Please keep out of character discussion contained to this thread. The previous one hit bump limit
/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal
1594 replies and 258 files omitted.
I had to assess Cavaliere's inventory out of necessity, but I think it would do some good if every participant did the same for the PCs and NPCs that are going in. We need to make sure that we know about and use every weapon and piece of equipment we will need.
>>193654
I would say after. Doing it now would not only distract Posey but it will also be kicking the hornet's nest. Don't forget there's no shortage of GRU forces on the island and we don't want to come back to boats full of bullet holes.
>>193654
I would say after. Doing it now would not only distract Posey but it will also be kicking the hornet's nest. Don't forget there's no shortage of GRU forces on the island and we don't want to come back to boats full of bullet holes.
>>193665
Clubs, quarterstaffs and slings are 0 gp and can be crafted with whatever garbage lying around. Any unarmed character can arm themselves with those.
Clubs, quarterstaffs and slings are 0 gp and can be crafted with whatever garbage lying around. Any unarmed character can arm themselves with those.
>>193683
What entrance to use, what route to take, who we're taking with us (we already have a few volunteers, but a couple of ponies are undecided), in what order we'll be moving through the tight corridors, our attack plan against the Fellow Traveler, and
>>193682
although we have not been avid looters, there should be enough guns to go around, at least for those with training. We should distribute these, ammo, and other supplies and equipment so we're not left scratching our heads not knowing if we brought something.
What entrance to use, what route to take, who we're taking with us (we already have a few volunteers, but a couple of ponies are undecided), in what order we'll be moving through the tight corridors, our attack plan against the Fellow Traveler, and
>>193682
although we have not been avid looters, there should be enough guns to go around, at least for those with training. We should distribute these, ammo, and other supplies and equipment so we're not left scratching our heads not knowing if we brought something.
>>193685
I still say we should take everyone. Something tells me that anyone we leave behind will be lost to us, I've just got a feeling.
I still say we should take everyone. Something tells me that anyone we leave behind will be lost to us, I've just got a feeling.
>>193694
>I still say we should take everyone
If you insist on taking them, then fine. I do not want arguments to further delay the finale of the quest.
If my summons melt a hole in the top deck above , then all the NPC soldiers (particularly the airponies) could just stand around the hole and fire their guns/slings into the cargo hold while the rest of us enter, giving us sniper support. DM implied that most soldiers have Precise Shot when I was fighting the GRU with my Dreads, so they shouldn't take a penalty for firing into the melee.
All of the wounded ones should be on the back line.
>Something tells me that anyone we leave behind will be lost to us, I've just got a feeling.
I hope you understand that having a large group of low-HP NPCs increases the change of all of them being wiped out at once with a Fireball or similar AoE attack, right? If we really end up physically fighting the Intruder, then I really would expect it to have spells or psionics in combat. Keep that in mind.
There's also the enthralled characters, who we cannot bring.
>(we already have a few volunteers, but a couple of ponies are undecided)
Posey should have charmed at least half of the herd and then therefore can marshal them into battle (at least the ones trained for combat; the others I might have to pressure with a charisma check); and maybe half of the ones I have not charmed should be volunteers. This leaves a quarter of the herd left unwilling, and with the rest of the herd following that could give us a massive circumstance bonus to Diplomacy/Intimidate to follow because of herd mentality, so it's really our decision who we take.
But really though, before or perhaps even during the battle, it might be optimal to send a stealthy character to the radio room to capture or kill Light Water. If we have the rest of the herd above/around the cargo hold attacking the Intruder and its flock directly, then that should distract it long enough for somepony else to attack Light Water. DM said something about the role of a rogue, which tells me that scouting and assassinating might be important.
Posey could do this, because of her racial bonuses and Stealthy feat: if she takes off her armor, she's as good as a low level rogue. Posey would like nothing more than to get her garrote wire around Light Water's neck. She has a net and bolas to capture him in case he flies away.
Cavalier could also do this, because his ranger stealth, high dexterity, nonlethal unarmed attacks, and most importantly his ability to fly in case Light Water tries to escape.
Kira could also do this, because of her stealth and more importantly her absurd grapple mod which could be useful to incapacitate and render him unconscious non-lethally. If my hypothesis is correct, Light Water being unconscious may deprive the Intruder of a perspective to anchor itself in consensus reality, rendering it functionally insane. I can send Kira's player the rules for Strangulation during grapples if she would like to add that tactic to her combat routine.
I want to capture Light Water alive but unconscious, because I want to sacrifice him in an attempt to prevent the Intruder from resurrecting when we destroy it.
Or, perhaps all three of the stealthiest characters (Unarmored Posey, Cavalier, Kira) could go together while the rest of the herd attacks from above the Cargo Hold. This might be wise, because Light Water is likely to be defended by thralls and minions, so a single character alone may not be enough to capture him (we know how Cavalier and Kira's last stealth mission went).
Posey could summon an Amoebic Crawler to melt the deck, and then immediately leave with Kira and Cavalier at the beginning of combat. The whalers could carry Silver down into the Cargo hold for melee while the soldiers fire in the hole.
Problem with this is that it splits the party and potentially slows down combat, but tbh with this many NPCs that would happen anyway.
>I still say we should take everyone
If you insist on taking them, then fine. I do not want arguments to further delay the finale of the quest.
If my summons melt a hole in the top deck above , then all the NPC soldiers (particularly the airponies) could just stand around the hole and fire their guns/slings into the cargo hold while the rest of us enter, giving us sniper support. DM implied that most soldiers have Precise Shot when I was fighting the GRU with my Dreads, so they shouldn't take a penalty for firing into the melee.
All of the wounded ones should be on the back line.
>Something tells me that anyone we leave behind will be lost to us, I've just got a feeling.
I hope you understand that having a large group of low-HP NPCs increases the change of all of them being wiped out at once with a Fireball or similar AoE attack, right? If we really end up physically fighting the Intruder, then I really would expect it to have spells or psionics in combat. Keep that in mind.
There's also the enthralled characters, who we cannot bring.
>(we already have a few volunteers, but a couple of ponies are undecided)
Posey should have charmed at least half of the herd and then therefore can marshal them into battle (at least the ones trained for combat; the others I might have to pressure with a charisma check); and maybe half of the ones I have not charmed should be volunteers. This leaves a quarter of the herd left unwilling, and with the rest of the herd following that could give us a massive circumstance bonus to Diplomacy/Intimidate to follow because of herd mentality, so it's really our decision who we take.
But really though, before or perhaps even during the battle, it might be optimal to send a stealthy character to the radio room to capture or kill Light Water. If we have the rest of the herd above/around the cargo hold attacking the Intruder and its flock directly, then that should distract it long enough for somepony else to attack Light Water. DM said something about the role of a rogue, which tells me that scouting and assassinating might be important.
Posey could do this, because of her racial bonuses and Stealthy feat: if she takes off her armor, she's as good as a low level rogue. Posey would like nothing more than to get her garrote wire around Light Water's neck. She has a net and bolas to capture him in case he flies away.
Cavalier could also do this, because his ranger stealth, high dexterity, nonlethal unarmed attacks, and most importantly his ability to fly in case Light Water tries to escape.
Kira could also do this, because of her stealth and more importantly her absurd grapple mod which could be useful to incapacitate and render him unconscious non-lethally. If my hypothesis is correct, Light Water being unconscious may deprive the Intruder of a perspective to anchor itself in consensus reality, rendering it functionally insane. I can send Kira's player the rules for Strangulation during grapples if she would like to add that tactic to her combat routine.
I want to capture Light Water alive but unconscious, because I want to sacrifice him in an attempt to prevent the Intruder from resurrecting when we destroy it.
Or, perhaps all three of the stealthiest characters (Unarmored Posey, Cavalier, Kira) could go together while the rest of the herd attacks from above the Cargo Hold. This might be wise, because Light Water is likely to be defended by thralls and minions, so a single character alone may not be enough to capture him (we know how Cavalier and Kira's last stealth mission went).
Posey could summon an Amoebic Crawler to melt the deck, and then immediately leave with Kira and Cavalier at the beginning of combat. The whalers could carry Silver down into the Cargo hold for melee while the soldiers fire in the hole.
Problem with this is that it splits the party and potentially slows down combat, but tbh with this many NPCs that would happen anyway.
>>193694
Okay, but do you know? Did the GM hint it at you?
Here's everything that could go wrong if we leave most of the group behind:
>GRU finds the boats and attacks (this is actually really bad and isn't something we can defend against)
>the Fellow Traveler spawns in a couple of monsters suddenly (they could defend against this with two machine guns + whatever else they have)
If we leave a radio behind, it won't be a surprise for when the party emerges and we might be able to respond in time. If we're paranoid, we can just leave a party member to guard them (I recommend Silver since he's intent on being with Zara and trying to drag her along is undermining his character)
Here's everything that could go wrong if we bring the group with us:
>GRU finds the boats, seizes them and besieges the Kostroma (this is only slightly better than the previous scenario)
>group is attacked in the rear and the party can't do anything because of the mass of bodies in the way
>multiple members of the group get fully controlled by the Fellow Traveler due to proximity and we have to fight them
>members of the group have a mental breakdown and otherwise stymie the party
>members of the group become lost or separated (this seems inevitable)
Plus, there are the practical and logistical problems of bringing so many ponies, many of whom are wounded, up the side of the Kostroma and through whatever corridors the party goes down. Every consideration IC and OOC is telling us to just take a small team with us.
>>193695
>If my summons melt a hole in the top deck above , then all the NPC soldiers (particularly the airponies) could just stand around the hole and fire their guns/slings into the cargo hold while the rest of us enter, giving us sniper support. DM implied that most soldiers have Precise Shot when I was fighting the GRU with my Dreads, so they shouldn't take a penalty for firing into the melee.
>All of the wounded ones should be on the back line.
This is the only way this could work, but we still need to pull a bunch of ponies up to the deck, one at a time. Also Silver's player wants us to search through the Kostroma first, which is madness if we have the group with us.
>Posey should have charmed at least half of the herd and then therefore can marshal them into battle (at least the ones trained for combat; the others I might have to pressure with a charisma check); and maybe half of the ones I have not charmed should be volunteers. This leaves a quarter of the herd left unwilling, and with the rest of the herd following that could give us a massive circumstance bonus to Diplomacy/Intimidate to follow because of herd mentality, so it's really our decision who we take.
This would be helpful and probably necessary if we do bring along all the ponies. It is coercing or tricking creatures into the small entry team that Cavaliere is opposed to (being good-aligned), which is why he is ticking off Posey and Silver by being upfront about the dangers.
>But really though, before or perhaps even during the battle, it might be optimal to send a stealthy character to the radio room to capture or kill Light Water. If we have the rest of the herd above/around the cargo hold attacking the Intruder and its flock directly, then that should distract it long enough for somepony else to attack Light Water. DM said something about the role of a rogue, which tells me that scouting and assassinating might be important.
Cavaliere is probably best suited for this among all the PCs we have available. I don't know how stealthy Blackheel is but he is the best NPC to bring along for this. We would want Posey to control those amoeba immediately when Light Water is incapacitated. I would not send Kira alone because of her demeanor but like you said she can be valuable for a non-lethal takedown I regret expending Stunning Fist earlier
If we're talking about OOC arguments, we should also consider that the GM Pony likes to go for vibes, and "small team enters derelict ship to confront eldritch horror" better captures the atmosphere than "entire platoon shoots into a hole to kill said eldritch horror." He has said nothing to this effect but it's an educated guess. Otherwise I don't mind your strategy.
Okay, but do you know? Did the GM hint it at you?
Here's everything that could go wrong if we leave most of the group behind:
>GRU finds the boats and attacks (this is actually really bad and isn't something we can defend against)
>the Fellow Traveler spawns in a couple of monsters suddenly (they could defend against this with two machine guns + whatever else they have)
If we leave a radio behind, it won't be a surprise for when the party emerges and we might be able to respond in time. If we're paranoid, we can just leave a party member to guard them (I recommend Silver since he's intent on being with Zara and trying to drag her along is undermining his character)
Here's everything that could go wrong if we bring the group with us:
>GRU finds the boats, seizes them and besieges the Kostroma (this is only slightly better than the previous scenario)
>group is attacked in the rear and the party can't do anything because of the mass of bodies in the way
>multiple members of the group get fully controlled by the Fellow Traveler due to proximity and we have to fight them
>members of the group have a mental breakdown and otherwise stymie the party
>members of the group become lost or separated (this seems inevitable)
Plus, there are the practical and logistical problems of bringing so many ponies, many of whom are wounded, up the side of the Kostroma and through whatever corridors the party goes down. Every consideration IC and OOC is telling us to just take a small team with us.
>>193695
>If my summons melt a hole in the top deck above , then all the NPC soldiers (particularly the airponies) could just stand around the hole and fire their guns/slings into the cargo hold while the rest of us enter, giving us sniper support. DM implied that most soldiers have Precise Shot when I was fighting the GRU with my Dreads, so they shouldn't take a penalty for firing into the melee.
>All of the wounded ones should be on the back line.
This is the only way this could work, but we still need to pull a bunch of ponies up to the deck, one at a time. Also Silver's player wants us to search through the Kostroma first, which is madness if we have the group with us.
>Posey should have charmed at least half of the herd and then therefore can marshal them into battle (at least the ones trained for combat; the others I might have to pressure with a charisma check); and maybe half of the ones I have not charmed should be volunteers. This leaves a quarter of the herd left unwilling, and with the rest of the herd following that could give us a massive circumstance bonus to Diplomacy/Intimidate to follow because of herd mentality, so it's really our decision who we take.
This would be helpful and probably necessary if we do bring along all the ponies. It is coercing or tricking creatures into the small entry team that Cavaliere is opposed to (being good-aligned), which is why he is ticking off Posey and Silver by being upfront about the dangers.
>But really though, before or perhaps even during the battle, it might be optimal to send a stealthy character to the radio room to capture or kill Light Water. If we have the rest of the herd above/around the cargo hold attacking the Intruder and its flock directly, then that should distract it long enough for somepony else to attack Light Water. DM said something about the role of a rogue, which tells me that scouting and assassinating might be important.
Cavaliere is probably best suited for this among all the PCs we have available. I don't know how stealthy Blackheel is but he is the best NPC to bring along for this. We would want Posey to control those amoeba immediately when Light Water is incapacitated. I would not send Kira alone because of her demeanor but like you said she can be valuable for a non-lethal takedown I regret expending Stunning Fist earlier
If we're talking about OOC arguments, we should also consider that the GM Pony likes to go for vibes, and "small team enters derelict ship to confront eldritch horror" better captures the atmosphere than "entire platoon shoots into a hole to kill said eldritch horror." He has said nothing to this effect but it's an educated guess. Otherwise I don't mind your strategy.
>>193695
>>193696
No, and I'm not sure that it would even be right of me to say outright if he did, but I know how he thinks and how he operates and it's far, far safer to keep everyone with us. As for fireballs or grenades, that's why while we bring everyone, only a few would be considered for our "Vanguard", who are the actual characters we would have in battle. The rest would hang back once we encounter hostiles. The possessed ponies can be stashed away in a supply closet or a safe room so they're on the ship but can't escape. We did a similar thing to the cultists and traffickers at Hoebuck.
Also, again, I know how GM pone operates, and while the plan of just burning a hole through the roof to attack the Traveler directly is a neat-sounding plan in real life, it's not the most exciting from a D&D dungeon-crawling perspective and it's guaranteed that GM pone has made some encounters, loot, and secrets on the ship and if all we're going to do is circumvent all of it, he's going to wonder why he's even bothering to put anything in any of his quests and get extremely upset.
Also I'm fairly certain when GM pone mentioned the role of a rogue, he was more talking about looting and unlocking doors and containers. Like the captain's safe in the torpedo boat that I'm still upset that no one bothered to help me open...
>>193696
No, and I'm not sure that it would even be right of me to say outright if he did, but I know how he thinks and how he operates and it's far, far safer to keep everyone with us. As for fireballs or grenades, that's why while we bring everyone, only a few would be considered for our "Vanguard", who are the actual characters we would have in battle. The rest would hang back once we encounter hostiles. The possessed ponies can be stashed away in a supply closet or a safe room so they're on the ship but can't escape. We did a similar thing to the cultists and traffickers at Hoebuck.
Also, again, I know how GM pone operates, and while the plan of just burning a hole through the roof to attack the Traveler directly is a neat-sounding plan in real life, it's not the most exciting from a D&D dungeon-crawling perspective and it's guaranteed that GM pone has made some encounters, loot, and secrets on the ship and if all we're going to do is circumvent all of it, he's going to wonder why he's even bothering to put anything in any of his quests and get extremely upset.
Also I'm fairly certain when GM pone mentioned the role of a rogue, he was more talking about looting and unlocking doors and containers. Like the captain's safe in the torpedo boat that I'm still upset that no one bothered to help me open...
>>193697
>I know how he thinks and how he operates and it's far, far safer to keep everyone with us.
So do I. Although he often likes to throw curveballs and punish negligence with realistic consequences, I don't see him doing this without some forewarning since he does keep things fair. Once again, we can just leave a PC behind if we're really so concerned.
If anything, he will punish us for bringing all these stragglers aboard. How exactly do you make 30 ponies "hang back" in the narrow corridors of a ship? I don't mind the idea of using a saferoom, but Hoebuck did not have so many NPCs, nor were there monsters that spawned out of the ether without warning.
>captain's safe
You think that we'll just lose the torpedo boat by the time we get back? This is extremely unlikely to happen. There are four ways we lose the boats (if we lose the torpedo boat, we also lose the swan boat, since they're moored together):
>GRU attacks (we're screwed regardless; even if they don't attack the Kostroma directly, they won't sit around an hour while we refire the boilers and dredge the sandbar, and if they did, they can just chase us easily)
>Some sort of catastrophic mutiny or brawl (we've taken precautions against this, such as tying up troublemakers and allowing some sensible creatures to be left behind)
>Attack by the Fellow Traveler (they have two machine guns + whatever else and if that's not enough they can radio us for help)
>Freak weather event (essentially "rocks fall, everyone dies")
We're handicapping ourselves by assuming our one way off the island will be taken away from us (I know we talked about taking the Kostroma, but that has far more in the way of risk than the two smaller boats). In being so paranoid, we would actually increase our risks of failure, both by taking more time (trying to break that safe + hauling so many creatures aboard) and increasing chances of mishaps (I already laid them out). I don't know how you think GM Pone would go "Haha you lost your boats, enjoy six more months of finding another escape route" but not punish the extremely vulnerable group in a dark, cramped ship with spawning monsters. The safest option by far is to keep the group in place, sheltered on boats which are ready to get out of here as soon as we complete our mission. Frankly I think GM Pone just wants a satisfying ending to this quest and then move on
>I know how he thinks and how he operates and it's far, far safer to keep everyone with us.
So do I. Although he often likes to throw curveballs and punish negligence with realistic consequences, I don't see him doing this without some forewarning since he does keep things fair. Once again, we can just leave a PC behind if we're really so concerned.
If anything, he will punish us for bringing all these stragglers aboard. How exactly do you make 30 ponies "hang back" in the narrow corridors of a ship? I don't mind the idea of using a saferoom, but Hoebuck did not have so many NPCs, nor were there monsters that spawned out of the ether without warning.
>captain's safe
You think that we'll just lose the torpedo boat by the time we get back? This is extremely unlikely to happen. There are four ways we lose the boats (if we lose the torpedo boat, we also lose the swan boat, since they're moored together):
>GRU attacks (we're screwed regardless; even if they don't attack the Kostroma directly, they won't sit around an hour while we refire the boilers and dredge the sandbar, and if they did, they can just chase us easily)
>Some sort of catastrophic mutiny or brawl (we've taken precautions against this, such as tying up troublemakers and allowing some sensible creatures to be left behind)
>Attack by the Fellow Traveler (they have two machine guns + whatever else and if that's not enough they can radio us for help)
>Freak weather event (essentially "rocks fall, everyone dies")
We're handicapping ourselves by assuming our one way off the island will be taken away from us (I know we talked about taking the Kostroma, but that has far more in the way of risk than the two smaller boats). In being so paranoid, we would actually increase our risks of failure, both by taking more time (trying to break that safe + hauling so many creatures aboard) and increasing chances of mishaps (I already laid them out). I don't know how you think GM Pone would go "Haha you lost your boats, enjoy six more months of finding another escape route" but not punish the extremely vulnerable group in a dark, cramped ship with spawning monsters. The safest option by far is to keep the group in place, sheltered on boats which are ready to get out of here as soon as we complete our mission. Frankly I think GM Pone just wants a satisfying ending to this quest and then move on
>>193698
I'm telling you, we need to bring everyone with us. We don't have any PCs who would stay behind to watch over the NPCs on the torpedo boat, we won't be able to respond in time if something goes wrong, and it would be way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat, knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds. As long as they're with us we can keep an eye on them and keep them out of harm's way.
Also the Kostroma isn't even in that bad a place. The boiler is dying, sure, but with Zara's help we can figure out what's wrong with it and fire it up lickety split. Then we just need to wait for high tide, go full reverse, and break free from the sandbar. We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
I'm telling you, we need to bring everyone with us. We don't have any PCs who would stay behind to watch over the NPCs on the torpedo boat, we won't be able to respond in time if something goes wrong, and it would be way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat, knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds. As long as they're with us we can keep an eye on them and keep them out of harm's way.
Also the Kostroma isn't even in that bad a place. The boiler is dying, sure, but with Zara's help we can figure out what's wrong with it and fire it up lickety split. Then we just need to wait for high tide, go full reverse, and break free from the sandbar. We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
>>193699
We don't need to. You're operating off the assumption that the GM Pony will screw us over if we leave the NPCs behind, but won't screw us over for bringing them with us.
>we don't have any PCs who would stay behind
I wish Dust or the paladin were here. I would leave Cavaliere, but he is the best pick to wield the anti-tank rifle which will be a major help against larger monsters. Posey I wouldn't want to leave unattended around NPCs. I would suggest either Silver or Kira, Silver because he wants to get into the captain's safe and Zara's pants, Kira because she is a precious scaled cinnamon roll.
>way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat, knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds
As opposed to summoning a monster to attack them on the Kostroma while we're distracted. And yes, we could respond faster on board, but for all we know the ship acts like containment for the Fellow Traveler's powers. There's been no contact from a boarding party after only forty-five minutes which implies they fell under control very quickly.
>we just need to wait for high tide
We don't know how long that will take and we should find out before committing to this plan. If it takes hours then no way; this is a time-sensitive mission and it's implied the GRU are now consolidating to deal with the Kostroma directly.
>We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
This I think is a good idea. If we're not going to take the torpedo boat (I'd rather keep it) we could also use it to perform a torpedo run, hugging the coast to prevent being spotted. We may encounter other ships on the high seas, and I'd rather be in a fast, hard-to-see boat.
We don't need to. You're operating off the assumption that the GM Pony will screw us over if we leave the NPCs behind, but won't screw us over for bringing them with us.
>we don't have any PCs who would stay behind
I wish Dust or the paladin were here. I would leave Cavaliere, but he is the best pick to wield the anti-tank rifle which will be a major help against larger monsters. Posey I wouldn't want to leave unattended around NPCs. I would suggest either Silver or Kira, Silver because he wants to get into the captain's safe and Zara's pants, Kira because she is a precious scaled cinnamon roll.
>way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat, knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds
As opposed to summoning a monster to attack them on the Kostroma while we're distracted. And yes, we could respond faster on board, but for all we know the ship acts like containment for the Fellow Traveler's powers. There's been no contact from a boarding party after only forty-five minutes which implies they fell under control very quickly.
>we just need to wait for high tide
We don't know how long that will take and we should find out before committing to this plan. If it takes hours then no way; this is a time-sensitive mission and it's implied the GRU are now consolidating to deal with the Kostroma directly.
>We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
This I think is a good idea. If we're not going to take the torpedo boat (I'd rather keep it) we could also use it to perform a torpedo run, hugging the coast to prevent being spotted. We may encounter other ships on the high seas, and I'd rather be in a fast, hard-to-see boat.
>>193696
>>GRU finds the boats and attacks (this is actually really bad and isn't something we can defend against)
>>the Fellow Traveler spawns in a couple of monsters suddenly (they could defend against this with two machine guns + whatever else they have)
The Intruder and GRU don't really have any reason to target relatively low-priority targets when the more obvious target (party, Kostroma) is so close nearby.
>If we leave a radio behind, it won't be a surprise for when the party emerges and we might be able to respond in time.
The Zigger could do this. She has demonstrated the ability to use a radio. Leaving her with some airponies to guard her (they can intervene if she gets stupid ideas) and the enthralled prisoners would be optimal. Also, I want her, the mechanic, to patch up the boat while we're gone.
>If we're paranoid, we can just leave a party member to guard them
I think we need the whole party to fight/scout. We've already got three absent players, and we don't know the statistics or mindset of the NPCs, so we cannot rely on them. Also, while I ASSUME there is a predetermined limit to how many monsters the Intruder can summon (because otherwise its CR would be infinitely high), we don't know the actual limit to it's powers, so we want the whole party to be able to fight it.
>he's intent on being with Zara and trying to drag her along is undermining his character
Idk why Silver's character is insisting on this. In-Character it can't possibly take more than half an hour to clear the Kostroma once the radio bridge and cargo hold are neutralized (half of that time will just be pulling up all of the NPCs), probably only like 15 minutes considering that combat tends to only take one minute at most. They would not be separated for long.
>Also Silver's player wants us to search through the Kostroma first, which is madness if we have the group with us.
I agree with you. Wandering an army aimlessly through a dungeon is just asking for half of them to be picked off by monsters. As soon as the herd boards and any measure of combat begins, the Intruder is going to respond with thralls and summons.
I can agree with scouting the ship before the battle, but I think that should be done with the three stealthy characters as I mentioned above to find and neutralize Light Water, while the others organize to get ready to attack the Cargo hold.
Silver could lead the herd into position while the rest of us find and choke the chicken. If he wants to take the zigger with him when he does that, then that's fine.
>>GRU finds the boats, seizes them and besieges the Kostroma (this is only slightly better than the previous scenario)
If the GRU attacks the boat, it would actually be better if nopony were on it, because the GRU are not pirates so they would simply sink it while those aboard are sitting ducks. Same goes for the Kostroma, actually. There's nothing that can actually be done if the GRU torpedo us while we're finishing the quest, so no use worrying about it.
>>>group is attacked in the rear and the party can't do anything because of the mass of bodies in the way
This is more likely. In fact, it's probable. The Traveller has demonstrated ability to summon monsters at extreme range (even though most summon spells are close range), even on the other side of the island with no line of effect: summoning them in tactical flanking positions would be easy for it.
Thing is, this would probably happen no matter what we do. This why I wanted to leave only the airponies behind, because our payment and the success of our primary quest hinges on their survival.
As for the others, they take the same risk, but like a herd this has a morbid benefit: attacks directed at the rest of the herd are attacks not directed at the party: being in a large herd minimizes any individual's chances of being attacked themselves. This is a reason why Necromancers might conjure an army of weak skeletons instead of a handful of powerful monsters.
There are a few counters to aspects of this problem though:
>group is attacked in the rear and the party
This can be mitigated by taunting the Intruder so that it focuses its attention on more formidable party members. It's a selfless and self-destructive tactics, but appropriate for glory hounds who think they're invincible (and are desperate to level up) , like Posey.
>mass of bodies in the way
This is why I think most of the herd should be shooting through a melted hole in the ceiling, while only the serious combatants drop down to enter the cargo hold.
. . .
>>multiple members of the group get fully controlled by the Fellow Traveler due to proximity and we have to fight them
This is also a serious challenge, but if we are to assume that the Intruder follows some basic rules of monster design and encounter balance (because if we don't, we should just take the airponies and sail away immediately), it should only be able to directly dominate one creature per action. This means that save-or-lose spells directed at NPCs are save-or-lose spells not protected at party members, which means herd advantage mitigates the liability of allies being charmed/dominated. Furthermore, so long as we focus fire on our actual objective, we may be able to destroy it without fighting charmed NPCs at all.
If we were fighting spawning undead or sea wolves, it would be opposite though.
As for
>>members of the group have a mental breakdown and otherwise stymie the party
>>members of the group become lost or separated (this seems inevitable)
There is no way we can get through this quest dragging along this many NPCs without losses. If NPCs join the fight, expect losses. NPCs are going to be killed, lost or driven insane.
But take the perspective of the wicked dominating Sorceress: although losses are bad, there is a bright side, the herd being thinned makes it easier to control later. It's more than possible that after this quest is resolved that the communists, pirates and griffons could turn on us. The Stalliongraders in particular may want to parlay with the GRU once the Intruder is destroyed instead of becoming deserters and expats. I suspected Blackheel might do exactly that, which is why I implanted my Mark in him to make him easier to control, threaten or even kill later. Silver also wants to make the Stalliongraders his followers, but estimating his leadership score to be about ~11 at this point he's only going to be able to get six of them with a successful leadership check, which means in the event of hostilities it might be bad if the number who want to side with Stalliongrad grossly outnumber him, which could prevent us from keeping the Kostroma. Losses among the pirates are the same, because intend to leave this island with their ship as well.
The point is that so long as we keep the airponies safe, we can accept measurable losses in the herd, and even take advantage of that if we still have enough to crew both ships. Losses are losses, but they are not the end of the world.
>(this seems inevitable)
Plus, there are the practical and logistical problems of bringing so many ponies, many of whom are wounded, up the side of the Kostroma and through whatever corridors the party goes down. Every consideration IC and OOC is telling us to just take a small team with us.
I agree here.
Tbh, I think we should try to capture Light Water with the stealthy characters before we even consider attacking with the herd.
In fact, if we capture Light Water, we could potentially use him as bait to draw-out the Intruder and/or its forces, giving us a tactical advantage.
>It is coercing or tricking creatures into the small entry team that Cavaliere is opposed to
I am opposed to that too. Infiltration should only be done in small groups. I think only the three stealthiest party members should go for the purpose of finding Light Water.
>Cavaliere is probably best suited for this among all the PCs we have available. I don't know how stealthy Blackheel is but he is the best NPC to bring along for this. We would want Posey to control those amoeba immediately when Light Water is incapacitated. I would not send Kira alone because of her demeanor but like you said she can be valuable for a non-lethal takedown
Idk if you would be able to 1v1 any summons around light water.
If we go together to capture him, you could fly him unconscious back to the other boat and we could use him as bait. Furthermore, capturing him alive could allow us to extract information from him, particularly how important he is to the Intruder, and potentially how to destroy it. We don't actually know what the win condition for this quest is, so it could be beneficial to find out first.
>If we're talking about OOC arguments, we should also consider that the GM Pony likes to go for vibes, and "small team enters derelict ship to confront eldritch horror"
This would be playing 3.5e as intended (unless you're using Heroes Of Battle), and might be more appropriate and easier to run overall.
The Psion in my game is a Thrallherd with 30+ believers at lvl 7. We had to pre-establish combat modes just to make encounters runnable.
>>193697
>"entire platoon shoots into a hole to kill said eldritch horror."
I don't think the Intruder is vulnerable to bullets at all in this form. Its damage resistance has been heavily foreshadowed. We need to figure out the win condition first. NPCs should be firing on the thralls and summoned monsters, so we can do our jobs without being harassed by minions.
>the plan of just burning a hole through the roof to attack the Traveler directly is a neat-sounding plan in real life, it's not the most exciting from a D&D dungeon-crawling perspective
I wasn't even approaching this as a crawl, due to how the map was presented, but if that's the case then a different approach might be necessary.
>GM pone has made some encounters, loot, and secrets on the ship
Well, for starters, I intend to take the entire shipand all of the loot in it with us once this is done, because I want to resell it for shekels for my army and castle palace.
You raise a good point about it being annoying to the DM to circumvent encounters through obtuse entry, but tbh we are only having this discussion because the obvious/intended/safe/proper way to enter wasn't really clear in the first place. (Also this is a milestone game, so no matter how many monsters we fight we don't progress as characters until we get the objective)
I have trouble approaching it like a classic crawl when the Intruder seems capable of not only perceiving us wherever we are for tens of miles, but also summoning a seemingly-unlimited number of monsters with no maximum range: Wherever we are, it can still attack us, so a route as direct as possible seems like the logical approach.
I do think it's import to honor the intended encounter plan design though. Maybe this could be resolved with a dice roll, using Knowledge (Warcraft) per Heroes Of Battle to gain a Strategic Advantage?
>>193479
GM, could players or NPCs with military backgrounds make Intelligence checks (Knowledge, Warcraft) to assess what would be an optimal (or intended) way to enter the Kostroma and how to bring/leave our forces? That way we could end this discussion with some dicerolls and go back to playing the game.
>>members of the group have a mental breakdown and otherwise stymie the party
>>members of the group become lost or separated (this seems inevitable)
There is no way we can get through this quest dragging along this many NPCs without losses. If NPCs join the fight, expect losses. NPCs are going to be killed, lost or driven insane.
But take the perspective of the wicked dominating Sorceress: although losses are bad, there is a bright side, the herd being thinned makes it easier to control later. It's more than possible that after this quest is resolved that the communists, pirates and griffons could turn on us. The Stalliongraders in particular may want to parlay with the GRU once the Intruder is destroyed instead of becoming deserters and expats. I suspected Blackheel might do exactly that, which is why I implanted my Mark in him to make him easier to control, threaten or even kill later. Silver also wants to make the Stalliongraders his followers, but estimating his leadership score to be about ~11 at this point he's only going to be able to get six of them with a successful leadership check, which means in the event of hostilities it might be bad if the number who want to side with Stalliongrad grossly outnumber him, which could prevent us from keeping the Kostroma. Losses among the pirates are the same, because intend to leave this island with their ship as well.
The point is that so long as we keep the airponies safe, we can accept measurable losses in the herd, and even take advantage of that if we still have enough to crew both ships. Losses are losses, but they are not the end of the world.
>(this seems inevitable)
Plus, there are the practical and logistical problems of bringing so many ponies, many of whom are wounded, up the side of the Kostroma and through whatever corridors the party goes down. Every consideration IC and OOC is telling us to just take a small team with us.
I agree here.
Tbh, I think we should try to capture Light Water with the stealthy characters before we even consider attacking with the herd.
In fact, if we capture Light Water, we could potentially use him as bait to draw-out the Intruder and/or its forces, giving us a tactical advantage.
>It is coercing or tricking creatures into the small entry team that Cavaliere is opposed to
I am opposed to that too. Infiltration should only be done in small groups. I think only the three stealthiest party members should go for the purpose of finding Light Water.
>Cavaliere is probably best suited for this among all the PCs we have available. I don't know how stealthy Blackheel is but he is the best NPC to bring along for this. We would want Posey to control those amoeba immediately when Light Water is incapacitated. I would not send Kira alone because of her demeanor but like you said she can be valuable for a non-lethal takedown
Idk if you would be able to 1v1 any summons around light water.
If we go together to capture him, you could fly him unconscious back to the other boat and we could use him as bait. Furthermore, capturing him alive could allow us to extract information from him, particularly how important he is to the Intruder, and potentially how to destroy it. We don't actually know what the win condition for this quest is, so it could be beneficial to find out first.
>If we're talking about OOC arguments, we should also consider that the GM Pony likes to go for vibes, and "small team enters derelict ship to confront eldritch horror"
This would be playing 3.5e as intended (unless you're using Heroes Of Battle), and might be more appropriate and easier to run overall.
The Psion in my game is a Thrallherd with 30+ believers at lvl 7. We had to pre-establish combat modes just to make encounters runnable.
>>193697
>"entire platoon shoots into a hole to kill said eldritch horror."
I don't think the Intruder is vulnerable to bullets at all in this form. Its damage resistance has been heavily foreshadowed. We need to figure out the win condition first. NPCs should be firing on the thralls and summoned monsters, so we can do our jobs without being harassed by minions.
>the plan of just burning a hole through the roof to attack the Traveler directly is a neat-sounding plan in real life, it's not the most exciting from a D&D dungeon-crawling perspective
I wasn't even approaching this as a crawl, due to how the map was presented, but if that's the case then a different approach might be necessary.
>GM pone has made some encounters, loot, and secrets on the ship
Well, for starters, I intend to take the entire shipand all of the loot in it with us once this is done, because I want to resell it for shekels for my army and castle palace.
You raise a good point about it being annoying to the DM to circumvent encounters through obtuse entry, but tbh we are only having this discussion because the obvious/intended/safe/proper way to enter wasn't really clear in the first place. (Also this is a milestone game, so no matter how many monsters we fight we don't progress as characters until we get the objective)
I have trouble approaching it like a classic crawl when the Intruder seems capable of not only perceiving us wherever we are for tens of miles, but also summoning a seemingly-unlimited number of monsters with no maximum range: Wherever we are, it can still attack us, so a route as direct as possible seems like the logical approach.
I do think it's import to honor the intended encounter plan design though. Maybe this could be resolved with a dice roll, using Knowledge (Warcraft) per Heroes Of Battle to gain a Strategic Advantage?
>>193479
GM, could players or NPCs with military backgrounds make Intelligence checks (Knowledge, Warcraft) to assess what would be an optimal (or intended) way to enter the Kostroma and how to bring/leave our forces? That way we could end this discussion with some dicerolls and go back to playing the game.
Stupid flood detection
>>193698
>Once again, we can just leave a PC behind if we're really so concerned.
Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything. Maybe he could guard the defenseless. I already spent a spell slot on Undetectable Alignment just so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, so it would be nice if his existence were beneficial.
The Cleric too.
>You think that we'll just lose the torpedo boat by the time we get back?
I would be really annoyed if this happened, tbh. Missing out on loot because we chose to risk our lives saving the world instead of taking the airponies and leaving now would not feel nice. I do not anticipate this happening because it would be supremely gay.
We DO have the option to just leave. We found the airponies, and we have a working boat. Between the resale value of the boat and the bounty for the airponies, we have a satisfactory (if meager) amount of treasure for this adventure. It is an option to let the Intruder be and fight it again (possibly in a more dangerous and powerful state) at a later point in the game, perhaps after it took over half of Stalliongrad or wherever else the Kostroma goes.
Just putting that option on the table. I am more than willing to humiliate and kill the Intruder and take the Kostroma for ourselves.
>We're handicapping ourselves by assuming our one way off the island will be taken away from us (I know we talked about taking the Kostroma, but that has far more in the way of risk than the two smaller boats). In being so paranoid, we would actually increase our risks of failure, both by taking more time (trying to break that safe + hauling so many creatures aboard) and increasing chances of mishaps (I already laid them out). I don't know how you think GM Pone would go "Haha you lost your boats, enjoy six more months of finding another escape route" but not punish the extremely vulnerable group in a dark, cramped ship with spawning monsters. The safest option by far is to keep the group in place, sheltered on boats which are ready to get out of here as soon as we complete our mission. Frankly I think GM Pone just wants a satisfying ending to this quest and then move on
This.
Players are supposed to win. The adventure is written for us to be able to win it, meaning it has to have multiple win conditions and beatable encounters. Despite all of the talk about "realistic consequences", we shouldn't assume the universe will spitefully punish us for not jumping through hoops in the right order.
I don't really care how we approach things so long as we get on with it. We have been on this quest for than a year and I am still lvl 4 sver having been nerfed 6+ times. I am chomping at the bit to progress the story and get to the climax, no matter how we get there.
>>193699
This would be a good way to let Tenebrous's character do something, while creating opportunities to reintroduce him as a character later.
>it would be way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat
Why would it even do that? It has no reason to do that. There is no reason for it to attack defenseless NPCs outside the battlefield when other characters are attacking it directly. If it wanted to do that, it could have done that already.
>knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds.
Being knocked unconscious is not the same as falling asleep. Posey has knocked out enthralled NPCs: they don't do anything. To knock a creature out, you deal non-lethal damage to it equal to its HP, which renders it unable to move for hours, no matter if it is mind controlled or not.
>As long as they're with us we can keep an eye on them and keep them out of harm's way.
That is not true. What would you do if a grell were summoned right above the herd and attacked 7 creatures at once? You could attack it, but you would not be able to prevent it from attacking others when it appears.
I don't mind bringing characters with if you insist, but if you think this approach will prevent losses you are being counterproductive.
>Also the Kostroma isn't even in that bad a place. The boiler is dying, sure, but with Zara's help we can figure out what's wrong with it and fire it up lickety split. Then we just need to wait for high tide, go full reverse, and break free from the sandbar.
I definitely want to take the Kostroma and resell it, but just like you have an odd suspicion that sea monsters would attack noncombat NPCs while we are away, I have a suspicion that the party's ability to seize a vessel with a value equivalent to tens of millions of gp might not be guaranteed. The torpedo boat however is right in front of us and is guaranteed.
>We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
I fully intend to go full Hegseth on the GRU, but that is also not guaranteed.
>>193700
>I wish Dust or the paladin were here.
As long as we're pretending to care about "realistic consequences", then they could not have vanished from existence. Just say they were in the background tending to the wounded.
Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
>We don't know how long that will take and we should find out before committing to this plan. If it takes hours then no way; this is a time-sensitive mission and it's implied the GRU are now consolidating to deal with the Kostroma directly.
This is why I suggest sending stealthy characters to kidnap Light Water for info.
>>193698
>Once again, we can just leave a PC behind if we're really so concerned.
Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything. Maybe he could guard the defenseless. I already spent a spell slot on Undetectable Alignment just so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, so it would be nice if his existence were beneficial.
The Cleric too.
>You think that we'll just lose the torpedo boat by the time we get back?
I would be really annoyed if this happened, tbh. Missing out on loot because we chose to risk our lives saving the world instead of taking the airponies and leaving now would not feel nice. I do not anticipate this happening because it would be supremely gay.
We DO have the option to just leave. We found the airponies, and we have a working boat. Between the resale value of the boat and the bounty for the airponies, we have a satisfactory (if meager) amount of treasure for this adventure. It is an option to let the Intruder be and fight it again (possibly in a more dangerous and powerful state) at a later point in the game, perhaps after it took over half of Stalliongrad or wherever else the Kostroma goes.
Just putting that option on the table. I am more than willing to humiliate and kill the Intruder and take the Kostroma for ourselves.
>We're handicapping ourselves by assuming our one way off the island will be taken away from us (I know we talked about taking the Kostroma, but that has far more in the way of risk than the two smaller boats). In being so paranoid, we would actually increase our risks of failure, both by taking more time (trying to break that safe + hauling so many creatures aboard) and increasing chances of mishaps (I already laid them out). I don't know how you think GM Pone would go "Haha you lost your boats, enjoy six more months of finding another escape route" but not punish the extremely vulnerable group in a dark, cramped ship with spawning monsters. The safest option by far is to keep the group in place, sheltered on boats which are ready to get out of here as soon as we complete our mission. Frankly I think GM Pone just wants a satisfying ending to this quest and then move on
This.
Players are supposed to win. The adventure is written for us to be able to win it, meaning it has to have multiple win conditions and beatable encounters. Despite all of the talk about "realistic consequences", we shouldn't assume the universe will spitefully punish us for not jumping through hoops in the right order.
I don't really care how we approach things so long as we get on with it. We have been on this quest for than a year and I am still lvl 4 sver having been nerfed 6+ times. I am chomping at the bit to progress the story and get to the climax, no matter how we get there.
>>193699
This would be a good way to let Tenebrous's character do something, while creating opportunities to reintroduce him as a character later.
>it would be way too easy for the Traveler to use the power boost from possessing the pirate crew to summon some kind of sea monster to attack the torpedo boat
Why would it even do that? It has no reason to do that. There is no reason for it to attack defenseless NPCs outside the battlefield when other characters are attacking it directly. If it wanted to do that, it could have done that already.
>knocking the creatures on board unconscious and taking over their minds.
Being knocked unconscious is not the same as falling asleep. Posey has knocked out enthralled NPCs: they don't do anything. To knock a creature out, you deal non-lethal damage to it equal to its HP, which renders it unable to move for hours, no matter if it is mind controlled or not.
>As long as they're with us we can keep an eye on them and keep them out of harm's way.
That is not true. What would you do if a grell were summoned right above the herd and attacked 7 creatures at once? You could attack it, but you would not be able to prevent it from attacking others when it appears.
I don't mind bringing characters with if you insist, but if you think this approach will prevent losses you are being counterproductive.
>Also the Kostroma isn't even in that bad a place. The boiler is dying, sure, but with Zara's help we can figure out what's wrong with it and fire it up lickety split. Then we just need to wait for high tide, go full reverse, and break free from the sandbar.
I definitely want to take the Kostroma and resell it, but just like you have an odd suspicion that sea monsters would attack noncombat NPCs while we are away, I have a suspicion that the party's ability to seize a vessel with a value equivalent to tens of millions of gp might not be guaranteed. The torpedo boat however is right in front of us and is guaranteed.
>We also still have Monstro to disable the GRU ship to keep it from following us.
I fully intend to go full Hegseth on the GRU, but that is also not guaranteed.
>>193700
>I wish Dust or the paladin were here.
As long as we're pretending to care about "realistic consequences", then they could not have vanished from existence. Just say they were in the background tending to the wounded.
Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
>We don't know how long that will take and we should find out before committing to this plan. If it takes hours then no way; this is a time-sensitive mission and it's implied the GRU are now consolidating to deal with the Kostroma directly.
This is why I suggest sending stealthy characters to kidnap Light Water for info.
>>193701
>The Zigger could do this. She has demonstrated the ability to use a radio. Leaving her with some airponies to guard her (they can intervene if she gets stupid ideas) and the enthralled prisoners would be optimal. Also, I want her, the mechanic, to patch up the boat while we're gone.
This is my plan. Or let the airponies use the radio directly, since they should be trained on its use.
>I can agree with scouting the ship before the battle, but I think that should be done with the three stealthy characters as I mentioned above to find and neutralize Light Water, while the others organize to get ready to attack the Cargo hold.
Silver could lead the herd into position while the rest of us find and choke the chicken. If he wants to take the zigger with him when he does that, then that's fine.
This is the best of both worlds. Well, somewhat. Hauling up so many ponies (some of whom can't even hold a rifle) will still take more time than I'm comfortable with spending. Also, speaking of rifles, we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields. They can't exactly shoot down into the cargo hold if they have nothing to shoot with.
>This why I wanted to leave only the airponies behind, because our payment and the success of our primary quest hinges on their survival.
All of them should be left behind except for the Lieutenant who wants to come with us. He has a SMG and probably is a decent fighter. After this mission he will level up and might become a recurring character to interact with. Also I will not deny a stallion a chance to be heroic.
>but if we are to assume that the Intruder follows some basic rules of monster design and encounter balance (because if we don't, we should just take the airponies and sail away immediately)
Guessing is the fun part. We're basically fighting a lesser eldritch god and can't assume anything. What we do know is that some ponies are more vulnerable than others and that its power is dependent on distance (if it wasn't, it could make itself apparent across the world). It's better to leave the sickly children outside the Chernobyl reactor.
>But take the perspective of the wicked dominating Sorceress: although losses are bad, there is a bright side, the herd being thinned makes it easier to control later.
This is true but from the perspective of a good-aligned character, unnecessary losses should be avoided. Even actual POWs should not be used as meat shields.
>communists
Some may be a danger, others may be more amenable after seeing the horrible stuff their government was involved in.
>pirates
Zara and Wonder are non-threats, the red griffon is tied up. The others are unknown but if we promise some sort of amnesty (same for the Stalliongraders) they should be okay.
>griffons
They are very unlikely to turn on us, and at most will just flee on their own. Bøkli at this point is loyal and willing to fight with us in exchange for being allowed into Equestria.
>Idk if you would be able to 1v1 any summons around light water.
Probably not. I see Light Water being a sort of miniboss.
>If we go together to capture him, you could fly him unconscious back to the other boat and we could use him as bait. Furthermore, capturing him alive could allow us to extract information from him, particularly how important he is to the Intruder, and potentially how to destroy it. We don't actually know what the win condition for this quest is, so it could be beneficial to find out first.
We don't want to attract attention to the boats. I do agree we should question him if possible. He is definitely important to some degree.
>Maybe this could be resolved with a dice roll, using Knowledge (Warcraft) per Heroes Of Battle to gain a Strategic Advantage?
>open Heroes of Battle
>Ctrl+F
>"warcraft"
>0 results
Could you elaborate?
>Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything. Maybe he could guard the defenseless. I already spent a spell slot on Undetectable Alignment just so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, so it would be nice if his existence were beneficial.
>The Cleric too.
I agree and I don't think their players would mind if they became GMPCs for now. I'm still using that cleric's blessing buff.
>We DO have the option to just leave. We found the airponies, and we have a working boat. Between the resale value of the boat and the bounty for the airponies, we have a satisfactory (if meager) amount of treasure for this adventure. It is an option to let the Intruder be and fight it again (possibly in a more dangerous and powerful state) at a later point in the game, perhaps after it took over half of Stalliongrad or wherever else the Kostroma goes.
>Just putting that option on the table. I am more than willing to humiliate and kill the Intruder and take the Kostroma for ourselves.
That is a very real choice. However Cavaliere would not let this threat be.
>I have a suspicion that the party's ability to seize a vessel with a value equivalent to tens of millions of gp might not be guaranteed. The torpedo boat however is right in front of us and is guaranteed.
I don't think we would make it out with the Kostroma. It's huge, slow, and very visible. These may be contested waters but New Mareland said they wouldn't risk a diplomatic incident for us. Even if the GRU ship doesn't get us Stalliongrad will send out other pursuers.
>Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
The horselover community these days is a smallish one and many members know each other. I don't think GM wants Brie's player to declare jihad on him.
>The Zigger could do this. She has demonstrated the ability to use a radio. Leaving her with some airponies to guard her (they can intervene if she gets stupid ideas) and the enthralled prisoners would be optimal. Also, I want her, the mechanic, to patch up the boat while we're gone.
This is my plan. Or let the airponies use the radio directly, since they should be trained on its use.
>I can agree with scouting the ship before the battle, but I think that should be done with the three stealthy characters as I mentioned above to find and neutralize Light Water, while the others organize to get ready to attack the Cargo hold.
Silver could lead the herd into position while the rest of us find and choke the chicken. If he wants to take the zigger with him when he does that, then that's fine.
This is the best of both worlds. Well, somewhat. Hauling up so many ponies (some of whom can't even hold a rifle) will still take more time than I'm comfortable with spending. Also, speaking of rifles, we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields. They can't exactly shoot down into the cargo hold if they have nothing to shoot with.
>This why I wanted to leave only the airponies behind, because our payment and the success of our primary quest hinges on their survival.
All of them should be left behind except for the Lieutenant who wants to come with us. He has a SMG and probably is a decent fighter. After this mission he will level up and might become a recurring character to interact with. Also I will not deny a stallion a chance to be heroic.
>but if we are to assume that the Intruder follows some basic rules of monster design and encounter balance (because if we don't, we should just take the airponies and sail away immediately)
Guessing is the fun part. We're basically fighting a lesser eldritch god and can't assume anything. What we do know is that some ponies are more vulnerable than others and that its power is dependent on distance (if it wasn't, it could make itself apparent across the world). It's better to leave the sickly children outside the Chernobyl reactor.
>But take the perspective of the wicked dominating Sorceress: although losses are bad, there is a bright side, the herd being thinned makes it easier to control later.
This is true but from the perspective of a good-aligned character, unnecessary losses should be avoided. Even actual POWs should not be used as meat shields.
>communists
Some may be a danger, others may be more amenable after seeing the horrible stuff their government was involved in.
>pirates
Zara and Wonder are non-threats, the red griffon is tied up. The others are unknown but if we promise some sort of amnesty (same for the Stalliongraders) they should be okay.
>griffons
They are very unlikely to turn on us, and at most will just flee on their own. Bøkli at this point is loyal and willing to fight with us in exchange for being allowed into Equestria.
>Idk if you would be able to 1v1 any summons around light water.
Probably not. I see Light Water being a sort of miniboss.
>If we go together to capture him, you could fly him unconscious back to the other boat and we could use him as bait. Furthermore, capturing him alive could allow us to extract information from him, particularly how important he is to the Intruder, and potentially how to destroy it. We don't actually know what the win condition for this quest is, so it could be beneficial to find out first.
We don't want to attract attention to the boats. I do agree we should question him if possible. He is definitely important to some degree.
>Maybe this could be resolved with a dice roll, using Knowledge (Warcraft) per Heroes Of Battle to gain a Strategic Advantage?
>open Heroes of Battle
>Ctrl+F
>"warcraft"
>0 results
Could you elaborate?
>Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything. Maybe he could guard the defenseless. I already spent a spell slot on Undetectable Alignment just so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, so it would be nice if his existence were beneficial.
>The Cleric too.
I agree and I don't think their players would mind if they became GMPCs for now. I'm still using that cleric's blessing buff.
>We DO have the option to just leave. We found the airponies, and we have a working boat. Between the resale value of the boat and the bounty for the airponies, we have a satisfactory (if meager) amount of treasure for this adventure. It is an option to let the Intruder be and fight it again (possibly in a more dangerous and powerful state) at a later point in the game, perhaps after it took over half of Stalliongrad or wherever else the Kostroma goes.
>Just putting that option on the table. I am more than willing to humiliate and kill the Intruder and take the Kostroma for ourselves.
That is a very real choice. However Cavaliere would not let this threat be.
>I have a suspicion that the party's ability to seize a vessel with a value equivalent to tens of millions of gp might not be guaranteed. The torpedo boat however is right in front of us and is guaranteed.
I don't think we would make it out with the Kostroma. It's huge, slow, and very visible. These may be contested waters but New Mareland said they wouldn't risk a diplomatic incident for us. Even if the GRU ship doesn't get us Stalliongrad will send out other pursuers.
>Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
The horselover community these days is a smallish one and many members know each other. I don't think GM wants Brie's player to declare jihad on him.
>>193705
>Or let the airponies use the radio directly, since they should be trained on its use.
Yeah, that could work.
The airponies can be trusted to take care of themselves with the boat, imo. They're also the only group I do not want as part of combat, because I want them alive. If a sea monster just happens to come up and sinks the boat with all of them on it dooming us to a failed quest without any recourse, then so be it. If the GM actually wanted to do that (which he wouldn't), it would happen no matter what we did.
>Hauling up so many ponies (some of whom can't even hold a rifle) will still take more time than I'm comfortable with spending.
If Light Water is captured alive, it should be a sufficient distraction from whatever is happening on the other side of the ship.
>we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields. They can't exactly shoot down into the cargo hold if they have nothing to shoot with.
Slings are free. They can make slings from scrap cloth in minutes.
>All of them should be left behind except for the Lieutenant who wants to come with us. He has a SMG and probably is a decent fighter. After this mission he will level up and might become a recurring character to interact with. Also I will not deny a stallion a chance to be heroic.
That is acceptable. He can come with us while the others stay aboard the torpedo ship and guard/maintain it. Posey respects ponies who seek glory.
>lesser eldritch god
Gods have statistics and salient abilities. If it's an actual god/demigod, then maybe I should make a Religion check to assess its powers.
>What we do know is that some ponies are more vulnerable than others and that its power is dependent on distance (if it wasn't, it could make itself apparent across the world).
Yes it appears to be confined to this island, although it was still able to summon monsters on the other side of the island, so idk.
However, it's worth noting that the griffons, who were shown to be mentally pliable, were not affected by it, presumably because the crown has similar powers. Perhaps Posey's crown could be a boon in the next encounter...
>others may be more amenable after seeing the horrible stuff their government was involved in.
You say that, but 20th century history would beg to differ.
Anyways, I put the Cyst inside Blackheel, just in case.
>if we promise some sort of amnesty (same for the Stalliongraders) they should be okay.
Okay, but I'm taking their ship in exchange for their lives ^:)
>I see Light Water being a sort of miniboss.
If intent to summon creatures comes from him, then grappling him and suffocating him should prevent him from doing so. Even if the summoning lacks somatic components (Spell-like abilities or psionics), grappling would disrupt his concentration.
>We don't want to attract attention to the boats. I do agree we should question him if possible. He is definitely important to some degree.
If the Intruder really needs Light Water, it would not destroy any vessel he is on. We could also simply keep him hostage out in the open on the deck of the Kostroma itself, and threaten to kill him of the Intruder makes any moves. This would buy us all the time we need to move our forces into whatever position we want above deck, and then we could have Posey summon her crawlers immediately before we decide to attack, with Light Water still in our custody.
>Could you elaborate?
I... I'm sorry... I must have hallucinated that... I could have sworn it was a new skill in that book. Maybe it was one of the Forgotten Realms books, or from Dragon magazine WoW d20. It's been a long day, and my brain was making up false memories that I have once again embarrassed myself by citing without verifying. Sorry...
Page 71 does list knowledge skills that can be used to gain a Strategic Advantage in warfare though.
>I agree and I don't think their players would mind if they became GMPCs for now.
I think they will be fine with "you were in the background healing people".
>I'm still using that cleric's blessing buff.
That was actually me. I used my Create Magic Tattoo ability on Kira, Mala and Cavalier before my Spellstitching got nerfed out of existence.
>would not let this threat be
Well, I doubt the entire setting would end if we were to lose/pass this quest. It would probably just mean doing a higher level version of the same quest at a later date.
It would be disappointing to just run after all these months though. Also, I want to seize the Kostroma so that we can resell it.
>I don't think we would make it out with the Kostroma. It's huge, slow, and very visible. These may be contested waters but New Mareland said they wouldn't risk a diplomatic incident for us. Even if the GRU ship doesn't get us Stalliongrad will send out other pursuers.
If we sink the GRU vessel, I think the rest is an acceptable risk. I want this ship. If push comes to shove we can abandon it later.
As for diplomatic bullshit, the propagandists in New Mareland can just write it off as "brave sailors joining with pirates and defecting from Stalliongrad to escape the evils of communism", or something else like that. We are undercover as pirates, so stealing a ship for resale is normal for us. Stalliongrad would be unwilling to acknowledge its losses or responsibility for unleashing this Eldritch horror upon the world, so I don't really expect them to send more if the GRU fails.
Moreover, I want to resell the ship, and gain some recognition points as a warmagus among the Blackhooves, and squeeze a bonus reward out of Captain Waters because exorcizing the Eldritch demigod was not part of the job description.
>jihad
A bit late for that, but whatever. It would have been better closeure than freezing to death on a deserted island. I just wanted the daggers.
>Or let the airponies use the radio directly, since they should be trained on its use.
Yeah, that could work.
The airponies can be trusted to take care of themselves with the boat, imo. They're also the only group I do not want as part of combat, because I want them alive. If a sea monster just happens to come up and sinks the boat with all of them on it dooming us to a failed quest without any recourse, then so be it. If the GM actually wanted to do that (which he wouldn't), it would happen no matter what we did.
>Hauling up so many ponies (some of whom can't even hold a rifle) will still take more time than I'm comfortable with spending.
If Light Water is captured alive, it should be a sufficient distraction from whatever is happening on the other side of the ship.
>we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields. They can't exactly shoot down into the cargo hold if they have nothing to shoot with.
Slings are free. They can make slings from scrap cloth in minutes.
>All of them should be left behind except for the Lieutenant who wants to come with us. He has a SMG and probably is a decent fighter. After this mission he will level up and might become a recurring character to interact with. Also I will not deny a stallion a chance to be heroic.
That is acceptable. He can come with us while the others stay aboard the torpedo ship and guard/maintain it. Posey respects ponies who seek glory.
>lesser eldritch god
Gods have statistics and salient abilities. If it's an actual god/demigod, then maybe I should make a Religion check to assess its powers.
>What we do know is that some ponies are more vulnerable than others and that its power is dependent on distance (if it wasn't, it could make itself apparent across the world).
Yes it appears to be confined to this island, although it was still able to summon monsters on the other side of the island, so idk.
However, it's worth noting that the griffons, who were shown to be mentally pliable, were not affected by it, presumably because the crown has similar powers. Perhaps Posey's crown could be a boon in the next encounter...
>others may be more amenable after seeing the horrible stuff their government was involved in.
You say that, but 20th century history would beg to differ.
Anyways, I put the Cyst inside Blackheel, just in case.
>if we promise some sort of amnesty (same for the Stalliongraders) they should be okay.
Okay, but I'm taking their ship in exchange for their lives ^:)
>I see Light Water being a sort of miniboss.
If intent to summon creatures comes from him, then grappling him and suffocating him should prevent him from doing so. Even if the summoning lacks somatic components (Spell-like abilities or psionics), grappling would disrupt his concentration.
>We don't want to attract attention to the boats. I do agree we should question him if possible. He is definitely important to some degree.
If the Intruder really needs Light Water, it would not destroy any vessel he is on. We could also simply keep him hostage out in the open on the deck of the Kostroma itself, and threaten to kill him of the Intruder makes any moves. This would buy us all the time we need to move our forces into whatever position we want above deck, and then we could have Posey summon her crawlers immediately before we decide to attack, with Light Water still in our custody.
>Could you elaborate?
I... I'm sorry... I must have hallucinated that... I could have sworn it was a new skill in that book. Maybe it was one of the Forgotten Realms books, or from Dragon magazine WoW d20. It's been a long day, and my brain was making up false memories that I have once again embarrassed myself by citing without verifying. Sorry...
Page 71 does list knowledge skills that can be used to gain a Strategic Advantage in warfare though.
>I agree and I don't think their players would mind if they became GMPCs for now.
I think they will be fine with "you were in the background healing people".
>I'm still using that cleric's blessing buff.
That was actually me. I used my Create Magic Tattoo ability on Kira, Mala and Cavalier before my Spellstitching got nerfed out of existence.
>would not let this threat be
Well, I doubt the entire setting would end if we were to lose/pass this quest. It would probably just mean doing a higher level version of the same quest at a later date.
It would be disappointing to just run after all these months though. Also, I want to seize the Kostroma so that we can resell it.
>I don't think we would make it out with the Kostroma. It's huge, slow, and very visible. These may be contested waters but New Mareland said they wouldn't risk a diplomatic incident for us. Even if the GRU ship doesn't get us Stalliongrad will send out other pursuers.
If we sink the GRU vessel, I think the rest is an acceptable risk. I want this ship. If push comes to shove we can abandon it later.
As for diplomatic bullshit, the propagandists in New Mareland can just write it off as "brave sailors joining with pirates and defecting from Stalliongrad to escape the evils of communism", or something else like that. We are undercover as pirates, so stealing a ship for resale is normal for us. Stalliongrad would be unwilling to acknowledge its losses or responsibility for unleashing this Eldritch horror upon the world, so I don't really expect them to send more if the GRU fails.
Moreover, I want to resell the ship, and gain some recognition points as a warmagus among the Blackhooves, and squeeze a bonus reward out of Captain Waters because exorcizing the Eldritch demigod was not part of the job description.
>jihad
A bit late for that, but whatever. It would have been better closeure than freezing to death on a deserted island. I just wanted the daggers.
>>193696
I did tell him that there would be a waifuable character, and I think that has altered his character's behavior
>>193700
>Posey I wouldn't want to leave unattended around NPCs.
Kek
>Kira because she is a precious scaled cinnamon roll.
D'awwwwwww
>>193701
>The Traveller has demonstrated ability to summon monsters at extreme range
Only about 2 miles. That's a pretty close range if you ask me.
>>193702
>GM, could players or NPCs with military backgrounds make Intelligence checks (Knowledge, Warcraft) to assess what would be an optimal (or intended) way to enter the Kostroma and how to bring/leave our forces? That way we could end this discussion with some dicerolls and go back to playing the game.
You have representatives of the navies, merchant marines, and fishing fleets of four different nations in the region present with roles ranging from diesel mechanic to engineer to radio operator to pilot to political officer, who have operated vessels ranging from cargo ships to patrol torpedo boats to patrol blimps. You should know everything and be omniscient, basically. There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
>>193703
>Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything
>As long as we're pretending to care about "realistic consequences", then they could not have vanished from existence. Just say they were in the background tending to the wounded.
I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
>Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
Brie very explicitly had his character fly off. Because this is the absolute middle of nowhere, I would assume he flies for hours or possibly weeks until he dies of hypothermia, exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, or predation by wildlife. That or the GRU capture him.
>>193705
>Also, speaking of rifles, we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields.
There are four on the pirate boat, the Kostroma survivors had two (though one of the holders is now incapacitated), and the Airship ponies had one rifle and one SMG. I feel like two rifles were picked up at about the first encounter with Kostroma survivors at the village, but honestly I don't feel confident of that.
>I don't think GM wants Brie's player to declare jihad on him
Let him come
>>193706
>multiple posts complaining about being nerfed
Bruh, your character has taken less damage than any other player character besides Tenebrous and Maybe Dust. I think even Brie has taken more damage this quest than Posey. I don't think that being reduced from "invulnerable for all intents and purposes" to "the most rugged in the party" is as much of a nerf as you clearly feel it was.
I did tell him that there would be a waifuable character, and I think that has altered his character's behavior
>>193700
>Posey I wouldn't want to leave unattended around NPCs.
Kek
>Kira because she is a precious scaled cinnamon roll.
D'awwwwwww
>>193701
>The Traveller has demonstrated ability to summon monsters at extreme range
Only about 2 miles. That's a pretty close range if you ask me.
>>193702
>GM, could players or NPCs with military backgrounds make Intelligence checks (Knowledge, Warcraft) to assess what would be an optimal (or intended) way to enter the Kostroma and how to bring/leave our forces? That way we could end this discussion with some dicerolls and go back to playing the game.
You have representatives of the navies, merchant marines, and fishing fleets of four different nations in the region present with roles ranging from diesel mechanic to engineer to radio operator to pilot to political officer, who have operated vessels ranging from cargo ships to patrol torpedo boats to patrol blimps. You should know everything and be omniscient, basically. There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
>>193703
>Well, there is that batpony paladin around here who hasn't been doing anything
>As long as we're pretending to care about "realistic consequences", then they could not have vanished from existence. Just say they were in the background tending to the wounded.
I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
>Also, with GM's permission, I would like to cut off Brie's head and take his loot.
Brie very explicitly had his character fly off. Because this is the absolute middle of nowhere, I would assume he flies for hours or possibly weeks until he dies of hypothermia, exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, or predation by wildlife. That or the GRU capture him.
>>193705
>Also, speaking of rifles, we don't know how many guns are available since we failed to loot the battlefields.
There are four on the pirate boat, the Kostroma survivors had two (though one of the holders is now incapacitated), and the Airship ponies had one rifle and one SMG. I feel like two rifles were picked up at about the first encounter with Kostroma survivors at the village, but honestly I don't feel confident of that.
>I don't think GM wants Brie's player to declare jihad on him
Let him come
>>193706
>multiple posts complaining about being nerfed
Bruh, your character has taken less damage than any other player character besides Tenebrous and Maybe Dust. I think even Brie has taken more damage this quest than Posey. I don't think that being reduced from "invulnerable for all intents and purposes" to "the most rugged in the party" is as much of a nerf as you clearly feel it was.
>>193707
>waifuable character
Yeah, that will do it.
>You have representatives of the navies, merchant marines, and fishing fleets of four different nations in the region present with roles ranging from diesel mechanic to engineer to radio operator to pilot to political officer, who have operated vessels ranging from cargo ships to patrol torpedo boats to patrol blimps. You should know everything and be omniscient, basically. There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
So basically, ask in-character for a suggestions. Got it.
>I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
I actually really like Tenebrous and would like to leave the door open for him to rejoin whenever, but alright.
>fly off
Understood. It was wrong of me to bring it up anyway.,
>complaining about being nerfed
Alright, I will try to cut it out.
I'm really just venting because I am currently frustrated over having lost a third of my character notes the other month and I'm not sure how to rewrite it.
>waifuable character
Yeah, that will do it.
>You have representatives of the navies, merchant marines, and fishing fleets of four different nations in the region present with roles ranging from diesel mechanic to engineer to radio operator to pilot to political officer, who have operated vessels ranging from cargo ships to patrol torpedo boats to patrol blimps. You should know everything and be omniscient, basically. There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
So basically, ask in-character for a suggestions. Got it.
>I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
I actually really like Tenebrous and would like to leave the door open for him to rejoin whenever, but alright.
>fly off
Understood. It was wrong of me to bring it up anyway.,
>complaining about being nerfed
Alright, I will try to cut it out.
I'm really just venting because I am currently frustrated over having lost a third of my character notes the other month and I'm not sure how to rewrite it.
>>193706
>slings
I guess? I don't know if these ponies would know how to use slings accurately. Better than fighting with bare hooves, but I think it would still be chip damage.
>However, it's worth noting that the griffons, who were shown to be mentally pliable, were not affected by it, presumably because the crown has similar powers.
Maybe, but we haven't seen any griffons affected so far. Light Water might count but he invited the Fellow Traveler into his head and is still lucid. It could well be that griffons are more resistant than ponies, but this is all speculation. You know who might have information? The scientists who studied the entity.
>Okay, but I'm taking their ship in exchange for their lives ^:)
We're taking their ship in exchange for their lives*
>grappling Light Water
Good call.
>We could also simply keep him hostage out in the open on the deck of the Kostroma itself, and threaten to kill him of the Intruder makes any moves.
That was my plan. However, if it does view him as disposable it can simply call our bluff. We would still be no worse off I suppose.
>hallucination
No worries. I'm just wary of additional knowledge checks considering how strapped for skill points most of us have been. "Warcraft" would make sense considering this whole campaign was born from a HOI4 game.
>buff
I forgot if we agreed on whether to keep the temporary buff for the remainder of the mission. But yes, spellstitching was going to be busted.
>Stalliongrad would be unwilling to acknowledge its losses or responsibility for unleashing this Eldritch horror upon the world, so I don't really expect them to send more if the GRU fails.
Wouldn't they be more motivated to keep news of it from getting out? They might try to recapture the ship via boarding parties or outright just sink it to cut their losses. The GRU might actually be the delicate response and if they fail then they'll respond with brute force. There's a reason why modern pirates don't steal the ships they hijack.
>>193707
>There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
This.
>I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
Fair enough. If they were DMPCs then encounters would probably scale to be harder anyway. It'll just be awkward if one of them comes back and his character just poofed out of existence.
>weapons
The four doesn't include the ATR that Cavaliere grabbed, does it? Anyway it's not a lot but it will help.
>I feel like two rifles were picked up at about the first encounter with Kostroma survivors at the village, but honestly I don't feel confident of that.
As the GM it's up to you to make a decision on that. I think that Kostroma survivors would pick up the weapons of their comrades even if they're not actively looting the battlefield.
Anyway the confirmed boarding party will be:
PCs + Mala (who I assume are all adequately armed, though I have not seen much taking of inventory which I once again urge)
Blackheel
Lieutenant Stained Sand
Johan Bøkli
Blackheel might want to take a rifle in addition to his revolver. Stained Sand has his SMG. Bøkli would have to take a rifle too. That leaves five spare rifles. We might get additional boarding members, maybe a pirate and a scientist, but I don't know if they would take weapons. It's not a lot of firepower but if we go for the "shoot into the cargo hold" stratagem we could also hoist one of the machine guns.
>>193708
>losing character notes
Tell me about it. Never forget to backup regularly.
>slings
I guess? I don't know if these ponies would know how to use slings accurately. Better than fighting with bare hooves, but I think it would still be chip damage.
>However, it's worth noting that the griffons, who were shown to be mentally pliable, were not affected by it, presumably because the crown has similar powers.
Maybe, but we haven't seen any griffons affected so far. Light Water might count but he invited the Fellow Traveler into his head and is still lucid. It could well be that griffons are more resistant than ponies, but this is all speculation. You know who might have information? The scientists who studied the entity.
>Okay, but I'm taking their ship in exchange for their lives ^:)
We're taking their ship in exchange for their lives*
>grappling Light Water
Good call.
>We could also simply keep him hostage out in the open on the deck of the Kostroma itself, and threaten to kill him of the Intruder makes any moves.
That was my plan. However, if it does view him as disposable it can simply call our bluff. We would still be no worse off I suppose.
>hallucination
No worries. I'm just wary of additional knowledge checks considering how strapped for skill points most of us have been. "Warcraft" would make sense considering this whole campaign was born from a HOI4 game.
>buff
I forgot if we agreed on whether to keep the temporary buff for the remainder of the mission. But yes, spellstitching was going to be busted.
>Stalliongrad would be unwilling to acknowledge its losses or responsibility for unleashing this Eldritch horror upon the world, so I don't really expect them to send more if the GRU fails.
Wouldn't they be more motivated to keep news of it from getting out? They might try to recapture the ship via boarding parties or outright just sink it to cut their losses. The GRU might actually be the delicate response and if they fail then they'll respond with brute force. There's a reason why modern pirates don't steal the ships they hijack.
>>193707
>There is not much at all you should not be able to find out just by asking.
This.
>I've been operating as if when a player drops out, their character just isn't really there. I mean, maybe it could be controlled as a DMPC, but that feels kind of cheap. On the plus side, that means that there is no need to share the loot or reward.
Fair enough. If they were DMPCs then encounters would probably scale to be harder anyway. It'll just be awkward if one of them comes back and his character just poofed out of existence.
>weapons
The four doesn't include the ATR that Cavaliere grabbed, does it? Anyway it's not a lot but it will help.
>I feel like two rifles were picked up at about the first encounter with Kostroma survivors at the village, but honestly I don't feel confident of that.
As the GM it's up to you to make a decision on that. I think that Kostroma survivors would pick up the weapons of their comrades even if they're not actively looting the battlefield.
Anyway the confirmed boarding party will be:
PCs + Mala (who I assume are all adequately armed, though I have not seen much taking of inventory which I once again urge)
Blackheel
Lieutenant Stained Sand
Johan Bøkli
Blackheel might want to take a rifle in addition to his revolver. Stained Sand has his SMG. Bøkli would have to take a rifle too. That leaves five spare rifles. We might get additional boarding members, maybe a pirate and a scientist, but I don't know if they would take weapons. It's not a lot of firepower but if we go for the "shoot into the cargo hold" stratagem we could also hoist one of the machine guns.
>>193708
>losing character notes
Tell me about it. Never forget to backup regularly.
But yes, me want Zara
>>193709
>I don't know if these ponies would know how to use slings accurately.
The griffins should be proficient in simple weapons because they are whalers. The soldiers should be proficient in simple weapons because that's a precursor to martial weaponry.
Anyone can be expected to be proficient in clubs and slings.
>if it does view him as disposable it can simply call our bluff. We would still be no worse off I suppose.
That would give us valuable information in that killing him is not a win condition.
Besides, I still want to torture him anyway. He's super annoying.
>busted
It was only +1 luck bonus to AC for the day.
>Wouldn't they be more motivated to keep news of it from getting out? They might try to recapture the ship via boarding parties or outright just sink it to cut their losses. The GRU might actually be the delicate response and if they fail then they'll respond with brute force.
I doubt it, tbh. They wouldn't even know where we are until we already set sail, and once we sail a short distance into New Mareland territory they can't follow is unless they want all-out war.
>I think that Kostroma survivors would pick up the weapons of their comrades even if they're not actively looting the battlefield.
I think this too. It's what any competent soldier would do.
>I don't know if these ponies would know how to use slings accurately.
The griffins should be proficient in simple weapons because they are whalers. The soldiers should be proficient in simple weapons because that's a precursor to martial weaponry.
Anyone can be expected to be proficient in clubs and slings.
>if it does view him as disposable it can simply call our bluff. We would still be no worse off I suppose.
That would give us valuable information in that killing him is not a win condition.
Besides, I still want to torture him anyway. He's super annoying.
>busted
It was only +1 luck bonus to AC for the day.
>Wouldn't they be more motivated to keep news of it from getting out? They might try to recapture the ship via boarding parties or outright just sink it to cut their losses. The GRU might actually be the delicate response and if they fail then they'll respond with brute force.
I doubt it, tbh. They wouldn't even know where we are until we already set sail, and once we sail a short distance into New Mareland territory they can't follow is unless they want all-out war.
>I think that Kostroma survivors would pick up the weapons of their comrades even if they're not actively looting the battlefield.
I think this too. It's what any competent soldier would do.
I am slightly confused. Has our plan changed since the lights went out?
GM, during the Curwhinny's farm exploration, we established that Posey's horn glow does not produce enough light for Gloomy to see in a small room, but could her horn glow still be enough to make visible gestures for two other characters to follow her at close range in the darkness? Just a tiny glowing point for other characters to follow and not get separated.
I kind of don't know how unicorn horns work in this game at all.
I kind of don't know how unicorn horns work in this game at all.
>>193737
Mine/ours hasn't, but Silver's player wants to take the engineers in. It's risky and I'd rather wait on that, but getting the lights back on would help us out a lot.
Mine/ours hasn't, but Silver's player wants to take the engineers in. It's risky and I'd rather wait on that, but getting the lights back on would help us out a lot.
>>193741
I think capturing Light Water in darkness would be better. If we can't see, then neither can his minions.
I think capturing Light Water in darkness would be better. If we can't see, then neither can his minions.
Okay, now that I've thought on it it makes sense to use the torpedo boat as our escape vehicle, it makes sense especially since GM pone probably it there for a reason beyond just providing Silver with a potential zebra waifu.
I will say, however, that I do have one major issue with our current plan for Light Water: if GM pone intended him to be the boss battle, then we might be screwed if we only send a couple of people in to try to capture him. Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities, and it's possible one of those is the ability to see in the dark.
I will say, however, that I do have one major issue with our current plan for Light Water: if GM pone intended him to be the boss battle, then we might be screwed if we only send a couple of people in to try to capture him. Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities, and it's possible one of those is the ability to see in the dark.
>>193745
>it makes sense especially since GM pone probably it there for a reason beyond just providing Silver with a potential zebra waifu.
And here I thought it was put there soley so Cavaliere could wield a bigger gun.
Sarcasm aside, we're incredibly lucky to have this boat without any serious casualties. I do think we can expect pursuit if we took a slower craft so this is the "safe" option.
>if GM pone intended him to be the boss battle, then we might be screwed if we only send a couple of people in to try to capture him. Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities, and it's possible one of those is the ability to see in the dark.
I think he will be a mini-boss similar to but tougher to that one dying pony that was turned into some kind of strider. Any other speculation is up in the air. I actually don't think stealth matters since the Fellow Traveler seems to know where we are at all times, even if it can't read our minds directly. This is why I originally wanted to take a group of eight or ten since that would probably be optimal in this sort of environment. However, even though we have not fully committed to our current not-plan (it just sort of emerged as a compromise) I don't know if it's worth changing it now. Our group of four going after Light Water is well-equipped and capable, and if you do want to restore the lights then what you have should be sufficient considering it probably is lower risk. You have another group of four fighting creatures (Silver, Mala, Sand, and Bøkli) protecting the technicians. I know "don't split the party" is a wise adage to follow, but I get the sense that GM Pony is taking time more seriously now. If we don't split the party, either we have to do everything completely in the dark (though the sp00kiness might be fun) or we spend time we don't have getting the ship running while Light Water, the Fellow Traveler, and the GRU do whatever.
>it makes sense especially since GM pone probably it there for a reason beyond just providing Silver with a potential zebra waifu.
And here I thought it was put there soley so Cavaliere could wield a bigger gun.
Sarcasm aside, we're incredibly lucky to have this boat without any serious casualties. I do think we can expect pursuit if we took a slower craft so this is the "safe" option.
>if GM pone intended him to be the boss battle, then we might be screwed if we only send a couple of people in to try to capture him. Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities, and it's possible one of those is the ability to see in the dark.
I think he will be a mini-boss similar to but tougher to that one dying pony that was turned into some kind of strider. Any other speculation is up in the air. I actually don't think stealth matters since the Fellow Traveler seems to know where we are at all times, even if it can't read our minds directly. This is why I originally wanted to take a group of eight or ten since that would probably be optimal in this sort of environment. However, even though we have not fully committed to our current not-plan (it just sort of emerged as a compromise) I don't know if it's worth changing it now. Our group of four going after Light Water is well-equipped and capable, and if you do want to restore the lights then what you have should be sufficient considering it probably is lower risk. You have another group of four fighting creatures (Silver, Mala, Sand, and Bøkli) protecting the technicians. I know "don't split the party" is a wise adage to follow, but I get the sense that GM Pony is taking time more seriously now. If we don't split the party, either we have to do everything completely in the dark (though the sp00kiness might be fun) or we spend time we don't have getting the ship running while Light Water, the Fellow Traveler, and the GRU do whatever.
>>193745
>Okay, now that I've thought on it it makes sense to use the torpedo boat as our escape vehicle
I still want you seize the Kostroma if possible.
>, it makes sense especially since GM pone probably it there for a reason
Yeah, obviously.
>I will say, however, that I do have one major issue with our current plan for Light Water
Three creatures is only slightly less than a full party.
>Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities
There is very little he could do while grappled by a creature larger than him, so if we get the element of surprise we could end the fight pretty quickly, which means it is preferable to send a team of creatures proficient in stealth.
Furthermore, only Posey and Kira have sensory abilities to trump the darkness.
>This is why I originally wanted to take a group of eight or ten since that would probably be optimal in this sort of environment.
I am not keen on bringing a bunch of NPCs with unknown stats on the assassination quest.
>Our group of four going after Light Water
I thought it was three?
>Okay, now that I've thought on it it makes sense to use the torpedo boat as our escape vehicle
I still want you seize the Kostroma if possible.
>, it makes sense especially since GM pone probably it there for a reason
Yeah, obviously.
>I will say, however, that I do have one major issue with our current plan for Light Water
Three creatures is only slightly less than a full party.
>Odds are the Traveler is probably granting him some abilities
There is very little he could do while grappled by a creature larger than him, so if we get the element of surprise we could end the fight pretty quickly, which means it is preferable to send a team of creatures proficient in stealth.
Furthermore, only Posey and Kira have sensory abilities to trump the darkness.
>This is why I originally wanted to take a group of eight or ten since that would probably be optimal in this sort of environment.
I am not keen on bringing a bunch of NPCs with unknown stats on the assassination quest.
>Our group of four going after Light Water
I thought it was three?
>>193747
>I thought it was three?
Initially but it makes sense to bring Blackheel along since this is personal to him and he is guaranteed to fight well, even if we don't know how good his stealth stats are. Also he is the only one who we can guarantee can run a military-style radio to keep in contact with the two other groups. Probably should have set up call-signs
>I thought it was three?
Initially but it makes sense to bring Blackheel along since this is personal to him and he is guaranteed to fight well, even if we don't know how good his stealth stats are. Also he is the only one who we can guarantee can run a military-style radio to keep in contact with the two other groups. Probably should have set up call-signs
>>193758
I know I have been pushing us to get this done, but I'm having second thoughts. I don't know how useful stealth will be in the main deckhouse nor if we're prepared tactically. I don't think Kira can fight much in melee besides grappling. Both Blackheel and Cavaliere have only revolvers for close-quarters and their rifles will be cumbersome to use. Cavaliere's especially since if he doesn't have a surface he has to go prone just to shoot his anti-tank rifle, if he chooses to use it.
Silver's group is going to be very strong at close-quarters combat and may even be overtuned for this sort of mission. I believe he has a SMG himself and two NPCs with him will also have close-quarters weapons. Going by >>193611 →, the spaces they're going into are about twenty to thirty feet across. That's still small, but they may have fewer corners and rooms to worry about. Maybe we should do a quick swap? I just can't see Light Water either being taken easily or by surprise. He knows we're coming.
I know I have been pushing us to get this done, but I'm having second thoughts. I don't know how useful stealth will be in the main deckhouse nor if we're prepared tactically. I don't think Kira can fight much in melee besides grappling. Both Blackheel and Cavaliere have only revolvers for close-quarters and their rifles will be cumbersome to use. Cavaliere's especially since if he doesn't have a surface he has to go prone just to shoot his anti-tank rifle, if he chooses to use it.
Silver's group is going to be very strong at close-quarters combat and may even be overtuned for this sort of mission. I believe he has a SMG himself and two NPCs with him will also have close-quarters weapons. Going by >>193611 →, the spaces they're going into are about twenty to thirty feet across. That's still small, but they may have fewer corners and rooms to worry about. Maybe we should do a quick swap? I just can't see Light Water either being taken easily or by surprise. He knows we're coming.
>>193760
>I don't know how useful stealth will be in the main deckhouse
At the very least, it gives us the option to simply run past monsters, because if we leave the range of their darkvision it would be hard for them to pursue us unless they can track by scent.
>I don't think Kira can fight much in melee besides grappling.
Kira is a Ranger just like you, with high strength: She can do archery just fine.
Also, she has the scent ability, and combined with survival ranks and the Track feat she can use it to allow us to avoid encounters entirely and find an efficient route to our objective. Scent also trumps scent and prevents enemies from having surprise rounds.
Furthermore, I want a large grappler with large size who can grab Light Water to prevent him from casting any spells, spell like abilities, or psionic powers. With Kira's size, reach, and high Dex+scent (more likely to win initiative), she is a good candidate.
It he has Cleric abilities, a melee combatant to disarm him of his Holy Symbol might render him powerless.
Furthermore, although Light Water might have spells or supernatural powers, the Armor Class of humanoids doesn't really scale at all beyond equipment, which means he should be vulnerable to strangulation. His HP can't possibly be that high either unless sporadically turns into a literal monster (which is possible).
I would bring monstro for the job if it were not a stealth mission.
>Both Blackheel and Cavaliere have only revolvers for close-quarters
Don't revolvers do 2d8 damage with no reload action? With Rapid Shot, you're firing three bullets per round with 2d8 damage each, more with Point Blank shot.
It we're in close quarters, that means that the monsters would only be medium size, which also means they might be monsters that we can just push past since their reach shouldn't be too large.
>Cavaliere's especially since if he doesn't have a surface he has to go prone just to shoot his anti-tank rifle
If you want, you can just use Posey's back as a weapon mount. She is a horse, and she has plenty of carrying capacity left for it.
Protip: to carry your equipment, consider buying a war dog.
>Silver's group is going to be very strong at close-quarters combat and may even be overtuned for this sort of mission.
Tbh, I would rather have Silver than Blackheel. I do not know Blackheel's statistics, and I think he would be better off leading his own soldiers and readying them for the assault. I would have preferred to keep Silver AND Blackheel together with the forces on the deck though, to defend and marshal the herd, just because Silver was so afraid of leaving NPCs unattended.
Then again, Blackheel knows the ship better than we do, and I would assume that he's the highest level NPC here (seemingly a multiclass Fighter/Wizard), so maybe we are better off with him.
>the spaces they're going into are about twenty to thirty feet across
These are normal dungeon conditions.
>I just can't see Light Water either being taken easily or by surprise. He knows we're coming.
Yeah, this is probably true. It's how all RPG bosses work. Even when the rogue rolls perfect stealth, they turn around and say they've been expecting you before monologuing as a free action.
Still, I think we're overthinking this. This is just a game. It's meant to be beatable, and there are probably multiple ways to beat it. It's not that our decisions don't matter, but we shouldn't be so paranoid because I don't think feats of tactical genius are going to be pivotal to the quest being won. Maybe that's metagaming, but this game is made for us to win, so we shouldn't be too paranoid about it.
Tbh, all of this tactical stalling and doompauling almost makes me regret making the OOC thread. We should just commit to what we're doing and play the game already.
>I don't know how useful stealth will be in the main deckhouse
At the very least, it gives us the option to simply run past monsters, because if we leave the range of their darkvision it would be hard for them to pursue us unless they can track by scent.
>I don't think Kira can fight much in melee besides grappling.
Kira is a Ranger just like you, with high strength: She can do archery just fine.
Also, she has the scent ability, and combined with survival ranks and the Track feat she can use it to allow us to avoid encounters entirely and find an efficient route to our objective. Scent also trumps scent and prevents enemies from having surprise rounds.
Furthermore, I want a large grappler with large size who can grab Light Water to prevent him from casting any spells, spell like abilities, or psionic powers. With Kira's size, reach, and high Dex+scent (more likely to win initiative), she is a good candidate.
It he has Cleric abilities, a melee combatant to disarm him of his Holy Symbol might render him powerless.
Furthermore, although Light Water might have spells or supernatural powers, the Armor Class of humanoids doesn't really scale at all beyond equipment, which means he should be vulnerable to strangulation. His HP can't possibly be that high either unless sporadically turns into a literal monster (which is possible).
I would bring monstro for the job if it were not a stealth mission.
>Both Blackheel and Cavaliere have only revolvers for close-quarters
Don't revolvers do 2d8 damage with no reload action? With Rapid Shot, you're firing three bullets per round with 2d8 damage each, more with Point Blank shot.
It we're in close quarters, that means that the monsters would only be medium size, which also means they might be monsters that we can just push past since their reach shouldn't be too large.
>Cavaliere's especially since if he doesn't have a surface he has to go prone just to shoot his anti-tank rifle
If you want, you can just use Posey's back as a weapon mount. She is a horse, and she has plenty of carrying capacity left for it.
Protip: to carry your equipment, consider buying a war dog.
>Silver's group is going to be very strong at close-quarters combat and may even be overtuned for this sort of mission.
Tbh, I would rather have Silver than Blackheel. I do not know Blackheel's statistics, and I think he would be better off leading his own soldiers and readying them for the assault. I would have preferred to keep Silver AND Blackheel together with the forces on the deck though, to defend and marshal the herd, just because Silver was so afraid of leaving NPCs unattended.
Then again, Blackheel knows the ship better than we do, and I would assume that he's the highest level NPC here (seemingly a multiclass Fighter/Wizard), so maybe we are better off with him.
>the spaces they're going into are about twenty to thirty feet across
These are normal dungeon conditions.
>I just can't see Light Water either being taken easily or by surprise. He knows we're coming.
Yeah, this is probably true. It's how all RPG bosses work. Even when the rogue rolls perfect stealth, they turn around and say they've been expecting you before monologuing as a free action.
Still, I think we're overthinking this. This is just a game. It's meant to be beatable, and there are probably multiple ways to beat it. It's not that our decisions don't matter, but we shouldn't be so paranoid because I don't think feats of tactical genius are going to be pivotal to the quest being won. Maybe that's metagaming, but this game is made for us to win, so we shouldn't be too paranoid about it.
Tbh, all of this tactical stalling and doompauling almost makes me regret making the OOC thread. We should just commit to what we're doing and play the game already.
>>193761
>At the very least, it gives us the option to simply run past monsters, because if we leave the range of their darkvision it would be hard for them to pursue us unless they can track by scent.
My fear is that for those of us who are living, we can be sensed at any time by the Fellow Traveler and since he runs a hivemind he can just send his forces at us whenever he wants. However it knowing our location has not been confirmed, so you might be right and for that reason we shouldn't forfeit our advantage.
>Kira
Those are good points. Also the grappling alone is worth it because otherwise it will be exceptionally difficult to capture Light Water alive. Cavaliere would have to punch him until he was incapacitated which would take a while.
>I would bring monstro for the job if it were not a stealth mission.
We will be indoors so I don't know what he could do except look scary.
>With Rapid Shot, you're firing three bullets per round with 2d8 damage each, more with Point Blank shot.
It's two rounds unless if revolvers operate off different rules compared to bows (which would make them even more powerful). Now you're tempting me with a pure ranger build that has manyshot. It's a shame unarmed proficiency is a must-have for this character concept.
>Protip: to carry your equipment, consider buying a war dog.
That is a good option for a ranger in a city. Are there dog whistles in the game that allow one to summon the dog from a distance?
>If you want, you can just use Posey's back as a weapon mount. She is a horse, and she has plenty of carrying capacity left for it.
I might just take you up on that offer. I hope she doesn't mind her undead ears ringing. The disadvantage is that she has to stay still for Cavaliere to fire. Or maybe not; it depends on how movement and attack rounds work.
>Tbh, I would rather have Silver than Blackheel. I do not know Blackheel's statistics, and I think he would be better off leading his own soldiers and readying them for the assault.
You are correct from a gameplay perspective but thematically I think everypony will be left disappointed if Blackheel can't confront Light Water. If it weren't for that I would swap out Blackheel for the Lieutenant since has a SMG. We've had no luck in peeling Silver away from Zara.
>Even when the rogue rolls perfect stealth, they turn around and say they've been expecting you before monologuing as a free action.
Probably, but performing an Irish Candyman and telling him we were coming to kill him was the wrong move.
>Tbh, all of this tactical stalling and doompauling almost makes me regret making the OOC thread. We should just commit to what we're doing and play the game already.
I agree. Also I thought about it last night and there's no party restructuring that would be a benefit. All of the party going after Light Water are best suited for that mission, so we can't "trade" one. We could peel away one of the boiler room team like Lieutenant Sand, but it would be leaving that team more vulnerable and I don't think they'll be left unmolested.
I think the only thing we really need at this point is apportioning the medical supplies Cavaliere found, because we will need them.
>At the very least, it gives us the option to simply run past monsters, because if we leave the range of their darkvision it would be hard for them to pursue us unless they can track by scent.
My fear is that for those of us who are living, we can be sensed at any time by the Fellow Traveler and since he runs a hivemind he can just send his forces at us whenever he wants. However it knowing our location has not been confirmed, so you might be right and for that reason we shouldn't forfeit our advantage.
>Kira
Those are good points. Also the grappling alone is worth it because otherwise it will be exceptionally difficult to capture Light Water alive. Cavaliere would have to punch him until he was incapacitated which would take a while.
>I would bring monstro for the job if it were not a stealth mission.
We will be indoors so I don't know what he could do except look scary.
>With Rapid Shot, you're firing three bullets per round with 2d8 damage each, more with Point Blank shot.
It's two rounds unless if revolvers operate off different rules compared to bows (which would make them even more powerful). Now you're tempting me with a pure ranger build that has manyshot. It's a shame unarmed proficiency is a must-have for this character concept.
>Protip: to carry your equipment, consider buying a war dog.
That is a good option for a ranger in a city. Are there dog whistles in the game that allow one to summon the dog from a distance?
>If you want, you can just use Posey's back as a weapon mount. She is a horse, and she has plenty of carrying capacity left for it.
I might just take you up on that offer. I hope she doesn't mind her undead ears ringing. The disadvantage is that she has to stay still for Cavaliere to fire. Or maybe not; it depends on how movement and attack rounds work.
>Tbh, I would rather have Silver than Blackheel. I do not know Blackheel's statistics, and I think he would be better off leading his own soldiers and readying them for the assault.
You are correct from a gameplay perspective but thematically I think everypony will be left disappointed if Blackheel can't confront Light Water. If it weren't for that I would swap out Blackheel for the Lieutenant since has a SMG. We've had no luck in peeling Silver away from Zara.
>Even when the rogue rolls perfect stealth, they turn around and say they've been expecting you before monologuing as a free action.
Probably, but performing an Irish Candyman and telling him we were coming to kill him was the wrong move.
>Tbh, all of this tactical stalling and doompauling almost makes me regret making the OOC thread. We should just commit to what we're doing and play the game already.
I agree. Also I thought about it last night and there's no party restructuring that would be a benefit. All of the party going after Light Water are best suited for that mission, so we can't "trade" one. We could peel away one of the boiler room team like Lieutenant Sand, but it would be leaving that team more vulnerable and I don't think they'll be left unmolested.
I think the only thing we really need at this point is apportioning the medical supplies Cavaliere found, because we will need them.
Is the attitude towards time because of the earlier statements about time pressure, or because of a desire to get the quest over with and leave? I feel like there's a difference between time spent to pluck every single feather out of a pig sized bird, versus trying to turn the lights on or deal with minions.
>>193766
It's mainly concerns about time pressure, which were confirmed with your description of everything going dark while we were talking, which has been treated as a free action for the most part. I would be lying though if I said I wasn't eager to finally get to the action after so much build up.
Also I don't know what Posey was trying with an attempted Hannibal Lecter scene in a limited time span, in the open, in view of multiple witnesses. Or with Silver going to scrub the decks with his future paramore.
As for planning and dealing with minions, we did spend a good amount of time and hashed out something resembling a plan. It's more of a compromise really; I wanted a special forces-style breach-and-clear, Posey wanted a massed assault directly from the top of the ship, and Silver wanted a meticulous exploration with the entire retinue. We're all getting part of what we want and despite all the last-minute adjustments I hope we didn't miss anything egregious. Besides, of course, the lack of inventory-taking. After you had to bring up our lack of looting I realized we messed up and wanted to ensure all capable creatures are somewhat armed. Even more important is the medical supplies and the radios. We have three radios so far which should be sufficient, but the amount of healing that Cavaliere collected was never quantified or distributed. I'll just assume Silver or one of his group has some and Blackheel has some.
It's annoying but after saying stuff like "Hey bringing the traumatized mare near an enemy that attacks psychically is a bad idea" and "Please go over inventories like I did for Cavaliere so we know what we have" multiple times and being ignored you just throw your hands up and go ahead anyway. Simple posts responding to those concerns would have been worth a hundred posts talking about hunches and psychological profiles of the GM.
It's mainly concerns about time pressure, which were confirmed with your description of everything going dark while we were talking, which has been treated as a free action for the most part. I would be lying though if I said I wasn't eager to finally get to the action after so much build up.
Also I don't know what Posey was trying with an attempted Hannibal Lecter scene in a limited time span, in the open, in view of multiple witnesses. Or with Silver going to scrub the decks with his future paramore.
As for planning and dealing with minions, we did spend a good amount of time and hashed out something resembling a plan. It's more of a compromise really; I wanted a special forces-style breach-and-clear, Posey wanted a massed assault directly from the top of the ship, and Silver wanted a meticulous exploration with the entire retinue. We're all getting part of what we want and despite all the last-minute adjustments I hope we didn't miss anything egregious. Besides, of course, the lack of inventory-taking. After you had to bring up our lack of looting I realized we messed up and wanted to ensure all capable creatures are somewhat armed. Even more important is the medical supplies and the radios. We have three radios so far which should be sufficient, but the amount of healing that Cavaliere collected was never quantified or distributed. I'll just assume Silver or one of his group has some and Blackheel has some.
It's annoying but after saying stuff like "Hey bringing the traumatized mare near an enemy that attacks psychically is a bad idea" and "Please go over inventories like I did for Cavaliere so we know what we have" multiple times and being ignored you just throw your hands up and go ahead anyway. Simple posts responding to those concerns would have been worth a hundred posts talking about hunches and psychological profiles of the GM.
>>193763
>It's two rounds unless if compared to bows
Rapid Shot applies to pretty much any ranged weapon so long as it doesn't need to be reloaded every round, and a revolver has 6 bullets.
>revolvers operate off different rules
It would be nice if we could clarify how firearms work in this game.
>We will be indoors so I don't know what he could do except look scary.
Smash through a window and use it's long reach to pull the target out.
>Now you're tempting me with a pure ranger build that has manyshot.
Manyshot only works with bows, not guns. It's good for Ranger/Scout builds though, particularly with Greater Manyshot, Flyby Attack and Swift Hunter.
>It's a shame unarmed proficiency is a must-have for this character concept.
What is your character concept anyway?
If you want, I could help you edit/remake your sheet after we level up.
>Are there dog whistles in the game that allow one to summon the dog from a distance?
Yes.
>I hope she doesn't mind her undead ears ringing
She does, but whatever. Deafness from sound is a fortitude save anyway, so she wouldn't be hurt.
>thematically I think everypony will be left disappointed if Blackheel can't confront Light Water.
This is our story, not Blackheel's.
Besides, I want to capture him and sacrifice him later, so Blackheel would still get to see him.
>We've had no luck in peeling Silver away from Zara.
You know, I have refrained from taking my minions into EVERY encounter, even though I did not have to...
>performing an Irish Candyman and telling him we were coming to kill him was the wrong move.
He already knows that anyway.
>apportioning the medical supplies Cavaliere found, because we will need them
Don't even bother with using those. It takes like an hour to get even the most minor benefit from that skill.
>>193764
I was tired and not thinking straight. Also the sheer number of uncontrolled NPCs and the probability of enemies likey just appearing out of thin sir around us instead of waiting for us in room made me think of it more as a mass combat battlefield kind of encounter than a careful room-by-room crawl. It's just not what I'm used into, at least not in play-by-post. Not necessarily bad, but I was just approaching it differently.
To me, I would normally approach a dungeon crawl from a completionist perspective, going room by room, taking time, lost resting at any opportunity, and having some confidence that most of the encounters are self-contained in their rooms aside from the occasional wandering monster roll every twelve hours. In this case, the monsters seem to just be appearing wherever we are, and time is of the essence, so I was approaching more like a blitzkrieg or an assassination mission, to get the quest objective as quickly as possible and enemy fewer opportunities to attack us.
>>193766
>>193769
Idk how time passes. I just want to go adventuring.
I was only doing the bird plucking thing because I was bored and I didn't know how to advance the plot without another three weeks of tactical debate, so I made my character busy in an unserious manner. Logically, time is a serious pressure, but when we spend months irl debating what direction to walk in my immersion wanes and I get distracted and just try to do something for the sake of doing something; in-character our characters should be in a hurry, but out of character it has been over a year. I have now on at least five occasions tried to make Posey board the Kostroma and begin the crawl, but it keeps getting buried in paranoid tactical debate before any of my actions or other attempts to take initiative are canonized. I really think we have to figure out how to cut down this much discussion time and move the story forward if we want to be able to go on more adventures together after this.
I will try harder though.
>It's two rounds unless if compared to bows
Rapid Shot applies to pretty much any ranged weapon so long as it doesn't need to be reloaded every round, and a revolver has 6 bullets.
>revolvers operate off different rules
It would be nice if we could clarify how firearms work in this game.
>We will be indoors so I don't know what he could do except look scary.
Smash through a window and use it's long reach to pull the target out.
>Now you're tempting me with a pure ranger build that has manyshot.
Manyshot only works with bows, not guns. It's good for Ranger/Scout builds though, particularly with Greater Manyshot, Flyby Attack and Swift Hunter.
>It's a shame unarmed proficiency is a must-have for this character concept.
What is your character concept anyway?
If you want, I could help you edit/remake your sheet after we level up.
>Are there dog whistles in the game that allow one to summon the dog from a distance?
Yes.
>I hope she doesn't mind her undead ears ringing
She does, but whatever. Deafness from sound is a fortitude save anyway, so she wouldn't be hurt.
>thematically I think everypony will be left disappointed if Blackheel can't confront Light Water.
This is our story, not Blackheel's.
Besides, I want to capture him and sacrifice him later, so Blackheel would still get to see him.
>We've had no luck in peeling Silver away from Zara.
You know, I have refrained from taking my minions into EVERY encounter, even though I did not have to...
>performing an Irish Candyman and telling him we were coming to kill him was the wrong move.
He already knows that anyway.
>apportioning the medical supplies Cavaliere found, because we will need them
Don't even bother with using those. It takes like an hour to get even the most minor benefit from that skill.
>>193764
I was tired and not thinking straight. Also the sheer number of uncontrolled NPCs and the probability of enemies likey just appearing out of thin sir around us instead of waiting for us in room made me think of it more as a mass combat battlefield kind of encounter than a careful room-by-room crawl. It's just not what I'm used into, at least not in play-by-post. Not necessarily bad, but I was just approaching it differently.
To me, I would normally approach a dungeon crawl from a completionist perspective, going room by room, taking time, lost resting at any opportunity, and having some confidence that most of the encounters are self-contained in their rooms aside from the occasional wandering monster roll every twelve hours. In this case, the monsters seem to just be appearing wherever we are, and time is of the essence, so I was approaching more like a blitzkrieg or an assassination mission, to get the quest objective as quickly as possible and enemy fewer opportunities to attack us.
>>193766
>>193769
Idk how time passes. I just want to go adventuring.
I was only doing the bird plucking thing because I was bored and I didn't know how to advance the plot without another three weeks of tactical debate, so I made my character busy in an unserious manner. Logically, time is a serious pressure, but when we spend months irl debating what direction to walk in my immersion wanes and I get distracted and just try to do something for the sake of doing something; in-character our characters should be in a hurry, but out of character it has been over a year. I have now on at least five occasions tried to make Posey board the Kostroma and begin the crawl, but it keeps getting buried in paranoid tactical debate before any of my actions or other attempts to take initiative are canonized. I really think we have to figure out how to cut down this much discussion time and move the story forward if we want to be able to go on more adventures together after this.
I will try harder though.
>>193770
Okay. I hate going for the dragon first, I hate splitting the party, and I especially hate doing both simultaneously which just seems extremely unwise, but sure, go ahead
Okay. I hate going for the dragon first, I hate splitting the party, and I especially hate doing both simultaneously which just seems extremely unwise, but sure, go ahead
>>193770
>Manyshot only works with bows, not guns.
Does it? Maybe I should refer to the DnD Modern feat set.
>What is your character concept anyway?
https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2018/08/wire-paladin-san-francisco.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Gun_%E2%80%93_Will_Travel#Paladin
Obviously my character is not a one-to-one equivalent, and cannot conceivably be under the DnD ruleset, but the general concept is a highly skilled gunfighter/ranger who is also skilled at fisticuffs as a nonlethal option of resolving conflicts.
>Don't even bother with using those. It takes like an hour to get even the most minor benefit from that skill.
I know some potions were included in there. Also going by Silver's various adventures (he gets shot a lot) regular medical supplies seem to have some effect in the short-term. I don't know what the mechanics are.
>Logically, time is a serious pressure, but when we spend months irl debating what direction to walk in my immersion wanes and I get distracted and just try to do something for the sake of doing something; in-character our characters should be in a hurry, but out of character it has been over a year. I have now on at least five occasions tried to make Posey board the Kostroma and begin the crawl, but it keeps getting buried in paranoid tactical debate before any of my actions or other attempts to take initiative are canonized. I really think we have to figure out how to cut down this much discussion time and move the story forward if we want to be able to go on more adventures together after this.
This is very reasonable. However, it hasn't been very long since we took over the boat, and since this is the climax of the mission I think a little bit of preparation and planning is warranted. Hang in there, pony.
>>193772
>I hate going for the dragon first
If there is a specific order you want the party to approach the mission in, it's your job as GM to give us hints on what to do. Despite our general retardation you've been pretty good at that so far: we investigated the whalers first, then searched one village, then found our main objective (the airponies), then located the rest of the airponies with a great deal of effort. All this time there's been a buildup of tension regarding the GRU on one side and the Fellow Traveler on the other, which has lent a nice touch to the atmosphere.
However since you wisely kept the Fellow Traveler very mysterious and with no definitive way to defeat him, we have relegated him to final boss status and want to improve our odds however possible. This is why we are going after Light Water, who we know to be capturable or at least killable, and relighting the boiler, so we won't be surprised in the dark by dark-visioned spawns. I hate splitting the party too and if I had to choose between Light Water and the boiler, I would go after the scientist and then fight the Fellow Traveler in the dark/with whatever light sources we have. However other PCs have the idea of the Kostroma being somehow salvageable, though this was never encouraged, and you strongly implied that if we don't relight the boiler now then we won't have any chance later. So to compromise we came up with the two group strategy. However the vulnerability of each group is obvious. The ship is far from empty and besides spawns that can appear anywhere there's an unknown number of controlled ponies still aboard. With only four fighters each and no grenades we could get charged and die.
While I don't share illusions of saving the Kostroma and think we could manage in the dark, I would relinquish my conniptions and just go to the boiler with the entire group. I don't think it's the best option but it may be better than splitting the party. I don't know when or how we would deal with Light Water at that point.
>Manyshot only works with bows, not guns.
Does it? Maybe I should refer to the DnD Modern feat set.
>What is your character concept anyway?
https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2018/08/wire-paladin-san-francisco.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Gun_%E2%80%93_Will_Travel#Paladin
Obviously my character is not a one-to-one equivalent, and cannot conceivably be under the DnD ruleset, but the general concept is a highly skilled gunfighter/ranger who is also skilled at fisticuffs as a nonlethal option of resolving conflicts.
>Don't even bother with using those. It takes like an hour to get even the most minor benefit from that skill.
I know some potions were included in there. Also going by Silver's various adventures (he gets shot a lot) regular medical supplies seem to have some effect in the short-term. I don't know what the mechanics are.
>Logically, time is a serious pressure, but when we spend months irl debating what direction to walk in my immersion wanes and I get distracted and just try to do something for the sake of doing something; in-character our characters should be in a hurry, but out of character it has been over a year. I have now on at least five occasions tried to make Posey board the Kostroma and begin the crawl, but it keeps getting buried in paranoid tactical debate before any of my actions or other attempts to take initiative are canonized. I really think we have to figure out how to cut down this much discussion time and move the story forward if we want to be able to go on more adventures together after this.
This is very reasonable. However, it hasn't been very long since we took over the boat, and since this is the climax of the mission I think a little bit of preparation and planning is warranted. Hang in there, pony.
>>193772
>I hate going for the dragon first
If there is a specific order you want the party to approach the mission in, it's your job as GM to give us hints on what to do. Despite our general retardation you've been pretty good at that so far: we investigated the whalers first, then searched one village, then found our main objective (the airponies), then located the rest of the airponies with a great deal of effort. All this time there's been a buildup of tension regarding the GRU on one side and the Fellow Traveler on the other, which has lent a nice touch to the atmosphere.
However since you wisely kept the Fellow Traveler very mysterious and with no definitive way to defeat him, we have relegated him to final boss status and want to improve our odds however possible. This is why we are going after Light Water, who we know to be capturable or at least killable, and relighting the boiler, so we won't be surprised in the dark by dark-visioned spawns. I hate splitting the party too and if I had to choose between Light Water and the boiler, I would go after the scientist and then fight the Fellow Traveler in the dark/with whatever light sources we have. However other PCs have the idea of the Kostroma being somehow salvageable, though this was never encouraged, and you strongly implied that if we don't relight the boiler now then we won't have any chance later. So to compromise we came up with the two group strategy. However the vulnerability of each group is obvious. The ship is far from empty and besides spawns that can appear anywhere there's an unknown number of controlled ponies still aboard. With only four fighters each and no grenades we could get charged and die.
While I don't share illusions of saving the Kostroma and think we could manage in the dark, I would relinquish my conniptions and just go to the boiler with the entire group. I don't think it's the best option but it may be better than splitting the party. I don't know when or how we would deal with Light Water at that point.
>>193776
>If there is a specific order you want the party to approach the mission in, it's your job as GM to give us hints on what to do.
But I’ve given hints. I’ve given many, many hints. I’ve even explicitly said things and been still ignored. Blackheel has outright said “don’t attack Lightwater without everything you have.” Ignored. Pipette says that the Traveller’s powers are tied to the number of followers, so the best move is to eliminate all followers - which means clear out the ship of Petrushkas, then attack the Traveller. I had the lights go out, which means go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller. All of this has been ignored. I have done every tiny little thing I possibly could to say “just go inside the ship, look around, fight off enthralled sailors, then kill Lightwater in what’s probably the big boss battle, then deal with the Traveller’s last hurrah and end him.
I think it’s pretty obvious that that isn’t what the players want to do. They don’t want to explore the ship, they want to get in and get out. I mean… okay? I think I can redo things. It’s a different kind of approach. But I can work with that, I think. If you want to truncate it, we can do that.
>If there is a specific order you want the party to approach the mission in, it's your job as GM to give us hints on what to do.
But I’ve given hints. I’ve given many, many hints. I’ve even explicitly said things and been still ignored. Blackheel has outright said “don’t attack Lightwater without everything you have.” Ignored. Pipette says that the Traveller’s powers are tied to the number of followers, so the best move is to eliminate all followers - which means clear out the ship of Petrushkas, then attack the Traveller. I had the lights go out, which means go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller. All of this has been ignored. I have done every tiny little thing I possibly could to say “just go inside the ship, look around, fight off enthralled sailors, then kill Lightwater in what’s probably the big boss battle, then deal with the Traveller’s last hurrah and end him.
I think it’s pretty obvious that that isn’t what the players want to do. They don’t want to explore the ship, they want to get in and get out. I mean… okay? I think I can redo things. It’s a different kind of approach. But I can work with that, I think. If you want to truncate it, we can do that.
>>193777
>I had the lights go out, which means go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller.
Okay, let's do that.
Off to the boiler room we go.
>“don’t attack Lightwater without everything you have.”
Okay, everyone comes. Simple as.
>so the best move is to eliminate all followers - which means clear out the ship of Petrushkas, then attack the Traveller
I was under the impression that Silver and Cavalier wanted to minimize casualties, but that works too.
>I had the lights go out, which means go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller.
Okay, let's do that.
Off to the boiler room we go.
>“don’t attack Lightwater without everything you have.”
Okay, everyone comes. Simple as.
>so the best move is to eliminate all followers - which means clear out the ship of Petrushkas, then attack the Traveller
I was under the impression that Silver and Cavalier wanted to minimize casualties, but that works too.
>>193777
>>193778
>I was under the impression that Silver and Cavalier wanted to minimize casualties, but that works too.
That and the time pressure that keeps getting emphasized.
>sleeping means you will get controlled and a lot of the ponies are tired
This means eliminating the Fellow Traveler before some of our retinue inevitably falls asleep and we have a second mutiny on our digits
>GRU is flooding the island with troops
This means getting off the island before we are pinned down and killed
>fighting suddenly stops on the island
This means the GRU took sufficient control and are likely massing for an assault on the Kostroma
>electricity is going out on the Kostroma and if we take too long it can't be restarted
Light is a bonus in the upcoming fights and some players want to try to capture the ship altogether
Maybe I autistically focused too hard on the "time is limited, you need to do this NOW" theme but I actually would prefer a more systematic sweep of the ship, since it's a great setpiece. I just thought it was a terrible idea given what we are dealing with. My idea was to kill the Fellow Traveler as soon as possible, loot the ship however we can, and take off in the boats.
>>193778
>I was under the impression that Silver and Cavalier wanted to minimize casualties, but that works too.
That and the time pressure that keeps getting emphasized.
>sleeping means you will get controlled and a lot of the ponies are tired
This means eliminating the Fellow Traveler before some of our retinue inevitably falls asleep and we have a second mutiny on our digits
>GRU is flooding the island with troops
This means getting off the island before we are pinned down and killed
>fighting suddenly stops on the island
This means the GRU took sufficient control and are likely massing for an assault on the Kostroma
>electricity is going out on the Kostroma and if we take too long it can't be restarted
Light is a bonus in the upcoming fights and some players want to try to capture the ship altogether
Maybe I autistically focused too hard on the "time is limited, you need to do this NOW" theme but I actually would prefer a more systematic sweep of the ship, since it's a great setpiece. I just thought it was a terrible idea given what we are dealing with. My idea was to kill the Fellow Traveler as soon as possible, loot the ship however we can, and take off in the boats.
>>193781
We already have it spelled out for us in prose:
>go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller
So that's what we will do. No more debate.
We already have it spelled out for us in prose:
>go to the boiler, then go to get Lightwater, then attack the Traveller
So that's what we will do. No more debate.
>>193781
There's also the issue of there likely being a ton of unaccounted for possessed creatures, not to mention however many summons Light Water can bring. A systemic sweep of the ship would allow us to solve at least one of those problems, rather than us getting surrounded by dozens of possessed ponies while we try to fight Light Water.
There's also the issue of there likely being a ton of unaccounted for possessed creatures, not to mention however many summons Light Water can bring. A systemic sweep of the ship would allow us to solve at least one of those problems, rather than us getting surrounded by dozens of possessed ponies while we try to fight Light Water.
>>193785
No. Rewriting the dungeon will only further delay the adventure, and probably eliminates any tactical advantage that would have come from trying to take the most direct route. Let's just do what was said with do Boiler -> Light Water -> Intruder
At first I didn't completely understand the fact that boilers could just die and be damaged beyond repair in a time sensitive fashion, so if we want to claim this ship we need to fix that immediately, and to repair it in time we would need to take all of the NPCs with us, including noncombatants like Silver's pet Zigger. It we leave the noncombatants in the boiler room to repair it thru would be in enemy territory, but Light Water and the Intruder obviously want the boiler to be repaired too, so they have no reason to attack them, and we can leave them there with confidence that they should at least be as safe there as they would be on the torpedo ship to maintain that vehicle. The airponies can decide if they want to stay on the torpedo ship or guard the noncombatants in the boiler room.
After that we go to capture Light Water. We already won't have stealth, so we may as well take all of the forces with us, including Monstro who can lift non-fliers and smash through the windows to grab anything close enough to the openings, as well as neutralize large monsters. My intent will be to render him unconscious and use him as a hostage to prevent the Intruder from summoning too many monsters between us and the cargo hold, which I could pull off with some Intimidate and Bluff checks. This could allow us to travel below deck into the cargo hold unmolested without melting a hole in the deck.
After we capture Light Water we carry him unconscious to the Intruder, and fight him however turns out to be effective. When we get to the door of the cargo hold, I could probably just cast Kelgore's Grave Mist into the room and gas all of its thralls, and then have Monstro hold the door shut: those who don't freeze to death from the mist over the course of its duration will be exhausted and be pushovers in a fight. Then we attack the monster. If the thing hatches out into some kind of aboleth-like or neolithid-like soft-bodied monstrosity, then we kill it with bullets. If it does nothing but fart out more of its psychic brain bullshit, then we put the explosive harpoon in its mouth and detonate it from the inside. Then I can sacrifice him and attempt to pray to trap the Intruder's spirit in a receptacle when its body is destroyed to prevent it from jumping to another host. If neither of those work, we retreat and leave this shithole island on the torpedo boat.
This is the simplest plan, and now obviously the intended result.
>B-b-but muh heckin' NPC deaths!
Weak members of the herd will be killed off. Two griffons with one stone.
>but what if-
Of anything else happens on the way, we improvise.
No. Rewriting the dungeon will only further delay the adventure, and probably eliminates any tactical advantage that would have come from trying to take the most direct route. Let's just do what was said with do Boiler -> Light Water -> Intruder
At first I didn't completely understand the fact that boilers could just die and be damaged beyond repair in a time sensitive fashion, so if we want to claim this ship we need to fix that immediately, and to repair it in time we would need to take all of the NPCs with us, including noncombatants like Silver's pet Zigger. It we leave the noncombatants in the boiler room to repair it thru would be in enemy territory, but Light Water and the Intruder obviously want the boiler to be repaired too, so they have no reason to attack them, and we can leave them there with confidence that they should at least be as safe there as they would be on the torpedo ship to maintain that vehicle. The airponies can decide if they want to stay on the torpedo ship or guard the noncombatants in the boiler room.
After that we go to capture Light Water. We already won't have stealth, so we may as well take all of the forces with us, including Monstro who can lift non-fliers and smash through the windows to grab anything close enough to the openings, as well as neutralize large monsters. My intent will be to render him unconscious and use him as a hostage to prevent the Intruder from summoning too many monsters between us and the cargo hold, which I could pull off with some Intimidate and Bluff checks. This could allow us to travel below deck into the cargo hold unmolested without melting a hole in the deck.
After we capture Light Water we carry him unconscious to the Intruder, and fight him however turns out to be effective. When we get to the door of the cargo hold, I could probably just cast Kelgore's Grave Mist into the room and gas all of its thralls, and then have Monstro hold the door shut: those who don't freeze to death from the mist over the course of its duration will be exhausted and be pushovers in a fight. Then we attack the monster. If the thing hatches out into some kind of aboleth-like or neolithid-like soft-bodied monstrosity, then we kill it with bullets. If it does nothing but fart out more of its psychic brain bullshit, then we put the explosive harpoon in its mouth and detonate it from the inside. Then I can sacrifice him and attempt to pray to trap the Intruder's spirit in a receptacle when its body is destroyed to prevent it from jumping to another host. If neither of those work, we retreat and leave this shithole island on the torpedo boat.
This is the simplest plan, and now obviously the intended result.
>B-b-but muh heckin' NPC deaths!
Weak members of the herd will be killed off. Two griffons with one stone.
>but what if-
Of anything else happens on the way, we improvise.
>>193783
Yes I also was messaged about that eventuality. I knew it was likely to happen, but with the time constraint and insistence on the boiler I felt we had no choice at the time. It's never a good thing when the GM halts a quest to prevent a TPK, but it's still better than letting that TPK happen. So we need to reassess.
>>193786
>all of the noncombatants
My instincts are screaming against this. But shoveling coal is probably involved so maybe?
I have to think about this. GM Pony wants to indulge us in the atmosphere and if we're going to be busy herding thirty ponies we won't have the chance to experience any of it. I would much rather explore the ship in the dark with a group of eight or ten but I don't know if it is possible at this point. This whole boiler plotline turns the quest from a search-and-destroy mission to an engineering one. I also don't want to use the Kostroma as an escape vehicle, so afterward we would probably just have to move the whole group back onto the boats. But maybe that's a good thing because the GRU are coming, maybe? This is stressing me out. I like the way the Kostroma is set up, I don't want it to be rewritten, but on the other hoof there is an implicit time constraint that will penalize us if we proceed the intended way, but if we don't proceed the intended way we will also be penalized.
GM, sorry to sound so critical since you were looking forward to this. There's a creative solution I'm sure.
Yes I also was messaged about that eventuality. I knew it was likely to happen, but with the time constraint and insistence on the boiler I felt we had no choice at the time. It's never a good thing when the GM halts a quest to prevent a TPK, but it's still better than letting that TPK happen. So we need to reassess.
>>193786
>all of the noncombatants
My instincts are screaming against this. But shoveling coal is probably involved so maybe?
I have to think about this. GM Pony wants to indulge us in the atmosphere and if we're going to be busy herding thirty ponies we won't have the chance to experience any of it. I would much rather explore the ship in the dark with a group of eight or ten but I don't know if it is possible at this point. This whole boiler plotline turns the quest from a search-and-destroy mission to an engineering one. I also don't want to use the Kostroma as an escape vehicle, so afterward we would probably just have to move the whole group back onto the boats. But maybe that's a good thing because the GRU are coming, maybe? This is stressing me out. I like the way the Kostroma is set up, I don't want it to be rewritten, but on the other hoof there is an implicit time constraint that will penalize us if we proceed the intended way, but if we don't proceed the intended way we will also be penalized.
GM, sorry to sound so critical since you were looking forward to this. There's a creative solution I'm sure.
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