Playthings of the Gods - OOC thread

[Fabian]

Welcome to the OOC thread for the first Custom Hobby Play by Posting RPG:

Playthings of the Gods

Our cast:

Alf (Bodhi) playing Will Snicket (human Rogue 3) 

Keys: Key of the Coward, Key of Glittering Gold

David (Cheddarmonger) playing Lunk (half-orc Barbarian 3)

Keys: Key of the Foolhardy Hero, Key of Bloodlust

Kurt (AgentMolar) playing Gaius Hollbrar  (human Cleric 3)

Keys: Key of Faith, Key of Conscience

Mike (CustomHobby) playing Olothoros the Contemplative (grey elf Elf Paragon 2/Wizard 1)

Keys: Key of the Curious, Key of the Artist

Running the game: Chris, posting as (Fabian)

To keep things moving, the goal is for everyone to check the actual play thread once a day. This won't usually take very long (no time at all, if nothing has changed), and you can fit it into your schedule however you like — this is one of the nice things about PbP gaming.

If you can't drop in every day, that's okay. At a minimum, you should check the thread every other day. Combat is an exception; in that case it is a case of posting within a 24 hour turnaround for each combat round. If you're unable to post, I'll assume you are taking the full defence action.

Posts

I'll get things going by describing where the party starts off, and what's going on around you. Then everyone will post what they want to do, be it talking to the other PCs in character, narrating your actions, or asking OOC questions to narrow down your options.

Have fun with your posts, and try to make them as flavorful as possible. It's an interesting challenge to roleplay your character without any visual cues — don't be afraid to experiment, and see what works for you. You've also got plenty of time to think about what you'd like to do, so take advantage of it. (And on a similar note, always preview your posts before submitting them — I'm always amazed how many typos I make!)

In general, your posts will include one or more of these elements:

• Describing what your character does in narrative form. It doesn't have to be prizewinning novel material — just have fun with it!
• Dialogue, which should be in "quotes."
• Your PC's thoughts, which should be in italics.
• Out of character comments and questions, which should be preceded with "OOC: " (minus the quotes). For example: "OOC: Guys, I think if we go in there we're all going to die — but Artemis would want to try it anyway." As a general rule, try to put all of your OOC stuff at the bottom of your post — but if it needs to come first to make sense, go for it.

Make your posts as complete as you can — ask questions, plan for contingencies, and so forth. If you want to discuss options with the other players OOC (particularly in combat), feel free to do so.
To further help distinguish between IC and OOC text in our posts, IC text (narrative) should be in the default color, and OOC text should be  in yellow.

Remember your Keys and look at the other characters' Keys - play off one another, don't be afraid to buy off your key if you want a quick hit of XP or if it's hampering the way you want to play. People change in the face of experience, your heroes should be no different. You'll get new keys at every odd level so don't worry about being at a loss for them!

Sample Post

"Guys, I see something up ahead," Tuggle says. Keeping as far from the edge of the pit as possible, he inches slowly along the ledge. When he reaches the corner where the strange glow is coming from, he stops and gets ready to cast a spell. Boy, I sure hope this works — I'm too pretty to die! Putting a finger to his lips and theatrically shushing Tal, he peeks around the corner.

OOC: I'm readying a magic missile, and I want to cast as soon as I see anything threatening — and I'll duck down at the same time, so Cupric can shoot his bow over my head. Since I'm in the lead, if there's nothing around the corner I'll just keep moving.

Combat

When we get into combat, the timeframe gets a bit more aggressive — because if it didn't, one battle could take months! When combat starts, I'll kick off with a post that has a response deadline at the bottom — we'll try 24 hours to start with, and see how it goes. That means everyone's actions for that round need to be posted within 24 hours (including OOC questions about those actions).

Actions will still occur in initiative order, but posts may occur in any order. Feel free to change your mind about what you want to do based on posts that have already been made, even if they'll actually occur after your action. This helps to make up for the fact that no one will know how things turned out until the end of the round.

I will always make the first two posts in each combat round. The initial post will be initiative totals (which I'll roll for you), a narrative version of what happened in the previous round, and the in-game consequences of those actions (status changes, HP loss, etc.). The second post will be your enemies' actions for the round. This might sound odd, but it should even out in the end — because the monsters will be a bit better at adapting to what the PCs do than vice versa, since I'll be writing the round summary after everyone has posted.

A good combat post should include several things:

• What you want to do, in narrative form.
• Where you moved from and to, using the grid provided on each battlemap. "OOC: I run from D-9 to S-22." (See Maps, below, for details).
• If you're attacking something, list any bonuses or penalties please; Doing this will help you remember to take spells, feats and other things into account — and gives me a chance to spot mistakes or things you might have forgotten.
• Contingency plans! Since you won't know the outcome of your action (or anyone else's, for that matter) until the end of the round, give me a plan B. Heck, give me plan C as well, if you need to.

If you miss the 24 hour deadline, I'll assume you're taking the total defense action (+4 to AC for that round, doing nothing else) until we hear from you.

Once everyone has responded, I'll narrate the first round in another post (with OOC information included, like how much damage you took, etc.), and the 24 hour timer for the next round will start over.

In the interest of pacing, I may occasionally have to take my best guess at what you would have done in a given round. If it's a crucial moment, or if I just can't come up with a reasonable action, we'll pause combat instead, and I'll ask you for a clarification.

Sample Combat Post

Seeing that the goblin is trying to cut the ropes holding up the bridge, Artemis draws his rapier and runs swiftly towards the humanoid. He takes careful aim and tries to stab the goblin in the back of the head.

OOC: Moving from A-7 to D-15, I charge the goblin, getting with + 9 + 2  to hit, plus any bonuses because he wasn't looking.  + 12  damage (including sneak attack). (I'll be at -2 AC until next turn, because of the charge.)

P.S. I should point out that I've basically copied some of this from a site about PbP but it fits almost exactly with how I'd like to run things, so some it is verbatim.

[Bodhi]

So. We introduce each others characters to each other I guess?

My name's Will Snicket. I'm 19 years old. Yeah well that's young but hanging out with Keegans gang has given me experience enough to deal with most things that get in my way.
So I stutter? Lots of people do that. Just avoid mentioning it and we should all get on just fine. There's a dagger awaiting in the night for the one who forgets it.
You'll be glad to have me along for all the stealthier stuff that needs be done. Picking locks? Sneaking up on someone? Handling all those traps that can prove nasty to you all? I'm your man.

[Fabian]

Well this is the Out of Character thread but yeah it's fine to give a little intro to the others here, as you all know one another already in the game as you can see from the initial scene. You've adventured together for a little while so you know roughly one another's capabilities.

Nicely written by the way!  :icon_wink: Reminds me of Brechtian drama...

[Bodhi]

Nicely written by the way!  :icon_wink: Reminds me of Brechtian drama...

You're lucky this is internet or you'd have to listen to me singing for two hours for that comment (our band plays Brecht songs among others  ;))

[Fabian]

 :icon_mrgreen: I wouldn't have a problem with that!* That would be a hilarious game for a low-power fantasy RPG, all characters must offer a commentary on their actions or narrate certain scenes. If they provide musical accompaniment and/or placards they get bonuses.

Ahem, anyway back to serious er... rules discussion and stuff.  :icon_suspicious:

* I'm directing 2 musicals in the States so I better get used to it!

[Custom_Hobby]

I like the style of it already. I hope Kurt and cheddar sign on soon.

[Fabian]

Me too! I've already grinned from ear to ear at both your posts.

[Agentmolar]

Well met will. I trust that you have bothered to use that sample of soap i left with you. I keep telling you that that skin infection doesn't repeatedly need the divine intervention of Asacimov, just a regular bath. *sigh* What do you mean you 'traded it' ? You do remember the invisible demons dont you?

Greetings all. My name is Gaius Hollbrar priest of asacimov. Shrugging off the shackles of my formal training, i have embraced the wonders of science and discovered the joys of serving a deity that supports such endeavors. I have been blessed with the ability to heal you of your wounds, and i can also heal your mind by teaching you the virtues of clean living. So many of our problems today are caused by ignorance of basic cleanliness. Remember cleanliness is Asacimoviness! I also make a living as a scribe of somewhat ability.

[Bodhi]

Seems to me poor Lunk has to take some bossing around  :icon_wink: 'twill be interesting to see Cheddarmongers first post  :icon_razz:


And SOAP AND TEETH ARE FOR WUSSIES!!!


Just wanted topoint that out on behalf of Will here.

[Fabian]

That cracks me up that you both ordered him around.

[Custom_Hobby]

It cracked me up that they both want to search him so I had to comment on it in the game thread.

As a side not I am going to lock the thread. All of us are moderators or higher so we can still post in locked threads. It will keep non-players from posting in it.

[Fabian]

Yes I noticed the lock and realised why you did it - good idea, everyone on the forum is very polite but just in case folks didn't realise. It's ok for non-players to post in this thread.

[Bodhi]

It cracked me up that they both want to search him so I had to comment on it in the game thread.

Couldn't have that. So I changed Wills action. Hope that was OK?

[Custom_Hobby]

I was wondering about that. I am actually going to add a note about what Olothoros the Contemplative is thinking.

[Fabian]

It cracked me up that they both want to search him so I had to comment on it in the game thread.

Couldn't have that. So I changed Wills action. Hope that was OK?

Absolutely not a problem at all, in fact it's quite nice to have that sort of thing; what I'll generally do is to try to weave together actions so that they form a coherent whole once everyone's had a chance to post. You can make several 'if' statements when you post eg. OOC: I go to search the guy but if anyone else comes along I stop immediately and move away from him. If no-one distrubs me I search his pockets.

But your posting was absolutely fine. I love the thoughts the PCs have; that's a nice thing about this format, you can't get well-written witty inner monologues  off the cuff at the gaming table.