[GM Arcadius Blue] On The Fourth Day, We Kill Them All (Inactive)

Game Master B S 207

Listen now to a song of the North Wind. Hearken to a story of mystery, of honor amidst deceptions, of feud and betrayal and nightmarish horrors, and of those long forgotten rising to walk beneath the icy stars.
Listen now to a Tale of the North.
What Is This?
“On the Fourth Day, We Kill Them All” is a Northlands adventure for four to six 3rd-level PCs.
The Northlands are a part of the Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press. Drawing heavily from traditional Nordic themes and set near the literal “edge of the world” where reality breaks down, the Northlands is a Pathfinder experience where bravery and honor takes much you further than coin. THIS IS NOT A FULL CAMPAIGN. This will be the only adventure that I will run for these characters… at least for now.

This adventure starts with PCs traveling aboard the Falgeirr, a small longship ferrying passengers and merchant wares down Three Glacier Fjord from the port village Skári to Viezla for the Ice-Break Þing. House Hávardr has hired you as guards to escort the beautiful maiden Fanna, as she is to be the Vetrdís in this year’s Þing.

Who Am I?
An enthusiastic GM with a few years of experience under his belt, running mostly Pathfinder and some Dungeon World through a mix of in-person and VTT play. I have never participated in PbP before, but I've been perusing these forums and advice threads for a little while, and I'm excited to try a new format of gameplay.

Understanding that PbP gaming requires consistency and commitment, I am safeguarding myself against overdoing by choosing to run a single adventure, rather than assembling a full level 1-20 campaign out the door. If you have any other questions about me, feel free to ask.

Who Are You?
Someone who has a solid grasp of the Pathfinder rules. Sorry, but I'm not looking to teach people the game as I've done that enough. That said, someone who is new to PbP, and even someone who maybe hasn't PLAYED the game before (but can show that they know the rules), is as welcome as any veterans to apply.

I will be looking for interesting characters who can function in the cultural/social environment as described, but direct ties to the Northlands is by no means required. As noted in the tag, much of the 3rd-party Pathfinder material out there will be welcome. It is, in fact, encouraged: I really enjoy much of what 3PP companies put out, and don't get to use their products often enough. I'll include a list of of approved content in the Character Creation rules below, but anything not covered there I probably just don’t own, so you are welcome to ask.

Character Creation
All Paizo content is available for use.

Game Expectations
I live in Central Standard Time, and at the start of the campaign will post a minimum of twice a day Monday-Friday. My weekends are generally pretty hectic, but I will post at least 1/day. If, for any reason, I am unable to post as a GM, I will regardless notify you of that fact within the timeframe of this schedule. Players are expected to post 1/day throughout the week and once between Saturday and Sunday. On this I’ll be a little flexible, but if you end up over 48 hours overdue, ESPECIALLY without communicating, I reserve the right to post for you to the best of my interpretation of your character. Additionally, if you are new to PbP, like me, let me point you to some great advice threads.

Battlemaps, when in use, will be managed on Roll20. Roll20 supports tablets and conventional computers, but not mobile phones, so be aware of that. I will also use the Journal tools of the site for NPC portraits and descriptions, and quick rule references for stuff like the Laying Waste rules. You won't be required to learn how to navigate the Journals functionality, but I'm most comfortable GMing with Roll20's full array of features, and I believe it'd be a boon to your gaming experience if you did. Upon game start, I will send a link inviting you to the campaign, and if you do not have one already, you will be asked to make an account (don't worry, it's free).

Other than that, common sense rules apply: make characters that can work with others as well as the described hook. Communicate with me and with your party, and be pleasant when doing so.

Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, February 2nd, at which time I will select five characters and two or three alternates.

Dot! And welcome to the forums.

I'll put together a proper statblock at some later point, but here's the basics

Ideas:
-Obviously, there's a fear theme. It's something he's cultivating as a deterrent of sorts; he wants to get to a place where his reputation alone is scary enough that potential enemies think twice before they tangle with him.
-He's a minor noble, or the son of a noble.
-He's failed to protect either some of his family or some of his (farther's?) holdings before - that's what has him working on his reputation. He figures if everyone is scared of fighting him, he can have his lands in relative peace.
-Also, Eiríkr is a name with some lovely meanings behind it, so that's good.

Thanks for the dot and the welcome, Bane88! I look forward to seeing what my fellow Minnesotan might submit.

Thorn 'Rat' aka TwelvePointFivePercent, thanks for getting me the rough sketch here. Couple things I've picked out:

And yeah, good name. Shows ambition.

Thanks for the dot and the welcome, Bane88! I look forward to seeing what my fellow Minnesotan might submit.

Thorn 'Rat' aka TwelvePointFivePercent, thanks for getting me the rough sketch here. Couple things I've picked out:** spoiler omitted **
Concept
The fear concept's cool; definitely a path to respect when leveraged correctly. As for noble/son of noble - the head of House Hávardr is Jarl Ásvaldr, who holds the most power in the region. You seem to have a grasp of ancient Nordic-type government, but a quick primer if you or others don't, as well as to clarify what might be different in the Northlands.** spoiler omitted **...

Unorthodox Method is indeed from the POWE playtest, and does precisely what you'd think. It doesn't have a trait category yet, which is admittedly odd. I don't know where they'll put it. If it's a problem, I can just use the Black Thorn Knights tradition instead. Only reason I didn't was that the fluff seems a little off for what I'm going for, but I can make it work if I have to.

And you're of course completely on the ball about potions. I was even thinking about how shield couldn't be a potion because of that restriction. Don't know what went wrong there.

I'll need to think some more on how the particulars of the background fits together. Loyalties will probably be a place to start.

In other news, I keep forgetting that pathfinder removed the ability for the shaken condition of intimidate to stack with anything. I might have pick some different maneuvers.

Thanks for looking over my notes.

No problem! Work in a fluff rational for why you've learned this Unorthodox Method, and why it, in that context, fits in a trait category besides combat, and we're good. I don't have any balance concerns with it. As for the potion, I only caught it because I was building what you gave me in Hero Lab - if not for that...well I probably would have noticed when you tried to quaff it. ;-)

Another note occurred to me during my commute this morning concerning your background. Considering your character's low INT (and therefore, a low bonus to Appraise), it's entirely possible that you may have damaged your reputation through one or more poor financial decisions. Perhaps this job also serves as a way to get yourself out of the red, so to speak.

Going to submit a Half orc Invulnerable rager named Little Don (pun on little john and Donar.) He will use a warhammer.

HP: 1d10 ⇒ 8
HP: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Dotski

*obligatory second daily post*

I await your submissions with bated breath.

Dot. I love Rogue (Super) Genius's Godling classes. Just saying.

Changing it up I actually would really like to play a Jotun(Fire) Jotun Paragon. That would be super cool.

Dot. I love Rogue (Super) Genius's Godling classes. Just saying.

Changing it up I actually would really like to play a Jotun(Fire) Jotun Paragon. That would be super cool.

Cool! Folk in the Northlands live as peacefully with their human neighbors as they do with those of stranger heritage. Bane88's concept certainly wouldn't be the first giant seen at a human Þing, dominating contests of strength while in attendance. And a godling would be viewed as an omen of great import - but is it weal or woe?

character is almost done. Working on backstory. Will post tomorrow.

I'm dropping out of the running. Can't get my godling concept to work like it want it to. Good luck to all applicants.

Sounds good Ashe!

Thanks for your interest, TheWaskally. Another time, perhaps.

been swamped at work today. Will post just to have something up and will work on full backstory over the weekend.

Havark was born a runt. Tiny frame and signs of demonic heritage. He was left in the woods to die. A dwarven man and women unable to have children of their own came upon the crying baby before the wolves did. He was raised in isolation but taught the ways of family and honor of the gods. While his physical strength did not grow his mental did. Soon he was able to even form a blade from his mental energy. When he was around other he was made fun of and belittled for his size. He could never win test of strength, but because of this he set himself on a path of a duelist. He became very proficient in dueling with his blade. So much so he joined the Scarlet Sentinels where he has acted as bodyguard and protector for the local jarl.

That's it will go into more detail in the full story. The sheet is not complete. I have not done Psychic Warrior power or PP's and have not yet purchased gear. Though he wears no armor and manifest his sword so not sure what I will purchase yet.

Azul is a young Jotun, only 29. He is fiery red head with a temper and loud laugh. He loves people, partying and mead/ale. He has taken up jobs such as security to raise money to eventually open up a giant size pub/inn in the giant heavy population areas of the North. Humans Welcome, watch out for colossal size cups dropping! He is easily charmed by pretty human girls, or any girls for that matter, but the human ones are so small and delicate!

He stands now at 7'6 467 lbs.

He wears stag hide armor and has very good personal hygiene(for a giant)

Some background for Bane88's character.

Ashe,
Thanks for getting this out to me! I eagerly await to see the rest. Here's what I've picked out so far:

Bane88,
I love the tavern idea! I'm sticking to the plan of running this single adventure, but if Azul ends up playing, Human's Welcome will be a big push for me to pick up these characters again after we're done. Cool background, can't wait to see the build.

Both of you and everyone else,
Moving into the weekend, as stated above, I'll be getting pretty busy. It's about 2:45 PM CST right now: I'll post again tonight from between 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM CST, tomorrow in that same window, and then once Sunday sometime after 5:00 PM. Use these as personal deadlines for receiving feedback from me. When I'm not posting, I'll work on fleshing out this alias's profile so you guys know a bit more about me, my playstyle, expectations, etc. So keep an eye out for that. At this time, I've put up a little bit of basic who/what/where info, as well as my personal creedo for how I like to run games.

I'm hoping that we'll get a few more submissions over the weekend, but if not, I'll likely push the deadline back so we have a little more give and a few backups. Not that I advise counting on that - I just understand that people might be skittish because I don't have a posting record (and many people prefer playing to GMing, so I'm probably an anomaly for wanting to dive in from this side of the pool). So we may need to give it a little extra time. Regardless, I'm excited to see finished statblocks for Azul, Eiríkr, and Havark, and I hope that Mr. Sweetman will grace us with a character as well!

15pt buy

Str 7(+4), Dex 14(5spent), Con 13(3spent), Int 12(2spent), Wis 17(13spent), Cha 7(+4)

Total Pts 23, Spent 23, Racial is Asura Spawn Tiefling. I still had it as Aasimar in the copy paste.

Racials are +2 Dex, +2Wis, -2Int

Final scores are correct. You can't raise a score above 18 or bellow 7 before racial modifiers, but racials can raise a score or drop one bellow these number. Cha 5 tieflings are quite common in pathfinder society

Is there a players guide somewhere I can read? Would it be possible to have worked for Jarl Ásvaldr of House Hávardr, if not a neighboring one would be fine. I would like to work this out with you so that it meshes well and provides content and not conflict :)

Ah, that explains it! I was wondering about the demon child thing, and forgot to mention (but had picked up on) the oversized weapon and scaled skin trait being hard to track down as well... now it all fits. There is not a player's guide unfortunately; On The Fourth Day is part of a compilation of adventures for the Midgard Campaign setting, and therefore pretty wordcount-conscious. I won't get to it for a couple hours as I'm about to make my commute, but I'll PM you details concerning a closer tie with House Hávardr - the adventure assumes you're strangers to the house, but it shouldn't spoil anything having a bit more exposition upfront.

Nothing new in the thread in need of my attention at this point; so just checking in. Despite getting distracted by prep for my IRL game tomorrow night, I added some player expectations to the GM profile. They are by no means final.

P.S. - I sent you a PM, Ashe, if you didn't see. Anyone is welcome to know the same information about House Hávardr; just ask. I refrain from posting it here so that those who would rather discover it in play may do so.

dot.

intrested. Might play a Jotun

Welcome to the thread, you two. Eyfura, your profile hints that you've got an oracle in the works - neat, we haven't seen a full caster in this thread yet. And legoguy4492, as wth Bane88 above, a Jotun makes a great fit. I'm more than happy to answer any questions as you put your characters together.

I'll post again tomorrow evening as mentioned before, then back to twice a day starting Monday. I added a touch more to my GM alias. After having a friend review it, I've made a little clearer why I included my GM creedo. If anyone has questions or thinks there's something useful missing from that profile, please tell me. Otherwise, I think it's all done as it pertains to this recruitment.

Are you expecting your players to mostly be min/max or role-play oriented?

I will judge characters on based on their ability to roleplay in this adventure - the amount of optimization, as long as it's passably functional, will be irrelevant. I do not subscribe to the school of thought that says a highly-optimal character cannot also be roleplayed to great effect, or that they can't exist comfortably next to those who don't meet the same mechanical achievement.

I will also consider players when making my decision. A lack of posting history won't work against you, but a poor history will (dropped games with no reason or communication, exceedingly negative attitude, etc.). Another piece of the player component is ability to read directions and successfully create a character in-line with the guidelines I set out.
Most in the thread so far have posted works-in-progress and mistakes in those mean a WHOLE lot less than a final submission. Mentioned to reassure those people posting so far that you're not suddenly at the bottom of the list because you tried to buy a gravity bow potion or anything.

I hope that over-answers your question. :-)

That is perfect. I'll try to come up with something.

Glad to hear it.

Ok, here is a ratfolk rogue1/illusionist2 that I put together via PCGen.
I have not selected his diety or loyalties. Nor have I come up with a backstory yet. I'm only used to generating 1st level PFS characters, so I wanted to make sure that I did not violate any of your rules before I got too far. Sorry it is nothing exotic.

Here is some background for Glowen.

No, actually, I will do a Ironborn(Rite Publishing) Direlock(Forest Guardian Press)

I've got to drop out, real life has bitten me hard and time is against me completing the oracle.

Good luck with the game
FW

Just started my character. Just wanted to see if you were good with the formatting

I'm a bit fuzzy on loyalties, but here is a stab at them for Glowen

1) Making children laugh
2) Finding the elf girl in the sphere around his neck
3) Mastering the art of illusion

Diety: Loki

(By the way. In case it was not obvious, the ruined tower that Glowen woke up in was his. He was a high level, evil necromancer, but while attempting an ancient rite, he screwed up. The resulting magical cataclysm destroyed the tower and erased his mind. He had to start all over again. This time, however, the fates set him on the path of goodness, rather than evil. I have not decided who the elf gal in the sphere around his neck is (friend/advisary/wife/prisoner/...) ).

Thanks for the heads up, FW.

Archmage of Entropy,
Here are my thoughts on Glówen.

legoguy4492,
It doesn't look like you've gotten much farther than when you caught me reading the Google Doc earlier tonight. Just let me know when it needs my eyes on it.

A note for all applicants,
It seems that I may have understated this: your party will start this adventure traveling aboard a longship in the far north of the world. Despite the fact that it is nearly spring, nights will still be quite cold, and the land will offer you little sustenance, should complications arise. That's a thing that happens to adventurers sometimes, right? Complications? ;-) This isn't a hexcrawl by any stretch, but characters would nonetheless be wise to have some amount of survival gear, based on this information.

Tomorrow resumes twice-a-day posting for me. First post will show up between 11:00 AM-4:00 PM, and the second between 9:00 PM-12:00 AM. Should I need to push the submission deadline back, I will make that decision on Tuesday's evening post. Between then and now, some of you with more PbP experience than I (read: any at all) could share some insight into how long that extension should be. Otherwise, the deadline for submissions will be 11:59 PM on Tuesday night. Wednesday's daytime post will then provide selections and alternates. Thanks again for your interest, everyone!

The 4 armor bonus is Inertial Armor. As said I hadn't put the Psychic warrior stuff on that sheet sorry. It is my first path power and can be cast for free by expending my psionic focus so He is able to keep it up all day besides for sleeping. He just spends 12 seconds every hour to recast it. One round to use one round to refocus. The Flurry is a Broken Blade Maneuver so.

The Broken Blade’s associated skill is Acrobatics, and its associated weapon groups are close, monk, and natural.

Maneuvers from this discipline require the initiator to be using discipline weapons or be unarmed. Use of discipline-specific weapons with Broken Blade inflict an additional 2 points of damage.

As Havark's mind blade is a temple sword. Desperate battler was first draft I didn't realize I hadn't changed it on the above. I think I took the 3PP feat signature weapon. I will be posting complete final build with backstory later today.

On the deadline for submission: Take a look at everyone's posting history. Are they in active games? I have almost 40 games that have ended b/c the GM or players stop posting and the game dies. I have never walked from a game and I currently have 8 active some more than others. If you have 3-5 that post often then your good to go. Smaller tables allow the game to move without constant post from all the players. I'm not sure why this hasn't got more attention as I know other north land games have. Gestalt is the new hotness on the boards. I know I have passed up applying for many games because I wanted another gestalt. Also most hate 15pt buy. I expect many are passing on that. I don't know this for certain this just seems to by what I have seen on the boards.

All of the stats for Glowen came straight out of PCGen. If they are wrong, I'll happily correct them.
Yes, I would like to go unchained rogue (at the very least for the weapon finess), but I cannot figure out how to get PCGen to let me do that.
Yes, his bonded object should be the amulet, not the belt.
The boots, I made up via PCGen... brain fart. I'll delete them.

I changed his age to middle-age and so had to tweak some stats. Will repost later. I wanted old or venerable, but then he'd have no hit points. :(

Mirth and Discovery sound good, I'll see if I can come up with a third.

Thanks for the warning, I'll add cold weather gear and more food/water.

About the posting rate. I can probably keep up with the 1/day but will sometimes miss it. I do not expect any long absences and will communicate them if something comes up. If I'm slowing down things, I'm perfectly fine letting you bot him (even if it gets him killed or destroys a prized item!)

Three Loyalties for Glowen:

1) Mirth: He has become a kid at heart, (unknowingly freed of the burden of his previous sins), and wants everyone around him to feel likewise. Children are the hope of the future and the sound of their laughter is more precious than gold. [I assume a deeply depressed person would detect him as evil, seeking to destroy the happiness in others and further their own sadness].

2) Fear: He also does not like confrontations and often seeks to smooth things over. To that end, he is willing to go to great lengths to circumnavigate direct confrontation.

3) Pride: Glowen suffers deeply from the sin of pride with respect to his ability to make people believe what he wants them to believe. Be it with diplomacy, bluffing, illusions, or simply hiding.

Loyalties for Azul

1) Honor: Azul's word is his bond and though he may run off at the mouth and curse and shout and roar with his fiery temper, he won't make promises he can't keep, nor will he dishonor himself with underhanded deeds.

2) Friends: He is fiercely loyal to those who earn his trust and respect. Always believing the best in them and accepting them for who they are flaws and all. For his friends, Azul is very self sacrificing.

3) Freedom/Honest: Azul abhors slavery. He even finds people who are willing servants, in the polite sense of the word, annoying. He understands military service, but probably wouldn't choose it for himself. He also only ever speaks true and doesn't like the silver tongued or people who bend the truth.

EDIT: Also, switching to Storm Aspect, because there are like no options at all for fire in the Jotun paragon class. Maybe because they are usually bad.

Ashe,

Archmage of Entropy,

Bane88,
I can't wait to see Azul's build! In the meantime...

For both Bane88 and Archmage of Entropy, take note that your characters hold conflicting values - the skills that Glówen takes Pride in exist in direct opposition of the Honesty that Azul values. Should they both be chosen, ensure that you each have brainstormed ways for your characters to be working together, even as they may get into disagreements. This is the biggest area where immersion takes a backseat in my games, despite the importance I place on it in my creedo. If characters are going to come into conflict (especially if it's regularly), players need to be on the same page about it, or someone's going to get their feelings hurt. This game is fun, but it's social fun - one player's good time can't come at the expense of another's.

My nightside Monday post might come a little later than it would otherwise tonight. One of the two F2F campaigns I play in occur on Mondays (the other is every-other Friday), and it's the GM (my girlfriend)'s schedule that we wrap up by. Considering we're supposed to get hit with a massive amount of snow tonight, she'll probably risk a crappy night's sleep on the grounds that she won't be able go to work tomorrow, and run the game a bit longer than she would otherwise. But I'll be watching this thread throughout the afternoon yet and taking notes.

Ok I'll go with Honesty over freedom, because one can be both servant and master and still be honest, kind and fair with one another.

Azul certainly enjoys his personal freedom because, I'm guessing that other than maybe Jarls, no one probably has Jotun Thralls.

An easy way around this would be for his character to befriend me, before I have a chance to see his cowardice. Because if Azul can find unconventional value in folks, it's value none the less. He is probably less inclined to do human things in reaction to cowardice.

Humans with their books and stripping people's name's from the book of ancestors and all that nonsense.

I should have done more this morning when I was slow. I had a long meeting this afternoon. I will finish up tonight when I play my roll20 game with friends. I will post final build and backstory tomorrow.

No worries on any questions. I like when people ask, means they are paying attention which is good. I know what I was doing now with Desperate Battler. I took the adopted trait Dwarf(Zest for Battle) So Desperate Battler became a +1attack/+2damage. The other trait is optimistic gamble so that even when an ally is close desperate battler will remain active for 1d4 rounds.

the skills that Glówen takes Pride in exist in direct opposition of the Honesty that Azul values

Well... Glowen is not so much a charlatan as an entertainer, never seeking to deceive purely to meet his own selfish gain. And while there may still be conflicts, I think Glowen's Fear would kick in and he'd back off to smooth the confrontation, perhaps agreeing to a more straight-forward approach. He would likely, though, attempt to toss in a suggest or two which might lead Azul to see that slamming his head against a wall might not be the best solution. :)

I think they can get along just fine.

Cool, sounds like you guys figured out how you'd work it. I'll keep watching for final builds to roll in over the next hour or two, but I'm starting to get a bit of a head cold, so I'm posting earlier rather than later tonight. If I'm not nearly as verbose tomorrow, I'm probably without power and posting from my phone. Otherwise, we're still looking to be a little short at about 26 hours away, so that extension is looking more and more likely - but I'm not going to make that call until tomorrow night. I'll keep you all in the loop.

OK, here is Glowen with the tweaked stats for being middle-aged, the quite slippers gone, cold weather equipment bought, bio, description, and loyalties all together.

I have manually added weapon finesse to his list of feats but have not recomputed anything yet (in an uber hurry right now). I have also not adjusted his saves and such for that progressive bonus thingy.

One final nitpick for you Archmage, knowing you haven't done any recalculating yet: About half your starting wealth is unspent, I'd like to see it brought down at least a little bit. If you want a quick fix: make a weapon masterwork. Also don't forget your spellbook, and otherwise it looks good.

I was tempted to buy a wand of magic missile, so he'd have at least some offensive ability, but it seemed out of character for him.

Maybe I can stock up on more potions and scrolls. Ugh, weight. He is already at med encumbrance. Is there a magic item he can afford that will give him increased carrying capacity or freedom of movemen? Maybe he should buy a mule, dog, or servant?

There's no affordable item I've found, muleback cord is about the closest. It's within the GP limit but then swings the wealth mis-distribution the other way Edit: therefore, not an option. You could also put some of the basics into a sack to carry around - hold it in one hand and drop it at the first sign of trouble, or for Stealth. Could go with the beast/man of burden as well, but you'll have to consider feeding and protecting them in addition to whatever else it is you're doing.

Just had a thought... Is it even possible to stealth in snow shoes?