[OOC] A Trip to Remember (OOC)

[Mindsiege]

GM introduction Hey, I'm Mindsiege and your West Marches GM of the day. I'm happy to have you onboard and I'm looking forward to telling this story together with you and your characters. Having gotten that out of the way, below there are some keynotes that might get you adjusted for playing under me. If there are ever any questions, simply shoot them my way. Post requirements 1) Please use at least minimal formatting in your posts for legibility. During combat, that includes a separate section (under a button or in a fieldset) stating movement, action, etc. Let me know if you need a template to copy - I knew nothing about BBcode formatting before I came to RPGX. 2) Please keep OOC-only posts in this thread. An OOC comment within a regular game (IC) post is fine, although you can feel encouraged to do that sparingly. 3) Out of combat, I'll wait for some undefined reasonable time for you to post. In combat, I won't update until all players have posted. As an RPGX player, I usually propose to the group that, after X period of time after an in-combat GM post, any player can post for a PC who hasn't been posted for yet. I usually use 24 or 48 hours, but that's entirely flexible. That's all up to you, though; you have to (politely) police posting speed issues yourselves. Also, please use the OOC to communicate any delays to your own posts. 4) Even if my own GM posts end up with lots of prose most of the time, please feel encouraged to tell your character's story in your own style. General Tips 1) As part of the WM house rules expect that you'll only have two short rests and no long rests across the entirety of the adventure, regardless of whether, e.g., the PCs get a full night of rest. 2) Remember that this isn't a combat-only game; look for opportunities to use skills and non-combat abilities. Generally, the right approach usually beats relying on brute force in terms of effectiveness, and the more ways you can resolve issues outside of combat, the more resources you can save up for the instances where combat is the only path to resolution. 3) I appreciate it if players choose to RP their attributes, but please don't feel bound by them to explore the vision of your character. Even with a bad charisma stat you're allowed to have your character being active in social encounters as much as it fits their personality. 4) Outside of combat I don't require you to limit yourself to a single skill check per post on principle. But please limit yourself to only do as many actions that the other characters also get something to do and where consequences of your actions aren't likely to influence the I'd like to keep retconning to a minimum, even as I liberally give that option to my players if the situation calls for it.following outcomes. You can always ask me OOC about the outcomes of your actions and I will let you know them without you having to wait for the GM post, but please let's keep this within reason so that all players can contribute at the same pace. 5) When your character wants to do something to influence the scenario, don't feel limited by the options provided by the rules. If your described approach is something that could realistically succeed to achieve your intended result, I will find some rules to adjudicate your actions, though I will only tell you the obvious consequences of failure. Either way, for that sake it's important that you are thorough in declaring your approach and intent when declaring actions. If I have to guess what is happening in the story I will usually ask, but I'd like to keep the job of figuring out solutions on the side of the players. So if something is imprecise I might be forced to resolve things unfavorably. 6) At any point, it's all right for you to leave rolling for the success of your actions to me as the GM. If you have a good guess what rules I will be using to resolve your action it's no problem for you to include the rolls as Rolling can happen inline, in your action section of the post or within the Lady Luck dice thread, with a link to that dice post in the IC post.part of your post, but I might end up choosing to resolve an action differently from your expectation. If I think a course of action that your character undertakes requires a roll, I will roll it myself to speed up the game. But similar to the previous point, I will only resolve actions that are declared with a clear intent, so if you want something to happen it's probably a good idea to highlight those parts to me in your post. This however won't protect you from consequences that you didn't want to happen. 7) If you ever wonder what's possible, ask me in the OOC. Rules for this game 1) Generally I will stay within the rules as written (RAW), but as the GM I retain the right to rule differently if anything looks like it will threaten the verisimilitude of the game world. Most of the combat will happen under grid rules where I will provide a battlemap, but if applicable we might switch to our theatre of the mind. 2) Visibility and light rules are in effect whenever I don't forget them. You'll do well to consider them too. 3) Cover rules are in effect and since I won't provide 3D maps most of that will be resolved in our theatre of the mind. Usually I will point out terrain or conditions that will give cover without any particular interaction by the characters, but always feel free to ask what is possible within each moment. Especially considering angles for ranged attacks, it's possible that some objects will result in cover only when you stand in a certain way relative to your target. Also it's possible to hit the cover with your attacks, so consider that it's possible to hit your allies if I don't believe that they could reasonably coordinate with you for you to shoot past them (think shooting into bottlenecks vs. standing directly behind your ally and them letting you attack past them). In short, if you're unsure about cover, ask the GM. 4) This game will not be using the optional flanking rules. 5) I'll explain to you how we do initiative as soon as we get into high tension situations that require it. But you can assume that initiative will matter mostly during the first turn of combat after which I will average my rolls for a single NPC turn. Generally, I process all player turns in post-order, but I let you know whenever I want those to happen as part of my GM instructions during combat. 6) I'll be making use of passive scores for skills to resolve anything that I think should be passively resolved. 7) I'll be using the optional rules for Overrun and Tumble. I don't believe that they will come up that often. 8) I like to enable stealth as much as possible, but for it to work it usually requires an approach that keeps you out of the awareness of the senses of those that would be trying to detect you. Ask me OOC what is possible. 9) Beware of surprise. You and your enemies will make use of those rules whenever it's applicable. I will resolve whether a character gets surprised individually, especially if no preparation for coordination happened apriori. Points of note 1) Treasure will be presented to you as the narrative evolves. It's your character's responsibility to pick them up. For your character to be eligible for the adventure rewards I require your character to take a substantial part in resolving the adventure's primary quest. Loot allocation however remains the responsibility of the players. 2) I don't fudge dice or provide a deus ex machina if things get hairy. Once the encounter starts, I won't save your PC from bad luck or bad decisions unless that was always planned for that encounter. As such, I urge you to try to treat the consequences of your character's actions as seriously as I will treat them. I'm trying to challenge you, and I promise I'm not trying to kill your PC, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Death is also part of any story, just ask the poor NPCs, but please believe that I enjoy a story more where the player characters rise victorious in the end. And even if you were to fail your quest, that's not always the end of the story, but you should try not to let it come to that. Resources table Character AC HP PP PI Movement Conditions Resources Derek Draven 12 6/6 17 20 30' - Arcane Recovery 1/1; Spells I. 2/2; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Earlamar Xyr 15 7/7 12 10 30' - Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Oguun 18/16 9/9 14 13 30' - Spells I. 2/2; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Rolen Galanodel 13 8/8 11 16 30' - Arcane Recovery 1/1; Spells I. 2/2; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Baka 19/17 11/11 13 11 30' - Spells I. 2/2; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Geghard Van 19/17 12/12 13 11 30' - Second Wind 1/1; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Aurora Turpis 17/16 11/11 15 11 30' - Spells I. 2/2; Short rests 2/2; HD 1/1 Ara 12 1/1 12 5 20' / 20' (climb) - - Nephala 12 1/1 13 6 10' / 50' (fly) - - Initiative Character AC HP Status Action Position Now that we've gotten through all of that, again, please be welcome and feel free to introduce yourself to the group with your first post. As one final bookkeeping before we can start, please proofread for me whether I've made a mistake when I allocated your resource table. Also, please signify to the group if you agree to employ the 48-hour rule for this game.

[Togot]

Hey everybody, glad to be here. this is my first time doing a west marshes game. i'm playing Derek the nice necromancer

[Mindsiege]

I haven't seen anybody do the nice necromancer concept in a game that I was part of yet, so I am especially looking forward to see that happen with Derek!

@edit:
If you have any questions or need acclimating, me and a few of the players have been around a while in the WM, so feel free to rely on us for advice.

[BarrowB]

Hello everyone,

I don't have a lot of experience as a player but I hope to contribute and make sure that most of us stay alive.

Resource table for Aurora looks perfectly fine.

I agree to employ the 48 hour rule.

Have a good day/night,
BarrowB

[Togot]

48 hour rule is fine with me

[Togot]

i assume pp is passive perception? if so mine is way too high

[Corwin]

Hello Mindsiege and everyone! @Mindsiege, Oguun's table looks good and I'm good with the 48 hour rule.

Welcome to everyone new to D&D 5e, RPGX, West Marches, or any combination of those I'm a long-time D&D player, joined RPGX a little under two years ago. Glad to help out with any kind of questions in OOC that don't require rulings from Mindsiege (keep in mind that I may be wrong ).

I've played four West Marches adventures and DMed sort of one-and-a-half since I joined, and secretID is one of the long-time DMs and players here and knows as much about West Marches as anybody, so there's plenty of help available. Feel free to ask anything!

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by Togot

i assume pp is passive perception? if so mine is way too high

The observant feat grants you +5 to your passive perception. Does it check out if you count that?

[Mindsiege]

@BarrowB,Corwin:
Happy to have you here!!

[Togot]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

The observant feat grants you +5 to your passive perception. Does it check out if you count that?

Ah right, forgot about that thank you

[Arkaon]

Hi guys! Great to get stuck in. I've been around RPGX for a while and have played plenty of D&D, but this will be my first West Marches game. I'm looking forward to it!

The table looks good, and I'm happy with the 48 hour rule

[secretID]

Psyched to be starting a new adventure with Mindsiege and with you all!

I'm playing Geghard Van, human fighter. I originally intended on a much wackier personality, but when I saw this group developing I figured we could use at least one straight man - in the comedic sense. Hm...we should all probably develop a new term for that concept.

I'm pretty sure I invented the 48-hour rule, so I'm all for it, and I like 48 hours as the number.

MS, Geghard's Perc and Inv are both +3, so I think his PP and PI should be the same. I've been tweaking the PC a bit, but I think I'm done now. BTW, I probably want to do a little shopping before we head out.

On the subject of gear: Geghard needs light. What are others' needs and resources?

[BarrowB]

In terms of gear:
Aurora also has no dark vision and could use a little bit better armour... but has almost no money, so I will stick to what I have.
(Unless someone wishes to give her a loan for studded leather)

Btw.: How selling of items works? Is it just half the price, or is there something more to it?
Aurora has some items, that I highly doubt would ever be of use, or there is just no reason for her to have them.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by BarrowB

(Unless someone wishes to give her a loan for studded leather)

Druids can't use it, no? You know that you could opt for hide instead of leather at no cost?

Originally Posted by BarrowB

How selling of items works? Is it just half the price, or is there something more to it?

This (character creation) is your one chance to sell mundane items at all. At character creation you get full value, and after this you get nothing. There aren't a ton of options for druids, particularly as you're going with two scimitars, but take a look at Geghard's sheet if you want to see the ridiculous shenanigans you can do as a fighter.

[BarrowB]

Originally Posted by secretID

Druids can't use it, no? You know that you could opt for hide instead of leather at no cost?

Hide would actually make it worse.

If Druids can use studded?
In the description it is not stated that the studs have to be made of metal (could be for example bone).
But I'm fine with quitting that idea, if it's the official ruling of this game.

Originally Posted by secretID

This (character creation) is your one chance to sell mundane items at all.

In that case, can I 'sell' some stuff right now, as this character did nothing yet, or is it too late?