ziltmilt's page

Folks, I appreciate you all participating over the past 3 years, and I hope you've enjoyed the game.

I'm afraid, since beginning this PBP, my gaming tastes have changed. The idea of Adventure Paths just don't hold the same allure they did 5 or 6 years ago, and I'm falling for the old fashioned notions of sandbox and increased player agency. I wanted to get you through this volume, but lately, it just hasn't been as enjoyable. And, with limited gaming time, it makes sense to dedicate my focus and energy closer to where my interests lie.

In fact, instead of Pathfinder and other mechanically dense systems, I'm growing more fond of OSR-type, retro clone rules systems. It's 1980s nostalgia, and it's hit me like a ton of bricks.

One recommendation, if I may ... beg, plead, cry for Lleidr to run a play-by-post TSR Marvel Super Hero game. Again, many thanks for your consistent participation, and I wish all of you Good Gaming!!

Nich, you there? We need your actions.

No problem on the wrinkles! The combat's getting a little complex due to the summoned creatures and their abilities.

The map scale is 2 what it appears, so you're really about 25' away from the unicorn. I'm afraid Selia would be hit by Mintuck.

But what you said makes sense about the unicorn. Its action this round is to cast healing upon itself?

And, won't your summoning provoke an attack of opportunity?

MAP

Ft Rannick Courtyard, Round 3

Tripping over debris scattered across the courtyard, Lleidr's lunge with the Fang of Elyrium misses.

Parthen casts Bull's Strengh on Ned (duration = 8 minutes).

NOTE - since we got no action, I'm going to assume Nich will try to assist Ned's attack. I rolled a 17, which gives Ned another +2 on his attack. I only rolled an 8 for the archon's attack, which misses the nearest ogre.

Selia protects herself with the Barkskin spell. The unicorn bashes the skull of an already wounded ogre with one hoof, throwing him to the earth with its hoof. With its other hoof and horn, it strikes and gores a furious Jolly.

Stepping up next to the braying unicorn, Ned's sword crashes into Jolly after his first blow is parried away.

Lleidr's clumsy opponent misses the halfling again!

Jolly's club rains down upon the poor unicorn (AC hit = 33 and 20, for 27 & 25 hp respectively. I believe that will destroy the creature).
Mintuck runs up to Selia (AC hit = 22, for 23 dmg). "No magic now! None of that tricky stuff."

The archon also takes a hit for 22 dmg (minus the DR = 12 dmg). You begin to hear more voices from the south gate, a bit different sounding compared to this brutish lot!

Actions, please!

Hi Nich, can you tell us what you're doing?

Parthen will cast Bull's Strength on Ned (duration = 8 minutes). Since Parthen acts prior to Ned, that should increase your 2nd roll to a 16, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe we still need actions from Nich and Selia.

I'm putting together a Monday evening game (starting around 7 pm EST), using Maptool and Skype for voice. Hopefully, there's some interest out there.

This is a classic old school module, and the BFRPG is a wonderful revision of the original fantasy game. I've also created a very simple framework for the game, which should help with keeping things moving.

If you're interested, please pm me; i can also be found on skype at busterbluth2

I've gotten the itch to run a live, online game once again, if anyone here is interested. I'm thinking Monday nights, maybe ~7 pm EST. The gameplay would be via Maptool and voice either through Skype or Google Hangouts.

I'm going to run Master of the Desert Nomads, an old module for the classic D&D Expert Set. But, I'll be using the Basic Fantasy rules for this.

OK, the archon only took 3 hp dmg then.

So what'chall doin ??? Starting a new round!

I actually missed its DR. Help me out ... the ogres are evil, so the DR wouldn't apply to them? or the DR only applies to evil creatures? If it's the latter ,the archon only takes 3 hp dmg.

I did check it's aura effect, however!

MAP

Ft Rannick Courtyard, Round 2

Lleidr dashes in between the lumbering brutes, dodging their weapons and meaty fists. He winds up right behind the northern ogre, who has a confused look on his face.

Parthen takes a step forward, and mastering arcane forces with but a quick gesture and murmuring, causes a spout of scarlet flame to burst from his mouth. The two nearest ogres are caught dead in the midst of the blast.

Nich summons an archon and blesses rainment with defensive power. The archon slames into the approaching ogres from the south. At the creature's approach, the ogres faces fall into shadows of dismay for a moment, before their determination returns.

Selia has brought forth a unicorn, which immediately gallops over and fells the closest enemy.

Ned launches another trio of arrows, the first two of which find their mark, upon another of the southern ogres. The ogre's knees nearly buckle from the onslaught, but he rights himself and continues to charge at the group.

Jolly sneers. "You may try, but I warrant you'll fail, little one. After we deal with you, we'll finish off your friends at the north gate!" Jolly nears the unicorn, his face twisted in anger and promising violence. His giant club whistles through the cold air as he brings down atop the summoned animal (21 hp dmg).

The ogre nearest Lleidr wheels around, trying to find him, swinging his weapon madly through the air in vain.

One of the southern ogres runs towards the unicorn, hitting it again (15 dmg). While two of the southern ogres attack the archon (13 dmg), the 4th ogre, Jolly's equal in size and bearing, makes for the group, coming right atop Nich and Selia. You see the spittle flying from his mouth and feel his hot breath on your arms. "Won't be such a pretty lass after we're through with you, heh!"

NOTE - for clarity, I'm taking off the fallen ogres from the map

Selia, don't you get an action this round, since you spent your action last round doing a full-round summoning?

MAP

Ft Rannick Courtyard, Round 1

Lleidr's dagger slams into the southern-most ogre, a great, ugly hulking brute. He stammers out a curse in his rage and pain.

Ned now has a +2 to AC thanks to Parthen (for 3 rounds).

With Bizrip's sudden disappearance, Nich and Selia each begin a summoning spell.

With a flurry of shots, Ned takes down the wounded ogre.

The surviving 3 ogres run awkwardly through the debris-strewn courtyard, trying to close with Lleidr. "Hoo hoo," crows Jolly. "We might have shown you some mercy with a quick death, but I warrant it'll be slow and painful. Come on, fellas, have at 'em." He thrusts a fat, stubby arm high in the air, as if to motion others to join them. Four more ogres come running from the south gate.

Actions, please ...

Back and readjusted to local time once again. I'll get an update posted shortly.

No no, just a quick, short trip out of the country for 4 years. :)

Vacation!

I hate to be away just as a battle is getting started, but .. I'm going to be out for a week starting Sat 1/21. I'll resume posting on Sunday, 1/29.

just need an update from Nich and Selia

Please note the scale on this map is twice the size it would appear from the size of your tokens. Each square you see is 20'.

MAP

The barracks quickly becomes an inferno and is much too hot to stay nearby. As you venture out into the courtyard, 4 massive ogres come running out.

"Jolly, they's burnin' up in there!" says the first ogre, pointing at the burning building.

The one called Jolly whoops in surprise at seeing you. "Nevermin bout that. Lookit! We gots ranger friends poking their noses where they don't belong."

The only egress to the top of the walls is via the gatehouses (or climbing/flying). Also, you can see that the north gate is impassible. Rock and debris have been piled up from inside the walls. The rangers will never get in that way. And, there's more ogre shouts coming from the south gate.

Initiative:

Lleidr
Parthen
Nich
Selia
Ned
Ogres

Parthen will move behind the fighters and give Ned a +2 AC enhancement bonus (lasts 3 rounds).

Yes, you could take the outer curtain wall from where you stand, inside the courtyard. I'd like to hear from Nich & Ned as well before proceeding.

The dry tinder catches fire quickly, and grows within minutes so that it's large enough to smolder the barrack's joists. The crawlspace fills with rolling clouds of smoke.

Soon after that, you can tell the inside of the building has started to burn. Cries of dismay from ogres newly awakened come from inside the barracks. They roar in anger and despair.

Then, an alarm sounds near the north gate and you see a couple of ogres rush towards the sound. The entrance to the main keep is nearby. Or, you could target points of interest inside the courtyard. It seems lightly guarded, but that will change fast if Jakardros is indeed assaulting the north gate, as planned.

Where will you go next?

So, are you definitely setting the building on fire or waiting for more input from the party?

MAP

(I apologize for the zoomed out view here. The scale on this map is not great.)

Just as the Black Arrow rangers promised, the barracks sit snug up against the hidden cave entrance. The building's crawlspace is packed with lumber, sheltered from the incessant rain. From the snoring, it is evident that many large creatures are in deep slumber within the structure.

North of where you stand lie the keep's outer wall, and a ruined gate leading inside. The courtyard is littered with signs of violence - broken weapons, smashed crates, and dead horses. There's little activity, but from the sounds, you hear ogres at the fort's south gate and another singing a tune, from a near-by open air structure sitting across from the barracks.

MAP

The passage slopes down as you come around a sharp corner and then descends NW at a steep pitch into blackness. Hissing and spitting sounds begin to fade into the dark, and are similar sounds to what you just hear from the Shocker Lizards. To the east, where the wall is flat, your eyes easily see the outline of a door hidden with canny skill, set within the bare rock.

Unfortunately, neither of you are familiar with such a strange beast, other than a brief description of it: this dog-sized lizard has two horns, one on either side of its head, and green scales that crackle with sparks of lightning.

The arrows are +2 enchantment, with shocking burst.

Ned, that's going to be a KNO Arcana check, unfortunately.

The crates store a mini-armory! All together they hold 2 dozen each of

- longswords
- shortswords
- daggers
- longbows

and an oilcloth wraps 6 arrows emanating a strong magical aura.

Small sized ... around 3' in length. In proceeding, you've got 2 choices ... north-east or due north. You should be pretty close to that barracks by now.

The crates bear the sigil of the Black Arrow rangers and are coated in dust. Making a Perception check on your behalf, and you see nothing dangerous. Detect Magic reveals an aura, very muffled and faint, as if buried by the contents of a chest.

Merry Christmas everyone. I'll try to check tomorrow for an update on your actions; if you guys post a response, I should be able to get another update posted for you.

Got a rules question for the group, as I'm having no luck online. But not for Pathfinder; this is an extremely obscure bit of BECMI rules lore and I'm having trouble deciphering it:

I've been playing around with incorporating some of the Mentzer high level stuff into Basic Fantasy, and I've run into a question with the Sea Machine rules. This is the 4th and final step in calculating the Battle Rating (BR) for a fleet before actually rolling for the combat:

Make an average of both BRs (by adding both and dividing by two). The total indicates the final FLEET BR. Then determine separate combat modifiers for the fighting troops and the fleet. For troops: base the ratio on the marines’ total HD or levels rather than the number of creatures.

For the ships/sailors, determine the ratio from the total number of HP involved in each force (the sailors/rowers are then considered as part of the ship).

Make an average of both combat modifiers and add it to the fleet/troop BR. Resolve the combat with normal War Machine rules, using instead the table below.

I can't figure out what they're talking about here in referring to 'separate combat modifiers'. Can anyone make sense of this?

Part of me thinks this is a reference to the Troop Ratio modifier, which is added when the opposing forces are compared in size. But, that's not done when calculating the BR. It's done after your BR is finalized, just before each side makes a d100 combat roll.

Any ideas out there?

The lizards turn down the north-east passage and scurry away out of sight (fighting withdrawal).

What now, everyone?

Just need a combat action (or not!) from Nich ...

Yes, I agree. They had too many planets way too early in the movie. And, the whole business with the shield gate was confusing.

But, you know ... if they could find a way to bring the cost down on their facsimile characters like Tarkin, maybe one day we could get a movie trilogy based on the original Timothy Zahn novels. I know those novels don't line up exactly with the new canon they're writing, but it would be so freakin' awesome.

Here's what a Shocker Lizard looks like.

MAP

The floor, walls, and ceiling of this cool, damp cave are coated from floor to ceiling in soft, dark gray fungus. Several crates are stacked in a nook to the northwest. You come upon a pair of shocker lizards, who appear startled to see you. They flick out the thin curls of their ribbon tongues and pounce as if to either flee or strike.

Nich, you have first action. Then the lizards get to go.

Sorry for the delay this weekend. Very busy the past few days due to the holidays, and then, Sunday night, I got to see Rogue One.

Thoughts, folks? We loved it!

There's a loud clatter after several of you slip and sprawl down on the slick floor. But, none of you are hurt, just a bit shaken from the fall.

Again the only obvious exit is north or back through the waterfall from which you entered.

Ned & Selia, can you give me an Acrobatics check for the slippery floor in the cave behind the waterfall?

The only visible route through the cave is a passage that winds its way north, deeper into the mountain.

Can you just un-see that prior image I posted? I forgot to turn on the Player View in Maptool.

Updated MAP

MAP

Sneaking round the wall of the cliff, you spy the opening behind the waterfall easily enough.

The floor of this cave is dotted with puddles. Patches of pale moss and fungus grow in sheets on the wall, while to the north, a five-foot-wide
passageway angles up into darkness. A walkway of soggy planks leads from this opening southeast to a second opening curtained by cascades of falling water.

As you make your way inside, I need an Acrobatics check, to navigate the slippery floor. NOTE - the scale of this map is quite large, so your tokens are especially tiny. And now that I think about it, they're too big. I need to adjust the scale once again tomorrow.

I"ll go ahead and try to get an update up this evening; should be a relatively simple one.

I know I'm late with an update for you. I'm feeling drained this evening ... I'll get an update tomorrow, promise!

Typo! My bad. Nice catch, though. Yes, you should be 8th level now.

She looks at you, her eyes betraying both concern and surprise.

"Worried about him? Why do you say that?" she whispers to you. "Maybe I should stay with the rangers instead of going with you into the caves."

Congrats, everyone. YOu are now 9th level. Go ahead and adjust your characters, you can make full use of any abilities during the foray into Ft Rannick.

Jakadros nods. "Once we see smoke rising from the barracks, we'll know to begin. I recommend that we attack the north bridge, since the south bridge is nearest to the New Barracks.

Keep in mind, you probably won't be able to set fire to the barracks from outside. There's also a rather large crawlspace full of extra lumber, which I'm sure you could put to good use. But, there's supposed to be a hidden access from the caves to just behind the barracks.

Vale grips an axe in each hand, snarling in contempt towards the fort. "When will you make for the waterfall cave? My weapons cry out for Kreeg blood."

Kaven's hands shake, and his eyes are heavy. He hasn't said much this morning, but his fatigue is obvious. "Maybe I should climb the nearby hill, to better watch for your signal. Good luck to you!"

Vale nods vigorously. "Agreed. The walls will be manned by their better fighters, but if I know the Kreegs, the ones off-duty will be easier to take down. When they take their eye off the ball, they get sloppy."

The caves behind the waterfall are an obvious way to sneak inside.

Jakardros also points out the castle's sluice gate, on the south wall, not too far from the waterfall. "The pipe yonder should be big enough, barely, to get through the wall and into the castle. Not a very pleasant trip, as you can imagine. It's the drainage for the keep's sewage and refuse."

Nich, you notice behind the outer curtain wall that you see occasional ogres coming and going from a large wooden building. The rangers point out that the structure is the keep's New Barracks, but they abandoned it due to the danger from fire. Anyone sleeping inside would likely burn to death very quickly.

Baiting and luring out a company of ogres could prove useful. You could also do some combination of these things, maybe even splitting up the party to set up a distraction.

Not sure what your next step is guys. Feel free to throw some ideas around. There isn't much activity of note, other than occasional ogres patrolling behind the battlements.

Some were Arrows, yes, many others appear to be nearby villagers. And, yes, you can see a few of the ogres on guard, walking atop the parapets.

Their water comes from the nearby pond and waterfall; they'll have no lack of clean water. And, as long as they can raid the nearby countryside for people to eat, they could hole up inside Ft Rannick indefinitely. There's stores inside the fort, too. Enough to feed a fifty men for 3 months at least.