Shadow walk and Shadow sending

[GM_Chris]

You have the problem down correctly.

Just add in that we dont want to have people OOG.

BTW can someone tell me where in the book putting your hand above your head is OOG?.


Chris

[dier_cire]

Of course, I'm none to concerned with oog, but that's cool.

Now my understanding of the spell would be this:

- Sending circle opens a gateway to the shadow realm through which anything can pass into only.
- Recieving circle opens a gateway to the shadow realm through which anything can pass out of only.
- Anyone entering a sending circle with an open recieving circle would instantly teleport there with no chance of being attacked (aka would have to be oog)
- Anyone entering a sending circle with no recieving circle walks around as normal except they have no skills and cannot be hit by anything but magic.

So it'd work like a long range version of the assasin pass wall under normal use. If there is no recieving circle the people entering are in trouble.

Question is could they talk to non etheral PCs explaining their problem? Ie. how much interaction is there between the shadow realm and normal? One can't hit the other unless magic is used (presumably both ways though without skills, pcs are unable to harness this), but what else can or can't they do?

[GM_Chris]

Anyone entering a sending circle with an open recieving circle would instantly teleport there with no chance of being attacked (aka would have to be oog)

incorrect. It is like traveling int he etherial realm od D&D. Travel can be quicker but it is not instantaneous. Infact when you open a recieving circle it is like a beacon that enters the realm. YOu could have several recieving circles open at once and as a player it is up to you to FIND the circle.

[dier_cire]

er, well, after double checking pass wall, I'd take it back. It'd be different.

Pass wall, how does one move through a wall without going oog?
How does one signify oog, since it is not in the book?
While in the shadow realm, what can you travel through?

[dier_cire]

incorrect. It is like traveling int he etherial realm od D&D. Travel can be quicker but it is not instantaneous. Infact when you open a recieving circle it is like a beacon that enters the realm. YOu could have several recieving circles open at once and as a player it is up to you to FIND the circle.

I'm slightly confused then. You still have to physically walk the distance from point a to point b, all the while able to be hit, with no ability to defend yourself. How is this helpful? (besides the possible chance of having pass wall)

Also how would multiple circles be represented in game? Npcs and pcs would have to know about every open recieving circle...

Basically this spell comes down to a long term pass wall spell. If that's so, could an assasin pull someone or something out of the shadow realm or are they a different type of etheral? Could be kinda cool.

[Dallid]

From what I understand, a fist on the head indicates the player is OOG in a number of LARPS. That's certainly how I've been trained at CARPS. Players and GMs in FH also frequently use it that way.

Please do not use the fist-on-the-head to indicate anything other than OOG - that just wouldn't be fair.

[GM_Chris]

Ok yes we have used it but you know I hate the fist on the head thing. It makes me fel dirty.

I would rather stick with the NO out of game rule we started with at FH. The first event I know we did no fist on the head ever.

[Corbyn]

I don't like OOG either but we at least need to have some way of signifying 'pauses' in game for using skills such as Detect Lie, or for NPCs to ask a PC a question (or vice versa). I can't see calling a full blown game stop for these one-on-one interactions, but there must be something. I see these little interuptions as the same level of disrupting the game flow as when the NPCs attack and the players ask, "What do we see?"

[GM_Chris]

LOL well yeah I hate the what do I see thing too.

I think a player can approach and NPC while in-game and wisper to them while not showing off to the world they are OOC.

The problem is players get into their head that they are immune to damage because they weer asking an NPC a question.

[Ravinal]

I would also like there to be no oog while playing FH. Though it seems that there are times when it would not be possibly to achieve the right effect without have oog or actually having the ablities our characters have. Pass wall is a perfect example that Eric brought up. We either learn how to actually passwall, ask the camp grounds management to build a secret door in certain passwall areas, or go oog to simulate passing through a wall. I can see that quite a bit of this game is GM intensive. And teleport has not been handled without a GM present, as of yet. I think it should just remain GM specific, as to what happens. Whether a person has to count 30 seconds to move from place to place or they are unharmed throughout......whatever the case. I feel it's been handled in a nice enough way to make whatever happens still enjoyable.

[dier_cire]

Course, sometimes you have to go ooc to give an npc or pc some info. Say we enter a combat with golems and I have skill "destroy golem" from an as of yet unreleased discipline (as there has already been hidden disciplines, not that I agree with them but that's another story. ) The npc's may not know this, so I need to inform them as to avoid a game stop later on. If I just walk up, I get hit for damage which is stupid, but if I go ooc for that couple seconds like (hand goes over head) "Hey Mike, I've got destroy golem, which works like destroy undead", it's quicker once combat begins and avoids the break in combat.

A small pause in the middle of combat sucks as everyone has way too much time to re-think what they are going to do.

Granted, this has nothing to do with Shaow walk...

[GM_Chris]

Well we could GM this spell by requireing the casting of both sending and recieving circles happen at certain places of power which will convienetly be near NPC camp.

We could also say they can only be opened at certain times per day giving us more control.

This way we could make sure players do not intersect other players

[kmeinka]

I think I get it. Final Haven Shadow Realm=Star Wars Hyperspace. Travel times are not eliminated, just greatly reduced. See you have to explain everything to me in terms of star wars or food, those are the only things I understand.

[Onimaster]

I agree with kmeinka. I see the Shadow Realm as being like hyperspace. You should be totally separated from reality while your there. And, until last event I thought that anyone lost in the ether without the tunnel effect of the portals was just lost or gone. I remember when the tunnel effects of sending was encapsulated, and if you were slow you'd leave the safety of the bubble and be lost in limbo or something.

I think that PCs should be OOG for all interactions with characters on the mortal plane (and avoid players whom they cannot interact with), but accessible to anything or anyone in the ethereal plane (IE, not safe and not in contact).

I hate the idea of limiting use of the portals just for the sake of people having to ignore anyone oog. I think that OOG status is easily recognized, and has no bearing on my enjoyment of the game or role playing.

Asking OOG questions is just a part of playing the game and knowing how our characters should react. Unless the GMs can provide an environment where we can do everything and see everything as our characters would we need those breaks in the game to define our actions properly. Being irked by them would be like getting pissed off at your living room because you can see it in the periphery of your vision while watching television ... it's just there.

I also think it's odd to tell us that asking NPCs questions doesn't make us safe, and then encourage us to walk up within whispering range to ask a question without any hand signals to inform those NPCs we aren't just willingly submitting to a slaughter...

[Kalphoenix]

I agree with a lot of the posts here...especially being a newbie here, there needs to be a way in game to ask the ocasional out-of-character question without calling a gamestop. I had quick mechanics questions that didn't come up until after the game started, and it was nice to be able to quietly ask them. I've also recognised the fist over the head as out-of-game from previous gaming groups.

There are some things in the game that make OOG nessesary, like when a huge dragon comes swooping in. I personally might still just walk up and say "Hello, I love you...can I have your dragon babies?" but I'm sure most people would like to know that they are seeing a huge dragon flying overhead.

I thought OOG was handled really well at my 1st event and didn't break my immersion at all, personally. Asking a game-related question is not the same as someone walking around in jeans listening to a cd player or playing their gameboy or something.

"I also think it's odd to tell us that asking NPCs questions doesn't make us safe, and then encourage us to walk up within whispering range to ask a question without any hand signals to inform those NPCs we aren't just willingly submitting to a slaughter... " <- That gave me the giggles, seriously.

Cool idea, I just can't think of a good way to implement it that would satisfy everyone. I mean, I agree...what's the point of a "teleportation" that doesn't actually get you anywhere faster and you can be attacked but can't fight back. You might be better off just running there. Then again, I hate the idea of a ephemerial spectre that can stand around and spy on you, that you know is there, but you can't affect. From a roleplaying standpoint, it sounds awesome, but practically, I'm not sure I see the point. Does it allow you to pass through walls or anything like that? Maybe it could be restricted it so that you can only do one point of magic damage per hit to someone phased out to represent their difficulty to be seen? That's the best I can think of right now.