New USA Evenings Group on TSM

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Ithildur
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Ithildur »

oldgrayrogue wrote:
Ithildur wrote:The session will conclude tonight; should take about 1 hour - 1.5 hours tops, though with ALFAns you never know... though I could just spawn a balor or dragon and end things real quick.
Wait . . . you did spawn a dragon. Two of them in fact! :mrgreen:
;)

Hope some of you guys besides just Alyiah at least got a peak at them before they dove into the water. :| Should've been a sight, Felgolos getting rather badly injured, forcing some of you to a potentially deadly choice whether to help/get involved or not, etc.
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
HEEGZ
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by HEEGZ »

i've yet to see a dragon as a PC 8)

if it looks anything like a giant, well, Tie will likely die too.
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StephenUmpf
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by StephenUmpf »

It is raining again and morning comes with a gray dull light. No sunshine again. The man rises slowly and purposefully. He is old for his trade and his body reminds him of it regularly. He stares at the desk in his room. He lets out a sigh as he contemplates writing a note.

His large calloused hand struggles with the pen. His handwriting is not pretty by any measure and he quits after a few sentences. He sends word for the bard Tie to join him. A few moments, later the bard Tie bounds into the room.

Blacke mumbles “I need help with a letter, Tie, if it ain’t too much trouble?”

Tie looks back and arches an eyebrow. “What was that?”

Blacke grouses “Look, just help me write a letter and I’ll pay you. My hand ain’t what it was.”

Tie shoots back a knowing smile and takes the pen and a fresh sheet of paper. “So what you want to write Master Black.”

Blacke clears this throat and dedicates the letter.

Knights,

First, I thank you for the opportunity to serve in your ranks. The group of adventures you have assembled is surprisingly structured and diligent in their tasks.

The battle order was well maintained even when engaged. However, at times, it did turn to a muddled set of drunk rug merchants squabbling over a few coins.


Blacke stops and mutters “cross out that part about muddled set of drunk rug merchants and replace it with”

However, at times, it did turn a little chaotic. You might be well served to keep your form.

Regardless, I will be staying a few more days in High Hold then I will be heading out again. I am searching for both a forge and a group of men to serve with on a regular basis.

If the times comes that you are in need of a man for the shield wall please send work to the Silvery Moon or if not there, Baldur’s Gate.

With respect,

Blacke


Tie gives him a questioning look as Blacke finishes the letter. Blacke gives a half smirk with a glint of lightness in his dark eyes. “You lads need me as much as an axe handle needs tits. You’ll be alright. You go on and deliver that to Boz”


Thanks again for letting me tag along. Grumpy old Blacke is going to go look for a level 4 - 8 party if he can. Plus the 12 to 4 AM thing is too much for the real grumpy old man who plays Blacke. CYIG.

PS. To steal the line from Johnny in Better of Dead - "I want my two dollars" - let me know when loot gets sorted.
__________________________________________

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
- Julies Caesar, Act II, William Shakespeare
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kiyoti
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by kiyoti »

Loot is a little spread out. Bjorn, Boz, Blacke and Kauss all had a hand in the loot gathering so im not sure how we want to proceed?
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StephenUmpf
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by StephenUmpf »

Blacke took a few suits of armor (chain, breastplate), two short bows, and a silver short sword ... the rest that Blacke gathered was in the cache before we entered (never got it back). It was a few daggers, light mace, hide armor... etc.
__________________________________________

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
- Julies Caesar, Act II, William Shakespeare
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Mikayla »

Aliyah has points in Appraise, therefore, you should give all the loot to her. She will distribute it fairly, I promise.


*ebul giggle*
ALFA1-NWN1: Sheyreiza Valakahsa
NWN2: Layla (aka Aliyah, Amira, Snake and others) and Vellya
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HEEGZ
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by HEEGZ »

I had looted three rusty items. I left them at the bridge before the big descent. Because we got ported out at the end, I was not able to retrieve the three items. Not sure if it a hassle to get them back, but I was looking forward to the RP with them between Tiernan and Blacke.
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Lucifer
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Lucifer »

Kauss had a halberd two shortbws and a mace, he also was given/kept a +1 chain shirt so would donate his old mundane one.

Also since she hasproblems with being overburdened he will accompany Amira /if/ she were to be entrusted with selling any goods," Joost ta help ya and keep ya company Lass *grins*"
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Ithildur
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Ithildur »

Just to put it out there and address expectations, sessions I run will probably be switching gears a bit after this week. I wanted to establish a good deal of classic 'action adventurey' fun vibe to start with, and I think that's worked fairly well so far, but I feel the need to try to flesh out/focus on some other elements as well.

Doesn't mean there won't be any action/combat stuff, but my aim is to try and make the story (and the action stuff) more vivid and meaningful in the long run. I'll do my best to try and focus/highlight several individual PCs as well. Sometimes it may mean that you log into TSM, see me on, but don't get to interact or get a response from me; please don't take it the wrong way as me ignoring you because I hate you.
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by HEEGZ »

kiyoti and my PCs are still interested in the Fochlucan rumors if that is your meaning. We can create some of our own combat stuff sans DMs with static content if needed. A staged encounter once a month would be pretty cool, but I'm extremely happy with how things are on TSM so no complaints no matter which way you guys want to take things. Thanks!
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Ithildur
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Ithildur »

I'm a bit more reluctant to place set encounters after the last one, but I'll start placing some again. :)
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by HEEGZ »

I promise I will run and leave my party behind if it came to that. You could always place lower risk, lower reward encounters. I mostly enjoy them for the RP opportunity they provide. We have more than enough opportunity for advancement and coin with the DMing. More of a filler between sessions, with a minor boost. I have taken to dropping low, medium, and high encounters. It's a bit time consuming, and this reminds me I need to replace the ones that got lost in the reset on BG.
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Ithildur
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by Ithildur »

My goal is to place dozens of set encounters over the next week or two scattered throughout the module and of varying CRs. I'll try to make all of them interesting even if they're low CR, and the placement should make sense ICly (i.e. no frost giants inside SM sewers) and add to the flavor of the setting. The goal is to bring a sense of the world being at least somewhat dynamic and having life even when a DM isn't on, making sense ICly and feeling like it's the Savage Frontier/the North/Silver Marches, not necessarily to tailor encounters to specific CRs or fill your pockets with loot.

What this means: some of the encounters will be low CR, some will not. Some will yield good reward, some will not. Some might end up being high risk for low reward. Some will not be hostile (unless you choose to make them so, of course). Some might be low risk, rather high reward for certain PCs/parties. There might be one or two high CR encounters that have very nice loot.

Choosing to attempt to gather intelligence will almost always benefit you if successful; if you can catch me via irc or forums and say, roll knowledge checks in IRC, I'll do my best to respond as soon as I can, but it may not always be possible. I'll also aim to try and accommodate other out of game engine options as much as feasible; as you've figured out by now I love ingenious/clever/imaginative ways to approach situations that surpass game engine limitations.

You've been fairly warned! I hope these prove to be interesting and fun when/if you do encounter them, even if you might have to flee for your life.

This is my Xmas present to the players of TSM who've been helping revive the server the past couple of months. 8) :twisted:
Formerly: Aglaril Shaelara, Faerun's unlikeliest Bladesinger
Current main: Ky - something

It’s not the critic who counts...The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives violently, who errs and comes up short again and again...who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who if he fails, fails while daring greatly.-T. Roosevelt
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kiyoti
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by kiyoti »

Wow! :eek: Thats awesome man! Thanks for DM us and helping enrich our games with your creativity and time.
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HEEGZ
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Re: New USA Evenings Group on TSM

Post by HEEGZ »

Thank you Ith! Be careful not to burn out on them like I have done a few times. Mostly this was when I spent too many hours in a row customizing zSpawn enemies... I annoy myself when it happens. Also, I have taken to selecting my encounters using a pyramid structure for CR/difficulty. One encounter for chars between 10-15, 2-5 encounters for chars between 5-10, and 3-10 encounters for lowbies. I had tried using my published random encounter tables, but there are lots of gaps in monster availability for NWN2. Sometimes I use them anyways and pick the closest thing to the number I rolled.

I also add some meta-warnings in game, in addition to forum posts. Meta-warnings take the form of corpses/placeables near the ATs with a name like "murdered traveler ((warning!))". The other meta-warnings are the creatures themselves. When I increase the HD of a standard mob, I increase it's size. So a 1HD kobold that I up to 5HD would get a 150% boost to size as a visual warning that he's tougher. Finally, I also put a bit of meta-warnings in the names of the creatures as well. I believe you've seen how I do some of this on BG already, and most of my ideas for names has come from the 4ed Monster Manuals 1-3, both Monster Vaults, and a smattering of other 4ed publications.

I would appreciate it if you would refrain from placing Deadly Spike traps as well. :oops:

So... all that said, I have my next PC concept fleshed out. I would love to lose Tiernan to another random encounter. Oh! One other thing, the changing of name colors on zSpawn creatures/NPCs. You can use the format:

Code: Select all

<C=ColorName>Creature Name</C>
Because you cannot add in the <, >, /, or = signs while renaming, you need to retain these signs from the zSpawn name and edit the characters around them. For a list of the colors available, download this .pdf:

http://vnfiles.ign.com/nwvault.ign.com/ ... rs_2DA.pdf

Once I verified that they all work I printed all three pages for reference. The names are also case sensitive. If you are a player, you can change your text in chat by using the <C=ColorName>text here</C> just like you do the <i></i> commands. Note that it is case sensitive for chat, not just creature names. Actually, I think I will post this elsewhere for more visibility.
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