Purple Planet Funnel, Campaign

[TerraGoetia]

Toby will insert the end of his longsword into the center of the ring, careful not to touch the sides (yet).

It is very important for me to clarify: You are not standing ON the pedestal, are you?

[Judge Blackthorn]

(In all fairness Blackthorn was absolutely aiming to kill)

Blackthorn says I should probably feel bad about all this but there will be time for that later. he begins to retreat with the rest of the crew.

Duke picks her torch back up and says leave no stone unturned she begins searching the area for treasure. (Roll of 8 for what it's worth)

[TerraGoetia]

It's easiest on me if you roll a to-hit / damage when you declare an attack. Otherwise my reptilian brain will latch onto a detail like "Oh he's keeping his distance" and read something as a poke when it should be a lunge!

I only really believe in "narrative hits" when the target is paralyzed, asleep, or completely defenseless.

[Judge Blackthorn]

(My bad. I just figured we were about to roll initiative. That thing sounded more dangerous and vicious than it was I guess)

[TerraGoetia]

(My bad. I just figured we were about to roll initiative. That thing sounded more dangerous and vicious than it was I guess)

I was trying to bait-and-switch its danger level to provoke pity if you killed it. It was a risky move, but it kinda maybe paid off in the narrative?

If you put your foot down and say "Blackthorn got the kill," I'll re-write the update. Otherwise I'll just keep it as it is.

Duke finds this:


The handle has a small compartment in it.

[Judge Blackthorn]

(Just don't want anyone else taking the blame for the mess that Blackthorn started but I don't think it matters much tok the narrative)

Duke will pick the item up and say scrap metal, nothing more before carefully showing it away. Then she will hollow after Blackthorn taking the torch with her.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

I'm fine with it, really, just don't make me feel...feelings...when I kill something! hahahahaha J/K, well played, TG...well played!
Why don't we agree that Beega, nerves frayed from the perceived threat and Arvis' gambit, jumped the gun and struck (INIT 19) when Blackthorn moved to do so and maybe this time Greedo shot first!

Beega the Whelp is a whelp no more, having spilled blood without honor out of fear rather than any nobler motive. Beega the Butcher decapitates the Ythothian and bags his "trophy" with duty and remorse,
then examines the skull that had the shiny thing in it. (unless that thing was what Duke discarded, in which case he bags that up) The kith then follow the humans out of the chamber.

[Bilgewriggler]

Qort (scratching his head as he looks at the ship): Hmm.

Nurzual and Brandybland retreated up the stairs slowly, intending to use them as high ground if the creature broke loose. Hearing its demise, they'd pause.

Nurzual: Are things all right down there, friends?

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

Upon meeting Nurzual and Brandybland, the kith offer those gathered on the stairs a share of the kill, such as it was: the piece of "scrap metal" and one of the ebon fruits. Arvis asks:
"Hvar er Qorpse?"

[GnomeBoy]

Toby will insert the end of his longsword into the center of the ring, careful not to touch the sides (yet).

It is very important for me to clarify: You are not standing ON the pedestal, are you?

In my head, it's like a big donut, on edge, sitting on the ground. I may be totally wrong there...

Slight edit of what you wrote:
"Near the front end of the ship, on the ground, is a large pedestal. ... It is shaped like a stone ring, with the interior containing the engraving of several unknown constellations."

The only other picture I can get from that is that the 'donut' is laying on it's side with the frosting on top, so to speak. If the width of the thing is so much you can't reach the hole in the donut without climbing onto the donut, Toby won't use the sword, but will fling the end of his 50' of rope so it gets into the center portion, just to see if anything happens...

[TerraGoetia]

A doughnut is a good analogy! It's a doughnut lying flat on the ground. The constellations are inside the doughnut hole. The ring of the doughnut is large enough that you could probably stand about eight people, arms extended, on it.

I have to crank out some homework tonight. I will post the update when I'm done, which is hopefully before tomorrow...

Since you're almost done with the funnel, I have to ask:

Do you want more of an exploration/hex crawl experience, or do you want more of an episodic "And then the gang found themselves AT THIS THING" experience?

[GnomeBoy]

Do you want more of an exploration/hex crawl experience, or do you want more of an episodic "And then the gang found themselves AT THIS THING" experience?

Hmmm... I tried a PbP hexcrawl once. Maybe we weren't doing it right, but seemed to wind up in an area where we players were trying to do things, but we weren't getting much sense that we were making any progress. As it turns out, it was a Purple Planet setting (or was it supposed to be Barsoom? It was left open to interpretation), and we were trying to integrate into the world a bit, since we couldn't find a way home. That's when the whole attempt sort of dried up...

I'm open to that hexcrawl style again, if you're interested in trying it. But I'm good either way with whatever you'd prefer, even a mix of the two.

[Bilgewriggler]

I'm new to PBP and have never been on the player side of the DCC Judge's screen, so I'll defer to others. But I've had a lot of fun with the play style so far, so continuing in the same vein will certainly raise no objections from me.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

I'm just happy to play (I always judge too) and dig it immensely- so carry on whichever way the game leads you!

[Judge Blackthorn]

I'm also in the always a judge and never a player camp. I'm not adverse to a hex crawl but if like to get our players a little more established goal wise before we open up a sandbox. That said I'll follow wherever this leads.

Curious, how many surviving Pcs are we going to level and continue with?

[GnomeBoy]

Curious, how many surviving Pcs are we going to level and continue with?

My preference is one. I can handle two, but'd much rather not do more than that.

I keep leaving Kelven at the back, hoping he'll get picked off from some surprise attack!

[Bilgewriggler]

I have no problem writing dialogue and actions for multiple characters, so I'm fine if we just keep all the characters going until attrition naturally thins their numbers. But I'm okay whichever way the group or judge prefers.

[TerraGoetia]

So I think what I'll do is ditch hexes as a mapping system and just have "regions"--large areas you can explore that hold a lot more content that one hex could. That way it's easy to keep the group adventuring and knee-deep in the dungeon crawling .

I wanted at a maximum for everyone to have 2 characters living by the end of the funnel, hopefully one. It hasn't been as deadly as I wanted it to be, so I may have to amp up the danger for a little bit to mill out a few 0's!

Expect an update tonight; I'm very behind in class but I think I've got a handle on this .

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

So I think what I'll do is ditch hexes as a mapping system and just have "regions"--large areas you can explore that hold a lot more content that one hex could. That way it's easy to keep the group adventuring and knee-deep in the dungeon crawling .

I wanted at a maximum for everyone to have 2 characters living by the end of the funnel, hopefully one. It hasn't been as deadly as I wanted it to be, so I may have to amp up the danger for a little bit to mill out a few 0's!

Expect an update tonight; I'm very behind in class but I think I've got a handle on this .

Sounds good- just post a link to your homework here so we can get you caught up and get to Crawling!
Will work for Luck!

[TerraGoetia]

Next Round

The only action I have here that needs processing is Toby poking the constellations with his sword. If I'm missing something, remind me!

You feel a change in the density of the air as your sword passes across the pedestal. Almost as if, in that one spot, all the air had been drained out and the sword were nearly weightless. Nothing happens when you poke the stars.

Please proceed

[Bilgewriggler]

Nurzual diplomatically accepts the loot offered by the kith, though he'd really rather have nothing to do with the strange prisoner's belongings.

Nurzual: Why, yes, you're right. I believe we should have Qort look at this fruit ... um, in case it has medicinal properties. He went this way, I think.

He and Brandybland head after Qort.

Qort tells Toby, "If you ask me, that's some large being's magical toilet or something. I'd leave it alone."

Then he moves to examine the ship.

Qort: Someone has clearly parked this thing wrong.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

The kith follow along into the room with the ship. Does anything in this room strke the natives differently than the outlanders?

[TerraGoetia]

The Kith have never seen a Ythothian ship before, though they may have heard stories about them. Though it looks like a seafaring vessel, the Ythothians were famed for being able to sail the skies, and even to travel among the stars. The ship's current position seems to be the result of an accident in navigation. Perhaps the crash was Tio-Lizix's fault?

Nurzual sees that the device looks sort of like a crossbow. It has a handle, and a trigger for launching bolts, but you cannot seem to figure out how one ought to use it. It has a compartment in the handle, but it's way too small to hold any sort of mechanism for tensioning a string. What a weird device.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

Just want to make sure I'm "seeing" this right: How is the ship (apparently) suspended and how high? Vertically, bow down, stern in the air- right? Is the star-filled ring large enough for the ship to have passed through? Lastly, is there anything else of note in the room?

The kith's next actions depend upon my understanding of these premises

[Judge Blackthorn]

Blackthorn and Duke will make their way up to the ship with the rest of the crew and start looking for any passage secret or otherwise out of the chamber with the ship in it.