The Eye of Anubis: OOC Thread

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I'd like to add that it was quite nice -- from the observer's point of view, not the character's -- to see an opponent that used spells and the terrain in a clever way.

[yalenusveler]

It was a well done fight in my opinion. Challenging, but not arbitrarily lethal, with a definite smart use of terrain/conditions. And my brain was cinematizing it, and it looked rather cool in my mind, so i give it an A

[NeoTiamat]

Excellent! 100 XP to everyone who responded! (To wit, everyone but Tarlyn and CoA, sorry, better luck next time guys)

I will admit, that I don't have as much experience DMing as I'd like, so feedback basically tells me what worked, what didn't, and, in theory, make things better for the next round. This will not be the last time I ask for feedback.

So, looking at the responses, I think we have the following.

+ Secondary Goals
+ Interesting Use of Terrain and Spells
+ Raised Questions / Had a Purpose
+ Dramatic / Cinematic
+/- Challenging/Frustrating?
- Too Few Foes / Numerical Imbalance

Did I miss anything?

My comments on each:

Secondary Goals = This ended up being somewhat accidental, but I like what happened, and I'll keep it in mind for future encounters.

Use of Terrain and Spells = My pet peeve of combat is the foe in the featureless room. I am going to do my best to make sure that *all* combats take place in interesting or unique terrain, if not always quite this memorable. If I ever say "20 x 20 empty square room" you have permission to swat me.

Likewise, when you're up against an intelligent foe, expect them to use that intelligence.

Raised Questions / Had a Purpose = I am envisioning there to be one, maybe two combats a Book in most of them. I consider random encounters un-Ravenloft-ian, so they'll be relevant.

Dramatic / Cinematic = I should bloody well hope the entire campaign is dramatic!

Challenging / Frustrating = I'll make two comments here. One is that because this is a big group, combat is more dangerous for all of you. Essentially there are double the number of people, so I need to add +2 to the EL of any encounter I toss at you in order to maintain parity (if that makes sense). This means, however, that while as a group you're equal to the foes, individually you are significantly weaker. Thus there's a level of lethality in every fight, as an unavoidable consequence of having so many people.

Secondly, despite everyone saying this is a challenging fight (which it was), you guys managed to A. Disable the Anubite's spellcasting, B. Prevent it from moving so long as Kuzan concentrates, and C. Do this all without anyone being below half-health at the end of the fight. That is considerably more success than I was envisioning. So I'm thinking you guys are up to it.

Too Few Foes = Again, another problem caused due to there being so many of you guys, and not one I can always solve due to plot reasons. Still, I'll see what I can do.

[DocBeard]

Too Few Foes = Again, another problem caused due to there being so many of you guys, and not one I can always solve due to plot reasons. Still, I'll see what I can do.

Totally understandable. I just thought I'd be remiss in the whole feedback thing if I didn't say everything.

[steveflam]

Excellent! 100 XP to everyone who responded! (To wit, everyone but Tarlyn and CoA, sorry, better luck next time guys)

Hey, that's ok. Here to have fun anyways as it is.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Okay, just to make sure I've got a grasp of what's going on: As I understand our current situation in the garden, Charles searched the garden for (a decent amount of time--five or ten minutes?) and found a bunch of stuff, which he is trying to bring to the attention of Guy, Loup, Prof. Carter, Khalil, Kuzan, and Otto. The aforementioned are gathered in a little knot and Charles is talking their collective ear off (:roll: ). Is there anyone else in the garden who's participating in the conversation?

[NeoTiamat]

Prof. Devereux and Allikhain are in the garden as well, with the Other Charles bearing brandy. Otherwise a masterful summary of the current situation, yes.

Meanwhile, Samael, Prof. Pelletier, and Andre are clustered around the Anubite Remnants on the roof.

Lia, Lily, and Ulsaon are inside.

Tomas I'm not quite sure what he's doing, last I checked he was on the roof.

All other NPCs are roaming about

It's a bit confusing, I know, people are moving all over the place. I'll make a note to include a summary in my next post.

[Nathan of the FoS]

I borrowed Prof. Carter for just a moment there--hope that's OK.

[NeoTiamat]

It's alright this time, just don't make a habit of it, k?

[Nathan of the FoS]

It's alright this time, just don't make a habit of it, k?

Sure. I just wanted to get in the one question about the splinter, so I figured it wouldn't change his trajectory. Should I wait for your response in the future?

[NeoTiamat]

Better would've been to rephrase it in such a way that Charles takes all the action and doesn't require Carter as an active participant.

It's alright this time, I'm just leery of players getting comfortable borrowing NPCs.

===============================================

Important

Now, I have a quasi-poll question for you guys:

Do you want to allow PvP or no?

And if yes, do you want it basically free-for-all, or do you want some rules governing it? (Like having to get the other's agreement first).

I'm mixed on the matter, more suspicion and paranoia is good, but not if it ruins the enjoyment of the game for people, so I'm throwing it out to you guys.

[Kaitou Kage]

No, and if it must be done, I vote strongly against free-for-all.

Quite frankly, I don't find it enjoyable when any of the other players could kill me for any reason. I won't be trying to put Kuzan in a position of being killed anyway, but I just don't think it's fun to end another player's participation in the game for any reason. I've found all too often that pvp in tabletop games leads to a lot of unneeded OOC strife and drama. While I feel that everyone in the game is able to handle it, I still think it's just one of those elements that's better off left outside.

If my vote of no is the minority, then I strongly advocate by consent-only. Speaking for myself, I'd be very upset if another player took it upon himself to force me out of the game by killing my character without my consent. But I would rather just not have any pvp at all.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Important

Now, I have a quasi-poll question for you guys:

Do you want to allow PvP or no?

And if yes, do you want it basically free-for-all, or do you want some rules governing it? (Like having to get the other's agreement first).

I'm mixed on the matter, more suspicion and paranoia is good, but not if it ruins the enjoyment of the game for people, so I'm throwing it out to you guys.

My question would be, "What does PvP mean?" If it's undermining each other, or acting against other PCs achieving their goals, I would probably give a cautious assent. If it's outright "kill the other d00d and take his stuff", then I would be very much against it.

[NeoTiamat]

For the purposes of the poll, I'd say PvP would mean specifically combat or direct sabotage (such as setting up a deathtrap in another PC's tent) potentially culminating in character death.

[steveflam]

Ditto on what Nathan said.