Chapter 1: Q&A / Discussion

[Darren]

Just as a side note to what's going on currently, I (Kal) wasn't rushing off necessarily to spite the rest of the group. I sort of figured that by heading off, I could help keep the game moving along.

[Paul]

Ed's suggestion is a good one. fine by me.

[Lara]

Three sounds like a reasonable consensus to me, especially for moving through non-combat situations.

[Jeff]

Jeremy, Gather Information is a bit of a time-consuming process. In the books, the base example is:

An evening’s time, a few gold pieces for buying drinks and making friends, and a DC 10 Gather Information check get you a general idea of a city’s major news items, assuming there are no obvious reasons why the information would be withheld. The higher your check result, the better the information.

If you want to find out about a specific rumor, or a specific item, or obtain a map, or do something else along those lines, the DC for the check is 15 to 25, or even higher.

A typical Gather Information check takes 1d4+1 hours.

Skills like Spot (automatic), Search (active, needs to be stated), or Sense Motive (mostly automatic, but can be stated) may be what you're looking for.

[Jeremy]

Fine. Just another example of the man keeping me down.

Just for that, I want a Gather Daisies check.

[Jeff]

Goran's Gather Daisies check = 4

[Josh]

I know that there is a major discrepancy between the amount of time it takes to play and the amount of in-game time that's passing, but it seems to keep us fairly confused about whether it's day or night, whether people have been sitting around for hours or minutes.

Is there a way to resolve this, or at least combat it? Is anyone else seeing this as an issue?

[Lara]

I've been taking time cues from Jeff. Unless he notes that several hours have passed, I figure the amount of time it takes to do whatever we're doing is the amount of time that has passed in game, regardless of the amount of time that has passed OOG. Going to our rooms, cleaning up, dining, drinking, sitting around talking -- I figure we're somewhere around 2 to 3 hours in the inn.

[Josh]

I was going on more of "a bit over an hour" at the inn. We arrived, Kal mentioned leaving in ten to go to the enclave, but got distracted, so it was probably more like 20. He left, Grafth ordered some food, ate it, and they just started talking.

Obviously the difference between 1 and 3 hours really isn't a big deal here, and doesn't really weigh too much on how anyone would act.

[Jeff]

There's no right answer for this...but we should keep talking about it. I think when someone posts a little bit about what they intend to do over the passage of time, it muddies things up a bit.

So if you say, "In the next three hours, XYX will do this...." but then someone else posts and simply continues the conversation they were having with someone else, time might seem a bit skewed by everyone.

Big jumps forward in time I'll definitely be the one initiating.

[Lara]

admin said:

So if you say, "In the next three hours, XYX will do this...." but then someone else posts and simply continues the conversation they were having with someone else, time might seem a bit skewed by everyone.

I don't necessarily manage to do it consistently, but I do try to leave a "hook" for someone to respond to. It's much more difficult to respond to a post about what someone will do than it is to respond to actions and conversation. (I'm really bummed that Pellorien missed the opportunity to respond to Cutter's "hook." Oh, well... I've inserted my best imitation of a bratty teenager instead.)

Just my $.02.

[Josh]

Yeah, I definitely agree that's the kind of thing I find easiest to respond to as well.

[Jeff]

I'm not quite following what you guys mean by "hook." Give me an example?

[Lara]

admin said:

I'm not quite following what you guys mean by "hook." Give me an example?

Something to respond to.

Pellorien grows impatient, gets up and leaves the room. -- Not much to work with there if you're another PC, but still workable. You're sort of stuck reacting to instead of playing with.

Pellorien grows impatient, gets up, says she's going for a walk and company is welcome if anyone cares to join her, then moves toward the door. -- Opportunity for other PCs to trip her before she can get out the door, persuade her to stay by buying another round, join her in a stretch outdoors, etc. There's more of an invitation to follow up.

Pellorien grows impatient, gets up, says she's going for a walk, and if someone joins her, she will leave the inn but if no one does she will go upstairs to her room to sulk. -- Too predictive of other PCs behavior in a very limiting fashion, as if there are only two options.

I try to go more for the second and first examples when I post something.

[Jeff]

Yeah, I like that, Lara.

[Lara]

Is there a way to set up the forum so that the posts show up in reverse chronological order - that is, most recent first?

[Jeff]

Errr....I'll look into it. But I'm doubtful.... I don't know many message boards that do that.

On a similar topic....I'm wondering what we can do to prevent the party from splitting up too much. On occasion, I can manage it. But I don't want it to become a trend, lest the game slow to a crawl.

Any thoughts?

The only thing I can think is that, in time, if the party can establish a "leader" (yeah, you players hate leaders, don't you?), that leader can be the one to decide where the group goes. I'm not saying this needs to happen now. It still needs to make sense, in game. But perhaps as the story develops, it's worth considering?

[Lara]

admin said:

On a similar topic....I'm wondering what we can do to prevent the party from splitting up too much. On occasion, I can manage it. But I don't want it to become a trend, lest the game slow to a crawl.

Seems early to identify splitting up as a trend. More like we're at a point where it's natural for some splitting up to occur... A group of people thrown together by accident and still getting to know each other isn't necessarily going to hang out together unless forced by circumstance. Different agendas, different personalities, etc.

[Darren]

I'm inclined to agree with Lara on that one. I wouldn't call this a trend. It just sort of worked out this way.

[Darren]

Hey, Jeff. I just want to be clear on the information that Kalarian did NOT reveal to Lady Korvine. He never mentioned the names of his companions, nor did he reveal Fenwolt's name. He also never mentioned the book that Fenwolt gave to Pellorien, nor did he mention the Halmers and Vars.

[Jeff]

Yup, I got that.

[Lara]

Need to know the layout of the area where the Ferenthoron's place is located. What's Pellorien looking at? What's she able to see from the road? Is there another street or an alley they can move down in order to check out things more closely? Can she see anything in the far distance that might serve as a location they were trying to find in case someone stops them because they appear to be "lingering"?

[Jeff]

See gameplay thread for the answers to those questions.

[Jeff]

Since Diplomacy is coming up a lot, I wanted to talk about it just a bit. The existing rules for how Diplomacy works are kind of lame, in my opinion, so I've tended to subscribe to Rich Burlew's reinvention of the skill.

You can read about it here. It's a bit complicated looking, so you can always leave the details to me. I'm going to update the skills post with this information.

[Joe]

This makes MUCH more overall sense. I like it (of course, being a cleric disposes me to like rolls with a wisdom modifier...heh)!!

[Darren]

If you're willing to put in the work to use that system, then I kind of like it. It almost applies a combat-like scenario to Diplomacy and gives a bit more weight to those who are good at it versus those who aren't. It makes a diplomat as valuable as a fighter in the right situations. Works for me.

[Josh]

Darren Says:

Kalarian is pleased to find everyone finally in the same place again. After introductions have been made between Streko and the rest of the group, he begins, "I have secured some help for us.

Ed Says:

1) See Oss's text below. Please note that I (Ed) have specifically not read any of the game goings-on that did not apply to me to avoid meta-game temptation. So...Oss would have no clue about Streko.
2) Jeff, you don't mention Oss in this summary. Is he part of this plan?

I think you kind of have to read everything that goes on, and be on your honor to play the game without using information your PC wasn't involved in- it is really burdensome to have to go through the entire introduction, explanation scenario. Anyone should be able to say, for example "Grafth brings the returning party members up to speed, introducing Streko and telling them of what has transpired in their absence" unless there is a specific point to what is being told or not told.

Repeating over three board-pages of dialogue seems a little much, right?

[Jeff]

"...Both of us are right, but only one of us is an imperious, self-important windbag."

"...Perhaps you would be better off listening to your betters from time to time."

Just remember we're role-playing here, folks. ;D

[Darren]

Absolutely. I don't mean to offend Lara personally in any way.

[Jeff]

Right. I'm possibly just oversensitive...my former, tabletop gaming group took a lot of out-of-game issues into the game.