LSO OOC Thread II

[Daos]

Feb 6, 2023 12:30:46 GMT -8 Bishgada said:

(OOC: Why didn't the Diamond shoot the ballista in the last round?)

I crunched the numbers, and Senllip has 13 crewmen remaining.  It takes 10 to sail the ship, 3 to fire the catapult and 2 to fire the ballista.  So he only has enough men to fire one of the weapons each round.  He could fire both, if he pulls some people off of sailing duty (up to five), leaving him with a skeleton crew.  This means his ship will take movement, maneuverability and seaworthiness penalties, though.  Up to you.

[Bishgada]

Well, it is a gamble but I rather add shooting power than maneuverability.
I believe that few good hits will improve all the team odds while extra maneuverability of the cog itself will not change much.

If possible also add it to the previous round and use as many weapons as the range allows including changing to cannons or crossbows when they are in range.
Thanks.

[GreyWolfVT]

If only his ship was closer we could try and off load some of the rescued crew on Brax's ship to help fire more weapons on Sen's ship.

[Daos]

Alright, if you want to take that risk (the penalties to Seaworthiness worry me more than the movement/maneuverability ones, since seaworthiness determines if your ship sinks upon taking enough damage), then next round I'll do that.

And yeah, I thought for sure you two would exchange some crewmen during the lull while we were waiting for the Dreadnought to arrive.

[GreyWolfVT]

I didn't think of it until now, after thoughts not quite as useful as foresight.

[Bishgada]

Yep, I missed it too.
About the skeleton crew, I didn't understand it gives penalties to taking damage... I now seethe risk is bigger than I previously thought but for now I'll take it. The dread is fighting 4 ships. If they will focus their artilleries on the diamond maybe Cassie will lead a mutiny and change the orders

There is also the chance that Tethys will spot Kalana in the water and will flag for parley. I assume having obsessed with her he has intel about her vessel and might recognize it.

[Daos]

Five months spent on that battle alone, and five years on the entire campaign.  I promised myself I would finish this game by December, failed, then promised myself I would finish by the end of February, so I at least technically made that goal.

Honestly, that whole finale was a huge mistake on my part.  Ship vs ship combat is messy and complicated, and fleet vs fleet combat is ten times worse.  I'd have to stay up until (or sometimes even after) 4 AM just to finish a single round of combat, which was why I was so slow to post them.  It would usually take me hours to make one post.  It was exhausting.  Which is why I just wrapped things up at the end there, instead of letting the battle finish on its own.  Otherwise, we'd probably be doing this until April, at least.

Anyway, five whole years spent on that game.  Thanks to those who stuck with it so long, especially when it could be quite a mess at times.  But this is why I'm not going to do any more campaigns (and certainly not any more sandboxes!) on pbp.  Best to stick to short-term stuff, like Matinee does, instead.  Hopefully, you all had fun for at least some of that whole thing.

Feel free to come up with your own epilogues for your characters, if you like.  I can add them to the final post later.

[HorizonsDream]

Since I don't know if any of the crew actually made it on the Tiaru, I'm going to assume that some survived. Of all of the ones that didn't survive, Kalana would have taken the time to send them off properly once things settled down. Of course, being who she is, she would feel like she would owe all the people that died since they all agreed to do this. She would contact their families, and perhaps give them a little bit of money. If any of the main NPC's died, then she would try to complete whatever their personal missions were (you know when it was possible to get a ship up and running again).

That would probably take years, but she would feel it was the right thing to do. Once she can go out there on a ship again, she'll also try to rebuild the Blue Lightning because someone needs to keep Gunn at bay. It is quite possible that she'll try to make Shadowshore, since Gunn seems quite persistent in taking over the island, she would try to have a garrison of Blue Lightning members there to keep Gunn away. Of course, this is after she tries to rebuild the Blue Lightning.

If Kalana actually manages to settle down with someone, that all depends on who survived and who didn't survive.

She would also make amends with her family and pretty much anyone that she burned in her past. I figure that would probably be a long process, even if she was forgiven for what she did.

I'm not exactly sure what happened to Tethys either, but I guess that might be explained in your epilogue post.

[GreyWolfVT]

Brax will likely stay in the newly offered home, but he got a taste for being a ships captain. He's going to try and do what he can to get his own ship after decommissioning the cargo ship. He is going to revive the "Salty Dwarf" once he has a ship, and a crew. He'll take on whatever work he can to get that back and use what savings he still had left. He will be the coast guard for his new home, protecting it as best he and his crew can from whatever threats on the open sea around it comes forth. Who knows maybe one day he will be able to inspire enough others to build up a fleet for that new homeland to be better prepared for Gunn should they return.

Not sure how feasible that is for that area but that is my thoughts. He will keep his uncle and any of the old crew with him so long as they wish including any crew from the other ships that joined them in taking on the fleet of Gunn.

[Bishgada]

Senllip would want to meet with his old friend from the guild. Find the exceptional thief they came across before and later seek The son of Crizza. He will suggest to his friends to join him on the adventures but won't take it too bad if the didn't. He will probably seek them between adventures (if he will survive) to speak of old times and his new adventures, and also visit his son from time to time inspite their rule of leaving them alone (maybe under disguise).

[Bishgada]

So, it is difficult to believe it's been 5 years. We had many turns and mysteries to solve. I enjoyed it a lot, died, revived, had a child, spoke with demi-god, and the last fleet battle, well, I understand it was though work on your part but it was new experience for me and I liked it. Especially when the diamond actually managed to hit something.

So thank you Daos for all your great work, both in this campaign and in the other two campaigns we had, and thank you all other players for great companionship along all these years.

I'd be happy if we can continue playing together on other shorter games.

Daos, I don't have a constructive criticism. It is easy to see that you are devoted to the games and you give great descriptions and good pace in the game. You are involved and attentive to all the players and I think it works perfectly. Many thanks.

[Daos]

Thanks, Bishgada.  That means a lot.  I've certainly learned a lot from running this game, and hopefully I can use what I have learned to make new games even better.

I am working on a new Lost Souls game, this one set in Renosia, and hopefully it will be up and running in the next couple of months.  Anyone here interested is free to sign up once it's ready, if they want.

[GreyWolfVT]

I can't say much different than Bishgada said. You make me feel like I could do more as a DM, I'm a bit envious at how big your update posts are and the number of games you run all at once. Not to mention now you are even playing in some. From my side I only run 1 game and play in 3-4 here not to mention running 1 other game on another forum and am playing in about 5-6 games over there. I just feel like my posts are really short and lack detail and whatnot. Where as yours are a lot more like an author writing a book.

At any rate. Keep doing what your doing Daos. Sandboxes on PBP don't work for everyone. I tried it and had to end it just as you are. But there is one guy I know that is still running a sandbox in PBP on the other forum and has been running his game for I have no idea how many years I think they are about at year 5 or six by now maybe 7. Granted when someone's character dies he lets a new player join the game and bumps the current player to the waiting list (not exactly how I'd run it.) Which is in part why I didn't bother staying in the game after my character was killed.

Any who thanks for running such great games Daos!

[Daos]

Thank you, Greywolf.  I have some mixed feelings about how this game turned out, but I'm glad to hear you two had fun with it, at least.

[Bishgada]

Well, I'm not sure if it will improve your feeling about the game, but for me, even when playing face to face, it is less the outcome of the adventure, but the fun and creativity during sessions. On PBP there is no session, but the analog is the feeling when you see what others think on the current situation and react to that.