MERLANCE's Campaign Discussion Thread

[Joseph]

I heard from Gorth. He's been quite busy at work, figures he will be for this week too, and with Marcus' character having been taken down two encounters in a row, there's nothing for him to do.

So... Either my characters check this fletchers out on their own or we just carry Ara back to the other shop and waste another day healing and recovering again.

[MERLANCE]

Just move on, on your own, once you get him inside and give him a few minutes to dry off he will awaken.

[Joseph]

Merl, as you've no doubt noticed, our enthusiasm for the rpg has waned. I can't speak for Gorth but Marcus and I talk on an almost daily basis and I'll tell you why ours has.

When we first started this campaign you said you didn't have much experience as a DM. And that's fine. But when we gave you feedback, positive or negative, you completely ignored it. Any one can DM if all they do is quote rules and roll dice. A good DM needs to find a three-way balance between rules, a good story and what's fun for the players to keep them interested.

When you knocked Ara down into negative HP we told you that that wasn't necessary, that you could have achieved the same result simply knocking him down to zero HP. You took out the party's only healer which us made spend a day resting and recovering spells. In an online play by post campaign, that's A) not fun and B) a waste of time.

The very next combat encounter, you did the exact same thing again. Only worse this time. Ara retreated to heal and you allowed him to heal and then wasted the spell by having him knocked into negative HP again after he healed when you could have simply had the zombie hit someone else. How is that fun for Marcus? Or the rest of us? Because again, we have to waste another day or two resting and healing.

Do characters get hit? Yes. Do they occasionally get knocked into the negatives? Yes. But the way you did it and twice in row, especially after the conversation after the first time and making it even worse the second time simply isn't enjoyable for Marcus or us. Bad enough we're wading through a town invested with zombies turning a D&D rpg into a CoD Black Ops zombie survival mode that has us, as Marcus put it "moving one metre a week".

As for your comment that I would be "ending the game" when I told you that I would be attacking the necromancer for casting a spell on my character... I explained things to you then, you edited your post removing it but the point remains that you did it and made that comment that ending the game would be my fault. When a game ends, it's on the shoulders of the DM, not the players. Especially when the players are reacting properly to an inappropriate situation. Attacking an NPC that first attacked the player isn't game ending. Games end when the PC characters die. Or because the game simply isn't fun anymore. And that last encounter was complete crap. Gorth trying to climb a wall? Fine. The undead automaton not entering combat to give him a boost? Crap. Ara getting taken out again because half the group used piss poor tactics leaving the other half on their own...

Again, I can't speak for Gorth since he's been busy and hasn't been around but Marcus and I are happy to play. If it's fun and more than just endless waves of zombies and someone getting knocked into the negatives every encounter, forcing us to spend days healing as a result.

[Marcus]

Well. I had shitty DM's! But you are just new. Lets work together and make it a good time.

In my opinion it been a bit to much for a low level party. Crits on the verge of one hiting is not that fun. Do no take it to harshly. Just that some things been bit wrong. I did lose a bit of motivation being knocked out in two battles in a row. At first, well I thought I was maybe stupid for going up front on an Ogre zombie but this time they went after me to really end my character.

[Joseph]

Well, Merlance, you keep popping by the boards daily. Are you looking for play posts? By now you must have read the posts Marcus and I made above. You've had a week to address them. Are you going to?

[MERLANCE]

I did read what you said. I was waiting to see if Gorth was ging to post anything. I figured a week would be enough time to see if he would

I can't rightly say what to do now. If Ara hadn't spent the time healing he would be dead at best, and a zombie at worst. And I have been pulling my punches on him otherwise because he frequently becomes the primary target of the zombies.

The zombies attack the first person they see in a direction that an attack comes from, and thats usually the closest person, and thats usually Ara. They ignore the armored figure as they don't see him as a threat and just try to bull rush or overrun past him to get to the fleshy living tasty ones. He took damage from the ogre's cleave because I treated that as a sort of aoe attack. He kept swinging full force through the priest into AF.

As for the hp, I compromised and made it so that any healing gets you to 0 hp but unconcious for a bit. Ara will wake up in about an hour and be able to heal himself, its not another case of resting and waiting for a day.

[Joseph]

If you've been pulling punches as it is then maybe that's a sign that things are over-powered for a low level party. And it pretty much is a case of another day wasted because Ara is the only healer and he'll have no spells and considering how much damage these things do and how easily people go down...

And again, we don't care about the rules or the creature stats, etc, etc,. A DM needs to find a balance between the mechanics and what's enjoyable for the players. All you had to do in the last encounter was simply decide, as a DM that wants his players to enjoy his campaign, to have the zombie attack me or Kurt instead of hitting Ara after he'd retreated and healed. A simple solution that would have had the players happy and not had them lose enthusiasm. How much fun is it for Marcus not being able to do anything except make sarcastic posts like "Ara is unconscious and does nothing".

As for Gorth, as I said, he's busy. Don't know when he'll be back.

[Joseph]

Hey Merl, can you clarify the "Mighty Composite Longbows"?

Am I correct in assuming they're just composite bows called "Mighty" because they give the strength bonus?

My understanding of composite bows is that there's a strength requirement to use them so... you'd need a +1 STR to use the +1 bow and a +3 STR modifier to use the +3 bow and then that allows you to add your strength bonus to the damage.

Also... Marcus, not sure what missile weapons your priest is allowed to use but if you can't use bows... we need to find you a sling and some stone bullets...

[MERLANCE]

Yeah, you need the strength bonus to use it effectively.

Longbow, Composite

You need at least two hands to use a bow, regardless of its size. You can use a composite longbow while mounted. All composite bows are made with a particular strength rating (that is, each requires a minimum Strength modifier to use with proficiency). If your Strength bonus is less than the strength rating of the composite bow, you can’t effectively use it, so you take a -2 penalty on attacks with it. The default composite longbow requires a Strength modifier of +0 or higher to use with proficiency. A composite longbow can be made with a high strength rating to take advantage of an above-average Strength score; this feature allows you to add your Strength bonus to damage, up to the maximum bonus indicated for the bow. Each point of Strength bonus granted by the bow adds 100 gp to its cost.

So you need 16 str to use the +3 mighty composite longbow, and 12 for the +1 mighty composite longbow. Ara could attack at -4 with one.

[Joseph]

Was just thinking...

It'd be handy, Merl, if you'd post "status" updates after each combat encounter/healing session, etc, regarding HP, spells remaining, etc,.

How many HP does Ara have now? What spells has he used? How many does he have left?

As players, we need to know so we can make informed decisions for our characters and I'll bet Marcus has no clue and Ara is his character.

And I don't know what's up with Gorth. He's only made a handful of posts lately and none in the rpg so I'll send him a snarky email or PM... or both.

[MERLANCE]

Yes Ill post the health and spells... after the next combat.

[Joseph]

That's pretty weak. Why can't you tell us now? You're really good at killing our enthusiasm to play. Is that deliberate?

[MERLANCE]

Ara is at 14 hit points, he has used up all his first level spells except sanctuary, he still has all his 0 level spells. Everyone else is at full hp.

[Joseph]

I don't know why that was so hard. I don't know why we have to repeat ourselves. I don't know why you don't listen to the feedback we give you.

Bottom line: We're not having fun. You don't listen. You don't learn. We'll give your campaign one last chance and if the fun isn't there, if the courtesy for the players isn't there, if you're not DMing the way you should, taking player feedback into account and giving required information in a timely fashion, without having to be repeatedly asked for it... Then we're done playing.

[MERLANCE]

I will post again, Ive just been really busy this week.