I have no particular preference on writing Edamm out of the story.
If the player was still around I might ask them to come back (while I normally don't like ghosting, this game was moving very slowly), but it seems the player is no longer on the boards.
Sorry so long, but you switched, in the time where I was not able to be online due to RL issues.
In answer to the questions:
Where do you hail from. Doesn't have to be specific, just a country/state/province will do.
Well, it looks like I am the odd one out so far. Edmonton AB, Canada. Spent 22 years in the service of the crown. Released due to an injury that precludes a lot of stuff now.
How long have y'all been playing Pathfinder/D&D? What edition did you start on?
Red / Blue box special a long time ago, when the earth was still cooling and the rules were still being worked out. (D & D Basic Set)
What would you like to see happen in this game?
A long and open epic that sees our characters develop into the hero’s that they can be.
How would you like your character to develop?
I can see my character being the swiss army dwarf, (Running joke in my FTF games was open door toss in dwarf, when noise stopped, open door to see what was left.)
I am usually pretty flexible in how I treat my characters, and how they develop. I don’t optimize too much. But I usually see what is needed before working to see if I can fill a gap, but currently trying to be a switch hitter. (And currently failing due to my horrid luck with the RNG on the site.
What are your expectations from me?
Occasionally push us, but be fair and open minded to different point of view.
I may not agree with decisions, but I will live with them, once they are made.
Bonus! What's your favorite movie/book/comic/tv series?
Oh, where to start; Firefly – Serenity – Agents of Shield – All of the Marvel movies – Honor Harrington series – David Drakes – Wheel of Time – Drizzet – and lots of others.
Morgrym and Wayland: How did the two of you meet?
We met when I was a caravan guard. I had left the backstory as pretty open, as the AP is to develop the storys of the characters, and not what was in the past.
Morgrym: I believe it was a divine vision that lead you to Sandpoint, yes? If it was, then what did you see? If not, then why Sandpoint as opposed to Magnimar?
It was not really a vision, it was just a desire to see more of the world. Where he left the caravan was a random decision, that occurred at sandpoint, while on route to Magnimar.
If Edamm's player is gone, then she might as well head out. You have an entire town to run, after all, and there's already a lot of moving parts.
One other point that I forgot to mention, it does not matter to me either way, if we have 5 or 6 in the party.
Thank you all for your answers and your patience. I'll be working on getting the game going again and on what's going to happen next.
I hope y'all enjoy this. I can already tell I'm going to have fun with all of y'all.
Now, back to my plotting. <Cue the dramatic thunder and lightning> Muahahaha! :P
And the game is going again. For the sake of everyone's sanity, the stuff you sold after coming out is already sold, we don't have to go through that again.
I hope y'all are having fun so far. I know I am.
I'll be moving the Rusty Dragon group to the Garrison tomorrow night unless I hear something different from y'all. I don't want y'all just waiting on Trig's scene to finish, and it's going to take a few more rounds to resolve I think.
Trig, thank you for being patient with me. I am building up to something with this. Like I said, I do hope you are having fun playing this out.
It's great to be getting this game moving. Thanks for taking over!
I do have some concerns about the adventure screwing us over for showing mercy, as I expressed in-character. We'll see what happens.
No problem. Thanks for letting me. I've been wanting to run something recently and this was a great opportunity to pick up a game with a good bunch of players.
As for showing mercy to Tsuto, can you elaborate? I'm not sure what you mean.
I mean that we accepted his surrender and brought him back alive.
It's probably not a big deal. Most likely Nualia got him out. It's just annoying that sparing his life got two other people killed.
Oh.
Um, not sure how to go about apologizing for that.
Like I said, probably not a big deal. I just hope it's not a pattern in the AP. The occasional complication from doing the right thing is to be expected.
We'll eventually track him down, Wayland will argue for just killing him this time, we will or won't do that, and we'll move on to the next part of the story.
I can tell you that in general, it won't be a pattern like this. I can't really tell you more without spoiling things, though.
In other news. I figured y'all have been sitting where it's warm while Trig shivers in the cold rain long enough. ;)
sorry for the delay in response. Lightning strike took out my power and internet, everthings good now will be responding soon.
No worries. Glad that everything's back aright now with you.
Question for the GM - are we of the appropriate level to tackle Thistletop?
Ours is not a super-optimized party. We could spend more time in the dungeon if we need to get the XP.
Well, there's a few options.
1) Go ahead and finish out the Glassworks Catacombs: This would get you to level 3, which is where the AP assumes you'll be when attacking Thistletop.
2) Go for Thistletop with no backup: This is a bit chancier since you're going to be more squishy than the AP assumes. It could be done with clever tactics though.
3) Get help, then go to Thistletop: This one would improve your chances and give me a chance to have you get to know one of the NPCs, which is a win in my book.
Keep in mind that these are not mutually exclusive. You could do 2, figure out you're in way over your heads, then do 1 then 3 just to make sure. There are some things that could help you in the Catacombs, and you'd definitely hit that milestone of level 3, so that may color your feelings.
Now, just to let you peak behind the curtain a bit, there are reasons to go down there and finish exploring, though those reasons might not be apparent immediately, or even in the next chapter.
That said, I'll run whatever y'all decide to do. As long as we're all having fun, then I'm doing my job.
And before I forget. I don't do XP. It's just extra bookkeeping and I'd rather focus on a fun story. Whether you hit Thistletop or the Catacombs, you'll be hitting level 3 after your next foray.
Going to give y'all a bit to sort this out in and out of character. Don't worry about getting stuck. I can promise that I won't let that happen. :)
Sorry, it's been a while since I've GM'd a game where I've had to lay out everything I expect or how I run things and I've realized that I've overlooked some things, specifically relating to combat.
Block initiative - Actions occur in the order of posts.
Post 1/day. I'm going to do my best to keep combat moving quickly, and to do that, I'm going to say that everyone posts once a day and I'll sort out what happens. This will probably lead to some actions getting invalidated by actions that come first, but I figure that:
1) combat is messy and chaotic
2) I can make sure that no action gets wasted.
With actual combats getting closer, I've started to think more and more about this, so this will change if it doesn't work out well. I've got a couple of other ideas that I think could work, but they need more baking time.
Just to give the gm a reminder, my schedule is 4 on 4 off. Means I can only effectively post 4 days and sometimes on my off days.
My home putter was viruses by the kid and have not been able to get it fixed. It fried the hard drive.
We can bot you during the days you are unavailable if we need to, right Morgrym?
Should be fairly straightforward at low levels.
Wayland's spells for the day are:
0: Disrupt Undead, Detect Magic, Light, Open/Close
1: Mage Armor, Burning Hands (DC 16), Feather Fall, True Strike (school)
He also has a Wand of True Strike now and a second set of bolas, so he can use his favorite low-level trick more often.
Sorry, Morgrym, I had forgotten about that.
Just a heads up. Power is out where I live thanks to Zeta. Power lines are down near where I live, so will probably not be able to post for a few days.
Stay safe, friend.
This is Trig's spell list
Spells (Concentration +4, CL 2)[+1 DC on language spells]
0th level spells (4) [DC 13]: Create Water, Guidance, Detect Magic, Light
1st level spells (3) [DC 14]: Bless, Produce Flame, Stone Shield [Detect Undead]
No worries there. :)
Everyone's alright. The worst of it is that an old live oak in my aunt's yard that me, my sister, and cousins used to play around is going to have to come down. It split during the storm after a transformer blew and took out the power. A massive limb took out the lines heading to my grandmother's and it's clear to see the tree's rotten through the middle. We knew it would have to come down sooner rather than later, but it's still sad to see.
Oh, and the lights are back on at my house, obviously. :D
I'll try to have a post up tonight, but I'm not 100% on my ability to write anything coherent this evening. It's tough running on only a couple of hours of sleep, vacation or no.
Morgrym morning routine unless noted.
Watch for the last part of the night.
Start fire (If applicable) for first thing in morning.
after 1st individual is woken up, start preparing spells.
After spell preparation, wash up, and join breakfast
After breakfast help wash up, then pack up, then help tear down camp.
Spells are on my profile, Any changes and use of them will be noted through strike through on the profile.
He does not sleep in armour, so his ask is that he be given a few moments prior to his shift to gear up.
Noted. Thanks Morgrym.
Something else I wanted to bring up. The AP as written takes place over a few months. I have been thinking about spacing things out more to allow for side adventures and pursuing downtime activities. I know Morgrym wants to craft things, and I'd like to give him and anyone else the time to do it in. It wouldn't add to the play time (Well, the side adventures would, but you'd have the choice of pursuing those, although I've been talking with Morgrym about crafting magical items and I like the idea of some of the more powerful items he can make needing special materials that would need you to go on an adventure, but that's just me and I'd like to hear your thoughts.) It's mostly about pacing and giving y'all time to pursue options that you'd not have the time for in the AP as written. As for the side adventures, well, I'm confident I can tie them back into the AP so they feel less like random quests you'd get in a video game.
All of that said, I really do hope you have been enjoying the game so far. I know my style is different from the previous GM's style, and sometimes I'm worried that I'm not doing a good job. If you aren't having fun, please be honest and tell me. I'd rather know and fix it than have you slogging through something you aren't enjoying.
I think that slowing the pacing down slightly from the AP would be appreciated.
This will allow us to get things like basilisk blood and so on. :)
On a more serious note, right now, CWI is only in discussion. My thoughts are to take it, but I can go without it.
Even if I do take it, I have agreed to bounce all items to be created off DM-Salsa, so he has the ability to veto anything like Gloves of heroism with eversharp daggers installed into each finger tip.
(yes, that was a request that I received in a FTF game)
As for the game, I am happy that it is going again, and even if styles are different, I think that we can work with that.
I am definitely happy that the game is going again, and different styles are no problem. I think you are doing a great job.
Spacing it out makes more sense story-wise -- PCs leveling from 1 to 17 in a few months always feels rather strange -- and Wayland might take some time to do some crafting. Scribing scrolls at least.
I am enjoying things so far. Keep up the good work.
I too am ok with spreading things out.
To echo the others, I am okay with changes, I am okay with spreading things out. In all honesty I am almost as new to the game as you are, so everythings gravy at this point to me. :)
Thanks. It's been a blast so far and I have ideas for each of you, though some will come sooner than others.
As for the map, er, sorry. I got a bit distracted and wound up working on this instead. I will have the map set up tomorrow.
Since this 'discussion' between Wayland and Trig is not a new thing, let me point out some things for the GM.
I totally understand why Trig's player made her the way she is. Adds depth.
For my part, I tend to make PCs where nobody ever has to ask "Why are they going on this adventure? Why don't they just cut and run?"
If it's Carrion Crown, they'll want to oppose the Whispering Way.
If it's Kingmaker, they'll want to build a kingdom.
And if it's Rise of the Runelords, they'll be curious about mysteries and Thassilonian ruins, and also want to defend Golarion against ancient threats re-emerging.
Most of my PCs are pretty easy to hook into following the plot. Maybe that aspect makes them kind of vanilla, but the intent is to make one less area where the GM has to fight with the players, and I'm okay with that.
Wayland is kind of like an Indiana Jones/Rick O'Connell/Malcolm Reynolds sort. He's motivated by curiosity or profit, but is willing to take on a world-threatening evil if he stumbles upon it because somebody has to. And like those guys, he doesn't go seeking crusades to wage in the name of Good, he's not above using underhanded tactics, and his self-interest does matter. Call it "Neutral with Good Tendencies." As he gets to find out what is going on, abandoning the mission just will not be an option.
I saw Trig's earlier post that the player hopes Trig can open up over time, and that was my rationale for Wayland asking Trig to admit that she actually wants to help the people of Sandpoint (and thinks the party can). It wasn't argument for the sake of argument, it was me offering an RP hook for Trig's player to take (or not) as they see fit.
Wayland himself has a past where he ran away rather than stand up and do the right thing. It took him time to admit that he can and should try to make a difference.
When I made Trig, I really just wanted to make a cantankerous healer type. Just a worrywort through and through. I know that it's a pain to fight against a PC for moving a plot forward though, so no worries about Trig going against the flow of the story or anything. Since she's started this journey, she does intend on finishing it. If only she knew this adventure was six books long, she might not want to be so stubborn.
Wayland did guess correctly in character, though. And a lot sooner than I had hoped. Anger and grump is how she staves off the Bleaching. She does already have a streak of white in her otherwise vibrant hair. As dangerous as it is, all this will probably be good for her in the long run.
And, once more: if Trig gets on nerves too much and needs to get toned down, let me know. I'm not here to ruin anyone's fun. I'm pretty polite irl so at the end of almost every post I look at it and go "I hope this isn't too much" and then post it anyway. It's a different change of pace from my usual characters.
I have to say, the interactions with Trig have helped me get a better handle on Wayland's personality. Having to keep making the case for doing this mission, when Wayland is not a noble paladin type. So I have had to ask why he cares. Grateful for that.
Perhaps Calin or Lazur or Morgrym will evolve into the leader/conscience of the party, but right now they probably look at the last two originals as this old bickering couple and wonder what they got themselves into!
I hope it is okay on my end as well. I want everybody to be having fun.
Y'all are fine. That was probably one the best done arguments between PCs I've seen. I wasn't worried about it and if I'm honest, a little intraparty friction can be a good thing and make things more interesting from a story telling standpoint, although it can also be a headache when things need to get done. But from what I've seen, I don't think that'll be a problem.
In short, y'all are good. I enjoyed it and I'll let you know if it's getting to be too much.
Hope y'all are enjoying the creepy dungeon. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to write things like this. :D
I realized that as I was writing the result of Lazur's rolls, that I don't know exactly what your characters know about Thassalon. I apologize for the flub, but going forward, I'd like to be sure that we're all on the same page. Since I'm the newbie here, why don't you tell me what your characters know about the ancient empire and we can go from there. I know that different groups have different ideas and I'll try to explain better once I know if I'll be letting a cat or three out of the bag.
The only thing Morgrym knows about them is nothing but what is relayed by party members and possibly some info passed on by the ancestors. So nothing really solid
Wayland has pretty good knowledge on this. The point of him having a notebook and done some research already is to give an explanation for his good Knowledge skills; if the scenario had particular facts behind a Knowledge check, he would know them if he made the check and not know them if he didn't.
I think that generally he knows that Thassilon was an ancient empire in the area that is now Varisia, ruled by seven powerful wizards (the Runelords), each associated with a school of magic. That it was contemporaneous with the Azlanti Empire. And that there are numerous Thassilonian ruins around.
Lazur has the scholar of the ancients trait so he know some about the Thassilonians. The problem is that the player doesn't know much except for what Wayland has said.
Okay, that helps.
The issue is that there certain facts that are fairly well known if you study the setting, but that aren't exactly known at the beginning of this adventure path. It's not the information behind the knowledge check that's the issue, but more that I didn't know how to frame that knowledge.
So, here's what I'm thinking of as what's generally understood at this time in the setting by scholars on the subject. Please let me know if you agree to this.
- The empire was ancient, contemporaneous with the Azlanti Empire. Both empires fell about four to five and a half millennia ago by most estimates, around the same time as the founding of Absolom. Some consider the current date for the founding of the city to be an error and that the great metropolis is significantly younger and the fall more recent.
- The rulers of Thassilon were great and powerful mages, each embodying one of the Virtues of Rule, references to the virtues being one of the few things beyond the ruins that have made it to the present.
- Some cataclysm happened around the time both the Azlanti and Thassalonian empires fell.
-Brodent Quink was once a widely regarded scholar of Thassilonian history and culture, but a few years ago, his theories changed radically and flew into the face of what is widely accepted. He moved to Sandpoint to, supposedly, find proof of his theories that the rulers of Thassilon and Azlant were not so virtuous as many believe. The less charitable say he went to the small town to be closer to Habe's Sanitarium for when senility well and truly settles in.
I know this doesn't jive with the lore, but then again, Thassilon is about as mysterious as the Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age Collapse were. (I think more recent evidence has pointed to them being mercenaries that were often employed by Egypt that lived on Africa's Mediterranean Coast.)
Basically, no one, in game, really has much of a clue about what really happened.
Trig doesn't have any knowledge of Thassilon, but she is willing to learn the language since it's popping up.
Probably smart. ;)
I'd like to get some feedback from the others before we proceed, but I've held up the game long enough. Unless anyone has strong objections to what I've posted above, we'll be rolling with that from here on out.
Post coming in, eating supper and catching up on other things.
So you would rather that we don't know about Earthfall? Okay.
Weeeeeell...
Maybe its one of those things that scholars believe may have been hyperbolized?
Honestly, a hit like that on earth would have lead to the worst mass extinction in history. I think I'm okay with most scholars scoffing at the idea of how bad the stories make it out to be and acknowledging that it did happen.
Really, that's part of the problem of running this AP. There's so much that was, apparently, not known that only few years later had become common knowledge even beyond scholarly circles that it's hard to separate what characters should and shouldn't know in a logical manner.
Of course, I'm tired and I've got some things to take care of in a few minutes for work. That isn't helping me to not ramble.
Like I said, if anyone has strong objections, I'm willing to work them out and find a solution.
I'm good with where we are going. I might accidentally say something my character doesn't know but I don't know what I know so to speak. :)
I am with Lazur. Cool with whatever you want to do, and if I say something that Wayland doesn't actually know, you can correct me.
Also agree with the others.
Cool! It looks like we're going south next. I'll have a post up momentarily.
Map has been updated.