Posted:
OOC: Ok now I know that I had a few words to say about things and so i will. Please take this as constructive critisim not as tearing you apart. I have enjoyed this game immensily and have had loads of fun.
Answer:
Thank you for enjoying the game. I do my best
And criticism is always good. I like my players to express what they think and feel so I can take that to heart and try to include that into my game and adjust it to make it better and better till the point where I can't fix anything else!
Posted:
1) I don't know if it is because of the campeign or what, but this chapter seemed to be ... lacking in anything Cthulhu Mythos related (except possibly the disc). Perhaps it was because we did not poke our noses around enough or we never talked to the right people, but it seemed like ... well lacking.
Answer:
Let me tell you that you poked your noses around in all the interesting places exept one from which you could have gotten a clue about Delaney. You uncovered everything and talked to everyone who could have told you anything interesting exept the secretary of DMI Inc. Main Office (where the clue was). And this chapter was heavily Mythos related. I can point out five things really quickly that are severely pure Mythos stuff. I'm not going to since you do not know IC and you might have to uncover stuff. As you move on certain stuff will remain a mystery and some you will learn to understand. It's part of the campaign, but rest assured there was plenty of Mythos here and there will be much much more. But as the campaign progresses the Mythos stuff will come more out in the open and still I must warn you that Mythos stuff is quite rare, it's old and lost for most part. You will battle mostly humans for quite a while, after that combat drops and the plot thickens... then combat lessens but the horror suspense increases dramatically and you'll have more Mythos then you'd like...
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2) Did we miss where the disc was explained? I do not want you to tell me if we missed what it was, but it seemed like we had no chance to get a better more detail edexplination for the disc. It is quite mysterious and now... well nothing.
Answer:
John Stonehill told you about the Disc and what it might and can do in vague words. That's what you'll have to may do with, you shall discover what it does as you move along in the campaign. In the campaign as it is written it is quite boring but I don't follow this campaign for 100% I edited alot in the chapters for flavor and to make it more fun and have more options for the players. But about the disc... if you missed it, you missed it like there happens IRL... stuff passes by once, no save and load option or walkthrough. If you missed some more info about it you might never learn or the future might just tell you.
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3) Guns seem (to me) to be a bit too effective for a CoC game. Maybe it was because this chapter was combat heavy but like i said, our group seemed to allways get an effective result from using guns.
Hahaha! Yes! Now I am very very happy! I am so proud I gave you that suspense that you thought they worked haha. Those werewolves had DR 15/Silver. Do you really think your guns hurt those things? I don't think so, in the whole combat Jason critted once that bypassed it's DR for the rest it was James and James alone with the Disc!!! But the disc really kicks ass vs some creatures and James critted three times with it vs the two werewolves, he rolled immensely. (But well vs thsoe creatures with that threat range... not that weird). And the molotovs and fire!!! Nothing else! Fooled you there
My IRL group used fire extinguishers for weapons heh, they surprised me immensely and I had to improvise what they'd do. Well for your info, fire extinguishers are a wea[on with charges, 5 charges for 2d6 cold damage in a 10ft cone.
You battled alot of humans and humans mostly have around 20 hitpoints and so with guns which do from 1d10 to 2d10 to 3d8 damage... are really, really and really effective. You guys just got lucky and had cover and surprise in alot of situations but a few times alot of you almost died. Jason, James (twice)... it's all in the roll of the dice...
In the Mythos games humans die very easily and Mythos creatures are HARD to kill. You really don't think you actually ever hurt Delaney do you? You just pierced his other guise, DR 10/- you guys did exactly 3 damage to him from the lot lot lotsssss of hitpoints. The Shaman spell and the disc worked. The disc would have bypassed his DR but there was a thing involved with a number of rounds and mental points left in that duel and stuff and the disc touch attack took off the last few of those points and he was defeated. Not through damage, but through roleplaying and weird stuff.
Again, only against the humans did your guns relaly do something. I really just fooled you that it worked against the rest. I just described to you all what their visual effect was like it really is. I'm not gonna post roll results, then you'll metagame and do something else. Your guns did certain stuff vs things like Delaney and he (and me
) tricked you into keeping to use worthless weapons against him and the wolves. When you just have descriptions this is what you can fall for, you must draw your own conclusions due to the descriptions!
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4) There was only really 1 part when I feared for my characters life (the first exchange with the warewolf). After that we seemed to be quite effective, and after the revelation of who the first werewolf was, the horror was a bit lacking from then on.
Answer:
Again I point out that it seemed due to my descriptions. You fell for it just like you had to
Makes me feel gooooddd
And you could have had a death down in the mine, sanity loss there was immense... and in any combat, even with just two enforcers with guns you could have gotten a casualty in just two shots from that guy but he missed one and hit one for 2 dmg... called the roll of the dice. With the climbing of the ladders there.. if someone would have fallen that would have probably have meant his death I can assure you that. Against the wolves James just got lucky, he critted and the wolf rolled ones and all below five exept one roll and there the damage was low. Well the second wolf got peppered while he was transforming and had no DR yet... that killed it mostly. And then the humans came and had to fire agaist people with a great entrenchment and massive cover and outnumbered. Slaughtered! But it doesn't always have to be hard now does it? And James almost died by Delaneys hand, just 4 hp and that could have gone off in that damage roll as well...
Things could have gone another way, but they just didn't. There will be alot of easy combats but also alot of impossible ones.
LEARN TO RUN AND WHEN TO FIGHT!!!!
If you take that to heart and learn when to RUN you'll have a great chance to make it alive through this campaign.
The really good:
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1) Atmosphere was amazing. There were times when I would log on then pull up the thread and read what we found and shivers would go up my spine (literally). That was great.
Answer:
That does me alot of good to hear! I always miss that with my GM's so I didn't want to make the same mistake. I know it keeps players interested and active and I like to write those posts! I'm glad they are enjoyed!
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2) Scenery was allways well described. I never had a hard time picturing in my mind what the interior of a location looked like. it helped me RP out alot of the situations much better.
Answer:
Helps alot with PbP combat as well. Which can get problematic on PbP with no real maps available most of the time and people are guessing where they are without a real layout in their minds. But again, I think flavor is essential and lets you draw your conclusions and lets you get into the game... enjoy that suspense and get to identify with what your character is going through and make some great IC reactions on that informations... you know what I mean! You did great with the IC playing, like great! No metagaming there, makes me proud as a GM! But none of you metagamed and I am proud of you all!
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3) IC stuff from NPC's. I think that your flavor text in this point was amazing. The characters felt real. I liked some of them (like the cute girl that got disemballed who I forgot her name) and loathed other (damn that Sherrif and his deputy). But even though I loathed them I still felt bad that I could not save them.
Answer: NPC's are essential and needed for plot devellopment and I need you to get to react the right way to the right NPC's. Seems I succeeded to get you guys to have the right feelings about the right people! Makes me feel good again! Good NPC's let you better roleplay and makes you want to interact with people which gets you information and thats good for the plot... Interesting NPC's who seem to really be someone keep you interested and let you identify again better with your character.
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There is alot of other stuff that is really minor that I canot seem to think of right now, but like I said it was minor. The stuff that seemed bad (the first list) is not only directed at you/the game. I can use some of the items for me to build on in the next chapter (like ask more specific questions). Another thing that I would like to add as more of a generality is that I have read alot of reviews that this campeign has alot of "railroading" (where the players have little to no impact on wether or not a certain situation happens or not) points for the campeign. I fell that if that was the case that you handeled those point really well to set us up for it. It did not feel like railroading at most points, and I know from experience that it can be hard to avoid doing it to players.
Answer:
There is alot of railroading, it is one line you follow but after chapter 3 you are drawn into a greater whole, one big stream of events of which you can hardly get out... and when you get out.. you are dead my friend. So you have to drive on... and on.. and one... to where destiny guides you because fate draw your number for this year. MUhahahhahaah!
But avoiding the railroad feeling is really easy you know, you just have to trick or charm the player characters into doing it themselves and wanting to do it themselves. Give them good IC reasons to follow the railroad... the plot. In this campaign the plot really is worth it so I don't expect too much trouble to keep the players motivated to follow the plot. But I'll never try out and keep the suspense as well as I did now, it's more njoyable for PC and GM and it feels very rewarding when I read your posts and comments! I have LOTS of fun and I thank you for that!
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Well before I start rambeling on I just want to say thanks and I am loving how we are starting this next chapter where we are all finding IC ways to get the gang back together.
Answer:
That the whole point ain't it ?
