The Age of Progress; A Kingmaker Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

I botched my movement. I was supposed to be one square down of where I left myself. I read the post at work and was like 'but... why would the bees fly around him..? Are they remote controlled?'

As per your earlier discussion post GM, is headway actually being made re diplomacy or is it pointless?

I'm not going to tell you that OOC. You have to use your own judgment.

It may take more than one round of doing this to end hostilities, but I will make clear (if there is a success or if you are facing a foe that can be talked down) that headway is being made.

EDIT

Nvm I get it, following that quote, we are unable to talk them down as its still unclear.

Hmm that complicates things a little bit now.

Part of the issue might just be that only two of us have rolled decent diplomacy checks. Of course, in character, we might not be able to tell that.

I'm also not sure if there's enough left of Varn to talk with. The other two are still capable of complete sentences, but he doesn't seem to have many brain cells left.

I agree, it could just be a high DC. I'd be tempted for some of us to roll SM, but I suspect that might cost us another round of actions which is kinda too long at this point.

OOC I'm a little surprised that Salazar is skilled enough in Knowledge Planes to (mis)identify us as demons, and still think we are still likely demons after we spend a round trying to talk them round, while casting good aligned spells like Burst of Radiance. I certainly don't expect them to immediately take us at our word, but Varn is still going for an immediate kill (and his companions seem to be doing the same). The fact that it hasn't caused any change in tactics is a little discouraging.

If you dont have the ranks in Spellcraft to identify enemy spellcasting, why do you assume enemy spellcasters do? ;)

Small metagame moment: Lyrudrada actually doesn't have any ranks in K. Planes. When she says "demons" she doesn't literally mean chaotic evil outsiders from the Abyss. She means 'evil creature that I am opposed to'.

Besides, its not like evil creatures can't parley, or lie, or even cast [good]-subtype spells. To be honest, they just believe that you are lying and trying to get them to stop attacking so you can turn around and get an advantage.

And yeah- talking down an opponent who you have already attacked is a very high DC. The base DC for Call Truce, FYI, is 30+Cha mod.

Why aren't they using diplomacy on us. SHe sent her bees after Aisha, first. :|

They could also be mentally affected by what's been done to them, remember. While they *seem* semi-rational (except for Varn), they might still have some sort of enchantment effect on them.

We will teach them the error of their violent ways by force.

Yeah, that's what Aisha suggested to Lyon and Lyon said at the start of the fight. Being called demons made Aisha think they were seeing fake things. But gm pointed out ooc that that wasn't literal :p, so it's less certain. Even still, I'm pretty much 100% sure they've been at least charmed, if not additional stuff screwing with them.

Well, they may be seeing fake things. I just wanted to mention that it's not literally exactly canonical DEMONS that they're calling you.

Mostly to mention that, since most of the words like that have been TAKEN, sometimes people will use words colloquially that have a meaning in-world but they don't literally mean the in-world definition. For example, someone might call an evil old lady a 'hag' but not mean a literal hag. Or someone might call a person who is being tricky a 'little devil' and not literally mean a devil.

If you dont have the ranks in Spellcraft to identify enemy spellcasting, why do you assume enemy spellcasters do? ;)

Fair. Ishana did tell her what the spell she cast was though. In addition Lyrudrada could make a knowledge check to identify said spell like Ishana did.

The OOC answer is probably that Lyrudrada doesn't give enough of a damn to try but it does make it almost impossible really to reason with them.

Agreeing with Lyon, that I think diplomacy as an option is off the table since Varn, Thorn, and Salazar are going to repeatably attack even after we have ceased hostilities and are trying to negotiate with them.

Yeah, people aren't going to listen to your overtures of Diplomacy while you are currently attacking them with offensive magic.

Hey, we stopped attacking, the moment they detected as good aligned :P

Who used detect good on them?

Change to *not evil

They could be CN/LN/TN and still avoid being harmed by Burst of Radiance.

I know it won't change this roll but Lyon has +2 on saves from Chaotic characters due to her protection if that applies vs her.

She actually only gets +1 from that, since it's resistance and it doesn't stack with the resistance bonus that she already has, but thanks for reminding me!

15 -> 16 doesn't change the result though, sorry.

Quick, Surge!

So... what are we going to do if the party gets wiped out?

Depends on what you guys want, but I do have ideas for TPKs. If it comes about, we can discuss it.

Specifically: if there is a partial TPK, well, you just have to roll new characters or recover the bodies and get resurrections. If there is a full TPK, then you can either wake up in the Boneyard, do an adventure there and then return as duskwalkers; or we can start again in a different location within the Stolen Lands. The campaign was originally designed to be modular, so i have several other ideas for alternate starts.

I would prefer not to get too into it unless it actually happens, just be aware there are definite and prepared options for you to choose between, should the unforeseen happen.

Marcus's heal brought Lyon back to grazed.

Does Aisha have to rest in order to recover her Nanite Healing?

Whoops! Totally missed this - Yes, I think she should have to rest, just like the rest of her resources.

- - -

Also, I've been working on a revised (simplified? Changed?) version of the Kingdom-Building rules. Basically, instead of worrying about Economy rolls generating BP to spend on buildings to give yourself a bonus on Economy, you get a number of Developments according to the size of your kingdom each turn. You can spend these Developments on buildings, terrain improvements (highways, mines, etc) or on new settlements.

If you don't have a certain kind of building, you can't take advantage of the thing that building would do: for example, with no Smithy, you can't purchase forged metal items.

You can build a road to another city and then a Trade Shop in your city and then import goods to make up for things you cannot produce yourself, but imported goods have a price markup.

If you don't have a certain improvement to take advantage of a certain resource, you can't make things out of that resources: for example, with no Quarry, your structures are all made out of wood.

Is there anything that you guys would like me to include in the list of possible Developments? I'm already working on everything that's already there in the Kingdom-building rules, but is there anything that isn't there that you guys would like to be able to build?

I'm basically looking for something that allows you to guide the development of your nation without worrying about resource management ruining the game and also without having to do a ton of back-and-forth rolling dice and looking up results. I just want to do something sensible, like... If you want somewhere to store prisoners, you build a Prison.

In what ways does this change impact the 'Legendary Buildings' option listed in Character Codex?

Otherwise... Iunno. I haven't really looked into kingdom building that much. I vaguely know that I need to be good at stat+skill to be good at something. :)

Would we adapt existing buildings in relation to the new technologies becoming more available, or would we need to build new specific buildings to take advantage of this?

Oh, all of the "legendary" mythic buildings would still be the same level of available.

Basically, I'm removing most of the mechanics and replacing them with hard-line narrative meanings. So like, if you don't have a Barracks, you can't have an army.

Normally, kingdom building has a "Control DC", three saving throws, the leadership roles all grant a bonus, etc. etc. When problems for the kingdom come up, you have to roll one of the kingdom's saving throws vs. the control DC to solve the problem.

Instead, I'm going to assign a few skills to each leadership role. There are no +bonuses to anything, but if an NPC leader has to solve a problem, they do it through a skill check. If a PC leader has to solve a problem, they do it through RP.

Depending on which technologies you mean specifically, that answer might be different, but in general, producing higher-technology things will probably require an upgrade to an existing building. Hey! that gives me an idea... FACTORY.

For example, you might be able to build a pharamaceutical lab once you have a hospital.

I provided a link to the WIP-page that contains the rules if you would like to take a look at it to get an idea. I'm nearly done with all of the "base" buildings. Let me know if you have any problems with it.

Sounds interesting to me. Normally I like complicated resource management, but it's less than ideal for a play-by-post.

Yeah, Factory was just one example that I'm going with. The default list is excellent, but misses out the modern buildings.

Maybe you have a 'Sky Pier' for airships (if they become a thing). Maybe you have a railway (if trains become a thing). Maybe you have clockwork facilities, or power plants for generating technological stuff.

I'm not saying all of the above needs to be added, just mentioning that the standard building list is excellent and only lacks the higher technology buildings that would need to be added, or be treated as upgrades to existing buildings as per your preference GM

Instead, I'm going to assign a few skills to each leadership role. There are no +bonuses to anything, but if an NPC leader has to solve a problem, they do it through a skill check. If a PC leader has to solve a problem, they do it through RP.

I really, really like this idea.

Skimmed through the document, everything looks pretty exciting, roles, kingdom building, setting up ministers, trade, diplomacy etc etc. Definitely lots of things to look forward to.

GM, would it be ok adding to the list of buildings (or including it under another more appropriate building), a art gallery? Seems culturally relevant. Technically it might come under Exotic Artisan I guess, or Museum but it would be nice to have an art gallery somewhere, especially with the background skills options we have.

Art Gallery is an excellent addition, thank you. So is Power Plant. I am already adding Train Station, which I forgot the first time around.

Airport is a little trickier, but I think you're more likely to see actual airplanes than you are to see fantasy airships.

I think clockwork could fall under Exotic Artisan easily, though.

I'm specifically asking if there's anything that you would like to see included, so wanting to see Art Gallery is a good note.

Outside of standard defense stuff like watch towers/keeps, I second a clock-tower for sniping reasons. Depending on how advanced tech is we might want things like a bathhouse and maybe a market?

Alright: I added Art Gallery, Gardens, Bathhouse, Courthouse, Train Station, Printing House, Goblin Warren, Clock Tower, and Power Plant. I also belatedly added Farm under Terrain improvements.

I'm filling out the missing Limited Developments and I need to do all of the Famed developments.

Need Centaur Longhouses to research our +intelligence mount upgrade.

So. I'm really enjoying all the 'teenage adventurer angst and drama'... like, I really dig that the party isn't cohesive pretty much at all, because they're all strong personalities with very strong opinions on right v. wrong and very certain that they are right.

BUUUUT, on the flip side of that, I wanted to check in and make sure that all of the drama is isolated to the characters, and not the players. Because we actually have a pretty good crew of players, and I wanted to check that no one was taking things personally that 'the patrol died because of you' v. 'people died because you were gone' sentiments were simply in character ones.

I'm good. The characters I'm playing isn't a nice person. I expected him to rub people the wrong way. Any conflicts are purely in character.

I think it's unfortunate that a lot of conflicts have been exaggerated by players not having a full understanding of the situation. The size of the fort, the fact that the caravan decided to spread out through the empty town when they made camp rather than gather together for safety, and how much time could be saved by leaving at night are all good examples of stuff I think the players didn't all have a clear picture of.

I suspect decisions would have been made differently if the situation had not been misunderstood. Since we can't retcon, player misunderstanding has to translate to in character mistakes.

I agree that in-character fights are totally fine unless they are fueled by real out-of-game resentment. If any of you ever feel that way, please bring it up!

Also, we're on 800 posts. Bronze star to me, and a belated bronze star to Ishana. We're almost to a thousand, good job everyone!

Also, I've just done a s!!$ty little drawing of the situation that happened, and put it in the maps page: Blue circles are people tents. Just to be clear, it wasn't really anyone's fault. Sometimes bad things happen to good people!

I think all the conflict has been interesting, though I do agree the player misunderstanding exacerbated it perhaps a bit too much. It happens, though. People create different mental images from the same words all the time.

I'm fine, just expressing things entirely IC.

I do agree that OOC misunderstandings have caused most of it, but its fine, we will work it out IC

Would we have heard the gunshot or was he too far?

You probably would have heard, yes.

Given how spread out we are, does "we" include everyone?

Marcus hasn't established where he is in a little while, so it's up to you where he is. If you'd like to join the scene, feel free to let chance intercede.

He's at his tent treating his own wounds. I was going to have him jump on his horse and ride out toward the noise. Just let me know when I get there.

Can you post that you are doing that in the Gameplay thread, then?

Done.

Thank you!

Hey, I wanted to say: I'm about to uproot myself and toss myself into the winds of change. Over the next few days I need you guys to decide what you're going to do as a party (whether to go out and fight some encounters or not) and when I land I'll be back to move us forward. Thanks.

My vote is that we chase after the one that Ishana found tonight and then, if we have the resources to, return to the mountain tomorrow.