GM MG's (PFS2E #1-03) Escaping the Grave (Inactive)

Game Master Mighty Glacier

Welcome! Thanks for signing up, and I'm glad we found players for this old-ish and un-repeatable scenario.

This is my first time GMing a PF2E table, but I've a good amount of experience as a GM in general, and as a PF2E player. If you ever notice me making a strange rule adjustment, please don't hesitate to point it out: it was likely a simple mistake.

Make sure your character profile is well-organized and complete. Perception and skills in particular are important. Once you're done with that, feel free to dot the gameplay thread.

I highly recommend using a RSS feed reader application to get instant notifications of new posts. If you're using the Chrome browser, I can highly recommend this extension.

You already put your PFS information (number and faction) in the signup sheet, so no need for that here. Downtime activities ("dayjob") are rolled at the end of the scenario.

I've set up Google Slides (link in GM profile's statline, or here) — it's for maps and images, do not peek behind the gray boxes, you know the drill.

At this point, feel free to add your player icons (the PbP equivalent of pawns or miniatures), instructions are in the slide.

At the time of writing, we have four players, but it's only been some 12 hours since I announced the game. When I get the gameplay thread started, I'll hold off the mission briefing for some time, in case anyone else shows up. In the meantime, feel free to introduce your character.

Hey @GM Might Glacier! It is great to play at your table. I don't think I ever played with you but it seems I will be playing Port Peril Pub Crawl with you now.

I filled in the info in the slides, let me know if I did it right. From my end, I will try to RP as much as I can and just have a great time.

I have no experience GM'ing in PBP, but still, if I can help in any way let me know ;)

@PaleDim - awesome to be playing with you again!

Hi. I have *some* experience GM'ing PbP but only for first edition (and generally all my GM experience is 1e -- for now). But, I'll definitely try to help with the details where I can.

@Farol - yes, it's always fun :) I think in 2E I've mostly played with you using my incredibly introverted alchemist from Nex. This guy is somewhat more outgoing and a little over the top.

Hey, gang! Eben theQuiet here. Thanks for the invite, GM MG!

I'm a player from these boards from a few years back. Did a fair bit of 1e, but am just now returning to the hobby to dip my toe in 2e. So as far as rules and stuff go ... I'm unlikely to be of any help. If I see something that might be tweaked for the better in terms of PbP stuff, I'll try to speak up. :)

Happy to get to meet my fellow gamers, as well. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of playing alongside either of you before. Looking forward to it.

Great! 3/4ths have checked in, and thus we start the gameplay. I'll hold off the actual mission briefing for about 24 hours, in case we can get more players.

Klo, make sure your player profile has a statline. As a player, I use the following format:
HP | AC | Fort Ref Will | Perc | Spells if any | Class DC | Hero points | Exploration activity

Yep. I'm re-working my profile page right now (assuming I don't get interrupted by kiddos). I had just copy/pasted my information from HeroLab to get it place-marked last night. :)

EDIT: I'll get it finished up before I post in the gameplay.

Highly interested in joining! I check daily and mostly play at work. Level 2 Human Monk. Let me know if I can hop in and I'll double check all my stuff to make sure I'm good to go!

Welcome aboard! I see you already filled your PFS information in the spreadsheet, good job.

Hello there! is still room for a level 1 oracle?

I'm fairly new to society so I haven't played most adventures just finished Q-06 and playing 1-05 with other characters.

I however am not that new to the system so I don't need too much guidance but also must say that I'm a little new to PbP.

Yep. Just leave your PFS information here (number and faction) and you're set.

I'm a little new to PbP.

Thanks for letting me know. I once read an excellent guide to playing PbP, but I can't find it anymore. I'm sure you can catch on quickly; I can notify you if I see something strange.

The very basics, briefly:
-write in present tense
-remember the grammar rules for punctuation in dialogue (article)
-it's good practice to not assume other character's actions (e.g. if asked, Valeros tells of his backstory; not: Kyra asks Valeros of his backstory, and Valeros explains)

This one is more of a PF2E -specific rule, but if something is a Secret check (has the Secret trait), e.g. Recall Knowledge, don't roll for it. Instead, use OOC-tags: (I'd like to Recall Knowledge about bugbears. My Nature bonus is +5.)

Alright!

ID: # 2394547-2003

Faction: Radiant Oath.

I'll take a look at the article, I sometimes end writing funny things since english isn't my first language but I'll try to avoid errors as much as I can n.n

And thanks for explaining the secret checks, looks like each GM handles it a little differently.

My first language is Ancient Osirian but I just use google translate. :)

Pathfinder schools network item: minor potion of healing

how do the bonus consumables work?

See this table.

You've picked a Pathfinder school for your character: one of either Swords, Scrolls, Spells, Generalist, or Field Comission. If you didn't pick Field Comission, you get one (at later levels maybe more) bonus consumables at the beginning of each scenario.

The default choice is the minor healing potion, which is a fine choice.

Hello everybody! Just getting the chance to poke my head in and say hi! I will be playing a leshy monk, which I just need to transfer from paper to profile. I've never actually been in a game with a monk yet, so it'll be kind of interesting seeing two of them in the same scenario.

I'll take the feather token (ladder) as my Scrolls consumable. This is a brand new character, so no boons to speak of at this time.

got room?

If there is still room the big-hearted Goblin Barbarian(1) Bikpek would love to join

got room?

If there is still room the big-hearted Goblin Barbarian(1) Bikpek would love to join

Sorry to disappoint, but no.

Grabbing a potency crystal for that extra boss damage.

Slotted Boons:

Klo Björnson wrote:

how do the bonus consumables work?

See this table.

You've picked a Pathfinder school for your character: one of either Swords, Scrolls, Spells, Generalist, or Field Comission. If you didn't pick Field Comission, you get one (at later levels maybe more) bonus consumables at the beginning of each scenario.

The default choice is the minor healing potion, which is a fine choice.

Excellent. Thanks. Very helpful.

A quick clarifying question: while a Healing Potion is definitely more versatile (in that any character can activate it), since Klo has Heal on his spell list, wouldn't it make it possibly more powerful for him to take the Scroll of Heal from the "School of Spells" list?

Excited to see a Leshy in the group, I'm working on saving up my achievement points myself to roll one, I have a pretty nasty idea for a leshy fighter.

Edit for Klo: Yes the Scroll of Heal is definitely better, seeing as how you can use it as the 3-action AoE heal (like old channeling) or the 2-action range heal that heals for much more.

Roger Roger. That's what I was thinking. I'll go with that. Thanks, Sky!

I'll go for the healing potion, I'm rather simplistic when it comes to consumables and No boons so far.

I gotta say that we have a pretty strong party, monks, druid, sorcerer oracle... I think we have most roles covered.

Oh right, thanks for reminding me, Sky.

What are your Exploration mode activities, by default? Please specify them in the statlines, like Sieglinde has done.

Also keep in mind a lot of them require our group to move at half speed which might not be best for us. I think Sieglinde mentioned something about casting a spell on repeat, I think even if it's something that has like a 10 minute duration like Light or something, I believe it still requires us to move at half speed. Not trying to tell anyone what to do, per se, but just reminding everyone that even if only one person picks a half speed activity, we're all going to slow down.

Xun will take healing potion as the consumable.

For the boons:

Experienced Mountainer (general): treat mountain and slopes as dificult terrain and not greater difficult terrain.
Touched by the Storm (general): provide resistance 1 to cold and electricity
Devils Keep (advanced): You are the rightful master of the infernal keep known as Diggen’s Rest. Once per
adventure, you can use the following reaction.
Infernal Detonations

I gotta say that we have a pretty strong party, monks, druid, sorcerer oracle... I think we have most roles covered.

I guess Bard fits in the three dots part :P

The last question, I hate meta-gaming, but actually, Xun fought undead in the previous scenario, can he share what he knows with other party members?

Most of the exploration activities requires us to move at half speed, in the games I've been everyone is always avoiding notice, detecting magic or investigating so it is rarely an issue, we all move at half speed, it's like our default.

... and just to make sure I understand what all this means.

Your designated Exploration Mode activity is the set of skills a character is employing as we explore? Meaning they get to roll the designated skills should we run into some kind of encounter? (also meaning that if we say we're just "generally exploring", we're at the mercy of whatever encounter we run into?)

It did sound like speed was of the essence, so if particular Exploration Mode options are going to cut our speed down, Kló is all about ignoring those for now.

Yeah you are correct, but the mode does not have it be related to a skill. For example, Scout is a good example, everyone can be scouting which gives +1 to the initiative to everyone. There is no skill required to do that.

Also keep in mind a lot of them require our group to move at half speed which might not be best for us. I think Sieglinde mentioned something about casting a spell on repeat, I think even if it's something that has like a 10 minute duration like Light or something, I believe it still requires us to move at half speed. Not trying to tell anyone what to do, per se, but just reminding everyone that even if only one person picks a half speed activity, we're all going to slow down.

This is a valid line of logic.

Most of the exploration activities requires us to move at half speed, in the games I've been everyone is always avoiding notice, detecting magic or investigating so it is rarely an issue, we all move at half speed, it's like our default.

Also a valid line of logic from a player's point of view: tracking of time and movement speed might apply differently in each scenario, depending on the GM and the scenario's writer.

I'm sure you, as players, can make the best decision in a scenario-by-scenario basis. If you were to ask me, "do these exploration activities move at a slower speed?", the answer is of course yes. "In this scenario, does it matter if we select slower exploration activities?" I know the answer, but I won't say, but I will say this: the Venture-Captain did warn you that time is of the essence.

Yes, this might be needlessly convoluted, which is usually a sign that you're overthinking it.

The last question, I hate meta-gaming, but actually, Xun fought undead in the previous scenario, can he share what he knows with other party members?

Glad you asked. I'm usually against this kind of across-scenarios knowledge, both as a GM and as a player.

Taking your case as an example, you can say that you've fought undead before, but this should not be a substitute for Recall Knowledge as far as game mechanics are concerned.

I've given the entire party a Recall Knowledge roll about what they know about undead. (In an amusing stroke of luck, you rolled a natural 20.)

Mmm... Not quite, we use it while we travel/move but if there is an event like our scout finding a group of enemies we get to do other things like set an ambush or use other skills for identification and such.

Basically we're not going to role play most of the travel so we say that we're doing that during the time gaps between Encounters and we may found something while doing so or get a bonus or extra info.

Edit: Just read the GM post, pretty informative, so far I was planning to role play Sieglinde with just basic knowledge about undeads, like... They're reanimated corpses and usually evil but beyond that not much else, I just assume that it's basic knowledge

I know what you mean Sieglinde, like everyone is usually doing some action so you all move at half speed, which is normally not an issue, but I mean for this particular situation where you are on a time limit it might be better to not use exploration activities so we move faster.

You got a point there, so far I has been thinking that the best course of action would be being careful to avoid or get an upper hand against the undeads that we're likely to encounter but if the party considers that we should instead move at full speed I'm okay with that.

Exploration mode set in status bar. I don't have boons worth slotting for this scenario.

So, again, just to clarify: if we - as a group - decide that time is of the essence, then we effectively pick no Exploration mode activity, correct? And that means we more or less walk blindly into any threats?

I’m leaning towards this as my vote, since the VC did say time was a factor.

Agreed, let us head with no exploration mode

Maybe this can help: Exploration Mode

As I said I'll go along with the party's decision.

For general crossing large areas of land, I think no exploration is better, I doubt we're going to run into a fight where +1 to initiative is going to change everything, since that's all the "Scout" feature does. Same for casting something like Detect Magic, in a dungeon yes it would make sense or if we get to a door or a device, but if we're just walking through a forest I don't think you need to look for magic in every tree we pass, lol. My vote: let's do no exploration activity for now and then when we get to a dangerous area like a cave or a dungeon or a haunted mansion, that's when we can be more careful and take our time.

Note that if what we need is speed we can hustle for double speed travel at the risk of fatigue but I don't recommend it.

Agreed on no exploration for long overland travel.

I had assumed that we wouldn't be doing the exploration activities while we were engaging in overland travel because of the distance we are traveling, but would go into our preferred activity when we get to a location. So I guess I also vote no to exploration activities while traveling overland.

We can still have somebody scout, because that doesn't affect traveling speed and should give most of us a +1 circumstance bonus to initiative.

I believe scouting does make that person move at half speed? There didn't seem to be many that provide a benefit which don't also make you move slower.

Aha, I don't know how I missed that scouting is also half speed. I actually read it three times and somehow didn't see that.

Haha it happens to all of us, everything kind of starts to blend together when you're looking over rules.

Yeah, I think the only thing that doesn't slow movement down is Following the Expert and of course Hustle....that does make feats like Experienced Tracker and Swift Sneak a lot more appealing.

Swift sneak is really good as well as the one which allow you to move at full speed while searching, can't remember the name of the feat x.x

Swift Sneak is pretty high level, requires Master in Stealth, but Experienced Tracker is a level 1 feat that allows you to Track at full speed but at a -5 penalty which isn't bad if you can stack Survival pretty good.

Now that I think about it, following the expert doesn't states that you move at half speed but if the expert is using avoid notice or such he is moving at half speed and common sense tells me that the followers moves at that speed too.

Hey guys I think I'll be off until January 2.

And... Happy new year :D