GM Captain Trips - Kingmaker! (Inactive)

Game Master Chad Newman

Three groups would leave a group of three, that is pretty risky :)

Risky sounds like fun! ;)

Three groups would leave a group of three, that is pretty risky :)

Which is why Rufus is only thinking about it.

Ok: As I/Rufus & my posts/actions/words seem to be once more/continuing to be a cause for disruption in game I am going to elucidate a bit more on what is going through his head & why he is acting the way he is acting.
Rufus has lived the last near decade in the River Kingdoms. He has seen a lot of people who would by outsiders standards be considered 'Filthy Bandits', who were anything but. Consequently, the fact that the most vocal of the other characters seem to be constantly disregarding that anyone we meet here is going to be anything other than some common thug to be given no options other than death or 'conversion by sword' really doesn't sit well with him.
He has seen what happens to groups who think like that here in the River Kingdoms, it's never pretty.

It's also never a good idea to plan things out in front of a prisoner...

Which is why every time I have had him talking, one of the first things I have had him doing is moving the conversation away from the prisoner.

Kay, so, the two groups:

Group 1 (Going for the bandits): Dendarial, Karse, Cappi, Will, Brom and one more.

Group 2 (Beginning the exploration): Castor, the rest. :P

I think two groups would be ideal for now, would hate to force Trips to have to watch three separate groups.

For Karse, the world is black & white. You are either part of the solution, or part of the problem. I, as a player, know that the world is very different indeed, but Karse, the character, does not see it so.

To him, these men are simple bandits. They are threatening the livelihood of others, therefore they need to be dealt with. It's that simple to him.

I think Theodore said he'd go too.

On Rufus, at least for me, ooc-ly I have no issue with how you play him, but until something happens in game to change Will's views, he will continue to view Rufus in the same light. I make a strong point to separate ic and ooc chat in my characters.

Castor approaches life from pretty much a strictly utilitarist point of view. It's all about reducing suffering and increasing happiness for everyone involved.

So... that means we have:

Group 1 (Going for the bandits): Dendarial, Karse, Cappi, Will, Brom and Theod

Group 2 (Beginning the exploration): Castor, Rufus, Hadin, Tshilaba and Winifred.

Hm... It feels somehow unwise to have both our full arcane casters in the same group.

On Rufus, at least for me, ooc-ly I have no issue with how you play him, but until something happens in game to change Will's views, he will continue to view Rufus in the same light. I make a strong point to separate ic and ooc chat in my characters.

Ditto;

OOC no issues or problems for me. IC, Rufus seems a bit abrasive, but hasn't rubbed Brom the wrong way yet. I think it creates a potentially fun and interesting interaction point, as long as it doesn't hold up the game or bleed into OOC. My 2cp.

As for Theod being in the bandit group, that sounds good to me!

One problem with your breakdown. You have both rangers in group 1. If group 2 is going to be exploring/mapping I'd highly suggest you rethink the breakdown and put a ranger there.

Well spotted. Maybe trade Theod and Tshilaba?

Ah yes, I forget peoples classes still, it's still early in the game and I haven't seen their niche actions enough to remember well.

So we ought to bring Tshilaba or Winifred. When's Tshi come back?

Well spotted. Maybe trade Theod and Tshilaba?

What he said.

Bah sorry, I could have sworn I put the OK in there. In any case, it is there now and yes I'm ok going with either group but it does make more sense to split the rangers :P

Where are we on the map exactlly, I know it is close to the Narlmarches so I would assume we are on the east side of the East Sellen River. How close to the border are we? Any way to do some markings on the map you have up here Or if you want I can help do a map on Photoshop I have some nice map symbol sets I can use :D

Also, have I assume we have seen the posters posted around Oleg's for *quests*?

Okay, before we proceed to the final split:

There are 42 arrows and 13 days of trail rations remaining, and those are two resources I would feel silly about us selling.

Dendarial, I believe you wanted to claim any remaining arrows? Feel free to do so now.

Winifred, as per your request in notes, I've marked the fourth horse as claimed by you.

If anyone wants to claim more food, please do so now.

Also, we're still waiting to know what the value of these horses is.

Loot Split

Question: Once we split, will loot be pooled and divided amongst all 11 characters, or amongst the smaller teams?

I say we leave an armory at Olegs, with his permission, for those things we may not need to take with us but we don't want to sell.

Oleg will have no problem letting you all store gear at the post, and will insure it is there when you need it.

As far as splitting loot while you are divided, that is completely up to the group how you want to handle it. Either way works and either way has its pros and cons.

@Theod - yes, you've seen the posted bounties and notices at Oleg's.

I'll get the map updated with a little better indication of where you are and where the groups would be going.

Among all 11 would make things easier, especially when/if people start bouncing between the two teams. It would be silly for us to find something in one group that helps someone on the other and not offer it to them. We are doing this as a team, albeit, a very large team, I say go with that.

This is especially true if the composition of each team changes based on each mission.

Sounds right to me.

Splitting between 11 it is, then.

I'm assuming team composition will change, mostly for the fun of interacting with more characters and in different ways.

I will purchase any Rations no one else wants. An 11 share split is acceptable.

Anyone care to grab that last Alchemist's Fire? Would be a shame to sell it.

Sorry I've been quiet for the most part the past two days. Lots of stuff going on at work. I'm also going to be at the lake this weekend catching the big one (hopefully), so I will be less active.

I'm planning on kicking off the split party adventurers on Monday, so make sure to take care of any housekeeping before then. If you all wish to purchase anything, badger the hostage some more (much to Rufus' disappointment), or anything else, try to get it all posted prior to Monday.

Considering there's more item value than there is gold to go around, would Oleg give the party credit for the difference?

Oleg will gladly trade items for the selling value of items. Barter is always an option here.

Anyone care to grab that last Alchemist's Fire? Would be a shame to sell it.

I'll take the Alchemist's Fire. If our beloved GM actually does go ahead with using the Troop rules, we're going to need it...

Marked it in the doc for you.

We're done noting the loot, feel free to start writing down your claims in your character loot and spending your share of GP value with Oleg.

Things have quieted. I want to let everyone know that I will be traveling this weekend and be mostly away from my computer Saturday and Sunday.

Seems like everyone is ready to progress with plot, and keeping quiet until Trips can update, which won't be until Monday.

The horses what type of saddles do they have pack or riding? In either case would Oleg have the opposing type of saddle?

Theod likely won't be riding his until he gets more familiar with the horse (and levels up to get the appropriate skills after having practiced with the horse). Just want to make sure I have the right saddle and stuff to take him along and start to learn more.

As an aside, I forgot my shortbow was actually composite and MW, so I updated the loot table with that.

How did you afford that? o.o

Also that'll make a bunch of credit for you. :P

perhaps it was part of his boon from Trips? I know it couldn't be afforded with normal starting gold.

Yep, part of his boon.

Anything else special about it? 75+150 is 225, halved for selling is 112.5, not the 187.5 it's listed as.

I'm getting 375 in hero labs, halfed is 187.5.

MW Composite Shortbow (+0 Str)

Why would you get rid of a MW bow? Says the archer. :)

You are right, I was forgetting that weapons are 300gp to MW, but armor is the 150gp I was thinking of.

By the way, I don't recall that we ever introduced ourselves. I'm John, Venture-Captain for Ocean Springs, MS. I've been playing Pathfinder for about two years and have played dozens of other RPGs since, oh, before most of you were born. Well, okay, maybe not that long, but I've been at it for about 35 years, now. I started with the Holmes boxed set in 1978 and have played every edition of D&D and countless other games besides. I am married (25 years this past May) and I have been in a few PbP games on other boards, but this is my second on the Paizo boards (I joined a First Steps PbP campaign just before this one).

Hey John, you did indeed start gaming before I was born, but not by too many years. :)

I'm Jordan, regular joe in Orem, UT. I made one attempt at D&D when a friend tried to introduce me, but we never played past that first introductory session, I was too cool at the time. Then, about two years ago -more than 17 years from my first attempt, another pal got very gung-ho about PF, and got me interested. In the 17 intervening years I've come to realize I am not cool, and most things deserve an honest try. Our group wasn't been able to meet very regularly and so I turned to the boards about a year ago, and have been loving it ever since. I GM a couple pbp games running over a year (toot my own horn there), thinking about GMing a third, and play in a couple other pbp's. Married 7 years, two kids and one on the way. You folks are actually the first I've told, so feel free to feel special. ;)

Before I was born too.

I'm Robert, I play pfs, and have started to GM a little, but I don't have any fancy venture titles, I play in Manteca, but live in Oakdale, Ca. I've been playing pathfinder almost exclusively in PFS for about two years now. I "played" 3.0/3.5 before pathfinder, though it was always more theorycrafting then playing, as a result, I have quite a few 3.5 rules in my head despite my lack of actual playing experience. My highest PFS character right now is my level 4 Oracle, but I also have a soon to be 4th level sorcerer and a dead 3rd level witch.

I did a lot of bbs roleplaying back in junior high and high school, but it was never dnd rules. Mostly this was Dragonball Z roleplaying.

I've gotten into a few PF pbps over the last several months, but haven't had much luck in finding one that gets very far past the first encounter. I'm also going to try my hand at GMing a pbp fairly soon, in fact it's the last day to submit a character for it so hopefully that goes well.

I'm probably the youngest in this group, at 26. I have a daughter that will be celebrating her first birthday in just a few days (July 16th), so it'll be awhile before I can get her into playing tabletop with me.

Name’s Ryan, a Pathfinder newbie. Long time D&D player (since 1st ed) and always the GM because the rest of my group doesn’t want to put in the time to plan a game, and I can do pretty decent winging one on the fly. I have done a bunch of PbP on enworld before this for 4th edition, but after having 4 GM’s drop out of games and dealing with players who’s only purpose is to munchkin out their characters, I finished up my games and stopped playing there.

I’d run a game, but I am a computer dunce, and not even sure how I’d upload maps and what not. Married with a daughter, and she cuts into my gaming time heavily, but is totally worth it. In a “small world” moment, I’m actually in John’s other PbP here as well.

Hey, congratulations on the kid on the way! That's exciting news :)

I'm Kevin, and live out in Eastern Oregon. I started playing D&D during second edition back in high school with some friends, but didn't pick it up again until my last year of college... I've actually only been playing Pathfinder for maybe a year or so, as I missed 3.5 and attempts at 4.0 were enjoyable but short lived.

I've been playing PBPs for a while as there aren't many opportunities to gather in person out here. I GM a couple games over at a different PBP community called RPGCrossing, and just started checking out games here (hence the low post count). I'm married with 1 kid (10 months old) and a second one on its way as well (due in January... in case posting gets sparse at that point).

Congrats to those who are expecting! Sadly, my wife and I are unable to have children, but we make up for it by adopting stray animals. We share living space with five cats. As I often tell people, I totally get the "married with children" experience from the cats.

Heh, a novel idea. I've never thought to try and do an RL introduction for a PbP game.

I'm Chad, and I'm originally from Clarksville, IN but now living in Louisville, KY (which is actually right across the Ohio River from Indiana). Like John, I'm also a Venture Captain for Pathfinder Society, for the state of Kentucky. We have no other VOs in the state, so I'm the one man show.

I started playing D&D back when I was just a wee lad with the basic set. I played solidly through high school and then from there when I was in the Army. We even played D&D when we were deployed during Desert Storm! :) When I got out I moved around for a number of years and didn't really do any tabletop gaming. About that time UO and Everquest game out, and I got sucked into the MMO world which held on to me for a number of years. I did some gaming with Living Greyhawk in the early 2000's and eventually found Pathfinder in 2008. I've been playing in various groups since then but I only recently found out about PFS. I jumped into it with enthusiasm. I haven't done a lot of PbP really, just a few scenarios so far, but I really enjoy it.

I live with my fiance, our three cats, and two cockatiels. She has a 20 year old from her previous marriage and no kids for me. I just turned 40 last month and she turns 39 in a few weeks. Both of us are happy to be child free at this point and enjoying our lives with little to no real responsibility. She's an avid console gamer and that gives me plenty of time to pursue gaming in my free time.

As a side note, I'll be at GenCon next month and would love to meet any of you if you happen to be making the trip. And I'm still looking for someone with space in a room too! Otherwise I'm going to be driving back and forth each day from Louisville, which is an hour and a half away.

Shawn here, I've been playing D&D, starting on 3rd Ed., on and off for about 10 years now. My older brother introduced me while I was visiting him in Germany and I've loved it ever since. I jumped into Pathfinder maybe 2 years ago and got my first taste of PFS at GenCon last year, which was also my first time at a gaming Con.

I used to GM a home group regularly until I moved out of town. Did a little GMing via Roll20, getting them through the second book of Rise of the Runelords before it fell apart. I've gotten into the PbP scene here maybe for 5 months now. I'm running 1 First Steps series that is close to finishing, trying to get more people for Part 3 of a second run and I currently run 4 concurrent Rise of the Runelords games although 1 group has pretty much died. Currently playing in another of GM Trips games every other week on d20Pro which is great since I am usually always the GM :D

I'm married, a little over 4 years now, with 1 kid (3 year old wee! :P)

Nathan. Much like John, I've played off & on since the mid-to-late seventies. I had actually gotten away from D&D in the early nineties but Third Ed. brought me back & then the wonderful folks here at Paizo kept things interesting with Pathfinder.
I like the idea of PFS...
but in the KC area it's implementation seems to have been a bit lackluster. Of course, it could well be that my ability to take part is hindered; my work schedule leaves me lots of opportunity to do things on-line, not so much to actually take part in on-site events.

I am Harry. I live in Huntsville Alabama and work as a contractor for NASA. I am a rival to John in age I fear. I have been married 30 years, but was married very young and waited to have kids for a while. I have two kids who are now young adults (boy and girl) who were raised as gamers and both still game quite a bit. My wife likes all sorts of games, but not RPGs.

I played the original D&D game in high school when it was three pamphlet sized books and a set of poorly made dice in a blue box. But only played a handful of times. I played seriously in college (had a roommate who was into it and liked to run games). I played a lot of first edition, very little second edition (moved to GURPS during those dark years) and fell back in love with the game when 3.0 came out and Living Greyhawk started.

I had to go look at my PFS chronicles to see how long I have been playing Pathfinder. I first played at Dragon Con in September of 2009, but then did not start playing again until May of 2010 at MobiCon. I help run gaming at that con (where I met John this past Year) in Mobile Alabama and we now run a lot of PFS there. I have never been to Gen Con but keep saying some day... Instead I go to Dragon Con every year and continue to have a good time there. I am an eternal member and so the badge is free for me. Hotels are outrageous though. :/

I just retired my second PFS character last night. Azrael, Aasimar Paladin, finished the Ruby Phoenix Tournament and leveled to 12th. My other retired character is a teleportation wizard. I have not yet tried any of the retirement arc mods. I have a handful of other characters from level 2 to 9. I run a reasonable amount and so a couple of those guys are mostly made up of GM credits. I am fortunate that I play in one home game and run another and get to play, on average 5 or 6 times a month.

Sorry, Wini, I've got you beat.

I'm Alex, currently studying in Software Engineering, here in Montreal, Quebec. Not sure how much it shows, but French is my first language, english my second. (I did start English in kindergarten, though, so it's more like a 1.5th language.)

My mom showed me dregs of DnD 2.0 when I was a kid, but for lack of players, it never really took off. My first "serious" foray in DnD was with during 3.5 some friends, about five years ago, when I was 18 or so. We moved to Pathfinder pretty much when we first learned about it, and never went back, though we have a very casual approach about DnD at the table.

I find myself enjoying the PbP experience a lot more than the tabletop experience, mostly because I have a lot of trouble getting in character at the table.

I have a bunch of forum-based-roleplaying experience, but all of it is freeform play by post.

This game is my first foray in "serious" pen-and-paper roleplay, and it's nice to know I have some long-date players to accompany me through it.

Wow, you guys and your "10 years ago" make me feel like a youngling. (23)

After I gather more experience, I will probably attempt to DM a game too. I'm curious to see what it's like to be on the other side of the table in a serious game.

Ok, since we are about to split up and begin some of the nitty gritty of what makes Kingmaker different than all the other APs, I wanted to make sure everyone understood the system behind exploration in Kingmaker as well as what is going to need to be done by the groups.

Part of your goal in Kingmaker is to properly map your assigned section of the Greenbelt. This is an area of about 7350 square miles. That is a LOT of space to cover. The link on the Wiki site, Stolen Lands Mapping will give you the current state of your map, as well as the starting map as a thumbnail. As you explore, this map will be filled with unique discoveries or other places you find. Once a hex is fully explored I will outline the hex in a new color to show it has been completed.

The information on the mechanics behind mapping and exploration can be found through the Hex Exploration Rules page on the wiki site. This describes the time it takes to move and explore through the region. I've house ruled this to some extent as the original AP rules allowed you to explore a hex completely in about 1-2 days depending on terrain. Being an avid hiker/backpacker I can tell you that you cannot explore 150 square miles in 2 days, I don't care how awesome you are. So I've changed the times needed for exploration. All this really does from a mechanics standpoint is make the exploration part take longer in game time, which actually allows for additional downtime activity for those not exploring.

Please make sure you take some time over the next couple of days to familiarize yourself with the pages on the wiki site that talk about the Stolen Lands themselves as well as the exploration rules.

Awwww! I was looking forward to becoming 'Turbo Scout RF'!