Hey gang, I am just now realizing that the DDB forum has a profanity filter. (I was messing around with my account settings when I saw the toggle switch to turn the filter on/off)
As the game has unfolded, I had noticed a few instances of language that had been 'starred' out (i.e. a four letter word that gets displayed as '****'). I guess I thought that was you guys censoring yourselves to keep the language forum-friendly ... and mentally filed it away as a non-event.
It turns out, however, that it was the forum censoring you.
@ScienceVersusAdventure Are you having fun? Would you like us as players to pay more attention to certain things or avoid something… except profanity :D
Hey gang, I am just now realizing that the DDB forum has a profanity filter. (I was messing around with my account settings when I saw the toggle switch to turn the filter on/off)
As the game has unfolded, I had noticed a few instances of language that had been 'starred' out (i.e. a four letter word that gets displayed as '****'). I guess I thought that was you guys censoring yourselves to keep the language forum-friendly ... and mentally filed it away as a non-event.
It turns out, however, that it was the forum censoring you.
I would like to cut back on the profanity.
Ahhh Hello! Sorry! I will tone down the profanity!!! ahh I actually starred it out myself. there was no real words there just the actual stars, but yeah I can definitely cut it back! I'm really sorry about that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
That‘s homebrew though, isn‘t it? It does make it simpler to track ...
Downtime activities — their costs, game effects, and durations, etc — are described in the DMG and XGtE, so a large part of that is not homebrew.
Limiting the 'I would like to do this thing in town' to a minimum of one per day could be called homebrew, if by homebrew you mean, that is how it works in this game. My intent is to give folks a heads up ahead of time that errands run in town will have a cost — in time and effort, gold coins, or what have you — that needs to be accounted for.
I find that placing guardrails on the time, cost and effort needed to do the we-restock-in-town types of stuff keeps a focus on the story. Put another way, it keeps my foot on the gas pedal, and makes sure that the story is advancing.
The story by the way, for any Western Marches tale, is never set in the town. The town is a safe place to restock, to learn new things, a place to deal with and/or dump your accumulated treasure ... and then you go back out into the wild.
Without the this-will-cost-you-time-and-effort guardrails, I find that folks tend to anchor on the minutiae of the game. They find the boring (well, boring for me, anyway) places in the story and then set up shop, refuse to budge, and just absolutely live there in a way that is not fun for me to create. In other words, I don't enjoy spending hours of my day creating a scene, describing the location, the weather and time of day, peopling it with NPC's ... just so you guys can sit in a tavern to discuss your day and have a sandwich.
[And some players, during this meandering, unherded-cats downtime — particularly if the downtime feels aimless or unguided, for sheer lack of wanting/needing something they find exciting to do — well, sometimes they like to take the story and shake it a bit ... see what cool things they can make happen. They make it exciting. This isn't a SunDial thing, by the way ... this isn't a critique on how Balen has been played ... it's an archetype thing and the folks drawn to the archetype (usually the folks who play rogues and bards) have been doing it for — checks calendar — over 50 years now. Every rogue that ever rogued, that ever picked a pocket in town just because they were bored, ever scaled a wall of the forbidden places just to see what was on the other side, every bard that sleazed their way up to some damsel's balcony ... these are the things I am talking about. The players needed something exciting to happen in the tale in order for the game to feel fun for them, so they made it happen.]
So ... what I strive toward is that when there is a tavern scene (presence of sandwiches notwithstanding) it is because something cool is going to happen. Something fun. Something you all can react to. Some bit of plot that I hope will kick the story in the pants a bit and shake things up. All of the other stuff is necessary and exists within our tale, but it can stay off-screen as it were.
Of course you guys pay for your lodging and handle food expenses, of course you tend to the horses, of course you buy extra rope, and have your armor repaired and use the outhouse ... but none of it gets a lot — or any — screen time in the IC.
Once this initial learning curve is out of the way ... a stop in town should look something like this:
DM: Looks like you have some downtime coming up ... what would you like to do in Havenford? Player A: I need new equipment ... I will buy X, Y, and Z. Player B: I would like to scribe that scroll, and cash in that pile of gems we found. Player C: I would like to do some research on the Citadel of the Forbidden Mage ... see if there is anything that we can learn about the Warlock Ulfang and that Shining Legion he kept bragging about before we head back to the Citadel to kick his butt. DM: Alright ... after a few days in town, all of those things happen. It takes X days and costs Y gold, and here is the result of your research ...
I think of it like the round summaries we have been doing. Everyone gets to declare what they would like to do, and then I sum it up and we move on to the next thing.
These first few interactions with NPC's are getting screen time because simply introducing the NPC's is noteworthy. Once each of them gets their proper 'screen time' introduction in the IC... I'm happy to let future transactions with them occur off-screen.
That way, after the on-screen introductions happen, when the we-sit-around-and-eat-a-sandwich scene does happen ... and I have Rothgar burst into the tavern, breathless, telling the heroes about how he saw a comet or something land in the Fangwise Forest ... you have an idea of who this guy is and what he is about.
... there was no real words there just the actual stars, but yeah I can definitely cut it back! I'm really sorry about that.
Thank you. No need to apologize.
Aw thank you for understanding! Also thank you for laying out your ground rules and being patient with me. I really do appreciate it. It's a fun game and I'm kind of a very random chaotic person in general, but I genuinely don't want to hurt anybody or mess up. This has been a fun group and you're a great DM. :)
Also ahh yeah I don't want to mess up again with like getting us kicked out of going into the sinkhole and losing the money, so I'll follow you guys' lead!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Didn't get any notifications either! I thought it was just me.
@DM Thanks for the breakdown it laid out the pro's very well. Initially it confused me, because having when compared to brewing potions and earning money, it really seems like visiting one shop is a bit little. (Though I REALLY like the thought of Ichep picking up some dagger and then being like 'Uggh, so much work. I'll go back to bed.')I think the "quick" in-game town is a good system. Since this is the first time we get to actually explore the town, it just felt to spent a lot of time there.
Also ahh yeah I don't want to mess up again with like getting us kicked out of going into the sinkhole and losing the money, so I'll follow you guys' lead!
I really enjoyed that outcome though! First time I ever saw that kind of consequence in a game and it did make the power a baron holds very obvious.
Where do we feel like going, party? After the goblins? To the Abbey? I think the Abbey was Yaudara's main goal, but I don't need to rush to it. It might be too challenging for us low-level types right now anyway.
Like others have said, I haven't gotten any notifications today, either. Interesting.
@Bird94, I've got a work trip that will take me to Dallas for a couple weeks in May. Any recommendations for what-not-to-miss food wise?
I live in downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum specifically, and there are lots of great options there. Within one mile of my house are over 200 bars and restaurants. What are your favorite kinds of food?
Ichep would know that Yaudara has 40 gp left from the chain after he bought a healing potion, if Ichep can't afford the map. Are any of the next places (goblins, Abbey, etc.) on that map?
Also ahh yeah I don't want to mess up again with like getting us kicked out of going into the sinkhole and losing the money, so I'll follow you guys' lead!
I really enjoyed that outcome though! First time I ever saw that kind of consequence in a game and it did make the power a baron holds very obvious.
Yeah, this was so amazing plot twist. I mean nobody really expected this result.
Arguably the most exciting thing that has happened to us. (And to me in any campaign)
ahhh really? that's good to hear! I was really worried and I felt really bad. I started writing that impassioned speech, then rolled that d20 during a zoom call and saw it was so low and I was like ohhhh no. then I was like well I guess I gotta make it more insulting^TM (I have tried to do speeches before but have literally stumbled and stuttered so much that I got kicked off the stand -- I don't do pre-law anymore folks) then I saw the response while walking around with my mom in a TJMaxx and was like
but I'm honestly so glad it wasn't so bad. ahh but I'll still try to tone it down. I do get very overzealous
In the IC thread, I thought we were map shopping when I set the scene up as the downtime activity.
Performing research is one of the downtime activities, but it takes a fair bit longer — and costs more — than you guys have at the moment.
Oh yeah for the map shopping should we all pitch in for the map? I'm good for giving up all my gold coins for it (but then I guess we'd have to go adventuring pretty soon since we'd be broke after this). Unless we can ask to copy down the drawings on the map and haggle down the offer but I don't trust my luck with the dice anymoreeeee
Where do we feel like going, party? After the goblins? To the Abbey? I think the Abbey was Yaudara's main goal, but I don't need to rush to it. It might be too challenging for us low-level types right now anyway.
Like others have said, I haven't gotten any notifications today, either. Interesting.
Anything is good with me! we can do the abbey if y'all want. I don't mind either
same with the notifications it said no one has spoken since yesterday and I was like huh?
After today's downtime events, I assume that the adventurers are leaving town.
Where would you like to go?
On Profanity
Hey gang, I am just now realizing that the DDB forum has a profanity filter. (I was messing around with my account settings when I saw the toggle switch to turn the filter on/off)
As the game has unfolded, I had noticed a few instances of language that had been 'starred' out (i.e. a four letter word that gets displayed as '****'). I guess I thought that was you guys censoring yourselves to keep the language forum-friendly ... and mentally filed it away as a non-event.
It turns out, however, that it was the forum censoring you.
I would like to cut back on the profanity.
On downtime activities:
Oh. That‘s homebrew though, isn‘t it? It does make it simpler to track, greatly reduces what can be done in a day though.
Does make sense for us to chill a bit though after we were on the road since forever like Samhain mentioned.
I just remembered I totally forgot to ask:
@ScienceVersusAdventure Are you having fun? Would you like us as players to pay more attention to certain things or avoid something… except profanity :D
Ahhh Hello! Sorry! I will tone down the profanity!!! ahh I actually starred it out myself. there was no real words there just the actual stars, but yeah I can definitely cut it back! I'm really sorry about that.
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
Downtime activities — their costs, game effects, and durations, etc — are described in the DMG and XGtE, so a large part of that is not homebrew.
Limiting the 'I would like to do this thing in town' to a minimum of one per day could be called homebrew, if by homebrew you mean, that is how it works in this game. My intent is to give folks a heads up ahead of time that errands run in town will have a cost — in time and effort, gold coins, or what have you — that needs to be accounted for.
I find that placing guardrails on the time, cost and effort needed to do the we-restock-in-town types of stuff keeps a focus on the story. Put another way, it keeps my foot on the gas pedal, and makes sure that the story is advancing.
The story by the way, for any Western Marches tale, is never set in the town. The town is a safe place to restock, to learn new things, a place to deal with and/or dump your accumulated treasure ... and then you go back out into the wild.
Without the this-will-cost-you-time-and-effort guardrails, I find that folks tend to anchor on the minutiae of the game. They find the boring (well, boring for me, anyway) places in the story and then set up shop, refuse to budge, and just absolutely live there in a way that is not fun for me to create. In other words, I don't enjoy spending hours of my day creating a scene, describing the location, the weather and time of day, peopling it with NPC's ... just so you guys can sit in a tavern to discuss your day and have a sandwich.
[And some players, during this meandering, unherded-cats downtime — particularly if the downtime feels aimless or unguided, for sheer lack of wanting/needing something they find exciting to do — well, sometimes they like to take the story and shake it a bit ... see what cool things they can make happen. They make it exciting. This isn't a SunDial thing, by the way ... this isn't a critique on how Balen has been played ... it's an archetype thing and the folks drawn to the archetype (usually the folks who play rogues and bards) have been doing it for — checks calendar — over 50 years now. Every rogue that ever rogued, that ever picked a pocket in town just because they were bored, ever scaled a wall of the forbidden places just to see what was on the other side, every bard that sleazed their way up to some damsel's balcony ... these are the things I am talking about. The players needed something exciting to happen in the tale in order for the game to feel fun for them, so they made it happen.]
So ... what I strive toward is that when there is a tavern scene (presence of sandwiches notwithstanding) it is because something cool is going to happen. Something fun. Something you all can react to. Some bit of plot that I hope will kick the story in the pants a bit and shake things up. All of the other stuff is necessary and exists within our tale, but it can stay off-screen as it were.
Of course you guys pay for your lodging and handle food expenses, of course you tend to the horses, of course you buy extra rope, and have your armor repaired and use the outhouse ... but none of it gets a lot — or any — screen time in the IC.
Once this initial learning curve is out of the way ... a stop in town should look something like this:
DM: Looks like you have some downtime coming up ... what would you like to do in Havenford?
Player A: I need new equipment ... I will buy X, Y, and Z.
Player B: I would like to scribe that scroll, and cash in that pile of gems we found.
Player C: I would like to do some research on the Citadel of the Forbidden Mage ... see if there is anything that we can learn about the Warlock Ulfang and that Shining Legion he kept bragging about before we head back to the Citadel to kick his butt.
DM: Alright ... after a few days in town, all of those things happen. It takes X days and costs Y gold, and here is the result of your research ...
I think of it like the round summaries we have been doing. Everyone gets to declare what they would like to do, and then I sum it up and we move on to the next thing.
These first few interactions with NPC's are getting screen time because simply introducing the NPC's is noteworthy. Once each of them gets their proper 'screen time' introduction in the IC... I'm happy to let future transactions with them occur off-screen.
That way, after the on-screen introductions happen, when the we-sit-around-and-eat-a-sandwich scene does happen ... and I have Rothgar burst into the tavern, breathless, telling the heroes about how he saw a comet or something land in the Fangwise Forest ... you have an idea of who this guy is and what he is about.
Yes, absolutely. I'm not shy, I'll let you guys know if there is something that I would like to see more of / less of.
Lifestyle expenses for your second day in town have been deducted from your sheets.
Thank you. No need to apologize.
Aw thank you for understanding! Also thank you for laying out your ground rules and being patient with me. I really do appreciate it. It's a fun game and I'm kind of a very random chaotic person in general, but I genuinely don't want to hurt anybody or mess up. This has been a fun group and you're a great DM. :)
Also ahh yeah I don't want to mess up again with like getting us kicked out of going into the sinkhole and losing the money, so I'll follow you guys' lead!
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
D&DBeyond apparently shat itself and I got NO NOTIFICATION about anything today :/
Anyways, If we're going on adventures on the 3rd day, Toads will definitely hunt boars in the woods, so we have a propper barbecue.
Didn't get any notifications either! I thought it was just me.
@DM Thanks for the breakdown it laid out the pro's very well. Initially it confused me, because having when compared to brewing potions and earning money, it really seems like visiting one shop is a bit little. (Though I REALLY like the thought of Ichep picking up some dagger and then being like 'Uggh, so much work. I'll go back to bed.')I think the "quick" in-game town is a good system. Since this is the first time we get to actually explore the town, it just felt to spent a lot of time there.
I really enjoyed that outcome though! First time I ever saw that kind of consequence in a game and it did make the power a baron holds very obvious.
Yeah, this was so amazing plot twist. I mean nobody really expected this result.
Arguably the most exciting thing that has happened to us. (And to me in any campaign)
Just experienced the total eclipse in Dallas. Gotta say, it was pretty cool.
Where do we feel like going, party? After the goblins? To the Abbey? I think the Abbey was Yaudara's main goal, but I don't need to rush to it. It might be too challenging for us low-level types right now anyway.
Like others have said, I haven't gotten any notifications today, either. Interesting.
Ditto on the lack of unread post notifications.
Upstate NY for me, eclipse-wise, I was a little too far east. It got dim for a moment, but not really dark.
@Bird94, I've got a work trip that will take me to Dallas for a couple weeks in May. Any recommendations for what-not-to-miss food wise?
U fancy US people with your fancy eclipses. All I got is Brittish weather and The worst possible Eastern neighbor possible
In the IC thread, I thought we were map shopping when I set the scene up as the downtime activity.
Performing research is one of the downtime activities, but it takes a fair bit longer — and costs more — than you guys have at the moment.
I live in downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum specifically, and there are lots of great options there. Within one mile of my house are over 200 bars and restaurants. What are your favorite kinds of food?
Ichep would know that Yaudara has 40 gp left from the chain after he bought a healing potion, if Ichep can't afford the map. Are any of the next places (goblins, Abbey, etc.) on that map?
ahhh really? that's good to hear! I was really worried and I felt really bad. I started writing that impassioned speech, then rolled that d20 during a zoom call and saw it was so low and I was like ohhhh no. then I was like well I guess I gotta make it more insulting^TM (I have tried to do speeches before but have literally stumbled and stuttered so much that I got kicked off the stand -- I don't do pre-law anymore folks) then I saw the response while walking around with my mom in a TJMaxx and was like
but I'm honestly so glad it wasn't so bad. ahh but I'll still try to tone it down. I do get very overzealous
Oh yeah for the map shopping should we all pitch in for the map? I'm good for giving up all my gold coins for it (but then I guess we'd have to go adventuring pretty soon since we'd be broke after this). Unless we can ask to copy down the drawings on the map and haggle down the offer but I don't trust my luck with the dice anymoreeeee
Anything is good with me! we can do the abbey if y'all want. I don't mind either
same with the notifications it said no one has spoken since yesterday and I was like huh?
niceeeee that's so cool. my view from Queens was aight. I had to scour all the libraries for glasses for my aunt haha I wasn't even into the eclipse
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance