San Diego would be nice to visit but I don't think I could live there. I assume the cost of living is similar to other nearby areas like SF and LA. My brother lives in LA and he says the cost of living is insane.
Um, yeah. San Diego usually slips in a close 3rd behind SF and LA for cost of living in California. It has gotten very expensive to live in San Diego unless you choose to live on the streets as many unfortunately do. Good thing I've been here for 40 years and got into the housing market soon after college or things would look very different for me.
As much as I like the weather in San Diego, come January 7th, I will be heading back to Europe. I'll be in Valencia, Spain, a couple of weeks before heading to Florence, Italy, for the following 5-6 months. The temperatures are only a little colder than San Diego, but the increased humidity makes it feel a lot colder. Good thing there are a lot of compensating factors to make up for it.
Ouch, good luck Cherry Berry!
Cool, Fuìn! Hope it pays off. :)
Kka: if you feel like it (don't want to doxx you or anything), could you tell me what you do for a living? I see you pingponging back and forth between Europe and the US and it got me curious.
Kka: if you feel like it (don't want to doxx you or anything), could you tell me what you do for a living? I see you pingponging back and forth between Europe and the US and it got me curious.
No prob. The TL;DR is that after 20-year lucrative careers in the software and EE fields in San Diego (without children and with a fair bit of luck along the way) my wife and I became financially independent about 16 years ago and quit working in favor of traveling around the world.
As we got older, we eventually settled on splitting our time between San Diego (my wife's hometown), Valencia (my Spanish mother's hometown), and Florence (which we both love). My parents now live in Perth (my Australian father's hometown), so a few weeks every year (covid permitting) we go see them. Unfortunately, our/my luck ran out last year; the "we" turned to just "I" when my wife died of cancer.
Living in San Diego is familiar and boring, but comfortable; the food, culture and society in general is lacking (especially the healthcare system), but I have family and friends here, and you can't beat the weather. Europe is full of different cultures, great art, amazing architecture, and an infinitely varied cuisine; and even though the political and social situation there isn't perfect, it's still miles ahead of the US. I'm still flipping back and forth between the two, but now that my ties to the US have been significantly curtailed, I'm beginning to consider a more permanent move to Florence. Time will tell.
Happy new year from the future (aka Europe)!
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Also, now that I'm sort of awake again, I'm sorry for your loss, Kka. Apart from that, sounds like you have (had) an interesting life. :)
Yeah that was a rollercoaster of a life story summary. Glad you had lots of time to hang out. I can't imagine being able to travel that much.
Happy New year everyone!
My new years resolution is to destroy the gauntlight!
Happy New year everyone!
My new years resolution is to destroy the gauntlight!
Happy New Year to all!
At the rate we're going, I suspect that destroying the gauntlight will be my New Year's resolution for, oh... I don't know. Let's say 2025.
Finally wrapped up the holidays with he last family visit today. Work starts tomorrow, when I will finally have time to post again.
Dad has checked out, please bot me for he foreseeable future.
Really sorry to hear that. Good luck with all of the craziness that happens. Hope everyone else is okay. We'll see you when you come back.
It was very sudden, we knew he had multiple terminal conditions, but we were expecting another one to get him in 6+ months. He had done a lot of prep for this, which is helping immensely, but the things that are still not done are wearing on all of us.
It was quick. That’s about all you could really say.
It was quick. That’s about all you could really say.
My condolences on your father's death. It may not seem like it now, but take it from me, a quick death in certain terminal cases can be a blessing for everyone involved.
Both of you have my condolences. I've lost a few people I was close to, but never family or a significant other. I can't imagine.
My own holdays were unpleasant, though nothing close to that. I've weathered it and hopefully life will get back to... well, maybe "normal" is too strong a word. Let's go with "manageable."
I'm sorry to hear that, Cherry Berry (and you too, Fuìn!). Hope you're doing okay. Take your time.
Just a heads up. I'll be travelling from the US to Europe starting tomorrow morning PST. I won't be totally out of touch, but my connections are pretty tight, so I may not be able to post. Assuming the airlines don't screw me over, I should be back online by noon Sunday PST. Bot me if I'm holding things up. My profile has all the information you should need.
I think I am back.
I might not be able to post as much, but I can post.
Made it to Spain in one piece and am recovering from jetlag. I'm now on Central European Time, GMT+1.
Cherry Berry, if you need more time, please take it. Personal welfare goes before the game.
Welcome back, Kka! :)
I think I am back.
I might not be able to post as much, but I can post.
No worries Cherry, let me know if I can do anything to help. Or take more time like GM says!
Made it to Spain in one piece and am recovering from jetlag. I'm now on Central European Time, GMT+1.
Glad you made it! How's the rain?
Made it to Spain in one piece and am recovering from jetlag. I'm now on Central European Time, GMT+1.Glad you made it! How's the rain?
Nope, no rain where I am. Valencia, Spain, is a pretty good place when it comes to weather; not as good as San Diego, but pretty close. Looking at an endless stream of beautiful sunny days with highs around 20C (68F).
Looks like I left at just the right time, what with all the airline chaos going on in the US right now.
I dropped a 10 foot burst template onto the room, with only Kvit's square out of it. If Shimmergrin is in the room (and how would he get out without us knowing), then he should be in the burst of Giyozara's Glitterdust spell.
In about 12 hours I will be starting a road trip that will take me from Valencia, Spain, to Florence, Italy. I will be on the road Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will only be able to post in the evenings once I get to my hotels (so around midday in the US). I'll be there for about 4 months. Just wanted to let you know that I may not be posting as often or as voluminously this weekend.
Fun news! Just got into a Menace Under Otari game.
Kvit is getting a prequel! And someone has coincidentally made a leshy cleric dedicated to sarenrae! The other two players are TBD so I got some convincing to do...
Ha! Love it!
The Beginner Box is a lot of fun. I ran a Marysiel pregen through it last year who was remarkably similar to Kka. That same character, tweaked slightly, is now going through the Troubles in Otari AP which is the official sequel to Menace Under Otari.
...
While not crucial, a ventriloquist's ring is on Kvit's wishlist. He also has a +7 deception. The +1 to deception is nice for his illusions. Though currently, it is only applicable to Illusory Creature. Kka will likely get more mileage out of it with Feint for now at least.
...
We are basically hand-waving healing post-encounters with treat wounds. And now especially with your lay on hands. Though I do enjoy the RPing or at least mentioning what we're doing afterwards.
I couldn't find anything that said you can't use reach weapons on adjacent creatures in 2e.
Nah, there's nothing to stop you from attacking anyone within range of your weapons. Reach merely extends your range. Heck, you can even fire an arrow from a longbow at someone standing on your head (once you pay the Volley penalty, which you can avoid altogether with a shortbow). That's why Kka walks around with a shortsword in one hand and a shortbow in the other. Only downside is that she doesn't get any damage benefits from using her shortbow or that might have been her primary weapon.
Yeah, what Kka said. In PF1 you used B instead of A if you had reach, in PF2 you use B and A.
Okay, kinda thought that was the case but wanted to make sure. Three and a half years in and I'm still finding little differences between first and second edition. XD
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In a recent PFS game I threw three Gibbering Mouthers at my party (tier 5-6). Fun fact: Mouthers aren't immune to each other's gibbering and have a terrible Will save. It was a big ol' slap-fest.
Holy heck. I wish I could have been there for that!
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Hey folks,
First let me apologize for my sudden and unannounced absence. I am sorry that I was uncommunicative and left you all wondering what had happened. If I was on the receiving end of what I did, I couldn't help but be a little upset and disappointed, so if that is how you felt, I think that is a totally legitimate response.
I am OKAY. Doing better than I have in a long time, actually! So if you were worried about my safety, health, or well being, let me just stop you there. I am doing fabulous.
I met someone, and got involved in a committed relationship, since the summertime, and noticed at first that my "pang" for engaging in this format - PbP - began to dwindle, and initially, from July to October, I swore to myself that I would hang in, and ride out the "temporary" disinterest. Turns out I am a much better poster - creative and active - when I am uncoupled.
I am now an expecting father - baby to be born in September (cross fingers!) - as well as uprooting my life and moving from my beloved home - the Bay Area - all the way across the country to the Midcoast area of Maine. Naturally, I am at once excited and nervous, because I had always thought that I would live and die within a 20-mile radius of my home town. All that is changing for me now.
Where does that leave PbP? The short answer is: I do not know. I suspect that there will be a time when I become inclined to engage on a daily basis with the medium, but I cannot be sure, because the entire order of my life is re-arranging, and I want to make room for that as well as be realistic with what time commitments I can promise moving forward.
Going to take the week to think of it, as well as hear out any responses folks here may have. It's possible I could keep active in a single game - it's possible that even that minor commitment would overwhelm my limited capacity at this time.
Cheers!
A wild rainzax appeared!
*Throws Pokéball.*
I'm glad everything is okay, and I am not at all mad, angry, disappointed or anything of the sort at your disappearance. Thank you for checking back in, and congrats on everything that's happened over the past few months! Whatever happens and regardless of the decision you take, I wish you all the good luck and happiness in the world.
Also happy to hear you're okay! I'm a worrier by nature, so don't feel bad about that. It's not out of my way. ^_^
Congrats on the new baby! Parenthood is wild. I know I'm a newcomer to the group still, but as far as I'm concerned that's a totally valid reason for not being able to post anymore. That's a whole lot going on at once. Whether you can stay with us or not, I'm happy for you and wish you the best in your new endeavors!
Glad to see you back and that you're okay! (Even temporarily!) Happy for you and your awesome life changing events!
All of the above is understandable. Personally I have been doing PbP because of fatherhood. It's the only way I have time to do any gaming really. I can do it from my phone and post in a couple minutes or write it over a bit more time.
Hope to see you back when things settle down if you do take a break.
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Also, if you use discord and are interested, there is a "daddy daycare" discord server. It is mainly for dads, especially new dads, for support and chatting.
https://discord.gg/s6ce2RZK
I haven't been very active on there as of late, but they are a very welcoming community.
Glad to hear that things are working out for you.
As to rejoining... we're about to wrap up the third level (I hope), so we could wait until we're back in Otari and leveling up for Lough to come out of his bender, or... he walks down the stairs and rejoins us now. I don't care either way.
Yeah, good timing on that part.
Either we nearly have a player on player combat when Lough comes barreling around a corner into us looking basically like a ghoul or wild animal or combination thereof.
Or we can run into him wandering the woods on the way back to town.
Either would be amusing to do
Yes, of course! Feel free to jump in whenever.
I think I placed myself on the right map - level 3 near the blacked out part?
I have Kka outside the blacked out square off the big circular library area in the center. I figured we'd get that out of the way first before going to the last (and likely more dangerous) set of blacked out squares where you put Lough's token.
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You cleared this level! When you return to Otari and have a full night's rest, you are level 4!
You cleared this level! When you return to Otari and have a full night's rest, you are level 4!
Yay!
That's a lot of work for 12XP (17 months by my count). Do we get a chronicle now or do we wait until we're done with the whole thing?
It's getting late here, so I'll do all the accounting stuff in the morning and we'll see where we stand money wise.
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If it is a striking rune, my vote is Kka or Fuìn, our primary strikers, as Lough's role is really to leverage his high attack bonus to debuff his foes using Snagging Strike!
...
Unrelated, for 48 hours my campaign tabs failed to alert me to the Gameplay thread having advanced (usually a "dot") - any advice on restoring that application?
Further unrelated - my laptop is unable to see AoN list finders - unless I have a direct link, I cannot look up mechanics. Any advice there too?
You cleared this level! When you return to Otari and have a full night's rest, you are level 4!Yay!
That's a lot of work for 12XP (17 months by my count). Do we get a chronicle now or do we wait until we're done with the whole thing?
It's getting late here, so I'll do all the accounting stuff in the morning and we'll see where we stand money wise.
There' still one more level before we're through book one. No credit just yet. :)
There' still one more level before we're through book one. No credit just yet. :)
Dang! 2 years of work for 12 XP? Good thing I'm having so much fun. :)
Who is getting the rune? I think we had a brief conversation earlier but I don't remember what we landed on, and it was before Lough returned to us.
No need to worry on that front. All the weapon users will getting Striking runes on our main weapons. Finding one in the vaults just means one less for us to have to buy (though it does involve a transfer fee).
Here is my first cut at the loot situation from level 3 (I'm assuming that at the very least we're putting Striking runes on Lough's Handwraps, Fuìn's Meteor Hammer, and Kka's Shortsword):
Stuff we're keeping
+1 Striking Pick (Value: 100gp - 10gp transfer costs for runes)
+1 Chain Shirt (value: 160gp - 16gp transfer cost for rune)
2 Lesser Healing Potion (value: 24gp) - Lough, Kka
Volluk Portrait
A: Cash or equivalent
400.7 - Starting Cash
35 - Books (7 bulk @ 5gp)
10 - Gold Paperweight
5 - Books (2 bulk @ 5gp)
7.5 - Books (3 bulk @ 5gp)
20 - Spellbook
2.5 - Books (1 bulk @ 5gp)
8.3 - 64sp, 190 cp
A TOTAL: 489.0
B: Equipment that we're cashing in at 50%
7 - Lesser Bravo's Brew (2 @ 7gp)
25 - Moderate Skeptic's Elixir (50gp)
7.5 - Barkskin Potion (15gp)
115 - Staff of Necromancy (230gp)
80 - Magic Wand (L2): Quench (160gp)
30 - Crafter's Eyepiece (60gp)
12 - Scroll (L2): Mending (2 @ 12gp)
15 - Scroll (L3): Hypercognition (30gp)
15 - Everburning Torch (2 @ 15gp)
30 - Ventriloquist's Ring (60gp)
B TOTAL = 336.5 (673 @ 50%)
C: Purchases
20 - Remove Disease Spellcasting
3.5 - Transfer cost for +1 Weapon Potency Rune for Fuìn Hand Crossbow?
6.5 - Transfer cost for Weapon Striking Rune for Fuìn Meteor Hammer
16 - Transfer cost for +1 Armor Potency Rune for Lough Splint?
65 - Weapon Striking Rune for Lough Handwraps
65 - Weapon Striking Rune for Kka Shortsword
TBD
C TOTAL = 176.0
GRAND TOTAL = 649.5 (A:489.0 + B:336.5 - C:176.0)
Please double-check my math or point out if I missed anything. At this point it's time for people to come up with their wishlists. Remember though, we're only at Level 4, so no (additional) Armor Potency runes, for example.
If anyone is particularly attached to any of the items on the sell list, we can always move them to the keep list.
Remaining Questions:
Who gets the spare +1 Weapon Potency Rune? I pencilled in Fuìn's Hand Crossbow, but maybe there's a better use for it.
Who gets the +1 Armor Potency Rune? Lough seems the obvious choice, but does it go on his Splint armor or does he want to upgrade his armor in the process?
How much are Volluk's books (What The Worm Knows, Grave Feasts, and Secrets of the Skull) worth to Morlibint?
I dug up my old wishlist and tweaked it for the new level. It is vaguely in order of preference.
Given that we keep running into ghosts and are likely to continue doing so, perhaps investing in Ghost Touch Runes in addition to Weapon Striking Rune might not be such a bad idea.
Weapon Striking Rune for her +1 Shortbow (65gp)
Bracelet of Dashing (58gp)
Ghost Touch Rune for her +1 Striking Shortsword (75gp)
Ventriloquist's Ring (30gp from Loot List)
Demon Mask (85gp)
Healer's Gloves (80gp)
Infiltrator Thieves' Tools & Picks (50gp + 3gp)
Snapleaf Talisman (9gp)
+1 Handwraps of Mighty Blows (35gp or 3.5gp rune transfer)
Weapon Striking Rune for her +1 Handwraps of Mighty Blows (65gp)