of the two.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Of course you're hallucinating. I would never make a character named Lae'nial. In fact, this forum is a hallucination. We, your doctors, have been trying to prepare you for the horrifying, terrifying truth. And, now that you are questioning 'reality', we think your ready to know.

'Jack Simth', you ARE Bill Gates. You alone caused the crash of the world economy and a reVersion to a horse and donkey economy.

* Some of my best, that was. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Jack Simth]

Should we load up on travel rations, water, and light sources, or are we not going to worry about that level of detail?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

A couple of lanterns each would be a good idea, but there's no reason you can't eat the local wildlife. Some backup water would be good.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Just rethought something. On the first level, there's no easily available food. So, three days rations would probably be a good idea. And a fishing rod. If it's not listed, assume it's 1sp for a good one.

[Alneyan]

I have finally managed to get OpenRPG to work. Horray! Now I merely need to fill in the form, and hopefully all will go fine, and you won't find me playing a beefed up Tarrasque.

Oh, and would you be fine with a Psion instead of my Wizard? I did not notice Eorg picked a Wizard (for some reason, I thought he went for a plain fighter), and I would certainly like a change.

And can I just start out as a Tiefling, at the cost of not having a level 2? That will probably be easier on my poor brain than making a change "on the way". I believe you said it was possible, but I would rather make sure it is so. (Incidentally, I managed to roll an impressive 4 in Charisma, after the -2 racial adjustement. Wouldn't that be slightly odd, and prone to result in a civil war within the party?)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Are your stats bad enough you can re-roll? Ie, nothing higher than 13 or sum of modifiers less than 0?

If not, well, we can always assume your only almost unbearably blunt or something.

Mini's. There's been no disscussion of mini's. Which may be a good thing, as I have no idea where I'd find a Krenshar mini. *Snerk*

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Oh, right, psion would be fine. It's in the SRD.

[Alneyan]

All my other stats are at least good, ie with stats modifiers at +1 (Wisdom) and above (+2 for Constitution and Strength, +3 for Dexterity and +4 for Intelligence). That's after the racial adjustements.

I guess my little character will simply be not the most kind person in the planes, and slightly bitter, fond of sarcasm and the like. Being a Telepath, I guess she may also be more likely to just use will rather than charms in order to have her way. The annoying question will be, "why does the rest of the team bear that *insert expletive here* Tiefling?".

On the matter of psionics: am I dumb, or is the list of psionic powers in OpenRPG very different from the SRD? I cannot seem to be able to choose a discipline either. For the moment being, I have put my powers in the Magic part of the inventory (it isn't as if I had any magic item to fill in that part of the sheet for now), but it isn't exactly intended to be so.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Quite possible, I don't know when openrpg was Last updated.

Oh, and it's 11:00 here. Be there or...uh...be somewhere else.

[Alneyan]

Silly question, where would the said server be? (The closest information I have seen on this thread was about Jack's test server)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The server is named looney, password cheese.

[Alneyan]

My bad, I thought I needed the actual IP of the server (OpenRPG took care of that without a glitch).

[Fyron]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
A couple of lanterns each would be a good idea, but there's no reason you can't eat the local wildlife. Some backup water would be good.

Only if you have good wilderness lore skills and get lucky... silly munchkin power gamer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Oh, come on. Anybody can eat a fish.

[Fyron]

Yeah, but the method for catching fish requires actual experience and knowledge. Picking plants that are safe to eat does as well. And anyone _can_ catch a fish. The skill is useable untrained. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Jack Simth]

Well, the game is ended for today. Eorg, what happened?

[Alneyan]

I hereby swear I was not responsible in any way for his absence. As such, I will *not* accept to be held accountable, due to such things as "my having a Charisma of 4" or "scaring away juvenile elves because of my bitter nature".

This friendly message was brought to you by the Tiefling Stisnera "why be nice and all when being sarcastic is so much more fun?".

And slightly more on topic: I gather it is not possible to change one of my powers Narf now that the game has started? (I would like to add a direct offensive power, in case where things go badly, or something goes awry)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yeah, but the method for catching fish requires actual experience and knowledge.

Which directly contradicts

And anyone _can_ catch a fish. The skill is useable untrained.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Fyron]

There is no contradiction. Just because someone is capable of catching a fish doesn't mean that s/he could do it in a timely, efficient manner. It might take said person 12 hours to manage to catch a fish if they have no knowledge of effective ways of doing so, whereas an expert fisherman could catch a fish in an hour, or even a few minutes if they know how to find places that are likely to have lots of fish to catch. Hence, having a high level of the skill makes it far more likely that you could gather food in a timely manner, whereas having no skill leaves a wide margin of failure to do so in a timely manner...

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ah.

Anyway, Alneyan and Jack, can I have some comments, please?

[Jack Simth]

Seemed pretty good; although it is my first session as a player, so I don't really have much to compare it to.

[Alneyan]

Do you want to ask my Tiefling about her opinions Narf? I am pretty sure she could come up with an amazing litany of complaints, if you asked her kindly.

As for myself, I am in the same boat as Jack. It was my first session, so I cannot compare it to anything else. And obviously, I am prone to end up with an arrow in my back, and a rapier near my throat, so that session might not Last for very long for my first character.

[Jack Simth]

Your character isn't too terribly likely to "wake up dead", as my character is good aligned, and narf's filler character follows the lead of the rest. Don't know about Eorg's character, though.

[Jack Simth]

As for tweaking your character, I do recall narf saying something along the lines of "Feel free to have your character wander off in between adventures and introduce a new character as long as you post first, with no loss of level" in his starter post to this thread.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yeah, one of the purposes of this is to test different approaches and stuff. Hence the mutability and exchangability of the characters. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

My character is sorta YSG. 'Yeah, Sure' Good. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Jack Simth]

narf: one thing I might suggest which may improve gameplay:

Sometime before the session, type up your descriptions of the rooms; that way, rather than sitting there typing away, you can do a fairly quick copy/paste action. Ditto for monsters, items, puzzles, and prepared search checks. This also allows you to take your time when making the descriptions that you care about.

So your character is True Neutral then (Neutral via apathy, in this case).

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Thanks.

No, not apathetic, just a follower rather than a leader. Bad ideas will definitly get a pass.

The lever puzzle: Good or bad?

[Fyron]

Jack Simth said:
Sometime before the session, type up your descriptions of the rooms; that way, rather than sitting there typing away, you can do a fairly quick copy/paste action. Ditto for monsters, items, puzzles, and prepared search checks. This also allows you to take your time when making the descriptions that you care about.

You can even add a bunch of text nodes within the OpenRPG tree and send them directly to the chat. You can set up a lot of stuff beforehand using the node system.

[Jack Simth]

It made for a good door.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Or in other words, no more repititous, boring 'puzzles'? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Jack Simth]

The biggest annoyance with that one was the combination of the needed Listen check and the run-through; random chances are great, puzzles are great, but puzzles with a random chance tend to get a bit tedious. Had the levers been a matter of *grind* when one was moved into the wrong position (or passed the right position), and *klunk* when one was moved into the right position, but always hearing something, you wouldn't have needed to drop any hints (other than the three-position one - and that could be dealt with by having the levers set at random positions on entry to the room (one in the middle, one at the top, one at the bottom, another in whichever) as the right position is determined by the unique sound.

Alternatively, you could have included a small diagram of the correct positions quietly etched on the wall on the other side of the stuck door that Alneyan's character could have discovered on the walkabout - it's the the type of thing people who use combination locks sometimes have lying around. Further, him noticing it out of the corner of his eye would have given him a reason to come back and meet up with the party, and given an RP opertunity for him to act all snotty about having solved the puzzle while the rest of us were out playing with the levers.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Noted. Thanks.

[douglas]

Alneyan said:
On the matter of psionics: am I dumb, or is the list of psionic powers in OpenRPG very different from the SRD? I cannot seem to be able to choose a discipline either. For the moment being, I have put my powers in the Magic part of the inventory (it isn't as if I had any magic item to fill in that part of the sheet for now), but it isn't exactly intended to be so.



OpenRPG has not been updated from 3.0 to 3.5, and psionics was changed quite a bit in that transition. For my psion in the other game, I had to edit the xml files (C:\Program Files\OpenRPG\data\dnd3e\dnd3epowers.xml on my machine) to manually add my chosen powers to the list. You will also have to manually subtract power points whenever you augment a power.

[eorg]

sorry folks i never played d&amp;d (at all) and i can't figure out what should i do - i have openrpg 1.6.1 running but i can't find where to create a character - or should i create some kind of virtual character? also - i can't find 'looney' server

i will appreciate if someone can come to #spaceempires @ freenode and teach me :-)

[Alneyan]

Hey, someone with even more trouble than I with OpenRPG! (Even with my 18 Intelligence, it was quite a long time because I get the thing to work. What? Is it only my character that has 18 Intelligence? A shame)

So, you should download the SDR, as linked below by Narf (http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=srd35), and use it to answer your questions regarding the rules. It doesn't lack too much, and should be enough if you don't know much about D&amp;D rules.

As for OpenRPG itself: Fyron wrote a nice help about how to create a character, quoted below.



1. In the Game Tree section at the top left corner, expand OpenRPG 1.6.1 (click on the little plus next to it).
2. Expand Templates.
3. Expand Tools.
4. Look for 3rd Edition Character Tool. Double click on it, or right click and select Use. It will add a new item at the top of Game Tree entiled 3rd Edition Character Tool.
5. Right click on this new item and select Design, Or double click on it.
6. Now you can fill out the sheet.



Once you are done, you should see a long form with several tabs. Take a deep breath, and start filling; when you need to throw the dice, you can use OpenRPG itself to do so (in the bottom right corner).

Assuming you have managed to get a character up and running, you should indeed browse servers, and you will see the Looney server when it is up (Jack has taken it down after the session). The room D&amp;D would appear on the right, and it would ask you for the password "cheese". You will then appear as a nameless player, and you should change your nick, as with IRC.

Besides this, you should note you can make a roll for anything by expanding your character sheet, and selecting the item(s) you wish to roll. So, if you want to make an attack roll, you will want to open Combat, Weapons and right-click on your weapon of choice. Likewise, a Wisdom check to make clear all of my rambling above would be done by going to Stats &amp; Abilities, right click on Wisdom.

Narf, do you really need my powers directly in the .xml, or would it be fine with you if I kept them in another node? I believe it would be clearer with the whole augmentation process if they were in their own section, like equipment. And since it has been agreed upon, I will take Mind Thrust as an added bonus; 4-40 damage if I expand my whole mind power at once. An added safety against the standard accidents of adventuring (angry, and hungry, orcs, partners lacking an IFF system, and so needing a lesson, and the like).

Jack, would you have loved to have a pestering Psion gloating at you, while saying she has the solution, but doesn't quite want to share it yet? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[eorg]

ah this sounds pretty hard for me to understand :-) after i read all these i'll come again http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Jack Simth]

Hey all - Chances are I won't be able to attend the gaming session this coming Saturday - there is some work I need to help out with at Church. I should still be able to run the server, however, starting sometime between 7-8 am PST.

[douglas]

Alneyan said:And since it has been agreed upon, I will take Mind Thrust as an added bonus; 4-40 damage if I expand my whole mind power at once. An added safety against the standard accidents of adventuring (angry, and hungry, orcs, partners lacking an IFF system, and so needing a lesson, and the like).


Um, you're still 1st level, right? That means you can't spend more than 1 power point on any single manifestation of a power until you level up.

[Alneyan]

Run Douglas, lest you fall prey to the wrath of my Appalling Psion for having shattered her dreams! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

My Charisma 4, and Bad Attitude +1 aside, thanks for reminding me about this little detail, which I had fully forgotten (selective memory and all). I guess I will have to settle for a succession of weaker Mind Thrusts then.

On the matter of disponibilities: as usual, my computer is prone to be against playing D&amp;D, and have a wide array of weapons at its disposal to ensure I won't come anywhere near the D&amp;D game. As such, I might not manage to get to a session, without being able to give a preliminary warning. If it does happen, you should assume I am MIA until proof of the contrary can be produced, while my character is roaming about, and preaching her positive outlook about life on another party of adventurers. It is not too likely that I will have to miss a session because of such problems, but we all know what "not too likely" actually means.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Mind Thrust? Ok.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, next session looks like Alneyan and Eorg.

The question I want to ask is, if Alneyan can't show up, do we go ahead anyway?

[Alneyan]

What, you mean you would leave the marvellous Tiefling behind? I sure hope you have taken the "Run" feat Narf once she hears about that, as she might not like the sound of it.

Feel free to go ahead if you like, and/or to provide an explanation saying "Stisnira is currently undergoing a meditation. In other words, she has been locked away in something looking remotely like a cell", or any other thing along those lines.

Obviously, there is really no reason to prevent me from getting to the session, but that only means something is more likely to go awry than otherwise.

[Jack Simth]

Is it just Attack rolls and Saving rolls (and a few specific skills and such that specifically specify) that have the "roll of 1 always fails, roll of 20 always succeeds" thing, or am I missing a few?

Oh, and Alneyan: As you went with a Psion, as I recall, the simplest explanation is that you are off "meditating to retrieve your mental energy" which is something that psions have to do occasionally.

[eorg]

folks sorry i still can't figure out what should i do http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif i even didn't know whom we are fighting against - also narf why you don't play?
narf can you guide me when i see you at #spaceempires? please?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I am playing, a rogue. I'll see what I can do, but I don't know when I'll be on.

[Jack Simth]

Server is up and running. I'll be leaving in a few minutes, but will be leaving the server running unattended. Have fun all y'all.

[Alneyan]

In case any of you wonders, I am currently on the server in order to lay traps, and to keep in mind I have to be there this evening. But I am more or less away from OpenRPG, so do not expect any answer coming from me, except the occasional glowering glance.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Jack Simth said:
Is it just Attack rolls and Saving rolls (and a few specific skills and such that specifically specify) that have the "roll of 1 always fails, roll of 20 always succeeds" thing, or am I missing a few?



Guess I wasn't awake the Last few times I read that. Yes, as far as I know.

Eorg: I'm on IRC right now.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

But not now. Will be in a bit.

[Alneyan]

As usual, I will be creating a problem. I will be making the switch off Daylight Savings Time this night, and it will simply make it impossible for me to get to the game at the specified starting hour (I will get between 45 minutes and one hour later).

So, do you all leave Daylight Savings Time this week as well, or will there be other matters? (Such as not having DST to begin with) Would postponing the game by one hour work for everyone else, or would there be similar problems with your respective schedules?

If there is indeed no easy way to solve this problem, please do tell me whoever has invented DST, and I will bring my complaints to this person. With a bludgeon, preferably, and my Bad Attitude +1.

[Jack Simth]

Well, I'm back, and turned the server off. How did it go?

Also, we weren't able to finish the project over at Church, so I will likely be unable to make next week's session.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I've no problem with an hour later. We do have DST here too, but I don't know when it happens.

It went well, logs should be up monday on my website.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Links are up, sorta. I uploaded them to my webpage. Now I just gotta convince myself to add links in the webpage...Ugh. Feeling a little bad. Allergies; forgot to vacuum my room for a week and forgot to turn the air filter on since the Last time I vaccuumed and I have a stone floor...(Whine, whine, mope, complain...)

Still completely unedited, but now on my webpage:

Here. (http://www3.telus.net/funnybnz/main.html)

A few notes: While the first 'adventure' is nothing more than a hack'n'slash dungeon crawl, there is one potential future ally in there (Kobold) who I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill. I have a pretty good idea for what the next, actual adventure will be and, while it will involve a bandit camp, it will be best if the characters do not kill everyone they come accross, as that will annoy the librarians. For the rest of it, feel free to kill anything in the current dungeon that isn't a Kobold.

And, please feel free to always give comments after the session. Talking doors? Boring? Interesting? Could use some work?

By the next adventure, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me something about your character, even if just a short paragraph. I'll be preparing one for Dieger.

[Alneyan]

I have read somewhere you switched to DST Last Sunday Narf, so it wouldn't change anything here (well, both of us would still keep playing at the same hour). Let's hope the same goes true for Jack and Eorg, and all should be fine.

I have nothing against not killing the Kobold. I hope it has top-notch patience checks, as Stis does not quite make the difference between "ally" and "future enemy", and is simply a bit aggressive with anybody found to be too close. Including dirt, if nothing else is available for her to glower at.

By the way, her short description is "My story? *Glowers at poor chap asking too many questions, and raises her crossbow threateningly*". Would that do Narf? Well, I will do something slightly more fleshed out. Do we have a common history on how we got to accept that job, or was it something like "we all went to the wizard by chance, and all decided to work together"?

As for comments, I liked the doors myself. They are a nice addition, and one with many applications too. *Grumbles about a certain Dieger and muttering thieves* I liked the general feel of the session, and will let my colleagues speak about their own impressions. Ah, there was no other player besides the two of us, and I cannot rely on them for commenting.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

A better DM could probably help weave together inter-twinning character histories. Me, I say just go with "we all went to the wizard by chance, and all decided to work together". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Thanks for the comments. Yes, DST took us all by suprise sunday. *Grumble* Didn't even get a chance to sleep in.

[Alneyan]

And here are a few more silly questions. I should be done after that. I promise.

- Are we currently in the world of Faerun (Baldur's Gate and the like), or are we somewhere else? While it does not change much, it would help Stis to get her piques right, among other things.

- May I assume there are planes in our world, although they aren't quite the focus of the campaign? Once again, the point is more to explain what a Tiefling would do with the party than anything else. (A half-plausible explanation would be "she stepped in the wrong portal and got to that remote world", but that requires the planes to exist in this game) No specific detail about the planar system used here would be required; well, unless you did want to go the Planescape way, but that would be another story.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

* Somewhere else. Exact details will have to wait until I make them.

* Yes, different planes. Exact details blah blah blah.

[Jack Simth]

Narf: the format to make someone show up as DM is<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>/role #=GM</pre><hr /> where # is their player number.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Thanks.

[Jack Simth]

You're welcome Narf, although you may want to play with the spacing - there may not be any spaces between the "#", "=", and "GM".

Also, there is something, as GM, you ought to know how to do - Fudge rolls.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>&amp;#91;1d20+0&amp;#93; -&gt; &amp;#91;20,0&amp;#93; = (20) </pre><hr />results in <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>[1d20+0] -&gt; [20,0] = (20)</pre><hr />
This can be surrounded with any text you like; a listen roll would be <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Listen Skill Check: &amp;#91;1d20+0&amp;#93; -&gt; &amp;#91;20,0&amp;#93; = (20)</pre><hr /><font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Listen Skill Check: [1d20+0] -&gt; [20,0] = (20)</pre><hr />Likewise, the numbers can be changed to anything.

Also, the program supports opening multiple instances (or seemed to when I briefly tested it, anyway). You could log in on three different instances of the client, connect and select the room (for all three, separeately), and use the /nick command (or whatever it is) to name one GM, one for your character, and one for the monsters.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I've had two instances opened before and it seemed to work.

[Jack Simth]

Server up and running.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It's time already? At ten? ACK!!!!

Nobody's there...Am I panicking for nothing, or did everybody leave?

[Alneyan]

Didn't we agree to put the session one hour later? (A few Posts below I think) I will be joining in momentarily. I cannot join earlier than 1900 GMT (DST off) however.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Guess not. Never mind.

[Jack Simth]

Still more work to do over at the church for next week. At least I can run the server.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ack! Two dwarves in half-plate means we can't take them with two characters.

[Alneyan]

Could we take them down one after the other? I am thinking of using the talking door for this purpose, and an ambush of sorts. That requires the dwarves to be rather dumb however, or simply the door to obey our orders, and our orders alone, and/or to hesitate between obeying to our "Leave that door closed!" and their "Open that door!".

Alternatively, there is always the option of slowing both of them (praying it will work), and picking them off from a healthy distance. It implies there is enough room for such manoeuvers however; how big is a square on the map?

[Jack Simth]

Well, if S'tis is reckless with burning PP's on Mind Thrust, and the PC's can arrange a hallway situation, drawing them into a room, and the GM chooses to track distances and locations, he can likely get two shots in while they are in range and before they catch up with him (Dwarves have a move of 20, range on Mind Thrust is 35, I think - means 2 shots before they catch up) one or both of which will go unresisted (he's got what, a save DC of 15?, with dwarves having a -1 will save but a racial +2 against spell and spell-like effects, for a net +1 to their saving roll - gives them roughly a 30% save chance; 70% chance of dealing full damage per attack). 1d10 damage on critters who avereage 6 HP (I'm hoping it's the weaker Version of dwarf), any hit that gets through has ~50% chance of being disabling. If they are caught flat-footed, and/or S'tis fires while retreating (mind power, no need to aim, but may need to make a few concentration rolls), he should be able to get another shot or two in. Call it three shots, two of which deal damage; S'tis has a decent chance of disabling one dwarf all by himself, before they can land a blow. Dreugar has a longer range, but needs to deal with an AC of 15-16 due to armor, and is only dealing something like 1d6 damage to begin with, and so needs 2-3 hits (although the first counts double if it hits, due to sneak attack bonus). If Dreugar remembered to pack a melee weapon (drop bow, draw sword, swing when the (hopefully only one) dwarf left gets into range), S'tis can stand behind and get his fourth and final shot in with the Mind Thrust, before harrying the dwarf with a dagger, or flanking the dwarf (requires room at PC end of hallway). If rolls are average, and the PC's can arrange such a situation, S'tis and Dreugar have an OK chance of pulling it off... but it would be close.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The squares are 5 feet, they average somewhat higher than 6 HP and I didn't think to get Dieger a ranged weapon.

On the other hand, should the players decide he can 'remember' he bought one...

I would, of course, allow each player to 'remember' they bought one needed item of approximatly equal value, to avoid favoritism.

Conversely, we can simply wait until the week after. Votes?

[Jack Simth]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
The squares are 5 feet, they average somewhat higher than 6 HP and I didn't think to get Dieger a ranged weapon.

On the other hand, should the players decide he can 'remember' he bought one...



We've got declared malliablility between sessions from earlier - S'tis didn't have a directly offensive power to start, but swapped one in. The precident is already in place. Perhaps I'll want to tweak Jake's spell/skill list later on. There wouldn't be any favoritism about it at this point.

[Alneyan]

My other nice power is Deceleration (Reflex+Power Resistance, but I am told Dwarves have poor Reflex saves), which will slow the dwarf done by 50% for one full minute. Its range is 30 feet, but casting it sneakily would probably work (as in, Dieger opens the door enough to give me a line of sight, and we run like the wind).

The Last power is Déjà Vu, which would disable a Dwarf for one turn, assuming he has done something silly (such as spending his turn asking "Who goes there?" and checking his weapons). But Deceleration will probably work better, followed by some Mind Thrusting.

Oh, and feel free to bring a ranged weapon of some sort. You did not use it before because you wanted to show off your rapier skills, or simply needed to hold your ground while we dealt the bombardment from afar.

[Jack Simth]

So... you slow the first, then run into our trap (you would end up playing bait, doing this strategy - hope THEY don't have bows or anything...). Once you get behind Dreugar, you turn around and start Mind Thrusting the faster of the two dwarves as soon as he gets in range. You zap him twice before he closes (once at 35 feet, once at 15 (or -5, if he doubles movement to close faster - but then he can't attack immediately upon arrival, except perhaps with a chrage maneuver)), while D shoots at the dwarf with arrows, probably (between the two of you) getting him below 1 health. Then the other can be walked down with a bow, shot at while the party retreats, depending on the dwarf's personal bravery.

[Jack Simth]

Narf: two minor problems on your web site:
Broken link on Good Enough Webcomics (404 error: file not found)
Multiplayer FPS link spawns a new window (might be intentional)
... or at least, that's what I get when I use Mozilla Firefox. I haven't checked using other browsers.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

1st: I don't have anything to link to there yet. I really must sort all my webcomic links. All 400+ of them. Remove dead links, put ones that havn't updated in a while in a seperate folder...A lot of dead links or ones that I'm not really interested in anymore. I actually only look through no more than 20 now.
2nd: Some links I click on do that, I have no idea why it happens. Here's the link html if you want to try to figure it out: &lt;center&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a HREF="MyMultiplayerFPS.html" TARGET="main"&gt;A multi-player FPS I'm working on.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;

[Jack Simth]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
2nd: Some links I click on do that, I have no idea why it happens. Here's the link html if you want to try to figure it out: &lt;center&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a HREF="MyMultiplayerFPS.html" TARGET="main"&gt;A multi-player FPS I'm working on.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;

You are using the wrong target; your lower frame is named "bottom"; you don't have a frame named "main", so when you target it, it creates a new window named "main" to put it in. All subsequent calls that target "main" will go to that window. You need to use &lt;center&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a HREF="MyMultiplayerFPS.html" TARGET="bottom"&gt;A multi-player FPS I'm working on.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yeah, except I want it to occupy the whole window.

[Jack Simth]

In that case, what you are looking for is <font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>target="_top"</pre><hr />

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, thanks.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I forgot to get my allergy shot; should have gotten it four days ago. So if I'm not entirely coherent tommorrow, you'll know why.

[Jack Simth]

Today's server is up and running.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The lights are on, but nobody's come.

[Alneyan]

Same here. Do not ask, really. I am on the Loony server, room D&amp;D (password cheese), and connected three minutes before the scheduled session start. I then saw you Narf quit (or be disconnected) three minutes later.

If you happen to have the slighest clue as to why we do not see each other, feel free to tell me so. I am quite puzzled at the moment.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Must have had something to do with me loading more than one openrpg (For DM, Monsters, Dieger and one for the lobby...hmmm...)

[Jack Simth]

Today's server is now off.
Still not done with construction.

Hmm, did the server make a logfile?

[Jack Simth]

Not that I can find. Oh well. Did you two arrange for a meeting at another server?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Nope. I can never manage to GM myself on the default room so I make a new one. I do have a log of it. Putting it up now.

Up.

[Jack Simth]

Congrats on the dwarves, btw. Of course, you will need to remember to camp for a while, as S'tis needs a minimum of 8 hours peace to recharge....

[narf poit chez BOOM]

They probably would have done more damage(And possibly killed someone) if I wasn't so fuzzy-headed today.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

So...Eorg, are we finally going to see you?

Does everyone want to continue?

[eorg]

hey narf i am in d&amp;d room with you 3 but nothing happens?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Um...No typing?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Please post your latest character so I can get things organized for the next session.

[Alneyan]

What details do you need? An outline, or the full character sheet, as found in OpenRPG?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The openRPG character sheet, please.

[Alneyan]

Would it be better if we were to meet on OpenRPG, and to transfer the actual node there? Or am I missing something? (One way or another, I should give you my character sheet tomorrow. If not, feel free to use deadly force to get it)

[Fyron]

You can save the node as a file (not export, save as file), then email it to him.

[Alneyan]

I see. Thanks Fyron. I wasn't aware that there was this feature in OpenRPG; not that I know any of its features, besides rolling a die and glowering at people.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

shorthand large &gt;insert Pinky's rodent type&lt; &gt;location&lt; telus.net

Let's see an email-bot try to read that! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Alneyan]

It is so clever I cannot figure it out myself. Hmm... I cannot get the part about "shorthandlarge"; shorthand could mean an abbreviation of some sort, or perhaps not. Therefore:

Int check: [1d20+4] -&gt; [1,4] = (5) Ah, I see why I failed to figure it out.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

'Shorthand' means eliminate all unnessasary vowels. In the case of large, all of them.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

200!

[Alneyan]

I see. That definition didn't specify what sort of abrievating system it was (and removing vowels wouldn't have crossed my mind). Expect the node to be transmitted to you today; if nothing reaches you, proceed with the "lethal approach" method.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It got here. I'll try to be more specific in my specifications.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Sorry, going to have to cancel this saturday's session. Most likely, not going to be home.

[Alneyan]

Very well. I will be practicing my glowering skill in the meantime then.

[eorg]

ah ah http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Well, what I thought would come up didn't come up, so I'm here, not there.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, total loot haul (Minus donkey's and hirelings, est. let's call it 45gp., just to pull a number out of a hat):

If I see something marked down as someone having it, I'm going to assume it's saved in your node.

Est. 1 lb of steel at 2sp, given prices, a broken shortsword, longsword and shield, 21lb, 4gp, 1sp.

1 rock with continual flame on it.

two of 290 gp, Half-Plate +7AC, +0 Max Dex, -7 Armor Check, Battleaxe, 1d8 damage, total worth 1,800gp

56gp

Alneyan, your character equipment has a 'scroll of wonder'. There was a scroll taken, but that's not what it is. Don't think your character knows what it is, other than a divine spell scroll. FYI

5 torches, 25cp

Total in general pile: 1860gp, 3sp, 5cp. Anything you want to keep, 'buy' out of the pile. Since equipment is sold at half-price, selling it will get 930gp.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Uh, something just came up. I'll have to end the session at 12:15. Sorry.

[Alneyan]

I sure hate time zones. When, in the session, would be 12:15? One hour and a half after it has started?

I gave the name "Scroll of Wonders" in my usual silly fashion, but I now seem to recall it is also the name of a spell. Oops. Stis does not know what this scroll is. I think we have a draconic book along the same lines, whose contents are unknown.

The only thing I would be interested in (besides what is written in my node) is the Half-Plate, but I will not be able to use it until a long, long while, so. Feel free to sell my part of the loot then.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

yep. One hour, fifteen minutes.

Ok, 1860.35-45 for transport 1815.35/2 907gp, 6sp, and round up to 8cp. Aren't I nice? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Feel free to add it to your char sheet and pre-buy things. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Or roleplay buying it in the session. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Jack Simth]

Server is up and running.

[Alneyan]

May I use a horse in this session? It would have been difficult in a dungeon, but I belive you said something about being outdoors this time.

Other than that, is it possible to buy potions outside a session? I couldn't find anything about it in the SRD, and a quick glance in the PHB didn't bring up anything either.

[Jack Simth]

The SRD does say something about it:



Market Price: This gold piece value, given following the word “Price,” represents the price someone should expect to pay to buy the item. The market price for an item that can be constructed with an item creation feat is usually equal to the base price plus the price for any components (material or XP).



...which, if I'm reading the context correctly, covers all forms of magic items, including potions.

Also, good news! Construction was cancelled today due to wheather, so I should be there today.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

You can buy anything you want outside of the session, so long as I specify the next session will start in a town.

As for the horse...I constructed this adventure with the party still underground. If nobody likes that, I could convert it to above ground (You'd still end up in a dungeon, though). I thought a largely underground campain that's not set in an 'underdark' would provide a nice change.

[Alneyan]

Hmm. I will try to figure out how much a given potion will cost then.

No worries about the horse, as Stisnera would only need it to avoid walking (walking? Do you imagine her walking on her feet? Bah!).

[Jack Simth]

Server is down.

[Jack Simth]

Well, as we ended in a town....
I'm buying another three days worth of rations (15 sp)

Hmm, can we hire spells cast between sessions, and, if so, is the town we are in sufficient for a 2nd level spell? If both, I'd really like to get a continual flame spell put on the hilt of my dagger; I could wear it openly in it's sheath for the light when traveling (hilt is not covered by a sheath) or conceal it under clothing for stealth operations. Let's see... 50 gp for materials, second level spell, requires a Class Level 3 Wizard; CL*20gp = 60 gp, + materials makes the spell cost 110 gp (already have the dagger). As we are underground, such a spellcaster should be reasonably common (necessary for anything that needs light - most creatures - for long term habitation)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yep, that would be included as shopping.

As for the town, as a major trading center it's more than sufficent for easy access to most-some spells up to 5th. Certain spells, especially at 4th or 5th level can't be bought easily, though.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

So, any comments?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

What do you think of turning the game into a quick weekly column on www.rpg.net (http://www.rpg.net)?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ignore this - Tired.

[Alneyan]

What exactly would be a weekly column? Either my 18 Intelligence is misleading, or I cannot fid where columns are on this site.

If you don't mind Narf, would it be possible to roleplay a quick visit to the closest herbalist/alchemist? I do not have the DM Handbook, and cannot look up for the specfics of alchemy. What Stis is looking for are health potions of some sort, and mind enhancers, if such things exist (a drug giving a temporary boost to psionic points, but with some aftereffects, or something of the like).

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Page 230 has Cure Light Wounds potions that are 50gp each.

There's Cognizance Crystals in the SRD; if you still have a minimum of 1000gp, you can get one that can store 1pp. Try looking through the psionic items, see what else you might like.

Oh yeah, columns...Kinda like this, only with a bit more plot (I hope) and in better taste (I really, really hope) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif. http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/hack30nov04.html

Must be tireder than I think. As for alchemy, the DM's guide doesn't have any specifics that I remember. Nor does the Table of Contents list any 'alchemy' or 'herb lore' sections that I saw. I think that's a supplement.

[douglas]

IIRC, psions can extract 1 power point from otherwise useless grey ioun stones. The stone is destroyed in the process, and as always you can't combine that power point with other sources, but at level 1 it can be a nice emergency backup option. 25 gp each.

[Alneyan]

*Coughs* Ah, I see that file. It hid from my view before. The 1 power point stone would probably be best given my kind of budget, but I will keep in mind the other options for "when I am rich". I know one Elven Bard who should set his ethics aside, and start working on a scheme to rob a whole city. Thanks for your answers.

I would have no objection to making a column, but you should probably not expect me to do much more than add a few comments here and there.

Happy birthday Douglas! How convenient these icons are; you no longer have to remember anyone's birthday. If only I had the same for historical events and the like.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

And happy birthday Douglas from me.

I was thinking I'd make it myself, actually. If any of my two whole players want to contribute something, that'd be great. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I was just checking to see if there would be any objections.

[Alneyan]

You should count Dieger in your list of players; he isn't exactly a player, but that will boost the figure to a whooping *three*, which has a much nicer ring to it than two.

[douglas]

Alneyan said:
Happy birthday Douglas! How convenient these icons are; you no longer have to remember anyone's birthday. If only I had the same for historical events and the like.

Ah, but I do. Er, one of them, at least. Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese exactly 42 (the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything) years before I was born. In case you don't feel like doing the math, I'm 21 today, and can finally drink alcoholic beverages legally in the U.S. Too bad I hate every alcoholic drink I've ever smelled (I haven't tasted any, the smell was bad enough IMO).

[Jack Simth]

Alneyan said:
I know one Elven Bard who should set his ethics aside, and start working on a scheme to rob a whole city. Thanks for your answers.



Not the whole city. Neutral-Good; if you can come up with a sufficently convincing set of circumstances where robbing a particularly rich household will meaningfully better the lives of most the city, without needing to distribute the funds (e.g., robbing an evil despotic warlord blind, eliminating his ability to pay his thugs, and thus robbing him of power) he would likely be for it. Robbing for the sake of getting money? No.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I take it no objections to the column idea, then?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ok, this is what will be submitted: Game Story1 (http://www3.telus.net/funnybnz/Game Story1.rtf)

If you have any additions, get them in. Thanks.

[Alneyan]

Douglas: Mao Tse Tung was born on the same day as I, and the USSR was officially dissolved on my birthday. Hmm, it looks like my future will involve making and destroying Empires. Wait, I am playing SE, so that seems to be natural enough.

Jack, the answer is rather obvious:
1) The two librarians represent the whole city, as they have told you.
2) They seem to be annoyed by this matter, for which we have been hired.
3) Therefore, solving this problem will improve the general state of the city.
4) We will need better equipment to remove these bandits, which is why we have been hired. Having more gold is required to kill them; it is therefore needed to get more gold to improve the living conditions of most in the city.
5) (Stisnera) My right hand currently dropping some sleeping herbs in your wine is not doing any such thing. Look at me in the eyes when you are talking to me; aren't they pretty? Don't you love that scaly skin, these scars, the emptiness of these black eyes, and their glowering look? *Grumbles* Charisma 4. *Grumbles*

I may get something written for this column, assuming my headache leaves off to see the family tonight; othrwise, you should expect even more rambling than usual.

[Jack Simth]

1) They represent the city in that they run the city; perhaps they have some method of knowing the desires of the people of the city. And tell me, do you really want to annoy someone, on their own turf, who negligently throws around enough magic to kill anyone that tries detect magic at close range?
2) Not quite; we have been hired to retrieve two items (loose definition of items): the carter and the book. We were not hired to eliminate the bandits (Jake is Neutral with respect to Law/Chaos - he can lawyer when it suits him).
3) Not by much; the bandits cannot pose a direct threat to the city due to the librarian's influence. At most they are a relatively mild threat, occasionally snatching away an individual as he wanders outside Librarian's terriritory.
4) Nah, just clever use of stealth (and running, as a a backup for stealth, and cover, in case they have arrows). The mission is not to remove the bandits, after all. Just retrieve two items. We need to find security holes, not mass slaughter mechanisims.
5) Of course you're not dropping any sleeping herbs into my wine. Don't you remember? That waiter brought you the red. His name was Jason, I think. Blond hair, blue eyes, broad shouldered. Now drink up; you need to relax so you can recover your mental strength. *smooth talks* 4 ranks in bluff, 16 charisma *smooth talks*

[Alneyan]

1) I will let you volunteer to ask them for money then. They should give you some gold for that little incident with Detect Magic, at the very least.
2) Nothing specifically states we may not kill the bandits (we have been allowed to destroy them), and we should assume they are to be killed if they prove to be a threat to the success of our main objective. The book should be safe enough; the carter, however, will have to be protected, and we cannot allow them to run after us. One way or another, they will have to remain in their hideout once we make our run towards the town.
3) Indeed. However, this "snatching away an individual" does seem to cross the librarians, as you have surely noticed. If the librarians themselves are annoyed, I would expect the whole city to be affected. Killing them would prevent such happenings from ever occurring again, ergo bettering the lives of the inhabitants of the little town.
4) Can we not even kill one or two of them, just to keep our good habits?
5) Wisdom 12, 4 ranks in Sense Motive. Roll your Bluff check! (Of course, Narf would have to set the DC for this action) Alternatively, merely going out with Dieger for a nice stroll at night would work equally as well; we would hate to disturb you while you are singing after all. *Smirks*

[Jack Simth]

1) You're the one who thinks we need more equipment.
2) Nothing does. Course, a group of bandits led by both a Wizard AND a Fighter would be fairly suicidal to attack on their home turf. However, bandits are not known for their strict security measures; observing for a time and then sneaking in to retrieve the goods should be comparatively easy, as Jake took ranks in Hide (don't know about Dieger).
3) I didn't say it was necessarily bad to eliminate the bandits; just that it probably wasn't a good idea.
4) The prisoner is likely to have a gaurd. It would be reasonable to take him out by surprise.
5) Actually, it's an opposed roll. Make your Sense Motive roll, then see attached.

Oh, one thing Narf: It's construction, not painting; we are putting up a steel utility building, and nobody's really sure exactly how to go about it, so it's taking a while longer than it ought. We've got the frame up; next comes siding, insulation, and roofing.

[Alneyan]

5) Sense Motive Skill Check: [1d20+5] -&gt; [19,5] = (24) *Chuckles* I tend to have extreme results with dice rolls; do not be surprised if I manage to get three 1 on a d20 in a row.
4) Stisnera will be delighted: one future target for some Mind Thrusting.
2) You do not need Dieger to help you out; if you want to go with Stealth, you will be on your own. Remember, yell in pain once for "you can take them down", twice for "run for your lives!", and thrice for "too late for you as well". A bit less Stisneraly, doing some scouting should certainly be possible, so long as you do not expect the Tiefling to sneak around unnoticed (and she will probably insist on carrying some heavy armour later on).
1) Point taken. I shall go ask them for money at once, though Dieger will probably come as well. Of course, both of us might forget mentioning they have given us something; don't you love Neutral (on the Good/Evil scale) characters?


What would you think about that Narf?

"There are some Tieflings who, by improving their general attitude, have managed to get a somewhat better standing in society. And there are the others, who remain not quite trusted, on the edges, and slightly bitter. Stisnera would belong to the latter Category.

But I should start with the beginning. I joined this game since I met all the requirements: I had never played an actual pen &amp; pencil game before, I had never gone anywhere near OpenRPG, and knew virtually nothing about D&amp;D 3.0/3.5 (I knew a bit of AD&amp;D 2, which was not quite the same). In other words, I was the perfect player all DMs dream of.

So, I proceeded with character creation, and considered playing an Elven Sorcerer. However, my Last eleven characters in various RPGs happened to be variations on the theme: "John/Mary Smith, Elf, Sorcerer, 6"1, blonde, fair complexion"; a change of character was certainly in good order.

It was then that I understood (at long Last) it was possible to play non-standard races, and in light of this, playing a Tiefling was simply mandatory. A Tiefling is roughly human, but has been scarred by a fiend of some sort, and was actually present in the reference books available for this game. So Tiefling I be and shall until I die.

All that remained to determine was my class and statistics; rolling for my characteristics resulted in good results, but a fairly low 6 to put somewhere. I picked Charisma as weakest characteristic, resulting in an astounding 4 after racial modifications. With this sort of results, the Psionist class was rather appealing, and would nicely explain this lack of Charisma. Stisnera was merely a Telepath, wont to use the powers of her mind to have her way; there isno need for her to talk or persuade people when bending mind is so easy, and so much funnier as well.

And so Stisnera came to see the light of this world, a gentle scowl already on her face. This first session mainly saw the first friendly threats within the party (somehow always involving Stisnera. There must be some gender discrimination at work here.), figuring out how OpenRPG works, and getting the game started. But once this session was over, we were ready to start our epic quest: leaving this dungeon without witnessing (not so) friendly fire between party members."

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I think I stayed up waaaaaay to late Last night (6:30 in the morning), that I woke up 45 minutes ago and that my brain will need a while to start working. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Looks good to me.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Made some Last edits. Anything else to add? Game Story1 (http://www3.telus.net/funnybnz/Game Story1.rtf)

[Alneyan]

I may be too late, but... You spelt Tiefling "Teifling", which is very likely to cross Stisnera. No other edit/addition/request/complaint for me.

[Jack Simth]

Server is up and running.

Okay, I'm really starting to get annoyed by the "Post Already Exists" message....

[narf poit chez BOOM]

300XP each, 50XP to Stis for figuring out the trap.

[Jack Simth]

narf: Definitely donning the mithril; the stats on it look great. It's still light armor, so Jake avoids the Spell Failure chance (Bard Special), the Mithril material reduces the various penalties back to the same as the leather he's already wearing, and it's not cursed, as that would have shown up in the Detect Magic.
Just FYI, narf, so you can update my AC to 14.

Oh, and Alneyan, if Stis gets attacked by a melee attack, have her retreat a ways through the rest of the party; especially when we are only dealing with one opponent. If the assailent doesn't follow, then Stis is out of range of the melee weapon, and can resume bLasting away. If the assailent does follow, then Deiger and/or Jake are now behind the opponent, and are then flanking, yielding a +2 circumstance attack bonus. Either way, an improved situation, as Stis is one of the most fragile members of the party. As Mind Thrust is a standard action, Stis can back off and bLast away at the same time.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

FYI: The opponent will get an attack of opportunity on a failed Tumble check DC 15. If it succeeds, it won't stop your retreat.

[Jack Simth]

The other method of avoiding the attack of oppertunity would be to use the Withdrawl option (http://srd.pbemnexus.com/actionsInCombat.html) without a roll, although it is a full round action and you won't be able to mind bLast while you are doing it.

[Jack Simth]

I think I'll have Jake lend Rite his old leathers (as he now has Mithril) if he doesn't have any armor of his own (which is likely to be the case). It's only +2 AC, but if the guy is going to be working with a sword, he is probably going to need it.

[Alneyan]

Bah! No need for an armour when there is a Psion running around naked! (Well, perhaps not quite naked, but without anything doing any good when attacked) I guess I should be glad to have decent dexterity and constitution, plus an appropriate feat for hitpoints.

Speaking of which, do you think I should pick feats/classes to have decent armour as soon as possible, or instead focus on Psionic for now? (Keeping in mind I will be one level below you no matter what)

I didn't know about the Withdrawal move, and failed to pull back the first round (next time, remind me to put my miniature in an appropriate spot before battle as well).

Last for now, we sold our loot for about 900 gold pieces after the first dungeon. Was it 900 gp for the whole party, or for Stis alone? (I will add or remove some potions/stones from her collection to match her budget)

[Jack Simth]

I think that's 900 for the party (1800 value in items; that get's chopped in half for selling, as players don't get full market price); as only Dieger and Stisnera were present at the time, it seems reasonable that it would be split between Dieger and Stis.

Does Stis have any of the following: Strength-based or Dexterity-based abilities or skills, Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Tumble, or Swim?

If not, then the only penalty Stis gets for wearing armor is a penalty to the attack roll, as Arcane Spell Faluire doesn't apply to psionics, and Stis should pick some up even without any feats for its use.

In other words, focus on your psionics.

[Alneyan]

Stis has some Hide, but it is more "just in case" than anything else.

Oh, I thought a feat was needed just to wear armour. It looks like I got confused with D&amp;D2, or something of the like. So if Stis can wear any armour without any annoying side effect, I will start hoarding some armour.

Hmm, would it be too late Narf to cancel the sale order on that Half-plate we were given by friendly dwarves?

[douglas]

Oh, you can wear any kind of armor you want and get the full AC bonus, but if you're not proficient with it you get its armor check penalty applied to all of your attack rolls and strength and dexterity based ability and skill checks. For half-plate, that's -7. If you were a wizard rather than a psion, you would also suffer from the armor's spell failure chance. So, if you don't plan on doing much attacking (that includes psionic powers that require touch or ranged touch attacks) or exerting yourself physically, go right ahead.