You can't keep me away with a burning stick of poo.
Well...you could. But why would you want to do that?
Ready and waiting.
Here.
Yeah baby!
Ready to rock and or roll!
Doomed Hero said he would be interested in re-starting as well. Shall I tell him to check in?
Well we Gestalt-ed up because he dropped right? Would that be a problem?
Shadow: Sure Doomed Hero can come back. I'll send him a PM.
Correna: No, the gestalt was from the beginning and his character is already built for it.
So I've mostly reread the 1st book now and I'm going t take a slightly different approach this time around. The 1st book is more oriented toward mystery solving and is quite a sandbox with several different things going on. I think I'm going to limit the sandbox aspect of it since there was already some frustration about what to do when we left off last.
I think driving things forward by railroading you through some of the early stuff won't harm the plot development significantly and will help us move on toward bigger and better things more rapidly. In short, I'm going to facilitate stumbling across things you need to in order to better clarify for you what to do next.
Course correction would then be our main tool. Focus on what matters and let some of the minor details slide to maintain pace mostly?
That works for me. I don't mind sandboxes normally, but for online APs it does slow things significantly when everyone is suddenly stymied what to do next.
Also if you run into a deadend. In table games it's easy to "recover", but e.g. when we did not find the boy we looked for, and got locked into talking with one that had no clue we could use... worse if one person is better suited for an interaction - either you shoehorn everybody into the scene, or they need to wait it out.
I think some railroading is preferable in online AP's, yes.
Alright! Off we go!
Just a heads-up(for all my games):
If everything works out according to plan, on this next Friday, my third daughter will be born.
I had to spend more time with the 2 I already had and help at home, as well as do some preparation work at home(moving and building furniture etc.) Simultaneously, I am taking 4 weeks of unpaid leave, and that has left work very...stressful. Trying to get every open topic done or handed over to someone that can and will take care of it has left me spending way longer in office than usually, further cutting into available time and leaving me exhausted.
Tomorrow will be my last workday before then - I'll try and make sure to update before Friday, but the first few days after, I may be MIA(with 2 kids at home, and 1 in the hospital). If the first two kids are an indication, I will have some time in the evenings to keep posting, so I expect to be back at latest after we are reunited at home(4-5 days after birth), and, paradoxically, less stressed than I feel right now(seriously, I feel burned out - and while those little joy bundles can be incredibly demanding, they never left me feeling as drained as work manages to do.).
Thanks for your patience. As said, I'll be here again before ;) Just figured some advance notification would be in order.
If needed during that time, do feel free to bot me. Roya is likely to listen to the orders the Adults give her, anyway. :)
Enjoy it while you can.
First, Congratulations Roya! Second, Yes, enjoy it while you can. :)
Please bot me for the next few days as I will be dealing with a few issues that will leave me unable to post. Thank you.
No problem Shadow. Hope all is well!
Given the high likelihood of combat in the very near future and 2 out of 3 players currently busy with RL, I'm going to hold just a bit before posting again.
Fair enough. I can wait!
=)
Well, technically, I am somewhat back :) Won't manage to hit all games today, only trying to do a couple of those with fewer posts.
I think adding the map links to the top of the gameplay page would be the best since they will always be found in the same place.
I can't figure out how to do it though! I'm sure it's easy enough and I'm just missing something, but how to I edit pages other than the campaign page?
I think adding the map links to the top of the gameplay page would be the best since they will always be found in the same place.
I can't figure out how to do it though! I'm sure it's easy enough and I'm just missing something, but how to I edit pages other than the campaign page?
The Campaign tab has a box at the top and that is where top links appear. :-)
SS for the win! Awesome sauce.
=)
It is funny, though. Because here you did it perfectly fine :)
Maybe take a look there and just "copy" your own work?
Color Spray vs. the Spiders
Spiders are Vermin - they are mindless - as such immune versus Color Spray.
That said, it baffles me how often a swarm immune to weapon damage is used versus Level 1 Characters in the AP's.
Even if the party wizard has burning hands prepared and the rogue and tank brought acid and alchemists fire, it just takes 1 bad and a moderate roll and it's all for naught.
I'll never understand how a Spider Swarm is CR1 and a Rat Swarm CR2.
(Spiders are not only immune to weapons, they are also fast enough to make it impossible for a slow character to escape them.)
Yeah, I am pretty sure Color Spray won't work on them but I am also sure that Gen would take a shot at it :-)
Yep...that's what Knowledge (Dungeoneering) is for anyway.
Roya could tell you, probably. Lia is focused on Illusion Magic. *shrug* but not like we got better options unless we want to spread out and swing torches at it.
Or retreat!
No, sadly Color Spray doesn’t work on them. But so pretty!
Paizo seems to really like swarms as nuisance encounters at low levels They show up in stuff all the time. I’m not sure why they’re so popular, but I will hazard a guess. They’re a changeup from the very low power enemies that can be one-shotted without putting the party at too much risk, or counting on the party to have developed counters to enemies who use smart tactics.
One thing I’ve noticed is low level swarms in Paizo products usually have rails placed on them. For example, they do not chase, or leave the room, things like that. They alter the drudgery of low level combats by presenting a threat that must be avoided or destroyed differently. That’s my guess at least.
I just prepare my characters for them as a matter of course now.
Yep! That's why I took Snapdragon Fireworks. Its both a long ranged and small AOE spell at the same time, but with a duration too! Great against swarms that aren't immune to fire.
Aye, but round per level. It's single-shot at Level 1.
That is what irks me. At level 2 or 3, when there are multiple damage dice for spells or duration increases, maybe even a trip back to down where people got alchemical stuff - all good.
At first level, you can come prepared and still roll unlucky enough to force a retreat.
And that's if you CAME prepared. Unless my character KNEW they would get into trouble, I seldom found a need to include alchemists fire or acid in my starting gear. Unless I played a "cliche" adventurer "ready for anything" - but many AP's assume that trouble finds you and you get involved in some way, often without prior experience that would warrant getting prepared for swarms.
(I got 40+ gold worth of games in my gear. I could have meta'ed and gotten enough Acid instead to annihilate the swarm. But there's absolutely no believable reason I should casually have acid flasks on me).
Edit: Addendum to alchemical starting gear - what irks me is that in pathfinder economy, they are anything but cheap. Like, your starting gear represents anything you managed to acquire until that point of time. I like to think that most people would opt for "permanent" investments, rather than "super-expensive" one-shots. Once cash starts rolling in, of course it makes sense to buy temporaries, also in-game. But before, it's "do i get a flask of acid and fire that I may each use once, or a shortbow I may use over and over?"...which gives me more overall flexibility if I don't assume, in meta, that I get much more wealthy shortly?
Oh I hear you Roya, it kinda annoying.
I can rationalize the need in a way. It's a weird world where there are oozes and such that might eat you. So if a person's traveling it's one of those safety first best practices things.
It's the expense that bothers me. There are always cool mundane things and gadgets my characters would totally carry around because they're neat and interesting to have, but pricy alchemical items eat up the extra starting cash.
I think it's also how MUCH they cost in relation.
Like, a light horse is 75 GP.(and moving faster is safer if you can outrun most things)
A Donkey is 8 GP. A good sword around 15 GP.
I often find it hard to come up with a in-game explanation why alchemical items would be a justifiable expense to my first-level characters.
It's like, yeah, you got 50k dollars to your name, buy some gear and start your life.
Good Car with extra Gas? 20k Dollars. (Horse)
Sharpened Katana Sword? 3k Dollars. (Longsword)
Sniper Rifle with Ammo? 25k Dollars (Longbow+Ammo)
Single-Use Molotov Cocktail? 5k Dollars...no, really. (Alchemists Fire)
How much more flavorful and reasonable things could be bought for that. *sigh*
Oh well, guess I ranted enough :)
Well...from a GM's perspective...they are basically cheap magic.
I think the 'Idea' is that alchemical items are meant to help low level play (levels 1-4) but they almost always become useless later on in levels. They also make decent 'treasure' for low level PCs too, so the GM doesn't have to pass out full powered potions or scrolls all the time.
Years ago the argument was 'oil.' You carried bottles of oil to throw and make traps with then throw torches or magic fire at them to light them.
Alchemist's fire was merely meant to simplify the idea I think too.
I guess I don't have a problem with the cost really. I think it makes sense to me, but I started with Basic D&D back in the 80s and worked my way to here...so I've seen the progression of alchemical items from that perspective.
In that case, they should be even "cheaper" - or there should be an allotment of cash for different categories on character creation.
As it stands, they are "very expensive" for a new character, with little in-game justification for why said character would invest in them.
But once you return from your first adventure, you can buy a dozen, usually easily, and with leftovers.
They missed the sweet spot.
With most characters having slightly over 100 gold to their name to begin play, 20 gold is an investman that absolutely fails to make sense to me unless you metagame it.
I don't doubt the utility and usefulness of alchemical items - only their relative cost compared to other items and justifiability for starting equipment.
Fair enough. I'm just not that worried about the math of it anymore. 10 years ago I would be right with you. Now? I just want to play the game and have fun.
=)
I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services. We're expecting to be hit with maybe the biggest rush of benefits applications ever due to statewide service sector closings.
I'm going to be pulled off my normal job to help process intakes somewhere between sometimes and a lot, and it's possible overtime could become involved.
I don't know what this is going to do to my availability right now, posts from me could become spotty at times depending on how things unfold. It's getting pretty crazy right now.
Understood! Do what you need to do. I'm not going anywhere.
Aye. Best of luck. Not that easy to get rid of us ;)
Understood.
I am working from home these days so just trying to create a new routine...
Folks, on April 27 I am moving, I will likely not be back online until April 29 or 30. Just a heads up.
Hey everybody,
I'm sorry for going missing on you. It's been a very hectic couple of weeks. At work we had two back to back short notice and short deadline extra projects added on top of our regular work. With what free time I've had I really needed to do other things than sit in front of a computer yet more.
Things should be getting back to normal now, and I'll be catching up on reading up to date on posts and posting myself. Within a day or two I should be all caught up and back in the flow.
Hej Puca - been a while since your last sign of life here - but I know you are posting in other games, which is why I'm still "pushing" here and posting to keep it alive.
I just want you to know that it's not meant to pressure you - you do you, it's a crazy world out there, right now, and a lot of priorities may have shifted.
But unless a GM goes missing(that is, vanishes from the board) or officially closes a game, I maintain hope and keep posting :)
Ditto.
Ha! No, I don't feel pressured. I do intend to get this started again, hopefully soonish like within the next couple of weeks.
I won't complain about the last four months. I've personally been very lucky. Nobody I know has died or even been sick. My job has continued on without interruption and I get to work from home.
But I'm very weary. Human Services is a difficult place to be right now. Just keeping track of policy changes, state emergency legislation, and where resources have been exhausted or not is a full-time job. The workload is massive and clients are deeply stressed and anxious. It's much more like working a crisis hotline now. I haven't had much extra energy for posting.
There's been some good news recently though. For example the moratorium on evictions has been extended to March of next year. So we don't have to start worrying we're going to see huge numbers of people suddenly homeless all at once come the second half of each month like we did when the moratorium was being extended to cover the next month just before it arrived.
Anyway, the game will start again, it's just a matter of when.
Hi Folks, apologies for the long absence between work, side business and still getting organized at the new place I got way behind.
I also believe I am a bit burnt out on RPing. Been doing it a long time and I think my muse needs a break. Going to withdraw from most games here on the boards. My apologies especially on this one, the flesh is willing but the will is non-existent these days.
That's too bad, but understandable. Sorry SS.
Sorry to see you go, SS.
@GM: Maybe now is a good time to re-consider that hiatus?
Last Gameplay post was May, 20th. That is close to 3 month ago now.
I don't mind a break, or a slow game, but even with Gestalt, 2 players don't have enough action economy...so we would need a third person.
And getting a new player into the game, get them invested into the game, would require a somewhat steady pace.
If you could update where you stand and how things are for you, that would be appreciated - maybe set some date in the future - maybe February? (I imagine no matter how the US Vote goes, it will be a s*@&show until January 20th.)
As said, I don't mind waiting, but having it sit there in my list of active games is taunting me if we ARE having a longer break. So unless you can specifically say that at some point in the next couple weeks you can re-boot, I would prefer if we move it to inactive for now, then "resume" properly somewhere down the line.
I'm fine either way. Up to you GM.
Sorry to see you go Storyteller. Take care and maybe see you around again some day.
Yeah, fair enough. That better place I was expecting never came. With the enhanced unemployment compensation ending and no extension in sight things have actually gotten much worse.
We will need to recruit another player to continue and that's not feasible at this time. By now I think you're prediction Roya that things aren't going to get any less crazy before the end of this year at least is probably right.
I'll inactivate the game and if we fell like it we can revisit starting again in 2021.
I will definitely feel like it. I'll await your PM and will be available as soon as it becomes a valid possibility.
But I honestly think taking a proper, announced break until then is better than "alibi"-posting to keep the status from going inactive or leaving it in an unclear state.
I look forward to restarting in better times!