The Blight

Game Master GM Doom!

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much character development people are putting into this, even before selection. Usually people make an outline and flesh it out if picked, if they do flesh it out at all. This has the potential to be a VERY good group.

Speaking of character development...the more I flesh her out the less she seems to fit Chaotic Neutral, but she doesn't seem to fit any other alignment better. She's definitely not lawful anything. I'll just call her alignment "non-lawful confused"

GM Doom! wrote:

I dont know vigilante super well. Dont think I have ever had one in a campaign. Let me read through it with a little more attention than I have right now and get back to you. I should have a response for you tomorrow.

I'm new to the class as well, I've just recently become familiar with it. The core concept is explained well in the classes first ability. Essentially they have a secret identity, much like classic vigilante superheroes. Of course my take would be darker, as I have described above.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

I looked through vigilante and I think it will work fine for the campaign. The one thing I would caution is that renown and fame are not always things to be desired in Castorhage. If you stick your head up its far easier for it to get cut off. So you might want to be careful with your social persona and not just your vigilante persona.

I have been reading through characters so far and there is some great stuff being put up! I will send out specific thoughts tomorrow but so far I am highly impressed!

I should add that I changed craft(alchemy) to craft(herbalism) and changed the languages known to reflect more obscure, arcane tongues. just, whatever's under the alias when time is up is my final submission :P

Well, this looks cool, and a Primitive Elf Arcanist started assembling themselves pretty much as soon as I read the rules and fluff.

Mostly done with this character, though still revising and refining some backstory elements. She could easily have backstory ties with just about anyone (she'd probably get along particularly well with Touch or Kapenia).

Still unsure about what alignment to play her as; CN, because she does feel remorse for her actions, or NE, because she continually chooses immorality. Might start as CN and see where her character arc goes.

Definitely a face character, and focuses on damage and debuff in combat.

I love the idea of this game. I have a lot of ideas, but I want to read over the whole thread to make sure I'm not stepping on anyone's toes first.

But I will attempt to get something up tomorrow!

Okay. I have PMd a couple of you with questions or suggestions where things looked unclear.

The rest I think your characters looked good and everything seemed solid.

If anyone has questions for me feel free to ask in this thread or PM as desired!

Otherwise keep up the good work and I am planning on shutting down recruitment on Sunday the 21st around noon PST so get those final tweaks in!

Otherwise keep up the good work and I am planning on shutting down recruitment on Sunday the 21st around noon PST so get those final tweaks in!

Ahhhhh, I need to control myself. I'm trying to get through the entire player's guide to make sure my character has all sorts of connections and tie-ins to the setting, but I think I'm being a bit overzealous with the time constraint.

Here's an overview for my character, Damien.

I have the crunch for the character completed. Mechanically he will essentially fill the role of a rogue (picking up disable device if necessary) as well as a strong face.

Fluff-wise, he's living a double life. He walks in human guide as somebody with noble-blood (Lawful Neutral), but at night prowls the streets as his alter ego, shifted into beast form and viciously removing the stains of the city (Neutral Evil).

He is a Skinwalker Vigilante who uses his social identity as somebody who tries to go through the right legal channels to improve the city. Somebody of good standing in the city, at least middle-class and maybe even high class. His parents passed away when he was young, poor thing, but he's a beacon of hope in this damned city. Some would call him overly optimistic or unrealistic, but he's a steadfast and honorable man that always goes by the law and tries to get others to do the same.

At night uses his vigilante persona to shift into beast form and handle the issues his social persona can't. He was taught that lesson the hard way by his parents, who tried to use him as a vessel to gain more power. It was only when his arms were soaked in their blood he understood the dark nature of the world. The masses needed guidance, they should be taught that doing things the right and official way is how to live. Any anybody that strays from that path should meet an untimely demise. A particularly brutal one, if possible, to dissuade others from following their example.

He is only too glad to shoulder the burden of dealing with the dark complexities of humanity. Of course, naturally he deserves prestige and power for his efforts and sacrifice. It's only fair since he is doing so much for them.

Castorhage is really big. I suggest trying to have a tie to one or two areas if you've already been to the city, as your background suggests you have. XD Rather than bouncing all over. There are enough problems in any one district to keep you occupied for a lifetime. Gives some opportunity for growth during the camapign, too, rather than being fixed as equally famous the whole time.

Castorhage is really big. I suggest trying to have a tie to one or two areas if you've already been to the city, as your background suggests you have. XD Rather than bouncing all over. There are enough problems in any one district to keep you occupied for a lifetime. Gives some opportunity for growth during the camapign, too, rather than being fixed as equally famous the whole time.

Oh I completely agree. The Blight is an entire world in it of itself. It's more detailed than most campaign settings. I did actually read the entirety of the player's guide and my current issue is narrowing down what I want to do. I have about twenty different ideas going on, but I know I should focus on just a couple of them instead of stretching my character so thin he's opaque.

And I'm excited about all the distinct areas of the city. It works really well with the vigilante's "renown" social ability, which I made sure to pick up immediately at level 1.

Rednal wrote:

Castorhage is really big. I suggest trying to have a tie to one or two areas if you've already been to the city, as your background suggests you have. XD Rather than bouncing all over. There are enough problems in any one district to keep you occupied for a lifetime. Gives some opportunity for growth during the camapign, too, rather than being fixed as equally famous the whole time.

Oh I completely agree. The Blight is an entire world in it of itself. It's more detailed than most campaign settings. I did actually read the entirety of the player's guide and my current issue is narrowing down what I want to do. I have about twenty different ideas going on, but I know I should focus on just a couple of them instead of stretching my character so thin he's opaque.

And I'm excited about all the distinct areas of the city. It works really well with the vigilante's "renown" social ability, which I made sure to pick up immediately at level 1.

A few things to keep in mind. As written the AP is something of a tour of castorhage with each volume taking part primarily in a new district. This could mean that your reknown will only be really useful in one or two of the 10 volumes unless you are going to take it multiple times for multiple districts. You arent heavily constrained by this and the party will be free to move around the city should they so choose, but the bulk of each chapters action will be contained within a single district.

Second because your character has to have grown up in Wicken if he is going to be of high standing in Castorhage he will have to be self made. Cant rely on a family name or family wealth.

Third because the city of Castorhage is essentially a lawful evil bureaucracy with many of the leaders and figure heads being of evil alignment I would think that Chaotic Good might actually make a better alignment for your Vigilante side. A Lawful Evil vigilante really would not find much to rebel against in Castorhage.

If you are going to look for specific districts to have ties to, I would suggest Townbridge (for characters more newly arrived), the Artists Quarter, or Booktown.

Rednal wrote:

Castorhage is really big. I suggest trying to have a tie to one or two areas if you've already been to the city, as your background suggests you have. XD Rather than bouncing all over. There are enough problems in any one district to keep you occupied for a lifetime. Gives some opportunity for growth during the camapign, too, rather than being fixed as equally famous the whole time.

Oh I completely agree. The Blight is an entire world in it of itself. It's more detailed than most campaign settings. I did actually read the entirety of the player's guide and my current issue is narrowing down what I want to do. I have about twenty different ideas going on, but I know I should focus on just a couple of them instead of stretching my character so thin he's opaque.

And I'm excited about all the distinct areas of the city. It works really well with the vigilante's "renown" social ability, which I made sure to pick up immediately at level 1.

Also as I sort of implied in my earlier post I just want to make sure you realize that at least for the first chunk of this adventure there is a strong motive for the players to NOT get noticed by those in power. This is going to make life for your social side a bit more difficult and could make abilities like renown a bigger flaw than benefit through the early going.

This definitely isnt a deal breaker but it might lead to a situation where you actually want to spend most your time as your vigilante persona rather than your social persona through large chunks.

A few things to keep in mind. As written the AP is something of a tour of castorhage with each volume taking part primarily in a new district. This could mean that your reknown will only be really useful in one or two of the 10 volumes unless you are going to take it multiple times for multiple districts. You arent heavily constrained by this and the party will be free to move around the city should they so choose, but the bulk of each chapters action will be contained within a single district.

Actually you're allowed to change your area of renown by spending time and effort in a new area. The ability describes how this work, which I've copied into the character alias. It normally takes a week of socializing with the locals.

Second because your character has to have grown up in Wicken if he is going to be of high standing in Castorhage he will have to be self made. Cant rely on a family name or family wealth.

Understood. I was going back and forth on the noble upbringing, and I think making him lowborn like the vast majority of Castorhage will ultimately be the better choice anyways.

Third because the city of Castorhage is essentially a lawful evil bureaucracy with many of the leaders and figure heads being of evil alignment I would think that Chaotic Good might actually make a better alignment for your Vigilante side. A Lawful Evil vigilante really would not find much to rebel against in Castorhage.

Hmm, interesting idea. A CG vigilante persona that the social persona is using for personal gain. Oh yes the establishment is corrupt and needs to be overthrown! Of course somebody must take over afterwards, we can't let the anarchists have their way...

However that would come into conflict with the Serial Killer archetype, which states the vigilante identify must be evil. Would you be willing to lift that restriction, or possibly reflavor the archetype? Or would you rather I drop the archetype?

If you are going to look for specific districts to have ties to, I would suggest Townbridge (for characters more newly arrived), the Artists Quarter, or Booktown.

As stated above, it should only take a week to update my area of renown. For the starting area it would likely be Wicken itself, although unless there's a corruption problem there his vigilante identity likely isn't as known. Of course it could also be that he doesn't actually have the alter ego yet, and creates it after the plot of the campaign brings him to the city.

Also as I sort of implied in my earlier post I just want to make sure you realize that at least for the first chunk of this adventure there is a strong motive for the players to NOT get noticed by those in power. This is going to make life for your social side a bit more difficult and could make abilities like renown a bigger flaw than benefit through the early going.

This definitely isnt a deal breaker but it might lead to a situation where you actually want to spend most your time as your vigilante persona rather than your social persona through large chunks.

I think depending on how we handle it, it can still be a large boon. As you suggest I may have to spend a lot of time in my vigilante persona, which is no issue. I don't plan on playing one of the archetypes with limited ability to switch personas or stay as a vigilante.

If anything, his social identity is probably the one that's going to end up more incognito. While as a vigilante he runs around with the party stirring up trouble and causing all sorts of havoc, during the day he is a upstanding member of society that respects and pays credence to the people in charge. Indeed he would probably publicly be against his vigilante persona and the party (if they become known as well).

GM Doom! wrote:

A few things to keep in mind. As written the AP is something of a tour of castorhage with each volume taking part primarily in a new district. This could mean that your reknown will only be really useful in one or two of the 10 volumes unless you are going to take it multiple times for multiple districts. You arent heavily constrained by this and the party will be free to move around the city should they so choose, but the bulk of each chapters action will be contained within a single district.

Actually you're allowed to change your area of renown by spending time and effort in a new area. The ability describes how this work, which I've copied into the character alias. It normally takes a week of socializing with the locals.

GM Doom! wrote:

Second because your character has to have grown up in Wicken if he is going to be of high standing in Castorhage he will have to be self made. Cant rely on a family name or family wealth.

Understood. I was going back and forth on the noble upbringing, and I think making him lowborn like the vast majority of Castorhage will ultimately be the better choice anyways.

GM Doom! wrote:

Third because the city of Castorhage is essentially a lawful evil bureaucracy with many of the leaders and figure heads being of evil alignment I would think that Chaotic Good might actually make a better alignment for your Vigilante side. A Lawful Evil vigilante really would not find much to rebel against in Castorhage.

Hmm, interesting idea. A CG vigilante persona that the social persona is using for personal gain. Oh yes the establishment is corrupt and needs to be overthrown! Of course somebody must take over afterwards, we can't let the anarchists have their way...

However that would come into conflict with the Serial Killer archetype, which states the vigilante identify must be evil. Would you...

Ah I missed that you can change your renown. That will make it much more useful. The AP plays out over about a year so you will generally have time to make use of that ability as you go about the city.

I am completely good with doing away with the alignment requirement, generally speaking I hate them anyway. In a city full of evil people there is no reason you couldnt have a good aligned serial killer bumping off the corrupt and tainted.

That said if you envision the vigilante using his persona for personal gain then it could definitely be evil also. I am okay either way.

For everyone -

The world of Castorhage is a dark place of moderate horror and very grey morality. That said I think the adventure works better if the PARTY has at least a bit of a moral compass.

I will absolutely take C/N, and Evil characters but overall I will probably balance the groups outlook to at least lean slightly towards the good. While this campaign is a great one for the anti-hero, it does still need the hero part of that pairing and not just the anti.

A lot of people have posted some really fascinating C/N type self interested character and I fully intend to take a few of those but I probably wont select an entire party composed of them.

I will probably give a few bonus points to characters that lean towards good or at least have the potential to grow into a more socially interested viewpoint.

I just want everyone to know in advance that it will probably be a factor in the selection. I apologize if I didn't make that clear enough in the initial post.

I should add that I changed craft(alchemy) to craft(herbalism) and changed the languages known to reflect more obscure, arcane tongues. just, whatever's under the alias when time is up is my final submission :P

After reading over the rules again, it looks like Profession(Herbalism) is for gathering herbs in the wild, and Craft(Alchemy) is used to prepare them into useful items. So, I've made those my two background skills. I understand this is an urban adventure, but I'm hoping there will be opportunities to purchase medicinal plants and herbs in the city. Perhaps the herbalism skill can be to identify the right plants to buy.

djdust wrote:

I should add that I changed craft(alchemy) to craft(herbalism) and changed the languages known to reflect more obscure, arcane tongues. just, whatever's under the alias when time is up is my final submission :P

After reading over the rules again, it looks like Profession(Herbalism) is for gathering herbs in the wild, and Craft(Alchemy) is used to prepare them into useful items. So, I've made those my two background skills. I understand this is an urban adventure, but I'm hoping there will be opportunities to purchase medicinal plants and herbs in the city. Perhaps the herbalism skill can be to identify the right plants to buy.

There will be abundant opportunity to find sellers of herbs and components. Castorhage has a booming trade in alchemical items and all the components there of.

You very much seemed interested in exploring morally grey characters and antiheros, so I wanted to explore the idea of a character who did good things for selfish reasons. Yes he is getting corrupt and malicious people off the streets, but its so that the community he has influence in can support him better. Yes he is helping people to suffer less, but he's doing it so they hold him in higher esteem and are more willing to put power into his hands. Yes he is defending the weak and vulnerable, but it's because he thinks he's better than them and he will get something in return for the protection he provides.

Of course, characters are not written in stone. Perhaps he will grow and change as the campaign progresses. There seems to be much opportunity for such character developments in this setting.

But your more recent post definitely helps clear up what your expectations are. I think in that case a CG vigilante persona would be excellent, probably somebody who came off as one of the city's revolutionaries.

Normally vigilante only allows the alignment of the personas to be up to one step separated on each part of the tree, but would it be appropriate to pair a LN or maybe even a LE social persona? I think just N might be a good choice as well, perhaps more personable. But the concept I have now is somebody playing the game from both sides. His social persona may be able to earn a good reputation as a staunch, law-abiding citizen, and may be able to keep tabs on what the government knows about the party and what their plans are.

For everyone -

The world of Castorhage is a dark place of moderate horror and very grey morality. That said I think the adventure works better if the PARTY has at least a bit of a moral compass.

I will absolutely take C/N, and Evil characters but overall I will probably balance the groups outlook to at least lean slightly towards the good. While this campaign is a great one for the anti-hero, it does still need the hero part of that pairing and not just the anti.

A lot of people have posted some really fascinating C/N type self interested character and I fully intend to take a few of those but I probably wont select an entire party composed of them.

I will probably give a few bonus points to characters that lean towards good or at least have the potential to grow into a more socially interested viewpoint.

I just want everyone to know in advance that it will probably be a factor in the selection. I apologize if I didn't make that clear enough in the initial post.

I'm going with true neutral because I see Ben as a character who is pulled in multiple directions. He has some respect for authority, but practices forbidden magics and keeps his practices secret. He doesn't necessarily see necromancy as an evil act, for him he is merely communing with the dead, and he wants to be helpful. He just literally has evil flowing through his veins. I see him as a character who might evolve in any direction, rather than someone who has a neutral mentality or who strives for a neutral stance.

...lean towards good or at least have the potential to grow into a more socially interested viewpoint.

Just so that you're aware, Kapenia is definitely jaded, selfish, and walled off but that doesn't have to be a permanent thing. If she can find a way to be successful without always using people, that confused girl inside of her can start to come out. I'm not sure how well that came out with the personality rewrite and I can clarify it more in there if needed.

As I mentioned before, she's confused enough about her own goals that I'm not even sure what alignment to make her... she's kind of half CG, half TN, and half NE....all depending on what's going on at the time. I'll probably leave her as CN on paper and just play based on her, not on her alignment (yes I realize that is 3 halves. she's got enough conflicting faces that I think that's appropriate lol)

Doing good things for selfish reasons is appropriate. I am definitely not looking for a campaign of noble do-gooders. This can be a much more morally ambivalent campaign than any standard rpg campaign. Mostly I just want to make sure everyone understands that its a morally grey campaign and not a full on evil campaign.

I definitely dont need peoples motivators to be "doing the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing" but the party as a whole should be generally interested in helping people (or at least specific people they care about) even if for all the wrong reasons.

This just is not the campaign for people who are going to primarily be lured by loot and power. Greed is a fantastic secondary motivator. And it can make for some very interesting flawed heroes. But if thats your only motivator all of the interesting moral quandaries that the world of Castorhage presents quickly get boiled down to "what will make me richer" and that misses a lot of the potential.

I tried to make Touch fairly party-friendly - she doesn't really care about good and evil, who's succeeding and suffering. Unless she likes the people involved (i.e. the rest of the party), in which case she enjoys helping. Besides, it's good material for her art. XD

Doing good things for selfish reasons is appropriate.

Pretty much exactly what I'm going for with Valeriana. She's extremely aware of the immorality of her choices, even if she continually makes them; her erratic attempts to do good and live morally are almost always driven by a desire to feel better about herself; "I want to be good. I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous."

At the moment my plan is to take the Unlettered and Twilight Sage archetypes on the Arcanist, since they thankfully stack, giving me access to the Witch's spell list and necromantic abilities. The idea is that the character is chaotic good, but not stable - she sees devouring the last of a fallen foes life energy as a kindness, sending them to the next realm where it will be nice, and that killing and healing are simply two edges of the same blade.

Doing good things for selfish reasons is appropriate.

That's Kapenia. Right now she'll do anything that helps her be more comfortable/successful. If that's good or not is irrelevant. As soon as she sees that doing a good thing might help her situation she'll do it. Eventually I feel like she'll figure out that doing good things makes her feel less icky and conflicted.

Okay the completed characters that I see are:

Kapenia – Seducer Witch
Touch – Mesmerist
"Ben" Mharjaek – Occultist
Ralleck - Ravener Hunter/Monster Tactician Inquisitor
Pietro Morvan – Paladin
Valeriana Vane – Sorceress

If you are planning on submitting and not on that list you have until Sunday. If you are still planning on submitting or if you have submitted and I overlooked it send me a PM so I know roughly what to expect.

Thanks!

I just found this so I am a little late to the game but I am hastily putting together a Vivisectionist / Chirurgeon for submission. Hoping to have it ready later today.

I just found this so I am a little late to the game but I am hastily putting together a Vivisectionist / Chirurgeon for submission. Hoping to have it ready later today.

I love that concept. That's another one I haven't had a chance to play but always wanted to. I actually just got one accepted into another game or I would have submitted it here as well.

OK, here's my character. I've got to admit, I'm not quite sure what on earth happened with the appearance, personality and backstory sections, as the character...kinda took over, and she's a little unstable.

Faith-in-The-Rain

My flight tomorrow is delayed so I won't be able to review submissions until Monday. If you are planning to submit a character get it done by midnight tomorrow!

GM how do you feel about necromancy? In Goloion this is unambiguously EVil, but settings differ. If I went down this way I'd build a lawful character who would fit into the classic community minded anti hero model.

Well, since by law, corpses are donated to the city for resurrection to perform labor unless people can pay a tax to avoid it... I'm not saying commoners would totally approve of it, per se, but Castorhage is probably one of the more interesting places to be a Necromancer in*. XD Might wanna find a way to reconcile "officially sanctioned practice" and "not something most people want being done to them", though.

(*Assuming, as always, the GM hasn't decided to change something about the setting. which is actually kind of a silly bet to take.)

The biggest potential issue I see with necromancy isn't as much within the party or with the commoners, it's with the municipality itself. Since the city raises dead for labor, they might not be very happy with someone who takes away from their potential labor pool and could enthrall their existing low class citizens. Undead as legal citizens makes necromancy an interesting concept. I think the idea works, but bucking the system like that might make it had to be a lawful character.

I'm not sure "legal citizens" is quite how I'd describe it....... XD Exploitable labor, maybe?

From what I read the undead are hunted, aren't they? Their entries suggested that they need to use Dhampir and other undead that can pass for the living so they can arrange safe houses and the like, and occasionally someone tries hunting them? Of course, they also occasionally work with the hunters...

Honestly, I'd mostly be worried about Beltane, the master of the Fetch, and his brides than anything else if messing with the undead. They do not seem inclined to like those that can create, manipulate or control them

My character is using necromancy, but only for the death effects - I have no intention of raising the undead.

That's the other group of undead. XD The city also raises them for labor. They're not liked by citizens, precisely, but the nobles don't really care what the commoners think when even cheaper labor is available to fulfill their goals.

I interpreted the Alchymical Undead produced by the nobles as being more the product of Mad Science! (a la Frankenstein's monster) rather than Necromancy (magical induced). The Fetch are moreso naturally occuring intelligent undead (wraiths, ghouls, ghasts, etc.) ie. occuring due to evil in the hearts of the living, dark phenomena, etc. and of course vampires, which naturally give rise to other vampires.

Yeah, that was how I read that. That some were flesh golems of some kind, some were alchemical zombies, and some were lobotomised by magic and 'surgery.'

I'd still be more wary of the Fetch if you have spells that can mess with the undead, though. They don't strike me as a faction that settles there issues with others over tea and crumpets.

...now I want crumpets. I wonder if I have any butter?

Okay so it seems like everyone put a LOT of thought and time into their applications and a few people weren't able to get them in on time.

Normally I would take 5-6 players for this but in this case I am going to assume the usual PBP fall off will take a person or two out of the game at some point and go ahead and take 7 so that everyone who completed a character gets to play.

So here is what I have as the roster:

Kapenia – Seducer Witch
Touch – Mesmerist
"Ben" Mharjaek – Occultist
Ralleck - Ravener Hunter/Monster Tactician Inquisitor
Pietro Morvan – Paladin
Valeriana Vane – Sorceress
Faith in the Rain - Arcanist

So here is my plan moving forward.

1. Take a day or two to discuss characters in the Discussion tab. This is a chance to make mechanical adjustments to make sure things like skills and abilities are covered.

This can also be a chance for all of you to think about and finalize any pre-play relationships between your characters.

2. Wednesday I will put a prequel type opening in the gameplay tab. My plan is to give everyone a week or so of opportunity to roleplay the harvest festival and get to know each others characters. After a week I will transition us to the actual campaign and we will get started! (This will also give me time to make the adjustments needed to accomodate a larger than expected group)

So welcome players and get ready to play!