gideonpepys
Member

Aodhan and Ethelyn have African racial features. So do Heward and Nevard Sechim (in adventure 2), Malia Baccarin (in 4), plus Ken Don and Vitus Sigismund (in adventure 8). Plus, of course, Rock Rackus. I forgot about Sechims and Baccarin altogether (although I didn't think Baccarin was Risuri, but that's a bit beside the point of this particular tangent). And I have no idea how I forgot about Sigismund when writing that post when I've been literally reading about him in gideonpepys 's campaign journal (though, again, I think I was thinking of Risuri specifically). No fracking clue how I, or anyone, could just forget about Rock. TL;DR, I have no idea what I'm talking about. :-P Eladrin have Indo-Persian features. I'm trying to recall how many elves we had -- Nilasa is a half-elf and sorta Indian-y, while most of the other elves (like Ottavia Sacredote, Livia Hatsfield, or Lauryn Cyneburg) are more European. But elves, as we all know, have lots of sub-races. I keep forgetting that Ottavia is not straight up Human. (By the way, I realize it was probably born of the Pathfinder Oracle's Curse class feature, but her being deaf and Luc speaking sign language with her is a great touch.)

@gideonpepys, I agree that this is a reasonable approach to take. But it doesn't appear to be supported by the text. It does say that moving the seal away from the portal releases the Thing from Beyond, but it doesn't say that doing so ends the ritual. (In fact, it says the opposite: the ritual cannot end unless the seal is next to the portal.) For Collapse, "a dangerous collapse can be achieved" but not "if the seal is not next to the portal." If you collapse the portal (by destroying all 8 lanterns while the seal is next to the portal) then The Thing emerges when the link to Apet ends. But it doesn't say that the link ends when The Thing emerges. @RangerWickett, what was your intent?

Ajar, gideonpepys, Shilubi, Hitomi Camacho, ltclnlbrain, Empirate, you've all put up one or more detailed posts in support of a faction. Care to discuss deal-making?

gideonpepys: Yes, I voted for it with the Aegis sub-goal. Now I just hope we can convince others to lean in that direction as well. :)

Which witch? The Worst Witch is popular with the younger set according to my niece

If the hierarch in question impregnated Linia against her will, is it possible that the child was held in stasis in some way, either by her or by the clergy? I ask only because one candidate who springs to mind is Cardinal Silvestri. But he died 500 years ago. Hm. Slvestri is possible, but definitely not what I was originally thinking. Seems there isn't a whole lot of information about many hierarchs. I can't imagine that the vault doesn't have any sort of things which would keep something in stasis. PC trapped there for 400 years as an infant in stasis, freed by Masardik after returning from Risur. It could definitely work. Thanks for a different idea!

with a piece of Quital shrapnel imbedded in his face Ooooh, nice touch!

I never mentioned in my earlier post, but my players failed to stop Ekossigan and he murdered all the orphans. I really didn't expect that to happen and it was exceptionally dark. It was the first time the group's failure had had such dire consequences, and really built up tension for the finale. Eeeeep! Did they end up encountering Ekossigan in the complex later? I feel like one of those threads is bound to end in failure - terrorists cause a lot of murder, Ekossigan kills a lot of orphans, or the B-Team are all brutally murdered / mutilated by Kell.

From a roleplay perspective, though, if Boyd knows Gale, surely the Vekeshi might at least approach him to try and send her a message in adventure 2? (I guess no one needs to be asked to assasinate Rock, though. It doesn't add a huge amount.) Yes, I plan to play out his relationship with Gale, and knowing the guy who plays it, he's going to try to infiltrate the cult anyways, so he can pick up the roleplaying threads as a double agent.

Quick question about using 4e, if you have time: Does the character builder still work? Or are you guys somehow managing without? It still works if you have a running sub (and since they introduced the 5E online tools, you can resub for the 4E ones too). ddi.wizards.com still has everything. Of course Zeitgeist material has to be updated manually.

Might Boyd also have an affiliation with the Vekeshi? I ask only because that theme always felt to me like it should be played out in secret, not writ large, given it is a clandestine organisation. (One of my players was a martial scientist, but also a mystic.) The vekeshi subplots are well worth exploring. (In fact, it's the only theme that involves an actual plot rather than occasional bonuses and areas of interest.) It was the Danoran tiefling general who pretended to be the guy who killed him, right? I suggested the theme to Boyd's player but he wasn't really interest. I think the guy who plays Bruce may "double dip" (in roleplay terms) in that part of the story.

Me too. Love the crunch! But yes, the fights take a long time. I've found that I now pack minis only for fights I know the players can't avoid. Because if you pack minis, you want the players to fight, right? Still, 4e combats are great. Like a hugely thematic tactical boardgame. I know at least one of my players who really misses that aspect of the game. (But I know at least two who definitely don't!) Your roster of characters is exciting. I'm looking forward to reading more. Pretty much, yeah. 4E asks for your time but doesn't waste it. If the fights are well staged and well played and there's not too many of them, the payoff is huge and something other systems rarely can replicate. I'll be posting the last character and the chronicle of the first 2 sessions later today.

Thanks for the replies! The thing is - and this is my hot take of the thread reading it only half way through, not having actually GMed it - I feel like the fact that Ekossigan is able to do something this evil is half the point. The Cloudwood has lost most of its police force, so everything that is happening is a direct result of the chaos that the Obscuriti are (unintentionally) inflicting on the world. Add some really nasty witchy panic to the townspeople and I think it makes for an interesting scenario to parallel with the terrorism and gang war. Toning down Ekossigan himself (making his targets adults or even in-mates) makes the plot less compelling, and I feel it'd be easier just to take it out and give the other two threads more focus. I'd rather not put in lots of work to make a less interesting version of the sub-plot. Asrabey can just show up unannounced later (I can't recall whether there's anything he needs to know or do beforehand). That's if the players veto the idea of running...

So, moving forward, will 'number of views' be permanently removed? I don’t currently have an answer to that question beyond what I said. Sorry! :)

BOOOM! *snip* Korrigan sent to Han Jierre again: “Thanks for the message. I regret to say that the messengers ran away before I could give them my reply.” This whole episode was inspired by Tormyr's earlier post, without which I would not have reflected on the fact that this would be a nice, dramatic moment to have a concerted attack against the unit. I really beefed up the porteurs, making the squad on the submarine the elite of the elite, boosted by potions and rituals. Having the attack come at night on board ship added some variety (the characters weren't awake or equipped), but it soon became apparent that the marines stood no chance of making a kill. It was fun though! *snip* Hey, I rewrote the future! ;)

Que? I was wondering if an explosion was the upcoming response from Danor. I reread the post and guess I got too far ahead of myself.

I think it makes a great, comedic counterpoint to the oppressive high stakes of Cauldron Born. Also, it's fun for the players to really let rip in a foreign land, without having to sneak around or investigate a complex mystery. Talking about complex mysteries... I know you didn't mean it, but this sounds unexpectedly sarcastic after my session. The party finally started to wonder whether they are actually the good guys after murdering poor captain Thrag Vidalia and then realizing he was mind-controlled "by purple-skinned Risuri enchantress". And they have close to no means of proving this to a fort full of orcs on a brink of war. Oops. While the new player lightheartedly signed a contract with potential 600k gold loss for Risur at Liss Railways.

*In a prolonged encounter that went unreported at the time, Korrigan really did take one for the team: the Governor of Macdam was a ridiculous gentleman who wore very old-fashioned, lace-fringed clothes buttoned tightly over his rotund frame, and a very obvious wig. To complete his 'look' he sported a tiny moustache beneath his bulbous nose. A man of some pretention, he was overjoyed to receive an official guest and personally ‘entertained’ Korrigan over dinner with a rendition of the national anthem of Risur, performed on a screechy violin. All the while, his pet capuchin gorged dates from a bowl in the centre of the table, and spat the pits with suspicious accuracy – ricocheting off the silverware and pinging off wine glasses to whizz past Korrigan’s head. [Here, Korrigan employed ‘I love the smell of witchoil’ for the second time in as many days and remained unphased by the monkey.] The end result of this interminable dinner was that Korrigan got what he came for. ** Uru had been fading...

I read a Chris Perkins article once where he advised DMs not to get irked when players whip out their phones. He said he regarded it as part of the challenge for the DM to keep players off their phones. I have a great group, but the players do spend a lot of session time staring at a screen, faces all lit up by something that has nothing to do with our game. Following Perkins I have so far resisted asking them to stop, and tried to persuade them to zone out by increasing tension, changing the tone of my voice, etc. But modern technology is hard to compete with. (Just ask my 4-year-old who would rather spend time on the ipad than do just about anything else.) It does get under my skin sometimes, especially when more than one player - sometimes three or four out fo a group of six/seven - has succumbed to the lure of social media. Especially since if I did the same myself the whole game would grind to a halt. I'm tempted to do so in a passive-aggressive demonstration ("See? How do you like i...

I read a Chris Perkins article once where he advised DMs not to get irked when players whip out their phones. He said he regarded it as part of the challenge for the DM to keep players off their phones. I have a great group, but the players do spend a lot of session time staring at a screen, faces all lit up by something that has nothing to do with our game. Following Perkins I have so far resisted asking them to stop, and tried to persuade them to zone out by increasing tension, changing the tone of my voice, etc. But modern technology is hard to compete with. (Just ask my 4-year-old who would rather spend time on the ipad than do just about anything else.) It does get under my skin sometimes, especially when more than one player - sometimes three or four out fo a group of six/seven - has succumbed to the lure of social media. Especially since if I did the same myself the whole game would grind to a halt. I'm tempted to do so in a passive-aggressive demonstration ("See? How do you like i...

All of them! And were you able suppress the ominous, maniacal laughter you no doubt felt welling up inside? :D Seriously though, I would've thought either Tomas would go all "My faith Triegenes will protect me!" or Amielle would say something along the lines of "Hokey religions and ancient magic are no match for a good pistol at your side."

... Amielle explains their mission (in a very Pythonesque French accent): ... Weirdly enough, despite knowing full well that Danoran is French, I can't help but imagine Amielle with a Texan drawl. "Stand still, ya little varmint!" Of course, now I want her to tell off the witches: "Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!" :p (Oh, and did the players accept Lang's "help"?)

Funnily enough, we're losing a player to the States in a few weeks. If you weren't so far ahead of us, we could have swapped! Great to hear about high-level lunacy in preparation for epic tier. ha! "Kasvarina is having another episode. Time for yet another new personality!"

Now THAT is a fabulous image. Your sister is indeed talented. Makes me feel a bit silly for posting my scribbles a few weeks back. Jealous. In a good way. Nah, don't feel jealous. I took the opportunity to peek at your scribbles (and tried to avoid the rest as well as possible to avoid spoilers :D ) and I really like them. They got much personality. And my sis does illustrations for a living, so she got plenty of practice ;)