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Post by Hussar on Jan 22, 2004 1:14:37 GMT -5
Ok, bear with me for the moment, this is still a work in progress. First off, I will be restarting the Mithril campaign in the first week of February. So, everyone should be prepared and ready to get things off the ground the week of February 4th/5th. We will play at the regular time (10 AM for those of us in Japan, whatever time it is for you guys on the other side of the pond). Secondly, for those who don't know, my wife is pregnant. Or, should I say very pregnant. She is due in March, but, it's getting around that time, so, if I fail to show up, well, you know why. I will do my best to let people know when the game is put on hold, but, hey, no promises. Thirdly, they have released OpenRPG 1.6.1 and the plugins for it are also out. I would request that all players please upgrade your game. It seems to work a lot smoother when everyone is using the same version. Plus, the new version has some toys that I really like, so, tough noogies, you gotta upgrade. You can do so anytime in the next two weeks, but, please, get it done. Running multiple versions seems to cause crashes and all sorts of other issues. Fourthly, I'm running a little short of time right at this moment, so I will make this brief. In the next little while, I will post here a very concise list of instructions for how combat shall be run in the future. My goal is to be able to run a full round of combat in under two minutes. For six or seven of us, I believe this is a very legitimate goal. I really want to knock down the lag time of everyone staring at the screen waiting for someone to do something so that we can continue the round. In the interests of accomplishing this goal, I will be posting a (hopefully) clear list of instructions and expectations within the next week. Please read the instructions and be prepared for the next time we play. Thank you. Could everyone sign in here, so that I know you have read this?
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Post by CosmicHorror on Jan 23, 2004 13:30:43 GMT -5
Got it.
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Post by Kelly on Jan 24, 2004 7:00:16 GMT -5
Got it. Not sure if I can download new OpenRPG on my g/f's computer. Can try, but I may have to wait until I return to NC. Congrats on baby - did not know. TJJ
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Post by Hussar on Jan 24, 2004 9:02:17 GMT -5
Standard Procedures for Combat Ver 0.1 Preamble: Okay, this is the part where I get to ramble for a bit and talk about my opinions of things. If you want to skip this bit and get down the crunchy bits, just scroll down and go to part I. To begin with, I would like to thank everyone for making the game what it is. I believe that we have a very good adventuring party with excellent potential. It is my hopes that these procedures will just make things that much better. Having been behind the screen for the past several months and on the player side of things for a bit, I think I have a pretty good idea where we can improve the flow of things. Let's face it. Combat is slow. It is. It requires everyone to be on the ball and picking up cues to run smoothly. When one of us trips, we all wind up staring at the screen, waiting, wondering if we've hit a server glitch, wondering if the person is still online or if their Open has burped. The procedures I will outline below is my attempt to stop this and streamline combat so that we can meet my personal goal of a full round of combat in 2 minutes. I believe this is a doable goal and something we should aspire to. The less time we spend rolling dice, staring at the screen waiting for someone else to roll dice, losing time in this and that, the more time we have to actually role play. Heh. Thus ends the sermon. Let's get to the important bits, shall we? I. The Format of the Round. Now that the plug-ins have been released for 1.6.1, I once again have the initiative tracker. I have all of your initiatives already inputted into a chat macro which allows me to roll your and the bad guy's initiatives at once. I will then sort the list from first to last and then begin the round. I will then begin the round with the first person on the list. Each person will have 45 seconds to post a message. If no message is posted within 45 seconds, I will automatically move to the next person in the list. See below for a list of example messages. At the end of your turn, post Done or Finished or Next or something to let me know that your round is finished. I will then move to the next person in the list. II. Messages. The following list is standard post messages during combat: 1. "I'm looking up a spell." Posting this will stop the shot clock. If you need time to look up a spell, that is fine. But please, tell me and everyone else that that's what you're doing. I have a nifty new little chat macro for entering all your spells into that I will give to the spellcasters in game. It will require a bit of work on your part inputting spells, but afterwards, should make life much easier. 2. Attacking. When posting an attack, please post all attacks and damage. It is not that difficult to read. If you want, post attacks first, followed by damage. I don't really care. Simple state your weapon of choice followed by your attacks. If you are making multiple attacks, don't forget that each extra attack is at -5. 3. Spell Format: When casting a spell, please use the macro and input the following format: Spell Name (or funky spell name followed by PHB name in the case of certain players who like to confuse their DM's ) (Range: AoE: Duration: Fort/Ref/Will Save DC: ) [damage dice if applicable] So a lightning bolt cast by a 5th level mage would be written: Yellowbellies Shocker (lightning bolt) (R: x feet AoE: 5 foot wide path Ref DC 13+Y 1/2) [5d6] III. Hints and Tips: The following list should help to speed things along. 1. Type out your action before your turn. You can highlite and cut and past from the typing bar. Put it into the clipboard if you need to type something before your turn. That way you can just ctrl-v and paste it back into chat. Don't wait until it's your turn to begin typing. Pay attention to who is going before you and start typing on his or her turn. 2. Take the time to make a Chat macro to put into your game tree. Instead of using the F keys, which maybe you have to change for another game, simply make a chat macro (look under tools in the features node) and click it over to radio box. Put in a bunch of actions along with the appropriate die rolls and you don't need to type anything. 3. During server burps, when some players appear to be having connection issues, I will take over the character for the remainder of the combat or until the player stabilizes his connection. However, I do not know your characters as well as you do, so don't expect miracles if this happens. 4. Do not allow dead air. If it is your turn, let me know that you are alive and connected. If I'm staring at the screen for 35 seconds, and I don't see I'm typing¨ appear beside your name, I will assume that you are afk or having some other problem and I will skip over you. I'm sorry to be a nazi about this, but I think I should put my foot down. It takes 3 seconds to type "Wait!¨ or, "Just a second¨ or something similar just to let me know you are still there. I will wait. I have no problems with that. But, don't make everyone wait for three minutes and then type, "I attack with my sword.¨ To which I reply, "roll the dice.¨ More waiting. "I attack [1d20+5]¨ Me: You hit. More waiting. Me: Roll damage please. More waiting. [1d8+1]. Please, and I cannot stress this enough, please, don't do that to me and the other players. It's very frustrating when I have enough time to go make a coffee while waiting for a Ranger to post a single attack with a longsword. 5. Be as specific as you can be with your post. Include all of the pertinent information in one line. If you are feinting in combat and then making an attack, make both rolls in the same line. Let's try to cut down on the back and forth with the DM requesting additional information from players. Note: Any changes made to this will be posted here. Well guys, what do you think? Too nasty? Too loose? What can I improve? It's a work in progress, so I'll certainly listen to input.
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Post by Hussar on Jan 26, 2004 7:51:38 GMT -5
Here is the spell list tabber for all you spell casting types. home.ripway.com/2004-1/53292/Spelllist.xmlSimply right click the link and click Save As. Save it to your Myfiles directory in OpenRPG. Open OpenRPG and right click the game tree. Click import node. Bring in the Spell list node and start filling it out.
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aaronp
Peasant
I sense mischief and must blast it with my magic!
Posts: 39
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Post by aaronp on Jan 28, 2004 11:01:41 GMT -5
New rules sound fine.
I just spent the last week learning the game tree and developing macros/tabbers/ send buttons for about 40 commands and quick reference. After last weeks session, I lagged every time-fumbling through pdf file rulebooks and the like. I got motivated and learned all the new stuff.
Thanks for the spell list, Im working on that now. Yeah the group is good too.
Update to 1.6.1 in progress. Turjan
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Azzkigar
Peasant
Your death shall taste like cold-flat steel, as I grind thy face to meal...
Posts: 17
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Post by Azzkigar on Feb 4, 2004 20:18:04 GMT -5
Grimnor is still trying to get into the Mithril board... having trouble... may-day...
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Post by Hussar on Feb 4, 2004 20:24:08 GMT -5
Update your OpenRPG with the /update get command. That should sort you out.
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Post by Hussar on May 3, 2004 2:31:45 GMT -5
Well, I've been wracking my brains for a while now trying to figure out how to do ship combat. Ship to ship is no problem, that's covered by the Broadsides! rules (and soon to be added to my Pirates! rules from the same company- gotta love Amazon). The major problem that I could forsee is how to deal with you having about 50ish marines plus yourselves, boarding a ship with roughly equal numbers of defenders. Gack.
However, I think I have found a solution. I've gotten myself a copy from the Seafarer's Handbook and it has a nice, simple mechanic for sorting this out. We'll give it a try and see how it goes.
Rules for Boarding Actions Ver. 1.00
1. Any group with the same stats may be grouped into a squad. Squads, for now, will be limited to 10 members per squad. This might change.
2. The Attack Bonus for a squad is equal to the AB of the base member plus 1 for each additional member in a squad. Thus a squad of 10 sailors (1st level commoners, BAB=0) would have an attack bonus of +9. Marines, being warriors, would of course be higher. To qualify for further bonuses, all members of a squad must possess the bonus. For example, MW weapons must be possessed by all members for the bonus to count, the same with feats.
3. Squads always attack other squads. Individuals attacking squads (such as yourselves) will be dealt with under usual rules. Squads may not attack individuals.
4. If a squad is opposed by a squad with different Hit Dice, the weaker squad suffers a -1 penalty for each step of difference between the dice. For example a squad of fighters (d10 hit dice) is opposed by a squad of commoners (d4). The commoners would suffer a -3 penalty on their attack dice due to the three step difference in hit dice.
5. Each round, a squad makes a single attack. A successful hit drops one member of the enemy squad and one additional member for every 5 points by which the attack result exceeded the squad's AC. For example, the 10 man sailor squad (AB=+9) attacks another sailor squad with an AC of 12. They roll and get a 14+9=23. Three opponents are dropped. One for hitting and two for each full five the AC was exceeded. In this example, the Sailor squad could drop a maximum of 4 opponents, 1 for hitting, and three more. If the sailors had an extra +1, they could drop 5.
6. A squad may be broken and reformed at the controllers will, on their turn. Members of one squad may join another.
Note, I may start to institute the idea of command checks later. We'll see how slow this is before I make it more complicated.
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Post by Kelly on May 3, 2004 10:56:47 GMT -5
The DM said
"3. Squads always attack other squads. Individuals attacking squads (such as yourselves) will be dealt with under usual rules. Squads may not attack individuals."
An individual enemy squad member can still attack one of us and a member of our squad could attack the enemy captain....correct? Just on a one on one basis? Is that still true even if they are assembled in squad formation?
How will squad initiative be determined? By Evelyn who is the officer in charge of the marines?
Just a couple of questions for clarity.
Thanks
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Post by Hussar on May 4, 2004 5:00:42 GMT -5
Sure, no problem.
A squad cannot attack an individual using the squad rules. I don't think you'd like it if a squad could kill you, simply by hitting your AC. Heh. Squad vs individuals will be dealt with under regular combat rules. In other words, the squad will be broken into individual minis with each mini having a separate action and attack. It will be generally understood that officers attack officers. It is bad form for common troops to attack officers who can generally expect quarter and ransoming.
One initiative will be rolled for each side with actions alternating between sides. Individuals will go on their respective turns, either before or after squads, depending on their die roll.
The hope is to make life as streamlined as humanly possible.
A squad has a single movement and attack, same as an individual. If it attacks as a squad (vs another squad), it moves and makes a single attack. A squad may not attack as a squad and as individuals in the same round, although, I suppose some individuals could be broken off to fight as individuals.
By and large, squads should face squads, individuals should face individuals.
Also note, squads do not gain AOO's vs individuals. An individual may not pass through an enemy squad, although he can pass through an allied squad. (This is something that just occured to me, so it might change.) Individuals may not pass through an enemy threatened area. They must go around. (There, that solves the question of AOO's and is fairly realistic) An individual which begins a round in contact with a squad must either engage the squad as individuals, or withdraw from contact.
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Post by Hussar on Jun 4, 2004 1:35:31 GMT -5
Cos did come up with a good point last session regarding the squads. Magic would make pretty quick work of a tightly packed squad. On the other hand, a squad that is in open formation would not be as effective as a squad in close formation. So, with that in mind, I'm going to add the following rule:
6. Formation. A squad can be in either open or closed formation. Changing formation is a full round action. The formations have the following stats:
Closed formation - all members of the squad are assumed to be within 5 feet of eachother. Combat rules are as per #5 above.
Open Formation - All members are assumed to have 5 feet of space around them, thus doubling the area that a closed squad covers (ie. A 9 man closed squad is a square 3x3, a 9 man open squad is a square 6x6). A squad in open formation only counts 1/2 its numbers when determining it's attack bonus.
Thus, a 9 man squad of veteran marines (War 3) has an attack bonus of (BAB:3 + 8 members beyond the first) +11. The same squad in open formation would have an attack bonus of (BAB:3 + (8/2) members beyond the first) +7.
That should do the trick. I don't think you can open the squads any further than that and still consider them squads - members would be too far from eachother to be effective. Also note, on ship it will be virtually impossible to be in open formation. You simply don't have the room for it.
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Post by Kelly on Jun 4, 2004 16:15:01 GMT -5
Damn, I tell you one thing. I am glad I not in charge of manuvering the ship or the squads. Way to complicated. LOL.
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Post by Hussar on Jun 5, 2004 21:15:58 GMT -5
But, you are in charge of maneuvering the ship in combat. You're the captain. If you don't want to be in charge, you should designate someone to do it. Maybe Apoctus, since he's the helmsman and Palai to fire the weapons. When I have time, I'm going to post a tutorial for using Broadsides! combat rules.
The hope with the squads was to make combat MUCH simpler and faster than rolling 100 attacks.
I know this makes combat a much more strategic idea than simply your party vs the critter, but, it is part and parcel of having the ship.
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Post by shadowbane on Jun 9, 2004 8:07:30 GMT -5
May i suggest a slight change to the following
Open Formation - All members are assumed to have 5 feet of space around them, thus doubling the area that a closed squad covers (ie. A 9 man closed squad is a square 3x3, a 9 man open squad is a square 6x6). A squad in open formation only counts 1/2 its numbers when determining it's attack bonus.
Thus, a 9 man squad of veteran marines (War 3) has an attack bonus of (BAB:3 + 8 members beyond the first) +11. The same squad in open formation would have an attack bonus of (BAB:3 + (8/2) members beyond the first) +7.
I wouldn't think spreading out a unit of archers would severly affect either their accuracty or effectiveness, yes inmelee a open unit would be at a disadvantage, but i don't think it shouls reduce the effectiveness of an open units archery/crossbow. (( or am i missing something here? tell me if i am ))
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