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Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Chronicles of Darkness, Other TTRPGs

The Cat

The Cat in the Tinfoil Hat..
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I don't really get the impression that's what going on here. And most of your paragraph seems to refer more to a good party flipping out to find out their party member was actually evil, not an evil character pretending to be "good" in evil party; frankly, if you try to do good things in an evil party even as a feint, you might get a dagger in your back for your troubles.

It was like the whole TPK -- the party went to rescue a captured NPC that none of them were really attached to, just because it was the "right thing to do." Only one of them did it because "the pirate goddess promotes saving other pirates if you can" and my character did it not to save the NPC but to "get revenge for them daring to attack our boat in the first place." End result? TPK. And if had been fully in character, I would have fled before all of my companions had died and made it out safely.


You can be a well-mannered evil person who people don't think is evil at first glance. Hell, American society is based on this pretense. How many evil CEOs and managers and clergy and politicians and police and whoever the hell else run around in this modern culture with a veneer of respectability while fucking the shit out of respectable morals behind the scenes?

As noted, my evil thrallherd psionic lich tengu (NE) was also a proponent of actual learning and helping the tengu nation, even if she always was most concerned with pragmatic outcome to benefit herself. Alliances can be beneficial at times, it makes sense to minimize aggression aimed at oneself + establishing yourself an important part of a global solution, and so on. Sometimes it's wise to play the "social benefactor" role, and knowledge of course is something she cherished.
Ive always enjoyed the challenge, and yeah I usually take the flaw about leaving when all seems lost to save their hide.

I like that your character chose revenge for the motivation, makes a lot more sense than the right thing to do.
 

The Cat

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Well CoC game just ended on a cliff hanger till next week, we're all being dragged to the ceiling by glow worms, fortunately most of us are seedy and have knives. What a week to wait.
 

The Cat

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WOTC keeps acting like both John and Lorena Bobbit to itself.​
 

Totenkindly

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While Hasbro and WOTC keep shitting the bed, we are still playing PF2.

Last night was yet another debacle when a ghost ship jumped us and we had to fight off zombies and the dread undead pirate lord. The balance in early PF2 is terrible and i've seen other players bitching about it. SOme of it was designed that way. But basically if the encounter is unbalanced, it's easy for the boss to just crit low-level characters and murder them outright, it's very unforgiving at a time players don't have many resources. At least by fourth level, the casters now have semi-decent spells enough to burst damage an encounter if needed.

I lost about 40% of my HP on the first round before even getting to do anything + was pinned by a roped harpoon to the mast on the pirate ship so I could only move in a certain radius. Kind of sucks for a monk. But I figured out that the bell was important (he had kept ringing it as their ship chased us for three nights -- and it kept tolling during the fight), so I leaped over to the ghost ship and smack it . The boss's reaction and him coming right after me told me I had something, so I shattered the bell as he tried to drown me outright with his ghost hand, resulting in my leaping back to our ship and getting stabbed in the back with Fatigue 2 and landing with 1 HP left. Fortunately my buddy healed me a bit, and we were able to take out the captain, then frantically cut all the lines before the sinking ghost ship pulled us down with it.

This game is just brutal. At least by level 4, you can start to dish it out and you have enough HPs to withstand a few blows.

Also there's a huge bump from no magic weapon to a +1 striking weapon, for only 100gp, but then the curve levels out heavily due to much larger costs to up the rune bonus. My damage went up nicely once i got the Fists of Mighty Blows handwraps item.

My favorite moment was when we were hiding in a small warehouse from a horde of huge wasps, which were eating their way inside... and one of them rammed its stinger through a warehouse worker and started pulling him back out through the hole (presumably to impregnate with eggs for its young), and Tyria beamed into his desperate eye-bulging face and crowed, "REJOICE FOR YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR DESTRUCTION IN THE NAME OF D'GOBAH-XURLOC, DESTROYER OF THE DEPTHS -- BE THANKFUL FOR THIS WONDROUS BLESSING!" as he was dragged outside to his doom./

And then reeled as a stinger plunged through her from behind, reducing her to 40% health.

It's the little character moments that are fun.
 

Totenkindly

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I find their voice so freaking annoying.

...although Hasbro definitely sucks. ("Has bro, will Yobro"?)
 

The Cat

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When power gaming meets 1st edition
Im gonna look more into method three, that might make it an easier transition from 5e to old school essentials....hmmm​
 

Totenkindly

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And so begins the Taking of Tidewater Rock.

I gotta say, playing a level 5 monk with jacked-up Athletics and +1 striking handwraps is so badass. I am having a lot of fun.


 

Totenkindly

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Great statement.

I remember the Satanic Panic too. Dear god, this world is bugshit crazy sometimes.
 

Totenkindly

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So Tyria had a few great power moves last week:

1. She grabbed that grenade and ran it back up the steps, shouted, "You dropped this!" and tossed it at the lobber; he bobbled it, freaked, and ran; she kicked it up the steps off the walls and still got him.

2. Going up around the corner, a guy was dumping oil out of an arrow slit -- and she flipped the entire pot over on his head, grabbed a burning taper off the wall, said, "Dropped this too!" and thrust it into him before ducking back around the corner. That was pretty hellish.

3. The sprite caster managed to fight two guys in the powdery and they accidentally set it off, so the entire room exploded. She ducked into the room (which is on fire and full of black smoke) a short while later to see what was happening and ran at the one remaining standing guy -- and saw the poor sprite unconscious in the corner right as she realized the explosion had lit fuses on three grenades on the remaining guy's bandolier ... and they were about to blow. She immediately grabbed him, wheeled him around so the grenades were on the other side of his body and slammed him hard into the corner right before they went off, which pretty much saved her life and the downed sprite -- although she was covered in what was left of the man and her ears were ringing.

4. Favorite move: Only two of us were left standing battling it out against two casters when the tower's best combatant -- a man at arms with a magical greatsword, imagine an older defender of the Lady, like Selmy from GoT or something -- came down the steps toward us. The elementalist held him off for a round, but that sword was a bitch -- just in time for Tyria to reach around, DISARM the guy's greatsword, flurry him twice, then kick his sword further down the steps so he had no weapon.... and when he turned to flee, she used her reaction to kick him hard in the back so he was limping around the corner.

In PF2, never ignore how useful Athletics is (she's specialized in it and I jacked her strength), and also how important combat maneuvers are (disarm, trip, reposition, etc.) Monk speed coupled with flurry is also nuts; she can move up to 35', attack twice (with flurry) as her second action, then move 35' again as her third and final action in a round.
 

Totenkindly

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Our GM asked for character sheets (at level 6) + any backstory threads and/or things we want woven into the campaign.

I brainstormed this quickly (based on Golarion Pathfinder world) and sent back:

Possible backstory threads for Tyria Helstorm

1. Bounty hunters for crimes she committed while heading through Druma or Isger, although that seems a far distance to come for someone accused of arson and murder but is no longer troubling those kingdoms. Cheliax is probably more likely to create issues since (1) we're in closer proximity and (2) she's been creating problems for Cheliax ships.

Among the odder accusations pinned to Tyria over the last few years:
  • Shaving off the hair (head, moustache, eyebrow, beard) from HALF of Tax Regent Barkos Goldpinch's face -- stealing half his hair because he was "stealing half the money from the common folk." (Druma)
  • Capturing/Stealing tauhotis (the squirrels of the region favored by the aristocracy) and setting them alight to run through the southern vineyards or even the bazaars on Kerse market day, to burn down this "oppresive culture" with the "burning light of freedom" blazing in the heart of "every oppressed citizen." (Druma)
  • Splattering some of the higher-ranked "Blackjackets" outfits with red paint for the "blood of the people on their hands." (Druma)
  • Replacing "Loyalty Day" signs with "Bootlicker Chattel" signs. (Ismer)
  • "Inciting halflings to riot" (Ismer). Not really clear what that entailed, although there was word of halflings disguised as children creating flash mobs in local orphanages and even a private school populated by the aristocracy, later claiming the "nice blue lady offered to cut them in [on drug money profit]."
  • "Removing crucial bits of diabolic protective circles, resulting in... workplace disturbances." (Cheliax)
  • Neutering the hellhounds of prominent aristocracy (Cheliax)
  • Declaring "Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail of the Twice-Damned House of Thrune" as "Miss Foo-Foo Flightypants" and that her only saving grace was being crazy from all the crush the Queen must have snorted as a child. (Cheliax)
2. Semi-crazy people hearing about her service to "D'gobah-xurloc, Destroyer from the Depths" and coming to join her on their pursuit of self-destruction.

3. Possible factions in Golarion coming to recruit her for some crazy mission, having heard about her insane and destructive behavior.

4. An old boyfriend / girlfriend / humanoid-friend who found their one-night stand intoxicating and refuses to forget. I assume she'd either brush them off in a demeaning way or would pretend to capitulate and then do something publicly humiliating to them that would only increase the intensity of their desire to be hers, etc.

5. Some kind of posse from Galt (although boy that's far) who has heard of their "magical experiment" creating havoc far to the south near Cheliax and coming to either recapture her or put her down.
 

Totenkindly

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Tyria got a magic pirate coat!!

Tyria - Pirate Queen.png
 
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The Cat

The Cat in the Tinfoil Hat..
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Well...My character met a shit elemental. And because he's a chill dude, my character made friends, and now Ive recruited a bunch of carnivourous vines and a shit elemental to help the party in an upcoming seige were three full forces of the party's enemies have joined forces to come and kill us.

I cant believe it. And yet here I am at level 7 Ranger/Monk With a very serious backstory. Now Im a yiffable were tiger with a burnout rocker vibe and aesthetic because my character would have been a bard if they had gone to college instead of the marines.
 

Totenkindly

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Yeah, that one reminds me of the NPC in our one campaign we picked up for a few sessions called Mage.

All of his "spells" were non-magical versions of the spells.
His fireball was a molotov cocktail.
His magic missile was a rock.
And so on.

... we loved him so much and still talk about him fondly.
 

The Cat

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So we're on an island with three groups of bad guys coming to helms deep us, in what essentially amounts to a D&D Casa Bonita. A sandals resort for monks and horny rich kids whos been overrunn once allready by the undead. Orcus, The George Costanza of Demon Lords, has been duping a cosmic chicken cult who worships cocatrices, a sexy Goth Mommy baddie Theives guild queen, and what is probably my characters old elite spec ops unit now pirates. My character a level seven Fey Wanderer Ranger 6/Monk 1 is a were tiger because of a coven of hags, days away from that contract turning hostile on me, am about to walk into the ocean, an unholy stygian abyss of eldritch alien horrors to try to sweet talk two sea hags into helping our party. (I have a necklace of adaptation and a swimming speed, plus a Tressyn animal companion with a cat sized Cloak of the manta ray I payed over 1,000 gold for so my little winged cat buddy looks like he's wearing a batman cowl, but its just the manta ray points where his ears go, so they move when the tressym moves his ears, but my little buddy can breathe underwater and has a swim speed of 40 so hes as safe as i can make my fantasy therapy cat lolol. Our paladin is gonna be trying to make a deal with some harpies whove weve killed most of icluding their potential super queen a cursed Katy Pteryion we killed last session because we thought it was just a monster trying to kill us, which i mean it was, but ... point is we have some assassin vines, potentially some harpies and sea hags, a shit elemental named Turdy the upper half of one of the paladins retainers, the other retainers, and 10 hours before the baddies land in the dark of the night and overwhelm us. so two hours if anyone wants a long rest or 9-10 hours if a level of exhaustion is what we want.

I dont think Gebheart Windsmasher is gonna live through this mega battle. but as long as the dm includes a welcome to the jungle for the fight scene im at peace.

Our party includes an Aasimar paladin with an anime sword, a Sipowitz stle wizard cop "this close" to retirement. A warforged cleric, who is, I have to say my favorite character. Folks, if you have the opportunity to play with a new player whos into role play take it. Because this player is new, but one of the best Ive ever had the privalege of slinging dice with. They're quiet mostly, but they are just the best when they do get involved, and theyve really found a place to shine in our ultra primadonna role play obsessed would play harvest moon in Faerun if the dm didnt keep throwing monsters at us party.

So the next week of "downtime" 10 hours. we're gonna be looking over the map and talking about the entire campaign making sure weve got everything in our minds because next week. It's Battlegrounds. Welcome to the Jungle. We've got fun and games.
 

The Cat

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So here you are, a Witch. Some young grayscale woman drops a house on your sister, loots her corpse then trapses off through the country side, stirring up trouble, creating unrest, joins forces with a known charlatan, your bitchy popular ex college room mate, and a bunch of fucking munchkins, a wild animal, a heartless axe weilding maniac, and a haunted scarecrow. How has there not been a horror comedy in the vein of Tucker and Dale vs Evil to the Wizard of Oz? The closest we got was the Return to Oz.
 
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