Heads up Alice that I head for Ireland for a family vacation tomorrow until June 29th. Hoping to still post once/day, but please run Ninivic anytime it goes beyond 24 hours.
Safe travels. hope you have fun!
Just letting everyone know that I have an exam tomorrow so I'm probably not going to be able to post until tomorrow afternoon after it's done. (Busy cramming maths!)
@GM Alice: Sorry Alice, I just noticed a slight issue with my character. In terms of traits, are you allowing both feats to be from the same category (Faith, social, combat, etc) or do they have to be from different categories (which is traditional). If so, I may need to fix my selection.
In the meantime, good luck with your exam.
Yes, good luck!
Thanks guys.
@Ajax, stick to the different categories rule, please. You can change to whatever you like, though. :)
No problem. I picked up 'Child of the Crusades' (Regional trait) from Inner Sea Primer. Kept Sacred Conduit (Faith trait) since I made use of it in the last combat. Dropped 'Corpse Hunter'(Faith trait) from Faiths of Balance.
Issue resolved. :)
Good luck on the exam - that is today right GM Alice? How was it?
Thanks Zeltor! It was easier than I expected! I'm just glad that course is over and done with. (At least until I have to take more maths next semester... and then more over summer... groan.)
By the way, Peanut - I think we've waited long enough. Would you like to break the time-space continuum now? You must be tired from that battle with the zombies just now...
Aye, wearisome stuff hacking apart zombies, but it's the duty of any gods fearing holyman ;)
Forgive me if Doon is a bit inconsistant, don't have a good feel for him yet. Will try and actually type up a background for him now that he's in, should help me grasp him a bit better.
People, just a heads up: I will be away with the family during the weekend, most likely until Tuesday - feel free to proceed with my character if needed.
Cheers
No worries Zeltor, have fun!
Same here, have fun with the family!
Ugh. Damn we stink. :S
There is seriously something about this group and single, solitary undead...
Uh oh, don't go getting ideas about grave knights and liches.
Can someone point me in the direction of what Strain is? I've been meaning to go looking through the early posts but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Strain-Injury Variant Hit Point Rule
The short version: injury is a result of critical hits, failed saving throws, and being sent to below 0 hp. Strain is everything else. Strain regenerates after a rest and refit. Injury can only be cured with the Heal skill or curative spells.
It alleviates the necessity for constantly resting, pausing to heal everyone up with a cure light wounds wand, and why a single stab wound might kill a 1st level character but would be ignorable for a 10th level character.
Poor Kiley, and I thought one of my PFS characters had horrid luck with ghouls.
That is really rough luck. Hopefully we can finish it off before it finishes us!
Its possible that Ajax dealt The killing blow before the ghoul acted, thanks to the prone bonus. Not sure of course, hopefully Alice will reply shortly to let us know
Nope, sorry. :P
(Not all monsters will have average hit points, if you're looking at the bestiary entries. I've been testing the waters with giving the occasional critter 3/4 or max hit points, and it tends to make the fights more fair, since Rappan Athuk seems to be designed with a lower point buy assumption...)
(You guys are chewing through encounters much higher CR than you, after all!)
lol. I haven't looked at the bestiary entry, but I've GMed enough times to get a general idea of basic monster stats (I've probably memorised a few). Although I concede that my previous comment was based mostly on hopeful optimism. :)
So yeah, I agree it's a good idea to fiddle with stats. I've always found the whole 'averages' thing kind of cripples most beasties.
I say that as our barbarian freezes up. (sorry Kiley) :S
The paralysis only lasts for 1 more round. She'll be fine in a short while, don't worry.
At least... for now. ;)
BTW, didn't mean to imply you were 'cheating' or some such Ajax! It just so happened that the damage at that point was at 13, which is the average value. Curious coincidence. :)
Phew, for a moment there I thought I could not leave you guys alone for a second :D
Ghoul returned to the grave... DONE!
I say that as our barbarian freezes up. (sorry Kiley) :S
'Salright. I do have to say though that I hope that Kiley doesn't suffer the curse one of my characters had. I had a fighter that managed to contract Ghoul fever or get paralyzed every time the party fought ghouls. The most memorable was when she was trying to clear away some stairs, after checking for and failing to find, the trap. She dropped thirty feet, right in front of a ghoul who paralyzed her for a bit. Didn't help that this was the same character that was in a party with a witch that kept commenting on how tasty she looked.
I've got a couple of more for her if your interested.
Well, we still have at least two unexplored doors and two passages - not sure if Molasbar had the opportunity to scour all we wanted to with the Detect spells though...
No, he didn't, but you can always explore a little more now and then come back to the unscanned sections later.
Will depend on what kind of spells Molasbar has prepared I guess ;)
We used up all his spells did we? I wasn't sure...
He had two Detect Secret Doors and Burning Hands memorized, plus he could cast Detect Secret Doors again with his bonded object. If any of the detect castings remain, we can keep scanning and marking anything we find without necessary exploring it yet.
I believe that you got as far as the end of your second casting of it. (The first four rooms, 1-30-28-29)
So, he could do one more with his bonded object. I'll post in character to that effect. Thanks!
I'm gonna be frank with y'all: I'm kind of burning out on this game.
I think it was the loss of so many people in a row at the one time that did it. I certainly mean no offence to the newer recruits, I have nothing against you and really thank you for stepping up, but I feel like the game has been somewhat disjointed ever since, and I'm really struggling to enjoy GMing it as of late.
I'm not sure what else to say, but yeah... not sure what to do from here.
Seems like Rappan Athuk is definitely a cursed place...
I will not lie:
- I have joined this specifically because it was Rappan Athuk and I have always wanted to play it;
- I expected to test the mettle of my character against this legendary place and see if he could win ;)
I would ask, why do you feel distanced from the game itself GM Alice? Is it the pace, seeing as we are inching along? Could it be the nature of the group itself or the players? If it is any of these or similar perhaps we could find some sort of remedy? When initially you wanted to GM this, what appealed to you - maybe we can get on that page?
In any case, I believe that good GMs are hard to find, and motivated good GMs are a perfect rarity - I believe you are a good GM, at least I enjoyed your approach to the game so far, so perhaps you could move into the direction that appeals to you, a scenario, an AP, PFS, or nothing at all, and allow us to tag along - if you'd rather have a full refresh on the group, perhaps open a new recruitment, and having those interested applying?
Just shooting stuff up there :D
If you are not feeling this adventure as it is going now, there are certainly options.
If it is RA that you are enjoying but it is feeling fractured by our casting issues, perhaps a reset would help. For example, if there is another entrance to RA that intrigues you more, you could advance us in level to have a chance at that point and start us over there.
If it is running a game you are enjoying but the AP is falling short, you could run a module or AP. You've proven you are a great GM and would have no problem assembling a group, possibly even from the players you have here.
If you are getting burned out on running a game via PbP, you can certainly just step back and call it a day. I don't think anyone would fault you for that. Running any game is tough, and running one via PbP is a degree more difficult.
I certainly wouldn't have any hard feelings regardless of which way you decide to go.
I know that feeling, losing players is never fun. I'd be up for the stuff mentioned above, trying out something different but if you don't feel up to it well thanks for giving me the opportunity to play, and sorry if I've contributed to any displeasure you've had.
:)
Sorry to hear that. I hope you still want to play my game, though. I agree with Molasbar, and I can say for certain that I'm behind what ever you decide.
Damn. That's a shame.
I do like Molaskar's idea, but it's up to you Alice.
But if this is the end then thanks for the effort. GMing is no easy task, especially with PbP. I can understand how disheartening it can be losing players after you put so much hard work into the campaign.
It's certainly not the GMing itself that's burning me out, I'm having quite a lot of fun doing so! I think it really is the fractured nature of what is happening right now, so perhaps Molasbar's suggestion of a reset might not go astray...
Would you guys be interested in that? Is there any particular (character) level you would enjoy 'resetting' to?
3rd or 4th level sounds good IMHO, but not overly fussed.
Well, from my perspective that would be great - levels 4/5 would work fine, or even higher. Funny is, being RA, you can probably even keep us going from the same place and we would still be challenged :D
I get cool stuff at 3rd, 4th, and 5th level, so any of them is good for me. Just depends how much you want to 'jump ahead' :)
I wouldn't have a preference on level. Except to say (as a wizard) an odd numbered level. :D But if you think that would be a good course for you as a GM, glance through the various entrances, see which one looks like the most fun for you to run right off, give us a level and gold total and we are off.
Even if you say "level 20" and "your entrance is The Well", I'm game to try it.
HAHA. Don't give me ideas, Molasbar! ;)
I'm gonna have a read through the mod and see what pops out as particularly interesting. Maybe even just starting at the main entrance rather than a side entrance would be funner... especially since it wouldn't be a simple day trip away from civilisation that way.
Whoa, missed a whole bunch of conversation there :) I'll echo the kudos to you as a GM Alice. You've been doing a great job. I'm definitely ok with a reset or any other change you want to introduce and I'll chime in with my apologies if anything I've done has contributed to the lack of fun. Ninivic will definitely have some stronger options with a couple more levels on him so anywhere in that 3-5 range would be grand. Going higher always risks not really knowing what your character can do very well or how the characters interact with some many more abilities and options layered on, but I've had a couple great games start at level 5 so I think no danger going even that high.
Are we doing new characters or advancing our current ones?
Good point. I'd be open to something new too.
Hmm... A fresh start does sound tempting.