The future is is what you make of it.

Game Master Kroama

For general discussion.

That was sort of long, but the idea was to set up a situation where the town would be motivated to take some action. What action and how it plays out is yet to be determined, but a threat to their children might get even some of the most peace-loving into a mood for bandit-hunting.

Fair enough. And a great segway into the following day... with a rapping on the door.

Wow, I really like this so far. It isn't going at all the way that I really expected to go, but it's fun when things change on you. I definitely didn't expect the Mayor to hate Zakary so much, but when I knew that he did, it was easy to come up with why.

Good stuff. :) This would be fun to play with more people too, I agree.

To an extent. I always envision 4 as an ideal size for any game. Too many bogs things down, whereas too few and you lose a lot of the enjoyment of diversity of thought.

Threw together a loose map to get an idea of the world, just started and haven't really furnished it, but have most of the geography I'd say. The quality is a bit low-resolution, I'll try to figure out how to fix that later.

I like the map.

I think the treasure they just found is going to bring Rence up in the world, a lot, if we manage to hold on to it and take out the bandits. Unless it is all empty and non-magical that town is going to be able to prosper wildly (with good planning of course... people can always screw things up).

Waaay too much loot. Not in amount, but in value. Particularly for level 1s-- even if we go for a large sum value assuming most of it is going to the town, the town itself is small and this sort of influx-- you're dropping near (100,000+ gold from a glance?) More... there's a lot built into those individual like exotic ink.

A village has a purchase limit of about 1000gold, which should at least given an idea to the levels of wealth exchanging hands. At level 2, an average (keep in mind we're using bonus progression) is about 500 gold. If we even kept 5% of the items in terms of value, we'd be breaking the bank. Given the aged nature of the ruin, we can bring a lot of things down and assume much of the items here were lost to time.

Below are my proposed amendments. Still too much i think, but reasonable giving it's not actually our loot to keep. Still a very large sum of gold, especially of a kind to be flaunted in front of our faces. It'll all go to the town, I'm sure, with a portion rewarded after our efforts against the bandits. Kept the most distinct item, the portable hole, as it seems like something a wizard of high power would have without smacking a a ton of 20k gold items across our faces. Potentially, more of her magical gear was not kept here? Regardless, the spell-books and notes on item creation alone would be enough to call this an exponential yes.

Changed. I've never been a GM, so I am sure you know better than I do about these things, although I really liked the collar for Cami.

Trust me, an enlarged animal is crazy powerful. Even if it's only for a minute, that's too niche a find xD

Another thing to keep in mind, is that some things might require checks to identify, particularly if it's something powerful or unique. Post what it is normally, but then give yourself a knowledge check to help justify ranks into certain skills.

Also, i think it's safe to say a scene probably ended back in town, and began when we left for this relic of a place. We can hold that off just a little longer, since i didn't think to mention it then. Overall though, with how many rolls seemed to go out of what you expected, I'd say things are less in control, thus more chaotic.

Yeah, I didn't roll to identify everything. It was more just so we knew what it all was, since we are both playing players and GMs kind of. We can just say those are all the things that actually aren't falling apart and do the rolls later, although Zakary is specifically talented in this area, so we could do some hand-waving as necessary if needed.

Yeah, agree that things are getting more chaotic. I didn't really roll for anything in that last post, although I guess i could have done the "is this chest empty" etc thing for lots of the stuff... does this room have any magic items, etc. I don't really know what to roll for and what to just include in the story. Not sure where the balance is between story and question, but I think you're probably onto something in the idea that I am going too far to the story side and not checking in with questions often enough.

Sorry, not talking about wealth in a vs. perspective, but rather from a GM mindset. And honestly, the hole itself is one of the lesser powerful high-value items you could consider giving players.

Basically, in a normal game you'd have PCs (say 4) at level (say 3). There's a table that sort of indicates the general wealth you'd want characters to have by that level. In this case 3k each, meaning I would try to have balanced it loosely so that only 12k wealth has been handed out. More if they sold stuff and less if they kept it to try to keep them around that hurdle. For us, (as two true PCs) it'd be 1000 between us (because of ABP)

That's one of the reasons that when i saw the numbers being thrown around i couldn't sit back and watch xD--The justification being it's funding the town after its decade of being under the bandits rule i was fine with the lesser total. We just have to be careful major-ticket items being thrown around. Thankfully, most of the magical gear (which doesn't actually exist now that i think about it, i gotta fix that +1 shortsword) it should keep relatively stable.

I've been trying to think of questions to ask that might open up more possibilities... the story seems locked into fighting bandits, then fighting bandits, and then the same until maybe we can level up enough to face the bandit leader. And not saying that isn't a good goal. Free the town/protect the children is good, but might get boring if we can't switch it up with other things.

I can't think of any interesting plot twists that aren't just inventions though... like the bandit leader is really someone from the town with a secret identity, and we find clues that lead us to that fact, or we somehow go undercover as bandits in order to take them down from the inside, or, we find out that they are holed up underground and then it turns into a dungeon crawl where there might be other creatures or puzzles or something where we only have to face a few at a time... but all of those are really stretches.

So, in this sort of game how do you get around the fact that there wasn't really a greater plot designed ahead of time, and so you don't know where things are going, or how to get there (besides just straight hack-n-slash)? (I mean, diplomacy is good, but no one is going to be able to talk all the bandits into pursuing a different way of life... and you're right that we as first level characters would die walking into a bandit camp unless there is some gimmick to it.) The best idea I have had is to try to burn them out, but we couldn't do that as first levels either... we're always going to fail some crucial stealth roll or everyone will wake up, or whatever it is, and it will just turn back into a straight fight.)

Is that what the "Random Events" table is for? Does it help set up the world a little bit more and give us rumors to follow about other things?

Anyway, I guess the summary is, I have ideas about how to solve the current problem or mix things up and add mystery or twist if I were writing a story... but stories allow surprises and less-logical leaps, and stories don't have to roll skill checks as a level one character. :) Maybe it is just my lack of experience GMing though... how do you switch things up for a party without having things planned out ahead of time? I suppose it isn't just this play style, because characters go off script all the time, and you have to make things up on the fly. Any tips?

First and foremost, there has to be a reason for characters to venture together. I left a tidbit of interest in exploring the world in Bolt's story, but one common way is through guilds, following quests, etc. You're right that i believe the random events table is supposed to be used to generate new "threads" of interest that can be followed up on. Especially in a more guild-oriented format where each thread can turn into its entirely own quest. In our own case, i imagine it'll turn into a world-exploration type trope.

Also, we could engage in the towns' defense and the bandit lord himself may succumb to losing control over Rence but without having to fight him as it is now. Also, there's nothing wrong with throwing out oddities. If it's way too out of the way we can reel it back in. Besides, just attach a somewhat fitting likelihood, such as for what you suggested;

Is the bandit lord secretly an individual from another town (as opposed to a true bandit lord out in the woods)? Very unlikely: 1d100 ⇒ 28 Yes

There you have it. We may defeat the bandits, but the person responsible for actually draining our town isn't exactly an easy person to find.
Is he influential from the town where is from? 50/50: 1d100 ⇒ 73 No
But that said, he isn't someone who really runs the place there, so it's more likely he's just trying to keep a low profile himself, in the case Huinia ever actually decided to intervene.

Part of the idea is going with the flow of the game, rather than jumping into some greater plot. We're working from the bottom up, seeing the world as it develops before us, and not the top down where there's a large threat and we're trying to resolve it.

Okay, interesting. And good point. I'll try to stop rushing things. :)

Going to ask a few questions to help build Boscar, for whenever he shows up.

Is Boscar significantly stronger (say, 3 HD) than the bandits under his command? Somewhat Likely: 1d100 ⇒ 29 Yes
Does he have some form of rogue ability like Sneak Attack? Somewhat Likely: 1d100 ⇒ 43 Yes

Boringly expected ;3
Not sure about giving him 2d6 sneak attack, might make him something interesting like a Slayer, unless you'd like to stat him out.

After we finish our little bandit arc and decide where to go forward, i may consider re-posting a separate recruitment thread. The one i had up was a little passive, so people might not have thought i knew what i was doing and didn't consider joining. Now we have a story, and i think i could better advertise.

Yeah, bringing other people in sounds like a good idea. Just say "homebrew" rather than "Mythic GMemu" right in the title and you'll probably get a lot more people to look (guessing they are likely scared off, thinking it is some weird non-Pathfinder thing they won't know how to play, when in fact it *is* Pathfinder, just with some randomness thrown in on the story side). Then you can explain it further when they are actually here. 15 point buy might be unpopular, but I bet you'll get some people to bite with a good world story at that point.

I also suggest that you play the part of the GM all the time. Encourage everyone to submit ideas and questions on their turns, but then choose which ones to ask or allow on your turn, or you're going to get the same thing we've already seen... conflicts over what comes into the game and where different people are trying to take the story. If you just tell everyone from the start that you are the GM and final arbiter of what can be asked/done, which they already expect, then they won't try to go wild.

And nope... you go for it with Boscar. Just remember that we are first level characters and an attack with 2d6 sneak attack damage thrown on top could kill us (permanently) in one hit with a lucky roll.

Yeah, i think after noticing my tendencies I'll start playing it that way. Everyone has loose reign, but i hold the "reigns" so to speak. Don't intend to use such a power to plant direction or story, but merely hold things to a standard.

One of the reasons i suggested Slayer is they won't get 2d6 sneak attack until beyond, and i kind of wanted to make Boscar 3 HD.

On your miss in battle... it isn't an order of operations thing. Neither of your arrows hit AC 14, so the only way you could have hit is from a reduced AC (prone), which doesn't work for non-melee. If you want to say you attacked the other guy instead, awesome, but even if so, how did you hit AC 14 with rolls of less than that?

Sorry, did i forget somewhere along the way that we increased their AC? Honestly, sorry if i forgot about it. Lots of numbers flying around, and just thought i got rid of their "combat gear" like potions. Their default ac is 13.

Hmm... so, if we say the bandit thread is closed because of a lie, but the town is still in danger, then the thread doesn't seem to be really closed, so we didn't fulfil that part of the event.

Maybe things are quiet for a week or so, and then soldiers from Huinia march in, having cleared the bandit camps out from nearby towns (for real), find that we've already taken care of our problem, and we release the prisoners into their custody (including Zarth who isn't really a prisoner, but wants to go with his brother and make sure he is okay). The problem comes the next morning when Bolton goes out hunting and finds Zarth's body (mostly well hidden, but Cami sniffs it out or something?).

Zarth's body has several arrows in it, broken off in his back, and in his pocket is a letter chastising D.D. for letting the situation out here spiral out of control, and suggesting that he wrap things up and pull out of this area, before he destroys all of their plans with his petty greed.

Thus, the lie is exposed: D.D. was the legitimate leader of the Huinian forces that just came in and cleaned things up for us. He didn't realize that Zarth was pretty much perma-charmed to like us, and killed him when he tried to turn back after knowing who he was (he didn't realize that Zarth had taken the letter). [We might even know his name if he introduced himself while he was here.]

[This also opens up a weird possibility with the cat statue, depending on who pets it next, and who they see as the owner of it, but it's unlikely to find its way back to us... just an interesting thought.]

So, the bandit thread is truly closed... the bandits really are gone because D.D. has pulled all of his people out. The larger plot is still there though. We have no idea why they were buying up land, or what they are planning on doing with it, so Rence could still be in danger in a different way. We can't trust Huinian forces, because we know D.D. is in charge of them, at least on some level (probably not the general of all of them, but a regional regiment leader at least). We don't have any hard evidence of any of this to take to anyone, because the letter out of context just sounds like general orders from a superior with no details... we just know the details because of the context of the situation.

If we go to the underground bunker, it is likely abandoned, but it is possible that it is or will be repurposed instead. That could be the next chapter I suppose... scouting and traversing the former bandit bunker, which may or may not still have anything to do with the main plot, but in which I am sure there are challenges that await.

Or, traveling to Huinia to find out how far the corruption goes...
Or, finding out why someone is buying up land (not sure how, but if we know who D.D. is now, we could look into his background perhaps, and see what he is into).

Your thoughts?

... and no worries on delays. I am juggling quite a few games. I tend to post too often, so having more games makes me less likely to do that, and it also has the nice side effect of zero irritation when there is a lull, because I always have another character to work on.

Level 2 sounds good. Or, this could be where you start recruiting for the game with new parameters. There are plot hooks for people to come in and pick up, and there are different opportunities for characters who come in from different areas. If you get a fighter type in they might work for the Huinian military, or an elf may have heard of the goings-on from one of Zakary's friends, because his permanent home is on the edge of the elven lands, and he sends letters (if there is even a postal service in this world. Who knows. Maybe a magic telegraph, or a haste-enhanced pony express?). If you want to recruit now, I suggest that you roll a lot of questions beforehand though, so that some of the major plot points are clear, and there is less uncertainty about which way the plot will turn. It's still totally the system, but that way people feel less lost. You could even leave this game for rolling and working it out and start a new one for the actual adventure, depending on how secretive GMish you want to go. They can still ask their questions, but you roll it all over here so you can hammer it out ahead of time. :) Anyway, babbling.

I've already opened the Recruitment thread, and so far actually have three people that have shown interest, giving them time to consider further though. Still, better than it was before when the world was non-existent. xD Let's go ahead with level 2, so we have some buffer to HP and opens up the world extensively to more possibilities in terms of what we may face in it reasonably.

..

As for the closing of a thread, that was admittedly something that concerned me, that it didn't feel like a real close because of the "lie" bit. Also... hot damn, was D.D. using the bandits to make the land prices cheaper? >.< Ruthless.
I don't know about D.D. because the direct leader of the forces coming in, maybe something greater, like a general. In this case, I'd imagine he'd keep his true identity secret from all of the bandits though, as i think he was just using them to start with. Maybe Zarth is the only one who realized this, and was trying to pass it along to us before D.D. intercepted that desire, and cut it short. This way the letter would actually be addressed to us as well.

Sounds like some good alterations.

And yes, D.D. is apparently a super-bad guy. :)

...

I'll update to level 2 and we can try some more scenarios if you want before other people come in, but I think I will probably drop out when you get some more people in. I think we did what we set out to do, which was figure out how the whole thing works, and set up an interesting world, but I think it might be better to leave it here. I'm imaging that you might agree, but if you don't, happy to talk about it.

That's fine and fair, and i did indeed see what i set out to. Thanks for joining me to this point.

My character is Tandar yon I'm pretty sure you've already seen him but if you see any problems/stuff that could be improved please tell me

Just the same issue as before, being young when a human was the cause of your misfortunes.
Unfortunately, the other person seems to have popped out of existence on me, i might try to send one more PM to prod him and see if he did or not. My original ideal was two more (to make 4) but that was before Zanbabe decided to be done at the end of the last arc. It would just be two people again, and i'd like to jump at least to three.

Even a 220 year old can sob when his father is dead. Right?

I changed the story slightly

40 years is still a long time for a human xD
Envisioned her as less than that total... maybe it was about 20, and she just got a very, really, somewhat young start to her plans. Or a mother of sorts that moved the plan along? Though the name wouldn't quite be a match then.

Or a mother of sorts that moved the plan along? Though the name wouldn't quite be a match then.

That was my original plan and I can default to it if you want her to be young

Well, D.D. did sort of make her appearance through fate, and logic dictated her to be between 25 and 40 years of age but that wasn't expressly noted.

Hi, I'm reporting for duty. Sorry for the delay. I've had a chance to read about half of the doc for the GM Emulator system. And I should finish the rest relatively soon. I'll post up my character here tonight, when I can get home and work on it.

Do you have a name yet for the capitol? That seems like an interesting place to meet new people, unless you prefer to meet up on the road, as it were.

Capital makes sense. Especially if there's a select few people querying about some individual causing some issue for them that just want more information on her. Not sure if that's enough for a group to form, alone though. Maybe something else will bind us, if not we'll make one.

Honestly, if you'd like to contribute a name, anything works, including a description of the area if you'd like. Whether plains all around or mountains in the backdrop.

Also, the map is incomplete obviously and intendedly so, and i haven't figured out how to make it a good resolution to zoom in on, but you can see the loose idea of the world. Everything, is loose, of course, in terms of racial bindings, it's just that's what you see the majority of and are often to see bigotry whether large or small cross borders.

The area of Rence is the only region that has anything there really, because that was the focus so far.

I vote for leaving it blank until we explore more

Uh, here goes...

Capital: Valora

Is the capitol a hotbed of corruption? Somewhat Likely: 1d100 ⇒ 52 No. Kind of surprising, but no. Sometimes government works. Okay, so the capitol Valora is actually a well-run place that doesn't tolerate foolishness--so it's Lawful then.

Is the city thriving economically? Very likely: 1d100 ⇒ 60 Yes.

Okay, so apparently Valora is run like a swiss watch, and is thriving. The Humans are doing very well, thank you.

Perfect. While we know the capital of Huinia, Valora, isn't necessarily filled with corruption, we do know such motives exist. If only the example of something shady with one of the top generals, D.D, influencing bandits within the borders.
When i was thinking about Huinia, i was imagining them at conflict, if not direct war, with the three neighboring regions and the orcish territory. I see the region to the North as being more about community of small land, whereas Huinia is more imperialistic and evidently organized.

.

Edit: All of the below results were negative, and i had established Huinia as being at conflict with another nation/region to the east. I am adjusting the below to be 2 steps more likely and re-evaluating.

[dice=Is Huinia at war with the neighboring region of "Humanlands" to the cold North? Somewhat likely (CHANGED to Very Likely) due to direct border and Huinia's efforts to unite Humanity. They most likely refuse diplomatic routes due to traditional differences]1d100[/dice] Yes, but... the war itself isn't universally supported, as while most Huinians believe in unification they want more time to diplomatically work it out. The conflicts are legitimate, but often large skirmishes end early with little bloodshed. Still, both sides must heavily enforce their borders because of it drawing upon large numbers of troops.

[dice=Is Huinia at war with the neighboring region of "Humanlands" across the great lake to the east? Somewhat unlikely (CHANGED to somewhat likely) due to indirect borders.]1d100[/dice] No

Is Huinia at war with the neighboring region of badlands to the southeast? 50/50 (CHANGED to Likely), while initially somewhat likely due to differences, it's also a region that would be hard to bring under their banner as it stands now. Uniting humanity would seem to be a primary goal.: 1d100 ⇒ 66 No

Despite my efforts, fate seems to tell me Huinia is a fairly non-aggressive nation.

Perhaps the current leadership is non-aggressive, but there are a group of "Hawks" who want a more aggressive stance--perhaps fueled by economic interest of some sort. We can work that particular detail out later.

Perhaps there is a new "Emperor" who's young, idealistic and wants a peace solution, but that doesn't jive with DD and company. In fact, the economic interest could be a "war economy" scenario, where there are war profiteers with a vested interest in keeping the bloodshed going; i.e. mercenaries, weapons manufacturers, armorers, etc.

So the peace would be more like a temporary "cease-fire" that could be reignited very easily.

Okay, so Kurth is an inquisitor for Abadar. He was raised by human merchants.

Are one of Kurth's adoptive human parents still alive? Very Unlikely: 1d100 ⇒ 34 Nope. So Kurth is still young by Dwarf standards, but his human parents are dead. That makes perfect sense.

So let's say that Kurth joined the Church of Abadar--which now that I think about it, considering how Lawful and prosperous the city is might actually be politically important.

Is the Church of Abadar politically important in Valora? Very Likely: 1d100 ⇒ 13 Exceptional Yes. Okay so not only is the Church of Abadar influential in the city, it's the most influential church in the city by far. Again, this makes sense.

Now here's the thing. The government isn't corrupt. But maybe the Church of Abadar is. Maybe those Hawks I mentioned aren't in the government, but they are in the Church. Maybe someone thinks the Empire should become a theocracy. And DD is involved with powerful, influential members of the Church--but not the State. Kind of like the Three Musketeers.

What do you think?

My thinking behind this is that Abadar generally doesn't like or allow fighting
is the church of Abadar secretly worshipping another god (somewhat likely): 1d100 ⇒ 59 No but... okay so they still worship abadar as a general god but some of the higher ups in the organisation (the hawks) have changed gods in secret to better fit their personal goals.

Logically since they are starting a war, it would be the god of battle;Gorum

Well, maybe not another god, but perhaps more like a sect within--a schism. Abadar is Lawful Neutral. So he can have Lawful Evil worshippers. His thing is really more law, civilization, trade, markets, etc.

The book Gods & Magic says the following about him...

But then again, maybe some did convert to, let's say, Azmodeus for power. We have choices. Maybe we should see what Kroama thinks. Or perhaps leave it blank for now and figure out the details later.

Personally, i think the better reading is the radical sects. They could still be referred to as the Hawks, though i think the alignment reference is fitting here.

A group of LE followers does seem the more likely option, I never even considered heaving evil followers

Will levelling up be tied to The completion of a thread?

Before i was actually tracking EXP, but i think I'll just keep a loose idea of it myself. Some threads may not be long enough, or too long, to make that a good guideline.

I'm perfectly fine if you just tell us when we level up. I generally don't bother with XP in my own games.

I kind of want to get things rolling. I don't foresee Bolton needing to speak to an inquistitor for Abadar--I'll need to work on an official title for them--unless he knew Kurth's human parents. That might give him a reason to seek him out as a place to start.

Did Bolton know one of Kurth's parents? 50/50: 1d100 ⇒ 41 No.

Hmm. That's pretty definitive. Alright, let's say Kurth is seeking Bolton for some reason. I'm going to roll a random event to try and come up with a reason.

Event: 1d100 ⇒ 4; Remote Event
Meaning: 1d100 ⇒ 71; Trick

Hmm. Why Mister Reid, I do believe someone has tried to swindle you. And Kurth being an upstanding, citizen of Huinia and as a recognized Arbiter is seeking you out to help you with your just recompense.

What do you think?

Potentially, but we're missing a couple things. A remote event is defined by the system as something that happens apart from the PCs presence, and that they learn about it in some what. Or at the very least, they themselves and not directly linked to the event beyond knowing of it. Every event also contains two parts, both a subject and an action. You have the action, of Trick, but not the subject matter.
[dice=Subject matter of "Trick"]1d100[/dice] Success
Well that doesn't specify it too much, just indicates that the trick itself was successful. This could still be used to unify, for example, Bolton himself might have been witness to something, such as a murder, and when the guards got to the location-- potentially Bolton was caught in the middle of it after trying to aid the person that was killed. Could be they believe him and want his aid in identifying the murderer, or otherwise the city guards actually accuse him and are keeping him under their supervision...
Actually, the latter would give him a reason to seek someone to speak on his behalf in a more official manner that an Abadar follower might.

Why would Bolton want a scholar? Hmm well maybe
Kurth comes to seek the scholars knowledge and help in the trial
Witness to a murder Tandar could be a bystander caught up in things
I'm really ok with you guys dictating where and how I meet Bolton and/or Kurth

I like the idea of Bolton being framed for something he didn't commit. Perhaps someone notices him snooping around the DD situation and decides to get rid of him that way. It's not hard to imagine he ruffled some feathers.

My character could be called in to look into the situation in an official capacity--or stumbles onto it. And Tandar could be someone that Kurth trusts and regularly consults with.

Kurth works for the Church. How does Tandar make his living in the city? Does he run an alchemy shop? Is he currently between employment?

And as for making his living he used to work in the army. Now he mostly makes his living
Giving philosophy lectures and owning and working at a alchemy shop
If the latter he could give 5% discounts to Kurth as he is his friend and he makes most of his money from philosophy