(085) Guests at An Umost

Waysoftheearth's Hinterlands PBP

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Post by mgtremaine » Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:02 pm

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

On the other hand we couldn't carry anything else, so other then swapping all the silver (x6 the value) for gold and maybe a larger haul of jewelry (x?? the value) but none of that was guaranteed. I for one find it really funny that the Hinterlands is so treasured cursed. I mean look at the early game the group built up a Manse filled with great stuff, and then the goblins took Ket and the Manse away. :lol: .. Academically it would be interesting to see how we missed any Hydra treasure because I did look, and I thought I was pretty careful.
[f=4]Wen the Pale, Elf Hero/Spellbinder (MV 12", AC 9, HD 4/2, hp 11/11, FC Hero, L) helm, bow[/f]
[f=47]Kiplyn Sorefoot, Hobbet Thief (Lv: 4 AC: 5 Hp 12) Leather+Shield+Dagger, Sling[/f]
[f=59]Tass Purrfoot (Agile Hobbet Varlet, MV 9′′, AC 7, HD 2, hp 8, FC 2 men, SV T7, N)[/f]

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Post by ehiker133 » Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:36 pm

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Gems and jewelry and magic items are all better choices over straight coin treasure, which ends up being a lot of silver and copper in a silver-based monetary system. If we missed 3 of 4 loot spots, likely we missed some of those three item types that would have made taking our haul out more easily done (or at least getting higher value items out more easily).
[f=47]Dougal Blackfoot (MV 9", AC 6, Lvl 4, HP 10/10) [/f]
[f=59]Goldwen (Sagacious* Abbess, MV 9′′, AC 6, HD 2+1, HP 9, FC 2 men, SV C3, L][/f]

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Post by waysoftheearth » Thu Sep 07, 2017 7:24 am

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

mgtremaine wrote:Yes the monster kill lists is epic, by LBB XP rules that list is 8K-ish xp also.
Yes, indeed. But the tricky part is figuring out who was present in each encounter, and dividing the XP appropriately. Perhaps that's something you could tackle for us ;)
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

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Post by waysoftheearth » Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:40 am

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Treasure is rarely in plain sight; it's almost always hidden. But when it's hidden, it's usually hidden in pretty obvious places like under loose stones or carpets, inside pots, up chimneys, and so on. Often there's not a great deal of "dungeon furniture" to hide stuff in.

Finding hidden things and secret doors might be made a tiny bit harder in the PBP format, because it's not easy to be explicit about exactly where every PC is all the time. This can mean elves/thieves risk missing out of a few chances to "just notice" secret doors/hidden things by passing nearby (which is only a 5-6 on a d6 anyway). On the other hand, to balance the PBP "lag" somewhat, if a player tells me they are searching in the right spot I have them automatically find whatever is there without a die throw. I try to be pretty generous about being in "the right spot", but I do want a player to post that they are searching "there".

One thing I've noticed a bit of is sometimes players will have their characters say something like: "We should search this room". For me, this doesn't cause anyone to do anything; it's just a suggestion. Likewise, imagine a player posts his PC is saying "we should go over there..."... if I assumed from this that everyone's PCs physically went over there, and triggered a fatal trap... how would that be? So I don't do that. You have to post that your character does something before I make it happen in game.
ehiker133 wrote:...But I'd also love to know what was missed at the hydra/medusa location. Was it just a room we'd not gone into yet? Or was it something so obvious we didn't think of it? Or was it something so obscure we would have NEVER thought to examine it more closely?
Wheeaaaaallll okay then. I'll reveal a few sacred dungeon secrets just this one time.

There were four visible entrances to hydra room (including the one you entered by) and one secret door which, naturally, concealed the treasure room. A few players searched the hydra "enclosure" (between the four pillars), and also around the statues/walls at the northern end of the room. Alas, the secret door was more or less opposite your point of entry, so about 30ft from the hydra enclosure, and 50ft from the statues. The players departed via the southern double-door without opening the south-eastern door. That one led to a dead-end room with another monster and more treasure.
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

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Post by ehiker133 » Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:32 am

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Fair enough. I'll make a better point of being specific about things. Maybe we even need to have someone direct all of the characters' search actions for a bit? Or everyone always take the same area (Leudigar searches along the north wall).

And I agree with you about when someone words something poorly. If it doesn't SAY they are taking that action, then they aren't taking that action. Talking about it isn't the same.
[f=47]Dougal Blackfoot (MV 9", AC 6, Lvl 4, HP 10/10) [/f]
[f=59]Goldwen (Sagacious* Abbess, MV 9′′, AC 6, HD 2+1, HP 9, FC 2 men, SV C3, L][/f]

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Post by coffee » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:07 pm

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Sounds like we need to set up a Standard Operating Procedure. Something like this:

Fight is done. Are there any more foes? No?

Okay, wounded in the middle, bind wounds. (Magic if available.) Everybody else fan out to search the place. Once the wounded are seen to, they join in. At least one person stands guard; noise may have attracted other foes.

And if we still find nothing, then we can ask ourselves, "Where haven't we looked?" (I was in a maze once and we used the standard 'Follow the right hand wall' technique -- completely missed the middle of the maze, where the treasure was. That is, until we went back and properly mapped it.)
[f=4]Karl the Fighter (M 9", AC 4/6, HD 1+2, FC Man+1, hp 9/9) mail+shield[/f]

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Post by mgtremaine » Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:02 pm

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

waysoftheearth wrote:Yes, indeed. But the tricky part is figuring out who was present in each encounter, and dividing the XP appropriately. Perhaps that's something you could tackle for us ;)
Should be easy because all the survivors are fighters. The Party split I think Karl went with Zax and the rest stayed with Dopey, but I'll run through it and give you an updated list.

I put a * on combats that you might want to decide yourself. Generally this means the noted people never rolled but were on hand and trying to do something.

MONSTERS (Thread #)
  • Hobgoblin GateWaden (24188) (All* Zax killed it in 1 but the party was there)
  • 11* Hobgoblins - The Refectory Ambush (24365) (All)
  • 1 Goblin /1 Hobgoblin / 1 Bugbear (24499) (Zem* Zem never rolled but formed a shield wall)
    PARTY SPLIT: HOBBET GOES
  • 6 Hobgoblins / 1 Bugbear - Drop Wall Ambush (24648) (Leudigar,Zem,Fried)
    PARTY SPLIT: GNOME KNOWS
  • 5 Goblins / 3 Hobgoblins (24626) (Karl)
  • 1 Goblin (Wood gatherer) (24879) (None - Karl was way back when Zax kill this)
  • 1 Goblin / 1 Hobgoblin Alarm Rung (24906) (Karl)
  • 8 Hobgoblins / 1 Hobgoblin Sergeant - Tunnel pursit (25276) (Karl)
  • Goblin Anti-Hero (25508) (Karl)
    PARTY REJOIN
  • 2 Seers / 8 Skeletons (25612) (All)
  • 6 Zombies (26007) (All* Karl/Fried didnt get rolls but had formed a second line)
  • 5 Headed-Hydra (26142) (Note the escaped Seer was killed here) (All)
  • 9 Cultists (26608) (Leudigar, Zem)
  • 2 Medeusa (26946) (All)
*1 Hobgoblin escaped (24427)
[f=4]Wen the Pale, Elf Hero/Spellbinder (MV 12", AC 9, HD 4/2, hp 11/11, FC Hero, L) helm, bow[/f]
[f=47]Kiplyn Sorefoot, Hobbet Thief (Lv: 4 AC: 5 Hp 12) Leather+Shield+Dagger, Sling[/f]
[f=59]Tass Purrfoot (Agile Hobbet Varlet, MV 9′′, AC 7, HD 2, hp 8, FC 2 men, SV T7, N)[/f]

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Post by Eris » Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:03 pm

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Well, re treasure. If we'd found more earlier, we'd have probably left much earlier, can only carry so much afterall!
In that case, maybe more of us would have made it out of the dungeon.
[f=4]Manfreid the Fighter (MV 9", AC 3/5, HD 1+2, hp 10/10, FC Man+1, N) silver mail+helm, sword+shield[/f]

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Post by waysoftheearth » Sun Sep 17, 2017 1:00 am

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

Eris wrote:Well, re treasure. If we'd found more earlier, we'd have probably left much earlier, can only carry so much afterall!
In that case, maybe more of us would have made it out of the dungeon.
In which case the treasure/XP would have been split between more players ;)
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Sun Sep 17, 2017 1:06 am

Re: (085) Guests at An Umost

mgtremaine wrote: MONSTERS (Thread #)
  • Hobgoblin GateWaden (24188) (All* Zax killed it in 1 but the party was there)
  • 11* Hobgoblins - The Refectory Ambush (24365) (All)
  • 1 Goblin /1 Hobgoblin / 1 Bugbear (24499) (Zem* Zem never rolled but formed a shield wall)
    PARTY SPLIT: HOBBET GOES
  • 6 Hobgoblins / 1 Bugbear - Drop Wall Ambush (24648) (Leudigar,Zem,Fried)
    PARTY SPLIT: GNOME KNOWS
  • 5 Goblins / 3 Hobgoblins (24626) (Karl)
  • 1 Goblin (Wood gatherer) (24879) (None - Karl was way back when Zax kill this)
  • 1 Goblin / 1 Hobgoblin Alarm Rung (24906) (Karl)
  • 8 Hobgoblins / 1 Hobgoblin Sergeant - Tunnel pursit (25276) (Karl)
  • Goblin Anti-Hero (25508) (Karl)
    PARTY REJOIN
  • 2 Seers / 8 Skeletons (25612) (All)
  • 6 Zombies (26007) (All* Karl/Fried didnt get rolls but had formed a second line)
  • 5 Headed-Hydra (26142) (Note the escaped Seer was killed here) (All)
  • 9 Cultists (26608) (Leudigar, Zem)
  • 2 Medeusa (26946) (All)
*1 Hobgoblin escaped (24427)
Thanks Mgtremaine, that's awesome.

I think the best approach is to simply divide the XP (100 per HD) evenly between all players present at the beginning of each combat. Even players who didn't explicitly do much were potential targets/tactical factors, so their mere presence contributed "something". Aside from which, the alternative is dive down the rabbit hole of attributing XP to individual actions/outcomes which I don't think adds much, and I haven't got time for anyway.

Mgtremaine and/or ehiker; could you please sum and divvy the XP this way please?
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

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