Ok, here we go...
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:48, Sat 16 June 2007.

Either of you know of a good player on your posting pace who might take over the Rand PC? I like the PC, frankly, wish I were a player in Chult with him, but this ratio of Rand to you guys of 1:20 won't do.

 sorry, not off hand.

ok, it's not 1:20.  It's 1:8 in the last three weeks or so...Sunday it'll be three weeks.  But he last 'checked in' on the 10th, and didn't respond to the PMs I'm sending him.  He told me that he's busy...but we're all busy.  There's a limit.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:43, Sat 16 June 2007.

 points a fork at Ynvaar, better step out there or you will miss supper. )

Minor glitch..heh heh...two days...heh...Be right there.

Sorry about the confusion about the dawn/night

the closer that one gets to the equator, the more vertically the sun rises, so comparatively, the shorter the dawn/dusk periods.  So when I wrote pre-dawn, i was envisioning the dark before the dawn; that in 'real time' it's Mid-November and so sunrise is, say, 6:17; but it starts to get light at 5:37.  However, in Neverwinter, sunrise is at 9:46 - but it starts to get light a full 1:20 before - at 8:20.  So here in Chult, it's still dark - but dawn is coming soon.

I'v seen posts recently from Rand and Grmo...but where is Ynvaar?

I'll be posting this afternoon.  Checked in yesterday, but didn't have the time to make a proper post.

Ynvaar's the problem at the moment.  He outstrips you two by like 20 levels, so it's hard for me to NPC him for a long time.  I'll try, though....

so post Rand, but both of you know that he's kinda awol.

OK - next few days I'm travelling.  I expect to be able to check in once a day...or so.  No promises, but I'll check here first.

happy 4th.

 You too, spent the xp, getting close to lvl ).

will do!  Also, Rand, Grom - if you have any DM XP, this is a good place for it.

Can someone refresh my memory on DM xp?  I do not recall ever spending this, or even knowing about it to be honest.

If you are a DM, you get an XP stipend to apply to your character under certain circumstances.  If you're not a DM, you can get DMXP for your birthday, for helping out with transcribing feats et al to the RoA OCC page, etc.

No worries, just thought I'd thrrow it out there.

Also, to clarify:

This place you're at now is an evil temple.  Rand, you suspect it, Ynvaar's comment should make that clear in your head.  Grom, that stone infront of the statue is the standard sacrificial altar.  Before your PCs go anywhere, investigate it, and that'll make it all clear.  Don't just glance at it from across >a very unusual clearing perhaps 250 feet actoss at the widest, but kinda oval shaped<
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:30, Fri 06 July 2007.

ok, i need a day to get to my notes; i fly back today, will get my computer from the shop tomorrow, and post tomorrow night.

cool?

Sounds good, anyone word from Ynvaar?

Stuk in layover hell; no word from Ynavaar...he's an RPOL old-timer, so he get more slack to not even bother to respond with a 'yo, i'm out' or anything.  clock is ticking, and I'm NPCing, so we'll see.  Post tomorrow or next, we'll see.

 Waiting for Ynvaar.[Private to DM fbaker4: Am i suppose to attempt to lure the hawk down?.]

[Private to Grom Ironaxe: Why?  Is the Hawk special?  Is it trying to tell you something?]Me too.  Apparently, he's RoA royalty; i've been officially discouraged from DNFing him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:52, Sun 15 July 2007.

 Umm, no, wondered if it might have been something to do with my familer we had talked about?.

 Ynvaar is what?. wonder if he is in the national guard or something, though as fast as he quit posting, i have to think it is more then that. He got sick or his machine crashed?.

I heard his wife had a baby?  But like...3 weeks ago.  I have had two since joining RPOL...it's not easy, and some people have a hard time making the adjustment...but still, he could answer a PM...

and lol. yes, the hawk does have more than something to do with your familiar.  Ynavarr's really holding things up...

Hold on a sec...I think something might shift...

Init, please.  and first actions; they're only a round or two or three away from impact...who know how fast wyvrens move?  <shrug> can you make it to the jungle?  do you dare?  or stand and fight...?

Amy i right in thinking that the reflex save for entangle would have been 20?  'Cause we're about to start R3, & the wyv goes first...

 the Entangle spell has a dc 20 str check,dc 20 escape artist to escape after being caught. if you rolled a dc 20 reflex save then you are not caught but can only move at half speed (unless it flys i would guess) if on the ground it would need to save every time till its out of the area of effect.

gotcha; yes I have the mobile wyvren taking to the air to attack; luckily, Rand x5 makes for more targets, but we'll see.

I owe you both, terribly, and feel a keen debt.  I apologize again for the misunderstanding that has plagued me these last few days, and I look forward to a speedy and successful resolution...but I cannot promise that the Norns will turn.  For now, I am like Donne's Continental clod...

Ok, it's kinda stretching the metaphor, but I'm targeting tonight as a real post for a change as opposed to...what i've been doing.  Still no word from Ynvaar either - almost two months now.

I leave for vacation, my first one in 8 years, on Monday.  I'll be back the 17th.  I should have net access while I am away if so I'll pop in.

 Grats, i think its time you took a vacation.

Just to let you know that in addition to my other problem, I'm having a lot of internet difficulties.  I think someone near me is splicing into my wi-fi and taking down a lot of bandwidth, so it shouldn't take too long to fix, esp. if I'm right.

 Peeks over the fence, "whats up?"

fbaker4 has chosen to discontinue DMing for RoA, as he found himself incapable of being polite, patient and getting along with and tolerating others.

We are glad for his loss, but sorry for yours. We shall of course seek to find you guys a new DM if you wish to stay and wait. If you wish to go with fbaker4, please let us know here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:15, Mon 20 Aug 2007.

I must admit I did not see this coming.  I hope I was not one of the reasons he decided to leave.  I know we had some posting regularity issues at times, but I enjoyed his dm'ng style and felt very very informed.

I will be sticking around to see what comes of this.  Things were starting to get interesting.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Mon 20 Aug 2007.

It had nothing to do with you guys, and everything to do with fbaker4.

It seems that fbaker4 has decided to create his own game and invited you to join him there.

I've put up the ads to find a DM for Chult for those who wish to stay.

Hello again, gentlemen.

I've volunteered to pick Chult back up for lots of reasons.

My question though is this, after the way I left you hanging when RL waylaid me, are you willing to allow me to come back?

 - jim

 For myself, i have no problem, if your in a position to run it for awhile.
Seems we lost our big cleric/tank Ynvaar since you had to drop off, not sure what happened to him, so we are short a wee bit in muscle, dont think my ranger can handle some of the big monsters in chult.

*nods* Sadly, I do know at least part of what happened to him.  He was having major service issues with his ISP and essentially told them to sod off, but wasn't having much luck finding another in his area the last time DM Windwalker talked to him.

I haven't heard an update in a week or two, though she had said she'd call him this past weekend.

Top that off with the fact that his wife just had a baby, and he's probably been more than a bit busy.

For now I'll either NPC him or write him out in such a way that we can bring him back in if/when he turns back up.

Also, Chult now seems to be in two groups, and I'll need to find some way to merge them into one at some point, though I'll be picking up both to start out with for continuity reasons.

Welcome back, Jim.  No hard feelings here about having to bow out before.  Water under the bridge as far as I am concerned.

Sorry for what I hope is our last significant delay.

I've been trying to get up to speed on the group that I knew almost nothing about, since I already was familiar with both of you.

I've now pulled a copy of your thread so that I can catch up with what's happened since my departure, and I should get a post out for you tomorrow.

*sighs* OK, I lied.  I forgot to pick up my memory key that had the file on it this morning.  I had planned to just read through and put something together tonight, but after finishing my reading and seeing (with horror) where we are, I'm going to need a bit more time to regroup and figure out what's up.

This looks like it's designed as a 'kill everybody' type of encounter, and I really don't want to follow it through to its logical conclusion.  With a full party of four or five, I'd still hesitate to toss this pair of beasties at you.

I'll have to do some design work and probably scale the wyverns down to youngsters or something, but I'll get it all together and back to you tomorrow night.

A last note before I crash for the evening:

Since I'm looking for ways to combine the two groups anyway, would you like to see what the other group is up to, let them see what you're up to, and get to know a little bit about each other to ease the meld when it comes?  All I'd have to do is flag all the characters for access to both groups.

I trust everyone to keep player/PC knowlege separate, and to post to your own threads, but I'm not going to just flip the switch without player approval.

 Hmm, if it will make it easier for you then i am ok to start blending the posts, i just hope i dont get confused, which shouldnt happen.

I am easily confused, but I can keep Rand from knowing more than he should.  Flip away!

Thank you, gents.  I'll check in a few and see if the other group is as agreeable, and if so I'll make the change sometime this evening.  There are really good players in both groups.  I'm looking forward to getting everyone together... now I just have to figure out HOW, since you're essentially on opposite sides of the penninsula.

In the meantime, I'm working on a combat post and getting ready to move forward.

I think I'm going to take this chance to write Ynvaar out as well, though I'm going to just move him 'off screen' and leave him in the active player list, rather than killing him off.  I'd really love to see him come back soon.

Besides, doing it the way I have in mind will also help me bring this combat back into something closer to balance.

Now, to clear up some things that it looks like fbaker4 was taking care of in PM's that I can't get to and catch up on that way. (I really don't like PM's for just that reason.)

Grom, the hawk is coming for you?  I'm assuming animal companion, correct me if I'm wrong.

Either of you, did you touch or fiddle with something shortly before the wyverns showed up that might explain their presence?  Maybe something on the altar that doesn't appear in the visible threads?

 yes, He didnt say for sure but we had talked about my ranger getting a animal companion, and the hawk was what i had wanted.

Sounds good.  We'll get him worked in soon.  If you want to call him down at a time when you think you need help, feel free.

Hello!  I am dropping by to introduce myself, I am playing in DM Jim's Chult 2 campaign, and I hear we are to be combined soon, so Jim suggested we get to know one another.

Balrok is a Barbarian/Fighter dwarf, treasure hunter/debt collector, along with his twin brother Ovi.  We have been playing for awhile, but things were slow with all of the drama around here, so we are still only level 3.  Currently we are trackign down some miners in the Chult who supposedly have stolen a shipment of emeralds Ovi and I were supposed to collect.  I think we have a total of 4 active players in our group--Balrok, Ovi (rogue), Nikola (ranger), and Candlewick (divine caster).

How about the rest of you?  It looks like you have 2 people, unless I am missing something.  And at least one of you is apparently a Wheel of Time fan....

 Hola, aye, at the present time we have two players left in the game.
Grom dwarven ranger 5th and Rand (iam guessing a bard or mage type) he can cast arcane spells, we are missing a good role playing cleric call Ynvaar, not sure if he will be back or not.

 We had been hired by a mage to race another group to a ancient temple, deep in the jungle. At the present time we are busy playing tag with a couple of Wyverns.

 Rand is a native, Grom is not, he is here to find out if the reports of dwarfs who live above ground are true, living like savages, if so he wanted a chance to straighten up about the "Proper way" of being a dwarf.(living underground)

I can also tell from your striking picture that Grom is a handsome fellow. ;)  Good to meet you.

I'll hold a bit longer for Rand; the wyverns are waiting. ;-)

And besides, I'm having a devil of a time keeping a steady connection to rpol tonight for some reason.

Rand is a battle sorcerer.  A little light on both spells and a steady sword arm, but I am trying to make the best out of the class.  And for those who hadn't guessed it I am the Wheel of Time fan.  Great book series I happened across 2 years ago.  I managed to read the first 10 books and the prequel novel before book 11 came out.  Can't wait for the 12th book to come!

Yes, they are good books.  I have read them all as well.  Unfortunately Robert Jordan might not be able to finish Book 12, he has a terminal illness.  I think his doctors have told him he has 5 years or less to live.  Sad.

Anyway, it feels very odd for me to call your character Rand (al'Thor); it would be sort of like calling you "Harry Potter", or calling Grom "Glimli".  My character will probably come up with a nickname for you instead. :)

 Good books are always good to read, even again.
The ones i have read several times is by Elizabeth Moon, a trilogy called "the Deed of Paksenarrion". Some of my friends like some dont. I did enjoy it.

 Another was a older set by Robinson, Guardians of the Flame.

I haven't read either of those series.  Perhaps I will look into them!

Rand, did you have an action that I've missed somewhere?  I can't find anything for you, and since you're down to two, I really don't want to NPC for you in this combat.  If I've missed it (entirely possible), just point my blindness out without laughing too much, please.

If not, fire (or stab) when ready.

Sorry for the delay.  I needed to look something up in one of my books and didn't have it a friend was borrowing it.  And instead of letting you know what was going on I left you in the dark.

No worries.  Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something that you'd already sent me.

Oh, I almost forgot, I wanted to pass on some news from the DM's Lounge.

DM Windwalker talked to Vallah/Ynvaar a day or two ago, and while he's still without an ISP after some sort of service problems made him punt his last one, he's still working on it and hopes to be back fairly soon.  He even asked specifically that Ynvaar not be killed off, so I'm hoping my idea of soon and his idea of soon match fairly well. :-)

 That sounds good. we need the big ox back again.

Nice to hear he's thinking about us too.

I'm going to be out of town the rest of the week, and may or may not have access.  If I don't post for a couple of days, you know I didn't.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to toss out a couple of quick posts in and around finishing packing.

Hey Grom, looks like our groups are going to meet soon, from the portals on both threads.  I thought maybe we could try to forge some sort of a connection.

I understand your guy is from the Great Rift.  Ovi and I are originally from the Sword Coast area, but we spent a long time in the Great Rift working for the Temple of Vergadain there.  The Temple of Vergadain often sends out people to collect dwarven debts, to keep trade routes clear, to get revenge on bandits that steal dwarven stuff--basically anything associated with keeping the wheels of dwarven commerce runnnig freely.

Do you think we could connect up somehow there?  Maybe Ovi and Balrok know you somehow?  What did your character do in the Great Rift before he became an adventurer, or before you started ROA at level 3?  Did you perhaps guard the borders of the Great Rift?  If so, maybe we even went on a few missions together to oust some minor bandits or something.

Dwarf communities are pretty close knit, even big ones, so I think it would be perfectly realistic if we had at least met.  At that point it would be a "Holy crap, I know this dwarf!" type of moment, instead of a, "Holy crap, more random adventurers!  They look pretty cool--want to go explore Chult together?" type of moment.  If that makes any sense.

 Hola, Grom spent time near the Great rift, working as a guide/hunter in the wilds, hence if your contracts were to put you in the wilds then he could have been one of your guides in tracking down bandits etc.

 He has come to Chult upon hearing that there were dwarves living like goblins, living above ground, the idea that the whole clan of dwarves would give up their ancestors desire to live underground and live in the Jungle is wrong, so he has come to see if he can maybe talk to them about going back to the proper dwarven way of life.

From the look of their portraits, they must be long-lost identical twins...

Yes, Grom is obviously a handsome fellow!  Is anyone good with Paintshop?  If someone could manage to stick an eyepatch on this portrait, I would submit it and switch to it, then you could tell us apart easier. :)

Grom, that sounds good.  How about we say that Ovi and Balrok were sent to help track down and eliminate some bandits that were stealing from dwarven caravans on the trade roads near the Great Rift.  They were operating out of the wilderness so you were our guide.  It took us about a month to track down and exterminate all of them, because after we first hit their camp they split up and ran.  Balrok was very impressed with your tracking skills, and picked up some wilderness lore from you during the month "campaign" [so you trained me in some of my Survival ranks].  And maybe you thought Ovi and I were pretty keen dwarfs as well.

You would probably know that Ovi and Balrok's true love is treasure-hunting and ruins, and we probably talked a lot about the Chult during the month-long campaign, since there is a rumor that powerful magic hid a lost dwarven temple of Vergadain deep jungles.  We studied up on Chult for that and prepared for coming down here for a long time.  Perhaps Ovi was the one who originally told you tales of those uncouth, surface-living jungle dwarfs?

How does that sound?

 it works

I was hoping for a more enthusiastic endorsement, but I will take what I can get!

I think it's a fantastic story!

My wife's out of town all this week, and I was really hoping that I'd have more time to play, but both of my girls are having nervous fits with their mom gone, so I'm barely able to get to a computer.

I'm still trying, but it's looking like it's going to be a tough week.

Good luck, sounds like you are going to need it.  Thanks for the update.

So far so good tonight.  Let' hope it holds.

I'm going to be out of town through Sunday evening.

Sorry folks.  I came back sick from my trip.  The last two days I've finished work, come home, and collapsed into bed.  I'm on the mend tonight, so I'm trying to get posts done.

Let me know if I'm making less sense than usual (if that's possible).

Sorry, it's been a bit hectic around here.  If I read Jim's post correctly I am with the wyrven body.  Am I correct?

 umm, one would hope your with us at the sound of the drums.

You're with them at the sound of the drums.

Sorry, the native Chultan I was talking about was the one they'd found in the camp.  The one whose son was taken by the Kuro.

I'm going to leave you to discuss your options for a bit longer.

In the meantime, let me know what you like for your RoA birthday gifts, if you haven't already.

What do you all think--I was thinking of getting a +1 enchant on my Dwarven Waraxe (2k), and a Crystal of Life Drinking, Least (400 gp) (drains 1 life each time you do damage with the weapon, healing you (max 10 per day); next one up is 1.5k so a little out of the price range).

Open to any better ideas!

Those look fine to me.  Just so we're on the same page about what the crystal does though, it doesn't drain anything extra from your foes (in game terms), it just heals you for one point of damage per hit, up to a max of 10 points per day.

For the moment, I'm just going to leave you to your planning on the IC side of things unless you need me to clarify anything you can see or hear that might help you decide.  If so, just ask what you think I've missed.

Yes, exactly.  Thank you for clarifying.  Actually, thinking about it further, I might go with something else for thematic reasons.  I would like to do a Crystal of Energy Assault, Fire Assault -- adds 1 point of fire damage to each weapon attack.  Cost of 600 gp.  So total cost would now be 2.6k gp.

Jim, do you prefer to try to work these items in somehow within the game, or can we just add them to our sheet?  Especially since I would be enchanting my current dwarven waraxe--that seems like it would be hard to work in.  No visible difference so no big deal to say it was just enchanted all along, and I could just pull the crystal out of my backpack.

That's fine too.

For this game, let's just go ahead and add them in if there's any conceiveable way you could have smuggled them in on your person or just discovered something new about your gear.

It will take too long for us to find and integrate new stuff, and you may need it if your 'sneaky' plan fails to survive contact with the enemy.

Uh oh, cryptic DM warning about a plan idea!  Red alert!  Red alert!  :)

Thanks, Jim.  I will alter my character sheet.

I am also going to post up a semi-OOC post on the in-character thread summing up our plan choices so far, so we can make a decision and not hold up the show!

In case it isn't clear in-game, Nikolai's talking about plan #3

Cool, thanks.

Jim, if you get the chance, can we scout around a little for a defensible position/ambush spot?  If there isn't anything good that might affect our decision-making processes.

Anyone else have comments on plan choices?

 Very quiet out there, wonders if the goblins are sneaking up on him?.

*chuckles evilly*

;-)

 Me thinks the kobalds have snuck up on us, while we watch the front they are standing behind us with notes that say "kick me".

Nope, those are pointy sticks...

Now, back to our program. ;-)

 Hmmm, looking at Ovi's roll's in his last post, i think maybe he is stealing all the good rolls. )

Yes indeed!

Ovi has a high bluff. Maybe he's just making everyone think he made high rolls.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Tue 20 Nov 2007.

I'm going to be out most of this week.  The company I work for got bought out, so we're on 12 hour shifts all seven days this week getting ready for the changeover inventory.  By the time I get in, I'm essentially toast.  I'll do what I can, but don't expect much.

Welcome to capitalism :)

Good luck!  We can wait, no worries.

The deal's signed and official, inventory's over, and I'm almost back to normal.

I'm going to wait one more night on this game though, as my eyes are already blurring.  Sorry again, but I did want to keep people posted.

Tomorrow, though, I'm going to move Ovi to a separate thread, so if the rest of you want to start planning (or even posting) actions for the kuro attack, that's the way we're headed.

I don't remember if I'd asked for initiatives already.  If I didn't, go ahead and roll them now.  If I did, I'll find them tomorrow.

Rand?  Any action before the kuro arrive?  Getting behind the front line, maybe?

;-)

Ovi? Did you see the thread I set up for you and the woman?  You've been incredibly lucky so far.  Want to see how long it lasts?

Ovi has a way with the ladies!

Nope, I don't see that thread.

 Hmmm, seeing the Kuro stall as they gather their forces, Grom will stand up and do the Macarana ), LOL.

 Sits down on the barricade making faces at the Kuro.

 orders a pizza and some bread sticks.

Leads the Kuro in a conga line around the opening.

*laughs*

Sorry, folks.  December has been horrible.  Between the changeovers at work and the usual Christmas insanity, I've failed horribly at keeping things moving here.

Ovi, your thread for the combat with the lady should be in place now.  I had it flagged for the wrong group.

I have two little girls to go feed at the moment, then I'll be back to post here.

Merry Christmas, all!
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Mon 31 Dec 2007.

I'll get my post up today.  We haven't had time to rest since the last battle, have we?

Nope, no rest for the weary.

I'm really starting to hate holidays, but a belated Happy New Year to all!

Sorry for the absence but the holidays have been hectic with traveling to visit family.  Thanks for NPC'ng me.

No worries, Rand.  Hope things are smoothing out for you, and that I got somewhere close to an action you would have considered.

You're up again, if you'd like to act this round.

Ovi, I can't believe either your luck or my luck on the dice roller.  Every time I think your rolls are pitiful, but I go roll anyway (just in case) mine are worse.  You really ought to be a pincushion by now, if the 'laws' of statistics were worth anything. *shrugs*  We'll just roll along and see what happens. :-)

Haha, I was kind of surprised by the reaction he received as well. :)

 I think you might just charm that bounty hunter yet, keep at her. )

Rand?

Last call, or I'll have to NPC something for you.

Folks, I will be on holiday 'till Sunday 9th Feb, please NPC Nikolai if necessary DM Jim.

Grom, I think you've already used your entangle spell for today.

You used it to fight the wyvern, and I don't think there's been a night's rest since then, unless I've forgotten something.

 Hmm, knew i had used one to trap the wyvern, but had it in my mind we rested enough to recover if not then i will change the post.

No rest, I think.  We came out of the portal after your fight with the wyvern and took off after the boy/kuro.

 Ok, post corrected.

Question:  Could Candlewick use the back end of his long spear as a crappy club?  I'd like him to get into position J7 so that he can use Aid Another on Balrok.

... and Flank!!

Candlewick, sure.  For Aid Another or flanking, you're essentially just providing a distraction, so a stick of any kind should work for that.

DM Jim, I just got back from holiday and noticed your game post. I did remind you in my last post but you must have missed it - Nikolai's animal companion, Korlab the doggie, is standing guard at the bottom of the tree those two Kuro are about to climb...

*nods* I'd remembered that over the weekend, but I haven't been able to get any kind of stable connection to rpol all week.

Feel free to roll attacks for the doggie, or I'll roll them myself if I get a chance to resolve actions before you get to it.

Rpol sent a message out that they know they have a problem with connections, seems they are getting over a million hits in prime time. They are working on it was their quote.

*nods* I'd seen that.  I hope they get it straightened out soon.

In the meantime, I have the flu, which has good points and bad points.  One of the good ones is that I have some time for posts at times when I'm normally busy, so maybe their server traffic won't be an issue.  One of the bad points is that my head really hurts, so I have to work in fits and stops.

At the start of this week, I'd finally gotten around to cleaning up and editing all of the character sheets for this game so that I can read them and actually know what's going on and what you can do.

Over the next day or so, I'm going to get them all moved over to the boards.  I got Balrok's taken care of at the start of the week before server problems left me too frustrated to try any more.  In all cases, the last thing I do before I paste in the new one is to save off the one that's currently there to a Word .doc.  If you need to double check something that I've done, just ask; I'm human and sometimes make mistakes too.  Most of what I've done is to just clean up formatting and finish out missing details.

The new sheets will have a section at the top for expendables (hp, etc), please use them.  Also, some will have questions that need to be answered.  You can answer those here or in PM's, or just by editing the parts of your sheet that I'm asking about.  Once you've answered them, feel free to cut them out.  I'm sticking to the RoA format, other than adding some color tags to make sections easier to find.

Sorry, folks.  Got hit with the flu late Saturday, felt halfway decent Sunday, and have spent the rest of this week going to work hopped up on meds just so I can function, then coming home and basically collapsing.

I've tried to get online a couple of nights, but this is the first evening that I've felt like doing anything at all.

I've done some games, but I'm out of steam.  I'll try to catch up sometime this weekend.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:11, Sat 23 Feb 2008.

I need to see if Ovi's going to join in before I move forward.

 So where we at?.

I know Ovi has been really busy in RL.  I will talk to him at some time tomorrow, I am sure, and will try to remember to ask him about the boards.

No real worries.  I was swamped all weekend long myself.

I'll give him until tomorrow night and then NPC him dithering around outside.

I talked to Ovi.  He is extremely busy this week and is out of town starting tomorrow.  He says to go ahead and NPC him, and he will get to the boards as soon as he can.

I can't remember how much of this I've already said on which games, so I'll cover it all for the sake of completeness.  If I'm duplicating, please forgive me.

For some reason, last week, my blood pressure really spiked, giving me blinding headaches.  It was almost like all of my meds that I take for it just stopped working.  I finally got into the doctor's office on Friday, and he shuffled my meds around, upping one and adding one.  It's taken all weekend for the new meds to even touch it, and today's the first day in a week that I've gotten through work without pain meds for my headaches.  I still feel like I've been beaten though.

Part of what the doctor suggested is that I slow down some.  He says I'm too stressed (go figure...)  I'm going to take the rest of this week off of everything except work and church.  I took the last two days of last week off even from those.

I'll be back to all of my games on Monday 3/17 (St. Paddy's own blessed day).  For those games where I'm GMing, sorry for the delays, both last week's largely silent one and this week's.  Please bear with me.

For those games where I'm playing, please feel free to NPC me however is needed to keep things moving along.

 - jim

Feel better, Jim!  Don't worry about us.

I'm back, but various things have taken longer than I expected, so I'm not going to get a real post out here.  I'll be back tomorrow.

For the long term, I'm going to be trimming back a couple of my games if I can find replacement DM's.  This is the only one I'm definitely wanting to keep, but as long as I'm looking, I wanted to give you all the option of saying if you want to try for a more reliable DM than I've been lately.

If you want a change, just speak up.  You won't hurt my feelings.  If you're good as is, just say so, or keep quiet.  This is one of those cases where silence will be taken as an assent.

I'm good as is. Thanks for keeping us posted, Jim.

Jim,

I am good!  And you post more often than most DMs, in my experience.  Thanks for DMing for us.

 Np here, iam in at least till me comp quits. )

I second the above emotions :)

Thanks guys.

And Grom, good luck with that computer.

I'm also going to take this chance to write Rand out.  He hasn't signed on since January.  If he turns back up, he can always wander back in out of the jungle.

This is not really a timely question, but when we got the last ROA gift I spent it as follows:

LOG OF THINGS
- Added 3,000 gp for ROA gift.
- Enchanted Mwk Waraxe to +1 (2k)
- Purchased Crystal of Energy Assault, Fire Assault (Least) 600 gp.

That leaves 400 gp.  What do we do with the "change"?  Do we get it as plat, or do we have to spend it as items, or do we lost it?

I have a similar log to Balrok's, also not timely:

LOG OF THINGS
- Added 3,000 gp for ROA gift.
- Enchanted Mwk Spiked Chain to +1 (2k)
- Purchased Crystal of Energy Assault, Lightning Assault (Least) 600 gp.

Let's see.  Officially, any 'change' is lost.  However, you're allowed up to one item per level, so since each of you has only two items, you can roll it into one other minor item each... maybe a potion or something.

Candlewick?  Do you have an action for this round?  I see that you're logging in.

Also, if I can do anything to help improve the game for you (other than getting myself well enough for regular posts), feel free to let me know either here or by PM.

Oh, I didn't know it was the next round already ><.  Yeah, I'll post something ^^.

Sorry folks.  I know it's been a while. On the plus side, with my new glasses, I don't have a headache today, for the first time in what seems like forever.

I'm still fighting with the SQL errors, but I have a bit more patience and seem to be able to work through them.

I think I'm back on a regular basis, but I've spent this evening getting caught back up.  I'll be back tomorrow with a post.

No probs DM Jim, take your time. We're still here :)

Agreed.

Good fight.  XP should be up shortly, including posting/patience xp for January through March.

Thanks!  How do you do level ups?

Your choice.

You can just tell me what changes (by PM if you like) and I'll change your sheet, or you can make the updates to your sheet yourself.

Either way, just let me know when you're done/ready, and I'll check things over.

I guess I meant, do we need to wait until we get to town or anything, or can we just do it on the fly?

DM Jim, are all the kuro dead?? I thought there were a couple still to deal with...

All of the kuro are dead.

Since the combat's over, you can go ahead and level up if you made your level.
By my records that should be Balrok and Ovi.

OK, thanks.  I will try to do that today then.

I believe my character is now all updated to Level 4.  Just for recordkeeping purposes, I did the following:

• Took level 2 Barb (so now Fighter 2/Barb 2).
• Rolled a 7 on HP (out of 12), added 4 to that for Con, raised my current and max HP by 11.
• Added one stat point to my Con, so it is now 19 (no additional benefit; old DM made me lower it from a 19 Con at level 1 down to 18 at level 1).
• Gained 6 skill points (4 class, 2 int).  Spent 1 on Survival, 1 on Intimidate, and 4 on Healing (cross class for 2 ranks).
• Upped my BAB and saves.

I think that covers it.

Updated Ovi to level 4. Here are the changes made:

* Took second level as a fighter (Rogue 2/Fighter 2)
* Rolled a 5 on HP (out of 10), added 2 for con bonus to raise my max HP by 7
* Added one stat point to my Dex, so it is now 16. Increased relevant Dex-based skills and abilities (e.g., AC) by 1
* Gained 4 skill points (2 class, 2 int). Spent 2 points to raise Open lock by 1 (cross class), Spent 2 points to raise Tumble by 1 (cross class)
* Upped BAB and saves
* Added Feat "Combat Reflexes" as the bonus feat for Fighter level 2.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Sat 19 Apr 2008.

 I dont know but i would have Ovi check his pockets considering he has been with that sneaky gal there. )

I can just see it - all four of us gathered around the dying dog while a bunch of kuro sneak out from the trees and can't belive their luck ;)

 Naw, Groms trying to follow the tracks of the human mage we saw.

I think that human is with the chick following Ovi.  I don't know where I got that idea, though, so I am not saying so.  It might have been from the Ovi thread and Balrok wouldn't know it.

 So, where is the game at this time?, we dont seem to be blazing new trails?.

Still here and working on getting back on track.

On that front, I did get a new toy recently that may help some.  I now have internet access from my phone for a fairly reasonable price, and a phone with a keyboard that borders on usable.  I still can't run a combat from there, but I've been playing with it for the last couple of days, and I think I can do most other posts from there.  So, now I can check throughout the day and get most things taken care of early, saving my evenings for the complicated stuff.

Let's see if that helps.

Hmm, didn't we burn the kuro last time?  I can't remember ... ><

Yes, you did.  You left the elderly Chultan from the mining camp tending the fire.

Hello all!

 Howdy.

Daledin, no offense dude, I see what you are trying to do and you are putting a lot of work into your dialog.  Your character though is suspicious and annoying (the latter of which I at least assume is your goal).

I know you are in a bad spot.  It's hard to get intro'd in the middle of the jungle.  As it is, though, you aren't giving us much to work with.  You snuck up on us, haven't really given us a straight answer as to why, and now you are talking down to the elf (who really is in all likelihood older than you, unless you started with age modifiers to statistics, which I didn't think was allowed in ROA), telling Balrok IC or OOC (I can't figure out which) that he couldn't hit you with an axe, and on and on.

At this point Balrok would leave your character to his fate, if I were really playing him truthfully.  I am not good aligned.  I am neutral.  Your guy is suspicious, appearing out of nowhere for no good reason, and doesn't seem to be a team player.  Balrok would think he would be more likely to get us killed in the jungle than assist us.

Can you give us something to work with?  Maybe start being polite to everyone, apologize for sneaking up on us, and maybe tell us what you do that's useful?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Tue 03 June 2008.

OOC: (Just to be clear)

Beginning note: Anything I do In Charcter is in the game thread. He only says what is in "Purple." Otherwise it was not said in character. Even if in PM. (how is this for an engineer Gnome?)

Since I have to run to the doctors now I will make a quick list. I hate to make a list, but it looks like he will not be accepted IC. Bet if he was hafling everyone would be playing along. But if you really think your group is too big say so and he will leave. (I don’t want to but I am here for fun not to fight PCs). {I may leave a lot out and have misspelling, but I do not have time to double check this now. I am actaully being waited on to be transported, so I apolosgise for ommissions and mispellings in adavnce.)So...

1st, No offense Taken. You have a suspicious dour dwarf (I hope your a barbarian)and I am in a bad spot with your PC only it seems. Grom and Nikolai appear willing to let him tag along. Sounds like real life, not everyone likes everyone. Though Daledin does not take notice and likes you still. Candlewick seems to be busy role playing out the concerns of his PC, which makes sense to me.

2nd, He saw dwarves and was surprised and happy. Thought he had found friends...

3rd, An elf has about half the life span of my race. The elf would have to be venerable to be older than I am.

4th, I only did the long dialogue to set up that the gnome talks a lot as is proper. (And would stop or decrease greatly if we ever moved and actually got through the introduction). If he were not interrupted, his name would have taken four full days to say…

5th, The elf brought up a real theory I know about with a veiled name so the gnome expounded on it. Thought it would be fun.

6th, The gnomes actually profession is (Profession: Engineer) so it makes sense he would know that (see 5th point).

7th, He has never told a lie. He truly only walks around the Realms looking for rods and a couple of staves. So an observer and a collector. He told you how he got here! He hired local humans (long legs) to lead him to a ruin that he could search for items and they turned on him. So he escaped and wandered off. He does not want to share that they tried to kill hi for his money, so he just said you couldn’t trust long legs and left it at that.

8th, He is very friendly and did not even try to respond aggressively to your swing. He still has a very inquisitive and friendly disposition.

9th, What can he do? ... No one here could see or hear him and you know you would have missed him with your axe. And no ranger can discern where he walked into your area. How many can do that? And he told his class based on the lead I followed by the elf, which gave me an opening, "I can make my own cognitive models within any universe that could be an aid to anyone with me." IC. You want an OOC answer as to class, and he as answered IC. Which I thought for sure some would figure out. Especially Nikolai. And he tried to show all his abilities as he came in and during the introduction we are going through.

10th, Might be handy to have someone who can move through the jungles unseen and untraceable and can manipulate reality.

11th The fact he can speak and understand the hawk should aid in identifying him since he did not cast a spell to do so.

12th Not being seen by others just happens with him, his skill is so high he has to focus on being seen. That is how I have played him for years, because he doesn't want to have to defend himself. I have been playing in RoA since 2003.

13th I thought it was great the way Nikolai still decides to defend his race and tutors, but keeps it to himself assuming the Gnome is deluded by history. Which ends the discussion in character and is fun.

14th If this is a Roll play region and not a Role Play let me know and I will change my style and rethink the whole thing. I have PC in another game of DM Jim and that is why I wanted to play here. Plus it was outdoors….

15th, This Gnome spent almost 2 years waiting for a region to have an opening. So he as just as excited to be here as I am.

Have to run, or I could go on for a while. I am an inquisitive Gnome after all…
This message was last edited by the player at 18:14, Wed 04 June 2008.

That's good to know, sometimes it's hard to judge when people get offended by in-character banter. Anyways, welcome to the game :)

Daledin,

First, as I said in the post above, I respect what you are trying to do and I can see you put a lot of work into your dialog.  I am definitely an RP sort of person, which is part of the reason I am having trouble with this.  (And yes, the character is a barbarian/fighter.)  But I mean no offense, either, and none is taken on my end.

Second, I understand that you have been playing the character for awhile.  I guessed that.  I didn't know 2003--on the Legacy PCs post, it said 2006.  The character is pretty memorable with the two-line (shortened) name.

Third, maybe I am slow.  I still do not know your class, no.  I am guessing you are a Forest Gnome, with a +8 to Hide in forested settings and the pass-without-a-trace ability always-on.  (Good choice on race; I think that is about the most broken gnome sub-race I have ever seen!  I wasn't aware it was approved, but I guess it makes sense since they are SRD.)  I am not aware of the forest gnome age brackets; they are not listed in the SRD.  I assumed they were the same as normal gnomes, and that to be old you increased your age with age brackets.

I have been unable to deduce your class.  "I can make my own cognitive models within any universe that could be an aid to anyone with me," does not seem self explanatory to me.  It sounds like psionics if I had to guess, and I thought that was only in bubble regions.  If I had to make a second guess it would be wizard or sorcerer, but those are guesses.  We haven't seen you cast a spell yet.

Fourth, I agree your character would be useful!

Fifth, I was confused about your statements re. whether Balrok could hit Daledin with an axe because you told me what my character was thinking.  Even as a DM I shy away from telling PCs what they are thinking.  Certainly as another player it doesn't make much sense.  Also, if there really is a reason Balrok would think he would miss you with his axe, I would like to know it, since I personally am befuddled.  I don't have much of a problem hitting a 17 AC, and 20s always hit anyway.  If Balrok could see you have some sort of axe-immunity ward up I would like to know about it! :)

Sixth, as to "what can you do."  Let me preface this by saying that if you want to stop reading here, stop.  I appreciate you being willing to talk about it.  If we don't talk, then the game will go on, because I am not going to RP Balrok in such a way that, even if it is realistic, he becomes a pain in the ass to people who want to join the group.  If you want to keep reading, then you might consider whether you could make a few similar sacrifices to your RP to help make ends meet.  If you don't, you don't.  The below is assuming you want to read it.  If you don't, don't feel obligated.

- I understand that your character is sneaky.  Appearing in the middle of a group, though, seems more flashy than a good way to make friends.  You could have yelled out from the edge of a clearing, walked out with your hands up or something to show you are unarmed.  That's normally a better way to start making friends.  I understand that you don't think your character might do that.  However, now that the party has said something about it, you could consider whether your gnome would understand their concerns and address them.

- I understand you want to play a scholar.  That's fine.  We have one in the group, Candlewick, maybe you two can engage in scholarly discussions to pass the time, while the dwarves try to ignore you.  I don't think that's a problem.  The "I am right, you are wrong" part of it will probably start to grate on my nerves, but I recognize it as a valid RP perspective if that's what you want to RP.

- We don't know how you ended up finding us.  The jungle is huge.  Did DM Jim give you some idea of why you happened to stumble on us?  Nickoli's IC statement that it stretches the bounds of credulity is right.  It is certainly possible, but the odds seem higher (IC) that you are here not by chance but for some purpose, and that purpose would probably be nefarious since we are in the middle of a hostile jungle.

Did you track us?  Did you use a magic spell to find civilization?  Did you hear the recent battle and come towards it?  Did you encounter the wild dwarf and the human child (maybe the wild dwarf encountered YOU, since he might have seen you as a threat and confronted you)?  Did someone send you towards us?  From a believability perspective, it would be nice if there was some reason.  (I recognize the possibility that it really was just perfect, random chance; but as one great author once said, real life is stranger than fiction--because with fiction, you have to make it believable.)

- We really don't yet know what you do.  You can sneak around, but we have a rogue and a ranger.  We don't know you can talk to animals, unless I missed that in the wall of purple text (which would be ok, since Balrok wouldn't be listening to that much talk either!).  We don't know you can cast spells or whatever you can do.  Could you tell us straight out what you bring to the group?  Assume Balrok grills you.  I can post a proper grilling if you want.

- We don't have a really clean statement of your goals.  Maybe it's hidden somewhere in the purple, but maybe you can assume Balrok asks for a really simple statement of what you want to do from here.  From what I remember reading, you could want to roam on alone from here, perhaps, since that's what you were doing before.  If you want to join up with us, what's your reason?  Scholarly interest?  Looking for staves/rods?  Maybe you could say so in character and propose some terms to join up or something.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Tue 03 June 2008.

I was not sure I would get back to a computer. I had three very minor surgeries in the last two weeks and they took me back in today. Luckily the surgeon only kept me on the table for five hours as he admired his work. :) At least that is all I could tell he was doing as he pointed with his scaple and cut off some skin. So all is fine and I am back in my bed and near a laptop. Now lets see...



Thank you and I am glad to be here, I hope. :)



Now back to our normal OOC show:

Balrok I may miss a lot but lets see...

First of all, this is a game. Nothing said in the game thread IC is taken by me personally ever. So I hope that helps. (And in RoA I just assume that is the case).

No you are not slow, He has not been direct but thinks he has. And for a Gnome he has been very direct. Psionics or arcane are your guesses. Than it seems he has not been to obscure in identifying himself. The hint of search for rods and staves should help eliminate it down to one of the two. And how can I cast spell when we have only been speaking for a round or two and nothing is happening. (I hope).

[Sage note] Forest Gnomes are in the 3.5 edition rules in the FR book released in 2003 (and that has been updated since release). It was last released in 'The Races of Fareun' and they are longer lived then even Sun Elves. I cannot think of another PC race that comes close to the age group of a Forest Gnome than the Sun Elves and even they fall short. And you have to pay/earn the right at present to play a race not listed. But it is very rare.[End of Sage Note]


The statement of whether Balrok could hit Daledin with his axe was added for color and to keep the game going since DM Jim had not logged on yet and I was hopping to keep the intro moving (with appropriate die rolls for him/us with all that posted to DM Jim)...

Believe me, there are many notes to the DM that I was waiting for him to post reactions for so I would not have to be presumptuous and post them myself. :) But too late; it appears I have obviously come off as such to Balrok. Even though it was all to save time and let DM Jim move on with the game when he was able to get back online since his time is so limited.

And yes even though a Natural 20 lets you hit automatically. It really doesn't. There are many factors that would stop it, magic wards as you suggest being one. Or even something as simple as concealment. But once again I was waiting for the DM to add that color...


Actually my character is not sneaky, nor does he try to be flashy, just cautious. Being so small he is just use to always trying to stay unnoticed unless he is able to talk with acquaintances or friends. And yelling out in a dangerous and monster filled jungle did not make much sese to him. There for a happy good to see a friendly face attitude he thought would work better....

In addition he spoke to the hawk in front of everyone in ” purple” with what the conversation posted to DM Jim so he could post appropriately what ever he deemed fit.

And yes it is that simple, I was abandoned in the jungle and just stumbled on you by decree...which seemed ok to me. It was random. Anything to help keep the game going. And perhaps the ruins they were pretending to take me too just so happen to be the ones the heart is in. (So now you know as much as I do about how I came to be here). So you may not know how I found you, but I was not looking for you, just glad I did. Or was... And this is a world of deities, technology and magic, who needs reason! LoL

Once again you do have a statement of my goals. To see what ever I can and collect staves and rods. He would even add wands to that but he prefers rods. Maybe because they seem harder for him to ever find. And one of the first things he said after saying it was good to see everyone was that he would be pleased too go along with the group to get the heart if these fine dwarves agreed.

You cannot get more polite and accommodating than that. He put himself completely at your disposal with no assumption of being included unless invited. Letting you know he was looking to collect any staves and rods that were found. I thought it was clear and all done in Character.

Maybe we are falling victim to a text-based medium.  It seemed as clear as mud to me.  Admittedly when I see a whole page of purple text on Occum's Razor I go into "skim" mode so it might be easy to miss things.  I venture to say it would be for Balrok as well.  I will post one more thing IC and then just let it go.

OOC: I didn't answer yet because he does not understand the question. (I do but the Gnome doesn't). Once he figures out that you are talking about. (I assume it is about not being able to be see, hear or track him in the jungle.) Plus it seems we have more IC post do to before our DM joins in.. ;)

(Tried too keep response very, very short since we are moving..)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Wed 04 June 2008.

That's cool.  I am not going to type it all out though, if it's all the same to you.  I replied more generically.

That's fine. :)

*chuckles* One of these days my life will work out where I don't have sudden gaps in my posting schedule, but it's apparently not been this past week or so...

Thanks to all for keeping the discussion civil (long-winded, but civil) while I was gone.  Apparently I take things too much for granted on my introductions.  I'll have to remember to do better in the future.

Now let me go take a look at the IC side of this discussion and see what I need to do in order to get this thing rolling again.

*chuckles more*

Just got back from reading the IC.  I only thought it was wordy on this side...

I do have some ground rules to suggest though.  No matter what the odds suggest, if you want to interact with another's character in a way that would require a roll if you were doing it to an NPC... weapons, skills, whatever... go ahead and roll it and post the results visibly, so that there is no misunderstanding of what happened as opposed to what 'should' happen... as nothing lies quite as fast or as thoroughly as statistics.

Welcome back! :)

[Private to DM Jim: Well, Borin is a moving tank that has speiclaized in his axe and shield. Outside of fighting...he has nothing to offer.

Daledin of course as posted is following along in the shadows and foliage
Hide: 49 is probably helping. :)]

Folks, I think I screwed up on the continuity.

I think we were getting ready to rest for the night, and I pushed things forward instead.

If anybody has a problem with tossing in a quiet night of rest between Daledin' intro and Raven's leading south, let me know.

Otherwise we'll just toss it in and let people refresh appropriately.

I am fine with it...

 No sweat. )

Fine with me, I needed more spells! ><

No probs!

*nods* I thought that was the main reason for the rest in the first place.

OK.  I'm going to assume you spent a quiet night under your mosquito nets, and we'll just pick up with the morning with Rowan's lead off.  Go ahead and refresh spells, and pick up 1 hp / level each if you need it for rest and healing during the night.

IC post to come soon.

Actually, after looking, I'm going to hold off a bit on that IC post in case somebody wants to take Daledin up on that offer of healing.

I am fine with Balrok.  I should recover a few HP overnight.  How many do I get?  I have the Healing proficiency if that matters.  I will treat anyone I can if it would help them, though the ministrations of Balrok are not tender or gentle!  ("Let's cut it and drain the puss!")

You recover 1 hp / level for the night's rest.

If you make a DC15 Heal check for the others, you can double that to hp / level for them, but you can't make a long-term care Heal check for yourself.

 Glancing at Balrok to see if he looked injured, he shrugs at the image, Dont look so bad ta me, still if he is feeling poorly, we can give him one of my healing potions or ya can let the new comer have a go at ya.

Should we now be posting in the main thread assuming we have just rested?

I'll have a post up in the main thread shortly to move things along.  I was just trying to see if everybody was patched up before I did something that might bring on a fight.

 Iam guessing that we are ready to press on?.

I think so.  In the interest of time, let's finish up any final discussion on overnight healing here, and move forward in the main thread.

anyone home?, sheesh, lost two games today one due to players posting maybe once a week or longer the other because his family thinks he spends too much time online.
 I wonder where we are on this one?.

Here and waiting... ")

Jim mentioned having some difficulties in RL. He said he'll back when he can, soon.

No problem.  Best wishes in the meantime, Jim.

I agree... You are in my prayers Jim.

Folks, I will be on holiday from Saturday 19th July to Sunday 10th August. Yippee! I will have no easy internet access, so if the game gets started in the meantime please NPC Nikolai until I get back. Cheers!

Have fun.

 Hmmm, Nickoli while under the influence of strong drink tried to do a triple somersault into a horse trough from the 5 story building. Hmmm Missed it by that much.. )

Have a safe trip.

 Any word on the game?.

Not that I have heard....

Jim posted this to the DM's Lounge back on 30th June:



And he hasn't returned yet, so we're rather worried.

Chult, like all of Jim's regions, has been listed as needing a DM since the beginning of the year when he'd said he wanted to cut back. Still no luck on a DM yet. :(

You Chultans have two options: one, to wait and be patient here until Jim or another DM shows up, no idea how long that could be. Or two, try to transfer to another game, but not many are open, and you'll be splitting up the gang.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:00, Mon 11 Aug 2008.

Waiting is fine with me.  Hope Jim is OK.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Mon 11 Aug 2008.

 Hmm, seems like most games are slowing down even in rpol, end of summer, schools near to start,last minute effort to stuff summer down the throat events.
 So i dont know what the others want to do but i dont have much hope for the chult region.
 What does stir the faint hope in me is that a region would start up (new game) and our surviving members could move enmass there, as i said its a faint hope.?

I am here

Folks, I still want to continue in Chult but every time I see the game marked red I check it to find my hopes cruelly dashed!

So, I am taking RoA 3 off my sticky list for now, but please drop me a PM if there are any developments.

Any news on whether DM Jim is ok?

I pray he is.

Oh sorry, I thought somebody had told you already. :S

Because of medical issues and a general loss of interest with D&D, DM Jim will be unable to continue DMing for us.  We are sorry for the inconvenience of losing your DM and we're working to find you a new DM or a transfer to a new region as soon as possible.

Thanks for the update.  Not worried about the inconvenience; I know you guys are working on that, and I appreciate it.  I am just glad to hear that Jim is alright.

Did anyone ever hear if DM Jim's medical issues turned out OK?  Also, should we transfer our characters to the Orphanage or something?  Thanks!
This message was last edited by the player at 09:51, Fri 16 Jan 2009.

I have not heard a thing.

I think he's gotten better, it didn't sound too serious.

I dont know who's still around, but you have a DM again. Give me a heads up if you've been peaking in from time to time, so I know whos still interested in exploring the jungles. We can talk over what you'd like to do, and what I have in mind ;)


I've been around since D&D was created...played since D&D original boxed set and been DM'ing pretty much from the moment I got the books. Sooooo suffice it to say I do have ideas ;)

I'd love to play--count me in.  Thanks!

Welcome Balrok. I read your sheet and background. Very cool. I think I can work in a few things from it. The assassin fits well with one of the 'side' plots I had in mind...and the temple is surely an easy fit. Anything else youd like to see?

The Party so far-

1. Balrok Dwarven,male 3rd Barbarian/2nd Fighter  ECL- 5
[Private to Balrok: Since your DM vanished before giving you experience for the last things you did...update Balrock to 5th]
2. Killian Darkwater Lizardfolk,male 2nd Druid ECL- 5

looking for no more than 6 more and at least 2 more

some notes on how I do things...

I would like to see players post around 3-4 times a week, but wont penalize you if real life steps in and you post less. I feel if Im running a fun game you will find the time to post if you can.

If you cant, at least let the posts you do make be memorable.

I will post as frequently as I can. Sometimes that will be multiple times a day (when Im not working) at others I may not post for a day or two if I get busy.

I'm very player oriented as a DM...to put it in normal terms, Im not your antagonist, the bad guys are. Im the storyteller. Together we make the game fun.

I dont believe in Coup-de-grace, I do use the not dead til -10, I ill weave youe backgrounds into the game and if theres certain things you'd like to do let me know and I will find places to have them influence the game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:19, Wed 29 July 2009.

Folks, good to be back :)

welcome Nicolai

The Party so far-

1. Balrok Shield Dwarf,male 3rd Barbarian/2nd Fighter  ECL- 5
[Private to Balrok: Since your DM vanished before giving you experience for the last things you did...update Balrock to 5th]
2. Killian Darkwater Lizardfolk,male 2nd Druid ECL- 5
3. Nicolai Moon Elf,male 5th Ranger ECL- 5
4. Migeal Bornes Human,male 5th Wizard ECL- 5

openings 5-8

have 2 others now thinking seriously on it..and one other not so seriously


folks- are there things youd like to have the campaign deal with? any character hooks? or monsters youd like to see included? or typses of adventures? a certain something goal for your character?

If'n yes, say so now so I can include it/them
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:49, Fri 31 July 2009.

DM Dread,

I am leveling Balrok up to 5.  In doing so I encountered an alternate class feature I wanted to take that was not on the list of approved powers.  I posted about it on the OOC board:



I'm going to put it on my character sheet in brackets and not use it until either ROA approves it or you tell me otherwise; that way I am not getting any benefit from the Trap Sense power in the meantime (and I won't have to change my character as often).

Thanks,

Balrok

I like it. I dont see an issue with it.

Thanks!

I've finished updating my sheet with that ability in brackets for now.  I'll ask you about it before I try to find or smash a trap.  I also updated my profile.

Some quick questions for you all before I go to work today.

and a reminder- to get an idea how i DM look over this game-

 link to another game


Now lets talk about what kind of game youd like-

Rate the three types of adventure on a scale of 1-3 in order of importance:

Urban- ie sneaking and talking and subterfuge
Wilderness- exploring and hunting and random encounters
Dungeoning- very pre-planned and lots more combat


Give me a goal for your character...a year from now what would you like your character to have accomplished?

Ill check in when I return and see whats what. Id like to start playing sometime in the next 2 weeks. I am reading all the previous Chult Threads so as not to nullify what has gone on before, Im have through the journey to the firepeaks and expect to be done with all of them within a week. In between Im also doing minor work on the adventure and placed a map of one of the central 'role playing' places Ill have for you guys...Ketts Rapids. Because its already in the Jungle...Youll still get back to the city now and then, but dont want a jungle game to reside in a major city. Might as well play Waterdeep then ;)

I already have 2 player ideas from Balrok, but need a couple from the est of you as well.

I would vote for urban 1, wilderness 2 and dungeon 3. In other words, little time in the city, a wilderness treck in search of some ruined whatever, they a good old fashioned dungeon crawl at the end:)

 Obviously, I'm more of a wilderness-oriented character. As a druidy-priesty-mystic type my character is more cosmopolitan than the majority of lizardfolk, but let's face it, that still means chipped stone axes and roast gnome.

 In terms of personal goals and ambitions, I know that Killian and his originating tribe are under pressure from both human settlement and the assorted serpentfolk of the region, so establishing borders and clearing out foes are a priority (though I think for the purposes of working with the party, he'd better be aiming to settle borders with the humans and drive out the serpentfolk) with a more long-term ambition of successfully setting up a clan of his own 'somewhere nice'.

 Gamewise I prefer my combat intermittent unless we go looking for it (not every walk in the woods should end in brutal close combat, but if you're hunting orcs, then you'll probably find them) and scattered with diplomatic options (if the gnoll hunting pack isn't hunting you, why pick a fight?) when appropriate (no matter how nicely you smile, the zombie hill giant is still going to use you as a one-handed improvised weapon).

 Plot ideas... well, whatever they are they'll be best aimed to provide a motive to put our characters on the same side pointed at the same foe for the first part of the game, thus neatly sidestepping the need to suspend disbelief and character personality long enough to assemble a party. The classic standbys include serpentfolk raiders hitting a small town or capturing the mayors daughter to 'D6 ogres have taken up residence in the nearby grove and...', and though they're hackneyed they have the undeniable benefits of being short, easily plotted and run and just high-stress enough to weld a group together.

 In the longer term, visiting 'civilisation' as the monkeyfolk would put it could well be interesting, particularly to try and navigate some light intrigue at the behest of others... Can't say I'm terribly interested in dungeon crawls though - tunnels are dull places, particularly in a rainforest. No reason a dungeon has to be underground though I suppose. ^_^

Morning all, going to be your resident finger waggler. small question, how is he doing the stat roll up?. 4d6 drop 1s?.

 As to the game i understand the need for #2 exploration in chult, dungeons are fine as long as they dont drag on to long, citys are or should be a place to rest up and restock plus the usual of finding work/quest's.

 My toons goals?, he would like to see some of the ancient magics and secrets of the of a race of ancient ones rumored to have citys or ruins still in these jungles

I think it's a point buy system per the normal ROA rules?  You'll find them in the ROA forums.  Here's a link:

link to a message in another game


1. Dungeoning- very pre-planned and lots more combat
1. Wilderness- exploring and hunting and random encounters
3.  Urban- ie sneaking and talking and subterfuge

(most to least important)

Balrok is a dwarf and a treasure hunter, so that means tramping through jungles and exploring old ruins -- basically dungoneering and wilderness, so I ranked them both as 1's.  He's not as much of an Urban kind of dwarf, but he his "day job" was as a debt collector, so he's certainly familiar with cities, and he is trained in Intimidate specifically to help out in "social" encounters--or at least what Balrok would call being social....

We've discussed character goals.  If anyone is interested in Balrok's I keep his entire history and personality in my "avatar picture"--I guess where description is supposed to go.  Just click on my picture.  I made the character as part of a twin duo of dwarves, with a friend of mine playing Balrok's twin brother, Ovi, who was the more "couth" of the two, but that player can no longer play.

Balrok has it right. I also sent you a link via PM use the standard character creation rules.


Ok I have some stuff to go on here.


I dont want to give stuff away so Im just going to put a teaser out there and one liners. Give me some feedback on tweaks or adds

First the Teaser:

The Sherrif turned back to the thin dark skinned Merchant with the multiple rings on his hands and said "Ja'need, I dont think it was wise to bring the statue here. We've had 3 attacks in the last week on locals. The last left N'bembo for dead. If Father Tarsk hadnt stumbled on him going to market, he wouldn't have survived. I dont think I need to tell you what that would do to the fragile peace we have with the locals and our little village."

The Calamshite Merchant turned back to the Sherrif and wiping the sweat that was dripping from his forehead away replied "Agreed. It is dangerous. However, Ill not turn this statue over to those in Port Nyranzaru. You know it would be taken away and we wouldn't be able to find out its true purpose, not use it to better our position. Ill not have those barbaric Elves scare me. You tell Talbot to find me some troubleshooters. Some of those so called adventurers. Lets use them to get to the bottom of this and do it before Quinlan and his Oathtakers get involved. Ive never trusted that man."

The Sherrif nodded and they both turned to look at the pure white stone that seemed to radiate light that had been cut in the form of a beautiful Elven Maid holding her hands up in supplication. Blue Sapphires of the highest quality were set into her face as eyes, and they seemed to shine as if they had some hidden secret that they would not give up. Her left foot stood atop a large serpent that seemed to be dead on the ground that was the base of the statue.


One Liners:
Yuan-Ti Master Race in Dominance.
Guerrila Wild Elves fulfilling prophecy.
Indentured Servant Lizardfolk Race
Wizard Controlled Batiri
Hidden Dwarven technocrats
Alternate Party of Adventurers working for someone else.
Lost City
Dinosaurs
Ancient Evil
-and finally
The Jungle.

Comments? Thoughts? Anything youd like me to add? tweak? twist?

Hello all :) I'll be playing your friendly neighbourhood cleric of Red Knight.

I'd prioritise the same as Balrok:

1. Dungeoning- very pre-planned and lots more combat
1. Wilderness- exploring and hunting and random encounters
3. Urban- ie sneaking and talking and subterfuge

Bearroch is an orphan I've brought over from a game outside of RoA that died, he is a hardened millitary veteran from the northern lands who was expelled from the army. He now travels the land seeking new challenges to prove himself under the eyes of the Lady of Battle. He'd prefer to stay away from big cities, in case he is recognised and so the urban environment wouldn't really suit him.

Also DM, could I possibly get a space for my sheet? I'll have to change it to fit RoA of course and level Bearroch to 3rd but shouldn't take too long.

Cheers.

1. Balrok Shield Dwarf,male 3rd Barbarian/2nd Fighter  ECL- 5
[Private to Balrok: Since your DM vanished before giving you experience for the last things you did...update Balrock to 5th]
2. Killian Darkwater Lizardfolk,male 2nd Druid ECL- 5
3. Nicolai Moon Elf,male 5th Ranger ECL- 5
4. Migeal Bornes Human,male 5th Wizard ECL- 5
5. Bearroch Human,male 3rd Cleric ECL- 3


openings 1-3

have 1 other now thinking seriously on it..and one other not so seriously

Bearroch,

Welcome aboard!  Balrock will of course be cheerfully calling you "Beer" (no matter the proper pronunciation), the first proper human name he's heard in a long time!  I always thought Red Knight clerics were cool.... I seem to remember some awesome spell called Knight's Move that my players were always clamoring for me to let them use.

DM Dread,

Very good teaser!  I like it and the one-liners (particularly and subjectively "Lost City, Dinosaurs, Ancient Evil").  Thanks again for DMing.

 It all sounds good to me boss, though I think some sort of side-note that puts Killians original village in close enough to the settlement being raided that there's some sort of 'understanding' between them - though not necessarily a trusted one - that would put our lizard into the group as a matter of good manners and to reduce the chance of trouble with the wild lizardfolk tribes.

 And yeah, the Red Knight is great - I always have this mental image of Tempus roaming the cosmos on two horses like a kind of oversized Zap Brannaghan clad in velure chainmail with the Red Knight patiently following him around, sighing and going 'Are you sure that's a good idea sir?'

Killian- Agreed. I even have an NPC Shamen in mind that was a close friend of yours, even Mentor maybe. that is trying to gain support from the 'townies' to help them break away from sending the villages youth away for service to the 'empire' (hehe to borrow a cliche)

 Mentor works great, because being a Lizardfolk has screwed me so badly as a druid it's hard to overstate. ^_^

 And it's not that bad a cliche - isn't there a modest-sized lizardfolk 'nation' somewhere that's nothing more than a client state for a Yuan Ti imperium?

How much XP do you have if you are barely level 5, and how much do you need for level 6?  The open sys reference doc doesn't say and I don't have my 3.5 PHB around anymore now that I mostly play 4E (except on the ROA boards).  Thanks!

It's all good, although if I were to pick one I'd chose "Lost City" - but that's due to my great experiences with an old AD&D module (can't remember the name, had a lost city with yuan-ti and a mage's residence where I got to use Guards and Wards)

Star with 10,100 for just over 5th. 6th is 15,000.

Nikolai the adventure was "The Forgotten City"

Excellent. Had great fun with that one multiple times...though none of it will be used here ;)

well except in 'spirit'. The mage was a lot of fun...complete with Carnivorous apes.

I really liked the Bullywug compound too.

Theres probably not an AD&D module I didnt play in or run myself.

Killian- the Lizardfolk 'nation' is really nothing more than a loose confederacy of tribes that have been controlled by the Yuan-Ti. I wouldnt really call them a nation per se. ;)

Though who knows what the future holds when a charismatic leader comes along to try and throw off the yoke of servitude on his people and lead them to the promised land...


we can call him Moses. ;)

1. Balrok Shield Dwarf,male 3rd Barbarian/2nd Fighter  ECL- 5
[Private to Balrok: Since your DM vanished before giving you experience for the last things you did...update Balrock to 5th]
2. Killian Darkwater Lizardfolk,male 2nd Druid ECL- 5
3. Nicolai Moon Elf,male 5th Ranger ECL- 5
4. Migeal Bornes Human,male 5th Wizard ECL- 5
5. Bearroch Human,male 3rd Cleric ECL- 3
6. Syntari en'Rhistel Sun Elf,male Rogue/Wizard, ECL 3/4?? maybe.


openings 1-2

have 1 other now thinking seriously on it..and one other not so seriously, and a possible old friend thinking of joining.

 Don't be facetious, it means I have to spend time looking through the Serpent Kingdoms book trying to find an obscure damn' reference that vaguely called itself to mind. ^_^

 The kingdom in question (and there's only one, and modest is being generous) is 'Kalran' and it's a client of Najara, formed as a 'kingdom' in the true sense of the word with a militaristic culture based around tribal settlements under a single ruler.

 But that's due largely to Yuan-ti and the like, so it can probably be discounted.

*chuckle*. Wasnt trying to have you research names and such. More just saying I havent named 'your tribe', so feel free to put something in your background, and Ill run with it.

The name for your mentor, the Shamen though I have...Hes 'Redscales', as his scales have an unusual red tint to them.

I also havent come up with a name yet for the Yuan-Ti Empire...Was waiting for something to percolate through the creativity in my brain. It'll pop up soon enough. If you have something in mind, I dont mind using it.

and that goes for everyone in the game..whatever you put in your backgrounds I will use.

1. Balrok Shield Dwarf,male 3rd Barbarian/2nd Fighter  ECL- 5
2. Killian Darkwater Lizardfolk,male 2nd Druid ECL- 5
3. Nicolai Moon Elf,male 5th Ranger ECL- 5
4. Migeal Bornes Human,male 5th Wizard ECL- 5
5. Bearroch Human,male 3rd Cleric ECL- 3
6. Syntari en'Rhistel Sun Elf,male Rogue/Wizard, ECL 3.
7. Kimiko Elf(Fox Spirit), female Wu-Jen ECL- 4


openings 1

one other not so seriously, and a possible old friend thinking of joining.


Once our last two recruits find there way here and post, Ill open up a new OOC so everything from here on out will be in the new game. Ill get initial role playing threads to gather the group in Port Nyranzaru in the next couple days. Figure out how you got from where you were to here and post that in your initial post.

I will be reviewing character sheets tomorrow. I wont be changing anything, just making sure I have a handle on everyones capabilities, so if you get PM's from me...you know the deal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:23, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

 I haven't named them either, but feel free to come up with something while I play Storm of Zehir for a bit. Redscales works as a name with the whole Darkwater bit I've got (leaving the first name to be my personal one I won't share with folks in case they use it to magic me), and just take a look in Serpent Kingdoms, it's crammed full of Yuan-ti cities and empires, they're all over the shop. ^_^

Ive read it. Its in storage though, and Ill likely not be digging it out ;) Not when me mind has ideas a plenty in that regard.

Heyla. ^^

I'm Kimiko, a specialist in water and metal magic. In addition, I'm quite useful as a scout and, to a limited extent, as a tracker.

Nicolai is much better, doubtless, and Migeal is likely a more dangerous arcanist in the general sense, but what I do, I do very well.

I hope to uncover many secrets with you!

And hush about the fox spirit thing. I'm just an elf!

>>

<<

Heyas all,

My character is Syntari en'Rhistel (the second part is his patronym - Rhistel is his father), from Silverymoon.  Probably the runt of the litter, gamepower-wise, but hopefully he'll come into his own in another level or so, so bear with me.

Nice to see a couple of other Elves around (Nicolai, Kimiko)...  but Syntari speaks Dwarven as well, and even tolerates Dwarven ale... in a pinch...

 Heeeey, I got dibs on runt of the litter on 'account of ECL and stone weapons!

 No fair trying to steal my mojo. ^_^

Hey, at least you guys have HP and AC :p

"Tolerates?!??  Who in in all du world brews a better ale den a dwarf??  It's our birthright, ken?  Moradin said, 'Let der be dwarfs!', and den jus' after dat He said, 'Let der be hops!, let der be barely!, let der be yeast!'

... now its tru He fergot 'bout that whole 'water' thing fer 'bout uh fortnight, but don't go believe none'of the stories.  We weren't 'bout tu let a little thing like dat stop us.  Dwarves were makin' ale with spit an' piss by du end of du week.

Der's jus' ain't no competein' with that sort uf experience, lad!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

I... don't think I needed to know that. *blushes delicately*

Ill be reading character sheets tomorrow so please make them as up to date as possible, I started today...but got sidetracked after a bit, so will finish tomorrow. Im hoping late tomorrow to get the meeting thread up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:16, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

 There's only one thing to say to that...

 All sing along now:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...&feature=related

Now that is a real find!!!. I've never played Bards Tale...that made me want to.

Thank you for brightening our day!!!

Lord Bless Charlie Mops!



Question for you all-

On Criticals.

Do you wish to use a variant for the adventuring here.

Paizo (Pathfinder) made a Critical Hit Deck (and coincidntly a Fumble Deck as well) Its pure role playing fluff. When you roll a critical hit, instead of confirming a crit you pull from a deck (I have converted the deck to tables roll d52 and check results.)

Here's an example as if Id rolled 15 for the 'confirmation roll'

Piercing weapon:
15. Hand Wound - Normal damage and 1d2 Dex damage. -4 penalty on all rolls using that hand until healed

Slashing Weapons:
15. Wide Open - Normal damage and target provokes attacks of opportunity from all threatening opponents

Bludgeoning Weapons: (DC is damage taken)
15. Crunch - Double damage and target is nauseated for 1 round (Fort negates)

Magic (if there is an attack roll to hit):
15. Turned Around - Double damage and target can take only one move or standard action next round

conversely Fumbles-

on a roll of a 1 on an attack: you roll a d52 and match it to the tables

Melee:
15. Shield Crash - Your attack deals damage to your shield

Ranged:
15. What are the Odds? - If you made a thrown attack, you hit the target, but the weapon ends up in the target's possession

Natural:
15. Fist Meets Face - The attack hits you and is a critical threat. You must roll to confirm the critical hit

Magic:
15. Arcane Fire - You take 2d6 points of fire damage



If the roll results in something that is impossible, treat as normal


This is purely optional. If the consensus is no...then no. if its yes then yes.

Just thought Id give you guys something different to talk about and consider.


Just cut and paste this last part into your next post


Vote for Crit/Fumble Variant

Yes:

No:


[Private to Balrok: Are your skills correct? It seems you have shortchanged yourself. I counted 38 ranks...and If im not wrong (i didnt look to see if you were putting ranks in 'cross class skills') you should have 44]
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:18, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

 sounds good to me.

Vote for Crit/Fumble Variant

Yes: X

No

I like the idea of randomized crits, not so much the idea of randomized fumbles (more, err, dread that way).

So:

Vote for Crit/Fumble Variant

Yes: X  (Crits)

No: X  (Fumbles)

 Nothing wrong with making crits more exciting, but I despise fumble systems for the most part because of the way they turn serious combat scenes into bad slapstick. Also there's a bunch of other stuff I'd implement first. Oh, and adding excess things to an RPol game just slows it down some, but that's a niggle.

Vote for Crit/Fumble Variant

Yes:

No:X

If you can post the table somewhere so we can look it up ourselves, I'm in favor of both crit and fumble.  If you cannot, then I'm not, because I don't want to slow down the action to have you look it up each time and inform us before we can finish a post.  Just my two cents.

I can post them. I already have them done up. Still waiting to hear from the others, but based off what Im seeing here. Fumbles would be out and Crits would be in.

and Killian- all it would add is a d52 confirmation roll instead of a d20 confirmation roll ;)

oh and a reminder to all postthe few things in your bio like Balrok has. It speeds things along...


time to go to work, Ill get to the other character sheets (3 done now) after I get back.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:33, Sun 02 Aug 2009.

OOC:  I think you and I will get along just fine, Balrok ;)

IC:
"Hmmm.  And there, indeed, lies the rub.  Mind you, I shall not speak a word against your Dwarven conventionalism -  my kind have our own traditions, after all - but must you insist so on recreating the same flavor in your ale, some millenia after you have been given the option of using water instead?"

OK Ive gone over all the sheets. (at least that I have) Our Red Knight hasnt sent his over yet.

Most are done. 1 has a lot of questions, a couple have 1-2 questions.

This is a Magic Heavy and Fighter Light group..and with 3 people having the noncombatant Flaw...It will be interesting to see what happens when your 'fighter front' cant keep the baddies from swarming the casters.


but itll be fun I garontee it ;)

No for introductions


My thoughts-

Nicolai and Balrok will be looking for clues of Ovi's disapearance in Port N, Ill weave in a connection to the appearance of the statue.

Syntari was on a Halruaan Skyship on his way to Halruua and had every intent of catching the first ship there when he reaches Port N...the ship crashed near Killians 'stomping grounds' under suspicious grounds. Killian investigated and found this poor wayward elf in the jungles...and volunteered to guide him back to Port N (it wouldnt be right to leave him to fend for himself ;)  )...Ill give Syntari a hook to keep him in chult once hes there...Killian knows the folks in Ketts Rapids...

Bearroch and Migeal are coming in from Calimshan on a ship for whatever reason they want to give...and have gotten to know each other on ship.

Kimiko is 'walking' there (so to speak) and is drawn by the appearance and subsequant 'ripple' on the spirit plane, of said statue...her curiosity piqued...


how does that all sound?

I wanted to post the intro tonight, but am waiting for at least 2-3 of the current players to get back with me on the questions Ive asked.

If Bearroch doesnt have his sheet over in the next couple days, we will start without him and he will have to come up with another reason hes there.

your friendly DM

 Looks good here. One thing for sure playing with Balrock wont be boring, not if hes the same one that Grom played with. )

Well, if they get behind the skirmish screen, I can just confuse the issue with fog and mysterious lights and noises. Lead them round for hours until they fall in the swamp and drown.

One and the same, sir!  Do you know Grom or something?



... can we see in your fog?  I have a feeling that fog and colored lights might be just as likely to end with Balrok crashing into the swamp as the monsters.... I think my Spot and Listen checks are negative. :)

 He is my other char but grom is in another game at the moment.

Oh, hello there Grom!

Cool.  Looking forward to meeting you in-game, Killian.  As it so happens, Syntari speaks Draconic too...

Sounds good to me.  How much info do Nicky and Bal have on Ovi's disappearance?  (That may be a question you want to answer later closer to start time, of course.)

I will be doing a flashback scene in the initial posts that you two can run with once you have the basis. I figure he was there when you discovered him 'missing'

Sounds cool!  Thanks Dread.

 Works for me, particularly since I can use Syntari as my thinking brain elf - not that Killians not pretty bright for a lizardfolk, but he's not what you'd call cosmopolitan. ^_^

Problem is, he's bright for a lizardfolk. :p Which could mean INT 10.

 Hmm, why do i have thoughts of a lizardman stopping in the middle of rush hour in front of a temple of sigmar to take a dump. ? Is he housebroke yet?. <grin>

This is why Warhammer and Forgotten Realms do not mix.

No matter how awesome Elminster in a Steam Tank would be.

In reply to Migeal Bornes (msg #275):


 Because you're projecting? ^_^

 Maybe I just have a more refined sense of humour than you do - I once portrayed a mute psychic alien who mistook a coma ward for a meat locker, so I tend to go for the less slapstick angle of culture clash when the chance arises.

 And I said pretty bright. That ups it another level or two. ^_-

 I will trust the Lizardman to protect my frail skin. )

 Ok, picked out some spells of utility. He is more amateur explorer of ruins then combat mage. So the spells he bothers to memorise is getting to the site then blowing apart groups of bad mobs.

Okay, that alien is just creepy. :p

But we should have plenty of culture clash going on, what with Killian, Kimiko, and all the normal people around. :p

Sodeska?

Who you callin' normal?  :)

But yes, culture clash galore - do we even have a proper language that we all share, other than trade pidgin?

 Well I imagine that I'll be the only one who speaks Druidic, but there's pidgin (common) as you say, then Draconic (the second language of almost every educated person, though Killian will speak a different dialect altogether to some mage type who learned it from a book), and of course he speaks Sylvan and Aquan - though thinking about it I assigned Aquan when I was thinking of him coming from a swamp, so I might well change it to a more sutiable deep-jungle language. Any suggestions?

Chult doesn't have its own language?

>> Kimiko doesn't speak pidgin. Carp. Guess I'll have to learn it at next level. ><

 Native: Spirit Tongue

Regional: Shou
   Bonus: Giant, Draconic, Wa, Goblin

*chuckle*...fo ease of play Kimiko, would you mind adding Common to your sheet...We can play it up that you arent very good at it, but id rather not force you to have to rely on talking to the Lizard or the wierd elf who isnt very likable. (he does have a 6 cha...so dont expect anyone to really like him)

oh and please to look at the new OOC ;)

Chultan, maybe?

DM Dread - The below is posted in the OOC thread because when I try to post in the main thread, it only lets me select my other character, not Syntari.  Please repost over there when you get a chance?

[Private to Killian Darkwater: Killian - in my post below I describe your character incidentally to describing Syntari's actions and thoughts.  Please let me know if you want me to change anything - it is not my intent to impose on your character a description you do not feel comfortable with.]

IC:

//Three hours previously//

The hulking lizardfolk pointed at the marking to the side of the path.  The Elf nodded, silently.  Port Nyranzaru.  Soon, a place from which he could travel back to civilization!

Syntari looked at his travelling companion.  Though its gait was as confident and smooth as ever, its crest was lying completely flat, giving it (him? her? Syntari could not tell, and did not care to ask) an unusually subdued air.  Was it apprehensive about the town?  No doubt, to it, Nyranzaru was civilization...  bustling metropolis...

An interesting three days' journey through the fetid jungle, it had been.  Quite a stroke of luck to have come across the massive lizardfolk, who, despite appearances, was actually fairly bright, probably at least as intelligent as a kobold.  And if its dialect of Draconic was even coarser and more primitive than that spoken by koboldkind, well, it was still a sight better than trade pidgin.  Darkwater had even evinced some interest in refining its command of the language.  *If only father could see me now!  Grammar tutor to a jungle monster...*

To be perfectly fair - which, occasionally, Syntari was wont to do - the education had not been entirely one-way.  The lizardfolk demonstrated an amazing grasp of the nuances of the jungle's fauna and flora, and was generous enough to point out species of interest to the ever-inquisitive Elf.  Apparently, among its kind, Darkwater was a... 'Jungle Walker' was a rough translation.  Some sort of rude nature shaman.  At all events, its knowledge of the jungle's ways would not have shamed an Elven druid.  A particularly thick-witted, inexperienced Elven druid, but even so.  A most impressive accomplishment.

More important than the lizardfolk's erudition, such as it was, was the fact that Darkwater appeared to have a rudimentary, but strongly held, moral sense.  By the fall of the first night, Syntari was comfortable enough to enter trance in the creature's presence.  In turn, when Darkwater took its rest, the Elf dutifully stood guard, discharging his sentry's responsibilities diligently.  The lizardfolk, to its credit, did not once complain despite being woken nine or ten times, whenever the Northerner was disturbed by some eerie sound or suspicious movement - of which all but the visit from an eight-foot night python were false alarms.  *Better safe than sorry.*

Well.  In a day or three, he would be able to leave all this behind.  Not a moment too soon.

Oh, it isn't that Syntari isn't likable... it just takes a little more work than usual, to appreciate his good sides :)

*chuckle* and you should be able to post there now. I fixed things. I hadnt specified our group...8... for the threads.

 Congratulations Syntari, you are precisely one-half as likeable as your brutish stone-age sidekick. ^_^

Yeah, bite me.

... that was a figure of speech, just so you know.  :)

Seriously, CHA doesn't necessarily correlate to likability - a sea hag has CHA 14 even though "The sight of a sea hag is so revolting that anyone (other than another hag) who sets eyes upon one must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or instantly be weakened, taking 2d6 points of Strength damage."

I see Syntari's low CHA as him not being able to sway others by force of personality - too self-absorbed.  (Which also reduces his likability, but I see that as more of a roleplaying thing - I deliberately play him as arrogant - than a stat-based thing.)  In other words, react to him based on his IC words and actions, not based on the OOC knowledge of what his stats are; let me worry about matching the one to the other.

hehe true, but for game affects with bad others it is based on stat effects. The cost of a dump stat. So yes NPC's will not view you as a likeable person. You maybe able to overcome that in time with NPC's, but initial reactions will usually be negative.

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