[Dark Dungeons -- BECMI Retroclone]In Search of Adventure OOC

[Vesth]

So Lanmolltar gets 964 exp, remove all the gold on him and heal to full hp, correct?

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by Vesth

So Lanmolltar gets 964 exp, remove all the gold on him and heal to full hp, correct?

That XP is in addition to the XP previously awarded for combat and the first trip back, but yes. You can do with the coin what you want; it should be removed from the "treasure" section of the Ape regardless. As per the rules, healing occurs at a natural rate of 1 per day, 2 with bedrest. But Ervenor can cast spells now, so it is safe to assume he has healed any leftover damage.

Roland, let me think on Ganelon hiring all the henchman himself. Were you thinking of hiring them for this one crawl (what I would consider a "hireling") or as a long term companion ("henchman")?

[Roland St. Jude]

Originally Posted by thirdkingdom

That XP is in addition to the XP previously awarded for combat and the first trip back, but yes. You can do with the coin what you want; it should be removed from the "treasure" section of the Ape regardless. As per the rules, healing occurs at a natural rate of 1 per day, 2 with bedrest. But Ervenor can cast spells now, so it is safe to assume he has healed any leftover damage.

Roland, let me think on Ganelon hiring all the henchman himself. Were you thinking of hiring them for this one crawl (what I would consider a "hireling") or as a long term companion ("henchman")?

This one crawl. My thought was that after this crawl, he might invite those who were worthy to be longer term companions and the others could be easily sent on their way.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Maybe rather than bringing on all four as full henchman right away, we hire them for this one trip to test the waters, and offer a longer-term deal if it works out?

EDIT: Heh - cross posted. :-)

[thirdkingdom]

I have managed to recruit a couple of new players, in the meanwhile. It is still totally cool to recruit henchmen, though. I'd like to hear what CJ and Vesth have to say about it. Ideally, I have to admit, I would prefer if each PC had a henchman/hireling as opposed to just one PC having all the hirelings. Don't know why I feel this way, other than that's typically how I've done it, and there is certainly nothing in the rules that says you can't.

[NeoFax]

Greetings! It looks like I made it in. I will be playing Rodgar McNair a swarthy thief (my backstory says from Amn as for some reason I thought the post said FR, so I will change that once I familiarize myself to Karameikos). Don't have much 1E experience, but have Labyrinth Lord, 2E, 3.5E, Pathfinder and some 4E(wish I didn't though). Let's have fun and make stories together!

[Koren n'Rhys]

Welcome, Neofax! I'm the last newbie, and am just getting into the game too, so it should be interesting for the lot of us! If you have Lab Lord experience, you'll do just fine.

@thirdkingdom: Like I said early on, Arcturis would be interested/willing in hiring his own henchman, but we'll see how the others chime in. The solo mage, looking for a little adventure, likely would have been looking for one. Might take the dim-witted Sonja under his wing.

[theduck]

Hello all, I think I might be adding a cleric to your fine group. I... don't exactly have a lot of experience with the older styles of DnD (Baldur's Gate is really about as close as I got) but I have played 3.5 on, and I have been interested in playing an older style of rpg and am excited to join the group, though I might have to ask for some patience.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Oh, no. We can't have any new edition players here - that's just wrong.

Kidding - obviously - welcome to the game Duck! I think you'll find it's fun, and plays pretty fast and loose overall. Read through the IC thread here, and Roland's other game (Old Ways) and you'll see how it works. Enjoy!

[NeoFax]

After reading all of the posts in the OOC thread, I have a couple questions and observations/comments:

• The thief houserule about 5% is that in lieu of using a skill point? i.e. Reaching next level instead of using 1 of my 4 skill points I add an additional 5% to say Disarm Traps If so, how does this work out if say I make it to level 20 and I no longer can obtain the boost to that talent, do I get a skill point instead? i.e. My talent is already 100% but by RAW I would get a 5% boost
• I personally feel mechanics should be hidden from the player for the same reason another said that it spoils the original wonderment of the experience. (I have not read any of the IC thread so this may be a moot interjection)
• If I may suggest loot be handled on a claim basis and the party member buys the item they want from the others. i.e. Bastard Sword +1 is looted and Mutt wants it. He then pays the party pool 2000gp and takes the item This way in the end everyone wins and the party is not screwed by selling the item for a percentage of what it is worth
• I did not notice any skill for appraise. How is artwork/gems/relics...handled as far as price? We just accept the merchants price?
• As for death, kill me with no remorse. I am used to it in Labyrinth Lord play and 2E play. In the LL game I have now made 15 characters and have only played in game 2 months(DM is lethal and I am slowly learning old school style play)

[Koren n'Rhys]

Duly noted, thirdkingdom. I'll subtract the 50gp from my char sheet on the wiki and post up Sonja once you get me her stats. How much gear will she need, as she's not a fighter? Leather + a club? Can she use a real weapon?

EDIT: "thirdkingdom", my bad!

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by Koren n'Rhys

Duly noted, thirdworld. I'll subtract the 50gp from my char sheet on the wiki and post up Sonja once you get me her stats. How much gear will she need, as she's not a fighter? Leather + a club? Can she use a real weapon?

Her stats are: STR 13, DEX 12, CON 8, INT 6, WIS 15, CHA 8, 3 hp.

There are no real rules for 0-level NPCs in either the RC or DD books, as far as I can find, so I will be borrowing from ACKS, which I have been playing a fair amount. Dungeon Crawl Classics will also be a bit of an inspiration, since all character's begin at 0-level before being run through a meat grinder. Essentially, leather plus a basic weapon, such as short sword, club, crossbow, etc. I'll probably have them attack as a magic-user, for now. They will be gaining no XP for this adventure, just receiving a flat payment. If taken on later as henchmen they will start to gain XP, and should progress fairly rapidly to 1st level.

Thoughts on the hiring process (in spoiler):

Spoiler

So, Ganelon did not specifiy that he was going to spend any cash or take longer than one day recruiting, so I decided that there would be 1d4 respondents and they would each have a 50/50 chance of being 0/1st level. I rolled a 4, so four dudes responded, of which three were 0-level and one was 1st.

If he had spent money advertising, or had taken longer than a day, I would have upped both chances. Let's say he spent 50 gold plus three nights searching for help. I would most likely have said 1d6+2 people respond, all of whom are 1st level, or something to that effect. They also would have probably all had some starting gear, had a better chance of being the same alignment, etc.

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by NeoFax

After reading all of the posts in the OOC thread, I have a couple questions and observations/comments:

• The thief houserule about 5% is that in lieu of using a skill point? i.e. Reaching next level instead of using 1 of my 4 skill points I add an additional 5% to say Disarm Traps If so, how does this work out if say I make it to level 20 and I no longer can obtain the boost to that talent, do I get a skill point instead? i.e. My talent is already 100% but by RAW I would get a 5% boost
• I personally feel mechanics should be hidden from the player for the same reason another said that it spoils the original wonderment of the experience. (I have not read any of the IC thread so this may be a moot interjection)
• If I may suggest loot be handled on a claim basis and the party member buys the item they want from the others. i.e. Bastard Sword +1 is looted and Mutt wants it. He then pays the party pool 2000gp and takes the item This way in the end everyone wins and the party is not screwed by selling the item for a percentage of what it is worth
• I did not notice any skill for appraise. How is artwork/gems/relics...handled as far as price? We just accept the merchants price?
• As for death, kill me with no remorse. I am used to it in Labyrinth Lord play and 2E play. In the LL game I have now made 15 characters and have only played in game 2 months(DM is lethal and I am slowly learning old school style play)

1.Thieves may spend 1 skill point to increase one of their thief abilities by 5%. I did not expand much on this rule, since there were not thief PCs. It is essentially an attempt to boost the thief's usefulness at lower levels. They can spend any number of skill points; each skill point must be spent on a different ability. This option can only be used at 1st level. Therefore, a thief could use two skill points to increase Hear Noise by 5% and Move Silently by 5%, but could not spend two skill points to increase Hear Noise by 10%.

If you refer to the chart on page 40 you will see that in this version of D&D there are 36 levels, and thief skills can go above 100%.

2.In terms of mechanics, the people I learned pbp from did it this way, so this is how I do it. I became convinced that having the DM do all the rolling is a very efficient way to do it. My revealing the mechanics is in part an attempt to be honest about what is going on, seeing as how I roll for everything. I shall, however, be putting mechanical notes in spoilers and noting them as such. I personally find it very interesting to see just how different people run different games.

3.There has been no mention of dividing up magical loot in this manner. For one reason, in the RC/DD books magical items are not "valued" in the same manner as in later editions. Second, magic items do not give XP, so if you pick a magical items you are giving up a fair amount of XP. Third, magical items benefit the whole group, so . . . . That being said, if the group consensus is to try and value magical items and give them their own "share" we can do that.

4.You are correct, there is no appraise skill. I have been giving the values of found items. Perhaps not very realistic, but that is just how I have been doing it. If there is a majority in favor of changing this, we can do so.

[thirdkingdom]

Koren and Roland: I went ahead and added the three NPCs to the wiki, in their own section labeled "Entourage". Don't bother spending too much time filling out the sheets, as they might only be around for this one adventure. We can worry about doing proper entries if you guys decide to keep them on as henchmen.

@ EVERYONE. Do we have a decision on identifying the potion and dagger? I gave three options in the IC thread.

[NeoFax]

Originally Posted by thirdkingdom

1.Thieves may spend 1 skill point to increase one of their thief abilities by 5%. I did not expand much on this rule, since there were not thief PCs. It is essentially an attempt to boost the thief's usefulness at lower levels. They can spend any number of skill points; each skill point must be spent on a different ability. This option can only be used at 1st level. Therefore, a thief could use two skill points to increase Hear Noise by 5% and Move Silently by 5%, but could not spend two skill points to increase Hear Noise by 10%.

If you refer to the chart on page 40 you will see that in this version of D&D there are 36 levels, and thief skills can go above 100%.

2.In terms of mechanics, the people I learned pbp from did it this way, so this is how I do it. I became convinced that having the DM do all the rolling is a very efficient way to do it. My revealing the mechanics is in part an attempt to be honest about what is going on, seeing as how I roll for everything. I shall, however, be putting mechanical notes in spoilers and noting them as such. I personally find it very interesting to see just how different people run different games.

3.There has been no mention of dividing up magical loot in this manner. For one reason, in the RC/DD books magical items are not "valued" in the same manner as in later editions. Second, magic items do not give XP, so if you pick a magical items you are giving up a fair amount of XP. Third, magical items benefit the whole group, so . . . . That being said, if the group consensus is to try and value magical items and give them their own "share" we can do that.

4.You are correct, there is no appraise skill. I have been giving the values of found items. Perhaps not very realistic, but that is just how I have been doing it. If there is a majority in favor of changing this, we can do so.

Thanks! I am all caught up with IC and OOC threads.

[CalamaroJoe]

Hi NeoFax and hi theduck!
I can't wait to see your characters added to the party.

About the edition mechanics: feel free to ask if you have doubts, I'm sure you will find a warm and welcoming environment.

[thirdkingdom]

Okay, so we have got three new players, it looks like: a thief, cleric and fighter. NeoFax and the Duck have already introduced OOC, da Prophet has yet to. I'd like to go ahead and introduce them all at once in the IC thread, something to the effect of "a threesome approaches you and offers their service," or something to that effect. So, it looks like the party will be 9, which is fine by me.

[thirdkingdom]

I have updated the hexmap of the Threshold region to show the cave complex, the wolf lair (from the random encounter) and the site of the caravan encounter. Zoltar the magic-user is said to dwell in Hex 17.20.

[thirdkingdom]

CalamaroJoe: I have updated Ervenor's entry (not the sheet, just the wiki link) to reflect his new 3 hp. Ervenor is now at 9/9.

Da Prophet: I edited and cleaned up your character's wiki entry. With an Intelligence of 13 you are able to take one more skill and one more language (for a list of languages, look here). It also seems like you are more used to 3.5. In this edition, AC gets better the lower it is, so I fixed your AC. Also, the Attribute modifiers are not as steep and are as follows: 13-15 (+1), 16-17(+2), 18(+3). As to background, I am fine with a couple of sentences along the lines of "Mr. X is short, stout and hairy. He comes from the North, wielding a large sword and a bad attitude."

[Roland St. Jude]

Originally Posted by thirdkingdom

3.There has been no mention of dividing up magical loot in this manner. For one reason, in the RC/DD books magical items are not "valued" in the same manner as in later editions. Second, magic items do not give XP, so if you pick a magical items you are giving up a fair amount of XP. Third, magical items benefit the whole group, so . . . . That being said, if the group consensus is to try and value magical items and give them their own "share" we can do that.

In my experience with this and other older editions, the lack of magic item values, rarity of magic items, and greater limitations on item uses, all mean that a "buy from the pool" doesn't work. Our current scheme is to give to those that can use them, with an effort to be fair.

We could certainly take a more mercantile approach, but it might not work until our coin intake approaches the value of magic items. For example, one character recently found an intelligent magic sword that is probably more valuable than all the loot we'll take in the first few levels worth of adventures. We'd have to construct a value and the owner would have no coin and no loot XP for a long time.

[Vesth]

Since I don't think I want to buy anything, I can give the 60sp I have with me to Ilya's dad for exp, right? He needs some support after everything that's happened...

[Koren n'Rhys]

I'll vote in agreement with the other old-schoolers on the issue of magic item distribution. Compared to 3/4E they are much rarer, not something you can purchase in town like regular equipment. There just aren't any prices to even base this idea upon.

It really comes down to sharing fairly, based on who can best use an item when we find one.

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by Vesth

Since I don't think I want to buy anything, I can give the 60sp I have with me to Ilya's dad for exp, right? He needs some support after everything that's happened...

No problem. If you give more it will count towards an XP reserve, but 90% of 60 so isn't worth bothering with. He is very grateful, however.

Originally Posted by Koren n'Rhys

I'll vote in agreement with the other old-schoolers on the issue of magic item distribution. Compared to 3/4E they are much rarer, not something you can purchase in town like regular equipment. There just aren't any prices to even base this idea upon.

It really comes down to sharing fairly, based on who can best use an item when we find one.

I pretty much determine treasure at random. The intelligent sword was a fluke. That being said, I will be dropping the occasional plot hook regarding a specific item (such as a wizard's staff) for those yet without items. Likewise, if you want something for your PC you've just got to spend some tome and gold hunting rumors and I'll come up with something. For instance, I'm pretty strict when it comes to magic-users getting new spells. Research, studying with a higher level mage and finding old scrolls/spellbooks are pretty much the three ways to go about it (I.e. just because you went up a level doesn't mean you automatically learn a new spell.). But feel free to go adventuring to find some lost and forgotten spell.

[Vesth]

What do you mean by Fair Folk? Because, whether it be the tolkien brand of fantasy or the fiction of Lloyd Alexander or just most fantasy settings, such as the Forgotten Realms, the Fair Folk do include Elves. Which is kinda funny when my character is an Elf, and is clearly visible to Zoltar, for him to make such a comment about the 'Fair Folk' in his presence...

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by Vesth

What do you mean by Fair Folk? Because, whether it be the tolkien brand of fantasy or the fiction of Lloyd Alexander or just most fantasy settings, such as the Forgotten Realms, the Fair Folk do include Elves. Which is kinda funny when my character is an Elf, and is clearly visible to Zoltar, for him to make such a comment about the 'Fair Folk' in his presence...

Perhaps it was not the most clear term to use … I draw a distinction between elves and the fairy races (pixies, nixies, dryads, etc.); they may be distant cousins, but operate from an entirely different mindset. Think of the fairies in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: from the human (or elven) point of view cruel, capricious, and mentally unstable at best. I have never liked the "Tinkerbell" idea of a fairy. So, I used "Fair Folk" without thinking it might be confusing to Lanmolltar. Certainly, he might be the one to talk with he, as it were, but I don't consider elves and fairies to be kissing cousins or anything.

[thirdkingdom]

I have added a section to the wiki (found at the bottom) entitled "Plot Hooks and Synopses". I thought it would be a good idea to collate all of the plot hooks the group has heard so far, as well as provide a condensed version of the group's exploits up to this point. Pleas feel free to add anything you think I may have missed.

[Vesth]

Does searching for Firebrand's makers and/or history count as a legitimate plot hook?

[thirdkingdom]

Originally Posted by Vesth

Does searching for Firebrand's makers and/or history count as a legitimate plot hook?

Yes, I just forgot to add that.

[Vesth]

What did Firebrand say? :O

[thirdkingdom]

Hey guys, just wanted to give everyone a head's up that I will be leaving for a show in Philly bright and early tomorrow morning, and will not be home until the following Monday. I will still have my phone with me and will be able to post, just not with my normal regularity.