a garbanzo bean by any other name is still a garbanzo bean :)
"I've tried a check pea once... By jove it is a rather terrible dish but one that is favoured by the hinterland savages! Part chicken and part pea I believe..."
"Garbanzo? Gar-ban-zo... The name is not familiar... Did he serve with the 9th Foot??"
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Chickpeas and beans - two foods that my children dislike. Chicks and peas some things we all eat.
And although I have gamed with a few of you, I'd like to get the ball rolling with an introduction. My favorite and more lasting games tend to have good discussion threads, banter and eventually friendships.
I am a 47 year old house husband with two kids (little chap 7 and littler chapess 3). My wife works in Beauty and is currently at a college lecturing in Guernsey, the Channel Islands. This is a one year position and then....who knows. I've played on and off since 1981 and my hobby turned into a passion from 1993 when I started attending Cons. Aside from gaming I am an avid Liverpool FC and Green Bay Packers fan. So on some level I am happy to see the 49ers knocked out.
Started playing on the boards in '07 and have written a couple of pieces for Raging Swan Press but that's mainly because he knows me and we used to game together. Currently I play in two tabletop games, Rise of the Runelords tonight and I run a Viking version of Kingmaker on Thursday evenings.
By the way, my favorite settings are Greyhawk, Al-Qadim and Ravenloft but I keep looking at that Stoneheart Valley book and wondering.
Cheers
Hey all! Sorry for the lack of background, that will be coming this evening after work for sure! I'll clean up the rough edges on my pc's crunch as well. I'll also get a more proper introduction up later as well, I've got to get ready for work!
Just an FYI, I'll probably be able to post a bit today from work, it's looking to be a slow one. No promises for anything substantial, but I like to interact in the discussion too!
So for the introduction: I'm a 31 year old guy from the Sunshine State of Florida. I'm married for a whopping 1 1/2 years and no kids. She's a teacher and I currently work in a pawn shop, though I've got my degree and am looking for a teaching job as well. I've been gaming on and off for 5 years, Pathfinder only, I still feel pretty new to the whole thing since I don't have the depth of background in it. I got pretty heavily involved in some pbp's not too far back, even DMing for the first time, but my work/rl got really busy and had to drop. Things have steadied out for me and I've been jonesing for a game, so here we are! I'm looking forward to getting back in it.
Melbourne Florida near Cape Canaveral. Cracking the Florida teaching cabal can be tough. Highly political around here.
Just retired from the Air Force and accepted a local job here.
Decided to go improved init and leave weapon finesse for rogue talent at level two. With a +10 init, I hope to go first.
Yeah, it is, especially for someone who's degree is not in teaching. Luckily I know a few people in the right places, so I'm hoping that by next school year I'll be in. I wasn't so sure that I really wanted to do it over the last summer so I didn't pound pavement hard enough.
With that high init I feel like we're going to be following you into a lot of scuffles!
I'm fine with handling initiative that way. My only question would be why would we bother rolling at all? Does our roll actually affect anything? From what I understand of the above preposal it seems we could eliminate the it as a step entirely?
As for me personally, I feel "Wet" may have been rather appropriate given my present company. I turn 24 tomorrow, but I have been gaming for better than half that. Friends of my grandparents got me hooked way back at the end of 2nd ed. I'm currently living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Presently working as shipping manager for a local warehouse.
Happy Birthday "Wet" :)
Since were introducing ourselves : I'm a 40ish husband and dad of two girls, one 2 years and one 3 months. I work in IT up here in Ottawa,Canada...brrr , cold right now! Been playing since 5th grade. Had a long absence, then got a table top game going a few years ago.
Found that the time requirements were a bit too much for all concerned, so canned it after achieving the main story arc.
Found the Paizo boards a year and a half ago and have been happy camper ever since :)
Okay, couple of comments/questions about the initiative rules, Grimy.
1) Since you are the one opening up the current round and initiative is decided entirely by who posts first, will that mean that the "baddies" always go first as you could just post their turn immediately after posting the "Round is open" post?
2) This is less important than my first question (which is pretty darn important IMO) but with the format you are proposing will the initiative count in our header just stay the same as whomever posts first?
Example: (Just using 3 PC's and one group of "baddies" to keep it simple)
PC 1 rolls 18 for initiative
PC 2 rolls 14 for initiative
Baddies roll 12 for initiative
PC 3 rolls 8 for initiative
You make the post declaring the round open and (as presented in my first question) proceed to post the "baddies" actions for the turn as
=====================
Round 1 Initiative 12
=====================
PC 2 is the first PC to post his turn and posts using the header
========================
Round 1 Initiative 12
=======================
because he is assumed to have "delayed" until count 12
PC 1 is the next to post and would use the same header: Round 1 Initiative 12 while PC 3 would change the header to Round 1 Initiative 8. Is this a correct interpretation of what you have proposed?
Samduc/Chainmail/Tribute:
If you are American, why do you spell favoured the "incorrect" (j/k) British way?
Couple of things on your character sheet...
You list your attack with your dagger as +4 but you don't have the Weapon Finesse feat and a STR of 10. That should be +0 with dagger.
You're wearing Studded Leather Armor but did not account for the -1 Armor Check penalty that comes with it on any of the skills to which that penalty applies.
You have a feat called "Two handed fighting" is that Two weapon fighting?
You have different values for Reflex save and Touch armor class under mini-stats as opposed to what is listed under Offense/Defense. I think the correct values are Reflex +6 and Touch AC 15.
Not really a mistake, but are you aware that you have NOT trained Disable Device for your rogue?
Not gonna lie, the whole initiative thing is quite confusing for me... but I'm willing to try anything at least once! I learn better in the moment, so it might be better for me to understand when we actually get into some battle.
Gents - Black Dow reporting for duty :)
As for me, I'm a 43 year old Scot living in the grey Granite City o' Aberdeen and working in the Oil industry. I've been a student and a teacher, now returning to my roots in Black Gold lol. Been gaming off/on since the Basic Set in the 80's, and pbp on a bunch of long running games since the boards here really sprung to life (coincided with the death of my RL gaming group as a regular fixture).
Love all things norse, getting inked, lifting iron and the NFL (French Wolf - I'm a Steelers fan :)
Looking forward to unleashing my first gnome :)
Skal!
Were mostly a bunch of middle aged dudes here, it appears.
I am 41 y/o American living in Ohio. I lived in Florida for three years; loved the winters, hated the summers. Unmarried and childless...both by choice. Currently, changing career paths (polite way of saying unemployed). Started playing D&D in 1981 with the Red Box Basic D&D set with the Erol Otus cover art. Quickly switched to AD&D which I still prefer to anything else...even Pathfinder. Haven't had a F2F gaming group to play with in a long time (since college).
How do you guys in Britain get American football coverage? Is it available on cable packages in the UK?
Ah the mighty Erol Otus :) All Hail!
NFL is available on Satellite here, been a fan since a kid and followed it since '83 (when it was covered on terrestrial TV)... hell I even played a bit some 15 years ago... OL/DL for Dundee Whalers lol heady days :)
@Damien - am thinking we could combine our military backgrounds? There's a possible touch of Sharpe about your guy, whilst Vhillish could be your former loyal serjeant and comrade??? Just a possibility...
I actually rather like that idea. I just looked up Sharpe and I think you might be right, at least a little bit. I'd be glad to have you as my former sergeant. I have a feeling we'll get along rather like oil and water but that tends to make for the best sort of old army buddies!
On a side note, I'll have to see if I can dig up some old episodes of Sharpe. I do love me some Sean Bean.
Absolutely they would be at loggerheads... like you said bond forged from combat but oft at odds...
Vhillish struggling to let go of his military life and Damien glad to be out of it!
Think a wee Higgins to your Thomas Magnum lol.
Still tweaking.
Definitely will add acp penalties.
Assume I have a loaded crossbow and fire at the softest = lowest ac target for surprise round.
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Ah Sharpe.
Some of the best books I've read and tv I've seen :)
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Just watching highlights of Peyton Manning in action. Ye Gods what a player! I am no fan of Tom Brady and Bob Belichik (they remind me of Man Utd too much)
As for Aberdeen - Steelers seems like a perfect match, Black Dow. Never played the game myself but I did once see a live college game at Boston College and it was the most confusing mess without TV replays.
Logan if you get to mine I wouldn't bother until after I have made some serious changes.
Cheers
Ok, that's a little better but I'm still at little confused.
Say we roll initiative and our order looks like this:
3 PC's
Monsters
4 PC's
I understand that the 3 PC's who go first simply act in whatever order they post in but are the other 4 able to post before the monster's turn as well or should they wait until the first 3 have gone and you post for the monsters?
You don't have to wait for monsters any more then you have to wait for anyone else. If you post before I post for the monsters despite them having beat you on initiative, the monsters will be treated as having used the delay action. They will jump back in and act at whatever initiative count is up when I visit the thread ready to post for them.
Small note though, if you visit the thread and the round is open and no one has posted but your initiative is really low, like a 3, it's probably courteous if you exercise your judgement and hold off because otherwise the whole initiative count will start at three and go down from there, like:
3
2
1a
1b
1cwhich is kind of awkward.
Alright, that saves me some questions. It's not required that you wait, simply good form. Works for me!
No worries, we all understand the pull of RL.
You're right, I don't think the Lyreguard really fits. We're more large scale infantry as I see it.
Now that I'm thinking about it, the army of the grand duchy is probably our best bet. Leave the Bard's Gate elite companies to be something we can explore at a later date.
Unless Sergeant Quarrelwick has any other ideas?
I'm down for trying it. Watching the conversation happen I believe I am getting it, but actually trying it out will be the real test. Worse comes to worst we can always change it mid game. Luckily there are plenty of easy ways to do this! As a DM I always just rolled initiative and/or assigned initiative groups based on the modifiers. It all depended on the encounters. I had a 6 PC, 6 NPC, and 16 monster brawl one time that I set up. Regular initiative was not going to work.
As far as my back story, I'm on it. I'm having a bit of a hard time with inspiration, but so far I think he's going to end up being quite a loser. A country bumpkin teenage runaway who has yet to quite make it for himself. Sounds cliche, I know, but like I said in the recruitment, I want someone who goes from nothing to the grand adventure. I'll have it up later tonight.
Also, just in case you've never seen this... you should see this!
This is what I think of when I create a character.
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Absolutely they would be at loggerheads... like you said bond forged from combat but oft at odds...
Vhillish struggling to let go of his military life and Damien glad to be out of it!
Think a wee Higgins to your Thomas Magnum lol.
....and he drops a Magnum P.I. reference on us? Sweet! I absolutely LOVED the dynamic between Magnum and Higgy Baby.
Musing: I've often wondered if Chandler Bing's tag line of "Oh...my...God!" was an homage to Higgins.
Bonus (unrelated) musing: Donald Duck wears a shirt but no pants, yet when he comes out of the shower he wears a towel wrapped around his waist. What is up with that?!?
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Here are words in the B2 module from the master (Gary Gygax). I was amazed at how they still have meaning today. I do not imply that you are novices, just that it can be helpful to outline the social contract of adventuring together. I could not say it any better.
On a lighter note: Hoping for the BEST GAME EVER
TIPS TO THE PLAYERS
It often helps for beginning players to have advice on how
to play D&D. Many points are overlooked by novices in
their eagerness to get on with the adventure, The following
points are given to help these players.
Most importantly, players should be organized and cooperative.
Each player should have complete information
on his or her character easily on hand and should supply
the DM with this information quickly and accurately if
asked. As parties will usually involve a variety of alignments
and classes, players should work together to use their abilities
effectively. Arguing among players will cause delays,
attract monsters, and often result in the deaths of some or
all of the members.
Cooperation should also be given to the DM. He or she is
the judge of the game and his or her decisions are final. If a
player disagrees, he or she should calmly state why, and
accept whatever the DM decides. Shouting, crying, pouting,
or refusing to accept decisions only angers the other
players. The game should be fun for all involved. Not everything
will go the way players want it.
Planning is another important part of play. Players should
be well equipped, comparing each member’s list and
balancing the items on each. No character should be overburdened
nor under-equipped. This may mean sharing the
costs of extra items. Rope, oil, torches, spikes, and other
useful items should always be carried. Plans should be considered
for encountering monsters and casting spells.
Caution is also necessary and is a part of planning. A party
that charges forward without preparation is almost
certainly doomed. Danger should be expected at any
moment and from any direction, possibly even from one’s
own party. Lying and trickery are not unknown. Cautious
play will help avoid many (but not all) tricks and traps and
may save a life. However, too much caution is as dangerous
as too little. Many instances will require bold and quick
actions on the part of the players, before all is lost.
Above all a player must think. The game is designed to
challenge the minds and imaginations of the players.
Those who tackle problems and use their abilities, wits, and
new ideas will succeed more often than fail. The challenge
of thinking is a great deal of the fun of the game.
I'm down for trying it. Watching the conversation happen I believe I am getting it, but actually trying it out will be the real test. Worse comes to worst we can always change it mid game. Luckily there are plenty of easy ways to do this! As a DM I always just rolled initiative and/or assigned initiative groups based on the modifiers. It all depended on the encounters. I had a 6 PC, 6 NPC, and 16 monster brawl one time that I set up. Regular initiative was not going to work.
As far as my back story, I'm on it. I'm having a bit of a hard time with inspiration, but so far I think he's going to end up being quite a loser. A country bumpkin teenage runaway who has yet to quite make it for himself. Sounds cliche, I know, but like I said in the recruitment, I want someone who goes from nothing to the grand adventure. I'll have it up later tonight.
Astor have you ever used the Background Generator from Ultimate Campaign. It's a nice way to "get the juices flowing" creatively if you are feeling a little stuck. It's designed as a random generator but I just peruse the options until I find something that "clicks" for that character.
Excellent advice Samduc.
Ever the practical sort, Damien would offer this thread as recommended reading for all would be adventurers.
It's worth a solid laugh if nothing else.
On a lighter note: Hoping for the BEST GAME EVER
My response to that song: Wicked!
Didn't every group have a "George" in it? The guy who you absolutely couldn't stand, who viewed D&D as a game to be "won" by the guy with the most magic items and that everyone else in the group secretly rejoiced in seeing get eaten by the Gelatinous Cube.
Just throwing my two copper pieces in but I would recommend going with what I think Damien was suggesting which I would refer to as initiative by tiers:
Tier 1
PC 1 has init score of 18
PC 2 has init score of 15
PC 3 has init score of 11
Tier 2
Monsters have init score of 9
Tier 3
PC 4 has init score of 7
PC 5 has init score of 6
PC 6 has init score of 2 (Dude, you need improved initiative...)
Grimmy declares the round open and anyone who has an initiative score greater than the monsters can post in whatever order they like so PC 1, 2 and 3 can all post at their leisure (within reason), then Grimmy posts for the baddies, then PC 4, 5 and 6 can post in whatever order they like.
That might slow things down a little bit more than Grimmy's current proposal (assuming I've correctly figured it out) but would still maintain the overall integrity of the initiative dice, so there would still be some advantage for those in the group with high initiative scores over those with lower ones and the baddies wouldn't get completely screwed over.
I agree there Grimmy. And as my final act for the evening I present Astor in his predictably cliche fullness. Any kind criticism is welcomed, I will edit or kindly decline editing as I see fit. Unless of course it is an error of technical nature or something requested by the DM, then I will attend to it ASAP. Looking forward to this!
Male Human Fighter 1
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +2
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +1 shield, +2 Dex)
hp 16 (1d10+6)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +1
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee light shield bash +4 (1d3+3/×2) and
longsword +5 (1d8+3/19-20/×2) and
morningstar +4 (1d8+3/×2)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Cleave, Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Traits reactionary, suspicious
Skills Climb +5, Perception +2, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +1, Survival +5
Languages Common, Elven
Other Gear Studded leather armor, Light steel shield, Longsword, Morningstar, Backpack (6 @ 20.5 lbs), Bedroll, Belt pouch (1 @ 4.9 lbs), Blanket, winter, Flask, Flint and steel, Mug/tankard, Rope, 237 GP, 3 SP, 5 CP
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Astor Evisthan grew up in a small, unnamed farming community in the Lyre Valley. For as long as his family can remember they had farmed these lands. Mostly vegetable produce, they often travelled into Bards Gate during the summer months to hawk their goods. Ever since he was able to walk Astor took the week long journeys once a month to Bards Gate. By the time he was a teenager not one exciting thing had happened in his life. He tended the farm in season, chopped wood weekly and hunted food in the winter, and his only piece of excitement was the summer trips to Bards Gate. It was a boring, mundane life and he wanted more.
On one trip up to the city Astor witnessed something he had only heard about, a goblin raid! Their cart happened upon a small horde of goblins charging towards the gate just as the sun was setting and the light was dimming. But as the goblins charged, a group of adventurers sprung up from a patch of nearby trees. Astor and his father were so close that the two horses pulling their cart reared up, knocking the cart off balance and sending Astor and his father off the sides. They horses regained their balance and took off in the opposite direction, his father in hot pursuit, cursing and hooting at the horses while trying in vain to recover produce that was flying this way and that. Astor, on the other hand, ran up to a nearby tree. Not so much as to hide, but to get a better view at the action.
There were five or six of the adventurers and who knows how many goblins. Every time Astor recalled the story in the future the number seemed to fluctuate, mostly putting the odds against the heroes, making them that much more… heroic. There were a couple of men wielding various styles of weapons, one a sword and a morningstar, the other an axe and when he dropped that he saw what he learned later was a flail. There was a dwarf with a two handed hammer and a man and a woman in robes, standing back but sending occasional bolts of something, Astor never could figure that one out. He was closest to the man with the long sword. His movements were effortless, and he smiled as he fought. In reality the battle was hopeless and only a couple of the goblins managed to escape. The heroes gathered up what spoils they could find, checked on each other, and walked into the town. Mesmerized, a 15 year old Astor walked through the gates and never looked back.
15 Years Later
Astor slugged back another pint, nearly falling over in his stool. The owner was out of town tonight so no work would get done. Astor had a night job as a bouncer in one of the local taverns. Occasionally drinking on the job wasn’t necessarily a big deal to the owner of a dive like this one, but getting sh*t faced was. And if he got caught this time it would be his last. Luckily for him it was a slow night anyways and his favorite wench was tending bar. Torna was a bit on the heavy side but an animal in the sack. Certainly no girlfriend material, Torna had her share of other regulars, but Astor wasn’t in “settling down” place in his life.
The last 15 years hadn’t been exactly the glamorous life he had hoped for when he walked through those gates. He followed the group of adventurers all doe eyed right to a tavern, where Astor was promptly removed. He really didn’t know what to say, but once he walked out onto the street his real problems began. What was he going to do? He had a few coins on him, but with no way to earn and a little too much pride and hope to go back out and find his father, Astor began to wander. He looked around for lodging but every place looked too familiar. He had been coming here for years so when his father finally came looking for him he couldn’t be in one of those familiar places. He wandered further into the city, into unknown and unfamiliar places. Darker and frankly scarier places. Astor had grown up his whole life in the Valley, so he didn’t understand the way the big city worked outside of the marketplace. The further the wandered the more worried he became. Before he knew what was happening he was shoved from behind. It caught him off guard so he fell face first onto the gravel, scraping his hands and knees. Another person jumped on his back, pushing his face into the ground, holding him down, while two others rifled through his pockets. Though he was a rather large and stout fellow for his age, the element of surprise and the experience of his muggers kept him helpless until he felt a swift and well placed kick to his side, knocking the wind from him so he wouldn’t try and pursue. They took what little money he had. Astor slept in the nearby alleyway and cried himself to sleep.
He grew up on the streets but never really became a “street kid”. He was bigger and stronger than most, so he was used as a bit of a tough for the gangs he ran with. The theft, breaking, entering, and general street smarts he left up to the others. It wasn’t that he didn’t have brains, it was just that he would rather use them in a fight than to sneak into a building or steal from a vendor. In the early days he mostly survived off of the good graces of the local churches, mostly the Temple of Freya. Something about the mainly women worshipers didn’t hurt, but that longsword that she held... Astor never really got religion or the gods, the whole divine being idea never made sense to him. But he certainly respected them and listened when the acolytes and priests spoke. It was certainly inspiring stuff, but what he really needed was the food that they provided. Through all this time he had never lost the hope of becoming one of those adventurers. He tried on several occasions to join the local guard, but he had no great love for authority and a bigger love for mead, so he never could quite make the cut. The bit of street fighting he did growing up paid off, so he was occasionally hired by the more seedy side of the city. Mostly threats and shake downs, it didn’t really satisfy his need to be great. But 15 years later, here he was. The great Astor Evisthan, the drunken bouncer and slayer of chubby bar maids in bed. And even as the hope of grandeur dwindled, he always carried with him a long sword and a morningstar. Just in case.
The only thing I can say I will change after a quick look back is the editing on the look of my back story, and maybe a bit of grammar. But that will have to wait. Until next time!
Wow - major postings going on lol...
Like the notion of tiered initiatives, but does allow the mechanics rather than posting speed/opportunity to feed into the process.
Am conscious with our timezones that myself and French Wolf could consistently be first or last in posting during combat (not a biggie but worth headings up now nei?)
Like the notion of our "everyman" soldiers being from the Army of the Grand Duchy too - great fit :)
Will nail down Vhillish's rough background tonight and we can get some synergy going between Damien's and my own :)
Games looking a great balance and some fun posts already - looking forward to it :)
Cheers
DMG maybe you should consider just rolling our initiatives as well. Like Astor/Fyrian mentioned. Waiting for people to make a single dice roll and then waiting again if you roll low can be a drag. There is no skill needed so why not just roll it yourself?
As for the actual mechanic of what you are suggesting, I am happy to give it a go. Over time I am sure we will get a feel for how everyone posts and who we should or shouldn't wait for. As for being in (or near) the UK I regard it as a necessary evil of playing in this format.
No time to hit all your fun links but I love that someone is quoting GG already.
Cheers