Baldwin the Merciful's - CoT Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master baldwin the merciful

After a bit of planning it's time to get going towards the docks. Well, maybe time enough for one more mead or ale. As you head outside the streets are busy with town criers, merchants, workers and customers.

I will assuem the following marching order unless told otherwise:
duncan and John in row 1; Orsin and Faelyn in Row 2, Lucrezia and Andrea in Row 3; Sunny pulling up the rear (20 feet behind).

Happy with that.

Happy with that.

Agreed.

*Skippy, skip* (^_^)

EDIT:

Seeing Lucrezia glancing over her shoulder, Sunny simply dances and skips even more erratically. Twirling about and actively looking every where.

Acrobatics:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

The order is fine with me and Lucrezia is keeping an eye for any signs of being followed.
perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

edit: D'oh.

Faelyn keeps an eye out as well.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Battle theme music added above.

Andrea marches along, eyes peeled for trouble.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Here is the map for the docks. Your group is coming in from the left and they are heading towards the right hand side, that is where you have set the ambush. You have not run into Shinon or any of his guards for House Grulios, yet. That is not unexpected.

I've place only three NPC' on the map but the docs are others on the dock, these NPC's are the guards that Sunny and Fiosa ran into. The ship they are guarding is the one being loaded by the crane.

DOCK MAP

Visually you see the docks are winding down for the day. The dock workers know they only have a limited amount of daylight left. The docks are generally lit at night, and there is some limited amount of workers during the night shift, but it's not the ideal shift to be working. The shadowbeast have ventured to the alleys near the docs so, people are nervous. The docks you are heading to are suppose to be lit.

When we are about ready to get things going, Andrea will cast Magic Circle against Evil. on John. +2 AC +2 Saves vs. Evil plus other benefits. 10 Radious lasts 50 minutes.

All set Sunny, Faelyn? This will be no doubt be your first real fight if we get jumped.

"I'm kinda hoping that we do get jumped. I'm in the mood for a fight."

I am ready when you guys are.

The ship with the guards is making final preparations to put to see. "Git on board mates, Capt'n wants te shove off in 5...doubletime it." As the guards pull back to the gangplanks.

Orsin casts heroism on himself at the same time Andrea casts her magic circle spell.

+2 moral bonus to attack rolls, saves, and skill checks for 50 minutes. Stacks with inspire courage.

Sunny just continues to skip along happily at the tail end of the group.

Faelyn casts Mage armor and message.

As the group nears the last dock, they see the ship being with the house guards get pulled from the dock.

Make perception checks

Andrea casually loads a bolt into her crossbow as they get near where they need to go.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Might want to spread out a bit. Remember the divination said that there would be enemy spellcasters against us so keep your eyes peeled.

Bow in hand, Lucrezia looks about for anyone that looks threatening or wizardry. "Gotcha, casters are best killed as quickly as possible."

perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28
Come out and play b+!*%es. ;P

Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

*Skippy, skippy, skip* (^_^)

Andrea hums along with Sunny.

♫ La-la-la ♪ La-la ♫ Laaa- ♪

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

Gee Lecrezia...I know where I stand now. ;)

(^_^)

"Correction, all hostile casters are best killed quickly and ours are best kept safe and guarded. Better now?" Lucrezia sticks her tongue out and Faelyn and grins.

I hope Shinon hasn't been delayed by the Dottari, considering they want to try to arrest him.

Orsin readies his longsword in his right hand and the wand of silence in his left.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

"Depending on there numbers, I may not begin a battle aria right away," Orsin whispers to the others. "I've picked up a new spell that I think might be useful if the situation calls for it."

You can see four dock workers placing "the cargo" on the dock in the designated area, S34 and S36 on the map. You can see a few other hands on the lower wharf and on the three nearby ships (on the right hand side of the map). So far you have seen any sign of Shinon and his guards.

*Skippy, skipy, skip*

♫ ♪ Whistles innocently, ♫ ♪

Perception1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30 Oh! SQUIRREL!

If'n we's in'a position ta be keepin' another eye out, kind'a thingy. (^_^)

So we get the cargo on a wagon and then head out? Andrea keeps a look-out for any sign of wagon-drivers at least.

"Now remember, it'd be a good time for someone to make their move while are hands are on the cargo to load it and not on our weapons. So I hope no one minds if I don't help with the loading and keep a watch with my bow out, just in case."

Sounds good, we could cover Duncan and John while they deal with the cargo if we don't get any extra 'House help'.

Sunny skips along, "Then t'is a good thing I dun't need anything specific, like, t'fo whut need bein' done, hey?" She impishly grins to Lucrezia, even as she continues to happily bounce around behind the group. Her leather gloves and 'boot sandals' about the only thing (Besides her modest shirt and skirt) that she's wearing. For today's 'fun' she has various pouches and bags affixed around a broad belt.

(^_^)

You seem to be good at moving around, making sure we don't get surrounded and such. John here is our front line fighter and Duncan likes to get side-by-side with him to increase defense. So if thugs concentrate on them, you could jump around back and thump them proper.

Sunny nods, spins and giggles in reply to Andrea's suggestions. (^_^)

The tension is high when you arrive at the crates and the dock workers stop and wait for you. A simple nod is exchanged. There eyes dart around nervously. "W..w...where's da weeg'ns?'"

We were hoping they would be here by now, driven by House Grulios' guards. Hopefully that was the idea.

he shakes his head back and forth.

Andrea sighs. I hope this doesn't mean we will have to transport them ourselves.OMG! escort mission! but if they have been delayed, we might have to. Would we be able to get some wagons here?

"Hmm...perhaps they've been a bit delayed. I don't suppose there are any wagons for hire about here in case the wagon threw an axle or something..." Wonder if it was ambushed already?

Already don't like it. Let's check the goods and them drag em off a the dock. Too open out here...

"Agreed." Lucrezia scans around looking for a more protected area to drag the goods to.

Sunny simply wanders around being her usual smiling, cheerful self, though she is taking the time to watch, listen, look and learn...

Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

Lucrezia certainly has a good idea for noticing fine details about the cargo.

Regarding Sunny's Perception.

Sunny is distracted by a squirrel.

"Hmmm?" Asks Sunny absently as she watches some of the prettier folks go about their business for the late afternoon.

There be a team and wagon near where we came in. Sunny, would ye take Ermolos and see about hiring it.
He looks at the workers unloading.
A few extra coins fer yer aid dragging this lot t,the end o the dock? Ye got a trolley don't ye?

Sunny happily nods and skips of to find and hire the wagon. (^_^)

*Scamper, scamper, scamper*

"Let's hope they didn't run into to much trouble."
PErception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Andrea watches Sunny head off for the wagon. She definatly lives up to her name. Eh, Duncan?

Andrea looks at Fiosa. Since Mathalen likes hand-to-hand combat, perhaps we can have Sunny give her some lessons.

Yeah, I think she's a bit cracked in the head, that one. Still, that ain't a bad thing, considering the stupid stuff we seem to get up to.

As they say, 'You have to be crazy to be in this line of work'. An easily distracted elf, a hysterical priestess, a recklessly charging dwarf and a mysterious fighter. Looks like we are made for each other.

That leaves Lucrezia, Faelyn, and I to be the group's saner half then? I suppose I can't argue with that.

I'm going to a RL game tonight, so I'll be back in six hours or so. Keep my spot warm until then.

Shinon, I take it you proceeding into the tunnel and sewer. I'm going to let a few others check in and catch up for a bit now.

How I intend to handle leveling of characters. I will be periodically awarding XP for your characters. You don't need to do anything special for training or research spells. That would be too difficult in this situation. The only thing that will be required is a priod of rest (sleep) in order to level up. We will be using the medium advancement track.

Kenji...oops, I missed your marching order. Reading too quick.

Whoops. Should of stayed dressed, quite the mess here.

You could open up your back pakd and let the glow of light back into the tunnel.

Done. Pretty much the only thing to do right now.

Everyone post their actions #1 and the alternative #2 for Rd 1. I will look a the them in the morning and we can proceed with a Rd 2, if needed.

Got mine. (1) Open sack for light. (2) Cure Duncan if he gets hurts.

We're just waiting on our fighter

Got mine. (1) Open sack for light. (2) Cure Duncan if he gets hurts.

We're just waiting on our fighter

@Andrea - Thanks, I did catch that you opened you backpack so light can emerge. That is why Iadjusted my light/vision comments.

@The Group - I've read, parts of a few, threads and Combat seems to be the one place the game does bog down. The action, and the secondary action, seems to be one of the better ways to conduct combat. It, also, permits everyone to use the dice bot.

I know, its not table top, but its better than jonesing for game.

@ Kenji - you mentioned that you are in a goblins home brew game that is primarily combat. What method for combat is used there and does it work smoothly?

@Joe - You seem to have a bit of PBP experience what combat methods have you seen that work well.

@Group - At the end of the round, I will recap everyone's actions and set the stage for the next round.

@Group - One other thing that we should add to the 2 actions when entering combat is that the character make a perception check that round. That will permit me to add, or delete, sensory information for each character. We will add in RD 2 (assuming everyone) reads this.

In the goblins campaign we all post one action each and somehow the DM makes up for it by just accepting our choices or changing them himself should the scenario demand.

I run combat differently in games I run on PBP. Initiative is decided by posting order so I tell players not to worry about initiative related feats and abilities. What I do is roll initiatives on my home dice and take the average of good guys and badguys.

Then the order of posts determines player turns. That way people can post actions based off of what someone else who posted sooner does.

Thats just how I do it though. It works for me.

Thanks.

Waiting for John to post his actions, then I will roll out Janiven and the last Goblin. I will recap the action thereafter.

Grrr..I just noticed my earlier post mentioned "Joe" again...sorry John. I have absolutely no idea why I can not get that straight.

Combat typically is a mess. Maps can help though they require extra work on the GM's part. I know one of the most helpful things is to recap the entire round everytime it comes back to your turn.

Thanks John. I am recapping the round, I've seen that in other threads. It resets the visual.

Just a heads up that I'm playing PFS today, so I won't be posting until much later, if at all today. John's actions in combat will probably just be to do the same thing he has been doing since he can't do much else.

Shinon - FYI, I see your intention is to fire at the goblin 1, since you do not have the Precise Shot feat, there is a minus 4 to penalty on the attack.

@John thanks for the heads up. Since you do not have bow/crossbow I will assume you are taking a protective stance unless a creature gets close enough to you.

Shinon - FYI, I see your intention is to fire at the goblin 1, since you do not have the Precise Shot feat, there is a minus 4 to penalty on the attack.

Fair enough. Maybe I'll still hit him.

baldwin the merciful wrote:

Shinon - FYI, I see your intention is to fire at the goblin 1, since you do not have the Precise Shot feat, there is a minus 4 to penalty on the attack.

Fair enough. Maybe I'll still hit him.

I backed out the math already and you missed. I just wanted to give you a heads up. I didn't want you thinking a 19 at 1st level was missing.

I'm going off to a party soon, so I won't be back till 10ish EDT.

I think its only about 4:00AM in Australia so Duncan is probably a few hours from posting.

Close. Got in at 6.30 local. Got 3 kids so usually up early.

As for combat.

Maps help. The BEST use I've seen is maptools which lets you use the actual AP map, with a grid, tokens and can set fields of view. Note, I'm in 10 pbp's and only one DM i have goes to these lengths, but it's awesome.

Megan simply reproduces the map via scanning it (or copying it from the AP which you can buy in PDF from Paizo. Most DM's who do this use 'Dropbox' to put it on the net.

DM Maslen use Google docs to share a Exel type spreadsheet with squares coloured for terrain (green= trees, white= clear, grey = rocky ground) and the first letter of the Char name shows our square.

Dm rolling initiative works well. Players post a set of actions, DM writes a roundup and 'massages' the groups action via role. Eg If I write I'm gonna smack x (but x dies from another attack) then cause you'd go: well he threatens y so you attacked y.

In any case, very happy with how we're going.

Party treasure:
21 gp
28 sp
52 cp

I'm tired, time to sleep.

I like this campaign it is working out well and it's certainly moving along. Glad that I read the recruitment thread.

I like it too....almost wish I had a different character had I known it would move this well but oh well. I'll deal. Wish all my games went like this.

Yep, this is a pretty nice game. Fast pace, likable characters, smooth combat. Everything's going well so far, and we're already up to 4 pages.

Same here. If only I could animate so I could send goblins after our pursuers. :)
Our fighter is lagging a bit.

I'll sleep as well, should be able to post again around noonish.

Biggest timezone issue is me I think. But I'm keeping up.

I got game night on sundays. Can't be posting from about 3/4 to as late as 3 AM. I am GM and my players are AWESOME!! We sit around drinking mead and playing pathfinder until near the crack of dawn. Big lack of posting from me during that time though as I am the GM and my attention is dedicated to running my players.

So don't get too carried away without me.

Off to bed. Day off tomorrow so avail all day.

@Duncan - I put a world time clock on my computer, so I think I have the Queensland timing down. I'm trying to shift a bit of the combat so it fits when you tend to post. What I may have you do is post one additional combat action/intention. In essence two rounds of action due to the time zone. It isn't really an issue right now you are keeping up with the posts.

@Kenji - I really didn't know much, or remember much about the AP before I said I would run it. So I wasn't able to provide much guidance on character creation. Your character is going be fine.

We all have our gaming nights where posting won't occur. I run a Kingmaker game every other Wed night and I play in two different games on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the months.

@Shinon and Andrea at least your having a good experience with PbP gaming so far. I like, the fact, that I didn't have to whittle down the applicants just took everyone who wanted to play.

@Andrea you will being making a creepy animation soon enough.

I did mention that I'm an active gamer and would be posting 3-5 times a day, guess I erred should have stated 10-12 times. Nothing like having a game stall though. Oh well, seriously it's a fun game and the RPing is great.

Can everyone create an "XP" spoiler tab on your character sheet for quick reference. I'm not keeping track of XP on my end. Thanks

Oh, I've been PbPing now for about a year and a half. This is just my first time doing it on the Paizo forum.

Will tack an XP sidenote onto my profile after I finish this post.

What do you guys think? Should we go in the door or keep walking?

Shinon thanks for putting yoru XP on your sheet. You are missing the first 400XP that was awarded on Friday.

]

What? Yes, I am. When did we get that? What for?

Go past the door. If our guide isn't sure we should keep going. What about the boy? Would he know more?

Got my xp all down

What? Yes, I am. When did we get that? What for?

I gave it out on page 2, Friday @8;25pm in the gameplay thread. It was RP getting into the Tavern and how the group reacted and played out the Tavern events.

By the way, I will start to add a bit of my flavor to the game when it comes to treasure. I will start to describe some interesting coins, books, mundane object. Not every object or coin, but enough to give the game bit more interest rather than just saying you have 10 GP. I'm one of those gamer's who likes to name weapons and have history even on some of the more common items.

Sounds good to me.

Same here. Flavor is cool. It is indeed more interesting to have more details.

Lol. The perils of being 1st level.

Edit: *Double face palm*

So many skill checks! This is why I picked a ranger in the first place! Argh....the dice are trying to kill me.

You are basically underground in a dark maze where the markings are often difficult to see. Skill checks to find your way, hear what is around, see the treasure, cross the trench, get out of the muck and so forth.

Okay! I have climbed out of the trench! How much XP? That stupid swamp was like a CR 3 encounter, right? All those Fort saves I had to make? (Kidding)

Okay! I have climbed out of the trench! How much XP? That stupid swamp was like a CR 3 encounter, right? All those Fort saves I had to make? (Kidding)

I thoroughly enjoyed that.

I thoroughly enjoyed that.

I'm just glad I made every Fort save! Otherwise you would have said "Okay, now you're sickened, so now you take a -2 penalty on all those Climb checks you can't seem to pass trolololol!"

Next door we open leads right to the end part of Tomb of Horrors!

Oh...the evil wheels are turning.

You know, this game is fun, but I've also got this other character concept I've discovered that I really want to test out, but all the current Recruitment threads are either full or not really PF...it's kind of disappointing. I was just fooling around on the PRD earlier and I saw the Bladebound archetype for the Magus and thought "I must play this!"

Well, I guess I'll just sit on that until an appropriate Recruitment thread shows up.

Until then, Shinon and the kid need a bath.

Have our monk and fighter logged off for the night?

Have our monk and fighter logged off for the night?

I'd imagine so. It's been a while since it was their turn.

I'm currently rejoicing that rank I put into climb.