Step 4
Have a look at these house rules that lostcheerio and JossJax follow as GMs. Some of them are specific to play-by-post gaming, such as help actions, ancitipating skill checks, and how combat initiative plays out.
Skill Checks
If we need a skill check from your PC, we will ask for it in the post. If we need a skill check that we didn't anticipate, we will ask for it OOC and you can just roll it then. If you have an idea for something you want to do, and you're pretty sure a skill check will be involved, go ahead and roll, using the skill you anticipate would be relevant. This may create a situation where you roll a fantastic number on a skill check we didn't ask for, and we can't give you what you really want. It may also create a situation where you roll horribly on a skill check we didn't ask for. Still, it's better to roll!
Posting Frequency
We want to post twice a week, as this introductory one-shot in Oddwall is meant to be played quickly so you can move on to other things. If you don't have a chance to post, and we're waiting on your character for critical plot progression, we will hold for you. If it's less critical, and we don't hear from you, you may be skipped. You can always let us know in OOC or a DM that you are or are not ok with being skipped, or what your real life schedule is doing to your gaming availability. We don't want anyone missing out.
A note for play-by-post gaming in general: If you have a trip planned, a period of high demands at work, or are just feeling burned out and need a break, it is 100% ok to let us know that you're tapping out of part of the adventure. We can either write it into the posts that your character is unavailable, or we can just magically blink you out and blink you back in when you're back -- this is a world of fantasy and magic, and such things are possible.
Initiative Order
When we enter combat, we will roll initiative for "the enemies" and you will all roll initiative individually. On the first round of posts, everyone who rolled initiative before the enemy can take their combat round. Everyone who rolled initiative after the enemy can still post if they want to, just not join the combat yet. Then the enemies will go, in the DM post. After that, the party can post in whatever order they are able to, and the actions will be resolved in that order.
So for example,
Larry and Pete enter a room with a feral horse in it. Larry rolls a 14, the horse rolls a 12, and Pete rolls a 10.
Larry attacks the horse, Pete posts about how he was examining a statue and didn't get his sword out fast enough, and the horse attacks.
Larry and Pete attack in whichever order they want, and the horse attacks.
Etc.
This is different from a surprise round, which happens before initiative begins.
Action Block:
Your action block is an OOC section of your game post. Here you'll put your action, bonus action, reaction, and move, stated in plain, non-rp terms. You can put all the spicy sauce you want to, on the narrative part of your post, but in the stat block just give us the dry mechanical facts, real spell names, numerical results of dice rolls, etc. It would also be helpful if you gave us what conditions are affecting you, for good and ill, and what you are concentrating on, and your initiative order. You can also put OOC stuff in your action block if you want, rather than making a separate OOC post. Here's an example:
Action Block
OOC Notes: Hoping to find the goblins joining the combat?
Move: Misty Step to the fountain, then run to the square directly to the south of the tree.
Action: Cast Eldritch Blast on the third druid. Rolls: 17 to hit, for 7 damage.
Bonus: Misty Step
Reaction:
Object Interaction: Pull the vial out of the fountain.
Conditions: Bless (8 more turns)
Effects: Blur (from Cloak of Displacement)
Stat Block:
Your stat block is an abbreviated character sheet, to help out your DMs, your fellow players, and also yourself. Think about what makes sense for quick reference. You'll want to include your name, species, class, level, HP, AC, your passive perception, passive investigation, passive insight. Your spell slots, updated with how many you've used. Spell save DC and spell attack bonus. Your modifiers for your most awesome skills. Your modifiers for saving throws. Your "chosen" spells that you have prepared/prayed/learned/etc. Any special abilities you have, including a counter for those that need one. Here's an example, written by Yoshimi in Wynamoinen's game.
Stat Block
Shemush - Knowledge Cleric 6 | Proficiency:+3 | Darkvision 60'
HP: 25/33 + 0 temp | AC 15
Conditions: None | Effects: Warning (Adv on Initiative, Allies within 30' cannot be surprised, Allies awakened if melee starts)
Move: 30' | Saves: STR -1; DEX +2; CON +0; INT +3; WIS +7; CHA +2 | Passive Perception: 19
Proficiencies: Arcana (Expertise), History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Religion (Expertise)
Keen Mind (Feat):Know which way is north, Know hours until sunset or sunrise, Recall everything seen or heard in last month.
Observant (Feat):Can read lips, +5 to Passive Perception
Channel Divinity: (2/2 per SR + 1 Free refreshing at dawn) 2/3
- Knowledge of the Ages (gain proficiency with any tool or skill for 10 minutes)
- Read thoughts (as the spell Detect Thoughts, one creature in 60' range, DC 15 Wis Save, if successful cast Suggestion for free)
- Turn Undead (Each undead within 30' DC 15 Wis Save or turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage). CR 1/2 or less destroyed.
---
Default melee attack: Mace: +2 to hit, d6-1 damage
Default ranged attack: Light Crossbow of Warning, +5 to hit, d8 damage
Magic items: Gem of Seeing, Amulet of the Devout +1, Clockwork Amulet (can take 10 on a roll, refresh at dawn), Light Crossbow of Warning
Other items: camel ("Kashbir"), camel saddle, 2 saddle bags, 10 days camel feed, cart, all the tool sets (kept in cart), 3 diamonds (300 gp value), divination rooster ("Yoo") and 1 lb divination corn (25 gp total), glass eye, jeweled horn, holy water (8 flasks), steel mirror, incense (4 sticks), sunburst pendant, thieves' tools, herbalism kit, dice set, playing card set, pan flute
Gold: 41
Spell slots: 2/2 level 1 spellcasting;
Save DC: 16 | Spell Attack: +8 (below B = bonus action, R = reaction)
Cantrips: Guidance, Mending, Sacred Flame (2d8 damage), Toll the Dead (2d8 or 2d12 damage)
First level: Command, Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, Identify, Prot Evil and Good, Shield of Faith
Second level: Augury, Calm Emotions, Silence, Spiritual Weapon, Suggestion
Third Level: Clairvoyance, Revivify, Speak with Dead
Retconning
Play-by-post puts us in retcon situations. Maybe we misunderstood something, or misread something, or forgot something, and suddenly something that would have been immediately corrected at a table becomes written into a post that took hours to create. As DMs, we don't like to retcon posts, and we don't want to make you retcon posts. It's disheartening, and it feels like wasted time, and wasted words, and wasted energy. We commit to doing everything we can to make the story move forward from where you take it, or to progress in a way that doesn't negate your moves, in return for your earnest efforts to collaborate on story, work together, and help each other build scenes and moments. Please read each other's posts carefully. Having said that, if we have misread you, or you suspect we have made an error, or we didn't understand one of your abilities, or forgot something that happened, please speak up so we can fix it.
Gameplay
Potions: It takes an action to give someone else a potion, but you can quaff a potion yourself as a bonus action.
Skill Checks in Combat: During combat initiative, talking is free. Encouraged even! However, if it's something that requires a skill check, it's going to take your action. So, you can yell persuasive things at someone while you're hacking their head off, but if you actually want to roll persuasion, it has to replace the head-hacking on your turn.
Combat Mechanics: We like the Cleave rule, where if you do massive damage to one guy, some of that damage may leak onto another guy. We like the Minion rule where swarms of minions have 1 hp each and get no saves on spell effects. We like giving you the monster's AC so you can RP a hit or miss if you want to, but we also like resolving that hit or miss sometimes, if you leave it to us. We will try to resolve saving throws as we go along in combat, so that you don't waste time writing attacks that don't need to happen, but sometimes we may give you a monster's Saving Throw modifier, so that you can roll the enemy's save for yourself. In writing DM posts during combat, we reserve the right to twist the order a bit, so that for example if a monster saved against your Sacred Flame, it might be because he failed against another character's Dissonant Whispers, and was already on the run, even if technically they happened in reverse order -- it's all in a six second round.
Exhaustion: Dropping to zero HP may mean you incur a level of exhaustion, which you will need to track in your stat block. Depending on the nature of the injury, you may also have to roll for a lingering problem like losing a toe, getting a scar, or having your liver leak out your belly button. Not that though! Again depending on the situation, failing a death save may mean that you incur an additional level of exhaustion.
Critical Hits: When you roll a 20 on an attack, your damage will be the maximum plus whatever you rolled for damage. So if your damage roll is 1d8+3, then and you rolled a 4 on your d8, then your damage is 15 (8+4+3). When you roll a 20 on a saving throw, a skill check, or a stat check that we have asked for, it will succeed. If you've initiated a roll, and roll a 20, we will try to make something cool happen, but it might not be what you were trying to do.
Critical Fails: When you roll a 1, there will be consequences that depend on the situation. However, we're aware that a fighter with multiple attacks is more susceptible, and perhaps unfairly susceptible, to fumbles than a warlock casting spells. The consequence of a nat 1 on an attack may be that your weapon is damaged a little bit, or the enemy can use a reaction to take a shot at you, or just some RP thing. We think nat 20 and nat 1 should always be somewhat exciting or horrifying, but will reach for results that make sense in the situation.
Near Misses: If you are rolling a save or a check and we really need you to succeed and you almost do, we may count it as a success but with some penalty, or we might offer a deal to succeed, like sacrificing a spell slot or some other resource. So maybe if you needed to roll a 15 to not get buried in an avalanche, and you rolled a 14, maybe you don't get buried in the avalanche, but you lose your waterskin or one of your boots.
Miscellaneous Items: If you need something for RP like a scarf or a curling iron or a chapstick, that is non-magical, you have it. You are trusting us to make things available that you need for adventuring success, and we are trusting you to figure out what you should just reasonably have and what would be more interesting to pursue and acquire. The same goes for NPCs.
Miscellaneous People: If you need to invent a commoner for an RP situation, feel empowered to do that, and know that you are trusted not to make it game-breaking, like imagining the Hulk when you need to smash something and Tinkerbell when you need to fly. Obviously WE reserve the right to poof your inventions, and we will work together to figure out how this best helps the story. Don't invent a gaggle of lackeys or a bag of gold.
Guidance: One person per round of non-combat posts can ask for and assume they receive Guidance from a caster who has that cantrip, to add a d4 to an important skill check. The caster can also intentionally give Guidance to herself or another player in their post.
After reading through this, if you have any questions, please ask in the Discord OOC!