First off, thank you all for being willing to come on an adventure with me! Now, to business.
- I will post every day. I hope everyone can post every weekday and at least once over the weekend, but stuff happens - which leads me to:
- I will bot you if we haven't heard from you in 24 hours. Please include botting instructions in your character profile, or I will have to get creative in the most entertaining (for me) way possible. Please also let me know if you are expecting an extended period of absence so I can PM you and preemptively hash out major decision points to keep the story moving. On a related note:
- I will make "reactive" rolls to keep the story moving along. If you want to make a roll as part of an action/decision/etc, please do so. I might modify the skill used or add circumstantial bonuses/penalties based on circumstances. Which brings me to my final point:
- I will happily add circumstantial bonuses (or penalties) for roleplaying. I hope, for example, that you will accompany your diplomacy check with what your character is actually saying. It makes it so much easier for me to respond if you give me material, and we make such a more fulfilling and exciting story together.
If you're worried or concerned about any of these expectations, or about anything related to this game, post it here or PM me. We can figure something out so you have a good time.
In addition to making “reactive” rolls for characters, I also like to roll Knowledge checks for players so we don't have to wait for a back-and-forth between player and GM. To that end, I tailor what a character might remember about a creature. (For example, a fighter will probably care more about a golem’s DR while a wizard would remember that it’s immune to spells and an alchemist is super excited that it blows up when it dies.) Let me know what your character is most concerned about with an opponent - otherwise, I'll use my best judgment. If this will be a problem for you, let me know (either here or via PM) and we’ll work something out.
We’ll be using block initiative during encounters. Actions will be resolved in the order that they were posted in. While this can do some weird things with a single character acting "twice" before another, it is easier for both players and GM to track the sequence of events this way. I highly encourage tactics such as:
McSwordFace waits until her friend Blessings Galore has a chance to cast a buff before she attacks the horrible people kicking puppies.
I will happily calculate the final result in these cases. This helps us work effectively as a team even if posting schedules don’t line up in a beneficial way.
If your post is entirely out of character , let’s put it here instead of in the Gameplay thread.
About Me: I’ve done a bit of PFS and PbP GMing, but I am certainly not perfect. If you have ideas for how I could do something better, a disagreement with a decision, or confusion over what I’m saying, please let me know via the Discussion thread or PM.
For your first post here, please use the Reply option on the following post, delete the [quote'] tags, and fill in the provided fields. And be sure to pop over to the Gameplay thread and introduce your character!
Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS Number:
Faction:
Slow Tracking? (Y/N):
Downtime (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities:
And here's my alter ego.
Thank you to those who have posted their info! I've got more things for folks to fill out - some tools I've shamelessly copied from other GMs to help the game run smoother. You can also find these links in the Campaign header.
RPG Chronicles - This does ask for a lot of the same information as my second post (and I was planning on just copying folks' info into the tool when the time came to make chronicle sheets), but there's a possibility for boons! DOOR PRIZES! in the form of Paizo vouchers. But! The convention organizers have to email them out to winners (drawn from GMs and players of reported games), and RPG Chronicles lets your email not be visible to everyone on the internet while also getting it in one place for my ease of sending them to the convention organizers. Bonus! It also lets me send out that chronicle sheet to your email inbox with the click of a button! Woo! XD
Macros - This streamlines the process (for me) of things such as rolling initiative, saves, or other exciting things. It's also a great way to give me a reminder of fun stuff like Darkvision, Glad-Hand, and other great exploration/saving throw/skill things. Give a holler if you have questions or concerns while filling it out, and check out that Example sheet if you want a demo.
Slides - Put your tokens in marching order, show us which face goes with which name, and distribute any hero points from GM glyphs or Campaign Coins.
If you haven't already introduced yourself in the Gameplay thread, this is an excellent opportunity to do so before things start happening in a few weeks. Thanks again for all your work ahead of time to help this game run smoothly! (Or, at least run like a delightful disaster! XD)
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Player Name: Wicked Brew
Character Name: Vander Kai
PFS Number: 70501-2003
Faction: Grand Archive
Slow Tracking? (Y/N): N
Downtime (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities: Telekentic Rend
Excited to start the game!
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Player Name: Mighty Glacier
Character Name: Termia
PFS Number: 150675-2004
Faction: Vigilant Seal
Slow Tracking? (Y/N): N
Downtime (please roll now):
Special Notes/Abilities: As a fighter, Termia has Attack of Opportunity. If it matters, Termia (together with Chadius's PC Issil) has completed a previous Dacilane Academy scenario, #2-09 The Seven Secrets of Dacilane Academy.
Outpost VI has officially started! Woo!
With our current spread of characters, we'll be playing in the lower subtier. I don't expect this to cause problems for anyone, but please let me know if it does and we'll try to find a solution.
@Vander Kai, please fill out the RPG Chronicles signup sheet and the remaining tab in the Macros spreadsheet as soon as possible. Links are available here or in the Campaign header.
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"And where are the chaperones?"
I'd like something clarified. I was under the impression that we the PCs are the "chaperones" for this field trip. Should we interpret this statement to mean that the children somehow can't see us?
By the way, I just remembered that I have indeed completed scenario #3-99 Fate in the Future, although with a different character. Shall I read Yakutiel's spoiler in this post?
You are indeed the chaperones. And yes, go ahead and open that spoiler as well.
Apologies for the delayed post, folks - I'll move us along in the morning.
Noted. Enjoy the lovely weather! XD
Heads up folks - our household has come down with the plague (covid) and my posting might become spotty over the next few days. I'll do my best not to leave everyone hanging!
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I think I'm in bad health, but need to figure out how to heal myself. I'm down 5 from the first combat, and then I took 7 fire damage from the cooking mess (GM rolled 8, but I have fire resist 1). I need to look up the options, unless someone can provide ideas. I do have the class ability to lay on hands, which might be what I want to use...
Lay on hands is a wonderful spell for healing - given enough time to Refocus (a 10 minute process) after each casting, a champion can ensure that all of their companions are at full health after every encounter. And unless stated otherwise, in this adventure we can assume there’s not a time rush.
And Zug is correct - the splatter missed Areeza in Round 1 of the kitchen encounter, so no damage was taken.
Noted - I’ll be happy to bot you starting tomorrow until your return. Have a lovely time!
They’ll take care of any Striding or whatnot that needs to happen to activate their Focus if they’re directed to activate it - though there’s no harm in roleplaying out directions to walk inside too.
Areeza moves forward (one action) and swings her scimitar at the snake thing.
[dice=attack]1d20+7
[dice=damage]1d6+4[dice=attack]1d20+7
[dice=damage]1d6+4
The second attack penalty is -5 unless you have something that changes it (like an Agile weapon or a Flurry Ranger's attacks against a hunted prey). A third attack takes that penalty again cumulatively (-10 in total usually), but it doesn't increase further than that if you have a way to make even more attacks in a round.
And yes! The second attack gets extra damage from Forceful. It's 1 extra damage per weapon damage dice, so right now that's 1 extra damage. When you get get a Striking weapon rune, it'll increase your scimitar's base damage to 2d6 - and that'll then increase the Forceful damage to 2. And then when you're making a third (or higher) attack in a round, the Forceful damage doubles (so 2 at the moment).
Let us know if there's other questions we can help clarify!
We are wrapping up this adventure! Please take a moment to ensure that your reporting information is correct both here and on RPGChronicles.
Remember that everyone is eligible for door prizes (vouchers), but I need to have your email address so if you win one the convention organizers can get it to you. Email addresses can be either entered into RPGChronicles or sent to me via PM.
Issil, it looks like you already rolled a check to Earn Income here. Are you a field-commissioned agent? If not, I’ll use the first result - if yes, I’ll use the second check for the last four days of downtime.
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Chronicle sheets can be downloaded HERE! Please let me know when you've gotten yours and if you need anything corrected on it.
Additionally, I'm always looking to improve my GMing. I'd love to hear (either here or via PM):
- What was the funnest part of the game for you?
- What was the most frustrating part of the game for you?
- What was something you wish had been done differently?
- What would you love to have happen on every table you play at?
Take care of yourselves, and I'm sure we'll see each other around the forums again sometime!
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It was a fun game, kudos to GM and everyone else!
It was very smooth, so nothing to criticize.
Fun: trying to guide the students
Frustrating: my dice rolls (not something you can fix unless you know some secret paizo messageboards code)
Also, making decisions where to go on quite open map in PBP is always a bit slow - but that's an issue a feature of the scenario and used medium.
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Dungeon navigation is usually difficult in PbP. Sometimes when I GM I will get the party to agree on a Standard Operating Procedure, or I'll wait for 2 PCs to pick a direction. Or I'll just go for the nearest door relative to the party. It's hard for players to understand which room is important if they don't know what's behind there first (and they shouldn't know what's behind the door, that's the point of a dungeon crawl.)
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Chronicle sheet looks good.
Thank you so much for running this, and for your patience and understanding as I struggled with overwhelm.
From that perspective, what I can tell you is that you did an amazing job of making the main story crystal clear, even for someone who was rather disengaged from the detail.
Thank you, fellow players, for a game that was fun despite my brain fog about the game.