Sorry--it is still grappled. You are moving in on it. Sorry that was unclear.
I gave a pre ship to ship sequence of spells for Lee to cast.
Look for a spell list later today or early tomorrow
Folks, it breaks my heart to share this news... but KeefX (Lee) has let me know that his new job has been demanding a lot more of his time and concentration, and he feels like it would be best he pull out of the game. He has agreed to stay in the game through to the end of the Plumetown scenario (which will probably take us through to the New Year, give or take time off for the holidays).
KeefX has been in this game from the start and a great contributor to the story (even if I chide him about responsible fireball usage :) ). It's hard to let him go, but of course I very much respect the need to focus on the important stuff and shift priorities when needed. I would always rather any of you say when you've had enough or need time off, than feel like you have to force yourselves to play when your head or heart or both are not in it. The latter just makes things unfun for everyone.
Alas, we need to decide how to proceed.
1. Play on, back down to three characters
2. Find a new fourth player to play an arcane caster
3. As recruitment gets tiring, find a good stopping point and end the campaign.
On 1: This is possible, and is sort of a path of less resistance, but just as we sought out a new divine character because at this level, three was becoming hard to balance (especially when the dice were being wonky).
On 3: I don't really want to end the campaign, especially as we only just got the Norv on board a few months ago. BUT the campaign as a whole is about 2 and a half years old. We can come to a good stopping point as we are in a sandbox period between books. And I worry/wonder that if KeefX is ready to go, are Lathiira and thermopyle burning out too? I (in a way that surprises me) am not feeling burned out (though I fully acknowledge I have my moments of crankiness, for which I apologize and you are always (PLEASE) right to call me out if I get that way), and would like to see our way at least into the third book. But again with the not forcing people to play if their hearts aren't in it--I only want to proceed if you want to.
On 2. This is possibly the ideal scenario, though it of course involves some work. We could run another open recruitment; we got some great applications last time, although I was a little annoyed by unexpectedly being pestered by a few folks via PM (not every PM was pestersome, but there were a few frustrating moments). We could also just offer closed invitations -- if there is anyone you know who'd like to join? I can also put feelers out on my other PBPs--the three I am playing in have some pretty terrific players, though I don't know how much time they have to join other games. Or indeed we could invite some of the players who were our second/third choices in the divine recruitment.
Narratively I'm not worried about recruitment -- we're in this "sandbox period" specifically to recruit crew among other things, so it's easy enough to write another character in. It'd also be easy to get someone in in the early stages of book 3.
There's also the question of what to do with Lee -- KeefX suggested I GMPC him, but I REALLY don't have the energy for that, as the nature of this campaign is I am sometimes playing 20 people at once, and there's also a lot of other moving pieces to track (plus I'd have to play both him and Muffin which would be more work than one might realize). I'm willing to bot him temporarily but I can't just play him long term.
One option is to write him out completely--he stays on in Plumetown (there's several ways that could work but they would be spoilery), he goes for a quest for the lighthouse in the tapestry, he suddenly has his fill of adventure and sails back to Absalom, Muffin drags him off on a celestial adventure, etc.
Another option IS to keep Lee as an NPC at Ghoral Rey (which I could manage as a "from time to time NPC"). The way I see it Kroop would remain steward, and Lee would be focused on more magic-specific exploits, doing research and/or working on fixing the observatory and/or developing the scrying room, etc. etc. (Mechanically he would generate Magic Capital.)
I should also note of course that if we keep playing, this AP has potential to last a long time, up to another several years if we're all still here and able and enjoying playing. If within that time KeefX has finished his certs/develops an easier travel schedule, etc. and feels refreshed enough to rejoin---of course, KeefX, you will always be welcome here.
Oof! I'll be sorry to lose KeefX, but the work/life balance thing happens to us all.
Regarding his character, I'd say let's keep him at Ghoral-Rey and let him work on the scrying room/doing research. Should he find things shift back to the 'life' side of the Force, Lee would then be right there. Maybe he's not there every time we head home because he's doing research and stuff, but part of the world still.
I'm fine with recruitment of another player. I will put this thought out there that we need an arcane caster, but I still worry (and it's a worry, not enough to be a concern) about our lack of a solid martial (though Sunstruck's performance if continued will alleviate this to nothing). As for how to recruit, I had no problems with the open recruitment. But I'd suggest going back over to our recruits from last time who were in the top 3 or so and tapping them first. We say 'hey, we got another opening, need an arcane caster, whatcha got?' and see what we get. If they can cast fireball, you can chide them about it instead because it IS funny sometimes.
For the record, I'm nowhwere NEAR burned out. I look forward to seeing new posts every day! Everyone post faster blast it :-)
On a separate note, next week I'm off to training in Dulles so I might not be on much, we'll see. Feel free to bot me as needed, it's easy enough, do reckless things and you're good!
KeefX - I'm sorry you're stepping away. Best wishes in all your non-pirate endeavors. I hope we can keep Lee hanging out in our shiny new stronghold in case you want to drop back in sometime.
I will second all of Lathiira's comments on recruitment - what we need, who to ask, etc.
Lathiira - good luck (have fun?) at training.
Speaking of arcane casting, I assume it's just a cut-and-paste snafu, but Lee listed two different targets for fireballs in a recent post: Lee's pre-battle spell list.
I think he means to fireball the Famished Mane and not the Vorsfang.
All Fireballs are directed to the Famished Mane (the guys we want to kill) not the Vorsfang (the guys we don't want to kill).
Once it became apparent that even a Merciful Fireball would be a death sentence for the the Vorsfang-ers I decided to have Lee concentrate on the Famished Mane-ers.
And I think having Lee stay at Ghoral Rey is a good idea. He (as an NPC) can contribute to the effort by doing research and whatnot (generating Magic Capital) and then if/when jumping back in is possible it will be a much simpler matter to get it done.
Thanks for the well-wishes. It looks like I've got a month or so of time in the campaign, so let's enjoy it.
I hope that things turn up for you soon, KeefX!
I feel like I'm definitely the new guy in the group, so I don't want to weigh in too much on this. I'm of course not burned out yet, but I would completely understand if anyone else is. I've found targeted recruitment/invitation to be a good way to avoid the headache of open recruitment, and it can mean more reliable posters as well. Sometimes in the sense of quality writing, sometimes even just in terms of people that we know will be reliable posters. That said, most of the really reliable people I know are in many games already, and I'm wary of burning people out.
(One example, DeathQuaker, is tieflingwizard - Korriban in our CotCT. They've been posting consistently since I joined the boards almost 5 years ago.)
So if we want another player, I'd suggest a personal invitation!
Lark can roll the grapple check next round. Is there any limit the number of folks rolling "aid another?" With an 'average' roll I think I'll need seven successful assist rolls to hit a target of 30.
No, no limit. Cohorts and familiars can help too, and any crew member who is up to "helpful/friendly" level of influence with you (which is anybody outlined in blue). Let me know who you command (if you don't remember their names the crew guide or I can help).
Can I say everyone? ;)
Crew: Sandara, Rosie, Cog, Maheem, Jack, Samms, Tilly, Shivikah
Party: Thren, Emberar, Lee, Muffin
I know this pulls folks away from other activities (e.g. the ballista), but if we can't fully engage those soldiers until we're grappled then I feel like this trumps everything else. Am I putting too much weight on getting this in one go?
Not at all. You may recall our first grappling exercise after all.
I think I’m good. Don’t want to blow every single buff.
Is anyone else doing anything round 3 before we progress? I think you're about 120 feet away (I am not carefully following rules for ship maneuvering/speed because it's a pain and not really relevant to the scenario. I'm basically assuming the ship is doing two move actions of 60 feet a round.)
I'm ready to proceed.
(My Post should be under yours, DQ—not sure how that happened.)
Let's proceed.
We're all ready
Also, you still need to name your boarding party (so I can command them). It should NOT be everyone, as you also need to leave people behind to be repellers and take care of stuff like not being sure they set YOUR ship on fire. :)
More on the recruitment -- I haven't had time to put attention to this.
I think what I'd like to do is --
first, send an invitation to our second choice player (who was real close) to join the game.
Then if he's not interested/too busy, I'm just going to post to the other PBPs I'm in and issue a general invitation, telling folks to post their interest in the recruitment thread. I'd like to issue multiple personal invitations, but I don't have the time to track and do the back and forth in the same way.
Sound ok?
Recruitment - that plan sounds fine to me. This might be a tough time of year for running any kind of recruitment.
Boarding Party - Rosie, Maheem, Shivikah, Samms, Yamtisy
Here's a suggestion. I'm kinda assuming Sandara would join us too, but that's definitely Thren's call. In fact, I think Lark delegated the boarding party to Threnody, so any changes from that quarter are fine.
We'll go with Lark's boarding party. Sorry, training's kept me a bit busy. Sandara's coming along, yes.
Re:recruitment. It's a solid plan, go for it.
Check out Sandara getting her own alias! So cool.
I've had her, just haven't used it before now.
Sorry a little slow folks, been busy these last couple days. Will get a post up by tomorrow.
No worries, we'll be here. I'm back from training, a good week.
Lathiira - good call getting those boarding planks down with Sandara.
GMDQ - just so I'm clear, in round 4 everyone involved in the grapple needs to spend a standard action to complete it, and after that they can still take a move action. Starting in round 5 no grapple-related actions needed, right?
Correct!!
I just figured it was easiest if I went ahead with the planks as I'm controlling two people in combat not to mention Thren's the first mate and should make sure these things happen :)
A message to all my games:
I apologize for disappearing late last week! I am a freelancer and my work has suddenly and unexpectedly kicked into high gear. On top of that, I’m attempting to apply to graduate programs, and most of those applications are due in early January. I was hoping that I could keep up my posting rate, but between work and the holidays I’m clearly going to slump a little.
If I’m a player in this game, PLEASE feel free to bot me if I haven’t posted in a bit. I really appreciate it.
If I’m the GM, I can only ask for your kind patience. I’ll try to post ASAP to keep us moving.
Sorry, again, for the slightly delayed notice. Things should clear up after the next two weeks.
Thanks for the heads up.
I'll not Lee and Emberar tonight if they haven't yet posted.
Ah, the quest for grad school, I remember that well...good luck with all that. We'll understand if you post a little slowly.
Sorry folks, I randomly started getting no new message posts and was wondering why no one was posting.
I'll get us moving hopefully after work (it's been busy of late).
I've invited DBH who had submitted Line Borsdottir to our original recruitment; he'd like to join in and is working on building a Freebooter Ranger.
Great news!
Here is DBH's proposed character.
Let me know if you have any comments. Ranged attack focused pirate-ranger--I think it would compliment the party well. There may be some skill overlap but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The worst part may be Cog loses his job as master gunner, but he can be his or Belina's mate again. (I'm not too worried about an NPCs feelings.)
Looks solid.
That was quick turnaround! Looks good to me too.
Ditto.
Solid concept.
Lark and Lee must have been posting at the same time.
Here's hoping Capt T doesn't make it thru this round, perplexing or not.
Hoping at least Lee can get a post in, if not the Norv. I'm hoping to wrap up the fight and then take a break for the holidays.
Our new player, DBH, will be tagging in when he's able, pending the holiday crunch.
Greetings all. Maran is ready to go almost. Still a bit of background to fill in her roots and why she ended up in the Shackles.
Given that she has a problem with authority that has plagued her all her life I can see her as one of the crew on an Ulfen Dragonboat and jumping ship when it reached the Shackles.
That pattern has stayed with her her entire career, work on a ship for time, get into trouble with an officer or captain and jump ship again.
She has had some good ships that she stayed with, at least until they were captured or sunk. Ship like the Aurora's Kiss. Where she would have been the 'Crazy Ulfen girl who thinks monster hunting is fun?'
Maran is a tall blonde Ulfen woman. Her long hair tied back in a thick braid, the blonde bleached almost white under the sun of the Shackles.
She's cheerful and attractive, a nearly constant grin on her tanned face. Very much the leap before you look type. :)
How you remember her is up to you. :)
I'm going to be on the road until next week. Posting may become sporadic. Botting to move things along would be welcome as needed.
Oh good, someone to take over for Thren when she's recovering from her latest round of recklessness :)
Maran - welcome! You've arrived just in time to take a little break ;)
I'll try and check in tomorrow (Sat) morning and then I'll be on the road for a couple days.
Happy Holidays, everyone! I'll be back sometime next week - maybe Wednesday or Thursday.
Wait a minute, get back here and post first instead of running off for the holiday! Come back here and post like a pirate captain!
...Oh, wait. Never mind. Merry Christmas to you and hopefully we'll see you back here soon!
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays.
The combat was about over anyway. I'm sorry I didn't get to some proper resolving rolls, but the last couple days were crazy at work, but things were nearly done regardless. I've wrapped things up and we'll move forward, I hope by Thursday if that suits all of you.
Maran/DBH welcome aboard once again, and we'll get to rescuing you (or you can rescue yourself) after the break. :)
Light and joy to you all!
It's always good to end on a cliffhanger :)
Merry Christmas to everyone! Because it's early Christmas morning and I have time and energy (aka bored), I'm gonna go ahead and post. Please feel free to ignore it for a day or two more till we're all back.