Main / PC-2020

Player Communication Archive 2020

12-19 BOB

It has been a good year.

We had 14 different players participate in our sessions and 9 of them were here more than 10% of the sessions. We had 50 sessions this year, plus an additional 20 bonus sessions with the Adventures In The Wastes stories.

We are in the middle of a lot of world building that will help set up the group for lots of adventures to come.

2021 will be a year with some small low level adventures, some full group adventures and in general I hope fun for everyone.

12-16 BOB

For Branwyn's time spent it is now on the timeline for Claiming Skull Church

For Howard it is a little more complicated. His completion date for training is on the timeline.

Then for him to learn those three spells:

The chance to research each spell and have it in his books is the base chance (30) + Knowledge (12) + level (7) - 2*level of spell

The cost for each spell is 1d6*100 GP per week to research the spell, 2 weeks per level of the spell:

These costs do add to the value of the library. 50% of the amount spent gets added to the overall value.

So after 2 weeks Howard would roll 1d100 and hope to get 47% (or less) and he learns Alarm. If he does not it adds 1 additional week with one additional week of costs and he rolls again with the same chance as before.

At any time if you choose to you can spend 2,000 GP per week for a 10% increase in the chance to succeed, up to 8,000 GP per week. Half of those GP would also go into the overall value of the library.

So the wide low to high variants are:

There is five weeks of game time to elapse before Howard would start to work on these three spells so you have time to think about how much to spend etc.

BOB - does that account for Howard's Research NWP? *With a successful proficiency check, the character gains a +5% bonus to his success roll when researching a new spell and only requires one half the usual amount of time to perform spell research* Should I roll that in Klooge? Can probably wait until Friday. Lisa

No it does not Lisa, good catch. So that will change things if he is sucessfull on his check, one check per spell. But that would dramatically cut down the cost of the higher level spells with only half the time. Yes we can wait till Friday to make the rolls.

12/16 Lisa

Bob - can you please update the timeline for our training and spells? The start date is already up there.

Branwyn - WIS 13 - trains Howard in Dimension Door - 6 weeks.

Branwyn then tries to learn Contagion (Black Cloak's book) and Tenser's Transformation (from a scroll) And after I want her to copy some spells from her travelling spell book into the new spell book (which I need to name and set up the page)

Howard tries to learn 3 common spells using the library. Alarm - 1st level; Irritation - 2nd level; Fumble - 4th lvl

Thanks!

12-14 BOB

I finally completed the Mining spreadsheet. It can compute any mine with any type of miner and make it easy to see how many feet long the mines are, what direction they go in and how long it takes to dig each section including supports based on the height of the miners.

Things to note that Skarp will know:

So Skarp can be pleased you found and are starting this but he and Siff both understand there will need to be more exploration

12/11/2020 - Michael

Hey guys, I may not be in tonight unfortunately, or if I am I might be late. Sorry, guys. If you have questions/need emergency help, message me on Discord. I should have the app running on my phone just in case. I'll bring a laptop too just in case.

11-21 BOB

To give everyone an idea of what I am thinking about for stories moving forward.

We have good bookends for the Claiming Skull Church story arc with the time line now on that page. With Snee being rewarded with the Governorship of the Protectorate and then the completion of the path from Skull Church to Travelers Way. There are several things to do around the Protectorate between now and then of course.

Once this story arc is wrapped up I do have an adventure planned for the full group. I anticipate running that sometime in the late spring.

It will involve some classic Dungeon type encounters with a nice chance at treasure as the reward.

Fri 11/20/2020

Things are not getting better. My brother just tested positive for COVID while he in the mental health unit and I'm trying to get POA papers signed so his house doesn't go into foreclosure. I'm also planning a funeral for my best friend's husband who died unexpectedly at 54yo as well as helping with her move from Miami to Orlando. Plus, my seven-month goddaughter had her second brain surgery and her paralysis might be permanent. I am 90% sure I won't be joining tonight. Thank you for your patience during this tumultuous time. -Lara

<From Michael: Good God Lara. Take all the time you need. Don't feel pressured in anyway. If there's something I can do to help shoot me a message. See what I can do for you, even if it's just emotional support.>

What he said. Loving energe your way and to your family also. - Spring

You know we will be here - BOB

11/13 Spring

BOB posted costs for the path to cut across the Wastes in CSC-OOC. Best of all, PCs don't gotta do it. I like the recommended one-year. It's what I woulda voted for if there were no recommendation. What say yous?

That works for me -- Lisa

Fri 10/30/2020

Hi everyone. I will do my best to join tonight by 8p EST. My brother is very ill. He has been in the hospital for three weeks had brain surgery during this time. I can visit him but the visiting hours are VERY limited and the hospital is an hour away. I have been catching up on Snee's letters. Still far behind. Will do my best to catch up. Again, I will try my best to join tonight.

Thank you for your understanding. Warmly, Lara

10/28 Michael

Sorry guys and gals. I won't be able to make this Friday. I'll be working and only wishing I was here instead. Sorry. See you all next week. If you need anyone to provide support or complete some homework just let me know.

-M

10-24 BOB

Very good things happening with everyone. So that we have the plan for next session for everyone to know what we want to accomplish. Everyone can assign themselves to groups as they want to be involved in them.

Those two will take place at the same time so we will swap back and forth during the night. Then if time we will tackle the filling in the moat and eliminating the black puddings.

10/24 Carissa (putting this below)

Just a follow-up "The More You Know" from yesterday:

Yucca (Asparagaceae). Some species have edible flowering stalks (shoots, flowers, inner stem; high in Vitamin C). Some species have edible fruits (raw, dried, or bake will taste like a date). The leaves, stems, and roots are high in saponins which can be used for making soaps, shampoos, or as a way to hunt fish (dam up a section of river, toss in saponin, they'll float to the surface). Species with wooden trunks or flowering stalks can be used for building material, fencing, and fuel. All species have leaves to use for weaving baskets, mats, knitted leggings and thatch.

Fun fact: in WWI, many industries substituted yucca fibers in making burlap bags (and some native, rural areas do rely on these still for income). In WWII, the US Navy manufactured rope, twine, and heavy paper from yucca fibers.

Anyways, that was the reference from yesterday. Plants are cool. The end.

10/16 Spring

Ok I took more things.

I thought a few non-magical generic weapons were good to keep on hand for general use or for bartering/bribes.

10/14 Lisa

Took a quick look and think you are being conservative. If it were me, I would take all the potions that Branwyn isn't duplicating. They won't need them at home and you never know when you might need your mojo adjusted or something else.

You might want to take the goblin horn, the weapons that have magic uses for the things you may encounter, like the bullywug spear and the net. We can decide Friday if the Control Humanoid wand becomes Emerald's or she is just using it and it stays in the pack - I have no preference and my characters don't want it, but that definitely needs to go with you.

You might also want to take the Room Scroll in case you run into something you don't want to carry around.

My only question is: Are you taking the plate mail to give to Talwin? Can't see lugging an empty metal suit around :-)

Just my thoughts. Don't be shy with grabbing things you think might be helpful. One time Guy's character put on a cursed necklace and having the Potion of Metal Fatigue was the only thing that saved him from being strangled, so you just never know when these things may come in handy!

10/14 Spring

Okay I moved some stuff to Protectorate Supplies. There are a few more things I'd like that I don't know if I can take.

Was tempted by the wand of control undead, but thought better of it.

10/10 Carissa

Just to clarify, during all these planning and building sessions, I do not plan to write a summary. For this part in particular, for both personal and character reasons, I am less involved than normal, and honestly, a little less interested than normal (for various reasons). Once we get back to our standard adventuring, I may pick back up on summaries (unknown if that'll be during or after haunted village clearing, though). There are many of you more involved than me right now, and if a summary is wanted, I feel it's better for someone else to do them and catch all those details I'm going to miss (my eyes tend to glaze over when planning things on this scale happen).

10/7 Spring

I'm willing to create and maintain the Craniate party pack. I guess we can talk Friday about what items to transfer into it.

10/5 Lisa

We went home, and with that comes the usual unpacking of the Party Pack. I took everyone’s potions they were holding and returned them to the group (except the lost Drayven potions).

Spell books went into the Branwyn’s library page. I’ll clean that up later. But fyi for Lara, “Branwyn’s Library” is the repository of all spells found in our travels as well as the books of our mages and what they have learned. The Library is accessible when you want to take the time to learn spells and any spells on a scroll or in a book can be learned without having to spend the time for research.

Traditionally, I have put together the Party Pack for trips. Mostly because 1) I have been keeping up the Party Pack (it’s kind of a pain but is actually pretty organized now) and 2) whenever I’ve asked for people to do it, I end up doing it, so I stopped asking.

Now that my characters aren’t going to be in the Skull Church area on a regular basis, does someone want to create a party pack for your time up there? You may want to designate one person to do it since it can get confusing.

I always cut and paste from Home Base to the Party Pack – not copy and paste. It gets really confusing when you have one set of information in two places and you are editing one as you use and gain items, and the other list stays the same when it comes time to reconcile the items.

Because I format the chat, I can help with the maintaining the Party Pack, but optimally I would like you guys to create the Party Pack for yourselves from Home Base since this is your trip.

Re: potions: Branwyn has the ability to duplicate potions one time. I have separated out the potions that have not been duplicated so she can do that while you are off adventuring. If you want to take those potions now, we can talk on Friday or on the site about moving them from one section to another.

I created the command words for the Control Undead wand (which you might not need since we killed them all) but left the command word for the Control Humanoid wand open. Maybe Lara can create a command word for that one since she will be using it.

Also – unless someone needs another dagger, maybe Emerald can take the crypt dagger so she has a spare. This doesn’t go into the Party Pack, she will just take it.

Go all the way down the list for items you might want. Necholas may want the parishioner book to take back. And I can see Branwyn giving him the prayer book and doll to give to Brer to give to the church, etc.

If you have a feel for what you will need, creating the Party Pack doesn’t take very long to do at all. We could do it on Friday and might be easier.

9-27 BOB

A quick note on Experience Points.

A quirky thing with the new High Level XP award dates is that Branwyn has not actually earned any yet, she will start earning towards the end of this current game year. However Kenna earned, and she is already passed her max level. Then Ilero leveled up again with his award.

9-26 BOB

Wrote up a quick summary of what I think you all agreed to do with regards to the Skull Church environs moving forward.

Of course you can all change things as you see fit. There should be some in character talks between Snee, Brer and Branwyn on the scope of work and what resources to use on this new project.

9-22 TMO

Alright, so we need to decide what is going to happen with Skull Church. As I'm understanding the situation, Hoffman is effectively an NPC for now.

  1. As an NPC, is Hoffman still eligible to lead Skull Church? I think that's still the ideal situation, but not sure how not being an active PC affects the situation, if at all.
  2. In order to help, Brer can be recruited. He can't do it permanently, of course, but the group can certainly ask, and negotiate for his aid. He hasn't finished with Dragon Fen yet. And I can think of several ways he's qualified to help out.
  3. What about recruiting NPCs from Dragon Fen to help administer Skull Church? We just did an adventure of 0 level grunts becoming 1st level. I know Dragon Fen doesn't have a limitless pool of NPCs to pick from, but there might be some administration folks who'd be interested in helping.
  4. I would suggest hiring a squad of mercenaries to guard the place. Anybody happen to have any mercenary contacts? *cough*branwyn*cough*talwin*cough*

Moved BOB's answers to the OOC

9-22 BOB

To be very clear.

I am angry.

John is kicked out of the game. He is not leaving voluntarily, claiming to be a martyr. He is not going to come back into the game until January of 2021 at the earliest. He is not invited to the end of the year celebration. He is not eligible for any awards.

I am sorry that the rest of you will have to scramble and come up with things on Friday. We can discuss here in the OOC pages please rather than in Discord so that everyone can see all the ideas lined up and compare with how people think they will work.

9/22 Lisa

Just to help on this planning, I will explain a little. This next stuff will be like a portion of the time when we were in Dryads Lair. Branwyn and her characters will be at home working on stuff. Unless there is a really big quest that needs them, Indigo will be at Jistille and Branwyn, Howard and Johan will be at Dragon Fen learning spells and taking care of the estate. These characters will not be in play. If players want Johan, then BOB will play him as Johan is an NPC and not a henchman. BOB and I had talked about this a long time ago - that if we could ever finish Skull Church, my guys will take a vacation. This was way before what is happening this week. I will be around, will watch and roleplay on site and pop in IC when people are in Dragon Fen, etc. I did this before and it is time to do it again. I'm sorry if sharing that sooner would have made a difference in what is going on now.

9/20/2020 John

I was unaware that it was possible to handle some of these things on line, I will attempt again as I will not have much time on Friday, even when I am on line.

9-20 BOB

(always lead with a good comment)

I have lots of fun ideas to run for small story arcs that we can enjoy over the next several months. I think that showed during the Birthday Game 2020 that everyone is on board with clear straight forward goals in a tight time frame. Focus on the adventure at hand while playing and not worry about the overall ramifications of world building etc. Character development, roleplay and splashes of combat.

We have a good plan and group moving into those adventures.

(No but sandwich)

I do want to discuss a slightly different but related topic.

Our next session 2020 09 25 will be the 75th session in the Third Time is Tradition story arc. 75 We started this way back in the before times 2019 03 29. March of 2019 This has gone on much longer than I ever anticipated. That can be good too. In this case it is not. You mananged to do a very important, key, campaign changing thing by killing a high level NPC that would have caused you problems for years to come. I did not anticipate you being able to do that. You did that at great cost to your group and you came out much better in the end than expected. That happened back on 2020 07 10. It will be ten sessions since you killed Black Cloak. 10 It took from July 10th until August 3rd to even really start the discussion about what to do now that Black Cloak is dead and how to handle the Skull Church area now. It is now September 20th and we have made glacial progress.

John confirmed on July 23rd that he was keeping Hoffman. Lisa has made it very clear that she does not want to make decisions about Skull Church because she feels that John has said he wants Hoffman to be in charge there and Lisa wants John to make the choices. Everyone is waiting for John to make those choices.

Some things have been done but I beleive that everyone feels worn out and frustrated that this story arc of Third Time is Tradition is still going on and there is no resolution that everyone feels is rewarding for all the sacrifice and hard work and also will solve the Skull Church problem for the group once and for all. I have made it very clear that there is either a Player Character, a strong Henchman in charge of the Skull Church area or I will start working on Fourth Time is Foolish as an story arc to run in the future.

To be clear for everyone on how this evolved. Skull Church story arc ended with Red Cloak being defeated and the group going on their way. The church was left alone and others came to put it to use. The Enemy of My Enemy ended with Tristan run by Eric in charge of the church. Tristan did some work on the church, then Eric dropped out of playing with us, there was no one in the group that took over the church. The church was left alone and others came to put it to use. Now with Third Time is Tradition you have cleaned the church out, defeated all the undead, killed the necromancer who was creating more. You now have the choice in what you will do.

Lisa has strongly said that the group cannot let the church go back to what it was and that someone needs to take control. John had Hoffman at 9th level who was strong enough to claim land and attract followers but was not well known outside of the group and had no strong connections with the Royal Family. The plan was for the group to eliminate the problems in Skull Church, have Hoffman take it over and with the help of Branwyn get the Queen to grant him the land to make it into his own holdings. Those plans changed with what happened during this adventure.

Firm but fair

We have new plans now and started those over at Claiming Skull Church back on July 12th. Ten weeks ago. 10 This has gone on long enough. I am going to require action from the players. This does not mean Lisa only or John only. John will need to make choices but the group overall needs to help solve these problems Out of Character as well as doing what they can In Character.

Before the end of our next session on 2020 09 25 we will have established 4 things.

  1. - Who will be in charge of Skull Church? Is it Hoffman? Will John be contributing either on Fridays or here on the site? Or pick another character/player?
  2. - What will be done with the moat? Specific plans and actions taken. If it requires clicking off time then we do that, but at the end of the session the moat problem will be done.
  3. - A discussion will happen about how to develop the area around Skull Church and concrete steps to take. It took 7 sessions to build the entirty of Dragon Fen. It should take a handful of posts and a couple of sessions to organize and start building in the Skull Church environs.
  4. - A discussion about what to do about the Goblins. Thoughts about what the problem is and how to come up with long term solutions. This one will not be solved in two or three story arcs let alone one session.

Clear consequences for actions

If we accomplish this during this week and by the end of 2020 09 25 great. We will have wrapped up one story arc, completed the first steps in the new story arc and can move to working on the thornier issue of the Goblins.

If we do not solve these four issues by the end of 2020 09 25 then I am declaring now what will happen.

Lisa has said Branwyn wants Hoffman to manage this place, John is getting that chance. If for what ever reason these four issues are not solved the following will occur.

The group will go back to Dragon Fen and do training, work around the Estate and I will have at least two or three adventures for the group. In the back of Branwyn's mind there will be the nagging, "we should go back and deal with Skull Church finally" but there will always be another story arc that needs to be done first before you can get back to it. A few months of game time will pass and then word will come of a new threat that has taken over Skull Church.

And we start the Fourth Time is Foolish story arc.

Places to discuss these ideas here on the site during the week:

9-17 BOB

I added each of the character's played during the Birthday Game 2020 to the individual pages where they live. I also resurfaced the NPC page if anyone wants to do a longer write up of their character please feel free to add to that page. It will be good to have little bits of knowledge about many of the people living in Dragon Fen, that is part of what Adventures in the Wastes is all about.

9-12 BOB

Thank you everyone for being here.

9/6 Carissa

No summary from me for at least the next three Fridays. Feel free to volunteer to do them. Bob already was voluntold to do quotes for this week (which is an easy week if anyone wants to step in to write the summary portion).

IF I am here for most of the birthday game, I can probably do that one as I usually write it as we play. But not Fridays. Not right now.

8-30 BOB

So we are close to the transition phase of story arcs and characters, etc. I expect that this upcoming session (2020 09 04) will be dealing with the outside of the church issues. Moat, swamp pit, griffon. It might bleed into the next session depending on who is in. These are challenges that require thought and a bit of planning but once the decision is made can go quickly in real time as we just click off the time needed.

So the session following that (2020 09 11) will be wrapping up any details for Third Time is Tradition and officially starting Claiming Skull Church. We will also be doing some more of the Home Stories adventures. With the next day being BOB's Birthday Game I hope for a nice turnout. That day I intend to have quick fun things for people to deal with. We will have them all wrapped up on 2020 09 18 and start the rest of Claiming Skull Church.

For the Wednesday sessions in Adventures in the Wastes I need to know who is likely to be in. I am currently counting on Valerie, Spring and beyond that I do not know. John you mentioned perhaps Michael is interested? Does that mean both you and him? This next session (2020 09 02) we will create characters and then really start playing the new story arc the next week.

8-23 BOB

I created the final section for our first Adventures in the Wastes story arc for the four returning heroes to write up their return back to The Tree.

That can take place over a couple of weeks.

I do want to know if anyone wants to participate live on Wednesday nights for another story arc or if to change these to narrative only.

Wednesday nights from 7-10, same sort of casual stories without the main characters, each story is different.

8/1 John

So to be clear, everyone and anyone is encouraged to join in the group writing project Hoffman's Dream The main point is to show a different side of your character, or just do or say things in a different way, from Hoffman's point of view. The good news, you get to decide how Hoffman sees you.

The process can be off line or on line, it can be a monologue or back and forth. It will be linear eventually but I am open to interruptions. You can write the transitions or just your thoughts. It is a dream and Hoffman has a history with magic dreams so ... so much is possible.

7/31 John

I can no longer compete with Multi Media Story telling Carissa. I am not worthy.

lol thanks John :) - Carissa

7-26 BOB

Quote found on the net:

Welcome back to Invisibility class. It's pretty disappointing to see so many of you here.

7/22 TMO

Discord is intended for coordination, casual chatter, and unofficial things, mostly. All direct game material should be done here on the site.

Character personalities can be strong or not, depending on what you want to play. :) You should also make sure to separate character personalities from player personalities. It's hard for new players to do sometimes, but essential to avoid hurt feelings and ill will.

7-20 Lara

I agree that there are things that are confusing, but for me it is still where and when things happen. While I'm not sure this is the venue to discuss this, I figure we can always take down this post if it should live somewhere else. This is just one example...communication (what do I put on Discord? what do I post on the wiki and where? what do I ask during Chat sessions?)

This week I found it confusing that we were able to roam around all over the place without the 120 foot rule. Then I realized this was the first week that we had no combat. It took me till this week to realize that there is a big difference as to what a character can do during battle versus non-battle. This might have been the delineation I needed so I am grateful for non-battle time. Other things that I am still working out: how characters communicate with each other in a shared space, when to ask the DM something directly versus asking aloud, and the dynamics of both the characters and the players.

Admittedly, I've been hanging back a bit because not only do the characters have history with each other but so do the players. I'm the newbie and, while I know that everyone has welcomed me with open arms, the personalities are strong (as evidenced as Mike's abrupt exit). The role-playing is my favorite part. Having Emerald flirt with Talwin was easy, probably because I can do that in real-life! I'm still learning all the lingo so I don't really know how to have a conversation with anyone. This week I tried and I realized that while there are many characters, there are fewer players. Plus, keeping track of which players go with which characters is still tricky.

My goal this week is to put myself nearer the majority.

7-19 BOB

We are at a point where things get confusing on what you want to do as Players and what you want to do as Characters.

As was pointed out over on After the big battle there are still things to do in Skull Church:

You also have to work out what to do with Skull Church now. Depending on the characters who might leave and how all things work out given what has developed it seems to me that it is likely for Branwyn to declare she is taking possession of the Skull church area for Dragon Fen. Then a new story arc about Adding Skull Church territory would involve the goblins and surrounding lands. Dealing with neighbors might be suited for another thread in Home Stories etc.

As I see things moving forward from the meta game perspective. Third Time is Tradition will continue for the next three or four sessions. Walking through the crypts from the sacred area through to entrance from the church, checking everything as you go. Not exactly cleaning but making sure there are few to no dangers left. For example there are 9 little black puddings scattered throughout the crypts, it is unlikely you will find and kill all of them. Then keeping the church up above clean, the griffon, maybe the moat and farmhouse. That wraps up this story arc.

Then the next of several story arcs that will split up characters among different threads begins. There will be a ceremony to start Claiming Skull Church where Hoffman and Pete will swear their fealty oaths to Branwyn. Then over some months of game time played out both in Friday sessions and in the threads for that story arc, Hoffman will utilize his skills and enlist the help of other characters to establish Skull Church as a viable steady outpost for Dragon Fen. That will include dealing with the goblins living below Skull Church, the farmhouse, potentially razing and rebuilding a more appropriate building for living in for Hoffman, the nearby burned village, generating revenue from the church, etc.

At the same time there are stories to be played out with other tasks like and adventures such as returning Black Cloaks body to his Estate, negociating treaties, story arcs that involve Gnomes, Bullywugs, Goblins, creating other revenue such as a fishing fleet, a Treant that wants more land for his forest rather than farms, building roads and rebuilding villages, etc. Plus things like the Countess sending people off to gather spell and magical supplies, the BOB's Birthday Game adventure, and oh yeah there was that thing about the Goblin King stealing Branwyn's kids away.......

We will have two or four story arcs running at the same time. Some nights we will concentrate on just one, others will be jumping from one story to a different one in a session. Timelines will be complicated and we will make sure everyone understands where they are at each point along the way. Everyone will have a chance to play various roles and I hope that everyone has fun.

7-15 BOB

I added the Maximum Level chart to the Leveling page.

As I was going through characters I found that Kenna is at max level already, Indigo is 3 away, Phin is 4 away, Shi is 5 away, Foto is 8 away, Skarp is 9 away from max level (taking into account current Ability scores).

I have decided that characters that are maxed out on level do still earn Experienece Points. They will not go up in level but the number will be taken into account for level draining or presitge etc. However they will be treated as NPCs rather than Player Characters or Henchmen for counting towards the total Experience Points awarded each night.

For example Branwyn, Tiberius and Indigo are on an adventure. They have an encounter that is worth 1,000 XP. Branwyn gets 2 shares as a Player Character, Indigo gets 1 share as a Henchman. I divide up the 1,000 by that number of shares so Branwyn receives 666, Indigo gets 333, and Tiberius gets the equivilant of a henchman of 333. Note Tiberius is not counted towards the shares of experience. He earns them without taking away points that the characters the Players are in control of earn.

So going forward if Kenna is on an adventure she continues to earn XP but her shares do not come out of the total for the other characters.

7/13 Lisa

I did last week's summary but would love some quotes help from anyone.

Also - a volunteer for next week's summary?

7/12 Carissa

Big favor to ask: could some write the summary for this week and possibly next week? I'm wayyyy behind on A Trip To The Wildlands and apparently have two weeks, more if I'm lucky, to finish it (or is it 20 days and rounded down to two weeks?). I can't even post a new story today because I may not have written it yet... Or the next one. Which are preventing me from posting the other parts actually written.

Anyways, point is, I can still write Wednesday summaries because they're simple and short. I cannot give Friday the due diligence it needs, especially with such an eventful session this Friday. Would someone else do it? Please and thank you!

7-11 BOB

Some thoughts on the events of 2020 07 10 and ideas on what happened and what to do.

First I think everyone did admirably during this portion of exploring the crypts over the last seven sessions. In the order they come to my mind:

The final big battle was good, Hoffman and Sundown almost being turned to Undead, everyone doing their part to battle through to the end after taking some severe damage. There can be no doubt in anyone's mind now about why Skull Church has been such a struggle for the group over years of game play.

Which brings us to the idea that the battle is over but the adventure continues.

You are now at the high level/high concept portion of the adventure. You have to figure out where everyone is, who is alive, damaged, drained, dead, etc. You have lots of investigation and roleplay and decisions to make. One I will take a moment to explain here is the Restoration spell.

Restoration is a 7th level spell so it needs a 14th level Priest who has an Intuition of 18 or higher. 14th level Priests get one 7th level spell per day. Going with the minimum requirement you will have 13 days to find such a person and convince them to cast the spell for you. Each time the spell is cast it ages the Priest two years. Each casting restores one level.

Yes as TMO and others have pointed out Level Drain is an overpowering effect. I have always been judicious in using creatures that can exactly because it make adventures like this so much more memorable.

Lots to think about and plot and plan to see how to best go forward with ideas.

7-10 BOB

One reason people might be having issues with KloOge is if your Java version is very different than the one that I am running.

When you open KloOge you go to Help -> About and it should show Java version 1.8.0_251

If you have that you are on a close enough build to mine that things should work smoother.

6-24 BOB

Just doing a bit of research on mining.

https://archive.org/details/deremetallica50agri/page/n19/mode/2up

Copyright 1556

6-22 TMO

I shudder a bit at the thought of Shur running the Guild. ;) Although I think she's maturing quite a bit at the moment, having to take care of both a child and Ilero.

I'm not sure that, right this minute, the Guild would survive the loss of Ilero. At this point it's still his personality and reputation that's pulling in new recruits. If it can get to the point where it starts to grow beyond it's beginning size, then I think it could keep going under its own momentum, even without Ilero. However, the fate of the Guild is currently out of my hands.

Just as an FYI to the other players, I don't see Brer Necholis and Sundown as being permanent PCs in the group, unless the group winds up adopting his mission. They're here currently for reasons of their own, and when they've completed this mission, they'll be off to their next one. Very goal-oriented, these paladin types. :) BUT, assuming he does survive this arc, and he and the group haven't had a serious fallout, he's very likely to be a person they can call on for help or information, if they can find him.

6-21 BOB

Posting here because it is tangential to the questions Lisa posted for John over on the Out of Character thread about how the aftermath of Third Time is Tradition looks for the group but not specific to that question.

The group is powerful enough now that most characters are acquiring substantial possessions. Now that Branwyn is the Countess of Dragon Fen there are decisions to make for how that continues in the future. My thoughts on how that would work, but Lisa has not laid out expressly are in the event of Branwyn's death she does not want to be brought back to life - that has been expressly stated. Tiberius would inherit the Estate. Because there is a very strong tradition of women ruling here in Drillian and because he never expected to or wanted to rule his own Kingdom Tiberius would instead rule as Regent until Dahlia is old enough to take over. If Tiberius is not available for such duties then Indigo would be the person to become Regent. Dahlia is now just under 3 years old.

The same idea for TMO, Ilero is now retired and 'safe' but has an heir to the guild in Lanek or Shur. Shi and Kel have their own issues (see ongoing story telling here) to see how/if the temple will continue. John is working through his own story for Hoffman and Miranda's future also. There is a Vassalage page to start on thinking how the linkage from family to Estate/Kingdom works and vice versa.

Our stories have evolved beyond just defeating Black Cloak or which ever problem there is at the moment because the characters are all interacting with the world around them. As evidenced by Emerald coming to see Branwyn about using the library. Being famous has its rewards and its challenges.

As a refresher also on the local area under consideration. The Craniate Wastes contain both the Jistille Estates and Dragon Fen. You are very friendly with Jistille. To the north of that lies the Quelcon Estates (where Black Cloak is from), to your west just past Redfern Lake is the Medipop Estates. The enormous Mosskin Estates loom between both of those. All three are neutral at the moment. To the east across trackless swamps is the Eustace Estates, an old friend is working on rebuilding that Estate after the Civil War. Then to the southeast are the Bopel Estates which are not friendly to your side. A reminder You can download Google Earth plug-in here to have all these locations and distances available.

Also there is still space around the Wastes for small Estates that you are not familiar with or to create new holdings.

We have very many stories to tell in this area over the next few years.

6-20 BOB

Lisa, updated the Session Styles page for Goblin now so will work just like the other languages do.

I do think the color is a bit off, it looks the same as Hin currently. I wanted Gold for Hin and Yellow/Green for Goblins and similar Humanoid? and Green/Brown for Lizard Men and the other cold blooded races.

If TMO, Carissa or others with knowledge of those color codes can pick please?

I set it to olive (this color). Let me know if you prefer a different one. - Carissa

Should it be This color for Goblins, etc.? Then what color for the Cold Blooded races that are swamp based?

6/20 Lisa

BOB - you say in chat that there is Goblin language formatting in the session style. I can't find the session style page on the site and don't remember we set that up. Is it % goblin % or something else? ETA: It's not that since I just typed it and nothing happened

Thanks

5-30 BOB

I am beginning a new experiment for the game. I have decided that yes I like the Wednesday night time to work on the game, build etc. I also like the fun easy interactions of the stories we started there. So I have organized that night a bit differently now. I am calling that the Adventures in the Wastes story arc and running it a bit different than the regular Friday night sessions.

We will continue to meet on Wednesdays from 7 to 11. For the most part the primary characters will only make a guest appearance, these are designed to be stories about the other people and creatures who are living in the Craniate Wastes. I want to use these for more world building, to highlight how the actions of the player characters affect the world around them. I will attempt to have these stories be a bit more lighthearted in nature, sometimes tweaking the rules to match a theme. Many times the story arcs will involve the players having a new character only for that story. All the stories will be taking place in the boundaries of the Craniate Wastes as part of the Home Stories.

Perhaps it will be a story around a farmer with a lost cow and his overnight adventure to recover it lost in the Valoris Wood, or a gnome child wandering up to that big scary church on the hill to see what is there. There are over a thousand people living in Dragon Fen alone as part of the Wastes. There will be lots of stories for both game nights. I always have ideas.

There is one particularly new twist for the Adventures in the Wastes Sessions. It will be by invite only per story arc and the expectation is that these nights will be all women participating. We have three players right now as part of the Valoris Wood Adventures with Lisa, Carissa and Spring. We will be adding two more players for the rest of that adventure and the next story arc to come. I am certain that everyone will understand this idea and embrace it.

I am looking forward to trying this new experiment for several months to see how the two intertwine and help each other grow.

5/23 TMO

I'll clean out the junk and clean this week's file, Lisa.

Thank you! Thank you! I see the turn roll on Friday is still strange, but it's only on the roll not the whole chat. You saved the chat! Lisa

5-22 BOB

Did two different saves, one at HTML like normal one at Text

The text test did not come out as expected.

5/19 TMO

I've created a standard block of Klooge code for anyone to use for Turning Undead in the future. Assuming your character is a standard Cleric/Paladin, you can use the code as-written, without having to update it every time you go up a level. It *should* even work for multi-classed with Cleric/Paladin levels.

I've also created a Category where we can store neat Klooge Expressions we've created. Category.KloogeExpressions. So if you have any you want to save for posterity, just link that category to the page.

If you have anything you want a more complicated expression created for, but don't think you can do the coding yourself, similar to the Turn Undead thing, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

PS- So, we're leaving Klooge ASAP, and I'm over here creating custom Klooge code... typical TMO...

5/16 Carissa

Not sure when I'll be able to do summary this week. If someone is feeling bored/creative, please feel free to write it up. Otherwise I'll try to cobble something together by Friday.

04/29 Michael

First, I would like to apologize for missing this last weekend. I had to haul additional medical waste from two medical complexes where biohazard materials are being placed into public garbage cans and they needed to be sterilized. It was a last-minute begging for assistance.

If you feel I don't have the right to comment on last session, don't bother reading. However, I spent two days and multiple readings of the chat to attempt to figure out what happened.

I tried to be neutral, but some inherent bias may come out. I am the first to say that I was not there, and therefore may not fully understand a situation.

My Summary:

Let me preface by saying I was not here; however, I am reading this with a fresh pair of eyes. I will attempt to give a neutral opinion, but I am only human and will probably present my own bias as I explore what happened.

Then I would like to point out how badly I’ve fudged up in the past. I am not some holier than thou saint to post anything other than my neutral observation. If you think I can go to hell for what I post, then I’m sorry. I mean no offense by my comments. This is just what I noticed. I was not there in the heart of it all.

I would like to Point out that Skull Church is incredibly confusing, and to be honest, outright discouraging. I only have a character here, because the game has the good, but also has the bad, and sometimes, we must just get our elbows down in the manure so we can get back to the funner parts.

I myself have spent far longer time than I actually have right now, attempting to “Catch-up” on years before my own time trying to figure this place out. I still have almost no clue how this place operates. Add to the fact that it seems to change slightly every time someone shows up.

Furthermore, Klooge whether we want to admit it or not is aging. I have a hard time using it on the best days and across three different computers. It is difficult at times, to know how far a distance is because the maps are hard for me to follow. It is sometimes hard to zoom in and out and to keep all characters on the screen so that you can click on them to pull up dice panels, target, etc. It truly is a pain in the toosh, but it is what it is. The tools used to measure distance, usually end up causing so much confusion for me, that I simply am discouraged from using it because it would take a long time to figure it out while everyone is trying to do stuff in chat. I am so afraid I will miss something critical by using the tools at hand, I don’t attempt to use them unless absolutely necessary.

I don’t know how that is for others. It may just be me. I still have fun, and I am assuming nothing better has popped up. Therefore, the software is what it is. Furthermore, I am constantly getting my NPC characters mixed up. Just reading the chat, I had to go look up who Red/Black cloak was (there is another hour gone), attempt to figure out how Goblins fit in all of this, etc.

Also, I think it should be noted that TONE is not conveyed well in a chat-based format. I myself was confused about what exactly Lisa was saying STOP for. I thought it was initially for something other than Fritz and had to go back a couple of times. It is easy to say “Hop on the Discord” when you MUST come back and spend all that time re-typing everything back in chat. If we are going to use Discord or another voice program, then I feel that everybody should be included. Trying to translate Vocal and Chat is too damn hard to do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great and I love it. But I won’t deny it’s hard to spend an hour vocalizing something, and then coming back and typing out a novel in the chat window, meanwhile, everyone else who is NOT in the vocal chat is doing their thing too. Next

Then came the jump mathematics of the pit. I had to actually grab a pencil and graph paper to figure that out. In the end, I still do not know which was correct. I know this is a serious Role-Playing game, but between all the confusion, hell, I might have tried to make that jump. Then, I saw (from my perspective) not a confrontational argument on behalf of Fritz to Bob, but two frustrated individuals trying to express a complex principle through a chat forum, on rules that I myself have a hell of time understanding. Hell, that’s hard on anyone.

Furthermore, I know when you find a video to prove a point, that’s well and good. I’m not sure it was appropriate to post it and claim that you would be right. I know Bob is our DM and deserves respect for doing that. I’m not sure I agree with him overtly saying that he was correct by him being the one to make the ruling. I felt that it wasn’t conducive to either party. This would have immediately shut me down from attempting to figure anything else because I would have been discouraged by seeing that my actions don’t matter. It’s the Game Master who will be right.

Then, there was confusion in the next area. Reading through a couple of times, it seemed like everyone was focused on checking for traps. Lots of discussion and a couple of rolls. By the time Fritz rolled his 23 against 30. I was POSITIVE that he was doing what was the logical next step. I CANNOT SEE THE MAP, I am only reading the log, but it looked like he moved 26 feet? I personally don’t think that so far that he had moved beyond the conversation “boundary” and was checking for traps in the same general area? It seemed like people were naturally spreading out anyways. TMO said to bring your adventure buddy. John was asking who was going left and who was going right. I thought that you all were still in the same general vicinity. I’m not sure Fritz was moving on without further discussion? I thought he wasn't.

Then, came the confusion on where Fritz was checking traps. By this point, I’m so confused about what has been checked and what hasn’t that I have now, (Actually did this) pulled out a sheet of paper and tried to checkmark what has and has not been checked. I COULD NOT DO IT. WHAT THE HELL IS BEING CHECKED. I know I’m upset sometimes at rash action, hell I do it too, but I’m not finding fault with Fritz in this room.

No one seems to know what ANYONE wants to do here. I DO see Fritz attempting to figure it out and trying to help. He is attempting to clarify several times in this room.

Bob says that no one is doing anything until the discussion is over which makes sense because he’s probably trying to figure out what the hell anyone wants to do. I certainly can’t figure it out.

Then Fritz does move a good distance. 70 feet or so? BUT he does attempt to get clarification on where the balcony is at. While I agree that the “Discussion” never seemed to finish, it looks like the moment had passed. Again, I don’t know, I wasn’t there to see how long it took for the next “messages” to pop up in Chat.

Next came the literal manure show, of the stairs. At this point. I’ve given up and am just trying to figure out positions of enemies, allies, and anyone else. If I was in-game, I probably would have smoke coming from my head while I work out the rules, enemies, are their stairs? balconies, spells, etc. Meanwhile, Fritz is attempting to check for traps. Now, a consistent variable that I’m surprised wasn’t emphasized enough to everyone. I’m picturing him attempting to figure out the best way to proceed without screwing everyone over. Especially, because we gave him such a hard time about the dolls.

It looks like John is providing some guidance, or at least attempting too. I sometimes BEG bob to force someone to be a leader so we can get some damn order on the game. Yes, it sucks. Is it necessary sometimes? In a chat-based environment? HELL TO THE YES. BUT, nowhere did I figure out that everyone had elected him as a de facto leader. (YET!) Therefore, everyone is still figuring out what they want to do. At least, that was how it appeared to me.

Now, is where I see John being told to take Charge. OK. We’ve got a leader. He is doing a great job. John, don’t sell yourself short. As for trying to figure out the balcony situation, trap checking, etc. I’m still at a loss for an order of operations here. John has presented them, but people are still confused or throwing out ideas, which is derailing the order.

Now, I do see a dialogue between Fritz and Bob. While the group is dealing with Pews? And traps that might be associated with them, they are conversing. Fritz wants to do something. Ok. Bob states that nothing has happened yet. Now, I’m leaning toward a Statement said by the DM that nothing has happened yet. I would be confused, because the first time I read through, I thought the natural progression of order had continued past the discussion. However, I could have made that mistake. But, the order of operations has been reestablished. OK Got it.

Now, John has def. acknowledged Fritz. I got this down. He states the stairs are next. Lanek now does find/remove traps. I’m again not exactly sure, but I *think* this may have been part of John’s plan? John can you clarify here. Nonetheless, if this was still discussion, and that nothing had yet happened, I thought Bob would have said “No. I have stopped everything until the discussion ended.” Bob, I myself thought you would say this instead of letting it progress. I could see your point def., but I thought you said this to Fritz, who did, in fact, stop I thought. Was I wrong here? I wasn’t there and I can’t see the map, so I could be.

Then, absolute chaos as I try to sort through Enemies.

I laughed as Spring said that she would get Lanek killed from being too clumsy to pull his icon down the aisle. In which, I fully agree to Spring. I’ve done that a few times. LOL.

Then I was confused again on Order of Ops for the movement that Bob brought up. This is clearly something I’m not understanding due to my issues with the rules, but I myself am confused here. However, I would have accepted it. I must have missed the implication earlier. Then, despite everyone being told that John is taking charge, there is the angst that no one wanted to listen to anyone else’s plan. Oh boy, I can understand that. However, from my own experience from this Chat. By the time I am here, I have no idea WHAT THE HELL ANYONE WANTS.

And, now that there are this many enemies on the field, I have to scroll back on the chat wheel god knows where to try and figure out what I’ve missed and who has ignored who. (Which I very much doubt was intentional. Everyone is for the most part very respectful of everyone else’s plans. Sometimes, we just need someone’s plan to be picked, otherwise, it will never be over with.)

Continuing on down the chat, I will say right here right now. If anyone, tells me to shut up, especially when I’m genuinely confused about what the hell is going on, I’m done. I love you all very much, but I don’t take shit from anyone anymore. Especially now, when I’m trying to help people on a goddamn daily basis and am treated like shit in my daily life. I play to have fun. I have one goddamn evening off every week. AN EVENING. If I’m in the wrong, fine. But when I’m not? Oh boy. There will be a reckoning on the day someone tells me to Shut up. That’s not just bob. That goes for any of you.

I don’t know what the tonal situation was. I wasn’t there. I don’t know the true facts of who thought they knew what. I’m not a mind reader.

But That is my line in the sand. I’ve fudged up hard in this game. I have hurt other people’s feelings and felt like shit for it. I have had Bob tell me he’s very angry with me. I accept it because I deserved it. Do not ever tell me to Shut up when I don’t deserve it. Fritz, only you can be the judge if you felt you deserved it. I am not exactly sure how to read this chat. I have spent a whole day puzzling over it. I am still pissed about seeing it nonetheless, but that is just a bias I have. I do not know enough to make an informed neutral observation.

Do you know what I do see? I do see that Fritz thought they asked him to check for Traps. Which was done NUMEROUS times? Then, at the end, he even apologized. Bob, why would you say “So you all lose.”? I think there was legitimate confusion, or there may not have been, but that certainly would have made me feel like shit either way. I do think sometimes we all jump the gun, but though I may express exasperation, frustration, or anger through personal messages to bob, if I ever say that to any of you in the game, I want you to fly to over here and slap me upside the head.

I NEVER have time to read the chats. But on rare occasions, I force time when truly needed. This time was needed. This is what I observed.

Again, this is my opinion. I tried to remain as neutral as possible, however I am human. I have biases.

This was not meant to antagonize anyone. This was not meant to discourage anyone. This was not to throw disrespect at anyone. This is me, being confused as all hell, on how any expected this to go differently. It was absolute Chaos from start to finish, and everyone tried as hard as they could to do what the thought was right. I could not read tone, but I thought some sentences were snarky for no reason and weren’t warranted for anybody.

Come on guys. Let us have fun. What the hell was this session? Truly? Again, I was not there, but I still took the time to read the log and at least attempt to figure out how the hell this went sideways six ways to Sunday.

Fritz, I have turned down work so that I can be here this Friday. I hope you will join me, though I fully understand if you would like to take a break. It's something I understand personally. In fact, at times, I think we all want to take a break.

-M

4/28 Lisa

Fritz -

You and Bob need to work this out. A few of us have already posted we want you to stay and I stand by it. We're all human and angry sometimes happens. You guys need to talk or something.

Can I correct you a bit on the chat log though please? I read it every week while formatting so I get a double dose of Fridays. Your excerpt below starts too late for what BOB was referring to at the end of chat.

Before that section, we had checked the case, Branwyn was washing the characters from the brown pool, Brer Necholas was examining and blessing the skeletons and Hoffman was planning how best to lock and barricade the door. We were all at the back of the church when Grolduk came forward to try to climb up onto the balconies and so passed the middle section of the church. That was the 100 ft. Even though the 2nd floor hangs over the alcove areas, the only place he could have climbed up was the front of the church. We were actually lucky the ghouls didn't come out then. But anyway, that was what Bob was referring to and not the OOC discussion that came later.

Hope this helps clarify a bit.

4/28/20

I'm sorry I don't exactly know where I should be posting this. This can be deleted or moved where it is the most appropriate. I went through the chat log and tried to abbreviate the thread as much as I could, without editing the events for my benefit. The full chat log will show how little I actually did/say up to the end. I just want to show how things went from discussing what to do to Fritz needs to "SHUT UP". So if you see room in here for me to continue tell me, because it seems that it is my "presence" in the game rather than the nature of my actions in the game that is the issue.

"Lara has left the game on Fri Apr 24 22:11:15 EDT 2020 … [Grolduk Groundsearcher (Fritz)] Any doors under the balcony? [Master] what light source are you using? … [Master] there is natural light coming in from the upper windows on the balcony that iluminates the central open area and the altar up front Fritz has edited Drayven Starmantle's effects. Drayven Starmantle (Fritz) pulls out his stone of continual light on a chain...pat pend … [Master] Time of Day: 01:45 PM. Day 9 See ___ de, Din {Mid Spring} 9th, 349 SKR. … [JohnA] Door is done, they are going to altar and trap door, it was stated … [Branwyn (Lisa)] (do the altar people have a light?) … [Master] no one has asked to make a traps check yet … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (A traps check has not been made where?) Branwyn (Lisa) Indigo follows with his buckle light [Master] anywhere inside the church other than on the front doors [Master] zero traps checks … [JohnA] [Hoffman]] moved 21'10". [Spring] Lanek: Find/remove traps check:(d100) [1d100=6] 6 - ROLL SUCCEEDED against 70!! [Master] OK [JohnA] [Hoffman]] moved 21'03". [Master] so I guess we are moving on then done with discussion … [Master] Lisa is correct, do Spring and TMO remember what John means by a trap door on the ALtar? … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] Grolduk Groundsearcher: Find/remove traps check:(d100) [1d100=23] 23 - ROLL SUCCEEDED against 30!! [Master] OK I guess Fritz wants to move on with no more disucussoin? … [Brer Necholas (TMO)] Someone needs to examine the Altar before anything else. [Spring] (sounds like a job for Lanek!) [Brer Necholas (TMO)] Sorry, before anything to do with the trap door. [JohnA] Do we want to use majic? [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (I checked for traps because i was told we hadn't...I am a scout actually as welll) [Lisa] checked what for traps? [Master] Where do you want to check for Traps Fritz? … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (Where did they want them checked?) [JohnA] Altar … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] So that is where My check was done [Lisa] what was on the altar? I saw there was something and missed what it was [Brer Necholas (TMO)] (we don't know yet) … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] Omen moved 50'02". [Lisa] right foot in? [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] Grolduk Groundsearcher moved 74'09". [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] Omen moved 13'00". [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] Drayven Starmantle moved 70'10". [Master] right now you are all standing in the front under the balcony … Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (STOP) [Lisa] no one is moving [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] I guess I am confused as to where the balconies are … [Master] there is a dotted line that shows the edge of the balconies … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (So aren't we in the open now?) [Master] that group up front near the altar just walked blithely up the middle of the church where anyone on the balconies can see you hear you walk along and move up to the altar … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (Ahhh I see … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] So I did a check people where did you want me to do it? … [Lisa] so do we want to keep going as we are or take a step back? … [Master] there are stairs [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (I asked and you said there were none) … [Master] again Snee, Howard, Indigo, Branwyn, Tiberious have all been here [Master] and to this point NONE of them have been asked or volunteered to say where the stairs are … [Master] So John what is happening? … [JohnA] checking trap, examining altar [JohnA] then checking traps on trap door [Master] So who is moving out to do that? … [Master] /frtiz nothign has happened yet, I stopped everyone from doing things to discuss, now John is telling everyone what he wants them to do … [Master] So john what do you want to do? [JohnA] aproach altar checking for traps and evil [Master] and see Frtiz? all these things last time within 50 feet of where you are right now [Master] PLUS more [Master] it is evil [Master] just take it as a fact [Master] the entire building glows evil … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (I never doubted that at all) [Master] Ok so the rest of the group back there John? what are they doing? [JohnA] go ahead and rll spring [Lanek (Spring)] Lanek: Find/remove traps check:(d100) [1d100=47] 47 - ROLL SUCCEEDED against 70!! [Lanek (Spring)] Lanek: Observation check: (d20) [1d20=7] 7 - ROLL SUCCEEDED against 17!! [Master] OK so I guess Lanek is up there [Master] Lanek moved 21'02". [Brer Necholas (TMO)] (and Brer behind [Master] I tried I really really tried [Brer Necholas (TMO)] (the rest stay behind [Master] Combat has begun! … [Drayven Starmantle (Fritz)] (So we can't "see" as we move forward? Not arguing just trying to understand how you do vision in your game that is different from normal D&D rules) … [Master] this happens EVERY time [Master] no Fritz if you would have jsut SHUT UP and waited for everyone to have a chance to do things and move [Master] but instead you jumped 100 feet ahead at once [Master] so you moved RIGHT PAST THE STAIRS [Master] because you did not let me say anything [Master] so you all lose"

4/258 John (Long Post)

There are two stories I wanted to share the last two weeks but with the number of players and what is going on, it is probably best to share here.

There was this time in the old campaign where we were shrunk to the size of mice walking great distances for the size to try to get somewhere. It was not until someone was carried off by a bat that my character pulled some magic out of his bag and turned another dead bat into a mode of transportation to try and save them. I will never forget the reaction I got wondering why I had not used the magic closer to the beginning of the adventure. I think I have come a long way to use a potion of levitation to get past a simple sludge pit. I am just saying sometimes we hold back what we can do and in some ways make a bigger challenge for ourselves. It will always be part of the game, but let's try and not let something stay in the party pack, just to carry around waiting to use it.

I love having Fritz in the game, ever if this story sounds contrary.

In the old campaign I had one of the lead characters but in many ways still played second fiddle a lot of the times, in character and especially out. One adventure we took just our henchmen to visit a dream mages. My henchman being the highest level was put in charge and I looked forward to actually leading. I guided the team stairs up a set of stairs almost immediately to the bedroom of the Dream mage where she lay sleeping. If we had any in game reason to believe a kiss would wake her, we could have ended it right there, that is how the adventure eventually ended. We never did find any real clue but we were paused for a moment, with no clue at the moment and waiting for another player to join late. Fritz walked in, took his dynamic personality and marched the entire party straight back down the stairs to the beginning without a second thought from anyone. I was crushed. As far as I remember we went room to room, floor to floor but ending right back where we were, none the wiser on how to solve the quest, in game. But with a Bob hint, someone kissed the mage, she woke and things moved on. That character never lead again and quite possibly I was never the same player, for better or worse.

I know I have my moments, we all do. A moment or situation where we have to take a lead in the story for a bit, or at least be the focal point of guiding the story with a required skill or piece of knowledge. It is a lot of responsibility that not everyone is comfortable with. It ties into the on going theme of role-playing characters as they should be player beyond what the player brings to the table. A character does not have to be a leader for the player to lead. The reverse is much harder on players and the characters. Someone who does not want to lead, or has a hard time leading needs all the support they can get for the sake of the team. A leader in many ways is only as good as the support and challenge the others give.

I say this for two reasons.

I felt a little like I was put on the spot, I can't remember Bob ever saying your in charge, tell everyone what to do. This was a complete 180 to the previous scene where my idea was dismissed and the fact that I seem to have to repeat the portion of the plan or my ideas that seemed already in development made me feel less like I was leading and more like I was taking orders and giving them, taking full responsibility suddenly. I did not do a good job at that point to the team, even thought I agree with Lisa that this was going to happen, just the details might have changed. I will do better next time THAT happens. My only real complaint is the attitude we got from Bob, who knew the plan, pushed it along then acted like we had some clue of exactly what was going to happen and should have been in a better position, but I do not think Monday morning quarterbacking is the issue.

I also think the more long term solution is quite the opposite of what it sound like Fritz's plan is. I do think with support and encouragement, he would make an excellent leader as a player when he is here. The fact that his characters do not know what has happened leads to him asking and role playing the discussions Bob was looking for us to have. He may push a little hard at times, but it is with the games best interest at heart. The time we play is limited and he wants to make sure he and in his way, the rest of us get the most out of it.

Regardless of what he decides to do, I will try harder to go full in on what the party decides to do and do my part to support players and character even as I may try to rein them in. Accept my leadership role when appropriate and accept the responsibility and when others need to lead not just watch but support them as needded.

4/25 Lisa

Fritz,

Please don’t stay away because of last night. I’m going to post another book in the OOC thread (Verbose is my middle name after all), so I won’t get into it all here in Player Comm. But quickly, someone was going to walk into 20 ghouls at some point. Was Lanek my preference? No, but it would have been someone. Did it have to happen before Black Cloak showed up? I wish it didn’t, but it did. It’s like the barrel opening the other night. Was it optimal? No. Will we get through this? Yes. Stuff happens and I hope we can talk through it. What happened in the church was not your fault. It had a lot of contributing factors and this situation is not unrecoverable. I want to see Capt. Jack on Wednesday and Drayven on Friday unless you really don’t want to play.

4-25 BOB

Fritz, Everyone understands your enthusiasm and wanting to DO THINGS. The current combat situation was going to happen no matter what. I do not think it needed to happen the way it currently is laid out.

We said STOP twice during the session to try to get everyone focused on what the task at hand was. I eventually put John in charge of directing the action so that everyone would have a point person to go off of. There was no doubt people would be able to do what they wanted but everyone needed a director to say OK now you go, you go, etc.

{I will make a different post in the OOC about my opinions on that}

What I do think you need to understand Fritz, and everyone else, is that STOP is not a place to make sure your action is going to be what you wanted to do/were doing but to make sure to listen to everyone and what they think is currently happening and as importantly why it is happening. I think that got away from everyone last night.

I do think that it was a good session for anyone to see and look at what the problems where and how they could handled differently.

I believe the group overall is good and we can all be successful. But right now with a large number of characters (not the number of players) people get to worried that they need to do something, I have been sitting here watching chat scroll by forever! Everyone will get their chance to do things. Fritz's character could have climbed the balcony at any time, everyone could have taken their time heading straight to the front of the church, checking for traps, etc. Side conversations that help build roleplaying etc. Just like I did with Tiberius, Griff and Sundown. None of the three of them needed to do anything but they were there in the background with idle chatter and everyone knew they were part of the encounter.

I will point out that Fritz asked about where the stairs were several times, none of the people who were here previously pointed out WHERE they were, they talked about the traps on the stairs every time though. No one asked 'what do the balconies look like?' before trying to climb up there. Lots of small minor things that characters and players can get involved in without disrupting anyone else.

We have the discord channels for lots of side conversations also outside of Klooge and people can use voice chat etc to stay in the flow of conversations if what the other characters are doing is not something you want to pay attention to at the moment.

Finally if you really feel a need to take a week or a month off Fritz, or anyone, please do. BUT do not because you think you are not a good fit for every moment of a 5 hour game session 48 weeks a year. IF Lara does decide to join and we decide to accept her I have talked about how few people stay the entire time and few make it every week.

There are practical reasons also for why we have chat like this. Lisa was happy to tease you Fritz about reading the chat because that does show you really do care and want to make the best out of the situation. Feel free to post what you found in those old chats in the OOC so that everyone can use that information for comparisons.

4-24 Fritz

So sorry for putting everyone in this position. I was trying to do what I thought I was being asked to do.

So as Bob said this is my fault for blindly walking for 100'. I was not trying to usurp the game. I thought I was following orders/requests of players. When I was told to stop I did. If my presence is creating situations that get people killed then obviously I am more detrimental to your joy in gaming. There are obviously rules and situations I am clearly unaware of how they are done in this game. I generally go by my understanding of second edition rules. I know every DM has the privilege and responsibility to run the game according to his rules for consistency and the gaming pleasure of everyone involved. My lack of understanding of the differences in the rules has been unfortunate and harmful to you all.

I have said that I get confused at times with the flow of chat, and there are times my computer screen jumps up and down and I miss lines. Even though I have had very little time I have stayed up late at night to try and catch up on the old history to be helpful. My mistake. I had hoped I would be able to fit in with this group. I created characters based on what Bob told me you all needed rather than what I personally would have chosen in the beginning. It is not that I am unhappy with the characters I am playing it is just to stress that my desire was to be boon, not a hindrance. It looks like you are getting a new player who is new to the D&D realm so her mind won't be prejudiced with assumptions of the rules.

Again I wasn't trying to bulldoze my way through the dungeon. I wasn't trying to lead. I moved my character forward only because I thought that was where we were supposed to be when I was asked to check for traps. Realize I didn't even understand that you all were standing under a balcony because I didn't understand the map. I thought you were already out in the open and just moved to be next to you as it was my understanding. I thought someone had looked at the alter, the trap door, and the area where the old statue had been. Again, sorry. In a time where everyone is so stressed with the uncertainty of what is happening in real life, disrupting your fantasy lives was not my intention. I was had actually looked forward to playing again because I too needed a break. As we say in the medical profession..."Stay Healthy"

4-21 BOB

So I did go back to the library this week. Working in the building without the public allowed in. Busy working on how to create a new way of doing things going forward.

I am currently also having Wednesday's off as part of our shuffled schedules. So this leads me to the idea that we do need to have a more defined roll in our new Wednesday sessions.

I am happy to run these sessions going forward for the foreseeable future. I will continue to come up with what I hope are interesting stories that are not part of the main group's stories on Friday nights. We will not keep up the Valoris Wood Adventures but I will come up with different ideas for these sessions.

However I would like assistance. Lisa and Carissa do a wonderful job with cleaning up the chat and writing up summaries for Friday nights. They have done great trying to keep up with the new Wednesday sessions but it is not fair to them to continue that for every session.

Also I have downloaded and begun the very preliminary work with Fantasy Grounds Unity. Currently the version is almost as good as Klooge is. So that is not enough to satisfy me, I want something better than what we have now before we start the process of moving to a new platform.

4-12 TMO

It was exceptionally chaotic last night.

In a live game, it's obvious when that happens because everyone is all talking at the same time. In a text chat, it much harder because there's not an easy way to notice how much everything is scrolling, especially if folks are multi-tasking, as generally happens pretty easily at home. One possible solution would be to implement sort of the initiative system for non-combat, just scrolling through the PCs in order, and nobody else being able to do anything but a quick single sentence during someone else's turn. That breaks down when someone has to step away for a minute and the whole thing grinds to a halt waiting for them.

We're all of us human, we make mistakes, we miss something, or misunderstand. Michael tried at least once by asking folks to hold on while he wrote a long post. Nobody paused, and nobody responded to his post. I don't know if Bob was feeling overwhelmed or not. He does have years of practice with this, after all.

As for the various thief PCs, I'm not going to offer advice unasked on what they'd do in any particular situation. To me that's disrespectful, telling you how to play your own character. OOC- I will be happy to answer any thief-playing questions anyone might have. In general, however, I think the individual actions were fairly alright, it was the chaos that was more the problem. The main thing I noticed was when Dray walked right into the barn before anyone checked it, and promptly got run over by a wagon for it. That's a Live and Learn scenario right there. ;) And Brer did say something at that point, IC, although not directly to anyone. He's not in charge of this group, he's here by (reluctant) invitation, and he's well aware of the thin ice under his feet.

Brer, as a paladin, has little experience looking for traps. He has to merely bull his way through them when they happen, or hire local help to assist in bypassing them. He did offer his advice that the entire building was dangerous, which the general reaction was "Yeah, we kinda figured" (which is probably what my reaction would have been too ;) ). However, his meaning was 'danger to the point of being evil' as opposed to generic words of advice saying 'watch your step, it might be tricky here'. And that's just going to be a learning curve between the PC's - they don't know Brer, and he doesn't know them.

I don't have a perfect solution for this, unfortunately. This is not the norm for our games, but it's happened before. Maybe we do need a safe word for when players/GMs are getting overwhelmed, and then for a while we go to an initiative-based system, or a more orderly 'each PC in turn' call and response "What is Grolduk doing? What is Branwyn doing?" etc. Or sometimes implementing a chain of command. We don't normally have one, other than a general "Branwyn is in charge, listen to Branwyn" (that she loves oh so much ;) ).

4-12 BOB

There is good discussion going on over in the Third Time is Tradition Out of Character Thread. It is passionate and still keeping it respectful.

I did speak with Lisa who pointed out my mistakes that I missed (or inconsistencies) and I did read over the chat log and the summary (thank you Lisa and Carissa for those every week). I encourage everyone to go contribute to that thread for planning the next steps. Lisa and John have both proposed where they think the next steps could be.

The one thing that Carissa points out about yelling STOP (as Spring pointed out the previous week) is very good. Using that to be careful and decide what to do is important. The dolls were a good example. I missed Branwyn and Brer trying to examine the dolls before Grolduk lit them on fire. TMO or Lisa should have yelled STOP at me before allowing Grolduk to burn them. Do not hesitate to say STOP when you see a character doing something that you have the ability to influence. That will be a follow up comment in the Third Time is Tradition In Character Thread

This is a dangerous place. There are traps and pitfalls and they do want to protect themselves. They will have expected you to return after sending Tiberius back to Branwyn headless. However this is not a castle built to withstand sieges. This is a church that has stood for hundreds of years. It is a place that worships pain and death. Necromancers are not about bringing beings back to life for them to enjoy picnics. They want to bring beings back to exert control over them. This particular Necromancer has shown you that by having living Ogres attack you, then having dead Ogres attack you as skeletons.

As always I am very happy to inspire such strong emotions in everyone. It means you care about the characters, the other players and know you are affecting the game world with your actions.

4-9 BOB

So they came out again today to check the internet at the house. He tested everything and shrugged, I cannot find any problems.

Then he went out to their box opened it and put the tester on it. "That is not supposed to be happening!" So they are sending a maintenance team out this afternoon to see where the problem is in their wiring from their box here at the house to the main node out on the main street.

Geee maybe I did know what I was saying two weeks ago?

At least this has cost me zero dollars just a lot of my patience.

4-8 BOB

So a couple of bits:

  1. - We are playing tonight (Wednesday 4/8) in the bonus campaign
  2. - After 5 trips in 7 days from the company it seems my internet is back to normal?
  3. - On Friday (4/10) we start with you at breakfast and moving towards Skull Church an hour away from where you camped.

4/5 Carissa

If you will be on this Friday (this includes you, Mario), and you want to pick up to two potions per character and have not yet done so, please do by Friday. We will have the chest with us, but there is a chance we won't be able to access it as we may or may not hit the ground running with no pause between fights. Best be prepared, yes?

List of available potions: here

Seriously. It's the Party Pack. You all deserve to pick what you want so don't feel bad for taking one that interests you. Who knows? Maybe you won't use it. Or maybe it'll make all the difference.

4/6 Lisa - To add, I was jumping around Friday putting in names so I missed clarifying which ones where we have 2 and only 1 is being taken. I fixed that today so anyone that still needs to pick or John if you want to change your picks based on me fixing it, please do so

4/3 Carissa

Game is up. Check new IP on Discord or text BOB.

4-3 John

A couple of clarifications, differences between how we played the Goblin Wave and the rules as listed

1) Do they really get an additional bonus for flanking, with getting a plus per attacker, it seems to be piling on (pun acknowledged) [Master] Goblin #16: Attack: Dagger/Dirk: (20-(d20+0)-2) [1d20=10] 8 [MODIFIED BY FLANKING (-2)]. MISSES [Hoffman]] (AC FINAL: 6).

2) I thought there were 6 on Hoffman and with the -4 because they were small not sure if was a hit still, we just need to be clear on mods

3) Per rules The target of a Goblin Wave attack gets to make a Saving Throw versus Paralyzation to attempt to get an Action during the initiative phase. If they fail this save they are overwhelmed (knocked down) by the wave of attackers and are pinned down. If they succeed in their save then they are overwhelmed but not pinned. The character can stand up by forfeiting a half-move or an attack.

but the way it was played, even if we saved we still had to hit and that was all we could do. This reads like if we succeed, we just use half a move to stand up and then we would get normal attacks, if with have medium or smaller weapons

4) Then there was a -5 to our attack, not sure where that is in the rules or what the negative is for. I am just confused [Master] so now Hoffman can make an attack on a goblin[Master] at a minus 5

I just want to understand what to expect for next time

4-1 BOB

I have a full working network at home again.

We did discover that one of the problems is something outside of the house with the cable box. They are sending a tech out on Friday to check that out. But I now have my own 5G network at home after fixing everything.

We will play on Friday and I am currently anticipating being at home next week so we can play another bonus game on... Sunday? Tuesday? Wednesday? I am open to suggestions. I have ideas.

3/31 Lisa

No game tonight. BOB asked me to post since his router died and he can't get Internet. He should get a new router on Thursday so Friday will be fine. BOB is very sorry.

3/30 TMO

Just in case any of these are new to anyone interested, here's a list of resources for playing D&D online from an IMGUR post: https://imgur.com/gallery/pY3ev4T

3-30 BOB

We ARE playing on TUESDAY 2020 03 31 from 7 to 11

3-29 BOB

Should we play Tuesday (3/31) or choose a different night? Wednesday the 1st?

Tuesday - No Spring or Michael, TMO late

Wednesday - No TMO or Ryan

Asking us to choose who doesn't get to play? Not fair! But I thought Michael said he couldn't play any night except Fridays. So if we play Tuesday we are down Spring and half a TMO. Wednesday we would be down 2 people so I suppose I would say play Tuesday. But I am fine with either. Lisa

I should be available either day, but clearly we should go when most people can be on. - John

3/29 Spring

I cannot meet Tuesday night. Prior commitment.

3-28 BOB

So I wanted to have a chance for everyone to talk about the game mechanics when you are being swarmed by a large number of attackers. Apropos of nothing this type of attack is also referred to as a Goblin Wave attack. It is not quite the opposite of a Heroic Fray.

Some links to start us off from Chapter 3.

We are ignoring Martial Arts because that is not applicable in this part of the campaign world.

During a round a character a character can:

A Goblin Wave attack typically involves at least half a dozen or more small creatures that swarm over and try to drag down a larger opponent. This type of attack does not do immediate damage to the opponent but is designed to incapacitate them. Small sized creatures attacking a Man sized creature get a -4 to the attack roll but get a +1 for every additional attacker over 1. These same concepts apply for larger sized to smaller sized creatures as detailed in overbearing.

The number of attackers that can reach and assist in normal attack is limited by the size of the target. A man sized creature can only be reached by 6 man sized attackers at one time in a typical melee initiative. Those numbers scale up and down so a Large sized creature could attacked by 8 man sized opponents while a Small sized creature can only be attacked by 4 Man sized creatures. 8 Small sized creatures can attack a Man sized creature.

Those limits are for when each attacker is trying to do damage to their opponent. During a Goblin Wave the point is to just overwhelm the target rather than do damage so the number of attackers can be doubled. This gives more weight to the wave in the attempt to overwhelm the target.

The target of a Goblin Wave attack gets to make a Saving Throw versus Paralyzation to attempt to get an Action during the initiative phase. If they fail this save they are overwhelmed (knocked down) by the wave of attackers and are pinned down. If they succeed in their save then they are overwhelmed but not pinned. The character can stand up by forfeiting a half-move or an attack. If they have already completed their actions for the round, they have to wait until next round to stand up.

Attacks against a swarm of opponents by the target of a Goblin Wave are limited to medium sized weapons and smaller or natural weapons if not pinned. If pinned only natural attacks or small sized weapons already in hand are able to be used. Those that are part of the Goblin Wave cannot attack for damage unless the target is pinned.

So how this all works out in a typical combat.

Goblins are small and move faster than man sized creatures. They launch a wave of 6-16 attackers at a character to overwhelm them. Typically they move first and the character will get a save versus paralyzation to try to avoid being pinned down. If they are pinned when it comes their turn to go in the round they are limited in what they can do. If they are down but not pinned when it comes to their turn in the round they can attempt to stand up using a half action.

Later I will make a page for Goblin Wave with these notes and any clarifications we think need to be added.

Remember also that in these sorts of combats fatigue can come into play as you are continually fighting off wave after wave of creatures.

Thanks for this information! This is really helpful. Can I also ask that when a compkex situation is evolving, that we slow down in real time, so that players can know what is going on? If players feel rushed through a situation they don't understand, it's not a good experience. Time already moves at different rates for players than characters. There's no reason we can't pause for a few minutes and take each turn more slowly. - Spring

3-25 BOB

I want to thank everyone for being so fun and patient with this diversion. I hope everyone enjoyed and I look forward to running more of this as we all need our diversion from our quarantined life. Fridays will be for our normal campaign but I have this and other stories to tell as we want on other nights.

Let me know when (or if) you want to do this again.

I'm hosting a support group on Tuesdays. Other nights are unstructured. - Spring

3-22 BOB

During this time of quarantine if we have a group of people that want to get together more often than once a week let me know. If we have a majority of the same players we can continue along with Third Time is Tradition. Or we can run a side trek adventure with the people in Dragon Fen. Ilero could be sending out scouts on simple missions. It could be Mara and Kenna needing things for the church in Otterville. The farmers need to band together to deal with something while most of the leadership of the Estate is off at Skull Church.

It can be two or four players if we have that many that want to pick a day and time. I have ideas never fear.

I am on Day 2 of a Precautionary Quarantine on top of our State-Wide Lock-down so I'm definitely game! Normally done with work by 4 PM EST and can't go anywhere so.... Always up for playing, anyways. - Carissa

I'm not allowed back into my office until at least April 20th, but am supposed to be working from home. My schedule is flexible though and I can generally be available around the same time as Carissa most likely. I'm up for some extra game time. Lisa

I'm already booked for my weeknights, assuming normal dining patterns (which, granted, were not normal this weekend). M/T/Th we normally dine at the in-law's, and Wed I already booked a session of my campaign. The party is in the middle of a Kobold vs Wererat skirmish. - TMO

I'm off work at 8PM ET. Will plan to be on shortly thereafter. - Spring

3/15 Carissa

New story up: here. Tried to make it accessible to any and all who want to contribute.

P.S. In reply to BOB's comment below, I feel like we really missed out not doing a special Leap Day session...

3-12 BOB

We are playing Friday and on and on.

IF people get sent home and want to have an extra bonus session let us know here.

Stay safe everyone.

3/11 John

Sometime I wish there were a like button for these pages. Very entertaining Carissa and TMO.

3-1 BOB

New updated/tweaked version of the Craniate Wastes map is up in KloOge now for everyone. There is an icon on there to 'get Craniate Wastes'.

Slight modifications to colors and tweaked wording.

I do hope everyone likes it.

3/1 Spring

My computer has arisen from the ashes.

2/28 Spring

My computer is brokened. Attempting to recover it. Might be permanent.

Nooo don't die Spring's computer! :( - Carissa

2/23 Lisa

BOB - The results of my searches for Skull Church crypts and dates. I could only find two that gave both names and dates.

From Skull Church - Holy Mother Humlibart was a high priest at Skull Church 100 years before 339 SKR
From Enemy - Saint Tyrin, who died over 150 years ago (from 343 SKR at the time) after being burned in a fire and then crawling out to praise Kiputytto on the streets for a year and a day before he died.

2/19 Ryan

Sorry, but it looks like I may miss the next two sessions. I will try to wrap up my plans early if I can, but it may not be possible. Sorry about this.

2/14 John

I will certainly respond in story Carissa. I was actually thinking a Centaur might escort you back, but if nothing else I want to leave open the possibilities of PC at some point. Not sure if any of my other Centaur story would be acceptable in this world.

Thanks John! Just to clarify, you mean escort her back to Dragon Fen or to an Elven city? I admit the teleportation option is of interest to get back to Dragon Fen, although I probably won't make that decision until close to her actual return. But I can put the centaur after the gypsies so they can at least be introduced, and then leave open the option of her returning to find the centaur before she leaves IF she goes the teleportation route... which will mean centaur will also need to convince said Elven mage to teleport both. Just things to think about until we get there. - Carissa

2/16 John

I like to keep all options open. So much can change by the time we finish Skull Church. If Shi travels through Loosend, I would probably have Miranda travel with her to Dragon Fen. If Hoffman dies, my new PC will likely do the same. As far as the Centaur, yes to both directions, if it works out. And teleporting away with out the unnamed Centaur works well too. In my mind, even if you do not write it into your story, someone will tell someone and a Centaur will know of the rag tag group of DragonSlayers.

2/13 Carissa

For those interested in reference to the post below, in reference to A Trip To The Wildlands, in reference to helping out, (in reference to referencing) I have a few upcoming segments planned that will allow other people to jump in and play a character if they want. Obviously, I want everyone to because why not, it's fun, but it's just an option I'm leaving out. While it's fun writing a novel, the fun of D&D is that it's a collaborative story and I want parts of her story to keep that spirit going.

So to have in the back of your mind, and to look out for, before Shi gets home, I'm tentatively planning in approximate order: Ghiraman Monk Encounter (TMO suggestion so yes hoping TMO will be Ghiraman), Surprise "Town" (will be revealed, but you can be an NPC if you want!), Centaur Encounter (John suggestion so yes hoping John will be playing however many centaurs he wants to play), and Gypsy Encounter (may or may not be before centaurs due to location, but you can be a gypsy!).

Anyways, just tossing that out that. More people see this than chat or Discord combined. I am not writing this story in a linear fashion which is why I haven't update lately as I've been writing scene that happen when Shi is home, but I plan to get back to it since I hope others will contribute to the first half. And once we get past that, I'll think of some that can happen at home if you all are interested to keep RPing parts :).

P.S. Anyone else notice five months of Skull Church approximately??
P.P.S. I have learned there exists winged wolves "in the northern portions of the Great Mountains or the Central Mountains up near the Northern Wastes" so.... road trip?? Don't tell Shi or she might head the wrong way when she leaves home. If she can't have a dragon, a winged wolf is not a bad alternative...

02/12 BOB

So that everyone is on the same timeline: Next session 2020 02 21 - Third Watch then heading towards Redfern Lake, arrive there on the night of 28-12-348 SKR.

Then that session or the next one will end up at Dragon Fen for the end of the next day.

So you are two days from being home.

Shi is traveling home and will arrive there on 8-1-349 SKR. Her options to return are up to how Carissa wants to play it. She can walk back the 877 miles to Dragon Fen (37 days), she can shave 50 miles off of that by going by river (35 total days instead), or find some sort of high level elven mage to teleport her to Loosend then she only has to walk back the rest of the way like the rest of the group did (8 days).

So for timelines the group will be home for a minimum of 15 days to 45 days plus the number of days that Shi spends back home. So a minimum of a month and more likely at least two before Shi is back in Dragon Fen.

This means that Carissa will be playing Thistle and perhaps one of the Guild Members if Ilero decides to send one along to help with Skull Church for my guess the next 5 months of sessions. That gives everyone plenty of time to help Carissa with her roleplay story lines.

The group will want a day or two after they are home before returning to Skull Church I am guessing. That planning can happen here:

2/9 Carissa

Because you know I have to follow-up, more responding to John, but also anyone else curious:

I'm not saying I chose a crow on purpose or anything (crows have a more widespread range than ravens hence crow over raven), or that I'm debating if Athras comes back to Dragon Fen (with DM permission, of course, and if it makes sense storywise), but that's exactly what I'm saying. :)

And yes, there are better crow talking videos on Youtube, but they're usually ones of stupid humans imprinting birds thinking it's fine and that imprint animals aren't a big deal, and as I used work at a wildlife sanctuary and have dealt with the rehab side, I have very, very strong opinions on these idiots people.

Thank you all for the continuing contributions here.

We are heading towards Dragon Fen and once there will have to decide how to move forward with Skull Church. You have at least two or three sessions still before that is required but good roleplaying here and during sessions will help everyone come to a more ready conclusion when the time comes.

TMO's new character will be introduced at Red Fern Lake when you reach there.

1-10 Ryan

Hello,

Sorry for the late notice, but I had something come up, and I will not be able to attend today's session. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

1-4 BOB

I updated the Roll Call page to include 2019.

I want to point out a few things. We tease John about no one ever catching him but everyone is very glad when he is here. He has the most little icons for his name but I am also very happy to see how many other people have been here for significant things. Lisa, Mario, Robert, Rob and Sean all have 3 different icons for times they have spent with us.

We all teased Mario a bit for taking some time off. But this is why I always want to welcome back old players who have taken time off. We have had 13 different players play at least 10 of our 26 years and 12 different players who have been here for more than 200 sessions.

I am looking forward to a fun year ahead.

Thank you everyone.

1/1 Carissa

Adding some more visibility to make sure people go to this link right here and comment.