Ruins of Pathfinder: The Quest for Arcadia (Inactive)

Game Master Robert Brookes

I have the big Arcadia map, which I forgot to upload before I left home for the office. I'll upload it when I get home tonight so you can all more appropriately see your surroundings. Currently only the hex you landed in is revealed.

What you need to do, as a group, right now is determine your next course of action. Read up on the rules above (I am also copying them into the Campaign Info tab, along with a stat block for the settlers.)

After you're done roleplaying the beach landing, you'll need to come up with a plan of action. Will you try and hunker down on the beach? Explore inland? How will you do this?

It's all up to you, now! Arcadia is yours to explore!

:3 And now the fun begins!

I'll have my post up soon.

Should I discuss what I'm thinking here or IC, do you guys have a preference?

In Rob's Reign of Winter campaign we often discuss here before discussing in character.

As for that.. I'm saying we salvage stuff.

I am planning on writing up a quick check of our resources, including personnel, but I agree. We should salvage and probably keep watch a bit. Well, assuming we can set up a small base camp - off of the beach. Angrin's not fond of the water.

Discussing things IC and hashing them out here OOC work hand-in-hand pretty well. You guys have a lot of options available to you now and I know that it might seem a little daunting, basically having the world opened up like this. So if you have any questions or feel like you might need some guidance, by all means just ask and I'll do whatever I can to help. It's a new system in a new land, after all! :)

Hmm.. I have a question, Rob.

You list what actions the settlers can do, but what actions can we PC's do specifically?

Like, for example, can we use the Downtime system to create Goods, Influence, etc, or craft things, beyond what the settlers are doing? Then again, with money being less than useful, how would we go about doing that, considering each Good, Influence, etc requires you to pay half of it's price in GP when you create it?

I know how the Downtime system works in a normal setting, but this isn't exactly a normal setting :P

*Edit* I see you are allowing Intimidate Checks to make the settlers work longer. Looks like I might be becoming a task master.. ;)

*Edit2* Can I take 10 on Intimidating these knaves into action? I assume no take 20's of course.

Also.. when you say they gain 1 Unrest when asked to do a Supplementary task.. do they only gain the Unrest if we fail the check, or do they do so regardless?

Hmm.. I have a question, Rob.

You list what actions the settlers can do, but what actions can we PC's do specifically?

Like, for example, can we use the Downtime system to create Goods, Influence, etc, or craft things, beyond what the settlers are doing? Then again, with money being less than useful, how would we go about doing that, considering each Good, Influence, etc requires you to pay half of it's price in GP when you create it?

I know how the Downtime system works in a normal setting, but this isn't exactly a normal setting :P

*Edit* I see you are allowing Intimidate Checks to make the settlers work longer. Looks like I might be becoming a task master.. ;)

*Edit2* Can I take 10 on Intimidating these knaves into action? I assume no take 20's of course.

Also.. when you say they gain 1 Unrest when asked to do a Supplementary task.. do they only gain the Unrest if we fail the check, or do they do so regardless?

1) You can do anything you normally would do during downtime, which includes harvesting Influence and Labor. In this setting it represents expending GP (or "selling" Goods for GP) to motivate the laborers, as while there may not be much of an economy yet, there will be in the future. This could also take the form of promissory notes, food, and other essentials. You can even leave the settlers behind and go off exploring on your own, leaving them to fend for themselves for a time (though you may want to appoint someone "in charge" in your absence).

Basically, the downtime system works as normal (plus the above additional rules) but the justification for things is skewed.

2) You can take a 10 on the check, but not a 20, correct.

3) The settlers will gain 1 Unrest whenever they are asked to perform a Supplementary Action (beyond the first) and the Diplomacy/Intimidate check is failed. Note that the settlers presently have 5 Unrest from Vigar's demise and the destruction of the ships/loss of life.

Once you either find a structure to settle down in (or build one yourselves) and your numbers expand, we'll move to the full kingdom building rules rather than the this pastiche of Downtime/Kingdom Building.

Hm.. so right now.. its a DC 20 to get them to do supplemental tasks - and as long as I take a 10, I can't fail (I have a +10 Modifer to my Intimidate), meaning no gain in Unrest, correct?

Or can I only make one Intimidate check per Downtime-Session (Aka one day)? Or does it even count as my Downtime Session?

These rules are pretty damn neat, I'm just making sure I have everything clarified.

The checks to spur the settlers into action without incurring additional Unrest does not take up an action and can be done as many times as you make the settlers perform supplemental actions (up to their max of 5 total; so 4 checks).

I'm gonna write up a quick gathering post for all of the players, so we can start deciding these things IC, yes?

EDIT: For his part, Angrin wants to see the following occur:
1. Defense - we need a watch
2. Leadership - we need a person whose word can be final amongst ourselves
3. Morale - we need to keep our dwarves happy with us, lest they decide to ignore us and scatter.
4. Scouting - we need to know what's out there.

Sounds good! Very good actually..

So guys, what shall our settlers' five actions be today, as Dr. Logem whips them into action with threats of mutagen-enhanced noogies? (Note, I'm not including my Mutagen in any of my bonuses/penalties, but the threat of such noogies should still scare 'em.)

Here are my proposed actions:

1. Salvage
2. Live off the Land
3. Defend
4. Scout
5. Salvage #2

Meanwhile, Dr. Logem will use his Downtime Action to.. well I'm broke, so I think me and my teams will work on making money. (So we can spend it on goods or whatnot later) Gotta double check the exact procedure to do that.

The way I'm going to run it once we've gotten settled after the beach landing, is once you have a day's worth of actions decided on and agreed on by the group, I'll let you all roleplay amongst each other as much as you'd like, and then I'll post a summary of the day's actions along with anything that happens during the day's events and move on to the next day.

However, I won't let things just drag on. If we're on a day-to-day timer and I don't see anyone post for 2 days, I'll assume there's nothing more in RP to be added and transition us to the next day.

Once we get to seeing things in bigger spans of time (weeks and months, possibly) you'll have opportunities to post montages of your characters' actions, should you so be inclined. That won't be until much later, however.

Right now every day is a battle to survive.

Live together, die alone. Right? :D

Let's split into four different groups of dwarves. I'm sure that wouldn't be a logistical nightmare to keep track of!

I'll wait until I have time to digest all of the rules and stuff fully, but Dwunderbran's immediate counsel would be to find a fresh source of water and go from there.

You know I just realized something: You can spend time to get Goods, Influence, etc at half price, then use the full price of those goods in crafting items at 1/3rd price - netting yourself a total of 1/6th the total price of the cost to make the item, at simply an increase to time spent making it.

Or 1/4th in the case of Magic items, meaning I can make Potions of Cure Light Wounds at a mere 12.5 gp each, or Iron Pellet Grenades at 8.34 gp each. :3

I love the Downtime System..

God, I can't wait to get home and show you the map... and for you guys to uncover more of it. I put a lot of work into it :B

I need time to digest as well, but I do have a question. I noticed there was no selected action for the following two important tasks.

1) Constructing buildings. I don't think it is going to happen now, but if we decided to settle on the beach, would we take an action to begin constructing walls, homes, etc

2) Mining. We are dwarves. The pictures and the descriptions given thus far indicate a lot of granite and maybe some other good building materials or even more precious minerals (gems, gold, silver, etc). Could there be an action for the dwarves to mine for supplies? Gather good rocks, building materials, check whether the area is ideal for tunnels and underground lairs, has mineral wealth?

Can't wait to see it either, Rob! I did something similar to this in my very first homebrew campaign (After the players had to save the corrupt pirate city from terrorist paladins and freedom-fighter kobold rebels trying to pull a V-for-Vendetta stunt - I don't know why I came up with that), and it was helluva fun making the map.

Had to dig around for 'em, but here are the two parts:
Southern Half
Northern Half

Good times.

*Edit* I do agree, Dakun - being on the coast would help us aton if we seek to harbor trade with the old world. At the least, we'll need to eventually make a harbortown somewhere on the coast, if not here. Dunno how good of a natural harbor this area is, though.

Right now building structures works as normal with the downtime rules. You need to spend money, goods, labor and influence (or even magic) to build buildings. It's much harder at this scale with only 200 some odd dwarves at your disposal.

Actual straight-up mining would come from building a mine (see the downtime rules) and then you could put dwarves to work in the mine and generate resources.

Gathering supplies and other such ways of earning Goods (a form of capital and a resource to use) would work similar to the downtime as well, by using the "Crafting"

Earning Capital: Many downtime activities, such as doing mundane work with a Craft or Profession skill or gaining the day-to-day profits for running an inn or tavern, allow you to earn capital (see the Earn Capital activity). The Inn analogy doesn't work well here, but the idea of hard work creating a valuable product is the baseline assumption.

Earning capital is like using an item crafting feat to create a magic item: You have to put in some work to make the item, but you pay only half the normal price for it. If a downtime activity's description says it generates capital, you can earn that amount of capital by spending the required amount of downtime and gp on it; the gp cost for the capital is half the normal cost, as listed in the Earned Cost column of Table: Capital Values.
As far as "spending money" to earn capital, you'll be spending the Goods you've accumulated (which have a GP Value). This represents wear and tear on tools, expending additional food resources, expendable potions, etc. You're using some of your resources to make more things. Be it harvesting lumber, fishing, quarrying rocks, etc). Your dwarves would use something like Craft (woodcutting) or Craft (stonemasonry) to harvest materials from the earth, and it would in turn generate more Goods.

Italicized ooc quotes in there are my commentary on how it would work in your present situation.

Oof. There's my post. Hope I didn't step on any toes with it.

Also, I should refamiliarize myself with the downtime/kingdom building systems. x_x

Great post, Ang!

Yeah, I rather thought it was better than my usual stuff. I am just thinking I should probably have put more in Charisma if this is going to be how he acts. xD

Hm.. using goods to create goods.. I can live with that. I'm wondering - would the group be alright with me using some of the caravans' supplies to make more goods?

Are there rules under the downtime system for surveying the area for minerals Rob? As dwarves would our characters and the other dwarven survivors naturally have an inclination for knowing whether this is good mineral rich land or not? (If it helps I have stonemason craft)

It doesn't really help to set up a mine if there is nothing good to mine in that location.

Angrin, I like the post, I'll get a nice response in... maybe tomorrow. Your 11 charisma is better than most of the dwarves.

Also, I think you both have way too many actions available. Remember that the DC will be 20 since the caravan has 5 unrest currently. Being safe and taking 10, we can have Logem intimidate for +1 action and if quint succeeds in an aid other diplomacy check, we can have Miniko take 10 and pass the diplomacy check. That's three actions.

I would lean toward the following: Salvage, Scout, Defense.

Then next day we can begin to reduce the unrest, which will eventually allow us to make the checks more easily (maybe even another action if we can get down to 0 or 1 unrest)

Also, I think you both have way too many actions available. Remember that the DC will be 20 since the caravan has 5 unrest currently. Being safe and taking 10, we can have Logem intimidate for +1 action and if quint succeeds in an aid other diplomacy check, we can have Miniko take 10 and pass the diplomacy check. That's three actions.

The checks to spur the settlers into action without incurring additional Unrest does not take up an action and can be done as many times as you make the settlers perform supplemental actions (up to their max of 5 total; so 4 checks).

:D I can intimidate these suckers all night long. I mean I wouldn't argue if Rob said it takes a Downtime Action to Intimidate 'em, but as per his words, they don't.

Oh, absolutely. Angrin's not aware of the mechanics though. :P

Wow, that's a lot to take in. I think it's going to take a few days to get this first one figured out...

Would I be correct in assuming that Morale Boosting would be a PC action more than a 'kingdom' action? I suspect that will be what Quint's getting up to for the day. Taking 10 on diplomacy he can get a 16 which should drop our unrest one :)

Do any of these checks have bonuses for beating the DCs by 5 or more? (so would a 20 on diplomacy reduce unrest by 2 for instance?) It's not in the rules but it is a fairly standard thing in pathfinder.

Logem's suggestion for our five actions looks good to me :) Quint'll be spending the day inventorying the supplies that we've managed to rescue and any more that wash up and are brought in, and probably trying to take a census as well. Get some order going around here. I can see this keeping him busy for several days (and him having to tell a lot of people that X dwarf is not on his list yet and pretend to be comforting :p)

Or course, as far as leadership goes pretty sure Mineko's our best bet. Best Charisma, some experience in the position, a proper retinue, owner of the expedition mascot. Not sure whether Quint'll end up as the Treasurer or the Magister... hmmm...

Angrin's reasoning would agree, but for the fact she's a foreigner. Not sure how the dwarves would like it. He doesn't think her customs would make her popular amongst the colonists. Otherwise he'd have jumped at the chance to put the responsibility on her shoulders. xD

Heck, he's not sure he likes her. Respects her, sure. Likes? Not quite so much.

Dwunderbran will likely stress the aforementioned need of an adequate fresh water source. Beyond that, and short of being more than qualified at cutting things to death, he would likely best serve the expedition by getting some fishermen out in the water.

As to Mineko being our leader? It is a mechanically sound choice, but I think the majority of the dwarves surviving would chaff at the notion of a seemingly aloof outsider (sorry Cel ;> -- no offense intended; love the character) leading the whole lot of them. I certainly think that Mineko rising to the occasion as we explore further is likely, I only mean to point out that the empress has not yet integrated or endeared the expedition as a whole. I think it will be a super interesting development as the game continues however: Mineko securing a future for her few surviving followers and winning the western dwarves over to her following as well.

I will try to digest all of the options in more detail and get a post up in the gameplay later tonight. Also to remind, despite his uncouth manner, Dwunder has a decent bit of wit and sense. So no worries of him trying to seize control and force a march inland or something equally foolish.

Fresh water isn't an issue when we have shpellcasturs. Got a cleric for dat!

Two in fact! Not to mention Purify Food and Drink makes perfectly drinkable water from salt water and, unlike Create Water, doesn't disappear after 24 hours. We just may want to, ah.. avoid letting Dwunderbran know where his water is coming from.

As for Mineko being our leader.. again mechanically sound, but Dr. Logem would absolutely chafe under her 'leadership' (Agreeing with Dwunder, no offense Cel :D), but is no leader of people himself besides intimidating people - with good effect I might add, considering the fact he finished off the Kraken with but a scalpel (With Dwunders help of course!)

Honestly, in-character wise, Dr. Logem would probably accept Quint or Rogath the easiest as his leader. At least, until he can drug one of them into working for Dr. Logem. ;) Therefore, my vote goes towards Quint or Rogath for leadership, at least when it comes to keeping everyone together through inspiration or whatnot.

Yeah I know everyone probably won't go for it, but Quint has a low opinion of the dwarvish stubbornness for tradition. So he's suggesting it anyway (whether she likes it or not :p), which will probably not make him terribly popular either.

Quint eh? He'd do a decent job I'd say :) I forsee needing to take Perform (Oratory) in the near future either way.

Man these posts really get away from you sometimes, heh.

Evening Guys,

Rob, I reviewed the rules you provided. Considering this is the first day, I this is our first day, I think we need to try doing two actions. The first action I think we should go with is:

#1: Salvage
- Logem or myself can make the roll, I think I have +9 in diplomacy and he has +10 in intimidate.
#2: Scout

We need to get ourselves self sufficient. We also need to know what is around us. This will allow us to plan what we want to do for day two better. We don't want to consume too much of our resources either. That is my thought.

Fair point on the spells, Doctor, but we're talking HUNDREDS of Dwarves to feed here. Two clerics would be casting spells all day to keep everyone fed and hydrated. If we had two dozen NPC clerics, maybe, but two? Wouldn't be time for anything else, heh.

If we're voting on leaders OOC, Mineko. If we're doing it IC, well...maybe Mineko, maybe not. We'll see how that plays out.

I have mending as a class feature though, so damaged and broken tools are no problem, given a cast for each item. Once we get a mine and a forge running, we will be completely decked out in shiny armor, sharp weapons, and masterwork tools, AKA "Dwarven Bling."

Well I just posted my vote for leader in character - Rogath. And thats true, about the Create Water part.. definitely true.

Are there rules under the downtime system for surveying the area for minerals Rob?

You'll need a hex with the "resources" trait. You discover those by exploring the hex (which takes longer than just traveling across it). Part of the sandbox exploration tack.

Would I be correct in assuming that Morale Boosting would be a PC action more than a 'kingdom' action? I suspect that will be what Quint's getting up to for the day. Taking 10 on diplomacy he can get a 16 which should drop our unrest one :)

Morale boosting is an individual action, yes. There's no real distinction of "kingdom" actions yet. Performing the morale boost action will take 1 day of activity for Quint, however.

BIG ARCADIA MAP

(itty bitty viewable area)

And for those curious: Where on the world map is this?

Wait. I think you made a typo on the text at the bottom right; it should read 'Dwunderland".

That's a cool cloud effect. *squints at the itty bitty hex* hmm...

Wow, that's a lot to catch up on.

Thoughts, in no particular order:

With regards to Dwunderbran's suggestion:
Oligarchy? Is that possible? :P

More seriously, that's more or less what Angrin was suggesting, only with emphasis on someone whose decisions everyone else'd promise to abide by in case of a tie. It didn't come out like that, of course, but perhaps that's his low charisma coming out.

Anyhoo, thanks, Rogath. :)

Wow, that's a lot to catch up on.

Does the DC to spur an extra action increase for each extra action? Or is it flat regardless of how many actions we push for? Can one person make multiple checks, or is it one check per PC?

It's a flat DC increased by the total amount of Unrest the settlers have. One person can make multiple checks.

Great map Robert. This looks awesome.

@The party - Since one person can make multiple checks, we can have Logem just intimidate everyone into compliance and take five actions. Quint could try to aid other on Mineko if we wanted to split it up between diplomacy and intimidate for flavor.

Mechanically Mineko makes the most sense, but I'm unsure whether that would be the choice the dwarf survivors would accept from an IC standpoint. In fact, I suspect at least two members of our party wouldn't accept that IC.

Let's see where everything takes us story wise.

If we can do five actions, I would favor the following.

1) Scout
2) Salvage
3) Defend
4) Salvage
5) Craft (I'd like them to construct carriages, wheelbarrows, carts, and maybe tents -- such a thing could help us travel faster and easier)

Angrin's not above agreeing to use intimidation, especially if the dwarves are being needlessly stubborn, but he'd IC advise that we do a mixture of carrots and sticks, as it were. Letting Logem intimidate them for now is okay, but I'm not sure he'd agree to it in the long term, depending on how he does it.

Mechanically, of course, it seems fine, particularly since they don't get Unrest in the long term from being intimidated. Unless our GM rules they do, of course. Tyranny and whatnot.

That was my thinking, Angrin. Nobody likes getting bullied around forever. Mixing diplomacy and intimidate, while periodically taking days off to rest and up the morale a bit, will probably work best.

I guess my thoughts for priorities are about the same as Dakun's. Gotta find the good stuff before we dig in, gotta clean up the mess and start with as many supplies as possible, gotta make sure we don't lose even more folks in the process, and gotta upgrade our expedition to make everything go smoother.

I got a post up and hopefully it will serve to express my characters current view of the situation (both leadership and caravan options) well enough.

Dakún is undecided on the leadership currently and so has surprisingly agreed with Dwunderbran. He does believe in rigid social structure and hierarchy, but isn't sure if he wishes to bring the social castes of the previous lands to this new one.

How you deal with your people may affect things ;)

Oh hey guys, just found something out when it comes to our water 'problem':

Considering we have roughly 300 dwarves, and our clerics can summon 4 gallons of water per casting, it will only take about 7.5 minutes to create enough water to nourish the entire expedition.

So while, we do need to look for a long lasting water source so we don't have to make our clerics slave every morning, we're good for now.

Also yeah, I'm going to intimidate them into actions so we can do 5 actions.

And.. when I say intimidation, I mean using my intellect to get them working, rather than being mean. Dr. Logem is not looking to piss anyone off, but he'll give them the facts to scare them into action.