Fantastic I'll go kill some!
Sorry. Busy week at work. Post in a couple days.
Cheers for the heads up.
Please expect GM Wasted to take control of your rescheduled programming...
DM Jubal, you wrote these beautiful sentences:
Valter's stride falters when Hobwise pierces his leg. Jaunter's blade stops his retreat in its tracks. Thorgrim's blade removes Valter's head from his shoulders.
If the bandits were charged by a storm made flesh, the effect could not be more devastating. Some of the outlaws throw down their weapons and surrender; others are crushed or torn to pieces by the wrathful bear.
I could not help but immediately think of the death of Gollum and the ultimate destruction of the One Ring. You'll recall Tolkien's writing there is powerful because of its brevity, and it is just... over. Not everything needs to be in flowery prose to be most effective.
Very well done! And now, welcome to the party!
Oh heeeeeey there guys!
Mae govannen!
I thought this would be a good time to take a *slight* break and formally introduce myself in my official DM-ing capacity, let you know a bit about me and my style and expectations, and take any questions you have.
I've been playing RPG's for a good long while, and have a deep love for Middle-earth. I try to stay relatively active on the forums, but, well, you know, life.
As far as the game I'm going to run... I generally like to do a sort of "job board" style of game, offering the Company the choice of several adventures. If you don't pick one and pursue others, some adventures might eventually disappear, or become more complicated; the wide world won't wait, will it?
There is an overarching plot (a few big ones, really) that I'm going to be weaving together from a lot of the extant material for AiME as well as some of my homebrew stuff.
Thematically, my games tend to be more about who you are and what you do than the numbers on your sheet or how rare your gear is. That said, one of the things that appeals to me about this particular time frame for AiME is the fact that not all magic is gone from the world yet. It is fading, to be sure, but still there are the Eldar, mighty and strange. Still the Naugrim work their forges and produce marvels (though they are not the equal of the craft of bygone Ages). Still the Istari wander the world, and still do the minions of the Enemy seek to bend Middle-earth to his will through any and all means.
What appeals to me in a game like this is seeing how your characters behave in this world. How you strive against an Enemy that you know you ultimately cannot defeat. How you attempt to keep the worst of the darkness from the hearts of men and women in the parts of the world that you travel.
I'll do my best to post at least once a day during the week, though I will take weekends off, and I may occasionally miss a day or two. I have a full time job and friends and romantic partners so I've a full plate. Others do, too, so as long as you pop in a few times a week we're good... but the more often you respond, the more the game will move around.
I'm going to be focusing a bit more on the social and travel aspects of the game, so expect an uptick in that. It's probably a good idea for every skill to have someone that's proficient in it. If you want a bit of time to move some things around on your sheets (re-assigning proficiencies from overlap or anything like that), I'm fine with you doing that.
I'd also love for you all to list for me a couple of bullet point goals for your characters. These can be grand or common, but it will help me get an idea of what the character is looking for.
I'd also love you all, as players, to tell me what *you* want out of a game. Maybe what you crave is epic, meaningful combat; making a stand to rival the defense of Helm's Deep. Maybe you want to roam the wilds and see what the winds of fate blow your way. Maybe you want to ingratiate yourself with the Wise, and offer counsel to the great lords that still live in Rhovanion, planning for the future with Gandalf and Beorn and Elrond. Maybe you want to discover dangerous items of power to keep them safe... or keep the world safe from them. Maybe you want to recover family heirlooms to restore your house to it's once-noble status. Whatever it is, it'll help me weave bits of personal plot through the larger story I have planned.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here, or through PM if you'd rather they not be public. I don't begrudge a character their secrets, after all :)
Also if someone could list for me all of the Sanctuaries and any Patrons the Company currently has, that would be great.
Welcome GM Wasted! As the newest player to the game, other than yourself, I'll just say that I don't have any bullet points or needs from Middle Earth except that we as players stay involved in the campaign, wherever it leads, and of course that has a lot to do with you too. I check for updates almost hourly - I am greedy for all the great posting people do!
Hobwise will eventually want to return to the Shire. Hidden in his backstory, with very little flesh, is that he was selected by the Thain to travel to Dale as part of the Hobbit envoy on the 5th anniversary of the Battle of Five Armies and Bilbo's role in that effort. (Bilbo having declined the honor himself, for reasons he also declined to provide, but which further fueled skepticism that any of it actually happened.) During the journey, the small company of hobbits was torn apart by wolves, in the night, on the east side of mountains. Hobwise was soon after found by Valter, and that's where his story here begins. So he would like to learn the fate of his friends, if possible, knowing now that none of them reached Dale for the ceremony. For now, at least, Hobwise has sworn to defend this new fellowship for as long as it remains, and to return to the site of the wolf attack in the not-to-distant future. His responsibilities back home will wait but it would be good to at least send word as to what has transpired.
From a roleplaying standpoint - this is an exceptional group, so we only need some tension and direction, and a framing of each setting as it comes.
As for questions - when do we level up? Hobwise took the standard buy route (foolishly, apparently) so those extra two ability points will be well-received.
If you would rather re-work Hobwise with some rolling, that's fine by me! I came in at the same time you did; I will ask the group, did you level up just before this adventure? If you've been 3 for a while, you may have leveled up, but if not, it will probably be a little while before you ding.
= 15
= 13
= 14
= 11
= 14
= 10
+8 = 20
Oh hells yeah - that's way better!
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CHARACTER GOALS
* Earn the title of Marshal of East-Mark
* Successfully knight Folc a Rider of the Riddermark
PLAYER GOALS
* Adventure like Aragorn before LoTR.
* Enjoy the setting
PATRONS
* Everyone has Beorn as Patron and his House as a Sanctuary
* Everyone (but Jaunter and Hobwise) has the Easterly Inn as a Sanctuary
* Everyone (but Jaunter and Hobwise) has King Bard as a Patron
* Cereidh has Thranduil as a Patron and his Hall as a Sanctuary
* Anar has Balin as a Patron and the Lonely Mountain as a Sanctury
* Findegil has Ecthelion, son of Turgon, as a Patron and Minas Tirith as a Sanctuary
Think that's it.
Excellent.
Findegil is thinking that a visit home is finally in order. He aims to build stronger bonds with the other free folk, and wants his homeland to get a better picture of what's going on in the wider world.
Amalina spends the next several days recovering from her wounds and working with Winter to improve his ability to avoid damage in combat.
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Hi there! =)
I'm Atlas2112 and I love a LOT of old-school literature. As such, I'm trying to inject a certain 'cross-culture' ambiance into this setting using a contemporary, that is to say, I more subtle view of "Howard-ian" influence if you will about the subtext of--
Conan. I'm playing Robert E. Howard's Conan. =)
AS such, Thorgrim chaffs at the un-seen chains that seem to bind him to the boring and autocratic lands of Beorn and years to see literally anywhere else, confident that his strong arm, sharp steel, and lust for life will gain him a means to live and exercise his desire to live life to its fullest.
Also, I don't know if you've ever heard of Earthdawn, but one of the facest of that RPG was of "Named Items". That is, once you gave an object a name, you began to weave it's own history, and, as such, it could gain power just by being tied to great people doing great deeds at great times in great places.
I have my own theory that Tolkien did this somewhat, as all the items of Power seem to have names. Oh, sure, some were forged strong, but it seems that some just popped up as strong, or seem to have different abilities at different times. So too, it seems that the WeaponMaster has a bit of that, so I'm weaving a history for my own sword, and gave it a name, so it weaves its own Thread of power.
As far as goals, I wouldn't mind ruling a kingdom. ^_^ Oh, sure, the Aquilonia parallel here is Gondor, but that's not possible (and who would want it?). But as I stare at my 8-foot map, it looks like there are a whole bunch of smaller kingdoms around, like, um, along this place called "Eriador" there are a bunch of odd places like "Minhiriath" and "Enedwaith" and "Forlindon" that I know nothing about, but could probably use a warrior-king to civilize them. =)
Actually, the Cemmeria parallel seems to be Forodwaith and they look like they need a king. (The best thing they have going is that they invented skis.) We could always wander up there looking for the lost Palantíri of the North. =)
There... might be some significant quest threads in Eriador.
Maybe.
I dunno >.>
Recommendations / ideas / plot hooks for what Cereidh should do with this phase of the Fellowship? I admit I'm still learning how the Fellowship game mechanic works.
@Thorgrim: Ambitious! And on the topic of Conan-esque adventure, you might enjoy the World of Xoth pathfinder setting. I'm in a campaign elsewhere on these boards.
@Cereidh: You could advance Wood Elf Magic, as per p108 of the player's guide.
That's definitely a solid option.
Plot-wise, too, if you go down that route you will have opportunities for further development of your Elven magicks...
Amalina votes for hunting Orcs.
Apologies Thorgrim! I missed that.
I would say that it is appropriate for you to gain a Title from Beorn, given your status and your actions in the battle.
Cereidh is actually pretty intrigued by the goings-on in Bree, although she might be voting that way just to tweak the party's nose - as it seems like there's high interest in orc-hunting.
Simpatico.
Seems to be mostly votes for finding out what the Orcs are up to, with Bree-land the runner up.
Details to follow later today...
@GM:
I think there's a piece of sentence missing:
since I was not the initial LM that you
Seems like ElegantlyWasted is on hiatus from Paizo generally - no recent activity across any alias. Hoping he will drop in and give us a quick status.
Me too. I was hoping to play
One week and no notice from GM. I'm betting he's busy with work and life, but everyone here knows that the number one killer of good campaigns is when someone goes dark without notice. GM Wasted seems like he's always very involved so for him to disappear completely from Paizo is concerning and now I'm starting to wonder what happened to the guy.
DM Jubal, despite your earlier humble self-assessment, your narrative was good and it's way more important to keep the thing going, and you did that very well. Totally get that you would want to play - we have a great group here!
Let me see what I can do this weekend
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Team
I've found where GM Wasted was running so continued the story. Obviously not as interesting as Wasted would tell.
I've also have a week-long business trip leaving Monday morning, so I'll push on another long post Sunday night.
cheers
I don't have a firm opinion over whether we should retreat to Beorn's house or head to the High Pass.
I'm akso thinking of attack if possible.
Apologies for delay, busy weekend.
Will be good to get a headcount. I thought I read 2 dozen orcs, which seems like a lot. If that's the case then I like Amalina's decoy plan. If its half that number, around 12, then we could try an ambush.
Basically just putting out an option that just makes the Survival checks if we decide to go that route. :)
Atlas, does this situation seem a little familiar? ;)
I’m on a biz trip until Saturday. No gameplay posts from me until then. Enjoy the RP
Yeah, you can only imagine what's going through Mantracker's head when that woman pulls a slingshot on him. He was probably close to running her down with his horse. On the other hand, it was probably all staged - I could never figure how the camera man could keep up with some of those guys that just bushwhack, and also not give away the prey position to Mantracker constantly. Like, in every episode when Mantracker is looking at footprints, he never says, "Ok, here's that camera guy."
I cast my vote for the Survival roll with advantage. I see Amalina has +6 and this has been her dance; good by me if she makes the rolls.
I thought I knew what the plan was but Thorgrim's last post threw me off again. Here's what I gather:
1) The party sets a fake camp and then heads west toward the Pass but leaves Cereidh behind to do Elf Lights. I don't think that has any duration. Then Ceriedh runs after us, using Stealth if necessary?
1a) Or we all stay at camp until Cereidh does elf lights and then run west together?
2) Then Amalina rolls Survival with Advantage and we slip past the other set of orcs.
I guess I'm still not sure but am good with whatever.
I could be wrong, but I was thinking of Cereidh staying behind to cast elf lights, flaring it based on Amalina's best-guess time frame of when the orcs will be close enough to see it - and then getting the hell out of there!
Sounds good!
@All: My free time is going to be quite limited over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I might be able to post later on over the three days, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to.
Sounds good to me.