DM Rah's Strange Aeons

Game Master Kobash

New page fixed it! Yay!

Sorry all, have been playing catch all week after getting knocked to the couch with something for a few days last weekend.

Mariner- that was an epic post you made. I loved it. It conveyed so much, and was so well done. Great job to everyone. We could have all just done a little "pop" you arrive via teleport post-- but this crew leans into roleplaying what others would skim.

I'd bank roll this.

I love this movie idea!

Omid Djalili is a great possible Brother Butterfly.
I know we talked earlier and clearly landed on Willis as The Mariner.
Cera as Fearless
Who is the actor Heston? I don't recognize him - but he's got the brooding CATS down. All "IMDB searches only show Charlton Heston.
So who is Justin Long? The original Galaxy Quest geek? Was that going to be Pinkie?

With the actors currently slated, we could get this project off the ground for only a modest movie budget. Too bad we don't have the free money Disney + and Netflix was throwing out a couple years ago. We'd have already gotten the first two movies in the can.

Heston was Pinkies choice I think. And Long is Cats? Well, Willis just retired. Who would make a good Lowls? I would cast Max Von Sydow or Harvey Keitel.

Just a heads up that I'll be traveling to Argentina/Catagonia from 2/24 to 3/8 or so and my access/time on the internet may be restricted. Feel free to GMPC me or PlayerPC me as needed.

Plz don't do any PlayerPC posts that don't either question/admire Catterfly's sexual prowess/exploits/wives, or question Catless's mental acuity, or view Catiner w/o abject terror.

There are rules, and I have expectations.

I just got back from Con! I played levels 1 and 2 of BoneKeep and survived!!!!
I also ran 3 PFS scenarios (PF1E). That went off with full tables.
Of course one table had 2 people that thought it was PF2E rules and so had pre-gens for 2E! LOL! It's the story and fun that matters and that table was probably the most fun/creative.
I'm back to being able to post on PBP full time.

As for Cats! Have a great trip. Sounds amazing.

Formatting looks fixed on my side. Sorry if it's sill showing "borked" on your end!

Dig this tie-back! McGuffin'd!!!

@Cats -= - that was a very well done zinger. That was poetry.
I tip my cap.

I am down with COvid atm and may need a couple of days to recover.

Get well soon, Fearless.

I agree! Get well!

Take care and get well!

How you feeling Fearless? (health, not game)

I was telling BB this story, so telling it to Pain and Tyranius -- and Rah too because he probably forgot.

Back in the day, when Rah and I freshly joined Paizo pbp, we played a bunch of games with some of the OG at the time. We had an idea, thinking it'd be cool to have an in-character thread for recruitment, rather than the plain old boring Recruiting Board. It would be a hangout of sorts, run by the Dos XX beer guy (yes it was back then), who was the inspiration for Rah's character Maximo Interresante. Thus Maximo's Hideaway was opened for business. (my alias 5th post down - Mu Ping)

Among these OG players was EndlessForms (aka Mike Tuholski) who had something like a dozen halflings alias under the last name, the Flaxseeds. He followed the idea and opened his own place owned by halflings... now the well known Flaxseed Lodge.

Thread dates for proof!

Oh, I remember this!

Maximo made a recent brief cameo appearance on my discord server. I have a similar “tavern” for my players there.

I am starting to feel a bit better now. Thanks! Had a few rough days there and was also alone with the kids for the weekend as the wife was on her 72 hour call shift.

I'm very resistant to change and have no plans outside of PF1. But I'm curious to ask of everyone experience with PF2.

Do you like PF2?
How much of your current gameplay is PF1 vs PF2?

I like PF2. It does take some getting used to as the numbers are very tight so tactics, buffs, and debuffs are a much bigger impact.

Spells against Mooks will generally succeed while against the BBEG he will usually succeed for half damage.

Magic items and Feats are very situational but there is usually some good go to's. No two builds are usually the same due to the number of feats. I have been playing 2e a bit more than 1e lately and am now up to 23 PFS characters.

I am surprised to get this validation. I've seen some polls in the Flaxseed and it seems PF2 is gaining popularity over that latter, perhaps even won over on ratio of tables in Outpost that I see. Hearing a bit about D&D 5e gaining as well. Theres just so much stuff in PF1 to abandon.

D& D 5E is very popular.
I don't like the content of 5E (except the outlier stuff like Curse of Strahd and Dragonlance seems interesting).
Pathfinder seems to have had some great adventure arcs. Really good writers . I'm trying out PFS2 and it's going just fine.

Is there a character conversion option from 1 to 2?

Not that I am aware of but there are enough feats and abilities I have had very little problem converting over. Let me know what you are looking to make and can punch it into HeroLab and link you some of the abilities / stats.

Oh I see, duplicating a character from PF1 to PF2 is functional. What about converting organized play characters, say you have a 10th level cleric in pf1.

So while you can essentially make similar characters you have to start back at 1st level in 2e if that is what you mean.

Yup, that's was it. I woulda thought a good marketing move to give players the optional mechanics to convert 1 to 2 especially for Organized Play.

I love you all to death.

But also, I need a faster game to keep my interest, and a regular posting rate to ensure that my character (and my mind) is involved. I lose track of what is happening when it is days between posts.

And I love this group. Everyone. And I love Cats so so much. He's one of my favorite yahoos of all time. I love playing with Catterfly (delightful), and Catless (a very very good character), and Catiner (scary as cat). You guys are great.

But also, I need to go. I can't keep this up. This game hurts more than it excites me at this point. I check often and there isn't push.

As such, Cats is going to bow out when it is convenient.

I can see this was a difficult decision for you. This Aons game is easily one of my favorite and best game online or anywhere anytime else, made very special by Cat's presence, and Fearless Butterfly as well. Sometimes games and characters build fatigue, I understand and have had a few, all of those characters still treasured.

Perhaps poetic to your well-known Manifesto, of characters being a reflection of a facet of oneself. For me, those parts eventually fold inwards and a new one is born. We're not static, we age, mature and change, although I probably still have characters I played in my teens talking to my subconscious I'm sure.

I'm jumping the gun a bit while wanting to give Rah the respect to acknowledge first, I also didn't want to leave you hanging that no one was responding. I saw yours about 7 mins after post and kept checking back. More later from me.

So sorry to hear this Cats but I also understand where you are coming from and loved your character.

Hello Cats! I opened this discussion thread and your post hit hard and was powerful. I felt actual pain upon the realization that you might not continue your role as Cats.
I fully understand, I just wanted to tell you that your roleplaying has been so spectacular that you generated physical pain at the impending loss.

IRL, I'm running (GM) a Runelords campaign and we are on the last book. I want to steal your line about how the game hurts more than enjoyment as I am trying to find motivators to get the players to commit to game days just to complete the book. I'm a completionist, and I know you are also. Mariner isn't wrong in his post, it's just tough to compromise for the others without compromising one's self.
Damn, I rambled.
My point: I empathize. Be true to yourself.

Hey all, Rand is right on point here, and though I wish I could make a case to him and to you all that this game will correct course and push on like it did, I have to be honest and admit that I don’t know if it will.

I thought when I left the entertainment business and moved to the Midwest that I’d have more time for things like this, but it turns out I had more disposable time back when I was on set - there is a lot of forced downtime in production for last minute schedule changes, travel to and from set, location setup, endless mind-numbing interviews, etc. As these games were my creative output during those years I had a lot of time in small stretches to craft posts and keep momentum going. When the pandemic hit I thought I’d have time, but between home-schooling and a new business I began to feel the first squeeze on time. In the last two years that squeeze has increased as I work more hours - hours without the little stretches of downtime I used to have. Turns out owning a homestead and running a business is hard. Heck, it’s Sunday morning and I’ve had to stop twice while composing this to address other things.

There are other factors as well, but I’m not trying to convince anyone to stick this out, because I don’t see an end in sight, which means these games will be slow, painstakingly so at times. I love these characters you’ve made, and the story you are telling with them is better than the one in the campaign, especially at this point. If I were ever to run this AP again I would probably cut out 90% of books 4-5.

To Rand, Sam is completely correct in referring to your Manifesto. Your insights into roleplaying, story, pushing, and engaging have been invaluable and made me a better GM in every game I’ve run since meeting you, and in this situation they illustrate perfectly why you need (and should) bow out. We haven’t been playing by the standards everyone should expect for quite some time, and you gave me perhaps more chances than were deserved to get back to them. I’ve been blessed to have you this long, and I hope you’ll keep in touch.

I’d like to write more, and I will as time permits, but already I’m looking at the clock and counting the things I need to get moving on for today.

To everyone else, please weigh in on where you think we should go from here.

*sigh*

Perfect response. Thanks for understanding. I know life is what it is, and if you had time you'd it in here, but that's not always how it is.

This game was/is great, and I loved all my time with you all.

Completely understandable. If the game decides to continue going I will be here. I will be interested in seeing if we actually catch Lowls.

I'm on with finishing the adventure. I'm ready to complete the story, and will wait for what come what may!

I have a feeling we'll teleport again and somehow lose Cat's in the effect.... oh boy, will Cats have a deserving eye roll THEN!

Completionist - I like that BB.

It feels like Rah is still up for continuing? (confirm?) Just setting expectations that it will be life-paced, which I am very fine with. If so, the Mariner is ready and angry to continue. I look forward to writing the Mariner's epilogue should he make it to the end.

We started this AP in 2016. We're about to break more seasons than Star Trek: The Next Generation. Heck, Pinkie dropped out of the sky in the middle of the ocean, the Twin got snatched up into the sky, surely Cats may disappear in some Monty Pythonesque fashion.

Reservation - can we continue with three? If Rah recruits a fill, then they should fully desire and be amenable to our speed of play. And on that note, +1 to avoid all the nooks and crannies of the AP like Rah suggests so we can get to the meaty parts.

I would like to continue, and three will be enough.

Needed to reboot a bit. Will post tomorrow.

Haha
Check this out
link

Hahaha

Extension on the 1e vs 2e.

Flaxseed seems to be for 1e and Cottonseed for 2e? It looks like Cottonseed is much more active. No one has posted in Flax for weeks. Sign of 1e exodus?

2E is doing very well! The majority of games across all mediums atm. Starfinder is roughly a quarter of the games 2E are and 1E doing about a quarter of games that Starfinder is doing.

At least compared to all of the Cons information I have seen.

Not necessarily an exodus. There are still some playing it but the majority have gone to 2E.

That's an eye opener! Especially about Starfinder being more than 1e. There's an immense library of 1e,I find it almost amazing its being closeted. ::looks at my shelf of 2nd ed AD&D Unearthed Arcana::

Okay, about 2 months since the last posts. Let us try and recruit someone to replace CATS and commit to rekindling this awesome AP!

It is with sadness that I report that the real life muse (at least physical appearance) for Brother Butterfly has passed away. The Iron Sheik of WWF/WWE fame has died. He got Superfly Snooka'd from the top rope by The Grim Reaper himself.

RIP bald man with the curly mustache.

Oh dang! That is sad to hear.

Mythic level.

SO the page is officially dead.