I'm thinking Halla might spend the first hour showing the Qadiran around the festival and explaining the events to him, if he's amenable.
I have questions, too!
1. When selling our wares, how does rolling for the extra skills (bluff, diplomacy, and appraise) work? Do you roll for all those skills, and add their results to your craft/profession result to get the amount of money you make? Also, in Knute's case specifically, should some portion of the money go to his family instead of him?
2. Would you prefer we post a few hours' worth of activity at a time, or just one? Does it matter?
Just one hour at a time for right now. As for the actual mechanics, I'll throw up a post with customers interacting with Kjell so that you can see the way the skills can interact, but basically:
The result of the craft roll will be the base gold you get for the hour;
The skill checks tack on percentage of that, based on how well you do.
For instance, a craft check of 20 results in goods worth 20 gold, created over the last few weeks/month. Say you do a good job talking up your goods and get a 15 on a diplomacy check. That will add a 5% bonus, or 1 GP worth of extra payment you are able to negotiate from your customer. A negotiation of 20 could bump this to 10%, and so forth. I'll handle the exact percentage, so you don't have to worry about calculating those out. Bluffing might result in a higher percentage, but is also opposed by a sense motive, unlike Diplomacy.
Basically, the final value is not going to be too far away from your core craft/profession check, but you can net a little extra profit. Anyway, once I get a post up for Kjell, it should be clearer how that will work.
Halla: that's completely fine!
Questions! Answers! On my phone, so pardon any typos.
1) I would say it is fairly taboo; he has been told that if he is found practicing, he will be outlawed from the village.
2) I would say in secret, though he might be able to pass some things off as harmless herbal brews-- "Oh, it's just a headache cure", that sort of thing?
3) mutagen effects can totally be passed off as rage because I like that whole idea, as well as swinging them as 'ale'And yeah, I dig the brewing thing too. Probably some resignation regarding that from his family, "but at least it's not witchcraft, and he is good at it"
Ok so, in light of that, there is absolutely no way for Eysteinn to use his enlarge person extract in public without being accused or persecuted, right?
If a thrall were saving up to buy her freedom, how much would she need? I assume that the more useful she is, the more valuable, so being trained as an herbalist would actually put Halla further in debt, both for the cost of the training and for the loss to her owner of a professional rather than an unskilled laborer.
In RL terms, it probably wouldn't cost all that much, as thralls earned practically nothing on top of their room and board, but PC wealth levels probably throw realism out the window.
Bleh, had an unexpectedly long-ass day here. Will post tomorrow later today, and answer questions, but my brain is too mush right now for a proper GM post. Sorry!
@ Eysteinn: Yeah, enlarging in view of the villagers as a whole would definitely get Eysteinn in trouble. Since I know we kind of launched into play before going over that, if you wish to swap out some known formulae as long as we're in this festival/pre-real-combats stage, I'm okay with that, I don't want you to feel you took a choice you can never use. Though I don't suppose it's spoilering much to say that, of course, you will not always be in the village.
@ Joana: Yes, she'd definitely be a more costly one due to the training, though picking a hard price is problematic because, as you say, those PC wealth levels. A specialized slave, which I would say she qualifies as, is listed as 500 GP by the rules; I'm gonna stick with that number for right now as a ballpark estimate.
Related to nothing: went and saw Guardians of the Galaxy today, like half of the rest of geekdom. Had a really solidly fun time.
@ Eysteinn: Yeah, enlarging in view of the villagers as a whole would definitely get Eysteinn in trouble. Since I know we kind of launched into play before going over that, if you wish to swap out some known formulae as long as we're in this festival/pre-real-combats stage, I'm okay with that, I don't want you to feel you took a choice you can never use. Though I don't suppose it's spoilering much to say that, of course, you will not always be in the village.
No, my problem wasn't really that - I already assumed that enlarging in the village was a bad idea.
My worry is, from a coherency viewpoint, my fellow playing characters will have a problem with Eysteinn using visible witchcraft even in a real battle. There's no reason for them to have a different view on that than the standard Ulfen.
Well, Rikka and Halla have their own spells so ought to be slow to cast stones. Dagrun has probably studied enough to have a more open-minded and cosmopolitan view than the typical resident of Hofn. Knute and Kjell would be the most problematic, but if we get into a situation where Eysteinn's abilities prove instrumental in saving the party, they'd hopefully be less likely to rat him out back home.
Well, Rikka and Halla have their own spells so ought to be slow to cast stones. Dagrun has probably studied enough to have a more open-minded and cosmopolitan view than the typical resident of Hofn. Knute and Kjell would be the most problematic, but if we get into a situation where Eysteinn's abilities prove instrumental in saving the party, they'd hopefully be less likely to rat him out back home.
Rikka and Halla are women, who are permitted to practise witchcraft... I thought dien did this on purpose, select only female casters (Eysteinn is a half-caster and trying to hide it, so it kind of makes sense).
Moreover, all our characters are kind of 'odd ducks' and so likely to find other odd ducks acceptable. But I can see where Eysteinn would be hesitant to reveal his abilities initially.
I'll say now that Kjell won't really care all that much. Is witchcraft frowned on and somewhat frightening? Sure. But the same could be said of Kjell, in some ways.
Wait, you mean you might have to roleplay out convincing the other PCs to trust you and not tell the village that you're doing magic?! GASP! ;) (I tease, I tease.)
More seriously, as Rikka pointed out: everyone in the group is a bit of a misfit to some extent as far as being a proper, upstanding Ulfen citizen goes. So, while Eysteinn being leery and wary to use magic in front of the others makes perfect, in-character sense (and I'll greatly enjoy reading his attempts to surreptitiously get away with things), once the cat IS out of the bag due to some instance where he absolutely has to use his magic, I think that, as Joana says, the situation may be to a point where the others are willing to accept what he's doing.
But those sorts of concerns are exactly the sort of thing that I think will be fun to see played out-- and why I was happy to see Eysteinn with the arguably unconventional-for-an-alchemist stat array, since that plays well to him having to use skills beyond just his extracts.
FWIW, I would say that, of his extracts, only the Enlarge Person is really problematic in that regard-- it's hard to pretend you're doing anything but suddenly taking up twice as much space. But a Shield spell is invisible, the cure light wounds is easily passed off as just drinking some sort of healing tincture, and of course there's all sorts of fun options with the disguise. ;)
Wait, you mean you might have to roleplay out convincing the other PCs to trust you and not tell the village that you're doing magic?! GASP! ;) (I tease, I tease.)
More seriously, as Rikka pointed out: everyone in the group is a bit of a misfit to some extent as far as being a proper, upstanding Ulfen citizen goes. So, while Eysteinn being leery and wary to use magic in front of the others makes perfect, in-character sense (and I'll greatly enjoy reading his attempts to surreptitiously get away with things), once the cat IS out of the bag due to some instance where he absolutely has to use his magic, I think that, as Joana says, the situation may be to a point where the others are willing to accept what he's doing.
But those sorts of concerns are exactly the sort of thing that I think will be fun to see played out-- and why I was happy to see Eysteinn with the arguably unconventional-for-an-alchemist stat array, since that plays well to him having to use skills beyond just his extracts.
FWIW, I would say that, of his extracts, only the Enlarge Person is really problematic in that regard-- it's hard to pretend you're doing anything but suddenly taking up twice as much space. But a Shield spell is invisible, the cure light wounds is easily passed off as just drinking some sort of healing tincture, and of course there's all sorts of fun options with the disguise. ;)
That's a great scenario you're painting. I like where this is going.
Halla is due to spend the second hour minding the store for Old Palli, but I'll RP out handing the Pathfinder over to someone else's company first. Is there any particular protocol a thrall should use to approach and address a free man or a jarl without being sent for?
Halla is due to spend the second hour minding the store for Old Palli, but I'll RP out handing the Pathfinder over to someone else's company first. Is there any particular protocol a thrall should use to approach and address a free man or a jarl without being sent for?
Just general deferential courtesy would do, using 'sir' or 'ma'am' or 'lord', etc. On Jolday, the rules are rather relaxed-- so she could get away with anything short of outright rudeness, really.
In hindsight, I should have broken up the last tier of archery scoring a bit further, methinks! If any PCs do further archery competing, I will have the rules be changed in-game so there's a bit more of a difference/reward between, say, a 15, and a 22.
In the 'unimportant details' category, is the skald's name Yngvi or Ynvgi? It's spelled the first name in the list of NPCs on the campaign tab, but you've been spelling it the second way in-thread.
That is a glorious typo on my part in-thread. Yngvi is correct. Sorry about that!
Hey, Faisal's item is in the ACG:
GRAPPLER’S GREASE PRICE 5 GP
WEIGHT 1/2 lb.
When applied to your body,
this pale grease made from
animal fat makes you more
difficult to grapple. While
covered in the grease, you
gain a +4 bonus to CMD against
grapple combat maneuvers.
Applying the grease takes
1 minute, and once applied, its effects last for 10 minutes.
You can’t be wearing armor to gain the benefit of grappler’s
grease. Grappler’s grease is usually sold in small clay jars
that hold five applications.
I suppose now that there's an official item for this, you can't use a cheaper flask of oil for the same purpose from now on. :P
Ha! That'll make a lot of players at my local PFS unhappy. I'll still allow good ol' pig lard and other forms in my home games though. Anyone who's willing to rub rendered animal fat all over their body (and be trailed by wolves who smell it) deserves the CMD bonus.
Happy to RP customer transactions; just thought I'd go ahead and get the rolls out of the way.
No immediate rush to it, but when people get around to it, please stick the usual header stuff into your character alias lines:
Race Class Level | HP X/X | AC-TAC-FF | F+X R+X W+X | Per +x Init +x | anything weird you might have going for you
Like how Knute has his is fine, just as long as you get all that info in there somewhere. Cheers!
Weekend taking its roll, will post tomorrow, I hope.
Not a problem, I usually expect everyone to be kinda slow on the weekends anyway. I often am myself!
Language barrier indeed. I was sooo sure that "your food" was the subject rather than the object in the last sentence. Grrr...
Language barrier indeed. I was sooo sure that "your food" was the subject rather than the object in the last sentence. Grrr...
Yeah, that one was sort of awkward for the sake of the rhyme. :P
Hey gang, just a heads-up, I'll be off at Pacificon this weekend. I probably won't manage much in the way of GM-style posting, though I can likely squeeze in quick answers to questions or the like.
Since I know you'll all be languishing in boredom without me, here's a webcomic I discovered that takes place in the Scandinavian countries, and is pretty awesome if you like a bit of Norse mythology up in your post-apocalyptic survival magic-punk horror story, all illustrated by gorgeous artwork:
Home, but very tired, and see the aforementioned computer problems. Post will be coming tomorrow, assuming my computer can be charged at that point. *faceplant*
RIGHT!
Ah, combats between first-level characters. It's the opposite of rocket tag: If the dice are cold, you can go a dozen rounds without a blow being landed. ;P
Yes, especially 1 vs 1 in a square arena, no strategy, just hoping to roll in the double digits.
On a completely unrelated note... Can I just say that D&D 5th edition is great? I think they more than made up for the 4th edition. I suggest anyone who likes to check out new game systems to give it a read... very positively impressed.
:P
Yeah? I'll give it a look. I've heard nothing but good so far about 5th, even though the one playtest I sat through was excruciating. (But that was more the GM than the system.)
Oops, sorry for the disappearance for a couple days, there. Things got really busy at school.
I'm going to be traveling for a week with my family starting tomorrow. I should have internet access in the evenings, but my online time will be limited until I return next Monday.
Sorry for the slowdown, guys. Busy weekend combined with feeling a little under the weather today. Will get a post up tomorrow.
Dagrun, still with us? I haven't had a post from you since the 9th.
I've PMed Dagrun, but he hasn't made posts with any of his aliases in several weeks, so I'm not having terribly high hopes of a response, although fingers remain crossed.
At the moment, I'm pretty comfortable with this group of 5, so unless there's a strong player feeling of wanting to fill the 6th slot with someone from the reserve list, I will probably just let it stand.
Aside from all that, I hope everyone's been having fun so far and enjoying this method of starting the campaign. I know it's not the usual plunge-you-into-a-fight stuff, but I've been enjoying GMing it and I hope you're liking it as players, too. Feel free to get interaction going between yourselves as players, too, and not just with the NPCs! If you have any feedback on anything I can do differently, I'm all ears.
I'm enjoying it very much so far, personally. It's a shame that we seem to have lost someone, but I don't particularly think we need a sixth. Of course, I don't know what plans there are for after the festival...
Thanks for the feedback, Kjell. Psh, what do you mean, plans after the festival, it's almost like you think something is going to go wrong or something...
Will update later today. *yawn*
....I lied, make it tomorrow. Sorry, guys, I am just brain-dead this week for the intensive writing aspect of things. Rikka's story made me laugh, though, and I'll get up an in-game reaction and so forth as soon as I can.
Hoping Kjell is back with us soon, and, well, I guess it's giving Dagrun a little time too, though I don't think he's around.
*activate stalker skills* Looks like Loup Blanc's last post anywhere was Sunday, so it hasn't been quite a week yet he's been MIA. Oniwaban's been gone since September 11th, which is probably pretty final.
Yeah, I'm guessing Kjell is having busy school times, but Dagrun seems out-out. A shame. Welp!
...Yeeaaaahhhh, I've been... strange lately. Haven't been up to posting. This is pretty much my first time back, sorry guys.
Hey folks,
I'm going to be on vacation for about 10 days starting on Tuesday (7th). I'll try to post but I may not have the opportunity regularly. Feel free to bot me as needed.
(belated) Duly noted, Rikka.
Kjell, I know from your last comment that RL might be interfering, but please give me a post this weekend if you can, as it's over two weeks now since your last post. I do have other players who have expressed interest to me in joining, but the game will be entering a different phase shortly, and I'd really prefer, if I'm going to have drops, to have it early so I can bring in replacement players before things go much further.
I'm having internet issues at my home, which hopefully will be fixed soon, but I might not be able to post this weekend.
GM Dien: The message below covers everything, I believe. I'd like to express particular sorrow about having to drop this game, as it's been a lot of fun and I can see all the hard work you've put in. If you can let another player in, I hope they can do more than I'm able to right now.
This is a message I'm putting up in most of the games I'm in here on the forums. I feel bad about having to do this, but I'm dropping many of the games I'm in on here--pretty much everything that's been moving at a good clip. Life's become very hectic lately, and I don't see things calming down any time soon. Between everything that's been happening, my focus has been spent elsewhere, and I'm just not able to put in the time and effort to keep up with play-by-post right now.
I've enjoyed all the games I've been in here, and it's a lot of fun. You all put it in a ton of effort and excitement, and I'd love to do the same, but right now I'm not able to do that on a regular basis. It would be unfair of me to keep going dark for days or weeks at a time, but I don't think I'll be able to avoid that for a while, and I need to focus on other things right now. I'm really sorry about having to do this, but life has reared its ugly head, and I hope you all understand.
Again, I've enjoyed my time with you all, and hope that you continue to have great gaming in the future. I look forward to the day when I can return to these boards and join new games, and maybe even play with some of you again. But for now, I have to part ways from you all.
--Loup Blanc
Well, I am sorry to lose you, Kjell. :( Good luck with life.
Since we have now lost two of our main melee characters, I will contact people on my reserves list and see if they are still interested.
(@ Halla: not a problem, weekends are often slow in PBP anyway in my experience.)
Okay, the player who was eager for a spot has been invited to join. I'll pick up narration again tomorrow.... er... today-night. Sorry for the little slow-down, losing players always seems to suck some energy out of a game, but I have hopes we can recapture it.