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[Roll20 / G+Hangout / CORE] PFS 0-01: Silent Tide (Levels 1-5): Friday, October 9th, 2015 @ 7:30 PM CDT US [GMT -5]

Scenario: CORE PFS 0-01: Silent Tide (Levels 1-5)

Date/Time: Friday, October 7th, 2015 @ 7:30 PM CDT US [GMT-5]

GM: Brandon Cecil

Game Client: Google Plus Hangout and the Roll20.net VTT

Description:

When strange reports of misty undead spread through Absalom, you and your fellow Pathfinders are dispatched to the half-drowned district of Puddles. Notoriously rough, the drooling addicts, flesh panderers, and quick-handed knifers of Puddles are the least of your worries. The night's tide brings with it an ancient armada of some long-forgotten war and you are the only thing between their mist-shrouded ghost fleet and Absalom's utter oblivion.

Written by Michael Kortes

Notes:

Free Roll20.net account required: http://roll20.net/

Sign-ups:

Please sign up on Warhorn, if interested: WARHORN SIGN-UP HERE

Group Player's Guide: IronHelixx RPG Club and Pathfinder Society

Had this blog gone up a while back it would have been great. As someone who has never heard of the PbP Game day before, the threads for mustering didn't look like they were anything different from a generic PbP recruitment, and losing my character for months isn't exactly appealing unless it's something special like this.

Worry not! We do three or four of these a year, so another will come around in a couple of months. There are also VTT Gamedays if you prefer a little more immediacy in your online Pathfindering, as well as online cons such as Aethercon, where we frequently run specials.

I thought that Rapid reload only applied to one chamber?

From the PRD: (Source: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/combat/firearms.html#_adv anced-firearms)

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms are chamber-loaded. It is a move action to load a one-handed or two-handed advanced firearm to its full capacity.

That's all six shots- With Rapid Reload you're Roland of Gilead.

It's crazy, but significantly less crazy than free-action reloads with a double-barreled blackpowder pistol, which is also doable.

Okay, so here's my question...

Using a revolver, with rapid shot and speed enchant I have 5 attacks per round. So, first round I go bang bang bang bang bang! Total Damage: assume 1 target UP close and Deadly from Sig Deed, and all hits, 5d8 + 15d6 + 85 = 160 avg damage (stats provided by Anydice.com)

Second round, I Imp. Vital Strike with my last bullet, and add Up close and Deadly damage... So the damage is 3d8 + 3d6 + 17 = 41 avg damage

Then I use my move action to reload my revolver(metal cartridges, rapid reload, for move action reload).

AS far as I can make out, this is 100% RAW, but I'm wondering if there is a way to up my damage in the second round of combat?

I'm not interested in TWF, as I would rather have every single shot hit, and I'm already making my DM pull his hair out with my damage output and hitting touch AC. Also, every thing I've seen about 2 weapon fighting with revolvers has seriously contrived reload techniques which detract from the RP aspect of my character.

And... Go!

Easy. It only takes a move action to load an advanced firearm since they all work on cartridges and are chamber-loaded. Your Rapid Reload feat drops that down to a free action.

You can shoot 5 shots every round.

Pretty happy with my schedule.

Thursday, August 14
Slot 1 (0800-1300): #5-06: You Have What You Hold (3-7)
Slot 2 (1300-1800): #5-06: You Have What You Hold (3-7)
Slot 3 (1900-2400): Gen Con Season 6 Special: The Paths We Choose (3-7)

Friday, August 15
Slot 4 (0800-1300): #5-06: You Have What You Hold (3-7)
Slot 5 (1300-1800): #5-06: You Have What You Hold (3-7)
Slot 6 (1900-2400): Gen Con Season 5 End Special: Legacy of the Stonelords (1-4)

Saturday, August 16
Slot 7 (0800-1300): OFF
Slot 8 (1300-1800): #5-06: You Have What You Hold (3-7)
Slot 9 (1900-2400): Bonekeep Level 3

Sunday, August 17
Slot 10 (0900-1400): OFF

This obsession with guns and violence does not really fit my picture of mental well being.

Mislabeling of "obsession."

Also, traumatized person carrying weapons is something that really puts me off.

Othering of traumatized individuals. Ableist.

There is something inherently wrong with that argumentation, because if that trauma get´s triggered by some stress, their trigger finger might go wild.

Stigmatization of traumatized individuals. Suggestion that they are prone to violence. Ableism +1.

Best they also are on medication, so their perception and judgement of situations is 100% accurate for sure.

Implication that traumatized individuals need to be chemically altered. Ableism 3-hit combo.

How about putting all that money going into "defense" into a proper healthcare system, better education and work programms instead?

Less guns, less incidents, less traumatized people.

I agree wholeheartedly. Part of that is divesting ourselves of ableist stigmatization of people who have suffered trauma as violent, dangerous loonies. That is a macro solution. Individual persons cannot and should not be expected to perform macro solutions on their own. Micro solutions, which are attainable by individuals, involve having a basic level understanding of their situation.

Here's an excellent article on being an ally for people who suffer from PTSD: http://www.autistichoya.com/2013/08/how-to-be-ally-for-people-with-ptsd.htm l

Please note that I'm not judging you as a person. They don't teach awareness in schools, another systemic problem of our treatment of mental health as a society. I'm calling out your statements because you're clearly an intelligent person, and I believe that you are not a person who genuinely wants to stigmatize persons with PTSD.

Suggesting that a person who has suffered trauma and deals with PTSD as a result of that is more prone to violence and needs to be chemically altered is extremely ableist and false.

Any venue owner has every right to request that patrons of their establishment disarm. They don't need a reason. It's on the order of them requesting that you don't smoke, drink, eat food, or disrobe in their establishment- no amount of constitutional, moral, ethical, or philosophical right trumps their preference within the four walls they own.

If you can't deal with that, don't go to there.

I think perspective is key to understanding situations like this. Consider that a person who feels the need to arm themselves has gone through a traumatic experience that you haven't had. You can't possibly imagine what it's like to have your illusions of safety completely shattered. This affects some differently than others, some may feel the need to arm themselves and some can move on without doing so. For those that need to arm themselves to feel safe, consider what you're doing- You are judging a trauma survivor for doing the only thing that provides them with even the smallest illusion of that lost safety. You're asking them to go into a triggering situation and stripping away what little self-empowerment they had.

At the same time, consider being the person that doesn't have the gun. Maybe that person has had that same traumatic experience. Maybe that person now associates that gun, or any gun, as a symbol of that traumatic experience. It would be understandably triggering, perhaps moreso because the trauma victim has no idea what you intend to do with that gun. You're now the person going up to a trauma sufferer with a literal and figurative reminder of their complete lack of safety.

I understand that some people may fall on one side or the other of the firearm issue for arbitrary reasons that may be nonsensical or illogical, they may be personally or politically motivated.

No amount of your political ideology trumps the moral consequences of attacking someone's mental well-being, no matter which side of the issue you or the other person stands.

That request that the store owner or a player might make is only that much- a request, a piece of paper, a sign in the door. If someone is bugnuts crazy enough to draw a killing implement over a role-playing game, do you really think a sign on the door is going to stop them?

No. It won't. All a person can do is to have a basic regard for your fellow humans and their mental well-being.

In short, simple human decency tempered by perspective is the only solution.

The Online VO's have said though, that they will be rolling out a PbP PFS guide, that may highlight issue like that pretty soon, though.

Just to avoid any confusion, while we are working on a document of hints and tips for Play-by-post organized play, this should not be viewed as a replacement for any PFS OP rules- Everything in the Pathfinder Society Guide to Organized Play still applies to PbP.

The guide we're working on is more of an FAQ dealing specifically with play-by-post.

That last bit would be a big deal for them. They're big on transitions and ensuring that people go through them right and when they're ready. They won't stand for someone having a major life change forced on them. They'll also keep eyes open for those who are going through huge changes and turning points in their lives, to try and guide them through those rites of passage.

I agree all over this.

Lymnieris is a fascinating patron, really, because of the fact that the portfolio doesn't make sense under typical societal views, but it works perfectly under a certain philosophy.

I tend to think Lymnieris's portfolio is a commentary on the virgin/whore dichotomy commonly applied to the concept of sexuality, and the nature of consent.

A simplistic view is to think that prostitutes exchange sex for money, but in reality they're trading consent for some sort of gain. Under that view, a lot more things become prostitution, most notably arranged marriages. In many cases both parties of an arranged marriage had no choice in the matter, essentially being pimped out by outside authoritative forces (family, nation, etc).

At the same time, virginity is treated as a commodity, and that allows control by outside forces.

Ultimately, to me Lynieris is a patron of Consent unbound by the strictures of restrictive sexual practices, of sexual freedom without judgment. To a Lymnieran, society has made prostitutes of us all, and it is critical to empathize with the victims while seeking to change society's harmful perceptions.

Massive props to whoever thought up this particular Empyreal Lord.

Billy's a class act. Congratulations man!

How long does it take? I would appreciate any specifics please...thanks

Typically it depends on the forum, but in a Play-by-Post game, you post your character's dialogue and actions on the forum. People are generally expected to post at least once a day. When combat occurs, your turn is generally one post. Depending on the forum your dice rolls are generally handled by the forum software, different GMs have several different methods for handling minis/battlemaps.

A PbP PFS scenario usually takes anywhere from 3-5 months to complete.

Hello, Paizo PbP Discussion board! Along with Arthur Perkins I am a Venture-Lieutenant for Online Play for Pathfinder Society. As such I wanted to reach out to the different venues for Online PFS, both VTT and PbP, both to get to know the various arms of the (ginormous) community, and to introduce myself.

I'd love to hear about your PbP PFS games, and also if there's any way that your Venture Officers can assist you in building Online Play.

So far, we are building GameDays for Online Play, including Paizo boon and prize support! We are including PbP in this as well, based on the start/finish time of the scenario. I'll have more details on that later on.

In addition, we have a special event for Talk Like a Pirate Day- you could win a free copy of Pirates of the Inner Sea! See the post in the Grand Lodge Online Play forum for more info.

All that being said, I do have some questions for the community, which I'd love your input on:

-How much PFS would you feel is played in your community?
-What challenges do you think PbP faces with PFS content?
-Can you think of any ways your VOs can help you promote PFS in your community?

At some point in the future, I'll be putting together a Google Hangout so that I can meet with some of you and we can have a direct conversation, but for now, I'd love to hear what you have to say in both this thread and through private messages if you prefer.

Hello, Paizo PbP Discussion board! Along with Arthur Perkins I am a Venture-Lieutenant for Online Play for Pathfinder Society. As such I wanted to reach out to the different venues for Online PFS, both VTT and PbP, both to get to know the various arms of the (ginormous) community, and to introduce myself.

I'd love to hear about your PbP PFS games, and also if there's any way that your Venture Officers can assist you in building Online Play.

So far, we are building GameDays for Online Play, including Paizo boon and prize support! We are including PbP in this as well, based on the start/finish time of the scenario. I'll have more details on that later on.

In addition, we have a special event for Talk Like a Pirate Day- you could win a free copy of Pirates of the Inner Sea! See the post in the Grand Lodge Online Play forum for more info.

All that being said, I do have some questions for the community, which I'd love your input on:

-How much PFS would you feel is played in your community?
-What challenges do you think PbP faces with PFS content?
-Can you think of any ways your VOs can help you promote PFS in your community?

At some point in the future, I'll be putting together a Google Hangout so that I can meet with some of you and we can have a direct conversation, but for now, I'd love to hear what you have to say in both this thread and through private messages if you prefer.

The ITS does not need to be signed. Only the chronicle sheet needs to be signed. The ITS is only there to allow faster and easier checking of items bought. For an online game, if you've provided digital copies of your chronicles, you should be able to just keep the physical copy of the ITS, and use it to look up the appropriate chronicle yourself for the GM to reference.

This is correct. All you need is to have your GM initial the purchase section of your chronicle sheet, the ITS is for your personal tracking.

I'd certainly like to have the option, and seeing as the new modules are running that way, it would reduce the confusion.

Please help me in welcoming Arthur Perkins & Brandon Cecil as our first two Online Venture-Lieutenants! Both are great organizers of the online community already and will be working with me to bring Online Gameplay to the forefront of Pathfinder Society.

Congratulations to both Arthur and Brandon!

Word. Thanks fellas, I look forward to giving back to the community.

Let's use this new forum as a centralized place to discuss how the new rules for Season 5 will affect Online Play as a unique venue.

The first thing that jumps out at me is item purchases, something that has traditionally only been loosely enforced. It is my understanding that the new rules indicate that a GM needs to initial every item purchase on the chronicle sheet, checking item access (PFS legal, Fame, Chronicle Sheet) and accounting before allowing the player to acquire the item.

Doing this prior to online games (particularly VTT games) can be time consuming, so here's the method I'm experimenting with in the leadup to GenCon. I'd love anyone's input/criticism/advice/hilarious jokes on the subject.

Pregame- Send e-mail to players requesting the normal character info (things the player would normally fill out on the info card at a face-to-face game). In this e-mail ask the players if there are any items they would like to purchase pregame to represent items acquired between missions, also ask players for proof of access. Note results off to the side for addition to chronicle sheet at the end of the game.

During game- If the scenario allows for shopping after the mission briefing, give players another chance to purchase items. Check access requirements on the fly, try to do this quickly. Note results off to the side for addition to chronicle sheet at the end of the game.

Post game- Ask players again for purchases. Check access requirements. Again, try to do quickly so as not to keep other players waiting for chronicle sheets. Complete chronicle sheet with information given by players.

Anyone got ideas on a faster way to do this, or other thoughts on new rules that might affect the online play experience?

I was thinking more about mixing FtF and online games. If I've already got paper chronicles from a live game, a scanner is pretty much necessary, right?

Edit: Quick and dirty it may be, but for...

Oh, I get you now. Yeah, if you need data/online accessible copies of physical sheets, you're going to need a scanner. I would love to see Paizo come up with a way where all sheets would be digitized from the get-go.

Luckily, scanners aren't very expensive. You can score a bare-bones one for less than the copy of a PFRPG hardback.

How about just a text tutorial? And does it start with "Buy a scanner."?

Once I've got them in digital format there are any number of ways to get them to an online GM. It's that first step.

You could use a scanner, but I don't see the need for it. Let me see what I can produce just off the top of my head.

As a GM:
Download and install Nitro PDF Reader
Sign up for a dropbox account, and install that
Open the scenario PDF, then go to the chronicle sheet page.
File > Print
Under printer, change the printer option to Nitro PDF Creator (Reader 3) and just print the Current Page.
A Save As dialog should come up, allowing you to save a PDF of just the chronicle sheet.
Next, go to pdfescape.com
Upload the chronicle sheet PDF you've just created
Use PDFEscape's tools to fill out the necessary information
Click the download button when finished (looks like a green box with two white arrows pointing down)
Save the filled out sheet
On your computer you should have a new Dropbox folder (Default is under My Documents). Within this folder is a Public folder. Anything you place in there will be public. Save the completed PDF into this folder (Subfolders are okay).
After that if you navigate to the file in that folder, you should be able to right click on it and within that menu find a Drobpox section. Under the Dropbox section you should find an option to Copy Public Link.
All you need to do at that point is give that link to whoever you're intending to send the sheet to.

As a player you can follow the steps above except that you don't have to create the initial PDF.

Like I said, quick and dirty, and not up to my usual standards of documentation. Eventually I will church this up and put it on the Youtubes.

It occurs to me that many people don't have a way to produce their character/chronicle sheets online. I might need to create a video tutorial on the methods that I use.

In meatspace games I've never been asked for my sheets. I'd asked one GM why and he responded that with setting up the table, wrangling miniatures, maps, physical space, his notes, and all the pre-game paperwork, he simply didn't have time. I'd imagine that goes moreso for cons, which PFS seems heavily written towards.

As a GM, I reserve the right to view the sheets, but as has been said before in the thread, many people may take that as an accusation. I suspect that is the reason it is written as it is in the guide- phrasing it as a responsibility of the GM makes the request seem more like something the GM HAS to do instead of something the GM WANTS to do. It's protection for the GM and a way to enforce the social contract.

That being said, I've made it my responsibility as a player to have a method for producing all of my documentation at a moment's notice. I've accomplished this through the use of Dropbox, which lets me make PDFs available on the cloud through public web links. My character sheet is on a Hero Lab PDF available for any GM that needs to see it, and all of my chronicles are also on the cloud.

As an aside, this is also the method that I use to provide chronicles to players in my games, and I also keep backups in case a player loses their sheet.

Congrats!

Are NPCs in scenarios and modules considered to have all the spell components they need for their spells? I notice a lot of their "other gear" sections don't include them.

I realize that for standard components this is necessary to keep word count down, but where it matters is for more expensive components. For instance, I'm looking at a module NPC cleric that has Animate Dead prepped, but that spell requires an opal worth 25gp per HD of undead created.

Said opal does not appear in her statblock or treasure section. Is it presumed that she already has it?

A toast to the memory of Elvis Halfelven, who found that lemures were remarkably tactical.

Dominate should never, ever, EVER be used by one PC on another PC. I'm even leery of doing it as a GM to a player. Her counter-party play can be problematic, yes, but Dominate is an extreme overreaction.

Beyond removing the player's agency (the whole point of playing the game), stripping a person of control (especially with the literal term Dominate) can be triggering for survivors of sexual violence. Allowing this at the game (and on a female player, no less) is just plain irresponsible.

I'm certainly not suggesting your intentions, but if the player had an unknown history to you, your intentions wouldn't matter. That's how triggering works. Of COURSE the player is angry. Having the GM and another player, maybe even multiple players ganging up on her for voicing dissent is even worse.

Again, I'm certain you wouldn't have done anything remotely of that nature to the character, being placed in a situation of vulnerability like that can cause tremendous psychological damage.

A better solution with a problem character is for the GM to come up with ways to motivate that character personally to go along with the party. I played a Lawful Evil character who ran into a burning building to save some orphans, because
A) Evil as he was, he could not abide children being harmed
B) Tragedies like child deaths are TERRIBLE for business

CN characters by nature are motivated by the self. Wealth is a good motivator, as are clues or tenuous relations to important aspects of the character's backstory. Clearly, the character acts in a way that she sees is appropriate for her character, which means she's put some thought into the character's personality and backstory. The GM should take this as an opportunity to create hooks for the character, not just force her into situations that make her act against type.

But never, EVER dominate another player character. I'd have immediately dropped your alignment to the lower end of neutral, and probably have ejected you from my table.

If they feature prominently in your campaigns, I'd love to hear how. If they are just an afterthought, why is that?

The rough part is when you overdo it. Too many off-the-wall environmental factors lead to player paranoia. They'll start over-preparing and over-thinking, which leads to long boring minutiae as players start to prepare themselves for every single eventuality. Not heroic, and not fun.

A better option is to introduce single elements that don't really engender a lot of pre-battle planning, but can give players and the GM tactical options in combat.

I like using furniture, myself. It adds verisimilitude, since nobody lives in stark empty 10x10ft rooms without even a chair. Furniture can be moved, tipped over onto people, used for cover, etc. Here's an example.

I had a room that was an underground home for a long-dead wizard. This particular room was a study, so there were bookshelves, tables, etc. I figured he'd need some light and warmth, so I put a big brazier in the center of the room, and a couple candle stands around the room. I also added some heavy tapestries that the wizard used for visual aids (star charts, planar diagrams, etc).

In practice, the players had a great time with it. The ranged characters kicked the tables over to use for cover, which led the hobgoblins to kick the brazier over to ignite the table with the hot coals. Another player pulled down a tapestry to entangle three hobs, and the next player kicked a candelabra over to set the tapestry on fire. There were at least two hobgoblins that were crushed to death by a domino effect of falling bookshelves.

These are easy props to make, too. My tables were just a cut-rectangle of cardstock, and I trimmed a straw into short table legs. Glued them suckers together and hit it with a brown sharpie, and Bob's your uncle.

The bookshelves were just cardstock boxes, and the brazier and candelabras were miniatures, I believe.

LOVE the character concept. I played a similar character in a Ravenloft game.

As Crazy Russians™ are wont to do, he took over Barovia and instituted Communism. I'd spout off (in a bad russian accent) bastardized Marxist sayings with a bit of Borat mixed in.

"Religion is opiate of masses. Opiates make people happy. GREAT SUCCESS!"

Ustalav is for all intents and purposes Romania, but historically Romania had a lot of ethnic Slavs who were culturally very much what we now think of as Russia. The concept works within Ustalav.

Their view is correct, Pistol is a generic term for a multitude of firearms, no one says "oh pass me that single barrelled pistol", and I understand that the intent may have been different, but it was poorly written.

My player mentioned he may like to play a gunslinger in a society game hence the questions now, before he sits down with someone that does not know him.

I can understand how in a letter-of-the-law type of setting such as PFS, the actual verbiage of a rules clause is highly important.

That being said, I think the key to understanding the distinction is that the class of weapons isn't "Pistol," but rather "one-handed firearm." See the Pistolero archetype for an example of this classification in action.

"Pistol" would be a specific one-handed firearm. Also note that the other examples listed under the rule entry (Blunderbuss, Musket) aren't groups of weapons either. It wouldn't make any sense for the listing to reference Specific Gun, Group of Guns, Specific Gun.

This is very similar to some shenanigans that said gunslinger player is going to encounter later on, where having Rapid Reload (Pistol) doesn't avail him in reloading a double-barreled pistol. He'd need Rapid Reload (Double-Barreled pistol).

A lot of tobacco sold as cigarettes in the United States (most notably Camels) are actually made from Turkish tobacco.

Both my real and fictional senses of geography are atrocious- would Katapesh be a similar environment to Turkey? I know that both feature places that are more fecund than pure deserts.

Of course, you COULD always pick up Rapid Reload for a regular pistols, which, along with paper cartridges drops the reload to a free action, and that would render the second barrel unnecessary...

I actually started out that way. Ended up going with doubles because I plan on abusing the Both Barrels mechanic.

As I read it each of the shots in my attack routine can be a double shot. I actually put together a Double-Barrel gunslinger build that can get off 14 (highly inaccurate) shots in a turn, assuming no misfires.

I'm playing a new gunslinger as well, but I'm a little worried about long-term viability.

I'd like to use double-barreled pistols, but the misfire rate of 2 plus 1 for paper cartridges is terrifying. The Reliable and Greater Reliable weapon enchants could fix that, but I'm not sure if I can even get those.

The upgrade rules mention upgrading a gun to/from +1, +2, etc, but they don't say anything about adding properties (distance, reliable, lucky, etc.)

On top of that, given the rarity of firearms in Golarion I'm assuming that guns as loot in scenarios are going to be prohibitively rare/non-existent.

Can you use the upgrade rules to put properties on a gun?

A firearm making a scatter shot misfires only if all of the attack rolls made misfire.

Thanks! That makes the blunderbuss a much more attractive option.

Logically, you're still shooting just once, so the gun shouldn't misfire more than once.

That makes sense; I suppose here I'm more concerned with the weapon being more likely to misfire from having more targets in the cone.

From my reading of the Scatter rules, and the Misfire rules, it makes it seem to me that using a blunderbuss is nearly suicidal, even to a point where it doesn't even make sense internally.

As I understand it, I make a separate attack roll against each target in the cone; we'll say for the purposes of this example that I am level 1, there are four targets in the cone, and that these targets are goblins and adorable.

I shoot and then roll four times, once against each adorable goblin that I want to blow the oversized head off of. Would that not mean four misfire chances?

Furthermore, what if I roll more than one misfire on the same shot? Does it get broken, and then immediately explode?

Where it really doesn't make any sense is how if I fire a single shot at two guys, it's somehow less likely to misfire than if I fire that same shot at four guys.