Lunar Sloth's Second Darkness

Game Master Slothsy

5 is average for me.

Okay, Rilia this is no longer funny. Please stop it with the overtly sexual overtones.

Okay, so I think we need to take a step back as a group and talk about (as a group) boundaries and expectations. This campaign is approaching two years and has sort of had a revolving door of players, and when I introduced new players, I messed up by not starting this off right. That was my mistake and I'm sorry.

So, what are your lines/boundaries? What do you want out of this game? These are questions I think we need to talk about as a group.

I for one have been somewhat frustrated by the glacial pace, so I've started more aggressive botting. I should've mentioned this beforehand and talked about it before just starting to do it. I would really like it if people posted more consistently; I know I've said one post per week is fine, but that's really what I think of as an absolute minimum and would prefer people to check in more often.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of NPC/PC romance besides some light flirting. I won't kick you out for wanting it, but it probably isn't something that's going to happen - it makes me feel awkward as GM for a number of weird reasons that I'm going to boil down to "I don't like it".

Those are sort of where I'm at. I really want to know where you all are at as well. I hope that we can sort out any tension and get back to playing and having fun, I really do. But I do want to do this right and make sure everyone is comfortable.

No worries Nel. Consider it dialed back.

Rilia is basically built to fluster other people in her world. She's based on a couple of other preexisting characters who do much the same, Wanda "Gorgeous" Durst from the Wildstorm, Stormwatch Post Human Division comic, and Kemeili the Calistrian inquisitor from Queen of Thorns by Dave Gross. There really isn't a good link to explain Kemeili beyond the phrase: "sassy Calistrian Inquisitor". She's adventurous and a bit immature while Wanda wields psychology like a rapier and Rilia falls somewhere in between.

Currently she's feeling her way around the group, finding her place which she naturally assume is very near the top. The fact that Nel is on top (and on occasion, pure situational luck combined with my own weird sense of humor) has led to her acting out and teasing the (as she sees it) 'prudish cavalier'. Apologies for any offense. And thanks for not simply running Rilia through with Nel's longsword.

She's not likely to involve herself in actual romance (any more so than any other player character in a typical RPG game) and the experience would probably be quite weird/character-forming for her. Hooking up however is another matter and that probably happens-off screen quite a bit when she not focused on a mission or trapped on a mysterious islet overrun by alien zombies.

Hope that helps. And if it turns into a problem again I'll swap her out for my bean-counting Pharasmin Inquisitor (sort of a grim efficiency expert/CPA) or great grizzly bear Cayden Cailean Evangelist (whom I avoided on principle that you just had something similar) to keep up with divine duties (which I sort of hoped would have been the domain of Lina).

Hope that helps.

HP: +10 (6 Average+3 Con+ 1 favored class)

Skills: +5 (+2 Bluff, +2 Climb, +1 Sense Motive)

Feat: Outflank

BAB: +1

Rilia, thank you for understanding. While I understand where you are pulling your inspiration from, it was making me very uncomfortable as a player.

Anyway, Nel's all leveled up!

She gained +10 hp, increased her perception, ride, knowledge skills, and linguistics to pick up Abyssal as a new language. In addition she picked up the teamwork feat Outflank (from APG) and her horse picked up Valiant Steed (To help with unnatural undead auras).

Excellent. You will be be able to rest without issue now that you have laid the wraith to rest.

As for the next portion, you should probably check out Zincher's camp - notes in the journal say that Virashi's lair was near that side of the island.

Do you want to fight a siren ghost? It doesn't have to be a siren ghost. Okay, byeeee~~~

If you want to go back to Riddleport and re-supply, you can do that if need be.

Do you think there might be a party member in port? ;)

Perhaps! It does look like we're at a point to be looking (again). I'm going to PM Pluck since it's been a bit and then we can talk about re-recruitment.

Yea, it would be good to get a couple folks. Its a shame Pluck got lost again.

Okay, I'll post a recruitment thread this afternoon. Honestly, I'm looking more at recruiting a player this time around than a character, if that makes sense? I'll note that we have two frontline fighters, and Rilia cleric/bard support/skilled combo going down.

Opened Up Recruitment Again

Correct, it was the first fight of the day. I was assuming that people were probably going to camp to be able to rest and regain resources - I somewhat recommend that at this point, since you don't know what's waiting for you at Zincher's camp.

Aside from Zokon's Constitution drain (which we need a high level divine spell to fix), 3 channels from Rilia and 1 to 3 party members we really haven't used a lot.

We could scout the area around Zincher's camp or perhaps clear the area of obstacles we wouldn't want to face simultaneously with Zincher.

Still, it would be best if we knew we had minimally 4 active party members before we start.

Where there any also-rans from the last recruitment you like Slothsy?

I suppose we should go back to Riddleport in order to pick up our new party member(s).

Or find half an abandoned Serpent's Skull AP group washed up on the shore.

I've reached out to some people who I was interested in to see if they wanted to be join. Does anyone have any preferences on characters/players they'd like to see?

I would like to see either a blaster caster or someone with a focus on healing (Preferably healing out of the two). I do not think that our damage output is bad, as we have two front line fighters, nor do I think that a range fighter would really add anything to the group.

I would prefer a blaster caster as well. While another cleric focused on healing would be nice, I think Ranged damage/Blaster Caster will cover a base we are extremely lacking.

I don't know that I would go straight blaster wizard but a good generalist (or flexible enough) sorcerer or wizard would be welcome.

A skillful outdoors-person or otherwise skillful/mobile character would be good too. Basically someone who can move and climb and jump. If they can pick locks, shoot a bow, stealth about, or make a decent survival check--cool.

And yes, either a cleric/oracle or druid/druid-like character would be nice. If they are druid-ish they might be able to double up for the skillful person above.

If a cleric/oracle-they don't have to be a full-on cleric--as those will be the remainder of the levels I plan on taking, but an oracle or better progression would be preferable.

On a side note if we end up with a couple of additional semi-divine-casters (inquisitors, rangers or the like) that might be okay too. Otherwise an android heal-bot is fine. ;)

@Rilia, Pluck is a generalit wizard. He normally peaces out at around this time each year and comes back around October. That is why I suggested a blaster caster to keep from stepping on Pluck's toes

Ah. Well then a sorcerer might be hot err, nice.

Speaking of Android Heal-Bots, have you seen that they're coming out with the Healer's Tactics Toolbox? I'm super excited for that, since things that give healers more versatility excite me (and I may actually play a dedicated healer for once).

We've got a number of archer submissions, so we'll probably see at least one of those pulled in. I'm trying hard not to duplicate party roles of people that I hope may come back (like Pluck) but that's also impossible at this point (since we have 6 previous party members - maybe they're all playing an AP together...)

If you guys want to in-character return to Riddleport, resupply and then come back to the island, that's great. Otherwise, they can be their own expedition that got lost and are suddenly able to help you out.

Greetings everyone, and thanks for selecting me. I'm looking forward to this!

I mentioned in my application, which all of you might not have seen, that I have a treasure sheet (link to example) that I use in campaigns I'm in to track loot.

I'm happy to do that here too if folks want me to. It helps keep things fair, and helps do the math when we sell stuff. Don't like math... :)

Anyway, let me know if I should implement it for this group too or not. I'm very flexible.

Hello! Thank you for the selection; I'm happy to be here and I'm looking forward to playing with everyone.

For anyone that's not had the time to check her out, Gillian is a Heavens oracle with the lame curse - but as mentioned on her profile I'm happy to be flexible on her mystery and spell selections depending on what the group could use. She can always go Life for healing or Fire for blasting or something else without it really affecting her background very much :)

*edit* Regarding posting frequency - Even though I'm in quite a few games not all of them run hot at the same time so I'm generally able to maintain at least 1/day or sometimes a little more on my days off. I'm on CST (GMT -6) and primarily work night shift so you're likely to see posts from me at odd hours sometimes.

Welcome to our new recruits! My goal is to quickly and seamlessly incorporate you all into the campaign so we can started quickly. Of course, this means we'll want to get mechanics semi-finalized. As for writing into the campaign, you will meet Rilia, Nel and Tamiro at their lighthouse camp, after being sent that way by the current hiring manager of the Gold Goblin. The current hiring manager is the party's former bard, Vark. He's a rather eccentric gnome with a sense of wonder. You have been sent to the Devil's Elbow, an island just south of Riddleport and booked passage on the Flying Cloud with Captain Creesy. He told you some things about the island; you have all the information presented here. If you want to start posting, go right ahead.

I chose you all because you presented interesting characters and have a history of consistent pbp engagement. While this game hasn't been exactly moving at the speed of light, I'm hoping that new blood will liven things up. Please post consistently and let me know if you're going to be taking a long break.

A few things to sort out before we get started:

1) As mentioned more recently in the discussion thread, I want to bring everyone on board - this is a collaborative experience. What do you want out of this? What do you want to avoid? What level of difficulty do you like? How much agency do you want?

2) Gillian and Rilia are currently occupying very similar party roles - Gillian, you mentioned being possibly okay with moving to flames? We don't currently have a blaster caster and our wizard is taking his annual leave. Is this something that you'd want to do? If not, I'd like the two of you (Rilia and Gillian).

3) Sinmara will need full stats. How soon can you finalize?

4) The only major party role we don't have covered right now is someone with the ability to disable magical traps and AoE (see discussion point 2).

5) While I'd like people to check back regularly, I know life happens. Provide me a brief set of tactics for combat (including spelling out any particular feat interactions that you regularly use/tricks you have up your sleeve for unusual situations).

I am becoming somewhat more aggressive in botting characters in combat (my policy is that if you're holding up combat and haven't posted in 24 hours, I'll bot you). This isn't to take control, but to keep the game moving for people who are actively participating.

Final note: I cannot edit the campaign and haven't been able to for, well, ages. I will adjust information by my avatar as we go along. I use google slides as a catch-all for maps, people of interest, notes, that sort of thing. Feel free to make your own slides for journal entries.

Thanks Slothsy, a few comments from me. Hope they're helpful.

1) Oh, I like it all. I'm a PbP addict, and enjoy even the rough spots when players get testy (well as long as that's infrequent).

I prefer the DM to adjust the AP to fit the party. I don't mean dumb it down for us, or make every encounter epically difficult. I just mean that if we're walking all over things, maybe add the advanced template to increase the challenge. If we're getting hammered at every turn, maybe tweak the Wealth By Level so we can buy our way out of trouble. Modest stuff so we're challenged and all have fun.

That said, "It's your world boss." I'm looking forward to learning how you do things.

4) I am happy to level dip into thief to get the magical traps bit, unless there's another way. I can already disable non-magical traps, get through locks, etc. pretty effectively. I'd rather not level dip if we can avoid it - a few magical traps can't be that bad... right? (hehehe) I'll do what folks think is best for the party.

5) I'm an avid poster. That said, in combat, right now, life is pretty basic for ol' Aishe. He shoots his crossbow, being careful to avoid cover. He's not terribly subtle in that regard. More flexible out of combat. Please don't use grit when DMPCing me. I'll do that on my own.

Totally happy with the 24 hour rule. I'll do my best to post within that time frame and should manage it most of the time.

(1) Honestly, I'm just here to have a good time and as long as things are engaging and there aren't any major issues between players (issues between characters can be entertaining if they're handled well by all parties involved), then I'm good. As far as difficulty goes, I'll have to agree with Euan that I'd rather you adjust as needed depending on whether we're routinely getting stomped or routinely doing the stomping. Regarding agency I'm fine with the 24 hour rule for botting, which seems to more or less be 'standard' in a lot of PbP games.

(2) I don't have a problem with switching Gillian to Flames; it should offer some blasty goodness while allowing her to help as a backup healer and I can use the rest of her spell selection to help fill in other gaps as needed.

(4) Can't do much about the magical traps but I'll see if I can help with the AoE issue :)

(5) Will do!

I've dotted and deleted in Gameplay so the game is on my campaigns tab. Unfortunately I need to head to bed for a few hours in preparation for work tonight but I'll try and give myself some time to adjust Gillian's profile to account for the switch in mysteries before I have to leave. With any luck, tonight will be relatively quiet at work and I'll be able to pop up a Gameplay post too.

Okay, I've made the following changes to Gillian's profile:

Swapped Heavens mystery out for Flame
Swapped revelations accordingly and gained Burning Magic, Gaze of Flames, and Molten Skin
Added the appropriate mystery spells - Burning Hands and Resist Energy
Swapped the Extend Spell feat for Elemental Spell (Cold)

I've not changed any of her other spells at this time as I'm not sure on what Rilia's general focus will be with her cleric spellcasting but I did try to avoid overlap when I initially picked spells :)

Pro tip: The only party members not to disappear under less than favorable conditions were Lina, Pluck, and Mazra. Anyone else was either known to consort with other crime bosses that have made both Tamiro and myself paranoid or just walked away abandoning everyone to deal with assassins.

Could be worse...my F2F Wrath of the Righteous group had a monk who had a rather traumatic history concerning demons. When my husband's tiefling magus showed up to help the party (replacement character) she was promptly punched in the face before she even had a chance to greet us :|

I'll make sure to get my complete character sheet posted tonight. Really looking forward to playing with you all!

As far as posting rate is concerned, I will almost always be unable to post on weekends. However, the GM has my contact information IRL, so they can reach me at a moment's notice if I am needed for something.

Good to know, Morphling. We'll move on to Zincher's camp once everyone's settled in :)

I've not changed any of her other spells at this time as I'm not sure on what Rilia's general focus will be with her cleric spellcasting....

Enchantment, Trickery, and Daaaaaark Vengeance! Oh and Lust too. Most of her spells (charm person, disguise self, grease, open/close, etc....) work in the dungeon as well as the bedroom, or on the sofa, or in the bath tub, or in the back seat, or--well, you get the idea. ;) Save or suck will be a thing.

She's built with the understanding that high-level (which she will be eventually) Calistrian elf clerics should be sly, skillful players of the great game with perilously good interpersonal skills. Think of Cardinal Richelieu.

Hah, understood! I can focus on other utility and some party buffs in addition to the blasting then :3

You can probably (at least partially) leave bear's endurance, bull's strength, cat's grace to Rilia. She can bard a little too.

I haven't really played a cleric at high or even mid-levels in forever but the rotating daily spell choices will be based on need first (i.e. 'Does someone need praying for restoration?'), utility second, and style third. "Is it a touch range spell?" like the way good waitress get more money out of you. Then yes, she'll pack it. And yes, breath of life will probably be something she packs everyday when she gets it--you know, for liches and stuff. So don't go around dying and making her blow it on you.

Okay, that works as well. When I said 'party buffs' I was admittedly thinking more along the lines of Prayer and such. Of course with the sources to draw from being more restricted it does cut down on potential options (and the resulting analysis paralysis that sometimes follows having a huge list of choices), so that will make it a little easier to pick oracle spells :)

If you do really want something from another source, I'll be happy to consider it. I just don't want to give a blanket "yes, all of it" and then end up agreeing to something I don't want in my game (like emergency force sphere...).

But... emergency force sphere automatic instantaneous immunity to everything is such a balanced and fair spell!

If you do really want something from another source, I'll be happy to consider it. I just don't want to give a blanket "yes, all of it" and then end up agreeing to something I don't want in my game (like emergency force sphere...).

But... automatic breath of instantaneous emergency immunity to life-force sphere is like the perfect spell for Rilia!

*Throws sobbing tantrum.*

Oh, and they took my picture down again. Damn wiki-bastards!

So what happened to going back to Riddleport?

I got the impression that the group didn't actually want to go back to Riddleport. I would just like to get the game rolling again once the rp has settled down.

.... with blood.

It's like any given initial meeting of Marvel Superheroes.

More like antiheroes....

Round: 1, Initiative: 11

Aishe 5’ steps to for a more advantageous firing lane, and shoots at one of the creatures (standard). He then reloads his crossbow (free).

As he hopes to impress his allies, he focuses his shot, using grit to ensure his hit!*

Not to steel too much thunder (I hope) but where is the third d8 of damage coming from? I think crossbows are only x2.

No problem Rilia, I've certainly made mistakes like that before. If something in my actions doesn't smell right, feel free to ping me anytime via PM or here.

Normally, you are completely correct. In this case however, I have a class ability, Crossbow Training, that makes the crit more devastating.

Crossbow Training (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a bolt ace can select one specific type of crossbow, such as hand crossbow or heavy crossbow. She gains a bonus on damage rolls equal to her Dexterity modifier with that crossbow. Furthermore, when she scores a critical hit with that type of crossbow, her critical modifier increases by 1 (a 2 becomes a 3, for example).

In my case it's a light crossbow, so it's a crit threat 19-20 x3 weapon in my hands. :)

Ah ha!