Lloyd Jackson's Untitled Campaign

Game Master Lloyd Jackson

*Ahem*: I may have engaged in a highly-manly, certainly low-pitched, excited (in the masculine sense) "nerd squee" at the introduction of the,

... but am quite disturbed at about the presence of the,

... but mostly, it's a nerd-squee. Uh, I mean, manly grunt of appreciation in manliness. Like a man.

>.>
<.<
>.<

Totally manly. #deepvoice

It all depends on
a) how far in the timeline we are
b) how many of the books you have read
c) How much the GM has changed

I have finished Island in the Sea of Time (excellent), and am halfway through Dies the Fire (really compelling so far). I know - here's my nerd card. I only started reading them due to the GM's suggestions... and this game! I am solidly enthused, but reading is really slow while playing this game, GMing another, prepping for a third, and taking care of a toddler. :D

So. Many. Words.

Pavo, thank you very much. Descriptions are what take me the longest. I can bang out a technical paper reasonably fast, but creative writing isn't my strong point, which part of the reason I got into PbP. So, if they're looking good to you, it makes my day.

You were on the north-western edge of the city of Vallejo. The area you went through is an industrial park. The castle is on the cultivated ridge between Napa and Sonoma valleys where they come down to meet the bay, a bit south-west of the city of Napa. There isn't a town there right now in RL. Please use your experience to help describe things. I've visited the bay area frequently, but my experience is all along the coast, not wine country. Also, I know nothing about wine, which is an important thing locally, so if I say they are drinking *wine*, feel free to have Pavo tell us what it actually is.

Mina, SF is a bit cooler than LA, but you should have a sense for the general landscape, use it.

Staveon, glad to provide impetus for squeeing, of whatever kind. The game will undoubtably provide some spoilers to the books. That is unavoidable. However, it should be interesting for you to try and parse out hints from the game as to what happens in the book. Also, Athene's spoiler is a spoiler.

Athene, very true. Mostly faithful to the books, but several decades on from Dies the Fire.

Also, if anyone feels like wall-of-text monologues/rant, verbal or internal, go right ahead. Reading your responses is a lot of the entertainment for me.

I'm perfectly okay with spoilers. Dump 'em on me like confetti! They don't spoil things for me, despite the name. :D

Sorry busy day , not much time to look at message boards in the office today

Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry, Athene! Thanks for the heads-up -(ninja'd, uh, new term, quick)- update!

Uh... I never posted this before, somehow. Oops.

*Ahem* SQEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!*Ahem*
Okay, yeah. I just Sqeed myself a little.

He points at the mark. "Bloodstone Swords," he explains; then, at him self, "Staveon. Stay-vee-ohn. Bey-Rystar Staveon Takahiko." he names himself - just in case, somewhere, all that old weird nobility stuff carried through time somehow.

I need to clarify this!

Mina pointed out that this looks kind of like Staveon is presuming time-travel.

Though in retrospect, I can totally see how it comes off that way, he is not.

By "carried through time" I meant that it may have had some kind of ancient roots that are recognized in the present.

He was using his legally granted titles "Bey" ("Lord" - the least of all noble titles available in Brevoy - just enough to say, "Hey, I'm not a commoner" - and, technically, entirely worthless as he has no people or land) and "Rystar" ("Knight" or the closest equivalent - the least of all kinds of "knights", who is a fighting man in service to a liege... save he has no liege... who is technically higher than a "Bey"... and that's about it).

He doesn't know where they are, but he figured it was possible, however unlikely, that those words might be similar to something used in this region, especially if they're somewhere exotic but "close" like Casmeron.

Old blood and old titles sometimes carry that way - the language has moved on, been entirely replaced by the "ancient" tongue that people currently use, but there are root words that are older still.

I don't think they'd carry through, necessarily - I don't know.

Heck, I don't even know what language Staveon is speaking when I type Latin phrases (and neither, in fact, does Staveon).

He's just kind of throwing anything out there that may stick.

No worries. Staveon. I'd say his Latin phrases are an archaic form of Taldan. The Taldan army of expansion that came to the River Kingdoms was a long time ago.

Oh, just in case anyone is wondering, I'm using Esperanto to represent English in game, since currently we're using English for Common(Taldan).

That makes sense!

After reading a bit, I was also wondering about Jistka?

It's actually a kind of Latin-expy already, utilizing Roman Numeral systems, and the alphabet that Taldane now uses.

The other options (that I could see) include Azlanti (effectively the "proto-Taldane" language) or Thassilonian, though the latter seems a bit "off", linguistically, to use something like Latin for.

(I originally chose Latin - without thinking of the implications in an Earth-world - because of its use by the Marines which, in my head-canon and by discussion, the Bloodstone Swords are partially - though very loosely - based off of.)

You... you rolled a natural 20 to tell them where babies come from.

EDIT: In... in stick figures.

-_-'

(I... I think they get it! :D)

Fornicating stick figure comic strips. That's definitely a pathfinder first, haha.

Still LOLing here ... :D

Excellent. Communication is being achieved

Captain Kirk would be proud.

I will be out of town for a wedding all weekend, so I won't be able to post again until Monday. Bot Pavo as needed.

Sorry it's been so hard, Therin! We understand, and try to get some rest at some point!

Thanks for letting us know, Pavo - that's great of you! Enjoy the wedding! Huzzah!

Oh I'm rested now. I'm just glad my shoulder went back into its socket. Hard to sleep like that.

So, GM, Staveon reminded me that we each get to start with two traits.

I looked them over and chose these two, although I'd like your feedback:

Eye for Plunder (+1 Perception, +1 Appraise, extra 50gp worth of trade goods)
Without a Past (+1 Bluff, +1 Linguistics, Linguistics now a class skill)

They both fit her story-wise, as a treasure-hunter and orphan.
For the trade goods, I just added five more freshwater pearls to the five she already carried.
For linguistics, I did not move any of her current skill points around, so, at present, she is still untrained in the skill, and would only get a +3 bonus to anything basic she might be allowed to make untrained.

The bonus to perception, appraise, and bluff could kick in now, or you could, at your option, apply it to my recent rolls, if it would help.

My main question is this:
When we eventually level up, I would likely put a skill point into linguistics, and learn English (or Esperanto?) as my new language.
Would this be helpful and neat, or would this be game-breaking?
Just as I purposely avoided the Comprehend Languages spell, I could happily purposely avoid Linguistics, if you would prefer it for the sake of game fun.
There were several other neat traits I was considering.
Let me know what you would prefer. :)

EDIT: Pavo, maybe you should draw some stick figures on their wedding card. ;)

Haha, Mina. Will do!

Apologies for missing things in my post guys. I've had to type up several of the entries without access to the website, then post when I have the chance, so I'm sure I missed somethings. Also, please do not be surprised or alarmed if I disappear for a day or two next week or the week after. It's finals again! Yay for term classes.

Pavo, have fun! Also, Athene was able to understand the greeting due to untrained linguistics check on an archaic racial language. If it isn't a racial language, you need to ranks in Linguistics to make the check. I think.

Mina, yes you do get two traits. Those two look fine, and fitting, to me. Class skill bonuses only apply if you have a rank in the skill. I think. As for leveling up, my thought was some or all of the party would put a rank in linguistics and learn English. That may change, and if it does I will give you heads up about it in advance. If you've seen 13th Warrior, I'm thinking the language barrier will be like that. There for the beginning, but removed later on. Speaking of which, I really like that movie.

Therin, have you consumed enough brains to unzombiefy? That's how it work right? Glad to hear you're doing better.

Thanks, DM.
Good luck on finals! :)

Yes Good luck with finals. I remember Exam season, horrible fortunately for me it was 20 years ago but still not a lot of fun.
I liked 13th warrior as well , still ahve it on DVD i think

Also note to be very polite to the two extremely dangerous people .

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* a few hours earlier *
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As they were walking through the ruins, Staveon thought about what Mina had said.

At last, he added, "Yes... but not like this."

At the blank looks, he adds, "Civilizations. They don't end like this. At least... if they do, it's really odd."

I have to admit, guys: I'm going to be making stuff up about canon starting... now. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

"I mean, okay, look. We've heard that Earthfall killed a bunch off, right? That's basic. Everyone knows it. Big caboom, people died. That makes sense. Mom was way into that sort of stuff, always going on about the secrets of the ancients and how Aroden (I think he was a god, or something - I never quite got that straight) brought back civilization or something. Anyway, but what about the other civilizations? They fade, sure, but you don't just... up and leave. That's what bothers me."

He sighs. "No... not just that. Okay, look, I don't know history, religion, or even civilization, when it comes to that, but I know military, I know engineering, and I know nobility. People don't do this." he gestured. "Nobles - true nobles - will hold onto what they have to their last breath. I mean, some of 'em, yeah, they're cowards, realists, or whatever, but unless they're dead... they'll come back. Gralton's a pretty clear example, actually: they're still talkin' 'bout taking back Gralt, even though it's been ages."

He looks around. "An then there's the people. People aren't very subtle, you know? We leave sign. Traces. War leave more of 'em."

He points. "This carriage? It's not only not possible, it's a waste. If these carriages were all stolen, I could understand why someone went to war with these people." he gestures around. "I could get that. But they're just sitting here, left for nothing but rot. What's more, there's no sign of warfare. That's my problem - there's no sign of anything. Civilizations fall, but they fall for a reason. It's like these people just... left or died. Or both. Therin, you said that the charcoal was old? How old? As old as these things?" he gestures to the buildings. "Older? Younger? I don't know my metallurgy enough to tell you how old these things are, but... engineering wise, they're not possible. At all. They shouldn't be standing, not because once they're there they'd fall, but you can't get them there. Showing me that these buildings exist... I don't know, it's like... like, say, Mina, you found out that someone could cast an oh-ree-sun and by so doing make themselves the greatest archmage. Oh wait... do you guys use catnips? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you use catnips. So, it's like saying that there's a catnip that turns you into an archmage. It... doesn't make sense."

The use of the word "catnips" and "catnip" is, in fact, on purpose, just so you readers know. Note that Staveon is not using them on purpose. Just me. :D

"Where did these people go? Why did they leave impossible marvels of engineering... pointless marvels of engineering at that! Look at this thing!" he points at the boxes on the railways. "It's... it's stupid! It's just dumb! The rails are clever, but who's going to move this? Are you just going to fart up Kurgess - pardon the expression, Strong One-" he mutters, before continuing,"-to ask him, 'Would you kindly?' any time you wanted to move these things? I mean... this city is worth a fortune in metal... a fortune that's worthless without the manpower, and wasted in the forms its all currently in. This is like the gross product of Avistan's and maybe even the whole Inner Sea's metal trade for years - maybe decades - just strewn across like it's nothing. That, to me argues magic... but if it's magic, it's magic that's big enough to overcome everything I learned about fighting magic. And that's... preposterous. It's like me telling you guys, 'No, see, I'm REALLY good with a blade, you guys, so now I can fly and fart gold. Because I'm good at swinging an arc of steel.' That's what bothers me: how could this happen?"

He looks at Mina. "You say we just have to deal with the survivors... but what are the survivors? Who are they? Are they us? What brought us here? Is it related to what caused this? My problem with this nonsense isn't just that people died - though that's horrible in it's own way - it's also (among other things) that it applies just as much to us, here, now. What if what happened here comes for us?" he asks, staring at the corners and metal everywhere. "All this steel... worthless. I don't like something coming at me that I don't have the chance to fight." he finishes.

He continues walking in silence until they see the guards.

Mina nods at Pavo in agreement, "Yeah. He needs a drink."

Yeah im all good now dm...thanks. no brains required...just sleep and coffee. Oh and tylenol. Downpoint of playing football in school....old injuries when you get older.

"Abandoned cities does not mean everyone is dead, we left to avoid the Earthfall and our lands and cities lay abandoned for millenia but we still lived and returned. You are right though this is different, these cities are wrong , they were not sacked or burned or looted there is too much left , nor were they abandoned. Instead the people seem to have died , oh there was some fighting and there have been fires but there is no sign of war. It looks like everything just fell apart perhaps some sort of mass insanity but the people died here in fear and despair. You can feel it or at least I can feel it it is like their spirits are still hear watching us.
I really do not like these cities it is like walking in someone's tomb."

"Exactly!" Staveon exclaims, glad someone else can see exactly what's... wrong with the whole thing.

I wanted to say that so much about this encounter has made me not cease to squee, and not cease to want to have already read all the Stirling books... I want to know when and why those half-elves start coming up (though I know the gist of where the world gets the idea from, obviously...) It was awesome to read "A-listo" and know (more or less) what that means ("A-List" - as I explained it to Lady Firedove, kind of like the Marines of the Bear Killers). Super-curious how far in the "future" from Dies the Fire this is taking place. Very curious. For the record, I'm around the part where the Bear Killers help teach the townsfolk how to deal with Duke Ironrod. I have to say, Mike's handling of the thing with Juniper and Signore, while understandable, was entirely a jerk move. Ah, well. Flawed is how heroes (and everyone) are (even and especially if they don't want to be heroes). :)

I am up to the first 8 chapters of the next unpublished book, and finding several more amusing spoilers. I have a guess as to the origin of the half elves but am probably wrong.
I will leave you to discover the interesting changes to come, in the next 8 (by the time you finish them possibly 9(Golden Princess is due out later this year))books. I was mildly annoyed to have caught up with the author as I was getting through them quite quickly until I had to wait for the next book to be written.
I also have a pretty good idea of how far in advance of dies the fire we are based on who we have seen wondering around but that just gives a very broad date range. I am also waiting to be caught out by something completely different (the half elves could be it)

Just wanted to reiterate that Pavo can also speak Elven.

Sweet!
I hope our GM is doing okay...
He's probably been studying like crazy for finals.
Good luck, GM!

Personally, I'm INSANELY curious who "the Grey Knight" is and why we went beyond his door...

Off hand I can think of nothing sensible.
I can think of one Knight in Grey armour but that knight is unlikely to be a mystic.
There is also a book reference to a Grey eyed one as a goddess but that is reaching and I only remember it because it was mentioned in a chapter I read last week
I can think of a candidate from Golarions gods but Iomedea is too young too have created an Azlanti artifact. She would fit quite well into some of the cultural faiths.

Exam finals are no fun for anyone

Yeah, the exam finals are... painful. Here's hoping things go smoothly, GM!

Unrelated: the Bear Killers: SO. DAGGUM. AWESOME.
In your face, Ironrod. (Literally. With a steel-tipped boot.)
Also: the Makenzies v. Bear Killers is a great example of the caster/martial disparity. Mike: level three or four ranger. Juniper: level two Witch. Both are equal in battle. (Not really, but it's kind of amusing.)

That took longer than expected. Endless cans of chili! The horror!

Athene, I know the feeling. The further this goes, the further it's going to get from the books and when Golden Princess comes out I just know I'm going to find all sorts of goodies in there that I wish I'd been able to play with.

Pavo, yep. See PM.

Mina, less studying and more working this week actually. Unexpected deliveries to the lab, and I am Emergency Minion 1, so I got unexpected hours, yay and boo. That's actually my job title. As given by supreme-overlord-for-life, or until he graduates or the Mistress of all labs decides otherwise, Dan.

Staveon, yes. Yes they are.

About the Gray Knight, I'm glad people are intrigued, and please keep speculating, about this or anything else. The Gray Knight plays an important role in what is happening in the background. Depending on how the campaign goes, it* may even be a figure that features prominently in your adventures.

*it. I HATE that english doesn't have an ungendered singular pro-noun! It is for things not people and #$#%#%@& *mumble mumble growl*

I presume you have seen
http://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/
The first 8 chapters of the Golden Princess are there and a new one gets added at the start of each month, probably that will continue until the book comes out in October

*it. I HATE that english doesn't have an ungendered singular pro-noun! It is for things not people and #$#%#%@& *mumble mumble growl*

Yes. That. Exactly. I wholeheartedly agree, and have been saying this for years.

Welcome back. :)

Lady Firedove - Mina - and I are going to be visiting family for the next six days. We should still be able to post each day, but fair warning that we probably won't be as prolific as normal. :)

EDIT: Also, Dies the Fire is a great book. And finished, by me. Anyone know what the significance of the name "Artos" is? Clearly war of some sort, but I'm curious if you've got more specifics.

EDIT: Also, Dies the Fire is a great book. And finished, by me. Anyone know what the significance of the name "Artos" is? Clearly war of some sort, but I'm curious if you've got more specifics.

Yes I do. However it is the key to the plot of books 4+ and will be clear by the end of book 3

Awesome! Good to know! That makes sense, though I had been guessing it was the name of one of their war gods, given the events surrounding his mother's pregnancy and birth. Cool! Thanks!

Also, though I didn't say it at the time: " Paratroopers"

Priceless.

Now that's something which will appeal to Athene

Another great moment:

"Someone's come up with this before?"

"... yeah, Mike: someone's come up with this before."

It's made all the better for the extreme amount of competence Havel normally evinces.

^About fiefs and feudalism, for the curious. ^~^

'Strategic Hamlets' I believe

Hahah, yeah! The look of disappointment on his face was so... I dunno, can "cute" be a word applied to Lord Bear? "Funny", I suppose works. :D