How's everyone doing? Hanging there and fighting the good fight?

Hanging on, hanging on.

Got some minor hiccups to settle, but nothing that shouldn't be manageable.

*checks mail*

Correction: wasn't manageable. :P

About to start reading dune after a false start about a month ago.

Playing Kingmaker and counterstrike, thinking about taking a break from kingmaker to play the new metroid or 40k Machanicus.

My partner wants to do a Halloween movie marathon for October and after that we'll do a cowboy bebop rewatch.

Planning on getting a VR set by Christmas for beat Saber. Plan on starting to GM some pathfinder soon.

Kingmaker, eh?

Would that be on RPoL or good 'ole tabletop?

As for Kingmaker, the video game... Not sure if it was fixed yet, but random encounters were pretty much hitting the extremes. After i got control of the city, i crossed the bridge east to try and get around the forest, and hit two encounters on the same road. One, five easily dispatched kobolds. The next, on that same stretch of road, i get GG'd by an Elder Water Elemental that one-hits multiple chars at a time with a Slam attack, and moves faster than my party in full plate.

Then there was the whole "You need a Treasurer" with me shouting "Then tell me WHERE TO GET ONE!" at the screen while the inevitable timer keeps ticking, the part where you first encounter the wisps that will thrash you if you don't know, and haven't prepared, their weakness (magic missile), that same map also has a group (multiple!) level 16 Dire Boars in it...

...So yeah, if i were to summarize my experience in a single sentence, it'd be "A good game, run by an inexperienced GM that thinks CR is some type of sports drink."

Did they fix this in later patches, or...?

No real balance problems that I've run into. I'm at about level 10 and haven't come across anything too powerful.

I think I'm playing it on normal.

If you don't have the twin tieflings or the weird wizard....you dont have a treasurer. Not sure where else you can find one.

Playing turn based mod makes it a lot more digestible.

No, was a while ago and i had been exploring the different areas before the timer for the chapter ran out so that i didn't need to do it later and could buff up my level a bit beforehand.

Basically, Jubilost didn't spawn when i first cleared the area and then i didn't return there because i had already cleared it and didn't run into anyone, so i was basically stuck looking for him for like... three months of ingame time or so, after which i was so hopelessly behind it was another GG.

I play on Challenging, been doing that since the start. Boss battles can be tough, but doable, though the feeling remained that you were supposed to apparently metagame or savescum on a couple of occasions given the lack of foreshadowing. It was annoying spending a few days traveling to an area, only to find that you didn't (for example) make preparations to fight invisible high AC wisps that zap everything so that's another back and forth trip and over a week wasted.

That main quest area was also where the level 16 Dire Boars were, by the way. Twice your party level at that point in the game, and there's three of them grouped together iirc.

And.....I remembered again that all guards party was a thing.

http://www.theallguardsmenparty.com/

 Having read all the books by Frank, and the house books... there's a better
political  science-fiction out there. I mean don't let me stop you, but there are problems with the Dune books.   I'm almost finished with Raveges of Honor by Monalisa Foster, and if you want something that explores nano-tech and political drama, and has nice doses of psychology and anthropology mixed, under cover of the narrative, then you might want to check it out.

*adds to ever-expanding reading list.

 And that last response is pretty much the story of my life. In between work on my own science-fiction narrative, and volunteer work, and all.

In reply to Zethira (msg # 983):

Yeah, anything above normal and they hugely buff up enemies, you'll find mobs at lower levels with 26 dex and other stuff that makes no sense. Everything is geared towards min-max players and builds that are looking towards perfect with little to no room for anything outside of power choices, especially as you go higher.

Edit: And it's not fixed for Wrath of Righteous. It's a conscious design choice.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:33, Sat 16 Oct 2021.

Yeah, and Challenging is the lowest setting where everything (both you and your enemies) deals the full 100% damage, with crits active for both. That should be the default setting, like it is in D&D.

Same with Wrath of the Righteous, to be fair. You've got so many battles back to back to back to back that you're not just low on resources, you're running on fumes by the time your party can actually take a breather.

On the upside, the timer from Kingmaker is gone, though it's replaced by a Corruption mechanic that is FAR easier to manage. There's still SOME stuff on a timer, but you are informed of this beforehand ("We will get attacked in three days") so as long as you set someone on Corruption Reduction Duty during resting, odds are you're good to go.

Also, Wenduag > Lann, regardless of alignment. Say what you will of Wenduag, but i agree 100% that putting Lann in charge would get most of the mongrelmen killed.

Keep in mind you have so many more encounters in the video games compared to table top without increasing spells per day or channels. Reducing damage makes sense.

I have not played Kingmaker. Sounds like something that I will need to look into. Right now, most of my time has been dedicated to kicking off a new career after forced retirement from the US military.

In reply to Lt. General Teyacapan (msg # 990):

Yeah, but it does make me feel like i'm cheating, so i'll keep it on Challenging. Savescumming aside.

Jacinto: Forced retirement? Injury or budget cuts?

Injury. Got 10 years in and when I sought out some mental health counseling, they packed my bags and asked me to leave. It's obviously a little more involved than that, but that the TLDR version.

In reply to Primus Hanzo Kurokawa (msg # 993):

Bugger, that's harsh. Good luck!

Yeah, that's a pretty scummy move tbf. Sounds like they tried to have you quit on your own in order to not apply for severance pay, did you get it?

Yes RPOL I'm aware this message is reaching the thousand post limit. You don't need to keep telling me every five minutes or so.

Listening to previous posts... waiting for Cab, after an interview that was probably one of the biggest fuster clucks ever.

In reply to Primus Hanzo Kurokawa (msg # 993):



Sorry to hear that, hope life starts looking up for you ASAP.

In other mildly ammusing news, all of my RPOL games stalled of a week ago.

It’s okay. I’m training for a new job that seems to be interesting and am getting a pension from the military, so I can’t complain too much.

I forgot; who’s in the Dawns in Fire game with me?

Mysh reporting for duty

Nice. And Zeth is Diana, right?

In reply to Primus Hanzo Kurokawa (msg # 1001):

Yup!