Roland Aristocrat Campaign

Game Master Goldstool Shroomshine

Many years ago I had an interesting New Year's Eve experience. I was home from grad school and flying back on a New Year's Eve red-eye flight that was the only one I could get. My plane arrived in Atlanta at 11:30 PM and my connecting flight did not leave until 12:30 AM, so I was in the terminal at midnight. There were hundreds of people sitting in a large circular area with about 10 gates connected to it, all in the same unpleasant situation of spending New Year's Eve not at a party but in an airport.

At midnight, one of the ticket clerks announced over the loud speaker that it was midnight. Somewhere, someone started singing Auld Lang Syne, and within seconds everyone in the terminal joined in. It was an amazing experience, kind of like seeing a crystal form all at once from a supersaturated solution. After singing one verse, it was over and everyone went back to being crabby or bored or tired. But it was a curious moment of unity that appeared amidst considerable chaos.

We could actually just use a french Auld Lang Syne, it might even fit well. Quick search found this.

I don't have any good New Year's stories beside this one. I started one year in a fireplace so it was all better from there, but that is about it.

@Hal, if you need time to post as you are starting your campaign, feel free to delay. My next post is going to be on the larger side, might take till Wednesday to be honest.

I was a bit busy at work after coming back from my weekend away, so I've been a bit busy to get anything substantial together. I will have time to do so tonight. :)

Thanks, but so far, it's not a problem. Still going over submissions for the next week.

Just checking in that everything is going ok for everyone. :) I'm still around.

Same here

All good! Post coming tonight (Goldstool Promise), had a strange week but it is now over. Never meant to delay this long, have been working on building the assets and characters for the next part.

@Halcyon: I will be doing the French version of the song. If you make a post between now and mine, I will react accordingly. Otherwise it is asking Agatha to do a song and heading out to the streets afterwards.

Very large post incoming. So you know when it is Ok to post, the last thing I write details a large mirror. Please do not post until this description is up.

EDIT: That was a process to work through. Need to do a final round of error checking, but all should be good to go.

Sorry to rush some interactions, but we dwelled long enough on the party. I thank all of you personally for sticking through this with me. Still have the opportunity for closing remarks, but the story advances. The NPCs will appear again through various stages in the story. Everyone has a plan and a purpose.

Regarding the END OF CHAPTER line: I was re-reading the previous posts a month or so back, and a very early comment by Raphael struck me and has kept with me. “There's little love to be lost between our nations, but we are at peace for now.” I’ll most likely keep this tradition in the future, taking snippets or quotes to use as the chapters end.

Aiming to make same day responses at the moment. Valentina will likely be my expressive character for a bit. I'm not sure how GM's usually use ex-player characters, but I will try to be as faithful as I can to the character while I use them.

Pretty much what you're doing is good. You could reach out to leinathan if you needed any more info on her and her motivations. Valentina and I had some chats about mutual character development, so I'll try to remember to forward those to you when I get home from work. Send me a PM if I forget. :)

Seth, where do you place you hand on the mirror?

The edge of the mirror, right where the mirror meets the frame.

Regarding possible a fifth player: If someone knows an individual who is looking for a PbP game, doesn't mind a slower paces (but will speed up, I promise), and is a good RPer, feel free to tell them about the game and tell them to PM me if they are interested. I'm not saying to post in all your threads that I am looking for someone, but if someone makes a passing mention, or if you have someone in mind that you think would make a good fit, feel free to extend the invitation.

I am more than content with four, four-five is my ideal party size. Chapters will likely "feature" a dedicated NPC depending on what is going on. For now it is Valentina, later maybe a quest giver, faction representative, friend at an event or if you hire on a someone with a set of skills you need.

I will definitely keep that in my if any of my friends are ever looking for a PbP.

Marcus also has a horse.
We could put the construct on a horse with a rider, and count on the construct to keep the thing steady then we can go at horse pace with everyone who doesn't have a horse getting one the back of someone else's horse

I've got a guy I'm in a fair number of games with who I think might be interested (I haven't asked but I suspect he will). I can reach out and ask him if you like.

That'd be, uh, 700lbs on a horse. With a rider without the Ride skill and has three legs. Encumbrance aside, there is the three leg dilemma, lifting the 700lbs robo/mirror combo onto the horse, dismounting the construct.

With the right gear to strap the mirror securely, maybe two horses could travel with the mirror between them, forming a makeshift caravan. That'd be one solution.

A second: Raphael has Muleback Cords, which would enable Seth to pick up the mirror on his own. With the right gear to secure the mirror to Seth, he could ride the horse with the mirror on his back. Unless I am missing gear, I don't see much rope. We can say the Talltail Inn has materials like rope, leather straps, cords, et cetera.

I'm not saying that taking it to the Society is the best option, but these are the ways I see it being done.

@Raphael: Feel free to tell them about it and reach out to me if they are interested.
@Marcus: Please reflect the horse in your gear. I look to those pages frequently when I make encounters, and would like to know every tool you have ;) Had I seen that, it'd have been in the travel post earlier.

1) why is the mirror 700 pounds?
2) my friend is makeing a wilder for this game with a mild/moderate obsession with crystals
It is the intent that he be at whatever party my character is heading towards to collect his Mage friend
His money makeing thing is owning some kind of mine, emerald maybe

Mirror is three hundred. Construct is 400ish. It's their combined weight.

Tell them to PM me, I'd like to chat a bit before they dedicate too much time to building a character and establishing a set up. I don't want to integrate anyone too suddenly and would like to give it thought if it'd happen in this game day or another.

Made contact with an individual for recruitment, we will see where that goes. In the event that I give them a pass, I'll run everything by everyone here and hold it to a vote or something. Did make me spruce up the Design Document which is good.

DesignDoc Changelog:
- Councilman Armand Rousseau is now Councilwoman Armina Rousseau.
- Councilman Menos Bissette's race changed from Half-Elf to Elf.
- Tengu Population changed from 1000 to 1500.
- Oread population changed from 100 to 4000.
- Rat folk Population changed from 4000 to "4000, though figures as high as 25000 have been hypothesized."
- Various grammatical fixes.

Happy National Coming Out Day, everyone.

Cool :)

Post coming later today, going to hop a bit to the future. Hopefully separating the party won't have dire consequences ;)

Rest of the posts upcoming, though all feel free to post in the future. I believe we may have a fifth sometime in the near future. I am currently working with them on character creation and determining the best time to introduce them.

Swear test for upcoming NPC. Want to see how it looks, if it will be readable:

f@!%
f!@~ing
f@%%in'
shit
ass
a$#!*&$
bastard
b%@@%
cockass
jackass

Advancing plot tomorrow, Marcus' return and what not. If there is any investigation left in the present, do so as soon as you can.

Well, other than handing off the potion Seth's got nothing. He is a soldier not an investigator.

Soldiers come in handy once in a while ;)

Everyone put place yourself on the following Map, everyone but Marcus. Place Lucia somewhere on the map as well, Seth.

I'm a bit under the weather so my posting may be sparse the next few days. I'll try to keep up with something once a day at least.

No worries Cleb, get better!

IF COMBAT HAPPENS: I'd like to use initiatives, but may lean to a first post, first action kind of deal for speed. If you do an attack, you may provide descriptions and flavor, but otherwise I will be doing this. I have done very little PbP combat and am still learning the ropes. Already learned a bit from some other (wink wink, nudge, nudge, Cleb) games I am a part of, so please bear with the learning process.

It is a very foolish noble who overlooks the value of military might.

@Marcus: You fine in me picking an alias/avatar/look for your brother, or would you prefer to pick one that you think suits him?

If the latter, send me the image url (right click picture, copy image url, send it my way) and give me the race/class the picture falls under so I can find it and use it.

@All but Marcus, check my aliases and look for your contact. I won't say their names aloud or link to them in case you'd rather it be hidden, but tell me if you like the alias picture or have another vision for them.

Have at it, if it looks too off I'll veto, but he's fairly nebulous arm, and other than baring some resemblance to me and/or my sister I don't have much of an idea how he looks
Maybe a little more burly than Marcus, as he favored strength over dexterity, but I'm far from picky here

Marcus, tell me what you think of Nathen's avatar. Also, when you enter the room, please have a reaction ready, and make a perception check.

The avatar for my contact looks good. I do seem to recall seeing an avatar of the same character I used in the image in my profile. I'll see if I can find it. Will reply this evening to the thread.

Hilariously fitting :)

I've no objection to Jean-Tom's avatar, but I haven't had a chance to look at the collection to see if I might spot something more appropriate. My vision of JT is that he's got blond hair, not as golden blond as the typical Galatian, but not black. With a scraggly beard, perhaps. But it's not a big deal right now.

I will be otherwise occupied for the next five days with a trip and work, so I may not post much. Halcyon is mostly observing at this point, not interested in taking any leading roles with the group.

You drew the marrige... In the honeymoon suite

Could be a sign.

Perhaps a character found their future spouse at the party?

Are we doing combat where if a few members of the party are together in the initiative, we consider them going at the same time? I just don't want to post when its not my turn.

I just found that kitsunes can give up proficiency with their natural weapon for the weapon finess feat,
I already have weapon finess could I retroactively have that alternate racial trait?

Also does the dog appear to be a summon or something?

Feel free to post not in rigid order, I can just assume delayed actions are at hand or will interpret their order as needed. As long as everyone gets a turn, I am largely fine.

The dog is a regular dog, druids animal companion actually. I will roll save a for your detect expertise (as I always forget) for the three mirror people.

As for the feat, we can discuss changing it on downtime, I won't let you add a feat here and now. Worst case I'll allow retraining for it.

K, with the feat thing was mostly because with how Marcus stays in his human form it'd make sense that he not exactly be in the habit of how to properly use his natural weapon.

Did I one shot the dog with my blade?

While that extra 1d6 of burning would be fun, Marcus is not on fire. Don't get me wrong, normally you would be going against that DC 15 Reflex to avoid it, but I'll give you the pass due to me missing the chance. That said, I will not be burning items/applying burn damage to your objects, I've never been too fond of breaking or ruining player's equipment unless it is deserved or adds something narrative-ly.

cool cool
does the caster or anyone else verbally respond to my offer of surrender or should I take the fire to the face as my answer

Fire to the face, Marcus. If someone had the ability to cause the frightened or panicked status, I'd consider it. Or if they had the 1 round diplomacy Rogue's Edge.

@Hal: How do any of these work for Jean-Tom? The names are just organized so I can find them again easier.
Male Human Fighter
Male Human Fighter 2
Male Halfling
Male Elf
Male Human Bloodrager
Male Human Wizard

Sometimes I can't stand the avatar system here. There are as many blonde people as there are for the Iconic Fighter Valeros. Lucky for me, that means Vincent Durant can switch his avatar around twenty times before I have to scrape the bottom of his barrel...

This one is actually what I'd prefer: Aldern Foxglove

I researched this a while back and then did not get around to posting it. The Male Human Fighter was my second choice.

@Cleb, Will Update JT to be Aldern.

I won't get a chance to update until tomorrow morning/afternoon (8 hours on the bus, wee!), and I'm fine with y'all settling what you want to do, just make sure it ends in the Gameplay thread.

On people posting OOC things or questions in the gameplay thread, I'd prefer it in the discussion thread. Just makes things easier to read, helps when I go back et cetera. No big dead though, really.

While I am usually fine on having one turn of dialogue/action represent more than the six seconds it actually is, I am adamant on requiring more than a turn for a formal diplomacy to surrender without a fair bit of damage or hopelessness. What I am trying to say is, even though 32 is quite the roll, Sage won't be surrendering.

Even with the arrival of backup and healing of the current fighters
Backup who were able to take down his ally already and appear to do so without injury in under a miniute
Backup armed with adamanite weaponry ;) :P