GM Mezegis The Begger's Pearl (Inactive)

Game Master Mezegis

Ok, my homebrew site is "good enough" I suppose. Take a look if you're interested. I invite any feedback or comments as well.

Now presenting Louwildar.

I still cannot figure out how to do this stupid chronicle thing :(

Which part of it is getting you stuck?

pretty much the whole thing. I've said I'm a computer idiot and I'm just reinforcing my feelings.

I downloaded that program, loaded up the PDF and then things get sideways.

Derek: Only skimmed the page so far but it looks interesting. Question, any reason for the classes who didn't make the cut?

Some I can understand - monks are not really in with the flavour, and summoners... well I can understand banning them :P - but what about oracles, maguses (magi?) etc.? Not protesting, mind you, just curious about the 'why'.

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Mez: Here's a quick guide.

1. Open the PDF up in NitroPDF

2. Delete all the pages apart from the Chronicle sheet (use the Pages tab on the left sidebar) or extract it (Edit -> Extract)

3. Use the 'Type Text' tool to enter the information as needed (Home -> Type Text)

4. When you're done, File -> Save As -> Flattened PDF (this is so someone can't edit the text later)

Calanthe: I looked over my list, and it appears some things got left out when I re-formatted the page! Oracles should be allowed, and magus was one I didn't even remember, and I guess I can include them too.

Alchemists - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can go throw bombs at touch AC somewhere else. They'd go better in a Victorian or even a Steampunk setting, IMO. Like Monks, Ninjas, and Samurai, it didn't fit thematically.

Summoners - give me good old Final Fantasy call magic - monster wades in for a full attack then disappears. Just too many things I'd want to house-rule here.

Now, I have left things open. The "known world" is only 1 continent. Maybe there are others with a more Asian theme. Also, I've left the existence of gunpowder purposely open. Maybe it exists somewhere.

Hmm. I can't seem to get the deletion part or the extraction part to work for me in NitroPDF, perhaps because mine is the free version and perhaps because of the file's security. I have your gmail account from before, though, so I'll send you an email about how I've done things.

Edit: Email sent.

Yeah... sometimes the protections on Paizo's PDFs make it a real pain in the ass to do things with them.

I usually unlock the PDFs purely so I can extract the page I need. It's a bit legally grey for sure though.

Hey if we're into grey areas, why not authorize one of us to act as your agent, effectively granting us power of attorney to sign these on your behalf? I mean, it's a gamr it shouldn't be so hard. If one of us signed your name on the chronicles with your express written permission would Paizo come after you?

Hey, I found that you can print the Chronicle page from the PDF to the free program CutePDF. So, it has become a 'printed' document, not the exact PDF it was. You can then mark it up and even save it as flattened. :)

No muss, no fuss, it seems.

The power of attorney idea seems like a good one, too. Maybe you could also send along some blank checks?

Hey, that's what I was hitting him up for!

In all seriousness, I would view my choice as a last resort. It IS perfectly legal, at least in the U.S., but you'd have to place some trust in us not to abuse it. Limited powers of attorney are used all the time - heck, without that I couldn't actually deal with the IRS on behalf of my clients. And I don't write their checks, nor could I.

But if Norine's idea works, that would be awesome, and much easier :)

There wactually wouldn't be much trust needed, since it's not like you can gain more than 1 credit for the game, but I'll continue trying to handle it myself. Worse case scenario I just print 6 sheets and mail them to everyone, lol :D

I reported the scenario as completed, can you check to make sure it's shown up corerctly? I dated it for 10/29/13 since that was out start date.

It shows up just like it should in my list of scenarios.

It show up like that on mine, too. (Although it seems that end dates are more conventional, so the dates on Murder and on Beggar are the same. It shouldn't matter, though.)

The amazing part is that this is only the fourth scenario Norine has played. It seems like I have been playing her online for a much longer time.

Is everyone else with four or did I miss one with Norine? I could possibly add an upcoming GM credit if I have.

This group has done the following:

First Steps, Part II
Mists of Mwangi
Murder on the Throaty Mermaid
The Beggar's Pearl

So we're at 4 as a group. Although I used some GM credits differently, Tod's got 4 credits right now too.

Maybe this is a bit meta-gamey, but looking ahead it might behoove us if a few people hit level 4 before the rest of us.

The reason is that with a group of 6 where all are exactly level 3, we have to play "up" in season 4 and 5 Tier 1-5 games. If a few of us were level four, our APL would put us there and make it a bit more survivable.

Of course, we can always run a 3-7 and play the 3-4 subtier.

It does seem like we've done more, but this group has run a little slower than some others. For example, Naurin's main group and the one Calanthe joined for a time are both either through or finishing their 5th adventures.

Mez should be hitting 3rd next week, assuming the boss lets me have some play time.

Mez will go up front, then.

I don't have any stats or personal experience, but it does seem that there is an association between "TPK" and "playing up" on discussion threads.

Mez was upfront anyway...

The issue with playing up is that you have a bit less HP and a bit fewer stats, so that poor tactics or rolls are amplified even more. Yes, it can be done, but only really effectively by optimized characters due to the razor's edge you walk.

As an example, the 3-4 tier for this scenario kept the cleric the same, but added two of the mite rogues that wrecked you guys. In one level, does the group really feel they could handle both the rogue and cleric at the same time?

(I need to put in more ;-)'s. Yeah, Mez was our upfront, tankish character.)

I am not sure at what level we could handle just the cleric, especially if you really pressed the attack and used all of the options (and didn't tell us as much as you did with the knowledge rolls).

Perhaps a pro archer with silver arrows would have made the difference, but perhaps she would just use cover better and make us come to her at close range, frying us with her full set of better channel energies. (Our channel energies are always going to be a bit down since the scenario is written so it is unlikely you are going to find and place and nap.) And my first guess was 'fey', so I would have been trying cold iron arrows (etc.) initially, too, wasting some time.

The mite rogues would have been tough, to be sure, but not impossible (in themselves) if they weren't in magical darkness like before, getting sneak attack damage pretty much no matter what. On the other hand, if have or more of the party was running away at any given time, they might have it easier flanking and taking out those who remained.

Sorry Mez, I cant help with the technical stuff. XP

@Derek-
Louwildar looks pretty cool so far. A little limited on the race selection for PC's, But that's not a bad thing. Sometimes people play races for the abilities they give, but they never actually play the race. That's why I mostly play humans, I kinda understand their perspective. XD.
Tho Bugsby is an awesome gnome!!
Anyway, it sounds fun and seems thought out. I would be willing to play in that world.

As for playing that last encounter up. Shudder. I was worthless in that last fight. Mez's artistic talents of storytelling not withstanding. It was fun tho, especially nearly dying to the rogue. brings back character mortality!

Thanks for the comments Ebon!

After further consideration, I've decided to change the flavor of the big city-state Tulaire. This will allow gunslingers and alchemists from the beginning pending GM approval.

My plans would have the group starting a LONG way from there.

I'll update the Obsidian Portal site soon. I plan to open up recruitment early in the new year for those interested.

A couple things:

1) My offer to buy each of you a PFS scenario still stands. If there's one you'd like please PM me or add it to your wishlist. Consider it a token of my appreciation for a (short) year of gaming.

2) Any luck on the chronicles for this Mez?

Derek - I haven't commented since I haven't seemed to have the time to look it over, and won't have time to add any new gaming. But, sometime, I'll get the time and see what's up. :)

Since my talents aren't up to running a game online, I didn't figure getting a scenario would do any good...XP

Did we ever decide on a module to run next? I think we were tentatively thinking of Voice in the Void, right? Seems like a good one to buy me, if you're offering! (Thanks!)

That would be good for me, too. (I had another offer to play it, actually, but I was thinking this group might play it.)

EDIT: The pdf is on its way to you Alice, thanks!

:) Thanks a bunch Derek! And in advance (it is Christmas Eve here already at least), Merry Christmas all! Or whatever holiday greeting you prefer. :P

Happy Holidays everyone!! Drop me a line when we are ready to play the next game...oh, did we receive our chronicles yet??

I received mine, btw, Derek.

As I told my other group, have a (belated) happy Winter Solstice, a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, A Thoughtful 10 Days of Newton, and a Merry Christmas (Orthodox Calendar) everyone!

?? Your chronicle? I was still placing the order for your scenario, so what happened?

Sorry, Derek - used the wrong avatar for saying that. What I meant is that I received the Chronicle for Naurin in City of Strangers I.

oops sorry I mean the sheets showing us what we earned from the last adventure...thought they were called chronicles..my mistake

You are not mistaken, I have not gotten them out yet. Everyone gets 2 PP and 509 gold +day jobs.

Truth be told, I got side tracked with a PC death in my RoW game that I forgot all about them.

Sorry to hear about your characters death...what got him??

Oh, it wasn't my character, I'm the GM. The group met a troll, and the slightly wounded ranger was hit with the claw/claw/bite/rend. 37 points of damage later, I'm working on a side quest to get the ranger raised.

yikes!! Thats gotta hurt!! Well I am glad he can get back into the game!

Yeah, it was up to the PC's if they wanted to try and Raise the character or if the player wanted to build a new character.

Mostly I was just annoyed by this scenario. I also like a challenge - but this module was just filled to the brim with ridiculous things that were totally unbalanced for this tier. And that's not your fault at all.

I like to check in on the play-by-post games once in a while to see how the scenarios I wrote worked out: Calanthe, you're absolutely right about some of this one's encounters. I worked on it during the transition from 3.5 to Pathfinder, and some of the monsters' powers mutated quite a bit in the edition change. That darned fear aura and frightful presence are the two I've heard about the most: They weren't meant to be so devastating.

I'm glad that your GM did such a good job running the game!

I'm not sure I should be happy or sad that an admin-type visited a game I ran.... At least he approves of my running it..?

I'm certainly not an admin-type: I'm merely a scribbler who hopes folks have fun with my humble offerings.

It was very challenging..and I think Mez did a wonderful job as DM! I look forward to playing in a game he is DMing again!!

Agreed.

Huh, an odd appearance. It's kind of cool that you read the games of your works though, James, haha.

In any case, I agree with Brandon and Targost... so long as Mez shares the ridiculously good rolls magical kool-aid with the rest of us :)

Any GURPS players among us? I'm starting a new campaign and thought you might be interested: here.

Thanx for the invite. I made a character once for GURPS, but never got to play. Don't know the rules well enough to play online, tho would be willing to do it face to face. Sorry.

Thank you, too. I never got into it, and seem like I can only focus on one game system at a time at the moment.

Ok, so when we start our next game I'll be doing another no-credit replay if everyone is down with that. I recently solicited advice on our friendly forums and it seems that even when replaying for no credit and not filling a spot to make a legal table (since we have enough anyway), my character can still die "for reals".

So I'm going to hold Todric out. He can get my next GM credit and dream wistfully of young witches, or whatever he's supposed to be doing in his downtime.

In cases like this, I'll let the party offer their input on who I play. None of this "play what you want", I didn't build a character I wasn't excited to play at some point.

1) Bram Stonefist - Dwarf barbarian

2) Konrad "Dutch" Halgraff - Human monk

I can give background details if that would make a difference.

Honestly I think it's up to you. Although with Ebon in the party, we do already have a Barbarian, so maybe the monk? Then again, you guys could share tips on being angry. ;)

Yeah, besides, Ebon is going all soft and cleric-y. ;-)

NOT SOFT!!!! Cleric-y yes, but cleric of Gorum! XP
I have no problem with another Barb, he can attack, I'll enlarge and attack over him...Best laid plans and all...