GMDQ's Skull and Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master tumbler

Welcome back!

Hopefully SuperTumbler, who is planning to take on this campaign will check in soon. I'm not sure if he's planning to recruit anyone else to the game as with you, it's still only three of us (though that's how this campaign started, with three players).

I hope to join as a player, and have posted options for my character: Cannonball Sal, a swashbucklery ranger who loves to hunt sea monsterss, and Riori Stargazer, an Oracle of Desna who, while moody, entertains a good amount of curiosity and love of learning. Would love your thoughts on both (stats are posted in the aliases above).

As an FYI: as you hopefully recall, Lee left at the end of the Plunder and Peril adventure, and stayed behind on Ghoral Rey to learn more about Muffin after he transformed from an ordinary cat into a silvanshee--and perhaps to keep Kroop company, who became steward of the new headquarters. He formally became the headquarters mage. As an NPC I had decided he learned Scribe Scroll and supplied scrolls to the party at least once, but as far as I am concerned, you do not have to be bound to that. Life at Ghoral Rey would largely involve helping oversee construction of headquarters projects, doing magical research including planar research on Muffin, and perhaps exploring the island (which is mostly jungle and beach but it's up to you and SuperT what you might have found). Relatively shortly before the end of the campaign, as thermopyle/Lark left due to burnout and some other players left or disappeared due to having no time to play, I decided a new tunnel got excavated in Ghoral Rey, unleashing some more gholdako (cyclopean mummies), so Lark and a couple other PCs stayed on Ghoral Rey to deal with the mummy problem (which would free Lee to decide to travel if he wanted). The gholdako problem is now resolved. It's up to SuperT whether the new tunnel gets collapsed to keep the evil out (i.e., the map doesn't change) or wants to add another room to the stronghold.

The party, in various forms, but always containing Threnody and Kahuranga, who was Supertumbler's character (I'm not sure what his plans are for K, if he will GMPC him or leave him on Brightglass or what), continued on to explore the Smoker, the Devil's Arches, and search for Chelish spies across the Shackles on behalf of a new ally/benefactor, Captain Tessa Fairwind. The party is officially recognized as Free Captains of the Shackles, and the next official task before them is to race in the Free Captains' Regatta in hopes of gaining a seat on the Hurricane King's Council.

I'm sure I'm missing some details but that's the general gist of where things have been.

Good evening, all.

DeathQuaker has been telling me about this campaign getting back up to speed again? I would be interested in taking on the role of Lee again if there's interest in moving forward.
-Keith.

Nice to meet you. I am indeed planning to start things up again soon. I'm ready to go plot wise. I probably need to take over the campaign officially on the boards. DQ has given me all of the other resources (maps and the crew sheet and such).

I think if we have three that is good for me. In that case, DQ, I'd go with Sal just because I think the party needs a front liner more than a support healer. I'm not opposed to bringing in someone else, I just don't have anyone in mind, and I'd rather a known quantity.

As for K and T, I can do whatever you guys would prefer. I hadn't intended to DMPC them, but I could if you would rather have them to round out the party. Kahuranga was always intended (by me at least) to be more of a support character than a main character, a Watson more than a Holmes. But I've also set up a little revenge motivation for him, so he has a good reason to disappear for a while. He might be redundant with Lee returning.

If we continue with Thren, Lee, and Sal, Sandara's still Thren's cohort to help with healing. Sandara's not too sturdy (cohort and all that), but she'll be 7th level. Over time if we find anyone else we think would be good, we can invite them then.

For Kahuranga and Taniwha, I'd say let them go off on their revenge mission for now. They're highly motivated for it for sure.

For that tunnel on Brightglass, I suggest for now we leave it on the map. It can present opportunities to help bring in people (brought on to keep the gholdanos that pop up down), maybe add a little loot at need, and so on.

Keith, let us know when you have an 8th level Lee.

You mean 9th level SuperTumbler? Cannonball is 9th, and Thren's leveled up to 9th now.

Yep, 9th.

I'll go ahead with Cannonball Sal then.

Is the final feat on her feat list ok? It is from the Monster Codex--technically it meets campaign limits of being a Pathfinder RPG hardcover, but want to check. I also have an item from a campaign book, aquatic adventures, that is nonmagical--underwater goggles. Let me know if ok.

Let me know if anything else seems amiss on her sheet. I may look over and tweak equipment. (I may re work some stuff to give her a better AC for one thing; I spent some money on some goofy things like an immovable rod, but I always like finding fun uses for things like that--but it eats into the AC/damage budget, a fundamental math problem for this type of game.)

Lee should probably update equipment as well; can say he gained some gear exploring the island and/or trading with the Long Sunset (the one supply ship that works with the island). I used 46,000 WBL; should there be any alteration to that?

AC has been a recurring thing, but when most of us have been lightly armored types, go figure :) Finding uses for odd items is great, and that rod is a classic. Not dying to come up with those uses is better!

Staggering Blow feet is fine. I'll look over the rest. 46,000 matches Thren pretty well. Lee should be in the same general range.

Thanks, It will be nice to hop back into the world, if I'm able.
Probably I'm going to have to get to know our GM a little, though.
And then there's the "catching Lee up" process if that goes well.

I'm sure Thren can be persuaded to fill in the gaps in what's been going on. Assuming you can handle Thren's version of storytelling :-)

We also need to figure out how to bring Sal aboard, if you haven't already done so SuperT.

Keith, let us know when you have an 8th level Lee.

I'll work on it today.

We also need to figure out how to bring Sal aboard, if you haven't already done so SuperT.

I worked that into my background, presuming SuperTumbler has no objections. She was first mate on Luna Fleetfoot's ship, the Long Sunset, the salvager that supplies the stronghold from time to time and where Emberar came from. I wrote that the Sunset was damaged in a storm and while the ship is in drydock, Luna sent Sal to see if she could serve with you guys for awhile to get her out of her hair. :)

Probably I'm going to have to get to know our GM a little, though.

Obviously some of that will just take some time for both of you of course. This said if you look at my profile and see my Campaigns Tab, you will see two other campaigns other than this one (both Mutants and Masterminds). SuperTumbler GMs both, so you can get a sense of his style. He rewards creative play and builds strongly toward story and the PCs personal journeys (I honestly don't give him near enough to work with). I can't guarantee anything of course but my anticipation is your play style will work well with his. (Not to put you on the spot, SuperT :) But I don't think there's going to be anything objectionable found.)

Glad Cannonball Sal will be joining us shortly. Though why do I feel like we're being set up now for some reason? ;)

Keith, let us know when you have an 8th level Lee.

This, once again. proves that PCGen is worth every penny I paid for it.

You can see my campaigns in my profile. I haven't run too many Pathfinder games, but the Throne of Night game that I took over was a decent example of my GM style.

KeefX, I don't have PCGen installed due to a similar issue, but IIRC in your character sheet outputs, there should be a setting for "message board." You should be able to copy and paste that into either a post or Lee's Profile.

What else do we need to do to get ready? I've been reading through various piratical products, Paizo and 3PP, just to get my fix. And going thru the loot we still had to see what was in there.

I think SuperTumbler needs to not be pestered, Lathiira. :) Unlike me, he can't make you buy him Oreos for appeasement. ;)

In seriousness we might want to review stronghold plans and talk about making sure we're ready for a regatta that sails around the Eye of Abendego.

On a practical side, SuperT also needs the ownership of the thread transferred to him but that may require waiting on action from Paizo Customer Service and who knows how long that will take (as in they might do it asap or it might take months). I think whenever he is ready to get started, he can just start posting, but it would be good to have it officially transferred to him so he can edit the campaign tab.

I'd hand over Oreos if I could. Or other bribes of course. It was actually meant for all of us, not just Master Tumbler.

For the Regatta, part of what I did with his approval is spent some of the money from Port Peril to upgrade the Fearsome Tide a little. It now has a broad rudder, silk sails, and rapid-deploy sails to make the ship a bit faster in overland travel and improve on sailing checks. Other thoughts are welcome.

For the stronghold, I am always open to commentary and ideas :)

For the stronghold, I am always open to commentary and ideas :)

I'm not sure Lee is a "tower" type of guy, but I'm supposed to start lobbying for a tower now, right?

I have now requested for the campaign to be transferred to me.

I was mostly waiting for KeefX to get Lee up to speed. Lee is now leveled up to 9th. At first I had told them 8th so there was a delay there. I think Lee is ready to go now build wise.

I think I'm good to go. My posting may be weird this week, but I should still be able to post.

How do we want to play out the addition of the new/return of the old folks?

Pretty easy to sail the Fearsome Tide back to Brightglass. Then what?

Maybe set up a scene as we sail back to Brightglass? People waiting, let lee and Sal be among them. Someone can fill us in what's been happening with the gholdanko infestation, Sal can explain why she's there. Let us RP a bit to get ourselves situated. We've got a drydock, so work on the Fearsome Tide to get ready will be easy enough to handwave.

Once we're ready, we can sail off to Port Peril to compete in the Regatta.

One other thought for the future. Finishing up Thren's quarters will use up most of the remaining supplies of Goods we have. Leaving the tunnel open would allow us to say we're getting more into the base as worked stone, if we want to keep developing Brightglass. For that matter, if the tunnel remains open, it also allows us to have a source of more xp/treasure if we fall behind where Supertumbler wants us as more mummies rise up from below. Just some thoughts as we go forward as I'm remembering that our APL is 8, not 9, due to us being a 3-person party. And because I'm greedy as a pirate of course :-)

Those are good ideas, Lathiira. I'll put together a scene with the Fearsome's Tide's return. I'm stymied at the moment. Just anxious about screwing up the beginning of the relaunch, which I acknowledge as foolish. I'll figure it out.

Don't worry about screwing it up. We can handle a scene just fine and Thren you'll note can chew scenery or steal the show easily enough.

"Oh you think YOU can steal a show, missie, just you WAIT!"

In other news I have finished my minor adjustments to my character sheet, which includes sadly getting rid of the immovable rod and upgrading my ring of protection to +2, adding some potions of barkskin, and trading my Pushing Assault feat for Shield of Swings. All mainly for ways to boost AC a little even if some options are circumstantial. I know upgrading her armor to medium is an option but I really thematically like the idea of the eelskin armor as well as avoiding ACP. I've double checked my math and everything seems okay, but I am still an English major and I did this all by hand so I cannot guarantee perfection.

I liked the Pushing Assault feat (it's basically another way to do Bull Rush) but I had been considering Shield of Swings and it's a good option for when she's low on HP but so is the enemy.

Thoughts/corrections/suggestions are welcome.

Boosting defense is overall a good idea. We're pirates, we go light on armor, and 1E does make it easy to hit people, so things to protect yourself are just good sense. Since you already have good saves, being able to prevent some hits will go a long way.

And we have a new GM! Congrats!

Okay. I see we've gotten rolling.
Lee will listen to Thren's pitch.
I'm not sure we've established how Lee's been occupying his time, but I'm assuming it's some kind of "Arcanist for Hire" gig? Or research?

I would expect Lee's ability to cast mercifully would make him useful for any effort that would benefit from incapacitated enemies and low levels of collateral damage.

My formal explanation in game while you were gone was that you stayed behind on Brightglass Island to do some research, partly to better understand Muffin in his new form (and also because Muffin in his new form was much more confidently flying around and talking to people and being out in the open and this was making Lee very nervous). You had also helped explore the island a bit, perhaps finding some buried treasure or clearing out clusters of dangerous critters. At one point Besmara's Whim (the ship) got left behind at HQ and the party took the Fearsome Tide instead so if Lee wanted to travel to research/fight/do work for hire I think that would be feasible. Ultimately despite all of the above it's up to you and GM SuperTumbler.

BTW Lee has a room in the stronghold next to the scrying pool. It is in-game not finished but I decorated it on the map so it was clear what it was. The original crew--Lee, Lark, and Thren--have their own quarters at least started if not finished. Newer PCs never asked for space, although some should be carved out for Kahuranga if he is staying around as a PC.

My formal explanation in game while you were gone...

Much appreciated!

Exhausting week at work, may be slower than expected. Apologies.

Inventory was this week, I'm a bit slow too till I get some rest. Keefx, your turn to post it's a long work week :)

My frequency has been slower than I'd like.
Work is pretty engaging these days.

I keep forgetting: is it okay if I change my favored enemy outsiders (air) to aberrations? I was thinking the first made sense as elementals can attack ships, especially in storms, but I think aberrations fits Sal's "monster hunter" theme better. (her other favored enemies are animals and magical beasts)

I'm good with changing favored enemies. Not sure if I answered that question.

The Race has a little subsystem for tracking points in your successes and failures as you go through these challenges. How much do you 3 want me to make those rules explicit to you? I'm leaning toward keeping things more obscure, but if you want to know the details of each challenge, I can do that.

Thanks, I have changed favored enemies to Animals +4, Aberrations +4, Magical Beasts +2.

For race tracking--I am fine with it being obscure. This said, I know there's a few times in retrospect I wish I had made more transparent certain tracking systems in this game to be sure the players were aware they were on/off track for something, but as a player, I'm good with rolling with things.

I might like to know the final result, but I'm not concerned about knowing how we're doing in terms of the successes and failures. I'll blame the die-roller :)

Having various technical difficulties, will post as soon as I can

There is some stuff in the module here that is hard to do in PbP. I don't want to be boring or repetitive. These are very exciting scenes, but it is hard for me to write them without making assumptions about what your characters are doing.

All of that is to say feel free to write more extensive scenes than you might normally be called on to write as a player. Or not, as makes you happy. The storm is beating the hell out of you. I'm using the random tables as much as they help, but they aren't very narrative driven.

No worries, GM. I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember when scanning through this section ages ago things seemed challenging. Will try to be proactive and descriptive.

I'll put together a new version of the map on slides, but it will probably be the weekend before I get that done.

Sorry for the silence. I've been stricken with some terrible virus. Still have a high fever, can't really think.

Yikes. I hope you get plenty of rest and get the care you need.

Take care of yourself. We'll be here. Your health comes first.

Thanks, folks. I'm starting to come back to myself, though it comes and goes. This thing has been a wild ride.