Oh yeah, and this is a thing I said I would do:
There are a lot of potentially useful hints, but for now let's keep it to the things I mentioned earlier (#967) that I think the party collectively should be able to guess.
(These aren't necessarily important to the plot.)
1) why the freshest batch of zombies were where they were
You actually have the key to this one Cel, if you choose to share it. Only you rolled high enough on the check to know the former purpose of the burn room (#740).
2) why certain traps have been set recently and others marked
Hint: The former is related to #1 and the varying degrees of success the presumed necromancer (or whichever responsible creature(s)) had in making the zombies. (Hint reminder: you might infer the current version of the tunnel obstacle course isn't necessarily engineered with intruders in mind.)
The latter should be obvious (maybe? probably? hopefully?)
3) the upsides of storing food and bedding lower down on the mountain
This one is probably the most straightforward. Hint: I've dropped the reason to all PCs three times.
It would be very useful to me to see where you go with those hints. (If the answers prove difficult to reason out with the info you have, then I should be giving you more info.)
@Henri-Bryan is exactly what I imagined a good shadow user as. I enjoyed the read.
Speaking of the hints, much appreciated even if my brain is currently looking at them and giving me a blue screen.
Apparently I should've done the hints thing awhile ago, it seems popular.
I would be quite surprised if you managed to guess the first two knowing what you know, Xizoh.
Whether you can guess the third depends heavily on how well I conveyed your environment, I think. (Two data points thus far say not very well at the moment.)
For some reason I had thought Dulae healed you back up to full back in the tunnel, my apologies.
I do get a number slightly different from yours and I think I know why. When we did the HP accounting in discussion #461 I had you at a -5 deficit, but that was assuming only 2 rounds of bloodrager healing, and you took three (making your HP total N-4 (22)).
Then you were zombie-slammed for -8 and Dulae-healed for +7, so you left the cave with a deficit of -5 total (21).
The wolf fight and subsequent healing left you with a net +2 (-15 in damage, +17 in healing), so by my reckoning you should be at N-3 now (23).
==== GM travel advisory ====
Head's up that tomorrow's the last day I'll be able to post at the usual rate for about a week: I'm doing a short tour of the east coast to give a couple talks (Long Island, Massachusetts, upstate NY).
Wednesday-Friday are either travel days or talk days
Saturday I should be free to post
Sunday-Tuesday are travel or talk days
I'll be back Wednesday Sept 28. I might be headed to Louisiana a week after that; it's not clear yet if/when that will happen.
tl;dr: I'll post when I can but it may be slow. Expect once a day at night (Eastern) at the least.
An excerpt from a chat I had with Mikkel last night about how the game is going:
Mikkel: are you looking forward to seeing what's in the mist?
Dulae:
no
no I am not
cause its not going to catch us
* flat stare *
Mikkel: hahahahahaha
Just a heads up for everyone, I'm going to be a little hard to reach later this week. I'll try to post when I can.
* coughs quietly *
Thanks for the heads up Alaina
(Holler if you need/want a bot, Dulae)
A skeletal corpse approaches, its once rotting flesh now covered in frost and ice. Underneath tattered grey clothing are patches of grey-blue skin. Its mouth yawns open, revealing beast-like teeth too long and sharp to be human. From its sunken eye sockets, tiny beacons of blue-white light pierce through the falling snow.
You mean something like this? (which I've already added to the board)
Mostly.... your wight was probably dead a good few hundred years longer (and would look it to your characters).
I had in mind something like if you took that guy, crossed them with this guy, and gave them the eye color and fangs of this guy. (Not the tusks or headgear though... not sure what's happening there.)
Pinterest is dead useful btw; way better than an ascii string of bookmarks. It'll be nice to have this all collected in a way that's easy to parse.
Quick thinking Alaina. (Read: oh thank gods)
There are going to be a lot of scary, dangerous things Cel isn't going to understand that actively try to harm him (zombies or wights, for example). If he's ready to bolt and abandon the group, that's a serious problem for keeping the party together and we should talk about it.
Trying to see it from the perspective of the other party members, they put themselves out on a limb for him to come along. Thus far he has set the party on fire, repeatedly expressed a wish to go back to safety, shown little interest in anyone else's well being, and has now tried to run away to save himself. Liking him is only going to go so far - what is their incentive to not kindly tell him to stay home next time?
I'm sure there's a way we can swing this to a more stable equilibrium, but perhaps some character growth is in order. (Other potential options: I retcon so Dulae didn't see that. Or major plot rewrites.)
What does Cel's player think? (Other opinions also welcome)
I think there's probably a miscommunication on my part. The majority of the stating his wishes to go back has been in relation to the instruction relayed by people around town to not go out at night coupled with the mist he's not been given any real information about. I think there was another time I wrote in those wishes, but it was based on a misunderstanding I had in reading what kind of cloud cover there was. Pretty much everything triggering this more pronounced episode is related to this "creeping doom" stuff. There hasn't been any thoughts/actions in my head regarding him running away from specific enemies, which is probably where I haven't been writing clearly enough to convey that. It's not the enemies specifically he's pushed so hard to get away from over the course of this outing but the vague rumored stuff regarding nightfall.
In fairness, I'll have to disagree with the disregard for others. The fire bit was a direct result of me not understanding physics more than it was Cel being careless. Had he known that he would create a fire tornado he wouldn't have done it in the first place, but actions posted are actions done. The well being of others I will counter with his use of wands for both the elements and curing purposes, but he was specifically told by Dulae that she would take care of cure wand stuff based on how much Cel struggled to activate the wand the in the first place. Also, I didn't want to step on toes of the Xozoh being the party doctor by running around trying to cure everyone's wounds. I did have him try to protect Henri with the Basic Aerokinesis as well. This was before I understood that it would be a fire tornado, not something that would only warrant a save against a heat effect, but the retcon wouldn't make it into character's heads. Opportunity has been more the hindrance to his show of care.
To try to answer your question, I've tried to make sure that his worthwhile characteristics do go beyond that proverbial character that people guide into some semblance of maturity, but also being tactically relevant enough to need the skillset he provides. In some manner he's also intended to be a light-hearted aspect to the darker things that are going on in the world. Which brings me to the main point...
I think the majority of the issue is I'm not being clear enough in some of my writing (i.e. "Hey, friends, isn't this mist ultra terrible?" as opposed to trying to convey his internal dialogues of magnifying rumors turning into "AAAAAHHHH!!!"). It's sad to say, but conveying thoughts by paper/text is something I'm not terribly strong with. I'm all for more character development, and I'm not a career actor so commitment to a character model isn't totally necessary. I try to make sure I live up to the character as written, but it's not a big deal to change things up either.
I probably should have prefaced that with: I think you’re great. Next time I’m in Seattle we should hang out and play games. (I do mean that.)
In bringing this up my priorities are:
Highest: to retain all current players
High: to make sure the game is maximally enjoyable for all
High: to make sure the story is reasonably coherent and the NPC actions are within the realm of believability
In fairness, I'll have to disagree with the disregard for others.
I concede this point. Freshest in my mind was Cel’s eagerness to leave while his companions were badly injured, and you’re right that’s not a complete/fair picture.
And I see this incident led to a really nice moment between Cel and Alaina, which is wonderful.
Some context looking ahead: it’s probably obvious at this point the military is going to be involved in any further missions (assuming the party makes it back…=D). The captain’s current opinion is that Cel isn’t reliable (as was Dulae’s). There’s a lot that can be forgiven up to now as part of learning, including the fire and erring on the side of caution. But it’s going to be difficult for me to reconcile attempting to abandon a mission with Cel getting anywhere near the mountain again if the captain finds out. (And knowing Dulae’s brutal honesty, she probably will.)
Cel’s antics have certainly forced me to think a lot more about plot flexibility, which I think has made me a significantly better GM overall, so there’s that upside too.
tl;dr: I have no problem with fear as a character driver. It adds a lot for the party to play off of and I find Cel's screams amusing. But I would request that it not be crippling to the point where it would split the party.
You're on...I want to talk physics too! And if you happen to have any aches or pains, I'll pay you back in treatment tips.
The military involvement could easily be the place for growth. He'll have no choice but to cool it with the fears, particularly with the evidence of how well the others have kept him protected. Combine that with his linger frustration with himself from back in town and a happy medium can be easily established.
The Animaniacs reference, spot on (which I never realized about my sense of humor until you pointed it out). It also means that my personal highest priority is to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves. Alaina's great response provides the second blow to his internal struggles to grow up in less than 48 hours. If you can't learn a lesson the first time take drastic measures the second to make sure it doesn't happen again, twice a lesson not learned and he has a stinging cheek to remember it from now on :)
As resident doctor and certified "AHHH PUT IT OUT" dude, I wouldn't worry too much. Healing helps no matter who does it, and it's more efficient from a wand anyways. As for the fire, we honestly got lucky that Anathema and me ate most of the damage. I'd rather eat damage simply due to the fact I can eat it. Anathema can't really die, and Xizoh can rage as needed for HP.
As a player, I really like what you're doing Cel. The role play is awesome, but the details of you and Henri's actions really sell your characters. Sometimes we go a little bit too far, but to me it fits the kid would panic. Honestly, Cel's fire tornado has been one of the most memorable moments, even if I did go omgwtfbbq...do I smell something burning anyone?
And thank you Cel for providing me a chance to throw my shield. Without the return ability, it's a risky move that I have to weigh carefully.
Dulae is secretly impressed that anyone can throw a shield. She tried once, couldn't get her arm out of the straps, and ended up on her ass. ;)
Speaking of Dulae... its going to take some roleplay acrobatics for her to not object strongly to Cel going onto the mountain again. Its a combination of her actually liking the kid a bit and being pretty firmly convinced he is going to kill himself, and also knowing that he is both powerful and prone to panic, so might kill others as well.
I don't mean this as an insult or anything, and I think you're great. Its just that my character would try to guide yours to maturity through the path of least death.
Cel, be careful what you wish for; I will happily talk your ear off about physics expecting nothing in return. I'll probably tell you more than you ever wanted to know about black holes. (Probability I draw terrible explanatory pictures: 90%)
Dulae, I thought as much.
Okay, well, this is a solvable problem. I propose Dulae and I do some PC and NPC re-writing around this until we have a clear path forward with priority on keeping the party together in the long term.
In the meantime, if any PCs are feeling like there are forces that challenge their desire to stay with the party, please let me know and I'll do my best to address it. (Otherwise, I will take this as evidence that I nailed 'creeping doom'. Win.)
Fair deal?
Btw, I heartily apologize for both screwing up the formatting and spelling "wight" wrong. I may be a bit tired.
He said, probably too tired to see the question.
Eh, Henri has some issues with authority, but obviously she's willing to work underneath them. She's always been for Cel being in the party, even if its dangerous for him, so I don't think THAT would be the thing that would make her want to leave the party.
Fair enough. While we're having this heart-to-heart, is there anything in particular that would make her want to leave?
That goes for all other PCs as well - if you can think of something, that'd be good for me to keep in mind during NPC re-configuration.
Things I do have on my radar:
- If Alaina got word Marcus surfaced somewhere else
- If Henri got wind certain people showed up in Southtown
- Others?
Also, in its smaller form the dog looks something like this. (Except blue. And glowing.)
Reminder: unless I stumble upon some wifi this is probably the last you'll hear from me for ~12 hours until I make it to NY.
Alaina is due for a bot (as expected), but my brain is returning unparseable 1s and 0s after today.
I should be able to devote some time tomorrow, late afternoon. (Anyone who's waiting on a reply from me should expect one within a day or two.)
Hmmm thinking about Henri's personality and what would make her want to leave:
1: Certain people showing up that know certain things about her (as you already mentioned)
2: EXTENSIVE military involvement (Which has a sliding scale of how much she's getting paid vs. how much lawbringers are around her, giving her orders. The search and rescue had a REALLY big payday for her, so she's happy to take some orders and even deal with a retired sergeant in the party, but this amount of money wouldn't pay for her being in a huge platoon or something. That ain't her bag)
...And really that's it. She's invested in showing this necromancer douchebag what-for, and she's invested in helping members of her party, for the most part. She likes most of 'em well enough. Just if the money dries up and she starts getting ordered around a LOT, she would probably bail, but I doubt that's going to really happen.
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Duly noted Henri, thanks. (More on this in a bit.)
-
Now that we're back in town I thought it might be helpful to give a quick review of NPCs that at least one PC has met or seen since it's been awhile out of game (since late June).
(Apologies if I'm forgetting anyone.)
-----------------
Wolf and Bear - Innkeeper - Laurett
Wolf and Bear - serving boy - Smitty
Wolf and Bear - stable boy - Rik
Wolf and Bear - Smitty’s friends - Kori and Wydon
Wolf and Bear - Ryul (foolhardy, unpleasant elf)
Wolf and Bear - Sanaa (Ryul’s bodyguard)
Wolf and Bear - griping trio, trio of tradespeople, trappers about to leave town
Mountain Lute - Jack (two patrons, voice in the kitchen)
Mountain Lute - Rosa (in mention by Risa only; Alaina hasn’t met her)
General Store - Risa
Altien’s church - Marion
Apothecary - Marna
Military - The Captain Vazquez
Military - Silo Fairhurst
Military - Lieutenant Buhari
Military - Private Zahan
Military - Lt. Narwita (another junior paladin)
Military - Blaine Guillen (smug @#$% from Abbhen)
Military - apprentice Hiyun (was very angry at Cel's disturbance)
Military - apprentice Koji
Military - apprentice Tuk
Military - apprentice Quida
Military - Quartermaster Balewa
Military - Allendale and Rehier
Military - Assortment of stable hands, messengers, and sergeants
Military - Officer and military search parties from the mountain
Other civilian search party - Harlan (civilian sorcerer)
Other civilian search party - Ivanov and Azikiwe (card players)
Other civilian search party -Chatterji and Krishnan
Other civilian search party - Yang (the scowling fighter)
Other civilian search party - Balis (the older fellow)
Unhired volunteers - two teens
Archeologists (noted in the journal)
Todd Laverty
Lorelai
Kai
Peyter
Io
Jenorah
On keeping the party together
I realized that ret-coning PCs or NPCs to alter expectations/consequences anytime a PC acts against their own interests is effectively railroading. (I'll be the first to admit it was a terrible idea. Shame be upon me and House Madsen.) We'll stick to the game as originally advertised: you can do what you like, but expect any stated or implied consequences to come to pass.
We have come up with an alternative solution that all interested parties are happy with.
1) No retcon is needed, but an official clarification is: Cel never intended to abandon the party; his aim was to put some more distance between himself and the mist. We will play out all actions as written with this in mind.
2) There will likely be an in-game discussion of party interaction in the near future (particularly of Cel’s impulsive behavior). We should be alert when that happens for any other instances where character intent differs from the way actions are described in the text.
---
In case it is useful to others, I came up with a logic flow for how PC posts would ideally be written, according to Mikkel. (Not universally mandatory, but in this case it should be helpful.)
First pass post composition:
- 1) Is this post going to compromise party cohesion and unity? (Ideally players should be looking for opportunities to grow and strengthen bonds with party members first and foremost)
- 2) Does this post consider current relationships with PCs and NPCs and any promises or agreements made?
- 3) Does this post consider all the information and clues available?
Second pass post composition: is this post within the range of possible actions this character would take?
- i.e.: For a course of action governed by the first pass, is this something this character would do?
- YES: Post it!
- NO: Think of some alteration or another idea governed by the first pass.
--
I project this should work out just fine. (Phew.) I am very happy to advise on any cases where acting in the best interest of the party is against the best interest of the character.
Other thoughts, questions, or suggestions are welcome.
I think that all looks very good. Personally I have a bit of trouble remembering clues, sometimes, but I will do my best to keep those in mind! (Also I'm apparently not the best at keeping track of who has what, but I was pretty sure Henri was the last person with the journal)
We can assume Dulae passed it back to you, Henri. That works and I doubt Dulae will mind.
I'll also be trying to remind players of relevant clues or foreshadowing their characters may have heard many out-of-game months ago in time to be useful. (You may also see reminders after the fact if I see someone has forgotten something they should still remember the same in-game day.)
If I have a some spare hours I may try to write up a summary of info collected thus far. (It'd be tricky since PCs know or have spotted significantly different things, but it'd probably be a very useful reference.)
Something I might try to do for this kind of game if I were a PC is jot down quick notes on anything of interest as I go along so I didn't have to skim back through all 23 pages of posts.
After giving thought into Xizoh's mind, I figured out the few things that would make him abandon the search party.
A)If he heard of anything horrible happening to his family, Xizoh would be gone in an instant. His family is the most important/valuable thing to him, bar none.
B)This is highly improbable, but should the party get involved with some super shady activities/do anything evil, he's out.
Also, yay that this game lives on!
Thanks Xizoh. (In regard to B, I actually wrote Alaina's autobot prompt (in jest) before I read this. But I agree, most unlikely.)
And indeed! With the original party, too. The more I see other threads the more I appreciate how rare that is. (Henri's gif is spot on.)
By the way, I'm hoping to get a bunch of work done on the plane today, but if that doesn't happen there's some chance you all won't hear from me until Tuesday. (Monday is going to be even more grueling than Thursday.) Apologies in advance.
Hey everyone, I'm back. Catching up on Gameplay.
Welcome back Alaina, glad to have you with us.
(Also, I really dig Greenwall.)
Welp, that was brutal. As expected, they have eaten me alive and I am a hollow shell of my former self. (I'll be cogent in time for academia-battle round 2 tomorrow, but definitely not up to boting tonight.)
In other news, it's nearly Tuesday on the east coast: Happy Tuesday all. (Let me know if you need a bot Dulae.)
Sample oh sample, why won't you grow?
I'll shine you with lasers and see how you glow.
Midnight rolls by, and dawn will go,
Coffee injected... yet nothing to show.
Courtesy of evening coffee and being stuck in the lab. With results not working. Gah!
(One sentence research description: I grow crystals, peel them apart with tape, blast them with lasers, and attempt to see physics.)
Also: Welcome back Alaina!
Made it back to LA! I should be able to post fairly regularly again for the time being.
Dulae, nice science... poem? Song? From the cadence I feel like I should be able to guess the tune, maybe?
(Also, one might note that Dulae(character) seems to have quite a playful sense of humor when Dulae(player) is caffeinated.)
-
Quick NPC recap:
Silo: the first time you met Silo there were signs he was in charge of the Southtown operation, including HQ, at least in name. He was irreverent about military procedures, good-natured but very focused on his work, and largely deferential to the captain (except in his insistence on hiring search parties to test his maps).
The captain: the first time you all met Captain Vazquez she dismissed two teens for apparent inexperience (Dulae also saw her dismiss someone else), warned you not to test her after Dulae said something silly on her application, and followed through on that after Cel did some harm. Stickler for proper protocol, tough but fair (fair based on her priorities at least, which may not be obvious).
Alaina, Dulae, Henri, and Xizoh can check post #423 and post #431 to review your mission orders.
Also, in case you've forgotten it's a thing and are confused; most in the Altiendel military go by titles or last names, but mages tend to go by first names, including the important mages. (Modeled after academia IRL.)
NPC image hunt update: Cross-universe captain is still the best Captain Vazquez I can find. Silo is proving more difficult than I had anticipated, but I must be in a Star Wars mood because I keep coming back to images of older, bearded Mark Hamill.
======== GM travel advisory =========
Just as we get things rolling again, I'm off. I leave at 3am for the lab in Louisiana and I'll be gone through Friday. I'm giving some training, so I should have some time to myself (10 hour days with breaks instead of 12 hour days with no breaks). So I don't expect the party to get stuck in a waiting room while I get my sh!t together this time (not that that's a thing that happened...)
Also, something that Dulae and Henri would know: when someone falls in darkness (is a victim of necromancy) it's a common practice to celebrate their life informally with food and drink as they won't have the traditional farewell rites and rituals. (Many clerics and paladins of Altien do not participate, but they do understand.)
Happy Tuesday all. (An hour early yet on the east coast, but ah well.)
What? Xizoh is still alive?
GM Mikkel, what our some of our opportunities for spending some of this glorious loot?!
Also, I'm pretty sure I got jinxed when you compared my life to an anime. This year has been weird.
I did march you all past the general store and straight to dinner, didn't I. Check out post #25 for a reminder of what's around town. If you have something in particular in mind I can tell you where Xizoh might think to look, given what he's observed.
That sounds like a story worth hearing. (Hopefully I didn't also curse Cel into an agent of chaos.)
Hey everyone - I'm still alive, just sick and busy. Apologies for being awol!
...Ironically given Cel's constitution he can probably outdrink all of us on his first night xD
I planned on using that! Mostly because a drunken Cel catastrophy would be a bad idea at this point for keeping him not getting kicked out by the party...
Hope you're feeling better Dulae. Saw your post - I won't be able to reply until after work today (~7pm central).
My read is that you're pretty safely welcome in the party's eyes by now Cel, I wouldn't worry too much. (Fair enough to play it safe though.)
And just to offer some role model counterpoint for the very well done RP in-game I'll throw out there for young Xizoh that drinking is not a requirement for being awesome. (Of course I think that, not being able to drink myself, but it seems generally true.)
My point of giving him some wine is to get him to relax a little. Not necessarily drunk.
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Legolas Cel: "I feel something. A slight tingling in my fingers. I think it's affecting me."
Everyone else: Passed out drunk.
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Gimly Alaina: "Ah, the Elf boy cannot hold his ale."