OOC Chatter

[Eris]

A place to introduce ourselves, chat about the game and anything else that is of interest.

[Eris]

The Campaign ID for this game is: 1050

I trust players to make fair rolls, if tactile is your thing, but Unseen Servant does have a nice dice roller and if you want to use it that'll be great.

In keeping with the spirit of Shadowdark there will be a lot less "roll playing" and a lot more "role playing" in the game. I'll only roll (or call for rolls) when there is time pressure or the risk of dire consequences. If your PC is trained in something they should, generally, be able to do it so why roll for it? For other things, I'll depend upon you using your wits and being creative to come up with solutions.

I generally, run with slightly lower DC's for Checks than what's in the book. Don't be surprised if I call for an 8+ for a Normal Difficulty or maybe only a 10+ for something Hard. The numbers I call for will be around those that are listed in the book, often a bit lower, sometimes a bit higher.

[shaidar]

Looking forward to this, never played before apart from the previous stalled game here which didn't get far.

I can't see a character creation thread. If possible I'd like to play Wendel the Wizard, my backup character from the stalled game. But I'm also happy rolling up a new one if needed.

There is also character generator available at Shadow Darklings.

[Eris]

Looking forward to this, never played before apart from the previous stalled game here which didn't get far.

I can't see a character creation thread. If possible I'd like to play Wendel the Wizard, my backup character from the stalled game. But I'm also happy rolling up a new one if needed.

There is also character generator available at Shadow Darklings.

I got distracted, seasonal things , and didn't get the Character Creation thread up until just now. There will be a another thread with the finished character sheets. I'll want to use the Unseen Servant ones linked over from that site. Well, maybe not, gear slots might be an issue...don't know yet. I might just whip one up on Excel like I use in my other games that mimics the Sheet in the books.

[shaidar]

No worries, I just wondered if I couldn't see the character creation thread for some reason. I see it now.

We could always just put something in the notes section of the US character sheets for gear slots.

[Rex]

I am in.

I prefer the unseenservant sheets if we can make them work.

[Eris]

I am in.

I prefer the unseenservant sheets if we can make them work.

I think we can make them work!

Okay, we have PC's from Rex and shaidar. We need Balrog and Marullus to give us characters now.

I'm going to start the first "adventure" thread later tonight (or tomorrow if NYE gets in the way). If we only have 2 PCs at that point, I'll probably toss in an NPC and get you moving. Others can join as we go.

[shaidar]

I'm going to use both characters, at least for this initial adventure, to help get more of a feel for more of the rules/play.

[Rex]

Just running Ulfgar for now.

[Eris]

Ulfgar, Wendel, and Fergus are off on the adventure then!

Hopefully, they'll be joined shortly by another 2 or 3 adventurers, but if not...game on!

BTW, I won't roll (nor ask you to roll) for things the PC can normally do. When failure becomes interesting is when rolls will start happening. Even then, I don't always show my rolls, not wanting to break up the narrative too much, but I'm going to try to do so for now so we can all sort of see how the game mechanics work, or how I interpret them working anyway.

Meta! Meta! Meta! Don't open the following if you don't want to know how the sausage is made.

There was no chance of failure to sneak when Ulfgar ran up to the cottage and there was no chance a Scout would miss the tracks, so no rolls needed. However, he might misinterpret them, so there was a roll for that. It was an easy task and with a Scout background he had Advantage. Did Ulfgar get it right? He thinks so. However, Ulfgar's has -2 WIS which could drop that 9 to a 7, so might he have misinterpreted the signs somehow, or missed something? Might Wendel or Fergus see something Ulfgar missed if they also examine the tracks in the dirt? They won't get Advantage on rolls for it, but they do have +2 and +1 WIS and it is still an easy task.

[shaidar]

Wendel knows the spell Mage Armour and also now has it on a scroll.

If he tries to cast it himself and fails, so he can't cast it until a rest period, does that preclude him from casting it from the scroll?

[Eris]

Wendel knows the spell Mage Armour and also now has it on a scroll.

If he tries to cast it himself and fails, so he can't cast it until a rest period, does that preclude him from casting it from the scroll?

I'm going to say that the scroll would be a different roll.

If you fail on one, you can try the other, if you fail on both you're OOL for the day. A success with the scroll crumbles the parchment to dust, a normal failure just means you can't cast it until the next day (explaining why kills a cat girl...or is it an angel), but a critical failure crumbles the scroll to dust.

[Marullus]

Sorry for my delay! I went down sick this whole week, but am recovering now.

[shaidar]

Welcome Marullus, get well soon!

Welcome Balrog!

[shaidar]

Wendel knows the spell Mage Armour and also now has it on a scroll.

If he tries to cast it himself and fails, so he can't cast it until a rest period, does that preclude him from casting it from the scroll?

I'm going to say that the scroll would be a different roll.

If you fail on one, you can try the other, if you fail on both you're OOL for the day. A success with the scroll crumbles the parchment to dust, a normal failure just means you can't cast it until the next day (explaining why kills a cat girl...or is it an angel), but a critical failure crumbles the scroll to dust.

Thanks.

I assume that spellcasting isn't silent, it has verbal and somatic components like other rpg's?

[Eris]

I assume that spellcasting isn't silent, it has verbal and somatic components like other rpg's?

Keeping in the spirit of SD, that's not really defined, so I get to make a ruling. So, I say that...

Game ruling: Yes, there are both Verbal and Somatic components to casting spells. Gagging and binding a Magic-user's hands will prevent them from casting almost all spells, almost all the time.

One of the things that makes magic hard is that it is very personal. Magic-users develop their own style of speech and movement for the spells they cast. For example, one Mage may whisper "manus ardenti" while thrusting their hands out to the side, while another may say "brennende Hände" while flicking an index finger toward a target, and a third may shout "Entzünden" while holding out a fist. In each case, they are casting Burning Hands. It is how they learned that spell and it works for them, maybe not for you.

When you cast a spell from the scroll, you simply read the trigger placed on the scroll aloud. All of the needed components have been placed into the ink and parchment when the scroll was created. As the spell trigger is spoken the spell that was cast when the scroll was created is completed and the medium containing the magic is destroyed. Perhaps it crumbles into dust, perhaps it bursts into flame, perhaps it simply evaporates.

Ink and Parchment that can be used to inscribe spells isn't what is generally used for normal writing. Both are special and costly and either must be bought in specialty shops (Magic Shops would sell both) or created from normal ink and parchment by the Magic-user themselves using precious metal and gem dust. This is one of the first skills a Wizard's Apprentice must master.

Learning a spell from a scroll, or spellbook, is difficult. After the trigger phrase, which you would not read aloud, what is written describes both the verbal and somatic components that went into casting that spell. You have to translate that and figure out how it works for you! Then you have to get all this down onto a scroll or page of a spellbook just right with just the right ink and treatment of the parchment for it to work. This is the reason it takes so much time, money, and effort...with chance of failure...to learn a new spell.

[Marullus]

Nice! Personal idioms are cool. I love this.

[shaidar]

Works for me

At the time I was thinking more about stealthy casting so the gobbo's didn't hear.

[shaidar]

Sorry, I got ahead of myself with the initiative rolls, but now I know where good d20 dice rolls are going

[Eris]

Sorry, I got ahead of myself with the initiative rolls, but now I know where good d20 dice rolls are going

The initiative rolls work at a table, but I'm finding them clunky for pbp (always have in other games). I just prefer for everyone to post what they are trying to accomplish with their move/action and any dialog they want as part of the round. I'll organize it all into something coherent and post...

"Here's what happens! Here's where things stand! What do you do next?"

...then everyone posts what their PCs are doing again.