[DnD 4E PbP] Scales of War Part 1: Rescue at Rivenroar-(OOC thread)

TiamatZ

Posted the description about Kalad.

If you want to know more about Overlook, he's your man...umm.. dwarf...um... thing?

ANywho, if the game feels slow to you, or you don't like this RP stuff, I could move it straight your meeting with Troyas. Kalad's just here to offer some info on your IC world right now.

Your call...

TiamatZ

I hate to keep doubleposting (or in this case triple-posting).

Anyway, the terminology I'm giving you guys throughout the campaign is considered common knowledge to the people in the world (even to those outside the Elsir Vale, though many people may forgive you for being an outsider to Elsir Vale). That way you won't feel stupid when asking people on the street "What's Fortess X again? Never heard of it!"

TiamatZ

OK, posted up our (yours and mine) first PbP skill challenge, so forgive me if there are some errors...

P.S. I'm a horrible conversationalist in DnD, so again forgive me if this isn't up to standard...

You can post your strategy and queries for the skill challenge here before posting them IC...

Edit: I'll modify the IC stuff for Troyas' speech later, but the Skill challenge remains the same.

Edit 2: On a completely unrelated (but weird) note, googling "DnD 4th Scales of War" will net this OOC and IC thread on the 1st page. Creepy....

squishy-blob

I'd suggest the first thing we should do is have Dagarth and Reth use the diplomacy skill to point out that we're stronger than he thinks as we didn't really break a sweat killing the Ogre.

Natasha's got good history and Insight. Although we haven't unlocked history yet I can make an Insight check to find out what he meant by "As well as the others." Or would that be perception? I'm not really sure what we can use perception for here.

TiamatZ

squishy-blob wrote: »

I'd suggest the first thing we should do is have Dagarth and Reth use the diplomacy skill to point out that we're stronger than he thinks as we didn't really break a sweat killing the Ogre.

Natasha's got good history and Insight. Although we haven't unlocked history yet I can make an Insight check to find out what he meant by "As well as the others." Or would that be perception? I'm not really sure what we can use perception for here.

Who said using perception on Troyas?

Some of the items look interesting... *wink wink*

Also, just because none of the other skills are primary doesn't mean you can try using them.

e.g. perhaps you heard some people on the street talking about something a wise person can pick up...

Edit: also posted a picture of him, so I don't need to describe him fully (Yeah I know I'm lazy, but it's a lot harder DMing than playing...)

Bhow

Trous has decent bonuses to Diplomacy (+5), Perception (+5) and Insight (+8). He'd be happy to aid anyone who wants to cast into those ponds.

Edit: would the aid another roll/post come before or after the main check?

Cheeseliker

I'm up for trying some diplomacy, should I just go or will someone be aiding me?

Edit: I could also try bluffing about past encounters and famous things we've done or something...

TiamatZ

Bhow wrote: »

Would the aid another roll/post come before or after the main check?

Before. That way, players can't cheat a roll that would almost pass (e.g. when a player rolls a 13, other players can't automatically add a +2 to that roll, and say it's 15).

Cheeseliker

I guess I should wait for Bhow to aid me then.

Blurbl

I'm thinking about using Perception on the picture of the Eladrin woman.

Bhow

Cheeseliker: you got it!

Blurbl: If you're within five squares of me (which I assume we all are here in his office) you'll get +1 to perception from me. This goes for everyone, all the time, by the way.

Cheeseliker

Rolled it. It's a good one.

Blurbl

Succeeded on a Perception DC. Might unlock History for Squishy?

squishy-blob

Mornlock should probably just stick to aiding as he doesn't have much in the way of conversational skills.

TiamatZ

Might need to give you guys some help with this. Here's some examples for you to try out... (I'm only helping out since it's my 1st Skill challenge in PbP format, afterwards I'm sealing my mouth shut...)

Diplomacy: You attempt to convince Troyas that your goals and his match up nicely, or that you are the right person for what he has in mind.

Insight: You empathize with Troyas and use that knowledge to encourage assistance.

History: You make an insightful remark about the attack 100 years ago (be it about the heroes, the battles, the war etc.).

As for the secondary skills, try some out; they might help you out with the skill challenge...

Just make sure they make sense; I have no idea where endurance fits into a negotiation skill challenge...

Tobaggan

I'm trying to think up a good way to use my Intimidation (+10) abilities, but Diplomacy (+9) seems the best route here.

He went though the trouble of sending for us, so I can't imagine he's terribly keen to let us leave. Though he could always wait for the next band of able adventurers, but who knows when that'll be...

Kelor

squishy-blob wrote: »

Mornlock should probably just stick to aiding as he doesn't have much in the way of conversational skills.

I count where it matters. Clubbing big monsters really hard.

Because when it all comes down to it, you're going to be need someone to smash a dude down.

I can be that someone for you.


I'm also pretty popular at dinner parties.

Cheeseliker

I'm considering of going with a bluff. Making up various famous deeds we each have accomplished and thus convincing him we're the right group for the job...I have +8....Someone else should probably go for another diplomacy check though, Toboggan.

squishy-blob

i just got us our third success, only 3 more to go if this challenge follows the DMG.

And you're right Reth, we should probably do another diplomacy check, Dagarth has good diplomacy.

Bhow

Looks like Dagarth or Reth would be best for a diplomacy check, and Natasha or Trous could use insight to acknowledge Troyas' reasons for concern, and the importance of success for both his town and to help settle his personal demons.

And let's not overlook aiding one another.

(Squish--I'm happy to roll, but being the newcomer (esp. in Troyas' eyes), the message might be better received from one who participated in last night's battle, with Trous contributing a little support.)

Edit: Let me know if you want to go this route, and post an Aid-another roll.

TiamatZ

Halfway people. Keep it up.

squishy-blob

Bhow wrote: »

Looks like Dagarth or Reth would be best for a diplomacy check, and Natasha or Trous could use insight to acknowledge Troyas' reasons for concern, and the importance of success for both his town and to help settle his personal demons.

And let's not overlook aiding one another.

(Squish--I'm happy to roll, but being the newcomer (esp. in Troyas' eyes), the message might be better received from one who participated in last night's battle, with Trous contributing a little support.)

Edit: Let me know if you want to go this route, and post an Aid-another roll.

I can roll insight alone, I'm +8 which is +10 with +2 bonus from Ghesh's perception check. I'd suggest you and Mornlock both roll aid another for diplomacy one for Dagarth and Reth each so they can make 2 diplomacy checks then I'll finish it off with insight.

Tobaggan

I'll give it a go with Dagarth's own special brand of diplomacy. A bit of military knowledge, a bit of reasoning and maybe a little strongarming. If someone's up for aiding another, I'll go for it.

Kelor

I did try to make an assist for you guys, but only rolled an eight for the diplomacy check.

Bhow

Yeah, my attempt doesn't seem to have helped much, either. We can have up to four assists, though, if others want to join in.

b/t/w, do you all want me to narrate failed attempts like this, or should I keep that OOC, like Kelor did?

squishy-blob

Tobaggan wrote: »

I'll give it a go with Dagarth's own special brand of diplomacy. A bit of military knowledge, a bit of reasoning and maybe a little strongarming. If someone's up for aiding another, I'll go for it.

I don't know if strong-arming this guy is a good idea. He just said that the rest of the council is against the idea of adventurers and he's the only one who's interested. Annoying him could be a swift end to an adventure.

Cheeseliker

It'll still be diplomacy though. Sure intimidation is probably a bad idea, I agree.

Tobaggan

This is all your fault, TiamatZ! You just had to use that example of someone rolling a thirteen, thus insuring that it would happen before the end of the skill challenge! Chekhov's Gun if ever I saw it!

That'll teach me to write before I roll. Went back and edited the dialogue to become slightly more abrasive and long-winded.

Cheeseliker

Hey it's alright. If it is a failure, it's only our first.

Tobaggan

Yeah, I'm (mostly) just goofing off. Means we have a few more dice to roll.

TiamatZ

Tobaggan wrote: »

This is all your fault, TiamatZ! You just had to use that example of someone rolling a thirteen, thus insuring that it would happen before the end of the skill challenge! Chekhov's Gun if ever I saw it!

That'll teach me to write before I roll. Went back and edited the dialogue to become slightly more abrasive and long-winded.

That's what we DMs sometimes do! We steal/borrow ideas from anywhere, even on TVTropes. Mwhahahahahaha....

But seriously, that was just a coincidence. I didn't even know about Chekhov's Gun until I went there.

Also: wow our 1st failure...

Bhow

Recap:
Reth - Diplomacy - Success
Ghesh - Perception - Success
Natasha - History - Success
Dagarth - Diplomacy - Fail

Three more successes (or two failures) to go!

T.- Can an individual make the same check more than once?
All - I feel we should make the best use of aiding another (AA) that we can. By PHB, we can have up to four AA rolls per check (a potential +8), and we suffer no penalty for failing.

So we need more successes on Diplomacy, Insight and/or creative uses of other skills. Any one have a master plan to offer?

squishy-blob

Alright, if you want to play it safe give me some aid another rolls for insight before I make my check

Cheeseliker

But in all seriousness and believability, how would someone help someone else on an insight check? Mechanically it's possible but when I think about it in terms of the game world, what would someone say to help someone else use insight? Just doesn't make much sense to me...

TiamatZ

Bhow wrote: »

Recap:
Reth - Diplomacy - Success
Ghesh - Perception - Success
Natasha - History - Success
Dagarth - Diplomacy - Fail

Three more successes (or two failures) to go!

T.- Can an individual make the same check more than once?
All - I feel we should make the best use of aiding another (AA) that we can. By PHB, we can have up to four AA rolls per check (a potential +8), and we suffer no penalty for failing.

So we need more successes on Diplomacy, Insight and/or creative uses of other skills. Any one have a master plan to offer?

Yeah, you can do the same check more than once (e.g. Trous uses Diplomacy over and over etc.). The ultimate goal is to persuade Troyas enough to assist you in your mission. As a councilman he might give your group some advice about Brindol and your quest and may offer you some aid...

You could also use Insight to gather anything more on Troyas' character, but you got the main deal on his character.

TiamatZ

Just...2...more... successes!

So...close!

Bhow

I don't mind making an insight check, but the way I've been rolling dice, I'd be more comfortable doing so with an assist or two. Also, I don't want to stomp all over the IC thread, just because I might have logged on earlier in the day than another player who had a better IC idea.

As always, I'm happy to make another aid-another roll if someone has a good idea.

TiamatZ

Keep going. Just 1 more success. I'll post up later today (or tomorrow) all your current success/failures accumulated so far, so try and get 1 more complete in (diplomacy or insght will do). Once you do we can go on with the quest.

Reason why is I'm studying for a test tomorrow, so I'll only be able to post 11:30-12:00 GMT+2 time. So expect some delays on my end...

Bhow

I want to give you a heads up that I'm traveling for the rest of the week. Posting once a day shouldn't be a problem for me, but I don't know what time of day that will be. If the hotel network does give me trouble (which has happened before) and I can't log on for a day or more, I don't want you to wait on me. Feel free to take Trous Relvai's actions/rolls or skip him until I can log on again.

By the way, I'm having a lot of fun. Thanks for letting me tag along!

TiamatZ

Sure no problem. If no-one wants to substitute in your place, I'll gladly do the rolls and RP for you (unless the others want to try out an elven Cleric out for a while here?) if you can't do it.