GM Endless Forms' PFS 06-01 Trial by Machine (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Tuholski

Welcome everyone!

I'll be busy at GenCon until August 17th but we will start as soon as possible when I get back!

If you haven't checked it out yet, have a look at Painlord's Advanced Play-by-Post Advice.

Sad Rock sits on a bench outside the Grand Lodge, awaiting another call.

He looks at every Venture Captain and courtier who leaves by the majestic halls like a cat awaiting his supper dish to be filled, a low wail of askance escapes his lips each time.

My time now? His throaty whine seems to ask.

When each one passes that does not look for his aid, Sad Rock goes back to using a whetstone to de-sharpen and bluntify some of the rough edges of his club.

Club too pointy.

Occasionally, Sad will shift his bulk a bit from one side to another which tends to leave a grinding sound on the bench, but he doesn't mind that too much as long as blood flows back to his stubby legs.

After a few hours of prime time waiting (usually in the dead of night...aka tea time), Sad will return to his bunk and await the next day of Pathfinder training....and waiting.

More notes about Sad Rock on in his alias.

Sad is level 3.

@Sad Rock: see this thread on how to sign up for this game. We have a PFS recruitment hub over at the Flaxseed Lodge. I'm using a lottery system for recruitment of the new scenarios due to the higher demand.

We should have:

We can take the time to get the party chosen. I have several characters in the right range, and didn't know what the rest of the party would look like. Options: L3 human melee inquisitor, L3 elf conjuror, L3 half-elf ranger2/wizard1, L2 aasimar paladin (divine hunter), L2 human bard, L1 human alchemist (crypt breaker), L1 tiefling monk (zen archer).

Yep, and once you get the party chosen we can determine subtier.

I have Saturday night off and if I have access to wifi will be able to download the PDFs by then. So I could start looking them over by then if I feel like it. But I will likely be exhausted.

Don't rush on my account ;-).

I've got a level one witch, sorcerer or zen archer. I'm happy to run either of them.

In like Flynn!

Tiefling Arcanist 1

I haven't played the paladin yet--got him to L2 on my GM credit for Godsmouth Heresy--so since it looks like we're solid on the arcane/ranged front I think I'll make him an azata-blooded swashbuckler. I've been wanting to play a swashbuckler....

Hmmm, I could bring a number of things also. I have a cleric, a fighter/rogue, a barbarian and who knows what else.

I'm thinking about going with Zahaz here.

@Sad Rock: see this thread on how to sign up for this game.

Sad harrumphs and begins to move to the exit, clearly still confused how the Packminder Society works.

How come Sad not get work? Sad try hard for Packminders.

We should have:

Sad Rock

As Sad is trundling out, he hears his name called within. Sad, while rolling his rocky eyes, executes a perfect rolling switch of directions, returning to whence he came.

"Sad here. Ready to help Packminders," Sad says while eying the assembled goonery heroes who had rushed into the room during his brief departure.

Sad goes to the front and sits, waiting for the mission to start.

I think I'm going to run the witch based on the current characters in the gameplay thread.

Sigias (1)
Molos (1)
Zahaz (1)
Delio (2)
Joesef (2)
Sad Rock (3)

Ok, that firmly puts us in the low tier.

@Sad Rock: The Gameplay thread has been moving along for a couple days.

@Sad Rock: The Gameplay thread has been moving along for a couple days.

Oooh! Thanks for the note. I checked this thread yesterday and figured you were still recovering from GenCon.

Didn't even think to check the actual gameplay thread. Doy.

Zahaz wrote:

"Pink. I hate pink. Samaeon, your cloak!"

OK, that's a favorited.

What the heck?!! That gets favorited but not 'Exploit. Cooperate. Fornicate.'? ;)

I'm going to have to tweak my posts a bit. ;)

OMG! I totally glossed over that, didn't even realize the spelling! Haha, yes, that is definitely favorited worthy. Sad's posts are seriously perfect. In fact, my personal tab that this the most characteristically dynamic group I've played in yet.

It's OK, I don't get favorited much. I also fail to favorite other posts as often as I should.

Sad's posts are seriously perfect. In fact, my personal tab that this the most characteristically dynamic group I've played in yet.

Well, Sad did write the guide to effective PbP posting.

I have to give a lot of credit to Painlord's Guide for improving my posts. I think I'm going to suggest for my games that everyone go back and favorite at least one post from another player after a game wraps up.

Ah hah, it's coming to me now! -the blind man says as he pees into the wind.

Just read that article - awesome. Especially the apex point "Embrace the depth of your backstory even if no one else will read it". Every character I create is based on this notion. Ugly Stranger is probably my purest expression of backstorying.

*looks around* Hey, where's that whistling coming from?

Is there a top down view of the map EF?

Not yet. This scenario is sparse on maps.

Psssttt.... heed my reminder about the door in the pillar from earlier; that door is in the middle of the room so it's the only one that you can still go through.

+1 for good GMing and realizing that PbP is a more difficult format for the players in some ways and helping appropriately. TY.

I also just thought the map and the whole room-turning-and-misaligning-the-doors thing was kind of confusing. And confusing things are usually doubly so over PbP. I like to think I've GM'd enough to recognize a tricky spot or when players aren't picking up on something important.

# 36653-7 Cheliax Sigias
No job

THANKS!

Sad Rock: 11226 - 7

No day job. Sad only Packminder.

PFS# 7162-14
Faction: Cheliax

Thanks EF! I had a great time playing Zahaz.

Got the chronicle. Thanks for running! I think you did as good a job as you could with the scenario, which I wasn't otherwise impressed with. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to it. The character mix was a lot of fun, though.

I actually kinda liked the first part, which felt a little 'old-school' without any maps to worry about*. I think the whole rotating control panel room thing was a little confusing and I honestly had to read that section a few times to make sure I understood how it works. And if the GM has trouble understanding it with all the extra information they have, that's usually not a good sign that the players will easily be able to pick up on it.

*I'm a sucker for map-free RPGs though. Maps and positioning are one of my least favorite things about PF.

Thanks for running this EF! A great time as always...

I'm the opposite, I like to have all the maps I can get.

Still, yet another fine Endless Forms production!

By positioning, you mean flanking, range, reach, AoO, etc?

By positioning, you mean flanking, range, reach, AoO, etc?

Well yes, having a map brings up all those complications which I tend to find the more tedious aspect of the system. All of the above are rules I could live without to be honest.

It's not as bad over PbP but nothing bores me more at a live game than people hovering over a map saying, Now if I go here and you go here, we'll be setting up a flank and still leaving the wizard a line for his lightning bolt but then the ranger will have to deal with the cover of us standing in the way, but if you go here and I go there, then....

And my head hits the table.

That's just not a part of the game that interests me. If that's your thing, that's fine. But I tend to have more fun with simpler stripped-down systems. And I still have a blast with PF as long as I'm playing with 95% of the PF population but once in a while I end up at a table with someone who is really obsessed with maps and tactical positioning and it tends to slow the game down for me.

I'm not like that, I just like to see the area and move my mini around like I'm special. :)

Yeah, I've no problem with having miniatures and maps if you're just using it to orient yourself. But ultimately maps and miniatures are the source of the tactical positioning headaches that some people can cause (as well as all the positioning/flanking/AoO rules that go along with it that I can live with but am not a huge fan of).

I've only played PFS live a few times, so I've not run into that so much. In PbP those delays are lost in the noise.

I like the tactical side of this game, and there are certain classes, abilities, and feats that rely heavily on a certain familiarity with tactical position though - such as flanking rogues, mounted cavaliers, and area of effect spells.

I'm also aware that I can be one of those tactic rules lawyers, so I try to hold my tongue and limit myself in regards to coaching other players or discussing group tactics during a combat. But I will give advice if someone is having trouble with a tactical rule.

The tactical side of the game is a little like chess, which I think is cool, but I start to have a problem with it when a player (or the group) bogs down the game spending too much time debating the best move. If the players are taking too long in a live game I start a 5 second countdown to force quick action. :)

It's not as bad over PbP but nothing bores me more at a live game than people hovering over a map saying, Now if I go here and you go here, we'll be setting up a flank and still leaving the wizard a line for his lightning bolt but then the ranger will have to deal with the cover of us standing in the way, but if you go here and I go there, then....

And my head hits the table.

Ayep. It's why I so rarely play face-to-face Pathfinder/PFS now. I prefer the richness of the RP potential combined with a decrease in tactical metagaming in PbP.

And thank you for the run GM Endless. You're as good as advertised.

Agree with all points EF, but that's just because I suck at being a 3.5 rules lawyer and I grew up on 2nd Ed. When I run tabletops, my motto is Fast and Fun; when the 10 sec sand timer empties, you're done- moved or not.

Good game, good game.