Out of Character Chatting

[Dexter Ford]

Just a heads up: I am leaving for Gencon on Thursday, 8/4 and won't be back until Monday, 8/8.
While I should have some internet access with friends I am staying with, I can't guarantee I will have any real time to post.
Anyone else headed to the Big Show in Indianapolis?

Matt

[FrankyEsposito]

I'm headed out this afternoon and won't be back until Tuesday 8/9.

--john

[Delores Brown]

Sorry for my infrequent posts - just got my internet connection back after a week!

[Gaffer]

I've been having a bit of a dry spell, folks. Sorry. I should have something posted by Friday.

[Dexter Ford]

I am headed out of town this weekend to play in a Wild West LARP in MD, but I should be able to check in either in the mornings or evenings. But with the pace of this game (::) I should be okay.

[Dexter Ford]

Since this game is slowly wrapping up, I am prepping to run a new game set in 1857 India. See the "I am thinking about running" part of the forum and the "End of John Company, India 1857" for a brief blurb. I hope I can lure one or two of you to play, along with any of your friends or others interested in rp.

If you have questions, ask away.

[Gaffer]

In Injia's sunny clime
Where I used to spend my time
A-soldiering for Her Majesty, The Queen

I'm in, if you'll have me.

My daughter and I watched The Man Who Would Be King when she was here this summer. I've read all the Flashman stories.

It sounds great fun.

[Gaffer]

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

[Delores Brown]

Cheers, hope you all had a good one

[Lammomedes]

Merry Christmas everyone. I am interested to see how this all ends up now the Delores is kinda on her own.

[Gaffer]

I'm back. Will catch you up today.

[Gaffer]

Well, after about two and a half years, that's it. I hope it wasn't too much of an anticlimax.

Thank you both for sticking with the game for so long and playing a couple of great characters.

I'd love to hear what you think of the scenario and the way I ran it.

I'd also like to kick around thoughts about the Trail of Cthulhu system.

[Dexter Ford]

Gaffer,

Thanks for running us through this game. I am sorry only two of us made it through to the end, but I had a great time with the game and it gave a good chance to see some of the ToC system in action as a virtual system.

The scenario was pretty good, but I am also quite sure it would have run differently in a F2F setting rather than online. Nevertheless, I never once went and sought out my copy of the scenario, which is a testament to wanting to see this play through to the end without foresight or knowledge. The latter part of the scenario, including the raid and the journey to elsewhere really brought the end to a dramatic conclusion. I am not quite sure what Dex will do know, but I am sure he has some explaining to do to his partner and to Lila, the probably ex-girlfriend.

I am considering giving ToC a serious go with my next tabletop CoC game, wanting to see how it will play out that way. I have used some of the excellent ToC scenarios with good old BRP based CoC, but I'd like to try them on their own, especially calling upon the pillars of sanity and so forth. I'd love to see how the system plays out as players make choices on spends, etc. That was my only criticism because of the length of the game, I purely lost all track of what I spent, what I hadn't. I don't think we abused the system, but it worked out for us enough to ensure we made the rolls we had to.

Matt

[Gaffer]

Hey Matt,

Glad you enjoyed it and stuck with it. If you get a F2F game running in Melbourne, give me a holler. If I can make the logistics work, I'd like to be included. I'm up the road in Ocoee. Mobile number is 407-340-1231.

This is the second PbP I've run with ToC. I also ran The King's Men scenario over on Rpol. Overall, I think I still prefer CoC for a number of reasons. Familiarity certainly enters in, but I miss the attributes and the derived attributes like Know and Idea and Luck. They make it easy to do a quick Strength check or Dexterity check.

I don't think the investigators (or the NPCs) are as vulnerable to combat and mental damage, which makes such situations take longer to resolve. I also like the simplicity of percentile rolls, rather than target numbers and resource management.

The core clues given out for simply having certain skills is very efficient -- so long as the PCs have the necessary skill covered. Losing Vila's Outdoorsman skill and Franky's Forensic skill partway through made things a bit more problematic. I also never accepted the basic ToC premise that a single failed roll means the players are left unable to solve the mystery. Not when the GM is competent it doesn't.

Still, I'd like to play it on a table sometime and see how it runs.

Phil, what's your take on all of it.

[Gaffer]

I also want to say that you guys are still two of my favorite people to play with. I thoroughly enjoyed your characterizations of Dex and Delores. I do wish the others had stayed with us.

I made a lot of 'improvements' to the scenario Return to Red Hook as written. I think you all picked up on everything really useful except the bookstore, which for some reason was avoided.

I don't think I'm likely to play on this board any more (until End of John Company starts up again, Matt). I think most of rpol.net's solutions and mechanics are better and I'll probably mostly stick there in the future. You guys should check it out. I'm Gaffer there, too.

[Dave Syrinx]

Cheers, man. Just butt in to say just that. Good luck, back over at rpol.net.
I guess the main flaw of this site is the lack of a dice roller...
And when arriving from a previous "home site of gaming" any new site seems odd and peculiar, right?

Anyhow, I´m glad I had the privilege of having Gaffer as a player.

Cheers, till we cross roads again.
/Dave

[Dexter Ford]

I also want to say that you guys are still two of my favorite people to play with. I thoroughly enjoyed your characterizations of Dex and Delores. I do wish the others had stayed with us.

I made a lot of 'improvements' to the scenario Return to Red Hook as written. I think you all picked up on everything really useful except the bookstore, which for some reason was avoided.

I don't think I'm likely to play on this board any more (until End of John Company starts up again, Matt). I think most of rpol.net's solutions and mechanics are better and I'll probably mostly stick there in the future. You guys should check it out. I'm Gaffer there, too.

Gaffer,

I think you did a great job in making it flow. I even came across a few hints about how to make John Company run faster when it is resurrected sometime in the fall. I am not sure why we missed the bookstore, but things happen. I'll check out rpol.net's solutions and looks there.

BTW, I will be at GenCon come August and running some preview sessions of the new Colonial Cthulhu ruleset. Gaffer and anyone else from this game, let me know if they want one of the extra seats around the table. I'll let you know once GenCon assigns rooms, but right now the offered schedule is:
Colonial Cthulhu: The Hooded Woman, Thur 8pm, Fri 2m
Colonial Cthulhu: Northern Lights, Sat 10am, Sat 4pm

I can't let anything more out of the bag at the moment, but I'll make some posts over at the regular Yog-Sothoth site once I get a confirmation from GenCon with rooms and times.

Matt

[Dexter Ford]

Hey Matt,

Glad you enjoyed it and stuck with it. If you get a F2F game running in Melbourne, give me a holler. If I can make the logistics work, I'd like to be included. I'm up the road in Ocoee. Mobile number is 407-340-1231.

I will certainly do that. It probably won't be until after GenCon, but I might try to organize a pickup ToC game at GenCon too if you'll be out there.

Matt

[Gaffer]

I would love that, but unlikely to make it to GenCon. However, John Addis (Franky) goes just about every year, I think.

[Delores Brown]

Hi Guys,

sorry for my sudden absense - turned out to be a really busy week!

I really enjoyed the game and glad I managed to hang on in to the end - I thought the characterisations and atmosphere were great. I thought that Delores was a gonna when she followed Merivana (sp?) but the ending really worked for me.

Let me know when you're back on the board but in the meantime I'll take a wander over to rpol and see what's happening.

Cheers,

Phil.