We're Gonna Take a Walk Outside Today...

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

I just noticed there are a lot of anthropomorphized animals in the party. Corgyn, Catfolk, Kitsune, Arachne. Was that planned?

I think it's just a consequence of opening up the race selection. Probably over half of the non-standard races are anthropomorphized animals--when you're making less-human-looking races, animals are the first source of inspiration.

Yeah, people tend towards certain types of races when given the chance. It just sort of worked out this way.

It's about time to start talking about who knows who. How are we feeling about starting this Wednesday?

I'm good for wednesday. I think Yeldrid has probably only recently blown into town and he's tried finding work here and there.

That said, in case people are worried about encumbrance, he also has a mule for carrying his things. We can load up on the mule. It might help to have people pitch in for feed in the future, but we can talk about that some other time.

Isamu could definitely use some help with hauling his gear.

Who's come into town and who's a local? I feel like we have a mix, but I'd have to go hunt back through posts to be sure.

Isamu would stay in human form in and around Barlily, to blend in. I'd be open to knowing anyone in the group ahead of time, but it would probably be a matter of being recent acquaintances. I'll have to look back through who's who and see if anyone catches my eye as an interesting acquaintance to have to start.

I would like to be brand new to town. Maybe arrived the day things get weird.

Local here. Curious enough to get to know most newcomers.

How's the Wayward Prince coming along, Pale King?

So, what kind of work would Yeldrid could have done during his stay in Barlily? He has some decent skill at metalwork. Maybe he has been working in a local smithy to earn his keep.

Possibly making 'scrap-art' statues from old farm equipment and wagon wheels and selling these to residents looking for some weird garden decorations? He might have even introduced the first 'garden gnome', which is a horrifying statue made of horseshoes and tea kettles folded to look vaguely like a gnome.

Alright, I'm running over characters.

Rex looks good. You might want to mark his FCB, though—I guessed it's in skills, but it doesn't seem to be explicitly stated on the sheet.

Nakano looks good, but I can't tell where his FCB got spent—it looks like it got left out entirely. Also, his CMD should be two points higher—CMD is increased by both BAB and Dodge bonuses.

Yeldrid looks good. As a setting note, though, remember that this world is pretty firmly in the Middle/Dark Ages when it comes to technology and travel. Not only do guns and vehicles as we know them not exist, they may not even work in this world—don't take real-world physics as a given here. The world may be flat. Additionally (and this goes for everyone), just remember how strange these guns are going to be. Basically, in a party with a corgi person, a fox person, a cat person, a two-dimensional paper person, and a sentient plant creature, that gun is going to be tied with the painterlily for "weirdest party element". I'll make sure you have opportunities to make your own ammunition, but bear in mind that you will generally have to do so.

Kamali'i looks good, but she should have more skills—remember, summoners get 4+Int now, not 2+Int. I know she's not done yet, so I won't nitpick much beyond that. I am a bit worried that some Painterlily abilities were poorly-crafted (which would be my fault, since I'm the guy who designed them), so if there are any abilities you think need revisiting, feel free to bring them up. Also, worth noting—looks like you're going to have a potent melee eidolon. What're you thinking you're gonna do with it? And what's its flavor in relation to your character?

Baylily looks like she needs to be revised to fit with the Background Skills rules. She also seems to have an extra skill point—I initially assumed that was from the FCB, but the FCB was spent on the Enlarge ability. It's a very minimalist sheet, though, so it's hard to tell. Knowledge (nature) is missing either your Skill Focus bonus or your class skill bonus. Again, I won't nitpick the rest, since it's unfinished.

Also, I recommend everyone use the Classes/Level field to enter useful information. I find it makes it easier to keep up with the character on the fly, since it creates something of a "quickbar". For instance:

LG Male corgyn paladin 1 | HP 12/12; AC 17 (ff 16, touch 11); CMD 14; Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2

So, what kind of work would Yeldrid could have done during his stay in Barlily? He has some decent skill at metalwork. Maybe he has been working in a local smithy to earn his keep.

Possibly making 'scrap-art' statues from old farm equipment and wagon wheels and selling these to residents looking for some weird garden decorations? He might have even introduced the first 'garden gnome', which is a horrifying statue made of horseshoes and tea kettles folded to look vaguely like a gnome.

Smithing is actually a pretty low-key job in Barlily—metal isn't used in a lot of trades. When it is, people usually settle for less brittle bronze, though the local smith does understand the basics of how it's done. Most steel and iron tools have been handed down, or purchased from traders. The militia's carefully-cleaned suits of armor are several generations young. Yeldrid might very well be seen as a valuable fixture of the town for this reason, since she understands the work better than most locals.

Or she might be seen as a novelty, since people don't use iron for that much. It could go either way.

If not just tool work, Yeldrid could probably have worked carpentry or farm work as well. Though tool maintenance is probably a good enough line of work. Maybe he is like the knife-sharpening truck and has a series of bells to signal to the townsfolk him and his mule are making the rounds for tool maintenance.

I wish I could find the more ominous video of a knife sharpening truck becausw that is such a good video

Ah, right, I'd forgotten about his CMD. It's updated now.

Isamu actually doesn't get a FCB for this level because his favored class is Paladin. As far as I know, having your first class be your favored class is only typical, not a requirement, right? Because otherwise he's only getting the one level of it, since he's taking Paladin levels from 2nd level onward.

Oh, right. Yeah, that may be technically disallowed, but I'll let it go.

I don't see any craft/profession blacksmith or carpentry on his sheet. Nor how his climb is so good. I assume its tied to being a catfolk and that climb speed but there is no racial abilities section.

Also, we have a 2D person? What?

Check out Kamali'i. :)

A character with a climb speed gets a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks, just like with Swim. As for Professions/Crafts, no, Yeldrid doesn't have them, but I could see them doing odd jobs with what they know from gunsmithing and their above-average Wisdom score. Nothing elaborate, of course.

Climb speeds grant an innate +8 bonus to the climb checks. It's how most climbers can manage to outpace anyone while climbing, even when they can't take 10. Itherwise, you have weird situations like giant spiders falling off walls in the middle of battle and braining themselves on the ground. Fly speeds also grant bonuses depending on how good their flight is.

And no need to worry, I'm gonna shift some of his skills around once I am happy with his profession.

Like that monster lore, which I added mostly because gunslingers have know. Dungeoneering as a class skill and it seemed appropriate for a character from the badlands

Rex looks good. You might want to mark his FCB, though—I guessed it's in skills, but it doesn't seem to be explicitly stated on the sheet.

Apparently I hadn't chosen one so I picked HP.

Can I ask how you get 4 skill points with an Int penalty, then?

Uh...*rapid editing*...did I say HP, I meant skills. Pretty sure I looked up whether skills were +Int modifier or +Int bonus and then forgot. Good now. I would have had 1 skill point if I put FCB in HP and you didn't give paladins 4+Int.

Alright, cool! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I am really sorry for slowing things down. The combination of the final exams and projects and planning for the holidays has been keeping me super busy.

Don't worry about it! Not everyone's totally done yet, anyways, so you aren't slowing us down. As long as we're all active posters when we do eventually start, it's all good. :)

Updated Yeldrid's sheet while I was awake. It has a bit left to do because I accidentally lost some of it again. Then I'll add info on Euingen, Yeldrid's patron god.

Enjoy the equipment list.

Not sure what I would want to change about the painterlilly abilities. What do you feel like needs changing? I personally appreciate some of the abilities as Lanuola is fairly weak, but I'm open to changing whatever with ehr class and race. Her melee and ranged aspects are lackluster and 2dimensional/meld with surface provide a nice escape/defense against danger. Her companion, summarily provides her only real source of defense in combat. Mechanically, his purpose is to pull away any enemies bearing down on her or her comrades, via 15ft reach and combat reflexes. Fluff-wise, the Taniwha named Kaitaki is her guardian and protector in the form of a kite she had as a child. Kites are incredibly important to her culture as they act as messengers being carried to the heavens. Kaitaki is based off of a mythical beast that inhabits her cultures mythology, supposedly found in the seas around her island. After she exits the painting, I'm thinking she manages to create him spontaneously to protect her once she discovers her abilities.

I'm not sure how the two-dimensional ability will operate in practice, is the main thing. If you're okay with it all, it's no big deal. The kite thing is actually pretty cool.

The questions I have for you all mainly gravitate on how to get things started. We're going to open with the part split into two or three groups, all of you (except Kamali'i, of course) already either acquainted or having made arrangements to become acquainted as you begin the journey.

Any preferences for who is with whom? Or who encounters Kamali'i? Also, YoLlama, where were you thinking Kamali'i would be, again? I think I had one chief idea for it.

It looks like Yeldrid, Rex and Nakano are complete, and Kamali'i, His Highness and Baylily are incomplete. Is that accurate?

Yes, Isamu is ready to go! Isamu would probably be interested in meeting Rex as soon as he hears about him. He's probably spoken with Yeldrid at some point, out of curiosity if nothing else. For the others, I'd be open to him having met them at some point and gotten acquainted. He's only been in town a few weeks, though, so he probably doesn't know anyone really well.

Yeldrid has only been there a short while himself, mostly working while he is in town for the last few months. If he did draw Isamu's attention, he probably had a lot to talk about his work.

If you want, we could play that out a bit to get a feel for roleplay.

Before that, where are we going? You've said there is a destination to this journey but not where.

West.

West is the most detail that has been put into the destination. Like I said, it would be helpful if at least one party member had a specific destination in mind, as this would enable me to offer limited numbers of routes in that direction. "To continue your journey to _____, you can either take the mountains or the caves." It simplifies things if at least one party member has a motivation that can guide the party in directions I can manage. It also gives me a motivation I can manipulate, which means it's easier to integrate aspects of PCs' backstories into the campaign.

Of course, failing anybody's specific backstory item, I can introduce something. This is most likely what I will do, though I'm still open to suggestions. Perhaps you are seeking a cure to a villager's debilitative illness, or there is some mysterious phenomenon that can only be solved by heading west.

But you are going west. The destination is relevant mainly because it gets you traveling. So if you want to come up with a destination, feel free to use your imagination.

Well all I know about the west is their are orcs in the forest and halflings at the opposite end. But after racking my brain, how about we go with a classic, Undead. One of the massive mountain-sized giants took a stroll through the southern range and came close enough to the village for people to see. It was quite the spectacle. Each step of the giant beast caused massive tremors and some mild damage. Weeks later, all communication with the halflings is lost and the first few traders looking to get some of their brandy don't come back. Then there is rumors of the Orcs becoming particularly agitated. They assault anyone even the ones that are on good terms as trading partners but they won't say why. A few days later, the first undead walks out of the river Styx. So now, someone needs to find out why all this is happening. What better cause for a paladin then undead hunting. Our options are to brave the woods and talk to the orcs or navigate the river and maybe get attacked by undead in the water or the orcs from the shore.

GO WEST

Those are some awesome ideas, Rex! Here's the thing, though—they're gonna prove to be too close to home. Too small. This isn't a grand journey to visit the halflings across the forest—that's only a week's journey, and I've already decided what you'll be facing in the forest. You guys are traveling toward something impossibly distant, well beyond charts, trade routes, and pretty much all except story and myth. A distant plant that alone can cure a wasting sickness. The entrance to the Underworld to bargain for the life of one who died before their time. Big-picture stuff.

See, this isn't the sort of campaign where you guys get led west by a constant stream of new adventure hooks. It's mainly about the journey itself, and the journey itself should be the primary motivation—not dozens and dozens of motivations required to string you guys along. So the ultimate destination should be far, well beyond anything you guys have mapped out, well beyond the orcs and the halflings (who will comprise only the first chapter of this little walk you're taking).

I do like the idea of a traveling giant being part of the hook, though. What if a giant is just walking through, and they did leave footprints and cause quakes and all that, and you guys are following it to see where it's headed (and to mitigate what damage it causes)? It wouldn't necessarily have stepped on the halflings or caused undead to rise up, but it would be an interesting impetus for the journey. And every now and then you guys could come upon one of its huge footprints.

Giant-chasing does sound like an interesting occupation. :D We'd just need an appropriate motivation...

What if someone climbed up onto the giant's foot and was carried away? Perhaps someone did it on a dare, only to find they'd waited too long to jump off and were now being carried far away?

The giant stepped on the local wizards house and carried the wizard and the house away on it's foot. We know the wizard is alive because they left behind clues and a very messy note. Apparently the giant is fairly preoccupied with whatever it is moving towards to notice it's new footwear and passenger.

There was an old wizard who lived in a shoe...

I don't think that would work either. I mean, why would we join a group of complete strangers to go explore the unknown parts of the world? We'd need to trust, implicitly, the people at our side. That's why I thought we needed this undead hunt to bind us together. The person in the shoe is the same as the undead in this case. We can find a hook at the end that leads us west. Or follow the giant. Could we all come up with individual reasons to follow him?

Rex has a very simple and easy reason to go west if need be. Danaan is a goddess that chases the sun across the sky. Sun rises in the east and sets in the west normally. So follow the sunset. Follow it until he reaches the horizon.

I don't see why you guys would need to trust each other implicitly for a journey but not for an undead hunt, to be honest. I mean, I would think trust would be a bigger deal for a high-stakes dangerous battle with the undead than a casual, vaguely-directed expedition. But hey, whatever works for your characters. :P

Did we finally conclude whether we were including traits? I'm not sure if I saw you mention anything.

I think the giant idea works. Of course, Isamu is the type to give people the benefit of the doubt.

We are using traits.

There are undead about. The giant has taken the one wizard who knows why there are undead and how to put them at rest. And we need to go chase after the giant to find out what's wrong. While fighting undead along the way.

Truly, a journey worthy of adventurers.

Travelling downriver along the Styx. Hmm.

Baylily has a nature spirit for a friend. If Jerm has an urge to travel West to protect the town from danger, it is possible neither of us know quite why. It might end being to stop something approaching, or to gain some powerful defense.

If you'd rather a stronger motivation to go west than her familiar telling her to, she is also seeking powerful druidic rituals/ energy to incarnate a new protective spirit for the town. Spiritual energy might pool downriver.

Wait. I have an idea.:

As usual, James is up before the sun to start preparing breakfast for his customers in his inn. He was feeling a stew today and just got in some fresh vegetables. He fills a pot with water and sets it to boil over a low fire. As he cuts the vegetables, he feels slight tremor. So slight it might not have been there at all. So he goes back to cutting. Then he feels another. He looks at the still pot for confirmation. He waits only a moment and then, a ripple. It was a tremor. A few moments later, another. And they were getting stronger. What was it though? He'd heard of earth shakes but they'd never happened here. And weren't they supposed to cause the earth to crack open and topple buildings. These weren't even knocking the dust off the rafters.

Boom. He stood corrected. That one did. Around that time there is a commotion outside. He tries to get back to work but a few big shakes and he is forced outside, praying they didn't get so bad his inn came down. When he exits his inn, the first thing he notices is the people. Almost everyone in the village is outside. And they are all looking same direction, eyes wide and mouths agape. James follows their vision. His eyes go wide and his mouth hangs open.

Giants. One. Two. Three...a dozen or more all along the horizon, big as mountains all. He spun around after the next tremor and saw a dozen more. One was passing so close James could clearly see he was garbed for war. How did one even make an axe that big. One swing and it could chop every tree in the forest. But it wasn't looking at them. None of them were. They were all looking and heading west. James stood there with everyone else, watching. Watching even after the last one had slipped beneath the horizon. And then all at once the chatter started.

What was happening to the west.

Hows that?

These are all very cool ideas. You're of course all welcome to have varied motivations, too.

I just want to state this fact, but I am actually super excited to see a leshy warden in action, because I have wanted to play one for ages and leshies are ADORABLE.

So what do we need to do to get started again?

We're just waiting on Baylily, Kalamir and Kamali'i, I think. It would be best if their characters are done, but I'd be fine starting now if they at least feel like they're ready to post frequently.

We seem to have a desire for giants to be our motivation. :D