Work was hectic this week & I couldn't get the next post together. I'll try to have something soon.
Work was hectic this week & I couldn't get the next post together. I'll try to have something soon.
That’s cool. Ludger is still happily chortling watching a Halfling try to row a barge, The oar is huge compared to her.
Hey folks so this is Vrog Skyreaver/Bolka. Sorry about the spam if we were in multiple games together.
Unfortunately, I have some bad news. I currently do not have access to my main account. I have opened a ticket to Paizo, but from the email I got back from them, it's not looking like I'll be able to access my account any time soon.
I would have posted sooner but I didn't even think about making an alt until now.
As it's not fair to everyone to make them wait, I'm going to withdraw from the game. If I get me account fixed and the game is still ongoing, I'll reach back out to see about joining.
Thank you for letting me play with you all, and I hope you all have a great game!
That really sucks, sorry that you're getting the runaround from Pazio. Hopefully they'll get your account fixed quickly.
Hi everyone. It's taken me a bit to work through my head what we should do now that Bolka is MIA.
First a quick update: our Wood Elf Hunter player continues to be super busy. I'm staying in at least occasional touch with them, though, and if their situation clears up we'll bring them in. Same with Bolka except that I'm not keeping in touch with them.
So, that leaves us in an awkward spot right now. As the size of the party decreases, the chance of a combat encounter going badly awry for the whole party increases greatly. It doesn't help that we've lost the Dwarf Slayer and Wood Elf Hunter, either.
I'm not eager to go to recruiting since both of those players are trying to make it back in and I'd rather that the party size not balloon out to six. Probably the cleanest solution is for me to promote one of the NPCs to become a temporary party member. As things stand, I'd pick Sandra Abicht (Hans's assistant) for that spot. I'd already made out some toned-down NPC statistics for her, and it wouldn't take a lot of work to give her a proper PC build. Sandra's interests are also the most aligned with the party right now. I'd plan to run Sandra until she isn't needed anymore.
Sandra was initially built as a Nun of Ranald, part of the Brotherhood order. If we make Sandra a proper (if temporary) party member, I'd at least consider making her Career be Priest instead of Nun, as it seems just a bit more adventurer-centric.
But I don't want to just make the decision on my own. What do you guys think?
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Edit: Nun's edge over Priest is early access to Heal, but since we have a Physician in the party, Priest seems to have a pretty clear edge here.
Hi everyone. It's taken me a bit to work through my head what we should do now that Bolka is MIA.
First a quick update: our Wood Elf Hunter player continues to be super busy. I'm staying in at least occasional touch with them, though, and if their situation clears up we'll bring them in. Same with Bolka except that I'm not keeping in touch with them.
So, that leaves us in an awkward spot right now. As the size of the party decreases, the chance of a combat encounter going badly awry for the whole party increases greatly. It doesn't help that we've lost the Dwarf Slayer and Wood Elf Hunter, either.
I'm not eager to go to recruiting since both of those players are trying to make it back in and I'd rather that the party size not balloon out to six. Probably the cleanest solution is for me to promote one of the NPCs to become a temporary party member. As things stand, I'd pick Sandra Abicht (Hans's assistant) for that spot. I'd already made out some toned-down NPC statistics for her, and it wouldn't take a lot of work to give her a proper PC build. Sandra's interests are also the most aligned with the party right now. I'd plan to run Sandra until she isn't needed anymore.
Sandra was initially built as a Nun of Ranald, part of the Brotherhood order. If we make Sandra a proper (if temporary) party member, I'd at least consider making her Career be Priest instead of Nun, as it seems just a bit more adventurer-centric.
But I don't want to just make the decision on my own. What do you guys think?
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Edit: Nun's edge over Priest is early access to Heal, but since we have a Physician in the party, Priest seems to have a pretty clear edge here.
Adding a Priest NPC seems like a good way to fill the gap. So, thumbs up from Ludger.
I don't think it will really impact anyone's decision, but I'll mention briefly that Priests of Ranald don't have a way to heal anyone using spells, unless I'm reading the miracles section wrong. It's more of a Shallya thing.
We haven't had anyone dissent from the NPC idea at least, so I'll move us ahead.
Take care, Helaman!
Get better soon!
I've let this linger for too long without replies. Is everyone still here? Do you need something further from me to take action?
Apologies... Last week was a bad one and I'm just getting back on top
Guys, I am just beat to hell... not sure if it's a relapse of my earlier flu which wiped me out then or a new strain of crap.
I just need a few more days is all I ask for now.
Guys, I am just beat to hell... not sure if it's a relapse of my earlier flu which wiped me out then or a new strain of crap.
I just need a few more days is all I ask for now.
Feel better!
I get my COVID antibody tests when I go to donate blood. Better than being sick!
I am about to take 4-5 days off work. I'll get things back on track.
The weekends are generally slow, but we need a post from Axel. I'll plan on botting him if he doesn't post by Monday.
Posted. I'm coming back on line. Life turned south there for a while but I'm at least coping now.
Sorry for the delay in the game. I've had a ton of distractions recently.
All good
Sorry for the delay in the game. I've had a ton of distractions recently.
I definitely can’t throw any rocks considering the glass house of my GM’ing ;-)
Trying to get myself back in the groove following the holidays...sorry for being so inconsistent.
All good mate
I'm not confident that my last Gameplay post wasn't confusing. Just in case, the result of the formatting I described there would be something like:
I'll take that roll :)
But seriously I didn't know that initiative and intuition were tied together.
Does anyone have questions about what is going on? Been stalled out for a bit.
I was waiting for the door to be opened and the gore to be revealed... because it's guaranteed to be a s#%@ show inside that house
We are. Sorry I was sluggish in getting this post up.
So it's time to talk about Fear. First of all, I'm treating all the Zombies as having one unified Fear rating so we don't have to track who is afraid of which Zombie.
When you are subject to Fear:
* you suffer -1 SL on all Tests to affect the source of your fear
* you may not move closer to whatever is causing you Fear without passing a Challenging (+0) Cool Test.
* if the source of your Fear comes closer to you, you must pass a Challenging (+0) Cool Test or gain a Broken Condition (meaning you run away)
Note: on item #1, I'm ruling that you can defend yourself without the -1 SL penalty since you won't be affecting the source of your Fear (there are a few rules items that could change my mind but I'll leave them aside for now). You also don't take the -1 SL on the Extended Tests to get rid of your fear.
I just read over the Fear entry again and changed my mind about how it works. I was thinking that nothing said that you get a Test when first afflicted by Fear to resist it. That would mean that only at the bottom of the Round would you be able to attempt an Extended check to get rid of the Fear. However, the book says:
You may continue to Test at the end of every round until your SL equals or surpasses the creature's Fear rating. Until you do this, you are subject to Fear.
I'm still not seeing anything about a Simple Test to resist Fear to begin with, so everyone is afflicted by Fear. When first afflicted by Fear (beginning of your turn) you can make your first Extended Test to get rid of Fear. Since these zombies have Fear Rating 2, you'll need 2 SL to get rid of it. If you get 1 SL, you can save that for the next turn. (In essence, this is close to a Simple Test to resist the Fear when first afflicted, but the Simple Test is simply changed to the first roll of your Extended Test)
At the end of the Round, you get another Extended Test. So it will basically always be at the start of your turn to keep the flow going.
We'll use the Extended Tests and 0 SL optional rule on page 155. So if you roll 0 SL but succeed, you will get +1 SL toward your Extended Test. If you roll 0 SL but fail, you won't get anything toward your Extended Test.
Negative SL won't set you back further.
I'm probably missing something, but this will do for now.
Very nice!!!
Okay... walk me through the insanity of melee with zombies? I just think we all need to run. We have no real weapons or armour and I'm unlikely to do damage with my dart spell (but if you know better tell me) ASSUMING I don't screw up... to say nothing of "He's a witch... burn him" in the aftermath.
Well, sooner or later you'll need to cross that witch bridge thing. It might not be the best idea to do it now, with an additional witness around though.
Let's assume you are at least considering fighting the zombies in melee though.
1. Step 1 for any plan you come up with will be to attempt your Cool test. Chances are reasonable that you won't break out of Fear this round but with Cool 50, you have a 39% chance of getting to 2 SL before you act.
2. If you are still in Fear, things get harder. You'd need to make a different Cool check to even be able to approach them. Any attack you make would suffer a -1 SL penalty.
3. But let's say you can approach them, with or without Fear. Charging is your best offensive option. You gain +1 Advantage for the charge*, improving your chances of succeeding. Then you'll make a Melee test like normal with your 35 Weapon Skill +10 for Advantage.
4. Keep in mind that doesn't mean that your chance of hitting the enemy is 45%. The enemy gets to make a defensive Melee or Dodge Opposed Test. If their skill is the same as yours, they might roll worse than you do even if you roll badly. If their skill is worse than yours (spoiler: Zombies have BAD stats) then even if you roll badly your chances are reasonable. You can also spend Fortune to improve your chances.
4a. As an example, in Aubster's game my Seaman/Noble just rolled in the 90s (only -3 SL in this case) for his attack against an enemy. I may very probably reroll that, but I'm waiting to see how badly the enemy rolls first. If the enemy rolls very well I may just let it slide and simply miss. If the enemy rolls mediocre, I'm likely to try and beat them. If the enemy rolls badly, there's at least an outside chance I might still hit. There's also a small chance I might spend Fortune not to reroll, but to get +1 SL if that's just enough to change my bad attack into a hit without the possible misfortune of rerolling badly.
4b. If your attack misses (enemy beats you on SL), things are...not amazing. You will lose the Advantage that you gained from Charging and the enemy will gain +1 Advantage for succeeding on an Opposed test in combat. But you will still get a chance to turn the tables on them when you defend.
4c. If you succeed on your attack, things are looking pretty good. Your +1 Advantage will change to +2 Advantage and when you (very likely) have to defend on your turn, you'll have an effective skill of 55 which is quite good for your career and tier. If you succeed on a defense, things look even better.
5. How things look after that...depends. Combat math can get quite swingy if people start ganging up on one target. The environmental restriction I imposed for this fight actually helps you here. Given the Fear mechanic in play, the party might have trouble getting the rest of their numbers into combat. But I've put in a rule in the Swordfish House (current room) preventing the zombies from being able to get more than 2 to 1 numbers advantage (+20 attack skill). That should work in your favor given the dynamics of this fight.
Short version: you don't want to get ganged up on by a bunch of zombies. Their Fear rating helps them get those favorable situations, but the room is negating that a bit. Other than that, Zombies aren't that scary.
Magda might have somewhat more to worry about. Her Agility/Dodge is better than yours, but being smaller than the enemy gives a whole bunch of disadvantages in combat. If the zombies do start hitting her, things could get scary fast.
This also reminds me that I should put up spoilers for enemy defense checks to help hurry things along in the pbp format.
I also neglected to mention earlier that if players roll poorly for Fear, they can choose to use a point of Resolve to negate Psychology (like Fear) until the end of the next round, giving them two rounds of Fear-free action. So getting some support might not be as hard as it sounds.
* - just noting briefly that Aubster modified the rule for Charging in his game since it is really easy to get Advantage rolling in your favor that way with a bit of luck. I haven't changed the rule in this game yet, but I may still do so.
I'm trying to get Ludger's attention. Sorry for the wait.
Got a message from Ludger today, saying that real life was keeping them tied up but that they'd be able to post there soon.
I'll try to sort this out. Sorry for the delay.
In the meantime, what is the party's plan? Despite the recent attacks, you might still be able to geteveryone out of the Swordfish House alive. Calling for the Watch is an option. If the Witch Hunters get involved, getting the papers you came here for may get difficult.
I'm hoping we can sneak back inside once the zombies are tearing up the street.
I've not used magic in game so HOPEFULLY there won't be the smell of magic around me (everyone knows witchfinders literally smell witches)... that said we are crap liars and rolls worse... so trying the act of lying to them isn't an option
Sorry for delaying things so long. Time definitely got away from me. I’ve been away so long on my other campaign that I just found out that there’s a new player ;)
Also sorry for messing up Axel’s wise plan (operation run away).
Nah... it's better your way. He'll need to find his courage
A few brief notes about the combat resolution I'm posting right now:
* I had been thinking that both Magda and Axel had boat hooks provided by I, but their character Isaak, but I'm only seeing daggers on their character sheets. Magda also said she attacked with her dagger.
* In the Sandra/Axel/Zombies fight, I've stopped giving outnumber bonuses even though I'm not 100% sure that's right. Sandra has two zombies fighting her but one of the zombies has Axel & Sandra fighting it. I'm currently going with a reading of "outnumber" looking at the whole chain of Engaged characters to determine the bonus.
That would make it tougher to get outnumber bonuses in a big pile of enemies unless the enemies really are twice as numerous. I'm curious to see if anyone else has opinions.
I've been realizing recently that I haven't yet given out any experience for this campaign. We're still in the thick of things, but plan on getting some after we're done with this bit in the Swordfish House.
As part of that, I realized that the party doesn't have any set Ambitions. One good idea for a Short-Term Party Ambition would be:
* get the shipping records for the Earl of Harwich from Timon Walbaum
You are on the verge of either completing that Ambition or failing it altogether, so it should shake out quickly.
Party Ambitions often are GM-plot-driven simply because those are the things the whole party is engaged in, so I'll also suggest something for your Long-Term Party Ambition:
* salvage the Earl of Harwich
****
Aside from that, I also reviewed the party's Personal Ambitions with some comments:
Short – to make some serious money... magical education is expensive
Long – to be a rich successful recognised wizard
Neither of these ambitions is well defined. It's not obvious if Axel starts to get some real money whether that would qualify as 'serious' money for his magical education. Nor is it obvious when he would be a rich successful recognized wizard. Those aren't fully fatal flaws, but I'm wondering if we can get something a bit more functional.
The short-term ambition's core is really about getting his magical education started. What is stopping Axel from just turning himself into the Witch Hunters? Are you planning to advance Axel mechanically as a Witch any further than the first tier? Do you want to start using Axel's magic outside of the law for a while before being forced into the system?
Even if you do decide to just have Axel go fully legit right away by finding the nearest 'recruiting' office, that doesn't really qualify as an Ambition since he could have done that anytime. Ambitions should be something you work toward even if it isn't working hard. Is Axel wanting to become a legitimized Wizard, but only on his own terms rather than being caught?
Mechanically, I recommend getting Instinctive Diction at least once before you leave your current career tier. That's a VERY good talent for using magic.
Edit: I read the rest of Axel's background again and it somewhat answers my questions above. It's probably good to talk through it all again if you have thoughts, though.
Short – get will fitted out with armor and a sword/axe and a bow
Long – own his own riverboat
I think we decided earlier that the loaner gear from Isaak wouldn't count toward Ludger's Short-Term Ambition, right? If so, he still has a long way to go, which is fine. I'm trying to get things better defined so that we know when someone has completed their Ambitions, so I'm thinking Ludger's Ambition requires a minimum of:
* Hand Weapon
* Short Bow
* 12 Arrows (I assume this comes with a quiver?)
* Leather Jack & Leather Leggings
Upgrades from those equipment minimums obviously count as well. Does that look right?
Short – spending a nice, peaceful evening around friends and a good, warm, balanced meal
Long – having her own hospital/starting a family/saving 10 lives medically (my mind isn't set on this but no hurry)
The Long-Term Ambition of starting her own hospital is a fairly classic one. I don't have any problems with that.
Magda's Short-Term Ambition on the other hand doesn't look much like an Ambition to me. It isn't very ambitious if all you have to do is spend a bit of money and have friends around. Ambitions should be something you have to work toward, and I think Magda could have pulled this one off at the beginning of the adventure.
An alternative is readily available though. Magda already has the thirsfen for curing the boy back in Grunberg. So changing the ambition to "Cure the boy in Grunberg" would be very workable and is partly done already.
Additionally, we've been short on PC characters for a while now. I'll probably do some sort of recruiting around when the party makes it back to Grunberg.
Cool and yeah, I'll update in the next day or two
I've been realizing recently that I haven't yet given out any experience for this campaign. We're still in the thick of things, but plan on getting some after we're done with this bit in the Swordfish House.
As part of that, I realized that the party doesn't have any set Ambitions. One good idea for a Short-Term Party Ambition would be:
* get the shipping records for the Earl of Harwich from Timon Walbaum
You are on the verge of either completing that Ambition or failing it altogether, so it should shake out quickly.
Party Ambitions often are GM-plot-driven simply because those are the things the whole party is engaged in, so I'll also suggest something for your Long-Term Party Ambition:
* salvage the Earl of Harwich
****
Aside from that, I also reviewed the party's Personal Ambitions with some comments:
** spoiler omitted **...
Looks good for the individual ambition. We did say the loaner equipment didn’t count towards completing it.
A few brief notes about the combat resolution I'm posting right now:
* I had been thinking that both Magda and Axel had boat hooks provided by I, but their character Isaak, but I'm only seeing daggers on their character sheets. Magda also said she attacked with her dagger.
* In the Sandra/Axel/Zombies fight, I've stopped giving outnumber bonuses even though I'm not 100% sure that's right. Sandra has two zombies fighting her but one of the zombies has Axel & Sandra fighting it. I'm currently going with a reading of "outnumber" looking at the whole chain of Engaged characters to determine the bonus.
That would make it tougher to get outnumber bonuses in a big pile of enemies unless the enemies really are twice as numerous. I'm curious to see if anyone else has opinions.
A hypothetical approach: say Ludger and Magda are fighting 3 zombies and they both attack Zombie 1 they should get a +20 because they outnumber that opponent 2:1. If Zombie 1, 2, and 3 all then attack Ludger those attacks would be at +40 since the attackers outnumber Ludger 3:1. If on the other hand, Ludger and Magda don’t attack the same zombie they get no bonus. And if a single zombie attacks Magda it gets no bonus but the 2 left to attack Ludger get +20 bonus.
Yeah, that approach could work. I'm not really sure what is right. I'd probably describe the approach you just laid out as evaluating Outnumber solely at the time of attack. The approach I was just taking was more like looking at Outnumber as a whole? Or something. I can't think of a better word at this moment.
The Outnumber bonuses are super strong so I leaned into the reading that applies them less often. The sort of situation where this is even a question also doesn't come up all that often.
If you've ever played the computer game Mordheim (2015 PC version), they way they do it there gets complex. Characters don't count for Outnumber purposes if they are also fighting another person. (Or something close to that) It can get weird to keep track of and we'd have to be careful about tracking the chains of Engaged characters to use that here, which is why I shied away from it.
If we recruit, can we aim for 2? 5 in pbp is a more stable number than 4.