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I know this isn't super helpful at this point Meredith, but I try to remember to copy/paste my entire online character sheet into a word file for each character every level up or two. Some sort of fail safe in case things go boom on here somehow.
At least it was not the character. It should be pretty easy to rebuild Denny vs Meredith and all the purchases, equipment, boons, etc.
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Updates! Hooray! \o/
I didn't really say anything earlier (though I hope my liberal use of the 'Favorite' button largely got the point across) but I really enjoyed a lot of the wrap-up posts for Pallid Plague as well as the couple of 'intermission' posts I saw, such as Quang Chi's. Very well done!
Denair, I hate that you lost your build but I'm glad you were able to largely figure it out and get everything set up again. All of my characters exist in HeroLab (Classic for PFS1, Online for PFS2/SFS) with chronicles and other things kept saved on Google Drive. So far, so good... *crosses fingers*
Zirt, it's good to have you aboard! I was not expecting you to have a menagerie with you but it actually fits in fairly well with the group.
I've finally basically wrapped up two of my three Gameday games with the third on a short break until after Thanksgiving, due to RL deadlines and such on the part of a couple of my players. This should hopefully give me more time and energy to focus on this table and the TL;DR table :)
(Note to self: Thou Shalt Not GM More Than Three Tables At A Time, No Matter How Optimistic Or Energetic You May Be Feeling.)
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@GM said: "Thou Shalt Not GM More Than Three Tables At A Time..." WHAT?? more than three? How do you even do three, much less more? Two of the same scenario simultaneously is hard enough for me. No wonder you're the VA of PBP!
By virtue of living my life totally digitally now that I'm intentionally and happily homeless, I use an android app called Pathbuilder to build my PFS characters in and HeroLab Online for SFS. I then export normal PDF character sheets after each shopping or leveling event. All the pdfs of chronicles, boons, faction journal cards, inventories, and character sheets all get automatically backed up by Google Drive from the laptop to the cloud. (I really hope that didn't come across as pedantic, just adding to the stream of "how I do it" not "how you should.")
@GM said: "Thou Shalt Not GM More Than Three Tables At A Time..." WHAT?? more than three? How do you even do three, much less more?
Heh. The more I GM, the less I play. The more I play, the less I GM. I used to play a LOT before I started GMing. I think my record was signing up to play in like, 7 different games during uh...Gameday VI back in 2016.
I enjoy GMing but after a few years of trial and error I've finally realized that I do my best GMing when I'm juggling fewer games. I'd probably be at my absolute best (barring life events) with just one game but I like to think I still do pretty good with two and three tables.
(Also, I'm a bit selfish and don't want to give up either of my long-term groups as long as people want to play.)
But this year has definitely given me a lot to consider as to what I GM, how often I GM, and who I GM for, going forward into 2021 and beyond. Not in a bad way, just in the sense of reevaluating what makes me happiest as a GM. I need it to be good for me too, not just my players!
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I actually hadn't GMed any PBP since that first game a year ago for Callah and Faust et. al. Realized I was sitting on 59 GM credits and with all the cons canceled I wasn't going to hit my 3rd star anytime soon.
Plus, I really did want to start giving back to the community. PBP and VTT have kept me happy and been perfect with my constant movement lifestyle. Even before COVID I wasn't finding as many convenient F2F games as I thought I would when I was on layovers or days off. I've got a couple scenarios that I'd like to run that I rarely if ever see offered.
After I'm done running these two Grandmanster's Names games, I'm going to try running a VTT game using Google slides and Discord dice. I play in Roll20, but I simply don't have time or the technical setup (in random hotel rooms) to try to learn how to GM in it. So Google slides seems like a good compromise.
Oh, and I really gotta share this with someone. I won the Manticore ship charity boon raffle for SFS!
^Congrats on the boon win! I take it the Manticore is a pretty snazzy starship, then? :)
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After a lengthy conversation tonight DH seems interested in giving PbP a shot. While he's not super interested in Society play he's agreed to give it a try so that he only has to commit to a short scenario instead of a potentially lengthy campaign-mode module.
(He'd hate to leave a module group in the lurch if he decides that PbP isn't for him.)
So...I guess I'll be running a scenario for him soon! It'll likely be one of those old chestnuts like Confirmation or maybe Consortium Compact since they're the 'newbie friendly' Society scenarios. If any of you guys would be interested in playing (and can stomach a repeatable) then I'd love to have you at the table as well.
Right now he's looking at playing a fighter, maybe a spear-focused one. He's no stranger to Pathfinder or tabletop gaming, just Society play specifically and PbP format somewhat (he's done some RP with friends on Discord before).
Sorry if I'm being dense or have forgotten, but who is DH?
The only two characters I've got at evergreen levels (that I haven't put into a soft retirement) are a Core fighter/wizard with plans for going into Eldritch Knight and a standard abjuration focused Exploiter Wizard (Bartimaeus Verstand, his last game was actually with you a while ago, GM!).
^No worries, Frankie! We're doing 1st Edition right now because that's what he's familiar with but maybe I'll convince him to try 2nd Edition eventually :)
@Vosk - Yep, DH = Dear Husband.
Oh no, that stinks! I hope the rest of the trip home is safe and uneventful!
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Haven't forgotten you guys but I'm traveling and a bit out of pocket until tomorrow afternoon. If I've got time tonight I'll update from here in my hotel room but otherwise I'll try and get us going again tomorrow afternoon/evening!
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Hmm...maybe I'm just being dense here but are Quang Chi and Benedict/Zirt going ahead on following the scent trail while the rest of the group finishes looking around the shop?
^^Same!
^Then I'll make it so! All of the posts/rolls relating to tracking will stand - they'll just be accounted for after you guys finish looking around the shop.
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Meredith: This is the feat I was talking about:
Blundering Defense (Combat): Your feverish and sometimes comical defensive techniques offer enough distraction to aid allies. Prerequisites: Cautious Fighter, halfling.
Benefit: Whenever you fight defensively or use the total defense action, allies gain a luck bonus to AC and CMD equal to 1/2 the dodge bonus you gain from the action you are taking. Allies only gain this bonus while they are adjacent to you.
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I had a positive test come back on Wednesday so I'm at home on quarantine for the next several days. Currently asymptomatic and feeling fine; hopefully it'll stay that way. But in the event I *do* start feeling puny and disappear for more than a couple of days, that'll likely be why.
Not wanting to worry anyone but I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't give you guys a heads-up just in case.
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Dang! Please get better soon, and here's hoping that you stay asymptomatic and it passes without incident.
I know you work in a healthcare-related field. Have "they" said anything about when you might expect to get the vaccine in your area and in your position?
For my part, they can't get it to me soon enough. Traveling internationally without it gets more and more difficult every day.
Honestly I'm not 100% sure; will have to ask my boss about it once I'm cleared to go back to work. That said, given this information I expect a lot of us in healthcare in KY will be getting the vaccine either this month or next - hopefully.
For my part, they can't get it to me soon enough. Traveling internationally without it gets more and more difficult every day.
I've actually wondered how that's been working for pilots like yourself who have to travel internationally for their jobs. How does quarantine work? Or does it really even matter for those times where you're in one place just long enough to eat and get a little sleep?
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tl;dr: It completely depends on the country, and they change the rules quite frequently.
Long version:
For instance, I was in Australia last week for 48 hours. We're shown to our rooms and not allowed to leave the room. Room service or Uber Eats only. On the upside there's good internet and lots of English language TV.
I'm in Korea for a couple days right now. Hotel breakfast is a segregated take-out buffet just for the pilots that we take back to our rooms. We're free to move about the hotel and the area nearby, but discouraged from mingling with locals. Not a true quarantine for us, but if we venture too far away (like out of the neighborhood) it will raise a flag among the authorities since normal foreigners do quarantine.
Japan is pretty much completely open to us unless we do a trip in support of the US military. If we land on one of those bases, we're locked into the on-base hotel. But if we land at a regular civilian airport, there's no quarantine or restrictions at all.
I went through Delhi, India, last month and we went straight into the transit hotel inside the terminal. It was just a quick stop, long enough to sleep and nothing else, so that didn't matter. But if the plane broke, we'd be stuck inside the airport until it was fixed. There's only so much duty-free shopping one can do.
My company currently doesn't let us layover in China, Singapore or Hong Kong simply because we would have to get tested on the way to the hotel. If we pop positive there, we're trapped in country until we test clear. Meanwhile, the airplane doesn't move until they can replace the crew. Too expensive, too complicated, and easier to just have us tech stop (meaning swap out cargo, get gas, and leave without a rest.)
My employer does fly to South America and Europe a lot, too, but I don't fly those routes normally so I don't know how things are over there. I expect it's similarly different at each layover.
Apologies Zirt, but Denair will try to grapple Benedict. It's against the PFS rules to PvP, so please tell me if I'm overstepping a line.
Since we're trying a non-violent solution and Benedict is in a blind rage, it's best to restrain him for now.
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So I've tested positive as well.
I'm feeling mostly alright (nothing some meds can't handle!), but I wanted to share that my symptoms were a sore throat and only a single day of a low grade fever.
Be safe y'all!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Happy Friday, if you prefer! I hope everyone has/is having a fantabulous day no matter what you're doing or what you celebrate :)
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メリークリスマス
"Merīkurisumasu"
Merry Christmas from Japan where it's already Boxing Day - whatever that is. (Okay, yes, I know that Boxing Day is a British thing, and no, they don't "do" Boxing Day here in Japan. But they do Christmas.)
If nothing else, it's one more day closer to the end of this year and us getting back to the real normal.
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I should have asked these questions at the end of my last round's post:
Can QC reach the sunken person from where he is, or does he need to move into the bog square?
If he jumps into the bog, he should be able to stand up, yes?. The linked reference page says it's "roughly 4 feet of standing water." Or do you want some other check to stand, or hold his breath, or swim, etc?
He could cast Liberating Command as an immediate action to give the victim a free Escape Artist check with an extra +2, but it has no effect if the person could not get free by using the Escape Artist skill. Am I right to think it would be ineffective and simply waste a spell? Or does the scenario say otherwise?
It's just a STR check to pull them free?
You can reach in from where you are; no need to get into the bog unless it works better for what you want to do.
Yes. When the street initially collapsed it acted like a sinkhole upon the victim and pulled them under but the scenario specifies that the suction power of the sinkhole has basically been spent, so it now functions as a deep bog.
I would allow Liberating Command to give them a bonus to Escape Artist. Said victim doesn't have a stat block but there's enough base info given that I could roll with them making an Escape Artist check.
Otherwise, the only tactic specified is a certain # of STR checks (and I'll tell you that it's 3, so you need two more successes) to pull them free. But of course it doesn't forbid the use of other, more creative tactics, either.
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Swarms. Ugh. The bane of monks, and archer monks even more so. I do have several splash weapons, but I thought it more important to lend my Strength to freeing the victim. Who knew our "wizard" couldn't do evocation? (joshing.)
Are there exploding arrows? Like what Hawkeye shoots at Loki in the first Avengers movie?
Either way, looks like I gotta get me a swarmbane clasp sooner rather than later. I'd been saving up for a Necklace of Adaptation. Too bad they're both neck items.
Frankie, 1) thank you for the splash weapon 2) I feel you on the adaptable luck! I've a Halfling Swashbuckler/Paladin with it and making the decision to use the luck constantly nags on me throughout the scenario when I play him!
Quang Chi, I'll admit, it is embarrassing to be this level and not have anything for swarms -_- Vosk has only actually played a handful of scenarios. Most of his XP is from GM credit and AP chronicles. I clearly can't be trusted to remember to buy some of those essentials when given a fat lump sum of cash... D'oh!
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Meredith + Denair have a solution... no wait, Meredith needs 4th level spells to pull that off. So we could Power Level Meredith for 3 more levels, or...
Once we pull this guy out of the goo, we run. Let the rats scatter.
Actually, are they big enough to take half damage? Denair could just hover above the swarm and pummel it to oblivion.
Denair is the all-in-one air rescue chopper AND apache attack vehicle! Pew pew!
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Happy New Year to everyone from those of us already in 2021. It's already looking better from this side of the dateline!
Yep, Meredith guessed right. I saw in the end of the year in Australia. Watched a live cricket match on the telly (yes, I actually understand the game having lived overseas enough) and then fell asleep well before midnight. We are again locked into our rooms here, and, no, we can't go hang out together in our fellow crewmembers' rooms, in spite of just having spent 14 hours in a metal tube together. But at least the Aussies are taking this all very seriously.
On the game front, I do have 2 alchemist's fires, a liquid ice and a bottled lightning in a bandoleer. Someone could grab one or more from off of his chest presumably as a move action. If anyone had energy resistances, they could play bait while we hit the swarm with the splash weapons.
Running away is certainly an option, especially once you finish pulling the guy out of the mud! Alternatively, rat swarms are composed of tiny creatures so yes, they'll take half damage from slashing and piercing weapons.
(Really, I should've just given that to you with the generic swarm traits earlier.)
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In other news, Happy New Year! Well, close enough, still have about 3 & 1/2 hours to go here. No particular celebrations here; just chilling out at home and alternating between posting and taking down the holiday decorations.
Ready to kick 2020 to the curb, for sure.
Denair can get resistance 5 to cold/fire/acid/lightning/sonic, briefly. The rats are still gonna hurt her, but she's an eidolon, she takes the hits first.
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Speaking of new years and new beginnings and changes and things, I've got an announcement to make and this seems like a good a time as any to make it. I've been thinking it over quite a bit over the last couple of months and I've reached the decision to disband the League once we finish our current scenario.
Even though I feel like I've been doing the 'I need to trim back on my games' song and dance for years, it's actually not just been all talk. Slowly but surely my number of active games has diminished and I've found myself enjoying having some of the time I'd normally spend posting back. This isn't strange or unusual for me; my interest in my various hobbies tends to wax and wane over time and depending on the circumstances. I've just naturally reached a point where I'd prefer to scale back some of my PbP time in favor of other hobby things.
There're some other factors, such as the logistics of keeping the group going in terms of getting replacement players and finding scenarios everyone can still play, but the time factor is the biggest driver of this decision. This wouldn't be goodbye for good or anything - I still try to jump into games as a player and you're all folks that I would absolutely reach out to to fill my own private tables and would love to see at one of my convention tables.
I know this might be disappointing news but I really do want to stress that this isn't meant to be a slight against you guys and that I've had a fantastic time GMing for everyone, whether you've been here since the very beginning (Frankie & Meredith/Denair) or only recently joined (Vosk, Zirt). Thank you all for being such a joy to have at a table :)
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Our Dear Lady, I totally get it. It's amazing what happens when you get a Hubster and a House and 2(!!) cat-kids. Time has value. I hope you'll gain some time to game with Hubster as a result.
I've no doubt that you'll still be around on the forums. I still expect to see you at the next PaizoCon per our previous arrangement, in whatever year that may be.
Coincidently, I was planning to offer to run #7-07, Trouble in Tamran at some point. It's only tier 1-5, so it wouldn't be these characters (except Frankie's still 5 I think), but if this group wants, I'll wait until this scenario is over and run it for them (and you, Lady) then.
This is a bit like showing up at a live theater event and finding out during the Director's intro that this will be the final performance. We watch with a tear and a bittersweet taste, but the show still goes on. We enjoy it, and we'll see these actors in other shows down the road. Thank you for the head's up on this. It gives us the chance to write some close-out stories at the end as this team goes their separate ways.
((On a side note, I sent you a PM about something related to this.))
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New Years bring new changes, and I totally understand. I've had to cut back on a lot of game time to make room for work, errands, and personal discovery. That also means Paizo.
Thank you for telling us this now, though. This will give me a good chance to prepare final posts for Meredith and Denair.
It's been an honor, everyone.
It has been a pleasure y'all!
GM, you know I understand! :)
Thanks for being understanding, everyone. You're the best <3
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I am currently in a Council of Thieves AP. We're at level 8, investigating the mayor's house in the middle of a hellraise.
Two of our four members dropped out due to too much work on their plate. If you're interested in joining, click here and you'll get to see me play a Bard + Lyrakien duo.
I'll pass but thanks for checking! Hope you guys can find some replacements soon :)