Call of the Abyss (Inactive)

Game Master Patrick Bailey

Loneliness... It's only companion... a slow degradation of sanity. In the dark of space there lies an endless sea of possibilities, both wonderful and insidious...

Game Overview: Unaware of what has occurred, you awake into a living nightmare of isolation, creeping madness, and terror.

This game will focus more heavily on the interactions of the PC's, how they deal with their situation, and the mystery of their surroundings. It will not overly utilize combat.

Character Creation rules:
Race: For this one let's just stick with Humans. I'd rather avoid dealing with the differences in race.
Point buy 20 points.
Skills I think I'm going to use the unchained background skills to give a small boost to fleshing out your characters.

Tell me about your character. What does he/she look like? What's his/her nature? What are his/her aspirations?

Posting rate: I'd prefer the posting rate to be about every 1-2 days or so. I understand that life can get in the way sometimes so don't worry about your character getting killed off screen but there may be times when I will just DM PC them to keep the flow of the story moving.

There's definitely more info to come but I am rather tired right now. I'll update some time tomorrow.

dot

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Interesting... there's not too many horror games on ANY messageboards... count me as interested in seeing what you come up with!

Is this a false start?

I am terribly sorry for my complete lack of absence, I had a class that demanded my complete attention and have been only to vaguely work on this game. That said my class ended and now I have time to work on it again.

Hmmm, go on...

I'm curious.

I like the diea so far. Dotting, can't wait to see more info.

Dotting
Are semi-noobies able to apply as well, or will I need some materials?

Dotting for goodness

My PC will be a woman who's a telepath, to her not having minds around her, is driving her mad, if you think lonelyness for a normal human is bad just think what it's like for some one who is used to feeling the emotions of others around her.

She's tall Nordic looking, mid 30s, her clothing is some kind of suit, I don't see her with weapons her mind is the only one she has.

If this is higher level game she may have a psicystal with her, but that's a copy of her own personality so again, more madness seeping in.

Dotting.

A question: Would you happen to allow the playtest Vigilante? Got a build I want to try out with it, see if I can't make it work.

I am terribly sorry for my complete lack of absence, I had a class that demanded my complete attention and have been only to vaguely work on this game. That said my class ended and now I have time to work on it again.

1) You wrote a double negative.

2) Checking at the posting history of your other aliases, you are active in at least 2 other PbP, so I don't think time is the only reason.

2.B) Sorry for the stalking part, but in the past few years, we have had a lot of DM/GM/ST/etc doing recruitment threads then vanishing without a word, starting a campaign then vanishing without a word, or have us make characters for a game he/she is playing somewhere else. So if you don't think you can do it now, just plain tell us.

Either or... wrote:

I am terribly sorry for my complete lack of absence, I had a class that demanded my complete attention and have been only to vaguely work on this game. That said my class ended and now I have time to work on it again.

1) You wrote a double negative.

2) Checking at the posting history of your other aliases, you are active in at least 2 other PbP, so I don't think time is the only reason.

2.B) Sorry for the stalking part, but in the past few years, we have had a lot of DM/GM/ST/etc doing recruitment threads then vanishing without a word, starting a campaign then vanishing without a word, or have us make characters for a game he/she is playing somewhere else. So if you don't think you can do it now, just plain tell us.

Ironic post from someone with 16 posts.

Sorry, I couldn't pass up that jab. :D

Ironic post from someone with 16 posts.

Sorry, I couldn't pass up that jab. :D

This is my third account here, the other two are closed (not banned, I asked for them to be closed).

so much for this one then

Intriguing. Yes I suppose I did use a double negative there. Also don't worry about the "stalking" thing. I have done exactly what you did for the same reason.

Over the last few days, I've been studying up on various movies/games/stories and refreshing myself on what makes effective maddening and/or horrifying scenes. So those of you who are particularly well versed in sci-fi horror may notice some similarities. Also I've been trying to decide whether or not to allow the use of magic/psionics.

I was definitely leaning towards no, since the less characters are able to understand the unknown the better.

Dotting for goodness

My PC will be a woman who's a telepath, to her not having minds around her, is driving her mad, if you think lonelyness for a normal human is bad just think what it's like for some one who is used to feeling the emotions of others around her.

She's tall Nordic looking, mid 30s, her clothing is some kind of suit, I don't see her with weapons her mind is the only one she has.

If this is higher level game she may have a psicystal with her, but that's a copy of her own personality so again, more madness seeping in.

Once I read this character and had some time to contemplate, I decided I really like the idea of a telepath in the game.

That said, I do not think I'll be allowing other types of magic on board, Divine or Arcane. And please don't everyone make a psionic character.

A question: Would you happen to allow the playtest Vigilante? Got a build I want to try out with it, see if I can't make it work.

Does the Vigilante happen to be a spellcaster? My computer is having trouble downloading the file.

Intriguing. Yes I suppose I did use a double negative there. Also don't worry about the "stalking" thing. I have done exactly what you did for the same reason.

Over the last few days, I've been studying up on various movies/games/stories and refreshing myself on what makes effective maddening and/or horrifying scenes. So those of you who are particularly well versed in sci-fi horror may notice some similarities. Also I've been trying to decide whether or not to allow the use of magic/psionics.

I was definitely leaning towards no, since the less characters are able to understand the unknown the better.

Ha ha ha, ok.

also, Knowing =/= Understanding.

My character is a young man in his late 20's with jet black hair, pale blue eyes, tall and slender, basic space suit, and a small scar under his left eye. How did he does not remember. He is a sociopath. Plain and simple. He can fake emotions but he barely feels anything. He does not remember why he joined this mission or whatever it is. His name is Marco Everstone.

Okay, I'm ready to begin this game now. I'll make some final decisions here.

Human's only. No caster classes. I'll allow 1 person to be the telepath. You will not start out with any weapons or supplies.

I think I'm looking for 6-8 players for this game. We have 2 character ideas created so far.

No one is safe... this game will be fairly hard core from the get go, so don't be surprised if you die early on.

I like that death can be dealt out early on. It will increase the tension.

Will we start together or separate? And if separate will we be able to communicate with one another in some way?

And where will this game start? In a shuttle or space station of some kind, a moon or planet? I am just curious.

Just to clarify then, that means we can definitely pick from:

Brawler, Cavalier, Fighter, Gunslinger, Rogue, Slayer, and Swashbuckler.

Are you also fine with the Barbarian and the Monk? They're not technically casters, but they both have some pretty heavily supernatural options. I could see a barbarian being interesting in this kind of game (the Beast taking over, that kind of thing), but with this being a largely non-combat game maybe you don't want to deal with it.

I, too, would like to know what kind of horror game to expect here. Obviously there will be mysteries involved, but what is considered baseline knowledge for our characters? Are we fantasy characters or sci-fi or modern or something else? Knowing general information (we're on a ship, in jail cells, we're all from different places and we woke up in a space between realities, etc.) would definitely help inform character-making decisions.

Also, the Occult Adventures classes, specifically the Medium and the Occultist, could have some really slick RP capabilities in a game like this. Would you consider allowing either of those classes for the "telepath" character archetype?

Good questions and one's I should address.

1.) You will start separated. There will be ways to communicate with each other. Whether or not you are consistently in contact with each other will depend on how things proceed with your decisions.

1b.) As for where you are exactly, that will not be immediately revealed from the beginning.

2.) You are all effectively sci-fi modern characters. Although, yes you can pick from the above list of character options.

2b.) I'm not too worried about people choosing barbarian or monk options. I understand the supernatural aspects can be done early on but I'll just bend them in slightly more explainable options.

3.) I will allow for 1 telepathic character in the game. Basically whoever comes up with the most interesting concept wins that slot.

4.) Some skills that you won't really be needing:

Disguise, Handle Animal, K. Arcana, K. Dungeoneering, K. Geography, K. Nobility, K. Religion, Perform, Ride, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.

5.) Some skills you might want to have:

Acrobatics, Escape artist, Disable Device, Perception, K. Engineering, Stealth.

6.) I'm going to allow everyone to have 2 character traits.

For those of you not familiar with the Unchained character background skills, they are 2 additional skill points per level that your character would not use for adventuring. Typically these are hobby skills that your character would probably have picked up in their free time growing up.

They fall into the category of things like:
Appraise, Craft, Fly, Handle Animal, K. Engineering/Geography/History/Nobility, Linguistics, Perform, Profession.

For this campaign; I'll also allow you to pick up any of the skills marked as one's you won't really be needing.

I don't think I can overstate this enough but for those of you who are new; Warning: This game will probably be lethal to at least a few of you.

I'm interested. I have a few questions like background and stuff. So it is modern based? Or scifi? But where is it based? For languages and the like I mean.

Anyway this is Jake, he is a Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger and a huge narcissistic prick.

Hi Jonny Panic here,

This is my Telepath alt, she was from another game, so will need some resesign.

Doctor Calista De-Romana IMAGE HERE

Ok that being said could I make some sugetions.

I have run and being in a few SF games. Tech, skills, races always problematic if you bend Pathfinder fantasy to SF. How ever there is help.

1: D20 The Modern Path
Look at them weapons, and skills, all done for you. Nice website has all you need.

2: D20 Taveller
Full SF with space ships, but you will need the book.
I am in a game on her playing a telepth, the Psionic rules for taveller are good. But again you need the book.

next Level,
I really would not set the level here at level 1, an "along in the dark" game, can be a real turn of it not only do you have nothing you can do nothing. Set it at a higher level, 3 or more so players have some feeling of use for their PCs. Trust me I have seen so many games die because GMs got this wrong.

Well thats my few penny's worth.

Jonny Panic

I do like the Modern path. It is better situated for what I feel I want this game to be. I'm interested in Traveller but not enough to actually bother buying a book for a SF setting I plan to visit only once in a while.

I had originally planned for this game to be set at level 2, but I do understand what you mean for having characters feel underwhelming and like they have few to no options. I will heed your advice and have everyone make yourselves competent level 3 characters.

As for whether to utilize the modern path or not, I'll open it up to a vote.

Would everyone be okay with pushing the game back a bit to give you all some time to look over the modern path rules and rebuild characters as you see fit? Or would you rather build your characters as is, in my altered Pathfinder/futuristic game?

I would be fine as is, since you said it is more about the mystery than the combat.

Yeah, as is with maybe the Weapons / Armour from d20 Modern seems like it would work.

You can mix them, but I'm for moden path
O and my PC sheet is done

bump

Hmm, okay then. It seems like there is a small lead for as is. Alright then. We will start the game with modernized fantasy characters.

Everyone still here who hasn't fleshed out your character designs go ahead and check in. 20 point buy, 3rd level characters with background skills as noted above. We will begin as soon as they are ready.

KK Bossman

What level are we at, out of interest?

EDIT: I read super good it seems... :-/

Level 3 it is. What about HP? Max for all 3 levels?

Let's just go ahead and maximize the hit points.

Hey everybody, would have updated sooner, but last night Paizo crashed pretty hard while I was helping a friend create his game and is only now working again. Couple of things.

I should have made this more clear early on, but to anyone who wants, I am allowing Rangers in my game. Maybe you were a survivalist or a hunter back home, whatever the case, you've ended up here.

I was also contacted by a friend who will be making his character but this was during the crash so once he posts it up we'll have 5 people and then we will begin the game.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

They were not butt naked in Alien. they still wore bras and underwear.

... Well this is completely embarrassing. I'm getting my own movies mixed up. Marco you also get a re-roll.

LOL Pandorum???? :P xD

*Still thinking about jumping through a window

Leaving isn't that hard Nexus, although I admit, that would be quite an ending if you were to pull that one off.

Hahahah not thinking of leaving just being funny :P

What IS the window DC? Cause if I'm going to die, I want it to be my way not their way LMFAO

I could tell you the break DC, but then I might miss some of the potentially creative ways you might have tried to break through because even if you tried to not to act in such a way, you would still subconsciously know how hard it was to break.

Aaaaaaah smart smart smart.

Very well!

Just got back from a long trip. Ready to jump in whenever you are able to fit me in. Thanks!

Hey GM? Aren't we at our limit of four people?

I think we could probably accommodate another, if the GM is cool with it.