JCServant's Council of Thieves (Inactive)

Game Master JCServant

Been on a train the last few hours and signal is terrible. Will post later.

If you look on the recruitment tab, there's not one, but two people. I would like everyone's input on whether we should take, both, or something else...(Like maybe take both, but ask one to play something than arcane.

:)

One of the things discussed in the past (and possibly a sore spot still for some) is my general unwillingness to GM PC missing posters.

Today is a great example of why I generally abhor the practice. Like most of you, I have a day job and stuff, so my posting time is generally limited. Combat is, by far, the most time consuming thing for a GM in Pbp (at least it is for me). It normally takes me an average of 15 minutes to calculate, write, format, etc (and I use copy/paste/worksheets to shortcut whenever possible). Doing Tessai's turn seems easy enough...I already have attacks typed out in my worksheet so I can cut and paste. However, there was a variable I did not consider, and I had to look it up and adjust accordingly. Ended up taking me an extra 5-7 minutes. Doesn't seem like the end of the world....it's not..but in my busy day, where I'm trying to post before a meeting and stuff, it's time I didn't plan on.

The best solutation, really, is for everyone to post every round. I expect once in a while miss...but it seems to happen a lot...and then people get cranky when they're put into rough positions because another didn't take their turn (and occasionally point the finger at me for not GM-PC'ing the guy)

I'm not opposed to taking both. Two arcane casters is fine in my opinion but it could be that they are both posting arcane characters because thats what we specifically asked for. If we take one as a wizard, the other may like to submit something else.

Thanks for helping out in recruit, Brandon. It's very appreciated. In fact, I would like to encourage more of you to work with the two new player applicants and tell them what you would like to see. :)

Sorry about being incommunicado yesterday. I took the day to help out with some things at home (all good) and should have sent a heads-up. For that, I apologize.

Thankfully, Edmond EATS DEVIL DOGS FOR BREAKFAST.

As for recruiting, I'm not opposed to taking both either.

I agree Beppo some interesting backgrounds, more people for Aemon to bump heads with.

I'm still not sure on what both of them have decided class wish but i think two casters will be fine in our current set up... that being said as long as they can diversify their spells.

I eat Hell-dogs for breakfast.... and I'M HUNGRY!

I think from now on Beppo we should co-ordinate our attacks to make sure we can apply the flanked condition to as many enemies as possible. With the loss of Stray Hal, Devil and now Tessai - its the best chance I have to maximise sneak attack opportunities. Plus the image of a huge armoured knight cleaving left and right while a long-limbed monster rips out throats in between is just awesome.

Sounds good to me. Depending on who initiates our end of combat, I will be sure to hit the same guy first so that we can get flanked conditions up. I need to be looking for those opportunities more, so thanks for the comment.

Hello all, excited to get started!

I looked over Killian's spells, and the only ones we seem to overlap are grease and a few cantrips.

Tell us when to jump in DM

Hey, Taryin welcome.

Thing are about to get a little hairy. It had to be done!

We're going to get you into dropbox here, get you to put your character's bios in there. At the same time, I need to get some more info up for you guys there. I'll be sending you invites soon.

The party will (hopefully) return to base soon. You will be introduced there.

Greetings, all! Thanks for brining us in =)

*Glances at gameplay thread* Oh no, the anti-diplomatic character haha

GM I'm new to dropbox, but I have it installed and have an account now. Forgive me if I'm slow in understanding how to work it.

Waiting till return to base, got it. Mind if I dot in gameplay?

And for what it's worth, I think you guys should wax that devil =)

That may well be easier said than done.

This is tricky for me. Brandon would definitely try to stop Aemon but Edmond was already thinking about having at this bugger, hence his call for healing.

JC is bull's strength or shield still active? Both had 6 minutes duration.

Hi guys and welcome.

Aemon, you are hysterical.

Next time Brandon 'hulks out' he's gonna turn into Aemon instead of Edmond lol

All right...I got you two invited to dropbox.

Dropbox is cloud technology, allowing us to share files between computers, mobile devices and much more.

You can install dropbox on your computer. Doing so will create a dropbox folder. Anything you put in that folder will show up in your dropbox account. Any other computer you've installed dropbox on will automatically get copies of those files in their drop box folder. Any time you update said file on any computer/dropbox folder, your other computers will automatically update.

For our shared folder, that means whenever I update any shared file, you guys will automatically get a copy of it in that shared folder. If you drop a file into it, the other players and I will get a copy on our computers.

If you choose not to install dropbox , you can still access, download and upload the cloud files by logging into dropbox.com at any time, from any computer. Installing dropbox on your personal PCs and designating a Dropbox folder simply makes the process easier.

As an added bonus, you can install the dropbox app on just about any tablet and smartphone. Doing so allows you to access your dropbox files, and these shared files, from those devices. It's super convenient when you need to look something about your character on the fly.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Oh, to answer your question, only a minute or so has passed...the party has been moving pretty quick. That's the good news. Bad news is, still not healed. :P

And, yes you can dot gameplay :)

*munches popcorn at the upcoming massacre.* ;)

If I die I'm coming back as a ghost to haunt Aemon...

Well, we haven't heard from Beppo, so I'm going with Combat Starts before Kyle gets very far. Kyle, Beepo, you have until tomorrow to get your combat actions in ... or something.

Also, only two of you have your backgrounds in the shared folder. If you have not, please put a background text file for the new players to read. If you need to, update the one you already have.

I'll be working on the synapsis as I get time this weekend. Then, I'll RP via spoilers for the new guys, here in discussion, how they are brought into the fold via spoilers.

Come on this was clearly evil dealing with him and it would only bite us in the ass later on. I'm just sick and tired of playing their games.... although it might have been a little hasty.

I'm sure it will all be fun and games now.

What? Where did you EVER get the idea that making a deal with a devil could ever bite you in the rear? C'mon man. You act like their out to get your soul or something!

Ya Aemon, that's rediculous! You act like there's a devil specifically made to ruin your day with a 'deal'! So prejudicial

Ok...I got the history up. New players, please read everything in the Background and Flavor folder (and from the PC/NPC folders if you have time) to get up to speed. It looks like a lot, but its a lot easier than 100 pages+ of Gameplay :D

New players...if you have herolabs, you can make your character in that program and save the POR in the shared folder for me to use. If not, just email me the details of your character and I'll get it in :)

Hopefully you all are getting your reading caught up this weekend, hahahaha.

Once you have done that, please take any backgrounds you have already written, edit/tweak them with the new background stuff you've read (if you would like), and then save it as a text or doc file into the shared sub folder "Shades of Grey PCs." That will give everyone an chance to know a little more about you, and would be the background info Janiven would know mostly about when making the decision to invite you into this secretive little band of rebels :)

1) Never touched herolabs in my life.

2) Read through it all. If I took a test I'd fail but I got the general picture and know enough to know where to look if I need to know something. (I wonder if I could have used 'know' more in that sentence)

3) I'm deciding on a royal family to have been a party of and can't quite decide.

edit: House Leroung for sure

edit 2.0: I can't get dropbox to work for me

Hmmm...if you're having technical issues with dropbox program, you may have to contact them. Generally, it's just installing it... telling it where you want the dropbox folder to be (I usually put mine on my desktop) and logging into the program, once.

Thankfully, you can always access files via the dropbox.com site with your sign on, it's just a little more of pain. It is nice that you can just drag and drop your files on the webpage when you have a shared folder open. Ah, technology.

So, since you don't have HL (nothing wrong with that, its expensive), just send me all of your character choices and I'll enter them in and update the PDF. It's a lot easier for me to do that on a Sunday than a weekday. EDIT: Ah...I see it in my inbox now. Danke. I'll get it into HL today.

Ah I was far over complicating things, I have now dropboxed my background.

Most minor of updates to Killian: I forgot to switch his ranks in perform (oratory) to perform (act) to better fit his backstory. I've updated the profile under his alias here, but wanted to let you know DM so you could fix it when herolabbing him up =)

Lol the way this fight looks like is going to go we may be rolling new characters with you guys!

Now i'm feeling a little bad..

I love you guys...really, I do. But, if you're going to fight one of the greater devils, you've GOT to bring your "A" game and leave those low rolls at home! Seriously! Bad low rolls! BAD!!!

mmmmmm... Great Cleave is really nice with a high to-hit bonus. This is the first time I've ever really seen it put to such fantastic use, but I think the abstraction in this particular pbp's format helps since cleave/great cleave require the targets to be adjacent to one another and that's kind of nebulous in the PFL/EFL format.

Indeed. Beppo's been enjoying it a lot, as well. Its the first time the the PCs have been on the receiving end, however. I will certainly think over whether it should continue the way it is now, or whether we need to put some stronger limitations on it.

I don't see an issue with it. It's good for both sides. Two solid hits there from Edmond hopefully at least put a dent in this swine!

Oh are we joining in now?

Well, I'd like to bring you into the conversation with Killian and the ladies... I'll see if I can't intro you in here...but I didnt' have you in because I didn't have you on my PDF yet. I need stats :) I started putting in what you sent me, but yea, there are some questions. Check your email. Thanks!

JC - I'm currently away on some business won't have a lot of chance to post but i will try. I'll be back friday night.

Understood

New guys...will get formally intro'd to the group in an hour or two. Head's up!

What a wonderful new smell you've all discovered!

Points for a Star Wars reference in the first dozen posts.

Wow..I posted my last message at 3pm EST and only one response? C'mon guys...let's rock this!

Guys...as a friendly reminder...

The posting requirements are as follows....

Three times on weekdays during the following time periods...
11am-2pm EST, 3pm-6pm EST and 7pm-8am EST. On the weekend, the requirement is one post each weekend day. Even if you think you have nothing to say, you should post an action, character thoughts, etc.

I'm not going to be upset that someone missed a post in any given week, but I'm seeing multiple people miss multiple posting periods. Don't get me wrong...I don't want everyone writing 5 paragraphs each time. Even I would find that overwhelming...but when entire scenes go by and there's not even a single post, it just feels like your character isn't even there.

If you are going on a trip or something that cuts your internet access, you can give us all a head's up here in discuss. That does help a lot.

You have one week of downtime. I expect to have these resolved over the next day or two. Post early and check every posting period for updates on how yours is resolved.

As a reminder, and for benefit of new players, here are the CoT downtime rules and options.

Downtime Actions

This week, you can training up to three NPCs with one training roll, and you can entertain NPCs on two separate occasions. To avoid overwhelming the GM, you're going to do one of these each posting period, please.

For example, Kyle may elect to train Fiosa, Amaya and Yako in the AM posting period...RP it out a little bit, and roll a training roll. In the Afternoon posting period, Kyle RPs out a date with Cala and rolls diplo. Finally, in the night posting period, Kyle RPs out a night discussing the greater points of religion with Fiosa (they actually find that entertaining) and also rolls diplo.

Ask questions here. Thanks!

I've updated the CoT Relationship table

You will note that I've added the new players and their starting scores with each NPC there.

On the other hand, I've replaced Cala with Tessai.

After her harrowing experience, Cala told several others about her salvation by the Shades. However, it shook her greatly, and she wasn't heard from a very long time. If Kyle goes to visit her, he'll find that she's very non-receptive and withdrawn after those events.

Eventually, she does get over it, and takes back to acting. However, she never does mend her relationship with any of the Shades.

So, could I train Amaya and Mathalen during the days this week? I'd like to play up the similarities between how disciplined both pursuits must be, mastery over breathing, timings, etc.

As for evening pursuits, I'd like Killian to spend time getting to know Arael, him being the de facto leader and all. The better Killian understands the man, the better he can support him.

That's correct. You would still have one night time action after doing those things.

So, choose one to post first in RP with the appropriate roll attached. Post the next two over the next two posting periods after that.

Similar to combat, if someone misses a post, I'll allow them to make up one 'round' or in this case, action...but that should be used as an exception, not a rule. It's important that everyone post one action per posting period for consistency and so I do not get overwhelmed.