War for the Crown #3 - The Twilight Child

Game Master Kittenmancer

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Welcome to the OOC and discussion thread!

Take a seat, order a drink or a bite, look around and socialize. The game will be starting shortly.

If you still need to create an alias for your character or finalize crunch, please do so. And since the party is assembled, if anyone wishes to tweak their initial submission - now is the time.

Any questions, suggestions, wishes - let me know!

Still finalizing the alias profile, but so excited to play!

Thanks for running this AP, and giving me a spot at the table. I should be good to go, and can't wait to start.

Hello all! Thanks for the selection GM!

I'm seriously excited for this - I've been vying to play in WftC for a really long time but never got the option.

Is there anyone that wants to form any pre-existing relationship between any characters (e.g colleagues, friends, siblings etc). I am more than happy to do so!

Delighted to have been selected, I'm genuinely thrilled to be here!

Adriel, I think that's a good idea! Perhaps Marius and Adriel met at a student political meeting/rally (a la Enjolras from Les Miserables)? That would have been after his tour with the Phalanx on the Galtan border, he'd probably have been relatively new in Oppara at that point.

Also, another question GM - will you being doing the aforementioned Discord group for chat? I'd personally love that. I'm on a server with all my other groups and its so much easier/more enjoyable!

Hey everyone! Major thanks for accepting me, Catullus. Very much looking forward to finally being able to play this!

I added the Discord link and the Roll20 link to the campaign at the top of the page. When joining Discord, just say you are there for Kittenmancer's War for the Crown game and you will be given the appropriate role.

Adriel probably hasn't met Lotti before - the elderly gnome hasn't been "employed" on the university campus. Same with Marius - she's not been out to Ridonport. At least, not yet...

Konstiantina, on the other hand, might have seen her working at her parent's house as a child. Whether she recognizes Lotti is another question (and if Lotti recognizes her). The Talbot family might be in a similar position, depending on how badly they treat their servants.

Hey all, jazzed to be joining! Since I've already met Martella, I'd prefer to have no connections with anyone, but if any seem natural and immediately obvious, I could change my mind

Apparently, I posted my second post during a maintenance and the contents were lost :(

Regardless, shared backgrounds or past meetings are always a good idea, in my opinion! I'll start reading your backgrounds now. In the meantime, feel free to read mine. I'm always open to suggestions.

On another note, it looks like the group consists of (Player, class, campaign trait, noteworthy other aspect):

•Raesilia Talbot (Trevor86) – Human Vigilante (avenger) – Rising Star – (Major Noble, house Talbot)

•Lotti Qebs (Hathwile) – Gnome Blood Arcanist – Young Reformer

•Adriel Moonflower (inara14) – Elf Unchained Rogue – Young Reformer

•Konstiantina Mokei ( electricjokecascade) - Aasimar Paladin (Virtuous Bravo) - Child of Oppara

•Marius Erralan (crusaderwolf) – inquisitor (sanctified slayer, tactical leader) – Rising Star

•Mirann Zalar (The Lobster) – Rogue (deadly courtesan) – Rising Star.

So, a paladin, an inquisitor, three 'rogues' and an arcanist, all of them dex-based or a full caster... seems interesting :) I hope we're going for the stealthy/subtle approach to problems?

With a few of us having similar campaign traits, perhaps that could be a basis for an earlier meeting? Though Rising star can vary wildly in what you're good in, perhaps you share a patron or something?

Also posting the Inventory Tracker here. @GM, maybe we could add it to the Campaign header alongside the Discord and Roll20 links?

Added the inventory tracker link to the campaign info.

The prequel adventures are intended to bring the group together, so shared background are not needed (although of course you can still make connections if you wish).

I was less concerned with party balance when I made my selection, and more interested in you as players, and in your characters. If during play we find that you're missing certain aspects, we can find solutions for that - although I'm sure you'll manage just fine.

@Marius - is your character still located in Ridonport?

He certainly can be if that's required, and that's probably his "permanent address" since his family's holdings are there. I envisioned him probably having a place in Oppara, hadn't thought out the details yet though

Having read everyone's background, here are some ideas from me for a potential shared background or past meetings with Raesilia. These are only suggestions of course and I'm fine with never having met before. I liked reading each of them, as a sidenote!

@Adriel: Loved the university edit-format, reminded me of my own backstory writeup a bit. How active have the children of taldaris been outside the university? If you’ve attended higher society parties with lord Laverton before, chance are you met Raesilia at one in her Noble attire. The more openly pro-change your antics were, the better she’d react to them. Raesilia makes no big secret of it that she supports princes Eutropia, and might even have attended that lecture.

Perhaps she even went to that same university until a year ago, assuming it is the most prestigeous one that every major noble family would want all their children to attend, whether they like it or not, just for the status of it. If so, she probably would have joined this student group herself and we might have been friends during our time at Uni. In turn, she could have brought you to some extra events as ‘a surprise guest’ to ‘entertain’ the crowds?

@Lotti: If you’ve been a servant for a different house than Talbot all this time, I think it makes the most sense if we’ve either never met or only very briefly in passing. I like the idea of the backstory and how it included prestidigitation into it, though. Haha! Is your character self-taught?

@Konstentinita: I don’t see an immediate particularly strong background connection between the two of us, other than that you’re a (minor) noble as well. Have we ever met at one such event? Do you have an idea?

@Marius: Sounds like an impressive military career for one so young (I think, at least, since I don’t see his age). So he’s worked together with Martelle Lotheed for about a year? What was he doing for her exactly? He’d probably know though that Martella took a girl named ‘Rose’ to a number of higher profile social events and that she was supposedly her tailor. You might have met ‘Rose’ before from your shared longer background with Martella, perhaps you’d know more depending on his function.

@Mirann: Interesting writeup, I suppose a selection process for spies would work in such a way. If you’ve been active in groups supporting the princess, there’s a chance you met Raesilia in her noble attire before. As a major noble and a supporter of Eutropia, she’d definitely have mingled in such groups in the past.

@GM_Catallus: I'm curious, how likely is it that people from the Major Taldan noble families know or have met Princess Eutropia in the past? Is a friendship with her possible or is she too guarded or consumed by other duties?

@Raesilia - Sinora Academia is a private boarding school, and the most exclusive girl's school in Taldor. Both Martella and Princess Eutropia are alumnae of that school.

@Raesilia - Sinora Academia is a private boarding school, and the most exclusive girl's school in Taldor. Both Martella and Princess Eutropia are alumnae of that school.

I see. So, it would make sense that the Major political families would enroll their girls into that specific school? How long ago did the two of them graduate?

As a side question, where can I read more on this school and Oppara as a city? Is this information from the book mentioned in the player's guide:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, The First Empire? I don't immediately see more in either the inner sea world guide or in the player's guide, but it could be that I've scanned past it somewhere.

Taldor has two splats, the 3.5 one (Echoes of Glory) being important but some parts being entirely outdated (e.g., Sarenrae worship being outlawed, commoners not allowed to keep beards), while the PF one (First Empire) was literally made as a companion piece for WftC. However, with this being the Taldor AP, much of the info about Taldor comes from the books in the AP. Book 1 has a massive write up on just Oppara, for instance.

Also, not the DM, but IIRC few characters in the AP are given exact ages. However, from evidence in the text, Eutropia and Martella are the same age, 34 at the youngest, 41 at the oldest.

@Raesilia Marius isn't extremely young (I envision him about 28) probably joined the Navy around 17, was drummed out by 19, and did two tours in the Phalanx. Obviously this is subject to GM approval or veto, but I imagine a former military officer with the Espionage domain would act as a sort of field agent--organizing and coordinating mid-level actors while Martella and Eutropia themselves interact with the upper crust. He and Rose would likely have met a few times, but I don't think they'd know one another well.

So I’m finalizing Lotti’s profile and I realized I never rolled for starting gold!

Starting Gold: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 2) = 60 vs 70 gp average

70 gp it is! Just got to finish up all the cantrips in her spellbook and make some purchases and we’re good to go.

Thanks Mirann, I'll purchase and read through the First empire one somewhere today then. With the princess estimated at much older than me, having known her at school is pretty much out though I suppose she might have given a speech as a famous alumni.

@Marius Fair enough, let's go with that.

@Raesilia - let's say we have admired each other's views at a couple of parties before? Passing, positive acquaintances but nothing depth? Gives us places to start and places to go!

I'm content to meet you all during the first prelude. Looking forward to it ;)

DM, can you make the Gameplay thread live so we can dot in?

@Raesilia - let's say we have admired each other's views at a couple of parties before? Passing, positive acquaintances but nothing depth? Gives us places to start and places to go!

Sure, that works for me. Suppose it is better to have something to grow to, yes.

All right, then basically, apart from being somewhat familiar with Adriel and having seen Marius on one or two occasions, I have no prior connections to anyone. Sounds good.

I'm ready to go whenever, my character is pretty much complete! I entered my stats into the gear tracker yesterday.

Marius can choose if he is in Oppara or in Ridonport at the time of receiving the letter. If he is in Oppara, he will also get the card with the address on it.

I apologize, the site didn't inform me that the gameplay had actually started. I'll go to sleep for now and do my first post in around 7.5 hours from now. Gn all!

Please let me know your thoughts so far on the pace of the game. I don't want to leave anyone behind and I thoroughly enjoy all your writing and RP so far, but at the same time I want to prevent the main thread of the story from stalling.

How is it so far for everyone? Too slow? Too fast? Just right?
Anything you'd like to see less or more of?

Let me know in the comments, don't forget to like and subs... oh wait.

I think it's working as is rn, myself

It works for me thusfar. The RP seems great, definitely above average for the PBP's i've seen!

I think the pacing is fine. I came into this expecting an RP heavy adventure and it lives up to that, even though I'm aware this is a prologue of sorts in the form of a reworked PFS adventure. Still, I think it would be weird for no interaction to occur between the PC's on a four day sea journey, so that there was time for that makes it more realist IMO.

I'm into it so far! I am a little nervous about combats, Marius' mechanical skills with a falcata will not line up with his RP/reputational skills until 2nd level, and we'll be at 1st for quite a while it sounds like.

But I'm enjoying the RP a lot too! If anything I could do with a bit more politics :)

Yeah, I am a bit nervous about being in combat at first level too, since I more or less desperately need weapon finesse+ at level 2. Best I could do is either be a flanking partner with high ac if I armor myself up, or buy a bow somewhere and be an archer without archery feats until we get there.

This is partly why I'm hoping there's an alternative solution to this problem that avoids fighting :) I think that technically, we only need to collect evidence of this going on and then reveal it to the public, since they already oused another pretender seven years ago.

I also have an idea for an RP solution if we do get into combat with the pirates (?), but I'll PM the GM about this first.

The pace is great so far. Its a nice balance between moving plot but allowing RP time.

There are six of us in combat, so the action economy will work out slightly in our favour.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, Saturdays can be a busy day in this household.

Raesilia, I love thinking out of the box, and usually your kind of plan is exactly the way I like to approach situations like this. Alas that this particular plan is running afoul of Konstiantina's lawful sensibilities.

Same, it's a sneaky roundabout solution that would be hilarious if it worked, but I don't think Marius could bring himself to go along with it.

That's fair :) I didn't expect everyone to agree for similar reasons. Raesilia in this case is the neutral/chaotic good person who is highly focused on the end goal rather and is slightly more morally flexible on the methods to get there. There's a part of her that also believes in redemption and giving 'criminals' a second chance as well. I hope you can understand that she won't instantly give up without arguing her case further.

(And I admit I was looking forward to handling this issue this way and out of the boxing the pfs adventure, but I'll definitely get over it if I'm outvoted by group decision!)

According to the wiki, the Shining Crusade lasted from 3754AR to 3827AR, that's 73 years. It would probably be hard to overstate what an utter horror show that must have been--like if WW2 hadn't ended until 2012. Three human generations thrown into Tar-Baphon's meat grinders...

I read about another one in the Giantslayer player's guide, near last wall. That one was three hundred years long, against a lich I believe. Fifteen generations in a single conflict. Makes me wonder if stuff like that explains Golarion's lack of technological progress over 5000 years or if it contradicts it. Leaps of technology tend to accompany war by necessity.

Well magic throws a curveball there because most of your most brilliant minds dedicate themselves to magic instead of, like, steam engines or something. It does maybe explain the absurdly low population numbers! I triple everything in my home games because of that.

Quick discussion regarding how to handle this next social encounter, which we probably would have had somewhere on the way there. This woman is an aging judge. She has decades of experience seeing through lies, and I imagine that is a large part of her job. Would it perhaps be best to simply be truthful to her and explain that I've tried to maintain a persona to gather more information on the earl, and perhaps draw out the thieves? She might be more open to truthful people investigating the piracy going on here and might be amiable to maintaining our cover if we explain it. Perhaps it plays into her religion of Iomedae to assist people out hunting criminals.

Speaking of which, since we have a paladin or Iomedae with us, perhaps this is her moment to shine?

If we're instead going full Stavian again, should I take initiative or does someone introduce me first?

I think Konstiantina is our ace in the hole here, along with a focus on the piracy over mentioning Vernisant right out of the gate.

*hi-fives Marius*

I like how the train of super high diplomacy rolls just keeps on going :) well described too!

Edit: Really? A double crit as well? Now you're just showing off ;)

ha, she called us smart cookies now I'm picturing a bespectacled grandma

Hey sorry for the radio silence; I've been very sick this week and mortified at the possibility of it being COVID (especially with me visiting family I would hate to transmit it to them), so in my anxiety I let things slip. I got tested today and hope to have the results tomorrow.

Yikes! Covid is no joke, please take care of yourself and I hope you feel better soon!

Yeah, take care! Your health should come first.

Hope you feel better soon!

Hey all

Sorry Im not posting as much as I usually would. Im struggling a bit with Adriel as she is not as worldly as the rest of you are! Im trying to figure out how she can participate properly at the moment, but she is a bit out of her depth in this situation. I think I obviously planned for her to be in the war for the crown start, not taking into account the society module to begin with!

If anyone has any advice on how Adriel could join in, please do - but she is not on the same discussion level as the main talkative 3.

We are almost done with the social bits in the module, so there will be opportunity for Adriel to participate more.

One of the intentions of playing this prologue was to allow people time to get a grip on their characters before being thrown into the main storyline, so now would be a good time for Adriel to figure some things out. Even if she mechanically contributes a little less in social interactions, she can still add her perspective, or ask questions. You can also try portraying her being out of her depth!

Thanks Kittenmancer - I'll give it a go, I just don't want to be too repetitive. She is a social being, just not in this situation as I think she is probably very much intimidated by Konstiantina, Marius and especially Rose.