Pathfinder ACG #8-00: Cosmic Captive (Table 2) [TIER 1-3] (Inactive)

Game Master Hawkmoon269

Ha, yeah both PACG tables have been super motivated and active. I think we're going to finish these WAY before the deadline for this part of the game, so I might offer to run something for you guys as an in-between (not for credit) scenario to pass the time. :)

Would it be possible to play a scenario on the 'alternate path', the one we didn't take? I know that's possible in the RPG scenario, but not sure about the rules for this ACG scenario on that matter.

Not officially, but I'd be happy to run characters through the alternate path just for fun (no rewards kept, etc.) while we're waiting.

Is there a way to record my Chronicle Sheet on the website, instead of doing it on paper? After this adventure is over, I have no idea when I might get a chance to play this character again, and there's a pretty good chance that I'll lose a paper copy.

I think we are probably going to fill the Chronicle Sheet out and send you a pdf scan of it. Just hand on to that email or the pdf.

And yeah, we can definitely run the alternate path. We'll just record our decks as is, play the other path, then put our decks back to how they should be for Part 3.

OK, thanks. I wasn't sure how that was supposed to work.

Just a heads up: I'm going to be gone for the majority of the day tomorrow, probably from 11 AM to 9-10 PM EST. If we can get things rolling again early enough, I can hopefully get a turn in, or at least a starting location and hand picked. Otherwise its going to be tough for me to do much tomorrow.

Iff's pregen wrote:

Rules question: Could I use 'Staff of minor healing' during the encounter, when I realize that my odds aren't great and that I'll probably lose it as damage? I don't think so, so will continue on that assumption.

You are correct, you could not play it at that point. Once you are in an encounter, you can only do things that relate to what is happening in the encounter.

For future reference, and to become a better player: Could I activate the staff of minor healing after I play the Blessing to explore, but before I actually perform the explore?

Good question. No. Once you play the blessing to explore, you have to finish exploring (and therefore encountering). You can't interrupt it or pause it to do something else.

You can play it between the two explorations, but of course you had nothing in your discard pile at that point, so that wasn't really an option.

Random question with scenario vs location contradiction. Does the scenario random move happen at the dam or would we not move if we are the the only character there when our move step happens?

The "may not move" on the Dam should override the "move" on the scenario.

[...]if one card tells that you cannot do something and another card tells you that you can, comply with the card that tells you that you cannot. For example, if you’re at a location that prevents you from moving, and the scenario has an effect that would move your character, you do not move[...]

MorkXII has it. The prohibition of the dam overrules the scenario, despite the scenario being higher in the hierarchy. (We've even got a nice example of our actual situation.)

So, we messed that up. We'll just make sure to get it right from now on.

MorkXII has it. The prohibition of the dam overrules the scenario, despite the scenario being higher in the hierarchy. (We've even got a nice example of our actual situation.)

So, we messed that up. We'll just make sure to get it right from now on.

Cool, I suspected as much, thought I remembered directions from cards overruling most things, but thought I should call it out since I wasn't 100% sure. Adds a nice wrinkle to the move every turn thing we have going on.

Can I get some feedback from you all? I'm tweaking the scenario manager a bit. It is something I do as I use it and discover things that would be helpful. This is the first time I've used it with players across such a wide range of time zones, so I'm discovering that sacrificing some of the "cleaner" look for more info might be helpful. What I'm thinking of doing is listing the whole blessings deck. The trade off is that it will be a long list of card (typically 30 at the beginning).

How "bad" would that be? Is it a bother to have large parts of the post be useless to you? You already don't look at most of the cards, since you aren't exploring every location. Would 30 more cards just clutter things up?

I wish there was a way to do nested spoilers, but I don't this there is.

EDIT: Hmm... maybe there is. You just can't name the nested spoiler.

Can I get some feedback from you all? I'm tweaking the scenario manager a bit. It is something I do as I use it and discover things that would be helpful. This is the first time I've used it with players across such a wide range of time zones, so I'm discovering that sacrificing some of the "cleaner" look for more info might be helpful. What I'm thinking of doing is listing the whole blessings deck. The trade off is that it will be a long list of card (typically 30 at the beginning).

How "bad" would that be? Is it a bother to have large parts of the post be useless to you? You already don't look at most of the cards, since you aren't exploring every location. Would 30 more cards just clutter things up?

I wish there was a way to do nested spoilers, but I don't this there is.

EDIT: Hmm... maybe there is. You just can't name the nested spoiler.

Oh really? Nested spoilers work???

Ok yeah, that works, which is pretty cool.
So you could theoretically do a spoiler for "Blessings Deck" and then have each blessing within it spoilered, with a number before, like this:

Yup. I just wrote the code for it. Check out my next update post.

Sounds great!

Yup. I just wrote the code for it. Check out my next update post.

I like the idea of spoilering the complete blessings deck a lot. :)

To avoid accidentally picking the wrong blessing, is it possible to name the nested spoilers (not literally) according to the turn they will be on top of the deck? Something like this?

Mork, did you forget the possibility to attempt a recharge on the Amulet of Life?

I was thinking of something similar - my thought was that if we indicate which blessing we flipped on our turns, that might also help.

Start of Turn:
Flip Blessing Deck Card 3 - Blessing of the Gods

Then the next person knows to look at card 4 (unless Hawkmoon posts an update first).

Mork, did you forget the possibility to attempt a recharge on the Amulet of Life?

I wish! It was unblockable combat damage. I had a tough choice between a card that would block damage, or cards that increased my chances of defeating a monster instead (so hopefully I wouldn't take the damage in the first place). I'm still not sure I made the best choice, but oh well. :)

I think you'd only take that damage if you'd failed the check to defeat. Have you been playing too much Mummy's Mask and read it as "If you do not defeat the barrier by 4 or more"?

I think you'd only take that damage if you'd failed the check to defeat.

On proper reading, that would be my idea as well.

Difficulty 8+2=10
Result 1-6: Undefeated, and 1 combat damage.
Result 7-9: Undefeated, but no combat damage.
Result 10+ Defeated, no combat damage.

Hawkmoon269 wrote:

Yup. I just wrote the code for it. Check out my next update post.

I like the idea of spoilering the complete blessings deck a lot. :)

To avoid accidentally picking the wrong blessing, is it possible to name the nested spoilers (not literally) according to the turn they will be on top of the deck? Something like this?

** spoiler omitted **
Top of Blessings Discard Pile turn 12:
(18 blessings remain)
** spoiler omitted **...
[/spoiler]

That might be possible. it would take a bit more work, since I'd need to have it factor in the turn counter, which it doesn't do right now. But let me see what I can do.

I think you'd only take that damage if you'd failed the check to defeat. Have you been playing too much Mummy's Mask and read it as "If you do not defeat the barrier by 4 or more"?

Yep, totally misread that. I definitely blame Mummy's Mask. :) I'll edit my post in a few minutes.

Thanks, everyone!

EDIT: My post in the gameplay thread is fixed.

Ok. I was able to fairly easily add the turn number and the expected character to the blessings deck list. Let me know if you think that will help.

I really, really like that, Hawkmoon. I think the changes you made to the blessings today are big improvement!

Oh yeah, the blessing changes are very helpful!

Are you open to other suggestions? :)

It would be really great if it were possible to track cards that we've seen in location decks, but don't know where they are in the deck because of a shuffle. Maybe something like:

Thassilonian Dungeon
At This Location: If you play a spell with the Arcane trait, you may immediately draw a card.
When Closing: Succeed at an Intelligence or Arcane 7 check.
When Permanently Closed: No effect.
M:2 (Goblin Warchanter 1) Ba:1 W:0 Sp:2 Ar:1 I:1 Al:0 Bl:0 ?:1

Or maybe in a separate line:

Thassilonian Dungeon
At This Location: If you play a spell with the Arcane trait, you may immediately draw a card.
When Closing: Succeed at an Intelligence or Arcane 7 check.
When Permanently Closed: No effect.
M:2 Ba:1 W:0 Sp:2 Ar:1 I:1 Al:0 Bl:0 ?:1
Known Cards: Goblin Warchanter (Monster 1)

When it can be days between turns at a location (especially when you don't get to pick your location like our current scenario), it can be hard to remember what you've seen and where.

These are all great suggestions, guys! This is exactly the type of stuff we need to tease out in order to convince the powers that be that this is a valid way of playing. :-D

Adding a tag to every locations various counts would be a pretty big overhaul, but one I'll keep on the list of ideas when I get around to wanting to do a big overhaul.

There is currently a notes field for each location. We can use that to list cards you've spotted. That would look like this:

Thassilonian Dungeon
At This Location: If you play a spell with the Arcane trait, you may immediately draw a card.
When Closing: Succeed at an Intelligence or Arcane 7 check.
When Permanently Closed: No effect.
M:2 Ba:1 W:0 Sp:2 Ar:1 I:1 Al:0 Bl:0 ?:1
Notes: Goblin Warchanter (Monster 1)

It is always bolded, but the text can be whatever you want it to be.

These are all great suggestions, guys! This is exactly the type of stuff we need to tease out in order to convince the powers that be that this is a valid way of playing. :-D

I'm not the powers that be, but I'm convinced! I've already tried searching the PbP forums here to try and figure out if this was the first game of its kind, or if maybe there were other ACG recruitment threads I could jump into :)

Great work, Andrew. Really nice to see these tweaks and improvements to the system. :)

cartmanbeck wrote:

These are all great suggestions, guys! This is exactly the type of stuff we need to tease out in order to convince the powers that be that this is a valid way of playing. :-D

I'm not the powers that be, but I'm convinced! I've already tried searching the PbP forums here to try and figure out if this was the first game of its kind, or if maybe there were other ACG recruitment threads I could jump into :)

This is pretty much the first game of its kind (other than some initial testing that Pirate Rob did a LONG time ago by having his physical cards sitting out on a table for a month straight) and one of the major points of this game is to show Tonya and the other Paizo ppls that matter that we can run play-by-post organized play without sacrificing major parts of the game (or fun, for that matter). :)

This is pretty much the first game of its kind (other than some initial testing that Pirate Rob did a LONG time ago by having his physical cards sitting out on a table for a month straight) and one of the major points of this game is to show Tonya and the other Paizo ppls that matter that we can run play-by-post organized play without sacrificing major parts of the game (or fun, for that matter). :)

Hi Tyler, I hope in the future more PACG scenario's will be played by posting :)

I have to admit I use the physical cards of the 4 CD's to keep track of what's going on. I've always liked the idea of being able to replay "recorded" games, like chess.

Also, I feel trying to interpret the randomly encountered cards into storylines adds a lot of fun to the game. IRL this rarely happens, usually only when something strange comes up, like encountering a Monster in the Closet Barrier in the Woods.

Using physical cards isn't so bad as a player. But when the person managing the scenario has to use physical cards and wait for you to say "I explore the Dam" so they can post "Ok, card 1 there is Longsword" it gets tedious and really slows down since you are dependent on one single person.

That is the big thing we are testing. Not so much the player's deck management, but the scenario management of it.

I'm traveling for work early in the morning. Once I get on the plane I should be able to check back in and see how things are.

How do you get that text to show under your Alias, Ryhnn?

This line:

ACG Class Deck - Witch Tier 1.2 /Die bumps: 0 /STR: d6, DEX: d10, CON: d6, INT: d8+1, WIS: d6, CHA: d6 /Disable (Dex): +2, Knowledge (Int): +2

I went into the Raheli alias and then Edit my Profile option and in the Classes/Levels line added that full text. I saw someone else doing it, and liked the thought. Earlier I just had something about the witch class deck...this works better.

Now that we are victorious, I have a bit of a quandary when I am looking at what to swap out for the Augury I reserved. I think keeping the Cure is smart, so that leaves me with Black Spot or Good Omen to swap out. I could see both being useful so thought I'd check and see if you guys had preferences.

I'm leaning towards Black Spot since it's basic and will be able to be picked back up anytime I get a Spell slot. But I've actually used it to help on a combat check, while I haven't used Good Omen yet.

Thoughts?

Hey all. I know some of us edit our posts as we create them to see dice results. So, I wanted to let you know I saw this bug being reported. The report is that if you submit a post then edit it, the dice will sometimes reroll. I've not experienced it myself, but wanted to make you aware to watch out for it.

Again, this is if you submit, then edit.

EDIT AT THE BEGINNING (BLIP?)
Test 1: 1d100 ⇒ 41 Preview 41
Test 2: 1d100 ⇒ 9 Preview 9

Putting something in the middle.

Test 3: 1d100 ⇒ 59 Preview 59

Text for testing.

Test 4 EDIT: 1d100 ⇒ 73 Preview 73
Test 5: 1d100 ⇒ 79 Preview 79
Test 6: 1d100 ⇒ 11 Preview 11
Test 7 EDIT THE DICE NO CHANGE: 1d100 ⇒ 15 Preview 15

I edited this.

Test 8: 1d100 ⇒ 46 Preview 46
Test 9: 1d100 ⇒ 56 Preview 56
Test 10: 1d100 ⇒ 1 Preview 1

Doesn't seem to happen in this case. So, who knows.

★ - OVERSEER ANNOUNCEMENT - ★

The image of Sorrina Westyr appears as she helps an enormous water elemental dispatch a band of gargoyles. “We do not stand alone in our efforts, my friends. Our teams discovered a band of rebels fighting back against our adversaries and we have begun to coordinate with them. Some much needed assistance should be arriving shortly.”

Table GMs, the Allies benefit is now in play!

Do any of these events have a chance of affecting the ACG, or just the RPG tables?

Just the RPG tables.

Too bad. I was hoping that we might see some benefits as well. Like the most recent "Allies benefit" could have given us +1 to Acquire Allies. Or the "Engines benefit" which got the asteroid spinning and "evened out the extreme temperatures" could have done something like "Recharge a card to reduce Fire or Cold damage by 1".

We're hoping that the next special that includes ACG tables will have a bit more interaction going on.

Too bad. I was hoping that we might see some benefits as well. Like the most recent "Allies benefit" could have given us +1 to Acquire Allies. Or the "Engines benefit" which got the asteroid spinning and "evened out the extreme temperatures" could have done something like "Recharge a card to reduce Fire or Cold damage by 1".

Everyone I've talked to that has played this special has pretty much felt the same way. Like CMB, I'm hopeful future special will be more interactive between the table types. This was, after all, the first attempt at this.

But just wait til part 3. It was maybe the most fun thing I've every done in PACG.

I debated not hitting you guys with Overseer Announcments that held no impact for you, but I thought that would not be fair, either. You guys need to know how things are working for the house after all!

I do wish the allies could have done something for you guys too, though!

Hmm

I debated not hitting you guys with Overseer Announcments that held no impact for you, but I thought that would not be fair, either. You guys need to know how things are working for the house after all!

I do wish the allies could have done something for you guys too, though!

Hmm

No, I'm glad you did! Its still fun to see those small bits of story elements.

And we are contributing to those things happening. We just aren't getting the effects they trigger.