GM Trav's page

Oleg is extremely grateful for you defeating the bandits. He offers you full price for any of the bandit's gear, (Its normally 50%) . He also says that you can stay at the outpost free of charge and anytime you stay Svetlana will graciously provide you a free meal. He also offers you 50gp, 2 potions of cure light wounds, and a potion of shield of faith +2.

Role play the questioning. If you want to get graphic then by all means, but not necessary.

The bandits have:
Alchemist's Fire (2)
Leather Armor (4)
Dagger
Longbow (3)
Short Sword (3)
Composite Longbow (+2 Str)
Arrows (80)
Rations (8)
Silver Stag Lord Amulet (Worth 20GP)
Horses (6)
65GP

That was anti-climatic ;) I'm going to hit the sack. I'll let you guys round them up and do what you will. If you are going to question them, then give me a diplomacy/intimidate check with your line of questioning. I'll post in the morning.

Deanarth begins chanting in an arcane language from the window of the guest quarters. The bandits look shocked as they turn their heads towards the building. Fortunately none of them seems to understand what is going on. They gather themselves and begin to get antsy. The bandits delay until after the spell goes off.

Will Save:
Bandit 1 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 = 7
Bandit 2 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
Bandit 3 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14
Happs 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

They all slide off their horses and fall on to the ground. I assume that Melismar cast as well to get the other two. EDIT: Actually he wouldn't have to. The radius is big enough.

Unfortunately sleep is a full round action. It will be cast on the start of your regular initiative-based turn. You will only be able to have a standard action on the non-surprise round, but that would enable you to cast another spell. Since it has verbal component it will initiate combat. Yes, Oropher, you can pass your turn in the surprise round and delay it in the regular round. The enemies are on horses (large creatures) so they take up four squares each.

GM Trav wrote:

Yup, you try to hide under some straw. It's going to be harder than behind a door and they may see you.

Gone off that idea, then. Melismar was hoping to stay hidden until they were all asleep. However, if I read it correctly, he can cast a Sleep spell from 110ft away. This means he might even hide up on the tower under one of the catapults, well out of the line of sight of anyone at ground level?

You need line of effect for the spell, so you must be able to see them. P10 would be a good place as there would be a shuttered window there.

Would it be possible to hide in the wagon under a oilskin or straw, or something? Was thinking Q13 or something?

Yup, you try to hide under some straw. It's going to be harder than behind a door and they may see you.

Loot will be piled up on squares L14, L15, L16.

Oleg and Svetlana will eventually go along with any plan you choose. Although Oleg is reluctant to tell you at first, he mentions he has half a barrel of lantern oil in the storeroom that could be used. As time goes on and as you question them further they reveal:

• The bandits’ first visit was 3 months ago—they
threatened to burn down the trading post and abduct
Svetlana for their own amusements back at their camp
if the Levetons didn’t agree to hand over all of the furs
and trade goods they’d accumulated over the past month
from hunters and trappers.

• Since then, the bandits have returned twice more, each time
within an hour of sunrise on the first day of the month.
The Levetons have learned to have their “taxes” ready and
hand them over quickly—the bandits usually seem eager
to return to their camp somewhere in the Greenbelt,
which makes Svetlana think their camp is about a day’s
ride away.

• The first time the bandits visited, there were a dozen
of them—10 lower-ranking thugs led by a cloaked man
armed with a bow, and a woman who carried two small
hatchets. The woman did the majority of the talking
on that first trip, and her black sense of humor and
the way she smiled when she spoke of what fate would
await Svetlana if the Levetons didn’t comply frightened
Svetlana all the more. The woman also seemed to be
particularly sharp and observant, whereas the man
seemed to be a bit more crude and foolish. This, plus the
fact that the woman quite nearly lopped off Oleg’s right
hand with one of her hatchets in a cruel bit of mockery,
convinced the Levetons that she was the most dangerous
of the bandits. As it was, the woman took Svetlana’s
wedding ring right off her hand and tossed it to one of
her men as payment for “not shortening Oleg’s reach.”

• On the second and third visit, only the crude hooded
man accompanied the bandits. The second visit, he
came with only six other men, while on the third he only
came with four. The Levetons suspect that the bandits
have let down their guard and think the owners of the
trading post are completely cowed. Hopefully, when
they visit tomorrow they’ll be even fewer in number, and
hopefully the scary woman with the hatchets wont be with them.

When you are ready to go to bed for the night and ambush the bandits the next morning just let me know where you will be on the map in the format like this: A1 (top left corner). Any traps or other things you are going to set up please also tell me what they are and where you are going to place them in the same format.

I've had to get up at 3.30am to be part of this discussion! Honestly, I turn my back for a few moments, and there's talk of killing, and hanging, and burning! So much for Diplomacy! LOL.

Hehe ouch. You somewhere in Europe?

I don't think you broke any rules. Nothing you did bothers me. I'd just ask the OOC be kept over here and out of the game play.

I think it will be fairly quick for you guys to come up with a decent plan. I think Deanarth provided a decent start. Heck, you can even just agree with Oleg and jump out when he signals :)

You can disable and disarm your opponents by using subdual (non-lethal) damage. This incurs a -4 penalty to attack with a weapon that is not designed to do non-lethal damage. Things like saps are designed to do this and do not incur the penalty. You can also try to disarm your opponent with the 'disarm' combat maneuver. There are also many other ways you can win combat with opponents. You just have to be clever. However, your charter clearly sates you can kill these bandits.

Krallek, I understand things have been moving slow and the RP is taking front stage right now, but I am trying to set the stage for the world you are about to enter. It will become heavily combat oriented very soon. I don't mind a bit of meta-gaming, but those statements wouldn't necessarily be beyond what your character would think-up and say.

Right now I am giving you a chance to think up a battle-plan and strategy and discuss amongst yourselves if this (fighting the bandits) is worth it. There seems to be two different approaches to PBP - one is a bit more drawn out where you guys tend to run the show, the other is where I push the game forward without too much consideration of planning and tactics. I have provided you a map, with locations and a grid so you can use that to plan. I have also provided you a limited strategy via Oleg. If you want, I can close scene and start it up tomorrow with the arrival of the bandits, but its up to you guys. I'll set the pace according to what you enjoy.

Point taken. I'm inexperienced in actual gameplay, so I tend to think in terms of fluff rather than crunch. I've redistributed things a little so things aren't needlessly repeated, and magically I now have some ranks in Use Magic Device. :-)

Glad I could help. Since this is a newer group, I'll allow the group to make minor changes to their character until you have explored 5 hexes. Then you will be locked in.

Melismar, your Craft (Calligraphy), Profession (scribe), and Linguistics skills all kind of do the same thing. Any reason you invested so many skill points into these three? Linguistics can be used to forge documents, so I see no reason in letting you use it to write calligraphy. So, I'm not sure I see the reasoning behind craft (caligraphy) other than flavor and the Profession (scribe) skill really only allows you to earn a small income (in light of the linguistics skill). Just curious =). It's rare to see such roleplaying in the skill-department.

You'd only need a +10 to be effective at after-battle wand healing by taking 10.

By the way, you don't need to hide your rolls.

The road forks ahead with a smaller wagon path heading south towards Oleg's. As you walk closer towards the outpost you can hear the sound of hammering. It appears that there is a middle-aged man on top of the northeastern building, near the large wooden gate on the Eastern wall. He appears to be fixing the roof. When he spots you he turns, walks to the edge, and disappears.

Oleg’s trading post is surrounded by a wooden palisade that stands 10 feet high. At each corner of the palisade are 20-footsquare watchtowers, each armed with a run-down catapult left over from the site’s original use as a border fort. You can clearly see that the smoke originates from the largest, northwestern building. You get the occasional whiff of roasting venison.

The smaller road you are now walking on slightly bends towards the East and curves back towards the West, into the Eastern wall of the fort. You hear the large wooden doors creak open as you approach and the man you saw earlier on the roof steps out. He lightly taps the hammer in his left palm as he peers at you with a judgmental look, almost as if here were sizing you up. He does not speak. He just waits for what you have to say.

It looks as if my buddy is a no go for the party. He expressed an interest but then has since backed down. My appologies. He is being "infra-dig". Did I use that phrase correctly? :)

That's too bad. Guess you will have to buy a wand of cure light wounds as fast as possible for the bard ;).

Thank you. I've read the section in the Core Rulebook now. All of those manoeuvres sound very, very infra-dig for Melismar, however! ;-)

Infra-dig? Just learned a new word ;)

There is actually a really clever bard build based on tripping with a whip. Not only can you buff your party being a bard, but you can go around tripping people and giving the fighters AoOs all the while staying away from the baddies.

GM Trav wrote:

All I can see that is missing is a CMD.

Not quite sure what that is yet, but my very helpful spreadsheet reveals that as: 12

Take a look HERE

It's a way that they simplified combat maneuvers from 3.5e. CMD is essentially an armor class for attacks like, trip, disarm, bull rush, etc.

I think the majority is there, but please holler if you need something else.

All I can see that is missing is a CMD.

I could send an Excel spreadsheet of Melismar, if that was helpful, or just a PDF if you prefer. Is it possible to do private messages on this system?

It'd be best if you could just put all of it into your profile. It makes for quick, easy reference.

Oropher - Your sheet is approved. Looks good.

I think Melismar is the only one who passed his diplomacy check, so he will know a little about your past and how you came to hold a charter.

The four hours pass quickly. Having company has made the trip much easier. In the distance, to the south, just off the road, you see white smoke. As you get closer you notice it is coming from a large, wooden fort. The smoke cloud is small and light - probably a cooking fire. You guess you are about a half hour away from the fort.

Thanks for the reminder. I really should put all my gear on that character profile. I've put it on paper but the DM needs to know it too I suppose. I do much prefer actual paper character sheets over digital ones.

updating now as I didn't put my armor on there nor did I put my rope and grappling hook and iron spikes.

Oh, and DM Trav, how much detail do you want on those online character sheets?

Do you want all AC stats? Melee AC, FF AC, touch AC?
All skills? Trained and untrained?
Weight?
Food use tally?
Ammo? Oh, and BTW I have 8 daggers listed and those are for my ranged attack ... and to a lesser extent do intimidate.

Cheers.

Everything for now =)

I posted that the first alternate could join, but he has yet to post either. I think bringing in your friend would work quite well, Krallek. I'll close up the recruiting thread. Just have him post on here with his character and all that good stuff.

I brought Oropher in to the game since he was the only one actively monitoring the recruitment thread. I don't know why so many people would apply and disappear. Your friend is still welcome to join Krallek. I'll just up the difficulty a smidgen for 5 players.

I'm off to work. I should be home for lunch to move things along.

Put me in coach... I'm ready to play, today.

Look at me... I can be, centerfield.

Haha, just saying that I'll keep a lookout and if our Brave New friend doesnt show, gimme a yell.

Oropher's got the spot. Go ahead and post in the game play thread. Krallek may have a friend that is joining as a cleric. If he does join I'll just throw an extra bad guy in... or two =).

The recruitment thread is now closed.

I posted that the first alternate could join, but he has yet to post either. I think bringing in your friend would work quite well, Krallek. I'll close up the recruiting thread. Just have him post on here with his character and all that good stuff.

Sorry Nasserath, its just taking too long. The rest of the group is itching to go and waiting on a fourth. Good luck out there. Hope you find a game.

Ser Huxley Salduie, if you are still interested, there is a spot with your name on it.

The road has been strangely quiet. Well, as quiet as it can be with the banter you have been shooting back and forth between each other. As you scan the fields you don't notice anything around for miles. It looks like it would be a great area for farming.

You all have a partial map that points you in the right direction. The road will lead you straight to Oleg's. You really can't miss a large fort out in the middle of this area. It is a little after mid afternoon and you figure you will be arriving at the fort just in time for dinner.

The cleric has until later this afternoon to post. I'll keep you guys on the road until then. Wouldn't want to start the game without everyone =).

Thanks for helping each other out guys.

At the bottom, you can select how to show text for it. But it's basically ['dice]xdy+z['/dice], but remove the apostrophes. X is number, y is type, z is modifier.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

And you can hit preview so it will show you what you rolled. This lets you write around your result.

Anyone may roll Diplomacy to know a few things about the charter holders:

I believe my avatar is now complete. Could you please have a look at it to see if I am missing anything? Also, I took the liberty of applying a traditional house rule around our tables and that is to just take max hp at level 1. Thereafter we must roll for hp. Please let me know if this isn't ok and I will roll it out.

Cheers!

Krallek

Looks good, but I think you should have 1 more trained skill since you are human? Also, you have about 6 more attribute points to spend (if you put your stat bonus into strength). I posted the HP rules on the recruitment thread. I'll repost: "HP: Max at level 1. (Half hit die +1 when leveling.)" You wont need to roll HP when you level. Also, please put your CMD on your sheet =)

As for PbP rules for posting, you can post anytime you want. During combat you should try to post your actions in order, but sometimes life comes up and you can pre-stage your action to move things along.

I hate writing anything on my phone. It wants to autocorrect everything to some really weird words. I end up saying some really strange stuff.

The charters were given out at the end of winter and you have all started your journey on the first day of spring. It has been an unusually warm winter and it is quite warm today. The road everyone has been traveling on does not offer much in the way of scenery. It travels through a flat, green, grassy plain. It has been a relatively easy walk for everyone. Krallek, you manage to duck behind some rocks, but there is not much covering the side of the road. If you leave your hiding place now you will be out in the open.

Melismar, everything looks great on your sheet. You are just missing HP =).

Deanarth, you are good to go.

GM Trav I have a few general logistical questions.

1) what do we do for a character sheet? At first I thought the Avatar/profile would contain all character info but it does not seem to have much of anything. I have started a google doc file using an open source template. Do we link that? I suppose I would need your info to give you access to my sheet then.

2) Do we use our "profile" or our "alias"? On the profile it allows me to put my stats and a character background but on the alias all it will let me do is put my name and an avatar image.

Thanks

Krallek

PS just finishing up the details on my new toon. In a nutshell, I am a two hand wielding warrior type. Eventually I plan on dipping into rogue for a few levels later on down the road. This will be my first forray into multiclassing ... lol I've been playing various forms of DnD since the basic set was released and I've never multiclassed before. Unless you count the "elf" I played way back when. Elves were forced to be fighter/wizards.

Take a look at what Melismar and Deanarth did with their aliases. Utilize the profile tab on your alias to type up everything about your character. I'll start looking over the characters now.

For any OOC that is over 3 sentences, please post it here as not to disturb the flow of the Gameplay.

I've been looking around and I've found some posting etiquette:
While In-Character use:
Bold for Talking.
Italics for inner dialogue.
Plain text for actions and descriptions.

I will roll everyone’s initiative when combat starts to make things move along quicker. Monsters with the same initiative will act at the same time.

At the beginning of each post in a combat round please post your Initiative and current HP as well as anything modified on your sheet. An example would be your modified AC after you cast shield on yourself. The heading would look like this:
INIT: 16, HP: 10/10, AC: 22 Using: (ooc) (b) (See the "How to format your text" below on how to format it.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

The discussion forum isn't linked atm. Do you want us to introduce ourselves in the gameplay forum in character instead? First pbp for me so just want to make sure I have the etiquette right for this.

Ah yeah, you got me. Please introduce yourself 'in-character' in the gameplay forum. I'll put up the discussion forum in a bit. RP in Gameplay tab and OOC in Discussion.

Mr. Hunter, I had debated putting you in the group, but I hadn't seen anything from you. Wasn't sure if you were still interested and I needed a background by the extended deadline. Sorry about that.

Melismar, I posted a link to traits above (its the blue word "Traits"). Did that not work out for you? Focused Mind is a great trait. I've used it on a couple of my characters. Glad you are excited. I am too =).

Oropher, I'm sorry, I really wish I trusted my skill to open it up to six. I've seen the conversion, but I just think it may be a bit too much to handle for my first GM experience. Maybe as things go on and as I get more comfortable I can open it up to two more.

If I don't see anything from those players I added into the group by Sunday evening I'll be dipping into the alternates.

Thanks everyone for the interest! It was a tough choice, but I had to stick with giving priority to those without a game and without much experience in pathfinder. The one exception was Ser Huxley; he gets the first alternate spot because I really enjoyed his back story.

The Group:
1. Melismar – Bard
2. Deanarth – Sorc
3. Nasserath – Cleric
4. Krallek- Fighter

Alternates:
1. Ser Huxley
2. Oropher

Those of you who were selected, please make an alias with your character. Once you have done this and filled in all the details, you can begin to post on the discussion forum (use the tabs at the top of this post to navigate to it). I'll review your characters as everyone introduces themselves to one another.

Although for different reasons, all of you have been given a charter by the Sword Lords of Restov. It reads:

Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg's Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by the sword or rope. So witnessed on this 24th day of Talistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.

One by one you have slowly been meeting the other charter holders as you travel down the road from Restov, towards Oleg's Trading Post. Each of you has been given an incomplete map that only details the road you are traveling on now and the outpost you are headed to. The unexplored areas are for you all to map out and complete in your own time. The four of you are about 4 hours away from the trading post.

You can see the map under the Campaign Info tab

GM Trav wrote:

Azure - I'm going to stick with my initial race restrictions and say no. Half-elf and Human will work fine.

Melismar - Let's stick to the race restriction in the guide. The Noble Born could fit just as well. Not sure if you are still working on the crunch, but I couldn't live with myself if I let you run around in the stolen lands with a 7 constitution. I highly recommend you change that to at least 8. The back story looks great.

Aww, OK, will do. I've been messing with the crunch a bit, so very happy to tweak it. The Noble Born thing could work equally as well, and I suspect it will be Orlovsky family [Diplomacy]. He was a very sickly child, though, but I'll raise the Constitution on your advice. ;-) Pleased you like the concept in general, I think he could be fun to play, and I hope he'll be accepted.

I'm not quite sure where to get other "traits" from. I have the most marvellous Excel spreadsheet, which seems to have a lot embedded ones in it from various Adventure paths (Someone's Excelerator?) and I thought "Historian" might be a fun second one to have, but is there a better list of them you know somewhere?

Here: Traits

Looks like a good mix have applied. I'm going to stop the recruitment here and let those who have posted interest finish up what they wanted to give me. I'll push the decision back until 2200 PST. That'll give all of you about 4 and half hours from now to provide a background and a general character overview.

Hrakar - Rostlander would be a fitting trait for your dwarf.

Azure - I'm going to stick with my initial race restrictions and say no. Half-elf and Human will work fine.

Melismar - Let's stick to the race restriction in the guide. The Noble Born could fit just as well. Not sure if you are still working on the crunch, but I couldn't live with myself if I let you run around in the stolen lands with a 7 constitution. I highly recommend you change that to at least 8. The back story looks great.

Rylus - Sounds good so far. Once I select people, I will give everyone a chance to finalize their characters. I'll be verifying all the characters before we play.

Anna - Thank you for the helpful post.

Everyone, I will be picking a balanced group. So far it looks like there has been quite a bit of submissions for, I hate to say it and categorize characters, but 'strikers.' For now, the outlook is good for anyone that makes a support-type character to get into the campaign. Especially a divine caster.

Gunther - Thanks for the submission. I've read the initial background and it looks good. If you are selected, I want to make sure you know how difficult it will be to use your firearm. Blackpowder is something you will have to make with craft (alchemy), or find someone that can. I may let you use craft (firearms) to create the powder but at a +5DC. Mundane crafting is brutally time consuming and you will be relying on it quite a bit. EDIT: Just read the gunsmithing feat. Nevermind on the blackpowder and the crafting time-constraints. 1000gp per day is awesome =). It actually looks like your character wouldn't have much problems at all. Excuse my ignorance ;)

Scargoth - Thanks for the interest. Please put a character together with a background, it doesn't have to be much, and I'll review it.

Mr. Hunter - Rangers are always welcome in the stolen lands =). Toss up a background and I'll look it over. Keen scent is a really cool feat.

Deanarth - Yes, you can use alternate favored class features.

Ser Huxley Salduie - Great backstory. I'll keep you in mind. The Ser thing is throwing me off a bit though ;). Dragon Age?

Based on the initial interest, I will allow people to keep applying until 2000 PST today. After that time I will make a decision on the group. Thanks to everyone who has shown interest so far.

First, a little about me: I've been playing pathfinder for about a year and a half now and I've played 3.5e for about 3 years before that. I currently play with a local group, but I've decided to take up the charge of GMing. I heard about PBP through a friend and it seems like a great way to be introduced to GMing. From what I’ve gathered, it provides some breathing room to look rules up and figure things out which can be challenging during a face-to-face game. I know, Kingmaker is a long AP and perhaps not the best starting AP or campaign for a new GM, but I am very interested in the setting and the kingdom building. My local group and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. Without further ado, here are the details:

Character Creation:
• Races: Core
• Classes: Everything from paizo on the pfsrd is allowed. (Take careful note here: exotic weapons like firearms, eastern weapons, etc will be non-existent unless crafted by the character from that particular region. Also, a strong back-story (why you are here, how you are going to progress through the levels, etc.) is required to play non-core and non-APG classes (e.g. Samurai, Ninja, Gunslinger, Magus).
• Alignment: All spectrums of Good and Neutral, except no Evil alignments.
• Level: 1
• Abilities: 20 Point Buy Character Creation Outline
• Traits: 2 – One must be from the Kingmaker Player’s Guide . The other can be from any paizo source but make it fit your background.
• Starting Gold: Average starting wealth by class. Starting Character Wealth
• HP: Max at level 1. (Half hit die +1 when leveling.)
• Feats: Everything from Paizo on the pfsrd is allowed. (Item creation feats and spells may be re-worked at my digression. Just don’t abuse them and you should be fine. For the most part my solution is that during kingdom building and the time-span between adventures you will only have 1 day per week to allocate to crafting. The rest of the days will be consumed with the maintenance/building of the kingdom.)

Players who do not have a current campaign and are newer to pathfinder have priority. My posting requirement is at least once a day. If the group is in combat and you do not post something within 24 hours, I will GMPC your character for that round to move things along, and then you will have another 24 hours to post. I will post at least once a day but, most of the time, my posts will begin in the late afternoon on the weekdays (US-Pacific Time) and throughout the weekend. Please let me know if you have any questions.