Vagabonds.'s Untitled Campaign

Game Master Vagabonds.



So, I've decided to throw my hat into the DMing ring, and as such, I come here to offer to DM a game. Know that it MUST be pathfinder (Since that's the only gaming system I have).

However, I do request that it be in PbP format, and not an adventure path (Since I don't actually own any), and that you all permit me to have a few small house rules:

1: Everyone gets a bonus feat per HD (So, 2 feats at level 1, 1 at level 2, 2 at level 3, and so on)
2: Power Attack, combat Maneuvers, and point blank shot are combat options, not feats. Anyone can do any of those things.
3: Casters must spend a feat to get their next level of spells (So, going from level 3 to level 4, you must spend a feat to gain the next level of spells.
4: Fighters, after 4th level, get a flexible bonus feat every third time they level up. Every morning, they may swap out their flexible bonus feats.
5: Initiative is, outside of surprise rounds, meaningless, so that whoever posts first, goes first.

Otherwise, I'm up for DMing a game. Just post what type of game you all want to play.


some kind of Apocalypse aftermath.


Numenera would be fun. I could also be interested in a city based campaign.

Sovereign Court

By Combat maneuvers do you mean the Improved and Greater feats, or the maneuvers themselves (which are already combat options, not feats)?

Dark Archive

I might be interested :) tell us more about the campaign itself. Also, what about races, classes, etc?


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I would be willing to apply and by extension join. But I would like to know more about the story that you have in mind to tell. As a player I'm in it for a good story and a good time. I have fun no matter how I'm playing so I can roll with any story. I like the good ole fashioned high adventure grand-quest type long campaigns but thats just one type of game and it doesn't always work for everyone.


Nohwear wrote:
Numenera would be fun. I could also be interested in a city based campaign.
Afraid I don't have the system, sorry. Pathfinder only, I believe I posted this in the origional post.
Galahad0430 wrote:
By Combat maneuvers do you mean the Improved and Greater feats, or the maneuvers themselves (which are already combat options, not feats)?

Crap, I'm sorry, I ment combat expertise, can't edit it now, however.

adsapiens wrote:
I might be interested :) tell us more about the campaign itself. Also, what about races, classes, etc?
I'm gonna probably be allowing anything on request. As it is, featured. The campaign so far is pretty much what you guys want, which, so far, sounds like a city-based campaign based in the post apocalypse.
Traskus wrote:
I would be willing to apply and by extension join. But I would like to know more about the story that you have in mind to tell. As a player I'm in it for a good story and a good time. I have fun no matter how I'm playing so I can roll with any story. I like the good ole fashioned high adventure grand-quest type long campaigns but thats just one type of game and it doesn't always work for everyone.

I'm up for anything, it depends on what you guys want.


Sorry, I meant the Numeria.

Sczarni

As an experienced GM, I rarely get to play, so this would be fun and I can help if you get stuck.

I'll almost anything, but I love low magic, gritty games.

Dark Archive

We could try the Obsidian Apocalypse thing, or maybe an adaptation of Ravenloft... It'd be cool. I have some ideas in mind for something in these lines... I'll start to draft something of a story for a character, but I'll wait for you to confirm the campaign story and world to better finish it.


Obsidian Apocalypse could work. There are still a few options that would need to be decided.


I'm a DM as well still fairly newbish compared to most so I can help answer those first time questions, would be very excited to play a Martial class in this setting so I'll make something up for you to see.

Gamewise I'm cool with a post apocalyptic game.


I'm open to the idea.


adsapiens wrote:
We could try the Obsidian Apocalypse thing, or maybe an adaptation of Ravenloft... It'd be cool. I have some ideas in mind for something in these lines... I'll start to draft something of a story for a character, but I'll wait for you to confirm the campaign story and world to better finish it.

I'm afraid to say I don't own Obsidian Apocalypse, however, a somewhat homebrew setting might be fairly decent in this regard. Maybe a post-apocalyptic version of Golarion.

Del Azast wrote:

I'm a DM as well still fairly newbish compared to most so I can help answer those first time questions, would be very excited to play a Martial class in this setting so I'll make something up for you to see.

Gamewise I'm cool with a post apocalyptic game.

Alright, so, sounds like we're doing a fairly low-magic, Post Apocalyptic game.

Darksmokepuncher wrote:

As an experienced GM, I rarely get to play, so this would be fun and I can help if you get stuck.

I'll almost anything, but I love low magic, gritty games.

Alright, thanks for any tips you have.


Something set in a small but dense location. So a whole adventure in a city and it's surrounding areas would be pretty cool. Doesn't have to be post apocalyptic. My issue with post apocalyptic is that a lot of cool options in terms of higher end equipment are restricted or not available.


As an experienced DM I have been around a bit. I'd personally suggest running a few published adventure paths for practice and to get a good idea of the rules as home brewing can be very difficult as there is a lot to note down, plan ahead and so on as well as balancing the PCs and CR, though your homerules to help fix some of these on your end by making them more powerful. Plus higher point buys will make the PCs tougher too.

I don't agree with the 5th option as it does cause a issue with those who live over sear or are in other games or even DMing games like myself. A usual limit we have on the forum is 24 hours. If someone hasn't posted and it's combat time, it's best to bot them.

For maps a great system to use is Maptools and the creators have things like token makers to build your own tokens and links and suggestions to import thousands of tokens and images that you can use to represent everything from backgrounds to monsters.

Hopefully that'll help you a little, we're always after DMs here :D

Also something I've discovered (yet still not done myself) is make a Campaign journal. A place to note down what characters have done. this is a great way to turn back and look at something important that was mentioned in the past, but you forgot about it or as a way to do some sick karma on characters by having something that happened earlier on in the adventure have a sudden significance. Plus it can give you ideas too.


Azih wrote:
Something set in a small but dense location. So a whole adventure in a city and it's surrounding areas would be pretty cool. Doesn't have to be post apocalyptic. My issue with post apocalyptic is that a lot of cool options in terms of higher end equipment are restricted or not available.

Alright, so, I think I have a basic idea for the game, and how to build your characters:

25 point buy
House rules as above.
Setting is a Low Magic, Post apocalyptic setting. You may either be from the setting, or from it pre-Apocalypse.
The world:
It's been Two thousand years since The Event. What the Event was has been lost to time, but what is known is that it has left most of the world inhospitable. Now, there are three cities, the rest of the world plagued by undead shades, clockwork monsters, and things man was never meant to know. The three cities are linked together by ancient portals made in ages past, and the people subside on gruel brought into existence by ancient machines, the method of their creation lost to time. Magic is a rare talent, and legends that one who wields arts from ages long ago will bring about another reckoning, ending the world as it remains, causes suspicion on all who wield magic.

How does this sound?

DM Aron Marczylo wrote:

As an experienced DM I have been around a bit. I'd personally suggest running a few published adventure paths for practice and to get a good idea of the rules as home brewing can be very difficult as there is a lot to note down, plan ahead and so on as well as balancing the PCs and CR, though your homerules to help fix some of these on your end by making them more powerful. Plus higher point buys will make the PCs tougher too.

I don't agree with the 5th option as it does cause a issue with those who live over sear or are in other games or even DMing games like myself. A usual limit we have on the forum is 24 hours. If someone hasn't posted and it's combat time, it's best to bot them.

For maps a great system to use is Maptools and the creators have things like token makers to build your own tokens and links and suggestions to import thousands of tokens and images that you can use to represent everything from backgrounds to monsters.

Hopefully that'll help you a little, we're always after DMs here :D

Also something I've discovered (yet still not done myself) is make a Campaign journal. A place to note down what characters have done. this is a great way to turn back and look at something important that was mentioned in the past, but you forgot about it or as a way to do some sick karma on characters by having something that happened earlier on in the adventure have a sudden significance. Plus it can give you ideas too.

Minor issue is, I can't afford many adventure paths yet. As it is, it'll be sink or swim, for me, and if I fail, I shall hopefully learn from it. And yeah, you have a point with the Initiative thing, so I might drop it. Sounds like a fairly decent idea. As it is, making a new world shouldn't be too difficult, in my eyes. Planning ahead sounds pretty decent, and I shall try my best to do so. Question: Would allowing Gestalting help? How about maxing HD? How about 30 point buy?


In my admittedly-limited experience...

Encounters > Campaign > World

...most of players time is spent dealing with encounters. Either combat with enemies, or a social roleplaying interaction with an NPC, or a skill-challenge to navigate a wooded valley... these will be the lived experience of the game. If the encounters are fun, players will have fun, and so should the DM! Campaigns stitch encounters together in a compelling story, and worlds provide a rich background for that story. But if the encounters aren't fun, the game won't be fun.

A good module provides a well-designed set of fun encounters that fit together into a reasonably interesting framework. If you want to jump in at the deep end of course that's fine, but if money is the only issue I believe that there were some reasonably short D&D 3.5 edition adventures that were released for free by Wizards of the Coast (though I just looked and I couldn't find the link). From memory, they were pretty flexible so they could be dropped into pretty much any setting you fancied - homebrewed post-apocalyptic ones included.


Vagabonds. wrote:


DM Aron Marczylo wrote:

As an experienced DM I have been around a bit. I'd personally suggest running a few published adventure paths for practice and to get a good idea of the rules as home brewing can be very difficult as there is a lot to note down, plan ahead and so on as well as balancing the PCs and CR, though your homerules to help fix some of these on your end by making them more powerful. Plus higher point buys will make the PCs tougher too.

I don't agree with the 5th option as it does cause a issue with those who live over sear or are in other games or even DMing games like myself. A usual limit we have on the forum is 24 hours. If someone hasn't posted and it's combat time, it's best to bot them.

For maps a great system to use is Maptools and the creators have things like token makers to build your own tokens and links and suggestions to import thousands of tokens and images that you can use to represent everything from backgrounds to monsters.
Hopefully that'll help you a little, we're always after DMs here :D
Also something I've discovered (yet still not done myself) is make a Campaign journal. A place to note down what characters have done. this is a great way to turn back and look at something important that was mentioned in the past, but you forgot about it or as a way to do some sick karma on characters by having something that happened earlier on in the adventure have a sudden significance. Plus it can give you ideas too.

Minor issue is, I can't afford many adventure paths yet. As it is, it'll be sink or swim, for me, and if I fail, I shall hopefully learn from it. And yeah, you have a point with the Initiative thing, so I might drop it. Sounds like a fairly decent idea. As it is, making a new world shouldn't be too difficult, in my eyes. Planning ahead sounds pretty decent, and I shall try my best to do so. Question: Would allowing Gestalting help? How about maxing HD? How about 30 point buy?

Eh, it's a bit of a balancing issue, like with Low magic. One big issues a GM I played IRL with was that he wanted there to be low magic, cause he didn't like the idea of a player being able to walk into a shop and simply buy a +5 Keen Longsword, however the backfire from that was as follows:

1. You couldn't have a fighter with a unusual or rare weapon to focus on as you'd most likely NEVER see that weapon, especially if you were a small character too.

2. You have to send in lower CRs than normal because the CR is based on a group of 4 characters with average scores and average equipment suitible for their level.

3. If you don't to number 2, then the classes that get screwed the most are arcane magic users (since bracers of Armour is next to impossible to find) and classes like monks.

That's just my opinion and I know there are quite a few guys out there who love low magic campaigns, but those are issues to focus on when making one.

For HD, someone came up with a interesting idea. His was max at first level, which is a general rule but rolling for HD was difference as he used different die, but gave you a extra bonus so you always rolled average or above.

For example, a wizard instead of rolling 1d6 +Con would roll 1d3 +3 +con. This enables the characters to have more hitpoints, without simply maxing out HD and keeping that element of randomness to it.

I'm a softy when it comes to players, especially when I'm homebrewing as I generally make every mistake possible when doing so from over-powered encounters to botching up the placement of plot hooks and forgetting about them.

Again, a lot of this is about trying to keep a balance. You don't want it too easy for your players, but you don't want it too hard either.

For initiative, a trick I learnt (this was off other GMs, so I'm certainly not taking credit for it) is to roll all the initiatives yourself and make sure the players know your doing this and to inform you of chances to rolls, such as if they gained Improved Initiative.

For example, in the CotCT game I'm playing I rolled the iniative as follows:

Group Initiative:

Curnach Daveck: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Jerinthian Kos: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Krenn Whetstone: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Llyra Bjorgan: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

AG: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Then round it up with the Order below:

Jerinthian Kos
Curnach Daveck
Krenn Whetstone
AG
Llyra Bjorgan

I put the creatures as a abbreviation as it's usually a surprise when they appear and you don't want to tell the player's what has appeared until they see it or identify it with a knowledge check.

These are just a few tips that I hope help you out in the future and a few opinions too.

On the money thing I can't really help, however Paizo will most likely be doing a sale as its close to Christmas and its much cheaper to buy the PDFs too.


Well, I want in.

Initiative can be a big deal, and people who build for it should get a tip of the hat, but I think you mean that initiative order among the PCs is less important, which I wholly agree with.

I just need to think of a good character now.

Sovereign Court

I like the original home rules you stated in your first post. They already give a enough of a boost for martial types that you don't need to add gestalt (too ridiculous IMO for Pathfinder). DM Aron has some good points about low magic campaigns. I love them also, but you have to realize that certain creatures suddenly become way more powerful than their CR. Incorporeal creatures and swarms especially, the first is completely immune to non-magic sources and the second is only really effected by AOE spells and attacks. It is just a balancing act, but one to keep in mind.

As to character creation, you said Pathfinder, but what sources? How much material do starting characters have available for creation? All Paizo stuff, any 3PP, etc?


Jonahkan wrote:

In my admittedly-limited experience...

Encounters > Campaign > World

...most of players time is spent dealing with encounters. Either combat with enemies, or a social roleplaying interaction with an NPC, or a skill-challenge to navigate a wooded valley... these will be the lived experience of the game. If the encounters are fun, players will have fun, and so should the DM! Campaigns stitch encounters together in a compelling story, and worlds provide a rich background for that story. But if the encounters aren't fun, the game won't be fun.

A good module provides a well-designed set of fun encounters that fit together into a reasonably interesting framework. If you want to jump in at the deep end of course that's fine, but if money is the only issue I believe that there were some reasonably short D&D 3.5 edition adventures that were released for free by Wizards of the Coast (though I just looked and I couldn't find the link). From memory, they were pretty flexible so they could be dropped into pretty much any setting you fancied - homebrewed post-apocalyptic ones included.

Alright, I already have one in mind (You have to fight Cultists to depower a ancient golem as tall as a modern day skyscraper, or at least delay it so that it doesn't cause too much damage. The other ancient golem, which for a hundred years has been ofline, goes online, and you have to figure out how to move the combat outside the city walls, where hopefully the clockwork monsters will finish them of somehow.


Galahad0430 wrote:

I like the original home rules you stated in your first post. They already give a enough of a boost for martial types that you don't need to add gestalt (too ridiculous IMO for Pathfinder). DM Aron has some good points about low magic campaigns. I love them also, but you have to realize that certain creatures suddenly become way more powerful than their CR. Incorporeal creatures and swarms especially, the first is completely immune to non-magic sources and the second is only really effected by AOE spells and attacks. It is just a balancing act, but one to keep in mind.

As to character creation, you said Pathfinder, but what sources? How much material do starting characters have available for creation? All Paizo stuff, any 3PP, etc?

Oh, anything Pazio on the OGL, I am willing to have. Otherwise, I'm good with anything. As for wealth, we'll go with about the standard Wealth by Level...

And I forgot to set a level. Let's go with level 6.

Dark Archive

I'm thinking on using a Zen Archer monk. A wise guy in a robe shooting arrows. The backstory at the moment is something on the lines of the last of his clan - struggling with a chaotic world, to keep his honor and monastic traditions. Probably a half-elf worshipping Erastil. :)

Could you list what feats won't be feats? What if they are prereqs for other feats, like Point Blank Shot?


I am interested how do you feel about the psionic rules?


adsapiens wrote:

I'm thinking on using a Zen Archer monk. A wise guy in a robe shooting arrows. The backstory at the moment is something on the lines of the last of his clan - struggling with a chaotic world, to keep his honor and monastic traditions. Probably a half-elf worshipping Erastil. :)

Could you list what feats won't be feats? What if they are prereqs for other feats, like Point Blank Shot?

Point Blank Shot, Combat Expertise, and Power Attack. If they are prerequisites, treat them as if you have them.

david barker wrote:
I am interested, how do you feel about the psionic rules?

I don't have much knowledge of them, but probably should learn them. As it is, I have heard little but good things about it.

However, you appear to have forgotten to put in a comma. I have put one into your sentence.


I am down, I can play anything, though I am tending towards ranger/rogue or a arcane caster of sorts. Rogue seems like he would greatly benefit from the increased feats..


hey, could pirhana strike replace power attack for those that use light weapons?


I normally hate house rules, but those are pretty interesting. That's a pretty good idea to tax the casters those extra bonus feats. However, I do think its to many bonus feats. Just giving a single one every level rather than every other level would suffice.


Sounds fun.

I'd suggest if you go low magic, implement some sort of scaling attribute system to replace the 'Big 6" items (Magic weapons, Magic Armor, Ring of Protection, Cloak of Resistance, Amulet of Natural Armor, Stat boosters).

I have a simple scale that works for everything but armor and weapons, and those shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

This has a two-fold effect: makes balancing easier (don't have to tweak CRs to account for lower basic attributes the game assumes a character has), and mitigates the cookie cutter loadout trend (people are ore likely to choose items because they're cool or have unique useful effects rather than because they're necessary).

Using the Technology rules made for Iron Gods could be neat too (tech replaced the niche magic previously filled, perhaps), but I'm not sure how you feel about those.

May bring an Alchemist or Investigator to the table if those fit your idea of low magic. Or one of the tech-y archetypes if you go with the idea that tech replaced magic.

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