Scales of War #1 Rescue at Rivenroar (Full)

[tiornys]

One possible issue is some people not posting because they don't think they have anything meaningful to add, while others are trying to make sure those people have a chance to provide input. I know I was waiting to see if anyone had any opinions about the possible risk before starting on Kali's plan, but only got direct feedback from RavenBlackthorne (Thanee and Kali went ahead and started moving on the plan). Even a quick post to shrug or say "so-and-so doesn't care" can speed things up by letting others know that they're ok to act without upsetting someone else.

t~

 

[Thanee]

Learn to relax? (lol).

That definitely helps.

Slow phases are typical for just about any PbP.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Goonalan]

Goonalan, I think you're doing a spectacular job so far, on par or better than other PBP DMs I've seen in my (admittedly limited) PBP experience. To sum things up and point to the decisions we need to make is exactly what we want.

The trouble is that these are complicated, and very interesting, situations. I want to take it all in and make a meaningful contribution, but it takes a while to read every post and keep track of all of the loose ends to be addressed.

Again, you're doing a great job. In fact, it reminds me of what one does as a facilitator in the business world, a role I take sometimes in my line of work. A facilitator doesn't participate as a member of the team, but keeps things organized and moves things along. So to tackle the formidable challenge of building consensus in open-ended situations like this, applying even more facilitator tricks might be helpful.

A facilitator must not allow the conversation to meander completely unchecked, or important issues will be forgotten. So a running tally of open issues is definitely helpful. In our example a tally might include:
1. Allocation of treasure from Spizz
2. Unlooted bodies in entrance room
3. Unexplored remainder of crypt
4. Unexplored other closed door
5. Sewer Rats waiting for prisoner exchange
6. New crypt - drakes and glowing floor
6a. Who's good with rope?
6b. Will someone help with the ritual?
etc

Another tool that might help is a summary of proposals and opinions (votes). This way we could specifically see who has weighed in on each issue and who has not. It might even help to specifically tell players its their turn to weigh in on an issue, so that it mimics the specificity of a battle. And as with the battle, after a certain amount of time, the show must go on.

I also want to add that pushing in a seemingly likely direction is an important part of facilitating. Yes, they're supposed to be neutral, but there's a fine line and nobody really pays it any mind. If the facilitator is really off base you'll probably get push back, but usually folks are glad of the help getting things rolling.

Hope that helps!

One possible issue is some people not posting because they don't think they have anything meaningful to add, while others are trying to make sure those people have a chance to provide input. I know I was waiting to see if anyone had any opinions about the possible risk before starting on Kali's plan, but only got direct feedback from RavenBlackthorne (Thanee and Kali went ahead and started moving on the plan). Even a quick post to shrug or say "so-and-so doesn't care" can speed things up by letting others know that they're ok to act without upsetting someone else.

t~

That definitely helps.

Slow phases are typical for just about any PbP.

Bye
Thanee

Thanks for some excellent advice, as I say I am new to this format, I am relaxed Thanee but I'm a bit of a- well a bunch of phrases spring to mind... control-freak combined with anally retentive are most immediate. I tend to want to get things right, and as you have noticed keep the ball-rolling.

I like the idea of a 'to-do list' or a 'where you're at list' for you guys, I'm going to get on to that, thanks Goken I tried to give you XP but I still have to spread it around.

Same with your idea tiornys, even if you're only going to post 'I agree', then that would be cool- it gives another player the feeling that their idea has been read and accepted.

Thanks again- big help, if anything else springs to mind then don't hesitate to tell me, I'm on the learning curve here.

Cheers Goonalan

 

[RavenBlackthorne]

Firstly, can I just agree with the fact that this is a cracking game for me and I certainly hope to see it live on.

I can completely understand your frustration, [MENTION=16069]Goonalan[/MENTION], especially since we've been running at a fair ol' lick. I think the idea of a skill challenge here is great and I applaud your flexibilty.

The problem has arisen in that everybody wants to help by finding something meaningful to do and that takes time. I feel we're all invested in this and don't want to let the group down by either a) not inputting or b) not inputting something of interest.

Which leads me to...

What's the PBP etiquette for this?

My point would be this in my RL or even Maptools game some bright spark would come up with the plan there'd be x minutes bickering (chat specifically about how to do the plan) and then everyone would take ownership of a part of it and start rolling and explaining what they are doing.

Help me to understand?

I think what's interesting here is that you acknowledge the "x minutes of bickering". Extrapolate that into PbP and I think you get what's happening here. We're doing the bickering.
However, we're probably not helping with the speed by being good boys and girls and debating our course of action in character. In RL, we'd drop out, talk about what our ideas were, debate a little, ask a couple of questions of you and then come to you with a unified plan.

So maybe the plan of action should be that we also use this thread to do the "table talk" so we can post freely without worrying about OOC clogging up the main thread?

And yes, time differences do play a factor too. I guess that's the beauty of PbP. However, I really am glad that you want to keep the pace up. I've seen many a game slow down to the point of stalling and then disappearing. I definitely do not want that for this one!

 

[RavenBlackthorne]

Laying out the plan

And in the interest of going with my idea (!):

I've gone and created my Tenser's Floating Disc. By standing at the corner of the corridor at the very top I can send the body down to the end of the corridor and the disc will naturally begin returning to me the next round (keeping it within range in the necessary time frame). I'll then move away again, drawing the Disc up and round. I can hide down the West Wing and leave the disc in the centre of the entrance chamber and let them devour the body. At this point if someone else has the rope idea to drag one out to the wilderness. I would have volunteered to do this with the disc but my stealth is so awful I'd probably get caught out in the open with a swarm of needlefang drake like some scene from Jurassic Park!
Added bonus (especially with that Arcana roll!) is that we now have something to transport loot for 24 hours

 

[Goonalan]

Firstly, can I just agree with the fact that this is a cracking game for me and I certainly hope to see it live on.

I can completely understand your frustration, [MENTION=16069]Goonalan[/MENTION], especially since we've been running at a fair ol' lick. I think the idea of a skill challenge here is great and I applaud your flexibilty.

The problem has arisen in that everybody wants to help by finding something meaningful to do and that takes time. I feel we're all invested in this and don't want to let the group down by either a) not inputting or b) not inputting something of interest.

Which leads me to...



I think what's interesting here is that you acknowledge the "x minutes of bickering". Extrapolate that into PbP and I think you get what's happening here. We're doing the bickering.
However, we're probably not helping with the speed by being good boys and girls and debating our course of action in character. In RL, we'd drop out, talk about what our ideas were, debate a little, ask a couple of questions of you and then come to you with a unified plan.

So maybe the plan of action should be that we also use this thread to do the "table talk" so we can post freely without worrying about OOC clogging up the main thread?

And yes, time differences do play a factor too. I guess that's the beauty of PbP. However, I really am glad that you want to keep the pace up. I've seen many a game slow down to the point of stalling and then disappearing. I definitely do not want that for this one!

Anything goes as regards the solution to problems that present themselves- Goken spoke earlier of not running all of the encounters (when I said that I wanted to cap your XP)- I took that to heart.

So there was no need to fight Derek and the Sewer Rats, why just go from combat encounter to combat encounter- why not a little RP, a bit of plot- intro to an NPC that could maybe stick around and a problem solved without the need for long combat.

Same with the Drakes, I am up for new ways of solving old problems, that traditionally lead to grindy combat which doesn't sometimes advance the story.

In short two more good checks and the Drakes are out, you get some XP and the next chamber gets investigated. If you find Big Tony the lost Gnome then the prisoner is yours along with some info as a reward for good play, and some more XP of course. And they all count as another encounter...

If you want to fight then dive in, if there's an alternative plan then suggest a way.

Next up...

I've added the To Do List to the end of the posts, and will keep adding it in future, if there's anything that I miss- or it needs changing for whatever reason then give me a shout.

I'm here for solutions, there are no problems only new opportunities.

You're of course right- you're in the 'bickering stage', which is great- what I am attempting to do is to co-ordinate the 'bickering stage' better, and in future for people to post to say when they are not 'bickering' but are in agreement- sometimes I think you read another players proposal (as tiornys said) agree with it and think- yeah I can help out with... whatever.

The problem is half the conversation doesn't appear on the screen, it's in your head- likewise sometimes you're not sure how you can help... I think with a to do list then you can concentrate your efforts (as Goken said) on one thing at a time. We're all on the same page as it were.

I'm all for improving the system- if there's anything else I can do then... just say.

Having never PBP'ed before then I'm just doing it mostly my way, I'll make mistakes- and I'll frustrate you with my incessant... whatever.

I think the game is moving at a fair pace, I'm all for that- in real life I'm a doer, and I write for a living (and teach others to do the same). Even on a crap week I churn out a minimum of 20-30 sides of A4. So dropping in here and doing a few (a dozen) posts is no biggie for me- it's a break from the others things I'm doing during the day, I get to smoke, drink coffee and catch up on the news while I'm doing it- quite frankly it's glorious.

Keep on keeping on, and a superb Tenser's, see IC.

 

[Goken100]

Lots of win

Anything goes as regards the solution to problems that present themselves- Goken spoke earlier of not running all of the encounters (when I said that I wanted to cap your XP)- I took that to heart.

So there was no need to fight Derek and the Sewer Rats, why just go from combat encounter to combat encounter- why not a little RP, a bit of plot- intro to an NPC that could maybe stick around and a problem solved without the need for long combat.

Same with the Drakes, I am up for new ways of solving old problems, that traditionally lead to grindy combat which doesn't sometimes advance the story.

In short two more good checks and the Drakes are out, you get some XP and the next chamber gets investigated. If you find Big Tony the lost Gnome then the prisoner is yours along with some info as a reward for good play, and some more XP of course. And they all count as another encounter...

If you want to fight then dive in, if there's an alternative plan then suggest a way.

Next up...

I've added the To Do List to the end of the posts, and will keep adding it in future, if there's anything that I miss- or it needs changing for whatever reason then give me a shout.

I'm here for solutions, there are no problems only new opportunities.

You're of course right- you're in the 'bickering stage', which is great- what I am attempting to do is to co-ordinate the 'bickering stage' better, and in future for people to post to say when they are not 'bickering' but are in agreement- sometimes I think you read another players proposal (as tiornys said) agree with it and think- yeah I can help out with... whatever.

The problem is half the conversation doesn't appear on the screen, it's in your head- likewise sometimes you're not sure how you can help... I think with a to do list then you can concentrate your efforts (as Goken said) on one thing at a time. We're all on the same page as it were.

I'm all for improving the system- if there's anything else I can do then... just say.

Having never PBP'ed before then I'm just doing it mostly my way, I'll make mistakes- and I'll frustrate you with my incessant... whatever.

I think the game is moving at a fair pace, I'm all for that- in real life I'm a doer, and I write for a living (and teach others to do the same). Even on a crap week I churn out a minimum of 20-30 sides of A4. So dropping in here and doing a few (a dozen) posts is no biggie for me- it's a break from the others things I'm doing during the day, I get to smoke, drink coffee and catch up on the news while I'm doing it- quite frankly it's glorious.

Keep on keeping on, and a superb Tenser's, see IC.

Wow, so much awesome! I'm loving these alternative encounters, and everyone's really doing a great job! The list is helping me already, I was able to stop worrying about all the details we haven't gotten to yet and just focus on the task at hand. I was definitely having trouble contributing because I felt like I didn't know where to start... thanks!

On a related note, I'm quite pleased with myself for the idea of how to help. I was at a loss until I remembered the Swordbond feature, which really just lets the Swordmage summon his blade jedi-style from across the room. Seems like leverage enough to me to light up some runes from a distance during a skill challenge.

 

[tiornys]

Awesome, and well done!

 

[Thanee]

Very nice, indeed!


Action Points ... Yeah, I really need to start using those up.

So far there just wasn't a good opportunity.

Bye
Thanee

 

[larryfinnjr]

I need to spend more time here....

Obviously I'm back...and again apologies for my absence...been a stressful couple of days.

DM: I love the way you prod us forward. And I think you tapped into a good idea here for these kind of situations. Obviously you can't wait for everyone to chime in every time on every micro-decision that needs to be made. I like the idea that if someone seems to have a grasp on the 'master plan' for any given situation, then you roll with it after, say, 1 or 2 others offer up their 2cp (assuming they seem to be on the same sheet of music). As long as you 'pass the torch' around now and then so no one individual player is always 'leading,' then I think you've got a great system.