Anarya and Tauni are up in Gameplay. I'm somewhat reluctant to 'bot either one because they have a lot of abilities to take into account, which means it will take a while for me to review all of them to make sure I make a smart decision. Plus I don't want to use limited spell and mythic power resources.
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I came across a kickstarter campaign for a map making application that, if it can work as advertised would be allow one to make impressive maps.
Dungeon Alchemist. If you are interested in running a homebrew campaign or just like making maps, I'd check it out. Beta versions coming out in the fall with the rollout planned for end of year or start of 2022. For a fairly modest investment, you can get a lifetime license with other perks.
I just updated the battle map to include a large table that is described in the AP as being in the first room you entered. The dwarf in the NW side of this room, who recently became visible (see Gameplay retcon posting) had been studying at this table, which has numerous texts open on it. It is large and sturdy enough to stand on and so I won't count it as an obstacle to movement.
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Regarding the foretell ability, I've always played it (and seen it played) that it is a standard action to start and a free action to end, kind of like the main bardic ability. That would give Tauni five rounds left for the day. If you'd prefer to run it as needing a standard action every round we could do that, but that seems a high price to pay to use the ability.
Sorry I've been inactive. It's the start of a new term and I'm going to be able to post regularly again, starting this afternoon.
Thanks for your patience. Glad the migraine is diminished. Hopes it's gone completely soon if not arleady.
Thanks to Avelina's last actions, this fight just got a whole lot more one-sided, although threats still exist.
There is more treasure which I'll post. The rooms covered by spoilers on the map don't have anything to fight but the treasure of the chimera you fought earlier is there, which you'll want to collect. Also I still need to list the items found on Staunton and Joran.
Anarya, take the ghost touch plate or the +3 plate. Ellena is going to keep her current armor. I don’t think she’d wear the nasty spikey stuff either!
Oof I'll post tonight or tomorrow after work once I've parsed all the gain and where the characters headspace is
If no one want the Amulet of natural armor +2 ill take it. otherwise not much of interest for me
I'm ready to continue once people start heading down into the dungeon.
Just touching base here. Several times I've started a post of having Raine start the way down, only to hesitate, and not post it, because it seems weird to narrate that on behalf of the party for my ranged character who usually stays in the back, but also because.... I mean, are people still engaged? We've had 10 days to post moving forward, during which nobody has.
Obviously RL has been a humdinger for everyone this year, which I can completely empathize with. But it seems like our combats keep crawling along with various botting of people made necessary, over and over, and without much of anything happening between characters in an RP sense, either, outside of combats.
There's no shame in admitting a game has lost steam. I would like to continue, but if the general enthusiasm has died out, I don't want to be like single-handedly forcing the party along, either. So maybe we can do a collective check-in here?
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I will admit that I am a little frustrated. It's really easy for me to lose focus on a game when it moves this slow. Every time it starts moving again, I have to basically stop and reacquiant myself with all my abilities and where we are and what we are doing. It also makes it difficult to have proper RP back-and-forth when everyone is posting weeks apart. There have been many times where I have posted over the past year or two where it just felt like I wasn't getting anything back, or if I was, it was so far apart that it was much less satisfying. That makes me feel less like putting something in in the first place.
There have been numerous times in which I've felt like "okay, let's get this going again" because we had some momentum, only for it to die out just as quickly.
I do think part of the issue has been that we've been doing a lot of combat, and when the game is already dragging, that makes it last way, way too long. I'm with Raine in that I think we really need to reassess where we all are and what are goals are. I'm not really interested in just absently chugging along piecemeal like we have been. This game will be 6 years old as of this Fall, and at this rate, we will finish the AP in about 14 more. I think we need to be honest about where we are all at and either talk it out and fix it or walk away.
I've been waiting for people to indicate they are ready to move forward. Tauni and Raine seem ready to move on. Karas and Ellena posted in gameplay but it isn't clear if they are ready to move on. Avelina posted prior to the storyteller post, but also no clear indication of being ready to move on. No posts from Anarya for a while.
The area below has two major challenges, with some fighting with each one.
The next book takes the PCs into the Worldwound on various tasks. Each PC is due to meet some element from their past (relating to the AP traits).
Book 4 takes the PCs into the Abyss to try to waylay plans of a major demon, completing 7 tasks.
Book 5 takes the PCs on an assignment from the Inheritor herself to rescue on of her heralds from the Labyrinth of Baphomet.
Book 6 is supposed to take the PCs into the heart of the Abyss to close the Worldwound and deal with Deskari.
The PCs should be level 20 and 10th tier mythic heroes.
I could distill the action down to the events that involve going up in level and gaining mythic levels, summarizing the rest.
Let me know what you'd like to do.
I’m ready to move on, assuming the rest of the group wants to continue.
I've been waiting for people to indicate they are ready to move forward. Tauni and Raine seem ready to move on. Karas and Ellena posted in gameplay but it isn't clear if they are ready to move on. Avelina posted prior to the storyteller post, but also no clear indication of being ready to move on. No posts from Anarya for a while.....
....I could distill the action down to the events that involve going up in level and gaining mythic levels, summarizing the rest.
Let me know what you'd like to do.
To be clear, this was not implying that I/we were waiting on you, GM. My post was directed at my fellow players-- trying to check in that everyone, playerwise, is still invested at a level that will make this fun for us all.
If all we're doing is just checkmarking off major combats and level-up events.... that's actually not... a fun campaign experience to me. Like, I don't want to complete a campaign JUST to be able to... complete the campaign. I want RP, I want fun interactions, I don't want us to be in a position where we're literally 'distilling' the story down to 'the big fights' because we don't have enough player investment/interaction to keep us going through the non-major parts.
It'd be great if the players who haven't yet done so can weigh in with their interest level, enthusiasm, and maybe a collective commitment to a 'I'll check the boards once a day' sort of thing. If the game can't pick up with more engagement from all of us, I personally don't want to keep playing combats in the vein we have done so for the last few-- constant necessary botting, combats taking 4 months to complete-- (our last one ran from Dec 29 to April 14, it looks like), etc.
Basically, I’m posting on the board every day.
If the rest of the group can get back to daily posting, that’ll be no trouble for me to match.
I will filly admit that I have been bad about posting here.
I'm trying to remedy it. Also I am totally cool with moving on the narrative and have little split posts to flashback the rp to talks in the night and such.
While RP the campaign from beginning to end is the best option, PBP takes so much longer that doing everything the AP lists will be a very long slog. I'm up for it if everyone else is, but we'll need to get back to daily posting.
Another option, if people's schedules allow, would be to find a time we can all meet virtually, through something like Roll20 and a comm application maybe once every 2 or so weeks, just to make better progress. I could manage a 4 hour session just about any time everyone else can meet. I did that with groups in the past and could do it again with the proper investment in software.
Or perhaps we could compromise and agree to all be focused on posting for a few hours each week at an agreed upon time and just move things along by posting one after another as if at a table meeting. It would only require short waits for people to compose their posts.
I'd like to hear from Anarya, Avelina, and Tauni.
A virtual session here and there to handle combat slogs would be ok with me dependent on day and time.
The AP says PCs should reach 9th level sometime after starting into the dungeon. So everyone can level up to 9th when you can. I'm going to begin to narrate the entry into the dungeon area. I will try to keep things moving, so please provide 'botting instructions if you have anything you prefer.
One thing that will help me 'bot efficiently is if you have standard actions, whether spells or melee or ranged attacks, create a 'botting text spoiler and put the text entries for these so I can just copy and paste them into the gameplay thread when needed. Some of you have already done some of this, but the more you provide the faster things can move along when it is time to post.
If you look at this profile of one of my currently active PF1 characters (Father Emil), you can get an idea of how I do it. This can also save the players time when posting.
Please also be sure to equip anything that was part of the previous treasure haul and update your header with proper AC, saves, etc. If I have to 'bot someone who has not equipped or leveled up, that will be using the stats currently listed on the profile and in the header.
Let's clear out the dungeon and move on to the next book.
I will give players 24 hours to post, after which I will 'bot the character until the player again makes a post in the discussion thread indicating he/she/they are able to post regularly going forward. I hope this will speed up progress for those able to post regularly and keep those who are having RL challenges to stay in the game.
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I’m still waiting for Anarya and Tauni to chime in. I’d like to settle this conversation before we go back to business as usual. I think Raine’s concerns (and mine) are still ultimately unanswered. I would like to have everyone posting every day like we were back when we started. I am certainly capable of doing so if everyone else is.
I’m also really not interested in a truncated game with lots of speeding through bits and botting. Those are measures to be used sparingly, not relied upon. I would like us back on track, not limping along.
Avelina: would you be open to some sort of regular attempt to play as a group, either via a network interaction (such as Microsoft Teams with a map application everyone can access) or simply a regular time when everyone makes posts as soon as his/her/their turn is up for a few hours?
If we are not going to cut some of the encounters that are just there to provide XP but otherwise don't advance the overall plot, it will take a very long time to get through all books. Some sort of regular gathering could speed things up to the point that the AP can be played pretty much as written.
For what it's worth, I've already been cutting out some melees that fit this description.
I know Avelina was being asked rather than me, but between the two, I'd prefer a regular time than actual Virtual Table Top/Teams/etc. I have to do VTT regularly for Pathfinder Society and I dislike it intensely as a medium, for what it's worth. My internet's spotty enough that voice chat is an enormous headache. If that's what the group would collectively like to do, I can't promise I can easily accommodate it.
But honestly I'd just prefer we all regularly post, rather than needing to coordinate a time and deal with the hassle of varying time zones, etc. I'm in California on PDT, and I often don't get home from work until 7 pm in the week, which is 10 pm for east coasters, etc. IDK where everyone is timezone-wise, but I just am not a fan of having to try to coordinate mutual-time-and-chat. The whole reason I go for PBP is because it sidesteps all of that, and I have a job that is usually slow-paced enough I can check the boards from work, at least.
If it's a call between cutting some stuff and trying to arrange real time voice chat, I'd probably go with cutting some stuff.
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Oh i’m not saying don’t cut anything. Cutting things is part and parcel and I know you’ve been doing so from the beginning. I just don’t want you cutting any more than you have been as a method to try to catch us up.
I’m in the same place as Raine. I would rather not do any VTT if I can help it. I am certainly capable of it, but it’s not as much fun for me by a longshot. The latter option is more appealing, but it’s no substitute for having everybody posting every day.
What excites me about this game and what I love about play-by-post is the availability of emergent character interaction, and that’s only really rewarding if people reliably post.
I agree with the recent posts. I’m not a fan of the VTT stuff. My real life is pretty busy so stealing ten minutes here and there to post throughout the day is stress relief for me. I’d much rather get back to regular PBP posting than trying any dedicated VTT things.
And I’m fine with cutting the less important stuff. The only AP I’ve ever completed here on the boards with a CotCT run that cut a lot of stuff and it was wonderful n
Having ran this AP up until the beginning of the next book, I've been fairly opting to stay quiet as I have spoilers for what's up ahead.
Having a set day to make posts is fine with me.
Additionally, cutting the non mythic fights or fights that wouldn't sufficiently challenge players was something I ended up doing and narrating minor combats since they'd normally be dead in 1-2 rounds with no significant plot.
I've been thinking about what to say here myself. I've been struggling some with this game, and I can't say why. I enjoy the storytelling and the characters. Maybe it is a bit of the pacing? I just can't quite say; I can't put my finger on it.
For me, it would be tough to commit to a block of hours to meet virtually for a variety of reasons. IRL, I don't have an in person game (and I didn't have one before the pandemic) just because of work and other commitments. That's part of why I leaned into PBP; I can look for those moments during the work day or otherwise when I can pop in and participate. This particular AP is a little tougher for me to jump into infrequently because of the expanded ruleset (Mythic) that I haven't played with outside of this adventure.
I am open to ideas to improve pacing, even if that means handwaving some of the encounters.
I checked the various aliases of The Morphling (Anarya's Player) and this seems to be their only active game and they haven't posted here for over a month.
I'd suggest I run Anayra as an NPC until we hear from The Morphling. I'll PM them but if they are not checking our game, they are probably not going to see a PM.
I will do a provisional level-up so Anarya is at full strength and look over the treasure haul to see if anything makes sense. When her player can post again, they can update her their own way.
I think you'll be in trouble if you don't have Anarya's healing. If we lose her player, we can discuss how to fill that gap.
I'll try to have things rolling again on Friday of this week and commit to regular updates and I'll poke people who are slow to post.
How much are people able to post on the weekend? I have no problems posting weekends, but if some cannot commit to weekend posts, we'll accept that the posting may have to wait for Monday in some situations.
One last thing, I will consider modifying my preference for keeping posts in initiative order as much as possible. I'll try to group the NPCs together or in a couple of clumps and players can post as they're able. I think there are advantages to keeping to initiative order, but it can draw things out.
Weekend posting is generally fine by me.
It appears we have accord on proceeding. Unless most people want to wait for Anarya's player to post, I'm prepared to start the next and last challenge of this book.
For what it's worth, all the games I have been part of had delays associated with the pandemic. I'm hoping that as things get back to normal (fingers crossed), most posting will get back to normal as well.
Weekends not an issue for me either, and I agree it's time to keep going, hopefully Anarya's player is okay and can rejoin us at some point.
Sounds good. I'll use the time to prepare for the next melee.
Yep I’ll need the holiday weekend to level as well.
I'll level up and ping Anarya on facebook
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All leveled up!
Glad that everyone is still here! One last thing: would anyone else be interested in taking over the loot tracking? I have been lagging behind on it because it is just a bit draining. I’ve been working full time doing the same type of thing and my eyes are just glazing over every time I try to sit down and do it.
Ill have this finished today. Work is oddly busy...
No rush. I'm ready to go except for a few maps and NPCs to flesh out. I was going to suggest some areas could be bypassed to get to the urgent stuff, but upon reading through the sections, there are things that could prove helpful beyond the XP gained from the fights that have to be won, both in terms of seeds that get developed in the next book and in terms of things helpful although not essential in cleaning out the dungeon.
So this is a dungeon crawl, but with some interesting exposition as well as the usual fights. Have fun.
I'll pm Tauni to ping her. Haven't heard from her for a while.
Hit points for level up
I will work on getting her leveled up today.
Hit points for next level
Looks like I’m meant to have six.
I'm excited to continue. I'll finish my level-up tomorrow, but hp roll now:
8 it is
I'll get the map to the area beyond the secret door ready tomorrow. We're still waiting on a few level-ups so look for a post Wednesday, noonish.
Updated my sheet. As a note to GM, I took the feat Twist Away, which will let me make Reflex Saves in place of Fortitude saves, mostly, it appears, though at the cost of being staggered.
Benefit: While you are wearing light armor or no armor, if you are forced to attempt a Fortitude saving throw, you can use an immediate action to instead attempt a Reflex saving throw (at the same DC). If you succeed at this saving throw and the attack has a reduced effect on a successful save, you avoid the effect entirely. Whether the saving throw is successful or not, you are staggered until the end of your next turn. If you are prevented from becoming staggered, you can’t use Twist Away, nor can you ignore the staggered condition from Twist Away or remove it early.
Also, I had a negative level after the previous day's fights. Was it the sort that goes away, or should I still be figuring it in?