[RetroCon] Year of the Shadow Lodge - GM Thread (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

Use this thread for all discussion, questions, etc.

Howdy, all! This is my first time GMing a special in PBP, though I've GMed specials in person and GMed regular scenarios in PBP. I'm looking forward to this one!

For those of you new to GMing Multi-Table Specials, I would highly recommend dotting into Redelia's MTS GM Training where we will have a discussion on the ins and outs of GMing multi-table specials, both in general and in PbP specifically (I've also linked it at the top of this page).

Hello, I am your friendly backup GM!

Hmm

Hi everyone. First time special GM here, although I have played in several, including this one.

Welcome! Don't be afraid to ask questions here as they pop up. Having a space like this is one the big advantages to running a special in Play-by-Post; you don't have a chance to confer with your fellow GMs in the midst of a Face-to-Face MTS.

Hi GM Dennis. I have begun reading the scenario and pre-formatting posts to the extent that I can. On pages 5 and 6 there are a few "Table GM's have X minutes" These are short. I assume that these are for settling players, laying out the minis on the map etc in F2F games. Will you give us some time to do that, or just gloss over and incorporate that into the play time as such?

Where longer times are given for full encounters etc I get it, but why allocate 1, 5 or 10 minutes?

Yeah, we will not time that stuff out like that. The Beginning The Adventure stuff will mostly be done before hand as you muster your table. I will roll all of that overseer text on page 6 into one post; I'm not sure why it's written the way it is (I haven't played this one F2F).

This does bring up an important note, though: for anyone that is new, the scale for PbP is 1 day for every 6 minutes of game time, or thereabouts (so those 10 minute sections will likely be two days). I'll write out a schedule prior to the event and post it for you, so you'll know roughly how long you'll have for each section ahead of time.

If you have not yet done so, please create your table and begin mustering your players. Then, please send me a link to your table.

Hello!!

I am happy to GMing this game!

Hi Dennis - Someone how I've only just seen your email about this thread now. Not sure what happened there. You can see a link to my gameplay thread on the Retrocon signup sheet.

Hi folks! The timeline is coming soon, I promise. In the meantime, now is the time to finish your mustering. If any of your players have not checked in, please message them and get them to do so.

I'm going to post the Overseer 'Starting the Adventure' post in the next day or so. Please be ready to follow that up with the first GM post, in which the players meet Osprey, shortly afterward. Feel free to roleplay any questions the players have for Osprey between then and the 14th.

You should each have seen a post from me appear in your Gameplay thread (except the Spanish table - check your email). If there are any problems, or if I did something wrong on your forum, please let me know. Between now and Monday, please run the introduction with Osprey and describe the Irorium, while we finish mustering. I will launch Act 1 on Monday (January 14th).

PS. Expect to see the success reporting form tomorrow evening.

Hey wonderful GMs, HERE is the success reporting form (also linked at the top of the page, and coming soon to my tagline). You will use this for all reportable conditions and events. Please take a few moments now to look over it and make sure everything is clear. If you have any questions, or if anything looks off, please let me know.

Where have we cry "Victory!" in act one?

(Yes, it is not important ... but only for knowing if we use discussion or nothing)

Backup GM Worg reporting in.

Where have we cry "Victory!" in act one?

(Yes, it is not important ... but only for knowing if we use discussion or nothing)

Since we don't have a player-facing forum where players from other tables will see it, I'd say either post it here or just ignore that part.

So you all know, I'm planning to narrate through the Knowledge (history) and Perception checks at the beginning of page 7, combining the Overseer box text before and after them. There's no consequence for success or failure on those checks, and it doesn't seem worth pausing for a day for them. I'll prompt the knowledge (history) check in my post.

If anyone feels strongly that we should do it differently I'm open to discussion.

With the Dragon attack? Tuesday?

OK for me.

Hey, just to throw it out there now, I will be at a con President's Day weekend and I should probably have a backup GM.

That's February 15th-18th. Backups, who can jump on this one?

On that note, HERE is the Backup Calendar (also linked at the top). GMs, after you have arranged with one of our backups, please put your name on the calendar marking off those days in the appropriate column.

I can back up in the Morning, midday, and late evening with some posts for Kate's table on these days.
Note; This is Con of the North time for at least two of us. Posting time will be limited, but available.

I know I have seen it, but cannot find it again. Where was the timeline?

Today we have concluding Act 1 > Beginning of Act 2?

Timeline:

Mustering - Starting the Adventure
January 14th - Act 1 beginning > The Passion (1 day for questions)
January 15th - Fanfare > Dragon attack (Overseer will prompt knowledge checks in between)
January 20th - Concluding Act 1 > Beginning of Act 2
January 25th - Concluding Act 2 > C1 (2 days to devise and report plan)
January 27th - Overseer summarizes results of C1 > C2 Open
January 30th - Conclude Act 3 > D1-D6 Open
February 7th (or when all groups reach D7; date approximate) - D7 Open
February 10th (3 days after D7 opens, or when artifact is shut down; date approximate) - D8 Open > Final Encounter
February 20th (when final condition is reached; date approximate) - Conclusion

Thanks you. I though we must be getting close.

Yes, I'll be posting the transition shortly. Remember that I'm operating in US Pacific time, so my day is later than many of you.

Are the PCs supposed to have any time to recuperate between the end of Act I and the start of Act II or not?

The way the scenario is presented, it seems like the assumption is that the PCs immediately run towards the lodge, but it is not explicit. I don't want to deny the PCs the ability to heal if that is not what is intended.

I told my table they could heal in between. I don't see a reason they can't take a couple of rounds to heal up before starting toward the Lodge.

Yeah, they're running across Absalom from the Irorium to the Grand Lodge. The market is some nebulous distance between the two. You can use your own judgement how many minutes away it is, but it seems reasonable they would have time to heal.

My table will likely finish the encounter today or tomorrow. It is a 1-2 table so things go down fast. How much latitude do I have in filling time? Do I throw more goblins at them or do we sit and wait?

If they subdue Melyra, then you could spend some time role-playing the interrogation. If they kill her, then use your judgement for your table. More goblins are fine, but don't do anything to put them in serious jeopardy or make them use significant resources (which can be rough on 1st level PCs in an MTS anyway).

Hey everyone, please let me know when your table finishes the current section. If everyone finishes before 5 days is up then we'll move on early.

My table just finished.

My table also just finished.

My table completed it.

Alright folks, we're on to area C. In person, I would be running around between tables coordinating as you work together to get the gate open and/or get everyone past it. After some consultation with the overseer from the last run of this special in PbP, we're going to do it a little differently. I would like each of you to work out with your table how they are going to contribute to getting everyone to the other side. That could be assisting with strength checks, flying lower-level Pathfinders over, whatever they want to do to help. When they have decided, please enter their contribution into the success reporting form. Once I have everyone's contribution, I'll summarize them into a post then move us on. By the schedule we have two days to complete this.

Feel free to run this how you'd like, be it tactically, theater of the mind, or an OOC planning session. The goal is for your table to find a way to contribute to the goal of getting the mass of assembled Pathfinders to the other side of the gate.

Nice. I like what you're doing here, Dennis!

Hmm

Can I post the overseer text to give my players context and an idea of what is going on?

Absolutely.

I have one player at my 8-9 table claiming they have a way to pull off a 60 Disable Device with a take 10. Waiting for them to explain how they get there before I fill out the report.

That's awesome.

Yup, it's legit. He can get to a +50 Disable Device and has the ability to take 10 when rushed and can open a lock in one-quarter the normal time.

My group is going to climb (one of them, with spiderclimb). The others, with ropes (DC 5)

Combat at C2 finished

Done with C2 here also

Great. We're scheduled to move on tomorrow. I'll take a look this evening and see how the rest of the tables are doing. If everyone is done by then I'll move us on before i go to sleep tonight (otherwise it will be in the morning).

Subtier 8-9 table reporting in - we're also done C2. I've gotta say, the encounters thus far have been a cinch. I hope my table decides to take on the big ol' dragon. :)

The perils of running a season 2 scenario with season 10 characters. I think the next section is where it should start getting interesting.