Where It All Began: Dragoncat's Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Dragoncat

Eostre scowls at Conner.

"Gross!"

Nicat's humor does not usually run to the dark and cruel variety, but he can't help bursting into laughter at Conner's remark. He does his best to stifle it, then says, "My friends are right, you'd do well to help us - it's looking pretty bad for you, but it'll only be worse if you keep working against us. Better do as my dwarf sister says."

Intimidate, Aid Eostre, Smaller than target: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 6 - 4 = 19

Give us an Intimidate check, Eostre, since you started the interrogation and are the best of us at it!

" I could dislocate his shoulders so he will be less trouble, but I suppose... that would be wrong." Aid to Intimidate: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

"Even if you don't believe Nicat's offer of mercy, and I don't blame you considering you seem dead-set on dying for this petty sham of vengeance for your s#itty childhood, he's right. You'll gain nothing from giving us s#it. And in case Conner's display wasn't enough to convince you Nualia's dead, we made sure it wasn't all we brought with us."

She takes out Nualia's severed head and places it in front of Tsuto.

"Tell us about Malfeshnekor. Now."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Do I get a circumstantial bonus to the check for showing him Nualia's head?

Tsuto doesn't say anything as Eostre presents Nualia's head and drops it at his feet. Conner poking him with her severed demonic hand gets no reaction from him either.

He doesn't seem moved by the party's threats in the slightest--he just fixes Eostre with an even more hateful look, if that's even possible.

Conner grins. "Tsuto, there's a lot of parts on you that you can live without. I want you to think what life in prison will be like without those parts, compared to what it would be like as a whole man. Now, I'm going to start with a little finger. Well, I'll try, this is a very large sword I took off your dead girlfriend." He draws Nualia's sword and turns Tsuto to get at his hands. "How much I keep cutting is all up to you."

What the heck, Intimidate: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Eostre immediately blanches and gapes at Conner. But slowly, Conner's features seem to shift, taking on a meaner, leaner look as the room gets hotter, flames appearing out of nowhere and for one brief moment, it's not Tsuto sitting there glaring defiantly, but Paulinus screaming and begging for the pain to stop

"TORTURE?! NO! WE'RE NOT HIM! WE'RE NOT LIKE HIM!" she screams.

Tsuto's response to Eostre's scream is a brief smirk before his glare reasserts itself.

Shalelu turns her eyes from Tsuto and moves in front of Eostre. "Eostre. He's not here. He can't hurt you. Look at me." She says, trying to calm the distraught dwarf down.

Conner's words send a shiver down Evelyn's spine. At first she's able to suppress the dreadful feeling that follows, but her heart start throbbing uncontrollably when Eostre starts yelling about torture. An otherworldly, high-pitched voice then whispers to her.

"កុមារ ..."

Evelyn turns her head, looking for the source of the voice before realizing it was inside her head. Her face turns pale and she stands unmovingly.

No... No, they're not supposed to come back...

Her hand moves to the cold iron dagger hanging from her hip and her fingers wrap around its handle.

They let me go... They're not supposed to come back...

The moment Tsuto smirks Evelyn imagines his lips moving, forming words that he shouldn't be able to speak in that tongue: "តើអ្នកបានបាត់បង់, កុមារ? គ្រាន់តែមកជាមួយខ្ញុំ... ខ្ញុំនឹងនាំអ្នកផ្ទះ..."

Evelyn shakes her head and replies out loud, looking straight at Tsuto: "អ្នកនិយាយកុហកបន្ទាប់មក... អ្នកកុហកខ្ញុំ..."

Her grip on her dagger's handle intensifies, Evelyn's knuckles turning white. Evelyn grits her teeth and gives Tsuto a hateful stare, her pale face regaining its color as she slowly gains the resolve to stand up again the thing that's trying to lead her away from her parents' home. She no longer sees her allies. Only Tsuto, who's transformed into a wood-like creature with a pointed nose and large ears.

Just when Evelyn's about to draw her dagger everything returns to normal. Evelyn blinks again and looks around. She sees her allies, and Tsuto. The strange sensation from before is gone, just like the strange creature that sat where Tsuto did and the voice inside her head. Evelyn relaxes again, shaking her head and smiling at anyone giving her an awkward look. "Nothing... I was just, like, thinking out loud, you know..."

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Nicat watches Eostre and Evelyn in alarm, almost stepping between the healer and their prisoner before Evelyn calms herself down. "Have you two gone nuts?" he asks excitedly. He glances over his shoulder at Conner, concerned that the burly warrior will actually start cutting pieces off of Tsuto.

"If he's not gonna help us, Conner, just give him a knock on the head. No need to start taking off toes!" As he speaks, his own bare toes curl under protectively.

We're not getting anything from Tsuto still, right? I say we just knock him out again and get going.

"For the love of..." Conner smacks Tsuto on the head with his pommel. "Tip for the future, when you're trying to scare someone with bodily harm, it helps if someone else doesn't immediately say you wouldn't actually do it!"

"He didn't break when Eostre shoved his lover's severed head in his face. I doubt cutting off body parts would've made any progress, Conner." Shalelu says as she bundles Tsuto and Lyrie together.

"And, another tip for the future--don't try scaring someone with bodily harm when someone who's already been traumatized by it is nearby." She gives Conner a scowl as she starts dragging one of the unconscious felons out the doors. Orik moves to assist her with the moving.

"We'll meet up with you once you've dealt with this 'Malfeshnekor'. Best of luck."

Eostre's breathing slows as Shalelu helps her calm down, at least for a moment. Then, as Shalelu drags the prisoners off, she walks up to Conner and attempts to punch him in the face.

"HE MADE ME WATCH, A*#+#&&! HE MADE ME WATCH!" she screams, tears dripping down her face.

Ekan looks ashamed, and then moves quickly to try to calm Eostre down, a gentle hand on her shoulder... restraining her might make it worse, "Eostre... you're safe. Conner didn't do anything. Thoughts are not words, words are not actions. One may push towards the other, but you should not punish Conner or yourself. Please." He is alarmed at the wounds that have broken open here.

"Okay, everyone, can we please calm down?!" Nicat asks, his voice tinged with concern. "Ekan's right, sis! You're safe here with us, there's nothing to worry about. We're going to fight this demon-dog and a tentacle monster, that's all..." His words peter out, as he's unsure if he's actually helping the situation - but the fact that he's even thinking about that show the gravity of his feelings at the moment.

"What the Hells is all this!?"

Eostre is trying and failing miserably to look stoic as she keeps sobbing.

"Do you KNOW how loud a man can scream when his fingers are broken one by one, Conner?! I had to stand and listen and couldn't move while Paulinus was being tortured thanks to the holding spell. And he was smiling! Tammerhawk was bloody SMILING as he did it. He knew Paulinus had told him everything, but he wanted to make the old man suffer! And then HE F@!*ING BURNED HIM ALIVE! And he wanted me to see it because he wanted me to know I was next if I didn't get out of Riddleport! And then you go talking about cutting off Tsuto's parts and you're smiling just like he did! Why?! I already showed him the damn head and he wasn't saying anything! Why the Hell did you think stopping to his level and torturing him would help?!"

"BECAUSE I'M TRYING TO KEEP ALL OF US ALIVE! If he had responded to the head I wouldn't have bothered, but it clearly wasn't going to cut it, so someone had to do something besides give up! And if I have to cut off the fingers of someone who murdered their own father in order to save your life, then it's not even a hard choice! I would KILL him to keep you safe, to keep all of you safe! Because that's my job! The two of us stood alone against actual demons, and this is all the trust I get? A mean look and a sharp edge is all it takes for you to turn on someone?"

"I'm NOT turning on you! No one, not even Tsuto, deserves that! That's what makes us better than him! Better than Nualia!"

"I think, if we could stop shouting, staying calm might be easier..." Ekan says in a quiet tone.

"I am NOT shouting! I'm waiting for an apology!" Eostre snaps.

"I don't have anything to apologize for."

Eostre lets out a frustrated "RrrrrrrrRRRRR!" before turning and storming off towards the passage they blocked the day before.

"Okay, right," Nicat says, "let's all keep at least a little bit calm, and take care of the dog-monster. I think Eostre is leading the way. I think."

With heavy hearts and renewed resolve, the party walks back through the desolate, abandoned fortress of Thistletop. A cold wind blows in from the sea, bringing with it the scent of salty brine. The smell of blood and death greets the party as they clear the blockage of the second level and walk back downstairs--it's a stark reminder of the carnage they wrought in their quest to prevent even more innocent deaths.

Nualia's headless, one-armed corpse is lying where it fell. Strangely, the corpse still feels slightly warm to the touch.

The doorway to the south opens easily, revealing an L-shaped hallway beyond. The southern wing of this L-shaped hallway ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.

"Before we leave remind me to burn that body." When they reach the end of the passage Conner checks their rear, then moves aside to let the educated folks through.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28 Yay!

Nicat slips past Conner and studies the area with interest, his attention caught by the carving of coins. He moves in very close to the pillar of gold coins and says, "Hey, there are slots on either side of this pillar! They look like the slot in a beggar's box, just the right size to fit coins through! "

"Good eye, Nicat," Eostre says wearily. "Considering the statues of the Runelord of Greed we tore down back there, it'd make sense for the builders here to use coins as keys."

"But will just any coin fit?"

Eostre rubs her chin.

"Given the theme of greed here, I assume gold is what's required here. Anybody got an extra gold sail or two they wouldn't miss?"

"how many do you need?" Ekan has never been big on material wealth and pulls out ten gold pieces.

"Nicat, how many slots are there?"

"Just the two slots, one on either side of the pillar," Nicat replies, eagerly picking a couple of gold pieces out of Ekan's hand and slipping them into the slots.

The pillar of coins starts shaking as Nicat inserts the two gold pieces into the slots. It then begins to slide into the floor, making an absolutely cacophonic *GRINDING* noise.

The hallway beyond looks like it's only been disturbed in the past few days. Three sets of elaborately carved stone double doors are on the northern, eastern and southern walls, and upon each of the doors are elaborate murals of a seven-pointed star. The southern doors' murals are glowing a sickly violet colour.

A thick layer of dust coats the floor, revealing bootprints leading to the southern doorway. They stop in front of the doors before turning around and heading back the way they came.

Nicat's eyes light up as the pillar makes its loud descent into the floor, his mouth forming a perfect circle as his jaw drops in amazement. "Wow, that was great!" he cries out, "Did you guys see that?"

Noticing the bootprints, and the rather alarming door they lead to, he looks over his shoulder and says to Eostre, "Sis, if you've got your nerves settled down, I think you're gonna want to check out the star thing on that door, one of those spyhegrons, by the look of it."

"I think they're called sipehegrons, Nicat," Evelyn 'corrects' him. "Pretty sure that's what Eostre called them."

"That's what I said, Evey," Nicat says, quite convinced he's correct.

Awesome, Evelyn! Can't wait for Eostre to check in...

"Hold up, we know someone went to that door, but clearly no one has opened the others. There could be something helpful in there."

Eostre slaps her face in frustration.

"Sihedron! Si-he-dron! S! I! H! E! D! R! O! N! Honestly! How hard is it to listen when I pronounce something?!"

She pushes past the others towards the door Conner has indicated

"Get out of my way!" she barks.

As Eostre's tirade dies down, Nicat glances at Evelyn, then rolls his eyes before saying "Isn't that what I said?"

The glowing double doors are sealed tightly shut. There's a hole in the shape of a seven-pointed star in one of the doors, with another, smaller hole in the middle of it.

It appears the doors need some sort of key to open.

I think I'm the boring one in this group, He thinks with a quiet mix of amusement and alarm.

As Eostre's tirade dies down, Nicat glances at Evelyn, then rolls his eyes before saying "Isn't that what I said?"

"NO! NO IT WAS NOT!" Eostre calls behind her as she looks at the doors.

"Evelyn! Get over here and try inserting that SIHEDRON amulet you're wearing into one of these slots. It might be a key."

Evelyn shrugs at Nicat when Eostre isn't looking and makes a face that says 'I-don't-know.' The moment Eostre calls behind her Evelyn's face immediately stiffens up in shock, as does her whole posture. She relaxes again when she realizes Eostre wasn't barking at her.

More like a 'sillydron' with such a name...

The moment Eostre actually does start barking orders at her Evelyn freaks out. "Uh, yes! I'll try the silly, uhhh, the si-he-dron!"

Evelyn moves over to the door and tries to fit the amulet in the slot that corresponds with the amulet's size.

The sihedron amulet doesn't quite fit in the slot. It appears a different sort of sihedron-shaped object is necessary to open these doors.

"Do we have anything else shaped like this, uh, si-he-dron?"

"Wait a minute," Nicat asks, his face a mask of puzzlement and mild indignation at Evelyn's question, "isn't a skyhedral a shape? So can we even ask if we have something else shaped like one? That's like asking if we have a different-shaped square...I think."

He scratches his head for a long moment, pauses, then scratches it some more, then mutters to himself, "Squares would be easier."

"Good pronunciation, Evelyn. Now if only Nicat would follow your example."

Eostre rubs her chin, finally having something to distract her thoughts from the recent events.

"We may have to keep looking. In the meantime, I'll check for any magical auras."

Eostre casts her magic detection spell and observes the doors.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Eostre nods to no-one in particular.

"This door's got potent magic on it to keep something powerful inside. I'd bet platinum that Malfeshnekor's behind this door. At least we know that it wasn't tied to Nualia's life. That will make exploration of this level easier, he can't really ambush us. There's some sort of illusion spell in the room with the double-doors. Since this door's a dead-end for now, I suppose that's our next destination. Be ready in case the magic messes with your heads."

Eostre takes point and approaches the double-doors.

This here will be the discussion thread for the campaign.

It'll be a bit of time before I set the gameplay thread up, so why not use this time to perhaps see how your characters know each other?

Well, in Sandpoint, Ekan has been often at the House of Blue Stones (which I'm told is kind of a meditation area dedicated to Irori) but he's also a passable cook and may have done odd jobs elsewhere cooking in addition to his making food for his mentors.

Some might know him that way. However, there's more to training than meditation, he may have been spotted doing the young martial artist in training thang, as he ran laps around buildings, poised in crane stance on the shore's edge, and so on. :) So folks might have noticed him doing such.

Enormously gratified to have been chosen! Thank you!

I'll make a more proper introduction when I get home from work, this evening. As a restaurant GM, my weekends are my busiest working times. So, it may be close to midnight. =( Nevertheless, I've never had a problem posting at least once a day, so have no fear in that regard!

I'm eastern US, GMT -5, North Carolina. I'm on the wrong half of 30 and about to get married to a beautiful woman who is remarkably indulgent of the time I spend on Pathfinder! =)

As far as Ilya is concerned, don't be surprised if he "remembers" some of you, even if you've never met...

Thank you for picking this loud mouthed barbarian GM, I hope we'll all have a great time with this AP.

Fulko has been in town for less than a week, spending most of his time in the Rusty Dragon inn, and knowing him he's probably already well known amongst the people who work at and frequent the inn.

Howdy all! Glad to be here with everyone.

As I mentioned in the recruitment thread, Nicat's story would work very well with the archaeologist archetype, as well as the arcane duelist, so I'm happy to play either. Would you all prefer a bard that can inspire courage in the gang and do other sorts of bardic performance, or one that can fill the rogue role on traps and sneaking? I had also offered to be the Knowledgeable one, but it looks like Ilya can take the lead role in that.

As to how folks might know Nicat - he grew up in Sandpoint and is a pretty well-known fixture around town, always getting into things he shouldn't, juggling kittens he shouldn't, trying to balance on the fence in front of the mayor's office and landing on the mayor. He's also very inquisitive, so would likely have asked Ekan why he's always running around and might have turned up at the Rusty Dragon to earn a few coins performing, so would likely be known to Fulko, if he notices performers.

DM Runecat - would you mind opening the gameplay thread so we can dot it, even if you won't have our starting post up for a bit? Makes it easier to track when there are posts to check out.

Edit: Ekan - just noticed you're also Ollivor in Barcas' Skull and Shackles game! They call me Doran over there, nice to be in another game with you.

Done. The gameplay tab has a thread for dotting now.

I'll wait until everyone's had a chance to post here before I start talking about house rules & stuff.

As to how folks might know Nicat - he grew up in Sandpoint and is a pretty well-known fixture around town, always getting into things he shouldn't, juggling kittens he shouldn't, trying to balance on the fence in front of the mayor's office and landing on the mayor. He's also very inquisitive, so would likely have asked Ekan why he's always running around and might have turned up at the Rusty Dragon to earn a few coins performing, so would likely be known to Fulko, if he notices performers.

That sounds like a great way for Ekan to eventually strike up a friendship. Ekan is... reserved, but if Nicat inquired he might learn WHY Ekan wanted to learn how to fight, and the subject of giants would certainly put cracks in the human's normally stoic exterior. :)

Edit: Ekan - just noticed you're also Ollivor in Barcas' Skull and Shackles game! They call me Doran over there, nice to be in another game with you.

Hey! Great that we both made it then! I look forward to meeting another of your characters ;)

Howdy all! Glad to be here with everyone.

As I mentioned in the recruitment thread, Nicat's story would work very well with the archaeologist archetype, as well as the arcane duelist, so I'm happy to play either. Would you all prefer a bard that can inspire courage in the gang and do other sorts of bardic performance, or one that can fill the rogue role on traps and sneaking? I had also offered to be the Knowledgeable one, but it looks like Ilya can take the lead role in that.

As to how folks might know Nicat - he grew up in Sandpoint and is a pretty well-known fixture around town, always getting into things he shouldn't, juggling kittens he shouldn't, trying to balance on the fence in front of the mayor's office and landing on the mayor. He's also very inquisitive, so would likely have asked Ekan why he's always running around and might have turned up at the Rusty Dragon to earn a few coins performing, so would likely be known to Fulko, if he notices performers.

I say go with whatever archetype you feel like playing, and yes I'd say Fulko is the type that would notice performances and he is quite talkative so it wouldn't be far fetched for him to have approached Nicat and struck up a random conversation or two.

Hi, guys! So glad to have been picked, thanks GM Runecat!

As for knowing everyone, as a cleric of Shelyn, Sylvia would've chatted with Nicat whenever she was at the Rusty Dragon and he happened to be performing. She's probably also met Fulko while chatting with Nicat. It doesn't sound like he's going to be getting a lot of performances going!

Other than that she would be spending most of her time admiring the new chapel or walking through the trade district (if one exists), admiring the art there.

Hi Sylvia! Nicat would certainly be fascinated with your ability to draw on Shelyn to provide luck (i.e. bit of luck ability), if he had an opportunity to see it or even hear about it. He'd probably be eager to hang out and figure out how you do it (I've even considered having him dip a level in Cleric of Desna, though we don't really need the Luck domain twice).

It sounds like many of us would have hung out together at the Rusty Dragon - now I just need to decide on what Nicat's Perform skill is. I like the idea of him juggling, it fits with the luck notion and his personality, but it's pretty impractical if he's going to be performing at all in combat, since both hands will be pretty busy. I think Oratory, and him talking about his good luck and his foes' bad luck, will be the way to go, especially since watching someone juggle doesn't seem like it would inspire you to great feats of martial prowess.

As for Ekan - Nicat could have chatted him up, made some reference to giants (being such a giant himself), and invited him to come see a performance at the Dragon, if he ever actually gets up from the table and starts performing.

Edit: settled on Perform (comedy) since it includes buffoonery - which Nicat can certainly manage, and seems like it could include juggling all kinds of things - as well as joke-telling, which is probably how his descriptions of good and bad luck will manifest. I hear there's nothing harder to write than good comedy, though, so cut the little guy some slack, okay?

Lol! Nobody wants to admit knowing the weird, wild-eyed, blue-skinned wizard who's nostalgic about things that haven't happened yet, and looks forward to the stuff he's already done?!?!

Reporting in! I'm not exactly sure how well the others might know Eostre. She's an outsider to Sandpoint.

Well, it looks like the gang's all here! Time for a couple of ground rules:

1) Combat & Initiative

When it comes to PbPs, initiative is one of those things that can trip up the pace of the game. If you're too strict with it, the pacing will tank.

That said, there are two systems of initiative I'd like to run by you:

A) The Party Initiative System
--> The way this works is thus: I calculate the party's average initiative and the baddies' average initiative. The team with the highest initiative roll goes first.

Pros: Combat is more fluid, and less likely to be tripped up by posting.

Cons: Math. And Initiative-boosting feats/traits/familiars are less valuable.

B) The Old-Fashioned Way
--> Much like on the tabletop, each PC's initiative will be rolled individually. For the sake of convenience, I will create a macro for all your initiatives and keep it handy for when combat breaks out. Same goes for the baddies.

Pros: Initiative boosting feats/traits/familiars are more valuable here. Easy to keep track of initiative order.

Cons: Pacing can easily be disrupted by prolonged absence.

Which option appeals to you most?

Maybe this is what you mean by option B, but I've actually found that a good way to do initiative in PbPs is for the DM to roll for everyone, as you suggest, so we don't spend days just rolling for initiative to start a combat. But the baddies all go on the same initiative number. Having multiple initiative numbers for a bunch of monsters slows down combats hugely, but it is nice for PCs who are built around going early (like the sorcerer dropping haste on the party) to be able to go first.

I'm not sure if I've stated this clearly, let me try again:

You roll for everyone, PC's and baddies.
You line up the initiative in the resulting order, and we all act in that order, some of us before the monsters, and some after.
After the first round, this basically becomes us and the monsters taking turns, much like under option A.

No waiting around, no math. And if it works for you, we all post when we're able to, and you just resolve the actions in initiative order, making minor adjustments as necessary (like if Nicat killed the goblin that Ekan said he's attacking, you put the attack on a different goblin, so Ekan isn't attacking a dead target).

Yep, that's what I planned for Option B.

Then I vote for Option B, and maybe we agree on a time frame after which a PC who hasn't posted gets DMPC'ed or otherwise bot'ed? You had said you were aiming for at least a post a day, so that could be our time frame.

What I do when gm'ing and like when playing is pretty much option B with a caveat. I'll set a day for when the enemies will go. Say combat starts on friday, and a group of PC's go first. After rolling initiative, I'll give them until Sunday morning to post their actions. If Sunday morning comes, whoever hasn't posted gets put on delay until after the enemies go. After that, it all turns into grouped combat, where I usually take actions as they're posted.

I like it and it makes things flow fairly smoothly. So Option B, I think. Initiative bonuses still count for something, and the flow isn't disrupted as much with deadlines in place.

Option A pretty much eliminates some of my best class abilities. So, I would strongly prefer to avoid that.

In another PbP game I was in (S&S), we used initiative in blocks. Suppose Nicat, Sylvia, and I rolled a 20, 18, and 17 respectively. The enemies rolled a 15, and the rest of the party rolled lower. Initiative would go:

Nicat, Sylvia, Ilya - in whatever order they post in, basically first come first serve.

Then enemies go.

Then Ekan, Fulko, and Eostre would go in whatever order they post in.

Then begin second round again with Nicat, Sylvia, and Ilya in any order.

This works pretty well.

Yeah, that's more or less what I was trying to describe, Ilya. I find it works pretty well. I've been in a couple of games where the DM rolled initiative separately for each bad guy, and he isn't a super frequent poster, and combat took forever - that I do not want.

I'd like to go with what Ilya suggested with one addition, if a player does not post within 12-24 hours(up to you GM) their character will be botted or they will miss their turn. I honestly wouldn't go with Option B for a PBP game, the normal inattentive system just wasn't built with these kinds of games in mind and Option A as Ilya mentioned pretty much makes a number of abilities less useful. Which is why I believe we should go with Ilya's suggested system.

Eostre, what are your opposed schools? It looks like necromancy is one. I was originally going to drop necromancy and evocation. But, I may switch it around since we're going to have two full wizards in the group.

Happy Easter, by the way!

Happy Easter. I've managed to get a spring cold, so I'm a bit off, but as for A or B, how about I just yield to the majority's view on this one

Spring colds have descended on my house too, Ekan. My older son (16 yrs) missed school most of last week and finally managed to sleep last night without constant coughing keeping him up - and I woke up with his cold...

Perhaps Nicat is less blessed with luck than he'd like to think, or at least I am.

Well, so far, it's general consensus that Option B for initiative is the most appealing (with modifications for blocks, of course!), so unless anyone has other concerns they wish to voice, we'll go with Option B.

Now, for the 2nd issue I wanted to run by you:

2) Player Comfort Level

Rise of the Runelords is notorious for how dark and graphic it can get in places, and as such, it's important to gauge how comfortable you are with this.

What level of gore/sex/violence would you be comfortable with?

Keep in mind this can and will be adjusted to suit player taste if anyone has any objections at any point.

Its hard to say what we are comfortable with, without knowing how far it goes in gore/sex/violence, so how far does it go?

Happy Easter to everyone!

I'm fairly comfortable with anything provided it's story appropriate and handled in a mature manner. If the cult of Nocticula is involved in some weird stuff that we have to get neck-deep into to stop, that's totally fine with me.

On the other hand, if the CN Rogue wants to make a big show of his run down hooker alley, so he can make a lot of jokes and innuendo... I can live without that...

Well, I would assume most 'sex' happens off panel or a 'fade to black' kind of thing but that might just be how I've seen it done in other PBPs. Violence is a bit more central to the genre, so I guess it could be more blatant at least IMO but might depend on how graphic folks get. I mean, if Ekan crits on someone, I don't plan on writing whole paragraphs about how he disembowels his foe painfully with his bare hands ;)

I should add that while my tolerance is quite high, my desire for those things is not. If something exceeds someone's comfort level, it will not ruin my fun to leave it out or tone it down.

I should add that while my tolerance is quite high, my desire for those things is not. If something exceeds someone's comfort level, it will not ruin my fun to leave it out or tone it down.

Same here, so if anyone gets uncomfortable do speak up.

I'd echo what others have said - I'm an adult, and I don't mind if some graphic intensity in these areas adds to the intensity of the game and the effect of the story we're all crafting. But I don't have any interest in gory violence and graphic sexual description for its own sake.

I'd particularly agree with Ekan's point - violence is part of a game where we engage in combat regularly, and part of the fun, even. But I don't come here to read about gnomes gettin' it on, or anything in that vein.

I'm glad the general sense around this seems to be the same so far, and that we've all expressed that it's okay to speak up if anyone gets uncomfortable. I appreciate your raising this before we get started, Runecat.

Looking forward to gaming with this thoughtful, creative bunch!

Thanks for your input so far, guys!

I'm just waiting for Eostre & Sylvia to weigh in on this before I start.

Gore and violence kind of go hand in hand, no? I'd have to say I'm of the school where it's kind of expected, but I'm not here for that. I'd much rather have it toned down, though, like the others have said. I'm not looking to read paragraphs describing how someone got impaled and disemboweled.

Sex I'm a bit more strict on. I'd prefer there to be little to no graphic sexuality, to be honest. I mean, PG-13 is fine, and some nudity is understandable if the story calls for it, but if we're talking rape or whatever, or having something happen to my character (or any of the others for that matter) that isn't consensual, I'm really not comfortable with that at all. I'm not sure if I'm the only girl here or not, but I'm sure you guys understand where I'm coming from.

Good questions!

Eostre, what are your opposed schools? It looks like necromancy is one. I was originally going to drop necromancy and evocation. But, I may switch it around since we're going to have two full wizards in the group.

Easter was kind of busy for me, sorry for not posting.

My banned schools are Necromancy and Enchantment.

I'm okay with either option, though in the case of people depending on initiative for their class features, I lean more towards option B, with the caveat of players don't respond in time to be botted or miss their turn.

As for my comfort levels, I'm rather desensitized. As long as you don't go into INTIMATE detail ("The goblin's eating his face off" is okay, "the goblin is (insert graphic description of said face being eaten off here)" is not). And sexual stuff's okay with me. I come from a forum where sexually explicit roleplay wasn't a big deal. Rape and non-consensual sexual stuff is definitely something I'm not okay with, however. Like the others, my tolerance is high, but my desire isn't. If someone else is uncomfortable with something, I won't mind.

Thank you all for your input. I'll only go as explicit as a PG-13 rating for this unless you'd like me to go more than that.

Anyway...

Shall we?

I guess as an addendum to my previous statement...

I was talking to a friend earlier today who's actually played through this AP, and she said that you were probably talking about Book 2, and that I probably wouldn't mind it at all and that I'd probably get into the role. I have no idea what she's talking about (she wouldn't tell me), but there you go.

Ekan - we've got the ninja thing going on in this game! I beat you by 17 seconds in this last one. At least this time our posts fit together nicely.

Okay, this is a fun group. Some of the characters are very quirky. I get the feeling Ekan may end up playing the 'straight man' to some others, but that's fine. :) I'm certainly getting a better feel for him. For example, I suspect, if he has time later, he's going to go to the house of those pie makers and tend their lawn for them or whatever as a kindness. If he does it right, only those who heard his offer of help will suspect he did it.

Okay, this is a fun group. Some of the characters are very quirky. I get the feeling Ekan may end up playing the 'straight man' to some others, but that's fine. :)

Yeah, it seems that Ekan, Sylvia, and Nicat all live very much in the "Here and Now", whether that's for discipline, pleasure, or a lack of attention span... =)

Ilya kind of lives everywhere else but "here and now"... <_< , >_>

I'm finding Ilya's pondering of time quite fun and fascinating! Nicat is definitely about the here and now, though I haven't quite decided how to play his maturing as things get a bit grim later on in the tale, judging from what I've heard.

The conversation feels very...scattered right now.

I have a feeling I'll be pulling Straight Man duty with Ekan.

The conversation feels very...scattered right now.

I have a feeling I'll be pulling Straight Man duty with Ekan.

Yeah, Ilya's laying the temporal bit on a bit thick, at the moment. Just sort of establishing the character. I'll be scaling it back a lot, pretty quickly.

Now that everyone's been introduced, the conversations should flow more or less in the same direction. Plus: WOW! Page two in record pace! We are a fairly talkative bunch!

Eostre Roldheim wrote:

The conversation feels very...scattered right now.

I have a feeling I'll be pulling Straight Man duty with Ekan.

Yeah, Ilya's laying the temporal bit on a bit thick, at the moment. Just sort of establishing the character. I'll be scaling it back a lot, pretty quickly.

Now that everyone's been introduced, the conversations should flow more or less in the same direction. Plus: WOW! Page two in record pace! We are a fairly talkative bunch!

I hope we can do even better than this pace.

I am honestly loving this group so far, sure there is a lot of quirkiness, but I've noticed that each character has their own flavor of it, which in my opinion keeps things fresh.

Nicat is also laying it on a bit thick at the moment, to establish a clear personality - he won't always charge about quite so madly, though he won't give it up altogether, that's for sure. Of course, I've realized that piling on the personality has caused me to completely leave out his physical description - it's in his alias, but it's still nice to have in the tale.

I am also enjoying this group a lot, and am very pleased with the pace. Let's keep it up!

Well that roll was quite embarrassing...

Sorry had a bit of a Gandalf moment with the "Go you fools" comment.

I've GOT to quit crossposting with folks. Friend got into a conversation with me and when I finally hit reply, I find out I'm walking into an area that's about to be hit with sleep.

One nice thing about block posting is that it kind of self corrects. I got my post in before yours, and we're on the same block, so my action should happen first.

Since we are still at the first level GM, I was wondering if it is ok if I make a change to Fulko? I want to switch his Human Racial Trait: Bonus Feat with Focused Study, which won't change any of the current feats he has at level 1.

Sure. Go ahead.