I've now updated the equipment and edited the character sheet slightly to clarify e.g. what campaign trait I have taken.
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Background and description are ready; crunch is done save for gear which I am still finalising. Nope, average it is.
Hi all, I've been holding off from doing this, but following the website crashes and my attempts to keep the games I'm running from going under, I don't have time or headspace for this game. I'm really sorry to do this to you, it's been a great game. I will continue to GM and I hope to see you on these boards at some future stage.
"Quite." Damrak nods at Duke Centimus's words. "Excellently said, My Lord." Unsure of where to go next, he moves in search of anyone who looks like they might be discussing business.
"Intermittently." Damrak acknowledges Chana's comments. "My fighting days are mostly in the past now, but it is a useful skill to have acquired while young." Barging through the crowds, he does his best to help the Lady Olivia to get through.
He nods at her advice on how best to approach the man. "My thanks." Armed with that useful bit of knowledge, Damrak begins the conversation by praising the role of Taldan ingenuity in creating the Empire in the first place, and the vital role that inventions and new discoveries play in bringing in wealth to the nation. "And as a moneylender myself, I am always interested in investing in potential. I regret missing out on the education to become an engineer myself."
She steps on in to the room and crosses her arms, facing Damrak. "Looks like she's taken a liking to you Damrak. Hope you're ready for that. She seems like the sort that digs her teeth into something, or someone, and then can't be shaken off." She taps a foot "I almost feel like it would have been better to knock some sense into her right-" "Indeed." Damrak's rumbling voice sounds unconcerned, but he flashes Chana a smile. "In other circumstances, I would indeed show Miss Trant a thing or two about the use of force, but brawling here seems the height of folly." He slips the set of brass knuckles back into his pocket, almost regretfully. "So. What now?" Suddenly he is all business again. "Baron Okerra and Countess Pace are accounted for." He ticks off the list of tasks on his fingers. "Would anyone like to accompany me to talk with Duke Centimus?"
Damrak matches the departing Malphene stare for stare - anytime, Lady - although he finds one hand unconsciously reaching for the brass knuckles concealed in his back pocket. The young woman is formidable indeed. "Well. That could have escalated quickly. I trust you will remember who aided you and who wished you ill, when the time comes to vote, Senator."
Damrak follows Photine into the room, observing with interest: apart from the splendour of their clothing and the surroundings, this could be a scene from his childhood in the Narrows of Oppara. People, it would seem, are people everywhere, regardless of their wealth and status. He, personally, would have gone with diplomacy as the first recourse, but since Photine has moved straight to the threats this is not an option any longer. Instead, he adds his voice to hers, his voice a low rumble as he speaks. "This behaviour is unseemly, Lady. Besides, when your allies start deserting you it is time to ask yourself whether you are on the right side - and whether your remaining allies are going to stick with you if it turns rough. Looks to me like the sissies you've surrounded yourself with will run the moment they get blood on those stuffed shirts." He cracks his knuckles. "But I'm willing to put that to the test."
Apologies for the delay in posting - I started my own PbP campaign this week and it took more time/energy than I thought it would. I'm still around and will definitely get something posted up today. Sorry for keeping you waiting.
Damrak nods, clearly pleased to have discovered the motivations behind the man. Stepping in as Khalil's message gets slightly lost in its delivery, he bows to Baron Okerra. "Greetings. I believe what my esteemed companion wishes to convey is that stability takes many forms. For example, I hear that if the princess does not succeed the throne then it will be the General - and his concerns are war and conquest, I understand, rather than business and the well-being and stability of the realm." He pauses, to let that sink in, before adding: "Sometimes it is necessary to take the longer view."
Where one has failed, two might succeed. Keeping a reasonable distance from Khalil, so as not to seem too conspiratorial, Damrak will also approach Baron Okerra, trying to discern what (if any) susceptibilities he might have to particular forms of argument.
BTW, I know I previously mentioned it, but I've now set up a recruitment thread for the Kingmaker/Ultimate Intrigue mashup game. Link to the recruitment thread is here for anyone who's interested.
"Intricate." Damrak is admiring the clockwork insect, noting its function. He bows to Lady Lotheed. "One of your creations?" He gives a quick bow to Photine as Lady Lotheed introduces her, as well as a brief smile. "I might have known you were another of Her Ladyship's agents. I look forward to working with you." He nods at the instructions. "I will keep an eye out for Miss Trant."
Sorry all - got called away with work. Catching up on the gameplay posts now and will post something in a bit.
The information about the foibles of past senators in immuring their workers doesn't surprise Damrak at all. If anything, it reassures him that people will remain people whatever the circumstances, whether in the worst slums of the Narrows, or the marble halls of power. On which note, he reminds himself, he needs to re-visit Countess Pace. He has some inkling of her loyalties, such as they are, but he needs proof. Easily locating her again, he spends some time quietly observing her before making his approach.
That done, he then bows as he walks up to her.
"Countess." He listens to her, waiting for the right opportunity to make his influence felt. "I was in two minds on the Princess' speech - on the one hand, Taldor is built on millenia of tradition and we interfere with that at our peril. But on the other hand, do we not need to adapt to the changing times? I was wondering what wisdom your own insights bring." Flattery will get you most places, he has learned.
@DM - just to second what the others have said, this is excellent and that tracker in particular is incredibly useful. Can I just check though that Countess Pace is still un-influenced? Also, did we not discover during the speech that her true loyalties are to herself? She's one of my targets so I just wanted to check that her details are up to date.
"Agreed." Realising that it is easier to work the rooms as a team, Damrak follows Chana to the archives. He mingles with a different group from Chana, again listening carefully and offering an opinion where required that is likely to chime with what the person might be interested in hearing.
"Impressive." Damrak gives Chana a nod, and a slight bow. "Your rhetoric was highly effective. Remind me not to get on your bad side!" In truth, he had greatly enjoyed the sight of the pompous Earl Varimar fleeing, vanquished by a commoner.
Oops. Forgot the -2 on my roll for leaving the Princess' speech early. My bad.
Damrak bows politely to Photine. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Damrak Lendar."
Damrak wanders into the Senate floor, out of curiosity as much as anything else. He has some plans for making a bid for the Senate himself, one day - assuming everything goes to plan, of course. He spends some time in polite conversation, which is to say that he listens far more than he speaks.
Damrak gives the stranger a nod, and a quick bow. "That was good work, lady...?" In reply to Chana's question, he considers. "I think Countess Pace is in this for herself. Make it clear to her that the future is with the Princess and she will vote for her. Otherwise, not."
Politely taking his leave of the discussion he was in with Countess Pace, Damrak carefully follows everyone out to listen to the princess. He has heard much about her, but never before had the opportunity to see her in the flesh (so to speak). He listens carefully, expecting a long, dreary speech, but is pleasantly surprised to discover that she is good at getting to the point. He watches the crowd carefully, to try and see who is genuine and who is not.
He is distracted from doing so by seeing one of the servants head towards the beehives. It may be nothing, but on the other hand... He carefully heads towards the servant, to intercept the man.
Hey DM Vayelan! Many thanks for taking this on. Photine, I have no objections - but it's probably up to the new DM on whether they feel they can take on a new PC.
So... any volunteers to go hunting for a GM? I'm thinking something like: GM wanted. Must be willing to read and prepare insane amounts of written material in order to pick up part-way through the first part of the War for the Crown AP. Reading into PC backgrounds advisable, but not essential for now. Negative renumeration (will drain your time, your energy levels and - at times - your will to live).
I think it's a case of YMMV. In my view, the problem is that from the player perspective, the big bad comes straight out of left field in book 6 of the AP, having never been previously encountered. There's no instructions in the AP as-written as to how to introduce any foreshadowing, despite the fact that the GM is told about the big bad right from book 1 of the AP. Luckily, the Paizo community have fixed that and there's a huge amount of suggestions on the forums about how to do it better. As for kingdom-building: I love it. That said, the version in the AP doesn't work very well. The rules from Ultimate Campaign (available here) work better, although they can still be 'broken' in much the same way you can super-optimise e.g. a wizard character by dropping Str, Wis and Cha to 7 and maxxing out Int and Dex: it's perfectly within the rules, but it's a bit... well, you get the idea. If you want, you can build a kingdom that's basically unstoppable, with enough regiments to re-enact the Normandy landings. But, if you want, you can also have a kingdom that is fun to build while still needing significant heroic efforts from the PCs in order to survive in a hostile world. I'm hoping for players who prefer the second option. That said, I've never run the kingdom rules on PbP. But it looks like a number of campaigns are doing so and they appear to be working OK.
@Chana - thanks. F2F/tabletop gaming is hugely about giving your players what they want, and it sounds like yours are happy with the wilderness exploration and combat, which is also a lot of fun! In my case, the players were all avid Game of Thrones watchers, so I modelled the campaign on that (minus the rapey bits!). Unfortunately it turned out that half of them lost interest in the kingdom building bit, while the other half loved it. I ended up improvising an ending with book 2 (basically, their realm joined Mivon up with Rostland, forming a check on Issia's power and forcing the Surtovas to resign the regency) and we moved on to the next campaign. Hopefully, PbP recruitment is self selecting so only people genuinely interested in the kingdom building and intrigue will apply. I'll post a link to the recruitment thread once I open it (will be 2-3 weeks at least before I finish the module I'm currently running).
End of this week sounds reasonable. As for the changes: mechanically I will use the influence rules. If you want someone to help you, you'll have to form a connection with them: a scholar of antiquities might be influenced using knowledge (history) or Appraise; an aristocrat might be influenced using knowledge (nobility), or maybe Ride if they're a horsey, outdoors type; a huntsman might be influenced using Survival or Craft (traps); the town gossip might require knowledge (local)...you get the idea. You can always try to 'brute force' it using Diplomacy, but the DC will be higher because most people are more interested in making a connection than being schmoozed. Of course there will be times when Diplomacy is the right skill for the task - you might want to bribe/charm/flatter/seduce someone. But there's a lot more 'what does this person/group want' than 'I roll Diplomacy until they agree to my demands'. I'm also using the rules for verbal duels. Those of you familiar with Kingmaker will have at least one idea where a verbal duel is required! Flavor-wise, there's a LOT more politics. Brevoy is divided and unstable, and the forces that send you into the Stolen Lands want different things from you. Managing the various sides is going to be critical as the game develops. Everyone other than your fellow players has their own agenda, which might align with yours but also might conflict. Within the Stolen Lands themselves, the fey are factionalized and you will have to tread carefully to avoid antagonising the wrong faction. Hope that gives you an idea, there's obviously a lot more!
Ok, it sounds like we have consensus on (1) not being able to take over GMing this ourselves and (2) trying to find a replacement GM. How long should we wait?
That's all true, although I'm not opposed to trying to find a new GM. If you don't ask, you don't get after all. I'd offer to 'retire' Damrak and take over, but I haven't actually got this AP: I wanted to try playing through an AP where I would be genuinely surprised at whatever happened... There is one other possibility, assuming we can't find a GM - just after the Ultimate Intrigue rules came out, I ran a tabletop Kingmaker/UI mashup which went really well, until some of the players decided they were bored with the kingdom-building part. Made it difficult to continue, so it stopped. I'd really like to try it again, with players who are truly invested in the kingdom building part of Kingmaker; and who are also into using the Intrigue rules. I'm currently running a module on these boards, but once that's done I'll dust off my old notes and put up a recruitment thread, if I decide I will have time to run it. If that interests any of you, send me a PM and I'll send you a link once it's up. (It would be open recruitment, but you'd be heavily considered cos I've actually gamed with you and I really like your characters.)
Hrm (as Damrak would say). If our esteemed GM doesn't return, what are our options? I'm really enjoying gaming with you all and I think these characters have a story to tell. It would be a shame to let it drop.
Sanguinity level: falling
I'm (reasonably) sanguine - it's only been a week, and the weekend just gone was a public holiday in several countries. Plus PaizoCon, of course.
Still here...
I hear you, Chana. We must game in the same circles :)
"Countess." Damrak nods his head politely, before giving her sister a more genuine smile. "I have no title, alas - I am plain and simple Damrak. Damrak Lendar." He takes a small sip from his glass, for the benefit of appearance more than anything else. "So, are you looking forward to the Princess's speech, later? Or simply here for the vote?" He does his best to listen to the reply, to gauge where Countess Pace's loyalty lies.
Damrak surreptitiously glances down at the nobleman Countess Pace has pointed at, to see if he can recall anything pertinent about Lord Selemy.
No. Complete blank. Oh well. He can always ask Lady Vernisant later on, if needed. On hearing the Countess's sister propose a drink, he swiftly acts, nimbly plucking two glasses from the tray of a passing servant and offering them with a bow to the two noblewomen. "Ladies." His voice is at its low, rumbling best. "Please, accept these drinks. In return, would you allow me the honour of conversing with you?"
Drink in hand (carefully emptied so as to look half-drunk), Damrak circulates around the room, exchanging diplomatic pleasantries with those who will give him the time of day. And always, always, he circles carefully around Countess Pace and her companion, looking for a way to drop into their conversation that doesn't look artificial.
Damrak will pause a respectful distance away, trying to get an intuition on things.
Damrak follows most of the subtext from the conversations, but remains silent.
With a roll like that there should be more diplomacy in the post, but it's late and his player is tired :/
"Obliged." Damrak gives Amandine a deep bow, and a look of genuine respect. "Wherever you work currently, I hope they pay your worth. If not, I am always in need of facilitators and information-brokers..." Information is more than power: it is currency. Leaving that conversation dangling - to be resumed anon - he approaches the identified companion of Lady Pace. As he does so, he conducts his usual assessment, looking for the non-verbal cues which tell him so much more than the words that spill out of people's mouths.
Boeing low, he smiles at her, before briefly introducing himself and gently steering her somewhere they can talk without being overheard. "My greetings, Lady...." He spends some moments in idle conversation and flattery, before giving a discreet cough: "I couldn't help noticing that you are a companion of the Countess Pace. As it happens, I am bound to a noblewoman who seeks business ties with the Countess... I hope I am not being indiscreet in asking: how do you find her? Is she likely to be an agreeable business partner?" He gives her a winning smile. "Anything you tell me is in strictest confidence. I am known for my discretion."
"Unusual." Damrak's reply to Chana's revelation of her true appearance is typically understated. "Doubtless there's a story there, as there is with mine. Perhaps we can exchange at a more suitable time." So saying, he bows and takes his leave. Returning home, he is pleased to find a scroll waiting for him (part-payment on a loan he arranged some months previously). He tucks it into a pocket, ensures that his falcata is properly peace-bound, and sets off for the Senate at a leisurely pace. Once there, he will accept a glass of whatever drink is being offered (for appearance only) and keep his mouth closed until he has a sense of things.
Amandine really isn't interested in Chana brownie points. Heh. Nor is Damrak, particularly, but as a Lawful type he likes to work well in groups.
Damrak easily swallows the insult, he's had worse and it's just part of negotiation. (Of course, in an earlier life he'd have knifed Chana for her insolence) "You complain about my guarantee not to stab you in the back, but it's more than you have offered. And why is Ms Santon's brother any more of a liability than your own Aunt, whom you have admitted to care about? I would imagine most of us have family, myself excepted." He keeps his tone reasonable. "And if that's all you took from my words, you weren't listening. I said nothing about 'convenience' - that was your word. I work in business, my word matters. I don't betray those I do business with. However 'convenient' it might be." He sighs. "I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with former associates. So have I." He parts the hair on his beard, where it grows across his neck - revealing a jagged scar that runs across his throat. He smooths his beard down. "Not many get to see that." He gives her a look. "So far you've demanded more than you have given. That's not a fair trade."
I'm ok with that, I think it's fine for a bit of disagreement/character growth. As long as we the players resolve things in an exceedingly lovely fashion, I think our GM will be ok with our characters not necessarily having much in common. That said, I would be very careful about issuing ultimatums (ultimata?) like the one you just pushed on Tanglefoot. What if he doesn't go your way? What if the other characters agree with him, and not with Chana? Are you (the player) prepared for your character to back down? If not, we hit an impasse, which isn't very comfortable.
I have no issues with that, although some characters are simply cautious. I wouldn't expect Olivia (for example) to spill the beans about her family to people she's not met before. Or for Amandine to explain how she makes a living as a courtesan. Damrak's happy to explain some of his reasons, but his personal stuff is personal - some more roleplay is needed before he's comfortable sharing. I suspect that this may be true of the others.
"Fair." Damrak acknowledges the counter-offer with a wave of his hand. "Very well. My reasons." His low, rumbling voice changes timbre slightly, losing some of its edge and taking on a more persuasive softness. "Taldor stagnates: weary, stale, flat - unprofitable. Change imperative. Change by lawful means preferable to revolution and chaos. See: Galt." He shrugs. "Princess Eutropia seems to understand that. Hence primogeniture a hindrance." "Now, to your other questions. Who you're working with? A reliable business partner. My word is good. What I care about? My god, myself, my friends, my colleagues. In that order. And if I stab you, it will be in the front; and it won't be due to quote some stupid ambition unquote." He gives her a stern gaze. "Satisfied?"
"I have served with honorable and compassionate commoners and peasants, both of which I would lay down my life for." Damrak acknowledges the sentiment with a nod. "Praiseworthy, although hopefully unnecessary." Following the hooded and cloaked Ms Durante into the alley, he is taken aback by her directness. Most of his business dealings are with people who take forever to get to the point. It's vaguely refreshing. However... "Counterpoint," his voice rumbles: "Demands for honesty work best when reciprocated." He gestures at the veil which conceals his interlocutor. "Perhaps you could show yourself?" Also: "street legend?" He makes a mental note to pursue that at a more propitious time.
"Agreed." Having heard enough to his satisfaction, Damrak has already put on one of the senate aide badges - in his mind, this is enough by itself to constitute acceptance of Lady Martella's contract, but the verbal assent is for avoidance of all doubt. As Tanglefoot suggests a pointless (and risky) change to the plan, he shakes his head, in agreement with Amandine. "Alcohol is a snare for the spirit, and any fooled thereby are not wise." He quotes from Abadian scripture, looking round meaningfully at the group, his bass voice rumbling into speech. "I work sober. I trust you all do likewise." As the group breaks up, he lingers behind, happy to talk with anyone who will speak with him. He bows fluidly at Olivia's greeting. "The pleasure is mine, Lady Vernisant." He hesitates briefly, wondering how much to tell her. "Your guidance on noble etiquette would be welcome: I am not noble-born. But we cannot choose our family." He has heard rumours, of course, of the Vernisant family. But he will leave it to her to decide whether to broach this topic now.
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