[Outpost VI] The King in Thorns - GM Thread (Inactive)

Game Master Lady Ladile

Thanks to everyone that's been helping to field questions - my eternal gratitude to each of you :)

I'll be making the transition post to begin Part One in about 7-8 hours from now~

And yeah, with PbD/PbP where you have GMs and players scattered across the globe it's inevitable that any set time of day for posting is going to be inconvenient/in the middle of the night for *someone* :\

Looks like there are lots of tokens getting handed around but only 3 people have actually made notes on the tracking form.

Thanks to everyone that's been helping to field questions - my eternal gratitude to each of you :)

I'll be making the transition post to begin Part One in about 7-8 hours from now~

And yeah, with PbD/PbP where you have GMs and players scattered across the globe it's inevitable that any set time of day for posting is going to be inconvenient/in the middle of the night for *someone* :\

So if one of these days I decide to try becoming house GM, you'll be working off my time (UTC +8) :)

It's a great learning experience. Running the game is fine. It's the other things that make it different :)

Question - for passing tokens, do I decide who to pass it on to?

I don't seem to have access to "success tracking" sheet.
Anything special I need to do?

"AID TOKEN: Burst of Healing
Passing From: Paul B.
Passing to: GM Ben
Aid Character's Name: Brummar
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): A fellow Pathfinder heals all the PCs by 5d8"

Looks like there are lots of tokens getting handed around but only 3 people have actually made notes on the tracking form.

Please be sure to make use of the tracking form when your table passes an Aid Token! Posting all of the relevant information here is good as well but the tracking form is meant to provide an easy way to see where Aid Tokens are going (or haven't gone), who passed to who, and what type of Aid Token any table has been gifted, rather than forcing folks to potentially scroll through multiple pages of discussion to see who might need one.

Question - for passing tokens, do I decide who to pass it on to?

You can, or you can give your group the option to decide where it goes (though I'd go with Rule of Two if you let your group decide). GMs may also request an Aid Token here in this thread if it looks like your table is having trouble!

I don't seem to have access to "success tracking" sheet.

Anything special I need to do?

Whoops, hadn't adjusted the permissions for the sheet! Try it now; you should be able to pull it up. And of course if anyone else is having trouble accessing or viewing any of the linked forms or documents above, please let me know and I'll get you sorted ASAP.

All tables should now have a post/posts from me that transition us to Part 1. We will wrap up Part 1 on March 28th *or* whenever the House has completed all six missions; this is where the Success Tracker above is handy in that it will give everyone an idea of how we're doing and if folks need to nudge their tables towards any missions in particular. Please be sure to report your table's successes via the Google form linked at the top of the campaign header :)

If we should finish all six missions prior to March 28th we'll move to Part 2 and I'll adjust the estimated dates for the remainder of the schedule to account for it.

AID TOKEN: Timely Inspiration
Passing From: GM Valen
Passing to: Tyranius
Aid Character's Name: Litherian Greycloak (male elf rogue)
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): A fellow Pathfinder grants the benefits of a bard’s inspire courage focus cantrip to all PCs for 3 rounds (a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects)

AID TOKEN: Burst of Healing
Passing From: Tyranius
Passing to: Doug H
Aid Character's Name: Rhaegal Dragonkin
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): A fellow Pathfinder heals all the PCs by 5d8

AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive
Passing From: ikoolik/Ivan K.
Passing to: Gayel Nord
Aid Character's Name: Tak-Tak
Boosted? Not Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 1d6

The table has voted to return the favor:

AID TOKEN: Burst of Healing
Passing From: AshenShade
Passing to: Chadius
Aid Character's Name: Mauricius Valery
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): A fellow Pathfinder heals all the PCs by 3d8 (not sure if you're 3-4 or 5-6)

FYI I reported a charting success, but it does not seem to be showing up in the tracker

Same issue here, it seems there's a tiny misspell in formula, where it only counts successes starting from seventh line of Form Response 1 sheet instead of starting from line 2

^Issue should be fixed; all successes reported thus far are now tracking correctly!

This boosted healing token is burning a hole in my pocket.

Someone, please take it off my hands.

Requesting a backup GM for a couple of days. I am currently having difficulty posting and am a bit incapacitated with Covid.

Yikes! We'll get your table taken care of; in the meantime, please take care of yourself and feel better soon!

I'd back him up but I'm playing that table...

It's all good; whenever we run a special for PbP/PbD we always try to have a couple of GMs on standby to either act as backups for situations like this or to act as primary GMs if we end up needing to add additional tables.

Backup GM Reporting in!

I'm on vacation Through Sunday but I should be able to take over alright for Tyranius.

I'll try to hop in now and see where they are at.

Looks like Game Master S has beaten me to filling in for Tyranius. That game appears to be covered.

Sorry, meant to check in here. Thanks Tsunami!

Discord formatting to House Gm can paste it in, or the GM can…

**AID TOKEN: Burst of Healing**
**Passing From:** Doug H
**Passing to:** ikoolik/Ivan K.
**Aid Character's Name:** Fafrd Grey Mouse
**Boosted?** Boosted
**Effect (includes boost if avail.):** A fellow Pathfinder heals all the PCs by 2d8

AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive

Passing From: ikoolik/Ivan K.
Passing to: Gayel Nord
Aid Character's Name: Tak-Tak
Boosted? Not Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 1d6

We do the same!

AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive
Passing From: Gayel Nord
Passing to: Ikoolik
Aid Character's Name: Raghil
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 1d6
From our table to yours :person_bowing:

**AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive**
**Passing From:** Chadius
**Passing to:** CamL
**Aid Character's Name:** Callaverthorna
**Boosted?** Boosted
**Effect (includes boost if avail.): **Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 2d6

To CamL on Cayden's Keg discord.

**AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive**

**Passing From:** Chadius
**Passing to:** CamL
**Aid Character's Name:** Callaverthorna
**Boosted?** Boosted
**Effect (includes boost if avail.): **Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 2d6

To CamL on Cayden's Keg discord.

THANK YOU!

What my players really need is an aid token that helps with disabling a mushroom ring...

Looking good, folks! We're 3 away from a complete Befuddled success :)

Whelp.

My table has finish the normal success. I think they will devour the optionnal.

Kinda sad no optional one is a severe one.

Getting the hang of running the special. It's like any other game, though the extra stuff takes some getting used to...

AID TOKEN: Provide Knowledge
Passing From: GM Ben
Passing to: AshenShade
Aid Character's Name: Sarissa
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): Gain the benefits of an automatic critical success on a check to Recall Knowledge.

Whelp.

My table has finish the normal success. I think they will devour the optionnal.

Kinda sad no optional one is a severe one.

I'm not even mad, I'm impressed! I thought I was flying through (we're going to finish part 1 today).

AID TOKEN: Allied Offensive
Passing From: Tyranius
Passing to: Tiger
Aid Character's Name: Kernal Klank
Boosted? Boosted
Effect (includes boost if avail.): Other Pathfinders assist your attack, increasing the damage you deal by 2d6

O mighty house GM, I have two questions because I am sitting in uncharted territory right now.

I've just started one of the optional encounters. Instructions say to report a success of the table's choice to HQ staff. Should we prioritize getting success types over the line (like Befuddled, which is currently at 8), or do we try to work on adding to some of the lower totals (like Shifted, which is currently at 3)?

Also... if my table is up for it (something we haven't talked about yet) should we just keep fighting those two battles over and over, or do we just pause until Part 2 after they tear through these one time?

Discord always goes a ton faster than PbP.

I don't read anything in the special about repeating the optionals to infinity.

Discord always goes a ton faster than PbP.

I don't read anything in the special about repeating the optionals to infinity.

Agreed, and I kind of have a rep for a breakneck pace even for Discord. It doesn't hurt that I've got 4 players who are active at the same time.

And you are correct about nothing specifying they can be repeated, but there is a statement about using these encounters at GM discretion -- which is different from the other six encounters in Part 1. Thus, the question.

If the answer's no, it's no, and the party will accept it, but it looks like my group actually relishes the challenge.

Spredrun Discord tables can compress the timeline so much that it affects the PbP tables' ability to experience the content — even if those players and GMs are meeting expectations and moving at a fast clip.

Looks like there may be other tables like Gaye'ls who're completing optionals too, it's not just you.

At my PbP table we are starting our last required encounter today, which is probably faster than most; in the past as a GM I have gently slowed the pace at my table in order to avoid sitting around for too long, while giving other tables a chance to catch up.

If it were me I would slow roll the optionals so as to give the other tables opportunity to see more of the main tasks before burning through them.

I hadn't considered it having an adverse effect on the forum tables, and we don't want to degrade anyone's experience.

I'll withdraw that question and only run them once.

I do still have the original question, though:

Instructions say to report a success of the table's choice to HQ staff. Should we prioritize getting success types over the line (like Befuddled, which is currently at 8), or do we try to work on adding to some of the lower totals (like Shifted, which is currently at 3)?

Go ahead and prioritize getting success types over the line; if we end up overshooting the mark on something the House GM has leeway to shift that success to another category so it won't go to waste :)

My table is headed for last required encounter. Probably will start later today.

*WOOP WOOP*

The House has hit total Befuddled Success, repeat, total Befuddled Success is now in effect! I'll be making rounds across the tables in just a moment~

Note: Shifted an additional 'Befuddled Success' over to a 'Mushroom Success'.

so if the house has hit total befuddled success, does the encounter still need to be run (with future successes just being shifted to different successes?)

so if the house has hit total befuddled success, does the encounter still need to be run (with future successes just being shifted to different successes?)

Nope! If you haven't yet started the Befuddled encounter at this point then please do not do so. If your group was already in the middle of the encounter when I announced the House success (which one Discord table was), then go ahead and finish the encounter and report it as normal; I'll shift excess successes to other missions that need a boost.

*edit*

Adjusted an additional 'Befuddled Success' to a 'Shifted Success'~

Does stupefied condition imposed by failed save against the Bore into Brain ability of the Yellow Musk Creeper end when the creeper (or all opponent creatures) is destroyed? If not, does it count as one of the "lingering conditions" that is removed at the beginning of Part 2?

For that matter, does the fascinated condition?

I've got another 'Befuddled Success' for you to shift. :)

I was in the middle of that encounter when you reported the success.

Does stupefied condition imposed by failed save against the Bore into Brain ability of the Yellow Musk Creeper end when the creeper (or all opponent creatures) is destroyed? If not, does it count as one of the "lingering conditions" that is removed at the beginning of Part 2?

For that matter, does the fascinated condition?

I think it would count as a lingering condition removed at the end of the part 1; Stupefied automatically down't go away. It can be reduced by restoration.

Fascinated would go away when the thing fascinating you is destroyed or ends the effect by attacking you, etc.

I've got another 'Befuddled Success' for you to shift. :)

I was in the middle of that encounter when you reported the success.

I gotchu ;)

Moved another 'Befuddled Success' to 'Shifted Success'. Currently the House needs the following successes:

1 Mushroom
3 Animal
3 Plant
2 Charting
4 Shifted

GM Valen wrote:

Does stupefied condition imposed by failed save against the Bore into Brain ability of the Yellow Musk Creeper end when the creeper (or all opponent creatures) is destroyed? If not, does it count as one of the "lingering conditions" that is removed at the beginning of Part 2?

For that matter, does the fascinated condition?

I think it would count as a lingering condition removed at the end of the part 1; Stupefied automatically down't go away. It can be reduced by restoration.

Fascinated would go away when the thing fascinating you is destroyed or ends the effect by attacking you, etc.

What Doug said.

I'm at Shifted and have Animal to go.

Do the optional encounters count for any of the needed successes?

I'm at Shifted and have Animal to go.

Do the optional encounters count for any of the needed successes?

Yes they get assigned to any of the main 6.