The Crucible of Freya (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

Hey guys, how does readying actions outside of initiative work? We have never done that before in my home group. Do the readied actions just go off before initiative starts or what?

Well there aren't really any hard rules for such a thing.

If initiative is going to start as soon as they open the hatch, the best way to handle it in my opinion would be to give those of us on the top of the tower a surprise round.

We know the two men below are about to come up and they don't know we're here so it seems appropriate, no?

Ok perfect. Sounds good!

I don't believe you can ready until after initiatives have been rolled. But it is something that crops up alot. So surprise round is the ideal solution.

Surprise round works for me too whot!

Surprise round it is! I am back at my CPU.

Guys just to let you know, you may have noticed and you may remember how the nature of my work comes in spurts. "Feast or Famine" we say. I am in one of those periods when I'm working a lot so I may not have quite the posting rate or attentiveness to the thread that I do during those periods when I can be online checking repeatedly through the day.

I'm still here, generally posting once or twice a day and checking more often on days off. I just may miss a day here and there until things settle down, and I may not be as snappy and thorough with getting good maps up and tracking initiative. Just wanted to let you know, in case it is showing, so you know I haven't lost interest in the game, I'm just getting blindsided by a lot of gigs.

Game on!

No worries DMG, we all know how it can get.

You've more than proven your commitment to this campaign and I'd just like to thank you again for the excellent job you do as our DM!

Excellent. Well monday through wednesday are looking like days off for me at last so I plan to give my games some extra love.

Damien why don't you bot Janna til Edward gets back.

Will do!

I'm beginning to recognise the signs, DMG. By now, the difference between you being in the groove and work mode is noticeable. The funny thing is none of my other games come close to this one when we are busy here.

In fact, yesterday my DM called it a day on his Curse of the Crimson Throne AP when it is now mid book four and he has been running it for about six years.

On a lighter note, I looked on the Frog God games website and while I'd like to get so many of their adventures the one KS I'll sign up for is the Northlands Saga - its one of my favorite settings and I can't wait to see what they do with it.

Cheers

Are we using RAW for climbing during combat. That would be 1/4 speed per round. I'll take Kevezlyat a bit to get up that tower.... :)

Well I think it's 1/4th speed per move action, or half speed if you take a -5 to the check. So if you're doing nothing but climbing and take the penalty, you wind up advancing your full move speed per round. IIRC.

Yep, that's the way of it. Though Kev would have trouble with the -5 so the tower is a four turn trip for her. Only one more round till she's at the window's though :)

Expeditious retreat does not affect climb speed by the way.

There is no effect on other modes of movement, such as burrow, climb, fly, or swim

Interesting! Never caught that before.

On a lighter note, I looked on the Frog God games website and while I'd like to get so many of their adventures the one KS I'll sign up for is the Northlands Saga - its one of my favorite settings and I can't wait to see what they do with it.

Cheers

So right, FW! Northlands looks great.

Thanks Sam.

Well, I literally slept through day one of my days off :_( Like, I honestly fell asleep after my last post and just woke up now.

Guess I needed it.

Certainly sounds like it DMG! Glad to hear you're back among the living.

I moved everyone into position on the map, to get a better idea of things, feel free to make adjustments as you see fit guys.

Not super sure about Sam and Jerrid but it's the only thing that made sense based on your info DMG.

Ok, that works.

Welcome back Edward! Hope you had a great trip!

I think I was picturing the rope in the wrong place or something, I thought the rope went up in front of room W6, and Sam and Jerrid climbed into W7 across the face of the tower itself... That's what I was picturing this whole time.

Yeah, Jerrid will have called for the rope. Thanks DMG.

Jerrid called for his sickle, he called for his rope, he called for his victims three.

Nice Janna :P

I'd asked for another rope to be lowered in front of this window earlier DMG. Admittedly before you reminded me it's too small for Damien but still, easy enough to say it they still did it for Sam and Jerrid.

Perfect! Got it.

I think we have enough to contend with without Leo providing the DM with a new monster - the terrifying udneads sounds awful.

By the way, how are the cockatrices doing?

cheers

Udneds are like CR 30, I wouldn't spring those things on a low level party!

lol.

Btw having a lot of fun with every monster being mentioned as having already been encountered by the 33rd in active service :) The Deputy's "war-stories"!

However even Vhillish would baulk from evening whispering the name of the dreaded Udneads!!!

:)
I've the feeling that Vhillish and Damien are the only survivors of the 'famed' 33rd.

Me too.

Jonah and lil' Jonah.

Don't fret Janna. Sam's just having his fun taking the lead here. He was the first one down after all, I'd imagine we're both still on the stairs at this point. You'll get your chance.
On a similar topic, I'm not sure how I feel about the term "military type" being a bad thing :P

And yeah, the 33rd never had the easiest time of it. How do you think the two of us ended up with you civvies anyway :P

Good question, Damien. I blame Janna.

And military type is a good thing, least it is in my family. I was the third generation to serve in the British Forces, even if was only a weekend warrior.

Cheers

Indeed! There are many tales of the 33rd that I will endeavour to festoon you all with during our adventures whot-whot!

The Lieutenant is too humble a gentleman to brag of the 33rds numerous campaigns. I however, promised to keep the memories of those brave lads who gave their lives for the Grand Duchy alive... So by jingo I'll keep telling the tales of bravery and loss!

Sam has clearly spent too much time in that malcontent Lannet's company...

Humble is hardly the word I'd use Vhillish, but I'm certain the boys rest easier knowing Sergeant Quarrelwick is still out there spinning yarns in their memory.

Personally, I'd be hard pressed to guess which of the two halflings had the more corrupting influence on the other...

Well I retired active duty after 20 and have a son and son-in-law in now. Many of my friends have had some troubles 'adapting to civilian life'. So I guess I see that in Damien and Vhillish trying to order others around. Sort of like the Von Trapp family before Julie Andrews came to be the governess in Sound of Music.

Seems we have a number of servicemen present. The politics of such things can be argued interminably but I have the utmost respect for those in the armed forces. Good on you guys.
I just hope my portrayal isn't too lacking of the proper experience.

It's true that Damien certainly isn't one to give up the life but I would put forth that most civilians face a far slimmer chance of being eaten due to lack of discipline than our little group :P

Link to Colonel Grossman's sheepdog paper

Sam is a sheepdog, and it really has little to do about discipline. The above article explains why servicemen have a disconnect with those they protect. I was often considered 'undisciplined'.

The negative response to American Sniper, a movie about the greatest sheepdog of this generation confirms this disconnect.

Luckily these boards allow us to all be sheepdogs. Yet i see a disturbing trend to 'I want to play LE but help the party lately'. And Way of the Wicked allows you to be a wolf.

That's some good reading Sam, thanks. I agree it's the willingness to act that makes a "sheepdog" but the article itself enforces the need for both preparation and vigilance. As Damien would likely put it, discipline is often the difference between a live hero and a dead one.

In general, I'd rather not get too deep into such a polarizing topic as American Sniper. However, while I certainly agree that many people have a negative reaction to anyone who leads a violent life, regardless of circumstances, I think a large portion of the negativity towards Chris Kyle in particular stems from the fact that he fabricated several of the stories that made him famous in the first place.

Off to Norway for the weekend early tomorrow gang. Back on Monday - please bot the good Deputy as necessary :)

Sorry for the delay guys, had a busy couple days. Just catching up now.

Hey guys! I am at my nana's house. The ceiling started flooding midweek and I had to head over here to be with her. As you may remember my gramps passed recently, and my little nana can't be dealing with a crisis in the house by herself. So I popped over here to camp out all the way through easter and on into monday and tuesday when some guys are coming to tear out the roof in the kitchen. Now the funny thing is, the internet is not really working much at all. Over wifi from my laptop or any other device anyone has tried, webpages don't load at all. Even from the house computer which is wired to the modem, she can check her email but that's about it. Search results will come up from google eventually after a long wait but just about anything you click on from there times out. Not exactly sure what the deal is, but beyond reseting the modem (which didn't work) I haven't been able to devote any time to troubleshooting it. Today we went to my aunts house for easter and I tried to pop in here from a relatives smart phone but had some trouble with that too lol. And it just didn't seem polite to keep laboring at it on someone else's phone, I mean, I could have but the right time to do it just never quite presented itself. Emotionally charged day but a good one overall.

Anyway, back at nana's now and I am somehow able to post this at this very moment from my own laptop... but there's a cooking show coming on that we have been getting pretty absorbed in =) So I will be back tomorrow with a little luck. On the other hand, there's a chance I won't be able to get here as well! If that happens now you know why at least. Sorry guys!! Be back in swing wednesday at the very latest.

Nae worries chief - enjoy :)

Take care, DMG. Happy Easter one and all. Until Wednesday then..

Cheers

PRO TIP: when you pull the power cable to restart your grandmothers modem, make sure it doesn't have batteries in it as a back up.

Pulled the batteries and popped them back in. Voila. Wifi.

Lol, damn technical difficulties. Glass to have you back DMG.

This promises to be an exciting few weeks for our little game!

Dumb question, do farmers plant stuff in the fall too, or just harvest? Like wheat and oats and stuff.

In the SW of England the farmers grow cabbage in the winter and potatoes in the spring and summer.

Neeps too in the winter here in the NE O' Scotia and rapeseed in the summer along with usual fare of wheats and oats and stuff ;)

Fall is also when we pick our crops of tatties.