Giantslayer: Against the Giants Redux

Game Master Branding Opportunity

Would it make sense for me to roll Perception secretly whenever you guys enter a room? The Adventure Paths condition players to search every room for treasure, and while that might take away from the narrative in a PbP, I could save us all the hassle and just tell you what you find before you worry about missing anything.

If you'd rather roll yourselves, or not even worry about it, let me know.

Yeah, that probably would make sense.
It can slow things down to wait for everybody to post their Perception checks.

Brogann will also use Detect Magic pretty regularly if we are not just rushing through a place.

Sounds good to me GM!

No problem with me (Perception+0 won't help much, I guess)

Roger that. I will retroactively roll Perception for you all in the rooms that we've gone through. Also, the new loot list is up. Let me know if the link works.

Okay, I've added loot that you'd have found in the first room where you fought the spiders and then in the haunted infirmary. There are a couple potions and scrolls that some of you might find interesting. If you want to claim anything, make sure that it's posted in the gameplay or discussion threads.

Going forward, I will roll Perception when you enter a new room, if there is something to be found.

Same for Cetan, he would routinely use detect magic too. I'll assume you'll say if a knowledge arcana roll would be relevant based on the presence of an aura.

The loot list works fine for me.

Heh, one thing I like about writing for Sigrun is her Common/Taldane is weak. Think of her as having something like a mile thick Icelandic or Norwegian accent. Misspellings and typos are actually a bonus in her case.

I accidentally left out a word in her last game post. Normally I'd rush to edit it as soon as I noticed. But in this case I decided 'Eh, I like it'.

New post incoming tonight. Sorry about the slowdown, been busy lately.

Back to it!

Sorry, folks. Had some weirdness where I couldn't log in. After contacting Paizo's customer servicer, I got it all figured out.

New post will be up tonight when I get home.

Sorry, folks. Had some weirdness where I couldn't log in. After contacting Paizo's customer servicer, I got it all figured out.

New post will be up tonight when I get home.

Yah, they had a site issue a week or so ago that loged most people out and a lot of people couldn't get back in without clearing cookies for the site.

I access paizo from three different devices so was quite annoying when I got to each one and realized I had to clear it :P

Glad you are back tho.

Hello all. I'm going to be in nature and away from computers starting Friday evening (4/29, 5pm, US/Pacific time) until late Sunday 5/1. I should be able to catch up in all games that same evening. As my absence is over the weekend I hope/expect for minimal disruption to my games.

Hey, friends. I hate to do this, but I don't think I can continue to run this game. Things have occurred in my life that have slowed down my ability to post considerably, and I'm unsure if I can return to a reasonable rate in the near future.

If you'd like, I can pursue another GM in the recruitment thread though, I owe that to you all.

Best,

GM R0B0

Thanks for letting us know, GM.

It does seem that this game never got off the ground.

I am for sure interested in seeing where this AP can go so if everyone else is down I would like to see if we can get a replacement otherwise it was fun and do what you need to take care of yourself GM. I assume like me, most of us game to have fun and reduce stress if it is doing the opposite take a break.

-Best regards,
Tooantuh Shundar-Quah Diplomat

GMs can be hard to come by, but I'll definitely be here if it works out.

I'd be interested in sticking around if another GM could be found and a faster pace could be maintained.

Wishing you the best Robogeisha, thanks for carrying us for a while.

I'd keep going if another GM could be found.

It would be great if the game could continue with another gM (and, I admt, a quicker pace)

Thank you anyway for trying!

Hi folks,

GM R0B0GEISHA put out a call for a new GM and I picked up the phone. Unless someone has a strong objection, I'd be happy to get this game going again. I've read through the IC and OOC threads and think I've got a pretty good handle on where you are in the story and what your characters' basic personalities/goals are.

I currently am GMing three other games: "Hollow's Last Hope" using the new Pathfinder Savage Worlds rules, an Old School Essential's interpretation of the Classic TSR "Palace of the Silver Princess", and the long-running "Rise of the Runelords" game that your own rdknight is also in, in case you want to check out my GMing style.

Take a look if you like, but if all of you agree, I am ready to go.

If rd is happy with you and you are down to take over I am happy with it!

Ditto. I took a quick look and I see healthy lively games under your care! Sounds good to me.

I'd be happy to have you. Thanks for stepping up.

Hiya BrOp! Fancy meeting you here! This will be the second time you've stepped in to save a game of mine, so thank you again! Also, welcome aboard!

OK, then we're just missing Gabsen's input. Is anyone in any other games with them?

One caveat emptor:

Having written most of Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes, I may drag you north before this is all over (with your permission, of course). I haven't gotten to run a game in that part of Golarion myself yet.

Also, I will be out of town from July 28th through August 15th, and will be posting less (or not at all) for some of that period.

They are in two other games one that I run and another with the OG DM of this game. I am also waiting for them to take a turn. I doubt they would be opposed given this quote just before you took over.

It would be great if the game could continue with another gM (and, I admt, a quicker pace)

Thank you anyway for trying!

They are in two other games one that I run and another with the OG DM of this game. I am also waiting for them to take a turn. I doubt they would be opposed given this quote just before you took over.

Gabsen wrote:

It would be great if the game could continue with another gM (and, I admt, a quicker pace)

Thank you anyway for trying!

OK, I will assume that Gabsen is on board and also am glad to hear that they are around. Sometimes when games peter out, people drift away ...

To further introduce myself and how I game, I need to tell you that I use Lines & Veils and the X-Card when I play online (and F2F) RPGs. Some of you may have used them before, while others haven't, so I will do a quick introduction.

Lines & Veils/X-Card

Fantasy RPGs such as Pathfinder deal with a number of different difficult and/or mature subject areas, some of which you may be fine interacting with, while others may make you uncomfortable. I see playing PbP games here on the Paizo messageboards as a thing we do to relax and to have fun and I really don't want someone to feel uncomfortable while they read something that any of us have written. In order to facilitate this, I use two different safety tools: Lines & Veils and the X-Card.

Lines & Veils is simply a list of topics that might (or might not) crop up during the adventure. You can find a link to this list HERE. If you click on that link and pick the "LinesVeils Advanced" tab, you will see an alphabetical listing of topics, some of which I have already checked off as a "Line" or a "Veil".

Subjects that are a "Veil" will not happen "on screen", but are understood to be part of the game we are playing. An example of this that I have already checked off is "Human sexuality". Do people have sex in this campaign world? Of course. Will I actively describe people (NPCs or PCs) having sex? Nope, never, not somthing I am comfortable with or want in my game. Can sexuality be hinted at? Sure, and as a matter of fact, it already has in this game. Topics marked as a "Veil" can happen, but we will never "see" or describe them.

"Lines" are stronger than "Veils". These are subjects that simply do not happen in our game. We won't talk about them, we won't alude to them, they are Verboten. For all intents and purposes, they don't exist in our game. You can see that I have already marked one topic as a "Line". This topic will never come up in my game.

What I'd ask of you, is that you look over the list and click on any topic you wish to be a line or a veil. This is anonymous. You may also add a new topic that isn't listed already.

Finally, we have a tool called the "X-Card". The X-Card simply means that if you are made uncomfortable by something that happens during the game, you may simply type "X" by itself into one of the threads. I will then contact you via a PM and find out what it was that caused you to become uncomfortable, and we will "rewind" to before that thing happened and then continue without it.

I know that these tools may be controversial to some, but I feel that they are helpful for creating games that everyone can enjoy, especially in an environment where we are mostly anonymous and will never meet in person. If you have a problem with any of them, I am happy to discuss them more with you.

There are other safety tools on the Google sheet I have LINKED TO, but we don't have to worry about those right now (or perhaps ever).

COMBAT

The way I handle combat in PbP games has evolved over the past few years.

What I generally do is roll Initiative for everyone and then post the ACs and HP of all the opponents you are facing. This means that it is important that you keep your initiative in your "visible stats" below your PC name and keep them current. I know that may challenge the verisimilitude of the game a bit, but I have found that it speeds up combat, as you will know whether you hit and kill an opponent when you roll and can incorporate that into your PC's post for that round. It saves time because you don't have to wait for me to chime in. Does that give you a small advantage because you will know how many bonuses to stack? Yes. Do I think this is a game-breaker? No. If I find that you are mowing down your opponents in EVERY combat, I'll just adjust their difficulty.

After initiative is rolled, I also put the PCs in "initiative groups" around the opponents and as long as it's your group's turn, your actions happen in POSTING and not INITIATIVE order. This is pretty common in PbP games on these messageboards, so I won't explain it any more, but if you aren't familiar with it or have a question, please let me know.

Sounds good to me I like the X card system and lines and veils is just a social contract which I enforce at my in person table.

The combat sounds good to and may steal that for my PbP that has all of the party members of this game in it. Combat is easily the most time consuming part of PbP I have found and losing a bit of fantasy for convenience sounds like a good trade for the already most gamey part of the game.

Edit:Maybe I am missing something blindingly obvious or mobile sucks but how do I fill out my own lines and veils? Do I just copy the main tab and fill it out or do I havee to make my own copy on my own google drive?

All looks good to me. I will do my best to abide by the lines and veils in my own posts, and if I err I will try to correct it as soon as possible.

It all looks good to me BrOp. I also didn't see how to do my own version aside from a copy paste. But it isn't important because I don't have anything that I would be adding or altering from what you have.

It all looks good to me BrOp. I also didn't see how to do my own version aside from a copy paste. But it isn't important because I don't have anything that I would be adding or altering from what you have.

As with Tooantuh's comment, I'm not sure to what you are referring. There should only be one document we all edit.

Edit:Maybe I am missing something blindingly obvious or mobile sucks but how do I fill out my own lines and veils? Do I just copy the main tab and fill it out or do I havee to make my own copy on my own google drive?

If you mean how do you add your own topic, you just add it underneath the existing ones; there are a number of blank spaces.

If you mean, can you just click on the document I linked to, then yes, let's all use the same doc so that everyone's info is all together. If you can't edit it and I need to change permissions, please let me know ASAP.

Unless I am mistaken (and GM R0B0GEISHA, please chime in if this is not the case and you are still reading this thread) GM R0B0 omitted a few combats that didn't move the "Slaying of Rodrick" storyline forward and didn't significantly add to the theme or ambiance of the location or adventure (i.e. combats that most likely were added during the writing/editing process to give everyone enough XP to level up at the correct time). Since I play to level you up by fiat when it makes the most sense (and these times are suggested in the book), do you want me to put them back in? Combats can take a long time and bog things down, so I'm inclined to leave them out, but I want your input on this.

I mostly agreed with the defaults. I checked one more "line" that we could discuss (not sure if that was the right way to do it, I don't see a place for input per player).

I think I get where you are going Cetan and I agree. I don't mind if there is a one off non-aggressive phobic character who shuts up or learns once confronted but it is just as easy to not have it happen at all unless it somehow links to a deeper plot and even than it is iffy so might as well avoid it.

Yeah, I think that was maybe what had me confused. I was thinking the checks were per player rather than there being no need to recheck what's already checked.

I agree with your additions Cetan and might have made them myself, but Paizo is fairly careful about such things so I don't expect the subject will come up at all. A homebrew game would be a different subject.

I think Sigrún has it right here. The check is for the GAME not the player. If one person marks something a Line or a Veil, it is henceforth a Line and Veil for everyone in the game. Once it is checked it stays checked and there is no need (or ability) to check it again. I hope that resolves any lingering confusion on the topic, but let me know if something is still unclear.

I still would like everyone's input on the question I posted four posts up.

I don't mind combat; I know it's a significant part of this AP, and done well it can be exciting and dramatic.

But, we have really struggled getting this campaign going and we do need to establish momentum. If those skipped combats don't move the story forward and don't add to the theme or ambience, I'd say drop them.

There was a pretty substantial combat in the opening sequence that I think was an addition of the original GM, so we have had a pretty tense "trial by fire" for bonding as a group.

Oh! Right. I think I'd rather get things moving along rather than going back for some missed fights. Going forward I'd say use your best judgement on whether to keep combats that aren't plot relevant in. If you believe it adds something to the game, do keep it. If you think it's just there for XP farming without any other value added, take it out.

Thanks for your input on the Combat question, Brogann and Sigrún. How do you other players feel?

The first "defending the caravan" combat was indeed something that the first GM put in and that does not exist in the AP as written.

I should also further note that I would still give you any treasure you would have gotten had you defeated any skipped combat so that your "Wealth by Level (WBL)" is not thrown off. I would just add the value of that treasure to another combat or encounter.

More "housekeeping" before we get the IC thread started. Sorry about all the posts.

I am currently not set up as the GM for your Roll20 game. I've PM'd GM R0B0 about making me the GM (if that's even possible) and am waiting to hear back. In the meantime, I could move everyone to Google Slides if you run into another combat if that works for everyone.

Unless I am mistaken (and GM R0B0GEISHA, please chime in if this is not the case and you are still reading this thread) GM R0B0 omitted a few combats that didn't move the "Slaying of Rodrick" storyline forward and didn't significantly add to the theme or ambiance of the location or adventure (i.e. combats that most likely were added during the writing/editing process to give everyone enough XP to level up at the correct time). Since I play to level you up by fiat when it makes the most sense (and these times are suggested in the book), do you want me to put them back in? Combats can take a long time and bog things down, so I'm inclined to leave them out, but I want your input on this.

Yep! I removed some early fights that I thought were unnecessary and at least two that were infamous for being difficult early on.

I'm looking into the Roll20 thing right now.

Thanks for the insight, R0B0.

Thanks for your input on the Combat question, Brogann and Sigrún. How do you other players feel?

I agree. We have forward momentum and I don't feel a strong need to "recover" skipped encounters.

I am with everyone else. I love Paizo adventures, however they are famous for "here are 3 spiders in a ruin because it is a ruin and you need the extra 25xp and the longsword and two scrolls in their web".

Do what flows well or adds to either the story or setting.

Sorry, having a few busy days at work.. soon on vacations, but vacations will be busy too (moving homes and a job interview next week)

I'll try to check on the Lines and Veils. I don't have many taboos, so I'll respect others peoples lines.

What do you mean by "Classism", just to be sure?