Discussion thread for the first chapter of our saga...
Done
Here!
Ready and Wicked!
Here as well.
Except for Felrin's character I believe we are ready to go. I know he is at a con all weekend so it may be a minute before we get his information squared away. Meanwhile does Tkaara or Erevan have a portrait or do you want to just use your avatar picture?
The gameplay thread is now open... all characters can participate except for Felrin. Once Felrin is done with his character sheet and has been approved I will let him join in.
Just didn't want to hold up everyone that wanted to jump in and start chatting.
Please make sure you read the posting guidelines in the campaign info tab. Lets keep OOC here as much as possible, if you have to add something ooc in the gameplay thread then please make sure you spoiler it.
Have fun...... and good luck to everyone.
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Lol - this is about the closest I can find. Unfortunately, she is already a main character in the campaign I believe.
I really cannot find someone who fits the appearance I want. I think that the avatar I am using is pretty close, and seems to have that "I don't give a damn about you" look.
If I see another, I will email it to you, but have spent quite a bit of time and just do not see what I am looking for - probably because I have no clue how to do the search I need to.
Here you go.... lol
Also, it is Erevan Cale, not Cole. :-)
You can see all your comrades through the dark as well as what appears to be a large reenforced cage to the west side of the cellblock, You can see the outline of something large caged and shackled within but between your black and white vision and the thick cellbars you can not tell anything about the creature, but it is humanoid in basic shape albeit much larger. It is to far away to try to communicate with without being loud enough to alert the guards.
If not, Hecate probably knows enough of the supernatural - high knowledge in both arcana and religion - to offer a diagnosis (at a more convenient time, like when she can actually see you...). But only if that would be helpful; I can equally play it the other way.
Are this chains able to block magic like the ones in the Royal Court, or are just mundane shackles?
They do not have any anti-spell properties, however they do restrict movement enough that you can not use any spell that has a somatic component, so you are limited to verbal spells only.
Spell like abilities that require no components can be used. You just don't want to attract the guards that are nearby.
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Sorry about my silence, ladies and gentlemen. Yesterday was the second busiest day of the year at my work, and then some friends just HAD to get together for drinks and Cards Against Humanity. :P Back now, though, let's get our game on.
Erevan Cale and Tkaara Fiakben have been added to the campaign website as well as Erevan's token has been updated on the map to reflect his new portrait.
Hi all - recovering from a weekend at a local con, I'm mostly done with Felrin but need to take another look at a couple of things as well as catch up on PbP's. Hope to have him final this evening or tomorrow.
Hello again - working on Felrin, most of the way there. I'm wondering how many of us have taken the option to boost our race builds a bit. In looking at some of the alternate tiefling abilities, which seem to be the most logical things that he might add, there are several that make some sense: +1 natural armor due to his weird bony body (this could also be DR 2/piercing or some such); appear human (because it's what he does); barb dagger, again from the bones; claws, and a few others.
Before I go down that road, I'm trying to get a sense how much others have done so.
TL/DR: did you spend Race Points? If so, how many?
Leaving Erevan's Racial Qualities intact, I added the following Racial Traits: Advanced Strength (4 rp), Darkvision 60 Feet (2 rp), Low-Light Vision (1 rp). The additions bring him up to a total of 16 rp, seeing as how humans are a 9 rp race. Keep in mind though that I am not going to be taking any of the feat chains, thus I had a limit of 18 total rp; otherwise the total is 13.
I took the Curiosity racial ability: it has some nice bonuses, but was mainly for flavour. Keeps me at 13 RP, so I can take a feat path if I want to later on.
Beginning to wish I'd taken Darkvision, though... :)
I added the Flexible stat modifiers, and the traits Gregarious, Emissary and Skill Training(Diplomacy only), bringing me to 12 RP.
It's good to have rerolls on social skills with 2 digits at first level. :D (Okay, Diplomacy is still at +9, but that will change as soon as I scrounge up the money to summon back Winston :P ).
Pah, amateur - I already get +12 on Cha 17 (for information gathering, anyway)... A smile, a kind word and the occasional forged signature gets you a lot of information ;)
The re-roll, I will concede, is a nice thing to have :p
Hi everyone, this is the new thread - post thoughts, comments, queries here. Per my PMs, the game is scheduled to restart on 1 March; I will have ploughed through the books by then and be ready to move forward with taking over Talingarde. You're welcome to come too, of course.
In the meantime, I've put some information about myself in my profile so you know what to expect; if you have any questions please ask. I've put some of the house rules that I follow there as well so they shouldn't come as a surprise later on (obviously the 'no third party materials' rule is waived to the extent that we're playing a Fire Mountain Games AP).
I'm also going to be putting some information into the Campaign tab; please do take time to read it since (i) it helps with player character immersion in the gaming world; and (ii) this is an Asmodean campaign - failing to read the print can have ... consequences. (AKA: read the flavour text, b!tches!)
Ready to burn down a couple of LG nations!
By the way, are we keeping the Victorian flavor and the homebrewed feats?
Homebrewed feats: yes, yes and yes - you need change nothing from what was previously arranged with DMA.
Victorian flavour: I've had some thoughts in that direction. As you will know from reading the mountain of text in the Campaign tab (it's ok, you have until the end of the month), Talingarde has basically two strands of nobility: House Barca, of elven blood, the ancient rulers; and the more recent House Darius, human and Mitra-worshippers.
The pious Darians haven't been in power that long, and so they were keen from the very beginning to disguise this fact and to adopt the trappings of nobility and courtliness. They therefore affect a great refinement; since they're the ones in power, anyone who is anyone (or who wants to be anyone) has adopted their manners of dress and speech. Everything is modesty and circumlocution, from table manners to clothing. They are in effect the Victorians.
By contrast, the Barcans know that they're noble: they don't have to pretend, they have ancestors they can trace back over a dozen generations! Elven generations, at that! These come-lately Darians are just another trial to be endured. Barcans do as they please, they speak as they please and they dress as they please. The only thing they can't do right now is worship as they please, since the Darians have outlawed all the other gods but Mitra. Who knows (oh, that would be me! I know!), maybe one or two Barcans haven't even given up their Asmodean practices.
Barcans especially enjoy swearing and cursing in front of Darians, in the knowledge that their Barcan noble blood will basically give them special status. And it seems to work; the Darians do their best to pretend that they didn't hear or see anything offensive.
This accomplishes two things: it creates genuine tension between the two Houses; and it subverts that "oh-aren't-elves-so-sparkly-and-refined" mentality that I despise (and which Shadowrun lampshaded so mercilessly).
Thoughts?
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Thanks for taking over. If you could start the gameplay thread, that would be great so that we can dot it to make it show up on the Campaign's tab.
FYI - in case people do not know this. You can "dot" a thread, and then immediately delete the post, and the thread will still show up on your campaign thread. Doing it this way avoids having multiple "dots" clogging up the start of the gameplay thread.
I really dig the Darian-Barcan thing! It also fits with Golarion Elves being usually Chaotic aligned.
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I like the write up. Will try to get through more of your background later. Have to go back outside before too long. Someone has decided that it would be fun, looks up at the sky, to dump several feet of snow on us. About 3-4 feet on the ground around here right now, deeper where it has drifted.
The Darian-Barcan animosity seems sort of like and old money vs. new money struggle you see in the US. The old money (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Kennedy, etc.) sort of looks down at the new money as a bit of an annoyance that will run its course and go back to being poor and in worn out shoes before too long. Until then, the Jobs and Gates of the world will have to be politely dealt with.
Yeah, that's pretty much it, if you imagine the additional annoyance of Jobs and Gates as zealous puritanical kill-joys...
Good luck digging yourself out of the snow; if we get more than a couple inches the whole place round here shuts down; can't even imagine a few feet of it!
Etna: I wouldn't rely on the 'usually Chaotic aligned' bit - or the 'Good' for that matter. Just a word to the wise wicked ;)
EDIT: Regarding the gameplay tab, I'm hoping to get the current thread transferred in so we can literally pick up where we left off, with our Doctor's critical fumble!
3-4 feet? I've seen snow four times in my whole life! D:
And I skimmed trough the campaign info: if it's the one that's in the books, I've already gone trough it when I applied in DMA's game and when I looked trough a recruitment for another WotW game here. I'll still read it again to refresh my memory. :D
@AU: yes, that would be fairly typical...
A few more thoughts
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MAJORING IN SOCIOLOGY
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The victory of House Darius over House Barca was nearly 100 years ago, which is about the same distance as the First World War is to us. All the humans who remember it first-hand are long dead, as are most of their children. The Barcans of course are elven/half-elven (>95% half-elf: the line occasionally breeds true elves but not often). There are elderly Barcans still living who fought in that war, and almost every one of the current generation lost a parent or uncle.
In other words, the humans who are now running things are the 3rd or even 4th generation removed: they regard the war as ancient history. So the Darians are pretty much unaware of any animosity the Barcans might have for them and would be astonished to know the reasons for it.
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CHRONICLES OF THE FORSAKEN
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I need some help from you guys in keeping this campaign going and making sure that we keep track of stuff (there's a huge cast of characters here and they all matter - for a given value of 'matter').
What I would really appreciate is if you could (either individually or collectively) run a document (ideally a Google docs so I can then link to it in the Campaign thread) that lists all of the named NPCs you encounter. This can be as detailed or as sparse as you like. A sample could be as follows:
Tomas Blackerly (DECEASED): Sergeant in charge of Branderscar prison. Cruel and cowardly, he held the Forsaken down and laughed as he branded them. Kept the prison in bad order - we heard rumours of gambling and at least one guard was drunk on duty. Etna's review of the paperwork revealed that he was committing fraud on a significant scale. Attempted to ambush the Forsaken as they searched his quarters and almost killed Felrin. Died fighting to the last to prevent their escape.
How many details you include and how you order the list (deceased vs living; or by where they were first encountered; or by whose side they're on(!); endless possibilities) is completely up to you but if you can keep it up to date that would be really appreciated.
As a sweetener, for each named NPC you list, I will add 50 XP to the group's total; I will add a further 50 XP each time there is a significant update to an NPC already listed. So for example, I would have awarded 50 XP for initially listing Blackerly, and a further 50 XP when you updated to include his death and how he died.
So far, in addition to Blackerly, you have encountered the Warden (Matthias Richter), Grumblejack, and Sir Balin of Karfeld; and the Doctor has encountered Tiadora. Additionally, each of you (including Hecate) has a number of named NPC's in your backstory. That's a lot of XP waiting to be awarded!
This creates further immersion in the game world and allows us to remember who is whom later down the line: "The tall, angelic warrior glares at you sternly and snarls: 'now you face justice, you killers of Blackerly!'"* "Wait, who's Blackerly again?" "Dude, you remember, that guy who branded us back at the beginning." "Uh... Oh. Right. Him."
*This is not a thing that is going to happen, FYI
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LOOT OF THE FORSAKEN
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DMA did a great job of listing who had what, but that isn't something I can see myself being able to keep track of.
if one or all or indeed any of you can put a document together that lists who has what, I will add 250 XP to the group's total for its initial creation - and a further 50 XP each time there is a significant update.
Your cooperation is appreciated. Have an Infernal day.
A question: What about DMA's house rules? You know, the ones about Hero Points and natural 1 and 20.
Oh, and a second one about your own house rules: Are natural 1 a failure even on skill and ability checks? And if yes, what about natural 20 if that is the case?
Villain points - yes, definitely; in fact as play re-starts you are about to earn the first ones!
House rules - my rules on nat 1 replace those of DMA: i.e. no critical fumbles (life is complicated enough) in combat, but for skill/ability checks there is always the possibility of failure, no matter how many bonuses you have. Natural 20 is always a success (assuming that what you were attempting is actually possible!) - I didn't make that clear in my house rules and will amend them. Thanks for spotting that.
However, a nat 20 in combat is not going to be an automatic critical - we will be reverting to the RAW on that (i.e. if you roll a nat 20, roll again to confirm the critical).
Hope this isn't too complicated; I realise I'm posting a lot right now, but I wanted to give enough time for everyone to read it before play re-starts.
I'm still around to answer questions, but the 'info-dump' is now (I think) completed.
Finally, if anyone's not happy, please let me know asap - we're here to have fun, after all!
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What I would really appreciate is if you could run a document that lists all of the named NPC you encountered.My Google Docs-fu is weak, but how it is for a start? Mitran blue for enemy, Asmodean sexy red for ally, and grey for too dead to do anything.
I only compiled those four for now, as I haven't met Tiadora: I'll let Ottakar write that if he wants. :D
Now? It should be possible to edit it, too.
Hi gang - glad we'll be able to keep this going, whatever happens come March 1.
A question/comment for our brave new DM, related to your profile info - as we've discussed before in this group, we have a number of us who benefit from flanking, and who will benefit from it even more over time. If it's possible to to have maps for the combats, it will make a big difference. Sometimes a fight is quick or simple (one combatant in an open space) and the map doesn't matter so much - but it's funny how rare such fights are.
And one more comment about your profile info, while I'm at it - sounds like this will be fun!
Etna, that is brilliant. Thank you. Adding 200 XP to the group now.
Everyone, don't forget the NPC's from your ten-hour background; I'd hate for all that work to go to waste...
Felrin: understood and yes, flanking can make a huge difference - the difficulty is running such maps from my phone. Can we trial a narrative system? In other words, you say "I move to flank so-and-so" and I will then play it that they are flanked. Of course, if there is a fight with a number of good guys, then you may take an AoO as you move to a flanking position; but I will warn you if that is the case.
If that doesn't work, I will reconsider and look at possible alternatives.
Glad you like it! I'll update it later/tomorrow with one of Etna's important NPCs: we have 2 weeks before we restart, so we have time. :)
By the way, someone wants to do the loot list? I really wouldn't even know how to start in formatting that (maybe Excel?).
Can we continue as-is for the time being? Taking over the campaign is going to be tricky enough without adding more variables.
Later on, we can see.
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Well enough. Okay, Asmodeus demands order regarding the character list. Do we want them listed in chronological order (and then do we put all the characters from backgrounds first?), or would it be more convenient to list them alphabetically? Also, will need a color to represent those who are not necessarily allies, nor enemies, but, as far as we know, are still alive...
I say we put all of the background characters before the one we listed, maybe with something to separate the two.
What about green as a color for the other characters?
More XP added to the group.
I'm still around BTW, if you have any questions, despite not posting frequently - I'm alternately reading, thinking and laughing maniacally: whoever wrote this AP is a genius! So many opportunities for TPK - erm, I mean, character development...
List adjourned with Etna's three important NPCs!
I will go trough the gameplay thread and start compiling the loot list.