A skip too many. I spent most of the day sitting down. It was a TTRPG day. We played regular D&D 5e, but also a taste of Pathfinder. Since, for some weird reason, Archive of Nethys 2e doesn't work on my phone (1e and Starfinder do work fine; probably something to do with the code from 2e because it seems to be a "newer" interface), I had to convert a random beast from 5e into PF2e to make a mock fight from that. The 3-action system is allowing for a more tactical approach from the table. I'm also putting some home rules too. Spellcasting... sucks in PF2e, so I told the Wizard to use the 5e way instead, but use the Pathfinder spells. And, if there are spells in both system that share the same name, use the one that fits the most with the situation. This might sound that I'm allowing some power creep in, but let me tell you, this is the group in which I threw five buffed up guards (buffed up enough to make them from CR 1/8 to CR 1) in two different fights, plus six regular guards, and almost died in the process. And they almost died because I fudged some rolls in order to keep the fight fast, and make my players feel like the real protagonists to the stories. They are all, including my GMPC (which, I should mention, all of my rolls with the GMPC are seen by the players) on 4th Level; they can take those CR 1 buffed up guards far much better than they know. Power creep is always solved by knowing your players, knowing the strategies they apply, and thus make a challenging fight by exploiting their own weaknesses. It's always satisfying for me to see them pulling through a rough situation. Not only do they realize that they aren't as strong as the system allows them to be, but also keep making them think creatively to resolve some conflicts. They all know that I reward much more for unusual and very smart ways to overcome situations, especially on combat, over regular fisticuffs. And now they are finally taking advantage of Opportunity Attacks, since they always forget they have that reaction on 5e. Pathfinder, though, I'm seeing more tactical thought from them.
That's making me think to merge both systems. The combat from PF2e, but leave the rules of 5e. I think I'll do that on the next session as a try. I'll let them know that all bonus actions are 1 action, and spells that take 1 action to cast are now 2 actions. Movement is an action, so Dashing is no longer an action. And, of course, they can all make three attacks, but each attack will take a penalty of -5 for the second, and -10 for the third. Extra attack will give them... well, an extra attack. Maybe I'll remove the modifiers for that? I'll try it out this week. At the end of the day, each one of us feel more free with Pathfinder's combat rather than D&D's combat. As I said, there is a more tactical approach.
As for the story, I really loved the faces of my players when they realized a thousand years have passed since Campaign 1 when we started Pathfinder. Even the Wizard (who was still alive because he pretty much got soul trapped on the epilogue) lampshaded on the change of rules by saying in-game that the arcane energies have changed, somehow. He still has the Wild Magic curse that gave him the Tides of Chaos thing, but also the Wild Surge. I loved everyone's faces when I described how what was (originally) the main city from Campaign one turned into a Decopunk Victorian city, and how the new GMPC showed off that firearms are now mainstream in the world. And that's because of what they did in Campaign 1. The stuff from Guns & Gears is awesome. No one expected so much time has passed. Another thing that I loved was for the 5e Campaign that is current. They already knew the story was about a regicide and the consequences of said regicide, but they didn't realize that the king they just assassinated was not the bad guy from the story. My bet is that they are suspecting on someone else they tracked upon some letters the king kept within his dispatch. If they are going that way, they're in for a surprise to see that NPC isn't the bad guy either, even when I make it as plain as telling them they found a paiting of allegedly BBEG fishing red herrings. Single city campaigns are so much better than exploring an entire world.
Now, it's time to write, or attempt to write. Last night I did something, but it was a very short outline; less than 100 words. I don't know what to do tonight, though. I hope to do something good.
E: Three very shorts stories done last night, all of them in less than an hour, so it took me about... 90 minutes, give or take. I also outlined a new longer story, so it's pretty good. Most of these shorts don't seem to require a lot of editing. I know that one is almost done, with some proofreading needed on it.
February 19th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 117
Morning Routine:
The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
Daily Dare: 2 Minutes Jumping Jacks +EC
Count: 1028 - 1024 +EC
Night Routine:
Mani Salutation - 1 Set
Five Rites
Virasana Meditation
Daily Gratitude
Counting Victories
Get to Bed on Time
Programs:
Carbon & Dust: Chapter XXIII
Unbound: Day 21
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound
Workouts:
100 Burpees +EC
40 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
DAREdice: 16 Full Burpees
1 minute
Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
Daily Walk
Shuffle Dance! (
#1,
#2,
#3)
Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2
Challenges:
Daily Kicks: Day 25
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs
Everest
Writing progress:
Nifty 350
Furious 500
Nightcap 200
News Column 900 Max
1500 Words Daily!
Reading progress:
Ringworld - 35%
The Colour of Magic
Art progress:
Nope
Music:
Nope
Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python