GM Granta's War for the Crown (Inactive)

Game Master Granta

I'm back. Had a great time at PaizoCon. Should be back to regular posting frequency now.

Reminder: myself, Delena and Thalasou still need to do this.

How many actions can we take each round?

Just one. And I am in the process of updating now.

Is there a consequence to repeating the same skill on a room or the same PC repeating the same skill on the same room?

Nope, no penalties for repeat usage.

I'm trying to help Tiber clean up at least the first milestone in the Servant's Area, but after that I'm happy to help with anyone's mission, just let me know how I can help.

In addition to the potions and bonus for Tiber, success in A7 lets you learn the weakness of one NPC.

How do we use the weaknesses info once we learn it?

How do we use the weaknesses info once we learn it?

Role-playing. It's a GM judgment call, so not the time to hide in your closet and just roll dice by yourself.

So if we incorporate the known weakness in our RP, then we might get the +4 bonus to the influence check?

But my best RP is when I roll dice by myself in the closet! *sobs quietly into the winter coats*

So if we incorporate the known weakness in our RP, then we might get the +4 bonus to the influence check?

Yep.

In addition to the potions and bonus for Tiber, success in A7 lets you learn the weakness of one NPC.

Which NPC do you choose?

I believe this is three times that someone has taken an inapplicable action. Is information not clear enough on the slides or are you not checking them before each action? If the former, let me know what's unclear and I will try to re-word or -organize it.

I tried to do this:

Divining each noble’s motivations requires a Sense Motive or Perception check after at least one member of the party has put the noble at ease with one or more successful Influence checks.

or

Doing so requires first identifying an opponent, either with a Sense Motive check or by coordinating with another PC (such as one taking the Discovery mission),

with the Sense Motive.

It was late and I was tired, so I might have expressed my intention in a bad way.

I know why I was confused here: The mission is Discovery, which requires Sense motive to 'discover' the opinion. But there is also a 'discover' action which 'discovers' influence skills. Re-using words is hard.

Um, it might be unclear... Kalbio's stat block has "Influnence Knowledge (local) or Sense Motive to discover" (not that anything would save that roll).

If that is supposed to mean "Use either K (local) or Sense Motive to discover what skills you can use to influence him," then I would organize the stat blocks like this:

Discover Weakness: None
Weakness: N/A
Discover Influence: Knowledge (local) or Sense Motive
Influence: Undiscovered
Successes 0
Benefit none

And if I have correctly identified the ambiguity, that applies to all the stat blocks.

It took me every day since you posted it until 15 minutes ago to realize that this was a complete sentence:

PCs must attempt a skill check using one of the skills listed in the target’s Influence entry, though discovering what these skills are requires a successful discovery check.

I just kept seeing the "to be" as the verb.

GM Granta wrote:

In addition to the potions and bonus for Tiber, success in A7 lets you learn the weakness of one NPC.

Which NPC do you choose?

Wyssilka the Fantabulous. Can never get a bead on those damn Gnomes! :P

Might not be able to get another post in tonight, but I'll be back in the morning. :) Running a game at a local convention tonight!

No worries, Ayalina, I update in the mornings. There won't be anything new tonight to miss.

It was late and I was tired, so I might have expressed my intention in a bad way.

I would prefer if everybody explicitly says "mission", rather than (just) the name of their personal mission. Basically, each roll should be accompanied by one of the following:

Sorry, worked until 2 AM and couldn't review slides on phone to comment, so if too late, no problem.

We have the skills to figure out the gnome. Would recommend High Strategis first (weird skills and probably high DCs) or Eutropia second because we have a 6 round delay with her.

Just a little note: even though Countess Abrielle Pace was rather rude both times, those were successes. She is just a b$@@& under certain/most circumstances.

Thalasou Eidelhan wrote:

How do we use the weaknesses info once we learn it?

Role-playing. It's a GM judgment call, so not the time to hide in your closet and just roll dice by yourself.

Pavo just provided us with a set of good examples, to hopefully give you some insight about my judgment for the future. The goal was to "show kindness or genuine interest in Kalbio's family or talent."

This was insufficent, while this succeeded. The first post felt like empty flattery to me, and therefore not enough to show genuine interest. But had the wording been just "show kindness or interest", the first post would have succeeded.

Sorry, worked until 2 AM and couldn't review slides on phone to comment, so if too late, no problem.

We have the skills to figure out the gnome. Would recommend High Strategis first (weird skills and probably high DCs) or Eutropia second because we have a 6 round delay with her.

I'm fine with either! I chose the Gnome because that's the only one Tiber's FE doesn't work on. Let's go with Strategis!

Want me to delete my post GM?

Want me to delete my post GM?

Yep, please.

Edit: Let that be a warning to the rest of you: ninja the GM and you will just disappear, and Liam Neeson won't be coming to rescue you.

I put the familiar roll first just because it was an aid roll giving possibly a bonus to my roll, for me it is more natural to roll aid rolls first.

I will put them second from now on.

This was insufficent, while this succeeded. The first post felt like empty flattery to me, and therefore not enough to show genuine interest. But had the wording been just "show kindness or interest", the first post would have succeeded.

Well, it wasn't empty flattery, but it wasn't particularly warm either since Pavo was testing the water in that post. :)

While the outcome is totally appropriate for Pavo, I'm not so sure I'm happy to have succeeded! ;)

While the outcome is totally appropriate for Pavo, I'm not so sure I'm happy to have succeeded! ;)

That reminds me, I had wanted to post something else here in Discussion: if you know which NPC you want to approach next, throw in a Knowledge (nobility) check with their name at the end of your posts. If it's high enough, you'll know how they would respond to Kalbio, and can potentially change your action for the upcoming round.

It needs to be done ahead of time though, so that we don't slow things down. So for example, your next post would be who you want to talk with in social round 5. In round 5, you would roll for the round 6 NPC.

Should I put some kind of placeholder on my posts when I am writing them? Often I get small distractions that slow me down, and as I want to roll the dice first to know the spoilers and adjust the post accordingly, I often do stuff in two phases.

Of course, I could roll in one post and then write another a bit later, but that almost doubles the post amount.

I could mark the post with something like <Under construction> until I'm finished.

Here's my tricks.

1. I try to write it as an aspiration. "Tries to slip in unnoticed," "Makes a leap over the pit," etc. Then the GM can fill in the result.
2. If I'm making a roll to open a spoiler that may affect my writing, I write the dice string and then "Preview" the post so see what the result was, then I can proceed accordingly in the same post.

I do all the same stuff, Delena. I generally just preview the post to see dice results, and copy the post in case Paizo crashes.

... and copy the post in case Paizo crashes.

Just chiming in to say that THIS is the most important thing if you decide to do the preview method. It hurts when a labor of love gets gobbled up by the Paizo Goblin. Even when the site isn't on the fritz, sometimes it says I backtracked too far, or some other reason for tossing my post. Copy/paste is a life saver. [/soapbox]

Does it keep the same rolls it had in preview after reposting from clipboard, if I fail my post due to 'backtracked too far'?

I do copy and paste stuff to clipboard, as I face the problems very often. It seems to be time dependent, at least partly.

Your rolls are basically pre-cast (the random integer is seeded when you first post), so it should keep your rolls. I’ve rolled, lost my post, come back 8+ hours later and roll is the same.

The site is programmed to keep rolls to prevent cheating.

On the status posted about 36 hours ago, it says the my mission is completed but I don't think that's correct. The google sheet shows that I have 1 success (not completed). I think the current status is that my mission, with respect to the duke is complete but not yet complete with the countess.

Is that correct?

I think the current status is that my mission, with respect to the duke is complete but not yet complete with the countess.

Is that correct?

Sort of. That was what I had intended, then realized there were multiple conflicts in the wording of the scenario, and forgot to update the status. Duke Centimus still needs to be influenced more.

Buckeye totals are now visible on the Campaign tab. Tiber earns the first one for correcting Ayalina in character

Oof! My soul dollars! I must've completely passed over it. Thanks, Tiber! @_@ I was on my way to run a game so I was in something of a hurry, orz. I should've just waited until I got back home! >~<

What's the going exchange rate for Soul Dollars and Buckeyes?

Soul Dollars are a great investment. They gain interest tax free like an IRA, but you can't cash them in until the afterlife. Buckeyes are explained somewhere in the old thread, probably in Thalasou's pages.

Yeah. I know I'm behind on my pages. Getting there...

Ayalina: How have you ended up with a penalty to Knowledge checks? With an Int 10 and bardic knowledge, lowest should be +1, but yours show -1s.

Ayalina: How have you ended up with a penalty to Knowledge checks? With an Int 10 and bardic knowledge, lowest should be +1, but yours show -1s.

Meticulous drawback.

Ooooh.

Ahahahaaaaaa, I wanted to try a thing. :) I've never actually gotten to play with a drawback before, soooooo \o/