August 15.

First, I'm going to make some comments about the actual experience. I know it wasn't everyone's favorite, and that's primarily my fault. Another component is merely the nature of the game. We could have a campaign where all the players are paladins of the same deity. Then we all agree what is right and what is wrong. No one would break into a house, no one would want to sit down and learn some spells for a while. Alternatively, we could all be evil rogues. Screw running about in the desert looking for stupid crap, there's a big city full of money that wants a new owner. The immediate problem with such campaigns is that they'd suck. It would be awfully boring. "I think we should give money to the church!" "I agree! Paladin fist bump!"

So we have different characters and that will, of course, lead to different interests. I try to minimize the effects of that, but I'm not great at this. City adventures can be difficult. I seriously spent hours just trying to come up with a little city adventure, and I finally got one. I felt pretty good about it, but when I came up with it I didn't know what would happen. I thought perhaps you might talk to the pasha about it, when he would say that woman has been trying to steal his grandfather's sword for months. Or maybe you'd want to talk to her husband first, in which case she would be forced to introduce an ally who was not as good at bluffing. I honestly didn't know what would happen, but I just put it out there. I know some of you guys got pretty bored, and I'm sorry.

However, I still think intrigue belongs in the game. I'm confident you really don't simply want me to turn it into a simple "Bad guy is there, let's kill him and then find another."

Now one awful part was the shopping. I can tell you this is often a part of the campaign, and it always gets worse at higher levels because you want crazier stuff and you have more money. We can discuss things on this forum to try saving time, but I don't think it'll help too much. I won't always know when you'll be in a place with a market. The main problems were about not knowing what you really wanted.

We're running into some personality issues as well. I'm going to make some suggestions. If no one can take criticism, then... suck it. I love you all, I'm just trying to make it more merry for all.

1: Cut back on the alcohol. Please drink, but perhaps we don't need three rounds with 1/4 of a big blue cup filled with rum or whiskey. The funny thing about mind-altering chemicals that that by their very nature you cannot be sure how much they affect you. Trust me, volume goes up, attention spans drops, and the ability to remember what all those numbers written down are for.

2: Spend some time when you're not here looking over things like armors and weapons. Understand how the standard armor, enchanments, and max dex bonus bits all work together. Consider any class restrictions. After doing that, you may have an idea of what you want next time.

3: Let's make some effort to reduce irrelevant conversation. A quick comment here and there, sure, but let's not interrupt the game to relate a story. Consider this doubly so if it's about WoW.

4: Unfortunately this one involves someone specifically. John, remember when you all met the sheik and you said you'd let the others talk? That was fantastic. Please do that more often. It frequently seems that you get what you want because you're the loudest. And for everyone else... speak up more. Don't allow yourselves to be led around. Once the party decides on something, go with it, but please don't just sit back and wait for someone else to speak up. In other words, there is no "party leader." Some games other people run have that. We don't have that, but informally it has evolved such that John is the leader. I need John to quiet down a bit and the rest of you to speak up.



Now... on to the story.

The party set sail on The Flaming Sasquatch to intercept the Sandy Rum. They successfully spotted the Sandy Rum on the 15th of Hammer (1/15), and Captain Hauston Vishing raised the white flag faster than the French. Hauston was more than willing to tell them all he knew for a little money. He had picked up four, lead by the Kalina (though he did not know their names), from the Moonshaes and took them to Candlekeep. He suspected they were up to something, but he just got paid to take them places, not ask questions. That was the 6th of Nightfal (12/6). He dropped off his passengers in Calimport in the Erare Sabban, and that was the last he saw of them. Kalina had given him an amulet that she said would bring him luck. He had it identified as an amulet that blocks scrying. He sold it.

The party arrived in Calimport on the 1/22, and they stayed in Silver Circles at the recommendation of Captain DW. This was a decent inn that was somewhat expensive, but the innkeeper (Taor Adhalan) uses the extra money to see his adventuring clientele get a little extra protection from the Amlakkars (guards).

They began asking around, but to be fair it is somewhat tricky to locate one particular gnome in a city of millions. Taking a break, they went for a short shopping trip. Then they ran into a lovely lady named Rihana. It seems that she had bought her husband a present. He is a member of the Amlakkars. He has the standard scimitars issues to the Amlakkars, but she wanted to get him a sword made by a master. The hilt had the marking of the Amlakkars, and on the way from the smith to her home Pasha Jumah spotted that where just the hilt was just sticking out of the canvas she was using to carry it. Though it is technically a crime for anyone not of the Amlakkars to have a sword with such markings, the intent of that law is to prevent anyone from impersonating one. Rihana said it is illegal for a woman to have, which is essentially the same since no women may be Amlakkars. Pasha Jumah confiscated the weapon and said he could claim it for his own. Shortly after this incident is when the party encountered Rihana... or that's what she said anyway. In reality Pasha Jumah's great grandfather was a hero of the Amlakkars, leading his men to victory in an attack against the city. The party chose to believe Rihana, which makes perfect sense given that she's a professional con-artist. The dark one and the wizard broke in and snuck about looking for the sword. Though it was not their intent, it suddenly became a decision between killing a guard or getting caught. With the dark one there, the choice was obvious. They made off with the sword and another one for good measure.

Zargofoop spent most of his money at the Festhall of Eternal Delight. He may ask the dark one for help in getting more money soon.

As arranged, they met Rihana the next day at an inn called The Rolling Waves. They gave her the sword, and she promised to introduce them to her husband. The party believed he might be able to help them find the gnome. Unfortunately, when they went back the next day there was merely a note left with the innkeeper. "Thanks for the help. It would have been very hard for me to steal that myself." They got conned. It happens.

The next day another interesting event occurred with a Pasha, but this was Pasha Ghasael. He immediately had Signy and the regular trouble maker arrested. The Amlakkars didn't take it too seriously, but any charge made by a Pasha must be investigated. The Pasha swore he saw those two appear as ghosts in front of his villa on the 3rd of Hammer. The party explained to the judge that they had only arrived a few days ago, and they are on the trail of an evil sorceress. With the known captain DW to back them up along with the relatively probabilities of evil sorceresses or ghosts coming back to life, the two were released. It's good they didn't have any easily identified stolen items on them when they were picked up. I guess luck was on their side.

They learned that Pasha Ghasael had an amazing library on ancient Calishite history. Working out that a distraction at the front of the villa might allow someone to gain access the library, the party when to see the Pasha and see what happened. Indeed, books were missing.

After having a slightly better idea of what they sought, it didn't take them long to find someone who knew where to look. Darnell had been seen going in and out of a sewer entrance behind a tavern called Seven Draughts. The party went in, and unfortunately set off a trap. There was no surprise for them. In fact, they were surprised by one nasty spiked chain. Though they had not met the three they encountered, they put up a good fight. A rogue escaped, but the others were killed and then cooked medium-well. The two priests were there and relatively unharmed.

Restis and Lankyforpot aren't exactly the toughest priests, but they're smart and good researched. Roughly 8,000 years ago there was a goddess named Menodora. She wanted to expand her influence on Faerun, and she had a massive new temple built in the tropical paradise this area once was. Knowing other gods may oppose her, she seduced the far more powerful Lathander. Unfortunately, Lathander at that time was involved with Sune. Lathander realized what was going on, and unfortunately Menodora had simply made too many enemies and too few friends. She fled to hide in her new temple, but it was all blow to pieces by other gods. For thousands of years after that the region was not even habitable, and even now it remains a harsh desert with wild and dead magic zones.

Presumably, the remains of Menodora still exist down in the lower levels of the temple that has been covered by the sands. As for now, three items are necessary to enter the temple. All are made of black iron, and they are a rose, a beating heart, and a stiletto.

Kalina and Darnell left about 10 days before to attempt finding more information about the location of the temple. After they left, the two priests learned that the rose was once given to the first daughter of the sheik of the Hrana on her wedding day. It hasn't been mention, though, in about two hundred years.

The party headed off through the deserts and found the Hrana. Well, the Hrana found them, and brought them the Sheik Majiid. These seem like friendly fellows, or perhaps not threatened in the slightest. They breed magnificent horses, and they roam about the desert to avoid putting too much strain on any one oasis. After being assured that the party were not a bunch of grave robbers, he told them what happened to it.

About 130 years ago, the daughter of the Hrana, Ibidah, was to marry the son of the Tariq, Kateb. The intent was to ease tensions between the two tribes, but this was not destined to happen. The younger brother of Kateb, Medji, wanted Ibidah for himself, and when she rejected him, he killed her with a poisoned dagger on the morning of her wedding. Kateb killed Medji in response. Most of the desert nomads burn their dead, but in this case they were carried deep into the mountains and into a deep cave. Medji was buried facing downwards (to let the gods know he was a disgrace to his people), and covered in stones and dirt. On top of that Ibidah was laid to rest with the black iron rose.

Sheik Majiid knows the rough area of the cave, but not exactly. He sent off the party with his blessing, but even with that they encountered some ugly-ass scorpion men. They killed 3, but one escaped.


I think this is probably full of typos. Worse things have happened.

The only part of the evening I did not enjoy was my stupid broken wing. Outside of that, I enjoyed the entire evening.

I am sorry for my part of the being a bit drunk and talking to John C about stuff not related to the game but I had nothing to do for 2 hours. I honestly think something else that would help move things along is not check with everyone when it comes to making a decision in battle. It's something that has gotten a bit annoying to me. It is my understanding that we have 6 seconds and we should be watching what is happening so when it is time for our turn we have an idea of what to do and just do it. It may screw someone else up or it may help but that is the nature of the situation. I don't think if we were in a real battle we would be able to sit down and have a vote on what the best idea would be.

I'll agree with that. I do my best to not have to consult with the rest of the group when it comes to in-battle actions. Obviously, there are some special situations where we sometimes need to do a little planning in the heat of things, but I could see battle moving a little more swiftly if generally, like Mike suggested, we pay attention to the things leading up to our turns, then make decisions based on that. No one is going to make a shitty decision. Could there sometimes be better decisions made? Of course. But it's battle, and sometimes we screw up a bit. No big deal.

BTW, I'd like to point out that "the dark one" killed the guard for good reason. He had seen at least one of our faces, if not both. If I had wanted to be extra dark, we would've snuck in and killed the pasha.

I know there was a reason.

There are two ways of being neutral. One is to do things that are neither good nor evil. That does not apply. The other is to do both good things and bad things in some balance. It's not one for one, of course, but within a sort of margin. I've been thinking back and I can't recall any action that was good. Some overall things were good, but I'm pretty sure they were all done for the reward. Done solely for a reward, they are not particularly "good." You are roughly one "What's in it for us?" from being evil. I don't think there are any particularly bad consequences of that unless you run into any paladins.

I'll admit that there's been an imbalance as of late, but I don't think all of my actions have been on the evil side. I thought that in the beginning of the campaign, I was performing quite a few good-ish actions. Or at least going along with the goody-goodies we have in the party.

I think the priest needs to let his CN side out a little more and start helping his rogue buddy. It could be highly profitable.

And while directly my fault, I did not enjoy getting smashed in the face by a lightening charged chain and then stabbed a bigillion times by a hidden assasin.

In the future, I would appreciate knowing what you have planned for us, Mr. DM.

Kthnx

The bonus of being crazy, destructive, and generally in favor of striking things with lightning would lend itself towards helping rogues. Or killing rogues. Either way, it's cool.


Yeti, I have your imminent demise planned next. I hope it goes nicely.

Seriously, I didn't think the rogue's first action would involve a full attack while flanking someone. If he had to move to hit, he would have only gotten one sneak attack. Shit happens, you know?

City adventures ALWAYS piss someone off. You still want to have them, but someone is always not that happy with it, because somehow every city manages to shut someone out somehow, just by chance. Someone is low class, or has a vow of silence, or has a charisma of 6, or something. Sometimes it's not the same person in each city, but it just seems to work out that way. My solution has generally been to have city things sometimes so that everyone knows the city, but that's about it.



It wasn't bad by any means. The weak part was that we couldn't use the other guys. We really did NOT have an alternative plan besides doing invis. My great regret here was not having invis sphere to cast on the group and we all walk in or something. We could have talked to the pasha, but without some great disguise checks that pretty much shuts down the idea of getting the sword at all afterwords via theft- he'd know right away who took it.



But if he WAS the thief, then that would bone us. I did suggest asking him about it, but we just had too much else riding on the city, you know?



It was cool to finally use some spells to do something neat, at least. Later in the game we'll be able to take the whole party like that and it'll be way better.



It can entirely ELIMINATE it if done properly. The issue is that it probably won't be done fully. I mean, we can link to items in the DMG and such, but at the end of the day, the standard available list of items is LARGE, you know? Also note that by buying mithril breastplate, they will probably instead seek wizards to add enhancements to their items, instead of buying full new ones- and the list of enhancements is shorter.



That is the main problem. We ended up with some pretty generic picks, to be honest, but they are still quite good. I just really think we should try to shrink the time spent item shopping during the game- though it has basically never been an issue yet.



Feel free to ask in the 3ed forum we have here, or this one. An index of standard items from the DMG: http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/magicItems.htm
The number and type of magic items is only limited by your imagination and the final call of the DM, so if you come up with a logical item that should exist, well, Mark can tell you whether it does.



Good, I need shit about WoW. What did I say this time except for the spider ancedote? Which wasn't about WoW, it was about spiders.



Many times we meet someone and I wait and see if someone speaks up. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Often I want to interact with the NPC because I rolled a character who likes to interact with NPCs, and *I* like to interact with NPCs. This was partially your suggestion- I was totally down playing a ninja who always has a balaclava over his mouth!




No, that's wrong. Loudest implies Cab. I get what I think is best for the group sometimes because I speak up when no one else really seems to care.



This is good advice. I wasn't going to ask you to do this because maybe you want to chill and be silent, which is valid too, but it would really help if more of you spoke up. It's been getting better, at least.



Or at least, if someone speaks up when you won't, don't be sad about it. And if you are, tell me. I'm getting the real impression that at least one of you doesn't like gaming with me, but I'm basing this only off of being a bullet point in Mark's recap.



Eron doesn't think of himself as a party leader. He does want to meet everyone, and he thinks he is smarter than the rest of the group (which he *is*, but that doesn't mean he thinks everyone should go along with him). As for *me*, I usually have a pretty good idea, but if you guys want something else, say so. I'm trying to gauge the majority opinion on ideas to make the gameplay flow, so don't assume that I'm really tied to one thing or other.

Except for learning spells, of course!




This told us that the captain isn't involved in *that much* illegal stuff.



See, this skips over the fact that The Dark One spent the night drinking with her and curled up on her feet asleep to gain this information!



Well no, you just get an appropriate sized sieze and sift. You can even do it section by section! You do have to be able to upend the town, however.



Should I run into free cross class skills, I think maybe sense motive. Three of us have awful ones, and Sunny and Yenrab are only decently off because they are so wise.



Clearly we need to charm all quest givers! Yenrab had a good idea with the truth spell too, but we didn't get the spare day for that.



It *was* the right call, even though I was uncomfortable with it. He could certainly identify me. Hell we had enough to worry about as it was. I'll look into one of those disguise spells soon, I promise!

Of course, it's bad enough that the guard wasn't defending a thief, but an innocent noble. If the guard had failed his charm it would be, don't look at me, my face is cursed! Wait in the kitchen until I am passed good friend! But noooooo he had to roolllll welll....



Lol. We'll have to take him back to Violet one of these days, it's free there!



I honestly think it was a pretty clever fake plot hook. I just don't like that folks had to sit around during the stealth mission. The reason it took as long as it did is because we looked through all the areas we didn't have to engage a guard for first, before we dealt with the guard in front of the most likely room. That would have gotten hella ugly if we'd gone in one deep as well.



Well, three of us could have escaped. I honestly think I need to tweak my city layout for the case where we DO get caught with stolen goods. We seem to have quite a lot of those.



The Pasha's *whole brain* was missing! Though flattery did seem to help.



We had a wide variety of awesome 1 rolls that night, but I think that was the most important one.



That was a messy fight- Signy charged into a readied trip, and the enemy fighter rolled well... and of course, luck was with us, so he managed to charge right into a spot with the enemy rogue ready to make a full attack.

ACES BABY ACES

Solid Fog controlled the big guy for a round and a half, and removed the beatstick machine, while the rest of the crew ate the other guy alive. Overall, a pretty fun battle- as long as, you know, you weren't Signy, for whom the night had truly been blessed.



Stupid gods. Stupid dead magic zones.



..And our foe is rapidly pursuing her uterus or something.



Just for the record guys, these items we are fetching? Not ominous at all. Eight thousand year old metal beating hearts are probably NOT symbolic of anything nasty that looms before us!



Fixt!



We could totally take them.



And ask magnificent prices!



With no sarcasm, I really did like this story.



We needed sandtangle.

Oh, and lets not forget the epic SR rolls: 10, 1, 1, 2. With an 11 needed to pass. Solid Fog, you're my only friend!

A good read for Tuesday morning

For the record, I am trying very hard to play in character. A fighter generally isn't going to say much unless the ideas being thrown out there simply don't make any tactical sense.

My actions should speak louder than words so, by action of charging in to the great chain and sneak attack beat down, she was really showing the group exactly what a "bad idea" is.

That's not guaranteed to be true, it depends on the fighter! Some fighters are all about tactics and relish battle. Others don't care and are bloodthirsty or extremely zealous. Others are very concerned about their companions. Certainly Signy doesn't speak up unless someone has A Bad Idea, but some fighters are pushy and annoying instead of stolid.

While not an "outcast" in her own company, Signy would respect others outside of that might consider her as such. I think she would tend to be observant and curious, rather than stand-offish. I don't know...

Any suggestions?

Truthfully, I don't know much about Signy at all. It'd be cool if that were to change.

And no, not in *that* way, you filthy pervs.

Charging into battle was a perfectly fine thing to do. A woman in a man's job has to step up and show she's not afraid. You didn't die because you charged. You died because you just so happened to land in a square right next to the hidden rogue behind the bookcase and the wall of fire spell forced the spiked chain guy to step into a place where you were flanked and on the ground. This was an absurd situation. I figured the rogue would manage to move and get a backstab. At no point did I think he would get a flank (so all of hit attacks get backstab) without having to move (which would leave him with one attack). He had one dagger that was human bane and one dagger that was elf bane. You fit both categories, soooooo.... yeah, it really couldn't have gone worse for you.

As for character, it's whatever you want to be. Perhaps she is feeling acceptance in this group finally after spending so many years alone, and so she feels like she can feel less quiet. Perhaps she wants to stay in this group but she's angry getting angry with their morals so she'll shout "Thief! Thief!" every time Marchosias gets that dark glint in his eye. Characters can change over time. I'd say it's safe to assume that finding a group that doesn't try to kill you is a significant step that can change a character.

I agree. I guess I still don't have a good grasp of what CN exactly is, but I gather that it means basically doing what ever I want when ever I want. That goes against my personal character but I'll try to come out of my chaotic shell.

As far as the night goes, I thought it was fun, but they buying definitely was a little slow. But you know, we can't always be killing dragons.

And Mark, I have to say that the red herring was great. You say that you always put together a scenerio, but you don't know how we will solve the problem. To me, that is what is cool about this game in general.

The freedom.

And that goes for the DM too.

Frankly, I know that makes your life more difficult, at least potentially, but that is what makes the game interesting too. This is the way of life, not everything is part of the main story line, and that keeps things interesting.

I think that more than anything, the issue became that the party's that didn't participate in that part of the story, checked out somewhat, but what will happen from time to time.

In other words Mark, don't beat yourself up too much, and you should try things like that again, and more. As scared as I am to say it, you have actually been very much sticking to the main story line, and you haven't really thrown us that many curve ball's. Which is likely why we fell for that hook, line, sinker, and subscription to "Rod and Reel" magazine.

We needed that reminder.

Last, as for fighting, I think that next time, we should try the house rule that we can't confer with the group when it is our turn. Make our actions our own, and see what happens. I'll still need to ask a few rule related questions, but I'll try to be fast.

Let's see what happens, and see if it makes the battles go faster.

I also think that it would go much faster if I could roll my 30 sided dice for Init's + To Hit's, but that is just a suggestion.

Here is a long-winded but somewhat accurate essay on Chaotic Neutral:
http://easydamus.com/chaoticneutral.html

A more concise synopsis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)#Chaotic_Neutral

And these just rock:

http://d21-gaming.com/blog/2008/01/21/m ... al-monday/

http://vampjac.com/lj/humor/gygax/chaotic_neutral.jpg

http://www.funnycorner.net/funny-pictur ... eutral.jpg

http://www.tigerknight.org/albums/poste ... l_jack.jpg

http://www.itusozluk.com/gorseller/chaotic+neutral

A kittah primer to all alignments.

Thanks, Jon. I appreciate that.

I've been trying to avoid railroading you guy into things. It's somewhat necessary to prevent you from basically going off and doing something that would require me to invent detailed things on the spot. For example, if I suddenly had to generate a prison where you would have to break out Signy for having a stolen sword, I'd be screwed. I like to give you choices as much as possible, but it's a balance between having you guys not know what to do next or doing something entirely unexpected. That can happen, of course. And to be honest, the first part of the campaign on Gwynneth... yeah, you ended up playing it entirely different from how I had imagined.

Chaotic neutral is usually about acting evil one minute and good the next. It's hard to take a neutral action. Marchosias does evil acts in the process of an overall good quest, which tend to balance each other. Almost. Generally, laws are only relevant if you are seen breaking them. If there's someone you don't like, feel free to kill him. To avoid chaotic evil, do something nice for someone else.

As chaotic neutral goes for a priest of lightning... first, obviously, drop any idea you have of "priest" from this world. Don't imagine kneeling by a wounded comrade and say, "Brother, let me help you with your pain. Let my hands head your wounds of the flesh, and let me faith heal the wounds of your soul" or whatever. It would be more like "There, I healed you. Now get up off your lazy ass and kill something, you damned dirty sally!" Remember, you are filled with the destructive power of lightning.

According to the little test thing on easydamus, I have been playing Signy more neutral good. Given her background, it fits pretty well.

What's her actual alignment?

Neutral

Excellent. That's only a step away from my alignment.

If only I had a copper piece for everytime I heard that one... ~rolls eyes~

There's more than just copper pieces in it for you, darling.