Here is where we shall discuss all things Salvage.
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Is it possible to put the previous quest campaign thread on inactive?
Yep, that is the plan in a day or two, after everyone uses it to find their way here. :)
To properly set up the threat for this encounter I need to know if any of you have earned the following chronicle sheet boons. I suspect you do not yet have your chronicles but hope you know what you might have earned for each phase.
Lawblight Assault
Lawblight Barrage
Lawblight Data
Lawblight Evasion
While only two people have checked in here four have posted to the gameplay thread. How many players do we expect? There is a 4 player adjustment available for this scenario so I need to know if I should enact it.
I could do that but I am not sure how hard of a fight this will be with no boxes checked off and each box makes it easier. Unless someone can confirm that they have earned Lawblight Barrage I'll proceed with three of the four advantages. This "clue was actually hard to earn so its likely that it was not earned. It required a contest of computer skills from into the Unknown. I am happy for you guys to look though.
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So for starship roles, it appears we have:
Domak as pilot
Jchak-Chtal as captain
Morvruul as science officer
That leaves Blibdilpoolp and Eleeta. Eleeta is built to be good at engineering or science officer, but it looks like at the start we want both she and Blibdilpoolp to act as gunners. Eleeta can swap over to engineering if we need it.
Also, don't forget to use the bonuses the ship gives to your rolls, if any. That can make a difference between a fight going well, and being frustrating and taking forever.
(Actually, this is the scenario where they accidentally left the last few lines that include those bonuses out of the scenario stat block for our ship. It's been confirmed that this was an accidental error, and that we do get the +1 to any three checks per round.)
I concur. Of course the enemy may have similar advantages. >:) When I play we usually let the captain assign these bonuses. I am fine however you want to do it as long as its consistent.
Also I am by no means an expert on the starship combat rules so please advise and gently correct as needed. For Instance I am unsure how easy it is to move from say Engineering to Gunnery. Can a PC act as engineer one round and gunner the next with no issues? I think so but am not sure.
And I'd appreciate it if your gunners can make sure of their ranges and add in any applicable range penalties. I have plenty to worry about already making this a good fight. :)
since this is a learning exercise for me and I am still learning how to add maps I added a link to the combat roles for ship combat and an additional slide in the maps to show data for the Odyssey.
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Oh, and since this is GM school (and starship combat requires the most tweaking to work in a fun and fast way on PbP), I figured it might be informative to see my general game plan for running space battles. These were formalized for the purposes of the Scoured Star Special, so the 24 hour hard limit isn't necessary for all games (but is a good pace to keep if everyone's on the same page).
To facilitate that, I roll the piloting checks for 'initiative' each round for both parties. Once those are done, each player should declare their crew action (order doesn't matter: helm, engineering and gunnery phases can be done simultaneously) and I'll try to decode them in a way that makes sense. After 24 hours are up, I'll resolve the actions that both sides have taken + provide 'initiative' piloting rolls for the next round. As in normal combat, I'll skip anyone who doesn't post within 24 hours of the round starting, unless they've specifically given me botting instructions
There are considerration. In this case which guns or missile launchers to fire come into play and its hard to know that until you know what distances and facings have resulted from the helm phase. Still its a good attempt to do the near impossible of a full round per day.
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Yeah, I think we've all agreed that the three phases doesn't quite work in PbP, and try to find a way to bring it down to two, so that it's at most two days per round. Every GM is going to find a slightly different way of working things out. Also, some people are much more comfortable with posting conditional actions than others. Give us as a community a few more years, and we'll have something really good worked out. :)
I'll almost always be posting in the helm phase before the PCs. So if you are the pilot and you can tell you need to move first, by all means go ahead and move as soon as you know the piloting results.
I could roll both piloting rolls but am hesitant to do so as I am not sure what modifies might be in play. Did your captain inspire you? Intimidate you? Did you take one of the three +1s from the ship's computer? etc.
This is my first try at running either PBP OR SFS so I know I have plenty to learn. :)
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Actually, the piloting roll that acts as initiative is very restrictive. It can't be inspired, for instance. When Starfinder first came out, I though the captain could help, but then someone pointed out that the captain can give a 'bonus to the check required by a crew action' but the initiative piloting roll is not a check required by an action.
Domak has won piloting this round. Lawblight has moved. Domak needs to move the ship and then we can go into Gunnery, Take you shots as soon as Domak moves you. No need to wait on me. But also don't forget your engineering, captain and/or science rolls. And that intimidate during Helm phase is finally over.
She posted Thursday afternoon and some folks have a hard time over the weekend so I have not given up yet. I'll PM her.
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OK, we're almost done, so it's time to talk chronicle sheets.
The way we do chronicle sheets for GM school is for each student to prepare a chronicle sheet for one other student. The teacher/mentor prepares chronicle sheets for everyone else.
Here are instructions for preparing chronicle sheets. For right now, I just want students to extract the chronicle sheet page.
Please come to some agreement as to which student is preparing each chronicle sheet.
If you get ambitious and want to do more, you can follow the other instructions. Since I'm the GM as far as Paizo is concerned, I will need to be the one to initial and sign, so please leave those boxes blank.
Here is the info you need:
Event name: PbP GM school
Event number: 617,150
GM PFS#: 184425
date: 12/17/2018
I also need each participant to post their information for chronicle sheets.
Please ask any questions you have as you work through this.
Name: Lysle
PC: Morvruul the Merchant
SFS #: 90900-713
Faction: Dataphiles
I can prep a chronicle for GM Wise One/Rig Datarunner.
And I shall return the favor of preparing GM Valen's chronicle.
Name: Skorn
PC Name: Rig Datarunner
SFS #:3387-701
Faction: Second Seekers
Game note: Thanks for being patient with me at the beginning and allowing me to run for you. I am still not sure how I missed part of the game but I am glad I had a chance to GM as part of GM school. Starship combat is challenge on both sides of the screen. I hope I made it fun for you.
That 4th Clue: Lawblight Barrage. It was hard to earn as it was basically a science contest. I know my group failed to earn it. It would have made the first torpedo that should have hit become a miss. Already you outgunned, had much better shields, was faster, etc. I think you would have won with none of the clues but it would have taken twice as long.
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Here is a link to the folder where you should put chronicles that you prepare.
Let's try to get the chronicles done by the New Year, so that we can wrap up this table of GM school by then.
Also, the game has been reported.
As part of GM school, I want to emphasize the importance of reporting games, and doing so promptly after they end.
Let me know when you drop a chronicle sheet into the folder, so I can look over and sign it right away.
Let me know when you drop a chronicle sheet into the folder, so I can look over and sign it right away.
I did not see a folder for "Into the Unknown" (and the drive tells me that I don't have permission to upload to the other two folders that are there.
You should be able to drop it into the linked folder directly, rather than its subfolders.
For some reason, I was still getting a message that I did not have permission to save to the linked folder, so I created one of my own for Rig's unsigned chronicle here.