DMJ's Skull & Shackles

Game Master Jonasty1031

Well we'll see if some of the PCs' naivety wears off after a few weeks at sea on board a pirate ship. ;-)

Reminds me of a movie quote...

I'm playing a home-schooled shut-in pretty much, so it'll be interesting to say the least. Xanxan and Jirobo shall be the best of friends.

I think Xan is pretty friendly in general... as long as folks don't enslave him. He's funny that way :)

Done.

Comment on mechanics. I want to, but I won't view Ko'ulu as a superlative sailor of the seven seas. I didn't see that most of the ship skills are based off of profession (sailor). I would like to say that when he is in a very small craft, say 10-15' Ko'ulu can use his fisherman profession. In the big boats he is no better off than anyone else.

Or, now that I saw your earlier post, I will go with the fisher/sailor thing for level 1. I will dump two points into sailor at level 2 to make it more appropriate.

Sorry I am so slow to catch up. I didn't get to log in my computer at work all day...I was teaching a course in a conference room today.

I'm very sorry my first post came so late. I tried to wait it out, but the game went live 10 minutes after I left for work. I have some limited ability to post from work (i.e. my phone), but I didn't have the time tonight (training my new assistant manager).

No worries Tully. I'm glad you're with us. Hell, the quality of your first two posts are exactly why I picked you and why I'm glad you checked in.

And I don't want to just single him out. All of you have already demonstrated, in under 50 posts, just how great a game can be had with solid character design and thoughtful posts and that I chose well in my party selection. Already this game feels less like a game and more like I'm reading a really good pirate fantasy novel. Kudos to you all!

I can only hope that I will be able to give you all the same in return as your DM.

..........

Alright, enough of the mushy stuff. Back to the pirates!!!

Just a quick update. I make extensive use of the campaign info tab in my games. The first thing will always be the current status as I have it for the PC's. This is what I tend to go by if there is any dispute so please make sure what I have matches what you have. (Obviously right now your AC's are all significantly less than listed because of the missing gear).

As the game progresses I will include other pertinent or good to remember info there. I've already started a running list of the people you have met and will update this accordingly. As you're on a ship and will (hopefully) be commanding your own later on (assuming you're not tossed overboard lol) the game has a lot of NPC's to interact with that aren't simply *faceless sailor 4*.

Basically what I'm saying is, it behooves you to check the campaign info tab whenever you're checking the game.

Hope you all dont mind me lurking. Loving the interactions so far.

Lurk away imimrtl lol.

RE: the praise to our group, for my part? Ah shucks.

I think it is safe to say whatever Goldteeth's real name is, he's currently #1 on hate list for many of the PCs ;)

I'm having a good time so far :)

Lurking! Have fun everybody, Jonasty is a great DM!

Well holy crap - Flight has already paid off. I knew it would be helpful, but didn't realize it would be helpful so early in the story!

I'm not sure on what the policy is going back and editing any further reactions to failed rolls... so I just tried to predict what might help if he did fail and put in an acrobatics roll as well.

It may just save his #### :)

Just wait until I can wild shape and fly up there, then we'll see who gets to nest in my spot!

Good question.

As far as retroactive rolls, I'm not going to penalize you if you need to go back and make a roll. If you fail bad enough a couple times, I will either roll for you or have you roll to react. But you can include them to save time and as "just in case" rolls, no problem.

All:In general everyone can feel free to include whatever die rolls you want in your posts, especially when it comes to skills. If they don't apply, then I'll simply ignore them. If you want to include a Perception check for when you get to the top to learn what you see, fine. If you want to include a Knowledge engineering check to assess the structural integrity of the crow's nest when you get up there, weird and not really relevant but ok. Really you can roll whatever skill checks you want in your posts, just understand that if they don't make sense or aren't pertinent, I'll probably ignore them.

Obviously I don't encourage rolling all sorts of meaningless skills just to do it, but in cases like this, where a botched Climb check could easily lead to an Acrobatics check, by all means include them. You guys know the rules as well as I do so feel free to extrapolate from there where appropriate.

All of you have already demonstrated, in under 50 posts, just how great a game can be had with solid character design and thoughtful posts and that I chose well in my party selection.

This. Very, very happy to have been included in this group! Looking forward to reading more!

Just wait until I can wild shape and fly up there, then we'll see who gets to nest in my spot!

Well, judging by the rolls... I think Young Tully may have just claimed the nest.

EDIT: Spoke too soon, Ko'ulu also scrambles fast :)

It occurs to me this is a pretty good crew period.

It has occurred to me that I may have made a typo on my climb skill. 1 skill point +3 in class +2 strength = 6 and not the 5 I had placed. Not that it matters for this purpose, I think/hope.

I hope I don't have more typos on my sheet. Gonna update the climb and any other typos I find (and mention them here if I do find them).

EDIT: Did the same thing to Swim. Both fixed now.

Hmmm... It's starting to dawn on me, only as I'm writing, how completely out of his element this poor child is. I hope things get better for him soon. :)

I don't want folks thinking I'm rude by not having Xanxan chatter. I'm just wondering how his rolls turn out before I do :)

Yeah. I didn't mean to be too presumptive assuming I made it to the top. Definitely should've waited for DM's next post. [/impulsive]

Meh. I wouldn't worry about it too much Tully. The DM gave us a target, we made it. It is up to us to drive the narrative forward after that. I figure we have enough time to talk for a moment or two before the Capn' starts yelling at us or some such.

Yeah, not knocking you guys for chatting, just explaining why, with my more questionable rolls, I wasn't joining in yet.

No worries guys. I like the interplay and you guys seem to have a handle on not going so far as to make me have to step in. ;-)

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't quite sure where Cal would've placed what with that early 8 and the precarious position of the 10 (although I guess since it was really an 11, He wouldn't necessarily have fallen if he had accelerated at that point).

Anyhow, I'll try to string him into the chatter from before in my next post, since he likely wouldn't have kept quiet.

The AP breaks down each day into a number of "actions/events" to help keep things moving and not drag things down into minutiae. These are represented by your jobs during the course of a day, as well as a number of actions you can take in addition to this. Outside of these actions, there isn't much wiggle room. I know it might feel a bit restrictive but I think it will work as designed, where we're not spending dozens of posts to get through a few hours of game time. It works as such:

Each day the majority of your time will be spent working at an assigned task. These jobs will generally involve 1 or more skill checks that need to be rolled by each person responsible for them. Failure in your task will result in punishment, determined by how badly you failed the task.

Additionally you generally will take 2 actions during a day, 1 during the day time sometime while you're working and 1(or more) at night after the work is over, that range from simply doing the task assigned, to exploring your new surroundings or interacting with the crew, trying to find your gear, etc. The day time actions have been posted in the campaign section, the night time will be posted once we reach that point.

(Sometimes your tasks might have you working together but don't expect that you will be working as a group during these times.)

There will be a lot of variety in what happens between all of you, given the number of choices you could possibly make and this will take some cooperation on everyone's part. Some of you might finish quicker than others and we'll just need to be patient while we get used to this game style. This might entail a lot of spoilers in our posts, which is fine. Just a reminder to check above on my view on spoiler tags.

Ok. Posted. His rolls for the job went well, but I get the feeling his attempt to listen through wood is likely a flop. Hope I got the basic idea right though

How does the "Influence" ship action interact with normal skill checks to influence NPC's, like Diplomacy?

The "Influence" action gives you the ability/time to influence an individual NPC in the first place. Otherwise you're too busy with work and whatever else you're trying to do to make any noticeable impression or effort. Obviously you'll talk to random people as you're working but this won't let you try to win any friends or make any enemies. "Influence" is devoting a couple of hours while you work to actually trying to get to know one of your new crewmates. If you choose that option, you would then make checks as normal, whether Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate to change attitudes.

Think of it as: If you're working 12 hours each day, you only have a few hours to squeeze anything else in. Do you try to learn more about the various areas of the ship or do you try to schmooze with someone on the ship or do you attempt to go shop, etc? These jobs you are performing are taking you ALL day. Thus most of the checks to avoid Fatigue at the end.

Another point, if you select an action that has options like Influence or Sneak, feel free to specify something specific if you'd like, otherwise I will fill in the details appropriately. Right now you guys don't have too much info to go on, but as we progress and you learn the names of other crew members or areas of the ship strike you as mysterious, feel free to indicate that they are the "target" of your daily action.

My above post reminds me of another point.

With regards to NPC's, affecting attitudes and skill checks. I don't want this to be simply handled by dice rolls. If you're trying to influence an NPC and you simply provide a dice roll, there will be a potential penalty to the roll because it's shouldn't be that simple. Conversely, if you provide some solid RP in your posts along with dice rolls, this will provide bonuses to your checks to influence people. Something to keep in mind with the NPC interactions available as an option.

Xanxan: I'll post an update from your post shortly but just to answer your question. "Sneak" is less related to spying on people specifically and more about learning about the ship in general. Not to say you can't or won't spy on people occasionaly when it happens but just so that you don't expect that sneak means you're doing something "underhanded".

Ah, my bad then. I may have read too much into it.

No worries. I think you'll understand more when I post my response to your action.

To better clarify for everyone, this is why you can make either a Perception check or any other 1 skill check, because even though you're "exploring" the ship, it's only when you have a free moment from your work. So maybe one day you make a Perception check and get a good result to find some book in a room. Then the next day you make a Knowledge history check representing your review of the book now that you've found it.

Basically the daily actions are not long winded events, they're things you manage to squeeze in between the back breaking labor you have to do on a pirate ship.

Campaign Info updated.

Not sure if this ship has a bilge pump - so if not, replace "pump" with bucket. Though that would take forever.

Guys just to be clear, when you post your responses if you could please include what your specific Ship Action is that would help. There are mechanics behind what you choose so I just need to be sure I'm clear on it. This is how you will be learning about the ship and the people on it. If you don't select a Ship Action, then all you will accomplish for the day is your job and that's it. With some of the posts I've been able to extrapolate a bit but if you could just list it specifically that would be best.

I love the fluff you guys have been including and I don't want that stop. But make sure you put the mechanics down as well. The Day time (and shortly Night time) ship actions are spelled out in the Campaign Info tab so just read those and go with what it offers you.

Now that everyone's posted, I will be posting the next update tomorrow morning.

It is an influence action Jonasty. I will make sure I push that properly in the future.

It's hard to say. On one hand it could be "Shop" as he's looking for a new hat (that being said, Callum probably has no money now so can't really "shop" per se). On the other hand, because the quartemaster is the eart of the ship and controls the supplies, he's want to try to Influence him to get on his good side, become friends, etc.

It also depends on if he's can find some time for a break (bio, food, whatever). He wouldn't want to be missed at the mainsail when they need it trimmed (less bad if there's more folks on the job).

Ko'ulu: Sounds good. I will roll your check for you to save time but remeber that Influence gives you the ability to make an appropriate skill check so if you choose to use it, you would roll either Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate. Your writing will give you a bonus to the check but it's still mechanics driven as well.

Callum: I understand the dilema on Shop vs Influence. In this case, I'll agree with you on the Influence part and will roll for you accordingly.

To your second point, you don't need to worry about finding time. That was my point in the explanation of the Ship Actions and your job, you do both during the day.

Everyone: During the day, you will be working your job AND you take 1 ship action. You don't need to worry about a time issue, the assumption is you have time to do one of the Day time ship actions while "on a break" or on the sly. If you're worried about geting caught at something, you can simply choose "Work Diligently" or "Influence" as your action but not choosing an action is where the issue lies.

Thanks, yeah, Influence makes sense. And Diplomacy would be the way Callum would go since he wants a lasting relationship and not a one-off request that would make them "unfriendly" afterwards as would happen with Intimidate. Probably keep that skill for combat and those who are already "unfriendly" or "hostile" (which is probably the folks we don't want to be "Influencing" with, like Scourge, Plugg [well maybe not Plugg, havn't got a read on him yet], and the Cap'n).

I just realized how low my diplomacy is and how easy it could be to change an attitude for the worse

I didn't put in a roll for the Diplomacy (and I almost did, was a good roll too, lol) because I wasn't sure Callum would be able to and I didn't know who the QM was so couldn't really stick together a proper conversation. Looking at the NPC list now, who'da thunk it was going to be a lady half-orc.

Yeah working on the game update and the OOC update and they're turning into beefy posts. Thus why Campaign Info is already set. Almost done lol.

I've updated the Campaign Info with the newly met NPC's as well as the Night Time ship actions.

An explanation of Night Time actions options. You will take 1 Night Time Ship Action. If you don't want to do anything, you can simply choose "Sleep". Otherwise you would choose one of the other Actions and go from there. This isn't to say that you won't sleep, but they spell out the Sleep option in part becuase it helps remove Fatigue and Exhaustion which are very easy to aquire in this game. (More often than naught, you would probably only choose this if you were Exhausted and needed to completely remove it, you didn't want to risk trying something else or you didn't have much time to post and just wanted to keep things moving.)

Additionally, the Night Time Ship's actions with an Asterix * may be used IN ADDITION to your 1 standard night time ship action up to 2 more times but doing so runs the risk of being tired for your next day's work. These take place "in the dead of night" and thus run the risk of not allowing you a full night's sleep. If you choose these extra actions, you will need to make a Con check as part of them to see if you are Fatigued for the next day.

So as an example:
A PC decides to use his Night Time Ship action to try to Influence an NPC. Additionally, he isn't Fatigued from his day's work and so decides to take an extra Night Time Ship action and chooses to try to make as many friends as he can and take a second Influence action. He would then post all of this accordingly, with the associated rolls as needed. He would also include a Con check as part of the second Influence action to determine if he's Fatigued the next morning.

Secondly, in the update there is stuff happening with Rum. Please see the Drugs Rules for further info.

Alright between the game update, this stuff, the rum rules, and the new stuff in the Campaign Info tab, this is a lot to take in. If you guys have any questions please let me know and I will answer them.

Also working off Callum's comment above. When you attempt to Influence an NPC, go ahead and roll one of your interaction skills (Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate), whichever you want to use. Based on how well you do and what interaction you chose, I will kick of the convo to help give you a feel for how it will progress.

The first couple of conversations were very one sided and didn't involve much PC interaction in part because we're just starting out and also because there wasn't much progress made. They started indifferent and weren't changed so that was easy enough to do with minimal conversation. If you guys do better or worse, and now that we're under way and most of the rules have been explained, you can expect to see a more dynamic conversation among the NPC's when you attempt to Influence them. Assuming of course you roll well.

Xanxan already planned to skip on Rum, he's keeping his head clear if he can. Well,as clear as a gnome's head gets.

Xanxan's post highlights this. Regading the Rum, if you have Sleight of Hand, you may substitute it for Stealth at the same DC to hide the fact that you're not drinking.

Just to be sure, do you need a second sleight of hand roll for that, or will the result of 23 in the post cover it?

I'm sorry if I'm coming across as a bit dense, but I want to be sure of things before I presume... and I hate to risk rolling a one if I don't have to. Magpie being keelhauled has both character and player paranoid ;)

Nope, the 23 is fine. It can be either Sleight of Hand OR Stealth.

Did I kill the game? I hate it when I do that.

I want Calvin to interact more with his fellow castaways. True, he's not friendly or likable, but he'll sure try hard. I'll see if we can make that happen tomorrow.