I strongly dislike maps... But from the playtest I can confirm how useful (essential, almost, I would say) they are for starship combat.
But, it's easily sorted: put up a Google Doc in PowerPoint with a hex grid and presto.
I'm planning to go with Dex 18 from the outset.
Yeah, they did a really good job of making you pay for a maxed out stat. I'm fine with that, because they also killed the super annoying minmaxing.
I could end up being wrong but this is still the paizo designers-it's better to be really good at one thing rather than okay in a few different things. I mean this is why we're a group, we're covering each other's weaknesses.
Karma? Lessah? Hope the rest of us didn't scare you guys off with our endless theory crafting blather.
Oh no. I just haven't gotten much done yet, so I don't have that much to say :P
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I'm here :)
Projects at work and at home just kept me busy...
I have the character background written in my head, maybe some day I'll write it out :) I'll get the stats online this week.
About maps... Strange thing is that five years ago I wouldn't ever have imagined wanting to use battlemaps. But after playing so much Pathfinder, I've changed my mind. PF is so mechanically geared towards using maps, that I feel the rules don't work correctly without it.
But Starfinder seems a bit simpler, at least with the current rules. So I'll be without them. But as pointed out, in space combat the ship orientation plays quite a big role, so the map might be "mandatory". So far I haven't had any problems with editable maps in pbp games.
My only worry about space combat in pbp, is how smooth they run. On the two games I've played on live tables, the combats lasted for quite a many rounds, but one round didn't take much time. Basically it goes: discuss and agree the plan for next round (where pilot flies, who the captain helps, etc. etc.) Then execute the plan and roll the dice. Rinse and repeat.
But in pbp the "coming into agreement" will take much longer. And still, one combat round per day might end up taking a couple of weeks in real time.
But, we'll have to try and see how it goes...
We'll try theatre of the mind plus paizo set dressing to start and see how it goes.
For space combat I'm playing in a game right now that just managed to get through it not tooo long of a time. All the players definitely have to coordinate what the plan is for the round as every role affects everyone else. Still some of the ways it was streamlined was.
1. GM rolls initiatives for everyone at the top of the round. Enemy ships that lose initiative are moved by GM since they have to go first.
2. The Helm and Engineering Phases are combined. The pilot and the science and engineer officers take their actions and make their rolls in parallel and GM resolves the results.
3. The GM moves any ships that got better initiative and takes enemy gunner actions.
4. PC gunners, looking at what's happened in the earlier phases, fire. Gm resolves shooting results.
It's not too bad and if Fianh really is as good a pilot as she thinks she is step 3 won't happen too much.
Should we aim for an October start?
October sounds good. I'm writing backstory and hammering out peronality notes so I can completely forget about them and go off the wall within the first week.
Also being haunted by going 18 charisma, including nightmares of never being able to ever hit anything... WHY HAVE YOU CURSED ME, GM?
Heh. You don't know "cursed" til your PC's been skinned/killed by a SoS spell...
October sounds good to me, too.
It's not too bad and if Fianh really is as good a pilot as she thinks she is step 3 won't happen too much.
I should be able to have my character together by/during the weekend, so an October start sounds good by me : )
Think I'm ready?
Not sure I'm completely ready, but for the most part at least.
Both of those look good, and I sent each of you a PM :).
Okay all done, please look over the sheet for any errors and provide criticisms.
I succumbed to the GM's peer pressure with white-hot shame, and put some more points in Dex so I can actually hit things. Maybe.
GM, when do the things we discussed in PM happen? Are we actually roleplaying them out or is it simply the prelude to your opening post?
Well, I don't know the Starfinder system so well to offer any advice on the mechanics. But your statline says "Ionic Envoy" (although that could be a very cool archetype)
Theme is important enough to throw in there if you want. In one of my Starfinder Society Characters I ended up putting something like Mercenary Kasatha Solider (Hit and Run). Since each option felt important to the character :).
First Level seems like a pretty big deal in Starfinder. Don't know if it's the newness of the system or if Paizo loaded a lot of cool stuff up front.
Anyway I'm thinking that I'll start a little bit of pre game roleplay with you guys as kind of an intro cutscene that'll explain why you're on a shuttle heading to Absalom station to meet some dwarf that'll help you join the Starfinder Society. Basically get you on that shuttle and then the game can start. What I sent to you guys via PM were ideas that I wanted to offer to make sure that didn't mess with your character backgrounds.
@Galorit Offering to let you rebuild your whole character as you wished for the first book was not me playing some deep devious GM mind games Galorit! CHA 18/4 should work out fine if that fits your concept of your character.
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Oh, you don't understand. I put the extra points into Dex so that when I shoot Duravor Kreel in the face I won't miss. :D
I'll probably keep thinking about it, but I believe I'm happy with the current build. She's a half-elf after all, and needs some superior dexterity!
The pros and cons were thus:
Dex gives AC, Init, + to hit, ref saving throw
Cha gives resolve, + to social skills, + to improv DCs
Astri won't have any abilities that use resolve yet OR take a saving throw until level 4 (1 lvl before stat increase when it wouldn't matter anyway) and her important social skills are already +10 thanks to Skill Focus.
I know how important resolve is, and maybe I'll regret it, but it just seemed more dex made a better balanced character.
Also, Iconic Envoy sounded way too cool to not put in the statline.
Speaking of Envoy stuff, I need to describe Astri's vlogger rig. A head-mounted camera is a bit dorky, but this is the future so they could be small enough to wear as a tiara or something. What I really want is a little hover drone thing that follows her around recording video and audio, but I don't know how much that would cost. Better yet, at some point she makes it invisible so no one knows they're being recorded, because she doesn't care about privacy right at alllll.
I got her the profession toolkit, which I assume would include a computer for editing footage and recording devices, but I don't know how fancy they are.
Cool cool. It's all good.
For your gear Astrianna. I'll treat the profession toolkit as an 'upgrade' app to your comm unit that allows you to do your video editing business right from there. No reason why it couldn't include a tiara attachment (like a smart watch with a camera strapped to your head that communicates with your comm).
As for your upgrade idea. I think you want a spy drone. Look it up and see if it fits. Tier 6 item that costs 4,550.
Edit: Also, did you add the +4 from your professional toolkit to your Profession Skill?
That sounds great thank you! I think I'll go with the tiara idea, 'cause that sounds fashionable.
Yes that spy drone is exactly what I was wanting thanks for pointing it out! I must have forgotten about it. Quite expensive, but totally worth it. Too bad it doesn't have an invisibility upgrade.
I did not add the bonus from the profession toolkit, thanks for noticing. Will add it now.
Edit: Hmmm i just noticed the spy drone has 20 charges and uses 1/minute. So it can go a maximum of 20 minutes. That's a lot pf batteries to carry around. Probably not enough for vlogging or collecting footage, but it's a good starting point to maybe modify it into something that can't go more than 2 metrons from her or something but has a lot more charge. I'll think about it later, can't affrod it now anyway.
How's Monday sound for everybody? Or at least early next week? It'll start with pre game role-play so if anyone wants more to tweak the crunch of their character there will be the opportunity.
Monday sounds good! Just an fyi it will be a busy day at work that day, but I'll try to get a post in later in the day.
Monday works for me! I'm on a different time zone to you all though, I think, but it doesn't seem to cause problems. Just means Monday will come sooner for me :D
It's already Monday, why nothing is happening!?
I'm on UTC+03:00 (due to DST) ;)
But otherwise, I'm good with starting today.
AhahaAHaHAhAhah yeah It's monday.
Sorry guys this last two weeks have been far too busy for me... Anyhow! I threw together the bare essentials of my character (that is the stuff I need to make any rolls). The soul and story is just a silly diffuse thing at the back of my mind (and jotted notes in my notebook) but hopefully this'll do just so I won't hold us up : )
//Lessah
Good stuff guys.
@Leila. The Key Ability Score for Operatives is DEX unfortunately, not INT, so your Resolve will be 3 rather than 4. That's pretty good but something to consider may be that operatives get two free skill ranks anyway because of their Specialization class ability and a generic bump to all of them because of Operative's edge also. You're not going to be hurting for skill points even with a lower int. Completely up to you though. I'm assuming you're going to be picking the Hacker Specialization?
First post up! I tried to be as light touch as possible in the intro scenes to not interfere with your deeper backstory. It's basically *right before* you get on the Okimoro. Feel free to retcon though if it contradicts something.
Spoiler etiquitte: As far as I'm concerned you can unspoiler whatever you wish as long as you keep character knowledge separate from the spoilers not directed at them. I read everything in all the games I'm in I know that.
Wow, GM. And you've just taken up DMing recently?
:O That's one hell of a light you've been hiding under the bushel...
Super busy day at work, which funnily enough isn't the norm. Will post ASAP, hopefully at the end of the workday if all goes as planned.
Thanks for the kind words DR. I only started playing P&P four years ago or so! Could you spoiler your text too in game if it's not to all players? Makes it easier to compartmentalize I think.
Damn, sorry - just missed the edit window to put the spoiler in!
Speaking of time zones. I'm UTC -4. So there's already a four hour spread between all of us :).
By the way you guys can do as much or as little introductory roleplay as you wish. No pressure either way.
Ha! "Pathfinder Society" was my fingers typing on autopilot, rather than Fi's mistake; but it works. Nicely played. ;)
Thanks for running this little intro sesh, btw. It really helps with getting into character :-)
Yeah thanks for the intro! This is fun.
Astrianna can be kind of a b#$$@ unless she's trying to sweet-talk someone or on camera, so I need to calibrate my line-toeing between being annoying and conveying her narcissism.
Astrianna can be kind of a b$&#! unless she's trying to sweet-talk someone or on camera, so I need to calibrate my line-toeing between being annoying and conveying her narcissism.
Heh. Fi seems to be channeling some sort of outright racist/xenophobe vibe (think it's her upbringing/culture rather than inherent to her), so they can be (initially) unsympathetic together!
@Key Ability - Adjusted Resolve. Thanks for pointing it out!
@Time Zone - I'm GMT +1
Still setting the stage a little bit. Almost done. You guys can RP as much as want with each other as I get you together even retroactively as I push ahead.
Glad to have everyone onboard.
Ok, RP amongst yourselves as much as you want. We'll pick up a day before you get to Absalom station.
Rough timeline: Jianh and Prospero-4 are hanging out for around 4 days on the Wandering Waystation. Since I've just made the place up it's got a hostel type setup in there and there's also a gym, trivid den, holographic amusement chamber, arcade, non real time copies of the Infospheres of various worlds, and such like to spend your time and money on.
Then all of you, except for Astrianna, are going to be on the ship for seven days as it makes its way to Castrovel. Astrianna is going to be informed of when the shuttle is going to land on Castrovel so she can do whatever she wants until that time.
You all have a day together before an event occurs.
Also the Living Quarter on The Okimoro aren't fancy so it's common quality six to a room in bunks. Fianh, Prospero-4, and Astrianna are going to be roomies. What fun.
Stats for Okimoro are in the Campaign information tab.
Are we currently on the one day together, or the seven days to castrovel?
Astri would just be shopping for new gear for this shindig, making vids about shopping, and continuing to crash at her friend's place.
You guys can jump around the timelines if you wish. I'm going to hopefully start one day out from Absalom station tomorrow. But I'll put up a quick scene of the shuttle coming into Castrovel also.
Let me know when you guys are ready to move on with the one day out from the station.
I dispensed with the spoilers now we're all together. Makes it slightly easier to read, IMO.
Wasn't sure how to play it, so I've just posted everything up to the present. Presumably we can 'backtrack' any RP that needs doing, but I don't want to hold up our first encounter as a party! :)
EDIT: GM, first you say this:
Please don't shoot Duravor Kreel in the face when you meet him
Then you tell Astrianna this:
Honestly the dwarf seemed to be disheartened that Intora wasn't the one that was coming in and he didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic about you joining as he should have.
honestly, talk about mixed messages ;-)
To be fair Duravor does not know what's coming his way....
The upcoming scene is a completely optional encounter I made up so feel free to skip it if you want.....
Calistria have mercy we're all posting on top of one another THE CHAOS
Oooh optional encounter? Like hell I'm skipping sweet, sweet homebrew content.
And so say all of us.
Oh and yeah Fianh knows everything she needs to know about what The Okimoro is capable of with that roll.
So sorry, Sparacello not familiar name." If you're going to smuggle, you only go for the biggest, most valuable names.
Oh man...not even a potion of Endure Elements would have protected Astrianna from that sick burn.
Actually, just realised I missed the bit in your background about the Sparacello family owning the finest vinyards on Castrovel - I assumed the winemaking was more like a hobby. So Fi probably has smuggled Chateau Sparacello (or whatever it's called) at some point.
So sorry :)
I thought it was hilarious though. And I'm sure they have a lot of competitors, (I imagine Castrovel has some realllllyyy good things to make wine out of) so it's possible where Fi is from has a taste for a different brand or that company makes sure their wines get "smuggled" the most.