Mir

Game Master HarbinNick

-Hi. This is the place for OOC conversations about the game. First of all, I'm going to wait until all 4 of you have posted/checked into the gameplay thread before moving ahead.
-We've got a good party, and one that should have excellent role-play opportunities. In addition, I want to thank you all for your interest.

I won't be able to move the plot ahead until Xenarchy makes a posting. Until then continue role-playing or asking questions about the city.

-I'd also like to add I live in China. This means I'm on a different time zone from you (unless you live in Aus) and work weekends, but am off monday and tuesday. That said, I expect to be able to check everything at least once if not twice a day.

I'm not far from you in timezone, HarbinNick. GMT+12. I can keep track of the thread fairly often, even if my times are odd.

Does anybody want a map of the world? I can email it to you, if you pm your address. I can't use a hosting site, as most of the english language ones get blocked in the PRC. I'm not a very tech guy, but thought the map might come in handy.

Can you try hosting on Google documents and make it shared? That way, you can just post links instead of having to email files.

Google tends to be iffy here. I used Chrome and couldn't find a site for a week, switched to IE and it opened no problem. As I type this, I couldn't connect to google twice in a row. I know people like to keep their email address private, it is also the most fool proof way to send things out of where I live. Also I'd appreciate it if players don't mention any political things in the thread pertiaing to the country I live in here. I've even lost paizo a few days at a time.

I just realized that our alignments are all over the place. This should make for an interesting adventure :)

I'll take a map if you don't mind. I can send you my email and then put it up on skydrive (microsoft's version of google docs) and provide a link for everyone else.

One NG, one LE, two CN.

It could have been worse. We could have been four corners of the grid. :P

Oye, I'd hate to see how long that would have lasted.

I did run a game where we had a LE, CE, LG, and NG characters of course the evil ones tried to deceive the others. The best part was during an interrogation the creature being interrogated was able to pull of a sleep spell and knocked out the two good guys so the evil ones just looked at them and said big mistake. It was pretty fun. Having a fun time with the character interactions so far.

Map of Mir

That worked. Is that like microsoft's cloud drive?

Yeah, got a free 25gig storage. It also uses an online version of ms office so files are much easier to edit.

And it isn't likely to stop working here in China...yeah. I guess I'll be emailing you other files to host at times.

Fine with me :-)

Cool map. So, as everyone has already pointed out the alignments are kind of all over the place. I hope no one takes it too personally that Roh-Kai is going to be kind of an ass until he feels that the non-combat members of the party have "proved themselves". If I do offend anyone, let me know and I'll tone it back. This is the first time I've had a character who comes from the deep end of the alignment pool so it's something I'll be perfecting as time goes on.

Honestly in my experience evil characters that are selfish or psycho tend to invoke the party's ire. The more withdrawn evil characters (obsessed with knowledge, merciless, or racist) live longer.

Once you've all decided in character to move on to Fasthe Isaak, I'll move the plot forward.

It may be a while away, but how do you feel about PCs taking item creation feats?

Well, if you did craft magic arms and armour, Xen and Roh-Kai could team up and make magic weapons for less than half normal price.

With plans toward eldritch heritage and the upkeep of spell DCs and metamagics, I'm not planning on getting more than craft wondrous, which is the most generally useful crafting feat and the one most favoured by Xenarchy's aesthetic. Garesh is a full caster and could get one if he thinks it's a good idea. Once Xenarchy has craft wondrous she can even make a headband of +2 charisma and intelligence with spellcraft as the item's bonus skill to help him meet the DCs.

I don't think I'll take craft wondrous before about 7th, though. I don't know how quickly advancement will progress in this adventure. The next feats planned are eldritch heritage (arcane) to gain a familiar, spell focus (illusion) and spell focus (enchantment). In some order depending on how important things seem to be for the adventure.

If nobody else picks up crafting feats, Roh-Kai will have to be satisfied with half-price belts of physical might, cloaks of resistance and boots of speed. Getting weapons and armour from somewhere else might not be so bad if you've got all that on the cheap. :P

Of course, this may be moot if crafting is restricted.

It looks like you're about ready to head over to the temple? yes?

Oh, how I wish sorcerers got more skills per level. I definitely want to get Xenarchy a headband of +2 int (sense motive) ASAP. Possibly even before getting +cha on it.

I'd suggest players focus on short term, here and now feats, rather than overthink the future. Not to say you must, but rather that pbp level so slowly, that it might take a year to even get to that level, meaning you are less powerful in the short run, which may be a little dull.

Sorry. I'm not particularly familiar with PbP etiquitte, having only played in a couple. This is my first on these boards.

I'm quite fond of future speculations and discussions of character progression, but I'll keep that under my hat if you prefer.

--No, just warning people. Should the pbp last long enough, I'd let players resepct their characters. After all, what is an amazing fat at 5th level, may kind of be terrible at 10th level. So think in the short run, here and now, and if, it happens this runs a year, you can always change the character.
--Pbp can lose players or steam from a dozen factors, and so you should make a character who is FUN now, in pbp, not a character who might be epic in a few years. I feel this is one of the great differences between table top and pbp games. High INT and CHA characters tend to be more fun in pbp where you have the time to write up detailed, insightful replies. Power attacking orcs who say ARGAQQ!! All the time quickly become dull, since combat is a small, small part of a pbp.

By the way, I don't think anyone has taken it, by knowledge:planeswill be a useless skill. The only extra-planar creatures are demons and angels. And they fall under knowledge:religion. All other possible extra-planar creatures, such as Jinn, would be considered either demonic, or angelic. Note, any sylvan extra-planar creatures would be knowledge:nature

Umbral Reaver, knowledge checks can't be made untrained. If you don't have at least 1 rank in the skill than you don't even get to make the roll because your chance of knowing it is 0. Unless HarbinNick has his own house rules on the subject.

I'm pretty sure you can make knowledge checks untrained to a maximum result of 10. I'll doublecheck...

Untrained: You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10.

You know, I've been playing this game for 8 years and I'm still waiting for the day when I will actually have a firm grasp on how everything works.
So I was looking at Table 4-3 and the entire time I've played 3.5 and Pathfinder I always thought that a no in the untrained column just meant no. The way I understand it now is more of a combination of what we thought. If I'm reading it correctly, there is nothing stopping anyone in the party from attempting the dungeoneering check untrained because it has a DC of 10. So I could attempt it and roll a natural 15 and pass the check. On the other hand, the history check has a DC of 15 so, even though it could still be passed by a natural roll, the higher DC means that it isn't common knowledge and neither you nor I can even attempt the check because we are untrained.

Exactly...the dungeonering check is DC 10 on purpose, it represents the deep end of the general knowledge pool, the other checks would require actual study to even know. In other words, Napoleon was French would be a history5, a french general and emperor dc10, A short man defeated at waterloo after his terrible campaign in Russia in 1812 a dc 15.
-Same with the religion check, it's a dc5 to know a priest is wearing a christian cross, its a dc30 to understand a blessing in syriac.

--Father Isaak is a Bard1/Cleric1 and would be considered a powerful character in this world. I'm putting that out here to remind you that this is a very low level world, and he really will need you to protect him. Also I wanted to remind you that although the man is loaded with skills, Roh-Kai could snap him like a twig.
--I don't know how much it changes things, but I find power level changes players actions a great deal. In a FR game, one doesn't bully the local tax collector. In this game, at 2nd level you will be more powerful than 95% of the human population. Elves and Dwarves tend to be much higher level due to their longer life span. Notice, trolls will still eat you.
--This is obviously quite meta-game but bear it in mind, YOU are the heroic characters.

HarbinNick just sent me an email. He's unable to connect to the website right now and will try again later.

-I'm back...expect a post in about 8 hours. Thank you. As I have mentioned because role-players tend to use certain words, access to role-playing web sites are often 'soft banned' in china. This means until the servers are reset, any site I use, like paio will be off line. But it's back now. No wrroies.

I suppose asking which words tend to get a site taken off-line would be a little counter-productive...

Some sites are hard-blocked, as in they are banned and never work. Youtube and facebook are good examples. Other, like piazo seem to be blocked by mistake. A certain series of keywords gets the site taken off line. For example talking about changes to a social structure in france after Louis XIII is a subject that makes trouble. Also look up the 3 t's. Never mention the 3 t's.

How do you want to do combats? I find they can really drag on and on, espcially if we play by strict initiative order. I was thinking about letting people post an action, and also post the next action as a follow up. For example I strike the first goblin with my axe, IF it falls, I move on to the next cloest goblin and hit it with my axe.IF it is alive, I keep hitting the first goblin. I want to avoid a situation where you have to wait 48 hours to post "I shoot the goblin with my bow" and follow it with "I shoot the NEXT goblin with my bow.
-any advice?

Another PBP GM i have rolls initiative for the party and for the bad guys. He posts the actions of all the bad guys in one big group and then gives the party 24 hours to post their actions in whatever order they can. If anyone misses the deadline, we all have pre-arranged actions like "I shoot the toughest bad guy" or "I heal the most injured party member". It allows combat to flow pretty smoothly and the whole group isn't stuck waiting for one person.

That sounds pretty good. I think will try using that system.

I apologize for Vuk's barbaric grammar as he really is more civilized. I have to type on my phone while at work and can only see less than a line of text while I type.

up river we go- don't forget STR checks.

Stealth 1d20+2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Pirate Spot Check 1d20+2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Uh oh.

Don't leave us hanging. What happens?

Maybe the oracle is really triple cursed or something?

--I hope nobody is upset, but I tend to run very sexist worlds. Powerful women do exist, but are generally rare, and kind of terrifying to most men. Father Isaak is a priest of Marfya, which means he has sworn a vow to not let harm come to ANY woman. In other words, he is obligated to step in between a crossbow bolt and Xenarchy. This is ooc knowledge, but worth mentioning.
--Orc society varies greatly from clan to clan, with the Yellow Dog having equality, but only in the sense that they see the world as prey. The Bear Claw clan treats women only as property. Bloody axe clans are ruled by their arcane casters which are usually women, but Orc Women are every bit as ruthless and brutal, maybe more so, than the men.
--Ketts are hunter-gathers, and have little need for gender distinictions. All Ketts can hunt, trap, fish, and shoot a bow. That said, the druids are always male, and hold great power over the tribes.
--Dwarf soicety is among the most equal, with men and women having any position they want. That said, most dwarf clerics are women, and few are men. Men of religious bent tend to become Paladins.
--Rajul and Moon Elves are minorities, and so they focus more on their treatment at the hands of others, than thinking of things in a sexist light. A moon elf female would think she was being treated unfairly because she was an elf first, and a woman second. Rajul women are used to making their own way in a world that thinks of them as devil worshippers.

Map of fort

thanks...by the way the buildings are pretty clear, but the green areas are wooded, with yellow being sand along the river...

Does anyone have any questions that could help with role-playing? I'm writing a section of food and drink right now...could be fun next inn we get to.