Ruins of Pathfinder: The Quest for Arcadia (Inactive)

Game Master Robert Brookes

Heh, well I guess we know where we'll be moving the expedition then :p Have the carts and sleds have improved our movement speed at all (from 15 feet)?

As to what Quint will be doing the next couple days, assuming Mineko is happy to keep helping him there is another 7 hours worth of DC 20 journal to decipher, so he'd like to do that for day 4, then on day 5... I guess he'll go back to earning influence, and then start on labor on day 6 (will have to look up an appropriate skill).

I know I'm behind on posting. Sorry about that. Got swamped this week. Should have something up tonight.

The carts only move as fast as what's pulling them, so no.

Also, I kept forgetting to re-link to the map:

Northeast Arcadia, scouted.

Sounds good Quint, I'll dedicated myself to working with you over the next few days with deciphering the journal.

Rogath: Twas not Dwunderbran who swung around the giant sword—doesn't even own a sword (unless you count the bastard sword we just found). I think that was another applicant.

Rogath: Twas not Dwunderbran who swung around the giant sword—doesn't even own a sword (unless you count the bastard sword we just found). I think that was another applicant.

Oh, whoops. Serves me right for not going back and checking. My notes just had that it happened, but not who. Turns out it was Rindovaan, who had a very similar icon.

I'll go make a correction post.

As for the date, 4602 was a very, very long time ago.

Heh just noticed that Dr. Logem was alive during that time period. Would've been about eight years old.

Anyways, workin' on mah post!

It was indeed.

Updated!

Angrin, Dwun and Rogath -- let me know what (if anything) you're doing about your potentially winged visitor/spooky hallucination.

Beach Team -- CHALK CLIFFS! APPLES! DEER MEAT! PLOT REVELATIONS!

Everyone: Feel free to interject RP throughout the days listed events and start thinking about your actions for the next In-Character day.

Right, right. I'll get on a post in a couple hours - a few things in the meantime. Sorry for my delayed posts, I'll try to improve them.

Mafol, meanwhile.. would ensure no one was the wiser of the extra resources being given to these men over some of the others in the camp. A job easy for him, considering the few dwarves interested in bookkeeping.

Hmm should be interesting once Quint gets his head out of the book :p Inventorying supplies and people is exactly what Quint has been doing the last couple days, including trying to create enough resources to form a team of accountants/bureaucrats himself.

Heh well, you may end up meeting this Mafol then! I hope Rob doesn't mind me coming up with names for random NPCs... and I must've missed where you were working on bookkeeping o.o

Yeah Quint's whole first day was inventory. That'll actually be a cool scene when he goes back through the books in a few days and is like "wtf..."

hehe, yup ;) I even mentioned in my last post that he was going to be keeping a closer eye on what Logem was taking. Not really sure what he'll do about it when he does notice it, but you've got a couple days before you have to worry about that :)

Hehe *I* didn't take anything from the inventory though, if you notice.

;)

Mafol acted in my stead, not necessarily tipping Quint off to any of Dr. Logem's treachery! It would be up to Rob if he'd lie or not when questioned, though - though he's obviously less than honorable. ;)

One wonders how we'll dispense justice in our newfound home.

Hope Dwunderbran doesn't mind Angrin interrupting, but, well, it is his speciality to scout, after all. :P

Can't WAIT to see how THIS little exchange plays out...knew Dwunderbran would be in this game from his first post.

Now we get to see why.

And the scouting expedition never returns... haha!

Things have been slowing down lately on all ends, I know some of you are back in school and have other commitments. With the party split right now its important for everyone to try and make more of an effort to get things rolling.

Beach Camp team: Logem (and to an extent Quint/Mineko) have given me a multi-day plan for downtime. Are there any other notions? Maven I know you've been struggling with the downtime rules, is there anything I can do to help? Is anyone intending to RP anything else for the day at the beach?

Expedition Team: Any more reactions to the winged visitor? Rogath is within line of sight of Dwun and Angrin, so while the creature is out of darkvision range for him he knows they've come into contact with it and he can hear it speaking.

All: I'm hoping to get everyone back together soon enough and redistribute activity amongst the players. Is the micromanaging/downtime stuff too much book-keeping? If it's not as much fun I can push it to the background for a while until you, as a group, get an actual settlement established and we can focus more on exploring the countryside as a full group. Not sure what is more appealing.

Sorry for my own silence, no real excuse just been lazy about posting. I do like the downtime stuff, and you're handling most of the heavy lifting/book-keeping anyway so that's fine from me, it's just as this is a more intensive game it's a little harder to force myself to sit down and respond when it takes me that much longer to come up with responses to everything. There's nothing wrong with the game I just lack the attention span sometimes when it's so much easier to open WoW and blow stuff up :p It hasn't been that specifically this time, but you get the idea I hope.

Its fine by me so far - despite the slow activity, I'm still really loving this campaign, and can't wait to see it progress, even if it takes a while to do so. I'll admit, Dr. Logem has been less 'interactive' as a character for now, but by no means does that mean I'm not enjoying the campaign.

I enjoy bookkeeping, so that much isn't a bother for me - though since Dr. Logem is busy recruiting for the next five days.. theres not much for me to do while I wait for the others :P

...though Dr. Logem would love to get his hands on that creature the expedition team has encountered. FOR SCIENCE!

As I've found out in my Skull and Shackles Pbp, writing daily posts when doing mundane things (Like daily jobs, infuencing people, then sitting around eating and doing nighttime activities) can get monotonous to some - as a result, longer, more detailed posts are difficult, causing potentially long delays. That shouldn't discourage people from posting, though - I think we all can agree that, should we be stuck with doing a weeks worth of downtime activities or exploration during which nothing substantial happens, it would be much more fun to do short, to-the-point posts of lower quality so we can get to the good stuff that much faster, than sit around and not post for days trying to come up with a few detailed paragraphs about brewing alcohol, crafting medical supplies, etc.

I'm in a Carrion Crown campaign where I joined in at level 5 in book 2.. and the other guys rarely post anything of any real quality - but we're progressing extremely fast (When the DM isn't sick for weeks at a time it seems), which in itself is interesting. I love a good, rich roleplaying experience as much as the next dwarf.. but I also want to kill things and level up! :D

Just my 2 cents.

Also, Dr. Logem doesn't really have any plans for further RP on the beach - I'll make sure to get a post up daily (I'll detail each Warrior as he recruits him, to find a way to get something to post about), but overall, he's going to be busy.

Luckily for me, I can open up a game of Dwarf Fortress and gain inspiration for stuff. In fact.. I've been doing that for a lot of things!

I must admit - I am currently waiting to see if Dakún or Rogath wants to do something. I can post something up on Thursday or Friday, if we want.

Rob, mind if I design the basic Warrior NPC that Dr. Logem will be recruiting, or do you want to? I plan on just taking the level 1 Dwarf Warrior from the NPC Codex and bumping him up to level 3, as the Elite Soldiers consist of level 3 warriors.

I'm somewhat busy, yes, but not as much as I make it sound, honestly. I simply have more of a writer's block, and I'm not sure how best to apply my character's skills in downtime right now. Forging weapons and armor are her downtime specialty, aside from the random heal and first aid that the random Dwarf might need. Evaluating her now, it seems this character wasn't conceived to instigate things very well, be they adventures or settlement building. Hmmm...

Maybe she could design some wagons the settlers can easily push/pull, or get us loaded up on crossbows for guards. I have knowledge(engineering) but RAW, that's not exactly the same as being able to make a wagon or a building.

I think part of my hesitation is that Maven herself wouldn't be trying to accumulate much in the way of capital or goods of her own at this point; it also stems from the fact that we're planning on getting up and moving rather than settling on the beach. Once we hit a more permanent spot and find need for more manufacturing, however...that'll be a whole different story.

I guess I unintentionally ended up with a more reactive character than proactive. I'll have to be wary of that in the future.

Rob, mind if I design the basic Warrior NPC that Dr. Logem will be recruiting, or do you want to? I plan on just taking the level 1 Dwarf Warrior from the NPC Codex and bumping him up to level 3, as the Elite Soldiers consist of level 3 warriors.

That's fine, and the base I would have recommended too.

My week has been absolutely (and unexpectedly) swamped. I haven't made it home before 11pm yet this week...

Then combine that with what Quint said, which is quite applicable to my short amount of at-home time:

it's just as this is a more intensive game it's a little harder to force myself to sit down and respond when it takes me that much longer to come up with responses to everything. There's nothing wrong with the game I just lack the attention span sometimes when it's so much easier to open WoW and blow stuff up :p

Tonight, there's nothing that should keep me from getting home at a more reasonable time. Hopefully, nothing will come up out of the blue. I will get a post up tonight, even if it ends up being a three-sentence filler.

My apologies to Rob and the rest of the away team.

It's a lot easier to understand the slowness when I know you guys are bogged down, which I totally sympathize with. I just want to make sure it isn't out of disinterest, because I can always adjust things to make the game more fun! I don't mind the slow pace while people are busy if that's all it is :)

I at least am still interested - Life just has been kicking me whilst I am down.

I'm actually in Hawaii right now with my wife. Hence the lack of posting. Sorry for the lack of concrete posts.

Heh. At least that's a better excuse than mine. I hate writer's block. Like, hate it with a hammer--NOWAIT. with a Drowbreaker.

Yay, I got a post up. And did some cataloging too! Languages are fun.

Guide to the setting's languages

Rogath - That is awesome. o_o

Dang, it really is! Nice!

I'm wondering if you could do a few extra for me. I'll message you about it once I get a list of what I need.. for various campaigns. :P

Dang, it really is! Nice!

I'm wondering if you could do a few extra for me. I'll message you about it once I get a list of what I need.. for various campaigns. :P

So far, that's just been taken from what people have actually used (or at least what they've claimed to use). I haven't actually picked any associations myself.

That being said, I'd be happy to add any new ones you might need, and I can certainly try to pick languages to match them if you don't have them already.

The carts only move as fast as what's pulling them, so no.

Also, I kept forgetting to re-link to the map:

Northeast Arcadia, scouted.

Which hex did we explore into and find the ruined mill?

Map is up here

The mill was in the western-most edge of the beach landing hex. You encountered it by happenstance on your way to the western hills.

Okay, I finally have an idea; if it works out, I won't even be too concerned about the lack of a forge or a mine.

How do we feel about...Lookout tower-wagons with collapsible ballista?! they'll give us a height advantage, they can be packed up and wheeled around, and they'll give our perimeter guards some respectable ordinance all in one neat little package!

knowledge engineering and craft weapons for the win? Yeah, I think so.

Assuming the DM finds the idea awesome enough to be plausible...

Yikes! Suddenly, posts! *Runs off to check them*

EDIT: Maven... that is an awesome idea.

I will be away from computers after the coming Monday. This will hopefully only be for a few weeks but could be significantly longer. Please bot and/or replace Quint as you feel necessary.

Great idea Maven! DM I'll be working on a post now that I am home, as you can see from my other games I'm catching up with all of my pbp posts at this time.

Good thing, I'm going to be updating this tomorrow. The end of the year for my work is hectic, so I've been trying to juggle everything effectively.

MAP UPDATE

So from here on I'd like to get an assessment of a long-term plan for the group. You've done some review of the land but more scouting by your NPCs will be helpful in determining the terrain further away. You have the local and western hex scouted out two full hexes, but the beach hex has run out of salvage, which means your only source of gaining goods and supplies has dried up.

I'm going to move us to a weekly measure of time from here on out, allowing you 7 days of activities that will be summarized at a time. Given this expanded period of time, it will hopefully allow you to make more progress forward. It will, occasionally, open up into more granulated time passing to consider random encounters and the like.

I believe we had learned that there was scavenge/refuse on the other coastal hexes north and south of us. Judging by the condition of people's mental states we need to establish something more solid that a tent town so I believe we were planning to go to the west. If anyone needs Quint's particular talents and it seems interesting or beneficial for the expedition and/or his and Mineko's position in it then he will help, otherwise he will continue to plug away at the book and/or try to recruit a team of bureaucrats. Once/If he discovers Logem's misappropriation of funds he will inform Mineko at the least and see what she thinks they should do about it.

After that, well... I hadn't planned that far ahead so whatever seems appropriate :)

The remaining journal entries are ones abot what Quint can get taking a 10, so if anyone else can lend (via magic, etc) aid to him he'll need it.

There is salvage on the hexes north and south of where you are, so you can potentially take advantage of that.

I think now that I've finally had an idea, Maven will see about working on her new design and present it to the others to see if we can get some teams working on our new mobile outposts. Until we find and tame some suitable beasts of burden, we'll have to have some settlers play oxen for a while, but they're Dwarves; they can handle it.

I imagine a few days would be sufficient to get a working schematic in order; production would be ongoing until we have as many as we think we'll need (or can pull.)

Dm fiat supercedes all that, of course, but eh, my best guess. Maven's the engineering expert, not me.

The cost is going to be the most difficult aspect, at present. You don't have a great deal of useable funds (or goods) to create one. EVen if you scale down the ballista (500gp) to a heavy crossbow (50gp) even a much scaled down siege tower (2,000gp) would likely cost something in the realm of 200gp to make.

Maven could certainly build plans for it, but right now it would be a huge exhaustion of the party's resources to actually build it.

The remaining journal entries are ones abot what Quint can get taking a 10, so if anyone else can lend (via magic, etc) aid to him he'll need it.

Rogath's got a +6, but nothing special beyond that. So just the aid another bonus of +2.

Alternatively, if this falls under Comprehend Languages's "read otherwise incomprehensible written messages" ability, then Maven could have read the whole thing long before we got back. Rogath is going to start preparing that daily now, though...

Huh. You know I never noticed that about comprehend languages. I'll think on that and get back after a little digging to see if a none else has used it in such a fashion.