GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

It doesn't hurt to ask and see if someone is willing to take over.

Okay, so it sounds like we want to give recruiting a GM a shot. I can set up the recruitment thread this evening after I'm finished with work if no one else beats me to it.

GM recruitment thread is up!

Wow, I am surprised but pleased that someone has already shown interest! Thanks for stepping up to make that thread, Audria.

Thanks! I was planning on bumping it if no one posted anything. If I thought I could finish it out, I might have taken over as GM, but that's a tall order and I'm a bit too scatter-brained at the moment to really focus on something like a PBP AP run.

Heyo! We have a potential new GM. If everything looks good to you, pop into the thread and say hey.

Link to the thread.

Assuming nobody has any issues, I think we'll be good to get going again once our new GM gets settled.

I don't normally use the PM feature on these forums, but should we drop Lina a PM to see if she is still around and interested in continuing the game with GM Pinvendor?

PM Sent. If we haven't heard from Nickadaemous, in a day or two, we may want to move on without them.

I'm here, and fine with continuing with a new GM. Just haven't had much to say.

Heard back form the GM. Hopefully he'll post here soon.

Wrote a post here in discussion only to have my internet die as I submitted the post (writing this from my mobile).

Hopefully, I’ll be able to recover that post once the internet returns. Otherwise, I’ll retype using the faithful phone here later. ;-)

Hello, everyone! My first simple post is up in the gameplay to get things rolling. I will undoubtedly have some questions for you going forward as I get caught up on everything, but I have received my fresh copy of the pocket edition for CoCT Anv edition, so I will have my reference material quickly at hand.

First question is for Audria!

Obviously, if anyone feels they have character related progression or development they would like me to include in the future, please feel free to PM any information I may need.

I apologize as I reread my gameplay post, I may not have been super clear in that I'm looking for clarification on who's staying and who's leaving. If any of you want to roleplay what you're doing for the evening whether with each other or NPCs, please engage at will.

As some of you may or may not know, the next section of Curse of the Crimson Throne is very Open World/sandbox. Aside from the chaos in the city, the players are left to their own devices and choices with a little guidance from the GM.

Truthfully, it's a dangerous place for an adventure module as the choices you make could take us completely out of the written path if none of you bite the bait that could be dangling or make the choices the AP is expecting. Pretty funny place to be taking over as GM, as naturally, I don't have anything yet prepared of my own for looping you back to the main story if you go rogue (assuming that's even the best direction based on your characters' choices/desires). But we'll see what you all do, and I will adjust accordingly.

Also, on a side note, this is the perfect time to introduce new characters whether fresh recruits or replacing current ones you want to retire in case you feel their participation would be ended (or compromised) with the successful conclusion to Gaedran Lamm's fate.

PM Sent.

Thanks again for picking this up! We are most appreciative!

I do not know how any of you are feeling regarding the loss of your 6th member, Nicolai, but someone with whom I am currently in two other PbP campaigns made this request in the GM recruitment thread.

If you need a sixth, I would like to add a gnome bard to the group. If not, you can keep me on the bench in case you lose someone. Pinvendor put one of his characters at risk in my game, I should at least offer to reciprocate.

Any thoughts? As I said, this would actually be the perfect point in the story to bring in any new characters before we get to the "real" adventure path storyline. I'm fine with yes or no, so don't feel any pressure from me. I'm familiar enough with this individual that I can say they are consistent with their posting, so I'm comfortable just adding them without a full recruitment thread to replace the lost player if you are interested. Feel free to post any consents, and I will take silence as no.

Also, I plan to advance the timeline shortly to the next day, so any further RP with the NPCs at the Sanctuary will need to be spoilered or PM'd once I do. Obviously, having completed your mission with regarding Gaedran Lamm everyone is now essentially free to return to their lives as normal. Obviously, the AP hopes the characters will find a reason to stick together such as feeling the weight of Zellara's Harrowing results, selling or investigating the loot obtained from Lamm's place, or even as Shrike has suggested, some responsibility for re-homing or locating any of the now freed Lamm's Lambs. As an RPer, I prefer organic, so please don't force it if your character sticking around wouldn't be natural for them at this point.

I have plenty of ways to try and trick get your PCs back into the action, so I urge you act in-character without feeling railroaded at this stage.

Also, quick question: what did you guys do with Zellara's head? I don't think it was addressed, so I would assume you left it, but I wanted to check in case anyone feels they would have done something different had it been brought to their attention prior to leaving Lamm's lair.

I don't think Audria was there when they discovered the head. I would like to have it laid to rest, though.

As for a sixth player. I have no problems with that. If the others are okay with it, I say the more the merrier, bring him in!

The shocking head of the woman they thought was alive? You would have had to pay Abella to not take it, and then she would have taken it anyways. She may not be one of those “animator” necromancers, but it’s a fascinating situation, thanergetically speaking. She will give the head up to her new comrades with some complaints, naturally, but she will give it up.

And yeah I’m good with another!

Sorry gang, I didn't get the move forward post done. I got swept up in getting the Roll20 setup since I feel we should have the map of Korvosa ready to go.

Check your PMs for the invite, and please do not share or post anywhere in a public space. I'm shooting for the advancement post tomorrow which may be very large or several posts depending on how much slack time I have at work.

Also, I should feel you all out regarding meta-game information. A habit of storytelling within RPGs I picked up from an old friend and gamemaster of mine, what he called the Eye of the Raven and narrate goings on elsewhere in the city with the idea it was player information not character information. I know some people don't like that as it can cause confusion regarding what PCs actually know in game or potentially spoil things in the future.

I'm interested in adding those from time to time, mostly to add flavor and really build up the surroundings, circumstances, and feel of the game's setting, but I would acquiesce to limiting that if anyone feels they would have a problem or desires not to have possibly minor spoilers about things.

If anyone has strong feelings about that, please feel free to let me know here in Discussion or in PM.

Received, thanks GM! That map is so detailed, it's going to be super helpful.

I love the idea of the players seeing what is going on elsewhere in the city at the same time - it can only make the narrative richer, in my opinion. Paizo APs always seem to have tons of background on relatively minor characters that the PCs often have no reason to ever find out, and it's such a waste. I will do my very best to avoid any metagaming if you choose to show any background scenes that you are inspired to. :)

Work's been insane today. I haven't forgotten about you.

Oh, that's what that's called. I am in a game where someone does this and I love it! I'll do my best to keep things separate if you decide to do this.

Oh, forgot to say last time - I'm definitely open to having a sixth player. A gnome bard sounds like a good contrast to the existing characters, too.

Alright, gang. Here's the score.

After the PCs emerge from Gaedren’s fishery to find Korvosa in chaos, their fate is in large part left to them to

decide.

As I said before, at this point I need your involvement to drive the story. It's a new day, and your personal mission of revenge/satisfaction against Lamm is over. I encourage you to have your PC act as in-character as possible with the current events.

Also, after 3/5 'yes,' I have reached out to Wowbagger tIP regarding his Gnome bard to confirm acceptance if he's still available.

I will arrange a new Harrowing from Zellara to also help bring the new addition in and encourage cohesion once Wowbagger is ready to go.

Current developments and points of interest:

Cool. I wanted to see what we were doing about adding someone before pushing too much. I am running my home game tonight, but I should have time to get a post up sometime today or this evening, even if it’s late. I’m on PST myself, for context

I wanted to see what we were doing about adding someone before pushing too much.

Don't worry about that too much. The events of the next section play out over days if not weeks.

Adding a new player/character or replacing an existing one is super easy at this junction. Unlike in the middle of a dungeon, integrating someone new during city-wide upheaval is a cake-walk. There are so many reasons why someone would naturally involve themselves with the PCs right now.

Ninja Edit:

Forgot to include this as a point of interest since the former GM had added this little scene:

Oh how close are we to leveling? I just want to make sure that something didn’t get lost in the GM shuffle

Funny question given I myself wasn't present for much of the previous action. I can go back and tally the point total if you'd like.

Otherwise, I have an eye on when I feel this will be appropriate, and it will be soon if you're looking to get your materials together or ask any level-up related questions.

I created a Google sheets loot list for this game to make tracking items easier. Everything that was listed for us by GM Elfriede is on there, and I did my best to quickly sort out who last had what, guessing if it wasn't clear. Each character has a separate tab you can click on to see just the things they are holding. Everything we've been told the gp value of has that listed, but I've left the Value cell blank for everything else for now. If people want to bookmark that link, that might be convenient for you; or maybe you could put it in the Campaign Info tab, GM Pinvendor.

Everyone should please feel free to make any necessary changes and updates to the loot sheet at any time. I hope you all find it convenient, and I don't want to be the only one tracking loot.

I'll work on getting a Gameplay post up soon covering Shrike getting back to the Temple of Shelyn in the morning. Once there, she'll want to return kidnapped kids to families along with the group, which means traveling through the streets, which would allow them to listen for rumors as Zellara requested while helping anyone they see who needs it along the way. (Garrett and Lina proposed this a while back I think.) She would also go along with the idea of giving Zellara's head some kind of proper burial or rites before any of that.

Ah, yes, the Campaign Info Tab...

Currently under the control of my predecessor. I have not sent the request to have it altered to me since I wanted to allow time for all to decide if this GM/Player relationship would continue.

Right now, we're in a light courtship and I can see holding hands in our future, but before I commit and accept the key to your apartment; we should go on a few dates, and make sure we really do like each other. ;)

Hey thanks for the invite.

I am going with a halfling arcane duelist bard to give good buffing, spells and solid fighting skills. Look forward to joining and have a roll20 account. A hobbit with lots of swagger and was thinking of having him narrate his awesome deeds as he is doing them.

Won’t be stingy with inspire courage.

My, this fellow sounds interesting. Welcome aboard!

Hello, lets go!!

Hi, everyone. Wanted to make a small request related to posting style. I’d much prefer if OoC questions and comments of any significant length be placed here in the Discussion thread.

I like to try and keep the Gameplay thread as immersive as possible. I understand that 100% is not likely, but if we can shoot for a solid 85% immersive, I’d appreciate the attempt. :P

Hopefully, the [ ooc ] will be limited to quick descriptions and tags you want to add. If needed, feel free to drop an [ ooc ] pointing me to your Discussion question if you need an answer for your Gameplay posts. Most of the time, I’m probably going to respond to Discussion posts quicker anyway, since I won’t need to gather an appropriate GM voice and vector (via NPC or narrative description) to answer you. Also, I monitor both thread for (# New) all the time.

Thank you for your attention!

@Lania/Shrike: How are we doing your non-Shrike posts? Is your character in Vigilante identity 100% of the time, or will you post using a different avatar when in Social identity? I realize you're in Shrike-mode for these scenes, but I wanted to clear up how I know when you're in Social once we get to that.

Understood about OOC notes and digressions, GM.

Lania's social identity has not technically appeared in the game at all yet, I think. Switching between social and vigilante identities supposedly requires 1 minute away from all other creatures, and Double Scion is a weird archetype in the first place because unless you have moved away from everyone you grew up around and who knows you, it almost requires three 'identities': the elf, the human and the true identity as a half-elf. Anyway, I will set up a bare-bones profile and avatar for Merula Antius, the human social identity, in the next few days, for whenever it's needed for RP related to her profession.

I realized halfway through making the character that her human identity could not really be named Lania, because that is her actual birth name and she grew up in this city as minor nobility, with the normal number of friends and contacts, before her family's ruin. People in the upper- and upper-middle-class social circles she needs to move in for her new career to thrive would generally know or soon remember that Lania Fordyce is a half-elf and not a human.

Sorry, Audria. Even in armor, a cute 16-year old girl whose tiny to boot isn't generally going to be very intimidating. :P

Edit: I lumped Abella in since she's also under 20, but she's probably not that young looking. Of course, our two fine halfling gentleman are being discriminated against as the looters shopkeeper and his bodyguards aren't getting a very close look at you all and just assume your smiling faces are those of young boys.

@Pippip: (Edit) If Pippip chooses to continue the spell, you will be forcing this scene into combat. I won't respond for the next hour to allow you time to delete or edit your actions in case that is not the desired outcome.

@Everyone: How do you like your combat initiatives? If this scene or any future scene goes to combat time, do you want me to roll everyone, or allow all of you to roll for yourselves? I enjoy players rolling their own fates in RL games, but in PbP, sometimes "GM-automating" some roll types is more efficient.

Abella can definitely pass for older given her height, former drug use, and hard life, but we can just say that her lack of interest is giving her too much of a moody teenager look.

You roll initiatives please. Keeps things moving and I don’t find rolling initiative particularly exciting myself anyways.

Oh, I forgot the Sense Motive check. Hope it doesn't relate to finding this obvious lie believable. And yes, I support you rolling initiatives, GM.

Sense Motive 16: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9

Pip wasn't keen on combat, but charm person is a spell that only works well out of combat. So waiting for combat was going to make it much less effective. I defer to your judgement.

Oh I fully expect that Audria's stature and youth are going to cause her issues in situations like this.

As for initiatives. I'd prefer the GM rolls and we go in block initiative.

I had a little blurb about how I do the initiative written up, and then it got ate. I will retype here in bit, but dinner's ready. Got to eat!

Are we doing theater of the mind for this encounter? Fine if we are, I just don't want to declare an action that doesn't make sense if there is a map in Roll20 I'm not seeing.

Yeah, I haven’t added a map as I had to run off for dinner.

Theater of the mind is fine for this one. I imagine it will be fairly short. Let’s assume you’re all about 20ft away in whatever order/line you state.

I apologize, Pippip, but I cannot find any RAW or RAI which explicitly supports being able to Ready a Charge given Charge is a full round action and Ready caps at a Standard.

I have found extensive thread discussions about it, but none that had a formal ruling indicating Paizo had ever cleared up the arguments.

I’m going to have say no on allowing that, sorry.

Thanks for correcting something I have done wrong for a long time. You can do it with a very high level feat.

Rhino Charge (Combat)
Your charges are both violent and unpredictable.

Prerequisites: Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, base attack bonus +5.

Benefit: You may ready a charge, though you may only move up to your speed on the charge.

Normal: Charging is a full-round action and allows you to move twice your speed.

I can understand the logic of the argument why it might be possible given the exception written into the very description of the Charging action itself, but even the limit acknowledges it's taking the whole action available to you. Therefore it is still, in essence, a full-round action.

That was why I landed on that side of the argument.

Minor note: I'm pretty sure daze means an affected creature can take no actions for a round. It doesn't just lose its standard action. However, once affected one time, it's immune for a minute.

That is correct. Also, you cannot trip someone with the AoO the provoke from standing up. They are considered to have the prone condition still until they finish standing up, hence why they still have the -4 to AC vs that AoO. I point this out not to be nitpicky, but because the alternative is a hell of a lot of annoying tripping wars that never end.