GM Ladile's TL;DR: A Pathfinder Society Campaign

Game Master Lady Ladile

I'm a big fan of Lady L style of play, as a GM or player, and I make no mistery about it.

As always, thanks for the votes of confidence! Though really, the fact that you're all still here is the strongest vote in and of itself. At some point I'm going to have to sit down and consolidate all of my own personal methods into one place, probably under my GM alias. All the cool kids are doing it!

In other news, I just realized that this particular scenario has a Tier 5-9 followup (#9-19 Clash in Kaimuko Wood) of sorts. It's a long ways off yet but provided no one has played it already by the time the group reaches eligibility for it, I'll slip it into the planned scenario list and swap something else out.

Finally, Happy 4th of July to those of us in the US and Happy Thursday to the rest of the world :)

Maria approves of a follow up. She likes the ones where she gets to hunt abyssal enemies.

I love connected scenarios! :D

Howdy folks! Updates to follow later as I've got to get ready to go play some Starfinder shortly but if you're GMing for the upcoming Gameday VIII don't forget that GM Courtesty Signups will be opening soon, depending on your time zone! This means that GMs will be allowed to sign up, as a player, for 1 game early before player signups open to the general public. So if there's a table that you're really eyeballing, that'll be your chance to grab a spot :)

I think I might've asked this some months back but given that we're not too far from the official launch of PF2 (and PFS2), what's everyone's current interest level in it? I'm planning to give playing a try and will probably give GMing a whirl too - so it'll make it easier for me to put potential tables together once I have a general idea of who thinks PF2 might be their jam and who thinks it isn't :)

I find myself neither excited or upset by it. I've dialed back the number of PF1 PFS characters I'm willing to field so that I can see more characters to retirement or even seeker levels (since there won't be any further PFS PF1 support)

I thought the playtest stuff I looked at about a year ago was ok, but I wasn't a fan of charisma dictating your ability to have/use magic items (among other minor things). I haven't kept up with it since then. It felt very similar to DnD 5e to me (no qualms there), but at that point I'd rather play 5e and PF1 than PF1 and PF2. I do already have some 5e books though, so there is certainly a bias there.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying I'd love to hear about PF2 more, but as of right now I'm not that interested in it. Thanks though! :)

I am excited about it and my plan is to play one session and then start GM'ing, assuming I feel at least a little bit comfortable with the system at that point. I also believe that they scrapped the Charisma based Magic Item stuff.

I have nice concept character rattling around my brain, waiting to be put on paper and played. Have they released what the playtest points give yet?

Sorry, my posts will be brief and erratic for a couple days. In the hospital for an infection that wasn't responding to the outpatient regimen. If anyone could actually sleep in a hospital, I'd probably be perkier since the infection looks to be improving.

Re: PFS2, I'm going all in except for 2 PFS1 campaigns and occasional SFS. I'll have played the first 3 scenarios at GenCon and will be looking for more after that. I'll be running the whole season eventually.

Not interested in Pathfinder V2. I haven't much time to read about it, honestly.

Don't know much about SFS, as I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan myself (even if I liked Shadowrun-but never played it, unfortunatly).

My Starfinder experiences have been the few scenarios that my local lodge has run and I've tried to keep it as my chill, player-only RPG. However, the VO for my lodge asked if I would run SFS #1-01 and I ran it last night. Struggled with it, but I felt like I did an OK job. I'm for just playing it and only being a GM for it on a last resort basis.

For Pathfinder 2E, I'm exicted to see where the story goes after the events of PFS Season 10 and the Tyrant's Grasp AP for Golarian. I want to play it, and as far as running it, I feel like I need to know how to run it as far as ensuring that our lodge grows and stays active. It's a bit pragmatic in my outlook because whether it becomes the greatest system since sliced bread like D&D 3rd Edition or it tanks like the subsequent D&D 4th Edition, I have to be able to both play and run it.

When I've gamed at cons and visited other lodges, I've tried to put feelers out about what others plan to do. I know of one area that is doing 2E, but that attendence will decrease. Most of the people I've talked to at other places are planning to offer it in addition to 1E and Starfinder and the members of one lodge I talked to have indicated they will not have 2E games.

Yikes, sorry to hear that Zithembe. Hope you feel better soon!
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Nah, the Starfinder question is relevant because I'm not as big of a Sci-Fi fan and I've struggled a bit to get into the Starfinder setting myself. Not to mention the time investment in learning a new setting and new rule system. That said I've got two characters made and I'm trying to work on getting into Starfinder PbP (what few SFS games I've played have all been live tables). Once signups for Gameday VIII open to the general public I hope to be able to sign up for a Starfinder table.

(General plan is one each of PFS1, PFS2, and SFS for Gameday VIII).

It's good to see that most folks here are either excited or at least vaguely interested in PFS2. From what I've seen, most of the Online region seems to be feeling the same so I'm expecting we'll have a good pool of GMs and players for it as time goes on *and* still have a sizable amount of PFS1 activity for those who aren't interested in the new edition.

I plan to participate in both so these scenarios will still continue as planned and I'll continue to play my PFS1 characters as opportunities arise :)

@Maria - Bit of a tangent but thanks for the note that you're not into horror settings. I enjoy me some horror scenarios/modules from time to time but I know it's not for everyone. While it's on my mind, are there any topics or trigger points for anyone that I need to be mindful of for the future? No explanations necessary and no need to post publicly if you're not comfortable doing so - just drop me a PM and I'll be sure to steer clear of said thing.

I like little fluffy kittens, and I don't like seeing them harmed. ^^

I could do some sci-fi reading. Are there any relevant comics available online that could help me form a visual of these things? I'm open to SFS just not being the right fit for me, but people seem to really enjoy it and it doesn't feel right to not give it a fair chance.

I'm a big fan of horror stuff! :D I had a blast in a F2F Call of Cthulhu game and think horror in Pathfinder opens up an interesting RP angle that doesn't often get explored. Like with the right set of players/characters/module or scenario chain? ON PBP?! Magnifique!

I don't think any of my disliked topics would be met by anything sanctioned by PFS (oddly enough, I've found them most often in PC backstories from other players!). I'm perfectly willing to share if you'd still like them though!

SFS stretches from Sci-Fantasy like Star Wars to Babylon 5 to Farscape to Sci-Fi like Star Trek (but if you don't like them mixing, you don't have any control over what other people bring as PCs).

Watch lists for inspiration: Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Farscape, Stargate (the later seasons after the Norse gods are revealed). If you can get into any of those, you'll start to be able to make ideas for SFS. It helps if you like Golarion lore because there's often (loose) tie back to that. E.g. the Nuar race of intelligent, civilized minotaurs that live primarily on Absalom Station.

I find horror does not come across well in PbP or organized play d20 play.

I expect (as Zith touched on) that Horror would not be an issue for me in PbP due to the medium. I've never really even noticed it in PFS and reviewing what I've played I think some of the settings were supposed to be horror-ish and I didn't even notice. So if a scenario we planned to play leaned that direction I'd have no issue giving it a go. As long as you don't force me to sit down in front of a horror movie, I'm likely to be fine. :P

Take a look at Schlock Mercenary for the aspect of "Do a job, get paid, collateral damage? Uh... I swear that was there when we arrived, Sci-Fi in a free webcomic. I also enjoyed Quantum Vibe for a while (need to get back to it and catch up). It has a great cyberpunk/sci-fi feel.

Probably one of the best movies I could think of would be Aliens, it is a perfect little blend of space mercenaries + civilians + androids vs. xenomorphs, which is decent chunk of the missions. Or just watch Guardians of the Galaxy and boom, you have a SFS group in full.

True, it's more challenging to manage a horror 'atmosphere' via text alone. Not to mention it definitely requires buy-in from the players; if they and their characters aren't inclined to take it seriously then you may as well go for a silly Scooby Doo-style romp with it instead.

All about knowing your audience :)

Thanks for the recommendations everyone! :D

*WOOP WOOP*

General signups for PbP Gameday are now open!

And I'm signed up for the max 3 (right now). So many games available, I really had to triage what I wanted to grab first.

Also, I see some of you have done your dayjob checks for this scenario so I'll toss mine out there.

Craft: Alchemy + Lab: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 2 = 23

My re-roll has been used, so this is locked in now.

Just to make sure we are all on the same page, I, Gummy Bear, am happy with the way things are going. Rumble is a little annoyed at all the talking and searching since he thinks his hammer should already be in what's left of the priest's head. I've limited posts just a little so he doesn't nag about attacking multiple posts a day, but this is by no means diminishing my enjoyment!

Please carry on :)

I don't have the RPG guide on the iPad that I have here, but I'm reasonably certain there's a clause in there about automatically having sufficient vials/flasks/sacks to collect whatever you find in a scenario.

I couldn't find anything like that with a quick search, but I do recall reading something to that effect somewhere. I'll take a deeper look sometime when I have time.

PG. 37 of the current RPG Guide:

'Characters are assumed to have enough containers to hold items found or, in the case of urban adventures, access to markets to sell goods.'

Parison: Gelatinous cubes and other slimes are excellent floor polishers.

Parison: Gelatinous cubes and other slimes are excellent floor polishers.

Parison doesn't know that....yet. ;)

By the way folks, if you care anything about having replays for PFS1 those are now live and can be found under:

My Organized Play --> GM/Event Coordinator

So if you ever wanted a 'do-over' of a particular scenario for whatever reason, you've got your chance now. Or perhaps more chances if you GM a lot and thus recharge those GM Star-Replays :)

In case anyone is getting antsy we don't have much more to go for this scenario! Next up on the docket will be #9-06 The Shores of Heaven - which I know Zithembe is probably excited about as he specifically requested it :)

*edit* Also, are we still good to proceed with just 5 players? So far you've all largely curbstomped your way through both combat and social challenges but I always like to check.

No problem with me!

I am excited for it! I couldn't remember where in our sequence it was.

Having run it a few times now, I will vaguely spoil it to address the 5-player question. It works on a system of accumulated one-chance-per-player successes in multiple places with thresholds set for 6-players or 4-players. So, while we probably could handle any combat, we are not insignificantly handicapping ourselves in scenarios that use that kind of mechanic with 5 players (essentially giving ourselves 1 automatic failure per encounter like that).

If this was high tier 9-06, we'd fail for sure without a sixth.

So in that sense, recruiting a guest player for scenarios like that would be helpful.

EDIT: My advice for enjoying 9-06 is to throw yourself into the setting. If you treat it like just another dungeon crawl, it won't seem as special.

I do love how this group is turning out. In the slightly less than two sessions I've played with you all, I've gotten to know a ton about each character. That's not very common in my opinion, I often go entire scenarios without getting any feel for my allies. Anyway, you all are excellent players and I look forward to continuing.

Adding a guest would be fine, as would staying with five. Making it slightly harder just makes it even more rewarding when we succeed.

Reiterating my note earlier, just in case the GM's post was partially motivated by me: I'm having a great time with this adventure, Rumble's priorities are just a little different than mine though :)

Zithembe, without spoilers, would you be able to elaborate a little on what you mean by throwing ourselves into the setting?

I'm really enjoying this group too! I feel like we've quickly grown into our own groove and it is just fun. Kudos to Parison for taking it all in stride and bringing those quality posts! I also like the Torag vs Sarenrae ideals conflict we are most likely going to continue to bumb into ;)

My preference is five players. Tbh I think it gives us that slight edge over a four player group (in terms of flexibility of builds) and gets us into some of the more serious combat situations (5 is also where I think we get the best cost-benefit in terms of waiting for people to post!). At least IME as a PFS GM, 5 is where the scenarios can run without reducing the combat challenges to accommodate our party size, but can also give us slightly more challenging fights (which is my preference). I think some scenarios, especially if you think we will struggle to complete the primary success condition (although that is pretty meta), would be ok with a sixth, but tbh I wouldn't mind just doing our thing with the five of us!

Zithembe, without spoilers, would you be able to elaborate a little on what you mean by throwing ourselves into the setting?

Without spoilers? Probably not. :)

It's really fun to get to play off one another in this session. Speaking from the newest player standpoint, I'm just glad to be a part of it. I'm cool either way whether we have five players or we add a 6th. I'm always a 'the more the merrier' kind of person, but on the flip side, I know the established characters (not counting myself) have a pretty good rapport and dynamic with each other.

Hum...so no one has a really strong preference either way but we have two with a slight preference for staying at 5 and two with a slight preference for having a guest 6th.

I'm admittedly a 'more the merrier' sort of person as well, at least to a point.

(No more 7 player PbP tables for me!)

Given the rather unique nature of the next scenario I'm inclined to seek out a 6th, with the caveat that they'd be a Special Guest Star just for the one scenario. I've got a couple of potential candidates that might fit the bill but this is your guys' group just as much as mine so if you have anyone in particular that you really like playing with, feel free to let me know here or via PM :)

And of course if there's anyone out there that would absolutely be a no-go for one of you, please let me know that as well via PM only.

(I've probably asked both of those questions before; I really need to keep a list of names.)

*edit* By 'unique nature' I'm referring more to the setting of the scenario rather than the mechanics behind it.

I Don't like myself, does that count? ^^

ಠ_ಠ

GM, I think that was the only appropriate response there XD

Heading out for GenCon tomorrow. Will be back 100% on the 5th. I expect I'll be able to get in 1 post per day.

Have a fun and safe trip!

Have a great time at GenCon!

Z, I think your seance comment was directed at me, but I did not include the seance bonus to the attack roll. The +2 to attack comes from Divine Favor.

Reminder to everyone but triggered by Rumble. You had Seance in your attack tag, but I now see you don't tag your damage separately.

I've had a bit of a busy weekend and am currently gearing up to play some 2E with the local lodge. I'll look at moving things forward when I get home later this evening :)

My reaction reading Hepsubia's last Gameplay post.

Meant with all possible good-natured teasing and affection ;)

Before the angst starts IC... Red went to -4 with 26 damage but Blue went to negative Constitution with 26 lethal damage?

Hepsubia also hit but technically you're right, it's still not enough to put Blue at negative con so I'll amend my post.

Normally I don't track dying conditions for enemies barring specific circumstances or tactics. Otherwise, once they're down they're out of the fight but exist in a nebulous state so that groups who want to try and stabilize them can but if not, then they're dead.

I was tired when tracking damage and broke my own rule :)

I normally wouldn't care, but Maria has been making a point to keep these guys alive.

^No, that's fine! I actually normally leave it ambiguous because so many of my regular players do try to avoid killing foes that may or may not be able to help what they're doing. As I said, I got in a hurry and brain-farted and broke my own rule.

My reaction reading Hepsubia's last Gameplay post.

Meant with all possible good-natured teasing and affection

I've just explained it. I thought it was funny, and unexpected