Mangroves of the Desert (Inactive)

Game Master Herkymr the Silly

I'm waiting for shadara to post a response. If I havent seen one by monday I will move us on and she can deal with what happens :)

{ Combat theme }
{General theme/mood}

I'll be at Geekway to the West from Wednesday to Sunday, so I don't know how much I'll be able to post next week.

sounds fun. keep us updated and a synopsis

{ Combat theme }

{General theme/mood}

good songs i think I see the toon more now which was the intent.

I did write a post and tried to post it from work but I must not have been completed. I will get it up here.

The covnention has been fun so far. I don't have access to the Internet except through the hotel's business center, so I'll be quiet unless there's a post that puts Quinten on deck. He'd prefer to go back to the Academy to talk with his father, investigate the other attack, and retrieve the items we originally went there to retrieve.

peoples check.
please reply to this if you are still paying attention.
know things have gotten slow for a little while so I am just checking in with everyone for feedback and to see what your thoughts and sucha re on game.

I'm still here. The convention is over, but I'm behind enough at work that I may be slow to post for the next few days.

Present, just lots going on as is typical

still alive

Still around as well.

as soon as post gets me his file he will be joining us and we have another that was invited originally but unable to at that time that will be joining us now.
one is a ranger and I believe the other is a rogue. should mesh well with the group.

sounds fun. keep us updated and a synopsis

Geekway to the West is the first board game convention I've been to outside my home town. Unlike Gen Con, which I'm told focuses on news, networking, and buying new games before they're available at retail, Geekway is about playing board and card games with friends and strangers.

Of the games I played, the one I think would be of most interest to this group is Roll Player, a dice-rolling game about creating an RPG character. Players start by drawing a race, which gives them attribute modifiers; a class, which determines the attribute values they need to shoot for; and an alignment, which influences the skills they can use without sacrificing points.

Every turn, the first player rolls a number of six-sided dice, then arranges them from lowest to highest. The players take turns picking dice from this pool to put on their character sheet. It's tempting to pick the highest dice, but the lower dice will give players the chance to buy items before their opponents, and the middle dice will provide gold that can be used to buy items or to power class-specific abilities.

Roll Player is fun. Every decision you make, from what dice to pick and where to put them to when to use skills and powers, involves trade-offs. It's a dice game, so luck plays a role. However, because each attribute has a dice-modifying power associated with it, there are ways to mitigate the luck. For example, placing a die in one of the three slots for Strength lets you flip that die or any other die on your sheet to its opposite side, which can turn a lowly 1 into a mighty 6.

Because of small print runs, Roll Player is hard to get. If you're interested in playing it, there is a Kickstarter for the expansion. I'm tempted to back it so I can get the base game, but I'm not sure my main board game group will appreciate the theme enough for the game to see the table.

I also played a D&D-inspired push-your-luck game called Welcome to the Dungeon. In Welcome, players take turns placing monsters in the dungeon or taking items from the character they all share. As they do that, surviving the dungeon gets harder and harder. When someone no longer thinks the character will be able to survive the dungeon, he or she can pass. Once all but one player has passed, the remaining player has to take the character through the dungeon.

If the character dies, the player is bloodied, or if he's already been bloodied, knocked out of the game. But if the character lives, the player takes a card representing a successful run. If it's his second successful run with any character, he wins.

I only got to play Welcome once. It didn't grab me to the extend Roll Player did, but I enjoyed it. Most of the monsters in the dungeon are hidden, so it's always dangerous to make a run. However, you get to see the monsters you personally place in the dungeon. It was fun tying to decide whether to take the items that would trivialize the monsters I knew away in the hope someone else would be forced to go through the dungeon without them, or to take other items in the hope others would think I'd made the dungeon too difficult and pass to force me to guide the character through it.

I played one other RPG-oriented game, the lighthearted adventure Too Many Bones. In TMB, players each take control of a mechanically-inclined warrior known as a Gearloc. The chosen Gearlocs form a party and travel through the land, fighting monsters, killing rats, and negotiating with witches and seers as they try to find whatever Big Bad Evil Guy is terrorizing the realm at that time.

I love Too Many Bones. It's one of the few games I've gone out of my way to play over and over. It has a steep learning curve and at times punishing difficulty swings, but it has tactical, tense combat and satisfying and fast character progression. It condenses the "zero-to-hero" experience that makes games like Final Fantasy, Pathfinder and Descent so compelling into two-five hours.

Having said that, I don't think Too Many Bones is a great fit for people who are busy or who lack a steady, rules-savvy gaming group. It's difficult to learn because each character has unique abilities. That would be fine if TMB were cheap and easy to get, but it's not. To my understanding, the base game costs $125 and only comes with four characters. The three other characters cost $25 each. They aren't required to enjoy the game, but getting at least one (the ranger Ghille) is a good idea. That puts the game's base cost at $150 and the minimum price for all the characters at $200.

The other good games I played include Vikings Gone Wild; a lighthearted deck builder about brewing beer and raiding opponents' villages; Sagrada, a dice-rolling game about assembling stain-glassed windows; Pyramid Poker, a fun poker variant that uses wooden blocks and drafting in place of cards; Roll for the Galaxy, a dice-rolling, role-taking game about space exploration and trade; Terraforming Mars, a medium-weight Euro where the players vie for prestige as their corporations turn the red planet into something habitable; and Merchants of Araby, which casts the players as merchants who must build an entourage and form temporary alliances to survive treacherous trade routes. The guy who taught Merchants of Araby was so plastered he got most of the rules wrong, but I liked the game enough that I still bought it.

Thanks for the update. I appreciate that you took the time to really share and not just say..it was good and it was fun. thanks

I will throw up a post tomorrow and we should be moving again.

I want the grop to decide what they are going to do

1) get the bow
2)find the oracles
3) get the girl healed
4) something else.

Probably best to role play it out but that is up to you all

I second that I have new game ideas that I will be on the lookout for and research a bit more.

Oh lol I just realized I'm a bit out of sync with where the group is... I will post something soon bringing me to current events

I'll be posting soon. I'm just about to join the campaign, thanks, Herk for pushing me to build a character. I think I should be able to participate more now than I would have a few months ago.

figured that I would wait on my post until I know which direction group wishes to go.
please let me know

I'm sorry, I thought I would post tonight, but it isn't happening. Tomorrow I have to work two jobs, so I won't be able to post then, either. Hopefully Friday or Saturday, so I won't hold up the group.

Sooo... I am kinda stuck at the moment character wise. I see that we all came back to the Linder Lost but there have been no posts as to what the other characters did for all those hours or where they are at now. I need to engage with the group to move the story forward which includes the revelation of the missing pack and the decision of what priority we need to focus on. I do not want to place other player characters and so I am waiting for posts from everyone else as to if they want to describe what they did for all those hours or at least where they are now in my story timeline.

I know that Memorial Day weekend has many people out and in nature and that is fine. I am not upset I just wanted to explain why I can no longer post until I know where the other characters are.

I'm glad my post on Geekway was helpful. There's a good chance the friends I went with will do a podcast about our first major convention. If we cover anything I left out of the post, I'll link it here.

Graghhh, welcome to the game.

Shadara, I made a post in the gameplay thread to move us in that direction.

thanks quinten and gragh. Ill post tonight
I am going to assume from lack of response that youa re going bow direction.

just note gragh...use italics for thoughts and bold for speaking

I don't see a conflict between the goals. To my understanding, we were originally told to spend a week or two in Fifth Port getting supplies. That was after Mang took charge of the girl, so it's unlikely she's in dire condition. Hopefully, we'll be able to recover the bow in a few days, then set out.

If I remember correctly, we were told that the best way to cure her is to find the Oracle of Water.

At some point, we should also:
1. Go back to the Academy so Quinten can pick up the book on Sentinels, the book on binding, and his father's gift.
2. Stop by a monastery on the way out of town to talk to the tiefling who knows how to fight rakshasas.
3. Find Richard's home to help him recover his memories.
4. Find the remnants of Mang's people to learn more about the rakshasa's attack.

Thanks, Herk, it was late enough and I was tired enough and I must have mixed it up. I'll watch and make sure my thoughts are italicized for future posts.
I haven't made up my mind for what direction to go; technically, I haven't even joined the group yet. I thought I would simply give some options to move things along. I have no preference yet.

so Quentin..... the bag EACH of you received is not tied to the post you flagged at all.

This is what is in the bags by name

Okay. Thanks for clarifying.

So what's happening now is shadara got the bow stolen and now we need to find it?

Yes.

Keerikey that was a lot of writing... Herk, I'm gonna send you a PM about my plan, but not right now it is late.

Nice addition to my story arc Kharn. That fits in with the erratic behavior that shadara is exhibiting. Having Mary mad at her is one thing but you in the room to witness, AND THEN JOIN IN, was perfect. I have a reason behind the play that I am going for at the moment that I sent to Herk to see what he thinks.

Just a heads up. I was travelling this week with a couple 16 hour work days over the last two weeks. This is going to continue/increase over the month of June and possibly into July. Major project at work and then Cisco Live at the end of the month. Just wanted you all to know. I tried to think about posting last night but was so tired I could not focus well at all. I will do my best to stay on top of the game play and beg forgiveness in advance for holding up the game any more than I already have.

CCNA yet?

no gonna test for CCent at end of June and then track down the collaboration track.

just keep us in the loop

Hey, sorry, I was thinking about how I was going to play things out in the Linder Lost and then I had a crazy work week. Had a few 10 hour+ days. I'll attempt to post more regularly and in small amounts if I have to.

small amounts are usually easier to digest. Few o us ever realy post in large clumps unless we have to and that includes me. If game messes up RL then it isn't worth playing. We as a group monitor each other and figure out whats up if need be.

Speaking of such

JERRAM what's up

I'm still figuring out a few things here. I thought I had to go into hero lab to figure out the dice rolls. Appears I don't have to. I will repost with correct info. Also, wondering exactly how I'm supposed to show that everyone else needs to use a perception check?

this is how.... [ooc---] everyone perception [backspace ooc]it will look like this
everyone perception

the how to format your text spoiler at bottom of this page / site to see how to format if you have questions.

heya I will be gone til saturday night so don't expect much til monday
going camping with the fam. WHooo hoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice herk, I was checking in. worked another long night last night and back early this morning. I will try to post thru the haze later.

I need input from the following people
JERRAM
RICHARD

and to lesser degree
graggh -- let me know what youa re going to do about them entering the guild

mang -- use the idea you talked about or give me an idea of where you are headed so I can keep you moving as well.

Ok! I have a question for you before I do though to help me out. Check your inbox.

Will post as soon as I can. I've had a terribly busy work week. Probably Sunday or Monday post - hopefully.

Ok, got my post in with Ugmug, going to have to wait on the profile because the Paizo site is currently moving at the speed of dial-up...

Will have something up later tonight

Okay, guys, I need a little help here. I'm thinking about using tangle. I have equipment trick (rope) in my feats. I have Throw Anything in my feats, but what do I need to do to make it a ranged touch attack? I'm not sure if I'll use it or not, but I want to know how to do this right in case I decide to use it. I need to know whether I use it now or later anyway. Thanks in advance.

Richard, it's good to hear from you. Remember to update your hit points. I think you'd be at or near full health between the wand, the spell you cast, and rest.

Graghh, the description for Tangle says:

You can throw a coiled length of rope as a ranged weapon. If you hit with a ranged touch attack, the target becomes entangled. It can cut or burst the rope, or escape with a DC 15 Escape Artist check. The rope must be unsecured to use this trick.

To make a ranged touch attack, roll 1d20+your Dexterity modifier+your base attack bonus+any special modifiers. For you, I believe that would be:

1d20+4 [your Dex modifier] + 4 [your BAB as a Level 6 rogue] = 1d20+8

To succeed, you need to beat the target's touch AC, which is generally 10 + the target's Dex + any deflection or dodge bonuses they get from class features or magic items. Because touch AC doesn't include the AC bonus from armor, natural armor or shields, attacks against it should be reliable.

I've had trouble accessing this site at home for the past few days, so my replies may be slow.

I have also been having trouble accessing the site from home. since sunday I believe.

May be spotty in posting. I am travelling to Bend tonight for work and will be there until Friday with Wednesday and Thursday being late nights. Next week on Monday and Wednesday evenings I will be working late and that Friday I fly out to Las Vegas for a Week long convention. I will do my best to keep up but wanted to let you know ahead of time. This is nowhere close to the complete list of crazy that is happening this summer but I am hoping that it will be spread far enough apart that I can post every other day at least.