Goblins Wreck Kingmaker (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

As mentioned in the interest thread, I'm currently running a Reign of Winter campaign that's been going for about five years. Despite some player attrition, it's survived two moves, a job change, illness, and more. I've found that one post per day works best for me - especially as I'm generally unable to post from work. When my games slow down, I tend to wait a few days, then post in Discussion to check in. I also PM players who go inactive to make sure that they're okay. Sometimes life happens, after all.

Other game-related stuff: I'm not particularly verbose, so if you're looking for thousand-word essays about crinkling grass and falling leaves, this isn't the game for you. On the other hand, is your approach to NPC interactions is "I roll Diplomacy. 23", you won't be a good fit, either. As mentioned above, I'm quite knowledgeable about Pathfinder RAW, but I'm also a big fan of 'Rule of Cool.' If you want to do something that's not exactly in the rules, we can probably work something out. That's about it for me right now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm looking forward to gaming with you. XD

Inter party conflict can be difficult to resolve, most of my characters are more laid back and willing to go with the general theme. I'm not usually one to create a lot of conflict within a party. If I disagree with another character it can usually be resolved. If its a disagreement with another player is when I hope we can both be adults and work through the issues together in the Discussion chat.

I've played a fair bit of PbP and I'd like to think I'm a pretty decent role-player. I usually GM'd but since I'm only now returning from a 5 month hiatus I wanted to get back into the flow of things with playing in a PbP before starting up GMing again. I am not the verbose fella but I won't bore you with my posts either.

I also totally understand if you don't pick me. Being the Army can make things a bit difficult. Its honestly why I'm super hesitant to get back into things but I want to try. I wouldn't be submitting my name in this if I didn't think I could maintain the commitment. As long as you don't require like 5 posts a day I should be good :)

I know some/bits of 3pp but really not that much. Its been a while since I used 3pp material or needed too. I've never really been against it, I know tons of great 3pp writers but I've just never had a player try to use 3pp materials.

As to my style I enjoy in-depth roleplay but I am not the kind of guy to write a 1000 word description about the scene or a 500 word monologue, but I do love getting into some player roleplay. In fact, that is how I met my current VTT GM and a fellow VTT player that I have been playing with for several years now. I do also enjoy rollplay, but completely understand the difficulties inherent with PbP games. I've been playing PbP games on and off for the last 3-4 years. I've DMed a number of successful modules, and tried running some AP's that have collapsed from player attrition and major life changes (2 kids, moving, changing jobs, bla bla). I'm at the beginning of running a Hell's Rebel AP as we speak, that I am thoroughly enjoying. I work in IT in the local school district so I have a decent amount of flexibility, since I am often in front of a computer, to post. As such, I can often get in a few posts a day, weekends can be more difficult for me. On the conflict front, I'm a pretty laid back dude, so I try to resolve conflict quick so we can move on to the good stuff.

As to the game, I have a couple ideas for goblins, but I also wouldn't mind a Sootscale Kobold emissary to add to the party. To note, my current VTT game that I play in is actually Kingmaker, though we are still at the early stages of book 1.

I feel that I have a fairly good grasp on the Pathfinder system, I've been playing in the PbP arena for about three years (I'm a part of a Vampire the Masquerade campaign for just as long on paizo.) but have been playing in person for about five or six so Pathfinder was fairly new when it came out. I'm not the biggest on 3pp simply because I have seen a lot of it out there that are broken or unbalanced IMO and that's mostly because that's what I've seen people try to slide under the radar. But, I have seen some that are actually pretty fun sounding and fairly balanced so as long as the GM understands the system well enough to keep things in check a bit, we're good to go.

I enjoy a good mix of Roleplay with Rollplay. I don't like seeing someone just roll a dice and that's all but at the same time, I hate when someone attempts to simply just take over a situation with pure roleplay and can't back it up remotely mechanically. If you talk and are trying to influence the gameplay, I assume there is a roll involved. I do enjoy when a GM gives bonuses for good Roleplay to help your Rollplay. I enjoy a bit of inter-party conflict but I try to never bring it to blows. I've had it happen in the past and once another player is attacked, honestly one of the two should just bow out because bad blood will always exist. My thoughts mostly are to argue in character, and talk it out outside of character. If the majority agrees it should go one way...then the group should roleplay it out and concede.

I don't know if there is honestly a campaign I'm particularly proud of, most of the ones I've enjoyed the most have died but I am fairly fluent? in PbP. Obviously you could read some from the VtM campaign this character is from. I play a Malkavian in the Dark Ages with some homage to Jack the Ripper. I prefer once a day and once in a weekend if possible. Typically I try to talk to the GM or players to see if there is anything we can do to get back on track with our posting frequency and ask people to do the same to me if they see me slacking. I have had a bad week or two in the past due to chronic pain and crippling depression getting the better of me but I still try to escape via video games and tabletop.

Honestly I'm unsure if there is really anything further to add? I guess, I feel confident enough recently to start GMing myself on the boards as I feel I should be giving back to the community that helps with my sanity. If there is anything you wish to know, I'm pretty open about most everything. OH, I suppose a better interesting fact is I have a Great Dane as a Service Dog to help me get around and help deal with my mental issues.

- How experienced are you with Pathfinder? How about 3pp? What's your ideal roleplay/rollplay balance? How do you handle inter-party conflict?
I've been playing PBP on the site for three years or so, and that's the whole of my Pathfinder experience, I've never actually played on a physical tabletop (I don't know of a group within ~30 miles or so of me or I'd rectify that). I think I've come to understand the system pretty well, but I've yet to try something more advanced like GMing or writing some sort of guide. I just play. I like a lot of stuff in 3pp (Dreamscarred Psionics is a particular favorite), but tend to be a little wary of stuff I'm not familiar with, since I know the balancing philosophies of outside companies aren't necessarily the same as Paizo's. I like a good mix of roleplay and rollplay. I'm not a novelist (though I'd love to be able to write like that) but I do try to include at least a sentence or two of description for what I'm doing. I don't like an entire post to be naked dice rolls. I've been fortunate not to deal with too much interparty conflict that couldn't be resolved in the discussion thread. The GM would of course be the final arbiter, but I'd like to think players could reason together and come to a peaceful solution without the GM having to put a foot down.

- How familiar are you with the PbP format? If so, is there a particular campaign you're particularly proud of? What's your preferred posting frequency? What do you do if things appear to be slowing down or fall silent?
All of my Pathfinder experience is PBP on this site, and I've played in similar internet forums in some other games as well (living in a pretty rural area, PBP is the only good option I have, honestly). I'm in an Iron Gods campaign that's nearing the end of Book 2, and a Giantslayer game that's just finished book 1 and has really been a lot of fun. Those are probably my longest-running games. There's also a Wrath of the Righteous game I'm in that I've really enjoyed, though it's been a bit slower-going (we lost our initial GM, and the second has had a busy work schedule lately, but we're still kicking).

- Is there anything else you'd like me to know?
I am interested in how you want to pick stats. I tend to lean toward rolled stats as a personal preference, but I play a lot of point buy too. Will you be allowing drawbacks for a third trait? As or me, I tend to lean toward more combat- or skill-focused characters. I love a good gish, but I don't play many full casters, and tend to prefer spontaneous over prepared casting (the sheer volume of spell choices is still a bit daunting). Among prepared casters I do have a soft spot for Druids and Magi, but I tend to focus more on the combat side for both.

- Who are you? Where are you located (aka your time zone)? What's an interesting fact about yourself?

My name's Jasper. I live in Northern California. Way north. Up by the Oregon border. I have to drive 6 hours south to get to San Francisco.

Once upon a time in my misspent youth I used to train big cats for a living. At this place. Lions are dumb and ornery. Tigers are smart and friendly. Leopards are smart and ornery. Jaguars are dumb and friendly. Cougers and Cheetahs are so nice that they would make surprisingly good pets if not for the fact that they would trash your house.

As far as interesting facts go, I feel like that's a pretty good one. :)

- How experienced are you with Pathfinder? How about 3pp? What's your ideal roleplay/rollplay balance? How do you handle inter-party conflict?

I've been playing Pathfinder since the original Beta test. My name is in the playtest credits somewhere. I usually stick to the official Paizo rules, but I'm generally fine with 3rd part additions. There's a lot of good stuff out there. In particular, I'm a big fan of the Elephant in the Room Feat Tax fixes and the Spheres systems.

The story is the most important thing, and our descriptions are how we push it along. I am a big fan of roleplay heavy games, but I also enjoy the mechanics and use them as much as possible to support and inform my character's actions. I feel the relationship between roleplay and mechanics should be symbiotic. If I had to describe my ideal, I'd say 60% roleplay, 40% mechanics. In my opinion, the system should support the story, not be a substitute for it.

The question of inter-party conflict is a tricky one. In-game, I think inter party conflict is fine as long as everyone is into it. It's important to check in out of game when characters find themselves at odds.

There's a pretty big caveat to that though. I think the excuse of "that's what my character would do" is often overused as an excuse for players to be jerks in game. That's a pet peeve of mine. Players control the characters, not the other way around, so if someone's character is being a jerk and making the game less fun for others, it is up to the player to address their character's behavior. Finding a way to have a jerk character have a change of heart can be a powerful moment if the player is mature enough to handle being called out for their character's jerk-ness.

Out of game conflict is a whole different story. My rules are-
1) Check yourself. If I'm the one unhappy, I try to make sure my unhappiness is warranted.
2) Speak up, not out. Asking other players if they see the same issues I do is a good way to kick off a healthy discussion.
3) Ask for help. Sometimes a problem can be resolved just by asking the other players to help me solve it. It's a communal game, so solutions should be communal too.
4) Don't be afraid to walk. Sometimes playstyles just don't mix, and that's ok. If everyone else is having fun, and I'm not, it's ok for me to say so and exit the game. Luckily this rarely happens. I've been in over a hundred games on these boards, and I've only left games because of conflicts twice.

In a game like this one, where we are all playing little psychos I expect some conflict. My hope is that it stays in-game in the realm of fun.

- How familiar are you with the PbP format? If so, is there a particular campaign you're particularly proud of? What's your preferred posting frequency? What do you do if things appear to be slowing down or fall silent?

I wrote the book. (shameless self-promotion, I know. This is a competition though, so I figure I'd better use any leverage I can)

There's quite a few games I'm proud of. You could go to my campaigns tab and pick just about any of them at random, and the story would be fun to read. If you're looking for a particular highlight, here's a good one. The relevant backstory is that the party is trying to teach an Ogrekin Antipaladin the ins and outs of human civilization so that they can infiltrate a fortress, with the magically disguised Ogre impersonating a famous knight named Sir Balin. To start with, they decide to teach him to read. Grumblejack the ogre, and his daemon servant Raaven are both played by me. The scene goes on until about the end of the linked page.

As for frequency, I'm good to post pretty much every day. Sometimes weekends are a little hard, but I try to give notice when I'm going to be short on posting time. I make up for it by being able to post multiple times a day most days.

- Is there anything else you'd like me to know?

I pride myself on my reliability. Too many games die of attrition and players dropping out without warning. You won't have to worry about any of that from me. I'm, in for the long haul every time.

Also, I love goblins.

Second one was if Spheres of Power were used then to make use of the Alteration Sphere and the Transformation feat to make a really messed up and mutated gobbo :,(
He REALLY dipped his finger in the Mutagen jar!
Alternatively, it could also be made using an Aberrant Aegis if Psionics are allowed.

Last one, Goblins have some neat abilities like the Over-Sized Ears Alternate Racial Trait and the Big Ears trait that can make them freakishly good at perception and so I have always wanted to create some sort of super perceptive, Wis based Gobbo since forever XD Edit: I has a brain fart. Also had an idea for a blind martial artist from before... so... combine.... them? BLIND GOBLIN FACEPUNCHER!!! XD

I'm a 37-years old video game developer living in the Netherlands (CET zone). I love games, cats, books, travel, ice cream and purple. I recently started advocating for accessibility at my studio and got two pet rats (these things are not related). I've been playing ttRPGs since D&D 2nd edition.

- How experienced are you with Pathfinder? How about 3pp? What's your ideal roleplay/rollplay balance? How do you handle inter-party conflict?

I'm ok with Pathfinder, I have a good grasp of the basics but I'm not a fan of crunching super-optimal builds - I just go with what makes sense for my character concept. Since most GMs don't allow 3pp, I'm not very familiar with that, except with bits that would have been fun for one character concept or other (but didn't get to use because of GM ruling). I ran a Pathfinder campaign IRL for 1.5 years pretty successfully, if that gives you a better idea of my familiarity with the rules.

In terms of roleplay/rollplay, my ideal balance is about 60%/40%. I enjoy roleplay between PCs and the opportunity for my characters to influence the story. For intra-party conflict, as long as it is an IC conflict, I have no problems with it. In another game I play my character is a dhampir, and another PC hates them. The other player contacted me in a PM and we hashed out how this conflict would play out, without things escalating into inter-player conflict or hurting the cohesion of the party. Overall, I'm a team player (and a manager IRL, so I know a bit about conflict resolution), so you can expect me to approach these things constructively and with a level head.

- How familiar are you with the PbP format? If so, is there a particular campaign you're particularly proud of? What's your preferred posting frequency? What do you do if things appear to be slowing down or fall silent?

I've been using PbP since 2007, here and on other boards. I can post about once a day, with occasional exceptions when work may become very busy, or I am travelling. If things slow down, I do my best to nudge them through my character's actions, providing hooks for others to respond to. I managed to successfully revive a campaign that was very dear to me (Curse of the Crimson Throne) when the GM had to bow out, by advertising for a new GM and reaching out to the players (most of whom returned). Incidentally, that campaign is also the one I am most proud of, and I'm also greatly enjoying my current Discord-based campaign, where I play a quirky and lovable ratfolk alchemist who specializes in exploding cookies.

- Is there anything else you'd like me to know?

I'm learning ASL. =^.^=

I've been playing PF since the playtest, and I've been playing on the forums for a very long time, also. In terms of "best" campaign, that would likely be the Age of Worms w/ GM Blood, where we made it to 10th before he didn't have the time to run it anymore -- but in terms of relevant experience to this little enterprise, there's also "We Be Goblins" which turned into a campaign itself, where the great goblin hero Velag Wordeater and a bunch of other less-famous and less-important goblins saved their tribe, some lizardfolk, and generally had fun at the expense of those around them -- Velag was 8th level when that stopped -- just as we were starting to look at doing some Planar travel.

I prefer games that go with posting once a day on the weekdays -- I find it keeps the pace going at a reasonable clip (allowing for exceptions, of course). I also tend to fall on the roleplay side -- but that said, I also think it's worth noting that sinking points into Charisma and social skills costs the same as other attributes/skills -- which is to say, I think the rolls need to matter and be backed up by the appropriate stats -- so that when wordy, fun player gives an inspiring speech at the table -- it gets filtered through his character's 5 Cha and no diplomacy -- so he may thinks he sounded great, but what others heard....

In terms of conflict, it depends -- character conflict can be a lot of fun, given the personalities (some of the best parties I was in had at least a few characters that didn't like each other -- sometimes, they'd also usually defend each other to the death -- "What the heck? You were just insulting the elf?" "Maybe, but he's still our elf.", and sometimes, they'd help much more grudgingly -- but it can be a nice bit of spice (in the right measure). That said, too much can wreck a party -- if everyone's at each other's throats things don't progress... and it takes experienced players to remember character conflict isn't player conflict (that last thing is deadly to a campaign). That said, I prefer to play in groups that set up expectations, so that if conflict becomes a problem, there's a "right way" to deal with it (generally, start with private conversation with other player, then loop in GM if needed -- and only after that, do you start a real OOC discussion with everyone about it.)

I tend to, when things fall silent, make some gentle prods, both in the iC and OOC forum -- I support botting people who fall silent during combat and skipping over them in other circumstances (ie. important discussion) -- and replacing people who fall away completely, as needed. Basically, trying to strike a balance between keeping things flowing and making allowances for real life (so I'm not going to suggest we kick someone out if they missed a week because their dad was in the hospital, for instance -- heck, I'd be out of all of my games if that were true)

In terms of 3pp, I admit, I know very little -- I kicked the tires on the psionic stuff before Paizo released Occult, found it to be not bad -- but generally, I've preferred to remain within the massive and huge amount of stuff that Paizo's published themselves.

In terms of anything else - let's see, I'm an experienced GM (but not on the forums, and not recently [see "10 month old daughter"]...

I am rather experienced with Pathfinder, and it is by far my favorite system, though playing f2f has limited any exposure to 3pp. I've also GMed a few games, and am planning to start up a game here on the boards in a few days.

Rolling dice is the reason I first got hooked on Pathfinder as a kid, since I love to roll dice and see a story form without anyone's control. My playstyle now tends to lean much more toward roleplaying, though, and my old min/max builds have moved out for flavor-filled builds that lend to rp more than combat/rolling in general.

I am willing to have inter-party conflict between characters as long as all of the players and GM are okay and accepting of it. I have enough experience to roleplay out of such situations should someone not be comfortable with the situation, as well as finding ways to stay with a party without meta-gaming the reason away.

As for pbp, this is my second attempt to get on the boards. Two years ago, I began to try pbp. I had been told about it by my old group as I moved out on my own for a job. One accident later, I was back at my parents recuperating. On the upside, I got to rejoin my f2f games with my old group. I just recently moved once more for my new job, so I'm once again trying pbp to fill the Pathfinder sized hole that leaving my group again has caused. As for typing, I took a few 'proper' classes in school, but my main experience comes from writing short stories for my siblings. I haven't done that in a while, so I might be a little rusty until I get back in the groove. If things should slow down, though, I think a simple post in the discussion tab reminding players of who's turn it is helps in combat. Otherwise, taking the initiative to act in the gameplay when outside of combat usually helps push things along. With goblins, that should be rather simple.

I'm an overnighter, so my posts can vary depending on when I sleep. However, I'm also able to check the forums multiple times a day, and I have a bluetooth keyboard for my phone, so I can even post when away from home. I also enjoy goblins because of their randomness and the many quirks Pathfinder has given the creatures. I also feel confident in nudging a goblin group along the intended through 'roleplay', though most likely not for the reasons expected, as I did this for my other 'all-goblin' games I've played. Kind of like how the Minions ended up as rulers of England while 'trying to find a boss'.

I have been roleplaying since 1979, beginning with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and have been roleplaying and GMing on and off since and have tried about a million different RPGs. I would describe myself as having mid-level Pathfinder experience. I have played it for about 5 years, but have always played other RPGs as well, and run one Pathfinder campaign. I know the system but am not at all like those veteran Pathfinder players who know the rules by heart. I don't have a strong view on 3pp. I have made almost no use of 3pp myself as there are at least enough Paizo rules for me.

I think roleplaying, thinking and planning is the heart of a RPG. Combat and rules systems certainly have their place and the life or death nature of combat can add excitement. But I am bored by and won't play in campaigns that just revolve around killing things and taking their treasure. I think that PbP is better suited to story and roleplaying style campaigns. Combats take so long to resolve that you don't want too many of them.

Inter-party conflict is something I have fairly strong views about. Serious inter-party conflict, where PCs are trying to kill each other, usually results in the campaign ending or some players leaving it. Lesser conflicts, where PCs have different agendas can be OK or it can degenerate into serious conflict. RPGs work best when the players are a team and I tend to be a team player.

I have one eccentricity as a roleplayer in that I am a male who tends to play female characters. Often when males play female characters they are jokes of some kind or act like women in porn movies. My characters are not like that at all and I try to develop characters with some depth.

I have played in eight PbP campaigns over the last two years, all Pathfinder, but have minimal PbP GM experience. I prefer PbP campaigns which are relatively fast moving and players generally post once a day or more. This is what I normally do myself, I typically check my campaigns two or more times a day. However, I do have a life and can't get online every day.

"What do I do if things appear to be slowing down or fall silent?" Previously, I have either just waited or tried to move things along myself. I am not that experienced in PbP and there is probably a better response. Things slowing down or, worse, falling silent usually means the campaign is about to die.

I read what the GM wrote about Goblins spreading chaos and burning lots of things. The character I would play would probably not be a typical Goblin. My characters tend to be spell casters and they would have plans and an agenda. However, their plans are probably not as brilliant as my character would like to think and I may end up burning things and exterminating dogs like the rest of the Goblin race.

I’m fairly good with Pathfinder, I’ve been playing for almost 6 years now. 3rd party I’m not super good with, I’ve got a decent amount of experience with DSP’s psionics (but then again, who doesn’t?) but that’s really about it. I’m a pretty quick learner though, so I can probably figure out Spheres easily enough once I actually sit down and read it. I enjoy roleplaying, although the nature of PbP forums sometimes makes that a little difficult-there’ve definitely been times in the past where I would write a longish post, only to hit ‘preview’ and see that someone else posted and kind of undercut what I was about to say. But that isn’t to say that it can’t be done, some of my favorite roleplaying moments have been on the forums here. I love rolling dice, I love making a character who’s fun to play and play with. I think my opinion on interparty conflict kind of matches up with everyone else’s here-as long as the people playing the characters are cool and it doesn’t lead to the game going off of a cliff, go for it.

I’ve got a decent amount of experience doing PbP, and I try to keep up with my campaigns as much as possible, which can sometimes be a little rough when life gets in the way. I really try and aim for at least a post a day, either in gameplay or discussion, even though I’ll admit that sometimes I fall behind if I’m using solely my phone for a few days and it doesn’t show that my campaigns updated. It’s something that I’m really trying to work on, though. I’m currently in two campaigns, a Strange Aeons one and a more freeform one about setting up a trading post on the Sellen River. They’re fantastic, but I gotta say-I’ve been itching to play another Goblin campaign. There’s something about all-Goblin campaigns that turn the shenanigans up to 11. I love those little pyromaniacs. If a game is slowing down, I generally try to just make sure that people know that I haven’t abandoned the game in the Discussion section-I know I hate when I see the notification that there’s a new gameplay post, only to see that it’s Bobby posting again and not the GM (or whoever was supposed to be up in initiative...that happens a lot in my games, it seems).

I think that’s really it, I’m honestly pretty flexible with what I build. I gravitate towards Alchemists (my all-time favorite character was a Monkey Goblin Alchemist (Vivisectionist/Beastmorph/Dimensional Excavator) who would rip people apart with his bare hands. He was fun.) but I think this time I’d probably play a more traditional spellcaster if I had the choice-maybe a Witch, or whatever the equivalent in Spheres is. I’m cool with filling pretty much any party role though. Thanks a lot! Any other questions, just let me know.

Yea, service dogs are amazing but I do recommend to anyone who isn't up to being stopped doing just simple chores or who have social anxiety to not use a service dog. I wouldn't trade my pup for the world, because she truly has helped immensely to deal with my leg issues as well as some of my mental issues.

But I will admit that public drives me insane some days. I'm asked at least five times an outing, if they can pet her and most continue on to ask a lot of personal questions like why I have her and such. And if it's a reasonable day I can handle the invasion of my privacy...if I'm have a normal or bad day though, I'm typically rather rudely and curtly telling them to leave me alone ^_^.

It's an unfortunate thing but you really should have no issues with confrontations if you have a SD. Which is sad because so many people use them for anxiety and people ignore all the signs you may have on your dog or you and still bug you.

If you or your wife ever have questions I am happy to talk (I'm good when it comes to texting and such). Me and my wife both are a part of service dog groups and even a Veteran's organization that gets veterans service dogs.

Champions of the Spheres – Prodigy, Troubadour
Interjection Games – Assassin, Breakdancer, Herbalist, Primordial Dancer, Scion of Discordia
Legendary Games – Legendary Rogue
Rite Publishing – Luckbringer, Masquerade Reveler
Spheres of Might – Armiger, Conscript, Striker
Spheres of Power – Elementalist, Fey Adept, Hedgewitch, Incanter, Shifter, Soul Weaver, Thaumaturge