I think I scuffed the pooch on this. The adventure calls for a few days travel with random or planned encounters tbd by the way the group plays. I could do that but don't know how long such things will take to get back on track.
So please play out any RP you wish to do amongst yourselves I don't want any of that left out. But I will post each day in between to give an account of the day.
Aridrish can head back to his camp or go with the guards trail them or what not. I guess with his actions it only matters how curious the character is? I try to clean things up this week and get us all back on track.
I’m ok to move on anytime. I’ll just post a response to neurotic. Sorry if I derailed things, I just figured ‘travel’ was a good chance to establish the characters a bit.
avoid random encounters that don't move the story forward - use those as side-description ("you traveled along the river and fought crazed water druids fighting for purity of the river") or add them to main encounters to make them harder
make "main" encounters harder to make up for XP difference and to enable focus-fire and use of all resources in a single fight - this disadvantages somewhat "short rest crowd", but with encounters lasting for months in real time it can be a time saver
I’m ok to move on anytime. I’ll just post a response to neurotic. Sorry if I derailed things, I just figured ‘travel’ was a good chance to establish the characters a bit.
For the record I’m having fun engaging the other PCs. @everyone: Please let me know if it becomes too much. Also, for the record, my posts aren’t typically super long and will get shorter as we get into the action.
@FitzTheRuke may give better advice given that he is a good DM in PbP - don't worry too much about being absolutely precise and trying to clarify every single thing. Move the round forward doing your best to follow the intent of the players even if exact action is no longer possible due to some unforeseen (or simply missed) change in circumstances.
Hi, still alive. This is a first draft. I need to catch up on the IC thread after which I'll create a character name and background for my rogue:
Lorella Me'le'dadryll
Lorella can't remember how she ended up in a frontier fort. She fled of the last city she lived in to outrun the law sniffing at her heels. She hid in a supply boat and stayed in the fort. She has been working odd jobs at the inn and the bakery in order fit in. But, she needs to find something better. There's no point in burgaling here as there are no snobbish rich folks who wouldn't even notice a few missing trifles.
Race: Wood Elf
. Ability Score Increase: +2 to Dex, +1 Wis; Bonus Skill: Stealth; Bonus Feat: Ritual Caster
. Language: Elvish
. Darkvision: Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet ofyou as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
. Keen Senses: You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
. Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep
. Trance
. Elf Weapon Training You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
. Fleet of Foot Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.
. Mask of the Wild You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena
Background: Criminal
. Skills: Deception, Stealth; Tools: Gaming Set, Thieves' Tools;
. Specialty: Burglar
. Criminal Contact: You have a reliable and trustworthy contact who acts as your liaison to a network of other criminals. You know how to get messages to and from your contact, even over great distances; specifically, you know the local messengers, corrupt caravan masters, and seedy sailors who can deliver messages for you.
Class: Rogue
. Skills: Acrobatics, Insight, Sleight of Hand
. Expertise: Stealth and Thieves' Tools
. Sneak Attack: +1d6
. Cunning Action: You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
I would avoid too many filler fights in the adventure overall, like @Neurotic advises. However, I think it's appropriate for a flex-your-character encounter along the river. It's up to you. I haven't bothered to track XP in any of my games. I use milestone XP, sort-of, but it's more that I level the group up whenever it feels like it's been a long time since the last time. I'm not actually all that fond of high-level play (and I think it would be even worse in PBP with a lot of reaction-type and corner-case abilities) so I tend to slow things down after about level 4. Expect a fight to take 2 weeks real time - even a small one. Lately I've been lucky if I can pull off a round each week, which is terribly slow, but what can ya do.
-A week per round??!! Then I must get the group together and get things rolling...
I think I can get the wood elf in easy enough just need to know what type of criminal they were. EDIT: Oh i see it now, not sure it was there the first time I looked. Just what the group needs a burglar.
Aridrish may be a bit more troublesome, I'm trying to give him a reason to join in the hunt.
If there are 6 PCs and one person posts per day to do their turn, that’s a full week. Right now everyone is posting pretty much every day (one round per day)but, I find, that pace doesn’t continue.
@Helmsman01 I’m not exactly sure how to respond to the last post. Do you need perception checks or just more RP? We haven’t reached our destination yet?
For the party: are we taking watches? Have we doled out the magic items yet? Maybe that’s what I’ll post.
I think dividing up the gear would be good. Also that last post (in the game) was just a little intro to Firetrees.
@jmucchiello I think one of your "contacts" will be Capt. Scrinner - I'm thinking while Delenir ruled over Unther you got into a little trouble, but the arch-mage went easy on you, seeing your skill set as valuable. So I think he is about to call in a favor.
Have a friend or family in the other fort that you feel that you might as well visit, as long as you are travelling within the safety of a patrol. Someone that you haven't checked in on in awhile. Perhaps someone elderly.
Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything Wondrous item, common
This copper amulet contains tiny interlocking gears and is powered by magic from Mechanus, a plane of clockwork predictability. A creature that puts an ear to the amulet can hear faint ticking and whirring noises coming from within.
When you make an attack roll while wearing the amulet, you can forgo rolling the d20 to get a 10 on the die. Once used, this property can't be used again until the next dawn.
Have a friend or family in the other fort that you feel that you might as well visit, as long as you are travelling within the safety of a patrol. Someone that you haven't checked in on in awhile. Perhaps someone elderly.
