[AP] The Shackled City Adventure Path by GM Rutseg (Inactive)

Game Master Balacertar

The quietness in Cauldron is coming to an end. The last pieces of a millennia plan are coming finally into their place extending a large shadow over the volcano city and maybe also affecting the history of the world itself if the plotters in the darkness are not stopped before the last piece is on place.

The Shackled City was the first ever published Adventure Path. It came up in the pages of Dragon 96 to 117 by the hand of Paizo for the D&D 3ed system. For the first time, the adventure was designed from the point of view of a whole campaign taking the players from level 1 to level 20. The adventure was later published as a handbook in a special edition and converted to the 3.5ed system.

Hereby I present my intention to run the full campaign for a group of 7 valiants under the Pathfinder rules.

Because such an epic goal requires epic players, and because I know how time consuming and frustrating can be creating a new character, the recruitment process I will propose for this AP is a bit different from the usual one.

This will be a player based recruitment. Instead of presenting a new character concept with its stats, background and personality, I will only request your interest on playing the Shackled City AP with me as a GM by answering a few brief questions about you. I will then look through your past posts in order to make a preselection of people I think I might enjoy playing with in a very long adventure like this.

A second step will follow then, with only the preselected players making the effort of creating a character. The character creation will be a group effort, in which I will observe how well you work together, and you will be able to create a party that really ties up together both in background and personality. Provided the recruitment finds enough endorsement, it is of my intention that I will preselect enough players to form up at least two groups of 5 people, so I will chose then one of the groups to play and complete the initial group of 7 with the 2 people of the other party that have showed the best teamwork skills during the process.

It is my intention to have a preselection of players within 2 weeks and start the campaign in one month from now, but this might greatly vary depending on the recruitment success. Likewise, this is just an intuition as plenty of things can go on during such a long span, but I preview the first chapter to take us around 5 months, and the whole campaign between 3 and 5 years to complete.

The game will be run following Pathfinder rules. Golarion deities will be used, preserving the original campaign ones as the name by which some Golarion deities are known in Cauldron area. Have a look at the religion section in the Player’s Guide for correspondences.

I will not extend on character creation rules until the moment they are required, but because I understand they might impact the desire of some people to apply, here is a summary of what you can expect:

Questionnaire:

• What kind of player you are?
  
• What is your favourite campaign setting?
  
• Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
  
• What made you decide to apply?
  

Questions are left open for interpretation on purpose, answer as you feel. Please, try to keep it short, to a couple of sentences per question at most as I hope I will need to read a lot of posts. It is ok if you add more about yourself and what do you like after answering the questions, but keep the question answers concise please.

This is a project I have been maturing since one year ago while I got my hands in this wonderfully edited hardcover of The Shackled City Adventure Path. As such I am committing to a time consuming long purpose task but I hope to have much fun while doing it, and I would like to find a group of players that get the same feeling while playing.

In case you want to see more information about the Adventure Path before applying, I suggest you take a look at the Player’s Guide I will provide for character creation.

Happy new year and good gaming!

What kind of player you are? I'm more gamist than role player (which is not to say I cannot role play). I'm try to be a team player, both in play and character design.

What is your favourite campaign setting? I quite like the Golarion setting, though best campaign I ever played in was Forgotten Realms. That was purely due to the GM, as I don't really care for the setting.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? It is possible that I read it when published in Dungeon, though I cannot recall it at all.

What made you decide to apply? I like epic campaigns.

1. What kind of player are you?

a. Both an RPer and a combat fan. I like to create characters that are based on personality and concept more than mechanics, but I still do my best to make sure that the character is mechanically competent and capable of pulling their weight in a party.

2. What is your favorite game setting?

a. So far? Golarion.

3. Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

a. That's a big no.

4. What made you decide to apply?

a. I like rpgs, pathfinder and long, epic campaigns.

What kind of player are you

I can both role play and do combat equally well, I do not min max but i do try and make my characters the best they can be at what i imagine they will be doing. I build characters around an idea, personality, or backstory.

2. What is your favorite game setting?

Favorite is a hard one for me, i am a huge fantasy fan, I like Golarion and the setting due to how detailed yet open ended it is. But as far as favorites i Really like Ravenloft.

Now if by game you included video games the dragon age setting is my favorite.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Nope

What made you decide to apply?

I have a few new character ideas i want to try out and longer campaigns tend to be better for my ideas.

Q1. What kind of player are you?

A: Love to RP, interplay between characters is something I truly enjoy - allows characters to develop and grow. Also love traits (you'll see many of my characters have the Additional Traits feat) - pick them based on how they flesh out background and development, not for the "crunch" value - I'm definitely not an min/maxer when it comes the characters.

Q2. What is your favorite game setting?

A: Mmmm tough one. I've a soft spot for Mystara and Greyhawk having spent my formative adventuring years there. Golarion, and The Land of the Linnorm Kings in particular are my current favourites.

Q3. Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

A: Nope.

Q4. What made you decide to apply?

A: The chance to tread through the pseudo-Greyhawk setting on a long haul game once again is a big lure. Looking through the players guide has also fired up some notions on characters and classes I've yet to play.

1. What kind of player are you?

Been playing since 1977, and have tried many games, systems, and campaigns, and what seems to keep resurfacing is that I'm a "Story" type player. There is a time for strategy, and tactical maps, but I see these as tools to resolve the story, not critical elements of the game. A good balance is essential to complete a long story arc, and I believe that characters contribution to making a good tale is of prime importance. The Character not the character sheet.

2. What is my favorite game setting?

I'm currently a big fan of Kobold Press's Midgard setting. In the past I've fallen for Midnight, and love Greyhawk. I like Golarion, but feel that it maybe tries at times to be the "One setting to rule them all", instead of capturing it's own verve.

3. Have you ever read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Nope. Have the hardcover, and scanned the introduction chapter, but have no experience with the adventure itself. Been tempted, but was hoping I'd have a chance to play it someday, and didn't want to spoil that experience.

4. What made you decide to apply?

Always wanted to play "The Original" AP. Though active in several games, currently no "Pathfinder" games. Looking for another long term game to sink my teeth into, with cooperative story telling as it's main component.

What kind of player are you?
Try to contribute to the RP value of a game as much as possilbe. I'm not a rule-guru by any means so my characters are far from optimized or min-maxed. I create what I want to play.

What is your favorite game setting?
Nostalgic for Greyhawk. Very fond of Golarion. Have to say my fav is Planescape.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Yup. You stepped in a while back to take up the mantle in Shadowwalker's campaign. And we made the mistake of allowing him to continue and ultimatelly kill the game.

I own the AP. Have read bits and pieces here and there. I'm very capable of separating personal knowledge from character knowledge.

What made you decide to apply?
Love the grand scale of the AP. As well, I'm a fan of you DM style.

What kind of player are you?

I greatly enjoy the RP aspect of games, working together with the GM and the other players to create fun and entertaining experience, with dashes of hopefully fun and challenging combat on the side. My characters can pull their weight without being min-maxed or optimized to the extreme and are (hopefully) entertaining from an RP perspective.

What is your favorite game setting?

My experience with different settings is a bit limited, but as of now Golarion is at the top with Ravenloft coming in second.

Have you ever played or read any of the Shackled City before?

Nope!

What made you decide to apply?

Short answer? I just like to play Pathfinder. Slightly more detailed answer? It's probably not a realistic goal, but I'd like to play in or at least try all of the Paizo APs, including this one that seems to have a lot of urban elements to it. The unusual method for recruitment and character-building also caught my eye; I've never had a chance to really participate in building a party from the ground up for a PbP before and I think it would be a lot of fun in its own right.

What kind of player are you?

I have been playing D&D and then PF for over 20 years. As a poster I am fairly prolific, especially in games where the pace slows because I am conscious that Pbp is by it's nature a slow medium so I like to keep the action flowing or give other characters a hook to react to in between combats or plot-advancing scenes.

I tend to create characters that (I believe) are interesting and engaging.

What is your favourite game setting?

I really liked the slightly steampunk feel of Eberron but Golarion is such a rich setting that honestly I think it covers all different 'flavours' of fantasy.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Nope, never :) Which is great for me because although I can separate player and character knowledge without a problem, it's always nicer to have a surprise!

What made you decide to apply?

As much as you plan to check out the posting history of your potential players I always do the same with GMs because I've been in quite a few failed games unfortunately largely due to a lack of GM experience or a gradual decline in posting frequency. The fact that you'd appreciate posting at least every 24 hours was a real draw to me too.

What kind of player you are?

I am a character and story-driven player who also enjoys the tactical and strategic parts of the game. I don't want to oversell myself as completely "balanced," though, as my interest in having a conversation with an interesting NPC is always going to be greater than my interest in a combat. I like sweeping epics, but also puzzles, mysteries, and even romances.

What is your favourite campaign setting?

Currently it's Golarion, but historically it was the Forgotten Realms, a setting which will always have a place in the heart as both my first "home country" as a player and as the setting of my novel, Sandstorm.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

None of those, no. I'm not familiar with the AP at all, beyond what you've written here.

What made you decide to apply?

First of all, your recruitment thread is delightfully cogent and well put together. I would never have guessed you're not a native speaker or writer of English. More than that, the goals of the campaign dovetail perfectly with my own goals for gaming online in this new year. I want an immersive and deep experience with a like-minded group of players committed to frequent play.

1. What kind of player are you?

I love fantasy and fantastical stories, but I'm also a huge fan of strategy and tactics. I try to find the perfect mix of flavor and mechanics for my characters and games so everything comes together seamlessly without seeming jarring. In actual roleplay I like to focus on immersion, to make the world come alive by including what my character sense and see along with their speech and actions. For character builds I like to plan ahead and work together to make builds that compliment each other and execute their role very well.

2. What is your favorite game setting?

I really like Golarion. It has a lot of different elements from different types of fantasy, making all kinds of characters and concepts possible. It's also the setting I have the most experience with. I'm not a huge fan of the technological aspect though, I usually like my fantasy pre-guns. I'm also quite a big fan of the Underdark on Toril after reading so many stories about the drow there.

3. Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Nope

4. What made you decide to apply?

I've found that the players and GM in a pbp game have way more to say for the success and enjoyment of the game than the setting or objecting. Your method of selection is unconventional, but will hopefully lead to a great group of players and I would very much like to be a part of that. I also like epic games with plenty of character development though.

-------

I wish you would have put a bit higher activity requirement. I find that with only a single post per day it is very easy for someone to slip up and for things to slow down. When things slow down more effort is required to figure out what is going on for every post which makes it less fun to play. One post per day can work, but it's also very easy for it to be too little. I definitely plan to post 2-3 times per day or more, assuming I do have something to post of course.

I'm probably better at dealing with the mechanical aspect of pathfinder rather than writing fiction. However I'm very aware of that and try my best to improve my writing and roleplay while lessening the focus on mechanics.

Your souce selection does make it somewhat more difficult to build a character for me as I generally use the d20pfsrd or similar to chose options. It's a minor point though, I'll just have to double check all the things I chose to make sure they are legal.

Questionnaire:
What kind of player you are? I'm a role player who prefers to let my words handle the bulk of it instead of descriptive actions.
What is your favourite campaign setting? You made me think about this. Until pathfinder I never really thought I played in an established setting until The North American Empire from Xcrawl came to mind. I love the detail work on that from the cult of the one god (Christianity but Jesus wasn't born) to the illegality of porn. It's a great setting.
Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? No
What made you decide to apply? The way you decided to handle recruitment. It makes a lot of sense.

First of all thanks all of you for the interest. I am happy to see solid players answering this proposal :)

I want to clarify one mistake I cached while reading my original post. The Shackled City was not originally published in Dragon but Dungeon. Dragon was a magazine focused on delivering material for players. It was Dungeon which published adventures and most GM material.

@Oyzar: I really expect to have more than 1 post per day, and will look for that when choosing players. But I understand we all have busy periods of life and I wanted for everybody to agree on at least that 1 post during harder times.

1. What kind of player are you?

A. I am comfortable in playing a heavy RP game or a hack n slash dungeon crawl game. I prefer a balance of both in games I run. My focus as a DM is generally on telling a story.

2. What is your favorite game setting?

A. Forgotten Realms. I have run a Table Top game in the Realms since 2002.

3. Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

A. Never read it. I am in a game which is an amalgamation of Shackled City and other adventures but I do not which part I am playing through is Shackled City and which is not, also I have not played in it since the beginning.

4. What made you decide to apply?

A. I always wanted to play in the Shackled City from the beginning.

I think you are going to be busy.

As a side note, you will not find much background for my characters on this site as I am generally PFSing here. However you will find that most of my characters have their own voice and distinctive playing style that makes them unique.

On with the questions:
What kind of player you are? I enjoy role playing. I have been PbPing for more than a decade and ran by own 3.5 online sandbox game for close on ten years as well - so I understand how much effort online play can be. I like character interactions, but prefer not to have any significant level of intra-character conflict.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
I'm a fan of Greyhawk from way, way, way back. But most commercial fantasy worlds are of interest in one way or another. I'm not much into psionic focused settings though in a fantasy context, that always seems a little more space-opera-ish to me.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? I'm pretty sure I have started it before, I've certainly applied. I've got a loose understanding of the overall plot.

What made you decide to apply?: This is the one that started Paizo and adventure paths in general. It's a classic and quite frankly I'd love to see it done, and done well.

What kind of player you are? That's a tough question. I really enjoy RP - you can see that any any of my aliases that are still active and even my past ones - I put a lot of thought into my characters, their personalities, backstories, and motivations, with plenty of dialogue between my characters and their allies, NPCs, etc...but I'll be honest, I feel stifled and bored if I don't get into some combat every now and then. If all I wanted to do was RP I would join an improv trope. So, when I say half and half, I mean it - one without the other will seriously bum me out. The only things that cause me to zone out are puzzles, mazes, and other things that players solve instead of characters.

What is your favorite campaign setting? Well, I'm running 2 Fallout games under my Green Tea Overseer alias, so you could say I'm a bit of a fan of that world. For fantasy, I really enjoyed Forgotten Realms before the Spellplague happened and turned it into just another generic fantasy world. Now, Golarion is probably my favorite, although Dragonlance will always hold a place in my heart due to nostalgia.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? Nope. I didn't even know what it was about until you shared the player's guide!

What made you decide to apply? Any GM who goes through this much work to recruit players is not going to flake out and ditch us, and any players who make this heavy of a vetting process probably isn't going to leave, either, or go multiple days without posting. The most important part of a game is the group, and it seems like you're going through a lot of work to get a good group, so I'd want to be part of that. I'm tired of games creeping along at a snail's pace or falling apart after a few pages.

Welcome aboard.

Let me know if I can help!!

My game is currently in the demonskar legacy and level 8.

What kind of player are you?

I'm a more roleplay oriented player who enjoys playing in unique experiences although I'm not afraid to get down to hack and slash when I need to.

What is your favourite campaign setting?

Numenera. It was just so fresh and interesting. The idea of sci-fi/fantasy appeals to something inside me.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

I have never read or played the campaign. I actually didn't know it existed before this lol.

What made you decide to apply?

You seem to be a GM with a lot of experience and I'm looking for a game that can potentially go long term.

Welcome aboard.

Let me know if I can help!!
My game is currently in the demonskar legacy and level 8.

Pretty happy with your offer :D

Your game was among the ones that made me think both this was possible in PbP and made me double think during months on the long term compromise it is to launch this campaign.

Accepting your offer I will likely ask you some questions about the Pathfinder conversion and how to make the game fluid during the next weeks.

Thanks all for the new interest checks. I have read all your answers as they arrived and I have already started to carefully analyse who might best fit with my GM style and endure in a long run.

What kind of player you are?

As a player I find the most enjoyment from the interaction between players and the situations presented to them from the GM(I have been known to get attached to NPCs). I enjoy RPing but also like to be challenged with a fight or puzzle feeling good when finding a way out. The evolution of characters as they play thought a campaign is something I look back on fondly.

What is your favourite campaign setting?

I’ve only ever really played in the Golarion setting. Id have to pick from adventure paths for what I like the most, the best one I’ve played in has to be Carrion Crown especially the first book its brilliant and it was the first campaign I ran. I‘ve also dabbled in Eberron enjoyed it but then moved on to PF and never looked back

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

I’ve never heard of Shackled City, it was a big reason why I looked at your post. I’ve played in / run a few of the adventure paths now and just want something different that I have no idea what could be coming.

What made you decide to apply?

I’ve been looking for a new game for quiet a while, what instantly drew me to your game was I hadn’t heard of Shackled City before. Then after reading all the detail you had put into your recruitment thread was very refreshing you wanted to build a group of like minded players not the best characters (I like back-story / characters to develop over time and to reacted to the situation they have been put in)

Hey, just wanted to add my candidancy!

What kind of player are you?

I'm a passionate player. I think that's the best word to describe myself as a player, although my posting history here on Paizo boards do not account for that very much. As a player, I've only managed to get in one Second Darkness few months ago, but I've recently quitted that campaign because of the lack of players' activity and story progression. I'm in two PFS games now, but because of holidays they're not progressing anymore. As a GM, I managed to accomplish some results though: I've successfully run a Crypt of the Everflame module, closing it in 1 month exactly thanks to some great players I've had the luck to play with. As a player, I'm collaborative and enthusiast, and I'm usually happy to assist with loot tracking and other organizational stuff. I'm a very frequent poster, and can easily manage 2-3 posts/day, as my posting history as a GM accounts (as a player, I've never had the chance to post so frequently because of the slow pace of the campaign I've been into). I also tend to invest very much in character's creation, as my previous (though unaccepted) PCs can testify.
I enjoy both RP and combat.

What is your favourite campaign setting?

Golarion. I don't know other campaign settings very well though, since I've only begun playing five years ago, and started off with Pathfinder.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

No. As a Pathfinder translator, I'm used to read most of the APs, but since Shackled City was released when I was not even playing D&D, I do not know anything about it apart from knowing that it was the first adventure path ever released by Paizo. This is one of the main reason why I want to play this campaign of course, since it's a rare opportunity for me to play something that I don't really know about.

What made you decide to apply?

A number of factors, the first being the GM. I've been looking for a game to join in as a player in the last few months, and even more so after leaving my previous SD game. I've been very picky about which games to apply for, and I think that this will be a solid game regardless of whether I do get picked or not. The GM has a consolidated posting history, and that is very important to me. Then, I've noticed good players already applied for this game, and that is also important, because there are some folks here that I would like to play with. Finally, I was intersted in the recruitment method for this campaign, which sounds very good to me and I think this recruitment method has a good potential to allow a solid party to form. The quality and amount of effort the GM put in this recruitment sounds like a great Assurance for me, and I would like very much to join this campaign as a consequence.

KenderKin wrote:

Welcome aboard.

Let me know if I can help!!
My game is currently in the demonskar legacy and level 8.

Pretty happy with your offer :D

Your game was among the ones that made me think both this was possible in PbP and made me double think during months on the long term compromise it is to launch this campaign.

Accepting your offer I will likely ask you some questions about the Pathfinder conversion and how to make the game fluid during the next weeks.

Pretty sure someone did a full pf conversion in herolabs for the entire AP....

What kind of player you are?

I enjoy roleplaying and all its aspects. I have only been doing pbp since the summer and really like the format to bring your characters alive. I try to push the action as well as give others a chance to shine.

What is your favorite campaign setting?

This is a hard question, I’ll always have a fondness for the Flanaess of Greyhawk but they all (Forgotten realms and Golarion) have sparked my imagination to create memorable characters. Right now I am playing in a game using Raging Swan Press campaign setting The Lonely Coast, it has a gritty low magic feel to it which I am enjoying.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

Nope, but I really like what I’ve read in the players guide.

What made you decide to apply?
After reading the players guide I felt I could create a PC that I would enjoy playing. Also, I think this is an interesting change to recruitment that will create a group that can make it to level 20.

What kind of a player are you?

I enjoy gaming alot. Its my one obsession, and everyone is allowed one right? After playing since 1981, I've gathered a fair amount of experience however there are plenty on the boards with more and I've gamed with some top notch "newbies" too.

What is your favorite campaign setting?

Greyhawk during first and third edition, Al-Qadim and Ravenloft during second and now I gather Paizo APs for converting to my own world. I sometimes wish I'd concentrated on one but truthfully there are some great bits in all of them.

Have you read or played Shackled City?

Yes, read them back when the magazines came out. Forgotten most of it since.

What made you decide to apply?

I used to have plenty of time to play in plenty of games. Now its a matter of quality over quantity and your recruitment process bodes well for the endgame (plus Black Dow and scranford are mates from previous games).

Hi, Doomed Hero here. I like your recruitment approach. I wish I saw more GMs approach games like this.

I'm currently in 14 active games, and running one myself. Feel free to check the posting statistics of any of them. I believe they'll speak for themselves.

I really enjoy characters designed to synergize with each other. I like tactics and cooperation in combat so I design my characters to be team players. I'm fine with pretty much any party role, but my favorites are scouts.

What kind of player are you?
Prolific and dedicated. I love to write, I love to play, and I love the slow progression of little details and character interactions that games build over time. I love how the character I envision when I start at level 1 is almost never the character I am playing by level 5 or 10.
Short of some kind of catastrophic personality conflict with another player or the GM, you won't ever have to worry about me leaving the game. In my 150-odd games on these boards that's only happened 3 times.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Midnight, from Fantasy Flight games. I like my fantasy settings bleak and brooding, where the odds are long and the stakes are high. I like classic dark fantasy, heavily flavored with real-world folklore and legend. No setting I've ever come across portrays those themes like the Midnight setting.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
Once. The game was short lived. I'm loosely familiar with the city of Cauldron. The game ended in the middle of an encounter where the PCs were attacking a village of goblins who had been raiding caravans coming to and from the city.

What made you decide to apply?
PbP games tend to die out long before completion. Starting from 1st level, most games don't make it to 3rd. I'm excited about the prospect of being in a game with some real longevity. I've never been in a game that played past 12th level, ever. I want to see what it's like.

I vouch for DH. We were Steel Wolves together.

And he has written lots of good material on play by post gaming. Even spawning a spin off thread building a better doomed hero.

Even spawning a spin off thread building a better doomed hero.

Wait, what?

How have I never seen this?

Edit: Found it. I forgot about that.

I was also guessing if the alias was somehow related to the guide.

I feel I am being a bit cold not commenting your submissions. It is not I do no read or like them. I am trying to keep myself neutral, and thus restraining from commenting, but so far I am satisfied with the overall success of the thread.

Given we as players aren't making much in the way of decisions yet, there might just not be all that much to talk about. That said, I do feel that there is something that can be done. Meeting expectations is one of the best way to ensure success and enjoyment in pretty much any aspect of life (whether it's gaming, work or even relationships). Communication is the best tool for making sure that happens. We can find out what expectations each of us have and adjust them if necessary. You can clarify what expectations you have of us and make us explain how we plan to meet them (posting links to examples etc). Similarly it's also possible to uncover our expectations and then explain how you feel about it.

In short, we can talk about how we like to play games.

Since all the applicants are basically being judged on their answers to your questions + their posting history and habits in other/past games, I wasn't really expecting much in the way of feedback or commentary on the thread itself, at least not yet. I also assumed that if you have any questions or concerns about something you stumble across during your profile trawling, you'll PM the player privately.

In short, don't worry about not having much to say at this point :)

I just felt I had to clarify. No worries, things are ok :)
Plus keeping the recruitment tidy is helping me scanning through all people interested and keep focused.

You can check the game expectations in my GM profile.

What kind of player are you?
I love the game, but I do not really enjoy the constraints associated with weekly meetings around a table. I also love to roleplay, but in writing, and when it is about the group's objective (I am not good at what I call small-talk-roleplaying). I hate roleplaying in person. For those reasons, I have a had ton of fun playing through PbP and am looking for more.

As a player, I try to be of use to the group. I tend to play characters who are skillful and can provide some support to the group. I prefer playing characters that can interact with the world around them through different means. A mix, really, of combat, social, and magic knowledge-gathering abilities. The characters I have preferred have been able to laugh at themselves. I found I relate better to playing an old fighter whose back hurts, a young bravo who always thinks the opposite of the group, grudgingly accepting hard evidence as soft and soft as mere rumours, a teenager fearful paladin whose equipment is always too big or too small.

I have played in a number of games. In a few cases, I have left games when things slowed so much that immersion was completely lost, and games where strong conflict occurred, games where the style of play was going in directions I was not comfortable with or did not motivate me. In all cases, I talked to the GM about it before leaving the game.

For me, the best games are when players start to interact with each other instead of just with the GM, in a meaningful and collaborative way. Small-talk is fine, but it's only the first step. My favourite moments are when we have to figure what to do with prisoners, or whether we should trust some piece of information or a person, or how best to solve a situation (for example, brutally or subtly, in a few minutes or over a few months). I enjoy collaboration and tactics.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Eberron, but my vision of Eberron is my own and I am not sure to which extent it reflects others' take on it. I prefer grittier and more realist worlds, and the cold-war politics of Eberron are the closest thing I have found to my personal taste. I guess that's also why I'm also attracted to Midnight, though those settings are very different on the surface, they both handle the implications of their magical and fantastic assumptions better than other settings. (Or perhaps I struggle identifying with kitchen-sink settings?)

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
Never. All I know is where it is located and that it is for the most part urban.

What made you decide to apply?
A few things. I like urban campaigns and adventures. I prefer to play with established GMs who have a long enough track record on the boards. I prefer to play with players who have been long enough on the boards that they will either stick around, tell us when RL hits, or have a really good reason to suddenly disappear. I like playing APs, as it allows me to develop characters over many years. I like playing APs I haven't read.

KenderKin wrote:

Even spawning a spin off thread building a better doomed hero.

Wait, what?

How have I never seen this?

Edit: Found it. I forgot about that.

/me sobs, goes back to Demiplane of Pain, forgotten.

Welcome aboard.

Let me know if I can help!!

My game is currently in the demonskar legacy and level 8.

This is the Shackled City game I play in :-)

I just felt I had to clarify. No worries, things are ok :)

Plus keeping the recruitment tidy is helping me scanning through all people interested and keep focused.

You can check the game expectations in my GM profile.

That's a pretty awesome list :).

I liked the game expectations link, it clearly spells out what the GM and we as players want and can expect.

For me, pace and regularity of posting are the most important things in pbp games. It doesn't necessarily even matter if the posting is directly advancing the plot all of the time because some of the best moments I have experienced in pbp gaming have been interactions with NPCs or fellow party members.

So the fact we are expected to post consistently and the quality of players the GM is looking for makes me think this is going to be a great game.

DM

Doomed Hero wrote:

KenderKin wrote:

Even spawning a spin off thread building a better doomed hero.

Wait, what?

How have I never seen this?

Edit: Found it. I forgot about that.

/me sobs, goes back to Demiplane of Pain, forgotten.

Oh, Pain, you know I could never forget you or your awesome post. Only the title. Thank you for building a better me.

I have a memory like rusty sieve. Clearly I need to be rebuilt.

What kind of player you are?
I would say I'm a pretty detail oriented player. I love the character creation process and figuring out my character's quirks and gear and everything. I've mostly played in in-person games but am definitely ready to try the whole PbP scene a try.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Anything fantasy, I don't really have a favorite.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
Nope, I'm coming in blind, just the way I like it :D

What made you decide to apply?
I've been trying to get a group together for a while now and someone always falls through. But playing online through a PbP type setting would allow me to play without having to coordinate times. This game looks like it would be an excellent way to get into this format and be able to stick with it for a while.

Questionnaire:
• What kind of player you are? I would say I take the game seriously. I like to try to find the best way to fit into a team. Typically my characters are specialized so they fit best when others cover for my weaknesses.

• What is your favourite campaign setting? Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms were my favorite settings. Planescape was intriguing too.

• Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? I started two Shackled City APs on these boards that never got characters past level 2. Both DMs complained it was too much of a Dungeon Crawl. Beware of doors, I think one DM wanted us to navigate through the maze too much when he should have been advancing the action.

• What made you decide to apply? I always hope this is the game that will make it all the way through the AP. The stated commitment to finish is important and your board presence is quite solid. Also, if you move things along as GM half as good as your rogue Uldar moves our Temple of Elemental Evil game along, I know the game will not bog down. Your posting history in our Giantslayer game is quite solid too.

Questionnaire:
What kind of player you are?
Four parts roleplayer, three parts rollplayer, a dash of the obscure, splash of the absurd, sprinkling of the verbose and steep the contents in the dark until pungent...
That is to say that I tend to enjoy the word heavy aspects of the genre, particularly in the PbP form, though I also appreciate the more structured and tactical aspects of the system. I can play t'wards the comedic and bizarre, or straight down the line - but I have a preference towards tales where grey is more prevalent than black and white.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Golarion - though it's with pains that the answer is given. Golarion has been my RPG home for years and is that which comes most freely and easily to my mind when turned to thought. The breadth and scope of the world - presence of nigh all tropes under the sun and the heady prevalence and relevance make it an o'er easy answer though.
I am most looking forward to 'The Blight' which shall be Messr Pett's magnum opus though... as it looks like this answer might change to that when it finally is given fetid breath.
Honorable mentions to Planescape, Ravenloft and Shadows of Esteren.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
Nope - neither played nor read. The closest I've come to it was an application to a PbP made a while ago

What made you decide to apply?
The timbre and tone struck in the initial post, the presence of some old sparring partners in the recruitment thread, the desire to be involved in the pitched AP itself, and the challenge of putting together a cohesive party with whomever might be blessed by the DM's touch.

Hello, GM Rutseg! Been a while!

What kind of player you are?
Well, I'd like to think I'm a bit of every type of gamer, with the exception of the Old School Gamer (Playing since 2013). I enjoy building well-optimised characters and dabbling for unusual builds, but I also find it very important for every character to feel as complete and unique as possible, and I try to play them as such. I follow the rules, but if I feel something is complete non-sense, I'll speak my mind about it. I also always try to have my character fit within the setting, but without being bland.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
I really like Golarion, but my heart is with a setting I made with a friend years ago. I also really, really like the 40k setting, when it's not out of its mind.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
No, I haven't. I do read all the guides, however.

What made you decide to apply?
A couple of my games unfortunately stopped for various reasons. A couple of times the reason was the GM was feeling burned out. I've also played with you on several occasions. (Core team, represent), and I'm quite pleased with the GMing you got. You go!

A lot of GREAT players here already, hope I'll have the chance to play with you folks!

This is intriguing to me, primarily because the only Adventure Path I have ever played died before we finished the first module (because many of the players could write a good character description, but were not reliable and died out, along with the campaign). So count me among the intrigued.

What kind of player you are? I am a player that enjoys both role-playing and tactical battles. I like to develop my character and have interaction with the other players, and don't mind a little friction in the party to keep things lively. But I also enjoy the tactics of battle, especially when played on a battle map.

What is your favourite campaign setting? I used to be a big Forgotten Realms fan (primarily for nostalgia), but have been converted to Golarion after participating in quite a few PFS games.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before? I have only heard of the Adventure Path, but don't know anything about it (I have yet to read the Player Guide you posted).

What made you decide to apply? I quite like the idea of gathering a consistent group of players, rather than players that can just write a good character description. Personally, I would much prefer a regular, consistent player who checked in each day with some average-quality posting to someone who posted a fantastic novel once a week. I have been posting on these forums for a year and a half, and have nearly 10,000 posts between various characters. I would likely post 2-3 times during the weekdays and 1 time on the weekend days. Oh, I suppose I'm an alt-aholic. While I have over 30 alts posted here, most of them are sort of a gallery of character concepts, though I do have some main characters I play most often. I would love to be involved with this!

Questionnaire:

What kind of player you are?
Keep in mind, I was out of the RPG thing for quite a few years because of that working at night rubbish …
I enjoy the role playing and putting a wrench in a lot of stereotypes for whatever character I'm playing. Quite often I play characters that are both team players (in spirit, anyway) and a bit of a loose cannon if there looks like a novel way of going about things. Typical of me would be finding a chest with a lock on it that says "certain death" all over it and not trying to pick the lock, but prying off the hasp instead. Lock and all. I have a preference for playing Charisma based spell casters. Just because. And quite often Half-Orcs. Also just because. And Chaotic Neutral alignment; definitely just because. Seriously, though, I do like helping the team sort of thing and improvising by the seat of my pants.
And like many other role players out there, I just might be prone to quoting Monty Python. Rather a lot, actually. Just don't ask me too much about that because NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! ;)

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Probably Golarian. Just because it's what I'm used to now. I went many years without playing D&D (or any other RPG). So my memories of Greyhawk are a bit hazy by now.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
Nope!

What made you decide to apply?
Sounds interesting. Mostly because I don't know anything about it. I think it's much more interesting going into a setting like this knowing virtually nothing beyond the Common Knowledge sort of thing. Just like watching a good 'whodunit' unfold.

Additional:
I thought I forgot SOMETHING! If you check out my aliases, I've got lots of them. Most of them haven't seen any action, as yet. I got busy making lots of PC to use later, should the chances arise. And several of them were intended for PbP campaigns that never got off the ground and/or I wasn't selected for. The bottom line is I've got lots of characters to use or tweak, if needs be.

I've had a blast as Archibald in the last two Pathfinder Society games you've run, Rutseg, and would relish the chance to play something a little meatier.

What kind of player are you?
I've been playing D&D since 2007. I've been PbPing without stopping since late 2011 here on the paizo forums, across several games from the spectacular to the short-lived. (Often both.) There's something in the format that keeps me coming back, and the sheer amount of lurking I've done in the Recruitment boards this summer means I must really not be getting my fix of late.

I love writing characters, and capturing a sense of authenticity. I try to pick the perfect character for an adventure path, or a fun concept for modular PFS play. My favourite characters have been ones that kept me learning throughout an entire game's run. European and irish folklore, smatterings of Tolkien's elvish, scripture, inventive curses from dozens of languages and knowledge of cuisines both real and imagined. In my home games I toy with dozens of accents, from the successful to the notoriously cringeworthy. I love to research things that will make my characters richer. I love to hit that thematic home-run.

I tend to shy away from classes from the APG and beyond. Although I enjoy playing with them I feel I still haven't exhausted my options from the core rulebook classes yet, and most of my attempts to use the new classes leave me scratching my head. (The APG launched in 2010 and I'm just learning the ins and outs of the alchemist now.) That said, my system mastery has come a long way and enjoy combat as well when it doesnt grind the pace of a game to a halt.

I think you've found your answer. A long-winded player. I am a long-winded player.

What is your favorite campaign setting?
Golarion's kitchen sink approach really opened to my eyes as to what I wanted out of my own games. The homebrew setting I had played in exclusively up until that point had been rather restrictive in it's content, races and overall tone (although full of some spectacular ideas and holding a tender place in my heart), and suddenly the early Pathfinder AP's put so many new ideas onto the table that just hadn't "fit".

I've dabbled in the Realms and Greyhawk a little but have mixed success actually writing for and playing in them. (What reading I've done is mostly because I'm pedantic enough to fill out character backstories on single player CRPGs as well. There it is. My secret shame laid bare.)

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?
No, sir!

What made you decide to apply?
I spotted the thread in the sidebar reading the new Meet the Iconics entry and spotted a familiar face or three and couldn't resist.

I hope that I merit consideration!

What kind of player you are?
Routed between tactical gaming and roleplaying, i consider myself a teamplayer. I like to have fun action, but don´t want to grab all the spotlight, nor do i want others to do that. Good roleplay is like throwing a ball around in a group for me, you wanna make sure everyone gets it regularly.
I try to build my characters the same way, less past backstory, more game influencing attributes and good mechanics that enhance them in a meaningfull way.
I also like a good mix of slapstick and humor with great and deep Shakespearlevel roleplay.

What is your favourite campaign setting?
Golarion is pretty cool, but i also really like Dark Sun.
Anything desert, apocalpytic like is probably to my liking as well as asian themed stuff. If knights and dragons, a bit more gritty with intrigues is good. Steampunk is one of the few things i don´t really like somehow.

Have you ever played or read partially or completely the Shackled City before?

No. Only the description.

What made you decide to apply?
Invitation.
Also interested in playing this campaign actually, seems like a unique opportunity.

29 applicants down from my count - interesting list too... full of memories for me.
Humble apologies if I've mistyped anything in there.

You can't go wrong with Storyteller Shadow and Mark Sweetman either.

I think MS is hard on himself, but the game (he ran) went over 3,000 posts and was great fun!!

I already got notes from more than half the applicants.

Soon the first week will due but I will keep accepting people as long as they keep arriving daily. The two weeks idea was in order make sure everybody had an opportunity to discover the recruitment.

I am profiting this time also to finish preparing some material for the adventure. Let's hope the chains are soon broken :)