Outpost 2 - Liam - 1-19 To Conquer the Dragon (Inactive)

Game Master Liam

I would recommend that Charli keep with schmoozing. You have the best shot at the Sense Motive in the group, and getting that tells us the best way to impress the guest. We probably want you to roll that first so we know what is needed.

There are more things to uncover than a team can do in the time given and the checks are easy to fail even for someone who specializes in those skills. The scenario can’t expect the group to succeed at all the checks. That means there has to be a way to resolve things even if you fail the checks.

We have found two of the devices and one planted spy. We have also impressed two of the guests. Sounds to me like we are doing well.

Oh dear, we cross-posted. I just could not see Charli not evacuating the guests in some manner. Do you want me to recant?

I do not know the correct answer. I am just guessing.

If we were at a normal table, we could ask the GM and quickly determine what course of action is most appropriate and work off that. That is a bit more difficult in PbP because of the delays.

Choose what you think it best and we will work from there. If we go too badly off script, the GM will bring us back on script.

I will say that the mission briefing repeated the message multiple times that we are to protect the lodge. Evacuation protects the guests (which is good) but not the lodge. There may be other solutions that allow us to do both.

Well, finding beacons will protect the lodge, right? The less of these that are out there, the better.

Hmm

Hehe... Well, that's certainly and interesting solution, Charli! Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

General question for everyone: Does the Starfinder Society go by the motto "Explore, Cooperate, Report"?? I don't remember seeing that actually noted anywhere for the Starfinder Society. Just curious.

It's been mentioned in a couple scenarios. I'm just sad that I did not concentrate my attentions on Aralyx first. I'm hoping they give us another chance to impress her. But there are lives at stake, and I cannot see Charli allowing them to be at risk while she parties on.

I wish that the scenario had given us a bonus with these checks for discovering the security risks early on. Even a +2 roleplay bonus would be really helpful right now.

So here are the PATROL THE LODGE checks we've made so far:

Engineering
Athletics
Computers
Sense Motive

That leaves:
Survival
Piloting
Mysticism
Perception

General question for everyone: Does the Starfinder Society go by the motto "Explore, Cooperate, Report"?? I don't remember seeing that actually noted anywhere for the Starfinder Society. Just curious.

I haven’t seen a motto for Starfinder Society. I would have expected it to come up in The Commencement if there were one.

It's been mentioned in a couple scenarios. I'm just sad that I did not concentrate my attentions on Aralyx first. I'm hoping they give us another chance to impress her. But there are lives at stake, and I cannot see Charli allowing them to be at risk while she parties on.

Putting the guests on the Pegasus without a crew isn’t necessarily safe either.

At this point, I really think it would be best to wait for Liam to reply. There may be some way to protect the guests and the lodge. This isn’t supposed to be a no-win situation.

Moving the show to the Pegasus is a reasonable response, but let’s find out if there is another solution that could work better.

As for Aralyx, I think Brob is the only one with any chance to make the Sense Motive check now. Otherwise we are going to have to try it blind in which case Culture is a reasonable bet. They must have some interest in culture given what they are protecting.

Naylor can retry piloting but other than acrobatics and stealth they really don't have anything likely to hit those DC's.

Can we aid each other?

Naylor can retry piloting but other than acrobatics and stealth they really don't have anything likely to hit those DC's.

Can we aid each other?

Yes.

And I think you guys are doing fine.

And no, not (actively) trying to kill you (yet)

Quick question, does doing the same check do any good or have we already gotten everything we can from that check?

In other words, do we need to do different checks in order to make progress?

Also, should we start on Round 2 or is there more we can do as part of Round 1 to deal with what we found?

Posting Round 2

So, is round two a repeat of round one with the same choice of checks?

Does it benefit progress to repeat checks?

Team - would it be better for some of us to aid others? Or should we take our chances?

I will be travelling to Seattle tomorrow for a medical appointment (there and back, same day). I should be able to keep up with the game however any of the team is welcome to bot me if I am too slow. Thanks.
I have been caught before not having internet access when I expect to.

We still have the question out on if it does any good to repeat checks.

Assuming it doesn’t, here are the checks that can be attempted for working security.

Patrol the Grounds
Survival DC 27: Valikar +13, Neon Ten +12, Naylor +8, Brob (U) +0, Raatchet (U) +0
Piloting DC 27: Naylor +16, Raatchet +14, Brob +13, Neon Ten +13, Valikar (U) +4
Perception DC 29: Raatchet +12, Naylor +11, Brob +10, Valikar +8, Neon Ten (U) +0

Check the buildings
Mysticism DC 27: Neon Ten +12+4, Naylor +5, Brob +1, Raatchet +1

The only one of those that can’t be done untrained is Mysticism.

We have a good chance of making the Piloting and Mysticism checks and a reasonable shot at the Survival check. Here is what I think may be the best assignments.

Naylor should attempt the Piloting.

Raatchet should attempt Piloting if Naylor fails. If not needed there, perhaps Aid Survival or go for a long shot on the Perception. The chance to Aid Survival is higher and boosts one of the skills that could use a boost.

Neon Ten should attempt Mysticism with their library chip.

Valikar should attempt Survival.

Brob should Aid Survival or Mysticism. With both he and Raatchet doing Aid on Survival we would have a reasonable shot of success.

Technically the Aid has to happen before the skill check, so we can’t look at the roll and then decide to Aid or not. The way I’ve seen this handled in PbP is to do the skill check in a spoiler and trust the players to not peek, but some GMs prefer the more strict requirement of Aid rolled first.

So, assuming we need to do new skills does the above look like a reasonable plan?

Sounds like a plan to me. I'll wait until after Naylor rolls piloting.

Yeah, I'm waiting to see if I we can repeat or not. Brob has has a reasonable chance at getting the piloting or Engineering himself so he can roll independently or Assist as needed.

So, is round two a repeat of round one with the same choice of checks?

Does it benefit progress to repeat checks?

Team - would it be better for some of us to aid others? Or should we take our chances?

I will be travelling to Seattle tomorrow for a medical appointment (there and back, same day). I should be able to keep up with the game however any of the team is welcome to bot me if I am too slow. Thanks.
I have been caught before not having internet access when I expect to.

yeah, same checks. And hope it all works out well.

It looks like we've succeeded at the following:
Engineering
Piloting
Athletics
Computers

I'll roll an Assist for either Survival or Mysticism as needed.

You've crossed the magic number - updating

Pinion Skyfire Armor

No damage to the Lodge, and all our guests are safe! We did it!

Hmm

PS There is totally going to be a taunt coming at this DRAGON. Shall I taunt her gunnery?

So far so good.

Charli was sending them to their doom, but luckily it takes a while to get a crowd moving.

This is my 3rd time running this one, first time in PBP.

BTW, because of the PBP lag, I give you guys some leeway on things.

I'll have the space fight up tomorrow, and I'll get the rounds set up so we can roll tomorrow. My daily boss fight used up all my reserve IQ points and I have to rest to get them back.

So let's have some good setup RP to roll into the fight.

We're offff to outer space.....we're saving... our data?

Ok, map is laid out - the ships at the bottom are as you are coming up from the planet, the ones at the top seem to be moving towards you.

You can place where you want along the bottom of the map.

I placed a ship reference, with weapon ranges and a link to the ship skill section of the archives

General format of the round - three parts, posted seperately.

ROUND ONE
ENGINEERING

ROUND ONE

PILOTING

Starship Initiative
White Dragon: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (3) + 16 = 19
Starfinders: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20

Starfinders wins White Dragon moves first

ROUND ONE
GUNNERY

BOOM DOOM

Hey Liam --

We’ve modified the Pegasus statblock quite a bit with our boons.

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Can you copy this into the slide show?

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SOUPED UP PEGASUS TIER 8

Medium explorer
Speed 12; Maneuverability good (turn 1); Drift 1
AC 15; TL 17
HP 75; DT —; CT 15
Shields medium 160 (forward 40, port 40, starboard 40, aft 40)

Attack (Forward) broad arc particle beam (8d6), high explosive missile launcher (4d8)
Attack (Port) laser net (2d6)
Attack (Starboard) tactical nuclear missile launcher (5d8, long, special irradiate low)
Attack (Turret) twin laser (5d8)
Power Core Pulse Orange (250 PCU); Drift Engine Signal Basic; Systems advanced long-range sensors, crew quarters (good), mk 3 duonode computer, mk 5 armor, mk 8 defenses; Expansion Bays cargo hold, escape pods, science lab, tech workshop Modifiers +3 to any three checks per round, +4 Computers, +0 Piloting; Complement 4–7 PLUS automated defenses.

For finest weapons I believe all damage rolls of 1 gets rerolled, not set to zero. The boon that sets to zero is called 'OMG Wurst Weps Evarrrr! kekek roflmao!'

Done

For finest weapons I believe all damage rolls of 1 gets rerolled, not set to zero. The boon that sets to zero is called 'OMG Wurst Weps Evarrrr! kekek roflmao!'

Thanks! Fixed it!

So in ROUND TWO, I think that Brob and I need to change seats. As a gunner, I can spend resolve to fire all the weapons from a side at once -- and that might prove useful. Are you up to Captaining, Brob?

Aye-aye, ex-captain ;) What am I doing this round again?

Next round I should even be able to provide some singing. *chuckles*

I think you are our other gunner!

So to clarify:
Blue is the enemy
Green is the Pegasus
Red are neutral? unknown?

Yes indeedy!

We know Blue is our enemy... We don't know the same is true of Red yet, though hopefully Neon Ten's scans will reveal something.

Hopefully, with that node permanently assigned to you we'll be more likely to win initiative!

Kill blue, green is you, red seems to be merchant ships moving in a peculiar pattern.

I forgot to roll when I moved....you are up. This has been a little bit unstructured so far, hopefully next round will be more structured.

Liam, may I offer some suggestions for adapting starship combat to PBP?

Just like combat doesn't happen in pure initiative order (we do blocked initiative where everyone in a group that is before the monster can act), PBP GMs often make some adaptions to Starship Combat to prevent the whole thing from dragging too much.

1) Roll both pilot's initiative checks.

(You already do this one!)

2) If the GM loses initiative, they do all their engineering and helm checks, move their ship, etc. right away. Then go to step 4.

This allows the players pilot to position right away.

3) If the GM wins initiative, wait for the other pilot before moving your ship. But go to step 4 anyway.

4) No matter who wins initiative, call for everyone in the party to act. For those people (generally speaking, the gunners) whose rolls might be affected by a Captain or Science Officer Action, ask them to run their gunnery roll under spoilers.

5) Respond with any remaining enemy actions, summarize everything that happened in the combat, start a new round.

The advantage of this approach is that it requires less posts from you, and that one round of ship combat can happen -- especially with a fast posting group of players like you have here -- in less than a day.

It's less work for you, and faster.

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Further reading: Example of fast-paced PBP ship combat

Although that looks like a lot of formatting, I wrote it up as a text macro that I then edit and paste in each new round with updates. That particular ship combat did 5 rounds in 2 days.

I am going to have to remember this post and come back to review it next time I run PbP starship combat. Thanks, Hmm.

There's a lot of talented GMs in this game. I figure that offering tips is useful for everyone! Also, I'd love to hear your tips too. I'm always wanting to learn new things.

Hmm

Spaceship combat is definitely the most complicated thing I've seen in PbP. It's already goofy enough at a live table.

Liam wrote:

I forgot to roll when I moved....you are up. This has been a little bit unstructured so far, hopefully next round will be more structured.

Liam, may I offer some suggestions for adapting starship combat to PBP?

Just like combat doesn't happen in pure initiative order (we do blocked initiative where everyone in a group that is before the monster can act), PBP GMs often make some adaptions to Starship Combat to prevent the whole thing from dragging too much.

1) Roll both pilot's initiative checks.

(You already do this one!)

2) If the GM loses initiative, they do all their engineering and helm checks, move their ship, etc. right away. Then go to step 4.

This allows the players pilot to position right away.

3) If the GM wins initiative, wait for the other pilot before moving your ship. But go to step 4 anyway.

4) No matter who wins initiative, call for everyone in the party to act. For those people (generally speaking, the gunners) whose rolls might be affected by a Captain or Science Officer Action, ask them to run their gunnery roll under spoilers.

5) Respond with any remaining enemy actions, summarize everything that happened in the combat, start a new round.

The advantage of this approach is that it requires less posts from you, and that one round of ship combat can happen -- especially with a fast posting group of players like you have here -- in less than a day.

It's less work for you, and faster.

★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★

Further reading: Example of fast-paced PBP ship combat

Although that looks like a lot of formatting, I wrote it up as a text macro that I then edit and paste in each new round with updates. That particular ship combat did 5 rounds in 2 days.

Thanks, that helps. I'm going to use as close to this as I can.

Spaceship combat is definitely the most complicated thing I've seen in PbP. It's already goofy enough at a live table.

Vehicle chases are pretty fiddly too. Cool concept but a bit cumbersome in PbP.

Also, I'd love to hear your tips too.

One thing I have just started to do is to snap a shot of the map every time I update so if something funky happens or there is some question if a move is legal then I have a record to look at. I am doing this in all my PbP games now. It may be overkill but it is definitely peace of mind.

I keep a scratchpad with all the things I tend to need for cut and paste actions, the two most comments being Initiative Rolls and Perception Rolls. I also create it for Sense Motive, although that doesn’t get used nearly as often. I create these at the beginning of a game.

Lately I’ve been copying the creature stats for the creature they are currently fighting into the same document along with the combat summary. The combat summary has the names in Initiative order and gives what round number the combat is at. I will also tend to list global or nearly global buffs and debuffs.

This had allowed me to work through the combats a lot faster.

Hmm wrote:

Also, I'd love to hear your tips too.

One thing I have just started to do is to snap a shot of the map every time I update so if something funky happens or there is some question if a move is legal then I have a record to look at. I am doing this in all my PbP games now. It may be overkill but it is definitely peace of mind.

Google slides has this built in where you can view earlier versions. So technically you should be able to see what was moved in earlier versions and even roll it back to an earlier version.

To access that, you have to click the updated date/time stamp in the upper left corner somewhere, I think. I'm not at a computer so I don't remember exactly where.

You may want to keep taking snapshots though, just in case but I have found this function to generally be good enough for me.

Naylor wrote:

Hmm wrote:

Also, I'd love to hear your tips too.

One thing I have just started to do is to snap a shot of the map every time I update so if something funky happens or there is some question if a move is legal then I have a record to look at. I am doing this in all my PbP games now. It may be overkill but it is definitely peace of mind.

Google slides has this built in where you can view earlier versions. So technically you should be able to see what was moved in earlier versions and even roll it back to an earlier version.

To access that, you have to click the updated date/time stamp in the upper left corner somewhere, I think. I'm not at a computer so I don't remember exactly where.

You may want to keep taking snapshots though, just in case but I have found this function to generally be good enough for me.

I am usually working off my iPad and to my knowledge that isn’t available there. I have not tried it from mobile web access, but often that is also more limited.

Still, it is good to know you can view previous versions for slide shows.

I did not know that about Google Slides. I will need to start investigating. Thank you.

Bret is right though. From what I remember, looking at older versions of slides doesn't work on smartphones. Not sure about tablets. Might be a computer only function.

I've been excited to see so many GM tips! GM School has totally been in session this game, and I'm one of the students!

I've moved to using Slides only, because Google Drawings doesn't play nice with a lot of phones. I also keep a google drive with stats and formated text when I have the time to prepare. Makes life a lot easier later on.

Anyway, poking in, though the next week might be really spotty for me. I'll try to keep things updated though.

(also, I was going to shamefully skip the singing just because I didn't have time to do it justice, but just had a burst of inspiration and belted that out in 10 minutes.)

It was great! I love it when other characters sing!

Sorry, your GM had a 23 hour work day.

I'll post an update after I get some sleep.

the slide history has saved my butt on a few PBP now

Still around, but I haven't had internet access since Friday night and it's taking longer than expected :/

Sorry I’ve been quiet! It’s been a busy work week but I should be able to post tonight. Valikar can’t fail the climb check if that helps in figuring out the way down.