Also, if you watch the walk pattern of an elk and a rat, you will notice something. Rats have claws on their feet which produce a distinctive sound and a walking pattern which does not really try to hide it. Elk, on the other hand, while hoofed (very solid foot), are usually walking on soft ground and placing their hooves as gently as possible to create as little sound as possible (and attract wolves and such). An elk can sneak up behind you as you sit by the fire. A rat, on the other hand, is much more likely to be heard as it closes in. Not that many elk sneak up on people, but...
I had been out of DnD for a long time and the vast majority of my old games were around a table, so I am just getting used to internet gaming (with old friends). We had our first game and it was sluggish as hell, mostly because we were having trouble getting through the order and actions of battle rounds. A lot of the problems had to do with placement on the map. I send them a jpeg over FB and they can show placement but only with modifying the jpeg and sending it back. Hmmmmm How can we make that easier? After the game, we did a little searching and, in the end, ran across an app that works fine for iPad and computer. It is AwwApp (.com). It is an interesting graphics program that lets you have multiple pages to flick through and gives all participants the ability to make their own mark (including, to distinguish between players, a color bar with black, orange, green, blue, yellow, purple, red, and brown colors). You can call maps up onto the screen, or have a series of screens set with the different maps. For the adventure we will be working on, I have a set page to invite them to (http://awwapp.com/b/*********/ [ Just go to awwapp.com, create a page and it will add the rest so no strangers will run into one another. The asterisks will show as a random collection of letters and numbers when you create your page. To get your players to it, post the whole name in FB or which ever txt messages you are sharing]). My page has 5 graphics in it (and a little button at the bottom of the page to move from one to the next). The first 4 are maps to work from, and the 5th is just a 20X20 graph with a mark in the corner indicating that the squares are 5'X5'. This is a... generic fight page. I can quickly mark the area of the fight (for rooms or caves), mark the placement of the opps and the placement of the pcs. When initiative is determined, each player, in turn, can move their pc and indicate which opp to attack (or... draw the cone effect of the spell they will cast, or... what ever). If a player jumps his/her turn, you can have a brick fall from the sky and land on his/her foot (just my way of saying we use initiative order, dammit). There may be other graphic apps out there, they might be better, but for a quick find and a very usable site, I will recommend this one wholeheartedly.
Clear, I have always found it easiest if you give the job of initiative records to one of the players. Beginning of a round all roll and notify the player who is keeping record and then the player simply calls pc or npc in order of highest to lowest. Of course, if you are playing on internet and have like a FB connection with the group, that player can record the names and numbers in the FB connection and you call the order. (We are using Skype for face and chat and FB for quick notes)
Thank y'all. I got it now. If necessary, I am gonna be doing marks on map for positions, when needed. This game will be 4 or 5 friends on Skype, all involved are old time dnders getting back for a visit down memory lane. I am a decent story teller, so we should get the game flowing fairly well. Mostly I am learning the modifications. AC is easy to understand, as is... THAC10 (as opposed to the old THAC0). The game tonight is making me nervous mostly because... it is the first time in MANY years I have DMed... I am sure that after one or two sessions, I will be over that.
Oh... as to player keeping track of list and initiatives, that is an old tradition in our group, so no problem there.
It has been a very long time since I have played DnD (I am a master of first edition rules, so jumping to 5e is a bit of a leap). One new concept is getting to me. Mostly it is the relatively vague discussion in the PHb. Initiative. To quote:
"Initiative
"Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The DM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.
"The DM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round."
What, exactly is a dexterity check total? I am guessing it is Dex+ d20 roll. But, of course, that confuses me. If I understand the dex check, rolling a d20 against dex makes it harder for individuals with higher dex to make the roll. When it should be simpler. Or is Dex check rolling (20-dex) or better (14 dex would need to roll 6 or better). All this confusion aside, all I really need to know is what, exactly, is a "dexterity check."
Please respond ASAP. I have a game starting at 9:30 ET tonight.
My ranger worships a god not listed in ANY of the mythologies, but one that I think is perfect for a ranger. Who? Well, first, it is not God, but Goddess. Gaia. Mother Earth. Since rangers are one with the earth and nature, I can't think of a more appropriate deity to worship.
4
Also, if you watch the walk pattern of an elk and a rat, you will notice something. Rats have claws on their feet which produce a distinctive sound and a walking pattern which does not really try to hide it. Elk, on the other hand, while hoofed (very solid foot), are usually walking on soft ground and placing their hooves as gently as possible to create as little sound as possible (and attract wolves and such). An elk can sneak up behind you as you sit by the fire. A rat, on the other hand, is much more likely to be heard as it closes in. Not that many elk sneak up on people, but...
2
I had been out of DnD for a long time and the vast majority of my old games were around a table, so I am just getting used to internet gaming (with old friends). We had our first game and it was sluggish as hell, mostly because we were having trouble getting through the order and actions of battle rounds. A lot of the problems had to do with placement on the map. I send them a jpeg over FB and they can show placement but only with modifying the jpeg and sending it back. Hmmmmm How can we make that easier? After the game, we did a little searching and, in the end, ran across an app that works fine for iPad and computer. It is AwwApp (.com). It is an interesting graphics program that lets you have multiple pages to flick through and gives all participants the ability to make their own mark (including, to distinguish between players, a color bar with black, orange, green, blue, yellow, purple, red, and brown colors). You can call maps up onto the screen, or have a series of screens set with the different maps. For the adventure we will be working on, I have a set page to invite them to (http://awwapp.com/b/*********/ [ Just go to awwapp.com, create a page and it will add the rest so no strangers will run into one another. The asterisks will show as a random collection of letters and numbers when you create your page. To get your players to it, post the whole name in FB or which ever txt messages you are sharing]). My page has 5 graphics in it (and a little button at the bottom of the page to move from one to the next). The first 4 are maps to work from, and the 5th is just a 20X20 graph with a mark in the corner indicating that the squares are 5'X5'. This is a... generic fight page. I can quickly mark the area of the fight (for rooms or caves), mark the placement of the opps and the placement of the pcs. When initiative is determined, each player, in turn, can move their pc and indicate which opp to attack (or... draw the cone effect of the spell they will cast, or... what ever). If a player jumps his/her turn, you can have a brick fall from the sky and land on his/her foot (just my way of saying we use initiative order, dammit). There may be other graphic apps out there, they might be better, but for a quick find and a very usable site, I will recommend this one wholeheartedly.
0
Clear, I have always found it easiest if you give the job of initiative records to one of the players. Beginning of a round all roll and notify the player who is keeping record and then the player simply calls pc or npc in order of highest to lowest. Of course, if you are playing on internet and have like a FB connection with the group, that player can record the names and numbers in the FB connection and you call the order. (We are using Skype for face and chat and FB for quick notes)
2
Thank y'all. I got it now. If necessary, I am gonna be doing marks on map for positions, when needed. This game will be 4 or 5 friends on Skype, all involved are old time dnders getting back for a visit down memory lane. I am a decent story teller, so we should get the game flowing fairly well. Mostly I am learning the modifications. AC is easy to understand, as is... THAC10 (as opposed to the old THAC0). The game tonight is making me nervous mostly because... it is the first time in MANY years I have DMed... I am sure that after one or two sessions, I will be over that.
Oh... as to player keeping track of list and initiatives, that is an old tradition in our group, so no problem there.
1
It has been a very long time since I have played DnD (I am a master of first edition rules, so jumping to 5e is a bit of a leap). One new concept is getting to me. Mostly it is the relatively vague discussion in the PHb. Initiative. To quote:
"Initiative
"Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The DM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.
"The DM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round."
What, exactly is a dexterity check total? I am guessing it is Dex+ d20 roll. But, of course, that confuses me. If I understand the dex check, rolling a d20 against dex makes it harder for individuals with higher dex to make the roll. When it should be simpler. Or is Dex check rolling (20-dex) or better (14 dex would need to roll 6 or better). All this confusion aside, all I really need to know is what, exactly, is a "dexterity check."
Please respond ASAP. I have a game starting at 9:30 ET tonight.
4
My ranger worships a god not listed in ANY of the mythologies, but one that I think is perfect for a ranger. Who? Well, first, it is not God, but Goddess. Gaia. Mother Earth. Since rangers are one with the earth and nature, I can't think of a more appropriate deity to worship.