Welcome all! Thank you for your submissions and congratulations =)
I need a few days to make the last preparations for the module, but we should be able to get started soon.
In the meanwhile, feel free to dot in, ask questions, talk amongst yourselves or make any adjustments you deem necessary now that you know who your companions will be.
As you probably understood from the final recruitment thread post, you have been snatched by someone/thing. Rest assured, you will all wake up with your full equipment and no side-effects of your kidnapping. This does mean you won't have the chance to buy anything once we start, so make sure you have finished all your purchases and etc.
One thing you can start doing is setting up your vitals on your profile. I personally like this template: https://pastebin.com/raw/v39rPhFN, but use whatever works for you as long as it has similar info (saves, perception, current HP). Remember to keep them update once things get going.
Checking in!
Wow. Gotta say, I'm actually pretty surprised. I don't see many Gunslingers getting picked.
Really excited to be here!
Hello! Thanks for the pick, GM Omelas. I'm really looking forward to this one.
Anything you want me to add to my statline? I try not to cram too much information in there.
Wow. Gotta say, I'm actually pretty surprised. I don't see many Gunslingers getting picked.
Gunslingers do tend to evoke strong emotions in people. Admittedly, I myself tend to be quite limiting when it comes to firearms in my own games, unless it makes sense for the adventure—but if there's ever a place for... well, anything, it's definitely in Absalom!
Hello! Thanks for picking Talienda and giving me a chance to play the poor little cinnamon roll. >:D
All joking aside, I am thankful for getting the chance to play her. I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops and how the others interact with her. One thing I want to work with is that she really doesn't know how powerful she is, and I'm curious as to how y'all would suggest I play a character learning how their magic works.
One thing I want to work with is that she really doesn't know how powerful she is, and I'm curious as to how y'all would suggest I play a character learning how their magic works.
Hmm. I've had fun doing something similar with one of my characters who, at the time of his introduction, had been a Spiritualist for a grand total of two in-game days. Based on my previous experience, it's best to separate IC and OOC intention early on: bringing spells in organically is fun, but you shouldn't have to not play your character to their fullest potential while doing so. So when you, the player, know you want to cast magic missile, you should go ahead with that—justification can come second. Perhaps all Talienda knows is that she wants to hurt someone, thus making things happen without really intending to. Savvy?
Yep. I was thinking along similar lines, actually. I just wasn't sure if that was too cheesy or not given the character.
Hello! Thank you so much for picking me for this game. I'm very excited to get to try out occultist after doing nothing but GM since it came out all those years ago. I'm also very excited to play with all of you and your neato character concepts.
I will be adjusting my status line tonight/tomorrow, it might still have some stuff on it from the 2e character I took it from that isn't relevant here.
Hey guys! Glad to see you all here. With nothing but goodwill for those who didn't get here, this was the exact cast I was hoping to see picked. I foresee lots of great interactions and relationships developing between the characters!
On that note, I'd like to raise the question of pre-existing relationships. I think it'd be kinda cool if Skurly and Talib knew each other already, at least casually. They both seem to have been moving in the same circles in the Coins around the same time, and Skurly honors Abadar highly among some other gods, so they likely would have crossed paths at some point before. Perhaps other plausible links exist between other PCs.
This, of course, assumes that pre-existing relationships don't undermine the theme or plot elements our dear GM wants to employ!
One thing I want to work with is that she really doesn't know how powerful she is, and I'm curious as to how y'all would suggest I play a character learning how their magic works.
If you mean in the sense of how to simulate or depict it in your "performance"? People who are new at a skill that has great social significance (like spellcasting) are likely to be either addicted to or terrified by the potential of it. Either they're like a little boy with a hammer, solving every problem by banging on it, or they're anxious around it and avoid resorting to it unless needed. Or, more likely, either of the two depending on context.
The trick, I think, is to figure out how her experience of magic informs how she thinks about it, and how that idea serve her other goals and attachments.
As Rissi realizes that her position has changed she crouches down and scans the area for danger. Her whiskers quiver for a second before she realizes that there is no immediate danger and she stands as tall as her 3' 8" frame allows. A light jangling sound whispers from the tambourine she has slung on her hip, opposite the rapier on the other side. "Well.... What was that!"
I agree with Skurly, and to expand on his example.... When the boy uses the hammer incorrectly and breaks something, he then becomes intimidated with it and may be hesitant to use it later when it is appropriate. BUT, that could be more fun in the character development! As long as it doesn't get anyone killed and the game is fun, enjoy!
@Talib: hmmm…I would like to also have sense motive and your flat-footed and touch AC there, if that's ok with you.
@Mylok: I'll be honest with you and say that this will be my first time GMing for a gunslinger, so apologies in advance if I get anything wrong. Have to brush up on how that gun of yours actually works.
@Skurly: casual relationships -- as in, you have seen each other around, perhaps exchanged words once or twice -- should be fine, but it would be a bit too much of a coincidence if you were buddies.
@Talienda: I agree with Talib. One thing that could be interesting would be playing around with the idea that Talienda's magic might expose aspects of her self she is not ok with. Like, she can say she did not want to harm someone, but if her magic lashes out and kills that person, she might have to come to terms with the fact that, deep down, she actually did want to harm that someone. If you want to give a more sinister turn to it, at least.
@Rissi: minor comment: I meant to imply that Rissi was also knocked out cold like the others, so she'll technically only realise she's somewhere else when she wakes up.
@Sinésiel: also very excited to see the occultist at work, actually!
@GM Omelas: Understood. Thanks for the correction and I'll try to get my starting post right in game play.
On that note, I'd like to raise the question of pre-existing relationships. I think it'd be kinda cool if Skurly and Talib knew each other already, at least casually. They both seem to have been moving in the same circles in the Coins around the same time, and Skurly honors Abadar highly among some other gods, so they likely would have crossed paths at some point before.
Since they've lived in the same ecosystem (the Coins, one foot in the underworld), it would make sense to know each other, at least in passing: Talib might have pressed Skurly for information once or twice, or Skurly might have approached Talib with a tip about something untoward—sharing information, basically.
As for other possible connections: since Talienda's father had a public front as a businessman, she and Talib could have met briefly at some fancy bourgeoisie get-together, though I believe he's a bit older than her. At the very least, I think Talib would have heard of Diago's murder, since a crime lord masquerading as an honest merchant is just the kind of thing he's set on investigating. Perhaps that's what he was looking into, before the start of the adventure. How long has it been?
Rissi and Talib share a bit of cultural background, but I think it's fine to leave it at that, and work off it as we play—as GM Omelas said, it would be a bit too coincidental for everyone to be previously acquainted. By the way, I believe there's a slight error in your starting languages: "Taldor" is not a language, and by default, Common is Taldane, the native language of Taldor. Maybe you should pick Kelish instead, if she's supposed to be from Qadira...?
@Talib: hmmm…I would like to also have sense motive and your flat-footed and touch AC there, if that's ok with you.
Done!
While I can't speak to any specific past interactions, I could definitely see how Mylok and Talib and/or Skurly could have run into each other while working.
I could see Siné and Mylok meeting at some point while she was tending the sick. Maybe she even patched him up a bit.
Though I don't see how Mylok could have ever met Rissi or Talienda. Rissi, it seems, has just arrived in Absalom and Talienda has been behind closed doors for most of her life. Though, with Tali's father's past, it's possible that Mylok may at least know her last name.
Regardless, it doesn't truly matter if the GM says it is not important.
Something of note, that I don't think came through well enough in Mylok's backstory/personality. He has had past dealings with, uh, disreputable individuals. It would have been around the time of his uncle's death that Mylok would have turned over a new leaf. Taking jobs helping the shop owner as opposed to shaking him down and such.
I, for one, look forward to Mylok coming up with nicknames for each of your characters!
Siné is not particularly observant (when it comes to people, especially), so if she's met any of you before she's gonna feel real bad about not remembering your names. It seems like we've got a really well rounded party here, both in terms of mechanics and personalities.
@GM Omelas: Would you mind if I spent some of my starting gold on mundane items that could function as implements for new schools when I level up? It sounds like purchasing when I get a new one at level 2 won't be available.
I was actually saving it for gameplay but, yeah, Mylok is terrible with names. Hence the nicknames.
Thanks Talib. Don't have a clue what I was thinking on that one! Fixed.
@Siné: you can definitely do that. Alternatively, I’m also absolutely fine with you finding something inside the building and saying it has psychic potential (or something like that) once you reach level 2. Given the events that took place there, it’s reasonable to think it has become a fertile ground for the occult.
And good catch, Talib, completely missed it.
It's been about a week since Talienda's father was murdered. So enough time for running.or to spread but not enough for he world to have completely shattered.
I like the ideas y'all have given me on how to play her. I am looking forward to seeing how this works out. :)
Something that I thought of while looking over Talienda's stat block: What if her somatic components were drawn from motions she would use for her crafting or performance? For instance, miming the various brush strokes for a spell or perhaps picturing throwing clay for something like Mending?
Just an idea.
@Talienda: Okay, if it's cool with you and the GM, Talib has been looking into the murder—perhaps trying to link it to a larger criminal conspiracy, or something like that. He's probably not too far into the investigation: not far enough to have, say, ruled out Talienda as a suspect. ;P
Fine by me. I would say that most of people wouldn't know about Diago's criminal dealings, and the murder came as a shock to them, but rumors to fly rather thick among the nobility. ;)
Honestly I'm looking forward to Talib and Talienda meeting. It should be very entertaining.
Yeah, it's probably more of a hunch than anything: just imagine one of those pegboards you see in movies, with pictures of people connected by red string. Talib definitely has one of those, and somewhere on there is Diago, with a question mark next to him—and now Talienda.
I'm almost done with my preparations. Considering Skurly will be away during the weekend, let's set the start date to monday 26th so we can all start this together.
In the meantime, I will open the gameplay thread for dotting (please, dot and delete). This first post will also describe what your characters experience whilst out cold.
Finally one important question: how do you want to deal with loot?
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Will dot in as soon as the gameplay is connected.
Meanwhile, this is the loot sheet I put together for the games I'm running. One of my players gave it some style! Anyway, I edited it to fit this game.
@Misfire: Man, that's a real neato loot list. Mind if I steal the format for any PbP games I GM in the future?
GM Omelas: Turns out I can use a holy symbol as an abjuration implement, which is what I planned on taking at 2nd level anyways. For my conjuration implement I just took a 15gp art object and made it a dove instead of a soldier, hope that's alright.
Of course I don't mind!
+1 on the real neato loot list team. Added to the campaign details header.
habemus gameplay thread for dotting in.
Game starts on monday, after my next post =)
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That list is fancy!
Looking forward to this a lot. Can't wait until we get going. (Tries not to bounce like a little kid heading to Disneyland)
First gameplay post is up! Feel free to describe your characters, interact with NPCs and move around.
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Don't worry, I do plan on talking to someone in the near future. :P
No, no, no. By all means, continue raising the bar!
Seriously though, that's the fun of PbP, right? You can take your time and really dig in to what makes your character.
No complaints on my part too, Talib =)
Sorry I've been a little slow, all. Caught a nasty stomach bug and spent most of yesterday asleep. Working on getting back in there now!
Ew gross!
I hope you're feeling better!
@Sinésiel: damn! Take your time and thanks for letting us know.
@All: since there are 8 equally relevant NPCs, I am spacing their actions and replies to give you time to react to smaller bits of info, as well as keeping posts somewhat short. Meaning, they will eventually reply to Talib's persuasive commands (or most of them, anyhow).
Ew gross!
I hope you're feeling better!
Lemme second that. Stomach bugs are no fun!
Something that I thought of while looking over Talienda's stat block: What if her somatic components were drawn from motions she would use for her crafting or performance? For instance, miming the various brush strokes for a spell or perhaps picturing throwing clay for something like Mending?
Just an idea.
Sorry for not replying to this sooner. I somehow completely missed it! That is cool and I like both of them. I had a cleric that the throwing clay idea would have been perfect for since she was a sculptress. Talienda's sculpting skills are solely with carving knives and gouges, so I don't think it'd fit her to mime throwing clay on a wheel. Painting, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. I'm definitely going to be using that one!
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Talib Don't think I didn't catch that.
at his newly coined appellation.
@Mylok: The pun was entirely unintended, I assure you. :D
@Everyone: Sorry if I'm jumping ahead a bit, but I really wanted to get that post in before the weekend. I'll be the best man at my friends' wedding, and it'll most likely eat up most of my time from Friday until Monday. I might even get a few more posts in before then, but I want to be prepared for sudden errands. Feel free to chat on without me, if you still want to interact with the NPCs while they're all gathered in the same place. I assume it won't last.
Overall, if anyone has an issue with Talib taking the lead in the "investigation," let me know—I'm not trying to assume any sort of leadership role OOC.
Not at all. I'm just doing my best to play a poor, sheltered girl frightened nearly out of her wits. Have fun at the wedding and I wish your friend and his significant other a long and happy life together.
Is it possible for me to take 20 on that/those Perception rolls? If not, can I retry and take 10?
tl;dr: you can take 10/20 to search the room, but that would take around 20 minutes. You can also do that only for the evidence table, which would take 2 minutes. In both cases, I'd ask you to wait until your next action to do that.
You can take 20 on perception checks to search for things, but with a few caveats.
* taking 10/20 requires you to interact with something repeatedly, so there might be consequences. For instance, you are searching a burrow and annoy the animal who's inside, or there is a trap with a touch trigger. I won't be a jerk about this and punish you for taking 20, but it's something to keep in mind;
* it can take quite a bit of time depending on what/where you're searching. PF leaves the range of a search action to the GM, so for the sake of simplicity I'd say each take 20 would take around 2 minutes for 9 squares (your own and everything immediately around you). To search a room like the one you're in right now, it would take you about 20 minutes (77 squares divided by 9 times 2 minutes ≈ 17). This value could potentially change depending on the squares themselves: a pile of rubbish would probably take longer to investigate than a monk's bedroom.
So we end the first week on a cliffhanger of sorts =)
Folks, just wanted to say this was an incredible first week. Great work, everyone, I am really enjoying how you're developing your characters and interacting with each other and the NPCs.
Thank you for running this. Honestly I was thinking that Malgrim would be around a little longer and our panicky half-orc friend would be the one dying first.
Still, the horror is real and I'm looking forward to seeing how poor Talienda handles this.
So we end the first week on a cliffhanger of sorts =)
Folks, just wanted to say this was an incredible first week. Great work, everyone, I am really enjoying how you're developing your characters and interacting with each other and the NPCs.
It's not all that often that I'm in a PbP where I have that feeling of, "Damn, I better bring my A game to keep up with this bunch". Truly excellent material from all parties, and feeling very privileged to be included here!
Quick mechanical question/note- if this falling debris damage Skurly took were part of a "Reflex save for half damage" type thing, he'd have the option to spend a Luck point to take no damage via his Opportunistic Evasion class feature. If that's so, I'd love to get a "lucky break" there. : )
Can't wait for next week's episode!
Man, that was a really solid start to a PbP, if I do say so myself. And I do. Say so.
Myself.
I think we have a good, uh, cast(?) of characters.
Cast is good. :)
I'm liking all of the different personalities on display here. I'm hoping that Talienda and Sinesiel get a chance to chat since they seem like they'd be similar in temperament. At least when Talienda isn't terrified out of her skull. I'm liking how level Rissi and Talib are since it provides a nice balance to some of the more emotional characters. I've been a fan of John Wayne since I was little, so Mylock is hitting a sweet spot for me. Skurly is the one that I think Talienda is going to be identifying with the most. He seems just as out of his depth as she is.
I'm so looking forward to seeing how this goes.
Sorry I've been offline for a bit. I'm in Iowa with family and have very poor Internet access. I'll try to keep up but may be posting from my phone. I'll be back home Saturday.
@Talienda: hey, perhaps he's not dead, perhaps he's just resting his eyes.
@robo: ah, yes, of course. Had forgotten about your luck. Feel free to ignore the NLD and deduct that luck point. I'll keep this in mind next time so the writing is a bit more ambiguous =)
@Rissi: no problem, thanks for letting us know. Hope you have a nice time with your family.