BTW guys, sorry if I've been posting a lot in discussion. I'm just really enjoying this campaign and the generally personality/role conflicts everyone's dealing with in building the world, even if I'm still having trouble figuring out everything that's going on.
You're fine. I love chatting and discussing things. Mostly because there's so much I just don't know! :) That's why I liked the conversations in character so much, because there's so much -none- of us know, so it winds up being a conversation about what we -do- know. Or what our character's opinions are, at the very least.
Neri will try to share what he can figure out from the book as we go. :)
I'm slammed at work this week, sorry folks. It would help me tremendously if everyone could do a 'recap' post with all their requests on what they were asking about, doing, during the 4 weeks. Otherwise I might miss answering something. I'll try to get those up tonight.
Kong is most interested in getting dependable steel on his body. The sword would be nice, but it's obvious he doesn't need it too much.
Other than that, he really needs that book translated so he can figure this place out - so he'll do what he can to help.
We really do need to get out, and get experience with this world - but we need to be prepared for it.
List of Major people, events, and places the book covers. No need to write it all up, just give a few hooks for Neri to talk about and share. Anything he reads in the book is immediately shared with everyone the following day. He'll blend villagers and shrine-workers into figuring out this knowledge, mostly relying on Mahb, and helping to jumpstart her mind on this information.
Neri would work at getting a list together of the initial names of the elders and what they precided over, along with their base temperaments, and possibly physical descriptions if possible. See above on the concept of how to better gather information aside from just book.
Neri is creating a mental map using the Volcano. He'll try to move it onto something papery if he can gain access to paper and ink that doesn't disappear.
He's focusing on finding resources (such as mines and caves) outside of the compounds.
Neri is doing a full top to bottom search of his volcano, wherever he can reach. He's also been trying to get Id to provide more commentary on his conversations and surroundings.
Neri succeeded on 'turning the soil' so to speak, in making volcanic soil into fertilizer.
What do the children and other folks in the volcano desire added to the volcano? Do the kids just want to go with the 'lost boys' theme?
Can the folks of Neri's volcano leave the compound? Can they leave -all- the compounds?
If Lina takes Mythic Crafter, and Neri takes the Crafting Mastery thing, does that cover all of our needs, or would Neri have to take Mythic Crafter and Crafting Mastery personally?
Retraining occurs during month one. These are all the side thigns he does.
Months three and four are up in the air.
I'll get a similar post up for Luna later today, since she's indisposed.
I'm fairly certain her list is closer to 'Help the others rebuild. Make herself a place to stay outside of the compounds. Help Neri figure out the scorpion whip. Figure out all this chemistry stuff, and figure out how best to apply it.'
"Yea that works" - Luna
And Lina is just spending time tracking elk and drilling her people in fighting and crafting.
Oh, right, because I forgot: Lina can grant one ally per combat (for the first 4 combats of the day) the ability to roll initiative twice and take the better result.
Later this will synergies with cavalier teamwork feats, but right now it means we can pick one person to get an initiative boost every battle. Unless anyone has an opinion otherwise, I'd suggest Kong as the recipient of this, because many of his spells are the most useful at the beginning of a fight but his init is naturally low.
One thing to bear in mind with that: MDT rolls initiative multiple times per encounter. Basically at each round's turnover. It might not work as normal due to that. In addition, we've only ever had -one- fight in any given day. I think we'd pretty much have to look for fights to manage multiple.
The way it would work is she can grant that one person that ability for the fight. So every round they'd roll two initiative rolls.
Cool :)
Also. All of what Neri does is -in addition- to helping them build the village, with the exception of whenever he helps Luna gather the potion materials; he can't be in two places at once, after all. If it would take longer than a month for all of that, then just push it back. :)
I'm sorry it took me so long to post. The site was wonky tonight. On the upside, the reason I couldn't post yesterday is I was getting a smartphone. The process took 4.5 hours. It's my first, so I'm not that proficient yet, but once I am, I should have more posting potential.
Please note I'm not being intentionally obtuse with Jacob; he simply is in emotional limbo at the moment, so in his head, he's not in a prepare for war mode - crafting weapons and the like isn't his passtime. Cooking, however, is. I'll ratify his profile soon enough.
Cooking's fine! Lina just ate the Maker, so she feels like she has some obligation to make things.
Also, learning the rules to that card game could be darned useful.
Also, sorry for not pushing harder, this has been a long week for me. I'll be setting aside a few hours Saturday to push all my games forward.
I'll go a step further than my usual response here, then. Normally I'd just say to take your time or whatnot... but instead I'll take the time to say thank you. I recognize that it hasn't all been sunshine and rainbows, but you've stuck it out with us, anyway. So far it's been incredibly fun, your writing style has drawn me in, and there's been plenty for all of us to work and interact with.
I'm seeing more and more that gms and players that stick it out in a game are rare, and people will often leave without a word. Yet, you've reacted most of the time (who could ask for more) with a level head. It's been a really good experience for my first play by post. So... take your time. From my perspective, no rush, and take all that you need. You have continued to earn it. :) I'll be waiting. :)
Thanks for the communication, which from now on is just what I'll treat it as, rather than something that needs to be responded to. You know how I feel. :)
Yeah, this is already one of my favorite three of my ten or so PbPs.
Sorry about my absence I should be able to post now
Alrighty. Kong will have his breastplate in 5 weeks... plus crafting time. Mileage will likely vary. :P
So, assuming Lina's people can work together to consistently hit a craft check of 20 (not unreasonable with taking 10), that's 40 gp worth of crafting per week, meaning it takes 100 weeks to craft a mithral breastplate...
...Unless we assume that mithral takes the same amount of time to craft as steel. Then it's about 10 weeks.
Finally, MDT, can Neri follow any of the caves to find an entrance at their level? Or are all of the entrances 'outside of range'?
Also, I made an assumption earlier that I probably shouldn't have. Can we surge to increase the profession gathering check? As it's a weeklong check, I'd think not. Same for getting kong to give us guidance or the like.
with the 26 gold from Neri and 34 From Luna for potions I'll go with 2 Heal light potions for 50g and leave 10g in unused mats for now, is that right? I've never taken craft potions so open to suggestions corrections ect
@Zoey - You got it exactly right. Now that the thorpe is completely rebuilt, they will begin to do things like gardening and gathering, and will have a small shop, so you'll be able to buy things per the book. So, you can buy up to 50GP of crafting materials per week from them. More likely trade for. Additionally, they'll produce a couple of potions a week as long as someone is buying them.
@Neri - No openings show up on the map, but, there are some that appear to come up in the mountain ranges to the north and south, and you might be able to do some digging to find a way into them. Some adamantine pickaxe's would go a long way toward helping with that...
@Lina - I don't consider the cost of materials to affect crafting time. That is, it takes as long as it takes for a standard version of something. So if you make a copper ring, a gold ring, or an adamantine ring, they all take as long as a standard ring takes (50gp gold ring takes a day or two, so does a 5GP copper ring or a 500GP adamantine ring). Anything else has the copper ring taking a few hours, and the gold ring a few days, despite gold being easier to work than copper.
I like that. It simplifies things a great deal.
How do you price hybrid materials? Like if we had say... an adamantine + darkwood spear?
Price is the same as an adamantine spear, plus the cost of making a quarterstaff darkwood.
Also, Also. I think both Jacob and Neri were looking for information on the gods, and how they work... albeit from separate directions.
Yep, I know, both threads asking me. I've been typing it up, impatient things you are.
It's in the campaign tab now. Remember, this is what you get from Mahb and her daughters. The book you salvaged from Sterling's place before it detonated has nothing in it about the gods.
Hmm, looks like we may eventually have to rescue some Arcani to our cause.
:p. I'd just realized you hadn't covered it at all and you'd said to mention those :p
So no word in the book about formerly worshipped deities, elders, demons or the like? The world creation was just a sort of aside?
Mahb doesn't know any other demons by name or portfolio?
Not beyond what she's already told everyone, remember, she has bits and rumor, passed down as whispers in the night.
The book has a lot of tales about people who could be gods, or who could be historical people, or fictional people. It's literally the random ramblings of a fevered mind, written down as if the person were listening to the ramblings. Without specific names to look for in the book, you're not sure if any given story is about a god, a human, an historical figure, or a saturday morning cartoon character.
In other words, the book may be of more use when you have more data to look for.
And doublechecking names with people in the tavern and Mahb gives literally nothing. Well, Neri's lost a lot of faith in the book's knowledge. I guess we'll have to wait. Just let me know when knowledge checks are applicable, then. :p
For now, it's monkey with a typewriter. :)
Clarification: are Mahb and her crew (listed in the campaign info) "real" people (vs. everyone else being souls who can't leave compounds)? Because if so, it could be worthwhile to recruit more real people to our cause, at least until we learn how to expand the compounds.
Basically, Lina's hit a wall for what she can do without gaining another level or two (to start building things) or without scouting around the countryside in general. Her obvious priority is generally building up our strength and ensuring our safety, but maybe a scouting party into the surrounding lands could be in order, now that the compounds are becoming more self-sufficient and we've got enough trained horses for everyone to ride? It could be generally useful to recruit outcasts and rescue imprisoned spell casters to our cause, although we'd have to figure out how to do that without attracting the attention of neighboring cities and priests, which isn't Lina's forte.
Mahb and her daughters and grandkids are the only survivors of the town of Demonreach. They are real, but only 1 old woman, one mute young woman, and one woman with an unhealthy fascination for knives. Oh, and two kids, 9 and 10 each.
Mahb is of the opinion that after this much time, the church is likely to have assumed that the dead demons were the only ones, so are likely to be on lower alert.
On the other hand, she can't be sure of that, because Jacob talked to Barathiel, which she says was the singularly most stupid thing she's ever heard of in her entire 70 something years of being alive.
Well, one of these days, the church will have to realize we exist. If we're lucky, though, by that time we'll have an army of apprentice mages with catapults, our compounds will be impregnable fortresses of fire-spouting stone and iron, and we'll have constructed massive imposing kingdom walls with the Lyres of Building I craft for Jacob.
I'm all for the "rescue the oppressed and bring them to our village" idea, but we'd need to be exceedingly stealthy (and disguised) to pull that off (I could craft us some Hats of Disguise, but it would require retraining a feat or gaining another level); it would also probably require Neri to be much more practiced at scrying with the volcano.
Of note: Is it reasonable to say that Lina's people could get started on making the mithral breastplate with the first week's worth that he sends to them? That would help cut down on how long we're waiting on Kong's armor. :)
Yes, they could.
Jacob is of the mind if he can determine the mechanism behind these cards, it will link to the compound's situation. Then maybe he can figure out the deal behind this Hunger Games they're all in.
I'll get a 'what Neri does when he wakes up' post going asap. Have to leave soon. Neri will definitely ask Id for input involving the tower, if the weapon is there. In case it matters:
Neri will let Id flip out if he feels the need to, this time. No one's around to make fun of him. :)
The basic rules seem to be that there are 2 factions in the card game. One faction is made up almost entirely of singleton cards, each one like a non numbered tarot card, so The Knight, The Builder, The Fool, etc.
The other Faction is made up of lesser 'merged' cards, so instead of a singleton card, it might be a Berserker Magi or a Knight Priest. Under special circumstances, those lesser 'merged' cards can merge to become one card, Berserker Magi Knight Priest for example. A merged card is more powerful than a singleton card, but not as powerful as two singletons it's merged from. So, a Berserker Magi kills a Berserker or a Magi, but is killed by any two singletons. A double merged card requires four singletons to kill.
A Matched Set consists of any four or more Singleton cards. A Dire Set consists of a set of any three or more lesser merged cards.
Finally, there are three 'greater merged' cards, Cold Pain of Death, Murderous Sun Knight, and Soothing Father of Harvest. It takes a matched set to destroy any of the greater merged cards, but that greater merged can't be destroyed unless it's alone with only non merged (greater or lesser) cards, only with 'pawn' cards. Pawn cards are things like the 5 Lances or the 3 Rapiers or the 4 Shovels.
The singletons have their own pawn cards, but they are animals instead. The Horse, The Bandit, The Mongoose, and so on. Each animal pawn counts as a 3 by itself. But if it's paired with it's Singleton match (The Bandit and The Thief for example), then the animal pawn counts as a 10, and the Singleton is equal to a lesser Merged.
Finally, there are rules for a defeated 'lesser' merged card to be taken by the Singleton faction, and merged with a Singleton card to form a 'Dire Merged' card, it becomes a Berserker Magi Fool for example. This called either a Positive Merge, a Neutral Merge, or a Negative Merge. Positive is if the new card is complimentary (Berserker Magi Fool is considered a powerful combination). Berserker Magi Berserker is considered a Neutral Merge. Finally Berserker Magi Ascetic is considered a Negative Merge, because two of the merged cards are diametrically opposed. A Positive Merge results in a very strong card, a Neutral Merge gives the card more options, but isn't considered stronger, and a Negative Merge weakens the cards overall, and removes options.
Why do a Neutral or Negative merge? Because it removes the card from the opponents hand, so in effect, while weakened, the opponent's hand is weakened more.
There are more rules, it's incredibly complex. Thats the very very basic gist of it. If you've ever read any Robert Asprin Myth novels, it's basically Dragon Poker, where the day of the week, whether the hand is played north or south, whether it's indoors or outdoors, and the time of day all influence the cards.
That's... really deeply thought out as far as gestalt and mythic apply to a card game. :P I don't know what most of the cards represent, though. Except that berserker is -probably- a barbarian. Magi and Spellblade are different, yes? I figure Neri'd pick up on the -lesser- version of the rules, from watching the two, if they played in the open. But the real -depth- of the hands would probably go over his head a bit. Like why on earth a maker-doctor-fool lost to a berserker-magi-knight, when they're like... the same thing. (It'd probably come across as King, Queen, Jack losing to King, King, Jack) If they even did.
Yes, Magi and Spellblade are different.
And thank you. It's hard to put the game into terms that aren't meta when talking about a game within a game (within a game). :)
He'd -probably- try to figure out what the Spellblade was -bad- with to start, then. You know. Self-interest and all. He probably wouldn't spend too much time with the game, though, until the later months.
Yes, Magi and Spellblade are different.
And thank you. It's hard to put the game into terms that aren't meta when talking about a game within a game (within a game). :)
Understood, but realize Jacob is treating this "game" as an actual game in the standpoint of some demigod having them scurry about like gladiators or Hunger Games participants. He is trying to comprehend the meta to circumvent their assumed inevitable demise.
Basically, anything that doesn't hurt or help is neutral. So, for example, Merging the Fool and the Mageborn is considered a Nuetral. It gives the new merged card more options in game, but it doesn't add new abilities or shore up existing weaknesses.
Merging the The Fool and The Holy is considered a positive merge, because both bring radically different abilities into play.
Merging The Berserker and the Magi is considered a negative merge, because the abilities cancel each other out normally. The opponent deck's Berserker Mageborn has a special rules to allow him to blend those two power sources.
Merging a Magi and a Spellblade (which is what Paul's staff seems to represent, in game at least and the ring sword) is considered a Neutral Merge, as it opens up options, but the merged cards conflict to some extent.
Alright, guess it's time for a few thoughts that may be sort of out there.
First: After hearing what the others have learned about magic and gods in the world, Lina decides that maybe it's time to check again what her crystal knows. But she's also smart enough to notice that the things don't respond to direct questions, so instead, she'll pose some general suggestions to it, repeated occasionally and spaced hours apart.
Crystal. I know you seek war, and destruction. And you have seen the ferocity of the armor I wear, the weapons I wield, the beasts I have tamed. I will give you what I can of ferocity, if you remain with me.
Unfortunately, though, I have limits. To survive here, I—and the others—must survive. That means rules, which you may or may not be happy with. But I also know that we are weak, and few, and that survival for now must mean hiding, disengagement, and very clever tactics.
Crystal, to do what you wish of me, and to do what I wish for myself—goals with some overlap—I need more power, and allies, and the others do as well. This means finding treasure, and weapons, and magic. It means finding others to serve the cause, rogue sorcerers from the wastes and badlands. And it means finding outlaws or monsters to fight, to train in battle and build our resolve.
You have seen the army I seek to create, but I wish for one that can leave my compound. They will need to be regimented, ordered, willing to play by the rules... because it will be necessary for them to learn how to follow commands without fleeing, and for this reason alone I hope you agree.
If you know of nearby treasures, or weapons, or sources of power, let me know. If you cannot remember now, let me know if you recall later. I have already taken Sterling's hammer, and you approved. His people have built me bows, and javelins, and taught me how to make these things for myself.
If you know of potential allies, wandering fugitives or outcasts or rebels who may pledge us service in exchange for aid, let me know. If you cannot remember now, let me know if you recall later. Mahb and her clan are powerful, but few, and with an army of such demons and sorcerers we could be unstoppable. Surely the power tempts you even more than me, but I may need your aid with it.
If you know of monsters or brigands to fight, if you know of sources of rare or powerful metals, let me know. If you recall anything, in the future, that may build my strength or that of my allies, please do not hesitate to call it out, as we could use your assistance in surviving in this brutal world.
The voice approves of the changes, especially the ability to build weapons. It seems positively gleeful over that.
It is not particularly upset over the idea of stealth tactics. It seems to have a grasp of tactics, so it's not a berserker. Instead, it seems eager to fight, but not to do so stupidly.
It doesn't seem to know of anything nearby, and beyond the dome it has no information on. But you can be sure it will shout out if it see's anything and can do so.
As the GM, I see the following options :
1) Make some adamantine picks from Neri's volcano and Lina's workers, and go do some digging to uncover an entrance into the caves Neri found.
2) Scout the wall, and cross over to gather more information/explore/recruit.
3) Stay behind the wall, and build up more weapons/equipment.
4) Go off the board and pick 'Mustard'.
Oh no, my post got cut off. That big conversation with the stone was supposed to be in a spoiler, to condense things.
* * *
As for who might want Paul's power, Kong seems more of a warrior type, and Lina probably couldn't handle it, but it could be interesting for either Neri or Jacob. (Neri: you may want to look into the Broad Study arcana if you're interested in this, it stacks well with Kensai and Close Range)
* * *
So here's a bit of a strange idea, but I've seen GMs go either way on this. A decent Expert NPC can consistently achieve 15-20 on craft checks, "earning" about 9 gp a week. Assuming Harry's people have a dozen or so trained smiths, jewelers, tailors, etc., that's 100 gp a week of free crafting (provided raw materials are provided from outside). If there's more of them, that number goes up, although it probably needs to be split between a number of items (although untrained apprentices can also help the crafting rate, with each apprentice adding about 1 gp/week to the project they're assigned to).
Magic items have very expensive components, but part of that may well be perfectly-balanced alloys, inscribed hilt wrappings, expertly-cut gems, well-sewn and finely-embroidered fabric, etc. This means that conceivably, depending on how things are interpreted, a lot of the "cost" of creating items could come from Lina's craftspeople adding value to imported raw materials.
If that makes sense, Lina could also get a source of weekly "income" usable only as some portion of the cost of crafting things, or not, since it's an interpretation most people wouldn't ever need to think about.
* * *
Also, scouting or digging could both be interesting. (Lina's mount has a feat that allows it to be not totally useless in tunnels, etc)
I'd planned to take the wand one, and have Neri learn to craft them. I figured when the time came, met wouldn't mind Neri making the wands from metal, or simply using dorje style crystals. Either way keeps with the volcano's stone and metal over paper and wood requirements. :) If folks think Neri should take the staff, he will, but he doesn't know what Paul could do, only that the owner was a teacher. Since Neri never went to school, he'd not love the idea. But he would like the idea of being able to help the spirits learn. Ooc, if he took it, I'd either grab an evocation school, or the generalist crafter one. How does a wizard's arcane school impact his other classes, prohibition wise?
Also, I'd seriously need help picking spells if I went with using wizard to have more nuke options. As it stood I'd probably have Neri use wizard for powerful utility over damage. So while I like that arcana, I'm just not sure of how valuable it'd be in -that- state. I could certainly use advice if we went that route. However, it's important to note that Neri Isn't an archmage, which hurls wizard into 'godlike' status.