JSL's Runelords - Discussion

[Talion09]

santinj@ wrote:

Sorry for my truncated posts on the game thread as of late. I've been on the road for work and have only been able to post from the odd coffee shop or late at night after the kiddos go down.

In that vein, my wife, kiddos, and I are using the Veteran's Day weekend as an excuse to get out of town and go to the coast. The house that we're staying in does not have an internet connection that I am aware of, but I may bring my lappy so that I can look like a snob in a cafe or something. The most likely scenario is that I won't be posting until Monday night at the earliest. Just when the fun role-playing stuff starts up again!!!

Have fun, but save some for Vesh!!!

What are everyone else's plans for the long weekend? Should we take a 3-day hiatus?

[JSL]

Talion09 wrote:

What are everyone else's plans for the long weekend? Should we take a 3-day hiatus?

It'd be nice if someone could kill the goblin before the weekend. After that, I'll have some game-state maintenance to do (i.e., XP to hand out) and role-playing stuff. I'm anticipating two longish RP posts, so I might put them up and if no one can respond until Monday, that is fine.

On the subject of XP, here is what I've decided to do:

Encounter XP - standard

Roleplaying XP - (ongoing) 50XP x Character Level per week of real time. I'm starting from October 1st and the calculation below goes through November 11

Story XP - 100-200XP x Character Level for each "part" of the adventure completed (some parts are longer than others)

To date, and not including the fight in progress, the party has defeated 13 goblins and played for about 6 weeks. In total, the goblins are worth 13/3 x 300/6 = 220 XP each. The 6 weeks of play time are worth 300 XP each.

So as of this minute, you each have 520XP, a little more than I have officially handed out.

You can reasonably expect to make 2nd level shortly, so let me know if you have any special plans (e.g., multi-classing) or RP needs related to that.

[FabesMinis]

I'll be posting as normal (I have no life). What's this about a three day weekend? Is it Thanksgiving for you guys? (asks the Brit) I'll do my damnedest to chase the gobbo down!

[Naelah]

Hooray for XP!

I'm posting now - work was nuts yesterday.

[santinj@]

As I said on the game thread, my plans for the weekend fell through, so I'll be in town. It's a relief, really. It would have been a 3 1/2 hour trip from where I live to the place we were going on the coast--with two kids under three. Not-always-fun. Plus, on the tail-end of three straight work days in a car. Blah. The upshot, after all this commiserating (or maybe it's just miserating), is that I'll be able to post as normal this weekend.

Fabes: Nope, not Thanksgiving yet. That's the week after next. This Monday is Veteran's Day, which is a 'bank holiday' in the old vernacular.

PsiFox: What do you do for work? And, please tell me how to avoid it! I'm kidding, but it seems like you've got some stories to tell.

Lastly, I had wanted to ask about the amount of in-game tactical talk. Does it seem to be working well? JSL is obviously a big DDM guy, and it seems like I'm learning new stuff, combat-wise, from him all the time. This last combat seemed to go well and (from my perspective) had a good balance between just acting in-character and some ooc tactical conversation. What do you all think? I ask, because I could easily fall off the fence towards too much ooc tactical talk, but I also don't want to cramp anyone else's style.

[JSL]

Is Vesh going to take a level in Favored Soul? If so, I have a way to work it in RP wise. Else, that's fine, too. Just let me know, eh...

[FabesMinis]

Ehlissa is either going for Knight or Fighter - I haven't decided yet. Either way RP will be here building on the skills she has used in the battles at the festival. This is the most strenuous real fight she's been in. Although she has killed before...

[PsionicFox]

*looks at the OOC comment in the IC thread*

I'm usually with my girlfriend on the weekend, but she has exams next week, so I'm around of an evening and so on.

As for multiclassig or what have you, I'm waiting until after 3rd level to take any levels in Sorcerer. So I'm remaining dedicated to healing etc for the time being.

[PsionicFox]

santinj@ wrote:

PsiFox: What do you do for work? And, please tell me how to avoid it! I'm kidding, but it seems like you've got some stories to tell.

I am the Operations Coordinator/Manager for a Call Center. We're at the tail end of a $100,000 campaign, and the hosted platform we use to make out calls keeps f&^*ing up (we're using hosted IP Telephony). Its been very frustrating. Every day this week, something has gone wrong.

santinj@ wrote:

Lastly, I had wanted to ask about the amount of in-game tactical talk. Does it seem to be working well? JSL is obviously a big DDM guy, and it seems like I'm learning new stuff, combat-wise, from him all the time. This last combat seemed to go well and (from my perspective) had a good balance between just acting in-character and some ooc tactical conversation. What do you all think? I ask, because I could easily fall off the fence towards too much ooc tactical talk, but I also don't want to cramp anyone else's style.

I think the balance we have is fine. As we get more and more used to the nuances of how our characters mesh with each other, I think we'll be fine. Having the opportunity to have it happen organically is quite good - the group don't really know each other, so they have to lear how best to complement each other.

I'm fine with it just the way it is at this stage.

[FabesMinis]

I'm also happy with the balance - the last combat began to work itself as Ehlissa, Vesh and Corran assisted one another.

[Ragadolf]

I'm still leaning towards Ultimate Mage. So with that I would take Sor at 3rd or 4th lvl, and the feat 'Practiced Caster'. SO I can get 'Ulti' at 6th I think? Or os it earlier? I have to look it back up. sorry.

Otherwise I'll go with "Theurgic Mage'? (it's in the DM's Guide,) which means I'll take favored soul next lvl, and that PrC at 3rd.
(Its the only PrC which you can get at 3rd lvl, I think!)

That's my (sortof) plans!

[FabesMinis]

You crazy divine/arcane combo casters! :D

[PsionicFox]

Arcane Heirophant for me!

I can't wait to get get my Companion Familiar!

*Imagines a version of Veren as smart, and can actually speak to her, etc etc.*

[FabesMinis]

She and Sli will have to er... compare notes...

and I just noticed the reference to Veteran's Day at the top of the thread... I am being a moron today for some reason...

We still have 'bank holidays' on yet another side note!

And on another... Sli wouldn't happen to be based on a certain Gallifreyan, would he? ;)

[Ragadolf]

FabesMinis wrote:

She and Sli will have to er... compare notes...

and I just noticed the reference to Veteran's Day at the top of the thread... I am being a moron today for some reason...

We still have 'bank holidays' on yet another side note!

And on another... Sli wouldn't happen to be based on a certain Gallifreyan, would he? ;)

Hmmmm,...Could be!

BUT! Which one?!?! (like it matters!)
(I actually edited my speech when the summoned pooch appeared. I had actually called him 'K-9' in the speech. But I figured that was a little too over the top, even for me!)

[santinj@]

JSL wrote:

Is Vesh going to take a level in Favored Soul? If so, I have a way to work it in RP wise. Else, that's fine, too. Just let me know, eh...

You know, I thought about it, but I just don't think so. I want to keep him going down the Spellthief route, and I think we've got a good healer with Naelah. At some point in the future, he may turn to the Arcane Trickster PR but not for a while.

[Talion09]

Corran will be going either Ranger or Fighter at level 2. (I intend to alternate pretty much I think)

[FabesMinis]

@Rags - well, the bag of sweets and "K-9" is obviously Tom Baker, with the manic chattering followed by moments of introspection as per Sylvester McCoy or David Tennant. He likes violence in a bit more of a Colin Baker, or Jon Pertwee way as well.

Ehlissa will quite happily play the Brigadier role, "For goodness' sake, man! What are you blathering about?"

[Ragadolf]

FabesMinis wrote:

@Rags - well, the bag of sweets and "K-9" is obviously Tom Baker, with the manic chattering followed by moments of introspection as per Sylvester McCoy or David Tennant. He likes violence in a bit more of a Colin Baker, or Jon Pertwee way as well.

Ehlissa will quite happily play the Brigadier role, "For goodness' sake, man! What are you blathering about?"

There will ALWAYS be BIT of Tom in all of my 'mad mages'. (He's just too good NOT to use. This is the first time I've used the candy bit tho.) Never really got into Sylvester, But the blathering is definitely based off of Tennant. (That boy talks faster than Tom ever did!)

Slidell WISHES he sould fight like Pertwee, (he was the one who used the 'Venusian Karate' in almost every episode!) But he knows his limits and takes great pain to avoid physical combat! (But after hanging around you guys for a while, maybe he'll pick up enough 'tips' to take a lvl in fighter? who knows?!?)

Ehlissa as Brigadier would be cool, They've already goten off on the right foot for that too!

@JSL- When you get a chance, did Sli notice anything about this latest group of goblins they fought as he collects his dagger? Same as the others, different tribe? etc?

EDIT-sorry, already asked that in the main thread!

[JSL]

Regarding selling goblin junk:
The developers both at WotC and at Paizo have clearly intended that every sizable town has a near infinite market to buy crap that PCs aquire and have no use for. Conveniently, once it is sold off to some nameless faceless NPC, that unwanted +2 axe of Wounding and Good Outsider Bane never ends up in the hands of anyone evil.

Frankly, I don't think that makes a ton of sense. On the other hand, I don't see that the PCs should have to cart around a pile of crap that they don't want just because either no one else wants it either or they are wisely unwilling to unload it onto the open market.

That said, Sandpoint has a weekly market that attracts buyers and sellers from all over the area, including some from as far away as Magnamar or Riddleport.

I think to have some element of fun and RP that doesn't bog us down too much, but still lets you unload this junk, I propose the following:

Seller makes a Gather Information check to find a willing buyer. The buyer is willing to pay 50% + (GI check - 20) x 5% of the item's "base price" [Max = 80%]. Others can aid this check with one of their own, granting a +2 bonus for each successful DC 15 GI check.

If the sale price exceeds Sandpoint's transaction limit of 800gp, you find a buyer, but they are out of town - you are working through an agent - and you have to wait until they are in town to consumate the deal.

Similarly, the developers seem to assume that the PCs can buy anything under the sun (costing less than 800 gp). Anything listed in the PHB (or mwk versions thereof) is available subject to that price limit. However, anything not listed in the PHB, such as *all magic items* is a little trickier. There is not an infinite supply of potions and wands in the town. Otherwise, they would be unfazed by a goblin raid.

Therefore, finding a willing seller for such an item requires a Gather Information check with a DC = 30 - (800 - price)/25. Again, someone can aid with a DC 15 check. Failure may not indicate that the item is unavailable, only that it is not available at the desired price. For every 5% over base price you are willing to pay, you can take a +2 circumstance bonus on the GI check. You can apply this *after* making the roll. For every 5 points by which you exceed the required DC, you get a 5% discount.

So let's say you want a potion of cure moderate wounds (300 gp). The base DC is 30 - 500/25 = 10. But let's say you blow the roll and get an 8. You find a potion, but the seller wants a 5% premium, or 315 gp, for it.

Once you have found the item, you can RP to further negotiate price, if you want.

I'm trying to give enough info here that you can at least start the transaction without needing me just to see if what you want can be found. I'm also - again in a 4E vein - playing with ways to handle non-combat encounters using skills and having rewards for success and failure. I'm also trying to avoid the awkward situation that came up in another PbP campaign where the party promptly pooled resources and bought 2 or 3 wands of clw. If the town had those wands just lying around, why wasn't someone using them? And why are they selling them - they might need them in the future?

[santinj@]

All of the above sounds good. I had to read it a couple times, but I think I get it now. This will make selling stuff a lot easier, without having to wait for JSL to adjudicate the result and RP it with a local merchant. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want it to take fifty-odd posts just to sell loot to NPC merchant #3.

Now is as good a time as any to recognize what we've just accomplished. We made it through Part 1 or RotRL! Go us!!! I just want to reiterate how much fun I've been having. This is great!

As far as a narrative trajectory for the rest of the in-game 'night,' what do folks have in mind? Seems like we need to decide if we're all gathering at the Rusty Dragon for a nightcap and the old "the party gathers at a table in the corner of the tavern" shtick (I've always wanted to RP that cliche), if Slidell and Naelah will return to their Inn seperately (uh-oh!), and what to do with the masterwork goblin junk. It might be nice to all stay together...Slidell and Naelah, cancel your reservation and come down to the Rusty Dragon! Vesh calls top bunk! Someone spoon the Varisian! Someone besides Veren! Or, Veran! Or, Corran.

Or, Slidell.

Or, Malcolm.

[santinj@]

Or, Father Zantus.

[santinj@]

Sheriff Hemlock...clearly a maybe.

[JSL]

What, you're not going to hook up with Shayliss?

Anyway, I asked some guys about dealing with unwanted loot in their campaigns and got a suggestion for a spell to resize the crap. It is probably worth it for the arrows at least, but you can do the chainshirt and dogslicers, too if you want. They are all masterwork. The 'slicers will be shortswords once they are resized.

The spell is first level for either Clerics or Wizards. I do not see it as a useful sorceror spell. It is transmutation (obviously), permanent duration, has a longish casting time, and some material component costs. You can try to buy a scroll and have Slidell cast it or F. Zantus can cast it for the usual fee to have someone do that.

I'll work out the cost and try to post it before Monday.

[JSL]

Here is the resize spell:

Resize Arms and Armor
Transmutation
Level: Cleric 2, Wizard 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Targets: Unattended arms and armor touched (up to 5 lbs per caster level)
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No
Casting this spell causes the items touched to grow or shrink enough to accommodate creatures one size category larger or smaller than they were created for. It affects any number of items so long as the total weight (before casting) is less than or equal to 5 pounds per caster level.
Material component: This spell requires material components with a cost equal to 10% of the cost of enchantment bonuses on the affected items (if any) plus the full cost differential for special materials used in the items’ construction (minimum 25 gp per item). Note that items sized for small and medium creatures typically have the same base cost. Items sized for large creatures cost twice as much as items sized for medium creatures.

The total weight of the chain shirt, two dogslicers, and arrows is roughly 15 lbs. So a third level caster is required.

The material component cost is 2000/10 x 2/50 = 8 gp for the 2 arrows plus 25 gp for each item (the two arrows count as one item). Thus 108 gp.

You can buy a scroll for 25 gp x 2 x 3 = 150 gp and have Slidell cast the spell. Alternately, you can have someone cast it for you for 10 x 2 x 3 = 60 gp. In either case, you still owe the 108 gp for the material components.

Oh, and don't sweat it if you don't have the cash now. You will get a reward for your goblin killing soon enough.

[FabesMinis]

Ehlissa's main aims for the night are: find the captured goblin and question him; get to the Goblin Squash stables and check on her horse; and SLEEP!

[santinj@]

santinj@ wrote:

JSL wrote:

Is Vesh going to take a level in Favored Soul? If so, I have a way to work it in RP wise. Else, that's fine, too. Just let me know, eh...

You know, I thought about it, but I just don't think so. I want to keep him going down the Spellthief route, and I think we've got a good healer with Naelah. At some point in the future, he may turn to the Arcane Trickster PR but not for a while.

I've been reading up on Favored Soul, and I'm a little torn. I could see Vesh having a 'religious experience' of some sort and taking a level in favored soul (of Desna) somewhere along the line. I'm not sure that I'd do it at second level, though. There's a lot to be said for the Spellthief class progression--which seems to follow the 4E way of granting something new at each level.

The party does need more healing, though. I think for second level, I'll continue on with Spellthief. But, I might take a level in favored soul at third. JSL, can the RPing part of Vesh's "conversion experience" be worked-in at that time?

[Arctaris]

All right. I'm finally back online. I'll post once I've read through what's happened since my last post. Mal should return tonight or tomarrow.

[santinj@]

Arctaris wrote:

All right. I'm finally back online. I'll post once I've read through what's happened since my last post. Mal should return tonight or tomarrow.

Woo-Hoo! I'll edit my last post in the game thread to reflect your presence! We're in the Rusty Dragon "the morning after."

The battle! The morning after the battle! (You know what I meant!)

[santinj@]

Okay. What are we going to do with the goblin stuff? Is anyone even interested in this stuff? Here are my thoughts:

The masterwork dog slicers: From a metagaming perspective, a +1 attack bonus is a +1 attack bonus. From an RPing standpoint, I'm not sure that even Vesh would use them given that they are dog slicers.

The masterwork chain shirt. Metagame perspective: Masterwork armor is lame, in my opinion. If you count encumbrance by weight (which I'm doing with Vesh), lowering the armor check penalty by 1 point is pretty meaningless when compared to the gp cost of being "masterwork." RP perspective: better is better. Vesh would probably be interested in a chain shirt that is better than his own but might not want to lay-out all his newly won cash to do so. Any other takers?

The two +1 magic arrows. From both a metagame and/or in-game perspective, Vesh would definitely be interested in these. If there is another bow-user in the group, we should decide what to do with these (how to be equitable). If nobody else is interested, Vesh would probably have these resized on his own.

Other opinions, thoughts, etc.?

[JSL]

All - I will be out of town on Thursday, but back on Friday. So if things seem a little slow, that's probably why.

On the other hand, after nearly 400 posts to get through 24 hours of game time, I think I'm as exhausted as our PCs. Still having a lot of fun though, and looking forward to the next parts of the adventure.

There is some built in downtime now that can pass as quickly or as slowly as people are interested in. So if you have something you want to do or check out (hopefully I've left a few hints) let me know. Depending on interest level, we can role-play it to some degree or handle it with a roll and a result.

[PsionicFox]

Sorry I haven't posted yet, I will be able to on my lunch break.

[santinj@]

PsionicFox wrote:

Sorry I haven't posted yet, I will be able to on my lunch break.

But, lunch was five hours ago...doh! Aussies and their time travel!

[Arctaris]

santinj@ wrote:

Arctaris wrote:

All right. I'm finally back online. I'll post once I've read through what's happened since my last post. Mal should return tonight or tomarrow.

Woo-Hoo! I'll edit my last post in the game thread to reflect your presence! We're in the Rusty Dragon "the morning after."

The battle! The morning after the battle! (You know what I meant!)

Sorry, Mal's not ready for a serious relationship.

Anyway, I was thinking that if the resizing spell doesn't pan out Mal would probably have some contacts in Riddleport who would be interested in quitely purchasing masterwork weapons and armor for a small creature.
Could Mal use the dogslicers as daggers?

[Arctaris]

PsionicFox wrote:

Sorry I haven't posted yet, I will be able to on my lunch break.

Lunch?! It's dinnertime here!

Time zones mess me up so badly.
Hmmm. Speaking of dinner, I am rather hungry.

[Arctaris]

Ragadolf wrote:

I'm still leaning towards Ultimate Mage. So with that I would take Sor at 3rd or 4th lvl, and the feat 'Practiced Caster'. SO I can get 'Ulti' at 6th I think? Or os it earlier? I have to look it back up. sorry.

Otherwise I'll go with "Theurgic Mage'? (it's in the DM's Guide,) which means I'll take favored soul next lvl, and that PrC at 3rd.
(Its the only PrC which you can get at 3rd lvl, I think!)

That's my (sortof) plans!

I think that you have to be 5th level for UM due to some skill prereqs. I believe that you require at least 3 levels of a preparing arcane caster and 1 level of a spontaneous arcane caster.

Mystic Thurge requires you to cast 2rd level arcane spells and 2nd level divine spells so with a Wizard/Favored Soul mix you'd have to wait until 7th level (Wizard 3/Favored Soul 4).
The only PrC that you can take at 3rd level that I know of is the Master Specialist from the Complete Mage.

[PsionicFox]

Welcome back Arc!

[Arctaris]

Thanks, I've missed these boards and their occupants, especially this campaign.

[JSL]

Arctaris wrote:

Mal would probably have some contacts in Riddleport who would be interested in quitely purchasing masterwork weapons and armor for a small creature.

Could Mal use the dogslicers as daggers?

That's a fine way to unload them. Perhaps you can do that at the next market day.

As for using them as daggers, the rules seem to imply that since they are already light weapons, you would still take a -2 penalty for being too big for them. If they were longswords for small creatures, however, you could use them as light weapons - short swords, essentially. They really are too small and oddly sized for humans to use effectively.

Rags: I'm okay with not using XP for scroll scribing, but the components will cost enough to basically make it the same price as buying the scroll. That is, 25 gp total for a first level spell.

All: I've finally read through all of Hook Mtn. and participated, somewhat obnoxiously I hope, in a thread suggesting RotRL is devolving into torture-porn. Unfortunately, my previous take on the module and its contents has been born out. The author has chosen to substitute crudity for good storytelling. The worst part of this, aside from the fact that I will be taking a black Sharpie to my print copy to keep it safe from young eyes, is that space that could have been put to good use was instead wasted in vulgarity. To be fair, it is only a strong PG-13 or mild R rating, in my opinion, but I still think Paizo is largely missing the point here. I don't *need* them to tell me ogres are mean, vile SOBs any more than I need them to tell me how to tie my shoes. What I steadfastly object to is that they wasted a fair amount of space expounding on material that the PCs really have no chance to discover. So, in other words, I had to muck through that trough of crap; but to you, the players, or even to the PCs, most of it won't make the slightest difference. Realistically, there is no way that the PCs would discover the half of it. So why waste the space on it. I feel validated in that Paizo is taking as much flak for it as they are getting kudos. Some, including Aubrey (who is DMing another PbP), seem solidly in the same camp that I'm in.

If we get that far, we can run Hook Mtn. But I expect you will find it to be a very different Hook Mtn. than the one Paizo published. Sadly, the problems with the module go well beyond the inclusion of gory descriptions. The enemies are exceedingly vulnerable to certain forms of attack that could render much of the exposition moot and my job as DM extremely tedious (confusion, anyone). Furthermore, the author seemed more interested in demonstrating his "maturity" than in providing a logical and connected series of plot elements (otherwise known as a story).

I will not feel bad if you are subscribers and read the module in advance; in fact, I'd welcome your opinions while this is such a hot issue, even if they differ from mine. I trust you all to keep player and character knowledge separate and keep in mind that I don't feel bound to follow the adventure path any more than I want to.

[Talion09]

JSL:

In regards to Hook Mountain Massacre and its content, can we please keep the discussion of it to the thread where both you and I have already posted our opinions, along with other board members rather than discuss it here?

Unless of course it pertains specifically to our PbP campaign (and its months away at the earliest given the pace of PbP), I would prefer not to have this subject bleed over into our campaign.

Its obviously a topic you feel very strongly about, and while I differ in opinion (and the strength of the opinion, I was rather ambivalent until that thread started), I don't want to debate it here, or rehash the same posts. Especially if it sidetracks this discussion.

I'm having a lot of fun in this campaign, and I'd hate to see this as a divisive issue amongst the group.

[FabesMinis]

Yeah, we have a good vibe here, and although I feel differently to you, JSL, with regard to Paizo's approach, I am exceedingly happy to play the adventure in any format. After all, all DMs have adapted adventures to taste since day 1, so I would have been none the wiser if this controversy hadn't come to light.

I am very happy both with your DMing style (combat and non-combat)... and Ehlissa is quite the most butt-kicking goody-two-shoes I've ever played.. :D

[Arctaris]

I don't have HMM yet but I'll be happy to play it with whatever modifications you feel are necassary. I like your DMing a lot and I like the group too.

[Ragadolf]

I do not yet have HMM, Tho given your writing style and tastes, I suspect my feelings will fall closely with yours.
HOWEVER, nuff' said! I also agree that we should continue this in the thread dedicated to it. I also am LOVIN' this group/adventure/camaraderie, and am glad to have found a group that is so creative/fun and can also have these (intelligent) discussions, and yet not allow it to interfere with said fun.

In case I haven't made it clear earlier, I would love to continue this adventure with this group AND DM! And I will be happy to keep playing, whether we modify a printed campaign, or you want to start making up stuff from scratch.

To quote Feedback, (1st season "Who Wants to be a Superhero" winner)

GAME ON!

[santinj@]

Once again, JSL, thanks for bringing up these issues and couldn't agree more with your perspective.

I think one encouraging thing in all of this is that, even though our opinions differ, we are all agreed that our little campaign is the one we want to play in and are committed to.

I have said it a thousand time already, but I won't stop saying it until the end: playing Vesh in this campaign with all of you is the most fun I've had playing D&D since I was a kid slogging through ToEE.

Not to overstate what we're doing (it is just a game after all), but consider what we've accomplished so far. Six total strangers from across the globe have co-created a world that, six-weeks in, is rich and complex and compelling. Along the way, we've all seen little snippets about one another's real lives and, like the party of characters themselves, have come together to form a cohesive group. So much so that when one member drops out for a while, as PsiFox and Arctaris did a couple weeks ago, that person's presence is missed. I don't know about you, but I think that's kinda cool.

[Arctaris]

santinj@ wrote:

Once again, JSL, thanks for bringing up these issues and couldn't agree more with your perspective.

I think one encouraging thing in all of this is that, even though our opinions differ, we are all agreed that our little campaign is the one we want to play in and are committed to.

I have said it a thousand time already, but I won't stop saying it until the end: playing Vesh in this campaign with all of you is the most fun I've had playing D&D since I was a kid slogging through ToEE.

Not to overstate what we're doing (it is just a game after all), but consider what we've accomplished so far. Six total strangers from across the globe have co-created a world that, six-weeks in, is rich and complex and compelling. Along the way, we've all seen little snippets about one another's real lives and, like the party of characters themselves, have come together to form a cohesive group. So much so that when one member drops out for a while, as PsiFox and Arctaris did a couple weeks ago, that person's presence is missed. I don't know about you, but I think that's kinda cool.

This is one of the best campaigns I've played in in my (admittedly short) time of playing D&D.

It is impressive what we've done, I agree. This is what D&D should be. And people say D&D is evil.

[FabesMinis]

Feedback was a real geek made good - he was the natural winner. Although I was sad when Monkey-woman left... she was nice. Shame she got booted out. Major Victory was a dude - he was the show's paladin.

Oh... yeah.. um. Go us! :D

[santinj@]

FabesMinis wrote:

Feedback was a real geek made good - he was the natural winner. Although I was sad when Monkey-woman left... she was nice. Shame she got booted out. Major Victory was a dude - he was the show's paladin.

Oh... yeah.. um. Go us! :D

Oh yeah!<--Link

[Naelah]

This message is appearing in multiple threads - I will be posting IC, or building characters as appropriate for the character I am posting as when I get home from work.

Thanks for your patience.

[JSL]

Talion09 wrote:

In regards to Hook Mountain Massacre and its content...

It is months away, that is true and I agree there is no need to discuss it further here, or even in the other thread (for that matter). Consider the subject dropped.

The following points apply as much to Burnt Offerings as to HMM or even Skinsaw, so I do think they are appropriate here:

I do think it is good for the DM to say, "this is modified from the published adventure", in case you make metagame assumptions (thinking you know what a goblin can do, for example) and get hosed or play the adventure in a different group and say, "Huh? What? That guy wasn't there when I played this before...".

This is as much to protect the PCs from the assumptions of the players as anything else. I would feel bad if your character was killed b/c you had made an assumption based on the SRD or collected wisdom of D&D players and I had changed something up. It would be unfair and you would be right to feel cheated. It would leave a bad taste for the group.

I have no problem with elements of evil (even some gross ones) that serve to advance the story. However, nothing I write is without purpose. PCs (and players) who endeavor to understand what is going on will be rewarded. Knowledge is power. There is no benefit to me knowing a secret that you cannot ferret out through good roleplaying and/or hot dice.