EltonJ's Greyhawk Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master EltonJ

I wasn't commiting to the Necromancer, Elton said "one of" - there may be more...

There is eight. A fighter, a rogue, a necromancer, and five others.

"If you are expecting trouble, getting others who will help you survive it can only help. If they ARE going to help you survive it and not take advantage of opportunity. Knowing who is which is never easy."

"Mayhap a warrior might be enjoined to...join, given Nintos appears to have disappeared..."

Oops, not sure why i'm speaking IC as this is in Discussion...

@Naji - do you mind casting detect evil for any potential NPC's?

It is not prepared.

Spells Prepared:
0: DC 12
1 Detect Magic
2 Light
3 Stabilize

1: DC 13
D Feather Fall
1 Bless
2 Magic Weapon

Metagame-wise, I'd rather wait the day for the preparation before selecting any NPC's. I'd hate to hire any Kobort and Turuko types that plan on taking the party out after a few battles.

Sounds like a plan.

In the meantime, Akeirin is happy to be advised on adventuring gear he might buy to aid us with his 1gp and 7 sp...

Metagame-wise, I'd rather wait the day for the preparation before selecting any NPC's. I'd hate to hire any Kobort and Turuko types that plan on taking the party out after a few battles.

None of the NPCs' backgrounds were that evil.

I vote we take the masked lady and get out of the Keep!

Agreed. Sign her up and let's see what we can do.

Alright, am I missing a player? Is everyone leaving the inn with Third in tow?

The next morning, we mean, right?

Any adjustments anyone wants me to make to my advertised spell prep?

@Elton: I'm here!

Looks good Naji. All those channels and bits of luck!!!

At this point should we go back to recruiting a real player?

Have we lost Therion?

No, I am still here. Were you waiting for me?? I already gave my opinion about giving Third a full share of any treasure found. Was waiting to see if anyone else had a comment or anything.

At this point should we go back to recruiting a real player?

I find that agreeable.

Ok, it looks like we have 4 still. We can continue play and recruit a 5th in parallel. This way we might be able to build momentum to keep the game going?

Yep, we can still play and recruit one more player. Preferably a fighter.

Fine with recruiting another....

So far we have three candidates:
The Nine, Reidog Blessedstone, and ALLENDM. The Nine wants to submit a elven fighter, Reidog wants to submit a dwarven fighter, and AllenDM a paladin/fighter dedicated to Bahamut.

So those are the three so far.

Looks good. I don't think we need to hold an extended audition. Maybe give the 3 an opportunity to complete their submissions with a target date of some time soon?

ALLENDM is one of my other Greyhawk DMs. Super dedicated and has a good understanding of roleplay, rules and the campaign setting. But really, I'd be happy with all three added to the party - they all look like good Greyhawk characters...and given that my old 1e Grwyhawk games had parties of up to a dozen characters/henchmen it would be like old times - particularly if it was as deadly...

Hello all.

I will have my completed PC up tonight for Eltonj to review.
Fergus should be fun to run and a bit of challenge with his scores but I am looking forward to it.

Hello all.

I will have my completed PC up tonight for Eltonj to review.
Fergus should be fun to run and a bit of challenge with his scores but I am looking forward to the adventure with you.

Reidog is complete and ready for review.

Hello everyone glad to be a part of things. I was heavy into Living Greyhawk when that was a thing so long ago back in the army and glad to be back into it.

I'll have all the minor things wrapped up shortly, but should be good to go.

Well, it looks like the party will be getting a lot of use out of Inspire Courage at least.

Welcome all.

@EltonJ - Any thoughts on how to incorporate the new additions to the group? Do we need to retroactively update previous interactions?

Well, Reidog has already introduced himself. Just as you were about to leave the tavern with Third in tow, he brings himself to the forefront. So you need to react to that.

Eltonj,

I have completed most of Fergus' stats. I will get everything else squared away including all his gear by tomorrow. I took Alertness and Toughness as my two feats to offset the low scores and improve his ability to survive. If you see anything that needs to be tweaked please let me know. The two traits I selected are in line with his background and I will further develop it as we progress. My plan is to develop him as a sword and shield type...

AllenDM

Welcome Reidog, Fergus and Talenvere!

Thanks for taking us on, this seems like it could be a lot of fun!

Just to give my in-character posts a bit of context: I know that there is no competition for spots, but Reidog doesn't, and well.... 5 charisma.... If you dislike the character, I guess I'm doing a good job. :)

5 Charisma shouldn't be that hard to play. It just means that you are inept in social situations.

Sure, that's one way to do it. Disinterested taciturn silence is another (though hardly fun).

I had already planned to make Reidog loud and abrasive (though in a loveable way). The roll just took the loveable out of it.

Once everyone gets to know each other, maybe he'll warm up a bit.

I thought Charisma was more about imposing your will on others . . ..

A significantly low charisma can certainly include socially inept, but it really means less likely to convert others to his cause/position/opinion.

Each of the described personality traits are a mechanic that would make it less likely to convert others to...

I like to think of interesting ways to convert a set of numbers into a personality. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

@Elton - I have seen other DM's make a spoiler in the information in the header for the campaign, or failing that, in the campaign metatab, something like this:

so it is all ready to go, just need to finish the brackets to make the code work...

Reidog's entire purpose is to be the shield wall. Being up front next to Fergus, where we can position ourselves to keep the nasties away from the casters, especially as the only party member with darkvision (I think).

My suggestion for 2x2 is:
Reidog - Fergus
Akeirin - Therion
Naji - Jebeddo
Talenvere - Third

This protects the wizards while still giving them a view of the battlefield, keeps the buffers near the majority of the party, and allows the more maneuverable melee types to move around the sides once the situation is clear.

Reidog's entire purpose is to be the shield wall. Being up front next to Fergus, where we can position ourselves to keep the nasties away from the casters, especially as the only party member with darkvision (I think).

My suggestion for 2x2 is:
Reidog - Fergus
Akeirin - Therion
Naji - Jebeddo
Talenvere - Third

This protects the wizards while still giving them a view of the battlefield, keeps the buffers near the majority of the party, and allows the more maneuverable melee types to move around the sides once the situation is clear.

I'm ok with this. We should probably declare a single-file order as well. Dungeons are notorious for having 5' wide hallways and such. Do we just translate the above to that?

(1) Reidog
(2) Fergus
(3) Akeirin
(4) Therion
(5) Naji
(6) Jebeddo
(7) Talenvers
(8) Third

*Jebeddo also has darkvision.

Oh, that all looks fine to me...

As a side note, I have the tactician ability intercept charge. When an enemy charges one of you fine folk as an immediate action I can move up to my speed toward any square in the path of the charge. If I end my movement in the path of the charge, the opponent must stop when it becomes adjacent to me and then attack me instead of your ally. Your movement from using this feat counts toward my movement on my next turn.

So being the rear guard is fine :)

That looks good to me.

Alright, order is decided, we can proceed.

Are we following strict initiative order, or will we be using block initiative?

FYI: Here is a sample combat block that I like to use in my games (where I use block initiative). I find that it helps players to understand what is happening and whose turn is next.

Happy to play with any system you choose.

Round 1
BOLD may act

Reillana -9
Squint/Ulyi
Celia -3
Barkot -4
Paeral -15 Needs a Fort save
Grey -8
Ayala
Orange

Ehrm, how exactly was Initiative determined? I'd be happy with just one set of rolls!

Also: bhut! Awesome, haven't seen them for like, 30 years...

Are we following strict initiative order, or will we be using block initiative?

FYI: Here is a sample combat block that I like to use in my games (where I use block initiative). I find that it helps players to understand what is happening and whose turn is next.

Happy to play with any system you choose.

Round 1
BOLD may act

Reillana -9
Squint/Ulyi
Celia -3
Barkot -4
Paeral -15 Needs a Fort save
Grey -8
Ayala
Orange

I would like to use an initiative that will allow for those who will post to post. If block initiative does that, so be it.

I really have no idea what is going on with the Initiative rolls. Why does Fergus have two scores for different rounds?

Surprise round. Everyone who is surprised don't act.

The bhut rapidly transformed and took everyone by surprise. We then rolled initiative for the next round.

The initial problem was that initiative was rolled twice. Jebeddo wanted to help out, so he rolled initiative for everyone and everyone got substantial better rolls by him.

I put the results together so that everyone would have the good rolls from Jebeddo's initiative count and my initiative count.

So Fergus really does have 20 init.