| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As it appears the other Skull & Shackles game is about to be done with recruiting, I'm going to post my attempt at one.
Pros: I have a ton of experience in writing, I hit the computer several times a day, and I have been roleplaying for over 20 years.
Cons: This is the first time I have GM'ed play by post, but you can check, I've been consistently playing in two for several months now, posting daily, and hungry for more.
The Fine Print
Skull & Shackles is not for the faint of heart or the pure of heart for that matter. If being a pirate is going to not work for a character...probably shouldn't submit it. There is plenty of info in the player's guide that you can snag.
Oh, I bet you want to know about Character Creation, don't you? Yeah, it's going to be pretty simple:
Stats: We are going to go with PFS stats here. 20 pt buy and nothing lower than a 7 before racials.
Races: Speaking of Races...I'm going to go with let's be rational. If you want to play one of the more rare ARG races, I'll consider it, but you had better have a story for it. If there is a cert to play it in PFS, I will almost certainly allow it, but make me buy into it.
Classes: See the race section. The only class/archetype I'm not a big fan of is Vivasectionist because I think it belittles the rogue and ninja. Beyond that, I'll look at anything.
Backstory: This is where you will wow me. Anyone can crunch a character, but it takes something special to transform an idea into something other people care about. Make me want to have your character on the Wormwood. I am prone to giving away odd bonuses for people who give me good backgrounds (I gave away a trait to each player in one game based off their backgrounds, who knows).
I am not a huge fan of powergamers, especially in a situation like this. Let your characters grow into their strengths and it is more enjoyable, in my mind. If that is not the case for you, maybe not a good place to apply. Not keen on character interactions? Probably not the best place to apply. Looking for a GM that wants to have fun and ensure his group is having fun? Ok, maybe the place to apply.
I will say, I am looking for 3-4 players, as I have two. Neither of the two have made characters, but one is almost certainly going to fill an "other" roll with their character and the other will build whatever is left with a hole in the needs category.
As of right now, I'm planning to end recruiting on October 4th and hopefully start by the 7th.
Are you looking for a solid piratey feel? - as in hard neutral with some allowance for cruelty and such?
I'd assume two traits as per standard? - and will you require one from the Player's Guide?
Dotting for interest, I was planning on GMing this at some point but my IRL group didn't bite, sadly. Will write up a character asap.
Ive been meaning to get into a game of SnS for a while now. Ive been thinking of playing an acrobatic youth who usually serves as a rigger on the ships hes been on. Undecided on whether to go with Monk or Gunslinger.
This is basically a longwinded dot.
The meaning by it being a pirate game is that there is no way a lawful character will handle it. CG can do ok, but I don't want party conflict.
Traits: THREE Traits, one of which has to be a campaign trait.
I haven't played Skull & Shackles, does it have any major aquatic component? As in if I make a character with some investment in swimming and suchlike, am I going to feel it wasted?
Had this guy in a failed S&S game before. He'd be all about another shot at the Wormwood.
Full stats and background in character profile.
Most of Skull & Shackles takes place on a ship/at sea. Swimming is not a wasted investment.
Riven, you get one more trait and then you meet all the specs.
Riven, you get one more trait and then you meet all the specs.
Sweet! I'll take a look now.
The meaning by it being a pirate game is that there is no way a lawful character will handle it. CG can do ok, but I don't want party conflict.
Keeping to your word and "honoring the code", all while having a taste for combat, drink and loose women, wouldnt be out of the question for Lawful-Neutral or Lawful-Evil would it?
Potentially, I could definitely see that interpretation, as long as you have your defined code and you stick to it, that is, in fact, lawful. I think alignment is probably the one thing that I think is far, far too rigid in most RPGs, so you will find I'm a little more...freeform with it.
That's the character starting to flesh out a little. Still have to C/P a lot of the mechanical stuff.
Not sure whether to stay CG or go CN; I just have a kneejerk reaction to Chaotic Neutral from heroic-style campaigns, I suppose.
Dotting for interest.
May I ask what kind of characters you are looking for? Do you want a band of pirates who want to be pirates, or do you delight in the fish out of water approach? Perhaps a mix of both? I have a few ideas swimming around in my head, and would like to present the best fit for your idea of what your game will be.
Also, what is your opinion on rethemes of spells? Could burning hands become a fan of scalding water? Could entangle become grasping ropes?
I'll make a druid and see if I get in.
Dotting. Character concept forthcoming - when I get the chance to dedicate time to writing something out.
dotting for interest
I'm dotting for interest. Thinking either like a fighter (corsair) or a gunslinger (buccaneer). I'm gonna start writing it up now. I'm so glad to see the interest in S&S again.
This is Mark Sweetman's fluff for what will likely be an Elven Ranger. Crunch will follow once mulled over appropriately.
Queen Kaala had settled the isle of Kepre Dua as a haven for the elves of the shackles. His parents were among the first disciples to arrive and swear fealty to the newly crowned Queen and became staunch supporters in her inner circle. Life on Kepre Dua was idyllic for the young Raveneau. His days filled with time in the water, both atop and below, while his nights were equally sated with training in the myriad ways of his divine mistress. His adolescence was spent training with the loose military that the elves kept in defense of the isle. They fought with net, whip and blade from above deck and below. Especially well drummed into the recruits was the best ways in which to combat the lesser humans that served as the main threat to their life of purity on the Isle.
It was a scant five years prior when his parents were given the rare honor of accompanying the Queen of the Veil as she paid homage at the holy site of the Obelisk. Raveneau begged to be able to attend, but was denied and watched as two parents left…. and only one returned. His father stumbled back to their home in Alendruan Harbor the next day lacking his left eye and arm, barely alive. As he attended to his convalescing father he was told only that his mother was dead – and nothing of how it occurred or how his father was injured. Looking into the eyes of his father he saw something missing as though he returned a man of lesser mind as well as body that day.
This tragic event snapped something within Raveneau and his mind swung from an idyllic enjoyment of all that was on offer to a wholehearted embrace of the lesser known aspects of his wasp goddess. Dark thoughts of vengeance and hate filled his thoughts. As his father seemed even more devout in his support of Queen Kaala, Raveneau applied himself body, mind and soul to his training at war and awaited an opportunity.
His opening came when a pirate clipper out of Port Peril docked at Alendruan Harbor after faring poorly in a storm. Despite warnings to the contrary… one of the half-elves on the crew stepped foot on land and was judged to be worthy of receiving Calistra’s Whisper. As the ill-fated half-elf was subjected to the hedonistic pleasures of the palace, Raveneau stole aboard the pirate’s vessel and bargained passage off the isle. It was thus he was born anew, sailing away in the dead of night as the half-elf was sacrificed in the Queen’s chambers.
The voyage to Port Peril was uneventful, and upon arriving Raveneau was cajoled into joining the crew for a drink at the Formidably Maid. It was there, nestling an ale and thoughts heavy on his forward path that he failed to detect the strange aftertaste of the brew…
- Father (Galrend) survives upon Kepre Dua, and Raveneau fully plans to return for him one day.
- Kaala may not like the fact that he has defected… and may seek his death or to reclaim him.
- Beyond his soon to be crew, he will be seeking to surround himself with likeminded elves to support his eventual claim upon Kepre Dua.
Mulling it over for the past hour, while I should have been working :D
I think I'm going to work on a Halfling Air Sorcerer that spends most of his time in the crow's nest.
While I'm thinking of it, would you prefer characters posted here or sent to you via PM?
As far as creating pirates vs. creating reluctant pirates...I can go with either one, just make your character believable and your reasoning for being in Port Peril rational.
Repurposing spells: I will do it on a case by case, caster by caster basis, but no, I have no problems with it.
As far as sending me your characters, if you wish to put your backstory in your profile or in spoilers, go right ahead. If you have aspects you would prefer others not to know, then send it to me in a PM. I don't want to get bombarded, but I understand wanting to keep secrets.
Works for me, I'll get the backstory writ tonight/tomorrow. I realized after asking you that going Elemental (air) bloodline would allow the reflavoring of spells to be completely legit as it's one of their class abilities.
@ Gm Hills
adding the foolwing Regional Trait
Stormrunner
You have sailed on some of the roughest seas.
Benefit: You’re accustomed to the pitch and yaw of sailing vessels, even in a storm, and gain a +2 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks to keep your footing on uneven ground or unsteady surfaces.
I'm thinking I'm gonna go with maybe a magus or the gunslinger archetype of buccaneer. I have so many ideas rolling around, it's gonna just be a matter of narrowing it down.
Okay here is my Druid, Aquatic Archetype, Ben Gar
A mysterious person came into to town years after Ben found Blacktail and started speaking in a language that nobody seemed to understand, except for Ben. The two were conversing and everyone around them thought that it was strange. When Ben finally asked the person what was going on and why everyone was looking at them like they just saw a devil rise from hell, the person said that they were speaking a language that most don’t know. The language was Druidic, and that had meant that Ben was a Druid. Ben asked what it meant to be a Druid and the person said that he was a guardian of nature, someone to protect and preserve whatever natural setting felt at home to Ben. After thinking for a little bit Ben knew what natural setting felt the most natural and that was in the water. When Ben told this new person what he felt as being the most natural setting to him, the person said his name was Brett and that he was going to instruct Ben in the ways of the Druids of Water. His mom flipped out after hearing the news that Ben was a Druid, saying that no son of hers could ever be a Druid after being kicked out of the order herself. Reluctantly she agreed to Brett teaching Ben in the ways of the Druids if only to ensure his future would lead away from becoming a pirate like his father before him.
Years passed and Ben finally learned the first steps to becoming a Druid, the rest he would have to learn as time went on and after many battles have been fought. He left home shortly after Brett finished teaching him leaving a note to his mother saying “I have left to tame the seas, I don’t know when I will return or if I ever will but know this: I will always love you.”
Ben found himself in Port Peril a few weeks after his journey started. With Blacktail at his side he went into the Formidably Maid for a drink, knowing that this was a pirate hideout. What better way to tame the seas than on a ship traveling across them? After his third or fourth drink he noticed a dashing and flirtatious corsair. With the booze clouding his mind he went to talk to her and after a while of talking found he was beaten senseless and stuffed in a sack, carried off to who knows where.
I will make an aliases for him after I've figured out what crunch I want.
Campaign Trait: Buccaneer’s Blood
Here's a list for people to know what's been offered so far-
Martial:
Mahr Dalen: Ranger
Raveneau Delahaye: Ranger
Divine:
Zotsune/Ben Gar: Druid
Shadowyfox: Salty, swearing, Dwarven Druid
Skills:
Riven “Jolly” Roger: Rogue
Hordshyrd: Rogue
WhtKnt: Rogue
Arcane:
Mezegis/Bramzit “Bzzt” Brightonspinner: Air Sorcerer
Undecided:
Deliverance: Monk or Gunslinger
@ GM: With the shark shaman druid archetype, you can choose several different domains instead of a companion. Is it allowable to choose one of the subdomains associated with those domains?
Sure, mostly, just make it make sense and it is hard not to with that situation.
:) Ok. I am actually going the route of a dwarf with the shark shaman archetype. Just because the image of a salty, swearing dwarf that embodies the most ferocious thing in the sea...Yeah, makes great sense to me. :)
I've updated the above list with Shadowy's choice.
Here is my submission.
Chumtooth, the Kuru Fighter.
Please note that kuru are native to the Shackles, and his back story explains his presence in Port Peril.
Thanks for considering me for your crew!
Working up a character now. ::)
How much gold do we get? Oh and thanks for the three traits!
Average for class, if you have any special requests or concerns, PM about them.
In terms of powergaming, what would you say to both Snowball (or in my case, Lightningball), and the the Magical Lineage trait with Intesify spell feat?
It would effectively allow me to use Snowball up to level 10 without raising the spell level. If either the spell or combination irk you, just lemme know.
I figured I'd dot with the dwarf Druid before I lost track. I'm gonna start writing up fluff for him.
David Longstar looking for adventure!
Sign me up! :)
|
Well, I didn't get into the other one, so... This is WhtKnt's submission.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am running S&S in my home game, but I will keep character knowledge and player knowledge separate. I've been RPing since 1979 and am a pretty reliable poster. I can post a minimum of once per day during the week, and typically more often than that. Weekends may be spotty as I am pretty busy on my weekends, but I can usually manage once per day or better.
As for what I am looking for; I expect to have fun. This is a very fun adventure to run, and I expect that it would be as much fun to play. As for character interaction, I'm all about it. The primary reason to play an RPG is to stretch one's acting skills, and I do so. Mez will, I think, vouch for me, as I am in his Reign of Winter game and I'd like to think that we're having fun with the character interaction in that game.
Isabella's background is currently sparse, but I will expound upon it prior to the end of the submission period. I just wanted to get her up here for your approval.
|
Trying my luck here. I'm a big pirate fan and Skull & Shackles seems like an awesome campaign.
Sasha is a half-elf cleric of Besmara. She's not a very optimized build, but I think she'd be very fun to play. She's got the Magical Knack trait because I might give her a few levels in a class to add some skills to her repertoire—haven't decided yet, and even if I don't it fits nicely with her background. Do we have to pick three traits by the way? If so, her third trait will be Roof Racer (Korvosa).
Sasha grew up among the nouveau riche of Korvosa, a bastard child raised by two human parents, born out of her father's tryst with a temple prostitute of Calistria.
Her parents, both quite talented in the art of alchemy and the creation of magical knick-knacks, tried to raise the young girl as their own. And even though her father loved her very much, his wife had trouble forgiving her husband's indiscretion. Amongst the burgeoning Korvosan nobility, two human parents raising a half-elf was also the source of much gossip and ridicule, and so Sasha was pushed aside relatively soon in her life by her mother, in favor of Sasha's brother and two sisters. She was left more and more in the care of the family's pseudodragon, her mother too busy with more important things to look after the girl.
This didn't bother Sasha all that much, since she was too busy exploring the sights and sounds of Korvosa. She especially enjoyed going down to the docks, to watch the ships arrive from all the exotic locales. Her father had always hoped for his half-elven offspring to be able to attend the Korvosan Acadamae, which Sasha had zero interest in.
Eventually Sasha fell in with some people of ill-repute, a criminal gang of cat burglars called the Catsdew Lofties. She botched her initiation however, running into the Korvosan Guard. After a chase where she led them to the docks, the only way she saw fit to loose them, was to swim out to one of the ships that was just about to leave. Trying to stow away on the vessel, she was quickly found by the captain, who allowed her to remain on the ship until they eventually returned to Korvosa. In the meantime, she would have to work on the ship, just like everyone else.
But Sasha didn't want to return home. She'd finally gotten what she wanted; to be on the wide seas, sailing off into the unknown. Learning all that she could aboard the vessel, she soon found herself drawn to Besmara, the Pirate Queen. With the meager earnings that she was granted, she purchased an old, thin leather journal from a fellow sailor. The journal, embossed with a skull and crossbones, it holds a holy text known as Besmara's Code. She proceeded to carve her own holy symbol out of a piece of weathered old driftwood, and although it isn't much to look at, it seems to work for her. Eventually Sasha jumped ship in the Shackles, before she ever got to see Korvosa again.
Physical description:
This shapely half-elf has a smug expression on her face, and she walks with a confident swagger. Her bronzed skin is a tell-tale sign of a life spent outdoors. Clad in ill-fitting, waterlogged leather armor, her nimble movements are also without grace, and it's obvious she is a very candid individual. Her burgundy hair is held back by a cloth headband, one hand resting on a slender rapier at her hip. With narrowed gray eyes, Sasha looks upon the world with a mixture of inquisitiveness and wariness.
Ben Gar finally, an alias was created.
Maz, if you do that, it's not a huge powergame, in my eyes, but if you do that, buy back a lot of stats to give yourself a 20, and spend another feat or two on the spell, then yes, that's far, far too much.
Updates:
Martial
Mahr Dalen- Human Ranger (Skirmisher, Freebooter)-Crunch is Incomplete
Raveneau Delahaye- Elven Ranger -Crunch is incomplete
Chumtooth- Kuru Fighter -Complete(Not sure how I feel about race)
Aramis Steel- Human Gunslinger (Musket Master) -Missing Trait
Arcane
Ossok the Scarred- Half-Orc Scarred Witch Doctor -Missing Trait
Divine
Ben Gar- Human Druid (Aquatic) -Complete
Sasha Killigrew- Half-Elf Cleric of Besmara -Missing Trait
Diabolito Stormbeard- Dwarf Druid (Shark Shaman) -Crunch
Skilled
Riven "Jolly" Roger- Human Rogue (Pirate) -Complete
David Longstar- Gnome Rogue -List Traits (I see two of them in story)
Isabella D'Rosini- Half-Elf Rogue (Pirate) -Complete
I know there have been a lot of games lately and I'm glad to see people sticking to their characters from other attempts, some of the characters I'm glad to see come this way. Any questions can either be PM'ed my way or put in here, I check often when I'm not at work (and sometimes a little when I am).
Checking interest. This is Aramis Elizabeth Mirian Steele, female human gunslinger with the musket master archetype. Shipwrecked in the Shackles years ago, she's worked as a mercenary ever since, growing disillusioned with the "blessing of Besmara" she suppoedly carries, looking only forward to her next handful of coins, bottle of rum, and one-night stand.
I've played her in both an S&S game that went under on these boards, and a homebrew game that went under due to GM health issues. She's currently at 25-point buy, but I have a 20-point build half-finished in HeroLab (Dex dropped to 18, Cha dropped to 10), and I'll have that up with expanded fluff in a few days. Hope she's acceptable!
I chose a third trait. I went with Anatomist; to go along with his backstory as both a harpooner and his upbringing as a cannibal.
I have never played a kuru before, but I created Chumtooth because of a desire to play a Queequeg-esque character in the context of the story. He is a savage, but a savage smart enough to question the cultural norms of his people. I fully intend to roleplay him, not just hack n' slash. I fully expect that the crew, and perhaps even the other PCs, will be wary of him until he proves himself. Chumtooth isn't a hot-headed brute, but he knows that the very nature of what he is scares the heck out of most people. He's not above using that fear to his advantage.
I'd like to throw my pirate-y tricorn hat in, if that's okay. Zaketta is a character for another S&S PbP game here on the paizo boards that, regrettably, got derailed very early on (we were still doing chores on the ship). I had a great time with it, though, so if you're willing to consider me, I'd love to join.
Both fluff and crunch are in my profile - I think I'll need to pick out an additional trait, though.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Kismet, born of the sea, and blessed with divine powers from her murky depths, here for your consideration.
Backstory is up, crunch is to follow.