DM Barcas - Kingmaker: New Beginnings (Inactive)

Game Master Isaac Duplechain

I'm trying to formulate some sort of Death and Taxes gag, but it's not coming together.

Also work has been real slow today so I put together a character portrait here.

That's really cool. How'd you create it?

Lol, love it downrightamazed, and even more so as I get to keep Verik unchanged. Yay! Makes me think of the joker in The Dark Knight a bit, especially when he's giving those speeches about how he his "smile".

If I get in I will warn you all now I shall be organizing Taxfest! I love the fact that that's one of Abadar's prime holidays.

Alright, now that I'm relaxed and able to sit down (since class starts in like 20 minutes) I need to make some edits before I go further.

Change Alignment to 'Lawful Neutral.'
Change Personality to 'Domineering'.

The very, very basics of his background at this stage is being from Cheliax, but there's more to it than that...

and as for the comedy routine? Hah! I see it now...

"He's only half-dead! I'll be back Thursday to pick up the corpse." "But I can't wait 'til Thursday, I've got a meetin' with the wife's folks!" "Tell you what." *THUMP* "There. See you next week!"

Dare I ask what Taxfest is?

Made it using Heromachine 3. It's a pretty neat little webtool that can take up way too much time playing around with :)

Its listed as one of Abadar's two major holidays, takes place after taxes are paid. I just really love the name, and the idea, you've just paid your taxes let's party!

It always amazes me how much interrest the kingmaker adventure path gets on these boards.

-Name Berrin Myrdal
-Race Human
-Gender Male
-Class Fighter
-Deity Beeing a born and bred in Restov he venerates Pharasma and Gorum, knows Adabar is out for his money but holds Cayden Cailean in the highest regard
-Combat Role Melee
-Social Role Intimidator (General/Warden)
-Alignment Chaotic Good
-Personality Relaxed

It's because its damned awesome! And everyone wants a kingdom!

I was thinking of doing a straight wizard. I am going to try and work something up.

I'm actually going to drop - I'm too conflicted on what I want to play, and I'm taking too long to do it. If anything, I'd need another day to really iron out what I feel like making, y'know? But I'm being too indecisive.

Good luck, gents and ladies.

Okay, I've taken Rizzym out of my chart and added RaFon.

I'm sold on two spots and fairly certain on three, but the sixth spot is still up in the air. If I fully settle, I'll end the recruitment drive early.

Kind of makes me wish I was as ambitious as downrightamazed, who started two campaigns when faced with the same issue. If some enterprising DM wants to take the others and run a concurrent campaign, that might be interesting.

I'm actually going to try some DMing over on the Living Pathfinder section of Enworld, and there is always a chance that once I get comfortable there, I might try something here, with Kingmaker being a logical choice, seeing how I already have the first part as I was interested in the exploration rules. Barcas, did you have any questions regarding my change to bard?

@Edrukk Checking it over right now. I see Oratory and Comedy as his Performance skills, which somewhat conflicts with ranks in Diplomacy (because of Versatile Performance). Why Savage Skald over Archivist, since you're putting such an emphasis on knowledge checks?

I've always thought it would be interesting to run two groups through Kingmaker at the same time, with them eventually meeting up or co-existing.

Unless they've errata'd it, comedy covers bluff and intimidate, while oratory covers diplomacy and sense motive. I'll have to check the updated version on my computer to see if that has changed. I went with savage skald because 1)he's a dwarf and being a battle singer of sorts just fits and 2)archivist changes a lot of the base class features I want, like versatile performance (gotta love the getting 3 skills for the price of one skill rank).

Edit: I see what you are referring to now; it has been corrected as that rank in diplomacy should have been deleted earlier.

I've always thought it would be interesting to run two groups through Kingmaker at the same time, with them eventually meeting up or co-existing.

That would be pretty interesting. Paizo should run a huge event along the lines of "settling the new world" or something where dozens of adventurers would run separate kingdom founding campaigns and eventually all interact with each other and have to deal with diplomacy and strategic resources and the like... that would be pretty epic.

Two groups at once interacting with each other would be interesting, it would also be a major challenge, since I suspect keeping one step ahead of just one group gets to be difficult in the later stages.

Two groups at once interacting with each other would be interesting, it would also be a major challenge, since I suspect keeping one step ahead of just one group gets to be difficult in the later stages.

I actually have four right now; two IRL and two here, all concurrent in the same world. We're going to do a big thing where both my IRL campaigns get together for a giant crossover battle that's going to happen, and I'm definitely planning on something similar for my two PBP groups.

Kind of makes me wish I was as ambitious as downrightamazed, who started two campaigns when faced with the same issue. If some enterprising DM wants to take the others and run a concurrent campaign, that might be interesting.

Heh. Thank you. "Ambitious" is one word for it. "Insane" would also be appropriate. :-D But, as was pointed out, the chance to have a campaign of all flying PCs was too good to pass up.

Here's Taisper as an Inquisitor, BTW. I took Perform(Comedy) just like I promised, so Edrukk and I need to start practicing our act. Other than that tried to keep everything else focused on what was appropriate for his background and personality. I also re-did him as a 20-point build.

Aaaaand now with an updated profile as well.

You can keep the Inevitable Domain if you prefer.

You can keep the Inevitable Domain if you prefer.

I think I'm okay with Law, actually, I like how it plays in with his background and desire for order and community. And order WITHIN a community.

Well, folks, time for the nuts and bolts. In order to keep this interesting, I've decided to randomize the exploration process. Ooooooo. Here's the general rules for what I envision:

Here's an example:
This is the map at the beginning of the game, courtesy of the hex-based Civilization 5's world builder. There's no need for river rolls because there is a river in the hexes (which is difficult to see on that map.)

This is what it looks like afterwards (still in hex form). This is what it looks like when rendered in 3D via Civ5.

Oooh fancy. Another useful tool that I've found for mapping hexes is Hexographer. It of course can't do sweet 3D renders like Civ 5, but it's pretty snazzy and easy to use for map-making purposes. If you are planning to use Civ 5 renders to show us what we've explored thus far, I vote higher resolution screenshots :)

Those are just examples to show the idea. Once we get in the game, I'll get higher resolution grabs.

That's a pretty neat result. I was worried that the statistical approach would result in an unnatural looking distribution, but it looks great. Maybe that's just the skill of the Civ5 render, but I'm impressed.

OK, here is my submission. Stats in profile.

---------------------------------------

Background-
As the youngest of seven sons of a rural Baron, Gavin was bullied relentlessly by older siblings,
to the point of dodging assassin when he left. With no way to inherit on his fathers death, he left to make his own way in the world.
Winning some basic arms and a horse in a tournament, he
Swearing to outstrip them all, he dedicated his life to ambition; he would rise in rank to become greater than all of them.
This has made him into somewhat of a Glory hound.

Campaign Trait:
Issian: You were raised northern Brevoy, a land of misty shores and harsh hill lands, of snowy vistas and violet-hued mountains.
You are descended from an able and intelligent people, and you have grand ambitions, a mind alert for opportunity, and the tenacity to fight for your goals no matter the challenge.
You care for little more than achieving your aspirations and opportunities to win wealthy and grandeur, for which few costs prove too great.
You see yourself as a citizen of Brevoy through and through.
The call for champions willing to help take back your country’s rightful holdings in the Stolen Lands has inflamed your dreams of profit and possibilities, so you have joined an expedition to quest south.
Your agile mind grants you a +1 trait bonus on all Will saves made to resist mind-affecting effects.

One of the things I'd want to do (eventually) is map out (in Civ5) the entire River Kingdoms area and its borders with Brevoy, Numeria, Ustalav, Razmiran, Kyonin, Galt, and Ioberia. If you, say, wanted to expand and conquer the entire region.

The maps look awesome. Can't wait to see the higher resolution versions.

One of the things I'd want to do (eventually) is map out (in Civ5) the entire River Kingdoms area and its borders with Brevoy, Numeria, Ustalav, Razmiran, Kyonin, Galt, and Ioberia. If you, say, wanted to expand and conquer the entire region.

Great! I like that! Being able to get up your neighbours borders, build roads to that point. Squabble of tenous territoory!

The map is awesome! Will changing the terrain make it hard to run the pre-built encounters, or will you just ad-hoc their position as you go along?

The Stolen Lands is only about 1/10th of the River Kingdoms, so it would take quite some time and effort to conquer all the way to the borders of one of the other true nations.

For the most part, it won't change the encounters. They'll be in different places and different orders.

Wow, that's a really nifty tool, the final map looks lovely. Of course you are an evil git for taunting all of those who aren't going to get in with shinies. Here's what you could have won! *sob*

I'm already in a KM game on these boards, so I won't apply for this one, but it really sounds interesting, and I'll probably lurk in the background to see how this mapping program works out.

Good hunting (and kingdom-building) all!

Okay, I've officially decided on five out of six spots.

1. downrightamazed as Taisper Stosz, Human Inquisitor of Abadar
2. Sigz as Berrin Myrdal, Human Fighter
3. smashthedean as Zander Orlovsky, Human Archer
4. vagrant-poet as Tandlara Esirrian, Elf Witch
5. Rellen as Verik Jarrow, Human Cleric of Abadar
6. ___________________________________________________________

The last spot is a toss-up between a handful of players, all of whom I wish I could bring in. For the five of you who have secured spots, I've started the OOC Thread to begin planning.

Woot! Delighted to get in and looking forward to playing with you all, looks like we have a nice balance. My commiserations to those who did not make it - hope to play with you in the future.

Well, there's still one spot left. Someone will get it, so don't everybody go losing hope.

Whether I make it or not, this has been a fun thread to participate in. Its had lots of fun people and lots of great ideas.

Woot! Nice!

Good luck and good gaming :)

Good showing and choices. May the luck of 6th fall onto a worthy character

Without completely reworking the character, Edrukk is as complete as I can make him. I just got one final idea to give him the best chance he can get. Cancel out the racial wisdom bonus and the charisma penalty; he was raised by humans and has lived in a variety of cultures up to this point. Retaining the racial bonus to CON makes sense, as that is a physical aspect of being a dwarf, whereas the wisdom and charisma adjustments are cultural things that Edrukk would not have experienced until later in life after he had already reached adulthood. On a purely mechanical level, it lets him have a 15 charisma to start, and with the attribute boosts from leveling, that would put him in a good position to fill any of the charisma social roles of the kingdom, which is something the current 5 are lacking.

With that final pitch, I will respectfully await the final decision.

Good showing and choices. May the luck of 6th fall onto a worthy character

Agreed; a lot of worthy characters are going to be left for the next opportunity no matter who is picked.

It's a bit late - but since submissions still running; I do have a second character that I've had on hold for a while now, he's slated to play in our real-life campaign when Crown of the Carrion King starts. He has many mechanical similarities with Jemini in terms of the build, but is a different personality from the ground up. The character would primarily be a monk (with a couple of paladin levels, and 1 level dip into oracle).

Note on his stats: 20pt buy, and aged 1 age category; this can be adjusted though to your liking

Full build in profile, background and personality here for your enjoyment:

Background

Meloku has lived a life in service of Irori - spending countless hours seeking ever deeper mastery of the human self. He had nearly achieved the pinnacle of self-perfection and was slated to become Irori's herald on this plane.

Irori, though, was not satisfied with Meloku's progress. You seek to reach me, and this I applaud. But your ambition has led you down a path that I have cleared of obstacles and you follow a trail that I have blazed. If you would still seek to be by my side - you must give up the studies you have completed and seek perfection anew.

Meloku agreed to Irori's terms, he stood unblinking as Irori layed his hand on him. Irori's touch was gentle as that of a loving parent, then - just for a moment - Irori unleashed his ki upon Meloku. It penetrated Meloku's body and sealed his spine, rendering Meloku paralysed and sealing much of his ability; a wound that no power but Irori's would be able to overcome.

For months Meloku recuperated, cared for in a monastery dedicated to Irori. Where his body deteriorated from lack of physical exertion, his mind and spirit grew by leaps and bounds. After a year Irori appeared to Meloku in a dream, guiding him to seek out the wisdom of the ancients far away in the west. Irori's instructions led Meloku to Osirion where he studied the ancient mysteries of the civilizations gone before - and discovered the reason Irori had led him here: ancient hieroglyphics that detail the power of the spirit over flesh. Where the original intention was to allow a spirit to recover mastery of dead flesh - exemplified by the mummies so common in Osirion - the same theories could be molded to apply to living flesh. It took years still for Meloku to fully grasp and master the basic teachings, but then - fully 10 years after his encounter with Irori - Meloku emerged unsteadily from an ancient pyramid, facing the morning sun in the east, for the first time in a decade he stood on his own two legs.

Now Meloku makes his way to the River Kingdoms; eager to find his feet again as a servant to Irori.

Personality

Meloku is a man driven to great deeds by his devotion to his god, Irori. He must, by nature of his affliction, rely heavily on his force of presence and spirit to accomplish the tasks before him. He carries himself with absolute conviction and his presence can at times be palpable. In combat he relies on the force of his spirit (dazzling display) to sap the will to fight from enemies, hoping to defeat them before blood need be spilled.

Meloku is a paladin and monk of Irori, with emphasis on knowledge. He feels compelled to harbour knowledge of all forms - sometimes to protect knowledge from corrupting hands, but sometimes to protect innocents from corrupting knowledge.

If it is at all possible, please hold submissions open until 1/14/2011. This is the first time I've "auditioned" and I'm trying to get it right.

I'm hoping to have something submitted today...may be late (eastern time).

A W E S O M E ! So. Psyched.

Thanks, DM Barcas, glad to have been selected, looking forward to it! :-D

@Vagrant-Poet, eagerly anticipating that country song...

Huzzah! I'm super pumped to be in on this. Big thanks to DM Barcas for the nod :)

#---G---C---D
There was a man,

#---G---C---D
With great big hands,

*sudden noise*
'Look a badger fight!'

*makes es-cap-eh*

Congrats to those that made it!

It has definitely been fun pitching and reviewing all these characters. Good luck to the rest of us!

#---G---C---D

There was a man,

#---G---C---D
With great big hands,

*sudden noise*
'Look a badger fight!'

*makes es-cap-eh*

Badger? What? Where?!

Well here is RaFon's submission.

I will fill in the game-stuff as soon as possible. He is a run of the mill wizard (I'm a purist). He won't have anything too spectacular. The ring he carries is a bonded object.

Let me know what you think.

Interesting. Why the spread-out stats?