GM Arkwright's Enduring Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Arkwright

Welcome.

Hello everyone! I hear there were cocktails?

I'll get started on buying things with my money. Think that's the only thing missing now.

I hope we all have fun. =]

Having to fight the temptation to photoshop a cat tail onto a rooster...

But yes, greetings! First order of business is to polish off everyone's character sheets. Some of my mechanics rules are different to most games so will probably require some going over.

Second- building a group backstory. When I started recruiting for this game I pictured a group of professional adventurers all acquainted with eachother pottering on into town, but as two of the party already live in Sandpoint the idea is less and less feasible.

For those of you who don't know, the start of the campaign involves the town throwing a festival and it all goes horribly wrong and the party helps with damage control. The idea of two strangers and two locals working together to deal with the problem and thus becoming comrades and forming an unofficial party does seem quite good to me, but its up to you. Thoughts, everyone?

Sure you're not thinking of a <cockatrice>, mate?

That idea sounds good--would the two strangers have met together beforehand? That's Chaise and Wyam, so I suppose Chaise could have been following Wyam for some time already.

Perhaps the two locals already know each other as well.

Hmm. Not sure what to do with my money. I seem to have a lot left over.

GM, will you allow the purchasing of magic items at the start? Have my eye on some scrolls and a wand of Cure Light Wounds, since I seem to be the only one that can function as a healer at the moment.

Of course.

'Morning all.

Just saying hello, and offering a hundred gold towards getting a wand of CLW. I was thinking of buying a couple potions, but the wand is better
Also, I had thought I might have arrived a few months ago and started working at the Rusty Dragon, but that's completely unnecessary. I'm happy to have fallen in with some adventurers on my way out of Riddleport, if that makes the group more cohesive.
The character is done (I think) except for the "extra" equipment, blankets and ropes and so forth.

Reporting in.

I'm on vacation this weekend with limited posting time, but I'll have all the little details left to be ironed out finished on Tuesday night.

Anyone who's been in sandpoint long probably knows who Spectrum is. He's the curator of the small museum in town. He is always immaculately clean, tends to dress in white and has a pair of rambunctious dragonlings that follow him around. They are about the size of small cats and are prone to mischief.

GM, can we get the Gameplay thread open to dot? That will sticky this game into our campaigns tab.

Oh, scratch the wand. Seems like they were more expensive than I first thought. Even if I get Elena's offered 100 gp, I'd need 322 gp more. Guess it's all scrolls for me!

Elena, feel free to spend your money on the potions. If Chaise is out of commission, it would be good to have some way of healing.

Well, you can't say I didn't try. ;)

@Prospective wand-buyers; you can always just hold onto your gold and purchase the wand together later. You shouldn't need one for the first day and there'll be ample opportunity and possible small riches thereafter.

@Spectrum- You seem to be the only fellow who'll start off in town. Therefore, @everyone, how would you feel about resurrecting my previous idea? Elena, Chaise and Marshaal are part of an adventuring party and mosey-on into town and meet spectrum and he decides to join up?

Hi, everyone! I'm in two other games with Spectrum, but otherwise haven't gamed with anyone else so I'm looking forward to getting to know more people on the site.

I like the idea of a small-time adventuring group suddenly finding themselves way in over their heads. It saves on some of the "getting to know you" stuff up front and the "being thrown into the deep of" remains a catalyst for coming together "for real".

I'm fine with the adventuring party idea again. You could also work in that one of us (perhaps Wyam) already knows Spectrum to make things easier.

Elena wouldn't know Spectrum personally, but it's easy to imagine that Kurah, her foster mother, would have corresponded with the scholarly elf. It is possible that Kurah would have written Spectrum to advise him that Elena was coming to Sandpoint, and could he keep an eye out for her, etc.

Also ... these are some intense characters. I'm looking forward to seeing this group in action.

As am I, Elena. Since we've got a general plan of how the party will form, I'm happy to let it unfold from RP once the game starts.

So, let's get everyone to confirm their character sheets are completed and then we'll start the game. I'll have a quick scan of your sheets and tell you of any changes needed but we can continue the game while the sheets are being fixed.

*thumbs up*

My character's all done now.

Ready to roll.

I'm ready for any roleplaying, but my finalized crunch won't be done until tuesday night (sorry for the delay).

I think I'm ready to start. Everything that's left is small tweaks and some more in-depth equipment shopping

Sounds good, Spectrum. Marshaal, we haven't heard much from you, how are you going with your sheet and readiness.

Sorry, weekend was busy with family and then Monday is my "crunch day" at work. Character sheet is finished, I'm ready to get started!

@Wyam- Correct me if I am wrong, but your Lookout feat would only work if you had previously used a standard action for your Tactician class ability, no? Which is fairly unlikely as you don't often have 3 rounds notice of a Surprise Round.

@Spectrum- your two spellbooks, wizard and magus, are currently merged into a single one. Would you mind splitting it into two? I realize that since you're putting the same type of spells into the same type of spellbook and preparing them in the same type of way with your wizard and maguses classes makes it sound like you should be just using one big book and can prepare a spell known from your wizard class into a magus slot but I am reasonably sure Gestalt means you have to keep the two separate and thus I'd prefer you did so. IE have a section for 'magus spells known' and then 'wizard spells known' etc. Thanks.

@Chaise and Elena- yours looks fine.

I have to thank everyone for such extraordinarily detailed and designed character sheets. You've put in far more effort than I typically would for a game.

@Wyam- Correct me if I am wrong, but your Lookout feat would only work if you had previously used a standard action for your Tactician class ability, no? Which is fairly unlikely as you don't often have 3 rounds notice of a Surprise Round.

It depends. We could be exploring a dungeon, and I could activate the ability before going into a room.

I would probably get a lot more use out of Shielded Caster in support of Spectrum, if you were hinting that I should consider choosing a different feat.

I was more checking that you were aware of how the feat would operate.

Whatever feat you choose is up to you.

GM-

I started doing that when I made the sheet, but realized that since Magus can learn and read Wizard's spellbooks, and vice-versa, it was a little redundant. I might have had two spellbooks at one point, but anything that I learned as a Magus that I could also learn as a wizard, I'd have scribed into both a long time ago. That's when I decided to mark the few class-specific spells in Italics to keep them separate.

The way I imagine Spectrum's spellbook is like a binder with dividers. In the front are all the spells that can be used by both classes (two copies of each, like a text book with a formula on one page and the application on the next), then there's two sections for Wizard/Magus only (the spells in Italics), then in the very back is a divider for scrolls. (the book cover has potion slots and a component pouch, and there's an empty wand sheath in the spine)

I can keep the two separate if you like, I'll probably still want to attach them to each other somehow just to save space.

Hmm; you are correct that Maguses can learn spells from a Wizard's spellbook. Apologies. I will ask however that you keep your prepared spells separated, just in case.

So, everyone post their arrival at the festival and play a few games if you wish. After a few posts I'll put up some speeches and get the day moving along.

We, except for Spectrum, arrive as a group yes? Considering we're in an adventuring party and all.

Yep.

Chaise-

Have you considered making a separate alias for your familiar? I find that writing animal companions as separate entities helps me develop their personalities better.

She already does have one, but I reserve the alias for when she has clear separate actions from Chaise, when they're separated, or if I want to make a post from Isme's point of view. :D

I find it easier to bunch together their actions since they bounce off on each other with their banter.

Gotcha. :)

Ravens are big birds. Probably about 3 times the size of my little psudodragons (they're Young). I'm not sure if they're going to be terrified of Isme, or look at her like a giant chicken dinner.

This is going to be fun.

Hehe. Of course, the language barrier will be somewhat problematic and Chaise is the only one of us who knows both Varisian and Draconic so I guess I see him mediating a lot, amused or exasperated.

Psudodragons are telepathic. They can speak with anything that has a brain and is capable of language.

If Isme was a normal raven I don't think they could talk to her, but since she's a familiar she's probably going to be bombarded with tiny dragon brain-talk.

I took a look at Isme's sheet. You might want to include stealth on the skill list. She might not have ranks, but just by virtue of being a tiny creature it's going to be a good skill for her, especially for the early levels.

Oh, I didn't know Telepathy worked as long as the creature had a language! I thought they needed to share a common language but I guess I was thinking of something else.

And sheet updated! Thanks.

Elena, why are you looking for Spectrum? Has your character heard of him before?

I had suggested he might have known my adopted mom (Kurah), him being a studious sort like she is. I just saw it as a possible connection but it doesn't seem to have taken root. It'll die a natural death.

I'm fine with it. Spectrum corresponds with a lot of people. Not many folks speak ancient Thassalonian, so anyone interested in that era might contact him.

Oh, I didn't know Telepathy worked as long as the creature had a language! I thought they needed to share a common language but I guess I was thinking of something else.

And sheet updated! Thanks.

Here's the SRD entry

I only remembered because of a particularly creepy encounter with an Aboleth once upon a time.

*speaks Ancient Thassilonian*
*is a scholar of runic lore and ancient history*
*also a wizard*

BFFs!

I don't know if Chaise would've heard of you though. He's kind of detached from any academic community and quite apart from any formal system.

(Though since he has practically scoured several undergraduate research papers and homework assignments, he may have seen your name referenced once or twice. )

Heh. Awesome. We can speak gobledygook over everyone else's heads, and we can have a slumber party and try on each other's spellbooks.

Any academic papers would probably use his birth name, so if you've read his work it might be a while before you connect the dots there. Not many people use that name in real life.

Could I request a line or two in everyone's profiles about their physical appearance if that is not already included? Much thanks. Doesn't need to be detailed.

Heh. Awesome. We can speak gobledygook over everyone else's heads, and we can have a slumber party and try on each other's spellbooks.

Heck yeah! :D You have way more spells scribed than me though, but I have two you don't have: Protection from Evil and Silent Image.

@GM Arkwight: Done and done! Chaise looks exactly like his character portrait though, for ease of imagining.

Could I request a line or two in everyone's profiles about their physical appearance if that is not already included? Much thanks. Doesn't need to be detailed.

Done.

Also done (at bottom).

Done.

Everyone fine to move along to sunset?