Pathfinder Survivor (Inactive)

Game Master Ichimonji

The carriage came to a stop suddenly, kicking up rocks and a small cloud of dust in the process. Before it was even completely still one of the drivers had already hopped down and opened the door briskly. The man who emerged was not the well-dressed Nobleman that one would expect to step from such a fine carriage. He was dressed simply, in a dusty pair of brown leggings and a well-worn blue tunic with a simple black cloak resting easily on his shoulders. He walked with an air of confidence and purpose, but without rushing, up to the front of the tavern and nailed a parchment to the wall near the door.

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Greetings, thanks for taking the time to look over my game announcement! As you can probably tell from the intro above, this game will be sort of a Pathfinder exploration of a season of Survivor. I’ve thought for a long time that the concepts from the TV show “Survivor” would make an excellent RPG, especially in a PbP format where the focus is frequently more about Role-playing and less about combat. Many aspects of this RPG will be modeled after things in the show, but everything will be laid out and explained so players don’t need to have any interest in, or knowledge of, the show to do really well in our game!

Game Backstory:
Marick Bazzing is a wealthy former-adventurer from a Commoner background. He has entered into a wager with several minor Nobles about whether Nobles or Commoners were more adept at surviving on their own (both in the wilderness and in social settings). Each wagering Noble has chosen a member of their family to compete in the game. Half of the competitors will be Nobles and half will be commoners recruited from a series of signs that were hung in cities around the Inner Sea. Marick and the Nobles pooled treasure together for the wager and for a prize for the winner.

How the Game Will Work:
Half of the PCs will be Noble-born and half will be Commoners. The PCs will be divided into two “Tribes” and once a week real time (which will actually be about 3 days of game time) the Tribes will come together to compete in some sort of challenge. The winning Tribe earns “Immunity” and they are safe. The losing Tribe will have to go to “Tribal Council” where the PCs will choose one person to vote out of the tribe. Each week will be more competitions and another tribe member will be eliminated. At some point in the game the two tribes will merge, and then everyone will be competing individually.

What if I’m voted out:
Every PC that is voted out of the game will become a member of the Jury. At the end of the game, the Jury will get to vote to choose which remaining competitor wins the game. But that’s not all, I’ve got another little twist planned (but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise) to keep the members of the Jury having some fun even though they’re no longer competing for the prize.

Challenges:
The challenges will vary from week to week. Some challenges may take swimming skills, or climbing skills, others will take good dexterity or intelligence or endurance. Most challenges will take a mixture of several things, and players will frequently need to use good strategy as well as needing the right skills for the challenge at hand. Plus, I will also be rewarding great Role-Play during the challenges.

Life At Camp:
The game isn’t only about the Challenges. Probably even more important is the time back at camp. Roleplay will be vital for making friends (and enemies), forging alliances, and building strategy. But even more than that, your characters have to survive in the wilderness. And doing so takes hard work. Characters who work hard all day, without having access to adequate nutrition, will begin to suffer penalties to attribute scores and that will hinder their performance at challenges. Your character could choose to relax on the beach all day, and reserve their strength for challenges which will benefit you by not suffering as much of a penalty for challenges but it would probably annoy the other competitors who have to pick up the slack of the lazy folks. Annoy your tribe mates and they’re likely to kick you out of the competition.

Posting Frequency:
The only firm posting requirements are 2 days a week. One day for the Challenge, and another day for Tribal Council (if your tribe has to go to tribal). The rest of the time is considered to be Back At Camp, and you can post as often as you like roleplaying your time at camp, interactions with other characters, and that type of thing. I’m guessing that the more active you are, and the more enjoyment that you add to the game, the more likely it is that other players will want to keep your character in the game. Obviously that’s not a guarantee, but players who seldom contribute to the game are less likely to make friends and form alliances and that is very likely to invite votes for elimination.

Character Specifics:
We will be using the following books: Core, Ultimate Magic, and Ultimate Combat. All races, classes, feats, etc will need to be chosen from those 3 resources. Attributes will be a point-buy system, and equipment will be irrelevant because your character will only have access to 1 set of cloths and a knife. No other weapons, no armor, no supplies. All characters will begin at 5th Level.

Magic:
Like it says in the intro, there will be no PC magic use in the game. So, here are some answers to anticipated questions:

• “But, DM what about Divine Magic?” - No, there will be no PC magic in the game
• “But, DM what about my Ranger Spells?” – No, there will be no PC magic in the game
• “Oh, bummer. How about my Magic Items?” – No there will be no PC magic in the game
• “Oh yeah? Well my race has innate magical abilities.” – Well, in that case, no there will be no PC magic in the game.

The game will take place in a Null-Magic, DM fortified, zone that suppresses all PC spells and spell-like abilities and properties. Why is magic not allowed? Well I could give a bunch of In-Character explanations, but the bottom line is that the game is about a bunch of PCs competing against each other, and I need to make sure that the game is balanced as well as possible to make it fun for everyone. Since this is the first time that I’ve run this type of game, I want to get a feel for how it flows without unleashing magic into the mix. In future sessions of this game I plan to relax the magic restrictions.

Does that mean you can’t play a spell-casting class in this game? Absolutely not! Personally I think it would be great fun to take a spell caster, and roleplay him as he struggles with this type of competition without the benefits of his magic. If you’re up for that type of challenge, I highly encourage you to play a spell caster.

Yes, a spell caster is at a disadvantage because he doesn’t have any of his “powers”. But warriors don’t get their armor or weapons either. Most classes will experience some disadvantages.

Joining The Game:
So, after all of that, if you’re still reading hopefully you want to know how to get involved with this adventure. To start off I’m not interested in character sheets right now. There’s no need to go through the time filling out a sheet until you’re selected. Here’s what I need:

• Your Name
• Your Pathfinders/D&D experience
• Character Name
• Race / Class
• Commoner or Noble
• Personality
• Background
• Roleplay Example (perhaps roleplay your character’s reaction to reading the note about the competition, or his/her journey to Desnus. Or whatever you think will show off your amazing roleplay talents!)

** Then please email the above information to me at ichimonji@gmail.com. Please don’t post it to this open message thread, because I don’t want all of the players knowing all of the intimate details about all of their competitors. **

If you have questions, feel free to post them here (or email me privately).

Still accepting players, Email if you'd like to join.