Okay, Welcome everyone to THE SORCERERS DISCUSSION THREAD PART TWO. 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.
Reggy dotting and ready to go! I don't think I did anything wrong with character creation, but I've been wrong in making that assumption before. I'll look over it again.
Alright, so as I'm understanding it, we need to find a trainer for our specific class we want to take. Do we have to do that for the elemental sorceror gestalt parts? Also, do we need a trainer just to start the class, or continuing through the progression?
The specific monk archetype I'd like is Monk of the Sacred Mountain, though the base monk works well too. If I do the archetype, I might even take Stalwart Defender at later levels. Depends on how things go.
Finally, I have a problem here. Reginald as a character doesn't have a high CHA score. However, having my CHA score as it is basically means I lose all my sorceror-ness, and the gestalt is really moot...
Sorry for excessive ninja edits.
Good question. Your elemental Sorcerer trainers will be kind of off the bat for the most part. It is also a major part of the first whole act to. I don't want to get too much further in the story than that.
Ashley reporting in for du...I mean Roleplay Captain!
I can't think of anything to ask at the moment DM S, that was, I'm pretty sure, the most excellent and complete 'DM start up info post' I've ever read. I especially like how you mentioned about not getting Player and PC interaction mixed up with each other as I think that can sometimes be something less experienced players let happen. I myself believe strongly in letting my characters speak with their own voice. And this is sometimes a voice much different that what I myself might think or say or do in any particular situation. It's also sometimes at odds with what another PC might think is best or whatever. So ya, sometimes PC's will be at odds, just like in real life. I never take anything another PC says or does to my PC personally (although my PC might! ;) cuz, first and foremost this Is just a game and is meant to be fun! So good on ya and thanks for such a great set-up. Can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to this.
As for Reginald's question, I think what he was talking about is that with his character build, his Chr will be low, and if he later gestalts into Sorcerer, this might be a problem (as he won't be able to cast with a low Chr. That right Reg?
It looks like the board ate part of my post, Shano.
I have a bit of an issue concerning the gestalt. Reginald just isn't a charismatic guy, but if I leave him as is, I'll pretty much get nothing from the gestalting...
For Trenton's question, basically gestalt is where you take two classes every level, and you gain the benefits of both classes. This is a simplified way of explaining it though.
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?
@At Ashley, In answer to your previous question about my multi group game, I did that with several real life games. The big one mixed in both real life and PVP. It was pretty sweet. My favorites at the time were Star Wars, The Tondula Unification, and the older version of the The Borallas Rebellion, which I am currently running in PBP now.
Thanks for clarifying about the sorcerer spellcasting. With that question answered, I am ready to begin and eagerly awaiting Monday.
Indeed. I like the teams I have. John seems to be a solid player as well so I suspect this thing will move along swimmingly once we get started. It's just as well since I have a real life game to run tomorrow night. I am now offically running 12 different games so i am going to be a tad busy. Especially since school will be starting up again in about three weeks.
Trenton, please don't make me feel sorry for you.
Soooo, guess it's officially Sunday now. Anything else we need to know, or can do before we get going cheif?
Believe he said we're starting Monday, so Terry can start with us.
oh, i know, I was just asking for any 'extra assignment homework stuff' so we can keep busy and entertained until then ;)
I will be posting the start of this later tonight. After I get home from Game Night
Got work tonight, so I won't be able to post for the next 8 hours. See you after that, though.
I wont be back from game night until close to midnight. Therefore I wont post the start for at least a good 10 to 11 hours
Whoo-hoo! Only have to stay up till 4am to read it! ; D
Just as a forewarning, my classes start on the 18th. I'll still be able to post and all, of course.
Didn't want to go first ; )
Presently am in eastern Canada, so Atlantic Time, GMT - 3:00
Really? Where?? I just got back home to Canada after living the past 5 years in Mexico. Que chido hermano y mucho gusto conocerte! ; )
I just got home from Sunday night gaming. Dang we stayed late. It was an epic war we couldn't walk away from. We had to finish it. The best part is that it ended with one of my players gettin eaten by a tree. Fun stuff. Anyways. I will start this thing in the morning......or rather noon I should say as it is my day off and I do so enjoy my beauty sleep. Gnight.
lmao ah! Well ok then. Ya, Missouri is not quite Guatamala or Costa Rica is it? ; )
Okay I have started your campaign. Everyone join when you can I will post once everyone has very posted.
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Sorry, playing catchup after being away from work for only three days still took up a whole lot of time. Incidentally, I'm at GMT -5, US Central Daylight Time. (I believe I live w/in fifteen miles of the DM, in fact.)
Ashley, what part of eastern CA? I haven't been out that way for a number of years, but I've been to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec a few times.
Profile is under construction.
I'm in a little slice of western Joliet, IL that has Plainfield mailing addresses. (DM Shanosuke--about a mile west of Hwy 59, just north of Caton Farm Road. Roughly 175th South.)
I'm currently in Moncton, NB Terry, visiting my folks and family.
Beautiful country out this way eh? What brought you round here?
PS Trenton, you gonna pick an Avatar? Just asking cuz I find it helps get a visual image of the PC
I'm in Virginia. It seems we're all Americans, no?
Ah, nope! Right now in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada (Your neighbour to the North ; )
But I grew up Toronto (Canada's biggest city), Ontario (another Canadian province)
better ash?
Much ; )
Just so you know Shano, I'm misspelling Kellmanor on purpose. :P
Lol there needs to be more posting here dont let this game die lol
Hey so what classes is everyone gonna take for their 1st level?
I'm still debating between Summoner and Oracle for Ashley. I think I'm leaning a bit towards Oracle but what everyone else picks will have an impact on it too.
Terry's probably going straight Rogue. None of the archetypes seem to fit, although Trapsmith and Burglar came close.
@ terry you know you do go sorcerer at same time right? lol
@ Ash i think an oracle would be cool speak celestial or the language of the fire elementals lol, only thing is we have to keep in mind that we have to find a trainer to take the class lol
Im thinking magus cause id like to dabble in spell combat with ice and water also helps with the view of trent being martial but wanting to stay with magic (Yes im slightly basing the magus drive off Kellen Tavadon in the Obsidion Trilogy)
anyways thoughts?