[SFS] GM Bigrin's PbPGD Table 2 - On the Trail of History (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

Ship combat is ok tabletop, but, taking the negative, ship combat in PBP can use some work, but that's more a flaw of the medium than the system or mechanics.

If you ever get to play with The Dire GM for PbP, he has an interesting way to make PbP a bit clunky. You might be able to find his older scenarios he has ran to see what I mean.

Howdy gang.

I'll be spending the better part of this week at a work conference. I should be able to make at least one post a day assuming internet is readily available.

By the way, I have decided to make my first foray into PBP GMing.

If your interested in trying the repeatable adventure ACTS OF ASSOCIATION, recruitment is here.

FYI, I don't know if this is true (as i haven't played it yet at this tier), but I heard that the special that came out for Gencon has the hardest fight ever at the level 10-12 range. Considering I was told this by one of the GM's that ran said battle I want to believe it.

Welcome to combat! The combat slides are in the link on the campaign page, or at the top of the posts.

The way I do combat is to set up the initiative tracker, and then let everyone post in blocks (before the monster, after the monster, between the monster groups, etc.). If your block is up in the tracker (bolded) then you should post. Don't worry about posting in order, as that slows everything down. Post as you can and I will merge the actions together in initiative order. If your action would depend on what someone before you in the order, place contingencies in spoilers, like this:

Obviously, if it is too complex you can delay, but I will be running combat updates at least once every 24 hours and if you miss your posting block, you lose your action.

Clear as mud?

Sorry for the delay all, I've had 3 funerals this weekend, plus an emergency trip to Charlotte. I apologize for not checking in and letting you know the situation.

Game on!

Don't worry about it (by it, I mean the delay). Real life always comes first.

This is my one crazy lab work week, which I teach. So I will likely only post real early in the morning or late in the evening (If I can).

Sorry

Senesdar isn't terrible at stealth, but isn't the best at it either (+2 Stealth). He also lacks an easy way over the wall, although he has a fairly good Athlethics bonus (+13), so there is that.

If necessary, I can hang back while the stealthier members of the party advance ahead.

How easy do the walls look to climb?

there are ladders inset that give you an easy way up.

@everyone - I need to report the game today, so I will be doing that and sending chronicles out today

And now for the Boon Rolls! A 19-20 Wins.
chikasa 1d20 ⇒ 17
creed 1d20 ⇒ 3
fixit 1d20 ⇒ 14
janilla 1d20 ⇒ 10
saryn 1d20 ⇒ 6
sensdar 1d20 ⇒ 17
GM 1d20 ⇒ 8

Also, please check the info below to make sure I am reporting correctly.

Player Name: Woodenman
Character Name: "Fixit" Fidorius Nixit
Character Number: 127693-701
Slotted Faction: Dataphiles
Number of this Chronicle: 12
Starting XP: 11
Initial Fame: 14 (23 earned, 9 spent)
Fame Spent: On this chronicle? None so far.
Reputation with slotted faction: 25
Day Job: Nil

Player Name: Jim Crase
Character Name: Janilla Gavis
Character Number: 56565-704
Slotted Faction: Wayfinders Champion, Improved
Number of this Chronicle: Should be #11
Starting XP: 12
Initial Fame: 13 I believe.
Fame Spent: Recently Zero (I have spent a lot earlier)
Reputation with slotted faction: 24 (Wayfinder)
Day Job:n/a (True Savior of Tasch)

Player Name: Dax Thura
Character Name: Saryn
Character Number: 33973-708
Slotted Faction: Exo-Guardians
Number of this Chronicle: 9
Starting XP: 9
Initial Fame: 14
Fame Spent: 0
Reputation with slotted faction: 10
Day Job: None

Player Name: GM Mjolbeard
Character Name: Chikasa "Chik-Chik"
Character Number: 177216-702
Slotted Faction: Acquisitives
Number of this Chronicle: 10
Starting XP: 9
Initial Fame: 18
Fame Spent: N/A
Reputation with slotted faction: 8
Day Job: Forgo Day Job for Instructor Boon

Player Name: Art Burd
Character Name: Senesdar
Character Number: 60235-707
Slotted Faction: Exo-Guardians
Number of this Chronicle: 8
Starting XP: 10
Initial Fame: 16 (might end up changing)
Fame Spent: 0 (again, might end up changing)
Reputation with slotted faction: 18
Day Job: None.

Player Name: Alan Bengs
Character Name: Dr. Creed Morvius
Character Number:278101-702
Slotted Faction: Second Seekers
Number of this Chronicle: 8
Starting XP: 7
Initial Fame: 14
Fame Spent: None yet
Reputation with slotted faction:14
Day Job:day job: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Looks good.

A few small changes in bold.

Player Name: Dax Thura
Character Name: Saryn
Character Number: 33973-708
Slotted Faction: Exo-Guardians
Number of this Chronicle: 9
Starting XP: 8 (this game will level him)
Initial Fame: 14
Fame Spent: 2
Reputation with slotted faction: 13
Day Job: None

Looks good for me. Neither of the numbers I indicated ended up changing.

A few changes for me as well:

Player Name: GM Mjolbeard
Character Name: Chikasa "Chik-Chik"
Character Number: 177216-702
Slotted Faction: Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo)
Number of this Chronicle: 10
Starting XP: 9
Initial Fame: 18
Fame Spent: N/A
Reputation with slotted faction: 14
Day Job: Forgo Day Job for Instructor Boon

Thanks!

Looks fine for me...and one more True Savior day job after this scenario and I am done with it!

Sensedar,

I didn't want you to just face tank...just hoping that another person in 'melee' range can help soak some of the damage. I do hope to do a guarded step back and mind thrust him again.....we will see if I misjudge and he has step up on me.

One thing I have noticed with the bonus this creature has (and any 'in tier' end baddie)....unless you are a soldier designed for a 100% most current armor (even above your level by 1 or 2)...they are going to hit his target on a very small number on a d20. One thing I both like and hate about SFS is the baddies all have stupidly high to hit...it also allows the GM to do the dreaded 'two-attacks' per round--which hurts the PC's but also allows some 'fear' that the GM can put into players.

Given that in 30+ games of SFS, I have only seen 1 player hit 0 hp more than once in a game, I don't think it really matters. They have stupidly high to-hit, but you guys have stupidly high HP (when combined with SP).

That is very true. I have found that when I run, unless the fights are made to be extremely difficult (2+ CR above the higher level of the tier), it is very rare for a player to actually go down in a fight. Unless, of course, the dice are going very much against them.

Agreed. As a GM I have 'dropped' 3 characters...2 by stupid luck, and the 3rd by a brain slime taking over a player, and that player critting on a level 1 player.....

As a player, I have dropped a couple of times (full charge in the 'free' fight in Siege of Civility....nuar technomancer/front line fighter...and a dwarf soldier in a snipers alley)....

But the higher level games...things do get a bit trickier (7-10).

I am not worried about this fight. Just worried that nobody else will have the fun of dropping the Dragon :-). I still want to not kill Spinjack though.

Yeah I want to see if we can bring Spinjack over to our side once Farvenzi is down. Hopefully he’s just under the sway of the security chief for now.

Yep....Janilla isn't meant to face tank :-)

Nice Crit BTW GM.....this is how DireGM did a kill in Heart of the Foe...but instead of it being when the PC was near full HP...it was when the player had less than 5 left...and then critted on him for something close to 55 total damage (player only had 40 max HP...). And down the player went.

Oh well...will stabilize next time I am up, and then heal 1 HP from Resolve. If needed I guess I can still heal myself then mind thrust.

Yep, untimely crits are the best way to kill PCs

Congratulations, guys. We finally finished it. Sorry it dragged out so long.

I hope you enjoyed the game. As usual, if you have any comments or suggestions, I would be happy to hear them here or in a PM. Thanks again for letting me run this adventure for you!

Chronicle sheets will be available as soon as I can sneak 15 minutes to do them.

Thanks for running the outstanding adventure, Bigrin! That's one more step toward back-filling the Scoured Stars storyline in for Chikasa, so I'm excited to have this one done as well!

Here are your chronicle sheets. Please look them over and let me know if there are any changes that need to be made. Again, thank you for letting me run this game for you. It's been a lot of fun.

Thank you for running! It was good to not end up losing any limbs this time! (Not that it seemed like a large risk this time in any case.)

Chronicle loooks good! Thanks again for running, Bigrin!

Thanks also to my fellow players, especially for keeping Farvenzi far away from Chikasa in that last fight! :p

Looking forward to playing with you all again sometime!

DM, Janilla should be out of sub-tier, not tier 3-4 (Janilla is level 5).

And the game was fun. Sad it took so long, but that ship combat was pretty long...but EPIC. I am just glad we won....maybe by the skin of our teeth, but we won.

Had a lot of fun playing with you all...and even face-tanking that last fight. Ouch. :-)

Looks good. Thanks.

Looks good. Thank you for running this!

DM, Janilla should be out of sub-tier, not tier 3-4 (Janilla is level 5).

And the game was fun. Sad it took so long, but that ship combat was pretty long...but EPIC. I am just glad we won....maybe by the skin of our teeth, but we won.

Had a lot of fun playing with you all...and even face-tanking that last fight. Ouch. :-)

Oops. I have made the changes and you should see them now.

Looks good now DM Bigrin. Thanks!

Thanks GM. Much appreciated!