GM Jiggy's The Order of the Griffon (5e) (Inactive)

Game Master Jiggy

Numa, Grelt ad hominem, says the wizard as he casts.

Grunting as Halsere finally finishes his spell and watching the others spout off about long dead people. "Great, now were tomb robbers, all fer good though, I guess,"

history: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Spidre nods and heads for the door Mirrel suggested.

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Halsere finishes his divination, and confirms that the only magic in the area is your own gear, the four spears you looted earlier, and to nobody's surprise a necromancy aura on the casket.

Several rooms have been suggested; where are we starting? And do you want to do anything else with this one first?

In order, let's try these three next: Dendrivus Teskovar, Kallifis Var, Lilac Thornbranch

If we're quick and nothing jumps out at us we should be able to open all of those whilst Halsere keeps his detect magic up. If we see nothing in any of them, I guess we'll have to choose whether to open some caskets or try the third wing.

Agreed. I can hold the spell up

You approach the door bearing the name of the great smith, and Thyra pushes open the door to find another 15ft by 15ft crypt. There is a sarcophagus near the back wall, and weapon racks adorn the sides, bearing a longsword, a mace, a shield, a spear, and a set of half-plate armor. Halsere's magic floods into the room and detects multiple auras, but before he can start naming schools, the lid of the sarcophagus is thrown off like it's nothing, and a humanoid figure jumps out at you! It is, unsurprisingly, a living corpse. It's clad in beautifully ornate full-plate armor, a few items of jewelry, and bears a fine-looking greatsword.

Halsere: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Mirrel: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Pietro: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Spidre: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Thyra: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Dendrivus: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10

Pietro and Halsere are the first to react!

Thyra's in the doorway, with the rest of you behind her. The smith is just past her, basically adjacent. Pietro and Halsere can act now (but remember, Halsere, that using another concentration spell would end your Detect Magic.

Pietro tries to blast the corpse.

Sacred Flame, DC 16 Dex save, no cover.

Radiant Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8

Thats why the good lord invented firebolt!

Burrrrrrn!, he screams blasting the creature with fire.

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 for 2d10 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6

DEX: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Pietro's spell sears the corpse, but Halsere's flame catches only armor!
8 damage total.

The armored undead unleashes against Thyra!
Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (5, 1) + 7 = 13
Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (4, 4) + 7 = 15
Reroll the 1: 1d6 ⇒ 5
First attack hits for 17 damage. And then Action Surge:
Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (6, 4) + 7 = 17
Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (3, 6) + 7 = 16
Another hit, this time for 16 damage. Total of 33 damage to Thyra.

The dead smith lays into Thyra, hard!

Party up!

"Steady, Thyra. Hold the line!”

Mirrel backs back from the doorway to allow the fighters room to engage the armored corpse, blessing the party as he does so.

Granting Thyra bardic inspiration die - 1d8 can be added to any attack or save in the next ten minutes. Can be used after seeing the roll.

Cast bless - Thyra, Spidre and Halsere can add 1d4 to any attack roll or saving throw. 1st Round of Concentration

Ouch

Thyra will return the favor, swinging hard at the undead fiend.

Disarming Attack: 1d20 + 10 + 1d8 ⇒ (12) + 10 + (8) = 30
Damage: 1d8 + 7 + 1d8 ⇒ (5) + 7 + (2) = 14

Strength Save, DC 16 to not drop that greatsword

Attack: 1d20 + 10 + 1d4 ⇒ (17) + 10 + (4) = 31
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

"Raaarrgghhh"

STR: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Thyra strikes back hard (with Mirrel's help) and she puts on some hurt, but can't shake the dead smith's grip on his weapon.

Total damage so far: 32

Halsere, Pietro and Spidre; you're up!

Casts magic missile

3d4 + 3 ⇒ (2, 4, 4) + 3 = 13

Spidre moves in next to Thrya for a dizzying flurry of attacks.
Scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
shortsword: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17, damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

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Halsere blasts the undead fighter!

Spidre tries to reach around the doorway past Thyra to hit his target, but the tight space gets in his way and he only gets one hit in!

Pietro, you're up! Damage tally: 56

Spidre is also blessed and can add 1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws

Pietro tries another divine blast.

Sacred Flame: 2d8 ⇒ (7, 6) = 13

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sorry Mirrel
Amend attack rolls thusly:
bless: 1d4 ⇒ 1
bless: 1d4 ⇒ 1
bless: 1d4 ⇒ 1

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Okay Spidre, that adds a 10-damage hit to your turn. Enemy's at 66 damage.

DEX: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Pietro sears the undead again!

Up to 79 damage now.

The dead smith continues to wail on Thyra!

Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (6, 2) + 7 = 15
Greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22, Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (3, 6) + 7 = 16
Reroll the 2: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Oh snap! That puts the first hit at 17 damage, which puts Thyra down!

The grisly fighter cuts Thyra down with his first swing, then steps over her body and gives Spidre a hard hit as well! 16 damage to Spidre.

Party up! Thyra's down, and the enemy is among you!

Spidre lets out a high-pitched whimper that in no way matches the confidence of his assault.
Scimitar: 1d20 + 9 + 1d4 ⇒ (20) + 9 + (4) = 33, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
shortsword: 1d20 + 8 + 1d4 ⇒ (16) + 8 + (1) = 25, damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Scimitar: 1d20 + 9 + 1d4 ⇒ (8) + 9 + (3) = 20, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
crit: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

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And with an expert (lucky?) swing of his scimitar, Spidre fells the enemy!

Still in rounds, though, since Thyra's bleeding out. Someone might wanna see to that.

Halsere sears the corpse with flame!

He's not really a medic type

Pietro casts a healing spell to get Thyra back on her feet.

Cure Wounds: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

"You took a beating there. Do you need a rest?"

Rising slowly to her feet, she'll look around at her companions and the scorched mummy, barely hearing Pietro, "Aye, a rest be nice but, we don't have much time, Ai don' know if Ai can press on without a rest though,"

She'll pick up her battle axe, cleaning the dirt and grime off it from having fallen down. "What do'ya'll say, press on?"

A rest would be good, Halsere says, maintaining the Detect Magic.

Spidre sighs, but notes his wounds.

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Alright, I guess you're resting. Go ahead and roll your HD in Discussion. Which room next?

Oh, I should also point out that the now-defeated undead's greatsword, full plate and a ring he's wearing all register as magical (prior to Halsere's spell expiring partway through your rest). Care to do anything about that? And which room is next?

Would he have been able to identify their properties before the spell expired?

Thyra, during the rest, will motion over to the burnt corpse, "Halsere, wha'do'ya make o' that stuff? He hit pretty damn hard fer that ta be stock,"

Would he have been able to identify their properties before the spell expired?

Detect magic doesn't do that. You'd either need identify or to spend a short rest examining them. I guess since I forgot to mention it, I'll assume you guys did that while resting. It's a +2 greatsword, +2 full plate, and a +2 ring of protection (+2 to both AC and saves).

Well, that full plate is strictly better than mine, might as well exchange full plates during this rest, does anyone else want it/can even wear it?

No, but I'd take the ring.

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In order, let's try these three next: Dendrivus Teskovar, Kallifis Var, Lilac Thornbranch

Nobody's saying anything and this is the most recent suggestion, so I guess we're going with it.

With Dendrivus' tomb being devoid of chalices, you move on to your next hunch: Kallifis Var.

Thyra opens the door, which reveals a tomb about 15ft across and 20ft deep, with the sarcophagus near the back wall. The tomb also contains four ornate chests (two on the left, two on the right), all closed. As you peer in over Thyra's shoulder from the hallway, nothing immediately jumps out and tries to kill you.

How do you proceed?

"I know we're in a hurry, but I still think it's worth Halsere checking the chests for magic. Perhaps Spidre and Thyra can stand at the sarcophagus in case anything wakes up?"

It'll take 10 minutes but let me check them for traps and open them first.

Investigation 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Investigation 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Thieves tools 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 3 = 29

Thieves tools 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 6 + 3 = 14

Detects magic

Thyra will stand at the ready incase another mummy pops up.

You all wait as Halsere fires up another detect magic. Interestingly, nothing in this tomb radiates any magical auras at all.

Halsere steps into the room to begin examining the chests. Acting on the suspicious nature of the lack of any magical auras, he sniffs a seam on one of the chests, and sure enough, he catches the faint scent of lead. An examination of each chest provides the same information: these chests are probably lined with lead in order to hide whatever is in them. (Those of you who knew who Kallifis Var was would not be surprised by this.)

Adding to the tension is the fact that none of the chests seems to have a visible locking mechanism anywhere, suggesting that the owner is not particularly concerned about people opening them.

So, who wants to do the opening?

Spidre looks very fidgety and starts slowly shuffling backwards.

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Grunting, Thyra will place her axe into the rim of one of the chests, popping it open.

Halsere steps back among the group in the hallway and Thyra moves into the tomb to open the first chest. We'll say left wall, nearest the door, though it doesn't really matter. As she pops the lid open, all the other chests open at the same time. Bolts of energy fly from the open chests, converging in the center of the room with a blinding flash!

Thyra CON: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Or maybe not quite so blinding. In any case, the energy all melds together into the spectral form of a floating humanoid, with pointed ears and long robes!

Halsere: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Mirrel: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Pietro: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13
Spidre: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Thyra: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Incorporeal caster: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Spidre and Halsere are the first to react!

Thyra is past the doorway, just inside the room. Everyone else is in the hallway. The spectral creature is in the center of the room, effectively adjacent to Thyra. It's incorporeal, which means half damage from nonmagical weapons (though I'm not sure you guys have any nonmagical weapons left...).

Spidre and Halsere, you're up!

Halsere shields himself against the possible trap.

Spidre attacks swiftly!
scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29, damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (4, 5) + 12 = 21
twf shortsword: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11, damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
action surge
scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
scimitar: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18, damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

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Well. . .so that's a thing

Remember that you only double dice on a crit, not modifiers.

While Halsere hides behind the others, Spidre moves in alongside Thyra and goes to work with his magic blades!
41 damage total, if I did the math right.

The spectral mage shrieks and fills the area with fire!
Fireball (DEX DC 17 half): 8d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 2, 4, 6, 2, 3, 5) = 30
Thyra DEX: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Spidre DEX: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Halsere DEX: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Mirrel DEX: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Pietro DEX: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
Looks like only Spidre saves. Yikes.

Okay, so 15 damage to Spidre and 30 to everyone else. Good thing you rested earlier! Party up!

Pietro fires a Guiding Bolt at the ghost after weathering the fire.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Radiant Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 6, 4) = 22

The next attack against it has advantage.

Dat damage roll...

Pietro busts a cap in the ghost's ass.

Out of combat.

"We're all a bit singed after that, yes? Perhaps, even if we don't take the time to truly rest, we can spare ten minutes for a prayer of healing."

I can cast Prayer of Healing for 2d8+5 if we want. Ten minute casting time.

Spidre dusts some ash from his armor and shrugs.

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Discussion thread created.

Day 1 weather:
3d10 ⇒ (5, 4, 1) = 10

Once you've made your profile, copy/paste the following in to the classes/levels line of said profile:

Class 1 | AC XX | HP XX/XX | Perc +X | S+X/D+X/C+X/I+X/W+X/C+X | Spells: 1st (2/2) | HD 1/1 | Insp: [ ]

Fill in the appropriate information in that line. Obviously, if you don't have spells, remove that part. Once you start gaining limited-use abilities like Channel Divinity or (if you become a Battle Master) Superiority Dice, I'll want that in there too.

Once you've got that in place, feel free to go ahead and dot the Gameplay thread.

Thanks!

Is this Golarion or Mystara or Genericland?

I think it might technically be Mystara, but I know nothing of that setting, so it's gonna be a bit more like Genericland. If this conversion goes well, though, I might find places to enrich the setting-immersion for future groups, so in a sense you could all think of yourselves as pioneers. ;D

Reporting for duty.

Remember to copy/paste, please-and-thank-you.

Here's a bit of relevant geographical knowledge that all your PCs would have:

The adventure begins in Radlebb Keep, a medium-sized walled city. To the north is a large and dense forest, and to the west is a mountain range that runs roughly north-south. A road extends southward from Radlebb Keep, then loops down under the southern tip of said mountains before coming back up northeast toward the ruins of Koriszegy Crypt, which lies between the mountains and the western coast.

At the point where this road passes the southern tip of the mountains, another road branches off to go further south, then turns east and (roughly) follows the southern coast to eventually reach Specularum, a substantially larger walled city, which is situated near the mouth of a large river. Were you to cut through the wilderness rather than taking the road, Specularum would be roughly east-southeast from Radlebb Keep (a substantially shorter but more dangerous journey than taking the road).

If you were to follow the river inland from Specularum, you would head mostly north (and slightly east) and pass through a less-dense area of forest. Eventually, a large bridge offers a crossing over the river, giving access to another city on the eastern side of the river. This city is called Kelvin, is walled like the others, and is of a size somewhere between that of Radlebb Keep and Specularum.

Ahh - it IS Mystara. Love the setting!

Alright, let's talk about Inspiration.

I discussed this idea a little in the Recruitment thread, but here it is again:

Rather than try to keep track of all of your traits/ideals/bonds/flaws so that I can award Inspiration by the normal method (which I find cumbersome as a GM), I'm going to tie inspiration to good posting habits.

If you scroll up, you'll see some information regarding your current location, the weather, and so forth. Among that is your name, followed by something that's supposed to be an empty "meter". Each day that you post in Gameplay, you'll get a point toward filling that meter. When it's full, you'll gain Inspiration and the meter will be emptied, ready to fill up again. Note that I won't restart the meter until I see that you've marked your Inspiration in your stat line under your name.

Thus, if you post consistently, you'll gain Inspiration every 12 days. (I might change this number if this proves to be too fast/slow in relation to the pace of gameplay.)

Now, that's the baseline. Particularly good roleplaying or otherwise awesome posts can gain bonus points, getting you Inspiration sooner. Also, awesomeness might be rewarded in other ways, such as restored Hit Dice or extra treasure.

Anyway, I think that's it for housekeeping. I should have the first real Gameplay post up soon(ish).

I love this idea... I'll steal it.

Edit: Spells are now at the bottom of the character profile

Amazing first mission! I love it. Fits my character very well. Investigation AND persuasion both! Lets hope the dice don't flub out on me like they did just now.

I just want to say I'm here, but sick today. Reading makes me feel... iffy. Catch up tomorrow.

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Both in character and out of character, I wasn't necessarily expecting the guards to attack us!

Sorry about that team, I hope you guys aren't irritated by my brash/blunt manner of play.

In-character, I was hoping that would happen. Out of character, some information might have been nice first. Not really your fault, though a bard you aren't.

As for Spidre, he'd better get it together if he ever wants his revenge. Can't even cut down a lowly guard? Pah!

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This is something I was hoping would NOT happen. I was hoping to get more time before just waltzing into the guard post

We are outsiders and the guards will claim we attacked them. If we kill them all, we look like murderers.

The ONLY hope we have right now of not being screwed is to find people in jail who will colaborrate the story of corrupt guards

@Pietro and Thyra:

The husband nods. "Aye, we used to be able to look to the town guard for protection and safety, but not anymore. It seems like something's changed, like their loyalty is no longer to the city. Between them, the thieves' guild, and the wolves and monsters; it seems the only people left to be trusted are the Order of the Griffon. If you get in over your head, I would definitely suggest visiting the Hall of the Griffon here in town."

We may need to call on the guys to bail us out of trouble :(

If we kill them all, we look like murderers.

Oops

I think a casualty or two is acceptable if we can take SOME prisoners.

We are going to need a Zone of Truth spell here and some good luck to get us out of this crap. Hoping we can find some of the people jailed for speaking out to help us out of this mess by collaborating.

Ideally I would have worked best from the thieves guild angle - no one would weep if we went nuts in there and we could keep a few prisoners for questioning to prove the corruption or even if there was a link. Still lets see if we come through this in one piece before we worry about anything else.

Sorry Halsere, in the future I'll try and let you take the lead in the future!

These guards were particularly hasty to be hostile though.

Almost suspiciously so, eh? ;)

By the way, after watching our pacing thus far, I've decided to shorten Inspiration from a 12pt track to a 7pt track. Might make further adjustments later.

CRITS FOR THE CRIT GOD!

Can someone tell the cleric to save some fighting for the fighters?

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Note that there's no such thing as negative hit points in 5e; the counter stops at 0HP.

Oh, okay the way I read it was I should still track it just in case I take damage but upon further and better reading, If I take damage while at 0 and that damage is more than my Hitpoints than I instantly die.

I'll adjust it here in a second to reflect my current 0 Hitpoint status.

Assuming we live? Goblin bodies may make our case easier.

CRITS FOR THE CRIT GOD!

Looks like you borrowed some karma that you're paying back now. ;)

Assuming we live?

Pfft, you guys have got this.

...right?

Mkay, since we're having our first near-death experience, let's make sure we're all on the same page on some things.

First, unlike in Pathfinder, a dying character doesn't tick their way one point at a time toward their negative CON before dying. Three strikes and you're dead. Thus, tending to a dying ally is a far more urgent issue than it is in Pathfinder, so keep that in mind when deciding on your actions.

Second, part of the reason I clump initiative in PbP (not the whole reason, but part of it) is exactly this situation. Since Thyra had the highest initiative in the group, running strict initiative would basically cheat her out of a round of potential aid. That's dumb; high initiative shouldn't bite you in the butt if you happen to be the one who goes down. Therefore, how I run it is if someone successfully intervenes in the same "block" of initiative that the dying character would have rolled their third failure, the character is saved.

Third, I don't know whether 5E has specific rules for using the Medicine skill to stabilize a dying character (I haven't seen it if it does), but I do know that you need not be prevented by the lack of a healer's kit. In 5E, what the healer's kit does is let you AUTOMATICALLY stabilize a character; no check required. Therefore, it seems to me that even without a kit, you can use your action to ATTEMPT to stabilize a dying character with a WIS(Medicine) check. I'm gonna set the DC at 10.

Hopefully we won't be in this position too frequently, but there it is, just in case. :)

If I kill the injured goblin with the first strike, can I direct the second at the other goblin?

If I kill the injured goblin with the first strike, can I direct the second at the other goblin?

Yep, you can pick targets as you go. Heck, you could even put your move in between the attacks. (This is even true when you get multiple attacks in a single action, starting at 5th level.)

In the basic rules pdf under stabilizing a creature it lists a DC 10 wisdom medicine check to stabilize a creature. They are still at 0 hp but not in danger of death unless they take more damage.

So your intuition was correct :). I was just getting ready to use my second wind when I went down!

FYI everybody, I've got in-laws visiting for the weekend, so posting from me might be spotty between now and Monday.

Whoops, I forgot I was the healer!

Never seen a nat 20 be disregarded before. I was at least expecting a 'go to guard XYZ to report', but fair enough.

I didn't disregard it; it earned you the very important piece of information that the guards have absolutely nothing to fear from being reported to the proper authorities. (Dun dun DUUUUUNNNN!!!!)

I got it - it was thoroughly depressing.

Glad I didnt take the Friends cantrip. It is complete rubbish.

Interrogation via spells are possible as well. Anyone take Thaumatury? Combined with Minor image we could do all sorts of things to scare the crap out of the guards we interrogate and hopefully get advantage to our rolls.

I can do comprehend languages as a ritual which means I don't need spell slots to cast it if no one can speak goblin and they refuse to speak common... though my bet is they do - they'd have to speak some to interact with the guards. At worst case I can UNDERSTAND but not speak the language.

Thyra Fireforge are you sure your character is complete? It seems to lack a background as a result 2 more skills. Acolyte or Soldier background would both suit.

I was just investigating that as a matter of fact and I think you are correct.

My understanding at first of how background skills worked was that it added Religion and Insight to my list of skills I could gain proficiency in as a Fighter. Not that they are free skills!

I have adjusted my character sheet to add Survival, a skill I chose from the fighter list and Insight the other bonus skill from my background, acolyte!

It looks like I am the 'Face' character... Gawds preserve us.

We are a particularly un-charismatic party for what it counts. I have the second highest Charisma with a 10.

I can face. Really guys, let me.

I wish we had also hired a bard or a paladin. They are great at 'face' work.

And on that note. I vote we collect some guard uniforms for disguises.

We may be able to have a run at the theives guild though I'd ideally like a full rest first.

Phew, big post today. Let me know if you're lost or anything needs clarification.

Oh, also, you'll be leveling up to 2nd overnight when you rest. :D

I did mean to mention: Are we doing a faster XP track? We only got to level 3 in the last game, and I'd like to see more levels. But it looks like we're going with event-based leveling?

going to dip a level of rogue... all that spy work finally coming together and clicking.

I get the following: Light armor, one skill from the class’s skill list (perception), thieves’ tools.

I will take Expertise in Perception and Persuasion

I gain 5hps + con and Sneak attack (1d6)

I wouldn't mind a 5th PC as I think it lessens the load and buffers for drop outs but its the GM call. Halsere will also take the role of party rogue though it will be without stealth focus etc

I did mean to mention: Are we doing a faster XP track? We only got to level 3 in the last game, and I'd like to see more levels. But it looks like we're going with event-based leveling?

Yes, event-based leveling. Also, I anticipate higher levels (and faster) than my last campaign. Mostly to keep you from dying as I try to keep the feel of the source material. :/