OOC

For all our out-of-character chatter needs.

Hi Synaptic and other players! Thanks for the invite, and looking forward to playing!

Welcome Harrigan, glad to have you along!

Just checking, everyone can see both threads created so far, the OOC and the Character Creation threads? I've been in games before where some threads weren't showing up for everyone, and it took us a while to work that out.

I see both.

As do I.

Aye, both.

Thank you for the invite Synaptic. I see Drgwen here, good to game with you in another game. I too see both threads. I'm excited for this one.

Welcome dante_dark. Good to have you here. We're still just starting up character creation, so you haven't missed anything.

Hi @dante_dark! Likewise!

After reading the rulebook, I am now even more excited for this. My master's degree is in creative writing, and I love this sort of thing where we are developing a story together. Super cool.

Hello, everyone. First game back from a bit of a hiatus for me. Looking forward to it.

Cool! Yes, that's one of my favorite aspects of Beyond the Wall, getting everyone involved and engaged in creating the setting as a group.

It also makes my job as the GM very interesting. Usually I have a tendency to overprepare, but as of right now I have a lot of question marks waiting to filled. In particular, there are a couple of playbooks where I really need to see the results on the later tables before I can truly get a grasp of how this game might turn out. So that's exciting for me as well!

Welcome! Now we've got our whole team assembled.

So, assuming I've done this correctly (which is a big assumption, granted), everyone should have their own private chat thread now, and not see anyone else's. Can everyone confirm if it's worked as intended?

Yes I think this is working as intended.

I see mine.

I see my thread and no one else's

It was my daughter's birthday this weekend so I have been busy. I'll try to get caught up on the character creation thread and post today or tomorrow.

My turn to apologize, been away from home and had unexpectedly poor access to wi-fi the last few days. Better now though.

No worries.

Was a bit scared there for a second. This would have been my second BtW game where the GM just randomly bailed. :S

Hehe, an understandable fear then. But I'm afraid you're all stuck with me ;P

Who is Grandma Weaver talking to, and should I recognize the name "Cormick"?

She's speaking to Lirann right now. Cormick is just Lirann's family name.

Still working out how best to format posts featuring multiple scenes and characters at once, so I apologise for any confusion that arises. Just let me know if something seems unclear.

I've always had good luck just using headers when the action in a single scene is spread over a few locations. A la:

Near the Tent

Blah blah blah...

---

Behind the Blacksmith's Shop

Blah blah blah...

---

And if it's a particularly convoluted set of scenes, naming the PCs present also works. Along the lines of...

By the Fire (Lirann, Thalen, Beric)

Blah blah blah...

Thank you for the tip, that seems like a good approach to it. Will give it a go.

Does the Inn have a second floor?

Yes, it's a two-story building, with a cellar as well. The cellar is mostly storage, and the upper floor has a handful of bedrooms for rent.

Thanks! I'm liking this aspect of pbp, that it gives you a lot of time to think in terms of "yes, and..." or "no, but...". Whereas playing at the table in real life, it gets easy to freeze up or panic ;P

Yup, agree, it's *so* much easier in PbP. You really have to train the muscle to do it live...

Since we might be getting into territory where there will be more dice rolling, with more dire results (well, I suppose diving into a burning house is pretty dire already), I'll throw in a reminder that every character has access to Fortune Points (3 for most, 5 for our rogues).

They can be spent to:
1. Reroll any one d20 roll.
2. If you are reduced to 0 hp, you can spend a Fortune Point to stop bleeding out and stabilize at 0 hp (you otherwise lose one hp per round and die at -10, unless an ally manages to stabilize you with a successful Medicine check). You remain unconscious however.
3. Help an ally. Normally, if you have a skill another character does not, you can 'lend' your skill to them if your character is nearby and can guide them, giving them the same +2 bonus. If you spend a Fortune Point, you can do the same even if you don't have an applicable skill.

Fortune Points are generally only recovered in between adventures, so best to assume that what you start with is what you've got.

What is the situation with those that just came out of the fire. Are they well enough that Beric can leave them without it seeming like he is abandoning them? Or do they need more tending to?

They aren't gravely injured or anything, just a little singed. The other villagers should be able to take care of them, so feel free to follow along into danger :)

Apologies for slow posting. Been a busy few days.

No worries at all, it happens :)

I'm moving the PC's around on the map according to how you describe it, just let me know if it doesn't correspond to what you had in mind and I'll adjust.

I'll also mention, in combat a roll of a natural 20 is still a guaranteed hit, but unlike D&D it doesn't actually do any extra damage. A natural 1 is always a failure, similarly.

I'm back from my vacation. This should be the last extended trip for the year, so hopefully I'll be back to posting more consistently once I get re-adjusted over the next couple of days.

Nok! Noooooooooo!

Will be at a gaming convention this week and weekend, posting will be a trickle. Good luck everyone, and I'll be back soon! (Tuesday)

My apologies for the delay in posting. Had some unexpected family matters that dropped in my lap this weekend, and haven't had a chance to get my head in order. Will have a new post up soon, hopefully today.

Also, hope you had a great time at the con, Harrigan.

No worries, Synaptic. Take your time. We're not going anywhere.

Con was great! Back and really to roll.

Oh dear, Thalen. I hope we find your fingerbones!

Yeah, this might be the end of Thalen.

@Synaptic I hope we can keep the momentum up like it is currently! This game almost died from lack of forward progress, I think... And it could be a lot of fun! So it would be sad if it did.

Thank you for bringing this up, as I was planning on making a post here now that we're wrapping up this first part.

I wanted to check in with everyone how they're feeling about the game. This first part has taken a lot longer to get through than expected (likely half from my own slow posting, half from my inexperience with pbp). I hope to be able to keep up a brisker pace going forward. This next part will take the characters outside of their village. So if anyone feels like they've lost interest or otherwise wish to bow out of the game, this would probably be a chance to do so with minimal disruption. We can simply say that they remain behind to defend the village in that case.

Of course, I hope as many as possible still wish to continue! If so, we'll finish up part 1 shortly and then move on to the next thread. Just let how you all are feeling about it.

I am good to keep playing. How many chapters do you estimate we will play through?

Glad to hear it! It depends a bit on your actions of course, but right now I'm envisioning it as 3 parts, with the last part probably being the shortest of the three.

I'm quite interested in where things are going, so I'm good to continue.

Alright, great! And thank you for the feedback, will keep that in mind as we go forward.

Whelp. I'm calling this one. For me, at least. See you round the plane, gang!

Sadly, have to agree. It's been fun, folks!

Yup. I guess so. Was a fun game while it lasted.

Alright. Good playing with everyone. Good game, Synaptic. Great job DMing.

Guess that's it, then. See y'all around.