I'm looking to recruit one or two (max) players for a roleplaying-heavy (75-80% role-play, 20-25% combat) Pathfinder game using the 3.5-era Faerûn setting. The game will take place in the Mt. Airy / Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, accessible by bus and train. Street parking is available as well. MMO gamers need not apply. I'm looking for mature, serious gamers who are more interested in telling stories than min-maxing and powergaming. That said, I'm fairly lenient in the sourcebooks I'll allow at the table given appropriate backstory justification. I personally loathe the restrictions and limitations imposed by video games (and the thought processes they encourage), so please feel free to be creative in solving problems at my table. A couple things I will not allow, however, are firearms (they have no place in the Realms) and any kind of collectible / trading cards. This is a tabletop RPG, not a game of Fluxx. I do like Fluxx, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. As for houserules: none, to start. I will consider suggestions from my players and if they seem cool I'll ask for consensus.
Some campaign background info:
This is a thinking man's game, full to bursting with political intrigue, subtlety, covert machinations and moral choices. There will be many situations where there is no right or wrong answer, but where a decision must be made and it's the PCs who make it. I love the Forgotten Realms lore (which I'll commonly refer to as realmslore, as is customary) and it will feature prominently. The story will cover the length and breadth of Faerûn, spatially and temporally. Furthermore, I don't believe in always creating encounters that are winnable through combat. I've put a group of 5 NPCs, level 5-9, against a group of level 3 PCs. That group of NPCs wanted to talk, and one player decided to fight (yes, I did ask "are you sure?"). It didn't end well. If you're a hack-n-slash player, you won't survive long: simple as that. I subscribe to the school of logical consequences. If you attack the lich who really does want to just talk, well, you taste good with ketchup. And maybe a little tabasco.
If you're familiar with Faerûn in 4E D&D, bear in mind that I have no specific plans to line up with what Wizards says happens a few years in the future of the setting. I passionately and vehemently disagree with what they did with the setting. Anyway, enough of that. Here's the actual story so far:
It is high spring in the 1380th year of Dale Reckoning: Year of the Blazing Hand. Our story begins in Suzail, with all of you there for your own reasons. A lot of the talk at the taverns, and even the libraries and museums, centers around a famous archaeologist.
Anselm Auntaroch is something of a local celebrity among Cormyrian historians. He discovered and successfully excavated the site of the first human settlement in the region, and ever since has received sponsorship from the Cormyrian Historical Society for further excavations and research.
He's caused a bit of a stir, recently, however. In what he's claimed to have the potential to be his magnum opus, he has set off into Hullack Forest in search of historical artifacts dating from the very formation of Toril itself. For several weeks before finalizing preparations for the expedition (after the local intellectuals bought him one too many at the tavern), he dropped hints that the site may contain an artifact created by Oghma and Mystra that fully details the history and future of Toril. Valuable in its own right, such an artifact could be studied and utilized for nearly infinite power and riches. While this expedition is not unusual on its own, he hasn't returned for several weeks--and those who saw his party set out report that they didn't have nearly enough resources to last that long in the wild.
The Cormyrian Historical Society has commissioned you to find and possibly save Anselm and anything he's discovered. Unfortunately, he's always been very tight-lipped about his work, and the Society doesn't know where, specifically, he went. However, they do know that it's somewhere in Hullack Forest and will provide you with transportation and rations. You are free to keep anything you find that is not of historical value (as determined by Anselm) as well as a stipend of 200 gp total.
Chris Nehren wrote: I'm looking to recruit one or two (max) players for a roleplaying-heavy (75-80% role-play, 20-25% combat) Pathfinder game using the 3.5-era Faerûn setting. The game will take place in the Mt. Airy / Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, accessible by bus and train. Street parking is available as well. MMO gamers need not apply. I'm looking for mature, serious gamers who are more interested in telling stories than min-maxing and powergaming. That said, I'm fairly lenient in the sourcebooks I'll allow at the table given appropriate backstory justification. I personally loathe the restrictions and limitations imposed by video games (and the thought processes they encourage), so please feel free to be creative in solving problems at my table. A couple things I will not allow, however, are firearms (they have no place in the Realms) and any kind of collectible / trading cards. This is a tabletop RPG, not a game of Fluxx. I do like Fluxx, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. As for houserules: none, to start. I will consider suggestions from my players and if they seem cool I'll ask for consensus.
Some campaign background info:
This is a thinking man's game, full to bursting with political intrigue, subtlety, covert machinations and moral choices. There will be many situations where there is no right or wrong answer, but where a decision must be made and it's the PCs who make it. I love the Forgotten Realms lore (which I'll commonly refer to as realmslore, as is customary) and it will feature prominently. The story will cover the length and breadth of Faerûn, spatially and temporally. Furthermore, I don't believe in always creating encounters that are winnable through combat. I've put a group of 5 NPCs, level 5-9, against a group of level 3 PCs. That group of NPCs wanted to talk, and one player decided to fight (yes, I did ask "are you sure?"). It didn't end well. If you're a hack-n-slash player, you won't survive long: simple as that. I subscribe to the school of logical consequences. If you...
How are you, Chris?
I wanted to see if anyone in the Philly area was looking to run a session, and was surprised to find your post here. I was even more surprised to find the kind of campaign you intended to run. I really like your approach and am definitely interested. I like the example of the Player itching for a fight and getting it - to his detriment (reminded me of myself fifteen years ago...damn, it's been that long). The GM I usually run with is kind of like that, except he does not ask "are you sure?". He gives every new player the same disclaimer: "I am not responsible for the actions of the NPC's. They make their own decisions - and so do you."
That having been said, I work a lot, and on the weekend I need at least one day to unwind and take care of personal business, so I would only be available one day a week. My commute to Germantown would also take about an hour on a good day, an hour and a half otherwise.
As for the campaign premise it sounds cool, though I have not had anything to do with a Faerun setting in over five years, and even then it was not in the well known areas, so to be honest I have no idea the areas and names you mentioned. What does come to mind right away is
1) If he was only traveling with enough supplies to last him a few weeks, his excavation site can't be too far, simply because how far can a research caravan travel over forested terrain? Not to mention the time needed to actually do the research and then get back. So either he was confident that he was going to be able to excavate the artifact quickly and bring it back in the time his supplies allowed for; or he was actually planning on using a portal or a dimensional door, whether an artifact of a spell from a wizard in his employ and the location he mentioned was just a ruse; or he brought experienced rangers and trappers with him that would be able to supply the expedition with an indefinite supply of food while they worked. Which means I would have to do some digging in regards to who was part of his caravan and what kind of equipment he purchased as he was preparing to depart. And that means that the first place I would have to go to would be the Historical Society to tell them the the 200gp stipend, up-front, would be barely adequate to pay for the various sources of information as well as hiring specialists for the rescue mission (and I would be sure to tell them that it is a rescue mission - a man as experienced as Anslem - at least by his reputation - did not simply mis-measure the amount of provisions he would need to complete the greatest feat of his career). Which means - more money, you cheapskates (I would skip the cheapskate part, at least out loud). Sorry, getting a bit carried away.
2) There is a very real possibility that the man had rivals that were willing to sabotage his work. Which means that the same Historical Society may harbor the people responsible for his disappearance, or worse yet, the entire rescue mission may simply be a ruse to cover their complicity in his demise (getting a bit heavy with the verbiage here, I think). So then as I try to pump them for more money, I would be paying attention to anything I could pick up in terms of internal rivalries, politics and tensions within the societies ranks. That means I will have to be careful about which skills I choose during character creation.
Which brings me to the character I have in mind. I want to play a Magus (wanted to play one the moment I realized the made a warrior/mage class that worked). The back-story is simple. I do not know the Faerun geography very well, so I'm hoping you could suggest a region appropriate to what the background is. He is a son of a family of hereditary warriors, with martial traditions passed down the line through generations. He was in the process of receiving training to continue the family legacy when through an spontaneous manifestation he became aware of his own arcane potential. Aware of his families views on magic (useful, which is why there are HIRED wizards, you are a warrior, form a warrior line, leave the incantations to them), he resolved to keep his ability hidden. He also resolved to learn how to use his arcane potential to augment his martial prowess. Using what he learned in his studies (part of his curriculum was the overview of all things magical - you still had to know how magic works if you were to be effective in the world soaked through with it) he tried to pursue his goal on his own. With predictable results: unable to control his attempts at using mystic energies, he was quickly discovered by his family. Told in no uncertain terms to cease and desist, he argued that he could use his gift to make himself a better warrior, to enhance the family tradition - which got him laughed at: everyone knows that anything that encumbers a wizard, you know, like that armor you're wearing, causes his spells to fail. More importantly, you can either do one thing well, or do many things - poorly. Neither he, nor his father would budge, and in the end he was told to get the hell out; if he was so set in doing things his way, then so be it, but you will not pursue your foolish course of action here. However, as the eldest son, he claimed his right to inherit the familial blade: a Flambard (appears in the Adventurers armory - requires an exotic weapons proficiency to be used like a bastard sword, which is exactly how I intend to use it - with your permission). He was allowed to take it, though he had not had enough training to use it correctly (as a magus, I start with a base attack bonus of +0, and you have to have +1 in order to take the exotic weapon proficiency). So yeah, he will be lugging around a Flambard in addition to whatever other one-handed blade I can afford at character creation until I strike level 2 an multiclass as a fighter which will allow me to get the exotic weapon proficiency.....hahahahahah
I think that's getting a bit carried away.
Well, I look forward to hearing from you.
Take care.
Responded to russodrezden via PM; any other takers?
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