wedgeski
Adventurer
Sorry, my mistake, I thought that was allies only. Still got a 4th Edition head on.
Old-school dungeon crawl using 5e playtest rules
Guys? I'm really not sure what's going on.
1. We were in a context where we had a defeated hobgoblin that we were interrogating, and rather than have a social situation, our DM turned it into combat. (Possibly because of my attempts to keep things moving, granted, but we/I blew that chance). As a result, after one combat we felt we needed to take a short rest -- an hour's wait in room 1.
2. That was literally three weeks ago (see posts starting around 151). We seem to have lost any coordinated sense of moving forward.
3. I think the dwarf is the only character that speaks goblin. Apologies if I'm wrong on this, but Who is going to be doing the interrogating at this point? Does any one have any specific hope of particular information that they hope to get? If so, please lay it out, and make clear how they are going to communicate.
4. It might be that we are all just too polite about killing the hobgoblin (fearing we will judge each other as a result?), or leaving it tied up (given that it might escape and come back to bite us in the ass). If that's the concern, then say so. But to say it's more merciful to kill it than to leave it in a room number 1 (when we know there are patrols and shifts, etc). just seems nuts to me.
Kill it, or leave it, I don't care, but let's not waste time pretending we are going to talk to it if we can't or suggest spending our (much needed, after 1 encounter) healing potions on it.
Instead, let's please move out of this room, unless someone has a real sense of what they want to accomplish.
End rant, and apologies if this is out of turn. PBP games in my experience can be great, but they need momentum, and it is very easy to lose it.
1. We were in a context where we had a defeated hobgoblin that we were interrogating, and rather than have a social situation, our DM turned it into combat. (Possibly because of my attempts to keep things moving, granted, but we/I blew that chance). As a result, after one combat we felt we needed to take a short rest -- an hour's wait in room 1.
2. That was literally three weeks ago (see posts starting around 151). We seem to have lost any coordinated sense of moving forward.
3. I think the dwarf is the only character that speaks goblin. Apologies if I'm wrong on this, but Who is going to be doing the interrogating at this point? Does any one have any specific hope of particular information that they hope to get? If so, please lay it out, and make clear how they are going to communicate.
4. It might be that we are all just too polite about killing the hobgoblin (fearing we will judge each other as a result?), or leaving it tied up (given that it might escape and come back to bite us in the ass). If that's the concern, then say so. But to say it's more merciful to kill it than to leave it in a room number 1 (when we know there are patrols and shifts, etc). just seems nuts to me.
Kill it, or leave it, I don't care, but let's not waste time pretending we are going to talk to it if we can't or suggest spending our (much needed, after 1 encounter) healing potions on it.
Instead, let's please move out of this room, unless someone has a real sense of what they want to accomplish.
End rant, and apologies if this is out of turn. PBP games in my experience can be great, but they need momentum, and it is very easy to lose it.
wedgeski
Adventurer
I agree.
However, we've spent enough time dancing around this hobgoblin (and hey! I had a spell I could use!) that I want to see an interrogation play out if that's okay.
Further to your comments I'd like to suggest that we decide on a party leader. This will be someone who will take everyone's posts, distil them into a plan of action, and be prepared to make decisions and nominate PC's for appropriate tasks. This should help both the DM and keep the game moving.
tuxgeo
Adventurer
Yes, Bartleby is the only one who speaks goblin. If an interrogation is going to happen, he seems suited to it. (Maybe in the "good cop" role, perhaps with Tock as the "bad cop?" I dunno, though.)
Planning is good. Our plans might not be able to take into account the things we cannot know ahead of time, such as which of the monsters might be willing to talk and which ones will "fight-or-die" instead. (We also cannot know whether this captive has any useful information unless we ask.)
Re: Leader: Are we that coordinated? I think another encounter or two could show us who is taking the lead in which kinds of situations.
Hmm. At the start, out of doors, Aeiyan took the lead to scout around the fortress, because that's his thing. However, he didn't take the lead in questioning hobgoblins because he doesn't do that well. Also, he followed Bartleby's lead early on: the druid had said to leave one enemy alive for questioning (in an early post as battle started), so Aeiyan acted to do that. It might be that our leadership depends on the situation.
Planning is good. Our plans might not be able to take into account the things we cannot know ahead of time, such as which of the monsters might be willing to talk and which ones will "fight-or-die" instead. (We also cannot know whether this captive has any useful information unless we ask.)
Re: Leader: Are we that coordinated? I think another encounter or two could show us who is taking the lead in which kinds of situations.
Hmm. At the start, out of doors, Aeiyan took the lead to scout around the fortress, because that's his thing. However, he didn't take the lead in questioning hobgoblins because he doesn't do that well. Also, he followed Bartleby's lead early on: the druid had said to leave one enemy alive for questioning (in an early post as battle started), so Aeiyan acted to do that. It might be that our leadership depends on the situation.
Hee hee
Well, you are all Sulannus' minions, of course. (^_^)
More seriously, I'd be fine with having her step forward. I didn't want to be obnoxious with what was essentially just a roleplaying quirk was all.
My sense is that the whole issue boils down to a split in the group between those who just want to go, and those who want to try to interrogate the goblin. Half of us are sorta kinda posting about moving the boulder, and half of us are sorta kinda posting about healing the goblin and interrogating it, and we're all nice guys and so we don't want to pee on anyone's moment so we're not really being aggressive about pushing our respective agendas, so...
Yeah.
I figure we can resolve the divide either OOC with an informal player's agreement about how to proceed...or IC by having one or more PC put their foot down and get everyone organized.
I'm good either way.
Well, you are all Sulannus' minions, of course. (^_^)
More seriously, I'd be fine with having her step forward. I didn't want to be obnoxious with what was essentially just a roleplaying quirk was all.
My sense is that the whole issue boils down to a split in the group between those who just want to go, and those who want to try to interrogate the goblin. Half of us are sorta kinda posting about moving the boulder, and half of us are sorta kinda posting about healing the goblin and interrogating it, and we're all nice guys and so we don't want to pee on anyone's moment so we're not really being aggressive about pushing our respective agendas, so...
Yeah.
I figure we can resolve the divide either OOC with an informal player's agreement about how to proceed...or IC by having one or more PC put their foot down and get everyone organized.
I'm good either way.
Thanks everyone -- I appreciate the input. Hope this will help us as we proceed.
Li Shenron
Legend
If you have troubles moving forward, I can tell you something OoC. Not really suggestions, but rather clarifications:
- the last hobgoblin still alive was badly wounded, and very nearly died while unconscious; I just thought that prodding/slapping or any other physical (however mildly) solicitation wouldn't really wake up someone who's just almost died due to physical solicitations... You need magic to restore him concious (a healing cantrip is enough, if you have one), or maybe the Druid or Ranger could find some natural substance that would also wake him up, but it would take an unreasonable amount of time now. Therefore, the trade-off is simple: spend a spell or potion, get information on what's next (or whatever you want to ask him). I know what he can tell you, but I don't know myself how useful it will be for you for real.
- you are probably worrying too much about his reaction if woken up... he would be bound and surrounded by enemies 5-to-1
- hobgoblins also speak Common; not in every fantasy world for sure! for I just picked these from the 5e playtest Bestiary, hence they do
- the boulder will just wait for you, you already know you can move it away if 3-4 of you push together, so the trade-off "one spell/potion for some bits of information" is really the only decision you have to make! After that, move the boulder and go on!
- the last hobgoblin still alive was badly wounded, and very nearly died while unconscious; I just thought that prodding/slapping or any other physical (however mildly) solicitation wouldn't really wake up someone who's just almost died due to physical solicitations... You need magic to restore him concious (a healing cantrip is enough, if you have one), or maybe the Druid or Ranger could find some natural substance that would also wake him up, but it would take an unreasonable amount of time now. Therefore, the trade-off is simple: spend a spell or potion, get information on what's next (or whatever you want to ask him). I know what he can tell you, but I don't know myself how useful it will be for you for real.
- you are probably worrying too much about his reaction if woken up... he would be bound and surrounded by enemies 5-to-1
- hobgoblins also speak Common; not in every fantasy world for sure! for I just picked these from the 5e playtest Bestiary, hence they do
- the boulder will just wait for you, you already know you can move it away if 3-4 of you push together, so the trade-off "one spell/potion for some bits of information" is really the only decision you have to make! After that, move the boulder and go on!
Hey everyone -- are we waiting on Sulannus? Or something else? Let's git them bloodsucking buzzards.
no worries!
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