Aquan comes to mind.
Aquan comes to mind.
Aquan, huh? I must admit that's not one that had crossed my mind as I speculated.
Thanks GM Q.
Rar'gul, it's actually Aklo I was thinking of, not Aquan.
Sorry. Of course you may make the appropriate changes on your character sheet.
I just realized T'sorkel should be gaining a language for each rank of Culture he has. I think I did that at level 1, but not any of the others levels. That's 3 more languages for him.
I think he could have picked up Yoski, Vesk, and Aklo from his time on the ship. Unless Goblin might be useful.
Rar'gul, it's actually Aklo I was thinking of, not Aquan.
Thanks for the clarification, GMQ. I'll make the update on the character sheet.
Apparently the Trololo song is a Russian wquivalent to this!
And the Soviets think we're nekulturny.
Aha! Drrrp. Just realised that I didn't end up giving an indication of direction in my last post.
Late night posting from my phone whilst battling nodding off (accidentally erased parts of my post on several occasions when my finger would drop onto the screen and inadvertently select blocks of text).
Also, thanks(?) for those links GMQ and Thom (things that once seen can never be unseen) ;p
I will give you a description of the next room tomorrow night.
I worked late tonight at the library running teen Dungeons and Dragons.
Tonight they fought giant rats and a zobie crocodile down in the sewers! I gave everyone a +1 to hit if they could tell me the last thing the rat they were attacking ate--but the thing they ate had to either start with their name or their character's name!
One person said Mahi Mahi. I gave them +2.
Nice! But who would name their kid Mahi? Sounds like child abuse.
In other news, I know John sounds like a one string violin. This has been a non-stop pressure cooker. He just wants to get out, and isn't at all curious.
And for my part, it's been a long slog. When I was young I enjoyed a dungeon crawl. The first RP game I ever played was a home-brew mega-dungeon. Great fun.
I find now that I like more RP oriented adventures. We haven't had the scope for reaction and interplay that we had in the first chapter.
Edit: I mean to imply no criticism of GMQ. I know it's just the way the chapter is written.
In other news, I know John sounds like a one string violin. This has been a non-stop pressure cooker. He just wants to get out, and isn't at all curious.
And for my part, it's been a long slog. When I was young I enjoyed a dungeon crawl. The first RP game I ever played was a home-brew mega-dungeon. Great fun.
I find now that I like more RP oriented adventures. We haven't had the scope for reaction and interplay that we had in the first chapter.
Edit: I mean to imply no criticism of GMQ. I know it's just the way the chapter is written.
I think now is a good time to look ahead.
I think it's obvious that things are coming to a head here. I suspect that we will be done with this book within the next week or two.
Thom, with regard to your concerns, I think the next book will have a much better blend of investigation and dungeon crawling, with much more role-playing.
When we finish the current book, I anticipate a brief hiatus, but I would think only 7-10 days or so. Is that okay with everyone? Of course we'll still have this discussion area to check in with one another as far as dividing equipment, leveling up, etc.
MEANWHILE, I hope you'll pardon me that my updates may be slow for a few days. We are hosting a graduation party tomorrow for my son, and my in-person game is Monday night.
ONE MORE THING: Anyone going to Gencon this year? I'm anticipating being there for at least a day, though possibly more. Not sure yet. Should any of you be planning to be there, obviously a meeting, and possibly a beverage or two are certainly in order.
No worries about a short break. It sounds like the circumstances may drastically change at the end of the book, so it might be good to take some time to regroup too.
And congratulations to your son for graduating! Especially this past year, it's been a very difficult challenge for young people.
GMQ, thanks for the peptalk.
College or high school graduation? Congratulations to your boy either way, I'm just curious.
Don't worry about life slowing this game down a bit. No worries there. Like Tim the Enchanter, I think a bit of a break might be nice.
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All's good, GMQ. Do what you need to do. (After all, this is fun not work!)
Congrats on the graduation party. Good luck to the offspring on their next steps.
My son and I will be at Gen Con on Thursday, then doing Gen Con online for the rest of the week. I'm running two rounds of SFS 4-01 on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning (love that module so much!!) and one round of SFS 4-05 (new repeatable) on Sunday afternoon.
@Thom: It has certainly been one hell of a grind! Rar'gul is definitely keen to move along and get out of this place... but at the same time, it has just been so messed up that he is (perhaps against his better judgement) wanting to work what is going on.
@GMQ: Congrats on the youngling's graduation! I'm totally cool with all the points you mention. Enjoy Gencon all of you who are attending.
This is his high school graduation, and we had a nice turnout yesterday. Last weekend I had BBQ'd some pork shoulders for pulled pork. Wife made her homemade cookies. Lots of relatives came. This is my youngest--sister graduated two years ago.
Both will be starting in the Fall at the local Purdue University extension campus where my wife works (so we get a 50% family discount).
I'll be getting things started again tomorrow evening. Dr. Flint-Bridge and I had our monthly in-person game tonight.
One more thing I should note as we make plans to move into a third book is that this is always a good time for each of you to evaluate your participation. Of course it's my hope that this game brings you joy each day when you craft your posts, but I know we all burn out. Please know I will not take it personally if one or more of you decide to step away. Please feel free to PM me should this be the case.
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I believe I will be bowing out of this group at the end of this section.
Nothing against the group at all, but I tend to get burned out on Starfinder if I play it too much. I think an AP is frankly just too much for me to keep going on. I'll probably take a break from the system and then go back to playing a couple scenarios a year.
It's a pretty clunky system imho and while I like the shadowrun-esque flavor of the world, there is only so much of that to go around.
I'd be sorry to see you go, Pete. I like Yariel a lot. She bites.
For me, I'd like to stay. I still really like the group, and am looking forward to more RP opportunities in the next book.
Likewise! We will miss you. However, I get the burnout, especially on the system. I wish a Starfinder 1.5 was around the corner.
Sorry to hear that Pete. Yariel is great fun. Hopefully we'll get to share a table again sometime down the track.
Unfortunately for you all, I too intend to stay on, so you'll be stuck with me for the next little while.
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Indeed, you'll be missed! I was looking forward to more non-combat RP'ing opportunities with Yariel and Lilly.
But as the others have said, I totally get the burnout. Self care comes first.
Hope we get to play together again sometime!
I'm planning to stick around, although I haven't totally decided what to do with Lilly. I figure I'll to see what the party needs as we wrap this up.
Flashback. Hehehehe.
Yes, I will join everyone in saying that it will be sad to Yariel exit this campaign. Still, making it through two books is a notable accomplishment when playing this type of game via PBP.
I HEREBY CONFER the title of ESTEEMED PLAYER EMERITUS on Yariel (Pete), with the full privileges afforded by that title. These privileges include the ability to monitor our game play posts as he sees fit, and monitor and make encouraging posts here on the discussion side of our game as he sees fit. There is also always the possibility that Pete could choose to return at some point, either temporarily (playing an interesting NPC for an encounter or two), or perhaps even permanently in the future should be there be an opening.
Yariel shall be given a slide in our Google maps area.
MEANWHILE, there is a reactor to shut down so you can get off of this rock...
Planning to get back on track tonight. Had a funeral this week (this was as good as funerals get, 97 year old grandmother, so this was by no means a surprise). Lots of family things the past couple of days.
Meanwhile, I made a short post regarding the order you are going down the ladder.
Right now waiting for John's reaction. When he makes his move, we shall continue.
Planning to get back on track tonight. Had a funeral this week (this was as good as funerals get, 97 year old grandmother, so this was by no means a surprise). Lots of family things the past couple of days.
Meanwhile, I made a short post regarding the order you are going down the ladder.
Sorry to hear that, GM Q. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Sorry. Meant to post before leaving for no Internet land. But too much going on. On my way home . You can assume John passes the info on. And calls for help.
Will post tonight from home too.
Finally got that artwork up at the google slides (slide 3). Trundled off to bed last night having not done that, despite my promise.
Enjoy. I think it captures what this room looks like, with the purple alarm lights pulsing and a massive two-headed monstrosity lurking.
T'sorkel's Akashic Connection gives him the ability to spend 1RP to gain his level in skill ranks in a single skill for a single check. Yariel's skill would still be higher in Computers given her class skill bonus and higher Int. However, would T'sorkel be able to use his ability to gain ranks in something like, Profession: Reactor Tech?
On the one hand, that feels like cheating a bit to just make up a random Profession skill for any perfect moment. On the other hand, that flexibility seems to be the intent of the ability and the flavor of Akashic is that he can draw upon "an Astral library of perfect psychic records of every moment in history." Somewhere in there is the record of a reactor technician.
T'sorkel might be able to use that knowledge to help guide Yariel on what to do with the computer. Because he still wouldn't have knowledge of how to operate the computer system.
Would profession(engineer) or profession(computer programmer) do the job? Those are pretty generic and could be flavored as reactor tech.
Power outage at my house. No post tonight. Should be able to catch up tomorrow.
T'sorkel's Akashic Connection gives him the ability to spend 1RP to gain his level in skill ranks in a single skill for a single check. Yariel's skill would still be higher in Computers given her class skill bonus and higher Int. However, would T'sorkel be able to use his ability to gain ranks in something like, Profession: Reactor Tech?
On the one hand, that feels like cheating a bit to just make up a random Profession skill for any perfect moment. On the other hand, that flexibility seems to be the intent of the ability and the flavor of Akashic is that he can draw upon "an Astral library of perfect psychic records of every moment in history." Somewhere in there is the record of a reactor technician.
T'sorkel might be able to use that knowledge to help guide Yariel on what to do with the computer. Because he still wouldn't have knowledge of how to operate the computer system.
Sorry for the delay in responding. I had a busy day at work today, and of course as I noted, no power at my house yesterday following a storm.
What this boils down to is a computers check (boring, I know). I think it would be find to use your ability to gain computers, as this task does require someone who can connect via telepathy.
Others may assist this roll, though I think I will limit it to two others--there simply isn't room for more to crowd around the console.
REGARDING THE TROLL...
That was a little disappointing!
On the other hand, with Rar'gul's crit and two failed saves vs. T'sorkel's spells, that depleted the hit points rapidly.
Had he lasted another round, a full attack would have meant trouble for someone, and I still had an attack of opportunity to use this round (which worked against virtually any space in the room).
Beauregard and John hit on exactly what was needed to finish the troll before it got up again. It needed to take two different types of energy damage in a given round to turn off its regeneration for a round. You might have found this out when you fought the little troll upstairs (and one of these lil' guys would have popped off this troll if anyone had critted him before it died...).
I'm traveling this weekend, so posting may be delayed.
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On the other hand, with Rar'gul's crit and two failed saves vs. T'sorkel's spells, that depleted the hit points rapidly.
... and one of these lil' guys would have popped off this troll if anyone had critted him before it died.
Looks like we found exactly the right amount of secret sauce in the last round and killed it just before it could spawn.
Sometimes an attack just comes together.
Kudos to T'sorkel and Rar'gul.
Can't take too much credit - just the luck of the rolls :)
Although I must admit it was a satisfying way to make up for the recent string of bad rolls I've had at other tables.
I'm glad T'sorkel could finally be a combat asset. And mind thrust is a monster against a single target, especially with low will saves. I guess it's balanced by fewer spell slots overall. T'sorkel is about out of gas.
And we're about out of adventure. Excellent resource management!
Just waiting for T'sorkel, who I recall is travelling this weekend. He'll have a total of +6 on his roll from two assists and Dr. Flint-Bridge's biohack.
MEANWHILE, here's what ahead for us:
The third book in this AP is called Deceiver's Moon. In it, you will travel with your Steward rescuers to their base for debriefing. This adventure includes more opportunities for role playing, but there is also a couple of very cool locations to explore, and you will need your weapons...
One concern is replacing the esteemed Yariel. I will likely reach out to one of my players who is in another one of my groups. If anyone has any suggestions for a sixth player, please let me know.
Over the next week or so I will be creating a new set of google slides for Deceiver's Moon. I anticipate a short break while I do this. During that time you are all free to level up your character and enjoy conversation here.
Anyway, in the next three or four days this adventure will end. Please allow for a break of 7 or so days for me to get Deceiver's Moon up and running.
Thanks for the update, GMQ.
Will be nice to have a break and do all that levelling up goodness!
Not so good is parting ways with Yariel. She's a real fun character (and great flanking partner)! Thanks, Pete. You'll be missed!
I started a recruitment thread for a new player HERE.
If any of you would like to keep an eye on the submissions and send me feedback, please feel free to PM me.
MEANWHILE, please level up your character! Divide up gear as needed. I'll read ahead and see if there is any way to use any remaining UPB's or credits (though I'm guessing you guys spent most of what you had).
Tonight I will be making a final gameplay post for book 2. Of course you may react to it.
After that, we'll be keeping an eye on the recruitment thread. I'll also be building a new set of slides and immersing myself in book 3.
I would anticipate starting anew in about 7-10 days.
MEANWHILE, please level up your character! Divide up gear as needed. I'll read ahead and see if there is any way to use any remaining UPB's or credits (though I'm guessing you guys spent most of what you had).
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I would anticipate starting anew in about 7-10 days.
Yes, we will miss you Pete! It's been wonderful playing with you!
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Thanks for all the well wishes and nice words. I'll probably see some of you around the forums.
I haven't completely given up on Starfinder, but it'll definitely take a deep backseat to my game preferences.
GM, what levels do the chronicles for this session cover so I can figure out where I'd like it applied.
T'sorkel is leveled too, I think.
I've decided that I want to lean into his telepathic/psychic powers some. I've chosen Telepathic Scream to give him a fear effect ability. Unfortunately, his CHA is at a +0, so it may not be best on equal level foes. Maybe he can scare some minons.
At some point, I might take Telepathic Spy, which is very cool, although I'll notes that it's from an AP and not SFS-legal.