LSO OOC Thread II

[JadedDM]

Here are my notes for this chapter.

I rolled for random encounters at the very beginning of the chapter. That way, I knew what was coming and could foreshadow a bit. That's why I had the party encounter that statue of the flying snake, to foreshadow its appearance later on. More on that later.

This chapter had a very heavy focus on survival; I kept strict track of movement rates, food and water supplies, and so forth. This allowed Baeros, the newcomer to the group, to really be allowed to shine with his forest lore and hunting skills. Who knows when we'll ever be in a forest again, so I felt this was a good time to let him shine for a bit.

The battle with the giant toads was fairly easy, but it really helped emphasize the party's lack of coordination and teamwork. I was glad to see them making efforts to fix this later on.

The dead elven woman was again foreshadowing, this time of the stirge swarm. Looking back, I see I misread Ouragana's intention with her Web spell in that battle. She meant to create a wall of webbing to force the stirges to reroute, not to actually ensnare them. I guess it's a good thing I misread that, because if I had not, we likely would have lost more than Thunder in that battle. The stirges had a movement rate of 18 (that is, they could move 180 feet per round in battle), so that could have flown over or around the webbing without missing a beat.

It's a shame about Thunder, but I suppose Baeros would have had to give him up later on anyway, since a horse isn't really that useful in a game with lots of boats and sea travel. Ironically, if Baeros had sold the horse in Condletun, they could have hopped a boat instead and had a very different adventure along the way. Hindsight is 20/20, I suppose. (On the other hand, then you all wouldn't have acquired so much XP and treasure.)

The flying snake--a couatl--was a benevolent entity. They are Lawful Good and quite powerful. Baeros' assumption that it was deaf was wrong. It could hear quite well, and knew of his presence. It was deliberately ignoring him to see what he would do. If Baeros had attacked it, the couatl would have judged him 'evil' and probably killed him (9 HD, instantly deadly poison, and magic-use; I doubt he could have survived). If Baeros had attempted to communicate with it, it would have spoken to him (via telepathy) and once it judged him 'good' it would have offered him a boon. The boon would have depended on what he asked for, but it could have been food, a quicker way out of the forest, protection from dangerous beasts, or whatever.

Ultimately, Baeros decided to leave it alone. So the couatl judged him 'neutral' and just left him and the party alone. Nothing came from the encounter. The statue, as I said earlier, was meant to foreshadow the couatl's appearance. Andar's story about how they helped lost travelers was meant to convey that they are benevolent. Just goes to show, not everything you find in the wild will try and kill you.

Fortunately, the party did decide to follow the blink dog. Sure, he basically led them into a trap, but he didn't know any better. He just wanted to help his mother. And although he's just a pup now, in a couple of years he'll be fully grown and a valuable ally should Baeros decide to train him.

Now a personal note to each of you.

Horizon
To level up, roll 1d8-1 to determine your HP. If you roll a 1-1, you still get 1 HP.

Jocelyn basically saved Andar's life this session, whether she realizes it or not. She also seemed fairly proud of herself for helping Andar work on his emotional problems, before this adventure began. Maybe you can use that in her on-going character development?

Breila
To level up, roll 1d4 to determine your HP.

I suppose Ouragana learned the valuable lesson in that last fight that you can't just rely on the same spells every time. The ettercap, being a spider-kin, was immune to Web and too strong for Sleep. But now that she's level 4, those extra spell slots should grant her some additional versatility.

Jenara
Well, since her player is gone, I'll level up Areilon and continue to NPC her for the time being, if only because the party needs a thief and I can't come up with a plausible reason for why she'd leave the party now. Unless she happens to die before then, I'll permanently remove her from the party when the third arc begins. Either with a new PC or failing that, an NPC.

Nuke
I can't really think of anything to say. We didn't really learn anything about Val.

BishGada
To level up, roll 1d10+1 to determine your HP.

I'm curious to see how Thunder's death and the close call both Baeros himself and Andar had with death might affect the ranger.

I noticed nobody seemed overly concerned that Baeros could die, as well. Jocelyn treated Andar, giving him a +2 to his save, but didn't bother with Baeros. So either the party hasn't really accepted him and doesn't care much if he lives or dies (which is ODD, as Jocelyn risked her life to try and save his horse!) or people were metagaming the fact that you rolled that poison save too soon.

As always, feedback is welcome. I'll get the new chapter up soon.

[HorizonsDream]

HP (4)

[Breila]

HP (1)

Ouragana is socially awkward and shy, she doesn't know how to convey her feelings or connect to people, that's why she didn't talk to Bearos (or Andar), for fear of saying the wrong thing...

[BishGada]

First thing first. Rolled HP and I wish all my fighting rolls were as good as this one: 1d10+1 (11) whee haa!

Anyway, I wanted to say few things.
First, I forgot that the couatl resembled the statue which is my bad. I know about couatls but Baeros doesn't so I figured he will wait to see what happens before taking action where the creature looks dangerous. After you reminded us about the statue via Andar character I thought to suggest trying to track the creature as one of the alternatives to deal with our poisoning, as we become 'lost'... so it fit the stories, but it seemed to me impossible to do in the short time we had so I discarded it.

About Jocelyn not helping Baeros, I disagree. She healed him and they worked on the antidote together. Baeros told her to take care of Andar, and Baeros kindda distanced himself from the group after Thunder died, he is still grieving and keeps to himself.

Regarding the pup, obviously Baeros will train him. I hope Takit will adopt the dog and take it under his wing. Baeros is fond of animals and find them more trustful than humans, and he would do so even without your hint about it getting a powerful ally.

I wanted to say something regarding the level advancement. The NPCs gets significantly less XP than the PCs. On one hand it is reasonable, as after all they are not the players and can't get XP for ideas and participation, but on the other hand in the long term it might imbalance the game. For example, a group of six PC adventuring for 4 years in game time will be much stronger than a group of 4 PCs and 2 NPCs adventuring the same game time, but since the 4 PCs will be about the same levels as the 6 PCs, their obstacles would be about the same in both groups.

One last thing, I felt we performed bad in battles. It wasn't only the coordination of actions between us, but also bad tactics I think and maybe also some bad luck... Baeros defiantly learned his lesson not to rush to danger alone or at least with better means of protection (even that he did ask for backup and everyone was alerted to look up for spidery creatures...)

[JadedDM]

There are different kinds of NPCs, though. You have temporary guests who are treated like full PCs, but are only in the party for a brief time. Like the Bullring sisters or Dalaim Truestone in the last arc (or like Bear in my War of the Lance game).

You have hirelings who are paid to assist the party for a specific amount of time and to provide specific services.

Then you have henchmen, who serve out of loyalty and/or friendship, instead of to just get paid.

Andar is a henchman, and he's supposed to only get half XP according to the rule book. Henchmen are not full party members, they are more like assistants. Like a knight's squire or a wizard's apprentice; they are the students and the PCs the mentors. That's why they only get half a share of treasure and XP. Henchmen are supposed to be lower level than the PCs; in fact, should a henchman ever catch up or surpass the PC he/she serves, they are supposed to leave the party. The PC has nothing more to teach him/her by that point, and it's time for them to move on.

This doesn't effect game balance any, because henchmen shouldn't be treated like PCs in the first place. They are more like 'in-training' adventurers to help assist the real adventurers (the PCs) on their mission.

[BishGada]

Understood.

[JadedDM]

Here's the die roll for Areilon's HP for 5th level.

[Breila]

What we'll need to talk about is the use of the money we found with the dead elven woman. Ouragana probably has found out where her shop was, she would like to inform the woman's family if there is any. I guess a predominantly good-aligned group would want to restitute the money to the family. but of course, we would need it as well.

So my question to the DM is: what is customary/legal in the area? In Germany, for example, the finder gets 5% of the value of the found item(s) plus expenses to return them, in Austira even 10% (except for very large sums, where it is half that).

[BishGada]

Also discuss our next moves in finding the pirates and supplies for the journey, as the trip in the jungle proved we were not prepared at all.
I think Andar need armor, everyone need healing potions since we almost died at almost every fight, we had problem sleeping so bed rolls would be nice. I think we had problem with cooking tools as well... and we didn't plan the food supplies good enough and starved.

[JadedDM]

Being a Chaotic nation, Hashadeth and its cities don't have any particular law on this sort of thing. It's really up to the people involved. The reward for returning the money could be anywhere from all of it to none of it, depending on the family in question and what sort of deal the party works out with them.

[JadedDM]

Oops! Well, this is embarrassing.

June 15th, the second anniversary of Lost Souls Octhania, came and went and I completely forgot about it.

But it's true; this game has now been running for two years. In that time, the party has gone from level 1 novices to level 4-5 journeymen. Indeed, you've all nearly caught up with the PCs in Unlikely Heroes (levels 5-6), which will be four years old in November.

In any case, congratulations for those of you who have stuck with this game for two years now. All PCs will be rewarded 2,000 XP in celebration at the end of the current chapter.

[Nuke]

Woo Hoo!

We thank you for your work as well Jaded. I enjoy it. Trying to break Val out of her shell and still keep in character.

[BishGada]

I'm playing only for 6 month, and I know that sometimes it is difficult to find the time for it, even that I enjoy it a lot, so... Hip! Hip! Hura! to you all keeping the good job, in sick and health etc...
And especially thanks to JadedDM since DMing it all must demand at least trice the time players invest in the game.

[JadedDM]

You're both very welcome, of course. I do put a lot of work into my games, but Lost Souls especially since it's all completely original content, unlike my Dragonlance games. It can be exhausting at times, but it's always well worth it.

Here's to a third year!

[Breila]

Two years already... and I'm only beginning to understand who Ouragna is...
and it's true you're putting an extraordinary amout of time and effort into your games, which I appreciate very much.