Yeah, that's an issue. We can't just row people back and forth every time we find someone, but Calph also said there were random patrols, and we also know there are bully goats out there, and we don't want them harmed. When I suggested that someone row them back and then come back we got negative/no response, which I get... splitting the party is bad too, but not seeing how we can continue this quest going back and forth either. They could just stay in the slave shack until we get the boundary taken down though, then we could come back for them... maybe? Provided we haven't already been overheard.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There was a fairly wide expanse of the island you crossed that they could hide in, far enough away from the goats but also out of likely patrol range.
Your GM doesn't think it should be a big deal.
Sounds good then.
Sign us up.
Lead on M'lady
I think we're stuck right now waiting for a response from the prisoner. Not seeing a way forward from all that drama without one... unless we bundle him off in the rowboat which my less patient self already tried. :)
caught up and posted. sorry about that guys. this round of the flu was worse than usual
Hoping everyone had a good holiday. Sorry about my absences as of late. Roofers and working for my corporate overlords for the holiday have kept me from sleeping when I need to and health is bad to begin with. (work for amazon and we have 4th of july AND prime day at the same time so lots of mandatory over time)
should be able to keep up from here out.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
will be away this week end
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just an FYI, I'm off to the snowfields at the end of the week on a working holiday, so if at drop for a few days, I'm still here in spirit. Bot me as needed and I will return.
Sort of back... on a working holiday... which is a LOT more work than holiday. Week 1? 60 hrs. Fortunately a lot of night watchman type work. Unfortunately sleep is ... problematic.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thinking through the implications of the "ambush the drunk" plan: in Pathfinder, talking is a free action that can be taken out-of-turn, which makes such ambushes inherently risky -- if a single attack vs flat-footed doesn't finish the job, the target is within their rights to shout for help (though I've rarely seen it played that way). Most often the target needs to make it to their initiative or at least get out of the surprise round that I've seen.
In this system, even reducing a target to zero Wounds or dealing a critical hit doesn't knock them out (for most critical results), if we are using the full injury rules. You don't know whether the pirate is a named individual or not, but even if they were I'm not sure that using simple kill rules is right in the context of a situation where a shout alone could be hazardous to the party.
Your party isn't a group of special forces operatives, so I'd think that having one person grapple the opponent, seeking to cover their mouth, while another stabs them if probably the best overall option. S simple grapple doesn't silence an enemy I think (although my rulebooks aren't on hand). Maybe keeping them quiet would require +2 SL on the Melee (Brawling) test?
Just early thoughts here...
we have two elves.. what do called shots look like.. one shot to the throat will silence if not kill..
thoughts?
as a side note.. i did read somewhere that resolve points could be used for an automatic ("ok this just happens")
anyone got any ideas?
Are there called shots in this game?
We also don't have bows. This game is really stingy on loot.
I think we should just move away.
I believe that there are called shots, but only to locations (head, body, ect).
The resolve mode Calph is thinking of is a Resilience point and I don't think it just guarantees anything. You could ensure a critical hit on an attack on (I think) a called shot, but not the result of the critical hit. Might just mess up their ear or something.
Expending a Resilience point is a big expense too since it is one of the resources that never recovers, so you'd want to be sure it's worth it.
@nether pongo. sorry I didnt see that you had rolled my stealth already. we can go with yours or mine. doesnt really matter much since they both failed.
I will need to start posting from home and not work. The internet from the facility is Stupid bad. It never sent even though I wrote that on my break friday morning at 3 am.
Will adjust. sorry about my workplace being stupid and stuck in the dark ages.
I'm going to be at my company's big IT Conference next week, so just heads up I probably won't be able to post regularly again until the 11th.
Calph's slap to end hysterics.
its not a pretty way to do it but the intention here is NOT to knock the bag away from Zarines hands so much as communicate with it.
His thought process is, a quick slap to the face. usually stopping short of knocking someone silly. just enough to make their face sting and get the brain to register that they have been struck. forcing their mind to focus on the thing that had struck them and begin a new line of thought. Such as 'who hit me?', 'Why?', 'do i need to fight?'. Then logic will sometimes kick back in and the person will reset.
DISCLAIMER:
Of course I know that is NOT how things are done in modern times. That this is NOT a method that is recommended for todays world. We know that it is literally hit and miss as to its success and does not always snap the person back to a rational mindset if they were already on the verge of violence. This action against a hysterical person could actually make them worse! Please understand friends that this is a medieval fantasy setting and thus I am playing to that effect.
DO NOT ACTUALLY DO THIS TO A PERSON IN HYSTERICS.
Call for help. use the phone for a trained professional. Help the person so that they are not a danger to themselves and others while letting them calm down. Talk to them as a rational being in a soft voice to help them calm on their own. All of these are good options.
thank you.
END DISCLAIMER.
I'm guessing that Zarine is off to their IT conference now. Zarine didn't have a chance to roll in my late information about what they were seeing with the Winds. Absent further input, I'd say the plan is to work your way around the settlement in a counterclockwise direction, going southwest to begin with, carrying the shrieking skill with you.
I'd like to move things along before next week if we can. Let me know if that plan works or if anyone would like to make an adjustment.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sooo... Do I post the clip of the people dealing with that passenger in the 80's movie 'Airplane' aka 'Flying High'?
Sooo... Do I post the clip of the people dealing with that passenger in the 80's movie 'Airplane' aka 'Flying High'?
*grins*
I totally see that now. In France, the movie is called "Y a t'il un pilote dans l'avion?" ("Is there a pilot aboard?")
Im all for this. however calph is going to stop off and grab our survivors.
also, as for next week. its Labor day week. I may have some overtime surprise me but i dont see much way around telling if i do till time comes.
that reads funny..
i might have overtime. they may surprise me with it..
currently everything seems fine.
Cool... sometimes that's a good thing, aaaaaand sometimes it's a bad thing
An addendum to my post about Magda's pursuit test this morning. Strategically for the pursuit rules, it might be best here for the party to scatter all over the place, not worrying about what happens to the others. If the party stuck together, it would mean comparing the single pirate result against the worst of the party Athletics tests, giving you extra chances to have bad dice results. Alternatively, you could do one roll for the whole party but use your worst modifier. Mechanically, that is what sticking together should look like. (The pursuit rules aren't awful but they aren't great either for this reason)
The worst adjusted skill in the party will be Axel since he'll have 30 Athletics -10 for lacking Night Vision.
Fortunately for the party, the pirates have a bunch of bad rolls interspersed with some good ones. There is at least an opportunity to get away while the pirates are bumbling around in the dark.
I checked in with Hans since they hadn't posted in a long time. They are still interested in the game, but real life hasn't been helpful lately for them. For now we'll just move on with them in a Schroedinger state as we have been.
For future planning purposes, is anyone thinking of changing careers? Depending on the answer, I may need to do something to provide trappings & such.
Yes… but at this point the what is uncertain. I was figuring something a bit more “fighty” and with a duellist around, figured that MIGHT be a possibility. Guard as well…
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Firstly, ignore my last comment.
I thought it was for my other whfrp game.
I’m either looking to Wizards apprentice or Witch pt 2, the sequel, that said? I really want to apprentice.
Okay… this game?
In a penny economy? 400 ain’t bad!! Very good as far as my poor arse is concerned… the noble may beg to differ :)
Those books are a real boon and are likely worth gold.
As a purely out of character aside, I’m hoping for ownership of the magic book… for no other reason than this would POSSIBLY get me entry to wizard training without punative fee’s, debts and favours as a trade. Less strings equals more narrative freedom. It’s just a pity I can’t actually read it.
I figure at this point I need to calculate how much XP I need to prematurely exit vs how much I need to spend to meet required advances THEN exit.
Not sure what to do with those locked chest. But let’s break that locked door open.
Ha ha. The noble does differ to an extent, but anything helps. And it is sad that all of the weapons are crap. From the way that the place where we found the boy was described, I thought that at least there would be something nice.
I am thinking maybe someone in the little village/outpost might have the proper tools to open something up, and since we're going to be sharing provisions and some of the other stuff with them anyway, they might be willing to help.
But yeah, might as well break the storeroom door with a rock if we can. Who has the best Strength roll?
Also, side note... glad you are staying as a magic user, Axel. My character wants to get you some training, and make you an even more valuable asset. :)
He won’t forget
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ha ha. The noble does differ to an extent, but anything helps. And it is sad that all of the weapons are crap. From the way that the place where we found the boy was described, I thought that at least there would be something nice.
I am thinking maybe someone in the little village/outpost might have the proper tools to open something up, and since we're going to be sharing provisions and some of the other stuff with them anyway, they might be willing to help.
But yeah, might as well break the storeroom door with a rock if we can. Who has the best Strength roll?
Also, side note... glad you are staying as a magic user, Axel. My character wants to get you some training, and make you an even more valuable asset. :)
Good idea, maybe they have a crowbar?
With the books, and dresses? We are talking REAL wealth. This is one of the things I used to like about my early games of DnD. You find weird stuff as loot, and part of the fun was trying to work out just what the heck it was worth, who wanted it… and possibly who was looking for it in the first place :)
Excellent stuff.
Can’t wait for the xp and our landfall back at civilisation…
It’s gonna cost 50 in advances for skills.
Buuuut
125 for stats advances.
Then it’s 100 to jump professions.
Ooooor
200 to skip now.
I have 60 in hand.
Assuming RP ect goes my way? I foresee a career leap in my future.
I've had the xp awards worked out for a while. The only delay is a small number of items for which I'm waiting to see which way things fall. I sometimes get surprised by the party & add a new item to consideration as well.
Do you guys want to declare your second short-term party ambition to be helping the undead find peace, clearing out the pirate nest or some variation of that? It's awkward to declare an ambition after it has been completed, but too often my mind isn't on ambition declaration when it ought to have been.
It's not a bad time for people to look at their personal ambitions & make related decisions. Even if the ambitions aren't already complete, I can't work the story to allow space for personal ambitions if I don't know what they are.
Some guidelines for ambitions that I find helpful:
1. Measurable - we should be able to know when the ambition is complete, at least roughly.
2. Ambitions should be at least in some measure ambitious.
* I'm running a face-to-face game now as well & one of the players chose 'Catch a fish' as an Ambition. I was thinking that wasn't very ambitious until he spent money on the fishing gear & the party promptly broke his pole. Not the ideal way for these things to happen, but it was funny at least. I'm inclined to give it to him now.
Yeah, I think that it was clearly our ambition, whether or not it was stated, to help the undead achieve find peace/their revenge/stop the river murders/kidnappings/save the victims.
Other possible obvious short term goals:
--Find a place for the boy to live
(He's too young to enter my service and taking him with us everywhere seems awkward, unless we talk to him and he has a specific personal goal beyond finding his father). Zarine feels responsible for his welfare, and although she would have happily set him up with the couple that lost their daughter, the boy's loyalty to his father would probably mess that one up. The father still being alive is a complication, so it would definitely require effort...
--Equip Calph (a bow and lockpicks are separate challenges. The bow and some clothing might be straightforward, but buying lockpicks seems like more of a challenge, since that kind of a tool might be hard to locate and purchase without appropriate contacts. The first (landsman) level of seaman only has "bucket, brush, mop" as trappings, which seems fairly simple, but we're theoretically equipping him to be of use to the party, and to help him to the next level so bow, lockpicks, hand weapon (boat hook), and a leather jerkin.
Longer Term:
--Get Axel some magical training (including teaching him to read/write)
--Help Magda become a Court Physician? If that is something she wants to do, we could set her up with a workshop here on the island for the previous tier, and I think the last tier is a long term possibility. I could get her the letter of appointment, and that could be one way we make this island useful... having it be a stopping place for injuries on the river where we set up a hospital, run by Magda, but not someplace she needs to be in attendance every minute, since perhaps she would be serving the elven court (?) if I gain my aspirations and become my mother's official heir, etc.
________
And agreed as far as wealth goes... that jewelry will likely go a long way towards me jumping up the Noble track: the second rank seems in reach, although "quality courtly garb" is required rather than just "courtly garb" plus some other challenges, but still a lot closer.
With the rapier in hand we have one less large purchase to make weapon-wise, although we still do need some bows to give us ranged possibilities, and with two elves that have the talent naturally that could help us a lot.
Theoretically, if we are able to claim the island as the narration suggested, this could even become a "Fiefdom" perhaps. It probably counted as the outlaw version previously, so we could switch it over to the Noble version for our purposes, which is still very far away (200 gold coins and 2 sets of quality courtly garb is a big ask), but seems more possible as well, especially if we set up something here that can make us some money over time.
I guess a personal short term goal could have been to obtain a rapier. I did have that on my list of things to purchase, so it is something she was working towards. Just happened more quickly, thankfully. If that is too easy, we could add a bow into the mix which was the other thing on my weapon purchase list, so when I get one of those that could be the fulfillment (or another fulfillment if the rapier counts by itself). Longer term weapon wise... an elven bow, which is super expensive, but might be a sign of favor from her mother if she sees that Zarine is progressing well, or alternatively something she earns enough to buy on her own, which might also impress her mother, proving that she is capable of handling herself and managing her own assets and household.
Other short term goals for me were to bring each member of the party into working for me personally, so depending on whether that is short term or long term, individual or collective, it is at least partially accomplished. (In this, their goals for improving themselves are also my goals, as in helping them to get to that higher tier and seem more impressive, so there shouldn't be any conflict there.)
Long term goals... to improve the situation of each of her retinue so as to make them more useful to the whole, and to prove herself to her mother, gaining the designation of official heir and all that comes with that... her own court theoretically, a grant of land, or whatever her mother decides to grant her to learn more about ruling the elves and earning the election as prefect in her mother's stead. She has to become popular, and be seen as a good ruler, which includes her fighting prowess, but also the loyalty that she earns from all under her command and the lives that she touches. She has to be seen as good, and hopefully she is also trying to BE good, not just the image. Even if she fails, she will likely become a Vicar in elven society, but since she is the daughter of the prefect, that would be seen as a step down for her personally.
I’m hip deep in a work roster rework exercise for my local union so I’m not ready to do a re-write of goals etc… at this point.
THAT SAID? I definitely want to do so SOON. Axel is starting to grow towards that goal he started with when this campaign kicked off whenever ago that was.
Also didn’t even think the clothes were part of another character’s growth goals… by all means take them.
Put me down for the second short-term party ambition to be helping the undead find peace.
***The NEXT (third) party goal could be helping the boy get fostered etc
Oh, no no... my character came with courtly garb, and I already have two sets of that. I am sure that we can get some for everyone, so the new set is up for grabs. My next tier requires "quality courtly garb" and later "best quality courtly garb" ... this level is just her current level, and probably not elven style anyway, so perfect for other members of the party. :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Some notes on the ongoing discussion:
* lock picks are listed in the book, cost 15/- and have a Scarce rarity. Probably some of that rarity is bound up in their less-than-legal use cases. Finding them would be the harder part, but not overly difficult.
* Axel training - I have some thoughts on this but I'm trying to check on some details about how the rulebook & lore should interface together.
* Trappings & Career Advancement - just a reminder that Zarine (and others) aren't required to have the trappings for the next tier before they advance. It is something they should be working on. If Zarine wants to sub out some trappings that seem perhaps more human-centric (like perhaps the coach) let me know if you have ideas. They'd need to be similarly bling-y of course.
* The jewelry is more directly applicable to Zarine's trappings. Without evaluating it, the wedding dress is definitely at least Quality. If Zarine wanted to use it, she'd need to have it modified by a skilled tailor. The materials are high enough in quality, but the design and fit are wrong.
Interesting thoughts... I like the idea of a coach, but now that we are considering an island home, I wonder if a very blinged out riverboat/river-capable private ship/yacht might be the more useful equivalent of a coach. I mean, depending on whether we can afford it of course, which might depend on what exactly is in that lockbox, or whether we catch up to the pirates and have the capability of taking them out, which I see as a long term goal as well, but not sure if the party agrees (and the boy complicates that idea as well). I don't want to just leave them to continue their murderous ways.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Magda could use the book of Surgery, of course.
As an ambition, becoming a full time Physician (progressing on her Career path) would be logical.
Then I'd like to set my next ambition to "Perform her first successful Surgery"
I'm assuming that Magda has the surgery book and Axel has the magic book, but Zarine will probably just borrow them at some point so that she can read them as well.
Another short term goal could be just to fix up places for us all to stay here on the island, cleanse the church.
I don't think we can really do our in-between adventure thing here, because Zarine (and likely Calph) have to do the mandatory Elf Improvement thing where they hang with elves, so unless they can just do that with each other (which seems *very* dubious considering their backgrounds), or perhaps with a passing riverboat full of elves?, it likely won't work. Plus, no bank here, etc. Although I mean, maybe this place could have all of those things eventually... Not really sure how it works though in this game. Setting up a base seems more complicated when you have all of these things that are required in between adventures.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Downtime is more abstract than that. You could have a Downtime 'on the island' while travelling to another town big enough for Elven Improvement. Qualifying towns would need to be close enough, but that isn't a problem here.
I also have some colony-building Downtime rules from the Lustria book that we'll have to see make sense to use.