Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Kaelan]

Ok. First off the second part of Williams comments (the suicide attack for his soul) was directed at the elf and not larric.

IC

Getting his crossbow out he watches the forlorn hope go forth to the barn of death. What are the rest of the elves doing? If there any close by he'll ask them "you're a spell slinger - can you trace back his magic trail/scent from the vole? At least do you have an idea of how close he has to be to pull that off?"

He'll be keeping a general lookout whilst expecting a loud explosion from the farm

[Kaelan]

Also - will be taking note of the area around radulf as he's the one the elf took the most interest in initially.

[Kaelan]

OOC
ECR - sent a PM for actions whilst away. Copy also sent to alternate email address just in case.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

From the top, then; Chiaela has a curve- bladed longsword drawn and ready, she's methodically scanning the landscape, not focusing too long on any one thing, looking, looking back, moving quietly as she can- has found nothing yet, and is trying to maintain an even strain about it.

Larric's probing finds only that whatever it is, it's effectively been shielded by Insight too, and probably also light manipulation- whoever did it, you know they ahve at least those talents. D. has at least Light, Insight's an unknown- probably.


William just came up with a very good question; the answer is 'It doesn't work like that- to charm it he has to be very close, but that done it can run for as long as he cares to, provided he pays it a little attention; that could be traced, which is why he let the one we noticed drop so quickly.

So,' Oindal rambles on to himself, 'He's living in moments, speed is crucial- what could a vole do that's subject to split heartbeat timing?'


Chiaela suddenly stops moving and goes to ground. 'There.' she points with her sword. 'In that window- a movement in green.'

[Simon_Jester]

The distance- a quarter bowshot depends on who's doing the shooting, but I'm not sure Larric heard that. He did see Chiaela drop and point, and that general neighborhood has his full attention.

He goes prone himself- one advantage of crossbows- and gets ready to let fly with a lightning arrow. Charge pulled up out of the ground and along the flight path, and if he sees something that he honestly thinks is the renegade elf, he's going to give it his best shot, as much high-tension as he can throw. If there's a mechanism for making the enhancement more effective by putting extra mana into it, Larric's using it, within reason.

A flash of green isn't enough to draw that shot, though- he doesn't want to waste something he can only do a few times. An attack would draw it, or a clear sight of the bastard.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Nobody back at the group on the road doing anything, comments, suggestions?

William's checking on Radulf- still not dead yet. William's obviously getting a touch paranoid- keeps looking back at the other side of the road, too. He may be right.

Oindal suggests 'We may want to move away from where he expects us to be. Unless he's triple thinking and that really is what he wants us to do. Damn[equivalent], we think too much like him, which means if he thinks a step further ahead he's won. You humans, what do you think?'


Chiaela gets up and starts zig- zagging forward, says over her shoulder 'It's probably another trap; the trick is going to be to get Dleamthayaran to activate it before we're actually in the killing zone- I'll try and counter, you resist, and hope we survive long enough to trace the triggering cast.'

Larric can tell there's a lot of air magic in there, leaking round the edges of the blind spot- couple of overtones he doesn't recognise, but yes, this is blow your flesh off your bones intense, although it does seem to curve in on itself.

The shutters are down on the farmhouse, there's just small gaps between the slats, and Chiaela evidently saw the green movement between them, sharper eyes- although Bryan saw that last one too, a much bigger movement than the first, a dark shadow half- visible.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I'm afraid you're just going to have to give it more time- people may be more available on the weekends, or less if they have actual plans, it's a tossup. And it's only been an hour and a half since your last post- for Panzer and Feralgnoll I'm pretty sure it's still three in the afternoon (Panzer, at least, is in California, yes?)

IC:

Sounds like a store of electric (?) potential, or a charge of concentrated pressure since he did a blast wave last time. A metaphorical live wire laying on the ground for someone to pick it up- Larric has a thought, looking at that curvature. Is there any chance of trying to remotely detonate it, prod it from a direction no one's standing in and induce it to discharge?

That might actually be more useful than shooting arrows at shadows, not that he's too averse to that notion either if he gets a target he's suspicious enough of.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Yeah, we're both Californians.)

Alfred alternates between watching the scouting party/forlorn hope and making sure the elf does not try to sneak up on the camp, keeping his head down to avoid headshots from arrows or other projectiles.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Out of character time, as and when, of course. In character, I'm trying to point gently, without making it too obvious, in the direction of what the characters may have to do to survive, and that in universe some urgency may be a positive survival trait.

Alfred's not reacting to Oindal's suggestion and question?


Assume about that idea about trying to detonate it, that if we were sitting round the table you would have seen me go wide eyed, make a kind of strangled 'eep' noise;

it's theoretically possible, be a hell of a bang with a lot of splinters- but looking closely at it, Larric wouldn't be convinced it's designed to go bang. It seems too tightly wrapped for that, too folded, in itself and in other things he doesn't quite recognise- project, possibly, rather than detonate.

Sabotaging it could be done, it would involve a lot of standing around waving arms in quite open view and short range. Less risk than the alternative? From what Larric knows now, probably.

[Panzersharkcat]

"Blasted elf. No offense intended. We don't have a way to signal to our scouting group that we moved if they try to come back. Leaving a note would give things away to our enemy or lead the others to suspect it's a trap." He looks for a new place to move to. If he finds a suitable spot for defending and it's not trapped, he'll look for somebody to send towards the scouts to inform them of their new camp's location, as well as the changed challenge and password, water and blood, respectively.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

By accident or by design, that may be the saving of you, those four key words.

and it's not trapped

.

What if they are? Alfred looks carefully for somewhere clear, somewhere safe- and there's a small rock, a pebble, with scratch marks on it. Ten yards away- a fragment of slate. Scratch marks, linear ones, looking like a word in an unknown language- or the runes of magic.

He's done this before. Spread fog, done magic through his familiar. This is a more tenuous link, but- small animals. With paws, that can be used to make marks, score one pebble against another. Weak and without much power, but-

More than one, more like three, four, how many more he can't tell. The farmhouse isn't the ambush point. The first point of contact is.
He guessed you'd go to ground and start thinking. The group who stayed behind are in the centre of the blast pattern.
Lots of weak, subtle, individual marks, hard to notice until he pours power into them. Many would fail under the strain; enough would succeed.

Alfred should have bought time to do something about it. Actions?

[Panzersharkcat]

"It's a trap! Out! Now!" He starts moving away from where the blast should be and dives, trying to minimize his exposure to any explosion, if there is one. He doesn't exactly have time to chuck away all the pebbles, after all.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric looks over the patterns of force woven around the farmhouse. "Shit." He turns his head and pitches his voice low to Rohal. "The blank around the house, that's not covering a trap- it's stored power. We need to get close, keep him too busy to draw on it. Keep an eye out, he may have scattered... something to aim for, marks, runes of power, something. Easier to make bolts loft that way.

Larric starts scooting forward, keeping an eye on the farmhouse. If he sees significant movement at any of the windows, he'll take a snap shot with a supercharged lightning arrow.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Chiaela's between Rohal and the farmhouse, which makes it harder, and there's definitely burning and metal- bashing going on, but Rohal won't be sure that there's elf- scent in there. Not more than Chiaela's, anyway.

There is indeed a movement at the window. Rohal's quicker on the draw than Larric- just. What is he doing or saying?


William survives- manages to scare the horse Radulf is draped over the back of into bolting then sort of hangs on to it's neck until it stops again; quite hard on the horse, and means he's oh, way over there somewhere;

Alfred, as the irregular splatter of rune-stones takes power and detonates with blasts of pressure from air magic, is thrown into the air, not very high, lands, with a crunch- and a rune stone two inches from his nose; threatens it, demands that it not become magical, shouts at it- it works. The thing fades out.

Damage was taken- a Light wound, essentially a full body bruise, but that could have been much worse. As far as he can tell the impulse came from behind him as he landed, which would be the woods on the other side of the road most likely.

Eliska's actions, I need.

One of the elves was standing right over one when it let go, wasted too much time trying to pin down the source and counter it; there's not much of him left. Kill. Three escaped from the burst, one the blast caught, and he landed harder than Alfred- wounded and probably out of it.

[Agent Sorchus]

OOC This page has been the worst for comprehension of them all. I honestly don't see myself doing anything cause events went way to fast and didn't get enunciated well. For instance what all exploded? There was an explosion, and it influenced a portion of the group but spacial-y it is just somewhere in the field.

But you know what? I knew that even trying to deal with his traps was a waste of time. Walking past was going to be the easiest thing since you can only lay a trap so fast. You essentially can't keep up with a group that is dedicated to continuing like we should've.

IC: wasting no time on the fallen elves I'm going to tell William to just ride out of here with the prisoner. At least a ways. It does none of us any good.

[and if D focuses on the lone rider that is better for self. Now though I will be watching for him to see if he tries anything to William to stop him in the here and now.]

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

You had the opportunity to insist that our response be "move on past the farmhouse," and you didn't. Or didn't do so nearly as clearly as you're now doing it after the fact.

You are in a poor position to blame others for not doing what you never said they should do. If you're going to hector us for bad tactics, you really ought to contribute your own tactical insight to us before we make bad decisions.

For myself, I see no problem with things being hard to comprehend, or not getting enunciated well. ECR explained it all, in ways that I know I understood and that Panzer seems to have understood well. Dleamthayaran mind-controlled one or more small woodland creatures (the vole) to scratch magic runes on various stones in the area around the farmhouse. He's got a reservoir of stored power near the farmhouse (what Larric saw), which he's using to project blasts of force through the runestones and make them explode like grenades.

He did most of this scratching while we were standing there arguing and William was demanding money. As ECR said, in so many words:

"The farmhouse isn't the ambush point. The first point of contact is.
He guessed you'd go to ground and start thinking. The group who stayed behind are in the centre of the blast pattern."

It seems perfectly clear to me. What was he supposed to do, post yesterday saying "THE BAD GUY HAS PLANTED BOMBS ALL AROUND YOU RUN AWAY!" How far ahead of time should the DM telegraph his punches, if people aren't looking at what he says and thinking about what the DM might not be telling you?

[Agent Sorchus]

Simon two things. Like you noticed I am not that active during the parts of the day that ECR is active, and he was quite quick today indeed (even you noticed that he wasn't really giving people enough time). Actually what usually happens is by the time I am fully informed, the actions by the party have already started to occur. Secondly just learn that not everything is a directed insult on the internet. It would help alot if you didn't go automatically to defensive mode, here especially since this notice that I knew that we should'v continued was more of a back of my mind thing and only something I was observing for everyone else to know. Now zip it.

And what I am not understanding is where. Not that the events are happening, but the locales they are happening in. No sense of space is making it hard for me to consider my options. (this usually isn't a thing that is true though)

Now Simon are you going to get out of auto defensive and work forward? Cause it is in the past.

[Simon_Jester]

"This page has been the worst for comprehension of them all" is not a good way to begin a non-insult.

Anyway, here's what I know.

The party was traveling along the road, the farmhouse can reasonably be inferred to be reasonably to the road, off to one side and further along. However, the distance that Chiela, Bryan, Larric, and Rohal had to cover to reach the farmhouse is implied to be long compared to, say, 'one third of a bowshot.' Which, depending on how a not very strong elf defines a bowshot, is probably between thirty and fifty yards.

The distance to the farmhouse is a good deal longer than that. Long enough that you can't just sprint from where the rest of the group was to the farmhouse in a hurry, an enemy will at least have time to take some pretty significant shots at you.

As to other forms of cover and terrain, my advice (this usually works) is to tell ECR what kind of thing you're looking for, and how you would use it- he's done this before, and will generally try to interpret vague intentions in specific but sensible ways. Which is important in this kind of game, because we're never going to be able to get the decision loop down below three or four hours even at the best of times.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Let's get the easiest bit out of the way first;
Simon, thanks for the vote of confidence and all, but I'm in the position of talking out of both sides of my mouth here, a NPC trying to cheat and confuse you and as narrator trying to give you every plausible, rules and common sense consistent chance to spot what the NPC, at the moment Dleamthayaran, is doing to you- simultaneously trying to crap on you and hoping you notice in time to dodge.

I would add "and take your own advice", think carefully about what I'm not saying about the farmhouse, about the non- appearance of D. when you managed to do in his sister, and those dots you saw at the time, just above the horizon.


Sorchus, I am moving quickly, because I want to resolve this, it's a cliffhanger at the moment; I tend to post as soon as there's an executable action, as soon as I know what the PC's and NPC's are doing enough to move on a bit, and in theory I should wait for everyone; but in practise, how long would that be?
I know that at least half a dozen times I've spotted a fresh post of yours in the G&C forum, thought 'oh good, at last' and then realised ah, right, tanks. If you're confused, ask- if you have something to say or do, post about it, don't let it get away from you.

I'm also grumbling a bit at myself because I put the farmhouse, in my mind's eye, too far from the highway; agriculturally it should be one or two fields' lengths in, but it isn't, it's closer to five hundred yards from the road. Out of range, actually, which is probably why it's as far as it is.

[Kaelan]

OOC

We did have a discussion on what our actions were going to be. It actually got quite heated at one point and totally ignoring the farm was raised. The ultimate decision was that if we just walked passed our companion ‘D’ would most likely attack from ambush – especially as we’re kind of responsible for killing his sister.

As for ECR running a best hedge on what our characters are doing, as S_J mentioned given the nature of play by post you have to give general instructions. When I knew I was going to be out of the loop for a while I PM ECR with several actions to take depending upon the situation I found myself in – hence why William is with Radulf several hundred yards away.

On a different note:

William was demanding money

Not strictly true – he will also accept gems, semi precious stones and rare metals.

IC

When I get several hundred yards down the road (or a better position to safely stop the horse) first step will be to check Radulf is safe and secure. I assume that my crossbow is now some distance away on the ground as it was in my hand at the time. As such William will ready his axe, other hand holding the reigns of the horse. Given my general lack of riding skills, riding into combat is not going to be much of an option.

Under his breath “I knew there was going to be a ‘foom’. I hate magic”

Standing by for the next wave of magical attacks to rebuff with a healthy dose of cynical reality. This elf is starting to make this a touch to personal for Williams liking. If he can see any elf movement from the rear as he was expecting William will attempt to engage in combat. He’s working on the assumption (big assumption on his part) that if he engages the elf in melee it will reduce the chances of more magic being thrown about. If this does happen the fighting style is going to be defensive in style. William will be fighting for time with an opponent he knows will most likely outfight in if he was trying to take him down by himself. The intention is to buy time so the other warriors (Alfred & bryan, with Larric in support) will with luck come to his aid – he hopes.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Let's get the easiest bit out of the way first;
Simon, thanks for the vote of confidence and all, but I'm in the position of talking out of both sides of my mouth here, a NPC trying to cheat and confuse you and as narrator trying to give you every plausible, rules and common sense consistent chance to spot what the NPC, at the moment Dleamthayaran, is doing to you- simultaneously trying to crap on you and hoping you notice in time to dodge.

Yes, which is part of the job- if you hit us without some kind of warning, you're doing it wrong, and if you telegraph your punches too far ahead of time, you're doing it wrong.

The way I see it, DMs are expected to split the difference, you're erring a bit on the side of 'without warning,' but not far enough to tick me off. That's been a problem for me before in play-by-post, I think it's part of the limitations of the medium: there's no way to have fast back-and-forth conversation, no way to read body language or intonation, and we're all dealing with people we just can't know the way we'd know the people we were sitting around a table with.

It's affecting player-on-player interactions too. Such is life.

I would add "and take your own advice", think carefully about what I'm not saying about the farmhouse, about the non- appearance of D. when you managed to do in his sister, and those dots you saw at the time, just above the horizon.

I have an alternate hypothesis, featuring and integrating the dots, the rumors of metal birds, and the enthusiastic metal-bashing going on, one I strongly suspect is true.

But it's partly based on information Larric can't possibly know, which puts me in something of a dilemma of roleplaying ethics. And I suspect I'm missing a few important details. So I have to split the difference somehow. Hmm...

IC:

Larric was watching the farmhouse when that bang went off- did he see anything? Any energetic surge of magic from the... 'anomaly,' any clear movement?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's not so much erring -I hope- as it is that in this case, you're in at the deep end; the being you're up against is a master of misdirection and ambush- he comes closer than most to being able to drop all sorts of horrible things on you with little to no warning. Against less capable enemies, (the number of perception rolls I haven't told you about, that you've collectively made and failed...six or seven missed chances at least,) the group should be able to detect, anticipate and predict further ahead.


Anyway, William braces himself for trouble, but can't see anything. Trees, shrubs, undergrowth, birds, but nothing at all like man or elf- which doesn't actually guarantee that D. isn't there. Radulf is still in pain, and if he wasn't gagged (I presume you bothered), then he'd be growling at you.

Crap, there is something. Small animal- squirrel- wobbling towards William, Radulf and the horse, down the verge of the road. It's not moving too dextrously, because it's holding a small rock.


Larric- most of the people on the wall at the time- did see something much too large to be a bird just above the horizon, just before Thialathayaran needed her brother and he wasn't there;
as for the enchantment, air is the only thing in it that Larric really knows. I haven't been too specific because you (the generic you, this is the rule) can't definitively identify talents that you have no skill in, can only really guess at what's being done with a skill of a power you have something else in.

The anomaly twitches, but it feels more like a sympathy, a reflex rather than a putting forth of power, a reflection of what was done, not the thing itself. The other magic wound into and around the air, not known- very strange feeling to it, probably not human.

The clanging has stopped and there is motion within the room- and Larric notices, now that he's closer to it and that it's stopped, that there were little surges of the winds of magic in time with the beating. Chiaela is moving, accelerating to a sprint- Bryan? Larric? Rohal?

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I love how the most terrifying sight we face at the moment is a squirrel with a rock. And how I seem to have guessed right about Dleamthayaran being the sort to kill his enemies from the other side of the hill, detonating the claymore and sniggering...

As to erring- well, from a simulationist standpoint it's not unreasonable, but then, from a simulationist standpoint we all get blown to bits, which doesn't make for a very satisfying first adventure. So, tricky I guess.

Also, if I'm wrong about this next bit, I'm gonna feel reeaaally stupid.





IC:

Larric puts two and two together and gets... somewhere between three and a half and five. He starts shouting, first to Chiaela and Bryan:

"It's not him! The magic here- it's not the explosion!"

Then, extra-loudly, at the top of his lungs, hands cupped toward the farmhouse as a megaphone:

"Hello the house!"

[Kaelan]

William makes his way back to his crossbow - horse reigns in hand. When he gets there he takes up a new hobby of squirrel hunting.

[Simon_Jester]

Can you lead a horse fast enough to outrun a charging squirrel, though?