@The Mighty Herook, thanks for the clarity. I wasn't sure if you were treating the whole set as a single tool or if you assumed I smashed the thing with my case :P I'll buy a new lockpick in town to stock up, but those should be pretty cheap.

I believe we are waiting on the GM.
What's beyond the gate? Is it an Epic battle?
Throngs of orcs in a reverse siege of Helm's deep?

We are waiting on me. I'm trying to get off work early because we are dead slow. If I don't I will have a post sometime after 1800 EST. no battle-yet. Anyone who has DMed on this site before, what do you find works best for combat? Trying to schedule it when a battle occurs or auto hitting for players not available?

We are waiting on me. I'm trying to get off work early because we are dead slow. If I don't I will have a post sometime after 1800 EST. no battle-yet. Anyone who has DMed on this site before, what do you find works best for combat? Trying to schedule it when a battle occurs or auto hitting for players not available?

There are two options I've seen used:

1) During combat, each person simply PMs (or writes in OOC) what their actions and rolls are. There's little flavor in this method, although a brief one-line description or a quote could be added. This is the fastest method, as people don't need to write up a full post, and thus take up potentially hours or days of downtime. The DM takes the actions and places all the info into a single DM Post (edited for new actions), then mentions when the next person is up (in OOC, since edits don't send a new mention).

2) Each person writes a full post during combat. This allows for a lot of creativity, but can get a bit annoying for those whose actions are almost always the same thing. It also takes longer, as each person has to write up a full post. Typically, waiting 48 hrs between turns is not uncommon with this method, which means a full round can take a week or longer.

For this RP, I'd recommend the former. It gets us into and through combat a lot faster. I definitely do NOT recommend trying to do anything live. There are far too many people and I know I would nearly always be unable to participate.

Also, @Cardamonelaw - My PC directly addressed yours before you would have left. Would you like to comment? Otherwise, you're going to be out of the RP for a fairly long time, if that PC ever really rejoins.

Also, @Cardamonelaw - My PC directly addressed yours before you would have left. Would you like to comment? Otherwise, you're going to be out of the RP for a fairly long time, if that PC ever really rejoins.

I wasn't ignoring your post or anything, I was just waiting for the next DM post... that way if anyone else wanted to chime in, they could. But yeah, looks like I'm going to be riding the reader-only bench for quite awhile.

I'm not entirely sure why one would choose to do so. I have attempted to give your PC an alternate motivation for joining in. Staying out is likely not going to be enjoyable, and we may never return to join that PC's story. Plus, it's possibly thrown off the dungeon balance for the DM, depending how far ahead he plans.

I would like to see your character continue with ours if at all possible @Cardamonelaw

@Cardamonelaw

But you'll be missing out on Exp and Loots D:!
Not to mention hanky-panky with the obviously swooning Daughter (who has thus far been unnamed and unaged...) who will clearly develop an infatuation for one of her saviors.

@Cardamonelaw

But you'll be missing out on Exp and Loots D:!
Not to mention hanky-panky with the obviously swooning Daughter (who has thus far been unnamed and unaged...) who will clearly develop an infatuation for one of her saviors.

Lol...she is an alternate recruitable character to her father. She is 23.

@Cardamonelaw Perhaps instead of your character sitting out he alternatively tries to find out more information from the town folk and can end up meeting up with the other players further along this quest? If that's something you would be interested in to keep you active in the RP and to give your character a chance to get loot/XP along with the other characters PM me and we can work it out.

@Cardamonelaw

But you'll be missing out on Exp and Loots D:!
Not to mention hanky-panky with the obviously swooning Daughter (who has thus far been unnamed and unaged...) who will clearly develop an infatuation for one of her saviors.

LOL, not going to make IC choices based on what will net my character the most Exp and Loot. :D

<Snipped quote by The Grey Dust>

LOL, not going to make IC choices based on what will net my character the most Exp and Loot. :D

Actually, making in-character choices based on what experiences you gain and what equipment / money you would acquire is perfectly acceptable and normal. Heck, that's how we make nearly all of our choices in real life. In D&D, your character trades their safety for money and gear, as well as new experiences, translating to learning new ways or means to reach your goals.

I just know if I spent several hours as a DM creating a dungeon, and a single player decides to not even entertain the thought of entering it, I might entertain the thought of not having them participate in the future. It's frankly a tad rude to the DM and your fellow players. You're essentially saying, "Sorry, your hook wasn't good enough for me. I'd rather do nothing than participate." If the group said that, that's another matter entirely.

@Cardamonelaw

There's a reason why I advertised hankypanky...
I mean, uh... Then do it for the Women!
A damsel's in distress and utterly needs a valiant knight in shining armor!
She needs a hero!
He's got to be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's...
No? A man maybe? Whatever floats your boat...

@JBRam2002

Actually I sort of side on the IC logic here. I mean yes, the DM did work hard and whatnot, but honestly, we are being railroaded a bit. There's not much information given and the characters are thrown into the adventure without too much motive. I'd understand if we were say advertising our services as adventurers, but in this case it was just like "Hey guys, I'm going to storm the Mayor's office, who's with me?"

Rebellion for rebellion's sake, without any actual information or intrigue. You'd think someone at the bar might have actually have said something about an uprising, like how it would result in WORSE things by the Mayor since those guys will fail or filled the rest of the nonnatives with more information. Or at least the DM could have added some more flavor or information about the setting, the unrest and really paint a good picture for the characters to immerse themselves with. I tried to do a bit of it with my posts, but I'm not sure what sort of town the DM's constructed myself, so I just went with generic misery town.

Plotwise, it's a rather silly quest. IC Kethan's not really into it, he's just watching out for Tessa, and finding out if there's any truth to this loudmouth's claim that his daughter's been captured. Kethan will seek diplomacy over violence.

I agree; it's fairly railroady. But I'd personally rather get into the game and see what's in store. Hopefully future quests are less railroady. In the meantime, I've found a motivation for my PC. Sure, more information and planning would be nice, which is why my PC suggested it...

@Cardamonelaw Perhaps instead of your character sitting out he alternatively tries to find out more information from the town folk and can end up meeting up with the other players further along this quest? If that's something you would be interested in to keep you active in the RP and to give your character a chance to get loot/XP along with the other characters PM me and we can work it out.

If sitting things out is a genuine inconvenience as @JBRam2002 worries, honestly, almost ANYTHING in-character (and not a thought bubble) tipping the balance in favor of Alric not seeming like he's full of crap would probably be sufficient to have Arius turn around. Like even ONE, just ONE other villager randomly noting something like, "I heard Alric is trying to get our friends back.", indicating that Alric is not lying and people have in fact been taken would do it.

The main problem for Arius is that his background makes him disinclined to engage insurrection/rebellion because he's a noble from a family stalwartly loyal to the Crown. He doesn't like his family's allegiances and is ethically at odds with them, but he still honors their position when possible. He's only begrudgingly pro-King, but he's still pro-King nonetheless (he's LN as opposed to straight-up LG for a reason). So when a random stranger calls for insurrection against the local political figure, based on an unsupported allegation that said politician has done wrong, he's reluctant to participate but willing to give it a look based solely on the severity of the allegation. But then when all the facts observable in-game indicate said random stranger is a liar... well, it would be really out-of-character for him to keep going along with things, even with Ada's alternative motivations.

I honestly didn't even think this would be a serious issue, as the game recruitment seemed to imply the individual character positions on being for or against the King/current regime were an anticipated/planned for dynamic element of the game. When a DM makes a game where individual players can choose for their characters to be either Team Red or Team Blue and has the very first in-game quest be Assault a Red Team Base, I'm inclined to assume they are anticipating that Red Team-affiliated PCs probably aren't simply going to go along with that and are prepared to work around it.

I'm certainly not trying to be rude/insensitive toward either the DM or my fellow players.

@Cardamonelaw

Wouldn't it be better then to go with this stranger?
I mean turning around and going to the bar knowing there's a coup happening...
That doesn't seem like something a law-upholding citizen would do.

One of the reasons why Kethan's half bothered as well is to see if there's any truth in the allegation.
Sort of a middle-man and voice of reason, seeking to understand the entire story as if the case these folks are looters...

Then the Mayor will need every bit of help he can get...

@The Grey Dust
A law abiding person is not obligated to intervene on the behalf of local authorities, particularly when the circumstances have them outnumbered seven-to-one. There is a pretty wide gap between not engaging in an act of treason and personally fending off an insurrection. No alignment dictates your character be suicidal.

@Cardamonelaw

So your character would be willing to go to the bar and sit idly knowing there's a group of rabble rousers heading to the Mayor's house?
He wouldn't try to alarm the local authorities or anything of that nature? He wouldn't even have an inkling of attempting to uphold the law?

I mean Kethan's also Lawful Neutral, but he's going to investigate the claims, then if they are false, it would be great to have your character as a sword to stop anyone unwilling to listen to reason and incarcerate the lying warrior. Also you're assuming the Mayor is undefended without local guards...

That said it would have been at least 3 v 5, or something of those numbers.

@The Grey Dust
If not clearly spelled out enough in the posts, Arius' particular suspicion (notably incorrect based on additional OOC knowledge) is that no citizens have been seized by the mayor at all, that Alric is actually just bait to get wandering murder-hobos passing through the village to foolishly raise arms against the local mayor, lead them into the trap, and once the would-be rebels are subdued... they are the ones actually sold into slavery, which is still a lesser punishment then the usual penalty for their willful crime of treason... death, and the mayor/village reap the profits. Lather, rinse, and repeat whenever the village's dues to the crown are due and tax revenues come up short, since you know... murder-hobos are a bountiful resource.

Arius suspicions don't give him reason to go warn any authorities or stick around to help the mayor.

Bros, just let the story play out.

@Cardamonelaw I can definitely add in more details. The information I have in my notes that did not make it into my posts because of rushing for personal reasons does come across as rail roading which is not the intention at all. Simply been rushed because of work and needing to spend time with my kids and then my youngest daughter's passing unfortunately affected you all as well. When I get home tonight I will either edit previous posts to add in the information I have in my notes (I don't have pre-made posts) or find a way to put it in here.

I'm also used to players in person and not in an online forum setting. Generally more questions are asked either IC or OOC which is why I have notes but not pre-made posts.