| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hear ye, hear ye! I am seeking an individual of extraordinary talent, grit and intellect. I seek a being capable of great feats of bravery and valor. Step out of the realms of the multiverse, and become a hero!
This is a recruitment for a solo game. I have an overpowering urge to run another game, despite not having much time for it. So I’ve decided to try this. I want to run a Pulp hero of one kind or another through a personal sandbox using PFRPG rules.
I have created the skeleton of a PC, with certain details set. Your job is to flesh it out, by making the rest of the character choices, and breathing life into them with a background. Additionally some house rules will be in place to give the game a low/no magic, Pulpy feel:
*Automatic Bonus Progression (No Magic Items)
*No Alignment
*Stamina and combat tricks (Combat Stamina free)
*All damage taken until 0 HP does not actually hurt the PC. It represents minor cuts, bruises, and loss of stamina. When not in combat, and at a positive HP value, the PC gains fast healing 2. HP damage that brings a PC below 0 represents a serious wound. While in negative HP, the PC remains conscious and staggered, bleeding each round until they stabilize or reach an amount of negative HP equal to their constitution. Reaching negative HP equal to the PC’s constitution results in death. Stabilization is a free action taken every round at the end of the PC’s turn, which otherwise functions as normal. Strenuous action has no effect on the bleeding or staggered condition. Negative HP regenerates as per normal PFRPG rules for rest and recovery. Once the PC is in positive HP again, their fast healing turns back on.
This game can take place on Golarion, or in any other suitably pulpy setting. I will improvise the details of the setting and campaign based off what the PC’s goals are.
The pacing of this game will be relatively slow, I will only promise one post a week. I prefer to, and will try to, run it much faster than that, but already have other PBP commitments. They will take precedence, so in busy times this will go on the back burner, but I will eventually get around to it.
What you need to submit
(Please read carefully and follow instructions. Those who don’t won’t be considered.)
First, come up with a concept for your character, and the game you want to play. Be as detailed as possible. That way I can better assess whether it’s something I’d gel well with and be able to run. You can make an initial post with a basic concept if you so desire.
Next, copy this template into a blank Paizo alias, or some word processor. Then fill in all the details in red as if you were building the character normally. Do not change anything in black. Once completed, you will have the crunch for your PC. Please make an alias for it, and paste the information there. Bonus points for having a cool reference image/drawing.
Finally, write a detailed background telling me about your character’s past and their world. Who were their parents? Where did they grow up? How did they learn to fight and (hunt/swim/steal/whatever)? What are their goals? (Long and short term) How do they provide a living for themselves? How did they get to level 3 in a level 1 world? This will help me determine whether or not we can game together well. This will be the primary determining factor on who gets into this game. Take your time, make it good.
I will leave the initial recruitment open for two weeks. I will provide feedback and answer questions throughout the period. If a concept doesn’t appeal to me, I will tell you right away to avoid wasting your time. I reserve the right to end recruitment early if there is a single exemplary submission that steals my heart. Please let me know if anything is unclear or I've forgotten something.
Alright--I'm definitely interested. :)
I've never tried gestalt before, and I like the setup you've put forward here. I'll work on a character concept I'm happy with first before I submit the crunch.
EDIT: Actually, I have a question. Regarding bonus languages, will you allow the character to have their native language in addition to Common (by this, I mean would you allow a Varisian character to speak Common & Varisian, for example) and not have it count as a bonus language?
Yeah, ethnic languages are fine.
Alrighty then!
This looks pretty neat! A nice little project to pick up, for sure. I am curious about this campaign for sure, and I have a few questions. Is the class locked for the entire campaign, or can characters branch out from the fighter (and expert)? And if it is locked to fighter (and expert), what is it you envision for this PC that makes it fit that class more than others?
I have a personality in mind for a female character, and I just want to make sure I have the vibe and motivations in line for her before I set to work.
I've got a character concept in mind for you, DM. Let me run it by you.
The character I have in mind hails from a Kellid tribe in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Unlike the berserkers of her tribe who throw themselves into battle frenzies with no regard for their own survival, my character focuses it inward to give her the strength to weather anything the land or its denizens can throw at her. Mechanically, I chose to represent this with the Unbreakable Fighter archetype.
The rough outline I have for her is that she's the daughter of the tribe's chieftain, and as such pushed herself to be a better hunter and warrior than all the rest. The working campaign goal I have for her is for her to find and rescue her younger brother and other members of her tribe, who were kidnapped in a raid by slavers that crippled her father.
I'm still working on the fine details, but that's what I've got for my character concept now.
This looks pretty neat! A nice little project to pick up, for sure. I am curious about this campaign for sure, and I have a few questions. Is the class locked for the entire campaign, or can characters branch out from the fighter (and expert)? And if it is locked to fighter (and expert), what is it you envision for this PC that makes it fit that class more than others?
I have a personality in mind for a female character, and I just want to make sure I have the vibe and motivations in line for her before I set to work.
Well, being a low/no magic pulp campaign there will be very little if any leveling up. The idea is that you already start out as a skilled warrior/adventurer and just go on adventures (ala Conan, Soloman Kane, King Krull, John Carter, etc.). I picked that class combination because it fits the traditional pulp hero very well, and is extremely flexible. It will likely be locked, yeah. I want to keep the power level and PC's abilities in a very specific range.
The one thing I don't want to keep from traditional pulp is the sexism and racism, so female character is fine.
To expand on the above a bit now that I'm at a keyboard...I chose fighter/expert because it gives good saves across the board, good skills, and good fighting ability. With all the archetypes and feats available to fighters they are very customizable as well, no two fighters will be alike. I feel it could easily be built out to represent basically any of the major Pulp icons.
This may reach as high as level 5 or 6, but probably not higher than that. It's not meant to be a level 3-20 uber campaign. More like a single adventure module in length, maybe a little more if it goes smashingly.
I've got a character concept in mind for you, DM. Let me run it by you.
The character I have in mind hails from a Kellid tribe in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Unlike the berserkers of her tribe who throw themselves into battle frenzies with no regard for their own survival, my character focuses it inward to give her the strength to weather anything the land or its denizens can throw at her. Mechanically, I chose to represent this with the Unbreakable Fighter archetype.
The rough outline I have for her is that she's the daughter of the tribe's chieftain, and as such pushed herself to be a better hunter and warrior than all the rest. The working campaign goal I have for her is for her to find and rescue her younger brother and other members of her tribe, who were kidnapped in a raid by slavers that crippled her father.
I'm still working on the fine details, but that's what I've got for my character concept now.
This sounds pretty good. I could just as easily see this being set in Hyborea or some other pulp world. Golarion would work if we stay in the north where technology and magic are limited. Numeria/RotML/LotLK/Irrisen.
I'd probably tone the magic level down though, especially if it went somewhere like Irrisen where magic is relatively common.
Either way, this is the kind of concept I'm looking for. I'm not going to commit to anything yet, and I'd need a lot more details, but the general ideas pique my interest. I, like James Jacobs, like dinosaurs and megafauna so those being included is a bonus for me.
:D
Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with Hyborea as a setting...
By the way, this is probably a silly question, but are you using alignments for this? I didn't see a spot for it on the template you provided.
Hyborea is basically 1920s American dude's idea about what Prehistoric fantasy Earth was like.
Take Africa and Asia and fuze them together with an ice cap full of white people at the top. Add divine magic and demon-pact powered sorceries and you get the idea.
There is this famous quote about the Hyborean Age at the beginning of basically every Conan story:
"Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars ... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
By the way, this is probably a silly question, but are you using alignments for this? I didn't see a spot for it on the template you provided.
*No Alignment
Pulp fantasy worlds, especially Sword and Planet/Planetary Romance and Sword and Sorcery tend to have black and grey morality. I like that. Almost all my games are like that, and it will be goal for this one as well. If you like clearly defined right and wrong, you prolly won't like my DMing style.
Ah. I must have missed that. I can roll with it. :)
More info on the Hyborean Age in case anyone is interested in using that as a setting for their PC.
Hmmm. Seems this idea is about as popular as a bowl of microwaved cat turds. How serious about this are you, Dragoncat?
No one else has really responded.
I'm serious about this.
I'm just taking longer than I thought fleshing my character out.
Alright, well then I'm closing recruitment. Let's move to the discussion thread.