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Part 8: Generating Anticipation
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While your first show had anticipation already created as the circus rolled into town, other performances won't be so lucky, and you'll need to generate Anticipation on your own. Note: Anticipation expires if not used within 6 days of it being generated. There are two ways to go about doing this:
Promoting the Circus: PCs can spend 2 consecutive days in town generating Anticipation for the next circus show. Attempt a Society, Diplomacy, or Performance check. The DC of this check is equal to the DC appropriate for the group's APL. One other PC can spend 2 downtime days to Aid you, providing a +2 circumstance bonus to your check if they succeed at any DC 20 check of any of the following: Society, Diplomacy, Performance, or any check related to the aiding PC's signature trick(s).
Critical Success: You generate Anticipation equal to twice the sum of your level plus your Charisma modifier (if your charisma modifier is negative, use 0 for your charisma modifier).
Success: You generate Anticipation equal to your level plus your Charisma modifier (if your charisma modifier is negative, use 0 for your charisma modifier)
Failure: You generate 1 Anticipation
Critical Failure: You fail to generate any Anticipation.
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Purchasing Advertisements: At the beginning of the week preceding a show, the PCs can purchase an advertisement tier, which represents varying levels of advertising, such as posters for a low-level tier, endorsements from town influencers at mid-level, and even magical billboards at higher tiers. They must do so before they have Promoted the Circus. Only one advertisement tier may be purchased per show, and after a show, an advertisement tier must be purchased again to generate Anticipation.
The PCs can purchase an advertisement tier using their circus Payout or their own adventuring money.
Tier 1: 1gp; 1 Anticipation
Tier 2: 5gp; 2 Anticipation
Tier 3: 20gp; 4 Anticipation
Tier 4: 40gp; 6 Anticipation
Tier 5: 80gp; 9 Anticipation
Tier 6: 150gp; 12 Anticipation
Tier 7: 250gp; 16 Anticipation
Tier 8: 500gp; 20 Anticipation
Tier 9: 800gp; 25 Anticipation
Tier 0: 1200gp; 30 Anticipation
Tier 1: 2000gp; 40 Anticipation
Tier 2: 3000gp; 50 Anticipation
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Part 9: Circus Upgrades
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Anytime between shows, the PCs may upgrade their circus. Each upgrade has a price; the PCs can pay for the upgrade using either Payout or their own personal funds.
Two type of upgrades exist: permanent and temporary. Permanent upgrades, once purchased, affect every show thereafter. Temporary upgrades only affect the next show after their purchase, and may be purchased any time up to and including the day of the performance, and they do not expire until a performance has been done. Each temporary upgrade can only be purchased once per show.
Certain upgrades can only be purchased after the curcus has purchased a preceding upgrade, such as the huge and massive tent size increases. These upgrades are marked with a "-" in the following list, and must be purchased in the order presented.
Permanent upgrades
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Acoustics: 30 gp; Min Prestige 5.
Flooring
- Safety Net: 20gp; No min Prestige.
- Padded Floors: 100gp; Min Prestige 6.
Seating
- Bleachers: 50 gp; Min Prestige 5.
- Assigned seats: 100 gp; Min Prestige 10.
- Upholstered seats: 250 gp; Min Prestige 15.
Spotlights: 40 gp; Min Prestige 4.
Tent Expansions
- Big: 40gp; Min Prestige 3.
- Huge: 100gp; Min Prestige 10.
- Massive: 300gp; Min Prestige 15.
Watermarked tickets: 50gp; No min Prestige.
Temporary upgrades
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Beer: 5gp; No min prestige.
Confections: 15gp; Min Prestige 5.
Disposable binoculars: 25gp; Min Prestige 8.
Merch, basic: 20gp; Min Prestige 3.
Merch, quality: 40gp; Min Prestige 6.
Merch, extraordinary: 60gp; Min Prestige 10.
Acoustics: Tricks with the musical trait gain a +1 circumstance bonus. After purchasing this upgrade, the bandleader role becomes available to PCs.
Flooring: Performers whose tricks have the injury trait are at a lower risk of getting hurt after a critically failed trick check. With a safety net, the DC of the flat checks to determine if a performer becomes injured decreases to 10. With padded floors, it decreases to 5.
Seating: Quality seating options generate additional Excitement for the circus's shows, but reduce the circus's maximum Anticipation by 10. At the start of each show, a circus with bleachers automatically generates 5 excitement. Assigned seats generates 10. Upholstered seats generates 20.
Spotlights: This upgrade grants a permanent +1 increase to the circus's Prestige. In addition, after purchasing this upgrade, a PC can choose the lighting role during circus shows.
Tent Expansions: Bigger tents increase the circus's maximum Anticipation limit. Without any upgrades, a circus's maximum Anticipation is 20. A big tent increases the circus's maximum Anticipation to 50, huge to 100, and massive to 200.
Watermarked Tickets: An intricate ticket design makes forgeries near impossible. For the purposes of calculating Payout, the circus's Prestige is treated 2 points higher than it actually is (typically giving a payout of 2 more gp).
Beer: The circus generates an additional 2d6 Anticipation for the next show, and tricks with the audience trait gain a +2 circumstance bonus. However, the hecklers event is automatically triggered, in addition to any other random event rolled.
Confections: The circus generates an additional 2d6 Excitement at the start of the next show.
Disposable Binoculars: There is no maximum Anticipation limit for the next show.
Merch: This temporary upgrade has no direct effect on the next show. Instead, a fraction of the final Anticipation total of the next show is carried onto the show after that. With basic merch, the circus retains 25% of its final Anticipation (rounded down). Quality merch increases this to 50%. Extraordinary to 75%.
Alright. That's all the circus rules, I believe. I'll likely be tuning them further, as my Friday night home game also uses the circus rules. There have already been a few changes made here and there to help out. If anything sticks out as "why would I ever?" or "why would I not?", let me know. I'm willing to adjust the rules as we see fit.
Please note: All of these rules are now in the Campaign Info tab as well.
Last post for now. Hero points have reset
Exciting stuff. We don't have much money yet. But I'll definitely want to take advantage of these things.
We should decide on how we want to handle these costs. Do you want to just chip in individually as needed or should we set up a circus coffer with a percentage of our earnings going into it that we can apply to circus upgrades and advertisement?
PS. I see we need to re-buy the safety net. Damn rats.
I'm going to be out of town with minimal internet for the weekend, so don't expect me to post during that time.
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It’s funny that Hush knows all the languages but likes to keep silent.
When he finally catches up with the group, he is accompanied by a bipedal, clawed reptilian creature. Feathers run along it’s spine and arms, while scaled and leathery skin covers the rest. The glint of predatory intelligence is clear in its eyes.
Oh, hey Guttugger!
Hey folks, in an effort to fight off the funk I’ve been in recently I’ll be backpacking in the Olympic Peninsula between the 6th and the 10th meaning I won’t be able to post.
A full week of backpacking! Sounds like fun! Not something I'd do because I'm horrendously out of shape, but fun nonetheless! I'll bot you if/when it becomes necessary.
I'd like to give a formal apology for last week. I honestly just needed a mental health week. I felt off for most of the week. It's cleared now, thankfully, but that's why my posting was inconsistent last week.
Orchard is okay with me too
Orchard is okay with me too
I mean...that’s two. Anything P’oxtan or I say is outnumbered.
The boars don’t sound like an immediate problem. I too would like to just explore Abberton, shop, mingle, gather information, and get a feel for things. Is there a map of Abberton or a few notable locations? Maybe we could inquire about those other rumors on our own. We’ve met the mayor but introducing ourselves to other important figures in town could be beneficial too.
The ringmasters spend the day scoping out the town and shopping.
Legitimate question: are we able to find someone in town to transfer that +1 rune from the sickle to, say, a handwrap? And if so, for how much?
Also, for the purposes of proper bookkeeping, everyone go through the inventory sheet and mark anything that your character would carry on them. I'll assume anything not marked as on someone's person to be for selling, so I can get back to you about how much gold we all have.
I don't want any of the current treasure. But Honey feels we should keep Thunder's torch, hat, and cape out of respect. Honey isn't carrying them though. They can just stay in the wagon. Also keep the key to the wagon.
Honey is going to buy (2) scrolls of heal for 4gp each. Being able to cast heal, they seem superior to minor healing potions. She is also going to spend 4cp to purchase (4) poor meals that she intends to possibly bait or gain favor with the boars. They is it.
So, looking at the map, Abberton is podunk as described after all. There really isn't much to it. We should be able to sell in the morning and still investigate the boars in the afternoon.
As far I can tell, the Mad Mug is the only bar in town and if it reputed to house a crime gang, I'd proceed with caution.
Also, our tent is much closer to town than I realized. It is probably only a 5 minute walk to get to town.
Sorry, busy few days. She doesn't want any of the treasure, but agrees we should keep the everburning torch. I'll post later with what Hush wants to buy. Probably just some healing potions.
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Just got off of 30 miles of steep, muddy trails! Nonetheless, it was absolutely incredible.
Kinda quiet lately.
Sorry, sorry. I was procrastinating putting up this fight, and I was waiting for some more responses, but I noticed you guys didn't sell enough to really buy anything. Somehow, my brain put an extra 0 in there and was waiting for some more purchases. Map and fight incoming.
Ach, any chance the rune transfer could've happened before the fight? Fine if not.
Ach, any chance the rune transfer could've happened before the fight? Fine if not.
If so, that'll be 3.5 gp, just FYI.
Was I able to find out anything about the orchard with my diplomacy? Nothing happened at the church or tavern?
Sorry, sorry. Missed some things, I guess.
@P'oxtan: A day of selling went down, so I'll allow it!
@Honey: Nothing in specific about the orchard. I will also say: heading to any of those locations causes some....other problems....(encounters). This first book is picky about order.
Yep, I'm aware of how much the rune transfer would be.
That’s fine. We can visit them after. I just tried to thematically shop.
Have they all run at this point?
They aren’t running. They are backing up for another charge.
Charge is like the boars’ thing.
Have they all run at this point?They aren’t running. They are backing up for another charge.
Charge is like the boars’ thing.
Precisely. They've got a special thing where if they move enough, they get a bonus. They're smart enough to try and get that.
An apology: I had a game I was GMing get moved to last Thursday on shorter notice than I'd have liked. I'll be posting today to make up for it.
[dice=Athletics (Long Jump)]1d20+5
You could also just Leap over the caltrops (what I did), which has the exact same effect as what you were going for save for the fact that there isn't a chance of failure from rolling a nat 1.
Oh. I was looking for that but couldn’t find it. Thanks.
Sorry we've been going a bit slower this month, but hero points reset on Saturday.
Legitimately, we should save the heals for in-combat healing; it may heal more, but it’s also a resource that’s spent.
Ok. I will save my heal for later.
And with the APG's release, I have officially converted Finn from a fencer to a battledancer, so he's all about the Performance checks.
Also, I figured you might be interested in this, Honey.
I've been eyeing up that beast master archetype. Could be a direction I decide to take P'oxtan. I like the idea of hunting with a pack of dinos.
The acrobat archetype looks interesting. My only concern would be that it would distract from my true focus of sorcerer/healer.
As a heads up to all: I'm going to be spotty with posting for the next few weeks. In addition to sending my primary computer to the shop for some routine maintenance, I'll be moving in less than two weeks. I'll let you all know when things go back to normal.
The acrobat archetype looks interesting. My only concern would be that it would distract from my true focus of sorcerer/healer.
That's fair, but the auto-maxing proficiency in Acrobatics from the dedication alone is worth it in and of itself, in my opinion.
EDIT: To be clear, I'm not trying to force you in how to build your character. I'm just playing devil's advocate for a bit.
Shhhh! No one needs to know!
Ok, so hear me out. I have this idea. It might be crazy. I'm putting it in discussion first because I don't know if it'd work or if anyone would want to do it.
I'm guessing this door leads to the back end of the bar. I'm not really sure what our goal is. Sneaking, fighting? But either way, I thought we could benefit from a diversion.
So my thought was, before we fully enter (Finn can still peak inside to see what we're up against), what if we (or one of us) went back to the orchard, dragged unconscious mama pig near the front entrance, woke it up, and pointed it towards those 4 rude men sitting there? The squealing and fighting should draw people's attention. Or even if it just keeps those 4 from entering the bar for a round or two to join the inevitable fight we're going to cause there could be beneficial.
And yes, I know I was previously advocating for the boar's well-being, and now, this is kinda the opposite of that, but hey, I'm CN so wanting one thing and then wanting something totally different is completely fine.
We can also scrap this thought and enter how we currently are proceeding and that's totally fine to. I just thought of it and wanted to throw the thought out there.
That sounds hilarious. P'oxtan wouldn't have the craziness or much of the humor for it, but I think that's an awesome idea.
I love it! Sounds like it could go very wrong very quickly, but I just want to see what kind of hilarity ensues.
I'd say Hush will complain, but let's face it -- she won't. She'll give you a solid LOOK though. Haha.
Sure! Go for it.
I go away for two weeks...lol
I'm all for this plan. Give me some time to set it up, but I do need to know exactly how we're healing the boar before initiative is rolled.
Also: Hero points. One to Honey for the gloriously chaotic neutral idea, and another for Finn for going full cowboy.
Once I know how we heal the boar, I'll get the combat setup.
Also: An update. The move was successful. I've managed to finally locate which box my books were in and I'm starting to get back in the swing of things. I anticipate I'll be back to posting regularly sometime around a week or two from now.
Just an update to y’all: I have been keeping in touch with the GM in the interim—the move to his new place has gone fairly well, but the transition is still being accounted for; not to mention offline life suddenly hitting like a truck.
That is to say that the GM hasn’t abandoned the game, just that recent things have just been of a greater priority than PbP. Sorry for the wait, everyone.
No problem. I’m still around too. Just waiting.
No problem. I've just started classes, and between that and adjusting to juggling it with work I'm grateful for some downtime.
Yeah, definitely no worries. I'm swamped trying to get my hands on masks and prep my kids for school starting next week. My kids catch everything at the best of times, so its... worrying they're headed back. Lots to do.
My kid is starting kindergarten on the 8th. Stay safe.
Gosh, bad timing, hey? Same to you and yours.
I'm going to do my best to get consistently posting as of this week. Because of how long it's been since we posted regularly, I will NOT be resetting hero points tomorrow.
I just want to see what chaos we cause.