Hell Week is over and we have our computers back. To the extent of my knowledge there’s nothing wrong with our using Obsidian Portal in our free time; thus I shall be commenting and updating things on here whenever I get bored so please feel free to continue reading as the backstory develops and if you want you can communicate with me via the comments section. I was just thinking that it might be neat if we kept developing the story as a group even though we can’t actually play together.
So if you have any plot ideas, or anything at all, post it on here and we can work things out together.
Vairis since I know you’re the most likely one to be reading this I’m charging you with letting everyone else know.
Basically my goal is to keep things going without having to rely on dice and mats and minis.
Also, don’t feel that your limited to your characters or timeline. If you have any and I mean any thoughts on possibilities for the world of Akaron and its lore, put ’em up!
There WILL be a session tonight as I am sure that you have all heard. However it will NOT start at normal time. Tonight’s session will begin at 5 and run to 11 (or as close as your license will allow).
Vairis, I won’t see you during the day Thursday or Friday, so either call me, private message me, or post in one of our games when & if we’ll be having a session this weekend.
My character always judged they’re compatriots in character! He just is a little bit….. salty? Weathered? Cynical? No, not quite cynical….okay maybe a bit… He also is impulsive, impatient, imoral….and angry…
You make an excellent point, Vairis. I’d like to think that my character treated the others as he would in that world, but I’m sure I’ve made some (if not many) slip-ups. To be quite honest, hating on each other’s characters is just wrong. We all come together to enjoy a game, yet we can’t be civil enough to respect each other & their character’s decisions? Granted, some of those decisions are either unhelpful or just plain harmful to the rest of the party (which is an example of disrespect in & of itself), but some other behaviors don’t deserve the party’s negativity that accompany them.
What I propose is that we spend less time “out of character” and more time thinking about what our characters would do. It’s like this one situation for a player playing a barbarian:
Some of the other PCs are low on HP, and the enemies are bearing down on the party. The barbarian player’s mind might think, “I need to use some potions or a Heal check on my party members.” However, the Barbarian character would be thinking, “I’m going to seriously mess up these [explicitive deleted].” In this case, the barbarian’s player should say this:
“Look, I know there’s more more tactically viable options, like moving here or healing so-and-so. But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to hit this guy really hard with my axe.”
And the other players should just smile and nod. Why? Because he’s a BARBARIAN. He doesn’t give a crap how many wounds he has, only that his enemies are a bloody pulp in the end. That’s what the barbarian does, and it’s completely acceptable to do something a character would do in the situation.
Do note, that it goes both ways. Just because your character wants to run away and leave the party to die doesn’t mean you as a player should do that. That would give both the other players and their characters reason to not like you and your character.
In the end, get into character, but be smart about it. Just because you think your character would be a jerk, or confused, or argumentative all the time doesn’t mean you should play him like that. You need to make sure you’re contributing to the role-playing experience, not detracting.
“At least they won’t have to worry about him saving their lives ever again…”
It seems to perfectly capture the overall mood of some of the party, not just in this campaign, but in Vol. II as well. Of those of us who were part of Vol. II, I don’t think that a single on of us can possibly count the number of times that Z saved our lives and yet he also seemed to be the “least liked”.
I find myself wondering if our character’s views will ever be truly based on what our characters would think and not our own personal biases?
Also, do whatever you want with Valrec’s rating. It’s clear that Valrec was the least liked character in the campaign, so I’ve started to grow to accept that.
I’ve grown to accept that it doesn’t really matter what the other characters think of him; he will always fight the good fight, he will always fail with words, and he will always take appropriate action. After trying to play so many “badass” archetypal characters, I’ve come to realize that I, like my character, need to play my character as I see fit, and damn the consequences and whatever the other characters think.
The quote wasn’t a jab at Laudare, but a jab at Williams. Valrec tells him to save them all, & what does he do? Not save them all! :p Given, I know that Jockabee wasn’t there to play Roberts at the time, but Valrec doesn’t. So I just figured I’d revel in the irony.
Also, if you’re still not done with the first dungeon of Skyward Sword after 3 hours, something tells me you may be doinitwrong. :/ Then again, I haven’t played the game, so I can’t really judge.
One thing I can say without playing Skyward Sword: Skyrim is awesome.
Nagil started spawning in 5 demon minions every turn. These minions dealt 20 damage every single time they hit. I had Nagil marked for the longest time, so I was taking all of his triple attacks, as well as countless minion attacks. Dox & Laudare wound up unconscious from the minions, and Valrec fell unconscious twice. The only healing we had left was Marion, and she could only heal me once.
All the while, Kheldor and John Diablo were doing their job as rogues and nailing Nagil for crap-tons of damage. However, Kheldor, John, Marion, Roberts, and Zero (I believe; don’t quote me) were barely attacked at all; most of the damage was sopped up by Valrec, Laudare, and Dox. Which was a problem, since the minions were dealing more damage than they would at level 30 and they were focusing it on two strikers and one defender.
Starbuck had Roberts running around attacking a few minions, and I think you attacked Nagil once. A defender mark trade-off would have been a much-appreciated reprieve for Valrec in hindsight, but we didn’t think of it at the time. Laudare kept rolling low for his attacks; I don’t think he hit at all after you left. :(
Even though I wanted to get Roberts over to use Lay on Hands on me to get me vertical again, I needed to set up the transition for Valrec for Volume II. So:
As Valrec lay dying, some internal force, whether it was the will of the universe, a divine spark, or sheer force of will, urged him to stand back up. Nagil raised his hands into the air and started a spell that would hurtle all of us into the Abyss. Seeing the danger, Valrec yelled in defiance, “Alright, you primitive sons of b*tches… THIS. IS. FATEREAVER!” and lunged past Nagil’s demonic minions. He brought his blade, Fatereaver, crashing down on Nagil’s sphere of energy that would be the party’s undoing— and its energies all flowed into him. The spell was countered, but Valrec would pay the price; he was thrust backward, struggling with the dark cloud of energy swirling about him. His last words were this: “William, save them!” he cried, “Save them all!”
The dark energies overcame him, and with a blast of energy that killed the remaining demons, Valrec was gone.
Almost immediately (and after everyone cheered that Valrec was dead), Kheldor and John Diablo sprung into action. Kheldor sent a triple-blade attack (courtesy of Dante’s bracers) at Nagil’s back, and Diablo ran up and thrust his blade through Nagil’s chest (the quote “I can touch you… now!” was thrown about). Nagil went into death throes, sending black bolts of energy at Kheldor, John, and Zatara, then blasting through one of the pillars to get to the center of the room (where Marion was trying to tend the dying Laudare and Dox) before exploding in a blast of dark energy that damaged Marion and obliterated Laudare.
Then, Grebbistad began to come crashing down. Roberts picked up the dying Dox, and everyone left standing fled the crumbling citadel. They emerged from the falling Grebbistad to see their armies in salute to them. What happened next is still to be determined.
If we could do that last encounter again, I would have first of all had Möttul there to pile more damage on Nagil. Second, I would have had Dödric there for additional healing. Last, but far from least, I would have had you there, Jockabee, to help share the defender’s burden, provide further healing, and witness Valrec’s last stand. I would have had you all there, so that we could stand together and spit in death’s face.
But that’s neither here nor there at this point. It’s over. Nagil is dead, once again. We have won. But not without cost.
I’d say we haven’t been in nearly enough encounters (skill challenges, combat encounters, roleplaying encounters, or the like) to reach 17th level. To be honest, if we followed the rules to the letter, we probably haven’t been through enough for level 11; however, we progress at the rate Starbuck wants us to, and that’s really all that matters. My point is that we are at the endgame, so a few “capstone abilities” (read: final cool new class abilities) would probably be appropriate.
But that’s neither here nor there. Let’s go kill Marlock. >;)
BTW, I don’t think it would be out of line for us to start at 11th level at the session. We did completely annihilate an entire topdeck of demons when we last met. Granted, we lost due to extenuating circumstances, but we did give the demons a run for their money.
Hey everyone, we will most likely be having a session this Friday at the normal time. Also, level your character up to level 11 for this session but save your level 10 stats. We will be starting the session at level 10 but will be leveling up at some point that night, the only reason we want you to level up is to save time during the session.
There was another librarian; read about the second half of Chapter 2 of the adventure log. The first librarian was the one you played, N/A, but the second one was played by Starbuck and was killed by the guards under the command of the former Duke of Lathan. So there was more than one librarian.
I do read them (most of the time… there are a few I missed [not that I’m supposed to know]). I don’t mean to say they’re useless and I don’t appreciate them!!!
BTW: there is one librarian. Her name is unknown to us now. But there is one. Just to clear the air, cause someone else asked that, too.
I, for one, appreciate the updates to the adventure log. It helps me remember what we’ve accomplished before and the various NPCs we meet.
By the way, did we ever find out what was written on that piece of paper given to Valrec by the librarian (the one that was killed by a corrupt guardsman, not the one(s) N/A played)?
What happens when Nagil wins initiative and then obliterates us all to about 1 HP? Won’t we need a healer in order to make sure we can make it to him? (Granted, this is an exaggeration, but you get the gist that going total Barbarian probably will end in disaster)
May I just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle that was given to us to solve. I mean the actual physical puzzle.
If you don’t know, there were puzzles on chests and doors that we needed to solve to open them. It was a better change in pace than “Roll a die. you failed. next person,” way of dungeoneering (?).
“Bienvenidos a la city of La Boca del Fuego, pride of Cordoba!”
Starbuck starbuck starbuck….four years of spanish and you didn’t use Cuidad de La Boca del Fuego
Yeah, that was pretty ridiculous; not only was the enemy paladin failing to man the front lines, but he wasn’t protected enough to keep the barbarian from critting him with friggin’ RAGESTRIKE.
Please note, that doesn’t necessarily mean Barbarians are overpowered. A few lucky criticals (and some misunderstandings of the rules) pretty much brought about the end of that encounter. All that was left was the mopping up. :P
To be quite honest, I’m actually sorry for the poor chaps we faced… :(
I don’t hate you for banning Raise Dead; I was mentioning it so you wouldn’t hate yourself when/if we need to create a new character on the spot at umpteenth level. If we die a lot, there’s going to be a lot of down time as we try the make characters from scratch (as I’m certain that some of us have created no more than 2 characters to use). If all of us were more experienced in character creation, I probably wouldn’t be as worried; but you all remember what happened last session: We worked for at least an hour and a half trying to create characters on the spot. I merely brought up the ritual in the hopes of avoiding this problem.
I’m guessing that since this is CoF’s setting, we aren’t allowed many legitimate magical items, as well? If so, we’re going to need to utilize inherent enhancement bonuses to ensure that our attacks and defenses are on-par with the expected numbers at whatever level we’re at. Otherwise, we may have even more trouble trying stay alive.
Sorry about this Valk, but Vairis should have specified “by the book, except…”
In the CoF world, there is no such thing as a raise dead ritual. Death is final, except in the most extreme circumstances. Trying to bring someone back from death would require nothing short of a campaign, or at least a couple of sessions, in and of itself.
At the point in history where we are playing the only person known to have come back from the dead hasn’t done it yet.
So I’m sorry, but no Raise Dead ritual. Hate me if you want, that’s just the way it’s going to be.
Alrighty, thanks for the info, Starbuck. While I was hoping that somehow we would have gotten to level 26 (my epic combo would be available then), I’m okay with sticking at upper Paragon.
I’m glad the guides were helpful, Jockabee. Hopefully you bookmarked them… ;)
As of right now, we have Jockabee being a Blackguard Paladin (primary defender, secondary striker), me being a Shielding Swordmage (primary defender, secondary controller), Spatato possibly being a melee ranger (straight-up striker), and N/A being a rogue (another straight-up striker).
As for our variable players, Dr. Blargs is pretty much up for anything, I believe (he may have been leaning towards a leader class), and I’m unsure as to who is left & what they’re playing. Those who have been out of the loop (namely Laudare and Dödric) should probably be invited an hour early so that they can prepare characters before we begin. Our current party composition lacks a legitimate Leader and Controller, and a paladin and swordmage can only do so much.
Given the party composition and the rapid-leveling nature of this campaign, N/A, I would recommend that you play what you are familiar with. You’ve played a wizard before, so it should be somewhat easier for you to level up a wizard. That would leave only a spot for a leader, & hopefully Blargs or Dödric would play one.
If this combat is going to be nastily intense, we’re going to need to get our game-faces on. We’re going to need to form an efficient killing machine of a party to avoid PC deaths; dying will greatly slow the pace of the night due to having to make a new character and/or level up & prepare a backup.
Unlike our regular campaign, we likely won’t be able to do whatever we want willy-nilly and expect ourselves to survive. Because of this, we should prepare tactics out of combat to capitalize on each PC’s strengths. We should have offensive, defensive, control, and healing strategies ready to rock, as well as a standard method of organized retreat. Most importantly (and this will likely be the most difficult feat to accomplish), we have to keep track of our characters’ abilities. We won’t have a lot of practice to learn combos or new abilities from leveling up; we’ve got to be quick on the learning curve. While I wish we had more experience from playing legitimate higher-level characters, this is the hand we’ve been dealt.
One last thing: Anyone who has the Ritual Caster or its equivalent: You had better friggin’ learn Raise Dead.
D*********T VALK!!! IT WAS A PUN!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I was originally going to go with a wizard, “regressing” to an earlier favorite of mine. GET IT? LOLOLOLOLOLOL… (Though “regress” could also work because I am regressing to a previous topic of discussion, which is what I’m going to be). BTW: I am 99% sure that I’ll be a rogue. If not, wizard.
Now, of course I don’t mean that you’ll be losing characters left and right, but this game will be hardcore and gritty. Be prepared to lose your PC, and have a backup on standby.
This game will not be played or DMed in my usual style. I will not railroad you will overwhelming force, but likewise you will not have the usual level of invincibility. Dante will not save you. If you do something stupid, or make a mistake, and you can’t recover from it. You will die.
Yes, we are in the Chains of Fate setting, the only difference is that this takes place about 250 years prior to the events of Vol 1.
No, we will not be skyrocketing to Epic Tier. As a matter of fact, I doubt that we will reach Epic Tier, if we do it will only be the first level or two. The culmination of this campaign will ideally occur in the upper-level Paragon Tier. That being said, we do expect to level quickly, as such look ahead and try to think of what powers you might want to have in the future.
Also and this is directed to EVERYONE, tonight we will be featuring a “turn-timer” feature. Each of the DM’s (each group will have its own DM), will be using a stopwatch and player turns will be timed. If you do not complete your actions before time runs out, then you do not complete your turn. That is FINAL.
You meant “digress,” I’m certain. While it would be nice for everyone to use proper English on this site, we don’t need to callously post that someone should “learn some English.” If we can understand each other and get our points across, then we should be fine. We should try to convey our thoughts intelligibly, but should not berate others for lack of mastery of the English language.
TL;DR: Spatato, please try to type so we can best understand you. N/A, stop berating Spatato.
@Spatato: If you don’t particularly care about optimization, then I suppose a dragonborn ranger could work if you’re focusing on melee. Exceptional choices for melee rangers include the Human (pretty much good for everything), Goliath (Str/Wis scores), Half-Orc, and Longtooth Shifter. The Longtooth Shifter and Goliath (both in the Player’s Handbook 2) have bonuses to Strength and Wisdom and have powers that improve their survivability; Shifters get free regeneration for an encounter (regain HP every turn), and Goliaths can get resistance to all damage for a turn. On the other hand, Humans are simple, yet effective in terms of versatility.
I’m only speaking from an optimization standpoint. Dragonborn can make decent rangers, but not on the same level as some other races. All in all, play whatever you want to play, Spatato. It’s your character— not mine.
@Everyone: Make sure you get familiar with your Encounter and Daily Powers. If we’re going to be doing Player vs. Player combat, we’ll need to be ready to unload on the enemy.
@Starbuck or Vairis: Please confirm the following: Is this game for teh lolz or is it serious? Is it in the same universe as Chains of Fate? And most importantly, are we going to skyrocket to epic level? (The last is possibly most important, because if we’re going to be going that fast to Epic Tier, we’re all going to be completely confused as to what powers, feats, Paragon Paths, Epic Destinies, magic items, and whatever we have. We may end up driving ourselves insane trying to pick the right powers, feats, & whatevers for our characters. Just a fair warning.)
My serious thanks to Valk for the useful Paladin and Blackguard guides, they will be most useful!
My “thanks” to N/A and spat for telling me to use an array…..not….
After seeing the power of sorcerers, I’m not too enthused to not have the player’s handbook that has them in it .BUT I REGRESS!!! I’m going to try something a little more sword-esque this time around… maybe not… I’ll have to think about it today.
im sorry zack for breaking the scroll bar,( i was to over joyed).
Valk: could a dragon born ranger work? also valk, were are pretty much in the same lands of COF, just in the past. And there might be around 13 people there.
I was also told by zack to level up to level 5, i dont know about the rest of you.
Also, someone should let Spatato know that he should totally play a ranger. It’d be a nice change of pace from paladin, and it can deal massive amounts of damage by being able to attack nearly twice as often as other classes.
OK, so we’re using Standard Array, not the Point-buy system? Glad I caught that; make sure Jockabee knows, because I accidentally told him to use point-buy. XP
For the purpose of backstory, is the storyline separate from Chains of Fate?
For the record, I’ll probably be running a control-based swordmage if we are (as I’m told) skyrocketing from 1st to epic levels in one night. I have a combo that will be rather lolzy when used in the PvP part.
Thank you Vairis for giving Valk an idea of what Sunday will be like. Now, let me flesh out the details, namely those pertaining to the setting and story.
A new sun rises on the dawn of the year 845. The Great Gnollic War is ended. The White Ruin is dead, and his horde scattered. The Empire of Nerath, however, will never be the same. In the final battle against the fell gnoll, the good King Elidyr and his sons were slain, leaving the Empire leaderless.
Two factions now seek to step into the void and claim leadership over the Empire. The Kingdom of Armallia; an exotic, mysterious land to the north, known for its aristocracy and famed style of ballroom dance. And the Kingdom of Valeria; a proud, traditionalist nation in the center of the empire, rich in trade as it connects north to south, known widely for its highly trained and disciplined modern army.
Armallia claims that its King is a direct descendant of the firstborn child, a daughter, of the 8th Emperor. Yet at that time in the Empire’s history, a woman had no right to inheritance, nor could she pass any down, so the claim itself is folly. The Valerian royalty can trace their lineage back to the brother of the 10th Emperor, a just claim.
Tensions have been running high, and now can be contained no longer. The two nations find themselves at war. In the end, one will control the throne.
For the purposes of building your character backstory:
There are a couple of different opportunities for backstory available here, and I encourage each of you to take full advantage of them, and even come up with some of your own (just message me and I’ll make sure it fits).
For example, you could be…
…A grizzled war veteran of the Valerian army, who can’t wait to put those Armallian pukes in their place.
…A mercenary come to Alden to fight off the remaining Gnolls, and anyone else the Valerians pay you to take care of.
…A bright, young adventurer, fresh off the family farm, looking for glory and some way to make a name for yourself.
…A soldier of the Army of Bahamut, who’s enlistment just ran out but isn’t quite done fighting just yet.
…A mercenary brought by the White Ruin to conquer Alden, who survived the final battle and decided that it was a good idea to sign on with the winning side.
Now obviously you’ll have to add more meat to your story than just that. And please don’t think that that is what you’re limited to, come up with whatever you want, this is just to help. If you’re having trouble coming up with something, message me and I’ll help you out.
As for class and role distribution, that’s for you guys to hash out amongst yourselves.
Good luck, and let’s have some fun. Vairis and I are really looking forward to this.
There will most likely be 8-10 players, but I do not know what classes anyone will be playing (though I believe SUPERSPATATO is going to play either a fighter or paladin)
Hey, Jockabee! I found some Paladin guides you may find useful. The first one is a generic Paladin guide, and the other is a Blackguard guide. I hope both serve you well!
By the book? Excellent! A few questions, though: First, how many players are there going to be? Second, do you know what classes everyone’s running? Knowing these things helps me determine which classes to prefer and which to avoid. I myself currently have no class in mind, and can probably try out a class of any role.
Valk,
Sorry that this is being posted so late, I just got home from cross-country. On Sunday we will be having a session at the normal time, however that will be the only normal thing about the session. We will have most of the normal crew (Jockabee may be able to come but will most likely be late) as well as four of my other friends with whom I also play D&D. We will be split up into two parties each with an equal number (as equal as we can make it). Throughout the night, the two parties shall be working against each other indirectly until the very end when we shall come together for a PC fight.
Everyone,
When you get a chance make yourself a new character at level one (if you have the books that is). Also, when you are making your character do so BY THEBOOK and use the standard array for your ability scores, just so that all of the characters are on equal footing. Even if you don’t have the books, you can still come up with the story of your character and decide upon what you want your character to be.
What? That Valrec is presumably dead? Yes, I know that. What I don’t get is what camping has to do with anything, besides maybe camping out in Dante’s cabin after he saved your sorry butts. Again.
Good point. I believe that the trick is to keep all the arcs running in the background until the PCs decide to take action on one (or more) of them. Obviously, at times the PCs will have to make a decision that would progress one arc but harm another, but the arcs should be separate enough that those sort of situations will be few and far between.
I believe the primary purpose of the arcs is not to make the PCs question their every move (though this could happen some of the time ((or more, depending on the campaign)) ), but to provide more dimensions to the campaign and make it feel more realistic. It keeps it from feeling 1-dimensional with only one possible storyline to follow.
BTW, D&D still on for tonight? Should I print out some extra character sheets for people without characters in Calling to Honor?
Oh, I see. It seemed like there was a lot going on, and the players would have to make big decisions between the three “arcs” as it explains below. If anyone is taking microeconomics, there are going to be opportunity costs when they make certain desicions. However, at what point is there just too much going on where it is overwhelming? If there is too much going on, couldn’t something just get annoying?
To be quite honest, I only wanted you guys to at least read those background paragraphs for the laughs. If you decided to read on, then that’s fine too. I’m just putting this sort of stuff out there.
“Case in point: Read the paragraphs right after “MONDAY NIGHT.” Please note the number of mind flayers the bad guy has. Post your reaction here.”
I was referring to the three paragraphs following the words “MONDAYNIGHT.” It was a recap of his Monday night session— it should have been in a light-gray border-less text box? Note the number of mind flayers mentioned in those three background paragraphs. Post your reaction upon reading the aforementioned number of mind flayers.
Read some of this. Chris Perkins regularly writes these kind of articles, and they often have amusing tales interwoven with sound DM advice. Case in point: Read the paragraphs right after “MONDAYNIGHT.” Please note the number of mind flayers the bad guy has. Post your reaction here.
I encourage both players and DMs alike to read these articles. I’m even thinking of trying some DMing after reading some of these.
…Waiting for the day that their bindings would be reft, and their reaver would grant them their freedom.
All that shines is not silver,
All that is gold does not gleam.
The sole thing true of this universe
Is that things are not always as they seem.
Take heart! I say to those who despair
Though heroes have left this mortal coil
The tale does not end, it only goes on
Plots now that others must foil.
For truly, a cause is never lost
Until all its men are gone.
New heroes will come to thwart the dark;
Raven’s dirge goes ever on.
“Vegeta, what does your Troll-o-meter say about his trolling level?”
“… IT’S OVER 9000!”
The above typing, as well as the last part of my previous comment, is meant purely to invoke humor. No attempts of copyright infringement were intended. Any misquotes are deeply regretted.
Wrong sir. “Herp”, “derp”, and “herp-a-derp”, are the sole licensed property of one Patrick J. “Starfox” Fox.
The usage of such phrases is sanctioned by the Lyon’s Agreement of June 2011, yet claim to the property rights of the aforementioned “catchphrases” is strictly prohibited. Also included in the agreement are such phrases as “boned” and “chill”. Thank you, that is all.
When I update my character, it’s mostly to fix grammatical mistakes, adjust likes/dislikes, adjust background, etc. That’s likely what everyone else is doing, as well. The notice is just so that you can read any changes made. If you can’t find any, hopefully you didn’t spend half your day trying to find one.
Also: Don’t use the words “herp” and “derp.” Those are my lines, and just as I wouldn’t steal “Mr. Stabby says it’s time for you to die now!” except in fringe humorous cases, I expect you won’t steal my catchphrases. Thank you, good sir.
“I have been put to the torch for heresies,”
We should really read + Analyze Dante’s backstory methinks…. at least that part fits…well, it all fits, that’s just confirmed
@N/A: Let me put it into context: In normal D&D, you receive magical items at regular intervals. Usually, you will receive a magical weapon (or implement), some magic armor, and a magic “neck slot item” (which can be an amulet, necklace, or whatever). Magic weapons, armor, and amulets are gauged by their enhancement bonuses, ranging from +1 to +6. This bonus “enhances” how well you attack (if a weapon) or how well you fend off attacks (armor), hence the term “enhancement bonus.”
Now, knowing this, for armor, minimum enhancement bonus is just how “magically enhanced” the armor needs to be before it can be made into Masterwork. In other words, you can’t have +1 Godplate armor; the armor MUST be +6.
Why must it be +6, you may ask? Explained in terms of the story, masterwork armor is treated magically to make it more awesome. Thus, it’s already imbued with an enhancement bonus. Explained in terms of rules mechanics, masterwork armor balances the math between PCs’ defenses and monsters’ attack bonuses.
Should you ever receive or enhance armor with an enhancement bonus matching the M.E.B. of a piece of masterwork armor, just add in the appropriate bonuses from the masterwork armor. Masterwork armor is just supposed to be a simple increase in AC or whatnot; it’s not a ridiculously complicated process, just simple addition. Don’t fret overmuch about it.
Valk… thanks for taking the time to explain that, but my brain exploded after the first sentence (and now there are brain-stains on the carpet….) :(
Basically, M.E.B. is the bonus to your armor class if some magical phenomenon occurred (or some other thing you did to earn the bonus). If nothing magical happened, you just get the regular bonus??? Right?
If I’m wrong, could you explain it like I’m a three year old?
And I didn’t know Laika was a dog. I thought she was a monkey… _
Also, “minimum enhancement bonus”: Masterwork armor is inherently magical, so a person can only get masterwork armor if the armor in question has the designated minimum magical enhancement bonus. The cost of the armor is built into the cost of the magical item (so there’s no math issues on the costs).
Basically, what would happen is if you received a piece of +6 magic plate armor, the DM just has to say it’s Godplate armor and you get all the bonuses of the Godplate. Or, if the magical item is getting powered up from a previous form (such as +3 magic cloth armor “powering up” to +4 magic cloth), the DM can just say that the magical energies in the cloth have [insert magical phenomenon here] and made it into masterwork.
In the case of a low-magic campaign, or one where you just don’t get magic items, the masterwork bonus should just simply be incorporated into the armor when your reach the point of “powering up”. Flavor it as somehow, you’ve managed to become more adept with your armor, or have magically imbued it with power, etc. The end result is that the armor yields higher AC bonuses (or other bonuses, such as NAD bonuses or “Resist X damage”) due to whatever it is you said happened.
ok guys I just bought the remaining 8 dnd books from a borders that was going out of business.
they were half off so $15 each
the titles include the following:
-Arcane Power*
-Psionic Power
-Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide*
-Ebberron Player’s Guide*
-Dark Sun Creature Catalog
-Adventurer’s Vault 2
-Dungeon Magazine Annual
-Martial Power 2
means that I will be keeping it but it is just to update Valkyrion’s knowledge of what we have
If Jockabee is willing to share you could talk to him since he was willing to pay me back for the all of the others except Psionic Power
so Psionic Power is up for sale (or I will keep it), but talk to Jockabee and see if he is willing to give up some of this great stash!
Yes it is in fact a Dungeon Magazine Annual not Dragon
How does Tehla eat? I don’t think it’s possible to just suddenly change your diet from normal food to rocks…. And are you serious about offering souls to the Raven Queen? 0A0
And another thing (pretty slow night for mah brain derp): We just watched Castle in the Sky (great movie if you haven’t watched it yet), and the Castle operates EXACTLY like the floating isles of Dweomer; there is a crystal powering the entire castle located in the center.
Another thing: I finally thought of the ABSOLUTELYPERFECT idea on how Koa and Mongre (not important if you don’t know them) look!!!!! :‘D I’ll probably begin to sketch them tonight…then painful hours of drawing tomorrow….
We are hoping to have a session next Saturday, the 20th of August.
The idea is that we will go to the Pittsburgh Ren Faire, spend the day there, then come back home and play some hardcore DnD.
Please Note: Attendance at the Ren Faire is not a prerequisite to attend the session afterwords. If you are unable, or you simply don’t want, to attend the Faire, then I can give you the starting time for the session (as of now it will be a Vol. 1 session @ my house) and you can simply meet us there.
Once again, this is all very tentative, however, I have high hopes. Please contact me with your confirmation.
N/A is referring to CoF Vol. 3, where we will start at level 11, we will likewise be starting at level 11 for “a calling to honor”. In Vol. 1 we are levelling up to 10, everyone can go ahead and take care of that before the next session.
I was under the impression that the session would be earlier so that we could get home in time for an early bedtime.
Anyway, it’s getting close to Sunday, so if anyone has any idea what’s going on, give me a call at my home phone.
Also, what’s this about level 11? Is that for A Calling to Honor or have we jumped to 11th level in Chains of Fate? Clarification would be appreciated.
It’s going to be a very busy day for us, and Jockabee (and you, Valk) has a big day the next day. At least, that’s what I think the issue is. :|
BTW: Thanks Starbuck and Vairis for lending us that book. SS has improved Diablo, and I have successfully recreated Z/Infinity.
Speaking of that crazy infidel (Z), why are we starting at level eleven? I, personally, would like to start at sixteen because most of my best stuff is only accessible at later levels. What are your thoughts on the matter?
Speaking of next session: I have heard tell that it may be on Sunday, but I know neither the time, the place, nor the campaign we are running. Clarification on the matter would be appreciated. :)
I completly agree with cole, zack, u ureself must help us get in, but i do agree with us involving ourself,it takes a bit of both to get things going:)
He deleted most of the comments that didn’t pertain to the argument except for a few like the poems, Valk links, the Prophecy of Deimos, and some others. It is still a fairly long list of things though, but on occasion they are fun to read. :)
BTW: next session, I want to propose something (not in game) that will be helpful for us. SS and Jockabee probably know/ remember me mentioning it.
And are you sure you’re deleting comments? It really doesn’t look like it when I view the page. I’m not accusing you of anything, I’m just thinking that maybe it’s not showing (or really, is showing) when I view the page. Anyone else having that problem?
Despite what you may think or believe, no one (not myself or Michael or Jacob) comes to the table purposefully planning to exclude you. There are no “efforts to keep [you] out”.
As I said, and this is my final time saying it, your involvement is up to you. I want you to participate, I want you to have fun. I do not, want you to wind up wretching into a toilet. It is not my intention, nor anyone else’s, to exclude you or exclude anyone.
I am sorry for any hurt you may have suffered and endured.
I’m not trying to entice you to change with self pity, I’m trying to make you understand the gravity of how forceful your efforts are to keep me out.
And what about Laudre? or Blargs? They sit at the table all night (I don’t know how, even Jockabee needs to stand every once in a while), but they never get to contribute. And Dodric? He gets to make jokes all the time, but he is still aloud to be more active.
Yes, I understand it’s a game. That has been my thought ever since I started. It’s also been the reason I get so frustrated with this issue; if it’s just a game, then why does it matter if I try to start conversation in-game with a joke? Like normal people do?
We have been arguing a lot over what has happened— what we hate, what we wish would change. We need to realize, as Vairis said, that this is just a game. We can’t let ourselves get so worked up about a game. Many of these arguments have escalated, with claims that neither side has changed or is willing to change. On both accounts, this has been exaggerated. These issues were just brought up not a week ago, and we have not had a chance to enact anything to appease either party yet since we haven’t had a session. We can’t let ourselves get worked up accusing people of being unwilling to change when we haven’t gotten the chance to change.
While I will agree that radical compromises (which are hardly compromises in the first place) should be avoided, I must say that we all must make small compromises for the fun of everyone else. Some of us will have to tolerate the things we don’t like because some people at the table do like it. We have to do this because they are doing the same thing for us.
Next session, we need to be calm. We need to understand that we’re not all out to get each other. We need to be able to readjust, with all of us making small sacrifices for the good of the whole. If we are unable to do so, then we will respond accordingly. But first, we need to try.
Up to this point, we have been arguing about what has already come and gone as if it has repeated itself over and over again. All of us need to keep in mind that nothing has been enacted yet, but we will be making the attempt at the next opportunity. So let us please, let the past go for now. Let us look ahead to the future, for we are putting the dark times behind us. We must realize that better days lie ahead.
I hope and pray with all my heart that we may find it in all of ourselves to let go and forgive, and be able to better foresee such pitfalls in the future.
I play the role of the NPCs, and they will respond to whosoever interacts with them. If you aren’t willing to do so seriously, then you can find a different table to play at.
Starbuck, you yourself have said that you are at least partially to blame for shutting people out, how then , if you admit to it, can you expect others to come in if you don’t intend to compromise and stop shutting others out?
The choice is yours, enjoy the game or wallow in your self pity. I hope you all choose the former because I know I enjoy playing, but if you all want to leave or find a new DM there are plenty of other things I actually need to be doing.
It is obvious to me from these recent comments that recently the game has not been fun for everyone. With that said, we must keep in mind that this is a game and therefore is intended to be enjoyable for everyone and should not be making people physically ill. It is apparent that we need to fix quite a bit at the next session, but I think that we can. When we do all see each other again we will be able to discuss all of this in person and actually put our ideas to use and see if they work. Only then will we be able to mend this rift between us, and I believe that we should all just step back from our keyboards, calm down, consider all that has been said, and get ready to do some major compromising.
As I have said before, Valk and Jockabee are in control, because they are willing to seriously involve themselves and take control. I don’t care about your physical sickness, I’m not about to pity you, that doesn’t change a thing. If you want to be involved you must involve yourself. Don’t sit there something out ridiculous ideas every once in a while and expecting me to involve you in the story, then expect me to feel sorry for you because you feel bad that you weren’t included. If you want to be a part of the game then be a part of the game (Valk and Jockabee have done just that) if not then stop crying about it.
And you’re wrong about what I think I am, though you’re right about what I am, Ender was kind, I’m not Ender.
God, you think you are Ender, don’t you Starbuck? Well you’re not.
And I like how it was Valk who reaffirmed everyone that they are part of the story. Very noble, or just proving that you and Jockabee took control? Either way, Jockabee has already told me that CoFV.I is all about him, so that doesn’t fly.
You are seriously making me physically sick, like many times before when I have felt so excluded. I could vomit reading your comments, they’re all empty, heartless facades. Why don’t you think carefully about what I have said, and then think about what I said, again, then think it’s true. I do try to participate, it’s just that I don’t have the tolerance to wait two hours before I can say something and then be shut out.
You have asked before why I deleted my old account. Here’s why:
One night, after being excluded from everything except talking to Gulgol for a second (then being promptly to sit down because I wasn’t given a fair chance), I felt so sick from sitting there awkwardly, hot and embarrassed, that I sat hunched over a toliet for ten minutes, wrenching again and again. When I got up, I decided that I would never allow myself to feel that way again, never let myself be such an outsider like that again, so I deleted everything I owned on here and deleted my old account, never to go back to D&D. After a while, Spatato (yes, Spatato) and Vairis convinced me (directly or indirectly) to stay, so I made my current account.
For reference: This comment belongs just before SUPERSPATATO’S comment concerning N/A’s “being nice”. I had to delete and repost it in order to remove the “MOO…” at the end.
It was originally posted by N/A.
Wow, so desperate to prove a point. You really had to reference something that happened so long ago, and with a character that doesn’t even matter? I didn’t care what happened to that character, so I just let him die.
And Vol. II is when I had the best ideas because I was actively involved because I was at least sort of part of the overall plot (unlike now where you admitted you had nothing planned for me). What about when I destroyed all of those gnowls (right, gnowls? Couldn’t find it in the adventure log between all of the other things I did)? Or when I broke me and Roberts out of the cell in the colosseum? Or when I teleported everyone out of the room with the “central brain” of the mind flayers? Or stopped everyone from falling off the mountain?
And don’t you begin to think I want the story to revolve around me. No that honor can rest on Roberts. And another thing: Don’t you think I’m just listening to my ipod because there’s no way for me to contribute? I also sit at the counter because it’s under the fan and away from the group, so it’s a little cooler.
Excellently put Valkyrion, you have addressed nearly all that I wished to address myself. Any further comments would be redundant.
However, there is still one thing that I would like to mention.
N/A, I have been deleting comments since I first logged on today. Yes, I still need to delete many more, but at the moment that is the least of my concerns. If you can’t scroll your lazy hide to the bottom of the screen to post, then don’t post at all.
Any further “moos” or other comments that break the horizontal width of the page will be deleted immediately, and whomsoever posts said comment will be banned from the comments page till further notice, and all of their comments deleted.
Well put, Starbuck. To everyone, I apologize again for when I am too controlling at the table. I guarantee you that I will make good on my promise to back off and avoid cutting down potentially good ideas.
To SPATATO: I’m glad that you’ve found a new interest in checking out the books and the setting, as well as found a new desire to try some more of your powers. My door is always open should you want to discuss characters, game mechanics, the world, etc.
To N/A: Let me take some of your words for a moment:
“Don’t you think I’m just listening to my ipod because there’s no way for me to contribute?”
Well, with that sort of attitude, there’s no way you’ll contribute. In your head, you’ve already lost— you refuse to think that something will actually go your way. Cut the self-pity— trust me, people hate it when you do that (I speak from personal self-pity experience). If you just join the rest of us at the table (temperature be damned) and believe you can get in and contribute, you’ll find that you will be contributing a lot more. We’ve already stated we’re willing to make space if you are going to contribute constructively.
However, if you still want to keep that defeatist attitude and alienate yourself from the rest of the group, fine. As Starbuck said, don’t expect us to force you to come over and contribute. Finally, if you aren’t going to do a damn thing to improve you situation, stop your complaining. Whining about stuff accomplishes little to nothing, surprisingly enough. So if you refuse to back your words with action, stop cluttering up the comment boards.
Back to everyone: I’d like to reaffirm that just because CoF Vol. I is based off of Wil Turnner’s backstory doesn’t mean he’s the only main character. Just because it’s based on the backstory of one person doesn’t mean that he’s the only one that ever did anything (regardless of what Jockabee may say to the contrary ;) ). The story revolves around the party and how it interacts with the world, not just one person in it. So come join in, and tell your part of the story, whether it be of Möttul the Strong, Wil Turnner the Brave, Kheldor the Cunning, Zer0 the Clever, John Smith the Agile, or whomever your PC is. As Starbuck mentioned, the amount the story revolves around you is directly affected by how much you contribute.
So let the loyal and the brave come, and let us all weave a tale that will be remembered long after our character sheets have been thrown away.
SPATATO, that’s because most of your attempts at involvement haven’t been very serious. However, it seems as if you’re looking to change that, so I expect that you will most likely become much more involved in the future.
As I said, concerning the incident with Gulgol, if there was some sort of character motivation, then I have no problem with it, I merely used that incident as it had already been brought up earlier in the discussion.
Now I believe you may have misunderstood part of my comment, You said, “I don’t appreciate this quote, Starbuck: “I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm”. We have brought this up multiple times, and nothing ever occurs.” What I was referring to was the fact that during the school year (which is when most of our gameplay took place) I saw much more of Valk and Jockabee than I did of anyone else, and they were always discussing the game, so I saw much of their drive and motivation, and little of yours or SS’s. As I said, this is as much my fault as anyone else’s.
Now I would like to address your third point.
You say, “It quite unfair, and frankly a load of crap, of you to say that SS and I and anyone else who wants to contribute needs to get involve after, “While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas”. What you’re saying is two things: 1)That Jockabee and Valk are in control 2)All we need to do to contribute to the game is to try and fight our way into a discussion between the character who the whole game revolves around, another who silences others for acting in character, and two characters controlled by the DM. Yeah, really easy and fun.”
You are in fact quite correct. I am saying, in no uncertain terms, that Valk and Jockabee control the game. That is because they are willing to step up to the plate and take control of the game. They are by far the most active players at the table. As a result, the game revolves around them. You say you have made an honest effort to contribute, but do you realize how many times I have looked across the table to see Jockabee and Valk and even Kheldor and some others all discussing and contributing in character, and you off to the side listening to your ipod?
If you are going to sit at the counter and do something else, then I’m not going to try to involve you, it looks to me like you don’t want to be involved, so trying to force you to contribute is not worth my time. And the story is not going to center on you, in fact it’s hardly going to involve you, because centering things on someone who spends more time away from the table than he does at it makes for one hell of a boring game.
I would like to go back to something Valk said earlier “N/A, while you do act “in character,” the problem is that what you do in character goes against what we’re trying to accomplish at times. For example, at the very beginning of the campaign, when we were still playing NPCs like Edwin and Mikal, you had your character run away from the first fight we encountered. You ran away and excused it by saying you were “in character.” … You’ve done similar things, as well as present ideas that are needlessly reckless (waving the green gem up in the air to signal to Gulgol). To be honest, we’d be more receptive to your ideas if they weren’t overly complex or risky. We want you to contribute. We want you to be in character. But we do not want you to disrupt the group or otherwise undermine the party in the process; this kills the fun for everyone else. When it comes to our party, we all need to be thinking constructively, not destructively.”
This is a major part of the problem.
While you do contribute, your contributions are not worthwhile.
This is nothing new. I can still remember back to our second session in Vol 2. You were in a tavern with a bit of role-playing going on. Throughout the encounter your main concern was lighting the tavern on fire.
That is not a serious, or constructive, involvement. Yet that is virtually the only way you have tried to ivolve yourself. Every time you contribute or get involved your plan involves something overly complex, dangerous, just plain stupid, or literally impossible within the confines of the game and the setting. It is no wonder that your contributions are shot down.
When I say that all you need to do is involve yourself, I mean it. That’s all you have to do. The secret is, your contributions must be serious. They must be worthwhile and fit appropriately within the context of the game.
I would love to be able to involve your character more. He could prove to be very interesting.
If he was ever actually at the table that is.
To everyone: The importance of your character, relative to the overall plot, is directly proportional to the amount of involvement you put into the game. If you are going to be actively involved in RPing, and combat, and reading the lore and knowing what’s going on, then your character will be a major and integral part of the story. If you’re going to play games or listen to music on your ipod or make stupid, annoying, or otherwise destructive comments, then your character may as well be an NPC.
Okay, first off, I wasn’t trying to seduce Gulgol, I was just trying to make her think of us in a better light; I didn’t want to just go up to her and say, “Hey, Ugly! Yeah, we’re looking for some stuff and some people to kill, so…. Yeah, can we have your army to help us? Oh, and did I mention you look ugly?” And it would of worked if Valk didn’t tell me to be quiet and sit down. And Addam/Zero was, at the time, a more carefree person. After the incident with Koa, haven’t you noticed that he is taking things a little bit more seriously, or have you just ignored him?
Secondly, I don’t appreciate this quote, Starbuck: “I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm”. We have brought this up multiple times, and nothing ever occurs.
Which brings me to a third point: It quite unfair, and frankly a load of crap, of you to say that SS and I and anyone else who wants to contribute needs to get involve after, “While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas”. What you’re saying is two things: 1)That Jockabee and Valk are in control 2)All we need to do to contribute to the game is to try and fight our way into a discussion between the character who the whole game revolves around, another who silences others for acting in character, and two characters controlled by the DM. Yeah, really easy and fun.
Overall, the message is skewed. I have put in an honest effort to try and contribute, but I’m usually cut down and rejected, or it doesn’t manifest into anything.
You are asking a horse to drink the water that another horse died in.
Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will apologize for the assassin blade thing, i have actually been reading the players handbook and i will swith up things…i think i will get a map and have valreck explain some things.(and zack,i hope you take into account my playing a game outside idea)
secondly, zack, you are going to have to make sure people can speak up without being cut down. if they seem like they have an idea make sure its heard.
(i updated john if anyone would like to look)
Well now…It seems as if things have gotten slightly out of hand here…however, surprising as it might be, I am most excited at all the posting that has been going on. Never before has SUPERSPATATO posted so ferverently or frequently, and it has been quite some time since the party has been this active on Obsidian Portal, I am, on one hand, overjoyed!
…On the other hand…
I see that there are some issues we must address. Initially I had been planning on waiting till our next session, but since that is likely to be a “Calling to Honor” session, where I will not be DM, and since I don’t want to subvert Jockabee’s authority while he is DMing, I will get it out of the way here.
The main issue seems to be participation. Some people feel as if they are being shut out of the story, and would very much like a more active role. Once again I am overjoyed! I create this world for you to enjoy, and I want you to enjoy it. I had no idea you were truly so interested in what we are doing (I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm).
Now lets solve the problem.
Vairis suggested that perhaps we could create a Meta-game rule where each player will be required to contribute at least one idea per night (or in other words the party will be required to go along with at least one idea from each player each night).
In my opinion that is, bluntly put, a load of fracking dragon dung, and I will not be implementing it.
I also noticed that there have been some complaints about Valk and Jockabee (and even myself) stealing the spotlight.
While this holds a bit more weight than Vairis’ idea, not much plus nothing is still not much.
The bottom line here is simple.
If you want to be involved.
Involve yourself!
If you want to be a part of the story, then make yourself a part of the story. While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas. Contribute. If you interject yourself into the game, into the role-playing, in a serious fashion, then I will gladly welcome you and facilitate your participation. Believe it or not I want everyone to participate fully, it makes things much more interesting.
That being said, I feel that I must add this as well.
Asking for your second assassin blade, does NOT count as active role-playing and participation. It’s only annoying. If that is going to be the sum total of your contribution, then yes, I am going to stonewall you like a mother-frakker. Contribute, but for the love of the Gods contribute something worthwile!
And to address the other issue, I will use the situation with Gulgol (it’s spelled Gulgol, I think it’s posted somewhere in the adventure log, but I’m not sure. There are however, N/A, plenty of names that you botch that are easily and readily accessible. If you are too lazy to look up the names of my characters and locations, don’t bother posting) as an example. Addam attempted to seduce Gulgol (a dangerous ancient black dragon, whose description made apparent that she was by no means at all attractive, even by dragon standards). I have nothing wrong with that. Provided there is some kind of in-character motivation behind the action. If you are simply trying to seduce the hideous, deadly dragon for shits and giggles, don’t bother role-playing at all.
It should be made known that I have completed plans to account for each and every character, that in the event that they should die in Vol.1, the events of Vol.2 will not be affected. In other words, you are all mortal. If you do something stupid, it could very well get you killed. Keep that in mind.
Finally, I would like to address SUPERSPATATO’s one comment. He said, and I quote, “I dont have time to read the log, I HAVE A LIFE!!!!!!1”
I don’t know if you fully comprehend the time that goes into compiling not only the log, but also the wiki, and the character list, and preparing for each session.
I understand that you have a life. Middle-school is a challenging endeavour, and it’s not like you’re preparing to go off to college, filling out college and ROTC applications, trying to juggle that with homework from AP classes, going to work, competing on and training for high-school level sports teams, visiting colleges, volunteering on occassion, and still trying to balance a quasi-complicated social life. I know you don’t have all of those responsibilities and commitments, but I’m sure that your life is still just as full as mine.
Be that as it may…
Read the damn log and know what’s going on, or don’t bother showing up at my frakking table just to ask me about your mother-frakking assassin blade.
This all comes back to my main point. If you want to be involved, then involve yourself. Otherwise, bring your ipod and some earphones and don’t frakking bother the rest of us.
Agreed with Spatato. Death knights are so awesome :D But I don’t want any new characters. Vol. II had a plethora of characters, so we could just keep them and add the new ones from Vol. I. That would be enough, right? Oh, another question: Will we get Nakir again?
I do think that it will be a collection of both new and old characters, I know that Roberts, Z/Infinity, Kat, and Vantrag all survived and will most likely come back in V. III
Hopefully, we’ll have a mix. Some old characters may return while others might fade out of the the big picture (whether it be due to death or irrelevance to the plot). Still other characters may present themselves, friends and foes alike. The old characters ground the plot as part of the larger story, while the new ones remind us that we are somewhere new, doing new things in a world that’s slowly (or quickly, possibly) succumbing to the forces of evil.
On a serious note, will any new characters be added to CoFVol.III, or will we recycle the old ones? I would prefer the latter because there are a lot of colorful characters already.
Zack has read the comments but he has decided that, rather than posting his views on the comment page, that he will tell us all what he believes we should do when we can all sit down together and discuss it.
Alright, if we’re going to continue this argument, I say we keep it off of Obsidian Portal to prevent clutter on the comments page. I motion that all of our current arguments cease here on the site, and we resolve any arguments in person. The internet is a terrible medium through which to convey our displeasure.
So for the third and final time, cut out the arguing, the complaining, and the accusing. We will resolve this all civilly in person to ensure these issues are put to rest.
I mean it. All parties (me, SPATATO, N/A, Vairis, & anyone else involved), cut it out now. Discuss something else of some relevance that will not result in another arguing match.
It’s also rather pointless to get up and walk around early on in the night (cause food usually comes around 6-7). Later on is when we actually need it, not after one or two hours.
I think this break you are mentioning should line up with the food break. Too often, we’re just getting started, and then the food is ready. If played until a good break point, and then broke for food, I think the problem would be solved as we can walk around, go outside, get some fresh air, etc. while we are eating. It’d save time, yet give you all the break you’re asking for. The main issue is just placing the break at the right place to make sure we don’t burn out again before the session is over.
Nice idea and an early thanks. Another nice idea spatato brought up: moving around and going outside every once in a while. It can get rather stuffy just sitting in there with so many people. Anyone else agree?
You know what would be neat? If you could modify how you can read the Adventure Log. Like, if you want to read from oldest entry to latest. I personally like reading down then scrolling back past what I just read and more; it’s rather redundant.
SUPERSPATATO, in the time that you have been arguing over this topic and reading every other post that people put up, you could have skimmed over the adventure log to refresh your memories.
Yeah, and umpteen times you have said that yet it hasn’t happened, so I’ll be a “dead horse” until someone digs the grave. And for your information, once upon a time, we got a lot done. We got through an entire tournament, Murgo the sailor was “captured” by the baroness, and we killed the rebel king. We also learned more info on Murgo and my character and possibly more than we needed to know about Dodric. And we JOKEDTHEWHOLETIME (though Dodric did a little more than joking lol).
And who cares that Diane’s fell? It seriously doesn’t affect the plot at all. And don’t you dare say otherwise. I added that part in because Starbuck had nothing planed for Zero. And I wasn’t “key”. Actually, I just left, and after it was all over the group rejoined. There. Done. Nothing else done about it. And more evidence of nothing happening to other characters, nobody can even name the mental disease Zero has (I don’t think it’s “sleeping mind” or whatever you said, Vairis).
And sorry if my last comment was uh… explosive? I purposely made it like that so it would be hard to read.
Spatato, if you don’t know what’s going on in the story, then read the Adventure Log. It’s currently updated completely except for our last session. As for what we did last session: We learned about Nagil, and how he had Horcruxes. We gathered information to find these Horcruxes, quite a few of which are believed to be in Ankon-konu. We already destroyed one: The Corpse. We still have a number to find.
And, believe it or not, you can still get stuff done when you’re not being super serious. The key is to keep the silly stuff in the confines of the game and not getting too off-topic; keeping the silliness, fun, and conversation focused on the game ensures we’re still having fun but still getting stuff done.
If we don’t do this, the game slows down and we cover less and less ground in each session. You do still want to get to Volume III, right? If yes, then let’s streamline our sessions more by doing what we’ve already outlined. If no, then let us all just putz around and waste time telling jokes and stories and just keep the maps, dice, and minis in the boxes.
So stop complaining that you all “don’t know the story” or that “none of you let us in on the fun” or “you all shoot down our ideas.” We know. You’ve said it umpteen times. We’ve said we’ll fix it next session umpteen times. The problem has been addressed. So stop beating the dead horse, okay?
Oh and Valk, since I was shut out so many times by you and Jockabee, I don’t know what is going on in the story,I don’t know any names or anything. Also, I would like D&D to be less serious, when you do anything it’s so textbook and boring……………
He was merely using it as an expression. He didn’t literally mean the Clan, he meant our party. We all have to work towards making it fun for everyone.
Whoops, my bad. :( I was being serious about using one of N/A’s more outlandish ideas— any sarcasm or negative tone was merely from the rest of my comment. I’m completely serious, I want to see how it goes over. It could result in some fun lolz, for all we know. :D
I second Vairis’s idea. Everyone should try to put an idea in, and we should be inclined to follow them. Even if it doesn’t go as planned, as long as we’re able to laugh about it afterwards, it’ll be worth it.
On a different note: Laudare, you can be in multiple campaigns at one time. Starbuck just needs to invite you to join this campaign since he’s the DM. Obviously, he hasn’t gotten around to Obsidian Portal for a while now. Give him time, you’ll get on soon enough.
As a side note, Valk said that he would like to try on of N/A’s ideas next session, while he said this in what I took as a negative tone (please correct me if I am wrong) I believe that it is a good idea, but I think that we should take it a step further, starting next session, every PC who is present should get to make at least one important decision. That way, everyone feels as though they are involved.
I believe that Dante mentioned that his inability to pay attention is some rare condition. (I’m not sure of the name but it may have been “sleeping mind”) Also, I believe that this arguing has gotten to the point of being destructive rather than constructive, so I think that we should set it aside, consider all that has been said, and prepare for the next session where we shall all make an effort to make the game fun and exciting for all involved.
I think I can only be in one campaign at a time (I have already accepted Jacob’s invite). Anyways, we are all smart people here; can we not be creative enough to think of good methods of splitting the party? Have you ever tried it before? I’m still fairly new to this and still learning, but what I’ve gathered so far is that DnD is very player oriented. The players react to what is happening in a way that makes sense and is fun for them, but at the same time making sure they aren’t making it not fun for others. If someone doesn’t feel like they are as involved as they would like to be, then don’t they just have to get more involved but appropriately? Again, I’m still learning so I’m doing more listening right now.
N/A, I already told you. Some of your ideas & what you do go against what we’re trying to accomplish or are unnecessarily risky. Trying to woo a dragon that will eat all of us if we tick it off counts as unnecessarily risky. Waving around a magical artifact that the enemies want in order to get their attention for a parlay is unnecessarily risky. You can be the funny-bunny with out being overly reckless or foolhardy.
Actually, you know what? Next session, we should try to do one of N/A / Zero’s plans. I want to see what happens if we do.
As for your character, you were a crucial point when Dian’s Floating School came crashing to the ground. For the most part, you were helpful in our dealings with Gulgol (until you started to get her angry). You have played a role in this game. A lot of times, though, I see you in the back, messing around with your music or your cell phone.
This brings me to Spatato’s comment: I know that the phrase is “For the clan we live, for the clan we shall die.” I purposefully changed it because we all are not living for the clan. I see people sitting out of group discussion, partly because some of us aren’t letting them in, but also partly because they’re not letting themselves in. Thus I said we must live for the clan, and we must die for the clan. We all must do something in order to make a change for the better. Our solutions don’t lie with Jockabee and Starbuck and me just backing off; the rest of you must actively contribute, and refuse to be stuck on the sidelines. And when I say actively contribute, I mean seriously contribute. Bringing up a really bad, illogical, and/or unreasonable idea on purpose without any real thought put behind it is not seriously contributing.
I’ve said it a thousand times already: We all have to work for our fun. So, this next session, we will begin our work. We will address the issues stated here. So enough complaining, enough bickering. We’ve made our points, so let us please drop the topic for now.
well put,both of you,valk,its not always because im bored.sometimes i need to get up and move around.ps(val,its FORTHECLAN WE LIVE,ANDFORTHECLAN WE SHALLDIE)
Valk, stop lying to yourself. Without looking at my character page, what’s my story? What have I done during this campaign that was note worthy? HUH? I’ve pretended to be the librarian more than I have actually played my character. And have you ever thought that my character might just be the joking kind? The only times I’ve been deemed necessary were when we were talking to smexy Google and when I flew over the wall. And with Google, you took over and made me sit down. With the wall, everyone scolded me for not mentioning I could do that even though I got that power that day (and Starbuck stripped the same night, too). What about Laudre (I’m too lazy to look up the name, sorry)? I know nothing about him. Dodric? HUH? You wouldn’t know anything about them if you didn’t have here. And I could have been a bigger part, but no, Starbuck stripped that away from me, too.
Before we try taking breaks, we should all try to get immersed first. The fact that you would propose that we take breaks and play something else indicates that you’re not having fun at the table.
We need to take this one step at a time. First, the ballhogs (me, Jockabee, and Starbuck) will work to share the spotlight, while the rest of you actively engage yourselves in the story. We’ll see how that goes, and then adjust our planning from there.
Your demands are known. We’ll start with the first step in our next session. Until then, calm down, and drop the complaining. We’ll take drastic measures when the need arises.
ok guys,valk,its just you and jake fighting,we try to include every body but it doesn’t happen…….but yes,we can try to change things up next session,secondly i think we should try to take brakes every few hours,go outside and run around(we could play Frisbee or football) and when it gets dark we could play a little halo or cod.i get really stuffy and bored just sitting there.
SUPERSPATATO, as Valk mentioned this campaign has been a lot of RPing with a bit of combat, however I believe that if we ask Zack then he may add more combat. Also, once this campaign is finished I think that CoF V III will be very combat oriented with some RPing. That said, we all must make an active effort towards making each session more fun for every player. We can all go back and forth about the best ways to do this but the truth is we won’t know what works until we try it at the next session.
@Spatato & N/A: The main reason we aren’t very receptive to your ideas at times is because they aren’t very serious to begin with, or just seem outright bad to the rest of the party. Spatato, most of what you say is asking for a second assassin blade, or saying that you try to stab someone important (that we need alive). Combine that with how you frequently cheat on your dice rolls, and you’ve got a formula for not being taken seriously. Believe me, you can kill things, have a great time, and still contribute meaningfully to the story. The main reason we haven’t really been killing things is that we’ve been doing a lot of errand-running and role-playing in this campaign. Thus, you should approach Starbuck and ask him if there could be some more combat. He’s reasonable, and I’m sure he can work something out for the benefit of all of us.
N/A, while you do act “in character,” the problem is that what you do in character goes against what we’re trying to accomplish at times. For example, at the very beginning of the campaign, when we were still playing NPCs like Edwin and Mikal, you had your character run away from the first fight we encountered. You ran away and excused it by saying you were “in character.” As soon as you screw over the rest of the party in the name of being “in character,” you’ve gone too far. You’ve done similar things, as well as present ideas that are needlessly reckless (waving the green gem up in the air to signal to Gulgol). To be honest, we’d be more receptive to your ideas if they weren’t overly complex or risky. We want you to contribute. We want you to be in character. But we do not want you to disrupt the group or otherwise undermine the party in the process; this kills the fun for everyone else. When it comes to our party, we all need to be thinking constructively, not destructively.
We can be silly, have fun, kill things, and get into the story all at the same time. However, we need to be willing to play as a group. That’s not just sitting around at the same table, or being part of the same adventuring party. We ALL must contribute— we ALL must actively work for our fun. We don’t have fun going AFK on Halo. We don’t have fun just sitting around, doing nothing. We’ve all got to work for our fun; it’s not just going to come to us.
To put it simply:
For the clan, we must live. For the clan, we must die.
Nothing short of our full commitment will accomplish our goals and desires in this group. Deal with each other, and tolerate activities in the game geared for the others’ tastes. Bring up issues as they arise so we can adjust the group accordingly to satisfy the group’s needs. Focus on the story and on what’s being said and immerse yourself so that we avoid real-world derailment.
As for the story: We may be seven or eight main characters in Starbuck’s story, but the thing to remember is that we’re all part of the same story. There aren’t 7 or 8 separate main storylines going on at the same time; the only time we have more than 1 main storyline is when we’re splitting the party (another reason not to split the party: Complexity!). There can be side quests, background hooks, and other such things for each individual adventurer, but those don’t overshadow the primary goal of the group— at times, they even contribute to the main quest! That said, having seven people at the table at once is not helping our situation. At times, there’s too much side chatter, and we all end up getting derailed. However, if we all stay on target and get immersed, we’d have less people getting left out and cover more ground in a single session.
As for combat: In terms of monsters, combat is about as streamlined as it can get right now. Typically, we fight an encounter composed of four minions and a regular monster. 4 minions equal one regular monster, and an encounter of our level has roughly one monster of our level per player character in the encounter (possibly more if we have NPCs). So, if you do the math, with 7 PCs in an encounter with all minion enemies, we should be facing 28 minions, not 4. We pretty much steamroll all opposition because we have the strength of numbers on our side. In terms of chattiness, combat could be much more streamlined if we stay focused on the combat. A few jokes here and there are fine, as long as we’re still focused on the task at hand. Raising our level isn’t going to fix this; the majority of people at the table don’t even know their combat powers, and those that do tend to take time in deciding what to do (meaning more options from being a higher level would make combat even more sluggish).
As for random extra details: I agree, keep them on a relatively need-to-know basis. We’ll find out the important information when we need to; extra info for the curious can be safely stored on Obsidian Portal.
This sort of input is really important, guys. The point of the game is to have fun; if you’re not having fun, then you should let us and Starbuck know. We’re not a bunch of evil jerks (contrary to popular belief), and I think I speak for us all when I say we’re willing to make changes to improve the fun for everyone at the table.
Some more things: 1. Sorry for any bad grammar. My Engrish is funny. 2. Is that Murgo the Sailor making his own page? 3. STOPWINKING!!!!!!!! >:| if you don’t, I’ll start winking at you O-O
May I remind people of the time when I said Google (or whatever her name is) looked extremely hot that one time and everyone yelled at me? Just think back to CoFVol.II; we would have laughed forever at that, but there has obviously been a mood change here (and the change didn’t result because of one person). Every time I act in-character (which is, like, close to never), I’m usually ridiculed, too.
However, the blame for everyone not participating isn’t sole on any one person (though Jockabee, you really don’t help O-O). No, it’s because there is such a large group of people. Seven people trying to play at once is too overwhelming for one story. Think about a story or game you played; if there were seven main characters and seven main plots, do you think you would continue reading/playing?
There are solutions for this, I’m sure, but as of now, I think the best solution would to make battle more streamlined and chatter less. My best solution would be to level everybody up to level 15+ to offer stronger attacks and more options for the player to quickly trample the enemy or storm a fortress (it feels really weird for me not invading a castle or something with Kat :D I MISSYOUKAT!!!!!). Also, any details about anything should be saved for here. We don’t need to know that some city’s major export is Slowpoke tails (REFERENCE? REFERENCE? ANYONE?) when it doesn’t matter whatsoever. That detail can go on here. King of city? Unless we meet him and actually do something with him, I could care less.
That’s just my input, I don’t think things will change.
Another thing: Starbuck, this is my warning: If you don’t get rid of these older comments, I’ll “break” the X-axis on this page. Prepare to be MOOO’d if you refuse!!!!! }:0
If you attempt to be more serious and try to make yourself important to the story then you will find that Zack will let your character be more involved, also I believe that we should all try to integrate all of the characters into the story.
valk,a never speak in character because everythig i say is cut down and i get yelled at,Varis, I TRY to involve myself but im not inportant to the story and zack sorta shuts the rest of us out.
I apologize to you, Spatato, as well as the rest of the group. You’re right, I can be a pretty bad prima donna player. I will keep that in mind next session, and try to allow the rest of the table to have a chance to put in their 2 cents.
In order for this work, however, I ask that you all be actively engaged in the story during the session— that is, no cell phones, internet surfing, or other sort of distractions while we’re having our session, barring emergencies.
Once you are all engaged, I would recommend what Vairis has suggested and try to get into character. This will immerse you more, and once you’re in the thick of the storytelling, you’ll be taking a more active part in the story. PLEASENOTE: This does not mean we can have our laughs and good humor. We can still have fun and crack jokes when we’re immersed.
So, if you want to take more part in session, I’ll happily back off enough for you all to get in on the fun. Just remember, there’s more of you than just Starbuck, Jockabee, and me. You want to get in on the role-playing action, then actively get yourself in. We’ll make room for all of you, don’t worry. ;)
SUPERSPATATO, if you feel that you aren’t contributing enough to the sessions then here’s an idea, next time attempt to help with the role-playing instead of speaking only out of character. You might find that it becomes a lot more interesting. This is of course just a suggestion and should not be taken in any way as an insult or ridicule.
ya valk,even if the party is not split,the whole session is you, zack ,and jake fighting about what to do next.thats why dnd is no fun anymore because me ,zach,cole,and nick just sit around and do nothing.
Hmm, it seems that Starbuck needs to invite you to join the campaign, first. You can comment without being a part of the campaign, but creating characters, items, etc. requires that you be in the campaign.
As for splitting the party: D&D runs on teamwork. Each member of the session contributes something to the group, whether it be the actual player or the player’s character. If you “split the party,” the party is cut in half and thus cannot perform at the top of its game. Also, half the people at the table will just be sitting around, watching what’s going on in the game without being able to be a part of it. It takes people out of the picture, unable to participate or have their PC able to contribute in the events transpiring before their eyes. In effect, the half of the people at the table that aren’t playing are better off leaving and doing something else productive, because otherwise they’re just sitting there, wasting time.
I, the great and powerful Starbuck, ruler of the cosmos of Akaron, do hereby declare it excessively illegal, (and potentially harmful, should any forks become involved) to post excessive amounts of bovine celebration, lamentation, exclamation, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum, on this forum.
But seriously, no more than 10 "O"’s, max. If you want to survive your next encounter with a dining utensil that is…
(Valk is right, it breaks the width of the page, literally, it breaks it, a whole dimension, shattered, decimated, ruined; you bastards! [myself included] And as Vairis pointed out to me, it plays hell with any mobile viewing attempt made via Phone of Awesomeness, so really just stop.
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Hello everyone!
Hell Week is over and we have our computers back. To the extent of my knowledge there’s nothing wrong with our using Obsidian Portal in our free time; thus I shall be commenting and updating things on here whenever I get bored so please feel free to continue reading as the backstory develops and if you want you can communicate with me via the comments section. I was just thinking that it might be neat if we kept developing the story as a group even though we can’t actually play together.
So if you have any plot ideas, or anything at all, post it on here and we can work things out together.
Vairis since I know you’re the most likely one to be reading this I’m charging you with letting everyone else know.
Basically my goal is to keep things going without having to rely on dice and mats and minis.
Also, don’t feel that your limited to your characters or timeline. If you have any and I mean any thoughts on possibilities for the world of Akaron and its lore, put ’em up!
Attention All:
There will be a session tomorrow starting at 11am. that shall run until 11pm.
That is all.
Merry Christmas, everyone! :)
*<<<-| (Christmas tree!)
BROM SMITH,GOD SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good to know. Thanks for the heads-up, Vairis!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun! Working tonight
There WILL be a session tonight as I am sure that you have all heard. However it will NOT start at normal time. Tonight’s session will begin at 5 and run to 11 (or as close as your license will allow).
So I heard rumors about Saturday. . . can anyone confirm?
Vairis, I won’t see you during the day Thursday or Friday, so either call me, private message me, or post in one of our games when & if we’ll be having a session this weekend.
where is vol 3 page??????
Quite true, Jockabee, your character was always a conceited seadog that generally disliked everyone…
My character always judged they’re compatriots in character! He just is a little bit….. salty? Weathered? Cynical? No, not quite cynical….okay maybe a bit… He also is impulsive, impatient, imoral….and angry…
You make an excellent point, Vairis. I’d like to think that my character treated the others as he would in that world, but I’m sure I’ve made some (if not many) slip-ups. To be quite honest, hating on each other’s characters is just wrong. We all come together to enjoy a game, yet we can’t be civil enough to respect each other & their character’s decisions? Granted, some of those decisions are either unhelpful or just plain harmful to the rest of the party (which is an example of disrespect in & of itself), but some other behaviors don’t deserve the party’s negativity that accompany them.
What I propose is that we spend less time “out of character” and more time thinking about what our characters would do. It’s like this one situation for a player playing a barbarian:
Some of the other PCs are low on HP, and the enemies are bearing down on the party. The barbarian player’s mind might think, “I need to use some potions or a Heal check on my party members.” However, the Barbarian character would be thinking, “I’m going to seriously mess up these [explicitive deleted].” In this case, the barbarian’s player should say this:
“Look, I know there’s more more tactically viable options, like moving here or healing so-and-so. But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to hit this guy really hard with my axe.”
And the other players should just smile and nod. Why? Because he’s a BARBARIAN. He doesn’t give a crap how many wounds he has, only that his enemies are a bloody pulp in the end. That’s what the barbarian does, and it’s completely acceptable to do something a character would do in the situation.
Do note, that it goes both ways. Just because your character wants to run away and leave the party to die doesn’t mean you as a player should do that. That would give both the other players and their characters reason to not like you and your character.
In the end, get into character, but be smart about it. Just because you think your character would be a jerk, or confused, or argumentative all the time doesn’t mean you should play him like that. You need to make sure you’re contributing to the role-playing experience, not detracting.
Whoo, now that the rant’s over:
Vairis: When’s the session going to be?
LOL D**m Straight!!! Z saved everyone all the time!!!
Though I think only Turner really actually hated me… everyone else just didn’t care…
FOREVER ALONE!!!!
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/gallery/forever-alone/forever-alone-guy-painting.jpg
I too love the end of Valrec’s bio-
“At least they won’t have to worry about him saving their lives ever again…”
It seems to perfectly capture the overall mood of some of the party, not just in this campaign, but in Vol. II as well. Of those of us who were part of Vol. II, I don’t think that a single on of us can possibly count the number of times that Z saved our lives and yet he also seemed to be the “least liked”.
I find myself wondering if our character’s views will ever be truly based on what our characters would think and not our own personal biases?
I caught the irony the first time, that’s why I lol’d.
And I wasn’t playing it wrong!!!! There were just so many cinematics!!!! Not that they were bad, just loooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg.
BTW: SS update! Beat the third dungeon, and it took me, like, two hours. And that was after three hours of trying to get into it!!!! SO MUCH TO DO!!!
Also, do whatever you want with Valrec’s rating. It’s clear that Valrec was the least liked character in the campaign, so I’ve started to grow to accept that.
I’ve grown to accept that it doesn’t really matter what the other characters think of him; he will always fight the good fight, he will always fail with words, and he will always take appropriate action. After trying to play so many “badass” archetypal characters, I’ve come to realize that I, like my character, need to play my character as I see fit, and damn the consequences and whatever the other characters think.
The quote wasn’t a jab at Laudare, but a jab at Williams. Valrec tells him to save them all, & what does he do? Not save them all! :p Given, I know that Jockabee wasn’t there to play Roberts at the time, but Valrec doesn’t. So I just figured I’d revel in the irony.
Also, if you’re still not done with the first dungeon of Skyward Sword after 3 hours, something tells me you may be doinitwrong. :/ Then again, I haven’t played the game, so I can’t really judge.
One thing I can say without playing Skyward Sword: Skyrim is awesome.
That page is even so much better >v<
BTW: Skyward Sword came out, and I’ve played about three hours of it, and I’m still not done with the first dungeon!!! So much fun!!!!!
So I don’t know whether to give Valrec 5 stars or 1 star after his quote change. . .
LOLOLOL I love the ending to Valrec’s bio!!! :)
Well, here’s the run-down:
Nagil started spawning in 5 demon minions every turn. These minions dealt 20 damage every single time they hit. I had Nagil marked for the longest time, so I was taking all of his triple attacks, as well as countless minion attacks. Dox & Laudare wound up unconscious from the minions, and Valrec fell unconscious twice. The only healing we had left was Marion, and she could only heal me once.
All the while, Kheldor and John Diablo were doing their job as rogues and nailing Nagil for crap-tons of damage. However, Kheldor, John, Marion, Roberts, and Zero (I believe; don’t quote me) were barely attacked at all; most of the damage was sopped up by Valrec, Laudare, and Dox. Which was a problem, since the minions were dealing more damage than they would at level 30 and they were focusing it on two strikers and one defender.
Starbuck had Roberts running around attacking a few minions, and I think you attacked Nagil once. A defender mark trade-off would have been a much-appreciated reprieve for Valrec in hindsight, but we didn’t think of it at the time. Laudare kept rolling low for his attacks; I don’t think he hit at all after you left. :(
Even though I wanted to get Roberts over to use Lay on Hands on me to get me vertical again, I needed to set up the transition for Valrec for Volume II. So:
As Valrec lay dying, some internal force, whether it was the will of the universe, a divine spark, or sheer force of will, urged him to stand back up. Nagil raised his hands into the air and started a spell that would hurtle all of us into the Abyss. Seeing the danger, Valrec yelled in defiance, “Alright, you primitive sons of b*tches… THIS. IS. FATEREAVER!” and lunged past Nagil’s demonic minions. He brought his blade, Fatereaver, crashing down on Nagil’s sphere of energy that would be the party’s undoing— and its energies all flowed into him. The spell was countered, but Valrec would pay the price; he was thrust backward, struggling with the dark cloud of energy swirling about him. His last words were this: “William, save them!” he cried, “Save them all!”
The dark energies overcame him, and with a blast of energy that killed the remaining demons, Valrec was gone.
Almost immediately (and after everyone cheered that Valrec was dead), Kheldor and John Diablo sprung into action. Kheldor sent a triple-blade attack (courtesy of Dante’s bracers) at Nagil’s back, and Diablo ran up and thrust his blade through Nagil’s chest (the quote “I can touch you… now!” was thrown about). Nagil went into death throes, sending black bolts of energy at Kheldor, John, and Zatara, then blasting through one of the pillars to get to the center of the room (where Marion was trying to tend the dying Laudare and Dox) before exploding in a blast of dark energy that damaged Marion and obliterated Laudare.
Then, Grebbistad began to come crashing down. Roberts picked up the dying Dox, and everyone left standing fled the crumbling citadel. They emerged from the falling Grebbistad to see their armies in salute to them. What happened next is still to be determined.
If we could do that last encounter again, I would have first of all had Möttul there to pile more damage on Nagil. Second, I would have had Dödric there for additional healing. Last, but far from least, I would have had you there, Jockabee, to help share the defender’s burden, provide further healing, and witness Valrec’s last stand. I would have had you all there, so that we could stand together and spit in death’s face.
But that’s neither here nor there at this point. It’s over. Nagil is dead, once again. We have won. But not without cost.
Who won!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I’d say we haven’t been in nearly enough encounters (skill challenges, combat encounters, roleplaying encounters, or the like) to reach 17th level. To be honest, if we followed the rules to the letter, we probably haven’t been through enough for level 11; however, we progress at the rate Starbuck wants us to, and that’s really all that matters. My point is that we are at the endgame, so a few “capstone abilities” (read: final cool new class abilities) would probably be appropriate.
But that’s neither here nor there. Let’s go kill Marlock. >;)
more like level 99
Psh… all the crap we’ve been through, we should be like 17 now…
You mean “Jawohl, Herr Kapitän,” I presume? ;)
BTW, I don’t think it would be out of line for us to start at 11th level at the session. We did completely annihilate an entire topdeck of demons when we last met. Granted, we lost due to extenuating circumstances, but we did give the demons a run for their money.
Jawhol Heir Capitan!
Won’t be there. Sorry :P
Hey everyone, we will most likely be having a session this Friday at the normal time. Also, level your character up to level 11 for this session but save your level 10 stats. We will be starting the session at level 10 but will be leveling up at some point that night, the only reason we want you to level up is to save time during the session.
I’m sorry; I mean there is only one librarian that I played. I know who the other one is (or really, was). sorry
.’There was another librarian; read about the second half of Chapter 2 of the adventure log. The first librarian was the one you played, N/A, but the second one was played by Starbuck and was killed by the guards under the command of the former Duke of Lathan. So there was more than one librarian.
I do read them (most of the time… there are a few I missed [not that I’m supposed to know]). I don’t mean to say they’re useless and I don’t appreciate them!!!
BTW: there is one librarian. Her name is unknown to us now. But there is one. Just to clear the air, cause someone else asked that, too.
I, for one, appreciate the updates to the adventure log. It helps me remember what we’ve accomplished before and the various NPCs we meet.
By the way, did we ever find out what was written on that piece of paper given to Valrec by the librarian (the one that was killed by a corrupt guardsman, not the one(s) N/A played)?
Whoa! WHOA!!! calm down there, starbuck. don’t be all updating all at once here. I barely read the adventure log as is! lolololololololololol
based on what i saw, barbarians would be able to win~Jerm
What happens when Nagil wins initiative and then obliterates us all to about 1 HP? Won’t we need a healer in order to make sure we can make it to him? (Granted, this is an exaggeration, but you get the gist that going total Barbarian probably will end in disaster)
rangers are pretty boss
WE SHOULD TOTALLY ALL BECOME BARBARIANS AND RAGE KILL NIGEAL!!!!!!!!
just a thought
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20110815
Valk
Puzzles? Sweet. They are a nice change in pace from combat encounters and skill challenges every once in a while.
May I just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle that was given to us to solve. I mean the actual physical puzzle.
If you don’t know, there were puzzles on chests and doors that we needed to solve to open them. It was a better change in pace than “Roll a die. you failed. next person,” way of dungeoneering (?).
It was going to be the best duel EVER
Yeah, I’m sorry too…. I NEVER GOT THAT EPIC ROGUE BATTLE W/ LAUDRE!!! D:
“Bienvenidos a la city of La Boca del Fuego, pride of Cordoba!”
Starbuck starbuck starbuck….four years of spanish and you didn’t use Cuidad de La Boca del Fuego
Yeah, that was pretty ridiculous; not only was the enemy paladin failing to man the front lines, but he wasn’t protected enough to keep the barbarian from critting him with friggin’ RAGE STRIKE.
Please note, that doesn’t necessarily mean Barbarians are overpowered. A few lucky criticals (and some misunderstandings of the rules) pretty much brought about the end of that encounter. All that was left was the mopping up. :P
To be quite honest, I’m actually sorry for the poor chaps we faced… :(
Because Barbarians are OP shit and basically kick ass…
*sprints across battlefield and decimates rogue
Mwhahahaha!!
*Paladin steps forward to challenge him
Bitch please…
*decimates paladin
.WIN. LMFAO!
thanks valk, i think i will go with human ranger or half elf.
It should be around the usual time, 6 PM-11 PM.
I don’t hate you for banning Raise Dead; I was mentioning it so you wouldn’t hate yourself when/if we need to create a new character on the spot at umpteenth level. If we die a lot, there’s going to be a lot of down time as we try the make characters from scratch (as I’m certain that some of us have created no more than 2 characters to use). If all of us were more experienced in character creation, I probably wouldn’t be as worried; but you all remember what happened last session: We worked for at least an hour and a half trying to create characters on the spot. I merely brought up the ritual in the hopes of avoiding this problem.
I’m guessing that since this is CoF’s setting, we aren’t allowed many legitimate magical items, as well? If so, we’re going to need to utilize inherent enhancement bonuses to ensure that our attacks and defenses are on-par with the expected numbers at whatever level we’re at. Otherwise, we may have even more trouble trying stay alive.
what time is it tonight?
ATTN:
Sorry about this Valk, but Vairis should have specified “by the book, except…”
In the CoF world, there is no such thing as a raise dead ritual. Death is final, except in the most extreme circumstances. Trying to bring someone back from death would require nothing short of a campaign, or at least a couple of sessions, in and of itself.
At the point in history where we are playing the only person known to have come back from the dead hasn’t done it yet.
So I’m sorry, but no Raise Dead ritual. Hate me if you want, that’s just the way it’s going to be.
Alrighty, thanks for the info, Starbuck. While I was hoping that somehow we would have gotten to level 26 (my epic combo would be available then), I’m okay with sticking at upper Paragon.
I’m glad the guides were helpful, Jockabee. Hopefully you bookmarked them… ;)
As of right now, we have Jockabee being a Blackguard Paladin (primary defender, secondary striker), me being a Shielding Swordmage (primary defender, secondary controller), Spatato possibly being a melee ranger (straight-up striker), and N/A being a rogue (another straight-up striker).
As for our variable players, Dr. Blargs is pretty much up for anything, I believe (he may have been leaning towards a leader class), and I’m unsure as to who is left & what they’re playing. Those who have been out of the loop (namely Laudare and Dödric) should probably be invited an hour early so that they can prepare characters before we begin. Our current party composition lacks a legitimate Leader and Controller, and a paladin and swordmage can only do so much.
Given the party composition and the rapid-leveling nature of this campaign, N/A, I would recommend that you play what you are familiar with. You’ve played a wizard before, so it should be somewhat easier for you to level up a wizard. That would leave only a spot for a leader, & hopefully Blargs or Dödric would play one.
If this combat is going to be nastily intense, we’re going to need to get our game-faces on. We’re going to need to form an efficient killing machine of a party to avoid PC deaths; dying will greatly slow the pace of the night due to having to make a new character and/or level up & prepare a backup.
Unlike our regular campaign, we likely won’t be able to do whatever we want willy-nilly and expect ourselves to survive. Because of this, we should prepare tactics out of combat to capitalize on each PC’s strengths. We should have offensive, defensive, control, and healing strategies ready to rock, as well as a standard method of organized retreat. Most importantly (and this will likely be the most difficult feat to accomplish), we have to keep track of our characters’ abilities. We won’t have a lot of practice to learn combos or new abilities from leveling up; we’ve got to be quick on the learning curve. While I wish we had more experience from playing legitimate higher-level characters, this is the hand we’ve been dealt.
One last thing: Anyone who has the Ritual Caster or its equivalent: You had better friggin’ learn Raise Dead.
D*********T VALK!!! IT WAS A PUN!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I was originally going to go with a wizard, “regressing” to an earlier favorite of mine. GET IT? LOLOLOLOLOLOL… (Though “regress” could also work because I am regressing to a previous topic of discussion, which is what I’m going to be). BTW: I am 99% sure that I’ll be a rogue. If not, wizard.
Also, ATTN EVERYONE:
Be prepared for high attrition rates.
Now, of course I don’t mean that you’ll be losing characters left and right, but this game will be hardcore and gritty. Be prepared to lose your PC, and have a backup on standby.
This game will not be played or DMed in my usual style. I will not railroad you will overwhelming force, but likewise you will not have the usual level of invincibility. Dante will not save you. If you do something stupid, or make a mistake, and you can’t recover from it. You will die.
Consider yourselves warned, and be prepared.
@Valk: To address your questions/concerns…
This game is intended to be serious (and badass).
Yes, we are in the Chains of Fate setting, the only difference is that this takes place about 250 years prior to the events of Vol 1.
No, we will not be skyrocketing to Epic Tier. As a matter of fact, I doubt that we will reach Epic Tier, if we do it will only be the first level or two. The culmination of this campaign will ideally occur in the upper-level Paragon Tier. That being said, we do expect to level quickly, as such look ahead and try to think of what powers you might want to have in the future.
Also and this is directed to EVERYONE, tonight we will be featuring a “turn-timer” feature. Each of the DM’s (each group will have its own DM), will be using a stopwatch and player turns will be timed. If you do not complete your actions before time runs out, then you do not complete your turn. That is FINAL.
n_aNOTAPPLICABLE said: “BUT I REGRESS!!!”
You meant “digress,” I’m certain. While it would be nice for everyone to use proper English on this site, we don’t need to callously post that someone should “learn some English.” If we can understand each other and get our points across, then we should be fine. We should try to convey our thoughts intelligibly, but should not berate others for lack of mastery of the English language.
TL;DR: Spatato, please try to type so we can best understand you. N/A, stop berating Spatato.
The End.
@Spatato: If you don’t particularly care about optimization, then I suppose a dragonborn ranger could work if you’re focusing on melee. Exceptional choices for melee rangers include the Human (pretty much good for everything), Goliath (Str/Wis scores), Half-Orc, and Longtooth Shifter. The Longtooth Shifter and Goliath (both in the Player’s Handbook 2) have bonuses to Strength and Wisdom and have powers that improve their survivability; Shifters get free regeneration for an encounter (regain HP every turn), and Goliaths can get resistance to all damage for a turn. On the other hand, Humans are simple, yet effective in terms of versatility.
I’m only speaking from an optimization standpoint. Dragonborn can make decent rangers, but not on the same level as some other races. All in all, play whatever you want to play, Spatato. It’s your character— not mine.
@Everyone: Make sure you get familiar with your Encounter and Daily Powers. If we’re going to be doing Player vs. Player combat, we’ll need to be ready to unload on the enemy.
@Starbuck or Vairis: Please confirm the following: Is this game for teh lolz or is it serious? Is it in the same universe as Chains of Fate? And most importantly, are we going to skyrocket to epic level? (The last is possibly most important, because if we’re going to be going that fast to Epic Tier, we’re all going to be completely confused as to what powers, feats, Paragon Paths, Epic Destinies, magic items, and whatever we have. We may end up driving ourselves insane trying to pick the right powers, feats, & whatevers for our characters. Just a fair warning.)
My serious thanks to Valk for the useful Paladin and Blackguard guides, they will be most useful!
My “thanks” to N/A and spat for telling me to use an array…..not….
And SS, learn some English.
That’s why people go to 3rd grade.
After seeing the power of sorcerers, I’m not too enthused to not have the player’s handbook that has them in it
.BUT I REGRESS!!! I’m going to try something a little more sword-esque this time around… maybe not… I’ll have to think about it today.im sorry zack for breaking the scroll bar,( i was to over joyed).
Valk: could a dragon born ranger work? also valk, were are pretty much in the same lands of COF, just in the past. And there might be around 13 people there.
I was also told by zack to level up to level 5, i dont know about the rest of you.
Also, someone should let Spatato know that he should totally play a ranger. It’d be a nice change of pace from paladin, and it can deal massive amounts of damage by being able to attack nearly twice as often as other classes.
And N/A, what are you talking about?
OK, so we’re using Standard Array, not the Point-buy system? Glad I caught that; make sure Jockabee knows, because I accidentally told him to use point-buy. XP
For the purpose of backstory, is the storyline separate from Chains of Fate?
For the record, I’ll probably be running a control-based swordmage if we are (as I’m told) skyrocketing from 1st to epic levels in one night. I have a combo that will be rather lolzy when used in the PvP part.
…………..only good arcane players in PH vol. II? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Oh well, I can try something else…. :/
ATTN ALL
Thank you Vairis for giving Valk an idea of what Sunday will be like. Now, let me flesh out the details, namely those pertaining to the setting and story.
A new sun rises on the dawn of the year 845. The Great Gnollic War is ended. The White Ruin is dead, and his horde scattered. The Empire of Nerath, however, will never be the same. In the final battle against the fell gnoll, the good King Elidyr and his sons were slain, leaving the Empire leaderless.
Two factions now seek to step into the void and claim leadership over the Empire. The Kingdom of Armallia; an exotic, mysterious land to the north, known for its aristocracy and famed style of ballroom dance. And the Kingdom of Valeria; a proud, traditionalist nation in the center of the empire, rich in trade as it connects north to south, known widely for its highly trained and disciplined modern army.
Armallia claims that its King is a direct descendant of the firstborn child, a daughter, of the 8th Emperor. Yet at that time in the Empire’s history, a woman had no right to inheritance, nor could she pass any down, so the claim itself is folly. The Valerian royalty can trace their lineage back to the brother of the 10th Emperor, a just claim.
Tensions have been running high, and now can be contained no longer. The two nations find themselves at war. In the end, one will control the throne.
For the purposes of building your character backstory:
There are a couple of different opportunities for backstory available here, and I encourage each of you to take full advantage of them, and even come up with some of your own (just message me and I’ll make sure it fits).
For example, you could be…
…A grizzled war veteran of the Valerian army, who can’t wait to put those Armallian pukes in their place.
…A mercenary come to Alden to fight off the remaining Gnolls, and anyone else the Valerians pay you to take care of.
…A bright, young adventurer, fresh off the family farm, looking for glory and some way to make a name for yourself.
…A soldier of the Army of Bahamut, who’s enlistment just ran out but isn’t quite done fighting just yet.
…A mercenary brought by the White Ruin to conquer Alden, who survived the final battle and decided that it was a good idea to sign on with the winning side.
Now obviously you’ll have to add more meat to your story than just that. And please don’t think that that is what you’re limited to, come up with whatever you want, this is just to help. If you’re having trouble coming up with something, message me and I’ll help you out.
As for class and role distribution, that’s for you guys to hash out amongst yourselves.
Good luck, and let’s have some fun. Vairis and I are really looking forward to this.
There will most likely be 8-10 players, but I do not know what classes anyone will be playing (though I believe SUPERSPATATO is going to play either a fighter or paladin)
Hey, Jockabee! I found some Paladin guides you may find useful. The first one is a generic Paladin guide, and the other is a Blackguard guide. I hope both serve you well!
Paladin
Blackguard
By the book? Excellent! A few questions, though: First, how many players are there going to be? Second, do you know what classes everyone’s running? Knowing these things helps me determine which classes to prefer and which to avoid. I myself currently have no class in mind, and can probably try out a class of any role.
Valk,
Sorry that this is being posted so late, I just got home from cross-country. On Sunday we will be having a session at the normal time, however that will be the only normal thing about the session. We will have most of the normal crew (Jockabee may be able to come but will most likely be late) as well as four of my other friends with whom I also play D&D. We will be split up into two parties each with an equal number (as equal as we can make it). Throughout the night, the two parties shall be working against each other indirectly until the very end when we shall come together for a PC fight.
Everyone,
Sincerely, VairisWhen you get a chance make yourself a new character at level one (if you have the books that is). Also, when you are making your character do so BY THE BOOK and use the standard array for your ability scores, just so that all of the characters are on equal footing. Even if you don’t have the books, you can still come up with the story of your character and decide upon what you want your character to be.
Are we going to be leveling up next time?
SPATATO’s post has been deleted for breaking the horizontal axis of the page.
SPATATO, you have been WARNED
I am surprised that we got that far…and that some of us lived.
One day, grammar will overcome SS.
And what do you mean “again”? It was designed to fail! It’s a miracle that we even went that far! lol
What? That Valrec is presumably dead? Yes, I know that. What I don’t get is what camping has to do with anything, besides maybe camping out in Dante’s cabin after he saved your sorry butts. Again.
haaaaaaaaaaa, he doesn’t know, or does he????????
What?
Good point. I believe that the trick is to keep all the arcs running in the background until the PCs decide to take action on one (or more) of them. Obviously, at times the PCs will have to make a decision that would progress one arc but harm another, but the arcs should be separate enough that those sort of situations will be few and far between.
I believe the primary purpose of the arcs is not to make the PCs question their every move (though this could happen some of the time ((or more, depending on the campaign)) ), but to provide more dimensions to the campaign and make it feel more realistic. It keeps it from feeling 1-dimensional with only one possible storyline to follow.
BTW, D&D still on for tonight? Should I print out some extra character sheets for people without characters in Calling to Honor?
Oh, I see. It seemed like there was a lot going on, and the players would have to make big decisions between the three “arcs” as it explains below. If anyone is taking microeconomics, there are going to be opportunity costs when they make certain desicions. However, at what point is there just too much going on where it is overwhelming? If there is too much going on, couldn’t something just get annoying?
To be quite honest, I only wanted you guys to at least read those background paragraphs for the laughs. If you decided to read on, then that’s fine too. I’m just putting this sort of stuff out there.
“Case in point: Read the paragraphs right after “MONDAY NIGHT.” Please note the number of mind flayers the bad guy has. Post your reaction here.”
I was referring to the three paragraphs following the words “MONDAY NIGHT.” It was a recap of his Monday night session— it should have been in a light-gray border-less text box? Note the number of mind flayers mentioned in those three background paragraphs. Post your reaction upon reading the aforementioned number of mind flayers.
What kind of reaction do you want? Do you want our thoughts on whether or not we agree on certain things he said?
Read some of this. Chris Perkins regularly writes these kind of articles, and they often have amusing tales interwoven with sound DM advice. Case in point: Read the paragraphs right after “MONDAY NIGHT.” Please note the number of mind flayers the bad guy has. Post your reaction here.
I encourage both players and DMs alike to read these articles. I’m even thinking of trying some DMing after reading some of these.
…Waiting for the day that their bindings would be reft, and their reaver would grant them their freedom.
All that shines is not silver,
All that is gold does not gleam.
The sole thing true of this universe
Is that things are not always as they seem.
Take heart! I say to those who despair
Though heroes have left this mortal coil
The tale does not end, it only goes on
Plots now that others must foil.
For truly, a cause is never lost
Until all its men are gone.
New heroes will come to thwart the dark;
Raven’s dirge goes ever on.
Three words…
Total. Party. Kill.
…And then there were none.
Could it be? The heroes of our tale, slain by their greatest foe?
Why!? It’s just not fair! They had so much potential, it was they who would save this world from darkness…
…Three words…
Chains. Of. Fate.
…Tightly are the cosmos shackled.
And all destinies intertwined.
Whooooooooo thinks that the TPK was because of the Raven Queen?
So…. how about that TPK with that crazy ship from outta nowhere?
OR THE PS3!!!! OR WE CAN WAIT FOR THE WII U, BUT… UH… DO WE HAVE TIME TO WAIT?
The only way to find out is to have Shairya and Kat take on each other in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood! TO THE XBOX!
“…the best in her trade…”
Except for, you know, Kat…
How’s this weekend looking for another session?
Careful SS, grammar might just completely leave you one day…
Careful Valk, you can use my line for a joke,but when you miss quote it………..thats just sad
TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
“Vegeta, what does your Troll-o-meter say about his trolling level?”
“… IT’S OVER 9000!”
The above typing, as well as the last part of my previous comment, is meant purely to invoke humor. No attempts of copyright infringement were intended. Any misquotes are deeply regretted.
Thank you for your time and understanding,
—Valk
Also, you have misquoted Mr. Brom Smith. You have added an extraneous “now” to the end of his statements, without proper brackets.
As seen here:
“Mr. Stabby says it’s time for you to die now!” (emphasis added)
The true quote is as follows:
“Mr. Stabby says it’s time for you to die!”
It could also be written as:
“Mr. Stabby says it’s time for you to die [now]!”
Wrong sir. “Herp”, “derp”, and “herp-a-derp”, are the sole licensed property of one Patrick J. “Starfox” Fox.
The usage of such phrases is sanctioned by the Lyon’s Agreement of June 2011, yet claim to the property rights of the aforementioned “catchphrases” is strictly prohibited. Also included in the agreement are such phrases as “boned” and “chill”. Thank you, that is all.
When I update my character, it’s mostly to fix grammatical mistakes, adjust likes/dislikes, adjust background, etc. That’s likely what everyone else is doing, as well. The notice is just so that you can read any changes made. If you can’t find any, hopefully you didn’t spend half your day trying to find one.
Also: Don’t use the words “herp” and “derp.” Those are my lines, and just as I wouldn’t steal “Mr. Stabby says it’s time for you to die now!” except in fringe humorous cases, I expect you won’t steal my catchphrases. Thank you, good sir.
Grievence: when it says, "Derp updated the character “Herp”, and then you can’t tell what they changed…
Or is it not confirmed? What if it’s all a trick?!?!?!? GAH!!!
“I have been put to the torch for heresies,”
We should really read + Analyze Dante’s backstory methinks…. at least that part fits…well, it all fits, that’s just confirmed
Tomorrow? I’ll be sleeping like a log at 6 tomorrow!!!! lol
And thanks Valk! It’s starting to make sense, but I need to see the effects for the armor I’m thinking of and my character.
Yes Valk, the session shall start at 6:00 and end between 10:30 and 11:00.
@Vairis: I’m good for tomorrow. 6 PM, right?
@N/A: Let me put it into context: In normal D&D, you receive magical items at regular intervals. Usually, you will receive a magical weapon (or implement), some magic armor, and a magic “neck slot item” (which can be an amulet, necklace, or whatever). Magic weapons, armor, and amulets are gauged by their enhancement bonuses, ranging from +1 to +6. This bonus “enhances” how well you attack (if a weapon) or how well you fend off attacks (armor), hence the term “enhancement bonus.”
Now, knowing this, for armor, minimum enhancement bonus is just how “magically enhanced” the armor needs to be before it can be made into Masterwork. In other words, you can’t have +1 Godplate armor; the armor MUST be +6.
Why must it be +6, you may ask? Explained in terms of the story, masterwork armor is treated magically to make it more awesome. Thus, it’s already imbued with an enhancement bonus. Explained in terms of rules mechanics, masterwork armor balances the math between PCs’ defenses and monsters’ attack bonuses.
Should you ever receive or enhance armor with an enhancement bonus matching the M.E.B. of a piece of masterwork armor, just add in the appropriate bonuses from the masterwork armor. Masterwork armor is just supposed to be a simple increase in AC or whatnot; it’s not a ridiculously complicated process, just simple addition. Don’t fret overmuch about it.
Our session is being moved to TOMORROW. Please inform me if you are able to come.
Valk… thanks for taking the time to explain that, but my brain exploded after the first sentence (and now there are brain-stains on the carpet….) :(
Basically, M.E.B. is the bonus to your armor class if some magical phenomenon occurred (or some other thing you did to earn the bonus). If nothing magical happened, you just get the regular bonus??? Right?
If I’m wrong, could you explain it like I’m a three year old?
And I didn’t know Laika was a dog. I thought she was a monkey…
_I detect a “Shadow of the Colossus” reference in the horse’s name… and the name of a Soviet space dog in the dog’s name…
The horse is Aggro and the puppy is Laika.
Dodric names everything, so there is a very good chance he named his puppy and horse.
I’ll be able to make it on Saturday, Vairis.
@N/A: I don’t think Dödric named his dog & horse.
Also, “minimum enhancement bonus”: Masterwork armor is inherently magical, so a person can only get masterwork armor if the armor in question has the designated minimum magical enhancement bonus. The cost of the armor is built into the cost of the magical item (so there’s no math issues on the costs).
Basically, what would happen is if you received a piece of +6 magic plate armor, the DM just has to say it’s Godplate armor and you get all the bonuses of the Godplate. Or, if the magical item is getting powered up from a previous form (such as +3 magic cloth armor “powering up” to +4 magic cloth), the DM can just say that the magical energies in the cloth have [insert magical phenomenon here] and made it into masterwork.
In the case of a low-magic campaign, or one where you just don’t get magic items, the masterwork bonus should just simply be incorporated into the armor when your reach the point of “powering up”. Flavor it as somehow, you’ve managed to become more adept with your armor, or have magically imbued it with power, etc. The end result is that the armor yields higher AC bonuses (or other bonuses, such as NAD bonuses or “Resist X damage”) due to whatever it is you said happened.
Okay, since I’m stupid, I got a question: What is minimum enhancement bonus? For armor?
i may be able to
If anyone is into comic books, you can get one free at the store in Cranberry on Saturday.
What’s the name of Dodric’s dog? and horse?
Working. Can’t.
D&D on Saturday, can everyone come?
Goddess. The Raven Queen is a goddess. Unless something really strange happened……… :|
ok guys I just bought the remaining 8 dnd books from a borders that was going out of business.
they were half off so $15 each
the titles include the following:
-Arcane Power*
-Psionic Power
-Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide*
-Ebberron Player’s Guide*
-Dark Sun Creature Catalog
-Adventurer’s Vault 2
-Dungeon Magazine Annual
-Martial Power 2
If Jockabee is willing to share you could talk to him since he was willing to pay me back for the all of the others except Psionic Power
so Psionic Power is up for sale (or I will keep it), but talk to Jockabee and see if he is willing to give up some of this great stash!
Yes it is in fact a Dungeon Magazine Annual not Dragon
That would likely help our cause. It’s highly probable the Raven Queen knows, mostly because she is, after all, a god.
Very good point…
Does the Raven Queen know about Nagil? I bet she would definitely be on our side of the whole conflict since he’s trying to cheat death and all…
The Raven Queen will have my soul over my cold dead body!!! ….. oh wait
;A; Read your messages, because I have an idea for that.
Dragons, at least of the chromatic variety, can actually sustain themselves on any type of matter. (i.e. rocks, dirt, etc…)
And yes, the Raven Queen wants the souls that you owe her.
How does Tehla eat? I don’t think it’s possible to just suddenly change your diet from normal food to rocks…. And are you serious about offering souls to the Raven Queen? 0A0
And another thing (pretty slow night for mah brain derp): We just watched Castle in the Sky (great movie if you haven’t watched it yet), and the Castle operates EXACTLY like the floating isles of Dweomer; there is a crystal powering the entire castle located in the center.
Another thing: I finally thought of the ABSOLUTELY PERFECT idea on how Koa and Mongre (not important if you don’t know them) look!!!!! :‘D I’ll probably begin to sketch them tonight…then painful hours of drawing tomorrow….
I just guessed :D
Me and Jockabee are working that Sat., so that’s a big NO for us. :/
ATTENTION:
We are hoping to have a session next Saturday, the 20th of August.
The idea is that we will go to the Pittsburgh Ren Faire, spend the day there, then come back home and play some hardcore DnD.
Please Note: Attendance at the Ren Faire is not a prerequisite to attend the session afterwords. If you are unable, or you simply don’t want, to attend the Faire, then I can give you the starting time for the session (as of now it will be a Vol. 1 session @ my house) and you can simply meet us there.
Once again, this is all very tentative, however, I have high hopes. Please contact me with your confirmation.
Thank you,
Starbuck
So I find myself wondering how long it took you to craft your message so that you used up exactly all the allotted space on the x-axis…
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo0000000000000000000000000000000000………
http://ragecomics.memebase.com/2011/08/16/rage-comics-how-much-is-that-doggy-in-the-window/
Idea for Vol.III: Secret Police. Yes. And fighting monkeys and bison. Again, yes.
Just letting you all know, I’m not going to be on the internet until further notice. If you need to reach me, call me. Until then, peace out.
maybey we could have dnd somewere else
My ludicrous mother implied I was I lier (which I was not) and I defended myself
SOUND THE ALARM!!!!! RING UP ’EM PHONES!!!!
NOTHING IS HAPPENING TOMORROW. JUST LETTING IT OUT THERE!!!!!!
Why were you punished?
So what is happening tomorrow?
The issue was I stood up for what was right and got punished
N/A is referring to CoF Vol. 3, where we will start at level 11, we will likewise be starting at level 11 for “a calling to honor”. In Vol. 1 we are levelling up to 10, everyone can go ahead and take care of that before the next session.
I was under the impression that the session would be earlier so that we could get home in time for an early bedtime.
Anyway, it’s getting close to Sunday, so if anyone has any idea what’s going on, give me a call at my home phone.
Also, what’s this about level 11? Is that for A Calling to Honor or have we jumped to 11th level in Chains of Fate? Clarification would be appreciated.
It’s going to be a very busy day for us, and Jockabee (and you, Valk) has a big day the next day. At least, that’s what I think the issue is. :|
BTW: Thanks Starbuck and Vairis for lending us that book. SS has improved Diablo, and I have successfully recreated Z/Infinity.
Speaking of that crazy infidel (Z), why are we starting at level eleven? I, personally, would like to start at sixteen because most of my best stuff is only accessible at later levels. What are your thoughts on the matter?
If the problem is merely location we can have it at our house.
Just out of curiosity, why has it been canceled?
He was being stupid
Jockabee! What’re ye doin’, messin’ with the schedule? Oi, what am I supposed to do now on Sunday? HMMMMM?
No worries, just messin’ with you, Jockabee. :)
no session on sunday anymore, if you want to complain yell at jake.
Speaking of next session: I have heard tell that it may be on Sunday, but I know neither the time, the place, nor the campaign we are running. Clarification on the matter would be appreciated. :)
I completly agree with cole, zack, u ureself must help us get in, but i do agree with us involving ourself,it takes a bit of both to get things going:)
I believe that once we have everything worked out at the next session that he will most likely delete this entire argument.
He deleted most of the comments that didn’t pertain to the argument except for a few like the poems, Valk links, the Prophecy of Deimos, and some others. It is still a fairly long list of things though, but on occasion they are fun to read. :)
Well…….. Jockabee, maybe…. lol
BTW: next session, I want to propose something (not in game) that will be helpful for us. SS and Jockabee probably know/ remember me mentioning it.
And are you sure you’re deleting comments? It really doesn’t look like it when I view the page. I’m not accusing you of anything, I’m just thinking that maybe it’s not showing (or really, is showing) when I view the page. Anyone else having that problem?
Zachary,
Despite what you may think or believe, no one (not myself or Michael or Jacob) comes to the table purposefully planning to exclude you. There are no “efforts to keep [you] out”.
As I said, and this is my final time saying it, your involvement is up to you. I want you to participate, I want you to have fun. I do not, want you to wind up wretching into a toilet. It is not my intention, nor anyone else’s, to exclude you or exclude anyone.
I am sorry for any hurt you may have suffered and endured.
- Zack
I’m not trying to entice you to change with self pity, I’m trying to make you understand the gravity of how forceful your efforts are to keep me out.
And what about Laudre? or Blargs? They sit at the table all night (I don’t know how, even Jockabee needs to stand every once in a while), but they never get to contribute. And Dodric? He gets to make jokes all the time, but he is still aloud to be more active.
Yes, I understand it’s a game. That has been my thought ever since I started. It’s also been the reason I get so frustrated with this issue; if it’s just a game, then why does it matter if I try to start conversation in-game with a joke? Like normal people do?
We have been arguing a lot over what has happened— what we hate, what we wish would change. We need to realize, as Vairis said, that this is just a game. We can’t let ourselves get so worked up about a game. Many of these arguments have escalated, with claims that neither side has changed or is willing to change. On both accounts, this has been exaggerated. These issues were just brought up not a week ago, and we have not had a chance to enact anything to appease either party yet since we haven’t had a session. We can’t let ourselves get worked up accusing people of being unwilling to change when we haven’t gotten the chance to change.
While I will agree that radical compromises (which are hardly compromises in the first place) should be avoided, I must say that we all must make small compromises for the fun of everyone else. Some of us will have to tolerate the things we don’t like because some people at the table do like it. We have to do this because they are doing the same thing for us.
Next session, we need to be calm. We need to understand that we’re not all out to get each other. We need to be able to readjust, with all of us making small sacrifices for the good of the whole. If we are unable to do so, then we will respond accordingly. But first, we need to try.
Up to this point, we have been arguing about what has already come and gone as if it has repeated itself over and over again. All of us need to keep in mind that nothing has been enacted yet, but we will be making the attempt at the next opportunity. So let us please, let the past go for now. Let us look ahead to the future, for we are putting the dark times behind us. We must realize that better days lie ahead.
I hope and pray with all my heart that we may find it in all of ourselves to let go and forgive, and be able to better foresee such pitfalls in the future.
Yours truly,
—Mike
I play the role of the NPCs, and they will respond to whosoever interacts with them. If you aren’t willing to do so seriously, then you can find a different table to play at.
I understand that we need to help ourselves, but having someone who is willing to let us in would help considerably.
Starbuck, you yourself have said that you are at least partially to blame for shutting people out, how then , if you admit to it, can you expect others to come in if you don’t intend to compromise and stop shutting others out?
I don’t intend to compromise.
Here is my ultimatum.
Play actively, involve yourself, have fun…
…or don’t.
The choice is yours, enjoy the game or wallow in your self pity. I hope you all choose the former because I know I enjoy playing, but if you all want to leave or find a new DM there are plenty of other things I actually need to be doing.
It is obvious to me from these recent comments that recently the game has not been fun for everyone. With that said, we must keep in mind that this is a game and therefore is intended to be enjoyable for everyone and should not be making people physically ill. It is apparent that we need to fix quite a bit at the next session, but I think that we can. When we do all see each other again we will be able to discuss all of this in person and actually put our ideas to use and see if they work. Only then will we be able to mend this rift between us, and I believe that we should all just step back from our keyboards, calm down, consider all that has been said, and get ready to do some major compromising.
As I have said before, Valk and Jockabee are in control, because they are willing to seriously involve themselves and take control. I don’t care about your physical sickness, I’m not about to pity you, that doesn’t change a thing. If you want to be involved you must involve yourself. Don’t sit there something out ridiculous ideas every once in a while and expecting me to involve you in the story, then expect me to feel sorry for you because you feel bad that you weren’t included. If you want to be a part of the game then be a part of the game (Valk and Jockabee have done just that) if not then stop crying about it.
And you’re wrong about what I think I am, though you’re right about what I am, Ender was kind, I’m not Ender.
Also, Valk: people hate it when you type in bold and italics and correct them.
God, you think you are Ender, don’t you Starbuck? Well you’re not.
And I like how it was Valk who reaffirmed everyone that they are part of the story. Very noble, or just proving that you and Jockabee took control? Either way, Jockabee has already told me that CoFV.I is all about him, so that doesn’t fly.
You are seriously making me physically sick, like many times before when I have felt so excluded. I could vomit reading your comments, they’re all empty, heartless facades. Why don’t you think carefully about what I have said, and then think about what I said, again, then think it’s true. I do try to participate, it’s just that I don’t have the tolerance to wait two hours before I can say something and then be shut out.
You have asked before why I deleted my old account. Here’s why:
One night, after being excluded from everything except talking to Gulgol for a second (then being promptly to sit down because I wasn’t given a fair chance), I felt so sick from sitting there awkwardly, hot and embarrassed, that I sat hunched over a toliet for ten minutes, wrenching again and again. When I got up, I decided that I would never allow myself to feel that way again, never let myself be such an outsider like that again, so I deleted everything I owned on here and deleted my old account, never to go back to D&D. After a while, Spatato (yes, Spatato) and Vairis convinced me (directly or indirectly) to stay, so I made my current account.
Just something to think about.
zack, what about my break idea????
For reference: This comment belongs just before SUPERSPATATO’S comment concerning N/A’s “being nice”. I had to delete and repost it in order to remove the “MOO…” at the end.
It was originally posted by N/A.
Wow, so desperate to prove a point. You really had to reference something that happened so long ago, and with a character that doesn’t even matter? I didn’t care what happened to that character, so I just let him die.
And Vol. II is when I had the best ideas because I was actively involved because I was at least sort of part of the overall plot (unlike now where you admitted you had nothing planned for me). What about when I destroyed all of those gnowls (right, gnowls? Couldn’t find it in the adventure log between all of the other things I did)? Or when I broke me and Roberts out of the cell in the colosseum? Or when I teleported everyone out of the room with the “central brain” of the mind flayers? Or stopped everyone from falling off the mountain?
And don’t you begin to think I want the story to revolve around me. No that honor can rest on Roberts. And another thing: Don’t you think I’m just listening to my ipod because there’s no way for me to contribute? I also sit at the counter because it’s under the fan and away from the group, so it’s a little cooler.
Excellently put Valkyrion, you have addressed nearly all that I wished to address myself. Any further comments would be redundant.
However, there is still one thing that I would like to mention.
N/A, I have been deleting comments since I first logged on today. Yes, I still need to delete many more, but at the moment that is the least of my concerns. If you can’t scroll your lazy hide to the bottom of the screen to post, then don’t post at all.
Any further “moos” or other comments that break the horizontal width of the page will be deleted immediately, and whomsoever posts said comment will be banned from the comments page till further notice, and all of their comments deleted.
Well put, Starbuck. To everyone, I apologize again for when I am too controlling at the table. I guarantee you that I will make good on my promise to back off and avoid cutting down potentially good ideas.
To SPATATO: I’m glad that you’ve found a new interest in checking out the books and the setting, as well as found a new desire to try some more of your powers. My door is always open should you want to discuss characters, game mechanics, the world, etc.
To N/A: Let me take some of your words for a moment:
“Don’t you think I’m just listening to my ipod because there’s no way for me to contribute?”
Well, with that sort of attitude, there’s no way you’ll contribute. In your head, you’ve already lost— you refuse to think that something will actually go your way. Cut the self-pity— trust me, people hate it when you do that (I speak from personal self-pity experience). If you just join the rest of us at the table (temperature be damned) and believe you can get in and contribute, you’ll find that you will be contributing a lot more. We’ve already stated we’re willing to make space if you are going to contribute constructively.
However, if you still want to keep that defeatist attitude and alienate yourself from the rest of the group, fine. As Starbuck said, don’t expect us to force you to come over and contribute. Finally, if you aren’t going to do a damn thing to improve you situation, stop your complaining. Whining about stuff accomplishes little to nothing, surprisingly enough. So if you refuse to back your words with action, stop cluttering up the comment boards.
Back to everyone: I’d like to reaffirm that just because CoF Vol. I is based off of Wil Turnner’s backstory doesn’t mean he’s the only main character. Just because it’s based on the backstory of one person doesn’t mean that he’s the only one that ever did anything (regardless of what Jockabee may say to the contrary ;) ). The story revolves around the party and how it interacts with the world, not just one person in it. So come join in, and tell your part of the story, whether it be of Möttul the Strong, Wil Turnner the Brave, Kheldor the Cunning, Zer0 the Clever, John Smith the Agile, or whomever your PC is. As Starbuck mentioned, the amount the story revolves around you is directly affected by how much you contribute.
So let the loyal and the brave come, and let us all weave a tale that will be remembered long after our character sheets have been thrown away.
Let us weave our tale— together.
Zachary, be nice to zack, he’s trying hard to include us all
yes i will be more serious, i dont even know if i want a second assassins blade anymore,what about my break idea??
SPATATO, that’s because most of your attempts at involvement haven’t been very serious. However, it seems as if you’re looking to change that, so I expect that you will most likely become much more involved in the future.
what about me zack, i sit next to you and i try to involve myself but i get cut down by mike?
As I said, concerning the incident with Gulgol, if there was some sort of character motivation, then I have no problem with it, I merely used that incident as it had already been brought up earlier in the discussion.
Now I believe you may have misunderstood part of my comment, You said, “I don’t appreciate this quote, Starbuck: “I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm”. We have brought this up multiple times, and nothing ever occurs.” What I was referring to was the fact that during the school year (which is when most of our gameplay took place) I saw much more of Valk and Jockabee than I did of anyone else, and they were always discussing the game, so I saw much of their drive and motivation, and little of yours or SS’s. As I said, this is as much my fault as anyone else’s.
Now I would like to address your third point.
You say, “It quite unfair, and frankly a load of crap, of you to say that SS and I and anyone else who wants to contribute needs to get involve after, “While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas”. What you’re saying is two things: 1)That Jockabee and Valk are in control 2)All we need to do to contribute to the game is to try and fight our way into a discussion between the character who the whole game revolves around, another who silences others for acting in character, and two characters controlled by the DM. Yeah, really easy and fun.”
You are in fact quite correct. I am saying, in no uncertain terms, that Valk and Jockabee control the game. That is because they are willing to step up to the plate and take control of the game. They are by far the most active players at the table. As a result, the game revolves around them. You say you have made an honest effort to contribute, but do you realize how many times I have looked across the table to see Jockabee and Valk and even Kheldor and some others all discussing and contributing in character, and you off to the side listening to your ipod?
If you are going to sit at the counter and do something else, then I’m not going to try to involve you, it looks to me like you don’t want to be involved, so trying to force you to contribute is not worth my time. And the story is not going to center on you, in fact it’s hardly going to involve you, because centering things on someone who spends more time away from the table than he does at it makes for one hell of a boring game.
I would like to go back to something Valk said earlier “N/A, while you do act “in character,” the problem is that what you do in character goes against what we’re trying to accomplish at times. For example, at the very beginning of the campaign, when we were still playing NPCs like Edwin and Mikal, you had your character run away from the first fight we encountered. You ran away and excused it by saying you were “in character.” … You’ve done similar things, as well as present ideas that are needlessly reckless (waving the green gem up in the air to signal to Gulgol). To be honest, we’d be more receptive to your ideas if they weren’t overly complex or risky. We want you to contribute. We want you to be in character. But we do not want you to disrupt the group or otherwise undermine the party in the process; this kills the fun for everyone else. When it comes to our party, we all need to be thinking constructively, not destructively.”
This is a major part of the problem.
While you do contribute, your contributions are not worthwhile.
This is nothing new. I can still remember back to our second session in Vol 2. You were in a tavern with a bit of role-playing going on. Throughout the encounter your main concern was lighting the tavern on fire.
That is not a serious, or constructive, involvement. Yet that is virtually the only way you have tried to ivolve yourself. Every time you contribute or get involved your plan involves something overly complex, dangerous, just plain stupid, or literally impossible within the confines of the game and the setting. It is no wonder that your contributions are shot down.
When I say that all you need to do is involve yourself, I mean it. That’s all you have to do. The secret is, your contributions must be serious. They must be worthwhile and fit appropriately within the context of the game.
I would love to be able to involve your character more. He could prove to be very interesting.
If he was ever actually at the table that is.
To everyone: The importance of your character, relative to the overall plot, is directly proportional to the amount of involvement you put into the game. If you are going to be actively involved in RPing, and combat, and reading the lore and knowing what’s going on, then your character will be a major and integral part of the story. If you’re going to play games or listen to music on your ipod or make stupid, annoying, or otherwise destructive comments, then your character may as well be an NPC.
At least then he’ll be contributing something.
Okay, first off, I wasn’t trying to seduce Gulgol, I was just trying to make her think of us in a better light; I didn’t want to just go up to her and say, “Hey, Ugly! Yeah, we’re looking for some stuff and some people to kill, so…. Yeah, can we have your army to help us? Oh, and did I mention you look ugly?” And it would of worked if Valk didn’t tell me to be quiet and sit down. And Addam/Zero was, at the time, a more carefree person. After the incident with Koa, haven’t you noticed that he is taking things a little bit more seriously, or have you just ignored him?
Secondly, I don’t appreciate this quote, Starbuck: “I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm”. We have brought this up multiple times, and nothing ever occurs.
Which brings me to a third point: It quite unfair, and frankly a load of crap, of you to say that SS and I and anyone else who wants to contribute needs to get involve after, “While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas”. What you’re saying is two things: 1)That Jockabee and Valk are in control 2)All we need to do to contribute to the game is to try and fight our way into a discussion between the character who the whole game revolves around, another who silences others for acting in character, and two characters controlled by the DM. Yeah, really easy and fun.
Overall, the message is skewed. I have put in an honest effort to try and contribute, but I’m usually cut down and rejected, or it doesn’t manifest into anything.
You are asking a horse to drink the water that another horse died in.
Valk, i apologize, i read up and i will use powers much more!
Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will apologize for the assassin blade thing, i have actually been reading the players handbook and i will swith up things…i think i will get a map and have valreck explain some things.(and zack,i hope you take into account my playing a game outside idea)
secondly, zack, you are going to have to make sure people can speak up without being cut down. if they seem like they have an idea make sure its heard.
(i updated john if anyone would like to look)
…that was scary…
But I must say, the main point of the post is true, in order to be involved we must involve ourselves.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can make it drink.
Well now…It seems as if things have gotten slightly out of hand here…however, surprising as it might be, I am most excited at all the posting that has been going on. Never before has SUPERSPATATO posted so ferverently or frequently, and it has been quite some time since the party has been this active on Obsidian Portal, I am, on one hand, overjoyed!
…On the other hand…
I see that there are some issues we must address. Initially I had been planning on waiting till our next session, but since that is likely to be a “Calling to Honor” session, where I will not be DM, and since I don’t want to subvert Jockabee’s authority while he is DMing, I will get it out of the way here.
The main issue seems to be participation. Some people feel as if they are being shut out of the story, and would very much like a more active role. Once again I am overjoyed! I create this world for you to enjoy, and I want you to enjoy it. I had no idea you were truly so interested in what we are doing (I apologize for this, as it is at least partially my fault, since I don’t see N/A and SS that often, I don’t really get their input or see their enthusiasm).
Now lets solve the problem.
Vairis suggested that perhaps we could create a Meta-game rule where each player will be required to contribute at least one idea per night (or in other words the party will be required to go along with at least one idea from each player each night).
In my opinion that is, bluntly put, a load of fracking dragon dung, and I will not be implementing it.
I also noticed that there have been some complaints about Valk and Jockabee (and even myself) stealing the spotlight.
While this holds a bit more weight than Vairis’ idea, not much plus nothing is still not much.
The bottom line here is simple.
If you want to be involved.
Involve yourself!
If you want to be a part of the story, then make yourself a part of the story. While Valk and Jockabee are discussing their latest battle plans with Zatara or the Baroness, jump in with your own ideas. Contribute. If you interject yourself into the game, into the role-playing, in a serious fashion, then I will gladly welcome you and facilitate your participation. Believe it or not I want everyone to participate fully, it makes things much more interesting.
That being said, I feel that I must add this as well.
Asking for your second assassin blade, does NOT count as active role-playing and participation. It’s only annoying. If that is going to be the sum total of your contribution, then yes, I am going to stonewall you like a mother-frakker. Contribute, but for the love of the Gods contribute something worthwile!
And to address the other issue, I will use the situation with Gulgol (it’s spelled Gulgol, I think it’s posted somewhere in the adventure log, but I’m not sure. There are however, N/A, plenty of names that you botch that are easily and readily accessible. If you are too lazy to look up the names of my characters and locations, don’t bother posting) as an example. Addam attempted to seduce Gulgol (a dangerous ancient black dragon, whose description made apparent that she was by no means at all attractive, even by dragon standards). I have nothing wrong with that. Provided there is some kind of in-character motivation behind the action. If you are simply trying to seduce the hideous, deadly dragon for shits and giggles, don’t bother role-playing at all.
It should be made known that I have completed plans to account for each and every character, that in the event that they should die in Vol.1, the events of Vol.2 will not be affected. In other words, you are all mortal. If you do something stupid, it could very well get you killed. Keep that in mind.
Finally, I would like to address SUPERSPATATO’s one comment. He said, and I quote, “I dont have time to read the log, I HAVE A LIFE!!!!!!1”
I don’t know if you fully comprehend the time that goes into compiling not only the log, but also the wiki, and the character list, and preparing for each session.
I understand that you have a life. Middle-school is a challenging endeavour, and it’s not like you’re preparing to go off to college, filling out college and ROTC applications, trying to juggle that with homework from AP classes, going to work, competing on and training for high-school level sports teams, visiting colleges, volunteering on occassion, and still trying to balance a quasi-complicated social life. I know you don’t have all of those responsibilities and commitments, but I’m sure that your life is still just as full as mine.
Be that as it may…
Read the damn log and know what’s going on, or don’t bother showing up at my frakking table just to ask me about your mother-frakking assassin blade.
This all comes back to my main point. If you want to be involved, then involve yourself. Otherwise, bring your ipod and some earphones and don’t frakking bother the rest of us.
wait, why does Marion dislike john,he’s awesome???
Agreed with Spatato. Death knights are so awesome :D But I don’t want any new characters. Vol. II had a plethora of characters, so we could just keep them and add the new ones from Vol. I. That would be enough, right? Oh, another question: Will we get Nakir again?
Brom smith death knight….(cough) (cough)
I do think that it will be a collection of both new and old characters, I know that Roberts, Z/Infinity, Kat, and Vantrag all survived and will most likely come back in V. III
Hopefully, we’ll have a mix. Some old characters may return while others might fade out of the the big picture (whether it be due to death or irrelevance to the plot). Still other characters may present themselves, friends and foes alike. The old characters ground the plot as part of the larger story, while the new ones remind us that we are somewhere new, doing new things in a world that’s slowly (or quickly, possibly) succumbing to the forces of evil.
On a serious note, will any new characters be added to CoFVol.III, or will we recycle the old ones? I would prefer the latter because there are a lot of colorful characters already.
Zack has read the comments but he has decided that, rather than posting his views on the comment page, that he will tell us all what he believes we should do when we can all sit down together and discuss it.
cole, why hasent zack been on, tell him to get on please
Want to talk about something relevent? How about thanks for giving Zero one star :P
Alright, if we’re going to continue this argument, I say we keep it off of Obsidian Portal to prevent clutter on the comments page. I motion that all of our current arguments cease here on the site, and we resolve any arguments in person. The internet is a terrible medium through which to convey our displeasure.
So for the third and final time, cut out the arguing, the complaining, and the accusing. We will resolve this all civilly in person to ensure these issues are put to rest.
I mean it. All parties (me, SPATATO, N/A, Vairis, & anyone else involved), cut it out now. Discuss something else of some relevance that will not result in another arguing match.
the only reason we go so slow is because we have so many people there!!
SUPERSPATATO, at the alarmingly slow rate that our group gets things done, time is something that we most certainty need to save.
valk we can eat early and still go outside we dont need to save time
It’s also rather pointless to get up and walk around early on in the night (cause food usually comes around 6-7). Later on is when we actually need it, not after one or two hours.
Yeah, but we don’t have control over when the food is ready except if someone makes it (I vote Jockabee)
I think this break you are mentioning should line up with the food break. Too often, we’re just getting started, and then the food is ready. If played until a good break point, and then broke for food, I think the problem would be solved as we can walk around, go outside, get some fresh air, etc. while we are eating. It’d save time, yet give you all the break you’re asking for. The main issue is just placing the break at the right place to make sure we don’t burn out again before the session is over.
All of you, jeeze……
Nice idea and an early thanks. Another nice idea spatato brought up: moving around and going outside every once in a while. It can get rather stuffy just sitting in there with so many people. Anyone else agree?
I also have the same problem, I think that I am going to copy them into a word document then put it in the wiki in order.
You know what would be neat? If you could modify how you can read the Adventure Log. Like, if you want to read from oldest entry to latest. I personally like reading down then scrolling back past what I just read and more; it’s rather redundant.
Not really, because he would fall asleep before getting through it. Trust me. I have tested this theory.
SUPERSPATATO, in the time that you have been arguing over this topic and reading every other post that people put up, you could have skimmed over the adventure log to refresh your memories.
I dont have time to read the log, I HAVE A LIFE!!!!!!1
Yeah, and umpteen times you have said that yet it hasn’t happened, so I’ll be a “dead horse” until someone digs the grave. And for your information, once upon a time, we got a lot done. We got through an entire tournament, Murgo the sailor was “captured” by the baroness, and we killed the rebel king. We also learned more info on Murgo and my character and possibly more than we needed to know about Dodric. And we JOKED THE WHOLE TIME (though Dodric did a little more than joking lol).
And who cares that Diane’s fell? It seriously doesn’t affect the plot at all. And don’t you dare say otherwise. I added that part in because Starbuck had nothing planed for Zero. And I wasn’t “key”. Actually, I just left, and after it was all over the group rejoined. There. Done. Nothing else done about it. And more evidence of nothing happening to other characters, nobody can even name the mental disease Zero has (I don’t think it’s “sleeping mind” or whatever you said, Vairis).
And sorry if my last comment was uh… explosive? I purposely made it like that so it would be hard to read.
Spatato, if you don’t know what’s going on in the story, then read the Adventure Log. It’s currently updated completely except for our last session. As for what we did last session: We learned about Nagil, and how he had Horcruxes. We gathered information to find these Horcruxes, quite a few of which are believed to be in Ankon-konu. We already destroyed one: The Corpse. We still have a number to find.
And, believe it or not, you can still get stuff done when you’re not being super serious. The key is to keep the silly stuff in the confines of the game and not getting too off-topic; keeping the silliness, fun, and conversation focused on the game ensures we’re still having fun but still getting stuff done.
If we don’t do this, the game slows down and we cover less and less ground in each session. You do still want to get to Volume III, right? If yes, then let’s streamline our sessions more by doing what we’ve already outlined. If no, then let us all just putz around and waste time telling jokes and stories and just keep the maps, dice, and minis in the boxes.
So stop complaining that you all “don’t know the story” or that “none of you let us in on the fun” or “you all shoot down our ideas.” We know. You’ve said it umpteen times. We’ve said we’ll fix it next session umpteen times. The problem has been addressed. So stop beating the dead horse, okay?
Oh and Valk, since I was shut out so many times by you and Jockabee, I don’t know what is going on in the story,I don’t know any names or anything. Also, I would like D&D to be less serious, when you do anything it’s so textbook and boring……………
He was merely using it as an expression. He didn’t literally mean the Clan, he meant our party. We all have to work towards making it fun for everyone.
VALK,THE CLAN HAS NOTHINGGGGGG TO DO WITH DND
VALK,THE CLAN HAS NOTHINGGGGGG TO DO WITH DND
Whoops, my bad. :( I was being serious about using one of N/A’s more outlandish ideas— any sarcasm or negative tone was merely from the rest of my comment. I’m completely serious, I want to see how it goes over. It could result in some fun lolz, for all we know. :D
I second Vairis’s idea. Everyone should try to put an idea in, and we should be inclined to follow them. Even if it doesn’t go as planned, as long as we’re able to laugh about it afterwards, it’ll be worth it.
On a different note: Laudare, you can be in multiple campaigns at one time. Starbuck just needs to invite you to join this campaign since he’s the DM. Obviously, he hasn’t gotten around to Obsidian Portal for a while now. Give him time, you’ll get on soon enough.
As a side note, Valk said that he would like to try on of N/A’s ideas next session, while he said this in what I took as a negative tone (please correct me if I am wrong) I believe that it is a good idea, but I think that we should take it a step further, starting next session, every PC who is present should get to make at least one important decision. That way, everyone feels as though they are involved.
I believe that Dante mentioned that his inability to pay attention is some rare condition. (I’m not sure of the name but it may have been “sleeping mind”) Also, I believe that this arguing has gotten to the point of being destructive rather than constructive, so I think that we should set it aside, consider all that has been said, and prepare for the next session where we shall all make an effort to make the game fun and exciting for all involved.
Why isn’t your character capable of understanding anything?
I think I can only be in one campaign at a time (I have already accepted Jacob’s invite). Anyways, we are all smart people here; can we not be creative enough to think of good methods of splitting the party? Have you ever tried it before? I’m still fairly new to this and still learning, but what I’ve gathered so far is that DnD is very player oriented. The players react to what is happening in a way that makes sense and is fun for them, but at the same time making sure they aren’t making it not fun for others. If someone doesn’t feel like they are as involved as they would like to be, then don’t they just have to get more involved but appropriately? Again, I’m still learning so I’m doing more listening right now.
N/A, I already told you. Some of your ideas & what you do go against what we’re trying to accomplish or are unnecessarily risky. Trying to woo a dragon that will eat all of us if we tick it off counts as unnecessarily risky. Waving around a magical artifact that the enemies want in order to get their attention for a parlay is unnecessarily risky. You can be the funny-bunny with out being overly reckless or foolhardy.
Actually, you know what? Next session, we should try to do one of N/A / Zero’s plans. I want to see what happens if we do.
As for your character, you were a crucial point when Dian’s Floating School came crashing to the ground. For the most part, you were helpful in our dealings with Gulgol (until you started to get her angry). You have played a role in this game. A lot of times, though, I see you in the back, messing around with your music or your cell phone.
This brings me to Spatato’s comment: I know that the phrase is “For the clan we live, for the clan we shall die.” I purposefully changed it because we all are not living for the clan. I see people sitting out of group discussion, partly because some of us aren’t letting them in, but also partly because they’re not letting themselves in. Thus I said we must live for the clan, and we must die for the clan. We all must do something in order to make a change for the better. Our solutions don’t lie with Jockabee and Starbuck and me just backing off; the rest of you must actively contribute, and refuse to be stuck on the sidelines. And when I say actively contribute, I mean seriously contribute. Bringing up a really bad, illogical, and/or unreasonable idea on purpose without any real thought put behind it is not seriously contributing.
I’ve said it a thousand times already: We all have to work for our fun. So, this next session, we will begin our work. We will address the issues stated here. So enough complaining, enough bickering. We’ve made our points, so let us please drop the topic for now.
well put,both of you,valk,its not always because im bored.sometimes i need to get up and move around.ps(val,its FOR THE CLAN WE LIVE,AND FOR THE CLAN WE SHALL DIE)
Valk, stop lying to yourself. Without looking at my character page, what’s my story? What have I done during this campaign that was note worthy? HUH? I’ve pretended to be the librarian more than I have actually played my character. And have you ever thought that my character might just be the joking kind? The only times I’ve been deemed necessary were when we were talking to smexy Google and when I flew over the wall. And with Google, you took over and made me sit down. With the wall, everyone scolded me for not mentioning I could do that even though I got that power that day (and Starbuck stripped the same night, too). What about Laudre (I’m too lazy to look up the name, sorry)? I know nothing about him. Dodric? HUH? You wouldn’t know anything about them if you didn’t have here. And I could have been a bigger part, but no, Starbuck stripped that away from me, too.
Before we try taking breaks, we should all try to get immersed first. The fact that you would propose that we take breaks and play something else indicates that you’re not having fun at the table.
We need to take this one step at a time. First, the ballhogs (me, Jockabee, and Starbuck) will work to share the spotlight, while the rest of you actively engage yourselves in the story. We’ll see how that goes, and then adjust our planning from there.
Your demands are known. We’ll start with the first step in our next session. Until then, calm down, and drop the complaining. We’ll take drastic measures when the need arises.
ok guys,valk,its just you and jake fighting,we try to include every body but it doesn’t happen…….but yes,we can try to change things up next session,secondly i think we should try to take brakes every few hours,go outside and run around(we could play Frisbee or football) and when it gets dark we could play a little halo or cod.i get really stuffy and bored just sitting there.
SUPERSPATATO, as Valk mentioned this campaign has been a lot of RPing with a bit of combat, however I believe that if we ask Zack then he may add more combat. Also, once this campaign is finished I think that CoF V III will be very combat oriented with some RPing. That said, we all must make an active effort towards making each session more fun for every player. We can all go back and forth about the best ways to do this but the truth is we won’t know what works until we try it at the next session.
@Spatato & N/A: The main reason we aren’t very receptive to your ideas at times is because they aren’t very serious to begin with, or just seem outright bad to the rest of the party. Spatato, most of what you say is asking for a second assassin blade, or saying that you try to stab someone important (that we need alive). Combine that with how you frequently cheat on your dice rolls, and you’ve got a formula for not being taken seriously. Believe me, you can kill things, have a great time, and still contribute meaningfully to the story. The main reason we haven’t really been killing things is that we’ve been doing a lot of errand-running and role-playing in this campaign. Thus, you should approach Starbuck and ask him if there could be some more combat. He’s reasonable, and I’m sure he can work something out for the benefit of all of us.
N/A, while you do act “in character,” the problem is that what you do in character goes against what we’re trying to accomplish at times. For example, at the very beginning of the campaign, when we were still playing NPCs like Edwin and Mikal, you had your character run away from the first fight we encountered. You ran away and excused it by saying you were “in character.” As soon as you screw over the rest of the party in the name of being “in character,” you’ve gone too far. You’ve done similar things, as well as present ideas that are needlessly reckless (waving the green gem up in the air to signal to Gulgol). To be honest, we’d be more receptive to your ideas if they weren’t overly complex or risky. We want you to contribute. We want you to be in character. But we do not want you to disrupt the group or otherwise undermine the party in the process; this kills the fun for everyone else. When it comes to our party, we all need to be thinking constructively, not destructively.
We can be silly, have fun, kill things, and get into the story all at the same time. However, we need to be willing to play as a group. That’s not just sitting around at the same table, or being part of the same adventuring party. We ALL must contribute— we ALL must actively work for our fun. We don’t have fun going AFK on Halo. We don’t have fun just sitting around, doing nothing. We’ve all got to work for our fun; it’s not just going to come to us.
To put it simply:
For the clan, we must live. For the clan, we must die.
Nothing short of our full commitment will accomplish our goals and desires in this group. Deal with each other, and tolerate activities in the game geared for the others’ tastes. Bring up issues as they arise so we can adjust the group accordingly to satisfy the group’s needs. Focus on the story and on what’s being said and immerse yourself so that we avoid real-world derailment.
Nothing less will suffice.
To N/A
As for the story: We may be seven or eight main characters in Starbuck’s story, but the thing to remember is that we’re all part of the same story. There aren’t 7 or 8 separate main storylines going on at the same time; the only time we have more than 1 main storyline is when we’re splitting the party (another reason not to split the party: Complexity!). There can be side quests, background hooks, and other such things for each individual adventurer, but those don’t overshadow the primary goal of the group— at times, they even contribute to the main quest! That said, having seven people at the table at once is not helping our situation. At times, there’s too much side chatter, and we all end up getting derailed. However, if we all stay on target and get immersed, we’d have less people getting left out and cover more ground in a single session.
As for combat: In terms of monsters, combat is about as streamlined as it can get right now. Typically, we fight an encounter composed of four minions and a regular monster. 4 minions equal one regular monster, and an encounter of our level has roughly one monster of our level per player character in the encounter (possibly more if we have NPCs). So, if you do the math, with 7 PCs in an encounter with all minion enemies, we should be facing 28 minions, not 4. We pretty much steamroll all opposition because we have the strength of numbers on our side. In terms of chattiness, combat could be much more streamlined if we stay focused on the combat. A few jokes here and there are fine, as long as we’re still focused on the task at hand. Raising our level isn’t going to fix this; the majority of people at the table don’t even know their combat powers, and those that do tend to take time in deciding what to do (meaning more options from being a higher level would make combat even more sluggish).
As for random extra details: I agree, keep them on a relatively need-to-know basis. We’ll find out the important information when we need to; extra info for the curious can be safely stored on Obsidian Portal.
This sort of input is really important, guys. The point of the game is to have fun; if you’re not having fun, then you should let us and Starbuck know. We’re not a bunch of evil jerks (contrary to popular belief), and I think I speak for us all when I say we’re willing to make changes to improve the fun for everyone at the table.
Varis,why should i be more serious, i go just to kill things and have a great time,which can no longer happen
Some more things: 1. Sorry for any bad grammar. My Engrish is funny. 2. Is that Murgo the Sailor making his own page? 3. STOP WINKING!!!!!!!! >:| if you don’t, I’ll start winking at you O-O
May I remind people of the time when I said Google (or whatever her name is) looked extremely hot that one time and everyone yelled at me? Just think back to CoFVol.II; we would have laughed forever at that, but there has obviously been a mood change here (and the change didn’t result because of one person). Every time I act in-character (which is, like, close to never), I’m usually ridiculed, too.
However, the blame for everyone not participating isn’t sole on any one person (though Jockabee, you really don’t help O-O). No, it’s because there is such a large group of people. Seven people trying to play at once is too overwhelming for one story. Think about a story or game you played; if there were seven main characters and seven main plots, do you think you would continue reading/playing?
There are solutions for this, I’m sure, but as of now, I think the best solution would to make battle more streamlined and chatter less. My best solution would be to level everybody up to level 15+ to offer stronger attacks and more options for the player to quickly trample the enemy or storm a fortress (it feels really weird for me not invading a castle or something with Kat :D I MISS YOU KAT!!!!!). Also, any details about anything should be saved for here. We don’t need to know that some city’s major export is Slowpoke tails (REFERENCE? REFERENCE? ANYONE?) when it doesn’t matter whatsoever. That detail can go on here. King of city? Unless we meet him and actually do something with him, I could care less.
That’s just my input, I don’t think things will change.
Another thing: Starbuck, this is my warning: If you don’t get rid of these older comments, I’ll “break” the X-axis on this page. Prepare to be MOOO’d if you refuse!!!!! }:0
If you attempt to be more serious and try to make yourself important to the story then you will find that Zack will let your character be more involved, also I believe that we should all try to integrate all of the characters into the story.
valk,a never speak in character because everythig i say is cut down and i get yelled at,Varis, I TRY to involve myself but im not inportant to the story and zack sorta shuts the rest of us out.
I apologize to you, Spatato, as well as the rest of the group. You’re right, I can be a pretty bad prima donna player. I will keep that in mind next session, and try to allow the rest of the table to have a chance to put in their 2 cents.
In order for this work, however, I ask that you all be actively engaged in the story during the session— that is, no cell phones, internet surfing, or other sort of distractions while we’re having our session, barring emergencies.
Once you are all engaged, I would recommend what Vairis has suggested and try to get into character. This will immerse you more, and once you’re in the thick of the storytelling, you’ll be taking a more active part in the story. PLEASE NOTE: This does not mean we can have our laughs and good humor. We can still have fun and crack jokes when we’re immersed.
So, if you want to take more part in session, I’ll happily back off enough for you all to get in on the fun. Just remember, there’s more of you than just Starbuck, Jockabee, and me. You want to get in on the role-playing action, then actively get yourself in. We’ll make room for all of you, don’t worry. ;)
SUPERSPATATO, if you feel that you aren’t contributing enough to the sessions then here’s an idea, next time attempt to help with the role-playing instead of speaking only out of character. You might find that it becomes a lot more interesting. This is of course just a suggestion and should not be taken in any way as an insult or ridicule.
Considering he already deleted the “moo” comments, I would assume that he would delete comments from five months ago.
ya valk,even if the party is not split,the whole session is you, zack ,and jake fighting about what to do next.thats why dnd is no fun anymore because me ,zach,cole,and nick just sit around and do nothing.
Hmm, it seems that Starbuck needs to invite you to join the campaign, first. You can comment without being a part of the campaign, but creating characters, items, etc. requires that you be in the campaign.
As for splitting the party: D&D runs on teamwork. Each member of the session contributes something to the group, whether it be the actual player or the player’s character. If you “split the party,” the party is cut in half and thus cannot perform at the top of its game. Also, half the people at the table will just be sitting around, watching what’s going on in the game without being able to be a part of it. It takes people out of the picture, unable to participate or have their PC able to contribute in the events transpiring before their eyes. In effect, the half of the people at the table that aren’t playing are better off leaving and doing something else productive, because otherwise they’re just sitting there, wasting time.
I can’t create a character. Why are you so against splitting the party?
He’ll do that when he feels like it. Obviously, he hasn’t felt like it yet. Let it be, already.
I, the great and powerful Starbuck, ruler of the cosmos of Akaron, do hereby declare it excessively illegal, (and potentially harmful, should any forks become involved) to post excessive amounts of bovine celebration, lamentation, exclamation, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum, on this forum.
But seriously, no more than 10 "O"’s, max. If you want to survive your next encounter with a dining utensil that is…
(Valk is right, it breaks the width of the page, literally, it breaks it, a whole dimension, shattered, decimated, ruined; you bastards! [myself included] And as Vairis pointed out to me, it plays hell with any mobile viewing attempt made via Phone of Awesomeness, so really just stop.
To prove it’s me:
“My lashes are dry
Purple tear drops are crying
They don’t have a price;
Ready those flashing lights
Cause baby you know that I”
srsly j0ck4b33, lrn 2 l33tsp34k
Just kidding! :)
Pelor’s shining ass cheeks, there will be no solar cannon’s on my watch!!! I don’t think so…unless…the bad guys could…hmmm…much to ponder…
A rhyme for Dödric:
That Dödric Sapwood is a pretty cool guy
And he doesn’t afraid of Shadar-kai.
:)
Also, is our new Eladrin Warlock going to become a permanent fixture of our adventuring party?
I believe it’s a work of frost
“The world doesn’t end with water, fire, or cold. I’ve divined the coming apocalypse. It ends with tentacles!”
—Prophecy of Deimos
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Yeah, NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY. Here’s a couple of images to get my point across:
Never Split the Party
Drow Poison & A Split Party