Maybe there's a way to reset the path we're on if dungeon crawl isn't what most of us are looking for?
OK, noted in both cases with no hard feeling on my part. I wish both players fair winds and following seas. Hopefully both of you find a game more suitable to your preference.
As fare as changing course goes, that has always been an option. The group can continue, abandon, or return to any of this content as you see fit. That was the whole point of the sandbox to begin with. That said, I don't think the content is the only issue here. It's likely a combination of things, which I can respect and understand. Playstyle, content, posting rate, and chemistry, I think are all in play with their decision. Not every game/GM is correct for every player. To that effect, I will bow to their honesty and honor their request.
My personal thoughts are more in line with Ionatan when it comes to role playing. The content selected clearly pointed out that the missing group went missing while investigating a Dungeon. Dungeons, without a doubt, have less interactive role play than other content, no question. That said, opportunity is what you make of it. Roleplay can simply be manufactured in any content but requires timing and a willingness to reach for the opportunity.
The pace issue could have been simply addressed by stating “GM could we slow it down.” Not overly complicated, so I believe there is more to it than just that. Anyhow, now is a good time to bow out if someone is not enjoying the game.
To the remaining group: I have received a few PM’s stating that you are happy with the current content. That said, I would like to take this opportunity to open things up for any suggestions that you would like considered for the game going forward. Slower pace? Keep the pace? Change course? Etc.
If any of you have a friend or player in mind that you would like to invite to the game, please let me know. If not, and the group feels the two slots should be filled, let me know and I will work to fill them. That’s if everyone is still comfortable continuing.
Here are my thoughts:
Pace: I’m happy with it but willing to adjust if others aren’t aren’t.
Changing course: Keep on the course we selected.
Recruiting: I’m fine not recruiting and going with what we have. If we do this I think one of us should be able to adjust our PC (probably me) and trade out a current trait for one that gives disable device as a class skill. However, I don’t mind if we recruit but story wise it would make more sense if we waited until after this mission but again I am willing to do what ever the party wants and recruit now too.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Here are my thoughts:
Pace: I’m happy with it but willing to adjust if others aren’t aren’t.
Changing course: Keep on the course we selected.
Recruiting: I’m fine not recruiting and going with what we have. If we do this I think one of us should be able to adjust our PC (probably me) and trade out a current trait for one that gives disable device as a class skill. However, I don’t mind if we recruit but story wise it would make more sense if we waited until after this mission but again I am willing to do what ever the party wants and recruit now too.
Noted, and I'm ok with you adjusting for the trait.
My sentiments match Dario's. And I feel RP has not been diminished. I am looking forward to how narrative the gnome and noble will leave.
I'm good with where things are presently. A few stray thoughts though.
If we're using a variety of sources, such a PFS scenarios, modules, pieces of APs and so forth, I think it would be nice to embrace the diversity and sample a little of this and that as we go. Dungeon crawls are fine in measure, but too much become a repetitive slog. There's a reason Shattered Star doesn't get played too much in PbP. Bryndis isn't the subtle type so intrigue stuff might be harder, but embracing variety could be the game type rather than something more cliche.
Pacing can be variable, responsive to what's happening in game at the time. RP seems to be a thing that comes and goes over time. If players are busy with RP, slow down and give it room to play out. If players are being more businesslike and moving along without a lot of interaction, speed things along.
We could probably get along fine as we are now, but I think we might start to feel being a 4 person party and lacking a bit in arcane casting as we go on and see higher levels. Yes, a Bard is an arcane caster, and I love the Bard spell list. But, it is also skewed toward enchantments, utility, and buffs. Having a caster with more battlefield control capability at least, and maybe some AoE offense is something we may really miss having down the line.
I'd say recruiting at least one more person would probably be preferable.
Or, since we're at 4, we could gestalt and not recruit. It would allow us to fill out some holes like traps, and maybe magic. If we added a class without otherwise rebuilding it wouldn't add to the group's power level as much as it would give us more flexibility. For example, unless Bryndis chose a double martial gestalt for the extra feats, she's pretty much limited to Oracle. a 14 CHA and the need to raise her STR means she's not going to be a dangerous caster.
And yes, I will always suggest gestalt if given the opportunity. :)
Good points Bryndis. If we recruit 1 now I’m sure the GM can find a way to insert them into the action. Also, I like gestalt with small groups too.
I’m with Dario in the fact that I think all your points are good. I was thinking the same thing about the +1 for an arcane spell caster type. As fare as the gestalt option goes, I’m not familiar with it and would need to divert time to read through it. Although I think this could always be an option, I think the +1 player is the quickest and easiest option.
I’m not sure if the player is still available or not, but Tazo submitted a dwarf wizard with a very well put together background. I was extremely impressed with his writing clarity and creativity. I was truly on the fence between him and the gnome, which I ended up selecting the gnome due to the alchemist’s versatility. I could send him an invite and see if he is still interested. Personally, I think he would make a good addition to the group. The other option would be if one of you have someone you would like to invite, that might lessen the chance of sideline drama, which has been a bit overwhelming up to this point. I’m ok with either. As fare as adding them to the game, it’s simply a small amount of creativity and a bit of writing. Same goes for the exit of the other two.
Content points are good. If it helps, I can add this. The content is a levels 1-3 Simi-older D&D module centered on a dungeon. Being levels 1-3 means it isn’t a supper dungeon but more of an entry level one. Being close to Sandpoint, the group can come and go with only 10 hours of travel, so that is an advantage for sure. My plan was, if the group cleared the dungeon, have everyone be close to level 4. Most modules seem to reflect levels 1-4, so level 4 would open up a new list of options. Or, have the group reselect from the original list and compensate the lower-level stuff to reflect their current level and group size. I don’t know if any of this helps with content choices or not. With this you at least have an idea of how much dungeon delving might be ahead of you in this content.
Let me know if you want me to send out an invite to Tazo and see if he is still open to joining. I hope he can see past all the drama up to this point.
Inviting Tazo with his wizard sounds good to me!
I’m fine with inviting Tazo or someone that the other players know.
Sounds good to me.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm going to assume that Ionatan is of similar mind as you guys and move to add the +1. I sent Tazo an invite and will wait to hear back from him before doing anything else. If he decides to join, his background is really tailored to fit to the current scenario, which should make his addition an easy narrative.
I'm fine with it.
I would also be fine with tackling this dungeon (which looks familiar to me, of course) with just the 4 of us, even without adjusting to have a Trapfinder, but, then, Ionatan likes to live dangerously. <grin>
Because we're working with an episodic presentation, it would be easy enough to recruit replacement players between episodes. Big scary things like APs, obviously, provide other points in the story where that would work pretty naturally.
As far as Gestalt goes, it gets addicting. A Fighter/Swashbuckler gestalt can swap out Fighter for Duelist when possible. Combining Duelist levels with the more advanced Deeds gets pretty ugly pretty quickly. True Gestalt produces more powerful characters. It just does. Some really good combinations lose out on capability because of action economy (Wizard & Sage Sorcerer). Other options that just feel right actually end up sourcing the same ability from both sides, or stacking abilities that are meant to be duplicative that have different names and implementations (Paladin of Irori and Monk combo has both of these issues). Gestalt can be fun. Not what I had in mind here, though I could adapt easily enough.
Ionatan's comment makes me wonder how many of you have an idea what module we are heading into? I figured Ionatan would be the first to figure this out, simply out of time playing RPG's. I'm guessing his experience predates mine, so he might have played this in a previous life. (LoL)
I'm going to say it's an older module, but not an ancient module. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, based on what I have seen, I doubt I can pull something out that Ionatan hasn't seen before.
No idea.
The amount of material that has been published provides literal mountains of things I haven't seen. Not all of it is worth seeing, of course. That's a different problem.
But, yeah, I thought I recognized this as an intro module from one iteration or another when we saw the sketches. A quick Google about the (very) little I remember came up with the name for the module I'm thinking of: The Sunless Citadel, from 2000.
Don't worry about digging for new on my behalf. The story we build together will be new and is the part that matters. How many times have you seen The Princess Bride? Does that keep you from watching it again? Same kind of thing.
Good day! Tazo here, and thank you for the invitation. I haven't read the gameplay thread, but I have skimmed the discussion thread and I understand that some characters departed due to philosophical differences. I'm very sorry to hear about that. I played with AdamWarnock a long time ago on these Boards, and we had a great run through many levels of the Emerald Spire until real-life caught up to our GM.
About me, I'm extremely open-minded and can roll with just about anything. I am comfortable with in-game conflict with the understanding that we're all trying to get along out-of-character (at least in PbP--I can't actually say particularly mean things in-person, even if roleplaying). I enjoy fast paced games, and will try to keep up--I'm on the other side of a busy period, so it's probably just as well I wasn't in this game until now.
As for my character, Muziel is unlikely to be an instigator, other than being socially clueless because he has terrible charisma. I tweaked Muziel and submitted him into another game, but I will be withdrawing that application and will make an appearance here, hopefully tonight. Looking forward to gaming!
First let welcome you Tazo. I’m glad you decided to jump in and, as I said earlier, I think you will be a good fit with this group. Regarding Adam, I honestly believe the issue was more the game style than anything else. I could be wrong, but I believe he enjoys a much slower pace highly interactive campaign with more role playing than mechanics. I completely understand where he was coming from and have no hard feelings towards him whatsoever. In fact, Adamwarnock and Ionatan both came with a shinning recommendation.
When you have time, glance through what has transpired so far and I’ll PM you with a couple different entry options and see which you prefer. Something to consider while getting set up. The group is about to enter a dungeon, so food and dungeon accessories are probably a good thing. Also look at how I generally run knowledges seeing that is one of your strong points. If there are any questions about anything, please feel free to ask in whatever format you feel comfortable.
I've never seen this module before. Repeating stuff doesn't bother me at all because things never play out exactly the same way. In fact, for a while back some years ago, when games here were a lot more plentiful, I thought nothing of playing the same AP twice simultaneously. It was interesting to see how small differences accumulated to cause them to diverge more and more as they went on.
Gestalt produces more powerful characters. It just does.
There's no doubt gestalt makes characters more powerful. But, if players are willing to exercise some restraint, it's not as much of an increase as it seems like it would be. It is possible to put together combinations that get really crazy, I started building a Chosen One Paladin / Steelblood - Primalist Bloodrager with the celestial totem. I put it aside when I realized how broken it could be.
A party of 3 to 4 players seems about equivalent to a party of 5 to 6 players generally. Action economy doesn't change, and builds are more feat starved usually, which takes some of the fancier possibilities off the table.
Hi Tazo and welcome!
OK, first PM sent Tazo! Let me know what you think.
@Bryndis, you are up in initiative and clear to post your first-round action if you like.
Is Bryndís hearing anything from down below?
Yes, and you would have been alerted by the 60' daylight spell that just went off down below. Currently, Dario is attempting to finish his climb down and Wayilant, who just cast the spell, spooked one of the rats back into hiding. You should be able to see the fight clearly with the daylight spell in effect.
Welcome Tazo!
Also, Dario replaced the trait mentored with the trait criminal (which fits his background) and traded out a rank in sense motive for a rank in disable device.
Also, Dario replaced the trait mentored with the trait criminal (which fits his background) and traded out a rank in sense motive for a rank in disable device.
Sounds good Dario.
The amount of material that has been published provides literal mountains of things I haven't seen. Not all of it is worth seeing, of course. That's a different problem.
But, yeah, I thought I recognized this as an intro module from one iteration or another when we saw the sketches. A quick Google about the (very) little I remember came up with the name for the module I'm thinking of: The Sunless Citadel, from 2000.
Don't worry about digging for new on my behalf. The story we build together will be new and is the part that matters. How many times have you seen The Princess Bride? Does that keep you from watching it again? Same kind of thing.
LoL, I placed the original sketches into the story as small clues about the content. I'm attempting to keep it as original as I can, for nostalgia reasons, while lacing it into Golarion. Small changes in references about lore, religion, or reginal refrances needed to be changed, but so far it seems to fit quite well.
Hello! Here’s Muziel, should be correct except for gear and a missing Level 1 spell. Let me know if you have any suggested corrections, tweaks, or spells you like.
*Edit*--Fixed up the spells and gear. Still open to any comments.
I made this Skills Spreadsheet to see if I ought to adjust anything, and decided to shift a point into K. Planes. Our party lacks anyone skilled in Survival, the natural consequence of having a bunch of urban classes (Swashbuckler, Bard, Cleric, Wizard, Urban Bloodrager). The flip side is we have lots of face skills!
*Edit*--made the sheet public and editable.
At a glance everything looks good Muziel.
Hey all, part of Muziel’s schtick is that he casts spells in Elven, a fact I want to memorialize by posting “Elvish” text. The way I’ve seen alternate languages done in a lot of PbPs is to pick another real-world language and then use Google Translate.
With that said, is there a preferred real-world language people want to represent Elven? Or maybe another way folks want to do it? I know there are actual Elvish translators out there that are also candidates.
Just put your own special spin on it, Muziel.
it's important you play the character in a manner which you have FUN!
Just put your own special spin on it, Muziel.
it's important you play the character in a manner which you have FUN!
I agree with this. I am completely open on this subject.
I have no preference on language. I seen people use French or Cornish but whatever works for you.
Yeah, I don't know that there's a best way to do it Muziel. When I've done it for arcane casting I've tended to use Finnish, which I use for Draconic, which is my head canon for the arcane casting language.
I like it because Finnish uses a Roman alphabet so the words can be sounded out (even if almost certainly incorrectly), so it conveys some imaginary sounds for the reader. A non-Roman alphabet looks like soundless symbols to me. Also it's fairly easy to avoid cognates and borrowed words that kind of ruin the effect if you recognize a word or words meaning the same thing in English.
I don't think there is any required language for arcane casting in pathfinder. Any verbal language can do, so Elven is fine. If you're not already set on something you can go to google translate. Put in a phase in English then test out different languages until you find something that creates the effect you like.
Forgot to mention that google translate also gives transliterations of some languages that don't use the Roman alphabet system. You you don't have to limit yourself to looking only (mostly) Western European languages.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
No need to, but sometimes I use a Shadowrun translator for Elvish, and sometimes I use a Tolkien translator.
And sometimes I just put other languages in a spoiler without a translation. If I'm doing translator postings, I am always at home taking my time with the post.
But, yes, you should do what you think is entertaining and fun, not what we do (or do not).
If I don't hear from Wayilant by tonight, I'll send him a PM letting him know he is up for an action.
Sounds fair. thanks.
I'll post in the morning.
I'll post in the morning.
Sounds good.
Apologies ahead of time for the smallness of the upcoming battle map. That's what came with the module, so I'm working with what I got. For now, you will need to scroll in to work with it.
I'm going to hold up a bit until I hear from Bryndis. I want to make sure she is onboard before we head in. Aside from that, I believe we should be good to go. Also, if anyone has anything on the mule, that they want to carry, go ahead and list it down.
Wayilant takes the grappling hook.
Sorry to keep y'all waiting. Since it was a long weekend, we took a spur of the moment trip to the coast. Catching up now.
Sorry to keep y'all waiting. Since it was a long weekend, we took a spur of the moment trip to the coast. Catching up now.
I figured it was something like that. Everyone was role playing so you didn't hold anything up. I'm glad you had a good holiday weekend.
Quick marching order thoughts for everyone else to abuse
Dario
Bry & Nate
Muzy & Way
Dario
Nate
Muzy
Way
Bry
(Nate and Bry could swap of course)
Trapfinding and trap disabling are distinct skills, right? Just wondering if Bry and/or Nate should be in front.
I’m fine either way with the marching order.
I take it back. Let’s stick with the original because Dario is stealthy and maybe that could help sometimes.