|
Season Five was when the factions moved from nation based to what they are today and there were various letters from each faction head at that time that gave some hint of these changes and what to look out for in season five scenarios specific to that faction the relevant letters for this scenario are shown below
Determined Delver,
We leave Varisia a safer place, thanks to the efforts of you and your fellow Pathfinders. The long-slumbering Krune is now forever at rest, and the masters Aram Zey and Kreighton Shaine personally traversed the Hao Jin Tapestry to escort the runelord’s immensely powerful artifacts back to the Grand Lodge for study.
No doubt you have heard of the unexpected discovery made while agents explored the depths beneath Janderhoff and Koldukar: we learned of a long-lost dwarven Sky Citadel in what was once Sarkoris and we now know as the Worldwound. An expedition into a demon-ravaged wasteland is perhaps our most dangerous undertaking yet, and making the journey will require considerable preparation. Fortunately, Venture-Captain Jorsal of Lauterbury and Venture-Captain Thurl have been hard at work in Nerosyan for years, and we have an excellent base of operations awaiting the arrival of loyal agents. I have no doubt that you, one of the most reliable Pathfinders I have had the pleasure to work with, will be among the first to travel north for this grand undertaking.
In the coming months, we will need to acquire as many outside resources as possible to ensure success. Representatives of the Decemvirate have already approached the dwarves of the Five Kings Mountains for aid, and they have agreed to assist us in reaching the citadel so long as they can reclaim it once we have explored it to our satisfaction. The details are still being worked out, and negotiators are on their way to Nerosyan to finalize the details.
Your mission is, as always, the Pathfinders’ mission. Ensure that you are doing everything you can to make this expedition a success, and in the event that complications should arise, I will need trustworthy Pathfinders on hand to send in and resolve the problem without causing an international debacle.
Explore, Report, Cooperate!
Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin
Faithful Servant of the Past,
Returning to Osirion was a bittersweet experience, for as much as I appreciated the sweatless warmth of the desert sands, I am also the bearer of dire news.
When I walked into the royal apartments where the Ruby Prince reclined, I could see that at least one of my cures had halted the ongoing decay of our monarch’s arm, but the damage was hardly undone. To say that he was impatient to be rid of this affliction would be akin to calling a boot-trodden asp mildly irritated; every other breath was accompanied by a curse disparaging our tireless work. Although I assured him that this cure would take a few days to work, he furiously reprimanded everyone present before calling upon his own power to crush the infection himself. In a flash of light, he banished the Thassilonian affliction but at great cost to his own health. It pained me to see him taxed so heavily by the spellcasting, but it pained me even more when he dismissed me from his service.
You and I are no longer servants of the Ruby Prince in anything but spirit. We have not been exiled, but neither are we welcome and honored. I spent three days humbly requesting that you not share my fate, but our prince’s counselors were unwilling to hear me; however, do not despair—especially those who might have returned to life as a Risen Guard.
I still have my title of the Sapphire Sage, for it was not granted to me by the reigning dynasty. In fact, it is not a self-proclaimed title but one that I inherited a rather long time ago when I became a Jeweled Sage. These sages have long existed in Osirion to protect the kingdom’s historical integrity, guide its rulers, and guard the secrets of the past. The Ruby Prince may have released me from his service, but in truth he has allowed us the opportunity to extend our protection to far more than just Osirion.
I long acted with the understanding that I was the only remaining sage, but several years ago I communicated with a venerable man named Zuberi who promised me information about one of the other sages should I assist him. Someone interrupted the ritual he needed, and the trail died with him.
Assist the Pathfinder Society, and I shall work to reestablish our network of contacts. Ensure that you keep alert for any signs of the Jeweled Sages, learn what you can, and report back to me. Do not, however, pester everyone you meet. If any other sage is alive and has not made himself known, I do not doubt he would frown on tactless, indiscriminant inquiries.
Together we shall persevere,
Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage
Arodus, 4713
Fellow Entrepreneur,
Despite its rich markets and the ravenous appetite for exotic goods, I am comforted to think that this is the last that I shall see of Varisia for a long while. I often mentioned my homeland when greeting local merchants, but instead of prompting curiosity or hospitality, being the direct representative of a nation seemed to establish me as an invader who had designs to carve up the region for Qadira’s benefit. Fortunately the dwarves of Janderhoff were not so easily ruffled, and I suspect the first caravans shall arrive in Katheer in another month. You played an instrumental role in securing this trade route, and the entire empire thanks you.
Being viewed askance for being a foreign agent in a distant land is nothing new, and several regions—particularly those dominated by our competition—have often restricted Qadiran shipments. Thus far we have fought every competitor, rarely showing any willingness to shake a hand over anything but a transaction. The crusaders of Mendev, who accept soldiers of any background and train them to work together, might serve as an example for us. Let us build friendships and alliances with one or more powerful trade partners.
I am sending agents throughout the Inner Sea, but we have a history together that I shall honor; I trust your logic and intuition more than most, and it will be your opinion that helps to shape the future of our faction’s economic might. If a prospective trade partner seems a good fit, court that organization as best you can. If someone offers to ally with us whom you believe unsuitable, I trust you to reject him or her politely.
To our shared fortunes,
Trade-Prince Aaqir al’Hakam
|
But so serious you was .)
Also Argazhon I am aware weekends are bad for you but I will not stop the scenario every weekend... if that is unacceptable to you now would be a good time to leave the game.
I have absolutely no problem with the your issue of high workload in real life. I respect this. We are all 'live people' and real life comes first. But under any load you can go and to warn about this situation. I think you, as a GM, expect this from your players. And, I think that the player who will do such a 'vanishing' as a minimum would have received a reprimand - or even left the game as maximum. There is no any difficulty and no logical explanation in the 21st century not to find opportunities to write via computer or phone: "I couldn't post for a few days." This is my personal opinion.
I have no complaints and plan to continue to play - but I want to draw your attention that in a game about mutual respect should play both sides.
Thank you.
|
|
Putting together some maps for the rest of the scenario hope to post an update to the gameplay thread tomorrow. I am also aware I am not posting as often as I would like. I suspect it will remain at a roughly every other day level as that seems a pace I am more comfortable with when I gm a play by post.
|
Rizzlefunk stares down the first creature and finds his initial fear realised as the creatures fight on pure instinct and are not affected by his jedi mind tricks.
These are not the Pathfinders you're looking for. Move along.
On the topic of Life Link, the ability is exactly the same, only that Unchained added one sentence (bolded), and it seems only to clarify the use.
Life Link (Su)
Starting at 1st level, a summoner forms a close bond with his eidolon. Whenever the eidolon takes enough damage to send it back to its home plane, the summoner can sacrifice any number of hit points. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage done to the eidolon. This can prevent the eidolon from being sent back to its home plane.
Life Link (Su)
At 1st level, a summoner forms a close bond with his eidolon. Whenever the eidolon takes enough damage to send it back to its home plane, as a reaction to the damage, the summoner can sacrifice any number of hit points he has without using an action. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage dealt to the eidolon. This can prevent the eidolon from being sent back to its home plane.
The important thing to note is when you can use the ability: when the eidolon takes enough damage to send it back to its home plane. Ie. when it's hp would drop to negative Con score, ie. when it would "die".
|
|
Game has now been reported. There is the not inconsiderable matter of the chronicle sheets which I will look into some more tomorrow.
Some day job or downtime activity rolls would be helpful.
What would also be helpful is some feedback. This was my first PBP as a GM and it did not go as smoothly as I would like. Your thoughts on what went well what went not so well would be appreciated.
|
You have a Day Job Check in the Recruitment thread for me, along with almost everyone else.
As for Advice, if you haven't read Painlord's guide for PbP GMing, I highly suggest you do so. The GM that pulled me into playing on these boards highly recommended it, and if I run anything on here (that's still up in the air, but I've been thinking about it.), I'm going to try my best to use it. (Considering what I'm saying, I really should, so people can silently judge me at my try at this...)
As for criticisms, first of all, maps are important for Pathfinder. Trying to run without them did not work well at all. It's not hard to just get a Google Drive account open and set the maps in there with the 'everyone can edit' toggle active. If you're worried about it, go in and play around with it before starting a second game(plus you can dump our chronicle sheets on there for us to grab). Secondly, okay, we all failed to keep up a post a day pace, and that's something that really should be pushed for. I know that running a game is like herding cats to water and making them drink*, but ultimately, you do drive the pace.
However, you did get better as the scenario continued. All of the criticisms I just listed? They were all in the first half of the scenario. Maps were ready to go by the wyvern fight, and you stayed on top of them. You started pushing us forward, especially once we got to the inn. And ultimately, you did the one thing that was the most important: You finished the session. Thankfully, I've yet to have been in a scenario that hasn't finished, but I have heard of alot of stories of people that can't do that. In spite of the slow start you are learning the ropes here, and for someone doing that, you didn't do a bad job at it.
*Mangled metaphor is intentional, especially considering gamers.
|
|
Thanks for the fun scenario, GM!
A map would be greatly appreciated. Even if you draw a sheet of paper and upload that- something visual will go a long way. Some GMs use Google Slides and Google Draw. I've seen others make a jpg and upload it to Dropbox. Some GMs provide grid coordinates (columns are labeled A-Z, rows are labelled 1-20) so people don't have to move tokens. Whatever is comfortable for you.
Asking for our details before the scenario began was a good idea. I've had trouble reporting some scenarios because the players forget to give me their PFS number, and I can't catch up to them in a reasonable time. As a side note, for your CORE campaigns, make sure everyone is actually registered as a CORE character- many people accidentally create a standard character using CORE resources, and then I have to get a new PFS number from them when the run ends. Oops.
Pacing is difficult, because real life gets in the way. Once you set the pace, though either stick to it or make a post in the discussion thread saying you'll need an extra day or two, so we're not left hanging. Of course, if you think the posting pace will be slower overall, please point that out in the recruitment thread.
I like the discussion between the dwarven diplomats. I'm guessing it was a way to set up which encounters we wind up with on our way to the inn, which was pretty cool.
I hope to hear more GM adventures from you in the future.
|
As Lissa and Kaye already told, maps are essential tools for a PBP game.
The first half was troubled, but then the adventure flowed well, in my view.
Now we just need a post with the outcome of the scenario. ;)
Thus, I agree with what was said before by the others and hope to see you GMing more adventures in the future.
Thank you for the game!
EDIT: no day job for me.
I agree with Argazhon! Only this time... ;)