Asmodeus Jones's page

Two can play the ~30 AC game...

"Et bien! Gerrf, eet eez a plaisir to make your acquaintance!" Jean-Claude says, from the top of the wagon. "Forgive me if I do not shake hands, as the music, she is a cruel mistress!"

I hear ya. Still at SeaTac, waiting to get back to the east coast.

Lucius follows his commanding officer's orders. He nods at Agent Gavix, and says "As you command. I hope you rejoin us swiftly."

Lucius scowls at the spectacle. By the five, he'd better be talking about another group.

Still nursing his first cup of wine, he mentally reviews the meeting he had in the offices of his new commanding officer. "Meet with the senior agents, follow their orders, return from the mission successfully with a full report of your findings. Work with your fellow new agents, regardless of your personal opinions on their competence or discipline."

Mulling those words over in his head, he grimaces. I hope it's another group, anyway...

So, it looks like the old WebObjects content has been wrapped in a new Node.js wrapper - not just using REST endpoints from the WO server, but serving those pages under a new master site - is that part of the issue with the responsivity and styling? Also, I'm noticing a LOT of harcoded widths in the stylesheets.

Kicked things off in the campaign with a description of Lucius arriving.

Ran this to close out a con last night. 4 out of the 6 players were Scarab Sage characters, had a lot of familiarity with the feel of Osirion delves, and were very excited for the culmination of the story.

It is, as many people stated, long. Especially if you enjoy the RP. As a GM, conversing with the party as so many different, intricate NPCs with a lot of deep history with the society and providing insight into their personalities, (as well as the few who were introduced in this scenario) was an absolute joy.

This scenario is challenging, and it WILL run long. We played for 6.5 hrs and I think we could have played for 8 hours easily, exploring more of the interactions between characters.

My group, though they didn't all play together frequently (this being a con), took the time to get to know each other and figure out how to support each other. I gave them that when we sat down. No one knew much about each other's characters until we sat down.

Matt has done an amazing thing with this scenario. It FEELS as difficult as it should considering the stakes and the amount of emotional and temporal investment the players and characters it is geared towards have invested in it.

I love Golarion, and I love the Pathfinder Society. Scenarios like this one need to happen more. I prepped for a month, and I still could have improved my live performance. I really want to run it again, for another group of people who love these characters as much as I do.

I think there are some aspects of the mechanics that as GMs we need to make sure we telegraph earlier on. I like to build suspense and paranoia, and I don't like to "prompt" for rolls as I feel it breaks the flow of the game. There were a few places that I as a GM needed to plant the seeds of what would become future mechanics. There are promptings within the scenario for how to do this - but planning out how to do this well is a lot of work. There were a few places where I needed to reconsider my plans on how to frame a specific event, and I'm glad I knew enough about the world and context to make that make sense within the scenario.

This is certainly a challenging scenario for players. It is a very challenging scenario for GMs, too. Purely prepping the mechanics is NOT going to do the trick. Figuring out how to help your players come to the right conclusions, infer what steps they should and shouldn't take, will take some time and seat-of-the-pants work. I've never felt more rewarded as a GM as I watched my players reign victorious, even after setbacks (over half the party were full or partial casters, and there was some real deduction by the players in order to figure out what was happening to them). One of the potential "scenes" at the end brought more than one person at the table to tears. I've never felt so good playing a scenario.

Thank you, Matt, for bringing us this.

I would recommend "From Under Ice", too. Some good stuff for Scarab Sage characters.

As Lola roars, Remy stumbles forward and his accordion compresses in a sad WHUUUUU-NGE sound, as it falls against the teen. Pinched within some of the inner folds, now hidden within the hard handles and outer casing, is a shiny platinum pager. Remy paws the teen on the back at the same time, and tips his hat.

<< On l'a l'affaire, einh?>> he thinks to himself. Mischief managed! as he bounds amiably over to the other end of the room, clasping his accordion shut.

Like any good French Canadian, Remy always has an accordion handy.

He shuffles over to the display and tries to pose like an animatronic ursine musician.

Criminal: 1d6 ⇒ 3

******** Flashback ********

The combination bait shop/bar is a shambles, shelves knocked over and tables upended. The proprietor has locked themselves in the attic, pulling the ladder up behind them as the beast below continues towards its goal.

For a while, there's silence. Almost palpable, it's so thick. The proprietor cracks open the door slightly, as inaudibly as they can. Then it is broken, by a clink and a slow hiss, as the beast finds its prey.

After a moment, and a fizzing sound, the empty bottle of Molson Canadian rolls out of the walk-in freezer, onto the tile floor, following a lazy curved arc along the floor, settling directly below the trapdoor, within the proprietor's line of sight. More quiet and stillness follows until, like a dam bursting, a massive cacophony of shattering glass and primal roars follows, rivulets of beer flowing from the fridge onto the floor of the bar.

This continues until a car horn blares from outside. The black bear shuffles out of the fridge and hustles into the open limo door outside.

"About time, mes ami! Laissez les bons temps rouler!"

************************

Remy occupies himself by watching the scenery roll by out the window, the minor buzz from the case of beer having faded far too quickly.

Criminal: 1d6 ⇒ 6

He's enjoying himself too much to notice the people, or whatever they're saying.

Ah oui. Dis is more like eet!

Excited to join, all.

Descriptor: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Bear Type: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Role: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Hat: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Rookie Black Bear Muscle in a Bowler.

I can work with this.

You wanna be a bear criminal, Adam?

Oh My Goodness. I have heard of this amazing and legendary thing. Yes. I never knew how much until right now.

Anyone have any plans for another PbP anytime soon? This is a great group and I'd love to play with y'all. Happy to GM, too, if I can get some guidance.

The Professor scurries past Oiur to next to Rowdy, sliding his wand of Cure Light Wounds into his hand as does so, and uses it on Rowdy.

I won't be very effective in this combat, but I can keep y'all alive, I hope!

Cure: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Wow, we wrecked face in there! AWESOME!

"Very interesting. It does appear to be the pattern I used on the doors!"

The ancient Osirian equivalent of a post-it note with the password. Awesome! :D

I'm tempted to get a wand of read magic.

Ok.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
UMD: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

If I was a regular alchemist with bombs, it probably would have been easier - it's certainly been challenging in a fun way!

"Nonsense, Rowdy. You'll be stone dead in a moment!"

Wahoo! Go sneak attack! :D

Excellent. My weekend is just prepping for hosting for New Years, though I am going to go see Disaster Artist tomorrow night!!

The professor scrambles to his feet, hoping to come to some sort of arrangement before they lose access to the Pharaoh's knowledge forever.

In Ancient Osiriani: "Please! There is so much I could learn from you!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1 Boring conversation anyway

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

To the group: "Anyone have a few pints to spare?"

Knowledge History: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Looking around the room, and hearing the being's voice, the Professor quickly puts two and two together. He drops to his knees and brings his head to the stone slab in front of him, arms stretched out.

In Ancient Osiriani: "Oh great Pharaoh, please forgive the impudence of these humble servants. We did not mean to disturb your slumber!"

"Sorry, Rowdy my dear boy, did you say something?"

I can't believe they made a puzzle based on a purely game mechanics concept. Seriously, in order of CR!?! _Insert sweat emoji here_

The Professor crows with glee in a manner unbecoming a scholar of his age and stature.

"I did it! Wait til the Osirianologists back at the College hear of this!"

He excitedly peers into and around the room.

"Well, this is rather anticlimactic..." as he pulls out his wand of Detect Magic

I just realized F2F means Face to Face. I r smrt.

The Professor is VERY disappointed in this turn of events. "Can't we have just ONE NICE THING!"

The Professor takes a 5 foot step backwards, retrieves a vial of Holy Water, and lobs it at the corpse he had been closest to.

Ranged Touch vs White: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Holy Water Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3

The professor's face lights up at their words. "Ah! Finally - some civilized hospitality." He trundles in.

All right :-/. This is gonna bug me, but sounds like everyone wants to move on.

The Professor makes some notes, sketches the symbols, and then puts his notepad away. "Something to ruminate on, for now."

In downtime I'll roll those knowledges.

I then press the hieracosphinx.

After this combat, I'd like to take some time to whip up some additional alchemical weapons.

Artoku's Fire: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

The swarm continues to burn as the Professor takes a step to the side and begins writing down his observations.

"Hmmm..." the Professor muses, "Often, Osirian nobility were entombed with the tools and resources that would aid them in their afterlife. These vessels are likely an aspect of that. Still, prudence is warranted. They were also known for protecting the valuables needed on the other side."

"In other words," he summarizes as he turns to Sir Ibb, "there might be things to mash YOU. Still, we might as well proceed."

The Professor pulls out his blowgun and several small darts, which he starts dipping into vials attached to his person, while stepping to the side, allowing clear passage towards the boats.

"Who would like to go first?"

Knowledge (History): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Oh yeah, as a player it's all good. Ibb's gonna Ibb. And the Professor is going to slowly devolve into madness ;-)

No, please come back! The sanity committee is dwindling so quickly *sob*

Sorry, all. Been a busy work day. Also, the Professor might seriously consider ex-communication from the society in exchange for getting rid of Ibb... ok, not really. But damn. Is there a more drastic odd couple XD

Were it not for the fur, one might be able to see a blood vessel on The Professor's brow about to burst.

"Never mind the alienist - that would require your head to CONTAIN SOMETHING!" he snarls. "I wonder how many knives one could make from that corpulent mass," he thinks to himself. "Also, look, a mimic."

Knowledge (Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Immunities, Special Attacks, Defenses, please.

The Professor begins studying the walls, looking for anything interesting.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

The Professor stares intently at Sir Ibb for a long, long moment. Finally, without blinking, he says: "Feel free to continue to find your traps. I'll be bringing up the rear with Eugressia."

The professor moves back.

When he reaches Eugressia, he whispers to her,"Might I suggest that we stay slightly further back. It wouldn't do to be caught up in any further... discoveries."

Knowledge(History): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Knowledge(Arcana): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

"Ah yes, quite right Eugressia! Full marks, once again!"

The professor says this absent-mindedly as he quickly sets up a small retort stand and starts mixing some of his vials together. He seems to be running a few things simultaneously. After he appears satisfied, he stows some of them, dabs others on some of his knives, and is about to bring another to his lips before he stops, swaps it with on of the others he had already stowed, then drinks that one instead.

Heightened awareness is up.

That morning, during the trip, the professor works on his daily crossword.

"Tell me, Eugressia, any thoughts on what the answer to this one could be? 11 letters, 'This wise diamond holds a scaly secret'"

Intelligence: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

"Ah! Of course. So simple."

The Professor has succeeded at his puzzle book, so I get to once in the next 24 hrs roll twice on a Disable Device, Knowledge, or Sense Motive and take the higher result.

----------

Later, as we arrive

"Might we pause for a few final preparations before entering this unknown space?"

The Professor quickly stows his sketchbook into one of the many pouches attached to a set of harnesses or bandoliers. He removes his jacket, rummages through one of the camel's saddlebags and retrieves two wrist straps, which he attaches, along with a blade that he clamps to his tail. Finally, he shrugs on the harness; vials and blades poking out everywhere.

From one of the pouches, he removes two small cracked but faintly glowing stones. He holds them up to approximately eye level and lets them go, where they each start spinning around his head.

He removes his eyeglasses, folds them and carefully places them into his breast pocket, underneath the padding and straps. He replaces them with a set of goggles which he rests on his forehead.

He trundles towards the portico, his short legs slowed in the shifting sands, and begins checking and re-checking a series of masterfully crafted knives of some non-metallic material.

I can't stress how excited I am to play with you all. This IS my first PbP, though, so please be gentle :-)

I love that one. Have run it 7-8 times now. My favourites were the ones where the writer kept popping by at GenCon to see what hijinks had ensued ;-)

"Ah, yes, quite. Of course, that would be a terrible thing, and best avoided. Still, it never hurts to be prepared for any eventuality..." the Professor trails off.

Turning to Rowdy, the Professor gives him a disinterested once over, then settles on the various alchemical substances attached to his person. At those, his eyes light up. "Ah! A student of the alchemical arts! Did you make those yourself?"

Later...

The Professor greets Oiur as they exit the tent. He has added a large-brimmed straw hat to his earlier ensemble One wonders if there is a Panama analogue on Golarion, somewhere. "Excellent choice! Cotton -- cotton breathes! Still, you might want to look into a magical effect that allows you to endure the worst of the elements. I'd offer one of my own preparations, but the results tend to be... unpredictable... for others."

Thanks - it's much easier to do in person, GM can attest to. I'll really do my best and please feel free to tell me to dial it back. Also, the suit is my own take on a hot-weather outfit.

"How curious, a member of the Turdidae family. And speaking!" he eyes Irp hungrily."This is indeed an unexpected... opportunity."

He shakes himself, then smiles a bit unconvincingly. "I apologize. I tend to get carried away when meeting new... anything, really."

Lacrymose has the "Unnatural" trait, which while mechanically applies only to animals (they reeeeeeally don't like him), comes across in most of his interactions. He is smart, well-dressed, and polite (unless there's an unusual scientific phenomenon to investigate). But his smiles tend to feel a bit forced, and his concern an affected, learned behaviour.

"Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Professor Nicodemus Lacrymose, originally of the University of Lepidstadt, but now on secondment within the offices in Absalom as I pursue several joint research ventures with the Pathfinder Society. I look forward to working with all of you.
bluff: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
I am certain there will be many opportunities for enlightenment as we plumb the depths of the Pharaoh's tomb."