Preserved Topic: The Dragonhunt -- Ozone Asylum D&D Campaign Logs & Commentary (Page 3 of 3)

Watch it, Skaarjj... as an Explodist, you've got to watch where you point those fingers! You fire a light-based spell into a disco ball and man... that's just a lot of destruction.

Hmm... kinda gives you ideas, doesn't it? There are already (minor tactical spoiler) mages who use enchanted prisms to give their spell effects an artificial spread. Maybe you could start a revolution?

Dannyl Nailo -- the Disco Mage!

Say, this brings up an issue that might be useful to know later on -- the physical laws of the Dragonhunt world are different from ours in some ways. For example, light is not a waveform, but just a particle. Photons come in different colors -- red light is made of red photons, for instance. Now, almost all properties of light work the same: a prism sends each color of photon in a slightly different direction, casting a rainbow. Green paint absorbs all photons except green ones. White light is made of all colors mixed together.

Here's the difference: each color of photon has an associated physical effect. Under normal conditions, you never get hit with enough photons at once to feel anything, but if someone were to focus a pure and continuous stream of red photons at you, you'd feel hot... if someone shot you with a laser of energized red photons, you'd burn.

Naturally, given the game setting's tendency toward specialization, there are Light Mages, who specialize in beam attacks using different colors of light. Their tactics are just a little more complex than just firing off elemental lasers, of course... but I'm sure you can imagine.

*Dannyl points the wrong way, manages to blow this topic ot the top of the list. There is no explosion...just a sound*

*BUMP!*

So...WS's prologue is being finished up tomorrow night...anything else being played this weekend?

Whoohoo! Kill the demons! Mash them! Grind them! For the Flame!

No mercy...hehe...

*hobgoblin grin*

Hobgoblin grins are scary, too. Those big pointy tusks!

Skaarjj, I haven't yet done the deep thinking regarding your prologue. But since V is off next weekend and Tikigod is on, I guess I'd better see if we can do your prologue before then, huh? So tell me what time you'll be free (Sunday, maybe?) and I'll probably make it.

I should be free all next week and next weekend...

With edits, this post has become long. Please read it anyway, but skip over the grappling part if you'd like. (WS, you should read it, though, since it answers the confusion we were both struggling with yesterday.)

Give me some help here, gentlemen. Last session had the potential to be good -- a group of half-trained kids trying desperately to take down an enemy anti-paladin who just won't die -- but I wasn't able to move it along fast enough, and when you combine the slow pace of RPG combat, WebShaman and me arguing over the rules (including a feat that isn't even in the PHB, and making up WS's abilities on the fly, as usual), Skaarjj falling asleep, interruptions, delays to discuss this or that finer point, my own ineptitude in allowing the story to get derailed by WS's entirely legitimate technique...

I don't know. There were good aspects of the session, I was doing my best to keep the plates in the air, but it was really discouraging to me. It's trying to tell me not to have combat in the Dragonhunt. Or it's trying to tell me to figure out which battles will be long, and set aside two separate sessions for each one. "Well, there's a boss fight coming up, so we'll play the first three rounds next weekend, and three more rounds every weekend after that until it's over, okay?"

I really don't know what to do here. In tabletop playing, I've always been able to keep things under better control, and keep things moving a lot faster. But between this session and Tikigod's prologue, I'm suddenly feeling like this just isn't going to work the way we want it to.

Can anyone give me some ideas or help?

edit: "Improved Grapple" comes from the Oriental Adventures book. It allows you to make a free Grapple attempt after hitting with a normal melee attack. From the Oriental Adventures FAQ:

quote:

---

The Improved Grapple feat does not allow you to cause damage when you initially establish a grapple using the feat. The benefit of the feat is that you donít take an attack of opportunity for initiating a grapple, and you can choose to use the feat any time you hit for damage with an unarmed strike. The Improved Grapple feat is not meant to allow you to deal damage twice with one attack.

When using the Improved Grapple feat, you automatically grab an opponent after hitting for damage, and then you attempt to establish a hold with a grapple check. You do not deal damage with this grapple check, but once you have established a hold, any further grapple checks you make can deal damage. Pinning works the same way as damage. You must first have a hold on your opponent before you can make a grapple check to pin.

When you have multiple attacks and you establish a hold, you can either continue grappling or continue striking. If you choose the latter, any additional hold you might establish through the Improved Grapple feat has no effect. If you choose the former, you can progress through the normal grappling sequence (hold to damage or hold to pin). Note that once you pin your foe, thereís no point in making any further grapple checks unless you want to deal damage through grappling.

The example character could strike once, dealing 1d8 points of damage, and then establish a hold with the same attack. The characterís next attack could be a normal strike, or it could be a grapple check. If the latter, a success could damage the opponent or establish a pin. The third and final attack could be a normal strike, it could establish a pin (if a pin had not been established earlier), or it could be another grapple check that deals damage. If you win a grapple check, you can end the grapple.

---

When it says "The benefit of the feat is that you donít take an attack of opportunity for initiating a grapple, and you can choose to use the feat any time you hit for damage with an unarmed strike," I interpret that to mean that that's the entire benefit of the feat. The other stuff the FAQ says about the grappling sequence is just how normal grappling works. I hereby add Improved Grapple to the game, since there seems to be a demand for it. Improved Unarmed Strike no longer allows you to start a grapple without an attack of opportunity.

edit (removed previous edited-in comments that aren't relevant in the light of this edit): I just went over the grappling rules from the PHB with a fine-toothed comb, and here's how it works.

First, the attacker makes an unarmed melee attack. Apparently, unless he has Improved Grapple, the enemy gets an attack of opportunity.

If the attack hits, THEN both people make an opposed grapple check.

If the attacker wins, the grapple begins. Now either person in the grapple can attempt to escape, pin, deal grappling damage, or strike with light weapons or unarmed attacks.

This removes all my objections to grappling. In fact, if we'd realized exactly how it works, there wouldn't have been a problem with Itto grappling Garland -- you would have hit with all the melee attacks, but he would have had a chance to escape the grappling attempt.

This also removes my annoyance with grappling in general. I am going to put in a new potion that provides an electric field to deter grapplers at the cost of the defender's own hit points; but grappling in general is now OK in my book.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Oh, and in retrospect, I'm feeling better, although I'd still like to hear your comments and suggestions regarding the pace of the game. The fight with Garland was nine rounds, it was planned to be nine rounds, and we literally did three rounds an hour. That just can't keep happening. We need to learn the rules, we need to settle exactly what everyone's skills and abilities are and what they do, we need to buckle down and resolve combats as quickly as possible. And when I say "we," I mean we, not "you." As DM, I'm more at fault than anyone.

[This message has been edited by Perfect Thunder (edited 03-02-2003).]

Doing things like this over the internet is always going to be slower, unless we all load up NetMeeting and do voice...Different epolpe's typing speeds vary greatly...and typing will always be slower than talking...unless you talk by spelling each word out letter by letter.

We are having fun doing this PT, make no mistakes about that. It just takes a bit of patience and perseverance...also, being able to play at some point in the week other than the weekend would help to...we really must dicuss that...

I agree wholeheartedly with Skaarjj...just 'birthing' problems, nothing more. I found that we all handled the situation rather well, considering the circumstances. A bit of healthy 'bickering' is never bad...and we all recognized the fact that, as the DM, your word is law. In that respects, everything went fine.

In note Grappling...yeah, that was a pretty...unusual tactic to take, granted. However, my character fights to win, even when the situation seems hopeless...he is is faith, after all. Since we were hopelessly out-matched, I needed to use the things that gave us the advantage - my strength was higher...and our opponent was alone. We had him outnumbered...these were our only advantages. In every other aspect, we had no chance. Thus, Grappling came to mind, to exploit our only advantages. That you, PT, as the DM was not prepared for this, shouldn't come as a surprise...players often do things that 'throw' a DM off-balance. I thought that we all handled it pretty well...and the game continued.

All in all, it was fun...but yes, I need to spend a little more time with the rules *sigh*

Okay, V is away this coming weekend, but it looks like Skaarjj, Tikigod, WS (?) and Suho (?) are free to play -- thus, I suggest the official inaugural Dragonhunt session. Dannyl's prologue, "Silence and Shadow," is underway right now, and going swimmingly, so we'll be able to make a smooth segue if everyone is up for it.

All in favor?

edit: Skaarjj's prologue flyer graphic!

Also, anyone who hasn't had a decent glance over the house rules should at least take a look at the sections on Luck, Skills, and Potions. Particularly note the usefulness of getting your potion gauntlets magically secured against attack.

[This message has been edited by Perfect Thunder (edited 03-03-2003).]

Well, I'll probably be around this weekend, but classes are starting this week and I also started a new job that I'm actually going to have to go into an office for (that is, until they realize--with a little help from me--that I don't need to be at the office to do what I'm doing). So I'm not sure if I'm going to have a whole lot of time to prepare for taking on a new character. We'll have to see how things go.

Can't...I have my daughter this coming weekend...sorry.

Tikigod's next playable time is on the weekend of Mar. 22-23. WS, if you get your daughter every other weekend, you might not be free for that one either... any chance?

If you can't make it, but everyone else can, we'll just do Chapter One without you and hope to get you in on Chapter Two. If more than just WS can't make it, we'll have to put it off until the next good time.

[This message has been edited by Perfect Thunder (edited 03-03-2003).]

OK, per PT's request, here's my post...

I should be available for most of this weekend, since I won't be going anywhere, but that doesn't mean I can spend a lot of time playing and/or preparing to play. I've got a ridiculous amount of work to get done, but I should be able to spare a few hours...

The typical 1100 GMT time would work on Saturday or Sunday, and the 0600 GMT time would work on Saturday.

Also, PT, would I be playing the character we discussed last time?

As far as I know, yes, you'd be taking over from Veneficuz in the role of Morgan Cathyrn. He already sent you his character information, right? Just raise him to 6th level and you're good to go. If you haven't quite had time to browse through his prologues here, I can offer you a one-page synopsis by email.

And since we're already missing WS, we'll only be playing this weekend if Tikigod is on board. So you might have all the time in the world for the other stuff. At any rate, I'm going to be making a concerted effort not to drive players into the ground. Skaarjj is doing all the heavy lifting in this one; once he gets in over his head, his prologue ends and the main adventure begins, but Skaarjj's efforts will have laid an excellent foundation for you to whip through the chapter at speed.

Actually, I haven't gotten anything from V... I haven't seen him around much lately.

I'll be gone all day today, but I'll be home from this evening and all day tomorrow, so maybe we can figure something out.

I'm about to take a nap, then wake to play Skaarjj's prologue (we're having a fun sort of free-form wandering-around thing -- my second-favorite type of game, although it's time-consuming). I'll email your Hotmail address with full details if I don't see you on Q beforehand.

Yep...havin' heaps of fun here...I just got to know one of the best Hundred Deadly Fighters. Nice guy actually...wouldn't have guessed it.

Yeah, I'm afraid that part was sort of a digression, but as long as you're not screaming for those hours of your life back, I'm in the clear.

Tell you what, since we're missing WS, and we might be missing Tikigod, and Suho's pretty busy, and we don't have his character quite sorted, and since I've got a major outing on Saturday evening (1100GMT is 5am for me), and since Skaarjj and I are still ambling through his prologue... how about we just knock off this weekend, and play Chapter One once everyone is completely prepped and available?

Sounds good to me.

And I guess 1100 GMT isn't such a great time...

Thanks for that PT. I am now officially knee-deep in work. Thanks to the deadline given to Saddam yesterday I will have no time this week. For those of you who don't know, I work for the corporate online department at a newspaper company. We basically do the large or national projects that the individual newspapers can't handle individually.

War coverage is one of those things, so I'm kinda screwed till my birthday and possibly after(March 17, the deadline for Saddam is my birthday).

sorry all. I wish I could play, but they write the checks...

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