Let's play 5e Lost Mines of Phandelver

[jh79]

Currently Full

Experienced DM, 5e player and Fantasy Grounds user, looking for several players to fill out a group and play the whole 5e module Lost Mines of Phandelver. Afterwords looking to run the other 5e content, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Timat, I've imported them into FG, and added a lot of extras, like pictures, etc, for immersion. I also have the Players Hanbook parsed for easy character building.

Thinking Saturdays at 3pm and run for 2-3 hours.

If your new to 5e or Fantasy Grounds don't sweat it, we are easy going and don't mind at all, we can catch anyone up quickly.

Send me a PM if interested and character you would like to play and ill get back to you asap.

[jh79]

Edited

[jh79]

Looking to round out the party

[jh79]

Question from pm:

These will be fresh 1st level characters ready to make their name in the world. Rolling will be in front of me the DM, the players roll 3d6 four times for each stat and take the best score each time, then arrange them the way you like. At the end if you don't like your scores you can pick the Standard array. PM me when you are available to roll and I'll have the server up and i'll be there, please have Teamspeak ready, all my server info is below.

[jh79]

OK at this point I'm going to say whoever gets their characters done first until we get to six is in.

[Jarethspellfire]

Welcome Everyone. Please do not forget to subscribe to the thread to see updates :)

[Judgement]

NameL Vatsculuss
Race: Dragonborn
Background: Gladiator
Level: 1

[MerlinAmbrose]

Hello, all.

I am honored to join the game.

Will be doing a wizard...don't have the concept yet, but will work with JH to make one.

[VenomousFiligree]

I'd be interested in playing if it's not too late, but it depends on the day and time, 4pm Thursday is good but 3pm Saturday is a bit early. I can have a character done ASAP.

How are you doing IC and OOC dialogue, chat Voice?

I'd be happy to play a warlock.

[Ceredwynwolf]

Yo! Character info coming soon.

[jh79]

Edited

[VenomousFiligree]

I have a PC prepped, let me know if you get any drop outs.

[jh79]

thank you for the interest.

[jh79]

Characters look amazing cant wait to get his started!

[tlavalle]

wood elf ranger 1

[Talen]

I'm the human cleric. Still working on backstory but he was witness to the horrors of the cult of Tiamat at and early age until he was rescued by his order, pledging his life to the church thereafter.

[ianricks58]

My character is Merric Padfoot. His parents were captured by raiders and sold into slavery and branded. He and his twin sister, Merla, were born into slavery and were also branded. After five years, Merric escaped with his family, but his parents died to help Merric and his sister escape. Eventually, some wayfarers found the twins and looked after them. His new guardians reminded him of the slavers and was never able to fully trust them so he ran away at the first city they came to. His sister stayed with them.

While growing up on the streets, Theren Hornraven, a half-elf city guard who hopes to be a paladin, discovered Merric's brand and threw him in prison to await a time when his owner could reclaim him. While in prison, he met a thief who pitied Merric. He helped her escape and eventually she returned and bought his freedom. She trained him in the arts of thievery.

[jh79]

Guys, this is GM gold, you will see people from your back stories, thanks, I will use as fuel for bonds, ideals and flaws. Everyone with at least 2 descriptive paragraphs at least ten lines will recieve inspiration before gameplay, just click the checkmark on the main page of your Character sheets. Some of you sent me over 50 lines! Wow! The two of you will get two inspirations back to back. Awesome stuff everyone!

[Ceredwynwolf]

Hello all!

Here's the background story I wrote for Brittain (pronounced Brit-tane) the warlock. Changed his name at the last minute as the character turned into something a bit different than I originally had in mind, so he needed a new name. :)

****

“Absolutely not! No way! The very idea!” The pseudo-dragon flapped its wings angrily and huffed a small tongue of fire towards the subject of its annoyance: a young half-elf sitting cross-legged on a green patch of grass in an otherwise very peaceful and quiet glade, with an open, old looking tome resting on his knees.

“But why not, Master Grimalkin?” the boy pouted whilst waving the remaining puffs of smoke away with one hand. “It'll be a fun experience! And I would learn so much...”

“BECAUSE I SAID SO!” the small dragon shrieked. “Besides. Such tripe is well beneath you, Brittain. Need I remind you of who you are? You, who were chosen by the gracious queen Mab herself. You, whom we took into our folds when you were but a wee lad! You for whom we went through a great amount of trouble replacing you with a changeling to keep your mortal parents from suspecting anything! You who is destined to...”

“To become a Knight of the Unseelie Court and represent her majesty in her dealings with the mortal world... yes, yes enough already! You've told me that story a million times already.” the boy sighed.

“Well perhaps the millionth-and-one time is the charm. Get those silly ideas out of your head, boy.” the dragon huffed, flapping its wings one last time before landing and perching atop a tree-stump.

“I don't think it's a silly idea at all, Master Grimalkin. I mean... how am I supposed to represent her majesty in the mortal world when I know nothing about the mortal world?”

The small dragon snorted. “How do you expect to represent her majesty's world without knowing everything about it? Until you learn all there is to know about the Never Never, we are not going anywhere. Now let's get back to studying. Name me all the different varieties of Boggarts and Brownies, and their true names.”

The half-elf sighed, looked down at the old tome resting on his knees, then looked up at the pseudo-dragon again. “But the Never Never is eternal! It'll be around for forever more, forever unchanged! But the mortal world... it is changing constantly. It's changing right as we speak. Come on, Master, just one quick adventure! Doesn't even have to be a great one. Maybe a couple of months? Time moves so slowly in the Never Never, the others won't even notice we've gone anywhere by the time we get back.” the boy pleaded while the dragon narrowed its eyes sternly at him.

Suddenly the lad grinned wide as an idea struck him.

“Tell you what Master. How about we settle this... the Fae way. With a game? If I win, we go on an adventure in the mortal world!”

Grimalkin snorted a laugh. “You've never once bested me in a game. You're about a millennium too young to be challenging me like that.”

“Great!” the boy exclaimed. “In that case you'll have no problem besting me. And if you win I'll... hm. I'll learn the ancient tomes of Eglantine by heart. All thirteen volumes. By the end of next week.”

The pseudo-dragon looked at the lad incredulously for a moment, then smirked. “Alright. And what game do you propose we play then? If I recall, last time we played chess I beat you in three moves.”

Brittain shook his head. “No no. Not chess again. I was thinking more like... Truth!”

Grimalkin tilted his snout. “That's not a game I've ever heard of.” Upon which the Half Elf began to beam with pride. “You shouldn't, because it's a game I invented myself.”

“Oh? Sounds like I'm not giving you enough material to study then, if you have time to waste on inventing games.” the pseudo-dragon chuckled. Brittain could see in the dragon's eyes, though, that he was intrigued and the boy inwardly grinned. All Fae, no matter what variety or what court they belonged to, loved games.

“Alright! So Truth it is then.” Brittain grinned. “The rules are very simple. In Truth, we each take turns making a statement about one another, which the other player then confirms as true or false. The first player to either make a false statement about the other, or fail to confirm a false statement being false or a true one being true loses. For example, suppose it's my turn and I say: “You are a Fae, then you should say...”

The small dragon grinned. “True.”

Brittain grinned back. “Exactly. But suppose I would have instead said: “You are a human.” then you would have said “False” and I would have lost the game right there. The idea is to keep going, until you either catch the other in a lie, or fail to catch a lie yourself.

Grimalkin snorted softly. “Sounds overly simple of a game...”

“Oh but that's not all!” the boy responded. “There's a catch! You cannot make a statement about the other that applies to yourself as well! For example, I could not say something simple as: “You have a nose.” because I have a nose too. Otherwise we keep going back and forth forever.

Grimalking pondered for a moment. “Hm. That does limit the possibilities at least. Still, not much of a challenge if you ask me...”

Brittain grinned in response. “Indulge me anyway? If it's no challenge then you should have no problem beating me at my own game hm?”

The dragon shrugged its wings, pondered for a moment, and decided he liked the lad well enough to indulge him for now. “Very well, let's play then. With the stakes you proposed earlier. If you win we'll go on your silly little adventure. If you lose...” the dragon grinned toothily. “If you lose you'll be studying your pointy ears off.”

“Great! I shall go first then. Hm... let's see. You are a Fae.”

“True.” the dragon responded. “You are of half-elven and half-human blood.”

“True. This draconic form of yours is not your true one...” Brittain responded.

“True, and I don't think you are ready to see my real one yet young one.” the dragon grinned. “You were born nineteen years, six days, three hours and fifteen minutes ago in mortal time.”

“... True.” the boy said after a moment's hesitation, having to do some mental calculations to confirm Grimalkin's numbers, upon which the dragon grinned widely. “Almost had you there, no?”

“Yes indeed most wise Master.” the boy said respectfully, still grinning wide as his game strategy hatched further inside his head. “This morning you ate a whole deer for breakfast.”

“And a delicious one it was.” the dragon smirked, licking its fangs. “My turn again hm? You have two eyes.”

Brittain opened his mouth, almost ready to point out the dragon had broken the rule about not making statements that applied to both players, but he hesitated just in time! He then realized Grimalkin had said “two eyes”, not just eyes. He also realized that he had never seen the Fae's true form yet. “True...?”

The dragon smirked at him, and nodded his head, starting to understand the finer subtleties of the game now. Brittain realized he would have to win the game soon, as Grimalkin had a literal eternity of wisdom and knowledge to fall back on now that he realized how the game worked.

Fortunately, the half-elf had a cunning plan.

Right as the dragon opened his tiny maw to urge him to get on with it, the young half-elf suddenly stated: “As of this moment, since the moment our game started you have blinked your eyes forty-six times!”

Wondrous marvel upon wondrous marvel, Grimalkin actually looked confused for a moment. He opened his mouth to point out the obvious rule-breaking flaw in the boy's statement, when he suddenly noticed the boy's dry and bloodshot eyes staring right at him. Staring... unblinkingly at him.

“You... haven't blinked once since the game started have you?” he groaned, already knowing the answer before the boy began nodding his head. “And you've been watching me... counting every blink...” The old Fae began to realize the boy had him beat! Naturally he had not counted his own eye-blinks, so there was no way of knowing whether the number was correct or not.

“True?”

The half-elf let out a triumphant laugh!


****

Looking forward to playing this coming Saturday!

Cheers!

[tlavalle]

0.0 wow

[Jarethspellfire]

I will post my backstory after the first session :)

[jh79]

Hey guys, all your background stuff was awesome and the process's you use are very clever, enjoyed reading all of that. Please take 5 minutes to read the following below.

Below is a story I wrote of how you are all on the road together (before the official module). A mission needs completing. You need to gather your last party member and then head south with the Caravan to Phandalin to start the WOTC official module.


Quest for Ichiro:
You signed up in Luskan, many weeks ago... you are helping guard a caravan heading north for Ten Towns, deep within Icewind Dale, and far north along the Sword Coast. Some signed up for the sake of adventure, some for money, others on the run, and finally the plagued, simply escaping their demons...

Trudging along many leagues of deep snow now, your mind starts to wander, your body, just going through the motions. The caravan, denying the elements pushes forward, following icy covered trails at a snails pace. It winds through snow capped mountain peaks and dangerous icy ridges, any of which could easily claim another soul. Just when you think your legs will carry you no further, the caravan finally decides to make camp, settling in for the night.

After helping set up, you find a nice spot and fall backwards into the snow, exhausted. Your body making a large imprint within it. Although cold, you find it rather comfortable, and frankly, your to tired to care. Others soon follow your lead, the star filled sky keeping the darkness from engulfing you all, in this most desolate of places.

The bitter cold of the region yet another deadly enemy, assaults your bones to the very marrow. You think to yourself once again, "what made me sign up for this?"

With the cold only worsening, some of fight the urge to sleep and make a bountiful fire, just in time to survive the night.

As the fire grows in intensity, the numbness from your extremities quickly starts to dissipate. After a few more moments of thawing out, you swear it is the richest warmth you have ever felt! The mood soon changes and some of you begin to converse, others sing. Ale soon follows and tales of deeds long past begin to flow from the mouths of several hardy adventures all around you.

Even though you are mostly strangers, you feel a kinship of sorts, you have all survived the perilous journey. The growing group huddles closer together, fighting off the stiff breeze and share in ale and story.

As the night lingers on and snow continues to fall upon you, you look across the fire and notice a human of Asian decent, sitting away from the others. His legs crossed in a half lotus position. He is exceptionally quiet and still. You think to yourself, "is he alive?"

As light rays from one of the bright moons escapes a low hanging cloud and filters into the area, you now notice his dark eyes, open after all, un-shadowed from his large straw brimmed hat.

He glares blankly at the flickering embers of the fire, as they twirl and dance in wafts of cool air and float harmlessly away. You notice he has not blinked once, not even twitched a muscle. Your focus stays on the man, intent on seeing if he will finally make a movement, any movement!

You quickly snap out, a loud bellowing laugh breaking your concentration. Your attention quickly turns to a Dwarf, full of ale and bluster. He starts yet another recounting of a battle long past. So incredible are the details it is almost beyond belief! However absurd the tale sounds, you have long ago learned that Dwarves may exaggerate, but there is more truth entwined in their telling's than fiction. All of you laugh hardily as he finishes, except one... Your attention returns to the quiet Asian man.

The Dwarf follows your gaze and also notices the indifference... insulted by the lack of reaction to his most elaborate tale, he lets out a great belch followed by a broad toothy smile.. "You there!", he points to the Asian man, "Don't you have any wondrous tales of battle to share with us?... Since you didn't like mine!" He exclaims loudly and mockingly.

The quiet one lifts his head slowly, his eyes fighting to break the stare from the surreal dancing wisps emanating from the fire before him. He replies softly, in a deep tone with a slow cadence, "I know of only one tale worth uttering... the tale of Ichiro..." He ends it there and puts his head back down, his eyes returning to the fire, his wistful gaze, far far away...

Silence...even the Dwarf. With baited breath, everyone waits to here this most intriguing tale, piercing eyes never leaving him. A few moments later, sensing all eyes are upon him, The Asian man picks his head up and narrows his eyes, passing his gaze to each adventurer sitting around the camp fire, and finally settling on you.
He softly states, "let me tell you why I am really here..."

[jh79]

Edited

[Judgement]

I am still in the game, and sorry again about messing up the time, not sure why I hadthe wrong month when you were starting the game.

[jh79]

Edited

[Jarethspellfire]

Hey Ian? i heard you were having problems with Teamspeak. There is a solution to that i believe:

- Right click the icon that you use to startup teamspeak
- Choose properties
- Click Compatibility
- Check the box that lists "Run as administrator"
- Click "ok"

you should not have any more problems after that :)

[jh79]

Hey guys, going to wait to fill remaining spots

[MerlinAmbrose]

Well, *this* time I won't be confused!!

See you all tomorrow. Looking forward to the game.


Merlin

[jh79]

Hey guys,
Great job so far, well done on the pre-module stuff

[jh79]

Hey all,
As you know we have a player that serves in the military once a month on the day we play. Out of respect for his service we will hold off on the 5e d&d adventure on that day once a month
and resume the following Saturday with him. I have a plan to host a western campaign on those Saturdays once a month on that day.

If your interested in joining, this Saturday will be the start. We will be starting off with Boot Hill 2nd edition, I have imported all the rules and tables into FG and relearned them. I will be able to teach it to you guys pretty fast. I have also started importing an official module for it. Looks pretty awesome. Depending how it goes we may switch to a newer 5e version of a western a 5e enthusiast created. That also looks pretty good and well made.

So the plan is, Boot Hill 2nd edition Character creation this Saturday, 3pm est - 4pm est
From 4pm - 4:30PM est, we will go over and talk about the basic rules.
From 4:30PM to six we will actually play. You will all start riding on a train, heading west to a town called Deadmule, to seek your fortune.

If you want some 1 on 1 time with me to make a character, or you want me to send you the pdf rules, send me a PM here on FG or email me, otherwise just show up at the usual time Saturday and you can learn everything then. Talk to you soon.

[jh79]

Hello all, got a great encounter set up for tomorrow, ill have the server open an hour early tomorrow for character creation at 2pm est time.

[jh79]

edited

[jh79]

No game tomorrow due to Valentines day, Look for a Fantasy Grounds email from me to resume Lost Mine of Phandelver next Week. Cya then.

[MerlinAmbrose]

Edrahil will be there, ready to clean out this nest of goblins.

See you all at the game.


Merlin

[Koreapsu]

Looking forward to it, see you all in game.

[jh79]

Welcome to the new guys :)
One other note, I'd like for everyone to come up with one friend and one foe/rival for their characters and a short sentence explaining why. This will be GM gold for me as far as hooks, just have them ready game day or PM them to me. Cya all Saturday!

[Dekorume]

Was wondering if their were any openings in this game, or is there a waiting list I can be put on.

As always,

Dek

[jh79]

Hey Dekorume, I would let you join but this game is filled to the brim, If someone drops I have written down your name. Thanks for the interest.

[SheerANONYMOUS]

I feel like I'm going to be pretty far behind... Well, see you all Saturday!

[jh79]

Hey Sheer, you won't be behind at all, but I need to address this to the whole group. The newer group will be starting at 3PM EST as scheduled and you will be starting at the beginning of the Module, the very start, you're only one session behind the main group. I need the Older group to come an hour later, and they should be close or have caught up to you, and the two groups will merge after meeting each other, and continue as one big group. Unless the two groups battle? JUST KIDDING :P

If anyone from the older group wants to play with the newer group at 3PM and help out, they're are three of them, then I will give you a potion of healing and inspiration. I can't grant XP again though. If not just come an hour later at 4pm est.

I will see you all Saturday.

[ianricks58]

I don't mind helping the newer group.

[jh79]

Cool, cya at 3pm est.

[bcp001]

The Honourable Alvredus Sewell
LG Human Paladin of Bahamut

The 4th Son of a 2nd Tier noble house from Suzail with lands located in Eveningstar. Spent some time squiring for his eldest brother before being dedicated to life in the priesthood. Initially schooled as a follower of Torm he found the teachings of Bahamut (a vassal deity of Torm's) and focused his allegiance there. Currently he's a wandering priest (Bahamut has very few temples, and none he is directly associated with) looking to teach Bahamut's mercy to the people as he works his way up the Sword Coast.

There's more, but that's for the DM and not something that Mr. Sewell would share with people he just met.

[jh79]

Server is up guys, if you need to make any fixes or changes.

[jh79]

Hey guys,
That was a great session of 5e, except for the player death of course, we will all miss the wizard:( The session did show off the systems power of handling 8 players with ease though and I was thoroughly impressed. It didn't hurt you're all vets, and everyone's behavior's and maturity is impeccable, "A DM's Dream"! but 5e contributed quite a bit and is the most streamlined system I have played to date. Big hat's off to WOTC.

On another note, after thinking about it, I'm going to take the Player's suggestion to make 5e even better for us. We're going to stick straight to 5e rules regarding cover. You all know if someone has a compelling position that makes logical sense, I have, and will change things, or set things right that I have added in as Home-Brew.

So lets say if Mobs have total cover, or even another instance where they start with half cover, and fire at you in a surprise round, then retreat back into deeper cover using their move, they now have total cover. You will not have a chance to hit them, and I shouldn't home-brew, or stack cover modifications just to give you a chance to hit them or in another situation, visa versa. So If mobs have total cover, you just won't be able to even fire at them, we'll just stick to the 5e cover rules of -2 for half cover, -5 for total cover, 0 chance for total cover. Adv/DisAdv in certain situations.

As stated above, there may come a time when I will rule for an Advantage or Disadvantage situation in certain cover conditions, but the cover rules will be strictly be -2, -5, or total cover, and let the awesomeness of Adv/Disadv come into play if necessary, I see that as kind of a rare situation though. This will this tighten up the game mechanics being strictly 5e, and streamline our sessions even more.

Thanks all and can't wait to see how your hero's will continue to fair next week!

[bcp001]

eh, elf wizards are on sale every couple weeks. No big loss. Shouldn't have tried to stop that Ogre's club with his face.

[jh79]

Well, if there was a stinky dwarf in the party, that hadn't bathed for days, i'd ask him, how'd you like the rinse off from that there mini tidal wave! :p

[Vishera]

I have been playing this with my local group all new players except for one of them, so far they really enjoy the game. cant wait to finish getting it converted to online and run people through it!

[jh79]

Hey, good to see you bro. Yep, it's a real fun man for sure, you'll like doing it through FG also, lots of good times!

[jh79]

Alright gents, game time is upon us once again, tomorrow, 3:00PM Est. Server will be open at 2:30 for Character stuff. Cya tomorrow!

[jh79]

OK, some of you will hate this, but the Bard is getting awarded inspiration for role-playing his character so well today, I'm going to be getting a little pickier on awarding it and role-playing like that is what it's gonna take to get it. So yes I am encouraging him to continue his bardic ways:)... and even sing on occasion again! :D

Congrats on level 2 everyone, well deserved.

[Jarethspellfire]

It's perfectly fine to award inspiration i'd say :) well done!

[bcp001]

As long as he's not trying to strike up another half hour conversation while we have bad guys listening and setting up an ambush in the next room. (again)

Otherwise he might find himself to be an unemployed bard. <_<

[jh79]

Aye, that's the point, he role-played that bard pretty good in my estimation; talking about wanting to record tales of greatness at inopportune times as bards tend to do:p, maybe your Paladin needs to have a 1 on 1 with the bard? Not sure how your playing him yet, righteous? snotty?, Look forward to more interactions like this.

[MerlinAmbrose]

Thank you, JH, for the accolade. And to you also, Jareth.

Lindir is still a bit wet behind the ears, having only recently set out upon his travels in the Sword Coast. Naive, but won't remain so for long, given his Wisdom score (chuckle).

See you all on Saturday (unless this is the bye weekend coming up).

[bcp001]

well, at that moment, he was some stranger who tailed us into a fight and picked a poor time to introduce himself. Wasn't the paladin trying to be snotty or anything, he was just trying to keep the party moving forward.

ooc, I was trying to keep us moving forward, we take too many rests and have too much character conversations in bad spots. Resting outside the cave, chit chatting after we pass every minor encounter, etc, etc. Half the cave could have fallen on us at anytime and you'd have been justified to just overwhelm us or trigger the water trap at the worst moment rather than play the scenario as a room to room aggro. The party being that relaxed in an obviously dangerous location (such as outside the cave) smacks of metagaming, trusting the DM to not punish them for not considering the location.

As far as Merlin goes, it would have been better to just retcon his bard in for the druid he made last week to replace the mage who got his head squished by the ogre. Would have let Merlin participate more and not drop him in at a bad time for an introduction. Not begrudging him the inspiration at all, just saying that the timing was poor. =P

Playing the Paladin pretty straight, but we've had little time to roleplay any nuance. It's been mostly encounter to encounter so far.

[jh79]

Hey guys, I think it's a good idea to take this Saturday off the 7th, and wait for the rouge the following Saturday. I may run something Saturday like a Boothill Western "I'll let you know", be warned it's a pretty deadly game :pirate:. if enough people our interested, otherwise reconvene the following Saturday on the 14th.

I will then make a schedule for us and let you know which weekend we will play Saturday and Sunday. Then the following Saturday we will have off. I will always let you know ahead of time.

As far as some of the comments so far, I just want to let everyone know this, no one in particular! that this is pretty much a very casual group and campaign, as you've all noticed, it's really just for fun, go through the content, kick in some doors, kill some monsters, just have a good time.

I'm not trying to make my games some kind of real advanced swat team kind of group, that knows every tactic and be uptight about every little thing, or shaming people because they're not doing the right things.

I like having you all in the party! that is truly my feeling, and REALLY like each and every one of you, but I understand some people want real in-depth, very serious game that every little action characters make, matter in the world, and that's OK, but it's not my games.

If that is the case, this group is probably not the right fit for a very serious or a player that get's uptight when he or she thinks other players are screwing up, let me, the DM handle that. If they screw up enough times, they will die, and I won't save them, trust in that...

The number one thing in my campaigns is RESPECT everyone at the table, that is my pet peeve, if anyone continually breaks this "no one has", I will ask that person to leave, I've got no problem doing that. 2nd is HAVE FUN :D, but that's mostly on me. Not trying to make this into a debate, that's the way it is, and will not comment on it anymore, if anyone wishes to PM me for further clarification, please do so...

Cya guys in 2 weeks! :)

[jh79]

Edited

[jh79]

Oh how I love auto correct on my tablet:(... lol, sorry for all the typos. Here is a cleaner post.

Hey all,
I've come across this extremely brilliant game called Star Wars - Edge of the Empire, made by Fantasy Flight Games. Maybe we could play it once a month. On the Saturday we don't play 5e.

The mechanics are completely different then d20. They use something called narrative dice, these are story telling dice with symbols on them, not numbers. The symbols tell you the outcome of things you are attempting. Extremely eloquent system, which promotes a cinematic movie kind of game.

Now, there is a learning curve to the game, you have to know how to interpret the symbols on the dice, or at least have a GM that knows what the symbols mean. You roll something called dice pools, you could roll 6+ dice at a time. Outcomes are determined by the symbols to get the results.

I've attached a free PDF, so you guys can see it for yourselves. Don't worry if you don't understand it right away, it's much easier after it's explained.

If you think you'd be interested in this very different and cool game; to play once a month, let me know in a mail on FG, or come by tomorrow at the usual time and ill show you the system. I'll be hanging out in the Star Wars Ruleset playing around with a story. if we get enough people, we could run a short adventure. If you're not interested we will reconvene for 5e D&D the following Saturday.

Here is the link to download the Star Wars learning PDF
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zrkvz8f4oalqflg/AAACFWz4BZeSZGzq99qsxccia?dl=0

Cya guys soon :)

[jh79]

Quick update on the Star Wars - Edge of the Empire.

I have spoken with Talen, one of our players. He, having much more experience with the Star Wars EoE rules, has graciously accepted the GM role. His first SW EoE session will be the next time we have the Saturday off, not tomorrow. So whoever wants to play in his session please stop by with me tomorrow to look at the ruleset, so I can go over how the game works. Also please look over the free PDF in the post above to see this awesome game in it's full glory. Look forward to smuggling freight and running from the empire with you guys Han Solo style :) Thanks Talen!

[Ceredwynwolf]

Hey gang,

I won't be able to make it tonight so I'll see you all next week. Have fun!

[jh79]

There's no D&D game today, no worries, just going to be working on Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and jumping into the Star Wars rule set if people stop by to check it out to see if they like it. Cya next week :)

[Talen]

Assuming the group is interested, I'd love to start a Star Wars game on off 5e weeks. To be clear, I have most of the Star Wars books, but have only played a few sessions so far (and have yet to GM on FG yet) so I am by no means expert in the system. But it is a fun system in my opinion and I have played a few sessions on FG. JH and I haven't ironed things out yet and unfortunately, I will likely be unavailable today, but here are a few things to consider for the group.


What theme do you want to play? To oversimplify things, Are you smugglers and bounty hunters (Edge of the Empire), soldiers and rebels (Age of Rebellion) or aspiring Jedi (Force and Destiny). Force and Destiny is only in beta form at the moment, but if history is any indication, will not change significantly before it is released in a starter set within the next month or so. I'd be comfortable running either. We might mix and match as well.

Do you want to roll your own characters or use pregens? If you create your own, OggDude's free character generator is invaluable. If you go with the pregen's I can provide them to you depending on what you want to play.

This may be more a question for JH - I typically use pogs for tokens (of which I have already collected), but I'm not opposed to miniatures if you have a collection you'd like to use.

The ruleset - and more importantly the dataset - is not as full featured as JH has assembled for 5e. I don't necessarily view that as a barrier - in some ways, it makes things easier, but keep that in mind as your FG sheet will not explain your abilities in as much detail.

[jh79]

Hey Talen,

I use the stand up WOTC Tokens when I DM D&D in the style I prefer, but this is your baby, please use whatever tokens, pogs, you wish. I would make a couple hundred stand up ones for myself when I DM and you play, but I like to use 3D maps a lot. The newer group hasn't seen that yet In LMOP, but you will in HOTDQ. That's when the stand up tokens shine. The older group knows what I mean.

My vote would be for Edge of the Empire, looks gritty, rough and dangerous, however the other two sound awesome also, so it's up to you, look forward to any of them.

Making my own character would be ideal. Maybe we could put a link here to Oggdudes tool? That way players could come here to find it.

Lastly, I've talked to some people outside of our group that are extremely interested in playing this. So probably a good idea to give our group a week to decide if they want in, and let us know by next Saturday's D&D session. Otherwise the group will be filled with other people. Our group of course gets first choice if they want to play, so guys please take 5 minutes and look over the pdf in the post above. Would hate for anyone to miss out on this awesome game. Let Talen and I know next Saturday or sooner. Much appreciated.

[jh79]

Here are the links to the Star Wars Character Generator and the link to the, how-to-play.PDF, with an included Adventure. Keeping this post here for future use and reference for those interested.

Star Wars: Character Generator - https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/89135-another-character-generator
Once you extract the files from the zip folder to a normal folder, open that folder and create a shortcut with this file name "SWCharGenLauncher.exe" to your desktop and you can open the Character generator from there.

Star Wars: How To Play - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zrkvz8f4oalqflg/AAACFWz4BZeSZGzq99qsxccia?dl=0
Basic rules on how to play, any questions just PM me, it's easy once you know how to read the symbol dice.

[Koreapsu]

What theme do you want to play? To oversimplify things, Are you smugglers and bounty hunters (Edge of the Empire), soldiers and rebels (Age of Rebellion) or aspiring Jedi (Force and Destiny). Force and Destiny is only in beta form at the moment, but if history is any indication, will not change significantly before it is released in a starter set within the next month or so. I'd be comfortable running either. We might mix and match as well.

I'll play any theme, not too fussed.


Do you want to roll your own characters or use pregens? If you create your own, OggDude's free character generator is invaluable. If you go with the pregen's I can provide them to you depending on what you want to play.
I'd prefer to roll my own.

Looking forward to it.

[SheerANONYMOUS]

I'll give it a shot, looks interesting.

[jh79]

Talen, I know your hard at work making the first Edge of the Empire adventure, I have some good news, there's at least 4 of us that will play April 11 on our off Saturday. So I take it that's enough to play. The guys seemed to really like the fresh take on the symbol dice system.

I have more interested outside of our group, not sure how large of a group you want? It could easily accommodate more being more of a narrative story telling game then tabled mechanics but 4 seems like a good start? We could go to 5 or 6 tops if you want?

I'm guessing you don't want 8 players like we have in our D&D group, even though I find it fun having 8 players and 5e can accommodate it with it's epic streamlined framework, but I'm just not sure on your preference? let me know what the cut off is, and I'll pull the plug and we'll go with what we got. Looking forward to it! :)

[Jarethspellfire]

I'll have a look at it also :)

[jh79]

Awesome:) please look over the PDF in the link above, especially the symbol dice, and ill show you the ruleset before Saturday's D&D game, and answer any questions. I think you will really like it. Ill have it up from 2:30PM est until 3PM when we start D&D.

[Talen]

... I have some good news, there's at least 4 of us that will play April 11 on our off Saturday. So I take it that's enough to play. The guys seemed to really like the fresh take on the symbol dice system.

I have more interested outside of our group, not sure how large of a group you want? It could easily accommodate more being more of a narrative story telling game then tabled mechanics but 4 seems like a good start? We could go to 5 or 6 tops if you want?

I'm guessing you don't want 8 players like we have in our D&D group, even though I find it fun having 8 players and 5e can accommodate it with it's epic streamlined framework, but I'm just not sure on your preference? let me know what the cut off is, and I'll pull the plug and we'll go with what we got. Looking forward to it! :)


So here are my initial thoughts, none of which are set in stone if the group feels passionately one way or the other.


I would keep the game open to our regular group to start while we all get used to running a star wars game in FG. I plan on running 2 introductory scenarios to start. One we complete each, we can see if the group likes it enough to continue (and thus need replacement players) or if we think we can expand more once the full campaign begins with the "Beyond the Rim" Adventure.

We will run with the Edge of the Empire Rules to start.

Players will create their own PC's. Please email me your characters when you have them and I will into into FG. It would be helpful if everyone used OggDude's free generator linked above, but its not required. When you send you pc, please let me know if you have any experience with the system or the adventures we plan to run.

Session 1 will run through the intro scenario in the Beginner Game setting "Welcome to Mos Shuuta", followed by the Game Master's Kit adventure involving Bargo the Hutt in our next couple sessions. After those sessions are complete, we will take the characters into the "Beyond the Rim" adventure module.



I do have an Ultimate license no worries on player connections.

[jh79]

There may be a snag in the plan to send you our own character.xml file to you.

This basic PDF on how to play that I gave a link out to, just gives you the pre-gen characters, doesn't really tell you how to make your own character, for each class, species, how to put what in your stats, the maximums, ect...

I personally have the books coming, but at the moment I'm clueless also in how to make one. We may need to use the pre-gens until it is explained how to apply the stats to certain characters.

Without the big core rule book we may be at a loss here, I'm not even sure if the complete basic game explains "how" to create a character, Everyone may need the complete hardback book to continue? or at least one of us that has it and can explain step by step how to create one, or a link to a site that explains how.

[Talen]

For those that aren't able because they don't have the books yet, or are simply interested in using a pre gen - I will still leave using a pregen as an option. You can find the available pre gens in the pdf you linked and additional PC's at https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/. Alternatively, if you don't have the books yet but still want to take a stab at creating your own character, you can use the attached creation reference document found here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9077657/SW-EotE-Reference-Sheets.pdf. This, along with OggDudes character creator may get you through most of the process. If you still have questions, PM me and we can set up some time to meet on TS and FG and finish up the process.

[jh79]

Thanks for the sheet, not sure if you got my mail, but I've made my Character from the Star Wars EOE Character Generator, exported it right from there, and mailed you the XML file. Just let me know if I need to change anything on it.

[jh79]

OK Gents, it's time to Sharpen those weapons and ready your spells, it is 5e time once again in the Lost Mine of Phandelver! Game-time is at the usual time 3pm Est. There was a time change so make sure to note that. Server will be open early at 2:30pm Est. Cya tomorrow :)

[bcp001]

Got family obligations so I may be half hour to an hour late.

[jh79]

NP, Family always first.

[jh79]

Server is up all

[MerlinAmbrose]

A Disquisition on Time Zones, Daylight Savings Time and European Summer Time. (as it relates to session game time)

Before last Sunday, when the USA went on Daylight Savings, the standard game times were:
USA Eastern Standard time: 3 pm (GMT -5) (8 pm GMT)
USA Central Standard time: 2 pm
Central European Time (GMT +1): 9 pm

As I understand it, until Europe goes on Summer Time we are moving the game time one hour forward relative to USA zones in order to have the same starting time on European clocks as before. Hence, new starting times:
USA Eastern Daylight time: 4 pm (GMT -4) (8 pm GMT)
USA Central Daylight time: 3 pm (GMT -5)
Central European Time (GMT +1): 9 pm

When Europe goes on Summer Time, we will revert to original game timings (3pm EDT, 2 pm CDT, 9 pm European Summer Time)

Someone more knowledgeable of such matters, please check my work and confirm I have it straight.

[jh79]

looks good to me, use this guide for next Saturday's session everyone. If confused, game time will be 4PM US EDT until further notice. Thanks Merlin!

[MerlinAmbrose]

looks good to me, use this guide for next Saturday's session everyone. If confused, game time will be 4PM US EST until further notice. Thanks Merlin!

EDT, not so?

[jh79]

Yes of course, sorry, EDT. 4PM EDT next Saturday. Like how you emphasized that, it's important. :D

[Jarethspellfire]

I have no idea what time that would be, so i'll be online two hours early or so :P

[jh79]

Think this link will help with time differences hopefully :)
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

[bcp001]

The host will still be up a bit early right? I had to do a clean install of FG earlier this week and I'll need to download your modules again.

[jh79]

Server will be open 3 hours early today at 1pm EDT, we start at 4pm EDT. Will give everyone time to finish downloading/caching whatever they need to finish from last week, then should not need to do it again, and get no lag. Cya then.

[Jarethspellfire]

Very cool of you :) and thanks for the time buddy! cya tonight!

[MerlinAmbrose]

Hmmm..

It is now 2 pm EDT (1 pm CDT), and I have been trying the server for a while now. Not running yet, or connection issues??????

[Jarethspellfire]

Same here :) i'll keep trying

[Jarethspellfire]

it should be 15:15 EDT right now, strange.

[jh79]

My ISP has been down all day until just now, I'm putting up the server now guys.

[jh79]

SPOILER ALERT! For anyone not in this campaign, and that has not played The Lost Mine of Phandelver, you may want to stop reading now! :)

Hey Jarethspellfire, this is basically what happened in today's session, I couldn't PM it, wouldn't let me, to long, and thought it slower to break it up into 2 PM's so here you go.

Just wanted to give you a recap of today's session. Miraculously the other 7 players still showed up and played the full 3 hour session after my ISP came back up, I awarded you the same XP as them, as if you were there, we'll fix your xp and gold next session. So let me recap what happened. Grab a nice drink and a comfortable seat, this might take a couple minutes :) So here we go...

Not wanting to risk any more wandering monsters, the party Short Rested in Cragmaw Cave instead of a Long Rest, after last week's battle with Yeemick the Goblin leader. The party along with Sildar then left the cave, and headed for the cart with supplies, and the oxen you all had left behind, 10 miles away. No wandering monsters were encountered the whole way after rolling dice. The party arrived at the Oxen and Cart, and found one of the oxen almost dead, the other Paladin laid hands on it, har-har, and it was much better afterwards! From there the group decided to head off to the frontier town of Phandalin, at Sildars request. He said he had to take care of some "business". The party also wanting to deliver the cart, agreed.

After arriving in town, Sildar handed them his own personal map of the town for the parties use. He then showed them some of the important buildings in town. Finally at the end, he showed them where to lodge. The party told Sildar they wanted to deliver the wagon first and then they would be back to the Inn. Sildar gave them directions, and they parted ways. The party went to the North side of town, to Barthen's Provisions, where they met the proprietor Elmar Barthen, a large man with a nose for good deals but also a tight wallet. After delivering the cart of supplies everyone got 10GP. The party then wanted to buy some equipment, and sell some of the stuff you guys had found along the way, in your adventures so far.

The party found out quickly that Phandalin, like many frontier gold rush towns, are very expensive, high prices were common here, and buying your stuff was very low. After many rolls and checks were made, all the business was taken care of. Some of these bartering moments you guys won, some you lost. Afterwards the party asked if the knew of any place in town with the Lion Head symbol, the same symbol you guys saw on the stolen crates in cragmaw cave. Elmar Barthen said yes, that symbol belongs to Linene Graywind, she runs the Lionshield Coster in town down the road, where they sell armor and weapons. That's her lions head symbol, and she put's it on all her supplies.

The Party went to the Lionshield Coster and were met by a very gruff suspicious female Dwarf. After a rough introduction and back and forth with her, the party asked if she knew the symbol they had scribbled on some parchment in cragmaw cave, of the Lion-head symbol on the crates. Since no one had any artisan background to draw a nice picture of a lion head she thought it was a picture of a dog! further insulting the party:) after some more words were exchanged and then finally getting it across to her that it was a lion head, she said, "Ahh yes, where are my crates"! By this time there was bad blood, and some players further insulted her, She said just bring my crates if you wish!, or don't!, but I'll only pay you half price now! I thought you were these Redbrand Ruffians causing more trouble in this town, but you're much worse! and slammed the door in their faces. The party was confused about who these Redbrand Ruffians she was referring to were, and left.

From there the party went to the Tavern/Lodging Inn. They met the Tavern Keeper, Toblin Stonehill. Lindir the Bard, talked him into playing a performance later that night for his stay. The others had to pay. The prices were again high though and after many checks the price was reduced a little but still high. One thing to note, you all noticed your Cleric "Tal," getting very drunk that night, perhaps a flaw? and had to be carried to his room later, after picking a fight with a local in the Tavern, was punched in the face and carried off by some companions upstairs to sleep it off.

The rest of the night went uneventful, except that Lindir got a nice roll on his performance check, and had advantage on everyone he talked to basically. He found out some more information on these Redbrands, that they were cultist and worshiped dragons. They also told Lindir the bard that The Redbrand Ruffians liked to hang out in a taveren called the Sleeping Giant down the road...The party then went to bed. The next morning the Paladin wanted to go to the shrine, called the Shrine of Luck, dedicated to Tymora, goddess of luck and good fortune, where he met Sister-Garaele. After introductions, the Paladin noticed something was troubling her, she elaborated that it was indeed the Redbrand Ruffian Cultist that have been terrorizing the town for some time now.

They have robbed and beaten people, strong-armed others, and some people were actually missing. She went on to say there is very little the town could do. The only person in town with any authority, the "Town Master" seems paralyzed and helpless to do anything about these Redbrand Ruffians in this remote frontier town. Before parting ways, she asks the Paladin for another favor, a quest. To seek out a Banshee in the Neverwinter wood and try to acquire a spellbook for her. She said the Banshee would know which spellbook she was referring to. She handed the Paladin a Silver comb, and told him that it used to belong to the Banshee, maybe it would be of some use. The Paladin then left the shrine and met up with the party. They all proceeded to the Sleeping Giant Tavern to confront the Redbrand Ruffians, that had basically taken over that establishment, and the town.

Upon arriving they saw eight Redbrand Ruffians, sitting on the porch of the Inn drinking and discussing things, and laughing loudly. They stood up with their hands on their scabbards at seeing the arrival of the large party of seven heros. One of the Redbrand ruffian' said something to the effect of "Hey little dogs, have you come to bark at us this morning?" At that point, there was no more conversation or talking, when Tal, The Cleric decided to charge in and hit one of the Ruffians, (in his backstory he hate's cultist being a Cleric). A large battle ensued in the area. (I had a large 3d town map, looked cool). During the ferocious battle, One of the Redbrand Ruffians had a crit on the Paladin and the Paladin went down to 0 HP, on the table it said he was temporarily blinded, slashed across the eyes and almost died, but was healed by the bard.

Tal the Cleric almost died to, but healed himself in the nick of time. The Rouge and the Barbarian seemed to shine the most this time, a lot of heroic actions saved the party from a wipe. The Paladin was saved but now has a large permanent scar across his face, going across his eyes, (forgot but will have to lower his Chraisma due to it, I'll talk to him about that next time.) A huge character argument ensued between the Cleric and the Paladin. The Paladin Character admonishing the Cleric for not talking to the Cultist first and just brashly attacking them without any words spoken, not to mention that the Paladin is now scarred for life.

He also threatened to go off and wander Faerun by himself forever (Out of character - he may use another character if he decides to do that.) The Cleric insisted that this is him and the way he is, (background ties) and he cannot change his views on Cultist, especially evil one's.

And that is where we left it Jareth. You have a full view of what occurred in the session. Just felt I owed you that, and I hope this helps. We will most likely run Saturday and Sunday next week. Hope you can make both sessions, Talk to you then!

[Jarethspellfire]

Thank you for the writeup! Too bad i missed it, but i dozed off at my keyboard :) the past week has been busy at work and in the evenings. Sounds like you had a load of fun, hope to pick it up next week then!

I have calligraphy and cartography proficiency :P could have drawn you guys something nice :D

[bcp001]

The Paladin of Bahamut could care less about the scar and even knows that the final result of the encounter would have probably been much the same regardless of the Cleric's irrationality. However, he believes that the Cleric of Lathander choose to murder these people on the suspicion that they may be associated with a cult. It's only a matter of time before the cleric murders someone who is truly innocent in his witch hunt. The cleric's inability to see the error of his ways lead the Cleric to insult the Paladin's convictions. Something the paladin may have shrugged off had it come from a different party member but it's a mortal insult coming from the cleric. The one other party member present at that time who shares a similar connection to their god. Rather than stay and have a forced confrontation with the cleric of a truly good diety, the Paldin choose to leave and went back to the Inn. If the rest of the party sides with the cleric he'll just move on by himself.


OOC: That Talwynor has a background flaw that says he hates cultists doesn't mean that he need's a raving psychotic when ever he hears about the possibility of one. I'm assuming the character has a wisdom and intelligence greater than 7 or 8 and has some semblance of rationality and self control. Completely ignoring those stats means the character is choosing to act in this manner and his alignment and connection with his god (who would be opposed to such methods and failure) would be in question.

The background character traits are meant to help new players wrap their head around the quirks of putting themselves in the head of a character, not meant to be debilitating flaws that make your character a detriment to the game in general. The player knew that he was acting as a detriment to the game when he apologized before he choose to have his character start combat knowing we were going to be in a bad place, the only saving grace we had was the DM didn't have the Ruffians fight to their capabilities for the first half of the fight or we would have had a party wipe.

[Talen]

If the group thinks decisions like the one I made for the cleric are a detriment to the game, I have no issues toning him down but don't attribute my comments before the battle for a belief that I thought I was being a detriment to the game. I knew the decision I made for the character would put us in a bad spot tactically, but made sense to me given:

1. The character's background having been tortured and kidnapped by cultists at a young age.
2. That experience having lead him to join the church to combat the cultists - but also resulting in his alcoholism in an attempt to forget the horrors of the cult's actions.
3. That the night before the battle, the cleric had fallen off the wagon and into his cups.
4. The cleric also knew that at least 3 other people in the village, including the Sister at the Shrine, had informed that cultists known as the Redcloaks were overtaking the town.
5. That the group we were confronted were by all appearances, the Redcloaks the villagers had told us about (they were at the Inn the villagers said they had taken over, they wore Redcloaks, and they were at minimum, verbally aggressive to us when we arrived.)

I agree, that the cleric's actions in game are a problem, that his rashness put the group in a bad position and that his comment - especially to a paladin - could be a source of conflict. Having said that, I believe that all leads to interesting stories and why I thought the Paladins action were excellent role playing. However, if it is more than that and the group, or you specifically, think actions like that ruin the game day experience, I have no problems adjusting how I play the character.

[jh79]

Personally, I love this kind of fantasy back and fourth, I applaud you both for sticking to your Characters convictions, beliefs, world view, etc. I would not like to see anyone "tone down" role playing your Characters background, it would make it so much more bland, but that doesn't mean the Paladin and the Cleric Characters can't find common ground, especially since both are devout worshippers, and have more in common than not.

To me this is what 5e is all about, streamlined roleplaying, and I thought that was one of the better roleplaying moments I've seen yet. Your characters will have to come to terms with the aftermath one way or another. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

[SheerANONYMOUS]

I agree, I thought that was pretty fun. And as I said before, Flare would be in the same boat as the Cleric if it were slavers instead of, or along side, the cultists (although, having been a gladiatorial slave until shortly before the start of the campaign, she wouldn't have had a chance to become an alcoholic). Having said that, though, I do agree that it was rather obvious that these guys were, at the very least, impersonating a cult, and therefore probably deserved there fate, be it by our hands, the proper authorities or even the real cult itself.

[bcp001]

Apparently I'm not allowed to play FG 3.0.11, been working on it (with dev help) since Wednesday.

Even tried to install it on my laptop to no avail.

[jh79]

Wow, that really stinks, do you have another computer you can play on? The server is up for everyone by the way.

[bcp001]

yeah, the laptop IS my other computer.

I normally run on my PC.

[jh79]

Edited

[jh79]

Hey all,
This coming weekend, we will be playing both days Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and April 5th 4PM EDT. So get ready for a lot of adventuring!

The following Saturday, April - 11th we will have off from D&D, and the game will be Star Wars EOE!, for those who decided to play. Please sign up with Tal at the Obsidian website, and look for Character Generation dates and times. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea if (us) the players got together for a character generation day, to help each other build characters from the Character Generator tool that is almost complete, i should have it done by Thursday hopefully. That way we could build a diverse party that compliments each other.

Then resume 5e D&D - April 18th. So that is our schedule for the coming weeks, cya then :)

[MerlinAmbrose]

Update concerning Session Start Time and World Timezones

Western Europe went on Summer Time this past weekend. That means that 9 pm local time in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France and many others now corresponds to 3 pm USA Eastern Daylight Time.

We had adjusted the starting time on USA clocks to keep the European time at 9 pm. We should now go back to the original start time relative to USA clocks of 3 pm EDT, 2 pm CDT. Since New Zealand just went on Winter Time, I am not sure how that all translates.

So, new start times:
USA Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4): 3 pm
USA Central Daylight Time (GMT -5): 2 pm
Central European Summer Time (GMT +2): 9 pm
Greenwich Mean Time (ignores all Summer/Winter Time adjustments): 7 pm

Folks, please check this and confirm I have it correct. JH, please confirm or correct the new starting time for both Saturday and Sunday, to make it official.

Very much look forward to fruitful gaming sessions this weekend.

[jh79]

I see, I just checked and you are correct, so it's back to 3PM EDT this weekend guys Saturday and Sunday play. Thanks Merlin!

[jh79]

One correction on our Schedule guys. We will not reconvene Saturday April 18th, after this weekends Saturday, Sunday play. That is the day I will be DMing for the Fantasy Grounds Convention. I'm sure you guys can find a one shot game that day if you want to play in the convention, there's a lot going on.

Here is the link to check out all the games happening, mine happens to be full but there are plenty of others.
https://www.fg-con.com/events/

We will reconvene, Saturday the 25th, and also play Sunday the 26th, to make up for the lost time.

Cya all this Saturday and Sunday :)

[MerlinAmbrose]

First of all, congratulations to JH79 on his being picked to GM at FG Con.

Recapping playing schedule to make sure I have it straight:

We play Lost Mines this weekend, two sessions on Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th, times as posted above.
Playing Star Wars the following weekend, April 11th
JH GMs at FG Con on the subsequent weekend, April 18 et seq, no play for the group
Resume play in Lost Mines, Saturday April 25 and Sunday April 26.

[jh79]

Hey Merlin, yes, that is the correct schedule. Probably not a bad idea if you guys check out the FG con, so many games to play and try out. I had put it out there that I would be interested in supporting the FG-Convention and someone got back to me. I think it's important for us to support our awesome RPG community, I'm trying out two new systems just for fun, Star Wars, and Castles and Crusades on Friday and Sunday. Link is below guys if you want to see the convention schedule.
https://www.fg-con.com/events/

[Talen]

So with the first Star Wars game approaching (Sun April 12 3pm ET), I wanted to firm up some details. The Star Wars campaign site is at https://star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-26.obsidianportal.com/.


We will be starting the campaign on our off days for the d&d 5e games. I'm open to running weekly if it goes well and there is enough interest.
I'd like to run with 7 PC's.
So far, Jarethspellfire and JH79 have provided me their characters and I believe SheerANONYMOUS and Koreapsu are playing, but have not received their pc's yet.
Assuming Sheer and Koreapsu are still definites, I'd like to add 3 more players and will save a slot for everyone in the d&d campaign if they tell me they are interested. Please either pm me or go to the campaign site to let me know if you are interested.
If you are interested, let me know if you would like to submit your own character or use one of the pregens to start. We will run a character generation session on Friday April 10 for anyone that wants to create their own, but has questions. It will also be a good session to gover the basics of the ruleset in Fantasy Grounds.
If you select a pre gen, please choose one from this list: a Rodian Explorer (Trader), a Trandoshan Hired Gun (Marauder), a Droid Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer), A Wookie Colonist (Doctor), A Bothan Technician (Slicer), A Human Smuggler (Scoundrel), A Wookie Hired Gun, or a Twi'lek Bounty Hunter.
I will be soliciting additional players to cover remaining slots (if any) to ensure we run with 7.


If you have any additional questions, just give a shout!

[jh79]

Server is up gents, we start D&D in 45 minutes...

[jh79]

Great session yesterday, you guys did really well and turned the tide of an extremely dangerous battle, and gratz on 3rd level!

Reminder: Since we are playing back to back days, but playing an hour earlier today, want to make sure we're all on the same page.

Today Sunday, we start at 2PM EDT, basically an hour earlier then normal, I know some of you will be a little late and one has to leave earlier. Ill have the server up at 1PM, an hour before game time, cya then.

P.S Tal, please come in at 1PM so we can coordinate some things for next weeks Star Wars game. Ill be in TeamSpeak.

[jh79]

I confirmed with Tal that the First Star Wars game will be this Sunday the 12th at 3pm EDT. and will always be on Sundays. I'll be in TeamSpeak with the SW Character Generater on Friday the 10th, starting at 3pm EDT and will be there probably until 8PM EDT. That way everyone playing has a chance to come in and make/talk about character creation and flesh out your Star Wars Hero.

For D&D we will be playing every Saturday, starting on the 25th of this month. Was also thinking that maybe someone should take a level or two in Rogue? Luckily you all have had no dangerous traps to disarm in the last couple sessions, and all the locked doors have been wooden and not iron or steel for kicking in, you might break a foot or ankle if you tried it on one of those and rolled a 1 on the STR check, just saying :D

[Talen]

Gameday still on for Sunday. For those still needing to create their character, We will do a character creation session on Saturday in Teamspeak at 1 ET. We had previously discussed Friday, and if you'd prefer that day, I can meet with you on that day as well.

[jh79]

Ill be there also, Saturday 1PM EDT, not Friday. I need to finish off my Star Wars Smuggler background story. For the rest of the guys that are playing, please show up at the time stated above, if you can't let Tal know with a PM so he can work out a time to configure Dropbox. We have to give you access to a Dropbox folder and configure a few things with the Star Wars Character Generator. It came out real nice, Tal and I gave it a test run tonight, works great.

If you don't have Dropbox already installed on you computer, please download it, and have a shortcut on your desktop ready to go when we start configuring it with you. Just Google Dropbox, you will need it because we will all be sharing a folder in it to be connected with our GM. This gives him access to our exported character sheets from the Star Wars Character Generator, so he can give us XP or items after missions! :)

Cya then.

[Jarethspellfire]

I will try to make it, but i actually counted on trying to make it today. Tomorrow the wife and i are going out to dinner.

what time is 1 ET? Do you mean 13:00 EDT for you?

[jh79]

Hey Jarethspellfire, I can meet you today, I think Tal gets home at 7PM tonight and you will probably be in bed. If you want to meet now let me know and I'll help you get setup in TeamSpeak.

[Jarethspellfire]

hey all, i tried to get on the website earlier but it was down. I will be able to make tonight, we went for romantic breakfast this morning instead :p

[Talen]

Great. See you this afternoon then (well, afternoon for me anyway).

[jh79]

We just did Mcdonalds big breakfast! Does that count?:D
Cya there.

[Jarethspellfire]

I believe we mentioned this before, but M and myself will not be able to make next session on saturday the 18th. He has a birthday and i am celebrating a friend's bachelor party. i will see you all on sunday

[JohnD]

If its a good party, you should still be incapacitated on Sunday. Or still going.

[jh79]

Guys, as I'm sure you realize by now, I will be DMing at the FG convention on Sat the 18th, there was no game planned this Saturday, I informed you of this if you read above and several times verbally :). Next D&D session is Saturday the 25th at 3 PM ET. Cya Sunday for Star Wars 1 PM ET.

[Jarethspellfire]

Glad to not be missing out :) i remember you mentioning it. Sorry my head's a mess :D

[jh79]

Ohhhh, I got a new FG-toy for you guys to play with next time we play D&D, remove effect! For instance if you Rage sheer, you can place the rage on yourself and take it off yourself on the combat tracker (I fixed the rage on your character sheet BTW).

Goes for anything like that, Hex for warlocks, Sleep spell, ect ect. Thanks to Trenloe for developing the extension, we will get a lot of use out of that one!

[MerlinAmbrose]

JH, good luck with your game sessions this weekend at FG Con.

[jh79]

Thanks Merlin! should be a good time, you guys should check out the different games and get in on it, there is a lot going on this weekend.

[Talen]

Guys, as I'm sure you realize by now, I will be DMing at the FG convention on Sat the 18th, there was no game planned this Saturday, I informed you of this if you read above and several times verbally :). Next D&D session is Saturday the 25th at 3 PM ET. Cya Sunday for Star Wars 1 PM ET.

Star Wars gameday is on for tomorrow at 1 ET. Same time as last week. I did upload a crawl summary of our last session on the campaign portal.

[jh79]

OK guys, it is time once again for your character to breath the air of Faerûn! This Saturday (tomorrow) at 3PM ET.

You have just cleared out the evil Manor and freed Phandalin from the clutches of the evil RedBrand Ruffians. A couple of you have stayed back with the chained prisoners of the Manor's dungeon while the rest of you have gone in search of a rogue to free them from their bonds.

Luckily for your characters, a rogue finds you instead, a female that new Merrick, your former rogue, looking for any information on him, due to the fact the Rouge's Guild hadn't heard from him in quite a while and he hadn't checked in with them.

OOC: Your new female rogue will be play by Merrick himself, he has decided to join again as a female rogue. So that is where we will pick up the story.

Merrick, please come in an at least half an hour early 2:30pm ET to make your new Rogue character, You will come in at 3rd level. I'll have the server open at 2pm ET for anyone wanting to log in.

Cya all tomorrow!

[jh79]

Ok guys, just a few story points before we start the next week. Ill read this again before we start next week but just a heads up.

You wake up at the inn the next morning after a good long rest, including Lindir the Bard and the halfling lass... You here a commotion outside. You run outside to see a crowd surrounding a prone human male in the middle of the dirt road. The man's face appears to be severely swollen after what apparently was a savage beating.

After a few moments, you start to make out the face, as you get a sick feeling in your stomach. Sildar!?!?
You rush over and kneel beside him, you notice something far worse than the beating, a dagger protruding from his chest.

One of you asks, "Sildar, who did this to you!", you here a feint whisper come from his parched lips, dried with blood. "Irarno, why?" The last words he ever utters...

A citizen from the town speaks up loudly, "I was picking barriers in the nearby woods, I saw the whole thing! This poor soul confronted Glassstaff just up the road he did!, after some words were exchanged, Glasstaff signaled, those five Redbrands from last night jumped out from some bushes and began a savage attack they did!, He put up a fight but there were just to many! I guess they left him for dead and headed off, to the north, one of them mentioned the Neverwinter Wood".

Another citizen jumps into the conversation. "I heard the Townmaster say he was taking those RedBrand to the jail cells after he gorged himself at the feast last night, he led them off, still chained, into the night."

OOC: Yes, the Townmaster lied to you, an expert at his trade. There are jail cells in the celler of the Townmaster Hall. You thought he was hiding something and that was it, he then quickly changed the subject and through you off by claiming he was the reason you were victorious at the hideout, leading to a frivolous argument, his plan.

Another citizen speaks up, "I thought the prisoners were at the feast to put them on display and thought nothing of it, what has become of the Townmaster?".

A woman cries out, "The Redbrands will be back in full force led by Glasstaff! We are doomed!" You see other townspeople looking worried and agreeing. "It seems you have gone from saviors to doom bringers", another says.

The townsfolk start moving away from your party quickly, heading for their homes to bunker down, and to avoid the onslaught that is sure to come.

This is where we will start next week. Merrick, log on two hours early next week so you can download the files without dropping, 1PM ET, cya then.

[Jarethspellfire]

A lawful neutral character like ichiro might at this point determine that he would be better off going to search his homeland than to bother helping these ungrateful people.

Especially since everything we have been doing and every hardship endured sofar has been for naught. (Rescued Sildar but he got killed anyway, Failed to do anything about an obviously lieing Townmaster (hardly an expert at lieing :D) , Failed to capture Glasstaff, Mercenaries who we gave mercy rejoining a former enemy, still dont have any idea where the dwarf is (gundren right?))

I am going to have to think on this. Either Ichiro is going to head off to find his homeland and i'll create another character who is still motivated to help these people or he is not going to show any mercy to anyone anymore from now and become once again the fierce general he once was.

[jh79]

That's the beauty of RPG's imo, even a well written novel cannot change its story and add victories or consequences to protagonists fortunes and missfortunes.

The story has changed true enough, but it could had gone completely the other way with party choices. Had the party done completely opposite things, the story would be completely different right now. Trace it back, and you will see what I mean. To me, this is why I play RPG's, an ever evolving storyline that can go anywhere. Loose ends need to be tied, because they can come back to bite you, especially with men of evil heart, they usually do.

Agreed, it is a challenge for a lawful character in a gritty world such as this, but Ichiro has the freedom to do as he wishes in this great game we call D&D :) Maybe a fiercer Iciro and party would fare much better in a non forgiving world. Ill have the server up an hour early if you decide to make another character.

[Jarethspellfire]

Ichiro (and me also ofcourse :)) is not getting a grasp on the storyline at all. The degree of information we are receving is either extremely basic in this campaign, aimed at keeping players in the dark or we are missing places / names and connections that should have been obvious and i have been a dumb player. Maybe one of the others can explain to me lateron what i have been missing.

I'll be online on TS earlier , see you then!

[jh79]

Lost Mine of Phandelver is a very open ended sandbox module, many different directions parties can go, very non linear. I have given you all the information for the path you have gone so far, Merlin has taken notes for everything and I'm sure he can explain what is going on from a player perspective.

I did give a full recounting before last session began, all the way from the start of your journey, but we'll make sure everyone is caught up again before we continue. I understand you don't know where Gundren the Dwarf is, and yes that intentional as the module requires. You are suppose to not have a clue where he is at the moment. Cya in game later.

[Jarethspellfire]

That's cool :D maybe merlin can share the notes and i'll be back on track, thanks!

[Ceredwynwolf]

Hey guys, friend of mine is having his birthday party f tomorrow so I'll have to skip a session.

Have fun showing those cultists who's boss! See you next week. :)

[jh79]

Hi all, several players won't be able to make it tomorrow May 9th, so we'll hold off until next week May 16th. Cya then.

[MerlinAmbrose]

1. The party were hired to take a wagon of goods to Phandalin. Employer was Gundren, a wild talking dwarven miner. He and his human associate, Sildar, took off immediately for Phandalin on urgent business. The party, following a day later on the Triboar Trail, found Gundren's and Sildar's horses slain in a goblin ambush. The party itself was ambushed by the same goblins, and slew all except for a goblin captive. The captive informed the party that Gundren and Sildar were taken captive, and in exchange for his life guided the party to the goblin hideout, a cave a few miles away.

2. The party found the cave and entered it, eventually killing all the goblins and a bugbear, rescuing Sildar. Gundren had already taken away elsewhere. Tavern audiences find Lindir the Bard's image and sound replay of the fight with Klarg the Bugbear very entertaining, and they always laugh uproariously at the sound of Alvredus the Paladin's heroic snores as the rest of the party killed a war band of goblins while the Paladin slept through it. (Lesson: don't be rude to a bard; he'll get the last laugh). The party learned that Gundren was taken to Cragmaw Castle, a place whose location they do not know. They also learned Gundren had found a map to the lost Wave Echo Cave, a place of serious magic and reputed to contain rich ore veins and much treasure.

3. The party brought the wagon of goods and the injured Sildar to the town of Phandalin, and discovered the town was being terrorized by a gang of thugs who claimed to be evil cultists and called themselves Redcloaks. Several townsfolk were missing, abducted by the gang, and some townsfolk where slain outright in the town, to cow the rest. The party confronted a band of the thugs at the Sleeping Giant Inn, and slew them all. Alvredus the Paladin took issue with Talwynor the Cleric's impetuous approach and left the party in a snit.

4. The party found out the rest of the Redcloaks and their leader, the evil wizard calling himself Glasstaff, were based in a ruined manor on the edge of Phandalin. Using a secret entrance revealed to them by a halfling child, the party entered the manor's basement and eventually slew or captured all the remaining thugs. Glasstaff escaped. The party suffered a casualty, the rogue Merric Padfoot. They discovered three captives, and were able to free them, reuniting them with their families, to great rejoicing by the townsfolk. The party discovered, from interrogating the captive thugs, that Glasstaff was working with some person or entity whose name was unknown to them and who was always discussed as wearing black and being associated with spiders.

5. The party brought five captured thugs into Phandalin and turned them over to the (later revealed as corrupt) Townmaster. The Townmaster disappeared, along with the captives, and the next morning the party found Sildar dying in the street, having been ambushed by Glasstaff and the five escaped thugs. With his last breath, Sildar revealed that Glasstaff is Iarno, Sildar's former partner. The townsfolk are terrified.

6. Learning the location of Cragmaw Castle from Daran Edermath, a retired adventurer, the party set out to rescue Gundren. Daran Edermath agreed to use weapons recovered from the manor to arm and train a town militia in the party's absence. The adventurers have arrived at the castle, after dealing with hobgoblin patrols.

That is the state of things prior to the game session originally scheduled for today (2015-05-09). I am sure others can fill in any details I missed. The next play session is Saturday, 16 May 2015.

[jh79]

Mostly correct, good job and thanks for taking notes as a player, I am awarding you inspiration, check it off on your sheet when we start :)

One key thing though... you were told Gundren was taken north, towards the Neverwinter Woods, by Sildar before his murder. Your party is assuming Gundren is there but no one knows for sure. He could have been ushered further north. Also the thugs in Phandalin where actually called Redbrand Ruffians, not Red Cloaks, I think that was a word Tal made up? I can't remember, hehe. They posed as cultist, due to having some cultist robes that were left at the tavern, and they were mocking them basically when you guys confronted them, but at the end of the day the were just hired guns, not cultists.

All in all you guys are back on track (The main story line arc of the module) all those other sub quests are just that, sub quests. Like in a video game, you have the main story arc and then all the side quests (optionals), you guys are back on the main over arching story-line now.

So, after a long journey through the dangerous wilds, and several battles with orcs and hobgoblin patrols, you stand staring at a gloomy crumbling castle in the middle of the deadly Neverwinter Woods; right where the elf Darren Edermath told you it would be, after visiting it a century ago. That's where we will pick up Saturday. Cya all then.

[jh79]

Hey guys, your Cleric has informed me he can't make it today. I don't play player characters that are not there and you guys are about to enter a real dangerous part of the adventure. just wouldn't be fair, might even TPK.

Thought about it, and no real way to introduce an NPC Cleric in the middle of the Neverwinter Woods, besides a hidden ancient castle, that is also a hideout, and the surrounding area is heavily patrolled. Just not feasible. So probably best to hold off a week, so at least you guys have a decent chance of everyone surviving.

[MerlinAmbrose]

Well, shucky durn.

I agree, though: without Talwynor, Lindir and Ichiro together don't have enough healing power to keep the party alive. Best not tempt fate.

What about the Star Wars session on Sunday? Is that still on?



Merlin

[Koreapsu]

Gah we need to sort this out. Three weeks between sessions is no good. Surely some of us are capable of picking up a missing character and playing them for a session. This week it's a cleric - sit at the back and heal the people who need it - it's not rocket science.

We have loads of players - this increases the chances someone will be missing, but also minimizes their net loss to the party if they aren't there.

I'll put my hand up here - if I can't make it anyone can play Finn - don't ever skip a session because I'm not here. I'm also available to play any character in the event someone else can't make it (and I promise to keep you alive!).

Getting up at 6am on a Sunday morning is bloody annoying when a game has been canned just a few hours earlier.

[Jarethspellfire]

Agreed, for me it's easy since i am already awake, but getting up early for a game that's not there sucks.

Allowing the character to be run or finding a way to get more healing seems preferable to cancelling the session. Either that or the encounters could be toned down to allow for us to play. And as last option, perhaps just tempt fate, but well there are a lot of other good options :)

[jh79]

I hear ya, but I've had problems with players over the years, losing character's when other people play them. Some, not all people play other people's characters recklessly because it's not their character and they're not invested. so I'm not going to go down that road, however if you all agree to go in without a Cleric, we can play, I don't care, I love to play. Maybe you find some healing potions, and I scale down, but it will still be harder then without a Cleric, but ill keep a level playing field as I usually do for the players and the monsters.

[jh79]

Also, if you guys would like an extra makeup session this Sunday, we can do that. Maybe Star Wars could be moved to 12pm-3pm ET for one Sunday and we could play 5e at the normal time Sunday 3-6 ET. I'm gladly up for it, let me know Saturday when we play if that works for you guys.