Modified in story. I beefed up the involvement of some cool characters who weren't expected to play a role throughout the campaign, made one of the villains grandmother to a PC, played out some things that were supposed to be in the background, involved the big bad villains earlier in the campaign, added a villain group that a PC wanted to fight. Also added in some side quests from Freeport and other pirate 3rd party stuff.
Obviously in PbP, I wouldn't want to expand the campaign that way. Better to keep things lean. But I'd still prefer to make some of the NPC interactions last for a bigger part of the campaign.
I also changed some of the subsystems. Thought the rum ration being so deadly was silly, used different ship combat rules that gave more characters more to do, things like that.
Ordrax and company, I might be interested in picking this up. I have run a heavily modified Skull and Shackles for my tabletop group, and I've run a few PbP games with varying amounts of success. I had a lot time running the campaign, but I widened the sandbox quite a bit, which isn't always the best idea for PbP.
Can you give me a little more about what you want in a GM? What kind of post rate are you looking for? Right now my posting is concentrated around night time. My workload varies a lot throughout the year, and I'm pretty busy right now, but things will die down in the next few weeks.
Conchobar had the most possible love in my campaign. Not all of the characters liked him, but the players thought he was a hoot. I played him as a fop, but competent. He was eventually captured in a battle with a Chelish ship. (The party at this point was way out of the sandbox of the campaign off stealing the Sun Orchid Elixer.) They escaped, but he was left behind. They found him again while breaking someone else out of an island prison. He was playing it all out, wearing rags, used prestidigitation to grow his hair and beard long and crazy.
End of campaign spoiler:
Long story short, none of the party wanted to be the Hurricane King, and they decided what they needed was someone committed to the role. So Conchobar became and remains the Hurricane King in our Golarion.
How long did it take for the raven to get to Dragonstone?
The maps say it's a journey of about 1500 miles.
An earth raven can fly at about 50mph. That's 30 hours travel.
Apparently there's a relay system for ravens, so they wouldn't need as much time to rest as you'd expect.
But then there's the return trip to be added on. So they ought to have been on that rock for at least three days.
I'm willing to grant that maybe they've bred ravens that are faster than that, and that dragons can move more quickly. The director seems to think it was "one dark night" articleand that is fine. My quibble isn't with the speed of travel as much as it is with "I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there." Why not spend a few seconds showing us the tension of that wait? They robbed the scene of that tension.
I also disagree with some people's notion (as stated in the article) that no one wants to watch them sit on a rock while Gendry runs for four episodes. Maybe not 4 episodes, but I would happily watch 2 episodes or a feature film with those folks on an island surrounded by wights while Gendry runs, ending with the end of the battle.
I haven't minded the jet-packing too much in the show. Usually they acknowledge that some time has passed. John says he is going to see Danerys, then shows up at Dragonstone an unspecified time later. I'm ok with that. But last night, the writers created a time sensitive situation and then left us with no sense of how long it took to solve it.
Spoiler:
How long did Gendry run? How long did it take for the raven to get to Dragonstone (surely that is at least days?) How long did they sit on that rock. How long did it take for the water to freeze. I don't care how long it is. I'll buy it. Show them eating a sandwich, or taking a piss. Give me a montage or bored Hound that leads up to the rock throwing.But the way they told the story robbed it of tension. And
Jon going into the water only to swim out and make it back to the wall a minute later was a waste. Just cut that part. And don't pay off the meeting of Benjen and Jon in 5 seconds of interaction. They could have stuck Benjen on the island with them, had a real encounter. Some real awkwardness with having a wight on the island, and then had Benjen sacrifice himself instead of Jon for 5 seconds.
Having the dragons save them, bringing Jon and Dany together, losing a dragon. All of that was fine. But no reason not to put Jon on a dragon and let him fly away at that point. Even better, leave him behind, let Dany be sad about it, but let the other dragon go back and pick him up, barely dodging the spear.
We have been playing the revised hard cover of the adventure path since it came out last year, and are now 14th level and in the castle. The PC group has fought their first false illeosa, and are about to face the rest of the castle defenders. After that, they'll be off to face the Queen in their final battles. I've moved the whole end game into the mastaba, because my players are tired of leaving the city.
This thread has been invaluable with ideas for buffing up Ileosa. I'm not sure what I'll end up with. I'm almost certainly going to make the crown intelligent and give it Kazavon's spellcasting. That should level the field a bit.
I have 6 or 7 players who are pretty optimized, so I need to make things tough.
I've read the book. Initially, I was really excited by the prospect of the movie with Spielberg at the helm. I still think that is a great choice, but it would have been so much better if it had been developed as a series by Netflix or HBO or similar. The book is really even written in episodes. It would have given time to really explore the world and to cram in as many other properties as possible.
It is purely for reasons of convenience. I keep as much stuff as possible here at Paizo just so it is easy to look through. I have plenty of stuff on Drivethru, though. Things that have been part of Kickstarter fulfillments and a few rare things that are only available there. It isn't a dealbreaker to have to go there. Also, I spend way more time here than I do over there, so I would never have seen the product if EZ hadn't posted the reviews.
Using a secondary liscense within the same family is fine. Your wife co-own property, in order to see those stat blocks, she would have to deliberately go the game master menu and find the encounter to import. Many of those stats can be found online just as easily. I suppose what she could gain is a list of monsters and characters in an adventure, but again, she could find much of that info in the message board sections for the AP. If you have that many trust issues with a player, that is a bigger problem, I think.
I'm still here, just very busy at work this week. My Bargain stunt will be the one from the recruitment thread.
Bargain Stunt
Lucky BastardFunny, because he is literally a bastard.
Once per scene, you may declare a story detail referencing your luck, just as if you were paying a Fate Point (subject to the same parameters), for free. You lucky b*****d.
I really need to spend some time with the rules to get the rest of my stunts.
I am, among other things, a literature teacher. I taught American Literature for several years, and I've also taught classes focused on Hell in literature. One thing that is interesting about American fiction and folklore is that the big heroes almost always get one over of the Devil, just like Fernando was talking about. Daniel Webster is probably the most prominent example. So I'm all for that as one of our aspects.
I'll have to do some thinking on Stunts. Obviously, Gamble will be my +4 skill, probably Grit and Charm at +3.
Attuning his sight to the wall, Tavius observes the occasional ripple of magic running through the metal plate. There it is focused through the stones. By altering the flow of magic across the plate, one could manipulate the stones, but a mistake could result in the powerful magic being channeled though the one who is manipulating it.
Spellcraft or Use Magic Device to manipulate the "door."
I'm thinking Voodoo could be an interesting element, depending on what other people end up doing. I'm thinking especially cards/gambler/tarot/divination become interesting. I'm not sure I would want to go full on voodoo dolls, but maybe some gris-gris. Obviously, we are talking about Hollywood Voodoo, not the real world religion.
I like the word refuge. Refuge for misfits and vagabonds. I'll do some reading on Voodoo. That stunt for the Bargain is great. Just what I was looking for.
The trouble is really interesting too. Help me understand what that means: are you always siding with misfits? Do you view yourself as alienated? Are you simply wildly ecclectic beyond reason? Or is it that you're surrounded by misfits, so your troubles are always coming through them? My mind is jumping around with all these things that really intrigue me, and I'm fascinated to know what you intend.
I don't have any suggestions with the bargain, as it seems really interesting as it is. I'll also be trying to think of suggestions for how that eventually could relate to a stunt. How do you see that being compelled or invoked against you though? In other words, what do you envision as the down-side to that?
*Edit* Also, I'm curious if you plan on this character being involved with Voodoo at all? I notice you mentioned gris-gris,
and that's a thing we can have happen. You just decide whether it's something central to your character (may want to be a part of High Concept?) or more of a footnote--something you dabble in.
High Concept: High Yellow Gambler, Overprotective Saloon Owner
High Yellow in this case informs his childhood and his tendency to protect people on the margins. I imagine that here in Mississippi, everyone thinks he is White, though someone else might know better.
Trouble: All-in. Amaziah gathers misfits and protects them. Dwarf whores, Blind piano players, One-armed barbers. Amaziah protects people on the margins.
Amaziah is currently a respectable White businessman, every part of that description sits on a razors edge. Any bit of it could topple at any moment. So he has felt alienated in his youth and understands it, but now things are different. Despite his precarious situation, he won't stand for those on the margins being mistreated. This was partially inspired by Pale Rider, where the Eastwood character comes into town and elevates all of the misfits in town, makes a little person Sheriff, that sort of thing. I'm not doing that much, but the saloon is definitely a place that attracts misfits.
The Bargain: Stacking the Deck. Amaziah is the master of the situation. He is always playing with a deck stacked in his favor. He is always prepared. When you think you have him with your 4 aces, he has the Wild Card that completes a Royal Flush.
What I'm thinking here is a sort of Hannibal (Lecter or Smith) or Batman Gambit sort of character. His enemies are always right where he planned for them to be. How can that be used against him is tougher, and may require some thinking. I was thinking of the game effect being to set allies up for success or "debuff" the enemy. Batman Gambits are often used against Batman. Maybe the downside is that I'm predictable, so people can use that against me?
As for Voodoo, that is something I could work in if it is desirable. Amaziah is about the same age as Marie Laveau II, and as a young man in the Free Colored community he would have certainly encountered the Laveau family, and could easily have been a childhood friend of the younger Marie. I like the idea that for both of them most of the "magic" is manipulation, collected intelligence, and preparation.
Only when those resources don't suffice do you resort to actual Voodoo.
The Loa help those who help themselves.
I was really just writing a bunch of stuff to see where it went. I think I will try to realign things to poker terms, keeping the history intact.
High Concept: High Yellow Gambler, Protective Mayor of a Town (Or just a saloon, whatever is appropriate in our scale).
Trouble: All-in. Amaziah gathers misfits and protects them. Dwarf whores, Blind piano players, One-armed barbers. Amaziah protects the disadvantaged
The Bargain: Stacking the Deck. Amaziah is the master of the situation. He is always playing with a deck stacked in his favor. He is always prepared. When you think you have him with your 4 aces, he has the Wild Card that completes a Royal Flush.
Disclaimer: I'm not in any way trying to be offensive here. I'm using some terms that are not entirely acceptable in polite company in 2017, but were common in the time frame.
Amaziah Bienville
The High Concept: High Yellow Gambler passing as a White Businessman- Amaziah was born in the 1830's, the child of a placee in New Orleans. His mother and grandmother were beautiful placees, and though he is a mix of Native, African, and Caucasian blood, his skin does not betray him. Everyone who knows Amaziah knows him as a white man. In his youth, Amaziah was educated as a free man of color. He read Latin and Greek, studied piano and the violin, but always was drawn to the River. How many times was he beaten for hanging about the stevedores and Kentucks who frequented the shacks by the River. In his early years, he would con them with simple scams, medicine, gris-gris, the occasional betting on the throw of bones. At the age of 16, well educated but broad shouldered, he stepped onto a boat headed upriver as a stevedore. His mother cried for a week at his disappearance.
When he stepped off the boat, he had some money in his pocket, a vest, a watch and chain, and some keen observations of humanity. With his new stake, he bought clothes to make him seem a man of some means but little taste. He won a few more games, was caught cheating and had a few teeth knocked out.
The Bargain: Years later, Amaziah longed for nothing so much as to settle down. He was a drunk, a gambler, addicted to the bottle, laudanum, and the thrill of the bet. He could read people as well as he could read Plautus, but he longed for the simplicity of home. A dark stranger offered him a chance to settle down, and he took it. In a late night battle of wits and luck, he won the Mother Lode. On the cusp of the War between the States, he became the Mayor of a whole town.
This needs some massaging to be what it needs to be. Again, I don't care if it is a town or a business. Whatever suits the campaign. I think the idea of someone running a town who isn't completely corrupt or a Rancher or owns the mine or whatever is kind of an interesting twist on the trope. The town comes under threat and he has to respond. If it needs to be smaller in scope, a saloon works just as well and is maybe an easier scale to threaten. I've got a clear concept here, but I might need help condensing it into the system.
I'm looking at working up a Professional Gambler. I'm thinking instead of the itinerant wanderer, this guy won a substantial asset in the area. My initial thought was that he won a whole town, sort of like Lando Calrissian, but maybe that is a little too big. So maybe a saloon brothel. He is trying to make an honest living, if by honest you mean running a bar, brothel, and gambling den.
If that sounds good I'll try to massage it into a proper submission. I'm not too familiar with Fate, but I've played Dresden a couple of times.
Skaven are somewhere between small and medium. Bigger than most halfling minis, closer to the size of a dwarf. The Reaper figures are pretty good. I think there was a DDM wererat that was cool.
Rather than skipping Phantom Menace, I would love to see elements from The Phantom Menace continue on into the rest of the story, as well as see elements from the other movies pulled earlier. Also, it would be great if the story and character arcs were a little more tinged with more classical tragedy.
What if?
Anakin created C-3PO as a droid for Padme, but he was way cooler. 3PO is protocol droid on the outside, but has some IG-88 on the inside. He is a stealth guardian for the Queen. Then by the end of the story he is damaged, loses some of his cool stealth weapons, and is droid lobotomized. Horrible tragedy for 3PO, and now we understand why R2 is so tolerant of his golden friend.
Grievous was a biological foe in TPM, terrible accident, robot body. Awesome.
Tarkin shows up really early. He is a great guy. Dedicated. Competent. Still severe and serious, but a real leader and committed young captain.
Dooku doesn't need to be a Sith at all. Let Maul stay in that role. He can get chopped a bit in the first big saber duel and get some robot parts, foreshadowing what happens to Anakin later. Dooku is just a Jedi who prosecutes the war too hard. Hell, what if Dooku is Qui-Gon? That might be a bridge to far, but it is interesting.
Padme stays the queen. She isn't an elected official. Palpatine had her father killed to set up a week Monarch.
The Gungan's are not racist stereotypes, and are an important theme. Naboo has a planetary civilization that blends the strengths of humans and native intelligent species. We get to see the rise of the Humans First philosophy of the Empire through this microcosm. Maybe Panaka is the one who demonizes the Gungans in order to strengthen his support. He learns the techniques from Palpatine.
I don't think any actor should be judged based on their performance in a Star Wars movie.
overlong off topic slightly ranting:
Or if we want to judge them, we can judge who is truly amazing. Lucas is just garbage as a director of actors. Accomplished actors mostly didn't like working with him, and his young actors are rarely any good. The way Han and Luke deliver lines in A New Hope is pretty wooden. Compound that with the terrible dialogue in much of the prequels, and there just isn't enough there for young actors to grab on to. I say this as a theater teacher who works with teenage actors every day, and who has worked with actors from 6-90 years old.
The actors who look best in the Star Wars movies are those who have a classical British style of training, because they cut their teeth on Shakespeare and can make anything sound good. This is the same reason all of the Star Trek captains have been classically trained.
As the best evidence for my argument, I submit that Natalie Portman has been great in everything she has ever done outside of Star Wars (well, Thor 2 wasn't her best work). More importantly, there was a film called Life as a House starring Kevin Kline and Hayden Christensen in which Hayden played almost exactly the same role (disaffected teenager) and was nominated for multiple supporting actor awards. I don't think Jake ever did anything else, so it is hard to know about him. Usually, for a kid that young, there would be a director/coach on set just for them (or maybe working with all of the kids) who would be responsible for getting the performance out of the kid. The thing with all of them is that Lucas put those performances on film and thought he had it, and then he chose those cuts to go into the final films, so he thought they were fine.
Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant.
A few things I think were good or great:
Lightsabers. Everywhere.
Jedi doing cool Jedi stuff.
Most of the new planets are pretty cool. Naboo is interesting. Nice to see a civilized world since most of the ones we have seen so far were pretty back woods. Coruscant was great.
Once we finally got to the Clone troopers, they were cool. Made much better by the series.
Darth Maul. Wish he had stuck around long enough to do some things.
tumbler; the disguise is less physical appearance and more acting. You have to act as the Queen, though you'll probably enjoy favorable circumstances due to how much you look like her.
You could always take Republic Sign Code and re-skin Padme and Sabe's interactions as a version of that
Okay, added Republic Sign Code and swapped out Expertise for Skill Focus: Deception. Deception +16 should be enough to maintain the ruse, and turns her into an amazing liar.
Also, there are two things I couldn't find a way to quantify:
1. Padme and Sabe are almost impossible to tell apart. This isn't really a disguise for Sabe.
2. They are able to communicate through body language and hand signs so that Sabe can speak as the Queen without assuming Padme's intentions.
Here is a link to character sheet for Sabe. I'm on the fence about the Destiny. I included some basic equipment, partially copied from YoricksRequiem. Equipment for her is a little weird. I don't think she actually owns much, but she should have access to a fair amount of military and intelligence hardware. I put on the sheet a 2 person version of the Naboo starfighter that is built for her and Padme, but that may not be appropriate, and she obviously can't afford it. Obviously, she doesn't own one of the big shiny ships that Padme flies around in, but she might have access to one.
I tried to flesh both her and Padme out as people. If Anakin is 14 or 15, they are about 20, trained their whole life to take on these roles. Sabe could be a clone of Padme, a twin sister, or just a girl who looks remarkably like her, depending on what is best for the campaign. Regardless, they act like sisters. This offers a lot of potential for conflict. She might be jealous of the relationship with Anakin, or maybe she falls in love with him too. She can butt heads with Obi Wan on how best to ensure the Queen's safety.
Sabe could also solve the problem of Padme's death. Maybe Padme lives but Vader kills Sabe thinking it is Padme.
Sabe has the potential to develop into an officer in the war, a pilot, or to remain a bodyguard/operative.
YoricksRequiem, that is a beautiful character sheet and a great rework of the character.It would even worked better as 20-30 years before the original trilogy. Anakin becomes James Dean or a young Brando.
I'll work something up and post by Saturday. Long day at work tomorrow. I don't have a huge amount of experience with Saga, but I have all of the books. I'm thinking mostly Scout and maybe a little Soldier.
Very interested in this. How would you feel about Sabe, body guard and body double for Queen Amidala? Depends on what you are planning for Amidala, I suppose. Or if you want to go a different direction for the twin's mom entirely. Also would be interested in Padme if that is a better fit.
I'm interested, but I have a serious lack of system mastery. I've run and played lots of d20 games, but never Star Wars Saga. I don't think I would have trouble with gameplay, but character creation might be a challenge. I'm thinking of an Imperial fighter pilot, someone who flew a Tie Defender in the Battle of Endor, perhaps. Not sure if a Level 5 Soldier would qualify for such an honor. Probably not. That would probably require someone who had actually achieved Ace Pilot.
I can't imagine how anyone ever took those movies as horror...the new Mummy movies from the aughts are far more scary...even if they have action and comedy in them...then the originals.
How anyone equates the originals = horror is beyond me. I can't for the life of me even see how the original audiences were even slightly scared...I'd have been laughing my pants off.
GreyWolfLord, I'm not trying to insult you, but many of those movies were absolutely terrifying to their original audiences. You have to contextualize them and think about the people who were seeing theme. The things that were happening on screen in those movies were astounding. No one had ever seen anything like them, from the Lon Chaney silent films in the 20's through at least the early 40's. The movies did continue for a while after they stopped being scary, but the original Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein. Those things were mind blowing to those audiences. Think about what their visual lives were like. They had movies, but nothing at home but maybe Life magazine.
Your statement of disbelief in how those things could be scary could also be said about Jaws and its effects, but I can assure you Jaws 1 and 2 were terrifying in theaters.
I'm not sure who is still around, but I plan to get this campaign back off the ground or relaunch it with a completely new group if necessary. I'll start up a re-recruitment Wednesday night.
The easiest thing would probably be to let the characters be agents of the Guard right from the start, maybe as sort of undercover police or whatever depending on the composition of the group. You can still use the Lamm encounters. Just change the kids to beggars or immigrants or halflings imported from Cheliax. Play up Lamm as a drug dealer or manufacturer, ditch the Lambs part.
I don't know. I think it was like a game of chicken where you guys were waiting for something from me, and I was waiting for something from you, and everyone lost.
The sub is rocked by the impact of the torpedoes. Takes 1 injury
Leviathan notice check:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18
With Forzare momentarily unsure what to do, Black Manta attempts to regain the advantage.
Extra Effort Will Save:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28
Manta uses Extra Effort to make another save against Mind Control.
"Get out of my head, Luthor. I don't have time to fight with you people. I need to borrow this metal monstrosity from the North Rheelasians or the whole world is doomed."
Coming out of his momentary paralysis, Black Manta jets toward the Leviathan
"Cover me, Mantas. As soon as I have this thing under control, we swim out of here."
The Manta Men attempt to dodge the fire from the Luthor Security, but take up positions to fire on anyone going after Black Manta.
Readied action to fire on anyone who attacks Manta.
Sundakan, somehow I missed your post last night. The sub is on the surface with an open hatch/airlock. The mantas are all flying, but the Manya Mooks are not far above the surface.
Attached to the missile control system is a control system for something vastly more complex. A set of algorithms for manipulating some sort of alien machine intelligence. It isn't like anything you've ever seen. The system doesn't control the machine directly, that is too difficult. But it manipulates the machine's perceptions and reactions, giving it a good chance of behaving in the way the person at the console desires.
It is another DC 35 check to actually gain control of the console, which will take until next turn/round
They are anti-ship missiles, so nothing nuclear or anything. You guys are mostly tough enough to resist non-nuclear munitions.
Accessing the computers relaying commands to the missiles is childsplay. In the blink of an eye, Robo replaces the targets of the anti ship missiles with the Manta sub, while redirecting the anti hero missiles at the Leviathan.
Despite the simple security on these systems, there is something else here (in the ship's consoles). A copmputer system that is much more heavily guarded.
The sub is at or near the surface because Manta and the Manta Men flew out of a hatch on the top. Datalink allows an alternate of Deflect for electronically guided or targeted weapons, so I would say redirecting the weapons is reasonable. You could change the target of the ones heading toward the destroyer at the sub. Datalink lets you work on the missiles as if you were sitting there programming them, and it is at mental speed, which is very fast for you. So it would be just a matter of making a computer check to hack the guidance system. Alternately, you could hack the computers of the ship that launched the missiles. The ship is also in range.
