The Rod of Seven Parts: Kauai Team OOC

[CanadienneBacon]

Maelicent, arrow nocked and drawn, moves around the stone collumn to covertly peer around the tunnel corner southwards.

That was what you posted for Mael directly before I started init. While it would have been reasonable for me to infer from that statement that Mael wanted to also fire the arrow he had drawn and nocked, I suppose what happened is that I read the declaration, didn't see an explicit declaration of firing, and therefore didn't have Mael fire. Given that, at that point, Maelicent hadn't seen what was coming up the tunnel, I suppose it could also be reasonably stated that I wasn't entirely sure what you would prefer he do and therefore erred on the side of DM neutrality. I, for one, can certainly appreciate the argument you might brook with me if I'd had him fire and that wasn't what you wanted. "Hey, you wasted an arrow that I never intended to shoot! Great, now my character isn't hidden anymore! You suck!"

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Well, you all certainly made quick work of that task. The owlbear is dead, and that's even with the d20 that previously used to roll pretty well for you guys suddenly deciding that it preferred to roll mostly 5 and lower. I'd have gotten up and switched dice but the spares are in the baby's room on the bookshelf and she's napping.

I can see I shall have to work harder if I wish to challenge you.

 

[Ambrus]

It is what I posted before you started init, but I when I posted it I didn't yet know when combat initiative would start, so I wasn't in a rush to post everything I might do. To me it seems premature to declare attack actions before initiative is called for; especially before the combatants are even in sight of each other.

I figured it'd be wise to simply have Mael take a look in the tunnel to acquire a target before starting to fire arrows. When Mael and the owlbear were within sight of each other we'd then start initiative and Mael would start firing on his turn while everyone else used their first round actions to move out of the tunnel where they were clustered on their turns.

 

[SlagMortar]

For what its worth, I was imagining that Mael went to peer around the corner and upon hearing the squeezing sounds, Brakkus decided to rush passed him. I'll grant you that Brakkus made it quite aways passed, but I intentionally did not have Brakkus wait for Mael to peer around the corner before charging around himself. If that becomes a habit, it may end up with Brakkus being a tasty snack for some critter, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I figured it'd be wise to simply have Mael take a look in the tunnel to acquire a target before starting to fire arrows. When Mael and the owlbear were within sight of each other we'd then start initiative and Mael would start firing on his turn while everyone else used their first round actions to move out of the tunnel where they were clustered on their turns.

I essentially gave everyone a round to prep before starting init, so as you can read in my last IC post, I gave Brakkus his AoO and Maelicent a shot with the bow. You certainly cannot be expected to anticipate when combat will start or what, if any, foe might have appeared from up the tunnel, but having little to go on other than "my PC draws and notches an arrow while he looks 'round the corner," I initially had Mal do only that. That said, once I saw your query here, I elected to go ahead and give Mal the extra shot as part of his pre-init sequence.

 

[Ambrus]

I don't see that there's any waiting to be done; peering around a corner is hardly a time consuming activity in my opinion. That's my point; Mael wasn't spending time just standing around admiring the owlbear when everyone decided to rush out of the tunnel to join the fray.

I initially had Mal do only that. That said, once I saw your query here, I elected to go ahead and give Mal the extra shot as part of his pre-init sequence.

Thank you. I guess I've just got to learn to be as explicit as possible when typing my posts. :\

 

[CanadienneBacon]

From my perspective, it basically boils down to me thinking, "Ambrus is often picky about his PC's actions. Because of that, I'm feeling some trepidation about how far beyond his stated declaration I should take his character. Should I go ahead and have the goblin fire, even though it may mean I get bombarded with complaints if I do? Or should I go with what Ambrus wrote, sticking only to what he officially declared? Hmmm...I don't like being yelled at, so I'll stick to what he wrote because, after all, he's an adult, can write well, may still be in Hide/Move Silently mode, and probably would've indicated if he wanted to do otherwise."

As it turned out, I received a complaint anyway. Which I have now rectified. I'm not feeling upset about it, but I do consider it a done deal seeing as how combat's over.

 

[Ambrus]

If in doubt you could just ask me to clarify my intentions. That would seem to me to be the easiest solution.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Yes, I agree.

It's this dratted time zone difference that, in part at least, kills it. I think I put up that pre-init post at nighttime my time, which makes it like sleeping time where you are? Part of the issue is that I tend to want to stick to my self-imposed rule that I will post a minimum of once daily. I would've missed that day's post if I'd waited til the (probably) the next day to receive a reply. We could always just edit, I suppose. I dislike having to do an edit, though. Meh. C'est la vie.

Maybe the owlbear will have a cousin.

 

[Voadam]

If in doubt you could just ask me to clarify my intentions. That would seem to me to be the easiest solution.

That would involve extra work for the DM to resolve a round of combat and add delays in the middle of combat. PBP is slow enough as is and DMing a pbp game with people scattered across the globe for time zones is cumbersome to manage and get a good pace of posting rhythm.

In general I find it easiest for DMs to make instant adjudications for the whole round based on posted actions and keep the game moving. As both a player and DM I am fine with combats being somewhat chaotic and resolved on a whole round basis instead of the complete tactical control that would occur if the DM resolved each individual action and allowed reactions to the effects of those actions.

For instance, I'd have to check the IC combat post to see the initiative order but I think Voadam's spell technically went off in the initiative after the owlbear died. In a face to face game or a slower individual action resolution pbp model I would save that resource because I would wait to declare what my action for the round is until my turn. In a more narrative round based DM adjudication I declared I cast my spell, CB resolved the round based on my declaration, and the game can progress.