GM Feyrial's Fall of Plaguestone (Private) (Inactive)

Game Master feyrial

Placeholder post.

Welcome! Thanks for joining me. As a GM, I’ll be going by Fey/Feyrial - that’s my typical online persona name. GM Fey was taken as an alias, so I went with my “full name.”

As I said to all of you privately, this is my first time GMing on PBP & a 2e game. I am not new to being a player & most of my experience is either Pathfinder 1e or 5e Dungeons & Dragons, so I’m not like…wildly inexperienced at all of it. I just ask that you have patience with me if I make mistakes - and please, please call me on them. I welcome that sort of thing as long as you’re not mean. :P

If you need to let me know anything privately, you’re welcome to message me here via PM or via Discord - my Discord username is tabii#3103. You may need to friend request me to message me there, but I practically live on the app, so I will see it pretty quick.

-- Game Stuff --

Setting
The Fall of Plaguestone is set in the town of Etran’s Folly, located in Isger. The town itself is in a remote area and has a sad history, one that you will discover along the way.

Your party will begin as passengers (or, if you choose the Teamster background, driving the wagon the party is in) in a caravan heading south by southeast from Elidir, the capital of Isger, to Almas, the capital of Andoran, on a road between the Apsodell Mountains and the Five Kings range. This is one of the routes that allows travelers to avoid Cheliax, and is thus considered safer than others.

The travelers (you all) do not necessarily know each other at the start, but if you would like to work something out during character creation with another player, that is fine with me. None of you are particularly familiar with the caravan master, Bort Bargith, a dwarven trader.

The rest, well, I will cover when we begin. :)

-- Character Creation --

I am fine with any Heritage/Ancestry/Class combination in the player’s guide or the advanced player’s guide. Please make sure your character makes sense within the setting we are going to be playing in. No evil characters.

I’ll be allowing Free Archetype variants - primarily for the light multiclassing benefits that are discussed in the Gamemastery Guide. It seems as though this may mitigate some of the balance issues in the adventure and skills gaps that can arise from a smaller party.

Here is more information on that.

The quotes to pay attention to for us are: “The only difference between a normal character and a free-archetype character is that the character receives an extra class feat at 2nd level and every even level thereafter that they can use only for archetype feats.” and “Allowing a character to benefit from a number of these feats equal to half their level is appropriate, as this is the maximum number of feats you could use to take archetype feats without this variant.”

As of right now, I am not having you all draw from a limited list of archetypes, so consider it unrestricted.

There are some built-in backgrounds for this adventure, but don’t feel as though you must use them. They're listed here.

**As a note, you will definitely need some kind of martial class & someone who can find/disable traps.

Now, what questions do you have for me? Feel free to dot this and come back later.

Yay for getting to play with you all =) I am looking at making a psychic potentially. Some kind of spellcaster for sure.

Psychic looks really interesting. I would love to see it in play.

I'm planning Investigator for base class. Not entirely settled on archetype, but we have a level to figure that out. It will probably be either some sort of spellcasting, or something defensive so that I have something useful to do if I roll badly on Devise a Strategem.

Both of those sound pretty great. KingHotTrash had mentioned in PM looking at a martial class, and Javell had mentioned a ranger.

Don't worry too much about party composition...that is, don't feel obligated to fill a gap with a character you're not as enthusiastic about. I can work with what you give me.

I've also got someone else I can poke at if we feel like we'd want a fifth.

PF2 is pretty forgiving on party composition. Classes can be rather effective at off-roles. Especially with archetypes.

Finoan, I was looking at your character...some of your stuff is going to come in pretty clutch throughout the adventure. I'll have to get creative for "That's Odd," haha.

Yes, thanks for reminding me of that. That is something I was going to mention, but forgot. Investigator in general requires some heavy lifting by the GM and 'That's Odd' more than the rest.

I would be willing to switch that over to one of the other methodologies if you think it would be too much to handle. I also like Alchemical Sciences (pseudo Alchemist), and Forensic Medicine (since our current tentative party doesn't have much healing to it yet).

And I am still working my way through the numbers on my profile. I got the feat list last night, but I haven't changed the numbers on bonuses or the list of trained skills. I'll have to do that later today once I have larger blocks of time to put to it. Currently I only have a few minutes at a time in-between tasks.

I like it, and if you like it, I can handle the heavy lifting part. Doing pbp stuff has really given me a chance to work on my writing skills & I welcome the challenge that those bits bring.

You may need to remind me about it several times at the start. My ADHD works against me pretty heavily when it comes to remembering all the details.

Certainly.

My wife and several of our kids have ADHD too, so I know the struggle.

Finoan enters the discussion thread and takes a look around. Triggers That's Odd.

"Hmm... Seems like we have a new game starting up. Looks like a lot of fun."

------

GM Feyrial: Yes. Everything looks to be in order and getting ready to go. Nothing suspicious here.

Absolutely nothing suspicious.

Absolutely nothing suspicious.

Nope. That's definitely not odd at all. Pretty standard for adventurers.

For the record, when folks have checked in and we have character stuff going, I do have another big ol' post discussing gameplay things, I just didn't want to dump two huge posts back to back.

Absolutely nothing suspicious.

Lol! Boy, those two are so goofy. Pretty funny stuff.

And hello all! Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this one, Fey.

Man an Investigator is right up your ally, Caiten. Have you ever heard of a show called Columbo? "Just one more thing." (That ability is down the line) ;)

Now with archetypes being mentioned, isn't this just a 1st level adventure? It's a stand-alone, correct? I honestly don't know so that's why I ask.

Yeah, it goes from level 1-4.

Oh, okay. Cool. Thanks.

Yeah, I can play INT based characters really well. At some point I want to try a Summoner. Not sure how well I can pull off a CHA based character though.

And good to know on the level range for the campaign. It may make a small amount of difference in picking feats and skills. Basically, don't take an archetype that only really gets going at level 6+.

I didn't want to do anything massive for my first go o_o it's already a lot of work just for this. I bow at Fern's feet for running like 50 of these lol

Yeah, and with different rulesets too. I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle it.

I didn't want to do anything massive for my first go o_o it's already a lot of work just for this. I bow at Fern's feet for running like 50 of these lol

Yeah, I don't blame you. It's a tall order for sure. And yeah, running multiple games, I don't see how she does it. Or any DM for that matter. No way I could do it.

There was one dude back in the day who was running 26! at one time. He was having some serious RL issues and just dove into running games constantly. Needless to say, he burned himself out. Although, it was a couple of years before it happened.

*flexes*

What can I say? I'm just that good. ;)

In actuality it's just a lot of free time and an introverted nature, lol. Other people go out to socialize, I get my dice rolling. I'm at my limit atm though, lol. I don't know how anyone could do 26.

It also helps to have a pocket Caiten who appears like a shoulder angel to help with rules =D

Caiten is an absolute BEAST with the rules and numbers. I don't see how any game survives without a Caiten. :)

You guys are too kind.

**As a note, you will definitely need some kind of martial class & someone who can find/disable traps.

I have that covered pretty well. Though having backup never hurts.

I can also pick up the Medicine skill and feats to make it work nicely. Investigator, like Rogue, gets a bunch of extra skill boosts and skill feats.

And aside from any tweaks to help party synergy, Level 1 stats are ready to go.

Now that I'm awake from my nap, I'll just drop the second big post here about gameplay things.

-- Housekeeping & Gameplay Things --

A little about me:
I’ve GMed a few things before, but usually on a minor scale. My most successful GMing experience was actually doing a Monsterhearts game. I’ve always wanted to do more, but I’ve always had the classic issue of not having enough people who can meet at the same time consistently…
IRL, I’m a high school English teacher. Please don’t see “English teacher” and panic about your grammar. :P I’m not paid to care about it on pbp, so don’t stress.

Maps/Characters/Etc.
I’ll be using Roll20 for most of the maps & to help us keep track of positions in combat. The link should be available above soon.

I, like Fern, will use Google Slides for you to keep a picture of your character for reference. You’ll use the first slide for it. If there are any issues, I can help out. I'll have that link up soon, too.

You’ll also find portraits of the NPCs in the adventure as you meet them. I don’t love the art style that comes with the module, so… I’m going to find my own NPC portraits, haha.

Pacing
You can expect me to post at least once a day, if not more. When we get into the swing of things, I’d like to have people try to post at least once a day (provided we’re not in initiative and it’s not your turn, that sort of thing). I get that life happens though, so just keep me & the others in the loop.
When the school year starts in September, I will be forced to slow down a tad due to all of the extra things I took on (because I am a FOOL), but I will be able to maintain at least once a day.

Stats
And again, I, like Fern, would like your vital stats easy to reference. For consistency, please use the following template:

Race: HP | AC | F, R, W | Perc (and special notes like darkvision)
Classes / levels: Speed | Class DC | Active Conditions | Hero Points (you all start with 3)
Gender: Alignment, gender, ancestry, background, classes and levels

Posting
For posts, I tend to prefer the convention I see the most here: third person limited, present tense.
RP to your heart’s content because I love it. I’ll herd you all where I need it if we need to refocus. I think everyone here has an interesting writing style & plays their characters in other games really well. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all do.

Combat
Again, like Fern (do you see a pattern here?), I’ll use block initiative for combat. I’ll roll initiative for everyone & resolve whatever needs resolving in summary posts and the like, as she does. It’s worked pretty well across campaigns so far & keeps me from losing my ever-loving mind with all the new mechanics I’m learning.

Bulk/Ammo Tracking/Inventory Management
I hate tracking ammo. For all standard ammo of any kind, I’m not worried about tracking it. If you have any special ammo, thrown weapons, etc., I would like you to keep an eye on that. Nobody needs an unlimited supply of javelins. Can you imagine what that would look like? Madness.

I’m not overly worried about micromanaging bulk, either, but I’ll definitely say something if people start carrying more than is really feasible…lol.

When loot starts happening, I can take a look at options for inventory tracking to make things a little easier - kinda like what Fern does (do I sound like a broken record yet?).

Last note
I asked everyone about triggers/things they wanted to avoid in the game. Everyone is in consensus about them, thankfully. If anything comes up in the course of the game that is making you uncomfortable, please PM me so that we can resolve it ASAP.

Overall, thanks for being willing to take a chance on me, y’all. I’ll do my best.

Once folks feel like they have a good level 1 character going and stuff, I can get us started relatively quickly! I'll see where things are landing over the weekend and I anticipate us being able to roll next week.

Finoan looks good!

I don't think you are going to have any of us complaining about emulating Fern's style.

If it works, why try to change it?

My prose will just be different. :)

Hellooooo everyone! Thank you for the invitation to come and play!

I love my martial-type characters and I am considering playing either a half-orc or full-blooded orc that was with the last stand at Lastwall. Alone and afraid, they've seen some shit and are just heading westward aimlessly.

I plan on going really classic with a sword & board fighter. High strength, heavy armor, lots of hit points, lots of ass-kicking.

Love a good classic.

So,

Fern - looking at psychic
Finoan - done, investigator
Javell - mentioned a ranger, not sure yet?
KingHotTrash - fighter

Nice!

As for our free Archetype, I was looking at grabbing the Bastion one. Who knows, I may even delve into fighting with a tower shield because I am stronk

Love a good classic.

So,

Fern - looking at psychic
Finoan - done, investigator
Javell - mentioned a ranger, not sure yet?
KingHotTrash - fighter

Nice!

Looks reasonable to me.

Fern submission. =) Just gotta gear.

Inniska's resonance stuff + Finoan's "That's Odd" will be a lot of fun

Fern submission. =) Just gotta gear.

Nice. I like it.

And that reminds me that I need to choose languages...

Yeah gonna roll with Ranger. Should have him done by tomorrow at some point.

Sweet! Give me a shout if you need to run anything by me.

Will do!

Okay, I think I've got him done. It's possible I missed something though. That tends to happen.

I'll take a look in a bit - Going through kind of a scary family emergency right now so I'll be a little scarce.

When actors say "break a leg", they don't mean it literally.

Feyrial, when you get a chance - Ruling request on Gravity Weapon: Is the bonus only for the first Strike action attempted in the round (if it misses, you lose it), or on the first Strike action that succeeds in the round?

Also, Human ancestry lists languages as:

Common

Additional languages equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive).

I'm pretty sure that should be read as: Common, one bonus language, and additional languages if your INT mod is positive.

I have seen a couple of people read that as: Common, if your INT mod is positive then 1 + INT in additional languages. But every other common ancestry gets: Common, at least one specified bonus language, additional languages if your INT mod is positive.

Human just gets to choose what their bonus language is.

So: tl;dr - I think Drake should get one more language than just Common.

It's possible I missed something though. That tends to happen.

Twin Takedown is for melee weapons. That was intended, yes?

Not sure if Feyrial will let it work for thrown Ranged attacks or not.

Hunted Shot is for ranged weapons, but only ones with Reload 0. Thrown weapons definitely wouldn't work for that. So unless Twin Takedown works with thrown weapons, then none of the Ranger 2-for-1 attacks work with them.

When actors say "break a leg", they don't mean it literally.

Feyrial, when you get a chance - Ruling request on Gravity Weapon: Is the bonus only for the first Strike action attempted in the round (if it misses, you lose it), or on the first Strike action that succeeds in the round?

Coping with emergency stuff via escapism.

That's tough. I'll look a little more into it. As written, I'd say first Strike attempted and you lose it if it misses. I'll see what other folks tend to rule on it and make my decision.

And yes, Drake should get more languages.

As for Twin Takedown, it specifies melee in the requirements. If he uses it with the hatchets - not thrown - it would apply. I can do a look-see about what others do with that one as well.

Gravity Weapon: from what I see my initial ruling is the consensus. It's for the first attempted and you lose it if it misses.

Twin Takedown: Drake would need to be using the hatchets as melee weapons, not thrown. Edit: I am open to being convinced on this, though. If you want to persuade me. :)

Drake McClain wrote:

It's possible I missed something though. That tends to happen.

Twin Takedown is for melee weapons. That was intended, yes?

Yes.

It's not my character, so I am not going to argue the points. I just wanted to bring it up while we are still planning our characters rather than have the first time this is mentioned be when Drake uses the abilities in combat in-game.

I'll take a look in a bit - Going through kind of a scary family emergency right now so I'll be a little scarce.

Hope everything turns out well for the family asap, Feyrial. Sorry to hear that.

@Caiten: I found the hatchet deal intriguing. He's got a bow too but I don't want him to be one-dimensional when it comes to combat.

It's not my character, so I am not going to argue the points. I just wanted to bring it up while we are still planning our characters rather than have the first time this is mentioned be when Drake uses the abilities in combat in-game.

It's all good--like you said, I'd rather have us thinking about it now.

Being able to have a bow & have the option of hatchets as thrown and melee gives Drake a lot of options!