Yea no worries or rushes about posting, I'm not super strict and I won't be banning you from the game for missing a few days, but I'll try to post every day to every three days.

Hope that D&D helps with the number crunching, and that you could sort of blend them into one.

Gregor, did you decide if you wanted to flesh out your character as Lady Maevre and Nikodemus have, or just roll with the historical and fun element?

We can slowly get the ball rolling on the IC stuff; much of what was posted before was under a different light. But basically my brief descriptions in this thread and the intro should give you a solid starting point. Demons have attacked the city and retreated after inflicting some damage, riotous conditions ensue. People are fleeing out of the four gates of the city and you're able to follow your alignment path to determine what the city scene means for now.

I can't recommned enough getting into IC. If the GM is happy with only a partial character sheet then we can start earlier.

My experiences are usually that the moment I start RPing I discover that the character I created isn't quite the character I want, and I personally perfer character creation to finish after I start IC. As an example almost every character the moment I roll initiative in the first encounter I spot something obvious that I would want to have different in my character.

I mean, I was probably going to flesh out a bit while building my character sheet, but then the dice roller decided "5d6? Nah fam, enjoy these screw you rolls." Ugh, like, yeah, rolled an 18, great, but a 10, 8, AND a 6?! This kills my entire character right off the bat, I can't make him mechanically function with that many bad stats. Ugh.

Edit: No choice but to go back to the drawing board and pick a character build that can work with that massive stat divide
This message was last edited by the player at 15:58, Fri 09 Dec 2022.

I won't even join a game that does random attributes. Ever again. It's a stupid idea...

Do what I did and use the points...

Oh, huh. That is a weird PB for DnD, never seen it like that before. That at least I could work with though. DM, are you okay with me using the point buy instead?

I've posted several systems at this point but most of it went over the side of the ship with the previous prose.

Whatever the standard point buy is, Gregor, please feel free to use it. My guess is you're referring to the one in the PHB or DMG?

Somehow Lady Maevre ended up with huge stats, not sure if that's just from magic items boosting them or not, but that would be my inclination.

Feel free to bump the stats a little bit past the standard, though, if you want.

Something to meditate on for the IC post, on the way to the city you have a momentary memory-flash of blink dogs and astiraxes bumbling about, munching on the grass, which is uncommon for monsters in this area. Basically you succeeded on Knowledge (arcana) checks which will be super common and thus INT-based characters will be able to guide the story, maybe even give some magic weapons to the melee characters. Fishing for loot won't be easy yet, given the heightened fear level of the milieu.

On the way to the city you come across some shattered flasks, which smell like cure light wounds, invisibility, and haste. They don't seem to be draining, making them kind of like messages in bottles. To that point, there are the monsters who could lap them up and turn into god knows what, something that would feel like demonic possession to get attacked by. Seems like the path to the city comes along just fine aside from your chem levels which beat steadily a throb unto carriage wrecks spelling unexpected outcomes for travelers.

It's because originaly we had a LA of up to LA + 5, which I cut back to a LA +2, and I did put a lot of my magic item money into stats
This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Sat 10 Dec 2022.

So it seems like Gregor is truly going to become Gregor Samsa. ;)

The scene is set for you guys to post, but we lost Nikodemus on account of me being too much of a noob. Again I'd like to emphasize it'll be a text-oriented game without a ton of rules-related GM prep up front, so if that's not your style, feel free to follow in his footsteps and bow out.

But anyway, maybe I can use Nikodemus as the main NPC you're looking to dethrone as the mastermind of the demonic invasion, most of the city not knowing about that but solidly the reason that your group of travelling companions chose to approach the city, aside from economic or political imperatives.

The idea is that OOC can be a sense of an ironical place to place whatever, forming the backbone of the story by being like a stage with a backdrop, ideas blending between what is sensed and what is depicted. So the ensuing dawn levels the playing field by bringing up skeletons at night, but you're not fully swathed in darkness at least as of yet. The skellies can't eat the contents of the potion, kinda the opposite of Pirates of the Caribbean, so without the water draining from the absent body. The legend is that the wizards control the valuable aspects of the city top-down, making for a sluicing magical field that you will eventually perceive as blue and watery rays, like a pool of light.

We are all noobs some of the time! I am sorry we lost Nikodemus though.

Is anyone going to join me IC?

Sorry, I have been slammed this weekend. Multiple house viewings yesterday and today, end up stuck all day at an emergency vet with a dog suffering explosive bloody diarrhea. -_-

Since this is more or less turning into a rules-light game, I'll just wade into the IC and worry about sheet-building later. And I certainly hope Gregor doesn't end up like Samsa did. Getting polymorphed into a giant cockroach would suck.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Mon 12 Dec 2022.

Come post IC Gregor :) The GM is posting multiple times: keen for us to join. I can't really post until you do (and I am asking the GM a couple of questions). I've updated my last post to ask you a question

Hi everybody.

I will try to read though the posts and get myself up to speed on creating my character and house rules.
Work before Christmas is a little mad but I do have 5 days off over Christmas.

No rush, whenever you're ready.

For now the elementals are approaching you, it is day and you clank along in your armor or putter about with the ultimate aim of seeing the city's magic. Gregor and Pinehdale, you know Lady Maevre from being a group of scholars (of variable intellect) who are coming to the city to learn but you had no idea that chaos was reigning, so those of good alignment are irked at the presence of demonspawn within the city and potentially seek to eradicate the demonic stain that leaves the city mottled. The lake supposedly has a loch ness type deal called a Elivaiathan and you might prepare to drain the waters to see if it can lend its aid to you as it has been known to do in rough times to willing adventurers.

Hi Pinehdale

The challenge ratings for the monsters, being based on parties with four characters, take place without the grid factoring in. Descriptions will take the place of in-game elements every time, so most of the crunch pertains to gold pieces and fleshing out the characters. The classic "what is 3.5 without miniatures" will get blown over here, seeing as I think minis severely restrict the game.

So if you're looking for a bit more crunch, the power nexuses can drain mana without transferring an alert to other power nexuses in the area. As it were, magic fields detectable by premonition will almost always result in an encounter with the dark god Izrador. But his magicks have seeped into the cloth of the subconscious, making for a difficult path without the use of a ton of magicks. Polymorph is often performed to slot one into an astriax's form, making way for dogs' innate capabilities in situations where non magic-users can sniff out needed plants or  track potions or select targets sometimes miles away. The classic dog smelling the trail, but in Baden's Bluff's environs, there is mostly flat plain with waves crashing on the shore, ladders pitched precariously throughout the city and swords of acid marking the force of the Eren and Yellow rivers that sway back and forth as giant arteries do.

The main export is timber, kind of like a Germany or Russia and there is a force of manor homes that populate the farther reaches of the plains, upon which sit the Blood Mother Tribe and the Feral Mother tribe. Orcs are generally viewed with derision in these parts of town, but seeing as they offer the best tithes and settle into the most sundry economic posts, there is an economic surplus complemented by orcs using acid swords as a transition into potential future dominance. "Boy do those babies scald" is a common phrase in orcish, translated from "Bok hoy goto hava nigen." Most of the orcs in this region are walking around with richer humans, who are carrying around fifty gold pieces apiece, seeing as the pyramidal economic structures pair human masters with orc serfs. But the economics of the city are undermining the traditional hierarchies, making for trips out of town being very common, something you might consider doing being taking magic items to other cities and convincing orcs not to serve the dark god, either with weapons or with words. The range of wealth is such that the closer you go to the center of the city, the mean rent of the three tiers is respectively 5,000, 20,000, and 400,000 gold pieces per month. You know to ask for Maavu once the demon invasion thing cools off, 'cause he's supposedly really hardy. Fire and water make for the elemental vulnerabilities of most of the humans populating the city, while the aberrants common in the catacombs are vulnerable to acid.

How is character creation going. It would be great if someone could respond IC so we can get a little energy in the game...

One more potential player. I added some to the intro which supercedes the chaos preceding getting enough players (not that we even have yet) but I wanted to tie the loose ends of the prompt together. The smoke rises from Lady Maevre's fire and it quickly seems like you've attracted some fire elementals.

Hi people. Sorry i am slow: just came down with the second cold/flu/covid of the winter :(. I should be fine by the weekend I hope

Well I no better.  But I finally have week off next week so I hope to get thing up and running.

Still in the percolating period or perhaps the eclipse phase to be more exact.

People responding means we're hovering around 4 players and the map of Baden's Bluff is uploaded, but surprise, surprise, is the map of the city of Cauldron.

The foothills around the mountain aren't so very steep but reveal a breathtaking view of the river cutting through the city (which isn't on the map) but called the Menes.

There's a rumor that a mad wizard is behind the madness and the black-haired-and-bearded fellow is a wizard of some talent.

In reply to wlake.gmtn (msg # 53):

That last description sounds a little like me! Greetings fellow gamers! Birahu the wizard here. I'll be starting on him in the next hour or so! I can post everyday, so if you need me, I'm here to sound off to.

Just be aware that we start at level 6 and can have a small LA if you ask the GM nicely.

FYI I am a melee character. Based on what I've seen a wizard will work extremely well
This message was last edited by the player at 13:02, Thu 12 Jan 2023.

I'm planning a support character who has an apothecary role but has learned to survive on their own.

Sounds like a great mix!

Should be finished today, but it could be tomorrow, basics are done now.