[FR][PBP] Against the Storm Game Thread

[Fenrir]

(back, took a week longer than I expected, but I'm here again)

Calain falters, his skin dried like parchment as he desperately fumbles for his potion belt, his hands on fire as the skin flakes. He clumsily downs a Potion of Endurance and growls viciously, weakly assuming a casting stance.

With a great deal of effort, he begins a harsh, guttural chant and makes a series of circles in the air with his hands, an electric glow highlighting his movements, leaving a trail of glowing blue sparks behind as his hands flail. With a grunt, he thrusts his hands out and a single large ball of lightning zooms at the dragon, engulfing the beast's head.

 

[DM_Matt]

[I am assuming that Calain just cast Ball Lightning] The lightning strikes the dragon's face and then envelops him, the crackling energy arcing from place to place on his body and burning him painfully. [the accumulated dmg of the ball will in your estimation kill him unless he can dispel it]

The dragon tells Calain "Mighty brother...your power is great, but you cannot save your friends. Release me and we all shall live. But if I must die I am taking all of you with me."

Calain sees Theresa in front of him. One side of her is burnt, nearly skeletal. The other half appears as he last saw her. He notices that her hand and fingers on her unburnt half appear to be broken and bloody, probably from pounding on the door of the closet. She talks to him:

"Yes, Calain, Yes. We have him right where we want him. The fiend is supplicating, now BIND HIM. Use him. It is worth risking the lives of these fools if he refuses. After all, you have never had qualms about killing your friends before...."

 

[Fenrir]

Calain growls and withdraws the ball just enough so that it is no longer striking the dragon.

"You have exactly twenty seconds to make your surrender, coward. If I do not find it satisfactory, I will burn you back to whichever hell spawned you."

 

[DM_Matt]

Theresa seems not to like Calain's plan

"No, Calain. Pain. you must cause pain. He can take tremendous amount of it before falling...that need not concern you. He is a demon. He knows only pain, obeys only pain. Now bind him."

 

[Fenrir]

"Your tricks do nothing, demon. Speak your surrender or die."

 

[DM_Matt]

The dragon begins to acquiesse. "What are your terms, brother?"

 

[Fenrir]

Calain keeps the lightning poised to strike.

"You will learn your lesson from this. Relinquish any items you have stolen. Then fly away to the coldest, most distant place you can think of. Stay there, trouble no one again, and I will not come for you. Violate these terms, and you shall suffer. I will be watching."

 

[DM_Matt]

knock, knock...anyone out there?

I realize that I have made some mistakes. In the other PBP I ran, the players were less concerned regarding tactical issues, but that is not a good excuse.

I realize that I need to map not only every major combat, but (in varying degrees of detail), ANY potential combat. Otherwise errors and miscommunications are likely to occur.

I am sorry that this (and other things) posed problems for these reletively peripheral encounters on the way to the main adventure site. I am trying to teach myself as I go, and learn from the rest of you. I have started reading and playing in more PBP games in order to facilitate this.

I have some great plotlines up my sleeves, some good stories to tell. I know that I need to better listen to player needs and complaints so that I can better apply these plots to the DND 3e PBP format (particularly adjudicating actions fairly). Please bear with me and give me another chance at getting this right. You will not regret it.


(Regarding Calain and the Dragon: I am going to wait until more people have posted to conclude that. Good thinking, though Fenrir. Ball Lightning could not have been a more perfect move. It's certainly better than any of the possible good ideas that I thought of. Bonus XP for that)

 

[reapersaurus]

OOC: well, i'll perceive that as an olive branch extended, and I'll respond in kind, Matt. While I don't know how the other players have perceived things (since noone has posted any comments about the game other than me), all I can post is my thoughts and impressions. I do not speak for the 'group', but since I've been most vocal, than I'll step up to the plate. While the mapping is an issue (pretty necessary for combats at this level), the real problem is your approach to the combats so far. To summarize: while these ARE peripheral combats on the way to the main site, they are pretty glaring examples (to me) of you dismissing the player's intentions. It's kind of funny - we have a DM in our group that your style reminds me a lot of - one that concentrates on story more than mechanics. While that approach might work in cases, I hope it's obvious that it hasn't worked here so far. To Wit: How is Calain's use of one spell a better resolvement of this dragon scene than the cooperative efforts and heroic impact of having Ubaar, Akharos, and Calain's Tentacles subdue the dragon thru brute force? Why did you dismiss that combined effort so fast, with no thought about the impact on the scene? In my eyes, IF that dragon is a 21+ HD Templated Dragon with the ability to cast a 6th level spell, wouldn't that make him about Wyrm age? But you said it was 'only' Large size, which squarely puts him in the adult age category. I know I'm using current MM dragon-stats to estimate these things, but what else do we have? I wanted to see what a fun and interesting way to resolve this scene was, and offered to have Ubaar grapple the beast. Everyone seemed to want to try it, but you apparently didn't think that was the best approach? You instead wanted us to find out from the dragon exactly WHY the "Coward" tattoo was placed on him? And how were we supposed to do that? Ask him? IF this dragon is so powerful to be throwing around 6th level spells and to be shrugging off Ubaar's not-inconsequential grapple attempt (or Akharas or Calain), than WHY would it be affected so much by Calain's Ball Lightning spell? Isn't Ball Lightning 'only' a 9d6 attack? Isn't that 'only' 31.5 damage a round, more likely saved for half? Why would that affect the dragon - I obviously missed something, since Ubaar (and probably Akharos) alone can manage MUCH more damage than that per round, and that's not including the potent archers we have, and their damage output. Your dismissal of the party's attacks with a wave of your DM hand, while then having the Horrid Beast subdued by a simple 9d6 attack is alarmingly nauseating to ME as a player, and raises some BIG questions about your ability to DM high-level combats and also your decisions as a DM. Well, that's my major impressions. I want to applaud you for this part: Please bear with me and give me another chance at getting this right. You will not regret it. I'm listening, and I think it's stand-up of you to recognize this situation and be willing to deal with it. I am excited about the game still (but I am much more active than the normal player in PbP's - you'd have to assess the other's desires to continue individually), but at the same time I don't know how you can change your approach to DMing THAT fast, or that completely. Here's to gaming *raises glass*

 

[Fenrir]

(OOC)

I've been quiet pretty much for the reason that I'm the simple mage, and tactical decisions don't have much of an impact on me. I say what spells I churn out, they get churned out, done.

What seems to happen, though, that I HAVE been affected by, is that I can't say with confidence that the players have any control over any situation. While I accept railroading as an option to get things on track (especially with such a broad range of characters), even in situations of combat or similar events of simple luck I notice a certain feel of DM Fiat. This translates to a lot of what Reaper has said- declaration of actions that weren't declared, making somewhat critical judgement calls for the characters, and a few fishy cop-outs (The Sure Striking vs. Stoneskin thing particularly comes to mind, as does the freaky dwarven gatling-wand) leave a suspicious trail.

Like I said, it's not bugging me too much, I'm mostly just along for the ride. If it were a live mIRC game that I had to donate a lot of time to, I'd probably be a little more irate, but I'm a laid back little bastard. Still, they're valid concerns.

And as for the Ball Lightning, wasn't really much of a choice. I was almost dead, and I just churned out the most deadly spell I had in my repertoire. Not a whole lot to it, really doesn't deserve anything extra ;-)