It occurs to me that by dragging Marik into Filimena's encounter with Finneas I've prevented him from becoming involved in his own, parallel encounter, which might be more interesting for him. Oops! Sorry! Didn't really think of that at the time.

Hey, absolutely no worries! Quite interested in this encounter in itself. Marik is confronted to a LOT of conflictual thoughts at the moment. Will be fun to see this play out :D

Sorry for taking a while to reply. Out DM will know this because he follows me on Twitter, but I’m actually in Glasgow in Scotland at the moment for a conference. I didn’t think to mention it because the last time I was at a conference in 2019
I had lots of free time and could check and reply whenever. But at this conference I actually know people and I’ve been going out for dinner and drinks, which I wasn’t expecting to happen. Haha. But I’ll remember to check from now on.

Haha! No worries and enjoy the conference! :D Would love to visit Glasgow eventually. Have a pint for me!

If y'all wanna try a different yet similar game, I just made an Index Card RPG Warpshell (think Farscape) game -- link to another game

Hey I'm going on vacation all next week - Monday thru Saturday - so posting will be slower than usual if at all.

so what's next for Marik and Filimena?  Anything particular y'all wanna go after?

Hmmm.. I had a look through the old threads to see if there were any leads we were supposed to follow up on. I'm sure they're in there somewhere but nothing stood out firmly.

One option is to go back to the church of St Gili to ask about the dwarven key, and the door in the basement. At one point Filimena was curious about looking into that, but Marik pointed out there was the more urgent matter of the storm to look into.

We were also rather concerned about the evil brewing down in the sewers. We don't have much of a lead on that, though. I'm writing this OOC, but it's not hard to imagine that in-character, it would occur to Filimena to speak to some of the city's leaders about goings on in the sewers. They may have an in with Ranaer Buchanan.

Was there anything Marik in particular was keen to do? Again, I'm writing this OOC, but after dragging Marik along on her search for her brother, in-character, Filimena would be quite happy to help Marik out with anything he's interested in.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Tue 29 Nov 2022.

After giving it some thought and although it does pain me to say it, I think we should work toward giving some form of conclusion to Marik and Filimena story. I still do enjoy the game and most of all, I still enjoy the contact with you guys, but I do realize maintaining the game in an enjoyable form is getting harder on my side. Both my professional and personal life have gotten much busier since last year and it's getting hard to keep playing as I like to do, by stretching my roleplaying muscles with longer posts. Since it's getting harder to find the hours to craft an interesting post, it makes writing slower, and then the time between posts makes it harder for me to keep track of what's going on and getting into Marik's head, making it longer to write and yada yada. In short, I think I've gotten into a sort of writing death spiral and I don't think it would be fair to you guys for me to pretend everything is all good. So, in respect for your time (since I know you are both very busy as well) and out of respect for a tale five years in the making, I think we could aim to give a satisfying conclusion to Marik and Filimena story in the months following new year and then, if you'd like, pursue gaming together in another form (maybe an online boardgame party every now and then to drink craft beer and chat together? I'm open to all ideas, I just don't want to lose all contact with you guys if the game was to end). Anyway, tell me what you think.

As for the story, I think I would go for the Illithid, which seems to connect Jzadirune and Titan's gate events in my mind. I realize by now Marik completely overreacted over the very normal-looking magical storm (played too much Frostpunk at that time methink), but I do think there might be some links between the apparition of the portals, the hobgoblin raids from Jzadirune, the gangs in the sewers, the various artifacts found and the presence of the Illithid below the city. In my headcanon, I think it would be great for Marik and Filimena to take care of the Illithid case and then have them in epilogue take care of the tavern, realize they enjoy it and the community, and sunset them there to spend some month to years there before future adventures. Who knows however what's gonna happen :)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Sun 04 Dec 2022.

Our post rate has steadily dropped, while I'd like to keep the game going I definitely understand the pull of real life.

We can wrap this scene and see what's next for our adventurers - perhaps we look to a 1/week post schedule?

Indeed, it feels a shame to draw the game to a close after all these years, but I totally empathise. As the cliché goes, all good things come to an end. It's better that we work together to draw it to a close in a satisfying way, than have the game simply peter off, with no conclusion. And yeah, we can think about doing something else after that.

I'm okay with closing the story looking into the Illithid situation, although I'm a liiitle bit concern about doing that at level 6. Haha.

1 post a week is fine with me too

  Well part of that we can sort current -- welcome to level 7!


Hey Marik did you look at the MCDM Beast Heart?  Not sure if that fits your vision of Marik but could be fun

Weee! I haven't levelled up a character in literally years. Haha. I'll have to do that over the weekend. I don't suppose it'll matter since it's unlikely we'll take a long rest before then. =P

Oh wow Christmas presents! ^^ Uh, no, haven't seen Beast Heart!? Haven't quite kept up with the latest development at D&D. Is it good? Should I buy it? :D

And yes, 1 post a week should be good :)

Happy Holidays y'all!

Happy holidays! Stay safe and may the new year brings load of tiny, small, medium, large, huge and gargantuan joys in both your lives :D

Hello! Hope y'all had a great Christmas!

It was good to not work for a while.  Wife got me a 2023 journal, fountain pen, and Arcon: City of Neon Daylight a system agnostic cyberpunk setting book.

I'm starting a Dungeon23 (well City23) in the new year - basic idea is use a weekly journal to do 7 rooms/week of a megadungeon and each month you start a new level. The idea has taken off like crazy it seems.   I'm going to do a city cause that feels like more fun to me.

Happy New Year!!!

2023!!!!!

Haha. To be honest, I'm not sure where we're headed with this dialogue. I don't think Filimena really has a goal in mind anymore. She accepts her brother is leaving, but is grateful for the opportunity to have caught up with him finally, and to learn that he's okay. At some point when the conversation starts to taper off, she will propose keeping in touch by mail, and reiterate her offer the use of Snakeskull Manor as a kind of base, but that's about it.

Happy 2023!


Reconnecting to the forum after a few days off (and thinking finally about the new level up!). My holidays time have been overtaken entirely by beercrafting and multiple attempts with friends at making the city survive in the Frostpunk board game I finally received (3 Success, One close and one explosive failure). Your Dungeon23 looks quite fun DM! Been an eternity since I did anything looking like a mega dungeon. Maybe should try out that idea (Working on rousing my motivation to prep games again, which has been in deep sleep these few months).

Question: for my new 2nd lvl spell for Marik: Will probably take Magic weapon (from Tasha Guide). Just for the lolz though wondering if Zephyr Strike could also work on Rani since she's like my legs and we are soul-bonded (so close to casting on self) XD. The idea of riding a zooming cat hitting like a freight train on charges and not provoking opportunity attacks is quite appealing. Would conflict with Hunter's Mark tho as a concentration spell, so I probably won't take it anyway, but just wondering.

Tried to go check the BeastHeart on MCDM but seems there is a problem with my account at the moment (tried resetting the password but can't get in). Would you mind copying me in DM the section on the Ferocity mechanic just so I can check it out?


Zephyr Strike
A spell from Xanathar's Guide To Everything
Transmutation

Level: 1
Casting time: 1 Bonus Action
Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You move like the wind. Until the spell ends, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
Once before the spell ends, you can give yourself advantage on one weapon attack roll on your turn. That attack deals an extra 1d8 force damage on a hit. Whether you hit or miss, your walking speed increases by 30 feet until the end of that turn.

Don't think the self cast on Zephyr Strike counts to animal companions but I'll investigate

[edit] the PHB Beastmaster gets Share Spells at level 15


While UA Beast Enclave Ranger does not rather it gets Superior Beast’s Defense



I think the way we can play this is that you can cast self spells on Rani OR yourself but not both of you -- sound good?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:30, Tue 10 Jan 2023.

Interesting. Thanks DM! In that case, I think Zephyr Strike might be more useful (and fun to play!). The single attack and dash could be a nice option for a strong charge or getting out of dodge. And the concentration effect of no opportunities attack could make a hit-and-run melee fight style viable for Marik and Rani should the bow not be a good option.

Plus I finally get to try that spell after years of seeing it in the PHB and none of my players ever taking it. XD


OOC: Geez, didn't expect the golden age of 5e to be over that soon. Well done executives of WOTC T_T . Well, at least, yay for the galore of new play systems to follow.

To be honest, I've been quite over 5e for a while. I have nothing against it. I just think it's rather restrictive as a story-telling system. Sometimes that restrictiveness actually helps. Other times it doesn't. But all the people I play with enjoy 5e, and since being a DM for experienced players who know the rules and can regulate themselves means I can be pretty hands-off as far as rules go, it's not really a problem for me. But this whole episode lends impetus for me to try and move on. I actually suspect the whole OGL debacle is over-played. I'm not sure WOTC have as much legal control over the system as everybody seems to think they do. Copyright and Trademark are both far more limited legal instruments than lay people give them credit for. But in any case... Why should we be so comfortable with one rule system having so much sway over our hobby?

In reply to Filimena the Gentle (msg # 805):

Well said and fully agree. As a DM, I also still enjoy the 5e system because me and my friends have played a long time with it, and it feels easy like old slippers to slip in. But this situation might give just the momentum that was needed for me to make my friends try other systems, at least for fantasy settings. I've also felt burned out to prep D&D session for a while, so I might use the opportunity to cleanse my palate and run some Call of Chulthu or Eclipse Phase again.