GM Zero/GL's Giantslayer! (Inactive)

Game Master GM_Grandlounge

I've heard the Glass Cannon run through this scenario and, I don't know how the books are divided up, but the boat ride is at least half the adventure.

That being said, I wouldn't mind a jump ahead, myself. Ulretha's too lazy to do real investigation work and my play style has always been, watch for clues but blunder into trouble and fight my way out.

The boat trip is 30% to 40% of the book and it is by far the densest part of the book. For perspective, it is a 5 to 7-day trip and likely half of the adventure.

It is the group's decision everyone vote and we will move ahead.

1) Full content as written.
2) Essentials run (there are super long dungeons and sandbox areas they will be slow and take a lot of time so we can skip the incidentals and small stuff).
3) Full content but I railroad the investigation, and the broader self-directed stuff.
4) You as characters foot it up to Redlake Fort and we go from there.

Final note: if I move you about, for this part and roll perception check there is no point in running the mystery section because I know the outcome of the investigation. I would either have to steer you towards or away from the answer, both of which are not ideal. You have already prevented major events that would have slowed you down and cut weeks of out-of-game time of the running of this section of the book. That is precisely why I have been pushing the investigations because it provides more opportunities to find much faster solutions.

All that said I said I will run your game your way just tell me what you would like.

I think partially we’re (I’m?) feeling stymied by a (perceived) lack of clues. I’m good with any of those options personally, but at present I’ve been fighting depression so it’s been hard to stay invested in any of my PbP’s the past two weeks. (These funks usually get broken before too long, thankfully!)

I am good with whatever the group decides and like the run so far a lot! :-D I mean the time to have nice RPG is rarely given in other games.

@GM: Of course we can hold Kioshi’s scene and I am eager to learn what is underneath that TRAP DOOR!!’ Ahhhh!!

I think it would be more enjoyable if you just assume we search every room and keep an eye on the sailors and do not make us do a blow by blow of the searches and watches. You can have us roll perceptions or you could do them yourself and set up any meaningful discovery or encounter.

I think (3) is probably closest to what I would vote for, but we may perhaps have just stumbled onto THE CLUE we needed to break this investigation, which might render my bellyaching moot.

As I said, my main concern was just that our characters seemed to be spinning their wheels and that the roleplaying momentum was suffering accordingly. I can certainly be patient while a situation builds to a big payoff, but I've been in enough pbem and forum games to know that the dramatic chemistry of a group can be a fragile and elusive thing, even with awesome writers and role-players and GMs. And it had just felt that this one might have been slipping away from us, which I would have hated, since I adore this character and this group.

Going forward, I'd say run the content as written, but be prepared to expedite if we start to spin our wheels and drift too much. Is that fair?

Well considering you guys just found the big clue you have been successful lead to where you need to be.

I think we're good. Looks like we lost patience right before the payoff. My vote is to proceed with 1.

Thanks GM, I am good with any option.

I will have a post tomorrow morning I have a migraine so I'm heading in early.

Super sorry I left! :-( If Kioshi hears anything GM then please tell me.

Here three perception checks just in case:

perception : 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
perception : 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
perception : 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Super sorry I left! :-( If Kioshi hears anything GM then please tell me.

Here three perception checks just in case:

[Dice=perception ] d20+ 7 + -
[Dice=perception ] d20+ 7 + -
[Dice=perception ] d20+ 7 + -

It just makes for a more interesting story.

Ulretha is definitely sure you're in on the plot, now.

;-D

Gonna see if Ulretha fells the snake this round, and if so, gonna put some skills to use!

Does Ben have a CLW wand sticking out of his belt? I'm considering a couple of options aside from shooting...

He does, and he also has a potion of CLW. All items are well labeled.

I don’t think Thyste knows enough about Lidia’s past to look at her expectantly here, but boy am I looking forward to her next post!

Oh, there's a million things she could say about the false moral equivalence of humans and orcs, and a lot of truly gruesome details about her experience with orcish folk, but she's not about to go down that rabbit hole with this dumb woman, who will hardly be sympathetic.

GM_Grandlounge wrote:

"Kioshi, Gashnakh, and the firstmate Coxswain were all my accomplices. If you need to know. Maybe you will show us mercy."

Objection your honor!! :-D Is there a bluff so at least the PCs have a chance to feel something is wrong?

Yes, I have a way to do secret rolls on the forum that are not in this thread. But can be checked later if anything comes up. But, for things that become player player I let the PCs direct what they want to do because a charter can make the choice to trust ot distrust someone however, once a roll is made players should generally stick to that outcome until new information arise. Ie if they roll poorly they have to stick with believing the lie which could be much worse for Kioshi. This allows Kioshi to talk his way out which I think is better for the situation. I hope this is an acceptable plan. That said the situation can be easily meta gamed now but keep going all.

@ Ben you have it exactly right. I have found this the fairest way to let players use their intuition and RP fully but have the rolls still matter. However, like I said, if people think it's unfair or don't like it I'm flexible. These types of things are a dialog.

@Lidia how are you feeling? Is the momentum coming back for you? We should be done this second after two more GM posts give or take, and your characters would know you are approaching Ghostlight mash tomorrow.

I don't force alignment changes unless someone does something truly evil or there is a spell or the like involved. However, I do like to give people the option to change alignment if a story point allows. This is purely optional (it acts like the Mass Effect paragon system and obviously changes your susceptibility to spells and how people with the right types of magic vision will see you. Everyone can move there one step toward lawful or good for letting the woman live.

This is an alignment-free campaign, actually! We went more on a ranked loyalty system. (Thyste’s loyalties, in order: Me, People I Like, People Like Me)

My bad. Most of you had them on your sheet. I assume that is just from whatever software you used to export them.

@Lidia how are you feeling? Is the momentum coming back for you?

Oh very much so. We found Lidia's evil twin in the cellar and I get to yell at the witch again! What more could I ask for?

@Ben - I sense you might perhaps be getting fed up with Lidia's dramatics. I cannot defend her, really. Some things really push her buttons, and once she starts getting angry about something, she tends to lash out. Melina preaching at her about how humans have wronged the poor orcs is WAY too much for her to swallow easily, and unfortunately Kioshi has stumbled squarely into the crosshairs of her suspicions again. His pure fecklessness is probably the best thing he has going for himself right now -- he's not exactly a smooth criminal type.

All I can say to assuage your possible impatience with Lidia is that (a) in the long run she really is on the side of the angels - if we were using traditional alignments she falls more into the CG part of the spectrum than CN - and (b) she usually eventually feels bad when she loses it, and she already looks up to Ben as someone who seems to have his poop together, so she probably would respond... well, maybe not *well*, but if he were to impose a guiding hand on her temperament, she would probably be receptive on some level. Like all lost souls, what she really craves are some comfortable emotional boundaries within which to find peace.

@Lidia and the rest of the group. Feel free to tell me when your feeling stuck or if a part is dragging. I think investigations and puzzles can be extra hard PBP. I also appreciate the OOC communication of the group check-ins are important. Keep it up.

@Ben - I sense you might perhaps be getting fed up with Lidia's dramatics.

No, no, no! I LOVE her dramatics as a player. But I have to figure out how Ben would react and he might be a little discombobulated and at a loss. In fact, this group is geared towards drama and it was one of the reasons I wanted so very badly for the game to continue.

Do not change a thing!!! I totally get the character and am enjoying her immensely. No explanations or excuses needed - keep up the good work.

Actually, I'm going to take your worries as a compliment since it means that Ben is quite different from me as a player and that is part of what RP is all about.

So, this may be a line and may be a veil, let me know -

If Ulretha is left alone with Milena for any length of time, say if he has a lone shift on guard duty overnight, he will do very bad things to her. He won't kill her or do any permanent damage but will come close.

He views it as his right as the victor and as revenge for her part in almost getting him drowned and eaten and he'll also just find it entertaining.

If this is a line then we can just assume he's never given a lone shift as guard or that he was simply too lazy to bother.

If it's a veil, it can be interesting RP. I'm assuming at least Ben and some of the NPC's will be offended/horrified by it and perhaps Thyste and Lidia, too.

I’m not opposed to that (potentially) happening in the RP. Not 100% certain how Thyste will respond to it, to be honest! Kind of a gray area in her morals.

Lidia's reaction to that would be complicated as well. The exact context and circumstances might matter.

I don't want to tip my hand too much on her likely reaction, but I think all Lidia's companions can tell that (a) she thinks Melina is a misguided idiot undeserving of any sympathy, and (b) Lidia sort of understands her anyway, for various reasons.

I should also remind the group that Lidia's alliance to the party is still not totally firm. Dramatic and floridly evil actions might discourage her continued cooperation.

I should also remind the group that Lidia's alliance to the party is still not totally firm.

This is an interesting thing to note, because I think that’s true for a solid 60% of the party. Me, you, and Ulretha are still in this for a vague combination of “money,” “nothing better to do,” and “these guys I’m traveling with seem pretty chill (except Kioshi)” (sorry Kioshi!).

I think on Thyste’s part, a bit of the glue binding her to the cause is just that she sees Trunau’s “I’m going to exist in this world no matter how hostile it is, and screw everyone who tries to remove me from it” as aligning well with her own history. “Me, people I like, people like me,” after all.

Despite his abrasiveness, Ulretha considers the folks who fought with him at the battle of Trunau (and before) members of his tribe, if not his pack.

He would try to keep them all together and wouldn't voluntarily leave the group and, if threatened with exile would change his ways.

I'll see what Ben and Kioshi and the GM say then decide if he's going to be evil.

Ha ha! No offense taken! :-)

Ulretha it is up to you, but consider how the NPCs will react based on what you have seen so far. That is if your character would think about such things. Bloodtusk will not react well especially since you guys basically said he got to decide what to do with the prisoner and you would be going back on that.

Ben would be moderately displeased. In his mind it serves no purpose and causes animosity. In a vague sense he would consider it wrong, and would lecture him and after that watch him closely, but he would not react violently. He would, however, allow the law (i.e. the Captain) to take it's course in the matter, wherever it may lead. He does not consider Urethra a friend, more of an ally whose usefulness could easily be overbalanced by the trouble he causes. As friendly and gregarious as Ben is, he does not make real friends easily and is a loner at heart.

I will pause until Ulretha makes a decision. As he would be able to find alone time at night. If he wanted to with a stealth check. Ulretha if you go ahead with the plan roll the stealth check here and post what you are doing.

I am CACKLING at the realism of ”How would you even...?”

Never change, Lidia!

I decided to go with Ulretha being stymied and frustrated in his attempts.

When two fox halflings love each other very much, they do a special naked hug. Then, after several months, one of them poops out a rainbow colored egg. They hide this egg under a cabbage and after another few months, it hatches out a new fox halfling.

I decided to go with Ulretha being stymied and frustrated in his attempts.

When two fox halflings love each other very much, they do a special naked hug. Then, after several months, one of them poops out a rainbow colored egg. They hide this egg under a cabbage and after another few months, it hatches out a new fox halfling.

Actually these days, the zoological community states that the egg is orange and pink striped, but there’s some debate on that.

Ulretha wrote:

I decided to go with Ulretha being stymied and frustrated in his attempts.

When two fox halflings love each other very much, they do a special naked hug. Then, after several months, one of them poops out a rainbow colored egg. They hide this egg under a cabbage and after another few months, it hatches out a new fox halfling.

Actually these days, the zoological community states that the egg is orange and pink striped, but there’s some debate on that.

For an Eastern Fox Halfling?

I heard Mountain Longear Fox Halflings have different colored eggs, but I don't really know much about them...

Okay, a lot of posts to read. I'm looking forward to it but my IRL game ended late so I will post in the morning.

Kioshi, I want to ask something, but I want to assure you first that I don't mean anything rude about this, I'm honestly just trying to figure things out. Is English perhaps not your first language? We just seem to be prone to a lot of misunderstandings that are making things awkward.

You are completely right that english is not my native language! :-)

No offense here. So apologies for the awkward conversations. Which might be ok given that Kioshi is kind of weird and has a low charisma.

Out of curiosity, what is your native tongue?

I ask mostly because I started learning a new one recently. こんにちは！

Meine Muttersprache ist deutsch.

German is my native language.

Ah, nice! My family traces back from Germany (near... I think Jacobsburg? something like that). I grew up with a lot of mumbled German words by people that never spoke the actual language.

We came over in the early-to-mid 1800’s if I’m not mistaken.

No apologies necessary. I honestly can't imagine myself having the bravery to play a game like this in a language other than my own Muttersprache.

I rather like the fact that Kioshi is socially inept. We may have some interesting interventions in store for the character though! That muffle sound spell is looking pretty handy right now! A pity it is not on the druid spell list!

My family is also from Germany, although it was far enough back that my DNA test didn't show it.

But I still have a German last name - "Abendroth" which I believe is a change from abend and rot or "evening" and "red."

Ha ha ... many people with German roots around the world I think. :-)

Half German here. Just had brats for father's day. Not those crappy pre-cooked ones either. These were boiled in beer and onions and toasted out on the gill, then eaten on homemade potatoe rolls. I'm a bratwurst snob.