"The Devil We Know, Part 1" (Inactive)

Game Master JCServant

Please post OOC discussion, rule questions, etc, right here. Thank you!!

Introductions are in order...I'm Phil aka JCServant. I live in Utah, married for 14 years, and work in accounting. I've been playing D&D for about a quarter century (Man, I feel old), and Pathfinder for about a year and a half. I have fun several Adventure paths and I have a level 16 homebrew campaign. I almost always DM, as I love telling a good story and playing bad guys. I've do a local campaign as well as a couple online with VTT and Skype. This is my first run at DM'ing a PFS module as well as my first run at a Pbp game. I'm looking forward to this!

Since we're doing this on the boards with no battle mat, I'm working on some rules to address the limitations of this medium. Those may be found at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66191836/PFS%20Pbp%20Houserules.doc . I am open to any suggestions, thoughts, etc., as this is my first go at Pbp.

Since we're doing this on the boards with no battle mat, I'm working on some rules to address the limitations of this medium. Those may be found at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66191836/PFS%20Pbp%20Houserules.doc . I am open to any suggestions, thoughts, etc., as this is my first go at Pbp.

Hey - thanks again for the selection. A lot of people here use google docs and a couple of programs to do the maps, some you can find already made if you search for them. Not sure of the details but I'm sure other GMs would gladly help you out.

I am 38, have 4 young boys 6 and under, live in SW Indiana. Used to RPG way back in the day, have been actively (weekly, online, Gen Con) boardgaming for the past 8 or so years, got into Pathfinder earlier this year, have wanted to check it out for a couple of years. Found the PBP as a way to get a feel for things before my Gen Con campaigns and am glad I did, it works great for me since I just don't get the chance to dedicate several hours at a time to gaming.

Sweet. Yeah, I thought about doing some sort of map editing like that, but seems that may be a bit much for me to juggle...especially since some of the time I'm running this I'm on a mobile device. Do you know of a good set of houserules already written up for board only combat that addresses the clear limitations of such? Back in the day (and I do mean WAY back in the day), I used to play AD&D w/o a mat at all...I just descibed the scene to the players, and used a psuedo JRPG/wizardry type system to handle combat and distance. I'm working on that now...but I had a secret hope that there were other GM's who were technologically challenged on handheld devices as I am who may have blazed this trail before. Hmmmmm

Hey GM, Aroach here, ran first steps with this Sorceress, with Elwyn Harboth and Marisian here through PbP. My sheet is in my alias and I can email you my last chronicle sheet. As for the Maps, ive been using google docs spreadsheets to create very rough maps for my rise of the runelords campaign im running here as well

Sweet. email that to jcservant at cyberlightcomics dot com when you get the chance.

Spreadsheet Google doc might work on my phone...I'll have to give that suggestion a shot. While I was driving the long way home tonight, I thought of something even simpler....what if we just looked at combat in a linear line. So it looks like this.

Goblin 1 - 100 ft
Goblin 2 and 3 - 80 ft.
Goblin 4 and 5 - 0 ft
Hero 1 - 0 ft
Hero 2 and Hero 3 - 30 ft
Note: Goblins are in thick woods. Between 40-100ft on the goblin side is difficult terrain with soft cover.

Basically 0 ft is the 'yard of scrimmage.' That's where the melee is taking place. Character and mobs can 'rush through' that if they're trying to get to back line players, but only by either acrobatics or taking an AoO. Whoever has more Melee attackers on that line for mroe than 1 round has flanking with their partners for melee attacks. Melee attackers engaged on that front line are considered to have cover from ranged attacks (as well as melee penalty if friends are involved).

I know this sounds pretty off the wall. I'll look into the spreadsheet solution as well. I was thinking/hoping though that someone already invented/documented a nicer non-grib combat model for bootleg GMs like me who are running this on lesser devices at times.

Hey all -

This is Doug a.k.a. Marisan. I'm 40, married with an 8 year old daughter and living in the Hudson Valley of NY state. Have been DMing 3.0/3.5/4.0/Pathfinder (in that order) for over a decade and this is my first character in PFS. I also have a male goblin sea witch just starting out a Skull and Shackles pbp and a summoner in a face-to-face Crimson Throne game. Looking forward to playing.

PS - just sent my chronicle sheets over.
PPS - as I mentioned, I will be away a bit this month, especially from this Friday to Sunday and have absolutely no access to the Internet (mother-in-law's place is not exactly tech central). Sorry it's right at the start of the session. I will try to post Sunday night when I get back if possible.

Well I do not feel old at all here. Im Alex, and Im only 17 but have been playing PF for about a year and a half. My local group here in SW Ohio cant find a night to meet on anymore, so I have been playing PbP here for a while. I have tons of free time, even with school, as noted by the amount of campaigns I play in.

No biggie, Marison. Assuming we start Friday morning, and given that the weekends are slow posts, you won't be missing much. We'll just intro you to the party a little later.

I will be a bit MIA this next weekend as well, will be at Gen Con in Indy with limited access since I'll be gaming 18 hours a day and the convention center has terrible wifi unless you pay like $100 per day.

I'll update my character and will forward the sheets this weekend.

Thanks JC for GMing this, and for picking us all up from our previous group - we are all really looking forward to gaming together.

@Rachel - no worries on being younger, we all wish we had your free time!

Hey, it's my pleasure. I enjoy playing bad guys :D Anyway, since we have multiple people who are going to be involved at GenCon, let's set the official start date for Monday, Aug 20th

Thanks JC for GMing this, and for picking us all up from our previous group - we are all really looking forward to gaming together.

@Rachel - no worries on being younger, we all wish we had your free time!

What he said.

I'll get Harboth updated and his info emailed to Phil over the next week, and will try to get that to you earlier rather than later.

By way of introduction, I am 33, live in Raleigh, NC, first child is due in the fall. Have enjoyed RPGs off and on for the better part of 20 years (Rifts, WFRP, 2d ed, computer RPGs), but never get the time to enjoy other formats these days, so this PbP thing is a revelation.

Elwyn is Updated to Lvl 2 - I'll send the chronicle sheets, but can't seem to find PFS Intro 1, I've asked for a rescan and will send that when I receive it.

Just checking in...I was hoping to add a Divine Caster to my stable of PFS characters, but since the party already has a Merciful Healer I had thought about stepping aside on this one in the hopes that you'd be able to recruit a front liner...I'm still willing to do that or even play a pre-gen if the party thinks that would be the best move.

....or if we want to say what the heck and just have me run my own creation I did make some changes to my character; again to add some variety to our party I switched from a Cleric to an Oracle. Still primarily a healer but with a high Charisma, Selective Channeling and a reach weapon I should be able to contribute in some meaningful way.

Before I post in character I wanted to get JCS's approval on my stat block...as well as leaving the option open for me to play the Fighter or Samurai pre-gen. Either is fine with me...and it will give me a few days to come up with a decent last name for Rhydderch!

I suppose I should introduce myself as well...I'm 41 years old and have lived in New Hampshire for more than half my life; but I was born & raised in Massachusetts. I'm married, I don't have any human children but I'm the proud parent of a 5 year old boxer named Sapphire. We rescued her last fall and were hoping to change her name (as she is a brown dog with brown eyes) but since she responded to her name we decided to let her keep it.

I'm a middle school counselor...which means I haven't worked all summer but am about to go back to work in two weeks. When I'm not working or gaming I can be found hiking one of New Hampshire's many mountains, riding my bike, or sitting at a coffee shop catching up on my reading.

I'm a fairly active PbF poster...if you're waiting for me to take an action you won't be waiting long!

Yeah, Deane...I'm OK with running the table as is. I've had unbalanced parties before, and while that can be an issue at times, the cool thing about PF is that it allows so much flexibility in character builds and tactics that it's not too hard to make up those gaps. I'll check out what you sent me later today (I have a ton of emails to go through).

Harboth is designed to be able to fill a front-line role at these early levels, so if we don't get anyone else I should be able to fill that role competently.

Yup...and if you get in trouble, remember your good friend "Full Defensive Action." :D

I hope you can frontline Harboth, keeps me alive :) I make combat really easy for you guys anyways. Color spray, nuff said

Hey, as long as we keep knocking things out in short order I'll be fine. ;)

Phil:

Email with my chronicle sheets (from logangold13@yahoo) is on the way. If it doesn't arrive in your inbox pretty soon, let me know and I will try to resend a different way (the scans are pretty good size files).

By the way, where are you in Utah? My parents lived in Layton for several years and loved it.

Hi everyone. My name is Eric and I'll be playing Kyle the merciful healer. He'll be working in the front lines so I've tried to beef up his AC. This is my second time playing pathfinder and first time through online boards.

I'm 39 and live in South Florida. I will also be traveling next week (driving to Vermont), but I should be able to stay connected most of the time. I'm looking forward to trying this out and playing with you.

I'm in West Valley myself. It's been a bit too hot and dry, even for a desert deal...but overall, I like it here well enough. I enjoy the environment more than the social aspect....coming from Florida, it's more of a melting pot...the culture there is a lot more open. With that being said, while it has taken me a few years, I'm finally getting a circle of friends. This PFS deal might be another way for me to meet even more gaming buds in the area. Of course, online connections are kewl too!

Salutations.

While I hope I don't need to use this character, my PFS toon is a cleric of Sarenrae. She's decent at holding the front lines, tossing out a firey evocation here and there (Burning hands at lv 1 as a domain spell) and healing as necessary. According to PFS rules, a GM is only to use his character in the party if there are 3 players. We have more than that...but Ula is on standby if people mysteriously disappear into the great beyond.

I've updated the Pbp house rules Link

We're going to try a gridless, nearly initiative free combat. I believe that will keep things moving most smoothly and quickly.

No, as you guessed, I came in on Part II, hence still Level 1.

My character is linked about 10 or 12 posts up...but here he is again: Rhydderch.

Updated. Im a human

Forwarded the Chronice sheet

Also, this is Rachele's hawk familiar, who has his own alias, just in case I need it

This is my first adventure with this character. I typically don't post in alias until I'm certain the game will start....that way I can delete the alias should things go south.

One if my pet peeves with herolab us that it doesn't output current gold on stat blocks. I must have spaced adding it manually.

I might get the gameplay forum started today or this weekend...with the opening and everything else. While we might do a little RP this weekend, the official start of this campaign is Monday....so no stress for those who aren't here.

This game is officially started.

For those who haven't posted yet...my general rule at the table is that players who are running a little late can still join...but once the first encounter/combat is underway, you cannot. On this Pbp, that make take all of a day or two...so don't wait too long to jump in. Thanks.

Kinda quiet on the Gameplay. As I mentioned in the Recruitment forum, "Perspective players need to be able to post in the early morning, mid day and early evening on a regular basis during the weekdays. Weekends are expected to be slower, but some participation then will also be required."

While I expect an occasional post to be missed, keep in mind that I consider each period of time mentioned above to be about one turn or RP opportunity. If you miss a posting or two, you are missing out. As of 5pm EST, some of you haven't posted at all. I wanna try to keep this moving at a decent rate so we can complete this scenario in under a month or so.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I appreciate having you all along for the ride.

(FYI, a lot of Marisan's "shopping" came from the retraining from cleric to druid, which is shown on her HeroLab statblock.)

Also, I will be on the road nearly all day tomorrow, so may not have much opportunity to post.

Sorry...I didn't see an opportunity to play off of anything so I chose to wait until later in the evening to post. Should that happen again I will at least check in here so you know I'm paying attention.

No biggie. Just pokin' everyone :D It's about to get more excitin' here, I imagine.

Good news, I'm out of the meeting early. I should have round 2 resolved in about 30 mins...hoping a couple of others will get their turn in before I have to resolve it.

If there are some of you concerned that some of the players missing their turn make the scenario unbalanced, don't be. This scenario is balanced for 4 level 1 characters...and since there are six of you, a couple of missed turns won't mess things up too much. The fact players always go first (surprise rounds aside) also helps to balance the reality out a bit.

Going pretty good so far. Let me know if you have any questions.

I like not dealing with initiative, it is a pbp killer, and the way you summarize in story format brings it together nicely. I think it's very effective and gives the GM license to make stuff happen.

Thanks for the feedback, Elwyn. I was concerned how it would be received. I read other games, and it seemed like some of the combats took a very long time to resolve. I couldn't find a great site that discusses various ways for handling Pbp combat, but one did mention putting initiative to the side. That does seem to work here. I hate to throw a basic mechanic to the side, but tossing that along with a few others (like tactical layouts) makes this move a good clip faster and make it easier for me to run if I'm on the road.

I'm a big fan of getting through things in a timely manner, so I'm kinda making this jrpg/wizardry style thing as I go along. With any luck, I figure we clear 2-3 rounds/weekday and maybe have this scenario done by end of Sept. That would be very cool in my books if we do that.

Speaking of being on the road, next week my schedule will be quite erratic as I'm being sent to another state. I should have no problem doing the early morning and late post, but the lunch one may get skipped. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated.

I realize we're doing things a bit differently...but half the party missing their first round actions is a bitter pill to swallow. I know we don't want to get too bogged down waiting for people but there has to be a better compromise than beating up on the people that showed up for the party.

I hear ya...but I do make things pretty clear in setting this up. To reiterate my rules from the link I posted earlier...

Players must be able to post in the early morning, lunch and late afternoon of each weekday, and once on weekend days.

If a player is not going to have access to the boards for a period of time, they need to state so on the board. If they want their character played a certain way in combat let us know (e.g. “I’m not going to have access to the boards for 2 days so have my character attack the closest enemy on my turn.)

So, I have given everyone an option if they know they won't be available at the keyboard. I even gave extra time when I saw that only a few people had entered their actions. After waiting an additional period of time, I went ahead and ran the turn as I was not willing to wait the entire day.

If you have another idea, I'm open, but I'm not willing to do one day long turns. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but this is the way I set things up from the beginning because I don't want this module to last 3-4 months. Ideally, there should be 2-3 turns/day.