Vrog Skyreaver's Untitled Campaign

Game Master Vrog Skyreaver

Good evening all.

First of all, thank you for joining me on what started out as a weird idea that has flourished into something resembling an actual setting.

Secondly, I want to you know that while I will have an overarching campaign, a lot of the "where are we going and what are we doing" onus is going to be on the group. My hope is that you as a group will decide what to do next and where to go, with me revising my flow chart as your actions change the course of the campaign.

My plan is to seed adventure hooks and allow your group to decide what sort of campaign you want to play in, whether it be exploration, warfare, battling the abberations of the Pit, or something else.

My other hope is that you are all willing to add in setting details if you have ideas. I want this to be a game setting that we improve together. On occasion, I might "put you on the spot" a bit and introduce an NPC that knows your character, and ask you to help define the relationship that you have with this NPC. I've found it to be a useful technique to getting players involved in the setting, and we'll see how it works here.

On Playstyle:
If you've played in one of my games before, you should know that I don't use a tactical map to run games, as I feel they slow down the pace of the game. I will do my best to provide a general map of the area so you have an idea of what is available to interact with. I will also try to provide pictures (shamelessly stolen from the internet) for important NPCs.

I'm going to make use of the campaign info tab heavily, to track things like how much various organizations and important individuals like or dislike your group, where you each fall on the alignment spectrum, and who the various nations, cities, and deities are. If you would like me to add something to either that tab, or the general top of the page, let me know and I'll be more than happy to do so.

I'm going to give you guys a day or so to finalize everything and make sure that your characters are good to go, and then we'll begin.

For now, think of a reason why your character would be in Sartorique, and why you would be willing to answer a job posting for a Intorian Senator.

I must say, you've piqued my interest yet again with your description of how you'll be running the game. I'm definitely looking forward to this. =)

As a side note, I just realized I have not selected Cornel's known languages yet. Oops!

Thanks for the pick. :)

Clearly explaining GM style and expectations gets my thumbs up. I'll raise questions as they occur to me.

Just to be clear, there is no "common" language as such?

And I think this question on overlapping class skills got overlooked. I'd just like this confirmed one way or another.

Question. Both Berserker and Hunri worshipper gain Acrobatics as a class skill. Would it be possible to swap one instance of Acrobatics for a different class skill?

Okay so I got Erogalle as the language of my homeland. Then for my 4 bonus languages I took Intor, Handcant, Low Suffi, and High Suffi.

I figured that, as a naturalist and explorer, Cornel might have visited the lands of the Wildrunners, therefore having reason to learn their handcant. I could also see him knowing the trade language, since he conceivably would do lots of trading for alchemical materials, but I've run out of language slots. Maybe I should give up High Suffi, I don't know...

Hi! Thanks for picking! Lazverinus is much interested in doing this job for the price he might get - info about the whereabouts of his wife and daughter.

@Lysimachos: I meant to reply to the question about Berzerkers and acrobatics, but I ended up getting busy. Barbarians don't automatically get Acrobatics in the Consolidated Skills system. I believe that I included the skill in the list erroneously. They only get Athletics and Nature by default.

Also, to answer your other question, There is a shared language, but it is exclusively used for trade.

That's fine, thanks for clarifying.

I am unlikely to be able to post this weekend.

*facepalm*
I don't really need a trade language if I can speak everyone's native language, do I?

I do believe I am all set and ready to go. Cornel would be thrilled at the opportunity to get to know a Senator.

Trade language is mainly used by merchants. It doesn't allow for a lot of day-to-day communication, as most of the words in it relate to mercantilism.

I realised that I hadn't posted a motivation for Lysimachos.

I'm thinking that after a spell in the Benthali wilds, he decided to make for Sartorique. A city, and one open to all sorts. Perhaps even one touched by Hunri.

Despite being banished from the Intorian Republic, and the wildness creeping into him from the influence of Hunri, Lysimachos is still willing to aid his countrymen. Perhaps his former shame can be wiped away by some great deed.

And truth be told, he hopes to hear some informed news about his family, and home.

Because I took a rank in Society, Lysimachos starts with an additional language. Handcant made the most sense for me, he dealt with the Benthalis for a while.

I used this template for my profile tagline in case anyone else is interested.

Because I took a rank in Society...

*facepalm again*

A question for the campaign tab. What do we know about abominations from the Pit? Since the Intorian military do fight them, perhaps Lysimachos has faced them before? Their strengths and vulnerabilities could be extremely useful information, since abominations are meant to have escaped the Pit to elsewhere on the continent.

For right now, your options are what I posted in the guide (which should be updated with them, but I'll have to double-check). I am going to be introducing some ancient languages, but that's for later...

If you end up with more language slots than currently available languages, you can take two days of downtime (which we'll be using in a modified sense from the mechanics) to fill one of those slots with a new language. You can also fill all of your currently open slots with new languages if you get access to a new one.

@lysmachos: Good question. Basically, Aberrations in this setting take the place of magical beasts, monstrous humanoids, dragons, giants, oozes, fey, plant creatures, and undead; basically, anything that is not an animal or humanoid.

Thanks to Consolidated Skills, your go-to skills for identification are going to be Nature, Arcana, and Religion. If you fight aberrations, a lot of their abilities will be unique, but identification checks should get you information about the base creature.

I'll also let you know now that in order to make really awesome things for you guys to fight, I'll likely be ignoring the creature type restrictions on templates.

Oh, and another note along the same vein: Outsiders are really rare, for some reason. There are some classes who can summon them, but they are few and far between.

Cheers Vrog. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have in mind. This is a small party but it should be a potent one.

Anyone have any other questions before we begin?

What do the respective gods' holy symbols look like? I imagine a bizarre pattern for Hunri.

I can't think of anything else for now--I'm ready to begin.

I hadn't really decided on why the holy symbols should look like, so feel free to describe your god's as you will.

If a Berserker gets stuck in a rage, do rounds of rage keep getting used up? And if so, what happens if a Berserker stuck in a rage runs out of rounds to expend?

@Lazverinus: I borrowed your idea about posting granted feats from the Feat Tax rules into Lysimachos' profile. Cheers for the idea.

Only way to remember them for me :P

If a Berserker gets stuck in a rage, do rounds of rage keep getting used up? And if so, what happens if a Berserker stuck in a rage runs out of rounds to expend?

I think that was covered in the doc, but I'll have to doublecheck when I get home.

@Vrog: Okay.

@All: Just a quick note on how I plan to roleplay Lysimachos. He does have very low charisma (6). A more haggard appearance is merely a symptom of the consequences of clashing aspects of his persona: simmering god-enhanced rage, damaged self-image, and a sometimes uncomfortable intensity born of willpower and martial pride.

I took inspiration from various posts, this one a stand-out piece in my reckoning.

Okay, I'll make it clearer as soon as I can update it, but basically, once you start raging and there are no enemies on the field, you will rage until there are no creatures within sight, you run out of rounds, or you make the will save that someone grants you (which quite possibly might mean that if you fail the will save they give you, you end up attacking them).

It's also worth noting that if all of your enemies are invisible, you will have to make the save to avoid attacking other creatures; keep in mind that I don't plan on having that become a thing, but circumstances in combat may cause it to happen).

Cheers for the clarification.

I'm going to give Cornel til tomorrow night to post, and then we'll go forward.

@Vrog: What is the climate like on the continent?

I've realised that I haven't chosen whether Lysimachos is inured to hot or cold climate effects.

Extreme Endurance (Ex)

At 3rd level, the invulnerable rager is inured to either hot or cold climate effects (choose one) as if using endure elements. In addition, the berserker gains 1 point of fire or cold resistance for every three levels beyond 3rd.

It's mostly temperate, with the exception of the north and south parts, which have snow-covered mountains on both sides. The weather near the Pit is unnatural as well (for Golarion-based context, think the worldwound; blood rain and winds that will flense the flesh off of your body are not uncommon.

Good to know, both for when weather gets unusual, and what resistances might be handy. I'll go with resistance to cold then.

I just noticed I have exactly half as many hit points as Lysimachos. Bahaha!

Get thee behind the raging berserker in combat! ;)

I will be away for both of the next two weekends. I should still be able to post at points during both, but less regularly than usual for me at weekends.

So I know I keep mentioning the wards, but I'd like to actually draw out ssomething of a city map of Sartorique so you guys know what I mean. Anyone know of any good free or cheap mapping software? If I can't find anything, I'll probably just use paint (an make a disaster; it has to do with my inability to draw straight lines).

I'm sure there's a tool within Paint to draw straight lines.

I hope you don't mind me butting in Vrog but I a map making program that is hex based but has city tiles. If you want to communicate with me over PMs we could work out a map.

Here's a sample of a city I did in a half an hour to give you an example.

Quick city

I can put labels on it as well as some symbols.

Investing money to do just one city would be excessive even for a small amount. You might not like the art style though but the offer is on the table if you would like. You can always copy paste it to add in some bits using paint.

If you're looking for a decent free graphics programme, GIMP is roughly akin to Photoshop. Though even MS Paint has line functions as Jereru alluded to.

Looks like we're back for good now. I should have a post up this weekend.

Huzzah!

Thumbs up!

Okay, that was the plan...

Expect a post this evening.

A medieval fantasy city map generator. Might be handy.

Okay, so a quick not about combat:

As I mentioned in the recruitment, I don't use a tactical map, although I will typically provide an area map (especially if your group ends up dungeon crawling). With that being said, however, I don't think this fight needs one. You are all out into the street, high-noon style (even though it's evening). The street is 30' wide, and there are currently only a couple of people watching, though that number will likely grow if the fight draws on.

I also don't make people post their actions in order: instead, when I mention that Players are up, you may post one round's worth of actions, and I'll aggregate everything at the end in a bit of descriptive text. Should someone kill your initial target, I'll switch your target over to whoever makes the most sense.

I also track damage dealt to both sides, so you can see which enemies are the most damaged, and who is the most hurt among your group as well.

Sounds good. Time to see it in practice.

A quick note. Lysimachos does have DR 1/- and DR 2/- against Non-Lethal Damage, and those will rise over levels. So that is 13 damage in the first hit I believe.

I like that it's obvious who's injured and by how much. It helps with visualisation and battle planning.

Ahhhhhh these low attack rolls with max damage rolls are killing me!

It is a frustrating occurrence. Though thankfully not one afflicting Lysimachos this turn!

@Vrog. Question for OOC. Are there any other witnesses currently to this fight besides the two gawkers who came with the duellists?

Not currently, although that is going to change in a round or two.