Basic Questions on Living 4th

[Cute-Hydra]

Hi,

I have just joined Living 4, I have submitted my character and have entered the Hanged Man. I have a few questions, I have never done play by post before and so am confused on some issues.

Firstly, how does a DM choose/get players, I thought this was done via the Hanged Man which served as a job center for players so to speak. But if this is the case, how do the players know what level each other are. How much emphasis is on having players of the same level, could an adventuring party have a lvl 4,2,6 etc or are they normally same level. Are you expected to talk to people in the inn, are there other way's of finding a group?

Actual game, I had a look in games, it is 4e but at no point did I find reference to what people were doing in game terms e.g power use etc. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

Sorry for being so incompetent, but can someone explain some of the basics to me, I did read through the guides, charter etc but are struggling with basics of play by post (looking forward to it though).

Cute-Hydra

 

[TwoHeadsBarking]

Typically, the DM will have a recruiter NPC enter the tavern, announcing the presence of an adventure. Then in an sblock the DM will state what levels of characters he's accepting. Example. The spread of levels in an adventure is up to the DM. I guess you don't need to talk to fellow PCs in the tavern, but it's generally something fun to do while you're waiting for an adventure to start.

As for fights, here is the start of one. You can see how the players describe what they're doing in character, and then explain the details like power usage, movement, and rolls in sblocks.

Does this help?

 

[ScorpiusRisk]

Welcome to L4W!

You've got the a pretty good grasp of things, believe it or not. Player Characters looking for adventure enter the Hanged Man Inn. There's a rule there, a helpful rp mechanic that we pretend is odd social convention, that new people need to introduce themselves on arrival.

Once you're at the Hanged Man, you don't need to talk to people, but you might get bored otherwise. Sometimes the wait is longer than others. I have certainly had a lot of fun interacting with other characters in the Hanged Man, however I have certainly seen others not utter a single word, other than their introduction until a potential employer enters.

When a DM is ready to recruit they usually have an NPC enter the tavern and actively do so in character. There are exceptions to this rule. For example I recently had an adventure that was started based off one particular PC, so I had him do the recruiting for me. Most of the time though, players are selected by the DM, from a pool of those who are available and show interest.

The DM generally has a level range in mind, and most DMs will pick a party that is relatively balanced, from about 4-6 PCs in total, with generally no more than a 3 level spread. Again this is not always the case. I recently DMed a party of 7 PCs and currently have a game with levels spread from 2-6.

DMs are encouraged to give players who do not have a current PC in an adventure precedence. Aside from that they can really select whomever they like. Some adventures can be more or less fun when they have particular kinds of PCs.

Here's an example of a typical DM recruitment post, from the last Hanged Man thread (it got too big and we had to make a new one).

All the adventures are in this forum. Most of the time, once combat starts, people will divide each post into three sections.

In character text, describing what their actions appear as.
Then Out of character text, describing the mechanics, powers used, etc.
Finally, a miniature stat block summarizing the most important parts of the character sheet.

Here's an example of a typical combat post.

You can also find copies of people characters sheet on the wiki where you made your character.

 

[Cute-Hydra]

Thanks a lot, been of great help. Not to sound impatient, but how often do games come up. As a lvl 1. char there is going to be a limit of how many vacancies there are going to be surely. Obs, there is no fixed rule, but in your experience.

 

[BenBrown]

They tend to come in spurts. There'll be a month without one, and then two or three will pop up. If there are a critical mass of PCs in the tavern, then people who want to GM will get cracking on their adventures.

 

[stonegod]

Thanks a lot, been of great help. Not to sound impatient, but how often do games come up. As a lvl 1. char there is going to be a limit of how many vacancies there are going to be surely. Obs, there is no fixed rule, but in your experience.

Keep an eye on the Upcoming Adventures thread as well.

 

[Iron Sky]

Also be sure to mention that your PC is your first one in your ooc message in the tavern. 1st PCs have priority for new adventures over 2nd and 3rd PCs.

 

[Cute-Hydra]

Firstly, please ignore this post unless I mess up am just testing Sblocks and trying to learn how to use them, from a helpful comment made but not had a chance to use them. It was on the first page and i felt my original help page was the best place to post it.

[sblock=Testing]
Did it work...
[/sblock]

 

[Someone]

I'll use this thread instead of making a new one. After searching as carefully as I can, lookslike the shardmind race from PHB3 is allowed, through it's not mentioned in the wiki's races section or elsewere for that matter, it's a quite strange race and comes prepackaged with some very specific background that I don't think it fits the setting's very much. Is the race allowed? I already made the character page but don't really want to introduce him into the tavern until I'm sure.

 

[LadyLaw]

With the islands floating in and out, you can always just have a shardmind come from somewhere else. They are allowed. I believe there is already at least one in play.