What is says on the tin :)

Welcome Bai, Borric and Rook.

I have opened up character sheets for you, and will shortly open up an IC thread where you can get to know each other before you set off from Restov.

And welcome Moto ....

so far it looks like

1x Martial Class (probably paladin or Cavalier)
1x Oracle
1x Cleric of Erastil
1x Rogue
1x Sorcerer

Hello all! Looking forward to playing with all of you! :)

and welcome to ...Pipre, Rikka and Tiberezi

I think you all have editable character sheets available to you, feel free to design yourselves a first level character based on our discussions.

It is silly O'Clock in the morning here -  so I am off to bed :)  I'll check through character sheets as they  are completed, and I might ask some of you to tweak (but only slightly).  Then I'll check the backgrounds over and we will be good to go :)

Wonderful news

I was thinking of playing an alchemist. I think I've only played pathfinder once before but I can't properly remember. I was looking through the srd, though, and the class piqued my attention. What do you all think?

It's not my cup of tea. But you want to be an alchemist then go ahead :)
As long as you remember that the GM may ask you to tweak it in the morning.
Edit: But only slightly. See message above
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Fri 04 Mar 2016.

Alchemists can be fun, though they have a lot of mechanics to wrestle with, so unless you want to challenge yourself I'd say to consider simpler options if this is only your second time playing. Then again, if you've played D&D or other d20s before it's not that far of a stretch.

So, I'll be the team's CN Ranger. As I've never been a fan of Rangers using magic, I went with the Skirmisher setup, though that won't come into play until much later. Also, for background purposes, I went with Brigand and Mercenary for my Traits. As it sounds, Tiberezi is a former bandit.

Looking forward to adventuring with you all.

Borric was a former thief

As a Paladin, I'd imagine you haven't been one for a good while. I've left the profession over the course of the last in-game month or so. Old band broke up.

Borric is level 1, so he just became a paladin. He is an orphan. He left a life of thievery behind when he heard the call... It makes for an interesting opportunity for Borric to grow

In reply to Borric d'Cordain (msg # 12):

Paladin of Iomedae? Nice. Going with the sword and board? :)

In reply to Tiberezi (msg # 9):

I think I can handle it, all the mechanics seem fairly contained to the alchemist class I just have problems when you have to do a bunch of multiclassing and cross-book shenanigans.

Bandit sounds fun! If you want, I've had a character idea in my pocket that is something of a camp follower for a bunch of bandits, a girl whose older brothers became bandits so she ended up helping out at the bandit hideout or something. I wasn't considering that particularly for this game but I think it could be fun! You wanna be from the same brigand crew, Tiberezi?

Throwing around bombs is a pretty disarming way to get merchants to part with their goods, as well.

Borric: Fair enough, mate. I just picture paladins having to be squires for ages before getting the go ahead to smite evil and such. I never consider recent converts to be a thing, because of my own mental image of the concept. It's the same reason I always picture wizards as old and decrepit, it's just a common trope/concept. Good on you for throwing that to the wind and doing your own thing! :)

Pipre: So long as the GM is cool with it, I'd be more than happy to have an old buddy from the gang tooling around with me. PM me and we can hash out some details for the GM to consider. :)

Motorcycle Trembles: I kind of hope that our Paly is a S&B myself. Means they can shrug off more hits while I kill things from safely behind the big lug. :P

You should examine all of the campaign trait. The GM hinted that he'll be making some side-adventures based on a potential faction. So you'll want to think about things that are bigger than the character and all of its abilities. Think about politics, plot, and such. This game can become more than a simple adventurer goes here and there.

:)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:37, Fri 04 Mar 2016.

Yes.

When you think you are ready to RP your character in a non-combat situation - please  make your way to The Happy Drover.  This is an opportunity for you chat IC, so the characters get to know each other a bit and to share you background / histories (to the extent you are comfortable).  It is an opportunity for the characters to get to know each other and start gelling as a group/party before I start trying to kill you all.

Here is a basic description of your interview with Henry.

---

Henry de la Maistre, and his assistant, saw you in a private room at the Silver Dagger, a well appointed Inn - and certainly not the cheapest place to interview recruits in Restov. Henry was well dressed and spoke with an air of confidence as he explained that he had been given a Charter to map an area of The Stolen Lands, to the west of Restov and he was looking for recruits to help him in this task.

He wasn’t offering good money -  board and lodging for the duration of the expedition, a flat fee of 15gp and a share of any spoils of war -  but it was one of the few jobs on offer at the moment.  And it was a chance to get out of the city for the upcoming summer – and, perhaps, to build yourself a bit of a reputation at the same time.

He explained that this was one of a number of charters that had been offered along Brevoy’s southern border.  Maegar Varn and his band were heading south from Restov, Lord Drelev and his troops was going to lake Hookentonue and a mercenary group called the Iron Wraiths, dedicated to Gorum, were heading further west.  And he, Henry, had managed to secure a Charter to explore and map an area to the south of a Trade Outpost that had been chartered earlier.  You are warned that there is bandit activity in the area and that he, and his employees, are authorised to execute summary justice on bandits – either taking them for trial in Restov or executing them on the spot.

Once you agree the contract, he tells you to head out to The Happy Drover, where he has secured barracks accommodation for you.

---

OOC: You all get a bonus 15gp to spend.  I know it isn't a lot, but it has to be better than nothing :)

Trying to keep my ducks in a row - I think we have ..

Bai Kao – Female Oracle
Borric d'Cordain – Male, Paladin
Moto Trema – Human, Sorcerer
Pipre – Female,  Alchemist
Rikka – Female, Human Fighter
Rook Sanderson – Male Cleric of Erastil
Tiberezi – Male, Ranger
Adoven – Human Male Rogue

A N Other - fighter (probably)

Easily enough for two well balanced adventuring groups  :)

Still have more work to do on my sheet, but most of the core stuff is ready now.

Excellent. :)

I am more than happy for you guys to hop over the Tha Happy Drover thread, once your fluff / background is sorted.  You don't need to wait until every last Iron Spike is written onto the character sheet.

Hello all, name's Vik.

Any indication, if there are multiple teams, of who is on which team?

Just out of curiosity, where should I put my Traits in the character sheet?

Vik -  None what so ever :P

While there may be two (or more) things going on at once with different folks involved,  it probably wouldn't be regular groupings :P

*grin* sometimes I just love being a DM :)

Rikka - I'll look now .....

Rikka - Please expand the ABILITIES/FEATS section to be TRAITS/ABILITIES/FEATS

Okie Dokie!

Sheet is... Mostly done, but I'm wondering if I should shift back to my original Magus build now.

The only issue is that it'll cause problems to my backstory if I do things that way, because arcane spellcasting that isn't Sorcerer seems hard to justify for a country girl who's heeding the Call of Adventure.

So I'll probably just stick with what I've already got :)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:17, Fri 04 Mar 2016.

I'm almost done with my sheet as well. Well I'm done with it, but putting it on here is taking me some time now lol.  I'll be your friendly Rogue. Don't worry though, I won't steal your stuff :)

Whoops.  I get distracted by the Women's Persuit in the cycling and ......

Rikka, I'll go back over youy PMs and we can talk about it in there.

Sounds good.

Doing my equipment now and yeah, carrying capacity sucks T_T

In reply to Pipre (msg # 32):

I literally just had to redo all of my equipment because I'm dumb and didn't think about carrying capacity!

I think I'm more or less done. Hi everyone, Bai Kao here, your resident spacey seer.

Hello fellow adventurers! I am the aforementioned cleric and I look forward to the coming shenanigans.

Posting after work I think.

A very big party!

Also, my character sheet is done. :)

Hey Adoven, what does your character look like? :)

I will find a pic for him soon! Black hair, blue eyes. Standard charming fantasy player ;)

mfr003 or mfr396, they've got decidedly rogueish charm from my using the keyword search

What age are we all playing? I randomly generated mine and came out as a 16 year old 5 foot nothing fighter . . . should be fun

22! I'm trying to go for more of a social rogue. I'm also half lit and usijg my phone to post right now lol

In reply to Adoven (msg # 41):

Alright, I might age up a tad. I'm a fighter, low charisma, so if we do end up alongside each other your skills will be most helpful. Got Bluff though . . . because why not?

Vik -  16 is absolutely fine for your backstory / Fluff :)  Probably a really good age actually  :)

Excellent, and with that and a LOT of tweaking, my 5'0" 16 year old girl carrying over 5 stone of equipment on her 8.5 stone self is finished.

Time to RP!!

Dang, I didn't know what Vik sounded like before I started writing, and at first I thought her speech sounded too smart . . . then I realized she's got no social skills save Bluff, and a 14 Int.

There, held up a bit, but I got it in.  I'm now rejiggered as a functional Magus!

That aside, does anyone know why my weight limit table has mysteriously exploded?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Sat 05 Mar 2016.

Make sure you don't have any numbers next to the vertical bars

Yep, that was it.  Fixed.

And now to figure out what to do with my remianing 60 gold...  I don't play a whole lot of D20, so this is all new to me.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Sat 05 Mar 2016.

I probably should say this is your last decent shopping opportunity for a while.

With that said, I might pick up a potion or something if I can afford it! I'll check now!

So, I dunno, should I get a bow or something?  Or maybe some generic gear?

Being poor is suffering :(
This message was last edited by the player at 20:36, Sat 05 Mar 2016.

I was going to look into poisons for some throwing daggers...but wow they are expensive!! I think I'm going to grab some form of a ranged weapon though, just in case!

Potions are always expensive :)

I'm an alchemist, I can brew the heck out of some potions.

In reply to Pipre (msg # 54):

But can you make me POISON!!! And then later teach me how to make poison too?!?! :) I smell a roleplay opportunity!

OOPs - I meant to say -  Poisons are always expensive

When you have access to a good quiet place to work and access to a decent cooking-type area  :)

Oh, I can do poisons too, I think? I definitely saw some poison based class features but I didn't research it.

And I think I'm good to go with my gear.

Alchemists get very good with poisons later on. They've always been my favorite class.

Maybe you can give me some pointers but I did go mind chemist because I'm going more for extracts and bombs.

Folks -  I would appreciate it if you could put your Traits in the Abilities / Feats section of your character sheet and copy background notes and other relevant information (such as details of class abilities that aren't documented elsewhere) into the Backgroundsection of the sheet.  Or add another more appropriately named section at the bottom of the sheet there.

While I understand all of that information is available somewhere in your 'Request Acess' PM chain -  it makes it much easier for me if I know where to look for stuff. As an example, I was looking for skills / feats / background among the character sheets today, to give out some gossip on the boss, Henry de le Maistre, and finished up spending time digging around in RA PMs - and that is at the start of the game when your backgrounds are all fresh in my mind.

A few weeks down the road, all of those PM conversation will have been stored deep in the bin my memory and won't come easily to mind.  The more stuff you make it easy for me to see and remember - the more IC RP hooks I can throw you.

I think I've got everything pertinent on my sheet now. If there's more you'd like added, let me know.

"Oh, hello."  ;>

A late arrival, just got my character sheet up ... and yes, another close shave with carrying capacity !

So with what the DMG (3.5) says about usual minimum monthly wages for peasants, one gold piece would be worth about six hundred dollars.

So this innkeep better treat us good when we come through again.

Yeah. That's all relative.
I'm sorry but your single gold piece may be nothing if someone else comes and drops off more gold in the future. But one should bat an eye at gold :) GOLD is everything!

In reply to Borric d'Cordain (msg # 65):

I'm actually going to give him less than that, but just making note. It's something I like to keep in context, because to a player a gold piece is nothing, but it's an AMAZING amount to the commoners. Each PC is carrying a fortune in gear (which makes sense, as most of the wealth is tied up in gear)

In reply to Vik d'Lodovka (msg # 66):

I totally agree. Adventurers are rich, but Borric does feel poor :) I can't eat my sword

A gold piece is a lot of money to a commoner -  however, the RAW uses a number of different ways to calculate what a commoner earns.

Using the rule (left over fron 1st ed) that an unskilled commoner earns 1sp per day, 1gp is between 1-2 weeks work.  However, the caveat there is unskilled.  At the other extreme, if you use the downtime rules to start a business it costs 2gp per day to employ a commoner Innkeeper - in which case 1gp is equal to one morning's work.  Somewhere in the middle would be a skilled commoner using the (for example) the Craft Skill to generate an income using the same rules as available to a PC.

Which ever way you look at it 1gp is a big tip (hence the surprise in the barkeeps voice)  but it isn't outrageously big.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:14, Fri 11 Mar 2016.

Sorry, been sick and working. I'll make a post soon.

I hope you are feeling better soon  :)

Finished my weekend jobs, will start posting again tomorrow.

In reply to Rikka (msg # 71):

Excellent  :)

I am currently working on a second Tranche of characters, who will be joining you shortly in the OOC thread - although you might not meet up with IC for a while :)

Welcome Misha :)

Howdy!

Welcome aboard

Welcome to the game! I look forward to playing with you.

Will be back today sometime to post. Had some stuff come up and just got home from hospital. Everyones ok, but couldnt post lol.

In reply to Adoven (msg # 76):

I hope you are feeling better and everything is good for you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:08, Sun 13 Mar 2016.

Was my baby, but yea we are all good now. She's running around and walking (just stwrted today!)

In reply to Adoven (msg # 78):

Like!

Nice map!

---

@Adoven - good to hear that things are good with your baby.

Not one of mine, I am afraid - I found it on Deviant Art with a 'feel free to use it in your games' comment attached.  So I took him up on his offer.

My maps are much more basic -  As you will find out shortly :)

In reply to DM (msg # 81):

Indeed a really nice map all the same. A good find. :)

I also like the map. It helped me to imagine the group traveling across it as little paper cut-outs on horses. I enjoyed that.

Hooray! All praise to Abadar! The Banker says I can join your mission to explore the Stolen Lands. How exciting!

And what pray tell are you?

I am:

• A cleric of Abadar
• Not infallible, apparently  ;o)
• One of the second tranche of characters (so I assume I am not going to be in your party, Vik); and
• Still working on my character sheet.

Everyone will come together eventually - and probably not too far into the future.  At some stage, I am sure, Vik will be able to purchase cure spells from the cleric of Abadar  :)

There will be more than one party -  running a fight waiting for a dozen characters who are all waiting for someone else to post first must be horrendous.  And I don't think I want to go there too often  :)   However, I haven't yet decided how to manage the split and whether we will have two or three parties.

Welcome to the game, Andolon.

So then with a party split... you'll be reducing the chances of a TPK.
Now nice of the GM :)

In reply to Borric d'Cordain (msg # 88):

Hrmmph!! Are you trying to imply that I can't co-ordinate two or three TPKs at the same time?  I might have to take that as a challenge!

;)

Party 1 ambushes party 2 by mistake ... too easy!  ;o)

With the bandits waiting behind the bushes ......

I think that Moto and Percy are on the same watch.
It may be a good idea to get this hashed out in ooc.

Thoughts?

In reply to Borric d'Cordain (msg # 92):

Please note this is just my humble suggestion. :)

Calistril(February) is still a winter month and it is late in the month. On the 28 to 29 of Calistril(February) or the beginning of Pharast(March) I would imagine? So sunset would be about 6:00 PM and dawn would be about 6:30 AM(this is just to give us an idea of time). Please also note that if there are no stars and moon due to cloud cover, one would need something like an hourglass to keep track of time. :)

Sunset is about 6:00pm(lets say), so after two hours of cooking, eating and talking by the fire I could see most people going to sleep. So lets say that night shift begins at about 8:00pm

Suggested night-watch shifts
8:00pm-10:00pm: Moto and Percy
10:00pm- 12:00am: Adoven and Vik
12:00am- 2:00am: Borric and Rook
2:00am- 4:00am: Bai and  Pipre
4:00am- 6:30am(dawn): Rikka and  Tiberezi

Just two things

Tib hasn't been on site since 4 March (RL) which means he has missed all the 'social' RP, and isn't with this group.

The charter was signed 24 Calistril -  but it has taken a while to get things sorted -  so some time in mid Pharast(March)   (or about RL now)  I am treating it as the start of spring rather than the end of winter.  Winter here is nasty  :)

Put me in Tibbles' place since I pray at dawn.

I just realized that in all the games I play in this is the first that I've had a real combat encounter..... lol....With that said...will you be informing us when the first round is over? Or is it assumed when you post that it's the next round?

As soon as everyone has had a chance to post something, I will take a Combat Action for the 'monsters' and everyone will get their next action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Wed 16 Mar 2016.

In reply to DM (msg # 94):

Very Good. 16th of  Pharast, spring time! :)
Sunrise about 7:00pm and sunset about 7:00am.

In reply to Rook Sanderson (msg # 95):

Dearly noted good sir. :)

Suggested night-watch shifts
9:00pm-11:00pm: Moto and Percy
11:00pm- 1:00am: Adoven and Vik
1:00am- 3:00am: Borric
3:00am- 5:00am: Bai and Pipre
5:00am- 7:00am(dawn): Rikka and Rook
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Thu 17 Mar 2016.

What's this? You want Borric to stand watch solo in the dead of the night? LOL
I would like to mention since this is ooc that Borric has a poor Perception check modifier. It's actually below average. If average is +0, his is -1.


LOL

In reply to Borric d'Cordain (msg # 99):

I had you with Rook before, but he has to pray at dawn. Someone will have to stand night shift alone(with 9 characters and 5 shifts).

If you really want, I can try to change things around again?  :)

Personally I don't mind. But I just wanted to point out that Borric's perception modifier should be considered in the overall scheme of things. What do folks think?

Oh and Bai also has a -1 modifier so she should be paired too as long as it isn't with Borric :)

Moto has a +1 to Perception, he can see the monster that is currently stuck to him very well. lol
This message was last edited by the player at 05:40, Thu 17 Mar 2016.

Move Pipre up with Borric and Rook can pull a double shift. Problem solved!

Move action to grab swords, move action to move.

If the grabbing is just assumed, I'll make an attack roll, but I wanted to air on the side of the strict rules.

In reply to Rook Sanderson (msg # 104):

My thanks.

Suggested night-watch shifts
9:00pm-11:00pm: Moto and Percy
11:00pm- 1:00am: Adoven and Vik
1:00am- 3:00am: Borric and Pipre
3:00am- 5:00am: Bai and Rook
5:00am- 7:00am(dawn): Rikka and Rook

Well if Rook's running a double shift, perhaps rotating that among the team might be a good idea?

You mean have staggering rotations of 4 person and 5 person watches?

Rook takes doubles this time, Moto another night, me a third, etc

In reply to Vik d'Lodovka (msg # 109):

Sadly Moto can't take a double shift, as a sorcerer he needs eight hours of sleep in order to regain his spells.

In reply to Vik d'Lodovka (msg # 109):

Oh Borric will take a double shift. I was only commenting on his perception :)

In reply to Moto Trema (msg # 110):

Well Moto can find some other way to pull double work (besides obviously being awesome and keeping us alive)

He can cook?

In reply to Vik d'Lodovka (msg # 112):

Nice...:)

Moto can try to cook. I see Profession(cook) skills in his future. What some people will do for a good nights rest.

In reply to Moto Trema (msg # 113):

Common other tasks include mapmaking, weaponsmithing or armoursmithing (to provide maintenance) or really any Profession

Also, he could just regale us with stories?

I will LOAD you guys DOWN with all the potions you can drink once we start making that clink.

I tend to see Profession(Cook) as the skill of running a large or commercial kitchen to produce a complex menu or serve up a range of different dishes - and is useful at an Inn, Tavern or Noble estate.

Craft(cook), which can be used untrained, is used to prepare a simle meal.

So profession (chef), I think that makes a lot of sense.

Vic...I just noticed our portraits seem to be wearing almost the same shirt, and we just attacked the exact same way. Did we just become best friends?

In reply to Adoven (msg # 118):

I think we did!

Must be a cultural thing too.

In reply to DM (msg # 116):

If Craft(cook) can be used untrained all the better. :)

Maybe Pipre can help him find some herbs to season our meal?

Adoven and Vic, I already thought you two where playing a brother/sister angle(twins)? :)
This message was last updated by the player at 22:27, Fri 18 Mar 2016.

In reply to Moto Trema (msg # 120):

I suppose everyone from Winterbreak looks the same to you, huh?

Is that how it is? :P

"Untrained check
Ahmed K'Tor rolled 17 using 1d20+11.  Grapple check"

wat

I want a stuffed owlbear doll irl

My friend made one for our DnD group after I had a villain use owlbears in combat

http://thetinkerspacks.com/products/owlbear-plushie

That is the most wondrous thing I've seen all week.

Arcana actually Pipre, for magical beast. But the it's the GM's call on nature working.

Just looking for clarification, so I'm going to ask...:)

From what I am reading, Pipre made no mention of checking Moto. Just Bai(who I believe was not bitten) and Percy, so did she check Moto?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:03, Wed 23 Mar 2016.

Sure, can we say I did?

From my summation of the second night's camp - with no specification of who did the checks, nor how detailed they were.  It was my assumption that while there was a risk, the party as a whole would be interested in the state of play - even if it is only a casual glance, sneaky look.

I was asking to see if you(the pc) just forgot who was bit or if your character seemed to be purposely avoiding Moto? So I didn't really know what to think.

Nope nope, just forgot as a player.

I assumed Bai only got a look since she was mucking around in one of their guts.

A basic Player / Character  update.

Tib's player hasn't visited the game in three weeks, and got a PM reminder a week ago. So I am going to assume that he has dropped from the game and take the Character over as an NPC.

Rikka's player hasn't been around for two weeks either and, as I am sure you have noticed, I have been making short NPCed posts on her behalf.  The player has had PM reminder (which should jump the game back to their sticky list if it got deleted  by mistake).  I will give them a week or so, and then take her over as a proper NPC.

Those characters were fortunate (or  perhaps not) in that I can see how I want to use them as NPCs - even if they will be a pale shadow of their intended personalities.

Misha's player (as is her right) decided that she didn't want to join us, after creating the character.  She would have been a really nice PC,  but it doesn't work well as an NPC :(  so Misha will be disappearing from our world shortly.

Those of you 'in the field'  will probably have noticed that Andalon and Aris'ta (That is it! I am NEVER going to accept any more characters with names that start with an A ...)  are chatting in the drovers.  And there are two other characters, Cyrus and Zorah, in build.  They will be joining you shortly.

So are we going to shed the npc'd characters at some point? Take up new ones?

Henry was always going to fetch in some NPCs to do the donkey work, and tidy up those areas that you guys miss / skip etc.  -  This is just a bit earlier than I had intended, and while Rikka and Tib are a bit more versatile than the NPCs I was planning -  but they are 'standard' enough that I can use them easily and they add a bit more flavour than conventionally bland NPCs.  I suspect they will also act as the 'Cavalry' if any of you even need rescuing. :)

I half expect to lose players (RL changes happen, people decide they don't like my style of game, etc) - PRoL attrition  is well known.  And often for good reason.  My plan has always been to run two or three different groups at the same time and give XP out generously.  That we can move through through the AP at a reasonable pace without leaving huge swathes of countryside unexplored and means we don't get too bogged down in one part of the game.

We are down to eight (plus Rikka) in this group with another, smaller, group following on.   So two parties with cover for absence, or three parties that could get stretched very quickly.  So once we are settled in, I expect to recruit for another 3-4 players to round the groups out.

Does that help?

I'm still here...hectic few days!will be back to normal posting soon!

In reply to Adoven (msg # 137):

Hope everything calms down for you soon.  Unless it it all uber-exciting, of course. :)

It warmed up here so I attempted to get my kids outside a bit lol. My 8 year old is a mirror image of me and would rather play PS3 and pathfinder than go outside and play. So we hiked a bit and then had Easter stuff and stuff. I'm back on the grind now at work though so should be able to post more :) (I love that being back at work = more time to screw off and play pathfinder.)

I have a couple of  PMs recently, that make me realise that I haven't made my plans  clear.  My only excuse is that I have been concentrating on IC conversations -  but I am a big boy, I should be able to do both.

In my mind the current group at Oleg's is too large to make a sustainable single party -  and that is why we have a smaller group coming along behind.  Once everyone is together in one big group, I will split you into two smaller groups.  Assuming no-one drops, that is two groups of six PCs -   large enough to give some resilience if someone can't post for a week or two, gives you people to play off of and allows you to share the thinking. But space to operate as an individual within the party.   Personally, I find groups of 5-6 work well on RPoL, but if those groups still feel uncomfortably large we can consider splitting into three smaller groups of four.

There are no immediate plans to add any more players.  All the folks who have some claim on a spot (ie my wife, people who DM me and people who I have played with for years) neither have a spot in game or have said no - for one reason or another.

The Kingmaker AP (which this game is based on) has  some really great encounters areas, so many that I missed some with my Table Top group when we played Kingmakers (that was a two year table top campaign).  But I have added more low-level scenarios (from some of my favourite modules)  to give us plenty of starting places for those Characters who want to claim land and start a strong hold.

Because this is RPoL and games can take forever, I intend to use the fast rate of progression - but there will still be stuff that you don't get to.  So, at some time in the future, I am thinking about adding a third group of players.  This will be when these characters have leveled up to a point when exploring random hexes and fights with low level monsters aren't a lot of fun any more.

Although I will be using the fast experience track -  I will probably level all of you starting characters up at the same time -  at least until you are level 3 (or so) and past the 'One Unlucky Hit And You Are Dead' stage.

On a separate Note.  I have almost finished my simplification of the Kingdom building rules (a long holiday weekend put to good use). Large chunks are already written down -  and most of the rest has been worked out.  The rules will allow you to claim land and build your own stronghold, or tack onto someone else's strong hold and become an investor, or set up in the 'capital' and becomes a wide area investor.  Or, of course, to just party all of your wealth away and not get involved in all this building stuff at all :)

I thought Moto went to the stables...BUT the house?
LOL

It was in the note to the GM....(got new info). :)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:55, Tue 29 Mar 2016.

Sorry for my silence, work piled up quickly. Will post soon!

Hi all, sorry for taking so long to get into the game.  I've had an Unfinished idea sitting in my character sheet section for awhile now but RL had other plans.  I hope to see some of you IC soon.

Welcome aboard, Zorah and Cyrus. I'm looking forward to getting to know you.  :o)

I have to assume Moto is dreaming about Pipre and the thirty gallons of ale she keeps on her oxen's pack saddle. :p

In reply to Pipre (msg # 146):

Rotfl. Indeed Pipre, indeed. Please start your choice of any 80s song as background music for Moto's dream....now. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Fri 01 Apr 2016.

My vote is for Goodbye Horses.

Day of traveling for me. Seeya when I'm back-ish

HMM -  My cock up in the Drover's thread.  I have edited my initial post slightly, apologised to the Lebeda's by PM and asked them to edit  :(

*Hangs head in shame and goes to sit in the DM naughty corner*

In reply to DM (msg # 150):

No worries DM. You run an awesome game. :)

I have also edited my post. So that should fix things. :)

mmmm, that intimidate roll~♥♪

DM - no problems at all. Been there, done that myself, more times than enough.

Pipre - sweet!! :o)

Sorry for the delay. Work :P

It WAS sweet. Unfortunately ...

Remind me afterwards and I'll explain why it didn't work.

I think I'll have that explanation now if you don't mind

In reply to Pipre (msg # 156):

Well a short version ... but even that stops any further intimidation of Diplomatic attempts you might make.  You can have more detail later.

To paraphrase some of the material in the AP ......

Although you got the last post in before I posted the explanation  :)

Got my post in (wow... very interesting Pipre)
Sorry for my late post

bah, where am I going to get guards for the gambling hall brothel I want to build now?

*grin*

I am sure there will be plenty more opportunity :)

Northerners Unite! We are the damage output machines!

Rikka's player hasn't been around since 13 March and hasn't responded to a PM I sent them on 25 March  -  so I will convert her to a full blown NPC.  :(

These things do happen. RL can get really busy at time

Yes, indeed they do. I didn't intend to make it sound like 'having a go', I was just letting you guys know as a courtesy (and so I don't feel the need to write NPCed on the bottom of each post anymore) :)

So sorrowful sometimes. I have two games I miss with my whole heart every day, so it's sad when RL comes up, on both ends.

Nice ambush guys  :)

While Pipre had some extra information earlier to explain why that superb Intimidate roll didn't work - but here is part of the Morale section from the bandit leader's write up in the AP.

Happs knows that his position as second-in-command
is tenuous at best and won’t back down from a fight in
front of his men—as long as one other bandit can see him,
he fights to the death.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 08:47, Sat 09 Apr 2016.

that's dumb.

That's at best a bonus on morale checks, not an outright immunity.

well he certainly did do that.

Happs wasn't very bright and he could only see three of you - plus the two 'cowed' NPCs who he 'knew' wern't going to fight..

There is some extra background to support it - and the roll guaranteed that the rest would leg it as soon as the battle started.  Ironically, Diplomacy would have had a better chance of working.  Poor old Happs was all Intimidated out.

Be warned, you will come across more 'fight to the death' bandits during these early phases.

well, whatever, more xp that is split many many ways.

Oh, hey, is that half orc still alive? I yell at him to get over here. :}

*grin*  I think I can manage that  :)

As for XP -  much of it comes as 'Story line' XP -  so after a couple of hexes of exploration, you will all hit L2 at about the same time anyway.  I don't want you guys too soft and squishy - there is little DM fun in that.

Yay, second level

More skills and I get the Cleave feat!

I am off out soon -  an evening drinking with reenactor friends, camping overnight, then a 90th birthday to attend tomorrow.  probably no substantive posts for a day or two.

That didn't mean that we level, right? Clarify?

Not as I read it. But if we explore a couple of hexes (which means 2 as opposed to a few), we should hit level 2.

Makes sense that the brute in charge of the bandits Intimidates Happs more than Pipre could.  You'll have to work on being big (assumedly), mean and evil, my friend ! :>

About that..

Where is the map of the combat?

Under the Game Map link, top of screen - you may have to do a forced refresh if your browser has cached the old version (CTRL+F5 in most browsers, I believe).  ;>

Thanks. Tablets don't work as well as a laptop. I got the map without any issues w/laptop.

Indeed - you will have to 'explore' a couple (which does indeed mean 2) hexes and then you will level up.

Oh so then there were more than the 6 that showed up on the map?

From the original post.

Thanks for THAT clarification.
And here I was thinking that there were only 6 of them :)

Sorry, I thought you had all clocked that there were more outside.   I should have extended the map -  I took the easy option and used the map as published in the PDF file.  Then there wasn't enough room.

So, roughly, how many more escaped?

I'm actually glad that I didn't know how many there really were. As a player, I have hesitated when faced with those type of odds.

In reply to Bai Kao (msg # 189):

There were another 5 outside -  so six ran.

I was half expecting you guys to station Rook and/or another archer on  one of the corner towers -  which would have given a better view of the bandits approaching and what was going on outside.

It was supposed to be a challenge for you, and as a group you actually handled it quite effectively -  Pipre weakened the group morale first, you then took most of the first wave out in round 1,(helped by the fact that many of them were actually trying to turn their horses and get away) -  which caused the second wave to flee without firing a shot.  Apart from the leader's opening Alchemist's Fire attack -  only one of them even got a shot off.

and they hit the person who can heal only themselves. or one of the ones who can only heal themselves, not sure how common that is in pathfinder.

He shot the one who had made herself the focus of attention and threw the bomb   :)

I just realized while looking at everyone else's character descriptions that I never copied mine over from my character sheet.  My apologies to anyone who tried to see mine and couldn't.

I'm here, I swear I'm here. Sorry, couple of cray days.

Sorry got myself busy...things should return to normal after the 15th

What happened to our thread?

For Pipre, you heal 1 point of ability score damage per day. Lesser Restoration heals 1d4. Using the Heal skill to provide Long Term Care can also heal ability score damage at twice the rate, but takes 8 hours of rest minimum.

We where eaten enroute by trolls. Now we are ghost on a never ending road, but we don't know it yet. :P

I believe the DM is just waiting for the first party to move on before putting us in the Oleg thread.


“Would you like to hear my song? I'm afraid it's rather long
Of the famous "On to Oleg's" double trouble,
Of the half-a-dozen trips and half-a-dozen slips
And the very latest bursting of the bubble.
'Tis pretty hard to sing and like a round, round ring
'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel;
Though all the papers swore, when we touched the road forbore
That Oleg's was a hard road to travel.”

In reply to Cyrus Ondari (msg # 197):

Seeing as you were all chatting so nicely, I thought you could cope for a while, until the first party had moved on -  it also gave rook a chance to get a post into his thread.    With his question toi the 'bandits, I might need to think of something else for you all to do while I resolve that :)

In reply to DM (msg # 200):

I should have been more specific, we had such good chatting going and then it stopped. I guess everyone felt like sharing time was over :) I am excited to rescue Moto from wolves.

<applauds Valoria's verse>  :>

In reply to Percy Arndell (msg # 202):

Yes - Valoria's verse deserves the applause -  I should have done so earlier  (but I was sneaking in posts when I shouldn't have been :)

Sorry for my absence.
I survived taxes. Or I've been reborn again :)

Bows head...My thanks for the applauds. More verses will be added in the future. :)

Wow, we are really bad at Ride checks. Perhaps we should proceed on foot....

You'd think for someone who made a character around animals I'd be good at ride checks, but you would be wrong.

You'd think as a ranger I'd be better with a bow. Apparently I wasted all my good shots during practice.

It's really a comedy of horse riding errors around here :)

I guess it should be expected with level 1 characters, I just hope someone can take care of this wolf bite before too long...

I seriously considered taking ride since I was going the animal trainer route, then I was like, "Nah, I'm going to train them not ride them into combat."  Hindsight.

I do have to say that I have been thoroughly enjoying this little encounter  :)  Although one does hope that the other group take a lesson from it ...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Mon 25 Apr 2016.

I'm back but my laptop has died. Hope to get it back sometime soonish, but I wasn't given a date. Posting this from work (on lunch break)

Borric -  hope it all sorts itself out soon.

Three threads kick started  :P

In reply to DM (msg # 213):

Is the group from thread 1 moving into thread 3b?

Yes ....  and No  :)

3b is the   'Move on' thread.  However, you can still continue your conversations concerning healing in  the other thread, at the same time, if you want to.

Chasing Bandits :   I'll get a map up and a detailed report back from Andoven when I get home for work this evening.

Bigger DM post for Settling Into Oleg's as well -  Second group feel free to post in either of the Oleg's or Drovers threads as you see fit.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me -  but things should start to calm down now and give me a bit more time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:14, Fri 29 Apr 2016.

I laughed. Suspended.

Seeing as religion has been playing a part in your conversations recently, I thought I would add links to the Wiki's descriptions of (some of) the deities followed by various characters in the game. Just about everyone would know the broad outlook of these churches, although a Knowledge Religion Roll is still required for the fine detail.

I haven't done this because I think anyone is role playing badly or stepping on anyone else's toes - actually I am enjoying the discussions :)  It is always nice to see a characters interacting with each other.  I just thought it might help anyone who wasn't too familiar with the Golarion's religious structures.

http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Abadar

http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Erastil

http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pharasma

In reply to Pipre (msg # 217):

Now just wait until Henry offers the three bandit prisoners a suspended sentence ... ;o)

You may not be that far off, however, Henry has to try out his brand new powers as judge and jury first ...

Sometimes I hate having lots of NPCs ....  I just seem to be posting and posting and posting .....

whoa! how'd you get +18, Bai? I'm fairly new to Pathfinder so I don't know lots of things

Bai's a fancy ol' seer. Which means that whenever Bai spaces out she's got an eye to the sky watching birds. Watching birds lets her get a once a day +10 to any skill.

I hope my existential post didn't derail thread 3b...

Just suffering a touch of writer's block. I will attempt to showcase something a bit later.

I posted after you Cyrus.  Granted it was in response to someone else, so maybe you did break the thread.

Hahaha to both of you. I liked Zorah's call back of the apples...

Seriously though, are we waiting for the bandit chasers to finish chasing and return?

My silence comes mainly from work keeping me busy. I'm getting a post up now.

In reply to Cyrus Ondari (msg # 224):

*grin*  I was just giving everyone people a chance to get a post in -  in case anyone objected to henry's form of justice  :)

But the next DM post (probably 10-12 hours from now) will move you on, out from under Henry's thumb and somewhere where you are your own bosses.

Sorry Folks, tonight's posts don't have the depth I would have like to have given them.  I am tired this evening, but you deserved a post of some sort.

I will be travelling quite a bit for the next 5 weeks and probably won't get to post as often. I will post when I can but feel free to NPC Andalon if needed to avoid delays.  :o)

Ok.  Are you heading this way?

In-laws are visiting this weekend so I won't be on much until Monday.

Promise to post soon, been a crazy week.

Rome - Barcelona - England :o)

In reply to Andalon de Lebeda (msg # 235):

Standard invite for a pint if you come close.

We are thinking of celebrating our next-year wedding anniversary in your neck of the woods.  We were half thinking of the Commonwealth Games instead, but we can't book that far in advance.

This message was deleted by the player at 10:16, Wed 11 May 2016.

Following in Andalon's footsteps (seven league boots ?), I'm gonna be offline for a few weeks for reasons beyond my control (I blame my wife entirely), so please look after Percy till I get back !  :>

If it wasn't obvious IC, I thought I might add an OOC explanation here. Cyrus is truly grateful for Andalon's ability or any other cleric or healer's ability. He is a fighter and he's going to get hurt, he knows that magical healing will save his skin more times than he's ready to count. He would most definitely voluntarily donate a meaningful amount of his wealth to any "god's" representative who healed him in the days/weeks following a meaningful journey/battle. If he were a ruler of a region, he would also sponsor a group of priests/healers to tend to any wounded, ill, etc.

That said, he has never encountered a healer who has asked for a donation prior to healing, in the aftermath of combat. The idea of an ill or wounded person journeying to a temple, making a donation and receiving healing makes perfect sense, but out here "in the field" it seems counterproductive. As the DM just said in his post, somethings just don't seem right...

I hope that helps.

*grin*  Those are some of the hooks that make for RP  :)  Although as Andalon is off galavanting around Europe any moment now, more  banter might have to wait until he gets back :)

Are we rolling initiative

Roll initiative, if you want, in with your actions  (if you think it appropriate)  If I think I need initiative rolls and we don't have them -  I can roll them here, just as easily.  I always have a bowl of dice sitting on my desk at home :)

That way we don't hold things up - and I don't telegraph combat situations either  :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:39, Thu 12 May 2016.

I have just added the language groups  (which I should have done ages ago) -  so you should be able to use them to post in tongues now  :)

Did that bandit just jump down 20' and shrug it off? I was figuring that would at least get him the 2d6 that falling 20' would incur, I mean not counting the grabbing of shins and crotch from such a fall onto his feet...

Not quite unscathed, but he made an awfully good acrobatics role (which I didn't fudge) - which reduces the damage to 1d6 non lethal damage as per this section ...



http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamema...al-rules#TOC-Falling

Well, there you go, but shouldn't there still be 1d6 damage then? It seems like the battle has finished before it began, but I'm just curious.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Fri 13 May 2016.

There is some non-lethal damage -  which is why he is standing there dumbly ...  :)

Your earlier Diplomacy Roll worked better on the men than it did on Kressle -  she could only get two of them to even think about attacking you guys :)   And even then, they weren't enthusiastic and only 'advanced purposefully' rather than rush in to the attack.

You pretty much won the 'battle' in the previous round - it just didn't happen instantly :)

Well, happy that worked. Nice job, Bai. Predictable Kressle.

What time of day is it?

It is coming on for evening.  You had the best part of a day's ride to get there ...

Bai's diplomacy was helped by your intimidation earlier -  some of these guys had seen you follow up your threats and didn't want to go there again.  Sometimes the effects of soft/social skills are cumulative and slow burning -  even if they don't always work how you expect them to.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:10, Fri 13 May 2016.

Good job team! Cake and juice party back at camp!

Just been checking Logins ....

Adoven's player hasn't been around for three weeks, with no warning, and will probably go to full NPC before too long.
Borric's player hasn't been around for a week, althouigh he said life was hard.  I will chase him and see if he is here.

Percy and Andalon's players are both away on vacation - in completely different parts of the world.  We might get some sporadic posting off of them over the next few weeks -  although probably best to 'play around them' as much as you can.  I will NPC them when required, but it is probably best not to make anythinbg depend on one of them reacting.

Bai, Pipre and Vik -  looks like the 'Chasing Bandits' thread is pretty much down to you guys for the time being.

This might sound like I'm splitting short hairs, but how long until sundown is it at the bandit camp? Do we have a few hours or is darkness imminent?

Lets say a couple of hours before dark.

You rode something like 30 miles to get here and it took most of the day.

Edited:  closer to 40 miles  as I look at it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:33, Mon 16 May 2016.

Who's the Y in our Game Map?

Thistle - Pipre's yak.  I redrew the map late last night just before I went to bed - and I was tired :(

Loving this and can't wait to see how it plays out :)

In reply to Cyrus Ondari (msg # 257):

From the look of it, I just hope that you are considered suitably trained  :P  And I hate to think what is going to happen when Valoria decided to carry out her watch sitting next to them ....

In reply to DM (msg # 258):

Cyrus is from a noble family. Surely he would have learned of dowries and such. He had no sisters though so the gossip would be foreign land

No Sisters?  No defensive experience of the techniques that females use for training males?  Oh dear.

So speaks a DM who (in RL) grew up in a house full of women!

Single children of the world unite

I had two younger sisters in real life, now my poor wife (only child) has two boys plus me as payback :)

Cyrus has a brother, but no sisters. He left home before a marriage was arranged for him but he grew up with that as the expectation... Basically you are lucky Cyrus doesn't try to start a dog pile (that's what my boys would do...)

Go for it .....

Zorah has no siblings.  Lucky for her I have 5 kids, 4 of which are girls.  I'll be planning some fishing trips with my son when they all reach teenage years...

I don't fish.

I took my son on a walk to celebrate his 16th birthday.  Across England, coast to coast, along Hadrian's Wall :)

They say that the difference between America and Europe is that in America 100 years is a long time, in Europe 100 miles is a long distance. I was stunned when I read that you walked coast to coast, then I saw it was only 80 miles or so...

Still very cool though!

In reply to Bai Kao (msg # 266):

Which was (in part) why I qualified the route.  My American Wife has been in the UK for nearly 15 years now (it is our 14th wedding anniversary next month) and she is still  surprised by how long it takes to get to places.  Everywhere here is built up -  I think we decided that England has 1/5 population of the whole of the USA, in an area the size of Pennsylvania.

We have a short camping trip planned  around our anniversary, which starts with a drive to Torquay (from Portsmouth) - about 150 miles -  which will take us 4-5 hours travelling during the day :)

I've three older brothers in real life, but circumstances made it seem as though I was an only child. It's blessing and a curse.

I live in a small town of about only 200 people. I have to drive 150 miles for groceries, only takes two hours. Nothing but farms and forest land for almost the whole drive.

In RL I have one younger sister. I also have two sons. Fishing and hunting trips are always nice.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Tue 17 May 2016.

Zorah, you are absolutely right. That was beautifully stated. Thank you for that, it made my night.

I try.  :D

Tonight, my friend, you succeeded. :) I try to play her as bitter, simply because it is so fun to watch her bloom.

In reply to Aris'ta (msg # 272):

I think the three of you have made a really nice, very deep RP scene. I have really enjoyed reading your posts.

Choo-choo, literal train coming through.

I think I just relieved high school through that last post. Painful.

I go to sleep for a few hours and look what you guys do to my nice tidy thread   ......

Nice One  :)

I aim to please.

In reply to Aris'ta (msg # 277):

Loved it! Hope it wasn't too painful...

hahahahahaahahahaa! After Zorah's post I was going to make a comment about how we have left rpol and entered "The Real World" but Rook brought us right back to junior high!

I thought it suited. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Zorah, you little sneak...

...hate to double post, but Aris'ta is going to bring it crashing to reality.

Did Cyrus and Andalon just get lumped in with Rook??? Love every bit of this!

Cyrus is wise enough to leave the "angry elf" alone...

Yes. Anger knows no bounds.

*sings* I'm just a little, black rain cloud...

Breakfast is gonna be fun!

I'm sorry to kill the thread, it was going to swimmingly too. Poor Zorah, all her good intentions.

*grin*  Nice going guys.  As Rook implies -  scenes and conversations can always get picked up again later - and a bit of a 'grump' now can be the source of a new scene tomorrow or the day after.

Sometimes in these games you have to take a break from a scene either for RP purposes or  to let the rest of the game happen -  but keep it on mind, because bits of it can  be reprised and built on later.  :)

But now having witnessed (in this thread) the sort of behaviour I would have expected from young teenagers and even younger prepubescents -  I will be keeping a sharp eye out for older teenage behaviour - so  Rook and Arista -  NO FUMBLING AROUND IN THE DARK! Because if Zorah notices she will be trying to shine a torch on you.  :P

Okay Dad.

I don't need to be worrying about keeping an eye on a little half-drow toddler while fighting bandits.

You have my apologies for getting carried away with the posting.

Don't apologise -  I think we all enjoyed the RP  :)

I agree, no apologies necessary, it was a pleasure to read along! I like watching these characters emerge or at least my understanding of them, that is.

The line about 'taking breaks'  was in response to Aris'ta's 'sorry to kill the thread' post - in other words -  sometimes an RP line needs to take a break, or a sudden swerve or a ....  something else.

I wasn't having a dig about game progression.  If I need you to move on, I will interrupt  (Say a nice cold rain shower ..  or something) and push you to where I want you to be.

Right at the moment -  my only concern is that  it is morning in your camp, when the others come over the hill .  :)

Jumping the gun a little? As far as I can see, we're still all just getting to know each other. I see no signs of 1/4 drow toddlers in the near future ;)

Seriously, there are so many more layers of angst that Aris'ta has to work through before there are babies!

"Hell hath no fury like a half-drow mother teased mercilessly during camp."  I paraphrased a little, but I think that's how it goes.

Enough now  :P

Or I shall conjure up a thunder and lightning storm with snow, hail and all sort of other bad stuff .....

Damn this other team sounds pretty cool

You'll get to meet us soon enough! Unless you decide to turn the horses around and head for the hills!

Yep, we got all the cheerleaders and jocks.  Oh wait, the geeky D&D players are the ones I wanted to hang out with, damn.

this is a great source of amusement during breaks at work.

Just cheerleaders and jocks? I don't know, I'm picking out a lot of different high-school stereotypes. We've got a goth, a hippie, a bookworm, a business tycoon, and a jock.

*facepalms*

I didn't mean to make a jock...

Does that make Rook the business tycoon?

And I resent being compared to a goth. I am more a pessimistic realist. An Eeyore if you will ;)

Oh, no. That's Andalon. I can't objectively place my character in a stereotype. That's for you guys to decide.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Fri 20 May 2016.

Nerd ^
:)

I'm almost inclined to agree with Pipre, but I know not much about the character.

You are more "home slice" to me.

I wonder what Pipre would be. Probably juvenile delinquent :p

I laughed so loud I think I woke people.

I did mean to make a hippie.

Also, as soon as I post this I'm going to google for a picture of goth Eeyore.

Got it.



So DM, about this mule animal companion...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:58, Fri 20 May 2016.

In reply to Zorah (msg # 312):

See? Already planning on trafficking.

Emo. Emo Eeyore.

Shortly we are all going to be back 'home' at Oleg's - and I will have a bunch of bandit NPCs that I have to do something with. Which leads to a couple of possibilities.

1. Since the game has started we have lost Rikka, Tib and Adoven and it looks like we have probably lost Borric as well. Losing Adoven and Borric, combined with Percy going on  vacation has made that thread difficult for that group playing it,  and I want to try and add some resiliency.    To that end, I am thinking of placing an advert in a game that I play in, for players to take some of them over as replacement PCs - although coming in  at first level - to leave you guys as The Senior players :)
   
   
2. Do any of you guys want to run a secondary NPC character?  They will have a less impressive stat array than the main characters and will be restricted to NPC classes, but I can probably find lesser and occasional roles for them.  For example, in the TT version of Kingmaker that I ran, the party had a regular set of NPCs who worked as ships crew / bodyguards for them - who then went on to have mini-careers of their own. I have done something similar in the last two games I ran, which seemed to work out OK - the Kids from Weekenders and Old Gil  will live in some players memories for a long time  :)
   
   
3. We could also tie some of those Bandit NPCs into the Entourage system :)

And thoughts?  Any interest?

I like the idea of running a minor npc or two.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it here yet or not but I tend to play characters who take the leadership feat just so I get to roll up more characters (one of my favorite parts of rpgs).  With all of that said, I'm not sure taking on more things right now is a good plan for me, but I will probably be good to take on an npc or three come mid-June.

I can see Zorah turning one of the current bandit npcs into a future lackey of hers under the recently posted entourage rules.

Entourage seems more like a burden than anything. I'd rather recruit them as a team as in the downtime rules.

In reply to Pipre (msg # 317):

That works just as well - the entourage rules are little more than an RP extension to the downtime rules and aren't compulsory  :)   The only way they impinge, generally, is on the size of the organisation you can recruit - and unless you are recruiting personal armies, it isn't liable to restrict anyone at all.

One of the things the Entourage rules do allow, is for PCs to Role Play the relationship,  and recruit some members of their entourage for free.

That doesn't work for everyone, it depends on how you like to play things out. As a player I (personally) like having RP opportunities with my main character's assistants - In one game I play a character who owns runs a magic business -  he has three named assistants who go out and do things on his behalf.

I kind of like the idea of an entourage letting you have minor named NPCs that fall under your command where as downtime just gets you your mindless minions, though admittedly that comes from someone who's a charisma based character, so I won't pretend I'm not biased.

The two go together - TBH, if someone wants to develop a minion gained through the down time rules - I will let them start to apply the broader Entourage rules.  If on the other hand, a minion recruited at Oleg's starts to fade into obscurity by the time your reach 7th level -  I am happy for them to 'retire' as a specialist or manager under the downtime rules.  It can work both ways.

There will be lots of NPCs in this game -  the more of us there are running them - the more individual they will be  :)

Out of curiosity sake, can you gain a follower by accident? Your charisma just lures them along, almost like an admirer?

Depends on what sort of mood I am in :P

I hadn't really considered that.  My gut feeling is probably not, but if the right circumstances were to come up ....

I don't plan it, just curious as it's likely the only way Ari would have a follower... at least at this point.

*Looks hard at Rook*  NO!  :P

Um...what?

Dang it I thought we were trying to link the groups back together. No fair I want to rp with a cute bandit woman

She'll still be there in the morning ... well she will be if she doesn't make a break for it overnight ....

and Who knows what other surprises lie in store among the bandits?  Well, apart from me, obviously.  And even then, I have only rolled the basic dice for any of them so far -  even I might be surprised :)

Cute bandit woman? I am so lost.

In reply to Aris'ta (msg # 328):

While you guys are listening to wolves, the other group have just discovered a woman among some captured bandits  :)

Oh! See, I'm terrible, I don't read the other threads as my character wouldn't know that information ;)

The only being Rook follows is Erastil!

Lucky God.


(couldn't resist)

Think how confusing the High School Stereo type conversation was for some of the other group  :)

In reply to DM (msg # 333):

It was confusing for me, so easy enough to imagine.

Try it from my perspective.  I went to an all boys school where we were all a bit nerdy.  I was a member of the Chess Club, used to represent the school at shooting and was a mean 'fives' player.  I had no idea what sort of stereo type I was supposed to be ....


Note:  Fives is a bit like squash or racket ball -  but without the racket.

I had an easy stereotype: Loner, I mean, I tended to drift, but didn't really hang out with any real set.

Right.  I am off to bed now.  You guys have a good eight hours before I interfere in your threads again.

I was waiting for Rook, but with the death of some animal, I believe I can safely assume we make it back to the fire unharmed?

Yes.  I had read your previous post as getting up the the borders of the camp - and therefore home and dry.

Then I shall post away.

So in order to avoid making a fool of my character, can we get input DM?

I'm working from the assumption of knives being tools, including being used to eat. Bai is considering them weapons. This is not exactly an unreasonable stance, and the prospect of being killed in my sleep isn't an attractive one, but is my understanding correct for this world?

Vik's obviously not going to come to blows or shouting, but I just want to make sure she's not spouting fantasy nonsense.

The logic I used was that Bai was a little out of touch with how things worked in the rougher parts of the world, at least that was it intentionally. Then all the other weapons were mentioned. A dagger as a tool, it could be argued, a sling, maybe, blackjacks and knuckle dusters, come on...

Still the fact that one of them ran off in the night and they didn't care, leaving them with things that could, you know, kill us isn't the best idea, is it?

In reply to Bai Kao (msg # 342):

I agree, and I'm glad to see both of us are working logically. I just want to make sure my point is sound.

And yes, the other stuff isn't kosher, hence Vik's reaction when she listed them

If for instance, in this world, knives are not a common thing, if for instance people carry special tools and utensils as a matter of practice (like today) then walking into a public place with an openly worn knife would be a cause for tension if not alarm. And in that case I'll run with Vik speaking from a stance of being a sailor and rough-hand, instead of it being "common" stuff

But yes, disarming the bandits is a good idea, just not one Vik's looking to pursue.

My view of the world is that Knives and even daggers will be fairly common as both tools and daggers - especially in wilderness areas.  It is a long time since I was a Boy Scout and an Army Cadet -  but I had a knife of some sort with me when we were out in even gentle country,  (Actually, is is one of the things I still pack if i am going out long distance walking)

I also  feel that in the rougher areas of the world - most people would have more than one minor weapon with them :)  a sling is little more than a strip of leather, knuckle dusters are an easy way to shift a fist fight in your favour (and shift to lethal damage at the same time) - As for  blackjacks -  well the are bandits after all  (and they are  one of the few non-lethal weapon)

I suspect Vik would have seen something similar aboard ship.

But you are on your own for a while now - it is nearly bedtime for me  :)

Are we sure the wolves didn't eat one of our horses? Or a bandit on the run???

Sorry! I got caught up at work the last couple of days.

Story of my life.

Who ever would have thought that bandits would be mouthy bar-stewards who don't always follow instructions, don't like doing as they are told and aren't nice law abiding people?  :P

So can we retrain our social skills or what? They haven't done a single thing for us.

You may retrain your social skills if you want to. I want you to enjoy your character, and If I don't manage those skills in the way you expected -  that is a reasonable way to go. I am always happy to let characters / players re-jig slightly at first level. However, your social skills have pretty much won these encounters for you - if not in the ways you expected.

Pipre's initial Intimidate  worked on the original bandits - although not quite as you wanted or expected.  Of something like a dozen of the bandits only Happs and one other got an attack off.  The rest were all ran away.

Some of  the second party (who read the tracks) are aware that some of the bandits went back to Kressle -  but some of them also fled west away from the bandit camp - so there were less there when you arrived.  Again due to that intimidate roll.

Once you were in the camp -  Bai's diplomacy backed up by Pipre's comments (and the lingering effect of the intimidate  on the couple who had been at Oleg's)  - made it impossible for Kressle to rally her troops.  They surrendered / came over to your side.  There only two who even made a half hearted attempt to mount an attack on you  (the archers shot deliberately wide)

The bandits have come along looking for a new start - which is what they think they have been offered - and Bai's diplomacy worked again -  by getting Lolli to give over her dagger.   Lolli didn't like it, answered back and didn't do it graciously -  but she did comply.

I suspect that any PC who felt forced into a corner would do pretty much the same thing.  :)

You might not have got complete capitulation or the exact effect you wanted -  but your social skills have actually won the day so far.

Did we get any exp for it?

Yep.   Full encounter XP.

Although that is a bit misleading ATM.   I said earlier that you would all be going up to second level (at the same time) once you had done a bit of exploring.

Once everyone is back at Oleg's - it will be time for everyone to go to level 2.

That also coincides with me going away on a couple of days training which will be followed a couple of days later by a week and a half of vacation.

While I will be on-line over that couple of weeks - it will much less frequently than I normally am. I will also be posting from a tablet -  with and my old, short, fat fingers don't like it anywhere near as much as they do a proper keyboard.

It is also a good time for people who want to post for NPCs to work on those character.  There is some basic guidance in the Character Creation thread -  but I am always happy to talk things through and consider other ideas / plans etc.

By the way, in a movie, Rook or I would lose a hand or a leg to a dire wolf right now...

That thought had crossed my mind .....

I'll do it...

In reply to Aris'ta (msg # 356):

Hahaha, and Cyrus did ask after you and Rook while you were away and we were building up the fire, but your point is valid, we could have yelled more to see where you were.

There has been some discussion recently about social skills and how I have been managing them, and I have given that serious consideration.  This is how I intend to DM social skills in future and why.  It is not a discussion paper.
Diplomacy and Intimidate are powerful skills – but they are not all powerful.

Diplomacy  - a successful Diplomacy check will change a Character’s attitude towards you by one Place -  so from Hostile to Unfriendly or from Unfriendly to Indifferent.  It can be used to get an NPC to fulfil a request, give up some information of follow a particular course of action.  However, the NPCs will still retain their original personality.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/diplomacy

Intimidate – a successful roll to intimidate can:-

• give you information you desire
• take actions that do not endanger it
• offer other limited assistance

Even a brilliant roll doesn’t make an NPC give itself up, when he thinks he might be hung at the end of it.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/intimidate

A single good roll in either of those skills is slightly more powerful than a single good roll when you strike with a sword.  Most of the time, that won’t win a whole encounter or scenario outright, but it will contribute to the outcome.  Even when a social skill does win an encounter, it won’t make the NPCs suddenly become compliant automatons, nor does it give the PC the ability to direct an NPCs actions.  Grumpy and mouthy NPCs will still be grumpy, mouthy, spikey and prickly - they will just be more inclined to listen to you and go along with what you want.

However, I tend to play a wider aspect to these skills as well and let the effects spill over from one NPC to the group or from one encounter to another.  I also take those single rolls into consideration when I decide on the NPCs actions.

Now, if anyone is uncomfortable with that -  then I will allow you to swap/retrain Diplomacy or Intimidate for other skills.  If you feel that kills your character concept -  I am happy to let you create another character with no XP penalty  (ie you create a new L2 character  as the others level up)
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:52, Tue 24 May 2016.

I just wanted to say that I'm very much enjoying the game. I appreciate all the effort and time put in by both the GM and the players.

Awww, me too ;)

Thank you guys.  I am glad you are having fun :)

But now some practicalities.

I leave on a training course shortly - that means I won'y have anywhere near as much access to a computer as I do most days. However, it is only a two day course -  I will be back on Friday, but I have a horrendously busy day at work - as it will be my last day in the office for a while.

On Sunday I leave on a short vacation.  It is a mini-road trip involving a van and campsites - eventually finishing up at a site where I get dressed up in 18th century costume and re-enact smuggling scenes from the 1750s.  All of which means that I will have limited access to the internet -  although I expect to be online (briefly) most days.

On Saturday, I will move you all back to Oleg's and set up some location based threads that you can RP /chat with each other.  Once you are back at Oleg's, the PCs  can advance to level 2 - and you can build / workout any NPCs you want to take over.  (which I hope will keep you amused for a few days until I get back.

I expect to be back home and posting normally again on 7th June.

I'll be gone this weekend, leaving Friday morning and back Sunday night, for a wedding.  I'll try and post from my phone if someone is interacting with me but probably won't initiate any posts.

Also, I'm not sure who claimed any npcs yet, but I'll take one of the two bandits that are not the half-orc if they have not been claimed yet.  I'd prefer the kid over the old man, but either is fine.

Yeah, I wasn't really sure how we'd go about 'calling dibs' I'd hoped to at least get Jack.

On a phone  in class :)

The young bandit is taken
Bai has dibs on jack

The halforc and lolli are quarantine

Who does that leave?  The older bandit and ???

I was working on a sheet for the younger bandit who was branded.

It doesn't really matter too much to me who I use.  I'll go with what I have.  Those that know me from another game probably know I'm usually not lacking in ideas for npcs.  Building character concepts is one of my favorite parts of the game.  Let me know what I have to work with and I'll go from there.  Or if they are all taken I can wait until I start my entourage.

That's better - back on a proper keyboard.

Cyrus has dibs on the Younger bandit at Oleg's
Bai has dibs on (Black) Jack

The half Orc at Oleg's is reserved (as Pipre expressed an interest in some RP with him)
Lolli is reserved for RP with Vik

However, there has been no firm commitment yet about how those two develop.


The older bandit from Oleg's is available
all of those ex-bandits being brought in are available.

There is little (so far) known about any of them -  so there is quite a lot of flexibility in how they can be set up.  I have put some basic rules in the Character Creation thread -  BUT I am open to negotiation -  so long as you stay within the spirit of them having (at least) a short background in banditry.

Oh and by the way, I don't intend for the younger bandit to be a part of Cyrus' entourage, I'd prefer he join up with another party member so I don't end up talking to myself :)

"An Entourage consists of companions, staff, assistants, managers and team members closely associated with the PC- so any one employed as part of a business or a team via the downtime system count against Entourage numbers. However, PCs are encouraged to recruit named NPCs as their immediate companions and assistants."

Can you explain this part a bit more?

We could swap npc's?  By that I mean you play the young bandit who works with me and I play the old bandit who ends up working with you.  That way we both have an npc but are interacting with someone else instead of ourselves.

The way I see it 'the entourage' is just a name for the guys who are part of your character's personal set up - that includes personal assistants, valets, ladys' maids, servants, the staff who run your businesses and anyone else directly associated with a PC.

You can recruit staff using the down time rules - most buildings come with a basic staff, but if you wanted to recruit a squad of soldiers or an apprentice caster there is a fee involved.

Alternately, you can RP an NPC into your entourage for free.

As you go up in levels you can have more people directly associated with you.  These are all different from the Followers and Cohort that you could get from the Leadership feat.

In many respects 'Entourage'  is just a way of getting people to think about the ways they can interact with NPCs and how many NPCS they can call on directly.  As always, I am open to negotiation on numbers, taking extra followers early, using NPCs differently etc tec.

In reply to Zorah (msg # 372):

I am in favour of that  :)   It could (I think) add a lot to the game.