Troy L's page

Not to hijack my own thread, but @ Troy: I don't need a great background, only a good one. When considering a new PC in a homebrew game with people you don't know, follow the KISS method.

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Here is what I had so far. I still need to determine his looks... I was too hung up on giving him lofty goals like finding out what happened 100s of years ago but I settled on more human goals that could turn towards loftier goals has the character evolves.

Its a PF game but I'm trying to run it like a classic D&D megadungeon setting. If it helps with perspective I've taken a lot of inspiration from Frog God Games' products Rappan Athuk and now Lost City of Barakus. In other words there's a city (with adventures of its own), a wilderness area nearby with numerous smaller dungeons and entry points to the megadungeon, and then the megadungeon itself.

I wonder if the other players wouldn't be better served with a linear storyline. I don't enjoy railroading as a GM or a player, but maybe a little bit here would go a long way. The campaign has numerous plot hooks and such, but here's an observation I've made: these players are very passive.

Both of those PCs were actively working toward something. The other characters in the game however have backgrounds but they are vague and not really plot-rich. As well none of the players really plays up any of the details. As a result I have no idea what the players or the characters are looking to achieve so I don't know how to provide it.

The PCs in the game are:

- NG male Halfling sorcerer (Faerie Dragon Bloodline) 2
- NG male human rogue 2
- NG male half-elf summoner (master summoner) 2

The Halfling is a cartographer who came from a small village and left behind a mentor (he never elaborates on said NPC and doesn't seem to care about them). The rogue is a dungeon delver who works for my homebrew version of the PF Society; he wants to find old stuff for the guild. The summoner hasn't really fleshed out his background yet; I don't even know what his eidolon is other than it's physical attacks.

Hi Mark,

I am sorry for not giving you a solid background by this point, but I have been trying. I was hoping to be able to draw some inspiration from the other players, plot, and my interaction. It was a bit stifling having someone who did not want any RP outside of dungeon running so it may get better from here. :) I didn't get too much to draw from the one night I played so far and as others have mentioned, meeting as infrequestly as we have has made it hard to develop much of a repore with the other players.

I have invested a lot of time into fleshing out several different backgrounds for my character after my first attempt at a background didn't jive because of the powerful family, which I am totally ok with.

Since then I have deleted pages of what ended seemed like stream of conciousness writing until I had something that felt like a good start. It still doesn't feel complete to me, but that is why I brought up you joining me on Trello as that is where I manage my ideas and it's a great platform for us to colaborate on fleshing out the background I partially settled on out of frustration.

I did appreciate you pulling the one fey blessing trait I did settle on into the story.

I'm pretty sure i told you before but just so it's out there. I have never played a mega-dungeon and I don't have any experience playing "classic d&d" (3.5 and pathfinder only) so I may be going too far away from your original vision.

I like having the open world available to explore. I also like being guided through some linear threads to allow me to organically grow my character through the choices I am forced to make. I look at it this way, in real life most people I know are not used to the opportunity of agreeing on big decisions with a group of aquaintences in a place we are still unfamiliar with. I thing that translates over to starting in a new open campaign with people you don't know very well. Until we have time to get to know the world, each other and see how the world around our characters works, it's difficult to know where to go and what to do and by extension to have the confidence in your decisions to ask other players to follow.

Ok this ended up very long.

TLDR:
I liked the one game I played, and the world you have created is an interesting one and I wouldn't mind exploring.

I am trying to give you a great background but I could use some help moving it past good.

I am inexperienced when it comes to mega-dungeons and classic d&d.

Putting our characters in a linear story line could be a good thing, until we get to know the world and each other better.

PS. My eidolon is a catlike stealthy quadruped named Smee.

Count me in too! I have been considering getting back into 3.5 and found PF and want to give a try again. Have you made any plans? If not, how is this weekend looking for everyone?