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[Sir Knight]

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So I had fun planning just how complicated this was going to get.  I'll start with the obvious bit.

Spoiler: Combat round order (click to show/hide)

6, 5, 7, 8, 4, 1, 3, 2

. . . Dustan goes first, and then swordperson D, swordperson C, wall tiger A, wall tiger B, swordperson B, Gary, swordperson A, Tohil.

Spoiler: To the violence! (click to show/hide)

Dustan's combat table, workstone knife, same as all swordpeople using an iron sword:

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed
5: Succeed
6: Succeed greatly
7: Fail by succeeding

Wall tiger combat table, target is armored against sharp attacks (either Dustan or a swordperson):

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Fail
4: Succeed weakly
5: Succeed
6: Succeed
7: Succeed
8: Succeed greatly
9: Fail by succeeding

Tohil's combat table as before

Dustan's attack roll: 5, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 3+1 = 4!
Wall tiger B, HP: 12/16

Swordperson D attack roll: 5, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 5+1 = 6!
Wall tiger B, HP: 6/16

Swordperson C attack roll: 2, Fail!

Wall tiger B attack roll: 7, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 3+1 = 4!
Swordperson C, HP: 6/10

Wall tiger A attack roll: 8, Succeed greatly!
Damage roll (1d6+6): 3+6 = 9!
Swordperson B, HP: 1/10

Swordperson B attack roll: 2, Fail!

Tohil's attack roll: 4, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 2+1 = 3!
Wall tiger B, HP: 3/16

Combat begins, and with it strategy.  And surprises.

Dustan was already in motion, quickly crossing the distance to the wall tiger still on its feet.  Maybe you haven't faced this exact snarl before, but you know how to wipe it away.  You are joined by two people waving swords; you and one of your allies hack at the scales on its face, dealing bloody damage but not enough yet to stop it.  The other sword misses, and this gives the opening for the wall tiger to counterattack, gouging his sword arm nearly where it meets his torso.

Tohil tries to get everyone in motion (what is that one person in front of you doing?!) and is stuck trying to pick the best target.  Ultimately you fling your second fire skull into the wall tiger in the east.  Poof!  Fire!  Ha ha, light shines in the dark!

On the west side of the pit, one other sword fighter runs along the slope and tries to slaughter the remaining monster before it can get to its feet.  Too late!  It kicks off with its hind legs and whips into the air, bringing a paw down with enough force to break her collar bone.  At least that's probably what happens; her charge undeniably misses the wall tiger as a result.

In the northwest, John's approaching lantern shines light just within the opening to the west.  A solid wall of rock salt indicates a pit in progress; stripped bones indicate an animal lair.  The noises of conflict clearly disturb whatever lies within.  At last the strange sounds resolve themselves into flapping and skittering calls, and a flock of hideous bug bat bird things descends from the ceiling and pours down the tunnel toward you!  It looks like there might even be another group coming in behind the first!

Gary, keeping his distance for just a moment longer, hears yet another sound.  A "snap!"  Fingers snapping once, only once.  You spare a glance and see Solde giving a look to the swordsfolk who aren't yet engaged in the southern pit, pointing now in the direction of new assault.  All immediately rush to the northwest.

They'll be a bit late to the party.

Spoiler: More combat round order (click to show/hide)

4, 2, 3, 1

. . . The first bug bat bird flock, Alyssa Alpine, Dwain, John.

Spoiler: More violence! (click to show/hide)

Bug bat bird combat table, fighting as a group based on flock size (25):

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed
5: Succeed greatly
6: Fail by succeeding

Bug bat bird flock A attack roll: 5, Succeed greatly!
Damage roll (1d6+6): 5+6 = 11!
Alyssa Alpine, HP: 2/13

Continuing to attack Dwain after some of the flock struck Alyssa, target is armored against attacks (their tiny teeth suffer against all types of armor):

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail terribly
3: Fail
4: Succeed weakly
5: Succeed weakly
6: Succeed
7: Succeed
8: Fail by succeeding

Bug bat bird flock A attack roll: 8, Fail by succeeding!
Damage to Dwain (1d6+1): 4+1 = 5!
Dwain, HP: 10/15
Damage to self (1d6+1): 4+1 = 5!
Bug bat bird flock A size: 20/25

Continuing to attack John, target is wearing an amnesiac robe:

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed weakly
5: Succeed
6: Fail by succeeding
7: Fail by succeeding (with paralysis)

Bug bat bird flock A attack roll: 3, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 2-1 = 1!
John, HP: 19/20

Alyssa Alpine's combat table, fine iron sword:

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed
5: Succeed
6: Succeed
7: Succeed greatly
8: Fail by succeeding

Alyssa Alpine's attack roll: 6, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 6+1 = 7!
Bug bat bird flock A size: 13/25

Dwain's combat table, iron war hammer, same as John with fine iron pick:

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed
5: Succeed
6: Succeed greatly
7: Fail by succeeding

Dwain's attack roll: 3, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 4-1 = 3!
Bug bat bird flock A size: 10/25

John's attack roll: 3, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 3-1 = 2!
Bug bat bird flock A size: 8/25

Alyssa is clearly taking the worst of the attack, and you stagger backward under countless small bites.  Throwing a javelin is the last thing on your mind; you flail about with your sword and are fortunate to shred a swath of them with each swing.

Some among them have already moved on to Dwain and John.  Ow, the tiny tiny teeth!  They seem at least uncoordinated in their attack; a number land on Dwain's back, and as you pound apart their compatriots with your war hammer, your convenient position against a wall lets you crush every attacker that bites you right against the shale.  John likewise deals damage, and backup should be here in just a moment.

Bug bat bird has been struck down! x17

Around this point, the one armed representative of the Salt family who's just standing there in the southern pit finally gets his words together.  "The well!"



Ah, two more wall tigers are climbing straight out of the emergency well.  They must have been waiting to make their own ambush.  About that.

Now hurry up and get creatures/people killed.  The number of rolls could get quite high.  In the case that I'm choosing an action for Gary (Coolrune206), I'll assume you advance to attack whatever enemy winds up closest with one weapon or the other.

[randomgenericusername]

"Enemy reinforcements incoming! Just like I thought, these aren't common mindless animals! Quick, finish off our current opponents before they manage to regroup! The last thing we want is having four monsters mauling us at the same time!"

Shoot my last fire skull to the Wall Tiger climbing out of the well to make it fall back into the dark abyss inside the well, unless it already climbed out. In that case, fire at the wounded Wall Tiger with the highest health.

[ziizo]

attack the bug bat Birds.

[Rautherdir]

((That was a lot more damage then I was expecting.))

Activate Etherstone binding, float down into the rock and then across to where I can see another flock as well as a dead person and turkey thing? Anyways, go find out what is over there and then return, while mostly submerged by stone.

[Starver]

Looks like I should wade towards Alyssa, although it'd mean losing the wall advantage. Still, I shall probably swing this hammer round more in compensation (watch out behind!).

(Ninjaed as I am, I'm still doing this. It'll be a distraction in case the phasing plan doesn't go to plan. Like there being a third flock.)

[Sir Knight]

Arrrrgh I just got the best game-related private message I've ever received and I'm feeling terribly guilty.  It's one of those "I joined the forum to play your game" messages.  The only thing that ever matches such a message is fanart.  (Which I wouldn't have mentioned otherwise, as I didn't want people to think I'm stumping for art.)

Here's the deal:

Spoiler: The inevitable "future of the game" post (click to show/hide)

I have new employment starting in a couple of months.  Not only is it full-time work, but it's in a foreign country.  Thus, not only does it mean moving house again (right after the last move which interfered with this game), but it means masses of work in handling the visa process before I can even begin.  And then the employment will be for one or two years.

The employment, specifically, is teaching.  I've taught before.  I know it's more than a full-time job.  And did I mention the culture shock?

This means that the chances of completing this game, or any game, just sank to a minimum.  It would be silly to wait up to two years for it.  Even if all players remained on the forum that long, I'd spend the two years feeling guilty I couldn't post more.  And it would be disappointing to put new people on a waitlist in such circumstances, hence my feelings of guilt upon receiving this private message.

I knew I'd need to post eventually.  This game represents a lot of effort.

How much?  (Aside from trying the players' patience, I mean.)

Several months ago, I figured out how the game would end.  I wrote the final update, put "THE END" at the bottom, and felt tears well up in my eyes knowing that I had created something.  Some time after that, I created a final-ish list of adventures.  Sure, you haven't seen me throwing out "adventure complete!" declarations all the time (and there are only five of the things up in the listing by now), but the threads have begun and I needed to know how I was going to get to "THE END."  Now the path is balanced and ready.  And remember when I lost my tilesheet (and reconstructed it)?  There are custom tiles in there for game content that has only been hinted to date.  Yes, my intent was to "explore fully" this tile-based medium, and I hope you're finding the art to look halfway decent by now (e.g., the footpath through the tiny salt crumbles in the southern pit).

Obviously, this was a plan for a long-running campaign that would have hiccups along the way.  That's how any campaign works.

Once finished, I'd hopefully have worked with a lot of players, and some among you might be interested in seeing other ideas later.  One of my goals in starting this thread was to establish a place for this name on the forums: I believe I've mentioned that I'm an older user of this site who has created a newer account to affiliate it with my real-world work.  ("Sir Knight" is the name I've used on other forums when promoting Kickstarter projects with colleagues in gaming.)  I have some other gaming content I was thinking of turning into a commercial product one day, and hopefully you people might like to playtest it.  That would be a long way off.

So what now?

Well, I should be realistic.  I've created this world but can't guarantee we will explore the whole thing.  I could let it end when it ends, then treat the unrevealed content as "dungeon master material," to be kept secret in case somebody wants to do something with it in the future.  Right?  Erm, I say "somebody," but if it's me then again I'd be stuck waiting up to two years with expectations over my head.  And leaving it for somebody not-me to DM?  What, am I gonna sell this content as a campaign setting or something?  No, not really.  It's obvious that this system is not as well-balanced as it could otherwise be.  RTD has its limitations.

Alternately, I could post all my unplayed material in this thread so that the players at least know how we could have gotten to "THE END."  Perhaps, perhaps.  I could see myself finding downtime over the next couple of years and putting out little maps, copying and pasting my already-prepared text bits, and asking the general reading public "what do you think you would have done with this?"  That might be fun.  And not as stressful.

What are your thoughts?

When it comes to the immediate game right now, my goals are to get us all to the next scene, perhaps to the one after that.  I don't want this thread to go quiet with "In a Wound" in the title, you see, and it would read better if you completed another adventure.

Then . . . well.  I'll only really know once the visa process succeeds (it might not, after all) and I transport the household to a new world and figure out how to teach and eat and live and pay bills and yeah.

I knew I'd need to post eventually.

I have commentary on your actions so far, but there's no getting around this inevitable post.  I will continue to work at the rate that I can, and I hope you all enjoy getting yourselves beaten up in this scene.

[randomgenericusername]

I don't really know what to say or how to feel about this.

[Starver]

Firstly: Whatever else happens, good luck guiding your Real World character through the caverns of Life. I hear the lanterns are really underpowered, so you can hardly see which way to go, but there's loads of potential XP available if you strike out into the murky unknown at the right times, and fewer over-powered End Of Level Bosses than some people complain about.

As to the game

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I already keep thinking maybe I should raise my game to get you quicker through things (without derailing the intended train of progress) because I have been fairly happy cruising through things and picking up things both drip-fed and clue-by-foured upon me. I can stand waiting upon your freedom to take the next step, but worry that I'm the one holding things up by wrong action or inaction.

I think it might be good to think about 'bank'ing the up-to-endgame material with somebody, as backup against curveballs (including repeats of the loss of , but if others are agreeable (and my own circumstances continue to allow) I'd be happy to take only what time you can give, when you can give it, without demanding your time.

A forum can be a near timeless, medium, and a free-falling FPS can be endured. The biggest problem I see is us the players blinking in and out of existence, there being more of us needing to pick up the interest again whenever you're ready. That might be the best reason to curtail if you haven't got pre-planned work arounds already in mind.

Obviously, you're thinking a little ahead, right now. Ultimately it's your baby and I'll totally roll with your other needs and commitments. Which means I'm probably not helping you decide anything.

[Sir Knight]

Meta-game:

Spoiler: More about the future (click to show/hide)

I don't really know what to say or how to feel about this.

Yeah, I know how that is.

I already keep thinking maybe I should raise my game to get you quicker through things (without derailing the intended train of progress) because I have been fairly happy cruising through things and picking up things both drip-fed and clue-by-foured upon me.

Again, it's remarkable how things have gone.  Derails have been, more the most part, amusing.  And I've tried to keep the plot "resilient" in the background; the main ways to wreak havoc would involve splitting up the group, and people can understand how much of a pain this is in RPG's, so those have (mostly) been avoided.

I think it might be good to think about 'bank'ing the up-to-endgame material with somebody, as backup against curveballs (including repeats of the loss of

Things are backed up on an external drive.  Are you suggesting handing things off to another DM?  That would be a lot of coaching; what do you do when so much of a world is in a person's head?

The biggest problem I see is us the players blinking in and out of existence, there being more of us needing to pick up the interest again whenever you're ready. That might be the best reason to curtail if you haven't got pre-planned work arounds already in mind.

The waitlist helps.  For those parts of it that are still valid.  But I've been aware how important it is to keep up interest; the sporadic posts I suggested at the end of my last post, gradually revealing unused content and saying "what would you do here?" to the general public as I go, represent one more work-around as they don't depend on players remaining stable--or even remembering what they last played some months prior.

Obviously, you're thinking a little ahead, right now. Ultimately it's your baby and I'll totally roll with your other needs and commitments. Which means I'm probably not helping you decide anything.

Pbbt.

Game:

I'd wanted to comment on Alyssa (Rautherdir)'s action.  Yes, that was a lot of damage; exactly why it's good to have max HP high enough to survive one blow from anything!  Walking through stone is probably a good idea for getting away, getting a defensive bonus, and possibly advancing the scene.  This sort of thing was intended as a desperation move to keep you from permanent problems (i.e., death), so yeah.  And I was simply going to do my duty and remind all assembled that it would cost a point of max HP (hopefully to be recovered upon completing the adventure) and last for the entirety of this scene.

[Starver]

Meta-game:

Spoiler: More about the future (click to show/hide)

I think it might be good to think about 'bank'ing the up-to-endgame material with somebody, as backup against curveballs (including repeats of the loss of

Things are backed up on an external drive.  Are you suggesting handing things off to another DM?  That would be a lot of coaching; what do you do when so much of a world is in a person's head?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Seems I somehow edited out the end of that parenthesis, perhaps more. Meh. Bad clicking.)
I've no idea if/how you could do it. Was throwing the idea around. Some games have deputies to the main-runner. Sometimes it's a more experienced person giving a new GM advice when asked for/needed, sometimes it's an apprenticeship position by the one in charge.. It was not thought through much more than 'something like the latter'. See also literary bequests to pass on unfinishable works to other authors (with, like you have, authorial notes on where the story ends, maybe even the end written down and just the middle bits to fill in). I really have no idea how much unwritten content you'd consider necessary to pass on to make that even plausibly palattable, though, so maybe consider it a debunked suggestion...)

[Sir Knight]

Spoiler: And in reply (click to show/hide)

Well, I believe the idea of deputizing a DM had come up before.  It might have some merit; but without interested volunteers cropping up, I can't see all the dimensions needed to make it happen.  Anyone here using REXPaint?  Or would the DM have to learn it, and possibly have to learn basics of prettifying the ASCII too?  How about the basics of game design, such as are needed to strike the balance between "it's in the notes, so we should play it," and "we need to get to the good stuff, so let's skip bits that are just character-transportation?"  For that, I'd need to know them as a DM, and I haven't been following games by anybody relevant so far.  For that matter, is this new DM as dedicated as I am to updating the I-seriously-bit-off-more-than-I-expected-to-chew character sheets?  Egad!

So yeah, any progress on these fronts would be helpful for deputizing, but I don't have it.

In any case, I know I dumped a huge heap of chaos on you, but I am still hoping to advance the game here.  I've (mostly) got the time.  That means I could use actions from Dustan (Dustan Hache) and Gary (Coolrune206), though I could make the pre-mentioned assumptions about Gary.

[Sir Knight]

In any case, I know I dumped a huge heap of chaos on you, but I am still hoping to advance the game here.  I've (mostly) got the time.  That means I could use actions from Dustan (Dustan Hache) and Gary (Coolrune206), though I could make the pre-mentioned assumptions about Gary.

Lacking immediate input, I have put together part of an update assuming that Dustan, naturally, keeps with the killing.  I'll keep poking at it and may launch if I get nothing else.

[Dustan Hache]

Grab wall tiger B and beat it into submission (without killing it preferably.) Then try to find a way to restrain it if it is still alive.

[Sir Knight]

Grab wall tiger B and beat it into submission (without killing it preferably.) Then try to find a way to restrain it if it is still alive.

Non-lethal.  Non-lethal, really?  Really?

(What can I say?  I like not always knowing what's going to happen in this game.)

[randomgenericusername]

Grab wall tiger B and beat it into submission (without killing it preferably.) Then try to find a way to restrain it if it is still alive.

And Dustan was the one saying that Tohil was acting stupid?