DM_aka_Dudemeister's - WotR - Sword of Valor

Game Master DM_aka_Dudemeister

Hail players of GM Losonti's Wrath of the Righteous campaign. Starting a discussion thread here for us to get the ball rolling on continuing the campaign and to discuss your hopes and expectations for this game.

I haven't run a Play-by-Post in a long time, but I'm not completely out of practice with it.

Maps and Movement
I can see previously you were using Google Docs to track maps and movement. Is that your preference going forward, or would you like to try using roll20 instead.

Roll20 Pros: It's very easy for me to set up a roll20 that players can jump into in order to move their tokens and such on a battlefield. It also means I can use roll20 to speed up rolls and the like on my end when posting here.

Roll20 Cons: It can be hard to use roll20 from a phone so if people prefer to use phones when posting, google drive might be the easier option for some people.

Posting Frequency
I'm in Australia so be aware that there will be a lag between player posts and mine.
That being said, I'll do my best to post daily. The only tricky days might be Monday and Friday, but I'll let people know if that's going to be the case.
I ask that every player try and post at least once every 48 hours. In order to keep things moving if a PC hasn't posted within 48 hours I may roll on their behalf or post an assumed action to keep the ball rolling.

The Current State of the Campaign
Can you let me know which important NPCs have come with you on your March to Drezen?
Did any important NPCs join the Queen on the march south to engage the bulk of the demon forces?
What are your character's opinions of these NPCs?

What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure
The main goal of Sword of Valor is to liberate Citadel Drezen and recover the banner Sword of Valor.
Are there any personal goals you want to accomplish during this book?

What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?
What do your characters know of the current commander of Citadel Drezen? What do they know of any demons within?

I do not like roll20. So much that I don't apply for games that use it

The other questions you have I'll need to think on.

Just popping in to say hi, and thank you for picking this up!

I do the vast majority of my posting from my phone, so google slides is my preference (although, admittedly, that doesn’t always work on my phone either). I’m in some other games that do use roll20 though and I’ve been more or less making due (sometimes I can get it to work, and some of the time I use theater of the mind and ask that the GM or another player move my token).

I’ll get more answers up as soon as I have a bigger chunk of free time.

Not a problem gang, I'm more than happy to use google drive to keep accessibility.

Welcome, Dudmeister, and thanks for taking us under your wing.

I can work with any maps plan, though it sounds like for others in the group Google Slides is better.

I'm perfectly happy with posting every 48 hours at minimum or you might be temporarily NPC'd.

I know Anevia and Irabeth came with us, and I think Aravashniel and Horgus came along too. There's also a halfling woman scout (who's name I don't recall) and I believe we met Sosiel. And of course Beatrics still can be found in Benedic's periphery. I don't think there's any other important NPCs that we've met, apart from the Queen herself.

Benedic trusts Anevia and Irabeth, from long association and seeing their talents up close in the field. He is less trusting of Aravashniel and Horgus, mostly because they are either very closed-off or have done things that make them unreliable. He has no opinion of the halfling woman. I think he admired Sosiel's dedication to his deity, but they haven't had much association with each other. And his relationship with Beatrics is complicated. OOC, at 8th level Benedic gets Leadership and will gain a cohort, and I intend for that to be Beatrics. However, currently they are not getting along very well. Benedic is drawn to her, and cares what she thinks. She, too, is drawn to Benedic, and desires his good opinion despite her feelings against him. They still have some issues to work out.

Working out his issues with Beatrics is high on the list of Benedic's priorities. He also wants to smooth relations with those under his command, and demonstrate to his companions that he is competent but will not abuse the authority his great-grandmother has bestowed on him. He also often thinks about his mother, and wishes to find out more about her. He believes she is an outsider, and fears she is a shapeshifting demon or succubus. He wants to punish her for abandoning him, or destroy her if she cannot be redeemed.

I don't think Benedic knows anything yet about the commander of Citadel Drezen. We have competent scouts but not much in the way of advance intelligence about the demons we face. Benedic does know quite a lot about demons in general, though, and maybe some of that applies.

Hey just a heads my department is down to me and someone who just started this month. So I will have limited time for PbP.

As the only other halfling around Selann has been trying to be friends with Nurah, trying to pick her mind for the information that she supposedly has.

Hello All! Happy to still kick evils ass!

Tristan can say ass because he is an Inquisitor.

Maps and Movement
I already commented on this one, and it sounds like we’re set with it.

Posting Frequency
I tend to be slow to post of the weekends, but generally speaking I can swing one post everyday during the week and one over the weekend, if the thread is moving well enough that I have something to post about. There are times when work gets busy and I slow down, but I’ll try to warn you if/when that happens.

The Current State of the Campaign
It seems like who’s with us has been addressed. As for how I relate with them: Irabeth is the one who knighted me and Greta looks up to her greatly; Aravashnial and Anevia were badly hurt while we were all trapped below the city and Greta still feels protective towards them; I don’t remember Horgus coming with us but if he did, Greta found him kind of weasely and annoying while under the city, but has softened slightly since he donated a lot of equipment to support the crusaders (but only slightly); she doesn’t really know Norah at all. I also had an NPC lover (one of the paladins) that I had talked about with the previous GM but the thread was moving so slow we never did anything with him, and I have no objection to forgetting about him.

What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure
Greta’s initial goal was to be accepted as a real crusader despite her size (and gender), and she pretty much accomplished that in Book 1. When the queen asked if there was anything she could do for us, Greta said that she wanted to help rebuild and strengthen Kenabres and asked if—after returning from Dresden—she could take over the title and estate of one of the noble families that had been killed when the city fell, if there were any that didn’t have heirs. So, I guess her goals are to retake Dresden and return to Kenabres safely, and maybe even with some more resources to help repair a new property?

What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?
Honestly, with the pace that we’ve been moving I (ooc) really don’t remember what we do or don’t know about that? I could go hunting through the old thread at some point if you want, or you can just tell/remind us what you’d like us to know I’m the new gameplay thread.

As I said, I've been hanging around Nurah when possible because she's a halfling but also because she supposedly knows a good deal about Drezen. But.... I've been traveling with the scout team so far.

As for goals/plans, he plans to work on crafting his Arcane Bond, Ring into something once he can (next level). He's also going to take Crafting Mastery at the next Mythic Tier so he'll be able to work on other stuff when we have time.

Hey folks, I'm going to make an executive decision to keep your story moving forward, as I prefer not to jump into a combat that's half way through.

We're going to elide the combat at Keeper's Canyon. Just because it's a pain to run a combat from the middle. So I'm going to assume your army was victorious with minimal casualties, your party defeated the Babaus with minimal damage, and after a tense fight Exorius the Incubus teleported to escape, so you can have another showdown with him down the line.

Gameplay Thread is Up

Legacy discussion

I'm going to try to get caught up tonight we'll see how mushy my brain is though.

Hey sorry I missed this! Seems like we're going to be good to go! YAY and Thanks Dudemeister for picking this up

Caliban thinks pretty positively of the variety of NPCs assembled, he definitely thinks highly of Aravashnial, as that's the only elf he's encountered since the destruction of Kenabres. I definitely remember Horgus being with us on the expedition, and helping with supplies. Caliban's Black blade spoke to him once, but that was a while ago.

As for immediate goals, Caliban would like to understand the magical mechanics of how exactly they were able to break the Wardstone, and what connections this current turmoil has to past crusades and troubles in the Worldwound.

Real quick, work for me is still bad and that means I have no energy for anything in the evenings, I'm hoping this weekend. I'm sorry for the delay.

I love seeing the in-character roleplaying. Benedic, do you mind posting in the new gameplay thread. Tristan, I hope you take the opportunity to interact with your fellow players or NPCs before I move the story along.

Hey I should have a post up soon, but its Homecoming this weekend, and I'm working a boatload.

Apologies had a busy week. I shall endeavor to catch up today.

I'm still down a few hp in my banner... is it safe to assume that we've been healed (or slept off our injuries) since the fight with the incubus?

Thanks again for picking this up.

The Current State of the Campaign

Can you let me know which important NPCs have come with you on your March to Drezen?
Did any important NPCs join the Queen on the march south to engage the bulk of the demon forces?
What are your character's opinions of these NPCs?

People have pretty much covered this already. I will mention I have a cohort, Amelia, who is a reformed Baphomet cultist. She is currently advancing as a bard but once she converts, she'll start on cleric again.

What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure

The main goal of Sword of Valor is to liberate Citadel Drezen and recover the banner Sword of Valor.
Are there any personal goals you want to accomplish during this book?

Junior will want to finish reforging his mother's broken greatsword. I'm tracking the progress in the loot tracker which I will get a link to later. Once he does that it will be his primary weapon, which he will continue to enhance.

Junior is also starting a cult in worship of his coin Fred. So far he's only brought Amelia into the fold. He wants to give the cultists that worshiped demons a chance to redeem themselves.

More on Amelia, at tier 3 Junior will take divine source. Losonti was going to allow her to start to convert at that time to worship of Fred. To convert her ex-cleric levels of Baphomet to cleric levels of Fred, Junior needs to cast geas/quest on her. This is per the 3.5 Player's Handbook II rules for divine conversion. The quest will very likely be related making money through business, Fred will be a deity of capitalism after all.

What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?

What do your characters know of the current commander of Citadel Drezen? What do they know of any demons within?

I'll echo Greta in saying I've lost the thread. I don't think we know anything about who is in charge of Drezen specifically. I think we know something but I don't have much time to dig through old posts right now.

Loot tracker

@GM can you put this link somewhere easily accessible?

Loot tracker

@GM can you put this link somewhere easily accessible?

Added to campaign info tab.

Gonna have a bit of trouble doing a proper gameplay post today (it's Monday in Aus), but I'll make sure that I resolve the camp event tomorrow, and then it's back on the road to Drezen.

Amazing rolls gang.

Sorry for falling quiet- had a busy week building up to a big meeting tonight. I’ll try to get a post up later tonight if I can but it might be tomorrow.

It looks like there’s 2 of the same map of camp in the slides but neither has the gargoyles on it? Should we wait for that or are we going theater of the mind for this one?

It looks like there’s 2 of the same map of camp in the slides but neither has the gargoyles on it? Should we wait for that or are we going theater of the mind for this one?

Second map should be updated with Gargoyles, and grid. Gargoyles with Yellow letters are half-fiend, Gargoyles with Blue letters are normal Gargoyles.

With both songs anyone trying to use CMB to escape grapple should have +2 to their checks. +2 to str from rage song and CMB checks are attack rolls so benefit from inspire courage's +1. This affects everyone who can hear Amelia and Junior which should be the entire camp.

It's my first time running a PBP combat in over a decade, so if there's anything I'm missing or people want me to include more of in my posts, please let me know.

Are you house ruling my songs to be only 30ft or is it just because this is an especially noisy combat?

Hmm, not sure why I thought performance only has a 30 ft. Radius. Genuine mistake on my part. It is a very noisy combat but I'm not gonna shorten it for that.

Thank you! To be fair every other song has a well defined range except the inspire ones.

I'm going to be on vacation for a week starting tomorrow. I'll have more free time, so keeping up with the game shouldn't be a problem at all, but I'll be limited to only posting from my phone so I may need some help with maps and whatnot.

I'm in danger.

I really can't wait until next level. Starting songs as a move action...

On my way, buddy!

Hey just want to flag here, regarding safeties around NPCs. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to discuss publically but can you let me know which of the following statements matches your preference/safety level. Probably should have checked in on this before the Gargoyle ambush, but let's check in now:

1) I don't care if any NPCs die, even if it happens off-screen.

2) I don't care if unnamed NPCs die, even if it happens off-screen. Named or major NPCs should only die if it's flagged and we have a chance to stop it.

3) I don't want any allied NPCs dying off-screen, we should always have a chance to save everybody.

4) I don't want the threat of death on any Named NPCs, even on-screen (please use different stakes such as capture or major injury/madness)

5) Please only threaten PCs and followers that we directly control with death or effects that can remove these characters from the ongoing story.

6) Everybody lives! Do not use death as a stake in this game for my character or major NPCs (other PCs may elect to have their characters die) .

I'm at a 2.

You're doing fine. This battle did shake us up a little bit, we're a little reliant on being able to buff beforehand, at least I am.

Even less complex battles I've really mucked some things when GMing.

I am #1, but Tristan says we are playing good guys, so kicking and screaming on screen for #2!

I don't want there to be no consequences for going through with a bad idea. But the tone of the game should be that we're Big Damn Heroes.

Like resting to regain spells and abilities after this combat would be a bad idea and should result in NPC death, even a named one. But if we head out immediately afterwards we should have a chance to rescue them.

There's a decent chance that Amelia won't survive to be kidnapped, and that's ok. She could have withdrew or 5ft step back and used her scroll of cure light wounds or cast vanish. I almost had her do that.

I'm so mad that the tanglefoot bag missed cause that would have really swung things around. But that's dice and no one's fault.

I’m typically a 1 or 2. In this game I’d say probably a solid 2 (maybe even 2.5) since, like Junior said, we’re supposed to be big damm heroes in this game.

My character will be upset at the death of anyone that he knows.

Me as a player? Death happens. As long as the story is good and death is heroic (if possible) ?? I once had my character killed by having a cleric cast hold person on me, then slicing my throat. Freaked out the whole party, they tried to figure out how they could justify spending the gold on a raise dead scroll, etc. I told them that nobody in the party knew me well enough to do anything but say "Too bad" and loot my body! The GM wrote the whole thing up so it was very detailed. My character felt every bit of the pain and the horror of his life blood spurting from the slashed arteries of his throat. To me it was great even though it ended the game for me!

So. Some of the people we know have been captured. Once this battle is over we will try to figure out where they went and if we can follow and try to rescue them. If we find that they've all be killed I think we'd be out for revenge. HOWEVER, We will not quit our mission even for that! The mission is more important than any one of us.

Hmm.... Wait a minute. I'm not a Lawful Good Paladin type. I'm a Good follower of Nethys. But I'm pretty sure our leaders would say that last part and I'd follow them.

I'm a 2, the theme feels like we're supposed to be able to overcome stuff like this.

We did pretty good for a CR 12 encounter. ;)

Just another Tuesday in the Worldwound!

I'm a 2. :)

So sorry for the delayed post, had real life stuff come up so I haven't been able to dedicate the time to tie off the combat. I'll try and get to it tonight.

No worries

Sorry I've been so slow too! Finishing vacation and getting back to real life kept me busy. Should be good to go now!

We are a little low on healing, so I’d recommend Sosiel or Beatrics come with us

Why does this next part feel like an escort mission in DDO...lol.

Lol sorry for little bit of ribaldry.