OOC / Questions to the DM

[ToniXX]

Ok, it looks like we're ready to start. Growlfang needs some more time, so he will either not be in this group, or you'll catch up with him in town or on the first day out. We'll see how that goes.

I'll post the first action thread later this weekend.

If you have any more tweaks to your PC, do them now... same with any questions.

[Computer +1]

I am sorry to ask this question so late, and sorry again if has already been asked but...

do all the characters know each other already?
if yes, is that mandatory?

[ToniXX]

I am sorry to ask this question so late, and sorry again if has already been asked but...

do all the characters know each other already?
if yes, is that mandatory?

Yes, they do and per the adventure background, will start in a tavern as a group.
I don't understand your second question. Is what mandatory? Sorry.

[Alethan]

I am sorry to ask this question so late, and sorry again if has already been asked but...

do all the characters know each other already?
if yes, is that mandatory?

Yes, they do and per the adventure background, will start in a tavern as a group.
I don't understand your second question. Is what mandatory? Sorry.

Ummm... I think he's asking if it is OK if his character DOESN'T know the rest of us?

[Computer +1]

Yes, I was hoping he didnt know the rest of the group.

Frankly he is a real dick and I am not sure how he will get along with everyone, I'd rather role play it.

[Alethan]

Yes, I was hoping he didnt know the rest of the group.

Frankly he is a real dick and I am not sure how he will get along with everyone, I'd rather role play it.

Out of curiosity, why would you want to play someone who doesn't get along with the rest of the party?

[ToniXX]

Out of curiosity, why would you want to play someone who doesn't get along with the rest of the party?

I have the same question.

[Computer +1]

Its not that he won't get along eventually but it takes him a bit of time to get used to people.

I am not a fan of you all know it other as a starting place. I like to have my character learn about his traveling group the same way I do, as things unfold.

It is my personal preference but if you want it otherwise I can deal with it.

[leebrown1990]

You obviosuly know the difference between roleplaying a dick and being a dick yourself. I'm sure it would work. Sometimes a little inter-party friction works well aslong as both (all) parties know when enough is enough.

Cheers,
Lee

[Computer +1]

Thanks for the vote Lee!

And I dont want this to be a problem so if it is dont worry about it.

[ToniXX]

Its not that he won't get along eventually but it takes him a bit of time to get used to people.

I am not a fan of you all know it other as a starting place. I like to have my character learn about his traveling group the same way I do, as things unfold.

It is my personal preference but if you want it otherwise I can deal with it.

Okay, no worries. I don't want to deny anyone of any good role-playing... Just as long as your character does come around and there isn't too much friction. I think I've got a slightly different way that we can start this then, so I'll post more in a bit.

[Alethan]

Thanks for the vote Lee!

And I dont want this to be a problem so if it is dont worry about it.

(All of the below is from the perspective of a somewhat experienced PbP player. It is also probably way too much insight into my mind; for that, I apologize.)

Over the last three years of doing PbP games, I've had to work around some weird and stupid s***. Once, in a first level group with all new toons who were strangers to each other, there was a guy thought he had to do everything in this internal dialog in his head (that only he could hear, naturally). I guess it was great for developing his own character, and it was mildly interesting to read, but, if the rest of us didn't META game it, it didn't do a thing for helping his character to integrate with the rest of the group as nobody else knew what was going on in his head. I counted it up and, over a period of three months of posts, his character actually only said five sentences. The rest was this internal dialog bit he did, along with these unusual looks he'd give other party members. His character was as much a stranger to us after three months as it was after three days.

Then he started doing this thing where he wouldn't post but once every few weeks and when he would post, he expected to be able to go back and "correct" the actions of others or change how something happened. Eventually, he just stopped posting, became an NPC, and we promptly sent him on his way.

Later in that same group (OD&D by-the-book Basic Rules), our MU cast the OD&D version of Charm Person on a goblin. It failed it's saving throw and became her servant for an indefinite period of time (FYI, that is a VERY powerful spell in OD&D rules). Our evil cleric was apparently vehemently opposed to slavery (... I still don't understand that) and threatened the life of the MU in some PM role playing between them and the GM. After the threat, the MU quit the game and retired her character.

In a different game, one guy kept being a dick to the rest of the party for no apparent reason. It got to the point where everyone else was ignoring his interactions (as, I think, people would have treated him had it been a RL scenario) and the GM decided to step in and force his character to explain it away with a split personality disorder. The GM sent him PMs to indicate when the personality would change and this him get along with the rest of the group for at least half the time. While I thought the GM handled it rather creatively, the level this guy took his character's personality was still a very unnecessary distraction from the game. Ultimately, the conflicts between him and the GM caused the GM to shut the game down. That was too bad, too, because I really enjoyed it. (I found out about the details of the split personality bit later, in some discussions with the GM about his game when I was trying to figure out what made him shut it down.)

But people can play up clashing personalities between characters quite well, too. In the aforementioned OD&D game (still very active, after 1.5 years), there is another player who is on his 4th or 5th character now (he doesn't have the best luck). He always seems to make his characters rub mine the wrong way. (This is mostly because he makes them refer to my character as "dwarf" instead of by his name. In RL, I can't STAND it when I say hi to a certain manager, and call him by name, and he responds with, "Hey, guy!" I've known this person for years. He was my department manager for a year. He knows who I am. Use my damn name. It isn't "guy".) I usually respond with some suggestion about sending him ahead to check for traps in the next new dungeon area (I'm the party caller/leader in that group and have been pretty much since day one) or some such thing. So it can work and, when it does, it certainly adds a bit of flavor to the game.

I guess all I'm saying is, as long as it doesn't detract from the game, I'm completely open to whatever role playing anyone else wants to do. Hey, I love role playing as much as the next guy. I'm sure I'll do plenty of it, myself, in fact. I think any good game has a nice balance of Role Playing and Roll Playing.

But I don't generally pull any punches. As they say in AA, I run an honest program. (That's just jargon for saying that I speak my mind.) I've seen enough games ruined by BAD role playing; if it ever becomes a detraction/distraction, I'll be the first to say something (very politely, of course!).

I don't think any of the above people actually meant to detract from the game (and, in the last example, actually shut the game down). Part of it might be something to do with the challenge of role playing in a PbP game vs. role playing in a FtF game. When everything is written down, you lose a lot of communication tools, like intonation, facial expression, body language, etc. It is easy to misconstrue what someone else intends with their actions. And it can be a challenge to accurately describe what your character is doing and/or saying. Without good OOC communication, it doesn't take much to wreck a game.

[migellito]

Great post Alethan (3yrs? wow! heh)

[Alethan]

Great post Alethan (3yrs? wow! heh)

It's probably closer to something like "two years and X months"... but, yeah, it's been a while. I think I was in... two other campaigns before we started up Ironwolf? Neither was very good, but I learned some good lessons in each of them.

I'm sure some of the above scenarios are all too familiar to you, Mr. GM of the OD&D by-the-rules game! In fact, they might all be familiar to you as I believe you were another player in the other campaign on the ODD74 forum, weren't you? It really was too bad that campaign shut down. It had great promise.

Our Ironwolf campaign started around the end of August 2010. It has over 5,700 posts on all of its threads combined. Our main threads have the following post counts:
Ironwolf I (closed): 1,396
Ironwolf II (closed): 1,421
Ironwolf III (active): 1,165
Table Chatter (active): 1,172

We currently have five active players - three of the players are part of the original party of seven (two of these players have characters from the original group; one player is on his 4th character) and two other players/characters are recent additions (within the last eight months or so).

[migellito]

Yeah, I was in on that odd74 game. It was a real shame, because we were well and truly Started, with action taking place, and then POOF.

[Alethan]

Yeah, I was in on that odd74 game. It was a real shame, because we were well and truly Started, with action taking place, and then POOF.

Not just that! I remember now! You and I were charging down a hallway, taking out hobgoblin sentries with aplomb! Then, as you say... POOF!

(The moral of the story is... HARE today, GOON tomorrow!)

[Computer +1]

I havent seen any examples of it yet so I better ask,
are we allowed to use curse words in this forum?

I can think of a few that Blacktongue is ready to use.

[ToniXX]

I havent seen any examples of it yet so I better ask,
are we allowed to use curse words in this forum?

I can think of a few that Blacktongue is ready to use.

As the admin and primary moderator I personally don't mind a little foul language, as long as it's in the vein of role-playing. Start calling other members on the forums bad names and that's no good, but I don't think anyone will be doing that.

[Alethan]

Oh, quick question about forum time for the whole of the group...

When do you generally stop by the forum to read updates/make posts? Lee, you're in the UK, correct? So do you usually check during the morning or the evening?

Personally, I check a few times during the day and then I'll probably check once in the evening. But it's mostly in the morning and early afternoon (Central Standard Time).

I'm wondering because I want to make sure we, as players, give everyone a good opportunity to respond to posts so we don't jump ahead. With one guy in a 6+ hour difference time zone, we should be aware of things like that.

[migellito]

Oh, quick question about forum time for the whole of the group...

When do you generally stop by the forum to read updates/make posts? Lee, you're in the UK, correct? So do you usually check during the morning or the evening?

Personally, I check a few times during the day and then I'll probably check once in the evening. But it's mostly in the morning and early afternoon (Central Standard Time).

I'm wondering because I want to make sure we, as players, give everyone a good opportunity to respond to posts so we don't jump ahead. With one guy in a 6+ hour difference time zone, we should be aware of things like that.

Usually once in the afternoon and once in the evening. Sometimes only in the evening. I'm in US Eastern time, which is GMT -5.