Welcome to my first time running a PBP game.
Please take a few minutes and read through my profile. And probably at least the profile of Gaming Table.
Details of mechanics and changes for this game:
I'm wanting to run with Ancestry Paragon and Automatic Bonus Progression. For ABP I am tweaking it a bit - item bonuses from consumables and spells are also converted to Potency bonus instead of being removed. This allows things like Magic Weapon, Mage Armor, and Drakeheart Mutagen to continue to work.
Your characters need to be leshies in order to fit into the campaign's narrative, and be at level 3. Note that the campaign is short enough that you won't level up. So keep that in mind when choosing feats and abilities.
This is the alias I use when playing a pregen or other temporary character. Ignore the Kobold, it is what I played for Dark Archive Case files.
I am fine filling in with whatever sort of character the group needs.
It almost looks like leaves if you squint at it. Should be fine.
Also, as for starting equipment, you can have whatever level 0 mundane items you want. I'm thinking with ABP in play, starting you with 1 level 3 (or lower) permanent item, and 2 level 3 (or lower) consumables.
I'm trying to avoid having to track money. It is tedious and not much fun. It also isn't on-theme with leshies living in the forest. Or short one-day adventures.
So I think there are items to find, but I don't think there will be places to buy or sell things. If for some reason you do need to re-equip, I can provide friends in the forest that will give, lend, or barter for the things you need.
I am wanting to go fungus leshy, sorcerer. leaning elemental, but I'm still looking. I'll have a build put together on Saturday after the school year ends. Friday I'm going to be at the school for like, 16 hours. Attending graduation. (I'm a teacher for those who don't know me)
This will be the alias for Miss Fungus Leshy :)
I'll have a build put together on Saturday after the school year ends.
That should work perfect.
My bard is good to go.
Nice. Sorcerer and Bard so far.
Hihi, I'm thinking of being a Druid! I'll see what I can get built and put on the character sheet by Sunday evening.
Sorcerer, Bard, Druid.
Sounds like we need a front liner. I will either adapt Popcorn or create one of my own.
Sounds like a plan.
Is everyone good with me kicking things off tomorrow evening?
-----
Also, a couple of other houserules that I like:
Hero Point reroll of healing amounts. So if you use a Minor Healing Potion and roll 1d8 => 1, you can reroll that. Same with spells or other methods of healing.
Aid has a really high DC for low level characters. It is really strange when the DC to Aid is higher than the DC of the task itself. So cap the DC of Aid to be task DC -1. So if the task DC is 18 the Aid DC is 17. If the task DC is 23 then the Aid DC is the normal 20.
Thoughts on those?
Any other quality of life houserules that you have used and liked?
And any questions on rules and mechanics that need rulings?
I added a slide document for character pictures and map tokens.
I'm also thinking of just using slides for the combat map. I have also used Roll20, but that seems like a lot of work for just a mini-adventure.
I can also make Pixie a rogue for damage and stuff :)
Also, your houserules are fine. I have nothing off the top of my head that needs a ruling, but if something comes up, I'll let you know. :)
I'm going to roll with her as a rogue and see what happens since we have a bard and a druid.
I have seen other DMs also use Google Drawings for the combat maps and that's worked great. You can give people editing permission so we can move our tokens on it pretty easily. Slides is pretty easy, too.
I can also make Pixie a rogue for damage and stuff :)
Either is fine. I will adapt to the players that we have.
I'm probably going to stick with the sorcerer then. Rogue is not very exciting to me.
I am adaptable as well. I could go quazi frontliner with a magus instead, or try a monk!
I think you should play what you would have fun with. I personally feel that is more enjoyable for all of us.
There are only two battles in the entire adventure. And if I have to nerf them, I will. I don't think I will need to though - just looking at the numbers and levels and such, it doesn't look like anything we have been seeing in Age of Ashes. Even running with 4 spellcasters, it would probably work reasonably well.
My internet was out for an obnoxious amount of time and I didn't get her sheet done yesterday. Once I'm home from grabbing lunch, I'll be sitting down to finish her up. I'll post the path builder sheet so folks can see while I do the tedious task of finishing the alias. Luckily, I have a template.
Working on her alias now.
Okay! This should be good before any other things. Time to work on some backstory!
Alright, I think I got her. How many hero points are we starting with, if at all?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm planning on starting you with 2 at the beginning. And using them as plot rewards in place of XP gain and such things.
OK. Kicking things off.
Let me know if you have questions. And let's all have fun.
Set up a profile. Need to do Botting section still and review Barbarian since I’ve never played one.
Barbs are fun, and athletic beasts from what I have read up on. More skills than a fighter, not as many feats, but lots of things to play around with.
I posted an image of Fengal in the first slide :D
Sorry, I was sick part of yesterday and all of today. Slept through most of the day.
Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and participate more fully.
@Fengal - looks good. I'll see about making a token out of it for you.
@Popcorn - take care of yourself. No worries on my side of things.
Sorry for my silence. I spent the morning in the ER and found out that I have a 4.7mm kidney stone. I will be more cognizant tomorrow. I've been on a lot of pain medication today.
Ouch!
Hope this passes soon.
Oh no! I hope you can get rid of that soon!
This is my third ever! I do not love this feeling, lol. The ER doctor said 5mm is the threshold for surgery, so I'm riiiight there...pain is under control, though. Working on a post now.
Is anyone still deciding on equipment? Or overwhelmed with the decision on equipment and wanting help?
Been busy with family medical, so I apologize for lack of posts. Will post asap.
Is anyone still deciding on equipment? Or overwhelmed with the decision on equipment and wanting help?
I just went with basic equip and two healing potions. I always feel overwhelmed by equipment decision-making, haha.
I have a selection of toys in mind. And I have ideas for getting them to you.
I'll post more in the morning.
I went with mostly basics as well, while adding a dagger and a healer's kit.
Put Glimmer on the character slides.
Glimmer shrugs. "I didn't look. But who would climb into a sack a human was carrying around? That seems like a silly thing to do."
So that was your opportunity to give us more reason than a broken bridge (that has already been repaired) for chasing this person.
No one really understood Thumis as indicated by Fengal’s reply when I asked. Yes, there are the mangled names of the other young leshies. The only hint of that connection is on Slide 4 of the slides and you haven’t given us much reason to look at them.
I think you should make our motives more apparent. Give our characters a reason to follow this plot. Right now, I’m not sure I would have caught it if I wasn’t already familiar with this module.
Fair.
It is hard to give enough hints without spelling everything out entirely. Thumis doesn't even exist in the module as written. I have absolutely no idea how the players would get any incentive to follow random tracks through the forest without something hints to go on. Maybe a critical success on identifying those flower petals. But I don't like relying on critical successes in order to progress plot.
And then even Glimmer didn't actually see anything either. At least not as written in the module. She isn't even supposed to know what direction the guy went. Just the overhearing of that line of him yelling at the bag.
Any recommendations for how to make it more apparent in-game?
Any recommendations for how to make it more apparent in-game?
Glimmer’s answer is the sort given for ‘nothing to see here.’
Instead, you could have mentioned her noticing noises coming from the bag and it squirming. Something to indicate the contents of the bag were important rather than steer characters away from it.
In the original module, Fluff Fang was acquainted with the leshies. It was part of their background.
Their audience mainly consists of the tiniest leshys of Verduran, who cluster around Fluff Fang like small children hoping for a bedtime story. Fluff Fang has gleefully accepted this minuscule mob as apprentices, arming them with sticks and sending them out on missions to shoo off stray sheep or whack carnivorous plant sprouts who have gotten too bold.
You skipped the first box text, with nothing that I see to replace it. The cut scene to something our characters wouldn’t know about set the scene but would be out of character information for our characters.
Look over that first box text. Look over some of the other background information.
Then maybe give us a flashback to some of the things we know about current happenings in the woods or something like that. Something that works for you narratively yet gives us in character knowledge to work off of.
That would be my suggestion.
The motives for why a character might want to take action shouldn’t be treated as a mystery element. Who did it and how can be, but what happened to motivate an investigation shouldn’t be.
In the original module, Fluff Fang was acquainted with the leshies. It was part of their background.
Their audience mainly consists of the tiniest leshys of Verduran, who cluster around Fluff Fang like small children hoping for a bedtime story. Fluff Fang has gleefully accepted this minuscule mob as apprentices, arming them with sticks and sending them out on missions to shoo off stray sheep or whack carnivorous plant sprouts who have gotten too bold.You skipped the first box text, with nothing that I see to replace it.
-_-
Seriously?
No, I didn't read through the pregen's backstories. I wasn't expecting important plot information to be there.
I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear enough. But yes, you all know these small leshies on the character slides. Even if only indirectly, depending on how you want to set things for your character. At least enough to recognize who Thumis is talking about.
Because yeah, knowing who is causing problems or why they are doing so might be a mystery, but what you should do shouldn't be.
Sorry if my feedback came off too blunt.
The thing is I didn’t feel that I had enough in character to go off to know that there were missing leshies.
Now that your declared that we know that leshies have gone mysteriously missing in the past at least gives me reason to question Glimmer more.
I much prefer blunt feedback to vague feedback or none at all.
So no worries about my feelings. This is my first attempt at running a game after all.
Sorry that I have been quiet - between a kidney stone (which is still making its way through my body hooray) and illness ripping through my household again, it's been a rough couple of days. Catching up now.
Still looking for a roll from Fengal. Posting interactions from the villagers to keep things interesting though. Feel free to chat more with those people or others in the village.
Also, so you all know, I'm going to retcon that wand to Biting Words so that it is usable.
Sorry, was out all day!