Wow guys, this has been a great popcorn moment for me as a GM. As always, thank you all for the time, effort, and thought that you put into these posts. They're a delight to read and I'll keep doing my best to return that same effort in kind :)
But for now, it sounds like we've reached a little bit of a decision, of sorts. I'll start working on a post now~
No worries, Rumble! That said, I think the group has pretty much reached a consensus on what to do. I'll make a quick post in reply to Zithembe's latest one but otherwise please feel free to make your post whenever it suits you.
I think the group has pretty much reached a consensus on what to do.
I stand corrected, sort of!
This seems like a good time to remind everyone that I generally don't like to stifle roleplay (unless it's egregiously inappropriate or making someone uncomfortable) and that includes potentially good or bad outcomes as a result of party decisions.
That said, it's also always important to make sure that everyone is on the same page with the understanding that such decisions and resulting outcomes are purely an IC matter with, hopefully, no hard feelings intended or offense taken OOC.
Hopefully this makes sense.
Zithembe accepts Hepsubia's hug with only the slightest awkward surprise.
Zith seems like either a Handshake or a Christian-Side-Hug sort of guy to me :3
Understood and no worries. It's still business as usual on my end regarding work so my posting rate will likely stay about the same. For anyone that's currently busier than usual due to Covid-19 stuff, don't worry about the game. All I ask is that you check in periodically if you can so that I know you're okay.
Also, if anyone feels the need to blow off some steam about everything happening:
(1) You may post here in Discussion but I ask that you tag it under a spoiler so that those who don't wish to read about/talk Covid-19 stuff don't have to see it. Some folks are here purely for fun games and a distraction from RL even at the best of times and I want to respect that.
(2) PM/email me if you like. I am not a therapist, I am not a counselor, I am not qualified to give medical advice, but I'm willing to offer a listening 'ear', so to speak.
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What strange times we are living in.
Most shops and businesses are closed. The school round the corner, a large primary school that has close to 1000 pupils, has become a creche for those children who for whatever reason cannot be at home (a very small number, so the school is quiet).
My wife has been sick for a week and a half. Until today, we didn't think it was corona. But last night she vomited, and I just learned that her dad was in Milan last month and was sick for a few days afterwards. Symptoms were mild, so my wife thought nothing of it. Her symptoms are mild too, and she's often unwell (low CON score :o ) Wife has gone into isolation. It may well not be corona, but there's no testing available here unless you are hospitalised, so we'll take precautions.
I'm most worried about our little girl. She's 1 year old and has a tracheostomy due to glottic stenosis. She's otherwise healthy, but I'm keeping her apart from her mum for the next week at least.
I'm lucky to have extended paid sabbatical leave - I've been (effectively) off work since last October to care for my daughter, and I don't need to return till October this year. So at least we're financially stable till then. Not so keen on going back to the UK then though.
Look after yourselves and your loved ones. x
Hey folks, I'm behind on my sleep so no updates tonight. Will look to get some posting done tomorrow afternoon/evening, instead.
Hey folks, I wanted to say that we're very nearly done here and then we'll be able to wrap up the scenario. Given the pandemic and the fact that Outpost starts a week from today I do want to ask if folks feel up for moving on to our next scenario relatively quickly afterward or is a bit of a breather needed once we finish this one? No judgement or preference from me either way; I'm happy to keep things trucking and equally happy to wait a few days.
^Of course! I usually try to give at least a few days or up to a week between scenarios no matter what so I guess I'm mainly checking to see if anyone thinks they might need or want longer than a week.
Apologies for not being more clear :)
(Also next update hopefully later this evening, if work is quiet.)
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Our usual should be OK if everything holds together.
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Anyone happen to know of low-level ways to do non-lethal damage with a longbow easier than taking the -4 penalty? Stage Combatant couldn't be until lvl 9 for Maria and Merciful Enchant will probably not be until around then. A single level dip into Inquisitor with Merciful Bane seems like her only choice, but that is really not an ideal option.
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Possibilities:
Korada mystery cultist 2nd boon. Too much investment to get to that.
The mock gladiator trait. Take the Extra Traits feat, provided that you don't already have a social trait. There is a boon that allows the retraining of level 1 traits if you do.
There's also a boon that lets you purchase certain magic arrows in batches of 10 instead of 50. I think it would work for +1 merciful.
4 levels of Slayer gets you the Jaguar's Grace slayer talent.
2 levels of Order of the Blue Rose Cavalier works.
Edit: 1 level of Occultist with Transmutation Implement - weapon. Use Legacy Weapon to add Merciful once you have a +1 bow.
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I have that arrow boon assigned to my ranger so I know which one you are referencing. Still quite an expensive option.
By the way thanks for all the fun stuff I got to look up, I'm enjoying the digging.
The easiest way right now to do it would be the extra trait feat at lvl 5, I'd just need to get that trait's resource before then. I'll also take a look at occultist today too, but the other dips were too deep and/or too far away from my set of plans.
I did find that I may also have been rolling my day jobs 2 points higher than I should have. I'll go back and see if that change would have dropped any of them to a lower tier.
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Occultist just doesn't work out. I'll put a note in my character info to consider the trait option at lvl 5 but might just keep working towards Merciful on my bow.
Also, good news, apparently I was smart enough early in my adventuring career and wasn't adding the 2 from my trait to my dayjob rolls up until the very last one I rolled and that one was high enough that a -2 doesn't change the result. I've corrected and clarified my bonuses to such things going forward.
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Question, since Effie wonderfully updated our play schedule to avoid any split-tier scenarios, it appears that there isn't going to be any "need" for Maria or Zith to play slow track to hold ourselves back to match the exact level of everyone else to keep from pushing us out of the low tier option. Am I correct in this thought?
If so, would it be better for us to occasionally have a slight level boost on a scenario or two as we progress or do we just all want to be at the same xp regardless?
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Characters 1 or 2 xp ahead of the rest will be a problem at several points in the play schedule, Maria.
The Level 5 plan features two tier 1-5 scenarios; if you're 2xp ahead then you're level 6 for the second of these.
Level 7 is entirely tier 3-7 scenarios, and level 9 entirely 5-9. At both levels, being 1 or 2 xp ahead will take you out of tier for one or two scenarios. Same at level 11.
Probably the simplest solution is to stay all at the same level, but you *could* time your slow track xps to get them in before level 5 without issues.
ETA: we could also change the schedule - for level 5 find replacement 5-9s, and at level 7 find tier 7-11s. No fix at level 11 though :)
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That... is uh probably something I should have researched a bit more before posing the question, thanks Effie! Alright, easy enough to do and I don't think we need to redo the schedule again. Especially cause we need to all be same level eventually anyway.
I'm planning to run a couple sessions slow right before I hit level four to get even with you all.
^Thanks for handling scheduling stuff, guys. I'm working on getting caught up with games again now - I've been a bit out of sorts the past few days.
I'm not sure if it's just been my bad luck or if it's been stress manifesting on a subconscious level but I've had trouble sleeping the last several days and when I've been awake it's been hard to concentrate on being creative for GM posting. Today is probably the first day in nearly a week where I've woken up feeling pretty refreshed - after almost 12 hours of sleep instead of just 5 or 6 at a time.
Things are still okay here. No confirmed positives in my county yet but the county where my and Parison's parents live just had their first the other day. Given that they're in the high-risk category (mom is 68 with early-stage COPD, dad turns 72 tomorrow) it's been worrisome, but there's not much I can do other than encourage them to follow protocol and stay home as much as possible.
It's been equal parts fascinating and frustrating to watch the difference between how my old state is handling things (TN) and how my new state is (KY). On the bright side, all the positive Andy Beshear memes I've been seeing lately have made me smile/laugh.
Husband is getting his hours cut at work which isn't the end of the world but is still stressful to a degree. Luckily I'm full-time so my hours should remain the same. I'm also bummed about PaizoCon cancelling even though I expected it would happen and know that it's for the best that they did.
On the bright side, we got one of the bathrooms painted yesterday and we're all still healthy (to my knowledge, no one in our families is sick at the moment) and the sun was shining today. So there's that :)
*catches up on 13 posts she's missed*
Um...dang, guys. I appreciate the roleplay and I'm also glad the group seems to have decided on how to handle the issue of prisoners and evil outsiders and such going forward!
And...I know a lot of the RP this scenario has been pretty heavy in its own right. The next scenario will, I hope, prove to be a more light-hearted affair than this one has been and maybe be a little breath of levity given the current situation in the world :)
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This one and Shores of Heaven really pointed out some of the small differences of opinion we have in our group and everyone has done a great job of playing those up in character.
And yes, Maria went way to far into her investigate mode this last scenario. She got caught up in the mystery and completely ignored everything else. I expect she won't attempt any further deals with devils and the like just to get intel.*
*or hopefully for any other reason
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Take care everyone!
FYI: "At the end, everyone goes to the beach" : a quote from one of my favorites movies, "Never on Sunday" (1960, director Jules Dassin), from the main character, Ilya, played by the delicious Melina Mercouri. If you don't know what to watch while at home, try this movie.
What are your five favorites old movies? (no order)
Mine are The Quiet man (with John Wayne), Harvey (with James Stewart), Never on Sunday, Arsenic and old lace (with Cary Grant) and The Holy Grail (Monty Python)
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I think I can tack on a few of my favorites (after I had a chance to think a bit on it).
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (barely beating out A New Hope)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Gone With the Wind
2001: A Space Odyssey (barely beating out A Clockwork Orange)
Jaws
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is wonderful, easily the most re-watchable and quotable on any of these lists. I recall loving Harvey as a kid, but don't remember much about the movie.
Blade Runner is another of those technical masterpieces with excellent acting and world building. The parts of Seven Samurai I've seen are very good. Alien scares the crap outta me so I haven't gotten the whole way through it but loved Aliens (though that is a completely different movie). Akira is one of those I've seen a bunch of clips from but never watched. A New Hope is right up there next to Empire.
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Seven Samurai, Akira, Alien, Jaws.. Good choices
I'm not a big Sci-Fi fan, but Alien and Akira are too good to pass. I do have Akira on a DVD, plans to watch it soon. I've seen Alien again a few months ago. Gone with the Wind and 2001 are classics, but I do prefer A Clockwork Orange, it's a really strange film (and book!)
You should give Never on Sunday a try, Effie: it's an optimistic and fun film, and we need a few laughs.
And "Harvey".. You should watch it again, Maria!
"The Good, the bad and the ugly": I should re watch it, it's been a long time since I watch that classic western!
Thank you! I'd wanted to take him out to eat somewhere since he's very much at the 'don't spend your money on me I don't need/want anything' stage but alas, it'll have to wait for a while.
I'm glad your daughter was able to get back home and that everyone is staying healthy on your side of the pond!
Arsenic and Old Lace is the *best*.
"I'm not a Brewster! I'm the son of a sea-cook!"
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On a game-related note we'll finish out the debriefing, of course, but for all intents and purposes we're done with the scenario! It might take me a day or two but I'll try and get your chronicles done before I head back to work Tuesday night.
As always, we'll take a bit of a break before starting the next scenario. Probably no more than a week at the most, which works out fairly well since Outpost III starts Monday and it'll allow for staggering the start of games a little.
Looking back I'd forgotten that we began this particular scenario mid-November. Admittedly that was right in the middle of me wrangling a house purchase and moving and then rolling right into the holiday season but *still* - that's a long time, even for my GMing pace. Thank you for your patience and I'll do my best to kick the pace back up a bit for our next outing.
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Old movies that I like:
Halloween (1978)-My favorite franchise, but you can't beat a movie considered a masterpiece of modern horror.
McLintock (1963)-I saw a John Wayne film mentioned earlier. He's been in a lot of great ones, but this is pretty good for an action/comedy.
Who is a gamer and doesn't love Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Rhetorical question, but it is very quotable, just like The Princess Bride.
Hang 'Em High (1968)-Probably my favorite Clint Eastwood western movie.
The first three Indiana Jones movies-Indy would be a modern day Pathfinder agent.
Spaceballs (1987)-"When will then be now?" "Soon." Another quotable film.
Krull (1983)-I'd seen some fantasy films before it like Beastmaster and the original Clash of the Titans, but this movie was the one that started it all for me in terms of loving fantasy films and how it influenced me later when I started playing tabletop RPG's (Dungeons & Dragons) in having that 'hero' mentality and to help me paint the pictures my characters were experiencing in the theatre of the mind.
On another note, I really want to say thank you to all of you as players. I can't remember the last time that I've seen some serious topics come up in a RP and how each character would be tested in terms of being true to their alignments. While it was tough to write some of my posts when I could hear how my character was speaking to me, I can't imagine I'm the only one that it wasn't easy for. But overall, I really felt like it made our characters that much more 3-dimensional and not just statistics on a paper and it reminded me a whole lot of the first two books of Dragonlance: War of the Lance trilogy and the conflicts that the party members had with one another because of their personalities but how they would come together when it mattered most. Looking forward to the next scenario and how this one and the Shores of Heaven will have an influence going forward.
Alrighty, debriefing is basically done! I'm about to report the game and I'll get working on your chronicles. Please remind me if you're slow-tracking and if you've got anything you want me note or questions about Faction Journal goals, let me know.
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It's part of the Scarab Sages plotline that culminates in Salvation of the Sages (tier 7-11). I've both played and run that scenario (and rescued another run in the finale). It is an absolutely fantastic scenario, but boy is it tough! It's a real challenge for the GM too. I would be more than willing to replay it - and I'd be very interested to see Lady L's take on it :)
We could certainly look into slotting some of the other Scarab Sages scenarios into the list in place of other scenarios if that's something folks would be interested in. At the bare minimum we can look at trying Salvation of the Sages in place of one of the later 7-11 scenarios on the docket, if you guys feel up to the challenge :)
Going to be starting some yard work very shortly but I'll try and start getting chronicles done later today/this evening.