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More from our running of Mantis Prey.
(Don't spoil this for yourself!)0gre yanks out a wand of Detect Secret Doors. Sweet play? First lvl spell...bought with PA?
How good is an alchemist tossing stink bombs with Fort saves DC20 or nausea?
** spoiler omitted **
Actually the wand was from a chronicle with five recharges. Very nice find, don't recall the mod.
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Tons of fun today. Wound up running Shadows Last Stand with zero prep time and a full table without making an utter fool of myself. Tonight at the grand melee wound up taking down four characters and a cavalier mount. Good talks with Doug Doug and Kyle and watching the latter when his group beat his best laid plans.
Nice convoy with LittleBityRam too. All and all a great day.
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Good posts. I dont suppose anyone here is going to any of the seminars and is willing to start a thread about them?
I don't know about that, but I do know that there are two people doing some significant recording of them (Doug D from LV & VC Azmyth). I'll try and see if I can get them to post the details of stuff here, but my guess is that they will be offering the recordings later.
I know that Azmyth put up a snippet from the Live Talk on the TSR days on his JustinTV account.
-Pain
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That said, I'm sitting here, at PaizoCon, for the Saturday 9 to 1 slot of PFS2-25: You Only Die Twice, by some guy named "Hyrum Savage"...whomever that is. :)
I have asked permission of the judge, DragnMoon for permission to live "blog" the game as we go.
At the table (playing high tier 8-9) with me are:
VC Eric Brittain, a Charua-ka with his Druid Cohort (San Diego) (lvl 6)
Kyle Baird, playing (from Michigan) (lvl 9)
VC Ryan Bolduan, aka Mister Slanky, playing a spellcaster (Minneapolis/St.Paul) (lvl 8)
Aaron Koelmann, playing a quick frontliner (Minneapolis/St.Paul) (lvl 9)
VC Steve Miller, aka Millerhero, playing a swordsmage of sorts (Raleigh, NC) (lvl 9)
And I'm playing Princess Isis (and Bast, her feline companion) (lvl 5).
More about the genesis of this table can be read here.
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A note before we begin: this is an intimidating table. 3 VCs, the most notorious GM on either side of the Mississippi (Kyle Baird), DragnMoon (the Texan Assassin) and we're playing at PaizoCon.
However, this is the kind of game I love. I love seeing different play styles and tricks from different players. I really believe that different regions have different metagames and different interpretations and whatnot and getting together with a variety of regional players (Bay Area, San Diego, Michigan, Minn/StPaul, Raleigh, & Texas) is pretty keen.
I have two characters in the 5-9 tier range: a frontliner, lvl 8, that was my first PFS character, is a very strong build, but because she was first, she lacks the roleplaying panache that I like to have. I've grown as a player over the last few years and I don't like to play this character much any more.
The second character, Princess Isis, is one that I like to play (and the one I'm bringing in): I have a good mindset for goofiness when I play her and a general sense of what she is all about. Of course, she's only lvl 5 going into this scenario which is a bit risky.
She does *not* have enough PA for a free raise dead, either. I believe in aggressively using PA to buy "get out of jail free" items so that you don't need a raise dead more than I believe in saving up for a raise dead. Yeah, it makes playing up in this situation somewhat/quite/decidedly risky, but I trust the overall strength of the table and my play skill to keep her alive.
I have the following escape options:
1 Potion Gaseous Form
The ability to fly
1 Potion Invisibility
No qualms about begging/pleading for my life
I'm sort of counting on that to keep me alive, keeping DragnMoon busy and his attention off me, and giving me time to blog this. Hopefully, this will lead to some quality and interesting posts.
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Hmmm....
D'Moon uses a judges screen.
Baird roleplays.
Brittain and Mr.Slanky are better roleplayers than I am, by far.
We have a word of the day ("Pathfinder") and scream whenever Dragnmoon says it.
Yeah, we're screaming a bit during the mission briefing.
Random real commentary from this game.
"I guess that means you suck my balls, no?"
"I held my hands out and said 'C'mere Monkey'".
"I pull out a wand and poke myself."
"I will move closer to the monkey and try to hug his 'leg'."
"I was hoping he would give me a little tongue, but no. :("
"Oof! A lot more came out than I expected."
"Yes, I am allergic to Eric's nuts."
I might live the first fight by winning the initiative, casting fly, and moving out of the battle.
Black tentacles gets tossed down like candy by Ethan Snide (VC Slanky).
Fireball hits the same spot (all the baddies are entangled...full of suck) by Ajit (VC Millerhero). Saves are failed...most of the baddies are dead in 2 actions (none of them are mine). Entangle then hits the remaining two baddies. So...entangled and Ethan's Intruding Tentacles and they are screwed.
Uhm...I feel really silly about about wasting my fly now. :(
Oh yeah. A higher tiers there is a lot of enlarge person spells. We have a significant disagreement between on the VC players and the GM over the threat 'radius' of a enlarged glaiver. Both people are insistent about their interpretation, but are deferential to the GM.
Books are opened.
Discussions are had.
Necks crane up looking for Jason Bulmahn. (who is cleverly no where to be seen)
Of course, since we're players of merit, we accede to the GM on the matter, but it's interesting to see how these things work. In the end, the VC player bows to the GM interpretation and we move on.
Part of the game.
We move on. Malok's (VC Brittain) Charau-ka companion ends up carrying the gnome (Baird) so we can move quickly. Stupid slow ass gnomes.
Strangely enough, we agree to rest after one fight.
The terrain effects of this scenario are playing to my strengths: plenty of room to run away and cry like a coward.
Wow. Didn't expect that.
I die. Down to -12hp in one whack.
Crickey.
But I had given another player a scroll of Breath of Life. He uses it on me to save my worthless life. Damn. But a scroll for 1125gp is better than 5000gp for a Raise Dead, eh?
Uhm...maybe this was a bad idea to play up...but I wanted to be here, right? RIGHT!? I wanted this?!?
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Continuing on with "I'm only dying thrice (so far)"....
Oooh...a sweet baddie in this fight.
Genome (Kyle) gets fireballed by Ajit (VC Miller). The gnome Genome allows it. A second fireball hits the baddies, this time it selectively excludes the gnome. Many more bad guys burn and die. Minions are gone.
The big baddie has yet to be touched.
I fail to glitterdust the baddie.
Hyrum, the author of his scenario, stops by to see how we are doing. We rail on him a bit...all in jest and he takes it well.
My second glitterdust connects and the baddie is blound (yes, blound)...and glittery. Ajit comes in and starts hacking. Malok joins. Duvaen shoots a couple arrows which are less effective.
We be hacking now on the baddie.
We fails his save at the end of the round and stays blound.
I'm helping! ::watches the real players actually kill the baddie::
I fly in and manage to kill steal on the baddie. I do 10 damage via a burning hands.
Something cool happens at the end of the fight. Awesome.
"Both the minotaur and dire tiger can reach around you."
Player: "You **COULD** delay until the druid moves...you ***COULD** delay until the druid moves." Reply: "Nah, he'll be fine." ::FIREBALL::
"I spend some time riding the worm."
Dang. Fun mod. Fun table.
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The mod was fun and I can't wait to run it.
Good flavor, fun story, interesting encounters and the possibility for lots of roleplaying.
The following are pictures of the players after the running of the scenario.
***Graphic (Geek) Content Warning***
Zombie Dragnmoon
Zombie Hyrum
Zombie Mark Moreland
Zombie Mr. Slanky
Zombie Aaron K.
Zombie Eric Brittain
Zombie Kyle Baird
Painlord (unaltered)
I think I'd pay money to have that picture as my Paizo forums Avatar.
-Pain
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Saturday 1pm to 6pm: Shadows Last Stand, pt 1 with "Mean" Russ Taylor
John P (Olympia, WA): Brand, an old man
Anthony H (Olympia, WA): Sylflyx, a painter (yes a painter!)
Benjamin Bruck (Benchak): Lin Xiaomei,
Claire (Seattleish): Krega, a dwarf
Joshua G (Seattleish): Larnot, A frontliner
Painlord (from heck): Two-lip "OneFang" Tusks, an investigator
Tier 1-2. 6 players.
It's pretty obvious that Russ has mean GM skills. I am jealous and will take notes.
1) Russ has a good booming voice. Nice.
2) Russ roleplays well, interacts with PCs well.
3) Russ really tries to make sure the players get the story, repeating things when necessary so that players know the story behind the killing (which seems to get lost all too often).
4) Russ is happy to work things out when players roleplay stuff. I appreciate his willingness to go with things, say "YES", and encourage things so effortlessly.
* * *Interlude* * *
We have a discussion about the difference between 'grotesque' and 'gargolye', mid scenario. I know little of such matters, but Russ is a pro. As this scenario seems to have both, it's amazing what one can learn while one plays this game.
Gargoyle (from wikitionary): A carved grotesque figure on a spout which conveys water away from the gutters.
Yep, in order for it to be an official gargoyle, it must shoot water away from the building. Otherwise it's a 'grotesque'. I think.
* * *End Interlude* * *
5) Russ rolls in the open, in our faces, with a big die.
6) My half-orc investigator is surprised to learn that his wounds are closing on their own at the start of Brand's (the old man) turn. Unable to connect the two, he feels that his now invulnerable and jumps off a 20' fails his acrobatics check and takes damage. Nearby, Bran has wounds appearing all over his body for no reason whatsoever.
-Pain
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On phone, iPad refuses to connect!
Have a thing against screens? I like my custom one for quick reference and also to not show the players when I am holding back, which does happen sometimes, I try not to kill pcs unless they deserve it which most of the time they do :)
And I am admitting I was wrong on my reach rule after further research.
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So close to meeting and talking to VCs Michael Griffin-Wade and VC Jason R. They are in games but I will be pouncing as soon as I can.
I met PFSers Bugleyman, Gremlich, Allen, and LoriB.
We finished our afternoon slot pretty quickly and I've had time to go get coffee, find a place to plug in, and now relax in a 6 table game. At one table, Michael Griffin-Wade runs Midnight Mauler, DougDoug runs another, & Kyle Baird runs yet another. I listen contentedly to all the tables playing and enjoying themselves.
Mr. Griffin-Wade has mad skills, his table is having lots of fun, and he seems to have infinite patience with the newer players at his table. Wow...I learn later he was running the mod a bit cold.
The banquet starts at 6ish. The line will start forming well beforehand. It. Will. Be. Chaos.
-Pain
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Saturday afternoon slot
You Only Die Twice, tier 7-8 (playing up with pre-gen Merisiel and only four players)
GM: Taylor (sorry, forgot to write down your last name!), 2nd time GMing for the Society, did a great job dealing with some really complicated stuff!
Steven: Merisiel (playing up the chaotic, for better or worse…mostly worse…100 hp damage worse)
Randy: Zelarn, gnome sorcerer 6 (undead bloodline!)
Jon: Anak, human ranger 6 (archer, favored enemy: undead!)
Me: Lady Scatha, human bar(d)barian 8 (uh…undead are fun to bash?)
The important point is…with Merisiel and Lady Scatha, undead has never looked so good. And Geb will never be the same.
Judicious use of invisibility and flying…snag book, skedaddle back to Absalom. Have fun romping around in Geb, big worm things with many sharp teeth!
Good times!
Played The Midnight Mauler this morning with VC Jason Roedar. Will get up my notes later, as I need to go stand in line for the banquet! :)
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Things I have learned:
I speak like I post, what ever that means ;)
I should always start my games with telling the players that they can disagree with a ruling of mine, quickly show me why, but if I disagree end it there and explain in detail after the game why I am wrong, not during.
Learn how to use cards for init or you will get confuseded when players delay, then ready to delay to ready to delay for the next player who is readying for the person to go who is delaying.
I met Tyler Walpole. He did awesome sketches of all four of my PFS characters. I've also asked him to do a random sci-fi character sketch for me. His work is definitely worth checking out.
Chad
(from KY)
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Hi All,
Getting ready to do some gaming at the con...big surprise right...then again maybe not. I've had an awesome time putting lots of faces to messageboard handles, playing in games, and just hanging out in general. GM wants to get started, but I just had to drop a few lines. I hope everyone had fun I know I'm having a blast.
Angela
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Had a great time playing Shades of Ice III with the VC from Denver this afternoon. I had the best time fumbling a diplomacy role and later refraining from killing the big baddie (and therefore losing a PA), confirming that sometimes the most fun comes from "losing."
Also, I ran into my DM from college at the banquet tonight. That was cool. ;)
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Also, I ran into my DM from college at the banquet tonight. That was cool. ;)
Oh yeah, you did...The CEO of the Freakin' Company!
* * *
Heck of a night. The banquet was pretty dang fun.
Best part of the presentation was Kyle and Jason R. getting elevated to 5 stars. They have earned it.
The presentations by Lisa, James, Jason and others will be covered elsewhere.
After dinner, there was the notorious Paizo Quiz. This year was 50 questions from a few different sections. Different tables competed against each other with a Paizo employee at each table keeping score. There were about 12 tables competing.
In case you're wondering, the table with 2 5-star judges (DougDoug, Kyle Baird), Dragnmoon, Derek P, Auke, and yours truly.
We get our butts kicked. We can't answer how many hit points the average ogre has nor the land speed of a 13th level dwarven monk with the fleet feet wearing boots of striding and springing under the effects of haste while under medium load. (seriously, that was a question)
Answer: 40'.
We also can't tell you on what page Chart 12-4 (char wealth by level) in the Core Pathfinder Rulebook is. 389...yeah, some people knew that.
It was crazy fun. Beer was had.
After the contest, the right of the night is a blur of beer, Purple Paizo potions, and scotch.
-Pain
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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Painlord is making use of initiative cards.
"I need one more large figure, which I have in my pocket." - Painlord.
"Ooo baby" - Elizabeth
Pain lays Roeder's initiative card down at his seat since Roeder stepped out of the room. Now it is Roeder's responsibility to come off delay.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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Mrs. Tampa VC - "Stab him in the face and then suck out his eyes with the straw."
Auke is using animal companion to aid another's attack. Good idea.
Eric's consistent, character-appropriate role-playing is beginning to annoy Painlord.
Elizabeth - "Three points of story damage, take that!"
Eric - "Do you know the Abadarian war cry? Charge!"
Mrs. Tampa VC - "Its one of the many uses of mage hand."
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I'm eavesdropping on Verdigris (my better half) is running of Kobold's and Constructs (a new MLL playtest) and I love hearing the play. The "Three Stooges," Joshua, Patrick, Fiona and Ogre are figuring out just what the title characters have to do with each other. Sounds lilke some great roleplay (and some moral dilemma's too boot).
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Had a great time playing Shades of Ice III with the VC from Denver this afternoon. I had the best time fumbling a diplomacy role and later refraining from killing the big baddie (and therefore losing a PA), confirming that sometimes the most fun comes from "losing."
My people always say hello that way!
Aethelwulf, Corin the Square-Jawed Paladin has no regrets, but his player is sorry you didn't get to gack the prisoner. :)
I also had a good time with the unfortunately nameless vc from Denver
Joe/Corin
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"Mrs. Tampa VC - "Stab him in the face and then suck out his eyes with the straw.""
--I've just been reminded, Mrs. Tampa VC's real name is Tara.
Hmmm... I think I gamed with her today. Does the following sound in-character?
Bad guy- "don't kill me, I can turn your friends back from stone!"
Valeros II - "no, you're bluffing!" -GACK!
Good game. We worked hard to keep the only non-pregen character, (aka Pvt. Ryan) alive. :)
Joe/Corin/(but Ezren in that adventure)
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Wow.
Quite a day and quite an event. This place really cleared out after the chaos of the last couple of days. People have been leaving all day and only a few of holdouts are left.
I have walked the empty game rooms is a solemn tribute to the heroes who fought for the Pathfinder Society.
I do find two games still going in public spaces. One is a gorgeously technologified MapTooled Projectioned-to-the-wall running of the 2nd edition scenario, Pharaoh. (I sat in for a while...The judge had an amazing set up, the players looked like they were having fun, and they were fighting a giant spider in the middle of an exploding pineapple patch.)
The second game is a running of Shadow's Last Stand, part 1. Exile/Chad (from KY) runs a full table of 6 PFS holdouts. Bruce H. CalebTGordan, VC Millerhero, James Risner, Qstor, & nony2klurch round out the table. (Chad/exile has mad GM skillz and I was delighted to hear him portraying the VC telling the pathfinders what to do. He's fire. I need to get him to judge for me.)
I'm still reflecting and chewing on the event. Can't believe all the people that I met and names that now have faces.
-Pain
Steve, thank you for the kind words. I had a great time GMing for all of you guys.
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What I also learned,
I am stealing from Kyle, I love what he does to set up his game!
Thanks DMoon. I can't take full credit for all the props, handouts, maps, and other goodies I do for these games. DougDoug does an equally excellent job and over past couple of years we've been pushing each other to do it better. I like to think of Doug as the innovator of the ideas and myself as the refiner.
If any of you want to see a truly amazing cast of GM's head to Origins in two weeks or come up to Ann Arbor in November. In November, there should be at least four 5-star GMs on hand running games (Myself, DougDoug, Bob Jonquet, Todd Morgan).