Posting has been pretty sparse in all of my games for a couple of weeks, but this one was already at that level, and seems to have gone to nothing. I'll give it a little longer, but I'm starting to think it's time to call this one.
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Clyde opens the first pouch and finds it full of rocks, the metallic jingling sound it made just an illusion. As he looks in, the man and several others around burst out in laughter. The man then claps Clyde on the back and invites him to eat with them.
Raccoon shoot big seagull! Him go "ACK!" 'n' fall down dead! Rabbit sneak up on last seagull 'n' stabs him. Him takes 4 damages! Da Bosun checks something on one of the illegible scraps of paper. Wait, Chicken still singing. That make 5 damages. All seagulls dead! The goblin begins to gather up his papers. We plays more tomorrows!
Yous hit dat big seagull wit da mace, den it come back. Big seagull fly down to attack yous back.
Him bites you so hard yous fall down and are dying! Yous takes 9 damages! Big seagull fly away again, but raccoon can try attack hims back when him does. Other seagull attack boar!
Boar take 3 damages. Erin narrates firing her crossbow at the big seagull again.
Critical hit! Yous does 6 damages!
Yous misses!
Yous chop dat seagull wings off 'n' kills him dead! Other seagull follow raccoon and try bite him again.
Him Misses! Big seagull spit fish at frog again.
Fish smack frog in face! Frog take 6 damages and are disabled! Erin narrates shooting her crossbow at the big seagull again, while continuing her bardic performance.
She misses again. You guys are up. Frog is at 0HP and disabled, Rabbit is at 2HP.
Rabbit bite miss, but him's swords hit da seagull. Do three damages. Seagull fight back.
Rabbit take 4 damages! He are disabled! Frog magic-throw mace at big seagull again. Him misses. Mace come back.
Raccoon make second raccoon. It only trick. Othur seagull follow him 'n' attack, but hit trick raccoon instead. It disappear.
Big seagull spit fish at frog but him misses. Erin speaks up again. I reload my crossbow and fire at the big seagull, while singing.
Yous misses again!
Seagull dat attacked Raccoon explode! Feathers go everywhere!
Raccoon hit big seagull wit crossbow. Frog magic-throw mace at big seagull. Mace miss, but come back. Den, big seagull spit uh fish at Raccoon!
Fish miss and flop on ground. It go... Da Bosun bugs out his eyes and makes his mouth into a circle, then flaps his hands by the sides of his face, imitating a fish out of water.
Seagulls flies down! Dem attacks Frog 'n' Rabbit 'n' Raccoon, but only hit Rabbit. He do 4 damages. Rabbit hit seagull too, but not very hard. Erin tries to make sense of the scribbles on her character sheet. I...shoot the seagull with my crossbow. The big one. While singing.
Yous misses!
Yous follows da map to go to da horse house. Yous is attacked by seagulls! There's three regular seagulls 'n' one big one, almost as big as Boar. Da big seagull haves big beak dat droops down under. Kn: Nature DC5:
The "big seagull" he is describing sounds more like a pelican.
Da Bosun rolls a bunch of dice, then after growling at the results and spitting on the floor, says Yous all goes first. But yous can't reach da seagull 'cause theys flying above yous. Erin speaks up for the first time. I... sing? she says, uncertainly, like a chicken. Chicken's song makes yous all better at fightin' 'n' more brave.
Everyone is sitting, stunned at Semsephiel's outburst, when Clyde speaks up for Erin's character and breaks the tension. Da Bosun is too distracted by fear of Semsephiel to realize that Erin was not the one who narrated Chicken's action. Squeek Squeek! Da rats draws yous uh map to da horse house!
Rabbit try talk to rats, but rats just says Squeek Squeek! 'n' ignores hims 'cause hims not nice enough. Anybody elses tries?
"I will keep a prayer in my heart," Semsephiel clasps one hand to his chest, "and trust in my god not to lead us astray." Dat not how yous plays! Da Bosun snaps, Yous gotta DO sumpfin.
Da Bosun consults the sheet with Boar's information scribbled across it, then rolls one of the knuckle bone dice. Boar sniff for horse scents, but Boar never smelled horse before, only horse poops. Him lead yous da wrong way, 'n' yous finds a pile uh da horse's poops, 'n' Boar gets some on him's nose! Da Bosun bursts out laughing, clearly pleased with himself. Yous gotta try sumpfin elses.
Da Bosun looks around to each of you in turn as he speaks in a lower voice. Yous goes out ta try ta find da horse's horse house, but yous has no map. How yous gonna finds da way 'n' not gets lost?
While Erin is pondering the chicken-faced token. Da Bosun slams his palm down on the top of the chest to draw everyone's attention. Yous is summoned! Yous grovels at da feets uh da great king, Him says... the goblin straightens his body, standing upright and lifting up on his toes to appear taller, and holding his arms out to either side in a manner that is clearly meant to make his short goblin frame look more imposing, ...I has important mission for yous! My's kingdom been threat-ed by da great menace too longs! I wants yous ta go climb da hill over there 'n' 'n' Yous be great heroes when yous does, 'n' I, da great king, Big Chief Bosun, gives you all da golds for rewards! What yous says? Big Chief Bosun look down at yous from him's big chair made uh golds 'n' rubies 'n' diamonds 'n' stuffs. Him waits ta sees who uh yous talk first. Anyone who has read the sheet for the raccoon will notice that in Da Bosun's imaginary world, he is not only the king, but also a deity. Whether this should be taken as an expression of vanity or lack of imagination (or both) remains to be seen.
Btw, can't forget the mandatory "Yo dawg" joke. Something like "Yo dawg, I heard you like roleplaying, so I put an RPG in your RPG so you can roleplay while you roleplay."
Waiting for Erin before we get started. Btw, I hope this ends up being as fun as I imagined. I got the idea from another PBP I was in. The game was short-lived because the GM had to drop out, but the premise was that an AI had taken over and trapped the PCs in what basically amounted to a holodeck game. This meant that all of our characters were gamers from a scifi setting who roleplayed characters in a medieval fantasy setting. I found this meta-roleplaying aspect really fun. I've also never run a game that didn't eventually have a session that involved the characters going to a tavern and playing some kind of game, so I thought it might be fun to build an RPG into the RPG. It's an experiment.
Ashak tries to read one of the sheets, and is suddenly struck by motion sickness from the rocking of the boat and goes to lie down.
Though the question was clearly addressed to you all as a group, the goblin doesn't wait for a second response. A huge grin full of pointed teeth spreads across his face, and he runs to the far wall. When he returns, he is pushing a large, flat-topped chest, nearly twice his size. When he gets it close, the stops and wipes his brow, then lifts the chest's lid enough to stick his head inside. A moth flutters out, and he lets the lid fall closed, and jumps around for a moment trying to catch the moth. He finally manages to wrap his hand around it, crushing it, then licks its smeared remains off his palm, smiling. Once his hand is mostly clean (of moth parts, at least) he returns to the trunk and opens it again. He has to climb halfway inside to reach the contents, and his short goblin legs swing and kick in the air behind him as he tosses game pieces and scraps of paper out onto the floor. Some of the pieces of paper look like crude maps drawn in charcoal, while others are covered front and back with scribbled words, some of which are upside-down or written up the side of the page. He climbs out and shuffles through the pages, then climbs back inside to find a few more. When he's finally retrieved the entire set, he closes the chest and begins spreading things out on top of it. In addition to the papers, there are dice carved from knuckle bones, and wooden tokens similar to the ones you received on the night of your initial audition. Rather than the intricately-carved stylized letter S, these are crudely carved with barely recognizable images of animals: a pig, a chicken, a frog, a rabbit, and a raccoon. Choose your characters! the goblin instructs, excitedly. He holds up the token with the picture of a pig. This am Boar! He am Sword Guy! He slams that one down on the table and picks up the chicken. This am Chicken! He am Singer! Slamming that token down and picking up the next, he says This am Frog! He am Magic Do-er! And the next, This am Rabbit! He am Thief! And finally, This am Raccoon! He am Heal Guy! Now go, choose! When he slammed each token down, he put it on top of one of the scribbled pieces of paper, each bearing additional information about the character. Boar, for example, has 17 Strengths, 6 armors, and a Big Sword, while Frog has 18 smarts, no armors, and knows magics like "Snot Wad", "Magic Glow", and "Spit Fire".
Boar
Not having much idea how to be of help on a sailing ship, you've all been sitting around for most of the day, and the sun is now getting low over the water. You may be beginning to wonder how long this journey will last, and where you are going. While you're all admiring Ashak's tattoos (and perhaps wondering what the carnival folk have in mind for the rest of you), the goblin who refers to himself as Da Bosun descends the stairs to join you below decks. Without a word, he flops down into a hammock, apparently tired from a hard days work among the ship's rigging and sails. Almost as soon as he's out of sight within the folds of the hammock, a noise like exaggerated snoring begins to emanate from it. You have just long enough to begin to dread putting up with the noise, when it ends as abruptly as it began, and the goblin's bulbous head pokes up, looking over at you. He cocks an eyebrow in consideration as he stairs for a prolonged moment. Da Bosun rocks his hammock, making it spill him out onto the floor. He catches himself and waddles over to your group. You want to play game?
When everything is loaded and everyone is aboard, the crew releases the ropes binding the battens, allowing the sails to unfurl, and the wind begins to carry the carnival out to sea. While Gregor was clearly in charge of the carnival, his authority aboard the ship is even more absolute. So, when he tells Ashak to go meet Doc below decks, nobody even considers asking why. When he rejoins the group several hours later, he is shirtless and barefoot. Fresh tattoos are visible around his ankles, and another set that goes over his shoulders and extends partway down his back. He demonstrates the shoulder tattoo's function for you. The flowing runic symbols glow faintly for a moment, then appear to fade away as his skin changes from green to pink. He still looks like Ashak, and yet he doesn't. His distinctive burns are gone, or at least hidden, and he appears as a human version of himself. Transforming back, he indicates the tattoos around his ankles, and explains that Doc says they'll magically enhance his acrobatic abilities.
As the members of the carnival are finishing loading the carts, some of you begin to wonder how they plan to move them. There don't seem to be any horses around to pull them. When they're done, they link up the carts all in a row, with Doc's carriage at the front of the line. Shorty climbs on top of the wagon and folds out a bench on the front of it. Underneath is a mechanism with a shiny brass lever. Doc and Shorty take their places on the bench, and Doc takes hold of the lever. Thick, dark smoke begins to pour from the stovepipe behind him, then when he pushes the lever forward, the cart begins to move, pulling the others behind it. The train of wagons snakes forward, turning toward the road, then following it toward the gates of the city as the assorted carneys walk alongside. When they reach the city, the gates open, allowing the group to pass. You proceed through the street along the docks until the wagon train turns, driving out onto one of them, coming to a stop next to a ship with a wide base and a thick keel. Its bright red sails are junk-rigged, and the front of the ship bears a gilded figurehead that looks like a woman wearing only a flowing sheet. Her arms are feathered wings, folded back along either side of the hull. Her eyes are closed and her mouth open, with her head thrown back around the ship's bowsprit, making it look like she is singing (or perhaps engaging in some more lewd behavior). Knowledge: Arcana DC 15:
She looks like a Siren. Carnival members begin to climb aboard the ship. The goblin who calls himself "Da Bosun" climbs the rigging and unties a spar attached to the main mast that then swings out over the dock, dangling a rope below. One by one, the crew uses it as a crane to lift the wagons and load them into the ship's hold through a large grating that they open up in the deck.
No problem. I understand that life happens, it's just nice to know when enough of it is happening at once to keep someone out of the game for extended periods, so that I can work around it rather than being left to wonder :)
The group begins to eat their celebratory meal somewhat more somberly than intended. Some time later, Gregor Maleffect returns with Nathaniel in tow. The knife thrower doesn't look any worse for the wear physically (Doc does indeed know his trade), but the usual levity of his demeanor is all but gone. He explains, in as few words as possible, that he thinks it would be best for everyone if he did not join the carnival. He is evasive when asked about the details of what happened, but his face and voice show more signs of shame than of the fear or anger you might expect. Though nobody is counting, you figure he speaks less than 20 words before taking his leave. Gregor isn't any more forthcoming with details. Though he doesn't actually apologize for anything, he expresses regret that these events soured what should have been a celebration. Over the next hour or two, several other members of the carnival filter in to join in the subdued reception, though neither Ashyr nor Zeera make an appearance. Doc arrives and claims a mostly-full bottle of wine for himself. Once it's gone, he grabs two more to take back to his private carriage. Shorty enters and leaves right on Doc's heels. His face remains a disturbing grin, but his high-pitched voice is not as chipper as usual when he engages in conversation. The slender, long-haired tiefling boy who smells of cigarette smoke enters, walking with a strangely fluid movement, his weight staying on the balls of his feet and his heels never quite touching the ground. He tells you his name is Ivaan in a soft, smooth voice, but doesn't stick around long before excusing himself to go smoke some more. When the bald, muscular man with the incongruously white beard arrives, the monkey from the bigtop is riding on his shoulder. He introduces the monkey as Jojo, and himself as Stanley Strongbeard. Though there is intelligence in his eyes and his speech is unaccented, his command of the common tongue suggests that he learned it later in life than most. Halador enters, bending low to fit through the tent's doorway. He partakes in the meal, but doesn't really speak to anyone. He keeps mostly to the corner of the tent, and his massive frame makes it look like the tent is barely large enough to contain him. The goblin speaks only in short, sharp sentences, apparently speaking worse common than Pogug. He never bothers to introduce himself, but around the third time he mentions "Da Bosun", you realize that he's referring to himself in the third person. The carnival's third female halfling (Erin makes four), the one who gleefully tagged Nathaniel out with her rapier on both of the previous nights, is more gregarious, though she seems disappointed that Nathaniel is gone. She calls herself "Dutch", and she welcomes each of you warmly to the group, with a hug for those who are willing. She is quick with a smile, and even jokes around with some of you. You can't help feeling that she would have gotten along well with Nathaniel if the two had gotten a chance to know each other better. Though she talks freely and openly about most subjects, she always manages to change the subject when anyone tries to ask about her life before she joined the carnival. She stays with you all throughout the night, talking and telling jokes, until you all eventually fall asleep in chairs or on the floor in Gregor's tent. --- You wake up in the morning, having stayed up too late and likely having had too much to drink, with sunlight streaming through the tent's flaps. The four of you are alone in the tent, and there are sounds of work being done outside. When you peel back the flaps and squint against the midmorning light, the bigtop is missing, and many of the smaller tents are also gone, or are in the process of being struck and loaded onto the wagons lined up at the far end of the carnival grounds. All of the carnival members (besides the four of you), even those who were up late drinking with you, seem to be lending a hand (though Gregor, and Doc especially, are doing so mostly in supervisory roles). You are surprised to see another familiar face. Someone you haven't seen since your little battle the day after your initial auditions. It's an obese, bald-headed man with dried spittle around the edges of his mouth. Little rings in his skin create awkward bumps under his shirt, which does not cover him nearly as thoroughly as one might wish that someone of his weight and lackluster hygiene would be covered. As you exit, he is loading what looks like an extremely heavy bundle of tent poles onto one of the wagons. It looks like more than any two of you could carry.
Looking over sheets, it looks like all of you have at least one item that wouldn't exist under ABP. Nevermind, then. Clyde, go ahead and outfit your character with gear as a level 4 character. For the rest of you, I've thought of another way to increase your character wealth.
I have seen people allow stat-boosting items only for eidolons/companions. Never seen a vest of resistance. It doesn't appear to be on d20pfsrd, which
You could make one with the magic item creation rules. Alternative-slot items normally cost double, so a magical tattoo should do the same job. I'm a fan of the Inscribe Magical Tattoo feat, which I could allow to function normally (though the bonuses wouldn't stack with an ABP enhancement to the same stat). Sounds like it may be too complicated, though. Maybe I'll just have to look for ways to pass out some more wealth.
Looks like most people are either allowing the PC to assign the bonuses to herself OR her companion (but not both), or they are giving the companion its own delayed progression. Specifically, the other option I've seen brought up in several places is for animal companions to receive ABP based on their "level" equalling their HD-2. Since Eidolons don't start with 2HD the way animal companions do, I'd probably make this HD-1, but that still means that the eidolon wouldn't start receiving ABP until the summoner reaches level 5, and would top out (summoner level 20) at ABP equivalent to a 14th-level character. Though this would be equivalent to a greater character wealth (considering that the summoner still gets the full progression), I think it is low enough to not be game-breaking. As a player, I would prefer the option where the summoner progresses normally and can assign a bonus to the eidolon (since most of the bonuses are more useful on an eidolon than on a typical summoner, and summoners usually end up spending more wealth on upgrading their eidolons than themselves), but I'd be willing to allow either system.
Good question. There's definitely some way that an eidolon could get the enhancements. Given the fact that eidolons and their summoners share a set of magic item slots, I think the intent is probably that each bonus from ABP goes either to the summoner or the eidolon, not both, but I'll have to look into threads on the subject.
Btw, Clyde, I'll be bringing you in the morning, so basically as soon as we get through this RP scene.
I'm kinda waiting to see what your characters will do/say when they discover the feast waiting for them. On another note, though you will be getting some money for successfully completing the audition process, you're probably going to be significantly behind the wealthy by level table for a while (especially if you don't elect to try fighting the champions again). How would you guys feel about using the Automatic Bonus Progression system? Of course, if any of you have already bought items that don't exist under that system, I'd offer you a chance to get that money back (though, off the top of my head, I don't think any of your characters do have those items yet).
When you arrive at the tent and throw open the flap, you're expecting to find bread (hopefully with butter), maybe some meat, and a half-finished bottle (probably less, considering that you saw Doc exit the tent as you were approaching). Instead, you find a veritable feast. It seems the carnival members had been planning a bit of a feast to welcome you. There's a spit-roasted pig; roasted potatoes with vegetables that smell of exotic spices; warm loaves of fresh, aromatic bread with thick, flaky crust and soft, fluffy interiors; even little frosted cakes. Far from the typical watered-down swill most of you are used to, the dark burgundy-colored wine fills several bottles of green-tinted blown-glass, each slightly different in shape, and it smells...
I wouldn't bat an eye if Ashyr was both a lesbian and, say, paranoid and untrusting in the extreme. That's a grade-A antisocial tendency right there. Or, if I did bat an eye, it would be an in-character eye instead of an ooc "I'm feeling vaguely offended and less vaguely uncomfortable" eye. Likewise, I wouldn't bat an eye if you gender inverted Ashyr and Zeera and kept Ashyr as is; the persistent negative stereotypes associated with being a gay man don't include being sexist and violent. Hell, I'd happily roleplay Evalee's way through social encounters with a male woman-hating Ashyr. (Though I imagine she'd take to avoiding him pretty darn quick.) Really? I was thinking of the "psycho boyfriend" trope and transposing it onto a female character. This was, apparently, much less novel than I thought it would be. As for this being more stereotypical for a female homosexual character than a male one, I'm not sure that fits my experience, but I claim no special expertise. If true, this would seem to indicate that psychotic possessiveness, at least in the minds of fiction writers (which may or may not reflect reality), correlates less strongly with one's own gender than with the gender that one is attracted to (or whatever awkward phrasing is required to avoid ending that sentence with a preposition). It might be interesting to know how the portrayal of these traits in fiction compares to the prevalence in reality. As an introvert, I don't meet nearly enough people to attempt an analysis that would approach statistical significance, and even a gregarious person is likely to have a view that is skewed one way or the another based on the makeup of their social circles. Anyway, I'm rambling now. I'll reiterate my apology for any offense/uncomfortableness I have caused. It was not my intention. Is everyone comfortable moving on?
Thank you both for your candor. Erin, your interpretations of these things was, for the most part, spot-on. The three champions were the first NPCs I came up with for this game, and there were a lot of personality traits that I wanted to be represented among them. I also wanted to make these characters very distinct from one another, and Ashyr ended up with all of the dangerous-to-be-around story genes. As for "fully half of the lesbians", I didn't really consider that particular correlation. I decided that one of the three champions should have some anti-social issues that could lead to some conflict within the carnival (and the huge bruiser was immediately eliminated for a number of reasons), and I also decided that I wanted to include some LGBTQ characters. With the limited number of characters to work with and a desire to avoid giving characters only a single personality trait to define them, those two ended up in the same character. I'll point out, though, that it is an extremely small sample set. I suppose this is why scientists and statisticians spend so little time actually talking about percentages of populations and so much talking about things like standard deviations, statistical significance, p-values, etc. I'll also point out that you don't know that none of the members of the carnval besides Ashyr and Zeera are LGBTQ ones, so calling it half might be a bit hasty. For the pronoun issue, I actually had an "oh no" moment when I began describing Ashyr's appearance and actions and quickly realized that I only had three options: Use the correct pronouns, which did not represent the assumptions that the PCs were supposed to make (for exactly the reasons Erin stated), I could avoid using pronouns entirely (I actually tried this and it sounded so unnatural that it wouldn't have solved the problem anyway), or I could narrate what the PCs would perceive rather than narrating the truth of the matter. I chose the last option, but it was a hasty decision, and was executed much more clumsily than I intended. I didn't expect this to be a "check your assumptions" moment for the players, but I had sorta hoped that at least one of the characters might seize on it as a roleplaying opportunity for their character to have one. (I wasn't trying to surprise the players, I was trying to surprise the characters, and maybe that would have been better accomplished by being more honest with the players, but as I said, the decision was made hastily.) Likewise, the previous interactions between Ashyr and Nathaniel were me trying to use aspects of NPC personalities to dangle threads for roleplay interactions. I agree that they ended up seeming forced, but what I was trying (and failing) to do was encourage some deeper roleplay from characters (Nathaniel in particular, who I was concerned was too shallow a character, in more than one sense of the word). The reactions to these attempts were frustrating, both to the NPCs involved and to me as a GM. I tried other angles to get some more character development out of Nathaniel, and they didn't work any better. Maybe I was being too subtle? And, if I'm being completely honest, when Nathaniel's player dropped out without any word, and I discovered that his player had been continuing to post in other games while ignoring this one, the solution I came up with to remove him from the story was partially motivated by this frustration (and I also overdramatized the situation in my description, which I have repeatedly tried to walk-back). He also left me without any RP threads that I felt I could use to create a reason for him suddenly deciding to walk away, and in hindsight, I probably should have just had him climb a tree then fall and break his neck, but that's not the idea that came to mind at the time.
All of my characters have personality flaws (some worse than others), and I don't think you can have a fully-developed character without them. This is also not a modern world, and yes, many of the characters in it are bigoted in various ways. I did not mean to offend or make anyone uncomfortable, and constructive criticism is always welcome. Real people have flaws too, though, and one of mine is a lower-than-average ability to figure out what's going on in other people's heads. That said, it's starting to sound like I've stumbled onto a personal hot-button issue here. I'd appreciate if you would explain what, specifically, about this situation is making you uncomfortable (via PM, if that would make you more comfortable), so that I can both avoid this particular issue in the future and grow as a writer more generally.
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