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There is no arguing that these last few years, crime in Absalom City has been on the rise. Thugs grow more bold with the rapid decline of the city guard to stem the tide. Thieves, scoundrels, and other never-do-wells see opportunity in the despair of the good citizens. Street violence rises like a storm to flood both the innocent and the guilty in it's lockjaw embrace.
Dark cultist now seem to flock to the city in it's near death-throws, nearing it's fall, but still clinging to the ledge with an ever dwindling tenacity. Past defenders have fallen. In the early days, days now long gone from bleak memory to most, the Pathfinder Society was counted on, but they where the first to fall. It's neutral members murdered in their beds, it's lodges, it's Grand Lodge, plundered by and desecrated by individuals that where never identified. The city begged for help in what they thought was their most desperate hour, the years before it got worse, but even they where turned away. Fought off until trouble in Lastwall called, until Mendev's defenses where destroyed. And then the Sky Citadel fell. A cataclysmic event that devastated the seas and scorched the skies, making travel to the island nation of Absalom City nearly untransversable by any way save the cities prior defenses, through the Flotsam Graveyard, now a hotspot for risen undead pirates and fowl crawling unnatural things.
In all of this, the only heroes that Absalom City can now count on are those few willing to stand up for itself, those willing to hold the torch up, though it paints a target upon them for all to see, in hopes that that torch will endure the ravages of evil and darkness, in fact in spite of it, and preserve to light other beacons of hope.
Welcome to the resistance. . .
A resistance of a small few, brothers and sisters against the darkness. Individuals who, by day, pretend to live lives of the common, downtrodden. The innocents caught in the middle, if not, by day, a part of the problem. But this is their false face. Their disguise. Their shell and their wall. For by night, they rise up to take a swing against the rising evil. To fight for Absalom City. To both light a candle and scream against the darkness.
An elderly man, said by some to once have been a Pathfinder himself, before the, well, just before, calls to you. Through your past crusades, you have come to call other like yourselves friends, even though you know not who the others are underneath the cowl, mask, or cloak. You know how to call to each other, a torch lit from a certain window, a message through a series of messengers, the painting of graffiti upon a certain wall, or even a letter left at a certain point will summon you to your place of meeting. The place of your first unified victory. And once again, you are summoned. . .
"Friends. Defenders. Wardens." says the cloaked man. His voice is raspy. A combination of his age catching up to him and ancient scars of his years "under the cowl" as you call it. "I have just received word of something we must explore before others learn of it's importance."
you have my attention and my mind working in overdrive. what are the build rules?
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Union's Blade strides in, his massive sword on his back. Scarred and worn though it is, it is still his namesake, his symbol, the thing that evil fears. His cowl is up, but his scalemail peeks through his cloak, and his mask covers his face, but leaves his eyes open. Eyes full of vengeance.
We meet again my brothers. Where do the people need us?
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So, I just wanted to explain this a bit. Below is a typical typical Init block.
ROUND 1
Dog 1 (charge)
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Silver Warden (), Red Rook (), Union's Blade (), Wasp (),
Lightning Agent (), & Orlesk Hrathsyn (-2)
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Dog 2 () & Dog 3 ()
I do often bunch like monsters together, and normally it's not a problem. Unfortunately, this time that means that it's literally split into just two groups. That normally does not happen.
Everyone this it bolded is up, and it's okay to post out of order. I'll take all the actions and place them in order as needed as we go for the round and also add a short round by round narrative of what happens.
You may also notice that besides each name is a (). These I use just to keep individual notes. In this case, Dog 1 charged (so -2 AC), and did 2 damage to Orlesk. Something to note though is that Orlesk's -2 is just the damage they have taken this combat. It is NOT their current HP.
As you can tell if you've played this before, I reflavor things a bit, and I do have some easter eggs in store as well, but it will be within the scope of the scenario, and if that's a problem, let me know and I'll stop. Or if there are any questions, please feel free to ask.
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Hey everyone. We are getting very close to the end, and I wanted to open the floor to everyone over a few things.
1.) We are getting pretty close to the Aug 17 Feedback deadline. That means it is very unlikely that we would actually be able to finish First Steps in time. Are you still interested in continuing to first Steps?
2.) I'd love to hear any feedback on how you feel the game went. This is even a bit of a unique case because if I recall, most, if not all of you have already played this one before. What things did you like or not like. Did you have a preference between Google Drawings and Google Slides? What was good, and what was not so good?
3.) More on the personal side, how did you like the reflavoring? I've been thinking for a while of maybe doing some World of Darkness + Pathfinder Society Scenario's play (for fun, not official play) just to see if I could scratch two itches at once, and this was a bit of a test run for me, although it was a bit rushed. Also, more on the personal side, I'm not sure if it was clear or not, but I did throw in a few little easter eggs for some of you, as well as a few clues meant to push right into First Steps. Hope you enjoyed them if you found them.
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Posted from the wrong profile...
1) I'm kind of bored of this character... and this class. And I'm trying to cut down on my PbP games. I'll have to look at the special rewards chronicle... I might rather respec to something else entirely. Or I might wait for the book to come out. If we finish by tomorrow afternoon I guess I could take Warden through Wounded Wisp at a local game tomorrow night...
2) Slides is great. I don't have other feedback other than preferring more regularity to GM updates BUT some of that was beyond your control and some of it was also my compulsive checking makes it feel like updates are rare when in reality they may be very reasonable.
3) The flavor was cool. It could make for a cool campaign.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Not a problem. I found myself thinking the same thing after the first game, and honestly, I'm feeling like the entire Vigilante playtest, the lack of feedback/improvement, and the whole ordeal with the Vigilante to be jut as terrible as the Warpriest feedback, which really just kills motivation with it.
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I, too, am not sure if I will retool, but probably will. I was a bit bored with the character, but not the game - the run was fun! I think a separate vigilante campaign might be fun (superheroes of Absalom), but its just too awkward for PFS for me, so I don't think the advantages of the class will ever really get to shine. I might keep the concept, but just build the same character with different class mechanics.
Slides vs drawings I find to be no real difference, and since slides allow some to use their phones, I have been switching my games to slides.
I don't think I have the time to really get through first steps in 5 days...
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I love the concept of the vigilante but i dont think it plays well with this scenario or online as a whole.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Some more GM feedback: I like the way you autopilot the filler encounters. I think Angry DM would approve. Module authors seem to think they need a certain number of encounters, of varying difficulties, but it usually works out that some of the encounters are just *there* and don't offer interesting choices to the player.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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I hate rebuilding
That's interesting. I rebuild every character I make at least once. Some classes/builds are just too painful to play at level 1. Since it is the most boring level to play through, I try to make my characters play through as many evergreens as I can, to save the interesting missions for when my characters are more... interesting.
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I looked at the new .pdf again. I don't remember the first one feeling so boring. I should take Silver Warden to my game night tonight to get that 4th check before the deadline but I'm just too bored by my options.
Basically I would have an NPC Warrior (with decent skill selection) that gets +4 to one skill as long as he pretends he's not a Warrior. Zealot and Warlock would almost be neat if Magus and Warpriest/Inquisitor weren't doing the same things better.
Even the higher-level talents just don't look that good.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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I have rebuilt 3 characters so far, just because the original mechanics were not working as I had hoped. (My first character, a summoner that had to be rebuilt, and a play-test psychic who almost died crossing an already sprung pit trap! How pathetic!) Most, though, I only tweak a little before level 2.
I have seen a number of people who just trudge through the same replayable scenarios in order to then just build a level 2 character from scratch. Lately, I have had a lot of those folks also in my Core games, so they can replay old scenarios to get the 1st level, then switch to a non-core 2nd level character. So it happens...
The trickiest part for me is that you can't change the name, so I am ot sure yet what I will do with "The Wasp"... I am thinking of sticking with the blowgun poisoner concept, though, and so maybe a rogue/alchemist instead of a stalker...
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It is true that rebuilding can take away some of the standard things from level 1 and make the character more interesting, but I like having the specialness from the beginning, and build up from that. Sure, it's not the most optimal, but it is quite fun to have a character constantly learn from their mistakes and become quite good at something down the road.
My first character is still weaker than most melee characters in his level range, but he shuts things down through grappling or has some form of solution to almost any physical issue. He went from bad, to okay, but it took a while. Just don't try to have him be a diplomat, as his manners are atrocious and offensive.