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

Game Master Lady Ladile

Signs In Senghor is pretty good, so I don't mind spending a replay. I'd like to see the proposed list as well though.

A bit late but here you go. Though I did try to roughly plan out a path all the way up to nearly Seeker level the list beyond like, 5th level or so is very much subject to change since it'll take a while for us to get to that point anyway. That said I did try to accommodate some of the player requests such as multi-part scenarios, lots of planar travel, and few to no scenarios that take place all/largely in outdoor settings. But I note that some of the scenarios on this list would also require some folks to spend replays.

As far as 1-5 scenarios that we could do, provided 1-2 people are able/willing to replay, that aren't already on the proposed list....there's a bunch. Spoiler-tagged for length:

Of course there are also some 1-5s that apparently no one has played:

#1-39 The Citadel of Flame
#1-47 The Darkest Vengeance
#10-10 The Shattered Shield

GM, the (old) list needs permission to view. I've sent you a permission request.

I've been warned off Shattered Shield by folks who've played it :o

Whoops, I think the list should be viewable now (to everyone) but let me know if you're still having trouble with it!

Thanks GM :)

spoilers for ease of reading:

One or two of those I've already played I would love to replay: Sewer Dragons is awesome, for example. Birthright Betrayed is good for Sovereign Court. I'd appreciate a few substitutions if possible though.

I've GMed Shattered Shield. It's not that bad of a scenario, but I also like it because it also plays a part in a major world event during the last season of 1E Society play.

I don't have any issues with the above proposed solutions to Effie's replay problems. Currently, there are four more scenarios that I'll need to use (and have) replays for. Birthright Betrayed is one of those, but it is a pretty fun scenario that I'd hate those that like investigations to miss out on. None of Effie's suggestions require me to use a replay.

^Okay, good to know. I'll wait a bit and see what everyone else has to say on the matter and then do some shuffling. I'm also planning on slipping Clash in Kaimuko Wood (5-9) in there as it's the follow-up to Shrine of the Sacred Tempest.

*edit* And since Effie's good with replaying Sewer Dragons and Birthright Betrayed (as is Zithembe for BB), I'll leave those two in there.

Replays shouldn't be any issue with me if I need to use them.

The current plan and the adjusted shuffling shouldn't cause any issues either. I'm more happy to be playing with a well paced strong RP group. With characters that have found and are continually finding more of their voice, it is very easy to just play whatever and enjoy the results.

Sorry, guys. I wasn't thinking. I pretty much wasted both a surprise turn and a spell because Effie's inspire courage does pretty much the same thing my bless spell does in terms of bonus type in addition to giving a bonus to save vs. charm effects. I'll keep it going just in case something should happen to prevent Effie from inspiring courage.

Bonuses on attack rolls stack: competence and morale.

^Yep! The bonus to attack rolls that Bless gives will stack with Inspire Courage; it's just the save vs. fear bonus that doesn't.

From memory, I played in that list
Hydra fang (currently playing it with another character)
maybe slave pits of absalom
The disappeared
The Cyphermage dilemma
Night march of Kalkamedes
Merchant's wake
Trial by machine
Maybe Slave Sheeps of absalom
The Segang expedition
Trouble in tamran rings a bell
Currently playing Bid for Abalastrine
Maybe Dead man debt
Reaping what we saw
What the Helm hides
Maybe citadel of flame
Maybe Shattered shield

I know I should log in the site to recap all my adventures with all my characters, but I am currently in troubled times IRL, sorry.

I've played a couple on the list already (or currently am via PbP), but like Maria, I'm willing to spend replays as needed!

That's totally fine Hep; I can work with the information you've given me. Take care of yourself and I hope that things calm down for you IRL soon.

I took the time to complete PFS Tracker with the adventures I've done and those I'm in currently.
It's boring, but useful, I suppose.

Thanks for your kind words.
Take care of yourself 2

I took the time to complete PFS Tracker with the adventures I've done and those I'm in currently.

It's boring, but useful, I suppose.

A little, but I appreciate you taking the time to do it. It can make it a lot easier for GMs to see what their regular players have played instead of having to have a lengthy back-and-forth dialogue about it. I've also been known to issue invites to one-off games based on the information people have on their tracker profile and I've known other GMs (but not all, of course) to do the same. So it can be beneficial to update it from time to time.

He levels Sledge at the nerd cultist who is clearly the leader.

If that's not photoshopped then I want to know the context because I absolutely laughed my butt off when I clicked on that!

Haha I thought it fit our current situation perfectly XD

For better or worse, it is a photoshopped version of a panel from an edition of Moon Knight. I saw it submitted on the fake history porn subreddit.

Hah, gotcha! I also found it funny for reasons that probably won't make sense or be amusing unless you've played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, maybe :3

In other news, I tweaked the proposed scenario list and cut out all of the stuff Effie's already played except for Sewer Dragons and Birthright Betrayed as well as added in some of her suggested substitutions. As always, the list remains flexible and we'll revisit it periodically as time passes.

Let me know if the changes will work for everyone, at least for the next level or two!

^thanks Lady L :)

It's a personal preference only, but I try to avoid having a whole party in between tiers. Some scenarios can get ugly that way, although with nobody in the higher tier we can always elect to play down (though that can end up too easy). It may be possible to tweak the play order to have all these scenarios clearly in high or low tier. I can have a proper look when back at my computer later.

Sure; figuring out the math isn't always my strongest point so if you or someone else can come up with a more optimal way to order the list please feel free. I'd rather not ROFLstomp the party but I'd also rather avoid having it be too easy for you guys either, especially since I know one or two of you prefer a little challenge.

I assumed we would play down when we were all level 3 for the 1-5's, but tweaking to avoid that decision isn't a bad idea at all.

The simplest way I can see to address that right now would be to do a straight swap.

Group Level 3
Birthright Betrayed (1-5; Taldor/Ridonport)
Ungrounded but Unbroken (1-5; Plane of Earth)

swapped for

Group Level 5
Mysteries Under Moonlight Pt. 1 - Testament of Souls (3-7; Varisia/Magnimar)
Mysteries Under Moonlight Pt. 2 - The Howling Dance (3-7; Varisia)

Of course, the simplest may not always be the best.

Effie, went to move you, but it looks like somebody already has!

Tweaked the scenario order to put them all clearly in one tier - document here.

^Thank you Effie! I'm actually going to save/link that to our campaign page for everyone's future reference, too.

That was wonderfully recalculated, thanks Effie!

As to the knowledge roll at the start of combat this time, Maria was mostly intending to identify something about the cultists more than identify that they were human, so thank you for interpreting it the same way as my brain was intending. I will attempt to be slightly more clear in the future. :P

In the far far future (lvl 9) she will gain an ability (Inspirational Expertise) to buff the group based upon identifying an enemy, but at that point it will be made clear why she is rolling the knowledge check.

Not a problem! Knowledge checks in combat are usually fairly self-explanatory but I've definitely had times during mission briefings or investigations or at other random points where a player has rolled a knowledge check but with little explanation for it. Like, I dig your character wanting to use their brain but you gotta be a little more detailed about what you're wanting to learn/recall, homie.

So yes, specifics are always appreciated :)

Just, you know, because F me: I'm playing another game with a Dwarven fighter. Want to know what spell just got cast? Sound freaking Burst. Want to know what my save was? Joke's on you, doesn't matter because I rolled a 1. *sobs loudly*

Aaargh! Poor Rumble!

Whilst we're lamenting terrible dice though: my -1 died (for good) after a series of dice rolls that I've since calculated at odds of over 3000 to 1 :o

Whoa! Is this in a PbP? I WANNA READ IT!

Sorry to hear that though, there is a special place in my heart for my -1, I can imagine there is in yours too!

It was face to face, at a con. It was a really good game, despite the character death. Very briefly, I failed multiple saves that I would have passed on like a 4 or 5, rolled low on my Lay on Hands healing, failed a climb check by a margin that meant I fell (about a 10% chance) and then the GM rolled high on the falling damage. Long odds do happen! Would have survived if I had a snapleaf.

Sorry, Rumble and sorry, Effie :\

And apologies for the delay again. The usual stuff (work being busy, catching up on sleep, painting) plus difficultly focusing on writing, which was mainly just yesterday. I'd briefly considered adding another table for Outpost, given some of the desire I saw for more Core games, but seems like every time I consider adding more to my plate I get slapped down for my hubris in one way or another -_-

I'm sure there's a reason for it, but...

*cough*you're spoiler*cough*

Weird; fixed it. At least, I did if you're talking about that second GM Stuff spoiler?

Is that an active Perception check or a reactive Perception check?

Uh...reactive, I would think. It's not something you have to stop and search for, just something you might happen to notice.

Haha don't be sorry GM! Bad luck happens, but I'm gonna gripe about it all the same :P

This came up over on Discord and I thought I had it right and it seems there has been some confusion in the past as well.

Do GM Star Replays reset each year? It appears per the roleplaying guild guide that they do not. But I was under the strong impression that they did.

All the forum discussions on them date back to 2014 so...

No, they recharge by GMing. I'd have to dig my boon out to see how many it takes to recharge each star.

Now, since there are no more seasons so there are no more new seasons to publish the recharge boon under, there's debate as to whether you can still recharge your replays with the end of PFS1 publishing new seasons but a compassionate interpretation is that, yes, you can recharge them each year just as if it was a new season.

Oooh... so you all have a boon that recharges them, I see!

Well, tis good to know before I tried to use a replay I didn't have. :D

Just to say (once again, I know!) that I really enjoy the dynamics of our little group.

Great characters, great roleplayers, great GM too of course, no tension or ego..

I have so much ego. The written format just lets me take a breath before posting. ;)

EDIT: Now, what I really wanted to post but couldn't immediately find the link to was this.

Expanded Narrative Boon

They used to be available to GMs at GenCon, then they made this blog post. They didn't republish one for "Season 9" or "Season 10," but the consensus of the community has been that you just ignore the "Season 8" on the boon and keep using new ones each year. There are the legalistic sort who will argue the literal, though.

Even though there's never a 100% guarantee that everyone will get along - some of my favorite players do not like other favorite players - there are good reasons I invite who I invite to my private games and lack of ego (mostly) is one of them ;)

In other news, Outpost III player sign-ups are open! Go git u sum!

Linky~

Since we perceive the cultists to be allies of the div--I presume, and they've been whacking in is, does that give Rumble the +5 bonus?

Ehhhh...he's been helping them but it's not so cut-and-dry as it appears. But perception is a tricky thing so sure, Rumble can take the +5.

Posting may be a bit delayed today/tonight as it's another painting day (hopefully finishing the kitchen, woo) and I'll be going to bed for awhile once it's done since I've been up all night. Thanks for your patience!

So often times I tend to handle my minions in combat thusly:

Once you knock baddies down they become Schrödinger's Bad Guy where they're both alive and dead. They're dead if the party doesn't care anything about keeping them alive and can be pillaged for prizes. Or they're alive but bleeding out if the party wants to spare them or keep them alive for some reason.

There are obviously exceptions to this since sometimes scenarios/modules have scripted events and there can be corner cases where someone gets blasted with, oh, a Disintegrate spell or plummets off a cliff or something.

You did see Zithembe attacked the cultist, right? I couldn’t reach the div. I was just confused by certain syntax.

Whoops, missed that; doesn't really change the end outcome though.

Wow, so we've got Zithembe & Maria wanting to try reviving the div, Hepsubia and Rumble in favor of killing it now, and Effie & Parison abstaining from the decision entirely. These party dynamics are utterly fascinating!

I've worked all night and there's also been other things on my mind (TL;DR tornadoes suck) so I'm not really feeling my most creative this morning. I'll give you guys a little longer to talk things over if you like and then will try and get things moving, one way or the other, either later tonight or tomorrow.

OOC: Probably could have worded it better, but when Parison finished his conversation, he went back to where Maria, Rumble, and Hepsubia were watching over the captives. He didn't leave the tomb entirely, but I could see where Zithembe could have thought that.