This is a non-Campaign to Test Stuff

Game Master Tacticslion

I expect that TL being such a sociable person and a religious one too, spent the Christmas and new year with church and family. Which sounds perfectly reasonable to me!

You see if you have 1 party every day...and you have 12 friends, you can get smashed for each day of Christmas by going to each friends family each day!

Nah kidding. I know TL doesn't drink. But if I were more sociable and had more drinking friends, that Might happen to me. I've ever said no updates in Strange Aeons because I was drunk. Right?

Ok folks, Whoever has been putting liquor in the kitty's water dish, would you please stop? It isn't funny anymore!

Don't worry, life's entirely normal here - Robert's bard died from staring too long at a hound of tindalos while you were on your hiatus and Luke just polymorphed his familiar into Yig.

Just another day in Strange Aeons, move along, nothing to see...

I agree - I see absolutely nothing wrong with any part of that post.

It all sounds perfectly reasonable for a 'Call of Cthulhu' campaign ;-)

You know, what I was trying to say, was that I was keeping you two entertained and active on the forums? Since people are known to disappear from the boards if they have nothing to do.

Flippantly.

I suppose it didn’t quite come out the right way. Lol.

Still not enough hours in the daaaaaayyyyyyyy

*passes TL a time turner from the Harry Potter universe*

Thanks! I needed that!

... also, HOLY COW, I apologize: this last month has kicked my rear end three ways to Thursday. And it's not even Thursday!

But more seriously, I'm sorry.

For "excuses" (of which there are too many, in life, in general, but nonetheless), I have only that twice I attempted to make a forwarding post, here, and twice, for different reasons, it was a wasted attempt. Thereafter, there were issues with my phone (at 0 memory, it seems it couldn't load Paizo) and my internet (which went wonky for a bit), and between the two I lost the habit of getting back here, compounded by a mental block of doing anything, and that has cost me, severely - in terms of any sort of credibility, here, if nothing else (but also with myself). It really can't cover the magnitude of my error, here, but I sincerely apologize, for what it's worth.

I honestly don't know how far behind I am in FaWtL, and do not care to find out... though I'm gonna. I have no idea what's been happening on the forums. I'm not even sure if either of you are still interested.

But I'm here, today, and will work on rebuilding my presence. Also: uuuuugggggghhhhhhh. Who knew kids' homework and violin and TKD (and your own), and a house that looks like a tornado swept through (no, a tornado did not sweep through) could actually keep you so buuuuusssssyyyyyyyyyy...?

Also, I'm alive, or whatever!

Sorry gimme a bit but I need to check that nothing exploded after my morning away from office... Technically should be fine.. But you never know.

it's cool TL real life happens, if I weren't able to post at work I probably would never have started.

Umm which year of violin is you child in? Has it stopped sounding like someone is kill a cat? no offense about the kitty comment, Mort. Though if I were to imagine the sound of a cat being tortured an inexperienced violinist comes to mind :-)

Oh, were are glad to hear your alive also. I believe a zombiefied TL would post even less. Too busy hunting for "brains"

OK, there were small explosions. Insurance sent me some check boxes to tick for what document we required this year, and the documents we require are not on those checkboxes.

Me:Haven't we gone through this argument last year?! Then had to dig the email trail to prove it.

Now I'm waiting for the updated checkboxes.

So, a thing that I saw today, and talked about, but wanted to share, here.

Original video, here, though the conversation does not require the video.

(The video was "Video SparkNotes: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World summary" because I like hearing summaries of things I've already experienced. While I don't always agree with how they're summarized, hearing someone else do so often helps me organize my thoughts on the subject, at least in a manner that is satisfactory to my own scattered brain. Link in general media.)

"Is it better to be happy or free?"

"A man chooses - a slave obeys!"

(That said, the question posed is the wrong one. The answer, of course, is that it is better to be *good*, and that answer will inform freedom or happiness. What is "good," of course, depends entirely upon to whom you are talking - not that there is no such thing as "good" - as morality exists whether we divine it or not - but, rather, views on morality are so different as to often be irreconcilable. It is this clinging to individual interpretations of morality - the question, "what if they're wrong?" - that makes freedom so much more "attractive" and obedience so much more "scary" (using relative terms) to so many. It isn't even an incorrect conclusion. But it is also not necessarily correct - effectively, the question is, "Can we trust anything other than ourselves to be truly correct? And what if we're wrong?" which, of course, has the corollary, "Can we trust ourselves to be truly correct? And what if we're wrong?" This is the debate between individualism and collectivism. We, as a society, tend toward individualism, hence the preponderance of such questions leaning in that direction. Of course...Andrew Ryan (BioShock, the source of my quote, above) ended up creating a world of literal and figurative monsters, while those who sought "freedom" in A Brave New World ended up dead or exiled and causing mass mayhem and pain and dissatisfaction with no particular apparent benefit, so it's still an open question. And, uh, this is way too long for a YouTube comment. Much less a parenthetical. Sorry.)

Have an awesome day!

Also!

Sorry, its near midnight and Philosophy isn't something I'm any good at. I'll look at it in the morning.

I do trust my own morality. I don't think I'd inherently do evil things.

Nothing to be sorry about!

I'm just posting some rambling stuff.

I do trust my own morality. I don't think I'd inherently do evil things.

We all generally do.

Curiously:

"I've never really felt evil."

While he goes on to say, "I felt more, 'I don't care.'" which indicates a lack of empathy, there is such a thing as empathy so keen it can turn you away (because you feel as if it's happening to yourself) leading to trauma that shuts down empathy by searing it out.

Or, perhaps, caring, but not seeing the difference.

There is empathy, altruism, and how those things differ, and can differ in specific people toward different subjects. A man can be a devoted and caring father and kind man to his neighbors, but still be a murderous racist who believes that people that look different than him need to be purged for the sake of humanity.
Blah, blah, reference Nazi, argument lost, etc. Also: Nazism was a totalitarian "obey the authority" system, so individual evil might fail in the face of that concept.

My point isn't to say that individualism is wrong. In fact, it's not. It's leaning exclusively on yourself for your moral compass that's dangerous.

This is the argument between Law (communalism, obeying a higher moral authority), and Chaos (individualism, acknowledging no truly higher moral authority). It's not between good and evil. But it has powerful implications for good and evil results. Hence.

No I didn’t watch the video, nor can I now since I am in office. I am also not much into philosophy, finding it like too airy fairy and like..does it serve any practical purpose? Sorry TL, but that’s me for you.

Robert on the other hand, might think differently.

Yes humans are different and can have many facets. But Humans are like onions! They have many layers! I obey the laws. I have an aura of law around me.

You know, if the law asked me to kill, I’d probably do it? Well, unless its people I know, in which I'll tell them to scoot else I'll have to kill them. Which would so su*k.

Again I’m Lawful NEUTRAL, not Lawful GOOD.

This is so gonna end in tears..

Inarus would say, except he doesn't know anything about it =)

Ignorance is bliss =D

yeah, I think so too... but everyone else has died so what should I expect...

Just so long as Yeye isn't Erevel's long lost love and they are going to invite Usawoti to the 'Jerry Springer' show to talk about it...

yeah, I think so too... but everyone else has died so what should I expect...

Just so long as Yeye isn't Erevel's long lost love and they are going to invite Usawoti to the 'Jerry Springer' show to talk about it...

Nah, surely you would end up on either Oprah, or Ellen ;-)

Aaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhh.

When you're already late, and someone decides to go much slower than the speed limit, come to full stops at yellow to check for traffic that isn't coming, and is on the phone the whole daggum time!

The first two aren't bad habits, per se, but th last is dangerous, and the first two are obnoxious (and become more so when you're late, as I was - the only frustration of those that can't directly be attributed to said driver). And I'm sure they were perfectly nice people. Just. Aaaaaarrrrrg.

Also, I hope the update looks okay. It's phone-only, so... Please excuse any weird issues...!

Welp. Surely that one won't ever come back to bite anyone ever again.

Inarus, you've suddenly lost connection with Usawoti. Last you knew, he was safe, but then he is simply gone.

I'll give you at least one more update, but we are getting really close to denouement territory.

Usawoti, please feel free to engage with anything you want, but, barring something that highly surprises me, that's the end of your character being in the other realm.

No I didn’t watch the video, nor can I now since I am in office. I am also not much into philosophy, finding it like too airy fairy and like..does it serve any practical purpose? Sorry TL, but that’s me for you.

Actually, that's a philosophical question in and of itself.

Truth is, philosophy is, ultimately, simply empty rhetoric and pointless debate, unless it can take hold enough to cause actual, lasting change. And even then, it's only worthwhile if the change itself is also worthwhile.

That said, this does, in fact, have practical implications. You don't really need the video - in fact, one need not even know the story of Brave New World (the video is simply a recitation of that, in abridged form). Or Bioshock, for that matter. These are merely tools by which to facilitate communication of concepts.

You know, if the law asked me to kill, I’d probably do it? Well, unless its people I know, in which I'll tell them to scoot else I'll have to kill them. Which would so su*k.

Again I’m Lawful NEUTRAL, not Lawful GOOD.

... and this, in fact, is that practical application.

What's extremely curious is that people have a tendency to follow orders, even if it's to the detriment of others, presupposing they have a belief that they can shove any nonsense onto their superiors. But to what end?

Seems people are more than willing to let atrocious things happen when the authority is not their own. This is one of the primary arguments for Individualism as a "moral" force, instead of as an "ethical" force (as it is in Pathfinder, and similarly derived games). Basically, "Look, dudes, Nazism (and all Fascism) sucks." is the argument, and it's hard to deny, considering some of the greatest atrocities of all time were enacted under such systematic "order" as those regimes seem to produce.

The trick, however, is, "What are people like without governance?"

That is, without a question, an extremely dangerous thing, as well.

Obviously, we have laws for that very reason - laws are, at their spirit, if not always their execution, an attempt to mandate a more-or-less acceptable variant of morality across a large group of people to maximize societal gain and minimize societal loss. Basically, the laws don't exist in a vacuum - they exist for the purpose of making things "right" (whatever that may mean to a given governance and/or governing body). The issue is, however, that a single law can't cover all regards - this is where the lines are drawn by legalists and spiritualists - legalists demand the letter be followed; spiritualists demand the spirit be followed.

In the latter situation, you're going to have weird exceptions which are made for "rare circumstances" - but this is fraught with peril, as people are nothing if not vicious, vicious liars with a penchant for doing whatever it takes to "survive" (loose definition; citation: see all of human history), and so comes dangerously close to overturning itself into anarchy simply by existing.

In the former situation, you're going to have weirdly unexpected outcomes due to "quirks" in legal structures as languages and concepts change over time while the law does not necessarily (or, if it does, it does not necessarily change at the same pace or in the same manner as the body of the governed or their governors) - and this is fraught with peril, as people are nothing if not vicious, vicious opportunists with a penchant for twisting things in whatever way it takes to "thrive" (loose definition; citation: see all of human history), and so will be bound to overturning itself as an inevitability of time.

"Somewhere in the middle." sounds appealing, of course, but the question then falls on who, exactly, it is that does the enforcement and governance (and, thus, interpretation) - it can't be the mass of people for, as already explained, that is anarchy, and it only takes one person to convince others to follow for that to fall apart (again: see history); that leaves an authority either chosen by the people, or chosen by another source. And that's pretty much where every remaining tension comes from - who enforces the laws, who makes them, and how related should those people be?

Hence where philosophy leads to practical application.

... but it's not really resolved for us how to do that, so.

XD

Some people like it orderly(me), and others like it chaotic(try Freehold DM).

I personally feel that laws are something that governs society, and without laws, society cannot function. Simply because human nature would send us all murderhoboing each other for something they want.

Of course there are also cases where laws tell people to murderhobo each other(Nazi Regime), but I feel that any form of governance is better then the chaos of no governance at all.

No insult meant on the following example:

America may have toppled Saddam, but the country was in less chaos before he was toppled then after. A person may be a dictator, but maybe that's what keeps people from murdering each other in the streets and keeping amenities going

ok, I haven't slept yet, so no philosophy for me...

edit:Is the 'Eternal Seed' still with Usawoti?

Yes. I totally didn't make a mistake though, that's for sure.

Ooops.

That's ok, I'm just hoping the giants speak common. I will have a post up in about 30 min. I've got it about half typed.

do you have a list of items that he gathered from the covens area, he will unpack the bags and the items that he can identify he will give as gifts to his leaders. That's what a good Jarl does, right?

Oh, my, no.

Not right now.

But, uh, handwavium and stuff.

You can insert vague thing, here, for temporaries, and later I'll cover it, if it's still important.

it's the idea that is important, not the actual inventory. He will gift the wealth of the coven to the leaders. Instead of being a tyrant he will be benevolent. It reminds me of the way that Viking earls and Jarls gifted their followers. I thought that would fit for 'giant' culture.

Ok guys, I need to go to bed, I've been up 30 hrs. but I plan on sleeping 16 so it's ok.

TL would you look at Navarre to make sure nothing is too out of whak.

I decided to go with a Raven were going to call him a Rook instead of a Hawk, so they can talk.

I'm going to change his armor to hide and alter his weapons a little. I wanted a tomahawk battleaxe and a bowie knife gladius to fight two handed with, he will still carry the traditional earthbreaker and probably some kind of polearm.

Also, as a 'stargazer' even though he has spells, he doesn't have orisons does he?

Rest well, my friend!

Okay, Navarre, I've got... questions.

Sorry, but please work with me.

So:

.

..

...

....

As a reminder to all, about character builds...

1) choose a core or base or hybrid or whatever 20th level class (this can have an archetype, but must mostly follow the rules)

2) choose a PrC (you auto-acquire most prerequisites [some modified to be less], preferably no super-evils)

3) choose whatever class your character was in this game

You gestalt the first two, and take a roughly 2nd level, 5th level, and 11th level ability from the class your characters have.

Stargazer is a PRC.

Ah! Excellent. Thanks!

(It didn't come up in a search for me, for whatever reason.)

In that case: whether or not you gain orisons is dependent on which class you're using to grant yourself spells. If that class grants it as part of its standard spell progression, you have it. Technically the "at will" part of orisons or cantrips is a special class ability (which adepts don't have), but... meh, I don't care enough. If your caster class grants that I don't mind if you have it, too.

TL - I got some stuff to do at work. Basically Inarus will try to get back to his own plane, if wish, just by wish spell, otherwise limited wish to planeshift. I'm sure there's quite a lot of things in the mythic template that was given, but I have some works to do and can't search it out at the moment. If you're waiting for my reply before you go to bed sorry about this, I'll tell you not to stay up. I need to Re read everything since it's been a while since I've played Inarus.

Ah! Excellent. Thanks!

(It didn't come up in a search for me, for whatever reason.)

In that case: whether or not you gain orisons is dependent on which class you're using to grant yourself spells. If that class grants it as part of its standard spell progression, you have it. Technically the "at will" part of orisons or cantrips is a special class ability (which adepts don't have), but... meh, I don't care enough. If your caster class grants that I don't mind if you have it, too.

This is the crux of the question. For the 'Stargazer' PrC I would rather use charisma like on oracle and use the oracle spell list.

But my 'Memory' class is Shaman, which uses wisdom for it's spell list, which I think is less functional, at least it feels that way...

But I don't have a class with orisons unless we count Shaman, if we do that should I use the Shaman spell list and wisdom?

Also would anyone be offended if I use the same 'icon' for Navarre that I did for Usawoti? I don't care for most of the other 'bald buys'

1) then use oracle; also, oracle has orisons, so you do.
-1a) remember ranger has spells later, as well, unless you trade out by archetype
2) memory class is irrelevant as your specific shaman abilities aren't spells
3) I wouldn't mind at all!

Ugh, also, my internet is entirely gone right now. Again.

And Mort: no worries. I was unconscious when you wrote that. Sorry for not communicating such! But don't ever feel pressure from me. Even if I want you guys to post at any given moment, I never expect you guys to post at any given moment. I mean, life happens and you can't always get an update off. (Not that Inknow anything about that... cough-cough).

ok, read the in-game post, going to think about it while I cook supper.

Glad he can speak with Inarus, and would like to send word to the others: so your saying Inarus becomes 'Mr. Universe'?

I'm a little nervous that Yeye isn't mentioned in the narrative, but hopefully that doesn't mean anything.

: so your saying Inarus becomes 'Mr. Universe'?

>.>

<.<

... YES

I'm a little nervous that Yeye isn't mentioned in the narrative, but hopefully that doesn't mean anything.

Heh. >:)

I cant reply to anything because Usawoti hasn't been talking to me yet in game. No matter, I'm semi distracted at my BF's place anyway.

???

Hearing Inarus’ voice Usawoti smiles to himself. ’Yes my friend, I made it out. I am with the giants in the Kodar Mountains along the far northern border of the Storval Plateau. I swore to Yeye, that I'd do right by her, now my, our people. She wanted me to claim the title as Prince and lead them. Once I swore I was sent to this place that's what broke our connection. She also told me that if I swear this, after one week, I need you to fling this snow ball she gave me into a warm spring. She inferred that she would be able to join me. I Trust that it’s true. So tell me where did Iya-Iya and your children end up? In time I may try and visit her. Would you tell her where we are and that any of her or the Mephits or your children can visit or join us anytime. We will always be their friends.”

But regardless, feel free! I'm not putting any pressure on you! I'm mostly just establishing stuff.

Oh sorry. Later then. Currently distracted =) Oh wait. I can respond now.

so just as a question of in game possibilities, if the snowball doesn't somehow bring her back to life, since he has a strand of her hair that he's been wearing like a scarf, in theory Usawoti could have her raised from the dead, right...

Well, theoretically, you would need True Resurrection - the hair would only work as a focus for Resurrection if it had been part of the body at the time of death...

GM Tacticslion wrote:

The rest of this scene will be resolved after your conversations with Inarus.

That sounds like a 'big' "THE END"

"That's a BIG ending~!"

Oh sorry. Later then. Currently distracted =) Oh wait. I can respond now.

I'm serious about this: you're putting more pressure and expectation on yourself than I am. When you can, and no pressure.

Well, theoretically, you would need True Resurrection - the hair would only work as a focus for Resurrection if it had been part of the body at the time of death...

This.

There really isn't anything other than true resurrection (or wish) that you could use to bring someone back without a piece that was part of them when they died.

... and depending on the form of death, many of those might not work, either.