COOKING UP TROUBLE - GM Firedove's Campaign

Game Master Lady Firedove

Discussion

Welcome!
Players and observers alike are welcome to post here to discuss the COOKING UP TROUBLE campaign, and various other randomness.
Let's keep it friendly, fun, and mostly PG.
Enjoy! :)

Greetings! Congrats all who made it! Hope you're hanging around, all who didn't! (Still not sure who all these are, yet)!

Greetings, all. It is I, who has posted just prior. I pray we all have a pleasant experience.

(^That's me, by the way.)

Congrats everyone.

Hoorah! Looking forward to making my grand (actually timid and quiet) entrance once I'm home from work and can type properly (posting from my phone at the moment.

Thank you and congrats!

"Well, Congratulations to all of you are in order. It would seem I failed to convince the Schmultzfeathers. Your culinary exploits must have been top-notch, I suppose.
Ah well, there's much to learn yet. I suppose my journey is not yet over. Guess I'll try and go find that girl who made vegepygmy steak. I have not tasted many sentient races yet, and need to fix that shortcoming of my skills. Best of luck to all of you in your endeavours."

Thank you I will post a normal post on Monday morning

Philip slips Oishi his business card if he ever wants to try specialty meats.

Real post after I get some sleep. Just wanted to say here

Just checking in for now to get this to show in my campaigns tab, will post more later.

Looking forward to playing with all of you!

Zelsych makes his way down the broad, cobblestone streets toward Lord Schumutlzfeather's tower estate.

This is a far cry from the docks. I hope that these fancy folk can see past my nature, and appreciate my skills.

Welcome!

Feel free to dot in the gameplay thread, even if you're not ready to make your actual opening post of arriving at the tower, if you'd like to get this campaign to show up in your campaigns tab.

Also, those who have already arrived at the tower in gameplay, feel free to have your characters talk more to each other, if you think they would do so.

I'm enjoying what's there so far. :)

So, everybody has arrived! Excellent! :)

I have a series of five posts ready as Chef Sali shows you around the tower. Since I have them all ready, but since it's a lot of info to dump on you all at once, I'll probably space them out, one or two per day, for the next few days. Don't worry if you don't get a chance to post after each one of them. If you don't post much during this next series, I will just assume you are following along and nodding occasionally. Do feel free to add as many posts as you would like, however, either describing your actions, asking Chef Sali questions, or making comments to your fellow new recruits. :)

Questions about the setting (with apologies if I overlooked a prior explanation):

- Where exactly are we? I've just assumed generic fantasy manor that's.... somewhere. Is there anything we need to know about climate/location/nation, etc.? (I'd like to confirm climate if nothing than to be able to presume what kind of produce Mimi's easily going to be able to acquire.)

- What is the tech level? Chef Sali's comment on glass as something being a total novelty confused me. While a luxury item in our own history for a long time, humans have been making glass since Ancient Mesopotamia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_glass). Some of the most impressive glass displays we have even now are stained glass windows made during medieval times. Golarion and similar standard fantasy worlds have a lot of glass in them (most potion vials are presumed to be made of glass; large important buildings have enough glass that a stained glass golem is not an entirely unexpected creature to encounter). Not to mention with fantasy alchemy and magical sources of fire, glassmaking would be even easier in a fantasy world than in our own --- unless we are in a world where silicates are somehow rare. (And then there's oldskool spells like glassteel, etc.)

In a vaguely-resembling a medieval or renaissance world with magic, large glazed windows wouldn't be commonplace, but not a surprising possession of a person of considerable means, such as Lord Schmultzfeather. Large panes of pure clear glass certainly, in total fairness, would be quite a rarity depending on exact tech level.

- What is the magic level? Is this a high or low magic world? I noted the methods of cooling food, providing water, etc. all were pretty mundane, suggesting a low magic world (with the exception of the rods, which Sali treated as extraordinarily rare). Is my presumption of low magic correct? Should we guess access to magic items, etc. will be limited? Or is it that Lord Schmultzfeather prefers to spend his money on other things (fine ingredients?) and does things the old fashioned way?

Thanks, sorry if I'm sounding nitpicky or being a pain in the butt, just trying to figure out what my character should and shouldn't presume in terms of what might be available to her. :)

The only thing I've really said about the setting so far is:

"The setting will be Golarion-ish, but with a few slightly more modern elements, and a bit of a zanier tone. (Although, if divinity matters for your character, feel free to assume Golarion deities.)"

So, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to keep it a fairly generic fantasy manor for now and add local setting details as they become related to the story.

For example, I didn't necessarily think of the local town as a port city, but with Kehlysh's description of the nearby docks, it is now. And, I'm fine with that.

Also, feel free to detail your distant homelands as desired. They could be direct imports from Golarion or from another fantasy setting, or they could be your own inventions.

What I have described locally are forested mountains and waterfalls, so perhaps we're in a sort-of cross between Vermont and North Carolina, climate-wise. However, feel free to stretch what ingredients might be available. I'd rather see you follow through on a fun idea than stick to exact realistic geographic or historic detail.

The season, at present, is Spring.

You'll notice that I use words like "Monday" to refer to days of the week in game, since I, personally, think that trying to remember alternate names for each day of the week in a fantasy world adds an unnecessary layer of complexity, for not much benefit. I hope nobody minds.

The tech level is somewhat different in different regions, but, overall, I see it as perhaps something of a blend between Forgotten Realms and Eberon. (Golarion-ish)

Again, I'm okay if something slips in that is a bit anachronistic, tech-wise, if it increases your enjoyment of the game. (And, I hope it won't be too grating for you if I let a few such things slide in myself. I'll be trying to keep the game fun, but probably not perfectly researched, since this is my brain break from a rather intense work week.)

You are correct to assume that acquisition of certain magic items may be more limited than in standard Golarion. If there is a particular something you'll be saving up to acquire, feel free to ask ahead of time about its likely availability.

However, please also keep this in mind:

"This game will focus primarily on character interaction and story, and will probably be fairly lighthearted. Combat might happen ... or it might not. We'll use the Pathfinder rules as a basis, but the game will be fairly rules-light, and if level-up occurs, it will occur at the speed of plot."

Thanks for all the questions! Both Mimi's questions here and everyone's questions in-game. It shows me you're thinking deeply about the game, and you're also keeping me on my toes. :)

EDIT: Also, thanks for the neat info on glass, Mimi! It's mostly the idea of such a large, clear pane being very rare indeed. As for Chef Sali, remember, you don't know much about her life before she came to work for Lord Schmultzfeather. Perhaps this whole glass thing is new to her, and thus she assumes it's new to others.

Oishi, asked to remain on standby, had wandered off into the city, originally having planned to take a look at the available seafoods, since he was unable to find the veggie hunter and nobody could tell him where she went.

On the market, he found a merchant of exotic wares offering some kind of talking animal.

LOL, No problem, Oishi! Glad you're still around. Feel free to add more Oishi actions here, or to discuss gameplay stuff here, if you'd like. :)

Thanks for putting up with all my pedantry. :) Your response is VERY helpful. I know not to focus too much on rules, but I do want to be clear on what my character knows and doesn't know--and if this is the kind of game where we can, within reason, add to things, I am more than happy to play it that way.

No magic items I am planning to acquire, just thinking more generically along the lines of what might be common or uncommon/what my character might have seen in her travels (e.g., say, an enchanted box built with the chill touch spell to keep food cool....). Although of course that mithral waffle iron in Ultimate Equipment could always come in handy.... ;)

FWIW, I pictured Mimi's monastery being a secluded one in the wilds of "the north" akin to some of the northern region of Avistan in Golarion (but it does not have to be per se).

Yes, feel free to add setting details as they apply to your character!

Mimi certainly may have seen a chill touch box somewhere in her travels ... but that's more than a cantrip/orison, so it would be even more expensive and even more rare than the colorful rods in the Kitchen at present.

Remember, you guys are level 1, and yet managed to be among the top chefs in the region. There very well may be fewer higher-level characters here than would be expected in a typical Golarion setting. That would also equate to fewer magic items.

Also, that general backdrop for Mimi's monastery sounds fine. :)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Blarg.

Ashley is shockingly pale.

"Ah... I-" Ashley attempts, before falling into a coughing fit.

After a few moments, his breathing stabilizes. He nods graciously at Phillip's and Sali's assistance, though barely able to control himself.

"Er... my... my apologies. It... seems..." he looks strained, "... Mother's... "blessings"..." he coughs some more, "... are... acting up again." He takes time to regather what strength he has - even that little seemed to wind him. "Be... better... few... minutes..." he manages to finish, softly.

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27 Secret Message to Bahram. DC 15 Success.
Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21 Hm...

Secret Message:

"Drop whatever you're up to, so we can deal with it privately later. I'm doing this for you."

Sense Motive DC 10:

Ashley seems to be entirely "genuine" in his feinting. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink.

Bahram Sense Motive DC 10:

Totally faking it to take the heat off you, man.

Sense Motive DC 15:

Ashley seems to be entirely "genuine" in his feinting. No, really.

Bahram Sense Motive DC 15:

He seems to be doing this to distract the others from whatever it is you're hiding.

Sense Motive DC 20:

Ashley seems to be entirely "genuine" in his feinting.

Bahram Sense Motive DC 20:

While real, he's probably playing it up for your sake, hoping to distract others so the two of you - and Chef Sali - can handle things in private.

Sense Motive DC 24:

Ashley is entirely genuine in his feinting. He's to Barhnam, he's passing it off as if it were an intentional "distraction" to help smooth over that situation to attend to later, and probably is using it as such.

Yes, I just copy/pasted this four times with small edits in between.

Bahram Sense Motive DC 24:

Actually, he couldn't fake this well if he tried. The guy really can't breathe at present. He's still very distracting, though, and playing it up for your sake.

EDIT: Woooooaaaah. My dice rolls really changed between "Preview" and "Submit Post", but Phillip posted while I was following up on the rolled part. Hm... wondering if I should change the above DCs and results above? GM?

Gr...

My dice were very, very altered from my "Preview" look, and I wrote a lot of stuff. Trying to wrap my head around the change in presentation of the things.

Currently, in that thread, the first dice showed a "1" (total of 10; failed Secret Message), and the second showed a "6" (total of 15). That is a reduction by 7 and by 9, respectively (original totals were 17 and 24, hence the Sense Motive DCs).

Kind of at a loss for what to do. Delete my post and start over? Just start a new post below that one (leaving those rolls)? How do I even interpret that? Blarg.

(By the way, Phillip, you did nothing wrong. I... didn't think that sort of thing happened anymore, since I'd previewed it, which is part of the reason why I'm really confused as to what to do right now.)

EDIT: for lack of time, I deleted everything after the dice rolls in the other thread. If it's still valid, you guys can find things here, as-originally written. If I need to rewrite it, I will in that thread later (or this one, GM's discretion).

Oh. My.

I got to read some of this at work, going to see if I can come up with appropriate responses as soon as I find my brain. (I think I lost that 4 hours into work...but I'm hopeful I can come up with something.)

Oishi hears a commotion upstairs.
"Well, I guess they are settling in at work.", he softly says to a very traumatized-looking bird sitting alone in a cage next to him, prompting soft muttering from the bird:"Polly wants to unsee things.".
Oishi leans back, places his legs atop the small table in his spartanic room, and reaches for a book on his nightstand, speaking more with himself than with the bird: "Really kind of this Chef Sali person to have met me in person yesterday, and allow me to borrow this ancient cookbook for research to pass the time."
Oishi has a very hard time reading anything, but some of the illustrations, he finds quite helpful.

This kitchen is classy, that's for sure!

I am rather at a loss here about Humperdink.

But I have plenty of recipes to trade with Oishi.

Just as a suggestion, maybe it would help if Bahram used this Discussion place to explain what he actually tried to pull there. Obviously it went awry, but while it would be in my best interest to get him fired, I feel that he deserves a chance to explain what he was up to(as in, was it pure mischief for chaos's sake, or did he actually have some cunning plan that simply failed.) Just in case this option did not occur to him yet. But I figure knowing the intent goes a long way towards deciding the correct reaction. As in, maybe he only meant to find out IF the kitchen crew has spares and can access those drawers, meaning they are not completely save...or maybe he meant to find out where the spares are so that he could sabotage you guys. Went wrong, obviously, and that bluff was not the best way to do it imho(could just purposefully forget the key on the first shift and ask for a spare, totally honest), but, yeah...anyway, I'd suggest he take up the hints in gameplay and "discuss" this here to help people decide how they react. Also, my guess is that Chief-Chef Sali simply has a general key for the kitchen and ALL drawers and would help out if ever needed.

After he is done sifting throught the books pages, Oishi stretches his old bones and lays down on the hard bed:"Ah, I can't remember when I last had the luxury of a early-afternoon nap." He yawns, and slightly adjusts his position.
Shortly after he falls asleep and soft snoring can be heard, people passing by his door can maybe hear something else:

I think it's a good idea if folks want to plot here -- I've been playing along as my character would react but I don't want to spoil something (although I do think we should feel free to react as we would).

If there are plans for PCs to steal from other PCs, I think that's something we should discuss HERE -- I don't think it's okay to presume.

On other things... Mimi's being a bit of a killjoy too--but I don't otherwise see how her particular sort of Lawful Neutral diehard honor fiend is going to react to the chaos being sown at the moment. I will have to watch that. Feedback is welcome--I don't want to be too heavy handed in what's supposed to be a lighthearted game.

On another note -- I've realized I've shoved myself in the ever popular "antisocial character in a social game" corner, something I have a bad habit of doing. I don't want to change my character, but I've realized the challenge of being sure she gets some positive interaction with people is made harder by the fact that we have a party twice the size of a normal adventuring party, and a ninth active commenter in the discussion board. It's a lot to keep track of, and Firedove and Tac know I've not always handled that well (Firedove let me play anyway, which is more than nice of her to do). I will do my best to interact with people as I can. I also heartily invite you to chat with Mimi, as people talking to her may lead to more productive conversations. Hopefully not all our interactions will be explosive or antagonistic. :)

No one's fired yet.

Mimi's character is fine.

No one should steal from or actually attack a fellow PC unless you get the okay from that player.

As for languages, if you have available language slots and want to fill them with Infernal and/or Abyssal, feel free. Just try to have an idea in mind of how your character learned those languages.

Peace! :)

I understand completely how you are reacting, in character, coming from a LN perspective, and a VERY strict culture (Where the upper classes literally can order the death of any underling for any reason) (if you haven't read D'Shai or The Hour of the Octopus by Joel Rosenberg, I recommend them highly, for a lighthearted perspective of such a culture, and the one I'm trying to work from.)

Or try Terry Pratchett for his take.

Cohen looked at the women and turned to the chamberlain. "Why are there feet so small?"

The chamberlain told him.

"Bind their feet for beauty? More like make sure they can't run away!"

Chef Sali's brow furrows at Ashley's response, and a pained look crosses her face. She opens her mouth as if to respond, but then simply purses her lips.

Heh. Geisha only turn to weapons when their "real" weapons don't work.

#makingthatup
#malegeishaarelegit
#okaytheywere
#ireadthatonwikipedia
#toomanyhashtags

I had already meant to post yesterday, but seemingly made the mistake of only previewing and then closing the tab. So, again---

@Mimi, I can totally relate to your actions, didn't seem antisocial to me. You just happened to stand next to him and had the best option at reacting. He stepped out of line, on the first day, no less, and many characters seemed irritated at that.
If you are feeling chatty, you can also always visit my room here, by pretext of partaking in my own vast experience, seeing how we may well be from a similar culture.
That invitation to visit/chat here is open to everybody, of course.

On a similar note, if somebody wants a parrot, you have until dinner time to pick one up :D

I am not going to be able to post today or tomorrow at this time I have personal things to take care of

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Alas the parrot's cries go unheard

Bahram, thank you for letting us know.
I certainly understand how RL can get in the way of gaming.
I hope all is well.

Everyone else, this means major forward story progress is on hold for a bit, since Chef Sali's order of operations at present starts with a conversation with Bahram, and her further discussions may be different depending on how that conversation goes.

However, I'd love to see continued new roommate conversations posted (including anything else Vincent would say to Bahram when they check out their room), as well as descriptions of your actions continuing into the evening, possibly including further tower exploration, cooking, dinner, entertainment, and/or more conversation with other fellow new recruits. :)

I'll post some roomie conversation this evening when I get home from work (in a bakery-cafe, ironically enough).

Kehlysch: I just spent something akin to half an hour figuring out the fact that you went hunting dire shark with 111 first level warriors and what each of your equipment was, how you did it, and why you handled it that way. Just so you could serve Lord Schmulzfeather that fillet.

Niiiiiiiii~iiiice.

EDIT: Oh, hey. It was totally worth it. (Monetarily.)

Kehlysch: I just spent something akin to half an hour figuring out the fact that you went hunting dire shark with 111 first level warriors and what each of your equipment was, how you did it, and why you handled it that way. Just so you could serve Lord Schmulzfeather that fillet.

Niiiiiiiii~iiiice.

EDIT: Oh, hey. It was totally worth it. (Monetarily.)

(chuckle)

EDIT: Oh, and you all avoided these armors because they're expensive and suck massively compared to any other option possible.

Just remember, if you can't figure something out, just remember your character most likely can. That is what the craft and profession skills are for. :)

Holy Pete... 26 new messages....

Sorry! Mostly a side conversation. Feel free to skip if uninteresting. :)

Also, I realize now, I made a mistake that could be confusing.

I started the 9am Wednesday Kitchen meeting post after asking you to put any further chat from the previous night in "Wednesday Evening" spoiler tags. Oops.
that should have been "Tuesday Evening" spoiler tags.

You arrived at the tower on Tuesday, the Kitchen meeting is indeed taking place Wednesday morning, and the restaurant opens Thursday evening.

Sorry for any confusion!

Holy Pete... 26 new messages....

Half of 'em are probably me.

Speaking of: huzzah! My post went through half an hour ago! Woo~!

(It's been hard with those pesky goblins...)

So, is the same course being served each of the 3 nights or is it a different entree each night? Do I have to come up with 1 soup or 3 basically?

Edit: I hope the munchkin is happy and healthy :)

Just one for now! One that complements whatever bread Tessara makes, since they will be served together.

The same dishes will be served to different couples for four nights (Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun).

And, yes, Baby is doing great, and his 3-yr-old Big Brother is loving having a tiny playmate. :)

I heart our group of chefs. :)

I heart our group of chefs. :)

Me too :) Just lurking, now, but it's amusing all the same

So anything in particular someone wants to do? Let's not slow down just before our grand opening! ;)