Beyond the World's Edge: A Frontier Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master vayelan

I've been having fun researching geography to develop this region. It reminds me of the excitement and challenge of choosing sites to settle cities in Civilization and similar games.

I think I'll try to draft and upload an actual map to better document the area, as well as potential settlement sites. Too bad I can't exactly promise much with my drawing skills.

no judgement on drawing, Vayelan. Some of us are lucky if we can draw stick figures :)

When I gm IRL, my combat locations are almost always a 30' square room with no terrain.

Geography has a huge effect on the prosperity of a settlement, and our characters would be wise to remember that.

I can redraw maps in CC3+ to make them look more "official", though of course I can't put GM secrets on them. :) If you're interested in that though, when you upload the maps I can always try.

*crosses fingers for forum stability*

Welcome back, everyone, as we begin to trickle back in from this unexpected hiatus.

I used this downtime to sketch and color a map for the area around the Kaskkari ruins. Hopefully I will have it uploaded soon.

That sounds promising.

checking back in.

Hey folks, A dear friend of mine died and I will be traveling to attend a funeral over the next few days. I'll check in when I can.

@Soraya: I'm sorry for your loss. Take all the time that you need.

My condolences. Do what you need to do.

You have our sympathies, Soraya. Take the time you need, and we'll be here if you need support.

Picked up a terrible case of food poisoning, at the hospital getting IV's will be back up to posting Monday i hope Sorry >.<

Levelling up stuff:

+9 hp
+1 BAB
+1 Will Save

+1 rank in each of the following adventuring skills:
Climb, Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Perception, Stealth

+1 rank in each of the following background skills:
Knowledge (History, Engineering)

Gained the Precise Shot feat

Gained the following class features:

Elemental Overflow
Extended Range Infusion Wild Talent

Cavalier Level 3

+8 HP to 32

+1 BAB

+1 Ref

+1 Will

Skills: 5 +2 background

Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Ride, Survival +2

Background: Knowledge Geography, Knowledge History

Feat:
Power Attack

Class Features:

Cavalier’s charge

At 3rd level, a cavalier learns to make more accurate charge attacks while mounted. The cavalier receives a +4 bonus on melee attack rolls on a charge while mounted (instead of the normal +2). In addition, the cavalier does not suffer any penalty to his AC after making a charge attack while mounted.

Caragus:

+1 HD -> +7hp -> 26 HP
+1 BAB
+1 Fort
+1 Ref
+1 Str

Skills (total)
Acrobatics 3
Swim 1

trying to figure out what feat to take for 3rd level. I was thinking of going with scribe scroll. I've got some left over cash from the start, so I could start kicking out scrolls pretty quick. OR I could go for extra hex and grab evil eye. Any preferences?
Besides that, I get a few HP(6), +1Fort/Ref, some skills, and 2nd level spells (although I only have 2)

Hexes are incredibly useful. My own witch character makes great use of evil eye, misfortune, and cackle to make enemy lives very difficult.

I am leveled. +6 hp, +1 BAB, +1 Ref, 5 + 1 favored class skill points (1 each in Handle Animal, Knowledge History, Knowledge Nobility, Knowledge Nature, Perception, Survival; background in Knowledge History and Knowledge Geography), and took Improved Trip for my feat. I get 2nd level spells and have prepared (or will have, as of our next rest, aspect of the bear and flaming sphere and have fog cloud as my domain spell. Druids have oddly a lot of really good 2nd level spells so I will try to remember to swap things out as appropriate for different circumstances.

Soraya, either the hex or the scribe scroll would be good. I think the former would be more useful immediately in party combat, especially as you're probably our best potential debuffer. Scribe scroll would be useful especially as the settlement is built up and of course consumable items are always useful.

Soraya, if you don't have it yet, Defensive Combat Mastery is well worth your time.

+1 BAB, +7 Hp
+1 FORT, +1 Will

Sneak attack now 2d6

9 Skill points

Background Skills cooking/ baking +1 each

Acrobatics,Bluff,Diplomacy,Disable Device,Perception,Sense Motive,Sleight of hand,Stealth, and Ride are all +1

Feat: Two weapon Defense

At 3rd level, as a full-round action, a cutpurse can make an attack and also make a Sleight of Hand check to steal something from the target of the attack. If the attack deals sneak attack damage, the rogue can use Sleight of Hand to take an Item from the creature during combat; otherwise this ability can only be used in a surprise round before the target has acted. If the attack is successful, the target takes a –5 penalty on the Perception check to notice the theft.

This ability replaces trap sense.

thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll go with evil eye for now. That'll hopefully give us an edge in hostile encounters. As I level up, I'll add in some of the other stuff.

Also, I almost forgot, but I'd like to thank Kalig for developing a more professional rendition of the regional map. I've updated the link at the top of the page.

Cheers Kalig!

Vayelan, my sense of the geography is where we hunted with the centaurs was a good ways upriver to the west.

And that more directly to the north of where we were were the OTHER centaurs we were warned were unfriendly.

So am I picturing the geography incorrectly, or is the dead centaur we found just far afield?

Kalig, you are correct - the bison hunt was upriver and to the west.

However, the centaurs traveled with you back to meet up with the caravan. After parting ways, they traveled north by northeast so they could roughly skirt the coast to reach their home territory while avoiding territory claimed by hostile tribes.

They did not fully trust the people of the fishing village, so they intended to keep a distance and pass along the far shore of the lake. However, Baldruc spotted the centaurs while squatting in the abandoned village. He followed them until one strayed too far from the group, and then he attacked and slew him.

As for why Baldruc did this, it relates to a secret he harbors that may come back to haunt you...

Well, they didn't tell Baldruc anything about themselves other than they were there to take care of the dead, I believe.

If he has reason to try to figure out where we're from and come back we'll just have to deal with it then. Kalig, not seeing anything more than a bog standard pirate, has filed him in her "not my problem anymore" drawer and moved on.

Okay, since we're starting downtime activities, I'm going to admit that I've never really used this system before, so my knowledge of it is (obviously) quite limited.

With that being said, what I would like to do is spend 4 of my downtime days working on raising earth or stone to help rebuild the walls.

So I can move up to 15 lbs. of rocks, loose earth, sand, clay, and other similar materials up to 15 feet as a move action using Basic Geokinesis, which means I should be able to produce a decent amount of materials that I can move where they are needed.

My thoughts are to cannibalize the stone and rock that was probably part of buildings or walls at one point and move it to where I am directed (I have a little bit of Knowledge (Engineering), but I would follow the guidance of more knowledgable people.

As far as my tribe goes, they're going to be primarily acting as a scouting/guard force (which was what the Viscount and I agreed on) to protect people as they are beginning to build the city. For the time being, we'll set up in our military camp and then find a place for us to hang our hats once we get a handle on our situation.

------------------------

So, mechanically, reading the downtime rules, it looks like I'm beginning a new downtime activity to gain capital (in this case, Goods).

I'm going to go with Knowledge (Dungeoneering) to represent my knowledge of where to find the best stone/rock.

I add +6 to this, so I am going to roll to generate Capital all five days we have of downtime.

I'll make my checks in the gameplay thread, but I just wanted to make sure I had this all sussed out correctly.

I'm more than open to suggestion, but I know that Fendir is worried about having a bunch of people living in a place with no real walls, and possibly hostile Centaurs nearby; which, incidentally, are a race of humanoids that like to ride through people and trample them.

Do we get paid at all for hitting the end of the road, as it were, or is the free land the payment (which is fine)?

I understand some of the downtime rules but don't pretend to grasp all of it. Where I'm particularly at a loss is how to get started generating capital to build in the first place.

Kalig's personal ambitions are pretty minimal. She wants, eventually, a small cottage (bedroom, kitchen, lavatory, stall) and to build a shrine to Gozreh (altar, statue, garden). Once the shrine is built, she'll spend downtime serving the shrine basically as an acolyte.

Looks like for the house I need 21Goods, 19 Labor, 1 Influence, and 52 days of work (seems a long time to build a little hut), or 830 gp (Kalig has 8 sp to her name).

For the shrine I need 8 goods, 8 labor, 1 influence, and 1 magic, or 450 gp. I forgot to note the time cost.

For these 5 days I'd assume she'd help dig holes with spells and hunt and gather food till she can generate enough capital to build. Would she basically earn capital as a laborer?

Can we also generate capital through roleplay/exploration? For example, of Kalig hunts for the right chunk of stone or wood to be the altar for the shrine, can that qualify for the "goods" required?

(Kalig would also scout around the citadel to check for dangers, but I assume we want to handle that separately.)

Admittedly, while I have read over the Downtime rules a couple times, I have never used them in a game before.

Since the caravan brought along building materials, and you have old foundations to work with, earning capital isn't actually much of an issue. I think I will need to modify the Downtime rules to suit our particular situation.

For now, simply decide what it is your character will be working on, and I will develop rules to make it happen.

EDIT: Perhaps, rather than setting out to construct whole Buildings from the start, we will construct Rooms (from the Downtime lists) to represent the initial homes and work spaces. For instance, building a Bedroom to represent a one-room cabin, or a Guardpost to represent a watch platform. These are smaller, more immediate goals to represent the first stages of settlement, they can be better accomplished with the resources and labor available, and can be improved and expanded on later.

In fact, one of the Rooms that can be constructed is a Shack that can be built in 3 days and requires only 100gp of material. This can later be converted/upgraded to Storage or other purposes as a larger, more permanent building is constructed later.

shack it is! Soraya will eventually want an alchemy lab and herbalist kind of shop. She also is willing to help train apprentices. She doesn't have much useful building knowledge, but she has some gold she can throw down (100 gp is no problem)

So, my reasoning for gathering materials would be to start working on our outer walls, so I would want to do that.

Francoix would attempt to find a central located large enough space to build a small sleeping space for himself and his wife, A large kitchen would be the next step and finally a large common room. As things progress he would want to add side sleeping rooms.

Like everyone else this will be my first time really using the downtime rules but im excited to give it a go!

I realized we never really finished divvying out treasure from the one significant time we found it, and need to also track what we found of the centaur's.

I'm going to post that here, and what either happened to the stuff, or what I think should happen to it.

If you want a thing, or disagree with what I've posted, please SPEAK UP. I have played in too many PBPs where necessary treasure is lost, unaccounted for, or the destiny is confused because people were too shy to discuss it (or too disinterested, but that disinterest can screw over people who ARE interested in the treasure but waiting for an okay from other party members who turn out to be ignoring the conversation). (And if my tone is frustrated, it's probably baggage of games I've run where I get mad at my players for forgetting to track their treasure and then complaining they don't have anything)

Current: Centaur/Baldruc Treasure
Centaur's broken spear - I suggest we just burned that with the corpse
Centaur's bow - Hold to give back to his tribe
Centaur's talisman and minor personal effects - Hold to give back to his tribe
Skinning and cutting tools - Give to the tanner
Dried food - give to caravan for food stores

Past: Centaur Hunt
Buckets of dried bison meat, pemmican, bones, furs, etc. etc.: Shared with caravan for food stores.

Past: Wyvern Treasure
Potion of Cure Light Wounds x2 (I believe these were claimed, but I don't remember by whom)
Potion of Endure Elements (I don't believe anyone claimed. Kalig as an endure elements-like ability and wouldn't take it.)
Potion of Shield of Faith +2 (I asked if I could take this and nobody said anything either way, that I can find. If there are no objections, I'm adding it to my character sheet)
Feather Token, Tree (Soraya has)
50lbs of Spices (Ginger, pepper, cumin) (100gp) (caravan/Francoix)
*10 sets of Cotton Clothing (80gp) (Dorick may have taken some, rest went to caravan/tailor for fitting others)
*20 sq yards of Silk (200gp) (Dorick and the caravan tailor)
*A pouch filled with 12 Freshwater Pearls (120gp) (this was put in the caravan's stores to trade with other civilizations)
*4 Silver Holy Symbols (25gp each) (was also put in the caravan's stores to trade with other civilizations)
*A set of Ivory Dice (10gp) (given to caravan for people to play with)
*A deck of Waxed Vellum Cards painted with exotic art (100gp) (same as dice)
*10lbs of Silver Ingots stamped with unfamiliar symbols (50gp) (not determined. Should probably either be given to a metalworker (though I don't see one on the caravan list) or given to Aristide to turn into town currency perhaps? Or just keep as trade goods)
*A masterwork Scimitar, etched with patterns of flowing, intertwining lines.(Given to the centaurs in exchange for the hunting lesson)

*Assorted coins totaling 1207cp, 841sp, 204gp, and 24pp (we never decided what to do with this. I believe it should be divvied among the active party. It comes out to 540 gp, 1 sp, and 7 cp. If we round down to 540.15, then each of us gets 108 gp and 3 cp. Someone can fight over the remaining two coppers, or we can give them to a kid in the caravan as a gift.)

Unless there are no objections, I am marking 108 gp and 3 cp on my character sheet along with the potion.

As for downtime building -- maybe I need to word what I was trying to get at earlier another way. Kalig is not a craftsperson and doesn't have the skills to build her own place. She doesn't really need a lot of "craft" to set up her shrine (which will probably be made from found items and a garden that she is capable of digging). But she would need help building her home (without it, she's going to be living in a tent, which is what she is going to be doing until she gets a more permanent roof over her head).

I assume she would be helping others with unskilled labor, food gathering services, and shamanic advice. What I want to know is how I can translate that into getting folks to help build her a house. I figured the easiest thing for her to do is indeed work to build capital (which represents the favors and goods she earned from her own labors) and then spend it to build (i.e., hire the labor etc.), but posing the question that way seemed to complicate things rather than simplify them, so I'm just going to ask more simply: what can Kalig do to get folks to build her house?

Regarding the loot, I included a Party Loot tab on the Caravan spreadsheet at the top of the page. However, would you prefer if I create a separate linked spreadsheet for party loot?

I am working on a more detailed post regarding the question of "what can I do to get people to build my house?"

Sorry, Vayelan -- I never actually noticed the tabs! (In my minor defense, they seem to load with a delay, but mainly I just wasn't looking.) So we do have a blacksmith, good to know.

I think the loot tab is fine on the existing spreadsheet. Thanks.

Earning/Buying Capital (fluff-wise) will take the form of the caravan's building supplies being portioned out to each settler in exchange for their service, according to their skills. Mechanics-wise, you roll checks with your best skills and receive materials and labor in return.

Given the cooperative spirit of this venture, and the patronage of Viscount Aristide, we can assume that your Influence capital costs are automatically covered.

I will provide individualized information on the best skills for each of you to use to "earn capital" from your fellow settlers. Each 10 points of your skill check earns 1 point of capital.

For each construction project, once the requisite units of Goods and Labor are "earned," the "timer" will start on construction and additional rolls will NOT be needed to finish. Does this make sense? Please speak up or send me a message if you would like additional clarification (or if you see a flaw in this plan).

ok, 4 goods and 4 labor for a brick shack sounds good to me. SO I need a collective 80 worth of rolls? Is that how that works?
alchemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
alchemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20 =45
alchemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 =59
alchemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 =75
alchemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 =89

proffession Cook 1 Ern Goods: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11 1
proffession Cook 2: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 2 = 28 2
proffession Cook 3: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 = 17 1
proffession Cook 4: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11 1
proffession Cook 5: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 2 = 27 2

good thing the DC to earn capital starts at ten eh? I believe that would be enough to Earn 7/8 points needed in the goods to build the house.

I believe it mentioned somewhere purchasing The resourse in question. The goods would cost 20 gold and paying for the 7 points in labour would be 140 gold if im reading things right?

I've also never used the downtime rules.

Dorick would look to set up proper stabling for Caragus, and is open to coordinating with others to create better joint stables. Only when Caragus is secure and out of the weather, will Dorick care overmuch about getting a shack built for himself.

He will need help with construction.

He does have notions about training a militia, especially in horse-riding, but I'm not sure how we will handle that. He is personally extremely skilled in Ride and Handle Animal, if that helps.

I'll roll Handle Animal to earn labour. If I also need goods, then I'll try for those too.

Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

I'm going to start with the altar, and then the second project will be my house, which will begin with the kitchen (she's more interested in getting hearth and fireplace before bed).

She will definitely provide goodberries to those who need them.

Knowledge Nature 1: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 9 + 2 = 26
Knowledge Nature 2: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 2 = 31
Knowledge Nature 3: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 9 + 2 = 21
Knowledge Nature 4: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 9 + 2 = 24
Knowledge Nature 5: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 9 + 2 = 27

Survival 1: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 2 = 18
Survival 2: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 11 + 2 = 24
Survival 3: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 11 + 2 = 24
Survival 4: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 2 = 18
Survival 5: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 2 = 15

I would imagine that could indeed be a business Sir Dorick, the raising and training of warhorse. Good money in that I understand. And as a benefit im sure you could double up training calvary with teh guard or the like.

Okay. I think this system will work. I've updated the downtime calendar to keep track of the capital earned and spent and building progress.
After five days, here is our progress:

Dorick - has all the Labor needed to build a Stall, still needs 4 more Goods.

Fendir - rolls pending for Defensive Wall

Francoix - has 7/8 of the Goods needed, will still need 7 Labor for Bedroom

Kalig - has all capital needed for Altar, which will be constructed in 4 days.

Soraya - needs just 1 more Labor for Shack, then construction begins.

Lastly, since Earned Capital still has a GP cost, did you want me to automatically deduct that from the Party Loot spreadsheet, or do you guys want to deduct it from the wealth on your character sheets?

Lastly, since Earned Capital still has a GP cost, did you want me to automatically deduct that from the Party Loot spreadsheet, or do you guys want to deduct it from the wealth on your character sheets?

I'm not sure what you mean. I'm 90% sure based on what the book says ("It also includes a gp value for purchasing a completed room of that type or recruiting an existing team of that type.") that the GP cost listed by most rooms etc. is an alternative to using capital to obtain a room/team, not in addition to.

So for example, the costs of a bedroom are listed as:

"Create 8 Goods, 7 Labor (300 gp); Time 20 days"

This means you can spend 8 goods and 7 labor to build a bedroom in 20 days, OR you could spend 300 gp to just buy an intact bedroom. But it does not cost both the goods and labor AND the gp. It's one or the other. (I needed to earn capital to build because I couldn't afford to just buy the rooms I need.)

The gp cost is for PCs who aren't using the capital system to generate a means by which to build/recruit or who want to build something faster; e.g., in a city intrigue game, a PC wants to purchase an existing shop as a front for their skulduggery. They don't have the time or resources to build from scratch, so they would spend the GP to just buy a building.

You can also spend GP to buy any one bit of capital you don't possess--for example if you have the goods but not the labor, you can just pay the GP value of labor instead (representing hiring the labor).

So for example using our situation, since Soraya didn't earn 1 labor she needed with her rolls, she could spend 20 gp to hire/bribe that one more laborer to work on her thing (but she doesn't have to pay anything for the labor she has already earned).

Unless you are referring to something else entirely, or are houseruling a different system?

Here's the section from the Downtime Rules that relates to Earning Capital rather than purchasing it:

Earning Capital: Many downtime activities, such as doing mundane work with a Craft or Profession skill or gaining the day-to-day profits for running an inn or tavern, allow you to earn capital. Earning capital is like using an item crafting feat to create a magic item: You have to put in some work to make the item, but you pay only half the normal price for it. If a downtime activity's description says it generates capital, you can earn that amount of capital by spending the required amount of downtime and gp on it; the gp cost for the capital is half the normal cost, as listed in the Earned Cost column in the table below. For example, Influence has an Earned Cost of 15 gp per point, so if you want to socialize in town to generate 3 points of Influence, you must use a day of downtime and spend 45 gp (3 × 15 gp) to earn those 3 points of Influence. Earning capital takes longer, but is much cheaper than just buying it outright. It is easier to keep track of your earned capital if you pay for it as soon as you earn it; otherwise, you also need to track earned capital you don't yet have (because you haven't paid gp for it yet).

Then, in the section discussing using Skilled Work to earn Capital, it says:

If you have ranks in a useful skill, you can spend 1 day working in a settlement to earn more capital than you would doing unskilled work. Note that this method includes both legal and illegal means of earning capital—for example, a day spent using Sleight of Hand to earn money could be a day spent performing as a street magician or a day spent pickpocketing.

Choose either one type of capital (Goods, Influence, Labor, or Magic) or gp, and attempt a skill check. You can take 10 on this check.

If you chose gp, divide the result of your check by 10 to determine how many gp you earn that day. For example, if your check result is a 16, dividing it by 10 earns you 1 gp and 6 sp that day (round to the nearest silver).

If you chose Goods, Influence, Labor, or Magic, consult the following table to see how much of that type of capital you earn. You must pay the Earned Cost to buy this capital, although if you can't afford to buy all of it or don't need more than a certain amount, you can choose to earn less capital than your check indicates. See the Capital Values table for the Earned Cost of each type of capital.

alchemy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Knowledge (Engineering) Day 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Knowledge (Engineering) Day 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Knowledge (Engineering) Day 3: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Knowledge (Engineering) Day 4: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Knowledge (Engineering) Day 5: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Okay, I don't understand the rules. I don't get how you earn a thing and then also have to pay for it (especially when instead you can just earn gold using the same system--if you choose to earn gold, do you have to pay capital for it?). It seems like what you do is, for example, chop down a tree and cut the wood into planks, but then still also pay Home Depot for the lumber. As I said earlier... twice... I wanted to earn capital because I couldn't afford to pay gold for my projects (I also need to budget for gear, like replacing my potions once I use them).

I can't wrap my head around this, so I guess Kalig will just live in a tent. It's not like she'd care, I was just trying to get into the settlement building part of things.

If there is a complaint here, it's not against you or this game, but against the convoluted rules in Ultimate Campaign. Mainly I'm just kind of mystified.

As for taking it out of the loot sheet, I'm not sure who has marked their share on their sheet and who hasn't. I have at this point marked mine on my character sheet, so my costs should not be removed from the party loot sheet. It seems like the other party members should weigh in on that. I have nothing further to suggest.

I don't understand it either, Kalig. You aren't alone. In another campaign using these rules, I've tried several times to have it explained to me and it just doesn't make any sense. But, if someone wants to tell me to roll X number of times and spend Y amount of gold, I can do that