Yeah, that's why I'm not immediately announcing myself as the new GM. >_>
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I'd be willing to take over, but it's my first PbP game. I ran through book 1 of Jade Regent before that group fell apart and I'm almost a four-star PFS GM, so I'd like to think I'm a decent GM, but PbP is different enough that I'm slightly hesitant. People want to end on a high note, and I get that, so I'll leave it up to you whether we continue.
Not quitting school, but haven't followed a course since the start of this year. Something snapped in me last year that's taking very long to fix. But that's not the issue here. Fair point on ending on a high note. If, however, we think it's salvageable, maybe we should try it (if all people agree, of course). Iantha, aren't you way too busy with several other PbPs? How many do you have running anyway? :P
Congrats on the promotion! And thanks a lot for the clarity of your post and your oppenness about the situation. And what I said was just a suggestion, if you're not comfortable with it, please do it your way. No need to force yourself into something you're not okay with. Would a handover to a different GM solve things? Stopping the adventure sucks, and while a change of GMs might not go smoothly, it's better than the alternative, I think. I'm not necessarily nominating myself (I haven't PbP-GMed either), but I have a lot of free time due to me quitting school for a while (long story, but the gist of it is I have crippling school-related performance anxiety). And if it doesn't, I'm fine with a slower pace, it's better than nothing.
I feel the same way. I haven't posted as much as whenever I go check up here (at least once a day), others have beaten me to the punch. I'm not sure if the GM's too busy to regularly check up, but progress feels slower than it should be. In a different PbP, our GM fast-forwarded to the next room whenever he felt like we haven't been progressing.
I didn't intend for this to sound too harsh. If I did, I'm sorry. Don't take this as a critique, more as a room for improvement.
"By the Great Frog in the pond, what in the name of all that's holy happened to him?" Forlen will assist Smith in extracting the man from the pod.
"Throw 'em into the ocean, is what I would do. No good can come of that stuff. One wrong move and your remains'll end up in a crater. Other than that, throw them at the League or their 'bots sounds like a good idea as well. I wouldn't want them to end up on the black market, who knows what'll happen then. Either way, I'm not comfortable with carrying them around, but if anyone wants to blow stuff up, be my guest."
"Don't forget the contrafibularity generator. Blasted thing's zapped me on occasion when I was, er... dismantling these things."
Forlen eyes the machine, clearly not trusting it to not cut up Smith. "Careful, that sawblade's getting awfully close to your arm. But how's the patient? Any luck reviving him?"
"I won't let you steel scum touch another man as long as I draw breath!" With Iantha checking up on the man, Forlen hops back, takes a good look at the robot's weak spots and prepares to attack.
With a roar, Forlen charges in.
Forlen whispers to the rest of the group, "Do we trust that voice in our head? I'm not sure if we should."
While the conversation is going on, Forlen is looking around wildly, trying to pinpoint the origin of the mind-sound. When the topic turns to the blood, he turns pale and stands completely still. Forlen's thoughts are too incoherent to properly distinguish, but you'll catch pieces of it like "...Watching us... Sitting ducks in the open.... Feel like prey.... Toying with us...."
Forlen looks at the pile of dead robots and grins. "Look, that's how I like to see them: defunct, like nature intended them to be." Forlen kicks the scrapheap one last time, then takes position at the door.
Forlen mumbles a quick "thank you" to Brigh, but it isn't really heartfelt. "I accept it gladly enough; doesn't mean I have to like it. How do I put it? Say you have had a bad day and you end up in a bar. You drink so much, you wake up the next morning with a head-splitting hangover. It might have wiped away your bad memories, but do the ends justify the means? And aren't the ends worse than your original situation? Or in a way you'd understand: would you wipe away a memory cluster by deleting half of your memory bank?" He realises what he just said and looks sheepishly at Iantha. "Not that I'm not appreciative of Lady Brigh's gifts. It's just a philosophy issue."
Forlen looks at his scimitar and frowns as he puts it away. "Hrmph. Blasted thing managed to dodge way too many of my blows. I definitely need more training. I don't know what happened in that room, but I seem to have lost my edge." Forlen eyes Iantha warily "Both me and Dromer took some hits. A channel would be appreciated. Even though Brigh is not a deity I personally prescribe to, I would appreciate her blessing in times of need."
I'm not profcient with javelins either. I do have some shortspears to throw, though, so no worry.
"Stupid thing, evading my attacks. Okay, this one's going to hit, I feel it."
Still unsure whether his weapon will do any damage, he keeps slashing with his scimitar.
Seeing his attack go wide again, Forlen starts to mutter curses in Druidic.
Forlen takes a moment to study the thing's anatomy, then takes another swing at it.
"I've got you now! You might not be in league with the League, but you're still in our way!"
Having heard nothing about not hitting it with a scimitar, Forlen goes for the fleshy bits.
Forlen seems unsure what to do next. "Er, does anyone else know if these things are susceptible to my scimitar?"
Forlen starts pulling at the door while Iantha hits the weak spots again, but fails to find purchase and falls on his butt.
Visibly annoyed at the sight, Forlen squints his eyes and scans around to look for any threats.
"Seems empty and disused, but there's still power running through this chamber. I don't like it."
"Good idea, Iantha, let's work front to back. Dromer, let's try forcing that door. I'll apply steady pressure, you hit that door on its hinges."
Quarterstaves and clubs are free, they're literally lying on the ground. :)
Forlen sees how Smith is toe-to-toe with the skeleton, and doesn't see it ending well. "Don't worry, Smith! I've got this one!"
Forlen swings his quarterstaff two-handed at the skeleton's skull.
"At least I've got his attention now," Forlen yells back at the rest of the group, seeing his attack go wide.
"Heh, sorry to disappoint you, Dromer," Forlen grins at him, "there isn't much green where I'm from. Like I said, it's pretty similar to here. A beautiful serenity to be sure, but it's still far from ideal. My tribe lives in a swamp in the eastern part of Ustalav. There's some green there, but it's mostly the lichen. It's not much of a living, but we manage. The history of our tribe is terribly convoluted; accounts vary from person to person. One says we were kicked out of normal society because of our shape-changing ways, his neighbor might say it's because of our unorthodox spirituality. And even those stories are muddy: I'm not sure if we venerated the toad first and moved to the swamp after we got exiled, or whether we had to live in the swamp and those were the first spirit animals we saw. Point is, they're pretty much the only thing that's thriving in there. Being unshackled from society has its advantages, but certainly also its disadvantages. It's a small community, and there's no real way of privacy." Forlen retrieves Goliath from his satchel, puts him on the ground and watches him hop around. "I mean, it's great to be in a community of like-minded people, but it can get claustrophobic after a while. That's why we regularly go across the border into Numeria and attack some League outposts. It's a coming-of-age ritual, teenagers are full of urges and wild thoughts, and this is a good moment to let everything go. I'm not sure when this ritual was brought into being, but our tribe's leaders blame our position on the rise of technology. We all used to live in the swamps until we became smarter and started building better houses. People became decadent and fought against nature, claiming land for their own and driving away the indigenous wildlife. Numeria's got lots of tribes who live among nature, and they've got the right idea. Roam around when necessary, never depending on your environment for longer than you need to. But the Technic League..." Forlen picks up some of the shells and toys with them a bit. "The League creates unliving things and make them work for them. They exploit people and use their fear against them, and the League enforces its power with these robots. That's where I come in. I was one of the best of my group at striking against the League, so I was sent out to fight against them. I know it's futile, as there's only one of me and loads of them, but at least it got me away from the tribe. Having such a great hunter is a waste of potential, and there really wasn't anything else for me to do. I can go back whenever I like, but I've gotten used to the freedom." Forlen picks up Goliath and puts him away again. "I think the tribe half expects me to fail, but I couldn't stay there. Big fish, small pond and all that. I am grateful to them for my youth, as I would've been an outcast anywhere else, but I have to admit it has warped my worldview a little. I am not sure how far I'll get in bringing the League down, but I know I'll try as hard as I can." He looks over at Miranda's familiar and Smith. I'm not sure how I feel about them. My entire upbringing I've been taught to hate them, but I don't see a reason why. They are clearly not how nature intended them to be, but they're still entitled to their own life. I just hope I have the willpower to keep on fighting. I want to at least have some stories to brag about before I go back home." Forlen snaps out of his train of thought. "Sorry I couldn't answer you more directly. There's certainly some beautiful places once you leave civilization, but my perception of the world may have been soured somewhat. I guess you've never been outside of this town?"
Okay, say we find 1000 gold and one potion of CLW. Assuming we don't do party bag, we calculate the sell value of everything and everyone gets 205 gold (sell value of CLW potion is 25 gold). If I want that potion, I subtract 25 gold from my gold gained and I have a potion. Everyone else still gets 205 gold and I have 180 gold and a potion. If we do party bag it's split six ways and the gold I "bought" the potion with goes to the party bag to stock up again on spent stuff. Maybe CLW potions aren't the best example, but replace it with a weapon for more personal use.
Again, if it's too much of a hassle, we don't bother with it. Like Smith, I've never had any problems with loot division. Party fund and "you can use this the most" is also a good idea. Since people seem hesitant to use the method I suggested, I'll retract it.
If the logistics are too confusing, I don't mind doing it differently, I'm just saying how my other campaigns have done it.
Whoops, I see the confusion. I meant that everyone gets an equal share of gold (with maybe an extra share for party bag), and any items they claim get deducted from that. Say we find 1000 gold and some consumables/items. Everyone gets 200 (or 166.666 if we want party bag). And either we
A) can lead to discrepancies but is more flexible, B can lead to more equal party loadouts. I'm honestly fine with either option (or a different option), I'm not that interested in the loot anyway. I mean, loot's cool, but I'm not assuming I can get exactly what I want anyways. Part of the fun of adventure paths (for me) is making do with what we find. EDIT: And ninja'd by Iantha. She pretty much sums it up.
I agree with those suggestions. It's pretty much how I've always seen it done. If someone gets a lot of things because they really need it/others can't use it, they get less of a share from the gold findings in order to maintain a roughly equal wealth per person.
"I like it here. It's a bit grim, but it's got a nice feeling of serenity. No technology of any kind, just the way I like it."
With disk in hand, Forlen tries to sneak away unnoticed.
Forlen makes a mock bow and whispers, "Much obliged, dear friend." He turns to the window, locates the disk, then lunges at it. Miraculously, his fingers elongate to impossible lengths and lash at the object.
His fingers flail around inside, but don't find any purchase, then retract. Forlen turns red. "Erm, excuse me, I haven't done this in a long time. I probably need some practice."
"Darn, so close."
Forlen starts a warming up routine that consists of cracking his knuckles and finger joints, then massaging and pulling at each individual joint as if to stretch them out. Miraculously, they do indeed seem slightly longer than a few minutes ago.
"If the disk is within view of a window, I might be able to pilfer it from afar, then we'd only need to smash the window. But if not, as I already said, I might go in to discuss the terms of that deal, possibly accept and avoid the hassle altogether, or drop Goliath there and wait until everything's clear for him to drag it out. I'm not the best bluffer, but I think of the four of us, I genuinely have no qualms with cooperating with him. I know you don't like working for him, but if it's something minor, I'm sure you won't object. And if it's something we wouldn't like doing, I already made my case clear to him and it won't be a surprise if I turn it down."
Oh hey, totally forgot about my familiar. Apparently it's pretty great at stealth. I keep forgetting, do I get the Bestiary entry (meaning it gets Skill Focus: Stealth and a racial modifier)? Anyway, leaving him inside would be a great way to steal it in the middle of the night, provided there's a window nearby. And if there is, maybe I or Iantha can grab it as well. As I said, I'm in favour of talking it out of him, especially since that means I can get my familiar in place if it fails, but stealing isn't out of the option.
In-character, Forlen doesn't really care either way. Out of character I'm in favour of just asking for it, as that's the route of the least danger. If that flops, though, we're the likely suspects if it disappears...
Forlen tries to charm the young lady by graciously holding her hand as he shakes it, but all he does is making her hand clammy and moist. He seems oblivious to it. "I'm sure Miranda can explain better, but there's a door blocking our way, and she's convinced that they key to opening it lies inside that man's office. The object suddenly started glowing when we left, and we didn't have time to inquire about it."
"I could go back and say I changed my mind. I said I was open a change of mind, so it's not like I'm outright lying to him. But another thought: why not simply say we think we need it to open a door? We'd get in so much trouble if we get caught stealing that thing, it might not be worth the hassle. And if our interests align, I don't see why he wouldn't lend it to us."
Forlen runs a head over the pate of his bald head. He squints at her, then decides she's probably not a spy. "It's a day of new meetings, I see. We got an invitation to meet with an unreputable fellow and we were asked to become his flunkies. Naturally, we declined. Trouble is, we found out afterwards we need something of his to continue our exploration."
Forlen looks the man up and down, sizing him up, then scowls. "Look, I'm here for a very specific reason. Your promises of riches and power don't sway me. I might end up following your orders if it advances my plans, but don't think you have me in your pocket." He then leans back and whispers to the rest of the group, "I think I've made my point clear. I'm not adverse to following his orders, especially if I can meet the higher-ups this way, but I don't fancy being associated with him. It might complicate things with my tribe."
Here's my first post with a bit of a description. Think of a humanoid frog, but less cute. Ah, found a picture that looks like what I had in mind. It's of a handicapped baby (anencephaly), so beware if you're squeamish. PICTURE
Ah yes, acting cocky, the last resort of cornered prey. I'm on the right track.
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