DM-Salsa presents Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master AdamWarnock

Okay, all the events should now be essentially chronological and convergent. We're all in the street at the same time now.

;_;

I don't wanna be mean to Sev...

(also, Raina is rash as all hell, it seems. this should be fun.)

Awww. Poor Raina. xD

P.S. - Sev is kind of a jerk until you get to know him (and even then.. still kind of aloof unless you REALLY get to know him). Don't take it too personal, guys. <3

I'm lovin' this group. I'm not too worried about things getting too out of hand. If I think they are, I'll politely, and privately, ask the offender to tone it down a few notches.

I like our characters' interaction - a lot. We are complete strangers so it's natural to be suspicious plus everyone is on edge because of the mention of Gaedren Lamm. I like the friction.

This will probably be my last post until around Sunday. I am going to New Orleans for a bachelor party this weekend. I will try to get on from my phone, and if I do I apologize as my punctuation/posting may not be the best. Knowing this group, I anticipate charging head first to the fishery.... :)

Okay, before we start combat, do you guys need/want a map? It's the most time consuming part of combat for me and I'd rather describe the awesomeness you're doing than fiddle around with tokens and maps.

Combat posts might look like this:

Three burly warriors clad in grimy half-plate burst through the door to the south, one looks about menacingly before barking orders to the other two.

"Catch tha girl, kill tha rest."

Like a rolling storm, the trio spread out and advance on the party.

===Room===
The room is thirty feet by twenty feet. There are three doors in the center of the east, south, and west walls. An alcove with a statue of Desna is in the north wall directly across from the door in the south.
===Allies===
Raina and Aerodus are ten feet from the door near the west wall. Sev is in the southeast corner while Tusilak is examining the statue in the alcove to the west.
===Enemies===
The the leader and one of the others are in front of Raina and Aerodus. The third man is moving to corner Sev.
Roll Initiative

GM Dice:

I prepared Explosive Runs this morning.

Would that work?

I'm happy with maps or no maps, or maybe just using maps for those times when the environment might become relevant (e.g., we're fighting in an area with pools of acid or something). Whatever works for you.

Explosive runs? What a terrifying spell...

Oh yes. All who set eyes on the runes have uncontrollable diarrhea thus becoming helpless, taking a -12 to all stealth rolls, and there is no save. Muahahahahaha

I'm ok without maps too. I don't think Tusilak will have too much in way of tactics that will require a map to pull off.

I'm okay either way. Maps do help me visualize but I honestly don't know the effort involved in creating them. I say we go without but maybe in a critical fight or particular area (like Raina pointed out) use one?

It might matter most to Sev for movement/flanking purposes, but Aerodus will have some pretty basic in-combat options (shoot bow, stab with sword) as he is definitely geared to be an out-of-combat character.

Okay, looks like Sev's the only person that needs to chime in and then we can get this party started!

You guys did remember the chips and salsa, right?

Based on the example scene you created above, I made a basic mock-up in the style of old school D&D maps. It's simple and leaves a lot to the imagination. I think most people just want to know where they are in relation to things, so this gets the job done.

Kickin' It Old School

It may be a little inaccurate since your description isn't super specific. These kinds of maps are very easy to make and update. Hell, I think if you just scribbled lines in MSPaint nobody would actually complain. :P

Unless we're playing 2nd Edition AD&D, it would be difficult to maintain a mapless game without excessive backtracking to read where everyone was the last time you checked the thread, or completely handwaving tactical/positional stuff like cover, flanking, etc. If you didn't find a simple and streamlined way to deal with those things consistently, you'd have a lot of "Hey, is this guy granting cover?" and "I forgot where everyone is.. " or "Am I flanking with so-and-so?" which would definitely end up slowing down play as we all wait to get those answers.

I'm also happy to help with maps if I'm given detailed descriptions like the above! A map like this is also easy to set up too.

EDIT: Also, my assumption was that things like flanking, cover, exact distance, etc., would be handwaved and estimated for the most part. You obviously can't be particular with positioning without maps.

If we decide we don't want to bother with maps (which I honestly don't mind), we just need to figure out how the flanking/positioning stuff will be handwaived, I guess!

If my character wasn't so dependent on flanking for dealing extra damage, I probably wouldn't be that concerned about it. Out of curiosity, Salsa, how would you handle it?

I'd let everyone know if they can flank someone, and if they'd take AoO's.

I have a GM that uses the spreadsheet map. I think I may try that and see how it goes.

Well, alright. I'm cool with that.

I think we should rush in, use the element of surprise and then see what comes next.

My proposal:
See if the door is locked, I think both Sev and Aerodus are sufficiently sneaky they could try the door and not alert anyone. If it is locked, maybe Sev could pick the lock (Disable Device, I think, Aerodus doesn't haven any ranks). If that fails, maybe have Raina kick it down?

Surprise round:
Aerodus can either shoot his bow or could cast grease (depending on where they are all in relation to us). I assume that Raina, Sev and Tusilak are more melee oriented (vs. ranged)?

I want to see if we can sneak in through the fishy door since that seems like the place where they process the day's catch and aren't likely to be hanging around it after hours because of the smell.

For the record, Sev is purely melee at the moment. He has a decent Dex, so he can use most simple ranged weapons effectively, but he doesn't currently carry any.

Tusilak will be inspiring you all to finish them faster :) But once he fights, yes more Melee than ranged.

Raina is made to punch people in the face. Yes. Although she does have a shortbow in case of an emergency.

Hey guys, I've got a bit of bad news. My computer is having issues and it's going to take some time to sort it out. My posting over the next week or so is going to be stunted since I will only have access at work, and I've got a good bit of stuff to slog through. I'm still committed to the game, but I won't be able to post nearly as much.

On another note, I'll try to get the ball rolling again as soon as everyone gets their actions up.

Thanks for the heads-up! Also, I don't know if Tusliak went before me or not but I did NOT include his +1 to hit/damage on my rolls

@Aerodus - I'm going to assume that since we're doing group initiative, the order of each individual on a given side is presumed to be the most efficient order of operations possible. Therefore, you can probably assume you took your shot when you had the least penalty (-2 soft cover) and you had a +1 bonus to your shot and damage from Tusilak.

@Salsa - I posted both my surprise round and my first round action since we won initiative.

P.S. - If the rest of you haven't taken your round 1 actions yet, you might as well go ahead and do that since the DM isn't going to be able to post as frequently for a little bit.

Well, hopefully not as long as feared. It looks like it's a bad HDD, but on the flip side, my laptop is three years old.

I think Aerodus and Tusilak still need to post their round one actions.

Just as a reminder, please say who you are attacking in the post. It makes my job easier when I know if someone just got their throat removed.

Sev's attack was against Chuckles, but in the future I will label the target (either their name or the space they're in) on their roll entries as well:

Claw #1 (Chuckles):

Alrighty, thank you.

Good luck with the computer Salsa. Round 1 coming up shortly for me.

Okay, I've got my computer mostly straight now. Free time is going to be at a premium for me for a while, so I apologize about the game moving slow, and the fact that it will continue to do so for the next few weeks. One of my co-workers' dad was hospitalized after a major heart attack yesterday and will be having to undergo surgery today. Another one had recently moved to Houston, Texas. We have one of our big clients doing a design update on their site and I may be having to switch between web development and bench tech until things calm down.

Short version: Things are going to be crazy at work and I'm not going to feel up to GMing much.

No worries Salsa. Set the pace that works for you, I'll be around.

You work for an agency or integrator or something else?

Stuff like this happens sometimes. That's why we all play PbP, right? Schedules are crazy. As long as the game doesn't flat out die, I'm more than willing to be patient while things calm down for you. I'm enjoying everything so far!

You took on the task to GM so we all could have a chance to play. Who are we to complain?: ) and if it does seem that life is more hectic than it needs to be just let us know. Certainly no hard feelings on my end.

I, uh, don't know what we're going to do from here...

Both Sev and I are down and there's literally no way we can be healed. Even if Aerodus and Tusilak somehow manage to take down 3 people and a dog between them we'll have to retreat and Lamm will probably take the hint and leave in the interim...

Yeah, it looks like we're kind of boned with regards to catching him in this instance. Level 1 fights are so dodgy when you're fighting humanoids because the base damage of most weapons has the potential to 1-shot the majority of characters. I guess we should have been more careful, but the fight actually did start in our favor, so I guess the dice gods are very fickle this time around!

I think Aerodus and Tusilak should run away. It's very unlikely that the two of them can win this fight. Raina and Sev might be of particular interest for Lamm to capture since he knows them, and it's possible we might not be killed outright because of that. This is entirely theory based on the motivations of a character I don't control, though. So.. you know. Grain of salt.

Realistically speaking, though, there's nothing stopping Aerodus and Tusilak from high-tailing it out of there. It makes sense to save yourselves because you really don't owe either of us any kind of loyalty or allegiance at this early stage of the game. A TPK in the first encounter would be a real bummer.

That's my two cents.

We may still wind up running or we may die this round. I'll play it out a little longer. Maybe Lamm wants some captives to torment.

And this is also the reason the AP's are more like guidelines. Don't worry I'll make sure you guys don't have to retreat.

Well, this is the reality of of 1st level characters! I don't mind lethality at all. Helps us regroup, work on strategy (although as Sev pointed out, I think our strategy was pretty good), and in the end gives me a chance to play one of the other character concepts I have!

Although, it does suck when you have a cool character and they have such a short life. Completely meta-gaming here, but I don't think Lamm is the kind of guy to take captives or keep alive people who betrayed him and then are trying to attack him.

Just posted my next round actions. I opted against grease, because it is only helpful if we have people who can attack those who are greased! So, I threw the net... and it failed. Tusilak, if you want to make a last stand I'm open for that too. If we want to create a new group from scratch I am open to that idea.

Wait - is this Rappan Athuk? ;)

Depending on what Salsa has up his sleeve, I think we've hit the point where Tusilak would be thinking retreat is the way to go.

Well, I'm going to be doing some thing that I think violates a core tenant of GMing, but I'd rather not have my first two dead PC's be because of the first fight of the AP! I've got something in mind, but I need some time to get it together. I don't want to reveal too much, but you guys okay with a Deus ex Machina?

Well, I have a suggestion, if you don't mind a little input. It would eliminate the need for any heavy-handed GM intervention.

One of the most tried and true methods for unexpected party problems is the "switch-hitter solution".

Say Aerodus and Tusilak manage to get away. Well, that leaves Sev and Raina in the clutches of the enemy. Let's say Lamm decides he's going to kill them, but he'd rather see them suffer first. We know he has his lackeys torture people, so it's not far-fetched.

Meanwhile, Aerodus and Tusilak hire a couple of mercenaries to help them stage a rescue mission and finish what they started. Alice and I could make some generic mercenary type characters which we would then play until the point where we could rescue our other characters. The campaign wouldn't be stalled out or derailed, and all four of us would get to play the entire time. It's simple, effective, and realistic, and it lets us get ourselves out of our own jam -- which is way more fun and rewarding.

The mercenary characters don't need to have extensive backstories or perfectly thought-out builds, so they'd be easy to make and drop into play (and just as easy to phase out once their parts have been played).

Let me know what you guys think about that idea.

Tusilak would have some Shoanti connections too.

Nora Baradin; Mercenary.

Wow, you're good.

Also, Aerodus could literally go on a stealing spree to prepare and could think up some way to alert the Korvosan guard to perhaps get him arrested or get them to come in. He is very good at lying and murder is generally looked upon as a bad thing.

GREETINGS, GENTLEMEN!

Welp, looks like we're going with the merc option.

I was going to use this to see how it went and if you'd need a dedicated caster. If you guys were having trouble I'd introduce one as a NPC, but since you guys are gettign walloped, I was going to introduce them early.

I still can, and to be honest, I really, really have been wanting to play this one, but never managed to get past the encounter with Lamm before they fizzled.

That said, the option is still there if you want it. If not, well, I'm fine GMing.

Bring 'em on Salsa. I'm running a GM PC in a Freeport PbP I picked up from another GM and I've done it plenty of times in PFS and other RL games.

Honestly, whatever works, Salsa.

I personally don't think we need a sor/wiz type character but I have no problems if you want to join in with a GM-NPC either.

Seeing as it's usually the fighter types that are strongest at low levels, I get the feeling it wouldn't have mattered much for this fight anyway. :P

Why not combine the two ideas? You could make your GM PC one of the mercenaries that gets hired, or someone who overhears the situation and decides to join in. When the mercs decide to part ways with the group, your character stays if you feel like you want it to. Win/Win.

Join the game! Having a dedicated caster certainly could only help us. Even if we end up with 5 full time PCs I think this fight clearly shows us we would not be over-powered.