Several stacked horizontal shelves hold a number of small, straw-lined bird cages. A stack of parchment, three quills, a pot of ink, and a pile of tiny cylindrical objects cover a nearby table, while a small wooden door is in one corner of the room.
There is nothing magical here, the cylinders are for carrying messages: roll up the note, put it in the cylinder, attach to a pidgeon. Rinse and repeat.
At the top of the spiral stairs, a wide hall stretches for thirty feet before ending in a door. Two alcoves on both sides of the hall hold torches that burn with white light. Each torch illuminates a pedestal, on each of which rests a battered and broken steel helm.
As soon as the first of you (Bollwerk I assume, because of the mass 'Up' posts) a loud horn call sounds, echoing blasts bouncing off of the stone walls! No sooner does the blast fade, then a huge minotaur with glowing red eyes lowers his head and charges!
The creature slams into the paladin, horns driving deep into his shoulder and abdomen. 12 hp damage Bollwerk The force of the blow pushes Bollwerk against the wall, then the beast steps back and readies his massive axe.
ROUND ONE: Map will follow shortly, but you are all strung out on the steps with the minotaur blocking the top. Bollwerk suffers a -2 to any d20 rolls involving attacks due to being pressed between the mino and the wall. Bollwerk; mino; rest of the PCs.
M Human Wizard (Abjurer) 6/Archmage 1 ; HP 43/43 | AC 16, Touch 12, Flat 14 (Amor +4, Dex +2) | Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +8 | Init +2 | Perception +10
"That's not good!" Fabian says, rather redundantly.
If he is able to include all of them in the area, he will cast Haste on Bollwerk, Kazul, Farasha, Sjurd, and himself. (Did I forget somebody? If so, target them, and omit himself.)
This will give everybody a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC; remember that dodge bonuses do stack. Your move speed increases by 30ft, to a maximum of double your normal move speed. Finally, if you make a full attack, you get one additional attack with a natural or manufactured weapon.
If, on the other hand, he isn't able to include everybody in the effect of the spell, he'll delay until it looks like he can.
Unable to get a clear shot with her bow, Farasha quickly draws on the power of her faith and throws her hand towards the minotaur, as a loud ringing sound like a crescendo of twinkling bells fills the air, motes of twinkling dust somehow power through towards the minotaur and land on its axe.
Casting shatter. DC 17 will save from the minotaur or its axe is destroyed.
Let's get this going. Near the end of the first book, don't want to hold it up any longer for this map.
The stairs is 5' wide. As you ascend, the room opens up to your left, and that's the area the minotaur came from to gore Bollwerk. That means, as you look up, the mino is at the top of the stairs, Bollwerk is against the wall on your right. There is no opening to the room (up and left) as long as the minotaur stands there. The order on the steps from top to bottom: Bollwerk(at the top), Kazul (top steps, on the mino's right) Farasha, Sjurd, Fabian. The minotaur has cover from everyone except Bollwerk and Kazul.
Bollwerk's shield flashes, but the beast shrugs off the effects of the intense light. Fabian's (Haste) spell covers you, and your hearts begin to pump adrenaline fiercely.
The crescendo of the Shatter fills the air, and the minotaur looks down quizzically at its rapidly vibrating axe, before it breaks into a hundred pieces.
Kazul cuts a deep gash in the minotaur's calf, drawing a fierce growl from the beast. In response, the minotaur falls back, stomping and growling. Just then, this person steps through the door. She points at Bollwerk and speaks a few words of power, to no effect.
Bollwerk Will Save:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
ROUND TWO: PCs, then minotaur (AC 14/9/14), then Jeslyn.
Farasha wastes no time capitalising on the minotaur's retreat, ghosting up the stairs with her dress skirt flying as she moves herself in to a corner with a better vantage point on both the minotaur and the newcomer.
Raising her bow she continues to assault the minotaur, hoping to take out at least one of the enemies before they have a chance to recover.
M Human Wizard (Abjurer) 6/Archmage 1 ; HP 43/43 | AC 16, Touch 12, Flat 14 (Amor +4, Dex +2) | Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +8 | Init +2 | Perception +10
Trapped in the back, Fabian activates the Scale of Terendelev that he has, engaging its levitation effect. He rises himself to the ceiling, and pulls himself along in the stairwell, but not so far as to reach the front lines. His goal is to get about 10' behind the front lines, so that he can activate his Protective Ward and have it help protect the people who might actually be fighting the minotaur.
Everybody remember you have Haste up, which gives a bonus to AC, a faster move, and an additional attack if you use the Full Attack action.
Bolwerk, the minotaur is not adjacent to us anymore if you see the map so only 1 attack. I guess he withdrew last round. Assuming Bolwerk moves up taking the AoO, Kazul follows along, hoping minotaur does not have combat reflexes and swings at minotaur.
Kazul, Farasha and Bollwerk combine to hurt the minotaur severely, it thrashes and howls in agony! But it fights on...
Its fists slam into the paladin, denting armor and crushing bone. Crit! 9 hp dmg, Bollwerk. Then the beast lowers its horns and pierces Kazul's shoulder. -6 hp Kazul
Then Jeslyn acts. Once again she casts a spell, dark fire surrounding her hands as she strides forward. She reaches and places that hand on Bollwerk, the fire instantly transferring to him. the full fury of the abyssal flame inflict serious wounds course through the tieflings frame. The smell of burnt flesh is in the air... -17 hp Bollwerk, you have an AoO if you wish.
Bollwerk Will save:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
ROUND THREE: PCs, mino 16/11/16 (messed up the AC before); Jeslyn AC 24/17/22.
HP 27/27 : AC 23 CMD 22 TAC 10 FAC 23 : Longsword+10; 1d8+5 : Sling+3; 1d4+4 : F+9 R+5 W+8 : INIT+1 Perc+0 CMB+9 LoH 5/5 2d6(+4)
Taking a step back Bollwerk calls upon his bond. A glowing nimbus surrounds his sword and bolsters his strength. +1to enchantmentLooking at the demon just arrived he tries to find out what it is.
KnowPl:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Finally he uses his last LoH to heal himself.
Loh:2d6 + 5 ⇒ (5, 1) + 5 = 11
Farasha hits with an arrow, piercing the minotaur's leg. Then Kazul follows with a dreadful blow, severing the creature's right arm and sending it crashing to the floor. His quick step and second attack, though does not hit. The twisted half-elf sneers.
"There is no stopping what is coming," she says, "you can kill me, but Kenabres is only the beginning!"
She lashes out with her scythe, slicing Kazul from side to side. -11 hp Kazul
So you all know, I had to drop that campaign (see above) because of the life and health issues. All is right with the world now, so I will take another stab at it.
I have a sarcastic/humorous streak, so get used to it.
I also believe that we should all have fun doing this, so we will! Don't hesitate to ask questions. Again, you can see how I handle it if you read the RotRL thread.
Please read it, if you think that its something you can enjoy, we will have a great time.
Some of the meat and potatoes of how I will run this:
I mentioned I will handle Perception and Initiative rolls, and while that is mostly true, players are encouraged to state actions and provide rolls to go with those actions.
In combat turns, a post may look like this:
Khalad roars in rage at the goblin leader. "By the Lord in Iron, you will pay for that!" Stepping forward, he takes a mighty swing with his axe, looking to cleave the creature in two!
Round 1:
Khalad takes a 5' step to K5 and swings at the goblin chief. Attack Rolls:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 101d12 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
The purpose is to allow you to rp your actions as your character without any meta-knowledge. I then craft your posts into an end of round summation. "But Old Guy", you say, "what if another's action makes mine worthless?" Good question, that's when you throw in an if/then statement to cover the possibilities. as long as I know your intent, I will make it work for you.
I will make every attempt to provide encounter maps for each battle. It just goes smoother. I've used RpTools in the past, and am investigating newer programs. Suggestions are welcome.
There appears to be a problem with the Gameplay tab. It is stuck on a post that I since removed to this tab, now I can't add anything to or get off of that older post in the Gameplay tab.
Can anyone see anything other than what I just described? Any suggestions?
Male Humanly Awesome 'n Totally Rockin' Paladin of Greatness
I actually tried to post in there(I previewed it) and I got nothing. Yeah I would go into Website Feedback, bud. They'll be the only ones who could fix it for you.
Must be some kind of bug with posting the 1st post in a gameplay thread and then deleting it. I've never heard of anything like that happening so I'm just guessing.
I actually tried to post in there(I previewed it) and I got nothing. Yeah I would go into Website Feedback, bud. They'll be the only ones who could fix it for you.
Must be some kind of bug with posting the 1st post in a gameplay thread and then deleting it. I've never heard of anything like that happening so I'm just guessing.
I've got limited GM experience. But you could try starting a new Gameplay thread and connecting this Discussion and the Recruitment thread to it.
I think I remember a similar bug, which I did just that. However, I think everything fixed itself the next day. I think the database has to reset and connect over a night when they must do some maintenance.
Lots of "I think"'s, because I started my campaign many months ago and have a horrible memory for things that I'm not trying to remember.
I tried posting something in the gameplay thread, and the post just vanished after I hit submit. I would probably just make a new game once you have your players and make this one inactive.
It DID show up in my campaigns tab, as if I had succeeded in posting something. If I do not get accepting into the game, please move me from the active players :D
I just attempted to post in the Gameplay tab and mine vanished as well.
One thing I noticed is the thread tree:
Paizo / Messageboards / Paizo Community / Online Campaigns / Play-by-Post / Lets get to it shall we?~
When I hover my pointer over the "Lets get to it shall we?~", I get a shadow text box that copies your previous post that reads, "Some of the meat and potatoes of how I will run this:..."
For the Magnificent Seven, Congrats!! You are about to embark on a an epic (mythic??) journey that could well see the end of Golarion.
So a few things:
Figure out now the basics of how you will want me to run you when you have to take leave. As I learn your PC's personality, I will get a better handle on this.
Plan on sanity breaks. I can tell you now I will take them, I have trips to Origins, GenCon, and Historicon all planned, so we will have those weekends away.
I intend to have a swift pace. To that end, you will be leveling on a schedule.
We will start out using Init order for combat. I would like you to rp your actions, and give me the crunch rolls in spoilers. This leaves a bit of doubt as to whether someone succeeds or not. Plan accordingly. I believe this worked very well for me before. You can check with Dieter and Kazul for confirmation. Or they can tell me I'm full of it, and I will adapt.
Trust in your GM, I will work the actions and if/thens for the benefit of the story. You won't regret it.
Male Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager, Urban) 5 / Fighter (Unbreakable) 1 -- HP 67 : AC 20 CMD 21 TAC 11 FAC 19 : F+9 R+4 W+4 : DR 4/- INIT+2 Perception+10
Woot woot, I say!
For everyone's reference: Our GM has noted "Figure out now the basics of how you will want me to run you when you have to take leave." To that end, I highly recommend that you include basic information in your tagline. I would advise you put pertinent information (as seen above) in the "Class" field of your profile. That way, Old Guy GM has all information necessary to bot you in combat.
Why are you in Kenabres right now? Do you live here? Just in for the Festival? What are your short and long term plans here? Are you planning on joining an organization? Building one from scratch? What contacts do you have here? Family? Friends? Comrades in arms? Just a drifter on the high plains of Mendev (Lucille)? Post your pre-campaign rp to these (and other stuff as you see fit) in the gameplay section, but PLEASE WAIT until I get my intro posts up, which will be tonite. Don't worry about long expositions, just give a paragraph and we will get off and running.
You must read the WotR Players guide, if you haven't already. Know your campaign trait inside and out. Know your history!!! The history of the crusades is a recurring theme in this AP, and it only adds to the experience. Knowledge: History rolls will add to what's in the Guide. Knowing Kenabres will help with the questions above. Redemption is a key theme. Learn it. Live it. That said, not everyone can be, nor wants to be, redeemed.
Male Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager, Urban) 5 / Fighter (Unbreakable) 1 -- HP 67 : AC 20 CMD 21 TAC 11 FAC 19 : F+9 R+4 W+4 : DR 4/- INIT+2 Perception+10
What is everyone good at doing?
Names are listed beside each skill beginning with the highest modifier. Highlighted skills have no ranks invested by party members, and the highest natural modifier is listed if the skill is usable untrained.
M Human Wizard (Abjurer) 6/Archmage 1 ; HP 43/43 | AC 16, Touch 12, Flat 14 (Amor +4, Dex +2) | Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +8 | Init +2 | Perception +10
Hello all -- looking forward to the game. My character is Fabian, abjurer and Riftwarden Orpahan (who perhaps hopes to be a riftwarden himself oneday.) (He doesn't usually use his last name, but the alias "Fabian" was taken, so I added the last name to the alias. It's the last name of his adoptive mother, Alissa Moldonado, a paladin of Iomedae whom he respects tremendously even though he generally doesn't use her last name.)
He's just finished his studies as an apprentice wizard. He's a Kenbares native, and is eager to join the crusades and fight the good fight. Doubtless, the reality of the horror of it all will wear him down over time.
Re: sanity breaks, I've got a trip to PaizoCon planned at the beginning of July, and will be offline a few days for that. I'm also moving sometime later in July, and will probably need to take a few days off then, although it will depend on what's happening; I may get net access and be able to keep connecting while away.
Looks to be a fun group. I'll try not to be too annoying, but I cannot make any promises, Sera's personality is modeled after my 3 year olds, so you can imagine how this will go.
I am on a lot during the days, and can post frequently from work. Nights and weekends are a bit slower for me, but I am still usually good for a post or two during that time.
As far as GMNPCing, Sera would default to her crossbow first, assuming she's armored up, and only resort to her spells if things are proving unusually resilient or tough to hit. She's still coming to understand her sorcery, so there will be a few growing pains.
The info at the top of the tag line is great, new since I was here last, and very helpful!
Opening posts are up! Let me know if you can't see the links, there should be two maps and a picture. Using Google docs on this. I used photobucket before, and it was very annoying.
So place your posts, once I have one from everyone, we will begin!
hp: 17/18; AC:18 T:14, FF:14; Fort 4, Ref 4, Will 1; BAB 2 Melee 6 Rngd 6 CMB 2/6 CMD 17; Init: +4 Perc +3 Ammo:14/20 bp, 17/23 bull, 10/10 CI bull, 3/3 Cart, 2/2 CI Cart, 31/32 Arrow
Links look good -- everything's working for me.
Planned vacations are a road trip around Memorial Day, and PaizoCon. Work get's crazy around quarter-end (I'm a corporate accountant) and especially year-end, but the rest of the time things are pretty consistent. I'm on Eastern Time.
I like to leave parts of my background open to give hooks, so anything I haven't detailed is fair game. I'm a "Child of the Crusades". My parents were Crusaders, and my father made me promise on his deathbed that I would come to Kenabres and learn the family history -- do as much or as little with that as you like.
M Human Wizard (Abjurer) 6/Archmage 1 ; HP 43/43 | AC 16, Touch 12, Flat 14 (Amor +4, Dex +2) | Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +8 | Init +2 | Perception +10
One thing -- is anybody else a Riftwarden Orphan?
It says in the WotR Player's Guide that all Riftwarden Orphans should be siblings. I'm guesting that this may not work well, as there's a halfling sorcerer, and my character is a human wizard.....
GM: are you sticking to this requirement? (I don't know how this plays out in the AP, of course, so I have no idea how hard it is to modify.) If so, then we should think a bit....
It says in the WotR Player's Guide that all Riftwarden Orphans should be siblings. I'm guesting that this may not work well, as there's a halfling sorcerer, and my character is a human wizard.....
GM: are you sticking to this requirement? (I don't know how this plays out in the AP, of course, so I have no idea how hard it is to modify.) If so, then we should think a bit....
No, I'm not. There are plenty of orphans in a war zone, and I will make it work for the story.
Seraphyna, you lose the Eschew Materials feat due to your archetype. Also I think your Disable Device is +8 (+4 skill, +3 Dex, +1 archetype).
Fixed the Disable Device math, I took Eschew Materials as her normal 1st level feat because I just cannot fathom how my blood inspires me to grab X and Y item and used them like Z just to make my magic work. I just have a mental block over Sorcerers with components.
Male Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager, Urban) 5 / Fighter (Unbreakable) 1 -- HP 67 : AC 20 CMD 21 TAC 11 FAC 19 : F+9 R+4 W+4 : DR 4/- INIT+2 Perception+10
I think what makes it so jarring is that the very first adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, likewise starts during a festival in a small town. We are thinking that we will hear a nice speech, meet some of the local townsfolk, swear to fight in the crusade, then be sent on a mission.
hp: 17/18; AC:18 T:14, FF:14; Fort 4, Ref 4, Will 1; BAB 2 Melee 6 Rngd 6 CMB 2/6 CMD 17; Init: +4 Perc +3 Ammo:14/20 bp, 17/23 bull, 10/10 CI bull, 3/3 Cart, 2/2 CI Cart, 31/32 Arrow
Dieter Stolzdorf wrote:
I think what makes it so jarring is that the very first adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, likewise starts during a festival in a small town. We are thinking that we will hear a nice speech, meet some of the local townsfolk, swear to fight in the crusade, then be sent on a mission.
NOPE. Everything blows up.
I know. It's like, the only time I ever got to *actually* go to the party was Ravenmoor. And that sure turned out well...
I think what makes it so jarring is that the very first adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, likewise starts during a festival in a small town. We are thinking that we will hear a nice speech, meet some of the local townsfolk, swear to fight in the crusade, then be sent on a mission.
NOPE. Everything blows up.
LOL Dieter!!! That's twice I've sent you to a party only to have it crashed in the first page!
This one's a bit different from the goblins though...
Male Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager, Urban) 5 / Fighter (Unbreakable) 1 -- HP 67 : AC 20 CMD 21 TAC 11 FAC 19 : F+9 R+4 W+4 : DR 4/- INIT+2 Perception+10
Using a PC as a socket puppet for a little narrative exposition is usually fine. Unless, of course, Fabian betrays the party on the very first day and keeps all of the scales to himself...
Agreed, Dieter. I wouldn't do that to a party of mine. Having him grab the scale to move the story is one thing. Making him do it to spring a curse or geas is quite another.
