Shattered Star

Game Master Zesdead

All I can say is ditto. I hope your dad recovers, but if not, I hope his passing is at least painless.

Yeah, just echoing what everyone else is saying... look after yourself and your family and, when events have run their course (or when you need a break from what is surely a difficult time for everyone), we'll be here.

So here's the situation.

I haven't been in a good place lately (again). My desktop computer has died due to a hard drive issue, and my one-year-old tablet has decided to stop working as well. This restricts me to posting on my phone, which is amazingly difficult due to a cracked screen and prohibitively slow loading times. I'm up against a deadline for job searching, I can barely afford to pay my bills, and the constant stress is leaving me pretty drained.

Right now, I'm at a friend's house posting this. I'll be around, and trying to post occasionally from my phone, but until Microsoft get me my replacement device, I'll be spotty at best.

As I said elsewhere, hang in there! We'll be here when things settle down for you :)

Hang in there Shadlah, hopefully all will resolve itself in time...

I'm still having trouble viewing the map on my phone (so I apologize if this is incorrect/moot), but IIRC withdrawing only stops your first square of movement from provoking and with my reach it looks like maybe the derro has to move through more than one square that I threaten? Even if I'm right it might not make much difference but I'd love a chance to try to trip it before it escapes if possible.

Here's hoping all goes well, Ronnie. I'm sorry to hear you're having a bad time of it. :(

I'm back!

@Zio: all my thoughts to you and your family!

@Shadlah: hope everything will turn fine in the end

I'm still having trouble viewing the map on my phone (so I apologize if this is incorrect/moot), but IIRC withdrawing only stops your first square of movement from provoking and with my reach it looks like maybe the derro has to move through more than one square that I threaten? Even if I'm right it might not make much difference but I'd love a chance to try to trip it before it escapes if possible.

Yep, that's my reading of Withdraw as well... Have you currently got a reach longer than 10ft? I can't remember if you have got Mr Tickle arms at the moment or not... If you do, feel free to roll a Combat Manouevre check to attempt that trip... CMD is 22.

Also, welcome back Arsith :)

no, "Mr Tickle arms" wore off so i'm back down to 10' reach. Alas, no AoO this time I guess. I'll get a post up for my regular turn later (busy day at work today).

Welcome back Arsith! :)

Thankies!

Thanks for the well-wishes, folks. It really does mean a lot to me.

I'm feeling that I do need the escape from reality, and I plan to resume the game shortly. Hopefully tonight!

Ronnie: Sorry that things aren't going so well for you, either. Best wishes to you!

Well, I guess that Khrysym's little trick really didn't work on Joanna. :)

My replacement device has arrived, and I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully I can start posting in my games tonight or tomorrow!

Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing you back in action soon :)

Yay! You're back!

Too bad you missed Joanna kicking butt while tripping out. :D

just a question: who is Fenster? Maybe it happened while I was on vacation...

Fenster is someone that was encountered by the group in the early parts of the adventure (before Arsith joined the group)... Best to ask the others IC

We are teetering dangerously close to the end of Book 1 of our adventure folks!!! Sadly, it looks like Ziomarra will miss the final parts of this adventure but hopefully everyone else is around to push this across the line in glorious fashion... also note that I am going to be on a family holiday from Friday onwards but I am reliably informed that there will be wi-fi so, whilst I can't guarantee daily posts next week, there shouldn't be too much disruption on my side...

Wow! I know taking nearly two years (our 2nd anniversary is next month!) to finish one book might be awfully slow for some folks but I've really enjoyed the ride so far, especially the side-trip to Ravenmoor. This is one of my favorite games and I'm looking forward to hopefully continuing on with everyone :)

I also hope you enjoy your holiday Zed!

Yeah, I love this game.

Took me three to finish the first book of Rise of the Runelords.

Sorry I wasn't on yesterday. I was just so tired I don't even remember what time I went to bed last night.

Also, hope you have a good trip Zed. :)

will post in a sec. I love playing with all of you guys too.

Wow! I know taking nearly two years (our 2nd anniversary is next month!) to finish one book might be awfully slow for some folks but I've really enjoyed the ride so far, especially the side-trip to Ravenmoor. This is one of my favorite games and I'm looking forward to hopefully continuing on with everyone :)

Thanks everyone, it's been a pleasure to run this with you... and long may our adventure continue!!! I think that, in comparison with other AP's, Shattered Star has quite a big book 1 - certainly no other AP's since take the players all the way through to Level 5!!! Also, our side trek to Feast of Ravenmoor certainly took more time than if we had just dungeon-crawled the areas below the Crow that I excised... Having said that, our pace of posting has remained really high and at no time have I felt the dreaded 'doldrums'...

Book 2 of this AP is really strong and, using the web-enhancement (content stripped from the published AP due to size), comprises three 'sections'... before I finalise my plans for running the next section, could I just check that everyone else has been okay with our pacing?

We've slowed down a little bit with all the RL stuff people have had to deal with... I totally understand (and have been the slower on more than one occasion) but I, for one, would be pretty excited if we could get back to once a day.

I'd also be happy if we could get back to posting a little more regularly, but I'm also inclined to be a lot less anxious if we don't since I think we've played together long enough to know that none of us are likely to just vanish with no explanation. I've done this with a handful of people from other games but I'd also be willing to provide a way to be contacted outside the Paizo forums if need be (an email, FB, whatever) if anyone ever feels the need.

And yes, RL stuff has been hard for a lot of us this year. I hope things improve for everyone soon :)

I'm here to stay, I'm enjoying this game and the characters (in a chaste way!^^).

Sorry to slow things down but I have a couple questions...
1) is the shriexyz saying that we can't reconnect pieces until we have all of them, or just that it doesn't want us to do anything with the pieces until we have all of them?
2) did we ever get any kind of additional ioun stone from Lady Heidmarch like I asked for (or meant to ask for... It's been so long I'm not positive I did and I don't have time to search right now...)?

1) is the shriexyz saying that we can't reconnect pieces until we have all of them, or just that it doesn't want us to do anything with the pieces until we have all of them?

The shriezyx are saying that this is a forging stone where the Sihedron can be reformed... and they are saying that they will - very kindly - look after the Shard of Pride and the Shard of Greed whilst you search for the other shards... in terms of the mechanics of reforming the sihedron, Teldon doesn't yet know much about those...

2) did we ever get any kind of additional ioun stone from Lady Heidmarch like I asked for (or meant to ask for... It's been so long I'm not positive I did and I don't have time to search right now...)?

Ah, I completely forgot about that - in between heading to Ravenmoor and your return it kind of got lost in the mix. So... I'd like to play this a little different to how the AP is written - as per the books, chuck a pre-prepared ioun stone into the shard and everything is instantly hunky-dory... and all of the cool RP stuff around the curse of carrying a 'raw' shard disappears before you've played with it. So, for our game, you folks will have the ioun stones available... but I'm not guaranteeing they will work perfectly first time ;). Suffice to say, one of you folks (probably Teldon given that he asked but don't mind who) is carrying a blue / green Ioun stone ready to go...

I'm having a fairly serious surgery tomorrow and might not be able to post until Tuesday or Wednesday. After that I'll try to keep up but my posts might be a little sparse (and drug addled) for a couple weeks.

Thanks for letting us know and good luck with your surgery... Don't rush back to posting before you feel able and, if the posts are somehow drug-addled, we'll just blame the shriezyx!!!

...folks, with that in mind (plus the fact that I am on holiday), I think we should probably drop any daily posting expectations for the next few days... I'm not sure what Teldon's plans were when he decided to 'withdraw' from the discussion and so I don't really know on what basis I would be GMPC'ing him...

That works for me. I'll keep my eye on the thread but will largely consider us on hiatus for just a little bit. Hope the surgery goes well Teldon and I hope you have a good holiday Zed!

Take care Teldon!

...so, Teldon's given us a little bit of direction as to his intent and I think that's enough to keep us moving along a little... essentially, you folks (which at this stage looks like Arsith, Briana and Joanna) have got a couple of days IRL to post for taking the derro's prisoners back to Magnimar (rowing back or via the mapped sewers), grabbing some Alchemist's Fire (and other provisions as required) plus anything else that needs doing...

...we can deal with it in fairly broad brush strokes if you like - I can give a little bit of GM input but really the floor is yours (so to speak) for a couple of days...

Okay, I'm probably going to post over two days. Busy day left me feeling drained.

That'll work for me too Jo; had an early start today and a long day in general. The next couple of days will be better for me to post since I'll be off work, hehe.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Surgery went well and I'm home recovering.

I think I owe everyone an explanation, and an apology.

In my circle of gamer friends, I'm known as the one with terrible luck. When I play at a PFS table, my dice conspire against me, seldom rolling above a 9. When someone gets sick, I always pick it up. If technological eff-ups happen, they're always to me. I'm the bad luck magnet that soaks the bad stuff so everyone else can be awesome and have a good time.

So it dismayed, but didn't surprise me when, shortly after getting my replacement tablet, my charger stopped working, and I had to wait for a replacement to arrive (and it was only through goodwill that I was able to get one).

Then I came down with sinusitis.

Then I had to start involuntary volunteer work to keep my welfare payments (remember, I'm unemployed [not for lack of trying], and the Australian job market is tanking).

Then I developed laryngitis.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's all true - and my friends would back me up and say it wouldn't happen to anyone but me!

The sinusitis has passed, and the laryngitis is on its way out (finally!). I'm hoping to return to my (ir)regularly-scheduled posting soon. I'm sorry for my radio silence, and I wish I could promise more regular posts, but... the simple fact is, I don't know *how* life's going to kick me next.

Posted this elsewhere but hang in there as best as you can. And for what it's worth, you've got lots of people rooting for you :)

Sadly I have yet to find any truffles, I have only been able to find mushrooms.

Ready to be inserted again whenever.

Welcome back! :)

Could join us on our errand run. :)
And yes! Welcome back Ronnie! :D

I second Jo's suggestion, feel free to insert yourself on the errand run if you'd like Shadlah :)

And on a totally different topic, is anyone else excited for Strange Aeons? Because I'm excited for Strange Aeons :D

Not as excited as I once would have been. I'm having to be more careful with money and that means I haven't bought any new pathfinder books/herolab addons in a while, and won't for a while.

That said, if anyone wants to run a game for it. I'll throw my hat int the ring.

I'm rather excited about Strange Aeons - I resubscribed to the AP line after sitting out Hell's Vengeance - but I reckon it will be a while before I am in a position to consider GM'ing it (I've got the notorious 'maxed out' GM syndrome right now) plus I do rather like having the full AP in hand before running a game... Context is kind of important in a full blown campaign - even at early levels.

********

...plus the Blight is coming!!! I've nearly finished Richard Pett's novel which should serve as a good primer and I anticipate that the KS backers will start to get their hands on PDF's of the adventures and other bits pretty soon...

And this, from 'Feast of Ravenmoor's' Brandon Hodge, is pretty exciting: The Crooked Nail - For decades, Theatre Infernalis offered shocking and frightful entertainment to customers of the Artists’ Quarter. Those who entered the strange doorway nestled between the cheeks of the façade’s gaping demonic mouth saw a decrepit theatre transformed from a macabre tavern and playhouse into a frightful portrait of the eternal torment that awaits all sinners, and few cabarets rivaled the efficiency of Theatre Infernalis’ leering demonic automatons, macabre mortomatons, and spook house haunts to set patrons screaming into the streets.

Now rumors tell of the aging and supposedly-cursed proprietor’s deteriorating health and the theatre’s impending sale, and the Artists’ Quarter has been abuzz with those seeking one final fright with a walk through the crucible-licked walls of the infernal house of the macabre before its final curtain call. But are the theatre’s smoke-and-mirrors and cheap scares hiding a truly wicked secret? What is the nature of the curse and illness that afflict the owner? And did foul and profane rites once take place between its walls that outside forces now seek to exploit? What happens when the spookshow’s fun and games transform into a terrifying reality, threatening to spill forth an infernal malevolence onto the streets of the Blight?

*******

GM Post coming soon - I'll wrap up this brief Magnimar interlude and we can get back into the Crow (and bring Shadlah fully back into the game).

Sounds like it'd be a fun one to play.

Also looking forward to finishing Book 1 and seeing how Joanna reacts to Book 2 :)

I'm stupidly excited for Strange Aeons. I've been hanging out for it since it was announced. I'm devastated that I can't afford it, though... money's pretty tight when you have no job =(

Definitely looking forward to finding a Strange Aeons game to play in at some point; even got a character made and everything, hehe. Bummer about maximum bandwidth and money woes though; I hope both things clear up for you guys soon!

The Blight also looks (and sounds) like it will be awesome :3

Maybe it's just the drugs but what's Strange Aeon's?