Out-of-Character Chat

[SmootRK]

Technically, the second level characters could bring on henchmen. PC-controlled (for the most part) hirelings. Although the prospect of Paladin running around with a loyal minion is a bit disturbing.

One or two more players shouldn't bog things down too much. Something else to consider is that if we do expand the player roster, you may want to set some sort of (reasonable) time limit on responses, and assume no reply means no significant action for that scene, or the character is on autopilot.

I agree with the autopilot thing, even for myself. There are times when I get super-duper busy with life/work and find it difficult to post much... that said, the last thing I want to slow down things just because I have double-shifts all weekend long on any given week and even if I had a few minutes here and there, cannot muster up much imagination. When it comes to Nivek, if there is ever a big pause, Joe should feel free to take liberty with him to move things along.

Personally though, I don't have any great desire to run additional characters. My thoughts for additional help is limited to just camp guards, porters, and the like so we don't have to travel heavily encumbered, but still having reasonable access to our stuff, and yet not have to worry too much about our gear getting stolen. A couple of reasonably self-reliant torch bearing tag-a-longs would not be bad, but I don't want to keep up with their personalities and all that.

[Hywaywolf]

Technically, the second level characters could bring on henchmen. PC-controlled (for the most part) hirelings. Although the prospect of Paladin running around with a loyal minion is a bit disturbing.

One or two more players shouldn't bog things down too much. Something else to consider is that if we do expand the player roster, you may want to set some sort of (reasonable) time limit on responses, and assume no reply means no significant action for that scene, or the character is on autopilot.

I agree with the autopilot thing, even for myself. There are times when I get super-duper busy with life/work and find it difficult to post much... that said, the last thing I want to slow down things just because I have double-shifts all weekend long on any given week and even if I had a few minutes here and there, cannot muster up much imagination. When it comes to Nivek, if there is ever a big pause, Joe should feel free to take liberty with him to move things along.

Personally though, I don't have any great desire to run additional characters. My thoughts for additional help is limited to just camp guards, porters, and the like so we don't have to travel heavily encumbered, but still having reasonable access to our stuff, and yet not have to worry too much about our gear getting stolen. A couple of reasonably self-reliant torch bearing tag-a-longs would not be bad, but I don't want to keep up with their personalities and all that.

With the exception of adding new players (we currently have 6, I believe) I agree with all that was said above. I have never played with retainers and don't see the point at low level. If we add more meat shields then that just means more bad guys to equal it out. If we do hire people it should be just as camp managers. I only mentioned running 2nd characters as opposed to adding new players. That's a strictly selfish position because I am around the computer all day. I rarely go very long without being able to post so waiting a week to decide if we light a torch or not can sometimes get me antsy. Not to mention on how many different tangents we go with just 6 players. I shudder to think how often we would split the party if there were enough players to make 2 sets of fighter, mu, thief, cleric .

[JoeCarr28]

Thanks for all the feedback on this. I think, ultimately, I'm going to let you, the players, decide upon the composition of your party. I will, however, set a few boundaries for your decision making:

1. We stick with one main character per player. Having multiple characters per player is never very satisfactory.

2. There are currently six player characters in the party. I would be willing to accommodate a maximum of two more if you so wish. I think the advantages (increased resources, increased resilience) and disadvantages (the likelihood of slower progress given the PbP format) of this are clear to everyone.

3. Whilst not personally a great fan of retainers (like Hyway, I've never used them), I appreciate that they are a fundamental aspect of old school games and might provide some nice additional opportunities for role-playing. Therefore, you may advertise for, and recruit, retainers if you so wish as described in the BFRPG rulebook. However, with respect to the management and role-playing of retainers, we will use the 'Savage Worlds' approach of having the player concerned (rather than the GM look) after them. I'll probably still track the retainer's loyalty, and intervene in extreme circumstances, but the majority of the gameplay burden for the retainer will rest with the player. I think that's a good compromise.

[Iain_IF]

Thanks for all the feedback on this. I think, ultimately, I'm going to let you, the players, decide upon the composition of your party. I will, however, set a few boundaries for your decision making:

1. We stick with one main character per player. Having multiple characters per player is never very satisfactory.

2. There are currently six player characters in the party. I would be willing to accommodate a maximum of two more if you so wish. I think the advantages (increased resources, increased resilience) and disadvantages (the likelihood of slower progress given the PbP format) of this are clear to everyone.

3. Whilst not personally a great fan of retainers (like Hyway, I've never used them), I appreciate that they are a fundamental aspect of old school games and might provide some nice additional opportunities for role-playing. Therefore, you may advertise for, and recruit, retainers if you so wish as described in the BFRPG rulebook. However, with respect to the management and role-playing of retainers, we will use the 'Savage Worlds' approach of having the player concerned (rather than the GM look after them). I'll probably still track the retainer's loyalty, and intervene in extreme circumstances, but the majority of the gameplay burden for the retainer will rest with the player. I think that's a good compromise.

Sounds excellent to me! I'm up for increasing our number of players by 1 as well. I think this is an excellent game and would like to share the joy.

I'd also request that you look at p. 142 of the BFRPG rulebook for the optional rule about thief abilities. I think that would be a good house rule to adopt.

[Hywaywolf]

Another question while we are in relative safety. If our character dies, what will be the process to re-enter the game? What happens to the loot he was carrying? Does he come in with 3d6 x10 gold and 0xp?

[Birthright]

Sorry guys, I've been quite busy lately and haven't had a lot of time to think about Marketstone or post much.

I'm happy either way re: retainers vs. two new PCs, but I'd slightly prefer two new PCs.

[JoeCarr28]

OK. Unless anyone else objects, I'll start going through the waiting list to recruit one more player for the time being. If you'd like a second new player, please let me know.

Happy to include the optional rule on thief abilities. Paladin may go back and re-cast his 2nd level stats.

In general, new characters will be introduced with the minimum number of xp to put them on the same level as the lowest-level surviving party member. So, if a new character joins now, they will start at 1st level and 0 xp. But once everyone is at least 2nd level, they'll start on just enough xp to put them at 2nd level for whichever class they choose. Combination classes may disrupt this scheme somewhat, but we'll deal with them on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, a player's new character cannot have more xp than their character that just died. Equipment and money for a new character will generally be commensurate with their level (and/or background).

[Hywaywolf]

Joe, does the current exp count include the gp value of the weapons we collected?

[JoeCarr28]

No, it doesn't include any gp xp. In this game, you can only "spend" gps to earn xps through training during breaks between adventures.

[Iain_IF]

Another option would be to start them with an amount of XP equal to that of the least experienced current player. Then a new player with a multiclass character would be at whatever level that XP count would give them.