Savage Tide in the Darklands

Game Master Edward Sobel

This is the discussion thread

ask questions, finalize characters discuss out of character stuff, etc

The Priestesses head is at least 6" higher than the next tallest person in the park.

How tall is she? Pertinax in 6'3", which would make him taller than all but the tallest drow, IIRC. Though I suppose she could be in heels.

she's 6'8" and 250lbs

Please let me know if anyone has played or gm'd savage tide before and how far have you gotten?

Not I.

Never played or gm'd it. I know absolutely nothing about this AP beyond what you shared in the recruitment.

Read through Savage Tide, though I've never played or GMed it.

I'm fully expecting our GM to make changes to the AP--it's already set in the Darklands, so I'm not expecting things to play out exactly as written.

I played an event in chapter one or two. Don't remember much.

Appologies all for being a little silent.. Got jammed at work with lots of Overtime but things are getting back to normal again.

will start looking things over soon

Sincerest apologies for not posting in this thread sooner - I didn't realize a discussion thread had already been linked for the pre-game selection scene. I have not played Savage Tide at all and know little about it, but I understand it goes through Level 20, unlike many later APs.

An evil person being callous? What are the odds?

I understand completely OOC, but Thanaton's being taken aback was entirely from an in-character standpoint. I planned to base his personality off the character Alfred Bester from Babylon 5.

Bester was a really good bad guy. Thanks for the clarification.

Aranda is most like Ma Ma from Dredd(2012)

She would react the same to anyone that she perceives as weak (use of benevolent employers language).

Plus she believes that the Vanderborens might not be dead, Given the Machiavellian maneuvers of the Noble class.

She absolutely needs new employment, and no better place to find some than in this sea of nobles.

Bester was a really good bad guy. Thanks for the clarification.

No problem! And yes, Bester was definitely memorable. He only actually appeared in 12 episodes, but he was such an awesome villain that he seems like a major character. While I can't say I'm familiar with the media you reference, I appreciate the clarification on your part as well.

Plus she believes that the Vanderborens might not be dead, given the Machiavellian maneuvers of the Noble class.

OOC, I think that's definitely a possibility. IC, Thanaton has a practical view of life and takes poorly to playing politics, hence why he didn't think the Vanderborens could have had personal enemies. In his mind, you make enemies by doing shoddy work or insulting people, and by insulting people he means deliberate, "punch-in-the-face-and-cuss-out" type of insults rather than subtle "served-wrong-wine-with-sautéed-mosasaurus-liver" insults.

media I referenced

Great movie, I recommend! ;)

Also, if it's okay with everyone, I changed my character's alignment from LE to NE - I feel it fits in better with the direction I want his personality to take. As before, however, he will still be generally decent to others, with a good deal more neutrality than evil (but still an appreciable amount of evil).

GM, I just wanted to check in with you for a quick question I had. I've been trying to hold off on overly embellishing my posts, as I'm not sure how many liberties I can take with the given information from the player's guide. Is Shikki's statement regarding the status of ratfolk in Telderist the kind of improvisation we can do, or is there a level of information I'm missing.

I'm now picturing Thanaton as having the same voice as The G-Man from Half-Life 2.

Lol. I wanted so badly to know which god Thanaton's god was. Reminded me of the Jonathan Coulton song "I'm Your Moon". A love song written by Charon to Pluto.

I'm now picturing Thanaton as having the same voice as The G-Man from Half-Life 2.

"Buildings do not occur naturally, Mistress."

I can see how others might find the game a bit dry, but I'd advise at least looking at it - I liked it so much that I woke up at 4:00 in the morning because I couldn't handle the anticipation of reading a historical text in a language I don't know.

At this point we're all in an until-now-unspoken contest to come up with the least appetizing dishes, right? Right?

What? Don't fancy a weevil on the rocks?

Actually, I think that the giant millipede segment I mentioned would be a natural staple food in an underground society. Millipedes are slow-moving, have broad herbivorous appetites, and are fairly docile - if giant millipedes existed, they would be a logical key food animal for an underground civilization, much as ruminants like cattle or yaks are to humans.

I'm doing a fair amount of embellishing both here and in Shikki's backstory, but I figure if anything contradicts what the GM has planned lorewise we can always change it. Or Shikki could just be wrong; maybe she grew up in Shadowshore and had a lot of negative interactions with other races but that's not true of most ratfolk. (She also has the paranoid drawback which means she's more likely to assume the worst of people.)

I'm hoping that we can move into something more interesting than food fetish presentation. I feel the need to make it to postgame... But I can hear some player's souls suffering. Please, let's move on to combat or something.

One quick question for Minuè - would your character be switching back to the form of a regular elf in private or would she remain in her drow identity 24/7? If the former, she has a much greater chance of being discovered, but the way I read your Dark Identity ability, the latter would quickly escalate the Will save needed to change back into an elf to unbeatable levels.

Now aint that the pickle of the century, cuz you're totally right. She's been here for 50 years, and I can't imagine even if she was only a Drow for 8 hours a day, that she'd be so lucky as to not have someone find her.

Leveling up further, for my vigilante talents, I'll be taking ones that don't need me to be in my social guise to start with.

Right now, at game start I'm working on the assumption that she's been safe to change at the end of the day. And if I'm good enough IC I can either keep that up, or be a drow forever.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As for Thanaton's roll to identify the symbols on the scabbard, with a 10 that's for common deities I think. With Ashava being a kind of fringe empyreal lord, I think the DC is 20.

Apologies, I was looking more at the role your decorated scabbard would play in the story. As a link to the surface, it has the potential to expose you as an elven spy, so I had written my post on the following assumptions:

Critical Success - Identifies imagery and draws correct conclusion about Minuè, forcing her to bluff her way out, earning at least Thanaton's suspicion.
Success - Identifies imagery and adds it to a collection of clues that may in time accumulate to the point that they expose Minuè.
Failure - Fails to notice imagery, leaving Minuè safe for now but raising the possibility of another examination and identification later.
Critical Failure - Notices imagery but draws an entirely erroneous conclusion that absolves Minuè of any suspicion, preventing the scabbard from being used against her in the future.

As I rolled a natural 1, I had Thanaton notice the imagery, but put forth a suggestion that would not expose Minuè, allowing her to claim that she took it off a lost surfacer in the upper levels of the Darklands or some such. While he was still intrigued by the symbols, he does not suspect that she is a spy or anything of the sort.

Also, Thanaton didn't in fact identify which if any deity it is the holy symbol of - it was merely a hunch of his which he believes to have no bearing on anything.

I actually have no idea OOC if there’s an investigation going on, but that seemed like the thing a house guard would say.

Okay, so like I'm not here trying to insult anyone, or imply anyone's stupid?

If you're upset at me, I'm sorry that wasn't even close to what I was trying to do.

So if anything like that came off as insulting to you, again man that wasn't what I was going for.

We were having a conversation. You jumped in the middle. Not sure why.

You apologized. We're cool.

I jumped in because I thought you were cool and was keen to see your character in play again.

My bad.

My sincerest apologies if anything I said was an issue. I was merely trying to help - as Aranda had made her disdain for Thanaton and Minuè clear, I was simply attempting to let her interact with a major NPC without going back on her established views. As to CucumberTree's earlier statement regarding how Aranda was "built for action," as well as her expressed desire for combat, the pre-game selection scene is as far as I can tell a roleplaying-focused area where we can explore our characters and develop their personalities/backstories and the like. A dedicated face build is not necessary to participate - Thanaton's only good social skills are academia-based Knowledge skills, which he has only used once, and Intimidate, which he has not used at all. Irrespective of this, he is still able to make small talk and flesh out his character.

As for Pertinax's question regarding night and day in Telderist, I recall that the subterranean city of Skullport from the Forgotten Realms setting had an immense magical clock, built by the followers of the god of artifice, that marked out the days, months, and years below ground. Night and day were determined by the reading on the great clock, and it could very well have been inaccurate without the majority of Skullport's denizens being aware of any difference. I'm not sure what the GM's thoughts on this are, but I myself felt it was a rather interesting idea when I read it.

As far as night and day what I ended up doing for the play test group was the entire cavern above the city had a phosphorus lichen covering it that gives a faint illumination but only for a set period of time.

This later became the periods if day and night so daytime was considered dim light and night was darkness, except for some areas that required additional light.

Suddenly , the party discovers they shouldn't have eaten the giant beetle mousse

Suddenly , the party discovers they shouldn't have eaten the giant beetle mousse

The game did begin to feel like a social experiment.

Hey guys I am trying to decide if I can handle everyone instead of just choosing a few.

I need to look over some things to see if I can handle everything

I've never been in a 7-person party before...

I've never been in a 7-person party before...

I was briefly in one on the PbP boards here - it was Kingmaker, and the GM liked large parties for RP purposes. One player had to drop out due to health issues before we reached the first combat, but the roleplaying opportunities were great.

I was briefly in an 8 PC game once. I was the last player added and never got the whole story, but IIRC it started out with three friends of mine, two players plus a GM filling out the party with two GMPCs. Then they added first one, then another married couple, and finally me (though by the time I got there one of the GMPCs had been killed). Eventually one of the wives dropped out because she wasn’t really into it, then one of the couples moved away, and the other GMPC got kidnapped by devils, so we ended up down to 4 by the time the game petered out. Good times. Some crazy RP in that game due to a couple of the players being kind of nuts.

I am running this same game at my face to face group. we have 5 players and 1 GMPC there are some hiccups but overall it is going well.

the deadly combo in that group are the two Duergar. one is a barbarian and the other a dual kukri wielding warpriest. they slaughter nearly everything they come across.

the hobgoblin gunslinger/alchemist is the range guy and ship's engineer/master gunner

rounding out the party is a dhampir rogue/sorcerer/shadowdancer and a Drow Wizard. The GMPC is a Drow Cleric

I had skipped straight to the meeting part, but was slightly unsure if that's what we were supposed to be doing - GM, if this is jumping ahead or taking liberties, just say the word and I can walk it back, describe more of what my character does in the three intervening days, or the like.

I assumed a separate thread would be made for the campaign proper.

Hey all, sorry, I should be more clear.

I had thought maybe an initial reaction to the note then a brief synopsis of the three days.

I was going to have a separate thread but since I am taking everyone. There is no need to start a separate thread.

I will pick up as you end up meeting again at the gate to the Vanderboren manor.

Hey folks, I’m in the process of moving. Should get there tomorrow night, might not unload until the next day depending on when we get in. So I might not be here until Sunday. Or I might dig out my laptop and post from the hotel tonight. (I’m allergic to trying to RP by phone. I mean I’ve done it, but I prefer to have HeroLab available, a real keyboard, etc.)

Apologies, I appreciate the invitation but I'm not going to be able to play in this game after all. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks and I think adding another game would be too much for me right now.

I hope you all have lots of fun!

Sorry to hear that, Shikki.

So far, the attendees are Aranda, Thanaton, Trevor, Pertinax and Nathrae. I think we're waiting to see if Minuè makes it.

We lost the best looking member! :(

Sorry to see you go Shikki, I had great plans for your character.

also I need to explain my absence.

We went to the beach for labor day weekend and when we got home, we had a flea infestation in our house and have been spending all week fumigating and cleaning and spraying to get rid of them. its been taking all of my time.

Ouch! Does this mean we can eat Shikki?