This is the discussion thread for the Hell or High Water, a skull and Shackles Campaign. The crew, as it stands, is as follows:
Sabina - Ranger
Nicodemus-Magus
Feliz Tahrhal –Fighter
Elthas - wizard
Gan Laccaran – Gunslinger
Welcome aboard ye scurvy lot! Please check in indicating you made your way here.
I hope you have fun and I'll do my best to give you a consistent and fun game.
Questions are welcome at this time as well as discussion. Please take note that I will add relevant information about the campaign to the campaign information page as we progress.
Awesome! I finally get to use a gunslinger! Thanks so much for this opportunity.
My pleasure, Gan about your monkey, I don't think I answered that question.
I'm okay with it hanging around for now, and your character interacting with it however I won't allow it to perform any actions or give you any benefit's until it's actually companion.
Does that sound okay to you?
Alright, it seems like an important plan is going to be to make sure none of us get hit too hard until we can get some potions or a wand for Sabina to bring us back up to health after a fight.
Seems we have a really good group though and I think this will be a lot of fun. I look forward to setting sail with you all!
Also, DM, I have heard from a few people that we start with no gear, should I sweep that out of my character sheet and just put it in a separate spoiler in the profile so you can see what I did have?
Sabinae checking in. I am all good to go. Is there anything you would like me to do for the character before we start?
Awesome, looking forward to this. Thanks for the invite :D
Okay just some house keeping before we start.
One thing that I find helpful and very useful is if you guys put some basic information in your classes/levels section in your characters profile. I personally use this format below in the spoiler but if you like to do it another way that's fine as well. (i'll put it in my profile so you can see how it looks on the board)
Bard 1, HP 9/9, NLHP 0/9, AC 12, Touch 12, Flat 12, F +1, R +4, W +2 Init +2, Perc +4
GEAR
As to gear, the rumours are true, you will not have your gear when you wake up.
This may be a problem for characters who require spell books or spell component pouches.
There will be opportunities to get this stuff back, which is part of the fun, but to start with a key thing to remember is that your AC, if you had armour, will be reduced, so if you can take that into account for me ahead of time and temporarily remove your armour bonus from your AC that would make my life a great deal easier.
Some of you may have been able to hold on to some items, some of you may be able to roll a check to see if you had stashed an item on your person which wasn't found but we'll get into that in the gameplay
ABOUT THE GAME
One hugely important thing to know about this AP is that to begin with you are on a ship, and the story will progress day to day with a limited amount of actions that you can perform. This functions in some way to prevent certain characters from trying to explore the entire ship and talk to every NPC in one day and aims to reflect the challenges of being stuck aboard a vessel under the command of pirates.
What that also means is that if I post that you may perform your daily actions, but you leave it and don't post for a long time, it has the potential to hold up the adventure because I will want to give each player the opportunity to perform their day to day actions.
However that being said, I will be lenient with those who can't post as frequently, and I will be very lenient if you let me know you will be unable to post for a few days, we all have things to do and places to be...I may be out of internet reach for two days this coming weekend myself...
But if you don't post for a few days and we don't have any word from you I will simply move the story ahead and make the assumption your character simply worked hard at their job on the ship chatted with friends and then went to bed.
This will be different than if the group is in combat or in a situation of course.
One last thing, this AP is different, it may be challenging to find your character limited in where and what they can do to start with or who they can fight and kill, but freedom is earned by the PC's eventually. So what I would like to encourage you to do is build relationships, with each other's characters and the crew of the ship, gather information, find ways to get your gear and learn as much as you can about the life of a pirate. That doesn't mean you can't get in some scraps and fights along the way of course ;)
IN CONCLUSION
My overly ambitious desire is to take you all through this AP to the very end no matter how long it takes so you can enjoy this unique AP and have a ton of fun building a crew, capturing merchant ships, look for lost treasure and engage in naval combat. If that's something you are excited to try welcome aboard :)
Questions are welcome and encouraged, and because I know that some of you also GM PBP games on these boards I am also open to learning from your suggestions and advice so I can become a better GM.
Just to point out, the Monkey is a pet that cost me three gold to buy. If you want I can have it start knowing 0 tricks but I will train it to do things. Unless you let it start with it's six tricks. Either way is fine.
I'd like it to start off already knowing tricks but if that isn't what you want that's fine. Just pointing that out.
Anyways, judging by your response I will assume for now the monkey isn't trained yet but I will make an effort in game to train my monkey to do simple things.
Namely the following: Come, Heel, Perform, Fetch, Seek, and stay.
It's okay, I am sure it will be fun. Can't wait to start.
Do we start with clothes?
Actually Gan I'm okay with your monkey knowing performance as a generla purpose at the start of the campaign.
Performance (DC 15): An animal trained for performance knows the tricks come, fetch, heel, perform, and stay. Training an animal for performance takes 5 weeks.
Thanks for that. Got worried I might have come of as snide but cool.
Got the stuff done for my profile and ready to go.
By the way, I think we should start naked. More fun that way :)
Poor Elthas is going to be crying without his gear, missing his spellbook, spell component pouch and bonded staff at once! Definitely an interesting challenge that will be fun to play out.
I have updated my profile to reflect your request, to add the spells in my spellbook since I realized the herolab output I chose didn't have that, as well as to empty out my gear and move what I had to a separate spoiler.
I did have a couple questions for you though actually if you don't mind, neither of which is terribly important. I was curious what you were thinking to do for combat? It seems most DMs have their own style and system, are you just looking to use photobucket, something like googledocs where you can share spreadsheets as battlemats, or an online tabletop we could all see like roll20?
For my other question, it is totally unimportant and mostly silly, but for when we do manage to get our equipment back, because scrolls are going to play a big role for my character do you have any problem with me keeping one in a wrist sheath? Since they aren't technically weapons I totally get if you rule against that.
Edit: And I just looked at my prepped spells. Naturally I have 3 1st level spells in my book which don't require components and none of them are the spells prepped.
By the way, I think we should start naked. More fun that way :)
Says Mr. 14 Charisma!
You know it ;)
If it's reasonable to assume that the item was concealed when you were in the bar than you can make a sleight of hand check which will be opposed to the pirates perception.
The problem is this isn't their first time "recruiting" so they arn't to keen on missing certain things, while other things they may just over look and not care about.
For combat what I've found that works is using flickr, I have an art tablet and so I just use a photoshop program to make maps and move character tokens about. I currently use the maps from the AP itself, but I'm not sure if that is legal. However I did purchase the product so I don't think its a huge deal and I'm not selling it. If anyone knows let me know.
For fast and lose combats I may not bother but for important combats I'll do my best to use a map and link it each turn directly into the post.
Oh and initiative, I tend to just roll initiative myself for all characters, this seems to save time. Unless someone has a huge problem with this it's the way I would like to proceed for most combats. especially the big ones.
I'll be posting the first Gameplay post soon.
Okay first post is up, go ahead and dive in.
We are still waiting on Feliz to check in but we'll get started any way.
Would I be allowed to hide my gunsmithing kit by chance? 2lbs so I thought it wouldn't be too unreasonable?
If anyone feels like they have an item that was hidden in the bar and easily concealable let me know and roll a sleight of hand check for that item in this thread.
No to the gunsmithing kit. Nothing other than a small items.
You have one knife still in your boot.
Nah, unless they don't think to check for wrist sheaths I wouldn't have anything too purposefully hidden. I'm not that sneaky.
Also, just to make life easier, the gameplay thread is Linkified.
Okies. But I didn't put a point in slight of hand anyways. Guess Gan's wearin his birthday suit :p. But hey. I love a challenge.
lucky for you Gan the pirates didn't want your clothes and they left you in them.
A challenge? Don't worry, Gan, you are going to look like a superhero to me. Right now the only spell I -can- cast is detect magic, and because I don't have my arcane bond with me I have to roll a 15 on a concentration check for that!
Oh, but I'll pick up an oar and someone is getting hand of the apprenticed!
The pirates must have insecurities. Well time for Gan to get over to the game and meet his new employers
Okay well I am off to bed for the night which should give everyone a chance to post their turn. I'll try and post again tomorrow morning but my mornings are early and very busy, however I should be able to post anyway. I will then post again after work around supper or a little after.
My goal is to be able to post twice a day, once minimum, and just so everyone knows I am on Pacific time.
glad to have you all on board and have fun.
Before I post in the gameplay thread I wanted to inform you of a small change. I took the darkvision alternate race trait as it would make more sense since she explores underwater a lot and there wouldn't be a lot of light. She has light sensitivity as well.
Sabina - that's fine.
Felix - can you choose an avatar picture for your character. It's easier to see your posts.
Felix, you can't change your name after 10 posts, but you can change your avatar picture at any time.
To do this, click 'My Account' at the top of the page, scroll down to the list of alias names and hit the edit button next to Felix Tahrhal. Change avatar should be near the top of the options.
Okay, I realize I made a mistake and didn't include anyone in your party who can lend any meaningful heals support. This was my mistake and I apologies. I do have a person who will play an oracle and if you are willing I would like to include him as the sixth player.
Unless you as a group feel that this would be too many people or you want the challenge of playing through without a divine caster?
It's my mistake so I leave it up to you to Let me know what you think.
I have played without a healer before. It is a challenge but the bigger challenge is running six players in PBP. Too many player tends to bog the game down and I would like it if this could keep a daily pace.
GM, you could make one of the NPC pirates or prisoners have healing powers and when they are not available, at least make it possible for us to acquire potions or a wand of CLWs. This tends to be a big help to no healer parties.
Just my 2 cents for you to consider.
I'd have to agree with smaller parties being better for PbP. Wands and potions can cover for the lack of a healer in a lot of situations, and failing that, having Sandara tag along on dangerous bits might be an easier option.
Nicodemus won't volunteer to be the cook; manners dictate that it go to Elthas or Sabinae, and cooking wouldn't be something in which he'd have any knowledge (and having a +1 modifier would lead to some foul stew :P).
lol, I was pretty certain Nicodemus wasn't planning on volunteering :) Just don't want to press the story forward to fast. Give some people the chance to catch up...I guess a good argument for keeping the group at 5 :)
I actually have the opposite view on bringing in a sixth person for the PbP. Too many people can bog down a game, certainly, but once we get a rhythm, particularly if we post contingencies in combat so we don't slow things down(I shoot the goblin if he's still standing, if someone else kills him first, then I heal the fighter). Having a healer in the party will be a big help and an additional person always adds more in party interaction and story which can keep everyone interesting during the slower moments.
And manners dictate the cooking goes to Elthas or Sabinae, hm? Between Gan hitting on me and you seeming to imply this is woman's work and so I should be included, I think I am offended!
Also, I'm one of those people who sort of compulsively makes notes about things. I figure in this case it will be helpful since Elthas is bright enough that he will probably remember things, so I've been trying to write things down from his point of view. For instance, while I know what class everyone is, he doesn't so I just have been jotting personality that has been shown and such.
I have made a google doc that inclues, PCs, NPCS, stuff I have picked up about the ship and just 'going ons'. I figured I would put up the link here if anyone decided they had interest or wanted to refer to things that may have happened down the line. I left it editable by anyone, so if you guys want to collaboratively add notes of your own, I'm all good with that though it will probably make it easier if we each use different text color.
More like scrawny mage work :P
Or maybe Nic is just waiting for someone to bring him a sandwich...
I'll post to catch up in the gameplay thread when I get home from work tonight. Probably be later on in the evening, so don't wait on me if it comes to it.
Oh my. I completely forgot. I'm not wearing armor so I am not suffering the -2 check penalty to climb and other such skills. My climb is actually +7 oops.
GM Faol, sent you a PM.
Welcome!
Nice to meet you and welcome.
Sorry for being inactive, had a busy weekend doing some catering.
No problem Grim, I've been rather slow posting as well because I'm on vacation. Spent some time out on the ocean which is kinda cool inspiration for a pirate game :)
Just letting you all know I'm still around. vacation is just ending tonight. Will head home tomorrow and get back into the swing of things.
Plunder or gtfo?
Nicodemus, I belive you still have some points to spent on your point buy if you wish. Your stats currently are a 16 point buy.