Thanks, I am back in the saddle after some other unexpected delays. Both the girls are away at college now, and the house is quiet. Try to get some storytelling done, so buckle up.
For teaming up to diffuse an ugly scene, give Sable and Lenrelle a Hero Point each. (I have to be better about awarding those).
I was kind of hoping for a fight...
I'm glad there was no fight. Sable, and I'm sure many of the rest of the group, would have felt terrible hurting normal people who are likely just scared, so I'm quite happy Lenrelle manage to pull yet another of Sable's bad Charisma-based rolls out of the fire!
On a side note, at the end of next week - I want to wait until the two new playtest classes are revealed on the 31st, and set up for download on the 1st - I'll be doing a recruiting thread for my first jump into PbP GMing with Sky King's Tomb.
If any of you want to grab the Players Guide and start brainstorming for concepts, feel free. Also, Dr. Evil, and anyone else who has GMed pbp before - feel free to PM with any advice you may desire.
2E aid math
+5 aid
1-5 crit fail 25% -1
15-19 success 25% +1
20 crit success 5% +2
Expected value of aid roll +.1
Expected vale of any aid roll =
(Modifier-4)*.1
Do not aid with less than +4
I would love to be in Sky King's Tomb.
I would suggest using google drawings for the maps and change two settings so you can share the link and give access to everyone on the web and give editing privileges to everyone. I use rectangles as our DM does now to cover hidden things on the map. Control c and control v copies and pastes any images to the map including character portraits from pbp posts. Sometimes someone moves the map as editing on a phone is VERY hard, but you can just move them back.
As I love dwarves, I would love to be a dwarf alchemist in Sky King's tomb.
For teaming up to diffuse an ugly scene, give Sable and Lenrelle a Hero Point each. (I have to be better about awarding those).
I was kind of hoping for a fight...
Whew! Thanks for the Hero point! Glad we duked that fight though *G*
On a side note, at the end of next week - I want to wait until the two new playtest classes are revealed on the 31st, and set up for download on the 1st - I'll be doing a recruiting thread for my first jump into PbP GMing with Sky King's Tomb.
If any of you want to grab the Players Guide and start brainstorming for concepts, feel free. Also, Dr. Evil, and anyone else who has GMed pbp before - feel free to PM with any advice you may desire.
I would love to join Sky King's Tomb and will try to think of a concept right away. I've already read the Player's guide but will look at it again.
On a side note, at the end of next week - I want to wait until the two new playtest classes are revealed on the 31st...
Are you looking to allow those as possible class options for your game?
Edit: Are the actual classes announced yet? All my searching on playtest is just finding the old PF2 playtest or the upcoming SF2 playtest stuff. I haven't seen anything about the 2 new classes you mentioned.
On a side note, at the end of next week - I want to wait until the two new playtest classes are revealed on the 31st...Are you looking to allow those as possible class options for your game?
Edit: Are the actual classes announced yet? All my searching on playtest is just finding the old PF2 playtest or the upcoming SF2 playtest stuff. I haven't seen anything about the 2 new classes you mentioned.
They have not been announced yet. At GenCon, Paizo said there would be playtest of two classes that have 'not appeared in Pathfinder before'. They'll be revealed on the 31st with Downloads available on the 1st.
I am looking at allowing them for apps once they are revealed, and I wanted to give this group a heads-up before the recruitment thread comes out next week, though there are no promises for anyone!
Here's hoping for a full-fledged OG Synthesist Summoner rewrite! Living armor or golem like mech unit or something to be a fantasy Ironman.
Perivoltage the Mechwarrior will be reporting for recruitment if that happens!
I am looking at allowing them for apps once they are revealed, and I wanted to give this group a heads-up before the recruitment thread comes out next week, though there are no promises for anyone!
More than Fair and fairly warned. Thank you :)
Send us the link when you get Recruitment up and running. I am likely at my max capacity right now, but may over-commit to be a player more.
PM if you need any tips or advice, always happy to help. I think you'll be great!
I also love the large portraits of enemies in this game and try to provide them too!!
Perivoltage the Mechwarrior will be reporting for recruitment if that happens!
I only just read the Inventor class! Mechwarrior is actually possible already!
My recruiting thread is up:
https://paizo.com/campaigns/v5748p75ivn1y/recruiting
Thank you! I'll work on a character asap
I LOLed IRL at your laat post Perivolt.
In case you don't know, the Sanctuary of Shelyn is mentioned briefly in the text. maybe two sentences, but the rest of this is just made up. Part of why I love this AP so much -- it gives you the framework of a city, but the sandbox nature of the way it is organized gives the players agency to go their own route and to places not contemplated otherwise. And that lets the GM make up some stuff as well to compliment the provided details. Fun for me, and hopefully fun for you.
Yes, I have had to improvise players going "off the map" and talking to NPCs with one or two lines of info.
Perivolt's family was amazingly well done.
I agree. It's been a lot of fun!
The NPCs have been very fleshed out in interaction in rather short periods of time.
@DM DoctorEvil: As a recent victim of players suddenly announcing with little warning they are dissatisfied with having to drive most of the action during an "open world" segment written into the module I was running, just be careful not to let the sandbox-iness of this section drag on too long.
While I agree what we've seen so far is well-done, I absolutely don't want you to get blindsided the way I was. Hopefully our players here will be more up front if they're not happy. :)
@Sable: I admit I was almost worried you'd see it as a dig instead of a fun observation. I'm glad that's not the case! :D
I don't hate you at all. One of the main reasons that Sable stepped away was so that she wouldn't explode at Talindra's boss in the city, out of respect for Talindra!
It's also why she turned back to say that if Talindra felt the task was worth doing, Sable would help.
@DM DoctorEvil: As a recent victim of players suddenly announcing with little warning they are dissatisfied with having to drive most of the action during an "open world" segment written into the module I was running, just be careful not to let the sandbox-iness of this section drag on too long.
While I agree what we've seen so far is well-done, I absolutely don't want you to get blindsided the way I was. Hopefully our players here will be more up front if they're not happy. :)
I'll take it under advisement
Be advised that I will be tied up a good bit of the long weekend, so posting may be slow until Monday.
The plot hook confuses me a lot because of who is giving it to us. This is not meant to say I won't go along with it, but it seems to invalidate everything she had said to this point.
First of all, the king died last night in game. How would someone who has stayed in her sanctuary heard anything with that level of detail?
More importantly, she refused to send one or two people out to calmly ask people to go home, out of fear that it would have the temple picking a side, but then she asks us to actively get involved against one side on her behalf?
It just seems off that she categorically refuses to do something very low risk, and then asks us to do something crazy high risk for her church after.
Again, if the party wants to explore this hook, I'm all for it. It seems interesting, and it could be a lot of fun. But, coming from /this/ NPC, it feels like a narrative disconnect. If it had been something being talked about as a rumor as we came into lunch at Perivolt's, it would make sense.
If we went to Seranrae's church, checked up on the kids, and heard the rumor there, it would make sense. But, for someone to say 'Oh, no, we won't do something easy because we're afraid the Queen might get mad at us." and then say a minute later "By the way, go directly interfere in the Queen's plans, should she be evil, and bring the girl she is looking for right here.", just doesn't make sense to me.
Some questions.
Is sending us directly interfering?
Isn't sending church people to do low risk stuff actively interfering?
Hasn't this queen been an active political figure before becoming queen?
As Billi has alluded to, can't church people be doctrinally bound and get tunnel vision?
Isn't the current chaos situation helping Sarenrae if their goal is to remove the queen and not solidify her rule?
I guess I do not find the inconsistency, but would like to know. If the queen is influenced by devils, removing her and not helping restore order seems in this groups best interest.
Those are interesting questions, Billi. Here's my take.
Sending us to find a girl that the Queen might want to kill and bringing her back to the Sanctuary, or even somewhere else on behalf of Shelyn, is definitely getting in the way of the Queen's plans, should she be evil. After all, she is offering to pay us to do this. That means that if we do it - and we should - she's the one giving the orders.
The second question, I'd say would be no. Helping people out, and calming them down, is not getting in the way of any plot. It's just helping people. If the Queen wins, she won't care if Shelyn's church sent people home when they were rioting, but if they get in her way, and she is evil, she's likely to strike back.
I want to say again that I like the plot hook. I think it's very interesting. I just don't see, from a narrative perspective, why someone who is choosing to do nothing out of fear the Queen will be mad if she stays on the throne, would deliberately take an action that would draw the Queen's ire. If I want to ensure I don't get someone's attention, I don't go out of my way to get into their most important business.
It might just be me. Maybe my way of looking at things is just unusual, I don't know.
If the queen holds power, quelling unrest seems to help her.
It does help people in the short term, but if you think rioting against a diabolical queen is way better in the long run, you don't stop it.
Well, maybe it's because I'm a fan of Shelyn as a player, but to me , the goddess and her church having the inside on the going on of an artist makes perfect sense. The Goddess of Beauty is a big patron of painters and more. Even a small church might have a regular worshiper from the castle who can give some gossip or rumors on the fast track to their church. I certainly have seen how rumors can spread through a real world church so this works for me :)
I suspect, good aligned or not, the high priestess of Shelyn here is looking for plausible deniability. It's a fragile cover, but it is a cover. She's asking Talindra to put herself at risk while protecting the congregation but then, Talindra is a Champion of the goddess! We don't know this high priestess' level, magical or mundane resources. They may have access to ways to smuggle the artist to safety or hide her. Maybe they've done this sort of thing before in other regimes. Add to that access to clerical divination spells and literal divine guidance, and I'm good with all this. Maybe I'm a soft touch :)
IN Character, Lenrelle is going to see this as hypocritical but that won't change the fact someone else's life is in danger. And they might even be able to find this lady who might have insight to what's going on.
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In character, completely happy to go along, of course. OOC, I have the same concerns stated here. It does make sense (both in a game sense as a questgiver NPC and as a ranking member of a political faction) for her to send someone else to do this work for her, but I am hoping for some more information in response to Lenrelle's questions. Talindra's more than a little disappointed at her reticence to get involved helping people, though! I'm hoping to get more information on that, maybe if we rescue this artist?
Personally, I find the concern about the queen’s possible diabolical connections the part that is surprising and a bit more unimmersive. This is Korvosa, a former protectorate of Cheliax and diabolism is a way of life for citizens in this area. The Acadamae students are known for contracting imps, and the prior queen actively courted a division of the Hellknights (while not strictly associated with the infernal realms), there’s clearly an understanding of the overall alignments of most powerful individuals in the city. The Church of Abadar’s influence is most likely the strongest stabilizer preventing full-tilt infernal rule in Korvosa, so quite frankly my concerns for narrative consistency are different than Sable’s as they are strictly lore-based and the implied atmosphere of a former Chelaxian colony.
However, my knowledge of Korvosan lore must bow to any setting changes our DM has made and therefore may be just a fever dream Perivolt had one night. :P
Sorry to be controversial, again we are off book, but here is my rationale (as much as I can share) for Lyddia's actions.
1) The priests of Shelyn actively working to calm citizens (or to Billi's point, to stir them up) is an OVERT action. There will be consequences for aligning with one group or the other. Lyddia knows the Sanctuary's position in Korvosa is tenuous already and doesn't want to tip the scale against her flock, especially if the diabolical Asmodean following is on the rise.
2) Her request to send a "cat's paw" to help an artist is fully in line with how Shelyn's church might act. She is using a relatively unknown tool to look into a situation that is quite delicate. This action has plausible deniability, in her mind, and is COVERT and therefore not traceable, so far back to the Sanctuary. Whatever you find, she will measure her actions and reactions.
3) Queen Ileosa is Chelaxian by birth, not a secret, and part of the rub for the base citizen is that nation's open diabolical leanings. She is not popular in Korvosa, at least partly because of the fear that she will bring devil-worship to the city. Lyddia is worried about the same. Asmodeus has an active church in Korvosa (you can go see it if you want), but they are not the most powerful faction -- that is Abadar, as Perivolt says. But politics and position change with the death of a monarch, and who knows where things ends up.
PS: Recall this is an early PF1 AP, so the stories in Korvosa are before those in the PF2 guidebooks and before the activities and consequences of a few later-produced APs that directly impact Cheliax.
I appreciate the questions OOC and hope that you understand the motivations, within what can be shared, at least a little better, so as not to interfere with verisimilitude and playability. I think my changes are fully in line with the context and tone of the AP.
One more OOC note for you to consider: NPCs in the game can be a) not acting on accurate information, only what they have available or b) might be actively lying to you. Rumors are not always true, and everyone has some kind of agenda. Don't forget those points in any interaction. At some point, you may know more than faction leaders, monarchs, the city watch, or anyone else in Korvosa about what is actually going on.
Understood, DM. Lenrelle may have read too much into the high priestess' actions but she's going with the theory that the Church of Shelyn thinks the Queen is ...well, evil :)
Hence the Edit to respond to share that view with Sable and the others.
Should be interesting
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Everything here makes a good amount of sense and does help put things into context, thank you! Talindra is still quite annoyed at Lyddia not having the kind of gumption which she believes is core to the faith, but indeed it's possible that there's something else happening here! Eager to find out what, if anything, that is :)
Sorry guys, the football game got in the way of my posting time. Will catch you up tomorrow.
Hey guys, I'm going to go ahead and bow out. Nothing against our GM or you as players; the game's been fun. I've got some things jamming up my creative mind and life's also been a bit more hectic reducing my ability to get on the forums as much as I'd like.
Thank you for having me for this time, and happy gaming.
Aww man. you and Perivolt shall be missed!
I appreciate the statements. Perhaps this may only be a small hiatus from the forums, but I don't want to make any promises which I may be unable to keep. You all are doing great, so I can't imagine you'll have too much trouble without me from a narrative sense. You guys are remarkable at staying true to character.
I agree with the others that we will miss you. I hope your hiatus isn't too long and that you can come back and join us again!
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Thanks for the heads up Perivolt. Give me a buzz if you make it back and we will find a way to re-enter you into the story. Hope personal life things get back in order.
So, Nara gives four leads, but three of them are men. Lyddia told us that the artist is female, so if she was not lying to us, Nara's four leads are really only one lead.
Or am I missing something?
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You're not missing anything. Talindra is assuming that the artists Nara told us about aren't the artist we're looking for, but they may have info on where to find her. Seems we're going to have to go fishing for this plot, and given that I'm fine if folks want to postpone it so we can focus on other things.
how you follow the leads, including going to the Castle and asking direct questions, is up to you.
ARe you interested in recruiting for another full arcane caster? Not sure how you feel about that with Perivolt's departure. I am fine to proceed, but you may want to round back out. If you know someone who is solid, I'd prefer recommendations to fishing in the pond of recruits.
While I am not against extra people, I'd lean toward giving Perivolt's players IRL a chance to let him come back. I know it's not a given, and at just four, we'd have to adjust tactics a bit.
But, again, I'm not against adding someone else.
Missing an arcane caster in a party of four is fine.
Missing a tank or a healer is typically much harder.
Fighter, champion, bard, cleric is a much stronger party comp than swapping out any of those for a 2E full arcane caster.