Thralls of Thrune, Part 1: The Sunless Citadel (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Kimmel

Dungeon Map
Combat Map

Pressed into service as adventurers for House Thrune of Cheliax, seven heroes delve into the Sunless Citadel seeking to uncover its treasures and secrets.


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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

This is the discussion thread for Part I of the Thralls of Thrune campaign.

Please use this thread for out-of-game conversations, including mechanics questions requiring more than a simple answer. OOC conversation in the gameplay thread should use blue OOC text.

Dark Archive

I +2, P +0, F +6, R +1, W +0, AC 19, HP 7/24

Thanks for the invitation, boss! I'm looking forward to this one!

Dark Archive

Female Tiefling (pit-born) Barbarian (wild rager) 1/Oracle [Nature] 1 ; HP 21/21

Very excited for this.


Rogue/2 (HP:13/13, AC15)

Hello all! GM, did you want Elion to slip his bonds (in his character background I left him tied to a chair with a hood over his head) so he can get involved with the discussion or do you have something else in mind?


Male Half-Elf Witch 1, Cleric 1, HP 13/13 (14 NL dmg)

Dot dot da-dot. This should be a fun one, I think.


FF 1-02

Here is a map of Oakhurst and the surrounding area.

Here is a picture of Marius Vasdralo, shamelessly borrowed from the Inner Sea World Guide.

Please see the Gameplay thread to see how I'd like you all to get started. I know starting off in a tavern can get a bit old - I hope the "twist" on this game makes things a bit more interesting!


FF 1-02

Quick note on your characters - while I looked every character over when making decisions about who to have in the game, I did not look at every single number to make sure it is accurate. I will be looking over each PC over the next day or two to make sure that everything is good to go before we get to the dungeon itself, and I will let you know if I have any questions or spot anything that might need to be changed.


FF 1-02

I'm laughing at myself because I wrote the whole intro post in past-tense and then switched it to present tense because I thought that would be better (since most in-person games are played in present tense), but I like the way that the past-tense posts read a lot better. So, let's use past-tense as Valeria and Bellicus did in their first posts.

Glad to see things getting under way!

Dark Archive

I +2, P +0, F +6, R +1, W +0, AC 19, HP 7/24

It's funny - I usually write my posts in present tense as well, so I'm not sure why I snapped into past tense! Probably had something to do with the fact that I wrote Bellicus' backstory in past tense.


FF 1-02

Present tense does make a lot of sense and seems more natural, but I suppose past tense is more readable. I am willing to take a poll. What do you all think?


Present tense make sense for posts that are happening in the present.


FF 1-02

It does seem that present tense is the norm except for backstories.


Male Elf Dirge Bard 1, HP 9/9

I don't mind either way. They both have a good feel. Present tense seems more appropriate for roleplay, but the past tense feels as if our story is being told after all is said and done.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

Mike: I forgot to say "Thanks" for the invite! So... Thanks!

I'm pretty excited about this game, and have gotten rather "into" this character already. It's been about two years since I've gotten to flex my muscles as a player: I've been GMing an in-person campaign for the past two years.

This is my first PBP, ever. Please let me know if you think I'm hogging the spotlight! I tend to get a bit verbose.

I read one of those PBP primers that talked about using the "limited third-person" voice, and just kind of assumed that meant writing in the past tense. When Bellicus wrote his first post in past-tense, I just kind of followed his lead.

The closest thing to a PBP I'd played in the past was a play-by-email Amber Diceless Role-Playing game about a decade ago that ran for about a year. We tended to write in past-tense for that game as well. I write the campaign journal for the in-person game I GM, which is also in past-tense, so that tense seems a bit more natural for me.

I would agree that present-tense writing makes sense in the moment, as you describe your actions. But past-tense makes for more compelling reading, later (or if you're catching up on a couple of days if you've been out.)

I'll go with majority vote on what tense to write in. (Val might be Chaotic, but the real-world me is quite lawful!)

Anyway, I'm signing off for the next 12 hours or so. It's almost midnight local time, and I have a job to get to in the morning.

Talk to you tomorrow!

--Haladir


Male Human Techie 2 / Bureaucrat 6
Mike the GM wrote:
Quick note on your characters - while I looked every character over when making decisions about who to have in the game, I did not look at every single number to make sure it is accurate. I will be looking over each PC over the next day or two to make sure that everything is good to go before we get to the dungeon itself, and I will let you know if I have any questions or spot anything that might need to be changed.

Sounds good! I created Val the old-fashioned way (by hand). I'm reasonably sure that I got the numbers right, but another set of eyes can't hurt.


Rogue/2 (HP:13/13, AC15)

This is also my first PbP so don't hesitate to give me a gentle nudge if I'm messing something up :-)


M Human Druid (Reincarnated Druid) 2

Gonna write today ...should be a slow day at work.

Dark Archive

Female Tiefling (pit-born) Barbarian (wild rager) 1/Oracle [Nature] 1 ; HP 21/21

I can do past-tense, but present-tense I think is likely more appropriate for things happening in the "present" such as it were.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

Hey-- out of sheer and utter curiosity, where is everyone located in the real world?

I'm in central New York State, USA, south of Syracuse.


M Human Druid (Reincarnated Druid) 2

Reppin' Brooklyn HARD, son.

Dark Archive

Female Tiefling (pit-born) Barbarian (wild rager) 1/Oracle [Nature] 1 ; HP 21/21

Southern New Hampshire, USA.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

Mike: If it's okay with you, I'd like to make one more tweak to Val's stats: I'd like to swap out one feat for another. Both are from the Core Rulebook. (Specifically, I'd like to take Skill Focus (Perform) instead of Combat Casting.)


Male Elf Dirge Bard 1, HP 9/9

Western Massachusetts, about a hundred and fifteen miles away from Boston. Actually closer to Albany.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

My in-person PFRPG group is meeting tonight, and I need to finish writing one encounter before I can run the game. I won't have a chance to post again until tomorrow.


FF 1-02
Valeria Baladin wrote:
Hey-- out of sheer and utter curiosity, where is everyone located in the real world?

Seattle, here!

Valeria Baladin wrote:
Mike: If it's okay with you, I'd like to make one more tweak to Val's stats: I'd like to swap out one feat for another.

By the laws of Cheliax you shall be punished!!!!!! Just kidding. That's fine.


Valeria Baladin wrote:

Hey-- out of sheer and utter curiosity, where is everyone located in the real world?

I'm in central New York State, USA, south of Syracuse.

Comox B.C., Canada


M Human Druid (Reincarnated Druid) 2
Anton Moorson wrote:
Gonna write today ...should be a slow day at work.

Remind me never to say that again ...


M Human Druid (Reincarnated Druid) 2

BLARRRRRRGH!

That's the second time today I lost a post in the gameplay thread RIGHT BEFORE I was done. Harumph. OK, here I go again.


M Human Druid (Reincarnated Druid) 2

Actually, DM question ...could Anton try a "Knowledge Nature" roll to see if he knows anything about this Druid?


FF 1-02
Anton Moorson wrote:
BLARRRRRRGH!

That would happen to me a lot more if I didn't obsessively "select all" and "copy."

Anton Moorson wrote:
Actually, DM question ...could Anton try a "Knowledge Nature" roll to see if he knows anything about this Druid?

Not to know about a specific person - that would be Knowledge (local) - but you could roll Knowledge (nature) to know something about the "magic fruit."


M Human (multi-ethnic) Rogue Charlatan 6

Gotcha. Adjusted my post accordingly.

Dark Archive

I +2, P +0, F +6, R +1, W +0, AC 19, HP 7/24

Yeah, I've taken to doing that before posting something long and involved. And sorry I haven't checked in until right now - it's been crazy!

I'll be glad to move to present tense. As stated before, it makes a lot of sense when you're talking about combat and such, since that gives the fight that sense of immediacy.


Male Half-Elf Witch 1, Cleric 1, HP 13/13 (14 NL dmg)

Hm. I think I may be outvoted here, but I way prefer past tense, personally. Makes the whole thing read more like a story.


Rogue/2 (HP:13/13, AC15)

Leynus: Sorry about pushing the innkeeper for info but I had the impression that we're leaving before dawn tomorrow morning. Actually, the bossman only said that he'd talk to us tomorrow, not that we had to leave first thing. Our actual departure time is TBD.


Male Elf Dirge Bard 1, HP 9/9

No worries. I had that impression too, but as you mentioned it does only say that he'll talk to us tomorrow. Besides, he said we were allowed to go purchase equipment and things, so I assume that for at least some time tomorrow (possibly all day) we'll be in town. If you want to go for the more shrewd approach and try and do something tonight, that's your call.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12
Teral Saevus wrote:
Hm. I think I may be outvoted here, but I way prefer past tense, personally. Makes the whole thing read more like a story.

I'm with you on the proper tense to write in. But I'll go with majority vote.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

Question for the GM:
Earlier I tried a Knowledge (religion) check to see if I could possibly identify what sort of creature Akshara was.

I think that may have gotten missed when several people posted at once.


FF 1-02

Sorry - yes, I will post a response to that check.

I'll also tally the votes for writing tense momentarily.

In the meantime, please just post here in the discussion thread if you intend to buy anything the next day. Vasdralo will give each of you 15 gold pieces to use for supplies. If there's anything that you folks want to actually do in town other than shopping, we can RP that, but I don't want the shopping itself to take up time.


FF 1-02

Past Tense:
Valeria Baladin
Teral Saevus

Present Tense:
Bellicus Tonore
Akshara
Elion

Not sure / no opinion stated either way
Leynus Chet
Anton Moorson

Okay - well, that's not exactly definitive, but we do have more votes for present tense, and it would be close even if I decided to vote myself for past (which I'm not even sure I would). Why don't we call this night the "prelude" and say that's why it was (mostly) in past tense, and starting the next day we'll post in present tense for things happening in the present and past tense for backstory/flashbacks and such.

We'll get this right eventually......


FF 1-02

One more thing - let me know if I ever move things along too quickly. When I'm at the table running a game it's much easier to tell when the players are wanting to move on, but when all I have to go on is forum posts it's hard to say when folks are done or wanting to stay in the current scene. I figured most people would be interested in getting the adventure under way sooner rather than later... so I'm sort of pushing the evening to a close.


CG Female Human Cleric of Desna (Hidden Priest) 2
Stats:
hp 16/16 | AC 16; touch 11; flat-foot 15 | Init +1 | Per +3 | Fort +4; Reflex +1; Will +6 | CMD 12

Okay, sounds good.

I just wrote my last gameplay post for this scene.

Some notes on the songs Val played...

short real-world history lesson...:

The first three are "Child Ballads," traditional English and Scottish ballads that were collected in the late-19th century by British ethno-musicologist John Francis Child. They have all been recorded many, many, times. In-game, I figure analogues of these songs would be generally well-known to most folks, and none would be particularly subversive.

For her closing song, Val just couldn't resist sticking it to The Man.

I was thinking of the Jacobite Reliquies of the late 17th and early 18th century Scotland. The Jacobites protested the overthrow of King James II after the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and also objected to the new King of England and Scotland, William III (who was actually German), and his descendents, including George I. They wanted James II (or, later, his eldest son James III) of House Stuart to be restored to the throne of Scotland. The Jacobite songs were known for their wit and obfuscative riddle-like lyrics (mainly to skirt around charges of sedition if they were performed.) "Cam Ye O'er Frae France" seemed to fit the bill for a humorously subversive anti-government song, which urged loyal Scots to resist the Anglican "Geordie" and to support the Catholic "Jocky" (James III), who was in exile in France but was raising an army to reclaim his (in their eyes) rightful throne.


Male Half-Elf Witch 1, Cleric 1, HP 13/13 (14 NL dmg)

In a PbP, I tend to think you should move the scene along when you get bored with it, or you don't think there's anything else of use for us to be doing (unless we have a stated intent of some sort, of course). These things can drag sometimes, and I'd rather let a few posts slip by without my response then let the whole thing slow down. That's just me, though.

A sidenote: Nice song choices, Val. Love those.

[EDIT] A second sidenote: After Val pointed it out, I switched one of Teral's spoken languages to Varisian, Mike. If it's a problem, I can put it back, but...well, he's Varisian. Me the player had totally forgotten they had their own language, but it would be very confusing to me if he didn't speak it.

Dark Archive

Female Tiefling (pit-born) Barbarian (wild rager) 1/Oracle [Nature] 1 ; HP 21/21

I typically play as much as I can out of a scene until either the GM asks if we're ready to move on or I'm out of ideas (at which point I let someone know.) I'm easy-going in terms of pacing, but I do like some good character interaction.


FF 1-02

I don't mind, Teral, about the language switch. That makes sense.

Thanks for all the awesome songs, Valeria. Good stuff and it really adds to the game!


Rogue/2 (HP:13/13, AC15)

I'll pick up 20 sling bullets, 2 flasks of oil and a Tanglefoot bag.


Male Half-Elf Witch 1, Cleric 1, HP 13/13 (14 NL dmg)
Akshara wrote:
I typically play as much as I can out of a scene until either the GM asks if we're ready to move on or I'm out of ideas (at which point I let someone know.) I'm easy-going in terms of pacing, but I do like some good character interaction.

I actually tend to prefer slower-paced games myself: But I've been in enough of them that died because people got bored that now I kind of fear it.


FF 1-02

I am slightly modifying the adventure from its original form in order to ensure that there are plenty of opportunities for role-play with NPCs and each other even while you are in the dungeon. Hopefully that will help with the weeks and weeks of killing monsters that we have to look forward to; there will be plenty of people & monsters you encounter that you can talk to, and plenty of decisions to make that will have an impact on the story. So even if we skip past some of the potential story in the town, you'll still get to it. In fact, many of the answers you seek can only be found in... the citadel!

Dark Archive

I +2, P +0, F +6, R +1, W +0, AC 19, HP 7/24

Hopefully not too greatly...there's the small matter of the unofficial twelfth iconic found in this mod. One of the few things I recall about this one is that guy!


Rogue/2 (HP:13/13, AC15)

So, what we have so far...

  • Probably no dragons
  • Probably no strange cult of demon worshipers (Yah, right)
  • Probably goblins selling magic fruit
  • Calia is sweet on Talgar
  • The innkeeper purchased some of the magic fruit but it didn't save his wife.
  • Talger and Sherise left with a Hellknight? to get magic fruit?
  • The Hellknight was seeking ranger Karakas as a guide

Questions;

  • Why did Talger and Sherise need magic fruit
  • Why did the Hellknight want to go to the tower. Vasdralo might know.
  • What is the fruit supposed to do? What magic healing properties?
  • What idiot buys magic fruit from a goblin? (probably not a good question to ask out loud but still an excellent question!)
  • Where is Karakas' farmhouse along the Old Road and where's he gone?

People to talk to;

  • Vasdralo (not optional)
  • Madam Hecrele, Talger and Sherise's parents
  • Mayor
  • Karakas (if we can find him)

Anything else?

Dark Archive

Female Tiefling (pit-born) Barbarian (wild rager) 1/Oracle [Nature] 1 ; HP 21/21

Elion, thanks so much for that list. That is super helpful for consolidating the plot points and areas of investigation!

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