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

Game Master Sebecloki

Good to have you on board old bean. :)

Playing Evil can be a lot of fun, I think most of use have done so at one point or another, As MG said its allowed. So make up that evil doer and jump on in :O

In my experience, I have a much easier time getting evil characters picked than non-good/good. I have a few interesting characters I'd like to play, since being monstrous is a little frowned on in Sandpoint, it does narrow down somethings for me. Although I still have material and tricks up my sleeve.

One of these days I want to play an evil character solely to take advantage of Innocent Blood... I wish there was a similar feat for non-evil characters!

That's an interesting feat, but Damnation feats are more my style. Plus really useful for evil characters.

Also an interesting set of feats, though losing the ability to be raised in the event of death makes for quite a bit of risk. I just might have to look at using some of those in another game though...

So it's a tough call between playing a dragon or an angel character, but I think the dragon might be more thematic for what I have brewing. Although you guys might need to shelf this idea, unless one of you happens to be a shoanti.

Are we starting the festival soon?

we're in the middle of it right now. The villains aren't stupid -- they're not just going to jump out and let you smack at them, they're getting into position.

I'm still here and all, just haven't had anything to respond too lately. :(

I thought you'd wander over to join the others -- just wrote you a post to try to help you back into the action.

Shi was kind of taking care of the kids, he's not likely to just wander off unless someone else takes over.

Almost done, been working on another complex character alongside this one. Just a quick little question, where do we had the extra hitpoints from mythic? Do we add them to our vigor or wounds?

what did everyone else do?

vigor. very few things modify wounds.

Thanks guys, It will be fun once I get my character set up. In the meantime, enjoy the game.

Everyone dead? Nobody responded to my post responding to Ynja. I was waiting to give people a chance to respond to Shi before I responded to the GM's perception spoiler...

I think I responded to everyone.

Not sure about Morgan, but I was waiting to see if you were going to add anything about the fires at the church before I was going to reply.

It seems like they messed up the article I was copying from for the history -- I have no idea what the note about the sheriff's family and the fire was supposed to be about.

It's not connected to the fire in any way shape or form that I can figure out.

I'm going to have to make something up I guess.

I'm a bit lost here at the moment, have to read it up again.
Guess it would be good if we soon really would come together as a group, so things can move forward a bit more consistently.

Ok lets get things going again.

And just to clarify, I'm done replying about the anomalous detail in the 'recent unpleasantness' article about the fire -- I made up something to complete the conversation, and I'm not intending to develop this into some big plot point. Let's try to move the story along from it. It's just some kind of offhand, incorrect as far as I can tell, intrusion into the fluff. Unless someone has run this before and can point me to where this is explained, that's all I can determine. I'd just go back and erase that part if the forums allowed you to edit posts -- this isn't worth focusing on and I don't have any ideas about developing this. Focus on the rest of the story which is important for this adventure's plot.

We are waiting to see what the dark shadow is, are you saying there is nothing there so we should move on?

My post above was about a detail in the story Aiko is telling to Morgan and Aleister.

If you're asking about the activity on the ship -- something might well be going on, you just can't see it right now. Creatures and objects can be invisible... You might have to go down to investigate or something.

Understood GM :)

I'll update this is a day or so -- I work on the weekends 12.5 hour shifts, so I don't have a lot of gaming time the next 48hrs.

Updated -- it seems like we're kind of slowing down here?

I wonder if it might be helpful to discuss expectations/concerns/guidelines.

In general, I'm hoping we can do some more character to character interactions like what Ynja and Shi'Vatha were doing earlier. I think that makes the story richer, and, secondly, it's much more work for me if I'm always having to write 6-7 times as many posts as everyone else on top of the other DMing tasks. If people would also talk to each other, that means I don't have to respond to every single post to keep the game going. It also feels very artificial to me if the only interface the individual characters have is with me, and they're never interacting with eachother.

This is a sandbox in Sandpoint -- a lot of this module is kind of open ended, and it's not going to work well if everyone is expecting to play reactively -- you'll have to decide on something to do and then take steps to accomplish your task.

I'm open to suggestions as well if you think something would help get this back on track.

In general, I really enjoy world-building and creating setting detail. I'd like to be able to write a lot of fluff posts that don't require dealing with tons of mechanics.

There hasn't been a catalyst for us coming together as a group. My impression was that events at the festival would facilitate that, but it seems that not everyone made the relevant perception check.

I think part of it is we're all not wanting to try to force everyone to follow our lead. At least, in my part, I'm trying not to hog resources or force everyone else to respond to me.

I'm investigating the ship with Ynja and Shi'Vatha, and was waiting to see what there was to see.

I was mainly waiting on some event happening, linking the group together somehow.
Maybe i'm not used to it, but so far it is more of very individual play somehow, which is also kinda hard to tie in mostly in my eyes.

Maybe i'm not used to it, but so far it is more of very individual play somehow, which is also kinda hard to tie in mostly in my eyes.

^^This.

It's very difficult to RP with PCs who wander off in the middle of a conversation or otherwise make it hard to talk to them.

Now, I understand you're playing your PC the way you feel you should.

However that means we're not able to really interact with them.

Over in Seb's Dark Sun game, I am playing a PC who could very easily be a loner, unseen by the other PCs(thanks to a massive stealth bonus, meaning magic can't exactly help) and being a totally selfish character, focused only on himself.

But, that makes for a bad game, so instead, I've gone out of my way to roleplay with the other characters, especially the ones who really don't trust Hamza.

Because that makes a much better, more rewarding game.

********************

Now then, to make this positive, how can we all work on making sure we play our characters the way we envision them, but still make sure we're not going off into solo PC mode?

Like, I know Aleister can have a superiority complex, so I'll work on minimizing that, at least when it comes to the other PCs.

In my case, I posted first after the festival started, and nobody came near Shi after I posted, except for one person who's post I unfortunately missed due to being overworked. :( Still sorry about that. :(

Okay, thank you everyone for weighing in, I hadn't thought about the idea of loner PCs, and that makes me think about the issue differently -- is that how most of you imagine your characters, and you'd rather be situation where you're crossing paths but not necessarily operating as a group? Sort of like some of the Game of Thrones characters, or certain comic franchises?

I can probably do that, I just need to have that in mind and think about how to execute that.

I've been trying to think through what the issue is that's starting to make some of these games seem a bit overwhelming to referee: I think the issue with mechanics isn't even mechanics, it's the amount I have to look up based on what I'm being given -- like whether a skill opposes a flat DC or is an opposed check, or is being used untrained and all this sort of thing.

A lot of times I feel like I'm flipping through a dozen windows in pfsrd.com to figure out what I need to to respond to just one post -- part of that is undoubtedly the system, but I would find it really helpful if you would add some more detail to these kinds of posts -- like if you're using Perception to spot something, go ahead and also give me the DCs for the kinds of things you might be looking for, or clarify that it's an opposed roll against a Stealth Check, or give me the mechanics of the spell/ability you're using so I don't have to go searching for stuff so much.

Would it be possible for players to start putting any spell/feat etc. used in a spoiler, and adumbrating some of the skill checks in this fashion?

Okay, thank you everyone for weighing in, I hadn't thought about the idea of loner PCs, and that makes me think about the issue differently -- is that how most of you imagine your characters, and you'd rather be situation where you're crossing paths but not necessarily operating as a group? Sort of like some of the Game of Thrones characters, or certain comic franchises?

I strongly feel that it is not about loner characters, but about not having that galvanizing moment (usually a battle) that brings the group together. We were asked to socialize the night before which we mostly did, with mixed success. Then we were asked to wrap it up to facilitate the festival scene, but nothing has really happened with that.

If I am wrong about this, and people want to play a "group of loners" game, I'm not interested in that and will respectfully bow out.

Archives of Nethys. I recommend using this site.

I generaly don't play loner characters.
Even if i would play a loner character, that would be a sidenote and more fluff.
While we can show inner monologues here, being respondant to others and actively involving them is way better and also makes a lot more sense.
This is a group game and we play in a group.
Loner characters fall into the same category as trying to dominate gameplay mechanically aka "i can and will do everything" as well as by outposting everyone else and trying to make or force every decision.
It just doesn't work because more sooner than later it will alienate the other players.
That's my experience from 10+ years of RPG Pathfinder Society included, where you meet a lot of different people.

Friendly squabbles every now and then are something falling into that category as well. It's allright sometimes, but shouldn't be an all the time. Same for playing a "tsundere" character or something like that.
Keep it consensual fun.

There can be a side track every now and then, but that's also called GM spotlight and if someone is hogging that by needin an extra tour all the time, it also takes from the other players and puts a lot of strain on the GM. My advice is to go and find a GM for a solo game then.

In my eyes the focus should clearly be on cooperative group play where everyone including the GM gets to have their fun.

being used untrained and all this sort of thing.

A lot of times I feel like I'm flipping through a dozen windows in pfsrd.com to figure out what I need to to respond to just one post -- part of that is undoubtedly the system, but I would find it really helpful if you would add some more detail to these kinds of posts -- like if you're using Perception to spot something, go ahead and also give me the DCs for the kinds of things you might be looking for, or clarify that it's an opposed roll against a Stealth Check, or give me the mechanics of the spell/ability you're using so I don't have to go searching for stuff so much.

Would it be possible for players to start putting any spell/feat etc. used in a spoiler, and adumbrating some of the skill checks in this fashion?

That's a very good idea, which at least i consider standard - also from other games.

And sometimes even the english used is weird to hard to understand for me, especially when it's deviating from "standard english" to something more colloquial where the sentence structure is softened up or simply not existant and then followed by grammar and typing errors, with possible mobile word correction on top.

Another point i have are overly long posts.

I can see how that is fun for some and it has it's merits, sometimes.
But keep in mind, not everyone has time to do that or even follow up often, possibly including the GM.
A wall of text is just that, a wall of text.
While it can be nice and fun to describe your character and their options, it's that much more for everyone else to read, especially the more people are doing that.
Posting and answering posts and actions needs that much more time then.
I'm trying to post several times a day and be responsive to others.
When those posts are too long, i can't do that, because my time windows are often not long enough and i don't have 30 minutes + to answer a single post.
Keeping posts short, clear, crisp and on a single topic at best, tagging other people and involving them or giving them opportunities to weigh in and response has proven the best method for me and many PbP games.
It's the same in real life and at a table though.
Makes for more communication and faster gameplay, while you can still describe your character abundantly.
Just ask yourself how you feel about people you meet holding long monologues all or most of the time.

/monologue end^^

I have to say I've really changed my mind about this as a result of looking at successful games:

For instance, look at this one with 60,000 + posts.

https://paizo.com/campaigns/TheReclamationOfZahvroma/gameplay&page=last

Sometimes it's necessary or interesting to have longer posts to set a mood or describe a complicated set up, but mostly my observation is that it seems to be most important to post short, frequent posts.

I feel like I gradually have changed my approached to splitting up description between several posts, like putting in one element in one, and then another fact in another.

But also just trying to make more punctual, short posts to keep things going.

Yeah of course.
I have a background in communications and am pretty certain that smaller, more frequent posts are way better, since it really helps to keep everyone involved.

If you look here: This is something that really flashed me.
Splitting up checks and information on all the different players, giving everyone a piece, so everyone has something to contribute.
Awesome idea!

So, my own experience is, a post should be as long as it needs to be to get it's purpose done.

I've written 3 500 word posts in a row, when doing something like setting up a new world for players, or setting up a new city as they approach it in an airship, or just setting a story so everyone knows where they are when it starts.

I've also done one line posts that were just an NPC ignoring a PC's question. In fact, the shortest post I ever wrote was "No." In response to a PC's three paragraph question, because the NPC was not a talkative sort.

As to loner vs social character, Shi is an odd mix of both. For purposes of doing it's job, scouting, sneaking around, gathering information, and so on, It's a loner unless the other person has proved they can be as stealthy as it is on an ongoing basis (IE: not just stealthy for 6 minutes due to invisibility). However, when not doing it's job, it's a rather talkative and humorous entity that enjoys the company of mortals (most mortals, even less savory types like goblins and kobolds as long as they are not evil or not actively being evil and want to talk). It could really care less about someone's race, it's more concerned about their creed. It's also open to allowing someone time to change, if it things there's something redeemable about the entity, assuming it's not hostile. So, it prefers to talk out issues rather than fight them out.

Except for Paladins, you can't trust those $#*@#$&*$&'s.

I'm not trying to say anyone is forbidden from writing long posts, just that we should not make the good enough the enemy of the perfect -- it's better in this medium to write something and keep it going.

Also, I'm going to note that I'm going to be using the imaginary curse words from Farscape when I need an NPC to use bad language/exclamations:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_Farscape_terms

I'm not an enormous Puritan, but I was raised not being allowed to use four letter words, and that linguistic habit has stuck with me.

I definitely wasn't advocating turning this into a loner game.

I was pointing out that I feel in some ways that's contributed to the problem of there not being a whole ton of character interactions.

I almost always link to the mechanics I'm using, unless it's something simple, like fireball or magic missile, etc.

My posts tend to be short(ish), but I still attempt to be descriptive in whatever I'm doing, if possible.

Character Token for Shi

If you need a transparent grid, let me know, I'll drop it in the same drawing file.

Put the token on a green background so it's easier to see, it was blending into the default white background. The green box is not part of the token.

yeah, you might as well -- I don't always use one, but it could help in this case since the object you're on has strange surfaces and edges

Im happy for you to use her face image from here GM

Transparent grid added. Just resize as needed and copy/paste over combat map. I'd suggest putting a large transparent 'square' over the entire map after putting the grid down so that people don't accidentally move the grids/maps after wards. I've found that helps greatly.

I think we're nearing the point where we can just use roll 20 for maps in several games.
I also can imagine our GM could have some fun there.

Possibly, although I've found google drawings easier to work with than roll 20 for maps.