The Road to Khel Zhad (Inactive)

Game Master MelvinVorthos

I think we understood what you meant be west. You were referencing the enemies in columns 6 and 7, right? Whereas Hedrak was attacking the enemy in e11.

If anyone wants to bot Zordt, they can. Otherwise, I will bot him today.

At the time I looked at the map, it seemed the enemies now to the south of Hedrak were further away, but I may have misinterpreted it. No need to explain further.

I'm waiting to post to see if Hedrak or Zordt can dispose of this darkness, as Gitana can't really do much without vision. If necessary, she can start to wave her hands around to find targets, but that risks touching an ally and discharging a harmful spell.

This combat is going well in my eyes. You aren't taking damage super fast, but the monsters are doing an ok job of defending themselves and forcing you to react to them. I'm mildly concerned that you're running out of valuable resources too quickly.

No phone battery. If you see this, please ping discord for me. Thanks.

No phone battery. If you see this, please ping discord for me. Thanks.

Pinged

If a spell that is normally delivered by melee touch fails to hit, the magic effect is still in hand and can be delivered with another melee touch attempt the next round. Does it work the same with Gitana's cards? If she tries to deliver a touch spell with a ranged touch attack and the card does not deliver the spell, can she repeat the attempt to transmit the damage to someone on the next round?

Normally I would be inclined to say no, but your archetype specifies that your cards are not destroyed when thrown and they also gain the returning quality...so I would think that logically yes? It's a weird question for sure.

Normally I would be inclined to say no, but your archetype specifies that your cards are not destroyed when thrown and they also gain the returning quality...so I would think that logically yes? It's a weird question for sure.

Yes. That makes sense to me.

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting last week. I truly didn't have very many free minutes, but I'm supposed to let you know ahead of time.

Anyway, I was traveling last week and I believe I have lost my phone. So no discord ping. Maybe I'll start bringing my personal computer to work.

You have one more encounter to go.

Sorry for not posting these past few days. My work load often gets more intense around the middle of the week. Next week is the last week of the term, so I'll have to spend more time than normal on grading through the week.

No problem Gitana. Grading is hard.

My posting may be sporadic this week. It's the end of the term, so grading I normally do over the weekend has to be done by Friday. 'Bot as needed.

Makes sense to me. I'll keep your knowledge out in the open.

Ok, to resummarize, your options are to go up, go down, or do nothing. Not going up or down is making Will just a bit antsy.

Also, I'm interested in checking in on everyone's interest in playing more together vs disbanding after you finish the adventure. I'm going to want to take a break once we do get done. Sometime in January or February, though, I'm going to want to do some more PbP.

Specifically, I've started developing a dungeon aimed at levels 6-9 or so, which I'd like to get a chance to run on the boards. I've had three things in mind while doing this design work. 1) Tactical combat that involves some decision making on the part of the players. 2) Sequences that build off one another in a coherent way, rather than disjointed encounters and random side paths that don't reconnect. 3) Exploration, including rewards for paying attention to and engaging with one's surroundings and recognizing patters. If a classic lock and key dungeon sounds interesting to you, let me know, otherwise, also let me know.

I expect to be able to maintain a higher posting rate that I have since late August of this year, though not the workrate of the first few months of this game. I was unusually busy this fall. That (hopefully) shouldn't continue through the rest of the year. Also, the structure provided by a dungeon makes it much easier to design in advance.

I'm not sure I would consider this game to have been one of my better run ones. The biggest problem for me was that the open ended nature of the game which made it tough for me to design encounters that on the one hand built on one another in a coherent way, and on the other hand didn't feel contrived. I also felt like I generally provided information in a way that was too obscure and hard to follow, which made decisions a bit less meaningful from the player side. This second point lines up with my experience as a teacher as well, where I initially provided students with too many texts that were difficult to read. There's plenty of other stuff to say, including things that I felt went well, but those are a couple of areas for growth that I hope to address moving forward. Partially through increased structure.

Anyway, I'm not going to ramble on any longer. Let me know if you want to stick with me. If you want a game with lots of NPC interaction, rich history and culture, or other stuff people put in their games, I probably won't give you that.

And decide if you want to go up or down! Even if you don't have as much information as you'd like. You can always turn around if you don't like what you see.

Excellent, thank you for the clear list of options. I definitely lost those a bit in the narrative.

Zordt votes to go up.

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Playing more games with GM Trifty? Count me in, and that's before I even read the premise :P

But seriously, count me in. A coherently structured dungeon is always a good time.

Honestly GM? You've been doing a great job with this, especially considered the open-ended nature of it. You did a great balance of allowing player autonomy while keeping the action moving. Higher levels of sandbox to require more prep work, I know that first hand from the game I'm running right now. Yes there are points of improvement to make, but nobody is a master on their first attempt, and you kept the game rolling forward to its conclusion with nothing but very minor hiccups, which is more than almost anybody can say for their first PbP game, especially as a GM.

I probably wouldn't bring Zordt back for this second game. He was fun to build and to play, but he's deeply set in this world and adventure, and mechanically once he got going he was a bit repetitive in combat. If we're going to be doing a combat-focused dungeon crawler I'll make somebody who I'll enjoy the pure mechanics of a little more.

I too would be up for more adventure with this group. Some adventures lend themselves to PBP more than others, so don't worry about the points where things get bogged down.

As for which way to go, up is as good as any.

Yeah, Hedrak's vote will be to go up also - I will post in the Gameplay soon about it.

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As for continuing play, I am in if you will have me :)

Adding to what Zordt has already pointed out, I must say this game has been one of the few in these forums for the past years in which at certain points I felt somewhat a measure of player agency and sandbox-y-ness. I find myself drawn less and less to games that are too scripted (I could go on about this forever but will not clog Discussion :D), so that is a good thing in my book.

I think you did a great job with the scenes and environment description, and I was happy for once not to find a game packed with comical interludes.

The PbP medium can be tricky to play in - I have never GMed for any decent amount of time in the forums, but I have played a lot. It is hard to keep everyone going, and managing availabilities and posting habits. It is hard to stay engaged, and contribute to keep others engaged - this group has a good dynamic, and I think the communication was very good with and from you Trifty, and that made a big difference.

So yeah, count me in if possible.

Ok, sounds good. I will expect the three of you to stick with us and wait to hear from Gitana. I think 4 players is a good number, so assuming she's also in for more, no need to recruit anyone new. We can talk more after you get done with the demon.

Anyway, I haven't seen anything anyone has said that I disagree with. I did some things well, could have done some things better, as ever.

Will respond to you going up once someone posts in gameplay.

Where do I go for inspiration for a character as fun as Norde? His background is one I'd wanted to play for some time.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.

Hahaha, rhetorical.

I think I'll withdraw from any further adventures with this character and group. I've enjoyed everything about it, but my RP plate is rather full and I think I'll begin to focus more on Starfinder than Pathfinder. I hope everyone has fun, whatever they do.

I am grateful for getting to develop this character. For me too, this has been a character I've wanted to play for some time.

I am sad to see you go Gitana - I think your character was the most flavorful of us all.

I have been trying to get into Starfinder but... The games I have tried did not really feel like a space adventure to me, for some reason.

My home group has been doing SF. Started at level 1, and at 19 now. Doing the shorter APs from Paizo, so the "quest" changes every 3 books.

We'll miss you Gitana.

Hahaha, rhetorical.

I figured there was a chance of this outcome.

I think I'll withdraw from any further adventures with this character and group. I've enjoyed everything about it, but my RP plate is rather full and I think I'll begin to focus more on Starfinder than Pathfinder. I hope everyone has fun, whatever they do.

I am grateful for getting to develop this character. For me too, this has been a character I've wanted to play for some time.

Ok Gitana, I will respect this decision. Thanks so much for the time and effort that you've put into making this game better for all of us. Thankfully, we don't have to say goodbye yet, so I'll save that for later. Until then, let's finish strong!

I've enjoyed the Starfinder system. It has improved some of the clunky aspects of PF1 and manages to keep things magical and technological balanced. I've played a variety of classes. I am considering moderating a game down the road.

I'm going to have to transition eventually to PF2, which is another reason I'm cutting back on the PF1 games.

PF2, I have now participated in one game that did not last long, and two PFS2 scenarios.

I am very underwhelmed by it. I find the system overly complex, and terribly rocket tag right from level 1.

I like how some spells in SF can be cast at various levels of potency, and that magic doesn’t overwhelm the game around 9th level.

This makes sense. I haven't played PF2 at all, so I can't speak to it. I've enjoyed 5e so far, but it seems less replayable than PF1.

Has anyone played the latest edition of good old DnD?

5e is a good simplistic system to introduce newcomers who have never played an RPS system before. But it's balance is poor, and it's high-level play is absolutely pathetic, so has very low replay value.

2e...I'm still forming my opinions on it. The choices are surprisingly robust for a new system, but since everything is a feat it's already suffering from choice fatigue. Mechanically it works fine but it's overwhelming to newcomers. The action economy is a welcome change and on its own helps balance martials and casters better, although the unnecessary range and duration limits on even high-level spells can be so crippling that many casting builds never catch up.

I've played 5e a bit with some people IRL and started a game on PbP as a player. To add on to what Zordt said, there are just fewer different things that contribute to statistics on your page. Because there are fewer choices and a simplified system, it's easier to pick up. But it also feels like there are fewer meaningful options for mechanical customization.

I can't speak to how balanced the different classes are, but one thing that I like about it is that there aren't hundreds of bad options available at every turn. This perception may be due to the fact that I've been mostly using the CRB though.

Has anyone played the latest edition of good old DnD?

I have not.

Has anyone played the latest edition of good old DnD?

Nope, have not tried it either. Is it supposed to be like the original D&D? Because some of those things are hard to go back to :D

I've played 5e a bit with some people IRL and started a game on PbP as a player. To add on to what Zordt said, there are just fewer different things that contribute to statistics on your page. Because there are fewer choices and a simplified system, it's easier to pick up. But it also feels like there are fewer meaningful options for mechanical customization.

That is exactly why I will be trying 5e, the variety of PF mechanical customization is (I think) breaking the game (for me). Most characters I see created are nothing but a collage of traits and far-fetched abilities dug up from the most obscure sources, to create a sort of Frankenstein for which the 'character concept' is then itself stretched to fit the abovementioned selections. So you are forced to limit the 'available books' when people are creating their characters, or scrutinize and police their numbers after they are created. Of note, this issue is not very strong with my old tabletop gaming group, as only one or two are min-maxers, and not extreme ones. But here on the forums....

Another thing which I think is afforded by PF is what I call characters made out of loadouts - do a séance here, and a little dance there, and today you are better at social skills than the Bard. Tomorrow a different dance and thingamajig and now you hit harder than the Barbarian, or scout better than the rogue. I really have a pet peeve with such builds, even more so when the DM allows the requirements to be almost hand waived - so almost no 'disadvantage/requirement' + all the advantages = making other characters in the group almost obsolete.

Indeed, PF 1e suffers from major power creep. You have a pretty nuanced understanding of it that I can't add much to, it's either severely limit their sources or have a lot of active scrutiny.

I'll try to post this afternoon. Ran out of time for posting yesterday working on other projects. 'Bot Gitana if need be.

I would prefer if Gitana was not botted, as this looks like the final battle.

We can wait

To all of my games:

As predicted with the holidays coming up, my posting will become sporadic until the new year rolls around. I will still be checking in at infrequent times, but I cannot commit to checking daily. Please ping me on Discord if a response is needed, or GMPC me as necessary.

I believe we are now done. Congratulations. It's been a fun time.

I'm going to leave things like this for now. If you want to post more in the gameplay thread, that's fine by me. Otherwise, I'll post that the game has officially ended at the end of the gameplay thread.

Either way, I am still in preparations for another game. I will provide more details about this once we're officially done.

That was very enjoyable! Thank you all!

Thank you all for the game.

Trifty, you have no idea how happy it made me to be part of a grim and dark game for once, instead of the usual ones riddled with comedic interludes. Thank you for your writeup - I think it exceled at conveying the emotions around it - fear, despair, sadness. I enjoyed immensely, just like I enjoyed the final writeup!

At the players - it has been a pleasure to see you guys in action, and playing with you. Would/Will not hesitate in joining you guys again, if/when the chance presents itself.

Thank you all for a great adventure. GM: great writing, great story idea, well executed. To the players, excellent role playing all the way through. Good luck to all and happy new year.

Thanks for all of the kind words.

Now that we are done, let's move forward. I'm going to open the table for some preliminary discussion of the next game.

If the others keep their characters, it would make sense for Norde to stay as well. I'd also be fine with making something new. With a dungeon crawl planned, I'd make different choices with just about any character, and group. Like do we want a rogue? AOE spells?

What level are you thinking?

A dungeon crawl sounds great!

Also, happy new year!

Starting either at or just before level 6 with the possibility to progress to 9 or 10. I want to use experience points but haven't done all the math to figure out what progression. Likely fast.

XP would work great in a dungeon, whereas event based leveling works better for APs and the like.

Dungeon crawls present the problem of how/when to rest, and how to not rest too much.

Fourth Player: Message sent.

Continuity: My interest for the next setting is one that you are engaged in. I am ambivalent if that is based in Khel Zhad or not.

Gameplay: Dungeons are a classic, and always fun! As Norde suggests we almost certainly would need a rogue type if you are planning on any level of traps.

And honestly, interesting combat and structure/exploration are plenty to keep me engaged. Sounds like it will be story-light which is totally fine.