GM Birch's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Birch33

Please post questions and comments here - and leave the recruitment tab for dotting and character submissions - thanks.

Okay first of all, already dotted for interest. Now that we've got that out of the way; I've read your whole post, and while I mostly like the way you approach gming and role playing games in general; I have to disagree with the idea of the group being all on the same page or following the same philosophy, as I personally find inner conflict within the group not only refreshing but also enriching of the role playing experience, as long as it doesn't get out of hand or interferes with the campaign to such a large degree. Now I know that mentioning that has probably hurt my chances of getting accepted, but you mentioned at the very beginning how your approaching this similarly to how you approach job recruitment, and if looking for a job has ever taught me anything it's that being honest with your potential employer usually helps more than it hinders. What I am trying to say is just by looking at other tales of adventure one can see that part of the fun was seeing the group argue and disagree, at times few of the group had ill feelings towards each other but they still got the job done, cause when everybody's existence or benefit is on the line people are usually willing to put aside personal differences and at times they may even grow to like each other.

I am willing to play by your rules, if you'll have me, but if you think I am not exactly what you are looking for in a player I'll show my self out and wish you the best of luck.

I personally find inner conflict within the group not only refreshing but also enriching of the role playing experience.

You may be surprised to hear that I agree with you. It's my job as part of the recruitment process to make sure the conflict is adding to the experience - not detracting from it. Five characters that all think alike are boring. A paladin and four demon worshippers is asking for trouble.

What I do want to ensure is that there is a common bond that - as you describe - ensures personal differences are put aside. That common bond may simply be enough money to buy a meal initially but as the game develops, why would these characters stick together?

Having agreed so whole-heartedly with you, I'm glad you weren't put off after reading the post. I expect some players will - and that's good. Those that remain should provide a good fit - and I'm always up for being challenged on anything I say. I may gain a new perspective or understand that I didn't explain myself very well. Or decide that on a given point I'll have to agree to disagree.

I had been wanting to play RotRL. I actually prefer more story/RP driven games myself. I've been doing various rps over the years. My problem is that most of those games have been in person, and i've only recently tried to get into play-by-post. And it is two feats?

[sigh] I dearly want to play in this campaign, since you’ve indicated you’d like to run a very RP-biased take on Runelords, and that appeals to me, especially since GM fatigue-issues meant the last such PbP campaign I played in fell through in the middle of the carnage of the Swallowtail Festival. [sigh again]

The problem is that the only character who’s made themselves as ‘known’ to me as you seem to desire your submissions to be, in least in the way of being a playable PC as opposed to a lead/support character in a wannabe fan-novel :S, is the alias I played in that game, the tiefling Pavanna Alazario. Being a tiefling is rather key to a lot of the things that make Pavanna who she is, and your clearly-stated preference for Core-races-only rather nobbles that. (A lot of my other ideas are based in 3PP material, so they’re even worse. x.x)

Eh. Lack of PC-ideas is my problem, not yours; I’ll take another swing at character-concepts and see what I can hash out. :S

(Kana: I think/presume that that was meant to be ‘two traits’.)

I'm a bit leery of creating a profile for a character that may not be chosen. Would it be all right to simply post my concept under a spoiler, and wait with the profile?

@Trace I ask because the Original RotRL PG has only feats, and it is the Anniversary Guide that has any traits (I downloaded both). I guess i just wish to know which Guide to look at. Because my first thought was that he meant Traits but he really could mean that we take a campaign feat along with our normal feats?

Interested in this, but I feel the need to comment on something here:

Where am I going with this? The recent recruitment process I went through put me in mind of that sort of job-hunting. It's easy to plug in HeroLab and cut and paste some crunch. It's even easier to present 'one I made earlier but can tweak if I'm accepted.'

The differences between putting your all into a job application and putting your all into a PBP application include:

1) If you get the job, you get a salary and hopefully things like health insurance. You do not get paid to play in a PBP, and your life and ability to pay rent/eat/support your family are not dependent upon your getting into the PBP. The point of the PBP is entirely to have fun. So the stakes are entirely different.

2) Your boss or colleagues are highly unlikely to simply disappear one day without notice (it's not impossible, but unlikely). However, like you, I've been in a number of PBPs that have died, most often due to the GM disappearing and being a total coward about not being able to admit they couldn't hack the time commitment. (Yes, the "coward" comment is harsh. I'm VERY tired of being let down, especially by GMs who make a big deal about good character creation and time commitment and then utterly fail to live up to their own standards.)

Don't get me wrong--a GM who wants people to put a lot of time and thought into character creation is a GOOD SIGN to me. And I have no problem putting a character together and doing my best to satisfying the requested character creation materials so far.

But that also means I hold the GM to the same standards the GM is trying to hold to me--I expect quality writing and a consistent standard of time commitment, or I'm out. Fortunately, looking at your other campaigns, looks like you have a good track record. If you like the job application metaphor so much--remember that when interviewing for a job, a good job applicant is checking to be sure the prospective employer is right for him just as much as the employer is testing the applicant.

I've been put through the char gen ringer before--several stages of going through character selection, lots of hoops to jump through, like you ARE indeed trying to get a position your life depends upon rather than a slot in a pretendy funtime game. That's not fun to me. If this gets to be an onerous process where the costs outweigh the benefits (which is being able to have fun playing in a good Adventure Path), then you can count me out right now.

I DO consider a well run game fun, I DO consider putting lots of time and thought into character creation fun. I do take commitment to a game seriously in that I show up and participate and do my best. I don't take it so seriously that I'm going to spend a disproportionate amount of time--over my real life work and commitments--trying to get into and then participate in it.

I hope that makes sense. And if anything I've said is off-putting, I apologize--but since you're up front about your standards, I feel okay being up front about mine. If this is all good, I will be back with a character when I have time to complete the creation process.

I'm a bit leery of creating a profile for a character that may not be chosen. Would it be all right to simply post my concept under a spoiler, and wait with the profile?

I would prefer this as well. I do not want to take the extra time and energy to create a character very specifically and intentionally designed for this AP under this GM, put it under a profile, and then if I don't get accepted, I'm stuck with an alias spamming up my alias list that I will likely never ever use again.

Alternately, as we can delete our aliases as long as we never post with them, can we create an alias with profile but post a link to them under our default username until we are accepted, so we don't have to post with the alias until it is accepted?

Alternately, as we can delete our aliases as long as we never post with them, can we create an alias with profile but post a link to them under our default username until we are accepted, so we don't have to post with the alias until it is accepted?

This seems like a good compromise to me. I'll post on the recruitment thread under the assumption that this is okay.

And it is two feats?

Yes two traits - and one has to be Campaign specific

Kana wrote:

And it is two feats?

Yes two traits - and one has to be Campaign specific

Is it usual to reply to yourself? In case I didn't make sense, it's two traits - and as many feats as your character dictates.

I'm a bit leery of creating a profile for a character that may not be chosen. Would it be all right to simply post my concept under a spoiler, and wait with the profile?

I know some players don't like creating an alias until they are chosen. If you'd prefer to do it this way I won't object.

So I know this is core and advanced guide only, so how do you rule on oversized weapons, I have a halfling barbarian I really want to play who uses medium sized melee weapons.

Interested in this, but I feel the need to comment on something here...

Valid points. And to continue the metaphore, I hope I put across the fact that it is all about a good match - and this is as true in recruitment as PbP.

You should certainly check me out and decide if I'm the sort of GM you would like to play with. I hope that the fact you've posted means you will at least consider joining the game.

And hopefully I asnswered the alias question already.

[sigh] I dearly want to play in this campaign, since you’ve indicated you’d like to run a very RP-biased take on Runelords, and that appeals to me, especially since GM fatigue-issues meant the last such PbP campaign I played in fell through in the middle of the carnage of the Swallowtail Festival. [sigh again]

*waves* Hello, hello! Another one of my former RotRl traveling companions! I'm thinking I'm wanting to go with a dwarf. Not totally sure how I want to go about it, except that I definitely want him to be martial.

So I know this is core and advanced guide only, so how do you rule on oversized weapons, I have a halfling barbarian I really want to play who uses medium sized melee weapons.

Haflings are OK and barbarians are OK. On that basis, I can manage the oversized weapon if there's a good reason for it. And I'm sure your back-story will reveal all.

Enjoy the job application approach to find good dedicated players, and agree with Death Quaker that it is a two way street, seems so thus far. I am tired of getting into a game that slowly loses steam and rolls to a halt because the players or DM, it happens too often. I am excited at the possibility to play a long campaign with people that will not flake out.

Due to the volume of questions, I just want to let everyone know that tomorrow is my slowest posting day. I'm on GMT (as I'm in England) and weekdays I'm on-line 7.30am to 10.30pm. Saturdays tend to be family focused, so may not get on the boards until early evening. Sunday I tend to get on-line late afternoon.

Enjoy the job application approach to find good dedicated players, and agree with Death Quaker that it is a two way street, seems so thus far. I am tired of getting into a game that slowly loses steam and rolls to a halt because the players or DM, it happens too often. I am excited at the possibility to play a long campaign with people that will not flake out.

My chief concern is that I may have to say no to some great characters - and disappoint people who have put a lot of effort in. If I have to run two campaigns, then so be it. I've never run dual campaigns before, so would have to think long and hard before I committed to it. But it is a possibility.

I like your style so far. My buddy Robby is hands down the best GM i have had in real life and he is a great story teller. I will admit I have powergamer in me as I love the numbers and crunch. I also love story and developing of charachter.

Garris I loved this guy, the campaign was great while it lasted. Oh how I miss the sands of the arena.

Drogan Currenty playing this guy in a way of the wicked game. He has been fun to play as well. Its good to be bad.

Hope those two can provide you with examples of how I play. I have others that I am playing, but those are/were my favorite. I currently play in 4 play by post and post often as the story allows. I will try and work up a submission over the weekend.

I will try and work up a submission over the weekend.

Thanks and don't worry, this is no sprint, the game will still be pen in 48 hours.

I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but I get a 404 error when trying to access the link to the Sandpoint pdf in your Dropbox.

Had the same 404 error

If this helps I downloaded the 2 free PDFs for RotRL. The first is the older one that has better info on Vasaria and the second has better info for character creation crunch.

old one

new one

It's there, the link's just funky. If you click it, then remove the <br%20/> from the url, and try again, you'll get it.

Questions:
For campaign traits, are you using the ones from the APG, the AE player's guide, or both?
Where exactly is the caravan coming from? I figured Magnimar, but I could see it coming from Korvosa or Janderhoff. I guess it's not critical, but it helps me visualize what's going on.

Additionally, I can volunteer to be the "rules guy," if needed.

I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but I get a 404 error when trying to access the link to the Sandpoint pdf in your Dropbox.

Fixed again (or for the first time). I've not embedded the link but it should work if you cut and paste the Dropbox link.

This contains a lot more than the player's guide.

It's there, the link's just funky. If you click it, then remove the <br%20/> from the url, and try again, you'll get it.

Questions:
For campaign traits, are you using the ones from the APG, the AE player's guide, or both?
Where exactly is the caravan coming from? I figured Magnimar, but I could see it coming from Korvosa or Janderhoff. I guess it's not critical, but it helps me visualize what's going on.

Additionally, I can volunteer to be the "rules guy," if needed.

I'm happy with either source for the campaign traits. I hadn't fixed where the caravan was coming from. Magnimar is the most logical, but it could have picked up people along the way. So we'll say Magnimar.

Happy to have a rules volunteer - thanks.

I'm the one that just put up Merwyn in the other thread. If you're interested in a roleplaying sample, I enjoyed playing Professor Mara in the Avalon thread, even though it wasn't a main character.

I really enjoyed the roleplaying-heavy focus of that game (hence why I am interested in joining this one), but the Avalon game had a few too many plot lines going on at a time and I couldn't keep up with the thread. (Even though I came in every day, few times a day)

Phew, you a keeping on my toes. I love what I've seen so far - and hope you are taking my feedback in the way it was intended - to develop the characters. The benefit of show don't tell for characters is that it cements personality and skills in a way that telling doesn't.

Saying a character is agile is not memorable. A story of them escaping from a goblin horde because they were able to wriggle through of a hollow tree is memorable and seals the attribute in both the player's and the GM's mind.

I've also been thinking about having more than six great characters. I won't run two RotR campaigns but will run a different campaign instead. And so if it comes to it, I'll have a vote on which one to go with (only Skulls is out of bounds as I'm playing in it).

I've never played Pathfinder before, but I would like to learn. I thought that a play by post would be a good place to start since I've roleplayed by email before. Will my lack of experience by a terrible negative?

I also have a question about archetypes. (While I have never played Pathfinder, I do have most of their books. :-)) You say only Core and APG classes are allowed but that archetypes are fine. Does this mean we can use archetypes from other sources as long as the class comes from either of those two book? I have had an idea for a Summoner (Synthesist) since I read the article about the Great Old Ones in the Carrion Crown AP. Would that archetype be allowed?

Well, I am not speaking for the GM, but if you are accepted, I'm sure that we'd be able to help you out with things. It's great that you're coming into Pathfinder from a roleplay standpoint. Aside from the eccentricities, it's often much easier to learn how to play the game than to learn how to roleplay, after having learned to play the game.

I placed him growing up in the Whisperwood, but if theres another wood near where the caravan starts this can be adjusted easliy enough....

Walden's owner here. I hope its okay that I did something a little different regarding a "story" for character development?
I plan on adding other bits to flesh out the character, mostly based on feedback, and likely in the more conventional formats you'd asked for.

I'm really interested in this. Particularly because the work put into screening out those who don't fit a more role play style of game leads me to believe here's a GM invested in seeing this game through!

I want to play a half-elf alchemist. The Bramble Brewer from Advanced Race Guide interests me. It's just an archetype that makes good use of the tanglefoot bomb and changes the mutagen power to be plant focused. Would that be acceptable? If not, I still want to play as a half-elf alchemist; come to think of it, the fluff I have in mind won't change that much.

Writing these stories is fun. I might have another one up soon.

I've never played Pathfinder before, but I would like to learn. I thought that a play by post would be a good place to start since I've roleplayed by email before. Will my lack of experience by a terrible negative?

I also have a question about archetypes. (While I have never played Pathfinder, I do have most of their books. :-)) You say only Core and APG classes are allowed but that archetypes are fine. Does this mean we can use archetypes from other sources as long as the class comes from either of those two book? I have had an idea for a Summoner (Synthesist) since I read the article about the Great Old Ones in the Carrion Crown AP. Would that archetype be allowed?

Firstly your lack of experience of PbP won't count against you. If your character fills me with confidence, that's all that matters.

I'm afraid it's Pathfinder only - so no third party archetypes I'm afraid.

I placed him growing up in the Whisperwood, but if theres another wood near where the caravan starts this can be adjusted easliy enough....

I want to play a half-elf alchemist. The Bramble Brewer from Advanced Race Guide interests me. It's just an archetype that makes good use of the tanglefoot bomb and changes the mutagen power to be plant focused. Would that be acceptable? If not, I still want to play as a half-elf alchemist; come to think of it, the fluff I have in mind won't change that much.

I'm a firm believer that if I say yes to one variation, I'll have to say yes to the next and before I know it, I'll have all the characters from sources outside my original list. Plus it's not fair on those that stuck to the brief but would have liked to have had a wider choice. Which is a long-winded way of saying no, sorry.

Ixos wrote:

I've never played Pathfinder before, but I would like to learn. I thought that a play by post would be a good place to start since I've roleplayed by email before. Will my lack of experience by a terrible negative?

I also have a question about archetypes. (While I have never played Pathfinder, I do have most of their books. :-)) You say only Core and APG classes are allowed but that archetypes are fine. Does this mean we can use archetypes from other sources as long as the class comes from either of those two book? I have had an idea for a Summoner (Synthesist) since I read the article about the Great Old Ones in the Carrion Crown AP. Would that archetype be allowed?

Firstly your lack of experience of PbP won't count against you. If your character fills me with confidence, that's all that matters.

I'm afraid it's Pathfinder only - so no third party archetypes I'm afraid.

The Synthesist is actually a Paizo archetype, from Ultimate Magic. I think he was asking if archetypes from books other than the APB (Such as the archaeologist bard, which is from Ultimate Combat) were legal, even if classes from other books aren't.

GM Birch wrote:

Ixos wrote:

The Synthesist is actually a Paizo archetype, from Ultimate Magic. I think he was asking if archetypes from books other than the APB (Such as the archaeologist bard, which is from Ultimate Combat) were legal, even if classes from other books aren't.

Thanks for the correction - you can tell I'm not an archetype type of player, so haven't looked at that section of UM. The answer, I'm afraid, is stil the same. Only the two books listed can be used.

I go away for under a day and look what happens! I'm actually overwhelmed by the quality of the applications this far - truly.

Tomorrow (Monday my time) I'll be posting a check so far on who's submitted, where I think we are and where my head is about running a second group if I end up with more than 7 characters that demand a story to play a part in.

Ive added a few more story posts to his background to go into a little more depth if you want to take a look.

I've added the crunch and a story (or rather, two short ones) to Kaddok.

since you are into the final phase I thought Id give you the last bit of information you asked for.

My style and frequency.

Ive been playing rpg's since 1975 and am a bit of an old school player. I think Play by posts are more about story and less about combat because lets face it, there's a reason we like to write about what we see and do...

You can check my gm name...GM Michael for style and frequency. as well as the two current games I am in. alias' Gregor Kardoff and Kilain Gravendak.

Though the latter has a DM who is less present so that has caused disinterest a few times.

I think you will find me an attentive player that can post 2-4 times a day, depending on work load.

Just wanted to say hey and that I am still around, but I've been busy thinking up the back-story of my character, so I hope there is still time to attempt to join your game.

Just wanted to say hey and that I am still around, but I've been busy thinking up the back-story of my character, so I hope there is still time to attempt to join your game.

Yes. The 48-hour warning has been sounded, so I'll close recruitment in (checks watch) 43 hours. In fairness to players who have already submitted, I'll need the fluff finished and any feedback taken on board (if it's given and you want to act on it of course) by then.

I have physical description, background and personality ready to go. I'll update Walden when I get the story (how Walden learned to speak Goblin!) finished as well. That portion may take a the rest of the day, as its begun running away on me bit!

Still about... thinking on what you said

If it helps you at all in balancing the party, I think I have figured out a way for my character to be an oracle or a bard (so like divine and more balanced arcane), although I still prefer sorcerer. The concept is basically the same, but it's just that some aspects are played up a bit more in different classes.

Although the oracle and bard concepts would probably not work in a Carrion Crown game because if the game is heavy with mind-affecting immune things, then there is far less that the character can do.

Regarding Inquisitors: The Core Rules leave open the possibility of a cleric deriving power from a concept or philosophy rather than a deity. Would your campaign support such a concept for an inquisitor? Presuming the inquisitor's story was strong enough to make sense of such a thing.

If I were to revise my character, Eltanin, as an inquisitor then I must admit the results might be confusing. I know just enough about the historical Inquisitions to be biased against any conventional portrayal - all of the historical witch-finders were monstrously evil, just for a start. The presence of inquisitors as a class in the game has made me uncomfortable from the beginning.

It is for that very reason that I am tentatively considering playing one.

But I don't want to get into the complexities of my headspace just now. Suffice it to say that whatever I play, I plan to commit to for as long as this campaign continues. And I'll go by your ruling, GM Birch - stick with my arcane caster idea, or go divine.

Still about... thinking on what you said

** spoiler omitted **