Intense Variant Rules Gestalt Mythic Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition (Inactive)

Game Master Sebecloki

If anyone is interested in joining a discord server for the games here let me know. I'll PM you an invite then.
Might be cool.

I am definitely interested in joining a discord server! I find them so very helpful.

Have never used Discord.... My understanding is it is a chat program?

Same! I am on Discord literally all the time, so sign me up!!

If anyone is interested in joining a discord server for the games here let me know. I'll PM you an invite then.

Might be cool.

Its always best to check sites like discord server to see what they are getting up to. A simple search gets you.

Things discord server is up to.
1:revocation of your legal rights as a user
2Discord sending carrier, device model and location data to Facebook on Android even if integration is disabled

Not saying don't use it, just saying always best to check things.

I'm friends with several ultra techy savvy people who use Discord, they seem to not have a problem with it.

But hey, if you're not there, than we can plot against Vnja in private :P

You know your not helping my Paranoia :P

But I do have an account. If we are heading over I suggest PM invites.

Discord is a client or web based communication plattform which uses different servers for groups. It's a bit similar to skype.
You can have individual friends and different groups, chats, chat channels, direct calls and group calls or voice channels.
It's quite versatile.

@Paranoia: Might be best you completely stay off the internet then, but even that doesn't really help anymore. EU has some different laws, so what you posted above doesn't apply like that.
If you want to change something there because you realize it's crap i suggest electing different people and making different laws^^
I know it's not easy, but that is a freedom which was fought hard for here and even that is on the brink, attacked by many forces, many of which also come from the US or want to copy stuff from there, because it's "better for business". People fall by the wayside though.

Can'T send a PM to river of sticks, you seem to have it switched off.

Count me in! I have no problems with having no privacy online or offline!

I haven't used Discord, but I'd be willing to look into it if you PM me the link. What are you thinking we'll talk about -- the games, or more broadly gaming stuff, or what?

I find that it usually helps with OOC stuff as posting is quicker/easier...

I find it fantastic for quick rules questions, and particularly for this sort of alternative-rules-heavy game I would imagine it would be a great resource for clarifying lots of things. It is also good just for regular OOC chatter, and I find helps groups to feel more cohesive. Can help keep games from stalling out, too. Overall, I find it really enhances the overall experience, particularly if you can get a lot of the people in the game on the server.

I will say that the link that Pai Song sent out is a little different than what I'm used to; I normally have a unique server for each game I'm in, and this invite link appears to be for a more generic Pathfinder server. Pai, is your thought to have a unique channel for this game on that server?

bump

People are still concluding introductory discussion, so I'm going to hold off until monday to do the 'lights down' and start the festival day. Try to tie stuff up in a neat bow over the weekend if you can.

Man, you really had to bump this bright and fraking early Monday morning huh Panic??

Is that why that's your screen name? Are you always in some sort of panic when it comes to online games?

Well i think it might serve to build a small PbP community with quite some people being in the same/similar games, where different things can be talked about.
But of course yeah ooc the games we play and other general game stuff.
Might also be good for alerts, since discord is there when the site is down and you can have it on your phone.

Man, you really had to bump this bright and fraking early Monday morning huh Panic??

Is that why that's your screen name? Are you always in some sort of panic when it comes to online games?

Sorry I woke you, I don't sleep much, and work has me zipping about dealing with odd timezones.

Name wise, GM Panic comes from a Silvia Plathven short story, Called 'Johnny Panic and the Bible of dreams.' I recommend it highly. Here is one of the bits from it I like best.

"What I fear most, I think, is the death of imagination... If I sit still and don't do anything, the world goes on beating like a slack drum, without meaning. We must be moving, working, making dreams to run toward; the poverty of life without dreams is too horrible to imagine."

I'm still waiting for people to finish up their interactions at the inn. If everyone could do that with their next post, I'm going to try to put a period on the little encounter Ynja and Shi'Vatha are having.

Will do. Also willing to try out this Discord thing. I realized I hadn’t actually said that.

Cool!
You disabled to receive messages from other board members though it seems, so i can't send you an invite link.
I could perhaps post one later today with a limited time frame, but would like to confirm you somehow then, since i'm hosting that server.

Cool!

You disabled to receive messages from other board members though it seems, so i can't send you an invite link.
I could perhaps post one later today with a limited time frame, but would like to confirm you somehow then, since i'm hosting that server.

Huh. I don't think I ever set that... I'll take a look this afternoon and see if I can reverse that setting.

Or maybe you blocked me at some point. Lol.

I don't do discord usually. Only problem I have is that my new job makes connecting to anything difficult at best (Paizo was blocked up until a week or so ago). Just saying, I wouldn't be able to post often on Discord, more often on here.

Friends,

I really like the game we have going here -- you've all made some spectacularly creative characters and I'm really enjoying reading the posts.

I feel a slight need here as the GM to plea for some greater magnanimity between all parties so that this promising outset isn't derailed by personal difficulties.

I'm not singling anyone out or putting the blame on any one person, I just want to put forth an honest and heartfelt request that we all try to be peaceable and focus on having a good game together.

Agreed

I want to alert everyone to another addition I'm making to the setting when you begin exploring the town. There will be ample time to explore Sandpoint -- the first part of Burnt Offerings is sort of a sandbox.

This is the Sandpoint Airdocks/Caravanserai.

I uploaded an image in the googleslides in which I'm storing our maps and images.

Sandpoint Airdock/Caravanserai

Constructed by a combination the arcane ingenuity wielded by several powerful mages from the independent city-state of Magnimar, as well as the financing of the Four Founding Families of the Sandpoint Mercantile League, the Airdock is an important link between the somewhat isolated frontier town and the larger outside world.

Here, flying vessels from the devastated territories of the Alphatian Empire and the Heldannic League frequently dock to conduct trade or simply weather the fierce storms which are common to these perilous northern climes. More rarely, the fantastic structure is host to vessels from far off Skothar, the far eastern continent.

It is said that the structure's erection was aided by the discovery of ancient Thassilonian knowledge recovered in the course of Sandpoint's founding, though this sort of proprietary information is understandably closely-guarded by its possessors.

The Airdock is overseen by the widower Kalitar Tharronson and his fair-haired, green-eyed daughter Illia. Kalitar's wife Anessa was among the victim's of the serial killer known as 'Chopper' during the turbulent years known as the 'Late Unpleasantness'.

Currently, the Airdock is host to one impressive vessel from the Heldannic League and an additional vessel from far-off Skothar, the latter of which are an unusual company of dwarves. What more, an immense behemoth from the Alphatian city-state of Alpha, the subject of much wonder and speculation, recently departed the busy port of call.

Okay, posted build rules in case we need to re-recruit in campaign info. I've also flesh out my ideas for the setting a bit more.

I already indicated I'm going to do a mash-up of Golarion with Mystara, and I've explained that a bit more. Rise of the Runelords was written before the rest of the setting was developed in any coherent form, so this won't really affect most game play, but just introduce new elements that will appear in the Varisian hinterlands, such as the visitors from the Heldannic Freeholds that Ynja and Shi'Vatha have already encountered.

Varisia is essentially a self contained zone that can be dropped without any difficulty, including its Thassilonian history, into the Norwold region of Mystara.

Aroden will be considered an Immortal that perished during the Immortals War detailed in the Wrath of the Immortals box.

Ancient Azlant is equivalent to Blackmoor, and the parent culture of Thassilon, and other ancient empires.

There major change is the frequent appearance of guns, as well as airships, which are common in this world.

I posted a world map in the google slides document.

If there's any particular Golarion element you want to add-in, like a country, that is going to be easy to do and you just need to tell me and I'll explain how it fits into the fluff I have in find.

The tone/inspiration for this setting is something like Final Fantasy.

I added a ton of stuff to the battlemaps slide presentation, including a depiction of the swallowtail festival.

I pulled out some awesome battlemaps from the internets to improve on the one in the module. It's still in the same place in the town -- you can see the defensive palisade the marks the boarder of the settlement.

The Cathedral of Desna is now a Shinto-type Japanese temple with a garden courtyard that sits in front of koi pond. I posted an image to help you visualize it.

Awesome stuff thanks!

Or maybe you blocked me at some point. Lol.

Nope! Just never saw that privacy setting that needs to be enabled. I suppose I prefer more privacy being the default setting, but that is solved now.

Good good. Will send you an invite later today.

If the GM would like to move us to the festival, we can just say that Shi and Ynja spoke with Hemlock, and passed on warnings. Don't want to delay the game for others.

Friends,

I really like the game we have going here -- you've all made some spectacularly creative characters and I'm really enjoying reading the posts.

I feel a slight need here as the GM to plea for some greater magnanimity between all parties so that this promising outset isn't derailed by personal difficulties.

I'm not singling anyone out or putting the blame on any one person, I just want to put forth an honest and heartfelt request that we all try to be peaceable and focus on having a good game together.

While I appreciate you not singling anyone out, I'll go ahead and single myself out - I went overboard with my snippy ooc response to Aleister in the gameplay thread. I apologize for that. I was in a bad mood for unrelated reasons that morning, and the comment about me ignoring a post just rubbed me the wrong way. Regardless, I was entirely too snarky in my response, and I should not have been. Sorry Aleister.

To top it off, I then mentally merged Aleister and Vincent in my head, and got things all sorts of confused. Sorry about that too.

I am also very much enjoying the game so far, and will endeavor to not allow my personal crap come through like that again. Sorry to all.

I appreciate your apology, though I wasn't bothered by your OOC comments. I was going to reply yesterday, but then I lost power for several hours, and by the time it came back, I kinda forgot.

Anyways,

My hope was that Aleister casually mentioning an ancient Thassilonian nation, and being a worshiper/follower of a deity(Immortal) who has been silent for centuries, would have been enough of a hook.

After all, there's no guarantee all of the other PCs remember their time in Thassilon(Aleister has had almost a hundred years to piece together his prior life).

Also, he clearly doesn't know that the other PCs are all reincarnated souls from his former homeland, lol.

Well, technically Shi is the only non-reincarnated soul. His mythic portion is because he's actually a high level archon in another dimension, just agreed to spend a century or so hanging out on the mortal plane with a Paladin and something weird happened. :)

But given what his job used to be, it's a pretty safe bet he'd not want any Thassilonion's running around again (made such a mess last time).

Ah, I see. Yeah, neither Morgan nor myself OOCly know anything about Cyrusian nor Lissala, and he wouldn't have recognized those names as being particularly special. As far as Morgan is concerned, he is a vanilla human of some mid-20-ish odd years who has some trippy dreams. He has yet to connect those dreams to anything Thassilonian related, and doesn't have a particular interest in that area.

If the GM would like to move us to the festival, we can just say that Shi and Ynja spoke with Hemlock, and passed on warnings. Don't want to delay the game for others.

Why don't you write a final post explaining how you inform the sheriff about the Knights' presence and activities. Do you have his character info? You can find it on one of the Pathfinder wikis, he's a shoanti who is having an affair with the mistress of the local brothel.

Yep happy to move on to next day.

This could be a great game with an Empire of Fantasy Nazis to a** kick
Is Sandpoint then Fantasy Casablanca I wonder

Okay I finished up with Henric I think, and Shi'Vathas has summarized what's happened to him and Ynja, and maybe we'll revisit that a bit in a flashback or something since the details got eaten by the boards.

I described the initial setup for the festival -- you should be arriving in the courtyard in front of the shrine for the initial purification rituals.

Give me a nice post about how you wake up and arrive at the festival.

This is all in part based based on real-world Shintoism, so if you'd like to use some wiki-fu and introduce some appropriate elements, that'd be cool too.

Yep happy to move on to next day.

This could be a great game with an Empire of Fantasy Nazis to a** kick
Is Sandpoint then Fantasy Casablanca I wonder

Yeah, I'm hoping to add some cool elements that make the slightly static hinterland more dynamic, with it being fought over by different warring powers.

The Heldannic Knights in the Mystara cannon are based on the Teutonic Knights. I'm also incorporating a lot of elements from the Prussian 'Black Brunswickers' of the Napoleonic era and the SS/SA in depicting them. They're going to be quite unpleasant side characters that add some interesting background color to the rest of the proceedings.

In the earlier religion link you sent me, it said Ixion was a major religion in Brun. So, with the new temple structure, is it likely that Ixion now has a shrine section within the compound as well as the original 5 other immortals? Otherwise, if not, I assume Ixion has a shrine or something in town? It seems like any major religion in Brun would have something in a town as big as Sandpoint.

I sent you a PM with some info on this: there's a separate shrine elsewhere in the town.

I gotta admit, all this Asian/Minkai stuff is kinda takin me out of the game.

I think its all the long, 'I can't hope to properly pronounce them' words, lol

It's supposed to reflect the notion that the Minkai (Japanese) terms are translated woodenly from some truly extended Sanskrit analog -- stuff like the patronymic of Ashoka Mauyrachandragupta, or entire mantras written as a single word.

I think it's awesome! Tian Xia stuff is definitely my thing. The name at a bit off and not correct Japanese, but it's clearly made up and doesn't have to be. Even then you can see sebecloki invests a lot of time and effort into researching names, places, etc. Thank you for that.

Yeah it's not 100% accurate, it's variations of real things to create flavor, which is sort of the way Mystara did everything. I'm making up imaginary compounds that include, for instance, every variation/permutation of an architectural name as a single word. The idea is not that it's 100% correct, but that it has sufficient verisimilitude that it seems like an imaginary quasi-Japanese society that could exist.

As I said, the idea is that the imaginary Minkai language is being used to render long Sanskritic compounds from another imaginary language, things like 40 syllable titles or mantras written as one word.

Yeah, it's cool, but I think it's throwing off my immersion some.

I'm reading along, trying to imagine the scene in my head, getting into character, etc and then suddenly, there's this big word I can't read or understand, and it totally throws me off my game, as it were.

It's not bad, per se, it's just almost disorientating.

The idea I'm working with is that a lot of the religious terms in Minkai are taken from pre-existing shastra-like manuals with compounds like this: nirantarāndhakārita-digantara-kandaladamanda-sudhārasa-bindu-sāndratara-gha nāghana-vr̥nda-sandehakara-syandamāna-makaranda-bindu-bandhuratara-mākanda- taru-kula-talpa-kalpa-mr̥dula-sikatā-jāla-jaṭila-mūla-tala-maruvaka-miladal aghu-laghu-laya-kalita-ramaṇīya-pānīya-śālikā-bālikā-karāra-vinda-galantikā -galadelā-lavaṅga-pāṭala-ghanasāra-kastūrikātisaurabha-medura-laghutara-mad hura-śītalatara-saliladhārā-nirākariṣṇu-tadīya-vimala-vilocana-mayūkha-rekh āpasārita-pipāsāyāsa-pathika-lokān.

The Minkai language renders these as long compounds as well, whereas a lot of the pedestrian terminology doesn't have the same source, and so isn't as jaw breaking. It endows the sacral terminology with a special character. My idea is also that a lot of these compounds are mantras/sacred sound, and are taken from inhuman noises heard by mystics investigating the outer planes.

I'm giving this another week to see who's still playing -- I'm not clear if we've lost a few already.

If I have to re-recruit, I'm strategizing I may have to change a couple of things to get new applicants -- I think I may have to throw out the requirement to use Words of Power and allow both the standard and unchained action economies to operate simultaneously. I'd allow a little rebuilding for existing players if that was the case.

Can I have a quick survey of who's still playing and how we feel about that?

Still here, just didn't get to make longer gameplay updates atm.
Commenting here is easier and faster from a phone or underway ;)

Question: Whatever happened to that invisible thief? I had hoped to make a shared rp scene there.

Getting rid of words of power would certainly make things easier and faster for me atm, since i still have to get into that system.

It scampered away at breakneck speed, and no one did anything to stop it, so it's gone.

I wonder what it could have been :) (it will come back up, don't worry, you haven't missed anything).