First off, thank you all for being willing to come on an adventure with me! Now, to business.
- I will post every day. I hope everyone can post every weekday and at least once over the weekend, but stuff happens - which leads me to:
- I will bot you if we haven't heard from you in 24 hours. Please include botting instructions in your character profile, or I will have to get creative in the most entertaining (for me) way possible. Please also let me know if you are expecting an extended period of absence so I can PM you and preemptively hash out major decision points to keep the story moving. On a related note:
- I will make "reactive" rolls to keep the story moving along. If you want to make a roll as part of an action/decision/etc, please do so. I might modify the skill used or add circumstantial bonuses/penalties based on circumstances. Which brings me to my final point:
- I will happily add circumstantial bonuses (or penalties) for roleplaying. I hope, for example, that you will accompany your diplomacy check with what your character is actually saying. It makes it so much easier for me to respond if you give me material, and we make such a more fulfilling and exciting story together.
If you're worried or concerned about something, post it here or PM me. We can figure something out so you have a good time.
In addition to making “reactive” rolls for characters, I also like to roll Knowledge checks for players so I can tailor what a character might remember about a creature. If this will be a problem for you, let me know (either here or via PM) and we’ll work something out.
We’ll be using block initiative during encounters. Actions will be resolved in the order that they were posted in. While this can do some weird things with a single character acting "twice" before another, it is easier for both players and GM to track the sequence of events this way. I highly encourage tactics such as:
McSwordFace waits until her friend Blessings Galore has a chance to cast a buff before she attacks the horrible people kicking puppies.
This helps us work effectively as a team even if posting schedules don’t line up in a beneficial way.
I've found it incredibly helpful to have a Google Hangouts or Discord channel during games as part of an online convention with a hard completion date. I can use the channel to alert players to posts, and players can ask quick questions without having to delay their posts while waiting for an answer. Which program would you prefer to use?
If your post is entirely out of character , let’s put it here instead of in the Gameplay thread.
About Me: I’ve done a bit of PFS and PbP GMing, but I am certainly not perfect. If you have ideas for how I could do something better, a disagreement with a decision, or confusion over what I’m saying, please let me know via the Discussion thread or PM.
For your first post here, please use the Reply option on the following post and fill in the provided fields.
Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS Number:
Faction:
Slow Tracking? (Y/N):
Day Job (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities:
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Player Name: X Hums
Character Name: Azra Gambit
PFS Number:295369-5
Faction:Grand Lodge
Slow Track: No.
Day job:
Special notes/Abilities: Azra is a life battery. Her whole goal in life is to make sure that everybody around her stays at maximum hitpoints, and she's capable of healing as a swift, move, and standard action almost every turn in combat. Her main ability is Life Link, where she takes 5 damage from everybody at the start of her turn. She can cut links as an immediate action, which she takes upon dropping unconscious (but that's never happened). Other than that she's got lay on hands and healing spells. Her combat ability depends heavily on how others can fight, as she's completely incapable of doing so.
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I completely forgot about this game. Like, to the point of freaking out over my memory for a few minutes until I checked the spreadsheet. All's well that ends well!
Player Name: Crunch
Character Name: Melea Shemroe
PFS Number: 150618-40
Faction: Silver Crusade
Slow Tracking? (Y/N): No
Day Job:
Special Notes/Abilities: A few very minor ones. Targets always want to believe Melea's likely lies. She does a daily obedience to Erastil to increase her Survival checks. (Not too important and can be forgone if need be, at later levels it's necessary for other stuff.) If her companion Galilah threatens a foe she shoots, she gets +1 to the attack roll (+2 if Galilah is flanking). This is a teamwork feat Melea can swap out for another one once per day.
I'd prefer Google Hangouts for an off-site space to quickly talk stuff over, but can do Discord if others would rather.
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Player Name: Kyle "Worg" H
Character Name: Grandblade
PFS Number: 220424-17
Faction: Concordance
Slow Tracking? (Y/N): Normal Tracking
Day Job (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities: Grandblade is a Sword Binder Wizard with 1 level of Fighter. As such, he is generally throwing a Great Sword around the battlefield with Hand of the Apprentice. I will always use Arcane Strike, and always declare that I am using it.
As an Aphorite, I also have a power to use Protection from Chaos 1/day and can get a 20% concealment miss chance defense that lasts 6 rounds per day.
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Player Name: Uktar
Character Name: Nicodemus of NIMH
PFS Number:100685-14
Faction: Sovereign Court
Slow Tracking? (Y/N): No (Normal progression)
Day Job (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities: Swashtigator, i.e. uses parry and riposte in combat--will always attempt parry if he has 3 or more panache available. Typical buffs include long arm, shield, Mutagen, Heroism, and Studied Strike (move or swift action to study). Gets free inspiration on Knowledges, Spellcraft, Linguistics, Diplomacy, Heal, Perception & Sense Motive. Typically doesn't use inspiration in combat unless desperate.
Any fans of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, or--to a lesser extent--even the movie The Secret of NIMH may want to check out Nicodemus' character history, spoilered at the bottom of his profile.
In terms of knowledge checks, remember the free inspiration (1d6) for Nico. His first thought is usually DR, then interesting magical aspects of a creature. I've spoilered knowledge macro to the top of his profile (along with combat macros)
I have some sad news: The start date for Gameday VIII has been pushed back two weeks to Sept. 9. The folks at Paizo are swamped with recovering from GenCon and rolling out 2nd Edition, and they haven't had time to get all 100+ scenarios out to the GMs for this convention. If this would cause you concern, please let me or the VA team know.
Alright, can folks give a holler here or in the Gameplay thread so I know everyone’s still ready and excited for the game? Thank you for your patience during the two week delay - gameplay will begin in earnest on Monday!
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At the risk of confusing icons, I'd like to play with this character.
He's a Native Outsider, too!
Player Name:Ebon Fist
Character Name: Bielsi
PFS Number: 143948-3
Faction: Silver Crusade
Slow Tracking? (Y/N):N
Day Job (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities: Bielsi lets his Phantom, Zarisha do most of the fighting.
@Bielsi - welcome aboard! Go ahead and jump into the Gameplay thread.
@Hiding in Your Closet - looks like the table is full at the moment, but if we turn out to still be missing someone I will contact you via PM to fill the hole.
So, our options for reviving Nicodemus are:
1. Someone uses an effect similar to breath of life
2. Nicodemus spends 16 PP for raise dead (and probably 8 more PP to remove negative levels)
3. Nicodemus spends 8 PP and 2450 gp for raise dead (and probably 8 more PP to remove negative levels)
4. Nicodemus spends 5450 gp for raise dead (and probably 8 more PP to remove negative levels)
Other players can donate gp (but not PP) to aid Nicodemus in his recovery if they so choose. You also have the option to spend money from this chronicle sheet towards Nicodemus's recovery. If funds are found for scrolls of restoration (with necessary material components), we can also spend gp to fix the negative levels from raise dead.
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Highly doubt there's a breath of life/gloves of healing floating around at this level. (Although Azra, looks like your profile needs updating for your spells.)
Nicodemus is a bit light on gold, but he does have exactly 16 prestige in the bank. He could get the Raise Dead right away and live with the 2 negative levels.
Also, you have to wait a week to get a second restoration to remove a permanent negative level. Even if he could afford it.
of course, the party needs to get these ogres killed first...
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Nico has the expensive part covered: he can use prestige for the Raise Dead.
To pay to have Restoration cast as a spellcasting service is 1280gp, but unless this scenario spans more than a week, we can only get one resto anyway. (scroll would be 1700).
So anyone willing to kick in can cover an equal part of the 1280, and then see where the scenario winds up/how long it lasts. As long as Nico survives the rest, he should easily have the gold for the remaining restoration, if it comes to that.
Of course, this also hinges on whether Jia can/will teleport back with Nico's body, and then teleport the Raised Nico back, who'll still be down one level. (Luckily, Nico only needs to spend 100gp per dose to create Soul Stimulant to eliminate that one neg level penalty, due to his craft-alchemy as investigator.)
If we have to pay for teleport, it's 450gp per casting. (Don't know if scenario spells out availability of teleport by Jia in scenario, or if he was just plunked there as plot device.)
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Because it's probably going to happen - if Zarisha takes enough damage to reduce her below zero, Bielsi can sacrifice an HP per point of damage to mitigate that damage to her. And will so that she doesn't get sent back to the Ethereal Plane. He'll do that down to the point where he has only 1 HP, if necessary.
Dying sucks. And I'd rather have you able to play for the second half of the scenario. This is GM fiat - the scrolls cost their regular amount of Prestige for spellcasting services and Nicodemus is back in the game.
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I completely forgot about Patsy, Nico's Personal Guard (Sovereign Court Faction Boon) from Nico's 13th chronicle:
"You have earned the service of a loyal Ulfen bodyguard who accompanies you on your adventures. This character functions as a follower vanity (Pathfinder Campaign Settings: Pathfinder Society Field Guide), not taking any space on the battlefield or otherwise serving as a combatant. The bodyguard grants you a constant +1 bonus to your AC against attack rolls to confirm critical hits. If you would take damage frmo a critical hit or sneak attack, you can choose for your bodyguard to absorb 20 points of damage from the attack, though this kills the follower. You can spend 4 Prestige Points between adventures to recruit a new bodyguard."
If you'd like, I could send you a pdf scan of the chronicle.
While the +1 ac v crit would NOT have prevented the confirmation, the 20 points of damage he absorbs would've left Nicodemus with 45 damage, i.e. -1hp. Poor Patsy would've selflessly saved his master's life at the cost of his own. Mechanically, it wouldn't have affected the battle whatsoever (Nico was still down, just unconscious), but it is a retrofix. Is it okay if we consider the demise to be Patsy's rather than Nicodemus'? If not, no worries. Totally your call.
Hats off to poor Patsy. May he find greener pastures on the other side.
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Patsy, that loyal monosyllabic Ulfen bodyguard who had been following Nicodemus around since you first met Nico, without uttering so much as a word selflessly threw himself in front the ogre's blow. It literally cleaved poor Patsy in two, and still had enough force to cut Nicodemus down, leaving him near death as well...but only near.
Alright folks, as we are near the end of the scenario it's time for I need everyone to do the following:
1. Roll a d20 here.
2. If you get a 19 or 20, roll a d3 to determine which boon you receive. Also, I will need your email address so the VA team can send you your boon. You can post it here or send it to me via PM so I can include it in the reporting for this table.
All Gameday VIII games need to be reported by Nov. 17th. If you have not made your boon roll within a week (by Nov. 15th), I will roll it for you.
@Bielsi - You could always give a boon you get to another player? I'm not going to force you to roll, but the number of boons distributed isn't fixed.
@Felicitas - Woo! Be sure to PM me an email address that the VA team can send your boon to you at!
No other boons here unfortunately. I’ll try to resolve this round and move us forward later tonight. Sorry for the delay - we’re almost done, folks! Hang in there!
While the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up for those in the US, please do try to continue posting when able so we can finish this scenario!
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Sorry for the copy paste.
Fun fun fun. Looks like I've come down with a pretty bad cold. I will likely not post while I am sick, so I'll let you all know when I'm feeling better.
@Players: My apologies.
@GMs: You all have my personal contact info. Reach out there if you have a question about botting. Jordan and Azra are pretty easy to get right unless weird situations pop up.
Alright folks, Chronicle sheets can be found here! Give yours a look-through and let me know if you see something that needs correcting. I'll keep this campaign active for about a week so folks have plenty of time to grab their sheets, but if you miss the boat just send me a PM and we'll make sure you get yours.
Additionally, I'm always looking to improve my GMing, and I'd love to hear from you about your experience at my table - what was fun, what was a drag, what was frustrating, what made you grin, etc - either here in the discussion thread or via PM.
Well done everyone, and hopefully we'll see each other around the forums soon!
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My sheet looks good.
I think you did a good job with the social conflict. Those can be hard to manage and always feel like there's not quite enough time to complete.
The last encounter drug on, but that was because of a decision we had made and not anything you did. I wonder if we would have been as generous in trying to bypass that guardian if we hadn't had essentially unlimited healing.
I suspect we would have gone a lot more violent a lot earlier if one of us had been knocked unconscious.
I like the "What do you do?" that you end with. It should be written into the post (and it was) but a call to action is always good and ending that way puts the question into the players' minds.