GM Nomadical's inaugural Bones of Biting Ants (Inactive)

Game Master Nomadical

I will be on vacation with limited to no internet access. I'll post if I can, but otherwise will need to be botted. Regular posting will resume on July 2nd.

As we have just started combat and I am not savvy enough as an occultist player to leave adequate botting instructions, I will do my best to post in this game when I can!

Reiterating here, if possible, Faust would like to have Dumont, False Life, and lastly Legacy Weapon for Bane (Magical Beat) up if possible in the rounds leading up to the Mngwa (each is a standard action). I see we are going to try to meet the beast head on. Faust would approve, so stoked to see how this plays out! :)

Sorry Forrest & Faust, I'm sure there'll probably be another chance for battle before it's all said and done with!

Ha! As a player, I actually prefer diplomacy. So many scenarios are just fight after fight, and you miss out on a lot of story and interactions. But for a swashbuckler, he gets a little grumpy if he hasn't earned a little Panache that day. ha!

I usually prefer diplomacy as a player, too. But occasionally it's nice to crack some skulls as well ;)

Honestly, I think most of my favorite scenarios have a little bit of something for everyone.

Lol, Faust is sorely put out, but Gummy Bear is glad we are all still going strong!

Happy Independence Day, everybody!

Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans and Happy Thursday/Friday to the rest of the world! :)

For anyone that might be GMing for the upcoming PbP Gameday VIII don't forget that GM Courtesty Signups will be opening soon, depending on your time zone! This means that GMs will be allowed to sign up, as a player, for 1 game early before player signups open to the general public. So if there's a table that you're really eyeballing, that'll be your chance to grab a spot :)
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I'll catch up on Gameplay later, almost time to go play some Starfinderrrrr~

Given that the Foreigner succeeded nicely, and in case any of y’all need these characters or the bandwidth for PbP Gameday VIII, I’m gonna move us on to the final, I mean, next encounter.

Also, I feel bad, but I’m inclined to rule that your buffs have worn off. Although the scenario doesn’t specify how long it takes to reach the central chamber, it does say this:

The interior of the hill is larger than can be practically explored in this adventure, involving winding tunnels and chambers that twist and turn their way, possibly for miles, underground. While Bujune’s directions give a general idea of where the queen is, the journey below is approximated through a series of skill checks and challenges, in some ways similar to a chase sequence in reverse.

I feel like moving in cautious exploration mode through an alien ant hill with the additional challenges of the climb and the larvae theft and the implied extreme distances would likely take more than an hour.

There are miles of tunnels? WOW! No worries GM, pre buffing is always a risk :)

Oh, wow! Yeah, that makes sense! I wonder how much of this anthill was visible from the surface or if our characters are going far further downhill than they anticipated!

Two items to apologize for: messing up the Knowledge Spoiler for the final fight, and failing to adequately describe how complex and deep the tunnels were. On the Knowledges, I should have put the results in separate named spoilers, instead of the one that I also marked too generically. On the lack of adequate description, well, I’m gonna go with… jet lag? Nah, I just didn’t describe it adequately. Sorry. Learning process.

Man, you're doing great for a first time running a PbP scenario!

It's absolutely a learning process! Based on personal experience and observation of other new GMs the first few games will be a little rough around the edges as you hammer out how you want to handle certain mechanics and present the game to your players. I think you've been doing fine and I have no complaints :)

Same feelings here, you're doing great and I have no complaints! :D

“Wow! Yeah! Don’t sweat the little stuff, Mister GM Nomadical. It’s been like sooooo fun to read along!”

“Only thing better would of been if Amy had given the briefing!”

The Foreigner used the Surprise round to draw his vial of holy water.

No stress! I find the authors tend to hide those important details about two pages after they would have been useful. I retcon more often than I'd like.

GM, can you clarify? Are we in Round 1 or Round 2?

The label 'Surprise' with Round 1 confused me. I thought that was the Surprise round, so the Foreigner made a move action only.

If it was a full round, he'd have flown above the queen and dropped the holy water on her for 2d4 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5 damage. (Or if he couldn't 'drop' the holy water, he'd have expended another action to get in position above the swarm, and 'throw' it in a subsequent round.)

If Round 2 is technically Round 1, then everything's cool as it is, and he'll plan to take that action on his turn in the Initiative order.

Sorry. Round 1 was indeed a surprise round. Round 2 is the first full round. I guess I could have been more clear. Or incremented from Round 0.

@Forrest: The 6 damage is swarm damage. The saves were required because you took damage from ending your round in the area of the swarm that extends 5' from her.

Sorry for delayed posting. Long flights, little sleep, needed to get to a place where I could actually open up a laptop instead of posting from a tablet in an airport lounge. On with the show!

Edit: Realized that Forrest probably shouldn’t have taken that damage / rolled those saves at the end of the Surprise round, since the swarm couldn’t “act” to bite him. We’ll shift those to the end of his Round 1 actions. My bad.

I believe some real ants have the ability to sting via their abdomen, but bites are the more common/ubiquitous feature. Fire ants, for example, sting in addition to bite, the little bastards. They even coordinate it with their peers! It's rough. Don't stand in a pile of fire ants.

GM, is that fort save perhaps disease or poison based?

Good point. Thanks.

It is not listed as either of those. It's essentially a face full of dust. I didn't note it, but creatures that don't need to breath (like Dumont!) are immune. The afflicted creature is staggered for one round as it coughs and sneezes.

Elderly ants just gum their prey.

Don't stand in a pile of fire ants.

I hope you're not giving that advice based on personal experience!

Elderly ants just gum their prey.

This is what blenders are for.

In the tropical north live the dreaded ‘Green Ant’ (according to the internet their common name is Green Tree Ant), but I’ve only known them as Green Ants.

They’re fairly big ants whose heads and rear ends are bright, light green. But their bite is like ”OW” living misery.

When I first described green ants to SO (who is from the other side of the country) they didn’t believe me that these things existed!

It wasn’t until they saw them for themselves that I was finally believed. Sheesh!

*shudders*

Ugh...I hate hate hate insects. Frogs and lizards and snakes don't bother me (though I still don't want to be startled by a snake) but most insects give me the willies and I will actively flee from anything that looks like a hornet/wasp/bee.

*WOOP WOOP*

General signups for PbP Gameday VIII are now open!

Not every PbP Gameday VIII GM has linked his or her campaigns. But I've pretty much confirmed

I'm GMing:
PFS Special #10-00 The Hao Jin Cataclysm (Subtier 5-6)

I'm playing:
GM Baerlie's #10-19 Corpses in Kalsgard (5-9), probably with aasimar "Long" Beau, Cleric of Erastil-8.
R Diaz’s #10-20 Countdown to Round Mountain (7-11), probably with tiefling Jake Spade, Inv-Swash-7.
Andrew Watson's #10-22 Passing the Torch, Part 1: Who Wears the Mask (12-18), probably with aasimar Jack, “Just Jack” Bard-13 or with half-elf Slimjim Son House Shady, Bard-9/Paladin-5.

Hope to see some of you at the same table(s)!

Larry

I spent 10 years in Texas, so unfortunately fire ants were a fact of life. The huge piles that started growing up are easily avoidable. Unfortunately, they all start going down first. Especially in grass, those aren't always easy to see.

I love insects! :) Took a class on them in college, probably my favorite ever. I'd love to study them as my job, they are so cool!

Whoa, whoa, whoa Foreigner! Who invited you to the flank party? ;) Since you'll be joining us with a move action anyways, would you mind flanking with Forrest in the square that I cannot 5ft step into?

I signed up for:

Lady Ladile's table of Haunting of Hinojai with my Battle Host Occultist 8, Akazim

CariMac's tier 3-4 table of the SFS special with my Envoy Jaqweh Navar. He's currently 3, but he'll be leveling up as soon as we close out a PBP scenario. It looks like we're almost done, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm pulling back to 2 sessions at a time. I've got a big block of days off coming up, but I'll be actively traveling and don't want to hold folks up, especially a Special.

When does Gameday VIII officially start? In August sometime, right?

GM, the remaining bonus for Fasut's AC is coming from Callah's Barkskin. Do you still want me to roll the fort save for the dust?

Nice work team!

Gameday runs from August 26th through November 3rd :)

Currently I'm GMing #3-15 The Haunting of Hinojai. Since I want to get into PFS2 and also get more Starfinder into my life I'm playing at GM Numbat's #1-1 The Absalom Initiation and GM Bigrin's #1-2 Fugitive on the Red Plantet.

I do want to pick up a PFS1 game too, just undecided on what.

Decided not to volunteer to GM Hao Jin Cataclysm since I've realized I don't really enjoy GMing specials as much as standard scenarios (and also because I'll be away at a con for several days in October). I'm also not playing it because I already played it live at Save vs. Hunger back in April!

He he... that was hella risky, time to invest in some detect magic scrolls! XD My object reading ability gives me an auto success in identifying items, but I have to handle them for a minute. I never thought too much about it, but cursed/malicious items would love that :) Makes a lot of sense for Faust too, with his interest in evil/cursed objects.

Nice! It's neat to watch Occultists in action, especially as it's a class that I've not done a lot of reading up on.

@Aeliah - I signed my U. Summoner Palomia up for your Gameday table; hopefully you'll enjoy the antics of her and her eidolon and/or her misery because she's a grump and complains a lot :3

Spending 5PP to add the discerning enhancement to your wayfinder is another way to have access to detect magic.

Yay! I am looking forward to running it for you.

(But does this mean I need to change the slideshow? I stole Pathfindered yours from when you ran it ;)

I’m still not sure what/if I’m playing something for PBP Gameday VIII. I’ve been thinking I should maybe *GASP* cut back a little ;)

If I change my mind, I’ll PM you, Mishka.

I keep meaning to ask; I can't quite tell if those spoilers are … meant to represent a pause or the beat before a punchline ...

☝ You got it! This is what those spoilers are supposed to represent.

But then I have to buy a wayfinder :P It's a good idea Krieger, I'll see what works out best!

I'm going to talk about my character now since Callah mentioned Occultists in action, so if you aren't into that just ignore the rest of this post!

This is my first Occultist and the only one I've ever seen in action so it is a lot of growing for me too. I really enjoy the bells and whistles Faust has, but the class is certainly not for people who like a simple game. There are a ton of moving parts that can be overwhelming. Occultists are very customizable (which I LOVE), but it also makes your build hard to predict. I like to think I can make some decent damage-focused builds, so that's what I decided would be best to center Faust around while I get a hang of his other mechanics. I like the result so far! He hits like a truck after one round of buffing, anything else is gravy. I can see how the class can be made to perform a certain role really well. The divination school, for example, lends itself to scouting and since you have the knowledge to back it up, it could be quite useful. And that's only ONE of the THREE you get by level 2 (with those first three really dictating the flavor of the character/build). Want to do a little minion-mancy? Necromancy and conjuration has that stuff in spades!

Another part of playing an Occultist that has proven quite fruitful is the Haunt Collector archetype. You get access to the Medium's spirit stuff and can activate spirit boons (in addition to the seance boon you have 24/7). Again, customizability is the name of the game for this class and the archetype makes it even more fluid since you can trade out resonance powers you don't like for more seance/spirit boons. It's pretty wild and I think his power will only grow through the mid-levels. While Faust will never be a true frontliner (he never wants to be the first up front and can only take so many hits, especially as a Dhampir), he is versatile and a great striker. I doubt much is left standing after taking a full-round from a dedicated frontliner and then taking hits from Faust when he shows up in round 2.

@Faust - I think the sheer level of customization that a couple of the Occult classes have (Occultist and Medium come to mind) has been what's discouraged me from trying to play them. Believe me, I DO like flexibility and versatility - the Oracle is probably my favorite Pathfinder class and you can build all sorts of different character concepts with them. That said, my tolerance for having to micromanage a bunch of different things and moving parts only goes so far. This is why I vastly prefer spontaneous casters because I'd rather pick a spell list and be done with it over having to dither around with picking spells every singly day.

(The Witch and the Shaman get a pass because they have other fun abilities that balance out being prepared casters.)

If I weren't trying to avoid making any more PF1 characters (well, unless I get hold of a Catfolk boon) I'd be tempted to try making one after reading what you've had to say about them :)

@Aeliah - Ah hah! I thought you were the person who'd mentioned elsewhere that they'd 'Pathfinder'd' some of my slide setups but I couldn't remember for certain. Absolutely feel free to Pathfinder any of my GM stuff. Heck, I'm pretty sure I Pathfinder'd my 'sign in' slide from either GM Poblano Pepper or the Foreigner - maybe both.

Congratulations! Mission success! You earned all the good boons and full Prestige. I’ll have the chronicles posted soon™.

The amberhollow is a named item that is referred to throughout the scenario as an “artifact” for you Dark Archive folks. If you have any questions about any other Faction Journal Card goals, or if you’d like me to put a comment on your chronicle related to one, let me know.

Thank you all very much for letting me cut my eye teeth on GMing PBP with you. I hope it wasn’t too painful, and I’ll take any feedback or critiques you have. Given my crazy schedule, I’m gonna take some time off and will GM something else probably after Gameday is done. If you have a request, let me know.

Thanks GM, this was great fun! I think you did a great job GMing PbP and hope to play in your games again! :D

Ditto, Jim. Please keep me in mind for your next offering.
Larry

Great job! This was so much fun! You gave us a great game! I would love to play in another of your games again!

As for the group, this was so much fun! I loved the fun interactions.

Yes, thank you very much for the game! I had a grand time and I'd be happy to sit at any tables you run in the future :)

Ditto Forrest about the group, too! The party chatter, no matter how serious or inane, is often one of my favorite parts of a game.

Choronicles in Google Drive

Thanks once again to you all. I look forward to playing with all of you again. Your chronicles are in the folder linked above. No one asked for a comment, but if there's anything else wrong, please let me know.

I'm traveling all day tomorrow. I just finished up 6 straight weeks of work, and now have 31 days off. For those of you curious about my personal travels, I'm flying from Anchorage down to Hong Kong for a 6-hour layover tomorrow before continuing on to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Staying there 4 nights, then popping up to Manila (Philippines) for 3 nights. Then to Osaka and Kyoto for 4 nights. At that point I take the shinkansen (the famous Japanese bullet train) to Tokyo to meet my adult son who's coming in from Seattle. We're spending a week together in Tokyo, including climbing Mount Fuji together. When he leaves, I still have a week before I have to go back to work, and I have no idea what to do with myself then.

Yeah, sorry for the humble-brag. I love my job and life, and many people say they've never met anyone who lives the kind of life I do.

I really like the way Krieger closed out his final post and the thread, so I'm disinclined to add anything to the story beyond that.

Sayonara!

My chronicle looks good and LOL @ your signature, GM.

And no need to apologize for humble-bragging or anything else. In this day and age of (apparent) mass discontent with anything and everything it's refreshing to see someone genuinely happy with their job and their life as whole.

many people say they've never met anyone who lives the kind of life I do

That's exactly how I knew it was you that Matt & Amber were talking about when they were at PaizoCon!

(They gave us frequent updates and comments in our lodge chat during their trip about the games they played and the people they met, kinda like a mini version of Painlord's yearly bloggery thread.)

Enjoy your month (!) off work and I especially hope you have a grand time visiting with your son :)

Thanks GM, chronicle looks great! Haha I agree on the signature XD

Enjoy your travels and family time!

Thank-you for inviting me and for the Chronicle, GM Nomadical!

I had a great time and would be up for a reunion game if/when you get the urge.

I would be happy to bring Aeliah or … can you imagine Eadie and Faust together?

EDIT: level range might be too far apart, dammit!

In the meantime, have a great Asian break!

When he leaves, I still have a week before I have to go back to work, and I have no idea what to do with myself then.

I reckon you’ll figure something out ;)

@Callah, I met Matt & Amber at Paizocon. Lovely couple and a lot of fun!

And don’t worry, we didn’t believe half of what they said about you ;)

Chronicle's good, Jim.

Thanks for including me in the great game with a bunch of great player-GMs.

Let's do this again.

Soon.

Enjoy your time off, but pace yourself. Save some energy for your son and that climb up Mt. Fuji.

Larry