Jorvik: A Land of Snow & Ice

Game Master DSXMachina

Hey Mahorf!

I also got the newest Butcher book for Christmas.

I can't wait to read it!

But,... I'm busy,... so,...

ARGH! See you later guys, I'm gonna go get lost in a new Butcher world!

;P

Why? I worry about my posts being too terse. Remember, if you write professionally, you get paid by the word.

Lol!

IF I ever get THAT lucky, Then I will be a rich man indeed! :)

It's not luck. :P

You guys reading the Codex Alera series?

I Read it.
Enjoyed it.
It's not Dresden, but the characters do grow into people I like almost as much as the Dresden Files Peeps. And it certainly has the moments of typical Butcher humor and word play.

IMHO, it was Jim's attempt at a 'Grand Epic Mega-Adventure' in the footsteps of Lord of the Rings, Shannara, etc, as opposed to his more 'normal guy in the middle of the big adventure' feel you get from Dresden Files.

I guess I'm describing that right?

Let's just say That I will probably, eventually, read the series again.
It was that good.
And will certainly read the sequels when he gets to them.
(Spoiler alert, he leaves it wide open for sequels) :)

But I did not buy the series as I have with Dresden, and I must say that after the sample chapter I'm looking forward to reading the Aeronaut's Windlass soon as I get a chance to start it! :D

I man come on,... Butcher + Steampunk + Flying Airships?!?! Yes please!
:)

I also enjoyed the Alera series, and agree with Rag's description -- I've read it twice so far.

As for the new series, I also plan to readt, especially given Butcher's love for airships and steampunk, but as the save time, I'm trying to resist having to wait on the save man for 2 new books. ;)

...and, Trippa, no problem with your post, though no ability to reply from work.

Paizo seems to have made it to the verboten list for a lot of site blockers now. It's a little silly; it's not like people sit on it for hours playing fantasy football or internet poker. Even if we can't put up a masterpiece from work, it'd be nice to put in a die roll or quick post over lunch.

I gotta admit, Codex Alera's sales tag didn't grab me, so I haven't tried it at all. I may have to rethink that. Maybe it's available from the library so I can give it a shot without $$$.

Since we know that you already like Jim's work, I say go for it. I read it by checking the books out of the library. And while the first took a few chapters to grow on me, it DID grow on me, and I checked out the remainder as quickly as they became available. :)

I felt that as the series progressed I liked it more. Although there was/is a real Butcher stand-up-and-cheer moment in the first book if I recall. I think that's what hooked me. ;)

Maybe it just took a few chapters for him to hit his writing mark with the new series? OR (more likely) I jumped in hoping for a new Dresden Files, and when it wasn't it took me a bit to open up and accept the new work on it's own merit. (?)

Yeah, that's probably it. :)

Sometimes I wish that work would block Paizo. I spend way too much time pondering my posts on this site. ;P

Hmmm. We should make a deal. I'll read Alera if you read Bridge of Birds.

Huh, Had to Google that one. ;)

Well, I have not read Bridge of Birds,

I do however, have (and have read) a hardback copy of The Story of the Stone, which is one of it's sequels. I picked it up from one of the twice-yearly library sales locally.
(I have at least 2 boxes of books I have not read from those library sales, on top of my 5 bookshelves full of books that I have read.) ;P

I like that book, nice blend of unusual fantasy elements, and I like Number 10 Ox and Master Li.
For those who do not know, Master Li is a combination of a Drunken Bum, Dirty Old Man, and Oriental Sherlock Holmes. (He's awesome!) :)

So technically, I've got a head start on you! Get thee hence to the library and pick up Alera series number 1! Furies of Calderon!
;)

(Had to look that up on my bookshelf, turns out I DID buy the first in the series.) ;)

Nope, The Story of the Stone won't do, and it's a shame that you read them out of order. BoB or nothing. :p

Seriously, it's the best book ever written. I'm doing you a favor!

LOL,

Okok! Sheesh, I surrender already! ;)

If it's that good, I'll find it at my library. Wouldn't want to miss it!
:)

Codex Alera was pretty good. At its worse it was a bit cheesy and clichéd, but I can be a sucker for the former. Especially when I find myself actually giving a damn about the characters. Starts off a bit slow, but becomes very epic very quickly. Not bad at all for a series basically written on a bet.

In regards to this game in particular...

I'm still joining eventually! So, uh, I should like, read my rulebook again. And uh, finish my character, who I keep having second third fourth thoughts about. Yeahhh...

Don't overthink your character. I went pure mortal to keep it simple in a new system and mythos; now I'm changing her without a lot of trouble. Get some playtime and see what you think.

2nd Treppa's advice.

I have all of the PDF's now, enjoy paging through them, but still haven't READ them. All. Yet. :)

Actually feel that I got a faster/swifter grasp of the game by playing it. (Although I am so new to this system that I have to keep reminding myself how powerful ANY PC can be if he/she sets up the right aspect.)
:)

If imagination is key, have I got a ring of skeleton keys for you! ;P

(Yeah. Again, it sounded funnier in my head,...) :/

In my defense, I just had a BIG cup of my last holiday bottle of eggnog. (the store bought, pre-mixed 295 proof kind. EVERYthing is amusing at this point,) :D

Agreed, Rags. My biggest problem is the old D&D/Pathfinder mindset of "roll dice, describe results." FATE is a lot more open-ended and rewards players with good imaginations and a good grasp of the technical side.

As far as technical goes, we roll dice so seldom that I have to go back and brush up on the rules once we hit combat.

Yep, same here. I can never remember if it's 'roll 4d3-8+?' or 'roll 3d4-8+?'
:)

But with this group, all of the storytelling gets us out of more than the dice rolls do anyway! (Thank goodness!) :)

Heh,
'Roll dice, describe results'
vs
'describe (intended) result, roll dice'

;)
Pretty apt summary of the two systems actually.

You're lucky to be joining this one, Mahorf. It's one of the three pbps I used to read on a regular basis purely for enjoyment (the others being Appalachee Jihad and Heathy's Isle of Dread, both sadly defunct (though Heathy's has been twitching as of late). We're fortunate DSX has had the gumption to keep this one going through thick and thin and player turnover.

Rags has been lucky enough to be in two of the three, darn him!

And, randomly, I miss Mothman.

I miss Mothman too. :(

And yes, I am lucky to be involved in these games! :)

I try not to dwell on my luck, because I used up most of it finding my wife. So basically getting to participate in these wonderful game groups is pretty much bonus! ;)

Hopefully the plan is to finish this chapter today, with me putting up a brief interlude with what's happening in the next 2-3 months. Which reminds me the 'timeline' is present day... so despite this starting in 2013...it's sort of 2016~ish :P

Right, so standard Comic-book-time-logic then!
:)

Sounds great DSXM!

You're lucky to be joining this one, Mahorf. It's one of the three pbps I used to read on a regular basis purely for enjoyment (the others being Appalachee Jihad and Heathy's Isle of Dread, both sadly defunct (though Heathy's has been twitching as of late). We're fortunate DSX has had the gumption to keep this one going through thick and thin and player turnover.

I know! I kind of balk at the number of PCs this game has gone through... and it's cool to see that Danny has stuck around all this time. ;)

Honestly, this game is actually what first compelled me to read the Dresden Files books, so it's already had quite the impact on me.

Right, so standard Comic-book-time-logic then!

:)

Sounds great DSXM!

I thought it had something to do with wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff.

Please forgive if that's inaccurate; I'm not a Dr. Who fan.

Treppa wrote:

You're lucky to be joining this one, Mahorf. It's one of the three pbps I used to read on a regular basis purely for enjoyment (the others being Appalachee Jihad and Heathy's Isle of Dread, both sadly defunct (though Heathy's has been twitching as of late). We're fortunate DSX has had the gumption to keep this one going through thick and thin and player turnover.

I know! I kind of balk at the number of PCs this game has gone through... and it's cool to see that Danny has stuck around all this time. ;)

Honestly, this game is actually what first compelled me to read the Dresden Files books, so it's already had quite the impact on me.

** spoiler omitted **

That does really sound like comic book time -- always anchored to the present, while the past slides slowly forward.

Looking forward to see what happens as we skip forward.

Heh, yeah, I was thinking how when you read the comics (at least when I could afford comics) Even if the over-arching plot was only spending days in comic time, when you got to October it was always Halloween, and when you got to December it was always Christmas.

:)

Go for it DSXM!
I can't wait to see what kind of trouble we can get into next! ;)

Oh, wait, sorry,... Or is that get into trouble part part just Danny?

:/

Ragadolf wrote:

Right, so standard Comic-book-time-logic then!

:)

Sounds great DSXM!

I thought it had something to do with wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff.

Please forgive if that's inaccurate; I'm not a Dr. Who fan.

You are forgiven for your lack of fandom, as your Quote-Fu is strong! :)

For penance, you may begin binging Dr Who episodes. Immediately.
Classic or current. I don't care which.

But if you don't,...
I shall beat you senseless with my Tom Baker Dr #4 scarf!

:D

Five minutes of Dr. Who and I'm out like a light. I've never managed to watch a full epis...zzzzz

Do we want to do anything with Ogilvy, the head-bashed scientist who worked for the vamps? He's locked in Grandma Trip's room in the mansion right now, ostensibly recovering.

Really? Even the modern re-start with Eccleston? I was able to get more than a few non-Whoians into it by starting with "Rose".

Haven't seen those. I will look them up now that I have Netflix access.

I must confess that Classic Who is (now) something of an acquired taste.
:)
But I started watching with Tom Baker's First episode, and I've been hooked ever since!

In the Classic, the episodes were serialized, at one point up to 8 or 10 20-minute episodes for each story line. By Baker they had settled into 4 X 20-ish minute serials per story. By the 80's they were almost into the 'normal' half hour or hour episodes.

But as much as I DO enjoy me some New-Who, some of the best episodes ever filmed were Tom Baker's.
'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' anyone?
Or 'Pirate Planet'?

:)

But for newbies, yes, you should start with the Eccelston, season 1, then onto David Tennant and Matt Smith.

Enjoy!

Do we want to do anything with Ogilvy, the head-bashed scientist who worked for the vamps? He's locked in Grandma Trip's room in the mansion right now, ostensibly recovering.

I believe one of the idea's may have been to let him set up a lab to help with recovering addicts/ red/poppy court vamps?

If you don't want to do that, I can also just hand-wave him away... to maybe turn up later..... :D

I'm baffled about Ogilvy. Setting up a lab is way beyond my (and my character's) ken. His amoral nature - and that's being kind - makes him an unreliable ally. Sal would just as soon slit his throat as let him go, except that his knowledge might be ultimately helpful.

LSS: I've no idea.

Well I'm sure the Butler knows exactly what to do even if you guys aren't sure. :D

Hah! :)

Wait, that's actually not a bad idea. :/

I mean, Trip would help if he was there, and Alfred, er, you know, knows more than he would ever volunteer, but I'm sure he'd be happy to offer suggestions if asked. :)

And while Danny has a strong selfish streak survival instinct, he's also too nice for his own good. And leaving Ogilvy unsupervised to do whatever would be,... unkind to others, and irresponsible at least. BUT if we give him a project to keep him occupied, one that is difficult and would be a challenge to keep him interested, (like creating a cure for vamp-venom addicts, etc) that should solve all of the problems nicely.

Until he actually does it and gets bored again of course,... But we can burn THAT bridge when we cross it! :D

Or we could let him loose and follow him, see where he goes.

I think it'd be a matter to what extent we think he's been "scared straight" -- and if the answer is "not very", then we may have to have him accidentally arrested.... Some sort of involvement in an explosion the day before...?

I think it'd be a matter to what extent we think he's been "scared straight" -- and if the answer is "not very", then we may have to have him accidentally arrested.... Some sort of involvement in an explosion the day before...?

Danny approves of the way your mind works!

Genuine proof is a bit thin, though. Might have to create some.

Edit: well, damn and blast. I had every intention of having Sal pocket the hunk of C4 she disarmed, but didn't write it down in the excitement. C'est la vie. D:

Edit 2: Sal has no faith that Ogilvie has been scared straight.

Danny also approves of the way that Sal's mind works. :)

Arrgh!

Just, too, busy, to, post! :P

(And late at night when I DO have time, I'm too tired to think straight, much less work up an interesting post!) :(

I think poor DSX has the bulk of the heavy lifting for now. He needs to give us our milestones, respond to any interim PMs, bring in the new guys, and set the scene for the next chapter.

We should get him something nice for DM day.

Oh, if anybody is really conversant with DF Fate rules and has spare time, I wouldn't mind a second set of eyes peeping Sal's rebuild.

How big a rebuild are you planning, Treppa? I mean, I know you're cashing in some refresh for faith powers -- just not sure how many. ;)

The history and planned rebuild (with some assumptions about the end of the current chapter) is under the final spoiler in Sal's Character Sheet. I'd drop from 5 to 2 refresh/FP AND drop 3 mostly unused mortal stunts to gain Bless This House, Guide My Hand, and Righteousness.

Couldn't tell from the DF manual if you're allowed to drop as many stunts as you like at will, so I'm not certain this rebuild is valid.

I'm also not sure that this is a great trade-off, but, quite frankly, I rarely use my FP because I'm not that imaginative a player. Two might be too low to go, though.

I'd re-jigger the skills to bump Conviction and lower Deceit if we're allowed by DSX. That seems appropriate for a burgeoning do-gooder.

I'm not sure that it's a technically good rebuild, but it's in-character. I don't want to gut her abilities, but the drops and FP loss don't seem like they'd hurt that much.

I also don't want Sal to step on Kenneth's true believer toes, but there seems to be a lot more variance for FATE builds than for Pathfinder, even within the same "class".

DSX, I've been meaning to ask this question since this post: did you make Laura's last name "Robson" as a link to Robson Green and Touching Evil?

OK, now I'm going to do homework. Honest. No more procrastinating.

Holy carp! In some ways I did subconsciously name it after the #1 pop crooner/actor/fisherman Robson Green.

/me puts on tin-foil hat