Hunger in the Darkness - Expedition to the Mines of Zolurket
Game Master Mark Sweetman

I've been thinking of a pirate/viking game, let me see if I have room. I recently backed out of some PbPs and I don't want to overextend myself.

No problems Padrym - have a think and see if a concept dawns upon you and screams out in testosterone fuelled rage to be played ;)

I'm thinking it will probably be a group of 5-6 pure martial types, so will be interesting to say the least...

No problems Padrym - have a think and see if a concept dawns upon you and screams out in testosterone fuelled rage to be played ;)

I'm thinking it will probably be a group of 5-6 pure martial types, so will be interesting to say the least...

I'm definitely interested!

No problems Padrym - have a think and see if a concept dawns upon you and screams out in testosterone fuelled rage to be played ;)

I'm thinking it will probably be a group of 5-6 pure martial types, so will be interesting to say the least...

Sounds like fun, but I'm riding the edge of being overcommitted right now.

I'm tempted to make a Bard (Savage Skald), let me see if I can work up a fun story for him today and I'll see what you think.

I'd love to join, DM, but like the others, I am way overbooked right now, and don't want to be a drag on things. If I get a lull, and you lose a player, I'd be interested in the future, I bet...

No problems Cynara and Gerald - understand the time pressures :)

Padrym - looks of for now, lets take it over to the OOC Thread

I'm interested too, but it might take me a day or two to get a concept together if you have room and are willing to wait. No problem if you're full or need to keep things rolling.

Feigr - no problems, most people are still getting their characters sorted so you've got some time. Check in on the other thread when you are ready.

After you join us that will make it six souls aboard so we should be good :)

Think I'll give this a pass Voiceless. Never really got in to the whole viking spirit I guess. 'sides rather over booked at the moment.

Have a good game. I expect I be lurking it to see how it goes.

No problems Love - hopefully we can put together a story worth lurking in :)

Well executed fellows! - nice run of crits at the end there as well.

They made up for that string of bad rolls we had to start with.

To whomever keeps track of the stuff, dont forget the 50 gp from the priestess, and the well made mace (maybe masterwork).

Just a quick FYI - I'll be out of town and away from the internet for about 48 hours from the time of this post. Disappearing into the suburbs for the weekend.

Without spoiling the plot I can say that you've tapped out the giant's cave. You are able to safely make it back to the defensive hollow in the shadow of Tar-Urkatha if you choose to go back that way. Thar be gnolls in the other direction ;)

Otherwise, enjoy the weekend off and I'll be back in force on my Sunday eve.

I'll admit it, DM, I'm pretty stumped on how we proceed on this one None of the options really seem like good ones, lol. I'm hoping inspiration hits one of us. If we try to sneak around them, we could easily get caught and overrun, and if we try to pull a scouting party, the same thing could happen.

Well I can preface things by saying that I have a vested interest in not killing you straight out :)

All of your options are doable without party death... even if you sneak past then get caught there will be ways to get out without too much hassle.

You can either be creative or uncreative and your DM will roll with it :)

DM,just a note. I'll be in New Orleans from tomorrow until Mnday evening. I'll try to check in, but might fail the will save versus Bourbon St. Run Dolgrym as needed. Thanks!

No problems Dolgrym - enjoy yourself!

Completely off topic for this PbP, but in the interest of shameless self promotion, my rum gremlins and island survival manual from the upcoming Kobold Quarterly/Open Design Journeys to the West book made the KQ blog today. Check 'em out.

Rum Gremlins and Island Survival Manual

Very cool! (But the GM for the Freeport game I'm playing in lurks here...oh, s@&$. Cap'n Voodoo, please ignore the above link.)

Awesome!

Very good work!

Nice Feigr :)

If you don't mind me asking, what was your path to getting those published?

And if the divine simian is watching, please throw some Rum Gremlins at us - Dibbets would catch one and keep it as a pet so that he could be permanently sozzled while afloat! :)
These guys aren't enemies - they have serious cohort potential!

LOL on the rum gremlins!

The rest of this is going to be a long post.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with Wolfgang's Open Design model, so I'll start there. Most Open Design projects are patronage projects. You pay up front and in return get a chance to participate in the design process. More on patronage:

FAQ on Patronage

Your level of participation is governed by the level you sign up at. Journeys to the West was Open Design's first try at using Kickstarter as a funding mechanism. You can see the page here:

Journeys to the West Kickstarter

The specifics vary for each project, but in this case at the "Crew" level ($25), you got to pitch spells and contribute ideas to the design. You also get to vote on most of the content going into the book. At the "First Mate" level ($75), you also got to pitch magic items and monsters. At the "Lieutenant" level ($100), you also got to pitch Islands, Adventures, and NPCs. And there are a few levels above that where you get added perks.

I wound up pitching Monsters, Magic Items, NPCs, Islands, and Adventures. You do get paid for the larger contributions (in this case Islands and Adventures). They way it works is the lead developer sets a deadline (different for each category and sometimes involving multiple rounds) and a format (including word count for pitches). The day after the deadline, they post all the contributions are posted for all patrons to vote. Usually there are three days to a week for each vote. The number of items they accept varies. For example, when they did islands, they had one round where the top four were voted in and another round where it was the top three. Once the vote is over, you get a deadline for your final manuscript. Eventually all of those pieces come together into the finished book with much work from the developers, editors, artists, etc.

I have the good fortune of having two monsters (one of which is the rum gremlins), one magic item (the Island Survival Manual), one NPC, one Island, and one Adventure. I am also working on a second Island where the original author had to drop out due to RL issues. It is a great community that way in that you get great support for feedback, ideas, and help if you need it. I'm not at liberty to talk about the other items, but you'll see them once the book gets published.

The senior level patrons also get to vote on what the next projects will be. One has been determined and will be announced next month. Wolfgang is considering a second one. I believe sign-ups will get started in April and the project(s) will run through the summer.

This is a great process and I highly recommend it to anyone that has hopes of getting their work published. The amount of support you get is phenomenal. They even ran a series of video chat sessions for senior patrons to get advice from people that have been through this multiple times.

Open Design also has other opportunities if this isn't your cup of tea. They are running a "Seize the Tin Crown" contest through tomorrow night where the winner will get fabulous prizes and published in Kobold Quarterly.

Seize the Tin Crown

Kobold Quarterly also accepts contributions.

Kobold Quarterly Submission Guidelines

If you have any more questions I'm happy to answer.

Very cool Feigr - I've always had some daydreams of actually writing something worth publishing, very cool to see that you're able to carry it through.

I'll keep an eye out for the next Open Design kickstarter to see if it's something I fancy.

Latest kickstarter I've delved into is this. Getting me some d6s made out of Bog Oak :)

Those are pretty cool. I'll post their next project once the official word goes out.

Love those dice!

Just as an addenda to the information in thread. In the few days that you've been in the valley before Tar-Urkatha; you have not seen any patrols move South from the mine itself.

You might not think so... but the gnoll porn is a possible opportunity...

I'm feeling that we've hit a little bit of treacle as you mull over the options of assaulting the gnolls at the entrance to the mine. That's cool to an extent, but I'd like to get you up and running within.

The plan was to ambush a patrol, then draw out a force of gnolls to go all between a rock and hard place on.

Here's what you know:

• the camp around the mine does not send any patrols south... at all.
• the camp to the East does seems to have periodic contact via small groups of gnolls.
• Just after midnight there seems to be a regular tryst between a pair of gnolls just outside the walls.
• numbers appear to be similar to the troop of dwarfs brought by Sangvit - at least in the exterior camp.

OOC - is there anything more that you need to know?

There's a bit of that, but losing contact with the boards most of yesterday I think slowed things down as well.

Oh aye - I'm aware of that, just want to make sure :)

I think we've learned what we need, now we just need to get our butts in gear. I think we should ambush the trysting gnolls and use that to lead some gnolls into a trap.

That works.

All right. I feel bad for them, but I guess they want to enslave us all anyway so too bad.

Feel free to discuss in thread if you like - specifically on what the follow-up action is after the ambush of the rutters. As long as you're cautious, you can transit to and from the base camp without any real risk of discovery.

I say we need some more data. Sigh. I'll send Love in to see if the camp extends into the mine. If all we are looking at is 30-40 gnolls we can, maybe, do this. Another 30 in the mine and they can swamp us in bodies.

Though mind you I would love to know where they are getting their food and water.

hmmm I wonder if we could use the booze from the cave somehow......

Though mind you I would love to know where they are getting their food and water.

I'll carry that with a proviso that absolute realism is not to be expected - though there will be an explanation of sorts.

BTW, thank you so much for that mental image. Brain bleach, please. STAT.

Oh I can go worse if you like? - or you can google Q: How do you sex a spotted hyaena? for an idea of where I could go

I know the answer to that one already, thankyouverymuch.

That talk is not suitable for a paladin. Now time to beg Saranrae to burn that out of my skull

I think you just ruined The Lion King for me...

Sorry bout the short delay on the map folks - I've moved back into my previous workplace (the life of a consultant) and I can't update onto google docs there.

It's up now at any rate :)

I'm going to be on the road and hard to reach for the next twelve hours or so. I should have one or two more Cynara posts before heading out; in the meantime, DMPC her if necessary. She'll stick to healing from the wand or buffing folks.

Could somebody double check my stat numbers? I have 20 point buy:

STR - 17 +13 points
DEX - 12 +2 points
CON - 14 +3 points
INT - 14 +5 points
WIS - 10 -2 points
CHA - 8 -0 points

That's 21 points, and Hero Lab shows me as short 7 points. What the heck?

Your con would have started out as 12 which would be 2 instead of 3 and that would total 20

There it is, knew I was overlooking something obvious. Thank you Khepri. Hero Lab bug a little more worrisome but nothing to be done for it.