Hello and welcome to THE SORCERERS DISCUSSION THREAD. On this thread I will inform you of the rules of the campaign as well as how I plan to run things as your GM. Pretty much all of you have your alias’s down so that’s a start. There are a few rules that I need to go over with you about how I GM
1. Leveling:I believe I have mentioned before that leveling happens as you complete main plot objectives. They also increase for every five subplot objective you complete. There are a lot of both main plot and sub plot objectives and in this particular campaign it is easy to miss a lot of them. So be sure and keep your eyes open for them. There are a lot of opportunities for preplanned combats, but I am open to peaceful solutions if you can manage to persuade the problem away. You don’t have to kill everything you encounter. Get creative. More fun that way.
2. Combat: Okay. In my short time I’ve spent on these forums, I’ve noticed that combat is one of the trickiest aspects of PBP. So I’ve come up with a system that seems to work best. Once a combat breaks out everybody posts their initiative and their first two round actions. Here is an example of how combat will look:
[/spoiler=Example Turn]
I will move to engage the closest foe and then swing my sword to attack. For:.
If the foe is still standing I will take a full-attack against him swinging with both weapons.
Attack one: For
Attack two: For
If he is dead, then I will move to the nearest enemy and attack him.
: For [/spoiler]
This is how your combat rounds should look. Feel free to get wordy if you really want to get into character. I will wait for everyone to post before I move on. Once everyone has posted their round one and round two actions, I will arrange all actions in initiative order and make changes as necessary. Then I will post the results and we will move on to round three and four. This will make combat go by quickly and efficiently.
There will not be many random encounters, these have a bad habit of slowing PBPs down and I’d like to keep this campaign moving.
3. Posting: Now, I like roleplay. Very entertaining. How ever, some of you may be on more often than others. If that is the case, I’d like to limit most folks to about three or four posts a day. I’ve been in a game recently where I wont be able to post for several hours, I come back and suddenly there are ten pages worth of posts to read. It’s a pain to get left behind like that so again, please keep your posts to at the most three or four a day. I myself will only post one to three times a day. Also, I will not fill out any progression in the campaign until Everyone is ready to move on. I want this to be fun and not a chore so hopefully we are all ok with this pace. No one gets left behind.
4. Player/Character interaction I’m not a huge fan of PVP. Unless merited, I’d prefer we don’t fight each other. Now I’m big on character development and when people really get into character. This might produce some really irritating characters for some people. Now, I know some people might be annoyed with someone’s character. Please understand that they are most likely playing the role they gave themselves even if it is annoying. This is like life and in life, people don’t always get along. So. As a player, respect your fellow players. If you have an issue with a particular character, don’t take it out on the player, resolve it in game. If it leads to a PVP (Again please try and avoid this) then so be it. I like diverse character’s so don’t get upset as a player, get upset as your character’s personality would.
5. Rulebreakers Now not every rule is set in stone. I am willing to make modifications to certain rules as it pertains to a character or a situation. Also, roleplay always wins out over the rules. For example. (My favorite example) You’re trying to convince someone to see your point of view. You don’t always need to make a diplomacy check to do so. You can make an in character argument to try and convince someone to do what you ask of them. I will usually yield to a reasonable argument. Also, get creative in everything you do. The rulebook doesn’t cover everything, and if you have a creative way to improve rolls or lower DCs, then by all means make the attempt. Also I don’t always give in to natural 20s. In combat yes, but certain skill checks, I would have set DCs high because I don’t want you to succeed. Thus in those scenarios, I will also take away the natural success. Finally, I reserve the right as the GM to make some serious augments to the rules if I need to. Usually this will be to help keep my campaign or plot intact. If there are loop holes, I will likely keep you from using them by making such changes. This wont happen often I promise.
6. Notes on GM Okay, I have been running games and players like you for over 12 years now. While this would mean I am very experienced, it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. I have one major weakness that I’ve been managing to cope with for all that time, it’s Ironic considering how I’m trying to game right now. I am not good at reading. Not sure why, but I am very scatter brained when I try to read and usually do not retain all that I have read. As such, I may forget rules often. I read the rulebook daily to try and keep learning but if anytime in game, I miss something, please remind me. Also, It is possible I might miss certain details in your posts. I apologize in advance for that and please note I do not mean any harm by it. For these weaknesses, my strength (Very ironically) is writing, I love to write and I am extremely creative (As I have been told by many others). I’ve spent a good amount of time on this campaign and it should be very fun. One more important thing to note is that Friday’s are very spotty for me as I work and have game night where I GM live. I will barely be able to post if at all. It really depends on my work schedule on the following Saturday. So patience on those particular days please. Thank you.
Now that is said, I will wait for you all to ask any questions you have and please do. I am certain there are details about this particular campaign I have failed to answer and I want things to be clear. Make sure your questions are mechanics based as I would rather not fill you in on to much of the story. Let me know when your satisfied and ready to start.
Reporting in. I think I might be in a different time zone than the rest of you, so I won't be posting late in your night, but I might post earlier in the day. I believe that there is enough overlap though.
And I might end up swapping one ability score for another, if that's okay. (I'm thinking moving strength to con)
Reporting in.
My question piggybacks on Floyd. Are we going to need someone to train us in our Sorcerer level?
Are sorcerer element is base off of one of the two you picked from ours, so I'm guessing I'll get the Air bloodline at level 2. But since we're using Gestalt rules, does that mean our levels will look like this?
Side One: Expert 1/??? 1
Side Two: Sorcerer 2
Good questions. Last night i made an additional lengthy post in Bravo teams discission thread. I'm at work for the next eight hours so I wont be able to to lengthy posts. Hop on over to the Bravo OOC and take a look.
When your ready to start adventuring in game, your first level will look like this: Expert/Sorcerer lvl 1
Some classes and feats will be harder to acquire than others, there are in game reasons as to why this is. I will only say, other magic heavy classes will be rarer than mundane classes. That is all.
Anything else?
Aiden here.
I have adjusted my skills and am ready to go!
Okay, If there are no further questions, I will start this thing either in two hours on lunch or in 5 hours after work. Depends on if I have time during lunch.
If you need to read up on gesalt, go Here
Now please note, this is only the basic rules of Gesalt. I reserve the right as the GM to make adjustments to it as my campaign demands.....which I already have. I will let you know what rules I have changed as they come about.The Sorcerer Bloodlines for the most part are set, but one think I am doing is slightly modifying the rules to....empower them a little further. You may be able to add addition bloodlines, even primal bloodlines without replacing the core bloodline. That wont be for a good long time, if we make it that far. (Personally I really want to get to that point. Things get nuts about then.)
In regards to character builds, the 15 point buy is just a basic setting. I want you to set your abilities to your character. I have adjusted the Sorcerer class to benefit from your "Inner Power" Or more easy to explain, your hit dice. Your hit dice is the modifier you use whenever a sorcerer rule wants to use your charisma. This Campaign wouldn't work well otherwise. Trust me, it will all make sense.......I hope. Honestly, this is the first time I have adapted this campaign to Pathfinder. The trials seems to work fine but I have yet to try it out on real players so your gonna have to bare with me on the mechanics. Though, the story is one of my favorites and in the others versions I have run it through it was a lot of fun. The mechanics are there to help give it substance and a sense of achievement and playability. There may be some points where I decide a rule isn't quite working out so well and I will make adjustments. Rest assured, me and my team of specially hand picked scientists (My Close friends and a few of my Beanie Babies) will take care of you as players. All you need to do is roll with the punches as they come your way. Does that help at all?
Cross-posting from Bravo's OOC.
Without futher delay, the game starts Here
Few, just finished in time, back to work
Thanks Floyd. I set up the link by phone. Must have misdialed.
I'm sorry about vanishing like that, but it was only partially my fault. I trusted that someone I know very well would do what she said when she asked to borrow the computer and "Bring it right back!"
...Okay, maybe it's a tiny bit more my fault.
Heh, no problem.
Quick question. You said somewhere that we would start with no gear. Does that mean I don't have a sketch pad now that we're in Kellmanor? :(
Fair question, You guys can have for gear, whatever teens would have on their person. Ask me about certain items and their possible uses
Ex, a Swiss army knife can count as both a switch blade and thieves tools.
Feel free to go nuts on this kind of gear, just be reasonable that these are things your characters would have on them at this given time.
Another example, you have a backpack with school supplies you took with you to the cafe. you remembered to grab it before you were wisked away.....twice.
Having these possibilities makes things more interesting. I like seeing how resourceful folks can be, especially teens
For the record, I'm checking the game thread way too often. I can't wait to see what comes next. How did you come up with this idea Shanosuke?
This was a story I came up with in grade school. Had a dream about it once and so I wrote it down, then I recorded it onto cassette, ah those were the days, then I reforged it and me and my sister played out the story with toys. Then I made a game with rules out of the idea. Then from there it was heavily influenced by three major factors, Chronicles of Narnia, Heroes of Might and Magic III, and the Forgotten Realms. Other materials shaped and reshaped it of the years. I soon began to run my friends through this particular story. RPGs where you play a person from our world in a fantasy world became quite the hit with my high school gaming groups. This wasn't the only campaign I ran with this plot idea in it. This is just the first. This is also the first time this campaign has been run using the d20 system. Before I used other methods and soon created my own dice rolling system. Me and my friends had pretty much perfected it. So this story is pretty old but very well developed. Personally, it is one of my favorites. Thanks for asking about it.
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This was a story I came up with in grade school. Had a dream about it once and so I wrote it down, then I recorded it onto cassette, ah those were the days, then I reforged it and me and my sister played out the story with toys. Then I made a game with rules out of the idea. Then from there it was heavily influenced by three major factors, Chronicles of Narnia, Heroes of Might and Magic III, and the Forgotten Realms. Other materials shaped and reshaped it of the years. I soon began to run my friends through this particular story. RPGs where you play a person from our world in a fantasy world became quite the hit with my high school gaming groups. This wasn't the only campaign I ran with this plot idea in it. This is just the first. This is also the first time this campaign has been run using the d20 system. Before I used other methods and soon created my own dice rolling system. Me and my friends had pretty much perfected it. So this story is pretty old but very well developed. Personally, it is one of my favorites. Thanks for asking about it.
Absolutely. I'm really enjoying it so far.
That's fine. If you can reason a knowledge in like say Knowledge Mathematics or something and apply it where you think it will fit, I will try and accommodate for it as long as it is relevant.
First think I need to do is read all of my and Floyd's posts on the IC thread so you can get a good idea of where you are suppose to be. This is a funky situation as I cannot have your character just show up since you were all collected at the same time by one person. So you need to start as though you have been there the whole time.
The trick is to look at Floyd's posts like they are what you have said. You know what is going on. Once you are sure as to where we are, then you can apply your character and his personality from that point on how you intended it to be.
Also. You can you include a post either here in the OOC thread or in a spoiler on the IC thread on how your character would have actually acted in each experience if you think it will help the others understand who they have been traveling with. <--This is optional.
Once you are completely settle, make a response to what has immediately taken place. Once you have posted that we will finally move the story along.
Vehicle skills are fine. Just don't expect there to be any cars. But hey, maybe you have been the driver of a hayride.
Any other questions?
What are the stats of unicorns?
I screwed up on my character sheet when I added the rogue class...I'm not sure what I did, but I'm going to write it all out tonight and update it when I know its right.
Gestalt takes the better classes stuff right? Or do we get both?
EX. I take a rogue's HD cause its better than a sorcerer, but I take a sorcerer's will save cause the rogue's isn't as good.
or
EX. I take 1d8 and 1d6 hit dice and add saves together?
You use the Sorc will save and the rogue Reflex save and you get a bad Fortitude save.
You use the Rogue 1d8 since its better than the Sorc.
Use the Rogue BAB since he has a better one than the Sorc.
Use the Rogue skills per level and combine all the skills.
You get both classes abilities for 1st. level
So, since the Druid gets less Skill Points than the Expert, and a different list of Class Skills, what happens to the points I've already used? Do I lose the skills that show Adina's artistic talents?
Having the same skills points as Expert was one of the reasons I wanted to take Bard if I could get it.
Very good point. You will all get to keep the skill points awarded by expert unless your new class has more :)
I've decided I'd like to take double slice as my 1st level feat. Is that something Leorn would have already taught me, or should I wait to learn it from the moon elves?
I am going to post today, sorry for making you wait if you were.
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?
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$#%
This means my posting will be minimal at best. I apologize for this inconvenience and I hope to be back to regular posting habit in January. But until then I may miss days completely. I appreciate your understanding and hope that you can all bear with me. I will not end any campaigns unless they die out due to drop outs. That is all.
Okay, there is a very important announcement.
I work in retail.
It is the holiday season here in America.
I am in school.
It is nearing the end of the semester here.
I am busy as h$#%
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.
Don't worry I understand I work for the government/military and also did retail so I know about things getting difficult to manage do to time crisis xD. I will be waiting your return no problems.
I'll be here when you are. For both games. :P
You're a great GM, worth waiting for.
Yeah, no problem.
I'm patient like the wind. ;)
Okay I need to go over magic. This world is vastly different from Golorion and magic and magic based classes WILL NOT work the same.
First off. The only reason you would use the spells out of the Pathfinder books is if they are part of your class or race or some other source.
Classes do not gain spells in the same manner.
Divine classes DO NOT get spells. They get spiritual powers granted by their Domain/Spirits
This world does not have Deities. It has Spirits. The Chief spirits are Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Light, Dark, Life, and Death. There are lesser spirits that govern domains and or Mysteries
Now the spells that divine classes are awarded for their domains and such. do not function like normal spells. They are on command and do not require casting. They happen at the player's will and do not provoke attacks of opportunity. They do not require any components to use either. Unless touch is required. If the spell requires touch, ranged or otherwise, then you must be able to touch to use it.
Different Arcane classes have different spell lists. Sorcerers use the eight main powers
Wizards use whatever spellbooks they can get their hands on.
Bards use Arcane techniques not spells.
Witches get only a handful of spells and all witch spells work like hexes
Summoners use any conjuration spells and those only
Now I know that taking away spells from the divine classes is mean but in a world with limited magic foes or magic in general, this is actually a good thing. Sorcerer classes are meant to be the most powerful magic class period. Plus it is a gesalt game so you are not really lacking in power. Not to mention the custom spells I allow for sorcerers are ridiculously powerful. I tried to modify other classes, but I just don't have the time. In the end I did not see it as necessary.
Now that's settled. Be sure and ask questions about your classes when relevant.
You refer to divine classes getting powers from Domains or Spirit. In the case of druids how do not select Domains, what do they get, if anything?
You refer to divine classes getting powers from Domains or Spirit. In the case of druids how do not select Domains, what do they get, if anything?
They have the option to take a Domain or an animal companion. Simple as that.
A druid is usually supported by the spirit of nature and thus all the normal powers a druid gains are those of nature. :)
Just checking to see if anything replaced spells.
"Maiden of the stage"... Can't wait till I meet someone who can train me to be a bard! ;)
Will bardic masterpieces(Ultimate Magic) be allowed?
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.
Adina -- Yes the masterpieces will be allowed, they are varients of this world and I will be sure and share the appropriate comparisons. I may even invent my own.
No worries brother. I'll be here when you get back.
Yeah, same.
Don't worry about and thanks for letting us know!
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.
A strong wind kicks up dust and forces you to close your eyes. Wehn you open them you see a beautiful lady in a pale green dress standing before you.
"Hi."