conquest of paradise: General

Game Master katataban

I have a premise for a new campaign.

Cheliaxan sailors have discovered a new landmass west of Garund, south of where Arcadia once was. It seems to be a small continemt, roughly the size of Varisia. The land seems to be inhabited by primitive cultures, but there seems to be no nations around.

As soon as word of the discovery reached Avistan and Garund, several powers started preparing expeditions to claim this new uncharted land.

Four of these Expeditions have started to recruit adventurers and establish a first settlement on the island. The players can be recruited into one of these four expeditions. Each expedition has different benefactors and goals, and thus asks for a different kind of adventurer.

Each expedition will get its own threads, own adventures, struggles and rewards, but as time goes by the groups will meet and interact.

the four faction recruitment threads will appear if I see enough interest

Each group will have slightly different criteria, mainly on alignment and race, but as far as the basics go:

PHB core races are always allowed, other races, see the threads related to the factions.

Core book classes, APG, ACG, UCom and UMag are allowed, as are unchained classes. Other classes and archetypes, need aproval. For summoners I will only accept unchained.

20 point build.
max starting gold for 1st level by class.

Two traits, a third can be bought with a drawback.

dotting for interest, for a "good" or "neutral" aligned party.

-- david

Definitely interested.

definitely interested as well

Interested. Technically new to the RPG (but not PACG) via the Humble Bundle, but role playing isn't foreign to me. I'd probably only need some guidance initially (mainly with the build) but I shouldn't be a burden. Thanks for the consideration.

dot

The four factions (Might be easier for people to think up characters.)

Taldor: Taldor is looking to revitalise its empire. Their last great success was the founding of Amanandar, nearly a century ago. And the profits from that have been sparse so far.
The Taldan are looking for brave heroes who will tame the wild lands and bring culture and prosperity to native and settler alike.

Andoran: The Andorans mainly joined the struggle to keep Cheliax from becoming to powerful,and enslaving the natives. However they now see the island as a great place to relocate freed slaves.
The Andorans and their bellflower allies are looking for goodhearted adventurers who will build a beautiful home for their people.

Cheliax: The empire, guided by the Hellknight order in this endeavour, is seeking to colonise the island and turn it into an ordered, submissive nation. The native people will benefit Cheliax, either as willing servants or slaves.
The Cheliaxans and Hellknights are looking for tough leaders who can bring order and stability to the primitives.

Aspis Consortium: The only expedition not funded by a nation, the Consortium's goals are simple. Reap the Island's natural resources to gain profit. No matter how, as long as the consortium profits, they'll be happy.
The Consortium is looking for people who will do what needs to be done to gain profit, no matter who suffers.

I would be interested in participating in a party backed by the Aspis Consortium. My character in particular would be with them to try to prevent the Consortium from harming the locals. Finding a peaceful means that would satisfy his benefactors and preventing the destruction of the locals. Sort of a "try to do good from within" character.

I could also go the other way though if we can get a neutral or evil party that ACTUALLY works together to achieve common goals. I just prefer the former.

I would be interested in the Andoran faction.

Male human (Shoanti) Sylvan bloodline Sorcerer with a wolf companion.

-- david

@ Cosined. First off, thank you for supporting the humbles. That's money doubly well spent. Secondly, don't worry. I and no doubt others here, will be happy to help you with advice. Also as you've played the card game, at least you're somewhat familiar with the classes. Any questions, just let me know.

@ Zomblisham. Interesting twist. You'd have to prevent the consortium from getting too nosey, and keep their demands met, while keeping the populace from being exploited too much. I'll see which way it goes depending on the applicants.

Okay. I've set up recruitment threads for the different factions.

Andoran:
http://paizo.com/campaigns/conquestOfParadiseAndoran/recruiting&page=la st

Cheliax:
http://paizo.com/campaigns/conquestOfParadiseCheliax/recruiting&page=la st

Taldor:
http://paizo.com/campaigns/conquestOfParadiseTaldor/recruiting&page=las t

The Consortium:
http://paizo.com/campaigns/conquestOfParadiseTheConsortium/recruiting&p age=last

This way it's easier for me to see who wants to play in which group. If you feel your character could fit in different groups, feel free to post in all those, or just let me know by PM.

Okay. I've set up recruitment threads for the different factions.

Andoran

Cheliax

Taldor

The Consortium

This way it's easier for me to see who wants to play in which group. If you feel your character could fit in different groups, feel free to post in all those, or just let me know by PM.

Links added.

I will be aiming to part of the Cheliax group

working on consortium group.
need DM to roll so I can see options

working on consortium group.

need DM to roll so I can see options

above: lol I combined 2 posts for different games LOL

with DM approval building a minotaur. still leaning towards alchemist. we will see what the story plays out in my head.

consortium group is where I feel I would fit best for what I am thinking.

Rest coming shortly

are we using background skills from unchained? This will influence where i spend my points

Threw in a gunslinger for the Andoran group. Do you expect this to go to PvP eventually?

@herkymr, we won't be using BG Skills.

Whether this will go into actual PvP depends on the players, but the Kingmaker part of it will likely end up with some strife as the colonies vie for resources.

Ah.. I'm going to withdraw Jenya from consideration then. Player strife is not quite the experience I'm looking for but I can see how it would be a very compelling game for some.

Thanks and hope you guys have a great time.

Dotting for interest.

Hmmmm, intriguing. Dotting.

Okay. First round of applications ends tomorrow night. I'll decide who gets in as quickly as I can after that. If there are spaces left in any group I'll post them here for any who wants.

I'd like to vote against actual PvP because it usually ends poorly in PF. Having the groups influence each other via events in some fashion gets the same interaction without bogging down in winners, losers, and rocket tag pvp. Avoid the trap of 'we scry the other party and summon bugbears' or 'roll initiative to shoot one another' in favor of the more compelling story options of cheliax (or whoever) secured the mine, the rest of you have to make do with what you carried out->later gnolls attack the mine cheliax needs help->The consortium secured the mine with their gnollish allies but cheliax made away with... It has the same feel of competition for resources/story without generating 4-5 losers in any given interaction.

Just my 2 cents.

Yes. Pvp is not advisable

Agreed. I've actually GM'd in a similar campaign to what you're seeing up here. Desperate factions, competition, etc. Direct pvp is an excellent way to lose players.

Yes, that is what I had in mind. There are resources that you will be competing over, and mechanisms to try and take them, but there is no direct interaction between the players. The PVP is more diplomacy and intrigue, not combat wise.

Okay. So the parties thus far have been made. There's one spot left on every team and two even on Andoran, so I'll be leaving recruitment open for a few more days, just in case. I'll be announcing the groups so far in a bit, and will start the campaign over the next few days.

Huzzah!

Something I meant to ask - should we bring trade goods on our personal sheet or is that more of an expedition resource or are we just handwaving things like 'orchards and farms' via downtime rules?

I'm not sure if I understood the question Ash, So sorry if I'm not clear. If you're talking about the resources on the island, we will be using the kingdom rules from ultimate campaign for those. The island will have several hundred hexes (Still looking at the exact scope but it will be big) which can be settled during downtime.

Downtime will be handled on a biweekly basis, and usually triggers the next adventures.

I was wondering how we'd be establishing settlements for stuff like "we ran out of arrows" or "can we even buy saddles".

If there's going to be some sort of basic 'build a town' mechanic then I won't sweat it.

Hello katataban,

I am very interested in the premise of your PBP. I have a character in mind for both the chelaxian and aspis factions. I would like to apply to both but only play in one, i figure that would give me a better chance and give you the ability to put a full caster where you think its best served. The two character concepts are as follows: (If you feel strongly that one works very well for a particular group let me know an i will only roll up that character)

1. A Chelaxian minor noble who is looked down uppon because she can only practice witchcraft rather than wizardry, Her families' specialty being devil binding. Determined to make a name for herself, she has set out on this new expidition willing to do whatever it takes. LE human witch.

2. Son of a profitable Magic item merchant in Absolom he learned from a young age the value of having a quick tongue and turning a profit. His father Payed for the best education he could afford, hoping he would not have to "grow up as he did". It was no surprise that quickly after school His fathers best "customers", the Aspis Consortium, recruited the young man into there ranks. After a few minor jobs he was asked to be apart of a new project that would send him across the ocean witht he possibility of "endless profits". NE Wizard. I don't know what race yet, likely human or elf. I'm thinking enchantment school.his bonded item, a finely crafted Spiked gauntlet he wears on his right hand.

Hi guys. Sorry for not getting back to everyone. Had a major family emergency happen. Hope to pick this up in a few days.

Hi guys. Sorry for not getting back to everyone. Had a major family emergency happen. Hope to pick this up in a few days.

That sucks, hopefully everything is ok.

hope it all works for the best. let us know whats up when life gets sorted out

Im not sure whats going on with this thinking that Kataban maybe still enmeshed with a family issue. I am going to respectfully withdraw.

This seems really interested, I'll probably go for the Cheliax. I'll post there

Anything happening with this campaign, or has it gone the way of the dodo?

Last post was a month ago, so it sounds like RL is still taking effect.

This sounds interesting. Is it still a go?

If only! No DM for a month is generally a bad, bad sign. :/