I'm most pleased to hear that you're OK, Zed!
To be honest... My interest in this game had been flagging for a few months even before you went silent. I think that leaving this one where it lies is the best option.
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This was a very fun game, and I enjoyed it immensely! I hope to be able to return to PbP at some point in the future. Best of luck to all of you, and happy winter holidays! I also hope that Zed is OK... ...especially in light of learning of the unexpected death of GM Harker (Justin Warren) last week.
Sorry to hear, Rav. Hope things are looking up now. I have emailed Zed, and haven't heard back. I also have his real name and location. I tried looking on local media sites to see if there was any news of someting bad befalling him, and didn't see anything like that. Zed: I hope you're okay and just really busy!
I may not be the best person to criticize, given my posting rate of late... GM Zed hasn't posted in any of his PbP campaigns since 10/22. I have his email address, and I dropped him a line asking if he's okay.
"I'm with the majority here: Let's take the shortest path. No offense, Sister Kaolin, but I'm eager to get off this planet if we can."
Barcelona was amazing! If you ever get a chance... go! And sorry for disappearing again. Between family and work commitments, I've had scant little time for online gaming.
"This reminds me of part of a fairy tale we heard as children... "After Sir Marius slew the dread dragon, he rushed to the dungeons, only to find the castle's steward. The steward beheld the knight with gratitude, saying, 'Thank you, Sir Marius, but our princess is in another castle!'"
Rather out of his element, Zoreck simply watches. "Huh. And Rav... that is a thing of beauty!"
Hi, folks. I am going on vacation tomorrow, and will be gone for a little more than a week. I'm not planning to post here while I'm away. I should be back on 9/30. GM Zed: Please bot Zoreck as needed while I'm away. Thanks!
"What the...?!" Zoreck draws his gun and aims it at the glow. "Rikkan, you okay? Is that chunk of glass getting hot?" As the feeling of holiness washes over him, he lowers his weapon. "I think we might need to dig up whatever that is..." He gestures toward the glowing earth with his pistol. * * * *
Resource Tracking: Rage: 13/14
Grit: 4/3 Bullets: 29 Powder: 29 Alchemical cartridges: 20
Against his better judgement, Zoreck crawls through the hole and joins his friends. He gets back on his feet and surveys the area. "Huh."
Dodging its talons but stepping right up to it, Zoreck presses the barrel of his pistol against the false saint's green-skillned head, and pulls the trigger. The back of its skull explodes outward in a shower of greenish gore, and the horrific thing slumps over, very dead. "That's how ya do it." He then steps back to catch his breath from the fight. He then cleans and reloads his gun, holsters it, and then cleans his sword before sheathing it. "Hmm... No way out. Now what?" He follows Rav as his goblin friend searches the room. He chuckles at Rav's spectacles. Never thought I'd meet a goblin that wore glasses! he muses. And then Rav stops, pointing at a section of wall. "Huh. What's so special about...?" Rav then smashes at the wall, revealing a tunnel. "Oh. That. Good job, Boomer! Glad you're on our side! If we ever find another taven, your next round's on me!" As his friends crawl into the narrow passage, Zoreck shakes his head and mutters, "What could possibly go wrong with crawling into a hole in a lost tomb on a godsforsaken planet...?
I'm back from dropping my daughter off at college to start her first year. And the site appears to be back up!! I'm ready to resume play when you are, Zed!
That was a terrible outage! My understanding is that the underlying technology for the Paizo site hasn't changed since it went online in 2005, and no longer has manufacturer support.
"I don't think so, freak!!" Zoreck bounds across the room, drawing his shortsword and pistol. Circling around the thing's back, he fires at point-blank range and stabs with his sword.
Resource Tracking: Rage: 13/14 Grit: 3/3 Bullets: 29 Powder: 29 Alchemical cartridges: 20
Hi, folks. The diagnosis was not nearly as bad as it could have been. I thihnk I'm back... for now, at least!
Hi, folks. Sorry for disappearing again. I was at an outdoor music festival Thu-Sun of last week. I was set to pick up again Monday, but routine medical exam turned up something potentially scary. I spent Monday at the hospital having tests run, and I've not been in much of a gaming mood as I wait for the results. I hope to pick things up again soon, regardless.
Zoreck also moves forward, trying to be as quiet as possible.
After Palo stubs her toe, Zoreck whispers, "Speak up, Palo. I don't think they all heard you."
"Depends on who's holding the gun."
"Yeah... there's something alive and breathing in these things. While part of me thinks that we should figure out exactly what these are before we move past them, a bigger part of me thinks that we should just let sleeping dogs lie."
Hi, folks. In a few hours, I'm driving down to New York City for the weekend to attend a family event. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post, if at all. I should be back home Sunday night, and will resume posting by Monday.
"Hmm... I'm with you, Palo. I don't like the look of those cylinders, either. Let's make sure they're inactive before we leave them behind us..." Pistol drawn, Zoreck moves closer to the strange cylinders to take a closer look.
"Nice! I'm pretty good at a lot of things, but translating weird alien languages isn't really one of them."
I was not picked to be on the jury, so that will not be a hindrance to my posting rate. Details of the case. Trigger warning: Since I'm not on the jury, and the case will be a matter of public record, I am now free to speak about yesterday's voir dire.
(To non-US residents: In American jurispridence, voir dire is the process of jury selection, where potential jurors are questioned about their biases in the case at hand... such as having heard about the case in the news; knowing the defendant, counsel, or a witness personally; having been the victim of a similar crime; believing that if a person was arrested, they must be guilty of something; etc. Potential jurors who express such biases are dismissed from serving.) One factor that made this jury hard to fill was that the incident had received a fair amout of coverage in the local media when it happened, and many of the potential jurors were familar with the media reporting. I had not heard of this incident before, which is why I thought that I would probably be picked for the jury. This morning, they continued voir dire and called abother 18 names to fill the remaining seats (12 jurors and 2 alternates). I was not called to the fourth panel, and all remaining potential jurors were dismissed (including me). The defendant was charged with rape in the first degree. The incident occured at a local bar, approximately three years ago. The defendant and the accuser met each other at the bar on the night of the incident. They had been drinking and dancing together for a couple of hours. They both went into a single-occupancy restroom to snort some cocaine, and had sex in the restroom. The defendant says the sex was consensual; the accuser says it was rape. There were no other witnesses to the act itself. Another factor that has to be addressed is race: The defendant is African-American; the accuser is white. As we all know, there is a long history in the US of extreme bias against black men having sex with white women, and how a black man accused of raping a white woman can be at at grave disadvantage in court. (c.f. the plot of the classic American novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.) At the same time, women have traditionally been at a disadvantage when making accusations of rape, especially when they had been drinking and/or had willingly gone off alone with the accused. It sounds like the whole case is going to boil down to a "he said/she said" situation, with race, the "Me Too" movement, and the chemical impairment of judgement on both parties all muddying the waters. All-in-all, I am very happy not to have to sit in judgement of this one.
Breaking his own silence, Zoreck looks down the pit. He then doffs his hat at Sister Kaolion. "Thank you, ma'am." He then leans over and looks down the pit. "And by the strong arm of Kurgess... I really hope we don't have to fight more snot-monsters!"
Hey, folks. I'm not sure how much posting I'm going to get in this week. I had jury duty today, and while I didn't get picked, they went through 54 potential jurors and have only called 9 so far. I have to go back tomorrow for a fourth round of jury selection, and I have a weird feeling that I am going to get picked for this one. It's a criminal case that will be emotionally jarring. I can't say anything beyond that. I'll let you know how things pan out.
For now, Zoreck plays the "strong, silent type" and watches the proceedings.
In case anyone is interested... I just posted a Recruitment thread for an experimental sandbox campaign, set in the city of Kaer Maga, using the Dungeon World game system. [DUNGEON WORLD] City of Strangers - A Sandbox Campaign Dot or post if you might be interested!
I don't normally plug these things, but... As I may have mentioned previously, outside of the Paizo boards, I am primarily playing the RPG Dungeon World to scratch the fantasy gaming itch. It's a rules-light system than emphasizes the storyline and fast-paced action, without ever getting bogged down in complex rules. I have really been singing the praises of this game system for years now. Right now, Bundle of Holding is offering a Dungeon World bundle, which gets you PDFs of the DW rulebook, plus several supplements, all for $6 (basic), or with an additional eight supplements for $15. https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DungeonWorld3/ I can't praise Dungeon World enough. My Thursday night fantasy game these days is a DW campaign I'm running that we're calling "DungeonFinder": a sandbox game set in Varisia, with the PCs being DW-conversions of Ezren, Merisiel, Kyra, and Amiri. We've been having a ball! If you've got $6 to spare, I really would encourage you to check out Dungeon World! Thanks for letting me plug this, and now we return to our regularly-scheduled Discussion thread.
Zoreck nods at Rikkan's words. "I'll go with you." He pats his holstered pistol. "If things go south, me an' Betsy can make short work of those idiots."
Traveling solo is usually no big deal. I do it all the time.
Zoreck hangs back and observes the attempt at negotiations.
This was weird... About an hour ago, I posted about getting ready to fight the gnolls, but my post just disappeared. I saw I had gotten ninja'd by the GM, so I wrote a second post to take that new info into account. That one disappeared, too. I tried to post here to explain, and got a "Server Unavailable" error. Looks like both of my original posts are up now.
Zoreck looks around at the weird, chanting, mud-caked people. His hand is on the grip of his pistol, but he doesn't draw. "Okay... that ain't somethin' ya see every day..."
Pressed against a boulder, Zoreck nods at his goblin ally as he cocks the hammer of his pistol and levels it at the oncoming gnolls. "You got it, Boomer! We can take 'em, but no need to fight if we can help it."
"I like your plan, Rav. Let's do that. And, yes, I am not one to turn down a pork dinner."
Zoreck nods. "Alright then. Let's get what supplies we need, and then get the hell outta here." While the group is buying supplies for the trip, Zoreck also looks to see if he can purchase supplies to make more gunpowder and bullets.
About an hour after the group returns, Zoreck regains consciousness. "Oh, hey guys. Wait... how'd I get..." and then he realizes how hung over he is, and what had happened. He then finds his waterskin and drinks deeply. "Cayden's balls! I thought mossbeard ale was, y'know, ale... and that's how I was drinking it. Turns out, it's more like rum!. By the gods, I hope I didn't totally embarrass myself! Believe it or not, I really don't enjoy getting that plastered." "So... what did you find out?"
Meanwhile, back at the tavern... After relieving himself, Zoreck manages to open the outhouse door, and takes a few steps back toward the tavern. He stumbles on a loose rock, waves his arms frantically, then falls forward onto his face. "Oof! Mmm... the ground is so comfy... maybe I'll take a little nap..." The warrior then passes out in the sunlight.
...Meanwhile, behind the tavern... Zoreck staggers into the sunlight, blinking his eyes rapidly at the sun and the slightly-spinning ground. "Caydensh cup! That ale...sthronger 'n it tashted..." He weaves his way to the outhouse, and succeeds on opening the door on his third attempt. He enters, stumbling on the doorframe...
...and manages not to fall into the cesspit.
Oh, in case anyone wants to hear the song Zoreck was drunkenly singing in the tavern: "Pour Your Brother Another Round" by Heather Alexander, from Wanderlust ©1994 Sea Fire Productions On an unrelated note... I will be going to PaizoCon next month! (Well.. I plan to be going to PaizoCon next month, barring a repeat of what happened last year...) Is anyone in this group planning to attend? If so, we have to meet up!
Meanwhile, back at the tavern... "..Pour your brother one more round!
Zoreck concludes leading the old Taldan drinking song that he's taught to the other bar patrons. They applaud and shout encouragement. The off-worlder drains his sixth tankard. He then stands, clapping his tengu friend on the shoulder. "Cayden's balls! That was fun! Well, off to drain the ol' lizard. What goes in must come out, right?" He then staggers out the door to find the latrine.
...Meanwhile, back at the bar...
"Yeah, this stuff ain't bad! It's not what I was expecting, but it really grows on you... like moss!" He chuckles drunkenly at his own joke. "But, yeah, I've seen some things. As you know, I'm from off-world... and this is the..." Zoreck counts silently on his fingers, "...fourth world I've been on, if you count my home. I'm from the land of Numeria, on a world called Golarion. I was cast out of my clan for not following the old ways and for embracing the new." He pats his holstered pistol. "I wandered the world for a while, and picked up a few friends who traveled with me. I've lost a few along the way, and picked up new ones, but Rikkan and Drancis are still with me from those days. Anyway, we heard of trouble in a little town, and went to see if we could help. Turns out that the trouble was caused by a jagledine snot-monster named Vuelib who was trying to take over peoples' minds. We'd never heard of the jagledine before... but we knew they were some kind of aliens or outsiders and that they were trying to invade. We stopped him... but didn't realize that he had friends." He takes another long draught of mossbeard ale before he continues. "We got kidnapped and taken off-world to a place called Garslit Station, and were being used as some kind of lab-rats. But the station was damaged. We escaped from our bonds and eventually found the station's gate, but it was locked to Argosa, meaning we couldn't use it to go back home. We made it through the gate before Garslit Station blew up, but that destroyed our only way home. Turns out that nobody in Argosa had heard of Golarion, and it wasn't listed as any of the known worlds." He sighs and then drains his tankard. "We heard a rumor that there was a master list of worlds in some kind of book that was kept here on Rythes. That's why we're here: To find that book, and, hopefully, find our way back home."
* * * Meanwhile, back at the bar... * * * Zoreck raises his fourth glass of mossbeard ale and clinks it against Kesko's. "To dearly departed friends and loved ones. May their souls find solace in the Great Beyond!" *glug* "I am so sorry to hear about your loss, Kesko. You're a fine fellow, and nobody deserves that. So, tell me more of yourself..."
Hi, folks. I am still alive, and things are looking a bit better with my mom. I installed a washer/dryer on the main floor of the house, converted the dining room into a bedroom, and hired both a home health care aide and a housekeeper. Between the hired help, my sister, and one of my cousins (both of whom live in the area), I think things are on a more even keel, and I won't have to spend my weekends out-of-state. I'm actually taking a much-needed vacation right now. (Greetings from Los Angeles!). Echoing what Palo said: I consider all of you friends, and I am more than open to sharing my personal contact info with you. (Facebook, Tumblr, Google Hangouts, email, phone/MMS. Not on Instagram. I'm technically on Twitter, but never post.) Just drop me a PM. I made the difficult decision to put my Ravenloft and Runelords campaigns on indefinite hiatus. This should allow me to post in the three games I'm playing in with much higher frequency. So, now to catch up on the 70+ posts in the Gameplay thread...
Staying near the camels, Zoreck listens to the conversation between his friends and the crow-man. Hmmm... That guy we met when we arrived said something about the planet starting to die when the Gates stopped functioning. I wonder if signs of new life might mean that one of the Gates is now working again...
Hi, folks. I think I'm back for now. I gave a short summary of what's going on in my life in the discussion thread of Zed's Shattered Star game, if anyone is interested. |