Rainbow Factories: where have all the players gone? (considering investigators)

I'll just drop this off here.

Ignore the beta note the whole system in beta.

Okay so it looks like our fourth member has arrived, and just in time.

Once we get that far, here's our battle map http://db.tt/JalUWlXQ
You guys all know how to contact me if there's problems with the file. Once the party is ready to move to the orchard we'll discuss what the map is telling you.

Btw, I am ready to move to the orchards whenever everyone else is. and what are the little... shopping cart looking markings on the map? (13, b) (5, d) (10, n)

pony-pulled orange carts; they are impassable terrain and may provide some cover, but not very much. The trees are impassable, and can provide cover. The foliage is a square up, and is difficult terrain ... if you're a pegasus. The yellow/brown "grass" are actually saplings with paraphernalia to support them. As such, they're difficult terrain and require an extra movement to pass through. Or you can fly over them, too.

The giant orange blob at the top of the map isn't there, yet.

So if we need a specific time to "get together" online I would propose Monday or Wednesday evening, perhaps at 7:00pm?

Seiko wrote:So if we need a specific time to "get together" online I would propose Monday or Wednesday evening, perhaps at 7:00pm?

We should be able to this by post ... we just have to check at least twice a day to be able to stay in combat order.
Or I have a skype account if people want to try that. Or GTalk, or your house, or ...

Thoughts, everypony else?

Morning and night sounds fine to me.

I'm definitely fine with checking the forum twice a day during combat, but I'm not sure player 4 is willing/able/will remember to do so
Also, Thunderscale and I were confused the other day, do we start combat with 4 pips or 5?

Golmorgoth wrote:I'm definitely fine with checking the forum twice a day during combat, but I'm not sure player 4 is willing/able/will remember to do so
Also, Thunderscale and I were confused the other day, do we start combat with 4 pips or 5?

you start with four pips; do you see her often? You could ask how she wanted to do this ... I'll be home tonight, for instance, if she can borrow somepony's internet for a flurry of activity. Or for this particular battle, she could sit out, or ...

Susan###something ... would you care to pipe up, when you get this? or just email me, whichever.

How do turns function? Should we all post and then you tell us what happens, or should we post our actions only when prompted and then wait for you to respond and prompt the next pony? I know it may be a drain on your time and energy as Pony Handler, but I believe the second option would be superior.

Seiko wrote:How do turns function? Should we all post and then you tell us what happens, or should we post our actions only when prompted and then wait for you to respond and prompt the next pony?  I know it may be a drain on your time and energy as Pony Handler, but I believe the second option would be superior.

I'll try to keep you apprised of the play order ... as I said you got round one it was just sort of a dud ... the persuasion roll was appropriate but the argument carried a heavy penalty, as you all may discover.
Since there's no "roll to hit" -- if your turn is up (and you can reach a valid target ... or just want to hit an invalid target) you can just roll damage, and if something ameliorates that, that I can tell you later.

I'll be near the computer most of the night, tonight, I think ... and yes, for some effects it helps planning if you see what the result of the last round is.

So: round two will be Flarestar, then several rounds of monsters (which are all me so it shouldn't take too long) then young Thunderscale, pinned in a cart at last sighting.

I think I'll be able to make one more post tonight, but then we'll have to pause 'til the morning. I've got notes, don't worry.

I know this has been confusing and frustrating, but I hope to provide an explanation.

after more frustrations.

(I hope you all are having as much fun as I am!)

Guys.  You're sucking fumes for hit-points and looking at going through a portal that's about to collapse and clearly leads to the enemy stronghold.  Think.

are you just trying to keep track of Flarestar after she falls through the hole? Or use an extension of ponykinesis to forcibly haul her plot back to this side?

(Sigh) you guys are no fun. All I want is to BURN, BURN IT ALL TO ASH *cough* ahem.

On a side note, now that combat is mostly over, is it ok if I tweak my character a bit? She'll be the same Flarestar, I just want to swap a few combat talents (I'm keeping the ones I actually used in the battle) and make a few other changes.

So, I just want to make sure, since this is fairly early in the story arc, that non-dead NPCs can be seen again, and bizarre puzzles you didn't have a chance to unravel, will either be explained or re-experienced. I'm not trying to confuse the heck out of you guys, but the non-players have ... expectations. And resources, and they don't just want to blather to you up front about all their problems.

I envisioned this campaign as a puzzle solving campaign. Mostly because combat is so fast. Sort of. four rounds in four hours, over a forum? And I got my oil changed at the same time to boot! So cool!

So, in recap ... I hope you're all having fun ... because I am  

And a warm welcome to the bunny Sugar Plum, too!

so, everyone but Jesse already knows this ooc, but Sugar Plum is actually a changeling. I took Derp to get the extra point to be able to shift more than once, even though I don't really see her as derpy. None of the characters know this except the baby dragon, as Will and I agreed that our characters would know either other. I had her take True Shifter, so it is really hard to see through her disguise as a bunny, as it adds 34 plus the caster level (1) to the DC. I rolled a 19 for this, so she gets 34+1+19=54 to see through her disguise. She also spends a lot of time as a bunny, as she doesn't care for other changelings much, so maybe the DM will give her another point or two to staying disguised as a bunny?

susan23027 wrote:so, everyone but Jesse already knows this ooc, but Sugar Plum is actually a changeling. I took Derp to get the extra point to be able to shift more than once, even though I don't really see her as derpy. None of the characters know this except the baby dragon, as Will and I agreed that our characters would know either other. I had her take True Shifter, so it is really hard to see through her disguise as a bunny, as it adds 34 plus the caster level (1) to the DC. I rolled a 19 for this, so she gets 34+1+19=54 to see through her disguise. She also spends a lot of time as a bunny, as she doesn't care for other changelings much, so maybe the DM will give her another point or two to staying disguised as a bunny?

Sorry for butting in, but you don't need to spend a magic point when you change form unless you are using Changeling's Trickery, which for some reason wasn't removed when they changed it to True Shifter. Spending a Magic Point with True Shifter just replaces your traits with the traits of the form you have taken for up to a day. You can shift as many times as you like with A Thousand Faces without having to spend a magic point, as long as you spend the preparation time each time you do...

Also, with A Thousand Faces, you have one unique disguise, which is completely unrecognisable as a disguise (although there are some exceptions, such as True Sight and, depending on the DM, a CMC on Perception). If your character spends so much time as a bunny, why not have the bunny disguise as the unique disguise so you don't have to make the DC check each time?

Paper Shadow wrote:Also, with A Thousand Faces, you have one unique disguise, which is completely unrecognisable as a disguise (although there are some exceptions, such as True Sight and, depending on the DM, a CMC on Perception). If your character spends so much time as a bunny, why not have the bunny disguise as the unique disguise so you don't have to make the DC check each time?

I actually forgot about True Sight! A certain donkey might be in for a surprise if she thinks to do that.

Anyway, thank you Paper Shadow, and yes I had discussed this with Susan# before, and my personal headcanon is this is like the semi-permanent disguise that Chrysalis took ... not just a disguise but a full swap. Presumably if she ever drops it there's be a big arcane display for all to see as it's tossed aside, again like Chrysalis' transformation.

I might have reason for an NPC to try to look through the disguise ... certainly the detective thinks something's up though he doesn't feel like pursuing his hunches at this time since no siblings are suffering migraines by petting the bunny  But the one roll is both good, and I think satisfactory for the duration of the change ... though if those wings come out I think a disguise penalty is in order ;-)

Paper Shadow wrote: Sorry for butting in, but you don't need to spend a magic point when you change form unless you are using Changeling's Trickery, which for some reason wasn't removed when they changed it to True Shifter. Spending a Magic Point with True Shifter just replaces your traits with the traits of the form you have taken for up to a day. You can shift as many times as you like with A Thousand Faces without having to spend a magic point, as long as you spend the preparation time each time you do...

Also, with A Thousand Faces, you have one unique disguise, which is completely unrecognisable as a disguise (although there are some exceptions, such as True Sight and, depending on the DM, a CMC on Perception). If your character spends so much time as a bunny, why not have the bunny disguise as the unique disguise so you don't have to make the DC check each time?

What!?! Ok, if I can do that then I want to drop Derp and use the Flemish Giant as my unique disguise, because bunnies are cute and not threatening like changelings.

susan23027 wrote:What!?! Ok, if I can do that then I want to drop Derp and use the Flemish Giant as my unique disguise, because bunnies are cute and not threatening like changelings.

I'll allow it, but derp is actually quite handy ... both because of the extra magic point, and also the perception of buffering against fatigue rules ... it takes three crit-fails before your personal math is any different, whereas until he sleeps soundly, Thunderscale has to remember (and so do I  ) that his crit-fail thread range has been extended to both 1's, and 2's.

ok, I'll keep "Derp" then, as I also have "Awesome" and I doubt that I critically fail too often.

If Sugar Plum speaks to the detective will he then be able to see through her disguise? Or is that too much info for the players?

susan23027 wrote:If Sugar Plum speaks to the detective will he then be able to see through her disguise? Or is that too much info for the players?

I'd say that rabbits are "just animals" here ... they don't talk. So yes, with the exception of the neurotransmitter challenged Flarestar, a talking bunny will signal it's not "just a bunny"

I'm not sure right now how Turnover will react, though. But he's been feeling a bit weird about her since he saw her, so that's probably something Sugar Plum would pick up on.

so, grass isn't going to get all the snot off, so if Sugar Plum was to go looking for a tissue in somepony's pocket who's pocket would she be pulling it out of? (She'll hold it in her teeth to wipe it off, but a real bunny would just lick it off.)