Finding The Fall: Moral Decay in Taldor (Inactive)

Game Master Molech

Although, pathfinder has added some nice additional information and races. Like the tengu, the ultimate monk race. Along with some nice guides on making races, classes, magical items, and spells.

Yeah, a Death Tyrant is horribly fun! I think the only reason why certain monsters did not make it to Pathfinder print is because they were copyrighted material and not OGL.

The only down side for AD&D was character vs monster martial prowess, and some funky rules like THAC0 compared to today's AC rules. Later edition AD&D and Pathfinder allowed the monsters to scale better and make combat easier.

Definitely, I have 3.5 as my personal favorite.

Actually, the Tengu have been around for a long time. They were in 3.5 and most likely based off the Kenku

Yes, I know, but pathfinder is the first I've seen it .

oh another thing, I'm posting under the multiple alias in order to not stuff the recruiting page with just William Nightmoon. Plus I can grasp some alter egos better.

Definitely, I have 3.5 as my personal favorite.

My choice would be Pathfinder in Pre-4th Edition Forgotten Realms.

Yes, I know, but pathfinder is the first I've seen it .

Roger that!

If I'm posting too fast, my bad. In my other champaign they credited me with posting at the speed of a spider with a jetpack :P

and anderlorn, I posted on the dead men walking campaign, ;) I'm your DM

But yes, forgotten realms is one of the best champaign settings. Go Drizzt, and the mage of shadowdale! Well... I'm moderately interested in El, he is the most powerful mage in the world, at the lvl of 26 in AD&D. Chosen of mystra, and such... I like both post- and pre- spell plague. But that's mainly just because of Dragonborn and Teifling.

Plus wizards have come up with "the sundering", basically them going oops, sorry, here's our attempt to fix that

Here are the PCs that will Fall from Goodness during their heroic adventures in Taldor (in abc order):

I will post in the Campaign Info Friday night and open the Discussion Thread by Saturday late morning.
Feel free to continue posting in the Recruitment Thread until then.
.
.

Aerodus Aluain, NG Aasimar Dragon Order Cavalier
....originally from Falcon's Hollow in Andoran, has adventured in Ustalov & The Worldwound

Aliesah Leafborn, LG Human Sacred Hunting Inquisitor of Erastil
....native Taldoran forester, defender of the wilderness and bounty hunter

Cayosin Ormr I Auga, CG Dragon-Tainted Human Bloodrager
....second-generation Ulfen born in a Taldoran settlement

Gregary, Lord Crawley VII, LG Human Magus
....wealthy Taldoran noble who wants to improve his family and his empire, a true patriot

Raggo, CG Dwarf Bloodrager
....former pit fighter and dedicated champion of Gorum, has only recently become free

Terra Minora, CG Aasimar Cleric of Calistria
....Taldoran prodigal daughter who left her family after an arranged marriage did not suit her, has returned to taldor to find her family in ruins

Wulfrun, NG Human Star Order Cavalier
....Cassomir born but raised in an Iomedaen Temple in Oppara, Wulf has recently lost her family to mysterious circumstances.

ALL ideas, concerns, suggestions, etc. for Gameplay are VERY welcome -- either here or via PM.

Campaign design is coming along nicely but if you have some ideas, now's the time!

(And while we wait for Campaign Info, Discussion and Gameplay, take a look back at Recruitment's first six posts -- no harm in refreshing our memory of the original idea.)

:D
Interesting lineup

Congrats to everyone! There were a lot of really good submissions. I look forward to seeing how the game goes, and intend to skulk around the game threads reading the story as it progresses.

Sad I did not make the cut but I had fun trying. Best of luck to you all. I will most likely still read what happens since it sounds like an interesting game.

Best of luck!

Thanks for choosing Aerodus, I look forward to it. :)

Congrats all and thank you for selecting me GM Ray.

really looking forward to this, thanks again for choosing me?

Indeed, thank you much for the consideration/selection. I look forward to playing with all of you.

Yay! thanks for selecting me, this is gonna be fun, and good luck to everyone who didn't make it in your future games.

Thank you. I'm really pleased to have been selected! Looking forward to exploring 'The Fall' together with the other members of the party.

If anyone in the party would like to establish a bond or something more in depth with Wulfrun Taverner prior to the start or in the beginning of the story feel free to PM me with the bond or the idea you have. If you like the idea of having some prior relationship with other characters, but don't know where to start, please let me know and I'll be more than willing to get the ball rolling with a few ideas or bonds.

I find it really helps having something already established to build off of, even if it is a one line vague sentence like, 'Wulfrun and I have fought together before, I can count on her to have my back,' or 'Wulfrun is keeping a secret from me, she can't be trusted.' It doesn't have to stick forever, but hopefully you get the idea.

If there was anyone for Gregary to have an association with (a respectable, normal relationship) it would be Wulfrun (or Aerodus). I could see some silly/dramatic relations with Terra or Cayosin.

I could see just about anyone having relations with me at some point before, and or after game start. I am a devout Calistrian after all. If the connection was within the last year it would have to be from outside Taldor as I haven't been there for a year-ish right now. Feel free to pm me if one of you wants something set-up as a pre-game connection.

well, my schedule just changed, so i wouldn't have fit anyways

Regarding pre-campaign relationships, I've worked quite a bit on this as well. I don't want to be too specific before we begin play because I'm still tinkering with many of the NPCs (I'll be ready to go by tomorrow, though.), but here is a general scope -- feel free to discuss it (and propose changes, addendum, conditions, whatever):

Gregary and Terra (my two main NPC-relationed-with-PC-characters) are from two families in the Duchy of Mulcrow and would know of each other's family names. I assume Terra is considerably older because of her race but that is flexible. Either way, their families know of each other and have (had) their own Baronies in the Duchy.

One of those two families (I'm pretty sure I've decided which but may yet change my mind before we begin) has or had property near the wilderness and as such has a relationship with the Druids that keep the wilderness. ....And thus have met and come to some rapport with Aliesah Leafborn -- who hunts her inquisitions (How does one articulate that?) for that Barony in conjunction with the Druids & Fey of the wilderness (forest).

My image of Wulfrun is that she is still new to the idea of her loss and new to the area in Taldor in which we begin. With Toxic-Dragon's permission I'd like her to be the youngest of the PCs and meet everyone at the beginning of play. I could see her meeting one of the Bloodragers first and going from there.

My first choice for this Bloodrager would be Raggo because, like Wulf, Raggo is beginning a new life, his one outside of the pit fighting arena, hers after mysteriously losing her family members to separate events.

For some reason my mind's eye has connected Aerodus Aluain and Cayosin Ormr. I think that Aerodus Aluain has only recently arrived to Cassomir and heard in a tavern (or something) that there is "trouble" in a patch of wilderness just outside of the Ulfen settlement a few days ride from Cassomir. And adventurers for hire are wanted. This prompted Aerodus Aluain to travel there where he meets Cayosin Ormr and the two are getting ready to enter the wilderness to fight some nuisance monsters.
(Or they could also have met in Cassomir shortly after they both arrive, become friends, and upon hearing of trouble in the wilderness, go together -- I think I like this one even better -- what do you guys think?)

(Did I mention that the Ulfen settlement is also part of the Duchy of Mulcrow -- a Barony further away from the Crowley and Minora Baronies?...)

Aerodus and I have set up a pre-game acquaintance from a job before Raggo joined the pits.

Wulf, I would love to set up some sort of connection, would you like to start having already met, or meet at the beginning?

Please include me in these PMs so I can adjust how we begin. (Just forward me the PMs or copy/paste them here.)

Thanks.

Woops. Okay I will forward you all the PM I have sent out. I've been suggesting relations all over the place. Was gonna write them up when things were decided and send em to you then, sorry Ray. I'll get on it now.

Mostly it was just me trying to have Aerodus have a connection to everyone without him having to be together with them at the start.

Late for a meeting at work (all my teachers are waiting for me, think I'm doing something important) -- be back here after "lunch."

So this is just the chronolgy of events that I suggeted, for Aerodus and the interactions along the way. These are just my ideas mind, I am open to anything.

Aerodus would travel to Taldor with Terra, where they could part ways and meet up later. Aerodus would then begin his trip through Taldor.

Travelling through Taldor Aerodus meets and befriends one ofits brightest sons, before they part ways, Crowley to tend to his affairs and Aerodus to continue his trip.

Aerodus meets and befriends the young Wulfrun and they face down some nare do wells before he signs on with a merchant transporting grain to refugees.

Aerodus parts ways with his new scaly pal and makes his way to Cassomir where he meets up with an old Mercenary friend who introduces him to Raggo.

After they found the Priestess and are returning to Cassomir, Aerodus hears tell of a village having a pest problem and rushes to help.

Aerodus aids Aliesah in protecting her community and they part in friendship before Aerodus heads on his way back to Cassomir.

Anyway that is just the PM I sent out to everyone and thr structure of what I envision Aerodus doing. As I said it is just my idea, none of it has to happen or will happen. :)

I've reached out to Aerodus, Raggo, Terra, and Gregary for establishing some pre-existing relationship. Waiting to hear back from a few of them if they like what's been proposed. I'll be adding a bonds section to my character sheet for reference.

Geographically-wise the beginning through probably at least the middle of the campaign will take place in the "empty" space on the Taldor map, between Cassomir on the west, Temple Canyon to the east, just north of the Ruins of Nazili to the north (& maybe as far out as Bafra's Face), and Old Sehir to the south.
(This is the portion of the map under the label, Tandak Plains.)

This area (completely Homebrewed) is the Mulcrow Duchy and all of its Baronies, Counties & Fiefdoms.

Map

Do Cayosin, Raggo and Wulfrun have surnames?

Taverner :)

Raggo doesn't have a surname, he has had quite a few nicknames in different circles but none of them stuck.

With the way I have Terra's back story written I have her aging more like a human than an aasimar, adding the years in she'd only be around 21 at the start of game. I don't always use the standard aging on my aasimar/tiefling characters, largely because I don't think it makes sense that they would all age the same, especially if you have some chaotic outsider as an ancestor. That being said, I can easily adapt her story to fit the standard aging for aasimar if you wish GM Ray, I hadn't really noticed I hadn't followed it anyway, it really doesn't matter to me if she's 21 in human years or the aasimar equivalent, just let me know how you want it handled so I can make the necessary tweaks.

As for the pre-existing connections, I potentially like both proposed ones, but for the moment I'm going to hold off and let our good GM weigh in on things, especially since he has some ideas of his own for at least one of the players involved.

Do Cayosin, Raggo and Wulfrun have surnames?

Cayosin = Ormr I Auga

Would Mister Auga or Sir Ormr I Auga be more appropriate for Cayosin?

And what about Raggo? What is a formal way for Gregary to address him? It's also a possibility that Gregary could convince himself to refer to Raggo as just "Raggo", but it would make him uncomfortable at first. Like Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in The Big Lebowski referring to the Dude as the Dude.

Would Mister Auga or Sir Ormr I Auga be more appropriate for Cayosin?

Cayosin is not into Knightly or Royalty courtesies so he would prefer Cayosin and he will call everyone by their first names but will recognize your station once you proven yourself but that is already assumed with the tying in we are conducting.

I'm Curious,...

Are any of you very interested in or knowledgeable of published adventures? I ask as a heads-up because much of the inspiration I get for a campaign comes from old Dungeon adventures. Sometimes I use large portions of an adventure (such as the plot around Griffondale where we will begin or "The Fire Giant's Daughter" that I ran as a one-shot Monday for my gaming buddies for holiday). And sometimes only tiny bits of inspiration (such as the name, "Scarlet Knight" whom I've made the Baron of Griffondale). In any case, I am not one to let my vast collection of adventures sit in my library collecting dust -- I love to use it. That's probably my favorite thing about DMing, going through old adventures and cannibalizing bits here and there where I'm inspired.

If you too are a fan of old adventures don't be surprised if you recognize a name or three.

And if you think you can hang with me in a conversation about classic adventures, post in some of our old Threads: maybe here or perhaps here.

One final thing before I open Discussion and Gameplay,

How much should I give at the start (do you want to get) regarding geographical and feudal background?

Do you want to know up front that Duke Grenwald Mulcrow, the highest noble in the region, married an Opparan noble to be his Duchess? Or, since that information probably won't come into play for a while, can it wait?

Do you want to know that the Dukedom is divided into four Counties (& 9 Baronies) and that one of the four doesn't currently have a Count but three nobles jockeying for the title? Or again, since we begin in Griffondale and that village is just outside one of those Counties, should that info be put on a back burner?

I should tell you that the village of Griffondale is in the Scarlet Knight's Barony and that supposedly none but Duke Grenwald Mulcrow and his Duchess know the Knight's history or identity (Though that's unlikely, surely someone else knows!).

I should also let you know that Griffondale lies on the western edge of the Duchy, closest to the Ducal seat, Grenwald Castle, which is 28 miles east of Griffondale. And that to the west of Griffondale lies Cassomir (45 miles away, though half of that is the infamous Blackwood Swamp and the village of Hope's Hollow). ...Of course, Cassomir is not part of the Duchy, and the swamp and Hope's Hollow fall under that Taldoran City-State's jurisdiction, not Grenwald's.

Gregary, Lord Crowley VII is second cousin to Count Wan, the third most powerful individual in the Duchy behind Duke Grenwald and his Duchess (whose holdings in Oppara are impressive).

Terra Minora is a daughter of the formerly powerful Bormul family of the empty-seat County. Recently, House Bormul has collapsed and three powerful Houses remain, one of which will soon hold the County Seat. (Houses Ophal, Vymmar & Zoar)

Cayosin Ormr I Auga is originally from Soderfjord, an Ulfen settlement in the Thrand Barony under Count Agmoth, a rival of Count Wan for influence in the Duke's court. (Count Wan and Count Agmoth do NOT like each other; obviously Baron Thrand supports his Count, Agmoth.) Soderfjord is closest to The Verduran of other mentioned locales so far.

- - - -

We will begin in Griffondale where you have come because of recent rumors that "several little blue devils, probably from Cheliax) have been seen recently and recently a baker's apprentice and a young grape arborist and pruner from the vineyards have gone missing.

These reports have reached the two closest communities, Grenwald Castle and Cassomir, like lightning, and are likely spreading to the rest of the Duchy.

...

Give us what our characters would or should know, nothing more nothing less.

Since we are all starting in Griffondale, is it fair to assume we all have met by the start or are we all showing up out of coincidence?

Speaking from Wulf's position, so far she has history with Raggo (fast friends in Cassomir) and Gregary (met briefly 6 years ago in Oppara) but I haven't really established or heard back anything to confirm with the other party members.

Some of the PCs (Gregary & Terra Minora) would know tons of stuff, far more than is posted. Cayosin would know quite a bit as well, and even Aliesah Leafborn and Wulfrun would know some bits.

But throwing all that out there now would be confusing. And since so much of it won't come into play for a while (some may never), I hope that what's here can suffice.

--Though I will give one more post of info for the other PCs, and some starting points, before opening Discussion and Gameplay....

PCs from the Duchy of Wulcrow can either be in Griffondale for a reason of their choice, and join the PCs as they are asked to investigate, or be in Griffondale because of the threat of "little blue devils probably from Cheliax." Though news of this in the Duchy is pretty limited at the very beginning of the campaign -- likely a PC only heard it in Grenwald Castle -- or Cassomir, just outside of the Duchy.

Cassomir, of course, is a great place to have heard of the "little blue devils."

Personally, I was planning on having some PCs coming in from Cassomir and some already in Griffondale, from Castle Grenwald. Then we could meet at the Tell-Tale Tavern or around in the market and such, and the rest becomes history.

Aliseah Leafborn should probably hear of the "little blue devils probably from Cheliax" from her contact in The Verduran, and first go to Griffondale to ask what they've actually seen before she blindly goes into the woods.

I think that BillyBrainPan has Raggo mostly from Kalsgard in the Linnorm Kings' Lands and likely was a pit fighter there, making the last few weeks having been aboard a ship, as a free man, just coming in to Cassomir -- but I don't know. Maybe he sees Raggo as having recently been a Pit Fighter in Absalom, Katapesh or even Cassomir, after having left Kalsgard a few years earlier. I'd like to know. I think it makes most sense if he was a pit fighter in Cassomir (the Rank in Linguistics for Taldane), but it's up to BillyBrainPan.

Wulfrun, being from Cassomir originally but recently from Oppara, can enter however Toxic Dragon feels would be best. I liked connecting Wulfrun with Raggo -- but Cayosin (also recently, er, "home"less) is a fine choice as could Aerodus Aluain.

But considering that Cavalier's well-travelled background, I'd like him to come to Griffondale from Cassomir, having just arrived to Taldor. But he could just as easily been in Taldor for a while and have met the Duke or Duchess recently at Castle Grenwald and gone to Griffondale in hopes for a reward from the Duke!

You Folks Decide.

My suggestion would be to use the spoiler system whenever it would become relevant, in the same way that you would use a character's senses.

With the senses example, you are in a dark cave. Three of you are human, but one of the group is a dwarf and you advance.

You come across a low stone building constructed into the side of the cave. From within comes a high-pitched chirping sound, and the sides of the building are caked with mold. The inside is mired by darkness.

Or, a group containing a powerful necromancer comes across a stone tablet with a body on top of it. The body is staked through the heart, but appears dead.

When it immediately becomes relevant, reveal information to specific characters only. Good suggestion? Read through some of the Wrath of the Righteous game that I'm in and see how that GM does it. It's great.

My suggestion would be to use the spoiler system...

I like the idea and will use it.

.
.
.

Read through some of the Wrath of the Righteous game that I'm in and see how that GM does it. It's great.

LOL

That I can't do!
I'm playing in WotR and though we're on a long-term hiatus after having completed volume 2, I must avoid spoilers.
Any other APs I could look at (not counting Council of Thieves or Savage Tide due to spoilers)?

I'm in an aristocracy-themed game? It's called Roland Aristocrat Campaign and it's got some of the same thing going on.

I think that, rather than post everything we might know, just notify us if it's relevant. Also, I agree that using spoilers is going to be better than putting it in pcs as it's less likely to get lost. Another suggestion is that we, as pcs, take whatever we are supposed to know specifically, and put it in a spoiler in our alias to better keep track of it.

Oh, and since it wasn't answered already, do you want me to stick with the regular aasimar age brackets or not DM Ray? I currently wrote my story based on the human ones, though I can fix it easily enough and it doesn't bother me one way or another.

So,...

Where does everyone live?...

I'm in Florida but am originally from Minnesota and lived in Philadelphia for several years.

Indiana for me, born and raised here.