GM bluedove's Ravenloft Romp (Inactive)

Game Master bluedove

No problem.

Good Luck, bluedove!

And I'm back in action. Sorry about that, folks.

Moving on: For reference, how Scent works has always been a little confusing, so here's the description. Generally speaking, creatures can be immediately detected within 30 feet (adjusting for wind), and following a fresh trail is typically a DC 10 Survival - so it's entirely possible that Ylva can still track down Giuseppe, if he isn't moving super fast.

On the other hand, if she can't sniff him out immediately, they'll both just turn back to the fight with the puppets.

I'm back too, mostly.

I ended up hurting my shoulder somehow. I had a bad reaction to the pain killers I was given. Took me out of action all of yesterday and half of today.

I'm around.

ditto

Good deal! I have screen + math burnout, but my mission is accomplished. I will advance us along as soon as I decompress and numb my pounding head. But I'll try to move us forward before I turn in. Hope you are all well! ^_^

I'm going on vacation so my posting will be lite for a while. I should be able to post an occasional while on my trip, we are staying at locations with internet.

Here are some preferred actions:

1. Cast bless heading into battle, +1 morale att and +1 fear saving throws. The attack bonus should stack with the bard's inspire courage with is a +1 competency bonus, the bard's +1 fear and charm are morale bonuses so the fear bonus will not stack.

2. Divine favor which gives him a +1 luck on attack and damage

3. Heavy mace, att 1d20+2, damage 1d8+1. Plus any bonuses he has.

4. Heal

5. He has 2 remove fear scrolls

6. He has 1 hide from undead scroll

He has Battle Rage 6 times a day, through the war domain:

Battle Rage (Sp): You can touch a creature as a standard action to give it a bonus on melee damage rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level for 1 round (minimum +1).

And I'm back in action. Sorry about that, folks.

Moving on: For reference, how Scent works has always been a little confusing, so here's the description. Generally speaking, creatures can be immediately detected within 30 feet (adjusting for wind), and following a fresh trail is typically a DC 10 Survival - so it's entirely possible that Ylva can still track down Giuseppe, if he isn't moving super fast.

On the other hand, if she can't sniff him out immediately, they'll both just turn back to the fight with the puppets.

As best as I can figure, tracking by scent still requires a full-round action to locate the trail and then Ylva can begin to follow the scent in Round 5, but she still must move at half speed while following the trail. So I don't think it will be possible to run him down now. But the good news is that the trail will be fresh for at least an hour, so you needn't worry he'll get away.

Of course, you can still try. But you'll be traveling through dense fog, with no clear view of what may be lurking more than 5 feet away.

Back now. Sorry about the absence. Bluedove, thanks for NPCing me.

Got it. Sorry that took so long - somehow, Paizo didn't let me know there was more happening in this thread. I must've clicked it by accident at some point or something.

Combat has ended and I wanted to check in and take a little inventory of our game and players and see how things are going. I suspect our timing has been a little off, but I am still here daily (barring technical difficulties). My schedule will get progressively busier through August until we're well into the Fall school semester, but that will likely mean my posts simply become less detailed from time to time rather than decrease in frequency. So it will work to our advantage if we can increase the pace a bit as we move through our next sections, but it's not essential. I'm looking forward to seeing some good rp'ing posts as you discuss your next move, (please?) ^_^

To this end, let me summarize and get us all back up to speed as we segue into our next section. The mod becomes a sandbox at this point. Ravenloft has now closed around you and different things will occur depending on where you go and what you do next. Alternatively, I can lead you down the path of least resistance and finish off the game sooner rather than later. The choice is yours.

Giuseppe has fled, but Ylva is confident she can follow the trail. A heavy fog has descended upon the town of Piazza, so how you proceed into the fog is important. Olivia is certain that there were at least 12 adults in the Secolo Theatre with the children who are now missing, including Azura. Artegal and Ninefingers are also certain that something is very off about the Constable as well. And Dimitrio is now fearful for Marco and the inhabitants of Inn, since he gifted the precocious youth with the Pirate puppet when you all arrived in Piazza, although Olivia is not aware of this. Decisions, decisions...

I just had a major player quit one of my other games (after failing a saving throw and deciding that because the character had to make saving throws or fall unconscious I was taking away the characters "choices" and setting up an encounter that was "designed" to capture the PCs, and in all fairness, well, Duh, I mean can a GM design encounters that are supposed to capture the PC's? It's not like I said, "Hey you are all captured, you don't get any chances to avoid it") but anyway, yeah got a high handed PM about it, which made me feel terrible, and the quitting player pretty much shut down the whole game. Another one of my games ended due to the players, really I'm not kidding, just standing around not talking to each other or deciding on things to do, just waiting for me to, I don't know, tell them that things happen to them while they stand around, and the players got bored, and that made me feel terrible.

Anyway, enough of the pity party, suck it up, Terquem. Yeah, I've got more time available.

I think this is an interesting game. I'm in.

Palace of the Vampire Queen is still going strong and is awesome. Don't beat yourself up over games that die. It happens. Finding the right PbP takes a kind of social alchemy that relies a lot on luck. A great GM is about half of it. Dedicated players are about a quarter. The rest is a bunch of pretty intangible nuance, any of which can kill momentum and make a game stall out.

I once had a game die because a player playing a priestess of Calistra spent all her time insulting the other PCs and trying to seduce the NPCs. At one point she actually started having a soft-core porn moment in the middle of combat. I'm not joking.

That's a shame, Terquem. Frankly I've never known a GM to pull the punches about capturing a party. It's bad form to KILL them willy nilly, but falling unconscious and trapped/abducted is all in good fun, right? ^_~ Maybe some people just don't appreciate it when the dice run out on them and spoil their own inner narrative of how heroic their characters turn out to be... *shrugs*

I think we had a cleric of Calistra that the PC abandoned in my last table-top game. It actually became pretty funny when the GM, a 6'3", big-burly dude began characterizing her cozying up to all the big strong fighters in the group... and even my male Elven Ranger... XD

I think we can all agree to adhere to at least a PG-13ish "rating" for our posts, right? Right! lol

Me, I'm definitely into letting things play out as they will. I'm confident this group can keep things trucking along without us needing to be railroaded.

I get back tonight, so my posting will pick up again. I enjoy the game.

I'm enjoying the game and we'll establish a better cadence as a party as we continue. PG13 is good by me, though Ravenloft horror stuff may require a little more grisly detail than would be normal. PC death is also fine by me, the lost limb table from the Skull and Shackles AP is a fun variant as well.

My weekends will be a math-stravaganza for the next several weeks so Olivia will weigh in on the discussion later tonight after I've gotten some work done.

So it looks like most everyone is in for the long haul? I'm going to shift us into the Fast XP track now that I see I technically tossed you all into a beyond epic encounter right off the bat. We'll consider that everyone had 2,000 xp and have all gained 800 more. This should put everyone 500 away from a level up. ^_^

I'm enjoying the game and your DM style works for me.

I've found in the games that I DM that PC deaths occur, more often than not, because of poor player decisions, such as: exploring on your own/split party, not heeding DM's foreshadowing words, poor party tactics, failing to run away, failing to realize that there are tougher creatures in the game than the individual PC's, and so forth. For instance, I have an awesome player in my PbP COT game, who is on his third character in the last 14 months, and he'll be the first to say his characters met a glorious death of his own making. Each death was memorable.

Deaths happen, as long as I roll up another character, I'm fine with it. As Nicu mentioned a little maiming can be fun.

Based on what you said earlier, I was at 12. Then Luc healed me for 4 more. I'm at 16 now. At least I think so.

This is the post where I rolled Luc's first channel for 6hp.

Here is the post where Luc channeled 4hp more.

And this is the post to which you are referring. Where I had already added +6 and +4 for a total of +10 to the 2hp you were reduced to in round 3. No more healing has occurred since I made this post. So to prevent more such confusion, I'll be documenting HP in every post.

Gotcha. Thanks for the update. I try to keep track of things like that, but that fight was full of retconning. Mostly my fault because of the Bodyguard feats. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience. HP updated.

A pretty good roll, there - yay!. Unless they've taken special care to hide their scent (or Ravenloft's messing with us), I do believe that should be able to track down a fresh trail.

Rannveig will whine a little (literally) if we pause hunting Giuseppe, but she'll tag along to the candle shop if people think it's a good idea.

Just in case the narration isn't clear, let me explain in plainer terms.

In tracking Giuseppe, the party goes south from the Secolo Theatre, through the town square and then southeast down the path that should lead out of town. But instead you passed through some strange place where the trail seemed to disappear and then experienced the strange sensation of movement, even though your feet stayed firmly planted. As the group continues south, they are somehow led back to the north side of town, so you all re-enter Piazza on the opposite side from where you left it... which shouldn't be physically possible.

Also, the apparition in the mist was visible to everyone, not just Olivia.

The trail continues on, as if Giuseppe also went through whatever just happened to the party. His trail will lead onward to his toyshop which is not far now (15 on the map).

The 'bad thing' Rannveig was talking about was the presence she and a couple others sensed earlier in the evening, not Azura's face in the mist. Just in case there was confusion.

I meant to say "find your mother" and lost my focus there for a bit, sorry. So can I assume that I retrieve all of my gear and have time to put on my Chain Mail shirt?

Yes, Nicu and Artegal will go together into the Inn and upstairs to the rooms to fetch their gear and will have time to don what they need. And Olivia has gone alone to look for Azura and her brother in their upstairs rooms at the Tavern.

Weekends are my busy time, so I won't update the gameplay thread until Sunday night/Monday. At that point, I'll advance the party to the toyshop.

Sorry for the delay, my laptop decided to stop taking a charge and we had to resurrect a desktop to get online! Just a quick post to let you know I'm working it up now.

Thanks for the update.

I've never played Ravenloft but this has the makings of a Twilight Zone Episode. Pretty cool.

I'm glad you're enjoying it! The best part is, we're just getting warmed up. ^_^

Well, the news is not good. I'm mailing off my laptop to be repaired under warranty. This should be interesting. >_< If we've managed to back-up my HD, I'll have access to my maps again soon, but for now we're on our own.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll suppose the shop is 30 feet by 35 feet, with the entrance centered in the West wall. There are display shelves against the walls on all sides and a large work-table that takes up two 5 ft squares near the center of the room with a bullseye lantern on it with the beam shining out toward the windows. The glare makes it hard to see beyond the table into the room. There is a stairway that leads upstairs against the south wall of the shop and a fireplace in the north-east corner. Will that be enough to get us a combat map, Baldwin?

I'm a bit swamped until the end of the day, but I'll try to work on it later.

Well, the news is not good. I'm mailing off my laptop to be repaired under warranty. This should be interesting. >_< If we've managed to back-up my HD, I'll have access to my maps again soon, but for now we're on our own.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll suppose the shop is 30 feet by 35 feet, with the entrance centered in the West wall. There are display shelves against the walls on all sides and a large work-table that takes up two 5 ft squares near the center of the room with a bullseye lantern on it with the beam shining out toward the windows. The glare makes it hard to see beyond the table into the room. There is a stairway that leads upstairs against the south wall of the shop and a fireplace in the north-east corner. Will that be enough to get us a combat map, Baldwin?

\

Map's up.

Map is up.

I'm a little troubled by this turn of events. I do not understand what is going on and if I am supposed to control my character or not, but let me be clear. I do not want to play a character that does evil things. If Artegal is under somethings control, then go ahead and have him do the things you want him to do and tell me what I have control over and what I can do, as long as it is not an evil act.

Not too sure if the map is accurate. If it is, I'll shortly post something about Rannveig attacking the carrionette right next to her.

In other news - man, we are in for a spot of trouble here.

Trying to sort things out. Upsetting players is not my intent and I'll hold off on deciding how to move forward until everyone is happy.

Just to be clear, Artegal's and Nicu's alignment are not in any danger of shifting. Whatever happens, Artegal remains a Paladin.

Paladins don't fall from being forced to do things while Dominated, Charmed, Confused or any other kind of magical coercion.

The puppets are trying to use us as puppets. It's a theme thing.

This module was adapted from AD&D, which had a much less crunchy and more cinematic approach to combat and movement. That approach lends itself well toward creating an atmosphere (which is what Ravenloft is all about) but can be frustrating in terms of rules coherency.

(notice that we didn't get Perception checks vs. the ambush, and the enemies took full round actions during what would normally be a surprise round. If we had followed the normal rules there would be a good chance the whole situation, which creates the atmosphere, would have turned out very differently)

Basically, we should expect the beginnings of most encounters in this game to feel a little railroady. Try not to get frusterated.

Yes, I can go ahead and reveal that the mod we are running is called The Created, and it's a Pinnochio story as twisted by Ravenloft and me. *evil grin*

Actually, you guys saw the Archer Carrionettess, they just weren't moving and thus didn't mark out as a threat. The Monkey Carrionettes came from upstairs. And yes, this is encounter is horribly skewed against you and still isn't quite as bad as what the mod calls for. We shall see how the battle unfolds! *rubs hands together in evil anticipation* ^_^

But I actually didn't realize that should only be a surprise action, so how far would they have gotten under normal Pathfinder RAW? I've just realized today I've maybe misread the puppets as having a medium creatures movement rate (listed as 6, which I thought meant six 5 ft squares then found a human's movement was listed as 12) but now I'm not sure what it should be. =/

Also, Donovan is the one with a Carrionette on him, and now a Nicu as well...(or once round 2 kicks off) So we can convert that roll to break either grapple or reverse the grapple?

Sure, that sounds fine. Whatever works best for the story and ends up with one less back-monkey.

A little Rules-primer concerning Ambushes

The ambush rules in Pathfinder are clunky and complex. It's surprisingly hard to really get the drop on anyone. here's a few ways to do it, and how they work-

Hope that helps.

Personally, I don't mind taking things rules-light for the sake of flavor and atmosphere. I can understand why people who are used to a certain kind of gameplay would get upset about a GM-Fiat ambush, but to them I say:

Come on guys, it's Ravenloft. It isn't supposed to be fair to us. :)

Thanks, it does! I love the spoiler names, reminds me of 8-bit Theater, made me giggle. So these are passive Perception and Sense Motive checks that I make for the party? Ok, I think I understand now.

Yes, Ravenloft is much more likely to skew things against the players. And this is a story-driven campaign run by a novice GM, so I greatly appreciate all of you being both forgiving of mistakes and willing to help show me where I went wrong. ^_^

The surprise round is one of the best tools that a DM has to set-up a memorable thematic encounter.

As DM feel free to use the may call for Perception checks or other checks language in the surprise rule when it suits the encounter. "May" is not absolute. There are times when no check is permitted. You've put a lot of work, and time, into the game, have fun with it.

Dimitrio probably doesn't like where this is going but Fabian is fine so let's play.

Game on!

DM, relax, you're doing good.

In first edition D&D movement was measured in 10' increments (10' of the "Dungeon" was equal to 1" on your map, as your town map shows) and by ten minute turns, so an unencumbered human moved 120 feet over ten minutes while exploring(and was assumed to be moving very cautiously, making a map, and prodding ahead of herself with a ten foot pole). This was represented by a "12" in the character's description. There is a comment (on page 102 of the first edition PH) that states that combat movement should be treated the same as "fleeing" which is 10 times the normal movement rate, and a table that shows that this is 120 feet in one minute (a round) and 12 feet in six seconds (the segment). But first edition did not tie movement to a grid during combat, and in the DMG only discussed such movement options as charging, closing to striking range, and fleeing. It was kind of assumed that you didn't have to keep moving around, once combat started.

So with all of this information, you can see there is no direct way to translate the first edition movement rates to Pathfinder (no one is going to accept moving two and a half, five foot squares in one Pathfinder round of six seconds).

By the way, I am enjoying the game, even if I get cranky at times because I don't understand what's going on. I'm old, I get a certain number of "Cranky" points to use every day, and some times I save them up and use them all at one time.

The forum was not very cooperative yesterday, but better today. I made an attempt at an Avatar icon for Dimitrio. Let me know if it needs more adjusting.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since Donovan goes after the Carrionettes, the Monkey will get a shot at him before he can reverse the grapple. Is that right? Or has it ended up confused since he made attacks for Round 1 before he was grappled and I kept that as is even when it's obvious the Carrionette holding onto him would logically take priority over the silver carrionette?

Don't worry guys, I'm enjoying the game and I'm glad you are too. And I'll continue to work to maintain that for us all. ^_^

That avatar works

That sounds correct. Here's hoping they don't beat my CMD.