General Discussion Thread VIII

[Knight Otu]

Does anyone mind if I expand on the Grendath religion? I've already started to add a few small things in my PbP, but decided I better make sure it's ok before I do anything more.

Sure, go ahead. I'm sure we'll want to expand on the other religions as well (Hyrag, especially, is lacking in that department.)

elapse - the formatting in the code block can turn out screwy at times due to the automatic tabulator. If you use Notepad, the tabulator from that file should carry over, but that's not always the case. If you want, I can try to edit your post to fix up the formatting.

What was the logic behind the craft system? It occured to me that racial modifiers don't affect the number of craft points that are spent in crafting, and I was thinking maybe they should.

Which part of the logic do you mean? Why we use it? Or why it works the way it does?
I could see a rule to increase the Craft DC to reduce the cost to create (and thus the amount of craft points required). But if racial modifiers were to reduce the number of craft points, all modifiers should, whether from skill ranks, ability scores, circumstance...

 

[Patlin]

El Jefe, Patlin, Bront - did you notice something?

I reread the last 2 pages of the general thread twice before thinking to look above my icon. Doh!

(Watch out for that Knight Otu guy, he's sneaky!)

 

[Bront]

What was the logic behind the craft system? It occured to me that racial modifiers don't affect the number of craft points that are spent in crafting, and I was thinking maybe they should.

I have a thread proposing some changes, but I've been waiting for a judge to at least post their throughts in it. Seems most of the players support what I said, but have suggested a few tweeks, and I'm looking for more feedback before I put more finality to it.

 

[Jdvn1]

Which part of the logic do you mean? Why we use it? Or why it works the way it does?
I could see a rule to increase the Craft DC to reduce the cost to create (and thus the amount of craft points required). But if racial modifiers were to reduce the number of craft points, all modifiers should, whether from skill ranks, ability scores, circumstance...

Why it works the way it does.

I was also thinking that all modifiers would then affect the number of craft points used, but it doesn't seem to make sense to me that someone (or a race) that is better at crafting would have just as much effort in making an item, or be able to make it just as well. Seems like there should be a difference, be it based on total modifier, ranks, class, or a mixture of different mechanics.

 

[Jdvn1]

I have a thread proposing some changes, but I've been waiting for a judge to at least post their throughts in it. Seems most of the players support what I said, but have suggested a few tweeks, and I'm looking for more feedback before I put more finality to it.

Yeah, just saw that. I'm gonna check it out now.

 

[Bront]

Is there a generaly acceptable standard for how to deal with players who seem to have gone wayward? It looks like I'm missing 3 from my adventure, one of which is also my GM in another. I know the judge went hunting for the GM, so on that adventure we're taken care of, but how do I deal with missing players? (Which unfortunately is going to throw a huge wrench in the plot I had going).

 

[El Jefe]

I don't think there's a "standard". At least, I haven't seen one.

The last adventure I was on, some party members went AWOL in the middle of combat! The DM npc'd them until the combat was over. Fortunately(?), one of them was pretty banged up, so we had an excuse to retreat back to Orussus. The other AWOL characters stayed behind to "nurse him back to health", while the active characters recruited replacements in the RDI.

I've heard of some adventures re-recruiting not once, but twice. I've also heard of characters "teleported" from the RDI to "some other inn near where the party needed help".

Of course, some adventures just fall apart when enough people go AWOL. It happens.

But, it's not going to happen in your game, right?

 

[orsal]

Is there a generaly acceptable standard for how to deal with players who seem to have gone wayward? It looks like I'm missing 3 from my adventure, one of which is also my GM in another. I know the judge went hunting for the GM, so on that adventure we're taken care of, but how do I deal with missing players? (Which unfortunately is going to throw a huge wrench in the plot I had going).

Use your discretion. Whatever you do, do not hold up the game waiting for them to show up again -- that's just going to make the other players lose patience, and in time they'll stop watching the game, so you'll lose them. Do the minimum you need to do to keep the game moving. Make them NPCs who go long with the plan but don't offer their own ideas, do very average things in combat and use their skills only when others suggest. Or if there's a convenient place where it's plausible that the characters might just quit, let them do that. Whatever you think works best, considering verisimilitude, consistency, and game enjoyment (not in that order). I'd generally say that if someone is offline for a few days you should feel authorized to take temporary control; if they haven't returned after a few weeks you should feel free to take more permanent solutions (such as writing them out of the game).

Oh, and a general note to anyone who might have RL problems interfere with PbP obligations: if you must quit, or even take some time off, PLEASE tell everyone. It's much easier on DMs like Bront when they have to make this kind of decision if they know what the situation really is.

 

[Manzanita]

right. in my experience, AWOL players (& DMs) are commonplace. You simply can't worry about them too much. In general, it's best not to base your plot on your PCs, except ones you've really come to trust to stick around. That was basically the death of the game I DMed for 2 years on the main boards. It was very much based on the individual PC's motivations. When, finally, I had only 1 original PC left, I couldn't justify keeping it going.

NPC them as needed, then find convienent excuses to drop them here or there. I would try not to have them killed, and it would be polite if you could drop them in places where they could return if the player returns. But you're under no obligation to be so kind.

 

[Dungannon]

Has there ever been a determination on what the coins of the realm are called? Do we just call them gold or silver pieces or do they have actual names, like crowns or shillings or the like?