Try to keep the metagaming to a minimum, but treat this thread as if you were all sitting around the table together.
I'm here!
I'm here.
Petracleus checking in.....how's everyone doing?
Don't know the monk too well so can't offer up suggestions - why not keep it regular vanilla?
OK here is the Monk Darpan
@Beau - Not sure what you mean. Anything I post (unless it's specifically for someone using the spoiler tag) is fair game. And you guys can dicuss stuff here to facilitate game play (ie, discussing marching order, whatever).
Whatever IC stuff you want to do in the gameplay tab is fine, but I know it's a lot harder to do a lot of that at the beginning, as opposed to sitting together at a table. So, air out your stuff here if you want.
We can say you ended up talking at the Inn after being selected for the mission by Karlae.
[ooc]I would say it should come out in gameplay...as we sit and talk, or travel...I know I still need a background...
Ah, got it.
I usually read other player's backstories just to understand their RPing better. But I don't have my character do or say anything that he wouldn't know unless it had been agreed to in the Discussion thread or presented in the Game Play thread.
We can start this group's Game Play thread by meeting in the common room the evening after you've been selected by Karlae. I'll replay the Karlae briefing each of you was given (basically the same). You can add questions you asked her and we'll play that out.
And the five of you can add personal info and observations about each other as you see fit.
That work for at least three of you?
I'm also working on a short campaign guide that will give you some shared setting/adventure information as well.
Good for me - happy to RP intros, etc
You guys are already doing this, so continue: please post under your character alias here. Minimizes my confusion in which player I'm talking to.
When you guys get a chance, take a look at the Campaign Guide and let me know what else it could use.
Some of the real basic stuff (like the bottom of the first page and the PbP section) is from a CG I put together for some friends I was trying to introduce to Pathfinder. I know you guys are more advanced than that.
@Beau - Gold Falls Inn. I think I included that in the campaign guide. If not, I'll need to add it!
Got your PM. Desna trait is fine.
I've heard from Wix. He just hasn't checked in here yet. We're rolling along.
You may already know, but Black Gate is a great website for sword and sorcery fans. And they mix in RPG stuff (they gave a glowing review of Kobold Quarterly a week before it folded..).
Here's an article on Saruman.
Black Gate's worth a look every couple of days.
BTW: I am blocked from d20srd here at work and I've never looked at it (I know some PF players use it).
However, I can access the Pathfinder PRD.
So, anything in the Core Rulebook hard copy and under Core Rulebook in the PRD, is in play. Plus only the Traits from the Advanced Players Guide.
The d20srd isn't applicable.
Liking the campaign guide - it certainly puts the game into context (and will give me some ideas for origins of my character).
A couple of observations though......
What is the scale of the maps - I don't know whether I am looking at hundreds of square miles or four......it'll help us to plan our journeys if we know approximate distances.
Also, how do the two maps relate to each other? Both have the Darkmoon Plain on them but there are no other common features (such as roads / rivers)....
Final point on the map, a number of places are described in the guide.....Ironfang Keep, Swallowfield Village and Oregent....which do not appear on the map (this may be intentional?)
Hope that helps for both games......
@Petracleus
Forgot you guys probably don't have the Guide to the Darkmoon Vale. I'm used to looking at the individual maps for specific info. My bad.
Gold Falls Inn is to the north, then there's the darkmoon plain south of it, then the Arthfell Forest south of that.
If I can find that scaled map of the whole region...I'll say it's about 50 miles from Gold Falls to the northern tip of the Arthfell.
Ironfang Keep and Swallowfeld are third party products I'm dropping into the Darkmoon Vale. I'll describe their locations in game since they didn't come on the map. The Keep and Swallowfeld will be in central Arthfell.
Oregent is just a city near Olfden No role in the game. I'll drop the reference to it in Gold Falls Inn.
I do plan on adding a page on Swallowfeld, as that will be your adventuring base.
@Iliad The guide did say it but I wanted to ensure as the campaign description sailon our way to there we would encounter the masacered caravan so I was unclear if we would encounter that on the road to the keep or on the road to Gold Fall's Inn.
Gold Falls is really just a staging area (was originally going to be Oldfen, but I liked the description of Gold Falls in the Darkmoon Vale Guide. So encounter will be after the briefing.
Of course, could be other encounters...
(Insert evil laugh here)
Looking forward to starting - will the Gameplay thread open soon or is there more work to do looking at characters?
Was typing this update while Petracleus was posting. To be fair, I need to get both groups ready to go before I start one of them (I began character review with you five).
As I said in the original post, I didn't expect to get going until Christmas-ish. We're ahead of that, but I'm balancing all this with RL as well.
GETTING THERE
Howdy. Hopefully you're all still here. I've gotten comments back to people on 7 of the 10 characters. Will have the other 3 soon.
If you feel I'm moving along slowly (which is a fair assertion), bear in mind that the submission deadline was December 11. And that was when I was going to run five people through a one-off short adventure.
As of November 30, we've got two groups running through what is in place to be a first to fifth level campaign (two more levels can be easily added if we stick it out that far) with optional adventures and a few encounters mixed in (this isn't a complete railroad). And I slapped together a campaign guide for the new campaign.
So, it's coming along on schedule: just more of it than planned.
Sounds goods to me - I know you've got your hands full!!! We'll be ready when you are.......
Agreed. Personally I can't wait to get on the player side of the table for once.
Ready whenever you are GM Iliad. Looking forward to the game!
Howdy. Busy RL week for me. Still have 3 more characters to review.
I will have an updated campaign guide up tonight (work computer is wonky today). I want to use Gold Falls Inn for a campaign, but this isn't it. You guys will meet Karlae Siegfrost in Oflden (which is now in the Guide). Forget about Gold Falls.
I've got a better region map that shows Olfden, Shadowed Keep and Swallowfeld, which will be your village base of operations. They're all down on the southern part of that map.
Feel free to work in any fluff you want to include related to the Darkmoon Vale region.
Thanks for the update - probably best to be on the one map!!!
Just one question, Olfden, Oflden or Oldfen? It is three different ways in the guide (maybe the locals have funny accents?)....
Might be best to PM us when you are good to go?
Olfden. Paizo originally had it Oldfen in the 3.5 days and that's what they wrote on the map (Darkmoon Vale had a variant name, which I can't recall). Oflden is a typo.
With a little luck, first play post could be by next weekend.
Anybody who doesn't post within 24 hours will get a PM.
I'm sure, with Christmas coming up, we'll get off to a slow start then get rolling, so no pressure on posting.
well still here....cannot wait to get started...
I've reviewed 9 of the 10 characters now. If you have any outstanding queries from me (I need to go through all the responses again) or haven't updated your character alias for issues that didn't need a response, please do so.
Fill in any fluff you want to tie it into the campaign and select a deity if you haven't (I don't know that it will significantly matter, but there will be interactions, religion skill checks, "stuff found" that religion could be an aid (or detriment).
Almost time to go!
Great to hear and I can't wait to get started.
Reviews are done. As I mentioned, if you still have changes to make, please do so. We can start before they are all done, though.
SO....head over to Gameplay for the first post. It's a table setter and 'live' interaction with Karlae comes after each of you have made an initial post (which essentially gets everybody at the table and conversing with her). Your initial post can be something directed to her.
FYI: after we RP the talk with Karlae, I'll leave the players at the table to get to know each other, share info, etc. Whatever you guys want to put on the table IC.
Then we'll head out on the mission
Thanks for sticking with the long recruiting and set up period. And for a smooth character creation process.
I'll let people check in and keep RPing through the weekend. Monday, hopefully, Karlae will have everyone at the table and ready to brief.
I know RL is usually fuller on the weekends, so don't feel pressed to post then. Anything on Sat/Sun is a bonus.
Once Darpan checks in here, or by tonight in any case, I'll post.
Sorry...thought I had checked in already...and posted to the game forum as well.....
Of course, by "Darpan," I mean "Wix."
I mean, really, who wouldn't Know that?
:-)
Everybody else is here, lest I cause more confusion.
lol...no problem...also just added another post to the game site.
I'm going to get some info on this into the Campaign Guide, but for now:
Karlae is a legendary figure in Olfden.
Little kids dreamt of growing up to be like the members of her adventuring company, the Azure Guard. And she was a hero in the Night of Silver Blood, a horrific attack of hobgoblins, goblins and werewolves on Olfden.
Just to let you know she is a major figure and held in great esteem.
Sorry I think there was confusion on my part. I thought we were to rp with the barkeeper and townsfolk and when you were ready to kick it off Karlae would come in.
I think each of us have asked an NPC something, after an answer we could make our way over.
Sorry for the confusion Iliad.
No thats fine. She was watching. Thats the beauty of RPing. Fluid
BTW, Karlae mentioned the Fangwatch in the first gameplay post. There is a faction in the Arthfell with that name.
However, I meant to type "Shadow Pack." That is the group of werewolf druids that fights the Lumber Consortium. Assume she said Shadow Pack.
When it seems to make sense, I'll update the campaign guide. I added a page (6, I think) with some info on the various groups in the area.
It's info that you could have gathered with several hours of asking around and talking to locals. There is more to know about each of these groups, which you may or may not find out; that's up to how you play...
But give it a read.
Skill checks can be helpful for the modules we're using. For example, Heal when looking at a corpse (something I never think of). When you think it might help, go ahead and roll a skill check. If it doesn't matter, I'l let you know. But you might pick up something. And I'll tie a skill check in to your actions when appropriate.
I'll post any answer in a spoiler and you can decide to share or not.
I'm hoping that the Campaign Guide (which is linked from the Campaign Tab) will also serve as an ongoing resource.
I've added an NPC page that will be updated as you meet notable ones. And, time permitting, I'll update a Campaign Log that keeps the basic info of what's happened so far (i,e., key things Karlae told you, Shane chasing after the halfling, etc), so you won't have to dig through, what I hope, become a ton of gameplay posts. Those two sections will be at the end so I don't have to keep updating the ToC!
So, check in on the Guide every so often. I'll have the new format up soon.