White Plume Mountain Revised: Sundays@12:00pm-4:00pm (GMT-8)

[Cypher]

We've just started preparing for Party #2 so if you're interested in taking on the mountain, sign up for your spot in the second run today!

Sample images (not from the actual adventure) of the style of maps and tokens I use during play:

Maps:
https://www.novuscom.net/~chrisjdouc...mpleMap001.jpg
https://www.novuscom.net/~chrisjdouc...mpleMap002.jpg

Tokens:
https://www.novuscom.net/~chrisjdouc...leToken001.gif
https://www.novuscom.net/~chrisjdouc...leToken002.gif

*Note: tokens were converted to gif's so there is slight image quality loss compared to those used in the game.

[Morfedel]

Those maps made by Dundjinni?

[Cypher]

yes they are

[Morfedel]

Ah. Yeah, they look pretty decent. I wish I could afford a mapping program right now. *sigh*

[Cypher]

I ran a short pickup game last night for four players (and a couple spectators), and I discovered several things that disrupt the pacing of the game. I'm going to make several suggestions here in order to help keep the pace, therefore the excitement, up in our game.

Please, please do not ignore these recomendations. By doing a few simple things we can really enrich the experience of the game for all of us. I don't want to run a boring game, and you don't want to play in one.

#1. Have your actions pre-typed. Waiting until I signal that it's your turn before you decide what to do, and then start typing wastes time. Get familiar with the Tab function, which allows you to toggle between two chat dialogue fields so you can pre-type actions while still responding to the live action.

#2. Hotkey, Hotkey, Hotkey. Believe me I know that rolling the dice is fun, but man is it ever slow. Look at your character, understand what it is you will be doing a lot and make hotkeys for those actions. Searching your character sheets for modifiers to drag into the modifiers box, then rolling a die kills the emersion in the game.

#2a. If you really want to roll dice, then please hotkey all of the modifiers you use. You have a +2 modifier from Strength? Then use your mouse wheel to roll the modifier box to +2 and drag that to a hotkey slot. Label the hotkey slot "Strength". Then before you roll the dice, hit the hotkey to add your Strength modifier. Do this for ALL of your modifiers so you can quickly add them together, then toss the die.

#3. Do not wait for me to ask you for your attack/damage/special ability rolls. When you receive the flag that it's your turn hit enter on your pre-typed action, and immediately make your necessary rolls. If it's an attack then please just push your attack hotkey, then follow it up immediately with the damage hotkey. Don't wait to find out whether or not the action was successful before rolling your results. If you failed then the result roll doesn't matter, but at least it is out there fast. If you succeeded then I can start typing your success description while you fire off your result roll.

#4. This one is more to assist your fellow players with what's going on: I make generous use of whisper. Please don't forget that the other players don't know what has transpired between DM and Player via whispers. I do this to give you an opportunity to role play your characters. You get to be the ones who give the information to the other players via your character, rather than everyone getting all information regardless of whether or not they are aware of what you're doing.

#5. Form standard actions, and let me know what they are. Door example: "Everytime I'm going to check out a door I search it once over for traps. If it's trapped, I'll attempt to disarm it. If I succeed in disarming the trap I will listen at the door to see if I hear anything on the other side. Then I will check to see if it's locked. If it is locked I attempt to pick the lock." This way simple routine actions can be handled without slowing down the pace, resulting in any tension that should be building fizzle away never to return.

I'll add more as I think about them, but if everyone follows these recomendations the quality of our sessions will vastly improve.

Your feedback is also greatly encouraged, and appreciated.

Cypher