Hehe, indeed. Happy holidays, and we'll have to get back into the swing of things after the new year.
Happy Almost 2012 to everyone!
Welcome back to the game and to the New Year. I'm hoping we didn't lose anyone! let's get things rolling again.
If you are concerned he will be making the short hop from CN to CE, it won't happen. He is tempermental, more like a child not getting his way, but not outright viscious. He just likes to have fun, and may lash out verbally when he doesn't.
Hate to be the one to bring it up, but how does everyone prefer to handle loot. I have seen the threads where groups have split over issues on agreeing how to track it.
I myself like the equal value idea, but I hate to track it, so am more than happy with a split cash evenly, and items to who it's best suited for. For dealing with items where it is a purely meta benefit (it's not easy to evaluate as a character how you would measure saves), some of my old group would take the lowest total in to account, to bring up the least capable.
For a cloak of resistance +1, we would add the total modifiers for our saves, and whoever had the lowest total, would need it most. In our case it would be Koveluss with a total +4, the next lowest is Andrin with +6 (I have +7, and both Yosrick and Daemon have +8). That's just my take on it. I'm more than willing to resolve it purely IC, I think it's just safer to get an idea where we're each coming from OOC first.
Something to get you guys into the spirit of the game, and to show you a hint of my own personal vision. While I love Samurai films and culture, D20 rules don't really allow for classic samurai duels in the Kurosawa sense. For one thing, too many hit points. This clip perfectly captures the exact feel I want!
I'm honestly not all that concerned about gear, so I'm open to splitting it however the group decides. I do like your suggestion of shoring up the weakest link, though Lir.
Something to get you guys into the spirit of the game, and to show you a hint of my own personal vision. While I love Samurai films and culture, D20 rules don't really allow for classic samurai duels in the Kurosawa sense. For one thing, too many hit points. This clip perfectly captures the exact feel I want!
That was a sweet clip! Is the scene called the Sword of the Stranger or is that the name of the movie? I've not seen many things as well animated as this, so I'm presuming it's a movie rather than an episodic serial.
Andrin will likely play the role of combat-inept child restraining snarling dog. =P
Hahaha, it's the title of the movie, which until seeing this clip on a JR thread I'd never heard of (I'm apparently out of the loop - Ironically I blame this on my time living in Korea and visiting Japan) but it has amazing reviews. I'm seeing if I can track down a download or a copy of it someway.
Loot is up to you guys. Though I'll warn you that at times treasure will be tailored to specific PCs (cause of that whole Destiny thing) so at those times, I'd recommend not worrying about it OOC, :P
I have no problem with the person who needs it most getting it. As long as things mostly even out over time, everything's cool. I think Daemon should get the cloak, though, since he was the first through the door to save the poor man. It only seems fair that he get the thank-you gift.
I've got no problem with the buffing the weak method, either, so long as we remember to take into consideration factors other than basic stats. For example, my Saves are deceptive. I may only have a total of +4 normally but in many combat situations I'll be fused. At these times my total Save bonus is +7.
In this instance, I've no problem with Daemon getting the cloak. Not only was he first through the door, he's also the one Proudstump latched onto.
As Yos and Kov point out: I get you need to take stats and party balance as factors, but there should be IC reasoning to, Otherwise:
Walthus: Have my precious cloak in thanks for saving me. It's honestly worth more than I will every make again in my life of raising snakes in a swamp.
party: Thanks! *does some math...* Ok Lirrathan gets it!
Walthus: o_O the one who wanted to flay me!?
Yeah, that would be awkward... "Think of it this way, it was either your cloak or your skin. He's a bloodthirsty elf."
Watched Sword of the Stranger today, the film is fantastic and I highly recommend to anyone who likes animation or period action/drama pieces. It's done by Studio Boom, who (among many other high class things) are responsible for the Full Metal Alchemist adaptions, which have a similar level of quality to their animations.
Sorry if my question seemed as if I didn't read the update... Infact, I did! It was the last post that made me question him... Specifically....
"I apologize, that creature's had me trapped for days... I fear it's brought me to my wit's end."
He never specifically said what the creature was doing in the mean-time while he was trapped. He just moved on as if it was over and done with... Just seems oddly suspicious to Daemon - being the inquisitive he is.
And in terms of loot: I'm in agreement. Loot should be given to those most needed, unless of course it's designed for a specific person.
I'll be out of town for the weekend and away from a computer; run my character as needed in that time.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just a thorough DM, so please take it as the later and not the former. But directly under what you quoted:
Righting a few pieces of furniture, Walthus searches out a plate of biscuits from his pantry and sits himself down at the table, and explains while slowly nibbling on one of the snacks; "That monster attacked me while I was tending to my pet snakes in their garden and beat me savage. I got him good a few times to though, and managed to escape to a safe room upstairs. I think he thought I ran into the woods... I'm not sure how long I'd have survived had you not come along. I owe you men my life."
Walthus did explain where he was, I suppose you could take him to be lying. But as far as what the creature was doing, you'll have to ask the creature. :p
I'm wiped out right now. On wednesday I was assigned three research presentations, two were due today, one on monday, all need to be an hour in length, so I've spent a good 22 hours on school work in the last day and a half. You guys were actually the only group to get anything at all.
That said, I may not update tonight because of it, depends if I get a second wind. right now I'm just gonna go run around Skyrim or Arkham city (or maybe a galaxy far far away)
That said, we will be taking advantage of Fluid Time next post, moving you on to your next section, while giving you the chance to tie up any ends with Walthus. Any preference on which way you're going?
Projects done, post coming tomorrow,
Though an answer to the question above would help.
Lirrathan wants to head by the most direct path toward the goblins, but he is also short-sighted and single-minded in what his goal is, so anyone wanting to do anything different should speak up.
It depends on your opinion of most direct. *technically that's straight through the swamp. But the terrain will slow you down. Looping around to a different path may be a longer route, but has better stability.
He said the old fishing trail heads almost straight to the tribe, if we go back out to the road. That's which way Lirrathan will want to go.
The old fishing trail gets my vote too - with melty-faced impostors running about the swamp, expediency is the key!
Fishing trail seems straightforward enough for me.
I am also in agreement.
As am I, though I wouldn't mind tracking down one of those imposter-creatures and finding out what it is. Anything that can so easily assume another appearance would definitely raise Koveluss' curiosity.
Figured I should checking in, before too much time had passed. I'm now in the process of moving to St. Paul; I don't know when I'll have regular internet access again, but I'll let you know when I get settled.
Sounds good, I'll ghost you as needed, thanks for the heads up.
Sorry for the fade away folks, I had some personal issues to deal with over the weekend that took up more time than I believed they would. I'll have updates for you tonight.
It's alright. As we gamers always say, real life comes first.
The busy week continues, and after fifteen hours straight, the last thing I can do is look at a statblock. Should have an update for you tomorrow. Sorry for the slow pace this week.
I would like to thank everyone for their patience with me this week.
We're working on scenes from American Realism (Playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, as an example) and are current working through character improvs, The idea is to construct a scene from our characters lives before our actual scenes, so we have a history and actual emotional events to build upon.
While we are all in two person scenes, these improvs can range from a single person cast to as many of the central actor desires. (Largest so far will be about 12 in a scene) And every student in the class chips in.
Because the focus is realism, we have to be extremely detailed. In our biographies, histories, physicality of character, costuming and set design. This takes a lot of coordination and prep work, both for our own scenes we need to construct, and for the work we need to do for any scene we're helping, involving character studies, discussions about what an actor wants to accomplish in their scene study (Plus reading the plays so we have an understanding of the characters we're playing. All of this is on top of our regular course work.
So this is why I've been so out of it this week. My average day goes from 8 am to 9 pm, and today finished at 11. I'm frustrated I can't get updates up for you guys, but in this state they would be pretty shoddy work anyways.
Weekend soon though, and then sched changes, so we should be back up to speed in a day or so. thanks for your patience.
DM-
No worries! Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on your status, though. Breathe deeply and don't worry; I don't think anyone here is going to begrudge you focusing on what's important.
Yosrick/James
Agreed! This is supposed to be fun for all of us - not work, so take what time you need so you can enjoy yourself. (Also, the work you are doing sounds awesome)
(Double also, Sword of the Stranger was excellent! It's at the lead of my favorite-anime-movie-pack; neck and neck with Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. Thanks for the suggestion!)
I have an opportunity to sit at a computer again while I wait for the snow to stop, so I thought I should post an update.
I arrived in St. Paul yesterday and have set about the task of finding a place to live. I've got a very promising lead, and unless something unforeseen happens I should be moved in by next week. I'll arrange internet access at that point, and hope to return to the game shortly.
Glad the move has gone smoothly so far - hope the trend continues for you!
Glad the move's going well for you Kove,
Thanks for the support guys. As Yos can attest my schedules go from fairly consistent to wrath of god busy (we're in the latter right now) but as long as you can work with that, I'll be around and running this one.
Andrin - Glad you liked it, it is phenomenal and I tend to watch the final fight anytime I need a bit of motivation for this game. I've been brushing up on my Samurai films for this game and have found some pretty sweet ones. Though I think Stranger's my fave so far.
I always dive back into the classic series's whenever I need inspiration. Berserk being one of the usual 'go-to's'. Daemon is based a lot on the leader (Shimada Kanbei) from the series Samurai 7 personality wise.
I am back; I'm moved into a new apartment (amazing find) and have internet up and running. Now to get caught up on the game.
Congratulations and welcome back!
Wait Samurai 7 is a classic?... it came out in 2004! Damn I'm old.
Nah it's not a classic in age... But an instant classic in awesomeness.
Hey guys, I'm in a show week right now and expected to be able to update during breaks between rehearsals and runs... >.> not sure what I was thinking.
So yeah, update's coming, probably tomorrow afternoon/evening. If not then on Friday.
Shows went great, just got in from the post-run festivities. Pretty quiet all told, but I'm wiped enough that I'm going to wait a day. Tomorrow's a day off so I'll have a good update up for you.
Also, to make it easier on myself - with Paizo's new layout for the Online campaigns. I'm switching my main profile to plain ol' Rennick. Hence the game name change.
If you are talking about the campaigns being seperated under each Alias, that was an unintended side effect. I got mine fixed HERE
For your perusal:
There's his "official" art in the We Be Goblins adventure as well. I'm proud of this drawing, but doesn't look kiddy-ish enough. Body's too big I think.
These goblins are both cute and cruel all at the same time and I'm finding it very hard to not like them an awful lot because of the cuteness.
"Go kiss doggie Poog! I'm chiefy, go away!"
I mean, seriously - it's just too precious.
Poog of Zarongel
SWEET!
Rennick, what are you thoughts on us using inner monologue? I dropped it into my most recent post without really thinking about it and it occured to me afterward that you might be looking for us to show our characters' thoughts more than state them.
I've been lurking on this campaign thread and I think the internal dialogue adds quite a bit to the story. Regardless, if it's a technique you aren't all that keen on, I'll happily oblige.
I'm glad I'm not alone... It's habitual for me to add inner dialogue as I write out characters actions. But, I'm even better at following the general feel of the characters around me - that's why I haven't really been doing it as I thought I'd be the only one!
In short... I'm also curious to this questions answer.
Hahahahahahaha! That may be one of the meaner things I've done to a first level party. or at least a blood lustful character like Lir.
Congratulations, you have all stemmed the Goblin threat to Sandpoint without entering combat once. :p
But I mean, Intimidate rules say that the affected person wouldn't do something to get themselves hurt, so Gutwad's only option was to run away.
hehehehe.
I have no problem with inner monologues, I'm surprised they haven't been used more often. I mean it takes a bit of Player/Character separation. (After all, maybe Lir had a traumatic experience with Goblins, he could think about it, but you wouldn't know) but you all seem smart enough to seperate.
So yeah go ahead, basic rule of a format is bold for speech and italics for thoughts.
---
Also:
Long term campaign stuff:
I've been reading a lot of "Dungeon Master Experience" by Chris Perkins over at WotC and it has some interesting advice, one I'm putting into play now. Consider us in the first "Season" as it were, of the game. I'd like everyone to give me a list of three things they would like to see happen during this season. It could be something your character wants "I'd like to build a Golem" it could be something on a larger scope "I'd like the party to participate in at least one full on naval battle" or something that interests you as a player but wouldn't be something your character would think of "I'd like to transform to a different race."
I can't promise everyone will get everything they ask, but I'm shooting for at least one for everyone. Ideally post them here in a spoiler tag, but if you really want to make sure no one sees them you can PM them to me. Keep in mind that I may not be able to accommodate every request because of the adventure path, so you may want to focus more on character points than big plot points.
Hehe, you shouldn't feel too bad about denying Lir his bloodshed. After all, it was his masterful performances that send the goblin chief running for the hills. :P
I have to think a bit to figure our how Koveluss will react to the unexpected course of events. I do have some questions about the three season goals. I understand your caution regarding big things in an AP; should we try to stay away from big things entirely, or are you willing to consider slightly shifting the course of the game around from time to time in order to accommodate ideas should you determine that they aren't too difficult for you to accomplish?
Also, how long will this first season last? A goal to leap heroically onto the back of a dragon you're fighting wouldn't be much good if the current season only lasts till level 5, for example.
...A goal to leap heroically onto the back of a dragon you're fighting...
Have you been reading my mind?! =P