I just got by from a one night trip to Indiana. I can post in my campaigns now YAY! Have Fun Leon. You will be a stoic guard for this visit.
Okay after near six months of doing PBPs on Paizo there are several things I have come to realize. I need to adapt a special set of rules and requirements to allow my campaigns to proceed at a good and progressive rate.
Also it has been brought to my attention that my GMing style is a bit unorthodox. Especially in regards to the D20 system, which I must point out is not a favorite of mine. I have only been using the D20 for about a year even though I have been running games for more than 12. I will be putting forth a formal explanation of my GM style here as well.
First I want to start with new rules I have for game procedures.
Checks and Saves
From this point on I will be rolling the following myself for your characters based off of your given modifiers. I will be rolling your:
-Saving Throws
-Initiatives
-Other skill checks when applicable.
This will allow me to put more down in single posts rather than having to constantly wait on players to make checks. When a check is require, I will post your result so you can see what I rolled. I prefer my at home dice as opposed to Paizo’s oddly unbalanced dice roller. My dice tend to be friendlier at times. This should speed up progress a great deal.
If you feel a skill check is necessary for something, you must make it on your own as I will not prompt certain skill checks, this is most applicable to knowledge checks. I will no longer ask for knowledge checks, it is up to you to do so and I will keep an eye out for them and give you as much knowledge as your results merit.
Now for combat. One thing I have noticed as an issue with PBP is initiative order makes things a pain. From now on I am grouping badguys and you all on the same initiative. Here’s how it works:
I will roll all your initiatives using the modifiers you provide in your profiles. You will act together at the highest results
Example.
Joe rolls 6 total
Kim rolls 15 total
Bob rolls 9 total
Craig rolls 13 total
Badguys roll 14 total.
Initiative order:
Players at 15
Badguys at 14
Holding action will not permanently change your place in the order. I will allow held actions though.
Now the order of your actions depends on posting order.
Example:
Round 1
Joe posts his action first so he goes first in the lineup
Bob Posts second so he goes second and can act according to what Joe has already done
Kim posts next and acts according to what the two prior have done
Lastly Craig finally posts and he acts according to the other threes actions
Then I do the badguys and give you the results of your actions for the round.
Round 2
This time Kim posts first so she goes first.
Bob posts second and gets to act according to what Kim has done
Then Craig posts his action
This time Joe posts last and has to act as though everyone went before him
Then Badguys go.
This will minimize action confusion as you will have a better idea on whose doing what and how you can help the encounter. This will also save me a good deal of time as I wont have to keep shuffling your actions all over the place to fit each order of initiatives.
Basically, you either go before or after the baddies.
My GM Style Rules
A bit about my style as it obviously differs from traditional DMs. I have never liked the D20 system. I use it because I don’t have to explain it to anybody and I will modify the rules a nice amount to fit my style of gameplay.
Roleplay
I am a big fan of PC and NPC interactions. All my characters have a life story. I do not put forth random NPCs with no name or history. Even if they aren’t in my written campaign. Talking to a random NPC adds them to it, especially if you choose to pursue them with questions. I will also take roll play over dice rolls if the argument or action makes sense for the situation. Especially when it comes to diplomacy. Even if you fail a diplomacy check, a good IC argument or offer will work in place of the failed roll and still yield positive results.
Encoutners
People who know me know I love no holds barred encounters. I do not believe that people will always be able to fight everything they encounter. This is because I focus on a reality view. In my campaigns there may be encounters that are too hard for you to fight. I DO NOT EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT THEM. Most of the players I have had over the years learn to gauge a foe before engaging it. I ALWAYS leave a way out of any high power encounter. I will not throw you into a battle that is too hard for you without giving you a way out. Also, not every foe need be beat with dice rolls. Think, find tactical advantages. The rulebook leaves a lot of those concepts out and hope that my players can get creative in dealing with foes. Not every foe is meant to be put down at first encounter. I like the dramatic meet the badguy when you are too weak to take him on, or the encounter that you would be in more of a survival run as opposed to fight or die. This is why I write most of my own campaigns.
Character Creativity
I am a HUGE fan of open ended games where the trail isn’t always so obvious. I love exploring and trying to find the try on my own rather than have some compass guide pointing me at it. Every time I find a unique way to continue forward I feel a strong sense of accomplishment. That said, I run my games that way. I feed my players in game info for them to record and process. This information is there to give the players an idea as to what to do and where to go. Often times, I prefer not to completely railroad my players. No fun in it for me and as a player I enjoy options. Thus I help set a goal and leave a hundred paths to get there. It is up to the players to find the one that best suits them.
Game Progression
I hate pushing my players around. I leave them and their characters where they are until they choose to move unless being led by an NPC. It is your responsibility as a player to move the story along by telling me where you are going and what you are doing. I will give you your visible options and ask you, “Which way are you going to go?” “Where are you going to go?” “Are you heading out?” “Have you decided what to do?” I love player discussion when they all sit around and discuss what to do and think about their options. I do expect that when an option is selected, the players will take the initiative and head out. Preferably the apparent leader of the party would do this.
Alignments
I’ll be blunt. I don’t like alignments. I don’t like the fact that having an alignment has such an effect on the game especially when it is nothing more than a point of view. From this point on I am throwing alignments out the window. I do not want players to be motivated by this thing called an alignment, rather on their own personal beliefs and perceptions. I am altering alignment based rules like detect evil. It will now detect potentially dangerous or hostile individuals to you or someone else. This can have the result of making a good person look evil should they attack someone else first. Regardless, I just don’t like it motivating your characters. Good people aren’t expected to fight every evil person they find. Especially when that person does not mold to the description of good and evil. I also hate how it affects class choice. So it does not. Alignment is purely philosophical. Good and evil deities are now identified as angelic or demonic and they will still preach and behave according to their descriptions. They just wont be categorized as good or evil. That is how I want to run this.
This is the most prevalent and untraditional methods of my GM style. . This is the surviving traits of how I’ve run games for the past 12 years and may not easily change, though I may adjust them a bit to fit PBP.
Now I would like an evaluation.
First – How do you feel about my GMing style?
Second – How do you feel about the campaign you are in?
Third – How is my ability to communicate details?
Fourth – Is there any advice you can offer in regards to running online games?
Fifth - Is there any other comments or concerns, or advice?
I answered this in your other campaign, but I'll repeat it here because why the hell not.
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Hey thanks for taking the time to put these thoughts together.
1- Just what I was looking for in terms of potential threat level, creativity, and keeping the game rolling. I got no problem with you rolling our stuff out, and it forces us to keep character sheets updated, which is the very least we can do. I also really appreciate the idea that things out there can kill us, steal our stuff, punish us for stupid mistakes, or completely derail our efforts. It adds so much more to the continuity of the environment.
2- face-paced and intriguing. Kicking our ass but we're still up (those of us who chose to be!). These encounters are really good. My RL gaming group does mostly AP stuff, and the encounter styling is different (with the players pretty much expected to kill everything they come across). Most of those are obviously well-designed, and everything I've seen so far from BR is just about on par or better (or at least has turned out well).
3- Sometimes the information gets confusing. I've gotten tripped up a few times because I'm not really entirely certain what's going on. That's half the reason I started putting together the maps; they just make describing the scene so much easier.
4- No clue, never done it.
5- My only real complaint, if I were to even call it that, would be the difficulty in understanding a setup. The shadowborn encounter was a good example here. I think the problem I had was that it was somewhat ambiguous, probably because I missed a word when I read it. In my experiences, miscommunication is the most prevalent problem that people have in ALL endeavors, and it's hard to compensate. And it takes effort on both sides of the conversation to ensure that things are clear, so don't beat yourself up over it or anything.
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I changed some small things to relate to this campaign:
MG -> BR
I left in the comment about maps. I haven't given any support to this campaign yet but certainly would.
ghost noise -> shadowborn: (I was completely confused about how close the enemies were, which caused communication fail and lost time for both of us in correcting it)
Sorry Shanosuke, I meant to do your evaluation for you WAY sooner than this.
1. It's different from what I'm used to in most PbP's (but I am playing in 3 other PbPs that are all run by the same GM, so that might be part of it), but I enjoy it a lot. It keeps me on my toes often, and everything always seems extremely well thought out. I enjoy how personal it gets at times, but I feel sometimes this might lead to the brief exclusion of some characters (but as long as everyone gets personal every once in a while, there's no imbalance).
2. Good, right now it's very political. I especially like our party dynamic. I can't wait for the big battles you're alluding to, what with the Orc invasion and the inter-city warfare we can probably expect before long. I also like how personalized you make things to each character--I can't wait to reunite Leon with his mother, and I think getting Vorannia to her family and Jarcal to his sisters with the rebellion, etc, will also all present interesting roleplaying experiences.
3. I don't think I've ever had problems understanding it.
4. No advice, really, just feedback about my experiences as a player. Maps are nice, but a lot of work and not actually necessary. They also complicate things a lot more for everyone, not just the GM, but they also allow strategic placing to be more of a player-based thing, rather than being based on GM description. I also think that, while at lower levels your "post two rounds of actions at the same time when during combat" policy works, at higher levels things will start to get a lot more complicated between rounds.
5. Nope. I hope you don't have to drop our campaign, I'm enjoying it a lot!
As to the evaluation, I don't have enough information to make a detailed one.
I'm glad that I was able to play the character I wanted to, even if she is a little too combat oriented. Communication is pretty good, descriptions are okay, but they leave me stumped sometimes as to what I can do about the situation. I'm trying to play a Machiavelian Neutral Evil noble, and so far that seems to have gotten us into more interesting places.
I have a few questions about some things for my character, but I will worry about them when we finally get to my family's estate in Jorallas.
Okay, there is a very important announcement.
I work in retail.
It is the holiday season here in America.
I am in school.
It is nearing the end of the semester here.
I am busy as h$#%
This means my posting will be minimal at best. I apologize for this inconvenience and I hope to be back to regular posting habit in January. But until then I may miss days completely. I appreciate your understanding and hope that you can all bear with me. I will not end any campaigns unless they die out due to drop outs. That is all.
I work in retail too... It's the most horrible time of the year. Tried to get off for Thanksgiving, so I could go visit family I haven't seen in years... Nope.
well going out of town for thanksgiving anyway... back on Saturday.
Oh! Yes I am also heading out of town. I won't be back until the 4th. I might be online a bit but we'll see.
NPC me if necessary.
Due to work and school, I will have to put this game on hold til January. I apologize for the inconvenience. Come January, school will no longer be a factor. At least not for another two years.
Okay everyone. Holiday nonsense is over and I am ready to get this thing going.
First things first. I need to do a roll call. Now it is important to note, I am not recruiting new players for this game so I will be running with who I have left.
Now what I need is for you all to sign in by posting “Ready to go”
I will wait until January 12th to here from everyone. I will start us up when everyone reports in or the 12th, which ever happens first.
Also, with the addition of Bestiary 3 I will be making a few adjustments to the campaign to include some of the new stuff.
With that said I look forward to seeing who is still game and Happy New Year.
Baron is ready to go sir!
Glad to hear your problems are over. I'm ready to go, but I'm job searching right now, so posting times might be sporadic. :( (Like they weren't already?)
Ready to go -- I should have an easy enough semester ahead of me, I finished my thesis just before the holiday season.
Still need to hear from the other three. Again. All players have until the 12th to report in. If not, I will be dropping them.
Good news is, this campaign can actually be run with 3 players. Barely. So unlike my other games, I wont have to close this one down if too many people no show.
Ready
Ah Welcome Back Jen
okay. Ortuga and Jarcal did not pipe in on time so I am going to have to drop them. I hope they are alright in life but it is time to move this thing on.
Now. I posted. I need you all to thing of something and come up with a plan. good luck
Just as a warning, I'm in the middle of comps season - I take a giant cumulative exam on Sunday that's over every class I've had in my major over the last 4 years, so if I'm slow these first few days, that's why. Come Monday I'll be in much better shape :)
Hey Shan, am I too late? I tried to keep an eye on the threads but must have missed it.
Level to 3
Ranger
How do hero points work again?
BAB +1
Fort +2
Ref +2
+9 Skill points
Appraise +1, Bluff +1, Diplomacy +1, Intimidate +1, Perception +1, Stealth +1, Survival +1, Swim +1, Knowledge (nature) +1
Favored enemy - humanoid (human).
Track
Wild Empathy
Feat: I was originally going to take Aspect of the Beast as my 3rd level feat, as I will be going the natural weapon method of the Ranger, but I noticed that even though a ranger can take Aspect of the Beast as a feat if he select the natural weapon style, the ranger does not select a combat style until 2nd level, so maybe that does not apply here. Any rulings or special allowances?
For some reason I thought Vorannia already had claws. If that were the case Improved Natural Attack would have been better. I guess not though!
You may have been confused from the original character design. I wanted claws from the beginning, but never found a way to do it *by the rules*. So, this is my best answer.
HP:
(Hero point + con)
The rest of the leveling is coming up soon, but I'm just taking another level of cleric.
Baguta is leveled. Summary:
+6 HP
+1 BAB
+9 Skills (1 for favored class) (Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Disguise, Acrobatics, Bluff, Kn: Local)
+1 Feat (Weapon Focus: Katana) -(almost took Keen Scent)
+1 Fort Save
+1 Will Save
+No Trace (ninja)
+1d6 Sneak Attack Damage
Took Weapon Focus so he can eventually get Dazzling Display, and then Shatter Defenses.
Baron's leveling summary(another level in Drunken Master:
Drunken Ki (Su): At 3rd level, a drunken master can drink a tankard of ale or strong alcohol and gain one temporary ki point. The act of drinking is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The monk can have a maximum number of drunken ki points equal to 1 plus one additional point for every two levels thereafter (5th, 7th, and so on). The monk can gain this temporary ki even before he gains a ki pool at 4th level. These drunken ki points last for 1 hour or until spent, whichever is shorter. As long as he has at least 1 drunken ki point, the monk can spend 1 ki point as a swift action to move 5 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity. This ability replaces still mind.
+10ft to speed
Maneuver Training (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus when calculating his Combat Maneuver Bonus. Base attack bonuses granted from other classes are unaffected and are added normally.
Baguta pokes the GM
HERE is a picture of the "weapons" that I think the Krellin Ladies would be likely to use. Of course, some of us are more feral and develop claws on our own (see suggested Feat in my last discussion thread post), but its nice to have a little metal to back it up. (maybe grant something like +1 damage to natural claw attacks), or provide a claw attack that deals 1d3 damage.
I will see if I can find more information about claw rings actually being used as weapons. (I think they might be called talons).
Maybe something like THIS? But this is still just costume. No information yet on actual weapon use.
EDIT:
HERE is an actual talon like weapon that effectively does what I'm looking for, though its not as cool looking as an actual ring. But basically the same. Over index finger, so magic ring could still go on ring finger. :)
ANOTHER EDIT:
THIS would be perfect, but a little bit more obvious than what I was intending.
Maybe the battle claw and greater battle claw from Arcana evolved would work, as far as statistics go. I can see the Krellin ladies having two versions, one for everyday use (the battle claw), iron-tipped nails like the the first picture above. And then the formal battle claw (the greater battle claws), with much longer nails/blades attached to the fingers, maybe like the last picture.
The battle claw is a light weapon for Vorannia.
1d6 slashing damage, 19-20/x2, 2 lb weight
Cannot be disarmed, but sunder attacks deal equal amount of damage to the wielder.
The greater battle claw is a one hand weapon for Vorannia.
1d8 slashing damage, 19-20/x2, 3 lb weight
Cannot be disarmed, but sunder attacks deal equal amount of damage to the wielder.
Given the sizes of the weapons, I would treat them similar to daggers.
The small would be a light weapon doing 1d4
The second would be a one-handed doing 1d6
Then we can have a step higher which would be like Chinese cat claws counting as a one handed weapon doing 1d8
By appearance, the other two weapons seem just too small to be doing the damage you suggested
Does that work for you?
sure. thats fine. Since she has natural claws though (or will if you allow the feat above, even though she's not a 2nd level Ranger yet), maybe they can just add 1 or 2 to natural claw damage.
Hey Voronnia, you play Chaika in the Dragon Empires thread right? I think we are waiting on your turn.
oh okay, cool...
A heads up: I will be going out of town this Thursday and getting back on the evening of the following Monday. I might have internet access while I'm gone, but I'm not going to bet on it.
Ok well, I don't have time for this. Not trying to cause anyone any drama, but I don't think it's going to work out with stardust getting bent out of shape. Shan, if you want me out of the other campaign too, let me know. I'd rather not because I'm definitely having fun there, but up to you.