DM Carbide's Kingmaker (Inactive)

Game Master John Woodford

Ok. I've been meaning to reply here for a long time and just haven't managed to do so. My personal life went kind of crazy last year when my wife walked out on me and our 4 kids, leaving me to try and pick up the pieces alone. I realized early on that I needed to cut out many extras from my life in order to just get by and stay on my feet, and that included most of my PbP games. I had hoped to be able to keep this one going, but it unfortunately also fell by the wayside.

That said, things are finally starting to settle down a bit and I feel like I could try and get back into this game, if your willing to give me a chance. I obviously have a bit of catching up to do, but I have a lot invested in this character - I think more than any other I've written, and I'd love to see this through.

Thanks for your patience and support throughout this whole ordeal.

Definitely. Glad to hear you're OK, and sorry to hear about everything else. Let me know when you're caught up; I can deal with botting Havrin for a little while.

Yes, same here. This is one of the few games I'm actually enjoying.

This one. A Carrion Crown game, and that Wicked adventure path for evil characters. They are my favorites. I was having a lot of fun with the Crimson Throne path, but the drama/conflicts between the paladin and my roguish fighter put a damper on things. It was sometimes fun, but emotionally draining at the same time.

EDIT: Note that Adam and Bea are also a Paladin/Roguish character combination, but there's hardly any drama at all. Bea is a much more graceful paladin than the other one I'm used to. But it might be a religious difference. The paladin I had the most trouble with is one of Iomedae, and Bea's of Erastil.

It's a common enough problem. In fact my main motivation for creating Bea (well one of the main reasons at least) was to create a Paladin that wasn't that Paladin. I think Paladin is an extraordinarily difficult class to play right because the balance between lawfull and good isn't easy. Most players seem to forget the "good" part and go for lawful stupid or lawful annoying. In fact it's a class that I flat out won't allow in any games that I run unless I know the player well enough that I think they can handle it.

One of the better depictions I've seen of lawful good is in this OOTS episode

I think I've found success because I came to the realization that no character is born into the class they ultimately choose, and they may have had all sorts of contrary things happen before they get their first level. So by giving her a rocky past with deeds that she's ashamed of (and trying to repent of) I can avoid the holier-than-thou pitfall that so many paladins fall into. So while she may be holier than many other party members, she's never going to point it out to anyone, because she doesn't feel holier. Even with the forgiveness she's already felt, it's a good dose of humility that I think will go a long ways.

edit:
Also, Adam, that's about the best compliment I could've gotten. Thank you.

Glad to see you are back and doing relatively okay. Sorry about the other stuff that happened to you. Take what time you need, of course.

Thanks, Adam. I'm caught up reading what I missed and will get a post up shortly.

The pace of the game is much less important to me than everyone enjoying their characters. I'm a patient guy, and I'd prefer hanging on to players who are legitimately trying to stay connected. We all have lives, and sometimes they intrude. Hang tough, Count.

That being said, I have no problem with DM C setting up a standard deadline (48 hr?), after which our PCs are fair game. I've been running a play-by-email game (hence my username) for almost 14 years, and there have been times where I've just had to plow ahead to get through some stalls. We would all have to agree on the terms, of course.

I'm good with botting one character, but I don't like to do more than one for any length of time. Too likely to miss something about their capabilities and/or personality.

Just so I'm sure, we haven't made it to 4th level, have we?

Nope.

Welcome back Count Buggula. :)

Thanks Katya. To be honest, it feels really good to be back. It was something nagging at the back of my mind for a long time and it's nice to have that off my chest.

So...Carbide...what's the chances of getting a nice circumstantial morale bonus for an inspiring speech? :p

I'll only have time for a brief bit of posting at most until Sunday; we're having a bunch of people over tomorrow, and I've got a bunch of cooking to do yet. The Thai curry chicken soup and the ancho/chipotle chili sauce are both made, but I still need to make the chile verde. (And my wife has a few things to make herself; regular chili, macquechoux, and cheese sauce for homemade mac & cheese.) Anyone in the SW Chicagoland/Joliet area tomorrow, drop me a PM; we're going to have a lot of food.

Hope you had a good time, that sounded like some great food!

Also, you will never see me get on anyone's case for not being around to post...for obvious reasons.

A good time was had by all, and no one went away hungry. We'll be eating leftovers for another few days; fortunately, they are very good leftovers (he said modestly).

So I don't know if it's just me, but I've been seriously laughing all day long at our shenanigans at the gate. Thank you Adam for messing up the line, and then playing along. :D

Adam apparently lives for a laugh, dies for a kiss. Or something like that.

Ah, but does he lust for a laugh, never walk when he can leap, never flee when he can fight, and swoon at the beauty of a rose?

That's what I was trying to remember. Bravo. I would have to say, No. He is after all... 'practical.'

Maybe we can find a good witch somewhere to help you out with that.

I'm quite fine where I'm now. After all, Adam's small. If he goes around leaping and fighting everything, and swooning if the opportunity presents itself, he's liable to get squished. :P

Oh, but while we're at it, she can make you the greatest with the blade! (just be wary of rogue finger snaps!)

Just watch out for any pestle-bearing vessels...

Or Flagons with the image of a Dragon

I want to get the map up before going any further, but I didn't have time tonight. I may have time over lunch tomorrow.

Just to be clear before I post my actions, he went up to the northeast watchtower and indicated that we should follow him? Did I understand that right? And the other bandits are on the wall, not the watchtower? I don't see any ladders or anything going to the wall. Are they placed about or in certain locations?

Last question, what's the scale for the map?

5' squares. There are three watchtowers, each of which has one bandit in it. He indicated that you should go into the ruined tower itself, towards the stairs inside. I'll try to get some sort of key on the map for you.

Holy crud this is crazy. I honestly figured we'd pretty much get inside the gate and just start fighting. I hope you guys don't mind that Bea's taking away some of the combat.

Don't worry; we'll get to the fighting part pretty soon. I think it's being interesting, and this way you got Akiros on your side without fighting him first. Good time to max your Diplomacy check there, Bea.

It's been a bit weird, Adam keeps trying to support Bea, but he's never sure what she's going to do.

Just to let you know, I will probably be out of commission until next week at least. I had oral surgery to day to remove impacted wisdom teeth and I'm in agony, and probably will be numb/inpain for the rest of the week.

Ow! No fun at all. Good luck with the recovery.

It's been a bit weird, Adam keeps trying to support Bea, but he's never sure what she's going to do.

She is a mite unpredictable. Mood swings, of a sort.

Just to let you know, I will probably be out of commission until next week at least. I had oral surgery to day to remove impacted wisdom teeth and I'm in agony, and probably will be numb/inpain for the rest of the week.

Ewww! Yeah I had to do that once! I got really tired of jello and soup after a few days. Luckily I didn't have any complications - my sister developed a dry socket after having hers removed. I really hope you don't have to go through any of that.

Sorry for the delay; having computer issues.

I don't mind if you roll initiative for the entire group at the onset of battle. It seems silly to have to wait an entire day or two just so people can roll initiative - but that's just me.

Normally I would have rolled it, but I'm in a training today and tomorrow and wasn't sure when I'd be able to post next. So I thought I would give you something to do in the meantime. I'll roll for everyone who hasn't when I put up my next real game post. (At the moment I'm taking a short break from software QA.)

Hey guys. I'll go back to lurking momentarily, but I wanted to let you guys know that I've just released a bundle of tools for play-by-posts that you all may find useful.

*disappears into the shadows*

For your convenience, there is now a link to the combat map in the campaign header.

For your further convenience, the link now leads to an editable version of the combat map, so you can move your own tokens.

Edvard, I love your description of spell casting. Adds so much flavor. Keep it up.

Thanks Count Buggula - I try to bring the same lyricism I use for my martial characters to the magical ones.

Chucaro (the empyreal lord that Edvard follows) is one of my favorites from Chronicles of the Righteous. Any deity whose obedience is literally to eat shrooms and trip out gets my vote ;)

Agreed--I like that description. However....

As I read the description of the scare spell, it sounds like Edvard should only be affecting one target with it:

Targets one living creature per three levels, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart

OTOH, it's a second-level spell, and would thus have the same number of targets as cause fear (a first-level spell) until the caster reached sixth level, which seems kind of weak. OTOOH, it's got a longer range than cause fear, and will generally last longer. Has this ever come up before?

Ah - yeah, you're right... should just be the owlbear then.

As both a heads up and an FYI - I shall be wending my way on holiday starting Monday, and will be out of the country from roughly 2-3 weeks give or take (through to about 10th April).

During such time my online time shall be curtailed from what I'm usually capable - which should engender a reduction in verbosity and potentially some unreliability when it comes to posting rates and speed.

I'm more that happy to be DMPC'd whenever it's appropriate, but am hopefuly that I should be able to keep up with all the PbPs that I'm currently playing in during the time down-under.

Along those lines, I'll be out of town all next week, but still in the states. I imagine I'll still have sporadic access to the internet on my laptop and can always post from my phone if it comes down to it.

(Taking my kids to Disneyland for Spring Break)

Where'd everyone go?

I think Edvard was the last one to act before the reinforcements get there next round, but 1) the player is on a trip at the moment, and 2) I forgot that he specified what he was going to do. I'll get something up shortly.

DMC - A bit of an oversight on my part. How do I determine my HP?

Hit points: max at first level, then roll normally thereafter. If you roll less than PFS standard (half die +1) take the half+1 instead of your roll. So for you it's max[d8,5].

cool
1 = 8
2 = 1d8 ⇒ 2
3 = 1d8 ⇒ 3

So today I went back and looked and realized that we started our campaign on March 22, 2011 - which makes tomorrow our 3 year anniversary. Congratulations on keeping this game going for so long - though we've seen some of our players come and go, it's been a fun ride. Cheers.