Merry Asmode-mass to the best Knot a demon-ogre could ever ask for!
Checking in.
I'm here
I have my computer again! So I am returned :)
I am here just struggling through RL ATM.
I am hoping to get an update in within the next 2-3 days.
Whether big or small, something seems to go wrong each and every day these days.
Victory points and their conditions were listed at the start of this chapter.
How many are we up to?
Victory points and their conditions were listed at the start of this chapter.
How many are we up to?
Don't remember, you'll be gaining more soon once the poison kicks in :-)
Well, we haven't killed the magister, taken out the siege engines or taken the gatehouse. Those seem pretty important.
I think I can have Raaven sabotage the siege engines quickly enough. We need to seize the gatehouse though. Maybe we can do that while the poison is working its way through the troops. We could probably disguise ourselves as soldiers and walk right in.
Well, we haven't killed the magister, taken out the siege engines or taken the gatehouse. Those seem pretty important.
I think I can have Raaven sabotage the siege engines quickly enough. We need to seize the gatehouse though. Maybe we can do that while the poison is working its way through the troops. We could probably disguise ourselves as soldiers and walk right in.
I think we were, at one point anyway, planning to have Nate and Aurex provide some aerial support while we took out the siege engines. That could probably work for the gatehouse too, if we can't sneak in. As for the magister, I'm sure we'll get another chance to bash his head in.
Gotta move fast though.
How's this for a plan-
We disguise ourselves as soldiers and start heading to the fort under the guise of "answering the muster." You and I can maintain our disguise as Balin and Lydia. Lacking other leadership, we'll be the ranking folks.
Raaven tells the bug bears to start moving.
I call Raaven back and have him start sabataging the siege weapons
When the poison starts kicking in we head to the gatehouse and turn Nate and Aurex loose. They wreck any remaining siege weapons and start lighting everything on fire.
We open the gates right as the bug bears show up.
Only loose ends are the cultists and the magister.
Gotta move fast though.
How's this for a plan-
We disguise ourselves as soldiers and start heading to the fort under the guise of "answering the muster." You and I can maintain our disguise as Balin and Lydia. Lacking other leadership, we'll be the ranking folks.
Raaven tells the bug bears to start moving.
I call Raaven back and have him start sabataging the siege weapons
When the poison starts kicking in we head to the gatehouse and turn Nate and Aurex loose. They wreck any remaining siege weapons and start lighting everything on fire.
We open the gates right as the bug bears show up.
Only loose ends are the cultists and the magister.
I'm not a fan seems too organized with a high probability of success, what about a full frontal assault from the rear?
Sure! Why not? Fortune favors the bold.
At least, that's what survivors claim.
OK, next update for the balance of the group will be the beginning of the assault as proposed by Grumble :-)
Once again, someone else is going to have to come up with this in game. Planning isn't grumble's forte.
Sadly I'm somewhere else. Alice does have a few ideas to cause a bit of havoc now that she's inside.
I'll handle relaying information to the soup team when the new scene kicks off.
Soren is pretty smart. I’ll put up a post where she ‘thinks this up’.
I am sorry it took me so long to get back.
Grumble you plan seems solid and the GM I am sure will manage to bungle it for us.
I forget are we leaving the cultists alone after this?
The wheel begins to turn once more...
It’s pretty late at night as I am writing this. I’ve been through a significant amount of struggles through the past two years (actually through the past 41 but especially the past 2). I’ve had worse stretches of time before but I believe that these past struggles were due to my own lack of maturity and self-awareness at the time those events took place.
Likely those events were necessary for me to experience to survive the events of the past two years and get through them as well as I have. Physical ailments, getting older and requiring more sleep, bankruptcy, and ultimately divorce. You know life is not going swimmingly when going to work feels like a vacation.
Regardless, when I first started getting involved in PbP on the boards it was a chance to play, finally! I’d been DMing for the bulk of the time that I’ve played table top that I was enjoying being able to be a player for once. Then with so many damn flaky GM’s I just started running games and well, things snow balled from there.
Life was fairly stable at the time the normal ups and downs. Then about two years ago, I started getting into PbP as a way to escape reality. Sort of the same ways drugs were casual and enjoyable for me as a teen and ultimately led me as close to suicide as I ever want to get again.
I am not saying that PbP has made me suicidal but I am saying that I recognize that I was using PbP as a coping mechanism to avoid a bad marriage. PbP did NOT lead to the failure of my marriage but it did contribute to my ability to tune it out.
I make a decent living but between bankruptcy and divorce I’ve little to show for it (well except for this killer book and RPG collection ). I could point the finger at my soon to be ex-wife but when you point one finger at a person, three more point back at you. I could have prevented things from becoming this bad and I chose not to. I did it, ironically, because I believed that if I had the marriage would have ended and ended badly, so much for best intentions. I am not going to second guess myself, what happened happened. As divorces go, this one has been rather amicable as we have put our daughter first and ourselves second.
Being married to someone who makes as much if not more money then you (depending on sales that year) places one in a position to “take it easy” when it comes to being aggressive about making money (well it placed me in such a position anyhow perhaps because making money does not move me).
Early on in my career I had an opportunity to become a premiere M&A Financial Services Tax Attorney in a Big 4 Firm. It’s a big deal and potentially a lot of money but I did not really want it because I knew I would be working a lot and traveling a lot. My ex agreed that I should turn it down as she did not want to be married to a workaholic and that was not who I wanted to be anyway. Nor do I want to be that person now. (In yet another twist of irony, she has become a workaholic, funny how things turn out).
I do not regret the decision though I do lament the loss of income that such a decision would have brought to me.
All of this rambling nonsense is leading to the point of this post, I need to work more. Not at my current job nor do I want to get a new job, I actually like being there as odd as that sounds (to me). I need to get a second and perhaps a third job, side gigs. At 41 about to turn 42 with no retirement and no savings for my daughters college, I can no longer hope that the ex’s business will come through as an investment plan. Even if it does, I will not be the beneficiary of that largesse. I need to make up for 11 years of being “comfortable” simply working.
Thus, it is with heavy heart that I am announcing that I will need to close down a number of the threads I run and withdraw from a number of the games I am a PC in.
I suppose this decision will not be a surprise to many of you as my posting rates have been abysmal since these events took a turn for the worse (in some respects the better to be honest) since Thanksgiving of 2017.
I am not generally a person that feels remorse or guilt but I do feel a level of disappointment with having to make this decision. I apologize for disappointing many of you who put work into PCs relying on my consistency as a GM/DM over the course of the past several years.
My plan had always been to run a hardcore dose of RPG’s until my daughter was a teenager and then, spend my free time writing the novel I had been working on since before she was born. I had hoped that over the next 9 years or so I could wrap up most of these campaigns and the few that remained would be more manageable.
Life has not worked out that way.
The good news is that I will still run several games but the current load is too much for me to handle in this transition. The further good news is that I believe this will allow for those games to move along much more quickly.
By tomorrow I will have made my decision as to which games I will keep and which I will shut down.
Thank you all for taking the journeys with me despite the lack of length or resolution of so many of them.
I will still be around just in a diminished capacity so this is not goodbye just a “be seeing less of you”.
I've said what I need to say about this elsewhere. I'm posting here to say how much i love this game in particular.
It's my favorite. Not just of the games you run. Not just of the games I'm in on this board.
Favorite ever.
The party dynamic, engagement with the story and other players, the frequent amazing scenes. To me, this game crosses the border into art. It's that good. I can show non-gamers out-of-context scenes from this game, and they want to hear more. Games like this are why I game.
I would happily watch it die if I knew that stopping it would make things easier for you.
It's just a game. Life is more important.
I am still in the decision making process and what to cut and what to keep but this is in the top 3 KEEP pile.
Thanks for the vote of confidence DH.
Once I write a book, I'll Patreon I cannot in good conscience take money for something I provided free of charge for years.
Don't wait. Just because you did it free before doesn't mean you have to do it free forever. Most people work for free while they are learning to do something. Once they get good they start to charge, because they're good now.
It would still be free to anyone who chose not to participate in Patreon. For the people who want to compensate you for your work, you get a little extra cash. It's the optimal situation.
Please take care of yourself. This has been a great game I've enjoyed immensely. I'll understand your decision either way.
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I’m sorry to hear that stuff has been so rough for you. I don’t know how you feel exactly, but I know the feeling of using this to escape reality. I did it myself a lot to try and escape the pressures of college. At one point, I think I was playing in or running about thirty concurrent games. So, I guess I understand how you can end up in that position.
I completely understand havng to shut some stuff down. I’ll agree with the sentiment that this is definitely my favorite game I’m in at the moment, possibly ever. It’s been amazing to play in, this kind of game is what I love to play. I will completely understand if you have to cut the game, though. Life always comes first. As much as I love this game, I would also give it up in an instant if it made life easier for you.
I hope things start to work out for you. I understand having to drop my game too, but just know that you’re always welcome back if you can manage it. Also, let me know if you ever want another set of eyes on that book, okay? It is what I went to school for, after all.
i'm sorry things have been so rough for you. Gaming is an easy escape from reality and I understand that. I have spent most of my life hiding in some world not my own and bitter about having to be here.
While I love this game, and I have had some issues posting at times, I understand the need to curb the number. I hope this game stays going but I do not want you to continue to over reach and over stress yourself.
I am amazed at the players and GM for this tale. Honestly the characters in the game are fascinating! Kind of feel like I do not do enough but I love reading what happens in our evil plot. Even feeling like I do not compare this is a riveting game despite the slowness. I might be a little over on the games I am in so slow works for me at times.
If you must drop this game I completely understand. Life always comes first but if you come back to it someday I would be happy to return.
I am sorry to hear you are not doing well. Please take the time to take care of yourself and your daughter.
Its been an amazing game, but its a game none the less. Real life always takes precedence.
I will be unavailable until the 14th, as my girlfriend and I are taking a trip to Italy. Please DMPC me as needed and I apologize for any inconvenience.
Thanks for the support guys!
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I have decided to keep this particular game IN the rotation. Look for updates Wednesday night.
Woot, one of my favorite books gets to continue!
I think my live table just fell apart. I may need a few days to get rid of the lingering anger, bitterness, and sadness I feel.
Ugh. That's never fun. Take the time you need.
Life is finally starting to get a bit less hectic. Thanks for the patience, I will be back to normal posting again this Sunday.
Yay! Glad things have settled for you.
Same here. I'm glad stuff is getting a little more normal for you.
Take your time. We are here :)
Glad things have settled for you. Welcome back!
Alright, I am about 20 posts behind ATM but at least I am here and finally posting. I have two other games to update tonight and a few games as a PC to post in.
I plan on getting this and my Vampire game moving tomorrow as that one and this one are a bit more complicated to run and need some more thought before I move forward than the others do.
No problem. Glad you're back.
Can we get check-ins from everyone to make sure we haven't lost any players during the downtime?
I'm still here, can't wait to see this start up again!
Four of us have posted in the last several days, so at the very least most of us are still here.
Yeah. It's Nate and Lothrian who haven't posted in a while. Wanted to be sure they were still with us.
still here
I'm very tired but I am here.
Present!
The New Lothrian it appears has been off of the boards since late January. Shall we continue with the group as is and Recruit a new PC for when Book I is complete?
Sorry, issues at home tonight, I'll update tomorrow. Apologies once more for the delay :-(
Well that's a bummer. I was enjoying Lothrian II, Return of Lothrian.
Maybe start with a new character. Lothrian seems to be cursed.
I'm fine with us finding a new ally after we finish Book 1. I know some people who might be interested in joining.