Do you feel I am too restrictive for your actions? I am not trying to railroad you, in these little encounters.
That said, nice attack roll.
Hmmm thats a good question.
I don't think I am being that railroaded, especially since I have had numerous opportunities to be creative (using Perform (dance) to bypass crowds, using Grease with a torch to win a combat encounter etc). What I get scared about as a player, is that if I fail a skill check, that I'll end up missing a vital clue to solving the mystery, so I guess I try to "win everything". I don't think thats you railroading me though, its more me needlessly worrying about failing the mystery :(
Enjoying things so far?
Very much so!
I'm glad. I've been having great fun with this one! The murder/mystery thing has gone better then I dared hope.
Assuming Angelique lives, shall I begin planning another murder in another city?
Sure!
Enjoying the grand finale here?
Angelique Rousseau, hostage negotiator!
I'll be out of town till Sunday night, so no posts. See you then!
Thats fine~
I'm flying up to Auckland tomorrow, as I have a job interview to handle, so my activity might be a little low for the next couple of days. I think I'll still be able to get daily posts up though.
You can leave Vachedi die if you want, but recall your goal IS to exonerate the other guy. Might be better to have some evidence?
The only evidence that actually works is him owning up to the authorities, which he wont do, because he feels like dying and I am in no position to stop him. Remember that I told Vachedi that if he doesn't own up, this other guy will suffer as a result of something he did, and I got no reaction from him - he genuinely doesn't care.
First off- Congrats, you solved the crime? Did you enjoy it? Were the clues good? Did it seem too forced or contrived? How can I improve the experience?
As for what to do next, it is almost over.
You can simply go report to the Mistress what you know, arrest Vachedi's father and then report (or simply flee the city I suppose!). It is basically done and I'll move through these last few scenes quickly.
Make sense?
Clues were good, I met a diverse range of people and that was really neat! Anthor was also a good villain / enemy. One thing I did miss though was that I never really understood why Vachedi did it, what he gained from it, reasons etc. Talking with him was difficult, because I couldn't make him see things my way, and he had a death wish or something so we ended up going around and around in circles really. It was still an enjoyable case, my favourite part was probably gaining entry to the club by passing off Ansel as an attacker - that was pretty funny!
Thank goodness you stopped the fires.
Me and my co-GM were worried you were going to cause a giant race riot by burning down a district of the city.
Vachedi killed her because he felt that a Shoanti shouldn't fall in love with another race. He then felt super guilty about it and wanted to die in proper fashion, which you provided via the burning building.
I will work on my dialogue parts. I think I pushed the 'crazy with regret and grief' too far.
Damn, I thought he was mind controlled :(
Good point about the fires. Angelique didn't expect them to spread so quickly, she I imagine she will think more long term before using that tactic again. It isn't really her style to go for collateral damage like that/
Hey just a query. I was able to slide out of my oath because Anthor had no idea that the brother had died and had been found in the sewers. Ergo I was able to investigate the killing of the brother and therefore continue investigating the case. Therefore, it stands to reason that Mandel did NOT confess to killing Vachedi's brother. Isn't that enough doubt to convince the nobles in charge that they might have the wrong man?
All right, so satisfied? So you are up for another mystery. I have something semi-fleshed out but I'll need a few days to get the details right. Any requests, complaints anything of that sort?
Also, you get to level up!
Cool, I leveled up! (and completed it).
Korvosa is a pretty cool place. Angelique, with her eye for artifacts and suchlike, would probably be interested in the city due to it being built over Xin-Eurythnia, which has a runelord connection. I don't actually know very much though about the city, so it will definitely be an interesting place to explore!
Sorry about the delay.
This game, everything has to be set up ahead of time, so it can unfold for you. Takes time to get it right.
Shooting for next weekend, ok with you?
Sure thing!
I am sorry. Work has been crazy, and the holidays....
Will try to have it up by Monday. but I assume you want it done right and a bit later then rushed but sooner?
yep exactly!
Don't worry about the delay, I have been doing job interviews recently, so I didn't have time either back then.
And we begin! The 'bloody room' will be an opera house. Bit of a change of pace. Hope you look forward to another one.
Instrument was a clever idea, I like it. Do you care what instrument it is?
Hmmm, probably a flute, because then I can use it via Perform (Wind Instrument) as part of a disguise or way of blending in.
The Opera house is certainly a dramatic area of a crime...It's really an awesome idea!
Sometimes I forget how much I like this game.
Then I am reminded. Nice post!
I like analysis =]
Also I kinda got inspired because I was reading an interesting book about a chess player investigating some murders in the 1800s which got the ball rolling. I have to second guess my posts though because I frequently use modern day crime solving tactics and then remember that the pathfinder system probably does things very differently!!
Also sidenote, what are the odds that both your players in your solo games have job interviews at the same time, both are successful, and both have to move all at the same time! Remarkable
If you say something that is wrong or anything obvious I'll be sure to have that said. I like having a professional approach though. That is the heart of the game. Not sure I always do it justice, but you do.
What was the book, if I may ask? I'm a librarian (and chess player), I have a professional interest you might say.
Also sidenote, what are the odds that both your players in your solo games have job interviews at the same time, both are successful, and both have to move all at the same time! Remarkable
Solo PBP is good for the resume? I'll have to add that in further recruitments.
So you are keeping up with Soaring Ambition? What do you think? Any thoughts as a player?
Also I am doing a few other games, if you like reading them. One is a traditional party game, set in the Mwangi Expanse.
Two other solos, one a survival/exploration game set in the Darklands. Other one is a crime game where the player builds a criminal empire. My player may have vanished from that one though. I have a backup player.
Yeah, I play a bit of chess as well. Its a fiction book called "The Tournament" I believe and it was an ok read.
Yes, I tend to keep up with most of your games, its always an interesting read, although I haven't checked out the darklands game yet. Soaring Ambition looks like its progressing very well indeed, I really like the political arena Imperia found herself in! Its also amusing that both of us have signature spells, Imperia with Memory Lapse, and Angelique with Grease.
Its also funny that I'm in a crime game right now as a Red Mantis agent (the dark mirror of Angelique), and our next mission brought us to this very city, at the exact same time Angelique is here investigating. I expect I'll have very good knowledge of this city by the end of both cases!
Good old Blood Biography. A powerful spell in a game like this!
O.k I'm posting my plan here, just in case because I don't want to forget the finer points of it.
Firstly, Angelique's initial plan for finding the murderer is to use herself as a form of bait. If the murder was something strictly personal, and it was "solved" then obviously, this wont work, but if its a serial killer, or something with a more general grudge, its going to work. I'll try and swing high Performance checks so that I can risk "outshining" someone and hopefully draw enough ire to discover whether someone killing Opheila because she was "competition" or something is a viable motive.
So thats "Grand Master Plan", Grand Master Plan 1(b) involves figuring out who had the most to gain from Ophelia's death and then going back to the guards. Angelique has suspicions that the guards keep track of the various names of the allowed people, and she hopes that there is a written record somewhere. Obviously, the guards wouldn't let her just read it, so ideally she wants to try and flick through the book looking for a blank page, while hopefully glancing at Ophelia's section AND Person X's section (if Person X is a person in the building that benefits largely from Ophelia being out of the way) and trying to memorise the names.
Basically, its just a sneaky way to see who was meeting with who, because all a murderer has to do is be on ANYONE's list, and he gets past the guards, ergo its possible Person X adds a killer to his or her list to get him or her past the guards, then sets the killer loose, who does the job, and walks out clean.
Reading back through this, all of this sounds incredibly needlessly complicated but hey, the idea sounded good in my head.
BTW is it common knowledge that Ophelia is dead? I was going to make a passing mention to the guards but realised that the entire thing was meant to be quiet so I haven't said anything yet.
I would say that most people would know, doubly so the guards. Pataclsus is freaked out everyone is going to be murdered. They are high alert.
Also, I really appreciate the plans. Lets me not only move things along but build up stuff so it fits what you are trying to do. Thanks!
Quick points then!
Angelique probably aims to sleep / rest / whatever within the same building as Ophelia. I don't know if its confirmed that I am staying in the building, but if not, its a goal I'll attempt to work towards.
RE That scroll of blood biography, I think its probably worth telling you now that I'd prefer NOT to immediately buy it, but if I feel stuck or something I'll resort to it then. The basic idea behind it is that I feel Angelique is generally a very frugal person, not the kind of girl who carries lots of gold around on her person, and certainly not enough to really warrant spending cash on scrolls unless it was essential to solving the investigation.
Re Future Plans:
Angelique considers it highly likely someone saw Ophelia as a threat (talent wise) and had her removed. If this turns out to be false, her next suspicion would be that she ended up owing $$$, favors or whatever else criminals go for these days, and that resulted in her getting murdered. So her next point of call would probably be the criminal underworld, probably someone intelligent and significant up on the chain if at all possible, someone that could probably be negotiated / talked with. If this theory falls through her next point of call is probably history of the theatre / building itself, its possible someone had a grudge against what it stood for eg maybe it stands for decadence or something etc and is therefore going on a killing spree to prove a point or close it down. The strategy in that case is probably to act as bait as mentioned in an earlier post, make herself a primary target and then outmaneuver the killer somehow.
So this is really my blueprint at the current time. Obviously this changes significantly with every new bit of information I get but at this early stage, thats where I'm at.
Glad you are recovering.
Happy New Year!
Also, wanted to say, I am very glad you do not meta-game. Makes this type of game much easier to run. Cheers.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for putting time and effort into running not just a game that includes me, but games with several others as well. Its not easy to GM, but the fact you are running multiple games at once and giving people an excellent experience with PbP is something you should be congratulated on, so well done!
Will post tomorrow!
Angelique is shameless!
Hey, I didn't sleep with Hamlin!
I apologize. I had some car trouble which lead to financial trouble.
All is corrected. Will be posting daily again...hopefully!
No problem!
I work almost exclusively with people that have financial trouble and try to get them back on their feet, so I'm very sympathetic to your situation.
No problem!
I work almost exclusively with people that have financial trouble and try to get them back on their feet, so I'm very sympathetic to your situation.
Luckily, my wife and are are frugal people so I had enough money to just go write a check and get a car.
I am back for good. Lets get back into this mystery of the dead opera singer....
It is good to be back.
Are you feeling lost with this mystery? It isn't quite as tight (or railroaded) as the last one.
I like how it's open ended, and I do have a general plan of attack. It's more nailing down the finer details like how to get from point A to point B
And another (possible) dead end?
The plot thickens.
My working theory is that Ramin was hired to scout out how to best find entry into the place, and then vanished after the job was done / was a loose end and was killed off. It wasn't a total waste of time though I think.
*GM Cough*
You'll note Karel said Ramin was here last night and yet Jomark seemed to indicate otherwise?
I noticed it.
I cannot actually act on it though because its possible Ramin spent the night, dumped Jomark, and then left, hence Jomark with the "red eyes" asking where he was. Here exact words were "“So no sign of him?”" which I agree probably means that he didn't stay the night but could also imply he left her during the day and she doesn't know where he is.
Still, I'll probably ask Karel about next post.
All right, I just didn't want it to be missed.
Hope I did not make a mistake at being obvious.....