We're early enough in the campaign that, for the sake of ease (cuz this campaign could use a bit of help if we're gonna really get into the swing of things) I think we should just hand Surtur over to you, Drekisal, to do with as you will. If you want the leadership role, take it! You can RP the interplay between Surtur and Drek as you please.
Essentially, I wanted the single-player leader to streamline decision making and planning rather than waiting for group consensus. Having our leader drop out (for RL reasons which he explained to me via DM) is certainly less than convenient.
So, what say you? Feel like taking over another character and becoming the player leader?
Hmmmm... I'm thinking about it. :D I don't really think I have the mental bandwidth at present to manage two characters, though... it may take me a bit to decide.
We could just dump Surtur at basecamp and every time you decide something you just have to phrase it as "Surtur said" or something. And then we really don't have to bother with if it is actually true or not because it's all coming trough his trusty kobold oracle :D
I do think the easiest way to do this is to remove Surtur somehow. Perhaps he could suddenly fall ill? And tell Drekisal the Dragon chose him to lead should Surtur fall?
I am entirely comfortable with dropping Surtur and continuing with Drekisal as the leader as if it had always been that way. Retconjuration is a key tool in the GM's arsenal.
The new story would be: The Dragon put a loyal servant in charge with a knowledgable ex-local (Histrok) to advise you. Easy peasy.
That probably is the most expedient thing to do.
If we do that, we may still want someone else to be the party 'face', since a kobold in charge of a mercenary company might lead to questions we don't want people asking at present. Perhaps Histrok can act the leader in front of other groups, while Drekisal visibly leads only when we're not in front of others?
We're early enough in the story that none of the decisions made would need to be different so far, so that should work as far as I'm concerned. As long as Histrok believes that Drekisal would plan to build a kingdom that welcomed all who were willing to peacefully be a part of it, including, but not limited to, hobgoblins, Histrok would be a loyal advisor.
As far as how much Dreiksal hides his true leadership behind Histrok, I'll leave that up to him as Histork is comfortable making decisions on a small scale on they fly.
This will change what some of our encounters will look like down the road, but I'm cool with that.
Sounds like we have a plan, then.
Aight!
Fantastic! We'll run with that then.
I'm thinking that it might be worth setting up a google sheets spreadsheet to keep track of loot and such. Would that be something you guys are interested in as well : )?
That would be a good idea, yes.
My posting time was a bit squished this Easter. Though I'll make up for it by fixing that sheet tomorrow :-)
Another idea is to get a bunch of grunts with reach weapons and combat reflexes. But that's probably for the future still!
Link to loot-sheet! I'll go through it and see how much material we managed to scavenge from the mantids and add it there for now : )
Aight! Added the mantid bits. As you can see, most of them are "rotting bits" which only really lasts 2 days after harvest. I'm going to remove them in a week ooc or so, but I thought I might as well include them here if someone wanted to craft something!
Harvest Parts (Item Creation)
You can extract the choicest parts from a monster’s carcass to use as resources when crafting items.
"Prerequisite(s): Craft (any) 1 rank or Heal 1 rank.
Benefit(s): You can attempt a Craft or Heal check, as though making a trophy, to gain usable resources from a creature that has been dead for less than an hour. Only creatures with a CR of 1 or higher yield usable parts. The value of the parts you harvest is equal to the creature’s CR squared × 10 gp (increases to CR derived from class levels or templates do not contribute to this value). This value can be used only as raw materials for crafting alchemical, masterwork, mundane, or magic items. Items crafted using creature parts must be made of a suitable material—typically bone or hide, with metal only in extraordinary cases. No more than a quarter of a crafted item’s cost can be supplied with harvested parts. Harvested parts remain usable for 2 days before they rot (unless used to craft objects or somehow preserved). Creature parts that are harvested in this manner can’t be bought or sold in most settlements."
Re-posted the source-feat. Note the bolded bit; so we probably can't make use of all the rotting bits since we probably don't have enough regular bits.
Question @GM) Do you read that as "a quarter of the finished cost" aka "half the cost can be icky bits" or "a quarter of the crafting cost" aka "a quarter of the cost can be icky bits"?
Question @Team) Do you have any small objects you'd like to make during the two days after the first raid?
If so feel free to use up the rotting bits at whatever rate GM decides : ) Oh and don't forget the option to make cheap personal scrolls!
I'm thinking of looking up how much gold Jhaelwyn actually have left and make some Bear Traps or something if I can. Feels good to snare the mantids with their own claws :D
Oh and just to add to the barrage of posts - if there's some more loot I have missed feel free to add it. Ditto if there's something in the sheet you want to add! Or if there's something that isn't working do tell me : )
Cheers and happy easter! Even if you don't care, I hope you are somewhere where it at least earns you a day off ^^
Ah, excellent, thank you!
How much can we use to replenish our antivenom? Antivenom supplies are our most critical need at present.
I think the intact venom sacs are used for that, though I'm not sure if I've seen a specific ratio.
But the antivenom stash do sound like something we would want to keep in the sheet in the "party" slot just so we know how much we have.
I wrote up the checks needed to create more antivenom somewhere, I'll dig them up today.
As to your question, Jhaelwyn, I'd say it applies to the crafting cost.
I have been compiling and using a calendar to keep track of your actions, I'll clean it up and make that presentable to you guys as well.
Antivenom mechanics described in this post.
Sorry for the radio silence last week - was busy and needed brain rest during my short period of down time. I'll get us back underway soon.
Since we had a week let's say Jhaelwyn was busy making those venom sacks into antivenom at the speed of 1 per day.
Additionally since we haven't found a useful way to utilize the perishable mantid bits she'll happily throw a profession:chef roll into the mix and cook a "delicious" feast out of those :P
So that's 15 shiny new doses. I assumed that we have used that many to inoculate our soliders and ourselves in our previous battle - so we're back where we started. I'll keep better track of the doses used from now on.
On the bright side the mantid stew looks surprisingly edible ^^
Many thanks!
I suppose at this point I'm as much responsible for pusing things along as the GM, sorry I haven't touched it recently. I just forgot that I had an idea for moving the conversation along.
In the end, I'm responsible for the shape of the game - but I certainly wouldn't mind you shouldering some of that yourself. That was indeed part of the idea behind an official party leader.
I'll wait on Drek's call over "week rest vs day rest" before we go forward further. The only difference between the two as far as Drek knows is that Jhaelwyn has time to create more antivenom.
Just a day rest, sorry I didn't make that clear.
It was, I just thought Jhaelwyn's post may have changed your mind.
In the maps section of the dropbox, you'l find a new map containing Row and column numbering/lettering. Please use that to specify your destination. (I'll also be completing more of the grid numbering as time allows, but what is there should allow you to designate a hex you need fairly easily).
I'll just count those craft-rolls as her future projects then. Seems easier that way : )
Ummmm... where were the abandoned mines on the map again?
I think it's the one at JJ15 (look at the grid map). Might also be HH18 but that one is further away.
Yeah, JJ15 is the site of their first emergence.
Ah, okay, and I see the camp now, too. Amazing what actually zooming in can do. :D
Hmmm... there's a lot of infestation between us and the mines, right? Most of those hexes have mantids (as far as we know)? Hmmm... seems like a direct line from camp to JJ13 might work, taking us through the ruined village. We'll have to keep our eyes out along the way and think about trying to wipe out nests, but we're definitely going to need to get more men if we're going to fight through that much territory.
Should Gork not respond (I know our pace has not been encouraging, I hope I didn't lose too many of you), I always leave it up to Drekisal to make decisions for the party! :D
Yeah, had f2f gameday today and a long weekend with family parties and stuff going....
Monday is probably the earliest time for me to post.
If you want to proceed fast, just go along with the wall-scraping, dismounted Gork ;-)
I was mostly leaving it open to see whether or not Gork wanted to try squeezing. Sounds like he does, so we can go ahead with him following along with the party.
So I believe we're pressing on into the mine right now. Need any decisions from me at present?
Nothing! I tried to get to it over the day, but work has gotten busier. I'll get a post up tomorrow.
I'm slowly catching up on life from being sick earlier in the week. I will be posting before the end of the day come hell or high water.
So they don't like cold huh?
I wonder how we can use this to our advantage - except obviously being more brazen at winter time.
Maybe if we could get the Dragon to tickle a volcano or two to cause a volcanic winter?
If we knew of it before hand we could stockpile food as well which would no doubt be valuable then!
Just learning more cold spells would be a start. :D It does suggest that attacking their nests during winter would be an effective way of wiping them out, though possibly dangerous if they're active enough to defend themselves in great numbers.
I will also point out (because my calendar doc seems borked at the moment) that the onset of winter is about half a year away, in case that time span matters to you.
Allllright. I have power and internet again! Storms over the weekend knocked my area out for almost five days. Also, I found out the forums don't seem to like my phone - (or vice versa).
Anyway, new post up later today.
Huzzah!
We seem to be down to two active players (for which I thank you guys) and so it has become time to ask: Are you interested in continuing with what we've got left and possibly recruit more down the road, or mark this one down as 'failure to launch'?
I know of course that I have a hand in this, as I ended up significantly busier over the last few months than I'd expected, but the fact remains that we've lost most of our players. Still, my promise remains - so long as players wish to continue, I'm in for the long haul.
Hmm. I'm not sure... (In fact another game I'm in just opened the very same discussion!)
From personal experience I know that it is possible to run a game very slowly. But that has also meant that it's so much harder to pay attention which is such a shame.
I think I'm going to sleep a little on my thoughts and see if I can make up my mind.
I'd be okay with ending it. I haven't really felt like Drekisal has 'clicked' for me, and I'm trying to devote more time and energy to writing a short story and gearing up for a novel now, so conserving a bit more of my creative writing 'juices' for that would be welcome.
Sorry for a rather prolonged silence.
Work is keep kicking by back recently and I am somewhat out of Gork's depth during checking things out.
He is good in combat and okay-ish in talking with people (as long as they are not to frightened to talk back) but exploring & knowledge ... are not his thing to put it lightly.
I probably should just do Ogre-things while you guys are activly exploring to show that Gork is still there... sorry about that.
As for continuing: I am good either way.
I can live with a slow game, but it is of course challegning to get 'into mood' if the breaks are getting too long.
No worries, Gork. Work is also the reason the pace has been slow - and while I'll hope to speed things up a bit, my schedule will remain packed until at least October.
Furthermore if Drek - the now official leader of the group - isn't feeling it, that doesn't bode well.
If we lay this one to rest, there is a good chance I will circle back and attempt it again perhaps with some additional steps to make sure the launch period goes well (I'd love to hear any suggestions from you on that score!). I still think the overall concept is sound, and my execution this time was lacking.
I'll wait to hear from Jhaelwyn.
Yeah, sorry, I like the *idea* of Drekisal, but for some reason I'm just not really getting into him.
Hmm. I like my character but I'm not sure she is the right one to pull this one forward.
I *think*, bit sad as it seems, our best approach would be to put the game on ice and see if we want to pick it up come October (or whenever time allows again). Then we can fuzz a little with things, adjust the composition a little and maybe grab a few more people.
Thoughts?