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Welcome to my PbP game for the Solstice Scar, version B (#8-99B) Special. Hope you would have a blast!
Before we start, I would to share some of my ground rules. (In spoiler tags to not take up space.)
PbP Matters
1. This discussion thread is open for all OOC matters, so no ooc tag needed. For OOC matters in the gameplay thread, please use the [ ooc ] tag.
2. Please post at least once a day, including on weekends. Honestly, though, as a special, more frequent posting is definitely better. I’ll personally target at least 2 posts a day for myself. If you have not played a special before, generally each encounter is timed, so we would have a fixed number of days to clear through each. Also, very often, not only would our progress contribute to our individual table success, it would also contribute to the success of all the tables. If you would be away, please let me know in advance where possible, and we can work something out. Otherwise, if you go missing, where necessary, I will bot your characters for the sake of the rest of everyone else. Thus, a good idea is to leave botting instructions for combat (with dice rolls) and non-combat in your profile page beforehand.
3. If you have any disagreements over some of my GM calls or interpretation of the rules, please take it to the discussion thread or, even better, pm me.
4. If you have played and/or GMed this scenario before (including version A), or are currently GMing this for another table, please do not metagame or spoil the plot. And please let me know.
5. I would have thought this would go without mentioning until I encountered this, so… It is the responsibility of the player to keep track of the game, including referencing the map on google slides. I understand that there are times where it is inconvenient to do so. In that case, please be as specific as you can as to where you wish your character to move, what actions to take, etc. If you regularly have issues with accessing the google slides, you might want to reconsider playing via PbP, especially for PFS as there is always combat, and thus map dependent.
Combat
6. Once surprise (if any) and initiative is determined, for the group of characters who can take actions, I would resolve actions in posting order, NOT initiative order. I used to do the latter but it doesn’t work that well in PbP, so am going with the former instead.
Rolls and Skill Checks
7. I would do your initiative rolls, as well as perception rolls for the purpose of determining surprise (if any).
8. On knowledge checks for general information, I would usually put them in spoilers with the necessary DCs. Just go ahead to roll, and I'll trust that you would resist reading them if the roll fails (or least not to metagame). (Don’t forget that you can make knowledge checks untrained for DC10.) There might be exceptions for plot-critical information though, where I would explicitly ask for knowledge checks. As for knowledge checks for monster lore, I would put the most basic information in spoiler as well, i.e. identity and one important info. If your roll would reveal more, I’ll provide in the next post. If you wish, you can ask for what information you want, e.g. DR, resistances, special attacks, etc.
9. On skill checks where there could be team effort involved, e.g. finding a hidden trail with survival, influencing attitude of NPCs with diplomacy, please be explicit when making the rolls whether you are attempting the check on your own, or whether you are assisting. (And take note of the pros and cons of either.) There might be situations where only one character is allowed to attempt the check (and the rest to assist) – I’ll state so explicitly if that’s the case.
10. On skill checks in general, if I feel you have roleplayed well, e.g. gave a good description of what your character does to search for a trail, came up with creative ways to befriend a hostile NPC, gave a very rousing speech, I would give bonuses, or even waive the DC altogether. :)
Roleplaying Matters
11. The maps and handouts link (at the top of the page) would display all the maps, handouts, pictures, etc as the scenario progresses. The most current page would be right on top, while previous ones would be left there for your reference. (Incidentally, Android and IOS has the Google Slides app in case you work off mobile devices.)
12. Please have your full character information up on your character's profile page for my vetting. Also, please have your stat block updated with the key information. Minimally please have your current hp vs max hp, AC (normal, touch and flat-footed), all three saves and movement. Feel free to include others.
13. Finally, playing by pbp provides many advantages compared to face-to-face games, the chief one being having the time and space to flesh out your thoughts and actions. So please make use of this and have posts that are more than simply dice rolls. :)
Getting Started
Ok with that out of the way, a few tasks before we kick off.
A. Go to the Gameplay page and dot.
B. Go to the maps and handouts page and fill out the table there. (Don’t worry about the 3 boxes below the table, i.e. token, initiative and perception. I’ll take care of that.)
C. In this Discussion thread, do your day job rolls (if any), and share whatever OOC information you would like the rest of the party to know about your character e.g. class, level, special abilities. We’ll leave character descriptions and introductions to the gameplay thread later when we are about to start.
This multi-table special is expected to start on 5 Mar 2018, so mark it on your calendar!
Fantastic!
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I'm currently level 2, but I'm playing this character this weekend which will bring her to level 3. I'll get all of her stats updated accordingly. I have both played and GM'd part 1, and the GM credit for part 1 is on this character.
My schedule has been incredibly chaotic as of late, but I will be absolutely sure that at the very lease I have very solid botting instructions for busy days.
I am a swashbuckler, so I of course do have parry/riposte. If you're OK with it, I'll just post riposte conditions at the end of every turn, along with my total attack bonus and damage total. That way if they go off, you can roll them on my behalf. If you'd prefer me to roll a parry with each post I can do that as well. Once I hit level 3 I'll update my profile and get all of my info up for you.
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No day job.
I ran Version A at PaizonCon last year, and the chronicle for that is on this character. It's possible that I might play him one more time before the 5th, but that will not cause him to level up.
OOC: Zarnel will eventually transition to the Scar Seeker prestige class. Until then, he occasionally engages in ritual self-scarification (conditions outlined below). If this kind of activity (similar to "cutting") is a trigger for someone, please let me know and I will refrain from mentioning it.
Ritual Self-Scarification: If a party member commits an evil act that he is aware of, he will emulate his goddess (Vildeis) by ritually scarring himself doing 1 point of damage that he will not voluntarily heal until during or after the next battle against an evil foe. Non-lawful acts of party members (either chaotic like raging which he does himself, or simple violations of local law) are accepted if they are done in the effort to defeat evil. If needed, he will seek alternate methods of succeeding at the task, and will suggest that the perpetrator seek redemption and display his scars as an example of one way to do so.
Hey, Crunch! It's Jim. We've played together at Gameporium a couple times!
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Okay! Corona is updated to 4th level and I've filled out the requested information on the slide. Basically, Corona is a dual-cursed Time oracle that largely functions to aid her companions and to act as crowd-control against enemies. I'll leave it up to you GM on how you'd prefer to handle Corona's Misfortune oracle revelation. The other big thing of note is that she has the Powerless Prophecy curse as her primary curse which means that she can't take any actions at all during Surprise Rounds and, in absence of Surprise Rounds, will always be Staggered during the first round of any combat. Her current tradeoff that she gets for all this is that she gains Uncanny Dodge as a rogue.
Oh and she has a chicken familiar named Stuffing, but Stuffing doesn't participate in combat in any meaningful way :)
I'll work out potential purchases (as she has a small chunk of gold at her disposal) and post them here before we get started.
*edit* I have both played and GMed Solstice Scar-A and will be GMing Solstice Scar-B as well. Corona was the PC that I played during Part A.
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Sangkip is an extraction specialist for the Archive.
Mechanically speaking, he's a fairly straightforward melee rogue who will certainly appreciate any flank we can make happen!
Oh and Draklor, I had initially signed up as a bard,but swapped to Sangkip, so Inspire away!
Sangkip's currently involved in a rather tumultuous auction for some kind of key, but that won't cause him to level before we start.
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Great! Seems that everyone has mustered. Interestingly, I played version A with two of you guys and am now GMing. :) Hmm... Anyway, some finishing touches before we start.
Sangkip, Chou Wei, once you've finalise your character info, can you fill in the table at the maps and handouts? Thanks!
Chou Wei, you are actually the first swashbuckler that I'm GMing! What I've usually encounter is for the swashbuckler to roll the parry/riposte in spoilers and I think that's what I would prefer. I'm generally adverse to rolling critical rolls, e.g. attacks, saving throws, for players.
Zarnel, I have no objections with the ritual self-scarification but I definitely want to keep this a save space for everyone. (I encounter this quite often in my line of work and I understand how it can be a trigger.) If any of you are uncomfortable, please sound out, even if via pm and I'll follow up with Zarnel.
Corona, for the misfortune revelation, can I suggest you state upfront what would be typical trigger conditions, e.g. if enemy rolls a nat 20 for attack, ally fails saving throws. Along the way, depending on the situation, feel free to add on / amend. And in some situations, I may allow a ret-con if it is a situation that I feel Corona would likely have activated the misfortune revelation even though not stated upfront.
So it seems that everyone in this party has gone through Version A? Well, without being too spoilery, there are certain sections of Version B which are identical to Version A. I'll try to figure out how to set up the situation to make them novel, but I imagine we might need some suspension of disbelief... :P
Final matter (for now) is the marching order when triggering combat. When there's space, positioning would be 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, while in tight quarters, it would be 1-2-3-4-5-6. Below is my proposal but let me know if you feel otherwise.
1. 575
2. Zarnel
3. Sangkip
4. Chou Wei
5. Draklor
6. Corona
Obviously, there would be situations where we deviate from this, e.g. when you send up the rogue to scout ahead, etc.
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@GM - For sure Corona would use it if an enemy rolls a crit or if an ally fails a save. Those would probably be the two primary conditions; at least one secondary condition would be if an enemy makes a save against a clutch spell like, uh...Glitterdust or Black Tentacles or something.
Regarding marching order, Corona is fine in the back. With her curse handicap that's usually the best place for her anyway.
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I'd like to make some purchases before beginning the scenario, now that I have the fame and fortune to afford em.
Mithral Shirt (1100 gp)
Potion of Lesser Restoration (300 gp)
2x Antitoxin (2x 50 gp = 100 gp)
2x Antiplague (2x 50 gp = 100 gp)
Handy Haversack (1000 gp)
Total Expenditures: 2600 gp
Day Job:
Also, for what it's worth, I played part A on a different character and assigned GM credit for part A to this character. With Chou I like to roleplay her GM credits as field reports that she has studied, so the identical sections of this scenario will technically be stuff she has read about but not experienced firsthand.
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Alright, opening post is up. Sorry had quite an eventful weekend, so it's a bit late. :P Please jump right in.
Separately, after re-reading the scenario, I'm not quite sure how I could amend it to make the identical parts novel without deviating too significantly from the entire storyline. So I'll just present the scenario as it is, the repeated parts as in, and we'll take it from there?
Chou Wei, can you fill in the table at the maps & handouts? Thanks!
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Since 575 brought this up, will address it here. Since all your characters played in the first one (or have GM credits assigned), there would be knowledge you have of at least some parts of it. I'm not going to worry about using what you know from that, since I feel there are no major plot spoilers. I'll treat it as some deja vu that you all had that occurs over a long over-arching campaign (especially if you go on to version C).
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AID TOKENS
We don't have any with us right now, but as good a time as any to brief you about this.
During the event, it is possible for characters at one table to assist those at another with Aid Tokens. Each represents the assistance of allied Pathfinder agents who assist the PCs.
Once per encounter, any character at a table can use an Aid Token to assist the group in one of the ways described below. Once a table uses an Aid Token, pick another table and I'll see it is passed onto them.
If you have any special requests, e.g. lesser restoration from Provide Spellcasting (see below), let me know and I call out to the other GMs to see if anyone can help.
If a table receives an Aid Token and doesn’t need its benefits, they’re encouraged to boost its potency by expending some of their own resources or attempting a skill check. Boosting an Aid Token, including attempting a skill check, is part of passing that Aid Token to another table. A table can neither retry such a skill check nor boost an Aid Token more than once before passing it to another table.
A table may boost a token even while in combat without taking any in-round actions; the scenario assumes the aid was granted before that encounter began.
Some Aid Token benefits may only be used if already boosted by another table. An Aid Token’s benefits vary based on the table’s subtier, and these benefits can take one of the following forms.
Allied Offensive: A Pathfinder agent strikes a creature at the same time as the PC, increasing the damage dealt by one attack by 1d8 points. In addition, after the attack, anyone attacking the target is considered to be flanking it until the beginning of the attacker’s next turn. To Boost: Succeed at an attack roll against an AC 15. Boosted Effect: +1d8 points of damage.
Burst of Healing: A Pathfinder agent heals all of the PCs of 1d6 points of damage. To Boost: Expend one use of channel positive energy or cast one spell with the healing descriptor with a spell level greater than or equal to 2. A PC must cast this spell, not simply activate a wand or scroll. Boosted Effect: +2d6 points of damage healed.
Timely Inspiration: A Pathfinder agent provides the effects of a bard’s inspire courage bardic performance for 3 rounds. The competence bonus is +1. To Boost: Expend 3 rounds of bardic performance or similar ability. Boosted Effect: Increase the competence bonus by 1.
Provide Knowledge (must be boosted): Gain the benefits of a Knowledge skill check or Spellcraft skill check used to identify a magical item; the type and difficulty (Easy, Average or Hard) depend on the table granting the benefit. To Boost: Succeed at a Knowledge check of your choice, the result of the check (Easy, Average or Hard) should be noted on the Aid Token.
Provide Spellcasting (must be boosted): Gain the benefits of a beneficial spell cast by an ally as listed on the Aid Token. To Boost: Cast one of the following spells lesser restoration, neutralize poison, remove curse, or remove disease. Only these spells may be granted. Expending resources that produce the effects of these spells, such as a paladin’s mercy class feature, may also grant these benefits.
Tactics-wise, it benefits all the tables collectively if the tokens are circulated frequently, preferably before the end of each encounter, rather than to hoard it until it is optimal to use. Thus, if there is no immediate need, good to boost and pass it on.
I've also put this information at the top of the page in spoilers. Any questions?
Backup GM checking in! See y’all on the 15th of March!
Hmm
Wait, don't go away! We'll give hugs and Corona will make cornbread if you stay!
Kidding! We love our GM. kuey's awesome!
I remember Corona's cornbread, and hugs are always awesome. I'm giggling as I look at the player list because the last time I GMed 8-99a, it was for Corona, 575 and Kuey. This feels like a grand reunion.
Hmm
Hey, maybe I’ll get to hop over to that table too!
That was part of the reason I agreed to do backup this time around. Not a lot of people have gotten a chance to play at my tables... This gives me a chance to interact with folks from all over the lodge!
Hmm
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Hmm, the rules only says a table cannot boost an aid token more than once, but doesn't say it can't be boosted multiple times by different tables. For now, I'll take it that we can't, but let me check quickly. If indeed we can't, I think we could simply just pass it on without activating it at the very least. Of course, it could help to get rid of all those pesky nonlethal damage that so many of you have.
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Alright, have gotten confirmation from the overseer that there can be multiple boosts on a token, so long as they're not of the same kind. Also, a table has requested for a healing boost. So could somehow boost it and I'll pass it on? Allied Offensive (succeeding at an attack roll against an AC 15) is probably the easiest.
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Yeah, it was kind of here that I realised I couldn't create a new story for Version B. The earlier parts could always be handwaved away as yet another Blackros museum shenanigans, but here...
Anyway, I'll be taking my leave for a few days until 18 Mar for a short vacation with some friends. Want to thank GM Hmm for volunteering to step in. I'm sure you would have a blast with her!
Thanks, GM Hmm!
In my head canon, this is all the flashback scene before the show picks up again.
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My character's just assuming that Nigel really screwed the pooch and that the temporal loop is just a side effect of the new wards
It could also be a time warp — very appropriate with Corona in the party! — GM Hmm tapping out!!
As for standards... Heh. Kuey, you’re awesome and you know it. Have a great game, all!
Hmm
