Thorgar the Childeater's page

Link to original discussion thread.

Sargava Info

Sargava Map with Race Route

Okay, let's get our characters put together and discuss plans, etc.

The small group of five Pathfinders had arrived in Port Freedom with only days to spare, having been called in urgently by Venture Captain Finze Bellaugh after his original team were killed in mysterious circumstances.

All around them throngs of dark skinned Mwangi natives - dressed in an array of exotic styles including cloaks made of banana leaves, or even just loin cloths - and smaller, but more orderly groups of pale skinned, oft sunburnt Cehlaxian descended colonists. The noise is deafening, and an array of exotic scents mingle with the festive pandemonium teaming up for an assault upon the senses.

Venture Captain Bellaugh strokes his greying beard as he looks the team over,

"I'm sorry I've not had more of a chance to prepare you my friends. All I can tell you is that you will be avenging brave men, and upholding the honor of The Society if you can win this thing. Be on your guard, and take note of my annotations to the map, I don't know the tiniest sliver of the dangers you will likely face, but I've some ideas that might speed your course. Now..."

The sound of two dozen shrill trumpets erupts over the noise of the crowd quelling it as ahead of the six assembled teams a litter is upon which a man dressed in a magnificent peacock feather cloak, and wearing a gleaming silver breastplate with a longsword strapped to his hip, stout but obviously muscular Sargava's nominal ruler Baron Utilinus. The Baron raises his hands and speaks, his voice obviously magically enhanced as it rolls out effortlessly across the thousands strong crowd,

"People of Sargava, and of all Golarion, welcome to the greatest race known to man! This year's Sargava Chalice will be bigger and better than ever before, for this year we have called teams to take up the gauntlet! And consequently the course has been made longer and tougher than ever before. So without further ado let me present the teams! First we have The Sargavan team, brave men who will show that native and colonist alike we are one people brought together and surely claim victory," there is uproarious cheering, "then we have a team representing our friends and allies The Free Captains of the Shackles. The Pathfinder Society have managed to gather a team of substitutes after their candidates were slain in a tragic accident, we wish them luck honoring their fallen. The Aspis Consortium brings forth the best team money can buy, I'm sure," a group of men dressed finely and showing no evidence of feeling the days pounding heat, everything about them seems sleek expensive and efficient and they do not appear impressed by the occasion. "Then we have a first a team of Elves from far off Kyonin! And finally we have the condemned a team of convicts who will win their freedom if and only if they secure victory!"

The Baron takes a deep breath as excited murmuring fills the air and then continues,

"The race will begin with a...

Okay that's where I'll leave it until we've all created our characters. If anyone wishes to offer descriptions of their NPC teams, etc., please go ahead. I'm planning to stagger the teams departure so we don't end up with a crazy free for all to kick things off. My first encounter will determine what order the teams leave in.

Welcome to the game everyone, for the moment we have six party members... First off my apologies for not getting all the introduction posts up last night, bit off a bit more than I could chew there I'm afraid! Things should move considerably faster once everyone gets together shortly.

Criss Falden of the Wastes Ranger: Ranged
Grimward Brack Oracle: Melee
Gwendolyn Yoresnson Gunslinger: Ranged
Ormiz Alchemist: Bomber
Staryth Bard: Ranged
Vance Nexus Spellslinger: Ranged

The designations besides characters are loose, please let me know if you feel they are inaccurate. I highlight these so you can consider potential problems and solutions and how you might work together, etc. You don't need to do this necessarily, but it can be helpful, especially to consider the groups performance in a few encounters. I generally consider myself a middling to tough DM, but I'll be trying to start you off relatively easily so we can all get an idea of the groups capacities, etc.

The Archmage Nex, founder and ruler of the country named for him, has been missing for thousands of years. Nex's archrival, the dread necromancer Geb, still rules his own evil land - a ghost who cannot rest until he knows his ancient foe's fate, and is assured of his victory.

For centuries now the countries of Nex and Geb have enjoyed peace, and been able to recover from some of the horrors caused by their master's apocalyptic spell battles. But within Nex many factions stir, and the Council of Three and Nine are gathering any with the Archmage's blood, "for their own protection". A single phrase has stolen into the countries consciousness, seemingly from the ether; "Hand of descent extended, I shall return to deliver my people." Rumors speak of the warp storms of the Mana Wastes waxing in violence, of the twisted monstrosities that dwell there growing more frenzied, and of the undead legions of Geb massing for war!

Can the disparate descendants of Nex prevent tragedy, and uncover the fate of their famous forebearer? Let us see...

This will be a Golarion based homebrew game, albeit a heavily planned one striving to emulate a paizo adventure path. Due to the region it takes place in, Nex, Geb, and the Mana Wastes primarily, you can expect a high magic game, with ready access to the technology of Alkenstar.

Handout 1

As a DM I like to drive forward a game as much as possible while offering the PCs the more important choices, if I drive play on and a player is strongly averse to the course I am happy to retcon, etc. I am an experienced PF and 3.5 DM running one other game on these boards and having done a great deal of PBP DMing previously on other sites such as Enworld. I will almost always try to provide maps, which I link via photobucket. I tend to work long hours on Saturdays, but will probably be able to post at least once. I favor tough games as a DM and player, so especially unoptimized characters, or those whose builds take a long time to pay off are not appropriate.

DM Carpe's Serpent's Skull
Photbucket Map Examples, etc.

What I am looking for 6:
* Players who can post a minimum of once a day during the week, and preferably on weekends to.
* Players who are keen to RP and invest their characters with true personalities.
* Players who have taken the time to read the campaign information provided and have a good grasp of it - feel free to consult other sources to, much of the information is shamelessly lifted from Golaripedia.
* Players who are prepared to invest the time in crafting a well realized character with a history. I would prefer characters that are strongly tied to the region, though this does not necessarily mean they must have originated there. If I can replace the place names in your backstory with Generia and loose nothing it will count as a mark against you.

Mechanics:
Abilities: 20 Point Buy
Races: Any Paizo, but I'll likely only accept one or two non core races - as defined by the PFSRD - so you may find yourself in direct competition with other such entries. However, there must be some means for you to have the blood of a human who lived thousands of years ago, so elves or dwarves would need some human blood, etc., this would not necessarily need to be demonstrated mechanically.
Classes: Any Paizo.
Available Sources: Any Paizo official from a printed book, though I reserve the right to disallow things from the more obscure ones.
Gold: Average for your class.
HP: Max for 1st HD, average +1 after. Animal Companions, and Eidolons get average +1 for all HD including their first.
Variant Rules: We will be using Hero Points, as I like to run tough encounters and feel they make play more cinematic.
Traits: 2, you may reflavor traits, but you do need to provide a fluff explanation, and must still select only one of each type.
Summoning/Companions/Eidolons: I have no objections to any of these, but please ensure you have their full stats included either on your character sheet, or in the case of summons posted in a spoiler in all of your posts while they are in play.
Character Completion: I would like all characters complete, including a character sheet and alias so we can swiftly begin play.

Recruitment Deadline: I will recruit until Monday the 28th at the earliest, and see how many applicant I have at that point. If I am satisfied we would begin play that night - which is why I would like to see all character sheets fully completed and ready to go.

Hey everybody, I'm in the process of putting together a short fantasy film with my friends. Its going to be extremely low budget, but I've got high hopes and would love any advice and feedback you care to provide. I should say that I'm in England to, as this will obviously effect locations and culture.

The plan is to make a 20 minute film over about 6 months, with minor use of special effects and horror/fantasy plot that draws inspiration from The Dresden Files and to a lesser extent Buffy. If we can get this to a point where I am satisfied with it I'll put it up on youtube and begin trying to attract a small amount of funding for more episodes on Kickstarter, I don't want to make any money, but would like to be able to finance some location trips and special effects.

I've just completed a basic outline, lined up a group of friends who are willing to act and purchased a semi decent digital camcorder at the moment so we are in the very early stages.

The Outline

Scene 1:
Young landscaper digging a pond for an little old lady, under the supervision of her little toy dog hits some sort of ancient vessel (a chest, or an urn, something of that ilk). Colored smoke leaks from a crack in the vessel and enters the man and the dog. The man manages to shake off the influence - considering showing against black background and representing him warding it off in his mind somehow - and does not notice the dogs eyes glowing briefly red as it is possessed. He tells the little old lady he is not feeling well and he'll be back tomorrow.

Scene 2:
In his living room, dark outside, he sits watching Catchphrase - a U.K gameshow - and tries to jokingly use the force to get his can of beer, it works and the can slides across the coffee table to him. We are introduced to his girlfriend, and he tells her he is going out for a run. In the window we see the little dog with its glowing eyes for a moment.

Scene 3:
He goes running down an old railway track - long disused and more like a wide path where people walk dogs, etc. We see a number of mostly small dogs move onto the old railway track behind him, their eyes glow. He runs up to an old railway tunnel and into the dripping darkness inside, then he begins to hear growls and howls and sees glowing eyes racing towards him. He rushes forward and uses "the force" on the lead dog as it runs through a shaft of moonlight in the middle of the tunnel - there is a chimney thing - buying himself enough time barely to reach the other end and slam the metal gate their shut. Dogs growl against the gate, glowing eyes he legs it.

Scene 4:
His girlfriend leaves the house and the old ladies dog emerges from the shadows and approaches he, she greets it and goes to pet it and gets possessed.

Scene 5:
He enters the house and she attacks him with a knife, they struggle for a moment with her possessing unnatural strength and lifting him up by the throat. He uses his new powers to grab a book from the bookshelf and hurl it at her. The Children's New Testment hits her in the head and sizzles colored smoke leaves her mouth and she collapses.

Scene 6:
In a cheap rather grotty office several unusual looking people sit at desk while in their midst another man stands before a circle of salt. He summons a fairy, and he asks her if there have been any magical incidents in the Midlands - he seems very blaize about this as if its something he does every night. She tells him that the Demon - insert demonic name here - has been freed two new Wizards have been born, then produces a mirror which shows our hero and his girlfriend in it. We see the office sign which reads L.A.M.P, League of Allied Magical Practitioners.

To be continued.

We would continue by having the characters introduced to the L.A.M.P, and being assigned as Wardens - is there a better term, bit too close to Dresden, perhaps something that plays of L.A.M.P?

I'll be using a Canon T2i to film. I'll need to figure out how to create glowing eyes. "Force" effects ought to be relatively simple to execute with careful camera work. Hopefully the dogs will be relatively simple, since I can just use glowing eyes in the darkness and sounds effects for the chase, otherwise they are just moving onto the track, sitting still, and coming up to the girlfriend with a wagging tail.

The two main parts are cast and have some acting experience, I plan to keep shooting until we get something that looks good.

If we do manage to attract a bit of funding on Kickstarter for a second episode I would like to create some more special effects for the wizards powers. I don't want everyone using the force. The idea would be that every wizard can use raw magical power, for rituals, low level telekinesis, etc., but they each have a specialty like fire, telepathy, divining, etc. I'd prefer to use real special effects where possible, as opposed to CGI since I think it generally looks a deal less cheesy when done cheaply. Give me Labyrinth over Primeval anyday.

Hey folks, I'm trying to get a project off the ground where five of us run a game and play in the other fours games. We have four current participants, but need a fifth member. We are not currently interested in anyone who is not prepared to run a game.

Its a fairly big commitment, we were looking to maintain a one post a day schedule in all games - honestly that looks a little unlikely, but I'll be pushing for it as much as possible.

Most of the games are ready to go, or have already kicked off, but are in the very early stages where introducing a new character will be simple. The games currently in the offing are...

Fanguar's Age of Worms: The Paizo AP, renowned for being hard as nails! Current PCs, Half Orc Paladin (tank), Half Orc Sorcerer, Dwarf Cleric, Dwarf Alchemist - we allowed a player who was unable to keep up with the rest of the project to continue in this.

DM Carpe's A Legacy of Hatred: A Golarion homebrew Campaign set in the country of Nex, and sticking as closely as possible to Paizo's information about the region - which is vague enough for me to have a pretty free hand, while making use of some great hooks. Current PCs a Human Cleric, a Dhampir Sorcerer, and a Human Wizard.

Doomed Hero's Black Sands: A homebrew game set in an Egyptian themed setting in the midst of a vast desert.

Almagafor's What Lurks Beneath: A homebrew game with a gritty dark feel. Current PCs are a Half Elf Witch, a Halfling Magus, and a Halfling Inquisitor/Fighter.

Ideally we would want a new participant to get their PCs ready ASAP and take a few weeks to get their game ready. Personally I would prefer someone to run an AP, but its certainly not a requirement.

The Archmage Nex, founder and ruler of the country named for him, has been missing for thousands of years. Nex's archrival, the dread necromancer Geb, still rules his own evil land - a ghost who cannot rest until he knows his ancient foes fate, and is assured of his victory.

For centuries now the countries of Nex and Geb have enjoyed peace, and been able to recover from some of the horrors caused by their master's apocalyptic spell battles. But within Nex many factions stir and the Council of Three and Nine are gathering any with the Archmage's blood, "for their own protection". A single phrase has stolen into the countries consciousness, seemingly from the ether; "Hand of descent extended, I shall return to deliver my people." Rumors speak of the warp storms of the Mana Wastes waxing in violence, of the twisted monstrosities that dwell there growing more frenzied, and of the undead legions of Geb massing for war!

Character Creation
Sources: Any CRB, APG, UC, UM, AA, other Paizo sources subject to review.
Race: Any with human blood. Tieflings and aasimar must select the appropriate variant heritage feat.
Abilities: 25 Point Buy
Traits: 2
Starting Gold: Max for class
HP: Max for 1st HD then your choice of roll or half+1.

Please post to attach your character to the thread, and then delete the post. Otherwise this thread will not be officially open for another week or so.

The Archmage Nex, founder and ruler of the country named for him, has been missing for thousands of years. Nex's archrival, the dread necromancer Geb, still rules his own evil land - a ghost who cannot rest until he knows his ancient foe's fate, and is assured of his victory.

For centuries now the countries of Nex and Geb have enjoyed peace, and been able to recover from some of the horrors caused by their master's apocalyptic spell battles. But within Nex many factions stir, and the Council of Three and Nine are gathering any with the Archmage's blood, "for their own protection". A single phrase has stolen into the countries consciousness, seemingly from the ether; "Hand of descent extended, I shall return to deliver my people." Rumors speak of the warp storms of the Mana Wastes waxing in violence, of the twisted monstrosities that dwell there growing more frenzied, and of the undead legions of Geb massing for war!

Can the dissparate descendants of Nex prevent tragedy, and uncover the fate of their famous forebearer? Let us see...

Rules:
1. Keep OOC comments to a minimum in this thread, please use the discussion thread for them.
2. Use tags when you need to, generally for giving grid positions, spelling out your action usage if you feel it might be unclear.
3. Ensure all die rolls are clearly marked, giving optional modifers abbreviations such as PA for power attack; for example, Greatsword PA vs B6: 120 + 6 = 126dAMAGE: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (6, 5) + 7 = 18. You do not need to spell out automatic modifiers, such as bless, or bardic music, unless asked to do so, though you may if you wish.
4. Use italics for inner monologue, and thoughts.
5. Include the following information in the class line of your alias profile plugging in the appropriate numbers for your character, (HP 10/10; AC 16, Touch 12, Flatfooted 14; Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +7; Init +8; Perception +4, Sense Motive +4)
6. Please try to keep your information current, so if you take damage, lower your current hp in your alias class bar, if you charge lower your AC, etc. Its not the end of the world if you don't but its helpful so yours truly does not have to refer to your character sheets constantly.
7. If something bothers you bring it up! Please do so in the discussion thread, or by PM if you feel more comfortable doing so.

Okay so we've got our band sorted, now we just need to decide what everyone is going to run! I suggest we each list, what we have played in/run previously or currently, what we would like to play in, and what we would like to run, and then discuss from there.

I am playing in Rise of the Runelords, have played in The World's Largest Dungeon, Maure Castle, Tomb of Horrors, and the first few levels of Shackled City. I have run Redhand of Doom, and Queen of Spiders - the super module containing Against the Giants, etc., and am currently running Serpent's Skull here on the forums.

I'd love to play Age of Worm, Savage Tide, Carrion Crown, Skulls and Shackles, any of the other APs, or a well planned homebrew taking place in an interesting Golarion location.

Do you have the time and inclination to DM a PBP game in exchange for getting to play in several more? Then this thread might be for you!

I propose that we get a group together here of, say 5-7 people each willing to DM a game in exchange for getting to play in the other group members games. So for running 1 game you would get to play in four or more. Its a big commitment timewise, but you would get a little more freedom with characters - get to play what you want with no pressure to fill a conventional role, etc. - and we could discuss what games each of us would run, perhaps allowing you to persuade someone to run that adventure you've always wanted to play in.

Ideally we would be looking for DMs with at least a little experience. My preference would be to form a likely group of interested individuals first and then move over to a discussion thread where we consider what adventures we would like to run/participate in. We need not be limited to APs of course, or even published modules, if you've always been intrigued by the dissapearance of Nex, or can't get enough Eberron there's a decent chance someone might be prevailed upon to run a game involving them.

Any takers?

Firstly I am delighted to have you all participating, your submissions blew me away and I think this has the potential to be an amazing game. I would appreciate it if you could all check in here and post, your description, the port you boarded at, and if you care to some common knowledge that your character would have revealed about themselves on the voyage. You can also describe how others might have perceived them during the voyage.

You are now free to post in the gameplay thread. Essentially you are waiting for dinner as usual, some of the NPCs - as detailed in the post - are on deck, feel free to interact with them, I'll respond with them tomorrow. I will move things along tomorrow night.

Feel free to ask any questions, and I encourage you to figure out what kind of relationships your characters have both here and in the gameplay thread.

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE UNTIL SELECTED.

You are one of a group of passengers aboard the Wyvern Class merchant ship Jenivere. These proud vessels plough the seas of Golarion, and this particular vessel is journeying from Magnimar is storied Varisia. Its destination, distant Eleder, in Sargava a land of jungles and savagery where the Mwangi tribes are barely kept in check by their Chelaxian colonizers.

The Jenivere began her journey some four months ago, so some of the passengers are by now very familiar with ship life. Those newly boarded still find themselves contending with roiling stomachs as they struggle to find their sea legs.

Life on board is fairly routine, though card games, tall tales, and inventive swearing all serve to pass the time. Sadly the food is not up to much as the ships cook, Rambar Terillo seems to be capable of creating exactly one dish - soup, which somehow always tastes the same no matter what ingredients he claims to have used.

The Jenivere's Captain is Alizandru Kovack, a Chelish man, who is pleasant enough with you and your fellow passengers, but a stern disciplinarian with his crew. He has been making the run between Magnimar and Eleder for some years now all without major incident, which given the perils of the route is fortunate indeed.

The most talkative and friendly crew member is without a doubt the first mate Alton Devers. He is well liked by passengers and crew alike, but seems to chafe under Captain Kovack's disciplinarian regime.

NPC Passengers

It is currently early evening, on a calm warm day, with the evening meal due to be served shortly - could it be soup? Many passengers are on deck awaiting the meal, if in some cases only on the repeated assurances that it is better to have something to throw up. Gerik Aberwhinger, gnome about deck, has just finished regailing those who would listen with a tale of a cunning Mwangi tribesman who managed to outwit an arrogant Chelish noble and win his daughters hand.

Ishirou - the golden skinned Tian with a thick white head of hair and beard and a fine looking foreign blade upon his back, despite rather shabby clothing - stands to one side of the group looking faintly uncomfortable. The pretty red headed Sasha Nevah is doubled over laughing and slapping her thigh, while there is nothing to be seen of the half elf woman Aerys, or the scholar Ieana who is no doubt buried in a book again.

Please feel free to role play with one another and the NPCs until tomorrow night when I will advance things. Do not advance to dinner, do not collect watery soup ;)

Consult the table to see how long you have been on board, roughly, and this should tell you how well you know everyone. Unless a player wishes to remain aloof - let us know asap if you do - you can assume you have their basic information if they have been aboard for more than a few ports. If you wish to set up an aquaintence pre RP please do so in the discussion thread or via PM.

I've decided to run an AP, and sought out one that does not seem to be doing the rounds on the recruitment forum - and which I am consequently not in as a player. Having read through the first couple of modules I am very impressed and believe it will be a great deal of fun.

What I am looking for:
* Players who can post a minimum of once a day during the week, and preferably on weekends to.
* Players who are keen to RP and invest their characters with true personalities.
* Players who have taken the time to read the Serpents Skull Players Guide, just click on the link to download it free.
* Players who are prepared to invest the time in crafting a well realized character with a history. In this AP you can be from virtually anywhere in Golarion, but I expect your character to be tied to the world. If I can replace the place names in your backstory with Generia and loose nothing it will count as a mark against you.

Mechanics:
Abilities: 20 Point Buy
Races: Core only, please give your ethnicity if human.
Classes: Core and APG only.
Available Sources: Any Paizo official from a printed book, though I reserve the right to disallow things from the more obscure ones.
Gold: Average for your class.
HP: Max for 1st HD, average +1 after. Animal Companions, and Eidolons get average +1 for all HD including their first.
Traits: 2, 1 of which must be a Campaign Trait from the Players Guide. Paizo only, I reserve the right to reject those from outside the APG, though its unlikely I will.
Summoning/Companions/EidolonsI have no objections to any of these, but please ensure you have their full stats included either on your character sheet, or in the case of summons posted in a spoiler in all of your posts while they are in play.
Character Completion I would like all characters complete, including a character sheet and alias so we can swiftly begin play.

Maps: There will be maps, though I have yet to decide via what medium, previously I have used photoshop to edit existing maps and give them a grid, but I will be looking at other options.

About me: I am an experienced DM, and have run a number of lengthy PBPs. I am English and on GMT, though I have a somewhat vampiric schedule. I tend to work long hours on Saturdays, but will probably be able to post at least once. I tend to favor tough games as a DM and player, but I'll be trying to stick closely to the encounters as written for this game. I plan to run the entire AP, but will give us a short break between each module of the AP, probably a week - players may continue to post in this time, as may I, but it will hopefully be downtime for both us and the PCs.

Recruitment Deadline I will recruit until Wednesday the 19th at the earliest, and see how many applicant I have at that point. If I am satisfied we would begin play that night - which is why I would like to see all character sheets fully completed and ready to go.

Roleplaying in this thread: Is perfectly acceptable, ensure you have read the Player's Guide first and you may RP with each other, or the crew of the Jenivere as detailed in the Players Guide, towards the end.

I am looking to start a new PBP campaign, and have a number of ideas I want to discuss, and either refine or reject enirely. I admit to being something of an impatient type at times, but think that getting people to critique my ideas before I implement them in a campaign will make it better in the long run.

Chief amongst these issues are that I want to use a homebrewed setting, with homebrewed gods, and that I want to make heavy use of prophecy. I would also like to split the campaign into several more manageable chunks, after each of which I would rerecruit if neccessary, etc., I would probably be looking to take a short break in these periods and allow the characters themselves some downtime. I was thinking every three months or so.

Homebrewed setting. I know this makes things a little more difficult, as players are required to utilize the little information you provide as opposed to the oodles of content available for something like Golarion. So what do you as a player want to know about a new setting? What information do I need to provide?

The game will, probably, be titled The Wyrmblood Chronicles, since dragons were accursed for slaying the goddess of fate with blood that grants prophetic visions. The strength of these visions is based upon the power of the beast, and they are granted only to the dragons actual slayer. Consequently dragons have been virtually driven from the material plane and are much prized.

The basic plan is to have several types of prophecy. Well known great prophecies in play at the beginning of the game, which will likely shape the course of the adventures and become more important at later levels. Middling prophecies which will relate to specific events and usually be used to begin, or guide the pcs in their adventuring. Personal prophecies, which are for an individual and important to them alone.

For example..

Greater: When the last of the lost delvers is awakened, the stone doors will open and truth will have a chance to cut chains of promises forged in lies. OOC: Commonly thought to speak of the dissapearance of the dwarven race some five hundred years ago - the only remaining dwarves are the descendants of those who were away from their great cities.

Middling: Admiral Jarik Kalorn heard the sentence, "It is my honor to to behold your radiant Prince." accompanied by a sense of impending danger, after killing a Sea Serpent. When the Harran elven ambassador utterred those words at a banquet three years later he instantly ran him through and revealed the creature to be a Lich with designs upon the Emperor's life.

Personal: When death calls, step to the right. OOC: When your character is hit by a blow that could potentially kill them they are instead reduced to 1hp, by jerking to the side at the last moment to avoid the worst of the effect. Could also be a less extreme version of a middling prophecy, etc.

How would you feel about this if you were a potentialplayer? Does it raise alarm bels, make you fear excessive DM fiat?