Zombies and Crooks (DM:Mal Malenkirk Judge: Covaithe )
The Fisherman's Alley market had sprung illegally in the most convenient location; it was officially a public square dedicated to Arek Steelsheath, one of the Five, the heroic swordmistress. A magnifient statue, 20 feet high, still reminded everyone of the place's original purpose. But the location was ideally located near to the docks and on a well travelled street toward the heart of the city and so soon vendors and peddlers were squatting the square. No effort to clear the square had ever been successful and soon the authorities just gave up. Now it was a sprawling affair with stands and tent everywhere and a thick crowd that made navigating the area difficult at best.
It was bordered by worn out apartment buildings that rented cheap due to the persistent odour of fish driving down the value. This was a problem that Harann, a somewhat well known elderly retired adventurer, had used to his advantage. The sophisticated and cunning half-orc barbarian had bought for cheap a location near the market and had opened a restaurant without kitchens! His waiters had arrangements with the nearby vendors. He even mitigated the odour problem with the use of a curious enchanted statue of a sea gull that acted on the mind of people to convince them they were smelling and hearing the sea. His ancient partners had thought he was crazy to claim it as part of his loot instead of an enchanted weapon, but now he enjoyed a much more prosperous retirement then they did. He had named his establishment, logically enough, the Raging Sea Gull.
Spoiler:
Okay, why are you in Fisherman’s alley? Obviously I spent so much time describing the Sea Gull because it is a good option. We likely have a few of the PCs who are simply enjoying one of the more unusual restaurant in the city, and one serving damn fine sea food to boot.
Of course, most of you are almost broke and it’s a lot cheaper to buy the same food from the stands without paying extra for the service and ambiance. Some of you are probably just wandering in the market for that reason.
Speaking of almost broke; surely at least one of you could simply be living in an apartment nearby and be home. They are dirt cheap and nobody really lives in the Hanging Man Tavern, no matter how it may seem at time!
If none of these reasons appeal to you (You aren’t broke and you don’t eat fish), you can simply be passing through. The market is near a busy street.
Do not all choose the same option, I want you scattered accross the map at the beginning.
Maximum of 3 in the Sea Gull, 2 living in the appartments, 2 shopping in the market and 2 passing through (Yeah, that's more than 6, I know, I don't want to completely dictate distribution either)
Mesa makes his way throught the busy street, weaving in and out of the crowd. He'd found that the best way to move through a crowd has to treat the people in it as mobile trees in the forest. Big trees, he thinks, looking at the sheer size of one passing half-orc. Finding the building his brother Thorn had told him about, he goes inside.
Now, what was that woman's name? The name has completely passed outside his mind, so he instead simply yells, "Hello? Is anyone here? I was told you had rooms for rent."
OOC
It's not living in an apartment, but this would still qualify under the "in an apartment building," right? If not, let me know and I'll move back into the street prior to the attack/explosion/whatever.
Also, while I'm unaligned there's three really good reasons Mesa will see this through to the end. Well, two, with a potential third if you want to throw it in. First, he's curious about the world outside his little family, so if it's a bit of a mystery what's happening, he'll go along just to find out. Second, he's a druid, and sees things like undead and abberrations as unnatural and therefore worth destroying. Third, he dotes on children. If a child is hurt, or even threatened, by what happens, he'll do what he can to protect them. But for that, you'd need to introduce a child. If you want to, I'll play it up, but I think even without the other two he'll be properly motivated to go through with the adventure.
Mesa stat block
Mesa- Male Razorclaw Shifter Druid 1 Passive Perception: 19, Passive Insight: 19 AC:16, Fort:12, Reflex:14, Will:15 -- Speed:7 HP:26/26, Bloodied:13, Surge Value:6, Surges left:9/9 Action Points: 1, Second Wind: not used Powers Wild Shape, Grasping Claws, Storm Spike, Chill Wind Razorclaw Shifting, Cull the Herd Fires of Life
Matlal went down the street after Montroya, probably slowing the Deva down a bit as he eyed the fish for something he might recognize. Not particularly satisfied, he finally came upon The Raging Seagull. If any establishment would be able to sate his hunger, it'd probably be here. " 'Eya Mont'oya, I gonna stop 'ere, ja can go in wit' I or keep tryin' ta find somet'ing else. Bet I be seein' ja soon eidda way." (Foreshadowing?!?!) He heads inside and finds himself seated at a table, pondering his order.
To Matlal the restaurant seemed to smell like an overpriced ocean breeze scented candle, how soothing.
Aimlessly exploring the area Tor finds himself entering the Fisherman's alley market. The crowd seem to press in on him as he attempts to move through the market and he almost decides to forget this place until his eye catches the 20 ft tall statue and he moves forward to admire it.
As he finds himself closer to the statue he admires it with a smile. Pondering the kinds of deeds he would need to accomplish to get one of him made.
"Yes go ahead," Montroya says to Matlal. "I'll go to my apartment, I've got some food there."
The streets were crowded, and still a bit different than what he was used to. Montroya had spent much time in nature, and the throngs of people here in the city made him uneasy.
New in the city, he was still able to find a cheap place to live. It was an apartment, full of fleas...and worse, but it was a roof over his head even if it leaked. The woman he rented from didn't come around much(no surprise), and he wasn't surprised to see a new customer waiting for her to show up. It was the shifter from the tavern. "Hello, I am Montroya. The owner isn't around much, but I can tell her she has somebody that wants to talk to her."
I would like to join. My main problem at the moment is both character are under approval as I just retired Trevor.
I have Feyr, a Bladeling Invoker from Surtyr. He could easily be there to buy some food, after all, he is from a coastal region and fish would be among his everyday food.
I have Jarel-karn, a Genasi Swordmage. He could be there for various of reason. His role seems more appropriate as there is already 2 controller, but there is one major bogus. I have chosen some Arcane Power powers and AP will become avalaible only in a few days, so I'm not sure how judges would see that to see an unapproved character entering a game with unavailable powers in his list. Maybe I could just not use them until they are apporved, or switch them to avaliable powers.
Mesa turns as the deva enters. "I'd appreciate ye doing that." He pauses, his head cocking sideways like a house cat invetigating a curious new animal. He had never actually seen a deva before today, first in the tavern and now here. From what little he knew of them, he knew they were rare.
"Ye were in the tavern, no? I remember seeing ye there when I first came in. My name's Mesa. Ye live here? It seems..." He glances around, a grin playing acrossed his face. "Well, I honestly seen wolves' dens more inviting, but I'm told it's cheap, and for me cheap is good. How do ye find it?" Mesa tries to casually lean up against the wall, but he was used to open forests, not the narrow corridors here. He could feel his back want to bunch up at the lack of personal space he had in Daunton. Get used to it, he thought, ye've a year at least before going home.
Edit: Apparently, I can't spell. Sorry about that, I've fixed what I found.
The defender is much better, obviously. Do whatever you have to do to make him workable, ditch the non-legal powers and retrain them later if necessary. There is already an invoker and you would steal each other's thunder. Litterally.
I have also received a PM from a player of a warlord so it looks like this group might be balanced, after all!
OOC
Location:
Mesa and Montroya are in the same Appartment blocks (Pretty clever, that, Evo...)
Matlal is eating at the Raging Sea Gull
Tor is gawking at the pretty statue like a tourirst
When we have located the last two members of our group, people can start screaming.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 13th July 2009 at 06:18 AM..
While we are waiting, I'll say a few words on how I run fights.
1 - I roll all initiatives. Waiting two days before everyone has had the chance to roll theirs is a waste of time.
2 - I roll a single initiative for my bad guys and play them all in the same turn. It loses some of the tabletop experience but it plays a lot faster than individual initiative.
3 - If you haven't posted your PC's action in two days, I usually run your PC at some point late in the third day of inactivity. Warn me in advance if you don't believe you can post for more than two days.
And the biggest...
4 - I don't care in what initiative order you post; your action takes place at exactly the moment you post and as long as you only act once per round, it's all good.
The initiative in practice is only relevant once; the very first round.
Let's say initiative is:
Mesa 22
Matlal 17
BAD GUYS 16
Tor 12
Montroya 9
Andrec 8
Jarel Karn 5
That means Mesa and Matlal get to act before the BGs. I don't care in what order! If Matlal log in the thread before Mesa, don't wait, act first!
Once they have both acted, I play all of the Bad Guys.
Then everyone act, in whatever order.
It is possible that Mesa and Matlal will log on the thread before Tor, Montroya, Andrec and Jarel Karn have all acted. It doesn't matter, they can act! Once all 6 of PCs have acted (and acted only once, of course!), I run bad guys and then it's once more your turn. That simple.
I repeat; your actions take place when you post. Should you want to delay, then simply wait for the others to post.
It is very common when you play that way for a player to log last in a turn and then be the first to log back after I have updated the fight and played the BGs. This leads to a PC acting almost back to back. It matters little; in the end he still has acted only once in either round.
This saves a lot of time especially because most players can't log on the thread thrice a day to see if it's their turn yet. If you log on at any time after I have run the BGs turn you are free to post without waiting for your buddies to act in order.
Two frequent rules issues arise from this practice:
1 - What about effects that last 'until the end of PC's X turn'?
Often a leader will grant a bonus to someone else 'until the end of the leader's turn'. This will usually be interpreted as 'Until the end of the target's turn' instead. Good old common sense. The target doesn't lose the bonus if the leader act before him and doesn't gain TWO turns of using the bonus if he manages to act twice before the leader acts again.
2 - What about PCs who purposefully delay taking their turn in order to give a chance to their allies to grant them a free save?
Ongoing damage and others conditions effect occurs at the beggining of your turn. If you know someone might grant you a free save (leaders can often do that) before you act, it may save you damage or avoid a stun effect to purposefully delay taking your turn, giving a chance for the other PCs to help you... That's cool. I don't mind. It just increases the value of team work which is a good thing.
Everything else, I play by ear.
---
Playing that way, I once completed a fight in 4 days. Don't believe me? Check out this thread.
Of course, I think we were all on crack that week. We didn't maintain that insane rate of post for every fight! If you just post about once every two days we should be able to complete 3 rounds a week and still be flying faster than 90% of PbP games.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 13th July 2009 at 05:43 AM..
Andrec is just passing through, between his apartment (in a better neighborhood) and the Hanged Man - which direction depends on the time of day. He might also just be out for a decent bite, if the sun is high.
Ye were in the tavern, no? I remember seeing ye there when I first came in. My name's Mesa. Ye live here? It seems..." He glances around, a grin playing acrossed his face. "Well, I honestly seen wolves' dens more inviting, but I'm told it's cheap, and for me cheap is good. How do ye find it?"
"I was, I was," Montroya says standing perfectly straight and still. "I do live here, but I prefer to spend my time outside. The temple of Apoli does not have living quarters for me." The corners of the deva's mouth curls up almost in a snarl. The invoker's head jerks to the side, following movement, and Montroya leaps into the corner of the room. When he turns around, a dead rat is grasped in his hands, and blood drips from his mouth. A look of shock is on his face and he drops the dead rat, blood drips from his hands to the floor.
Jarel-karn was up since a time. He was stretching and doing some exercise and then eat a bit. His apartment was pretty empty. Just a bed that was almost falling apart. He recently arrive in the city and had found the first cheap room he could find. He was rich, but his fortune was in three items, three magical items, heirloom from his lost father, and his only way of living. He had to find a way to earn some money and heard this city was a center of mercenary work.
He walk to his window and look through it. He see the Raging Sea Gull in front of him. The street was living. The smell was bad, but he found it more interesting than the death stench of some part of the Valley of Bones.
__________________ Living ENWorld di Senzio's Magical Shop, the best place to buy and sell magical items in Orussus
I have it, but at home. I'll email you the file when I get home from work tonight, which is in about four hours from the time of this post.
As for class/role, we have a warlord for helaing and tactical superiority, a swordmage defender guaranteed to frustrate our enemies, two strikers (ranger gives us either long range artillery or a whirlwind of dual blades, while the barbarian will give us a slugger), and two controllers (close control courtesy of moi, and longer-range mayhem from our friend the rat-catcher). For a first come, first serve party we're remarkably balanced.
Mesa jumps as the deva moved, starled by the sheer randomness of the pounce. He could feel his toes-claws trying to dig into the wood, preparing to either fight or get him out of the room. When he sees the rat, he relaxes and a smile crosses his face.
"Ye know, yer technique could use some work, but ye grabbed that rat quick as some of my brothers could. Keep that up, and we may have to make ye an honorable shifter and induct ye into the Pride." He shifts his pack to where he could reach it and pulles a spare piece of cloth out. Handing it to to the deva, he says, "If ye're that hungry, I smelled some cooked fish on the way here..."
A Deva Invoker and a Shifter Druid are in the same room, guess who is most likely to snatch a rat and eat him?
The deva of course...
That was weird! Something to do with past lives, I expect.
More on rules
I always give the passive stats of all my monsters. You will know the defenses, HP, resistances, Immunities and Opportunity attack values of my monsters.
Yeah, I know, it results in surprisingly well informed PCs... The upshot though is major; you don't have to wait for my confirmations of whether you hit or not. Assuming you didn't forget things like cover and concealment, you will know if your attacked hit or not. And if by hitting you grant special effects, the next poster knows that he can take advantage of it. If the monster is dead, the next poster can immediately act accordingly.
Basically, you have to pay attention to what the posters before you have done in that round; all the info is here. This is really necessary considering the way I run turns. Without knowing all this info about the monsters, you'd constantly need for me give you feedback before acting and nothing would be gained in term of speed.
Occassionnally, I have to do retcons though; some of you will inevitably on occasion forget about some bonuses or penalties and so I'll need to step in to correct the course but that's a DM's life.
Starting
I am working on a few tokens and still hoping a judge will show up soon but I'll start the action tonight in either case.
Velmont
I think your PC is too well equipped.
I know the general guidelines for creating a PC of higher level is 3 magic items of level +1, +0 and -1 but I think you have managed to display the absurdity of applying this rule in the specific case of a level 2 PC.
If you adventure through level 1 to level 2, you are lucky to get 1 magic items (typically a DM will hand out 4 magic items to a group of 5 and 720 gold to the entire party). Now, because you start at level 2, you have THREE magic items! Sure, two are lowly level 1 magic items but the restriction on the number of daily power items you can use make that point nearly moot anyway.
That makes you just too strong compared to the others. A judge needs to take a look at that but for now I want you to keep just one (The level +1), which is what you'd expect from a PC who has adventured through 1 level.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 13th July 2009 at 10:02 PM..
If I'm remembering right from reading his background, Montroya's got some pretty messed up past life issues to deal with. He's trying to follow the path of righteousness, but there's a darkness in him that's straining to get out, that sort of thing. I think there was something about becoming something else in his past life.
Still, it is a bit shocking to see the Deva Invoker making my Shifter look like a well-mannered, civilized person by comparison. He might not want to stick around with Mesa, though, if he's looking to become more civilized and less primal...
Rules Question
How are actions we take on other people's turns handled? Should we just jump in when we see we have something to do, even if we've already gone before. For instance, talking. Say Mesa goes, then Montroya, and Mesa sees something now that he wants to tell Tor. Should I just post my free action then? This also could apply to immediate intterupts, such as Angelic Intervention of a paladin that lets the paladin take the hit for another PC. I know that's a higher level, but it's the best example I can think of while I'm sitting at work.
That's the only real question I'd have about the rules. Beyond that, I like the streamlining for PbP games it gives!
Linear Mode
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