Out Of Character

[mgtremaine]

That's not what I remeber you had the smoke staircase spell and used it for scouting and positioning. Ways had those cool spells made up for us. But I'm fine with spontaneous casting just saying picking your spells is part of the long planing

[mushgnome]

Honestly the flaming-oil-grenade ruling isn't in response to anything specific that happened in this Adventure. It's been a ruling a long time coming. It's certainly up for debate, but I feel like, this ruling gently nudges you players toward using slings instead of oil. Hobbets get that sweet, sweet +4 racial bonus to hit with slings (and unlimited ammo under our house rule). Rules-savvy players are welcome to point me otherwise, but I don't see hit point damage definition for flaming oil in either Delving Deeper or OD&D 3LBB rules? So my proposed house rule change is, ordinary fire (candle, torch, oil, campfire, cookstove, etc.) is hot, smoky, scary, and unpredictable, but if you say ouch! and immediately jump out of the flames, it does 0hp damage in actual game terms (just some non-life-threatening burns).

The tech level of this campaign, lantern oil is probably not petroleum-based gasoline that goes 'boom'! (Maybe the secret of making Kerosene died out with the Dwarves?) It's more likely slow-burning vegetable oil, nut/seed oil, fish oil, seal blubber, etc. I could picture Hobbets enjoying the smell of a nice bacon-fat or butter (ghee) lamp. The fanciest Hobbets (like Dame Simonetta) might burn whale oil (which is hard to come by due to the dangerousness of the oceans).

But that's not to say flaming oil would be useless under this proposed-for-discussion new rule! Fire creates a barrier that would deter a lot of monsters from pursuit. Most animals and low-HD monsters would abandon chase.

Ordinary sized, 1hp vermin, like rats, bats, bugs? And dungeon clutter such as molds, slimes, jellies, webs? These are the exceptions. Burn them!

(Therefore, in retrospect, the gelatinous cylinder encounter was well-handled. The use of burning oil was appropriate since it was a slow-moving, unintelligent, blob-class opponent.)

[mushgnome]

You're right; I forgot about the smoke staircase spell. That was fun! I retract my earlier statement.

I'm probably thinking of my 'force choke' spell. I never met any NPC truly evil enough (by Highbough's cruel standards) to deserve a good force-choking. (And I wouldn't have used it on a PC!)

[acodispo]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: PROPOSED 2022 HOUSE RULES

A few tweaks to our house rules, in the spirit of making the game more FUN!

1. In the Seventh Adventure, we experimented with "D&D style" attack dice (instead of "Chainmail style") i.e. a 4th level fighter attacks as "1 hero" instead of "4 men." The experiment was a success in my opinion, so I would like to make this change permanent.
2. I will no longer allow burning oil as a grenade-like weapon. I grudgingly allowed it in the early days, to give the party a little better survival odds, but now that the party is experienced and successful, I don't think you need that crutch any more. Don't worry, burning oil still has lots of uses, for example deterring pursuit, or clearing an area of slime/mold/webs.
3. Spontaneous casting for druids! In my opinion/experience, play-by-post format is not a good fit for the Vancian system of memorized spells. It can be a frustrating exercise, trying to predict weeks (or even months) in advance, which spells your PC is going to need. Therefore I am now allowing Druids to spontaneously cast any spell on their list.
4. I am retconning all "Lovecraftian" elements of the game. No more Arkham, Cthulhu, Miskatonic River, or Mythos scores.
5. Perhaps the biggest change: The village of Hornpipe is no longer a "placeholder." The new & improved Hornpipe 2.0 is fully-fleshed with shops and NPCs for you to interact with! (@scottenkainen, this one's for you, buddy.)
6. I ask the players to kindly 'suspend disbelief' regarding any plotholes or narrative inconsistencies created by these changes.

Any thoughts, comments, questions, objections?

These all sound fun! I'm in favour of #2 -- burning oil is best for defensive purposes and clearing away non-mobile obstacles/monsters. And slings seem more in-character for Hobbets anyway.

Excited to explore Hornpipe in the future!

From #4 am I correct in understanding the Mythos mechanic is dropped entirely (not just renamed)?

[mushgnome]

I'm all ears if Mythos is your favorite part of the game, and you want to plead the case for keeping it. Here's where I'm coming from:

First, I've been running "Lovecraftian play by post" style games for about 10 years (!!) and in that time, I've seen a lot of changes in how H.P. Lovecraft is regarded in pop culture. An example of that would be the HBO "Lovecraft Country" series. I feel like saying "I'm a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan, do you want to game with me?" means something different in 2022 than it did in 2012. I feel like maybe it's lazy DM'ing for me after 10 years, to use Cthulhu cultists as stock adversaries.

Second and more importantly, I just feel like having any kind of "sanity mechanic" is superfluous. The players are going to do crazy, wonderful, and surprising things, whether the DM tells them to or not. I am a big believer in "player agency" to role-play your characters as you see fit. If you want to role-play your PC as fascinated by the occult, or scared of the dark, or grossed out by bugs, then I don't see any need to quantify that mechanically.

Thoughts? Anyone want to try and change my mind and argue the case pro-Cthulhu? (@ehiker133?)

[kipper]

I'm fine with whatever way you want to run the game, mushgnome.

[dtspurrier]

any changes that are made or not made are fine w me

[Bastet1002]

Maybe mythos creatures don't always fit a high fantasy world. If I remember correctly, A Heroes Journey rpg (don't have my PDF handy and its getting late here in Japan) has a way to measure doom, which will affect the overall morale and hope of the character. I suppose a lot of this can be role played and ruled on given the condition of a character and what they've seen. This may be more appropriate for an epic type of adventure though... So, I'm good with dropping mythos for now...

[ehiker133]

4. I am retconning all "Lovecraftian" elements of the game. No more Arkham, Cthulhu, Miskatonic River, or Mythos scores.

Why this change? I love all the Lovecraftian elements.

[mgtremaine]

The players are going to do crazy, wonderful, and surprising things, whether the DM tells them to or not.

I don't believe that for a sec...(re-reads the last adventure) hey wait a minute.