Righto,
I'll be offline this weekend, but I'll keep checking in with my phone!
Just checking in. I had a death in the family this week. I'm alright, but we have to deal with certain things obviously.
@Calum: My condolences.
@Nayls: Sounds reasonable. Good to know we haven't all given up on this one yet.
I am truly sorry to hear about your loss. Please accept my condolences .
So sorry to hear. Good luck with everything.
Happy Thanksgiving all :)
You as well! Hopefully my power stays on long enough to cook!
Yep, Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
ANyone heard anything? We still going? I'd love to, since I was digging the party dynamic.
Let's have a short role-sprint between tomorrow and Christmas, when there will be another week-long-hiatus :)
I haven't seen anything from Brass Legionary in my other campaign since around the same time he last posted here.
...but I agree I would like to keep going somehow if we can. I like the group dynamics too and I'm out of work with a broken leg...so I've got nothing but time on my hands.
We are sort of at an impasse, in terms of roleplaying, without response from the bandits, though...
Merry Christmas everybody. I really hope we can continue this game. I keep checking in because I like tje dynamics we have going.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Merry Christmas.
Still checking in too... :)
Merry Chrismas!
I am here with you and I never intended to go away :)
Agreed. Merry Christmas to all of you.
I hate to be the one to ask it...but are we at the point yet where we might consider looking for a new GM? It has been about a month and a half at this point...
No worries, Isla. I think it still holidays and vacations and similar stuff happening around me. Let's wait till 2015 start!
Have you seen GM Brass in your other game? Might be you could send him a PM asking to return?
As far as I can tell he hasn't had any activity on the site since November 11th...but I'll send him a PM.
Waiting until the new year is fine by me. Is everyone okay with using that as a cut off for finding a new GM?
Yeah, New Year sounds like a good window. Holiday season is pretty crazy for everyone.
Happy New Year!
I will repost in Recruitment thread again to bring it up for audience.
Hopefully, we will find ourselves good new GM.
Thanks for running point on that again. Also, Happy New Year!
Hi, all,
I saw Nalys's post in the recruitment thread about your lost GM. Sorry to hear it. I'm currently running Kingmaker for a live group (we're on book 3), but - somewhat surprisingly for longtime gamers - they aren't that interested in the kingdom building aspects of things. Or rather, only a couple of them are, and the rest are not - minutia is not their strong suit, as players and friends, so it's likely for the best. To give you a sense of what's coming in terms of number crunching (though I can mostly manage this for you), can be found in this spreadsheet..
I'm ok with your PCs as I can see them, have read through the gameplay so far, and it should be fairly reasonable to pick up from where you are. I can't guarantee that playing this AP with me will be like watching "Game of Thrones", but I'll do what I can to both use the best ideas here on the boards for running the AP and creating an engaging environment for each player.
Full disclosure, I'm also currently running another campaign here on the boards, using the Iron Gods AP. If you'd like, take a look at my Iron Gods campaign, and let me know what you think about my writing/running style. If you have questions, feel free to ask, or if you would like to just get started, say so and I'll be ready to be underway before long. It looks like y'all would prefer streamlined combat, which is fine by me - let me know if there are other things you'd like me to know after a few months of playing as a group.
Are all PCs still in, or just the humans? Looks like the gnome hasn't checked in lately, but no problem if he comes back in. I'd prefer to keep it to 4 pcs though for balance.
- GM 8574
Hi,
Thanks for showing interest. Can't speak for the others, but I would be interested based on what I see here and in your other game.
To address some of your other points:
-Personally, I am interested in the kingdom building and the minutia doesn't particularly bother me. Although, I will warn you that I can't open you Excel (I'm guessing it has macros which the Mac version of Excel usually craps out with.)
-I know we all agreed when we were looking for our first GM that we like a story focused style. Beyond that, I don't know that we made if far enough for me to develop attachment to any particular style.
-I'm not sure about Geliglee. Like you said, he hasn't posted for a while...However, he may also have (very reasonably) assumed the game was dead. Personally, I would vote to move forward when the four of us are ready, but keep his character nearby, (ie. Olegs) so if he does return it would be easy for him to jump in.
Isla's summed up everything I was going to say!!!
I like minutia to a point, I think the kingdom-building will be interesting to play through with a group!
Thanks for the interest!!!
Thanks, Isla and Brandt.
- Thanks for the heads up on the spreadsheet. No worries, you won't have to worry about this much - it's mostly a GM tool from my perspective.
- Sure, I'll do what I can to stay focused on story over combat. This may mean having me keep a few things simpler/easier in terms of combats, but mostly I have found that groups tend to roll over most of the combats in this AP. I'll adjust to keep them reasonable.
- Ok, we'll pick him up when/if he comes back. I'm sure we can work him in.
I'll wait to hear from the other two before proceeding.
That was very fast and it looks really good. I actually like the kingdom building aspect. I did play in a kingmaker game thru book 3 with friends when it first came out but I remember nothing about that game except one person in the party looked at the kingdom building stuff and "took care of it for us." Yeah, didn't like that
-Posted with Wayfinder
Thanks, Calum.
My hope is that since the Kingdom rules have been out for a couple years now (thanks, Ultimate Campaign on the PRD), y'all could take a look ahead at some point to familiarize yourself with them. There's a lot that's circumstantial to your kingdom, so don't plan too far ahead, but do get familiar.
Hello, GM!
I like Isla's comment. This one is pretty much inline with my thoughts. Just to say again some things out loud as I understand them:
+ I'm interested in roleplay driven adventure with elements of combat much more than in wargame with elements of roleplay. We still need to have some combats, because those can bring another angle to the story. As well, some of our characters are build around physical power and tactical approach, so I don't think we should throw combat away completely.
+ I'm OK if game will be less than GoT series filled with intrigues, blood and 18+ content. I just don't want social side to be totally skipped or reduced to (I have some of that in my PFS games, where we are limited by 4-5 hour limit).
+ I am interested in Kingdom Building rules and mass-combat strategy. I think this makes Kingmaker AP unique and discarding this is losing most part of adventure. I have listened several episodes of Kingmaker Actual Play podcast previously, so I have some understanding about how this is played. (Haven't listened for full series, since I wanted just to grab some flavour of Kingdom Building is done for a particular group)
+ I'd like to keep Geliglee's character in Oleg's. He might rejoin us later or be our advisor. Based on his background, he might be even doing some scam in background :)
+ I have checked your Iron Gods and (unfinished) Jade Regent campaigns. I think, you have your style and I am OK with that.
+ It would be great if we agree to inform one each other on possible absence/irregularities in Discussion thread.
As for now, I'd like to keep campaign ownership for several month, just in case things go wild. Feel free to message me if you'd like me to have Campaign Info tab or Quicklinks sections updated.
Thanks, Nalys,
= Yes, we'll still do combats, I'm always looking for ways to streamline them. We'll address this when we get to it.
= Nope, not planning to skip social scenes. Ideally, I'll be able to give a little more weight to well-RP'd interactions. This means making sure that your characters stick to their primary motivations. However, the mechanics are definitely helpful for brevity, in the event that one must post quick on their phone or from work.
= Great!
= Ok, let's see what he says.
= Understood. I took on the Jade Regent campaign when I shouldn't have for busy-ness / lack of internet connection while on the road for vacation.
= Yes, my goal is to be as open as possible about my absences. Like how this coming Saturday and Sunday, I will likely be able to post only short updates, as I will be on the road for a conference.
No worries, that sounds like a good plan. I'll send you any updates in a PM.
I figured I'd take the loot discussion here, since for me it was becoming a wall of OOC text.
Isla would pretty much just want a horse and a riding saddle. She might take the dagger or an alchemist fire if no one wanted them, but wouldn't argue with anyone else who wanted them.
I assume we would split up the gold evenly. Food and arrows could probably going into a group supply if we wanted to take and extra horse and a saddlebag.
Do we understand that our steadholders will buy the leftover gear at full price? That would make this a nice little treasure haul.
Thanks for letting me know choices. I'll mark it on the spreadsheet.
Would y'all like me to create a 6th column on the GP Tracker page to create a "Party Fund" for items that will be used by the whole group?
Yes, Oleg's offer is to purchase these items full price, or in their equivalent goods from his stock, or (if he runs out of cash) in credit. You get the sense that it's a one-time offer to be take up immediately.
I think a party fund is a great idea. Perhaps give it a 1/2 share of the total loot?
BTW - I'm planning on playing if you couldn't tell... was just waiting to see if things got started again.
@Geliglee: I think it would be advantageous for Brandt and I to have horses (and saddle) so the whole party is mounted. Beyond that I am fine with selling the rest (barring whatever other people want, of course). Although I still say we should keep the rations. Even sold at full price, they are probably worth more to us.
I agree that the party fund is probably a good idea.
@GM:Even if we don't use it now, the 6th column is probably a good idea.
Also, would we be able to address the diplomacy effort we had with the bandits earlier. I know we all got a little rambling, because it got to a point where I think we were all just posting to keep the campaign alive, but the gist of it was that we wanted information about their leader and camp in exchange for not killing them.
@Ilsa - My thoughts exactly. We should interrogate them separately in order to see if they tell the same story or not.
@Geliglee - yep, got it! :)
@Isla - Will do re: 6th column, and yes, I'll offer resolution re: diplomacy efforts with the bandit here in a bit. Still catching up on work emails after being out for holiday, but I can put it in place before long.
I'm going to proceed with one at a time results for now, but would y'all mind if I rolled your diplomacy checks for you for the second and third bandits to speed things up a bit? I'm assumign the offer is the same.
@GM: I have no problem with that...and no worries, I know its a lot to jump into and we are probably a little overzealous right now from being able to play in the first time in nearly two months :)
Mechanics questions:
+ Can gnome ride a riding horse?
+ Is there any penalty if he will be sharing seat with me or Calum?
@Isla - Thanks! No worries, let's get up to speed.
@Nalys
- Well, I think they'd be too big, but I'd be open to hearing arguments for why or why not.
- So, take a look at how much you and your equipment weigh, and add the weight of a saddle to it, plus the weight of the gnome and his gear. Let me know that number, and I'll let you know what speed your horse will go when carrying everything.
@Nayls: Geliglee can correct me if I'm wrong...but before you go and do a bunch of weight addition, I believe he has his own riding dog.
-Posted with Wayfinder
True, I recall that from the read-through.
Though do let me know if any of y'all exceed 228 lbs with all your gear. If so, your horse'll be a bit slower than full speed. It should affect exploration time much, but a little.
Yup, Geliglee has a riding dog.
Nalys weights 179 lbs + 36 lbs of gear.
And his mount is loaded with food pack of 4 days and other stuff for total load of 104 lbs.
I can take some of the extra gear, William seems to be very strong and next level picks up armor training, or we could leave some of it behind for a rainy day.
You can also take all the horses and have them carry your gear, too, but I understand if you want to keep tracking of horses to be simpler.
Yeah, Oleg would likely let you store anything you don't need immediately somewhere on the property. You just might need to build a storage shed under one of the corner towers.
I'd definitely like the compostite longbow, since I need one eventually, unless you guys think its more worthwhile to sell it and I can save up for one with my full strength bonus (+3).
Regarding Horses and Weight:
I'm at 195.5/228 lbs. So I should be fine and could also take some of the extra weight if I can get a saddlebag. On my person I am at medium encumbrance though...so I'll have to work on distributing that on the horse.
@Brandt: I have no problem with you taking the longbow. Its worth a fair amount, yeah, but usually I find that it evens out down the road when other people have higher value items they are interested in.
@GM, could you please define, which skills might be required for ?:
* working on shed, to keep prisoners for a while
* preparing fortifications to shoot bandits
* repair ballista
* exploring area around fort
* keeping bandits alive
Which of this tasks could be done without specific skills?
Sure:
1) Craft(Carpentry) if you are building it from wood, though if we are going with the Downtime route for construction, then it is more of just getting the materials and starting construction.
2) Again, I'd go with Craft (Carpentry). You are basically building higher walls.
3) Craft(Siege Weapons). And they are catapults, not ballista
4) No skill required.
5) Hmm, do you mean keeping them alive during a cold night? That'd be Heal, I guess, or just RPing the attention that you give them to keep them conscious.
The good news is that you don't need to be trained in Craft to use it. You just might not do quite as well.