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Looks like we got one convinced and two others with 2 successes and one with only one. We should probably focus on the ones with 2 successes. Thanks for discovering the influence skills. Frankie has a great shot with both acrobatics and bluff.
Question GM: Can a character influence the same NPC more than once? I'm thinking about Payah and acrobatics for Frankie. He already used Diplomacy successfully.
On a related note, are players able to keep using the same skill on the same NPC?
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Meredith can try to convince any of the people here. Togimal-In-Shadow is the easiest for me, and the others are possible but difficult via Diplomacy
If you have high Strength you can get lucky against Payah-Against-The-Winds. The DC is low but it's a Strength check, so it's hard to get bonuses there.
Anyone with high Sense Motive can discover Togimal-In-Shadow or Memory Tender's Strengths/Weaknesses.
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@Frankie - Yes, a character may attempt to influence the same NPC more than once. You may also use the same skill more than once on the same NPC unless you flub it really badly like poor Serge did with Togimal-in-Shadow.
Who needs skill monkeys when you have 2 attempts per round? :)
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I'd thought the GM's earlier update indicated Lake-at-Dawn was already supporting the team.
Figuring Meredith noticed something I missed, Skye approached Lake-at-Dawn.
If that's incorrect, Skye can instead approach one of the other Shoanti representatives.
Lake-at-Dawn *was* supporting you but Kemchet Flame Stoker is actively trying to undermine your efforts. When the council convenes privately at the end of Phase 3 he targets someone you've convinced to vote in your favor and presents a counterargument. This reduces the number of successful influence checks you have with that particular council member by 1.
Lake was automatically targeted because he was the only one you had convinced at that point.
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Caller is wondering if there is anything a little more aggressive and culturally appropriate that he can do to help remedy this situation. How about some way to discredit Kemchet Flame Stoker in order to stop his ability to influence the other council members? Perhaps a contest of strength or combat?
You'd think something like that would've been accounted for by the scenario but there actually isn't. But Phase #4 is also the last phase of this social encounter before the matter is put to a vote so Kemchet's ability to continue campaigning against you is more or less at an end at this point.
Hah! Yes, that's something you can try.
(A more 'in-game' response to Caller's question would probably be that in this particular case, the matter must be resolved with words and not violence - even if said violence is nonlethal/not to-the-death.)
So this may be moot if you're not into playing VTT or can't generally participate in VTT but player sign-ups for PaizoCon Online will be opening up later today (5-16) if anyone is interested! There'll also be various panels happening via Discord text and/or voice chat as well as seminars streamed live on Paizo's Twitch channel.
I won't be playing or running any games myself, largely because I have to work during most of the con anyway and also partly because I'm just not really into VTT as a gaming medium (though I have tried it). That said, I should be participating in the PbP 101 panel happening Thursday evening!
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Ya, I don't have any interest in this, but listening to panels/discussions do sound a bit more interesting. Good luck with it.
On another note, I'd like to give our GM a shout out for the awesome work on part 1 of this scenario. Writing out all those individual discussions with the NPCs is above and beyond. Cheers to you!
Thanks! As an aside, a discrepancy was brought to my attention and after looking back you actually *did* convince Memory Tender to vote your way - she needed 3 influence successes - and *Payah* should've been the other no vote besides Kemchet as she needed 4 influence successes and you only got 3. I think I screwed up on the tallies near the end - my bad.
But ultimately the outcome is still the same and you guys don't need to worry about having missed out on anything in regards to the meeting.
Some quick questions from me re: buffs, abilities, and SOPs.
(1) Do you guys want me to stick to using the general SOP we used for Tome of Righteous Repose? This is sort of a reverse dungeon crawl but it's still a *dungeon crawl*.
(2) Caller - I noticed your War Sight revelation and so rolled twice for you for initiative and gave you the higher of the two results. Do you always want to take the better result on those or do you have a different preference?
(3) Skye - I forgot to ask about how/when/if you wanted to activate your Heightened Awareness spell for combat. This time, even without the additional bonus, you got the highest roll so I've left the spell active on you. Under what circumstances do you want to utilize it for combat in the future, if at all?
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"Apologies, Milady GM and my esteemed comrades, for my absence."
My sleep and flight schedule went crazy about 48 hours ago, right about the time of the ending post. But, hey, that stuff from China ain't gonna get to the US by itself. I have a couple days of standby coming up, so should be able to keep up better.
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An SOP sounds great, though I'd like to insist Serge is placed closer to the front of the party. Last game, I had to spend almost every first or second round moving into melee range of an enemy. I hadn't said anything then, but let's let the meat shields be meat shields, please.
Alrighty, all of your responses have been noted - thanks!
And no worries Nomadical, you've not really missed much. This is my weekend to work so my own posting may be a bit spotty until Tuesday, depending on how busy things are.
Maybe Denair did it. Good luck, Caller!
Regarding SOPs, what I have from our Tome adventure is here. Obviously switch out some of the Perc/Init stuff to account for Caller & Skye instead of Jan & Lazarus but otherwise I imagine you guys will probably want to leave it largely the same?
Checking in to say that I hope that everyone is still doing well and trucking along despite the strange times we live in! I know that a few of you have been busy lately with projects in and outside of the home, or other things, and I hope that all of those are proceeding like you'd hoped they would. Random ramblings ahead, spoiler-tagged for ease of reading for those interested:
PbP activity seems to be either feast or famine lately but given the stuff some folks have on their plate, I'm not really surprised. On my end of things it works out okay because there's usually something to respond to when I'm really feeling the mood to write but not so much as to leave me overwhelmed on the days where I'm either busy or not in a writing sort of mood.
Some of the players over at my TL;DR table started another little offshoot group so that some of us can get a chance to play some of our boon race characters. Even better, we're doing GM rotation so that everyone gets a chance to play!
The Mummy's Mask PbP I was in wrapped up a week or two ago. It took us about 3 years and 4 months to go through all six books but it helped quite a bit that our GM was relentless in keeping things moving forward and posted very consistently nearly every single day, including weekends.
(I wish I had a schedule that stable!)
Anyhoo, it was a blast and now I can say that I've finished an AP in PbP-mode :)
We've had our cat (Dyer) for just over a month now and he seems to have settled in fairly well. Right after we got him our employer started scheduling DH and myself on all the same shifts together so for the last month either we've both been home with the cat or no one has been home with the cat...and 12 hours is a long time for a young cat (a little over a year old) to be left alone. So he's got a lot of energy that I've been trying to keep burned off with plenty of play sessions on the nights that I'm off work and with one or two longer ones either before or after a work shift.
I really think he'd do well with a buddy of a similar age and energy level but it's something that'll have to wait for a while. In the meantime, the prescription is lots of playtime with his favorite human (he is largely my shadow when I'm home; he's friendly but a bit distant with DH) and a gradual process of adding enrichment to the home in the form of cat toys, perches, and probably some bird feeders out on the porch (since he likes to window-watch).
And really, other than some issues with playing rough and occasional cord-chewing, he's pretty well-behaved and sweet, in his own way. He doesn't really like being picked up or held and prefers to come to me for pets when he's ready rather than be showered with them at random. On the other hand, he does like to sit with me (on my lap/leaning against me/nearby) and he'll often join me in bed during the day when I'm asleep or at other times if I stretch out somewhere for a nap.
I've been trying to make it a point to put a dent in the enormous pile of games I/we own that I've yet to get around to playing, because sometimes a (largely) single-player experience is just what the doctor ordered.
Currently I'm working on the Kingmaker CRPG (tons of fun), Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright on the 3DS (love me some grid-based tactical RPGs), and Minecraft on the Cookeville PFS/SFS-specific server (just finished building a pretty rad house the other morning).
Nothing really major at this time besides an ongoing process of furnishing the rest of it. There's still some painting I'd like to do but there's not a big rush. Definitely need to get outside and pull some weeds one day soon when it's nice and not too terribly hot.
We've been barred from taking vacation time at work (barring for doctor appointments) for coming up on two months now. Maybe once that restriction gets lifted I'll take a week off for a staycation and try to get some stuff done around the place.
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I'm trying to get back into GMing, especially with 2e. I bought a few scenarios, but preparing each one is so draining. I need to set aside some time and just do it a little at a time. I found a cool app named mobster (mobster.cc, it's really hard to find online by name alone) that lets me randomize the order of everything I want to do. No commuting to work means I have a lot more free time to waste, so I want to control what I do.
I've been slowly working on a turn based strategy game of my own. Emphasis on slowly, haha.
Xenoblade will be rereleased on the Switch tomorrow and I'll finally stop playing City of Heroes for a bit. I'm guaranteed to lose 150 hours+ on it. I played this game on the 3DS, loved it, bought the sequel on the Switch, loved it as well, and I'm excited to play the original again.
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Whether it's in another year or three, I hope to be able to say similar about Hell's Rebels. It helps to have a committed group of players like yourselves. I do wish I could post more consistently, but there is a lot of truth to what Larry says about enthusiasm and its ebbs and flows.
My 5e table has been flowing nicely with some pretty challenging fights. Two PCs are unconscious in the current BBEG battle, and it will end up being a close call but the excitement when someone rolls a crit with half the party down is one of the best combat moments in a TTRPG. There's some really solid and deep character development at that table as well.
Some day, I'll actually finish that Kingmaker CRPG! Glad you are enjoying it though.
I played the crap out of the Final Fantasy VII Remake over the past month and have since moved onto more relaxing/'casual' games, currently playing a lot of Factorio.
... Should be back in my building later today. Can I get a huzzah?
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PbP: I would be up for rotating GMing duties for this group, if that would make our 'campaign' more sustainable and lessen the burden on you, Kristin.
Cats: With multiple cats, the issue is often the smell, especially if your space is limited. Cleaning a one-cat litter box is important. And wet, canned cat food can make your home smell like a filthy, frat house after a homecoming game. Cleaning for two cats seems to more than double the work load. We often watch our daughter's two cats, I love 'em, but they're a handful to clean up after.
Games: I love the Witcher series. Have you tried playing those?
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I did try an AP back when I lived in Miami and flew for a different company with a very different schedule. Quang Chi actually has a few of the chronicles from that.
That being said, I wouldn't mind trying to GM again, especially for a group I know. More so if it helps our Most Amazing Lady maintain her sanity by taking a break.
Hmm...while I promise that my comment about rotating GMs was *not* meant to be some sort of passive-aggressive and/or subtle hint, I have to admit that it would help to have a break from time to time. Also, it would mean that I actually get to play with you guys sometimes, too!
(Though to be fair, I do usually get to play with everyone except for Nomadical & Socal on a pretty regular basis in other games.)
As far as APs go, as much the idea of running one intrigues me I have to be honest with myself - if I wanted to finish it anytime in the next decade it would probably need to be my only game as a GM so I could put my full focus on it. Which...I could theoretically *DO* that but I'd basically have to require buy-in from a majority of my regular players (who would have first shot at a seat) before I'd consider pulling the plug on League/TL;DR in favor of an AP.
Luckily space itself isn't really a concern (2400 sq. ft.) but I'm definitely aware that general upkeep would require more effort with two+ cats. I read in a couple of places that a good rule of thumb for litterboxes is to have 1 per cat, plus 1 extra. So right now we have two. Between that and regular scooping 1-2 times a day we've (so far) not had any issues with either box getting particularly smelly.
Wet cat food is indeed stinky. At each meal time I rinse his bowl out and toss any old, uneaten food pretty quickly. And of course he wouldn't be a cat without being picky about something and that something is his food - I've discovered that for some reason he'll largely ignore wet food in pate form but will inhale wet food that's in shredded/chunked form. Doesn't seem to be a 'flavor' thing either as he'll consistently leave large portions of pate food, no matter the flavor, and he'll consistently eat shredded/chunked, no matter the flavor. No idea why. Maybe it's a texture thing?
As far as the name goes, it was the name the rescue group gave him. Admittedly it wouldn't have been my first choice for a cat name and if he'd been a small kitten I likely would've changed it. But it's the name he'd already had for several months and he answers to it (as much as any cat will answer to their name) so I decided to leave it be.
Right now he's strictly indoor-only. Definitely an adjustment for me, who grew up with cats that were pretty much outdoor-only except in winter, when the more well-behaved ones would be allowed to come inside for a few hours at a time. In the short term, I *might* see if he'll tolerate wearing a harness - if so, I'd be willing to try 'walking' him outside when the weather is nice. Long term, we've got a back deck that DH & I would like to eventually have covered and screened in so when and if we do that, it would obviously make for a good 'catio' space for him.
Definitely enjoying Fire Emblem! I got started with Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS and really had fun with it so that's why I picked up FE Fates: Birthright. Eventually I'll purchase the other two paths (Conquest and Revelation) once I finish Birthright. 3 Houses is one of the big reasons I'm considering getting a Switch, probably at Christmas.
As far as Kingmaker goes...hmm. Did you ever play any of the Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale PC games that came out in the late 90s/early aughts? Kingmaker is quite a bit like those games, albeit with a kingdom management system that comes into play after you finish the prologue and first chapter. I've never played the actual Kingmaker AP but to the best of my knowledge the PC game largely follows the same story, though I'm sure some events and plot points have been altered or excised entirely to make it fit better as a PC game and I'm sure things have been added that only exist in the PC game and not the AP proper.
The ruleset is still very much Pathfinder - so much so that one of the complaints about the game that I've seen is that the learning curve is steep if you're not already at least somewhat familiar with D&D in general and Pathfinder specifically.
Witcher Series - I actually do own the first couple of games across various platforms; just haven't gotten around to them yet. I'll keep them in mind once I finish some of my current games!
I'd been wondering how the shipping stuff was going. I used to have a monthly snack subscription box from Japan (cancelled it when we bought the house as I needed to cut frivolous expenses but I'd love to resub eventually) and I've been seeing lots of updates on their website and FB page about the shipping restrictions (Japan Post quit shipping to a lot of countries entirely) and such that they've been having to work around over the last couple of months.
Thanks to said subscription box I was already familiar with mochi but had to look up mochi-gyoza and it looks and sounds delicious! Mochi was always one of my favorite things to get in the snack box and I've since tried an ice-cream based version at my favorite sushi place (well before all this shutdown stuff obviously) that was really tasty. That said, I've got a big sweet tooth so if it's at all sweet I'll probably like it :)
Huzzah for AC! Ours went out a couple of days ago and the guy was finally able to come out yesterday. Diagnosis? Dead fan motor on the compressor. Unfortunately he didn't have the part with him yesterday but he's supposed to be back today by/before lunchtime to fix it. *crosses fingers*
Right inside the doorway.
^Done. I couldn't find a listing for your base speed but I'm assuming it's a standard 30 ft(?) so I moved you to account for a total move speed of 50 ft.
Good job guys! And apologies to Serge for yet another encounter where moving about is a chore :\
So, that was a haunt and a rather unusual one because:
(A) It was immune to positive energy.
(B) It actually had a very specific manner of destruction, which you quickly figured out.
(C) It actually wasn't evil but CN.
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Folks, I'm taking a few days off from gaming to consider whether or not to continue to support this company and its platform.
Paizo has poisoned the well with empty political virtue-signalling, and I'm deeply disappointed.
All lives matter, including black ones. To me that's not a banal slogan or a conviction that ought to be the sole purview of any one political ideology.
Not looking for an argument. Just... done.
Went ahead and posted an update because I didn't want to let things go too terribly long without one. That said, I'll likely not aggressively push anything until next week. In the meantime, I'll keep Skye on delay/bot status unless the group needs his help with something.
:D
The link I posted some posts back goes to a Google Drive folder where I'll be periodically adding pictures of Dyer so if anyone ever needs a cat fix, feel free to go check 'em out!
In other news, the HVAC guys are supposed to be here to replace our unit today and I hope they get here sooner rather than later. 80+ temps has had all three of us (DH, me, Dyer) sippin' on the Haterade even with ceiling fans and open windows...
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Hey folks, Larry wanted me to pass on that he won't be returning to the game. Skye will go hang out with Hearth Keeper for the remainder of this scenario as I'd prefer not to do any extended botting *and* I don't believe the rest of you will have any trouble finishing things up.
Once we conclude our current scenario we can take stock of things and decide if we want to continue with the group and/or whether we want to bring in a new 6th player or not.
Obviously *I'm* fine with continuing but I meant more on whether we wanted to keep running scenarios with the same group of characters or if we wanted to switch gears and do a module or if we wanted to keep the same players but do one-shot scenarios and not worry so much about always keeping the exact same PCs in play.
Okay so I'm giving some thought to this earlier than I'd initially said that I would but since it'll help me plan better and sooner, questions for you all:
(1) Once we wrap up our current scenario do you want me to recruit a 6th player?
(2) Once we wrap up our current scenario do you guys still want to keep doing scenarios or would you rather me run a module, provided I can find one that everyone can play?
(3) Will anyone be leveling up at the conclusion of this scenario?