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Hey Gang --
I asked Iammers for permission to start a thread where we can all discuss our questions about coordination of this PbP Gameday Special.
GM RESOURCES
Iammers has sent out an email with scenario notes, a link for success reporting, and a link for the timeline of the schedule for each part. If you did not get this email and you are a GM, contact:
James "Iammars" McTeague
Venture Lieutenant of Online Play
jmcteague@pathfindersocietyonline.com
MY STARTER QUESTIONS
1) How will we be passing aid tokens? Will there be specific tables we're supposed to be passing tokens to? Will there be separate token pools for the group on Paizo and for tables on other forums?
2) How soon before a scenario will you be opening up your table for pre-game RP?
3) Can someone help me figure out the difference between the different kinds of successes in Part 3?
4) What can we do to help each other prep -- particularly for the tables at our tier?
Hmm
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1) How will we be passing aid tokens? Will there be specific tables we're supposed to be passing tokens to? Will there be separate token pools for the group on Paizo and for tables on other forums?
Uh... Good question. I think in previous specials you just said when your table used them and then the overseer passed them on to another table. We can do this again, or if anyone else has a better idea we can try something else.
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Hi there! :)
1) Last PBP gameday special, we had the list of tables and a sign to show where were the tokens. Once the party used the token, we just had to choose to which table we could give it to.
2) I'd say two days before start for the gameplay (although they all have dotted in by now), but everything else is ready, otherwise.
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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2) I dont have a full table yet, but we have time before the start. I plan on getting things rolling a week before the start.
3) In part three there are three different types of succes: There are Anchor, Discovery and Vault successes.
Anchor successes: The skykey keeps everyone anchored to a certain point in time. This is trough the cultists, who absorbed arcane power. Releasing that power from a cultist, either by killing them or tricking them into doing it, gives an achor success.
A certain amount of anchor successes are needed, otherwise the bond with this point in time is too strong to be broken.
Discovery successes: The sky key is hidden in an underground vault. With the time shift, nobody knows for sure anymore where it is, as its entrance does not exist in this time. The vault itself exits because the skykey keeps it in existence.
The entry to the vault has to be discovered. This can be hard for low levels, as they lack resources. Divinations, good geograpy checks, earth elementals... there are several ways tables can discover where the entrance is. Enough good deductions and they have a Discovery succes. (they extrapolate from their deductions where the vault is).
Vault successes: With the vault location found, the vault can be entered. The sky key itself is controled by lady Arodeth. Its given her the power to make copies of herself appear.
To wrest control of the sky key from her, she first have to be weakened. Fighting her copies weakens her, and defeating a wave earns a Vault success.
You can also confront her directly, but that can be really lethal for low level characters.
If you reason with her, she gives up her control of the key willingly. If you defeat her, Kreighton Shane comes to take control of the key. Either gives you a vault success. If there are not enough Anchor successes yet, the key is too strongly rooted in this time yet, and more anchors must be defeated.
So, long story short, anchor successes and discovery successes have a story purpose: Anchor successes let you escape this time, discovery successes are needed to discover the vault.
Without enough of both the story cant progress.
Vault successes are the only ones with real effects in the story, but they do contribute to the successes needed for the overall special.
TL:DR
- Anchor successes are needed because otherwise you are anchored in this time period.
- Discovery successes are needed because you need to find the actual vault.
- Vault successes contribute to the overall successes scored
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What I was thinking of doing is coming up with a list of information in regards to the Serpentfolk lore the Scenario is supposed to highlight at some point. The email indicated that there was an issue with this, (it was lacking or hard to find), but I don't have the Scenario yet to see what the best method to do so would be.
If anyone that does have the PDF has any suggestions, I could maybe start working on that, (such as how many different bits are needed, I'm assuming they are related to the number of successes achieved at the table, if there is anything pertinent to the lore in the Scenario, for instance I know that Eando Kline ran into them, found some information that the Pathfinder Society couldn't be trusted with and ended up vanishing over the affair, or things of that nature), with suggestions on what's needed or wanted.
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Kline's Ioun Stone lead him to a long buried Serpent Folk city containing a bunch of Serpentfolk in stasis. He barely escaped being dominated by one, and feared they were waiting for an influx of foolish surface dwellers to take control of should any such group find their hidden city.
Not terribly pertinent to this adventure, since we are visiting a time period where the Serpentfolk are still quite active (or, rather, dragging them into a coterminous time period with modern day Absalom). I don't have the Skull and Shackles AP, so I don't know how much info is contained there about their ancient culture. Anything we could get on the worship of Ydersius, how the Serpentfolk's slave driven culture worked, or what connections they might have to to other pantheons and/or demons would be great.
Some info on Savith would be good too.
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Kline's Ioun Stone lead him to a long buried Serpent Folk city containing a bunch of Serpentfolk in stasis. He barely escaped being dominated by one, and feared they were waiting for an influx of foolish surface dwellers to take control of should any such group find their hidden city.
Not terribly pertinent to this adventure, since we are visiting a time period where the Serpentfolk are still quite active (or, rather, dragging them into a coterminous time period with modern day Absalom). I don't have the Skull and Shackles AP, so I don't know how much info is contained there about their ancient culture. Anything we could get on the worship of Ydersius, how the Serpentfolk's slave driven culture worked, or what connections they might have to to other pantheons and/or demons would be great.
Some info on Savith would be good too.
That's kind of the point I was getting at, I don't know what is pertinent to the Scenario, though if you say it involves going back to the time they where in power, (pre-human civilization), that does help narrow it down, some.
I've working on some notes and I'll post them in a bit.
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Here are some of the notes I've gotten so far.
To the serpentfolk, the pursuit of knowledge and magic is the highest goal. Their legends speak of how humanity rose to power only through the theft of serpent magic, a legend that may form the basis of the hatred toward humanity most serpentfolk harbor. They view themselves as the undisputed masters of magic, be it arcane or divine. Yet despite this, the majority of serpentfolk today are degenerates who have devolved to the point of primeval savagery and have lost much of their magical legacy— more civilized serpentfolk generally regard these degenerates with shame and disdain. Serpentfolk are 6 feet tall and weigh 120 pounds. Degenerates are only 5 feet tall but weigh 200 pounds. All serpentfolk are quite long-lived, and generally live to the age of 500.
Serpentfolk culture reigned in Sekamina in the Darklands as well as much of the surface world prior to humanity before the Age of Dreams. It's unknown for sure how long they ruled, but the best idea placed it between thousands and tens of thousands of years, with the Aspis Consortium insinuating they have some of the Serpentfolk's records from before Earthfall. The Serpentfolk developed the spoken language of Aklo, something still common and in use in the modern world, and pervasive in the Darklands.
Their empire seemed to come to an end with an Ice Age corresponding to the rise of Azlanti citadels, odd in that the Serpentfolk had the ability to alter the landscape with some ease. Some records indicate that many Serpentfolk cultural centers where simply abandoned at this time.
Little is known about the war that followed, but the Serpentfolk committed more and more resources to it while simultaneously fading away themselves, ending with humanity's victory and the decapitation of the Serpentfolk deity, Ydersius. This did not kill the god, but rather weakened his priests and threw the Serpentfolk into chaos that would end it.
With their deity silent, their empire in chaos, and Azlanti on the rise, the remaining Serpentfolk vanished into the Darklands, hiding in magical vaults deep beneath Golarion that magic can not pierce. They entered a magical hibernation, where they have been asleep until fairly recently, waiting for a time to rise and retake the world, (and other worlds?) to rebuild their empire.
Serpentfolk come in two castes, the "Purecaster" (noble) and the "Degenerate", (aapoph, or "Chaos made Flesh"). This is not a bloodline, as Two Purecaster parents can hatch Degenerate offspring, and vice versa. Purecaster Serpentfolk are taller, smarter, elegant, more capable of higher learning, and have brighter and colored scales, while Degenerates tend to be shorter, tougher, brutish, and mutated, sometimes have extra (or less) limbs or other such qualities. Purecaster's are also what remains of the true Serpentfolk race, with Degenerates having begun to loose much of their innate magical abilities, devolving into brutal barbaric slave creatures. Both have telepathy, are completely immune to poison, but also both have very light weight bone structures, abnormally high control of their bodies, extraordinarily keen senses, and the ability to see in the dark. Serpentfolk legends and art suggest a third caste, standing above even the Purecast, whose Serpentfolk blood is mixed with that of the immortals, and whose talents are as beyond the Purecaster's as the Purecaster's are above Degenerates.
Serpenfolk give birth to up to a dozen children at a time, though Purecaster's are much more rare. A typical gestation period is a decade, and most Serpentfolk do not have more than one or two litters in their lifetime. They do not reach adulthood until around 50 years, but, because the Serpentfolk do not love their kin, only coming together to breed, and otherwise viewing even their children or mate as a rival. Serpentfolk are cold, detatched, ruthless, isolated, and megalomaniacal. When they do communicate amongst themselves, it is done in silence, utilizing telepathy. They are, however, highly sensual creatures, and get great joy from having cult's of devoted slaves pamper them.
Serpentfolk generally eat alone, though they also seem to get a proverse pleasure in breaking this taboo amongst themselves in rare communal feasts hosted by a powerful priest or mage. Degenerate Serpentfolk are too bestial to care, but in both cases, anyone without telepathy is seen as food.
Among the Serpentfolk, worship of Ydersius takes many, often contradictory forms, with portrayals ranging from a brutal embodiment of death and destruction to charming, calculating, and deceptive. Ydersius is their singular deity, but also the progenitor of their race and reign. He was the catalyst that both created the Serpentfolk, but also elevated them from barbaric base creatures to the educated master's of magic they became. At the same time, Ydersius is savage, often striking out unprovoked. He does not speak to his faithful, even with telepathy, but rather sends them incomplete and incomprehensible dreams, which could be incompatible with what another follower is instructed to do. It's unclear if Serpentfolk Society was a Magocracy, a Theocracy, or perhaps both.
Serpentfolk cities and ruins are extraordinarily elaborate, and the use of spirals, snake heads, and circular deigns is very common in both art and architecture. Ziggurats are also common, and typically stone is used in construct, with every surface covered in spirals or snake pictograms. Serpentfolk had access to massive and odd machines beyond modern scholars ability to understand, use, or comprehend. Many cities where found with massive (10-15ft discs) of combined mithral and glass, which are believed to have been used to enhance telepathy to allow cities to communicate.
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In case you haven't seen it yet...
Read it now, please.
___
So..... After reading that thread, here are questions that are for everyone.
1) You will be doing overseer posts in all our threads? That's a lot of cut and paste! I thought that we'd be pasting those, but I suppose your method will be allowing for consistency.
2) How should I do the awarding of the loot given to those who had recovered the sky key? I was thinking of melding it into Kreighton Shane's announcement, but I guess I should do it with a runner instead?
3) When passing a token... In addition to posting in gameplay for the Overseer thread, we should also post in the discussion thread of the table we're passing to?
4) Can we have a discussion thread attached to the Overseer thread so that tables that need help can ask for it? Or should people post asking for help, here? I'm just afraid that hardly any GMs will see it here.
Hmm
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1) I haven't decided whether I'm going to copy/paste the entire post or just post a link to the main overseer thread, but yes, I will be popping in to post in every gameplay thread. Much like everyone in a RL game hears one speech from the Overseer for every table.
2) Yeah, do it with a runner instead.
3) That wouldn't be a bad idea, except that not all the games are on the Paizo's boards, nor are they all in English. I recommend occasionally checking out the Overseer thread to see if you've been passed an aid token.
4) That doesn't sound unreasonable.
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[url=https://www.google.com/search?q=ancient+aztec+architecture&tbm=isch&imgil=Vpu2xiFTDxvPFM%253A%253Bms0pQlo59QsdvM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FAztec_architecture&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Vpu2xiFTDxvPFM%253A%252Cms0pQlo59QsdvM%252C_&usg=__qE1QVDp8GWCHy-VjiY-6jYqxIgo%3D#imgrc=Vpu2xiFTDxvPFM%3A]1[/url
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[url=https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fx%2Ftemple-feathered-serpent-xochicalco-23554661.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dreamstime.com%2Fstock-photo-feathered-serpent-temple-quetzalcoatl-teotihuacan-mexico-city-image63186749&docid=Ooi7TU0bSOWFOM&tbnid=8QlX44k7sgec1M%3A&w=400&h=267&bih=733&biw=1536&ved=0ahUKEwj2-tz-_eTOAhVGOSYKHS2vBskQMwgsKA4wDg&iact=mrc&uact=8]4[/url
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[url=https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimg15.deviantart.net%2F2668%2Fi%2F2012%2F094%2Fc%2F2%2Fsnake_temple_by_salvador85-d4v07fq.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsalvador85.deviantart.com%2Fart%2FSNAKE-TEMPLE-293942438&docid=Z8tMVcefBr7rvM&tbnid=cu2vy3nGLKGJQM%3A&w=900&h=582&bih=733&biw=1536&ved=0ahUKEwilstLP_uTOAhVM4iYKHQ35BcgQMwhrKCgwKA&iact=mrc&uact=8]5[/url
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Ah shoot... Had I seen this earlier, I would have passed the aid token to your table instead! But maybe someone else can pass a token to them! I guess we'll have to look here for cries for help!
I had fun passing the token, though!
Hmm
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Ah shoot... Had I seen this earlier, I would have passed the aid token to your table instead! But maybe someone else can pass a token to them! I guess we'll have to look here for cries for help!
I had fun passing the token, though!
Hmm
They are good for now. They did some impressive combat healing while the ranged attacks whittled the dinosaur down.
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A couple reminders as the event moves forward:
- Each of the 5 regions in part 1 has a combat encounter first. Defeating the combat encounter is not what provides a success - each of those combat encounters has a "Victory Points" section afterwards which details what the PCs need to do in order to earn a victory point. There's only one encounter that is worth 2 successes, and that is E2.
- A reminder about Aid Tokens - If the players just want to pass an aid token, that can happen at any time. However if they use an aid token for its benefits, then you need to wait to pass it until the encounter is over. If this is a combat encounter, then you need to wait until the table drops out of initiative. If it's a noncombat encounter, then you need to wait until the PCs transition to the next encounter.
- At some point on Friday I'll announce that the Slave Pens have opened up. (I'd like to assume that I'll push forward right at midnight, but my schedule has been erratic lately, but it will be some point with the US Eastern Time zone says friday - earlier rather than later.) If you are in the Zoological Gardens, that doesn't mean that you have to drop whatever you're doing and head to the Slave Pens. Remember, for the first half of this special, we don't really care what the different kinds of successes are. All we care about is the number of successes that happen. So don't feel rushed. The "drop whatever you're doing and move on encounter" isn't until the end of Part 1.
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So... does anyone else find that composing posts for the Special is tougher than for other PbP? There's hardly any pictures, little context and teeny bits of box text. While the creative side of me is thrilled, this is a much higher GM workload than I'm used to... There's not much to fall back upon if real life is crunching you. I'm going to have to start composing each encounter fairly far in advance.
By the way... DM Beckett, thank you for all your serpentfolk research. It's really been helpful!
Hmm
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So... does anyone else find that composing posts for the Special is tougher than for other PbP? There's hardly any pictures, little context and teeny bits of box text. While the creative side of me is thrilled, this is a much higher GM workload than I'm used to... There's not much to fall back upon if real life is crunching you. I'm going to have to start composing each encounter fairly far in advance.
By the way... DM Beckett, thank you for all your serpentfolk research. It's really been helpful!
Hmm
I find having played through it helps. Having already formed a mental picture of the areas as a player makes it easier.
And thanks Beckett!
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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So... does anyone else find that composing posts for the Special is tougher than for other PbP? There's hardly any pictures, little context and teeny bits of box text. While the creative side of me is thrilled, this is a much higher GM workload than I'm used to... There's not much to fall back upon if real life is crunching you. I'm going to have to start composing each encounter fairly far in advance.
By the way... DM Beckett, thank you for all your serpentfolk research. It's really been helpful!
Hmm
I find having played through it helps. Having already formed a mental picture of the areas as a player makes it easier.
And thanks Beckett!
For me too. So far they are doing exactly as the party I GMd for in real life did, so I can just think back about what I did then, and adjust it for PbP.
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You are all welcome. It actually kind of reminds me of a lot of the early seasons, where sometimes there was little description, and some encounters didn't even come with a map.
I'd say, unofficially, embrace it, add your own perspective and flavor, make it your own, (within reason), and maybe play it off that your groups is have a slightly different experience than others due to the oddities of time magic.
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Just a head's up to everyone in case you may have missed it, just in case folks missed it, it looks like the Expanded Narrative Boon just dropped for free for all DMs, and changed to once per season.
Additionally, it seems that there was also an Update to The Wounded Wisp, (one of the handouts changing to be more pertinent to Season 8's Elemental Exploration Plot).
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It doesn't look like it, and there isn't a category for it on the reporting sheet.
To me it reads that they are just negotiating with or scarring off the mob so that they don't get attacked as outsiders and have a chance to (soon afterwards) learn of the real threats before the planet-killer arrives.
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It doesn't look like it, and there isn't a category for it on the reporting sheet.
To me it reads that they are just negotiating with or scarring off the mob so that they don't get attacked as outsiders and have a chance to (soon afterwards) learn of the real threats before the planet-killer arrives.
This is correct.