Hazlan, Land of Monsters OOC

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, I've just been informed that Nathan is still on vacation with spotty Internet. So, DeepShadow, what exactly are we trying to accomplish here? With your knowledge rolls?

EDIT: Sorry for my lack of posting, as well. I will also be gone Aug 22-29, up to Tahoe. SO, I am trying to figure out what to have Nuray do before I leave before dawn Friday morning.

Trying to gather intel. Who is that woman? What's her part in all of this? Has Tara been sticking to the story? Do they have the means to discern lies? Do they have the means to hear our messages? If so, have they done so, and if so, what have they overheard?

Data, data, data! I cannot make bricks without clay.

Based on what I've got so far, Vasili is going to claim that there were three ghosts: the floating sphere, the vamp-thing and Flora. The floating sphere "recruited" us in the tower to go fight the vamp-thing. During that fight, the vamp-thing terrified several of us, which broke the sphere's hold on their minds and made them flee. The rest of us were compelled to finish the fight, during which Richard was bewitched to disappear completely, etc.

So that's Vasili's answer to why some of us were bewitched longer. That and Flora. Of course, V is going to let this all come out naturally rather than rehearsed, answering their questions as best he can while trying to learn more about their own agenda.

Unfortunately, what we know of their agenda so far is playing toward another option that V does not want to think about.....hopefully if we can pull of the above Bluff, there will be not need for anything further. Anyone who is not confident with their Bluffing skills is welcome to just stand there looking haggard.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I still think turning ourselves in is a Terrible Idea, but I will do it if I get to throw the rotting wolf head right in front of Colin as he says that line.

Well, if you want Richard to hold back, I'll support you on that. Do what your character would do, of course. Vasili is playing to his strengths. He's a summoner, so this strategem of turning himself in is very suitable to him--he appears harmless and easy to control, especially with Leila somewhere else. Living among Mulani as a foreign halfwit servant, he's lost count of the number of times someone considered him not worth the bother of killing, because he was not a threat. At least one of those people is no longer breathing.

Which reminds me, I need to finish that cut scene about how Leila met Horst....

[Isabella]

From a logical standpoint, I think I should hold back, but I'm apparently five years old and can't resist showing up Colin. Richard himself would more likely go than stay lurking outside, anyway. I'll go with Vasili, but technically speaking my character can't/shouldn't lie, so if they direct ask him if he was possessed he can't back up Vasili's story.

Richard's current plan is this: he had control of his own actions, he saw you guys with the ball of light and mists (true), followed you to the tombs (implying he was trying to see what you guys were doing), got in a fight with the ghost and wolves who attacked you for trespassing, and then was delayed by meeting back up with y'all in the rain. Since he's trying to stick to the truth he's going to have to keep things vague.

Let's try to keep things simple, I'm not sure Richard's disappearance can do more than complicate our story, and we want to ix-nay on anything relating to the ard-shay of Ezra (admitting we were after it will get us thrown in prison for being thieves, which is not an improvement to our current situation). Richard's opinion if asked was he was hallucinating the forest scene. After all, he's just a big dumb fighter who knows nothing about ghosts.

That being said, I think we should dump our contingency plans and try to break back into the courtyard with Tara if things go too far south. They don't seem like they'd be too willing to follow us (for good reason), and the rain should cover any crossbow fire.

[Nathan of the FoS]

I apologize for the delay. I am and continue to be Harribly Busy, but I will try harder to keep up with short posts at least.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

For anyone interested, here's a discussion on the FoS boards about how well Churchsteeple Root wards away evil.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

"Be not-be not so proud at the cost of the dead..." Richard murmured, in typical Mordentish fashion.

Aw, c'mon! That doesn't count if they started off dead to begin with!!

[Isabella]

Well, alright, but if Tristen comes roaring back in here about how we didn't beat him and he's going to show us what for, I don't know you.

[Isabella]

If we can get Tara away from these jerks, V, let's try and break for the courtyard on the pretense of searching for the others. Worst comes to worst we can make for the gate and get outside the time warp zone.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Well, this is making a good case for us getting to the courtyard as Lucy's guard. And if that flies, getting Tara with us for that trip shouldn't be that hard.

I like the interplay between Vasili and Richard, btw. Vasili is going to be VERY conflicted about going back into his shell after all this.

[Nerit]

Sigh. Okay, I think I need to admit defeat. I haven't been able to maintain a schedule of posting, or even contact online, because of my injuries. I just can't maintain the same lifestyle I used to have. I recently tried playing a videogame, lost track of time, and lo and behold, re-inflamed my tendons.

So, I think I just have to step back and admit to myself that I can't maintain online games when I'm not around a computer much.


I'm really sorry.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Sigh. Okay, I think I need to admit defeat. I haven't been able to maintain a schedule of posting, or even contact online, because of my injuries. I just can't maintain the same lifestyle I used to have. I recently tried playing a videogame, lost track of time, and lo and behold, re-inflamed my tendons.

So, I think I just have to step back and admit to myself that I can't maintain online games when I'm not around a computer much.


I'm really sorry.

We are sorry! Health problems are really awful. I hope some combination of talk-to-type software, rest, and medical intervention can get you back in the swing of things--not for this game, particularly, just online gaming generally-eventually, if you don't just decide the offline world is more fun anyway .

[Isabella]

Question #1: Where's Isolt? Question #2: Where's Brangain?
Answer: Standing behind you (with Dundee) while I figure out how to make icons for them, and/or give up and get Isy to do it.

Select a layer with an existing NPC token on it.
Hit Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer (the J is for Jduplicate)
Select the copied layer, then use the eyedropper tool to grab the color of the token, and then the brush to erase the letter on it.
Use the type tool to put a new letter on a layer above it.
Make sure the text layer is directly above the token layer in the layers window, then hit Ctrl+E to merge the two.
If that doesn't work, try right-clicking on the text layer and selecting "Rasterize Layer", then try again.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Time for a Big Question, everyone! I am considering the future of the campaign. I am not presently able to keep up a posting rate that gives us any momentum, and this will not change for at least, oh, four or five months. possibly longer. The simplest thing to do is say "thanks everyone, i apologize" and draw things to a close. or put them on indefinite hiatus, which is more or less the same thing. The other option I have come up with is to essentially drop game mechanics entirely and just post on an artistic/dramatic basis, which will save me a lot of DMing time at certain points but whose inherent high fuzziness may be less than satisfactory to some or all of you.

Your opinions are welcome!

[NeoTiamat]

Pursuant to some comments I spotted in the Chat Thread, here's my thoughts:

1) I would greatly enjoy a more plot-freeform, player-driven game, which lets the PCs go muck about in a large and well-developed setting and get into all kinds of trouble on their own. Indeed, that was kind of what I was expecting going in (remember my Eleni Scheme?). So that would be cool, and not having to actually manage the same kind of plot might be easier on you.

2) I am uneasy about a fully mechanically-freeform game, never having played in one, and because I'm not sure what it means for things like Lena's ability to persuade folks, or Ushka's sneakiness (and next level, in theory, spells). Perhaps dump the combats, which are the most mechanically tricky things, and leave the skill system (especially social skills)? Perhaps give our more fighter-y types a buff to skills to compensate.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Neo's hit my high points as well. I started the campaign with expectations that it would be player-driven, freeform and political, but that just turned my character into a walking mass of tangents once we had a path to follow. I'd be happy to go back to that.

As far as having rules, I understand the concerns. I've actually been working on a more story-based rules system for years, but it's not in any shape to introduce here in more than theoretical terms. I think that a collaborative system would be in order, where we take some of the burden off the GM while still letting him have final say and everyone getting their share of surprises.