Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Lloyd Jackson

This is probably something we should all weigh in on. And, to be fair, DSP did give us a "What to expect" from him when he began continuing the campaign for us. It may be a case of miscommunication and misunderstanding on all fronts.

Generally, my rule is "if it doesn't result in character death needlessly, it's not a huge deal." That translates roughly to "Do what you want, and I'll punish or reward you based on the situation, but if you might die, I'll give hints first. :)

I will always answer questions if you have them, but once something is posted in the game, that's what's happened (most of the time).

Spoiler:

Tactics are an important part of my games

My games will tell an interesting Story

I will Mirror back player ideas I think are interesting in the game

The GM is In Charge in my games and "rule-zero" is in effect

My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre scripted content

Characters in my games are Destined for greatness, not random death

I roll Dice in the open and don't fudge the results in my games

My games include Disturbing content

My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama

Player character Death is a likely event in my games

Players in my game should be prepared to Run when the odds are against them

I'm also sad to see it going so slowly. I know I'm not much help though, I keep procrastinating on my posts.

My problem with this AP is how railroady it is. Also, it specifically says how long between events to allow downtime and while I know I can fudge that, I do have to let your characters get invested in the town and people.

If I went from plot point to plot point, the game would feel like a bullet train.

Additionally, I am a stay at home dad to a three year old and a 4 month old. They battle for my attention from 6:30-7am to 7:30-9pm. I generally don't have the energy to do a lengthy or meaningful post given all that'd I'd have to fit in for exposition and backstory to set up new plots or developments. Conversely, if I leave y'all in "open country" I see responses slow down or they come so fast that I can't mitigate them fast enough to keep you engaged.

I love the story line of this AP, but it's better suited to a novel than actual play in my experience.

I ran RotRL on table twice. The first fizzled same as where y'all are now. The second made it into book 4 with whiplash from the aforementioned bullet train.

I'm not sure where to go from here...maybe I run a different campaign of my own devising for you guys. That stuff is way easier for me to run and I can shift it around based on player response?

I'm sorry for the trouble this might cause, but I'd like to leave the group. I know I've been a terrible post-er for this game, and I've decided to purge my giant collection of pbps down to a small number. Thank you very much for the stories we played in together. I hope that you guys will find more enjoyment soon.

It was nice to play with you for that time. Thank you for joining us.

Going back to the game in hand. For me, I still wish to play RotRL. While I can understand it is a bit... Railroady, it might be slightly needed. Though who says as GM, you can't add your own little touches here and there.

Maybe a townsfolk that we helped came by and let us know of something that happened in town. And they'd like us to look into it. It would be a plot hook and will get us to follow up to the next destination. Which is completely understandable story wise, since we became hero's of a small town. Who wouldn't want to have such brave people check out something that went bump in the night. Though I doubt it will happen again like it did with the Vinders.

And possibly, GM, you could look at the AP as a guideline of major events, with add your own little touches in between those events.

I for one would like to play out whatever things happen between Tsakua and the Vinders. I just...feel kinda guilty doing it because it doesn't necessarily involve everyone else except for when you're all getting me out of trouble.

Personally, I'm fine with either homebrew or the AP. I'd like to follow the story through, but I can live with adjustments, however big or small.

I'm happy to go with the group consensus. It'd be nice to keep this story going, but if you think it'd be easier to run you through something homebrewed then I will stick around for that, for sure. I'd even be happy with taking a break so we could work out how to make RotRL work a little better as an AP in terms of story-telling and other problems we're facing, if people want to keep going with this.

Well, looks like we're at the consensus of everyone is to continue the AP, but is alright with seeing homebrew stuff added. If I am reading things correctly.

So, what are we going to do?

Tas: Wishes to see this continue, and hopes things picks up in terms of posting.

Mary: Wants to also see this game continue, see posting pick up, and continue with the story.

Tsakua: Wants to continue the game with everyone here. Wants to see what happens between him and the Vinders. But doesn't mind if the story changes.

Kent: Wants to continue the game. Doesn't mind if the story is changed.

GM DSP: Wouldn't mind seeing this continue, but wouldn't mind changing the story to tell it easier.

I hope I got that all correctly.

Hello Everyone again. Alright, I think we'll also figure out how many times we want people to post here. Since it looks like we are all looking for this to pick up after all.

So for post rates, I know I favor, and prefer maybe once a day post rate. What do you guys think? And I think this needs to be for everyone participating in this PBP. People that would be absent should need to let us know if they are busy or something so they could be botted if needed so we can continue at the rate we're posting. But would depend on the GM their self.

Do you guys have any ideas on how many posts you'd want to see daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly or some sort?

I don't really mind games that move a little slower, as long as it's a slow and steady posting rate. A few of my games move at a pretty leisurely pace, but we all know that's how the game is going and the posting is still consistent on a week by week basis. That said, I'll also move fast if other people want to. I just want the game to move at a nice, consistent pace as we go forward.

I agree. Though that is the reason why I wanted to see what kind of rate does everyone want to move at.

Yeah, I guess my point there was I'm indifferent to the rate, I'll go with the flow on this one. I'm fine with games that move at any pace, and I'll post at any rate you guys want to, I just want it to be regular. If I have to choose, I'd prefer to not move the fastest as I am involved in a lot of games on here and having them all move at a more leisurely pace is kind of nice.

I'm good with a more leisurely pace too as I am not often in the same place as the book when I start looking to post.

I am worried about continuing with this, especially at a slower pace, because I do not see everyone being consistent (myself included).

Again, I feel more comfortable with the idea of a homebrew because if I am more motivated to replace players if I feel like continuing the story and people drop. It is really hard to fit people into an ongoing AP. Just IMO.

If you're more comfortable going full homebrew, I'm also willing to do that. Homebrew doesn't get a ton of love on the boards, so I don't get to play in it much as I'm the Pathfinder DM in my IRL group.

All the other games I'm in on the boards are homebrew. For me, it's a little easier to get motivated to do things in the campaign or world of the game. The AP, while fun, feels a little more like fulfilling a story that's already written. Homebrew feels like we're the ones writing the story.

Everyone's experience is different :) Liesurely posting is good for me right now.

OK. It sounds like Homebrew wins out.

So then, what kind of story do we want to tell? Do we want to use these characters or make new ones? What level?

You know how this goes. :)

This is a personal thing, but if I can help it I don't like starting at level 1. For me, a good starting level is anywhere between 3-7; you aren't all powerful yet, but you've gotten to the point where builds are coming together and you can take some hits and dish them out.

I would like to stick with Kent, but I'm not opposed to other people switching up characters if they wanted to. Would we still be operating on Golarion, or would it be a homebrew setting, too?

I would like to switch up characters, but to what would depend on the story and whether or not everyone else switches up. As far as levels go, whichever is fine with me.

A story idea...well, depending on what DSP is up for running...

-Typical group of good guys sent to destroy a bad thing/bad guy/whatever is troubling the local town. Always fun and plenty of options to explore during/after monster smashing.

-Urban setting has also been in mind. Maybe as members of a guild competing against other guilds, performing various services to whoever pays the price, everything from rescuing orphans to planting dirt on politicians? Or somewhere in between?

-Prisoners (or captured soldiers/mercenary's) that start off deep in enemy territory, kind of a "Great Escape" or "Behind Enemy Lines" situation?

SO...yeah, some random ideas.

Urban games are fun, but a traditional sort of story is neat too. I will definitely be sticking with Kent; he's a very big break from the kinds of characters I usually play, and I enjoy that. I'm often the Rogue of the group, so Kent being the brash idiot that he is that charges into battle in a brazen fury is fun.

Mary? Tas?

I'm interested I guess, but I would want to make a new character. After all, Mary was for a RotRL game. I really have to decide if I can make a character even.

I'm interested, though I don't know if I'd want a new character or to keep up with Tas, it depends on what nature the adventure takes. I also second the idea of not starting at 1st level.

I also hate starting at 1st level so no worries there. I usually like 3 or 5.

I like the idea of an urban guild/intrigue sort of game. I run many sprawling world games so something localized would be really fun I think.

I even have an idea. :)

You represent one of several criminal guilds in a very large city. and each guild governs itself, chooses its own members, and has it's own specialties.. Each guild is lead by one leader and all leaders are beholden to a criminal boss/king of some kind.

All of this has to be done carefully of course since the secret kingdom of thieves cant attract too much attention from "the fuzz" or everything could go to hell real quick.

Thoughts?

Hmm... maybe? Another thing I like about Kent is being good-aligned, as a lot of my characters are morally ambiguous. They work for the good guys, but they're the "ends justify the means" person in the party more often than not. I could play another character, but as I said he's a very nice break away from my normal playing field. If this is the sort of game where we'd be like, "honorable thieves" though, I could roll with that.

i can dig it. "honorable thieves" or "robin hood" style folks who may prefer to work outside the law to improve the city.

Each guild is free to make its own decisions for the most part.

Alright. While this sounds nice and all, I am going to bow out. I thank you for the offer to continue with a game, but it isn't the one I signed up for, so no thank you.

So thank you for the fun, and may everyone have fun.

We've been quiet here, are the three of us down to play a homebrew style game, still?