Seven Seals Campaign, The

A campaign started by ArchGamemaster, who gamemastered Season 1, Season 2, and Bachelor Party. Season 1 was when the premise of "the seven seals" were introduced, and happened quite close to the start of the RPG group (chronologically, the campaign was run shortly after the Pink Kingdom campaign ended). Season 2 occured after the coronation of the Intermittant Mazes, and deviated from the low-magic setting from the first campaign. Bachelor Party is now considered the 2019 New Years Special, as all players agreed it spelled good tidings for the coming decade, and was run in recognition of the fact that, despite Season 2 being a multi-session campaign, only a single seal was broken.
Bachelor Party is also notable, because it is one of the first one-offs specifically run to tie off loose ends, as well as marking a turning point in the way the Seven Seals series was run (the shift from long-running campaigns to single-seal-shattering one-offs).

## Players

### Season 1

* Jeb as Arataef Ashblade, the Human Warrior
* Zerxrez as Alice Meadbeard, the Halfling Rogue
* Codover as the Cleric
* Happro as the Tiefling Magus

### Season 2

* Arcane as TOBAR, the Android Monk
* Jeb as Fiona Retcarach, the Strix Magus
* Looweeja as Barty the Bard, the Reptoid Bard
* TacoCat as Natsume Ashblade, the Kitsune Ninja
* Zerxrez as Harry Beardbeard, the Dwarf Witch
* Zerxrez as Ryle Catsi, the Elven Magus

### Bachelor Party

* Zerxrez as Carter, the "half-something" thief
* Popcorn as Bing-Tao, the centaur lumberjack
* Tropingenie as Ronandt Elderoak, the old-man wizard
* Looweeja as James Balderdash, the contractor

## Background

### Season 1

Alice and Arataef, at the time without surnames to their claim, set out for their own reasons to break the seven seals. Their ultimate goal is to unleash the dark one, and receive greats gifts of wealth, power, and other worldly desires.

### Season 2

Thirty years after her father set out to break the seals,
Natsume Ashblade, alongside a motley crew with their own motivations, takes up her father's legacy and follows in his footsteps, seeking to break the remaining four seals. Their first goal is to raid his tomb and equip themselves with the artifacts and knowledge within. Then, they shall venture forth to settle their debts, show their mettle, and prove once and for all that the dark god reigns supreme.

### Bachelor Party

A party of four adventurers set out for one final romp before one of them gets married. They don't actually remember *who* gets married (in fact, they think they're all single), since they drank a "potion" to forget, so that they could enjoy the bachelor party to the fullest. Though they do not realize at the outset, they make to break the fifth seal.

## Campaign

### Season 1

Once upon a time, on a world called Pthfnder, in an age where magic was feared and spellcasters burned at the stake, there was a halfling. This halfling was named Alice, a devoted follower and preacher of the Nameless one, for this was in the days when he was still known as an ordinary god, and she was a conniving sort, and her and her ally, the mighty warrior Artaef Ashblade, along with a smattering of adventurers, set out one day to break through Seven mighty seals, and unleash something from its prison. They didn't know what, exactly, but a voice in their heads had told them to go unleash it, and so they considered it their duty to do so - especially when said entity promised them magnificent rewards in return.

The first seal, as history recalls, was behind a mighty door, deep underground, and in loosing this seal, the party began encountering manifestations of the mighty Door, and though they managed to overcome them, the party's cleric was lost in the shattering of the seal, for he made the singularly unwise choice of disarming the traps surrounding the seal by walking right up to it and activating them, causing the traps to destroy both him and the seal in the process.

On the way to the second seal, Alice came into possession of a curious golden ring, and in donning it, lost her arm to a terrible black rot that consumed it, and sluiced several city blocks with water from whatever was inside the ring. She later replaced it with a golem arm, for she was a tough little halfling, and wasn't about to let losing a limb slow her down.

At around this point, the party lost another member - you see, one of the members of the party, a tiefling bearing a resemblance to an octopus-headed humanoid, dabbled in arts that the universe wasn't wildly fond of--he was what might have been called a "magus" or "spellsword" in another universe--and when he ventured into a portion of the city they were visiting that was inhabited by the undead in order to test his powers of summoning against them, the aeons got a lock on him, and removed him from reality in a manner reminiscent of an alien abduction.

The second seal lay across the sea, and so Alice and Artaef embarked on a long sea voyage, during which Alice met Gavar Meadbeard, and decided to marry him for his money, and Artaef became infatuated with the incomparable Kitsune Esmeralda, and as it turns out, both of them were really into bondage.

The two of them were married upon reaching the other continent, and around that time, Alice and Artaef braved a dungeon full of traps and monsters to find and destroy the second seal via a malfunctioning bag of tricks that created a 'wolf singularity'.

Their adventures then brought them to the dwarven lands, where Alice married Gavar - and as a way to foil the blessing of the god of truth upon their marriage, bluffed herself so hard that she genuinely fell in love with him.

They spent a while in the dwarven lands before going after the third seal, which led to the birth of Alice and Gavar's child Tardis, of Shapsar fame, and Gavar's death in the catacombs of the dwarven dead, and his subsequent re-animation by means of a black slime - his corpse dogged the group's path for a long time.

The group went to the icy north, and there, history believes they shattered a third seal, and slew a white dragon, the skin of which Artaef wore. While he was there, he also attempted to learn dragon shouts - with less than pleasant consequences, given the bizzare surgery he undertook at the hands of a strange being. It is recorded he sent a great deal of his wealth back to Esmeralda and their two daughters, but here, the chronicle ends.

Except for Shady Priest, that weirdo. Always following people and turning into random farm girls.

### Season 2

The adventurers went in, smacked some enemies, looted the Ashblade a few other items and a journal detailing the remaining Seals from Artaef's tomb, and ran back to the Ashblade home, where Natsume was shocked to find out that her older sisters were not, in fact, thrilled that she had desecrated their father's tomb.

Natsume's sisters tried to have her checked into an asylum, which she escaped quite handily, and meanwhile, TOBAR was forced to surrender the Ashblade to a group of golem-like soldiers. The group came together once more at the local tavern, where Barty was serenading the audience with a mixture of songs and limericks, and the lot of them headed off in search of the nearest seal, which lay within a haunted monastery.

On the way there, Barty and Harry ended up speaking to a strange being in their dreams, which ended up mutating them severely in exchange for power. Harry turned from a limbless dwarf into a horrific ribcage with magnetic heads on each end, and Barty had his skeleton slowly eat him from the inside out, and his legs began to endlessly multiply.

The group continued on, and on the way to the monastery, Harry commented that thousands of years ago, the monastery had originally been built by a group of monks known as stone-throwers, and had been lived in by several different monastic orders since, being abandoned after a battle 200 years ago in which all the monks were slaughtered.

A fog descended as they went up the path, and the group ended up having to cross chasms, dodge boulders and make their way across sliding scree before reaching the monastery. They found the ruins of an old town outside the monastery gates, and decided to explore an old manor within, only for Natsume and Barty to be stolen away by an unknown entity. The two adventurers found themselves on the top floor of the building, and unable to see anything but each other - which proved to be a bit of a problem when the other adventurers couldn't find them, and decided to simply burn down the building, in the hope that their friends had been taken into a secret cellar, and that fire would leave them with a foundation to easily search.

However, it turned out that Barty and Natsume had been taken to the top floor and blinded, leaving it to Harry to use his hair to get them out. Unfortunately, Natsume is terrified by Harry, and lashes out with her katana as she's being rescued, accidentally killing Fiona.

The group goes on to the monastary, joined by a stealthy character named Rickard. The lot of them are met by Shady priest, who does his/her/its best to guide them to the location of the seal. The lot of them descend into a cave system, head through some blades, and other traps, which kill TOBAR, and Rickard uses his admantine warhammer to smash a way past the blades and to the seal, before using the same hammer to smash it to bits while Harry kept the mutagenic fog in the seal chamber away.

The entity behind the seals, who claims to be one of the original denizens of the Abyss before it was overrun by demons, briefly reaches out through the seals, passes on an enchanted mace to Rickard, and slays Shady priest, calling him an 'interfering protean'.

The adventurers head back up, and then are attacked by a large force of mercenary goblins left over from Artaef's tomb, which results in the death of many goblins, and the destruction of Harry, who was coated in pitch and lit on fire. Despite trying to put himself out with a well in the courtyard, the mass of his hair is such that he burned to death before he could soak the flames, exploding in a mass of lodestone, radioactive glass and bone that permanently scars Natsume's mind and seriously damages Barty's.

Rickard, Barty and Natsume shelter for the night in an old hut, and Barty, feeling the pain of his mutations and injuries most keenly now that cold and darkness surrounds him, realizes exactly how dangerous adventuring is, and decides to stop and go elsewhere before he ends up like his dead companions.

Realizing that Harry had the journal on him that had the information on the seals, Natsume goes back home to try and gain more information, only to be captured and sent overseas by her sisters. Rickard stows away aboard the ship, slips her knives, and the two of them enact an escape plan once the ship reaches port, resulting in the deaths of many guards. They hide in the storm sewers, Rickard leaves, and Natsume wanders around the city for a while, trying to get an adventuring group together, only to join the Church of the Nameless, and thus trade her career of adventuring and ninja-ing for converting people to the faith of the Nameless One.

Thus, season two ended, underlining the point that not all adventuring parties are successful.

### Bachelor Party

The party, having taken the potion, met outside a dungeon outside of town. Ronandt, flexing his authority as court mage, convinced the talking door that they were there on official business, and they entered on his authority.

"I hope you're here to *increase* the defenses," quipped the door.

After burning away the coiling purple mist using a fireball from the wizard, the party entered the caves. The first door, resplendent with a shining red gem--never mind, the gem is gone and the Carter is returning with a red gem in his hand.

Behind the door was a chasm, the ceiling twice as high as the canyon deep, with glowing blue spikes on the ceiling and floor. Firing a fireball across the chasm to scout, Ronandt found a similarly coloured door floating in the middle. They initially attempted to drop a rope, but when Bing-Tao tried to climb down the sheer weight of an adult centaur proved too much to bear.

Ronandt saved him by casting a variant of Feather Fall--an extremely dangerous version that used time magic instead of air magic. He then produced Iron-Man like propulsion from the rest of the party's hands and feet so they could cross the chasm.

After an incident with Carter losing control of his flight, they passed through the door and entered a night desert. Bing-Tau was winched up using multiple ropes, and he began to navigate.

While they blindly followed Bing across the desert, they chattered about work, marriage, and overthrowing the country, and after some time they came across a glowing gazebo with a pool of water in the middle. James conversed with the rather plain, but slightly pretty woman in the pool. She explained that to pass through the pool, they needed to be pure of heart. Any evils would turn the pool to acid, dissolving the one within.

Somehow, the conversation turned to the time Robert hired a centaur hooker, then set up her son to go to the prestigious school of Horseford, while setting the centaur woman up to become Governer of California.

In the meantime, Bing-Tau, who was pure of heart, entered the pool and began phasing through the marble at the bottom.

Both Carter and James attempted to enter the water, but alas it tried to dissolve them. Ronandt asked if defence of the country was considered pure of heart. She said that it was dependent on the country being defended.

"Ah, yes. The Domain of Parushka."

Since that specific country was considered to be good, Ronandt torching an approaching enemy fleet did not blacken the pool further. After inquiring with the nymph, she explained that the pool would clear in one year. Ronandt, using time magic, made that year pass in an instant, then dove into the pool.

"See ya on the other side, suckers!"

Unfortunately for the remaining two members, they had to race against dissolution as they descended down into the pool. As Carter's head dropped below the surface, he gave a thumbs up to the last member, James.

Seeing the flesh flying off of Carter, James began to have second thoughts, and began flirting with the nymph.

The other side of the pool was a coral-reef like room, coated in lapis-lazuli. Above them, there appeared to be a floating ocean, as if someone had been through a lot of trouble to build a really cool aquarium, though the fish and sharks seemed to be swimming through the air. While the first two through the pool looked fine, Carter looked a bit worse for wear.

Finally, James finally began to emerge, wearing an acid-resistant suit, rented from his boss. He was slowly sliding from the ceiling, headfirst.

Then, James summoned Neb Aslo (a second time), to buy clothes for Carter.

Bing-Tau, scouting ahead, attracted the attention of a tiger shark. He chopped it with his axe, sending blood spraying through the "water." Amidst the sharks swarming, Bing analyzed the maze, then jumped down from his vantage point. As the shark charged him, right before it bit his arm, it crumbled into dust. Ronandt had burned it from the inside.

"This is what 20 years of studying fire magic gets you. Very precise."

Meanwhile, Carter snuck up to the top of the maze, and began running for the whale-like blue dome that seemed to be the objective. Following him as best they could, the party managed to take only two shortcuts over the walls of the maze.

During the second jump, Bing was spotted by a sword octopus, which shot blades at him. Ronandt bumped his arm, accidentally speeding up the swords, while James wasted a bag of holding trying to toss it to Bing. Though he managed to survive, Bing had numerous lacerations by the time he finished the crossing. After numerous healing potions, Bing's wounds sealed up and mixed with his older scars.

James began talking to the whale hill, who had an aggressive voice. The hill introduced himself as Fred, the gate. Fred said that he wanted something worthwhile to eat. They managed to catch an angelfish, and Ronandt began flexing his magic and cooking ability to dry and smoke the fish. He also made fish soup with the bones. Meanwhile, Carter snuck into Fred's mouth and passed through the portal.

After feeding Fred, he seemed satisfied, but he simply requested more food. Summoning Neb Aslo, James rented a magical dish of wonders. It began shooting a mixture of mostly solid lard into Fred's mouth. Ronandt quickly froze time on both the lard mix, and Fred's mouth.

They passed through, and ended up in a dark castle corridor, next to Carter who now had a large sack of torches. They discussed some nonsense, then continued down the passage. It eventually opened up into a large dining hall, filled with food and sporing a grand throne on a dais.

Around the table, there appeared to be a festival of orcs. The whole scene appeared to be frozen in time, or otherwise incredibly realistic. When James entered, the entire scene reset, the orcs dissolving into green dust. The table was reset, with gold goblets and fresh food set out.

Even the thief agreed that taking anything from the room would be a bad plan. Carter began having a conversation with the red gem he had stolen earlier, a voice introducing itsself as the Great Wyrm Kaivorax. The party condoned conversing with the talking gem.

The conversation was taking a while, so they started to walk through the banquet hall. Trying to reverse time, it partially succeeded, and ghostly vikings were now in the hall. Recognizing this as a temporal loop, Ronandt focused his magic and managed to pull one viking out.

He was aggressive, having been freed from the spell. He thought the party were cultists of the evil sorceress, Bing. One thing led to another, and Carter shot James with and arrow, and an axe-fight ensued between the viking and Bing.

Bing blocked one of his axes, while Ronandt reversed time on the other which had sliced James' fingers. Carter shot an arrow as Bing spun around, kicking James. The arrow hit another viking, snapping them back into real time, and he pulled a massive bow.

Then, fire[1].

Ronandt evoked the strongest of his magic, gathering his fire. But an arrow flew, piercing his eye. Fire bloomed uncontrollably, burning through his flesh. The arrow in his eye dissolved into ash. Fire corustacted the passage, intense heat melting the gold goblets as fire spilled into the dining hall.

When the fire cleared, the remains of the vikings was a mess of exposed skeleton in the front, pouring forth smoke, sparks, and slag.

There wasn't much left of Ronandt, only enough that he could manage only a few last words.

"Oh man. I really fucked up this time."

Then, gouts of green and blue fire incinerated what was left of his body, leaving behind a pile of silver ash.

Finally, the party came across what appeared to be an intricately carved seal, a huge chunk of soft stone covered in arcane runes and text. The party, together, hefted Bing's axe, bringing it crashing down on the seal, shattering it.

A whirlwind roared in their ears, taking them back to the surface, and at that moment the effects of the potion wore off. And they remembered: The one who was getting married was, indeed, Ronandt.

Carter had an idea, though: "What we could do, you know, is get another one of those potions... And a permanency scroll... You know, make her forget."

*Fin*

## OOC

### Season 2

#### Trades

ArchGM allowed the players of the campaign to make a number of trades during character creation. The trades were according to the following ratios:

* 1 stat point/1 feat
* 1 stat point/1000gp
* 1 stat point/1 BAB
* 5ft move speed/1AC
* 2 traits/1 feat
* 5ft move speed/1feat

From these ratios a number of trades were also derived.

* 1 stat point/1 AC
* 5ft move speed/1000gp
* etc

#### Mutations

In session 2 of the campaign, ArchGM allowed players to take "mutations" in exchange for bonuses. Following the session, it was agreed that a mistake had been made, with Zerxrez and TacoCat making a number of exchanges (the latter came to regret them), and Jeb and Looweeja taking only a few. Arcane abstained from the mutations. Following the session, it was agreed a mistake had been made, sparking the following debate: *Disclaimer: the following is a transcript of the chat channel of the private Discord server. Direct Messaging conversations are excluded for confidentiality purposes.*

#### June 2, 2018

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/02/2018

So how do we want to implement the campaign changes, @everyone?

##### Zerxrez-06/02/2018

@Looweeja, and I are thinking give the less powerd players a power boost, like 10 feats and ability scores.

@Tacocat is ambivalent until everyone voices their opinions.(edited)

##### Tacocat-06/02/2018

i would like to remove my name from that list
im putting myself on neutral ground until we have opinions from everyone

#### June 3, 2018

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

What are your thoughts in terms of the current unbalance of player characters?

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

I think that only a certain number of mutations should have been allowed. IE you can take mutations to gain benefits a limited number of times.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

I reckon where I slipped up on that one is probably not making the mutations hinderance enough - the tables I used were more funny than potentially damaging.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

Hindsight is 20/20 we can all muse about what should have been done differently, however, the truth remains that was has happened has happened, now the question is, what shall we do now?

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

Exactly what I said. Strip those that went overboard with power of all the benefits and mutations and have them pick and choose what bonuses they keep.
Or, reroll how many mutations they have and keep that many, then pick and choose what bonuses to keep.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Or roll between all bonuses and hinderences for proper randomness or results.(edited)

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

What number of mutations would you allow those that you say 'went overboard with power' to keep Jeb?

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

With my proposal you wouldn't be keeping mutations, you'd be keeping x number of bonuses and rolling for how many of the mutations you were to keep (as if you had just taken x number of bonuses).

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

And what is x? Or would the individuals be allowed to choose what x will be for their characters?

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

x would be however many bonuses we decide on.

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

Fuck no.

That is why we are having this conversation in the first place.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

That is correct, and I would like to see your thoughts. How many would you feel will be right? This is your proposal after all.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Just adding a little chaos to the pot. Alternatively, you might want to mix in more nonbeneficial effects - the only thing is that such a thing might lead to power bloat.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

What I would suggest is let people keep one beneficial effect, as many story-type or double-edged effects as they want, and if they want more beneficial ones, have to take a distinctly detrimental one.

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

The thing is, the beneficial effects are things we explicitly stated, ie my bonus spells per day.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Ah, so you're talking about the things traded for, as well as actual mutations.

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

And there were a number of non-beneficial yet non-detrimental effects.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Yeah - random stuff. That chart would have been funny for spells, but it's not so good for mutation.

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

Like my most valued possession turning to lead, due to the nature of said possession.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

@Tacocat, @ArcaneBacon feel free to contribute, this is an open discussion after all. I personally would rather not have to re-write my whole character from the ground up, instead I propose just increasing those persons that feel that their characters are not up to scruff by way of ability points, feats, and the like.

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

i just dont think the campaign can function with harrys power level rn
even if we get feats
its not enough to make up that big a difference

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

Your power level is the result of a terrible allowance by an overly chaotic GM that should not have come into existence in the first place.
It is your fault that you will have to "re-write [your] whole character from the ground up"
Taking an inane number of mutations in order to make your character as over-powered as possible was a poor decision, and most likely not the intent of the trade system.

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Overly chaotic? Guilty.

The intent was that the trades would result in rather more detrimental mutations.

Though it has to be said, Harry is rather unique in that losing all his limbs didn't decrease his power at all.

I think part of choosing to find out 'just how far' some of the characters would be warping themselves for power stemmed from my growing annoyance at some of the less flavourful bits of Pathfinder as a system, though I didn't quite realize that at the time. Perhaps I should have added a little more flavour to things directly, rather than allowing an experimental trade system to evolve into mut-tastic weirdness.

But either way, it seems to come down to two options. De-power Harry, or up the power of the other characters. (Or both?)

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

I'm fine with a comprimise of sorts.(edited)

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

@ArcaneBacon and i are on team reset to before mutations but not trades
Looweeja is undecided so far

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

While I did feel pressured to some extent to take mutations, I also wanted to gain more spells-per-day. However -- currently -- our best option seems to be to retcon the entire mutations system and session. The mutations caused a number of problems that I would rather not deal with using in-game events.
And please, let's keep this conversation logical and reasonable.

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

would that mean that you are on team me arcane?(edited)

just to tally up the current group votes

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

Anyhow, I have to leave because mother is a bitch.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

I'd much rather not retcon any past of the campaign if that would be possible, it seems like cheating.

Someone (not me) deleted it.(edited)

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Nah. I have something interesting I'd like to try instead that ought to leave characters wondering just how much of what happened was real.

No one wants to fusion-ha?

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

@ArcaneBacon was suggesting hallucinations

an di think that could be fun

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

I do not.

While I agree it is best to keep things in-game as much as possible, I would prefer the game breaking shit be retconned than have hallucinations of questionable reality.(edited)

Anyhow, I really need to leave so have fun discussing things without me.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

If we always went that way when magic got chaotic the book wouldn't exist.(edited)

Or fortune cookies.

##### Jeb-06/03/2018

And I personally have always believed that the Book shouldn't exist.

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

imagine us all inhaling gas and tobar watching as we start fucking twithcing and shit while we go off to mutation land(edited)

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Um. No, I don't think everyone likes that idea...

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

Would that mean we are still at level 2? Since everyone wants to ret con it?

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

I was imagining starting right from where we left off, leaving some odd scars on people, the power levels adjusted, and clear memories, yet no physical evidence besides some weird marks on yourselves and the environment, with this feeding into the effects of the seven seals.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

@Arch Gamemaster but what about the mutations that we still have? (If we are going with Jeb's idea.)

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

i believe he wanted to retcon the mutations as well

oh nvm

##### Arch Gamemaster-06/03/2018

Mayhaps we should fuse them into weirder, more cripplingly horrific mutations... But somehow I don't think people will like that.

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

i just wanna reset to trades

that was the best system

and it worked

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

I'd be down for that but, literally everyone else might want a word with you...

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

when we were at trades level harry was powerful but still manageable and everyone else wasn't underpowered, so therefore i think it is the best place for us to go to rather than trying to splice the mutations in with everything.

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

How about this for a compromise, we remove most of the feats, ability scores, etc. from the mutations but not the mutations themselves because I've added most of them to my characters backstory and don't want to destroy my current concept due to being slightly more powerful.

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

i just dont think that time travel is a very balanced thing to have in game, other than that im fine with people keeping some mutations and killing the stats

because i dont want any of my mutations

but if you wanna keep them then all for it

##### Tacocat-06/03/2018

~~WIZARD OF SHAPSAR~~

would youuuuuuuuuuuuuu like to be a wizard too?(edited)

##### Zerxrez-06/03/2018

We can't really continue with this discussion when only 2/5 are here...

#### June 4, 2018

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

So I believe @ArcaneBacon @Zerxrez and I have agreed to reset to before mutations whilst keeping the effects of mutations if you wish. Please correct me if I am wrong.

With that said @Jeb and @Looweeja do you have any objections?

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

I would disagree with that. I for one would prefer an "all or none" scenario, albeit with the "all" in this scenario being more of an agreed upon maximum.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

I would like to add as a comprimise those that got mutations get one fifth the benifits from them, just enough to showcase that they get some sort of benifit from taking mutatuions for the risk that they went through.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

@Zerxrez numbers wise that wouldn't work.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

"all or none" in terms of the mutations or including trades as well.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

Mutations.

The trades, more managed by the GM, were slightly more balanced, if still a bit over the top.

##### Looweeja-06/04/2018

I'm still a little on the fence but that's only because I'm an incredibly weak human being when it comes to these sorts of decisions when I have to side with one friend or another when I have no strong feelings on the matter. However, I do feel as though Harry Beardbeard is a little OP. The 10 feats offer is extremely generous though ... I don't know  I'm not entirely sure I want to takes sides. I think a very well thought out compromise might be our best bet, albeit maybe not this one.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

I disagree with @Jeb, it removes the chance to incorporate the mutations into the characters backstory, I feel like this change would lead to less interesting characters. Which would lead to a worse campaign overall.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

However, implementing the mutations into a character's backstory is also inherently flawed due to the nature of their implementation: they were not introduced during character creation. A few options I received I was planning to implement via hooks, but it would have no tangible effect on the character or their backstory.

I feel the ridiculous amount of strangeness in this supposedly low-magic campaign will negatively impact it, since we will be unnecessarily forced into a loop of "oh gods a beast kill it." When making my character, I was careful to keep our campaign setting in mind in both the character and their backstory, with a secret study of magic -- ironically, Magi actually make the most sense in this setting -- and their hiding of monstrous race. However, it seems like the campaign setting has been somewhat lost, with our lizard character revealed session 1, and the inane number of mutations having a complete disregard as such.(edited)

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

For your first point, just because we got the mutations after the first session doesn't mean that they can't be in the characters backstory, for example before the mutations I was planning Harry to be a young adventurer but he bacame immortal from the mutations I fully changed his story, he didn't suddenly become immortal, he has been for hundreds of years there was just no reason to bring it up in character so that makes sense why no one said anything about it during the first session, it just didn't come up, simple as that.

As for the second paragraph, I think we can agree the campaign setting in terms of low magic has been completely abandoned at this point in time, especially if we keep the mutations, however, a different part of the campaign setting will also be abandoned if we remove the mutations. You summed up your character situation so I'm going to copy your paragraph from my point of view:

I feel the ridiculous amount of nerfing in this supposedly no pulled punches campaign will negatively impact it, since we will be unnecessarily forced into a loop of "Haryy's OP stop it" When making my character, I was careful to keep our campaign setting in mind in both the character and their backstory, with a high crowd control -- ironically, also high damage to a single target -- and their fairly high AC. However, it seems like the campaign setting has been somewhat lost, with our lizard character revealed to be little more than a commoner in session 1, and the other small number characters having a complete disregard as such.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

For your first point: that is one mutation among many. My point was that most of the mutations would not affect the backstories in any meaningful way. As well, it is clear from the events of our session that indeed the mutations did happen specifically at that point in time, not before. The second point: has the campaign in terms of low magic really been abandoned? I for one was not under that impression, and frankly have been rather disappointed in our character's behavior. You of all people I was hoping would understand that, being the last original member of the group and one of the people who played in the original Seven Seals. I feel that -- at least partially -- the newer players are taking after your example and creating more chaotic or high magic characters. This is not to say that @Arch Gamemaster is not at fault; he is the one who allowed any race or class to be played without consequence, as well as being the one to allow both trades and mutations to get out of hand. Presented with the opportunity, my hope is to revert this back to the lower-magic setting it once was.

Your restatement of my paragraph, while nearly an identical format, is not a valid argument. "I feel the ridiculous amount of nerfing in this supposedly no pulled punches campaign will negatively impact it, since we will be unnecessarily forced into a loop of 'Haryy's OP stop it' " This "Harry's OP stop it" is from players, not NPCs, and is not without reason. If the rest of the party complains one character is excessively powerful, the problem is with the character, not the players. In my situation, is was a PC/NPC conflict, in yours it is a player/RPG-group conflict and the remedy would be -- contrary to what you seem to believe -- lowering a single character's power rather than raising everyone else's. "I was careful to keep our campaign setting in mind in both the character and their backstory, with a high crowd control -- ironically, also high damage to a single target -- and their fairly high AC." That was not keeping our setting in mind, it was keeping the numbers the GM gave us in mind. You built your character around what might have been thrown at us, not the world we were to be adventuring in.(edited)

"However, it seems like the campaign setting has been somewhat lost, with our lizard character revealed to be little more than a commoner in session 1, and the other small number characters having a complete disregard as such." Again, this goes back to an earlier point: New players. Now, this could be attributed to certain character tendencies, as well as some fault of the GM. @ArcaneBacon was the only one who built his character with any regard to the original setting; both @Looweeja and @Tacocat have trademark chaotic playstyles that we -- deliberately or not -- allowed to flourish. Another issue contributing to our loss of original campaign setting is player composition: I feel that a number of players simply do not mesh with Pathfinder as a system, and as such attempt to revert to something more familiar, and consequently more chaotic. It may just be that as a group we are not cut out for such a system.(edited)

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

For your first point: 'that is one mutation among many.' Yes, it is solely one mutation, this was in response to your idea to remove all mutations, my point wasn't to keep them all, it was to show that there are some worth keeping. As well I have talked to over with Arch in length, most of the mutations in general (not the one's that activated and made everybody in 50 yards drunk for example) were already in effect in session one at least the ones that I had, as I feel it would have made the character more interesting. The second point: A slight clarification, I meant that if we kept all of the mutations then yes I would say that the low magic setting would be functionally abandoned. Also, I feel like my character fits the low magic setting pretty well, if we do away with a few (not all, a few) key mutations, because if you think about it, I'm a witch without spells, a familiar, as well as a patron, even my hair is an extrodenary ability, not supernatural. So as for 'the newer players are taking after your example and creating more chaotic or high magic characters.' I simply don't see it. As I'm sure you can attest to, being one of the original members almost all of my characters are lawful, with a handful of neutrals so if you're suggesting that the newer players take after me they would be getting more lawful if anything, and certainly not chaotic. pathfinder specifically law and chaos is one of the central themes so knowing that this is my first pathfinder character that might be considered chaotic. What system would you consider likening to the player composition more?

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

My point was not that you were overly chaotic in general, it was that -- to someone without an innate understanding of your character -- your character seemed overly chaotic, magical even. You are confusing in character alignment with OOC playstyle.

As for what system: currently none, though should I leave Urealms would be my recommendation.(edited)

##### Looweeja-06/04/2018

I only act as chaotic as I do out of paranoia I'll kill my character. I don't try to act that way, and, if anything, am trying to improve. The reason I revealed my secret so early on is because I felt backed into a corner by a swarm. I'm still trying to adapt to the group, and I apologize for not being up to your standards. I created a character I wanted to play, not one that fit the campaign, something I regret. I realize I'm a terrible player and if you want, I'm fully willing to back out of playing all together, and just GM some one-offs.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

I think the most important thing you said her was "I created a character I wanted to play, not one that fit the campaign." That should always be the case, regardless of whether your character is built to fit a campaign or not. "I realize I'm a terrible player and if you want, I'm fully willing to back out of playing all together" is also fairly incorrect, and I think you're being a bit harsh on yourself (or perhaps my critical opinion mixed with the inaccuracy of text has lead you to believe that). No player is truly a "good player," there will always be conflicts between player types, and definitely inexperience when it comes to playing different systems.

That being said, I have also considered bowing out -- of the group, rather than the campaign, unless things turn sour -- for a time in order that you all may enjoy the shorter systems to the fullest; those seem to be the preferred system of the group currently.

##### Looweeja-06/04/2018

I think so. Nonetheless, I've felt very inadequate in my abilities as a player. I'm more nervous, which leads to rash, in the moment decisions where I'm trying to keep my character out of harms way and instead, kill them. It's seemed to have started ever since I played Hale.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

Hmm. Well, while that does seem like something we should discuss, I think the more important matter to sort out right now is the mutations. Correct me if I'm wrong, @Zerxrez , but it seems neither of us want to abolish the system entirely, though out opinions on the actual benefits may differ.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Oh, you don't want to fully get rid of mutations, I was under the assumption that you did as you posted:
'I for one would prefer an "all or none" scenario, albeit with the "all" in this scenario being more of an agreed upon maximum.'
So, just to be clear, you *don't* want to remove all the mutations?

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

As a player, I want my character to be reasonably powerful, and as such want to keep my benefits. However, I would also prefer to not have had the events of our last session happen, simply because it is an overly chaotic burst of magic from seemingly nowhere.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

I was under the impression that it was due to the seals or something closely relating to that. With the marks of chaos Arch was clearly planning it to factor into to the main plot or close to at least.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

I do think that, however Arataef's tomb (strange as it is, I was imagining more magical guardians than hundreds of goblins) is a poor place for magical surges to occur. If we were in the tomb itsself, that might be different (ie the dark god taking notice of us after we find some artifact) but right now it feels almost wrong.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

I suppose so.

It is your character after all so if you really think it's so out of place I'd be fine with removing the events of last session if I still would be able to keep most of the mutations not from the chaos burst.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

Like you said earlier (or maybe Taco). I'm a bit divided upon myself. I *want* to keep the mutations -- or more accurately, the benefits I get from them, but the actual timing of them and the problems that arise from them make me want to drop them as well. However, I still think dropping most (seems like it'll end up being all) of the benefits we get from them is in our best interests (which is a shame, as I took my benefits sparingly).

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Yeah, the problem with keeping the benifits would be I would also keep the beinifits, which would keep me at the demigod level I'm at, though it would be nice if we all kept a lesser version of the benifits, makybe maximum 5 ability points/feats for those that took them? Because 5 feats for me is no big deal but for the other characters it's a sizable chunk.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

This is seeming a lot like my initial proposition.

As well, what I took was worth far less than even what you suggest: I took spells per day, which (IMO) are worth far less than feats or ability points (though the latter is also worth less than the former in this situation as well).

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Then I would say that since those are obviously worth less than 5 feats you should still retain those, it's 5 feats maximum, not miniumum.

@Tacocat so what do you think?

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

The issue is, it seems like a better deal for those of you that went overboard. As well, let's not forget @ArcaneBacon who didn't take anything. Any suggestions?

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

I have got rid of everything to do with mutations

Zerxrez is the only one who is in the keeping any mutations side(edited)

Arcane and I want nothing to do with them and I still think that’s the way to go, however if you two are attached to your mutations I’m fine with you keeping some(edited)

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

While not overly attached to my mutations, I will restate that my issue at hand is the bonuses associated with them.

I want to keep them, but I also want @ArcaneBacon 's opinion since he took no mutations.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

I still feel that those who took mutations should get *some* benefit due to the risks involved as it seems like we won't be fully ret conning the whole session there are some inherent negatives to taking mutations, @ArcaneBacon is the only one not marked by chaos, just speculating, but I think that will be a pretty big benefit later on in the campaign.

I also want @ArcaneBacon's views on all of this.

##### ArcaneBacon-06/04/2018

here's my 2 cents, lets drop the mutations stuff

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

Yay

Technically we have the majority vote as we are the only group with more than one vote

##### ArcaneBacon-06/04/2018

if anything my vote counts as a half vote(edited)

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

So, you want to drop all the mutation stuff including the ones that are now part of backstories? Also do you suggest retconning last session and being at level 2?(edited)

##### ArcaneBacon-06/04/2018

well, if there's something in your backstory that isn't just "yha im immortal" but more like "my family is currently being prosecuted" keep that in, it doesn't need a mutation to justify it

as for retconning the last session back to level 2, if that happens, im not going to be complaining.

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

I do agree that being immortal is fine

It’s only helpful in specific situations

It’s just an immunity to age

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Yep. And it removed my arms and legs, I think it's fair.

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

It seems to me like we have three votes for a retcon then. However, I might add a suggestion on what to retcon, should that occur: For logistical reasons, if a retcon were to occur I would say we stay level four but retcon the events of session 2, as well as reduce the number of goblins (or perhaps replace the enemy) to something reasonable/suitable for the level.(edited)

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

That sounds good by me

I also think that level 4 is a better starting place

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

It seems that's in order, Jeb, Taco, and arcane all want a retcon while I and Loo are mostly ambivalent. Arch might not agree though...

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

I do believe he is leaving the decision to us

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

On what to do with the mutations yeah, but retconning a while session?

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

Well I guess all that's left will be doing an @Arch Gamemaster

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Did we get to any decision as to whether or not people get anything from mutations?(edited)

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

The retcon would include the mutations, at least according to my understanding. No bonuses or mutations.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

*Any* mutations? I don't agree with that at all, I don't want my limbs.(edited)

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

You can add that to your backstory without a mutation

And I’m sure you can be immortal if ya really want

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Okay, I'm keeping all the non gamebreaking ones then.(edited)

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

I’d imagine we get rid of stuff like magical fire immunity as that is directly influencing the character as a buff

?

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

Well there are also some that are directly influencing the character as a nerf.

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

1089 Caster is blind while he's invisible

##### Zerxrez-06/04/2018

1594 Caster suffers crippling arthritis pain

##### Jeb-06/04/2018

I'd assume any bonuses would be removed, and any mutations not in your backstory.

##### Tacocat-06/04/2018

Yes

I think that works as well

### Bachelor Party

Bachelor party was run using what was dubbed "the homebrew system," a pared-down Frankenstein of various systems designed with a mentality similar to that of GURPs. Mixing in the "Pathfinder craziness" created some hilarious results.

#### References

[1] Double nat 1 (rolled with advantage, both natural 1's)