GM Euan's Mummy's Mask (Inactive)

Game Master Euan

Lol. We were actually talking about Blizzcon or PAX. We both play a lot of computer games.

Ahh... It's twice as hard when you live in a different country. We should all go the same year XD Group table! Mummy's Mask 50 years later edition! The heroic adventurers bust a move (and hopefully not a hip) on some equally old nemesis!

I'm of mixed feelings about PaizoCon...on the one hand, I'd love to meet some of the people I've had the pleasure of playing with on the forums! On the other hand, I'm a much better roleplayer online, with the written word, than I am in person so I don't know how much fun it would actually be for others to sit at a table with me.

Something something shy, something something introvert, something something hates public speaking...

Something something shy, something something introvert, something something hates public speaking...

Lol. That's me too. But somehow, at PaizoCon, I find a way to connect to yahoos and try to be social and whatnot.

It's fun to come to at least once. Heck, I even think Evilan has been once.

Florence, if you go, I'll go. We can be shy introverts together! I'm actually considering it now.

This year probably not because I'm already looking to go to DieCon again with my brother but maybe next year? Might be a hard sell to get anyone else I know locally to go with me though :\

It's fun to come to at least once. Heck, I even think Evilan has been once.

You think I was there once? I was your roommate! Don't you remember?! hehehehe.

It was a lot of fun, definitely worth doing when you can. I also can't make it this year (I'm headed to Derby England the week or so before), but who knows when I'll be back. I game exclusively online these days, but I do enjoy the card game now and again - and that's harder to play socially online. :)

Oh, and there is a map for the fight, I just forgot to flag it. It's up now, but I'm off to a meeting, back in a few hours to continue the fight!

Checking in; I'll wait a bit before posting (since I need to get some sleep before work tonight anyway) to see what Nidhi and Cahal want to do and if they decide to come find Zilchus and Flo at the church right away. If they do, we can run into them on our way outside or something :)

LOL Flo, the Shark Repository! XD Really?! LOL

Hey, with a Bluff check that bad I had to go with something appropriately nonsensical :3

It worked quite well I thought. I chuckled anyway. :)

For Nidhi & Zilchus - I seriously spotted this on a shelf in a store back around Thanksgiving and couldn't resist taking a picture.

I can't believe something like that actually exists, lol

Wow. That is...a thing...that exists.

-R

In the States you have all kinds of crazy things...XD

Yeah, you can find all manner of useless and novelty gifts littering the stores during the holiday season :3

Does Europe not have a lot of cheap "Made in China" stuff? I live under a rock. I've never left the states.

Yeah, but they are usually confined in Chinese shops, and people rarely if ever visit them XD

So "free trade" shops are starting to become popular here in Virginia. (I don't know if you have those.) The whole "every item we sell has a story" marketing strategy. (Maybe because thrift hunting was popular for a while? Macklemore and Lil Dicky come to mind.) I'm personally not a fan, but the stores are still everywhere. Stores like Free People and Lush are always super busy. I remember when Forever-21 and Bath&Bodyworks used to be the hot spots to shop. But, we still have the massively popular "Tarjey" (Target) and Wal-Mart. In the produce section of Tarjet, sometimes the only option is organic. Oh, and speaking of food, macaroons are the new frozen yogurt (at least where I live.)

I'm ready to move on. Soldiers show up at the tavern to escort the party which leads to a drunken encounter with Muminofrah(?) Hilarity ensues. Nidhi pouts in a corner over Muminofrah's earlier rejection. Zilchus' verbal eloquence takes an even bigger negative modifier due to alcohol. Perhaps the idea of visiting a brothel is suggested again? Maybe Ben's leaning over the bar counter trying to convince the bartender to cut Zilchus off. Meanwhile, perhaps Florence and Cahal try to handle things diplomatically with the guards. I'm excited to see how this plays out.

And y'all I just gotta praise this song. It's become one of my workout jams.

For those of you missing the 'My Campaigns' tab as much as I am - they are aware of the problem, and do plan to fix it. It's not a casualty of the new design, just a casualty of the process. It shall return, or so I've been lead to believe.

Here's where folks seem to be talking about it, though I'm sure there are other places as well.

Link

Going to take some getting used to; not sure if its a color change or font change or what but the new forum look hurts my eyes a bit. Glad they're working on the site innards to make it perform better but to be honest, I never got all the 'hurdur the site looks like it came from 2002' grar...I rather liked the old look, personally.

*edit* It does seem like it's moving faster though, so that's definitely a plus!

Yeah, I think it's faster too, but we'll see.

My hope is that they've done the right thing with the design, and can open up 'custom' looks for folks with logins - but my guess is something that basic (yet complicated on older message boards I'm sure) will take some doing yet.

Still, they said this is step one of two (at least with this rollout), and they've a few bugs to fix tomorrow, so we'll see. The text is certainly smaller, and they changed the font.

This new layout reminds me of dndbeyond.com with the black banner of links running across the top. I don't like change; bring back the old style Paizo! :( Yeah, I would like to see different options like on Google accounts.

I like the new font tho. Arial? I can fit more of my wordy thoughts and roleplaying onto the screen.

I find it nice. A bit minimal, but nice.

Anyone knows if new options for BBcode have been introduced? Such as the possibility to add colors and such?

[u]Underline[/u] definitely works now. And oh my god, also [color=red]colors[/color] do!

And also, it is possible to use a second font to separate things:
[code]this may be used to write descriptions, such as the descriptive text of modules and Adventure Paths[/code], and this for the body of the post.

Be prepared, for from now on I will format my posts very differently!

Working today; I will catch up later this afternoon or tonight. I admit, I basically buggered off for the night after the site came back up because trying to read through the forums was giving me a headache - at least I wasn't the only one, according to the feedback threads. Hopefully they'll be able to adjust the font and sizing a bit to make it easier on the eyes :)

[u]underline[/u]

[color=red]red[/color]

[code]code[/code]

Benedictus, none of those things work for me. Perhaps in the second part of the two part update, but we'll see. Until then, you might want to wait - you seem to be the only one for which those codes work. Are you using a plug-in on the site?

I thought Ben was making a joke

It might be the browser? I don't see them with Safari. I too was wondering if he was being sarcastic.

By the way Nidhi, reading your character's posts over the last day or two has been both highly entertaining and deja vu-inducing. There's recently been a small bit of work drama surrounding a coworker that engages in attention-getting behavior and childish pouting when said behavior gets them ignored/the side-eye. Art imitates life? :P

Yes, it is a plugin. So sad.

Florence, I'm happy to hear you think Nidhi is entertaining. :D I've had a lot of fun role-playing her anguish but I was worried she might come across as obnoxious. Lol.

I'd like to think Nidhi's grown since level 1. She came to the party as a tailor's granddaughter with the assumption she would work at the tailoring shop her whole life. With their adventuring, Nidhi has become more confident in her skills and (like Ben) comfortable around her companions. Unlike at level 1, Nidhi now speaks her mind and “bites back.” She's realizing she has talents and the ability to impact the world around her. Her “world” has also gotten a lot bigger and I think Nidhi's figuring out what her grandmother already knew: she wouldn’t have been truly happy living out her life at the tailoring shop. I think Nidhi is into having experiences and having fun; from fearlessly performing at random taverns to slaying cultists in the Necropolis. Although, I think at this point Nidhi might be sticking with the party out of the fear of being "left out" of the glory. I’m not sure if she has much stock in Tephu.

I want to give props to Ben because I've noticed a lot of development in his character since we first started. One of the most obvious changes is his interaction with women. He hasn't stuttered in a while and is progressing with a love interest. I enjoyed the conversation Nidhi and Ben had a while back on what constitutes as an “attractive” person. Ben had asked Nidhi for relationship advice and Nidhi sort of "grieved" for Ben over his lack of muscles. And then you had Ben’s interaction with Zilchus where Ben (although maybe not intentional from the player) turns down the opportunity to visit a brothel. Perhaps due to his budding relationship with Florence or his personal morals concerning women (or maybe both?) It’s fun to think about. As a reader, I’m trying to understand these characters and their motivations. Also, it always throws me off when Ben “giggles” because I tend to think of giggling as a feminine action (But if the wording is intentional it's funny because I’m not expecting it. Sort of like Ron Swanson’s laugh.)

I hope I get to read more of Florence’s secretive past. Perhaps with the repeated incidents involving fire will bring it…to light?

Lol @ that link!

And yes, I do think Nidhi is very entertaining! I realize my comment about my coworker might've seemed like a backhanded compliment or some kind of veiled insult but I genuinely meant that Nidhi reminds me (in some ways) of a real person I know - which means that she herself is a realistic character. I've mentioned elsewhere in talking about this game that it's probably got some of the most 'dysfunctional' group dynamics (without being an evil or chaotically-aligned group) that I've personally experienced and I love every bit of it. Sometimes it's more fun when the group isn't 100% buddy-buddy with each other, provided all the players can be mature about it :)

Regarding Flo's past - don't worry, I've not forgotten! It's just the sort of thing that you don't tell people that you've just met and I also don't have to worry so much about front-loading character stuff since I know we'll actually get through all six books. She'll open up...slowly, but it'll happen :)

Truth be told, I kinda wish I'd come up with a different background for her because in retrospect it seems way too contrived. My previous Mummy's Mask character is/was basically in Osirion on a whim because she thought that meeting a sphinx would be, like, really neat, and I suspect in my effort to try and take a different approach to Florence I went too far in the other direction. Ah well, live and learn.

Oh yeah, like...vague spoilers for Flo's background for those that try not to read the backgrounds of the other characters.

I want to give props to Ben because I've noticed a lot of development in his character since we first started. One of the most obvious changes is his interaction with women. He hasn't stuttered in a while and is progressing with a love interest. I enjoyed the conversation Nidhi and Ben had a while back on what constitutes as an “attractive” person. Ben had asked Nidhi for relationship advice and Nidhi sort of "grieved" for Ben over his lack of muscles. And then you had Ben’s interaction with Zilchus where Ben (although maybe not intentional from the player) turns down the opportunity to visit a brothel. Perhaps due to his budding relationship with Florence or his personal morals concerning women (or maybe both?) It’s fun to think about. As a reader, I’m trying to understand these characters and their motivations. Also, it always throws me off when Ben “giggles” because I tend to think of...

Thank you Nidhi. It is an honor to see that someone apart from me actually cares about all the efforts I make in order to slowly and gradually develop Ben's personality according to the events. This campaign is the best one I have ever played actually, and the one of the reasons for it is that it lets me work on my character, which is something I deeply love: it gives me joy to see Ben progress, and know that his developments are the result of the interaction between me and a world created by our GM and your characters.

As for the giggles...Actually, not being a native speaker, I didn't know it was supposed to be a "feminine" behavior XD Can you perhaps suggest me a masculine expression to convey the act of laughing slightly?

I like "chuckle." it means the same thing but it's used more for men. Chuckle is a deeper sound in the throat than a giggle.

And, I'm sure you know, there are different levels of laughter. To me, giggling and chuckling describe a lighter laughter. They aren't describing a deep, hearty, belly-shaking laugh like the word "guffawing" achieves. Guffawing is a messy, "uncultured" laugh.

Oh, I'm on mobile today so please adjust Flo's position on the map as necessary!

Sometimes I just regret I cannot write: "e fu così che Benedictus sorrise leggermente, inarcando gli angoli della sua bocca, gli occhi fervidi di sogni troppo a lungo nascosti in un recondito cassetto del suo animo. Una risata gli sfuggì, appena abbozzata, forse liberatoria, di certo sincera."

As I was telling the GM yesterday, I consider a privilege to be able to play with you native speakers in a foreign language, and you don't know how much I would like to replicate even half the vastity of vocabulary I have in my native language in English...Unfortunately, that's not so easy :( I do my best, but sometimes I make stupid mistakes such as giggle...sorry!

Today is going to be a busy day for me

It's no worries, Ben. It's easy to forget, especially when you're someone like me who lives in a pretty small town whose citizenry is pretty homogeneous as well, that things can get lost in translation from one language to another. You write well enough in English that I sometimes forget that it isn't your native language and so I automatically assumed that you meant to use 'giggle' as a feminine-type behavior for Ben instead of something more masculine like 'chuckle' as Nidhi suggested. But that's another thing I like about doing PbP - I get to play with people from all over the world and have my horizons broadened. It's definitely made me wish that we started teaching foreign languages in the US at a much earlier age than what we do.
_______

In other news, my work hours have been cut (40 down to 30) for at least the next two weeks - possibly more, I don't know yet. So, while that's obviously rather distressing and stressful, I guess that means I'll have a little extra time for PbP and for taking care of other things around the house that I've been needing to do.

Yay? :|

Yeah, I agree with K. Ben, you're way more linguistically accomplished than I'll ever be. Don't apologize

@K Silver linings, perhaps?

Flo, I hope things turn out all right.

Yeah, silver linings :)

And thanks Cahal. Not meaning to be a downer; just wanted to vent somewhere just a tiny bit.

And now - back to dangerous dark dungeon delvings :D

Thanks Nidhi and Flo!

Florence, is your build based on Int as a primary stat, isn't it?

Yes, Florence is Int-based as well but I'm happy to let Ben take the headband. Perhaps we'll find another one in time or maybe Flo will save up enough money to be able to buy one for herself :)

Hehehe, as much as I'm enjoying the Battle Royale between Nidhi and Zilchus, no Charm Person spell. Zilchus pushed the envelope with his grabbing of Nidhi's finger, but Nidhi's going over the line with casting a spell.

No player vs player combat, and no player control by another player. Lighten up you two. :)

Yeah, I sorta figured PvP was a big no-no.

The headband is an headband of vast intelligence +2. I don't know why it is not my equipment, actually...It must have been lost in the level ups. Anyway, as a proof I have this post. I have also purchased it in-game.

There is a merchant with just the headband Benedictus is seeking, miraculously enough, all the way down to the preferred skill. And it's a beautiful piece, well crafted, with care and attention to every detail - or so the merchant claims. It's actually gotten to the auction block, and the bidding is fierce, but folks start dropping away as the price climbed toward 4,000gp.

In the end, Benedictus wins it from a half-elf named Basif Iosep, who comes over to congratulate Benedictus on his success. "I knew I should have pushed to 4,500gp at least, but I'm saving my money for a large block of texts from a crypt later in the auction. The collection is most impressive, and I hope to gather it all as a piece if I can afford it.!"

Benedictus, what skill is tied to it, I can't remember?

Okay cool, that's what I thought it was but I couldn't remember for certain! I'll add it to Flo's sheet and adjust the relevant scores once we figure out what the skill is :)

Oh, Nidhi, also, your Bardic Knowledge bonus is +1 per 2 levels. So it should be +3 now... you have it as +1 on your character sheet.

You know, 4 out of 3 people struggle with math. Lol, I appreciate the reminders