Welcome to My (Flat) World

[Ireth]

I think the maps may need some tweaking. You say Vincent is able to see the smoke trail, which presumably places him alongside Cookie and the Cap'n (which makes sense since he just lit the cannon), yet he appears on the belowdecks map. Likewise, I had Diana follow Vincent to the upper deck, though it's possible she went back below as Vincent was lighting the cannon. She does want to protect Beatrice, after all.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Both current maps are on the same deck. Vincent's looking outside the door. What he sees looking out is the other map. The windows are port side, and Cookie is also port side.

There isn't much room on the stern, so I pictured that people moving out kegs and cannon balls would go back inside rather than stay and get in each other's way. That, and I don't want lots of characters on that map because [1] there's nothing to do there if you can't shoot a cannon and [2] it's hard to see anyone who stands in front of the enemy ship.

Vincent can safely cast from where he's standing, as long as he doesn't fail big and end up casting something more powerful than Sparkler. If Vincent accidentally casts Sparkler on himself, he'll lose 1 HP per turn unless/until the Sparkler is extinguished. He could light a cannon with his burning hair, then put out the fire.

 

[Ireth]

Ah, okay. Makes sense. ^^

 

[Reaver]

I finally remembered to add a "cage" around the stacks of cannon balls so it makes sense that they don't roll everywhere as the boat rocks. Umm… pretend it was there the whole time. It was so dark in there you didn't notice.

It's also too dark to see the ropes that prevent the kegs from tipping over and exploding.

I know this is late commentary for this post but...You really don't need cages and ropes for the munitions. That's why they stacked cannon balls in a pyramid, the weight of each layer pushing down on the ones below is all you need to keep them from moving anywhere. Same goes for the kegs. Those barrels were anywhere from 20 to 200 lbs each.


*EDIT*

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Oh… I didn't know that. Cool! Well, I can get rid of the rails in that case. I wasn't sure if the pyramid stacking was realistic on a boat.

 

[Philip Overby]

OK, the next several days I'm going to be busy and out of pocket, so put me on "auto-pilot" for the time being. Probably will be around Dec. 26th or 27th before I can post again on a regular basis.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

No problem. I'll play him up as willing to fight hard, not so willing to lug heavy objects outside.



About heavy objects, as long as Cookie and the Captain aren't busy steadying a cannon, they're free to lug objects. Those is the dark room are also free to move cannon balls when not busy killing things.



If you're outside, or if you're inside but within 4 squares of the left edge, your character will make a "round trip," meaning you'll move the heavy object but get back to the map you were on originally. If something happens to the leftmost cannonball stack, Cookie and Cap'n will need to spend time on the dark room map if they get their own stuff.

Don't forget to find ways to keep cannons firing and keep a steady supply of cannon balls. @Sparkie, I didn't wait for your post because I was under the assumption you had Cookie watching where his shot goes. He knows the cannon will hit now, and the cannon has been fired. He's free to reload. (It's hard to see, but there's a cannon ball next to Cookie and another next to Cap'n's cannon.)

 

[Ireth]

Likewise, I'll be leaving sometime tomorrow to spend Christmas at my parents' house. Not sure if I'll have time to post much from there. Feel free to have Vincent keep doing roundtrips to bring cannonballs out to Cookie and Cap'n, and lighting cannons with fireworks. Diana will keep fighting the frogs until there aren't any more to fight.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Here's a thought…

From now until New Year's Day, I'll consider the game "paused" until three players post. Once I see three players have posted, I'll consider the remaining two on auto-pilot if the 48-hour limit has passed. Maybe there will be a couple of turns over the next ten days, or maybe Cookie's first shot is still in flight until 2014.

Does that sound okay to everyone?

 

[Ireth]

Sounds good to me!

 

[Reaver]

Sounds good LS!


*EDIT* During the down time, please check out my trigger challenge. Something to do if you're bored. It would be great to have you guys join the fray!

 

[Reaver]

What do you think of my new permanent avatar? Thanks for the awesome artwork Sidekick!

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Nice! And there's Pink Floyd in the background!

 

[Reaver]

Can't get any better than that! I chose that first battle because not only was it fun, you captured my idea of Reaver as a video game character perfectly.

 

[SeverinR]

Rolz doesn't like Shan Mai.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

It was a weak hit, but a hit. The 10 you rolled against shield guy was a miss because the shield guys have higher defense, and in addition, dual wielding reduces offense.

That said, rolz does seem to play favorites.



Also, if one more player rolls, I'll (eventually) roll for the other two so we can keep the game moving during the holiday season, albeit at a sluggish pace.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Combo Update

While the game is "paused," I want to let everyone know that we're still in an experimental stage. I may occasionally tweak rules when I feel like a current rule is unfair. At the moment, I think I'm settled on the magic system, now that Telekinesis works like heavy-lifting.

The combo system needs a change, in my opinion. I didn't like Shan Mai missing a target completely when he would've hit with a single weapon. That logic works in D&D since you roll damage—having two weapons should have a risk-reward aspect. But in this game, you don't roll damage. I can simply adjust combo damage so a combo is like a jab followed by a roundhouse. So here's the change for ALL combos whether unarmed, dual, or special move:


If you roll a 10-15…
OLD (dual wield) = -3 offense @ normal damage + -6 offense @ weak damage

NOW (all combos) = no offense penalty @ weak damage + penalized* offense @ normal damage


If you roll a 16-19…
OLD (dual wield) = -3 offense @ strong damage + -6 offense @ normal damage

NOW (all combos) = no offense penalty @ normal damage + penalized* offense @ strong damage

*(playing with ideas regarding the exact number)


If you roll a 20…
OLD (dual wield) = two guaranteed hits both @ strong damage

NOW (all combos) = two guaranteed hits both @ strong damage



In addition, if you have two weapons, you can opt two attack two targets if you roll a 10 or better.

If unarmed, combo-ing and attacking two targets are both optional if you roll a 10 or better.

(Phil's last post with the one-two, one-two implied the intent of a combo, so I'll adjust the map accordingly—his combo increased the damage, finishing the frog with his Moonbeam Uppercut.)

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

RP'ing Place of Origin

I am Reaver, former Knight General of Ashterah.

Feel free to do this^. In fact, I want to encourage this sort of thing. If it helps, I'll give you a verbal world map with a lot of blanks to fill…



There's the mainland and the Eastern Islands.

The Mainland has a place called "The West Pole." It's a desert area, great for mining, not so great for raising a family. The Hand Cannon was invented way out west.

Northwest is the Orangewood Forest. It has really tall trees. There are several snow-capped mountains along the north, Mount Neverest being the tallest.

Asahi Beach is on the east coast. The rest of the continent is a blank slate for you to fill with any made up lands you please.

Likewise, there are several islands east of the mainland. I picture those from the Eastern Islands having Asian features, but I'm not going to be picky about race as the world is well-traveled. Far to the east is The Great Fall, which is a huge waterfall that few have seen. There are also very few who believe the few who claim to have seen the fall and lived.

None of your characters have seen The Great Fall, and no (known) island is close enough to see it.


EDIT - Forgot to mention…

Southwest City - the gambling capital of the (flat) world

The Just Plains - a rural area in the south with a very low crime-rate

Eastern Islands -

• Roku-Roku Island, known for its wildlife
• Kong Island, known for its strong people
• The Pac Peaks, the portion of a sunken mountain that's still above sea level

---

Pacing

For the remainder of the week, I'll stick to the three-player rule, meaning I push the game after three players post. For non-holiday time, I have a thought about pacing. I'd like to commit to Monday, Wednesday and Friday as GM turn days. That way anyone trying to write a novel or do other things can do so, and know that the game won't go on without them.

It's tempting for me to push the game as soon as I see every player posted, but I don't think it would kill the fun to have a slow and steady pace.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Philip Overby]

Just want to note I haven't dropped out or anything. Just trying to finish some writing related stuff before the New Year. I'll be jumping back in next week sometime. Hope that's cool!

 

[Ireth]

Just a question for clarity -- when you say certain days are GM days, does that mean you'll push the game forward regardless of who has or hasn't yet posted, with certain characters on autopilot until their player posts again?