Out of the Abyss

Game Master Angie H

Bah! Forgot to ask you all to make a madness check! This guy is SCARY! CHA saving throw, please, DC 13. If you fail, you will gain a level of madness.

There are 3 levels of madness:
level 1 - bout of short term madness lasts 1d10 minutes
level 2 - bout of long term madness lasts 1d10 x10 hours
level 3 - bout of indefinite madness lasts until cured.

*Rereads madness thingy in book*... Holy moly, I've been doing it wrong!!
I assumed/thought that after a bout of short-term madness, your madness level went back to 0 BUT IT DOESN'T!! If you've already had a bout of madness, and you have another one, you now are at level 2!!

So...who's gone mad? *rereads adventure to date*

First night after escape: Maddy, Ksenia, Shuushar and Ziyad.
After Ziyad's death: Maddy, Ksenia, Jimjar and Sarith
Special flying acrobatics: Alex

So technically Maddy and Ksenia should be on 2nd level madness by now, but we'll revoke that since it's my mistake.

Maddy, Ksenia, Alex, Jimjar, Shuushar, Sarith are at Madness level 1.
Kalanzar, Hue, Precious, Stool - madness level 0.

So: back to present day. Everybody roll CHA save, DC 13. If you fail, please roll 1d100 for madness type and 1d10 for duration.

Phew. This could be bad. Bwa ha haaaaa

EDIT: If you have inspiration, you can use it for the save.
Also, please add your Madness Level to your header.

I didn't realize I was signing up for a CoC campaign ;^)

I didn't realize I was signing up for a CoC campaign ;^)

This )

I've never played Chthulu, but I've heard the sanity mechanics are hard. At least you can get rid of level 1 and 2 of madness with lesser restoration.

Strange Aeons is horror heavy (and definitly delivers in the first 2 modules), but well, pf1e characters get pretty powerful.

My character in a campaign I play there is a spell warrior/fracture soul, he himself isnt that threatening, but his hatred phantom is a combination of teenage-tik-toker and chainsaw-armed energizer bunny.

Oh I ran a lovely Strange Aeons campaign that I heavily modified -- it died after book 2 or so, but "book 2" lasted for like six months because we really fleshed out and homebrewed a bunch of content for Thrushmoor and added in some Frog God Games cult modules in the hinterlands around it. Such a good start.

I don't know if it works exactly the same but the Laundry Files is based off of the Cthulhu system mostly (modern but with a tongue in cheek take based on some novels), and it had a really fantastic madness mechanic, in which your madness save was related to your mythos knowledge attribute. I.e. to save versus madness you had to roll under your mythos knowledge attribute, so the more you learned the more likely you were to fail madness check. Always thought it was a cool implementation of eldritch knowledge being dangerous.

I started a Strange Aeons years ago, and loved it, but our DM vanished a few months in. I tried to find a new DM recently to run it, but he was super boring and everybody bailed. :( One day I'd like to play it through.

I like the idea of the "ignorance is bliss" model. Totally makes sense. I was reading about a type of undead that is the result of learning dangerous knowledge. Then the undead whispers the knowledge to living people, and they slowly turn into that type of undead. Forgot what they're called.

I've modified the madness tables so that the madness isn't so debilitating. It's no fun if everybody goes completely bonkers and can't do anything.

One thing I was considering was adding a Con Save if you fail and get a level of madness. Succeeding the con save means that you can "hold out" and put off the effects of the madness for some amount of time. What do you think?

Precious, unlike PF1, all the abilities have their own save. It's a d20, + your modifier for that ability, plus your proficiency bonus if you're proficient with that save. Each class has proficiency in two saving throws. Rangers get STR and DEX, so Precious will just be d20+Cha modifier.

Precious, unlike PF1, all the abilities have their own save. It's a d20, + your modifier for that ability, plus your proficiency bonus if you're proficient with that save. Each class has proficiency in two saving throws. Rangers get STR and DEX, so Precious will just be d20+Cha modifier.

Otherworldly Glamour: Your fey qualities give you a supernatural charm. As a result, whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1).

Anyway... is there a chart up somewhere I can check what type of loony Precious is getting, or will you post the results once we have finished rolling?

That I got, but was wondering if this applies to Cha saves as it does to "other" Cha checks:

"checks" and "saves" are pretty much the same, they just are labelled differently because there are some effects that affect them differently.

Anyway... is there a chart up somewhere I can check what type of loony Precious is getting, or will you post the results once we have finished rolling?

I'm just working on finishing up my personalized chart for this. I'll post results tomorrow.

My characters(s) plural in strange aeons are a riot.

Spell Warrior Skald with a dip in fractured soul, and gm ruled I can take phantom ally repeatedly.

He is a pretty normal person, his phantom is a female hatred phantom whose personality can be best described as "average teenage ticktocker X chainsaw wielding energizer bunny".

The dreamlands are pretty fun. I trolled some Leng ghouls into believing that Nylarhotep is beyond morality, and thus, if they, as Leng ghouls, commit good acts, they further his chaos.

Strange Aeons is a great adventure. I've played all 6 books and plan to GM it too sometime...

Offtopic.

Speaking of mechanics, I really love how it's done in Delta Green RPG (our time; Cthulhu Myths + X-Files). You have your "connections" - relationships with loved ones, wife/husband, children, friends, and so on. All must be specifically spelled out and have some kind of digital value. Every time you take damage in sanity score, you can sacrifice a part of these connections to reduce this damage. There is such a "dehumanization". In large companies, it is recommended to roleplay it (and we did it btw). Imagine, the husband comes home, he is an ordinary firefighter, but secretly belongs to an organization that is fighting (almost unsuccessfully, they rather do not save but delay the inevitable) with an existential threat to humanity. And she asks him, "How are things at work?". And today, instead of working, he was on a "side job" and saw how reality was distorted and tentacles with eyes tore his partner apart while he was trying to interrupt the ritual... And so he is silent, looking at his plate, and his wife thinks that they have "problems in the relationship" and gradually pulls away... In short, this is a cool mechanic and gives a very deep immersion into the experiences of a person who has embarked on the short path of Delta Green agent.

OK, that's pretty fascinating

Quote:

Sarith and Shuushar...twist the knife a little why don't you? :P Was Sarith even inside the kuo-toan city?

I'm not telling, especially since nobody ever looked for him. :)

I looked. I believe my perception check was an 8.

He took:
a shortbow
a shortsword
a small pouch of ten replacement bowstrings
a quiver
twenty arrows
a suit of studded leather

By the way, anyone been to see the new D&D movie? If so, was it worth the time it took out of your life?

Hello everyone!

I'm going away for two weeks, and I'll be without internet at all. This is a yoga and meditation retreat with complete disconnection from the outside world. I will be in touch from May 15, I will start playing from about the 16th. I tried to reduce the number of games to a minimum (without starting to play new oneshots for some time), with such an eye that after returning I only needed to read a couple of hundred posts, and not around a thousand, as it could be with my usual 15+ games at the same time. So I think I'll switch back on quickly!

Don't lose me, I will definitely come back and continue playing!

PS Feel free to bot Kalanzar ;)

PPS Perhaps I will add in this and one another game that the last month at least (or two? time flies fast) I was not a very active player. I hope to reboot on retreat and then fix it after returning. Rested, cheerful, energetic, I will rush back to a roleplay! See you.

By the way, anyone been to see the new D&D movie? If so, was it worth the time it took out of your life?

I really enjoyed it!

Hello everyone!

I'm going away for two weeks, and I'll be without internet at all. This is a yoga and meditation retreat with complete disconnection from the outside world. I will be in touch from May 15, I will start playing from about the 16th. I tried to reduce the number of games to a minimum (without starting to play new oneshots for some time), with such an eye that after returning I only needed to read a couple of hundred posts, and not around a thousand, as it could be with my usual 15+ games at the same time. So I think I'll switch back on quickly!

Don't lose me, I will definitely come back and continue playing!

PS Feel free to bot Kalanzar ;)

PPS Perhaps I will add in this and one another game that the last month at least (or two? time flies fast) I was not a very active player. I hope to reboot on retreat and then fix it after returning. Rested, cheerful, energetic, I will rush back to a roleplay! See you.

Sounds amazing! Have a restful time, and Kal will be waiting for you when you return

Not sure if Maddy was greedy but this is what she took:
set of clothes
2 handaxes
waterskin
torch & tinderbox
mess kit
rope
bedroll

If we would need rations and they're available she would take that too but probably don't need the rations while on the boat...

Precious of Clan Ironeater wrote:

By the way, anyone been to see the new D&D movie? If so, was it worth the time it took out of your life?

I really enjoyed it!

I enjoyed it too! It was good without taking itself too seriously.

Not sure if Maddy was greedy but this is what she took:

set of clothes
2 handaxes
waterskin
torch & tinderbox
mess kit
rope
bedroll

If we would need rations and they're available she would take that too but probably don't need the rations while on the boat...

I feel mean taking any of those things away, because that was such an excellent post. However, he is a weapons dealer, and only had weapons, shields, ammo and armor. He isn't a general store, and doesn't have the rest of it, aside from rough cloth and rope that was used to bundle up the weapons. That could be used to make clothes, blankets, and bedrolls. He has his own personal sewing kit, and you've got two weeks on the boat, so you've got time for some sewing.

Alright - clothes and hand axes it is. She must have dreamed the rest

I really enjoyed it!

Thanks for the recommendation, just came back home from the movie. And I liked it more than I thought I might.

Only really had one issue with it, the same that I think was wrong in the Warcraft movie - they crammed too much lore into a single movie... name-dropping and then never mentioning again some iconic thing in the Realms was pretty real. I guess, considering how well the previous D&D movie fared, they production team went "guys, this might be the first and last D&D movie we ever get to make, so let's put in EVERYTHING."

"Call me Lidelse for I was born out of suffering," she gave a feral smile, "And now I cause it."

Nice! I'm loving this character idea you've come up with.

I'm voting for opening the door/thingey even if we need to break it. We don't really have anything concrete telling if this is a good or bad idea, and while normally undead would be automatically untrustworthy we have here decent drow, duergar and kuo-toa to name three normally antagonistic species. So the voice being of an undead isn't that much of a reason to walk away.

Besides, even if it turns out to be a bad idea it's bound to be an interesting kind of bad idea ;^)

About the Netherese... what year were we playing again? I mean, if this is Realms after the "Return of the Archmages" business everyone who has a pulse should at least recognize the name by now.

What's Return of the Archmages? Now that you've seen the "poem", certainly anybody who wants to can recognize the word Netherese as the people of the country Netheril, which lies to the NW.

Edit: There's no specific year attached to the book, and I don't know enough of the world lore to confidently assign one.

I was referring to the event where a whole city of Netherese survivor shadow-weave using archmages gate back into Faerun and get into all sorts of mischief with characters like Elminister.

What I meant was... if this has happened, anyone not living inside a barrel (pun intended) will have heard of Netheril. If not... they are ancient history.

I don't have time for a proper post, but the voice, Dawn, won't speak again while you're in this room.

Sorry for the confusion, there are two torches, one on either side of the door you came in from.

Right. Well, Precious will start just touching pretty much anything that attracts his attention to see what we can interact with.

Maybe two people can listen at the wall while they press tiles to see if there's a click and everyone else could ready actions and wait for that thing to reappear.

Hue's spear is magical. Once he takes his initial look at the tiles he will ready it to keep people from being surprised - call out if the spear warns him.

Grimluck is on the far left. If the tiles do the entire alphabet what if we put the last one at G? Do we know any of the other names?

What if Maddy is right? What language did the N5 speak? How do you spell friend (as opposed to foe as the poem suggests) in that language?

You don't know any other names other than Grimluck. The poem is in Common, as are the monsters' names in the carvings, and the rectangles have common letters. Might not make the most sense, but plot.

I'm not an enemy to practical - thanks

Could be KHAEM as well (4 chokers so 4th letter from the name and so forth)… only issue here is to me the “count yourselves … meet your doom” which to me suggests counting-based riddle solving will only lead to tears…

I think Maddy's on the right track though. Sorry to meta-game but why have more than one image of each creature, and different numbers for different creatures? Look at the mindflayer images. Some are duplicated. It seems to point at the number of images being more important than what the particular images are.

Could very well be. Although my brain would also like to incorporate the number 5 into the solution somehow, since it seems to be such a repeating theme here ;)

Hey guys! I'm back, I've dealt with most of the most vital things that have accumulated over the two weeks of my absence, and I'm going back to the games (by the way, the retreat was amazing!). As I expected, there are several hundred messages waiting for me on the forum, which I will read smoothly. The deadline for returning to absolutely all games is Saturday. I hug everyone! See you in gameplay thread .)

Very glad to have you back Kal!

Welcome back!

As a side note, after that "loser" comeback I'm feeling kindergartenly enough to want to try "NoYou" as an answer next ;^)

I can’t imagine going thru all this and not opening the door but Maddy isn’t super keen in continuing so I can’t imagine her taking the initiative unless someone of strength is needed to open it. I thought we were waiting for Ksenia to check for further traps to make sure it was safe to open.

No traps.

About what was inside the ship. Was there a wooden shield there? And was there studded leather armor too?

Yep, both of those. Any light armour, and most weapons/shields within reason.

Thanks!

Local ISP is banging at link towers with a hammer... seems my Internet access will be on and off again for the next 72 hours.

”Oh gimme a break,”

Just to clarify, this wasn't a request for broken bones, Angie, when the statues start swinging ;^)

Alexandra, it seems to me that the knowledge check in 5e is an action, that is, you either remember about them or cast spell .)

As for Ksenia, I think it's time for the heroic death of the character. A little self-sacrifice on the front row. It will be logical and rather gloomy, in the spirit of Underdark and adventure with gradually approaching madness...

Ooooooo, or are we releasing the things inside???