We are live. I will begin filling out the Campaign Tab.
WELCOME TO THE PLAYGROUND BOYS AND GIRLS
We're going to have a hell of a time.
Darkness is merely a better state of mind....
Hello All! I shall be playing the part of our Wizard in this delicious dialogue.
Mephistopheles is basically a b&$~#%&&ter.
A little background for those of you not familiar with the setting, since you're joining after some fairly major events-
Branderscar Prison, where Talengarde sends the absolute worst of the worst, had a breakout about 6 months ago. Every single prisoner escaped, and the prison was partially destroyed. It has since been decommissioned.
Along the northern border of Talengarde there's a large river that creates a natural barrier between the kingdom and the lawless, monster infested lands of the north. There's a series of fortresses along that river. A few months ago, the fortress of Ballentyne fell. An army of hordefolk (goblinoids, orcs, ogres, etc) has invaded. The fight is still ongoing, but the kingdom's forces are currently holding the invasion back.
This setting's version of the Knights of the Round Table are called the Knights of Alerion. Historically, they're the group that overthrew the former regime and established the Kingdom of Talengarde under King Markadian the First. The current ruler is Markadian the 5th. The Knights of Alerion are his personal bannermen. They go around doing knightly quests, righting wrongs, and generally being storybook heroes. They're all individually famous to varying degrees.
For instance, Sir Balin (yours truly, the guy you've all been told to make contact with), is renowned throughout the kingdom as a zealous and tenacious Witch Hunter.
If you've been around being a bad guy for a while, it's likely you know of him, and possible you've had him on your tail before, but managed to escape.
Shadow, did I get all that right?
A little background for those of you not familiar with the setting, since you're joining after some fairly major events-
Branderscar Prison, where Talengarde sends the absolute worst of the worst, had a breakout about 6 months ago. Every single prisoner escaped, and the prison was partially destroyed. It has since been decommissioned.
Along the northern border of Talengarde there's a large river that creates a natural barrier between the kingdom and the lawless, monster infested lands of the north. There's a series of fortresses along that river. A few months ago, the fortress of Ballentyne fell. An army of hordefolk (goblinoids, orcs, ogres, etc) has invaded. The fight is still ongoing, but the kingdom's forces are currently holding the invasion back.
This setting's version of the Knights of the Round Table are called the Knights of Alerion. Historically, they're the group that overthrew the former regime and established the Kingdom of Talengarde under King Markadian the First. The current ruler is Markadian the 5th. The Knights of Alerion are his personal bannermen. They go around doing knightly quests, righting wrongs, and generally being storybook heroes. They're all individually famous to varying degrees.
For instance, Sir Balin (yours truly, the guy you've all been told to make contact with), is renowned throughout the kingdom as a zealous and tenacious Witch Hunter.
If you've been around being a bad guy for a while, it's likely you know of him, and possible you've had him on your tail before, but managed to escape.
Shadow, did I get all that right?
Yes indeed! Thank you Sir!
Note that the goings on of the previous group you would NOT know in detail as they were secret. Some of the rumors from the first post are indeed precisely due to the work of the previous group and you will find out more about that as Gameplay unfolds.
Any of you feel free to ask any other questions you wish about the realm, I believe some were answered in a brief overview of Talingarde in Recruitment, but happy to field more questions.
Greeting
I will mostly be tank and all around wall of steel/adamantine
Atm my HP is laughable for class/level. But that will change as soon as my ritual is completed
Sword and Door (tower shield)
I was hoping Tih and Malleck could arrive together. Maybe posing as husband/wife survivors of the most recent attack.
Elliaria has good all-around skills, which she amplifies with studied target and sin sense. People tend to trust her innocent face and want to believe her lies.
In a fight, she usually needs a moment to study her foes and get in flanking position for most effectiveness. Against foes immune to precision she is far less effective.
She is tough and has fast healing, so as long as she's awake she'll be whole in five minutes or so. Because of this, she has no problem being on the front line.
She can heal others, but being a half-caster she only has limited slots. Since it looks like we won't have other healers, then we'll likely need to purchase more wands out of party treasure. We'll eventually need potions, scrolls and wands for other types of condition recovery.
Agreed. Need to make sure we work together and minimize combat damage. At least for a few levels
By 10 I will be immune to all but positive and force damage
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The group will have a healbot
I left specific intros open in case any of you wish to pair up.
Mephistopheles will be playing with the Light Conditions often, so he has an Extended Darkvision, communal ready for our two non-Darkvision company.
His main Offensive routine will be Darkness and his
Ability. Targets will have the Entangled Condition and our Melee (everyone) will basically have Blur for 2 Rounds. Should be enough time for you all to pummel something to bloody paste...lol.
And, of course he has Spells (just in case).
I went Illusionist because two folks going Enchantment (and Illusion is fun!).
I will get a Post in Game Play today....the Devil is in the Details....
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His main Offensive routine will be Darkness
History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark.
Agreed. Need to make sure we work together and minimize combat damage. At least for a few levels
By 10 I will be immune to all but positive and force damage
With your AC and saves you'll barely need HP! Damn!
As for Jack, he's a heavy hitting meat wall, and a surprisingly effective scout/trapbreaker. His big weakness is that he has very little ranged effectiveness. I expect Jack to be taking a fair amount of damage, but he has HP to spare and a few decent ways to recover out of combat. Hopefully we won't need too much in combat healing.
Socially, Sir Balin is a rough around the edges knightly type. Not very well educated, gruff, straight to business, diplomatic when he needs to be, but isn't very subtle and has very little tolerance for social posturing. He's the party's Scary Dog, and will generally defer to the rest of the party when it comes to planning and socializing. That said, he's been known to do dangerously impulsive things if he gets bored or angry. (If I'm considering that, I'll bring it up in OOC first).
Jack's a brutish a%+$%~+ who barely manages to pretend to be civilized, but I do my best to play that side of him in a comedic way, rather than a disruptive way.
Besides being an excellent chef who will keep everyone fed,Clyde is good for flanking and I will help circle around
the edges and di sneak attacks and start intimidating.
Clyde dies have Blinddfight so he isn't as bothered by darkness
The Voice in the Well is inspired by Mr.Eaten from the Falken London game
Hey all.
Combat-wise Tih is a supporter with some nice save or suck potential. Outside of combat she is a social butterfly and magical infiltrator.
I picture her as less of a typical fast-talker and more as someone with an immense presence that makes saying no to her difficult.
That might work Malleck. How do you think they might have recognized one another?
Sidenote: I am new to PbP on the Paizo forums, so if anyone has any tips, feel free to let me know or DM me. I like the way Elliara's profile is set up!
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DH, can you link your PbP guide for Tih, it's pretty much THE definitive PbP guide. TY Sir!
Sidenote: I am new to PbP on the Paizo forums, so if anyone has any tips, feel free to let me know or DM me. I like the way Elliara's profile is set up!
Some weirdo wrote this Handy Guide! (please ignore the part where I mixed up parenthesis and quotation marks, it's still embarrassing)
The TL;DR is- Try to post at whatever frequency the game is moving (usually once a day), write descriptively to entertain your fellow players, talk to each other in and out of game to maintain banter and momentum, and try to format your posts so that they aren't walls of text.
The trickiest part of the learning curve is usually learning the HTML stuff for how to and do bold and . Once you have that down the rest comes pretty easy.
Also, the boards are NOTORIOUS for eating posts, so always always copy your text before you hit Submit, especially if you've spent more than 10 minutes writing it up.
An absolute post saver! Copy. Copy. Copy.
DH is being modest. That Guide is exactly how to do well at PbP gaming.
Welcome to the Boards!
@ Clyde! We get another chance at infamy!
@ Tih if you Post something (most type dot) in Game Play Thread, then submit, count to 10(my tradition), and then Delete said Post, the Campaign will show up on your Campaign Page for ease of reference.
I like the way Elliara's profile is set up!
Welcome to the boards. Have you done PBP at other sites?
My character sheet comes formatted by HeroLab. It's a character building software that I've spent far too much money on over the years. But there is a template that is very similar on the Spheres of Power wiki. BB code template You just need to delete the sections on spheres.
Thanks y'all. Very useful information.
Elliaria - I started tabletop RPGs doing PbP but haven't in probably 15+ years.
Hero Lab has always seemed awesome. And expensive. Haha. I was looking for a BBCode template but Google is so bad now. That's perfect.
I've been entertaining myself by snooping on everyone's character sheets. This is a very impressive party.
I wanted to give everyone a peek behind the curtain before we get started. There's a couple things the party could really use.
1) Someone with Craft Alchemy. There's a whole subplot to this arc about doing something really cool with Alchemy. I'd hate to have to skip it because we don't have the skill.
2) Someone that can cast Animate Dead (or something similar). I have a decent collection of corpses just waiting to become someone's minions.
I have been considering stealing a Rank from Linguistics for Craft Alchemy, so that's a start ..lol
Next level, I will fill it up a bit more.
He also needs Ranks in Appraise and Fly so there may be more stealing from Linguistics...
Impressive is correct. The Wizard will be quite comfortable behind all you Tanks!
Hero Lab has always seemed awesome. And expensive. Haha. I was looking for a BBCode template but Google is so bad now. That's perfect.
Glad to help. Having a sheet that works well for you is important.
As for Hero Lab, I've used it for about fifteen years with at least five game systems. When you spread out the cost over all of these games, it's still freakin' expensive. But for some games you really can't beat having everything available. I mostly waited for bundles and sales.
For PF2, Hero Lab Online lets everybody use the GM's books, so we all chip in for our main GM.
I wanted to give everyone a peek behind the curtain before we get started. There's a couple things the party could really use.
There are never enough skill points and feats. I don't think I can fit more into my concept.
Kih. I'm thinking we already knew each other from prison. Perhaps started talking. Then the prison break.
We decided best to travel together, and that's when tiadora met up with us and directed us to the town
I'm not so sure. I wrote my background based on not having ever been caught.
Kih. I'm thinking we already knew each other from prison. Perhaps started talking. Then the prison break.
We decided best to travel together, and that's when tiadora met up with us and directed us to the town
I believe that Mephistopheles. is the other PC that at one point escaped confinement. None of you escaped Brandescar specifically though just to be clear.
To be fair. The crime trait you pick specifically says it's the reason you're in jail. :P and the intro you gave Malleck he was in a prison.
But I understand some decided not to be there
To be fair. The crime trait you pick specifically says it's the reason you're in jail. :P and the intro you gave Malleck he was in a prison.
But I understand some decided not to be there
Correct, I based my write ups on each individual Background as well as whether a person selected a Crime Trait :)
Gotcha. So just waiting for input from Tih. Then I'll post my intro
Ah. Yes. My background does not involve prison either. I will introduce myself momentarily.
A bit slammed at work at the moment, I will have an update for you all either tonight or tomorrow.
As we will be (hopefully) finishing a very large AP together, how about a little about us set of posts?
I've been on the boards since 2007, migrated over from the WoTC boards when they became too toxic for my taste (that's not a word I use lightly). Been RPing since 1988 with the Red Box. I've run several campaigns on table top to completion (though only a few short Modules and Adventures to completion here on the boards though I am at the Finale of my 13 year Vampire campaign ATM).
I am in Northern NJ (eastern time zone) and I essentially post as frequently as I am able.
I have a primary job as a Tax Attorney and my own business as a Divorce Mediator. I also have 3 children so my life can be hectic (I got remarried a few years back). So if I don't post for a day or three I'm just backed up. However, the last year or so I have been trying to post daily so I don't run into such issues. Of course as a DM, some large posts can take 30 to 90 minutes to construct and I don't like doing things half assed so I'd rather wait and do something well than rush and post crap.
Hello All (officially)!
I have been on these Boards since...hmmm...one moment....
....looks like my initial PFS character was 2013. So, about that long. I've been gaming (mostly D&D), since 1982.
My older cousin needed two more players for his Homebrew, so he gave my twin and I "The Hobbit", told us to read it by end of Summer and pick whom we wanted to play.
We started that initial foray into Adventuring that July. I played "Gandalf". I've been a Wizard preferred player ever since.
I've played through every edition until 4th, then my home group switched to Pathfinder1e.
Enjoyed an embarrassing plethora of completed Campaigns, APs, Modules. I've completed all 10 seasons of PFS1e. I have been quite fortunate to have been part of many past, present and (fingers crossed) future PbPs.
I am currently playing in....one moment.... apparently 15 PbP. I also play (along with my poor wife) Starfinder Mondays on Foundry, along with Abomination Vaults on Tuesdays and Strength of Thousands on Fridays (which I DM).
I like gaming.
I am a chef by trade. I have been in the Food Industry (don't do it) in one form or another since age 14. My bad. After much resistance on my part, I finally went and got my Culinary Arts degree at age 40. It felt good.
This is my 3rd attempt at WotW. I understand the way PbPs work. I accept the possibility of either outcome with each and every PbP that I submit a character to. I try to do my part in each game that I've committed to.
As I am a bit old hat at this, I have really narrowed my DM preferences over the years too ...lol.
Welcome aboard to those new and great to see you again for those not as new ..
Looking forward to much Devil inspired shenanigans!
Thank you !
Mephistopheles
Been here quite some time and actually finished a few APS. PF1 devotee.
I've been gaming since the early 80's as well. I started PBP's on another site back in the late 90's. I have four biweekly real-time but remote games. I've played a heck of a lot of games.
Outside of this, I work doing tech support for liquid analytical instruments. I am a movie buff, actually going physically to the theater almost every week for 30 years (pandemic excluded).
I started with AD&D 1e in 1993, and have been addicted every since.
I started playing Pathfinder during the Beta test, and have been on these boards since 2010.
In real life I live in California. I'm a writer and a woodworker.
I've been gaming since the early 80's as well. I started PBP's on another site back in the late 90's. I have four biweekly real-time but remote games. I've played a heck of a lot of games.
Outside of this, I work doing tech support for liquid analytical instruments. I am a movie buff, actually going physically to the theater almost every week for 30 years (pandemic excluded).
Oh, and I live close enough to hear the fireworks of Disneyland on a warm night.
Currently my only table top game is Vampire the Masquerade (though we are on a break till late May due to the birth of my most recent child). I was running a 3.5 evil campaign that has to be shelved as my PCs were just too busy to consistently make game and D&D with an inconsistent group just isn't worth it. With Vampire I can have one player show up or all players show up and still run game.
My days of running 30 games and playing in 60 are gone on these boards (maybe when I retire!). Right now I run 3 (am getting a 4th up and running) and play in 8. Much more manageable.
Also a fan of Fallen London,Sunless Sea and Starless/Sunless Skies games.
OK, first post up!
Whoa. Some real vets. Dorian: you have a wild RPG schedule. That's great.
I have been playing ttrpgs for just over 20 years I think. My first character was a Cleric of Kelemvor in DnD 3E.
IRL I was an applied scientist in my 20s and I am now a Teamster in film and television. I'm in the mountain time zone in Canada.
OK, first post up!
And of course I had a formatting issue, that's what I get for posting when I'm ready to fall asleep! Grr.
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I've been in 5 different WotW games, and I've GM'd it through this arc, and it wasn't until I was running it that I finally "got" Farholde. Through 5 games as a player, I missed a bunch of important details about the area that would have been obvious to anyone coming into the town.
I'll break it down into the kind of "For Dummies" description that I wish I'd had.
Farholde is a floodplain. The whole area is built on a massive river delta. Think like the Nile delta, except it's a tropical jungle region.
That's why the city is built on hills. The lowlands never really dry out. The ground is always soggy. Every year the whole area floods. The tops of the hills are the only areas that stay above the high water line.
That's also why the poor district is called Drownington. It's in the flood zone, and has to be rebuilt every year. The whole place is made out of salvage and flotsam.
In Farholde, the difference between the Haves and the Have Nots is extremely obvious. One of the big signs of social status is whether someone has mud on their clothes. Wearing shoes instead of boots or waders means you're rich enough not to have to go down to the wetlands or the docks.
Farholde is built right at the edge of the Caer Bryr jungle (pronounced care briar). It's some of the most inhospitable terrain imaginable. The trees are enormous, the undergrowth is spiky, and the terrain itself is a Karst.
Here's a picture of the kind of topographical b&$~~&&~ explorers have to navigate inside Caer Bryr.
Just search "karst jungle" for more pictures. The visuals are incredible.
The King's Road heading south out of Farholde is the only way in and out other than boats. It cuts right through a valley with the jungle on both sides. So that's what all of you have been looking at for weeks. Take a look at the map and check out how big Caer Bryr is. It takes up most of the western edge of the kingdom, separated from the heartland by a giant mountain range. The land route sucks.
The only reason Farholde exists at all is because it's the bridge between the ocean, and the inland river trade route. Along that river is where all the border fortresses are. The river is how the border fortresses get most of their supplies. So Farholde is a nowhere backwater with enormous strategic importance.
That's why there's a castle across the bay from the town. It's one of the border forts. Hammerhold is the logistics hub of the entire fortress line.
Farholde is a lot like one of those little towns outside a military base. They only exist to support (or profit from) the fort. There's a lot of storefronts that cater to solders, like pawn shops, secondhand supply stores, short term loan sharks, brothels, bars, and confectioners.
Most of the traffic that comes through Farhold is boats. Cargo from larger sea ships gets transferred onto smaller river ships, and vice versa. The docks are the heart of the whole area. Everything here exists to support them.
Hope that helps you envision the area and how it fits into the setting a bit better.
That certainly helps me understand the area. I definitely had the wrong picture in my head.
Post up, slowly bringing the Party together.
I am enjoying this Pre-Campaign episode. Allows for us to flesh out our personality, quirks, methods of operation.
I am starting to think that Mephistopheles' Alignment is Not Lawful....lol.
I do feel a bit for you though, DH, because we are all trying to find you.
I was having a difficult time deciding on how to justify wanting to meet anyone, but decided that Lady Elliaria seemed the most likely candidate.
Clyde was my second choice, because what self-respecting Wizard doesn't want a Big Friend!
Clyde will love you, hug you, and call you George.
Don't worry about me. I'm enjoying reading the lead up.
I'm kinda surprised I'm not at Drownington's Manor. That's my usual hangout spot when I have to go to town. I guess I'm either stuck at the Baron's place or he got sick of me and sent me back to home base.
Hey Shadow, how long has it been since the end of the other game and the start of this one? Depending on where all of them were coming from it had to have been at least 3 weeks just for travel. Probably more.
Tiadora works fast though. I'd imagine she was contacting all of them within a day or two of finding out that nobody's minding Jack.
Clyde will love you, hug you, and call you George.
I would strongly recommend against that, Master Clyde.
It's been hard enough getting him to adjust to one nom de guerre. A second may confuse him beyond repair.
Likewise with hugging. He would likely think you were attempting to fight or mate. Either would be unfortunate for everyone involved.