Zelaria Quiatris |
Allow me to preface this recruitment with a tale of woe. I have twice been a Kingmaker player, once at the physical table top, and once in cyber space and have been twice burnt by this AP. I will not go into the drama, just know that both have influenced how I view this AP, and my requirements for players. If you find my stipulations offensive, please do not rail at me for being narrow minded and dismissive of a type of play, just don’t apply.
That being said…
I am a newbie GM. My experience thus far has been running a solo campaign via instant messenger. I’m not all that clear on the rules, but I figure following an AP is going to help me along.
I am looking for at the most three players to claim and settle the Stolen Lands. I have two players that are already interested, and am giving them priority admission.
Details, details, details…
15 pt buy. I don’t really want to hassle with converting encounters to entertain crazy strong players. Also, I rather like the idea of some guy who isn’t mechanically better than the NPCs distinguishing himself by just plain being awesome, rather than being comparatively super human. To qualify, I prefer Batman to Superman, Bruce Wayne has made sacrifices to be a hero, he doesn’t have X-Ray vision and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
No Evil alignments. Furthermore, I frown upon neutral alignments as thus far I’ve seen them abused to do evil things, and that isn’t a game that I am interested in running.
CRB and APG and Magus class only. If you want to play some wild archetype, that’s cool, too. Some spells taken from UM, or feats from UC I suppose can be cool, but as I don’t own the UC, I’d like a link to something on the SRD at the very least to review. These restrictions are a personal preference, I really don’t want to have to police player’s ambitions to milk the game for mechanical profit. I’m not as interested in mechanics as I am in creative play. Samurai and ninja would be out of place in the sweaty armpit of Avistan.
Crazy multiclassing will be discouraged. I can understand dipping a class to pick up some skill points, or make you better at what you want to do, but a paladin/monk/rogue/gunslinger is not only an extremely silly idea, but it hampers your effectiveness as a character mechanically and within a group. This is a cooperative game.
Core Races only. This is the Stolen Lands, and there is some weird stuff about, but as I’m using the standard fantasy spread, it’d be disingenuous and unbalancing to allow the more exotic races, and to be honest it rather breaks my immersion as well.
Compelling story telling. Give me a reason why your character would possibly consider why he or she would not only be willing to travel to the untamed, lawless sweaty armpit of Avistan, but settle and try to establish a government in a hostile environment. Please remember, this is intended to be a social and political game.
As an aside, characters with histories with such violent and cruel incidences as rape I will dismiss outright, and history will be the first thing I read after the class and role you are applying for. Yes, the Stolen Lands are cruel, and some people are bad, but that is not the game that I am looking to run. I like a little moral gray to confound now and then, but villains are villains, and I like the knee jerk reaction to evil in and of itself to drive characters to do good, not some deep dark inner turmoil.
At least one post a day. This is meant to be a cooperative game, if you’re not around to respond to challenges or your fellow party members, it will drag. I’m not expecting more than a few posts per day from everyone, in fact I encourage quality over quantity. I understand people have jobs, significant others, children, etc. If you have to make a longer post later on to cover everything, I will read it, and hope everyone else will as well.
If you are currently in a game, or several, I’d like you to provide a link so I can get a sense of your play style. Pick whichever one you like the best, or showcases your talents. If you’re perpetually a GM, or haven’t ever played a PbP before, that’s cool too, as I said above, character history and concept are what intrigue me most, write those well and we’re golden.
All that being said, what I am prepared to give:
A noble bright adventure. Yeah, I want to see you all become goodly heroes. Everyone loves the good guy, everyone. Except the bad guys, but they’re there to remind you why you’re good, not to punish you. There will be challenges but think of them as opportunities to excel in your righteousness.
A full AP. I am interested in seeing this thing all the way through.
A responsive GM. There will be an OOC thread. If you want more of something, say, like you’re really missing out on the opportunity to mill about in the wilds and grind random monsters for XP and loot, I will try to indulge. But in that case, I would like a unanimous decision. Otherwise, I will reward good teamwork and social RP the same as random encounters and just level you appropriately with the AP. That being said, if you want to run at the final boss straight of the bat, I will strongly discourage that, but as I assume that you don’t want to face a TPK it won’t be an issue.
Fun. I don’t see the game as being a competition between GM and players, I’m interested in facilitating your fun. If you say to me, “Well, my character will not be fun to play without having this feat from this obscure splat book” then my answer to you would be “all righty, let’s slay some evil things in crazy ways, I’d like to see it!”
During the application process, expect loads of questions if I am unsure about your concept. I don’t want to make decisions ignorantly.
Finally…
If, after all the above, you’re still interested, throw me up an introductory post telling me how you learned about the charter, and what lengths your character would go to to secure one for him or herself.
Zelaria Quiatris |
Yeah, it's not really my intention to advertise. I got my husband expressing interest, too, so if your brother wants in, that means I'll just be able to make an OOC and put this and other stuff up.
Actually, the only other thing I really want to say is that I will not allow anyone to build towards and just assume that they can be the ruler, or that it has to be a monarchy. It could be an Oligarchy, or a meritocracy. I want the group to decide how the kingdom is founded. And I will be tracking how the characters play in game towards that end.
Vulf Longfang |
OK well send us the link and me and bro already done with character concepts haha we finally get to play our fav characters that seem to always die early on so never get to play with them
EDIT: Im wanting to play a rouge wishing the knife fighter archtype would change if needed and he wants to be a fighter lol *eye roll* silly figthers oh hes going to post really quick on here so you can look at his already made character
Markellus Severian |
Hrrm. I'll kick around some ideas and get something put together in the next few days. Seriously though, let me know if I'm imposing--I'd hate to be a (metaphorical) fifth wheel in the game.
Mechanically speaking, it looks like you could use a healy-type and/or a ranged combatant right now. I'll see what I can build up.
Zelaria Quiatris |
You may find the OOC Here.
Not imposing, Mark. You'll all be 15 point buy, and we haven't even started playing yet. I'll adjudicate how I need to adjust challenges when I see how you guys tackle them.
:)
Also, my hubby has 15 years experience as a GM and knows the rules better than me, so he'll be co-chairing for me. If this makes anyone uncomfy, let me know now. He's already run the adventure for me and our RL group, but knows not to meta.
Zelaria Quiatris |
If you pick that Tina woman for your game, Aria will not give Vulf nookie. Ever. She doesn't conform to the standard everyone else has adopted, and her run on sentence required me to read it five freaking times before I got an idea what in the hell she was talking about, and I am a college graduate with highly dyslexic friends.
Just as an aside... *laughs* oh, and rocks fall and Tam dies, the ultimate wrath of the GM.
Zelaria Quiatris |
A little flattery never hurts, huh?
Yeah, the gnome is like, waaaaay out there man. From what I understand, he's got wee man syndrome in the extreme. Talks to a cleric about bashing people's brains in with maces because they say he's short or something. Wow man, just... wow. Take a chill pill.
I really like the Devin character, and Kynneth can be... interesting. I think he's just getting stuck in weird places. I'm not sure though. Smith guy, though he doesn't say much, I still think is really cool as the fighter how just plain gets stuff done.
Zelaria Quiatris |
Florin indicated he was ill. Vulf and Markellus are starting university? Ryuko is entertaining family. Rohan is... somewhere?
I was thinking of posing an alternate scenario here in the interim if ya'll are interested. Just doesn't seem like the OOC is getting hits, either.
Dorrak |
Ah, now I see... I must have skipped some posts over the weekend. I'll exercise mountain like patience until we're all back to healthy regular schedules again.
On the topic of min/max, I considered super crunching numbers to build Dorrak along those lines but felt like it would take away some of his personality. The most fun I've had with pen & paper RPGs is making characters that are a bit handicapped in the hero department. For me it feels like I get to be more creative with problem solving that way.
Zelaria Quiatris |
After the championship match has concluded in the halfling's sound defeat by Sheriff Belor, the group recognizes that Vulf and Zelaria have yet to return from their errands. The bulk of the spectators are groaning about empty bellies, and expressing an interest in filling them with mead, or ale. Some disagree, saying that they are stuffed to bursting with pie, or stew, and couldn't possibly swallow anything more today, or they will burst.
"Cayden may be the god of excess, but he doesn't have to fumble around to relieve himself, eh? eh?" a particularly portly man with a belly hanging well over his strained belt guffaws to his lanky buddy. Clearly more than a little inebriated himself, the behemoth is hitting the poor man in the chest with a flabby elbow to accentuate his poorly veiled bawdy jest.
The man has an excellent point, however, you have ate and drank well today. The ceremony is not scheduled to begin for some hours yet, and it seems as though the festival is winding down. What do you, intrepid adventurers, wish to do?
I believe that at this time Florin In-Character is chasing his Chelaxian lady, but should he be willing to, he can meet up with you soon.
Rohan Drake |
"Perhaps you should go lay down somewhere, sir. You might hurt yourself." Rohan says to the drunken buffoon. "Maybe we should go look for Zelaria and Vulf? They've been gone a long time." He whispers to Copper. The little drake shakes his head at Rohan's naivety."They'll be fine. If you want, we can always go back to the Rusty Dragon." He replies, that last part being said in a sing-song kind of way in order to tease his friend. For his part, the summoner attempts to change the subject by looking around for his other friends.
Zelaria Quiatris |
"Oh, I'll lay down all right, and soon enough, mind!" he replies and laughs boisterously. His beady eyes, set within layers of fat on his cheeks blear about at Copper, then Markellus. He staggers towards the paladin, and his skinny friend looks slightly agitated, yet relieved to no longer be assaulted. "Hey you, with the hat, and... the dragon," he swings around and points at you. "Where's the colorful moth wench? Flitted away from your grasp, hmm? A finer piece I have not seen since the bathhouses of Abaslom. Mmmm..." he trails and sorta sways, a queer smile on his face.
Feel free to ignore this post if you like, but i figured a Cha 17 girl, a cha 16 paladin with a huge hat and a dragon might attract some attention even in a varied crowd, and drunk guys aren't necessarily in possession of sound judgment.
Rohan Drake |
Sounds fine to me.
Rohan's blood boils a little bit at the drunk man."Don't talk about my friend that way. She is not a wench nor a piece." He says authoritatively while looking straight at the man."You should apologize and leave. You don't want to make my buddy angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry."Copper says trying to defuse the situation. The little drake steps in between them in a futile attempt to hold Rohan back.
Zelaria Quiatris |
The skinny lad, in slight appearance and simple, bland clothing appearing a clerk, reacts to the conflict. He looks between you, Copper and his rotund partner, then steps up and addresses him in a gentle, soothing voice. "Maens, consider your position," he says. "If I am not mistaken, this young man was among the combatants in today's melee. And posed quite a threat to the wilding boy."
The behemoth narrows his eyes more, and his mouth wrenches in a smirk. "Humph! So be it," he decides. "Maens Ulric is my name, and you have my apology, sir. I'm a purveyor of arms and frequently travel between this and Magnimar, buying and trading stock. Should you and your companions need of my services, I do not hope that this... unfortunate misunderstanding will affect where you open your purse, hmm?"
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
The unannounced clerk rolls his eyes as his probable employer goes the diplomatic path with you, clearly unconvinced of his sincerity. You are not affected, either.
Rohan Drake |
"That's better. Name's Rohan." Is all Rohan says as he calms down. "And i'm Copper. We'll think about buying stuff from you." The drake says after he is sure his buddy is calmed.
Zelaria Quiatris |
The merchant throws back his head and his several chins jiggle while he laughs. "Ah, that has to be the fiercest companion I have seen to date!" he booms jovially. He grins at his clerk. "What say you, Alaric? Shall we invest a number of sails in these fine lads against a security in our future?"
Alaric gives a wary glance and a frown, but nods. "Aye, Maens, if Master Rohan and his companions agree," he says, more empathetic and tactful than his employer.
Zelaria Quiatris |
"Drinks, my fine lad! And girls- er, women, companions!" he answers in a booming voice. "All can be found at my establishment! A friend to travelers I am, being one myself," he hums and scratches his primary chin, eyes twinkling madly. "Come and sample my new stock! Varisians, fresh from the wilds, guaranteed to set your heart ablaze!"
Rohan Drake |
Rohan's eyes widen as Maen's clarifies his statement."Uh..um.. No thank you. I am not interested." He starts blushing profusely. Copper starts laughing at the situation.
Zelaria Quiatris |
Maens looks at Rohan quizzically for a moment, then laughs again. "Very good, sir. But, perhaps if you should overcome your awkwardness, or your friends their silence, you may each of us visit us at 13 Water Street. Finest establishment west of the docks, if I do say so myself. My tankards, like my girls, are clean."