The Beginning of All Things (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

About the Ruins of MacNorra House

South of the village of Woodbrige about a half miles walk along the wandering river Lorisaine, you’ll find a peculiar stone ruin that locals call the Ruins of MacNorra House.

Now the ruins are not any kind of house, nor were they put there by anyone of the MacNorra family, but fifty years ago, Duffy MacNorra, who has since passed on, discovered the ruin and set out to build a house near there. Duffy gave up on the project when he married Ginny Barrow, and they moved into Genny’s parents house at Lakeside.

The ruin is six structures, all of very large cut and fitted stones (each being, on average, about two feet long on each side and one foot high). The stones were brought, most likely, from a hill to the east of the river, a place people only know about in stories, called The Hill of the Cairns.

The six structures are not uniform. Three of them are round, about thirty feet in diameter, and rise to a height of eight to twelve feet. These three structures are placed one hundred feet from the river bank, to the west. Two of the structures are rectangular, twenty feet by sixty feet, and are set perpendicular, with their long sides parallel to the river bank, and here the river bank shows signs that it was cut and reinforced with stones. The two rectangular structures have walls that rise only to a height of four to six feet, and unlike the round structures show signs of having, once, interior walls, the foundations of which can still be seen. Lastly, and most strangely, there is a square structure. This structure sits in the river itself, on a bed of hard stone where the water is only a few feet deep. It is forty feet on a side, and rises to a height of fourteen feet. Two of the sides, the two facing up and down river, are open and the river flows through the structure. There is a peculiar hole some four feet square in the eastern wall of the structure six feet above the river. There are no features within the structure except for a ledge that is two feet wide that runs the entire perimeter of the building eight feet above the water.

When Duff found the ruin, there were no roofs, and some of the walls were only partially intact. He also found stones, similar to the ones of the ruin, seventy five yards away from the eastern bank of the river, but as the forest closes in thick on the eastern side of the river, he didn’t follow what he thought was a trail of the stones going east toward the Hill of the Cairns.

Twenty years ago three families of Gymnaga came to Woodbridge. They came from the south, and claimed they had been driven out of a larger Gymnaga village many miles upriver. At that time, Sean Flaherty was the village elder, and he was sympathetic to the situation of the Gymnaga and agreed to give them the ruin as a place to build their homes. Since that time, two more Gymnaga families have joined that community, and they have built up the ruin to suit them. They have added roofs of timber and shingle to most of the structures, and built up some cottages, in a similar style to the cottages at Woodbrigde next to the round structures of the ruin, which they use as craft shops, where they work leather and spin wool. Being a semi-aquatic people, they have taken to the structure that sits in the river quite naturally, and added a second floor to it, but left the ceiling open, and this is a sort of part temple, part “town hall”. The long buildings on the banks of the river are homes to the two largest families of Gymnaga, Rosilindeae’s family of six (three adults, two adolescents, and one small child), and a second family (not identified yet) of seven. In the cottages (three) are three other families of five, five, and four.
Rosilindeae’s family would be of the Priest class in their own culture, the family that lives next to them are of the Warrior Class, and two of the families in the cottages are of the Artisan class, and the last is of the lower class, but this Gymnaga community does not hold class as highly as a larger community would.

Here is the idea and sheet of my Gymnaga: Poseus Murandae
Perhaps he can learn somewhat from the Elven Ranger visiting Woodbridge.

This is a really great character. Well done!

Indeed, and I welcome the opportunity to meet and potentially befriend Poseus.

There were a couple of other character concepts worked on here that I have not heard from in a while, Joffrey the Mute? Mighty Mosco? and there was a Halfling sneak, a bard (of some race), and at least one or two more.

If you are out ther, don't feel that we have shut you out, you are still welcome here.

Hello there!
I was wondering if it was still possible to apply to join this game? I'm afraid I must admit to being a complete noob to PbP - indeed to Pathfinder itself. I was (long ago in my misspent youth) a fair GM for D&D but I cant claim any experience with anything past the AD&D material (dating myself, here, I guess). We once tried to play PF, made up characters, and agreed to get together another day to do it. And it just never happened. So I do have the books- even got a full licence for hero lab- all for naught. I would SO love to RP again in some form- and if it gives me a chance to actually get some value out of these books so much the better.
I'll understand if my lack of experience and my late-come application makes me inelligable, but I hope you'll consider me. I'll check back here tommorow >glances at the clock< er..later tonite for a reply.
-Hypotherminator

Hypotherminator - It is never too late to join this game. Woodbridge is imagined to be a role-playing community setting where adventures present themselves in never ending ways and players have the option of participating in traditional "adventuring party" activities or not as they choose.

As to your lack of experience, do not concern yourself with such things, the style of this game, the Play by Post approach, is still new to me as well, and it is, in my opinion, a very forgiving environment, so please, read up on the material that the wonderful players have already contributed, get a feel for Woodbridge and its people and environment, and join as soon as you are comfortable with what you want to do. Do not hesitate to use the “Discussion” thread to present your questions or suggestions, and I’m sure that the other participants will be glad to help you with anything that may be confusing (should I not be available).

Absolutely, Hypo, jump in!

Well- thank you for inviting me! It will probably take me a bit to put a character together. I was looking over your list of other players and classes- no mage-types except the witch. How about I introduce a traditional wizard?
As for his place in the village- a glass and ceramic shop would be a good front for a wizard's lab.Perhaps also a place to sell alchemical products as well? Every kitchen in the village would need tindertwigs and vermin repellent, after all. A place like Woodbridge would likely have a good supply of nearby clays and sand for that craft, and Castletown is close enough to give him a good market for the things he can produce that the locals cant afford.
I would probably call him Cale or Caleb or the like- its close enough to an old character that I would remember it, but different enought to be unique. Human would be a choice for race, and given the lack of advanced facilities & shcools in the area, I would make him an Alodoan immigrant. A young man I think (since I plan to play for awhile I dont want him dying of old age!)
As you can see - I never have any problem coming up with concepts.Puting all this into game terms though...well, I might need some assistance. But 1st things 1st- is there anything here so far that need to be addressed or changed?

Dice rolls:
4d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 3, 4) = 17 makes this 14
4d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 5, 5) = 21 makes this 16
4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 5, 4) = 17 makes this 14
4d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 4, 1) = 13 and 12
5d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 3, 5, 1) = 18 and another 14
5d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 4, 3, 3) = 16 this is 12- drop this one
5d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 4, 5, 1) = 21 and last one is another 16
hmm- is there a bonus for rolling all even numbers? :D
I'll just leave these numbers here for now until I get the GM's ok on the character concept. Also if anyone else wants to comment on what I have so far please do- any advice or friendly criticism would be welcome.

Well that's some nice rolls.

Ill let the gm make comments on character concepts.

But. Since everyone in the village kinda knows each other (more or less) would people know he is a wizard or does he disguise it? Could be really interesting since you're the first arcane user as far as I know

Great rolls!

I would certainly welcome a second elf...they make great wizards! Hint...hint...nudge...nudge...lol!

I'm interested in playing a human Sorcerer with the Fey bloodline (wildblooded into Sylvan, so I can have a puppy?). Well-known and well-liked, with rumors floating around that he's the son of a nymph? Smooth-talker that hosts a sort of 'game center' where everyone can gather around and gamble to socialize, perhaps.

I am new to play-by-post for tabletops, but I have done forum roleplays before. I know a good it about Pathfinder since I'm the DM for my group of friends irl, so that's not a problem at all.

Hopefully the DM is all good with my concept, and I hope to see you guys in the RP soon :>

Ryralane - a Human sorcerer would be a fine character concept.

Hypotherminator - I won't push you to create a character you don't want to play, never, but I want to suggest that if you are thinking of working the Alodoan immigrant idea into your character, and want to be a Wizard, Halfling might be a better choice, and it introduces some interesting dynamics into the campaign (as there is an Elf already represented)

We had two or possibly three players who expressed an interest in playing Halfings, but it seems they have decided not to join the campaign. We have, so far, one Gymnaga and the character is very interesting.

Anyone willing to take on the role of a young Maetaur?

Yes, Halfling would certainly work, but the dynamics between such a PC and Dieredon would certainly be interesting, to say the least.

@GM Terquem: I meant to ask you about the other Elves and halflings currently present in Woodbridge, especially if there are other Separatist Elves?

Yes, been behind on getting out an NPC detail. Hopefully today.

I figured as much, NP...just trying to tie in his Separatist movement to the storyline, primarily before the Halfling arrives. LOL

Also, found the disconnect in the Gymnaga time line. I edited the post describing the Ruins of MacNorra House between the time of placing that information here, in the recruitment thread, and again re posting it in the discussion thread. So for clarity, it has been twelve years since the Gymnaga came to the area of Woodbridge, not twenty. Thanks.

Um. Halfling...uh...I'm afraid I hafta request to skip that please. I avoid the small races like the plague. In real life I miss being classified as a Small Person by a mere 3 inches. I'd rather play an average-size human. I mean..might as well live the fantasy since we're playing "let's pretend" right?

As I said, just a suggestion.
I'm thinking of starting a thread in the campaign journal territory and keeping track of everyone's contributions to the setting, look for it there, if you are interested.

Would still like to see a Halfling and a Maetaur join this campaign, and more are welcome.

ok thx Terq- I think I got enough to start to put together a character profile. I'll go start on that and hope to get it done soon- hopefully before the end of the weekend at the latest. I like how Dieredon has his laid out- I think I'll steal...er...borrow heavily on his influence.I couldn't get Cal or Caleb for the name- both were taken already- but Calex was open. So when next you hear from me it will be under that name. I'll put any more questions and such over in the discussion tab from here out to leave this for the next recruit. >rubs hands gleefully together< Oh I am SO looking forward to this!

I'd love to play a halfling bard,if you'll have me! I'm new to PbP/the paizo forums, but an old hand at pathfinder.

Kreaux - a Halfling Bard would be a great character, please feel free to catch up on the material and join in when you think you are ready.

And things are beginning to gather energy around here :)

I'm not sure whether or not you'd let me have my own building to host the gambling center in or not, so I just left it at that: "gambling center." If you decide to let me have my own building, I'll come up with a name for it.

Chance Oakley

Let me know if everything's alright!

Also, if you're iffy about the whole gambling center thing, just let me know. I have a bunch of different concepts I can work in, not just this one. :3

Abram Twinklegaze
chaotic neutral halfling bard. Abram migrated to town about a month ago,brought here by pure wanderlust. he has decided to stay for a bit,mostly because he is quickly becoming "famous" as the "go-to guy" for the juiciest gossip in town. Abram is currently providing the entertainment for the local tavern in exchange for room,board,and tips. (pre-town backstory is a work in progress)

str 10-2=8
dex 12+2=14
con 14
int 13
wis 10
cha 16+2=18

hp= 10
ac= 16

fort 3| reflex 5| will 3|bab 0

skills: perform (comedy) = 10; bluff =8; diplomacy =9; perception=4;sense motive=4;profession(satirist)=6; knowledge(local)= 6, use magic device=9

racial traits: ingratiating(+2 perform/craft/profession);fearless (+2 fear saves);halfling luck(+1 on all saves)

basic traits: honeyed tongue (+1 diplomacy);dagerously curious (+1 UMD)

feats/features:Bardic knowledge, bardic performance, cantrips, countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire courage +1, halfling slinger (+1 atk/dmg with slings)

cantrips: message,prestidigitation,flare,mending

1st level spells:cure light,abundant ammunition

gear:
30 gold,hide shirt,buckler,longsword,journal,ink,pen,entertainers outfit,sling,bullets x 100

Ryralane - the character is interesting. The size, wealth, and attitude of Woodbridge would not support a business dedicated to gambling. Once again the total amount of coin in the village amounts to around 800 gold pieces, for a population of 327 individuals.

Kreaux - another interesting character, but please take a minute to familiarize yourself with the Halflings of the setting, they may not be exactly what you have in mind, not that there is anything wrong with having a Halfling who is not "typical".

Well, I've updated him to be more of an animal-loving nature-focused scholar character, so feel free to check out the profile for all the changes I've done. Let me know if there's anything else I need to change.

Also, how would I go about teaching Welkin more tricks?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I imagined him as arrogant and overly-confident,now being young he's disinterested in the past or present hostilities of halflings and elves. he is,however,interested in the hostilities of every individual in woodbridge. he is a shameless gossip, and always the instigator/devils advocate. now upon realizing that woodbridge doesn't have an inn, I'd like to go with the standard PC cottage, but still maintain my job at the tavern if that's OK?

also, how do i crate an alias on my account for Abram? thanks

Go to 'My Account' tab at the top of the page, in there you will find a lot of options including create a new alias under your current avatar. Then you can choose a new name and avatar for you new alias and you're all set

Go to 'My Account' tab at the top of the page, in there you will find a lot of options including create a new alias under your current avatar. Then you can choose a new name and avatar for you new alias and you're all set

thank you

hello friends! its good to see me!

Abram - Well I apologize, I jumped to conclusions. A great character.

Chance - Let me do some homework on that. Everyone in the village is connected to domestic animals in some way (chickens, cows, sheep and goats mostly, almost no pigs).

Abram - Well I apologize, I jumped to conclusions. A great character.

no apology needed :)

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but...

Being "connected to domestic animals" does not necessarily mean you're an animal lover. Here, let me go fetch my friend who raises animals for a living and he'll write you a 5-page paper on how much he despises pigs. :P

Besides, I feel that he'd be more interested in wild animals since they're not what he normally sees, and therefore study-worthy. Also, you can't forget to note that his bloodline says that his ties to nature have more to do with creatures. I tried to work as much of his character sheet into the backstory as possible, which is why I chose a Huldra over something like a Nymph.

Perhaps I should have used a different term. Instead of animal-lover, it could be nature enthusiast, with a focus on animals?

I guess we got cross connected there. Perhaps I didn't understand your question. There are opportunities to learn about "tricks" (both the "theatrical" and "practical") from other villagers who are close to animals in their daily lives. If you meant to ask, what specific game mechanic, should you use to teach your companion new tricks, then I meant to answer that by saying, let me do some homework.

I am sitting down to put together a complete representation of the population of Woodbridge, all 327 people.

I see no reason why Abram and Chance cannot enter the game when ever they are ready. If you need an NPC defined for you to help you get going, just let me now, otherwise, you can see from the game thread that about half a day has gone by,

some interaction with Marcus, the local Expert craftsman

NPCs

Lulu, the wife of Oscar, who owns the tavern, is serving breakfast, but has run out of bacon, though there might be some sausage (made from game meat)

There is something happening at the Village leader's house (there is a crowd there)

Elizabeth Goodwell is taking her family's flock across the bridge from the pen by their house to the fields at Lakeside

Player Characters

Dieredon is about to set out for the beaver ponds north of the village to set traps, but no one but him knows this

Brother Phineas is at the door of the local witch, Auria

Wiscara is going from Riverside to Lakeside to find Elizabeth, for some personal reason

Marcus is in his shop, making money doing tasks for Dieredon and Wiscara

(did I miss anybody?)

Poseus will arrive in the village around five tonight

Oh! I misunderstood you, I didn't realize you were answering my question haha

I meant teaching him new tricks from the Handle Animal list. (Heel, Down, Stay, Fetch, etc) Since he's an animal companion, he gets bonus tricks that don't count toward the maximum of six that he can learn, which I've added in to his section on my character sheet already (only one so far), but I don't know how you want me to handle the other six.

Understood! I'll try to work myself in somewhere!

I've thrown up a little information in the campaign thread and more will follow soon (bigger task than I anticipated)

I browsed the the thread, but found no definitive answer on how xp will be handled. did I just miss it?

About Progression

I would like to see character advance in levels. That being said, I have a question,

Do Play by Post players feel cheated when their characters level and nothing happened that allowed them to use powers or abilities they had selected for the previous level?

One of the things I was going to suggest was a two-part experience point system. The first part would be a participation award, granting characters experience awards for simply being active in both “role-playing” and campaign setting development. The second part would be an experience point award based upon word count of posts, not including dice rolls. And then finally I was seriously considering enforcing level advancement rules that were a distinct part of the village setting itself. For example, a character leveling in a Spell Casting class who is allowed to “automatically” add two new spells to a spell book or familiar, would be required to show, in the setting, how this new ability came to be, or a Martial Class character that wants to add a feat that describes a unique Martial Talent would have to “learn” that talent from someone, or somehow. I realize that this might add a component to the game activity that would seem to slow it down, but again as I’ve stated before, I don’t see that this game will appeal to players who are looking for a fast paced adventure atmosphere.

About Character Creation

I am not a fan of point buy systems. In my opinion they tend to lend themselves too easily to “Dump Stat” situations. Now in my time as a Dungeon Master I have had many Characters in games who had low ability scores, but it has been my experience that most players have a desire, even if small, to role play the character’s limitations, whereas in “dump stat” situations I am seeing in the past few years, the player has no desire to play the lowered ability score, and there is a real significant reason it is called a “dump stat”.

That does not mean I am against using a point buy system exclusively. I see that...

This may sound like a dumb question, it was probably stated earlier, but are their still spots open for PCs?

Indeed there are :)

What she said, yes, always (until I reach that point where I can't keep track of everyone anymore, like maybe thirty seven or something).

Terquem wrote:

About Progression

I would like to see character advance in levels. That being said, I have a question,

Do Play by Post players feel cheated when their characters level and nothing happened that allowed them to use powers or abilities they had selected for the previous level?

One of the things I was going to suggest was a two-part experience point system. The first part would be a participation award, granting characters experience awards for simply being active in both “role-playing” and campaign setting development. The second part would be an experience point award based upon word count of posts, not including dice rolls. And then finally I was seriously considering enforcing level advancement rules that were a distinct part of the village setting itself. For example, a character leveling in a Spell Casting class who is allowed to “automatically” add two new spells to a spell book or familiar, would be required to show, in the setting, how this new ability came to be, or a Martial Class character that wants to add a feat that describes a unique Martial Talent would have to “learn” that talent from someone, or somehow. I realize that this might add a component to the game activity that would seem to slow it down, but again as I’ve stated before, I don’t see that this game will appeal to players who are looking for a fast paced adventure atmosphere.

About Character Creation

I am not a fan of point buy systems. In my opinion they tend to lend themselves too easily to “Dump Stat” situations. Now in my time as a Dungeon Master I have had many Characters in games who had low ability scores, but it has been my experience that most players have a desire, even if small, to role play the character’s limitations, whereas in “dump stat” situations I am seeing in the past few years, the player has no desire to play the lowered ability score, and there is a real significant reason it is called a “dump stat”.

That does not mean I am against using a point buy system

...

yeah, I read that,just wasn't sure if it was final.

Are we using Pathfinder standard gods or different ones. I'm thinking of making a cleric, perhaps make him into a mystic theurge later...

Well, um, you might want to go back to the very first post in this thread. I know it may seem like a lot of reading, but perhaps you'll find it's worth it.

But, not exactly, is the best answer I can give you. The players are creating a campaign setting as part of the game playing activity. So far we have had wonderful contributions detailing the local Human Gods, the Gymnaga Gods, and just recently, the Maetaur Gods. It's been inspirational.

4d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 1) = 11 = 10
4d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 1, 3) = 11 = 10
4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 6, 4) = 15 = 13
4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 3, 4) = 18 = 15

5d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 2, 5, 6) = 22 = 17
5d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 4, 3, 2) = 13 = 9
5d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 6, 1, 3) = 19 = 15

Leaving: 17, 15, 15, 13, 10, 10

Cash: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5