@DM Asmodeus, when would be a good date to decide our votes and turn them in by?
There is not a date set. When you come to a decision just PM me. I won't set a date unless it just drags on to long.
@DM Asmodeus, when would be a good date to decide our votes and turn them in by?There is not a date set. When you come to a decision just PM me. I won't set a date unless it just drags on to long.
Very well then, thanks for the clarification.
@AsmodeusUltima, Agreed.
I think that I will be able to send you the list in a day or two, too.
I'm more worried by choice of the one to send to the chopping block: that's way harder. :/
I'm more worried by choice of the one to send to the chopping block: that's way harder. :/
Wait, what?! Isn't the DM doing that himself once we've sent our list of 6?
If I remember correctly, each of us is supposed to choose who he would send off to be executed. And what is more, we are supposed to do so in character and in thread, I believe.
How about we all agree to a soft decision date of Friday. I think choosing as early as Wednesday is really really unfair to those who just started yesterday. Its pretty clear at least a few of them are doing their damnedest to bring something to the table (pun intended) for the rest of our consideration.
While I agree for the most part, there's also the risk that the conversation could grow stale because most of us already said what we wanted to say. I don't foresee it being much of a problem, as DM Asmodeus frequently updates giving us something to talk about (jerk guards, Balin being a perv at Hecate, mysterious old ladies that I suspect to be eldritch abominations in disguise...). We'll see.
Ah yes, just re-read the instructions. Hmmm.
I agree with the later date, fwiw - gives everyone a chance to strut their stuff and gives more time to make a decision. As Etna says, I doubt that our DM will permit us to get bored...
I understand the concern about things getting stale but I don't foresee that happening. I would just like to see the ontimers latecomers flesh themselves out a little more. My ideal situation would be for us to have the final 6 announced on Friday night, we spend the weekend finalizing character sheets and we start on Labor Day (at least in the US Monday will be Labor Day).
Even if we submit our preferences for Friday, that's only a part of the recruitment and a part of the criteria DM Asmodeus will use, from what I understand. After we send our list, we still have both the part in which each of us is sentenced (giving an excuse for a monologue, I hope :P) and then another part in which we decide who's gonna get axed, if I understood correctly.
Either way, I highly doubt we'll be done by Friday :/
I'll be ready with my list before Friday, but I'm playing at a local con (PacifiCon, if anyone is in the San Francisco area), so I'll kind of disappear next weekend.
I will be offline from Fiday till sunday/monday. SCA event this weekend, but I will have my ranking in before I leave.
Even if we submit our preferences for Friday, that's only a part of the recruitment and a part of the criteria DM Asmodeus will use, from what I understand. After we send our list, we still have both the part in which each of us is sentenced (giving an excuse for a monologue, I hope :P) and then another part in which we decide who's gonna get axed, if I understood correctly.
Either way, I highly doubt we'll be done by Friday :/
You are correct. If I can get everyone's list by Friday then we can play out the court, etc. after that it will give characters that are not selected a chance to say their goodbye. It will also be a chance to really ramp up the RP as I will not just spit the list out but have it decided in court, one at a time while everyone watches and comments as the characters get dragged before the king one by one.
Since this is a game cannon event it will become part of the game history for everyone. And I have a few twist and turns along the way.
I edited my last post to include Etna's post (that occurred just after mine in the thread but just before mine in time).
@Etna: Tell me about it. I too can take quite some time to put together a post the way I want it too (although sometimes I might rush things if I don't have the luxury).
Yeah you guys are way better writers then myself for sure. I think I hurt myself a little going the Tank build so not as cultured as the rest of you, but the country boy thing has been fun. I just don't want to post making him something he's not just to try and get into the game. Hope you guys see that. Enjoy reading everyones post though. I have no idea who my other 5 are yet.
Yeah you guys are way better writers then myself for sure. I think I hurt myself a little going the Tank build so not as cultured as the rest of you, but the country boy thing has been fun. I just don't want to post making him something he's not just to try and get into the game. Hope you guys see that. Enjoy reading everyones post though. I have no idea who my other 5 are yet.
The ranger might be the closest class we have to a martial class... out of all of us...so, be proud of your tank build! Not every villain has to come from rich nobles! Country bumpkins have every right to be bad too!
Didn't we have antipaladins somewhere? Also Erevan is a slayer. And Amestri is a warpriest. Herr Doktor is a vivisectionist who'll be beastmorph pouncing at some point in the future I'd imagine. Full BAB is overrated...
The ranger might be the closest class we have to a martial class...
Remember that nothing is set in stone regarding the stat blocks yet, many concepts I see can easily work for several different classes, some, no so easy though.
It's also true that some of us, like Melphael, have rolled so well that they could go smashing in the frontlines.
Me? I can't even raise a feather. :P
EDIT:Talking of crunch, I'm contemplating the idea of picking a drawback to get another trait (Planar savant, in this case), but all of them either
1)Don't make sense for Etna
or
2)Are so niche that won't ever come up. What's the point of a drawback if it doesn't ever hinder you? :/
Oh snap! Just realized that I've been yammering on about aasimars fire resistance... Aasimars aren't resistant to fire, should have made that a skiing accident, an avalanche or such :(
Just a quick note I will cover this more later tonight. Some of you are outright meta gaming exposing your knowledge of the first book of the ap. This spoils the upcoming events for others. Please stop or I might hold it against your character being selected.
Sorry to be abrupt but I will talk more tonight.
I knew that the sample Contract on Prince of Darkness would have been useful but by Asmodeus' glorious goatee, it was a nightmare to format. The fact that I did a mess with italics and spoiler tags didn't help. <.<
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Yikes, blatant metagaming is what ended the last PbP I was part of. Yet I also can't help but look for the breadcrumbs being laid...
@Gabriel: I understand what you mean. I am trying to portray the doctor's abysmal charisma and condescending trait without making him so insufferable that the other PLAYERS hate him and vote him away. :P
So I made this statement about waiting until Friday. I lied, I'm about 5/6 of the way there to knowing who I want to become a lord of an evil empire with. Should have it in tomorrow.
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Give me a break, you can't lie. We are supposed to be Lawful Evil. Lying is not in our repertoire. Deceptive misleading, loopholes, ambiguous statements, confusing wordplay, and lots of other things are all fine and acceptable. Outright lying is likely to be frowned upon by the First.
On the other hand, you are playing the Zon-Kuthon game (at least I thought you were, but cannot find the post so I may be completely mistaken), so perhaps lying is just fine for now.
Definitely playing the Zon-Kuthon game, I recalled that post as well.
And such a barrister's view you take of it, Tkaara - but I think the Lord of Nessus wouldn't disagree with you.
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Playing the Zon-Kuthon game is a hard road to go down. Its especially rough when I realized I'm like the only one in this entire game without a long running vendetta against Talingarde. In game time, I only resolved to take down the nation like 3 days ago while everyone else was like "Talingarde murdered my father, and raped my mother, and sodomized my puppy spot."
I've made some vague in-game overtures but mine is a faith that is best experienced not told about.
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"Talingarde . . . sodomized my puppy spot."
Leave Spot out of this. <-- click here (stupid links looking like regular text when by themselves)
It's not PURE evil unless you attempt puppycide.
As I mentioned earlier, I would further address the meta-gaming issue.
Several players seem to be building their background around the entire theme of book 1 of this AP. Which is fine if you build your character with that in mind as some of you have played through some of the AP with other GM's. But you have not done this as a single note, but as the ongoing theme of their character backgrounds and IC role playing.
The story will be no fun for people who have not played it if you have told them what is going to happen. Or if your character runs around doing all the "things" you know to do because the "player" has been there before.
It is kind of like building a toon in World of Warcraft to have a high level player run you through all the instances just to get the loot. You let them do everything because he is all powerful and has been in this instance 100 times before. You don't read the dialogue, you don't care who the bad guys are, you just run on auto-pilot behind them because they know everything, and it is BORING!!
If that is the type of game you desire then that is fine but that is not the kind of game I will run. So please treat your "Player Knowledge" like everyone else in the group is brand new to this AP and never have set foot in Braderscar Prison. Because actually there is a few here that have never played this AP.
Thanks for listening.... your thoughts are welcome.
Yikes, blatant metagaming is what ended the last PbP I was part of. Yet I also can't help but look for the breadcrumbs being laid...
@Gabriel: I understand what you mean. I am trying to portray the doctor's abysmal charisma and condescending trait without making him so insufferable that the other PLAYERS hate him and vote him away. :P
I actually like the good doctor and find him interesting partly because of his character concept and background and partly because he is insufferable.
I'm with Castor, I'm enjoying the doctor quite a bit. His low-charisma approach actually lends him a certain charisma.
As to the metagaming - I very much don't want the kind of game DM Asmodeus describes. I have played the very beginning of this AP twice (Super Secret Spoiler: it doesn't all take place in Branderscar...) and know virtually nothing about what comes next, and I like it that way.
"Talingarde murdered my father, and raped my mother, and sodomized my puppy spot."
I propose to use this as the campaign description. :P
@AsmodeusUltima: Don't worry, we love to hate the Doctor. Best low Charisma RP I've ever seen.
Now, to write a very long post!
Guys, I have am idea. Alayne is a little redundant with a lot of characters in ability, role, and story. At the same time, we have a dearth of melee characters. How would you all feel about me putting in Mikhail Halancoun, the dhampir antipaladin and fallen prince of Talingarde, as , you submitted character instead?
This is Mikhail. I would have to tweak his backstory and character sheet a bit, but otherwise he is done.
Mikhail used his guise to convince Hallen - now Markadian III - to fly off the spires of the castle..
lol!
I'd say go for it.
I would not mind. I have played alongside Mikhail before and he is an interesting character, so it is fine with me.
I feel adding a character or changing the character would take away from the past RP. How would you vote on a late entry?
I would say we have an abundance of melee characters. Two inquisitors (one of which could go antipaladin if he needs to), two rogues, a slayer, a ranger, and a warpriest (who's probably one weapon focus away from being a switch hitter); to say nothing of Doctor Wilkin's vivisectionist who looks like he's going to grow up to be a textbook Mr. Hyde. I think the real dearth is in ranged combat, but that can be compensated for after the final party is chosen: either through selecting Amestri or someone adding a little variety to their character.
Also I think the REAL burning question for everyone is "How many party members do I want to have sneak attack?"
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You can never have enough sneak attack (or backstab as I prefer calling it from a bygone era).
Really, the party makeup is irrelevant and the party will find ways to supplement to fill the gaps. Unless the decision is something really bizarre - 6 sorcerers or all fighters or something - the DM should be able to adjust the AP enough so that the party can survive and have fun doing so.
I am in a great Legacy of Fire campaign in which our party for the better part of the first two books, we are just starting book 3 I think, consisted of a wizard, a bard (who focussed on knowledge with minimal melee capabilities), a rogue/fighter with poor AC, and an archery focussed fighter/ranger (my character, who really only uses her bow 99% of the time). Thus, we effectively have a secondary healer, no tank, a lightweight front liner and no divine casting. Despite this, the campaign is probably my favorite because we have to think a lot more about how to resolve things when we don't just have a character with all the necessary skills.
For now, we have no characters, simply character concepts more like. Certainly each of us has an idea of how his character is going to be and going to develop mechanically if chosen, but all we have as far as mechanics go are the various races and classes and, for some, a more or less rudimentary character sheet.
But since I find PbPs to be more akin to stories rather than simply games involving rules and dice, although I will keep in mind what each character's general area of expertise is supposed to be, what will primarily play a role in my selection is which characters I find most interesting (not necessarily likeable, but interesting), e.g. if I choose Amestri, it will not be because she is the only one currently interested in using a bow, but because she has an interesting story to tell. I have been in games where the Holy Quartet of fighter-rogue-cleric-wizard or the Dynamic Duo of melee-ranged or even the Careful Balance of martial-magic were not necessarily upheld and they were or are no less fun.
In short, like Tkaara said, the party's mechanical makeup is almost irrelevant (barring extreme occasions that is) and I am sure those selected will be able to manage regardless of their actual classes/ability scores/skill selection/weapon preferences, etc.
Just my two cents, anyway. :-)
Yeah, as long as there is at least a Divine and an Arcane caster (full or not, and almost everyone is a class with at least partial magic) of some sort in the party I'm not worried about party composition.
Speaking of which, I'm fairly sure about the 5 I want to pick, but like Tkaara said yesterday I'm waiting for everyone to say something in this scene, in case something really strikes me. I also have to finish up the order of preference.
As for the one to send to the noose, I've restricted my list, but I'm still deciding. :/
Probably won't be able to do a fully fleshed out post until tonight, or possibly tomorrow. RL obligations and such. Though I have a pretty good idea of who I want to see out in that crowd.
Argalia who was once Arcalia, dragging around a huge mirror? :P