OOC

[Zorroroaster]

Blazing saddles!

[Zorroroaster]

When I was a kid I received the D&D red box for Christmas. I would have been 11. That gift sparked a love for the game that has remained strong for more than 30 years.

May you all have a wonderful holiday, no matter what or how you celebrate!

[RiotInferno]

When I was a kid I received the D&D red box for Christmas. I would have been 11. That gift sparked a love for the game that has remained strong for more than 30 years.

May you all have a wonderful holiday, no matter what or how you celebrate!

Happy Holidays to you too 'roaster!

[Stirling]

Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.

Just wanted to check in on the status of the group. Before heading to the Barrowmaze, presumably entering at the previous location did any of the team want to do anything extra first? I wasn't sure what supplies and equipment the party had. Certainly no donkey and basic cart. Reading through the adventure so far, the party had some vases to trade and some stuff was kept by wooden toothed Dren though you have not heard from him since you last came out with Ubrechts' body.

Do we need more oil, lanterns, torches, food, spikes, picks, body bags, big bone crunching bear traps, lotions and potions, anti-venom? I think when we go in we may not come out for a few days and better to be prepared.

[Stirling]

Hello, just wanted to ask a couple of questions:

Rate of fire and distance...Long & shortbows can fire twice per round. If the zombies are 100ft away, then people firing should be able to get four arrows away before needing to switch to a melee weapon. Is that correct?

Secondly, rate of fire for daggers is also 2 per round but I presume that table is for ranged attacks only. Using a dagger in melee, is it still only one attack?

To sneak up behind the last zombie, do you need me to do a hide or move silently role?

[Zhym]

I don't think those rates of fire apply in LL. There's an optional rule (that's in effect in this game) that make crossbows fire every other round, but all other missile weapons are one/round as far as I can tell.

If there's a table that says differently, where is it? I couldn't find it.

[Stirling]

I was using the table from the AD&D PHB pg38.

All bows are listed as 2 per round.
Light crossbows do fire once per round, heavy crossbows 1/2. I believe the tables are the same in both LL and AD&D.


Also, zombies I believe always act last in melee (monster manual stats, hopefully these are not Strahd zombies Zhym!) as if they were slowed, hence the question regarding melee attacks with a small weapon which had a low speed factor.

[Zhym]

The house rules say that "Crossbow Rate of Fire" from the PHB table is in effect, which implies that none of the other rates of fire from that table apply.

As for the tables being the same in LL and AD&D, I don't think that table appears anywhere in the LL books. The closest is on p.54 of the basic rules, which has ranges for missile weapons and notes that crossbows fire once every other round.

So I guess this could use clarification from our DM: are we using AD&D rates of fire (in which case Milo should roll another attack) or standard LL rates of fire?

[Stirling]

Another question I asked (as a Christmas bonus) was if older members of the party would be able to level up prior to leaving for this expedition?

[ybn1197]

No, rates of fire (outside of crossbows) do not apply. The LL rules were built from the old Moldvay red box rules. The AEC shimmies those rules closer to AD&D but not quite the whole way there. So things like rate of fire and speed factor do not apply.

As for leveling the older party members, I do not feel that enough has been accomplished for them to level up but it will not take much longer.

[Stirling]

Okay no extra arrows then. I picture this encounter like thus, correct me if I am wrong:
R1
The zombies are about 100ft away. Grigg and Milo crawl to about halfway and hide. Then Simoni waves and the others attack at range. Is this a surprise attack?

R2, the party fire again, the zombies shuffle forward.

R3 now the zombies have bypassed him, Grigg will sneak attack the last in line, I assume Milo will also engage one.
The party rush to join the melee.

So I think Grigg must hold his attack until the next round had gone otherwise let me know and I'll role for him.

As Grigg observes the Z's, does he see any more or any activity coming from the Barrow they stood around?

[ybn1197]

Okay no extra arrows then. I picture this encounter like thus, correct me if I am wrong:
R1
The zombies are about 100ft away. Grigg and Milo crawl to about halfway and hide. Then Simoni waves and the others attack at range. Is this a surprise attack?

Mechanically speaking it doesn't matter. Zombies go last in every round and they have no missile attack so even if they weren't surprised, they would have no means of engaging in combat. The only factor this would apply to is movement. So in that regards they are considered surprised and unable to move in your direction the first round.

R2, the party fire again, the zombies shuffle forward.

R3 now the zombies have bypassed him, Grigg will sneak attack the last in line, I assume Milo will also engage one.
The party rush to join the melee.

So I think Grigg must hold his attack until the next round had gone otherwise let me know and I'll role for him.

As Grigg observes the Z's, does he see any more or any activity coming from the Barrow they stood around?

No, you do not see any other activity in the vicinity of the Barrow they were milling around. As a point of note, this is not the main barrow. This is the barrow the party first explored on their first foray into the Barrowmaze.

[RiotInferno]

Stirling,
It looks like you didn't link to your roll.
The dice roller makes it really easy!
After you click to roll, below the results there's a section called "Refer to this roll".
If you copy the "PbP Forum code" section and paste it into your post, it'll automatically format and link the roll!

[Zorroroaster]

I don't see anything in the house rules regarding charging- can Bronn charge the remaining zombies?

[Stirling]

Sorry my mobile phone doesn't allow me to cut and paste but my rolls can be checked on the campaign search link.
They are ID 77227 and 77228 for last round and for attack vs Z4 are ID 77689 and 77690.

My kids think I am a dinosaur running a home computer with a dial up modem, windows 95 and massive 133 megahertz processor. Hence the mobile.

If I'm at home I'll cut & paste for you.

[RiotInferno]

Thanks for following up Stirling!
I wasn't aware you were posting from you phone.

[Stirling]

Yeah, was hoping Santa's sack had a new laptop in it for me but the Mrs wrapped one up for the kids. Don't mind, mine does what it needs to. Much prefer my rope, some carabiniers, a new set of Spiderman' trollskins and a map of the Highlands any day, especially Christmas. Oh and a new set of dice, ivory coloured with Roman runes on.

[ybn1197]

I don't see anything in the house rules regarding charging- can Bronn charge the remaining zombies?

There are no rules for charging in LL/AEC. There are charge rules in the 1st ed DMG but I am not happy with how they are spelled out. They seem like program language to me.

Code: Select all

If A = this then Result is that; Else Result is the other unless B = something else.

I did like the Charge rules in the 2nd ed DMG and I will be using those going forward. They will be added to the house rules.

Charging an Opponent
A character can also charge a foe. A charge increases the character's movement rate by 50% and enables the character to make an attack at the end of his movement. A charging character also gains a +2 bonus to his attack roll, mainly from momentum. Certain weapons (such as a lance) inflict double the rolled damage in a charge.
However, charging gives the opponents several advantages. First, they gain a -2 bonus to their initiative rolls. Second, charging characters gain no Dexterity bonuses to Armor Class and they suffer an AC penalty of 1. Finally, if the defender is using a spear or polearm weapon and sets it against the charge (bracing the butt against a stone or his foot), he inflicts double damage on a successful hit.

[Stirling]

Grigg explains the 'green march'.

A colonial empire lost its grip on a nation and vacated the land. The king of a nearby nation had claimed sovereignty over it but did not have the resources to go to war so instead of sending in soldiers, rounded up the peasantry and marched them across the desert to inhabit the land. They blocked off every valley and road and just camped like squatters in every house, forcing the natives to evacuate and move elsewhere.

That's what we need here. Clear a section and then inhabit it with armed peasants until we clear another section. Slow progress for sure but we do get to keep what we hold.

[Zhym]

I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time figuring out where we are. Could someone explain or mark one of the maps?