The Moar Core Tour (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

I know this is an area of table variation: I'm fine with taking the average on wand charges out of combat. You are of course free to roll if you'd rather.

I would love that, Dennia!

Hate to mention this, but my character doesn’t have an entertainer outfit. Makes the disguise a bit less believable.

I figure other characters are sensible enough to figure this out.

Sorry, guys, got a few days behind. Busy week with long Wedneday-night lab left me not completely catching up with my various games each night thereafter.

Hate to mention this, but my character doesn’t have an entertainer outfit. Makes the disguise a bit less believable.

I figure other characters are sensible enough to figure this out.

I hear no dissenting voices on the circus idea... This is hilarious. I figured that there would have been an alternate proposal by now.

I agree with you that it makes more sense to be able to make a deal with both, but it's presented pretty clearly as an either/or in the scenario, including the reporting instructions.

Sorry, the sister's name is Eugenia, not Eugressia. I think I typed it right the first time and wrong the second time. Eugressia is Kate's character in the other game I'm running right now.

Iovo, your latest post reminds me of an incident in an in-person Rise of the Runelords game a few years ago. My rogue was checking for traps...

Me: "Nope, no traps on this door."

Party: *opens door, gets slammed by a fireball* (except my character, who saves and takes no damage thanks to Evasion)

Me: "Oops. Next door... no traps here."

Party: *gets fireballed* (again, except me)

This happened at least twice, possibly 4–5 times — every door we went through was fireball-trapped. Eventually they had me opening the doors while the rest of the group was 60' down the hall. Finally the party cavalier comes up and double-checks a door before the group enters it.

Cavalier: "Uh, Oladon, this door is totally trapped. See that black plate on the door?"

Me: "Oh, that doesn't mean anything, those have been on every door."

Copying it here for comments from everyone. Since we are going to often be switching off GMs, it would be nice to get this clear early and set the procedure so the GM doesn't have to stall on each door.

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Door procedure, when not rushed.

At each door, check for sounds or traps. Take 10 then roll twice.
Perception: 10 + 6 = 16 +1 to detect traps
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 +1 to detect traps
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 +1 to detect traps

If trapped, try to disarm it. Take 10 then if needed roll up to twice.
Disable Device: 10 + 8 = 18
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
At this point if nothing blew up, I would like a chance to evaluate things.

If locked and there is only one obvious way forward, try to unlock it.
Disable Device: 10 + 8 = 18
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
At this point I would take 20 to unlock.

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I haven't specified who opens the door. If you want it to be me, that is fine. I would in that case like someone up there ready to step through if there is trouble.

I'll assume that opening the door is not part of the algorithm unless you state otherwise.

Updated.

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If only one obvious way to go forward, once everyone is ready I open the door.
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I want to preserve decision points without holding up game play. On the other hand, I'm perfectly willing to have GMs bot the whole search, disarm, unlock procedure.

Standard Door Operating Procedures make going through dungeons awesome!

I agree. A group I was in for years would just say 'Door drill' and we all knew what it meant.

Yeah, I can see the appeal. It's going to take a little getting used to for me, though. I've only GMed a couple PbP games so far, and this is the first time it's come up.

I'll say, I don't very often actually see it come up in PbP, certainly not in such a carefully scripted fashion. But if we're going to be in this for the long haul, it does make some sense.

Hilary introduced me to the idea and it makes sense. There don’t tend to be a lot of decision points, you just want to get past the door without tripping over traps.

Now if someone wants to build out on this, that would be fine. I could see someone using that as a trigger to use a wand of Mage Armor or some other long lasting protection.

I agree it makes sense. It also, however, brings a funny thought to mind about pre-scripting all manner of things in PbP. If we do this right, by the end of this whole Season 5 arc, we might be able to pre-script whole encounters, or even a whole scenario! It's already sort of built into the PFS scenario structure:

- VC briefs the mission, thoughtful questions are asked
- heads scratched as we remember what we know about the topic
- travel, usually by boat or magic tapestry, to scenario locale
- do a series of skill checks
- fight something not directly related to the scenario
- fight something directly related to the scenario
- fight something else (alternatively, solve a puzzle)
- fight a big something!
- return to VC to give the news or deliver the McGguffin

Oladon is a programmer, I'm going to leave the details to her.

You got it, Garif.

With the help of Markov chains we should even be able to get a reasonable approximation of each character's posting "tone" from the automated posts.

Too bad we don’t have anyone in Liberty’s Edge. They could break those Markov Chains!

;)

Yikes. Busy few days, haven't checked in... 42 messages behind! I may not be able to catch up before tomorrow.

Iovo’s shopping list:

Wand of Mage Armor via PP
MW rapier
Cold Iron Dagger
MW Thieve’s tools
MW Darkwood Longbow

Sell current leather armor and thieve’s tools.

Hopefully I will find this when it comes time.

Is there any word on getting the standard/core thing fixed? When we get to the end of this, should I still hold off reporting it?

Wow, I screwed up. Somehow it didn't get into my consciousness that the green guy was down. Gotta read more carefully....

Any chance you could put an indication on the icons on the map when they're down? E.g., turn them sideways to show they're prone, at least.

Sure, sorry about that. I usually either color-invert them or remove them when they're down, I just forgot as I was rushing to post between classes today.

Is there any word on getting the standard/core thing fixed? When we get to the end of this, should I still hold off reporting it?

So... I got one note from Tonya, saying that she could switch it, once her other work was done... That was a few weeks ago. I am now at the point of calling Paizo Customer Support tomorrow and see if I can get Diego or someone to just switch the numbers over.

It's clearly a low priority for them.

Hmm

Thanks, Dennis!

Shall we take a day or two for shopping and such and then get started again?

I think we should just start up.

I need to update Damiar to level 2, but I could do that while you are pushing us forward.

Hmm

Sure. I probably won't have a chance to do shopping and stuff for Kleines until Tuesday, but should be good to go then.

Also, I would love some feedback from you more experienced PbP folks. I found this scenario challenging because of all the decision points the party has. I know how I handle those in F2F games, but I'd love any tips for PbP.

I thought you did great! It went quite smoothly.

I also thought you did well here.

I've run this scenario a few times and never really liked the outcome. They needed to loosen up a little at certain points rather than having both decisions give the same basic result. The whole scenario has always felt sort of hamfisted to me.

It will probably be tomorrow before I have a chance to deal with shopping for this character.

I thought it went great also. There were a couple of moments where we had to make decisions as a group, but I felt like we RP’ed the situation for a bit, then decided and moved on.

As far as schedule, I am going to be our rate-limiting factor for the next little while. I am currently working on a tire fire caused by the California wildfires, am leaving Thursday for a week-long work trip to Colombia, and then I turn around and head to Puerto Rico to help with hurricane cleanup until mid-November. I will have internet some of the time, but will be very busy so posting time will be limited.

I’d like to keep up with the rest of the gang on XP, and on our adventures, but I’ll feel bad if I cause the scenario to drag. What do y’all think?

I think that with so many do-good projects, we should give you all the lee-way we can to let you achieve great things. Tell us when you are going to be gone, and keep your bot me spoilers for you and Nico up to date. We’ll try to bot you in combat.

Hugs
Hmm

PS Updated Damiar. I forgot how easy it is to level someone when your spell choices are so limited. It’s definitely an advantage of CORE play!

I'll get us kicked off with some interim/intro stuff tomorrow. I hope you're all looking forward to complex intrigue and intricate coiffuring in...

Profile updated for purchases. Assumes we get full gold from Glass River Rescue.

I created a much simpler (or at least I think so) ITS for Iovo, link in her profile. I believe it covers everything except Ammo, which I'm tracking in her header.

I may need until Tuesday to finish shopping. (We were at a Con this weekend and our usual PFS night is tomorrow.)

I'm working on Glass River chronicle sheets right now, should have them up this evening.

Also, please roll day job checks, anyone that has one.

Profession (Hunter): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Profession (librarian): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Here are the chronicle sheets. If you don't have a day job (or already rolled it), yours is complete. For everyone else, I will update them as you roll.

Profession (miner) : 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Updated Garif's sheet.

Perform Sing: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Perform Sing, GM Reroll: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 6 + 4 = 24

Oh and Damiar finally picked up Dwarven as a language. After two missions with dwarves, I figured it was time.

Updated Damiar's sheet.

Thank you!

Hmm

I'll get us kicked off with some interim/intro stuff tomorrow. I hope you're all looking forward to complex intrigue and intricate coiffuring in...

The Stolen Hair

With this and all the RP about braiding each other's hair, this Season 5 arc is moving in an unexpected direction! Glad no one has noticed the braided hair in Garif's avatar!

Oh, we’ve noticed. But yours is already nicely braided!

Oh, we’ve noticed. But yours is already nicely braided!

Garif, being socially awkward in his own way, will be careful to keep it braided, to avoid any offers to help!

I've got a moment to do some shopping. Was thinking of getting a wand of magic fang for Garif to tap Nico with in each fight, but I'd welcome suggestions from others with more druidical experience. Am also considering a masterwork sling, just 'cuz it's fun and I actually have found myself using the thing more than I expected.

My only experience with Pathfinder Druid was a home game, and there I went for the domain rather than the animal buddy.

I expect that you will want Magic Fang for when you hit creatures with DR/Magic, but since the spell only affects one of the attacks it still isn’t great.

I would go for a wand of Speak with Animals instead. It isn’t used that often, but when it comes up it is very nice.

It's true that only affecting one attack limits it, but Nico's attacks aren't great at the moment, so I'm looking for ways to improve them. It also give Garif something to do in that first round to make a difference over the course of the fight.

Hadn't thought of speak with animals - I guess I feel it's so very situational, but by that logic, I'm a lot less likely to have it memorized.

Not trying to counter-argue, just thinking out loud, as it were.