General Discussion

**Umiushi** · 10-22-2009, 05:02 AM

We passed Chains of the Muse, probably last week, to achieve the second-highest number of posts for a Pen and Paper pbp game. Our next and final milestone is Revenge of the Dragon, at 1617 posts.

Also, unless you wish to open this to discussion, I've decided to halve the number of experience points necessary to gain a level in the pbp game.

**Palpatim** · 10-22-2009, 07:27 AM

Halving the required XP is a good move. Since the PBP game is heavy roleplaying, I also wonder if it would make sense to formalize some of the RP we're already doing via skill challenges. Of course, you may have already planned for the future, and we just haven't encountered them yet since we haven't spent but a couple of days in game time.

--T

**Cocoa** · 10-22-2009, 09:00 AM

Another way to do the leveling up in a PbP game is whenever it makes sense in the story. XP not achieved in combat or formal skill challenges can be assumed to have been given for role-playing.

Anyway, the DM is in charge, whatever you may decide.

**Cocoa** · 10-22-2009, 09:01 AM

(is there some way to delete a duplicated post? My isp burped and posted this twice)

**Umiushi** · 10-23-2009, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Palpatim

...
Since the PBP game is heavy roleplaying, I also wonder if it would make sense to formalize some of the RP we're already doing via skill challenges. Of course, you may have already planned for the future, and we just haven't encountered them yet since we haven't spent but a couple of days in game time.

Originally Posted by Cocoa

Another way to do the leveling up in a PbP game is whenever it makes sense in the story. XP not achieved in combat or formal skill challenges can be assumed to have been given for role-playing.

Thank you both for the suggestions.

It's more the case that the party has skillfully navigated through the city in such a way as to avoid all my skill challenges up to now. Even so, there will be some in the future. However, my current perspective (I believe it is a minority opinion, though) is that skill mechanics and role-playing are different aspects of game-play, so I rarely combine the two.

I have encountered the story-based method before, but the manner I've seen it employed in the games I observed it used left me dissatisfied. Tying level gain strictly to plot considerations appears to disjoin it from quantitative challenges. Doing so changes the method of level gain from an interaction between the players and the DM to something the DM entirely controls. Striking a new balance presumably requires some compensatory method that I'm not familiar with.

If I were to relate level gain with story advancement, I'd have to point out that I developed this adventure to be handled by first level characters. Some of the players' XP are actually slightly ahead of where they need to be for the adventure as originally planned.

The reason I'm changing the rate of advancement has to do with somewhat different considerations:

My thoughts run along these lines. In 4th Edition, it takes 8-10 challenges to gain a level. My desire is for players to at least get a feel of each level before they advance. In face-to-face games this is a good rate, perhaps even a little fast for my taste. However, pbp leaves lots of time for players to think about their characters, so I've come to the conclusion that 8-10 is too much.

What about the other direction? Even with the slow pace of pbp, I hold that gaining a level in 2-3 encounters is simply too fast. The idea that a PC goes up a level possibly before they earn their first milestone just doesn't sit well with me.

Halving the XP means that 4-5 challenges must be overcome to gain a level. How does that relate to the flow of the adventure? I won't have to adjust later encounters as much to account for varying party membership. Also, the level 2 encounters and challenges which will start to occur more frequently in the third and fourth quarters of the adventure will be faced as "normal" challenges instead of "difficult" ones, increasing the speed at which they may be overcome.

Originally Posted by Cocoa

(is there some way to delete a duplicated post? My isp burped and posted this twice)

I can delete posts if it should become necessary.

**Feantari** · 10-23-2009, 10:22 AM

One other concern to throw into this that has come up in my in-person game is the gear expectations of certain levels. Moving along too quickly with XP doesn't allow for enough encounters to actually acquire gear to the point that it seems to be expected. I haven't looked into just what exactly things are balanced for in terms of gear per level, but it's another consideration when messing with leveling ranges.

**yukonhorror** · 10-23-2009, 10:52 AM

another thing to consider is the type of encounters you want to have us come across.

**Umiushi** · 10-26-2009, 04:36 AM

Both are valid concerns. The upshot of the change in the near term is that you will be impoverished 2nd level characters fighting encounters set for 1st level characters. Going forward, when I increase the difficulty of the encounters, I will increase the rewards commensurately, and it seems to follow that treasure packages would appear at twice the normal rate for the adventure that succeeds Acqua Alta. What are your thoughts on this?

**Palpatim** · 10-27-2009, 05:23 AM

It sounds reasonable to me.

**Umiushi** · 12-18-2009, 08:13 AM

Yesterday, The Unquiet Lands equaled and then surpassed Revenge of the Dragon, making it the largest pbp game ever on Pen and Paper Games by number of posts! Second place among active groups would be Wizarddog's Dark City: The Guild War. Currently at 687 posts, they will probably be the only group besides us to break 700 this year. Once again, thank you all for your continued participation and patience in this game.

Next year, I will have to find another arbitrary metric to report on.

**Palpatim** · 12-19-2009, 08:41 AM

I suggest we adopt the Awesomeness Index, and compare the Unquiet Lands campaign to things like rocket cars, jet fighters, and people who can balance lots of things on their heads.

Congratulations, all.

**Umiushi** · 01-01-2010, 01:56 PM

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope all of us will be able to look back on 2010 fondly twelve months from now. I also hope I will be able to enjoy your continued company in these campaigns for the year ahead.

**yukonhorror** · 06-04-2012, 12:44 PM

I just remembered, I forgot to tell you of my impending vacation. Tomorrow night, I leave for WI and won't be back (and won't have much internet access) until the following tuesday. Sorry for the late notice. Adios.

**Umiushi** · 06-05-2012, 02:39 AM

Speaking of which, I'm going to be busy for the next two weeks, though I still plan to stick to the posting schedule. I'm expecting a second bout of business around mid-July, though only for a single week.

**Malk0lm** · 08-23-2012, 12:51 PM

How do you pronounce your character name?

Noxias is like the word noxious. A rather unfortunate common tongue corruption of his traditional familial name...

What about yours?