Touchstone Quick's page

I have to apologize to everyone. What was intended to be a week's hiatus has developed into more than that, and my priorities have developed quite a bit as well. I won't be able to participate in these games for a while yet. A may be back later on, but I don't want to promise what I don't know. For now, I'll say that I am on leave for an unknown amount of time. Thank you all for playing with me. I've enjoyed your company very much.

What happens after we go inside?

Apparently our fearless guide has been scared senseless.

Touchstone shrugs and follows Nimt inside.

Touchstone follows Nimt, but whispers to Balinor [b]Do you know this man?

I guess Balinor doesn't have anything to say.

Meh, alright. Touchstone tosses the box up to Grima. We were told you would have payment.

Now, wait just a minute. What business do you have with this poison? And why was our errand made to be so secret?

Where is everybody?!?!

Well, we were hired to bring this box of poison to some fellow named Grima. Of course, we didn't know it was poison to start with. Would you be the man of the hour, then?

Touchstone readies his sling if the man proves hostile. Who's that? Do you live here?

Anyways...

Touchstone marches up to the front door and knocks politely three times. If there's no answer, he will try to open the door. If it is locked, he will attempt to pick it. Taking 20, hopefully, if I have time, for a total of 27, or if not 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17 Touchstone is specifically looking for signs of who lives/lived there and how long it has been since they were there.

Touchstone investigates the area around the house briefly Perception 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23, the approaches a window to look in, sling drawn and loaded.

I don't have anything else that I want to do before we arrive at wherever we're going.

In that case, we continue on along the path. Touchstone now walks with a sling bullet ready in hand.

Perception 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

would you come with us? You are obviously more aware of the dangers within.

Touchstone ponders Nimt's question briefly, then answers Well, I guess if it's poison or something that would pretty incriminating. I don't know, really. I'm just curious, and this seemed like as good an opportunity as any to check it out.

Touchstone turns to the axe-man Who are you? And how do you know Grima and Finch? Why are trying to warn us?

Can anyone identify this? I don't know a darned thing about alchemy.

Touchstone pulls out the box from his pack. Well, I don't know what else, but I'm certainly opening this.

If it's locked or trapped or something:

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Disable Device: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Reflex Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Fort Save: 1d20 - 0 ⇒ (12) - 0 = 12

Touchstone loads his sling and pulls his dagger, awaiting the man's response. Ready action to attack with sling if the man shows himself to be an enemy.

Meh, lets move on and if he shows up, so be it. I'm ready to proceed to whatever is at the end of these woods. Or something, at least.

Touchstone is happy to continue in the front of the line.

Touchstone decides better of his weapon, and switches out his spear for a flask of oil and his flint and steel. I vote that we stay on the path. I'm not fond of trees.

Actually, I've been playing on these forums for about a month, and that's all the pathfinder I've done. I owned the pdf rulebooks since they first came out as a hobbyist, but I haven't actually played until now. I'm GMing a couple games here, too. What about you?

Touchstone uses his spear to brush away as many spiderwebs as possible, and loosens his dagger in its sheath. Sometime giant spiders would get in the mines back home, but we always chased them away before they could make webs like these. This is nasty. And creepy.

Yeah, no worries here. I'm just impatient, that's all.

Yeah, the mysterious stranger told us to meet back the next night. So, here we are. Er, wait. Did the guy mean that we should come back after we returned the package to get our reward? Either way,we're leaving the tavern and heading to Grima's house.

Moving right along...If Nimt helped with the goblin raids, Touchstone will be infinitely more trusting of him.

Touchstone marches out the door, expecting the rest of the crew to follow him. Once he is a ways away from the tavern he says So, did any of you notice that axe-man from last night? It seemed like he was watching us.

Sorry. I'm just excited. Touchstone hangs his head earnestly. To Nimt, he replies, much more quietly now, Indeed we are, sir. I'm always up for some help. Did Nimt help with the goblin raids?

Ditto. Just jump in right now.

Touchstone takes the package, tucks it in his incredibly full pack, and heads back over to the crew. Ready to go?

I gather we are meeting back up the next evening.

Touchstone says to his friends before entering the tavern Well, I hope Grima isn't really responsible for the murders, but I guess gold is gold. He marches through the door, finds Grima, and says, from across the tavern, Well met! He waits to get closer before continuing quietly Where is the package? We're ready to go.

Hey, Tanrak, if you click the button at the bottom of your textbox that says "show," you can see a list of all the forum functions.
Bold text is for In character speech
Purple text is for Out of character bits
Spoilers are for

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
3d4 - 6 ⇒ (2, 4, 3) - 6 = 3
20d46 - 81 ⇒ (1, 39, 36, 8, 30, 26, 1, 42, 4, 37, 20, 24, 4, 43, 33, 19, 41, 29, 43, 9) - 81 = 408
1d8 + 1d6 + 1d20 - 1d4 ⇒ (3) + (4) + (20) - (4) = 23

Touchstone has no futher questions. He will be present well before the appointed time, waiting on the other characters.

Very well. I'll take this "confidential" package to Grima. Do we need to take it now, or can we wait until morning? Touchstone walks back over to his companions and says Is anyone else going to do this with me? I'll give you even splits.

So, you're saying that you want me to deliver a package to Grima, and then he might have more work for me? What kind of wages am I looking at? And what kind of package? Touchstone eyes the fellow in the corner, making sure he makes eye contact, so that the hatchet-man can tell he's well aware of his presence.

I'm just a simple traveler, but I hear that you know much of this area. Can you tell me where I can find work? I've taken a liking to these parts, especially now that I've invested my bow and blade in the town's defense. I would rather like to stay here for a while.

Perception1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Touchstone, wary of sitting still for too long, decides to go chat with the pale man in the corner. Hello, sir! My name is Touchstone Borisson. May I make your acquaintance?

Touchstone nods to Brevan. Indeed, I would hate to ruin everyone's good time. Our companions here are awfully quiet, wouldn't you say? Anyway, I'm in need of an emptying, if you know what I mean. Touchstone excuses himself to the restroom, stopping by Lachtopher on the way back. So, good man, can you tell me anything about that fellow in the corner? Touchstone indicates the pale man. And did you see his companion? They weren't enjoying any of your fine drinks. What time of day is it?

Touchstone leans over to Brevan and whispers Were you looking at those fellows in the corner, too? They seem to be the only ones not celebrating. And they both looked pretty shifty to boot. Out of habit, Touchstone pulls his dagger an inch out of his thigh holster for easy access.

When are we starting this thing?

Where is everybody?

Touchstone happily surveys the room, amused at all of the drunken fools, since he, being a dwarf, has already put back several ales with no sign of lessened mental acuity. I'm assuming we're all relatively celebratory from the fight. He casually kicks back and enjoys the company of his new companions at the table in the center of the room. If that's OK with everyone. I'm more interested at being at the same table with the group than I am with being in the center.

Perception 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

He finds it a bit amusing that the couple in the corner thinks that they can be secretive in a tavern, especially since he is quite sober, but generally just casts an eye over every few minutes to avoid an accidental eye-lock.

Alright! I'll keep an eye out for when we start.

I actually don't have much in the way of "soft" skills. Touchstone is quite practical and doesn't care for socialising.

May I join in your second party? This alias is a dwarven rogue (burglar) with a focus on creative problem solving. His parents fell ill and were unable to provide for his family, so he turned to thievery, but was quickly discovered and banished from his tribe.

I'm currently GMing several games on the forums, but haven't been able to join a game to play. I can post at least once every day, usually 2-3.

Hi!

I recently got my confirmation e-mail for Order #947863. I updated my shipping address in my accounts section a while back, and on the "My Subscriptions" page it reflects my changed shipping address (I made a critical fumble on my original entry of my address). However, my confirmation e-mail shows the old, incorrect address.

So, my question is whether the (incorrect) address in the confirmation e-mail is the one that will be used to ship my order, or whether the (corrected) address that I see when I look at the "My Subscriptions" page will be used. And, if the old address is still being used, what I need to do to correct that.

Thanks!

Let me preface my explanation of the above question with a little about who I am, why I'm personally apalled, and why I (or you, or Paizo) should care. I'm a 25 year-old RPG gamer, and I've loved the fantasy genre ever since I learned how to read. When I was around 6 or 7, I was given a copy of the first edition of AD&D. I was entranced. It began my interest in RPGs that has lasted to this day, and has remained my favorite hobby. However, at one point, somewhere between second and third edition, I left D&D behind. It was nothing specific that made me leave, except it might have had something to do with the fact that I had become an (only slightly) angsty teen that bought White Wolf RPGs. D&D just didn't interest me any more. I bought the core books for 3rd edition out of a sense of nostalgic duty more than anything else, but I didn't really get into it. I made a complete pass at 3.5 until the Eberron Campaign Setting came out, a product so good it not only interested me in playing in a system I had previously lost interest in, but also made me reconsider D&D and what D&D settings had to be like in a way I hadn't since buying Al-Qadim many years earlier.

Despite my renewed interest, the 3.5 system became a disappointment to me. I'm not going to go into the various reasons, as they aren't so much relevant to the point of this post other than to say that when 4e was announced and many of the intended changes started to flow down the grapevine, I was impressed. As I heard more, it just got better. It was like they had heard all of the things that prevented me from playing D&D, and wanted to address them ALL. In the intervening time, I've heard some details that I'm less enthusiastic about, but all in all, it sounds like this edition will appeal to me in ways that D&D has not for some time. I'm excited. Many of my friends are excited, much of it due to my excitement, and much of it due to the fact that they, too, are interested in many of the upcoming changes. I've already committed to running a game in the new system, something that I wouldn't attempt in 3.5. (WARNING: INCOMING RELEVANCE) I was, in fact, so excited, that I was looking onto getting some well-regarded third party D&D products, because nothing sparks off my personal creativity like diving into someone else's imagination (like Eberron had done for me, and Al-Qadim. And other products like those). And I had heard that Paizo made a darn fine adventure from a number of people, both online and in meatspace.

And because of this, I ended up at the Paizo web store, browsing through items, and thinking about purchasing things. The Shackled City adventure path intrigued me, and I had heard good things about the newer Rise of the Runelords. I like pretty tiles to push minis around on, so some of the Game Mastery products appealed to me as well. I was about to register a store account so I could buy some things. And then, I saw that Paizo had message boards. I read a lot of message boards, and occasionally I'll find one that's a real gem. A good example is the Atomic Think Tank for Mutants and Masterminds, where you can ask a question about the game and get several excellent answers very quickly. I saw that Paizo had a board devoted to the upcoming 4th edition. I thought that this could be relevant to my interests, and that seeing how people might look at existing Paizo products under the lens of a new edition might be interesting. And then I came into this forum and saw what was contained within. And it is only because I checked this message board that Paizo lost my sales. I'm going to stress this point, because it's the most relevant thing I'll say in this post. Paizo would have assuredly had my money had I not entered this board. Paizo may have even had my long term patronage if I had liked what saw. I don't usually get turned off to a product because of the fan base. It's only happened one other time I can thing of in my history of consuming RPG products.

Where the Atomic Think Tank for Green Ronin spurred my interest in a well made game and led me to buy a number of supplements, reading this forum killed the interest I had in looking at Paizo adventure paths with its negativity and outright hostility toward those who might be looking forward to what's coming in D&D. I'm going to talk about some of the tendencies I found particularly aggravating in posts here. I don't want this to become a thread about specific posters, since that's a kind of negativity this forum doesn't need help with, so I'm going to paraphrase slightly and leave out screen names of posters. Rest assured, I can back up any of these examples if pressed, I'd just rather it be about types of posts rather than specific posters.

First, and foremost of the offending posts on this boards are the insulting remarks that are commonly made toward people who are looking forward to the new edition. These are usually (not always) not direct insults. The indirect insults are pretty common though. Anytime someone disparages the intended market audience for 4e, you're insulting someone here. Specifying that you're talking about subliterate teenagers (that probably play WoW, the miscreants) doesn't make it less of an insult. If I asked WotC if I were in the intended audience of 4e, they'd say yes. Since I like many of the upcoming changes, when someone states that the changes were made to entice brainless MMORPGers, you're insulting me too. Not in a direct way, but in an indirect passive aggressive way. On some other boards (like RPGnet or ENworld) this behavior gets called out frequently, because the inhabitants of the board don't want to discuss issues in that sort of environment. Most of the time this board gives behavior like that a pass. The one time I recall seeing it called out, one of the other posters immediately after defended a completely direct personal attack. Classy.

Another type of post that's sadly common here are posts that have no substance other than negativity. You can see the pattern in a number posts here. Someone will post some new tidbit of information, and sure as the tides, someone will post some staggering piece of negativity without any reasons given. Claiming that the D&D page spread on currency or armor makes you physically ill doesn't add anything to the discussion if you don't give any actual criticism on the issue. It just shows everyone that you're familiar with hyperbole. This wouldn't be much of a problem by itself, but it certainly doesn't make these boards more pleasant.

The level of insults that gets leveled at specific WotC personnel from time to time here is disgusting. The level of discourse in the thread about Shelly Mazanoble's column for Dragon, for example, is one of the few times in my recent memory that I've been embarrassed to share this hobby. This includes, but is in no way limited to the amount some people in that thread seemed convinced that D&D must be taken completely seriously. There are other sentiments expressed in that thread that make me very angry. I'm pretty laid back overall, but I can get pretty offended due to shabby treatment of other people. And some of the sentiments expressed in there should be beneath everybody.

The last type I'm going to mention is the slandering of other boards, specifically those of WotC and ENworld in another thread. That thread is, in part, the impetus for this post, as it made me wonder if the people here are aware of how things look from the outside. To the outsider, a thread in THIS FORUM, calling another forum a slop bucket is pretty darn funny. Do any of you folk realize how folks on the outside see this forum? It doesn't come up often, as most boards that value civility look down upon posting disparaging remarks about other boards. But time to time, a tidbit will slip out. And believe me, unlike say, the Atomic Think Tank, well known for it's friendliness, this forum is known for vileness. I've heard everything from the relatively mild "contains some unhinged people" to the more judgmental descrptor of "thought poison". But I have never heard anyone outside of this board say anything positive about it. Ever. And I read a lot of message boards. So when I see someone complain that other boards moderated their criticism of 4e away, I believe them. Because frankly, their posts here don't meet the standards of civility on other boards, not by a long shot.

Why did I write all of this? I occasionally get bothered by something, and I find it's better to vent in a constructive way than to just stay pissed about something. I know it's not something I should let bother me this much, the state of some random message board that I don't post to, but it apparently does. It was a community I might have joined, but I was too put off by the level of hate here. I came here wanting to like what I saw, and hoping to be impressed, and that didn't happen. I think this forum can do a lot better, and that's why I bothered to post this here. I think Paizo would rather hear why they lost the sales they would have gotten from me than to have me quietly walk away and just not consider their products again. And so maybe when Paizo is considering the reaction on their forums to 4e, they might consider that some of the people who were excited and might follow them if they went to 4th ed might not be speaking up because of the sort of reception they get on this forum. I know that the atmosphere here has already cost them one customer. I doubt I'm alone.

Thanks for listening.