The Black Mist (Inactive)

Game Master Vinsomner

Congrats to those accepted players!

There will be several things we must do before starting the campaign officially!

1) Build a Starship!
2) Determine Starship Roles!
3) Determine if anyone in the party knows each other in any capacity. At most, all of you would've been introduced a day or so prior to the launch of the Exodus.

Build a Starship! Whoo!

Jacob would make a good gunner, since he has full BAB. He currently lacks the leadership skills to be captain, however.

For the Starship, I'm looking at starting you guys off at Tier 1, with 55 BP. I'm tempting on giving you a Tier 2, but I would like to see what the group comes up with at Tier 1 initially. I believe you could make something pretty good for that tier.

How we can do this to expedite the process can either all hop on Discord to discuss it, OR everyone does their own builds and share, and we will blend them together. Or I guide you through and everyone casts votes on each step.

Opinions?

Hey hey all! I'm glad to have been accepted, and I'm definitely looking forward to spaceship shenanigans.

My opinion as someone, for whom this isn't the first space rodeo (kind of in character, too, but mostly OOC), having looked at the way the ships work, I suggest starting our first mission with a tier 1 ship, which we'll then retire for system operations.

Reason being, I really, really, really like the idea of us running with the Heavy Freighter as a ship - it's perfect size for starting, can let the GM have missions for exploration, combat, and bulk hauling/trading, with the only downside being that we'd need to give it some bite later, and start off a bit worse. It's immensely flexible, and gives us the freedom to do whatever, whenever.

Another important thing for the slightly bigger ships that I've discovered is great for gameplay, is give the GM the opportunity to play a couple of key, important (and usually strictly out-of-combat) NPC's on the ship, with their own little plots and personalities, who can duck in and out of the spotlight. I'm currently playing in a RL space opera who's coming to its conclusion after nearly four years of gameplay, and some of the NPC's we have on our ship are nearly as close to us as each others' characters, yet they've never felt like GMPC's - a large ship gives the GM a chance to be in the thick of it if he wants to, or to simply have them taking care of something in the other end of the ship if need be.

I realise it might be quite odd to introduce a bit of homebrew at the start of the game, that's why I'm suggesting the PC's have a beaten-up old transport to start with, which would then get upgraded with a heavier one later on. Another option would be to run it with a normal transport to start, which would then, if and when we get the chance, be upgraded to the heavy one (us cleaning a couple of cargo holds, patching up hulls, and opening old and air leaking chambers.)

That would be one I'm thinking of - problem being too few guns for gunners to fire, but the Coilgun can easily be replaced by two Light Laser cannons, or anything else.

And the last one, mainly because I wanted the brain exercise, and because I, too, enjoy the fact of fixing up an old rustbucket, I present to you:

The idea here is to present a Heavy Transport version that might be acceptable for a 1st level party, pending GM permission, and obviously, desire. Numbers and tweaking might depend, but I think that might be a good idea, if people want to bond and use the first ship we start on!

Sorry for massive wall of text, and looking forward to other suggestions.

Quick EDIT before time runs out - Ship Build Calculator that I just found. Might come useful!

Ello, I'll look those designs over in a bit.

Oh yes, I'd also like to point out to check the Campaign full description to get an idea of the preface and pretense for having a ship. What you list above are all good examples Molly. It all depends on the groups flavor and how you want to proceed with it!

That shipcalculator... dangit! I'm actually developing one right now.... I'm like half way done with it too.... it's a standalone application versus a spreadsheet though, so maybe its still worth finishing up.

Thanks for putting the effort into putting those designs together Molly. I honestly could get behind any of them.

As for starship roles I think Bishop will fall into a gunner position. He hasn't seen a lot of starship combat and doesn't have much hands-on experience with starship weaponry but I imagine him trying it and finding he has a knack for it.

Hello there. And glad to be here.

Concerning ship roles, I think Caleb could act as the ship's Engineer or Science Officer.

As for whether he would know anyone else, the answer is most likely "no" due to his backstory. Regarding that, I do have a question for the GM (anyone can read by the way, despite the spoiler, just like anyone can read his 10-minute background in his profile).

F. Castor: Yeah, I see no reason why not, it's a couple sentences to work that in just as easily!

Thanks!

By the way, I was not actually referring to putting it in exactly as written. Just that his presence aboard the ship is as part of the cargo and basically unknown up until the ship alert goes off.

I got that!

F. Castor, do you have any opinion on the starting starship?

I vote for the 2nd of the three that were presented.

I quite like the second, too, considering the new circumstances surrounding the massive sky(space) citadel.

It's quick, nimble, and the Explorer is actually a pretty damn decent chassis, when I got to look at it in depth.

So does anyone have any ideas for a name? I've thought of a creature's name, something akin to a beast of legend from Golarion, possibly now extinct. Considering it's combat role would be buzzing around and being annoying, then buzzing out, I was thinking Harpy. There's also one of them piloting it, too.

Thoughts? GM can pitch in, too, if he's got a good idea.

I would suggest the explorer frame myself, though I'm being impartial here, any choice you make would be decent though I think you will find more versatility with the explorer chasis, and it would probably fit better with the preface write up.

I love the idea of naming it after an extinct beast of legend. Now for one actually piloting it? Are you suggesting an actual harpy being a pilot? Correct me if I misunderstood :)

Harpy for the starships name sounds excellent by the way!

I like the idea of the extinct name, but I wasn't set on the Harpy, plus I wanted to get some suggestions from people, too!

As for the harpy piloting it, that was a joke about Molly, who's quite vocal.

I'm happy to hear all suggestions, but the siren call of the unknown beckons!

Ah silly me :)

Also decide with each other if there will be any character relations with one another (besides with F. Castors character). The sooner we get everything decided upon we will begin the campaign.

Counter proposal from the Vesk.

We could always call it the Harridan.

Frame: Light Freighter
Core:Pulse Grey (100pcu)
Thrusters: S-12 Thrusters (60pcu)
Computer: Basic
Quarters: Common
Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75pcu)
Auxiliary:Escape Pods (2pcu) 2 cargo holds
Features: Budget Long range sensors
Weapons: Front arc Micro Missile Battery (Array Long 2d6 10pcu Limited 5)
Port and Starboard Gyrolaser (1d8 10pcu each Broad arc)
Defenses: Basic Shields 40 (40Sp 15Pcu Regen 1 Min) Armor Mk.2

10 10 6 4 1 6 9 5 4 = 55

We can fire either the missile battery or the gyrolasers, but not both in the same turn unless we cut shields or thrust. Although I cant think of any time using both would be a useful action anyway.

Tujon will be one of those lone sign ups that just got stuck with the crew. If anyone wants to know of him, say they were on opposite sides of a job at some point, I am fine with the character recognizing him and having bad feelings about him while Tujon has no idea who the other is.

Will happily take either gunner or captain.

If we paint her black, we can call the Explorer The Nightstalker.

Molly I think with the two of us being Akitonian it could be fun to have our stories tied slightly. I wonder if you would consider the following tidbit of backstory for us:

"I think a lot about the day I left home. It's strange I still think of Akiton as home. Some of my fiercest memories are of that place though; memories of a carefree youth, memories of a tragic suffering and lost loved ones, and memories of that determination to get out among the stars. That place molded me into the individual I am today and yet I do not think I would ever want to return.

I met a likeminded woman on the day I left Akiton. With everything I owned strapped to my back I asked around the spaceport for work on a ship, a ship that would take me to the stars. Desna led me to what would be my second home for the better part of a year, the Titan. Captain T'suru and I negotiated my employment terms briefly and before I knew it I was climbing onto the transport ship. I was invited to explore the ship and I took right to it. I introduced myself to each of the crew members but it was a woman not of the crew that intrigued me the most.

Where I was running towardssomething, Molly Bakir was running away from something as fervently. I never asked her how her face ended up so badly beaten but I suspect I would have only received a bit of her bitter humor. As we left our home planet, she watched behind as the red dot disappeared, and I watched the stars in front of us as they came a little bit closer.

In the coming days I would spend much time with her. Though we had led very different lives on the red planet, her mannerisms and smell were very familiar and helped put me at ease on the first leg of my grand adventure. I do not need such comfort now but I think it was exactly what I needed then. She did not remain on the ship for long and I was sad to see her go, but I think by that time I was finally ready to leave Akiton behind completely anyhow. It has been nearly 10 years since that day, and I pray that Desna has given Molly as fantastic an adventure as I have had since leaving home."

The goddess of luck bringing the two together again would be interesting and fun, I think. Let me know what you think.

Posting this now, since I got a moment.

I really like the Vesk proposal, especially the name. Forgot Harridans were a thing! I like the ship, too, quite a lot.

Bishop, I really like the 'diary' entries, and I could absolutely see something of the sort having happened. If the GM agrees , we can make it canon. I'm assuming maybe 4-5 years have passed since then?

Harridan does have a certain ring to it, I do admit. And a ship is usually referred to as a "she", though probably not as a hag or a shrew. :-P And we could always call her Harri (like the Rocinante and Roci).

As for the ship builds, I too find Molly's second proposal (the Explorer) and Tujonvrek's idea (the Light Freighter) as the most interesting ones.

Molly your background said it'd been "10 godsdamned years" since you left Akiton so I just went with that.

I actually think I like the Light Freighter the best. I like the idea of having a smaller ship.

Sorry, have not had a chance to boot in to the mainframe for sometime due to "connection" issues.

On that note, I love the explorer option personally. I am partial to another naming convention that may or may not seem intriguing. The Revenant feels like it would be a cool name. Especially for a faster "get in, kill shit, get out" type of ship role.

As for Cane's role on the ship, I like the idea of him being an OK pilot. I have this image of him connecting via USB or some cord to the main piloting rig and kinda linking in, and that's how he can pilot with little to no training on the matter. Certainly with the ability to push people in battle Cane can be a captain but he rather would like to not be in charge of a ship. He does not have that much confidence in himself.

Oh, how about the Horizon? Being an Explorer and all. No need for its name to be all menacing and portentous methinks.

Or even...

The Event Horizon. I mean, we do use the Drift for travel...

I would also like to say that Cane could and would make an excellent science officer or engineer considering his innate skills and makeup. He just feels like he could be the pilot (honestly we should not let him be the pilot, we most certainly would crash) haha.

I also have a couple questions. This is my first PbP so I am extremely new to the whole forum [posting and the like. I wanted to ask if anyone could let me know how you can put your class and what not in your posting profile so that it shows up under your name when you post. For example, F. Castor and how it says "Male Human" under his name whenever you post.

And is there any information that would be pertinent to note in regards to knowing the formatting for a PbP that is not explicitly stated in the formatting tab but would be good to know?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Sorry to be asking so many questions. Is there an easier way to navigate to this campaign quickly when I login to the messageboards. Like a shortcut or something of the sorts? Thanks again everyone!

Also, as far as Cane is concerned, this is a brand new start for him. He definitely did not come here with any friends and honestly was looking for a way to escape Absalom Station and keep out of harms way. If he met anyone he would be very partial to making friends with groups that have been slighted in the past. He enjoys helping people out and boosting up there moral. He is also pretty uneasy around Vesk, due to his background and his previous employer.

Regarding the "Male Human" thing...

Check out Caleb Rook's page. See the Race, Classes/Levels and Gender entries on the left? Basically, whatever you write in those three spots gets added under your name whenever you post.

Molly your background said it'd been "10 godsdamned years" since you left Akiton so I just went with that.

I mean, it does. I should know my own backstory, right? ^^

I would also like to say that Cane could and would make an excellent science officer or engineer considering his innate skills and makeup. He just feels like he could be the pilot (honestly we should not let him be the pilot, we most certainly would crash) haha.

I also have a couple questions. This is my first PbP so I am extremely new to the whole forum [posting and the like. I wanted to ask if anyone could let me know how you can put your class and what not in your posting profile so that it shows up under your name when you post. For example, F. Castor and how it says "Male Human" under his name whenever you post.

And is there any information that would be pertinent to note in regards to knowing the formatting for a PbP that is not explicitly stated in the formatting tab but would be good to know?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Hey, welcome to the format! PbP is great, because you can write as much or as little as you want (preferably the former), and not bog down gameplay, while still having time for nice, little monologues, or communication. I personally love it, and I hope you would too. And don't worry about asking questions - attention paid to a game is the most important thing in PbP, hands down!

As for the answers
- Regarding appearance under posts - When you edit your Character Profile (clicking the purple name of your character), the Gender/Race/Classes/Levels tabs from the little boxes on top appears there. So if you want to put in anything to appear on every post, you plop it there, using the same editing you would for a normal post.

Regarding piloting - Molly's quite capable in it, but she'd be happy to let someone else fly during non-life-threatening situations. If you end up taking ranks in the skill, she could be over your shoulder mumbling things and teaching you as you improve! As for Science Officer - I think the Envoy has the ability to fill in every position it needs to, so that's great! We'll see who picks which, and considering Bishop, Jacob and Tujon were mostly tilting gunners, you can fill in as a captain or an engineer, depending on which one we're missing.

Regarding quick-reach - The GM will open the Gameplay thread soon-ish (I hope), and we can 'dot' the thread when it appears - Dotting is posting an empty message and then deleting it ASAP, and then the campaign will appear on the Campaign tabs of your Paizo Profile. (Reached by pressing your Blue name on the top of the page, which says Hello, (your paizo name).

Regarding PbP - There is a couple of guides that are recommended (sometimes required) reads - The Basic One and The Advanced One

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About the ship - I absolutely love the Harridan (Harri) as a name, and I don't even know why. Just feels like it. As for the ship - I'd imagine with such a fast and maneuvrable ship, I'd be able to put us in a position where both starboard and front arc would be able to fire most of the time. I like the shields, but I feel the Gyrolaser is a bit too much on the weak side - helpful versus the smallest of ships, but not so great otherwise. I could be wrong, of course.

So, I suggest the Harridan as a name, since three people seem to like it, and nobody seems to object, and settle for a design between the Explorer and the Light Freighter? My vote is currently on the Explorer, since for 2 BP we get a turret, an expansion bay and 15HP on top of the freighter as baseline.

Level/Class Descriptor: On that subject, please everyone change it so the format is as follows!

Gender Race Class/Theme Alignment | HP/HP RP/RP SP/SP | FS RS WS | KAC EAC | Initiative

This will help things immensely!

Cannon: Cannon that doesn't effect the story or plot in any way is allowable in the backstory that is also reasonable! So you wont need my approval for much of it. If I see something I disagree with I'll point it out :)

Quick-reach: I plan on opening the gameplay thread here today actually. I forget that players don't get it logged unless they are tagged in the gameplay thread.

Ship Roles: I believe since there is a bit of a void for captain, I can make a call on that front of who will fill it, but correct me if I'm wrong, below are the current roles:

Captian: None - I'm leaning towards Tujo filling this position

Gunners: Jacob Carmine, Bishop

Pilot: Molly Bakir

Science Officer: Caleb or Cane

Mechanic: Cane or Caleb

the Science Officer and Mechanic roles can be swapped between you to as you see fit since both of your characters fit them well. With Bishop expressing interest in gunning and Jacob doing the same I think they will be best for those roles and the Vesk finding the captaining of the ship more of a necessity, though I can see an opportunity of playing a captain myself when you guys move onto bigger ships if no one wants to take that role.

Ships Crew As of right now the only crew will be the players, I do plan on when you progress to large ships in the story and hire additional hands, I will make some prominent side characters that will have their own motives, ambitions and take part in the story.

PbP: Just a pet thing for me, I prefer the use of quoting to remain in the discussions thread, there are better ways of referencing what a character said in the gameplay thread and quotes just makes things look messy for me personally. When rolling dice in the gameplay, I prefer keeping dice rolls at the bottom of your post. Reasoning for this is that it makes it easy for me to read your posts and digest the dice rolls when I need to. Also roll them in order you used them in your post. I use to like rolling the dice as I needed them in my posts, but found that when you have to make changes to your post, you often messed up your rolls when adding new ones.

Ship Name and Chasis: I believe we have plenty of options here! So please cast your final votes below. Currently we already have Molly Bakir's vote.

Names:
Harridan (Harri)
Horizon
Nightstalker
Harpy

Chasis (Most favorited):
Explorer (Submitted by Molly)
Light Freighter (Submitted by Tujo)

Hmm.

@GM, regarding a ruling. Since it's a brand new game, the Operative has an insight bonus to all skills, which increases. The Skill Synergy and Skill Focus feats also grant insight boni, which according to the book don't stack. However, since the Operative class gives you not one, but two Skill Bonus feats, would it be reasonable to assume that the Operative's Edge class feature's bonus stacks with everything?

Just a question, I'm going with your ruling regardless. I assumed it would, since otherwise seems quite silly for your class to give you two feats which become redundant at lvl 7, but thought I'd run that past you first.

I noticed Gameplay is up, is it open season?

I opened up gameplay so people can dot in. To make it easier :) But no, until the ship and ships name have finally decided upon, then it will be open season!

And looking at the class... to clarify, this doesn't make Skill focus redundant at level 7 for the Operative because once the Operative's Edge gets to +3 - at that same level the Operative can now take 10 on any skill they have Skill focus in during stressful situations.

And since we have the envoy in the party, the Envoy can't stack Expertise dice and Skill Focus, but around that same level (7 or 8) they can re-roll expertise dice on skill focus skills instead, or if he has a trick for the relevant skill that lets them do something else with it instead of using their Expertise dice, they can do that - and still apply their Skill Focus bonus to the skill roll.

So getting those free Skill Focus feats from those two classes and then getting an insight bonus to your skill rolls from the class is still useful. Just not in the way that seems clear. I believe it could've been explained a little better. So you trade the insight bonus for being able to take 10 pretty much any time with those skills.

In short, I would rule that they still don't stack, as mentioned above, you simply trade the bonus for the ability to do something instead.

I vote for Nightstalker and explorer chassis.

Harridan and explorer chasis.

The explorer is illegal due to the micro missile battery needing two mounts in one slot. I may have read every point on starships as I am trying to adapt skull and shackles to starfinder for my home group...

If we really want the larger ship and are worried about firepower...

Frame: Explorer
Core:Pulse Grey (100pcu)
Thrusters: M-12 Thrusters (80pcu)
Computer: Basic
Quarters: Common
Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75pcu)
Auxiliary:4 cargo holds
Features: Budget Medium range sensors
Weapons: Turret Coilgun (4d4 10pcu)
Front arc Tac Nuke (5d8 Irradiate [low] Limited 5 10Pcu)
Defenses: None

Or alternative weapon set Coilgun in front arc and flakthrower in turret for point defense. But, I would prefer the tac nuke load out for those big bad deathstar runs and just rely on our thrust and pilot to keep us out of danger. At tier one I just can't justify stripping any one area to shore up another.

For my two cents. Harridan and give me a second to go over the light frieghter and I can eek some better weapons space out of it at the loss of some thrust, sensor, and shields.

Frame: Light Freighter
Core:Pulse Grey (100pcu)
Thrusters: S-12 Thrusters (60pcu)
Computer: Basic
Quarters: Common
Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75pcu)
Auxiliary:Guest quarters (Common 6 passengers) 2 cargo holds
Features: Budget Long range sensors
Weapons: Front Arc Two seperate Coilguns (Long 4d4 each 10 Pcu each)
Defenses: Light Shield 60 (20pcu)

Actually... I love this build.

Also, we can cut out the drift engine since we are being carried. Would free up some points.

I was just checking calculations on the Explorer since you pointed out its illegality (i even didn't catch that). And My total is coming to 54 BP on Molly explorer without the micro light battery. Correct me if I made an error here,

Tier 1: 55
12 Frame: Explorer
15 Core:Nova Light (150) 
6 Thrusters: M-12 Thrusters ( 
2 Computer: Mk.1 Duonode (+1/+1) 
6 Drift Engine: Signal Basic (75) 
1 Auxiliary:Escape Pods (1) 
6/6/3 Weapons: - Turret and Front Arc Coil Gun (Long, 4d4), Micromissile Battery (wherever, 2d6, speed 10, 5 ammo.) 
Total = 57

So even though the micromissile requires two slots, it's also over budget unfortunately with the micromissile.

As to cutting the Drift engine, now that is an interesting idea...

That might've been my napkin math being somewhat wrong. It's good to check, though. I think I actually wanted to ditch the computer for the battery, actually, and that would've been it at 55, but not with the array requirements.

Since that's illegal (and because Tujon seems to have picked up the ship-building, and be a lot better than I am!), I suggest, nay, I vote, we nab his latest Light Freighter idea. It's quick, powerful, packs a punch, and even has a shield.

And the Guest Quarters gave me an idea, and if he's fine with it:

So basically a company went, 'We're tooootally not making a ship, perfect for starting up pirates. No, sir. It just happens to be perfect for their goals.' Also, I'd quite enjoy the irony of Molly piloting a Vesk ship.

Sounds good to me. I would keep in the drift engine then since it is a "colonial freighter" that would have to be able to bug out with its "collected specimens" at a moments notice.

Also side note, no event horizon. This is one of the few characters I have played that isn't secretly a Kuthite.

Also also. Shield would be 30 fore and 10 all other sides since it would be taking the brunt of shots on the nose as it stripped enemy weapons on approach. I mean, it is heat shielding and definitely not for ramming.

Yes, I know there is edit. No, I don't care.

Put me down for the Harridan (Harri) Light Freighter (the latest iteration) as well.

Ditto Castor.

Well, I guess it's settled, then - Harridan with Tujon's latest design (Sharkwasp-4, woo), since we got 4 people voting for it, and nobody seems to object to it. I mentioned I really like the ship, (I only just noticed he managed to fit in long-range sensors too!), and looking at how piloting works, I think I can make it dance.

Well then! I believe it's all settled then!

I declare it is open season! If any of you have any art you think what the ship might look like so I can give it some justice, shoot me a link!

Otherwise I'll be going along with some descriptors of what it might look like hah.

Another thing to note for my PbP:

There is no posting orders, unless your specifically waiting for someones replies or actions, that is considering both in and out of combat.

For combat, to make things speedy, I lump the enemies Initiatives together and the players. So all the players will take their actions, and then the enemies. It speeds things up by quite a bit.

With that, have fun! Let's see where this interesting crew will take us among the stars!

Here's a look I like that would work well for a Vesk-designed vessel of the appropriate class and size. This one was done by the same guy and has the same aesthetics so you can tell where my head's at.

That's two excellent pictures! Looking at the Vesk ships in the CRB and comparing them to things that come out when one types 'spaceship' in Google, I came across This one, which I quite like - massive engines, relatively small, and bulky enough to be a freighter. At any rate, we know generally how the ship looks like, so we can get started. Woo!

Hey everyone, incase you want more reliable, fast feedback from me or other players, I created a Discord channel for you to be a part of. You can use this in place of the discussion thread also as a way to communicate ideas and in-game related stuff! I'm using a discord channel for another game I'm Dming and its proving to be very useful to have.

Discord Channel Invite Link

I highly encourage you to join! Though it is completely optional. Will primarily be using it as a text channel versus voice.

I have to say, I personally love the fact that Tujon is captain, based on his character, but Molly would definitely dislike it, hence, be willing to try and push his buttons.

She's not insane, so she'd follow the captain's orders and chain of command in combat, but I'd imagine there's significantly more rigid structure in vesk civilian ships than in human ones.

@GM, Since the answer regarding Skill Focus was a thing, I've changed Molly's Skill Synergy with Weapon Focus (small arms), but again, running it past you, pending approval. I've decided to still pick up Skill Focus (Piloting), but I decided 1st level isn't really the time for it, as she isn't that focused yet.

As to your statement about vesk ship design, I see the vesk as a cross between Klingon and Cardassians.