Strange Aeons (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

@YBD: What are your thoughts on Baldrek so far? As you can see, he can stack a lot of conditions on the enemies while still going for the offensive. My goal was to have this feel of him fighting wildly and dirty, each round doing something different.

However, if you believe it is too much, I can change this route.

I'm liking him so far. Net-and-trident isn't something that's often seen in Pathfinder, so hopefully you're enjoying it. Don't worry about being too much from a mechanical standpoint; I can always increase the challenge as needed. I tend to play enemies somewhat sub-optimally at low levels to give the party a little breathing room as they figure out their builds. :-)

What's the final consensus on exploring? It's currently 2 to 1 in favor of going back inside. On a related note, I've sent Tassa a PM as she's been absent for a while now.

I'm good with going back inside

Oy, sorry to be so scarce! Life's been complicated (for some happy reasons, and some harder ones) but I'm definitely still committed.

I'll chalk it up to Mya's indeciseveness, but the reason I have changed opinions on where to explore is that it took until after the last fight to realize the garden area counted as "outside". It is obvious, but alas! Sorry for the confusion!

I'm camping today and tomorrow. I'll be back and able to post on Thursday (hopefully) or else on Friday.

Is the southern door locked?

I just noticed that I never answered this question. The southern door is unlocked.

Posting to all my games: Summer break officially ends for me tomorrow, so my availability will generally be evenings only.

Oof! So sorry! It's been a wicked rough couple of weeks for all sorts of surprising reasons. I'll be in the clear to get a gameplay post in on Saturday.

So, are Arberie and Tassa still with us?

I've sent PMs. Hopefully life's just caught up to them temporarily, but if I haven't heard anything after a few days, we'll need to discuss options.

Fair enough. I've been trying to hold back on posting since they haven't been showing up.

Hey, sorry to be so scarce again. Still a lot going on, but I'm also still invested in this game. I'll do my best to pick up the pace.

Thanks for your patience!

--EDIT--

Advanced warning: I'll be completely unplugged Sept 9-13, so I'll definitely need to be botted that week. Then, on Sept 16 I start a new job...which could well kick my butt a bit, especially at first. If I'm finding work too tiring to keep up with posting for a bit, I'll let yall know, but hopefully not.

I wonder if it's worth us trying to talk to these folks. What do yall think?

(If so, Tassa should NOT be the one to start the parley, especially since she's currently transformed into a hideous monstrosity.)

I think they are all Zandalus' (?) cultists, considering they are dressed like the guy we rescued, but hey, why not. I'll buff you during my turn and try to talk, even to get a feel. I feel like they'll say "words fail" and attack us.

Prolly right. I'm fine either way...but who knows, maybe a small chance that it's worth a shot?

It's been almost a week since I messaged rdknight, and there's been no response. I did see a post in one of their other campaigns saying they've been ill and are slowly easing back into things, though. Do we want to give them a bit more time? If not (or if we don't hear from them after a few more days), do we want to reopen recruitment or continue as a three-person party? I'm fine with any of the above options.

I believe we could give them a bit more time, just in case. Perhaps a week?

If they do not return, I believe we should recruit another player, but if we do so, I'd rather we keep the game moving.

I say we recruit another player mostly because of the RPing experience. So far, we are in a massive dungeon crawl and limited to RP with just ourselves, so with just three players this becomes even more limited.

In all honesty, from what we've seen so far, I believe the three of us are pretty competent in combat so that part is covered. In the ideal word, if we could find a character that could help with the skills we are lacking, that would be great.

Arberie was the only one with Disable Device. Not sure how much that is relevant though. We could use also some healing and perhaps knowledge skills.

I'll second that. If they've been ill, it's great to give them time to return. And if they've moved on, someone else to RP with would be great.

Note, I'm coming up to the time away I mentioned upthread,
> I'll be completely unplugged Sept 9-13, so I'll definitely need to be botted that week. Then, on Sept 16 I start a new job...which could well kick my butt a bit, especially at first. If I'm finding work too tiring to keep up with posting for a bit, I'll let yall know, but hopefully not.

I agree with giving some more time, just in case! And if it doesn't pan out, sure, let's find someone else.

Update: From what I've been able to find out, rdknight has been sick for the last several weeks. They've posted in a few of their other campaigns (most recent was Monday) saying that they're slowly getting better, but I haven't officially heard anything from them.

Fair enough. We need to wait for Tassa to be back anyway, so let's see if they respond.

Those are bookcases? How high are them?

They are! Each is 8ft tall.

I'm back from my retreat...and full throttle into my new job (which is exciting, but also tiring and a ton to learn). I fully plan on being able to post this week...but it might not be before the weekend.

Welcome back! In other news, it's now been two weeks since I originally PMd rdknight. While they've apparently been recovering from illness, they have posted in three campaigns in the interim. They also have yet to respond to my PM. Do we want to continue waiting, reopen recruitment, or continue on as a three-member party?

Regarding rdknight, it has been a full month since their last post. I believe we should reopen recruitment as I believe they will not return. As the GM said, they have posted in a couple games and even just got into another game. In another game I was playing with them, they also just vanished a while back, no post or PM saying why or even a farewell post, so this seems to be a recurring thing.

Yeah, it is an awkward situation, but it is what it is, might as well recruit someone else.
And Tassa, hopefully everything is going all right at the new job!

That works for me. Based on their last post on this subject, I'm assuming that Tassa is also fine with reopening recruitment. My next question is whether any of you knows someone who might be interested in joining. In my experience, adding a player who's already known to be a good fit for the party's playstyle increases the odds that the campaign will continue with minimal disruption. If nobody has a recommendation, I'll send it to general recruitment, but I figure it can't hurt to check first. :-)

Unfortunately I'm fairly new to this board (this was my first group and I've only joined one other one), so I don't know!

@YBD: Part of the nature of PBP, I've forgot that Baldrek was wounded from previous encounters. He entered this combat at 13/20hp and now is down to 7.

If I had noticed this, I'd have suggested we resting so I could use my Hit Dice to heal some. Do you believe it is fair to retroactively do this? I'm totally fine if not, as it was on me forgetting about it.

That's fine, as long as you retroactively take the hour to rest. You can use up to 3 Hit Dice during that time.

Since nobody has a player recommendation, I'll put up a recruitment post. :-)

As far as I remember, we woke up on the previous day. We've dealt with the doppelganger and then slept on the chapel. We began or exploration on the following morning. Perhaps it is about lunch.

Keeping track of time is difficult in this place, but to the best of your knowledge, it's been somewhere between a couple hours and half a day.

seems fine to do some book learnin' then, before we go back

Gotta be honest, I didn't check the discussion page, sorry! Let's research!

Does anyone have thoughts on the two players who've expressed interest?

I personally have nothing against or in favor of any of the players as I don't recall playing with them.

About the proposed characters, however, I'd really prefer a character with good knowledge skills. I guess the slayer could be that, perhaps, but I don't think we need more combat prowess.

I really don't like the summoner idea. It doesn't give us the skills and lacks versatility imo, but the worst part for me is the monster body horror theme. We already have Tassa and she is more than enough. We are in a place that every thing we've found wants to kill us. Aside from stepping into toes, I don't possibly see how we can trust the addition of another player focused on monsters. As a father of two, the idea of birthing monsters and having a monstrous baby eidolon irks me a lot, and I'm not someone easily made uncomfortable, quite the opposite.

This is, again, only about the character, not the player.

So, so far, I'd vote for the slayer. In fact, I'd rather continue as 3 instead of adding the summoner.

I'm open for either of the players, even though I do agree with Baldrek's point, it has already been solved.

I appreciate both players pivoting based on feedback. It seems like we have one complete application right now, and it looks good to me, both in terms of concept and mechanics.

I'd be fine with the DM offering the spot to Eriktd right now, but also fine if DM wants to see if another is completed first.

Now's a good time for me to add my thoughts. Eriktd's played in several of my games - including the Mummy's Mask campaign that's currently running. He's very familiar with my homebrew and fun to play with. I haven't had the pleasure of playing with Ironperenti, but a quick glance at his profile shows that he has plenty of experience as both a player and a GM. He appears to be quite detail-oriented and good at record-keeping, which I appreciate.

I'm equally fine with both players, but if the decision's left to me, I'm inclined to offer the spot to eriktd simply because I have prior experience with him as a player. I'll give everyone a chance to chime in before making a final decision, though, as both applicants should be great. I've considered offering a spot to both of them, but I feel that a five-person party will throw off the balance too much. I can be convinced otherwise, though, if you'd prefer that option.

I'm fine with inviting Eriktd. He did finish a character that seems cool. I'm not feeling 5 players.

I like the idea of inviting Erikdt too (not a reflection on Ironperenti, who I suspect would be good too).

And happy to stick with 4 players.

Hi everyone! Thanks for inviting me to join you. Looking forward to getting to know you and your characters!

Hey, welcome!! Nice to have you.

@Ephra'im: Yes, welcome! Let's start getting you settled into the campaign.

I'm not sure if you've looked through Gameplay thus far, but the party's trapped inside a ruined asylum. Based on what they've explored thus far, the most logical place to put you would be with the group of survivors holed up in the chapel. You woke up there sometime in the past few days (tracking time in the asylum is almost impossible, so we'll keep it vague) with no memories aside from your name and a few vague flashes that helped you identify what gear belongs to you. The asylum damage may have come from an earthquake? You're not quite sure. Perhaps your amnesia stems from a head injury that happened during the riot. You haven't found any head wounds, but that's the most logical explanation. You don't believe that you were an orderly or other staff member, as you weren't wearing any sort of uniform when you woke up. You've been using your medical knowledge to help treat the wounded but haven't been able to explore due to the presence of ghouls, doppelgangers, and a door blocked by a screaming eye that weeps acid. You saw a few new people recently, and you heard that they somehow got rid of the eye and left through the door. It's been quite a few hours since then, and they haven't returned.

The one concern I have when looking over your profile is your starting gear. It's perfectly reasonable for a 2nd-level character, but it doesn't line up with the rest of the party. Everyone else started with 150gp, and there's been no opportunity to buy/sell items. That being said, there's been a fair bit of salvaged loot at this point, and some of it is currently being used. I'd recommend removing Masterwork from your armor and thieves' tools and losing the surgeon's tools. That'll bring your equipment more in line with the party. They also found a set of surgeon's tools in a room near the survivor camp, so that's a potential roleplay moment to help integrate you with them. :-)

Based on the most-recent Gameplay posts, the party is returning to the survivor camp to rest. If the background I proposed sounds good, the natural thing to do is decide if you meet and do introductions at the camp or if Ephra'im ventures out to search for you and meets you as you're leaving the library.