Fire! (Dunamin judging)
DoublePayBack
First Post
As he continues to help with the brigade, Galinndan surveys the surroundings and buildings for anything which could be potentially useful for controlling or extinguishing the flames.
OOC: Would it be possible for the DM to provide some details of the sights and surroundings?
OOC: Would it be possible for the DM to provide some details of the sights and surroundings?
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[sblock=OOC]
Yes, I'll give some more setup when I post the skill challenge rules. Right now I'm basically just looking for a roll call.
[/sblock]
Yes, I'll give some more setup when I post the skill challenge rules. Right now I'm basically just looking for a roll call.
[/sblock]
elecgraystone
First Post
Ts'iri looks around the scene as she exits the tavern. It looks like a huge mess with no one in charge. Well, she wasn't the person to lead them and she wasn't good at stopping fires. Thinking a moment, she thinks maybe she'd be of more use heading into buildings and saving people. She was pretty hardy and her ice armor should protect her from a lot of the fire.
OCC: character sheet in sig. However, it's not updated yet.
EDIT: Ozmandias79 got me updated!
OCC: character sheet in sig. However, it's not updated yet.
EDIT: Ozmandias79 got me updated!
Last edited:
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[sblock=OOC]
New characters seem to be tailing off. I'll give it until to tomorrow evening to see if anyone else turns up and then start this thing up!
[/sblock]
New characters seem to be tailing off. I'll give it until to tomorrow evening to see if anyone else turns up and then start this thing up!
[/sblock]
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[sblock=OOC]
Sorry, was busier than I thought tonight, only had time to update one thread. I'll start this tomorrow.
[/sblock]
Sorry, was busier than I thought tonight, only had time to update one thread. I'll start this tomorrow.
[/sblock]
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[sblock=The Rules]
Sorry about the delay. Here's how this is going to work:
This is, as you've probably guessed, a SKILL CHALLENGE! With complexity equal to the number of players (9), so... 20 successes before 3 failures.
Wowza. That's ridiculous.
Ok, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to split this into 2 skill challenges. 5 of you are level 1 - you'll be part of Challenge 1, a complexity 5 skill challenge needing 12 successes before 3 failures. The rest of you are level 2 - you'll be part of Challenge 2, a complexity 4 skill challenge needing 10 successes before 3 failures. (That doesn't mean the people in the same challenge need to work together - RP woking in teams or separately however you want. It just means successes by a level 2 character go towards Challenge 1, and successes by a level 1 character go towards Challenge 2.)
If you succeed at both challenges, the fire is contained with comparatively little loss of life and property. If you succeed at one and fail at one, it's contained but at great cost. If you fail at both... well, try not to fail at both.
(This is assuming Goeth will be joining us - if he doesn't show up soon, Challenge 1 goes down to 12 successes before 3 failures as well.)
In each skill challenge, actions you take that directly help fight the fire or save things from it (such as schlepping buckets, or pulling people out of burning buildings) are Primary skill checks, and contribute a success or failure to the challenge. Things that set you up to be in a better position (such as looking for a water tower) are Secondary skill checks, and give a +2 to the next Primary check that makes use of that result somehow. The advantage is, if you fail, this doesn't give you a failure in the challenge, you just don't get the bonus. For example: Soldier asks Mri'Thas if his axe will help. Mri'Thas can make an Arcana check to find out if the magical cold will be of use - if he passes, Soldier (or anyone else who picks it up) gets a +2 to the next check that uses that axe. You can also use Aid Another - make a skill check using the same skill they are, at DC 10, and if you succeed they get a +2. (I'll let you roll this after the first person has already made their skill roll. And yes, you can aid somebody who's part of the other challenge.)
For Challenge 1, all skill checks except Aid Another are DC 12 (unless I say otherwise). For Challenge 2, the standard DC is 13. (Justify this by saying the most powerful characters automatically gravitate to the more challenging tasks and the most dangerous parts of the fire.)
So how do you know which skills to roll? Well, we're going to treat this as a it of shared storytelling - I'll give you some details that occur to me, but mostly instead of me setting the scene and you reacting, you're going to set the scene yourself. Two examples:
- Galinndan is looking around for a water tower or "anything that can help against the fire" - he can simply roll Perception (to spot things in the confusion) or Streetwise (to see what he knows about the are) or History (to see if he remembers seeing things on maps or hearing about important landmarks), and if he succeeds, make up something reasonable that he's found. (This would be a Secondary skill check, so anyone making use of that feature gets a +2 to their checks using it.)
- Ts'iri has headed into a building to rescue trapped people. Instead of waiting for me to describe the collapsing beam she needs to leap out of the way of, she herself can choose to roll Acrobatics and describe the success or failure as, "I leap out of the way of a collapsing beam," or, "I try to leap out of the way of a collapsing beam - but I'm too late, and it lands between me and the door!" Or she could have described herself using Athletics to drag the unconscious occupant out of the way, or Dungeoneering to brace it somehow, or... Be creative.
Try not to do too much in one action, though - I will be throwing twists and extra challenges your way. In the example above, instead of describing yourself entering the house, finding somebody, and dragging them out all in one motion, describe yourself entering the house and encountering some obstacle (your skill check) and then give me a chance to add things before leaving the house. The carrot: if you leave me an opening, I may throw some treasure your way. The stick: If I have a really good idea, but no good place to fit it in, I may override part of your action. It's awkward, but I'll do it if I have to.
You can use your combat powers as part of the skill check. Most of the time, Martial powers give you an Athletics check, Arcane powers give you an Arcana check, and Divine powers give you a Religion check. At-Will powers can be used with no restrictions, but you can only use an Encounter power once for the skill challenge (although it recharges afterward) and a Daily power once, period. Use of a Daily power also has a bonus: see Removing Failures, below.
I'm going to be fairly lenient about what skill checks I allow, so come up with some cool ones! But, the judge and I can overrule anything if we think it's not justified. (Speaking of which - hey, we need a judge over here!)
One last rule: you can't use the same skill in the same way twice. You can get one success by rolling Endurance to haul buckets with the bucket brigade, but after that, if you want to roll Endurance again you need to come up with some other fluff. (That applies to at-will powers too: you can use them more than once, but not in the same way.) You can dive into buildings looking for trapped people several times - that's nice and dramatic, I don't want to curb that - but you need to come up with new challenges inside each time.
Oh, and don't worry about initiative, but everyone has to post an action before you can post your second action. (Post all the fluff you want, but anything that gets you a skill roll needs to wait until everyone's had their turn.)
Removing Failures
I've decided to add a way to get rid of failures, to make it less dangerous to take risks. There are 3 ways to get rid of a failure:
1. As soon as you make a roll that fails, you can spend an Action Point to reroll. (You can do this for any roll that's part of the challenge, but you probably want to save it for Primary skill checks.)
2. If you succeed at a Primary skill check using a Daily power, this both adds a success and removes a failure.
3. Remember that if somebody fails at a Primary skill check by only a few points, the next few characters can use Aid Another to bump the roll up to a success.
[/sblock]
Challenge 1: 0 successes / 0 failures
Challenge 2: 0 successes / 0 failures
The Hanged Man faces a large open square, which currently is a gathering point for those who have escaped the fire. The area around is a winding maze of shops and market stalls, many of which are located here specifically to cater to the numerous patrons of the famous inn. Many's the drunkard who's been fleeced by a merchant selling "authentic relics of the Five" as he stumbled home. Most are two-story buildings (shops on the bottom floor, with the merchant's family living above) but there is a scattering of smaller and larger buildings as well.
Now the winding streets are in chaos. Because of their twisting, it's hard to tell how bad the fire is - you see flames and smoke pouring from behind a screen of buildings, but it's hard to say whether it's engulfed one block or three. An elderly man stumbles out of an alley, clothes alight, and collapses to the ground, rolling and patting at the flames; behind him, you hear the shatter of glass as a window collapses. A young woman stares past him into the dimness, ignoring him, and calls tearfully, "Kevin? Kevin, where did you go?" Every few seconds she makes a few steps back towards the alley, then hesitates in fear. You can faintly hear cries of pain and terror from people trapped in the blaze.
More merchants trickle out of the alleys, arms full of their prized possessions, to dump them on the ground in the relative safety of the square and lie there, panting. Shouts of anger break out as they scuffle for places, and thieves grab for their goods in the chaos. You hear two men arguing violently over which of them owns a large harp that was rescued from the fire, both putting on a good show for the crowd, while another man sidles away, arms full of fine cloths from the Kingdom of Jade.
The bucket brigade is hauling buckets from the kitchen of the Hanged Man's longtime competitor, the Silver Scales, which is closer to the fire. Alas, the inn's fountain (an ingenious sculpture of a fish holding a balance scale) has been broken for some time. When it works, the fish shoots water from its mouth to cascade over the tilting scales; but something clogged the mechanism years ago and the owner has never gotten around to fixing it.
A crowd of spectators hovers outside the door of the Hanged Man, watching in awe.
[sblock=Actions]
So here are the actions we have posted so far:
Challenge 1:
- Solitaire: Organize the bucket brigade. This is a Primary skill, Intimidate based on the fluff you posted, but you could do the same thing with Diplomacy or even Bluff.
- Soldier: Wants to know whether his axe of magical cold will help. A Secondary Arcana check to answer his question (he or anyone hearing the question can do this). If he's not going to make that check himself, he can pick another action.
- Galinndan: Join the bucket brigade (a Primary Endurance check); look for a water tower or anything else that will help (a Secondary Streetwise or Perception check). He needs to pick one to do first.
- Solon: Join bucket brigade (Primary Endurance)
- Goeth: ?
Challenge 2:
- Mri'Thas: Look for a place to set up a firebreak (a Primary or Secondary Nature check, depending on whether he describes himself as starting to move things immediately or just surveying the situation)
- Ts'iri: Head into buildings and save people (Athletics or Acrobatics are obvious, but this could really go anywhere)
- Kama'zer: ?
- Callen: ?
You can go ahead and resolve these now, or change your mind and post something else. Remember, DC's for Challenge 1 are 12, DC's for Challenge 2 are 13 Go!
[/sblock]
Sorry about the delay. Here's how this is going to work:
This is, as you've probably guessed, a SKILL CHALLENGE! With complexity equal to the number of players (9), so... 20 successes before 3 failures.
Wowza. That's ridiculous.
Ok, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to split this into 2 skill challenges. 5 of you are level 1 - you'll be part of Challenge 1, a complexity 5 skill challenge needing 12 successes before 3 failures. The rest of you are level 2 - you'll be part of Challenge 2, a complexity 4 skill challenge needing 10 successes before 3 failures. (That doesn't mean the people in the same challenge need to work together - RP woking in teams or separately however you want. It just means successes by a level 2 character go towards Challenge 1, and successes by a level 1 character go towards Challenge 2.)
If you succeed at both challenges, the fire is contained with comparatively little loss of life and property. If you succeed at one and fail at one, it's contained but at great cost. If you fail at both... well, try not to fail at both.
(This is assuming Goeth will be joining us - if he doesn't show up soon, Challenge 1 goes down to 12 successes before 3 failures as well.)
In each skill challenge, actions you take that directly help fight the fire or save things from it (such as schlepping buckets, or pulling people out of burning buildings) are Primary skill checks, and contribute a success or failure to the challenge. Things that set you up to be in a better position (such as looking for a water tower) are Secondary skill checks, and give a +2 to the next Primary check that makes use of that result somehow. The advantage is, if you fail, this doesn't give you a failure in the challenge, you just don't get the bonus. For example: Soldier asks Mri'Thas if his axe will help. Mri'Thas can make an Arcana check to find out if the magical cold will be of use - if he passes, Soldier (or anyone else who picks it up) gets a +2 to the next check that uses that axe. You can also use Aid Another - make a skill check using the same skill they are, at DC 10, and if you succeed they get a +2. (I'll let you roll this after the first person has already made their skill roll. And yes, you can aid somebody who's part of the other challenge.)
For Challenge 1, all skill checks except Aid Another are DC 12 (unless I say otherwise). For Challenge 2, the standard DC is 13. (Justify this by saying the most powerful characters automatically gravitate to the more challenging tasks and the most dangerous parts of the fire.)
So how do you know which skills to roll? Well, we're going to treat this as a it of shared storytelling - I'll give you some details that occur to me, but mostly instead of me setting the scene and you reacting, you're going to set the scene yourself. Two examples:
- Galinndan is looking around for a water tower or "anything that can help against the fire" - he can simply roll Perception (to spot things in the confusion) or Streetwise (to see what he knows about the are) or History (to see if he remembers seeing things on maps or hearing about important landmarks), and if he succeeds, make up something reasonable that he's found. (This would be a Secondary skill check, so anyone making use of that feature gets a +2 to their checks using it.)
- Ts'iri has headed into a building to rescue trapped people. Instead of waiting for me to describe the collapsing beam she needs to leap out of the way of, she herself can choose to roll Acrobatics and describe the success or failure as, "I leap out of the way of a collapsing beam," or, "I try to leap out of the way of a collapsing beam - but I'm too late, and it lands between me and the door!" Or she could have described herself using Athletics to drag the unconscious occupant out of the way, or Dungeoneering to brace it somehow, or... Be creative.
Try not to do too much in one action, though - I will be throwing twists and extra challenges your way. In the example above, instead of describing yourself entering the house, finding somebody, and dragging them out all in one motion, describe yourself entering the house and encountering some obstacle (your skill check) and then give me a chance to add things before leaving the house. The carrot: if you leave me an opening, I may throw some treasure your way. The stick: If I have a really good idea, but no good place to fit it in, I may override part of your action. It's awkward, but I'll do it if I have to.
You can use your combat powers as part of the skill check. Most of the time, Martial powers give you an Athletics check, Arcane powers give you an Arcana check, and Divine powers give you a Religion check. At-Will powers can be used with no restrictions, but you can only use an Encounter power once for the skill challenge (although it recharges afterward) and a Daily power once, period. Use of a Daily power also has a bonus: see Removing Failures, below.
I'm going to be fairly lenient about what skill checks I allow, so come up with some cool ones! But, the judge and I can overrule anything if we think it's not justified. (Speaking of which - hey, we need a judge over here!)
One last rule: you can't use the same skill in the same way twice. You can get one success by rolling Endurance to haul buckets with the bucket brigade, but after that, if you want to roll Endurance again you need to come up with some other fluff. (That applies to at-will powers too: you can use them more than once, but not in the same way.) You can dive into buildings looking for trapped people several times - that's nice and dramatic, I don't want to curb that - but you need to come up with new challenges inside each time.
Oh, and don't worry about initiative, but everyone has to post an action before you can post your second action. (Post all the fluff you want, but anything that gets you a skill roll needs to wait until everyone's had their turn.)
Removing Failures
I've decided to add a way to get rid of failures, to make it less dangerous to take risks. There are 3 ways to get rid of a failure:
1. As soon as you make a roll that fails, you can spend an Action Point to reroll. (You can do this for any roll that's part of the challenge, but you probably want to save it for Primary skill checks.)
2. If you succeed at a Primary skill check using a Daily power, this both adds a success and removes a failure.
3. Remember that if somebody fails at a Primary skill check by only a few points, the next few characters can use Aid Another to bump the roll up to a success.
[/sblock]
Challenge 1: 0 successes / 0 failures
Challenge 2: 0 successes / 0 failures
The Hanged Man faces a large open square, which currently is a gathering point for those who have escaped the fire. The area around is a winding maze of shops and market stalls, many of which are located here specifically to cater to the numerous patrons of the famous inn. Many's the drunkard who's been fleeced by a merchant selling "authentic relics of the Five" as he stumbled home. Most are two-story buildings (shops on the bottom floor, with the merchant's family living above) but there is a scattering of smaller and larger buildings as well.
Now the winding streets are in chaos. Because of their twisting, it's hard to tell how bad the fire is - you see flames and smoke pouring from behind a screen of buildings, but it's hard to say whether it's engulfed one block or three. An elderly man stumbles out of an alley, clothes alight, and collapses to the ground, rolling and patting at the flames; behind him, you hear the shatter of glass as a window collapses. A young woman stares past him into the dimness, ignoring him, and calls tearfully, "Kevin? Kevin, where did you go?" Every few seconds she makes a few steps back towards the alley, then hesitates in fear. You can faintly hear cries of pain and terror from people trapped in the blaze.
More merchants trickle out of the alleys, arms full of their prized possessions, to dump them on the ground in the relative safety of the square and lie there, panting. Shouts of anger break out as they scuffle for places, and thieves grab for their goods in the chaos. You hear two men arguing violently over which of them owns a large harp that was rescued from the fire, both putting on a good show for the crowd, while another man sidles away, arms full of fine cloths from the Kingdom of Jade.
The bucket brigade is hauling buckets from the kitchen of the Hanged Man's longtime competitor, the Silver Scales, which is closer to the fire. Alas, the inn's fountain (an ingenious sculpture of a fish holding a balance scale) has been broken for some time. When it works, the fish shoots water from its mouth to cascade over the tilting scales; but something clogged the mechanism years ago and the owner has never gotten around to fixing it.
A crowd of spectators hovers outside the door of the Hanged Man, watching in awe.
[sblock=Actions]
So here are the actions we have posted so far:
Challenge 1:
- Solitaire: Organize the bucket brigade. This is a Primary skill, Intimidate based on the fluff you posted, but you could do the same thing with Diplomacy or even Bluff.
- Soldier: Wants to know whether his axe of magical cold will help. A Secondary Arcana check to answer his question (he or anyone hearing the question can do this). If he's not going to make that check himself, he can pick another action.
- Galinndan: Join the bucket brigade (a Primary Endurance check); look for a water tower or anything else that will help (a Secondary Streetwise or Perception check). He needs to pick one to do first.
- Solon: Join bucket brigade (Primary Endurance)
- Goeth: ?
Challenge 2:
- Mri'Thas: Look for a place to set up a firebreak (a Primary or Secondary Nature check, depending on whether he describes himself as starting to move things immediately or just surveying the situation)
- Ts'iri: Head into buildings and save people (Athletics or Acrobatics are obvious, but this could really go anywhere)
- Kama'zer: ?
- Callen: ?
You can go ahead and resolve these now, or change your mind and post something else. Remember, DC's for Challenge 1 are 12, DC's for Challenge 2 are 13 Go!
[/sblock]
Last edited:
Dunamin
First Post
[sblock=Judging]
The Ebon Mirror concluded recently, so I wouldn't mind serving as your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Judge for the show.[/sblock]
Phoenix8008
First Post
Seeing the woman crying out for her missing Kevin, Kama'zer charges forward while dumping the pitcher of ale on herself to shield her body from the heat and flames somewhat. Reaching the woman, she focuses on inspiring those around her to help go to the aid of those in worse need. "Stop squabbling over mere things while lives hang in the balance you curs! Follow me and we can save something truly valuable - the lives of those in need!" the Gith woman yells at the crowd before charging in where the woman directs her in search of Kevin. She shoulders her way through the door and bends low to avoid the smoke while trying to search for the child. Jumping over fiery spots where the roof has given in, she dodges other debris in her search.
OOC: Used Daily Martial power 'Lead the Attack' for an Athletics check:
Athletics check from Martial attack daily power (1d20+9=22)
OOC: Used Daily Martial power 'Lead the Attack' for an Athletics check:
Athletics check from Martial attack daily power (1d20+9=22)
Ozymandias79
First Post
"There are people in those buildings!" Soldier stating the obvious. Her then tells Mri'thas and Callen "Sorry, can't stay here, I am gonna save some people but have there been many fires in Daunton? and please tell me(shout if necessary) if my axe is going to help?" then he rushes into a burning building that has people in it, that needs rescuing and proceed to rescue them, including pets and small toys that the children want rescued. He will carry children, pets and people who that needs it.
[sblock=Details]
Athletics roll: 1d20+10 → [7,10] = (17)
[/sblock]
[sblock=Details]
Athletics roll: 1d20+10 → [7,10] = (17)
[/sblock]
Last edited:
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