The Many-Faced GM's Skulls and Shackles (Inactive)

Game Master Nickadeamous

How's this for an idea-

We all sit down and take some of Sandman's awesome medicine together.

Then, each of us writes a short dream sequence of what our characters experience. We each give each other permission to "control" each other's characters for the duration of the dream. That way we can each see our own characters through the eyes of the others.

This would not be a fully shared dream. Each of us would have our own separate hallucinations, but through Sandman's arts, we would all be vaguely aware of each other's experiences.

Think of the experience like a Ven diagram where each of our "circles" slightly overlap.

Each of us would be able to "see" the different version of ourselves (as described by the other players), and the different versions of our allies as well. When we come out of the trance we'd have a great deal more insight into each other and into ourselves.

We do this tonight as a second night action. We get Sandra and Rosie to watch over us while we are tripping out.

Anyone opposed to the idea?

@Nivian

And our continued inability both in and out of character to understand one another comes to the fore again. I would like to move forward with this and our characters mutual animosity just seems to grow.

Since it appears I am the only one with a problem with it, it behooves me to change my character. Let's not try to understand our points of view anymore. We have failed at that for days now. Just tell me what Rillum would need to do or say to earn Nivian's trust at this point, and what in character actions or statements I should avoid to keep that trust.

You posted while I wrote my post. I tried to find some amiable words...i can't do a 180° either but maybe you find those words agreeable?

as said, I would not want Rillum to change, I love him how he is.

@Sandman, we could do that but lets not today...IF this talk during day shift fails, I think we may need a day or two to cool down before we agree to that, and you make the concoction.

(Also, second night action I'm always meeting with Syl, so would prefer first if we do it...just if its not important to others)

Honestly, I like my character as he is as well, but it's been four days trying to build trust between us and it's only gotten worse and worse. I'll give it another go round if you like but I'm tiring of this conversation which seems to be going nowhere. If we can't get along lets abandon any thoughts it will work out later and just accept that they hate each other because of irreconcilable differences, and role play that.

@Sandman, we could do that but lets not today...IF this talk during day shift fails, I think we may need a day or two to cool down before we agree to that, and you make the concoction.

There's a storm coming. If we don't do it tonight we probably won't have a chance for while.

I'm also concerned that this battle of wills is pushing the rest of us out of the spotlight. Baltzar and Aerel haven't posted nearly as often since all this started. I feel it is in the best interests of the game to push forward, even if it feels rushed to the two of you.

Sandman has everything he needs in his medicine bag. It was my intent to get it from Grok during the current scene. Once he has his bag, we can do the spirt quest stuff whenever we want.

I would really like to push for doing it tonight just to get past this and on with the story. Because this isn't actually a "ship action" we should be able to do it after you meet with Syl.

If you prefer that. You just gave her a piece of Rillum's mind which I could have picked up on antagonistically as well.
If that was the intent, I apologize for not doing so but I suppose it's easy enough to push towards that later.

@Sandman, I suggested moving on several times...if there is no solution right now and the only inmediate one would be for either of us to change, then lets just move on.

I like Rillum the way he is too much to have him change.

I already said I would agree to simply running a ship with complete anarchy, just that I would definitely watch my back then. Including stuff like sleeping underwater if its our own ship.
It's all fine, we can do it like Rillum wants, because you cannot force someone to comply with rules. The way Nivian wanted it, it only would have made sense if all the officers agree on rules. If they don't, it's pointless. At this point, the only thing Nivian cared about was for Rillum to understand her so not to mistrust her because he sees her for something she is not.
And that only because you helped clarify that in the first place. She already gave up on convincing him that sometimes, rules can be good. That is off the table.
But if beyond accepting to run the ship the way Rillum wants, she has to change her personality just to be accepted by him, thats going too far. In that case we'll just have to go with the suggestion of roleplaying the animosity that develops.

@Sandman

Let's let it lie. I think it's over and I don't want to pull more focus onto Rillum ans Nivian. Let's, as you suggest, give the others a chance to shine.

Eeek sorry no idea how I missed Tuesday entirely it seems...

Well a bit surprised with the turn of events between Nivian and Rillum. Was sort of liking the drama but agree the game is not only about the tension between these two characters.

Yeah, it was time to move on.

And basically, future drama is somewhat shut down as we basically refuse each others advice on basis of thinking too differently, and the topic of discussion is marked as "pushing each others buttons", so nobody could bring it up again without openly antagonizing the other.
Thats what you get when mixing a member of ~shortest-living race with a member of ~longest-living race ^_^
(I know there are more extremes, but core/featured/uncommon, it holds)

It's for the best the chapter is closed and we get to move on and let others have some spotlight, too. Aside, I'm interested what else the storm brings. ^_^

There is, however, one more interesting question it brought up: How much do we know of each others actions? As mentioned, since preparing a Mutiny, Nivian will mostly try and influence people without making things too obvious...I'd expect to speak with multiple people over the course of an evening, for example...even if I focus my attention on one person I try to influence.
The same way I would not know someone else sneaking around in the ship, or who has what treasure we found and exchanged it for what else.
So, it would probably make sense that if a crew member is a friend to 2 or more of us, we know of their other ally...but other than that, I assume thats a secret. If so, we could possibly coordinate a bit more in trying to get the others not hostile to us to cooperate, by visiting them together, much like yesterday when I went with Sandman to Owlbear(but rolled crappy), or 2 days ago with Rhemus to Crimson Cog.

I'm not really sure exactly what you're asking. It's a (relatively) small ship, with shared living and eatting spaces. Much like a high school class room, there are few and far between secrets including who sits with who, who is wearing what, and who's friends with whom. About the only privacy you get from each other is during the work shift, and frequently some of you work together. Your dinner time conversations I would assume are your group gossip opportunities for sharing information with each other unless you wanted to devote a particular ship time (day, night, or sleep) opportunity to it.

Possessions are fairly obvious minus whatever you keep in your footlocker. So the next time you see Rhemus, him sporting all of his gear isn't really a hideen secret, the same way people noticing you still in possession of your crossbow (assuming you haven't stashed it in your fooitlocker) isn't really a keepable secret.

Let me know if I missed your point.

Only partially.

The question was more how reasonable it is to hide things. I may see Rhemus with all his gear, but I don't know if he traded a Masterwork Dagger for it, did a service for Grok, or something else.
If he had decided to keep something of his gear secret, stashing it away, would I automatically know he has it?

If someone was sneaking around in the night, opening footlockers, I expect people may complain about their stuff gone, but is it then clear the next day exactly what was stolen, meaning whoever goes to Grok offering that is automatically taken into custody as a suspect?

If locks in the storage are opened, will they automatically search everybody on the ship?

And if I talk with someone about a possible mutiny, does that mean everybody nearby knows that that is what we plan because there is no privacy?

I am mostly asking because if it is impossible to make allies without it being completely obvious due to the shared space on a small ship, then Scourge, Plugg and Co. will clearly know, through their own observation or their lackeys, who will be on our side.
In other words: Can we build alliances secretly, or is every "friendship" instantly public news.
Imho thats a very important question as if they take a ship, they may simply opt to not take a risk and just not take along anybody they feel is an ally of us, instead picking people hostile to prevent the mutiny. Or even start killing some off to discourage the others from getting too close to us.

So will definitely affect how much mileage we may get out of our allies, depending on wether we can keep that "hidden" or not-I gather from your response that "who is friends with whom" is public knowledge, and thus we cannot build a underground network on the ship. Is that correct?

You may hear chatter or rumors about how Rhemus acquired his gear, but without being there in person or asking a reliable resource, who knows for sure.

Yes, although it hasn't come up yet, thievery on a pirate ship is a very big deal and a harshly punishable offense, just ask the guy who,was Keelhauled. Locker searches would be conducted if a crime was suspected between crew members, and punishments would be severe, to say the least.

You can make alliances and form relationships as to be expected on tight-knit teams, but discretion is the better form of valor in most of these instances, You have not garnered enough attention from the officers as a group to be considered a threat to their leadership. Some of them, like Mr. Plugg and Master Scourge keep their eye on some of you. Master Scourge has an eye for Nivian but Mr. Plug is too worried about The Sandman and the reputation that proceeds him. The rest of you manage to fly under the radar.

Talking to those you don't trust is risky, and information could very well be escalated up to someone higher, if presented to someone that you don't trust, or if they are working against you? Most of these ranking should be listed on the crew roster under the campaign tab to give you some guidance.

Alliances are different from friendships. Friendships are expected to be formed on pirate ships. It's what helps the next man keep fighting for the man besides him. Alliances differ secretly in that they share more specific and more aligned goals than wide spread common goals. While none of the officers really cares about who your friends are, they definitely care about your alliances, so those should be kept secret.

Most pirates aren't concerned with each others' possessions, unless your sword was theirs. Everyone gets a share of the booty, everyone can purchase gear from the quartermaster, and even some circumstances, can lay claim to specific foes. If you kill a paladin, you may claim his longsword type of situation.

The only real concern is ownership, which is why they try to customize their gear. If their spear has a snake carved on it, and the next day it's missing, and another pirate shows up with a snake-carved spear, than the thief is likely to get Keelhauled. There isn't a trial of sorts, more like captain makes the decisions and the officers carry out the orders.

Thanks a lot, the clarifications really help.

So is that a no on the Spirit Quest? I kinda liked the idea.

I just wanted to chime in about the in character dispute that occurred between Nivian and Rillum. You both handled it well, with dignity, respect for each other, and communicated well. I applaud your efforts and hope it plays out well in the future, but regardless, you didn't resort to name calling (as players) or insulting, and we're able to work through the difficult character strife that was going to occur at some point in time. Several times I felt like stepping in but felt that you were both still in control so I decided to let it play out. Again, well done and it was a pleasure to watch unfold.

@Sandman, we can still come back to a spirit quest later...but right now, we had enough spotlight I believe. Lets see how things go...if we end up with a ship and the situation has not improved, we can still go through with the spirit quest :)

@GM, good to hear you were observing it and ready to step in if necessary. I appreciate that you let it play out but it's good to know regardless.

On another notice, i will be gone for about 4 days starting tomorrow around this time(and then again for 5 days a week later...family business). I may have limited mobile access, but its not a guarantee.
The second time I may have regular internet on some days but still little time to do longer posts.

If I do get to post, I may only be able to post rather short sections, actions, without flavor.
If unable to do so, I would ask that my pattern is assumed to continue if it's time to resolve actions for a part of the day.
Day action: Influence someone who is indifferent.(preferring influencing someone who someone else influences as well).
Evening action: Perform(Sing)
Night action 1: Influence someone who is friends with others.
Night action 2: Spend with Syl.

Just because I saw it with Rhemus, wanted to say: I will actively discourage others of the crew from helping me with night actions...I don't want them to be seen as too close to us.
Helping with work is fine, that's just "you owe me"-kind of lash-avoidance. Anything else, unless I specifically request help for some reason, I'll try to avoid them taking part.
(@Rhemus: For the record, I think Rosie is totally fine how you take her along, if you are gonna be a couple anyway there's little use to hide it...as long as Plugg has no official reason to distrust you at least ;) ).

also@Rhemus, you may want to ask that first question to us, too, if you have an opportunity. I've been tracking our course since the beginning. If I overheard you questioning during the evening, I may share what I know automatically, later{GM decision if I was too busy to hear)

The questions about where the ship is heading was asked to all the crew as he was serving them rum ration. So probably Nivian was asked as well. He was not being too obvious about it, just checking to see if anyone knew.

I thought of using Rosie because she is a halfling and so is Rattsberger. So should not be seen as plotting against the ship officers, and more like finding friends amongst "your own kind".

yep...that why i meant I think it's totally fine how you did it.

Just thought I'll mention it because what I wrote was not meant as criticism, just as clarification...I have not forgotten some of the crew will help us in night actions, but with Scourge having an eye on me I don't want people seen giving me help except during regular work hours- :)

A guy with a -1 will save should not have a 50% success rate against a DC 15 save. >.<

I feel your pain, Sandman...almost same story with 2 out of 3 saving against the Color Spray on day 2, with -1 vs DC 14...I think those pirates are all superstitious ;)

Yeah, that's the problem with an ACTUAL RNG like is on a website dice roller. Real dice, like it or not, are weighted badly and can tend to roll certain numbers more than others. The only exceptions are casino dice, which are purposely counterweighted to be perfectly weighted.

You can do the "golf ball test" to see what number your dice is weighted to, though I am not sure if it works on other dice, although it seems to me it should work on most round dice.

How to check the balance of your d20s

He shows that Chessex opaque dice are the worst dice, whereas transparent dice actually are more likely to be weighted properly, since being translucent they can't skimp on production like they can opaque dice.

How would Slumber Hex effect rat catching duties?

While the day job is labeled as Rat Catching, the job details also includes the removal bugs and other vermin. Is cases like these, or Mending when doing repair work, I'll allow a +2 bonus to the job roll.

Sounds good.

@GM - can we do some "mutual introduction" of NPC's and other players?

E.g. I always met with Syl. Could I continue to do so, "influencing" her on behalf of another PC if that PC spends time with us? I know there is regular aid another, but just +2 on the check would seem to not be worth the trouble of a second person spending an action.

Basically, I want to "introduce" her to my clique, better her "Attitude" towards the others of us. Maybe get her to make a "Influence"-Check on another PC instead and see if that improves her opinion.

Is there any mechanic for this kind of thing or are you willing to make one up on the fly?

Apologies for not posting the past couple of days. Work has been hectic and they have instituted more restrictions e.g., I now have to reinstall Chrome every night when I get to work because it is restricted. Crazy, right? I'll jump over to the game play thread now to catch up and post.

Who restricts Chrome? That's just weird.

Ya that is pretty weird, unless they don't want you on the internet at work... that I could understand... but so what you keep installing it and they keep uninstalling? That's gotta get annoying for both of you... sure you wont' get in trouble?

Everyone here has to do it. It just finally caught up to me.

How is the restriction implemented?

I know we had a restriction in place because we only wanted to keep one browsers secure and up-to-date via central software deployment.

That means clients had one browser installed, and all others were unwanted. I assume you have no proper browser at the workplace, at all? Is the whole account/profile wiped on logout? Otherwise you may want to try some other, lesser known browser if the deinstallation is program-specific.

I'm fully back from my trip, only to discover our current production is a trainwreck. I had to fire our director and take over myself (dammit). I still should be able to post regularly, but if there is a delay, this is the explanation. We open next Friday. My days should be back to normal after that.

Thanks in advance for any patience that may be required.

Sorry to hear that, Rillum. But i believe since you gave a warning all will be fine- I hope things go well until next Friday, best of luck!

GM, if I were to Slumber Hex someone who was already asleep, what would happen?

Would they wake up if they resisted the effect, would they wake up when the effect ended?

Checking in, but looks like we have a bit of a delay this weekend, which is no problem for me, just want to give everyone a heads up that I'm here, and will check every day (and try to at least 'check in' here even if I do not on the gameplay thread.)

GM, if I were to Slumber Hex someone who was already asleep, what would happen?

Would they wake up if they resisted the effect, would they wake up when the effect ended?

Since the slumber hex effectively works as the sleep spell, it wouldn't have any effect on a target already sleeping is my understanding/interpretation. They would not wake up if they resisted the effect, as technically I don't believe they can be a target of the effect.

I will try this even if he's already too far away to hope to rescue him.

In that case, it's a cold calculated display in hopes of being seen as someone attempting heroic rescue against the odds by the remaining crew.

If I misunderstood something, please do let me know, but neither storm, nor going underwater should really be a threat to me, and even IF the ship were moving full speed in the storm(highly unlikely and why I would attempt a rescue), it should not be able to outrun me(of course it would have more endurance, but if I just need to run a short while to come back to it, I see no problem there, either).

On another note, I will be on another family visit the next few days. I will be online irregulary but may not manage to post every day...so if necessary, bot me for this action...I will do my best to save him...someone owing you their life is always handy to have around.
(Yeah, i'm a calculating b%$+&. But thats my alignment reasoning...)

other than that, continuing my usual pattern.
Work(influence someone who is friends with someone among us)
Evening(sing)
Night1(influence indifferent/friendly person)
Night2(spend with syl, influence to try and get her more friendly with others.)

Hmm seems Zelda is still listed as part of this campaign, didn't I hear you can 'deactivate' the character?

Don't sell yourself short, Rillum ;)

If help is possible, I'm certain Crimson will also come to your Aid. That's alread 5+1+2+2 or 10, if even one more person comes to your help, possibly at a cost of their own result, then you will make it and be spared the lashing :)

Also quite flavorful that you worked yourself into unconsciousness, find it very fitting.

I knew this was a possibility when I lowered my str so low. I've been fearing exhaustion for a while. Still, even our fearless leaders can probably see the pointlessness of whipping an unconscious crew member.

He'll take all the help that he can get . . . 1 hp left, exhausted, and unconscious. Just another day for Rillum.

Well, I was able to heal you. Now its me that's at 1 hit point at the end of the day. Stupid climb checks.

Hehe, who are you telling. If I was exhausted, I'd lie down right next to you, gasping for air ;)

As for our fearless leaders...I think they may not be wise enough to realize that, so best to not give them reason to begin with - just to be on the safe side.

Also, there was a practise of "holding the last lash", that is, sparing one hit with the whip that was not done, out of mercy...but any time you would slack afterwards, or act in a displeasing manner, they could dish it out without warning, as a reminder... if helping is not possible and they are too stupid, that may be another way out...they won't "lose face", but you'd get the lash some other time, when it would be less painful than now...

Sooo Sandman... you seen the Scarred Witch Doctor Errata?

Page 140—In the scarred witch doctor archetype, replace

the Constitution Dependent entry with the following:

Fierce Intelligence: A scarred witch doctor treats her
Intelligence score as 2 points higher when determining
the highest level of spells she can cast, the number of
spells she can cast per day, her spell save DCs, her number
of spells known at 1st level, and any effects of her hexes
determined by her Intelligence.

Also posting that for the GM.

My opinion? This errata is BS. Haven't decided yet if I will actually use this change in my home games or not.

On the one hand, it takes away the 'big tough scarred orc' idea when you don't have the hit points to back it up... on the other hand, it's a freakin' +2 intelligence on top of your already high Int (cause it's your primary again) just for witch related stuff only.

Are you f$%~ing kidding me?

Yeah, no. I'll retire the character before I accept that errata.

I don't usually dig my heels in like this, but in this case I don't think its being unreasonable not to want to overhaul my entire character because Paizo can't get its head out of its ass when it comes to game balance lately.

Seriously, this change would actually end up making Sandman more powerful and I still absolutely hate it.

Wow, this is the second game I'm involved in to have one of the player's character concept effectively gimped by this errata release. And I'm involved in only two games.

Let us all mourn the loss of the 'bolt ace' and the 'scarred witch-doctor.'

I really don't see how witch-doctor (or bolt ace for that matter) needed that level of nerfing.

The thing that drives me crazy about this is that it isn't even a nerf. It's actually a boost. The original scarred witch doctor required Int for bonus spells. Sandman only gets two spells a day. By the time we get to fifth level I'll be down four spells compared to our other two witches. That's a pretty huge trade off for some extra hit points and a decent fort save.

The new scarred witch doctor is even more SAD than witches normally are. They get an across the board bonus to their primary casting stat.

The thing I hate most about this is that now all the Orc witches out there are suddenly geniuses, and they're better witches than everyone else in the world. That doesn't seem right to me. If any race was going to have that status it should be the changeling. Makes no damn sense.

Yeah, actually, it's quite neutral.

Getting to boost Con for Hit Points and Fortitude is a nice touch to witch doctor.

Would have preferred if that Errata had made it optional...but this? With half-orcs getting free boost pick to begin with?

So you can 18 point-buy, +2 racial, +2 from this...worse than Tieflings with variant Heritage to boost Cha, and Fiendish Sorcery.

while we're at dissing the errata...an high-powered gestalt char in another game loses +10 to all saves thanks to Divine Protection nerf. That feat was utterly OP, but still, they go from one extreme to the other.

Its the same thing they did with Crane Wing. Anything they decide is overpowered isn't just made reasonable. Its made useless.

I've pretty much completely lost confidence in Paizo's ability to do errata properly.