Ok due to the Host being Toast last night I was unable to post to Trilogy. As I have errands that need doing today I will post sometime tonight and after that my next post will be on Jan 8th 2012 after the Holidays.

I've tossed out some ideas so if you agree we should act on some of them.

Ok it has been brought to my attention that the challenge I have placed before you as a group with these seemingly un-killable creatures is too tough to figure out and will end with the party all dead. Also due to this and the time it may take to maybe figure it out, is causing interest in the game in some quarters to slowly drop. My hints I’ve been told were not picked up and everyone is at a loss at how to proceed and that is why the high Player turnover rate in these last few months. I don’t believe that, however I may not be the right person to comment as Trilogy is my baby after all and I‘m quite defensive of her/he/it.

So then my question for all of you over this Christmas break is to answer truthfully if the above is correct and to give constructive insight/criticism to me to help me better run this game in the new year. With RP Noob and Ginafae, we have two new people who have not been with us very long and I think their thoughts, as newbie’s to Trilogy, will be greatly helpful. Please do not blow this question off and not reply but give it some serious thought as only by your input as players can I get better as a DM. I want this game to go on for many more years, as there is SOO much yet to do and with your help and suggestions I think that can become a reality to look forward to.

So think on it and reply and as I said, in my post, I hope each of you and your families have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year.

Will have my thoughts on this soon. I assume you want them posted here for all to see or would you prefer PMs?

Really that's up to each of you, I would prefer it posted here for all to read but if you want to stay private in this a PM is fine too.

Again your choice.

Well here are my thoughts on the subject of if the quest is too hard:

For me, it seems very difficult, but to me all this is kind of new and that adds to the difficulty. I come in and take over a pure fighter type character, which I like playing and would like to continue to play, but in reading the back posts and now in this new encounter; he seems to not be of much use most of the times.

There have been riddles, traps, and puzzles; all of which are great but a pure fighter who doesn’t have any abilities beyond fighting isn’t much help there. Most of the escapes from these traps seem magical; again not much help from my character.

Then along comes a fight; and my weapons and armor are not much good and cant damage the opponents. Though, it seems the magic isn’t much help either so that evens the playing field among characters.

You say the solution is simple, that clues have been given; I have read back quite a ways and I can’t figure it out. Now I will be the first to admit I am no brain, but the simple solution eludes me. I have never sat and played table top games before so I don’t know if this type of ‘thinking’ adventure is common; but if it is, it seems to be very difficult and sometimes frustrating when everything you think of to try doesn’t work or backfires.

Now I don’t mean to criticize your DMing in any way; your presentation of the story is great. But the solutions of these puzzles seem to make it difficult and I will admit does take some of the fun out of it. It just seems to me that one, after the other, after the other, just tends to slow things down so much that the excitement fades. In reading back posts I saw areas I was glad I wasn’t playing at the time as it seemed so slow; and coming in at a battle I thought this was some excitement, but to face a foe that defeats your best easily while taking no damage on their own sure puts a damper on the case.

I hope you don’t take this hard; I just believe in being honest and telling you my thoughts. It doesn’t mean the adventures have to be easy; but we are big damn heroes right? Oh wait wrong game. But if the difficulties seem insurmountable and after trying the players can’t seem to solve the riddle, perhaps someone should assist them a little. Maybe one of the NPC in the group could slip a ‘hint’ out to guide them in the right direction. Or the DM could slip a PM to a player and say “Hey you suddenly remembered this from awhile back.” I guess you could roll for that and let it decide if they get a hint and who gets it. I still am not sure what you roll for exactly other than combat.

To sum up; the game is great, and definitely challenging, but if things seem to stall and people aren’t getting it, maybe throw a fresh hint their way in some fashion to move things along again.

I am not an expert in table top games, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express once.

Intelligence – Each of our characters have an Intelligence stat. I did a little reading up on that and I have a question.

The adventure has been a lot of the puzzles, Riddles, etc. lately; and we have all been rattling our brains to figure out things; but isn’t it really about our character’s intelligence and not the player’s?

Should things like these but subjected to a roll of some type against our intelligence to see if our characters figure out something? I am not talking about my guy of course, he is a fighter, but we have more learned people in our group.

I might be wrong but I think in Role playing it is about being someone we are not, if I can’t figure out the riddle or the clues, then maybe my much smarter character can; again, not based on my character’s intelligence here.

Just some more thoughts!

I like the idea of a character using an "intelligence check". Obviously at first it would be with some good penalties to make us think. But as hints are given, and not understood, the penalty for inteligence checks might drop. Eventually one of the characters might figure out what us players cannot.

Be flexible.

Ok now on to my question... Can I post as being alive yet or do I post as being I am dead for good?

We I thought it was tough because I'm playing a character with a higher level then my experience. I was hoping to learn from the other players. Now I'm pushing the evelope.

What I think I'm seeing is that Tann's stories need the players to talk and compare note and ideas. If you are an experienced gamer then bring that to this game. Pull from anywhere. I think we may not be asking enough questions and I agree with the "Checks", we have not been using them for help. "Preception" checks are a staple in 2E and we should try others.

We have been pretty successful when we've planned. Maybe it's time to push, check your talents and skills and let's see if we missed something.

I had some thoughts which I posted in character in the game thread. Check them out and maybe post about them in game. Think it might be worth exploring.

Yes this game as Odyson stated is all about Role Play between characters, storyline, and party interaction and cooperation. The times you have not done so the results have always been somewhat bad, but when you have talked it out and come up with a plan most of the time the problem facing the party has been easy to overcome.

As for stat checks I can roll for them, like an Intell check to get a hint or a Str check to see if you can lift an object, or a Dex check to cross a narrow overhang, but the player has to ask for it on most things though I sometimes do so on the obvious so as not to slow the game down too much. I can't just do it as stat checks are different then skill checks.

Example 1:
Ulthok wants to check for traps on a chest and if he finds none then pick locks on it to open it. No problem I go to the two thief skills roll on percentile dice for each and post the results.
Did I add his Intell to the chance to succeed or his Dex, no, as it was not asked for by the player.

Example 2: Ulthoks attempts to pick the chests lock have failed! He knows its an easy lock to pick yet he can't pick it. He asks for a Intell check as to why its so hard, I roll he gets a successful number and Wow he realizes that the lock is in reality a backwards lock! so that instead of unlocking it he keeps locking it. So he now does a pick lock in reverse and lo and behold the chest is now open.

I understand that the two examples are simplelistic in nature compared to this room, but I hope you all get the point. I'll happly roll stat checks but you have to ask me for them otherwise I I'm playing your character and thats not how this game works.

PBP games by thier nature are slow games with the players posting 1 post a week on the minimum and the DM posting once a week also.
In 7+ years Trilogy has only covered what would maybe take 6 months in a once a week 6hr Table Top game due to the nature of Posting once a week. It's slow but hopefully worth it and PBP games due to thier very nature have at times a high turnover rate as people get bored and move on.

I've been lucky to keep Trilogy going for so long and I like to think thats due to a good storyline, player interaction, and a few core members who have stayed with the game from its very beginning in August of 2004.
I look forward to 2012 and the continuing of the Trilogy War Storyline

"GAME ON!!"

I had never done PBP before coming to this site and my table top gaming was limited to once or twice a year where I was mostly an adult supervising to help use the game as tool to help teach good conduct to scouts. The DM let my lack of rules knowledge slide and helped me play my character.

Now I'm coming out of the dark and learning how to apply the rules and stats. Still not great but learning. So this would a great place (the Q&A) for the veteran gamers to suggest stuff, don't assume we are all vets. I would hope that even a long time vet wouldn't take suggestions from others as crits. I've been trying to look not only at my character but at others to understand them and their abilities betters. The idea being that the character has grown to know the others and would know the same. I try to go back and read my books because I am still fairly novice so that's why I'll post stuff about spells. My hope is that others will help see flaws or agree. This sort of stuff rang most true to me when the others noticed Ulthok's Amulet that saved his life essence, I had missed it because of my inexperience. And no one says you have to change your mind on what you want to do, it is your character.

So I'm VERY open to others seeing stuff I miss or suggestions on how to better apply skills. I can still build good story around those sort of things. I would think that this break is a good time for both in and out of character chats.

Tann for ability checks and such would that need to be done in story or here or PM? That being so the story posts include the results.

Would it benefit others to see the checks to help them in asking for their characters?

If we follow through with the test we will Tann to help structure the results of the test.

I don't know if hurling a spear at one of the creatures would start another combat round or could just be a one on one action.

Can you roll for the dead guy! or the dead hand at the very least!

HAHA, you can call me lefty now.