The P-Files (XandZero2's Game: Sign-up and OOC)

-And no, P-Files isn't a slang term for something dirty.

Here's the actual inspiration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8

But yeah, not too long ago, I mentioned that I'd be interested in hosting a Pony Tales play-by-post RPG. I thought I'd set up this thread to get things started.

First off though, it might be helpful for you guys to get to know your intrepid GM just a little bit better - so I'll start this off with my own introductions.

Again, let me remind everypony that I'm no Stairc (as if it wasn't already obvious enough). Stairc strikes me as someone that's had a lot of experience GMing (Pony Tales especially), while I can count the number of times I've GMed on one hoof (it was three times, in case you were wondering). My campaigns also tend to be on the darker side - like the Dark Side Star Wars Campaign I ran (there were no survivors - the party wiped themselves out. Seriously. No honor among thieves, ya know?) or the Dragon Age Campaign that I'm currently running (and that setting's pretty dark and unforgiving at times too). I do tend to slip quite a bit of humor into my campaigns though (like this gremlin infestation quest I ran in the Iron Kingdoms setting) so I'm not all doom and gloom.

But yeah, the adventure I have in mind has the potential to be pretty dark - but then again, we're playing with ponies, so... we'll see how it goes (;

-Before I get any further though, I have to warn everyone interested in joining:

Currently, I'm in the middle of my Summer Break, so I've got a lot of free time, but come August 20th, I'll be teaching Intro Writing classes at a local community college (I'm a creative writer with an MA in English, just so you know). I'm not sure what my work-load's going to look like just yet, so I may get pretty busy. If that's the case, their may come times when I can only post once a day or once every couple days.

However, if you're still interested in joining my campaign:

First off, kewl!

Second off, I'll want you to make a post, and in that post please do the following:

1. Give a link to your character sheet (if you want to be secretive, shoot it to me in a PM). I'm not currently putting any restrictions on races or character types. You can play anything that Stairc has at least approved in first-draft form (including ponies, baby dragons, buffalo, minotaurs, etc. - but not including Seals, Walruses, etc. Sorry Cardbo). Keep in mind that I really would like to see a description of your character's background and interests, as this will help me figure out a hook to get the party together in-game.

2. Tell me how often you're available to post in the game

3. Also, tell me what you would like to see most in this adventure (combat, puzzles, character interaction, horror, humor, etc.) You can choose more than one option. List everything you're interested in seeing.

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* Please note that all experience levels are welcome, and if you need any help making a character, I'm sure that I or another player can help guide you through the creation process.

*Also, if more than 5 people sign up for the adventure, I'll have to find some scientific method (like coin-flips) for determining who gets in, but for now let's just take one step at a time...

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And with that typed, I look forward to playing with you guys. Just remember that I'm relatively new to GMing, and very new to Pony Tales - but don't worry, with any luck we can all learn together!

It'll be fun (;

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Edit: Here's a link to everypony's current character sheets:

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B_E7HuUiafmgRVpQWlAzQ0FVUnM/edit?pli=1&docId=1esW4Nkn6PbJMMyiLvMurEgkPV_3GkNdgGCAd9wrsyZ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDZBgHBHQT8

XandZero2 wrote:

1. Give a link to your character sheet (if you want to be secretive, shoot it to me in a PM). I'm not currently putting any restrictions on races or character types. You can play anything that Stairc has at least approved in first-draft form (including ponies, baby dragons, buffalo, minotaurs, etc. - but not including Seals, Walruses, etc. Sorry Cardbo). Keep in mind that I really would like to see a description of your character's background and interests, as this will help me figure out a hook to get the party together in-game.

Fine... I'll do something normal. Now I just need to think of something.

1) Character sheet goes hereish. (Felt like making my "I'm in!" post first, so I'll just be editing it in.) The stats and skills will probably be moving around a bit depending on what other people choose to make. Currently going with the name Whisper but, that's really just a stand-in till someone (me or anyone else) can figure out a better one for this character. (For anyone reading this before the character sheet is here, the idea is a shy support focused healer type).

Spoiler:

Edit: If anypony reading this is artistically inclined, I would very much appreciate something for her Cutie Mark since my art skill is in the negatives.
Edit 2: Whoops. I forgot to change her eyecolor. Not that I had any specific color in mind. Still, that'll probably change once I have a cutie mark to add to the pic.

Spoiler:

2) Well, like you, right now I have a lot of time but, I'll be moving soon and..stuff, so my time will be lessening later on. I'm not exactly sure by how much but, I'm sure it'll be noticeable.

3) Well, combat is certainly a thing that should happen. I'm personally not great at puzzles but, that doesn't mean we should have them. (I mean puzzles like riddles, puzzle doors, etc. not mysteries in general.) Character interaction is one of the things I always love (and often if allowed to and the situation is right will do so to the point the GM is going "ok guys, c'mon, I haven't gotten to say anything here for pages now...."). Exploration is always fun and I like me my sandboxes over the rails (as in, instead of there being a main villain or whatnot, various groups and figures that the players can interact with, fight against, side with, betray, spy on, or just ignore at their choosing with consequences for all of things). That said, I'm not really a disruptive player to rails focused campaigns. I always like a little bit of humor but, not zany whacky humor. Fallout would be a decent example of the amount of humor I like. Generally serious tone with comedic underlayings mixed in on occasion, and once in a while a random silly moment. (Eg: "You encounter a town full of emo Drow who have long and self-claimed epic stories about how they, a woefully good person alone in a society of bad people escaped and etc.") Horror is neat but, not required and all the time is a bit much. And I certainly don't mind dark tones so long as I'm not expected to be the light shining in the darkness or moronically villainous.

I'm just going to say now that I would SO TOTALLY JOIN if not for the fact that I leave for a week long cruise in an hour and a half. I'll look forward to reading up on your exploits when I get back, though, guys.

Eh, I'll sheet up one of my characters later.

@Cardbo & Masterweaver:
I look forward to seeing what you come up with (:


@Ramsus:
First thought upon reading your character sheet?

-YOU CAN BE SCULLY! =D

But seriously, your character sheet looks good. The only question I have is, where did you get your last two utility feats? I'm guessing they were discussed in the feats section of the forums? Whatever the case, they seem fine.

I'm going to try and accommodate everypony the best I can, but yeah, I'm not great at creating puzzles either - but we might have a few every now and then - and I definitely understand the sandbox situation (that Dark Side Campaign was a huge sandbox actually, but as I typed earlier, you see where that got everyone - at each other's throats). I'll see what I can do to create a sandbox-ish campaign, but I feel that at least a little direction is always a good thing (so parties don't start killing each other).


@elfowlgirl:
Bon Voyage!

Not sure when we'll be starting up, but when you get back from your cruise, if we still have an open slot in the party, you're welcome to jump in.

Yup. The first from the Everypony thread, the second from the Earth pony one.

And no worries about her trying to kill other party members, at worst she'd just help everyone kill each other. ("I...um...er...I...w-would you like this book on nnnnnnn How to m-m-Murder Friends and Incriminate Ponies?")

I agree direction is important. Which is why in games I run I usually give the party anywhere from three to five of them and the ability to completely ignore those ideas and do whatever. (Though really, if you present people with choices usually they will pick one and not go, "No! We're arsonists now! Our quest is burning everything!)

I'm going to go with Cheese Wheel

Really, I don't know when an opening in Stairc's campaign will open up, but its probably not going to be soon.

2)As for when I can post, usually in the evenings, but I work during the days, I can occasionally post then as well.

3)Generally a serious tone, but with touches of humor. I've got a fondness for puns, myself. I like character interaction, and exploring the environment. Puzzles and combat are good, but go light on them.

Cardbo...um....dunno how to say this.... your character has like...a lot of overlap with mine both in and out of combat. A little is fine but, that much probably isn't. >_<

I can swap the Medical Training and Instant Party out for something else. They're not really central to my concept. The combat talents, have a few overlapping ones, but then again, we can only take 5 into combat at any one time, so it may not overlap as much as you think.

EDIT: I'll take Applejack of All Trades, and Fracture the Fourth Wall instead of Medical Training and Instant Party.

Here's my character if there's still some room: Clue Seeker

Clue Seeker's background/interest is that he's something of an amateur sleuth and more of a thinker rather than a mover but he'll act when provided the proper motivation (usually his interest in a particular case) He's not a typical genius per se but he is a cut above the average pony and well versed in various fields of study but not overly open/talkative, though he may get a little smug or irritated when others don't or cannot follow his thought process/logic.

A typical statement of him would be:
Pony X: "I didn't know you know so much about that!" (or something similar)
Clue Seeker: "Well, you never asked."


How often I can post?
Pretty much any hour of any day up until the end of September, with the exception of when I'm running my D&D game or my 2 Pony Tales games.


What I would like to see in an adventure?
Puzzles, character/social interaction, humour first and foremost. Though I'm not aversed to action and combat to break up the pace (as those are enjoyable in their own way as well) and for the rest, I'm open to pretty much every genre and trope out there.


If you need to cut down on players, I'll be the first you may cross off the list as I would rather have an interested but new player be introduced to Pony Tales rather than me taking up his or her slot.

So far, no unicorns and no pegasi. We also seem to be a fairly mental heavy group.

Cardbo wrote:So far, no unicorns and no pegasi. We also seem to be a fairly mental heavy group.

^That might be a good thing for what I've got planned, but balance is also important.

@Demonu:
I'd be honored if you played in my campaign. After reading some of your past adventures on FiD, I'm betting you'd be a great addition to the team. We'll see how things go, but right now slots are still open.

XandZero2 wrote:

Cardbo wrote:So far, no unicorns and no pegasi. We also seem to be a fairly mental heavy group.

^That might be a good thing for what I've got planned, but balance is also important.

@Demonu:
I'd be honored if you played in my campaign. After reading some of your past adventures on FiD, I'm betting you'd be a great addition to the team. We'll see how things go, but right now slots are still open.

We'll be ground patrol then ^^

Well, that was that and this is this. I'm not planning to bank on previous endeavours so please, treat me like you would any other player. I'm rather excited to see what you come up with, both as a fellow DM and because play-by-post games have a unique quality to them: it allows me to think things through

Dreamsmoke Glitter started out as a parody of Elizabethan romance seekers. Let's see how she handles a real problem!

Um....guys? Have any of you noticed how we don't really have any damage dealers? So far it looks like our combat strategy is to make our opponents give up in frustration.

And if the next person who joins has Streetwise trained we're all going to feel very not special at all.

Well, if it comes down to it, my giant robot can deal a fair bit of damage, but it takes 9pips to summon it.

Ramsus wrote:Um....guys? Have any of you noticed how we don't really have any damage dealers? So far it looks like our combat strategy is to make our opponents give up in frustration.

And if the next person who joins has Streetwise trained we're all going to feel very not special at all.

I'm not signing up for this, on account of I'm already in Dan's PBP, I just wanted to say that I laughed at this a LOT more than I should have.

Ramsus wrote:Um....guys? Have any of you noticed how we don't really have any damage dealers? So far it looks like our combat strategy is to make our opponents give up in frustration.

And if the next person who joins has Streetwise trained we're all going to feel very not special at all.

Battle strategy:
Rack up PiPs, then through a combination of channel minds, royal command and gather energy, let Cheese Wheel summon 3 to 5 robots who will do the fighting for us while we have tea and crumpets.

So we're a little understacked on damage. So what? Combat doesn't happen as often in Pony Tales as it does in D&D and if so, it's just going to take a bit longer.

What I've been meaning to ask: play-by-post isn't ideal for the fast pace of combat so how will this be resolved? I'm also talking about having to wait 8 hours for someone to post their turn actions because they couldn't do so earlier due to work and things like that.

Demonu wrote:

Ramsus wrote:Um....guys? Have any of you noticed how we don't really have any damage dealers? So far it looks like our combat strategy is to make our opponents give up in frustration.

And if the next person who joins has Streetwise trained we're all going to feel very not special at all.

Battle strategy:
Rack up PiPs, then through a combination of channel minds, royal command and gather energy, let Cheese Wheel summon 3 to 5 robots who will do the fighting for us while we have tea and crumpets.

So we're a little understacked on damage. So what? Combat doesn't happen as often in Pony Tales as it does in D&D and if so, it's just going to take a bit longer.

What I've been meaning to ask: play-by-post isn't ideal for the fast pace of combat so how will this be resolved? I'm also talking about having to wait 8 hours for someone to post their turn actions because they couldn't do so earlier due to work and things like that.

^Ramsus brings up a good point. I'm just about to start looking over the rest of the characters right now, but you guys might consider changing out a few of your abilities for damage dealing moves. It's not too late to make changes to your character sheets, just as long as you notify me when you do.

By the way though, I suppose if Stairc allows players to change their moves from session to session, I could try letting you guys do the same thing from one in-game day to the next. So if you find that summoning a battalion of mecha to do your dirty work is getting stale, you can always choose some different move combinations after a good night's rest.

@Demonu:
I've been following Stairc's play-by-post as well as Masterweaver's, and it looks like combat just takes a while. Everyone rolls initiative, goes in turn order, and just keeps cycling. Stairc's current battle looks to still be going on strong after 3 or so days now. If you guys are interested and able, we might could all try to be online at a particular time for the major fights and just take turns posting one after the other in quick succession (or we could get on Skype) - but either way, that might be difficult, depending on everyone's schedules. Probably the easiest - but longest - way will be just to take our time.

Okay guys, I just got done looking over everyone's character sheets one more time. Here's my concerns:

@Cardbo:
I think you made a mistake when choosing Cheese Wheel's cutie mark. As I understand, you don’t need to choose a particular focus in the History skill for his Cutie Mark. You just choose a skill (in this case History) and CW's Cutie Mark adds to all History checks he makes. Therefore his current History stat should be an impressive 17 total.

@Everypony:
Just wanted to point this out guys, but what’s with everypony (except Dreamsmoke) having Royal Command? Do you need that many? Maybe someone should get a damaging ability, perhaps?

Also, Cheese Wheel has the best athletics of the entire party, and his athletics is a mighty 6! It's going to be a sad, sad day if you guys ever need to chase anyone down or run for it.

-Just saying.

Finally, how should we deal with an ability that gives a time restraint like “5 minutes real time” in a pbp (this goes for Cheese Wheel’s Fourth Wall Breaking, as well as Dreamsmoke's Melodic Musical)? I thought I might get that question out of the way before we get started in the quest – but should I just set a time for it, being the GM? Or should we have some other way to keep track of ‘real’ time?

@Masterweaver:
Dreamsmoke Glitter seems like a fun character, but I have some questions about Melodic Musical, Shipping Goggles, and NOW KISS.

First off, I just want clarification, but where did you get those abilities? Can you direct me to the particular threads, just so I can check them out? Shipping Goggles and Melodic Musical seem fine, but the NOW KISS ability seems quite powerful if I’m reading it right.

Secondly, can you explain exactly how “NOW KISS” works? It mentions making opposed skill checks against allies of your choice – so you choose a skill, the ally chooses a skill, then you make an opposed check? Wouldn’t your ally want you to succeed at the check though - thus meaning that they'd choose their worst skill against your best skill? That seems like it'd be way to easy, because then if you succeed (and if I’m reading this right) you get – an automatic critical success on the next skill check you make?!

The auto crit is the part I find extremely OP, the secondary power of the ability seems fine though.

Melodic was originally in the Earth Pony thread but I think it was copypasted into Everypony. The other two are Everypony as well.... I just copypasted them from the thread, you'd have to ask Zarhon for clarification. That did confuse me as well...

XandZero2 wrote:Okay guys, I just got done looking over everyone's character sheets one more time. Here's my concerns:

@Cardbo:
I think you made a mistake when choosing Cheese Wheel's cutie mark. As I understand, you don’t need to choose a particular focus in the History skill for his Cutie Mark. You just choose a skill (in this case History) and CW's Cutie Mark adds to all History checks he makes. Therefore his current History stat should be an impressive 17 total.

Fixed

@Everypony:
Just wanted to point this out guys, but what’s with everypony (except Dreamsmoke) having Royal Command? Do you need that many? Maybe someone should get a damaging ability, perhaps?

Well, it is a nice talent. Still, I swapped some of my talents for others, and now Royal Command is gone.

Also, Cheese Wheel has the best athletics of the entire party, and his athletics is a mighty 6! It's going to be a sad, sad day if you guys ever need to chase anyone down or run for it.

-Just saying.

Finally, how should we deal with an ability that gives a time restraint like “5 minutes real time” in a pbp (this goes for Cheese Wheel’s Fourth Wall Breaking, as well as Dreamsmoke's Melodic Musical)? I thought I might get that question out of the way before we get started in the quest – but should I just set a time for it, being the GM? Or should we have some other way to keep track of ‘real’ time?

It works for the rest of the day? I can't really see it working otherwise, as it takes time to check the forums. 10 minutes at RL tables is probably equal to a 1 day forum time.

can I join in?

Spoiler:

Is that good?

I should be able to post very frequently, a few times per day most likely.

As for what I'm looking for, this would be my first RPG ever so, I'm mostly just looking to see what a game is like and try out various things.

Well, that seals the deal. We are not chasing anyone ever. And if we have to...well we have two Generosity's (both with Derp?) so...if we have to....

Stairc, do not read the following:
Psst, Dr. Blight, join me in the discussion in the Races section to make Changelings be less hosed.
Though, seriously people. Notice how he too picked the animal lover stuff? This is a pretty clear sign that Changelings really don't get enough decent options the way they are. (This message was brought to you by Pro-Changeling Propagandists Incorporated.)

Also...what. Our party is Earth PonyX4 + Changeling. This is like going to dinner with your friends, intending to share and then everyone but one person orders the steak and that guy ordered the peanutbrittle caviar.

Edit: I'm not really saying there's anything wrong with it or that you are all bad people for picking more earth ponies (of course you are but, that's entirely besides the point). Just that it's kinda odd.

Edit 2: Dr Blight, thank you for having stabbing. We really needed that. We needed stealth so that's good. We didn't really need more...anything horse-sense but, it would understandably be really dumb not to have those as a Changeling.

Edit 3: Oh right, forgot. As for the "5 minutes" things, I think maybe....5 or 10 posts? "The rest of the day" isn't particularly helpful either since we probably don't all live in the exact same timezone. Posts, however are the same for all of us. (Which of course means we're going to meta-game and keep all our OOC over in this thread whenever those powers are used to conserve on posts, lol.)