Hey all, congratulations to all those chosen! Please finish your profiles, if not done so already, so I can review them and you can talk to each other to see if your characters know each other or not prior to the introduction. Any questions, let me know.
Checking in! Profile is ready for reviewing.
Checking in, I'll finish any small changes by this weekend, but those will just be adjusting a skill point or two, nothing big. (have to complete my submission for the Raging Swan contest first)
Man, I can't believe that I missed another person with the name Mortimer in the original character postings, that's my bad, I'll go as Detective Drake, or just Drake, for this game.
Like I said in the recruiting thread, if anyone wants to share a common past, I'm up for it. My immediate sugestions, based on your traits and backstories, would be:
Anselm - If Anselm used to travel with Lorrimore, maybe he could be the one who saved Prof. Lorrimor from Gregorius.
Mortimer Drake - ... and, at the professor's request, detective Drake led the following investigation and handled the prisoner. He might have even helped Lorrimor fool the Red Mantis assassins and erase Gregorius prior identity.
And I suppose Mortimer Vanderbridge and Dr. Herzog know each other from the University, right?
If you guys don't like that, that's ok, too, we can keep things as they are. ;)
I'm totally up for shared back stories with everyone.
The connection of Drake to the deception of the Red Mantis for Gregorius works great.
I could see Drake attending lectures by Mortimer and Herzog and repeatedly seeking the advice of both gentlemen for particular investigations over the years.
Drake could have even assisted with the tracking of Andrei and have been there for Dr. Herzog's ultimate sorrow and offered support and kinship to the man knowing what misery he had endured.
For Anselm, perhaps Drake was part of the investigation into the ruins of the battle fought by the Knights of Ozem?
Or not to any of those, past connections not required and no worries if anyone wants to omit such story backgrounds.
dropped a skill point from Acrobatics in favor of the extra hit point and swapped out the Persuasive feat for Improved Initiative
I welcome combining backstories. Mortimer is indeed from the Lepistadt University, so that's a great place to tie into his backstory. He's also a minor noble from Ardis, so that can be a tie-in as well.
Hi, folks. Stefan is from Lepidstadt, and has connections to the University. That's where he got his medical degree several years ago. He also has his own medical practice there, which he's temporarily closed while going to Prof. Lorrimor's funeral.
Possibilities for connections include having gone to Dr. Von Herzog's office for medical treatment in the past.
I'm going to take a final look over stats and possibly tweak back story tomorrow. I'll also read everyone else's stories.
I was planning to have Stefan arrive via coach in Ravengro slightly shaken, as highwaymen robbed the coach a couple of hours earlier. That's how I plan to explain a successful businessman from a wealthy family not having much cash, or his doctor's black bag.
Lucendar: Is there a main campaign page? I don't see it.
Drake: You haven't made 10 posts yet on that alias, so you could change the avatar name to "Detective Drake" if you want. It might save a bit of confusion on the game play thread.
We'll just try not to imagine the character of the same name from the TV show Arrow.
On a completely different note-- Where are all of you (the players & GM) located? I'm in central New York state, USA, about 30 miles south of Syracuse.
Aahh, very nice on the name change ability, thanks Haladir! I didn't know I could do that.
I'm in Hillsboro, Oregon, about 20 minutes west of Portland.
I'm located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
São Paulo, Brazil. GMT -3.
Regarding backstories, since we established WHAT the connections are, I think we should discuss HOW those events plyed out.
On Gregorius parts, I'd say this is ho he felt:
@Anselm Burtold - Initially, he was probably furious at Anselm, but mostly at himself for his failure. That resentment died out quickly, as Anselm was just someone who happened to be there to protect the professor, and wasn't really an enemy. The injuries inflicted by Anselm were extreme, but he does not hold Anselm responsable for that - after all, it was an occupational hazard. In the past years, after becoming a follower of Sarenrae, Gregorius has begun to feel grateful to Anselm, for it was that defeat that changed his life for the better. I'd say that fight was the only time they ever met, and he thinks Anselm probably never thinks about that - or at least not as often as he does.
@Dr. Stefan Von Herzog - I'd like to propose a connection with Herzog here: Dr. Herzog was the one who treated Gregorius' injuries when he got caught. A strictly doctor/patient relationship. During the treatment, Gregorius was bitter and distant, and never spoke to Herzog. The doctor did all he could to patch him up, and even considered amputating one leg, but managed to save the injured limb. Ironically, Gregorius is nor nearly as grateful to Herzog as he is to Anselm, mostly because he doesn't know how close he came to losing his leg and also for the lasting consequeces of the injury - he thinks maybe the doctor didn't do such a great job (I want to use that to explain why his skills are so poor, when he should've been the acrobatic, stealthy type to be an assassin). Recently, Stefan might have seen Gregorius at the University in company of Professor Varis.
@Detective Drake - Drake conducted the investigations, took Gregorius to prison, conducted the interrogations and followed up on the Red Mantis trail. He was very profesional and tried to get Gregorius to help out, but Gregorius was completely uncooperative. After helping Lorrimore with the Red Mantis deception, he left the matter to Prof. Lorrimore and Prof. Varis, and hasn't seen or heard of Gregorius ever since. Now you tell me how Drake treated Gregorius - good cop or bad cop?
@Mortimer Vanderbridge - I guess Gregorius and Mortimer could have bumped into each other at the University; in the past months, Gregorius has stopped by to see Prof. Varis or to watch some of his theology classes or just to seek advice and speak about religion. So, they look familiar to each other, but don't really know each other by name or anything.
Good cop all the way, the bad cop never gets valid information, sure the suspect will squeal, tell him anything he wants to know, or he thinks he wants to know, but force and threats don't get real answers, kindness does. Drake treated Gregorious with respect, and not just at the insistence of the professor, but to really communicate with the man. He was impressed with Gregorious's stoicism, more than just impressed, amazed, the man was a rock. He followed the plan of Lorrimor and Gregorious disappeared, when he shows up now Drake pulls up short, stunned, he never expected to see the man again, and a whole host of questions jumps to his mind...
I like the idea of Valderbridge and Drake being in the group that hunted down the fast plague zombie that had been Andrei, and fighting off more of the creatures, preventing a major zombie outbreak. Afterwards, they kept in touch.
I also like the idea of having been the doctor that stitched up Gregorious. Stefan is rather proud of his work on Gregorious-- a lesser surgeon would have amputated immediately. But Stefan hasn't interacted with him much (if at all) after he recovered.
I'm not sure if Stefan and Anselm ever met before. We can probably play out meeting for the first time at the funeral.
Hey all, been using this weekend to move so my PC is not setup yet. Will try to have the gameplay thread up by tonight. Thanks for the understanding.
I agree Stefan. Good idea. Mortimer probably knows Stefan well then, and he'd probably recognize Gregorius, and if Drake consulted with Mortimer on cases, he'd consider him a colleague if not a friend.
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Take your time, Lucendar. Do what you need to do. Moving is a pain in a number of ways.
@Anselm Burtold - Initially, he was probably furious at Anselm, but mostly at himself for his failure. That resentment died out quickly, as Anselm was just someone who happened to be there to protect the professor, and wasn't really an enemy. The injuries inflicted by Anselm were extreme, but he does not hold Anselm responsable for that - after all, it was an occupational hazard. In the past years, after becoming a follower of Sarenrae, Gregorius has begun to feel grateful to Anselm, for it was that defeat that changed his life for the better. I'd say that fight was the only time they ever met, and he thinks Anselm probably never thinks about that - or at least not as often as he does.
I'm not sure Anselm would so quickly forget. As you know, the Red Mantis guild fancies quite distinct garb and gear. Perhaps if you had a mask on during the fight there wouldn't be any recognition except perhaps in your voice. At the least, the sawtooth blades would prompt a "Where have I seen those before?", if not something further.
Yes, the mantis helmet was definitely on.
So I guess Gregorius knows Anselm's face, but the opposite isn't true... though Anselm might remember quite vividly his brush with a Red Mantis Assassin.
I think the fighting style is what might give away Gregorius' identity, though, since he didn't talk much during combat. ;)
I just realized that we don't have a cleric in this party, but between two paladins and someone with a +9 Heal check, I thnk we'll be fine on healing.
Hey all, main thread is up. To make it easier, I made you all pallbearers so go ahead and just post your character's initial thoughts/dot so we can get started. By the way, I am in Miami, FL (EST) (GMT-5). Pleasure!
Love the description, Capricornus, great start! I linked the Map of Ustalav under the Campaign Info tab so you can see where Ravengro is, as well as a pic of Kendra.
Dr. Stefan, could you please add saves, init modifier and perception to class/race tabs so it's easily visible to me. Thanks!
The requested changes to the stats line have been made. (I noticed that I made an error in Stefan's AC, which I fixed.) I also tweaked Stefan's background a bit to give a shout-out to Drake and Valdebridge.
I need my main pc for the map so that will be posted during the weekend, but wanted to leave you on a cliffhanger! Mortimer and Stefan will get to act during the surprise round and then normal initiative, which I roll for the party. Hope you're enjoying the game so far! I am loving the rping! And for those familiar with the AP, note that I always deviate from the books so it will be fresh for you as well.
I am loving the RP so far.
I've never read Carion Crown, so it's all new to me.
Looking forward to our first combat!
The RP is why I wanted to get back into PbP--it's missing in a lot of games elsewhere (PFS, IME, being the biggest example). Looking forward to your deviations, whether they be from the books or creatures we fight. ;)
I'm doing a show this weekend, and may not get to post much - just a warning.
I think we have a good group here and that's something special in PbP, lets rock it gentlemen!
The RP is why I wanted to get back into PbP--it's missing in a lot of games elsewhere (PFS, IME, being the biggest example).
Funny you mentioned PFS! A few years back I ran a PFS scenario for my group (we have a RP heavy play style) and we had the same impression yiou did: not many opportunities for roleplay, just a bunch of encounters and combats.
A month ago, I decided t give it another try. Since we were playing a home game among friends and not a PFS event in a gaming store, I decided to pace it diferently this time, giving more time for them to care about the NPCs and Golarion.
They are not very familiar with the campaign setting, so I took the time to really introduce them to the scenario and described the Pathfinder Society in details, trying to hype up the things I know they like. In the end, everyone built a character with an interesting background to which they got attached, and I personally wrote from their factions leaders congratulating them on becoming pathfinder agents. This really helped set the mood for the adventure, and by the time we started playing it, they were into the campaign setting.
We played the Glassriver Rescue, and I gave special attention to their interaction witht the NPCs. In the end we made it work within our play style, and they had a fantastic time RPing the second part of the scenario. Granted, playing it like this took us twice the time - PFS scenarios are designed to last 4 hours, and we needed two 4-hour game sessions to complete it, so maybe it's not feasible in a gaming store event...
This week we'll start another PFS scenarion, and I'm hoping to link the end of the previous adventure to the start of this one to give them a feel of continuity which they enjoy.
I'm not sure I have a point here, just sharing. ;)
Now that we're in combat, I have a question to the GM...
Are we using standard PFRPG rules for combat: (i.e. RAW for critical hits, no fumble rules), or are you planning to use home rules for those situations?
(Popular home rules include using the critical hit deck, some kind of critical fumble rule on a natural "1", or the dreaded "three 20s = insta-kill" rule.)
(I prefer standard rules myself, but you're the GM.)
Standard rules (I believe the critical fumble rule works against players with multiple attacks as they go up in level...i.e. the more attacks, the greater likelihood of rolling a "1". Doesn't make sense to me.) Also, I'm not a fan of the 3 20s = insta-kill rule as a GM (if I were, there would be a lot more dead PCs in my game..I'm well-known in my RL games for multiple crits!).
Cool-- we're in agreement!
Adding elements like that to the combat system introduces more randomness to the game. Statistically, increased randomnes will favor the party less likely to win. In heroic fantasy games, the PCs are ultimately supposed to be victorious, so increasing randomness will hurt the PCs more than they will be helped.
Back in 2001, a friend of mine asked me to guest GM his D&D 3.0 group for a month or two while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. I knew the players casually (they were friends of friends), but I'd never actually gamed with them before. That group had continued to use their home rule of "three consecutive 20s on a crit was an instant kill," (which they had been using in 2nd ed AD&D) and wanted me to keep using that rule while I guest-GMed. They also insisted that all GM rolls were in front of the players. The first time I GMed this group, in the first random wandering monster encounter, a PC died on an insta-kill. About two hours later the same night, a SECOND PC died from ANOTHER insta-kill. Let's say that I did not start off on the right foot with these guys, and I heard from my recovering friend that they had asked him to find a different replacement GM.
That experience really taught me two big lessons as a GM: 1) Always roll behind the screen; and 2) Don't let unfortunate dice rolls get in the way of a good story!
Sound advice that I learned also!
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Re: RP in PFS scenarios, when I play with people I don't know, the game tends strongly towards the murderhobo style that PFS is rather infamous for. I've actually had someone I'm playing with say, and I quote, "I hate roleplaying". If PFS didn't severely penalize players for leaving in the middle of a game, I would've left that table then and there. And, similar to your experience Gregorious, I ran some modules for some good friends and we did more roleplaying than anything else. It was insanely fun (with a lot of indulging in silly roleplay), but we also needed three sessions to complete a scenario.
Re: house rules, all of this is really good reason to be careful with them. It's harder than it would appear to do game design really well. I don't really do any house rules in my games because of the high entropy involved in doing so. In addition, rules are supposed to be tested. By introducing new rules, you're testing them as you play with them. I'd rather have a finished product that's been tested and poked and beat up a bunch. I was in the D&D Next playtest but lost interest because I want to see the finished system instead of a bunch of iterations that constantly change things. 's a personality trait that expresses itself in my professional life, too.
I've spliced some slightly-modified PFS scenarios into my ongoing home campaign, and I can say that I've never had a published scenario take less than three full four-hour sessions to play out. My FtF group are really into first-person role-playing-- a style of play that I was astounded that PFS play seemed to completely lack. (At least in my two individual attempts to play in PFS).
For example, when I ran "The Golemworks Incident," We spent a single session roleplaying meeting Shiela Heidmarch and taking a tour of the Magnimar Pathfinder lodge, and never even got to the first combat!
I came to the conclusion that PFS is simply not for me!
I like both styles of play. Sometimes I just want to boot the door in, and so I go to a PFS game. But that's not to say that great roleplaying can't happen in a PFS game.
I roll using a dice tower for my Friday games, the players see all rolls openly. It leads to weird things, but our group accepts that and it gives the game more of a lethal aspect which builds the tension, and the PCs don't feel like things are too easy or too hard because everyone can see the rolls. Just last Friday we had two characters get slaughtered by wonky dice rolling. We have a home rule that whenever a PC gets 'killed' they just gain a new flaw designed around the moment of death and it encourages RPing in the game. Years ago as a player in the same group I had a rogue with the flaw of 'unhealthy curiosity' and by the end of that campaign he had over 20 flaws, died more than once per level :)
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I've spliced some slightly-modified PFS scenarios into my ongoing home campaign, and I can say that I've never had a published scenario take less than three full four-hour sessions to play out. My FtF group are really into first-person role-playing-- a style of play that I was astounded that PFS play seemed to completely lack. (At least in my two individual attempts to play in PFS).
For example, when I ran "The Golemworks Incident," We spent a single session roleplaying meeting Shiela Heidmarch and taking a tour of the Magnimar Pathfinder lodge, and never even got to the first combat!
I came to the conclusion that PFS is simply not for me!
I'm going to agree that I don't think publicly organized PFS is for me. Political intrigue, horror, and other themes interest me far more than combat ever will, and since most scenarios are written around beating a big bad, focusing on roleplay tends to get in the way. Of course, this won't stop me from running the scenarios for a group of friends where I think they'll be fun for the group in question.
I roll using a dice tower for my Friday games, the players see all rolls openly.
I'll be honest. I don't see the appeal of a dice tower. I've seen them used and I just don't get it. Is it to prevent your dice from getting away from you? I use GameScience dice exclusively, and I don't have that problem. They stop rolling rather reliably, and are still pretty random.
Is it to prevent your dice from getting away from you?
Actually, Yes, that exactly! I wanted to roll in front of the players, but the dice kept crashing into minis or rolling off the table, so I made my own skinny tower from a wheat-thins box and a bit of 3D terrain stuff from the old days, then used some discarded foam my mini case around the bottom tray to keep the dice in the small tray on the roll, works perfect and cost nothing.
I needed to look up "dice tower" to know what you were talking about.
The image that conjured up in my head was a handheld electronic dice roller called "Dice Tower" from the 1980s. It had a selector switch that you used to set which die you were rolling, and a red LED display of the result. It was about the size of a calculator or handheld electronic game. It was similar to the Dragonbone Dice Roller, but had an actual numeric display (like an LED calculator, but with only 3 digits) rather than LEDs next to printed numbers. (Funny-- I can't find an example of this device after three minutes of Google searching. It must not have been produced fro very long, but one of my high school gamer buddies had one.)
In another discussion forum, the question of what dice do you use at the table came up. This was my answer to that.
As for how I roll? I just roll'em. If I'm GMing, I always roll behind a screen. (These days, that's literal-- I keep a laptop and a LCD monitor on the gaming table.) I'm pretty good about spinning the die and tossing it upward slightly to prevent a die from rolling too far. (In a motion almost like snapping your fingers.) Our house rule is if a die rolls off the table, you have to re-roll.
Man-- the Paizo site was pretty much unaccessable yesterday after about 10 AM Eastern Time, due to the release of the Advanced Class Guide playtest!
Question for the GM: Would it be OK if I switched around two things with Stefan's stats?
1) I'd like to switch the skill point I'd spent on Perform (keyboard instruments), which was just there for interesting background flavor, and put it into Knowledge (religion), so he can know a thing or two about undead.
2) I'd like to switch out ray of enfeeblement in his spellbook for chill touch.
Please let me know if that would be OK.
Thanks!
Yeah, that would be fine. I was wondering how you had no knowledge (religion) myself. This makes sense.
as a man in his 40s I must say, prove him right young champion!