Cry Havoc!'s page

Guys, I'm sorry, but I need to put the game on hold, at least for a few days. Hopefully that's all it will be. I want to be as forthright with you all in your expectations so I need to let you know what's happening. Again, my apologies, but I need to sort something out in real life.

If she [Valtyra] shares this...

In retrospect, I probably should have spoilered the contents of the scrolls that Valtyra was reading. I'd rather allow her the opportunity, if desired, to share the info via role-playing before we jump too far ahead.

Ulfak begins the examination of the Paradox Box, but discovers little of interest. The box seems to be made of simple granite; it could have been mined in any mountain range in Varisia or beyond, so far as he can tell.

Taking the box next, Angelica pokes and prods, but finds that none of the surfaces of the box appear to slide, shift, or otherwise move in any way. Despite her best efforts, she cannot find any seams, hinges or locks.

Valtyra, on the other hand, finds some interesting reading as she peruses Koriah's notes. One scroll lists translations of the significant runes on the box...one of the most oft-repeated symbols is the rune for “wrath,” which Koriah also notes is associated with evocation magic, and in the earliest days of Thassilon with the word “kindness.” Her notes further indicate that this rune likely marks the box has having once belonged to a citizen of the Thassilonian nation of Bakrakhan, but probably has little to do with the method of opening this particular paradox box.

Another scroll, however, lists a few other, perhaps more important, observations — the key observation being that five of the box’s faces are identical, but on one face, several additional runes appear. These runes spell out the word “CRUEL.” Koriah has also noted that each of the individual runes in the word can be reorganized by touching two runes at once—doing so causes the two touched runes to exchange places for an hour before reverting to their original spelling of “CRUEL.”

Sheila leads the way quickly into an adjoining room, perhaps hoping to forestall any further bickering among her newest agents. The next chamber is clearly the lodge library and study. The walls are lined with bookshelves, while several tables in the middle of the room are heaped with scrolls and books. One table in the center, however, supports only a single object— an ornate cubical stone coffer covered with Thassilonian runes. Sheila motions for you all to take a seat around the table as she speaks.

"This stone coffer is an ancient Thassilonian puzzle, a cunning feat of magical engineering known as a paradox box. As you’ll see from even a casual investigation, what appear to be seams on the sides are only shallow grooves—there’s no obvious way to open the thing. Each paradox box has its own secret method of being opened. Essentially, a paradox box substitutes hidden catches and magical triggers for a lock. Given time, anyone clever enough could figure out how to open a paradox box, just as given time, a locksmith can open any lock. This particular box was among those items recovered by Koriah—the scrolls next to the box are her preliminary notes on possible triggers or methods of opening it, but she’s not yet had a chance to sit down and properly investigate the thing. So... why don’t you put your heads together and see if you can’t do that for me? Even if the box is empty, as I suspect it probably is, knowing the method of opening it makes it a valuable find anyway. I’ll return shortly, and I hope to see that box open! Think of this as an audition, if you will—because the actual task I want to speak to you about soon will require as much wit as it will brawn!”

Sheila hesitates just long enough to answer any brief questions, then excuses herself and Koriah from the room, leaving the party alone with the unusual box.

Paradox Box

Wow indeed. Okay, deep breath everyone. And...release. Feel better now? Good.

Troy, I know you were just trying to have a bit of fun with Angelica's deception, but I do agree with the other players who have expressed their desire that such things be used very sparingly. It all seems to have set off a bit of a firestorm, though I'm sure that wasn't your intent.

In truth, disclaimers aside, it can be very difficult to separate emotional responses regarding our role-played characters from our own in real life. It's why inter-party conflicts rarely turn out well, and in fact, have ruined many a game. I truly like the mix of characters and players which we have assembled here...the role-playing so far has been excellent, even in the arguments between PCs. So I want you all to stick around. :)

So, in short, I echo the sentiments of French Wolf and Ridge. Let's try and ease up a bit on the friction and vitriol within the party, so we can have a cohesive group. Rivalries are fine, maybe even a bit of tension...but it's hard to imagine this game being successful if the PCs (or worse, the players) cannot get along together.

Hearing of the young rogue's deception, the no-nonsense Venture Captain turns abruptly toward Angelica with a sharp rebuke. "Have a care, girl. Important matters are afoot. This is no time for silly games." Not bothering to wait for a reply, Sheila turns and continues to lead the way from the foyer.

She nods to Lady Heidmarch and Koriah in greetings, adding "Greeting M'lady. Oh, Miss Azmeren, I like your tattoos. We were just discussing the benefits of permanent body art. Where did you get that lovely pattern along your cheek there?" She moves to follow the Lady and her guest from the room.

Evidently, Koriah doesn't entirely share the Venture-Captain's disapproval of her ruse, as she gives a slight smile and replies, "Thank you. This was done by a wonderfully talented gnomish artist in the Downmarket district of Kaer Maga...er, but perhaps that's a conversation best left for another time." Her voice trails off at a steely glance from Venture-Captain Heidmarch.

Oh, boy...Angelica and Sir Manfred. We're going to have ourselves some fun with these two, aren't we? ;)

Further conversation is forestalled by the sudden entrance of two women into the room. The first is a striking woman, tall and imposing...she moves with an easy confidence, appearing ready to leap into action despite her elaborately-embroidered gown. She carries a masterfully carven quarterstaff of polished black wood, the head of which resembles a watchful raven.

She sizes up the assembled adventurers with a serious gaze, then speaks in a surprisingly deep voice, "Greetings to you all, I am Sheila Heidmarch and I thank you for answering my summons. My apologies for your wait. This is Koriah Azmeren." She gestures with her staff to the second woman, an attractive half elf dressed in leather armor and bearing a distinctive-looking mithral-and-redwood aklys (a hooked club attached to a cord) and bastard sword, sheathed and hanging from her belt.

The Venture Captain continues, "Pathfinder Azmeren has just returned from an expedition to the Darklands below Varisia, having successfully scouted out a new route down to Nar-Voth from the Fogscar Mountains. Perhaps more importantly, she also has returned with a surprising number of Thassilonian artifacts from this expedition. I apologize again for the further delay, but before we meet, I need to spend a few more moments discussing the implications of these discoveries with Koriah." Sheila pauses as though considering for a moment, then adds, "Perhaps while we conclude our business, you might assist us with another minor issue? Will you follow me please?"

Venture Captain Sheila Heidmarch

Koriah Azmeren

Funding has passed $14k now, which means an all-new level! Will save failed, $50 pledged. :)

The gamesmanship between Angelica and Valtyra brings a smile to my face. Well done!

Good start, French Wolf and Tiessa!

I added a Player Handout section to the Campaign Info tab. The first link there shows the letter of invitation from Sheila Heidmarch. It contains the same text as the italicized portion at the top of the gameplay thread, but it looks nicer.

As the campaign progresses, I intend to post lots of helpful and interesting material to the Campaign Info thread. I'll announce updates here.

The gameplay thread is live! :)

Please take the opportunity presented to introduce your characters, and get acquainted a bit.

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Greetings, fellow seeker of adventure!
I am Sheila Heidmarch, Venture Captain of
the newest Pathfinder Society lodge—and the only
such lodge in Varisia at this time. You have come
to my attention as someone who possesses a
certain amount of skills and interests that make
you an excellent addition to a highly specialized
team I’m putting together for a matter of grave
import, not only to the Society, but to Varisia
as a whole. Please report an hour before noon
to Heidmarch Manor—you will be compensated
for your visit, but that reward will pale in light
of the riches that await you should we come to
an agreement on my proposition to you. I look
forward to meeting you soon!
•—Sheila Heidmarch

With this written missive, each of you has been summoned on important Pathfinder Society business by Sheila Heidmarch herself, and what fledgling explorer could resist such an enticing offer? Heidmarch Manor is located in the Alabaster District of Magnimar, not far from the city’s easternmost gate. Each of you is relatively new to the city, but the manor is well known, and easy to find. The estate grounds are surrounded by a stone wall, but the front gate hangs open as it always does during the day; visitors are always welcome to the manor, which has recently come to double as the first Pathfinder Lodge in Varisia.

Upon arrival at the appointed time, a manservant apologetically asks each of you to wait in the foyer with the explanation that 'Venture Captain Heidmarch is finishing up a meeting with an unexpected visitor.' And so, you find yourselves with a few moments to get better acquainted until your hostess arrives.

Just a quick heads up, Cry Havoc.

I'm travelling home tonight. However the 6pm ferry sailing has been put back five hours so it will be about 4.30am when I reach our house. Consequently I'll try to keep on top of this game start but it may be Sunday evening before my kids let me fully recover.

Cheers

No problem, thanks for the notice. :)

I got home from work tonight to find that my subscription volume has shipped, and my download link for the PDF is active!

Downloading right now, time to get reading. Gameplay thread will go live tomorrow. :D

If my subscription copy of Shattered Star part one doesn't ship today, I may just plunk down 13.99 and purchase the PDF anyway. I really want to get this thing started, and don't want to wait until next week to do so. We'll see what happens today.

Glad to see you arrived at a decision Tiessa, even if I still don't have my download link for the adventure.

For what it's worth, I thought option #2 was cooler too. :)

I'll check over Valtyra's sheet and let you know if I see any issues...but I probably won't if she was made with Hero Lab.

Looking forward to this game kicking off. Sounds like a mature group of gamers. Just like at home.

Cheers

Same here! I've been somewhat obsessive about checking my e-mail the last couple of days, in hopes that my download link will arrive. Once it does, we should be able to get rolling very quickly.

A couple of possibilities:

1) Disallow the exception.
2) Modify the feat to enable any Aasimar to take it. [I'd like this.]
3) Modify the feat to enable any Aasimar to take it and add Daylight (their usual racial spell-like ability) to the list as an additional option for the 3rd level spell choice. [I'd love this.]

I'll take number three for the win! I'd be okay with this if that's the direction you ultimately end up going.

Still no PDF today. :(

As for mapping, I'm going to post jpeg images to ImageShack and post the links here. I believe the new AP PDF files have spoiler-free maps for the various locations, so I hope to use those to facilitate easy combat maps.

I will roll Init for any new combat, so we can get right into the action. From there, we'll break you guys out into 'clusters' (PCs whose initiative scores are grouped together without any adversaries interrupting them); for each 'cluster' I'll resolve actions in the order they are posted, rather than the actual numerical initiative order. I think this method should help keep things moving along.

Regarding dice rolls more generally, I will always roll Initiative and sometimes I will roll Perception checks and saves for you, if I think it will avoid a delay. But most of the time, I want you all to roll for yourselves, using the dice function on these boards. I'm even considering pre-posting some dice rolls (results of Knowledge checks for example) hidden by spoiler tags. If you make a check, and hit the target number, you can read the spoiler. Obviously, this will involve extending a certain measure of trust, but I've seen it used in other games.

Oh, and whenever attacking, please do roll damage as well, even if you think you probably missed. Liberal use of skill check rolls is always a good thing too.

So...goofy Hero Lab question, for those of you who use it:

How do I make armor/weapons Masterwork? Is there some trick to it?

EDIT Never mind, figured it out!

Sir Manfred looks ready to go.

Valtyra is last but not least. :)

(Just realized, we have Soval and Valtyra...are they both going to go by 'Val'? Could be a source of confusion...for me, anyway).

Arknight, I looked over Val, and he looks great. Ready to roll.

Next up, Sir Manfred!

Alas, no subscription copy of the AP went out to me today.

Aardvark,

Sure, you can go ahead and add Varisian, that seems sensible.

In order to avoid beating the topic to death, I'll simply say thanks for the benefit of the doubt.

And, I assure you I'm not your old WoW companion, because I only played the game for about a day or two on a free trial...not because I didn't like it, but because I realized it had a pretty good chance of taking over my life. I decided to just say no to drugs. ;)

Aardvark, it looks like you shorted Angelica one known language. Otherwise, she looks like she's ready to go.

Soval is up next, then Sir Manfred.

Well, no subscription shipment today, so no PDF in my downloads (not that I really expected it...but would have been a pleasant surprise).

Perhaps tomorrow?

I just read a thread including comments by James Jacobs about how underwhelming this AP is for some. How using the Society to start the ball rolling puts some off.

JJ states that greed or perhaps the search for treasure should be used as a prime motivating factor to keep PCs on track. I have never played a greedy PC, not even a rogue. But when I was writing the background for Ulfak, I fixed him as an honourable half-shoanti and that honour is what drives him to succeed.

Food for thought and hopefully comment.

I expect I'll be able to respond to this topic once I've had the opportunity to read the opening adventure. In the meantime, I'd like to see what the other players see as their PCs' primary motives for adventuring with the Pathfinder Society.

About me: I am 38 years old, work as a pharmacist for a large drug chain, live in Northwest Indiana very near to Chicago (and yes, that makes me a fan of the Bulls, the Cubs, and...DA BEARS!! Take that, FW!)

I've had a love for role-playing games, particularly D&D, since discovering a 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual when I was in 3rd grade. I also collect comics, Legos, and play some rpg's and adventure titles on my X-Box 360 when I find time. Oh yeah, I'm also married and the father of 2 kids (boys, ages 5 and 3)...so I don't find the time too often these days.

In the interest of full disclosure, I also will point out that I have a track record of starting pbp games that don't last long (although there are a few exceptions). My sincere hope is that this game will break that track record. I know this was already discussed on the recruitment thread, but I bring it up again in the interest of being completely transparent. My history is being discussed in other threads/PMs, so I want to make sure everyone knows. Thanks.

FYI all, Angelica is next on my review list.

Looking forward to getting the final specs on Soval, as well as Tiessa's sorcerer(?) later on today.

That leaves...Camris. Is Sir Manfred all ready to go, or did you still have some tweaks to make?

Arknight here....

This is the background for my Magus, the fluff will be forthcoming later this evening as I have no access to Herolab at work (darn RL work commitments... lol)

Quit your job and become a full time gamer! :)

FW, thank you as well. I overlooked that you selected the Shaman's Apprentice racial trait. No problem there.

You know what, let's go ahead and have him keep the traits he has now. He's sufficiently fighter-y and sufficiently goblin-y to justify both choices.

If you drop the Improved Trip feat and fix the AC, he should be good to go.

FW, some comments about Ulfak...

Well folks, I bit the bullet and re-subscribed to the Pathfinder AP line. That means I'll be able to download the PDF of the adventure as soon as my order ships. So perhaps I may have it earlier this week than Thursday (assuming the warehouse staff isn't too wiped out from GenCon.)

I think Pakak is pretty much ready to go as is. Let me know if there's something I'm neglecting

Ridge, I plugged Pakak into Hero Lab, and I think he looks great (aside from the aforementioned missing second trait). He's ready to get started, as far I'm concerned. You can add the second trait later.

Does anyone else have a completed sheet for my review?

Excellent progress, I am enjoying seeing how things are coming along.

My laptops cable broke Wednesday night and I finally got a replacement today, sorry about being tardy to the party. Ill look over everything and comment further when I get back from work in a few hours. Thanks for picking me!

Glad to see you made it! No worries, I won't have the adventure until next Thursday it seems.

Would it be possible to reflavor the Tomb Raider faction trait to be one of exploring and searching for Thasslonian ruins instead of Osirion ruins? It would kind of fit my concept that way. :)

Commence reflavoring! I think that's a great idea.

By the way, I'm digging how a couple of you are showing essential stats at a glance in your alias headers. I'd love it if all of you would be able to do so.

The group is shaping up well!

Happy Anniversary, FW!

I'd guess you guys will be okay without a full wizard. I like where you're heading with your druid idea.

Also, I'd say the sixth PC should probably be something with a bit more of a martial bent. I'll give Tiessa another day or so, and if we still haven't heard anything I'll look for an alternate.

Good call, Aardvark, I'm confident you guys will want that trapfinding!

Things are shaping up nicely, hopefully we'll hear from Tiessa soon. (Thanks for the running summary, French Wolf. Hope you enjoy your holiday!)

Something I've been wanting to run is a Staff Magus. Anyone have anything like that in mind already? If not, that's what I'll plan on :)

Sounds fine to me!

Do you have any compunctions about players playing cross-gender?

That's not a problem for me, and neither are changelings.

Cry Havoc! wrote:

I should also mention that the PDF download for the adventure has been pushed back to August 23rd, sadly, so we've got a full week to get characters hammered out.

Are you sure? I have mine in my list of downloads.

Alas, you are a subscriber while I currently am not. I have to wait until street date to download mine.

Oh, another question, what will we be using for starting wealth?

Average, per class.

I should also mention that the PDF download for the adventure has been pushed back to August 23rd, sadly, so we've got a full week to get characters hammered out.

Hope you have better luck than your other adventures.

Thank you, I appreciate that!

Please do also keep in mind the fact that you're all going to start out as members or associates of the Pathfinder Society. See the Campaign Traits in the Players Guide for background inspiration, although I'm not going to insist that you choose one if none catch your fancy.

In any case, each PC may begin with two traits from different categories. One of these may be a campaign trait, but again, it's not mandatory.

Nothing further is needed, folks, I think I've got this nailed down. I will confess that I was preferential toward some familiar names whom I knew to have lots of pbp experience around here. Others I took because I searched through some posting history and enjoyed what I read from them (one story in particular about 'wight dwarves' I found quite funny...you know who you are!)

Thus, I'd like to give first dibs to:

Aardvark Barbarian
Tiessa
Ridge
Arknight
Camris
French Wolf

I've one or two other names in mind as alternate picks, so if anyone has had a change of heart, please do let me know. Otherwise, see you on the discussion thread.

For those not selected, my thanks again for your time and interest. All the best to you.

Welcome players, let us now begin the discussion of character ideas! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

We'll be using a 20 point buy for ability scores.

Most Paizo published material is on the table for your use, although I dislike Summoners and would prefer not to GM one. I'm not crazy about the idea of Ninja or Samurai in this campaign, but if you really, really want to play one you might be able to talk me into it. If you are interested in a highly unusual race, please check with me first. Finally (at least until I remember something else), I'd prefer if all of the PCs were of a relatively good-ish alignment (or at least must be willing to play nicely with others).

Yowza, 25 people interested, and I'll probably only be able to accommodate six! You know what, let's just cap this thing off now, so as to not break any more hearts. Recruitment closed.

I do want to say thank you to each one of you for your interest and support.

I also want to say to any other potential Shattered Star GMs out there...what are you waiting for? Lots of people who'd love to play around here!

So now I begin the difficult process of determining who my players will be...pleas, bribes and other forms of coercion are welcome. ;)

With so many people interested already, I may close recruitment as soon as tomorrow. Definitely not sooner, though, because I want to give at least one full day for those interested to reply. Still, it's nice to see so many folks who would like to play. :)