!GM PDK'S HELL'S REBELS (CLASSIC PFS Book 1 and 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Purple Dragon Knight

I don't have a minimum of characters/posts before I move the action forward. If doing so ends up creating difficulties for a player it's perfectly fine for the player to post something along the lines of 'before leaving the Long Roads Coffeehouse, my character did a, b, and c'

I have my bot information on my profile but need the weekend to change it to the format that was provided. I'll also catch up on the player guide over the weekend.

I don't have a minimum of characters/posts before I move the action forward. If doing so ends up creating difficulties for a player it's perfectly fine for the player to post something along the lines of 'before leaving the Long Roads Coffeehouse, my character did a, b, and c'

Addendum: however if combat breaks out you don't get to conveniently stack buffs! :P

If there are things that your character does each morning no matter what, such as say, mage armor, or leaving one slot opened for future prep, make sure you list that "AI Sequence" in your 'BOT me' section.

My spell preparation almost never changes. I need ant haul to avoid encumbrance, and the entire character idea is built around alchemical allocation . But if it ever does, I will post here as well as in the profile.

I was looking up the illusion, well the 1st level illusion spells. that deal with disguise but they do not really last all that long.

I was looking up the illusion, well the 1st level illusion spells. that deal with disguise but they do not really last all that long. Some of the transmutations might also be helpful. Good thing that they are not prohibited schools :)

A simple disguise would work to turn you into a gnome. Others can also use their Disguise skill on you as well. Takes 30min.

I'm guessing this is actually a very bad situation for such a rare race. Anytime Red is out of human form and doing something the authorities wouldn't like, he is at serious risk of getting caught.

Out of combat there is an easy solution, albeit an undesirable one. However, once combat breaks out we are basically forced to kill or convert all witnesses, including non-combatants.

And just to be on the safe side, the rest of us should probably avoid being around Red's crocodile form whenever possible. If he is ever caught--which is extremely likely, then we are all arrested as 'known associates'.

Can someone help make him a gnome, His name will be Gnomay the Gnome :)

GM Notes: even an all-human party could get caught. Perhaps the wanted posters would take a longer time to have an effect than in the case of a "DEADLY! SHOOT ON SIGHT WERECROCODILE MONSTER! REWARD DEAD OR ALIVE!" poster, but ultimately the PCs will be known to the authorities regardless of their form or shape. I'm just giving fair warning that if the group fights the authorities, or become under suspicion by the authorities, the group with a wayang, werecroc, wererat and halfling might be fairly easy to remember, unless you take some basic precautions to look human or something else (and it's not hard to do vs the basic Cheliax guard grunts, just so you know... just imagine your PC is operating in a curfew / martial law scenario before you do something and basic precautions should be ok to get the AP rolling)

:)

Is it possible to become an associate of the bell flower network or even a member?

See p.12 of the Campaign Intro for more details about the Bellflower Network.

Will do.

Would it be possible to design a short-term stink bomb/smokestick? One where the stench would expire in a minute along with the smoke? For example, by adding some sulphur and increasing both the cost and crafting DC a litte.

Let's just say you can make regular smokesticks with 'a foul odor'... nothing that causes an in-game condition but enough to help move drunk people out of a bar... actual stink bombs are too badass for low level PCs and should stay in the hands of my 7th level alchemist! LOL

That is what I had in mind. No mechanical benefit, just extra drunk protection.

I have no problem with that. Scenting one's alchemy is perfectly fine by me. You can even have alchemist bombs smell like bubble gum if you want. :P

I forgot to follow up on part of a post. The items I had wanted to acquire were two spring-loaded wrist sheathes. Is it okay to say Kardess purchased them at some point today?

@Kardess: absolutely.

I've also updated the map to show the location of your lab.

Profile updated to reflect purchases. The sheathes will contain a potion of fly and potion of protection from acid. Whenever it won't be untoward, Kardess will carry the potion of heroism in hand.

"Untoward" is very open to GM interpretation, though at the very least I assume most social situations would be awkward times to have a potion in hand.

Thank you Poshvent. :)

I just saw that Bennybeck is not active anymore? Is he out of the campaign?

I am really LOL here because of the fart story! ;-) Great RP!!!

I think it's a fair use of ghost sound wouldn't you think? :P

Ha ha!! Definitely!!!

Kardess' business relationship with Clenchjaw's may be enough to find out what we need there.

For those on Hangouts just PM me your email; cheers!

What do people think about the pace so far? Personally, I feel like things are being thrown at us faster than we can deal with them, and I'm drowning in it. Each time something happens that I want to explore, another thing gets tossed in before that one is resolved.

I can certainly wait until we have party consensus before moving the story forward, if that would help. Right now it's very much a sandbox and the players get to decide which corner of the sandbox to play in. It's also a regular thing for this first Hell's Rebels book: you'll hear rumors, leads, hear news of events happening through town. It's gonna overwhelm you. Ultimately the AP starts revolving around the players, and they become the directors of the movie, doing all the casting, filming and whether to go on location or operate from a set. But at the beginning, they are extras at best, and the events occur regardless of what they do.

Will be unable to post tomorrow due to a work thing; will resume Thu. Ttyl!

What do people think about the pace so far? Personally, I feel like things are being thrown at us faster than we can deal with them, and I'm drowning in it. Each time something happens that I want to explore, another thing gets tossed in before that one is resolved.

I understand what you are referring to. I have two admit that I am responsible as well. In my last post I started lots of different actions which led to new information. Might be best to follow one route instead of taking up new dirt all the time.

I also believe that we need to organize the information and just be patient with ourselves regarding the timing of following these leads. The mysteries presented to us are really refreshing for me considering the very streamlined scenarios that PFS usually presents.

I will try something later today to collect the rumors and leads with a status in a spoiler below my posts.
Maybe this helps.

And we just have to be more relaxed regarding following leads as the GM’s warnings that this adventure path measures time in weeks helps. We have no time pressure as far as I understand.

Have a great day everyone!

I can handle it so far, but there's probably too many possibilities at once for my liking, and slowing ourselves down might be best so that we don't get boggled.

It might help If we gathered our thoughts (ooc) and decide on a plan of action so that we don't dart off in too many directions at once. Perhaps it could be done in game but I think it might be a little difficult.

For one I prefer if we took a hold on the recruitment & rumours and first investigated the places burned by the fire, and perhaps ensure the safety of the tengu sisters.

I got two for Rexus' burnt family estate; two for the family estate after dark. Waiting to hear from Andor before moving on.

Going there after dark is OK! I believe that we do not need consensus every time. With five players I think that three votes should be enough. What do the others think?

Note: this will be after the 9pm curfew; are you going there late evening, middle of the night, early morning?

Middle of the night.

LOOT FOR HELL's REBELS BOOK 1: Under your alias, at the very TOP of your stat block, put an OOC tag surrounding a temporary section called 'LOOT FOR HELL's REBELS BOOK 1'. All items gained in this adventure will thus not 'mingle' with any of your personal PFS gear. Shopping is also done a bit differently: since the town is under martial law, there's a restriction on what you can buy, and specific purchasing limits. It pays off to keep tabs, perhaps on a notepad or word file on your computer, which shop sells what and at what price. This will be discovered during play when/if you visit those shops. PS: I will not list mundane armor.

I will wait another 5 hours RL before posting again, just in case other party members have something to add before you venture out in the streets past midnight. I also want to see everyone's opinion on moving the story based on 3 out of 5 players agreement. Thanks!

I have a separate copy of Kardess, and can just restore that backup at the end of the scenario.

BTW: Kardess and Red have joined me in Hangouts. For OOC discussions and questions it's way faster so if you feel like being added to the group send me your email address via PM. Cheers!

GM PDK, Kardess and I had a little discussion in hangout and we aligned that the night is too dangerous due to the curfew and that we are lucky that we were not caught (having no light source helped).

The river can be dangerous as there are dangers also in the water.

Kardess and I would propose to just go the last burned down location after during the day.

Andor will copy the following three first level formulae from Kardess (30 gp - take 10 spellcraft suffices for DC): alchemical allocation, endure elements, monkey fish

Hi everyone,

As I was PMing a player at my CORE table about this, I thought I'd share the following with everyone:

The game has a built in system for stuff like killing guards or militia folks: the Silver Ravens start accruing a 'Notoriety' score, which is in general bad. The higher the Notoriety, the closer Thrune gets to the party, and at certain thresholds stuff happens.

For PbP, I originally intended to run the Rebellion Stats in the background, as it would take an insane amount of time to deal with, IMO. The biggest time investment would be for the player running the Rebellion Sheet.

HOWEVER, if you would like to handle the Rebellion Sheet (it's best if ONE players keeps their hands on that dashboard...) then I can make Rebellion Stats available.

It adds an extra element to this game, and while it's a bit of an abstraction, it removes the need for the GM to ask the party to roll Gather Info every 5 min (i.e. the Rebellion stats give the party a 'feel' on how things are going).

It also formalizes the role of each PC in the Rebellion (officer positions, seats being filled, and all that.. ;) )

Ultimately, it does NOT affect the events of the AP, as those dungeon crawls and daring missions are initiated by the party. What it does, however, is show you areas of weaknesses in your Rebellion, and gives you a somewhat important feedback variable in the form of the Notoriety score. I'd like to remind you, however, that it is a significant time investment for you all, and a pretty big one for HE OR SHE WHO WILL MAINTAIN THE SHEET! (i.e. that person will have to read the rebellion rules of the Hell's Rebels Player's Guide from top to bottom and have a solid understanding of the system before I open up the Rebellion subsystem for play).

Let me know what you think.

Best regards,
GM PDK

To be honest I would NOT like the additional complexity. :-)

I'm with Andor on this one, and I definitely do not want to be the player in charge of that sheet.

Triple that! I think I've got my hands full in PBP so simpler is more appealing at the moment :)

I don't feel a need to get hands-on with the paperwork either

Very well! we shall leave it aside. The AP books provide 'substitution stats' and 'default settings' for group not tracking Rebellion events.

Next steps from my point of view:

Document of the silver ravens:
- Show Rexus the strange pages that Kardess found
- Continue to support the decryption once per week per character

Burned buildings:
- Ask Laria and Rexus about geography and details on the Silver Star on Argo Isle
- Go to Silver Star on Argo Isle during the day and check it ou

Tengus in the Wasp nest:
- Ask them what is going on there and what they are actually doing there
- Check who could have sabotaged the opening and follow leads

Fairy dragon:
-Ask him some more questions on the rebellion movement in the Badger and what he heard at Clenchjaw's
- Ask him if he feels well in the wasp nest and what his impressions are - hos does he get along with the Tengus
- Ask him to keep an eye open in the wasp nest for anything strange going on there

Figurines of power:
- To be honest I just noticed that you GP PDK said that we had access to these - where did we get them from and what are their powers?
- Distribute those among the party members and Laria/Rexus

Rumors:
- Check out the Tiefling situation and see who is suffering there - maybe they can be our new allies as the Tieflings are so mistreated here
- Find out more about this 'hell woman' that is the associated with Thrune
- Check out the opera house for any weaknesses to be able to enter as this was a main location for the resistance movement in the past

Clenchjaw's:
- Set up the alchemy lab there
- Sit in the tavern and work and just listen to the Milani followers and see how we can make friends with this movement and get them on our side

Bellflower network:
- Laria is associated with them as far as we know from Bennybeck and maybe the network can assist us, too?

OK, this is just from the reviewing a little but please jump in as I have surely forgotten something.