Special went well. I got a ratfolk boon! :D
Cool. :)
Excellent on the PFS Special!
I'm planning to give PFS another chance at Paizocon next month.
I've tried playing PFS twice in the past, and neither game went well at all... to the extent that they really soured me on PFS altogether.
The first game was merely annoying: The GM and players (all high-school aged friends of each other, and all about 20 years yonger than me) spent most of the time talking about some anime I'd never heard of while I sat there bored. But the players and GM at the second game (all college-aged dudebros) were so completely obnoxious and misogynist that I got up and walked out of the game after about two hours of play. Both of those games were in 2012, and I haven't been interested in trying again. I never even bothered registering my character.
I'm hoping that play at Paizocon will be better... I'm actually quite confident that the shenanigans that happened at the two games I tried in the past simply would not fly at a Paizo-hosted event.
That said, I'm planning to focus on non-PFS play at the con. I'm most looking forward to playing Aethera (I backed the Kickstarter). I'm also really hoping that there's going to be a Starfinder demo game.
Yeah, that sounds less like a problem with the adventures and more of a problem with the players at the table. I've never been to PaizoCon, but I feel pretty confident that misogyny wouldn't be tolerated if it were brought to the attention of the VC in charge of PFS at the con. In the first case, I suspect there'd be a talking to between the judge and the VC after the slot. In the second case, I suspect they might actually interrupt the slot to warn the judge about what's going on.
And if there's not a SF demo, then PaizoCon really dropped the ball!
Yeesh. Glad I never had to deal with that kind of thing while I was playing PFS. I'm with Misroi on this one, I doubt they'd let any misogyny slide given how hard Paizo strives for gender equality.
Let us know how Aethera goes. Looks to be an interesting setting.
I've heard some horror stories, to be sure. I played a special at a relatively local con a few years back, along with some friends. They were at a higher tier than me, and they had a guy playing an alchemist. A chase broke out, and they were forced to follow their quarry through a crowd. Rather than force their way through, he decided to firebomb them. A bunch of innocent townsfolk died, he received an Evil alignment (due to that, and a few other actions that slot, IIRC), and complained about it to the VC. He tried defending his action, saying "I also have a paladin, and he would have done the same thing!"
Yeah, I think he needs remedial instruction on what a paladin is also.
He ended up getting kicked out of PFS entirely, I believe.
I think my experience with PFS (and my general reluctance to continue playing) reflected the local PFS gamer community, rather than PFS itself. And, as far as I can tell, PFS play pretty much died out in my town in 2014. I'm guessing it was due to the douchenozzles I had the misfortune to play with (and others of their ilk).
I know there's some D&D Adventurers League organized play at my town's FLGS these days, but no PFS to my knowledge. (Nearest PFS games are about a 75-minute drive away.)
But, honestly, I really prefer home games and campaign play over the episodic "bring your own character" nature of organized play. I didn't much enjoy the old RPGAA Living City games I played occasionally back in the '80s and '90s, either.
For convention/tournament play, I usually preferred being given a pregen that was designed specifically for the adventure. Of course, Paizocon 2017 will be the first RPG con I will have attended in over 25 years!
So sorry for the delay, folks - how high is the ceiling here?
Hey, folks. I was just re-reading the "goblin babies" encounter...
Just for the record, I want to let you know that I had planned that as a darkly-humorous combat encounter reminiscent of the old movie Gremlins, and not as a "moral dilemma" encounter.
Well, if we hadn't won initiative, it could have turned out that way. I'm happy with how that all shook out - there aren't a lot of groups that can handle the "do we kill the goblin babies" dilemma well.
Oops. Sorry, but given Gwyn's background, I think that she'd be having some issues with killing any children, regardless of how evil they may be. She didn't learn how to slit throats at the Acadamae or in Magnimar after all. On the us side, this is some great RP fodder for me. Gwyn is most definitely not herself at the moment.
I'm having work done on my house that generates fumes, and we can't be in the building for the next 48 hours. We're therefore taking a mini-vacation. I may not get a chance to post again until Monday.
Hi, folks.
Sorry that things have slowed down a little again.
Life is getting busy for me again, and I'm having to limit some of the time I spend on gaming-related stuff. I'm running two non-PFRPG events at Paizocon later this month, and I still haven't finished prepping them.
One of the reasons life got busy is that I had some work done in my house, including having new insulation installed in my attic. One of the side-effects was that I had to take 20 years' worth of junk out of the attic...including some boxes that I put up there when I moved into the house and haven't opened since. One of those boxes was a treasure trove of old AD&D stuff from the late '80s and early '90s that I co-wrote back in college...including a bunch stuff I thought had been lost to the ages when my mom's basement flooded in 1998!
This included the first 13 issues of my college gaming club's monthly newsletter, which was very much focused on the AD&D campaigns that went on in the club. The campaign I was in was kinda/sorta a proto-organized play group: We had six GMs running groups simultaneously in the same campaign world, and stuff that happened in one group regularly impacted the others.
If anyone is interested in the goings-on of the Cornell University gaming club circa 1989-1991, then take a look!
I also found three AD&D tournament adventures I co-wrote in that time period. I have scanned two of those...
The Horror of Castle Nostromo (text) (1989)
Castle Nostromo: Maps & Handouts
One of Our Wyverns Is Missing (1990)
The dot-matrix printing of the adventures is a little hard to read in places, as the ink is fading.
We heavily based the design of Castle Nostromo on the map of Castle Ravenloft... the two are comparable in size and detail.
Enjoy!
--Mike "Haladir" Ferdinando
I know how that works. During my last move, I came across a newsletter I typed up for an X-Crawl league I had created at a local game store. If you're not familiar with X-Crawl, it's basically what happens when D&D and SmashTV get together and have a kid - you're going through a dungeon on live TV and winning fabulous prizes! I had four different teams go through the same adventure, and I summarized their experiences in the first issue of Lamp & Dagger, the official magazine of X-Crawl.
I have my Paizocon schedule!
I didn't get into everything I wanted (unfortunately no Starfinder games), but I did get into three very desirable lottery events...
Escape From Briarstone Asylum
GM: Adam Daigle. Other playes include Robert Brookes (creator of the Aethera Campaign Setting), and Jacob W. Michaels, both of whom work in the industry.
Aethera: Wanted in the Wastes
GM: Amber E. Scott. (I'm a Kickstarter backer of the Aethera Campaign Setting)
PFS Scenario 8-99: The Solstice Scar, the 2017 PFS Special
And, I am attending the Preview Banquet.
I am also running two events, both of which filled!
Night Witches: Introductory Game
An introduction to the Night Witches role-playing game, where the PCs play airwomen of the all-women 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Force, 1939-45.
Dungeon World: Murder's Mark
A conversion of the Pathfinder adventure Murder's Mark to the Dungeon World RPG.
I have a couple of holes in my schedule that didn't get filled with lottery events. I'm expecting to use that time to check out the vendors, get food, socialize, or maybe play a short pick-up game.
Hey guys, thought I'd pop my head in and say hello, and that I'm still alive over here lol. Life has seemed to calm down for the last few months, and I've been having some really positive stuff going for me. I still have the rough days, but I've gotten enough positive energy that's been keeping me through things where as normally I'd just want to say 'screw the world, I'm hiding for the next two weeks' lol. Anyways, I'm glad to see you guys are still making headway, and I hope everything is going well for you all. Not quite sure about coming back yet, mostly for the simple fact that I saw how Haladir stepped me out (which was a good way, although it isn't Kyrian's sister, but his closest friend haha) kinda puts it way too early for me to jump back in in terms of game time. I do know that there is a point in which I can come back as Kyrian myself, if y'all would want me back, but I know there is still plenty of stuff to do before that point. I'll let Haladir handle that though once the time comes. But until then, I'll keep readin and keepin tabs with you guys. I'm liking the party chemistry and how it's working out so far!
I can't speak for the others, but I say the more the merry! I'd be happy to see ya back, even if you're not back as Kyrian.
Glad to hear things are going well! I hope and pray that the upward trend continues!
Hi, Kyrian!
You're welcome to return any time you want to. I'll contrive some way to have Kyrian show up!
And this goes for everyone, but if you're getting sick of your character, let me know. When it's convenient, I'm happy to let you switch out for an existing character in the game (either a former PC or an existing NPC) which you'd be free to rebuild, or a totally new character of your own design.
Yay Kyrian! I'm glad to see you posting again - like Gwyn, I don't want to speak for everyone, but I'll at least say that you always are welcome back here. :)
Paizocon is a bust this year.
Flight was eventually canceled after a six-hour delay. There were no flights that could get me there today (Friday), with the possible exception of getting on standby for a 8:30 PM arrival. Best guaranteed seat would arrive at 1PM Saturday...which would have meant missing half the con.
I made the decision to just cancel the trip.
So many flights were canceled that there were no rooms at any hotel with airport shuttle service, so I had to take an Uber across town to a so-so Hampton Inn. Checked in at 2:30 AM. At least I got five hours of sleep.
And there are no flights home today, either. Soonest is a 6PM Saturday flight. I'm looking at a one-way car rental for a 5-hour drive home...assuming that I can get a car.
"Disappointed" doesn't really convey how I feel right now.
Oh wow. That just sucks.
Sorry that things didn't work out as you had planned. I hope that your trip home.e isn't as big of an ordeal.
I'm back home. I did rent a car and drive home yesterday.
The SeaTac Doubletree gave me a full refund with no cancellation fee due to the canceled flight.
I invoked the "trip in vain" rule, and American Airlines re-credited all of the frequent flier miles I'd used for the trip. There's a chance they will also refund the hotel stay and rental car fees, too. That's "under review".
Chris Lambertz responded to my request for a refund for my badge and banquet ticket...they'll take care of that after everyone is back at the office on Tuesday.
My wife and daughter had planned their own trip to Washington DC this weekend. I decided to let them have the one-on-one vacation together, so I'm staying at home by myself. I'm trying to get some of my gamer friends together for an RPG one-shot...I'd run one of the games I'd prepped for Paizocon.
That bites, seriously. Was it just bad weather or did something happen with the airliner?
Hope the gaming session is fun for you and your group.
I can't say I've ever had an experience like that, but I've only flown four times in my life. The closest I can think of is when I was coming back from DC/Baltimore from an interview with the NSA for a co-op position and the flight from Baltimore to Atlanta was delayed 45 minutes because VP Biden was flying to Philadelphia where our plane for that flight was coming from. So, instead of an hour to get from one end of Concourse E to the opposite end of Concourse B at Atlanta, I only had ten minutes. I made it with a couple of minutes to spare, but only because I ran to the tram and then to my flight to Birmingham, AL.
That bites, seriously. Was it just bad weather or did something happen with the airliner?
Cascading delays due to weather: Two bands of heavy thunderstorms that stretched from just north of DC all the way up to Boston, that were about two-and-a-half hours apart. I was supposed to take a 9AM flight from Ithaca NY (my home airport) to Philadelphia, then connect to a 1 PM flight to Seattle on Thursday. My 9AM flight got delayed to 1 PM, but I was able to rebook for a 6:00 PM flight from Philadelphia. I got to Philadelphia by 2:00, but my 6:00 flight to Seattle got delayed to 7:30, then to 8:30, then to 9:15, then to 10:00, then to 10:45, then to 11:15, then to midnight, and then was canceled.
I felt especially bad for the people on the plane that was coming in that was supposed to take us to Seattle. It originated in Boston, and the passengers boarded at 5:00, but they sat on the tarmac in Boston until 8:30. They landed in Philadelphia at 9:30, but the heavy rains had caused a storm drain to back up that caused standing water on one of the taxiways, closing it. This caused a huge ground traffic back-up at Philadelphia. That plane didn't make it to the gate until 11:00-- meaning that the passengers expecting to be on that plane for one hour were on it for six hours. The airline readied the plane to take us to Seattle for the midnight departure, but then the first officer declared himself unfit to fly due to fatigue, and the airline couldn't find a replacement in time, so they canceled the flight.
Fatigue and heavy machinery is no joke, but that still stinks. I'm happy to hear that things are alright now and you made it back.
And ditto on feeling sorry for the people on the plane coming in. That must have been rather uncomfortable.
Damn, that's a lousy situation. I'm sorry Paizocon didn't work out for you this year. It's good you were able to get refunds, at least?
Got the lurgy, post coming in the morning.
Once things have settled into a steady rhythm with a game I'm taking over and the Nordholm reboot, I want to try my hand at a Sci-FI themed GURPS game. I'm taking suggestions over here. so if that sounds like something you're interested in, then pop on in and put your two cents in. If you've never played GURPS, then don't worry. I plan on helping people as much as possible, so not know the system shouldn't be a barrier to entry.
But, like I said, it's not going to happen until things with these two games I'm trying to get off the ground have settled.
Site's been dodgy as all get-out lately, and always when I'm available. It's up right now, but it's quarter to three in the morning. I'll keep trying tomorrow, but if you're waiting on me, don't. I haven't been able to get more than a few minutes of working site time a day for over a week now.
Yeah, the site had been down for more than 17 hours according to Is It Down Right Now?, which I checked about an hour ago.
This round of site instability has really been throwing a monkey wrench into the works of my online games!
I'll plow ahaead with my usual practice: I reserve the right to bot a PC if we've been waiting for that character to declare an action for more than a day.
Yeah, the site outage beast is way too high CR for me to vanquish.
It was really bad for me these past couple of days. At least I can post some today. Hopefully I can get all of my ongoing games updated before things inevitably go kablooey.
That's a perfectly reasonable practice, GM. Feel free to bot me if ever needed.
My posting may be a little more erratic than usual for the next few days. First of all, my daughter is graduating high school today, and we have a bunch of relatives in town to help celebrate.
Secondly, I accidentally triggered an anti-theft routine on my phone, and it's now temporarily bricked until Sunday. All of my updates will have to be via my laptop, which is harder to do a quick post from when I have 15 minutes to kill.
Hey, folks.
As much as I hate to say it, my posting will continue to be erratic for the next two weeks. This week, I'm at a week-long off-site training session. I just found out this morning that the new person I'd trained to back-fill for me is now also out of the office due to a family emergency. This means that I'll need to put in 3-4 hours of work after hours every night. I am not going to have much (if any) time for online gaming this week.
And next week, I'm on an actual vacation, with limited access to the Internet. My regular back-up should be back to back-fill for me, so at least I won't have to worry about work piling up.
Hopefully, I'll be able to return to my regular posting schedule after I'm back from vacation on 7/10.
Thanks, Cerin!
I want to send a quick update letting you know that I am still alive. The training was intense, and of course I had a ton of work come in while I was there, so I was up pretty late after-hours keeping my head above water.
My back-up returns next week while I'm on vacation for the upcoming week. I won't have regular wifi or wireless phone service until at least Wednesday, so I'll probably stay dark for another week.
Thanks for you patience!
No worries. We'll be here waiting to see what's behind the door.
Not a worry, GM. Hope all's well for you in the meantime!
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Hey, folks.
Just to let you know, I'm going to a four-day outdoor music festival later this afternoon.
I probably won't be posting again until Monday. We can start the boss battle pick it back up then.
This is probably my paranoia talking, but I really do hope that you find Gwyn's snarking and raving more funny/entertaining than annoying or tiresome. Between what she read in Nualia's journal and the whole cliche villain thing, she's in a mood and is treating Nualia with all the respect she feels an angsty tennager who's lashing out just because she didn't get her way deserves. Which is to say, not with much respect at all.
Also, Helena probably knew about some of what Gwyn went through, but this is the first time she's catalogued it this clearly. She did not have a happy childhood.
Honestly, I'm enjoying reading it, so I think you're doing well and okay.
Well, that's certainly a relief. It's good to know that at least my characters are good at humor. :P
In all seriousness, this is a relief. As I said, I can be very paranoid about these things, which is source of anxiety for me. Most of the time I can keep it in check, but there are times where I have a hard time not worrying about it, and unfortunately for me, my default assumption is "Oh no, they must think I'm a horrible, unfunny person that deserves to die in a fire!"
Also, I hope none of you are Twilight fans.
Not a Twilight fan, so no worries there lol. I know where you're coming from with the anxiety, and it's not easy for sure. But I think you're doing great, it's very entertaining, and I'm upset at myself for having to take the break that has me missing the end battle because you're giving Kyrian plenty of words to piggyback off of to help with that plan you have lol.