Motteditor's Reign of Winter PBP (Inactive)

Game Master motteditor

With the DNC and a few people off work, this is likely to be a long week for me. I still plan to try to update every day (probably starting tomorrow), but if I miss a day, that's why.

Sheesh. I wasn't ever going to make the connection between the iron and the drinking horn that this AP wanted me to make. lol

And a live bird? We gotta toss a live 2-headed bird into the Hut's crazy navigational pot? That's weirder than I was expecting.

Maybe the Hut will grow two eagle heads?

sweet, with a level Quinn CAN talk to the dragon lady

level 11 traveler

HP +7

bab: +1/+1

spells: 1/1 6th, 1 3rd
3rd - wind wall
6th, animate objects, heal

skills +3: 2 perception, 1 linguistics
new language: draconic

feats +1: precise shot

Last level, January 7, 2016ish....

Lvl 11: +1 big-handed gesturer, trumpster, and global colding denier

+10 hp (5 lvl + 3 con + 1 fc + 1 toughness)

+ moar spells (mass fly domain spell now)
+ feat vital strike

+6 skills
---------
+2 Fly
+2 Know (Local)
+2 Spellcraft

* * *
Notes on Quick Wild Shape:

-2 lvl as move action: Medium Elemental or Huge/Small Animal
-4 lvl as swift action: Small Elemental or Large Animal

global colding denier

In a Reign of Winter game no less

Level 11!

HP: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Cold Resist increases from 5 to 10
New Feat: Craft Staff
+9 skill points (+1 Knowledge (arcana, planes), Perception, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device; +4 Fly)
+1 3rd lvl spell slot (lvl 11)
+3 6th lvl spell slot (lvl 11, one must be abjuration)

+2 6th lvl spells added to book (dispel magic, greater, legend lore)
+1 5th lvl spell added to book (fav class) (permanency)

---
Zeno!
+1 hp
+1 Nat armor
Int increases from 10 to 11
Gain Spell Resistance 16 (Malavarius' CL+5)

Hello!

For the next week I will be at Gen-Con and/or decompressing after Gen-Con. If you're there, I'll be around the Sagamore Ballroom running PFS all through the Con. Feel free to look me up! However I will probably not be accessing the boards much so feel free to NPC me if needed!

Thanks!

James

Mott, can you give me a guess as to how many days it's been since we left Iobaria? I'd like to say I've been tinkering on Hektir's armor during our travels (netting 2 hours of progress each day).

In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to get to 64 hours to finish making it wild for him.

Making Tsin's falchion keen is next on my list, and I'll need to get to 40 hours of work to finish that.

Since you left Iobaria? I think just two days. You had the day where you made it out of the hut, then encountered the kokogiaks and then slept; then today you traveled to Spurhorn, then ascended to the fort itself. It's now late at night after your meeting.

(I think that's correct; I thought you'd slept one additional time in there, but I'm not seeing it in a quick scan back.)

You'll have some time to craft now (and possibly again shortly) if you want to focus on doing that.

Update to game thread is coming shortly.

Yeah, if I'm remembering correctly, we spent some time in Iobaria before activating the Hut. That span was when I finished my shiny new wand and some other items.

So we freed Zilvazaraat just 2 days ago? Man oh man, time both flies and crawls in pbps! =)

levEleven

+1 BAB

+11 HP (+5 Class Ave +1, +3 Con, +1 Favored Class, Toughness)

+1 Fort
+1 Reflex
+1 Will

Feat- Improved Critical(Falchion)
Bonus Feat- Extra Bane

Bravery +2

Skills(3)
+1 Perception
+1 Linguistics(Triaxian)
+1 Sense Motive

Perhaps this frees us up for other wonderful creations, Mal? :) Keen is no longer as necessary as it once was...

How about this?

Or this?

My schedule gets a little crazy the next few weeks.

I'm off to NYC tomorrow, though may have time to update if I'm not too tired when I get home.

Then I'm working day shifts all next week; I'm hoping I have energy to update when I get home Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, the ol' ball and chain gets home from med school for 10 days, so I don't expect to update at all Wednesday-Friday nights (Aug. 17-19).

After that, I'm on vacation until Aug. 28. Usually we take a little time to ourselves each day so I'd say there's a 50/50 chance of me updating during that time Aug. 20-28.

Then I have to go to Hartford for training Aug. 29-31. I think I'll have time to update those days but I'll be using a work laptop, so am not 100 percent sure.

I expect to resume normal posting behavior Sept. 1, and don't think I'll have anything to disrupt it again until mid-October.

So, looking ahead (even though this is still a few months away, likely), what are you guys thinking about in terms of a second game (which I'd like to do). I see a few options:

* Start Strange Aeons. Granted, we're still not sure if there will be any strange subsystems, though I think it's been hinted that there won't. We'll get the Player's Guide shortly and can presumably make a better determination on that regard.

* Play some modules to "kill" the next year and wait for the awesome-sounding Ruins of Azlant. Of course, this assumes Ruins of Azlant will in fact be awesome. I also have found modules to be very frustrating for some reason, with them being a real struggle to get through them. I suspect we'll do better with this group, but it is something I see as a concern.

* Play a home-brewed campaign. If I did this, it would likely involve Taldor and some intrigue elements -- my thought (and I'm still nowhere near sure I want to do this, though it is feeling tempting with a basic storyline concept starting to form in my head, which is something I can flesh out a bit while I travel here and there -- see previous post) is you would be in service to the Primogen Crown -- an Ulfen Guard member, a Lion Blade, perhaps a minor noble ... along those lines.

Obviously the upside here is it's a little more unsure what's actually going on -- there are no spoilers. I can also be assured there won't be any subsystems we dislike. I can probably give the NPCs a little more life, since they all come from my own imagination.

The downside is probably crappy maps (seriously, if I can't find maps to steal, my maps suck) and it's relying on me to not get burned out/behind in terms of designing.

I'm curious about some factors if you're interested in this:
- What level would you want to start at? It doesn't have to be first, but it could be.
- What level do you start to lose interest?
- If I tell you I'm considering a Taldan intrigue game, what elements would you want to see in it: Dealing with Qadira, delving into the empire's history, high court drama, etc. Keep in mind that I'd be aiming for something AP-like, so it could be several things.
- In general what do you want from a campaign? It's clear the group wants to be heroes (and are you willing to considering being part of the Taldan hierarchy heroes?), but do you like having a campaign based in one place? Do you like traveling? Do you want a mix?

Hmmm...I've been pondering this all night and some this morning.

I am open. I prefer established AP content (because I want to do them all), but I'm not adamant on that point.

* I'm happy to wait for StrAeons. You can clear your plate of games that aren't performing (*cough* TIDE *cough*) and we could start with good focus here.

* I'm also happy to wait for Ruins of Aslan. Can't wait to see what that lion has been up to.

* I don't have huge interest in modules, but do like it when they are incorporated into an AP or regular game.

* As far your own content goes, I'd like that idea more if it was helping you draft and craft it for submission and publication. Dude, we know you can write, but maybe this helps you get stuff fleshed out, yeah?

Answers to questions:
1) I prefer to start a first level, but am flexible on that point.
2) 13 or 14 is when it starts getting silly...but I like some silliness. So..around 16/17 is where I lose it.
3) Taldan intrigue? Fine. As long as we can be (anti-) heroes, I'm fine with it. Intrigue is not my forte, but I'm happy to give it a shot.
4) What do we want? I'm pretty sure this is us: Reign of Winter Focus Group. I want to be challenged and being given choices that affect our surroundings, our characters, and our lives. I want our actions to matter within the context of the game (something most APs are terrible at showing).

/me spits

I am also drawn to Strange Aeons. Huge Lovecraft fan. Beginning in an insane asylum? Yeah, that's got a great smell to it, wafting from the kitchen...

Answers to Questions:
1)Starting at Level 1 seems fragile, so Level 2 starts have been more comfortable for me.
2)Interest is more tied to the strength of the story. I've only completed one AP, and the higher levels were simply more work to keep track of the permutations of possibilities, so as not to forget exactly what my character could do.
3)Taldan Intrigue is just vague enough for me to continue looking in the shop window at the Strange Aeons puppy...
4)Campaigns that allow characters a chance to breathe, and aerate, and interact outside of obviously combat-based scenarios. The combats are great fun, but the downtimes are also needed for contrast. Travel or no, it's all good.

I just started reading At the Mountains of Madness last night, so my appetite for Lovecraft is likely to only increase as I continue to read. =)

As far as Taldan intrigue goes, there are actually only a few areas in Golarion with which I'm really familiar and Taldor and Qadira aren't among them. I'm most familiar with Sandpoint, passingly familiar with Korvosa, and somewhat familiar with Ravengro and Leipstadt in Ustalav. So if we do go that route, you can make those places look like whatever you want and I won't know the difference =) And, as an aside, things like Ulfen Guard and Lion Blade sound pretty sweet.

-=Questions=-
- What level would you want to start at? It doesn't have to be first, but it could be.
Generally speaking, I prefer to start at lower levels just so the story is more able to influence how I develop the character. I'm most comfortable starting at level 1 (partly because I find it easiest to do when there's no real shopping to do), but anything lower than 5 seems fine to me.

- What level do you start to lose interest?
I've never been a player in a high level game before, so I'm not sure. I've run an Epic Level 3.0/3.5 game for years though and I rather enjoyed it. The highest I think I've seen as a player is this game, actually. And I don't see this getting uninteresting any time soon.

- If I tell you I'm considering a Taldan intrigue game, what elements would you want to see in it: Dealing with Qadira, delving into the empire's history, high court drama, etc. Keep in mind that I'd be aiming for something AP-like, so it could be several things.
I don't know how helpful this is as an answer, but every AP I've played so far (with the exception of Kingmaker), seems to have the heroes always one or more steps behind the antagonists and racing to catch up (even though they can't possibly catch up). I think some earlier, big successes in the narrative could be fun. Even more so if those victories then got flipped on us by a new villain or a previously defeated foe who's come back for revenge.

- In general what do you want from a campaign? It's clear the group wants to be heroes (and are you willing to considering being part of the Taldan hierarchy heroes?), but do you like having a campaign based in one place? Do you like traveling? Do you want a mix?
I don't know what the Taldan Hierarchy looks like, so I can't say one way or another there, but as far as heroics go if I don't start as one I certainly want my character to grow into one. That was my long term hope with Brood, for instance. As for traveling, I generally prefer having a singular base or city to work out of that we may or may not leave for adventuresome field trips. One of the things I most like about long running games is being able to foster lasting relationships with NPCs (one thing I thought S&S potentially had in spades over RoW), and regularly returning to the same place to restock, regroup, and rest really helps make that possible. I think the city of Cauldron and the Shackled City AP are excellent examples of this if any of you other than Painlord are familiar with it.

Lovecraft fan as well and Strange Aeons does look interesting. So does Ruins of Azlant. I think you would make a great homebrew adventure path and I volunteer my mapping skills to help if you choose that route. (I have all the software, college training in cartography, and might even try to implement 3D maps)

1) Starting level
I like starting at level 1, but 2 is OK as well. I prefer limiting the upper levels and taking advantage of the lower levels.

2) What level do you lose interest
I run E8 and E12 in my homebrew games. At level 12 the game mechanics start bugging me and by level 14-16 it gets silly. We ran a campaign through level 20 once just to test the high levels and there are still fun moments, but way to often a PC would get neutralized.

3) Taldan Intrigue
I have no perspective on this. I could roll with whatever was selected and read up on that portion of history. I did have great fun many, many years ago with an intrigue game set around the Moonsea in Forgotten Realms.

4) What do you want in a campaign
Heroes times a zillion! It's the reason I play RPGs, to be the Big Damn Hero. There's many types of heroes, all shapes and sizes welcome, just as long as we are heroes. Travel or not, warriors or not, peasants or nobles, skilled or peons, it doesn't matter. One of my favorite book series in the Chronicles of Pydrain by Lloyd Alexander and the main character wants a title to start the first book, so he gets one, Assistant Pig Keeper. I always imaging heroes starting out as assistant pig keepers and working towards their promotion to head pig keeper.

Whoa, you can do maps?! Dang, son - that's by far the thing I find most challenging and time consuming in running games. That's awesome you've got that talent, dude!

Here's what I aim to do:

3D castle by Pix4D

I've spent the last two years processing aerial imagery from drones for agriculture analysis and for building 3D models. Eventually my game table will incorporate one of these...

Holographic display

I like cheese.

Wait, sorry, it's been an odd day. I am a Lovecraftian fanboy. I would love to do Strange Aeons, but the prospect of a homebrew isn't bad either.

So, I guess I'll go with which ever option you feel strongest about, Mott.

I've *been* to that castle! Golly this is both neat and fascinating!

Awesome. I would give my left nut for good floor plans of some real-world castles. I feel like they should be out there somewhere, but I've never been able to find them.

Saw this in the Strange Aeons board, so we should hopefully have a little more idea about the whole thing in the next few days:

From the Office of Expectation Management: The Player's Guide is going to roll out a little later this week, so y'all can give your F5 key a break for now. :)

While I love the idea of doing my own homebrew adventures again -- something I've not done in a while -- I do fear I'd burn out so I'm more inclined to go with the AP.

That said, while I'm happy to have some of you play core classes *cough* Painlord *cough*, I would probably want at least a couple occult classes to be represented. Considering you start with no memory of your past lives, I may treat character generation a little differently than previous campaigns. Again, we can see what the Player's Guide has to say about all of this. I also would like a female character or two so we don't have a total sausage fest, though won't demand that.

Also, interesting that you all like starting at Level 1. I've been a fair of starting at higher levels typically, as it lets me give my characters a little richer history. Sure, sometimes I want the pig farmer (and would like some sort of non-classed class that doesn't have any weapon/armor training to begin), but other times I have more detailed story I want that makes no sense for 1st level.

I'd be down for running one of the new Occult classes. I have several ideas using them that I'd like to try out. In addition, I rarely run female characters, because I fear I'll end up becoming a caricature. But I think PbP might be an effective vehicle that should allow me leeway with enough trusted voices around to keep me from becoming a stereotype. I'm onboard.

From what I've gathered from some of the Strange Aeons posts I was browsing today, the amnesia the pc's start with only goes back 5 years. So, we'll apparently know who we are and where we come from and such, but maybe not why we're in the loony bin. But, I'm sure the Player's Guide that'll drop later in the week will clarify things in that respect.

I'd happily introduce another female character into my character stable. Someone with much softer edges, yeah, that would be interesting...

I read through some of the character cards in my Arkham Horror boardgame last night. If we do wind up going for Strange Aeons, I know who I'll be trying to recreate =P

Tripped across this artwork today...

Now I'll have to investigate Arkham Horror to get spoilers on Mal's creation...

Arkham Horror is a board game which my friends and I have never beaten. It is the most complex board game I own - to the point where it takes me nearly 2 hours just to set it up on the rare times we try to play.

But the character I like is the inestimable Ashcan Pete! I've got an idea for building him out of the Hunter class that I think could really work =)

Player's Guide is out (of course, I have no time to read it ... unless I ignore my wife. I guess that's an option...).

If you guys do read it and want to think of character ideas, please send them only to me (via PM or email). Like I said, I haven't read the Player's Guide yet and don't know how it handles the amnesia, but I may try to keep a little more secrecy than usual.

As cool as my Ashcan Pete idea is, I've come up with one I like more. But that one's a secret!

I'm on the road all weekend this weekend, my excellent fellows. Weekend postings will be even more rare than usual!

Have gotten the first part of SA and seems well-suited to our group (though as those of you who've downloaded the players guide have seen, you apparently were at one time not so heroic). It also appears that occult classes might not be quite as necessary as I'd expected (I do think one of you should have some way to deal with haunts, though, which the pirates did not; one idea I've already received might be able to cover that).

I think I'd like to wait a couple months before we start; I'd like to follow up on those hints in the player's guide and see what's involved there and make sure it's not a campaign breaker, and I really want to finish up a couple of my slower games.

So if Strange Aeons is serving to replace Skull and Shackles, perhaps Ruins of Azlant might come round near to when we're wrapping up this one! =D

Oooh, that'd be nice. We do seem to be making good speed. (And I'm off work in a couple hours, which means I generally expect to have a little time to keep posting.)

Just read the Strange Aeons player's guide, looks like a good AP. In the interest of having a balanced party, I volunteer to make my character last and Mott can tell me what class is needed to fill in the gap, that way we don't know what class our fellow PCs have taken and still have the needed balance of skills and abilities for this AP.

Technical difficulties in office, with IT taking over computers for various durations. Apologies for spotty performance today...

Spotty performance at work or on the boards? :)

Before I open it to the general public, anyone other than Mal or Pems interested in joining a Kingmaker game in a divine caster role?

The game's got bits of really good mixed with moments of really frustrating...

lol

The bits of good are Mal and Pems' characters in particular!

I'm leaving my saturation point for Stranger Aeongs, but I appreciate the inquiry :) It's good to be busy.

Bonus points if your character concept involves separating brawling kobold brothers...

I'll pass, thanks for offer, looking forward to Strange Aeons as well

I touched base with a few of you yesterday, but for the rest, I'm expecting/hoping to start SA up mid-October, when I get back from visiting my wife. I still want to see Part 3, since I think it could have some impact on how Part 1 plays out, plus that should give me some time to finish up a couple other games.

What is this place? Why am I here? Why can't I remember anything? Why is there no sweetener in this gruel? I demand to speak to management!

For as wonderful as scorching ray has been so far, the create pit family of spells and wall of fire having proven to be equally as disappointing.

Anybody have any offensively-minded spells Malavarius can look to get to replace wall of fire going forward? I'd have normally prepped at least one dimension door, but with the teleport trap in place in the fort I didn't want to risk it since dd has the teleportation descriptor.

Sorry for popping in uninvited, but I wanted to pass on how much I've enjoyed reading through your adventures. I'm running this AP live for my group and have constantly referenced this game for ideas. Thanks, keep up the great work!