Ascension of an Empress: War for the Crown (Inactive)

Game Master bluedove

So here is discussion for your campaign. I will add maps and images via Google Slides, shortly. Let me know if that works for everyone. ^_^

Standard introduce yourself sort of scene. Feel free to narrate through some lead-up time as well. We're aiming for a swift pace with descriptive roleplaying and an interactive party dialogue. Please let me know if you have any questions!

The day is the 27th of Calistril, and the Gala takes place on the 28th. This just leaves room for any last minute prep your characters might want to attempt such as Gathering Information, crafting, etc.

Let's have some fun. ^_~

Due to nearing the end of Calistril, it would be time for Nicolette's big prank of the year. Many are expecting it to have come already, and she's been feigning innocence that she has given up such childish traditions. In reality, she has outsourced her prank this year to others. Most of the royal family and those who sit with the Grand Scribe (her target) will be involved.

Hey Hey, Google slides is great. Now I need to get back in Kunala's head. Will have a post shortly

Sorry folks, sinus shenanigans have pretty much drained me. I'll try posting tomorrow. (Still no fever, thankfully, so nothing to worry about yet.)

Still waiting on two of our party to join us, so I will just remind everyone I need final choices on the primary mission you would prefer. Also do you want the excess missions available to complete for extra money?

I would happily help attempt two as well as six.

I could help with five and seven

Catching up. I'll be posting in a little bit. I posted this in the discord, but I figure it couldn't hurt here, I'd like to try Mission #5. Thad's been respecced a bit to help with some of the more covert stuff.

Looks like it's been a few days since we heard from Cassandra. I'd like to remind everyone we were hoping for a faster pace than this. I know I've lagged a bit in places too and everyone has stuff going on IRL, but do let's try, please. Thanks in advance!

@Thadeus, I looked through and selected out some bearded half-orcs to try and help find you a face. None of them are white haired and I couldn't find any with a pince-nez, but I thought the top 3 were decent. (Apologies that I need help visualizing but when I see a mouse, all I can picture is a mouse, lol) If you like any of them, let me know and I'll try and help you navigate to find them as most of the newer ones don't appear when you sort for "half-orc" because they are not properly tagged.

Ah, thank you. I'll have Thad's pic fixed in a moment.

If you are looking for a faster posting pace, I may need to bow out. I can only really post in the evenings, so that limits how often I can post.

Ah, thank you. I'll have Thad's pic fixed in a moment.

If you are looking for a faster posting pace, I may need to bow out. I can only really post in the evenings, so that limits how often I can post.

Yay, glad to see you with a face! I really don't want to try and look for a replacement and I've been happy with your pacing thus far. I am also probably running a little slower than I intended originally, but things may pick up for me after the holidays. As long as we keep up something close to a post per day, I will be happy. ^_^

'Sall good. That said, It's late and I need to get to bed. I'll try to get a post in tomorrow, but, well. This is being a busy weekend for me.

Since everyone in our group is a native of Taldor, I thought you might like to read this little article about their general traits. Individuals will of course vary somewhat, but these core traits will be quite common among all Taldans. I've found it amusing just how much you all have already aligned yourselves to them, likely without even having seen them before.

As citizens of one of the oldest nations in Avistan, whose bravery and martial prowess forged an empire and whose canny wit helped them establish trade networks around the globe, Taldans are complex and multifaceted.

While the amusing illusion of stuffed-shirted wealthy elites harrumphing as they look down their noses at downtrodden peasants makes for an easy laugh, a campaign in Taldor means much more frequent contact with a vast array of citizens. To diversify your view of Taldor, here are 10 interesting aspects of the Taldan people.

10. Taldans Love Wordplay.
As originators of the Taldane language, Taldans understand a considerable breadth and depth of the Common tongue that even their former colonies don’t share, and fast-paced banter and clever linguistic choices are proud parts of their heritage. Even the flintiest of farmers love insightful plays on words, and a cleverly timed, crass pun can delight even the stodgiest of nobles.

9. Taldans Love Board Games.
Every Taldan fancies herself a general, and so board games, strategy games, and war games are popular pastimes for everyone from gong farmers to emperors. While gambling can be fun, it leaves victory in the hands of fate — something few Taldans can stomach—and they prefer diversions that offer at least the illusion of control. While many board games — the equivalents on Golarion of agon, backgammon, chess, Parcheesi, and rithmomachy — were either invented or adopted by Taldor, just as popular are war games played out with wooden miniatures using elaborate rules. So the Taldan people like roleplaying games too! ^_^

8. First Emperor Taldaris Is the Man.
Taldans are a people suffused in patriotism and a love of history, but until we published Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, The First Empire, they lacked the sort of founding myth typical of large (and especially old) nations. When we updated their history, we fleshed out their origins as a series of city-states united by a great leader: First Emperor Taldaris, Taldor’s own Romulus or George Washington. Like similar figures, he’s often invoked and exploited by residents: politicians insist they know what his vision for Taldor really was; tutors place him in all sorts of parables for bravery, honesty, and other virtues; and inns and estates advertise that “Taldaris slept here” to impress travelers — even though few, if any, structures in modern Taldor have survived since the First Emperor’s day.

7. Taldan Hair Is a Big Deal.
Even poor households invest in quality brushes, sheers, and oils from the tea tree and argan tree to keep themselves looking and smelling good, and every family has its own secret recipe for shiny, healthy hair. Many outsiders consider this yet another example of Taldan vanity, but the truth is more complex. Taldans’ world travels have brought a wide array of parasites home over the centuries; clean hair is a simple comfort that also promotes health.

6. Taldans Will Eat Anything.
You can’t be a refugee or a soldier on the march and still be a picky eater. Since the founding of their nation, Taldans have embraced a philosophy of “whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” and that very much extends to their embracing of unusual and exotic foods. For nobles, this translates to eating almost anything that walks, crawls, flies, slithers, or swims, while for commoners it more often means making a meal out of whatever parts the rich won’t eat.

5. Taldans Are Creative.
Shelyn began as a Taldan god, and Taldor still reveres the arts in every form. “Anything worth doing is worth doing with a flourish,” the Taldan saying goes, and almost every citizen of the empire pursues an art in her spare time, especially music and dance. Most families have a long tradition associated with a particular skill they may turn into a business — such as painting, weaving, or woodcarving — but just as many are farmers who pluck away at their lyres after work or sing reprises from their favorite operas to make the harvest pass more quickly. Illustrated or illuminated books are especially popular, and many families record their history in books passed down and doodled in over generations.

4. Taldans Love Dogs.
Taldor claims it domesticated the first dog, but then again, Taldans claim to be the first to do a lot of things. Realistically, while dogs were rare in Azlanti society, they were common among the Kellid and
Garundi societies that early Taldans filtered themselves through, and dogs became companions and workers in a culture hard up for extra hands. In those first unstable centuries, Taldor bred a hundred specialty dog breeds to assist with herding, pest control, physical labor, warfare, and even kitchen work, and as the Taldans’ fortunes rose, they also bred dogs to serve purely as companions.

3. Taldans Love Pie.
Since before the first Army of Exploration, Taldans have been sealing their tastiest treasures — and especially leftovers — inside pie shells to help preserve them, and that trend continues to this day. Sweet pies are the traditional breakfast, while farmers and laborers carry a savory hand pie or two with them for a midday snack. Taldans particularly love blending the sweet and the savory into pies, creating treats such as jubilee pie, a rich mix of currants, cherries, and fowl served at almost every major event.

2. Taldans Are Very Polite — Until They’re Not.
Taldans live by their politics and succeed through cooperation. Sometimes that means smiling politely and shaking the hand of the man who tried to kill you last week. Rudeness isn’t just unseemly... It’s un-Taldan! They instead couch insults in careful language, usually
as unhelpful critiques and backhanded compliments, most notably the cold Taldan “Well, aren’t you a treasure.” Once Taldans decide to stop being polite, they take their outrage and insults up to 11, insulting, scolding, threatening, and yelling in tirades that usually end in duels.

1. Taldans Never Quit.
While most of Azlant sank, the ancestors of modern Taldor dragged themselves onto a foreign shore and pulled their lives back together. Orcs attacked and they rebuilt. Kellids plundered them and they rebuilt. They founded a kingdom and ran into one natural barrier after another — from rivers to forests to deserts to more orcs — and every time they pushed forward again. Taldor’s glories stem from bravery and skill, to be sure, but more than anything they come from the fact that Taldans never look at a challenge and say “maybe not this time.”

Getting sauced and roleplaying with wooden figurines sounds like Nicolette's "jam"

Since everyone in our group is a native of Taldor, I thought you might like to read this little article about their general traits.

I had read this when I built Kunala, if you read his backstory his family did several of these :)

Neat, and I can see Thadeus playing a mean game of chess. I imagine he also enjoys wargames as well.

As we enter the Gala event, we begin our first social rounds. Just a reminder, we cannot engage any NPCs during our first one, so just focus on influencing an area.

Social Combat
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Social Rounds: The Events in the Senate section details the timeline you should use to run this social-focused portion of the adventure. Each event lists a number of social rounds that follow it. During these social rounds (considered to be roughly 15 minutes each), the PCs can attempt various skill checks to influence NPCs or to generally carouse a specific area of the senate. Descriptions of the areas and the NPCs list a variety of possible skills the PCs may use to influence the guests. A PC can attempt only one major action each round, including influencing an area, influencing a specific NPC, or attempting mission-related skill checks, but they can travel freely around the senate between rounds to investigate or influence new areas or characters.

Influencing an Area: A PC can attempt an appropriate skill check with a set DC for one of the areas of the senate, hobnobbing and impressing the general crowd in that area. Each area has two thresholds, which represent levels of influence over that area. Every point by which the PC’s result on one of these skill checks exceeds the DC is added to a pool of points specific to that area. When the number of points earned by the party as a whole exceeds the threshold of an area, then the GM provides the PCs with the information and story award associated with that area’s threshold value.

Influencing an NPC: A PC can attempt various skill checks to influence the NPCs listed in the Dramatis Personae section. These rules are a simplified version of the rules for influencing an individual presented in Chapter 3 of Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue. Each social round, a PC can move to any location on the map on page 16 and select a single NPC in that area as her target to influence. She then attempts either a discovery check or an influence check. A discovery check allows a PC to learn either one of the skills she can use to influence the target or a weakness that grants her (and any other characters with whom she shares this information) a +4 bonus on future influence checks. The exact skill and DC required for a discovery check varies; learning an influence skill normally requires a successful Sense Motive or Knowledge (nobility) check with the DC listed in parentheses in the Influence entry of the target NPC’s social stat block. Learning a target’s weakness requires a successful skill check using the skills and DCs listed in parentheses in the target’s Weakness entry; the GM can reveal the skills needed to recognize these weaknesses without need for a separate discovery check. An influence check is an attempt to win the target’s favor. PCs must attempt a skill check using one of the skills listed in the target’s Influence entry, though discovering what these skills are requires a successful discovery check. A successful skill check against the listed DC counts as one success, indicating growing affection or respect for the PC. Each target lists the total number of successes needed to gain their favor. At the GM’s discretion, PCs can attempt to use a skill not listed in an NPC’s stat block, but doing so increases the influence check DC by 5. A PC earns one additional success if her influence check exceeds the listed DC by 5 or more. A failed discovery or influence check can be attempted again in subsequent rounds with no penalty unless otherwise noted.

Ok, I have concluded your first social round and your next consists of an event, Eutropia's speech. For this event, everyone moves to the Courtyard(A2). During this social round, the Princess gives her speech but actions still go on meanwhile but instead of influencing, you have a scene to respond to. Provided you noticed it. ^_~

So, I have a plan and it's an audacious one I think.

I have Vanish in my spells known, and I'd like to use it to get in and out of the curtained area around the artifacts he's supposed to steal. I'd also like to make a clean sweep of them but Thad's on the skinny side and I'm worried that buckler will leave a bulge.

I guess my question is this, can Thad roll for all of them at a +5?

I don't think you need to carry them all on your person, right? Couldn't you just stash them out of sight somewhere? As long as they aren't there on display would fulfill the mission.

Good point. I'd actually thought about planting them on opposing senators and nobles, but that might not get the effect we want.

Sorry all, I've got no energy for posting tonight. Will catch up tomorrow.

Hey all. I'm going to need to take a little time away from the boards. I probably won't be back until after the new year. Some personal things have come to a head in my life and I need to take care of those and myself.

Don't worry, I'm alright. I'm in good health, well physically anyway. I'm working on the mental and emotional side of things. Part of that means taking a break from this and focusing on me and improving myself. I hope to be back soon, but I don't know how soon soon is. I will be back, though.

Hope all of you have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I'll catch ya in 2021.

Sorry for the delay everyone! Nicolette has finished her social rounds for this turn. Kunala, Edelmira and Cassandra each have 2 more. Made up a cheat sheet to help track which rooms still need influencing.

I'll get one up for missions and NPCs eventually too, but thus far only Kalbio is fully influenced and no missions are completed.

A1: Arcade of Triumphs - fully influenced, gained +5 bonus toward Theft mission, tour available to distract Curator
A2: Courtyard - not yet influenced
A3: Emperor’s Hall - no thresholds or bonuses
A4: Gallery - first threshold cleared, 14 points total remain, gained +2 bonus to Aide mission and +1 social rounds
A5: Imperial Archives - 7 points cleared toward first threshold, 13 points total remain
A6: Senate Floor- first threshold cleared, 1 point remains to second threshold
A7: Servant Areas - 5 points cleared toward first threshold, 15 points total remain

Apparently Paizo had some hardware problems yesterday thanks to a storm. If your having difficulties logging in, clear your cookies, and you should be able to log-in again.

Only a few questions.

Is my entrance before the big gala?
If it is not, was my cane discovered?
If it was discovered, i would have given it to my manservant Neville and taken a more hmm traditional cane.

We're smack in the middle of the Gala. And with the way the entrance went, even if it had been found, your "Inspector" just helped you conceal the weapon better, so we can assume you have it.

Just a reminder, this game is not gestalt. Sorry again for the confusion.

I see the 2nd edit of my charector page didnt take. *shakes paizo gently*

And yeah expect to hear some converted lyrics for somgs for inspiration :)

As long as the music is danceable :)

I should go ahead and let you all know that my mother received a referral for Hospice today. This, of course, shifts my priorities away from gaming for the time being. Hopefully I will be able to keep up at least a stumbling pace so we don't lose the game completely.

Apologies, this year so far has been one thing after another and this is the worst yet.

NO need to apologize. Take all the time you need BD, were not going anywhere.

Would you prefer to end this campaign to take some stuff off your plate BD? I personally would be okay with that as I'm not enjoying this intrigue system War for the Crown has set up.

I'm sorry to hear about that. I know losing someone is never easy. I hope you and yours are safe and sound. I know I haven't come back yet, but I did want to let you know that I've been keeping an eye out.

Very new here, but what the others said completely applies. Real life always trumps gaming. Take care of you and yours first and foremost.

As everyone has already mentioned, there is no need for any apologies. Please, take care of you and your loved ones first and formost.