[OOC] The Door

[purplerook]

This is an OOC thread for 'The Door'. This is an adventure made up of a set of individual encounters (trips through the door).

[purplerook]

Revised 4-Apr 2023

The Door harkens back to old-style Dungeon Delving where the occupants of one room have no relationship to another. Within the West Marches, The Door is designed to give players a place to experience the West Marches format without committing to a full adventure. Treasure is awarded at the end of each episode, and a character can level up at the end of five. Characters are free to go on other adventures and return to The Door. However, adventures are currently scaled to 1st and 2nd level characters.

See below; The Door is designed to mimic a whole West Marches adventure. There is a Long Rest after 5 Episodes and two short rests - taken at the player's discretion between Episodes.


The Door

• Terminology. I'm switching from 'room' to 'Episode' to denote a unit of The Door, as Episodes can take place anywhere - e.g., inside or outside buildings.
• Levels. The Door is appropriate for 1st and 2nd level characters. Ask the GM about opportunities to run higher-level characters.
• Duration. An Episode will typically run 4-8 rounds (GM and all players posting). At two rounds/week, Episodes of The Door should generally complete in a month.
• Leaving and Entering. Characters can enter at the start of any Episode and leave after the completion of an Episode.
• Leveling Up. Completing a set of Episodes (currently five) counts as completing an adventure (level up). The GM may declare the room as the equivalent of two for particularly Hard rooms.
• Resting. At the end of each Episode, an individual character can Short Rest. The Door (five Episodes) is considered one adventuring day, so each character gets two short rests that can be used at the end of any Episode.
  
• Healing. Characters can use spells or healing potions to heal within an adventure. Additionally, they can use Hit Dice (once per five room) as part of a short rest between adventures.
• Treasure. Adventuring parties get Average Level Squared * 52 * # in part Gold. Generally, the treasure for an Episode will be about 1/5 of the level treasure.
  Rooms may grant additional equipment that the PCs cannot remove from the room.
• Door-specific boons (e.g., Hit Die, Spell Slot, extra Short Rest) and treasure (e.g., a healing potion) may be granted they can only be used within The Door
• Success. Each room has specific success criteria, but how the PCs achieve the success criteria is up to them. If the door is open, PCs may leave the room without success.

Jasper - The Invisible Servant

• Stats: AC 10 HP 5, Str 5, Carrying Capacity 25 pounds, Movement 15ft (30ft w/Dash)
• Allowable Actions: Dodge, Use Object, Dash
• Any Character can give Jasper a command
• Generally, Jasper's Backpack holds all of the Party Inventory at the beginning of an adventure.
• Party healing potions, the party can have Jasper hand off the healing potions to another character before or during the Episode. However, all unconsumed potions will return to Jasper at the end of the episode.
• Other gear, the Party can give Jasper gear at the beginning of the episode, but it will be returned to the donating character at the end.

PurpleRook's values come from his longer-style adventure (e.g., driving the story). However, they should give players a general idea of his style.

My Values

• Role-play and PbP. I look at Role Play as a Collaborative Story. My adventures tend to have an overall plotline and mix of combat, social, and exploration/investigation. Character development is good, but I prefer players that will help drive the story.
• Reward creative play. Good tactics, innovative solutions, and clever social ploys will typically net the characters an advantage.
• Communication is key. Ask if you have questions. Please tell me what you like (Stars) and would like to see happen (Wishes). I don't guarantee it will happen, but your Stars and Wishes do influence me. I'm a big fan of praising publicly and reprimanding privately. I ask that you do the same. If you have an issue, please PM me, and we can work it out privately. If you like what I'm doing, let everybody know.
• Help the GM. I have to run the world, the NPC, and the monsters and figure out the results of each turn. Anything you can do to help is appreciated.
• Danger. This is a story, not a simulation, so I set the danger level appropriately (Rogue One aside, very few stories end with - and they all die). However, I don't fudge dice rolls, so bad luck, bad tactics, and the dreaded combination can kill a PC or a party.

Pacing

• I try to maintain about a 1/3 day posting rate in my games, which says that sometimes I miss a day, and it is around 4.
• Out of combat, I will normally advance the game every 3-4 days.
• In combat, I strongly recommend that the players agree to a 48-hour rule (i.e. if a player has not posted 48 hours after the DM, another player can NPC the character. Otherwise, it is my choice what to do. I might NPC the character, have them act next turn, or stand and watch.
• Because of the nature of PbP, I will tend to have the NPCs provide a fairly lengthy response and try to keep the social interactions to a few posts. Please help by batching up questions and providing a clear intent to your social interaction.
• Character formatting. Having the information I need to process a turn makes things go faster and more easily. Three things help - 1) A link to the character, 2) Battle Actions (including reactions), and 3) A list of special abilities and active spells. I also prefer the player to keep track of any consumable resources (e.g., 2nd wind, spell slots, rage) as part of the post.

In-Game Stuff.

• Rests, by default, the West Marches has two Short Rest and no Long rest. Generally, I will allow individual PCs to decide at a specific point about whether their character will rest.
• Initiative. Monsters all go on the same initiative. This means that any PCs with an initiative equal or higher on the first turn than the monsters act. Then all PCs (end of turn 1, start of turn 2) act, then the Monsters (middle of turn 2).
• Turn Processing. I have a table that is sorted by initiative. I write each character's action into the table and then go through processing it in initiative order. Generally, I try and honor a PC's intent - e.g., if the monster they were attacking is dead, I will shift the attack. Also, I'm not worried about the exact timing of help.
• Maps. I use various techniques, including - TotM, Zones, and Grids (both a traditional 5ft grid and 15 and 30ft grids). I will pick the type that I consider appropriate to the encounter but may switch if my initial selection is not working.
• Environment (e.g., Light, Cover, Concealment, Terrain). I try to provide relevant information at the start of an encounter. If you need more information, tell me a bit about your intent (e.g., I want to hide in the grassy plain).
• Rolling. If you are taking action, go on and roll and assume whatever you think will happen (e.g., I investigated, the familiar helped, and the Artificer provided Guidance). If necessary, I will adjust (e.g., it was Arcana, not Investigation, the familiar cannot help, but the Guidance gets counted). When the result is not immediately obvious (e.g., we looked for a secret door), I may announce that I'm rolling in secret.
• Results. First, I will reward good RP (e.g., before ascending the cliff, Ragnor carefully examined it for any cracks or crevices that would help the party ascend) by reducing the DC of a roll. Second, a good/poor DC might result in a greater success or partial failure (e.g., a DC 5 ascending the cliff meant that Joe slipped, taking 1d6 of damage, a DC 15 on the ascent meant the party made it in half the normal time).

[DancingSkeleton]

Ayo! Thanks for the game purplerook. I've had a look over your rules and feel pretty good with everything. I can do the 48 hour combat timing no problem. I've made up a statblock to post as well to make character stuff easy to see.

It's been a little while since I played pbp so do let me know anything I could improve or have forgotten. But other than that I think I'm ready to roll!

[silverfeathers]

Greetings, I am Silver and I am pleased to make your acquaintance.

I have been Pbp RPing for over 20 years, but have only been playing 5e for the last 3 years (both in person and RPGX). I am currently running my own game but wanted to get back into the player role.

I am 100% okay with your rules Purplerook. I can usually post every other day and try to check every 24hrs to see if I need to post.

Galen is my level 2 elf ranger that I will be playing for this game.

Two questions I do have: 1) is are these "rooms" the size of normal rooms/passages etc like a classic dungeon or will there be larger spaces where he could use his longbow (which he typically uses)? Were not being transported out onto the plains or something are we? Do not answer this question if it will spoil things.

2) Are PCs sworn to secrecy on what is beyond the door? or can they talk about their adventures with others once returned?

[purplerook]

Truth in advertising, the whole Door/Room thing is something that I just thought up. Anything that I might tell you may be overtaken by events.

1) These rooms could be positively anything (think Start Trek Holodeck). A bow and outdoor gear may be appropriate; conversely, you may find yourself at a formal banquet or underwater.

2)Please share what happens in the rooms with others. More importantly, let me know what you do and do not like.

The 48-hour rule (which could be a 72-hour rule) is to prevent games from being delayed too much when real-world stuff strikes. Think of it more as a convenient option than a necessity.

Also, I'm trying to pace these rooms like scenes from my adventures - so a simple room should probably take 2-3 posts from PCs. Normal rooms would be 4-6 and complex around 8-10. Although as they say, no RP plot survives contact with players.

[purplerook]

And the first post is up - "Mind the Gap"

[silverfeathers]

Alright first in game post is up. Please let me know if I am missing anything or could improve upon. Galen really has nothing on him since went to the tavern to drink. He probably has his bow on him and 2 or 3 arrows and his short sword.

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by silverfeathers

Alright first in game post is up. Please let me know if I am missing anything or could improve upon. Galen really has nothing on him since went to the tavern to drink. He probably has his bow on him and 2 or 3 arrows and his short sword.

Silverfeathers,

Based on previous reports, your character would have taken their starting gear - including the explorer's pack with them. So, both characters have torches in their pack.

There is no writing on the walls.

[DancingSkeleton]

As a human in a dark room, Percy will be happy to know this.

I forgot to introduce myself :P I'm Dancing Skeleton. Please feel free to shorten as you like! DS, Dance, Skele, Dead Guy. Whatever! I'm excited to be in a game with such experienced roleplayers. I've played for probably around 10 years with the past few being DMing my own game in person. I'm really looking forwards to step into the character role more again.

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by DancingSkeleton

As a human in a dark room, Percy will be happy to know this.

I forgot to introduce myself :P I'm Dancing Skeleton. Please feel free to shorten as you like! DS, Dance, Skele, Dead Guy. Whatever! I'm excited to be in a game with such experienced roleplayers. I've played for probably around 10 years with the past few being DMing my own game in person. I'm really looking forwards to step into the character role more again.

Weclome DancingSkeleton,

My name PurpleRook which is frequently shortened to PR.

A shameless shill/plug for the West Marches. One of the benefits is a pool of GM (and we are always looking for more). The Open/Shared World lets us both GM and play. I'm GMing the Door, but I also have characters in a couple of other adventures. Let us know if/when you would like to dip your toe into the PbP GMing side. One of my ideas for The Door is to let people who are unsure about GMing try running a room with no commitment to a larger adventure.

Another thing that I want to do is give the players a little introduction to some of the 5e mechanics. Light is something that players often overlook. Also, lighting a torch (or a lantern) or casting light takes action, which is very precious in combat.

As to the other part, there are various ways to cross the Gap.

[silverfeathers]

Pleased to meet both of you. I did jump the gun a bit by rolling without being prompt, apologize. I know some GMs will prompt for ALL rolls and some will let the players make some rolls without prompting to speed things along.I will post on Sunday, May 1st, as I will be away from my computer tomorrow. It will give me some time to think of some options for attempting to cross the gap.

I would be interested in running a Door adventure in the futur. I want to get a feel for it and how they work so I can have a better group experience.

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by silverfeathers

Pleased to meet both of you. I did jump the gun a bit by rolling without being prompt, apologize. I know some GMs will prompt for ALL rolls and some will let the players make some rolls without prompting to speed things along.I will post on Sunday, May 1st, as I will be away from my computer tomorrow. It will give me some time to think of some options for attempting to cross the gap.

I would be interested in running a Door adventure in the future. I want to get a feel for it and how they work so I can have a better group experience.

In terms of Rolling, when in doubt roll. Pick an ability, roll, and as appropriate add Advantage and or Guidance. As a GM, I'll adjust as I feel appropriate and tell you what I changed.

Jump Calculator

There is a reason that the trench is 20ft wide. You are going to need something special to allow you to simply jump.

[purplerook]

Light. If you stand on the edge, you will get 20ft bright and 20ft of dim (dim is Bright for the Elf). The bright light will show the gap being 20ft deep, and the Dim light will cover the remaining 20ft. Note, the torch is a point of light and so the two corners have pools of Dark (Dim for the Elf.

[DancingSkeleton]

Oof! 9. Hopefully its an easy enough rope to cross or there are pillows at the bottom.

[Mindsiege]

Hi everybody!

I'm currently still awaiting approval for my new lvl 1 character but I figured I can already get situated here since I'm planning to enrol them into this adventure. I liked the premise and thus was motivated to introduce a new character that I had planned for a while.

Happy to be joining soon!