Got 5 minutes before we run into this hole, may as well update this journel for now, I doubt I'll have time to do so while inside.
After meeting Borkul and agreeing on some supplies for what turned out to be a remarkably short journey, we went to a shadow puppet show to waste time until the evening. There both Valyri and I saw Sabien, surprising to say the least because he's been dead for 4 years now, deciding to follow him, mostly out of some form of purely morbid curiousity, he was attacked by Nimrodel.
Chasing the both of them, we watched Sabien escape after animating a Gargoyle to block Nimrodel's path, and our attempts to interfere were stopped by the appearance of Esmerelda Wune, and Darnis, who has now defected from our group to join the Rebels.
As Sabien managed to escape I felt no importance in stopping Nimrodel, Esmerelda or Darnis and ignored their escape, but not before they dropped some hints of great things to come.
After that I returned to the temple of Phobos and slept to prepare for the journey I thought we were going to face today.
After waking the group were led to a beast of burden (the name escapes me) and brought to the trading post at which point Valyri decided to cajole me to buy enough raw Mithral to make a Chain Shirt for her.
After which we were approached by a messenger who gave us the notice that my Master was waiting for us at "The Stone Table" a nearby, ruined temple.
At his own choice my master was in disguise as a Human, and preformed a trade with Flynn, the Prince, I didn't see what the prince traded away, only that it was a weapon of some sort, and he recieved the Brass Dragon orb temporarily in return, the prince calling it "the Keystone".
After this trade concluded, and some milling about, the prince proceeded to lead us further into the mountains until we came across a cave that only the prince, 'Lady' and I could see. Carrying the orb to a sealed door in the back Flynn set it into a depression in the door, which then proceeded to retract into the mountain. The dead air of the ancient library rushing out against us, before Usagi ran inside shouting about seeing something shiny.
Going to follow him inside in a second, wonder if he has anything valauble that he wanted to be buried with.
Friday, 31 October 2014
Monday, 27 October 2014
Mechanical Talk: Breaking Things
So, let's talk about game mechanics, I'm not good at coming up with new game mechanics, mostly working well within a system I'm familiar with, but I always enjoy creating things within those mechanics, and expanding them to do multiple things, letting mechanics overlap, and intermingle, it allows players to find a mechanic they like and not be catastrophically confined to doing one specific thing, UND ONE THING ONLY!!!.
However, in between crippling overspecialisation and jack of all trades, master of none shenanigans, there is that sweet spot of being able to do multiple things well and being competent at their connected abilities, and if a party of PC's each has their own set of abilities that compliment each other without stepping on each others toes then that party works like clockwerk, making combat smooth, powered by the players who wanted to specialise in combat, and social skills flow from one to another, each person making a contribution suitable to their character.
Naturally, even in the perfect setup, there will be characters that overlap in skills and abilities, but having a player who greases the social wheels via bluff and perform will find his skills being used in different situations than the player who chose to be an intimidating thug that gives NPC's the choice of telling them what they want to know or losing their teeth, and if the players talk about it, that setup allows for great good-cop, bad-cop social encounters.
However, it's one thing to have a theoretically perfect party who have different specialisations and skills, and a party where nearly every character has the same abilities (normally caused by a lack of player communication); even in this situation it's entirely possible for a cunning DM to set up encounters and challenges where each PC is allowed to shine through.
If you're wondering why I've got 3 paragraphs detailing how having a varied party is a good thing, then you've either never played in a party where everyone chose to play similar roles, or you did and had a REALLY good DM for that party, because this is where I get onto the entire point of this rant: Broken Characters.
Now lots of players and DMs have entirely different measuring sticks for what constitutes a broken character, one of my current DMs insists that the coup-de-grace rules as written are broken beyond belief, and the other hates the Gunslinger rules with a level of passion normally reserved for a personal nemesis, and every player at my group except for one honestly believe it's impossible to play a Summoner without overshadowing the group entirely (It's not, but you need to know what you're doing).
Personally I think a broken character is a character that, either by accident or on purpose, overshadows other characters in their class specific abilities.
Compare a lvl 1 Fighter and Barbarian, there is no way that a Fighter will ever really out damage a Barbarian, and a Barbarian cannot wear the heavy armour that the Fighter can, but imagine that the Barbarian did gain Heavy Armour Proficiency, they'll lose some abilities (mostly Fast Movement), but now they can both out damage and out AC the Fighter, and if that Fighter chose that Class specifically to be a human shield, then that Barbarian has just purposefully decided that he wants to be as much of a human shield as the Fighter, and given his class abilities he can still generally out damage the Fighter, and so the player has created a broken character on purpose, either maliciously or because he thought it would be a good idea.
Contrast and compare to a group of players who had no communication during character creation, and they come up with individually; A Nerfer Wizard, A Blaster Sorcerer, a Super-Solo Summoner, a Nerfer Malefactor, and a Brick Paladin, now identify the broken character.
3
2
1
If you guessed the Nerfer Wizard/Nerfer Malefactor, based on class ability crossover you'd be wrong, the Nerfer Wizard and the Nerfer Malefactor can specialise in separate styles, the Wizard going 1v1 with powerful save or suck spells, and the Malefactor granting a general area penalty to all saves. No the broken character here is the Super-Solo Summoner based on the fact that due to fact that nobody had any communication they decided to make a character that could potentially fulfil any role, and in doing so overshadowed the entire party, often making them useless.
Now I'm not saying that an Over Powered character is broken, or that any Broken character is automatically Over Powered, it's a lot more likely though; but that a character who repeatedly, without any real effort takes away the purpose and necessity of another party member is broken.
If you're having trouble with a broken character, then there is an easy fix, talk to the player, ask him if he wouldn't mind taking a back seat when issues come up. A character that specialises in combat to the point where he doesn't need the party to beat most fights, could feasibly hang back and use Aid Another, usually beating the AC of 10 in order to help their party members, allowing them to both make a contribution and not make the other party members feel useless, socially it is entirely possible for a character to just step back and allow the other party members to talk to the king, only stepping in if things start to go wrong.
Ultimately it's up to the player whether or not they step back or continue to overshadow the other PCs, however remember all Broken characters have a weakness, and it's often one that they don't expect to come up in gameplay.
Just remember you're playing the game to have fun, and if you have to gank someone to do so, don't let that stop you.
However, in between crippling overspecialisation and jack of all trades, master of none shenanigans, there is that sweet spot of being able to do multiple things well and being competent at their connected abilities, and if a party of PC's each has their own set of abilities that compliment each other without stepping on each others toes then that party works like clockwerk, making combat smooth, powered by the players who wanted to specialise in combat, and social skills flow from one to another, each person making a contribution suitable to their character.
Naturally, even in the perfect setup, there will be characters that overlap in skills and abilities, but having a player who greases the social wheels via bluff and perform will find his skills being used in different situations than the player who chose to be an intimidating thug that gives NPC's the choice of telling them what they want to know or losing their teeth, and if the players talk about it, that setup allows for great good-cop, bad-cop social encounters.
However, it's one thing to have a theoretically perfect party who have different specialisations and skills, and a party where nearly every character has the same abilities (normally caused by a lack of player communication); even in this situation it's entirely possible for a cunning DM to set up encounters and challenges where each PC is allowed to shine through.
If you're wondering why I've got 3 paragraphs detailing how having a varied party is a good thing, then you've either never played in a party where everyone chose to play similar roles, or you did and had a REALLY good DM for that party, because this is where I get onto the entire point of this rant: Broken Characters.
Now lots of players and DMs have entirely different measuring sticks for what constitutes a broken character, one of my current DMs insists that the coup-de-grace rules as written are broken beyond belief, and the other hates the Gunslinger rules with a level of passion normally reserved for a personal nemesis, and every player at my group except for one honestly believe it's impossible to play a Summoner without overshadowing the group entirely (It's not, but you need to know what you're doing).
Personally I think a broken character is a character that, either by accident or on purpose, overshadows other characters in their class specific abilities.
Compare a lvl 1 Fighter and Barbarian, there is no way that a Fighter will ever really out damage a Barbarian, and a Barbarian cannot wear the heavy armour that the Fighter can, but imagine that the Barbarian did gain Heavy Armour Proficiency, they'll lose some abilities (mostly Fast Movement), but now they can both out damage and out AC the Fighter, and if that Fighter chose that Class specifically to be a human shield, then that Barbarian has just purposefully decided that he wants to be as much of a human shield as the Fighter, and given his class abilities he can still generally out damage the Fighter, and so the player has created a broken character on purpose, either maliciously or because he thought it would be a good idea.
Contrast and compare to a group of players who had no communication during character creation, and they come up with individually; A Nerfer Wizard, A Blaster Sorcerer, a Super-Solo Summoner, a Nerfer Malefactor, and a Brick Paladin, now identify the broken character.
3
2
1
If you guessed the Nerfer Wizard/Nerfer Malefactor, based on class ability crossover you'd be wrong, the Nerfer Wizard and the Nerfer Malefactor can specialise in separate styles, the Wizard going 1v1 with powerful save or suck spells, and the Malefactor granting a general area penalty to all saves. No the broken character here is the Super-Solo Summoner based on the fact that due to fact that nobody had any communication they decided to make a character that could potentially fulfil any role, and in doing so overshadowed the entire party, often making them useless.
Now I'm not saying that an Over Powered character is broken, or that any Broken character is automatically Over Powered, it's a lot more likely though; but that a character who repeatedly, without any real effort takes away the purpose and necessity of another party member is broken.
If you're having trouble with a broken character, then there is an easy fix, talk to the player, ask him if he wouldn't mind taking a back seat when issues come up. A character that specialises in combat to the point where he doesn't need the party to beat most fights, could feasibly hang back and use Aid Another, usually beating the AC of 10 in order to help their party members, allowing them to both make a contribution and not make the other party members feel useless, socially it is entirely possible for a character to just step back and allow the other party members to talk to the king, only stepping in if things start to go wrong.
Ultimately it's up to the player whether or not they step back or continue to overshadow the other PCs, however remember all Broken characters have a weakness, and it's often one that they don't expect to come up in gameplay.
Just remember you're playing the game to have fun, and if you have to gank someone to do so, don't let that stop you.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Journey Journel, First Entry, Date unknown
So we left High Haven, leaving Ramos behind, thank Erastil, and set on the road to Neffy's bastion. Strangely enough, halfway there Ysera turned around and headed back to High Haven, muttering something about a mad wizard and a book, I don't know, she's been acting strangely ever since we left the Artillery camp, randomly swapping between personalities. I think she might be insane.
When we finally got to the Bastion, Neffy had his own welcoming comitee of 3 heavily armed Hellknights, who told him he had to go see the Archlictor for some reason and what little I could see of his face seemed really worried.
I went to the Mage to buy some new toys, it turned out that she had a shiny new amulet that cost me far too much money, and a scroll that I should try and rewrite in a formula.
When we finally got to the Bastion, Neffy had his own welcoming comitee of 3 heavily armed Hellknights, who told him he had to go see the Archlictor for some reason and what little I could see of his face seemed really worried.
I went to the Mage to buy some new toys, it turned out that she had a shiny new amulet that cost me far too much money, and a scroll that I should try and rewrite in a formula.
* * * * *
Well we're headed back to High Haven for some reason with a bunch of Hellknight soldiers, apparantly Neffy wasn't in trouble. I hope we don't run into Ramos back there.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Travelling Through Hell and Back With Friends
So another round of characters for another Campaign, this one's being run by A, so he won't be on the roll sheet.
Once again player names have not been changed to protect the innocent because I'm lazy, have fun guessing if you know these people.
First up is Hellnight Nefarion, played by M
I just remembered I had this, silly old me, it was buried right at the bottom of my coffin underneath all the spoiled herbs that I was testing for Hypoglaucomatic sensitivity, I was supposed to be keeping notes on that experiment and nows it's been completely ruined, I need to use you for something, don't I journel, how about the journey I'm on, I'll call you my Journey Journel, and we can be friends who'll never tell other people our secrets.
Do you want to know about the monsters I'm travelling with? You do. Brilliant, just let me find some more ink.
Well firstly there's Neffy, he's a bad person, hiding behind the protection of the Hellknights, meaning that if I try to stop him from hurting people I get hurt too, and he delights in hurting people. He stopped being so mean to me after I beat him in a fair duel, but I can't not get a bad feeling from him, and he keeps licking his lips whenever he sees bleeding people.
Secondly is Hellknight Signifer Ysera, played by S, the DM for the other campaign.
and everywhere he goes Ysera isn't far behind, she's not as bad as her brother, but she's the one holding the leash on him, and it's quite clear that she's not keeping a tight hold on it. She's a magic user, and the few times we've talked she's seemed intelligent enough, but I don't think she'd hesitate for a second if any of us were to become an obstacle to her.
After her come Hel & Mel, Played by K, the running gag here is that her character is incredibly forgettable.
and course Neffy's apprentice/scapegoat, Hel, I like her, she doesn't act like a monster and seems like she doesn't want to hurt people, of course the fact that she has one of the restless dead following her around, obeying her commands is less than promising, but I'm not going to judge anyone for their appearance, I have enough trouble with mine.
I don't think she likes my bombs though, whenever one of them explodes, she tends to flinch violently even if the flames don't touch her.
And leaving the Hellknights behind we have their prisoner Cynthia, played by C.M
I don't mind Cynthia, I mean she's a prisoner of the Hellknights, so she's probably done something, but she doesn't act like a bad person, and she doesn't look like she enjoys hurting people. She doesn't seem to have much of a sense of direction though. Apparently she followed us west, thinking we were heading east to Ostenheim. Things always seem to go wrong for peopel whenever she's around and I think she might be another magic user, but she's never done anything explicitly magical.
Before finally reaching Ramos, played by V (yes that V)
I don't like Ramos, for one thing he clearly has something big to hide, and for another he called me stupid, apparently saying I need you do a small favour for me, while tied up by two violent, pyschpathic, hellknights and then offering me enough gold for several healing potions makes complete sense to him, and I'm the fool for not following through on his offer. I'm glad to be shot of him, leaving him in High Haven.
If you wan anymore information on the character and the Campaign setting, A is doing his own blog here
http://alexcampaign.blogspot.co.uk/
other than that I'll be going straight into Seltyiels Journey Journel next entry
Once again player names have not been changed to protect the innocent because I'm lazy, have fun guessing if you know these people.
First up is Hellnight Nefarion, played by M
I just remembered I had this, silly old me, it was buried right at the bottom of my coffin underneath all the spoiled herbs that I was testing for Hypoglaucomatic sensitivity, I was supposed to be keeping notes on that experiment and nows it's been completely ruined, I need to use you for something, don't I journel, how about the journey I'm on, I'll call you my Journey Journel, and we can be friends who'll never tell other people our secrets.
Do you want to know about the monsters I'm travelling with? You do. Brilliant, just let me find some more ink.
Well firstly there's Neffy, he's a bad person, hiding behind the protection of the Hellknights, meaning that if I try to stop him from hurting people I get hurt too, and he delights in hurting people. He stopped being so mean to me after I beat him in a fair duel, but I can't not get a bad feeling from him, and he keeps licking his lips whenever he sees bleeding people.
Secondly is Hellknight Signifer Ysera, played by S, the DM for the other campaign.
and everywhere he goes Ysera isn't far behind, she's not as bad as her brother, but she's the one holding the leash on him, and it's quite clear that she's not keeping a tight hold on it. She's a magic user, and the few times we've talked she's seemed intelligent enough, but I don't think she'd hesitate for a second if any of us were to become an obstacle to her.
After her come Hel & Mel, Played by K, the running gag here is that her character is incredibly forgettable.
and course Neffy's apprentice/scapegoat, Hel, I like her, she doesn't act like a monster and seems like she doesn't want to hurt people, of course the fact that she has one of the restless dead following her around, obeying her commands is less than promising, but I'm not going to judge anyone for their appearance, I have enough trouble with mine.
I don't think she likes my bombs though, whenever one of them explodes, she tends to flinch violently even if the flames don't touch her.
And leaving the Hellknights behind we have their prisoner Cynthia, played by C.M
I don't mind Cynthia, I mean she's a prisoner of the Hellknights, so she's probably done something, but she doesn't act like a bad person, and she doesn't look like she enjoys hurting people. She doesn't seem to have much of a sense of direction though. Apparently she followed us west, thinking we were heading east to Ostenheim. Things always seem to go wrong for peopel whenever she's around and I think she might be another magic user, but she's never done anything explicitly magical.
Before finally reaching Ramos, played by V (yes that V)
I don't like Ramos, for one thing he clearly has something big to hide, and for another he called me stupid, apparently saying I need you do a small favour for me, while tied up by two violent, pyschpathic, hellknights and then offering me enough gold for several healing potions makes complete sense to him, and I'm the fool for not following through on his offer. I'm glad to be shot of him, leaving him in High Haven.
If you wan anymore information on the character and the Campaign setting, A is doing his own blog here
http://alexcampaign.blogspot.co.uk/
other than that I'll be going straight into Seltyiels Journey Journel next entry
Monday, 20 October 2014
Into the Mind of a Madman
Right, and now, with the session upcoming I introduce to you Seltyiel 'Madman' Garrott, a Tiefling Beastmorph Alchemist, with a penchant for explosives, potions, and turning into an indescribable horror to eat face.
Once again, I'm using the Pathfinder Rules for this character, so if you want to double check things it should be easy enough to check the D20PFSRD site.
As previously mentioned Seltyiel is a Teifling Alchemist, more specifically a Beastmorph Alchemist, whose repeated experimentation on his body, in an effort to turn himself into a Half-Elf like his parents, has caused his body chemistry to be incredibly unstable; mutating him furher, and further away from his goal, or in Meta terms my DM allowed me free reign on the Alternative Physical Features table, and I went somewhat overboard, currently he's rocking Horns, Pointed ears, Clawed Hands, Digigrade Clawed Feet, Fangs, Patches of reptilian scales, a draconic tail, a body temperature of about 5 degrees celsius, Glowing single colour eyes (No whites or pupils, just solid Magma coloured eyes), and Smoke pouring from his mouth, nostrils and Eyes. A grim reminder that winners don't do drugs if they want to remain pretty.
Personality wise, Seltyiel is intense, his emotions often unchecked but directed, much like a runaway train that has yet to be derailed. When he feels joy, it is the joy being reunited with a friend who has been missing for years, his grief envelopes anyone near him in a pallid shroud of gloom, and his anger is a sight to behold as he charges through hell and fire to wreak his vengeance. However his singing voice needs work, as atestted by every party member trying to find a way to shut him up.
However it should be remembered that this intensity, and complete lack of any social skills beyond the fact that his smile extends to the back of his head doesn't mean he's dumb, being the main planner of the group and plenty capable of thinking his actions through, he just might continue with those actions after thinking that they'll be a bad idea.
In Combat Seltyiel is a whole different beast, quite literally in this case, as his many and varied potions and mutagens warp and twist what little regular features he has left into new and exciting shapes for the combats duration, and due to his often careless use of bombs he represents as much a threat to himself and the party as he does to his enemies, and at the moment his most commonly used spells are Cure Light/Moderate Wounds, Shield, Barkskin, Invisibility, and Cat's Grace.
Seltyiel currently has no reason to travel with the party other than his curiousity, and acts as an often ignored moral compass, encouraging that the party doesn't set fire to people, or give old men heart attacks, but his morality doesn't extend much past that.
Seltyiel Character Sheet Here
Seltyiel "Madman" Garrott
Once again, I'm using the Pathfinder Rules for this character, so if you want to double check things it should be easy enough to check the D20PFSRD site.
As previously mentioned Seltyiel is a Teifling Alchemist, more specifically a Beastmorph Alchemist, whose repeated experimentation on his body, in an effort to turn himself into a Half-Elf like his parents, has caused his body chemistry to be incredibly unstable; mutating him furher, and further away from his goal, or in Meta terms my DM allowed me free reign on the Alternative Physical Features table, and I went somewhat overboard, currently he's rocking Horns, Pointed ears, Clawed Hands, Digigrade Clawed Feet, Fangs, Patches of reptilian scales, a draconic tail, a body temperature of about 5 degrees celsius, Glowing single colour eyes (No whites or pupils, just solid Magma coloured eyes), and Smoke pouring from his mouth, nostrils and Eyes. A grim reminder that winners don't do drugs if they want to remain pretty.
Personality wise, Seltyiel is intense, his emotions often unchecked but directed, much like a runaway train that has yet to be derailed. When he feels joy, it is the joy being reunited with a friend who has been missing for years, his grief envelopes anyone near him in a pallid shroud of gloom, and his anger is a sight to behold as he charges through hell and fire to wreak his vengeance. However his singing voice needs work, as atestted by every party member trying to find a way to shut him up.
However it should be remembered that this intensity, and complete lack of any social skills beyond the fact that his smile extends to the back of his head doesn't mean he's dumb, being the main planner of the group and plenty capable of thinking his actions through, he just might continue with those actions after thinking that they'll be a bad idea.
In Combat Seltyiel is a whole different beast, quite literally in this case, as his many and varied potions and mutagens warp and twist what little regular features he has left into new and exciting shapes for the combats duration, and due to his often careless use of bombs he represents as much a threat to himself and the party as he does to his enemies, and at the moment his most commonly used spells are Cure Light/Moderate Wounds, Shield, Barkskin, Invisibility, and Cat's Grace.
Seltyiel currently has no reason to travel with the party other than his curiousity, and acts as an often ignored moral compass, encouraging that the party doesn't set fire to people, or give old men heart attacks, but his morality doesn't extend much past that.
Seltyiel Character Sheet Here
Seltyiel "Madman" Garrott
Saturday, 18 October 2014
Journel Entry 1
So I'm writing in this journel before I try and find an alcove to sleep in.
Back in the Dustlands, sooner than I thought I'd be back here, at least here I actually know where I'm going, got to say the flight here was comfortable at least, also got in flight entertainment watching 2 grown men try to train a girl in combat with a broken mop.
Landed on a plateu about 4 hours of travel short of the Trading post in the middle of a dust storm, the journey was mostly uneventful, apart from an attack from 2 Chittering Hulks, thankfully none of us died this time, but I'm not hopeful on leading these people over the next few days. Hopefully Borkul will be able to spare us some supplies for the next few days, I'm not holding out hope though.
Next entry should when we make it to the mine.
Back in the Dustlands, sooner than I thought I'd be back here, at least here I actually know where I'm going, got to say the flight here was comfortable at least, also got in flight entertainment watching 2 grown men try to train a girl in combat with a broken mop.
Landed on a plateu about 4 hours of travel short of the Trading post in the middle of a dust storm, the journey was mostly uneventful, apart from an attack from 2 Chittering Hulks, thankfully none of us died this time, but I'm not hopeful on leading these people over the next few days. Hopefully Borkul will be able to spare us some supplies for the next few days, I'm not holding out hope though.
Next entry should when we make it to the mine.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
I Could Show you the World
Didn't plan on doing another non-journel post so quickly as the game was today and I'd put this after that, but life happened and the session got moved to later in the week effectively meaning that I wasn't going to have anything up for a couple of days so I may as well try and tell you something about the Campaign world for Gulag.
Well for one thing the campaign takes place on the continent of Ark, a place of great magic and greater heroes, heroes such as Kyme and the Seven Swordsmen, The Pheonix Summoner, Cursed Nimrodel of the Woods, and the Dark lady, Esmerelda Wune.
In ages past, came the first Summoner, a mage capable of dragging forth the sleeping spirits of the world, and the true essence of the arcane planes, to wreak destruction. He razed a trail of chaos across the land before disappearing back into the wilderness.
It wasn't long before more summoners appeared, their powers capable of fightign armies evenly, the only way that the lords of each kingdom could see to protect themselves from these mages was to either send armies against them and pray that they would die through attrition, or to trick the summoner into a dangerous place and turn the land itself against them, flooding valleys, crushing them under avalances.
The various villagers quickly fell into a witch hunt in order to protect their homes, and holdings, both against the Summoners destruction and their lords extreme measures to stop the summoners. Anyone born with a summoners mark was quickly hunted down and killed, or imprisoned, leading to the remaining summoners to go into hiding.
It is into this world that the party is born, coming from all walks of life, a Drow running from home, a Soldier unfairly dismissed from his service, a Kobold hoping to redeem his race, a Demon-Hunter seeking vengeance, a Hengeyokai out discover the world, and his Protector, swaddled in steel.
Well for one thing the campaign takes place on the continent of Ark, a place of great magic and greater heroes, heroes such as Kyme and the Seven Swordsmen, The Pheonix Summoner, Cursed Nimrodel of the Woods, and the Dark lady, Esmerelda Wune.
In ages past, came the first Summoner, a mage capable of dragging forth the sleeping spirits of the world, and the true essence of the arcane planes, to wreak destruction. He razed a trail of chaos across the land before disappearing back into the wilderness.
It wasn't long before more summoners appeared, their powers capable of fightign armies evenly, the only way that the lords of each kingdom could see to protect themselves from these mages was to either send armies against them and pray that they would die through attrition, or to trick the summoner into a dangerous place and turn the land itself against them, flooding valleys, crushing them under avalances.
The various villagers quickly fell into a witch hunt in order to protect their homes, and holdings, both against the Summoners destruction and their lords extreme measures to stop the summoners. Anyone born with a summoners mark was quickly hunted down and killed, or imprisoned, leading to the remaining summoners to go into hiding.
It is into this world that the party is born, coming from all walks of life, a Drow running from home, a Soldier unfairly dismissed from his service, a Kobold hoping to redeem his race, a Demon-Hunter seeking vengeance, a Hengeyokai out discover the world, and his Protector, swaddled in steel.
Sunday, 12 October 2014
The Dead Men
Right so I said I'd get this done, and I may as well get it done before next session before I humanise them too much, so let's get started on the other characters.
Player names have not been changed to protect the innocent, because I'm lazy, and I'd probably forget at some point, but they have been shortened to the first letter because that's easy to remember, I'll try to keep this in Gulag's perspective from this point on, anything in this text colour is just me
First up is Legatus Nero, played by M (No he is not Judi Dench)
May as well get my journel started now, got a moment of peace and quiet for a change, so how to start, not much point in writing about myself until the end, what to do, what to do. Writing about my companions seems like a good start, well a neutral start, but I need to say something at their funerals this should help.
Where do I start, well the ones who survived this long seems like a good start, so lets talk about Nero. He is, in no uncertain terms, a Malai, incapable of restraint, damaging to the team, interested only in himself and overly proud of re-inventing the wheel, a recent encounter might do something about his over-abundance of malaikur, but I doubt it, and judging by the conversations I've been over-hearing he's going to run out of thurirli that'll stand up for him soon enough.
Valyri, played by A
And the other long-term Survivor, besides me, would be Valyri, a Ingoeth, a Drow for those of you that don't speak Draconic. I would be hard pressed to call her a good person, mostly because of her heritage, but she fled from those dark cities for her own reason, and that's enough to give her a chance to prove herself better than the rest her pale-eyed kin.
Decided to found a, what did she call it, a 'PMC' with Nero, during the 4 years we spent apart for the purpose of hunting down rogue magic users, and summoners, and is constantly trying to find a man who's seltur persvek wer fothisev. Also she's holding onto one of the most powerful magical artefacts in existance, just thought that important to mention.
Darnis Corvo (Darnus Corveu) Nobody knows how to say or spell his name besides his player, running joke at this point, played by V (not that V)
Moving onto my less long term kiabili, we have Darnus, a human slinger, who for some reason chose to lug a cumbersome rifle and scope into a cramped, enclosed space, where we'd be fighting small, acrobatic thieves in their home turf. Granted I don't think it's the pure unthinking malaikur of Nero, but he is incredibly sharten, almost to the point of his death several times, refusing silver bullets on a wererat hunt, walking into enemy territory without proper backup, deciding to try and venture through a pitch-black labyrinth without torches or food are just a few example of what I'm sure is a life full of suicidal choices that he somehow managed to survive.
More to the point I think he may infected with Lycanthropy, not only did he charge into a den of Wererats, he was dragged back out by our healer, while covered in wounds, and the day after they spent a fair bit of time together speaking privately. If he doesn't turn next full moon all the better, but I'm going to be sleeping with my gun under my pillow, and silver bullets loaded.
Also has promised me a slow and painful death for tripping him over a cliff, long, boring story, I might put it in here if I've got slow day at some point.
Usagi, played by C.M, new character, old one died in Wererats den previous session.
I'm completely new to this one, he looks like a cat if someone cut its head off and stitched to a halflings body, awkwardly
Lady (Name Unknown), Played by K, New character old one died in wererat den previous session.
Once again I'm completely new to this one, she hasn't even taken her armour off, I'm guessing she's a female, othewise she's a man who wants to be called Lady, and I'm not going to touch that with a Dragons tail.
And a quick translation of the draconic I put in here
Malai = Idiot
Malaikur = Idiocy
Thurirli = Friends
Ingoeth = Drow
seltur persvek wer fothisev = Soft in the Head
Kiabili = Companions
Sharten = Stubborn
and if you want to use the translator I used it can be found here
http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/
Player names have not been changed to protect the innocent, because I'm lazy, and I'd probably forget at some point, but they have been shortened to the first letter because that's easy to remember, I'll try to keep this in Gulag's perspective from this point on, anything in this text colour is just me
First up is Legatus Nero, played by M (No he is not Judi Dench)
May as well get my journel started now, got a moment of peace and quiet for a change, so how to start, not much point in writing about myself until the end, what to do, what to do. Writing about my companions seems like a good start, well a neutral start, but I need to say something at their funerals this should help.
Where do I start, well the ones who survived this long seems like a good start, so lets talk about Nero. He is, in no uncertain terms, a Malai, incapable of restraint, damaging to the team, interested only in himself and overly proud of re-inventing the wheel, a recent encounter might do something about his over-abundance of malaikur, but I doubt it, and judging by the conversations I've been over-hearing he's going to run out of thurirli that'll stand up for him soon enough.
Valyri, played by A
And the other long-term Survivor, besides me, would be Valyri, a Ingoeth, a Drow for those of you that don't speak Draconic. I would be hard pressed to call her a good person, mostly because of her heritage, but she fled from those dark cities for her own reason, and that's enough to give her a chance to prove herself better than the rest her pale-eyed kin.
Decided to found a, what did she call it, a 'PMC' with Nero, during the 4 years we spent apart for the purpose of hunting down rogue magic users, and summoners, and is constantly trying to find a man who's seltur persvek wer fothisev. Also she's holding onto one of the most powerful magical artefacts in existance, just thought that important to mention.
Darnis Corvo (Darnus Corveu) Nobody knows how to say or spell his name besides his player, running joke at this point, played by V (not that V)
Moving onto my less long term kiabili, we have Darnus, a human slinger, who for some reason chose to lug a cumbersome rifle and scope into a cramped, enclosed space, where we'd be fighting small, acrobatic thieves in their home turf. Granted I don't think it's the pure unthinking malaikur of Nero, but he is incredibly sharten, almost to the point of his death several times, refusing silver bullets on a wererat hunt, walking into enemy territory without proper backup, deciding to try and venture through a pitch-black labyrinth without torches or food are just a few example of what I'm sure is a life full of suicidal choices that he somehow managed to survive.
More to the point I think he may infected with Lycanthropy, not only did he charge into a den of Wererats, he was dragged back out by our healer, while covered in wounds, and the day after they spent a fair bit of time together speaking privately. If he doesn't turn next full moon all the better, but I'm going to be sleeping with my gun under my pillow, and silver bullets loaded.
Also has promised me a slow and painful death for tripping him over a cliff, long, boring story, I might put it in here if I've got slow day at some point.
Usagi, played by C.M, new character, old one died in Wererats den previous session.
I'm completely new to this one, he looks like a cat if someone cut its head off and stitched to a halflings body, awkwardly
Lady (Name Unknown), Played by K, New character old one died in wererat den previous session.
Once again I'm completely new to this one, she hasn't even taken her armour off, I'm guessing she's a female, othewise she's a man who wants to be called Lady, and I'm not going to touch that with a Dragons tail.
And a quick translation of the draconic I put in here
Malai = Idiot
Malaikur = Idiocy
Thurirli = Friends
Ingoeth = Drow
seltur persvek wer fothisev = Soft in the Head
Kiabili = Companions
Sharten = Stubborn
and if you want to use the translator I used it can be found here
http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/
Saturday, 11 October 2014
Meet Gulag
So it might just be worth detailing each character before I actually get into the process of putting their thoughts down on "paper" let's start with Gulag.
And just so that nobody can yell "that's not how that works" or "is that a custom class" all of my characters are using the Pathfinder Rules, unless specifically stated otherwise.
Gulag, is a Kobold, more specifically he is a Crystal Kobold, meaning he looks more like a crystal dragon than anything else, with shiny, glassy, quartz like scales, and deep red horns that look like crystalline growths, this is about all the difference there is, nothing mechanical, I just wanted to use a non-chromatic dragon and Pathfinder does have a precedence of "Ghost" Kobolds that I used as my base.
Personality wise, he's immensily snarky, and has pride in himself, but nothing to back it up with, or more accurately, he wants to be proud of himself, but everyone tells him that he can't be, because he's a Kobold. This is backed up with a general level of pragmatism,
Gulag: "If we're going up against Lycanthropes, we're going to need silver weapons"
Darnis: "Nah we'll be fine"
(actual freaking conversation from game)
Kobold knowledge of weaknesses, a healthy fear of dying after too many close calls, and of course his guns.
See, Gulag's class is Gunslinger (Pistolero) 6/ Barbarian 1, with a rank in Trickster, so while he is mechanically as far away from party face as is functionally possible, there is no problem he can't solve after looking at it long enough, shooting enough bullets in its general direction, or just talking to the NPC like they are an actual person. Of course this doesn't actually take the place of a good charisma score and ranks in Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate and when the dice come down is when Gulag's social moxy flies out the window, but whenever a conversation involving firearms is brought up Gulag will inject himself into the conversation, sometimes forcefully, no matter who is involved, this can lead to fun times when the anti-tech faction goes
"Firearms are the root of all evil, they take away the weight of killing an intelligent creature and go against natures rule of the strongest survive" to which Gulag responds "yeah, Guns are awesome aren't they"
In combat is where Gulag shines, with a gun in each hand and reflexes fater than the bullets he fires (Init +16, yes it's fully rules legal), able to dodge every blade that comes his way (AC 25-30, once again rules legal) and is inhumanly accurate with his firearms (Okay only a +15 here, but against Touch AC that's pretty good), combined with his mobility, these factors make Gulag a force to be reckoned with in combat, unfortunately, he also refuses to run from a fight if there are helpless people behind him which has led to several points where he's been fighting on against impossible odds because he has to protect the injured Wizard and Scholar from a horde of Hobgoblins, while fighting on a crumbling bridge. Thank god for the CON boost from Barbarian Rage or he would have been dead several times over.
Currently Gulag's primary motivations for going along with campaign are threefold.
1 - He wants to be known as a hero, let people see that he and his race aren't pointless vermin to be exterminated whenever is convenient, and for this reason it annoys him that he keeps on getting written out of the "official" versions of the stories that the Bards tell.
2 - He's looking for an old weapon known as the Velseki Blade, a sword several millenium old, so far he's only found the hilt which has a part of the shattered blade, but he believes it will help him with his goal of becoming a hero.
3 - He found mention of an old firearm called "The Shard of Brionac" in a scroll he found in a ruin, unfortunately he only has part of the blueprints, and is currently on the lookout for more information on where he may find the other pieces, mostly out of personal curiousity.
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| The original Picture, by a friend, commissioned for a pizza |
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=43253
Welcome to my mind
Yo, I'm Groggy, also Groggles, jerk-face, Scottish, Rules-Lawyering Bastard, that cunt with the bad hair and poor fashion sense, or "OI You, get me a beer".
This blog is primarily going to be an "attempt" to record the actions, outlooks, inner-thoughts and outer actions of my RPG characters, primarily starting with "Gulag, Serakphim of the Embermaw" and "Seltyiel 'Madman' Garrott" also known as "stop being overpowered" by the DM, but if they die then I'll move onto other characters and put their stories up for the internet to read and mock.
Interspersed between character thoughts and journels, I may post things that just pop into my head, alongside homebrew rules, items, races, classes and systems, but don't expect too much of those.
That said, strap in and enjoy the ride
This blog is primarily going to be an "attempt" to record the actions, outlooks, inner-thoughts and outer actions of my RPG characters, primarily starting with "Gulag, Serakphim of the Embermaw" and "Seltyiel 'Madman' Garrott" also known as "stop being overpowered" by the DM, but if they die then I'll move onto other characters and put their stories up for the internet to read and mock.
Interspersed between character thoughts and journels, I may post things that just pop into my head, alongside homebrew rules, items, races, classes and systems, but don't expect too much of those.
That said, strap in and enjoy the ride
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