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A rash of missing apprentices, giant vermin sightings, goblins at the gates - all this and more plagues the Isgeri town of Saringallow - unfortunately located in the shadow of an infamous and supposedly curst estate. When a number of heroes answer the mayor's call for aid, matters seem to be looking up for the doomed town - but little do they know that a villainous traitor lurks in their midst.
Welcome, welcome, welcome friends. Elevator pitch: I want 6 players for the newly released Gallows of Madness module, a collection 3 horror themed mini-adventures for 1st level characters. The catch is that one randomly determined player will secretly be evil and it'll be up to the other players to not only save the town, but root out the traitor amidst the growing paranoia a la Pathfinder meets Mafia. Sound like a terrible idea? It is; hence the short nature of the adventures and the "experimental" part of the title.
How to apply (READ ME ENTIRELY):
Secrecy will be a big part of the game - especially if you get chosen as the traitor, expect to be PMing me a lot. In fact, the first PM you send will be part of your character application. In this thread, post a short backstory for a character you'd like to play, but DO NOT INCLUDE ANY CRUNCH. Then, via PM send me an alternate or expanded backstory for an evil version of that same character. Cultists, serial killers, demon-worshipers, everything is on the table, just make sure you've got motivation for actively sabotaging your own party. Also in the PM, you may include class/archetype ideas, although a full statblock isn't required and ALL CHARACTER SHEETS WILL BE KEPT SECRET. Pretty much all Paizo material, especially the evil classes/archetypes that don't see much use, is in play.
By submitting an application you agree to the following:
I WILL post at least once a day.
I WILL NOT look at spoilers not intended for me EVER.
I ACCEPT that my character may be attacked, sabotaged, or even killed by other characters.
I WILL maintain a jovial and friendly relationship with my fellow players in spite of the above.
A minor house at the time, House Sarini of Cheliax founded the town of Sarini’s Hollow in Isger as a garden estate for its more influential members several decades before the rise of House Thrune. The town grew steadily as the nobles brought in peasants to serve its many needs, from farming to ranching to housework. As the Sarinis began to dabble in witchcraft and diabolism more, the peasants also served as a steady and clandestine supply of victims. Once the townspeople caught on, they executed all the Sarinis they could catch and drove out the other nobles.
Shortly after the uprising against House Sarini, the town’s leaders began constructing a wall that soon extended beyond the town, even enclosing some of the farmland that supported its populace. Their intention was to allow the townsfolk to live and farm in peace, and to keep the dangers of the outside world at bay. Indeed, Saringallow’s wall protected the town from most of the Goblinblood Wars’ dangers—the disorganized goblins simply flowed around it in search of easier targets. To this day, only the poorest farmers and most marginal citizens live near the walls. The rest of Saringallow’s residents refuse to build too close, and the guards breathe heavy sighs of relief when they finish their patrols of the ramparts.
Despite its suspicious populace and high walls, trade in Saringallow has flourished thanks to its proximity to Conerica River. While noble visitors are carefully watched and merchants must subject their wares to thorough inspections, the town thrives on the varied commerce that passes through its borders.
Life in Saringallow
The people of Saringallow are generally hardworking and independent, but can be cold and unwelcoming to outsiders. They tolerate travelers and merchants only as long as is necessary to conclude business. Those who decide to settle permanently in Saringallow typically must spend months or even years cozying up to their new neighbors before they are truly treated as fully recognized members of the community.
Within Saringallow, small groups of families and businesses have formed close-knit ties that have lasted for generations. To some older residents, frequently consorting with people from other neighborhoods or walks of life—even fellow citizens—is considered unlucky or even unnecessarily risky, so strong is the townspeople’s fear of the unknown. A common saying reflects the townspeople’s distrust of anyone trying to get to know them: “True friends aren’t too friendly.”
Most citizens of Saringallow are deeply suspicious of magic, especially witchcraft and evil divine magic, though some admit that certain kinds of arcane magic have their merits. In general, though, they see the practice of magic as an invitation to outside forces that cannot be controlled.
Practitioners of arcane magic are generally tolerated, if distrusted, but anyone with any ties to witchcraft or evil divine magic is unwelcome within the town’s walls. On the other hand, the townspeople view alchemy as a practical trade, and they see divine spellcasters of good- aligned deities as holy protectors. Therefore, the town has a few bustling alchemy shops, and Saringallow’s temple to Erastil supports a burgeoning congregation.
Saringallow’s top administrator is its elected mayor. Sandra Trinelli currently fills this position, though unless she can resolve the town’s recent troubles, the townsfolk might wish to elect a new leader before long. The people of Saringallow quickly lose faith in leaders who fail to keep the world’s evils at bay.
Hmmm.
Hmmm indeed.
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very interested... thinking up right now...
okay, a Drow who has become exiled from her homeland and is seeking to find a way to live among the surface with the rest of the "civilized" people. she is using her skills to complete tasks that would otherwise be considered lowly or not right.
cooking up the rest for the PM...
PMs received, looking forward to seeing more submissions.
Anthony Bartbright is a human swashbuckler.
He is the minor son of some noble house, who couldn't stand the stuffiness of his hometown, nor his parents and their expectations of him. So, he turned his knowledge of fencing into an opportunity to get away. He is a gambler and womanizer, who makes his way in the world by his daring escapes and risktaking.
I received a question about possible character requirements (point buy, etc.), so I'll post here for anyone curious. This is still subject to change but for now:
Level 1 (advancing to 2 halfway through)
Max HP
20 or 25 point buy (still deciding)
Background skills, yes
Alignment, non-evil for all but one character obviously
Nice bump, William. :)
This caught my attention when it was first posted but I let it slide. Now I've got a character idea, so I'll pitch something later today or tomorrow.
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Tedal Lightfoot has always been a nervous fellow. It started when his contemptible curiosity got the better of him again and he peeked his head in a door that had strange sounds coming from behind it. He hasn't been the same since he closed the door and ran away, from hearth, from home, family and friend, from everything that was good and helpful in his life.
His curiosity though still gets to him. It is what allowed him to become a professional investigator, trying to understand the mysteries and questions surrounding him. Simple questions such as, "Where did my watch go?" can sate his itch for a little bit, only as long as it takes him to find an answer. Deeper, potentially darker questions, asked in shadowy corners on moonless nights, "Why did the farmer feed his family to those ghouls?" are what gives him purpose and destroy his nerves.
It is only recently that his nervousness has turned into full-blown paranoia. He has learned to sleep with his eyes open, eats and drinks only what others have already tasted, and no one knows quite what it is when he jumps at shadows that are never there.
Tedal is reserved, his paranoia not letting him make new friends easily. His curiosity is still insatiable and he will do whatever he can to solve a mystery. And though he does not shy away from fights he would rather run away to live another day than take on something he does not think he can beat alone.
Ooh this sounds cool. I'll post again in a couple hours once I've thought of something! I do love gothic horror fantasy type games and am currently playing in Carrion Crown. But this also sounds like fun.
A devotee of Shelynn and truly a kind and compassionate person, Nurri is a traveling artiste seeking to make the world a safer place through her actions and a more beautiful place though her art.
If I count correctly we've already got 5 actual submissions and a few more who've expressed interest. Once we've got at least enough for a full party and I've finished my initial prepwork, I'll give a few days warning to let any lurkers/last minute submissions in before closing recruitment and then make the final picks.
I did mention in the recruitment post, albeit very briefly, that the villain will be determined randomly, so as to prevent anyone trying to guess who I would pick based on external factors such as this.
Samantha's a young human female of Chelish descent, a scholar and historian of some type (the Bard [Archivist] type, to be precise). She's curious (recklessly so at times) and a bit of a know-it-all. Her interest in exploring some ruins in the area have brought her to Saringallow.
Still not sure what to play. So will see if I come up with something in the next day or two. Perhaps an Inquisitor or Magus or summin.
When's the deadline to submit?
I'm currently circling either a Dwarven Warpriest, Half-Orc Brawler or Halfling Fighter.
Thanks William!
Hope I can come up with summin asap.
Expect recruitment to close sometime this coming week.
Everyone knows Jacob Romero. Why? Well, in a city where everyone is suspicious of one another, he wears a mask. Few in the town have ever seen his face, and for good reason. Rumor has it he is horribly scared from a spell gone wrong in his youth. Those that have seen can attest to the disfiguration. He is a wizard of some strength and spends his days at the cemetery as its caretaker. Normally such a role would be left to a cleric but he insisted, preferring the isolation. Rumors abound that he was a necromancer and just wanted to raise the whole plot in revolt and take the town.
But he proved to be adept at what he did. He was surprisingly comforting to those that lost someone important to them and performed all the rights based on the person's chosen religion. Every week he would visit the market to purchase food and other supplies. And during these visits he was always genteel and respectful. He caused no problems to anyone and was the first to apologize if he felt he was at fault. Some still harbor doubts about his ambitions but he has never made any action that would draw suspicion. He is a model citizen.
I'm interested, if there's still space for 10+ players. Will post backstory & PMs later today.
"Life is like an infinitely going game of chess."
Frosty Silversky was born into poverty, and was forced to steal to survive after his kitsune parents were killed when their house burnt down. Eventually, he was caught during one of his heists of the home of a well-known politician in his region. However, the man, who Frosty only names as "Black King", made a deal: that he do his dirty work for him, and Frosty walks away with some gold and scot-free from the attempted robbery.
And so Frosty went off, doing odd-jobs for "Black King" : Making his political rivals disappear or wind up dead in their homes, destroying any evidence against him, scaring witnesses of his political corruption into silence . Frosty gradually became a professional and had survived all of his trials. Frosty was expecting a reward once all was said and done.
Frosty Silversky didn't see himself as "Black King" did, as just another loose end to be tied up, as just a pawn in his game. He didn't expect to see 5 armed men breaking through his door with swords. However, Frosty wasn't about to die just yet. He was not going to let "Black King" dispose of him so easily.
"Black King" disappeared without a trace that night, never to be seen again.
Frosty moved from place to place before starting a new life in Salingallow. Charismatic but suspicious of everyone's intentions, Frosty is now a respected figure and does his best to be better than he once was, hiding his secrets of what he had done to people deep within.
For combat, is there anything I'd need to download or is it all on here? I'm using a PS4 as my source of internet currently. I'm a noob here, so sry if I accidentally put in "Crunch".
Also, what are the rules for traits?
PM incoming!
So it looks like we got 2 rogues (Me, maybe Nightmoon???), a swashbuckler (Anthony), 2 bards (Nurri?, Samantha), an investigator (Tedal), and a wizard (Jacob).
We're such a tanky party! XD
my character is a sorcerer, not a rouge. sorry if that wasn't posted here :P
Ah, okay. Slightly more varied then.
So, I just realized this: what happens to the player that gets the traitor? Do they get no XP/Prestige, or are they now stuck as an evil PC, or...?
The character chosen as the traitor will use the evil backstory which they privately PMed me and play as an evil character. They will gain XP with the rest of the group, or rather, level at the same intervals, since I'm not sticking strictly to the XP system.
Alright, alright! Today is the official two day warning - recruitment will close this Thursday.
Good news! With only 7 completed submissions, I have decided to accept all seven instead of having to cut out one. I figure this'll save some grief in the case of any dropouts as well. However, there will now be not only one, but TWO traitors, so best keep your wits about you. The traitors might know who eachother are, or they might not, I haven't decided yet. Just to clarify, this is the actual list:
Ira kroll
william Nightmoon
Profession Smith 6 ranks
Nathan Hartshorn
Nurri Al Rhakaza
Zayne Iwatani
Jay's Wing
Before I roll for the traitors, I'd like all of you to repost the "good" version of your character's backstory in the discussion thread just to make sure everyone's still on board, after which we can start making characters, and then move post-haste onto the game!
Samantha's a young human female of Chelish descent, a scholar and historian of some type (the Bard [Archivist] type, to be precise). She's curious (recklessly so at times) and a bit of a know-it-all. Her interest in exploring some local ruins and delving into the town's sometimes sordid history have brought her to Saringallow.
Going to shorten mine since i don't want to type it all again.
Frosty Silversky, forced to steal to survive, was used as a pawn by a political figure called "Black King" to do his dirty work for him before betraying him. Frosty survived, however, and tracked "Black King" down. Now he lives in Sarringallow, charismatic but always suspicious of others as trying to use him as a pawn in their game.
A devotee of Shelynn and truly a kind and compassionate person, Nurri is a traveling artiste seeking to make the world a safer place through her actions and a more beautiful place though her art.
Nurri is an unchained rogue Ifrit. I have this mental image of a fire dancer.
* BUMP! *
Think I've heard from everyone but 2 players. I'll PM them right now and then get some character creation rules up soon.
I posted in discussion.