GM Rednal's Godbound (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

I believe everyone has acted now, so it's your turn Rednal.

Mm. XD ...Paizo being wonky the past few days hasn't been helping.

Not meant to be an admonishment, just an apprisal. You've said before you don't read the gameplay thread until you think everyone has posted.

If anything, I was just glaring at the server hamsters for slowing things down. XD Fortunately, the problems do seem to have been fixed, so we can charge ahead again.

Listrana negotiated the alliance, and it was always 'destroy', not 'recruit', the black academies. Listrana's homeland was overrun by demons and most of it's people killed. Listrana will never work with demon summoners.

If the group wants to recruit the acadamies instead, that's up to the group. Listrana will not agree though. No more, I think, than our resident pirate agreeing to kill all the pirates in the world as part of an alliance with someone.

I thought Beatrice negotiated it? Listrana was never at the Boyar's that I recall.

Listrana negotiated the deal with the Demon Hunters, not the Boyar. We have two alliances, one with the Boyar, and one with the Demon Hunter Clans. The Demon Hunter clans are providing most of the 'muscle' on our little hunt. We've got several dozen anti-mage warriors... And all of them want the black academies dead, root and nail.

Ah, I must have missed that part. Well, I don't think Khatef was there for that meeting anyway. Chalk it up to a lack of communication among a group of people still getting used to one another. =)

Listrana brought the head mercenary back to the ship, introduced him to everyone, and told them what she had worked out...

I thought you Commanded the mercs to be your thralls?

No, she Commanded their leader to be her follower. There's a difference. Per the rules, if she treats them right, they will continue to work for her after this. Part of that is sticking to the agreement she made, which is to kill all the Black Academies. If we do this right, we'll gain a small army that's fully trained in killing supernatural creatures.

Which, for what it's worth, will certainly be pretty handy against weaklings.

Don't, uh, expect them to take on bosses for you, though. The math would be... unpleasant. XD Entertaining, but unpleasant.

I expect them to take on the minions and summons, not the bosses.

Bump.

Is it possible to increase the rate of posting in this game?

Thanks

I only saw one post from the party thus far, so naturally, I was waiting. (If you can post more often, though, I can definitely keep up - I usually check nightly.)

Ping. I believe we're just waiting to see if the wizard dies, and keep stabbing him otherwise.

I stabbied him again.

I thought it was the wizard's turn? He hasn't done anything in a while.

Even if all he can do is wriggle helplessly.

*Coughs* That charm power of Beatrice wrecked him a bit. I'd only seen three new posts, though? Are we waiting on someone, still?

It may have been me, my bad.

@Listrana: Fray dice are basically our ability to casually kill the unworthy peasants around us. So a d8 of automatic damage, no attack roll.

Hi Rednal

Can we review expectations of this game?
* One of my expectations is that you describe the scene that my character is in.
* Then, each player posts in response of that posted description
* One of my expectations is that after the players all post that you post the results of the PCs action posts and an update description of the scene
* Then, players post and repeat

Maybe, you're busy. Maybe, the board ate your posts. Maybe, you assume it's obvious. I'm struggling in this current combat, because I'm not getting much feedback to my posts. For example, provide some description to the players to understand "*Coughs* That charm power of Beatrice wrecked him a bit."

In the past, you've commented that you usually check this campaign once per day. May I suggest that you post identifying whoever you're waiting to post, in order to advance the game.

I feel this game is floundering. I feel that we all are here making a go at it, but we're not aligned or working well together.

Then again, maybe it's just me. That's my two coppers.

cheers

I thought I had described the scene you were in... but you're right, I probably should work to make that longer and more explicit so you have a better sense of exactly what's going on.

I thought I had described the scene you were in... but you're right, I probably should work to make that longer and more explicit so you have a better sense of exactly what's going on.

Thanks. I tremendously appreciate it.

Passion Word - Gracious Butterfly Poke

I don't know what else to post.

Khatef?

I have nothing I can really do if the wizard's dead and everything else is out of sight. I'll pass my turn.

GM Rednal?

So, I think it's time for me to pack it in. I've been re-examining my engagement for a few games and unfortunately the spark just isn't here for this one. Nothing you've done wrong Rednal, or anyone else, it's just mismatched expectations on my part and wanting to free up some spare time as I'm building a new career and trying to refocus attention on a few core games I want to play and run. Sorry to bow out on you, but at this point I'm holding up the proceedings not having the motivation to post anything here and ruining it for everyone else. Hopefully with me gone, things will pick up for the rest of you and the game will get rolling again.

It's been fun. Peace.

It happens. ^^ No hard feelings. That said...

@Everyone Else: Did you want to roll with the previous idea ('trade' the power to a new player or NPC for story purposes), see what happens if one of the spaces vanishes, roll up the game entirely...?

I'm also having trouble staying involved. I'm not saying it's you, Rednal, or that this is what you're doing, but sometimes it feels like I'm playing 'guess the pre-ordained solution' in this game.

Between that and the very slow pace which makes it hard to keep the thread going, I'm not sure, even as much as I love the character, that I can keep things going.

I think we either need a bit more structure/OOC planning with the GM involved, or more posting speed, or something, but as it's been going, I'm not sure I can really get excited...

I'm still up for play, but it looks like we have to change something in how this game works. Possibly, it's because of the nature of sandboxes: I'm used to Pathfinder having definite, precise rules, and to APs, with their slight railroading and definite direction. Here, we have freedom... but freedom can stall everything when we can't decide on what to do.

Point two, powerful characters with vastly different motivations are joined together because otherwise the world dies. But if it's the simplest, most effective stratagem to get people working together, well, it's not the best. It actually led to my least pleasant IRL campaign (Spiraling hate between the paladin and the rogue which ultimately led to the paladin Falling during the final battle, turning to Blackguard and slaughtering his companions). Beatrice wants to spread love and joy and art, creating a spreading utopia, Listrana wants to keep people safe from monsters, Jebat wants to establish a sea empire. If we were not coaxed together, most likely we'd spread out within a week.

Point three, the game itself is a bit vague on our real opportunities and abilities: when there was the idea of uprooting the Patrian Empire, I was against it mostly because I thought it would be unlikely for us to topple an entire realm, and there would have been people, powerful people with powerful skills, opposing us. But maybe that idea wasn't shared.

Point four, most of the rules seem to be written thinking of solo games over all (and I think Godbound would be a lovely system for solo play). Without a class/caste system to separate roles, there are no proper party roles. I mean, Beatrice was made to be a magic user and a support, and yet just by getting Dexterity to 18 and dual wielding or using a Gift, she can fight comparably to Listrana. And mutual weakness is a strong glue for parties, where the wizard needs the fighter to protect them, the fighter needs the rogue to do the clever thing, and so on.

I believe my second point to be the most critical one. I mean, every AP I've played gets weird and different people, but they always share a connection and a reason to get involved. In RotRL, they're all somewhat involved in Sandpoint and helping repel the goblins, in Carrion Crown they all come together for Lorrimor's funeral, or even something as simple as working all for the same organization, as in Zeitgeist.

My idea would be to try and start over a bit, and start small. To adjust our characters so that we have something in common, like APs do with Campaign Traits: a tie to a location, to a character, a common hatred of a foe. I'd be up for rebuilding Bea to the ground, if needed. Then perhaps (as we are level 2) we can set up a cult or a community, get some roots, and then, GM Rednal, I believe that having escalating challenges, story arcs and villains, could be better than completely open sandbox that can go in weird, plot-killing directions. Of course, that would mean a lot more work for you.
We can decide here in the discussion the direction we want the campaign to take (slavery abolition, monster eradication, celestial engines rebuilding or what have you), but having objectives and adversaries is the only way I know to keep focus.

Otherwise, there are two official modules for Godbound, we could pool up some dough and get one.

*Checks* Actually, I could grab one of the adventures easily enough - you guys wouldn't need to chip in there.

My hope for tying characters together was the whole "you literally need each other to stay alive or your world starts eroding away" - no shared background plot, necessarily, but there's at least a reason for you to care about each other's survival. We CAN change that, though.

That said, I agree that the sandbox approach may not have been the best for this game. I suspect it works better on tabletops where you can get quick reactions - PbP just doesn't do well with sandboxes in general, and I don't think it's been working here. An explicit, planned adventure will almost certainly work better for this specific game. (And, really, for PbP in general.)

If you'd like, I can grab one of the published adventures (you can vote on which one sounds more fun), and while you're running through that, I can work up a more story-based series of events. I've got some GREAT tools for that sort of thing.

I may have been misunderstanding the setup, but when I made Listrana, I made her background based on the idea that Demons = Bad. That is, the system seems to have the concept baked into it that demons, which are creatures from another reality, are in general bad. Not necessarily evil, but bad from the world perspective, as their presence weakens the already failing world, and that part of cleaning up the world and restarting it is to increase the strength of the walls, thus locking them out. So it was quite a surprise to have another PC advocating working with demon summoners, as that seems to be self defeating. While I'm all good with interparty tension (so long as it's not game ruining), fundamental things like that really kind of need to be baked into the group.

For what it's worth, your characters don't necessarily know that much about how the wider universe works and what's good, bad, or weird.

...

Or, for that matter, exactly what the summoned things are. XD What an NPCs refers to as a demon may not actually be one. (It could just be a monster... or an illusion... or something else.)

Though, in the general sense, it's probably best to not work with anything you think is a demon unless you really want to. XD

I'm busy, but I agree with Beatrice's assessment.

cheers

Soooo... any opinions on which adventure you might like to do more? The descriptions are...

Ten Buried Blades: In the market town of Gongfang a restless magistrate oppresses the people, forcing them to surrender sons and daughters to serve a mysterious sorcerer on Red Crow Mountain. In the countryside, a wealthy rice broker torments the common folk with his extortionate exactions, driving the desperate into the forest to escape his thugs and bandits. And beneath those green boughs there are whispers of an illicit god, of a Golden Lord who will bring justice to the afflicted. Gongfang's fragile peace cannot last. But who will strike the blow that ends it, and who will pick up the fragments that remain?

The Storms Of Yizhao: Heaven's fury lashes the city of Yizhao. Its governor is helpless to discover the crime that has so enraged the celestial Pattern. The grandees of the city maneuver against each other and plot their own purposes in the face of the city's woe, suspicion and avarice driving their private schemes.The city's very existence is at stake as an ancient law and a present wickedness clash in the skies above. Can the pantheon avenge this hidden evil without bringing ruin upon the innocent?

I'm not too much of a fan of political intrigue, so I'd go for Ten Buried Blades.

I'm not too much of a fan of political intrigue, so I'd go for Ten Buried Blades.

second

Sounds like we have a consensus, then, given the lack of objections to it. ^^ Gimme juuuuuust a bit.

As for building a campaign up, hmm... as a general rule, where do you feel you'd like your characters to be positioned? Do you want to be more on the outright dominating side, or would you prefer to face more significant obstacles?

I'm up for obstacles, provided that there are a few opportunities to show off :)

I'm up for obstacles, provided that there are a few opportunities to show off :)

Ditto. I thought this was going to be like stories in Bulfinch's mythology, e.g. Hercules ten tasks.

Well, it can be. ^^ ...No, seriously. If your group wants "series of major challenges to complete a single major objective", that can be the plot.

Merry Christmas!

Each of you has gained 1 Bonus Effort (one-time use) to spend whenever you want.

I don't dislike the idea of the Labours of Hercules (although they were twelve ^_^)

And a Happy Christmas to you all!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I wish you and your family all the best health and happiness.

Sorry, holidays hit me with stealth attacks.

Saturday morning I leave for a week on business with only phone access to this account. So bot me if necessary.

cheers

Jebat? Listrana?