Viridian Plague OOC 2, orphaned by Keia

[Rystil Arden]

I assume they were in the loose circle surrounding us, though. My point though is knowing there were a lot more dogs, which didn't attack initially, would have changed my tactics (hence my request for better reporting of the situation we're in, in future).

Trayah wouldn't have taken Pleione with him when he DDed (which he needed to do to escape the three dogs attacking him), if he'd known there were a large number of dogs yet to act. Then instead of staying to defend Pleione as he did (which wouldn't have been necessary), he would have cast Fly or something to take himself out of harms way.

Then, I didn't think the dogs would immediately spot them 120 feet away in the undergrowth either...especially when there was no reason for them to be looking there.

Bah, they wouldn't bother coming through an Entangle after Pleione--they'd have gone Slagg or Obscurity if Trayah was airborne--it's a waste to spend all that time getting over there to attack one lone target who wouldn't have been doing anything (presumably), but to get two separated and cut off seemed to their advantage.

Also, these were the dogs from before, and as before there were 8. As to the Undergrowth, they actually heard you over there first. That's why they sort of came in a clumsy arc and got badly trapped in the Entangle.

Anyways, hopefully we'll be okay later on--the reason we never had the problem before is that Trayah has never beaten lots of enemies on initiative yet with +0 or else the enemies often have surprise (this fight they did not)

 

[unleashed]

Bah, they wouldn't bother coming through an Entangle after Pleione--they'd have gone Slagg or Obscurity if Trayah was airborne--it's a waste to spend all that time getting over there to attack one lone target who wouldn't have been doing anything (presumably), but to get two separated and cut off seemed to their advantage.

Also, these were the dogs from before, and as before there were 8. As to the Undergrowth, they actually heard you over there first. That's why they sort of came in a clumsy arc and got badly trapped in the Entangle.

Anyways, hopefully we'll be okay later on--the reason we never had the problem before is that Trayah has never beaten lots of enemies on initiative yet with +0 or else the enemies often have surprise (this fight they did not)

Hmm, attack two separated and cut off targets, which they could probably take down at their leisure, compared to the three that were actually cutting down their pack...strange tactics indeed. Take the weak ones first while the pack dies.

As for them not chasing Pleione if Trayah left her alone, after observing the above tactics. Sadly Trayah can't mindread the intentions of his foes, so why would he expect them to suddenly turn tail and head back to the dangerous foes they left behind slaughtering their pack, when they deliberately went out of their way to go after targets doing nothing to them. That, in my opinion, would be wishful thinking of the highest magnitude.

Well, you said they were 'perhaps the same from before', not that it would have helped if you had said they were exactly the same dogs as before, as you didn't give us the number of dogs when they ran us to ground then either.

 

[Keia]

I will have to side with Unleashed on this one . . . in a combat intensive game, having an accurate map is critical. There are a number of times that M'ress has acted poorly becuase of the lack of knowledge on the placement of her foes and her allies - things she should be able to see with her eyes. :\

Keia

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, you said they were 'perhaps the same from before', not that it would have helped if you had said they were exactly the same dogs as before, as you didn't give us the number of dogs when they ran us to ground then either.

Well, there were more than 3 when they all attacked M'ress though

compared to the three that were actually cutting down their pack

This hadn't occurred yet by the time they made the choice. It was an attempt to separate the two groups of enemies and cut them off and flank them initiated due to outnumbering you guys (admittedly not by much)--it was actually pretty terrible tactics on the dogs' part, but they're not too smart

 

[Rystil Arden]

I will have to side with Unleashed on this one . . . in a combat intensive game, having an accurate map is critical. There are a number of times that M'ress has acted poorly becuase of the lack of knowledge on the placement of her foes and her allies - things she should be able to see with her eyes. :\

Keia

While I do agree that maps are useful, I am incapable of making effective maps without significantly cutting into the time for this and other games (I would probably have to drop GMing two to three games per game with a map I had to draw). I've been playing face-to-face 3.X since the inception without a map or minis, though I know that isn't really an acceptable argument or excuse.

I would be very happy to help someone else who wanted to make a map to indicate locations if they are a bit off so that everyone can be clear where things are.

 

[Rystil Arden]

By the way, I just want to make sure I emphasise: This is no way an indictment on you, the players. You guys are doing a great job. This is an indictment on me: I am *terrible* at making maps.

 

[Keia]

Even an excel spreadsheet with letters for the characters and numbers for the bad guys would more useful . . . as a suggestion. And they take very little time to do. A simple example that in no way ties to what we're doing.

Keia

 

[unleashed]

I've been playing face-to-face 3.X since the inception without a map or minis, though I know that isn't really an acceptable argument or excuse.

I would be very happy to help someone else who wanted to make a map to indicate locations if they are a bit off so that everyone can be clear where things are.

The advantage of face-to-face though, is that asking questions to clarify where everyone is, takes only a few minutes, while here it could take days...depending on who's doing the questioning of course.

I'd be willing to do some form of map, though I don't think it's 100% necessary with better reporting of the situation.

For example for the start of this combat, instead of...
There is enough time to shout a warning before the underbrush explodes in motion, as wild dogs, perhaps the same from before, burst out on all sides in a loose circle around them.

...we could have had.
There is enough time to shout a warning before the underbrush explodes in motion, as 8 wild dogs, perhaps the same from before, burst out on all sides in a loose circle around them, about 20 feet away.

Which gives a far better idea of what's happening, and where everyone is with a few extra words and numbers. That's enough of a description for me to work with, without a map being provided, as I can effectively draw a map or imagine the situation fairly accurately from the data provided. So to recap, number of enemies and distance from PCs is information we might want.

 

[Erekose13]

I'm generally a fan of just winging it too. I certainly don't use much in the way of maps in f2f unless my players have questions then I sketch out a little rough hand drawl scrawl.

In pbp though I've noticed that even with detailed descriptions its sometimes hard for people to see what you have in your head. I've had several of my own games run into questions and people asking for maps when I thought I had been pretty clear on things.

Admittedly I now spend a bit too much time on maps, but I try to stick to dming just one game for that reason (okay so I've gotten ropped into a second with the start of LEB).

 

[Rystil Arden]

Which gives a far better idea of what's happening, and where everyone is with a few extra words and numbers. That's enough of a description for me to work with, without a map being provided, as I can effectively draw a map or imagine the situation fairly accurately from the data provided. So to recap, number of enemies and distance from PCs is information we might want.

I'll remind myself to keep that in mind--I should have given initial distance for sure. However, it actually wasn't clear exactly how many dogs there were until they attacked, actually. From the sounds, you knew they surrounded you though (which does imply more than three or it would be a pretty lame circle )