DM Shisumo's page

There's those that say all life began in the sea, and perhaps it is so. The oldest things of life still dwell in the deeps, and even among those of us born and bred on land, there's some that feel drawn to the endless waters. What that call is, none can say, especially those that feel it; the sea keeps her secrets, safe beneath fathom after fathom of rolling waves. There is a darkness in the heart of the sea, and perhaps that is what calls out to those she claims - for all that sailors call the sea a woman, the truth is that darkness lies in all of us, man and woman alike, and some few who stare into those uncaring depths go mad from it. The sea, of course, is unconcerned. She is simply content to know she has claimed one more of her own.

For some, however, the sea is not willing to passively call out to them. Instead, seeing something special in these poor bastards, she stretches out her hand to seize those she has claimed...

...no matter the price.

Okay! We have four players, and hence, a quorum to do business! First order of said business: introduce yourselves, and work out what your party makeup should be.

For the purposes of helping out with the character creation questions, I'll go ahead and lay down the ground rules I want to use:

* 20 point buy
* Core rulebook races only by default - if you have a really compelling idea for something else, though, ask and we can discuss it. Water-themed races would be the most likely ones to pass muster.
* Any base class you want from Paizo, and other 3PP products might also be available as well. (I hardly need an excuse to buy more 3PP PDFs, after all, especially if it's Rite Publishing or Super Genius.)
* No psionics, this time, but I'm down with - might even go so far as to say rather hoping for - firearms. It's pirates, dammit!
* Two Traits, one of which should be a Campaign Trait from the S&S Player's Guide; the other can be from any Paizo source.

So have a swig of this here rum, and let's spin a pirate yarn together!

It is spring of the year 1137 of the Imperial Calendar, the ninth year of the reign of Toturi I, Lord of the Seven Hills and Master of the Chrysanthemum. A fresh spring breeze carries the scent of cherry blossoms to you from a nearby orchard. To the south, just visible on the horizon, is the splendid tower of Shiro Sano Kakita, the ancient seat of the Kakita family. Ahead of you is the village of Tsuma, a modest-sized city located next to a minor river, and home to one of the major dojos for the Kakita Dueling Academy. Here, the best and brightest young samurai of their generation have competed for the title of Topaz Champion, to bring glory and honor to their Clan. This is the first year the test has been held in over a decade, and though fate denied you the opportunity to take part, you have been sent by your Clan to assist those who can.

Tsuma is a modest city of about 1,200 people – essentially a very large village. Located in the peaceful Crane lands, it has neither walls nor a military garrison. There are no formal embassies maintained by other clans, since most only have business within the city once per year. The largest structure in the village is the Kakita Dueling Academy, a sizable compound of buildings and gardens, linked under a shared roof and protected by a high stone wall… the only fortification in Tsuma.

Each of you arrives in Tsuma by land, as do most of the other attendees – the road is crowded with samurai, both mounted and on foot, as well as noblewomen in palanquins. Crane magistrates patrol the roads carefully, and you are stopped at least once to show your travel papers.

The vast majority of samurai in Rokugan regard the Topaz Championship as the most prestigious gempukku ceremony in the Empire. The ceremony is open to any who wish to attend, but the Great Clans tend to be very selective in determining who represents them at the Championship. To permit just anyone to enter the contest would risk embarrassment, and no Great Clan would risk such a thing in front of their Crane hosts. Minor Clan samurai and ronin candidates require a Great Clan sponsor to be admitted to the competition. The Topaz Championship has been held in the Kakita town of Tsuma for centuries, at one of the largest dojo for the Kakita Dueling Academy. This year will be the first Topaz Championship since 1126, due to the Crab Clan’s invasion of the Crane lands leading up to the Clan War. The Crane have not been in a position to host the event since, though saying that outright would be a breach of etiquette. While in years past, the contest has drawn dozens of prospective samurai, this year there are only nine contenders: one from each of the Great Clans, and a lone ronin who has managed to arrange a sponsor from the Imperial Legion.

Rather than contenders, with the exception of Takagi you are present as guides, guards, assistants, or sensei for your Clan’s aspirants. You have passed your own gempukku already and are ineligible to take part yourselves, but are here to serve your Clan’s interests as ordered by your individual lords.

The contenders are young samurai who have not yet passed their gempukku; as such, they are not full adults, though they have been trusted with their swords for the competition. They will be expected to listen to advice from their betters (including each of you), and to do their utmost to bring honor to their Clan. You are free to decide for yourselves how much or little assistance you wish to provide their young charges. However, samurai from all across the Empire are present to witness the tournament, and they will be judging the participants based off their actions. These actions, ultimately, will also reflect upon their instructors.

Okay, so here's the discussion thread for the game. We can use it to talk about game rules when we have questions, discuss character advancement, etc. I don't know how much we will be using this, but it's always nice to have it.

Campaign thread will be going up momentarily - everybody check in here and post there as soon as you can!

Awhile back, I ran a PbP of the Topaz Championship for Heroes of Rokugan 2, and it went fairly well. I've been thinking I might want to give an L5R PbP another try, especially since I'm actually one of the campaign admins for HoR3. With that thought in mind, I'd like to see if I could scrape together enough interest to kick off the HoR3 campaign with "New Beginnings," the first adventure for HoR3.

I'd be looking for 4-6 players; they can be new to the game or old hands, since New Beginnings is partially designed to help teach players the game. Access to the core rulebook would be extremely helpful, however. Character creation will follow the guidelines available at the Heroes of Rokugan website; if you are interested in a Restricted character option, we can discuss it.

The basic setting information is this: it is the year 1137 of the Imperial Calendar, four years after the Battle of Oblivion's Gate and the end of the War Against the Shadow. Rokugan rebuilds under the guidance of Emperor Toturi I, but the returned spirits that now comprise nearly 1 in 10 samurai in the Empire have brought with them new difficulties and new challenges for a society that does not deal well with change.

Any takers?

The Red Redoubt of Karamoss once stood on a ridgeline some two miles north of Absalom, overlooking the city. The tales say that it was a tall, sweeping red-grey structure, like an arrowhead balanced on two graceful pylons, altogether nearly a thousand feet high. It was apparently raised in one night, an astonishing feat by anyone’s standards; even so, what was built in a night was brought down in mere seconds, when the forces of the city, led by the druid circles of Absalom, finally counterattacked and destroyed Karamoss’ mighty stronghold. The vast fortress tumbled and fell down the ridge, sending dust and chunks of metal across many square miles and high into the air. The scavengers of the city’s underworld feasted on the debris for months, and word slowly spread across Avistan and Garund about the many strange and wonderful treasures that has once hidden within the mighty Red Redoubt.

That was many centuries ago, however, and time and human greed together have wiped most of the traces of the Red Redoubt’s fallen glory away. All that remains are the bases of the two columns that once held it up, a pair of D-shaped ruins facing each other along the ridgeline. Each one is several hundred feet across, and hundreds of yards of empty ground separate them. To the east, the ruins are surrounded by the remains of the Redoubt, an unbroken red-grey wall that reaches forty feet into the air or more. A single entrance – what was clearly once a door – is visible, at the back of a deep recess in the straight section of the wall, some one hundred feet wide and roughly that deep. The remains of the walls curve inward toward their top, suggesting that the recess was once covered over, and what look like massive doors that would have sealed the entire recess are visible, just peeking out from within a small gap along each side.

The same recess appears in the other set of ruins, but the westward section was clearly the more damaged one; the walls are gone in many places all the way to the ground, and no section is more than twenty feet high. Through those gaps you can see an eerie, unearthly terrain, the ground covered in pipes, tubing, collections of metal wires bound together in rubbery casings, shattered crystals whose shards still glitter in the early morning sunlight, and more, so packed together that crossing it would be a matter more of crawling or climbing than walking. In the distance, more walls contain an inner set of ruins, whose contents are entirely invisible from your current vantage.

This is the view that confronts you as you approach the Red Redoubt on the small path that cuts up the ridge from the City at the Center of the World. Each of you has, for your own reasons, agreed to explore the Red Redoubt at the behest of the Pathfinder Society’s Venture-Captain Shevala. The meeting with Shevala, in an inn near the Pathfinder’s Grand Lodge called the Twisted Ladder, was an odd one:

Shevala Iorae was an attractive Varisian woman with a no-nonsense demeanor, but her eyes glittered with an unusual intensity as she spoke to you all. “It is a simple mission. The Society frequently uses the Redoubt as a training area for new recruits, but we do not wish to put anyone in danger. My usual agents are otherwise engaged, and I need the area swept for new dangers and cleared before our next training period can begin. The reward for this task is 900 gold eagles, divided amongst yourselves as you see fit. Also, the Society pays close attention to the, ah, ‘outside contractors’ who perform exceptionally well. Perform this task as I require, and additional contracts may well be in your future, whether you choose to join the Society or not.”

Leaning forward, the Venture-Captain placed a sheaf of papers and a small leather satchel on the table as well. From the satchel she withdrew a stack of what seemed like compasses, although some of you recognized them instantly as wayfinders. In each wayfinder, in the slot where an ioun stone should go, an unusual crystal had instead been inserted; at your incredulous looks, however, Shevala shook her head. “It is not an ioun stone,” she said firmly. “The Society is testing the creation of other stones that might also work with wayfinders, and these crystals are part of those tests. Your assignment includes carrying these wayfinders for the duration of your explorations and recording any changes or unusual behaviors you notice in either the crystal or the wayfinder itself as you use them. Ideally, there should be none; but research is not about the ideal.” Gesturing to the papers, she concluded, ”The details of your assignment are there. Do you have any questions?”

If you do, please ask them in the discussion thread. Also, Garrick, Mala and Sylvalia, give me a Sense Motive check, if you would.

Now you stand before the Red Redoubt, its secrets awaiting your discovery…

Okay, since we’ve already got characters being made, it’s time to get the ground rules laid out here. I hope to get the game thread going before Thursday, but this should get us moving in the right direction even so.

Character creation will be as follows: any of the races, classes, archetypes and feats from the PF RPG core, APG, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, Psionics Unleashed or most any other Paizo PF RPG source (‘cause I have just about all of them) are allowed. We will use 20 points for ability score purchase, and you get average starting gold for your class. You must choose one of the following Campaign Traits, and can pick one other from any Paizo PF RPG source (as long as its not another campaign trait):

Alkenstar Adept
You were either raised in the Mana Wastes of Alkenstar or visited there enough to become familiar with the place, but either way you see the technological advances of Alkenstar as the way forward for the Inner Sea Region. The Red Redoubt offers an opportunity to pursue that potential even further. Your familiarity with the firearms of Alkenstar has already made you a talented shootist. Choose a single Deed that you know. Once per day, you may reduce the Grit cost of that Deed by 1 (to a minimum of zero). If this reduces the Grit cost to zero, you must actually have a Grit point available to you to perform the Deed.

Budding Mentalist
You have discovered the latent potential of your own mind, but have yet to fully tap that power. The mysterious forces within the Red Redoubt might provide some means for you to further explore and advance that understanding – it is said that creatures from beyond the stars often have bizarre mental powers. You gain a reserve of one power point and are considered a psionic character. However, unless you have a psi-like ability, levels in a manifesting class or power points from some other source (such as the Wild Talent feat), your control over this ability is weak – you may only gain psionic focus once per day. If you do have a power point reserve already, this trait instead increases that reserve by 1.

Child of Lightning
Nothing has ever felt as right to you as being outside during a thunderstorm. For as long as you can remember, you have felt a kinship with the lightning; the tingle across your skin in the presence of electrical energy is what life itself feels like to you. The Red Redoubt calls to you like a beacon, for it is said that Karamoss channeled that force into his creations, both in combination with and somehow beyond pure magic, and you wonder if you might somehow gain that same affinity yourself. Whenever you cast a spell or manifest a power that deals electricity damage, you gain a +1trait bonus to the amount of electricity damage dealt.

Numerian Savant
The “machine mage” Karamoss gained his unusual abilities by studying the mysterious Silver Mount in Numeria, a mile-high metal mound that is all that remains from what might have once been a vessel from the stars. You have long studied the mysteries of Numeria – its strange metallic inhabitants and inscrutable implements of war among them – and you now turn your investigations toward the Red Redoubt, in search of new answers or greater secrets. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (engineering) and Knowledge (psionics) checks related to Numerian superscience (including both robots and technological devices), and you begin play with a etheric reservoir, a power source for many of the technologies derived from Numerian sources.

Robot Hunter*
The secrets of tombs around the world are guarded by deathless entities of steel, stone or crystal, and you have worked hard to learn ways to deal with them. In particular, the technological secrets of Numerian science are guarded by the mysterious Gearmen who serve the Technic League, and those secrets are the ones that call strongest to you. The Red Redoubt represents a chance to explore those secrets without Technic League interference, but you are nonetheless ready for whatever might stand in your way. You gain a +1 trait bonus on weapon damage rolls against constructs; this increases to +2 against constructs with the robot subtype.

Shroud of Silence
You once had an encounter with a device or weapon left over from Karamoss’ attack on Absalom. The device exploded when you were examining it, but rather than hurting you, a strange, quiet hum “wrapped” around you, a hum that is still with you now. Oddly, though, the hum seems to absorb other sounds, and you have come to the Red Redoubt to either cure yourself of this affliction – or find a way to enhance it. You gain a +1 trait bonus to Stealth checks, and have resist sonic 2 (which stacks with other forms of sonic resistance).

Student of Shevala
You are a member of the Pathfinder Society, and in particular a protégé of Venture-Captain Shevala, the explorer who most recently mapped the upper levels of the Red Redoubt. Access to her reports and personal tales gives you a unique insight into the dangers and possibilities of the Red Redoubt. You gain a +2 trait bonus to all Knowledge (dungeoneering) and Knowledge (engineering) checks made within the Red Redoubt, and one of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.

In addition to the above, the following three feats will be available during the campaign:

CRAFT TECH (ITEM CREATION)
You have learned the art of disassembling and duplicating Numerian superscience technologies.
Prerequisites: Craft (metalworking) 3 ranks, Knowledge (engineering) 3 ranks
Benefit: You can create technological items using the principles behind Numerian superscience. Creating a technological item takes 1 day for every 1,000 gp in its base price. To create a technological item, you must use up raw materials equal to half this base price, and you must have studied a technological item like the one you intend to create.
You may also mend a broken technological item, regardless of whether you have studied one like it before. Such repairs constitute adequate study for the purposes of creating an item like it.
Special: You must have been exposed to research materials or large numbers of technological items with an opportunity to study them in order to take this feat.

CRAFT TECHNOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND ARMOR (ITEM CREATION)
You have mastered the art of duplicating the unique implements of war you have found that derive from Numerian superscience.
Prerequisites: Craft Tech, Craft (metalworking) 5 ranks, Knowledge (engineering) 5 ranks
Benefit: Benefit: You can create technological weapons and armors using the principles behind Numerian superscience. Creating a technological weapon or armor takes 1 day for every 1,000 gp in its base price. To create a technological weapon or armor, you must use up raw materials equal to half this base price, and you must have studied a technological weapon or armor like the one you intend to create.
You may also mend a broken technological weapon or armor, regardless of whether you have studied one like it before. Such repairs constitute adequate study for the purposes of creating a weapon or armor like it.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATOR
You have mastered the concepts behind Numerian superscience, allowing you to create your own blueprints for technological items, weapons or armor without needed to copy the design from elsewhere.
Prerequisites: Craft Tech, Craft Technological Weapons and Armor, Craft (metalworking) 11 ranks, Knowledge (engineering) 11 ranks
Benefit: You can create any technological item, weapon or armor in the campaign, without the need to duplicate an already-existing item.
Normal: You need to have studied an item, weapon or armor like the one you are creating before you can craft it.

Finally, I should note that the presence of psionics in the campaign will have some other effects, most notably the addition of the Autohypnosis and Knowledge (psionics) skills. I am sorely tempted to go all-in and remove the magic/psionics transparency to really drive home the differences between the two, but I am not sure they’re worth messing with. If anyone has an opinion on that matter, I would like to hear it. I will point out, however, that Psionics Unleashed does have a few non-psionics-oriented feats that might be worth looking at (Open-Minded is kinda cool, for instance) so I encourage everyone to go take a look. Again, for reference, those rules can be found at this link.

So let’s see those concepts and get ready to do this thing!

*I so very much wanted to call this one “Blade Runner.”

Four Years Ago...

1st of Desnus, 4707 AR

So far, the Swallowtail Festival in the small town of Sandpoint has been a dazzling experience. Beginning midmorning with speeches from the town's mayor, Kendra Deverin, the sheriff, Belor Hemlock, and local luminaries Cyrdak Drokkus and Father Zantus (the owner of the local theater and the town's priest of Desna, respectively), the festival has been filled with singing, entertainment, dancing, games and more, overwhelming you with sounds, colors, and the sense of sustained enjoyment from a whole town coming together. The butterfly release at noon, in which swallowtail butterflies sacred to Desna were released into the air in a swirling, fluttering mass of color, was matched by the bewildering array of free dishes brought forth by the town's five taverns for lunch. The spicy smells of the Rusty Dragon's curried salmon drew the lion's share of the crowd, but the Hagfish's clam chowder, the White Deer's tuna and pasta and even the thick beef stew from the Fatman's Feedbag all earned their portion of acclaim as well.

Now, however, the day is drawing to its close, when Father Zantus is scheduled to formally dedicate the town's new cathedral, a beautiful stone and glass structure containing shrines to the six most popular deities in the region: Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gozreh, Sarenrae and Shelyn. Buily over the ruins of the town's previous temple, destroyed in a fire five years before, the cathedral is a shining testament to the will of Sandpoint's people to overcome adversity, and the town has waited five years for this moment.

Each of you makes your way through the crowd that now gathers before the cathedral, waiting for Father Zantus to begin the dedication ceremony.

Okay guys, welcome to the game! I'm going to go ahead and start the game thread in a few minutes - post as soon as you like. I think there are still a few last-minute mechanical tweaks to make, and if anyone wishes to tie backgrounds together or the like (as was suggested for Lamsfel and Tybus, for instance), go ahead and do that as well - we can get things moving as the last details come together. I'm really looking forward to this!

I've decided that I want to run Jade Regent as a PbP when it comes out. This thread is to find four players (I already have a fifth) to get in on the story. We'll be starting soon - probably on Monday - with a prologue to get the game going; it won't be We Be Goblins, sadly, as much as I love that adventure, but will feature your own characters.

Character creation will be as follows:
* 20 pt buy
* Standard core rules races
* Any classes/archetypes from core, APG and UM (3PP material potentially allowed - I don't have a lot of it, though, so it's by approval only)
* Feats and spells from any Paizo-produced Pathfinder RPG source (with stuff from the 3.5 Pathfinder era potentially allowed - I'm mostly thinking of the spells from Gods and Magic that haven't been converted yet)
* One non-campaign Trait

Once the prologue is over, I will allow a character rebuild to bring in Ultimate Combat and Jade Regent Player's Guide material (including campaign traits).

In terms of PbP itself, my posting standards will be the same as most of the others around here: post at least once a day if at all possible (and more is better if you can) and let me know if you are going to be gone for a length of time. If we are in combat and you have not posted in 24 hours, I will act for you to keep the game moving. In order to keep combats flowing, I only plan to be overly concerned about initiative in terms of who goes before the bad guys on the first round of combat; afterward, the round will basically break on the bad guys' action, so all the PCs act, then the monsters go, then the PCs again, and so on.

I'll be taking submissions through Monday, July 18, at noon CDT. I'd prefer characters designed to work together for a full party, and every character must have some reason to be in Sandpoint.

I've got a couple of spots open in my Pathfinder PbP here on the boards - the characters are all members of the Pathfinder Society, and are searching out the secrets of lost temples and crumbling ruins in Varisia (and eventually elsewhere!). Currently the group has a swashbuckler, a bard, a druid (with a tyrannosaur companion) and - hopefully - a rogue. The group is short on healing and a dedicated arcanist, but any good character concepts are welcome.

Character creation guidelines:
* 20 pt buy.
* Available races are limited to the Pathfinder Core, though a good concept might persuade me to allow a 0-HD, CR +0 race from the Bestiary - maybe.
* Available classes include the 11 from the Pathfinder Core, the priest and the swashbuckler from Adamant's Tome of Secrets, and the six playtest classes from the Advanced Player's Guide beta. I have a few other resources available, including some of the Seper Genius classes, so if there's something you really want to play, we can discuss it.
* Average starting gold for a 1st level member of your class.
* Two traits, one of which should be from the Campaign list found here.

Please be able to post regularly, and please be willing to commit seriously to the game!

The harsh winds have blown across the Southern desert for the entire week you have been traveling across them, the relative safety and comfort of Gem now but a distant memory. You have traveled in the cool of the mornings and evenings, resting beneath white canvas shelters during the worst of the midday heat, but the man who has hired you, a Guild mercenary named Garavel, claims you are at long last approaching your destination.

Garavel is a man of middle years, a sharp hawk nose in a sun-worn, leathery face framed by salt-and-pepper hair and goatee. Though no longer in his prime, he carries himself like a trained warrior, and he has suffered little on the journey, despite the heat and scalding wind. Around his neck he wear a curious jade torc, one that he never removes, but he will not speak of it to anyone. Garavel is a cold and humorless man, seeming intent solely on getting his cargo – that is, you – to his mistress, the Guild factor Almah Roveshki.

Other than Garavel and a pair of pack mules, you are the only members of this “caravan,” and you have wondered whether such a small group was asking for trouble from the raiders – Dune People and hyena beastmen – rumored to travel the area, but so far, your journey has been quiet, with only the Sun’s piercing gaze to threaten you.

Yes, that's right, I'm going to run Legacy of Fire in the Exalted setting and system. I already have three players, but would like two or three more. Familiarity with the Exalted rules is a definite bonus, and access to at least the core rules is a must.

If you've got what it takes to show the Unconquered Sun you deserve to be among his Chosen, let me know here!

Okay, let's see what we've got here.

To begin with, I'd like the PCs to all be heroic mortals. We'll be following the heroic mortal character creation given in the Exalted core, with the following exceptions:

* PCs begin with three (3) Favored Abilities. They can have no non-Favored Abilities rated higher than the highest-rated of these three Abilities, and they must have at least 2 dots in each.

* You may, if you wish, begin play with an Awakened Essence. This costs 7 bonus points, and gives you an Essence pool equal to (Permanent Essence) x 10. The first (Permanent Essence) x 3 motes of this pool may be accessed normally; Essence beyond that requires the expenditure of a Willpower point. Having Awakened Essence means you may attune Artifacts and Hearthstones.

* Essence cannot be raised higher than 1 at character creation, however.

* In addition to the standard allotment of Background points, I plan to award two (2) additional Background dots based on your PC's reason for being part of the story. The relevant information is this:

The Guild has decided to reopen a lapsed trade route between Gem and the Lap, the key component of which was a large town called Kelmarane, at the base of the Pale Mountains between the two cities. The city suffered some ill-defined calamity roughly 20 years ago, and rumors claim that it has been overrun by bandits, slavers and hyena-like beastmen in the meantime. The Guild, in the person of their representative Almah Roveshki, have decided to reclaim Kelmarane, which means clearing it out and reestablishing the basics of civilization there.

So the question that needs answering is: why have you joined with Almah's group on this quest? Some possibilities include a connection to Kelmarane of some kind, a link with Almah, a history with the hyena-men, or something else entirely. Give me a good story and get 2 background dots!

* Finally, I have a fairly large library of Exalted books, though I haven't picked up many in the last year or so, so most of Second Edition is on the table; just ask if there's something you want.

Benny:

Ima:

Trent:

Xochipilli:

Okay, let's do this! Talk over characters, ask questions, whatever seems to fit here. Among other things, it would be nice to see where exactly everyone is in their character creation sequence, including background and the like.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing:
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring...
- Alexander Pope

Discuss characters, ask questions, chitchat and all sorts of other fun things!

Reposting the character creation guidelines and the campaign traits:

All the PCs will be Pathfinders, beginning play with wayfinders and full status as field agents in the Society. The group will be based out of the Magnimar Lodge.

All Pathfinder RPG material is legal, and most other Paizo-produced stuff as well (subject to conversion if needed, of course). In addition, I will be allowing the priest and swashbuckler classes from Tome of Secrets by Adamant, if you have access to that. Traits will be used, and PCs begin at 1st level with a 20 point buy.

Campaign Traits:
Foresighted: You have long studied the mysteries of the future, and learned how to turn those secrets to your own benefit. Others often say your reactions are uncanny; most of them do not even know the half of it. Once per day as a free action, you may gain a trait bonus to the result of an initiative roll equal to the level of a divination spell you have prepared by sacrificing that spell (as if casting it).

Encyclopedic Scholar: During your Pathfinder training, you learned one lesson particularly well: knowledge is power. This is particularly true when it applies to knowing the weaknesses of others. As a result, you spent much time in the Grand Lodge’s libraries, reading up on all the various monstrosities you might one day encounter during your adventures. Choose two Knowledge skills. You gain a +2 trait bonus to checks made to identify a creature using one of those skills.

Careful Combatant: Though not all Pathfinders follow the path of the warrior, they all undergo some training in fighting. Your teachers often praised your ability to choose the right time for your actions, exploiting weaknesses and waiting for the perfect moment. You gain a +1 trait bonus to attack and damage rolls whenever you make an attack as a readied action.

Ever Prepared: Some of your fellow Pathfinders say that you are paranoid; you usually retort that paranoids tend to live the longest. Regardless, you have trained yourself to be ready for action on a moment’s notice, no matter the situation. You gain a +1 trait bonus to initiative checks and a +1 trait bonus to Reflex saves against traps.

Artifact Seeker: Mystic studies have always been a passion for you, and you spent many an hour during your training years wondering what strange and wondrous treasures might still lie in a dusty tomb or Darklands cavern, waiting to be found – waiting for you to find them. Let others have the gold and gems; you know where the real power is. In preparation, you taught yourself the necessary techniques to separate out the unique discoveries from the ordinary dross. Once per day, you can cast identify as a spell-like ability (caster level 1st).

Vision-touched: Not long before you set out to become a Pathfinder, you experienced a powerful vision that dramatically impacted your life, setting you on the course you follow today. Whether it was through a wizard’s spell, a witch’s fortunetelling or a shaman’s vision quest, your eyes were opened to the possibilities of your future, and the echoes of that experience still guide you today. Whenever you gain an insight bonus on a skill or attack roll, you also gain a +1 trait bonus to the skill or attack roll.

Sharp-eyed: One of the key areas on which your Pathfinder training focused was investigation, particularly the importance of attention to details; throughout the lessons, you were consistently at the top of the class. You can tell the difference between an Osirian hieroglyph and a symbol of sleep at thirty paces, and that fact as kept you alive on more than one occasion. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perception checks, and it is always a class skill for you.

THE LEGACY OF FIRE

Herein it is related (but Shilah is All-Knowing and All-Merciful) that in the thirty-first year of the Second Age of the Burning Sands, after the death of thousand-cursed Immortal Caliph and the destruction of her vile cohort of heartless sahir called the Khadi, a caravan departed Medinaat al-Salaam, called the City of Peace and the Jewel of the Desert, for the village of Kelmarane, in the foothills of the Brazen Peaks that mark the border between the Scarab Empire and the Burning Sands. This caravan was lead by Garavel, a servant of Almah al-Hazaad and of the houses of Dahab, a solid man of middle years, with a graying beard and a sharp nose that distracted those who saw him from noticing the callused knuckles and toughened muscles of a trained warrior. With him were Arek bint Jael, a sahir in the service of the Dahabi Houses as well played by Mary; Gahiji, desert scout of the Senpet people played by Mike ; the strange man called Mo Mo, a massive slave from a distant tribe played by Amy; Nadya, a young mystic from the traveling Ra’Shari played by Cat; and Tahib, a street rat from Medinaat al-Salaam played by Cory.

For a week the caravan traveled, first down the mighty Nahr’umar River, which brings life to the Senpet and Medinaat al-Salaam both, then across the desert itself, following a cracked and crumbling trade road, abandoned for many long years. Their destination, Garavel told them, was a hill outside Kelamarane proper called the Sultan’s Claw, where they would meet with Almah Al-Hazaad and the rest of her entourage. Now the evening prayers are done and night’s chill closes in as they approach the Brazen Peaks, where they expect to meet the rest of their expedition.

You have had a week’s travel together, so I would encourage you to post a little about yourselves – as much as you would likely know of one another in that time.

THE LEGACY OF FIRE

Herein it is related (but Shilah is All-Knowing and All-Merciful) that in the thirty-first year of the Second Age of the Burning Sands, after the death of thousand-cursed Immortal Caliph and the destruction of her vile cohort of heartless sahir called the Khadi, a caravan departed Medinaat al-Salaam, called the City of Peace and the Jewel of the Desert, for the village of Kelmarane, in the foothills of the Brazen Peaks that mark the border between the Scarab Empire and the Burning Sands. This caravan was lead by Garavel, a servant of Almah al-Hazaad and of the houses of Dahab, a solid man of middle years, with a graying beard and a sharp nose that distracted those who saw him from noticing the callused knuckles and toughened muscles of a trained warrior. With him were Ammon, lone sellsword who called Kelmarane home once as a child played by Arcmagik; Kaliq Aziz, potent summoner of jinn and apprentice of the mysterious Qabal played by Michael Moore; Layali Alzair, soldier-guard of the new Caliphate played by Mishi; Moto Aki, traveler and warrior from the distant land of Rokugan played by TerraNova; and Taumadu, priest of the Ten Thousand Gods and exile from his homeland played by Xaaon.

For a week the caravan traveled, first down the mighty Nahr’umar River, which brings life to the Senpet and Medinaat al-Salaam both, then across the desert itself, following a cracked and crumbling trade road, abandoned for many long years. Their destination, Garavel told them, was a hill outside Kelamarane itself, called the Sultan’s Claw, where they would meet with Almah Al-Hazaad and the rest of her entourage. Now the evening prayers are done and night’s chill closes in as they approach the Brazen Peaks, where they expect to meet the rest of their expedition.

Everybody but Daichi:

Legend of Fire

Welcome to the Discussion Thread for my other attempt to run the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path using the Legend of the Burning Sands ruleset. This thread is intended for out-of-character discussions, rules questions, general hullabaloo, and character creation.

A few notes to begin with:
* Although LBS is marketed as a complete ruleset on its own, it is of course truly an expansion for the L5R ruleset. As such, I fully intend to use the revisions to the rules that appeared in L5R 3rd Edition Revised, including changes to the Defense Skill, Grappling rules, and so on, with some possible houserules of my own to make the game make more sense in a couple of places.
* This is a conversion of a D&D game into a system with some decidedly non-D&D assumptions, and I'm not sure precisely how things will work out. I beg your indulgence as we sort through this together. I would also like to remind you that, as a D&D conversion, characters should be able to function in combat fairly well, since there is like to be a lot of it – the character background traits (see below) should help to emphasize this fact. Since you all begin as part of a mercenary caravan, this should keep everyone largely on the same page.
* I'd also like to remind you that this is not L5R, and some of the cultural assumptions made by L5R don't apply to LBS. In particular, money counts, and looting the dead is not particularly shocking. In this regard, a certain amount of the D&D mindset is probably more suitable.
* Finally, if you've read all this already on the other thread, skip down to the 5th post. That's where any new stuff might be.

I'd already assembled a group of mostly-new-to-PbP friends to play, but there seems to be enough interest that I could put together a second group, so I'm going to try. So sound off if you think you might want in!

Legacy of the Burning Sands

Welcome to the Discussion Thread for my attempt to run the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path using the Legend of the Burning Sands ruleset. This thread is intended for out-of-character discussions, rules questions, general hullabaloo, and character creation.

A few notes to begin with:
* Although LBS is marketed as a complete ruleset on its own, it is of course truly an expansion for the L5R ruleset. As such, I fully intend to use the revisions to the rules that appeared in L5R 3rd Edition Revised, including changes to the Defense Skill, Grappling rules, and so on, with some possible houserules of my own to make the game make more sense in a couple of places.
* This is a conversion of a D&D game into a system with some decidedly non-D&D assumptions, and I'm not sure precisely how things will work out. I beg your indulgence as we sort through this together. I would also like to remind you that, as a D&D conversion, characters should be able to function in combat fairly well, since there is like to be a lot of it – the character background traits (see below) should help to emphasize this fact. Since you all begin as part of a mercenary caravan, this should keep everyone largely on the same page.
* I'd also like to remind you that this is not L5R, and some of the cultural assumptions made by L5R don't apply to LBS. In particular, money counts, and looting the dead is not particularly shocking. In this regard, a certain amount of the D&D mindset is probably more suitable.

It is spring of the year 1499 of the Imperial Calendar, the sixteenth year of the reign of Toturi XII, the Joyous Prince, also known as the Sapphire Emperor. A fresh spring breeze carries the scent of cherry blossoms to you from a nearby orchard. To the south, just visible on the horizon, is the splendid tower of Shiro sano Kakita, the ancient seat of the Kakita family. Ahead of you is the village of Tsuma, a modest-sized city located next to a minor river, and home to one of the major dojos of the Kakita Dueling Academy. Here you will compete in the Topaz Championship, the most famous gempukku ceremony in the land. Here you will show yourselves worthy of the title of "samurai."

The vast majority of samurai in the Empire consider the Topaz Championship the most prestigious gempukku ceremony in the Empire. The ceremony is open to any Great Clan member who wishes to attend, but the Clans tend to be very selective in determining who represents them at the Championship. To permit just anyone to enter the contest would risk embarrassment, and no Great Clan would risk such a thing in front of their Crane hosts. Minor Clan samurai and ronin require a Great Clan sponsor to be admitted into the competition.

The Topaz Championship has been held in Tsuma for centuries. Tsuma is a really more of a large village, holding roughly 1,500 people under ordinary circumstances. These, however, are not ordinary, and the village is swollen to nearly double its usual size. Located in the peaceful Crane lands, it has neither walls nor garrison, and the only military structure of any kind is the Kakita Dueling Academy dojo itself, protected by a high stone wall.

Okay, here's a discussion thread we can use to get this thing started.

First, a few general statements. I intend to reuse this thread as a discussion thread as we move forward through the coming modules - obviously, this thread will therefore contain spoilers for the various modules we play. If you're interested in playing in the wider Heroes of Rokugan campaign, don't read this thread.

Okay, for those who are playing. I know some of you don't have books - as previously established, a "quickstart" version of the basic rules can be found here. Character creation is trickier, though. I see three options:

1) Buy the book. Despite the (admittedly really, really bad) editing problems of 3rd Ed Revised, it is also the best iteration of the L5R rules to date, and is the rules set we'll be using.

2) Go to the Heroes of Rokugan site and use one of their pregens. The left hand side of the screen has Clan pages for each major Clan, plus the Imperials and ronin. Each Clan page has a set of pregens in PDF format you can use to make your character, or to use as a starting point. I don't know if the pregens have been updated for the Revised version of 3rd Ed, but I don't think there would be many tweaks needed even if they haven't.

3) Let me make the character for you. We can discuss a concept, possibly via email for faster and more coherent communication, and I can do the numbers for you.

As of right now, we have four players:

Michael D. Moore - Kakita bushi (?)
Michi - Utaku Battle Maiden (?)
TerraNova - Matsu Ume, Akodo-trained bushi
Xaaon of Xen'drik - (?) shugenja (?)

So let's talk!

We can get the discussion going here as the characters start to come together. I'm particularly interested in seeing what connections you have planned between each other, and whatever character histories you want included in the game.