In reply to A Malign Presence (msg # 312):

Looking forward to it.

Okay, took longer than expected to get that up. I also tried to leave room for your first impressions of each other, so sorry if it seems a little sparse. Trying to drop us into the action ASAP, usually will not assume actions on your part otherwise.

I'll be at The Siege of Augusta (HMGS wargaming convention) all this weekend and will not have time to check in here as often as usual.

No problem, have fun!

I've been communicating with Rachel's player, she has been out of town for work but will be back and able to post soon. I think we'll start in earnest next week.

Work on the Bestiary continues apace. Please check out the "Constructs" section if you haven't already. Smoke giants and eschatology engines make for high-level threats, but manikins, golems, watchmen and homunculi are all things you might commonly fight in a Golish ruin.

I'm hoping to post a new section of the Bestiary this weekend, one that has some setting ramifications. So stay tuned for that.

Additionally, I've added a small, additional wrinkle to Daemonology Rules: banishing. Dismissing a daemon is normally very easy, just disrupt the channeling or the summoning circle. Kicking a single rune out of place, or breaking the line of salt, is all that is really required. But sometimes that's not possible (because the summoning circle is behind a locked portcullis, for example, or because the vessel for the channeling is an innocent victim you're hoping to save). Spending 100 reagents and making an Int check gives you a chance to dismiss the daemon, even if you can't or won't physically disrupt the summoning.

The following specialties now offer bonuses to banishing: Daemonologist, Ordained Priest, Ceremonial Combat, and Occultist (Thief-only specialty). Ceremonial Combat no longer offers a bonus to saves versus curses, but for the other three specialties this is strictly a buff.

Banishing is unlikely to come up much in play at all... unless of course you're trying to shut down a kikimora or an immanence. Banishing is the only way to get rid of those major hazards.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:31, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

Hope you guys I don't mind if I'm lazy and use bold as a GM character speech? Let me know if you find it annoying.

Pew pew pew! What does Rachel know about the eating of raw animals and the drinking of blood in terms of potential demonic influences?

Hmm. You can give me an Intelligence check if you want. You can also add +3 to it for your occultist specialty, and I'll let you know if Rachel has any theories.

EDIT: Skills are always a 2d6 roll, plus relevant modifiers. Thresholds are generally secret, but range from 6 for something relatively easy, to 13 for something that is only possible with great heroics or supernatural ability. I will tell you that this is a hard check since Rachel has little to go on thus far.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:37, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

19:48, Today: Rachel Cobbleman rolled 8 using 2d6+3 ((2,3)).

Knowing, it's how you know stuff!

That is a failure! So Rachel doesn't know anything specific. She does, however, have several WILD UNFOUNDED THEORIES, which is always fun.

- A curse, mind control, or some other magical compulsion could force someone to do this. Asking about Dobrovit's mental state or whether or not he wanted to do this would be illuminating.

- Undead creatures very often hunger for blood and flesh. Little is known about the deathless, but this seems like something they might do(?). Ghouls can temporarily pass for human, save for their teeth and claws. The draugr, especially those who have drained many human victims, can pass reliably for human and might engage in this sort of behavior, though it is undocumented as far as Rachel knows. At the very least, this would explain why he didn't become violently ill after eating a bunch of raw eggs and still-living chickens, since the undead are immune to disease.

- Ogres are famously bloodthirsty, but all the literature on them suggest they're only interested in human flesh.

- Changelings often act very erratically when an immanence of their patron appears. If Dobrovit is secretly a changeling bonded to a daemon associated with blood, predation or hunters, that could explain the behavior.

- Dobrovit might be a construct of some type, most likely a homunculus or highly realistic manikin. This wouldn't explain his motive for eating a bunch of a chickens, but like the undead explanation, would handily explain why he isn't ill.

- Werewolf?

- Finally, Dobrovit might just be well and truly crazy. It's possible to choke down some raw chicken and survive at least long enough to meet the hangman's noose.

Those theories! They're so wild and SO unfounded. I love them, and they are my new favorite.

To answer a few private messages/lines I've received: I'm aware that everyone but Hanse speaks Golish, so that means anyone (but Hanse) can use the "swords" password to summon some guards. The magistrate said that Lira specifically only because she's the only one that definitely looks like she speaks Golish, heh.

Additionally, everyone except (I think?) Oliver speaks Krastavan, so everyone but Oliver heard Dobrovit's comments in Krastavan when he was pounding his head. However, I'm only giving Rachel and Lira chances at rolling for recognizing it because it's magic-related, and they're the pary daemonologists.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:48, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

Forgot to mention: "Waystations" are a setting concept all of you would be familiar with.

Basically, the Golish interior is a deeply dangerous, magic-wracked no-man's land, but people are always sending expeditions in there in order to recover people, treasures, reagents, or information. The soldiers, adventurers and freebooters that find themselves traveling through Golinlund have set up temporary, communal shelters that anyone can use. There is a social contract that you should leave a Waystation in better shape than you left it if able, either cleaning it up, repairing it, or leaving behind supplies or the like.

Think of them kind of like Delta Green's "green boxes" or the bungalows or cottages that exist in some national parks. So Dobravit says the men are at or headed to a specific Waystation.

Me and the wife are making a break for it this weekend. I will be out of contact until Monday morning.

Sorry for the delay, guys, RL caught up to me pretty hard. Have some deadlines I need to make, but I will get an IC post up this weekend at the latest.

Also, for those of you sick of the interrogation, things are about to get "real" so stay tuned...

I have never and will never have a problem with taking the time to do a rp scene justice.

Hey guys! Not dead. Hope this new pandemic world is treating you okay, too. I'm very fortunate, I've been able to continue working from home. I am, actually, paradoxically very busy at work during this moment of pestilence and civil unrest.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in with you guys and get in an interest check in continuing. I likely won't be able to commit to any sort of consistent posting for a few months, but I haven't forgotten about this game and still intend to continue developing it.

Hope you guys are hanging in there.

Still here and interested, I too work from home so hopefully I'll keep chugging along.


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Beep beep beep.

I'm back. Super drag ass atm. Will return to full power tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in guys. Things continue to go okay for me even as my country burns around me. I just received a promotion and raise at work, and also have a loving and wonderful new girlfriend. It is a... strange dichotomy.

This is all not very conducive to me starting playtesting again, but I just wanted to give you an update. I will have some time off in September and will take a look at things then.

Hope you guys are all safe and well.

I am all good, still clocking along.

So obviously September was a lie... I learned at the end of 2020 that I'd be losing my job. I managed to find a position with the contractor that essentially took my job, but it was both a promotion and a pay cut (hurray capitalism). I have precious little time for gaming these days, and what little I have is spent running some games on Roll20 for some RL friends as a pandemic coping mechanism.

I'm still dedicated to Devils and Dragoons, but I have no idea when I can devote time to it again. Let me know if you guys would prefer I remove you from the game. When I start the play-by-post playtest again, I can always message you and give you priority on a role.

I'm happy to stay on as a player. Hope the new job is working out well.


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:)  I mean why not.

Haha, I actually have no room on my plate for more games right now so... Take your time. But you know I really like your games and would always be interested in hearing about them moving.