or yourself maybe?
Anyone remember Dr.Lizardo?
You are in bad shape when you lose all of your sanity points in your back story. :P
I will be travelling the rest of the day today, but when I get home I'd like to finish my character idea for the Cthulhu game. I think I will change my concept, though, because of all of the writers we already have, haha. Now I'm thinking either a vagrant of sorts--homeless and generally gets around hitchhiking, sneaking aboard freight trains, or hoofing it, but happened to have enough money to afford a bus ticket this time around; or I might be interested in taking the role of the bus driver, if nobody else wants it :P.
Basically what I'm doing is picking the basic skills I want a character to have, and then matching the character idea to that. And I really like the Drive skill, haha.
It is amazing what happens with time and thoughts to develop a character. This is Celestra in her latest version. I have changed her background once again. Similar story, but some interesting elements have changed.
I have brought in a faction known as the Starstone Brewers. I discovered them on page 23 of Faiths of Purity. Please read the background, check over the character sheet and let me know what you think!
Please check to see that you are ok with her traits. I have given her two. Do you choose a third one?
Are hobgoblins a reasonable humanoid to attack a rural Varisian village? Does something else work better in your campaign?
Any other suggestions? Your input is always valued! Thanks!!
Mornin' everyone!
@ Garabott:
What about a race driver of the early times?
Very nice background with some generic parts, but also a lot of special ideas, I like it really much. Hobgoblins normally don't form bands large enough to attack whole villages. Ogres or stone giants are more reasonable.
In this campaign we have only two traits, which you choose. Your choices are abolutely ok. The starstone brewers are a very cool faction and the choice fits. I like it, when players incorporate some canon knowledge into their characters :)
Looks like a very cool character. The party will soon leave the dungeon, so you can already enter Sandpoint and we RP your arrival.
p.s. totally unrealted: Did you already have time to look at the paper?
A race driver is interesting too....
Hmmm... well, I was thinking earlier about the possibility of a Native American craftsman, still very much in touch with his heritage. However, your idea of a racecar driver got me thinking, and now I really like the sounds of a budding Hollywood stuntman :)
I'm thinking: skilled driver, actor, technician, and charismatic dude. Basically following the Actor template from the core rulebook. I'll work on backstory, but I think I'm unsure about how starting equipment works: the whole salary charts were a little confusing coming from the 3.5/PF system.
Is there a simple summary of the concept, or should I give it another read-through or two?
Starting money works like this:
Rate your profession in terms of income: For a Hollywood stuntman, who isn't a big star yet, I'd say the modifier is 0.
Then you have to roll a d6 and add your modifier (0).
For the 20-40ies you receive 2.000$ for each point of the result.
Example:
A criminal has a modifier of -1. His player rolls a 3, so he got a total of 2 X 2000$ savings at the beginning of the game. The numbers for yearly income aren't interesting for us at this point.
Okay, interesting. Sounds pretty arbitrary :P here's my idea for a character. Please give feedback on whatever you'd like.
While his morality was shifting, he found the possibilities for adventure and story-telling in motion pictures. Religiously he watched nearly every action or adventure movie released from the Hollywood scene--and even a few foreign films--until he decided that the figures he saw on TV were not so different from himself. I can do those things, he told himself, and set about it.
The past few years he has been training himself and auditioning for various stuntman roles up and down the east coast. Working mainly out of NYC, he has made a decent amount of money and a fairly good reputation among local filmmakers, but his Hollywood dreams are still far off due to family, financial, and other various social ties to the area. Once he's saved enough money, however, Charlie vowed to himself he would make the journey and begin his life anew. His most recent audition, which brought him all the way to Boston for a weekend, was supposed to help pay for a large portion of that goal. Little did he know, however, the seemingly-innocent bus ride back to New York would be more life-altering than any of the repercussions from a permanent move to Hollywood.
Morning.
One of my Pathfinder games is on the verge of exploding. Not a great way to wake up.
@ Nieve: One of those you're DMing?
@ Garabott:
Very cool, I'd just like to know more about his motivations and aspirations (just make money and start a new life in L.A.?) and about his behaviour and ideas (does he believe in the supernatural, is he still religious - I guess irish parents are a good start^^ etc.)
Yeah. One player shifted into passive-aggressive disruptive playing. Three of the players have raised concerns, I've called the player out on this, but it's infuriating and I don't know what to do. I'm partially hoping the problematic player leaves on her own.
@nieve - I had a read, it's a bit facepalm :p
It is.
I reckon it should straighten up though.
Well, it'll go one of two ways: the player fixes her behaviour, or she leaves. It's depressing that the ultimatum happened, though, "She leaves, or we do."
Well, it'll go one of two ways: the player fixes her behaviour, or she leaves. It's depressing that the ultimatum happened, though, "She leaves, or we do."
LOL Ummm which campaign? you seem to have a few...contrary players. Thought TarkXT was going to have the same problem with me though,what with all the characters deciding to execute captive Hellknights in cold blood 'in case' they saw too much after interrogating them, all of a sudden my NG manhunter looked like a Saint :p
Curse of the Crimson Throne - which campaign did you think I was talking about?
wow executing captive hellknights really doesn't sound that good^^
Curse of the Crimson Throne - which campaign did you think I was talking about?
I just noticed a bit of a trend in a couple of PbP's.
OK something I have noticed is that where that group has fractured little is there is no clear leader. Similarly in the CoT games we had two groups sort of come together, but the existing group and the bew group weren't a tight meld, as well as being fairly different in flavour - so there was a bit of 'Reservoir Dogs' tension which has eventually worked itself out. Some of the other PbP's I've been in have similarly had some classic personality clashes - DMZZ has had a few, and I think one drove DMTom around the bend...
That said, your group started together, but it lacks someone stepping in and nutting out the difficulties, sure they work generally well together, but its more consensus grouping - I actually thought the troublesome player was actually right to want to think things through and go for caution, but yes their frustration popped out a little IC and that probably didn't help.
I disagree with Pace and the concept that the players will Meta agree to get along, I think it adds a little je nais se quios to actually go through the process of bringing people into the fold... it adds meat and depth, and sometimes involves a little conflict along the way but makes things more memorable. Both in Tabletop and PbP that friction can add something, as long as people are working toward the goal. I read it that the players are doing just as good a job as saying 'our way or the highway' as the problem player, which really can't help.
You have a player who clearly has a decent concept, and has a smart investigative character they wanted to cloak and dagger with, but was pretty much fobbed off for 'moving things along' (as Chav put it).
It is a shame that people seem to have made a decision after 5 minutes they were going to pack up and bugger off.
Edit
In a crazy twist of fate, Harry, who is in the campaign with you, is a rebuild of a character that was in Deevor/Parneth 'River into Darkness' that he was running til he dropped us off without so much as a goodbye or 'sorry guys, I cant run this anymore' - good GM, poor conduct.
I agree that the desire and want to go for caution isn't a bad thing - it's the manner in which the player presented this that came off as confusing, and then it reached OOC and things went sour. And the petty behaviour in the aftermath.
Besides Shuriken and players who just drop without giving a heads-up, I didn't encounter any problems on these boards, yet I heard that quite alot of campaigns really suffer from people that don't get along with each other.
The quarrel between Solaric and Pitr for example was cool and contributed to their character's depth I think.
Indeed thats where the wheels fell off the cart.
The player could have been a bit clearer from the outset, and the party could have been a bit more accomodating of the players desire to 'shine'. It can be hard as a roguey type in PbP's as the game CAN slow riiiiiight down as a pbp between the player and GM for days as the two back and forth on whats been found.
I noticed that with OUR Rogue kobold... all of a sudden the game grinds down, I reckon thats another GM conundrum, how can you elegantly deal with a rogue scouting without hammering gameplay? It seems a problem at tables, gets worse in PBP's, but people can't just say 'no scouting' as that seems a bit unfair.
Perhaps when a player goes off in scout/recon mode the GM's could work out a bit of info to flick over or something, dunno, but it can be a buzzkill for the party as they wait, but buzzkills a player when their Rogue is just a DPS class through Flank Attacking.
The quarrel between Solaric and Pitr for example was cool and contributed to their character's depth I think.
Exactly, it was a tense quarrel, and we all took it well with Victoria massaging over the man-ego's, adding heaps of depth to the game.
I haven't had any in-character conflicts in my campaigns before this - and I don't mind conflict if it leads somewhere - but in this conflict communication failed, and it was brought OoC - the behaviour of the player ... was out of line. She decided to be passive-aggressive and sarcastic and petty. In my opinion, at least.
It's just frustrating because all the players are decent and the group makeup is balanced, but communication went wrong and now it's making the game unenjoyable for at least 4 out of 5 players.
Yep no one is having fun.
I still reckon it is salvageable, but only if:
The people taking their bats and balls can man up and come back.
The tetchy player can knock off the sarcasm and apologise for THAT action.
Taking aim and giving someone a piece of your mind IC is one thing, but it's a bit less ok to do so /ooc.
edit:For the record, the reason I object to the 'taking bat and ball' approach is that I find it particularly disrespectful to the GM, the person who puts in a lot of time and effort for their benefit and then has players ultimatums placed on them. I find that a bit unclassy personally - and I can be a classless guy :)
I know. It was the OOC snippet that caused the conflict - we'll see what happens now...
I keep my fingers crossed for you, Nieve.
Funnily, while in the beginning of my "career" on these boards I would have been to shy to tell a player that he annoys me, I was totally up for the challenge now :)
DMing is really time consuming and it's just not worth the effort if someone ruins your games by posting silly comments or trying to cling to his position, ignoring all tries to come to terms.
Yes, am slowly growing bolder myself. In another game, one player decided to act like a passive-aggressive arse, and when suffering consequences in-character, the pettiness grew worse - he seems completely convinced that his actions were justified.
It all happened in-character, but I thought it despicable nonetheless. I dislike passive-aggressive behaviour.
what did he do?
It's in one of my Legacy of Fire games, during the investigation of the fire. (there are no spoilers, really, nothing that would break LoF at least - this is all in the very beginning of the adventure path).
One of the characters decided to stalk one of the suspects. When the suspect went into his wagon (a carriage, so walled off), the character decided to pretend to light his wagon on fire with illusions. I'm already appalled at this, because...who does that!? But I roll with it, the NPC pops out, sees through his bluff and tells him to get lost - on par with the course, Dashki is not exactly a sociable, nice NPC.
It's what happens next: the character then decides to be a prick by using Ghost Sound to fill the carriage with the sound of clucking chickens - just to agitate the NPC and get him out of the wagon. I was pissed at this - it's just despicable behaviour. (IMO) Of course, it didn't work - no line of effect, so to show consequence the spell then instead lit up the entire camp with chicken sounds, and another NPC approaches, asking him what he is doing, why he is making enemies, and scolding him for how irrational he is for immediately concluding that the fire was caused by somebody and for thinking that it was a murder case.
(they were asked to investigate the origin of the fire, not accuse, judge and trial - I won't spoil who/what caused the fire, though - but the presumption was "I hope nobody did it, make sure that it was an accident", not "somebody killed the NPC, find the person and judge him proper")
What then happens is that he refuses to acknowledge that he was stepping out of line - instead his behaviour grows ever more petty, with utter conviction that his behaviour was justified and appropriate, acting and arguing like a child - just because he had to face consequences for his actions.
Minor rant, I just... it infuriated me. I guess I must be too much in-character for the NPCs. (or just emotionally unstable - oh wait, borderline...)
To add insult to injury, another PC decided it was a good idea to loudly threaten to break the fingers of the suspect. I'm honestly starting to think that I'm not clear enough when communicating - either that, or players only skim over posts and miss the vital parts.
To add insult to injury, another PC decided it was a good idea to loudly threaten to break the fingers of the suspect
...said the CG party member.
Yes. I'm not too keen on continuing that campaign at the moment, even though the others are decent roleplayers - and not immediately jumping on the "OMFG HE IS RUDE MURDERER" bandwagon.
I apologise for the rant/vent.
wow executing captive hellknights really doesn't sound that good^^
The situation was more complicated than it was made out to be. Everyone was thinking of peoples lives. Those for executing the hellknight only said so mere seconds after slaughtering all her friends (some by Shifty himself). She was only knocked out for questioning. When this was proposed as a bad idea by the NPC with them that's when the argument broke out. In the end the NPC died anyway and no one had a really good solution. The difference was whether they killed her while unconscious and already lost the fight or while tied up and interrogated.
It was a choice between an enemy's life or a bunch of innocent lives. It was admirable of Bloodless to step in on her behalf but there were other factors involved.
@ Tark:
I already guessed that there must be more to it, since I followed the campaign in the beginning and the players left a good impression :)
@ Nieve:
That party sounds like it deserves a dragon -_-
@Nieve: You need to nip this one in the bud. Character conflict should never translate into player conflict. The passive aggressive comments add nothing but irritation and would only serve to annoy me as a GM. IT's not like anyone's hurting for potential player's on these boards.
Just been informed by Bree that the internet is down for her whole neighborhood and she will post again as soon as she's able
It's still acting wonky, but I was able to get a post in with a couple of rolls.
@Nieve:IT's not like anyone's hurting for potential player's on these boards.
Thats the truth! I think I have an even bigger downer on the 'we wont play if...' people, if you withdraw from a game then you've withdrawn.
I'd almost be tempted to start over fresh and readvertise if they didn't come back and pull their heads in.Anyhow, even with the mauling we were giving each other on Tarks game, only one player popped in with the 'I cant see the way forward' line, which personally peeved me, but the rest of us have gone on quite well - its separating character conflict with player conflict.
Not every conflict in gaming is some sort of Legolas/Gimli 'grudging respect/bromance' sometimes there's going to be some tension :)
I just find it slightly ironic that the next day we are going from struggling over killing one witness, to leaving half a dozen or so laying around a battlefield with no qualms :p
Just been informed by Bree that the internet is down for her whole neighborhood and she will post again as soon as she's ableIt's still acting wonky, but I was able to get a post in with a couple of rolls.
I think it's back up again for good. I hope so anyway.
p.s. totally unrealted: Did you already have time to look at the paper?
I just finished your paper and sent it. If you did not receive it, please let me know.
Goodnight everyone.
Goodnight everyone.
Night Bree!
Mornin' everyone!
evening :)
Evenin'.
I keep getting errors instead of the boards. Not quite sure what is going on with my connection but it has been odd all day. This is attempt number 3 to post this.
EDIT: Oh cool it worked.
For those still interested in the Cthulhu Game:
Deadline for campfire characters is next Wednesday. If we have enough interesting characters for a party, I will not post a public recruitment thread, otherwise I will open one on Thursday.
@ Nieve: I just noticed you detonated your COTCT game. Sorry for you mate, but maybe, as you wrote, the players would like to continue with you as a DM.
Yeah - but it was clear everybody had a problem with the one player, so I think I did the right choice.
On the bright side, it does loosen up my schedule, and I was planning on starting two more APs eventually (because I'm bloody mental).