OOC Thread!
Hihi :)
So, any questions, comments, worries?
Nothing quite springs to mind at the moment did you have any questions for me?
Just putting this here so I have everything in the one spot
Regarding areas of Government: In NZ we have a department called MFAT or Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It basically boils down to International Relations. I'm fully aware that IR is a hot topic in Galt at the moment with Korran Goss being the current leader of the Revolutionary Council and blaming everything on neighbouring nations, but hey, I like a challenge and having everyone be friends in the Revolutionary Council would be weird in Galt!!!
Other area's I might look at might be targeting the current homeless / poverty situation and attempting to fix it. A tricky problem to be sure, but one that might gradually make me a favourable figure. I could even expand this into boosting the arts / entertainment for Galt - maybe I should build off that infamous quote: "bread and circuses, that is all the people desire"
Just reporting this here because the other campaign is now inactive so it vanishes from my usual - its more useful for me to have everything in once place.
THAT SAID
I have secret aims / agenda's. The primary one, is finding the infamous Dread Dungeons. Its rumored that within it, one person can bring peace to Galt (permanent peace at least) is there, and it would be awesome tracking that person down. (This little sidenote is why I think paizo will probably look at Galt in a future AP). No-one's succeeded in finding it before, but I want to take a stab at it.
I also want to look at re-integrating the Pathfinder Society within Galt. This ones tricky, since they are not favourable, and like, the Pathfinder Society doesn't have the best rep. It has stunning artifacts though that my character would be interested in, even say, the Crown of Twilight, which might be cool for a Shadowcaster.
I also want a "pro foreign relations" attitude / leanings cos I think its a better solution, long term.
Lastly, I want to effectively be a "Master of Whispers" ie have a spy network. A Calistrian network is a good idea since the religion is obviously popular in Galt, and Calistrian Temples have the best information networks in pathfinder IMO. Spymaster or w.e can either be a public or private occupation or area as deemed appropriate, but I'd be looking at working on one - it would be silly not to.
Hmm I had some free time so adding a few pointers.
Thing I want to do: Masquerade Ball. Like cmon, for a veiled illusionist, that's just begging to be done.
Secondly about Maya:
So, she's very much the illusion queen and shes really big into reality warping. For instance, with that veil, its very easy for her to be something else at a moments notice. Its a trick borrowed from the Grey Gardeners - clearly, she couldn't be one herself but the idea is that she can constantly change her look. Maya wouldn't be above adding authenticity to a fictional disguise either - for instance Maya could easily make an illusory duplicate of herself, take the form of like, a handmaiden, and have it walk alongside her illusion. her familiar using at will Ghost Sound to effectively have a two way conversation.
Like, these are just examples of the probable tricks she might pull off. Maya doesn't really tackle aggression head on, she uses her illusions to discourage it, evade, confuse, rather than just pure brute force. A big part of her safely I think, might be her attempts to use her illusions to make it seem as if she has many more allies, and much more power, than she actually does - to discourage attacks on her. I'm not intending to use this as a crutch or shield but it's probably a safety mechanism or "aura" to discourage casual aggression (deliberate or targeted aggression would be another matter entirely).
The irony is that reckless action probably trumps her, while she probably trumps smarter people with
Thank you for the detailed posts. I am doing hiring at work today so my day is a bit busy and I want the first post to be a good one.
Will try to get it up today but no promises...
I look forward to running another game with you! Shall we shoot for a year again? That was a good run.
Sorry, rough day at work yesterday. Should have it up later today! Thanks for the patience.
Its fine!
We are hiring at our workplace as well, so I'm pretty busy getting prepared as a training coach.
I'm sorry Hand of the Living God isn't generated lots of interest :(
Would have been the perfect game for like, a Cabalist or Warlock Vigilante or something.
I know. Solo games have limited appeal, I guess.
Post today, I promise!
Here is hoping Maya doesn't use Grease and melt everyone's faces off!
Just clarifying her position a little more. Maya is not all about heavily taxing or guilt tripping the wealthy. She knows that some people rise to the top and they get the privileges that come with it. Reading into it though, there is an appearance that Galt doesn't offer much in the way of humanitarian options. All she's asking for, or pushing towards are some government funds being set aside to help the less fortunate. Like, there would be criteria otherwise you get flooded - like maybe you need to be a citizen of Galt to receive the assistance - but the idea is that some attempt is made to address the problem.
Also let me know if Maya is too passive/paranoid and it's affecting your ability to develop the world. I'm playing things carefully at the moment but if that's slowing things or reducing options I can relax this and rely on Maya adapting on the fly.
if I had just watched my predecessor literally being beheaded in front of me, I'd be paranoid too.
As for her views, I think we can avoid if Maya Ali is a Democrat or Republican (to use American values).
I will try to flesh Galt out as best I can. I understand that mean it can be hard for you to react- 'Is there already national flood fund?'. So, we just need to work together and honestly try to make a fun world. But you are pretty much right, Galt is broke after so many years of chaos and violence.
Ah, I see. I'm ok with fleshing it out as we go, I agree that we don't need to get into detail about which American party she fits (idk both of them)
O.k, got some time, here is my breakdown for the rest of the day
-So, firstly I want to enquire a little about my lodging. Clearly, I have a increased status and probably more security I need - probably I need a location upgrade so MAYBE its logical for me to go location shopping - if I dont already have anything lined up.
Secondly, its time for Maya to set up her misdirection tactics.
Step 1: Return to house to pick up my familiar. I should have explicitly mentioned that he was NOT present during the executions, due to me feeling it wouldn't help first impressions if your minister for foreign relations (and remember that Galt still resents Cheliax - imp familiar = bad look), was first seen with a hovering invisible imp next to everyone. So, pick up the familiar is step 1
Step 2: Involves Maya walking around the city with her familiar concentrating on a Major Image of her handmaiden. Obviously, while this is going on my familiar is probably in a shapeshifted tiny form like a rat or bird in a pocket, and invisible to boot, inside like, a coat pocket or whatever. Ideally, this leaves Maya free to converse as appropriate, so even if someone sees through and realizes that its an illusion, they would still be left wondering how Maya could pull off both a concentration spell and talk, move, etc. That said, I don't really want my illusion to break ao I's probably use it in the poorer area's, where people lack magical awareness and training, etc. Unless someone directly interacts with the handmaiden, they don't get a saving throw. This is probably the riskest part of the plan, so Maya finishes it up quickly, the idea being get it visible to the population and any spies that she has a personal handmaiden.
Step 3: This involves Maya retiring, then going back out in the city in her handmaiden form - no illusion this time, but she is using her veil pool - disguise ability. This adds legitimacy - especially when its within this form that Maya makes her donation - people know that it came direct from Maya - because word gradually filters down that someone saw Maya with a handmaiden a couple of hours before etc etc (also she probably announces herself as a handmaiden before granting the donation). Once day, Maya can probably wander the city in handmaiden form and freely browse - now acting as a 'mouthpiece' or spokesperson for Maya.
The idea of a handmaiden form serves a variety of purposes. Firstly, its a way for Maya to get a feeling of the city - its moods etc - without being there. Its a way for her to attempt secret meetings (or anything non official), without it technically being "her" - but she can put her de-facto name behind it. Its a way for Maya to roam the city being less worried about personal security and safety, and its also a way to "bait" out aggressive attempts. If someone wants to corrupt the "handmaiden" or attempt to take the "handmaiden" hostage - you end up directly fighting a fully powered wizard instead. My manufacturing an apparent weakness or weak link - Maya both attempts both to further confidence in dealing with her, (ie if she pisses someone off they might think they have the upper hand in exploiting an apparent weakness) and to encourage attacks on her - the last thing she wants is someone planning 6-8 months a foolproof attack on a wizard - when they can attack an alleged "commoner" and not have to worry about high level spellcasting
Furthermore, Maya actually has some flexibility with her illusion spells. If one suddenly winks out for instant and vanishes - such a thing could easily be mimicked by a teleport, dimension door, mislead, or invisibility spell. Maya is all about misdirection. Someone might break an illsuion of her handmaiden with True Seeing, but that same person might run into Maya in that handmaiden disguise and end up confused since its an official disguise - not something True Seeing would break. The idea is to make people guess constantly, constantly affecting the senses.
Oh, and I also found some free time.
Maya has a disguise tab now on her profile, because she's going to be changing outfits etc to match what she wants people to perceive her as. Rather than copy and pasting the same old description, I wrote out the goals of the outfit, included a link to something I feel might be similar to what she might go with, and went from there.
If you do look at the links next to each disguise please take them with a grain of salt - I have zero idea what the current dress standard is within Galt or even Pathfinder - and google images unfortunately draws from modern fashion which probably doesn't replicate well for Pathfinder. They are examples, rather than exact replica's.
Also unless explicitly noted, Maya and her handmaiden will always wear veils with each and every outfit, as devotees of Sivanah. That said, while each outfit has a veil, Maya will often leave it hanging down, rather than done up 24/7 - though she likes the options to cover her face below the eyes if required or at like, a masquerade ball or something.
Sorry about the delay, was celebrating Xmas. Back now!
Hey it's fine, I just had some spare time and fleshed her out a little more.
Angelique would have fireballed btw ;)
Sorry everyone, got a nasty bug. Should be back tomorrow but also going away on New Years Eve weekend.
Hope that ur feeling better and had a good New Years :)
Here is to a 2017 filled with Good roleplaying!
Is everything ok GM?
IK you run lots of games so if you are feeling a little burnt out I can understand!!
This game is the one that requires the most thought and least rules research. I apologize for the delay, but I have pondered what will happen next!
I am also still not feeling 100%.
OMG you should have told me you were not feeling well :(
Take all the time you need to get better!!!
Sorry about the delay. Thought I was better, wasn't. Back now!
Hey its fine, I'm just glad you're feeling better :)
Just introducing some people, factions, ideas.
Definitely a few interesting factions already and I can start to see some potential problems that Maya is going to have to tread carefully around. I actually like having a question on immigration (of a sort) already - I hadn't thought of it so that was a good one to answer early.
Is prostitution legal in NZ?
Yup
I should have picked something with more damning undertones. I forget we aren't the same culture in real life.
Drugs, I guess?
Yeah, drugs are bad.
Even if our cultures were identical though, the pleasure industry would already be big in Galt I imagine.
Yeah, although conditions are probably pretty awful.
Possibly, but I'm not sure.
Your biggest members of the pleasure industry would be Calistrian Temples, and by all accounts in any text about Galt - the temples themselves are thriving due to being such a massive part of Galt (revenge being something massively significant to Galt at the moment). Unless the prostitutes themselves got shafted by a recent rebellion - theres nothing to consider that they wouldn't be thriving at least in this location - though I bet in a place like Cheliax (which outlawed Calistria), the industry might be suffering.
Still, just my perspective on it.
Just checking anything you want me to do more / less of? I'm trying to cut down on long grandstanding speeches since it's a pain to scroll through but I could make longer talks if you want. Just wanting to see if there was anything further I could work on or do to help out since I'm aware it's a tough setting due to a lack of published material.
Btw if he doesn't speak again in the night that's all o.k. I decided I'd let him go in the morning - although I'd probably RP that.
Angelique would have burned out an eye for his impertinence.
Yeah, Angelique had the whole vengeance thing going. Maya doesn't, or more correctly, has the ability to go there if required, but prefers other options if possible.
Am going on vacation! Will be back on February 9th. Will report back then!
Ohhh thats excellent!
Have a wonderful vacation GM =]
I am back, a great vacation.
I am unsure of this game. Unlike some of my others, it doesn't excite me. I am not sure if it is me, the game or I just need to give it more time. It is a slow-burning plot game. Few owlbears to spice things up.
Thoughts?
Its great that you had an awesome vacation, where did you go?
I do know what you mean though RE this game, since plots + politics take ages, and everyone is going to be super careful because the price of screwing up is really high.
I do agree though that even though I really like Maya's character, its not super exciting at this moment in the game.
Savannah, GA.
Do you think we should keep at it or do something with quicker/better payoffs?
I probably don't mind either way - though I'd probably still look to play Maya if I could. I'd heavily favour something with quicker/better payoffs though if you would like a few more owlbear crossbreeds to spice up :)
It is just PbP is so slow. In one way it is great for a political game, everything is written down, you can take time for inflection, indepth.
But on the other hand it is GLACIALLY slow. We are talking literal months before a scheme bears fruit.
I also feel like you are being robbed by starting over again after just starting this one though. But not being excited to post is always a bad sign for me.
Its not robbing me though, sure I'll want something enjoyable to post in, but that's always going to take second chair to the GM also being excited to post as well - otherwise it doesn't work. So relax, im not being robbed here~
Never relax as a GM! Always dedicated to giving the best gamer experience possible.
I seem to recall we made a list when coming up with this game...Although most of them were political, which is the same issue.
Any ideas for casting the net wider?
I understand wanting to play Maya (whom I like). Do you want to play her at level 9 ?
Hmm, I'd probably prefer keeping her at 9, because its where shes kinda coming into her own. Starting at earlier levels makes her a little vulnerable.
I guess she doesn't have to be political, but shes probably going to work less effectively in a dungeon crawl where her illusions don't really work so well against actual monstrous threats. Of course, she can handle them by adding other spells, but it kinda takes away from her specialisation
What do you think about a rebellion game? Leading, joining, starting a rebellion against an evil government?
Has political elements (lots of them) but also more actions and we can start with a bang.