Nerd Pride Radio

This thread is to compile the list of things we need/want to do, so DMDarcs can prepare for our next session on December 30.

Things we need to do during next session:

Talk to Morgiv and the Spared.

Talk to Gyukak, who was the giant in the encampment that asked us to provide a distraction.

Potentially talk to the spiders from Leng that asked us to kill their people who were helping Karzoug. I believe the thought was to let them approach us if they wanted to talk, but not to seek them out. But we'll list it here just in case.

Did we have any conversation with that tribe of yetis? If so, should we circle back with them?

Get back to Sandpoint and The Rusty Dragon.

Visit Fort Rannick.

Visit Dothan's mom.

Oh, and have Kay and Thor's baby.

Where do we level up? Should that be first?

Good question. DMDarcs?

Enquiring minds want to know...

You're not there yet.

That list in that order looks fine to me. Visiting my mom and dad right away is optional. We can message them and arrange a visit after the last of it is done.

Well, I thought you’ve been visiting with your biological dad this entire adventure. But if you want to see the other guy as well, that’s fine by me.

So heading to Magnimar for a paternity test. Got it. Jeez, way to be subtle, guys.

Eliahad wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 8:32 am So heading to Magnimar for a paternity test. Got it. Jeez, way to be subtle, guys.

I think a paternity test in this era has more to do with spells that determine whether someone is lying and asking the mother of the child who the father is...

Do we want to pay a visit to the mayor in Magnimar?

Also, do Anna and Sam need to do anything? Or will they be going their separate way now that we completed the mission? I believe they were on a mission from the elves when we met them at the dam near Fort Rannick, so I don’t want to assume they’ll be staying with us or want to follow up on the same things as the rest of us.

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Sun Dec 26, 2021 7:07 pm Do we want to pay a visit to the mayor in Magnimar?

Also, do Anna and Sam need to do anything? Or will they be going their separate way now that we completed the mission? I believe they were on a mission from the elves when we met them at the dam near Fort Rannick, so I don’t want to assume they’ll be staying with us or want to follow up on the same things as the rest of us.

I was wondering about the mayor... thinking that maybe it would be a good idea just to remove him from office.

100% yes for Dwyn: I feel like we need to go to Sandpoint for closure and loose ends, and D. would want to see her close family after this long and harrowing journey, but the very next thing that she'll want to do is go to Fort Rannick to see boyfriend and try to solve whatever may be disrupted in that area right now. I don't know that she cares about enforcing ownership claims so much as making sure The Black Arrows are supported and comfortable with the leadership.

Want to add:

Cast glitterdust on Karzoug's tower. Make it permanent.

Quill questions:

1. Is Karzoug's essence destroyed?

2. How might one retrieve his remains?

3. How can we destroy or neutralize the golden scimitar _____? (It has a name apparently...insert here)

4. Where is the individual who used to be known as Judge Ironbriar?

5. Which other Runelords made viable plans for reawakening or return?

6. Where is Black Magga presently manifested?

There are more that occur, but the followups might lead places more important.
My gut tells me I want to play a potentially dangerous game with a sleeping Runelord, but I'm not an expert on casting, so which of them have been a specialist in divination?

I feel bad that we kind of cut you off from doing what you wanted to do with the lingering remains or possibility of remains. Metalevel here, I don't know how we could actually get in there and locate or do anything further with those remains. So I'm not sure it's worth that effort. On the other hand, if you think we left it unsettled, then that's bad and maybe we should try?

So what do others want to do now, like as a team? Is it just a matter of going back to material plane and seeing what's shaking? Do you have objectives? I want to give you a last story but not sure what that timeline will look like - maybe I'll put it up and just edit it if something turns out incompatible with the sequence of events hypothesized.

And then what? This was such a great long-term campaign especially considering that we couldn't all get together in someone's home but had to do it via Roll20. We started in that way so long ago, I wonder if in the future people want to do it with Zoom where you can screen share and have more interaction and stuff? I am used to doing many things this way now.

I also found it so great to be with this particular group of players and of course with our SO GREAT BEYOND COMPARE DM, who has the perfect combo of giving us storyline and intrigue, and setting parameters and keeping things rolling, while also giving the players space to figure out what they are going to figure out. Really, the style was perfect - I don't know if it's this combo of game/system and that style, but it worked so well. Most roleplaying stuff I've done has been more intensive in terms of frequency/length of meeting but for a shorter time - I have never done one like this where we went such a long time steadily, and it was an incredible experience. Essentially a few months of in-game were packed into years of reality-timeline, in a way that encouraged reflection and perspective on the whole.

I totally want to do the same thing again, basically until we are all dead, but I realize this is unrealistic unless we all die at the same catastrophic moment (e.g. our common assisted living center has a gas leak and explodes). It also might be undesirable to people for different reasons: you may grow tired of playing with the same people as players - I would not at all be offended if people were like, enough of your jibber jabber, we need you to go find another group! However, it also might be that DMDarcs deserves a turn as a player if he ever wanted to be a player instead of having to do all the extra work of being a DM. I don't know - what do people think about this? The whole pandemic living has made me maudlin and overturned many of my actual life goals so that I don't even know who I am or what I want anymore. However, I do know that we should seriously consider a) an investment club, b) purchasing our own assisted living home with options for skilled nursing care, and you know, basically doing this forever once we can attain enough wealth to make it a good retirement option for everyone. Some people move to Florida or Arizona or whatnot to play golf and bingo or whatever they do; this is a similar plan but a far better one.

I should clarify that I am fine with doing another campaign someday if people want to, and you don't have to buy into the whole lifetime commitment or retirement home. These things CAN be separate even if it would be better to join them, like a Reese's cup.

Long term, put every runelord to rest permanently. I have a sinking feeling they each has a reprise planned.
Short term, hang with peeps, get more dangerous.

Of course he wants to double tap Karzoug. Very little is more annoying than having to face the undead version of the bad guy you just killed.
He's a paladin, thoroughness is the default (finish runewell, completely) (empty dungeon, completely) (exterminate giants, completely) you get the idea.
It's not so much destroying, it's that almost means no.

Having said that...don't split the party. First rule.
Paladins love rules.

Okay if you're not splitting the party I'm going to mark you down as a yes for the retirement home along with any guests and relatives you need to bring.

On my to do list?
Grabbing Karzoug's dancing ranseur and getting it fit for Dwyn to use because I want the scene where the next runelord sees it, does a double take, and then while it dances and they parry, Dwyn pulls out her faithful hammer and mashes his/her sorry ass. It's almost enough to make Hal consider polearms, but he could never do it as well.

Smashing the "Make Thassilonia Great Again" movement is a nice proxy for something IRL. It eludes me just now, but long term, Hal would like to establish Jorgenfist, with the library, as a resource for that effort. Research, stuff, assistance, training.

bralbovsky wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:54 pm On my to do list?
Grabbing Karzoug's dancing ranseur and getting it fit for Dwyn to use because I want the scene where the next runelord sees it, does a double take, and then while it dances and they parry, Dwyn pulls out her faithful hammer and mashes his/her sorry ass. It's almost enough to make Hal consider polearms, but he could never do it as well.

Smashing the "Make Thassilonia Great Again" movement is a nice proxy for something IRL. It eludes me just now, but long term, Hal would like to establish Jorgenfist, with the library, as a resource for that effort. Research, stuff, assistance, training.

That would be amazing! I would love to see the look on one of those overconfident SOBs faces when they saw Dwyn wielding their old foe's artifact weapon...

However, [in meta mode]... while the name of the campaign is "Rise of the Runlords", I don't know that there are more of them to face in the actual campaign itself... but I also don't know that there aren't, since I haven't run it before...

[Meta] There's a second AP called "Return of the Runelords."

There are seven of these megalomaniacs. You don't think Karzoug is a one off do you?

Even if there were no modules, I'm sure Darcs would do a terrifyingly good job on each of them.