Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Taking devil's advocate: maps and miniatures are distracting. If I'm trying to set a mood -- especially one that requires some immersion, like horror or suspense -- constantly looking at the map really takes us all out of that.

Doug M.

Understandable - as I said, maps are great for certain tactical situations (and also for remembering which passages the party has not yet searched), but frustrating in others. So far this campaign has worked quite well without the maps, hopefully it will continue working when we get into larger combat situations.

I had the cleave feat, but without a battle map to adjust your movements it feels useless.

Some leeway has to be given by the DM for actions like this or many feats like this become hard to use. Bull rush is another example in conjunction with setting up AoO for others. A tactical map is almost necessary for players that utilize tactics such as this.

My player's at home do not like all the tactics needed for Pathfinder/3+ Edition, they are all old school gamers that want to mix the customization of new editions with the ease of 1st. One even wants to run first edition over all the others. As the DM, I prefer Pathfinder. It is easier on me than charts and tables and %dice etc etc, and has even simplified 3.5.

in my pbp i only use maps when it is going to be complicated. whether it be room layout or multiple baddies.

when you don't have one you jsut have to be a little more patient and lenient both as palyer and DM I think. Which I like.

For example with cleave, i play it that if I don't have a map and really the baddies are 10 feet apart and not 5 and the player declares a cleave, I let it happen. In some ways it makes the game feel more epic.

I love cance music, Cimu, you got to see Benassi live? Wicked. We try to go clubbing every other Saturday here.

Time for the adventures of Bref and Dren...I am looking forward to when I have the spell darkness, it will be a big advantage for the two of us.

I want to see what is in that box!

Bedtime here! More tomorrow.

Doug M.

Hey Bref, we should start rolling up new characters..Jax is going to go ahead and draw five cards, if possible.

lol. I might not be able to get back into the room but I'm thinking bard or maybe alchemist

...Although statistically there's only a couple of things in that deck that could end well for Jax ICly and mechanically..so maybe just one draw. He's too curious not to draw, even if it's likely to end poorly.

We don't have a solid ranged attacker so I'd probably go that route in some way. Although ranged combat is boring and lacks options in pathfinder (Shoot them, shoot them more times with more arrows!) so maybe a melee-ish caster type. A magus/witch focused on debuffs or a melee oracle or a ranged bard..or a shapeshifting alchemist creation of Zargo's?

I figure bref prob won't get to draw, unless he did here otherwise someone will have to tell him bout it...

Hunting unicorns again?

I love Bref. At the club I work at when someone spends big, say $20,000 they drop streamers, balloons and glitter from the ceiling. There were a few of those last night and somebody, who obviously has more money than wisdom, spent $60,000 for ONE Armand de Brignac Brut Gold NV Nebuchadnezzar they let everything fall, I looked like I was covered by a swarm of glitter.

I hearty do not approve of this kind of spending unless its on clothing or shoes.

I love cance music, Cimu, you got to see Benassi live? Wicked. We try to go clubbing every other Saturday here.

My second job is in nightlife. Pay is good but hours are so painful. Benny Benassi last night - I will see David Guetta perform tonight. So some perks come through work.

:)

If ever your in New York let me know.

I don't want to speed read through the game thread and I have thirty four posts to read so I will get to that as soon as I get back from work which will be in about seven hours.

I'll run Cуровую because it looks like this may get rather important for her as a character, hope I am not delaying the game too much.

DM or Edmin feel free to take over if I don't get back within that time frame.

If you are comping us a bottle of that then we are all coming!

i think my backup is going to be Gnome Saboteur Alchemist, maybe mix it with Visionary researcher

You are a lemure, a damned soul in hell. A nearly mindless mass of quivering flesh, you struggle desperately with a hundred thousand other lemures in a lake of acidic mud deep in the Fourth Circle. You and the other damned souls scramble over each other, clawing and shrieking, in a desperate attempt to escape the flaming jaws of Zoaar the Devourer

whoops. too soon!

If you are comping us a bottle of that then we are all coming!

If you make a trek to New York I think that should be a done deal.

You are a lemure, a damned soul in hell. A nearly mindless mass of quivering flesh, you struggle desperately with a hundred thousand other lemures in a lake of acidic mud deep in the Fourth Circle. You and the other damned souls scramble over each other, clawing and shrieking, in a desperate attempt to escape the flaming jaws of Zoaar the Devourer

I'm hoping that when I read the game thread DM was just trying to scare us here and no one just got ripped to shreds.

A word on the DOMT generally. It can completely blow up or derail a campaign by killing, ruining or transforming PCs. (So why even make it available? Let's say I have my reasons.) One thing that can happen is the draw-stampede, where one or two people draw and then, somehow, everyone has to.

Let's be clear: everyone can draw! (Okay, everyone who is in the room. Ahem.) But take a moment to consider: in-game, is this something my character would do? Would s/he jump into the gears of a powerful, ancient magic item, hoping that pure randomness will bring a positive outcome? Based on what we've seen of your characters so far, I think for some the answer will clearly be "yes". But some others might find this less attractive.

I'll just say this: whether you draw or you don't, role-play it up a bit. Since fleeing Branderscar, you haven't had a lot of truly free choices. Now you do. (And why is the Cardinal allowing this to happen? He has his reasons, too.) So, speak up. If you're going to draw, let's hear why. (Keeping in mind that this may be your character's last speech...) If you're not going to draw, same-same. Are you disgusted? Timid? Coldly calculating? Or just determined to control your own fate? Either way, play it out a little.

Oh trust me, Dren has a lot to say on the subject...lol

we have not seen a Gary McBride sighting lately

I live! And I actually took a moment to read your game. It continues to be very cool and fairly entertaining reading.

Go team evil!

Anyways, yes, I've been underwater with work, work, work, and more work. I've got a freelancing project coming out with Frog God Games' in support of Razor Coast called "The Black Spot".

Throne of Night Book 1 Dark Frontiers is deep in development. Think Seven Samurai meets the darklands -- you get to choose whether you play the defenders or bandits attacking a deep gnome village that will become the first piece of your new underground empire.

And...secret stuff I can't talk about yet [TM].

But there is daylight and I'm digging out of my hole. So, keep on keeping on and know that I still do occasionally drop by and read your game.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Nice to know the brain behind the madness is still interested! Hope we can keep you entertained.

On a game note:

Just to clarify, I am not saying for no one to draw, I am just standing by to kill you if you get a bad card. No pressure.

Bref will eat him if he gets killed.

As a player I would like to draw a card, but I know that Dren wouldn't...so he took the high road, that worthless piece of aberration inspired dung...lol

Edmin, how can we sure what happens to him...maybe we should kill him just to be sure? :]

Likewise, I would love to draw a card. But it is SOOOO not what the Judge would do. It is hard to resist though. Think of the Judge getting a nice castle in which to put his coffin.

So many spoilers! I feel like I am missing a huge part of the game!

Don't do it Bref if that's what your thinking! Save yourself!

Cymu if you bite the big one you should make a goblin! Think of the fun we could have?

Even better is there a card that makes an Aasimar a goblin?

Cymu, just discovered this Witchguard

Totally making one of those if Bref bites it before Cymu

Cymu if you bite the big one you should make a goblin! Think of the fun we could have?

There is noway in this world or the next that I could out Goblin you Bref.

If Jax bites it, I was thinking of a fear-based character. Anti-paladin + cornugon smash. Too bad there isn't any class or archetype (that I could find) in base pathfinder that deals with fear overtly much.

Witchguard sounds pretty wicked, Bref. And they can cast outside of ranger spells, which is nice! Too bad the bond replacement is a move action to use.

Only problem is that the bonus spells are from the witches patron. Cymu is not a witch, she is a wizard. Of course, the DM could allow a minor adjustment to allow this variant.

Uh does that mean Jax disappeared?

DM is at German Mardi Gras.

Which is like regular Mardi Gras only in triplicate and more efficient.

We live in a small town. Fasching is Mardi Gras, and Faschingsumzug (yeah, that's a word) is the Mardi Gras parade. Every local group from the running club to the plumbers' local union to the high school hockey team does some sort of float or... something. Lots and lots of people in costumes. There's a nice tradition of throwing candy into the crowd, where kids can scramble for it. (The kids bring bags.) It's small-town stuff, but people put a lot of effort into it, and it's fun.

Speaking of small towns, here's a brief anecdote.

Bref don't draw its a trap!

We live in a small town.

Speaking of small towns, here's a brief anecdote.

Ha! Very cool! And I think its great that the mrs is a photographer.

Thanks for sharing!

DM so your daughter 'aided another' to your diplomacy?

Bref don't draw its a trap!

http://www.obviouswinner.com/obvwin/2011/5/21/its-a-trap-the-admiral-ackbar -brand-mouse-traps.html

And so to bed.

Doug M.

what did I draw? Had I drawn that is

Edmin looks down at Jax and grins at the tiefling. "I am glad I did not have to kill you."

'the day is still young.'

:)

What school of management did Edmin say he did his masters in?

Its rather effective.

I LIVE! AHAHAHAHA
Edit: 1d8 ⇒ 5
Added ranks in: Bluff, Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth, Sleight of Han & Disable Device

21 years special operations. Very effective at times.

rogue gets 8 skills, unless you are a dumb one!

also now that Jzx has an added level he is now the tank

How was Faschingsumzug? Any pics?

DM this is my good friend Emily, she could also be a stand in for Irin if you were to age her twenty years.

She's a baby.

It really depends on how the GM handles Jax's level.
In most games this is still a negative effect (unless you are already a rogue) due to the fact that they use XP.
He gains a rogue level that due to XP quickly causes Jax to become the same level as the rest of the PC's by 3-4th level due to the nature of XP but with a level in a class he wouldn't have normally chosen...of course if the GM is not tracking XP and decides to track him one level ahead of us for the rest of the campaign, that is indeed a powerful draw.

of course if the GM is not tracking XP and decides to track him one level ahead of us for the rest of the campaign, that is indeed a powerful draw.

That´s how it works. We discussed it before you joined. No xp -- if you survive to a particular checkpoint, you level up. So, Jax will always be one level ahead.

It´s mitigated somewhat by the fact that it´s a cross-class level. But, yup, good draw.