RoW: Let's Thaw the Frozen Stars! (Inactive)

Game Master Daxter

Mez, I want to preface this post by saying that I am having fun (if I wasn’t, I would have bailed at the end of the first book =P). Thanks for asking for feedback and thanks for owning up to whatever missteps were made. It says a lot. I’ve played with a DM on these boards that would make similar mistakes and then refuse to make amends. As long as you don’t turn into that guy, I think we’ll be okay.

There certainly have been a few encounters that are designed to be frustrating (flying fey at level 1, flying clerics and witches at level 3, etc). Part of that is bad encounter design but it’s entirely within the DM’s power to gauge what’s fun for the players and either adjust the encounter or change tactics as needed. You’ve been making adjustments to accommodate the fact that we’re a 6 man party. Would it be reasonable to make adjustments the other direction to account for the fact that the party has limited ranged firepower? In many cases, I think you’ll find that means making no adjustments at all. As far as our efficiency and damage output, I think our party is fine – especially when you remember that the AP is designed for a group of four unoptimized 15 point buy characters.

Something I do in the APs I’m running when I’m looking over encounters for an area is evaluate 1) Does this encounter fit the narrative? 2) How does it advance the story (not every encounter has to)? 3) Will it be fun? This last one is often tragically neglected. Fun is subjective and nebulous but you know us fairly well by now. You have some kind of idea what sorts of encounters and interactions are fun for us.

Thanks guys, that you are still having fun means a lot to me 

I actually have culled a number of encounters from the AP already that I thought would not play out well in a PBP format. The most recent of which was 2 quickling rogues with cohorts harassing a random town. Move 120, spring attacking, fast healing things with high AC just seemed stupid to a PBP setting. I ran it in my tabletop version and nearly TPK’d the party in a fight that lasted 4 hours.

Its a interesting balancing act between the non-story encounters designed to flesh out the world, and not making it drag too much betwen plot points.

The last few encounters in Radosek's tower are good examples. Two flying encounters back to back that end in summarized combat shouldn't be a thing. Perhaps one of them should have come down sooner to engage in melee? Not every encounter needs to be run at 100% effectiveness.

But yes, balancing the story and combat pacing is one of the greater challenges in running an AP via PBP.

The last few encounters in Radosek's tower are good examples. Two flying encounters back to back that end in summarized combat shouldn't be a thing. Perhaps one of them should have come down sooner to engage in melee? Not every encounter needs to be run at 100% effectiveness.

This is something I'm struggling with. DM, I know that you want us to be challenged (and have fun being challenged), but it feels like some of the decisions you make put "realism" over "fun for the players". To me, the word "realism" doesn't have any place (at all) in a fantasy setting - I get plenty of realism every day of my life outside of the game. I understand that not everyone feels that way.

But right now I'm conflicted. I really like you guys, and have been enjoying gaming with you... but every time we get to combat, I groan inwardly.

I feel like I'm not explaining my struggle very well - anyone else understand what I'm feeling and would be willing to help me verbalize it?

Well striving for realism is just silly.

When it comes to tabletop gaming 'realistic' should never be the goal if it means hurting fun.

I'm having a great time, frustrated by certain flying enemies, but that's ok. took a very weak 1st level attack wizard spell with LONG range just to try to compensate, XD

Well, things will improve a little next level, when Avora finally gets wild shape. There will be a further improvement at 8th level, when she can assume the form of a grizzly. :)

I do groan when it comes to combat, but only because I feel like Bugsby is out there going, "Protoplasm! - Protoplasm! - Protoplasm! - Protoplasm!" with a grease thrown out there occasionally.

I think I understand what you mean Lana, even though I haven't felt that way too much myself... Maybe you're expecting hoping our party of heroes handle combat a little more... heroically perhaps? Is that along the same vein of what you're feeling?

Mez - I guess I'd echo a little bit of what Sven and Lana have said - especially related to those two flying bad guy encounters where we just wore them down until you decided to cut to a narrative ending instead of us just playing it out. Stepping away from tactical perfection to make things fun and exciting makes sense - and it's definitely not something I always remember when I DM.

Even as I think about it, though, you did have Radosek come down to fight on the ground, because he could do awful things to us as he died -which fits pretty well with the idea of a heroic fight.

Anyway, I'm definitely still having fun and eager to see what comes next. And as I've said before, I enjoy a dangerous game, and this one certainly offers that.

Just a heads up, my posting will get less frequent from work. They just relocated my team and my boss is positioned in a perfect spot to observe my computer whenever she wants.

Bummer, sorry to hear it, mostly for your sake.

Dang! Having people watch me over my shoulder drives me nuts. Even thinking someone might be watching over my shoulder drives me bonkers.

Might I suggest using Firefox with image blocker Add On. Then composing posts in a simple text-based program.

I've used notepad to write messages, it looks innocent enough to the casual observer, then quickly hopping onto Paizo using firefox (with images blocked) and posting the pre-composed message?

I've also copy and pasted posts into Notepad (again using firefox w/images blocked) so as to reduce the time the browser is open.

... It's not devious, it's clever!

Yeah, I often compose stuff in Word and then paste it in, but I haven't thought of blocking images in my browser.

It's definitely clever!

I'm back. I'm exhausted but much fun was had.

Hey Mez - our previous discussion about heroism vs realism in this game got derailed a bit by your bad news about when you'll be able to post - and it really is bad news, I'd be bummed if that happened to me.

But I wanted to thank you again for asking for our feedback, because it's not something that happens a lot on these boards and we don't get the same kind of feedback you get around a table of players. I also wanted to follow up, though, and ask for your thoughts on the question of making the game 'realistic' - setting aside that there are flying people who can shoot magic out of their fingers and the like - versus aiming to to make it a bit more dramatic, epic, heroic, whatever-ic.

Hope everything's ok, Mez.

I've been thinking the same. Hope all is good, Mez

Okay, Mez. Really getting worried, here. Everything okay?

I sent Mez an email. We'll see.

Thanks, Feral. I hope he's all right, after his recent health issues.

Yeah. starting to get real worried.

Hey all! Work has really kicked me in the kibblits last week, and this week will likely be no different.

Plus someone thought it'd be a good idea to start my MBA program... which has started so I'm doing some fast tap dancing. I'll get back in here as soon as possible.

I also hope Mez is doing alright!

Hello everyone,

I must first off, apologize for the delay in getting this posted, it has been a rough few weeks and gaming took a low priority. I could give a number of reasons, but what it boils down to is that I’m stepping away from the Paizo site for a while, at least until my life settles down, perhaps longer.

RPing with many of you has been enjoyable, and for those I just started playing with, I wish it could have been longer. For games I’m a PC, feel free to bot or remove my PC however you see fit. For those I am GMing, I leave it up to you to decide if you want to find a replacement or let the game die.

If anyone is interested in a more detailed explanation of what’s going on, feel free to PM me. I may not divulge every personal detail, but I could provide a bit more to those I have spent so much time with.

Sorry

Wow, Mez, I'm so sorry to hear it, for our sakes and yours. It's been great fun playing with you on both sides of the table.

Best of luck getting everything sorted out, and I hope to see you back on the boards at some point.

I'm also sorry to hear it, and if there's anything I can do to help, shoot me a PM.

Thank you for letting us know, and hope to see you back on the boards soon.

Sorry, Mez, but I understand completely. The real world must, unfortunately, come first. I wish you the best of luck and hope that things get better soon.

That said, does someone want to take over, or do we call it?

Sorry to hear it Mez. I’ve really enjoyed the game so far but I understand sometimes life gets out of hand. Best of luck. I'll shoot you an email later.

***

I’d suggest we try to get a new DM. Any suggestions?

Getting a new DM would be great, I'd love to keep this game going. But who can we shanghai into taking it over? A few thoughts come to mind:

GM Alice? Might be a bit slower, due to the time difference, but she runs a great game.

Tek? EF? - they mostly do PFS games, though EF has a couple of AP's he's running.

If it matters, I'd happily pitch in to buy the AP books for the GM.

Push come to shove, I can GM. I have the AP. Though for obvious reasons, I'd prefer to continue as a player.

Dunno if Alice would be up to it, She's currently running at least 2 PFS games and I'm in her Wrath of the Righteous game as well.
I'd hate to see this fall apart tho, I like my gimpy cleric.
Sadly I'm not near competent enough to take over an online game. TableTop I'd do it in a heartbeat!

I'd rather not lose anyone that's currently playing.

I'm looking into new DMs. Don't give up quite yet.

Well my best prospect for a replacement didn’t work out.

I started a recruitment thread here. Feel free to chime in. It might help drum up sympathy. =(

Kalt, you want to try contacting EF and/or Alice?

I'll reach out, thanks for doing the same, Sven.

Just posted this in the recruitment thread for our new GM, asking Ranginui to step in and run the show!

I chatted with or PM'ed everyone, and had thumbs up from four of us for Ranginui, and no replies from Avora and Bugs, so I went ahead with it, since we had a majority. I think it'll be a good fit, and I'm very glad we'll get to keep the story going!

Avora is good with it. Sorry.

No problem, glad to hear it. Didn't mean to come across as nagging...

It was really a win-win. Both choices were great.

Welcome aboard Ranginui.

Greetings all, and thank you all for the vote. I'm very much looking forward to this game. I'll go ahead and purchase the books today and request the thread.

It will take me a few days to get up to speed... and then the show must go on!

I've glanced at your various back stories to a certain extent, but I might have some additional questions that bear asking, which I can do via PM.

In the meantime, your daily Russian Proverb:

It is never winter in the land of hope

Buying the books shouldn't be necessary. I'm sure we can take care of that for you.

Where's the Scandinavian and Eskimo proverbs? This is culture discrimination!

Ranginui - Welcome! I just gifted you the PDF of first book of the AP here on the Paizo site, you should get a message about it.

Don't worry about Sven, he's a very sensitive soul, as you know.

Also (because you don't have enough to read to get caught up), when Kalt was torn in half by the troll the first time we went to Radosek's tower, he was brought back to life by some nice folks in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, which is also where we first met Lana. Mez played that story out in a separate thread, He Who Hunts At Night, in case you want to check it out.

welcome and thanks for helping us out!!! Ankih went a little gimpy to go Mystic Thuerge, but I like him so ...YAY!

Welcome. Feel free to PM if there's any light I can shed on Lana's background - there were some PMs exchanged with Mezegis about her before she joined, so there may be information missing from her profile.

Ranginui - in looking for something else, I recently came upon some really gorgeous maps for the second book of this AP. I haven't looked at them beyond a quick glimpse to see their quality, for fear of spoilers, but they look pretty dang cool, if you're interested in using them.

Speaking of which, what do you think your mapping approach will be? Lana and Sven both have experience doing maps on PbP, though I don't really, so they might have some good thoughts, as might others in this game.

Realistically, when do you foresee us getting going again Rango?

"Rango"? I don't know how I feel about that Feral, but now it's invariably going to stick...

A general question for everyone - is anyone planning on doing leadership. I assume several people here will be against leadership introduced into the game - an extra entity at a 6 person table being a bit to much (I note the druid has a domain, not a companion). OTOH, there are things like monstrous cohort or mounts people might be interested in pursuing, which I think wouldn't burden things down too much.

Feral did brief me up to speed on the untimely demise of Kalt, and I will keep it in mind.

As for starting, at a minimum I'd like to have control of the thread; but Paizo is usually pretty fast and will likely get around to that Monday. I'd prefer to have a few more days to get everything sorted before I start. I am working my way through Ankih's gift right now, and then I'll start on Feral's. Thank you very much for both of those.

For mapping, I'll probably use google docs unless someone feels like a cheerleader for some alternate virtual table-top solution. Google docs is work friendly for me, for sure. I did find the work of bwatford - beautiful, if big. At 60 mb a map, I think I might need to scale those down/save them in a lower resolution before uploading them to google docs.

Glorious it is when wandering time is come

Yeah, I think Leadership would be out of the question. We're already a big party. The more moving parts you introduce in a PBP, the more things will bog down.

If you don't hear back by Monday I suggest you send another email. Paizo does drop the ball on occasion.

Yeah, I think Leadership would be out of the question. We're already a big party.

I thought you would say that :)

You know me too well.

Umm. must be a typo... I didn't send you anything as of yet...
But I am willing to pitch in for the Ap books when needed.