Nico is going on strike. No work until she gets a pancake (or two)!
The food stall she's describing is really a crêperie, selling thin pancakes that can be rolled and folded and eaten on the go.
Don’t worry, I know a crepe when I hear one!
So, now that I've started combat, it occurs to me that there are some things we should go over regarding how I run combat...
I usually use theater of the mind for a lot of combat. This one is pretty simple so it should be easy enough to do that way. When we get to more complicated fights I'll try to give you enough information to make it work but if we're struggling I'll try to find some maps we can use as a google doc.
I use block initiative, so when your block is up you can post in any order and you'll act in whatever order you post (so there's no need to worry about whether or not someone posting after you might mess up something you already posted).
Typically, you have 24 hours to post once your block is up during the week, and I usually stretch that closer to 36 over the weekend. If you don't act during your window you'll delay to the next block the first time and if you miss the second block I'll bot you (and I'm not shy about burning spells or other resources).
If you have any questions about that (or concerns) please share them!
Going camping with the kids until Thursday. Not sure on cell reception. Please bot me if needed.
Since I didn’t lay out ground rules for combat beforehand, I’ll leave some extra time for this first round but if Diego and Vaeldon don’t post by this even then they’ll delay to next round.
I’m nodding off at the keyboard. Sorry. I’ll bot Vaeldon again (if necessary) I’m the morning.
Gameplay has been running for a week now and we have zero posts there from Vaeldon. I'm going to PM him and see if he's still planning to join us.
I haven’t heard back from Vaeldon at all yet. If that’s still true when it comes back around to his turn I’m going to have him run down a side-street to help someone. Don’t follow him. Hopefully he just had a busy week and he’ll be able to catch up with you all soon, but if not we’ll make him an NPC from now on.
@Alistair- I never really addressed the bigger question you asked about P&R... my preference would be for you to roll the parry in a spoiler at the end of your normal post (so that we don't have to slow combat waiting for a follow up post whenever you're attacked). You can give a default setting for using it (like always use it against the first attack each round) and/or you can specify in the spoiler how you want it used (like the first time a specific enemy attacks you). You are about to get attacked again so for this time you can post a P&R attempt during Orin's posting window if you want.
I'm having issues with posting in gameplay. I have attempted to post a perception check multiple times, but it simply doesn't post. At least not on my end. If for some reason it posts multiple times, I apologize.
Looks like it had something to do with only rolling dice. As soon as I placed a period in the post it posted the dice roll. Strange.
Diego asked (in gameplay) about living arrangements, but I thought I’d address it here instead. The Garrison is part barracks and most of the watch and associated staff do live there. You are not, however, required to live there (although you might be required to stay there sometimes, like if you’re on call). The default assumption would be that you all do live there but if any of you would rather still be at your parent’s house that’s fine (though it might provoke some teasing from time to time), or if you’re fairly frugal otherwise you could afford to be renting a modest apartment in the city.
Jaymin was, until very recently, still living with his parents, saving up for a small cottage for Carissa and himself, which he is presumably already renting now since he was expecting to be married this afternoon.
In fact, it's probably decorated with celebratory flowers right now, since he was expecting to come back there after the ceremony.
I assumed something like that for Jaymin, although to afford a small cottage instead of an apartment you’d probably have to be somewhere less desirable (like near junker’s edge) or outside of the actual city.
I guess an apartment it is, but once he starts raking in the loot from adventuring, he's upgrading.
If I remember correctly, Grocer's Hall has small apartments that can be rented. Nico will do that sort of thing. Privacy is worth more than gold!
Going forward, if preferable, I will post any questions I have in here.
Diego will be staying at the barracks. This will help with the 12 hour shifts.
Does the city provide any other form of services for its guards? Like healing, discount on work related equipment, meals and drink, health insurance, etc?
Alistair will lay his head at the barracks.
Lol, I sincerely love how much thought you guys are giving to this stuff!
There’s no such thing as health insurance in Sandpoint, but there are a couple of people in the Garrison who are trained in (non-magical) healing and will provide first-aid and/or long term care when members of the watch need it. The sheriff will sometimes arrange for magical healing for guards it only if they’re badly wounded in the line of duty.
Most of your gear has been provided to you by the watch.
No medical insurance! Then I guess dental insurance is out of the question (LoL).
Diego will take advantage of the first aid / care for the night. that should net him 2 hp back if its successful.
Diego- are you escorting Alastair back to the Garrison or giving him some space to flirt?
Both, he will stay back a bit and give Alistair room to flirt and then escort the Swashbuckler back to the barracks when he's done for the night.
Does this mean we won't be seeing Shalelu?
I'm still expecting that you'll see Shalelu at some point?
Ah, okay.
LOL, Nico never imagined y'all could get yourselves into such a jam during the 20 minutes or so she'd be away and unable to rescue you.
If you go shopping again, Alistair might be a dad.
Lol
Walking to meet the others, Nico senses a troubling disturbance in the force... Something has become unbalanced. Equilibrium must be restored.
It was a dangerous encounter but Diego jumped on the grenade.
LoL, flirting with an 8 charisma.
I’m not trying to sell Diego out. First rule of PR: get your story out first and get it out often.
Never thought you where selling Diego out. In fact your tact is appreciated and a softened official report is actually politicly correct as it needs to make its way up the chain of command. The sheriff on the other hand needs to know the gory details seeing he is going to be held responsible for our conduct. That and the fact that he is, for the most part, on the front line with us.
So, I have no objection to players reading spoilers as long as they can keep straight which things they know ooc and which things their characters know.
I think Jaymin's most recent post is just some tongue-in-cheek teasing for Nico's player (and, truthfully, I thought it was funny as that) but just so we're all on the same page, Jaymin the character doesn't actually know what happened under the table.
As a general rule, please assume that your character is unaware of anything that happens in a spoiler that isn't addressed to you unless I tell you to go back and read it or one of the players who experienced it says to (or posts that they recount the events to you).
I thought it was funny too. I was so tempted to post
"Fortunately Jaymin decided against voicing his poorly thought out allusion and so kept his head on his shoulders."
But I decided that was getting into very meta territory.
I can see wiggle room in how Nico is acting above the table regarding Foxglove to be able to lead Jaymin to such a narrowly avoided drastic mistake. :)
Yeah, I did peek at the spoilers since they’re marked “At Dinner”, but I’ve been sitting on this joke for awhile now waiting for the above the table to become clear. For example:
Nico talking to the party: "I don't think we should be going out into the woods without talking to the Sheriff first. We have quite a bit to tell him now, so let's go get him caught up. He may have different plans for us at that point. We can then take a quick lunch and go from there in the afternoon."
Nico talking to Lord Handsome: “ Oh! A hunt sounds so exciting and fun! What a wonderful idea! That's fantastic! It will be like having a holiday while we're at work! Very well thought through Lord Foxglove" plus broad smiles.
She’s talking fluff-brained and completely smitten. Personally, I think it’s hilarious and well done to so completely change her tone, but it can’t be out of bounds for a 16 Wisdom character to notice it.
For the record, Diego's thoughts where based more on Nico's overly proper behavior. I felt the change from raging coworker to tolerant guest was notable enough to catch Diego's attention.
I'm really flattered y'all are noticing because it is very much on purpose. Yeah, Nico's language style switches according to context and her intent. So yes, real people speak differently at work compared to with parents compared to out with friends, etc. etc. all the time. I'm trying at least to make her talk as true to life as I can manage.
Let's face it, unless you're involved in it yourself, flirting is almost always kinda ugly to see.
Rp wise I think Nico's great and in fact displays layers of confidence, intelligence, and grit. All of which are strong attributes to making a solid guard. Unfortunately Diego's lack of correctness will likely grate on her a bit, all of which is part of his make up. That being said, I personally view his 8 charisma as a reflection of improper educate and bad timing more than appearance. Rest assured that I have given him a few redeeming qualities, which should come out as the game progresses.
As fare as Nico's aggression goes, Diego is fairly thick-skinned do to his background and I doubt that she could do or say anything that would shatter him, but who knows, you full of fun surprises. )
Thus fare, I'm truly enjoying the game and the roleplay has been amazing.
Jaymin’s low charisma isn’t making him a boor so much as a reluctance to assert himself, hence waiting too long to slap Diego down earlier.
Alistair was just in shock.
Alistair was just in shock.
Understandable. Big difference between panache and brute. I view a swashbuckler as more of a flamboyant fighter who utilizes both style and form when it comes to resolving problems or conflicts. Diego, on the other hand, I view as more of a brutish hard hitter with little to no style or tact.
For the record, I didn't mean my last post as an accusation or rebuke, and I'm sorry if it came across that way. I've just been in games in the past where different players had different expectations/understandings of how much their characters knew about spoilered info and I wanted us to all be on the same page. Nico has been acting differently enough all meal to merit notice, and I too have enjoyed that RP. Truly, I've been enjoying all of the RP so far; I think you're all doing a good job of bringing out your different personalities. Keep it up!
It's all good GM. PbP (text communication in general) is low bandwidth so it can be hard to get what one means or intends across. A check in to see how things are going for everyone from time to time is a good thing.
I'm really enjoying this game and playing with you all as well.
A couple of things I'll say about what's going on in Nico's head in general, and related somewhat to the Shayliss incident. Nico is very much on the "kinder, gentler" end of the cop spectrum. She doesn't see the job in any kind of militaristic terms, although this could change as events unfold.
It hasn't come up yet, but Nico is quite religious. Desnan faith doesn't have a militaristic side to it, nor does it make much room for violence as a means of achieving anything. However, the basis for the use of violence can be found and dusted off for use if necessary. Desna's own history shows her to be quite capable of pursuing vengeance or targeting individuals who are intolerable with more extreme prejudice than most any of the other gods. Desna is less inclined to carry grudges than she is to permanently end a grudge in her favor if she can. This can get kinda crazy.
Also Nico is the only woman, and quite a teensy one as well. When she has opinions she's probably going to be fairly loud about them because she feels like she's easy to overlook or disregard unless she makes that impossible.
So with the Shayliss thing about 2/3 of her anger was about what happened. About 1/3 was because her view of what happened wasn't taken seriously.
Oh, and she's often quite foul mouthed.
Oh. As long as I'm thinking about it right now, Once we're up into mid-levels Nico will be multi-classing out of Bolt Ace. Slayer with the Sniper archetype is a good option, but so is Inquisitor.
Is anyone else planning on picking up a spell casting class in the future? It might make a difference for what I decide.
Jaymin will eventually get spells, but no plans to multiclass. He will take Horizon Walker prestige class at the first opportunity, however.
Swashbuckler all the way.
Considering straight fighter unless we end up strapped in a category. Then I might consider branching in order to maintain fluidity.
(Nico) You have played your character to reflect a strong female guard. I know this because I am actually a guard in (RL) and can say that some of the most successful female guards that I have come across exhibit similar characteristics. Tones of respect for someone who is confident enough to serve up a solid ass-chew when it is needed. Its something we call a command presence.
So, I think I've caused some confusion... the hunt was agreed on for "overmorrow" which is an archaic term for "the day after tomorrow". Today (being only 'tomorrow' from your conversation with Aldern) is a regular patrol day in the city and tomorrow is the hunt.
I hate to belabor the delay, but something is going to happen rather quickly after you leave the Garrison, so I just want to make sure we're all on the same page before I do that.
Everyone ready to head our for today's regularly scheduled patrol?
Ready!