Hell's Vengeance

Game Master dickie

Here is your discussion thread!

I realized I forgot a few details about advancement. Part of that is because I'm not sure if I would rather do milestone or count every exp point. There is a certain merit, especially in the first book, to keeping count. But I'm open to discussing the topic...

As for HD gained on leveling, we will do the half+1 standard. Retraining will be permitted.

The gameplay thread is now open. Happy Friday the 13th! Hope no one is triskaidekaphobic!

KingHotTrash here, super looking forward to this campaign. Do you want us or mind us having any connection with each other before the start of the campaign? There are definitely some that I can see that would've worked with Draco before.

All totally up to you guys. Also I'm cool with any minor tweaks you all need to make. Shifting a skill point or language here or there, swapping a starting spells, that sort of thing.

Rather than go with the original cold open I am giving you all room to move about town and actually do any prep you might want to do.

Thanks again for the selection!

For Play By Post, I think Milestone leveling works best. While it's easier to go back and check XP in the medium, milestone leveling would also allow you to cut out any extraneous encounters that exist for the sole purpose of giving XP. Given how long it can take to complete an AP via PbP, that could give us a better chance of completing it.

Excited to play with you all, and to spend some time in this little creep's head.

I don't think I have anything that needs to be changed; Draco is simple and violent as the knife-wielding blender thug of the group. If anyone has some suggestions though? I made him some-what face with his decent charisma.

I am super excited to play again and it is a pleasure to get in a game again with Casius! I remember playing my elven rogue with you awhile back for a WotW campaign before I needed to take a long break from PbP.

As for knowing anybody, I could definitely see Draco having done some skullduggery with Servius and perhaps a con with Casius. Not sure about the others but Draco isn't the discerning type; coin is what gets his attention.

Oh, hey. Araton was the character, right?

Yeah, we had a couple people drop, so recruited more, then they dropped, then things moved so slowly the game ended as other players got fed up, freeing up Casius to manipulate the minds of others elsewhere.

What has Draco’s area of operation been? Casius moves around quite a bit, but he’s new to Longacre.

Hopefully Penance arrives soon or he will make me look foolish. He and I were in this AP together previously, and it was quite enjoyable. I was a slightly different Vokrin, but the premise is similar.

Vokrin the mighty, look foolish? Never!

Greetings all. I've had the pleasure of playing with most of you before; Vokrin and I have already dangled our feet in the icy waters of Hell's Vengeance, although it moved slowly and didn't progress too far. It was a lot of fun though and I can't wait to get started this time.

KingHotTrash and I battled the encroaching chill and snow of Reign of Winter as Baradim Walks-The-Earth and Alec Fuornkiln for a time. Always a pleasure.

And Phntm888 and I were blessed to begin our expedition to Myth Drannor under DragonsofAshandFlame as Henris Flynn and Sarrissa, until our GM's unfortunate departure.

I don't believe I've yet had the opportunity to banter and battle alongside Joerice, but I have to admit Servius intrigues me.

As for Penance, he's a social face character with a little mind control magic. As he develops, I plan on summoning creatures, but other than that I'm undecided. Damaging spells, battlefield control, buff ups or debuffs, whatever benefits us the most.

And at first glance, I think our only real problem is going to be weight encumbrance.

That’s what extra dimensional storage is for. Good to see you again, Penace. It was a fun game while it lasted.

Casius will function primarily as a face out of combat, and will be focusing on whip combat, with an emphasis on trips, disarms, and dirty tricks. For spell casting, it will mostly be self-buffs and things that target Will saves.

Incidentally, the penalty from hypnotic stare works for everyone, so if you guys cast spells that target Will at the target of my hypnotic stare, you get the benefits, too.

Servius is here to pick any lock, find and disable every device, and search every crevice. He has never killed before, but has daggers just in case. He is a man of details.

@Penance: I remember that game! Reign of Winter is rough but maybe I'll have another day to re-use Baradim again. Looking forward to playing with you!

@Casius: I didn't have any real locations figured out; he does whatever needs to be done for coin and the promise of power. He isn't the smartest guy in the world but he is smart enough to know that he isn
t lol. He could've been anywhere that works for you!

It seems like we have a lot of faces, which isn't a bad thing at all I think. It is always good to have someone that can say "I roll Bluff" whenever needed.

Mesmerists get real good at Bluff. Not 3.5 Glibness good, but good nonetheless.

I agree, having a lot of faces is useful, especially in PbP. It means that in social situations, we don't necessarily have to wait on one person to make a check and drive things forward.

Draco, Casius has generally avoided violence in his cons - he's more of a grifter. Is that something Draco can work with? Especially if the eventual payout is delayed until after the job is complete.

EDIT: GM, are we aware of the others involved in Cimri's little operation? Do we know anything about each others' skills and such?

You'd know that Cimri was putting together a crew, beyond that depends on which characters know one another. You could always spend time looking into who else she's been talking to.

@Casius: While likely not as good as some of the party, Draco is an accomplished liar, thug, and charmer. He doesn't mind a job that doesn't pay out until it is done; most skullduggery is like that. He has confidence that if someone tries to scam him, he can just find them and murder them later.

Alright then, what do you think of Draco and Casius having pulled a con in Westcrown a few months ago? Convincing a gullible noble to part with some gold for a fake charity that doesn't exist?

Feel free to run wild with prep work, interacting with each other ahead of the job, or even just goofing off. I can push things along in a few days, otherwise just let me know when you're all ready.

Just a quick note: I've been distracted by COVID related stuff (no one sick, but RL is fully impacted, heh). I should be back to more normal posting frequency in the next few days and I hope everyone is healthy and safe.

Working from home and isolated but otherwise not impacted.

Also working from home and isolated. I was somewhat impacted for a couple weeks as people began working from home and needed help with that, but things are getting back to normal in terms of support volume.

NYC public school teacher here. It has been wild.

Roll20 link is now up. You should see a map of Longacre when you logon. I haven't stuck pics/tokens in yet in case anyone preferred to upload their own custom image.

You can use my alias pic for my token - I have my name set as Casius.

Same. I built the description around this "I'm definitely not Geralt of Rivia" looking dude :P

I'm quite lazy, and also if I wanted a custom picture I'd need to re-upgrade to Pro in roll20 and I'm lazy.

I'm just waiting for the rest of the Fort saves to be done and seeing if Cimri hops over the wall on the rope or not. Keep in mind that it is knotted and a much easier DC to climb than the wall itself normally is.

I can cause fear but it's only one target...

We can just knock them out - we all have options for dealing nonlethal damage, right?

I totally forgot about nonlethal stuff till you mentioned it. A sap only costs one gold so if the DM is oh so generous, kind, and loving to their poor foolish players, can I get the sap? Pretty please?

Usually I would be a nice guy and say, "Yeah, no problem!"

Usually I'm not running an evil AP. But don't despair! You can always take the -4 to-hit penalty! 3:D

Usually I'm not running an evil AP. But don't despair! You can always use the Healing skill after they are cut to ribbons and are unconscious!

I fixed that for you. :P

My apologies for the delay, chalk it up to the craziness of 2020 added to my own innate crazy! I will be getting back to a normal posting rate over the course of this weekend. Stay safe, healthy, and creative y'all!

Sorry everyone, have a lot going on right now and been a bit overwhelmed but you'll have updates coming soon.

Totally feel ya, mate. Be well and post when able.

I apologize for such a short notice but I will be out of town tonight till Monday evening. I'll try to post where I can if we pick back up but feel free to bot me otherwise if needed.

How is everyone doing? I know we've had a bit of trouble getting this game off of the ground but I'm still down for it if people are still interested. :)

I'm doing good, and I'm still here.

Likewise.

Samesies.

"Ditto".

Incredibly distracted and overwhelmed! But getting back to normal presently.

We all still here folks?

I am.

Me too!

I have not gone anywhere, our DM has not posted in nearly a month however.

Alrighty boys, I think this one is done. We could try to see if anyone wants to DM for us or we can just let it rest. What do you all think?

2020. I mean, 2020, right? This year has been really rough on everyone, but the last few months have been especially hard on me personally. I've been cycling between extreme anxiety and depression. Some of the worst of both I've ever had. It's causing major issues in my play-by-post gaming and my life in general, which only feeds back into the cycle!

So when I try to update my games I have terrible thoughts regarding pressure, self-worth, imposter syndrome, and so on. As a result I've been in full avoidance mode. I want so badly to finish "Dragon's Demand" and continue my mechwarrior treasure hunt. I want to get back in touch with Khar, a warrior who is unburdened by depression (but who does suffer from serious confusion about his place in Athas as a free mul), and with Drahlneep who does reflect some my emotional state. I miss Tarot's leadership, and I want to see how things shape up in Longacre and the Stolen Lands. I have a chance to join a new Dark Conspiracy game and how can I ignore that?

And I want to start a new project. For a while now I've wanted to go back to old school World of Darkness and have sketched out an outline for a Vampire game. I can't launch a new project with unfinished business and after a long period of absence, it's just not right. Besides, I want all my ducks in a neat little row first.

I've been having a lot of trouble pushing through the panic. I'm trying to refocus all the time and today I'm going to breathe through it and just try and move forward somewhere. New Year's resolutions will be including finding a decent therapist and somehow forcing more exercise. 2020 is almost over. Normalcy is knocking on the door.

So if folks want to get back to it, drop a comment. I'm copying that whole rant/explanation to my other games slowly as I check in.

Hey there DM, I'm down for it but it has been a solid month since I last made my own comment. If we get everyone back for it, I'm for it. Otherwise, I'm okay letting this one sleep.

I'm in.