parz | Harpy Hills Encounters - A PBP Adventure for September

PLAYER EVENT: HARPY HILLS ENCOUNTERS

Hi everyone! I'm offering to trial-run some D&D style encounters for those who want to travel into the Harpy Hills over September. Play-by-Post Game Master...ing (PBP GMing) is new to me, but I've been GMing for about three years now and playing D&D for many more. Below, we'll hash out how this will work, and in the comments you can organize a party (or plan to travel solo!) and contribute to the threats and rewards everyone can encounter.

Intro:

If you've ever played a tabletop RP game (or one that uses dice rolls to sway the direction of the game) this will be a very simplified version of that. We'll be using a tier system in several catchall areas: Fighting (magical, physical, etc.), Exploring, Social and Survival, the first three of which are core pillars to D&D play, and the last being a catch-all for what kind of loot your character can scavenge and how well you resist dangerous effects. RNG will be used instead of a dice roll to determine the outcome of a specific challenge in one of those areas, and your character's skills in each area will give a bonus (+/-) to the number. Each challenge will have a threshold that signals a failure or a success, and you can RP from there until the next skill check comes along. Sometimes there will be fights! Often, there will be danger.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Determining skills:

You choose what your characters are proficient in for each category, based on their canon and and DWRP game development:

Poor: -1 bonus
Adequate: 0 bonus
Proficient: +2 bonus
Skilled: +3 bonus
Mastered: +4 bonus

I'll use Oran as an example; he's a friendly adventurer who's survived some rough experiences:
Survival: +3
Fighting: +1
Exploring: 0
Social: +2

If he runs into a regular gnoll leaping from the bushes to attack, then I as a player would write what the character does, and the DM would roll RNG (out of 20) and add/subtract the bonus to see if the action was a success. Say the gnoll was actually a rat. The number Oran would have to beat is very low, maybe 3+ or better—plus the bonus from his fighting skill—to succeed on stomping it. A gnoll might require a 12 or better. A dragon is likely going to require somewhere around 20 to even scratch. These numbers then determine either a success/fail scenario (in the case of short encounters that have lower risk and lower reward) or, in combat, a longer encounter wherein you and your party have to take a creature's hit points to 0 without your own being depleted first.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Determining Hitpoints:

Every character of medium size starts with 10 hitpoints (HP).
If your highest skill is in Survival, add 6 (1d12) per level of mastery.
If your highest skill is in Fighting, add 5 (1d10) per level of mastery.
If your highest skill is in Exploring, add 4 (1d8) per level of mastery.
If your highest skill is in Social, add 3 (1d6) per level of mastery.
If you choose to roll dice, re-roll any 1's, because 1's aren't fun for HP!

For different size classes (Small being about dwarf size or smaller, Large being about horse sized or larger, Huge being roughly 15-20 feet tall or wide, and Gargantuan being 20+ feet) add a modifier. Small creatures get half their normal hit dice. Large get double, Huge get x4, and Gargantuan get x8. This means mechas are going to be very hard to hurt, but there will probably be other repercussions to stomping through a densely packed forest, unless you're thinking creatively.
These hitpoints are your precious lifeblood. Losing them knocks a character unconscious, and a monster dead. You can determine the extent to which you want to play out the drama of a near death experience, but I won't be TPKing anyone!

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Risks and Rewards:

Low risk encounters involve pass/fail mechanics, like fording a river or jumping over a pit. Usually, there aren't any great rewards but to carry forward.
High risk encounters often lead to fights, negotiations, or possibly even puzzle solving. The rewards are better here! Because this is a player-led plot, your characters won't be making any massive in-game discoveries, but based on what they fight and what plants they're hunting, it's possible to harvest monsters for trophies, alchemical components like for salves and healing potions, and practical uses like armor or makeshift weapons.

(There are robots in town who are able to forge items and process monster meat, according to earlier mod posts! Feel free to do what you wish with trophies!)

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Erku and failed encounters:

The forest is still rife with dangers that are sex-island themed: aphro and entanglement traps are endemic to the plant life, and there may be other bingo card-themed hazards for characters to reap or avoid. For the sake of giving me time to keep all threads moving, I'm unfortunately going to have to handwave any NPC-based smut. So, if your character is overcome by aphro or tentacle monsters, they're considered unable to carry onward. Similarly, if their HP is reduced to 0 and there isn't anyone around to help them, consider them overcome. They'll be able to drag themselves into town in a sorrier state than they started, but the only lasting damage is whatever you'd enjoy playing out with your CR.
If a group is traveling into the forest and someone trips an aphro trap, I think it will be easier if we handwave the results in the exploration thread. You can absolutely play out the results in another thread (maybe in

lusi?), but FTB will help me GM any further exploration without running into lag issues.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Extra thought & warnings:

Please feel free to ask a question below! Use the top-level comments to organize yourselves into groups, help me flesh out valuable plants and monsters to throw at you, and figure out if there are any obvious OOC or IC pitfalls that could stop making play fun.
This isn't a required plot, and there are no consequences for NOT joining. As with all PBP and multi-player threads, things may move slowly, so please be kind with one another.
Depending on interest, I may need to cap the number of threads I can GM! To start, I can commit to 2 active parties and 4 single threads. If a character or party is overcome, or if they find what they're looking for, I can then open a new slot. I'm planning on launching the in-game thread on Friday afternoon PST, and will be available to offer new threads thru the end of the month. (As a consequence, some of Oran's CR may be a little slow this month!)

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

N A V I G A T I O N

Harpy Hills Encounters - A PBP Adventure for September

MONSTER SUBMISSIONS