[D20 CoC] Beyond the Mountains of Madness Campaign - Recruiting Alternate Players

[jdeleski]

Getting Your Rooms

Those are wonderful kickoff writings! Paco's first experiences travelling to New York City, Camille's comical scene with the housekeeper, Vitorrio's stay in Sayner to learn about the motorized toboggans (you've effectively eliminated any penalties with repairs, Bobitron), and Annie's going away party. We'll eventually get to some shorter, action writings of a few sentences, but these things really set a great opening tone.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

• Shaman, in Paco's opening paragraph, please edit out the "cool morning air" sentence. At this time, the entire Eastern U.S. is experiencing an unusual weather phenomenon, with daily lows above 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 80 percent humidity. Even in the evenings and early morning, there's no escape from the heat and the constant sweating and stickiness.
• Taokan, I am alerting you a bit early that your student pose will not work because the fundraiser is by invitation only. I'm giving you advance warning so that you can think about how Camille will alter her plans once she's turned away. You can edit your post if you'd like, but there may be no need to do so unless you have trouble figuring out how to proceed from here (or if you have a blinding flash of brilliance that you absolutely must perform immediately!). It's up to you. Normally, we would play out this event as you wrote it, but I'm offering you the option of changing your post since I believe that Camille would've likely discovered her error prior to the start of the fundraiser. You don't need to change your post, but you have the option if you'd like to take it.
• I've assigned rooms, but there's always the option of changing your room (within limits) by checking with the desk manager.
• The two 6th floor double-occupancy rooms are adjacent to each other, but there is no adjoining door between them.
• If you'd like to take any actions prior to the fundraiser, let me know. My next post will actually describe your entrance at the start of the affair. I plan to add my next post Wednesday night, but I can adjust the timing of this depending on what your character does (or if you tell me that you need more time).

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Job (the tortured one).

 

[jdeleski]

Die Roll for Toboggans

Bobbitron,

Nice roll!!! I'm OK with 3 used machines in addition to the 2 new ones.

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Job (the tortured one).

 

[jdeleski]

Ready... Set...

OK, my IC posts now take the action right up until everyone enters the ballroom. I'll wait a few RL days to let everyone catch up, then will add a post describing the ballroom environment, the people, and the opening speech by the mayor.

If you'd like take any actions prior to the start of the Fundraiser, now is the time. If you need extra RL time before we start this event, or if someone posts an action that requires quite a bit of roleplaying, I will delay the start for a bit. Be sure to add a post here if you'd like me to wait.

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Job (the tortured one).

 

[The Shaman]

jdeleski, please let me know if I mucked up by having Paco introduce himself to Starkweather - I'll change that if you like.

Bobitron, I tried to set things up such that Vittorio and Paco did not have a chance to meet before the event - Paco was out getting a haircut and shoe-shine while Vittorio was getting dressed.

 

[jdeleski]

Shaman,

That's an absolutely splendid post! And you left me some room to "maneuver" at the end, so there's no need to change anything. I will not post any responses until we get a few more writings from other team members, but I will thoroughly enjoy following up on Paco's entrance.

You should make one minor change in your sentence where you reference Paco getting a glass of champagne. Since prohibition didn't end until December 1933, and since the Mayor will be in attendance at the event (and would like to avoid a scandal), the hotel will not be serving alcohol. A small change.

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Thanks!
Job (the tortured one).

 

[The Shaman]

Since prohibition didn't end until December 1933, and since the Mayor will be in attendance at the event (and would like to avoid a scandal), the hotel will not be serving alcohol. A small change.

Whoops...

I also fixed the weather report in my earlier post, and made a slight correction: Paco departed from Valparaiso, not Valdivia.

 

[jdeleski]

Keeper Update

I'll add another post or two tonight and/or tomorrow. I've been diverted with work (both business and home) for the past few days, but hope to shake free tonight.

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Job (the tortured one).

 

[jdeleski]

TZ,

I'll provide a response to your post tomorrow. Yours will be a little different than that for Shaman and Morpheus.

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Job.

 

[Dallas4lr]

Greetings,


I just posted an acceptance letter, hopefully there is room for a scientist/priest. I will post my character as soon as I am approved.

Thanks
Dallas

 

[jdeleski]

New Player?

WILL ADDITIONAL PLAYERS OVERTAX MY RESOURCES AND ABILITIES?
As an RL gamesmaster, I am comfortable with moderating a group of up to 8 people, given the limits of any particular scenario or campaign. Considering the leisurely pace of a PbP campaign, I think that we'd be fine; occasionally I might find it difficult to respond to 8 different sets of actions if all were posted at once, but I'd methodically work through them and I think that we'd be OK from that perspective. I therefore assume that I would be within my limits to accept up to 8 people in a play-by-post campaign, provided that the campaign world and scenario can accommodate that number of players.

WILL ADDITIONAL PLAYERS OVERTAX THE SETTING?
In my opinion, the "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" campaign is able to accommodate 8 players, so long as I adapt an NPC or two, or a sidestory or two. There are many opportunities for a number of characters to experience different aspects of this environment. Within the main flow of the storyline, I believe that there are also numerous possible sidequests that can be explored. Were we to reach a bottleneck, I would feel comfortable in modifying the situation to accommodate the group. My only area of concern would be where a new player might overlap the skills and background of an exiting player. I would not add new players if that addition set limits on the options of our existing players.

WILL ADDITIONAL PLAYERS LIMIT THE FUN OF OUR EXISTING PLAYERS?
All other considerations aside, this element is really the key for our game. To motivate me to extend our team beyond 6 players, I would need to see no overlap in character skills, personality, etc., I would need to see a possible "synergy" effect that your new character might have with the existing set, and I would need to gain the concurrence of our existing players.

1) Overlap? I could not see much overlap in character roles or skills. Your character is quite unique. Of course, your character would need to run the gauntlet with James Starkweather...
2) Character "Synergy"? The priest/scientist might present a lot of interesting inter-character exchanges.
3) Since your character is interesting, Dallas, and appears that he might even broaden our roleplaying options, I'll consent to allow you in the game if a few of our players agree that it would be OK for them (or if noone objects). Please allow us a few days to discuss this.

Even should the players have concerns about a larger team, Dallas, you'd be first on the alternate list. Since this is expected to be a lengthy campaign, and since I've noticed a fair amount of turnover in other PbP games, you'd probably find an opening within a reasonable amount of time.

Players are welcome to send me emails with their thoughts.

What does everyone say?

Dallas, to satisfy my own curiosity (it won't impact whether you are allowed in the game), are you familiar with this campaign? Have you read the material or any bulletin board descriptions?
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Job (the tortured one).