I think there were a lot of people who reacted badly to Civ VI due to nostalgia for earlier versions.
That wasn't a problem for me. The last time I played Civilization, it was the early '90s and my operating system was MS-DOS. So everything is so different it's basically a whole new game on a similar theme.
Double-posting in pure excitement!
Today on Stupid Windows Tricks -- put your cursor someplace where you can type something. Anywhere. It could be Word, or Notepad, or the text box on this web page, or a chat program. Just someplace where you can type something.
Then press the Windows key plus the period key. Windows+dot.
I'm not a huge fan of emoticons, but the ascii ones are sometimes handy. And it's way easier to get to specialty characters than opening up character map.
I think for me it was less nostalgia as issue, but more than some aspects that already existed in 5 seemed locked for the purpose of future expansions in 6.
As in, mechanisms that were already integral part of playing were not there and seemed clearly earmarked for some future integration with little changes but a cost attached. It was less nostalgia and more of a "are you serious" - issue.
That and the district-based building - I admit i love playing high and compact in most of these games, because I lose interest from the repetitive tasks of managing a wide empire.
Personal issue, there, clearly.
Also, lots of useful shortcuts there. 90% of people in my workplace did not even know windows+D and windows+E -
Haven't played civ since highschool...and that was a long time ago. :P
Right now the game that has me hooked is Total War Warhammer. There's just something cathartic about watching a line of dwarven handgunners with flamecannon support light up a horde of orcs.
For me the current game if interest is Eve Echoes, space sandbox on my phone so I can actually pop in and out as real life demands? Yep I'm hooked.
I expected I'd get caught on Cyberpunk, but actually I've been unexpectedly caught on Amazing Cultivation Simulator.
Ha, Video Game Time?
(And yeah, I'll post in gameplay right after this...apologies).
So yeah, time is tight right now. Little chance to play something 'big'.
I am waiting on Cyberpunk a bit more before getting it.
I did look at Amazing Cultivation Simulator but was on edge.
Admittedly never heared of Eve Echoes, but then my Phone is about 5 years old and no longer really up to the demands of most games.
I do regularily binge on Total War Warhammer 2. The fact they shafted Asrai(Wood Elves) in their update(from my perspective, at least, it was 1 step forward, 2 steps back) while the Rats again got the fancy stuff admittedly took a heavy toll on my motivation. I do love the game overall, though.
Due to the limited time and on-call availability for my girls even during spare time, I am currently going through Children of Morta. I'm a sucker for well-done pixel graphics.
Got Timelie, Superliminal and Manifold Garden in the Winter Sale, will probably follow up with one of those.
Sorry folks. I know I'm due here. Things are crazy this week and I'm barely making time for PBP. You guys are top, top, top priority next window I get. Should be tonight unless something crazy happens.
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Thanks.
But take the time needed. PBP should be fun, not a chore. I was the one that delayed before because I didn't get around to post :)
Honestly, with the global state being what it is I don't expect anybody to be available with regularity :)
So deal with your crazy and I'll be happy to continue as soon as things calm down enough for you!
Life is crazy for me too. I was feeling guilty. Assuaged abit not being alone
Came across a handy Alter Self cheat sheet today listing a bunch of the things it will let you turn into and what each form has to offer.
Just got back into my account!
Oh yes, you have to manually delete any Paizo cookies you have and then log back in. That left me very puzzled for a while till I found a post from one of their devs explaining that their server done derped. That's the technical explanation.
It always bugs me that their website lies and says it's down for "scheduled maintenance." Really? If it's scheduled, how come I've never heard of them announcing ahead of time when there will be maintenance?
Is that what I was supposed to do? I was getting so frustrated I installed another browser. I've been pretty busy too, so no shade coming from me.
Aye. I even cleared my cookies but forgot to refresh the login-window :P Also derped on me.
But finally managed to get back in, as well. Well, 2 days ago, but with 2 birthdays last friday and tomorrow in my core family time was at a premium.
Well nobody said when they scheduled it. If they add it to their schedule 5 seconds before doing it, then technically they are being honest!
As an IT person, I do not concur. Scheduled means all stakeholders were informed ahead of the maintainance. Otherwise it's unplanned, even if you have a warning time. (e.g. if we need to push a hotfix for a system, we may coordinate a downtime a couple hours later, but even though we send out a notification, it's considered unplanned - scheduled means people are informed early enough to plan around it.)
I understand the technicalities of language, but I despise them in such cases.(Biggest Pet Peeves: Food labels. E.g. "Honey from EU and non-EU countries." - so anywhere, really - That tells me as much as "Everything in the universe is a potato or not a potato." - and the equally irritating "from controlled biological farming" - which does not mean, as it may imply, that there is a controlling instance that checks bio-standards, it just means it's not growing in the wild. (that is, anything growing in a tended field is "controlled"))
Note: today my cable modem died the death, cutting me off from the Internet. Its replacement arrives Thursday.
That cable modem worked great for over ten years. So all I can say is: well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Ok well you all can pursue this grandest of larcenies whenever you are ready.
Apologies, somehow I missed it was back to us. I'll make sure to post as early as I can tomorrow!
I will post ASAP. I know we are up.
I was absent from the boards for a few days due to an unexpected death.
An uncle of mine - I was not close to him, so I'm fine, but it still threw off regular routine as I took some time to be there for other relatives.
Sorry to hear that Turion.
Thank you, Fyrtor.
My apologies, I had intended to post right then, and it's on my that this got bogged down again. It was, overall, a bad timing for spotlight - couldn't have known beforehand.
Alas, what I failed to do is ask for input - we are still a team on this. We basically have evidence for everything from stealing until loading on the ship, we know they have goods here, been loading that ship, we have names of potential witnesses and 2 'handlers' that clearly know whats going on(rollinsby and that warehouse master).
My intent with the pretending was to get as much information as possible out of them - i had hoped for a clear implication of one of our suspects but I think either one of the handlers could name-drop them to save his skin, or the property of warehouse/ships/etc. could lead to that.
So the question is how to progess from there.
We can assume that the ledger is correct since we are the only ones meddling here. I had intended to visit the other dockside locations as well, just so we have additional locations and ships to link to a name.
My point is: I wanted to learn as much as possible in non-combat, but I am not sure HOW much more we can gather that is of use to us beyond additional ledgers and locales - I am open to suggestions there.
One consideration I had was to go to the captain as well and interrogate him regarding any new crew - to which of the destinations(implying there are multiple - he would likely not be certain about that) he is going and if any of his crew know that - especially ones recently signed on.
Otherwise we could probably inform either the royal guard, or Turick and help with the operation to secure one of the places, then lay out all the evidence we gathered.
In other words/TL:DR:
I did have an overall plan for information gathering, but we're at a point where I'm quite open for input, and if you feel we learned enough, can switch back to a more party-based mode.
Apologies for not posting this earlier.
You guys have accomplished a LOT in terms of busting open this operation. It's really just a matter of deciding when and how you want to pull the trigger.
Kazador would want to do it now. Before the goods can be shipped out. Probably call everyone in for a meeting and then casting that tentacle spell on them all.
How about we commandeer the ship on the pretense that we're relocating it to a secure location?
Thus:
1) Fyrtor writes a short note to Count Turick that we will have both evidence and witnesses available at Location X. Say, a fishing village with a nice cove a couple miles outside the city proper. He should send a squad to take possession, immediately.
2) We send the note to Turick via one of those handy messengers.
3) We board the ship with the crew and weigh anchor.
4) When we get out to sea, we inform the captain that the higher-ups decided on a last-minute change of destination. It's an annoying complication, but they're worried about operational security in light of recent breaches. So we're going to land at Location X. The cargo is to be off-loaded and replaced with innocuous goods, then the ship is to continue to its original destination, scrubbed clean of evidence in case of nosy customs inspectors.
At this point, there are two main ways it might go. If they believe us, then they sail us right to Location X, where we kick their asses in combination with Turick's men.
If they wise up, then we kick their asses ourselves, at sea, and then pilot the ship to Location X ourselvesf. We all have at least a little experience with running a ship, thanks to Brolin. Mel even put a rank in Profession (sailor) last level. Hopefully that will be enough to get us a couple miles down the coast and drop anchor.
This has the advantage of moving the fight outside the city. We get to take them by surprise in a location where they have have few or no ways to get reinforcements. Getting away would mean jumping overboard and swimming for it, unless one of them has teleportation magic (unlikely). That, in turn, makes it much harder for them to get word back to their bosses about what has happened.
Obviously we'll have left a trail at the warehouse, but with any luck at all, the entire ship will appear to just vanish into nothing -- at least, from the perspective of the people running this operation.
Thoughts?
I'm good with that. To be honest, I'm fine to follow whatever the plan is. I'm worried Hal has been derailing things a bit.
Good idea! I like that. We get on the ship with the cargo, get out of sight, and then we're good to go. Much safer than staying in the city. Let's go with it. :D
I like it.
Also a note, I'm fine with Turion having run fast and without a lot of "communication." We're in front of other people as things are changing fast, it makes sense that a certain amount of trust is extended and we just play along.
We have consensus for a plan! Someone say that to the NPCs. It's ok with me, for expediency, if one person speaks the plan but then rolls an aid roll and another person adds a little speaking but rolls the primary. Right now, we just want momentum.
There we go - post is up. :)
@Fyrtor: Amusingly, Túrion has "Run", as in the Feat :D - so yay.
Tried to go with Mels suggestion, giving it some of my own spin. Outcome should be identical, we direct them to a nearby locale - I doubt we'll have reinforcements in time - even if we take some more time to prep the ship, until anybody is dispatched towards the choosen locale we'll likely be on the way, and faster than those on land.
They may arrive while we are unloading, though.
Either way, even if it is a hardened crew to secure the goods against random pirates, I doubt they are a crack combat team able to stand up to us.
I believe we can subdue them quite easily. So let's try and keep this non-lethal as much as we can? Knock them out left and right, but not downright murder some sailors who may not even know what's going on?
(In memory of Brock and the Sonders Crew).
(And I have surprisingly few nonlethal options available...unless...well, lets see if it will be needed.)
Okay, I need some ideas.
In my last Rise of the Runelords session, I plane-shifted one of the PCs to the Astral Sea. This group can only meet at loooooong intervals (often six or seven weeks between sessions), so I am loathe to spend shared game time on it. Therefore we've been doing what amounts to a solo PbP game back and forth via email.
The hero, Micah, has discovered a large mansion sitting on an asteroid floating through the Astral Sea. It's the home of an elderly high-level witch, Aeschildr (ASH-hild-er), who has retired there because the Astral Sea is timeless and she won't die of old age.
She's perfectly willing to help send him back to the material plane. The only problem? The focus component for Plane Shift is a tuning fork attuned to the destination plane. She's got one for the material plane, but it's in storage.
DEEP storage.
Demiplane-deep storage.
It's in the closet on the third floor of the tower at one end of her mansion, which opens onto, potentially, a whole other demiplane ...
So my question to you, brain trust is: what's in Aeschildr's closet that makes it so hard to retrieve this tuning fork?
The PC is level 16 (Ranger 6/Fighter 1/Dervish 9). The Dervish levels are a 3.5 era prestige class from Complete Warrior that we ported forward. I'm not usually in the habit of doing that, but when this Rise of the Runelords campaign started, the adventure hadn't been ported to Pathfinder yet, so we started it under 3.5 rules. Since the player was working towards the class from the beginning (and got into it before we converted) I thought it was only fair to keep it going forward.
In terms of combat capability, Micah dual-wields scimitars. Thanks to the mixture of cheeses from both 3.5 and Pathfinder, he wields those as light weapons, gets DEX to damage, and can full attack after moving. He is a whirling vortex of slashy death.
His unbuffed vital stats are: HP 199, AC 35, flat 26, touch 22; Fort +18, Ref +20, Will +15.
He's exceptionally vain, incredibly shallow, kind to children and owls, and hates giants so much I've been considering shifting his alignment a step away from Good. Very much a "kill them all and let the gods sort out the good ones" variety.
I haven't statted out Aeschildr yet, but if she's retired to the Astral Sea and has demiplanes in her closets, then she's probably got 9th-level witch spells.
Thoughts?
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Never mind, I think I worked it out. The "closet" was explicitly designed to hold her collection of planar tuning forks.
Behind the doors lies a demiplane with a variant null magic trait. Spells cannot be cast within it; however, spells that were cast before entering remain active. Spell effects with a duration count down at double speed, while permanent effects (including magic items, etc) remain active.
It is a broad, circular plane, with a great mountain at the center, cloaked all about with forests clinging to its rocky shoulders. The tuning forks lie at the peak of the mountain, within a chest of iron, locked with three platinum locks.
The keys are held by three guardians scattered about the area. I haven't worked out the guardians yet, but they're going to be things that are difficult for a witch to face without her magic.
Why this elaborate closet to protect some tuning forks?
Aeschildr retired to the Astral Sea when she grew old, so as not to age any further. It has the timeless trait. Her body does not age.
But for all that, age continues to accrue. And she knew, one day, she might decide she was ready to go. Back to a plane in the flow of time, to see a real sun again ... if only for a moment, before her time debt caught up to her ...
And so she locked away her tuning forks, all of those that go to planes within the flow of time; and hid them in this place she designed to be hostile to her own skills.
So that if that day came, she would not be able to reach them easily.
So that when that day came, she would have to be sure that she was ready to seek her own death.
And that is why Aeschildr's closet is full of complications.
Now I just need to pick out three challenges that would be difficult but not impossible for a high level witch to accomplish with little or no magic.
Love it.
Well those circumstances leave you pretty much only either mental tasks, or tasks of patience as an ancient witch won't have much physical prowess. Those might be tough for a martial character, so it should be interesting coming up with something non trivial for the witch, but doable by a warrior.
Ordinarily, I would say casting buffs on us at this point would be likely to give away the game. But Hal appears to have been specced for casting unobtrusively, so there's actually a pretty good chance he can get away with it.
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Double posting on an unrelated note.
I think I've figured out the three challenges in Aeschildr's closet. We only have two weeks left before the next live session, so I don't want to drag this out too much. Therefore they're pretty simple.
The challenges were actually designed for her by three former adventuring companions: Ilvani, an elven ranger; Rhodos, a human fighter; and Hyram, a human cleric. She extracted her own memories of what they were after finishing the construction, stored them in a gem and cast it into the Astral Sea to float forever.
Ilvani's challenge is: archery. She left her key inside a modified, permanent force cage, attached to a target. The force cage is suspended a couple feet off the ground, and the target hovers in the middle. A bow and a plentiful supply of arrows were left outside.
When you hit the target, it knocks the key off, it falls down to the bottom, where it either falls out or is close enough that you can fish it out with your fingers. Teleportation, telekinesis, and all that sort of thing have been shut down since she can't cast spells. But even if you're not proficient with a bow, eventually you'll roll a nat 20.
Ilvani left a note tied to the key. It says: "If you must. But no sooner."
Rhodos, the fighter, really did not want Aeschildr to get that key. So his challenge is a bear. No literally, it's a bear. A big one, with the key tied around its neck. It too has a note attached. It says, simply: "My love ... don't."
The final challenge, from Hyram, is not really a challenge at all. At the base of the mountain lies a marble cliff, which has been smoothed to a high polish. A peg has been driven into it, and the key hangs there. Above it the following words have been carved into the stone: "I trust your judgement. You would not be here if you were not sure. I shall see you soon, my friend."
Aeschildr is going to accompany him in. She hasn't said anything, and the player doesn't know what's going on, but she's decided the time has come. She's going to send him back, and then she's going to put her house in order and go see one last sunrise.
Unlike Kazador, who isn't built for doing anything unobtrusively. :P
Yes I was going to mention you can TRY to buff right as you come into Pitman's Cove but it would definitely draw negative attention unless you have way to avoid notice or persuade everyone they shouldn't be alarmed.
Completely hiding the casting is difficult, I know. Some of these might end up getting used in combat.
Hal is... not much of a fighter, and doesn't have a lot of combat anything - he's doing the best he can!
Not sure how far Pittman's Cove is. If there's time beforehand he'll likely look for a moment to cast then.
Hmmm. On the other hand, there's always a chance someone will crit I guess. Let's see...
Someday I’d like to see his character sheet!
I'm looking forward to showing it off!
Well, a character sheet would be curious, but I'd already be happy with a statline. I mean, I know he wants to be all secretive, but half of the time I mistake him for an NPC because Harold is missing the info.
Just so no one worries, I have access to Harold's stats. He just wanted to play things close to the vest, as his character would, until he knew the party well IC.
No worries, I expected as much - all good. Just saying the lack of a statline threw me off repeatedly, as I've come to expect to see one on PC's.
It's an automated response from games using numerous NPC-accounts. :)
Túrion has been killing it on the social rolls for this.
Wait - so no one wanted buffs?
The current plan is False Life on Hal (Memorised twice).
I was thinking Waterbreating in case we end up in the drink - but if no one is especially interested I might skip it as it is expensive to cast.
Kazador is being cautious. That, and he doesn't understand what Harold is doing or know what is going to be cast. So in his mind, it's best to just not risk messing things up when we are so close to success.
If I was playing a more laid back and chaotic character, then he'd probably accept the buffing and the risk associated with it.
Harold did succeed on bluffing to pass a secret message to you guys that he was casting buffs.