Meant as praise indeed!
For anyone curious about the Ruins of Pathfinder setting (and unphased by spoilers to just about every AP other than Shattered Star & Mummy's Mask), check out Robert Brookes' Reign of Winter, the first game set in it,, and/or some short stories establishing the setting more.
Sadly both Robert and Crustypeanut (the two DMs who were creating and leading games in the setting) have gotten very busy so most of the games are on hiatus.
Lilith, are you saying we need to go with (a) the group going together at night, loudly, with lights? Can you explain why you think that's a better option than (c) or (d)?
I do think the idea of keeping dancing lights ahead of us as decoys is a cool idea...but unless we're confident that they prefer chasing lights to breathers (once they've seen us) then it seems like a big gamble. Certainly Turrey would rather trust a high Stealth check over the theory that the lights might attract the groaners away.
I think we do option a scouting. I have done night assaults in the army with no visiul gadgets in the middle of a forest. It is quite possible. Just takes time.
Also we have 3 people who can see quite well. This means one scouts the other 2 lead the "blinds". Turrey is a thief and the 2 females are booth unarmored. We should have no major problem to navigate in silence.
Btw. Can you show us on the map where the apothecary is?
Dancing lights might attract their attention, but the minute they see something to eat then they'll be focused on that. DL plus stealth checks would work as long as your luck holds, the DL ahead of you would essentially give you a bonus ironically!
As for maps, you have Kaiya's charcoal drawing on the floor, plus the 'fog of war' map I link to when you actually explore areas. Not as easy to visualize where you're going, but I hope it adds to the tension a little. If it becomes unfun or unworkable then we'll change it, but for now you just have Meiko's description of where it is, somewhere north in town, follow the river up then head west etc...
Fiendish, can you confirm whether or not we'll be able to take 10 on stealth while looking for the apothecary? And can you comment on if Turrey would have any minus to stealth if he's following right behind Polo, and both Polo and Shomari are actively helping him to navigate?
Azmerai, I agree that a group of real life soldiers might be able to do this without light, but I'm assuming we're using game mechanics here, not basing this on our real life experiences or capabilities.
In the game, based on the mechanics that our DM linked us to, Azmerai's +1 Stealth means (assuming he takes 10) the groaners find us on a roll of 11. (That means, if even four groaners get a perception roll over the entire walk there and back, there's only a 0.5^4 = 6.25% chance that you *aren't* discovered.) Given the game mechanics, how confident are you that "We should have no major problem to navigate in silence"?
And by the game mechanics, half of us would be functionally blind (so for example Turrey's AC drops from 19 to 13, and anytime he rolls a hit there's a 50% chance that he misses anyway, and even if he's in flanking position he has no way to do sneak attack damage).
Rules say you can take 10 whilst not In immediate danger or distracted, so up until something actually sees you I'd say take 10 is fine.
I'd say with someone guiding him, Turrey could concentrate on not making noise. For each person assisting him, -2 of the dex penalty would be alleviated, so with both helping that means no penalty. However whoever is leading him would be distracted, so no taking 10...
My thoughts on our options:
1. Polonius, Azmerai and I go (darkvision) and recon the place, and then return for whatever aid we need if we can't just get what we need.
1a. Same as above minus Azmerai (nothing personal, but stealth)
2. We wait for daylight and go as a group.
Mucking around with half the party blind seems like a foolish idea, as does walking through town, lights a-blazin, inviting eaters to come eat us.
Fiendish, thanks for your answers! If the only way to reduce the penalty is for someone not to take 10, we'd be best off just having Turrey accept a -4 penalty and take 10 for 19. The groaners will only detect them on a 20. What could possibly go wrong? ;-)
Shomari, I'd happily go along with your 1a or your 2. I think taking Azmerai at night is asking for trouble. You're just about guaranteed to be seen, and then be in combat with half the group missing.
The main reason to consider bringing Turrey along is he's better with locks than Polo. The disadvantage of course is that he's blind at night and so will increase the risk that y'all are seen (without helping much in battle, since he'll be blind).
In other words:
* The most conservative scouting option is Shomari + Polo
* The scouting mission most likely to get into the apothocary is Shomari + Polo + Turrey
Which one is the best choice? I think it's arguable and both I (player) and Turrey would go with the majority vote on either of those choices.
It's also worth mentioning ooc, that I'll run two separate streams for the two separated parties. There's nothing worse than a pbp party split where action is only on one team, sitting for days of no posting for some, it is a heck of a momentum killer!
So anyway, for those staying behind, there are other nearby buildings to search, discussions to be had, crafting to do or anything else you can think of :)
I'm a huge fan of not splitting the party, mostly for meta reasons, mostly mentioned by Fiendish. Shomari, on the other hand, is pretty cold and would see Turrey as a liability in this situation.
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I also am, in general, not in favor of splitting up the group. Its a long way to the destination. I find it highly unlikely that you will find the place, get in, get what you need, and get back out without multiple combats. And you might need the skills from the entire party. So I still recommend the entire group go. Plus Lilith really really wants to get medicine asap IC. See post.
I vote for beach way. Through the middle of the street is not wise in my book. As soon as we have the medicine we should take care of ameiko and the check the butcher and the smelly shop. With a bit of leather I am sure I can make some water holding items, like waterskins or waterproof a ton. We still are low on food. That is also very important! I think we can double our food with the found ale, wich is reasonable, but we still need vegetables fruits and meat.
Hello all :)
Just whilst we're waiting for everyone to weigh in and get moving towards the apothecary (don't forget to say what you're carrying on your commando raid!), I thought I would take a moment to praise you.
I was impressed when I logged in to see no less than 9 new posts yesterday, all great IC RP that had me gripped as focus went from character to character. Be proud, I am :)
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I love this game, but the pace is slow enough that people are going to forger things. Reminders are appreciated. Lilith will always take 10 on stealth when she can do so.
I actually take notes and review them before posting but even with that its easy to miss things. when a few turns take place over a week. of real time.
Just posting to keep the game high up in your 'my campaign' pages ;)
As we have no better ideas... we have to use brute force to clean the doors!
Same goes for me. I am on a weekend break, should still be able to post but if I lose signal feel free to take control.
I wish your son and your fiance all the best, many happy years and also moments of toil, so that they can trust each other and be tempered by it.
Ah Lilith, congratulations to you and your family :)
No worries about the sparse posting everyone, RL trumps virtual gaming ;)
Hi all, pace has dropped a little as I've been waiting longer to give everyone more of a chance to interact and post, however it's been 10 and 11 days absence for Turrey and Lenneth respectively now. I've PM'd them and will give them a couple of days to respond before I take action.
Just keeping you in the loop!
I do miss them, and I am sad, as this is an excellent roleplaying opportunity at the moment
Yes I thought the same.
We are in that dangerous time of a pbp game, a couple of months in, where life starts to catch up with players.
Hope they are still around and we can crack on with the mystery!
Hi gang, as Polo guessed, life is getting busier for me and I'm having a hard time keeping up -- which is a shame because this is a very interesting game with some great RP.
I've been hoping things would turn around soon but I don't expect that to be the case anytime soon.
Fiendish, thanks for making and inviting me into this cool game. Rather than me continuing to slow things down, I think I'll bow out. Feel free to do whatever you wish with Turrey -- you're welcome to him as an NPC, or as zombie fodder.
Best wishes to y'all.
Turrey: Sorry to lose you, thank you for your great contribution to the game, I've enjoyed your role-playing :)
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I've opened up re-recruitment as you'll have already seen, feel free to shoulder tap anyone else you think might be interested and point them at the thread.
Whoever gets selected, they will not just drop from the sky, but there will of course have to be some on the fly plot-thread knitting, so apologies if it feels momentarily rail-roady. It has always been my intention to have each area as a sandbox for you to do as you like, with meta-plot moving you between areas as and when things develop. Anyway, your patience during the integration would be appreciated :D
No worries. Give me a rasher of bacon or a lamb leg and I am too busy eating to complain!!!
And yes you gave us rats.... you forgot to mention diseased rats!
*whistles innocently*
Incidentally, I'd like to involve you guys in the selection process if you're game. Rather than publically debate individual entries, once recruitment ends (presuming our little game attracts some more submissions!) I'd appreciate a PM with your thoughts on each character.
This isn't mandatory by any means, but the option is there if you want to have some input in to your potential new party mate(s) ;)
And behind the door number 2. Az is breaking the one to the back. Taking 20 if needed
Hey all, thanks for your continued input during recruitment :D
It looks like, with only 1 post in 3 weeks, Shomari may also have gone dark. I've PM'd him and we'll see whether we have 1 or 2 slots free to recruit more players!
Any news from Shomari?
Shomari has indeed replied to indicate he has been traveling for a few weeks, and will be continuing to do so for at least another month.
As such I'll remove him from play in the short term, and see how things are looking should he want to return in the future.
Maybe a stupid question, but... did he tell you?
He expressed surprise I didn't know, but I saw nothing posted here nor received a PM advising of his being away.
No drama or badness, I'm just keen to have active players so we don't get bogged down and lose momentum.
If he wants to come back I'll find space ;)
Ok so 3 hours to go till the deadline, as said earlier if you want to add your voice to my thoughts I'm more than happy to hear them.
As a suggestion (and it's no more than that, feel free to send whatever you like to me!) I wouldn't mind a top 3! I'm about to post a 'submission summary' in the thread.
Gameplay-wise we're waiting on Lenneth, but if nothing appears soon we'll move past and she can do the 'ret-conned double action in one post' thing we've developed to keep things moving ;)
Righty then, thanks to Polo and Azmerai for their input, Lenneth and Lilith I'll be posting the results in around 24 hours and really would like your thoughts if you get the chance to PM them to me :)
Are we looking for one player atm?
Welcome to the end of the world guys
Welcome yee travelers and let all hope go
Good Morning, and Thanks! I'll have an alias built for Valex by Monday morning.
Hello everyone, I'd like to thank fiendish for giving me this opportunity to play in this amazing adventure and I look forward to surviving with all of you soon.
I'll polish up Euron tonight ready for when i get brought in.
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