GM XaveTheNerd's Murder's Mark (Inactive)

Game Master X Hums

The link to the slides is above. Please be sure to fill out the second page of the slides with your information. For now, please just put whether or not you have a day job. I'll call for the rolls as we're nearing the end of the module.

A few ground rules: Please use discussion for discussing what to do, unless it's in smaller quantities. (For example, discussing whether to go to area A or area B should happen in discussion, but discussing whether or not a party member needs haste should probably happen ooc in gameplay).

This module is quite RP heavy, so I expect a post every weekday. I'll try to make time to update twice a day on weekdays, but I can only promise one. I also play 2-3 irl games through the weekend, so I cannot make any promises about posting through the weekend. I will do what I can.

When combat comes up, you will have approximately 24 hours from the time I post you're up to respond. If you take too long, I will likely bot your character. I have a specific Alias for "DA BOT" so you'll know if you or somebody else got botted without having to read too deeply into my posts.

Lastly, have fun! This module has some interesting elements in it, and I'm excited to run it for a fun group in play by post.

When you've filled out the sheets above, please make a post introducing your character in the gameplay thread. Once I've seen all the posts, I'll begin the module.

Dotting in. Looking forward to it!

We're still waiting on one person. I'll be sending a PM and posting again in recruitment. I'll give them until after lunch tomorrow before starting the module. We should still be fine with just 5 as this is a module, so if they don't respond, we'll just move on as is.

Thank you; somehow I never received an alert that I'd made it into this.

Ao and Barrabas, please fill out the character information in the slides. Putting the information there makes it much easier for me to create the Chronicles at the end!

Also, thank you all for your patience. I misplaced my book yesterday or I'd have started us off a bit earlier.

sorry, update.

The module wasn't written with the ideas of separating, so I kindly request you all regroup after a bit. Shenzen, if you'd like, a few of the things you do have some effect, but I'd prefer to keep the rolls to having the whole party in one location.

I didn't really telegraph that well, my apologies.

If you wish to stay split up, try not to do anything too drastic in area 3 until you meet up again.

I'm fine to follow along. no strong preference at this point.

I, too, have no problem with Wulthur grabbing some food and then eating it as he travels with the remainder of the party.

Heh...it would be an impressive author who was able to design a module with splitting the party in mind.

Shenzen will wander back to the majority of folks and if everyone else does, we can proceed from there.

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.

Heads up - I will be spending the next week in a cabin in the woods with limited internet access. As a result of this, my posting may be somewhat delayed. Please feel free to bit me or delay me if needed and I will jump back in whenever possible. Thanks for understanding!

Heads up - I will be spending the next week in a cabin in the woods with limited internet access. As a result of this, my posting may be somewhat delayed. Please feel free to bit me or delay me if needed and I will jump back in whenever possible. Thanks for understanding!

Have fun! Keep an eye out for guys in hockey masks, demonically possessed trees, and undead.

Thanks for your patience everybody. I'm formulating the post now and I feel much better. That cold got me good.

Alright. A big apology to everybody involved: my holiday season went from a gentle walk to hectic in about 30 minutes, and didn't calm down until my flight touched down back home late Saturday. I should be back to regular posting, but I will be allowing 48 hours until I bot for this week (the week of new years). Starting a week from today (Monday), we'll be back to regular botting procedures unless I hear otherwise!

Sorry again!

No problem. I think everyone gets busy about this time.

added a slide for marching order if that's helpful. Barrabas is fine to go up front.

Currently in Gore and Scent mode for shapeshift.

We have a weird party balance. I was going to put Shenzen up front as a tank but there are at least 2 other characters who are more tanky.

If i get my shield and mutagen up, i can cause them some problems.

I don’t think Ao or Herod are still actively playing on the forums anymore, so it might just be the four of us. Which is not a bad thing - as long as we’re not waiting for someone (like in initiative).

Strange, as Herod has been an active pbp player for some time. Quirky or not ;)

I'll shoot both of them a message. If they don't get back to me before the beginning of next week, we'll move forward as if it's just the 4 of you. Luckily, this is a module so it's built for that. No adjustments needed.

Brief investigation yields neither have made posts since before the new year. Hope everything is alright.

I apologize; sometime last month I kind of pulled some internal choke on Pathfinder Society while simultaneously starting to get busier in other ways (I'll be going to a whole new continent this Sunday!). I'll try to stay involved.

I've got a meeting through lunch today and a convention this weekend. No posts from me until Monday.

...by which time I should, for the first time in my life, be in 'STRAYA!

Sorry all. I've unfortunately run out of time today, and I'm not sure I'll be able to post tomorrow. Expect something Monday at the latest.

Thanks for understanding!

No problem!

I'll be traveling most of the weekend and likely won't be posting prior to Monday.

Sorry for my ongoing absence; lots of travel!

Sorry all. I seem to have come down with food poisoning yesterday. Expect a post by eod.

Food poisoning (AKA "the 24-hour bug", for those not in on that little secret) is a b!~~!. Any idea what the culprit was?

@Ao: I'm not sure. I hope it wasn't Jimmy John's, so I'm blaming it on the premade spaghetti I grabbed from a grocery store for lunch Wednesday.

Obligatory reminder: Initiative doesn't always mean combat. Sometimes, initiative just means there's an order to things and the situation is tense.

Also, A diplomacy roll takes 1 minute. That's off the table for the one in the vault, though the one in the pit doesn't appear to be going anywhere, so it may work for that one.

Sorry all. Work's been quite busy this week.

I lost track. Are they still in the pit or did they climb out?

We did TRY to show mercy; given their treachery, is that good enough for this?:

Accept the surrender of an enemy combatant (other than an evil outsider or undead creature), and ensure his fair treatment until he can safely be released, ransomed, or delivered to authorities for justice. Alternatively, allow such an enemy combatant with no means of escape to flee without further harm.

Hmm. They didn't truly surrender, unfortunately, they just seemed to become friendly for a moment. I'm going to have to say no, but hold on to that, I'm pretty sure you can use that later.

Apologies for the information dump, I'm trying to get this moving a bit faster, as we're moving pretty slow. Also, there are a few of you I haven't heard from for a bit, so I just want to check in again.

While we're at it, does anybody have an idea on how to improve the speed? I'm still relatively new as a PbP GM, so any advice would most certainly be welcome.

A post a day. Everyone needs to commit to that. I tend to hold a pretty hard 24hr-to-bot rule.

I'm a dullard so having some options pointed out for me is helpful so at least I can put a vote in for what Barrabas wants to do. You should take 3 votes of any direction and just go with that.

A post a day. Everyone needs to commit to that. I tend to hold a pretty hard 24hr-to-bot rule.

I'm a dullard so having some options pointed out for me is helpful so at least I can put a vote in for what Barrabas wants to do. You should take 3 votes of any direction and just go with that.

What he said. Even in non-combat situations, if someone makes a decision and no one else posts for 48 hours, you can go with that decision.

And, in a PbP it's easy to lose the thread of what's going on, so just reiterating what's going on helps people get their feet and make decisions.

I apologize (irrespective of the current discussion, as it happens) for not being more engaged; I've had a rough couple of days (sick?), and this site just doesn't draw me in the way it used to - especially since the more I see about 2nd Edition, the less I regret not renewing my credit card information to fix my 'bounced' 2E Core Rulebook order.

I would otherwise enjoy this in and of itself, but I am quite concerned about Paizo's future.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I'll definitely use 'em. Sorry for not posting today, I sprained my ankle and have been dealing with that.

Sorry for not posting today, I sprained my ankle and have been dealing with that.

Is that why your avatar looks like that? ^^

Sprained ankles are the worst. I was laid up for 3 or 4 days only able to walk to the bathroom and back when I sprained mine.

Got me a cane. Looks a little silly since I'm in my mid 20s, but it works surprisingly well.

Just hoping I recover before the next big snow storm or I'm definitely stuck in the house.

So I feel like it's worth letting you all know that we're about halfway through the book, and that we're about to pick up into some less-investigation type stuff. Just give it a bit longer and we'll be done with the "just investigate" part.

all good. i struggle a bit with the investigation stuff but Shenzen and Grandfrogger have been excellent.

Sounds good! I enjoy investigation, but this PC is built for combat.

And I agree that the other PCs have been carrying the investigation load admirably!

Purely by accident, I assure you. To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on.

My theory is that someone has had a vendetta going within the town for a while and has access to some kind of creature and the carnival and Jherizana being in town was just the opportunity he needed to exact his revenge with a scapegoat to blame.

I am sorry for not being more involved; I've had trouble thinking of anything to contribute for a variety of reasons (one of which being that this went very differently indeed last time I played this...my character that time, a maniacal knight, got arrested for killing one of the men thrashing the boy).