[OOC] Quickleaf's Rime of the Frostmaiden [closed but waitlist is available]

[VLAD the Destroyer]

Also Ludo (My Steel Defender) has Vigilant which means he can't be surprised.

 

[domminniti]

Sure. So for the mountain ascent, I'm loosely using exploration "roles", so whoever is tracking they're just tracking and not, for example, keeping an eye out for danger or casting rituals.

I think you're signaling that you want Russet to take on the role of a Lookout, so you're making an active Perception check to try to minimize the # of PCs who might be surprised during a yeti ambush? Am I getting you right?

Actually that's probably not a good role for him as he's got bad perception! I'm sure someone could do that better. My "Tactical Assessment" manoeuvre only actually covers investigation/history/insight and I don't think those really cover what I'm wanting to do. What are the other roles?

 

[Quickleaf]

Actually that's probably not a good role for him as he's got bad perception! I'm sure someone could do that better. My "Tactical Assessment" manoeuvre only actually covers investigation/history/insight and I don't think those really cover what I'm wanting to do. What are the other roles?

Well, I'm not predefining ALL roles exhaustively - cause it depends on what is important to everyone, and you may come up with stuff that I never thought of - but here are some examples.

If you're fulfilling a special role you're NOT remaining alert to potential dangers (i.e. you don't get passive Perception, i.e. automatically surprised during ambush). A ranger with Natural Explorer: Mountain (pretty sure Corse doesn't have this cause selected a replacement feature) would be an exception.

• Dog Tender - keep close to Boy, make Animal Handling check (or auto-success with speak with animals) to figure out what he's indicating and keep him from rushing off into harm's way
• Lookout - make an active Perception check to alert some of the party to potential threats, implying the PC is scouting ahead a bit from the party so is maybe 100-200 feet ahead/apart
• Navigator - watching for landslides/avalanches, potential caves, avoiding especially strenuous climbing sections, etc. using Nature or Survival (in overland travel – not this scenario – navigator would also be avoiding getting lost)
• Tracker - focusing on Garret/sled tracks as well as keeping eye for monster tracks, Survival check
• Spellcasting - if you're casting a ritual repeatedly or concentrating on a spell
• Investigator - constructing a narrative of what happened to Garret, based on observations (no check, just what GM narrates), what other PCs learn, and potentially Investigation or Insight checks, this one wouldn't be rolled immediately but after a bit of exploration and other player's actions

This isn't exhaustive. For example, Cartographer or Note-taker/Chronicler or Forager are potential roles that don't quite fit this scene but could be useful in overland travel. And for out of the box ideas, I may very well need to roll with your ideas to make up a new "role".

Edit: Speak with Animals is kind of an outlier in that it's bridging "Spellcasting" and "Dog Tender" roles, assuming that's how Arik wants to use it.

Edit: Also added mood music to my post

 

[Quickleaf]

Ok I'll buy 4 tents as well. I have the gold and will place everything in my bag of holding.

Gotcha, forgot about bag of holding using lbs not slots. Each tent is 20 lbs.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Well, I'm not predefining ALL roles exhaustively - cause it depends on what is important to everyone, and you may come up with stuff that I never thought of - but here are some examples.

If you're fulfilling a special role you're NOT remaining alert to potential dangers (i.e. you don't get passive Perception, i.e. automatically surprised during ambush). A ranger with Natural Explorer: Mountain (pretty sure Corse doesn't have this cause selected a replacement feature) would be an exception.

• Dog Tender - keep close to Boy, make Animal Handling check (or auto-success with speak with animals) to figure out what he's indicating and keep him from rushing off into harm's way
• Lookout - make an active Perception check to alert some of the party to potential threats, implying the PC is scouting ahead a bit from the party so is maybe 100-200 feet ahead/apart
• Navigator - watching for landslides/avalanches, potential caves, avoiding especially strenuous climbing sections, etc. using Nature or Survival (in overland travel – not this scenario – navigator would also be avoiding getting lost)
• Tracker - focusing on Garret/sled tracks as well as keeping eye for monster tracks, Survival check
• Spellcasting - if you're casting a ritual repeatedly or concentrating on a spell
• Investigator - constructing a narrative of what happened to Garret, based on observations (no check, just what GM narrates), what other PCs learn, and potentially Investigation or Insight checks, this one wouldn't be rolled immediately but after a bit of exploration and other player's actions

This isn't exhaustive. For example, Cartographer or Note-taker/Chronicler or Forager are potential roles that don't quite fit this scene but could be useful in overland travel. And for out of the box ideas, I may very well need to roll with your ideas to make up a new "role".

Edit: Also added mood music to my post

It's pretty obvious that Aric is taking the spellcasting/dog tender role. He can help a bit with Tracker & Lookout when applicable.

 

[Quickleaf]

It's pretty obvious that Aric is taking the spellcasting/dog tender role. He can help a bit with Tracker & Lookout when applicable.

For the purposes of keeping things flowing and avoiding pile-on skill checks, it'll be better if there's some focus/clarity up front about what everyone focuses on. IME that makes these sorts of scenes play better than "Oh I'll do X, and I'll also do Y, and I'll help him on Z check too." Does that make sense / sound ok?

 

[domminniti]

I'll let others choose first.

 

[Neurotic]

Lumrolur is scouting (lookout)

Would it be faster to go to Tarmalaine and then overland?
I know it's slower going, but if the distances are relatively correct, looks like it could be faster

 

[Quickleaf]

Lumrolur is scouting (lookout)

Would it be faster to go to Tarmalaine and then overland?
I know it's slower going, but if the distances are relatively correct, looks like it could be faster

tl;dr Shorter distance, but fewer trails. Dog sleds go 4 mph on trail, but only 1 mph over tundra.

Longer answer... If you're just going off that black and white map, the original from Justin Alexander did not have Kelvin's Cairn. I added the Cairn in a paint program. The mountain is just representational. On THAT map distance to the Cairn is not to scale. I got the distance to the Cairn by counting hexes on the player hex map.

If you use the black and white trail map & the player hex map in conjunction, and assume that Garret's last known location is due south of the Cairn, here are the distances I get:

Targos > Termalaine > Kelvin's Cairn = 9.5 miles trail to Termalaine + 11 miles tundra = 2.375 hrs + 11 hrs = 13.375 hrs

Targos > Caer-Konig > Kelvin's Cairn = 24 miles trail to Caer-Konig + 5 miles tundra = 6 hrs + 5 hrs = 11 hrs

(plus 1 hr spent getting ready and stopping over in Bryn Shander to trade out sleds/gather provisions for dogs)

Does that make sense?

edit: I attached a revised black-white map to better visually represent things. Also, since this was a ~12 hour journey (usually the sled dogs are rested after 8 hours) which essentially "forced marched" the dogs, I didn't want to bring up Slow/Fast pace stuff. Because it didn't fit the scene & I didn't want to complicate things yet, but I've included most of what I see behind-the-screen in this map for ease of reference or anyone who double checks my maths.

 

[Neurotic]

I didn't look any other map, just your sketch