Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
It sounds like they are having fun but could maybe use being organised to some degree. The LeRoy Jenkins charge scene does not look good for an elite organisation. The lack of derailed trains makes me sad
ZEITGEIST Deathwyrm's Zeitgeist Campaign - Clockwork Eclipse
- Thread starter Deathwyrm
- Start date
Deathwyrm
Explorer
@RangerWickett You're right about that. Their abject refusal to really get some good rest or even stock up on healing does give them a certain John McClane level of ruggedness as every confrontation becomes a high stakes struggle for the underdog party.
The writing on the lady of the forked tongue was top notch though. The style of her speech was a big selling point on her creep factor, driving home just how alien a demon can be.
@Andrew Moreton Organization is a difficult thing for some reason. Do you ever have that in the games you're part of? Because in the past 20 years of GMing, every single group of different people have the common trait of "no one wants to be the leader, one person says that they'll do it, and the others will just not listen". Like a true anarchic state.
Also yes, the train is right there for epic crashing... and it just never came up due to blind panic.
The writing on the lady of the forked tongue was top notch though. The style of her speech was a big selling point on her creep factor, driving home just how alien a demon can be.
@Andrew Moreton Organization is a difficult thing for some reason. Do you ever have that in the games you're part of? Because in the past 20 years of GMing, every single group of different people have the common trait of "no one wants to be the leader, one person says that they'll do it, and the others will just not listen". Like a true anarchic state.
Also yes, the train is right there for epic crashing... and it just never came up due to blind panic.
Andrew Moreton
Adventurer
Interesting, most of my groups cooperate fairly well , sometimes there is a clear leader either in character or as a player but even when there is not they normally cooperate well at resolving objectives. I have had groups who are worse at it than others and differences in strategic long term planning are more common than failure to coordinate on a tactical level.
I think we have crashed two subway trains and the transcontinental from book 4 and if I don't get a train wreck next week I'll be shocked. Sadly that may be the last good chance to crash a train
I think we have crashed two subway trains and the transcontinental from book 4 and if I don't get a train wreck next week I'll be shocked. Sadly that may be the last good chance to crash a train
Deathwyrm
Explorer
Downtimes - Unresolved Matters
Just to get everyone in the zone before starting Cauldron Born, I asked everyone for a take on their character development and what they'd be doing in the few months that pass.
Threm - the Swashbuckler of the group is out for now. He's got life stuff happening.
Det. Goodwyne - We as a group are coming together to the aid of the player. He's been sitting back for the past while and feeling disconnected from the game. In part, it's because the Pathfinder Investigator class is really trick, and by 7th level and above the math of the system goes all weird. So, the results of the train job went pretty poorly. He as a player isn't feeling like much as a leader, and we're doing what we can to help out in both making sense of his character, or helping him be more of a leader, or reassuring its okay not to be a leader if he doesn't want to play as one. However, it also has come up that of all the characters... his is the least fleshed out. No history, no ambitions, no hobbies, nothing, and he has no idea if he even wants to fill that in. It's an ongoing project to work with him what it is he wants to do.
Dr. Basch - The mentalist submitted a short story in which his character left Risur for a bit to visit his family-in-exile. Working together with the player, we put together an intellectual family that was a little too outspoken... his father basically a Voltaire-type figure who lost a duel with someone important and accepted exile. Dr. Grigori Basch is only the name he's working under. Player said he wanted to leave his visiting family vague, to leave it as foreshadowing for any future season in which they may visit Ber.
The player also mentioned that his alignment is likely shifting to Neutral from Lawful Neutral. As an intellectual person, his character never bought into the idea of basic good/evil morality and that there's only people and whatever selfish intentions they justify their actions with. However the past year having been with him in a position working with a law enforcing agency... he's grown accustomed to not only his own powers, but that he can do what he feels he must to enforce those laws. He places a high value on society and how the psychology of people influences what that society is, and that laws are absolutely vital to keeping order. Just that those laws apply to him much less than it used to.
Cysgod Awyr - So, the ninja has grown incredibly distrustful of the government he works for. Having seen the expanse of the conspiracy and how it has infected every single country, the ninja spent his downtimes in disguise and head to Torfield Palace to take up role as a floor scrubber in order to listen for rumors or potentially eavesdrop on secrets. He learned about the daily events that go on there, and heard that there's secret passages there for those clever enough to find them.
Mikkel Oren - The gunslinger has felt that the government has failed the people. While he still wishes to work hard with what authority and agency he has to make a change, he doesn't feel like the Clergy or the Risuri Government are equipped to do something about it. To make his statement, he wrote out some Millerism principles and nailed it to a local church. Then he went about trying to establish a workers union for the poor people abused by local industry conditions.
The player decided that if he goes much further, he's going to change his alignment to Chaotic Good. He's a believer in the laws and that proper government is a good thing for everyone... but this one is just rotten to the core and will need drastic action to be fixed. He's not "Chaotic" in the sense that he hates all governments, but "Chaotic" in the sense that he just hasn't seen a government that works for the benefit of the people and the people may have to do something about it.
Interestingly, where the players have come together in the meanwhile was to take care of the loose ends of Dr. Teko.
Dr. Teko had moved in to the watertower of Viktor St. Demain from a few seasons ago, and adopted a young ward to teach alchemy and robotics to so that he can get twice the work done. When the smashed golem was found in Season 3, the party pulled favours to have the golem moved to the watertower for the party golem expert to work on repairing. With him dead... they decided to check in on young Sparky (named so because an errant spark caused some hand damage, that was fixed with a gear based prosthetic).
The party took the time to make sure that Sparky would be taken care of... but it seems Sparky may have begun to make contact with whatever mind rests within the golem that was brought to them. This has the team on alert... but willing to keep their hands off, as it seems Sparky found a new brass mentor.
"Yeah, that kid is totally going to go all Sotha Sil on us. Twenty dollars says he's going to be the end boss of the next campaign."
Probably not. But it does seem like a decent way to start the 5th season.
Just to get everyone in the zone before starting Cauldron Born, I asked everyone for a take on their character development and what they'd be doing in the few months that pass.
Threm - the Swashbuckler of the group is out for now. He's got life stuff happening.
Det. Goodwyne - We as a group are coming together to the aid of the player. He's been sitting back for the past while and feeling disconnected from the game. In part, it's because the Pathfinder Investigator class is really trick, and by 7th level and above the math of the system goes all weird. So, the results of the train job went pretty poorly. He as a player isn't feeling like much as a leader, and we're doing what we can to help out in both making sense of his character, or helping him be more of a leader, or reassuring its okay not to be a leader if he doesn't want to play as one. However, it also has come up that of all the characters... his is the least fleshed out. No history, no ambitions, no hobbies, nothing, and he has no idea if he even wants to fill that in. It's an ongoing project to work with him what it is he wants to do.
Dr. Basch - The mentalist submitted a short story in which his character left Risur for a bit to visit his family-in-exile. Working together with the player, we put together an intellectual family that was a little too outspoken... his father basically a Voltaire-type figure who lost a duel with someone important and accepted exile. Dr. Grigori Basch is only the name he's working under. Player said he wanted to leave his visiting family vague, to leave it as foreshadowing for any future season in which they may visit Ber.
The player also mentioned that his alignment is likely shifting to Neutral from Lawful Neutral. As an intellectual person, his character never bought into the idea of basic good/evil morality and that there's only people and whatever selfish intentions they justify their actions with. However the past year having been with him in a position working with a law enforcing agency... he's grown accustomed to not only his own powers, but that he can do what he feels he must to enforce those laws. He places a high value on society and how the psychology of people influences what that society is, and that laws are absolutely vital to keeping order. Just that those laws apply to him much less than it used to.
Cysgod Awyr - So, the ninja has grown incredibly distrustful of the government he works for. Having seen the expanse of the conspiracy and how it has infected every single country, the ninja spent his downtimes in disguise and head to Torfield Palace to take up role as a floor scrubber in order to listen for rumors or potentially eavesdrop on secrets. He learned about the daily events that go on there, and heard that there's secret passages there for those clever enough to find them.
Mikkel Oren - The gunslinger has felt that the government has failed the people. While he still wishes to work hard with what authority and agency he has to make a change, he doesn't feel like the Clergy or the Risuri Government are equipped to do something about it. To make his statement, he wrote out some Millerism principles and nailed it to a local church. Then he went about trying to establish a workers union for the poor people abused by local industry conditions.
The player decided that if he goes much further, he's going to change his alignment to Chaotic Good. He's a believer in the laws and that proper government is a good thing for everyone... but this one is just rotten to the core and will need drastic action to be fixed. He's not "Chaotic" in the sense that he hates all governments, but "Chaotic" in the sense that he just hasn't seen a government that works for the benefit of the people and the people may have to do something about it.
Interestingly, where the players have come together in the meanwhile was to take care of the loose ends of Dr. Teko.
Dr. Teko had moved in to the watertower of Viktor St. Demain from a few seasons ago, and adopted a young ward to teach alchemy and robotics to so that he can get twice the work done. When the smashed golem was found in Season 3, the party pulled favours to have the golem moved to the watertower for the party golem expert to work on repairing. With him dead... they decided to check in on young Sparky (named so because an errant spark caused some hand damage, that was fixed with a gear based prosthetic).
The party took the time to make sure that Sparky would be taken care of... but it seems Sparky may have begun to make contact with whatever mind rests within the golem that was brought to them. This has the team on alert... but willing to keep their hands off, as it seems Sparky found a new brass mentor.
"Yeah, that kid is totally going to go all Sotha Sil on us. Twenty dollars says he's going to be the end boss of the next campaign."
Probably not. But it does seem like a decent way to start the 5th season.
Deathwyrm
Explorer
S05E01
Det. Goodwyne, Con. Oren and Dr Basch stop by headquarters to pick up the new recruit, Constable Reginold Dixion (Lawful Neutral Swashbuckler). A promising candidate for the task force, veteran of the last Yerasol War, recently back from a series of undercover assignments against the West Breland Market Consortium smuggling ring... this patriot was welcomed into the carriage and given the briefing of everything so far.
That's when the carriage is ambushed and a street shootout occurs! Goodwyne spends the entire combat just trying to rescue the carriage driver.
Eventually they make it to the hotel for briefing, told they need to dismantle the Kell Guild and get at the Obscurati, all within the week. They were suspiciously silent when Asrabey showed up and added to the workpile with the rogue Ekossigan. So that also needs to be taken done. Turns out the players were careful and quiet around him because they're convinced he's pure fey lord and making promises will bind their soul through weird fey magic.
I chose against using the mini-game for taking down the guild because Pathfinder 1e is already so full of tedious mechanics that adding to it wasn't an appeal, plus they're all 7th level and should have enough creativity to come up with some wild scheme.
That scheme seems to be taking on a bunch of disguises as everyday joes, then abducting Kell's lawyer and taking him to a black site to make him cooperate (results pending).
Swap to the B-Team.
Work done a while ago on Det. Phil and his gang of unlikely recruits are on the case to meet with mediator Brakken. Players are thrilled for the return of Det. Phil & Co and roleplay the unease and wonder in meeting with this impressive thoughtful minotaur.
And then... explosions.
Doing an overland map made it easier to track flow of where everyone was during the chaos.
That's around when we left things.
Half the party is dealing with a hostile lawyer they kidnapped, the other half investigating the Cloudwood District after hearing about weird occurances, and Task Force: Phil is protecting their charge among total pandemonium.
Next session will be January. Players are getting excited to get back to it.
Det. Goodwyne, Con. Oren and Dr Basch stop by headquarters to pick up the new recruit, Constable Reginold Dixion (Lawful Neutral Swashbuckler). A promising candidate for the task force, veteran of the last Yerasol War, recently back from a series of undercover assignments against the West Breland Market Consortium smuggling ring... this patriot was welcomed into the carriage and given the briefing of everything so far.
That's when the carriage is ambushed and a street shootout occurs! Goodwyne spends the entire combat just trying to rescue the carriage driver.
Eventually they make it to the hotel for briefing, told they need to dismantle the Kell Guild and get at the Obscurati, all within the week. They were suspiciously silent when Asrabey showed up and added to the workpile with the rogue Ekossigan. So that also needs to be taken done. Turns out the players were careful and quiet around him because they're convinced he's pure fey lord and making promises will bind their soul through weird fey magic.
I chose against using the mini-game for taking down the guild because Pathfinder 1e is already so full of tedious mechanics that adding to it wasn't an appeal, plus they're all 7th level and should have enough creativity to come up with some wild scheme.
That scheme seems to be taking on a bunch of disguises as everyday joes, then abducting Kell's lawyer and taking him to a black site to make him cooperate (results pending).
Swap to the B-Team.
Work done a while ago on Det. Phil and his gang of unlikely recruits are on the case to meet with mediator Brakken. Players are thrilled for the return of Det. Phil & Co and roleplay the unease and wonder in meeting with this impressive thoughtful minotaur.
And then... explosions.
Doing an overland map made it easier to track flow of where everyone was during the chaos.
That's around when we left things.
Half the party is dealing with a hostile lawyer they kidnapped, the other half investigating the Cloudwood District after hearing about weird occurances, and Task Force: Phil is protecting their charge among total pandemonium.
Next session will be January. Players are getting excited to get back to it.
Deathwyrm
Explorer
Fun fact! This game is in fact still going. Who knew?!
S05E02
The main team went hard to work trying to figure out how to take on Ekossigan, and figured that with all of his fancy titles... odds are there were clues in their wording that would be hints as to what to do. Hours were spent in strategy about how to both save the kids, and agreeing to do a quick strike on Gale to knock her out. The roleplaying was so intense, I felt I didn't have to do anything.
Diagram A: "Okay, now kiss" aka "What a GM is really doing behind the DM screen."
Back to the action! The plan went well until Ekossigan went full on winter and we had a mind-bending time with 3 dimensional combat. Thankfully my wife's Christmas gift to me was flight tiers.
Diagram B: Flying combat
Kids were saved, Gale was bludgeoned into submission through gratuitous sneak attack, and Ekossigan was slain. Victory all around! Until they heard a terrible explosion elsewhere in the city.
Cut scene to Task Force: Phil
The players had a blast acting out their second characters on the trail of crazy radical bombers.
I tweaked some of the story slightly here to match player motivations. The player of Mikkel Oren (Docker) had been pushing hard for the entire campaign to have a workers union in direct opposition to Benedict Pemberton's big industry and all their abuses. By this time of the story, it made sense that there was protests and strikes and Governor Stanfield was meeting with both parties to work out some kind of mutual deal.
So Zubov's crazy dwarves weren't specifically just a complication to the impending peace summit, but influenced by Pemberton through shady backdoor deals to come to Flint and blow up the union talks even though the Governor was there. Wasn't a major change, but it made the player feel like his efforts were really paying off.
After some hard detective work, it all ended with a daring showdown on a runaway subrail train as the players tried to dismantle a cryptex bomb using dwarven runes as the code.
Diagram C: Bombs on a train
Also, I made a cryptex. Would it have been easier to do it as a skill challenge? Probably. But drunk-me becomes an inspired-me.
Diagrams D and E: By the way, it's not easy to make these. Players loved it though.
Ultimately, it was not quite enough and Task Force: Phil met their end. Scene went back to the main characters, who rushed hard to try and dig through the rubble to find the bodies of their fallen friends. Game ended on a bittersweet note. They shook their fists and blamed the Obscurati who surely had to be behind this. Or that damned Benedict Pemberton.
Hopefully next update doesn't take so long to get around too. Hope you are all holding up well in these weird times.
S05E02
The main team went hard to work trying to figure out how to take on Ekossigan, and figured that with all of his fancy titles... odds are there were clues in their wording that would be hints as to what to do. Hours were spent in strategy about how to both save the kids, and agreeing to do a quick strike on Gale to knock her out. The roleplaying was so intense, I felt I didn't have to do anything.
Diagram A: "Okay, now kiss" aka "What a GM is really doing behind the DM screen."
Back to the action! The plan went well until Ekossigan went full on winter and we had a mind-bending time with 3 dimensional combat. Thankfully my wife's Christmas gift to me was flight tiers.
Diagram B: Flying combat
Kids were saved, Gale was bludgeoned into submission through gratuitous sneak attack, and Ekossigan was slain. Victory all around! Until they heard a terrible explosion elsewhere in the city.
Cut scene to Task Force: Phil
The players had a blast acting out their second characters on the trail of crazy radical bombers.
I tweaked some of the story slightly here to match player motivations. The player of Mikkel Oren (Docker) had been pushing hard for the entire campaign to have a workers union in direct opposition to Benedict Pemberton's big industry and all their abuses. By this time of the story, it made sense that there was protests and strikes and Governor Stanfield was meeting with both parties to work out some kind of mutual deal.
So Zubov's crazy dwarves weren't specifically just a complication to the impending peace summit, but influenced by Pemberton through shady backdoor deals to come to Flint and blow up the union talks even though the Governor was there. Wasn't a major change, but it made the player feel like his efforts were really paying off.
After some hard detective work, it all ended with a daring showdown on a runaway subrail train as the players tried to dismantle a cryptex bomb using dwarven runes as the code.
Diagram C: Bombs on a train
Also, I made a cryptex. Would it have been easier to do it as a skill challenge? Probably. But drunk-me becomes an inspired-me.
Diagrams D and E: By the way, it's not easy to make these. Players loved it though.
Ultimately, it was not quite enough and Task Force: Phil met their end. Scene went back to the main characters, who rushed hard to try and dig through the rubble to find the bodies of their fallen friends. Game ended on a bittersweet note. They shook their fists and blamed the Obscurati who surely had to be behind this. Or that damned Benedict Pemberton.
Hopefully next update doesn't take so long to get around too. Hope you are all holding up well in these weird times.
RangerWickett
Legend
Props are always cool. Dying teammates are not cool.
Good luck with your future gaming. I haven't played any RPGs for a month now.
Good luck with your future gaming. I haven't played any RPGs for a month now.
Deathwyrm
Explorer
Yeah, losing PCs or even well liked NPCs if done wrong can feel pretty rough. But they felt it was at least a death that meant something. Phil & Co were considered heroes. Actually, I scripted for Constable Phil Olem to be a minor character to be killed off in Season 1 as part of a side investigation. Having him last this long and become his own thing only added to the drama. They saw him rise from minor requisition clerk, to personally training him on combat skills, promoted eventually to leader of his own team, and in the end they died like heroes.
"He knew the risks when he put on the uniform, but this is how he would have wanted to die. Like a hero."
We did manage to finish season 5 before the world went screwy. The current agenda is to get everyone converted/uploaded to Fantasy Grounds and continue on that way. Been sitting on a copy of that for a couple years, probably bought during a Steam sale. It'll be a hard transition because we're all crotchety old gamers terrified of newfangled technology.
Good luck to you as well though. Hopefully you find a solution to the lack of RPGs going on. At least this is happening during an age of unparalleled connection, and not in the 90s.
"He knew the risks when he put on the uniform, but this is how he would have wanted to die. Like a hero."
We did manage to finish season 5 before the world went screwy. The current agenda is to get everyone converted/uploaded to Fantasy Grounds and continue on that way. Been sitting on a copy of that for a couple years, probably bought during a Steam sale. It'll be a hard transition because we're all crotchety old gamers terrified of newfangled technology.
Good luck to you as well though. Hopefully you find a solution to the lack of RPGs going on. At least this is happening during an age of unparalleled connection, and not in the 90s.
Deathwyrm
Explorer
S02E03
With some of the distractions out of the way, it became time to take down Lorcan Kell.
I opted not to use the minigame for the same reason as the others. Plus, at this point in time the PCs are 8th level, with lots of connections around the city. We left it to a sandbox kind of situation where they leveraged the past few years of contacts into some dastardly scheme.
Mr. Cippiano did reach out to Mikkel with an offer of aid, in exchange for certain favours. Mikkel and the team discussed this among themselves. All were in agreement that it was a terrible idea, and they "don't negotiate with criminal scum"... but were divided on whether or not they should accept his offer with the intent of arresting him too.
Ultimately their plan came down to the following steps.
1. Strike a deal with the lawyer they still had captured in a basement. Information on Kell's most frequented places of operation, in exchange for a paid teleportation out of the city.
2. Disguise as fellow guild members and spread disinformation about guild operations, while also spreading the idea "maybe we should get a legit job, my cousin works with the new union... if the feds are coming for Kell, no reason we need to go down with him" to reduce numbers.
Slowly they picked away at the guild. At Kell's hideout, there was some stealthy infiltration to sabotage parts of the estate, and leaving threatening messages that nowhere is safe for him. They wanted to add psychological pressure to Kell until it erupted in one defiant last stand in which Kell was killed resisting arrest. The group felt it was a shame that they couldn't take him alive, but he also didn't seem like the cooperative sort so they didn't particularly mourn the loss of someone that sadistic.
Mission was firmly accomplished, and so they are invited to a fancy dinner with the top brass between two nations. What could go wrong? Everyone made their preparations... and Mikkel Oren continued crafting a Vendetta Bullet for his planned assassination of Lya Jierre, whom he ferociously blames for the demise of Dr. Brinolt last season.
With some of the distractions out of the way, it became time to take down Lorcan Kell.
I opted not to use the minigame for the same reason as the others. Plus, at this point in time the PCs are 8th level, with lots of connections around the city. We left it to a sandbox kind of situation where they leveraged the past few years of contacts into some dastardly scheme.
Mr. Cippiano did reach out to Mikkel with an offer of aid, in exchange for certain favours. Mikkel and the team discussed this among themselves. All were in agreement that it was a terrible idea, and they "don't negotiate with criminal scum"... but were divided on whether or not they should accept his offer with the intent of arresting him too.
Ultimately their plan came down to the following steps.
1. Strike a deal with the lawyer they still had captured in a basement. Information on Kell's most frequented places of operation, in exchange for a paid teleportation out of the city.
2. Disguise as fellow guild members and spread disinformation about guild operations, while also spreading the idea "maybe we should get a legit job, my cousin works with the new union... if the feds are coming for Kell, no reason we need to go down with him" to reduce numbers.
Slowly they picked away at the guild. At Kell's hideout, there was some stealthy infiltration to sabotage parts of the estate, and leaving threatening messages that nowhere is safe for him. They wanted to add psychological pressure to Kell until it erupted in one defiant last stand in which Kell was killed resisting arrest. The group felt it was a shame that they couldn't take him alive, but he also didn't seem like the cooperative sort so they didn't particularly mourn the loss of someone that sadistic.
Mission was firmly accomplished, and so they are invited to a fancy dinner with the top brass between two nations. What could go wrong? Everyone made their preparations... and Mikkel Oren continued crafting a Vendetta Bullet for his planned assassination of Lya Jierre, whom he ferociously blames for the demise of Dr. Brinolt last season.
Deathwyrm
Explorer
S05E04
Being invited to dinner directly put everyone in a highly uncomfortable place. The past week had seen a high octane series of events with crime guilds, explosions, renegade fey schemes, so having to go to a fancy dinner with the top brass of two nations with the explicit instructions to be diplomatic was quite a bit of tone whiplash, but they were relieved they had time to clean up after what felt like an entire week of being in a Die Hard movie.
Throughout the dinner, the party tried their best to keep quiet and mind their manners. In their minds, they were still street level officers, and the fact that lately they've been involved with more international events hasn't quite sank in. I've read versions of this campaign ran by other people who enjoyed the idea that their protagonists start off as involved in international events making them a pretty big deal. In talking with my players, they never felt that at all, instead roleplaying as street level operators who are in over their heads.
So, much of the dinner passed with only some minor roleplaying and renewing connections. They enjoyed it, but from an in character perspective there was the permeating feeling of "Oh man what are we even doing here".
It came as a massive relief when things escalated and now they had to raid Cauldron Hill's secret facility ASAP. Having readied for this moment for quite a while, the party made sure to pay for Gale's healing after the vicious cudgelling she received, went to retrieve the mechanical Grappa, and convinced Asrabey to be of aid.
I did however, change one thing. Namely that Tinker Oddcog had been already missing from the Cauldron Hill facility for some time. His loyalty was contingent that he gets to build this enormous masterwork machine, and the geas spell put on him was just to ensure silence. However, working conditions worsened after Grappa's messy departure. Kasvarina was out of commission, and Leone is probably one of those bosses that'll micromanage everything. Oddcog's paranoia got the better of him sooner than later and if someone like that wanted to leave, he had more than enough ways to do so. Didn't change much of the course of events other than meaning Oddcog landed in Ber a while ago.
I won't get into the details of how the epic battle went, because combats to me are some of the least memorable parts of gaming. But, here's some highlights.
Diagram A: A handy prop donated by a friend who manages a suit store.
I also chose not to run the naval battle, in order to keep events focused on the players and what they would know and see for themselves. Leaving Cauldron Hill and seeing the state of Flint and the devastation that occurred... the first thing half the party did was break from the group to check on their families. They heard rumours of the colossus suddenly vanishing, but that was it until the next briefing.
There was always talks about the king's "powers" and what they could do... but to have heard it in action only made him more terrifying, although the party speculation about an impending war between Risur, Danor, and now the Dreaming feels just so certain.
Here's how the players/characters are at the end of Act 1 of this enormous drama.
1. Constable Reginold Dixion: With the demise of his last character, Dr. Brinolt, the player decided that the party needed a bit more combat skill. He was under the impression this campaign would see a lot less combat than it has been, but feels he can fix that now. To him, he's playing everything from a rookie perspective. Not new to the RHC specifically, but peering behind the veil and seeing these international machinations that is being covered up, he felt he'd want to play a character that just feels constantly out of their depths.
2. Det. Goodwyne: The player is also in the camp of "didn't expect there to be so much combat", but after some discussion we realized that part of his dissatisfaction comes from two points. First, Pathfinder at 8th/9th level gets confusing if you're playing classes that drown you in tricks and options (such as Investigator), so he feels he's understanding less and less of the game mechanics. Two of the other players have offered to help him condense his character options into a shorter list of preferences he can rely on. The other issue is one of Leadership, as by this time so many other characters have their own motivations they aren't likely to take instructions from him. Which made the player feel kind of shut out a bit. By expressing this, the other players have agreed to support him as party leader more and ask for his opinion/insight on things.
3. Cysgold Awyr: At the opposite end of the spectrum, this player feels there could stand to be a bit more combat as he designed a really specialized sneak-attack ninja machine and wants opportunities to show off his massive dice pool. As far as his character goes, his time in "that heretical crypt place" still haunts his mind, and he wants to start digging up more on his own aasimar heritage, in addition to maybe keeping closer to Governor Stanfield who himself is something of a racial anomaly.
4. Mikkel Oren: Also in the camp of "could stand to be more combat", since he is enjoying the heck out of gunslinger rules. In the wake of a colossus rampage, Mikkel spends his time making sure that the union he helped organized is okay, ensuring his family made it out alright and maybe moving them to another city for protection. His planned vengeance against Lya Jierre is all the more complicated that her reaction at the banquet indicates that she herself is just a pawn in the Ob's schemes... which terrifies him just that bit more.
5. Dr. Basch: The player feels that the campaign is doing just fine so don't go messing with the combat amounts, and if the party isn't designed to be The Expendables, the GM should recognize that they aren't all musclebound combat machines and adjust the story accordingly. The character himself felt like he needed a vacation, so is going to visit his family in Ber. At the start of season 6, I'm going to use his character in Ber as the lead that Oddcog is there instead of getting told so, since it's too good of an opportunity not to use.
Out of game, it's been a couple of months since we had a session. My school course load went all weird, and now we are all trying to adapt to moving to online gaming. The last time I had done so was during my Cretaceous period of playing in the text based java chats of New Bremen/Rookhausen/Fangsfall on the White Wolf sites. It'll be a weird transition for everyone, but if the options are this or no gaming at all.... we'll definitely move our butts online and cram new knowledge into our elderly brains.
Being invited to dinner directly put everyone in a highly uncomfortable place. The past week had seen a high octane series of events with crime guilds, explosions, renegade fey schemes, so having to go to a fancy dinner with the top brass of two nations with the explicit instructions to be diplomatic was quite a bit of tone whiplash, but they were relieved they had time to clean up after what felt like an entire week of being in a Die Hard movie.
Throughout the dinner, the party tried their best to keep quiet and mind their manners. In their minds, they were still street level officers, and the fact that lately they've been involved with more international events hasn't quite sank in. I've read versions of this campaign ran by other people who enjoyed the idea that their protagonists start off as involved in international events making them a pretty big deal. In talking with my players, they never felt that at all, instead roleplaying as street level operators who are in over their heads.
So, much of the dinner passed with only some minor roleplaying and renewing connections. They enjoyed it, but from an in character perspective there was the permeating feeling of "Oh man what are we even doing here".
It came as a massive relief when things escalated and now they had to raid Cauldron Hill's secret facility ASAP. Having readied for this moment for quite a while, the party made sure to pay for Gale's healing after the vicious cudgelling she received, went to retrieve the mechanical Grappa, and convinced Asrabey to be of aid.
I did however, change one thing. Namely that Tinker Oddcog had been already missing from the Cauldron Hill facility for some time. His loyalty was contingent that he gets to build this enormous masterwork machine, and the geas spell put on him was just to ensure silence. However, working conditions worsened after Grappa's messy departure. Kasvarina was out of commission, and Leone is probably one of those bosses that'll micromanage everything. Oddcog's paranoia got the better of him sooner than later and if someone like that wanted to leave, he had more than enough ways to do so. Didn't change much of the course of events other than meaning Oddcog landed in Ber a while ago.
I won't get into the details of how the epic battle went, because combats to me are some of the least memorable parts of gaming. But, here's some highlights.
Diagram A: A handy prop donated by a friend who manages a suit store.
- The Borne reveal was pretty fantastic. The current working party theory about the Obscurati's plans was "building a giant warship, with this lantern acting as some kind of planar rail run cannon thing".
- The petty bickering and finger pointing between Leone and Grappa gave relief to the party that for sure the Obscurati is less of a cult with a singular goal like they thought, but instead like a massive corporation where information is constantly withheld from other departments, and that meant instigating office politics and blame-games would be a viable tactic in the future
- The party offered some level of leniency to most of the non-combatant workers of the facility, since misinformation meant they did not know the true nature of the project and why
- Asrabey running off in search of Kasvarina brought a round of "of course he did that" groans. After Borne's escape, the players liked the reversal of events. When they first met Asrabey, he was a terrifying force to witnesses and the party felt like they had to delicately plead and make strange eldritch pacts with him on Axis Island. However over the course of the adventure, a lot of that mystique faded and they saw him as a concerned husband acting desperately, and he's the one asking them for the favour to help if he needs them in restoring her. The party walked away from that with a similar feeling to Rock Rackus, in that these are like characters with their own series happening, and storylines just happened to intersect.
I also chose not to run the naval battle, in order to keep events focused on the players and what they would know and see for themselves. Leaving Cauldron Hill and seeing the state of Flint and the devastation that occurred... the first thing half the party did was break from the group to check on their families. They heard rumours of the colossus suddenly vanishing, but that was it until the next briefing.
There was always talks about the king's "powers" and what they could do... but to have heard it in action only made him more terrifying, although the party speculation about an impending war between Risur, Danor, and now the Dreaming feels just so certain.
Here's how the players/characters are at the end of Act 1 of this enormous drama.
1. Constable Reginold Dixion: With the demise of his last character, Dr. Brinolt, the player decided that the party needed a bit more combat skill. He was under the impression this campaign would see a lot less combat than it has been, but feels he can fix that now. To him, he's playing everything from a rookie perspective. Not new to the RHC specifically, but peering behind the veil and seeing these international machinations that is being covered up, he felt he'd want to play a character that just feels constantly out of their depths.
2. Det. Goodwyne: The player is also in the camp of "didn't expect there to be so much combat", but after some discussion we realized that part of his dissatisfaction comes from two points. First, Pathfinder at 8th/9th level gets confusing if you're playing classes that drown you in tricks and options (such as Investigator), so he feels he's understanding less and less of the game mechanics. Two of the other players have offered to help him condense his character options into a shorter list of preferences he can rely on. The other issue is one of Leadership, as by this time so many other characters have their own motivations they aren't likely to take instructions from him. Which made the player feel kind of shut out a bit. By expressing this, the other players have agreed to support him as party leader more and ask for his opinion/insight on things.
3. Cysgold Awyr: At the opposite end of the spectrum, this player feels there could stand to be a bit more combat as he designed a really specialized sneak-attack ninja machine and wants opportunities to show off his massive dice pool. As far as his character goes, his time in "that heretical crypt place" still haunts his mind, and he wants to start digging up more on his own aasimar heritage, in addition to maybe keeping closer to Governor Stanfield who himself is something of a racial anomaly.
4. Mikkel Oren: Also in the camp of "could stand to be more combat", since he is enjoying the heck out of gunslinger rules. In the wake of a colossus rampage, Mikkel spends his time making sure that the union he helped organized is okay, ensuring his family made it out alright and maybe moving them to another city for protection. His planned vengeance against Lya Jierre is all the more complicated that her reaction at the banquet indicates that she herself is just a pawn in the Ob's schemes... which terrifies him just that bit more.
5. Dr. Basch: The player feels that the campaign is doing just fine so don't go messing with the combat amounts, and if the party isn't designed to be The Expendables, the GM should recognize that they aren't all musclebound combat machines and adjust the story accordingly. The character himself felt like he needed a vacation, so is going to visit his family in Ber. At the start of season 6, I'm going to use his character in Ber as the lead that Oddcog is there instead of getting told so, since it's too good of an opportunity not to use.
Out of game, it's been a couple of months since we had a session. My school course load went all weird, and now we are all trying to adapt to moving to online gaming. The last time I had done so was during my Cretaceous period of playing in the text based java chats of New Bremen/Rookhausen/Fangsfall on the White Wolf sites. It'll be a weird transition for everyone, but if the options are this or no gaming at all.... we'll definitely move our butts online and cram new knowledge into our elderly brains.
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