GM Giuseppe's Kingmaker (Inactive)

Game Master Giuseppe Capriati

Your tokens have been added to our Roll20 campaign page :)

OOOoooo! Nice! Now to figure out how exactly to use them!

Thanks! Can I have one for Regin as well please?

Maybe you can use this image (link).

Also, I've put myself where I think I should be for the bandits tomorrow.

Thanks! Can I have one for Regin as well please?

Maybe you can use this image (link).

Also, I've put myself where I think I should be for the bandits tomorrow.

I thought firepelt cougars were black :D

Yeah, well, I can't find any pics. They are darker though, but black with auburn highlights. I can't find a decent pic. :)

Here you go.

As requested, I've added a link to the Roll20 campaign page to the top of this thread.

Thanks GM Giuseppe!

So, proceedural question, I placed a template to show where I wanted to put burning hands on the roll20 map. Is that ok? I'm concerned about it telegraphing my intentions to other players in situations where Kryolani can't actually communicate his plans, but I haven't thought of a better way to show how I want to place AoEs.

Let me know if this works or not.

oh! Guys! Guys! When we take them out, we can STEAL THEIR HORSES! Horses which might be able to head home on their own, or something. Do horses do that? Still, no more walking, and that's the most important part.

Kryolani, as far as your round 1 move is concerned, I thought you had just sneaked 10 feet, because your Roll20 token was there. But if I misunderstood your intentions, please just let me know and suppose your spell has been effective the last round: it would have knocked unconcious the bandit standing before Roksana :)

ahhh, my apologies, I haven't been moving my token until after the round, since I go last.... which, in retrospect, is probably what caused the confusion! Nah, let's play it like this. I don't want to interrupt the flow of things.

Loot from the bandits

4 leather armors (one of them is broken)
1 dagger
1 composite longbow (+2 Str)
3 longbows
72 arrows
3 short swords
8 days worth of trail rations
65 gp
2 alchemist's fire
1 silver amulet depicting a stag's head (worth 20 gp)

Oleg's reward

50 gp
2 potions of cure light wounds
1 potion of shield of faith +2

Items sold by Oleg

A suit of leather armor
A heavy wooden shield
Two hand axes
Five javelins
A longbow
Two dozen arrows
A scythe
Two spears
Two vials of antitoxin
Six torches
Two weeks of trail rations
A number of animal furs worth a total of 120 gp
A chest containing 1,080 cp, 577 sp, and 140 gp

So, next steps, I kinda think we need to find their base and stamp it out, asap, because if we don't they're going to come back here and kill Oleg and his wife.

I'm also worried about the captured bandits. I'm all for second chances, but if we leave them here alone with Oleg, what are the chances they might break free and kill the tradesman and his wife? Two people can't run an outpost and a prison at the same time. I vote that we drive them out into the woods somewhere and cut them loose, with an understanding that we'll kill them if we see them again, then immediately go to the bandit base and wipe it out, to prevent them from warning any allies they might have. Too bad we can't use detect alignment on them yet.

Finally, I'd like the amulet, if no one else minds. The silver would probably blend nicely with my travelling outfit.

Let's keep this in character shall we? I don't want to have too many OOC conversations if we can avoid it. :) Especially when we can develop our characters too!

So vote and speak your mind, but in character, in the main thread. :D

sounds good to me.

Giuseppe: Are you sure you want to go through the 'hassle' of tracking XPs. I thought you said you would level us up when it 'made sense'?

I have to quote myself (see the recruitment thread):

XP and Level Progression – You will level up when I feel like you’re ready to, based on the results you accomplished and where you currently are in the adventure. By the way, I will keep a constantly updated XP counter to have a reference, avoiding me to let you level up too soon or too late.

My bad; I thought you were going to keep the counter to yourself.

Not at home today, unofortunately, so I won't be able to post. Will try to post this evening :)

We need to push forward Jacobus, I want to keep the momentum. Kingmaker is an extremely long Adventure Path, and PbP is a slow format already; when I said that I had set to close this AP, I wasn't lying. The only way to achieve this is to be always pushing, and since the party is not pushing very much, I need to do that. This is the pace I want to set for this part of the adventure, I'm sorry if it's a bit too fast, but I want it to be this way. Sometimes in the future the pace will slow down to allow you to further develop your characters' psychology, but for now this is the tempo I intend to follow. Just suppose you were undecided about what to do with the bandits and Oleg has just pressed you to force you to make a decision. Hope this helps ;)

I get the pushing part, trust me. I love a fast-paced game. :)

And I'm fine giving players two or three instances where player input is required; I do that all the time. But those two or three instances cannot directly influence each other.

And we can't tell Oleg what to do with the bandit if we haven't decided ourselves yet.

I also think that this decision is important (what to do with captured bandits) as it will set the tone for the rest of the campaign (at least this adventure I think) so I want to hear the decision made by more than just two people.

Anyhow, I try to post quickly but also understand that people aren't always available to post.

Thanks for being a very involved GM.

Game on!

I get your point Fabian, but if we want to further discuss this thing, you must agree that the "prisoner's dilemma" is something that's already difficult to solve in a tabletop game, when people can discuss and answer each other in a matter of seconds. Even then, it's not unusual that a real party cannot solve that dilemma at all, even after hours of discussion (trust me, it happened in our KM campaign IRL). In PbP, things are much, much slower, and we can't really afford to spend two/three weeks discussing about what to do with some bandits. That would cause the campaign to lose its momentum, with all the related consequences.

I was aware of this problem from the beginning, thus I gave you additional time (3 weeks in total) to discuss this matter during your travel from Restov to Oleg's trading post. And as you can see, even though provided with that much time, you couldn't find a definitive solution.

So, after all, we all know that PbP need some fixes to get it work; one of them, I believe, is to force some decisions that would otherwise take weeks of discussion to solve. It's an hefty price to pay, and I'm willing to pay it if it allows us to push forward and keep things happening. We all would like to take all the advantages of this format and leave behind all its flaws, but that's not possible.

Hope that helps :)

I get your point Fabian, but if we want to further discuss this thing, you must agree that the "prisoner's dilemma" is something that's already difficult to solve in a tabletop game, when people can discuss and answer each other in a matter of seconds. Even then, it's not unusual that a real party cannot solve that dilemma at all, even after hours of discussion (trust me, it happened in our KM campaign IRL). In PbP, things are much, much slower, and we can't really afford to spend two/three weeks discussing about what to do with some bandits. That would cause the campaign to lose its momentum, with all the related consequences.

I was aware of this problem from the beginning, thus I gave you additional time (3 weeks in total) to discuss this matter during your travel from Restov to Oleg's trading post. And as you can see, even though provided with that much time, you couldn't find a definitive solution.

So, after all, we all know that PbP need some fixes to get it work; one of them, I believe, is to force some decisions that would otherwise take weeks of discussion to solve. It's an hefty price to pay, and I'm willing to pay it if it allows us to push forward and keep things happening. We all would like to take all the advantages of this format and leave behind all its flaws, but that's not possible.

Hope that helps :)

Oh, I wasn't talking about taking two-three weeks to make this decision. This decision needs to be made today and, as we all promised to post at least once day, everyone should be able to weigh in on the decision.

But if people can't post until 10-12 hours after you posted, then it will be difficult to make that decision and communicate it to Oleg before you post again.

I just didn't want me and someone else to make that decision without the 'timely' input from other people. That's all.

Oh, there was a misundersting then. Always take my indication of when I'll post next as what it is: an indication. If no one has posted by that time, or there was not enough time for someone to post, I'm likely to grant you additional time to post :)

Reknar is unlikely to post. He has informed me that he would have been traveling until Sunday 17th. He told me he would have posted nonetheless, be he has been inactive since, so I don't know if it's wise to leave the decision in his hands, at least from a time-wise perspective.

As it was explictly requested by Jacobus, and since we could have some hard times trying to have Reknar's opinion on this matter, I will give you additional time to make your choice. I won't be posting since you won't reach a definitive agreement :)

Rok, when did we promise to set him free? Are you saying that Rok promised to set him free and read the associated 'spoiler' from this morning GM post? Because I don't see any other place where we told him that we would set him free.

Here

Kryolani made the diplomacy check, was aided by Serolt. No one interjected to say that wasn't the deal. We also had significant discussion about giving bandits a first chance.

That being said I don't personally care all that much, but Rok is neutral good and killing an unarmed man goes against her moral code.

Here

Kryolani made the diplomacy check, was aided by Serolt. No one interjected to say that wasn't the deal. We also had significant discussion about giving bandits a first chance.

That being said I don't personally care all that much, but Rok is neutral good and killing an unarmed man goes against her moral code.

I read that as Kryolani made the diplomacy check to obtain information to help him 'plead the bandit's case' but I don't see any explicit 'talk to us and we'll set you free'.

Anyone else care to give their opinion? Serolt? Kryolani?

The promise was more implicit than explicit, which is why I'm enjoying this so much. It seems exactly the line where a LN follower of Abadar would come down on the other side from Kryolani. Good job Jacobus!

That being said, Kryolani is siding with a hanging as a purely practical measure. These people are undoubtedly guilty of banditry, which comes with the death penalty. And we don't have a jail, as I posted.

I enjoy that a game that's supposed to be about kingdom building is taking a look at some of the basics of how societies work this early in. I think that bodes well.

Also, Kryolani might have to pick up Geas and Lesser Geas somewhere down the road. All the better to legally bind you with!

Alright guys, the map has been uploaded to Roll20. Please move your characters according to where you want them to be :)

So moved.

curse my incredibly short range, lol I'm in position.

Ok guys you will continue this adventure as a 4 member party. Reknar hasn't posted in a while, and I cannot bot him constantly. He had informed me of his absence, but also gave me his availability to post at least once during his absence, something which he has not done. Please just suppose Reknar has stayed back at Oleg's for the duration of the combat, to protect the trading post from possible bandits' reprisals while you're away.

makes sense to me. Don't worry, I'm sure we've got this!

Fabian your command spell was used, because Serolt acted after you've casted the spell.

Ok guys you will continue this adventure as a 4 member party. Reknar hasn't posted in a while, and I cannot bot him constantly. He had informed me of his absence, but also gave me his availability to post at least once during his absence, something which he has not done. Please just suppose Reknar has stayed back at Oleg's for the duration of the combat, to protect the trading post from possible bandits' reprisals while you're away.

Are you going to reach out to the 'another finalist' to join us?

We could easily say that he/she was delayed and have him waiting for us at Oleg's once we get back.

I agree with Kryolani that 'we got this' but I still think it's better to have 5 people in a PbP. All of us will go on vacation, be off the boards, etc a few times during the year. If two of us coincide, the game has to stop but if there were 3 out of 5 left, it's a little different.

It's also easier for posting and game immersion since it will add at least a couple of posts per day.

Just an opinion but we'll play however you think it's best.

Game on!

GM Giuseppe wrote:

Ok guys you will continue this adventure as a 4 member party. Reknar hasn't posted in a while, and I cannot bot him constantly. He had informed me of his absence, but also gave me his availability to post at least once during his absence, something which he has not done. Please just suppose Reknar has stayed back at Oleg's for the duration of the combat, to protect the trading post from possible bandits' reprisals while you're away.

Are you going to reach out to the 'another finalist' to join us?

We could easily say that he/she was delayed and have him waiting for us at Oleg's once we get back.

I agree with Kryolani that 'we got this' but I still think it's better to have 5 people in a PbP. All of us will go on vacation, be off the boards, etc a few times during the year. If two of us coincide, the game has to stop but if there were 3 out of 5 left, it's a little different.

It's also easier for posting and game immersion since it will add at least a couple of posts per day.

Just an opinion but we'll play however you think it's best.

Game on!

I'm leaning towards a no. I've found that it's much easier to handle a 4 members party, because like that I have the chance to focus on the PCs better. Let's say that I prefer 4 players due to my personal experience, so I'll probably stick with that. It's a solid group already. I wouldn't continue without 2 players anyway :)

Sorry for not being able to post again for today guys, but it's been a hectic day and this is a complex post. I prefer to make it well when I get up than bad now.

no worries. I look forward to an army of thugs to drop down out of the trees and beat us all senseless. get some rest!

Not a problem; thanks for letting us now. Rest up; we'll be here.

A quick note to Kryolani:

Enviromental Rules: For the entire duration of this encounter, the thick rain reduces visibility ranges by half, resulting in a –4 penalty on Perception checks. In addition to automatically extinguishing any unprotected flames, the rain causes protected flames (such as those of lanterns) to dance wildly and has a 50% chance of extinguishing these lights. Ranged weapon attacks and Perception checks are at a –4 penalty.

As per the wording, you shouldn't be applying the rain penalty to your spells. The advantage of using non-mundane means of attack, I suppose :)

Oooooh, fancy! I'll remember that, going forward. Thanks for the heads up!

You're welcome ;)

Fabian, Jacobus is shooting at #1 or #2?

Fabian, Jacobus is shooting at #1 or #2?

at #1!

GM Giuseppe wrote:

Fabian, Jacobus is shooting at #1 or #2?

at #1!

Ok, thanks! ;)

Man, #1 is in some serious trouble!

The tide of battle has turned!

Euan, is Serolt aiming for the bandit leader?