The Hollow Man (Inactive)

Game Master trux

Crunched this week. Back with you thursday.

Crunched this week. Back with you thursday.

I thought only chocolate gnomes were allowed to be crunchy.

Thanks for letting us know about the hiatus, we'll see you Thursday, Trux.

Hugs!

Hang in there trux. *Casts 'Remove Crunchiness'*

I listened to Devil Went Down to Georgia one too many times today... Can you tell?
_______________________________

Well Hollowman went to Levoca
He was lookin' for a head to steal
He was in a bind, and out of his mind
Dealing a harsh sentence with no repeal

Levoca had already been hurt
Mad wolves had attacked the town
Then Hollowman came for Kostya
Wreaking havoc without a sound

The village was in a panic
Furry bodies nailed to the trees
Only Mother Molvar still standing
Taking news as calmly as you please

There were some adventuring men
From out of town who thought they were hot
Mother Molvar jumped on a hickory stump
"You're not much but you're all we got."

They probably didn't know it
Madness stalked the woods they knew
But they did care, they took the dare;
Though they knew not what to do.

The Hollowman's not but an empty shell
Wrapped around a harsh and relentless will.
They soon learned it had to be burned.
Without fire, it's damned hard to kill.

The boys sought kindling and cooking oil
But there was not much on the ground;
On Levoca soil, despite endless toil,
There were hardly flames to be found.

A woman spoke up. "My name's Mikka.
I'm the protector of these wooded lands."
She'd do what she could to heal the wood,
Blasting Hollowman with flaming hands.

Now chase the Hollowman and chase him hard
Madness broke loose in Levoca and a monster deals the cards
And if you win you get Levoca safe and whole
But if you lose Hollowman gets your soul

[fiddle interlude]

The chocolate gnome laid an entangle,
Desperately slowing the Hollowman.
Caramir fired his bow, Morti gave a loud crow,
Alchemist fire thrown better than planned.

Fire in the woods now, run boys, run
Hollowman's hurt, low moaning begun
Can we get him to turn, we don't know...
Levoca's in danger, now don't be slow!

We've bellowed our challenges
Refusing to let Hollowman by;
We've found our voice, we've got no choice
It's stop him now or leave Levoca to die.

Morti said, "Hollowman, come on back
You know you want to try us again;
I told you once you stupid dunce
We'll fight you 'til we win!"

Fire in the woods now, run boys, run
Hollowman's hurt, low moaning begun
Can we get him to turn, we don't know...
Levoca's in danger, now don't be slow!

that appears to be, how do you say?

"hip to trip the beep-bop awendigo."

I'm back from my meditation journey to udar pradesh. Commence the wood golems. Who wants to be a wood golem?

What were you doing in Uttar Pradesh? That's my place to go meditate, Trux!

And welcome back! We sure missed you!

karl, your token is now Back in Black.
Let me know if any hiccups ensue

Trux, when you do the next update can I get an indication of the wind direction? I am guessing given the direction the fire moved the wind is towards us but would like to be sure.

Thanks!

Trux, Caramir can't move his token in Roll20 from his phone. Should I go ahead and move Cyanne? My character's readied action is to run across the bridge when Caramir has moved off it. The timing of this is important, since I can't step off until Caramir has.

This is all about updating Roll20, as opposed to our stated actions.

It's a pain, but roll20 only works on a phone or tablet if you pay.

I've used Roll20 from my tablet. It complains that Safari doesn't support some API, but it allows me to see the map and move my character around.

Go ahead and move your token Cyanne. Don't worry too much about the bridge.

Bigger post later today.

But the dagger whistles into the distance, striking a migrating duck with a distant "squark!?!"

I'm glad to see somebody's taking care of the hard work of procuring breakfast -- we're undoubtedly working up quite an appetite here... :p

We even have a nice fire pit going on the other side of the gully. Might be a little too big at the moment though...

Ayup. Once this here forest fire burns down a lil' bit, we'll have ourselves some nice coals--cook up a few acres of barbecue.

Lol

Will be out of town. Should be able to hop online mid week (Wednesday).

I'll just go ahead and say it here, instead of apologizing every week:

Posting from Friday to Sunday is usually sketchy for me - it is weekend, family time, and all that. It can amount to frequent posting if I have free time in my hands, or it can run otherwise.

Thought I'd just drop it here now so you guys are aware ;)

Yep.
I've started taking weekends off since you and morti both have other goals over weekends.

Enjoy some family time all!

Not that I can't check in on weekends, just that I'm not sitting in front of a computer all day, so have fewer windows for posting things. Nearly always have *some* opportunity, though, so don't hold back much on my account.

Hello Adventurers,

Life comes and goes. One day you are a bird trying to ruin breakfast, and the next you are fleeing for your life through a forest on fire! So as it is a thrill-ride in game, it is in real life. Hmm(Cyanne) is refocusing priorities right now, and I do not expect her to be able to continue.

Before I go any further, I want to thank you for joining us, HMM. I think it's clear to all of us that you are a very passionate and creative member of these boards. I'm certain we all valued playing with you and Cyanne. I wish you all the luck, and thanks for introducing Bret/Kakao to our group!

Now, as a DM, I naturally have all kinds of ideas of what to do for Cyanne and her story. That's not to say they are the right ideas, though. HMM has suggested another player, who you may be familiar with, might be interested in stepping in to join us.

Now, I do feel we have a very well and able party. Caramir, Karl, Okrin, Morti, Mikka, and Kakao. Six, I say as a Texan, is a BiG group. But if you are interested, we might see Eric Swanson join us.

I'd like to open up the floor for further discussion. Holler with your thoughts. I'm sure whatever antics we decide on, we'll see Hmm here and there around the forums.

Best,
T

Been in a few long term campaigns with Eric so no objections here.

Hello there!

This is Eric Swanson (also known as the Kraken, Anywn and Solvi to some of you) who Hmm has graciously asked to take over her character Cyanne. I am sure have many questions to ask of me and I am more than willing to answer.

First of all, I do LOVE the Lost Lands setting (the Frog God world) as they have that old school feel which I crave for! I have been posting on the Paizo game forum for over 4 years and have played a variety of characters. Feel free to look over my profile and judge for yourself. I have looked over the Gameplay posts and I am most impressed. I know I have big shoes to fill here, as Hmm is a fantastic player! I will endeavor to do my best, should you accept me

Anyway, if you have any questions here feel free to post here (or via PM) and I will be more than happy to answer them.

Trux, I want to thank you again from the bottom of my heart for allowing me a chance to join your group of players.

(PS: do not expect mercy from the Kraken. Sea monsters are notoriously difficult to please, he he.)

(PS: do not expect mercy from the Kraken. Sea monsters are notoriously difficult to please, he he.)

I wouldn't dare. However, I'm meaning to contact you about... a different sort of character. PM should be in your inbox shortly.

Everyone else, you are also welcome to PM me. It may allow us to go forth with style regardless of the outcome.

No complaints here.

I'm willing to welcome Eric in.

As for the pursuit of the Hollow Man, I'm all for continuing it even though I don't think my character has much chance of keeping up.

Okay by me, but sorry to see Hmmm go.

In-game, as others: chase chase chase!

Everyone, I'm sorry to go too! This decision is like a hole in my heart. I will probably occasionally lurk here, Grimmy-style, and tell you that you all are AWESOME. Because you all are.

After talking with both Trux and Eric, I am going to see out the last arc of Cyanne's storyline so that Eric can come in with a brand new character.

I once again apologize for the confusion everyone. I was told Cyanne is going to go out in a blaze of glory...or just a blaze, he he. So I will generate a new character here.

One of the things I have noticed is a lack of skill monkeys in this party. If Trux gives his approval for this, I would like to bring in an Spiritualist, which is an Investigator archetype. I believe this would fit in well with the horror aspects of this game.

Let me know what you all think of this, especially Trux. If this gets approved, I will start fleshing out the crunch and also work on a background for him/her.

PS. I was told this is a horror game...Just one question: WHERE are the Vistani?? :D

One of the things I have noticed is a lack of skill monkeys in this party.

Although we don't have a dedicated skill monkey, I thought we had a pretty good spread of skills over the whole group. I would have to review it again to be sure.

The group doesn't have much in the way of arms and anvils -- battle field control and buf/debuff. Kakao is intended to provide some of that via his channeling and spells.

Bret,

I see your point here. I did notice there was a lack of true arcane firepower on your team. Unfortunately that would preclude bringing in a skill monkey :( which I felt you guys are sorely lacking on.

I shall leave that option open though, pending other player feedback.

From my part, Eric Swanson is more than welcome to join us - the more, the merrier, and he is definitely an addition which I think any group would like to have (*winks at the Kraken*).

As for skill-monkey and Arcane considerations - as Caramir evolves, he will be taking only wizard levels + Eldritch Knight. He is supposed to become an Eldritch Archer of sorts (perhaps some Arcane Archer thrown in the mix also), so a particular sort of arcane - mostly buffing and control spells ;)

On the skill monkey side, he does boast a very respectable Disable Device (for his level), as well as Stealth, and a half decent Perception. Knowledges will always be a must, but will most likely have to focus on some of them instead of all (Breadth of Experience is just sooooooo cool).

I'm generally in the laissez-faire camp -- play a character without thinking too hard about how it's "supposed to" fit mechanically with the rest of the group. (Especially with 6 of us.)

Investigator is probably up to trux; he'd previously referred back to Grimmy's original recruitment guidelines, which don't include any of the ACG classes.

Yeah, I really am not sure how people plan to evolve their characters. It isn't just a matter of combining some class with levels either -- the spell choices are going to be a huge deal.

I don't think we exactly have a lack of Arcane casters. Karl, Caramir, and Okrin all have the ability to cast arcane spells. The spells they have right now don't include any battle field control and only a few debuff spells.

Morti I assume plans to continue standing in the front line and applying blunt trama to the villains. I'm guessing he will branch out a little, add some slashing and piercing as well. He also has a good ability to withstand enemy attacks.

Mikka and Kakao can pick spells each day and between the two of us we cover both of the main divine lists.

Based on what he said above, I assume that Caramir is going to focus on dealing damage from range via a combination of magic and bow.

Karl I expect will also be using his magic to primarily aid him in dealing and withstanding damage. I've seen Magus's played, but really haven't looked at the class myself so I'm not sure exactly what their full capabilities are.

I don't know what Orkin's plans are -- how much monk vs. mage he plans to take.

With the current set up, all the arcane people work as hammers. Add a few spells here and there, that could shift quite a bit.

Right now, there is definitely a niche there, but I'm not sure exactly where because I'm not sure how people are planning to grow their characters. I would hate for us to shift from having too little to the other extreme.

Well, Caramir will (hopefully) boast a mix of buff and battlefield control spells - at least that is the objective.

He will most likely have the Intelligence to cast offensive spells, but not the arcane feats to bolster them, and be an effective arcane blaster.

So yes, he will buff and try to shape the battlefield, so he can pepper the bad guys with arrows. He won't probably be either the blaster nor the God wizard, but a mix :D

I've considered multi classing Morti to cleric, but with our recent divine infusion, I'll probably stick with fighter at least a while longer.

I am designing Karl as a bit of a debuffer, with damage as secondary.

Obviously, I have no apparent stake in this. Or maybe I do, since I still love all you guys.

It sounds like Endhome will fix the battlefield control issue. And once you all kill the Hollowman, Endhome can't be far away, can it?

At that point, the party is mostly balanced. Play what you want, Eric, so long as Trux approves.

Everyone,

I have looked over the character profiles for the players and it does look like you have everything well covered. Perhaps a little light on arcane firepower currently, but it sounds like the other players will address this later. In that case, I will take Cyanne's advice and play what I want, he he.

In addition to the idea I proposed above, I was looking at some additional archetypes that look interesting and fun to play:

I would encourage you to consider a rogue or rogue archetype, but I have been on a bender about rogues recently. (Don't ask.)

Find something you like, but hold off on the Spiritualist and ACG Investigator.

If it seems like we need to retcon later, I'll maybe allow you to MC or rebuild a bit to fit out an ACG Investigator.

As for Horror. Heck, I guess it's just what comes naturally to me. Strickly speaking, I wouldn't call it horror. But why not?

Cool, thanks for the info Trux!

I shall keep digging!

This is the Lost Lands area...I would definitely call it Horrific, he he.

Scout is pretty damn good and rather vresatile with the scout talents.

Cyanne's death scene will be my very next post. It will be a long one, but I hope that it will be a fitting exit for her. It just will be very hard to write. By my lady Kel, I truly loved this character, just like I loved playing with each and every one of you.

Hugs,
Hmm

Hotel wireless proved to be less than useful. Guess that's what they mean when they call it 'free.' Anyhow, back home and catching up. Plan to post tomorrow.

Thanks Okrin!

Alright, that's a wrap everybody. Cut it and print it. After party is at the airport Hyatt. Hold on! Hold on! Management says they are still angry about half of you missing your flight out after the last one we made! So just make the producers happy this time and don't get too sodding wild, okay? I'll see you all there just as soon as I get this map sorted. Don't worry, don't worry, I won't be speechifying this time.

This time I promise not to steal the spotlight from our guest of honor. Mr. Hollow Man.

Bret, I feel really dumb.

Just saw your comment about wind direction, and I meant to tell you before.

I just rolled to see which square it would spread to next. I think it was like 1d18 or something last time.

No matter now, the fire is out!

Sorry about that. And best of luck to HMM. See ya around, kid.

Great death scene.
:D

That was pretty awesome.

I'm going to wait to see where Caramir moves before moving. I don't want to block his shot.

I expect to channel since it stabilizes Mak and Karl is very near to passing out.

Trux, can we get some sort of impression of how hurt the Hollow Man is?