[PbP Gameday VII] GM Ladile & the Pathfinder Society Present: The Twisted Circle - Leshy Madness! (Tier 1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master Lady Ladile

Woo! Tangle #1.

I am still working on finalizing my character sheet for Motueka and Dauswil. So many options with "pet" classes especially this one. Figuring out if I am going to go melee/ranged and what emotional focus for my phantom. Narrowing it down bit by bit.

No worries, we're still a little over a month out from starting so you've got time to get all the details hammered out :)

{Construction sounds}

Still working on my PC, a zealous vigilante avenger Captain Planet, out to rid the world of racist, genocidal vegans and their hate-spewing useful idiots, the vegetarian bourgeoisie, and to save Golarion from the climate change wrought by dwarven blacksmiths and thoughtless users of carbon-based fireplaces and cooking stoves.

His arch-nemesis is an Aspis agent known only as The Tossed-Salad Man, a Doctor Mengele-like botanist and herbalist, preying on helpless plants, imprisoning them in so-called 'gardens' and conducting horrific experiments on them in his infamous 'kitchens.'

Oh...oh wow. Wow. This is going to be a fantastic group :D

So will Tangle #2 over at the Leshy Mania! table but I seem to have, unconsciously, made this group with more of the 'outlier' leshy characters and the other table are more 'traditional' in regards to class choices so it'll be interesting to see how each group handles themselves when we get started!

Lorezo, can he have a weapon called the Salad Shooter? Please?

Hokay! We're now officially a month out from our start date of August 13th. As such, I'm going to go ahead and do a couple of 'official' posts that I always make when I start a new game.
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Who is GM Ladile?

My name is Kristin and I've been playing tabletop RPGs for the last 20 years or so. The bulk of my playing experience has been with AD&D 2nd Edition with a smattering of other systems such as AD&D 3rd/3.5, Dark Conspiracy and of course, Pathfinder. My home group switched to Pathfinder a little over 4 years ago and we've been hooked ever since. I started participating in PbP here on the Paizo forums maybe 6 months after that and then PFS PbP maybe a year and a half after that.

Yeah, that's a great story. What about your GM experience?

I've only been GMing for a little over a year now but I just recently achieved my first GM star! If you're interested in reading to see how I roll, you can find several of them linked under a spoiler tag on my GM alias.

What does GM Ladile need or want from me?

Something I'm trying to get into the habit of doing when I'm gearing up to run a new game is to get an idea of what sorts of characters I'll have at my table. To this end, I ask you to tell me this: What does your character do that's cool? Do you specialize in combat maneuvers? Are you a beast that crushes Diplomacy checks with the greatest of ease? If your character has a 'thing' that they do or otherwise utilizes unusual things or specific circumstances then please let me know! This will make it easier for me to account for such things during combat and other sections where they might apply. The same goes for unique or interesting character quirks or backstory information.

Got it! Anything else?

Yes, actually. Sometimes a player might find themselves temporarily unavailable to post in the game but, alas, the show must go on, especially if the GM and other players are still present and participating. To this end, I ask that you give me some basic instructions to follow should I need to 'bot' your character for you during combat or other moments. They don't have to be elaborate. For example, you could say something like this:

'Okay, immediately prior to combat I'm going to cast SuperBuff on our melee guy if I can. Then, if things are going well, I'll stand behind the melee guy and use my Longspear of Butt-Whoopin' to help him kill the bad guys. But if someone gets really hurt or goes down I'll use my Gloves of Awesome to heal them up again.'

Generally when I bot PCs I don't use consumable resources such as spells, abilities with <X> uses per day/round/whatever, potions, alchemical items, etc. unless explicitly given permission to do so via botting instructions *or* the situation is dire and I suspect the PC would use them to save himself or an ally.

GM Ladile, are you one of those super nitpicky GMs or are you more laid-back?

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be 'nitpicky' or 'laid-back'. I will run the scenario and the encounters within as written, to the best of my ability, as all Society GMs are expected to do. But I also try to utilize my own common sense when I run my games. I'm not going to have my monsters deliberately eat your familiar when (and if) there are more dangerous threats to target. I'm going to assume that the collective group is smart enough to utilize light sources when they need them, without me making you state so every single time you enter a dark place - though I might need to know what kind of light source for mapping purposes! If you have the time and aren't threatened by anything, I'm going to assume that you'll probably Take 10 to ID items via Spellcraft, that sort of thing. You're Pathfinder agents who are assumed to have had at least a little basic training before being sent out on missions and so I don't personally see the point in dithering around on minor things - it's boring and in this type of medium, it only slows things down even further.

GM Ladile, can I just mow your bad guys down with my tricked-out Archer of Doom or Slumber Hex my way to victory?

Well, technically yes. But my real answer is a bit more nuanced. If your character has a 'Thing' that they do, whether that be something cool for combat or something cool for social situations, then that's wonderful! My own sense of fun isn't contingent on me 'beating' the PCs - I want you guys to succeed! And so if you mow down my monsters with the greatest of ease or crush those diplomacy checks no problem then I'm not going to get butthurt about it. That being said, it is important to also consider your fellow teammates. While I'm happy to try and make sure that you'll get a chance to do your 'Thing' during the course of the scenario, please consider whether or not it'll be fun for your fellow players to sit by while you destroy everything. Everyone deserves a chance to participate and an opportunity to shine, so maybe consider toning your 'Thing' down a little so others have a chance to do their own 'Things'.

What about the posting rate?

Glad you asked! Some of you may have played with me before and know that my own posting habits and times shift depending on when I'm working and such. On the days that I work I'll likely only manage 1 post myself but on my off days I can usually manage more. In general, I try to post as much as I need to to keep the game moving along and people from getting bored. From you, the players, I would really like to see at least 1 post/day though more is certainly encouraged.

Is that all?

Almost! The most important thing of all that I'd like you to do is to bring a good attitude and plenty of enthusiasm. I consider it my job to make your playing experience an enjoyable one but it helps when my players seem like they're excited to be at the table and are willing to participate - it makes me happy, which means I usually write better posts, which makes you guys happy, etc. A positive feedback loop, if you will.

However, not all playing styles mesh and most of you haven't played with me before. If you're not having a good time or otherwise have an issue with the way I'm running the game, please let me know and we'll try to work out a solution together. I can't help to fix problems if I don't know that a problem exists, so communicate. Talk to me. I promise I don't bite.

Last of all, I am by no means a rules expert or guru and the majority of my playing background is rooted in rules interpretations being flexible - to a point. So if I forget something or seem like I'm overstepping my bounds in what's allowed, please point it out but I also ask that you please don't be a jerk about it either :)
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And if there's something that I didn't address in the above post, please ask and I'll get an answer for you!

And this is where I solicit some information from each of you that I'll use to prepare your chronicles at the end of the adventure as well as when I'm reporting the game on the website! I'll need the following information:

***Basic Information Form***

This Chronicle #:
Starting XP:
Initial Prestige:
Initial Fame:
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle:
Starting Gold:
Day Job Roll:
Gold Spent on this Chronicle:
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle:

I know some of these values may change as you make purchases and the like so it's not a problem if you want to wait on providing some of that information until closer to the end of the scenario.

Player: Caro Cogitatus
Character: Toorgmai
PFS#: 106336-16
Faction: Liberty's Edge
Track: Normal

This Chronicle #: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Prestige: 0
Initial Fame: 0

I've updated the bot instructions on my character sheet to note that whoever bots me should just use their best judgement, and use consumables like spells or potions as needed.

Player: supervillan
Character: Boom Sticks
Pathfinder Society Number: 75577-13
Faction: Concordance
Slow Track or Normal: normal

This Chronicle #: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Prestige: 0
Initial Fame: 0

Botting instructions are in the profile. (Very basic for a level 1 barbarian).

Player: Agent Eclipse
Character: Motueka Moondrinker and Dauswil the Drunkard
Pathfinder Society Number: 54329-4
Faction: Exchange
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Prestige: 0
Initial Fame: 0
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 0
Starting Gold:
Day Job Roll: Brewer: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Player: James Martin
Character: Bad Seed
Pathfinder Society Number: 1904-21
Faction: Liberty's Edge
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Prestige: 0
Initial Fame: 0
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 0
Starting Gold: 13 gp
Day Job Roll: none
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: 0
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle: Super excited to play!

SOON...

:3

Player: PJP
Character: Poison Oakley
Pathfinder Society Number: #150786-37
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow Track or Normal: Normal

This Chronicle #: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Prestige: 0
Initial Fame: 0
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle: 0
Starting Gold: 150 starting gold
Day Job Roll: None
Gold Spent on this Chronicle: 0
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle: Not yet

Just as a heads up, once we're about a week (give or take) out from our official start date I'll open up Gameplay for some pre-adventure chatter. So keep your eyes peeled! :)

Thick Abundant Garden (Toorgmai's current chosen name) is excited for the start of the adventure.

FYI: "Toorgmai" is their True Name, only known by the most trusted of friends and family. Feel free to refer to them as Toorgmai for identification purposes out-of-character, but please speak to them using Thick Abundant Garden for in-character conversation.

Thanks for the note on that, Toor. I will do my best but if I or my NPCs get it (or their pronouns) wrong, I promise it'd be as an honest mistake and not out of malice.

I would always assume so until proven otherwise. Unless and until Toorgmai tells you their True Name, you couldn't know it, so there's no way to give away the secret by mistake.

If anyone makes a mistake in-character, I'll just hear it as "T.A.G. (my!)" and not worry about it.

In fact, "TAG" is probably easier for everyone to say anyway.

And I'm using "they" and "them" because Toorgmai feels both male and female these days. Next adventure that, and their chosen name, will likely be different.

I'm calling you Thicket. Called it.

I will answer to that. In fact, I'm adding it to the matrix.

Okay folks, just an update to let you know that I'll be opening gameplay on Wednesday and that we officially start in a little under a week. If you haven't already, please be finalizing your character details so we're ready to go when the time comes!

Ready to go along with my spooky fellow. (Both profiles are set up for easy reference.)

I'm all set!

I will be moving house this Saturday. This means I will be without home broadband for around 2 weeks after the move, but I should be able to get by using my phone and visiting nearby relatives to use their connections. Apologies in advance if it slows my post rate any. (Rotten timing, just as Gameday gets going!)

Alrighty, thank you for the notice Boom! And no worries; I hope the moving goes as quickly and painlessly as possible :)

In other news, Gameplay is officially open! Get in there and have some fun :)

Apologies to all, but I made a mistake and I've already been through this adventure with a different character.

GM indicates there's someone on the waiting list, so I will bow out and wish you all the best of luck!

GM, please remove me from the active players list.

Thanks for being understanding Toorgami and I hope to see you around on the forums!

As Toorgami said, I've got someone who told me awhile back that they wanted in if I happened to have any dropouts or no-shows so I'll direct them to check in here :)

Hello!

I need to update my profile, as Captain Chlorophyll is now second level. I will get that done later today.

Welcome, CC! Glad you could join us and that's okay on the profile, just update when you get a chance :)

***Basic Information Form***

This Chronicle #: 7
Starting XP: 4
Initial Prestige: 3
Initial Fame: 7
Prestige Spent on this Chronicle:
Starting Gold: 676
Day Job Roll: Profession: Herbalist: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Gold Spent on this Chronicle:
Anything else you want me to note on your Chronicle: GM Star replay.
Possibly Missing Mentor.

It might seem superfluous to some but when I GM I like to try and expand a little bit on some of the locations you might visit in passing or other interesting landmarks you encounter, even if they're not the focus of the scenario. There are still a lot of setting books and other information that I've yet to read and so I'm often having to look stuff up on the side when I'm playing and a scenario is like, "You pass through <famous city> or encounter <famous landmark>" in a manner that assumes that you/your character know all about it (or enough). So I like to try and offer a little additional context for my own players, when and where I can.

Just random thoughts from under the hood :)

Checking in again! Due to the recent site outages I'm going to give folks a bit more time to check in, attempt the checks in Gameplay, and make any last-minute purchases before I look at moving us forward :)

Plenty of time to read, when the site's on the fritz.

Every time I've been free to post over the last two days the site has been down. Catching up now :)

Seems like we're kinda-sorta back up at the moment! I'm currently at work but if the site remains stable and cooperative then we will tentatively resume normal operations.

However.

In the event of more shenanigans, you can find my email under a spoiler underneath the map links should you not be able to post and need to get in touch with me! Some groups are forming Hangouts chats and other means of keeping in touch during site outages but I won't insist on doing that here unless folks want to.

Note - I'm going to give it a bit of time for folks to trickle back in and get updated and all before I nudge the game along. That said, you've learned a bit of information and one of you has made a purchase. Does anyone want to do anything else in Alkenstar before you move on? There was some talk about making special preparations for heading out, last I saw :)

Oh, one more note - due to the extended outage some of the start and end dates for Sessions 1 & 2 have changed as per the following:

Per the email sent to GMs.

Quote:

Hello GMs:

In face of the ongoing Paizo outage, we have put the special on hiatus until Friday. Yes, I know. It sucks. But I think that having a defined restart date will take some of the pressure and uncertainty off this wait. You don’t have to constantly check to see if the forums are up. If the forums come up and look stable before then, we may revisit this. If this happens, I will of course send out an email blast to you!

OUR NEW DATES

Session One specials begin again on 8/24. They end 10/4.

Session Two (including the Session Two special) begins on 10/6.

The entire PBP Gameday ends on 11/20.

Thank you for your patience, words of encouragement, and everything else you folks have written to me during this frustrating period.

(Thank you also for not wielding pitchforks and storming my castle.)

Your loving and somewhat frustrated VC,
Hmm

Okay, so given the crazy amount of instability of late and talk and rumblings elsewhere of folks moving their games to more stable places...I feel I should broach the subject here as well. Since this is intended to be a one-off scenario for Gameday I hadn't initially planned to even consider moving it (or my other games) somewhere else. But the outages affect you guys just as much, if not more, than me so I did want to see what folks want to do.

I'd rather stay here, unless we get the word that the boards are no longer a viable option.

I agree. Learning a new board's coding and quirks is an undertaking. I still hold out faith that the tech crew can tame this wild beast.

I agree with Bad Seed and Bad Orchid. Given that I am currently without home broadband and posting by tethering my work phone the downtime hasn't bothered me as much as it normally would, and I hope that the work completed on the site recently will hold good.

Okay, so it looks like we'll stay put for the time being then! Cool beans. Got an early dinner-date with the hubs so I'll get us moved forward a bit later this evening :)

Okay, so instead of making a copypasta, I'm going to link a post made earlier today by VC Hmm that discusses the current state of Gameday and possible options for keeping games moving should we have further downtime.

You can read it here.

Since moving is basically an absolute last resort, are any of the other backup options Hmm suggested something folks would be interested in (or comfortable) exploring?

Because this deserves it's own post:

'I'm not that worried about it' is also an equally valid option. If folks aren't in any hurry and don't have these characters signed up for any games during Session #2 or upcoming cons, then I'm just as happy to truck along like we have been and just deal with any future site outages as they (may or may not) come.

I say this because it's easy to forget that there are folks who prefer to do their absolute best to limit their 'internet footprint' for any number of reasons or who may just not have the time to try and keep up with a bunch of additional digital noise - and I don't want to pressure anyone into anything that they're not comfortable with.

I am in no hurry with this character. I will go with whatever the group decides.

I'd prefer to stay here and try to be patient while Paizo sorts things out. They need a functioning website for their business. They'll have to figure out a way forward, sooner rather than later.

I think I prefer to stay here too. I may look at alternative pbp venues for Gameday part 2, because I am running a game in part 2 and because my life is going to get much more complex come December when our first child is due :) So I will want to make sure I can complete that game before then.

I'd agree that moving may end up being a bit more trouble for ongoing games but I am fluid with whatever the groups decide.

I will personally be learning another website in case of future troubles though.

Will be offline for today and maybe much of tomorrow.

Please bot my character as needed.

Back, and happy to stay here. Created this character for this game, and it has no where else he needs to be...

Thanks for the notice Captain C. and will do.

Apologies for no updates yesterday guys; this was the one game I didn't manage to get to before I had to head out for playtesting shenanigans with my local lodge. By the time I got home last night it was late and I really didn't have the mental fortitude to do any additional posting. So I will get you guys caught up today, very shortly :)

Playtest was fun too :3