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[LordBucket]

Breaking the door would be easy using some clever Manipulation and there’s a few windows that could
also be entered in through as well; one in the main room near the front door and another in the kitchen.

Bad idea.

Spoiler: This is why (click to show/hide)

The catch-him-while-he-sleeps scenario only works because it's completely innocent-seeming up until the last moment. Naked girl putting her hand on your neck is not likely to seem threatening. Even if he wakes up at the touch, the immediate reaction to a naked girl touching you is generally not to attack her. Even if he does push her away, he has no reason to believe she was going to hurt him. But once my hand is on his neck the time it takes to close a fist is fast enough that it would be over before he could reasonably process what had happened and react to it.

But now...what happens if she breaks in and he wakes up to her breaking into his house? She's stealthy, sure...but sound of glass breaking? Sound of door being forced? Wards to warn of forced entry? Wards to warn of use of manipulation by anyone other than him? How is she supposed to even know when he's asleep? Just stand outside and wait and guess? And if she guesses wrong and he's awake when she breaks in? Even if she does get in without waking him up, once she's inside she has to get to him quietly. What if his bedroom door is closed? Locked? Once again she has to force entry and hope it goes unnoticed. For that matter, what if the door is open? Trisha has a persistent cough. Even if her walking is silent, is she going to be able to get through the house and into his bedroom without waking him up?

There are too many ways for a break-in to result in him waking up. And if he does, he's a manipulation trainer, presumably with decades of experience. Trisha's a frail little girl. There's no way to reasonably expect her to win a direct confrontation. To give an analogy, imagine a fresh white belt attacking the 70 year old black belt who trained her. It's not going to end well. Suggesting that "oh, he's old so will be easy to take" is simply naive. Maybe, maybe...if that white belt happens to be a strong and healthy and durable enough to take a good couple punches on her way in to a killing blow, but Trisha is weak and frail. Surprise was her only advantage, and she can't expect to have that if she breaks in.

Tearing his throat out was extremely likely to succeed, and even if it didn't Trisha would have been no worse off for the attempt. Worst case she'd just be kicked back out into the rain. Breaking in is just inviting any number of things to go wrong, and if any one of them does...then suddenly the context goes from Trisha being a harmless naked girl to Trisha being an intruder breaking into the house of somebody potentially very dangerous who knows she's there, and has no reason not to defend himself.

Trisha

Look for an umbrella on the front porch. If I find one, take it. Either way, head to the road and try to hitch a ride.

[gman8181]

Everything you said is true but keep in mind a few things:

Yes he's an old man so theoretically he has lots of experience with Manipulation. On the other hand, if he really is that powerful in a skill that gives you the ability to do whatever you want, don't you think he'd be doing something other than living in a shack deep in a swamp, teaching Manipulation to a girl who he clearly doesn't like?

The more powerful Manipulations like enchantments and what not require a lot of sacrifices. I've made no mention in the posts of this man having any sort of power/blood source lying around and being an old man with presumably less health, it's unlikely he's got anything dangerous lurking about.

Lastly, I know everyone is still learning the ropes here and that I'm still playing around with the rules. All of the players who have had potential combat encounters thus far have been more than capable of handling them. I'm not going to put you up against invincible odds (yet) and even if you were losing I'd give you ample opportunity to flee (at this point in the game).

I'm not saying you need to go in and hurt him, just letting you know it's not a death sentence if you try.  Caution will pay off in this game, especially as things progress, so you've got a good mindset going on but right now it's sort of like tutorial time for all of us.

Important Notices

I've added that 10 coppers to each of your inventories. Don't worry about spending it, money should be relatively easy to make in this game and 10 copper is only equivalent to about 10 dollars anyway.

You have some stats in post 2 that were not there in post 1 such as encumbrance, protection and perception.

I'm heavily considering making leveling up skills easier, only requiring using the relevant skill 1/5 times your current skill instead of 1/2.

If you all are interested, I can post the full set of current rules for your viewing pleasure but they are subject to change as I try and make this game as fair as possible while still challenging.

YOUR OPINIONS ARE WELCOME! Seriously I appreciate knowing what you all think I'm doing wrong and right. If you see any mistakes I made or might have made, feel free to point it out as Lord Bucket did.  I'm very human and very new to this whole running an RPG / Rolling game.

Also, I'm a busy guy (or maybe just bad at managing time?). I'm trying to keep this moving along but in the future, I may only be able to get out updates on the weekends. Hopefully I can squeeze out a couple more updates though before things slow down.

[LordBucket]

I may only be able to get out updates on the weekends. Hopefully I can squeeze out a couple more updates though before things slow down.

That doesn't bode well for the health of the game. Check the forum. Threads with no posts in 24 hours are now on page 3 right now. If updates happen weekly, it's going to end up back on page 6 or 7. Easy to get lost, and some people might lose interest if they have to wait a week between updates.

I'd suggest you do 3-4 updates per week, and not wait for everyone to submit an action before posting results.

[BFEL]

Drink down the whiskey, then stumble outside.

[gman8181]

It's a four player game not a suggestion game, so I don't care much if it sinks a bit to the back. I'm personally involved in a few multiplayer games right now on this forum that update about once a week sometimes sooner and sometimes later. I assume you all generally know when I've made an update by either checking "new replies to posts" or from the "updated topics" section, am I wrong?

Granted, I'm willing to try more frequent but smaller updates if it means something to you all but I'm really not capable of making promises.

What I can guarantee though, is that as long as there is some interest in this thread, I will do my best to keep it alive despite potentially slower updates. If there is any chance of it dying from my neglect, you will all be notified in advance.  I won't just completely drop it without telling you guys.

[griffinpup]

I'd like to see the rules, if that's OK with you.  If other people don't you could just pm it to me or something, but if it's allowed, I'd be interested.

[LordBucket]

I don't care much if it sinks a bit to the back.

Ok, but players might care. Forgive my frustration, but the scale and pacing of the game so far doesn't really work with weekly updates. Starting a forum game right before you're suddenly going to be infrequently available is not a recipe for a good forum game. In fact...doing that has been parodied as a bad way to run a game.

Look at turn submissions for this turn so far. There are two:

"Trisha: Look for an umbrella on the front porch. If I find one, take it. Either way, head to the road and try to hitch a ride."

"BFEL: Drink down the whiskey, then stumble outside."

If people seriously are going to need to wait a week for results for "I go outside" you're not going to maintain player interest for very long.

I will do my best to keep it alive despite potentially slower updates.

*shrug*

Ok. I'm going to stop checking the thread daily. PM me when updates happen.

[gman8181]

I'd like to see the rules, if that's OK with you.  If other people don't you could just pm it to me or something, but if it's allowed, I'd be interested.

Sure, I'll try and post them some time tomorrow. Might even make an OOC thread and put it in the initial post.

Edit: You know what, I suppose I could just move everything onto a flash drive or google docs and just make updates at library computers or something like that.

[BFEL]

I'll also need the PM treatment, as I have gotten entangled in so many threads that my updated/new replies pages are as massive as the forum itself.

[griffinpup]

Natural one, lol.  And I'll continue out of the alleyway and try to find a inn to spend the rest of the night at.

[ppllmmqqaazz]

At my companion's suggestion, I bind the woman and blindfold him (using pieces of the clothing we just removed from her if nothing else suitable is available). I wait for her to regain consciousness while searching her person for any belongings, and suggest to Ven that it might be a good idea to take a look around the general area of our hideout to make sure that nothing else seems out of place. Once she is conscious, I ask her her name, why she was where she was, and how she became injured.

[gman8181]

Year 100
Month 1 Day 1
22 Hours Galactic Time

Spoiler: BFEL (click to show/hide)

Name: Liam Macteeger
Appearance: A short Irishman with red hair and a green suit, complete with green hat
Size: 4 feet 6 inches
HP: 20 + 2
Current HP: 22/22
Movement: 20 + 1 = 21
Endurance: 2 2/4
Encumbrance: 1
Protection: 2
Strength: 2 (2/4)
Speed: 2
Agility: 1 (½)
Dexterity: 2
Stealth: 2 (2/4)
Perception: 2
Persuasion: 2
Manipulation: 1
Equipment: +2/-1 green suit, +1/-0 green hat
Inventory: 5 coppers

You drink down your entire glass of whiskey in one shot and wordlessly proceed to stumble outside, leaving the bartender and mini man left staring in confusion. Outside the cool wet air reinvigorates you as you deeply inhale and gaze about the surrounding area. The sky is dark and overcast as usual but the streets are well lit from various industrial and commercial lights which serve to more than adequately light up the streets and buildings. Without purpose or reason, you begin to walk down one of the empty streets, occasionally gazing up as loud ships whiz by in the air above. This goes on for little less than an hour when you finally walk into something worth noticing. In a nearby alleyway, lying down and softly whimpering is a medium sized brown dog with short yellowish brown fur and a bloody front left leg.

Spoiler: Griffinpup (click to show/hide)

Name: Korgoth
Appearance: Tall with black hair, he almost always wears a black cloak
Size: 6 feet 2 inches
HP: 20 + 2 = 22
Current HP: 22/22
Movement: 20 + 2 = 22
Encumbrance: 2
Protection: 2
Endurance: 2
Strength: 2 (¼)
Speed: 2 (¼)
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 2 (¼)
Stealth: 2
Perception: 2
Persuasion: 2
Manipulation: 1 (½)
Equipment: +2/-1 black cloak, +1/-0 underclothing, +1/-1 dagger
Inventory: 10 coppers

You continue onward out of the alleyway and go about looking for a place to rest and recover at. After a somewhat lengthy walk, you fail to find any place that rents out rooms. Fortunately, a kindly man takes you in after seeing your wounds and tends to the injuries until you are rested and recovered enough to resume your journey. Now you stand at the door of his house as he waves you goodbye and good luck with your travels.

Spoiler: Lord Bucket (click to show/hide)

Name: Trisha
Appearance: Small, frail-looking girl with a perpetual cough. 5'2" 100 pounds, brown hair and eyes. Delicate.
Size: 5 feet 2 inches
HP: 20 + 1 - 5(anemic) = 16
Current HP: 16/16
Movement: 20 + 1 = 21
Encumbrance: 2
Protection: 0
Endurance: 1 (½)
Strength: 1 (½)
Speed: 2
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stealth: 2 (3/4)
Perception: 2
Persuasion: 3 (⅙)
Manipulation: 1 (½)
Equipment: +1/-0 grey shirt, +1/-0 black pants
Inventory: 10 coppers

Looking around the front door for an umbrella (Roll 5+2=7) you fail to find what you are looking for. Resigned to your fate, you proceed on the lengthy road to civilization.Time slowly drifts by as you grow weary and wet from the journey through swampy turf and occasionally thick forested trees. After about an hour’s worth of making good time walking towards your objective, something interesting catches your eye. Ahead of you and to the right some distance off into the woods you see light originating from some fire. Slowly creeping a safe distance closer to the source of light, you catch glimpses of three hooded figures clustered around four fires set up in a square formation with a large horned animal lying limp in the center. One of the hooded figures, with a feminine voice seems to mumble something harsh under her breath and then in a louder voice says,
   “Where did we go wrong? We killed the animal and spilt its blood, so what else is required for the ritual?”
   Another hooded figure, also with a female voice speaks up saying,
   “How should I know! The man who sold us this stupid animal just said we had to kill it and that if we had natural talent, the next step would become clear! What a scam, how are we supposed to use this thing to contact a void being if we don’t even know WHAT THE NEXT STEP IS!”

Spoiler: Ppllmmqqaazz (click to show/hide)

Name: Silidar Orochu
Appearance: Tall, with Lackluster Blond hair, brown eyes, and extremely pale skin. Little (but still existent) muscle definition, and slim.
Size: 6 feet 3 inches
HP: 20 + 2 =22
Current HP: 22/22
Movement: 20 + 2 = 22
Encumbrance: 2
Protection: 3
Endurance: 2
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 2
Perception: 2
Stealth: 2
Persuasion: 2 (¼)
Manipulation: 1 (½)
Equipment: +2/-2 (+ cold resistance) brown fur long coat, +1/-0 fur underclothing
Inventory: 10 coppers

   The woman is blindfolded tightly and tied so that she won’t be able to easily escape. Searching her belongings you find nothing of use except a small (+1) knife that’s barely sharp as well as some food provisions that will feed one person for about two days. You walk over to your two companions and in and briskly tell them that someone should proceed to check the surrounding area for other people. Svik looks at Ven who sighs and nods his head in resigned acceptance. While he heads out the door Svik walks closer to you and silently, patiently eyes the girl. You take the opportunity to sit down and rest after your expedition.
   A little less than an hour passes and the woman slowly and groggily wakes up. After the initial shock wears off, she starts squirming around silently attempting to get loose. Svik speaks up,
   “Don’t bother, we’re right here.”
   That quiets her up significantly and gives you an opportunity to walk over and begin your questioning. You ask her many questions, starting with her name (Roll 20+1), then her reason for being in the wilderness (Roll 5+1) and finishing with how she was injured (Roll 18+1).
   “My name is Fiore… I was abducted by slave raiders from my village but managed to escape and steal some supplies. I guess I wasn’t as lucky when it came to finding my way out of the wilderness.”
   Fiore is silent for a long moment before speaking again,
   “Are you going to hurt me?”

[griffinpup]

Toss him my wallet, and while his eyes are focused on it flying through the air...

Walk away.

[gman8181]

I originally was sort of thinking this game would be more free form where you all do what you want and make your own quests but it's sort of seeming like you'd perhaps be more interested in a railroading/quest giver type of thing?

I could certainly hook you all up with quest givers if you're more interested in that than doing your own things.

Edit: This isn't saying there's a wrong way to play this game, it's just that I want everyone to have a fun time playing it and I'm not sure how fun it is when turns are just like "walk."

[LordBucket]

Trisha

Approach the group and speak, "I have the answer to that. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you did manage to get the attention of a minor void lord. The bad news is that he didn't find you interesting enough to make a personal appearance and sent me instead."

Look bored as if I'm reciting a speech I've given many times.

"So, here I am. Submit your petition and I'll consider it. Please note, all contracts resulting from these proceedings will be treated in compliance with the standard conventions, and I am not obligated to reveal those conventions to you. It's up to you to make sure you follow all the rules, and your souls are forfeit to me if you miss anything."

Look interested again.

"I accept your offering."

Approach the animal, visibly siphon all its energy and put it in a temporary holding pattern.

"Ok. Ball's in your court. Whatever it is you want, make it good, because I'm seriously annoyed at having to respond to a summons in the cold and wet middle of nowhere."

I originally was sort of thinking this game would be more free form where you all do what you want and make your own quests but it's sort of seeming like you'd perhaps be more interested in a railroading/quest giver type of thing?

I could certainly hook you all up with quest givers if you're more interested in that than doing your own things.

Edit: This isn't saying there's a wrong way to play this game, it's just that I want everyone to have a fun time playing it and I'm not sure how fun it is when turns are just like "walk."

I don't feel the need for quest givers myself. Open world is fine with me. I do feel like things are being somewhat railroaded right now, but I sort of assume the game will become more self-directed once we get some momentum going. Maybe others want more guidance. *shrug* Demon summoners in the woods seems fun to play with, but for me...don't feel like you to need hold my hand too much. I already have a list of things to do in mind for once I get to a city.