Over the past few years, you’ve heard plenty of buzz about Grant Yester’s campaigns. Now’s your chance to try one of his games for yourself.
You might have heard about it from your fellow gamers, an ad posted at the local gaming store, or a summary from Grant himself. No matter how you found out, you learned this much about the game...
Mirgaard, Frontier of the Gods, has spent the last fifty years recovering from the horrors of the War of Blazes. Guided by the hand of their god of righteous might, the Temerian Regency stands at the forefront of cultural, economic, and technological achievement, bringing its power to bear against anyone who would threaten the livelihood of its citizens.
However, Mirgaard’s purest hopes rest with the stories of Raubert Vanselir, the legendary explorer responsible for charting the face of the continent after the war’s wanton destruction. It has been nineteen years since Vanselir’s disappearance, but his stories still inspire courage and heroism in Mirgaardians to this day, despite the Regency’s best efforts to discredit him as a fraud.
The frontier is your home. Vanselir’s legacy of triumph over adversity inspired you from the day you were born. There is but one question for you to answer: what legends will you leave behind?
Goals
- Create an engaging, memorable story that explores human emotion, existential questions, and the power of storytelling in great depth
- Give players free reign to explore a fantasy sandbox and the relationships between players in tabletop games
- Interact with and affect the world around your characters, which will be reflected in future campaigns
Themes
- Medieval Romance - not the love stories. The old-school “knights and chivalry” stories.
- Nature and the Wilderness - the natural world doesn’t mess around, and neither do the things that live there.
- Courtly Intrigue - for those of you who really hate getting your clothes dirty.
- Horror - people are worse than monsters sometimes. You’ll be dealing with both.
- The Power of Legends - whether telling stories or making them yourself, see why legends matter.
The premise is relatively simple: you’ll be rolling two characters, a regular ol’ human and their Pathfinder counterpart, and playing both of them in the scenarios described above. This is a very experimental campaign designed to push the limits of what can be done with PbP storytelling, so cut loose and have fun!
Creating Your Human Player
- Has this person played in one of the GM’s campaigns before, or are they brand-new?
- What are some basic personality traits that make them distinctive?
- What role(s) do they prefer to cover in the party? This should reflect their personality to some degree.
- What are they hoping to get out of or see in the campaign?
Creating Your PF Persona
- Your Pathfinder character should reflect your human player’s personality to some degree, same as the rule stated above.
- 20-point buy - Paizo content only; no 3PP.
- Max HP at 1st level, then ½ hit die+1+Con past 1st level (think PFS hit points).
- Surprise! No traits at creation - these will be awarded periodically based on how your character grows and acts. Gaining drawbacks is also a possibility, so consider yourself warned…
- Average starting wealth for your class.
- Core races allowed. Featured, uncommon, or special races need to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Still here? Chomping at the bit to get started? Well, hold your horses - your time for glory will come soon enough. Reply with your basic Human Player and PF Persona ideas, and then you’re done! Recruitment will remain open until April 13th at 11:59 PM, after which I’ll take the weekend to consider submissions and assemble the party.
Questions? Comments? Outrage? Send them via PM, or express your thoughts in the interest check thread.
Thanks for reading, everyone! Let’s make something legendary together.
I'd like very much to apply, if possible.
Human Player-A young man brand new to the DM, he's sarcastic and blunt, and has a habit of lying. Occasionally, small life details leek out which he promptly ignores/attempts to hide. He's fond of shadowy magic characters and strong warriors, and often attempts to blend the two. He'll say he's just looking to pass the time, but seems to enjoy and care about his fellow players.
For the pathfinder character, I'm thinking the tattooed sorcerer archetype with either a shadow or starsoul bloodline. He, in his youth, made a foolish deal with the Fae to see the world beyond, and it marked him. Now an older man, he seeks to help prevent the younger generation from making his mistake.
Another idea is the sin eater inquisitor, but that doesn't generate as much fluff, and seems sort of strange in the setting. The cloaked wolf also has drawn interest, but I need more background before I can sort it out.
Any help/comments would be appreciated.
I’m already impressed! I like your concept for the Human Player - I’ve never had to deal with blatant lying at the table before, but I know some people in my local scene who do it constantly, so the dynamic should make for an interesting story.
As for the idea of a pact with the Fey gone wrong, that would work very well within the bounds of the story. Your Sin Eater/Cloaked Wolf Inquisitor isn’t bad either - much of the setting’s conflict is driven by an army of religious zealots who resort to all sorts of methods in their conquests, and you could either spin it as a former inquisitor who’s trying to fight back against the excesses of his order, or as an agent in disguise (which may set you at odds with the rest of the party - pretty juicy!).
Consider your application received!
[EDIT]
Copied the links from the campaign description, which should be publicly available. These will shed more light on the setting without spoiling too much.
[EDIT]
Copied the links from the campaign description, which should be publicly available. These will shed more light on the setting without spoiling too much.
Looks like your deities have 5e domains listed and no favored weapons. :P Otherwise, looks pretty cool!
I'm still wrestling with what I want to do with the human player (and what I think I can pull off, being not that experienced of a player) though, and there isn't really a lot of information on that side of things. With that in mind, what kind of environment would the real-world part be like? For example, where would the game be held - both in general (large bustling city? sleepy suburbs? small town?) and specifically (gaming store? Grant's home?)? What kind of things would we know or have heard about this Grant Yester person?
Also, if you're using normal text and italics for the two campaigns, then what would you use for thoughts and internal monologuing? It's unfortunate that the forum doesn't have enough formatting tricks :(
Ah, good catch with the deities - the setting was originally designed for 5E by popular vote, but I prefer Pathfinder 9 times out of 10. I’ll have proper domains and favored weapons set up tomorrow.
The Human Player setting is fairly simple, with the game itself taking place at Grant’s house in the suburbs. The city, Rainy Haven, is quite small and mostly grew up around the liberal arts college founded there a century ago. Grant is a thirty-something guy known for being actively involved in the town’s Pathfinder Lodge, playing in several home games with his old college friends, and running RP-heavy campaigns from time to time.
As for the limitations on formatting, I don’t have a solution in mind yet. That’ll come with more consideration and practice.
Also, if you're using normal text and italics for the two campaigns, then what would you use for thoughts and internal monologuing? It's unfortunate that the forum doesn't have enough formatting tricks :(
A line of underscores for division?
IN GAME
____________
AT THE TABLE
|
HUman Concept:Experienced gamer, has played various systems and editions, loves the experience. Has DMed before but has yet to DM successfully after his best and most successful campaign. Tends to sit back at times and let others do their actions before he plays. Tends to play clerics, Bards loves and respects versatility and utility.Has been banned from playing rogues and thieves.Tends to play women.Is from a rural town who makes treks up to game. It is his only means of getting out aside form work. Is shy and prefers to talk about geeky subjects than his real problems especially around new people. Currently new to this table as he has recently moved.
Character idea. Female Cleric of Cyanthia, focusing on Charm and Weather/Air. A Half-Elf from the Sunrise Isles, former daughter of a master elven tailor and one of his seamstress human underlings. She joined the church as she herself was the product of passion and she burns with it in battle, in bed, and in life. She also isn't shabby around a needle herself.
A line of underscores for division?
IN GAME
____________
AT THE TABLE
That was one of my first ideas, but I was concerned that line breaks would be a hassle for the players to include in their posts. If it's not that big of an issue, though, I may just go with it.
Also, the files have been updated with PF domains and favored weapons for the deities, as well as brief excerpts on the Core races in the Player's Guide to Mirgaard document. I'm currently working on a Suggested Listening list for those of you who really care about getting in the mood of the game (like I do).
@Critzible - Liking the submission a lot! You've done very well at incorporating details of the settings into your characters, which is affirming for me as the guy who came up with those settings.
I'm fine with the linebreak idea. Two spoilers is another way to make life easier.
Thanks for the extra info! Thought about it a little more, so here's my idea.
Human Player character: A fairly normal college student who isn't particularly into "nerdy things" (whatever that means) but has always been interested in high fantasy and mythology. She's more-or-less a new player, but she's got a good head for numbers, so that part of the game isn't much of a challenge for her to understand. She had some classmates who played D&D and invited her for a game...but they turned out to be the worst problem gamers ever all collected in a group - munchkinning, rules-lawyering, being glued to their phones, casual sexism, you name it. Now, a year later, she's been recommended to Grant by another friend, not from the first group, who'd had a good time in one of his previous games. She wants to give it another shot, but she's still apprehensive about the whole thing, and hopes this group will be different. She wants to start with something simple mechanically this time, though once she gains more confidence she'll start opening up to different, more complicated options; in terms of character she prefers typical fantasy heroes, though can get a bit antihero-y depending on setting (like this one). She's guarded and prefers to keep people at arms-length, especially if it seems like they want something from her, because of some bad experiences previously. She isn't the most focused person, frequently turning up late and unprepared - which is a problem since she has to take the bus everywhere, and those tend to run on a set schedule (though thankfully they're usually a bit late too) - though if she really wants to be somewhere and/or do something, she'll make more of an effort.
Wow, that was a fair bit longer than I expected it to be. Anyways...
PF Character: Mechanically just a simple unarchetyped elf archer ranger. In terms of background: she comes from a small, reclusive fey-worshipping elven settlement on the southern outskirts of the Forest of Dolien, where she was taught survival skills and a hatred of humanity and the Regency. Her own views on humanity have become a bit more moderated, especially since she's wandered away from the settlement and now resides in the Adelveldt area, though there's no love for the Regency there either.
And one last question, out of curiosity: do you have a map of Mirgaard? Not out of any need, I just like maps. :)
These submissions are fantastic! I unfortunately haven’t had any time to make a map since most of my posting/writing time takes place at work, but I really want to get around to it soon. I’ll see if I can start working on one over the weekend.
In other news, the Powers That Be document has been updated with a new faction, an assortment of smaller organizations to read about, and lists of nations that are aligned with the major factions.
Recruitment is open for the rest of the week, so don’t be afraid to give this a shot!
I'd like to apply. Sounds fascinating to play a fictional real persona playing a Pathfinder character
Fictional Real Player: Whitney
30-something girl who met Grant at a Pathfinder Lodge activity, and I'm envisioning them in some kind of flirtation or beginning stage romance, but obviously that would depend on Grant's availability, and their compatibility as characters... not a required component, but could add some fun to the dynamics. She has only lived in Rainy Haven for three years, and teaches at the local college (English and Gen Ed classes... she does freshman writing classes mostly because she has to, but she loves teaching Poetry and Science Fiction). She moved here for the job, but also to start over, trying to escape from past choices. She has been known to try to get away with a reroll from time to time, and Grant knows that her rogue character that he has played with before didn't have a problem hiding things from her party, but isn't sure if that is normal for her or if it was just because she was playing a rogue. She doesn't really like playing prepared casters or pure martial characters. She usually plays Sorcerers, but since other players are already going with some of her favorite types of characters, she is planning on playing a Bard in this campaign.
Whitney's Pathfinder Character:
Human Bard, probably with the Arrowsong Minstrel archetype, so she can be an archer and a spellcaster at the same time, but hide her spellcasting by pretending to be a ranger or just a singer since arcane magic is looked at negatively in Mirgaard. Background is minor nobility, but family fell on hard times after the war, and so she has been getting along on her musical talent and winning personality... but she still practices magic when she can, trying to keep it secret from the Regency. (She will belong to an underground Arcane guild if there is such a thing.) She grew up in Joule-de-Mer.
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Awesome! I’m liking the possible interplay between Whitney and Grant, and it’ll get even more interesting once the players learn more about Grant’s life... no spoilers, though! Your PF character concept is solid, too - masking their magic is going to be very important for arcane casters, and while no underground arcane movement exists in the game’s lore yet, you can always try to found one!
I'm very interested in something like this. Got a few ideas, but want to first ask what your stance on 3pp are. I'm thinking about using the Machinesmith class or the Spheres of Might system. If not, I have a few other ideas rattling around.
I take the broad stance of using Paizo-published content only, so 3PP is a no-go; it’s tough to sync with the setting of this campaign, and I just prefer to stick with what I know. With that said, I’d love to hear your other ideas and help get them ship-shape for the setting!
Late-in-the-week bump to remind you all that recruitment closes tomorrow night! I’ll be posting the list of players in this thread shortly afterward, giving everyone time to finish building their characters (both of them, in fact) over the weekend. Then it’s on to the game!
P.S. As it stands, the limited number of submissions means that those of you who have already applied may be looking at guaranteed spots, provided no one else applies in 24 hours... good luck!
The results are in, with four spots going to the following players...
Critzible
Hawksw0rd
theasl
Zanbabe
So, what comes next? Hop on over to the newly-minted Discussion thread with the aliases you’ve prepared for your characters so we can finalize creation. Don’t forget that the Docs linked in the Campaign Info tab are updated frequently, so check back to see what new details you can add to make your backstory pop.
I’ll be following up with PMs just to make sure you get the info you need. Thanks for your applications, and I can’t wait to get started!