GM Michael's Ironfang Invasion

Game Master Dread

I was thinking of maybe two people with good stealth skills doing some reconnaissance and coming back. If they determine that there are prisoners who can be rescued, we make a plan to do so.

I'm good with the scout teams, I'm just trying not to split the party. It has the potential too throw off the posting, and that's already a problem in PBP.

What do you have in mind?

It's four days round trip to the lumber camp. Fangwood will have its own set of challenges. Tarrow and Barhador are obvious scouts and I'd prefer to be relatively closer to the rest of the party. We would need a way to coordinate the groups if we move in tandem.

Tarrow and Barhador are obvious scouts...

The other thing to keep in mind Barhador moves at a 50% faster speed than Tarrow or Brunner, so he could get there and back faster. What about sending a couple NPC's? Or just doing them one at a time. Were stronger if we're together.

That's true. Is the next objective to get to the Fort? We could skip the lumber camp and head for the Hermit's shack and not split the party. We're likely already behind the ogre. Is anyone in favor of staying put at the farmstead, and if so, for how long?

I am thinking that, we (the pcs) go scout the Lumber camp; while the remaining refugees head to the Fort; or they stay held up there until we (pcs) can send help?

The difference is bigger than that. From my combat summary on movement:

Speed 30' (Stealth at full speed) (move through difficult forest terrain without penalty)

Technically, that should be stealth at full speed with no penalty.

So, a 20' movement, working to maintain best stealth, will be reduced to 10', halved again to 5' through difficult wooded terrain, while the elven hunter will still be moving at 30', or even 35' if manifesting Stag for speed instead of Owl for stealth.

Typical healthy, young adults can maintain a walking pace of about 3.5 miles an hour. A mile distance is more than a few minutes out, closer to 20, and in a forest, there'll be no real line of sight or signaling.

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I have never been in a game that made it to the fort. My gut tells me the fort is either going to be a false safety point or the break between books. I can be wrong, of course.

I also don't think the AP offers much success for the refugees to survive without guidance. Just seems counter to the feel of this bit, ya know?

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I THINK the hermit's shack might be a better place to try to hide the refugees while we go check out the lumber camp (where we are is just too close), but I doubt the lumber camp is going to be more than a supply retrieval spot. I would love to be wrong, but, I'm kinda pessimistic about how the introductory invasion is supposed to go.

I'll make an IC post starting that discussion before we are so rudely interrupted.

Edit:

If we weren't just trying to get the refugees to the fort, the local ranger redoubt and hunter's cabin would both also be potentially really good spots to try to hide them.

I vote for the Hermits shack and keep the party together.

I'm good with the hermit's shack as well, I think priority one is protecting the refugees, well and keeping the party together.

I'm fine with the majority's decision (as will Ethan). He (Ethan) is trying to help as many people as possible, but understands that sometimes it won't be worth the risk to the people they've already rescued.

Rappan Athuk Miniatures KickStarter

This appeared on my Discord....

Try this direct link?

When I click on your link all it brings up is my discord.

Sadly I was in an RA game for six years, and it petered out.

The map has gone dark.

all settings are still right.

Try this direct link?

yep that one worked, very cool!

all settings are still right.

Weird. I'm just getting Tarrow and all black.

This coming Wednesday through Sunday my posting will be extremely slow to non-existent as I will be at Gencon in Indy and then two weeks after that for the same days it will be slow again for Origins in Ohio. I may be able to sneak some posts in but I wouldn't count on it.

Been a few years since I've been to either of those. Always managed to have fun, though.

If the nut butter shop in the little food court at Origins has got their "kitchen" back up, just go ahead and pay their price for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Really. Fresh nut butter. Local preserves. Fresh local bread. Just so amazingly better than what most of us manage to make at home ourselves.

... for Origins in Ohio.

I had to look that up, but it's at the convention center in Columbus! Very Cool! Have a good time.

Now I have to go downtown for a peanut butter sandwich.

Yeah, I guess Origins used to be as big as Gencon is but years ago they got taken over by a bunch of people who know nothing about gaming and have been running it into the ground. It has gotten so small that it is a joke by comparison. It's a bit of a miracle they survived having to cancel last year due to COVID because they just don't have the income to eat a year like Gencon does. I guess the only reason was that the Convention Center let them roll the rent over to this year instead.

Origins is one of two conventions run by the Game Manufacturers' Association.

The first is for publishers/manufacturers only.

The second is an opportunity for publishers/manufacturers to showcase products to the consumer. This is Origins.

I'm not sure saying they don't know much about gaming is on target. It is easy to say that supporting the big, successful shared campaigns and tournaments (which draw participants and push ticket sales) reduces the ability of everybody else to get their products the desired attention. Not really a good path for the organizers when the majority of ticket sales are to people looking to stay in their existing playspace.

The majority of consumers appear to want another opportunity to play the same stuff they already play. That's never been GAMA's goal for the event. What do you do when half of the people paying to be there want a different event from what your members paying to be there want?

Ah, but there is the problem, as I understand it from people who have run Cons before. You can't run a gaming convention, like Gencon/Origins, like a trade show and make it successful. There have been other issues as well as I understand it, but I will admit that I am not that famliar with all the issues involved.

Having said that a quick bit of looking showed that, at least before 2017 the convention attendance was going up. I know there were some issues in 2018 that may have reveresed that trend and last year there was massive backlash over, I believe it was their stance on BLM, that was their excuse for not running the online portion they had intended too (though from what I heard it was going to be a disaster and they apparently had no clue what they were doing).

Again, these are only what I ahve heard from the leadership of some of the bigger campaign that I play in hat runs there so your mileage may vary.

A very interesting conversation to be sure.

So in game it sounded like Tarrow reluctantly agreed to Barhador's idea, if only to dislodge him from someplace unmentionable. Are we waiting for anything else? I keep trying to think about how to jump in and move the plot along but wasn't sure so I posted here.

Any ideas?

"The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has cancelled their planned Origins Online convention after a number of exhibitors and online talent pulled out of the show due to GAMA's lack of a statement in support of Black Lives Matter."

Admittedly, it's been a very long time since I participated in the convention scene; GEN-CON was still in Milwaukee. But is there any more inclusive setting? Welp, it is what it is.

Have a great time!

Wikipedia has attendance numbers and a discussion about last year's fiasco.

I went there to try to see when GAMA took Origins over. Been a long, long time.

Generaly yes, Origins is rather inclusive, particularly when it comes to the GLBTQetc (I don't remember all the letters anymore) community.

It had been long enough that I forgot what the exact issue was with BLM last year, and I'm at work so looking things up isn't always possible.

Overall I like going, particualrly because it is smaller than Gencon is, but that's me.

The "current generation" is very aggressive about it not being enough to behave properly, if you are not virtue signaling what they want to hear when they want to hear it, you are part of the problem.

I like to refer back to my gay son who has effectively disowned us because we weren't publicly celebrating his sexuality. We don't publicly celebrate his brother or sister's sexuality, either. But failure to give him public adoration for a specific behavior means we are the enemy. Large part of how our modern social networking operates.

As a father of sons myself, I can imagine how hard that is. Sorry to hear that.

from the Farmhouse you found-210 Silver, 75 Gold, 3 Masterwork Bola's, 2 Masterwork Javelins, a large citrine worth 100 gold

I originally had 1 javelin and 2 bola's from here do you want to double check or should I go with the higher number?

ahh adjust them up to what I just posted. forgot I already gave them to you, but I needed to raise the ammount do to 6 characters and not 4.

Ahhhhhh. Well, there goes my mental image of Bruce Lee delivering twenty quick strikes in a row. On a related note, if you're into kung fu movies, check out the Ip Man series on Netflix, you will not be disappointed.

Edit: apparently, my error was to trust this source: d20pfsrd. Gah, it would be helpful to list the qualification in the actual rule!

Would you permit me to tuck my tail between my legs and change my 2nd level feat selection? I would instead take Weapon Focus: Rapier

yes---go ahead.

waiting on Ethan

Anyone who’s wounded, try to move towards me. I will channel energy on my next turn.

Sorry for the uninspired post. Battling stupid covid right now.

I had to look it up; but it seems that with a Failed save, his action is wasted?
Sanctuary

My Cleric for PF2e uses it a lot. I was curious if it worked the same.

Its interesting because the spell wording in Pathfinder implies the character loses his action whereas in all the D&D wordings from basic on says to choose another target. I think thats where I got my thought on the spell.

We will go with the implied wording that you bring up. Sanctuary causes the attacker to lose the attack if he fails. Good catch

GM, very much appreciate the amount of work on your part to run these combat sequences. I didn't think about how many NPCs we were burdening you with!

Agreed, you're doing great work here! This is a crazy combat sequence. Do you have a part-time gig planning space launches for SpaceX?

Anyone else having problems with Rolld20? I can't get into it to move myself.

I had a problem with Roll20 a few weeks back where the screen was just black, but it has since fixed itself. It's working for me now, using FF.

I was able to get in just now. I think part of it was a problem with the site that resolved itself and part was my connection being a bit wonky for some reason.

GM, very much appreciate the amount of work on your part to run these combat sequences. I didn't think about how many NPCs we were burdening you with!

Agreed, you're doing great work here! This is a crazy combat sequence. Do you have a part-time gig planning space launches for SpaceX?

They have the right of it. I think we all appreciate the extra immersion you are creating by trying to have all of the refugees interact with the situation at hand.

Very nice bit of work.

I completely agree with what they have said, you are doing an amazing job on these fights with so much going on to control.

I keep reading these thinking "Man their right, DMMichael is killing it." But I keep thinking "If I chime in now I'm just being a Homer."

Homer or not, it really is a lot, and you doing it well :)

GM, very much appreciate the amount of work on your part to run these combat sequences. I didn't think about how many NPCs we were burdening you with!

Its not a burden. Organization helps. I think I could hand wave the npcs, but then it wouldnt be as ...interesting and fun? realistic? dont know. Just trying to play it how I see it.

Thanks all.

so someone asked me why no posts for a couple days...

I thought to point out something that may be important to note...

my days off fall during the week instead of saturday and sunday. many times Ill work those days. If I take them off though at times I get so busy with real life and honey dos and appts that It precludes any gaming.

sorry

No worries, GM.

I happen to be fortunate to be in 4 of your games. I think that considering that you GM like 20 more than those; I would say that you are doing a fantastic job!

Much appreciated from my end!