[ACG] BR skizzerz's Season of the Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master skizzerz

Discussion thread.

Thanks skizzerz, looking forward to the game.

I'll post my location + starting hand as soon as my Gnomanity campaign wraps up. :)

I let the Gnomanity BR know that I'm hoping to finish as close to Aug 13 as possible - so I can start in this session right away.

I'll take a close look at the Skull & Shackles cards to see if it makes more sense to run Quang + Norge forms or Quang + Viridio forms. Or Norge + Viridio if I'm feeling crazy.

Here's Radovan's info here:

In a game or two, I'll get my second power feat. I'll use that to reduce Poison, Fire, and Ranged Combat damage by one for all characters at my location.

I'm playing Kasmir for our game. I'll choose which Cohort I'm using once the locations are up.

Had some downtime between Gnomanity turns, so I did a tiny bit of research on our characters. Here's the dimestore version of what I learned:

Radovan (Tier 2): Can display 2 devil forms. Different forms give different bonuses. Quang evades at will and can get non-combat bonuses. Norge/Viridio provide combat bonuses and immunities to fire/poison, respectively. Rad gets to display a monster (which can be banished to provide bonuses) when a character at his location takes damage. Also has innate damage reduction vs. fire, poison, and ranged combat damage.

Celeste: Arcane caster that reveals cards at other locations.

Meliski: Provides rerolls for characters at his location. Can encounter bottom card of location deck (1st explore only). Has arcane/divine.

Harsk: Examines own location deck. Provides combat bonuses for characters at other locations.

Radillo: Arcane caster that is good at acquiring allies and examining the bottom card of her location deck.

Kasmir: Witch that heals characters at his location by discarding cards out of hand. Can be arcane and/or divine depending on cohort selected.

Should be great fun. Lots of examining in the party, and Radillo + Meliski is an interesting "reveal bottom card then encounter it" combo.

FYI, Radovan can be a combat beast w/ bonuses, and support from Harsk can make him even stronger.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. :)

I've started putting up flavor for the gameplay thread and I'm working on getting the initial scenario setup going. The game itself starts on the 13th but before then you can take a look at what's going on, choose starting locations, and determine your turn order. If someone doesn't have any turn order preferences roll 1d1000 and I'll slot you in lowest to highest between people who did express a preference. If you'll be taking one for the team, figure out what tier 1 pregen you'll be playing for that.

Final player list:
1. elcoderdude - Celeste
2. wkover - Radovan
3. khazkhaz - Kashmir
4. Zalarian - Meliski
5. TheGreatNateO - Harsk
6. Jake_Bloom - Radillo

I'm really hoping that Radovan is available on Aug 13. Radovan's Gnomanity table was moving quickly and on-schedule to wrap up by 8/13, but suddenly we've lost players for 48+ hours due to GenCon.

Anyway, I'll be optimistic and assume that Rad will be available. If that doesn't work out, I can temporarily take one for the team with another fighter type: Linxia, Ostog, or someone similar.

Note: The funny thing is that we just completed this scenario (0-2A) at my other Gnomanity table (different character: Grazzle). We did it once - I'm sure we can do it again. :)

As far as turn order goes, it would be reasonable for Radovan to go after the characters with reveal abilities (Harsk, Celeste). Unless we want to schedule by timezone, in which case I'm on Eastern.

If need be, we can always delay game start by a day or three. It's not my preference, but we can evaluate that option in more detail as we get closer to the 13th should existing tables be very close to finishing shortly after then.

Meliski: Provides rerolls for characters at his location. Can encounter bottom card of location deck (1st explore only). Has arcane/divine.

Harsk: Examines own location deck. Provides combat bonuses for characters at other locations.

Radillo: Arcane caster that is good at acquiring allies and examining the bottom card of her location deck.

Meliski can shuffle after exploring bottom card if desired as well. Current combo we have is Meliski goes after Harsk and if the top card isn't worthwhile, explore bottom and shuffle.

Are we doing Radillo wrong? We have been doing it is the bottom of his character deck. He also has augury which is another card that works well with the Meliski shuffle if we are searching for something in particular.

Meliski (or his changeling Lem if needed) will start at Festhall.
With respect to player order, I would like to be right after Harsk.

Are we doing Radillo wrong? We have been doing it is the bottom of his character deck.

Nope, you're 100% correct. Yet another example of me reading "deck" as "location deck" - when what is actually meant is "character deck". Sorry for the misinformation. I'll read more carefully next time. :)

We're anchored at the Docks in this one? This means we all have to start at the Docks, I think. This is one of the rules that I almost always forget in S&S. (It's in the setup section rather than the ships section, which doesn't help.)

And if we have to use pregens (hopefully not), here's the link:

https://www.esglabs.com/pacg/pregens/

Summary of new rules in Skull & Shackles, in case you haven't played: (text copied from other threads)

We get a plunder (random loot) card at the start of the game, which we can lose if the ship becomes wrecked. We get another plunder card each time we defeat a ship.

Whenever our ship takes structural damage, any/all players can discard to cover the damage. E.g., if we take three structural damage, I can discard one card and someone else can discard 2 cards to cover it. If the damage isn't covered, our ship becomes wrecked and must be repaired or Bad Stuff Happens.

Certain cards benefit you if you're "on a ship". A quick summary of the "on a ship" rules:

If your ship isn't anchored (usually the case): If it's your turn, you're on the ship. Anybody at your location is on the ship. If you move on your turn, anybody at your location can move with you.

If the ship is anchored (true in this first scenario): The ship is only at that one location, and you're only on the ship if you are at that location. When you move from the anchored location, people at your location cannot move with you.

Final note: If the ship is anchored at a certain location, all players must start at that location.

All of the above is correct. I'll also include a spoiler called Additional Rules which contains the ship and plunder rules in the scenario update posts.

Some more:

• When you stash a plunder, roll 1d6; 1 = Weapon, 2 = Spell, 3 = Armor, 4 = Item, 5 = Ally, 6 = Any of the above (your choice). Can't get blessings with plunder. You aren't allowed to look at the plunder cards, so I'll be drawing them on your behalf instead of having you grab them from the Random Cards spoiler. Plunder cards go face-down underneath the ship.
  
• If the ship takes any amount of Structural damage at all (i.e. it wasn't reduced to 0), it becomes wrecked. Players do not have to be on the ship in order to help reduce Structural damage, and a ship can be dealt Structural damage even if everyone is off at a different location when it's anchored.
  
• If your ship is wrecked, at the end of the turn banish a random plunder card from it. You cannot stash additional plunder cards, and any additional Structural damage it would take causes that many blessings to be discarded from the blessings deck instead (after any reductions caused by powers or players discarding cards).
  
• If your ship is wrecked, you can attempt to repair it once at the start of your turn. This repair attempt happens when you're commanding the ship at the start of your move step (before you move). This means if the ship is anchored and you aren't at that location, you don't get a repair attempt.
  
• The "When Commanding" power differs based on whether or not the ship is wrecked. Usually the normal power gives some benefit in exchange for discarding a card from the blessings deck, and the wrecked power punishes you until the ship is repaired.
  
• If your ship is not anchored, it is automatically at the location of whose turn it is. That person is said to be commanding the ship. If that person moves, anyone else at that location may choose to move with them. Anyone at the commander's location is said to be on a ship.
  
• If your ship is anchored, you are commanding the ship only when it is your turn and you are at the anchored location. Anyone at the anchored location is said to be on a ship.
  
• If your ship is wrecked, others cannot move with you when you are commanding the ship.
  
• Ships are neither banes nor boons; powers which help against banes or boons do not apply to Ships.
  
• Like all other card types, you can only use a Ship power once per check or step of an encounter.
  
• If you fail a check to defeat a Ship, you are dealt Structural damage equal to the difference between the check to defeat and your roll (just like damage dealt if you failed a check to defeat a Monster).
  
• Some cards let you seize a ship. This basically means that you swap your ship with the seized ship. Seized ships are only kept for the course of the scenario, you can't take them with you for the next scenario unless it would also be a valid starting Ship choice.
  
• If you win the scenario, all plunder cards go into the pool for deck upgrades, as if you acquired them normally. If you lose the scenario, the plunder cards are returned to the box (and therefore not available for deck upgrades).

Assuming we are playing our character choices and not pregens, here is my turn order recommendation:

1. TheGreatNateO/Harsk Eastern- tough dwarf and less squishy than celeste to scout
2. elcoderdude/Celeste - scout another location
3. Zalarian/Meliski - Eastern - can explore and shuffle deck if scouting shows bad things
4. wkover/Radovan - Eastern - requested to be after scouts, placing after Meliski in case a location needs stirring
5. khazkhaz/Kashmir - placing here to evenly distribute 2 healers
6. Jake_Bloom/Radillo - Eastern - usually has a combat spell due abilities can use augury to possibly support scouts

We got lucky at my Gnomanity table and found the villain sooner than expected. So Radovan will be available on Aug 13, barring some unforeseen disaster. BR has already said that the game will end midnight on the 12th, in mid-game if necessary.

Above turn order looks good to me...

Starting hand posted.

@Skizzerz Do you need us to email our record sheets from Gnomanity to document our tier status, etc.? If so, I can do that when they become available. Radovan also got lucky and got a faction reward + die bump from Gnomanity.

By the way, are there plans to use Google Hangouts? I was skeptical at first, but using Hangouts was easy and really helped both Gnomanity games. So I'd be happy to use it again. Helps keep track of turns, makes temp closing discussions possible, a bit of strategy talk, loot discussions, etc.

Radovan needs to wrap up by Oct 1, since that's when the Absalom special starts. But no doubt we'll get in some great games before then. :)

For what it's worth, my average combat roll (w/ rapier) will look something like this:

1d8+1(str)+2d4(rapier)+1d4(one-handed bonus)+x (x=1 for norge, 2 for Viridio). Total=1d8+3d4+2 (or 3). Banishing a displayed monster gets me another 1d8 or 2d6, respectively, for Norge/Viridio.

I do not use hangouts, but if you want to start something up for the other players to optionally use then go for it. There are only 4 scenarios in AD2, so we should be done before Assault on Absalom starts up. Depending on how fast things go and if players are willing to continue on, we might be able to knock out a scenario or two of AD3 as well before AoA starts up.

If you need my clarification on something, posting in the discussion thread works or you can message me on the PFS Discord.

OK, thanks for the info. I don't want to force Hangouts on anyone, but if people are interested I can try to set it up. I'm happy either way.

So as this last run has been my first experience online and PFSACG and I have to admit I was a little unsure the difference between Adventure Path, Adventure Path, and Scenario..When I initially signed up for this and the other game that started earlier I thought it was for a single scenario each but that became evident in both games not to be the case.

Because of this, I think I need to look into another character for this for which I am fine doing but that means definitely the character will be Tier 1 and not Tier 2. TheGreatNateO indicated to me that he wants to try a summoner instead of Harsk. I am awaiting confirmation from Jake_Bloom but I think he may not have the bandwidth to do both Runelord season and Shackles season and will likely bow out. I need to look at my options for a character and should post soon. I can also look into doing the Tier 1 scenarios f2f with theGreatNatO so may look into that as well.

I hope this doesn't cause too much upheaval and I am sorry about all the confusion. I believe there is a waitlist for this game as well that can take Jake_Bloom's spot.

Hi All, new waitlisted body checking in.
Will be playing a brand new tier 1 character
Any big gaps in party roles?
I have quite a few decks available

Welcome Matsu. The turn order post above aptly summarizes the party. With a bard or two and at least one heavy hitter, we’ve alot of bases covered.

To all: I am using my CAG character so I kind of need my CaG table to finish. With luck we will wrap by EOD Sunday.

My schedule is wonky:
I am in Sudan (EDT+6 hours) until noon EDT on Sat 18th.
I am traveling and pretty much offline till I get back to Biston late afternoon on the 19th.
After that I am on Eastern time.
I can’t use Google Hangout at work so it’s a non- starter for me.

Oh - and feel free to call me Robert. Male pronouns ( if your pronouns are not self- evident, please indicate. Thanks.)

Will be playing a brand new tier 1 character. Any big gaps in party roles?

I think Celeste already has Survival covered.

Not sure anyone has a decent constitution. Maybe someone with a reasonable CON?

Really, though - play whatever is fun for you.

OK. I am thinking Mummy's Mask Yoon using the Occult Adventures deck 2 and either Ultimate Intrigue or Ultimate Equipment. Still deciding
Will confirm later tonight

That little girl is an absolute combat beast.

Matsu - to catch you up on this thread - in this scenario the ship is anchored at the Docks, so we all start there. The party shares one ship. We seem to have chosen the Goblin promo Weilding ( sp?).

That little girl is an absolute combat beast.

Matsu - to catch you up on this thread - in this scenario the ship is anchored at the Docks, so we all start there. The party shares one ship. We seem to have chosen the Goblin promo Weilding ( sp?).

OK, works for me

I will be playing Balazar, Male Gnome Summoner. - Alias is Balazar 341416-1002. Will be posting character in Gameplay Tab.

I’ll post the initial scenario update in about 15-16 hours. This is partially to give people a chance to wrap up CAG tables and partly because I’ll be traveling Monday and that’s when I get home and first have a chance to get everything together on my computer (much more easy to do everything compared to right now where all I have is my iPad).

Some ground guidelines (not rules, but I encourage you follow them):
1. Don’t wait for me to post a scenario update before taking your turn, or else you’ll be waiting for a long time. Not counting the initial update of course :). In general, I prefer to not post updates because they’re gigantic walls of text and get in the way of reading everyone’s great roleplay and what other people did on their turns and what cards they have available. I’ll post an update whenever decks are shuffled, locations are closed, a new page starts up, or if it’s simply just been a while (3-5 turns), but don’t expect me to be constantly posting them after every turn.
2. Use your Notes wisely. The Notes section is a great way to share what cards are available for others to use, or if you have any relevant powers. I encourage you keep it up to date.
3. Bold actions that involve other players. If you’re using someone else’s card or if someone else at your location is impacted by something you do, bold that action and name that character so they don’t accidentally skip over it when skimming your post.
4. Include check types and difficulty in your dice tags. One of these is far more readable than the other, and lets you know at a glance whether or not you succeeded without having to reference the other card: Combat 12: 1d10 + 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + (1) + 5 = 7 vs 1d10 + 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (6) + (2) + 5 = 13

I’ll need an updated turn order or else I’ll just randomly slot in the characters who recently switched or joined us :)

In addition, if you have any feedback regarding the scenario updates, suggestions for improvement, things that you really like and want me to continue doing, etc. please let me know. I want the game to go as smoothly as possible and for the scenario updates to help you have fun, not get in the way. If there’s something I can do to make them better, I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen.

Excellent advice.
I’d add:
The table needs to work out a social contract about using other player’s cards or powers which have a cost. Personally I encourage people to be bold, not “go it alone”, and use what’s available without waiting for another person to post a response to a query - that can really slow things down. OTOH, players should try to say in their notes what they do/don’t want used.

If you’ve played PBP, you should know: it is always a good idea to ctrl-A,ctrl-C to copy your post before clicking Submit. You only have to lose one or two epic posts to the vagaries of the Internet before this becomes a habit.

Finally, do bookmark your campaign page or this table’s main page so that the tabs display whether there are new posts. I won’t tell you how long I bookmarked the Gameplay tab directly and had to scroll the page to see if anyone added something.

skizzerz, what is our retcon policy? This is a game meant to be played collectively, but the nature of asynchronous play is sometimes a player will overlook resources others would definitely have offered if we were all around a table. Example: someone may take on a combat with lousy odds and handwipe while not realizing my character is at the same location with a card they could recharge to give a d8. To what extent will you permit activity such as “Hey, I would have recharged this card for you, add the d8 and revise your turn with that result”?

My Gnomanity table (Cartmanbeck’s S&S tanle 2) wrapped late yestetday having completed 0-1. Celeste is tier 2.

@Skizzerz
In the blessings deck, is there an easy way to tag which blessing goes with which character? In my two Gnomanity tables, one was tagged and one wasn't. I was always losing track of blessings in the untagged table.

Anyway, how's this for an updated turn order? (mostly copied/pasted from before)

1. elcoderdude/Celeste (can reveal a card)
2. Zalarian/Meliski (Lem?)
3. MatsuKurisu/Yoon
4. wkover/Radovan
5. khazkhaz/Kasmir
6. TheGreatNateO/Balazar

Retcons: Please don’t make them a habit. In general, I’m more fine with them if the card or power in question is free (reveal effect or character power) since it can be assumed those are almost always used. Something like retconning a discard effect I’m more leery of. Retconning a bury or banish effect is a no go. I’ll evaluate them on a case by case basis but in general I’d prefer if you didn’t have to retcon at all and instead post reminders of “hey next time remember X.”

On the other hand, if you express intent to play something in Notes or elsewhere in your post (as opposed to stating it is available for use), and the other player didn’t take that into consideration, then I’ll ask them to adjust their turn as needed. For example, “will play Blessing of Achaekek on the next villain/henchman check”

Blessings deck: Turns will be tagged. See here for an example. The only real differences you’ll have is ship rules in Additional Rules instead of the MM rules, and the Ships list instead of Scourges. Everything else will be mostly the same.
- Random Cards and Blessings Deck are tagged so you can easily refer to individual cards in it.
- I’ll be putting spoilers for every card acquired in Acquired Cards so you can easily refer back to what those cards to.
- As you win access to Loot, those will go into Reference Cards. I’ll add in any Loot cards earned as part of AD1, for those who completed that.
- The Plunder spoiler will only contain a list of card types; no names or AD numbers. A spoiler tagged BR Only will appear inside which contains an encrypted mapping of the above to actual cards; please don’t try to decode that. You aren’t supposed to know what the exact plunder you have is anyway.

I am fine with the order posted by wkover/Radovan and the goblin ship.

Just as a reminder, I will be bringing Bekah as the bard for this adventure.

I am fine with the turn order posted by skover/Radovan.

I’m down with the turn order. I assume when a scenario ends with player N, we will start the next scenario with a layer N+1 as the first player.

Also note: I’m a boardgamer who had played roughly two or three hours of RPGs in my entire life, mostly because I find the required spontaneity and creativity to be taxing. I have yried to up my role-playing game to add PBP flavor, especially since Celeste is replete with possibilities, but if I am pressed for time ir energy, I will play it straight.

I am fine with the turn order.
I have 6 characters in PbF at the moment so my turns will be just mechanical, no flavor.
I agree with the points raised by elcoderdude.
I will record in notes cards that are available for other characters. If it is listed there, Go for it if you think it is an important check.

I'm in the short-but-sweet flavor category, but I do try to add flavor. :)

I’m down with the turn order. I assume when a scenario ends with player N, we will start the next scenario with a layer N+1 as the first player.

Also note: I’m a boardgamer who had played roughly two or three hours of RPGs in my entire life, mostly because I find the required spontaneity and creativity to be taxing. I have yried to up my role-playing game to add PBP flavor, especially since Celeste is replete with possibilities, but if I am pressed for time ir energy, I will play it straight.

Correct. I’ll keep the same overall turn order, but will vary starting player (turn 1) based on who took the final turn of the previous scenario so that nobody is skipped over.

As for RP, do what you’re comfortable doing. PbP is a great way to expand your horizons, but you shouldn’t ever feel pressured to add more RP to your post.

Hello! Welcome to Play By Post Gameday VII. As part of the festivities for this event, we have a few rewards you can win. After your table completes a scenario, win or lose, each participant (player and/or box runner) rolls 1d20. If your result is 1 or 20, you win. Select your reward from the list below and inform your Box Runner of your choice. We’ll make sure you get the reward sent to you.

Remember, Session 1 runs from August 13th, 2018-September 30, 2018. Your table must complete the scenario between those dates to roll for a reward. During Session II (October 1-November 12th) we’ll be running the multiple table interactive special Assault on Absalom.

Box Runners: If you have any questions about how to report, please contact me.

Have fun!

Gameday VII Adventure Card Game Rewards
Season of Tapestry’s Tides Reward #1
Unconventional Firepower: You may add one weapon that has the Firearm trait and one item that has the Ammunition trait from the Gunslinger Class Deck to your box. These cards must have an adventure deck number equal to or lower than your current tier. Each time you advance a tier, you may exchange one of these cards with another card of the same type from the Gunslinger Class Deck, following the same restrictions.

Season of Tapestry’s Tides Reward #2
Burgeoning Captain: At the beginning of a scenario that uses the Skull & Shackles Base Set, you may cross out this reward to gain the skill Survival: Wisdom +2 on your checks attempted while you are on a ship and on your checks attempted against a ship until the end of the scenario.

Season of Tapestry’s Tides Reward #3
Sea Legs: When you would fail a combat check against a bane that has the Aquatic trait, you may cross out this reward to reroll the dice and add 1d6; take the new result.

Since I forgot to put it in my initial scenario update, those who completed 0-1F (the 6th scenario in Season of the Shackles AD1) unlocked the loot Besmara's Tricorne and Vindictive Harpoon. If anyone wants to swap those out before they draw their starting hands, state such in the gameplay thread.

Hey, we've started. Cool. Good luck everyone. Especially with the con rewards. :)

Apologies to all, and thanks to wkover. I’ve bedn refreshing my main campaigns page, and have not seen any indicatir that a Gameplay post was posted, even thoughh I had already posted in that thread. I was sitting herr wondering why skizzerz had not kicked it off like he said he would.

I’ll post asap.

Reminder of my schedule this week - it’s 1130 pm here- I’m hitting the hay. I’ll be online in the wee hours of your morning.

Anyone have suggestions as to where I should Augury for what?

Anyone have suggestions as to where I should Augury for what?

We're already 4 cards into the docks. There are two monsters left: one regular and one henchman/villain. Augury Docks for monster?

I'll probably head to the House of Stolen Kisses next, since I have a card that I don't mind discarding (should I acquire an ally) and my closing check is good for Acro: 1d8+4 w/ Quang + Red Leathers.

Nevermind my Augury suggestion. Kasmir closed the docks. :P

@Balazar - Just noticed you didn't have the Padrig cohort in your starting hand. Might want to grab it, as it's one of the reasons why you're good. ;)

If you're not familiar with cohorts, to start the game, you draw up to your full hand size and then automatically add your cohort to your hand.

@wkover Thanks, yes I will re-post my hand now and take my turn!!!

Balthazar, you need to re-post.

So, additional tips:

1. PLEASE remind us at the TOP of your turn post WHERE your character is (I mean, which location). Please don't make us scroll around to figure out where you are exploring.

2. It's good to check in 30 min or so after you post your turn to learn if someone noticed you made some kind of correctable mistake or oversight. (Although here it was actually 1 hour.)

Celeste will head to the Seaside Warehouse and augury for monsters, then take up that post & hold it till the villain temp-close (I figure).

Sorry everybody, I will redo my turn in about 2 hours. That what I get for doing my turn at midnight after a long day.

Celeste did point out that treasure hunt is card number 1 at the Alehouse. If we encounter this card, there is a good chance the banner will be buried as it goes away when any character fails to defeat a bane.

Celeste did point out that treasure hunt is card number 1 at the Alehouse. If we encounter this card, there is a good chance the banner will be buried as it goes away when any character fails to defeat a bane.

Luckily, only one person has to encounter the card. It's optional for everyone else, I think. So someone with a good Int/Knowledge could take it down.