Zenith Comics Presents: The New Centurions! (OOC Thread)

[Lindharin]

Okay can everyone let me know what your actions are. Please don't do the "I will do this unless x and then y." Just take your panels or hammer our some team work here first

Just to be clear, my x then y list wasn't intended to be my actions declaration to the Narrator, which is why it isn't in the IC thread. It was targeted to the other players, saying what role I was looking to fill this round so we could get a plan going. I was hoping it would help prompt some similar posts from everyone so we could start building a plan for the round. I clearly didn't do as good a job as I hoped though...

I haven't really played any play-by-posts so I feel a little confused about how this should work. I'm used to the table top (or at least synchronous) structure where the guy with highest priority goes first and his actions are resolved before the next guy goes. It feels odd and confusing for me to announce my actions for Priority 10 when there is a very good chance that the guys going at 80 or 70 or 60 could finish off the target I declared my attack against.

AslanC, everything below this point is just a question/suggestion, so feel free to say no.

Can we set down some guidelines for how a page will work in the play by post game? Do you want us to all declare our actions first (in priority order?) and you then do one massive resolution at the end? That is kind of what happened in the surprise round, so is that the way it should work? Or does one of us post, you resolve it, the next one posts, you resolve that, etc. all in priority order like a face-to-face game? In either case are we waiting for the people to post in priority order?

Should we house rule how priority works here for the play-by-post format? I don't have a definitive suggestion, but I do have a few random ideas for alternate approaches, and others might have better ideas.

The first possibility would be to keep priority as normal, but have a "table rule" that you have 1 day (or maybe 2 days, but I'm good with 1) to post when it is your turn. If you haven't posted, the next person can go. As soon as the bypassed player is available, he can interrupt and take his action but it occurs at that point and can't invalidate anything that has been posted in the interim.

Another possibility would be to take a page from the old Torg game, and decide whether heroes or villains go first based on whether it is a "dramatic" or "standard" encounter. In a standard encounter, the heroes go first, villains come after. In a dramatic encounter, when you're facing off against the big bad or his lieutenants, etc. then the villains go first and the heroes go last. Either way, when it is the heroes turn, we just go in order of whoever posts first. That streamlines things and avoids unnecessary waiting for the "right person" (whoever is next on the priority list) to post. To compensate the people with high priority multipliers, maybe they get +1 hero point per multiplier over the slowest hero, or something like that.

In either case, once a player posts his action the Narrator can resolve it when convenient. The next player(s) can post their actions if they aren't dependent on the outcome of the first player, or they can wait until the Narrator resolves the first action if its outcome may be important to their plans.

Any thoughts? Am I the only one lost?

[AslanC]

If you like

[AslanC]

The "if you like" was to Volsung

The only reason I was letting you declare

Otherwise feel free to take your actions in turn

I am not a fan of the TORG system or "Side" priority, just not to my taste is all

[Volsung]

I'd say Lindharin's suggestion make sense.
Our actual process is a bit chaotic.
I even remember a game that suggested players to describe their actions from the slowest to the fastest.
So the quickest a player would be, the more he would know about his teammates' actions before deciding his own.

Anyway...as you know, i'm a junkie suffering from a huge withdrawal of roleplaying (as a player).
And the more we play, the more the game progress, the happier i am.
Any method is good for me as long as the game goes smoothly.
When the game slow down I gain weight, I loose my hair and I can't sleep

Let's get back on track^^
My first shot was a bit weak. But it may be enough to weaken the mooks.
Can i know if they dodged or soaked before shooting again? (on them or on good ol' Hurricane)

[AslanC]

Yes I will post the reactions in later on... I am at school right now

[AslanC]

Volsung, your attack is a Burst right? You don't roll to hit, only damage... then they have to roll to avoid the damage.

Or is that what you did?

As for the posting rate, let me think on this for a bit. I am in the juice right now between school and my projects, so things are gonna be a bit slower and I appreciate everyone respecting that please

[Volsung]

Volsung, your attack is a Burst right? You don't roll to hit, only damage... then they have to roll to avoid the damage.

Or is that what you did?

I didn't know that.
I just checked the rules.
That means that, my +1x to hit went to a waste!
My roll was flawed^^ that +1x would have raised my damage!^^

As for the posting rate, let me think on this for a bit. I am in the juice right now between school and my projects, so things are gonna be a bit slower and I appreciate everyone respecting that please

Naturally

[Volsung]

I didn't know that.
I just checked the rules.
That means that, my +1x to hit went to a waste!
My roll was flawed^^ that +1x would have raised my damage!^^

So what I am supposed to do? A re-roll? or we simply add a multiplier on my previous roll?

[Volsung]

It seems my shot didn't need that damage multiplier after all

"keeping him nice and close to you!"

That's the moment when i'm supposed to blast a full charge in his jaw.
But his last defense proved that he's quite nimble and even more resistant.

And he'll probably soak Front-Runner's punch.
If I increase the damage, I decrease my chance to hit.

So...what about some teamwork?
If I hold off my second action (priority 78)
Knowing that Front Runner punch comes on 56.
How can we 'team up' our actions to be more effective?

[Lindharin]

I believe Front-Runner already posted his action, although Zero has asked if he wants to team up for a Teamwork action instead. If Front-Runner prefers to keep his action and rolls, I'm sure either Numinous or Tempest will take Zero up on his offer. But the villains and I think the NPC heroes all go before Tempest, and a few before Numinous if I recall correctly.

[Volsung]

And Hammer Hurricane will act first! He may knock Zero out of range^^

Teamwork
If two or more Heroes hold-off and combine all their panels for that page together, they might get a Teamwork bonus. The players come up with a creative description of what they do, and the Narrator may reward them with a Hero Die for the action. Using the same shtick over and over will not qualify. When rolling for a teamwork action, each player involved must roll one aspect of resolving the action. For instance, if it were an attack, one rolls to hit, the other rolls damage. Usually this is done by who is better. If there is only one roll needed to resolve the action, both roll and take the better. Characters can also swap stats and powers when resolving a team-up attack.
Example: A pair of Heroes attempt the classic “fastball special” team-up seen in many comics. The team’s scrapper with +3DM claws but only a Brawn of 1 gets thrown by the brick with Brawn 4 at the enemies. The scrapper rolls to hit using his own Agility 3 (the higher of the two characters) and the brick rolls the damage using his Brawn 4 +3DM from his buddy’s claws for x7 damage. The Hero die the Narrator awarded for resolving this action can be used for the attack or damage roll. The next page, they do it again- but this time the Narrator does not award a Hero die- it’s no longer original.

Ok so we could ... use Front-Runner's speed and Zero's beam damage.
What about ...Front-Runner running in circles to create an uplift tornado, trapping Hammer Hurricane , And Zero releasing a full blast on that easier target?
What do you think Heroglyph?

Hammer Hurricane? in a Tornado? That's the limit!

[Lindharin]

Hi,

So it looks like Zero needs to either complete his action, or try a Teamwork action with someone else.

Copied from earlier in the thread, the priority order is:

Detective Zero 80
Front Runner 56
Hammer Hurricane 40 (or 27?)
Captain Max 20
Numinous 18
The Elemental & The Ferret 15
Tempest 10
Hammer's Goons 10 (or 16?)

So it looks like Hammer Hurricane is up next, followed by Captain Max, who may or may not be available for a good Teamwork maneuver. The next player character is Numinous.

[Volsung]

I'll wait for Numinous.I guess Captain max doesn't share the spotlight.

[Lindharin]

I guess Captain max doesn't share the spotlight.

I had the same impression, although maybe if it was set up so we were just helping and he got all the benefit...

So, let's see... It's Hammer time! Followed by the good Captain.

Then Numinous and Zero's second action.

[Shennaqua]

Numinous would be delighted to team up with Detective Zero. I was slow to react this round so I've been waiting to see the lay of the land before announcing my action. AslanC, if you want info before the action gets down to me I'll be happy to provide it.