Alright guys, welcome to the game. Opening post for the gameplay thread will be a while, since I have to scurry home and deep clean my bedroom, so for now just get settled in here. Questions will be answered when possible.
Happy to be here
Signing in! I will be gone for pretty much the rest of today as I have class than get to pick up my son for our Pathfinder game this afternoon/evening, but I will post either tonight or tomorrow morning, promise!
Reporting in. Stoked to be running CC. I wanted to run it with my group, but they decided to be pirates instead.
That is the exact same choice I offered to the real life group I have. Although probably for the better; with how they're running through S&S I know damn well that all the mood and point of CC would be lost on them.
Yeah, I am seeing the same thing. I ran them through Hangman's Noose so that I could get my Undead/Horror fix. It was a little spooky, but I think they prefer more of a whimsical game...
I am debating subjecting them to Carrion Hill though. With Pregens built modeling Fictional horror characters(Ash, Van Helsing, Dr. Jekyl, Dr. Frankenstein).
Checking in! Happy to be playing with all of you!
Hey everyone! I think I've mentioned this, but this will be my first PbP on these boards, so feel free to give pointers if you think I might be missing something :)
I'll get my equipment sorted out shortly, but like I said in the Recruitment thread, I'm not intending to get anything outside of normal traveling gear *except* for the smoked goggles. Also, is it possible to tweak my campaign trait benefit from Mage Armor to my Disguise Self SLA? It would fit better with the fluff of it, I think.
As promised, I've whipped up some boni that have some kind of root in your backstories. As this is a horror campaign and I want to preserve some of that mood, they will not be straightforward, simple things that lead to just handing you extra s+!@, so there will be drawbacks and things that can be preyed on within. I want to add some personal notes when it comes to the horror, and so by giving penalties and weaknesses it can be something beyond just general 'you run into something spooky, roll to save versus fear effect'. If you take extreme issue with what I've given you, let me know and we'll see what we can do. However, I tried to keep the drawbacks as things that can happen in story or mechnically, but without trying to change anyone's characters or make them behave differently.
Also, they're kept numerically vague for plenty of reasons. I'm very much into keeping things from you and adjusting based on situations to keep you on-edge, and also because sometimes a Will save penalty ought to have more weight to it during an important moment than during a random encounter on a road. Also, if it seems like you got a harsher penalty than someone else, don't worry, I'm keeping vague about some stuff I intend to weave into the plot for everyone, so it should all even out by the end of it.
You may find some growth in these bonuses and drawbacks as we progress in the game, but that would be a long way away, so don't worry too much about that.
I'd also like everyone to format their Class bar like Ysmerelda has, so that I can have quick reference to things. Again, because of mood, I'm going to be making a fair amount of rolls for you. Also, please modify your character sheets so that certain skills that, though untrained, might come up, are listed for quick reference. Things like Climb or Swim.
This would be where anyone with gripes with RAW who'd like to houserule something would be wise to ask.
I'd also like to know how you guys feel about progressing through the book. Would you be open to side-quests and some other content, or are you all the sort who just want to rush the adventure path and leave no time for anything else?
As you received study from the professor himself on how to hunt the undead, you've become particularly studied in the field. You gain a +2 bonus to all Knowledge rolls made to identify the abilities and weaknesses of undead creatures. You were also entrusted with a very rare piece of knowledge that allows you to create Holy Water as a normal alchemical item. For the purpose of item creation, consider it to be Acid.
House rule: Failing your Rage Mutagen save the first time will provide a -2 to Intelligence and Will saving throws as written. However, subsequent failures of the throw will only provide further penalties to Intelligence. That way, you still have the issue of succumbing to the rage, but your character still has the ability to come back from it and reclaim himself.
However, you are still surrounded by spirits of the dead. You are may be discovered by spells such as Detect Undead, and are easier to track by those who know about the ghosts around you. Creatures who somehow feed off of the undead or are otherwise attracted to such energies will find themselves drawn toward you.
Should you ever lose connection with the spirits, or they somehow be restrained by magical means, you lose both the benefits and drawbacks of these abilities.
There is a lot you don't yet know about your mother, or about your future. You are more susceptible to the attacks and abilities of hags, and may find yourself uneasy when in the sorts of places that hags may make their homes or around creatures or groups that remind you of them.
Your connection to the Shadow Plane makes your senses keener regarding other planes and their crossover with the real world, granting you a +2 to Initiative rolls in combat involving ghosts and other creatures of the Transitive planes (Astral, Ethereal, and Shadow) as well as a +2 to Perception to spot such creatures.
Your appearance is unsettling for the superstitious folk of Ustalav, and those who do not know what fetchlings are will likely suspect you of being an infernal creature of some manner. When undisguised, you take a penalty to Diplomacy and Bluff skills when trying to interact with townsfolk who are wary of you. You gain a +2 to Intimidate, but striking fear into the hearts of too many people may have repurcussions.
House rule: You may.
That isn't to say your life is any manner of blessing. Though you've become skilled at hunting the undead, you carry personal scars with you, and sometimes may find a sight that triggers terrible memories. In addition, Candis may no longer haunt you, but the toll she left on your mind hasn't fully healed. You take a penalty to Will checks against enchantment spells and effects.
You've also honed your skill as a physician to remarkable ability, and though not a very personable fellow you excell at noticing the subtle signs of illness or injury in others. You gain a +2 to Perception checks to notice these signs, or a +2 to Sense Motive to oppose Bluff checks to hide such signs.
The mystery of your childhood still lingers, and even before the burgeoning of your magical talent, some who could detect such lingering spirits were wary of you. Some who are sensitive to such energies may zero in with suspicion on you. This includes a stealth penalty against certain creatures. Your near-obsessive desire to learn about the worlds beyond is a huge potential weakness, and the allure of forbidden knowledge may wear down your will.
Dr. Alderly, reporting in! I really look forward to playing with everyone, and a big thank you to our head demon ... er, GM for the selection :-). I've been wanting to play this AP from the start; Ravenloft is by far my favorite setting ever published and this is so in that same vibe.
SHGM, I really like the bonus trait and drawback; to be honest, the second part is exactly how I envisioned him so it fits to a "T".
Aconitus, I noticed we have the same avatar, and since that could get a bit confusing I'll take a look and see if I can find something else that fits.
Everything should be modified as requested (plus a few things I realized I had missed). I'll make a stat-line for Dux as well and have it in the first line of all in-game posts I make: same stats, plus a Summoned/Unsummoned notice.
As for progression, my opinion depends upon our rate of progress overall. I don't mind too much either way however, so whichever you think is best. I know next to nothing about the campaign other than what was in the players guide, so I probably won't notice the difference.
I'm also OK either way with progression; I don't mind a few side quests now and then.
Awesome, thanks for picking up on the PTSD I was trying to get! For the progression I agree with Raldora, if we as a group can keep up a good pace I want to do it all.
Question on readable materials, besides the players guide is there anything else you could suggest?
Definitely not. No required reading, no insights, no suggestions.
And yeah, we'll see where things take us, I guess.
Gameplay thread now up and running. I'll give everyone a chance to get a post in before I continue.
Love the bonus, it's perfect. Will reformat tonight.
I am quite partial to side-events, particularly of an RP nature. Actually, with that in mind. I was going to link certain of the posts I had made with this character in the previous Campaign I played her in. Specifically because of the recollections I wound up adding to them. If it is acceptable to you Spring-Heeled GM, I would like to keep the events of her recollections even though the in-game events are no longer relevant.
Flashback link #1
Flashback link #2
This one is more recollection than Flashback, but feel free to make use of the imagery if you wish.
This one is mostly just for the Shelynite Paladin's code.
Huh, I thought I had posted more flashbacks then that, turns out only two were really flashbacks. Please let me know if you feel I'm overstepping Spring-Heel GM, I simply had a great deal of fun with this Character hoped to share that with the rest of you.
edit: I believe I have updated my Character sheet appropriately. Please let me know if I am missing anything GM.
Ok character sheet reformatted.
I'm perfectly okay with that, yeah. Even if they aren't relevant, any background you wish to add to your character is going to make them deeper and more vivid in your mind, and if they've a more solid footing then you're likely to write them better.
Feel free to take us on whatever side adventure you want. Game is yours.
Knowledge of Fetchlings would require a Knowledge (planes) check, yes?
That's right.
That's what I figured. In which case Ysmerelda's response to Raldora's question would most likely be something along the lines of "They're like Halflings but they can reach up high?"
Also, Dr. Alderly, 'Too nice for her own good' pretty much sums Ysmerelda up fairly succinctly, yes.
If I'm not mistaken, a DC10 check, untrained, is enough for some basic information.
On that note, how would you like us to handle rolls in situations like this? Seems kind of silly to do two posts back to back, with the first being little more than "I try to remember things about X"...
For basic matters like this, just roll against the low DC, for the sake of speeding up the role playing. You can post preview your die roll results and write around that.
All, I will be leaving for China and Korea on business Saturday morning, returning the following Saturday. While I expect to be able to post on occasion, it might be sporadic and a bit lower frequency. If anything starts to slow, please feel free to DMPC me to move things along. FYI, China is GMT +7, and Korea GMT +8 (12 and 13 hours later than EST, respectively).
Not sure if you're waiting for someone or just busy Spring... but I think we're all ready to move on (or at least have Windom zip in and out, either way the mood for talking's pretty much dead at this point w/o new input).
Or at least, that's my take on it.
After a week and a half without any activity from the GM on any of his Aliases that I can see, and no forewarning, I think I'm going to call this abandoned.
Unfortunate, really. I thought we had some good group dynamics going here :(
Post and see if a new DM wants to take over?
Ok guys, Real Life (TM) just hit me hard. I have a family emergency which I seem to be the only effective adult for, so I suspect it is going to be several days to a week before I am in a position to post again. Spring-Heeled GM, in the event we get started again, please 'bot' me as needed until I post I'm back.
Yeah, if he doesn't show back up by this weekend, I'm up to try and find another GM.
I would like to say the drama is over, but the truth is it is simply at an abeyance. I am however, back. Ready when you are guys!
I am actually still around, if we can find someone to take over I'm all for it!
I'm here as well
Me too
Who wants to put out the call?
So we have an offer
Sounds good to me!
I dig it!
Sounds good, I enjoy this group of characters lets keep it going!
Yes, hello. So that sounds like an affirmative for me to hijack the thread as GM.
I will put in the request to do so now.
A little bit about me. I started with the original red box when I was about 12 years old, played AD&D (1E) until 2E, at which time, sadly, I stopped playing.
I came back to the hobby with 3.5, around 2007, just prior to the announcement of 4E (which I tried, but like many people embraced PF instead) and have been gaming ever since.
I'm currently not a player in any games, but I do run a homebrew pbp game on these boards.
PF is my fav, but I enjoy a couple of other games such as SW Edge of the Empire, Call of Cthulhu 6th ed., and Delta Green.
Welcome aboard Nitemare, Looks like you have quite a bit of EXP.
I started playing 3.0 when it first came out and stopped around 2005. Just got back into pathfinder about a year ago and also did not like what I saw from 4th Ed.
I am a fan of pretty much all RPGs, but I haven't played many. Some of the rules in the books I have picked up are very convoluted and seem like unfun systems most of the time(though I have 0 playtime). I LOVE the d20 Star Wars RPG, and have thought about Edge of the Empire. I just dunno who to game with :(.
Heh, had a feeling I should have checked in earlier today :p
On that note, is there any way for me to get the forums to ping me with an e-mail whenever there's a new post? Might help make sure I don't get too distracted by other stuff to check in, it's a problem I tend to start having after a game loses steam for any reason...
Welcome Nitemare! I started with the orange and blue boxes, then progressed to 1E. I stopped a few years prior to 3E, then came back after 3.5. Ravenloft has always been my favorite setting by far, so this AP is one I've wanted to play badly for a while now.
The only other games I played in the past were Champions and Top Secret SI. PF is my new favorite, of course.
If you click on your name in the top bar, then click on the campaigns tab, all your games show up there. That is how I keep track of them.
Welcome! Thank you for picking up the game, I was afraid it was going to fade away.
For me; started with 2E, made an enemy with THAC0, changed over to 3E and followed that until the end of 3.5. 4E is what killed D&D's trademark name. Stumbled on pathfinder two years ago and love it. Run a PF group on Sundays (in person) that has been going about 1.5 years. Other than that my only other experience is with "It came from the late late late show", which is more or less playing a bad B-Horror movie. Check it out, so much fun.
That does sound like fun (as a huge fan of B-movies).
May not be around too much today as it's my son's 5th birthday, but glad to see we've got new life breathed into this game.
Happy Halloween all!
That must be cool having Halloween birthday party themes for the kid. (Assuming)
Nice to meet everyone, and Happy Halloween as well!
The thread hijack request was put in yesterday, as of yet I have heard nothing.I have no idea how long this will take to transfer this game to my profile, so stay tuned.