Superheroes of The Trust OOC Thread (Accepting Alts)

[Victim]

I wouldn't mind seeing the round resolved in smaller chunks so that people can take the results of actions above theirs into account. It does mean that people have to be quicker to post though. If we take let's say 3 days to resolve a full combat turn, then it doesn't really matter when people post. On the other hand, if we resolve the round in 3 chunks, then people at the top of the initiative order have to be the ones to reply first. It also requires more of a continuously active presence from the GM.

Stuff from Foundry people, while useful, would probably not be as informative as stuff from our mystery woman who's set on nuking the Foundry. If she's working with Barrington to cover his tracks, then tracing her would be far more valuable for the current plot line.

 

[DM_Matt]

Since the immediate battle is over or close to over, I want to make a couple of suggestion/requests before we dive once more into the maw of battle.

First, and I fully recognize I'm as guilty of this as anyone, I'd like to suggest we cut down on the OOC chatter in the IC forum. I apologize for the part I've played in such posts in the past, but it -reeeeally- makes trying to follow the flow of combat a chore to have to go back page after page and pick out the posts where actions are being described from the sea of questions, comments, clarifications and so on that really belong in this thread, not the IC.

Second, it would be a nice touch to have a more round by round approach than the current somewhat freewheeling style. It was really hard for me to follow the order of events this last battle, which in turn made it hard to work with the other characters. I noted this wasn't just me either. Many posts had PC's trying to do the same thing, and winding up undercutting each other...the result was a fair amount of wasted efforts and not as much getting done as could have been. Maybe having a standard format that lists the initiative order and the current position in the initative order each time you update, GM? Something like:

Init 20 - Evil Troll God
Init 17 - Gunther the Panther Lord
Init 14 - Kurt Smashsteel - Hero at Large
---
Now on init 12 - Indigo, the Sidekick
Init 6 - The Legion of Nameless Minions

This would mean that the first three listed characters had been updated in a previous post, while the current post was updating Indigo, and possibly the Minions too.

Specifics could vary, of course...but some kind of system would make keeping things clear during the long and complex battles of M&M a lot easier.

I think having these two things implemented would also help cut down on the confusing redacted or retconned action posts, where someone tries to do something which then turns out not to be possible or valid, and then has to post another action. I did this myself with that attempt to use an illusion. Ideally, the way I'd do it next time is submit my intended action (because I had a question in my mind about it or how it'd work) in the OOC forum...we'd work it out there, then I'd post my final action in the IC forum. Result: An easy to follow chain of action and effects.

Thoughts?

I agree to this, other than submitting actions in OOC. However, one reason I haven't been as fancy with the writups (Including ststing init, which I used to, though not in that format), is that RL is VERY hectic right now, but it will clear up relatively soon

 

[DM_Matt]

I wouldn't mind seeing the round resolved in smaller chunks so that people can take the results of actions above theirs into account. It does mean that people have to be quicker to post though. If we take let's say 3 days to resolve a full combat turn, then it doesn't really matter when people post. On the other hand, if we resolve the round in 3 chunks, then people at the top of the initiative order have to be the ones to reply first. It also requires more of a continuously active presence from the GM.

Stuff from Foundry people, while useful, would probably not be as informative as stuff from our mystery woman who's set on nuking the Foundry. If she's working with Barrington to cover his tracks, then tracing her would be far more valuable for the current plot line.

Breaking up the round will probably be too hard, requiring too much scheduling of posts and overly frequent writeups. Do other pbps do that?

 

[Shayuri]

Well, one thing some pbps do that seems to work well is pretty much what you do; wait for the posts to come in, then you assemble them into init order and resolve them.

Some games..usually ones with fewer players...wait for all the posts to come in before resolving. Others will resolve them in little groups as they come in.

Like, if Badguy 1, Shooting Star and Hope are all first in init, then they could all be resolved once the two PC's posted their intents even if other people hadn't posted yet.

That's probably a pretty minor consideration though, considering how much we tend to talk and compare strategies.

As for the submitting of actions, I didn't mean to imply that it should be done all the time or even often. Just that it could be done if the player in question had questions about how the action might, or might not work. Which we pretty much already do...so...there we go.

 

[Victim]

I've seen it done rarely. It caused some of the problems I mentioned above, even with it generally moving really fast and splitting up the PCs (making fights smaller). So no problem if we don't do it.

I think I've heard of games where initiative mechanics are dropped; people go in the order in which they post. Using that would make Shayuri's suggestion easier, but would require some mechanical changes (like refunds on some feats and 1/4th pp per point of Dex). And it might reward some of the wrong behaviors.

Mostly, however, that's the way FtF games work. While there obviously have to be differences because the format is different, that doesn't make operating with a relative lack of information any easier (but smart interpretations of our actions is helping some).

Not knowing what will have happened by the time my character's action goes off is kind of frustrating. Posting several IF statements to respond to changing circumstance isn't much better, either. It makes it too hard to set up a full IC description to go with the action and/or have all the little mechanical details ironed out.

But I can understand if RL has been hectic lately, especially with the holiday season. I think you've been replying fast enough.

 

[Fangor the Fierce]

If Wren wants to use Leadership to downgrade Nightweaver's Exhaustion to fatigue, he can, if you want to get back the person best equipped to do that, since that other super is sitting in a shadowy room lit largely by the flaming robot and very dim lights.

Ok, wouldn't HEAL 10 grant Nightweaver an immediate Heal check at +10 bonus to negate her Exhaustion to downgrade to Fatigue? If so, that would be his standard action. That would leave me with three Hero Points, and the chance to use Extra Effort to grant another Standard Action to use Leadership on Nightweaver to reduce her condition to normal, or HEAL to get Hope to wake back up with a +10 on her Recover Check.

From the book: Leadership cannot remove damage (although it may alleviate some of its
effects) nor can it remove other conditions, including exhausted, disabled,
or unconscious.

So, would I have to use HEAL first to negate the Exhaustion, then Extra Effort for another action to use Leadership to remove the Fatigue? I would think it would be possible, and

 

[Elric]

So, would I have to use HEAL first to negate the Exhaustion, then Extra Effort for another action to use Leadership to remove the Fatigue? I would think it would be possible, and

No sort of ability, Healing/Regen power, or anything else can heal fatigue conditions without some significant cost (e.g., hero point for leadership, taking fatigue on yourself for Energizing Healing). This is presumably because Extra Effort is such a powerful ability in the game system that a method of curing fatigue at any reasonable cost would be too powerful.

 

[Victim]

Nightweaver could spend her own HP to reduce Exhaustion, and then Wren's leadership could negate the remaining fatigue to leave her at full strength.

Things that cancel fatigue always cost HP, because of Extra Effort (like Elric mentioned). Even if you buy Immunity to Fatigue, it still doesn't help against the drain from EE.

 

[Victim]

I think the Trust guys are pinning the Foundry people down, not the other way around. But it's understandable why she'd be confused.

 

[Fangor the Fierce]

I think the Trust guys are pinning the Foundry people down, not the other way around. But it's understandable why she'd be confused.

Yes, do doubt the Trust guys are keeping them pinned, but then again, they don't know that there is a bomb about to go off...