A Call to Arms (OOC) (Recruiting)

[DDK]

Important!

Ok, fine, Gary gets a pass, but it's still a strike...

I need to know if you can tell who is who on this battlemap. I can at 1280x1024 resolution, but then again I made the map so I know exactly what to look for.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/ddk/mock1.jpg

Hopefully I'll be able to get the file sizes down too for these things once I start using proper methods but they'll still be around 100k each.

 

[Manzanita]

strikes & such

Personally I'm a bit dubious about the strikes & specific rules regarding our gaming. It sounds more like how a teacher would structure a classroom than how a group of mature adults would structure a mutually consensual game. I think we should make the assumption that we all are excited about this game, love the game & will do our best to play in a responsible fashion (I am, I do, & I will).

Then again, I'm pretty new at PbP gaming, & I realize that we are largely strangers to each other, so I respect our DM's strategy. I do hope you're careful to treat us all as adults, though, DM. I'm sure I'm going to screw up now & then myself (I reckon I already have), but have some leniency on us. I love this game & would hate to see it fall apart on particulars.

 

[Manzanita]

On the battlemap, I can make out who is who, but it's difficult. Perhaps after a while, we'll become more familiar w/each other's pictures (at this point, I haven't ironed out precisely who is who among the other players.) Since we do only have to post once/day, we should be able to take the time to study the map before we act. Also, mistakes happen in battle, so mavbe having a slightly error-prone map isn't such a bad thing. It's certainly far superior to the combat maps (or lack thereof) in the other two PbP threads I play in.

 

[DDK]

Re: strikes & such

Good points...

...but on the flip-side, I find the term 'adult' to be too liberally used, not by you as such, just in general. People seem to lack the most basic levels of respect and the fact is that my rules and attitude are learned behaviour through fourteen years of DM'ing in which I've mostly been treated with very little respect.

As you're no-doubt aware, I put in a great deal of effort into these games and I provide no illusions as to what I expect of players in return. I was up-front and honest about my expectations, so anyone who ante'd up to join this game, should be willing to live up to them.

I'm tired of putting in hours of effort only to have players not turn up or come to my games half-drunk from the night before or any other of a dozen permutations of disrespect to me and the other gameers.

There are six people involved in this game and my rules were made not as some arbitrary measure to make me feel powerful but to make the game fair and reasonable for all people involved and to make it the best game I feel it can be in this medium.

So when someone doesn't fulfill the obligations they agreed to, it shows how little they care about not only me, but us as a group and the game itself. It's disrespectful to make everyone wait and wonder and, especially in a PBP, it causes hiccups which act to destroy the suspension of disbelief.

Now, I'm not an ogre, I understand that life takes precedence over D&D and that we're all human and make mistakes, but at the same time, I'm tired of being treated like my efforts don't matter; I'm not asking for praise or any ego-stroking, just that you do your best to play by the rules you agreed to.

A case in point is your retraction of the Pozo post and reposting under the Manzanita nick. That shows you respect me and the other players. You made an honest mistake and tried to correct it. I don't fault you for that and in fact credit you for doing your best.

So yeah, maybe 'strikes' are childish, but so is being petty or selfish enough to not respect the DM and the players your gaming with; it's not that hard to abide by the rules of the game.

I'll consider dropping the whole strikes thing but for now, I'd like to see how the game pans out and how we, as a group, settle in. Keep in mind, this is my first foray into being a DM of a PBP too, so I'm only going by what I think is best; if it turns out my methods aren't effective or fair, I'll change them.

 

[Grenier]

Personally I agree with Djoran, in just about all the PBP games I've been in you end up getting the people that just seem to lax behind. Mostly that is because they lose interest in their character or the game (If they can't find the time they shouldn't have joined). With this system it will either force them into at least discussing what's wrong, or it will just send them on their way. The only thing wrong with the system is that points might accumulate because of a few unlucky instances. Maybe some type of good behavior system needs to be in place? Something like after a week of a player adhering to the rules a point will be slashed from that player's record... or something along those lines.

Concerning the map; I can pick out who's who pretty easily, none of our avatars are really that similar (That's at 1152 x 864 btw).

 

[Narrator]

News!

I'll be opening up the slot for Bor's place soon so that someone can take over the character. Anyone wishing to play him can remodel him as a fighter or barbarian with whatever stats they wish, but the basic history and for the most part, equipment, will remain the same.

There are a few people I intend on asking to see if they wish to join the game with this character, however if they turn the offer down, then anyone you know who might be interested, please let them know and give them my email or tell them to post in this thread.

I should know by tomorrow whether or not the people I intend asking are interested or not.

Also, I've got the website pretty much worked out. Just gotta do the grunt work to fill in all the blanks. I'll let you know when it's finished.

 

[Manzanita]

Did you base your website on the Bigpond.net.au/greyhawkcampaign one I sent you?

I really enjoyed that site, but it is updated so infrequently, I rarely go there. I do credit it with getting me re-interested in the world of Greyhawk. Over a few weeks, I read that entire greyhawk history section. It was the first I'd heard of the Greyhawk wars. Do you know where all that comes from? Some official WoTC publication?

 

[Narrator]

Yeah, it's not a bad site. I'm basing my design off of several sites I've seen around the place. Currently I'm waiting on an artist to say that I can use his pic before i can reveal the URL. It's nothing fancy though, more functional. But it's all GREY and that's the most important thing

As for the history of the GH wars, yeah, it's at WotC's site. Although to find it is a PITA. Go to Canonfire! (in my Fourecks sig) and put in the search engine 'Greyhawk Wars' and you can download it from there. You can also get (assuming GLH has put it in the dB) a PDF version of Ivid the Undying (again, a free download from WotC but in RTF format and full of typos). Great read if you're into Greyhawk flavour text.

Many people diss the GH Wars because it's doesn't have the 'Greyhawk Feel'. Personally, I think that's a load of bunkem. Everybody has their own interpretation of how NPC's and nations would conduct themselves and the fact is, is that real history is full of instances where you wouldn't believe it based on what you knew before. And that's what they complain about, saying things like, 'But the Scarlet Brotherhood wouldn't do that!" and to that I say, "Bah, you're an idiot, who the hell are you to know exactly what a nation would or wouldn't do or how something as chaotic as warwould pan out? Sheesh!"

So for me, I take the GH Wars write-up at face value. I think it's cool. Especially Osson's Raid, he rules.

 

[Narrator]

A bardic note

Oh and another thing. I think I already told you this but it's worth repeating as a reminder. If you've read stuff like that, feel free to use it in game. The GH Wars are current history and even ancient history, assuming you're not a dunce, is basic knowledge of a character through stories and legends and myths. If you need to recall something specific, THEN it's a bardic knowledge or knowledge check.

But as a bard you can, at any time, use the stories that are contained within GH flavour text write-ups. In fact, I encourage it. As long as you put it in the context of a story or a poem or a song relating to the legend/myth or whatever, I'm cool with it. The best example I can think of is Osson's Raid. If you feel you can use stuff like that as a bard character, do so. For instance, you could say stuff like, "This is a trap. I feel like Osson when he was rounded up by the Herzog's forces and made to traverse the Saltmarsh!" or in a more useful instance, "I remember the tale of Osson, a hero who fell in the wars, he double-backed along his path to confuse his pursuers, maybe we could try that?"

These are only poorly thought out examples but I'm sure you get the gist. And feel free to make stuff up, too. A story is, after all, a story and most are embellished in each telling until they become little more than a story that was once based on a fact

Lastly, I ask that you don't consider anything written as being exactly how it will be in my game. Some things will be, some things won't be. In other words, consider anything written in canon to be heresay, rumour and story

 

[Manzanita]

I'm going to try to work some of that bard stuff in.

Not to meddle w/your domain, but personally I think Clerics are the most useful of all classes. None of us even have "heal" as a class skill I think. Any chance Bor could be ditched or turned into a cleric by the new PC? Just a thought, I'm sure you've given this some thought yourself. I'd just hate to see my beloved "little apple" die slowly after a measly orc arrow just because no one was competent enough to bring her up from -1 hp. I'll have to remember to remind the other characters how to use the Keogmen's ointment once we get started....