The Darkest Corners (Urban horror fantasy homebrew)


Recruitment

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To whom it may concern,

I've come to understand that you are one of a particular skillset that many would believe useless in the modern world. One way or another, you have come to learn that there are things lurking in the shadows, unknown horrors and creatures beyond death that plague this world in much greater number than any 'normal' person may suspect. Too many deaths in this world have been labeled a mystery by a town guard out of their depth, where the horrible truth would lead to a dark cult or something nobody could even name. Convincing those whose lives have not been tragically torn asunder by this knowledge is folly, but the greater folly still is in letting darkness run rampant through the world. I have come to suspect certain things that I cannot say in a letter, lest it find its way into the wrong hands, but ill omens have forced my hand, and I can no longer sit idly by and let the darkness deepen and proliferate.

You have been sought out with painstaking effort, word of your deeds coming to me through every channel and connection I have. I understand this is an odd request and an unconventional manner of delivery, but if I am correct, then the things I have alluded to above will strike a chord with you, and that you not only believe me, but understand what I am asking. I have a great need of your abilities, because threats linger on the horizon that will surely spell doom if there is no united front to stand against them.

If you are willing to help, please make haste to The Gilded Unicorn in Absalom. It is one of the finest inns in the city, and within the envelope you will find the key to a room that has already been paid through the next month for. Lay low there and await further correspondence. Discretion is vital.

The Darkest Corners is a homebrew campaign of my own design. Life has interrupted my running it on this forum before, but in the past eight or so months since, I have been honing and tightening the focus on it, and I feel it's ready to go for another run. The idea is that your character is in one way or another an expert in the fields of the undead, demons/devils/daemons, or unknown and mysterious monsters. How exactly you roll with that idea is up to you, but it's vital that your character be on-theme for the idea, and in particular that they have at least one clear skill that would lead to them being sent the above letter. Some kind of an expert in something. You can decide what specifically it is, just have a reason to be recruited. "Caravan guard who once had to kill a vampire" isn't good enough.

Despite being the best at what you do, you'll still be facing difficult challenges, fighting powerful undead beings, secretive and deadly cults, mages who have mastered vile and forbidden forms of magic, and strange beasts who may not be undead but certainly fall deep into the category of "the unknown". I like to challenge my players, so for every encounter with a few street thugs in your way you're likely to face something out of your league that you'll eke out a win against by the skin of your teeth. Otherwise, where's the horror?

If it helps, here's kind of a general list of my influences when it comes to urban fantasy and the sorts of horror I'll be rolling in. Feel free to use them as a general idea of how to develop your character; homages and inspiration are never bad things for my derivative ass, though feel free to draw influence from outside of this list as well.

Influences/inspiration:

The Dresden Files
Dracula
The Cthulhu Mythos
Hellblazer/Constantine (the currently-running TV show, not the movie)
Supernatural
World of Darkness
Ravenloft
Sleepy Hollow (again, the TV on the air right now)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Castlevania
A whole heap of obscure monster myths from around the world

In terms of setting, the campaign will take place within Golarion, but there will be a few changes. Deities and locations will be intact just fine so that peoples' backstories and divine classes can flow as normal. Certain organizations may be different, and names of major nobility are out the window in favour of different ones, where convenient. While there's no year specified and it won't change too much on a mechanical level, I'd also like to note that on an aesthetic level, the setting will lean more toward a Victorian look and feel to it, since I feel personally it helps tonally with fantasy horror more than a normal medieval aesthetic does.

Structurally, the campaign will have a heavy investigative bent to it, with you having to solve mysteries while hunting down the monsters in question. While the word "hunting" is accurate in terms of there being a lot of combat to do, roleplay and puzzle-solving will be major elements as well, so characters built for out-of-combat purposes will have more than their fair chance to shine. The game will take place mostly in Absalom, but involve some travel to other cities on leads or clues, though generally you'll end up in other cities as a result. Due to the urban setting you will be doing very little dungeon crawling.

Character creation details:
-5th level, to reflect your character's previous experiences and competency in areas of expertise
-25 point buy
-Max HP per level
-10,500 starting gold, as per WBL
-Any non-evil alignment. Neutral clerics may not worship Evil-aligned deities.
-All classes allowed, including the Occult Adventures playtest material, but be aware of the downsides in using classes who don't have much feat or item support yet, and run the risk of being errata'd in the final product. All archetypes are allowed, except for Synthesist Summoner.
--The Commonplace Guns is in play to reflect the Victorian-ish element. All firearms are Martial Weapons, and early firearms and their ammunition cost 25% of the values listed values. "Modern Firearms" are not available.
--While by no means necessary, "on-topic" archetypes and class choices that deal with the game's subject matter interest me greatly, and can provide a lot of flavour and theme to a character.
--Common enemy types, for the purposes of class options like Favored Enemy, will include Undead, Humanoid (Human), and Outsider (Evil).
-All Core, Featured, and Uncommon races are allowed, save for Drow and Svirfneblin.
--Tieflings do not need the Fiendish Heritage feat to access their variants. Both Aasimar and Tiefling may choose as many aesthetic effects from the table as they wish to diversify their character instead of rolling, if they wish. From the variant abilities table, they may choose any ability that does not provide +2 to an ability score, though if they choose to roll for the ability and get one, they may take it.
-Two traits, with the option to gain a third by taking a drawback.
-All first party material is allowed. Third-party will be on a case-by-case basis, but must be available in some way for me to see. Psionics, Path of War, Godlings, and archetype packages are not allowed.
-A backstory, obviously, detailing your character, what they do, and why they do it. Please try to slip in some manner of plot hook that could potentially be explored over the course of the game, as well as a goal or two, if said plot hook doesn't necessarily tie into that end goal.
-A general rundown of what your character can offer to a party in terms of their abilities and focuses, as well as a rough plan for where you see them going down the line in terms of prestige classes or multiclassing.

Houserules:
-I don't use a map, preferring narrative combat to fiddling with pieces, but I will be clear and descriptive about what is going on and what limitations there are on motion.
-Don't worry about encumbrance. I will still consider Strength scores for carrying/lifting/pushing heavy objects, but your character can hold as much stuff on them as they need, so long as they have a place to put it.
-Due to the urban setting, keeping track of food and lodging is not a major issue for as long as you are within the city.
-I use group initiative so that combat rounds should only take a day each, really speeds up the game.
-In the interest of making certain enemies unique, I may flub/houserule/homebrew up elements exclusive to that enemy, like merging incompatible archetypes or changing spell lists. Certain players may not be fond of this decision and others may be weirded out when they see something that they know isn't right, so I feel it's fair to warn about this in advance.

I'm looking for people who can make one post per day and at least one on weekends. How long this thread stays open depends on sustained interest; if it peters out and everyone is finished their characters, I'll likely close earlier. But for the moment, let's say the deadline is Sunday. Final party will be 4-6 players, depending on balance and interest and other stuff.


I am tossing in my interest. I'll make a character later today.


Just so I know, do you have Deep Magic? I do not have anything specifically in mind yet.

The Exchange

I'll be considering a steel hound investigator. It almost seems too obvious.


I do indeed have Deep Magic. I've only ever just skimmed it though, so I'd want to know what you want out of it before blanket approving the whole book.


This sounds very cool. And it sounds like you've put in a lot of thought, time, and effort into it. I will submit a character if I can flesh out a concept.


Hmmm...

I've been waiting to play a Lepidstadt Investigator for a little while, and this seems like the perfect game to try it out. Have a question though: will you allow the following archetypes to stack?

Lepidstadt Investigator + Empiricist + Steel Hound

A word of warning, however: I will not be able to post on the weekends, (most of the time, anyways), so keep that in mind if you want to select me.

Will hopefully have a backstory (be ready to read a short novel :P) and character up by tomorrow.


Assuming the archetype D20PFSRD calls "Relentless Inspector" (the site isn't allowed to use a lot of setting names, and I don't have Advanced Class Origins to go look it up directly), then no. I'd be willing to allow Steel Hound, with its change only apparently to the level 8 addition Poison Resistance, to be added to another archetype if that's the only thing they have in common, but not stacking two archetypes onto it that both fully do away with the poison resistance.


Hmm, okay then. I'll just be a Relentless Investigator then.


You can call it whichever of the two names you'd prefer, I just wasn't absolutely certain they were the same archetype. And I can allow Steel Hound to go with it, if you do want to go for the guns. It's just the level 8 Poison Resistance bonus for that one, and I'm fine flubbing something that minor.


I'm wanting to bring in a skilled character, how do you feel about scholar


Really not feeling Scholar. The whole mishmash of other class features thing is a bit of a turn-off, as is the fact that in terms of things of its own it really doesn't do anything beyond aping other classes' level one abilities. I'd rule a "no" on that one.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I like the idea of this one. I am thinking of trying to create a conspiracy theorist whose specializes in secret societies and often attributes them to a variety of things - with varying degrees of success, of course, depending upon the DC of the check against his experience. Would that be in fitting with the theme or are you wanting to limit area specializations to monster types?


I can dig the premise of it; there's going to be a few cults/secret societies that become recurring elements in cases throughout the came, and while I'm going to remain a little tight-lipped on precisely what the anonymous letter-sender's predicament is, I can certainly say that someone with knowledge of such groups would definitely be of interest. Did you have something in mind, mechanically? I'd say that you should definitely go in a direction build-wise where even when completely removed from things involving said socieities--and a lot of adventures will have nothing to do with them--you're still able to pull your weight just fine.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yes, I was looking at Rogue with the investigator archetype. People expect the theory conspiricist to be a raving loner but I imagine this character as a (mostly) level-headed investigator with "law enforcement" experience in Absalom, either as a pencil - pushing public investigator or a contracted private one who also does side jobs here and there. That way I have a lot of play with my skillset, a decent selection of rogue talents, and enough combat ability to be useful.


hey, dm, any chance we can add silver to our bullets? In the guns guide, it mentions the price of adamantine bullets but not mithril or silver bullets and I was wondering if you'd allow it, just adjust the price of such. Probably going to be going slayer with this, and no I'm not naming my character Buffy.

Edit: wait a second, it does show the price of silver bullets on there.


Sounds interesting. Putting together a character for submission.


I am thinking of going with a Hunter with the animal companion of a wolf
Would this be acceptable?


All good tales such as these have their outsider. Captain Nemo of the Extraordinary Gentlemen is one such man. I would have Baqir Iskandar, Chosen by the Flames be such a man.

His character sheet is being written up as we speak, but here are the details:


  • Human
  • Kineticist 4 (Fire) /Alchemist (Crypt Breaker)
  • Baqir would have previously been one of many interested in delving the tombs of ancient Osirion. His exploits beneath the sand would have caught the attention of our sponsor, his knowledge on arcane matters, his steadfast determination to route both undead and monstrous foes as well as his reputation for being true to his word.

Thoughts, comments? Is this a character YOU would find interesting in such a setting. Baqir would perhaps stand out somewhat from the rest, but his desire learn to work with a new group and right wrongs would make him a fierce ally.

Also, I've been dying to try out the kineticist. I've taken Crypt Breaker more as a push to fit within the campaign's structure, and would prefer to simply take a 5th level of Kin if possible.


Gyar... too many ideas, head about to burst!Fetchling Bard(archaeologist)/Summoner(shadow caller), Aasimar Bloodrager/Brawler?, Dwarven Ranger/Warpriest, just to name a few.

I love the concept of this game. Ravenloft was my favorite setting back in 2nd edition, I've read a ton of Victorian/Gothic horror, ran a 2 year Victorian Age Vampires game, and then ran a 2 year D20 modern game with a similar flare.

Time to see what comes to fruition.


I'm feeling a Tiefling Paladin/Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple build.

As someone who was born into the shady mysteries to which our sponsor refers, and deals with it every day, he would have an intimate understanding and a deep loathing for all such things and would aim for the eradication of all of the predators waiting in the dark as a means of possibly redemption, or due to self-loathing.

He would have to deal with certain discriminations due to his appearance, though most of his fiendish features are rather subtle, no one can miss the fiendishly glowing eyes and fang-like teeth.


@Number 13 or 14: I don't see why not? Anything available to you from the usable material is on the table, just a matter of how you wrap it up in a character concept that I'm concerned about.

@Baqir: I can dig it; not exactly a theme I thought someone would go for, but it would be interesting to see him stand out against a group dressed like movie!Van Helsing. Crypt Breaker is a great class choice, but I won't force it on you if you wanted to go pure Kineticist.

@Arrathion: Yeah, that could work. Very cool with redemption-seeking "monsters" in this sort of setting.


I want to make someone who is good with the inevitable rooftop encounters. Would a Goblin Winged Marauder work for you?


It's official Paizo, so go for it. There is indeed one early case that will involve rooftop encounters.


Hmm. This seem like an intriguing type of game! ;)

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Will probably apply with another character though : )


Since the playtest available, I think I'd like to give the Ocultist a try. I'll report back as soon as I have something more concrete . )


You're going for a Victorian feel and the year isn't set. How much freedom do we have with the setting elements, especially with some of the organizations? If, for example, somebody wanted to play a member of the Knights of Ozem? Are they intact as a well-known order of holy knights, or would they be a shadow of their former glory, a forgotten cabal of once-legendary heroes that now fight in obscurity? The same question could be extended to how the churches are perceived by the rest of the campaign setting as well. Do the common folk know much about the existence of monsters?

EDIT: A careful re-reading would at least suggest that most people are in the dark, but I'm still curious about the organizations. If we have some flexibility, I'd be more than happy to try to come up with something to satisfy the flavor. Golarion is full of organizations that could fit the bill, especially if we're going for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen feel with horror themes.


@Lessah: Occultist might be cool, but if it doesn't pan out, Ophelia would be more than welcome to come back.

@The Dread Pirate Hurley: It's more of an aesthetic change than advancing the world a few centuries to where things would have progressed to that point. I'm using the vagueness as an out to introduce different elements and names without having to dig through a hundred setting books to find the precise name of a specific person when I have a different idea in place for them. But in terms of orders and their perception, assume it's as the game is in its "current" time. Someone from the Knights of Ozem could certainly work, but there would have to be a reason for why they'd be performing work that the order doesn't really have a hand in.

In terms of how much the average person knows; vampires and just necromancy in general exist in the world and I don't know of anything in the fluff that says they're even remotely secret things. But, I imagine there's a great deal of "that could never happen here" going on. Only backwater Ustalav villagers have any reason to be afraid of evil necromancers raising their grandparents or being chomped on by a werewolf. Plenty of murders that end up as unsolved mysteries or blamed on vagrants who did nothing wrong are the work of creatures nobody is comfortable accepting the reality of. Not to mention cults and secret socieities, or the actually "unknown" things. But for the most part, I think it's less "in the dark" and more "vehemently in denial driven by some mix of fear and ignorance".


Have a character in the works and coming along great, thought I should give an update first

Aasimar Paladin (Holy Gun, Warrior of the Holy Light) 4 Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger) 1

The flesh of the backstory is coming in but the basis for his character is that he was orphaned at a young age and picked up by cult devoted to Zon-Kuthon and tortured to satisfy their cruel gods will. After years of slavery and torture, the cultists deemed him too old to continue serving their purposes and sent him to die among their undead servants. That was when his celestial bloodline awakened, radiating solar light on the creatures of darkness and affording him the chance to escape. The rest has yet to be written.

Thoughts?


Here is my submission. Still working on his backstory and personality.


Nothing too bad there, but I'll wait for the finished backstory before passing judgement. Not sure why you'd take Holy Gun when firearms are martial weapons though.


Good to hear :)

Occultists are a bit bare-bones at the moment, but I think I can coax it into what I want.


Took holy gun more for flavour than anything else but also for the slight bonuses to my grit ability and the free Extra Grit feat

The Exchange

I just wanted to pop in to express maintained interest. I gave up on the Investigator and am instead drafting an Aasimar Shaman (Spirit Warden).


Hey I'm back and may I present

Eldak Lightbringer, slayer of cultists and evil spawn alike.

Role
Eldak fulfills both a damage and support role for the team, using his grit points to deal high damage to targets through the use of Smiting Shot and Focused Shot.

He also has the ability to heal allies or damage undead and the like with the use of his Lay on Hands and Channel Energy as well as providing bonuses and eventually healing, resistances and debuffs with his power of faith ability.

Progression
He will primarily progress along the path of the Holy Gun/Warrior of the Holy Light with the occasional dip into Mysterious Stranger to increase his fighting capabilities.


DM, I'm wanting to purchase a few monster Masks to disguise myself. However there are a few things. 1. the price varies from 5 to 10 gold.
2. It says I need a wig and the price of wigs vary, do I need a seperate wig for each mask?
3. Are there limits as to what masks I can have? I'm wanting vampire, Orc, maybe hobgolin, maybe bugbear, maybe dwarf and a few others, ie. plenty of humanoid creatures I can be.
4. It says that a monster mask can only go so far depending upon race, you can read the monster mask to know what I'm talking about. Do any of these I'm looking at make me look legit?
5. Are there other clothings you would require me to buy to allow such a thing?


I think I am going take advantage of that Tiefling trait selection and make a Halfling-Tiefling (picking Nr 44).

The character will contribute with some investigative skills and perks, minor magic support - and Spooky willing - rogue like skills. On that topic - I'd like to ask, is the Trap Finder trait okay? It is a campaign trait which lets you disarm magical traps (the Occulist has Disable Device as a skill and a decent pool, but lacks that little detail) :).

Implements (schools of magic) I am thinking of picking up: Illusion and then two of the following: Divination, Enchantment, Transmutation & Necromancy (mainly for the familiar. I love familiars!).


speaking of trapfinding and disable device, the character I'm making does not have disable device, but will carry a skeleton key with him bought at 85 gp, so he will have disable device at dex+10 vs locked doors.


For future applications' sake, usually I only remark on a finished background if there's something wrong with it, since "Yeah that looks fine" gets pretty boring to type over and over. Consider my silence some manner of vague approval.

One thing I forgot to note earlier in the post about organizations is that one group is off limits, on the narrow chance anyone wanted to use it. No characters can have any link in their fluff to the Pathfinder Society. It sounds strange, but there's plot reasons and I'm saying this only on the incredibly off chance someone tries it.

@DoubleGold: I think you're greatly misunderstanding what the masks do. In terms of convincing disguises, they really don't work much, especially in any kind of urban setting beyond "scare people out of an alley at night". You'd be better off buying a Hat of Disguise for at-will, versatile disguises into all manner of things that give an actual bonus.

@Leesah: I'm fine with most campaign traits, and that'd be one of them. It's kind of restrictive to always need a Rogue or one of a small handful of archetypes in a group so that magical traps can be dealt with.


what about a disguise kit, does that work the same in an urban setting?
I'm trying to go for combat/skilled/stealth person if that helps. I won't be really good in all 3, or so good that it makes everyone feel useless, but I'm wanting to be better than average in all 3. I took diguise and stealth as max ranks as disguise and stealth go hand in hand. As for Skilled, I'm covering about 3 knowledge skill and all the dex and str based ones.

I know you suggested Hat of Disguise, but I'm deciding whether or not it is worth the 1800 with all the other cool things I want to do.


Hmm I just noticed something so I have another question!

Are you okay with using the "Non-Human Tiefling" sidebar rules?

They basically grants the Small size for free, so that I can have both a Tiefling Halfling and a cool perk off that list : )


@DoubleGold: Disguise kits work. The mask is meant to be a no-mess, instant solution, but it's a bad solution and meant to be a bad one. But, as someone who's used the item before, Hat of Disguise is great if you want to be sneaky and stealthy. Instantly illusion yourself into an entirely new outfit, make your armor look like peasant clothes or even noble clothes if you want. Change your entire facial structure or apparent race at will, which is great for losing heat. For 1800, you're getting a ridiculous amount of utility, believe me.

@Lessah: Yes.


Would you object if I used a small Aasimar with the Scion of Humanity trait to take Racial Heritage (Fetchling) and get the Shadow Caller archetype usually only available to Fetchlings? Ridiculously convoluted, I know, but the idea is a person who stopped aging for reasons they don't understand (hence small) but does have a creepy murder shadow. The Creepy Child goes adventuring, in other words.

Grand Lodge

Dotting for oh so much interest!!!!


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

....*suddenly goes and changes some things to remove Pathfinder Society links* :)


@JonGarrett: Racial Heritage requires you to be a human, and beyond that I'm honestly not too fond of the whole creepy child archetype, sorry.

@Yossarin: Amazing.


Yes, I know, hence the Scion of Humanity trait (allowing an Aasimar to count as human for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids) so it does, legally, work but if you aren't fond of the idea, back to the drawing board.


Oh, whoops, I missed Scion of Humanity in that--I'm very, very tired at the moment.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I know, it figures I would be the incredible off-chance. Fortunately it was not integral to the concept.


Spooky GM wrote:
Oh, whoops, I missed Scion of Humanity in that--I'm very, very tired at the moment.

Yeah, no worries, it happens. Hopefully I'll think of something else.

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