Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Return of the Flumph 09-23-07, 08:47 PM	I must say, I'm sorry to see that the Build Your Fortress thread collapsed under its own weight. Because that was such an awesome campaign building exercise, I'm trying to ressurect it here. The idea of the game is that a group of nomads come to a vacant area with monsters, resources, and some mean gobbies and orcs a short distance away. Starting with a finite amount of manpower and equipment, you need to persevere over the elements, fend of the monsters, and deal with enemies like goblinoids, orcs, and (possibly) each other. In the last iteration of the game, you were limited to playing as humans, and the area already contained powerful and advanced dwarven and elvish city states. This time around, you can be any of the races from the PHB; elves, dwarves, halflings, humans, or gnomes. You must start out with a racially homogenous settlement. For the purposes of this game, we will assume that there are no other members of your race close enough to contact or trade with. Avoid the topic whenever possible. The rules are as follows: 1. Each player starts out with six hundred adults of whichever race you picked, as well as one hundred and fifty children. 2. By default, your starting population consists entirely of first level commoners and warriors (divide the population up between the two as you wish, but keep in mind that warriors are bad at farming and construction). In order to change this, you have 60 character points to spend in beefing up your 600 settlers. By spending those points, you can trade in a first level commoner/warrior for a higher level individual. -Adding levels in an NPC class (expert, warrior, adept, commoner, aristocrat) costs half of a point. -Adding levels in a PC class costs one point. -Level cap for starting out is 4. You must spend them all at the start of the game; heroes will strengthen and multiply naturally over the course of the game. 3. You start out with six thousand GP worth of assets, in addition to tents and simple clothing for all your people, enough food to last a few months, simple weapons for your warriors, and basic tools for your commoners and experts. Feel free to spend the 6,000 on anything a group of settlers could reasonably have. If the price for something you want is not listed in the PHB or DMG, talk to me about it. 4. The game will be divided up into a series of years. We will decide when one year ends and another begins via concensus (when everyone has done what they want to do for the year, we move on). Every year, I will throw some monkey wrenches for you to overcome. 5. Anything in the SRD is fair game, but no other supplements are allowed. Alright, to start the game we have a region with varied environments. There is a coastal area with beaches and cliffs, a forest a few hundred yards from the ocean, a grassland expanse, another forest across the grassland, and some mountains in the background, surrounded by forested foothills, with a box canyon nestled in the hills and a swamp at the far side of the mountain forest. You can start anywhere you want. Begin.
Alexeduardo 09-23-07, 10:00 PM	450 half elf male adults 400 commoners 150 half elf younglings 150 female half elfs 140 minutemen (commoners carrying a spear and a shield) 60 trained soldiers (lvl 1 Fighters with spears and wooden shields) This expedition posseses (along with the weapons): 300 tents (each one for a pair of people), tent mates are chosen by the settlers, though mothers should always stick to their child. 300 goats, this number is an estimate, since the goat population increases and decreases rather fast. And a mysterious diamond, carried by the leader of the trained soldiers, which appears to have a damaging effect on birds. The expedition is just climbing down the mountains, many months have they struggled to survive in the mountains, and the sudden appearance of the sea brings an unearthly hope to their hearts. It has been five months since The Last Safe Haven was raided by fanatical dwarves and humans, those zealots burned everything but the little ones that hid in the mountains. From there they created this expedition and, escaping from all things religion, set out looking for a new home. They have now finally arrived, and set their camps in the mountain range's base. All able men have decided that they'll settle in the sea shore, and that their final trek will begin at dawn. For now they rest, dreaming of the peaceful lives they and their goats will be able to live once they reach those golden sands. Anything I should add?
Return of the Flumph 09-23-07, 10:12 PM	Good start, but you should go ahead and work their seaside encampment into the post. Everyone starts the game in their chosen base site. Just mention that they get to the sea shore, and you can put in a little bit of rudimentary (wooden) housing and construction...only a tiny bit, though. You should try diversifying a bit. Having experts and adepts will help you a lot, as will having a few PC's of higher than first level. Also, six hundred half elves? I'm not going to stop you, but it seems a little odd.
Alexeduardo 09-23-07, 10:31 PM	hmmm.... Can I ask for just one more lvl point? please? pretty please? ok, so they get to the seashore and create a basic huts in which they sleep for some weeks. Later that same month, herding life is officialy abandoned, and farms are built in what used to be the begginings of the forest before it was chopped down to make room for the farms. The farms belong to the whole community, and everyone looks after and feeds the goats. The farms are completed just before summer.
Xanaphia_Undomiel 09-23-07, 11:05 PM	The Cultists of Morandin have been purged from their home by the faithless dwarves of the deep. With more than three chickens per person, the dwarves finially find a place to settle down. Eberk (the level 4 cleric) begins work on a temple. They have found a nice labyrinth in the mountains. It has a few tunnels going off the main cave which we haven't explored. We dig a few small mines, and build a gate on the cave entrance, and place our animals in a pen which can see out the surfaceand has some grass growing for the chickens. Cultists of Morandin 200 dwarven women commoners 200 dwarven male commoners 100 miners 100 housekeepers 50 engineers 100 farmers 50 cooks 151 warriors 100 warriors have a spear and hide armour costs 1000 51 have 10 javelins and padded armour costs 255 150 children 1 lvl 4 Aristocrat named Tordek who is the king of the dwarves 16 level 1 experts. 10 level 2 experts. 5 level 4 experts. 5 level 2 clerics with greatclub and hide armour costs 100 1 level 4 cleric named Eberk with greatclub and hide armour costs 20 1 level 4 fighter with greatsword and chain mail=100 1 level 3 wizard 9 level 1 wizard 2000 chickens costs 40gp. 30 pigs costs 90 gp 20 cows costs 200 gp 100 goats costs 100gp 100 sheep costs 200gp And fences for them cost about 200gp. The Cultists of Morandin have 1795 gp left, kept by Eberk the cleric. The Cultists finish their enclosure and work to keep their chickens and goats and sheep and cows happy. They have found some quartz in their mine, and every dwarf knows that where there is quartz there is gold. They send out scouts to find other neighbouring villages. Their message is that they plan to be peaceful, and will send Eberk, their level 4 cleric. They scribe scroll message and give one to all neighbouring towns, for them to call the dwarves.
tripleee69 09-23-07, 11:30 PM	I'm new at this so go easy on me... all class levels are 2,Humans except me 8 rangers 3 wizards(my character is one of them level 4 half-orc Hoku) 3 sorecers 2 bards 6 rouges(3 alchemist,3 blacksmiths) 7 druids 4 clerics 34 commoners(7 farmers,9 miners,5 lumber jacks,3 fishermen,4 stonemasons,3 engineers,2 bee keepers,1 inn keeper) the communite is council ran by 1 of each class and 3 commoners and me since im leading this party. Each class leader is head of a guild. I would start with my people dividing into parties looking for a wooded moutain with a small lake and/or stream controlled by neather the elves or dwarves. once found we would then start by setting camps up in the moutain surrounding the excavation site and everyone capable of digin into the moutain does and will work their way down building medium size rooms along the way down for winter storage for now. Any Material found will be ether used,stored,or traded. Those not working in the moutains to clear it out are using the rubble to build shelves on the moutain sides to hold dirt for the farmers to farm with and roads connecting them but never going more than 5/10 the way down the moutain and never connects to the serrounding flat land to keep the communite hidden and hard to get to for hostile forces. The druids will be set to work on rearanging the trees and wild growth to keep the camps and excavation sites and shelve hidden from onlookers once done they will start on redirecting the streams to feed the farms and make more small lakes to which can be populated with fish later to firtalize them and increase the wild life and start crops growing on the shelves. Rangers are on watch for spies and game, wizard and sorcerers set alarm,fog and ghost sound spells all around the moutains lower half to scare off intruders and alert the council. Garbage will be first passed to wizards and sorcerers for spell componets and the to the druids for mulch piles. I would start communcations with any nearby communites that are willing to show themselves using the material found and harvested to trade for medicine,tools and class schooling (preferibly druids and rangers from elves and smith and fighter from dwarves).
Return of the Flumph 09-23-07, 11:56 PM	Guys, I recommend saying what the professions of your commoners are. Are they miners? Herdsmen? Farmers? Lumber jacks? Fishermen? Dividing up your commoners into demographics based on occupation would be best. Sorry Alex, but you'll have to make do with 59 first level fighters if you want to add something else. Xanaphia, wouldn't dwarves generally head for the mountains? Coastal forests don't really say "dwarf" to me. You can start anywhere you want, but I feel that dwarves really belong in the mountains. Tripleee, you don't know about each other yet, and you couldn't have harvested enough timber to trade at this point anyway. Keep in mind as well that a dungeon the size of the one you described would take decades to mine. Also, what race are you?
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-24-07, 01:57 AM	Really quick, this is the stuff I love doing. Thank you. Off the shore live small village of Half-lings. They are simple fishers and farmers. This is not a dull village. with small shows always about. With the population of 600 1 4th lvl aristocrat (leader) 20 2nd lvl experts (fishers) 22 1st lvl warriors (all town guard) 10 1st lvl fighter (all town guard, Lieutenants) 1 3rd lvl fighter (head of town gaurd) 10 1st lvl bards (performers and story tellers) 3 1st lvl rogues (thieves) 1 3rd lvl rouge (spy for the town) 533 commoners (200 farmers, 100 fishers, 100 shop keeps, 33 teachers and people to watch the children, 100 workers for manual labor, lumber jacks, builders, things of this likeness) The fishers either fish off the dock or in the row boats, 20 row boats= 1000gp 4000 chickens= 80gp 60 pigs= 180gp 5 cows= 50gp 200 goats= 200gp 50 sheep= 100gp all warriors have studded leather, light wooden shields, and short spears= 394.5gp all fighters have studded leather, ridding dogs, heavy crossbows= 2062.5gp 2000gp goes to the village for housing and structures. This small village has 833gp left witch the leader keeps guarded at all time by at ten of the town guard, and one Lieutenant. This happy go lucky, fun loving village is protected well and is treated with fairness by the leader the village folk love and respect their town and their leader, crime is at a minimal in the village, because of the great work of the towns guards, and the performers are the best around.
Xanaphia_Undomiel 09-24-07, 02:31 AM	Xanaphia, wouldn't dwarves generally head for the mountains? Coastal forests don't really say "dwarf" to me. You can start anywhere you want, but I feel that dwarves really belong in the mountains. Sorry, I misunderstood you. They live in the mountains now.
1337Ninja 09-24-07, 05:45 AM	What? No kobolds? I'll have to use gnomes instead, then... A group of gnomes who lived with svirfneblin, this tribe eventually grew too big to be supported by their friends. They left and decided to settle down in another underground climate, which they had decided they liked best after years of living there. People I'll take 500 gnome commoners, 35 gnome expert 1s, 57 gnome warriors 1s, 5 gnome wizard 1s and 3 gnome paladin 3s in the mountains. The experts are skilled in weaponsmithing, armoursmithing and trapmaking. They also have spot, listen and diplomacy. They're the main ones who will talk to animals (see below). The commoners have profession (farmer) and survival. They have skill focus: survival. The warriors have weapon focus: crossbow. The paladins have weapon focus: crossbow and point blank shot. Half of my commoners use picks to make tunnels to live in in the mountains, and all of the gnomes use speak with animals and bribes of grubs and such to get moles to help out. Half of the commoners, and the other half once the tunnels are finished, will farm mushrooms and such, in the tunnels when possible. They will farm hunt weak animals (rabbits, chickens, etc.) for meat. When the mining is done, all of this will be moved underground. Everything is carried around in 100 carts. I already have 1,000 chickens. They will be bred if the area does not already have chickens. Because gnomes are Small, each chicken is a sizable meal, and the eggs are also fairly big. So that I can let them breed before eating them, the commoners take 10 on Survival to find food for everyone. Later on, survival checks will deplete the local environment, so they instead farm and eat chickens, mushrooms and eggs. Treasury: 2825gp. Military I am going to play the defensive game. My gnomes are not trying to attack, but are instead growing in their tunnel empire. All of my warriors and paladins are equipped with light crossbows with 20 bolts. They also have studded leather armour. The paladins have longswords. All of this equipment is made by my experts, reducing the price to one third. It costs me a total of 1240gp. However, if simple weapons means that I don't have to pay for the crossbows and bolts, this is reduced to 500gp. My experts work together to make 20ft. deep , 5ft. wide, 20ft. long pits with locks on the other side to disable that are manually reset. The Search and Disable Device DCs are both 15. The total cost of these pits is 700, because I am crafting it they cost me 700gp in total. I'm not sure how much being 20ft. long increases the price by, but I have plenty of money left in the treasury. There are 3 such pits in various tunnels around the area. The first pit has 47 warriors stationed behind it with readied crossbows, the other two are disarmed and have 5. They all fire at the enemy ranged attackers first, because the pit should block meleers. Once it looks like the enemy might overcome them, they rush back behind the next pit, and the warriors already there arm it. They repeat until the enemy is dead or the tunnel is completely overrun (an unlikely occurrence). The paladins all stand with the bulk of the warriors, positioned so that they inspire everyone with their auras of courage. The wizards are positioned at the the middle pit. They put the long range of sleep to good use and take out groups of enemies. They also cast grease in the same place as the caltrops are positioned the first time the warriors have to withdraw. 30 of the warriors have caltrops. 10 will scatter them where they were just standing whenever they withdraw from pits. They won't need 10 at each pit, but that means that not all the caltrop-carries will die. Each day, there will be 20 expert sentries, using their good Spot and Listen checks to find enemies. If they see enemies, they will tell burrowing animals to carry a message to the warriors, then withdraw.
Return of the Flumph 09-24-07, 10:03 AM	Okay, good start. We have two races camped near the sea, two more in the mountains, and one in the foothills, and plenty of racial diversity. A note to those who rely on livestock, though; you will need agriculture eventually. Great point about the gnomes with their chickens; you'll still need to grow plants, but not as soon as the others. Okay, here's what happens to you all. Alexeduardo: The trees are cleared easily enough, and the coastal forest soil is nutrient rich; grass for the goats grows quickly. However, your people worry that meat and goatmilk will not support them forever; vitamin deficiency and all that. Within the first week of operating the new ranchlands, odd things begin happening. Dark shapes are seen scurrying through the town at dusk, visible only from the corner of one's eye. Children wake up screaming at night, sometimes with mysterious injuries (usually cuts across the cheeks and forhead) that they cannot explain. Finally, the night herdsmen all mysteriously black out one evening; when they wake up, thirty goats are missing, with no foot or hoof prints leading away. Your people-especially those who are parents-are living in fear because of these occurences. They huddle inside their huts at night with any light source they can scrounge up, and never let their children out of sight. Xanaphia: Your men are thrilled at the prospect of gold, but some of the tunnels are unstable. You haven't lost anyone yet, but several miners have been injured in cave-ins and avalanches. They are becoming reluctant to venture from the camp. Also, at night your pens are repeatedly attacked by dire weasels, who burrow through the mountain topsoil to emerge, grab a chicken, and pop back underground. They have so far been able to dig right past the guards, and even if they couldn't the beasts are quite dangerous, and probably capable of killing dwarves who get in their way. You've lost eighteen chickens so far, and one of your farmers was badly injured when he got too close to the weasel; the bite seems to have infected him with a disease. Tripleee: Due to the efforts of the druids, your hillside encampment is in no immediate danger of starvation. The wizards set their fog and ghost sound spells around the hill, but they wear off after a few hours; you'll need a permanency spell or a magic item to keep them up continuously. No immediate troubles with predators occur, but the farmers have noticed that the hillside is quite dry; there may or may not be enough rainfall for agriculture. The river running next to your town is suddenly filled with spawning, dying, and dead salmon one morning in late spring. The fish are too rotted and deformed to eat at this point in their life cycle, and the smell is attracting rats and other vermin. Three Deadly Dwarf: The halflings get some rudimentary docks and buildings set up easily enough, and the fishermen begin catching modest amounts of flounder and mahi mahi. They notice, however, that there are salmon further out in the water, and that they seem to be heading up a local river to spawn. Unfortunately, the mouth of the river is eleven miles west of your town, and so your men have not been able to catch very many of them. The agriculture is difficult; the soil here seems to be somewhat rocky, and the heavy amounts of salt make growing anything difficult. To get better agriculture, you can either clear some forest, or farm the grasslands that are about one quarter of a mile back. Finally, sightings of a massive sea-beast are reported. Only the wake of the huge creature hads been seen so far, so no one knows what it is, but it is definetely too fast to be a whale. Ninja: You also have trouble with the dire weasels. In your case, however, the small gnomes themselves look tasty to the weasels; 20 chickens lost, three farmers injured. One of the farmers only survived because there happened to be some crossbowmen nearby, who succeeded at killing the weasel. Its pelt and meat are nice, but still fairly little consolation. Expanding the pits will cost you 100 extra gp per pit.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-24-07, 04:07 PM	I must say, I'm sorry to see that the Build Your Fortress thread collapsed under its own weight. Because that was such an awesome campaign building exercise, I'm trying to ressurect it here. The idea of the game is that a group of nomads come to a vacant area with monsters, resources, and some mean gobbies and orcs a short distance away. Starting with a finite amount of manpower and equipment, you need to persevere over the elements, fend of the monsters, and deal with enemies like goblinoids, orcs, and (possibly) each other. In the last iteration of the game, you were limited to playing as humans, and the area already contained powerful and advanced dwarven and elvish city states. This time around, you can be any of the races from the PHB; elves, dwarves, halflings, humans, or gnomes. You must start out with a racially homogenous settlement. For the purposes of this game, we will assume that there are no other members of your race close enough to contact or trade with. Avoid the topic whenever possible. The rules are as follows: 1. Each player starts out with six hundred adults of whichever race you picked, as well as one hundred and fifty children. 2. By default, your starting population consists entirely of first level commoners and warriors (divide the population up between the two as you wish, but keep in mind that warriors are bad at farming and construction). In order to change this, you have 60 character points to spend in beefing up your 600 settlers. By spending those points, you can trade in a first level commoner/warrior for a higher level individual. -Adding levels in an NPC class (expert, warrior, adept, commoner, aristocrat) costs half of a point. -Adding levels in a PC class costs one point. -Level cap for starting out is 4. You must spend them all at the start of the game; heroes will strengthen and multiply naturally over the course of the game. 3. You start out with six thousand GP worth of assets, in addition to tents and simple clothing for all your people, enough food to last a few months, simple weapons for your warriors, and basic tools for your commoners and experts. Feel free to spend the 6,000 on anything a group of settlers could reasonably have. If the price for something you want is not listed in the PHB or DMG, talk to me about it. 4. The game will be divided up into a series of years. We will decide when one year ends and another begins via concensus (when everyone has done what they want to do for the year, we move on). Every year, I will throw some monkey wrenches for you to overcome. 5. Anything in the SRD is fair game, but no other supplements are allowed. Alright, to start the game we have a region with varied environments. There is a coastal area with beaches and cliffs, a forest a few hundred yards from the ocean, a grassland expanse, another forest across the grassland, and some mountains in the background, surrounded by forested foothills, with a box canyon nestled in the hills and a swamp at the far side of the mountain forest. You can start anywhere you want. Begin. Alrighty. This could be fun. Now, meet the Theocracy of Hágarður. Okay, I am going to play Dwarves and we will be situated in the mountains, near the canyon floor. I'll start by divying(sp?) out the character points. I have the following: 456 Commoners. No character points here. 100 Warriors. Eight of them third level. That's eight points. 20 Experts. 10 Character points. 20 Clerics. Four of them second level and one 4th level. 27 Character points. A fourth level Wizard with a first level apprentice. 5 Character points. A fourth level Druid. Four character points. A fourth level Bard. 4 points. A second level Ranger. 2 points. The Commoners are split as follows: 200 farmers. (Profession: Farmer +8) 50 miners. (Profession: Mining +8) 40 Lumberjacks. (Profession: Lumberjack +8) 20 Foragers. (again, +8) 30 Herdsmen. (+8) 20 Teachers. That's one for every 7.5 children. (+8? Does this really need mods? ) 10 Blacksmiths. (+10, they always make Masterwork weapons) A fletcher. (+8) Four barkeeps. Yes, this is indeed necessary, dwarves being dwarves. 5 Brewers. 30 Stonemasons. (+10) 5 Seamstresses. 4 Entertainers. 60 engineer lackeys. 10 Fishermen. The rest are just miscellaneous really. Odd jobs that need doing and I can't think of. The Experts are split as follows: A Master smith. He makes things like nobodies business. Bows, melee weapons, armor, arrows, you name it and he makes it. Four engineers. They are in charge of a group of commoners. Five Animal handlers. A principal. He is in charge of the school. Shocking, isn't it? A sage. He knows stuff. 5 Expert Stonemasons. They are also in charge of a group of commoners. Three misc. Experts. Now it's time for assets. 6000gp you say? Are you sure it can't be OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!? Just kidding. Here's how I'll spend it: Ten thousand chickens. That's two CP each, for a total of 200gp. Damn that's cheap. Anyway, we also want a hundred goats. That's another 100gp. 100 Sheep, that's two hundred gold. Fifty cows, 500gp. Four horses, all light. That's 300gp. So far, in livestock only, I've spent 1300 gold pieces. 6000 gp is starting to look like a small sum... Anyway, I'll equip the army now. For the Clerics, a kit. It includes the following items: Chainmail (50gp), Heavy Mace (free), Wooden Heavy Shield (7gp), Holy Symbol, Wooden (1gp), and a Guard Dog (25gp). That's a total of 83 gp each. X20 =1660 gp. Or would be if we weren't crafting it ourselves. Assuming that's okay of course. With crafting, it's a measly 553 GP. The Warriors are mostly equipped with simple weapons, Longspears mostly. Maybe a Javelin or two. They have Leather Armor, 10 gp a piece which amounts to, well, a lot really. 920gp. Why 920 you might ask? It's because only 92 of them are simple soldiers. The rest are the countries elite attack force. They have the following items: A Lance (10 gp), Heavy Steel Shield (15gp), Banded Mail(200gp), a Guard Dog(25gp), four javelins(free), a Heavy mace(free) and last but not least, a light warhorse(150gp). A total of 250crafted gp each and 150 non-crafted. That's 1040gp crafted and 1400 that is not. Odin's Spear, as the elite contingent is known as, has these stats(barebones): Str 13 Dex 10 Con 14, Int 10, Wisdom 9, Cha 6. AC: 18 (10+6 armor, +2 Heavy Shield) HP: 23 Feats: Mounted Combat, Ride by attack. Attack: +5 (higher ground bonus for being on horse included) 1d8+1(2d8+2 on a charge). Now, the nation has just settled in a large cave complex about 400 feet above sea level. It's roughly 200.000 M^3. That is where they sleep, eat, work and laugh. It's isolated from the rest of the mountain, looks like a truly ancient lair of some large beast. Or a colony of large beasts. Anyway, the complex only has a few narrow pathways leading up to it, three or so, none more then a couple of meters wide. Below, on the valley floor, they keep their livestock and that is also where they farm. Through the canyon flows a river of some size. Hágarður is a Theocracy. For those that don't know, it means that it's run by priests.(Right? I'm not confusing terms am I?). These priests follow a pantheon resembling the Norse one. The Clerics/priests serve many important functions and roles in Hágarður. They lead the nation, handle the economy, form the real backbone of the army(no one wants to mess with a dwarven Cleric. Seriously), heal the sick and provide spiritual guidance. A few spells that set Hágarður apart from medieval farming communities. Most of these are quite obvious, but I thought I'd mention them anyway.: Access to Purify food and water. No more spoiled food, ever. Augury. Doesn't really need to be explained now does it? A bit limited, but good nonetheless. Zone of truth. Justice for all. Healing magic. The various animal spells(Calm Animal, Animal Messenger, etc.) Having a Druid pays off. Soften Earth and Stone. Adding rooms to the complex is fast and easy. Silent Image. Ever wonder what kids did before the advent of the TV? This is your answer.:P Enlarge Person. Combined with Bull's Strength, this drastically increases the amount of labor that a single person can accomplish. Continual Flame. Street lights for everyone. Because Darkvision is only black and white. Objectives for the year: Now we have two groups with a focused goal. One of them will be working on Catapults, Ballistae and other heavy weapons of that sort. The other one will work on fortifying the entrance to the complex and building some Guard towers in the canyon itself. Also, surviving. If I need to list some additional info, just tell me.
tripleee69 09-24-07, 05:52 PM	The council decides to send 2 clerics and druids to investagate the the dead fish in the water and fallow where it leads even if it leads off the moutain and find a solution. The council talks to the druids about rain and summoning/or attracting owls and other predatory birds to take care of the vermin. The lumber jacks and stonemasons work on the shelves to make them retain water better without overflow problems. The farmers and fishermen will take the dead fish and put them in the mulch piles furthest from the farms till they are told it is safe to use. when the casters gain a level ill teach whoever wants too the extend spell feat and enlarge feat, if their willing a few travel spells that are my area of focus.
Return of the Flumph 09-24-07, 07:04 PM	Alright, I think we have enough players now. I don't want this place to overpopulate. Einvaldurin: Although it seemed like an excellent idea at the outset, the sheer number of chickens proves to be a great burden. Aside from there being too darn many for the farmers to handle, they quickly pick the ground clean of bugs and tender grasses, and soon begin pecking at each other. A few are pecked to death and eaten by their fellows (yes, hungry chickens actually do this). Your men cut down some good trees, but getting them into the cave complex is a problem. They have to be carried uphill a long way to get them onto the canyon wall, and they are large and awkward for the dwarves to carry. To make things even worse, one of your lumberjacks sank his axe into a big tree to discover it was hollow, and nested by a colony of small monstrous centipedes. His death was gruesome and painful. As a result of these complications, no seige weapons or other large wooden structures have yet been completed. While exploring the caverns, your men find a few dropped coins lying around (nothing major, just a few coppers) and kill a dire weasel that gets in the way (one man is injured, but no fatalities). As they go deeper, it becomes apparent that this dungeon is far more expansive and branching than they thought. Unsettlingly, the skeleton of an orc is found in one cavern. (That was extremely detailed and well thought out, by the way. Good job.) Tripleee: The druids are not powerful enough to summon rain, but they can create water several times a day to supplement the meager rainfall, as well as enchant the soil to make it retain moisture for longer. Combined with the improvements made by the stonemasons, this allows for a scant-but still sufficient-amount of agriculture. The team of divine casters you sent to investigate the river return in two days, and report that the salmon are swimming upstream from the ocean to spawn, after which they die and rot. The ones who have not yet come very far upstream look healthy enough to eat, but are quite a distance away. Also, they claim to have seen mysterious, heavy footprints in the grassland that the river passes through. In the meantime, an outbreak of rat-carried filth fever breaks out in your camp. The clerics and druids keep it from killing anyone, but more cases are constantly emerging. The druids summon a few hawks and owls, which reduces the rate of infection, but a few rats survive, and a couple people are still getting sick. The disease levels have been brought back to acceptable limits. The highest level druid is feeling a bit overworked on account of everything he and his men have been doing. He seems a bit resentful. Finally, banging sounds start being heard from behind the foothills toward the north. Sounds like...hammers.
Lokiyn 09-24-07, 08:21 PM	huh, missed the deadline apparently Adults Child Cp Class 600 150 00 ---- 492 000 00 Commoners 072 000 00 Warriors 006 000 12 Aristocrats 4th 024 000 24 Adepts 2th 003 000 12 Shapers 4th 003 000 12 Seers 4th Aristo Base Fort Ref Will 4th 3 1 1 4 4+int Primary Skills Handle Animal Knowledge (Nature) Knowledge (Geography) Survival Adept Base Fort Ref Will Special 0th 1st 2nd 1 0 0 3 Summon familiar 3 1 2+int Primary Skills Handle Animal Survival Usual Spell Loadout 0th Ghost Sound x2 Purify Food and Drink x1 1st Sleep Psion Base Fort Ref Will Special Pp Pk Max 4th 2 1 1 4 — 17 9 2nd Bonus Feat: Psicrystal Affinity 2+int Shaper Primary Skills Craft (Poisonmaking) Craft (Trapmaking) Seer Primary Skills Spot Profession(Gardner) Shaper Astral Construct Minor Creation, Psionic Control Flames Inertial Armor Matter Agitation Psionic Repair Damage Cloud Mind Sustenance Body Equilibrium Seer Control Flames Inertial Armor Telempathic Projection Vigor Precognition Clairvoyant Sense Object Reading Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions Tongues, Psionic Warrior Base Fort Ref Will 4th 4 4 1 1 Warrior Primary Skills Handle Animal Climb Troop Composition 24ea. Warriors, 2ea Aristocrats, 8ea. Adepts, 1ea. Seers, 1ea. Shapers Troops are rotated out, with the normal positioning is one group in the center (town) with the other two troops maintaining position equidistant from each other working on a clockwise rotation about the central camp. Commoner Breakdown [code] Commoners Craft(Bowmaking) 12 Craft(Carpentry) 12 Craft(Leatherworking) 12 Craft(Poisonmaking) 12 Craft(Shipmaking) 12 Craft(Stonecarving) 12 Craft(Stonemasonry) 12 Craft(Weaving) 12 Craft(Pottery) 12 Profession(Apothecary) 12 Profession(Brewer) 12 Profession(Cook) 12 Profession(Farmer+Gardener) 192 Profession(Fisher) 12 Profession(Herbalist) 12 Profession(Lumberjack) 12 Profession(Miner) 120 There is considerable overlap in some cases, Commoners are nominally divided up into militia groups assigned to one of the three troops, in practice the specialists not working on their main skill have a secondary skill (mining or gardening) Barley 4.0 Crop Seed (bu/acre) 4.3 Seed:Yield Ratio 17.3 Yield (bu/acre) 709.2 Pounds 0.8 Acres/Person 1,200.0 Family Size 2.0 Terrain Mod 2,400.0 Virtual Size 1,861.3 Minimum Acres Radius Claimed 5280 Area 8.8E+07 Acres 2085.3 Perimeter (mi) 6.28319 Outer Rim 13282.7 Days 110.689 Quick Explanation, Assuming That the land is swampland, the outer perimeter of the land claimed is approximately 6.2 miles in length, What this means is that broken down there are roughly 13,282 5x5x5 squares on the outer rim. Although not in the Srd, with the 120 miners taking “10” and a strength of 12, these miners can dredge 1 5x5x5 cubic foot of earth a day, this means that after roughly 4 months of work the miners will have dredged up roughly 1,660,332 cubic feet of marsh soil and muck and brought it into the center of the area to serve as foundational material and as the beginning of a drainage system for the swamp. Ideally the swamp will be sculpted to be series of interconnected hillocks in surrounded by a sort of artificial moat, with internal springs feeding the swamp channeled into rivulets rather than boggy pools and incoming streams from the mountain also placed where the water can flow rather than pool. Basically the miners jobs are to dredge and maintain a deep (20x20 foot trench) around the swamp as well as flow channels to maintain the swamp. (such a channel would take roughlt 16 months to complete with the initial trench laid out in 4 months as laid out. The above acreage is calculated using medieval farming results with a x2 modifier for terrain (ie twice as much land to support your people. The claimed territory is sufficient to support 1,200 people, twice the current population. With the distance as it is, the troops can circle the claimed area roughly 6 times per 12 hour patrol shift (meaning intervals of roughly two hours between sweeps), with three groups with a 6 hour offset, starting at noon, there is one patrol from Noon-6:00pm, two patrols in play from 6:00pm-6:00am, and one patrol from 6:00 am - noon Basically with the Psicrystals, with the crystals pulled in to a radius of 3600 from the central area (1680ft from the outer line) you only need 324 of the crystals to form a seemless unbroken line of sentries, leaving a goodly portion of the villages crystals able to work as communication posts for the familiars and other scouts (sort of an informal old school shouting network with range) A psicrystal can speak one language of its owner’s choice (so long as it is a language the owner knows). A psicrystal can understand all other languages known by its owner, but cannot speak them. This is a supernatural ability Sighted (Ex): Although it has no physical sensory organs, a psicrystal can telepathically sense its environment as well as a creature with normal vision and hearing. Darkness (even supernatural darkness) is irrelevant, as are areas of supernatural silence, though a psicrystal still can’t discern invisible or ethereal beings. A psicrystal’s sighted range is 40 feet. Telepathic Link (Su): The owner has a telepathic link with his psicrystal out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The owner cannot see through the psicrystal’s senses, but the two of them can communicate telepathically as if the psicrystal were the target of a mindlink power manifested by the owner. For instance, a psicrystal placed in a distant room could relay the activities occurring in that room For example if the crystals not in the sentry line where kept in the center of the village, the crystals could rapidly relay information from one human to the other. For example, Scout A on the outer line sees a band of goblins, relaying the information to his crystal in the center of the village (within the 1 mile range), the crystal can speak the information where by the crystals also kept in the room relay the information to their owners, who then spread the information by word of mouth to those nearby, who if linked to a sentry crystal can have it alert its neighbor crystal who contacts its master while relaying the information up and down the sentry line. Potentially alerting the entire community in less than 3-10 rounds to a possible incursion. Other than the basic Gear the Community needs little that 6,000 gp could provide, with the advanced warnings in place combined with the ability of the seers to scry and the shapers and seers to produce believable ghosts, with the general guerilla tactics of the village in general the people of this community will be hard to dig out. Extra Gear Cost Pigs 10 ea. 36 Sled 40 ea. 800 Building Materials 5164 The primary Goal of the villagers is defence, labeled as freaks by most of thier kin, these humans have traveled to some of the most undesireable land they could find and are working to claim it for thier own. On the outset the group claims a suitible hillock in the swam that is relativly dry and begin sinking in posts to create flat, dry platforms with pottery firepits. the Miners and the troops begin thier labors sweeping the area, while the knowledgeble aristocrats locate useful resources (Knowledge nature) and start plotting out the paths for the drainage canals to free up land for immmeditae planting. Gardeners begin planting the quickest growing crops they can outside of the initial central area, while unoccupied people begin setting up the sentry posts. Children are encouraged to help spread the sludge carted in from the beginning trenchworks under and around the initial hillock, (although they need little encouragement to become absolutly filthy). The Herbalists immediatly start harvesting seeds and other plants to be cultivated by gardeners. Potters search for clay and peat deposits to work thier trade, while carpenters and loggers begin culling the crooked, and common trees from the swamps for immediate use, while prining and caring for the larger straight trees and trees with unusual properties. All work in groups, with no less than two people primed with a crossbow at any given time. The adepts work to make sure food remains uncontaminated while thier familiars scout the area for danger, the adepts work to [sleep] any wildlife they can to begin domestication after capture. The Name of the game is diversion, These settlers don't want to be found till they are good and ready to be found, and are willing to settle for smaller land areas (within the above parameters) rather than sprawl out. The adept familiars not involved in clearing the claimed area (small as it may be) are instructed to fly in circles above the area and watch for anything unusual. Fishermen who catch fish are instructed to keep populations of the fish suitable for consumption in pottery jars for reintroduction into the cannalls and pools constucted. Stonemasons and Stone shapers are to collect rock from the dedged material and begain shaping the stones to form shallow well like structures around any natural springs found in the area, to pool the water in a deeper amount rather than a shallow boggy mess. (Later the retaining pools will be linked with channels to prevent excess water from bogging up the area again.) Craft(Bowmaking) Crossbows and Bolts Craft(Carpentry) Platforms and Posts for Raised foundations. Craft(Leatherworking) Tanned leather roofs, Yurt style housing on the platforms (layered hide in a middling sized one room structure) Craft(Poisonmaking) Crafting poisons from available material (DC 15 craft checks on a "10") Craft(Shipmaking) Coracles, rowboats, anything flat-bottomed with an extremely low draft. Craft(Stonecarving) Work with stones extracted from the dirt and mud, picking out the stones that can properly fit into structures and walls. Craft(Stonemasonry) Taking the Sorted and shaped stones and fitting them together to form channel walls and shallow wells for natural springs and fishponds. Craft(Weaving) Weaving fibers extracted from various plants and tree bark into ropes and extremely course cloth that, while useless for clothing is perfect for coverings and nettings to keep the lions share of nasty weather from platforms and walkways, as well as providing a measure of camouflage from a distance. Craft(Pottery) Searching for clay to shape and bake into fire pits and small pottery ovens. Working with others to produce pots and vessels for other implements as well as pottery troughs and reservoirs for freshwater and small herbs, and vegetables. Profession(Apothecary) Working to gather local herbs and medicinal with the gardeners to build up a local cultivated stock. Profession(Brewer) Alcohol is the cure for many problems…… Profession(Cook) Generally working to make communal meals. Profession(Farmer+Gardener) Either working to plant in the fields and hillocks, or working to build small gardens that supplies staples beyond the gain crops Profession(Fisher) Gathering protein in the form of fish, and culling fish that aren't easily able to be domesticated. Working to build a pool of fish for the water reservoirs. Profession(Herbalist) gathering herbs with the apothecaries. Profession(Lumberjack) Trimming and culling misshapen trees while preserving trees with unusual abilities or of fine quality. Profession(Miner) Miners, working on the channels and trenches, while attempting to isolate natural springs and working to free up as much land from the marsh as possible.
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-24-07, 09:15 PM	The Half-lings start to cut away at the forest behind them for the agriculture and all the wood that can go into building boats and docks. This will allow them to expand and use some of the wood to possibly make a Dam the river going up stream for the Salmon. As for the Sea Beast the half-lings they stay more near the shallows, it should hopefully be to shallow for the beast to get anyone.
Xanaphia_Undomiel 09-24-07, 09:20 PM	My cleric Eberk cures the dwarf. We will use Augury from now on whenever entering a new tunnel. Can we find the other villages yet? If we can, I would like to ask advice about the dire weasel problem. We will build the chickens houses, which we close at night. In the real world, a big chicken house which is made of wood and closed in, except for the door which is closed every night, costs about $100, so 100 gp each. They fit 200 chickens, so 10 of them. They cost a total of 1000 gp, but we make them ourselves. How do I do that? They take nails and wood.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 12:09 AM	Lokyin, that was so detailed that I'll let you in (admittedly, this is also because no one has moved into or near the swamp yet, so there is room there). I'm just afraid of having more players than I can keep track of. Also, how many psicrystals can each psion control? I thought it was only one each. Kay. No one else after this, though. That's final. If more people want to play, they can start their own threads. Lokyin: The swamp is not that big, but it is low, and moving the thick, quicksand-ridden water proves a slow and arduous task. It is hot and humid in the swamp, and biting insects plague your workers constantly. In just a few days, one quarter of your workforce comes down with malaria; if you don't find a way to heal them en masse, many will die. Your people unanimously decide that the mosquitos and stirges must be taken care of before they can move in. The fishermen and those who worked at the periphery of the swamp seem to be relatively healthy, and their work yeilds great success. Enormous stocks of bass, perch, and pike are caught and transferred to urns and pools for breeding. A stream of fresh water trickles into the swamp from the highlands, and so your people have drinkable water. Many flat bottomed boats and house platforms are completed, but you'll need to get rid of the vermin before they can be used. Three Deedly Dwarf: Fishing yeilds are reduced significantly by your command to stay in the shallows. A few fishermen ignore your regulations and continue rowing out into the deeps, where the mahi mahi schools congregate. So far, no one has been attacked by the beast. When your loggers begin harvesting lumber, tragedy befalls them. On the very first day, a logger manages to somehow cut his index finger off, taking him out of commission for a while and permanently reducing his working potential. Two more loggers stumble into a hornet nest, and run screaming, covered in hideous swellings and pursued by the wasps, into the sea. Your clerics heal them easily enough, but they are delirious from the poison for a few hours. The wheels of the cart they were planning to carry the lumber in inexplicably rotted and fell off, leaving the wagon immobile. You'll have to explain your plans for the river in greater detail. What exactly do you want to do involving the salmon? Xanaphia: The auguries are effective in keeping the miners safe from cave ins. You can only cast it a couple of times each day, but after a few days the miners are able to clear a large enough area of rockslides for most of the clan to move in. Wood (from the hillside) and metal (rudimentary iron deposits found in the cleared area of the caves) are readily available, albeit in small amounts. You get the chicken houses set up. Unfortunately, the weasels seem to be capable of gnawing through the floors of the henhouses. They chew holes connecting the houses to their burrows, and kill a dozen more chickens. Three of the henhouses so far have been penetrated thus. From your lofty vantage point (your town is the highest in the mountains), some of the scouts you send across the mountaintop say they've spotted-from a great distance-some humanoid figures moving around in the box canyon to the north west, around the two mountains from your base. They look like they might be another clan of dwarves!
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-25-07, 01:12 AM	For the wounded let them rest. How I would like to set up the damn is to basically cut off the river by half. So I don't have to travel as far to get to the fish. I would also like to have a talk with all the fisherman and tell them if they do want to go out to deeper water they will have to know that they are now not liable to be heeled by the clerics unless by their own will. But will not be paid to heel them. Basically you can no longer be healed by the money of the town.
Lokiyn 09-25-07, 01:21 AM	The swamp is not that big, but it is low, and moving the thick, quicksand-ridden water proves a slow and arduous task. It is hot and humid in the swamp, and biting insects plague your workers constantly. In just a few days, one quarter of your workforce comes down with malaria; if you don't find a way to heal them en masse, many will die. Your people unanimously decide that the mosquitoes and stirges must be taken care of before they can move in. As I examined the situation, I began to wonder if improving the drainage channels of the swamp would work quick enough to aid the workers. With the Drainage channels effectively stalled, we took the shapers out of the troops, trusting in the masses crossbow fire to deal with most problems. With the 12 shapers pulled out of their respective troops they were reorganized into two man teams. As the Six groups broke off I pondered their mission. Three teams were ordered to the headwaters of the swam where water flows into the swamp and where ordered to move inward slightly further than the fishermen and to begin producing oils (Flax/Rape/Sunflower/Cotton, whichever) and to let the oils drift along the currents The Remaining three teams where to also produce oils and strike directly into the swam pouring oil into any stagnant pools they found, with orders to retreat if threatened and take another trackMechanically what’s happening is that the Shapers have roughly 17 power points base with some possible bonus power points. Minor creation as a 1st level power costs them a single power point and produces 4 cubic feet of oil, which is containable in a large if needed or simply allowed to spill into the waters. 4 Cubic Feet of oil translates to roughly 29.6 Gallons of Oil per manifestation, this oil lasts for a total of 4 hours, Body equilibrium, a second level power lasts 40 minutes at this level and allows the Shapers to walk on water and other fluid surfaces allowing them to penetrate the swamps with ease. So each Shaper, using Body Equilibrium twice has an active time of 80 minutes, 11 of those minutes are used to manifest Minor creation, producing, per shaper, 325 Gallons of a light plant base oil. The Shapers penetrating the swamps jobs are to find any large stagnant bodies and coat them with the oil, then torch them, swiftly moving to the next pool moving perpendicular to the waters general flow in the swamp. The Shapers moving at 30 feet per round can, in 29 minutes cover up to a distance of 1.6 miles, which may let them pass through the swamp leaving burning pools behind. With time to spare on their equilibriums. The Shapers at the entrance to the swamp are sending streamers of oils into the swamp following the natural water flow, After 3 hours of waiting the Shapers are to either torch the streams off (if they haven’t yet all flowed farther in, or to follow until they find the pooled oil and torch it, by then the other shapers should have been clear for at least an hour. The plan is for the oil and smoke to deal with most of the smaller insects in much the same way you would use smoke to delouse a tent (in modern terms we know that you actually killing the eggs with an oil skim, but to these people it’s the smoke doing it.) Once the oil has burned for a time, the Shapers will dismiss the minor creation causing the oils to vanish, because of the general waterlogged nature of a swamp the fires should die out rather quickly once the fuel is exhausted. The fishermen and those who worked at the periphery of the swamp seem to be relatively healthy, and their work yields great success. Enormous stocks of bass, perch, and pike are caught and transferred to urns and pools for breeding. A stream of fresh water trickles into the swamp from the highlands, and so your people have drinkable water. Many flat bottomed boats and house platforms are completed, but you'll need to get rid of the vermin before they can be used. Once the general populace is safely housed, the workers who are not ill are instructed to move downstream to the exit points of the swamp, and to move slightly farther downstream (thus downhill), and to work on deepening the exit points for the water to improve the flow rate for the swamp. If there are no exit points for the swamp (being on the order of an extremely shallow lake rather than a slower delta like swamp, the workers are to work with those with a knowledge of geography to locate a position to start work on a drainage channel. The workers who have succumbed to illness are to be pulled back away from the swamp as much as possible, The workers are to be treated as follows, If the season is right, children are to gather cattails (or the equivalent) and to bring them back for drying, once dry these are to be soaked in alcohol (Shapers can make some temporarily for this purpose if need be) then the workers are to clean themselves thoroughly with the alcohol, once cleaned they are to avoid the swamp water for the next few days to avoid the vapors of the swamp, the Apothecaries and herbalists are to burn aromatic herbs to help aid the workers in recovering from the bad air of the swamp as quickly as possible.I know that this is hardly a proper treatment for this however there are only two other in game solutions to this avalible to me If the Cinchona Tree exist, and the Aristocrats with knowledge nature know that the bark is an antifever remedy that treats the swamp fever i can use that, or If any of the apothecaries know and or use Sweet Wormwood to treat fevers (its been known to be an anti fever herb since roughly 400 Ad-ish)if consumed or brewed both of these are known (to our medicine) to weaken malaria aiding the body in resisting and or fighting off the disease, however to them its simple a medicine to bring fever down, Likely as not if the "miners" can't find a way to increase the water flow rate or lower the water table in the swamp quite a few will fall to the diseases. Scratch the large hordes of psicrystals, originally i had written this up using the Meanad (which is an SRD race but not a PHB race), which have a mainifester level that allows them to take psicrystal affinity due to thier psi like abilities, The Shapers and Seers have one psicrystal each which are generally kept in a central location so that the groups can relay messages to each other rapidly (as long as they are withing range), The majority of the community should possesses these two feats Wild Talent (If Wis>=13, Speed of thought Else, Psionic Body Gained with their human feat, and their level one feat, with these two feats,With the Speed of thought, the Npc's gain a +10 bonus to thier movement speed, raising thier base speed to 40, The Npc's with the psionic Body feat on the other hand gain 4 hit points, from the two psionic feats they have. On the other hand the more mobile raven familiars that the adepts possess also work to pass messages over great distances as well as serve as high flying scouts to watch for any large predators or groups in the area
tripleee69 09-25-07, 02:08 AM	the council sends two rangers to investigate the hammering but not interact unless seen and three are sent to investigate the foot prints and return with haste if meet with hostility. the council decides that once construction is at a good stoping point at the moutain camp, construction will start at the base of the moutain near the river for the fishermen base of operation. the alchemist have started making rat traps out of small tangle foot bags and whatever posion they can find or provided with. the council apollgizes to the head druid for the heavy work and that if they were willing they could train the farmers and lumber jacks in their ways it would make it much easier on them and they can take a month to explore the surrounding area's of the moutain. the council ask the bards setup a schedule entertainment to increase the mood and productivity of its people during work,eating and rest. do you tell us when they level or do we level them as we go? and when can we get new people?
Lokiyn 09-25-07, 02:42 AM	For the wounded let them rest. How I would like to set up the damn is to basically cut off the river by half. So I don't have to travel as far to get to the fish. Something like this? http://lokiyn.pbwiki.com/f/Waterway.jpg Basically you look for a place where the river has a slope and build a catch point, where the water pools in an artificial pool while water flows over and out the spillway, while nets prevent the fish from escaping the collection pool. Of course if the river is too big it may prove infeasable to divert even a portion of the river into a spillway to catch fish. As an added bonus, if you do it right the spillway can spill out over a water wheel, allowing the wheel to gain more power with less water than a wheel that gains its motive force by sitting in a moving stream (bottom source). What you can do there, is take the fish that doesn't sell within a day an grind it into a fish paste which can be dried on a pottery plate and stored to later be used as soup stock, as an added bonus, if you grind the bones of the fish up with the fish the paste has a high calcium content that can be used to offset the lack of milk and cheese in diets if the community is lacking acess to such sources. As well, some breeds of fish are naturally fatty or oily and can be used in place of the more common tallow or flaxseed oils most societies used. For more information on fish paste, or Surimi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimi) there is an article on it linked. Assume that the Swamp dwellers are also store jars of the protein for lean times, Assume that they prepare the Paste a little wetter than normal then heat it up in a fire, once the excess water starts to steam off they seal the mouth of the pot with a wooden stopper and some plant based waxes or resins. As long as the pots are then kept cool in the streams the meat should keep for quite some time.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 02:55 AM	You get new people every year, based on the level of prosperity in your town. Leveling up is decided by you, but I have veto power in this regard. Thee Deedly Drawf: The fishermen agree to these terms. With the profits they are making out there, they are confident that they can afford healing should the need arise. On a possibly related note, the mangled, mostly eaten remains of a whale calf wash up within site of the town. It looks like it went out fighting, and was clearly pwned despite its massive strength. When you voice your plan to dam up the river, one of your second level expert fishers explains that this must be done with great forthought. Salmon instinctively return to the same river they spawned from themselves, and it might be tricky to get them to enter another river mouth. Lokyin: Your industrial min-maxing tactics send a cloud of acrid smoke over half the swamp, spreading as the burning oil spreads. You can already see swarms of mosquitoes going insane and flocks of stirges fleeing the swamp. It seems to be working. But then, shouts and cries are heard from within the swamp, and a horde of scaly lizardfolk bound toward your psions, weapons in hand, shaman putting out all the fires he can as they approach. Luckily, you detect them via psicrystal, and have a few minutes to react. There appear to be over three dozen well armed lizardfolk, and the shaman seems to be of considerable power. The herbal medicines save most of the men...but its no replacement for not having a cleric. Five men die of malaria. Triplee: The rangers report back with important news. A band of dwarves have moved into a box canyon further up the mountainside! They seem to be in the process of moving into a cave complex. They also seem to have more chickens than they are able to feed. Combined with the measures already taken, the traps seem to solve the rat problem. The druids agree to these terms. You won't be able to use them very much for the rest of this year (since they are gone much of the time), but you are now authorized to increase their level by 1 from the experience this wandering gives them. Once next year starts, I'll decide if they've found any other towns during their roaming.
1337Ninja 09-25-07, 03:19 AM	The farmers will be healed by the paladins' lay on hands ability. I'll split my farms up into 3 main areas. Each one will have 14 warriors and a wizard patrolling to fight the dire weasels, and the remaining 15 warriors and the wizards and paladins will patrol the general living area. I'll also use dead chickens as bait for 6 traps described below. 150 of my commoners will use Profession to earn money, as they don't need to use Survival to make food, because the other commoners can feed them. Taking 10, they each earn 6gp per week. 5gp of that will be spent on repairing minor faults and improving their living conditions, the other 1gp will go to the treasury. Not sure if this works in this scenario. If not, how do I make money? Attack bonus: +10 Search DC: 0 Disable Device DC: 15 Damage: 6d6 Trigger: Touch attached bait Reset Type: Manual Cost: 700gp (crafted) Effectively, it's a bigger mousetrap. Population 500 adult commoner s (level 1) 150 child commoners (level 1, non-combatant) 35 experts (level 1) 57 warriors (level 1) 5 wizards (level 1) 3 paladins (level 3) 980 chickens Defenses 3 pit traps 6 weasel traps Economy 1425gp, hopefully gaining 150gp per week.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 03:28 AM	Ninja: There's no place for "gp" to come from yet, so I assume that those commoners are just contributing to the village in various ways that equal that many gold pieces in value. Rather than actually "earning" 6 gp a week, they complete 6 gp worth of construction or farmwork. If you want actual gold, you will have to mine it, trade for it, or steal it. The weasel traps prove highly effective. Two of them have their bait stolen without catching the predators, but three others are found with dead dire weasels in them. The attacks on your farmers and livestock decline exponentially in frequency and severity. As far as the excavation goes, your men have expanded on a few natural tunnels somewhat, making a small-but growing-underground living space. The cave seems to be free of monsters, possibly due to the dryness in there; your miners and explorers get parched and thirsty very quicky. It also seems slightly warm in the tunnels, suggesting a nearby source of geothermal energy.
Lokiyn 09-25-07, 03:30 AM	But then, shouts and cries are heard from within the swamp, and a horde of scaly lizard folk bound toward your psions, weapons in hand, shaman putting out all the fires he can as they approach. Luckily, you detect them via psicrystal, and have a few minutes to react. There appear to be over three dozen well armed lizard folk, and the shaman seems to be of considerable power. As we proceeded to purify the forest of the vermin plaguing our citizens we discovered a tribe of scaly beasts, As soon as it was confirmed that the creatures where more than large animals we relayed their existence back to the crystal node (The Psicrystal communications point) And Began to dismiss the created oils back to the astral mists from whence they came, Calling for a general muster, we called all the teams on vermin detail back to the camp as quickly as possible. Hopefully one of the Seers will arrive in time to translate for us, if not hopefully our ability to walk on the water rather than wade through will impress the scaled ones long enough for the villagers to get their bows ready and the children awayAs many Shapers as can reach the camp before the lizard men are standing on the water, while the troops with seers scramble to return, while the troop currently in camp prepare to defend themselves while the seer moves forward as close as possible on solid ground to prepare to translate The herbal medicines save most of the men...but its no replacement for not having a cleric. Five men die of malaria. The men are cremated and their ashes scattered to the swamp, if possible the apothecaries are to seep herbs in the lamp oils to help guard against night vapors (that is to say, they have no clue what they're doing and are basically using strong sweet smelling herbs to seep the oil in. Giving its smoke an smell to supposedly ward of swamp vapors)If i could justify it (which you really can't) i would have the Apothecaries an herbalists grind up Field Balm and steep in water to extract the oils (Field Balm is also known as catnip). The Oils of which act as a mosquito repellant. And a mild antibacterial agent (which is why field balm was used in many a poultice to treat infections in the old days) Just to be clear, the adepts familiars (mostly ravens) are the aerial scouts, the Psion’s crystals are kept in a central location in the camp/village to allow the psychics to relay messages to each other rapidly (as long as they are within a mile of camp the Psions have the ability to relay messages to each other in as little as three rounds. At a base speed of 30, the maximum response time (assuming a two mile trip, the maximum range of communication) the troops can meet any threat in a maximum of 36 minutes.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 03:41 AM	(okay, the familiars saw it then. I just thought I should award you for having a well thought-out and sophisticated intel network) Lokyin: The lizardfolk slow down once the fire and smoke dissapears, but remain alert and wary. They follow closely behind the retreating vermin team until they reach the water walking shapers. The seers have not yet arrived. They (about thirty lizardfolk) surround the shapers with their weapons drawn, and the shaman says something in an incomprehensible language that sounds like bullfrogs croaking. When he sees that your men can't understand him, he casts a spell of his own, and you can understand each other for a short time. "Who are you, oh smooth and pale ones? Why do you send your smoke and fire into our home? Answer quickly, or your meat will be eaten in compensation for the disturbance you have caused us!"
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-25-07, 03:45 AM	Ya that is almost exactly what i was thinking for the Damn but if the people don't think that it is a good idea then we should no do and just settle with the critters that we are catching now. I would like to take a look at the whale and see what killed it, if it is a slash in the side or does it look like a bite, I would like to know. And just keep expanding on the farming.
1337Ninja 09-25-07, 03:47 AM	Ninja: There's no place for "gp" to come from yet, so I assume that those commoners are just contributing to the village in various ways that equal that many gold pieces in value. Rather than actually "earning" 6 gp a week, they complete 6 gp worth of construction or farmwork. If you want actual gold, you will have to mine it, trade for it, or steal it. Ah, yes. I should have been more clear about that, my bad. I only want it for making improvements, as you correctly assumed. They'll get raw materials and my experts will use it to improve the town.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 03:57 AM	Deedly: Your dam idea could work. You just need to think of a way to get the salmon to swim up the new stream. Druids might come in handy, but I think a wizard with the right spells might also be able to manage it. Just think before building. The whale was definetely mauled to death by a huge animal with huge teeth. Something that could easily bite a boat in half and swallow a halfling whole. Some of the cocky fishermen come back to the shallows after this find, but a very few wreckless fishers keep sailing out over the deeps. The farming doesn't make any progress at all. You just can't seem to get the thrice damned trees out of the way! You manage-in twice the time it should have taken-to clear away a few rows of trees nearest to the coast, but minor injuries and accidents continue to plague the deforesters. One morning, you awake to terrified shouts and general panic. One of the loggers has been crucified on a crude wooden cross, and mounted in the middle of the docks (the cross leans on a hut for support). The flesh on his face has been literally sheared off, leaving only a bloodied and dripping skull face. His axe and saw are stuck in his chest. Needless to say, he is quite dead.
tripleee69 09-25-07, 04:33 AM	the council needs more information on the actions of the encampment the ranger are to get closer without geting seen and if seen or thought to be seen retreat back into the thick of the woods(think the movie 13th warrior, that bear tribe), if chased lead them away from the town and use entangle to get away. the miners continue diggin futher down into the moutain and marks certain sides to make into rooms later. The stonemason's and engineers are planning on runing a road along the oppisite side of the moutain that the box cayon is on to a look out post at the ridge hidden in the boulders. a bard starts playing a flute above the moutain encampment at dusk it sound sad with a bit of longing as it echo's off the moutain side. the plans for the first buildings being built by the river is a inn/tavern and a barn. when the bee keeper has enough honey he starts making mead. wizard and sorcerers continue casting and teach any willing to learn and use message spells to stay in touch with the rangers and each other.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-25-07, 01:42 PM	Alright, I think we have enough players now. I don't want this place to overpopulate. Einvaldurin: Although it seemed like an excellent idea at the outset, the sheer number of chickens proves to be a great burden. Aside from there being too darn many for the farmers to handle, they quickly pick the ground clean of bugs and tender grasses, and soon begin pecking at each other. A few are pecked to death and eaten by their fellows (yes, hungry chickens actually do this). Your men cut down some good trees, but getting them into the cave complex is a problem. They have to be carried uphill a long way to get them onto the canyon wall, and they are large and awkward for the dwarves to carry. To make things even worse, one of your lumberjacks sank his axe into a big tree to discover it was hollow, and nested by a colony of small monstrous centipedes. His death was gruesome and painful. As a result of these complications, no seige weapons or other large wooden structures have yet been completed. While exploring the caverns, your men find a few dropped coins lying around (nothing major, just a few coppers) and kill a dire weasel that gets in the way (one man is injured, but no fatalities). As they go deeper, it becomes apparent that this dungeon is far more expansive and branching than they thought. Unsettlingly, the skeleton of an orc is found in one cavern. (That was extremely detailed and well thought out, by the way. Good job.) Alright, first I'll deal with the tree problem. Then I'll tackle the caves and finally organize this crap. A little anyway. To deal with getting trees up there, I'm going to use pulleys. Lots, and lots of compound pulleys. If I can mine metal from the mountain, I'll make cables. If not, I'll just use ropes. I am also drawing a few carpenters from the pool of miscellaneous commoners to make them. Later, I plan on creating a huge shaft inside the mountain to the bottom, with a small gate to the outside. There I'll place an elevator. That's for later though. A few more projects I want to be working on at this time: -Housing for the populace. Forgot to mention this earlier, but since they are all just sleeping in tents right now, I want to them to start by making a few workshops(for carpenters, blacksmiths and the like), a town hall, a Temple to Odin(long term project), an inn and of course just basic houses. You know, to sleep in and stuff. The Town hall takes priority. -Mining. I want there too be some heavy duty mining going on. What, if any metals do I find and how much of them? I have 50 miners, dwarven miners mind you, working on extracting resources from the mountain as their contribution to the society. -Explore the canyon and the immediate environs, look for neighbors that you can trade with, goblinoids to kill and plains on which our animals can graze. -This is connected to exploring. I want to find and domesticate animals in the area. Not all of them of course, but lots. Beasts of burden, more cattle, war animals. All good things to have and I intend to acquire some for the good of all. I also need to know what kind of access to water we have, just the river in the canyon or is there a source of water inside the complex? Now, the complex. I am going to send the Ranger and to explore and chart the tunnels. He will be followed at a range of two miles or so by 20 Warriors and a Cleric. Just in case he runs into some trouble. Then he sneaks off and alerts the troop. The maps could prove useful later. He should also be on the lookout for possible veins of precious metals and gems. I'll throw up the assets of the Theocracy in an sblock, and the population in another one. he Commoners are split as follows: 150 farmers. (Profession: Farmer +8) 50 miners. (Profession: Mining +8) 40 Lumberjacks. (Profession: Lumberjack +8) 20 Foragers. (again, +8) 30 Herdsmen. (+8) 20 Teachers. That's one for every 7.5 children. (+8? Does this really need mods? ) 10 Blacksmiths. (+10, they always make Masterwork weapons) A fletcher. (+8) Four barkeeps. Yes, this is indeed necessary, dwarves being dwarves. 5 Brewers. 30 Stonemasons/Stonecarvers/other stuff relating to working stone. (+10) 5 Seamstresses. 4 Entertainers. 60 engineer lackeys. 10 Fishermen. The Experts are split as follows: A Master smith. He makes things like nobodies business. Bows, melee weapons, armor, arrows, you name it and he makes it. Four engineers. They are in charge of a group of commoners. Five Animal handlers. A principal. He is in charge of the school. Shocking, isn't it? A sage. He knows stuff. 5 Expert Stonemasons. They are also in charge of a group of commoners. Three misc. Experts. 20 Clerics. Four of them second level and one 4th level. 27 Character points. A fourth level Wizard with a first level apprentice. 5 Character points. A fourth level Druid. Four character points. A fourth level Bard. 4 points. A second level Ranger. 2 points. Huge number of hungry, cannibalistic chickens. One hundred goats. One hundred sheep. Fifty cows. Four Horses. Eight Light Warhorses. A 1000 Leather Armors. A 1000 Longspears, 1000 Crossbows and 4000 Javelins.( These things, as simple weapons were free right?) Elite equipment for the Clerics and hardcore warriors. GP: 4293/6000 Spent. 1707 remaining. Finally, banging sounds start being heard from behind the foothills toward the north. Sounds like...hammers. Hmm, I wonder who that could be...
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-25-07, 01:58 PM	I will put some people to the task of the Dam (so it give me some time to think, lol) and as for the dead half-ling I would like to have the town watch patrol the out skirts of the village. I probably should explain how my town watch is set up, sorry I didn't. The town watch are split into almost even teams with two to three warriors and a Lieutenant in each group. I would also like to have a funeral for the dead half-ling. Also I would like to keep the logging going but the groups will be but by half and there will be a watch man group with them at all times.
Lokiyn 09-25-07, 03:25 PM	The lizardfolk slow down once the fire and smoke disappears, but remain alert and wary. They follow closely behind the retreating vermin team until they reach the water walking shapers. The seers have not yet arrived. With the Team(s) retreat the scattered two man teams attempt to reconnect an consolidate as much as possible. [I]They (about thirty lizardfolk) surround the shapers with their weapons drawn, and the shaman says something in an incomprehensible language that sounds like bullfrogs croaking. When he sees that your men can't understand him, he casts a spell of his own, and you can understand each other for a short time. [Indent] as the teams are surrounded the group quickly confers to pick a spokesman while forming into a circle back to back, ready to manifest astral construct as soon if combat seems imminent "Who are you, oh smooth and pale ones? Why do you send your smoke and fire into our home? Answer quickly, or your meat will be eaten in compensation for the disturbance you have caused us!"”We are the guardians of our home, had we known that this swamp contained other with tongue we would have sent our speakers. However we merely worked to eliminate the flying vermin that bit an drained our comrades, surely to kill over an inconvenience is hardly worth the meat you would gain. Come with us to our elders and we shall kill a fatted animal that we may discuss this matter in comfort” While the shapers stall for time, the members of the troops with access to the psicrystals are informed and change course to converge on their village. Those laborers and people within the camp are instructed call the cooks and begin preparing one of the older sows for a meal while the crystals are to be taken to the communal dining platform and arranged in a pattern in the center in preparation for the talks If the lizardmen will not be stalled and proceed to attack the shapers, the shapers (if they have sufficient power points) will manifests inertial armor and full withdraw each round back toward the village. If the Lizardmen continue in hostilities (active pursuit) the Three troops will gather the millita together, and proceed to march into the swamp, avoiding the retreating shapers, the men (all three troops and their assigned militia. 72 ea warriors 6 ea. Aristocrats(4th) 24 ea. Adepts (2nd) 3 ea, Seers (4th) 300 ea Commoners with Crossbows are roughly this many men, with orders to find an surround any settlement, if the Lizardmen force following the shapers are still unwilling to settle down to talk after being informed that their village is surrounded by roughly 400 crossbow wielding men then there will be no choice but to wipe out the entire tribe older than a year or so old
Xanaphia_Undomiel 09-25-07, 08:30 PM	My men steal everyone else's idea, and start to build weasel traps.
SquirrelMortis 09-25-07, 09:27 PM	Oh, I think I'm too late... The Duredoolin Settlers are an adventurous clan of gnomes, boldy going out into the world in search of a new riches, new opportunities, and a new way of life. The settlers have, after a long journey, begun to settle in a flat, sandy area by the coast. Population: 15 Aristocrat 1/Adept 1. (15 Character Points): This the Duredoolin Council. These men are not elected: they have gained their positions via birth and magical excellence. They are the main decision making body of the community. While the name 'council' would not imply complete authority, the Council is more like board of Dictators. The settlers do not mind. In fact, they're quite unaware that the council is hardly democratic. Each councilmen is atleast vaguely versed in the healing arts. 30 Ranger 1 (30 Character Points): These are the brave men of the Duredoolin Militia. Each is armed with dagger and a sling. 24 Expert 1 (12 Character Points): These gnomes are the more skilled members of their chosen professions, often holding higher rank and status within the community. 1 Ranger 3 (3 Character Points): This is the Captain of the Militia. Armed with a Longbow and Short sword. Cost: 85g gp. 265 Male Commoners 265 Female Commoners Worker Demographics: 200 Fishermen, 30 Farmers, 35 Ship Builders, 15 Teachers/Scholars, 30 Alchemists, 20 Carpenters, 40 Hunters (Trapmakers), 40 Lumberjacks, 10 Foragers, 10 Healers, 100 Housewifes. 150 Children Supplies: 40 Mules (320 gp.) 240 Goats (240 gp.) 90 Cows (900 gp.) 900 Chickens (18 gp.) 45 Carts (675 gp.) 50 Rowboats (2, 500 gp.) Total Spent: 4, 638 gp. The rest (1, 362 gp.) is controlled by the Duredoolin Council, and they have the power to spend it as they wish. The gnomes begin by sending out their small flotilla of fishermen, while the farmers find plots of arable land where they set up their paddocks and plant their seeds. The hunter/trapmakers set up traps, hoping to lure hungry seabirds into a cage type mechanism. The lumberjacks travel farther inland in search of denser forests, while the foragers set out to find easy food. Various councilmen, each with an escort of 5 militiamen, set off to different neighboring communities, bringing them messages of peace and of trade. Meanwhile, the carpenters set to work on a longhouse, where all can find a place to eat, sleep and gather. Although the tents would do, they aren’t comfortable enough.
Return of the Flumph 09-25-07, 11:12 PM	SquirrelMortis, go ahead and start your own thread. Other people have PMed me about this, so I know there is interest for another BYF game. Triplee: The rock at your low point in the mountains is quite dense, and takes a lot of work to tunnel through. You can build your mine (there is possible evidence of iron ore), but you'll need all your stonemasons to help. You can build that road before or after the mining, but not during. Unless you somehow get more manpower. The beekeeper's hives seem to be doing well, but the bees seem anxious these days. Honey production has also decreased markedly over the course of the last day or two. Also, the bees used to fly north with a slight western angle to forage, but suddenly have begun flying south instead. You make a fair amount of mead, but the beekeeper says that he won't be able to make much more unless things pick back up again. Your farmers are angry that the druids are so much harder to get ahold of now. Some of them seem to think that the druids are lazy connivers, and that you are too weak to stand up to them. Where exactly is the bard going to be playing? Einvaldurin: Iron ore is discovered quickly, though not in great quantities. Your miners believe that they might be able to track the iron vein to a larger deposit if they tunnel after it. Cables will take a little bit of time to make, but are on the way. In the meantime, rope pulleys seem to do the job well enough; lumber becomes less scarce. Some of your woodsmen are frightened, however, by the giant centipedes they sometimes spot in the forest, remembering how one of their brethren was killed by the creatures. They travel in large groups and keep their axes always at the ready, but one of them mentions that it would still be nice to have warriors present. The river is the only source of water, but it is more than sufficient. The salmon do not swim this far upstream, and so you have no stench or rats to deal with. The farmers are getting mutinously upset about the state of the chickens, as cannibalism rates continue to mount. The farmers blame the foragers, the foragers blame the warriors, and everyone blames you. Your ranger explores a long way into the caves, but then does not return. The two hundred men you sent after him search for awhile, but to no avail. His tracks seem to have dissapeared. By the time they make it back to camp, they realize that 2 warriors have vanished as well during the search for the ranger. The maps cover a large area of caverns, but get very confusing at a certain depth and stop at the point where the ranger stopped reporting in. One man says that he heard something bigger than a dwarf scamper away as they approached one of the tunnels. This occurence further hurts the people's faith in your leadership. The pulleys and iron ore are helping you stay in the people's good faith, but you'll need to do something else to make sure. Your explorers have spotted human scouts prowling the area, but only at a distance so far. Thee Deedly Drawf: The watchmen seem to do a reasonable job at keeping the loggers safe, but the increased security measures are taxing on everyone's energy. A few bizarre injuries still happen, but not as many; as before they seem to befall the loggers exclusively. After a couple of days of this, another goat is killed...this time with its skeleton and hide left spread out on the grass, but the meat is all gone. Written in goat blood on the ground is the sentence "LEAVE THE FOREST, OR DIE WITH IT." Lokyin: Before I can say what happens with you, what powers do your seers have? This is important in determining what you can learn from the meeting with the lizardfolk. Xanaphia: Sorry, you'll have to be a bit more creative than that. Everyone with Druids, Rangers, or Animal Tamers: Slight behavioral shifts in local wildlife seem to indicate a major weather change in the near future.
tripleee69 09-26-07, 12:35 AM	the council decides that since the miners are now hitting denser rock half the team will break off to start diggin out the two lowest marks before the dense rock into a short halls then round rooms and the others investigate the iron ore. the rest of the rangers are sent scout and map out the moutain side for intruders, and small game to bring back then cage & breed them and pit falls for larger game and hostile's they will also be maped out to keep the towns folk out of danger every town folk will have one and alchemist fire and is forbidden to let it fall into hostile hands. the black smiths are asked to make a thick door of iron and/or wood for the mine (if iron is found). Any druids in the area at this time are asked if the want to help the wizards and sorcerers, make permentent heating items for the homes and the mine, and obscuring mist,ghost sound,dancing lights items to keep others away (they will be placed in a grid fashion surrounding the town and moutain side covering it in a constent blanket of mist light and sounds). Hoku sends a message out to the rangers asking if the strange behavior with the bees is happening with any other type of animals.(the council is still waiting on reports from the rangers about the encampment in the box cayon) the council dicusses the matter with the farmers on how the druids were used to get the town on it feet quickly and keeped it hidden from hostiles and now must rest, and that the farmers must learn to care for their farms and ask the council if they have problems so they can find the right person/s for the job. the alchemist are making as much alchemist fire, tangle foot bags and tindertwigs with as much material that they can scratch up. Levels for town updated waiting for dm's ok also who and how many are learning to become druids,clerics or arcane casters. 8 rangers(2,1,2,2,1,2,2,2) 3 wizards(2,2,) (my character level 4 half-orc Hoku) 3 sorecers(2,1,2) 2 bards(2,1) 6 rouges(3 alchemist(2,2,2),3 blacksmiths(2,2,2)) 7 druids(1,2,2,2,2,2,2) 4 clerics(2,1,1,1) 34 commoners 7 farmers(1,1,1,1,1,1,1) 9 miners(1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1) 5 lumber jacks(1,1,1,1,1,) 3 fishermen(1,1,1) 4 stonemasons(1,1,1,1) 3 engineers(1,1,1) 2 bee keepers(1,1) 1 inn keeper(1) do you need to know their sex and feats as well? have you seen the anime outlaw star it sounds like the end credit song of the first episode in the Japanese version but with a flute and the beat stays slow the whole way unlike in the anime.
Lokiyn 09-26-07, 01:52 AM	Nonelite Array: The nonelite array is 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, and 8. The nonelite array does not necessarily make a monster better than normal, but it does customize the monster as an individual with strengths and weaknesses compared to a typical member of its race. The nonelite array is most appropriate for monsters who add class levels in a NPC class. Npc Wealth by Level 3rd; 2,500 4th; 3,300 Medium-size Male Psionic Human (Psionic) Warrior1 Hit Dice: (1d8)+3 Hit Points: 11 Initiative: 1 Speed: Walk 30 ft. AC: 11 (flatfooted 10, touch 11) Attacks: *Crossbow, Light +2;Dagger +1;Dagger (Thrown) +2;Handaxe +1; ; Damage: *Crossbow, Light 1d8;Dagger 1d4;Dagger (Thrown) 1d4;Handaxe 1d6 Vision: Normal Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. Special Qual: Base Power Points (2), Total Power Points (2) Saves: Fortitude: +3, Reflex: +1, Will: -1 Abilities: STR 11 (+0), DEX 13 (+1), CON 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 9 (-1), CHA 8 (-1) Skills: Climb 4; Handle Animal 3; Swim 4 Feats: Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), Martial Weapon Proficiency, Psionic Body, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Tower Shield Proficiency, Wild Talent Challenge R: 1/2 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Possessions:Backpack; Coin (Copper); Bedroll; Blanket (Winter); Bolts, Crossbow (10); Cheese (Hunk); Coin (Gold); Coin (Silver); Crossbow, Light; Dagger; Fishhook; Flint and Steel; Hammer; Handaxe; Iron (Per Lb.); Lantern (Bullseye); Outfit (Explorer's); Pick (Miner's); Pot (Iron); Pouch (Belt); Rope (Hempen/50 Ft.); Sewing Needle; Soap (Per Lb.); Spade or Shovel; Torch; Waterskin Medium-size Male Psionic Human (Psionic) Adept2 Hit Dice: (2d6) Hit Points: 9 Initiative: -1 Cha Speed: Walk 30 ft. Armor C: 9 (flatfooted 9, touch 9) Attacks: *Crossbow, Light +0;Sickle +1; ; Damage: *Crossbow, Light 1d8;Sickle 1d6; ; Cha Vision: Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. Special Q: Base Power Points (2), Summon Familiar, Total Power Points (2) Cha Saves: Fortitude: +0, Reflex: -1, Will: +4 Abilities: STR 11 (+0), DEX 9 (-1), CON 10 (+0), INT 12 (+1), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 8 (-1) Skills: Handle Animal 4; Heal 6; Knowledge (Nature) 8; Survival 6; Cha Feats: Simple Weapon Proficiency, Speed of Thought, Wild Talent Challenge R: 1 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Special:Because of Speed of thought the Adepts can move 10 feet faster than their listed base speed Possessions:Backpack; Coin (Silver); Bedroll; Blanket (Winter); Bolts, Crossbow (10); Case (Map or Scroll); Crossbow, Light; Inkpen; Iron (Per Lb.); Lantern (Bullseye); Lantern (Hooded); Outfit (Scholar's); Pot (Iron); Pouch (Belt); Rope (Hempen/50 Ft.); Scale (Merchant's); Sickle; Spell Component Pouch Spells: Spells per Day: (3/2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/ DC:11+spell level) Adept - Known: Level 0: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Touch of FatigueLevel 1:Bless, Burning Hands, Cause Fear, Command, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Chaos, Detect Evil, Detect Good, Detect Law, Endure Elements, Obscuring Mist, Protection from Chaos, Protection from Evil, Protection from Good, Protection from Law, Sleep Medium-size Male Psionic Human (Psionic) Aristocrat4 Hit Dice: (4d8)+2 Hit Points: 22 Initiative: 2 Cha Speed: Walk 30 ft. Armor C: 16 (flatfooted 14, touch 12) Attacks: *Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) +6; ; Damage: *Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) 1d8; ; Cha Vision: Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. Special Q: Base Power Points (2), Total Power Points (2) Cha Saves: Fortitude: +1, Reflex: +3, Will: +3 Abilities: STR 11 (+0), DEX 14 (+2), CON 10 (+0), INT 12 (+1), WIS 8 (-1), CHA 9 (-1) Skills: Appraise 8; Handle Animal 6; Knowledge (Geography) 8; Knowledge (Nature) 10; Survival 6; Survival (Lost/Natural hazards) 8; Survival (Natural environments) 8; cha Feats: Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), Martial Weapon Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Psionic Shot, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Tower Shield Proficiency, Wild Talent Challenge R: 3 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Special NotePsionic shot allows the aristocrat to expend their Psionic focus to deal an extra two damage if they hit with their ranged weapon, As the Aristocrats do not have concentration this means that they need to take 20 to focus, meaning they have one shot per round that deals and extra +2d6, in addition the deep crystal crossbows can be charged with two power points to deal an additional +2d6 on a successful it, after doing so however the aristocrats lose the ability to focus till the next day (due to lack of power points), so its a last resort move Possessions: Bedroll; Flour (Per Lb.); Case (Map or Scroll); Cinnamon (Per Lb.); Coin (Gold); Coin (Platinum); Coin (Silver); Copper (Per Lb.); Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)); Flint and Steel; Hammer; Ink (1 Oz. Vial); Lantern (Bullseye); Magnifying Glass; Mirror (Small/Steel); Mithral Shirt; Outfit (Monk's); Black Pearl; Pepper (Per Lb.); Pouch (Belt); Rope (Silk/50 Ft.); Salt (Per Lb.); Sealing Wax; Sewing Needle; Signal Whistle; Signet Ring; Spellbook (Wizard's/Blank); Tobacco (Per Lb.); Elite Array: The elite array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. While the monster has one weakness compared to a typical member of its race, it is significantly better overall. The elite array is most appropriate for monsters who add levels in a player character class. Medium-size Male Psionic Human (Psionic) Shaper4 Hit Dice: (4d4) Hit Points: 10 Initiative: 2 Cha Speed: Walk 30 ft. Armor C: 12 (flatfooted 10, touch 12) Attacks: Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) +5; ; Damage: Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) 1d8; ; Cha Vision: Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. Special Q: Base Power Points (17), Bonus Power Points (6), Total Power Points (23) Cha Saves: Fortitude: +1, Reflex: +3, Will: +5 Abilities: STR 12 (+1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 10 (+0), INT 16 (+3), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 8 (-1) Skills: Concentration 7; Craft (Poisonmaking) 10; Craft (Trapmaking) 10; Diplomacy 2; Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 4; cha Feats: Expanded Knowledge[Mindlink], Inquisitor, Psicrystal Affinity, Speed of Thought Challenge R: 4 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Possessions: 1/2 Keelboat; Cloves (Per Lb.); Artisan's Tools (Trapmaking); Artisan's Tools (Woodworking); Backpack; Bedroll; Case (Map or Scroll); Copper (Per Lb.); Cow; Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)); Flint and Steel; Gold (Per Lb.); Hourglass; Ink (1 Oz. Vial); Inkpen; Ioun Stone (Dull Grey); Iron (Per Lb.); Jade; Lantern (Bullseye); Linen (sq. yard); Mirror (Small/Steel); Outfit (Scholar's); Ox; Parchment (Sheet); Pepper (Per Lb.); Pouch (Belt); Rope (Silk/50 Ft.); Sealing Wax; Sewing Needle; Signal Whistle; Signet Ring; Silver (Per Lb.); Soap (Per Lb.); Spellbook (Wizard's/Blank); Wagon; Quick note, its assumed that the Pc classes psions are the nominal leaders of this group each one is assumed to have payed for part of keelboats to get settlers A to point B, As will as a pair of breeding animals, some canvas and linen for building and various metals to last until other sources are found, so 12 keelboats in all, if there was no way to get them near the swamp, then they were pulled up above the water line at the shore of this area then stripped, to be recovered at a later date. Spells: Spells per Day: (DC:13+spell level) Psion - Known: Astral Construct Control Flames Inertial Armor Matter Agitation Minor Creation Body Equilibrium Cloud Mind Psionic Repair Damage Sustenance Medium-size Male Psionic Human (Psionic) Seer4 Hit Dice: (4d4) Hit Points: 10 Initiative: 2 Cha Speed: Walk 30 ft. Armor C: 12 (flatfooted 10, touch 12) Attacks: *Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) +5; ; Damage: *Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)) 1d8; ; Cha Vision: Face / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. Special Q: Base Power Points (17), Bonus Power Points (6), Total Power Points (23) Cha Saves: Fortitude: +1, Reflex: +3, Will: +5 Abilities: STR 8 (-1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 10 (+0), INT 16 (+3), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 12 (+1) Skills: Concentration 7; Craft (Shipmaking) 10; Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 10; Knowledge (Nature) 4; Profession (gardener) 8; cha Feats: Expanded Knowledge[Mindlink], Inquisitor, Psicrystal Affinity, Speed of Thought Challenge R: 4 Alignment: Lawful NeutralPossessions:1/2 Keelboat; Backpack; Artisan's Tools (Shipmaking); Bedroll; Canvas (Sq. Yd.); Chain (10 Ft.); Coin (Silver); Copper (Per Lb.); Cow; Crossbow (Light/Crystal (Deep)); Fishhook; Flint and Steel; Flour (Per Lb.); Hourglass; Inkpen; Ioun Stone (Dull Grey); Iron (Per Lb.); Jade; Lantern (Bullseye); Magnifying Glass; Mirror (Small/Steel); Outfit (Scholar's); Ox; Pouch (Belt); Rope (Silk/50 Ft.); Sealing Wax; Sewing Needle; Signal Whistle; Signet Ring; Spellbook (Wizard's/Blank); Wagon; Waterskin; Whetstone; Spells: Spells per Day: (DC:13+spell level) Psion - Known: Control Flames Inertial Armor Matter Agitation Precognition Offensive Sense Link Clairvoyant Sense Object Reading Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions Tongues, PsionicAh i love generators, basically the stats are all there, althought the possessions aren't numbered, they are basically all there, numbers can be provided, but any important changes are noted in the stat block. The important thing from the lizard men is if they are willing to be peaceful we can discuss the lowering of the watertable slightly (so that the water will pool in certain areas and water ways, but not coat the land and turn the area into a bog), and integrating the lizardmen into the community. If so the we can integrate the lizardmans community into the planned cannals and channels/waterways. If the lizardmen don't want to join, the roughly 400 troops moving around the shapers and the lizardmens path toward the village are ordered to utterly destroy the lizard man community, with massed crossbow fire. Once finished the troops are to straitline a path to the village along the route the lizardmen shaman and his troops traveled. If the shapers have sucessfully delayed the warriors long enough with a "tribute meal" (if the lizardmen maintain superiority and don't wish to assimilate into the community, the shapers and personal in the temporary settlement are to still provide a meal for the warriors and shaman. If the Shaman shows willingness to assimilate, then the meal will be a simple meal and the troops will not penetrate the swamp to destroy the lizardmen. Basically it boils down to this If the lizardmen are relativly peacefull and are willing to assimilatePeaceful meal while the troops are given orders to stop the march into the swam If the Lizardmen are beligerant and continue to maintain thier superiority with the threat Peaceful meal offered by way of tribute while the troops proceed inward to destroy the lizardmen. Of course the adepts will send thier familiars ahead to observe the lizardman community from above, if the lizardmen outnumber the settler force (~400 people) then they they will work together and pick of isolated lizardmen (working in groups of course) If not they will simply storm in a frontal assault and destroy the villagers as they stand with no warning. .... militant xenopaths aren't we ;) Rather the settlers are claiming thier territory and anyone in thier way has two options, join or burn. Heh, after all isn't it the responsability of any group of advanced people to force the degenerates up to our level? In reality its more the selfish, i claim this and i have the right to take it, if i can that settlers tend to have. Cooperation is a plus, but only if outright seizure isn't more beneficial. Ah expansionism is wonderful isn't it. Hmm live with neighbors who threaten to eat us, or simply exterminate the vermin, Choices choices. The Seers have these basic traits. Clairvoyant sense (3pp) which allows them to cast thier vision out to familiar locals, or obvious locations. Sensitivity to psychic impressions (3pp) Which allows them to view the past of an area Object reading (3pp) Which allows them to take an object and learn about its history Sense Link (1pp) which allows the Seers to link thier perception to the familiars and share thier sight. These links last for four minutes and allow them to share sight over a certain range. in this case a Raven double moving for four minutes (the length of the power) can cover a straight line path of 3,200 Ft. (about .6 miles) Once the Seers are familiar with an area they can Clairvoyantly sense it without needing to actually travel to it. allowing them perceptions unmatched until the Arcane and divine versions of Clairaudince kick in at level 5, and the Scrying kicks in around 7th. I assumed that Leveling would be done per year, with a certain number of character points assigned to each town to spend as the player wishes with a limit on increases each year. As an Aside, those with Survival and Knowledge nature are going to take information from the animal handelers and start to examine the area for signs of what the weather pattern might change into, if its something seasonal the community will attempt to think of a long term solution, if its abnormal there will be little choice but to hunker down and wait for it to blow over.
1337Ninja 09-26-07, 03:19 AM	I'm fine with starting a new year when everyone else is finished.
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-26-07, 09:47 AM	I will have the Workers stop cutting at the forest for now, and would like to have a couple of the bards in town to study up on what could be in the woods thats trying to keep us out. I will also have some of the manual labor people clean up the goat mess. I would like to send out some scouting parties up and down the beach to see if they can spot anything out of the ordinary.
Return of the Flumph 09-26-07, 10:32 AM	New year begins after this next volley of posts. After all, you need to find out how your harvest was, and its summer right now :D. I'll wait until tonight for my next post, so that everyone has time to post first. Major event in the works.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-26-07, 03:09 PM	Einvaldurinn: Iron ore is discovered quickly, though not in great quantities. Your miners believe that they might be able to track the iron vein to a larger deposit if they tunnel after it. Cables will take a little bit of time to make, but are on the way. In the meantime, rope pulleys seem to do the job well enough; lumber becomes less scarce. Some of your woodsmen are frightened, however, by the giant centipedes they sometimes spot in the forest, remembering how one of their brethren was killed by the creatures. They travel in large groups and keep their axes always at the ready, but one of them mentions that it would still be nice to have warriors present. First off, I give the miners the okay and tell them to tunnel after the iron deposit. I also deploy ten warriors there, just in case they break into a strange cavern of some sort. Now for a small change for the lumberjacks, they are to work in teams of ten, with 3 Warriors(how many centipedes are they spotting at a time? If it's a lot, better make that five) accompanying each team. That should get a load off their mind and allow them to work in a safe feeling environment. The river is the only source of water, but it is more than sufficient. The salmon do not swim this far upstream, and so you have no stench or rats to deal with. That's good to know. Might want to build a dam though and use it to power a mill of sorts. If possible before winter, I want to do that. If not, I'll get the materials ready and to it in the spring. We want us some bread. On second thought, it can wait 'til spring. I want to scout for a suitable location though. The farmers are getting mutinously upset about the state of the chickens, as cannibalism rates continue to mount. The farmers blame the foragers, the foragers blame the warriors, and everyone blames you. Everyone blames me huh? That's not so good. I think I am going to consult with one of the experts on the matter and suggest that we release some of them into the wild. Two thousand or so. Your ranger explores a long way into the caves, but then does not return. The two hundred men you sent after him search for awhile, but to no avail. His tracks seem to have disappeared. By the time they make it back to camp, they realize that 2 warriors have vanished as well during the search for the ranger. The maps cover a large area of caverns, but get very confusing at a certain depth and stop at the point where the ranger stopped reporting in. One man says that he heard something bigger than a dwarf scamper away as they approached one of the tunnels. This occurence further hurts the people's faith in your leadership. Gorramit. I am going to start patrolling the immediate area of these caves. Nothing deep down, telling them to stick to areas that are easy to make sense of and that we have already charted. They will patrol in groups of ten and there will always be at least two patrols on the move. They should go out for two days at a time. I am going to have some of the Blacksmiths make suits of heavier armor for the patrols. So whenever a warrior is patrolling, he will be wearing some Scale Mail and wielding a Dwarven Waraxe. He will also have a Heavy Wooden shield. This costs me 600 GPs worth of materials and stuff. It's well worth it though.(I'm buying twenty of each) The pulleys and iron ore are helping you stay in the people's good faith, but you'll need to do something else to make sure. I am going to hold a week long blót(don't know the English word for this, if there is one) to honor the gods, ask them to bless the new settlement and allow us to prosper. Also, everybody gets lots of chicken:P Your explorers have spotted human scouts prowling the area, but only at a distance so far. Okay, these patrols will now include a Cleric with Comprehend Languages. I am going to try and make peaceful contact. Everyone with Druids, Rangers, or Animal Tamers: Slight behavioral shifts in local wildlife seem to indicate a major weather change in the near future. Winter much? Anyway, bring on the new year.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-26-07, 06:20 PM	Levels for town updated waiting for dm's ok also who and how many are learning to become druids,clerics or arcane casters. 8 rangers(2,3,2,3,2,2,3,2) 3 wizards(3,2,2) (my character level 5 half-orc Hoku) 3 sorecers(3,2,3) 2 bards(2,2) 6 rouges(3 alchemist(2,3,2),3 blacksmiths(2,2,2)) 7 druids(3,3,3,3,3,3,3) 4 clerics(2,2,2,3) 34 commoners 7 farmers(2,2,2,2,2,3,3) 9 miners(3,3,2,2,2,2,2,3,2,2) 5 lumber jacks(2,3,3,2,2,) 3 fishermen(2,2,2) 4 stonemasons(2,2,2,3) 3 engineers(2,2,2) 2 bee keepers(2,2) 1 inn keeper(2) do you need to know their sex and feats as well? Umm, isn't that like 126 or so character points? I thought we only had 60?
tripleee69 09-26-07, 06:32 PM	opps i miss that ill corecct it:confused: ive never used charecter points before (corrected)is this right?
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-26-07, 06:34 PM	DO we get anohter 60 when ewe up the level of the town?
Return of the Flumph 09-26-07, 08:01 PM	Erk, it looks like I might not be able to update until tommorow. Hang in guys.
Lokiyn 09-27-07, 04:37 PM	(since this is partially a freeform causal contest and a casual “design a world freeform” lets pop in some info leeched from some wiki) The local Geography appears to be like so There is a coastal area with beaches and cliffs Alexeduardo(.5E) Thee Deedly Drawf(Hal) Forest a few hundred yards from the ocean Grassland expanse Forest Beyond the grassland Forested foothills with a box canyon Triplee(Hu) Forested Mountains terrain Einvaldurinn_mikli(Dw) Xanaphia Undomie(Dw) 1337Ninja (gn) Swamp on the other side of the mountains Lokiyn(Hu) Lizardmen Unknown Lions Tiger Bears 1 ea. Half elves. 2 ea. Dwarves 2 ea. Humans 1 ea. Halflings 1 ea. Gnomes Presumably while the settlers didn’t arrive at the same time, the groups deeper inland arrived first and spent the difference in time traveling inland for whatever reasons. I’m of course assuming that the settlers arrived through the sea. Either by traveling from far land “x” or far in a direction along their native coast. More on the enhancement plans for the swamplands. Swamps are generally defined as follows A swamp is a wetland that features temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water, generally with a substantial number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, and covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation.[1] The water of a swamp may be fresh water or salt water. A swamp is also generally defined as having no substantial peat deposits. Swamps are generally characterized by very slow-moving waters, often rich in tannins from decaying vegetation. They are usually associated with adjacent rivers or lakes. In some cases, rivers become swamps for a distance. Swamps are features of areas with very low topographic relief, although they may be surrounded by mountains. Presumably since the swamps are on the opposite side of the mountains, they are spring fed or the terminus of a river flow that pools at the mountain base, then seeps underground to emerge on the coast side of the mountains to continue to the sea. If that’s the case then the miner’s job would have been to sink a down sloping shaft through the mountain to the other side to artificially create a quicker channel for water to flow through as well as install sluice gates to the channels. While the initial goal is to drain as much water as possible to create a dry zone to build from. If you check the rules for mining. Each of the miners (Stat +1, 4 ranks, and take 10, [15]) Results in them clearing and reinforcing a 5x5x5 foot cube per eight hour period. Working in 3 shifts the mining team of 120 individuals working to punch 10x10 shafts will be able to sink 7 ea. Shafts 15 feet a day. converging on a exit approximately 100 feet in width and 10 feet in height. Assuming that the work schedules go off without a hitch the miners will tinnel a mile in 352 days, So midway to near the end of the second year the shafts will be a mile to a mile and half long with a maximum length of about 2 miles (this is assuming that there are only 26 days in the two year period that are “unproductive”)Its assumed that the materials thus quarried (about 528,000 Cubic feet of detritus per mile of tunnel) are in the case of loose soils and gravels are piled in levees around the swamps. In a rough circle a mile in radius about a chosen center with the ends of the circle with the levees extending from the tunnels to intersect with the perimeters of the circle. While stone fragments large enough to be dressed are cut down into standard sized building materials. With the preferred dimensions being stones cut to the dimensions 3x2x1.Assuming that only a fifth of the detritus from mining is dressable, say 20%, that means each days worth of mining would produce roughly 50 bricks worth of usable stone per tunnel (350 bricks per day, if one where to total all the bricks). Which would represent roughly 75 feet worth of stone retaining walls for channels cut through the swamp at a depth of 7 feet. (of course these still would have to be dug as well so this won’t be completed for a while.)Since the Stone won’t be used for a while (not until the drainage channels are finished) It will be stored near the center tunnel, (with an odd number of tunnels there would of course be one tunnel in the dead center) Basically it’s the length of the tunnel through the mountain times its area times 20% divided by 6 to get the final number of bricks.The Idea is that by winter of the second year the tunnels will be completed. (assuming that from game start to end of year two, the miners had a solid 22 months worth of work in the tunnels would punch about 1.8 miles through the earth, if not by the end of year three the miners would punch through 2.89 miles. Presumably the elevation of the swampland while higher than the grasslands is lower than the mountains and upper foothills, so it shouldn’t impact mines (depending on the map position of the settlements of course.). Going off the first number the shafts have produced 5,544,000 cubic feet of useless debris, and 231,000 Bricks 3x2x1. Enough to make retaining walls for 9.3 Miles worth of channels 7 feet deep. Its assumed that during the winter the swamp will be drained and as much work on the cannals will be done as possible to allow spring cultivation of the new terrain type while the channels ensure that water flows without bogging or marshing the terrain, with water that would put the table within a foot of the surface being siphoned off through the tunnels, Not incidently the surface channels would also serve as water reseviors. So whats the logic behind all this, why not just build in the grasslands?Well the designers idea (the Shapers/Seers/Aristocrats) Origional intent was to found a city, The current camps are just that, camps.What this means is that the group will spend quite a while building the foundations of a city to last. With the swamp drained the outer levees circling the claimed One mile radius is easily built using debris (the 80% debris not suitable for stonework is more than enough to construct a 20 foot wide ring ~5 feet high around the chosen area with enough to levee up river to prevent the source rivers from not flowing into the ring. As already mentioned the City buildings are constructed on platforms Once the Fall harvests of grains are in the sluice gates are closed, with no other outlet the are will once again swamp up, presumable even deeper than before now that the area has been enclosed and water channeled. This deliberate fall flooding coincides with the release of as many fish from the breeding pools in a deliberate attempt to breed one last harvest of fish before winter sets in, as an additional benefit flooding the area will help keep the area fertile (since they can’t plant the land anyway in the winter. Of course its adds maintainence issues for dredging the channels and repairing retaining walls, but a city built on an artificial winter lake is far to good of a concept to pass up. Loggers, and other forestsers will cull as many diseased and misshapen trees as possible from the chosen area while leaving the strait trees to serve as foundations for the platform based city structures. Of course any trees and or plants exhibiting properties unusual (coldwood tree’s, Dryad trees, bronzewood, etc, or plants with magical traits.) will be cultivated as much as the nature experts and gardeners are able. After all if tree breed X glows at night, why not cultivate it and use it in place of lanterns and night.? Ok so that’s a generally idealistic view of the swamplands and their plans, what’s the plans for the other terrains? Although interestingly enough when it comes to contacting each other Alexeduardo(1/2 Elfes) Thee Deedly Drawf(Halflings) Tripplee(Human) Einvaldurinn_mikli(Dwarves) Xanaphia Undomie(Dwarves)l 1337Ninja (Gnomes) Lokiyn(Humans) Lizardmen Although if the lizardmen fail to see the advantages of assimilation, its likely that they will cease to be an issue, one way or another.
Return of the Flumph 09-27-07, 06:48 PM	Triplee: Iron is scarce in your quarry; there is a little, but not much. Your miners believe that it may be more abundant higher up in the mountains. You are finding some interesting fossils, though; they might be valuable as trade items. You can build that door, but not much more than that until you get more iron. The wizards (with occasional aid from one of the druids) make a handful of permanent heating items, but can only produce them slowly and at great personal expense. It looks like four of them will be ready in time for winter, and everyone is arguing over who gets one. The mist/illusion projectors will take longer still. Food, do to the druids vacationing, will not be as abundant as ws inititally hoped, but the work they already did is still enough to ensure plenty. Many animals seem to be nervous, as if expecting danger in the near future. None have acted as strangely as the bees, though. I'll consider your leveling increases when year 2 begins (very soon, now). Hang in there until then. Your scouts meet the dwarves of the box canyon. Lokyin: The lizardfolk seem relatively peaceful, but seem to have itchy trigger fingers; rapid movement seems to make them nervous. They bring some roasted ducks to your feast as a show of friendship. Their chief tells you that his people depend on the swamp and its plants and animals for their subsistence. While they might be receptive to letting you make some improvements, they will oppose any drastic change. He also mentions that they depend on the mosquitoes (who do not bite the cold blooded lizardfolk) to keep the periodic orc and gnoll raiders away. Your seers sense a great deal of fear and concern in the lizardfolk. They believe that there is something they are not telling you, and that they are afraid to mention it. Your animal handlers say that the wildlife seems to be getting ready for shelter, as if expecting harsh conditions in the near future. BTW, have you planted anything? Deedly: The attacks on your camp stop at the same time the logging does. Your scouts find nothing abnormal along the shore, but mention that the salmon seem to be finishing their spawning run as the summer approaches its end. On a possibly related note, sightings of the huge sea beast have completely stopped. Very little grain can be grown in the puny area you've managed to clear, but your goats and chickens seem to be feeding well on dune grasses and sandbugs, and you've brought in a good harvest of fish. You don't have quite enough to garauntee survival through the winter, though; you will have to get a little more food by the end of fall. Einvaldarinn:The iron mining restores a bit of dwarven stoicism to the hearts of your men; a large ore deposit has been found. Due to the rapid influx of iron, the cables and seige weapons are built much quicker than anticipated. The hundreds of excess chickens are slaughtered for your festival, and either eaten during the week of celebration, salted for the winter, or sacrificed by Eberk. Due to the good combination of agriculture and foraging you've been practicing, the food situation looks sufficient(but not bountiful). Assuming nothing weird happens to your crops, you should do fine this winter. The woodsmen and foragers are more comfortable now that there are warriors to escort them. The centipedes are usually seen alone or in pairs, but everyone remembers that nest that one of the men stumbled into. They make sure to avoid big, potentially hollow trees. The only thing your men are really anxious about now is what happened down in the mines. Your warriors are loathe to patrol down there after what happened to your seasoned ranger (who was much stronger than they). No further dissapearances occur, but some of the men stationed down there report occasional hallucinatory and psychotic episodes. The clerics have ruled out the possibility of poison or disease; the cause of these mental disturbances is unknown. Your scouts meet the humans, who seem to be camped in the foothills below. Everyone: Gigantic, black stormclouds appear on the eastern horizon. They will reach this area in one day. You have 24 hours worth of character actions to prepare.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-27-07, 07:15 PM	Einvaldurinn:The iron mining restores a bit of dwarven stoicism to the hearts of your men; a large ore deposit has been found. Due to the rapid influx of iron, the cables and siege weapons are built much quicker than anticipated. That's good to hear. One might even trade some of this iron huh? Or is it still too scarce for that? I guess it depends on what I want to do... The hundreds of excess chickens are slaughtered for your festival, and either eaten during the week of celebration, salted for the winter, or sacrificed by Eberk. Due to the good combination of agriculture and foraging you've been practicing, the food situation looks sufficient(but not bountiful). Assuming nothing weird happens to your crops, you should do fine this winter. That's encouraging to hear. Who's Eberk though? The only thing your men are really anxious about now is what happened down in the mines. Your warriors are loathe to patrol down there after what happened to your seasoned ranger (who was much stronger than they). No further disappearances occur, but some of the men stationed down there report occasional hallucinatory and psychotic episodes. The clerics have ruled out the possibility of poison or disease; the cause of these mental disturbances is unknown. It's a necessary evil. We wouldn't want something to sneak up on us and attack us from surprise. To soothe some of their fears though, the groups will now be accompanied by a Cleric. That should help keep their morale up a bit, what with them being held in extremely high regard and all. Your scouts meet the humans, who seem to be camped in the foothills below. A stately dwarf in his eighties introduces himself as Gunnar Hergillsson. "Greetings fellow humanoids. I speak for the Theocracy of Hágarður and you are entering our domain. Who are you and whom do you represent?" Everyone: Gigantic, black stormclouds appear on the eastern horizon. They will reach this area in one day. You have 24 hours worth of character actions to prepare. We attempt to barricade the entrances to the complex, bring the animals inside and if it looks like this might ruin the crops, salvage as much as is possible. Then we simply retreat into the mountain a bit and hole up. The barricade is mostly wood, or simply the fortifications if any of those are ready. Likely, it's a mix of the two. Then the population holes up in the Town Hall, telling stories and recounting legends.
Xanaphia_Undomiel 09-27-07, 07:35 PM	My people run into their cave and close their door. The chicken's houses are moved into a more protected area (they aren't that heavy) and the other animas sleep in the main cave tonight. My cleric casts Augury to see if staying in the cave will be a good idea.
tripleee69 09-27-07, 07:44 PM	umm yea.... my camp is on the moutain side close to the mine not on a foot hill and my rangers were suppose to avoiding contact at all cost and not go near the dwarve town just observe it from afar:confused: go back and read my other posts again. with the black clouds approuching the miners are to now break off lookin for ore and concentraite on enlargeing the two rooms while starting in on a third room and the lumber jacks are brought in to help haul rocks to make the process go faster(the rooms need to be big enough to hold parts of the population of town colectively without personal belongings and without being too cramped, and the third room will hold the supplies after the winter comes and goes these will become guild rooms). the stonemasons and engineers fix up the mine entrance and install the door leaving enough room on the top for the air to move into the mine when not in use( the door will remain open when ocuppied. When winter comes the people can choose to live in the mine if it gets too cold out side and the miner will continue to work and those living in the mine will help haul rocks out to make more space. the heating device will be devide as such, one will got to the mine (during work hour's), one will go to the dinning/lounge tent (open at all hours), one to the cleric's (when they have more then two patients) and while it's night they will be brought around to each tent just long enough to make it a little warm. the engineers have started planing a grid out on where to put shelf's next on the moutain(how high,how wide, and how long each will be and where the houses,church,tavern,store/storage will go for next year). the fossils will be stored safely the food is to start being rationed to increase the winter food supply, farmers are too start stocking supplies and wood and fisher men are to catch and perserve as much as they can. If caught or surrounded the ranger does not speak and waits for hes time to escape and disappers into the mist and if continuedly chased he will lead them to the pit falls(they are deep enough to hold someone but not deep enough to kill them with the fall). what have the rangers found out about that foot print near the river? How many shelf's are made? How many roads are connecting them?(each shelf has 2 roads, one at ether end connecting to the next)
Lokiyn 09-27-07, 08:42 PM	The lizard folk seem relatively peaceful, but seem to have itchy trigger fingers; rapid movement seems to make them nervous. They bring some roasted ducks to your feast as a show of friendship.Good, with the Lizard folk not showing signs of hostility the troops and militia are to stop their march and return to the village, deliberately along the same path that the shapers led the shaman to the camp. If the lizard men are smart they will understand the implied message. “Not only did we have a force 10 times the size of yours but you didn’t even know of its existence and there would have been nothing for you to do to stop it” Their chief tells you that his people depend on the swamp and its plants and animals for their subsistence. While they might be receptive to letting you make some improvements, they will oppose any drastic change. He also mentions that they depend on the mosquitoes (who do not bite the cold blooded lizard folk) to keep the periodic orc and gnoll raiders away. On the surface we will agree with them simply asking permission to cut a waterway 20 W x & 7 H, through the swamp perpendicular to the mountains to make it easier to get the fishermen and herbalists in and out of the swamp and allow a larger breeding ground than just the shallow ponds for the fishIf you believe for a second that the settlers will halt their plans because it inconveniences a few lizard men without even a real city, you would be mistaken. Since the tunnels would need at least till the end of year two to complete and won’t have any effect on the swamp until attacked to the waterways to drain water from the swamps the lizard men won’t see anything other than stone quarries. If the lizard men question us about the berms being built around the designated 1 mile radius swamp area and the working of the water sources to ensure that water flows in to the swamps, the initial effects would actually make the area slightly swampier as the water is held in by the berms. Also, the aristocrats with Track and the Seers not occupied are under orders to search for the Udoroot plant whenever they get the chance and to avoid engagement with them. Once found and identified the scouts are to watch the crowns and wait until the plants seeds are ripe. With a charge from outside the creatures sight range (60feet) and sundering the crowns (Ac11, Hardness 5, Hp 7) they are to return with the seeds. If the lizard men are willing to identify what direction the incursions come from we can plant Udoroot along their paths, and in general along the berm as a free defense force. Later when any of the Psions with crystals reach level five, their psicrystals will gain telepathy, which combined with the efforts of gardeners and handlers would, in theory allow us to raise allied Udoroots. Udoroots have some interesting properties, while plants they have access to Psionic powers and are intelligent enough for communication (Int 4) yet still incredibly stupid (compared to a human) Once the Psions are able to domesticate Udoroots (Year 3+?) The udoroots can be fertilized and cared for by the humans, while the humans can eat and use the crowns of the Udoroot. As well as count on their aid in defense (being immobile, Udoroots are poorly suited to offense) Each Udoroot produces a 6 crowns in roughly a 20 foot diameter circle, which grow back in a month, and are the size of the standard sunflower. While not suitable for mass harvesting (because of space issues) even a relatively small number of Udoroots would be immensely useful (For example Udoroots have At will, Telekinetic Force, Allowing them to manipulate weight of up to 275 pounds within its sight range, With the Double manifestation ability, the Udoroot could conceivably work to shift 550 pounds at time in exchange for being fed the fish guts and other offal produced by the community. Your seers sense a great deal of fear and concern in the lizard folk. They believe that there is something they are not telling you, and that they are afraid to mention it. We’ll assigned some adepts (ravens) to watching the lizard men, as long as is something relatively minor we’ll ignore it, if its something huge, we’ll decide what to do then. Your animal handlers say that the wildlife seems to be getting ready for shelter, as if expecting harsh conditions in the near future. Well, we’ll have set up contingency plans for the time being, since all of our structures are designed to be temporary we should be able to pack rapidly and move to a secondary location if need be. BTW, have you planted anything? The Herbalists and gardeners have been planting small gardens of edible herbs and medicinal herbs wherever they can find dry land. Since its assumed that the swamp is too wet to support the grains, the seed crops have been stored in a safe location.As stated earlier the main source of food is in fish, with “domesticated” fish stored in small pools and fish catches rendered into Surimi and stored for winter. In pots. While they have also been collecting and storing seeds and cuttings from any plants deemed useful, while watching for unusual, Useable plants (things like glowing night vines, or plants that purify water, etc) to earmark for cultivation next spring. Everyone: Gigantic, black storm clouds appear on thee eastern horizon. They will reach this area in one day. You have 24 hours worth of character actions to prepare. Assuming that the mining had started with the game (roughly January?) and that its now midsummer, and that the miners had a delayed start (starting work after basic accommodations and surveys were made) and thus only have 90 days worth of work, (rather than 150-180) the seven shafts are 1350 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 10 feet tall. In the even of horrible weather while the temporary camps are up the people will rapidly begin evacuating collapsing the yurts and packing their foodstuffs (many of which is already stored in the start of the tunnels for storage) while the fishermen gather a few pots of live fish from he pools as stock and the pigs and oxen are also shuffled into the caves, (presumable they have been stored slightly up the mountain for forage). The people will pull back into the tunnels and wait for the storms to pass, Absurdly, each tunnel containing a seventh of the population would still have more than enough room for the mining crews to continue their work at the far end of the shaft. So in summary Agree to coexist with the lizard men, but plan to drain the swamp anyway without telling them Inform the lizard men of a water road that all can share in use Trackers look for Udoroots, use surprise attacks to sever crowns during surprise round then retreat with matured seed crowns, if found Grain Farming given way to gardening and fish farming. Seed stocks of cattle, pigs, herbs, grains, fish, Miscellaneous plants, built up and stored for future cultivation Miners punching shafts through the mountains causing the swamp in preparation for draining around spring of year three Debris used to start creation of berms/levies around the chosen area. Suitable Debris cut into Stone Bricks and stored Upper ends of tunnels planned for storage and emergency Shelters. Remember that most of the commoners have 2+int skill points without an int penalty, most of the people with professions had two profession skills, usually pared in some way (Farmers/Gardeners), (Miners/Masons), Etc. Assume that while the food is always rationed even in times of plenty for the first year or two while the people try to build up reserves in case there are unexpect lean times during the settling period, that people are allowed to grow as much as they want in thier own gardens to season and flavor thier food. A quick question though, is there any sort of prevailing wind in this area, or in within say, 5-10 miles of the swampland camps? As in a steady breeze that blows the majority of the time at a near constant rate?
1337Ninja 09-28-07, 07:48 AM	All of my gnomes will use food that I have left over to eat today and work on the tunnels as much as possible, with the aid of moles and such. When the storm is almost upon us, we will flee into the tunnels. If not every gnome can make it in, they will have to use makeshift shelters by finding nooks and crannies in the rock. The paladins will be amongst them, and will use their lay on hands ability if anyone is hurt.
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-28-07, 11:23 PM	The half-lings will go to the clearing spoke of earlier, we will start planting there. As for fishing I will now allow the men to go back out to deeper water so they will hopefully catch more fish. I will have my high level rogue start scouting about looking for other villages to hopefully find some one to trade with. I will talk to the bards of the town to see if they have found out anything of the things in the woods.
Return of the Flumph 09-29-07, 02:41 PM	The storm hits. Summer monsoons, everyone! Einvaldir: The cleric stationed down in the caves finds that casting protection from evil goes a long way toward preventing the outbreaks of mental illness. This simultaneously comforts the men (as they now have protection) and disturbs them (since they now know that there is something evil causing it). The storm looks easily powerful enough to damage unprotected crops. Early though it is, your men harvest whatever unripe grain and vegetables they can and stock it inside the mine. When the clouds hit, intense rainfall batters at the mountainside. Water flows inside of the mine and trickles in a seemingly preordained pathway into the depths. Your men are able to keep their camp in the dry sections, and the rainfall river provides ample drinking water, but getting in and out of the mine is almost impossible due to the rushing water. (it seems that runoff from up the mountain is channeling into your cave; this may have been what created the cave in the first place). (sorry, the other dwarven camp had a cleric named Eberk, I mixed them up) Xanaphia: Your seers report that staying inside the cave would be a good idea, as long as you stay above the entrance level. The livestock is relocated successfully. Your crops are probably being ruined by the rain, though. Triplee: Nothing has been learned about the footprints. The mine door keeps the water out, and your brand of agriculture is largely immune to water damage. Unfortunately, there is not enough room for all of your people in the mines yet, and the monsoons are wreaking havoc on the tents. Some people are even finding caves to sleep in, and are getting ****** off as a result. The grid was going well, but construction is being delayed until the rain calms down a little. (You are low on the mountainside, in the foothills region. Einvaldir said his foresters were specifically looking for your men, so it seemed likely he would run into them eventually.) Lokyin: The swamp has its one venues of monsoon drainage, and there is plenty of tree cover for your tents, so you are affected the least by the monsoons. By relocating the tents a little bit, and by implementing their psionics to repel the worst of the water, your men are able to stay mostly dry. Some of your fishpools have been ruined, though; the fish are able to swim away into the swamp when the rainwater connects them. The lizardfolk seem passive for now, but are monitering your camp as closely as you are monitering theirs. Your people are terrified at the prospect of not having enough food for the winter. The fish will not be enough, especially given that some have escaped. Ninja: Your men are damp, but the protection you prepared works. Being used to underground conditions, the gnomes do not much object to sleeping in caves. Your livestock is actually helped by the rains (predators are temporarily in hiding), but your agriculture is being hit hard. Deedly: With the salmon and mysterious beast now gone, other types of fish are making a resurgence. In particular, sea bass and herring are being caught in great numbers. The monsoons hit just as your men are scoping out the clearing. No way in hell are seeds going to stay in the ground in this weather. You'll have to wait until after the storms, and then you'll only have time for a few quick-growing vegetables before winter. And I mean REALLY quick. Nothing has been learned of the forest horrors yet.
Lokiyn 09-29-07, 07:20 PM	The swamp has its one venues of monsoon drainage, and there is plenty of tree cover for your tents, so you are affected the least by the monsoons. By relocating the tents a little bit, and by implementing their psionics to repel the worst of the water, your men are able to stay mostly dry. Some of your fish pools have been ruined, though; the fish are able to swim away into the swamp when the rainwater connects them.While the weather wasn’t as bad as they feared the villagers set about repairing the minor damages. Since the Fish were neither killed nor destroyed and the pools where used for simply breeding large quantities of fish in a controlled condition, it shouldn’t be terrible difficult to fill in the places the water has worn through the pond damns and toss some fish back into the repaired ponds The lizardfolk seem passive for now, but are monitoring your camp as closely as you are monitoring theirs. In all Honesty the lizardmen can watch all they want, Since the purpose of the Channel the purpose of the shafts are not apparent until they are connected after their completion the lizards can look all they want Your people are terrified at the prospect of not having enough food for the winter. The fish will not be enough, especially given that some have escaped.If anyone of the people complain I’ll look at them in confusion, and point out the stockpiles of dried fish, sealed jars of prepared fish, the gardens planted anywhere dry suitable land was found, and the fish farms and breeding pools, as well as the multitude of edible herbs being collected, such as watercress, althea, and other plants that grow and are naturally found in the swamp, then chastise them for their inability to see that all food isn’t wheat, barley, or rye.If any of them still fail to connect the stockpiles of dried and preserved foodstuffs and herbs to “food” then I’ll point at the crossbow on their back and tell them to go hunting.I’ll also point out the 24 breeding pairs of cattle, the sounder of pigs, and point out that the very alge gathered to feed to the fish in the ponds can be eaten by people for food.If they really feel the need for bread, they can hunt Udoroots and try not to become the hunted. Summary Fix Storm Damages Ignore Lizards Knock sense into settlers who rely on a single food source Point out the 192 gardeners, obviously haven’t been doing nothing the last 6 months or so, and obviously have been raising as many vegetables and other edible plants that can survive in the swampy terrain as possible Point out every fish not immediately eaten or earmarked for breeder pools has been preserved in some way so as to not waste the excess catch.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 09-29-07, 08:29 PM	Time to advance the calendar then? Oh, and slight nitpick Flumph, you've misspelled my screenname in every one of your posts so far. Any chance you could you know, not?:D I'm sort of obsessive about things like that.
Return of the Flumph 09-29-07, 08:35 PM	Lokyin: forgot to mention, but you don't find any udoroots. Sorry. Anyway, your people stop whining for the most part when you explain the logistics to them. Einvaldurinn: That extra N at the end of your name is completely unneccesary. I'll try, though :D.
tripleee69 09-29-07, 08:38 PM	3 Rangers, 3 stonemasons, 3 lumber jacks, 3 socerers and the people who found the caves are spilt into teams(1 of each per team) and sent to these caves to see how big they are, how far they go and make sure they are safe to stay in and to see if they can be enlarged and stablized to hold more people, if they are safe and can hold more people they will be worked on by the stonemasons and engineers and then relocate the rest of the people to them and the tents will be used to cover the entrance's and keep the rain out. the bee keeper will break out the mead to raise the moral and the bards and wizards will entertain to put the others mind at ease. rangers are to still keep an eye on the dwarves but at a closer distance when it rains to see how they are surviving if approched this time they are willing to talk just not about who their people are or where they come from, when they leave they do not head back to town but travel around until they lose anyone fallowing them.(they are to be freindly but cautious about whut they say or do and willing to give a hand at a moment's notice if trouble arises or if a old person needs a hand)
AnonymousInternets 09-29-07, 08:56 PM	The idea of the topic seems fun, but I don't really know how to approach it or how it actually progresses or what things do, and I'm a little alienated by the fact that nobody else is on the same boat. :S Did I miss something?
Lokiyn 09-29-07, 09:29 PM	Forgot to mention, but you don't find any udoroots. Sorry. I Didn't really expect to, if i ever do find them (or any other unusual plants with semimagic properties, plants that glow at night, plants whose pollen puts animals to sleep, counting pines, bushes that produce a goodberry everyonce in a while, or something similar, those are the things the horticulturally inclinded settlers are instructed to find and cultivate. Essentially the Horticultural equivalent of mining, would be the planting and care for plants like Darkwood/Bronzewood(ebb)/Coldwood(Drg)/Etc or other woods to replace metals.Largely i look at it as the class leveled aristocrats and such with survival and knowledge nature, put together the plans, and simply didn't explain the details of the situation for the most part, so while the farmers/gardeners, herbalists, and fishermen are aware of how much food is being put by, the miners, carpenters, stonemasons, and others were not.Just as a reference, In all of the SRD there is only the Udoroot and the Shrieking Fungus that are immobile plants. The Udoroot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/Udoroot.htm) is the one i referenced above, because its mentioned that its red sunflower-esque seeds can be used to make bread, which given the dangers involved in harvesting such seeds, would make it and expensive bread indeed.http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/33555.jpg Being Carnivorous rather than photosynthtic, it would possible to raise and maintain a select number of Udoroots in a community by feeding it scraps from either the processing of livestock, game, or fish. Although outside the scope of this thread, there are a few other plants that are sessile, the Crystal Sunflower (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20040521b), is one and there are a couple in the other monster manuals, while plants with unusual properties are presented in several sourcebooks outside of Core, there are few if any in core.
Return of the Flumph 09-29-07, 10:46 PM	The idea of the topic seems fun, but I don't really know how to approach it or how it actually progresses or what things do, and I'm a little alienated by the fact that nobody else is on the same boat. :S Did I miss something? Since one of our players seems to have backed out (the first one to reply to the thread, forgot his name) we have an opening. I'll PM you during the spring of year 2 so you can set up camp; joining before that would be suicidal, as winter is quickly approaching.
Thee_Deedly_Drawf 09-30-07, 11:32 PM	Well with winter quickly approaching I will have the manual labor workers start on some warmer huts for the villagers. I will also double the amount of fishing that is going on by uping the amount of time that they stay in the water. one the storms pass I will have the farmers plant anything that will grow though winter in their fields. I will talk to my rouges to see if they have found anything.
1337Ninja 10-02-07, 12:30 AM	With winter coming up, my gnomes will be doing more work on the tunnels so that they can more easily seek shelter in them instead of producing raw materials.
Xanaphia_Undomiel 10-02-07, 03:55 AM	My men are going to continue mining. Also, some anti-weasel stuff: We will make some stilts, about three feet high, for our chicken houses. The weasel would have to jump up the last metre.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 10-02-07, 12:18 PM	What are we waiting for?
Return of the Flumph 10-02-07, 02:20 PM	What are we waiting for? Me to have time. Schoolwork.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 10-02-07, 02:26 PM	Me to have time. Schoolwork. Thought that might be it. Well, have fun and score high.
Return of the Flumph 10-03-07, 06:42 PM	Sorry guys, but between classwork, extracurriculars, a novel I'm trying to write, and several other projects on these boards, I'm not going to be able to continue running BYF2. If anyone else is interested in DMing, I'll PM you everything I had planned so you can pick up where I left off.