More to the point -- will they be considered anti- or pro- Thrune?
Remember your audience will largely be the mayor and his friends.
The city of Westcrown was the capital until Thrune came along, and has been steadily run down ever since. Will the mayor himself be pro- or anti-Thrune?
The Mayor has to be seen to be pro Thrune.After all he has an order of Hell Knights parked on his front door...and the history of the office isn't confidence inspiring.
So we need our changes to avoid being anti Thrune/Asmodeus, while making them a lot less pro.
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So we need our changes to avoid being anti Thrune/Asmodeus, while making them a lot less pro.
It's been forever, in Ian-years, but I vaguely recall suggesting that we should focus on being pro-law, and paint the corruption of the court as being not just offensive from a legal standpoint, but even offensive to Asmodeans, who, for all their faults, are supposed to be scrupulous about such things.
Subversive commentary should be something along the lines of 'laws passed by the corrupt are not laws at all,' which, to a Thrunite, would sound dangerous, but they could never argue against, since, officially, they are all loyal servants of the Asmodean law. It should be one of those things that puts a little frown on their faces, but isn't technically seditious, since, officially, they are supposed to be completely 100% in support of corruption-free law.
This is, of course, leave lots of wiggle room and 'slippery slope' issues, with the Thrunite perhaps arguing, "And who gets to decide what laws are just? It would be madness to allow the hoi-polloi to just pick and choose which laws they are going to follow!" But that's the sort of discourse I think we would want to get started, and, as with so many such arguments, the 'hoi-polloi' might be less likely to jump to this conclusion, if not for the frightened autocrats complaining about it and publicizing the issue / inadvertantly talking it up.
The Chelish mindset seems to be pro-law, moving on from Aroden to Asmodeus, and an appeal to undermine the authority of the Asmodeans would be a hard sell, if we just promoted chaos and anarchy. Undermining the authority of *corrupt* people to pass or enforce law, and not specifically targetting Asmodeus by name, and, as the play does, portraying Asmodeus *himself* as opposed to corrupt magisters, serves that interest well, as it ends up putting the god of tyranny himself as opposed to any tyrant that can be painted as corrupt or an oathbreaker or a lawless sort of person.
That's pretty hot, being able to turn even the image of Asmodeus himself into a tacit supporter of revoking the right to rule of those who can be persuasively portrayed as corrupt or unworthy of their lawful authority.
The play also exploits this, with the torturer who finds what he is ordered to do so dishonorable / lawless that he turns to the side of those he has been ordered to torture, and even is willing to face torture at their side. A man who is clearly evil, and yet also bound by law, and more than law, by honor.
Similarly, the noblewoman presents a lascivious view of the aristocracy, but also a very flattering one, in that she also turns against the corrupt magister, which is a big sloppy kiss to any upper class viewers of the production, suggesting that they too would turn against corruption.
Ideally, that should be exploited. The play seems designed to be flattering to the nobility (through whats-her-name), flattering to the Asmodean cause (with the appearance of Asmodeus himself rebuking the magister), etc. and yet allow for a rebuke of authority to be woven into it, without risking offending either noble or Asmodean, by making it *very* clear that the magister's *corruption* is to blame, not his status, nor his faith. If our modified lines end up making the story look anti-nobility or anti-Asmodean, it's just likely to result in some reactionary oppression and the destruction of some people's lives, with no benefit for 'our side.'
The seed I think needs to be planted is one questioning the *legitimacy* of some authorities, which, since everyone has a different view of what is 'legitimate,' ends up becoming a chaotic slope towards the questioning of *all* authority.
Zarabeta, a follower of Irori, is pretty darn lawful, believing that lack of discipline is behind most of her problems, and most of those of the rest of the world, so she wouldn't be thrilled to be supporting a 'woo, chaos! looting! riots! bloody anarchy in the streets!' sort of message, but one that undermines the, in her mind, illegitimate, authority of the Thrunites, would be quite palatable.
[Ian, on the other hand, is pro-riots. The best time to take the fight to the Hellknights and totally curb-stomp them, would be when they are wasting their energies oppressing, imprisoning and / or killing rioters. They'd be sitting ducks, spread thin and overwhelmed, and with some careful stagecraft, the party could be seen as the heroes of the (survivors of the) mob, who routed the wicked oppressors and saved them... Most likely hundreds would die and the city might burn, but, hey, eggs, breaking. Etc. :)]
Let not forget also that Aroden himself was not above manipulating people to make things turn out the way he wanted them to.
If I get a chance I will review my review of the play, then!
Cool. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I'm just telling you what the obvious motivation and likely reaction would be from the first outsider to see the revised play. As always you are free to take a left turn.
FYI...
I'm off to GenCon tomorrow, and though I'll have internet access while I'm there, this will be a working convention for me. Very unlikely I'll get a post up for Akorian. My Jade Regent deadline is also looming. So, I may be incommunicado for a bit. Please NPC the fellow as you can.
Thanks,
--Neil
In about a couple of hours I will be leaving to go on vacation for five days, give or take a day. During that time, I will probably have some limited internet access, but since it will be via my smartphone, posts -if any- will be scarce and short. Please fell free to DMPC Raven if or when necessary and I will be back to posting as usual once I am back.
Have a great time, then!
thanks for the heads up Castor. Have a swell vacation.
I am returned. :-)
You didnt miss much..welcome back.
Work is pounding me this week. I will be dropping my son at college Fri-Sun.
I'll try to post when I can. Don't hold your breath.
Hmm... Something I noticed after purchasing Hero Lab (nifty lil' thing, by the way) and searching the forums a bit, as well as the PRD. As far as I can tell, going by character creation in Hero Lab, as well as the ability's wording, by RAW it would seem that the rogue's Trapfinding ability may give its bonus only to Perception checks to locate traps, but as far as Disable Device goes, the bonus is universal and not limited only to checks to disarm traps.
Am I reading this right? Thoughts?
For your convenience: Trapfinding
Yeah, seems like it's *all* Disable Device checks, and to Perception checks specifically related to traps.
Seems like Rogues are not just good at finding the 'vital organs' of living targets, but also at finding just where to poke to gum up the works of unliving systems...
Actually that kind of makes sense.
If I may ask, would it be possible/allowed to exchange the Blind-Fight feat for Combat Expertise? I got Blind-Fight via the Combat Trick rogue talent at 4th level (i.e., the current level), so it has not seen any use as far as I remember, and having a better understanding of the rules now than when I started playing -not to mention seeing Improved Feint in action courtesy of Neil's rogue in another game- I think it would be a good idea to go that route.
Truth be told, I was going to get Combat Expertise>Improved Feint>Greater Feint anyway, but I think it would be better sooner rather than later, and I will probably get Blind-Fight at some point anyway, if for no other reason than fluff and flavor and finding it appropriate for the darkness-acclimated Shadowdancer.
If, however, that is not possible, then no worries. :-)
You're right. I don't think you've used it once. Maybe I should have been tougher on lighting. Maybe you should have scouted alone in the dark way ahead of the party. Alone. In the dark. Then you could have used it more. It's fine with me if you want to swap.
Scary though this sounds, I thank you nevertheless. One feat swap coming up. :-)
Leaving Friday afternoon for the land of very little internet. (My parents.) Back Monday.
Work and the new online campaign forum have/had me a little messed up. Should resume posting tonight.
Surprise business trip keeping me offline yesterday and today.
I'm traveling on a new job Monday through Wed. and still sorting out last week's debacle. Posting may be tenuous for the next week. I'll do what I can.
Heads up: I'm on deadline again and I've also caught some flu-like bug that's got me down. RPG Superstar is looming on the horizon and that'll take up even more of my time in the coming months. In light of that...as well as my limited participation lately anyway...I'm going drop out of the game once we wrap up the Whitechin side trek. Just wanted to prepare everyone well enough in advance. It's been a fun game. I've just got to prioritize a bit. I'm ending participation in another PbP game, as well. So this isn't the only one where I'm having to bow out. Even so, I won't leave anyone hanging in the middle of the current encounter. Let's play through it and then I'll take my leave.
Good gaming,
--Neil
Thom I have a friend who is looking to get started in PbP if you need a replacement for Neil I'll have a word with him.
Neil, thanks for the notice. I understand. Good luck with your projects.
Wellard, any friend of yours is welcome. It may be a while before we get through this fight. Have him or her drop by the discussion thread, maybe I can run them on the side while you finish off Whitechin.
I'll let him know..I actually work with this guy so contacting him is a bit easier than normal.
15 minutes later..Just went out on the shop floor and let him know he'll be in touch over the weekend.
It has been great playing with you, Neil. Both here and in the Serpent's Skull game. Akorian and Jonagher will be missed. Take care mate! I hope we get to play together again some time.
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Crap! I've been roleplaying Zarabeta as Akorian's foil! I may have to develop her characterization somewhat beyond 'reflexively disagree with anything Akorian says!' :)
Seriously, 'though, it sounds like you'll be judging the new RPG Superstar again. Good luck with that, it sounds like a *crazy* amount of work!
Seriously, 'though, it sounds like you'll be judging the new RPG Superstar again. Good luck with that, it sounds like a *crazy* amount of work!
Oh, it is...
Sorry to see you go, Neil, I may have to find a new love interest for Waifrin now ...
I'll let him know..I actually work with this guy so contacting him is a bit easier than normal.
15 minutes later..Just went out on the shop floor and let him know he'll be in touch over the weekend.
Haven't heard from your friend , Wellard.
I'll be seeing him on Monday and asking why he failed to post..
I'll be seeing him on Monday and asking why he failed to post..
No hurry. It looks like this fight is going to last. I was just wondering.
4th level fighter -- aging and a little underequipped
2 3rd level fighters
3rd level bard
horde of cannon fodder
Well done.
I am quite impressed we did it so well, plus we got at least 3K's worth of loot into the bargain.
That was a hard fight..it did look for a couple of rounds that we were going to lose someone Raven or Zara or indeed booth but we came through..Waifs blast cam at an opportune moment I'm happy with this..
I really had to budget my power points there - Waif's surge blast is powerful but at best she can only use it once per round. The energy ray really worked well for hammering the toughest foes (the lizard, Whitechin) as I envisaged, but I think some serious kudos goes to Akorian's hammering away with his morningstar.
Agreed, Akorian did quite well in the melee. Marius held the center, and Raven soaked damage without getting himself killed. (Castor, you've got to stop jumping to the front of the melee where they can flank you.) It might have helped you that the mob shifted targets periodically, and I couldn't roll for beans with Whitechin. And Waif's demoralize took some of the shine off their attacks. Zara of course had used a lot of spells during rehearsal. I thought it a little foolish that you guys pushed to do this tonight when she was half out of spells, but I can't argue with the results.
What can I say..we seem to work well together.
Tim..I haven't seen my mate recently and he still hasn't shown up here so I think you can put out a general call..or if you want I can ask amongst my Jade Regent players first as most off them have no other PbP characters running
Your regent group is a good bunch. No hurry on a replacement. I leave it to you whether to ask them right away or ask your mate again.
...and Raven soaked damage without getting himself killed. (Castor, you've got to stop jumping to the front of the melee where they can flank you.)...
Tell me about it. It was just that the opportunity to sneak attack Whitechin was too much of a temptation to pass up. Admittedly, I also thought he would be less resilient than he proved to be. Add to that the fact that I trusted that fighting defensively would keep me alive and you probably have a recipe for disaster...
I will try to keep it in mind in the future. I rather like Raven and would very much like to keep him alive. :-)
Well we have a tale of evil defeated to help spread our legend now, in any event.
It was just that the opportunity to sneak attack Whitechin was too much of a temptation to pass up. Admittedly, I also thought he would be less resilient than he proved to be. Add to that the fact that I trusted that fighting defensively would keep me alive and you probably have a recipe for disaster...
Two words: Spring Attack. Look into it, my friend. It can really help you get in and out of a scrape while preserving your sneak attack opportunities. ;-)
I'm in Wellard's Jade Regent game, and he said you guys need a replacement player. Not sure what the build would be for replacing, but her backstory would not change in any case. The main thing is she is true neutral, but flirting with evil and chaotic... depending on how you guys think evil acts (such as the cook people hex) can be done based on alignment.
I was planning on playing her as a witch full of cliches, riding a broom, poisoned apples, putting people into eternal slumber, etc ;)... but of course it would depend on how the game goes. Anyway, let me know what you think of the character even if you would rather someone else :).
I have no problem with the character as such (I mean, the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists is which side they are on, right?), but I am concerned about party make-up - currently we have:
Marius Goddon - grim butt-kicking fighter
Waifrin Goddon - blasting wilder (a kind of psionic sorcerer)
Zarabeta - conjuring wizard
Raven - sophisticated elf rogue
Our departing character is Akorian, cleric of Milani.
In purely mechanical terms, we need a character that can heal at least. Character-wise we're losing our spiritual guidance. I think we can handle the latter with Waifrin becoming figurehead and Raven becoming our voice of reason, but given our proclivity for getting in serious scrapes, we need someone who can heal.
Ah, yes, this character is not a healer... well, I could tweak her to have healing, but it's more likely you could find an actual healer that could do the job better :). Thanks for looking at her, anyway :)