GM Mioki Presents: Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master Mioki

Thanks! I’ll clean it up tomorrow, this character is on its second iteration and things got lost in translation

Thank you, Greta! Appreciate your time.

I really like our group composition. Beware Demons!

Thanks again Greta! I fixed the mistakes you identified. Now I just need to figure out how to adjust the skill ranks required for AT if I only take one level as Rogue....

Correction: Two levels as Rogue. I want Evasion and the Rogue talent. Suprise Attack is pretty great! And the Magical Knack trait covers the lost caster levels, just not the spells available.

I played an Arcane Trickster last season for our PFS1 Core Campaign. It was really fun and versatile! And, it is a bit difficult to give up Evasion and a Talent …lol.

Ok. I have expanded a bit on why he is in Kenabres on the morning before Armasse on 16th Arodus.

@Benedic and @Massielo

Ok. I am thinking that we may have met during schooling/training? Either just in passing, or even, had a friendship.? Tristan was taken by the Inquisitors for further training at age 16, so for the past 2 years, he has been mostly separated.

I can see his "mission" as either being a wild goose chase, a patsy set-up, diversion, or an actually legit attempt by the Order for information. Tristan--obviously--believes the most latter.
I figure (depending on the story) that the DM can tell us--eventually!
I also see it going that Tristan finds out that the Prelate is legit; and he attempts to prove the Prelate's side is correct.

Lots of ways to go!

I'll make it simple.

YOU ARE ALL DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED! :)

I might have a song for that.

I'll make it simple.

YOU ARE ALL DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED! :)

AAAAAAAAAAAh

@Tristan: That can work. It would be important for Massielo to know what is your connection to Iomedae, however.

@Tristan: Benedic has been in Kenabres since the end of the previous Crusade, about seven years. If he and Tristan had met each other, Tristan would have been only like 11 years old. But the high priest was Benedic's father, so Benedic was pretty high-profile. Up to you what to do with that, if anything. :)

I don't think it matters much to the adventure path that we have relationships before the Armasse festival, so long as we worship the same goddess.

@Masslelo

That actually works out perfectly; most likely, we had classes together until you dropped out...?
Connection?

@Bendic

That would be good also. We probably knew each other from birth; having both having high ranking parents. They most likely ran in the same circles. Tristan would be aware of, even met and worked for your father.
Tristan may even use this opportunity to look up an old friend?

Caliban, You mentioned possibly having met due to your working as a scribe? That would make sense, but just with a "knowing of" each other. Selann wouldn't be working as a scribe or needing to hire one, but would occasionally interact with any that handled arcane writings. Both of us have interests in the arcane and we're both in minority racial groups in this city. A halfling mage and a scarred elf hexcrafter? Can't be too many like us in this town....

YOU ARE ALL DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED! :)

Let the fun begin!?!

@Masslelo

That actually works out perfectly; most likely, we had classes together until you dropped out...?
Connection?

Yeah. How do you think they went about it? Massielo wasn't very compliant to the lessons. He was more focused on bringing everyone together and give themselves to the faith. He got bored during prayers and said that he could sense Iomedae's presence without the need of prayer. How would Tristan (and Benedic) react to that?

Well, considering Tristan got into trouble quite a bit back then, he and Masslelo were probably best mates...lol! I am imagining, perhaps, that we three were friends back in "grade school". Benedic the serious one, Masslelo the wanderlust one, and Tristan the trouble-maker. Unfortunately, we were separated due to circumstances.

I would imagine that our shared connection to Iomedae is what drew us together.

I am assuming that the 3 of us are similar in age?

Those are good assumptions, but me and Benedic are working on having some sort of rivalry or general not liking each other.

By the way, Massielo is all done and ready to roll (read: get his ass kicked)

I think Benedic is a bit older than Tristan, like 10 years. Benedic's father died about 7-8 years ago, towards the end of the last Crusade, and Benedic had been sent to Kenabres for safety because the city was under attack. He never came back, and I picture him in his late-20s now. So it's possible that he might remember someone who was around 9 or 10 when he left the capital city, but I think it's more likely he wouldn't.

Maybe we had a couple of the same teachers, but I think a better point of common reference is the cathedral and the city itself. Tristan would know it much better than Benedic, especially how it had been rebuilt in the intervening years.

I think it's important to the character development I have planned that he's a bit pompous and superior, sort of a pedestal that he can get knocked down off of by events over time. I hope that won't be unfun for anyone else! :)

Wanting to knock you off that pedestal was one of the main reasons I argued for you when Moiki asked my opinion on selections. :D

Lol?

Greta’s so eager to be accepted as a crusader that she’ll probably just completely accept Benedic as a commander if he treats her like a soldier at all.

@Selann, I played an Arcane Trickster once who started as an Eldritch Scoundrel rogue, basically a rogue with magus-progression spells and reduced sneak attack and talents. Four levels of that (and the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat) and you qualify, and you don't lose any casting levels though you aren't a full caster. I probably wouldn't recommend it for this game, though, because higher-level spell slots are so valuable and we don't have any full arcane casters otherwise. :)

LOL! Thanks, Fred. I'll try to make it everything you ever wanted. :)

I cannot wait for the in-game dialogue. I might make popcorn.

Agreed! The dialogue will be interesting with such diverse backgrounds; coupled with the coming tragedy and each individuals motivations.

Ok. A passing acquaintance it is...lol.

Tristan will be a proud, slightly entitled, but witty wide-eyed first timer visiting Kenabres. Especially with the festival and his first mission before him.
Oh to be 18 again!

On a more serious note does anyone have any triggers the group should know about? I have another game that divides this into two distinctions.

The Line: Things that are outright prohibited
The Veil: Things that are ok to happen but happen off screen

It's also appropriate to make a distinction of what we as players can do and say vs what the GM can inflict on us.

Obviously, as heros, we won't be doing anything outright evil. Or if we do its a lesser of two evils and there will be much hand wringing. But its good to know each others sensitivities because what might be obvious to one of us isn't obvious to another.

Some common ones I've seen:

Violence to children
Sexual violence
Sexual liaisons
Torture
Non-Fantasy Setting Racism
Sexism

Best practice would be to at least have things of a sexual nature in the veil category. And non-fantasy racism in the line category.

Generally I'm ok with most things but I prefer violence to children to happen off-screen. Other than that, everything can be called an incentive to push the campaign forward, imo.

I prefer sexual violence and violence against children happen off screen. Also, IRL I have a pretty serious aversion to excrement... I can handle it coming up in game (I know sometimes like goblins and such use it for debuff-bombs and whatnot) but would love if those descriptions weren’t overly graphic, plus there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll overact even in character.

I cannot wait for the in-game dialogue. I might make popcorn.

I'm excited too :-)

Tristan is naive, spirited, and determined.

I am here for the story and expansion of relationships. I was in an all Orc Giant Slayer AP (unfortunately it also died around 8th) and the GM and players were quite descriptive. No worries here...lol.

Oh wow, thanks for bringing this stuff up, Fred. A lot of groups never discuss the social contract and it causes lots of problems later on. And play by post games don't need any more reasons to make their players hesitant to participate!

One triggery sort of thing that I've noticed affecting me in the past is when the group for whatever reason begins to exclude some of its players, or falls into inter-party conflicts. I know it's certainly a possibility in this adventure path for characters to get dominated or possessed, but it causes great anxiety for me to feel like the players are working against each other. I've been in games where the game master thought it was interesting to plant sleeper agents where one or two characters were secretly evil or working against the party, and it always ended horribly for me.

Another place where I've seen this run into trouble is when players start suggesting that they should be compensated in character for their feats or actions ("I will heal you for a small fee," for example, or "I'll craft stuff for you but you have to pay me a percentage"), or where players take advantage of the group dynamic by evenly dividing treasure but also keeping valuable magic items for themselves, so that it feels like treasure is not distributed fairly. The best groups I've been with have kept a "party share" of treasure that we used to buy cure wands, so that no one felt like they were expected to supply everyone.

I love games where we are all friends and there isn't very much metagaming except finding ways to work out everything to everyone's satisfaction. I usually go by my first name (Erik) when I'm describing what I want, and describing what Benedic does in third-person, so that there is less blurring of player and character.

Reveling in violence or torture is squicky for me, especially cutting and blood fascination. If I feel like things are getting a little too intense, can I say something out of character? I have a lot of experience with LARP (live-action roleplaying) which often has a lot of uncomfortable situations that it is harder to separate your own experiences from the character's experiences, and there's a tool we use there called "braking" where you can indicate that you either want to start to slow down, blur things a bit for comfort, or that you need a hard stop. The descriptions are supposed to make the game more immersive, but it's easy to just cut to black and resolve everything with dice when someone is uncomfortable for any reason.

Sexism and racism bother me when they aren't depicted as negative, but Pathfinder is usually pretty good about those. Oh, also, I remember that there is a character early on in this adventure path who is transsexual. If treating that character like any other person is going to make anyone uncomfortable, I think it would be best to quietly warn Mioki so we can steer clear of hurt feelings or outrage.

Some things about me to personalize Erik, my player persona! :P I'm an amateur actor in community productions, though because of the pandemic all of my shows have been postponed or cancelled for possibly the rest of the year. I work for a California university as a database programmer. I'm in my 40s and I prefer he/him/his pronouns. About ten years ago I did a lot of freelance work for a tabletop game called Ars Magica, and I wrote a lot of books for the game's Fifth Edition. I'm both divorced and remarried with a daughter, a stepdaughter, and a stepson.

Hi!

Hi all,

I think its really forward thinking and awesome to get this all out early, and will make a better experience for all!

I'm good with things being pretty PG-13, strangely torture in fantasy settings doesn't bother me, but if we get a vote I say lets keepracism, violence against children, sexual violence, sexism, sexual encounters, homo/transphobia, and anything which can diminish the players behind the characters at a hard no. Fantasy racism can be interesting as long as all the players understand that it isn't a reflection of RL.

Interestingly Erik, I ran a LARP for 16 years in the northeast, and we always erred on the side of "I don't know what will be triggering to all my players and staff (100+), so lets leave these sorts of things off camera. I enjoyed Ars Magica btw - I thought it was a cool system!

I think for group dynamics it is important for me to know we're all working toward a common goal, and the characters are in this together without avarice.

Oh cool Caliban! I'd love to hear more about your LARP. I'm guessing it was Vampire-based? So many years of playing and/or running Masquerade games here... I remember in the mid-90s playing in a Vampire game in Palo Alto for several months that had like 300 players, and took over the town every Saturday night. Crazy!

It sounds like we are all on the same page when it comes to these topics (excrement included, will keep Demon Dung to a minimum). If anything like this is mentioned in the AP, I will surly gloss over it, since I really do not need want to see it in the game either.

One thing that is important is what you all are doing already, communicating. If there is something you do not like, mention it here or PM me. I am all about heroic, clean games. Although, every once in awhile, I am known for a light, crude joke.

One other topic to avoid would be hard substance abuse. The opening of kegs is fine and dandy and even the mention of the 'Halfling's Leaf' is fine to me, but let's stay away from anything beyond that.

A little about me: mid -forties, married 18 years, no kids. I live in Pennsylvania about 50 miles north of Philly (Go Eagles). Although I enjoy Pathfinder my true passion is Hiking and Backpacking. I also like to kayak. My dream is to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

Now, I should stop. I have an AP to work on.

Cheers!

All aboard the WotR express! Heroes in the making; whether, they know it not!

Just a note on my character name. His given name is Fred Junior but he only ever introduces himself as Junior and goes by Junior. I would use the alias Junior to avoid confusion but as you can imagine its already taken.

Another place where I've seen this run into trouble is when players start suggesting that they should be compensated in character for their feats or actions ("I will heal you for a small fee," for example, or "I'll craft stuff for you but you have to pay me a percentage"), or where players take advantage of the group dynamic by evenly dividing treasure but also keeping valuable magic items for themselves, so that it feels like treasure is not distributed fairly. The best groups I've been with have kept a "party share" of treasure that we used to buy cure wands, so that no one felt like they were expected to supply everyone.

In PbPs I'm in there is usually a Google sheet that we use to track such things. There is usually mixed results with this as some players *cough* Tristan *cough* don't track themselves. Typically what I do is have a sheet for everyone and then a group sheet. When loot drops the items are logged on the group sheet by someone and then if someone claims an item its their responsibility to move it from the group sheet to their sheet. This can also be combined into one sheet with everything on it. I usually add some formulas showing everyone's net worth compared to the wealth by level table. If the disparity grows very large the GM or players can step in to rectify the problem. I can set this up if Mioki wants.

I love games where we are all friends and there isn't very much metagaming except finding ways to work out everything to everyone's satisfaction. I usually go by my first name (Erik) when I'm describing what I want, and describing what Benedic does in third-person, so that there is less blurring of player and character.

If you want to refer to me as a player Delmoth works. It feels weird describing myself online so I'll refrain for now. I may let loose a detail or two over the next several years as we play.

That's cool Delmoth, thanks! I don't want anyone to feel like they have to share personal details in this (public!) forum.

Delmoth, if you have a loot sheet that tracks Wealth-by-Level, and it is easy for you to duplicate a copy, I am sure we would be very grateful. I do have a sheet that can be used, but it does not track WbL.

Hi again all. I'm against anything that puts players against each other. If something happens,in character, I suggest direct communication by PM or in this thread to keep it understood. We're all heroes, or will be, and that should be all we need to keep in mind to keep the game fun for everyone.

Yes to the spreadsheet! I've seen it work in other games and it really did work!!! Thanks Delmoth.

Personally, I have really thick skin and prefer things direct and open. I frequently make mistakes, example being the ones on my CS that Greta so nicely found and pointed out. If anyone else notices such, don't hint. Tell me directly so I can fix them.

Thanks for enduring my ramble.

Hi Selann, Benedic is proposing some character initial rivalry to serve as basis for character growth. It's pre-arranged and shouldn't get in the way of campaign pace. I hope this eases your mind.

I have terrible adhd so I’m all for someone responsible administrating a loot spreadsheet, even better if it has running tallies. Also, someone mentioned a party share; I’m not sure it has to be a full/equal share (especially with a party member planning to focus on healing), but I am a big supporter of the practice. I think it’s worth it just for like bags of holding and other items that benefit everyone, and way more so if we ever need materials for like a raise dead or something.

Anthorg and Lemming: I certainly don't intend for Benedic to be hostile or even less than friendly, just a bit self-absorbed and superior. I promise you I won't have him work against the group or put anyone's character down or anything like that. Please do tell me if I ever post anything that makes you uncomfortable, of course!

No problem with in game, character development playing. It's just when it's player vs player. So as long as we know about it, we can understand what's going on.

I think all will be good. It sounds to me that there will be some in-game personality clashes just to give the story and the PC's some flavor. This dialogue will be short-lived due the the present (right now future) circumstances. At that point, the PC's will rally together for a common cause while allowing their personalities to flare from time-to-time.

Good Evening folks, Gameplay Thread is open. Have at it!

Oh exciting! Just gotta set up my blogtrottr feed so I get notifications and then I'll jump in.

Well...you see...what happens is...And now this!

I left Greta in the common room of some random inn if anyone want someone to RP with.

Also, I think this is pretty standard but I always use bold to indicate I’m talking and italics to show I’m just thinking something. If anyone has a different system that they strongly prefer I’m willing to give it a go. And, when I speak a different language in game I usually like to use a real world language as a stand in and include a translation spoiler for those who speak that language; I find that really helps me with the verisimilitude/immersion. If anyone else wants to join me I’m that we could start a language list somewhere so that we’re using the same ones? In that same vein- does anyone have a language they’d really like to use for celestial? Or any languages you’d prefer we not use for whatever reason? I was in a game years ago with someone who knew some Japanese so we made sure not to use that for a language her character didn’t know (at her request).

edit: oh, I didn’t include a description of Greta in my gameplay post... I was kind of assuming we were all reading each other’s profiles and mine has an appearance section. If anyone needs a description say so and I’ll include it in a later post.

I do enjoy the usage of real languages for games. Your choices are fine by me.
I have read everyone's profile also. I just found the pic though...

I'm also a big fan of real languages and the immersion that creates. I'm in a Ruins of Azlant game and all the different words for the various island-based languages are really fun!

I usually use Hebrew for Celestial. "מישהו כאן מדבר שמימי"

Please note it is against Paizo's user agreement to post things in languages other than english. Because they cannot be expected to moderate what we post if its in a language they don't understand.

That said I don't think it will be a problem so long as no one flags a post.

Wow... I never knew that. Years ago (on a different profile) I used to be super active on these forums (like GMing several games and playing in maybe a dozen more) and we did that all the time.

I’m still going to do it, but I guess we’re doing it at our own risk.

I usually steer clear of languages that are written from right to left because sometimes my phones have had trouble copying and/or pasting them, but I just tried it with my (relatively) new phone and it seemed to work fine, so let’s give Hebrew a go. מה הכי גרוע שיכול לקרות?

Okay I'll give that a shot, I've never done it before, but can't be that hard!

It’s honestly pretty simple- just go to google translate and type in what you want to say in English (or your native tongue), then pick the stand in language for the translation and it pops up (or something close enough for our purposes does). Then you just copy/paste the translation into the body of your post and the English version into your spoiler...

Greta smiles and explains, ” כך שזה נראה משהו כזה”